Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Inconsistent or incorrect accents and spelling in passages in French,
Latin and Italian have been left unchanged.
Because of text width limitations, the table showing the geographical
locations of the Indian confederacies had to be split into three
sections. Accents in that table seem to indicate pronunciation.
Sidenotes representing original page numbers in "The Batture at New
Orleans" have been moved before the paragraph at which they were
placed to avoid breaking up the flow of the text.
[~c] is used to represent a c with an overbar.
The section starting ""Logan's family" has no closing quotation mark.
The section starting ""An act of" has no closing quotation mark.
Accents in table on page 337 volume 8 seem to indicate pronunciation.
The Table of Contents references a Special Message dated Mar. 21,
1804. The corresponding entry itself is dated Mar. 20.
Prevôté and vicomté should possibly not have accents.
Soree. Ral-bird should possibly be Sora. Rail-bird.
bueltas y tortuosidades should possibly be vueltas y tortuosidades.
Cypriores should possibly be Cypriéres.
Aligators should possibly be Alligators.
[Sidenote: 43*] is missing.
Part II ends with an unfinished sentence, and an incomplete address.
It has been left as printed.
The dated sidenote "1778, Sept. 5." is out of order, and may be an
error.
Text references indicated by (A.), (B.), (3.)...(7.) point to an
Appendix to the Notes on Virginia.
The following possible inconsistencies/printer errors/archaic
spellings/different names for different entities were pointed
out by the proofers, and left as printed:
Chippewas and Chippawas
Muskingum and Muskinghum
Rappahanoc, Rappahannoc, Rappahànoc
Duponçeau and Duponceau
Pawtomac, Potomac, Potomak, Powtomac,
Pottawatomies, Powtawatamies, Powtewatamy
Monongalia, Monongahela
Mississippi, Missisipi
Miller, Millar
Maudan, Mandan
levee and levée
THE
WRITINGS
OF
THOMAS JEFFERSON:
BEING HIS
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, CORRESPONDENCE, REPORTS, MESSAGES,
ADDRESSES, AND OTHER WRITINGS, OFFICIAL
AND PRIVATE.
PUBLISHED BY THE ORDER OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS ON THE
LIBRARY,
FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS,
DEPOSITED IN THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE.
WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES, TABLES OF CONTENTS, AND A COPIOUS INDEX
TO EACH VOLUME, AS WELL AS A GENERAL INDEX TO THE WHOLE,
BY THE EDITOR
H. A. WASHINGTON.
VOL. VIII.
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY RIKER, THORNE & CO.
WASHINGTON, D.C.:--TAYLOR & MAURY.
1854.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by
TAYLOR & MAURY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of
Columbia.
EZRA N. GROSSMAN, PRINTER,
211 & 213 Centre st., N.Y.
CONTENTS TO VOL. VIII.
BOOK III.--PART II.
INAUGURAL ADDRESSES AND MESSAGES.
PAGE
First Inaugural Address March 4, 1801 1
First Annual Message Dec. 8, 1801 6
Second Annual Message Dec. 15, 1802 15
Special Message Jan. 28, 1802 21
Special Message Feb. 24, 1803 22
Third Annual Message Oct. 17, 1803 23
Special Message Oct. 21, 1803 29
Special Message Nov. 4, 1803 30
Special Message Nov. 25, 1803 31
Special Message Dec. 5, 1803 31
Special Message Jan. 16, 1804 32
Special Message Mar. 21, 1804 33
Fourth Annual Message Nov. 8, 1804 34
Second Inaugural Address Mar. 4, 1805 40
Fifth Annual Message Dec. 3, 1805 46
Special Message Jan. 13, 1806 54
Special Message Jan. 17, 1806 57
Special Message Feb. 3, 1806 58
Special Message Feb. 19, 1806 59
Special Message Mar. 20, 1806 60
Special Message April 14, 1806 61
Sixth Annual Message Dec. 2, 1806 62
Special Message Dec. 3, 1806 70
Special Message Jan. 22, 1807 71
Special Message Jan. 28, 1807 78
Special Message Jan. 31, 1807 78
Special Message Feb. 10, 1807 79
Seventh Annual Message Oct. 27, 1807 82
Special Message Nov. 23, 1807 89
Special Message Dec. 18, 1807 89
Special Message Jan. 20, 1808 90
Special Message Jan. 30, 1808 93
Special Message Jan. 30, 1808 94
Special Message Feb. 2, 1808 95
Special Message Feb. 4, 1808 95
Special Message Feb. 9, 1808 96
Special Message Feb. 15, 1808 97
Special Message Feb. 19, 1808 97
Special Message Feb. 25, 1808 98
Special Message Mar. 7, 1808 99
Special Message Mar. 17, 1808 100
Special Message Mar. 18, 1808 101
Special Message Mar. 22, 1808 101
Eighth Annual Message Nov. 8, 1808 103
Special Message Dec. 30, 1808 111
Special Message Jan. 6, 1809 111
Appendix--Confidential Message recommending
a Western Exploring
Expedition Jan. 18, 1803 241
BOOK III--PART III.
REPLIES TO PUBLIC ADDRESSES.
To the Committee of the Danbury Baptist Association of
Connecticut, 113.
To William Judd, 114.
To the Legislature of Tennessee, 115.
To the Legislature of Massachusetts, 116.
To the President of the Senate, and Speaker of the House
of Representatives of Massachusetts, 117.
To Messrs. Thomas Ellicot and others, 118.
To Captain John Thomas, 119.
To Governor Smith, 120.
To the Legislature of Vermont, 121.
To the Legislature of New Jersey, 122.
To the Tammany Society of Washington City, 124.
To Messrs. Abner Walker and Bernard Todd, 124.
To the General Assembly of North Carolina, 125.
To the Society of Tammany of New York City, 127.
To the Democratic Republicans of Philadelphia, 128.
To the Legislature, Council, and House of Representatives of
the Territory of New Orleans, 129.
To Governor Langdon, 131.
To Governor Langdon, 132.
To the Speaker of the House of Representatives of South
Carolina, 133.
To the Inhabitants of Boston, Newburyport, and Providence,
&c., 133.
To a Portion of the Citizens of Boston, 135.
To the Baltimore Baptist Association, 137.
To the Ketocton Baptist Association, 138.
To the Six Baptist Associations represented at Chesterfield,
Virginia, 139.
To Taber Finch, 140.
To the Young Republicans of Petersburg and its vicinity, 141.
To the Methodist Episcopal Church at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
142.
To the Electors of the County of Ontario, New York, 143.
To the Citizens of the County and City of Philadelphia, 144.
To the Legislature of Georgia, 145.
To the Methodist Episcopal Church at New London, Connecticut,
147.
To the General Assembly of Virginia, 147.
To the Citizens of Wilmington and its vicinity, 149.
To John Gassaway, 150.
To the Republican Young Men of New London, 151.
To the Republicans of Loudon county, Virginia, 152.
To Governor Tompkins, 153.
To General James Robertson, 154.
To the Republicans of Niagara county, New York, 155.
To Captain Quin Morton, 156.
To the Tammany Society of Washington City, 156.
To the Citizens of Washington City, 157.
To the Republicans of Georgetown, 159.
To the Republican Merchants of Leesburg and its vicinity, 161.
To the Friends of the Administration in Bristol county, Rhode
Island, 162.
To the Republican Delegates of Washington county, Pennsylvania,
163.
To the Citizens of Alleghany county, Maryland, 164.
To the Republican Citizens of Washington county, Maryland, 165.
To the President of the Ancient Plymouth Society of New
London, 166.
To Governor Wright, 166.
To the Legislature of the State of New York, 166.
To the Republicans of Queen Ann's county, 168.
To the members of the Baptist Church of Buck Mountain in
Albemarle, 168.
To Jonathan Low, 169.
To the Tammany Society of Baltimore. 170.
BOOK III.--Part IV.
INDIAN ADDRESSES.
To Brother John Baptiste de Coigne, 179.
Speeches of John Baptiste de Coigne, Chief of the Wabash and
Illinois Indians, and other Chiefs, 176.
To the Miamis, Powtewattamies, and Weeauks, 184.
To the Delaware and Shawanee nations, 186.
To Brother Handsome Lake, 187.
To Brothers, the Miamis and Delawares, 189.
To Brothers of the Choctaw nation, 192.
To my children, White-hairs, chiefs and warriors of the Osage
nation, 195.
To the Chiefs of the Chickasaw Nation, Minghey, Mataha, and
Tishohotana, 198.
To the Wolf, and people of the Mandar nation, 200.
To the Chiefs of the Osage nation, 203.
To the Chiefs of the Shawanee nation, 205.
To Kitchao Geboway, 208.
To the Chiefs of the Ottawas, Chippewas, Powtewattamies,
Wyandots, and Senecas, of Sandusky, 210.
To the Chief of the Upper Cherokees, 213.
To Colonel Louis Cook and Jacob Francis of the St. Regis
Indians, 215.
To the Delaware Chief, Captain Armstrong, 216.
To the Miamis, Powtewattamies, Delawares, and Chippewas, 217.
To Little Turtle, Chief of the Miamis, 218.
To Manchol, the great war chief of the Powtewattamies, 220.
To Beaver, the head warrior of the Delawares, 223.
To Captain Hendrick, the Delawares, Mohiccons, and Munries,
225.
To Kitchard Geboway, 228.
To the Deputies of the Cherokee Upper Towns, 228.
To the Deputies of the Cherokees of the Upper and Lower Towns,
230.
To the Chiefs of the Wyandots, Ottawas, Chippewas,
Powtewattamies, and Shawanese, 232.
To the Chiefs of the Ottawas, Chippewas, Powtewattamies,
Wyandots, and Shawanese, 238.
BOOK IV.
MISCELLANEOUS.
PART I.
Notes on Virginia, 249.
PART II.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF DISTINGUISHED MEN.
1. Biographical sketch of Peyton Randolph, 477.
2. Biographical sketch of Meriwether Lewis, 480.
3. Biographical sketch of General Kosciusko, 494.
4. Anecdotes of Dr. Franklin, 497.
PART III.
The Batture at New Orleans, 503.
PART II.
INAUGURAL ADDRESSES AND MESSAGES.
INAUGURATION ADDRESS.--MARCH 4, 1801.
_Friends and Fellow Citizens_:--
Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive
office of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion
of my fellow citizens which is here assembled, to express
my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been
pleased to look toward me, to declare a sincere consciousness
that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with
those anxious and awful presentiments which the greatness of
the charge and the weakness of my powers so justly inspire. A
rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all
the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in
commerce with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing
rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye--when I
contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the
happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to
the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation,
and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking.
Utterly indeed, should I despair, did not the presence
of many whom I here see remind me, that in the other high authorities
provided by our constitution, I shall find resources of
wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal, on which to rely under all difficulties.
To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with the
sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with
you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support
which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which we
are all embarked amid the conflicting elements of a troubled
world.
During the contest of opinion through which we have passed,
the animation of discussion and of exertions has sometimes worn
an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely
and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now
decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the
rules of the constitution, all will, of course, arrange themselves
under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the
common good. All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle,
that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that
will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess
their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to
violate which would be oppression. Let us, then, fellow citizens,
unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse
that harmony and affection without which liberty and
even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that
having banished from our land that religious intolerance under
which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained
little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as
wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During
the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the
agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and
slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation
of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful
shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some and less
by others; that this should divide opinions as to measures of
safety. But every difference of opinion is not a difference of
principle. We have called by different names brethren of the
same principle. We are all republicans--we are federalists. If
there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union
or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as
monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be
tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed,
that some honest men fear that a republican government cannot
be strong; that this government is not strong enough. But
would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment,
abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm,
on the theoretic and visionary fear that this government, the
world's best hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself?
I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest
government on earth. I believe it is the only one where every
man, at the call of the laws, would fly to the standard of the
law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own
personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man cannot be
trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted
with the government of others? Or have we found angels in
the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this
question.
Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own
federal and republican principles, our attachment to our union
and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and
a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the
globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others;
possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants
to the hundredth and thousandth generation; entertaining a
due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to
the acquisitions of our industry, to honor and confidence from
our fellow citizens, resulting not from birth but from our actions
and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed,
indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them including
honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of
man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence,
which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness
of man here and his greater happiness hereafter; with all
these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and
prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens--a wise
and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring
one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate
their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not
take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is
the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the
circle of our felicities.
About to enter, fellow citizens, on the exercise of duties which
comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper
that you should understand what I deem the essential principles
of our government, and consequently those which ought to shape
its administration. I will compress them within the narrowest
compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all
its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever
state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and
honest friendship, with all nations--entangling alliances with
none; the support of the state governments in all their rights, as
the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns
and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the
preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional
vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety
abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people--a
mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the
sword of the revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided;
absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority--the
vital principle of republics, from which there is no appeal but to
force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a
well-disciplined militia--our best reliance in peace and for the
first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy
of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public
expense, that labor may be lightly burdened; the honest payment
of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith;
encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid;
the diffusion of information and the arraignment of all abuses at
the bar of public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the
press; freedom of person under the protection of the _habeas corpus_;
and trial by juries impartially selected--these principles
form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and
guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation.
The wisdom of our sages and the blood of our heroes have been
devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our
political faith--the text of civil instruction--the touchstone by
which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander
from them in moments of error or alarm, let us hasten to retrace
our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace,
liberty, and safety.
I repair, then, fellow citizens, to the post you have assigned
me. With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen
the difficulties of this, the greatest of all, I have learned to expect
that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from
this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him
into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence reposed in
our first and great revolutionary character, whose preëminent
services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love,
and destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful
history, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and
effect to the legal administration of your affairs. I shall often go
wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be
thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a
view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own
errors, which will never be intentional; and your support against
the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not if
seen in all its parts. The approbation implied by your suffrage
is a consolation to me for the past; and my future solicitude will
be to retain the good opinion of those who have bestowed it in
advance, to conciliate that of others by doing them all the good
in my power, and to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom
of all.
Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I advance
with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever
you become sensible how much better choice it is in your power
to make. And may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies
of the universe, lead our councils to what is best, and give
them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity.
[In communicating his first message to Congress, President
Jefferson addressed the following letter to the presiding officer of
each branch of the national legislature.]
December 8, 1801.
SIR: The circumstances under which we find ourselves placed
rendering inconvenient the mode heretofore practised of making
by personal address the first communication between the legislative
and executive branches, I have adopted that by message, as
used on all subsequent occasions through the session. In doing
this, I have had principal regard to the convenience of the legislature,
to the economy of their time, to their relief from the embarrassment
of immediate answers on subjects not yet fully before
them, and to the benefits thence resulting to the public affairs.
Trusting that a procedure founded in these motives will
meet their approbation, I beg leave, through you, sir, to communicate
the enclosed message, with the documents accompanying it,
to the honorable the senate, and pray you to accept, for yourself
and them, the homage of my high respect and consideration.
_The Hon. the President of the Senate._
FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.--DECEMBER 8, 1801.
_Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:
It is a circumstance of sincere gratification to me that on
meeting the great council of our nation, I am able to announce
to them, on the grounds of reasonable certainty, that the wars
and troubles which have for so many years afflicted our sister
nations have at length come to an end, and that the communications
of peace and commerce are once more opening among them.
While we devoutly return thanks to the beneficent Being who
has been pleased to breathe into them the spirit of conciliation
and forgiveness, we are bound with peculiar gratitude to be
thankful to him that our own peace has been preserved through
so perilous a season, and ourselves permitted quietly to cultivate
the earth and to practice and improve those arts which tend to
increase our comforts. The assurances, indeed, of friendly disposition,
received from all the powers with whom we have principal
relations, had inspired a confidence that our peace with
them would not have been disturbed. But a cessation of the
irregularities which had affected the commerce of neutral nations,
and of the irritations and injuries produced by them, cannot but
add to this confidence; and strengthens, at the same time, the
hope, that wrongs committed on unoffending friends, under a
pressure of circumstances, will now be reviewed with candor,
and will be considered as founding just claims of retribution for
the past and new assurance for the future.
Among our Indian neighbors, also, a spirit of peace and friendship
generally prevails; and I am happy to inform you that the
continued efforts to introduce among them the implements and
the practice of husbandry, and of the household arts, have not
been without success; that they are becoming more and more
sensible of the superiority of this dependence for clothing and
subsistence over the precarious resources of hunting and fishing;
and already we are able to announce, that instead of that constant
diminution of their numbers, produced by their wars and
their wants, some of them begin to experience an increase of
population.
To this state of general peace with which we have been
blessed, one only exception exists. Tripoli, the least considerable
of the Barbary States, had come forward with demands
unfounded either in right or in compact, and had permitted itself
to denounce war, on our failure to comply before a given
day. The style of the demand admitted but one answer. I
sent a small squadron of frigates into the Mediterranean, with
assurances to that power of our sincere desire to remain in peace,
but with orders to protect our commerce against the threatened
attack. The measure was seasonable and salutary. The bey
had already declared war in form. His cruisers were out. Two
had arrived at Gibraltar. Our commerce in the Mediterranean
was blockaded, and that of the Atlantic in peril. The arrival
of our squadron dispelled the danger. One of the Tripolitan
cruisers having fallen in with, and engaged the small schooner
Enterprise, commanded by Lieutenant Sterret, which had gone as
a tender to our larger vessels, was captured, after a heavy slaughter
of her men, without the loss of a single one on our part.
The bravery exhibited by our citizens on that element, will, I
trust, be a testimony to the world that it is not the want of that
virtue which makes us seek their peace, but a conscientious desire
to direct the energies of our nation to the multiplication of
the human race, and not to its destruction. Unauthorized by
the constitution, without the sanction of Congress, to go beyond
the line of defence, the vessel being disabled from committing
further hostilities, was liberated with its crew. The legislature
will doubtless consider whether, by authorizing measures of
offence, also, they will place our force on an equal footing with
that of its adversaries. I communicate all material information
on this subject, that in the exercise of the important function
confided by the constitution to the legislature exclusively, their
judgment may form itself on a knowledge and consideration of
every circumstance of weight.
I wish I could say that our situation with all the other Barbary
states was entirely satisfactory. Discovering that some delays
had taken place in the performance of certain articles stipulated
by us, I thought it my duty, by immediate measures for
fulfilling them, to vindicate to ourselves the right of considering
the effect of departure from stipulation on their side. From the
papers which will be laid before you, you will be enabled to
judge whether our treaties are regarded by them as fixing at all
the measure of their demands, or as guarding from the exercise
of force our vessels within their power; and to consider how far
it will be safe and expedient to leave our affairs with them in
their present posture.
I lay before you the result of the census lately taken of our
inhabitants, to a conformity with which we are to reduce the
ensuing rates of representation and taxation. You will perceive
that the increase of numbers during the last ten years, proceeding
in geometrical ratio, promises a duplication in little more
than twenty-two years. We contemplate this rapid growth, and
the prospect it holds up to us, not with a view to the injuries it
may enable us to do to others in some future day, but to the settlement
of the extensive country still remaining vacant within
our limits, to the multiplications of men susceptible of happiness,
educated in the love of order, habituated to self-government, and
valuing its blessings above all price.
Other circumstances, combined with the increase of numbers,
have produced an augmentation of revenue arising from consumption,
in a ratio far beyond that of population alone, and
though the changes of foreign relations now taking place so desirably
for the world, may for a season affect this branch of
revenue, yet, weighing all probabilities of expense, as well as of
income, there is reasonable ground of confidence that we may
now safely dispense with all the internal taxes, comprehending
excises, stamps, auctions, licenses, carriages, and refined sugars,
to which the postage on newspapers may be added, to facilitate
the progress of information, and that the remaining sources of
revenue will be sufficient to provide for the support of government,
to pay the interest on the public debts, and to discharge
the principals in shorter periods than the laws or the general expectations
had contemplated. War, indeed, and untoward
events, may change this prospect of things, and call for expenses
which the imposts could not meet; but sound principles will not
justify our taxing the industry of our fellow citizens to accumulate
treasure for wars to happen we know not when, and which
might not perhaps happen but from the temptations offered by
that treasure.
These views, however, of reducing our burdens, are formed
on the expectation that a sensible, and at the same time a salutary
reduction, may take place in our habitual expenditures.
For this purpose, those of the civil government, the army, and
navy, will need revisal.
When we consider that this government is charged with the
external and mutual relations only of these states; that the states
themselves have principal care of our persons, our property, and
our reputation, constituting the great field of human concerns,
we may well doubt whether our organization is not too complicated,
too expensive; whether offices and officers have not been
multiplied unnecessarily, and sometimes injuriously to the service
they were meant to promote. I will cause to be laid before
you an essay toward a statement of those who, under public employment
of various kinds, draw money from the treasury or
from our citizens. Time has not permitted a perfect enumeration,
the ramifications of office being too multiplied and remote
to be completely traced in a first trial. Among those who are
dependent on executive discretion, I have begun the reduction
of what was deemed necessary. The expenses of diplomatic
agency have been considerably diminished. The inspectors of
internal revenue who were found to obstruct the accountability
of the institution, have been discontinued. Several agencies
created by executive authority, on salaries fixed by that also,
have been suppressed, and should suggest the expediency of
regulating that power by law, so as to subject its exercises to
legislative inspection and sanction. Other reformations of the
same kind will be pursued with that caution which is requisite
in removing useless things, not to injure what is retained. But
the great mass of public offices is established by law, and,
therefore, by law alone can be abolished. Should the legislature
think it expedient to pass this roll in review, and try all its parts
by the test of public utility, they may be assured of every aid
and light which executive information can yield. Considering
the general tendency to multiply offices and dependencies,
and to increase expense to the ultimate term of burden which
the citizen can bear, it behooves us to avail ourselves of every
occasion which presents itself for taking off the surcharge; that
it never may be seen here that, after leaving to labor the smallest
portion of its earnings on which it can subsist, government
shall itself consume the residue of what it was instituted to
guard.
In our care, too, of the public contributions intrusted to our
direction, it would be prudent to multiply barriers against their
dissipation, by appropriating specific sums to every specific purpose
susceptible of definition; by disallowing all applications of
money varying from the appropriation in object, or transcending it
in amount; by reducing the undefined field of contingencies, and
thereby circumscribing discretionary powers over money; and
by bringing back to a single department all accountabilities for
money where the examination may be prompt, efficacious, and
uniform.
An account of the receipts and expenditures of the last year,
as prepared by the secretary of the treasury, will as usual be laid
before you. The success which has attended the late sales of
the public lands, shows that with attention they may be made an
important source of receipt. Among the payments, those made
in discharge of the principal and interest of the national debt,
will show that the public faith has been exactly maintained.
To these will be added an estimate of appropriations necessary
for the ensuing year. This last will of course be effected by
such modifications of the systems of expense, as you shall think
proper to adopt.
A statement has been formed by the secretary of war, on mature
consideration, of all the posts and stations where garrisons
will be expedient, and of the number of men requisite for each
garrison. The whole amount is considerably short of the present
military establishment. For the surplus no particular use
can be pointed out. For defence against invasion, their number
is as nothing; nor is it conceived needful or safe that a standing
army should be kept up in time of peace for that purpose. Uncertain
as we must ever be of the particular point in our circumference
where an enemy may choose to invade us, the only force
which can be ready at every point and competent to oppose
them, is the body of neighboring citizens as formed into a militia.
On these, collected from the parts most convenient, in
numbers proportioned to the invading foe, it is best to rely, not
only to meet the first attack, but if it threatens to be permanent,
to maintain the defence until regulars may be engaged to relieve
them. These considerations render it important that we should
at every session continue to amend the defects which from time
to time show themselves in the laws for regulating the militia,
until they are sufficiently perfect. Nor should we now or at any
time separate, until we can say we have done everything for the
militia which we could do were an enemy at our door.
The provisions of military stores on hand will be laid before
you, that you may judge of the additions still requisite.
With respect to the extent to which our naval preparations
should be carried, some difference of opinion may be expected to
appear; but just attention to the circumstances of every part of
the Union will doubtless reconcile all. A small force will probably
continue to be wanted for actual service in the Mediterranean.
Whatever annual sum beyond that you may think
proper to appropriate to naval preparations, would perhaps be
better employed in providing those articles which may be kept
without waste or consumption, and be in readiness when any
exigence calls them into use. Progress has been made, as will
appear by papers now communicated, in providing materials for
seventy-four gun ships as directed by law.
How far the authority given by the legislature for procuring
and establishing sites for naval purposes has been perfectly understood
and pursued in the execution, admits of some doubt. A
statement of the expenses already incurred on that subject, shall
be laid before you. I have in certain cases suspended or slackened
these expenditures, that the legislature might determine
whether so many yards are necessary as have been contemplated.
The works at this place are among those permitted to go on;
and five of the seven frigates directed to be laid up, have been
brought and laid up here, where, besides the safety of their position,
they are under the eye of the executive administration, as
well as of its agents, and where yourselves also will be guided
by your own view in the legislative provisions respecting them
which may from time to time be necessary. They are preserved
in such condition, as well the vessels as whatever belongs to
them, as to be at all times ready for sea on a short warning.
Two others are yet to be laid up so soon as they shall have received
the repairs requisite to put them also into sound condition.
As a superintending officer will be necessary at each
yard, his duties and emoluments, hitherto fixed by the executive,
will be a more proper subject for legislation. A communication
will also be made of our progress in the execution of the law respecting
the vessels directed to be sold.
The fortifications of our harbors, more or less advanced, present
considerations of great difficulty. While some of them are
on a scale sufficiently proportioned to the advantages of their
position, to the efficacy of their protection, and the importance
of the points within it, others are so extensive, will cost so much
in their first erection, so much in their maintenance, and require
such a force to garrison them, as to make it questionable what is
best now to be done. A statement of those commenced or projected,
of the expenses already incurred, and estimates of their
future cost, so far as can be foreseen, shall be laid before you,
that you may be enabled to judge whether any attention is necessary
in the laws respecting this subject.
Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the four
pillars of our prosperity, are the most thriving when left most
free to individual enterprise. Protection from casual embarrassments,
however, may sometimes be seasonably interposed. If in
the course of your observations or inquiries they should appear to
need any aid within the limits of our constitutional powers, your
sense of their importance is a sufficient assurance they will occupy
your attention. We cannot, indeed, but all feel an anxious solicitude
for the difficulties under which our carrying trade will
soon be placed. How far it can be relieved, otherwise than by
time, is a subject of important consideration.
The judiciary system of the United States, and especially that
portion of it recently erected, will of course present itself to the
contemplation of Congress; and that they may be able to judge
of the proportion which the institution bears to the business it
has to perform, I have caused to be procured from the several
States, and now lay before Congress, an exact statement of all
the causes decided since the first establishment of the courts, and
of those which were depending when additional courts and
judges were brought in to their aid.
And while on the judiciary organization, it will be worthy
your consideration, whether the protection of the inestimable institution
of juries has been extended to all the cases involving the
security of our persons and property. Their impartial selection
also being essential to their value, we ought further to consider
whether that is sufficiently secured in those States where they
are named by a marshal depending on executive will, or designated
by the court or by officers dependent on them.
I cannot omit recommending a revisal of the laws on the
subject of naturalization. Considering the ordinary chances of
human life, a denial of citizenship under a residence of fourteen
years is a denial to a great proportion of those who ask it, and
controls a policy pursued from their first settlement by many of
these States, and still believed of consequence to their prosperity.
And shall we refuse the unhappy fugitives from distress that hospitality
which the savages of the wilderness extended to our
fathers arriving in this land? Shall oppressed humanity find no
asylum on this globe? The constitution, indeed, has wisely
provided that, for admission to certain offices of important trust,
a residence shall be required sufficient to develop character and
design. But might not the general character and capabilities of
a citizen be safely communicated to every one manifesting a
_bonâ fide_ purpose of embarking his life and fortunes permanently
with us? with restrictions, perhaps, to guard against the fraudulent
usurpation of our flag; an abuse which brings so much
embarrassment and loss on the genuine citizen, and so much
danger to the nation of being involved in war, that no endeavor
should be spared to detect and suppress it.
These, fellow citizens, are the matters respecting the state of
the nation, which I have thought of importance to be submitted
to your consideration at this time. Some others of less moment,
or not yet ready for communication, will be the subject of separate
messages. I am happy in this opportunity of committing
the arduous affairs of our government to the collected wisdom
of the Union. Nothing shall be wanting on my part to inform,
as far as in my power, the legislative judgment, nor to carry that
judgment into faithful execution. The prudence and temperance
of your discussions will promote, within your own walls,
that conciliation which so much befriends rational conclusion;
and by its example will encourage among our constituents that
progress of opinion which is tending to unite them in object and
in will. That all should be satisfied with any one order of things
is not to be expected, but I indulge the pleasing persuasion that
the great body of our citizens will cordially concur in honest and
disinterested efforts, which have for their object to preserve the
general and State governments in their constitutional form and
equilibrium; to maintain peace abroad, and order and obedience
to the laws at home; to establish principles and practices of administration
favorable to the security of liberty and property, and
to reduce expenses to what is necessary for the useful purposes
of government.
SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.--DECEMBER 15, 1802.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
When we assemble together, fellow citizens, to consider the
state of our beloved country, our just attentions are first drawn
to those pleasing circumstances which mark the goodness of that
Being from whose favor they flow, and the large measure of
thankfulness we owe for his bounty. Another year has come
around, and finds us still blessed with peace and friendship
abroad; law, order, and religion, at home; good affection and
harmony with our Indian neighbors; our burdens lightened, yet
our income sufficient for the public wants, and the produce of
the year great beyond example. These, fellow citizens, are the
circumstances under which we meet; and we remark with special
satisfaction, those which, under the smiles of Providence, result
from the skill, industry and order of our citizens, managing their
own affairs in their own way and for their own use, unembarrassed
by too much regulations, unoppressed by fiscal exactions.
On the restoration of peace in Europe, that portion of the general
carrying trade which had fallen to our share during the
war, was abridged by the returning competition of the belligerent
powers. This was to be expected, and was just. But in addition
we find in some parts of Europe monopolizing discriminations,
which, in the form of duties, tend effectually to prohibit
the carrying thither our own produce in our own vessels. From
existing amities, and a spirit of justice, it is hoped that friendly
discussion will produce a fair and adequate reciprocity. But
should false calculations of interest defeat our hope, it rests with
the legislature to decide whether they will meet inequalities
abroad with countervailing inequalities at home, or provide for
the evil in any other way.
It is with satisfaction I lay before you an act of the British
parliament anticipating this subject so far as to authorize a mutual
abolition of the duties and countervailing duties permitted
under the treaty of 1794. It shows on their part a spirit of justice
and friendly accommodation which it is our duty and our
interest to cultivate with all nations. Whether this would produce
a due equality in the navigation between the two countries,
is a subject for your consideration.
Another circumstance which claims attention, as directly affecting
the very source of our navigation, is the defect or the
evasion of the law providing for the return of seamen, and particularly
of those belonging to vessels sold abroad. Numbers of
them, discharged in foreign ports, have been thrown on the
hands of our consuls, who, to rescue them from the dangers into
which their distresses might plunge them, and save them to their
country, have found it necessary in some cases to return them at
the public charge.
The cession of the Spanish province of Louisiana to France,
which took place in the course of the late war, will, if carried
into effect, make a change in the aspect of our foreign relations
which will doubtless have a just weight in any deliberations of
the legislature connected with that subject.
There was reason, not long since, to apprehend that the warfare
in which we were engaged with Tripoli might be taken up
by some others of the Barbary powers. A reinforcement, therefore,
was immediately ordered to the vessels already there.
Subsequent information, however, has removed these apprehensions
for the present. To secure our commerce in that sea with
the smallest force competent, we have supposed it best to watch
strictly the harbor of Tripoli. Still, however, the shallowness
of their coast, and the want of smaller vessels on our part, has
permitted some cruisers to escape unobserved; and to one of
these an American vessel unfortunately fell a prey. The captain,
one American seamen, and two others of color, remain
prisoners with them unless exchanged under an agreement formerly
made with the bashaw, to whom, on the faith of that, some
of his captive subjects had been restored.
The convention with the State of Georgia has been ratified
by their legislature, and a repurchase from the Creeks has been
consequently made of a part of the Tallahassee county. In this
purchase has been also comprehended part of the lands within
the fork of Oconee and Oakmulgee rivers. The particulars of
the contract will be laid before Congress so soon as they shall be
in a state for communication.
In order to remove every ground of difference possible with
our Indian neighbors, I have proceeded in the work of settling
with them and marking the boundaries between us. That with
the Choctaw nation is fixed in one part, and will be through the
whole in a short time. The country to which their title had
been extinguished before the revolution is sufficient to receive a
very respectable population, which Congress will probably see
the expediency of encouraging so soon as the limits shall be declared.
We are to view this position as an outpost of the United
States, surrounded by strong neighbors and distant from its
support. And how far that monopoly which prevents population
should here be guarded against, and actual habitation made
a condition of the continuance of title, will be for your consideration.
A prompt settlement, too, of all existing rights and
claims within this territory, presents itself as a preliminary operation.
In that part of the Indian territory which includes Vincennes,
the lines settled with the neighboring tribes fix the extinction
of their title at a breadth of twenty-four leagues from east to
west, and about the same length parallel with and including the
Wabash. They have also ceded a tract of four miles square, including
the salt springs near the mouth of the river.
In the department of finance it is with pleasure I inform you
that the receipts of external duties for the last twelve months
have exceeded those of any former year, and that the ratio of
increase has been also greater than usual. This has enabled us
to answer all the regular exigencies of government, to pay from
the treasury in one year upward of eight millions of dollars,
principal and interest, of the public debt, exclusive of upward
of one million paid by the sale of bank stock, and making in
the whole a reduction of nearly five millions and a half of
principal; and to have now in the treasury four millions and a
half of dollars, which are in a course of application to a further
discharge of debt and current demands. Experience, too,
so far, authorizes us to believe, if no extraordinary event supervenes,
and the expenses which will be actually incurred shall
not be greater than were contemplated by Congress at their last
session, that we shall not be disappointed in the expectations
then formed. But nevertheless, as the effect of peace on the
amount of duties is not yet fully ascertained, it is the more
necessary to practice every useful economy, and to incur no expense
which may be avoided without prejudice.
The collection of the internal taxes having been completed in
some of the States, the officers employed in it are of course out
of commission. In others, they will be so shortly. But in a
few, where the arrangement for the direct tax had been retarded,
it will still be some time before the system is closed. It has not
yet been thought necessary to employ the agent authorized by
an act of the last session for transacting business in Europe relative
to debts and loans. Nor have we used the power confided
by the same act, of prolonging the foreign debts by reloans, and
of redeeming, instead thereof, an equal sum of the domestic
debt. Should, however, the difficulties of remittances on so
large a scale render it necessary at any time, the power shall be
executed, and the money thus unemployed abroad shall, in conformity
with that law, be faithfully applied here in an equivalent
extinction of domestic debt. When effects so salutary result
from the plans you have already sanctioned, when merely by
avoiding false objects of expense we are able, without a direct
tax, without internal taxes, and without borrowing, to make large
and effectual payments toward the discharge of our public debt
and the emancipation of our posterity from that moral canker, it
is an encouragement, fellow citizens, of the highest order, to
proceed as we have begun, in substituting economy for taxation,
and in pursuing what is useful for a nation placed as we are,
rather than what is practiced by others under different circumstances.
And whensoever we are destined to meet events which
shall call forth all the energies of our countrymen, we have the
firmest reliance on those energies, and the comfort of leaving
for calls like these the extraordinary resources of loans and internal
taxes. In the meantime, by payments of the principal of
our debt, we are liberating, annually, portions of the external
taxes, and forming from them a growing fund still further to
lessen the necessity of recurring to extraordinary resources.
The usual accounts of receipts and expenditures for the last
year, with an estimate of the expenses of the ensuing one, will
be laid before you by the secretary of the treasury.
No change being deemed necessary in our military establishment,
an estimate of its expenses for the ensuing year on its
present footing, as also of the sums to be employed in fortifications
and other objects within that department, has been prepared
by the secretary of war, and will make a part of the general
estimates which will be presented to you.
Considering that our regular troops are employed for local purposes,
and that the militia is our general reliance for great and
sudden emergencies, you will doubtless think this institution
worthy of a review, and give it those improvements of which
you find it susceptible.
Estimates for the naval department, prepared by the secretary
of the navy for another year, will in like manner be communicated
with the general estimates. A small force in the Mediterranean
will still be necessary to restrain the Tripoline cruisers,
and the uncertain tenure of peace with some other of the Barbary
powers, may eventually require that force to be augmented.
The necessity of procuring some smaller vessels for that service
will raise the estimate, but the difference in their maintenance
will soon make it a measure of economy.
Presuming it will be deemed expedient to expend annually a
sum towards providing the naval defence which our situation
may require, I cannot but recommend that the first appropriations
for that purpose may go to the saving what we already possess.
No cares, no attentions, can preserve vessels from rapid decay
which lie in water and exposed to the sun. These decays require
great and constant repairs, and will consume, if continued, a
great portion of the money destined to naval purposes. To
avoid this waste of our resources, it is proposed to add to our
navy-yard here a dock, within which our vessels may be laid up
dry and under cover from the sun. Under these circumstances
experience proves that works of wood will remain scarcely at all
affected by time. The great abundance of running water which
this situation possesses, at heights far above the level of the tide,
if employed as is practised for lock navigation, furnishes the
means of raising and laying up our vessels on a dry and sheltered
bed. And should the measure be found useful here, similar depositories
for laying up as well as for building and repairing vessels
may hereafter be undertaken at other navy-yards offering the
same means. The plans and estimates of the work, prepared
by a person of skill and experience, will be presented to you
without delay; and from this it will be seen that scarcely more
than has been the cost of one vessel is necessary to save the
whole, and that the annual sum to be employed toward its completion
may be adapted to the views of the legislature as to naval
expenditure.
To cultivate peace and maintain commerce and navigation in
all their lawful enterprises; to foster our fisheries and nurseries
of navigation and for the nurture of man, and protect the manufactures
adapted to our circumstances; to preserve the faith of
the nation by an exact discharge of its debts and contracts, expend
the public money with the same care and economy we
would practise with our own, and impose on our citizens no unnecessary
burden; to keep in all things within the pale of our
constitutional powers, and cherish the federal union as the only
rock of safety--these, fellow-citizens, are the landmarks by
which we are to guide ourselves in all our proceedings. By continuing
to make these our rule of action, we shall endear to our
countrymen the true principles of their constitution, and promote
a union of sentiment and of action equally auspicious to their
happiness and safety. On my part, you may count on a cordial
concurrence in every measure for the public good, and on
all the information I possess which may enable you to discharge
to advantage the high functions with which you are invested by
your country.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 28, 1802.[1]
_Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives_:--
I lay before you the accounts of our Indian trading houses,
as rendered up to the first day of January, 1801, with a report
of the secretary of war thereon, explaining the effects and the
situation of that commerce, and the reasons in favor of its farther
extension. But it is believed that the act authorizing this trade
expired so long ago as the 3d of March, 1799. Its revival, therefore,
as well as its extension, is submitted to the consideration of
the legislature.
The act regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian
tribes will also expire on the 3d day of March next. While on
the subject of its continuance, it will be worthy the consideration
of the legislature, whether the provisions of the law inflicting
on Indians, in certain cases, the punishment of death by
hanging, might not permit its commutation into death by military
execution, the form of the punishment in the former way
being peculiarly repugnant to their ideas, and increasing the obstacles
to the surrender of the criminal.
These people are becoming very sensible of the baneful effects
produced on their morals, their health and existence, by the
abuse of ardent spirits, and some of them earnestly desire a prohibition
of that article from being carried among them. The
legislature will consider whether the effectuating that desire
would not be in the spirit of benevolence and liberality which
they have hitherto practised toward these our neighbors, and
which has had so happy an effect toward conciliating their
friendship. It has been found too, in experience, that the same
abuse gives frequent rise to incidents tending much to commit
our peace with the Indians.
It is now become necessary to run and mark the boundaries
between them and us in various parts. The law last mentioned
has authorized this to be done, but no existing appropriation
meets the expense.
Certain papers, explanatory of the grounds of this communication,
are herewith enclosed.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] See Confidential Message recommending a Western Exploring
Expedition in Appendix, p. 241 of this volume.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 24, 1803.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives_:--
I lay before you a report of the secretary of state on the case
of the Danish brigantine Henrick, taken by a French privateer
in 1799, retaken by an armed vessel of the United States, carried
into a British island and there adjudged to be neutral, but under
an allowance of such salvage and costs as absorbed nearly the
whole amount of sales of the vessel and cargo. Indemnification
for these losses, occasioned by our officers, is now claimed
by the sufferers, supported by the representation of their government.
I have no doubt the legislature will give to the subject
that just attention and consideration which it is useful as well as
honorable to practise in our transactions with other nations, and
particularly with one which has observed toward us the most
friendly treatment and regard.
THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.--OCTOBER 17, 1803.
_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 last 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
while so important a key to the commerce of the western country
remained under 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. 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,
friendship, and interests of both; and the property and sovereignty
of all Louisiana, which had been restored to them, have 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 also, for
the exercise of their functions, as to those conditions which are
within the powers vested by the constitution in Congress. While
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 field 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 of 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.
Another important acquisition of territory has also been made
since the last session of Congress. The friendly tribe of Kaskaskia
Indians with which we have never had a difference, reduced
by the wars and wants of savage life to a few individuals
unable to defend themselves against the neighboring tribes, has
transferred its country to the United States, reserving only for its
members what is sufficient to maintain them in an agricultural
way. The considerations stipulated are, that we shall extend
to them our patronage and protection, and give them certain annual
aids in money, in implements of agriculture, and other articles
of their choice. This country, among the most fertile
within our limits, extending along the Mississippi from the
mouth of the Illinois to and up the Ohio, though not so necessary
as a barrier since the acquisition of the other bank, may yet
be well worthy of being laid open to immediate settlement, as
its inhabitants may descend with rapidity in support of the lower
country should future circumstances expose that to foreign enterprize.
As the stipulations in this treaty also involve matters
within the competence of both houses only, it will be laid before
Congress as soon as the senate shall have advised its ratification.
With many other Indian tribes, improvements in agriculture
and household manufacture are advancing, and with all our
peace and friendship are established on grounds much firmer
than heretofore. The measure adopted of establishing trading
houses among them, and of furnishing them necessaries in exchange
for their commodities, at such moderated prices as leave
no gain, but cover us from loss, has the most conciliatory and
useful effect upon them, and is that which will best secure their
peace and good will.
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 demarkation 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.
The amount of debt paid for the same year is about three
millions one hundred thousand dollars, exclusive of interest, and
making, with the payment of the preceding year, a discharge of
more than eight millions and a half of dollars of the principal of
that debt, besides the accruing interest; and there remain in the
treasury nearly six millions of dollars. Of these, eight hundred
and eighty thousand have been reserved for payment of the first
instalment due under the British convention of January 8th,
1802, and two millions are what have been before mentioned as
placed by Congress under the power and accountability of the
president, toward the price of New Orleans and other territories
acquired, which, remaining untouched, are still applicable to
that object, and go in diminution of the sum to be funded for it.
Should the acquisition of Louisiana be constitutionally confirmed
and carried into effect, a sum of nearly thirteen millions of
dollars will then be added to our public debt, most of which is
payable after fifteen years; before which term the present existing
debts will all be discharged by the established operation of
the sinking fund. When we contemplate the ordinary annual
augmentation of imposts from increasing population and wealth,
the augmentation of the same revenue by its extension to the
new acquisition, and the economies which may still be introduced
into our public expenditures, I cannot but hope that Congress
in reviewing their resources will find means to meet the
intermediate interests of this additional debt without recurring
to new taxes, and applying to this object only the ordinary
progression of our revenue. Its extraordinary increase in times
of foreign war will be the proper and sufficient fund for any
measures of safety or precaution which that state of things may
render necessary in our neutral position.
Remittances for the instalments of our foreign debt having
been found practicable without loss, it has not been thought expedient
to use the power given by a former act of Congress of
continuing them by reloans, and of redeeming instead thereof
equal sums of domestic debt, although no difficulty was found
in obtaining that accommodation.
The sum of fifty thousand dollars appropriated by Congress
for providing gun-boats, remains unexpended. The favorable
and peaceful turn of affairs on the Mississippi rendered an immediate
execution of that law unnecessary, and time was desirable
in order that the institution of that branch of our force might
begin on models the most approved by experience. The same
issue of events dispensed with a resort to the appropriation of a
million and a half of dollars contemplated for purposes which
were effected by happier means.
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
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 incessant 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, toward 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. Congress will consider whether the existing laws enable
us efficaciously to maintain this course with our citizens in
all places, and with others while within the limits of our jurisdiction,
and will give them the new modifications necessary for
these objects. Some contraventions of right have already taken
place, both within our jurisdictional limits and on the high seas.
The friendly disposition of the governments from whose agents
they have proceeded, as well as their wisdom and regard for justice,
leave us in reasonable expectation that they will be rectified
and prevented in future; and that no act will be countenanced
by them which threatens to disturb our friendly intercourse.
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 umpirage 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 toward 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 carrying into execution with the fidelity I owe to
my country.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--OCTOBER 21, 1803.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
In my communication to you of the 17th instant, I informed
you that conventions had been entered into with the government
of France for the cession of Louisiana to the United
States. These, with the advice and consent of the Senate,
having now been ratified, and my ratification exchanged for
that of the first consul of France in due form, they are communicated
to you for consideration in your legislative capacity.
You will observe that some important conditions cannot be carried
into execution, but with the aid of the legislature; and that
time presses a decision on them without delay.
The ulterior provisions, also suggested in the same communication,
for the occupation and government of the country, will
call for early attention. Such information relative to its government,
as time and distance have enabled me to obtain, will be
ready to be laid before you within a few days. But, as permanent
arrangements for this object may require time and deliberation,
it is for your consideration whether you will not, forthwith,
make such temporary provisions for the preservation, in the
meanwhile, of order and tranquillity in the country, as the case
may require.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--NOVEMBER 4, 1803.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
By the copy now communicated of a letter from Captain Bainbridge
of the Philadelphia frigate, to our consul at Gibraltar,
you will learn that an act of hostility has been committed on a
merchant vessel of the United States by an armed ship of the
Emperor of Morocco. This conduct on the part of that power
is without cause and without explanation. It is fortunate that
Captain Bainbridge fell in with and took the capturing vessel
and her prize; and I have the satisfaction to inform you, that
about the date of this transaction such a force would be arriving
in the neighborhood of Gibraltar, both from the east and the
west, as leaves less to be feared for our commerce from the suddenness
of the aggression.
On the 4th of September, the Constitution frigate, Captain
Preble, with Mr. Lear on board, was within two days' sail of
Gibraltar, where the Philadelphia would then be arrived with
her prize, and such explanations would probably be instituted as
the state of thing required, and as might perhaps arrest the progress
of hostilities.
In the meanwhile it is for Congress to consider the provisional
authorities which may be necessary to restrain the depredations
of this power, should they be continued.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--NOVEMBER 25, 1803.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
The treaty with the Kaskaskia Indians being ratified with
the advice and consent of the Senate, it is now laid before both
houses, in their legislative capacity. It will inform them of the
obligations which the United States thereby contract, and particularly
that of taking the tribe under their future protection;
and that the ceded country is submitted to their immediate possession
and disposal.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--DECEMBER 5, 1803.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the act of hostility
mentioned in my message of the 4th of November to have
been committed by a cruiser of the emperor of Morocco on a
vessel of the United States, has been disavowed by the emperor.
All difficulties in consequence thereof have been amicably adjusted,
and the treaty of 1786, between this country and that,
has been recognized and confirmed by the emperor, each party
restoring to the other what had been detained or taken. I enclose
the emperor's orders given on this occasion.
The conduct of our officers generally, who have had a part in
these transactions, has merited entire approbation.
The temperate and correct course pursued by our consul, Mr.
Simpson, the promptitude and energy of Commodore Preble, the
efficacious co-operation of Captains Rodgers and Campbell of
the returning squadron, the proper decision of Captain Bainbridge
that a vessel which had committed an open hostility was
of right to be detained for inquiry and consideration, and the
general zeal of the other officers and men, are honorable facts
which I make known with pleasure. And to these I add what
was indeed transacted in another quarter--the gallant enterprise
of Captain Rodgers in destroying, on the coast of Tripoli, a corvette
of that power, of twenty-two guns.
I recommended to the consideration of Congress a just indemnification
for the interest acquired by the captors of the
Mishouda and Mirboha, yielded by them for the public accommodation.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 16, 1804.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
In execution of the act of the present session of Congress
for taking possession of Louisiana, as ceded to us by France, and
for the temporary government thereof, Governor Claiborne, of
the Mississippi territory, and General Wilkinson, were appointed
commissioners to receive possession. They proceeded with such
regular troops as had been assembled at Fort Adams, from the
nearest posts, and with some militia of the Mississippi territory,
to New Orleans. To be prepared for anything unexpected,
which might arise out of the transaction, a respectable body of
militia was ordered to be in readiness, in the States of Ohio,
Kentucky, and Tennessee, and a part of those of Tennessee
was moved on to Natchez. No occasion, however, arose for
their services. Our commissioners, on their arrival at New Orleans,
found the province already delivered by the commissaries
of Spain to that of France, who delivered it over to them on
the twentieth day of December, as appears by their declaratory
act accompanying it. Governor Claiborne being duly invested
with the powers heretofore exercised by the governor and intendant
of Louisiana, assumed the government on the same day,
and for the maintenance of law and order, immediately issued
the proclamation and address now communicated.
On this important acquisition, so favorable to the immediate
interests of our western citizens, so auspicious to the peace and
security of the nation in general, which adds to our country territories
so extensive and fertile, and to our citizens new brethren
to partake of the blessings of freedom and self-government, I offer
to Congress and the country, my sincere congratulations.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--MARCH 20, 1804.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
I communicate to Congress, a letter received from Captain
Bainbridge, commander of the Philadelphia frigate, informing us
of the wreck of that vessel on the coast of Tripoli, and that himself,
his officers, and men, had fallen into the hands of the Tripolitans.
This accident renders it expedient to increase our
force, and enlarge our expenses in the Mediterranean beyond
what the last appropriation for the naval service contemplated.
I recommend, therefore, to the consideration of Congress, such
an addition to that appropriation as they may think the exigency
requires.
FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.--NOVEMBER 8, 1804.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
To a people, fellow citizens, who sincerely desire the happiness
and prosperity of other nations; to those who justly calculate
that their own well-being is advanced by that of the nations
with which they have intercourse, it will be a satisfaction to observe
that the war which was lighted up in Europe a little before
our last meeting has not yet extended its flames to other nations,
nor been marked by the calamities which sometimes stain
the footsteps of war. The irregularities too on the ocean, which
generally harass the commerce of neutral nations, have, in distant
parts, disturbed ours less than on former occasions. But in the
American seas they have been greater from peculiar causes; and
even within our harbors and jurisdiction, infringements on the
authority of the laws have been committed which have called
for serious attention. The friendly conduct of the governments
from whose officers and subjects these acts have proceeded, in
other respects and in places more under their observation and
control, gives us confidence that our representations on this subject
will have been properly regarded.
While noticing the irregularities committed on the ocean by
others, those on our own part should not be omitted nor left unprovided
for. Complaints have been received that persons residing
within the United States have taken on themselves to arm
merchant vessels, and to force a commerce into certain ports and
countries in defiance of the laws of those countries. That individuals
should undertake to wage private war, independently
of the authority of their country, cannot be permitted in a well-ordered
society. Its tendency to produce aggression on the laws
and rights of other nations, and to endanger the peace of our
own is so obvious, that I doubt not you will adopt measures for
restraining it effectually in future.
Soon after the passage of the act of the last session, authorizing
the establishment of a district and port of entry on the waters
of the Mobile, we learnt that its object was misunderstood on
the part of Spain. Candid explanations were immediately given,
and assurances that, reserving our claims in that quarter as a subject
of discussion and arrangement with Spain, no act was meditated,
in the meantime, inconsistent with the peace and friendship
existing between the two nations, and that conformably to these
intentions would be the execution of the law. That government
had, however, thought proper to suspend the ratification of the
convention of 1802. But the explanations which would reach
them soon after, and still more, the confirmation of them by the
tenor of the instrument establishing the port and district, may
reasonably be expected to replace them in the dispositions and
views of the whole subject which originally dictated the conviction.
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the objections which
had been urged by that government against the validity of our
title to the country of Louisiana have been withdrawn, its exact
limits, however, remaining still to be settled between us. And
to this is to be added that, having prepared and delivered the
stock created in execution of the convention of Paris, of April
30, 1803, in consideration of the cession of that country, we
have received from the government of France an acknowledgment,
in due form, of the fulfilment of that stipulation.
With the nations of Europe in general our friendship and intercourse
are undisturbed, and from the governments of the belligerent
powers especially we continue to receive those friendly
manifestations which are justly due to an honest neutrality, and
to such good offices consistent with that as we have opportunities
of rendering.
The activity and success of the small force employed in the
Mediterranean in the early part of the present year, the reinforcement
sent into that sea, and the energy of the officers having
command in the several vessels, will, I trust, by the sufferings
of war, reduce the barbarians of Tripoli to the desire of
peace on proper terms. Great injury, however, ensues to ourselves
as well as to others interested, from the distance to which
prizes must be brought for adjudication, and from the impracticability
of bringing hither such as are not seaworthy.
The bey of Tunis having made requisitions unauthorized by
our treaty, their rejection has produced from him some expressions
of discontent. But to those who expect us to calculate
whether a compliance with unjust demands will not cost us less
than a war, we must leave as a question of calculation for them,
also, whether to retire from unjust demands will not cost them
less than a war. We can do to each other very sensible injuries
by war, but the mutual advantages of peace make that the best
interest of both.
Peace and intercourse with the other powers on the same
coast continue on the footing on which they are established by
treaty.
In pursuance of the act providing for the temporary government
of Louisiana, the necessary officers for the territory of
Orleans were appointed in due time, to commence the exercise
of their functions on the first day of October. The distance,
however, of some of them, and indispensable previous arrangements,
may have retarded its commencement in some of its
parts; the form of government thus provided having been considered
but as temporary, and open to such improvements as
further information of the circumstances of our brethren there
might suggest, it will of course be subject to your consideration.
In the district of Louisiana, it has been thought best to adopt
the division into subordinate districts, which had been established
under its former government. These being five in number,
a commanding officer has been appointed to each, according to
the provision of the law, and so soon as they can be at their station,
that district will also be in its due state of organization;
in the meantime their places are supplied by the officers before
commanding there. The functions of the governor and judges
of Indiana have commenced; the government, we presume, is
proceeding in its new form. The lead mines in that district offer
so rich a supply of that metal, as to merit attention. The report
now communicated will inform you of their state, and of
the necessity of immediate inquiry into their occupation and
titles.
With the Indian tribes established within our newly-acquired
limits, I have deemed it necessary to open conferences for the
purpose of establishing a good understanding and neighborly relations
between us. So far as we have yet learned, we have
reason to believe that their dispositions are generally favorable
and friendly; and with these dispositions on their part, we have
in our own hands means which cannot fail us for preserving
their peace and friendship. By pursuing a uniform course of
justice toward them, by aiding them in all the improvements
which may better their condition, and especially by establishing
a commerce on terms which shall be advantageous to them and
only not losing to us, and so regulated as that no incendiaries of
our own or any other nation may be permitted to disturb the natural
effects of our just and friendly offices, we may render ourselves
so necessary to their comfort and prosperity, that the protection
of our citizens from their disorderly members will become
their interest and their voluntary care. Instead, therefore, of an
augmentation of military force proportioned to our extension of
frontier, I proposed a moderate enlargement of the capital employed
in that commerce, as a more effectual, economical, and
humane instrument for preserving peace and good neighborhood
with them.
On this side the Mississippi an important relinquishment of
native title has been received from the Delawares. That tribe,
desiring to extinguish in their people the spirit of hunting, and
to convert superfluous lands into the means of improving what
they retain, have ceded to us all the country between the Wabash
and the Ohio, south of, and including the road from the
rapids towards Vincennes, for which they are to receive annuities
in animals and implements for agriculture, and in other
necessaries. This acquisition is important, not only for its extent
and fertility, but as fronting three hundred miles on the
Ohio, and near half that on the Wabash. The produce of the settled
countries descending those rivers, will no longer pass in review
of the Indian frontier but in a small portion, and with the
cession heretofore made with the Kaskaskias, nearly consolidates
our possessions north of the Ohio, in a very respectable breadth,
from Lake Erie to the Mississippi. The Piankeshaws having
some claim to the country ceded by the Delawares, it has been
thought best to quiet that by fair purchase also. So soon as the
treaties on this subject shall have received their constitutional
sanctions, they shall be laid before both houses.
The act of Congress of February 28th, 1803, for building and
employing a number of gun-boats, is now in a course of execution
to the extent there provided for. The obstacle to naval enterprise
which vessels of this construction offer for our seaport
towns; their utility toward supporting within our waters the
authority of the laws; the promptness with which they will be
manned by the seamen and militia of the place the moment
they are wanting; the facility of their assembling from different
parts of the coast to any point where they are required in greater
force than ordinary; the economy of their maintenance and preservation
from decay when not in actual service; and the competence
of our finances to this defensive provision, without any
new burden, are considerations which will have due weight
with Congress in deciding on the expediency of adding to their
number from year to year, as experience shall test their utility,
until all our important harbors, by these and auxiliary means,
shall be insured against insult and opposition to the laws.
No circumstance has arisen since your last session which calls
for any augmentation of our regular military force. Should any
improvement occur in the militia system, that will be always
seasonable.
Accounts of the receipts and expenditures of the last year,
with estimates for the ensuing one, will as usual be laid before
you.
The state of our finances continue to fulfil our expectations.
Eleven millions and a half of dollars, received in the course of
the year ending on the 30th of September last, have enabled us,
after meeting all the ordinary expenses of the year, to pay upward
of $3,600,000 of the public debt, exclusive of interest.
This payment, with those of the two preceding years, has extinguished
upward of twelve millions of the principal, and a greater
sum of interest, within that period; and by a proportional diminution
of interest, renders already sensible the effect of the
growing sum yearly applicable to the discharge of the principal.
It is also ascertained that the revenue accrued during the last
year, exceeds that of the preceding; and the probable receipts
of the ensuing year may safely be relied on as sufficient, with
the sum already in the treasury, to meet all the current demands
of the year, to discharge upward of three millions and a half of
the engagements incurred under the British and French conventions,
and to advance in the farther redemption of the funded
debts as rapidly as had been contemplated. These, fellow
citizens, are the principal matters which I have thought it necessary
at this time to communicate for your consideration and
attention. Some others will be laid before you in the course of
the session, but in the discharge of the great duties confided to
you by our country, you will take a broader view of the field of
legislation. Whether the great interests of agriculture, manufactures,
commerce, or navigation, can, within the pale of your
constitutional powers, be aided in any of their relations; whether
laws are provided in all cases where they are wanting; whether
those provided are exactly what they should be; whether any
abuses take place in their administration, or in that of the public
revenues; whether the organization of the public agents or of
the public force is perfect in all its parts; in fine, whether anything
can be done to advance the general good, are questions
within the limits of your functions which will necessarily occupy
your attention. In these and other matters which you in your
wisdom may propose for the good of our country, you may
count with assurance on my hearty co-operation and faithful
execution.
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS.--MARCH 4, 1805.
Proceeding, fellow citizens, to that qualification which the
constitution requires, before my entrance on the charge again
conferred upon me, it is my duty to express the deep sense I entertain
of this new proof of confidence from my fellow citizens
at large, and the zeal with which it inspires me, so to conduct
myself as may best satisfy their just expectations.
On taking this station on a former occasion, I declared the
principles on which I believed it my duty to administer the affairs
of our commonwealth. My conscience tells me that I have,
on every occasion, acted up to that declaration, according to its
obvious import, and to the understanding of every candid mind.
In the transaction of your foreign affairs, we have endeavored
to cultivate the friendship of all nations, and especially of those
with which we have the most important relations. We have
done them justice on all occasions, favored where favor was lawful,
and cherished mutual interests and intercourse on fair and
equal terms. We are firmly convinced, and we act on that conviction,
that with nations, as with individuals, our interests
soundly calculated, will ever be found inseparable from our moral
duties; and history bears witness to the fact, that a just nation is
taken on its word, when recourse is had to armaments and wars
to bridle others.
At home, fellow citizens, you best know whether we have
done well or ill. The suppression of unnecessary offices, of useless
establishments and expenses, enabled us to discontinue our
internal taxes. These covering our land with officers, and opening
our doors to their intrusions, had already begun that process
of domiciliary vexation which, once entered, is scarcely to be
restrained from reaching successively every article of produce
and property. If among these taxes some minor ones fell which
had not been inconvenient, it was because their amount would
not have paid the officers who collected them, and because, if
they had any merit, the state authorities might adopt them, instead
of others less approved.
The remaining revenue on the consumption of foreign articles,
is paid cheerfully by those who can afford to add foreign luxuries
to domestic comforts, being collected on our seaboards and
frontiers only, and incorporated with the transactions of our mercantile
citizens, it may be the pleasure and pride of an American
to ask, what farmer, what mechanic, what laborer, ever sees a
tax-gatherer of the United States? These contributions enable
us to support the current expenses of the government, to fulfil
contracts with foreign nations, to extinguish the native right of
soil within our limits, to extend those limits, and to apply such
a surplus to our public debts, as places at a short day their final
redemption, and that redemption once effected, the revenue
thereby liberated may, by a just repartition among the states, and
a corresponding amendment of the constitution, be applied, _in
time of peace_, to rivers, canals, roads, arts, manufactures, education,
and other great objects within each state. _In time of war_,
if injustice, by ourselves or others, must sometimes produce war,
increased as the same revenue will be increased by population
and consumption, and aided by other resources reserved for that
crisis, it may meet within the year all the expenses of the year,
without encroaching on the rights of future generations, by burdening
them with the debts of the past. War will then be but
a suspension of useful works, and a return to a state of peace, a
return to the progress of improvement.
I have said, fellow citizens, that the income reserved had enabled
us to extend our limits; but that extension may possibly
pay for itself before we are called on, and in the meantime, may
keep down the accruing interest; in all events, it will repay the
advances we have made. I know that the acquisition of Louisiana
has been disapproved by some, from a candid apprehension
that the enlargement of our territory would endanger its union.
But who can limit the extent to which the federative principle
may operate effectively? The larger our association, the less
will it be shaken by local passions; and in any view, is it not better
that the opposite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by
our own brethren and children, than by strangers of another family?
With which shall we be most likely to live in harmony
and friendly intercourse?
In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise
is placed by the constitution independent of the powers of the
general government. I have therefore undertaken, on no occasion,
to prescribe the religious exercises suited to it; but have
left them, as the constitution found them, under the direction
and discipline of state or church authorities acknowledged by
the several religious societies.
The aboriginal inhabitants of these countries I have regarded
with the commiseration their history inspires. Endowed with
the faculties and the rights of men, breathing an ardent love of
liberty and independence, and occupying a country which left
them no desire but to be undisturbed, the stream of overflowing
population from other regions directed itself on these shores;
without power to divert, or habits to contend against, they have
been overwhelmed by the current, or driven before it; now reduced
within limits too narrow for the hunter's state, humanity
enjoins us to teach them agriculture and the domestic arts; to
encourage them to that industry which alone can enable them
to maintain their place in existence, and to prepare them in time
for that state of society, which to bodily comforts adds the improvement
of the mind and morals. We have therefore liberally
furnished them with the implements of husbandry and household
use; we have placed among them instructors in the arts of
first necessity; and they are covered with the ægis of the law
against aggressors from among ourselves.
But the endeavors to enlighten them on the fate which awaits
their present course of life, to induce them to exercise their
reason, follow its dictates, and change their pursuits with the
change of circumstances, have powerful obstacles to encounter;
they are combated by the habits of their bodies, prejudice of
their minds, ignorance, pride, and the influence of interested and
crafty individuals among them, who feel themselves something
in the present order of things, and fear to become nothing in any
other. These persons inculcate a sanctimonious reverence for
the customs of their ancestors; that whatsoever they did, must
be done through all time; that reason is a false guide, and to advance
under its counsel, in their physical, moral, or political
condition, is perilous innovation; that their duty is to remain as
their Creator made them, ignorance being safety, and knowledge
full of danger; in short, my friends, among them is seen the
action and counteraction of good sense and bigotry; they, too,
have their anti-philosophers, who find an interest in keeping
things in their present state, who dread reformation, and exert
all their faculties to maintain the ascendency of habit over the
duty of improving our reason, and obeying its mandates.
In giving these outlines, I do not mean, fellow citizens, to arrogate
to myself the merit of the measures; that is due, in the
first place, to the reflecting character of our citizens at large,
who, by the weight of public opinion, influence and strengthen
the public measures; it is due to the sound discretion with which
they select from among themselves those to whom they confide
the legislative duties; it is due to the zeal and wisdom of the
characters thus selected, who lay the foundations of public happiness
in wholesome laws, the execution of which alone remains
for others; and it is due to the able and faithful auxiliaries, whose
patriotism has associated with me in the executive functions.
During this course of administration, and in order to disturb
it, the artillery of the press has been levelled against us, charged
with whatsoever its licentiousness could devise or dare. These
abuses of an institution so important to freedom and science, are
deeply to be regretted, inasmuch as they tend to lessen its usefulness,
and to sap its safety; they might, indeed, have been
corrected by the wholesome punishments reserved and provided
by the laws of the several States against falsehood and defamation;
but public duties more urgent press on the time of public
servants, and the offenders have therefore been left to find their
punishment in the public indignation.
Nor was it uninteresting to the world, that an experiment
should be fairly and fully made, whether freedom of discussion,
unaided by power, is not sufficient for the propagation and protection
of truth--whether a government, conducting itself in the
true spirit of its constitution, with zeal and purity, and doing no
act which it would be unwilling the whole world should witness,
can be written down by falsehood and defamation. The
experiment has been tried; you have witnessed the scene; our
fellow citizens have looked on, cool and collected; they saw the
latent source from which these outrages proceeded; they gathered
around their public functionaries, and when the constitution called
them to the decision by suffrage, they pronounced their verdict,
honorable to those who had served them, and consolatory to the
friend of man, who believes he may be intrusted with his own
affairs.
No inference is here intended, that the laws, provided by the
State against false and defamatory publications, should not be
enforced; he who has time, renders a service to public morals
and public tranquillity, in reforming these abuses by the salutary
coercions of the law; but the experiment is noted, to prove that,
since truth and reason have maintained their ground against false
opinions in league with false facts, the press, confined to truth,
needs no other legal restraint; the public judgment will correct
false reasonings and opinions, on a full hearing of all parties;
and no other definite line can be drawn between the inestimable
liberty of the press and its demoralizing licentiousness. If there
be still improprieties which this rule would not restrain, its supplement
must be sought in the censorship of public opinion.
Contemplating the union of sentiment now manifested so generally,
as auguring harmony and happiness to our future course,
I offer to our country sincere congratulations. With those, too,
not yet rallied to the same point, the disposition to do so is gaining
strength; facts are piercing through the veil drawn over them;
and our doubting brethren will at length see, that the mass of
their fellow citizens, with whom they cannot yet resolve to act,
as to principles and measures, think as they think, and desire
what they desire; that our wish, as well as theirs, is, that the
public efforts may be directed honestly to the public good, that
peace be cultivated, civil and religious liberty unassailed, law and
order preserved, equality of rights maintained, and that state of
property, equal or unequal, which results to every man from his
own industry, or that of his fathers. When satisfied of these
views, it is not in human nature that they should not approve
and support them; in the meantime, let us cherish them with
patient affection; let us do them justice, and more than justice,
in all competitions of interest; and we need not doubt that truth,
reason, and their own interests, will at length prevail, will gather
them into the fold of their country, and will complete their entire
union of opinion, which gives to a nation the blessing of harmony,
and the benefit of all its strength.
I shall now enter on the duties to which my fellow citizens
have again called me, and shall proceed in the spirit of those
principles which they have approved. I fear not that any motives
of interest may lead me astray; I am sensible of no passion
which could seduce me knowingly from the path of justice; but
the weakness of human nature, and the limits of my own understanding,
will produce errors of judgment sometimes injurious to
your interests. I shall need, therefore, all the indulgence I have
heretofore experienced--the want of it will certainly not lessen
with increasing years. I shall need, too, the favor of that Being
in whose hands we are, who led our forefathers, as Israel of old,
from their native land, and planted them in a country flowing
with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered
our infancy with his providence, and our riper years with his
wisdom and power; and to whose goodness I ask you to join
with me in supplications, that he will so enlighten the minds of
your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures,
that whatsoever they do, shall result in your good, and shall secure
to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations.
FIFTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.--DECEMBER 3, 1805.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
At a moment when the nations of Europe are in commotion
and arming against each other, and when those with whom we
have principal intercourse are engaged in the general contest,
and when the countenance of some of them toward our peaceable
country threatens that even that may not be unaffected by
what is passing on the general theatre, a meeting of the representatives
of the nation in both houses of Congress has become
more than usually desirable. Coming from every section of our
country, they bring with them the sentiments and the information
of the whole, and will be enabled to give a direction to the
public affairs which the will and wisdom of the whole will approve
and support.
In taking a view of the state of our country, we in the first
place notice the late affliction of two of our cities under the
fatal fever which in latter times has occasionally visited our
shores. Providence in his goodness gave it an early termination
on this occasion, and lessened the number of victims which have
usually fallen before it. In the course of the several visitations
by this disease it has appeared that it is strictly local; incident
to the cities and on the tide waters only; incommunicable in the
country, either by persons under the disease or by goods carried
from diseased places; that its access is with the autumn, and that
it disappears with the early frosts. These restrictions within
narrow limits of time and space give security even to our maritime
cities during three-fourths of the year, and to the country
always. Although from these facts it appears unnecessary, yet
to satisfy the fears of foreign nations, and cautions on their part
not to be complained of in a danger whose limits are yet unknown
to them, I have strictly enjoined on the officers at the
head of the customs to certify with exact truth for every vessel
sailing for a foreign port, the state of health respecting this fever
which prevails at the place from which she sails. Under every
motive from character and duty to certify the truth, I have no
doubt they have faithfully executed this injunction. Much real
injury has, however, been sustained from a propensity to identify
with this epidemic, and to call by the same name, fevers of very
different kinds, which have been known at all times and in all
countries, and never have been placed among those deemed contagious.
As we advance in our knowledge of this disease, as
facts develop the sources from which individuals receive it, the
state authorities charged with the care of the public health, and
Congress with that of the general commerce, will become able
to regulate with effect their respective functions in these departments.
The burden of quarantines is felt at home as well as
abroad; their efficacy merits examination. Although the health
laws of the States should be found to need no present revisal by
Congress, yet commerce claims that their attention be ever awake
to them.
Since our last meeting the aspect of our foreign relations has
considerably changed. Our coasts have been infested and our
harbors watched by private armed vessels, some of them without
commissions, some with illegal commissions, others with those of
legal form but committing piratical acts beyond the authority of
their commissions. They have captured in the very entrance
of our harbors, as well as on the high seas, not only the vessels
of our friends coming to trade with us, but our own also. They
have carried them off under pretence of legal adjudication, but
not daring to approach a court of justice, they have plundered
and sunk them by the way, or in obscure places where no evidence
could arise against them; maltreated the crews, and abandoned
them in boats in the open sea or on desert shores without
food or covering. These enormities appearing to be unreached
by any control of their sovereigns, I found it necessary to equip a
force to cruise within our own seas, to arrest all vessels of these
descriptions found hovering on our coast within the limits of the
Gulf Stream, and to bring the offenders in for trial as pirates.
The same system of hovering on our coasts and harbors under
color of seeking enemies, has been also carried on by public
armed ships, to the great annoyance and oppression of our commerce.
New principles, too, have been interloped into the law
of nations, founded neither in justice nor the usage or acknowledgment
of nations. According to these, a belligerent takes to
himself a commerce with its own enemy which it denies to a
neutral, on the ground of its aiding that enemy in the war. But
reason revolts at such an inconsistency, and the neutral having
equal right with the belligerent to decide the question, the interest
of our constituents and the duty of maintaining the authority
of reason, the only umpire between just nations, impose
on us the obligation of providing an effectual and determined
opposition to a doctrine so injurious to the rights of peaceable
nations. Indeed, the confidence we ought to have in the justice
of others, still countenances the hope that a sounder view of those
rights will of itself induce from every belligerent a more correct
observance of them.
With Spain our negotiations for a settlement of differences
have not had a satisfactory issue. Spoliations during the former
war, for which she had formally acknowledged herself responsible,
have been refused to be compensated, but on conditions affecting
other claims in nowise connected with them. Yet the
same practices are renewed in the present war, and are already of
great amount. On the Mobile, our commerce passing through that
river continues to be obstructed by arbitrary duties and vexatious
searches. Propositions for adjusting amicably the boundaries of
Louisiana have not been acceded to. While, however, the right
is unsettled, we have avoided changing the state of things by
taking new posts or strengthening ourselves in the disputed territories,
in the hope that the other power would not, by contrary
conduct, oblige us to meet their example, and endanger conflicts
of authority the issue of which may not be easily controlled.
But in this hope we have now reason to lessen our confidence.
Inroads have been recently made into the territories of Orleans
and the Mississippi, our citizens have been seized and their
property plundered in the very parts of the former which had
been actually delivered up by Spain, and this by the regular officers
and soldiers of that government. I have therefore found it
necessary at length to give orders to our troops on that frontier
to be in readiness to protect our citizens, and to repel by arms
any similar aggression in future. Other details, necessary for
your full information of the state of things between this country
and that shall be the subject of another communication.
In reviewing these injuries from some of the belligerent powers,
the moderation, the firmness, and the wisdom of the legislature
will be all called into action. We ought still to hope that
time and a more correct estimate of interest, as well as of character,
will produce the justice we are bound to expect. But
should any nation deceive itself by false calculations, and disappoint
that expectation, we must join in the unprofitable contest
of trying which party can do the other the most harm. Some
of these injuries may perhaps admit a peaceable remedy. Where
that is competent it is always the most desirable. But some of
them are of a nature to be met by force only, and all of them
may lead to it. I cannot, therefore, but recommend such preparations
as circumstances call for. The first object is to place
our seaport towns out of the danger of insult. Measures have
been already taken for furnishing them with heavy cannon for
the service of such land batteries as may make a part of their defence
against armed vessels approaching them. In aid of these
it is desirable that we should have a competent number of gunboats;
and the number, to be competent, must be considerable.
If immediately begun, they may be in readiness for service at
the opening of the next season. Whether it will be necessary
to augment our land forces will be decided by occurrences probably
in the course of your session. In the meantime, you will
consider whether it would not be expedient, for a state of peace
as well as of war, so to organize or class the militia as would
enable us, on a sudden emergency, to call for the services of the
younger portions, unencumbered with the old and those having
families. Upward of three hundred thousand able-bodied men,
between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six years, which the
last census shows we may now count within our limits, will furnish
a competent number for offence or defence in any point
where they may be wanted, and will give time for raising regular
forces after the necessity of them shall become certain; and
the reducing to the early period of life all its active service cannot
but be desirable to our younger citizens, of the present as
well as future times, inasmuch as it engages to them in more advanced
age a quiet and undisturbed repose in the bosom of their
families. I cannot, then, but earnestly recommend to your early
consideration the expediency of so modifying our militia system
as, by a separation of the more active part from that which is
less so, we may draw from it, when necessary, an efficient corps
fit for real and active service, and to be called to it in regular
rotation.
Considerable provision has been made, under former authorities
from Congress, of materials for the construction of ships of war
of seventy-four guns. These materials are on hand, subject to
the further will of the legislature.
An immediate prohibition of the exportation of arms and ammunition
is also submitted to your determination.
Turning from these unpleasant views of violence and wrong,
I congratulate you on the liberation of our fellow citizens who
were stranded on the coast of Tripoli and made prisoners of war.
In a government bottomed on the will of all, the life and liberty
of every individual citizen become interesting to all. In the
treaty, therefore, which has concluded our warfare with that
State, an article for the ransom of our citizens has been agreed
to. An operation by land, by a small band of our countrymen,
and others--engaged for the occasion, in conjunction with the
troops of the ex-bashaw of that country, gallantly conducted by
our late consul Eaton, and their successful enterprise on the city
of Derne, contributed, doubtless, to the impression which produced
peace; and the conclusion of this prevented opportunities
of which the officers and men of our squadron destined for Tripoli
would have availed themselves, to emulate the acts of valor
exhibited by their brethren in the attack of the last year. Reflecting
with high satisfaction on the distinguished bravery displayed
whenever occasion permitted in the Mediterranean service,
I think it would be a useful encouragement, as well as a
just reward, to make an opening for some present promotion by
enlarging our peace establishment of captains and lieutenants.
With Tunis some misunderstandings have arisen, not yet sufficiently
explained, but friendly discussions with their ambassador
recently arrived, and a mutual disposition to do whatever
is just and reasonable, cannot fail of dissipating these; so that
we may consider our peace on that coast, generally, to be on as
sound a footing as it has been at any preceding time. Still it
will not be expedient to withdraw, immediately, the whole of
our force from that sea.
The law for providing a naval peace establishment fixes the
number of frigates which shall be kept in constant service in
time of peace, and prescribes that they shall not be manned by
more than two-thirds of their complement of seamen and ordinary
seamen. Whether a frigate may be trusted to two-thirds only
of her proper complement of men must depend on the nature of
the service on which she is ordered; that may sometimes, for
her safety, as well as to insure her object, require her fullest complement.
In adverting to this subject, Congress will perhaps
consider whether the best limitation on the executive discretion
in this case would not be by the number of seamen which may
be employed in the whole service, rather than by the number
of vessels. Occasions oftener arise for the employment of small
than of large vessels, and it would lessen risk as well as expense
to be authorized to employ them of preference. The limitation
suggested by the number of seamen would admit a selection of
vessels best adapted to the service.
Our Indian neighbors are advancing, many of them with spirit
and others beginning to engage, in the pursuits of agriculture
and household manufacture. They are becoming sensible that
the earth yields subsistence with less labor and more certainty
than the forest, and find it their interest, from time to time, to
dispose of parts of their surplus and waste lands for the means
of improving those they occupy, and of subsisting their families
while they are preparing their farms. Since your last session,
the northern tribes have sold to us the lands between the Connecticut
reserve and the former Indian boundary; and those on
the Ohio, from the same boundary to the rapids, and for a considerable
depth inland. The Chickasaws and Cherokees have
sold us the country between and adjacent to the two districts of
Tennessee, and the Creeks, the residue of their lands in the fork
of Ocmulgee, up to the Ulcofauhatche. The three former purchases
are important, inasmuch as they consolidate disjointed
parts of our settled country, and render their intercourse secure;
and the second particularly so, as with the small point on the
river which we expect is by this time ceded by the Piankeshaws,
it completes our possession of the whole of both banks of the
Ohio, from its source to near its mouth, and the navigation of
that river is thereby rendered forever safe to our citizens settled
and settling on its extensive waters. The purchase from the
Creeks too has been for some time particularly interesting to the
State of Georgia.
The several treaties which have been mentioned will be submitted
to both houses of Congress for the exercise of their respective
functions.
Deputations now on their way to the seat of government, from
various nations of Indians inhabiting the Missouri and other
parts beyond the Mississippi, come charged with the assurances
of their satisfaction with the new relations in which they are
placed with us, of their disposition to cultivate our peace and
friendship, and their desire to enter into commercial intercourse
with us. A statement of our progress in exploring the principal
rivers of that country, and of the information respecting them
hitherto obtained, will be communicated so soon as we shall
receive some further relations which we have reason shortly to
expect.
The receipts at the treasury during the year ending the
30th day of September last, have exceeded the sum of thirteen
millions of dollars, which, with not quite five millions in
the treasury at the beginning of the year, have enabled us,
after meeting other demands, to pay nearly two millions of
the debt contracted under the British treaty and convention, upward
of four millions of principal of the public debt, and four
millions of interest. These payments, with those which had
been made in three years and a half preceding, have extinguished
of the funded debt nearly eighteen millions of principal.
Congress, by their act of November 10th, 1803, authorized us to
borrow one million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, toward
meeting the claims of our citizens assumed by the convention
with France. We have not, however, made use of this authority,
because the sum of four millions and a half, which
remained in the treasury on the same 30th day of September
last, with the receipts which we may calculate on for the ensuing
year, besides paying the annual sum of eight millions of dollars
appropriated to the funded debts, and meeting all the current demands
which may be expected, will enable us to pay the whole
sum of three millions seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars
assumed by the French convention, and still leaves a surplus of
nearly a million of dollars at our free disposal. Should you concur
in the provisions of arms and armed vessels recommended
by the circumstances of the times, this surplus will furnish the
means of doing so.
On this first occasion of addressing Congress, since, by the
choice of my constituents, I have entered on a second term of
administration, I embrace the opportunity to give this public assurance,
that I will exert my best endeavors to administer faithfully
the executive department, and will zealously co-operate
with you in every measure which may tend to secure the liberty,
property, and personal safety of our fellow citizens, and to consolidate
the republican forms and principles of our government.
In the course of your session you shall receive all the aid
which I can give for the despatch of the public business, and
all the information necessary for your deliberations, of which the
interests of our own country and the confidence reposed in us
by others will admit a communication.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 13, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
I lay before Congress the application of Hamet Caramalli,
elder brother of the reigning bashaw of Tripoli, soliciting from
the United States attention to his services and sufferings in the
late war against that State. And in order to possess them of
the ground on which that application stands, the facts shall be
stated according to the views and information of the executive.
During the war with Tripoli, it was suggested that Hamet
Caramalli, elder brother of the reigning bashaw, and driven by
him from his throne, meditated the recovery of his inheritance,
and that a concert in action with us was desirable to him. We
considered that concerted operations by those who have a common
enemy were entirely justifiable, and might produce effects
favorable to both, without binding either to guaranty the objects
of the other. But the distance of the scene, the difficulties of
communication, and the uncertainty of our information, inducing
the less confidence in the measures, it was committed to our
agents as one which might be resorted to if it promised to promote
our success.
Mr. Eaton, however (our late consul,) on his return from the
Mediterranean, possessing a personal knowledge of the scene,
and having confidence in the effect of a joint operation, we
authorized Commodore Barron, then proceeding with his squadron,
to enter into an understanding with Hamet if he should
deem it useful; and as it was represented that he would need
some aids of arms, and ammunition, and even of money, he
was authorized to furnish them to a moderate extent, according
to the prospect of utility to be expected from it. In order to
avail him of the advantages of Mr. Eaton's knowledge of circumstances,
an occasional employment was provided for the latter
as an agent for the navy in that sea. Our expectation was,
that an intercourse should be kept up between the ex-bashaw
and the commodore, that while the former moved on by land,
our squadron should proceed with equal pace so as to arrive at
their destination together, and to attack the common enemy by
land and sea at the same time. The instructions of June 6th,
to Commodore Barron, show that a co-operation only was intended,
and by no means a union of our object with the fortune of
the ex-bashaw, and the commodore's letters of March 22d and
May 19th proved that he had the most correct idea of our
intentions. His verbal instructions indeed to Mr. Eaton and
Captain Hull, if the expressions are accurately committed to
writing by those gentlemen, do not limit the extent of his co-operation
as rigorously as he probably intended; but it is certain,
from the ex-bashaw's letter of January 3d, written when he was
proceeding to join Mr. Eaton, and in which he says, "Your
operations should be carried on by sea, mine by land," that he
left the position in which he was with a proper idea of the nature
of the co-operation. If Mr. Eaton's subsequent convention
should appear to bring forward other objects, his letter of April
29th and May 1st views this convention but as provisional, the
second article, as he expressly states, guarding it against any ill
effect; and his letter of June 30th confirms this construction.
In the event it was found that after placing the ex-bashaw in
possession of Derne, one of the most important cities and provinces
of the country, where he had resided himself as governor,
he was totally unable to command any resources, or to bear any
part in the co-operation with us. This hope was then at an end,
and we certainly had never contemplated, nor were we prepared
to land an army of our own, or to raise, pay, or subsist, an army
of Arabs, to march from Derne to Tripoli and to carry on a land
war at such a distance from our resources. Our means and our
authority was merely naval, and that such were the expectations
of Hamet, his letter of June 29th is an unexpected acknowledgment.
While, therefore, an impression from the capture of
Derne might still operate at Tripoli, and an attack on that place
from our squadron was daily expected, Colonel Lear thought it
the best moment to listen to overtures of peace then made by
the bashaw. He did so, and while urging provisions for the
United States, he paid attention also to the interests of Hamet;
but was able to effect nothing more than to engage the restitution
of his family, and even the persevering in this demand suspended
for some time the conclusion of the treaty.
In operations at such a distance, it becomes necessary to leave
much to the discretion of the agents employed, but events may
still turn up beyond the limits of that discretion. Unable in
such case to consult his government, a zealous citizen will act as
he believes that would direct him were it apprized of the circumstances,
and will take on himself the responsibility. In all these
cases the purity and patriotism of the motives should shield the
agent from blame, and even secure the sanction where the error
is not too injurious. Should it be thought by any that the
verbal instructions said to have been given by Commodore Barron
to Mr. Eaton amount to a stipulation that the United States
should place Hamet Caramalli on the throne of Tripoli, a stipulation
so entirely unauthorized, so far beyond our views, and so
onerous, could not be sanctioned by our government; or should
Hamet Caramalli, contrary to the evidence of his letters of January
3d and June 29th, be thought to have left the position which
he now seems to regret, under a mistaken expectation that we
were at all events to place him on his throne, on an appeal to the
liberality of the nation something equivalent to the replacing him
in his former situation, might be worthy its consideration.
A nation, by establishing a character of liberality and magnanimity,
gains in the friendship and respect of others more than the
worth of mere money. This appeal is now made by Hamet
Caramalli to the United States. The ground he has taken being
different not only from our views but from those expressed by
himself on former occasions, Mr. Eaton was desired to state
whether any verbal communications passed from him to Hamet,
which had varied what we saw in writing. His answer of December
5th is herewith transmitted, and has rendered it still more
necessary, that in presenting to the legislature the application of
Hamet, I should present them at the same time an exact statement
of the views and proceedings of the executive through this
whole business, that they may clearly understand the ground
on which we are placed. It is accompanied by all the papers
which bear any relation to the principles of the co-operation,
and which can inform their judgment in deciding on the application
of Hamet Caramalli.
SPECIAL MESSAGE--JANUARY 17, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
In my message to both houses of Congress at the opening of
their present session, I submitted to their attention, among other
subjects, the oppression of our commerce and navigation by the
irregular practices of armed vessels, public and private, and by
the introduction of new principles, derogatory of the rights of
neutrals, and unacknowledged by the usage of nations.
The memorials of several bodies of merchants of the United
States are now communicated, and will develop these principles
and practices which are producing the most ruinous effects on
our lawful commerce and navigation.
The rights of a neutral to carry on a commercial intercourse
with every part of the dominions of a belligerent, permitted by
the laws of the country (with the exception of blockaded ports
and contraband of war), was believed to have been decided between
Great Britain and the United States by the sentence of
the commissioners mutually appointed to decide on that and
other questions of difference between the two nations, and by
the actual payment of damages awarded by them against Great
Britain for the infractions of that right. When, therefore, it was
perceived that the same principle was revived with others more
novel, and extending the injury, instructions were given to the
minister plenipotentiary of the United States at the court of London,
and remonstrances duly made by him on this subject, as
will appear by documents transmitted herewith. These were
followed by a partial and temporary suspension only, without
any disavowal of the principle. He has therefore been instructed
to urge this subject anew, to bring it more fully to the bar of
reason, and to insist on the rights too evident and too important
to be surrendered. In the meantime, the evil is proceeding
under adjudications founded on the principle which is denied.
Under these circumstances the subject presents itself for the consideration
of Congress.
On the impressment of our seamen our remonstrances have
never been intermitted. A hope existed at one moment of an
arrangement which might have been submitted to, but it soon
passed away, and the practice, though relaxed at times in the
distant seas, has been constantly pursued in those in our neighborhood.
The grounds on which the reclamations on this subject
have been urged, will appear in an extract from instructions
to our minister at London now communicated.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 3, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
A letter has been received from the Governor of South Carolina,
covering an act of the legislature of that state, ceding to the
United States various forts and fortifications, and sites for the erection
of forts in that state, on the conditions therein expressed. This
letter and the act it covered are now communicated to Congress.
I am not informed whether the positions ceded are the best
which can be taken for securing their respective objects. No
doubt is entertained that the legislature deemed them such. The
river of Beaufort particularly, said to be accessible to ships of
very large size, and capable of yielding them a protection which
they cannot find elsewhere, but very far to the north, is, from
these circumstances, so interesting to the Union in general, as to
merit particular attention and inquiry, as to the positions on it
best calculated for health as well as safety.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 19, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
In pursuance of a measure submitted to Congress by a message
of January 18th, 1803, and sanctioned by their appropriation for
carrying it into execution, Captain Meriwether Lewis, of the
first regiment of infantry, was appointed, with a party of men, to
explore the river Missouri from its mouth to its source; and,
crossing the highlands by the shortest portage, to seek the best
water communication thence to the Pacific ocean; and Lieutenant
Clarke was appointed second in command. They were to
enter into conference with the Indian nation on their route, with
a view to the establishment of commerce with them. They entered
the Missouri, May 14th, 1804, and on the 1st of November,
took up their winter quarters near the Maudan towns, 1609 miles
above the mouth of the river, in latitude 47° 21´ 47´´ north, and
longitude 99° 24´ 45´´ west, from Greenwich. On the 8th of
April, 1805, they proceeded up the river in pursuance of the objects
prescribed to them. A letter of the preceding day, April
the 7th, from Captain Lewis, is herewith communicated. During
his stay among the Maudans', he had been able to lay down
the Missouri according to courses and distances taken under his
passage up it, corrected by frequent observations of longitude
and latitude, and to add to the actual survey of this portion of
the river, a general map of the country between the Mississippi
and Pacific, from the thirty-fourth to the fifty-fourth degrees of
latitude. These additions are from information collected from
Indians with whom he had opportunity of communicating during
his journey and residence among them. Copies of this map are
now presented to both houses of Congress. With these I communicate,
also, a statistical view, procured and forwarded by
him, of the Indian nations inhabiting the territory of Louisiana,
and the countries adjacent to its northern and western borders;
of their commerce, and of other interesting circumstances respecting
them.
In order to render the statement as complete as may be, of the
Indians inhabiting the country west of the Mississippi, I add Dr.
Sibley's account of those residing in and adjacent to the territory
of Orleans.
I communicate also, from the same person, an account of the
Red river, according to the best information he had been able to
collect.
Having been disappointed, after considerable preparation, in
the purpose of sending an exploring expedition up that river in
the summer of 1804, it was thought best to employ the autumn
in that year in procuring a knowledge on an interesting branch
of the river called Washita. This was undertaken under the direction
of Mr. Dunbar, of Natchez, a citizen of distinguished
science, who had aided, and continues to aid us with his disinterested
valuable services in the prosecution of these enterprises.
He ascended the river to the remarkable hot springs near it, in
latitude 34° 31´ 4´´.16, longitude, 92° 50´ 45´´ west, from Greenwich,
taking its courses and distances, and correcting them by
frequent celestial observations. Extracts from his observations,
and copies of his map of the river, from its mouth to the hot
springs, make part of the present communications. The examination
of the Red river itself is but now commencing.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--MARCH 20, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
It was reasonably expected, that while the limits between the
territories of the United States and of Spain were unsettled,
neither party would have innovated on the existing state of their
respective positions. Some time since, however, we learned that
the Spanish authorities were advancing into the disputed country
to occupy new posts and make new settlements. Unwilling
to take any measures which might preclude a peaceable accommodation
of differences, the officers of the United States were
ordered to confine themselves within the country on this side of
the Sabine river; which, by the delivery of its principal post
(Natchitoches), was understood to have been itself delivered up
by Spain; and at the same time to permit no adverse post to be
taken, nor armed men to remain within it. In consequence of
these orders, the commanding officer of Natchitoches, learning
that a party of Spanish troops had crossed the Sabine river and
were posting themselves on this side the Adais, sent a detachment
of his force to require them to withdraw to the other side
of the Sabine, which they accordingly did.
I have thought it proper to communicate to Congress the letters
detailing this incident, that they may fully understand the
state of things in that quarter, and be enabled to make such provision
for its security as in their wisdom they shall deem sufficient.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--APRIL 14, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
During the blockade of Tripoli by the squadron of the United
States, a small cruiser, under the flag of Tunis, with two prizes
(all of trifling value,) attempted to enter Tripoli, was turned back,
warned, and attempting again to enter, was taken and detained as
a prize by the squadron. Her restitution was claimed by the
bey of Tunis, with a threat of war so serious, that, on withdrawing
from the blockade of Tripoli, the commanding officer
of the squadron thought it his duty to repair to Tunis with his
squadron, and to require a categorical declaration whether peace
or war was intended. The bey preferred explaining himself
by an ambassador to the United States, who, on his arrival, renewed
the request that the vessel and her prizes should be restored.
It was deemed proper to give this proof of friendship
to the bey, and the ambassador was informed the vessels would
be restored. Afterward he made a requisition of naval stores to
be sent to the bey, in order to secure peace for the term of three
years, with a threat of war if refused. It has been refused, and
the ambassador is about to depart without receding from his
threat or demand.
Under these circumstances, and considering that the several
provisions of the act, March 25th, 1804, will cease in consequence
of the ratification of the treaty of peace with Tripoli,
now advised to and consented to by the Senate, I have thought
it my duty to communicate these facts, in order that Congress
may consider the expediency of continuing the same provisions
for a limited time or making others equivalent.
SIXTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.--DECEMBER 2, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States in Congress assembled_:--
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 appears 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 negotiation shall be known; this has been
referred by the Spanish commandant to his superior, and in the
meantime, 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.
The nature of that country requires indispensably that an unusual
proportion of the force employed there should be cavalry
or mounted infantry. In order, therefore, that the commanding
officer might be enabled to act with effect, I had authorized
him to call on the governors of Orleans and Mississippi for a
corps of five hundred volunteer cavalry. The temporary arrangement
he has proposed may perhaps render this unnecessary.
But I inform you with great pleasure of the promptitude with
which the inhabitants of those territories have tendered their
services in defence of their country. It has done honor to themselves,
entitled them to the confidence of their fellow-citizens in
every part of the Union, and must strengthen the general determination
to protect them efficaciously under all circumstances
which may occur.
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 military expeditions against the territories of Spain, I
thought it necessary, by proclamations 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.
Whether it will be necessary to enlarge our regular force will
depend on the result of our negotiation with Spain; but as it is
uncertain when that result will be known, the provisional measures
requisite for that, and to meet any pressure intervening in
that quarter, will be a subject for your early consideration.
The possession of both banks of the Mississippi reducing to a
single point the defence of that river, its waters, and the country
adjacent, it becomes highly necessary to provide for that point a
more adequate security. Some position above its mouth, commanding
the passage of the river, should be rendered sufficiently
strong to cover the armed vessels which may be stationed there
for defence, and in conjunction with them to present an insuperable
obstacle to any force attempting to pass. The approaches to
the city of New Orleans, from the eastern quarter also, will require
to be examined, and more effectually guarded. For the
internal support of the country, the encouragement of a strong
settlement on the western side of the Mississippi, within reach
of New Orleans, will be worthy the consideration of the legislature.
The gun-boats authorized by an act of the last session are so
advanced that they will be ready for service in the ensuing
spring. Circumstances permitted us to allow the time necessary
for their more solid construction. As a much larger number will
still be wanting to place our seaport towns and waters in that
state of defence to which we are competent and they entitled, a
similar appropriation for a further provision for them is recommended
for the ensuing year.
A further appropriation will also be necessary for repairing fortifications
already established, and the erection of such works as
may have real effect in obstructing the approach of an enemy to
our seaport towns, or their remaining before them.
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 characters
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 punishments 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 were the enterprise preparing against the
United States? While adverting to this branch of the 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 states on the coast of Barbary seem generally disposed at
present to respect our peace and friendship; with Tunis alone
some uncertainty remains. Persuaded that it is our interest to
maintain our peace with them on equal terms, or not at all, I propose
to send in due time a reinforcement into the Mediterranean, unless
previous information shall show it to be unnecessary.
We continue to receive proofs of the growing attachment of
our Indian neighbors, and of their disposition to place all their
interests under the patronage of the United States. These dispositions
are inspired by their confidence in our justice, and in
the sincere concern we feel for their welfare; and as long as we
discharge these high and honorable functions with the integrity
and good faith which alone can entitle us to their continuance, we
may expect to reap the just reward in their peace and friendship.
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, learned 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.
The attempt to explore the Red river, under the direction of
Mr. Freeman, though conducted with a zeal and prudence meriting
entire approbation, has not been equally successful. After
proceeding up it about six hundred miles, nearly as far as the
French settlements had extended while the country was in their
possession, our geographers were obliged to return without completing
their work.
Very useful additions have also been made to our knowledge
of the Mississippi by Lieutenant Pike, who has ascended to its
source, and whose journal and map, giving the details of the
journey, will shortly be ready for communication to both houses
of Congress. Those of Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, and Freeman,
will require further time to be digested and prepared. These
important surveys, in addition to those before possessed, furnish
materials for commencing an accurate map of the Mississippi,
and its western waters. Some principal rivers, however, remain
still to be explored, toward which the authorization of Congress,
by moderate appropriations, will be requisite.
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 first 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 of September last, have amounted to near 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 parts of the price of Louisiana; to pay
of the funded debt upward of three millions of principal, and
nearly four of interest; and in addition, to reimburse, in the
course of the present month, near two millions of five and a half
per cent. stock. These payments and reimbursements of the
funded debt, with those which have been made in four years
and a half preceding, will, at the close of the present year, have
extinguished upward of twenty-three millions of principal.
The duties composing the Mediterranean fund will cease by
law at the end of the present season. 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 is 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, 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 legislatures
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.
This, fellow citizens, is the state of the public interest at the
present moment, and according to the information now possessed.
But such is the situation of the nations of Europe, and such
too the predicament in which we stand with some of them, that
we cannot rely with certainty on the present aspect of our affairs
that may change from moment to moment, during the course of
your session or after you shall have separated. Our duty is,
therefore, to act upon things as they are, and to make a reasonable
provision for whatever they may be. Were armies to be
raised whenever a speck of war is visible in our horizon, we
never should have been without them. Our resources would
have been exhausted on dangers which have never happened,
instead of being reserved for what is really to take place. A
steady, perhaps a quickened pace in preparations for the defence
of our seaport towns and waters; an early settlement of the most
exposed and vulnerable parts of our country; a militia so organized
that its effective portions can be called to any point in the
Union, or volunteers instead of them to serve a sufficient time,
are means which may always be ready yet never preying on our
resources until actually called into use. They will maintain the
public interests while a more permanent force shall be in course
of preparation. But much will depend on the promptitude with
which these means can be brought into activity. If war be
forced upon us in spite of our long and vain appeals to the justice
of nations, rapid and vigorous movements in its outset will
go far toward securing us in its course and issue, and toward
throwing its burdens on those who render necessary the resort
from reason to force.
The result of our negotiations, or such incidents in their course
as may enable us to infer their probable issue; such further
movements also on our western frontiers as may show whether
war is to be pressed there while negotiation is protracted elsewhere,
shall be communicated to you from time to time as they
become known to me, with whatever other information I possess
or may receive, which may aid your deliberations on the great
national interests committed to your charge.
SPECIAL MESSAGE--DECEMBER 3, 1806.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the negotiation depending
between the United States and the government of Great
Britain is proceeding in a spirit of friendship and accommodation
which promises a result of mutual advantage. Delays indeed
have taken place, occasioned by the long illness and subsequent
death of the British minister charged with that duty. But the
commissioners appointed by that government to resume the negotiation
have shown every disposition to hasten its progress. It
is, however, a work of time, as many arrangements are necessary
to place our future harmony on stable grounds. In the meantime,
we find by the communications of our plenipotentiaries,
that a temporary suspension of the act of the last session prohibiting
certain importations, would, as a mark of candid disposition
on our part, and of confidence in the temper and views
with which they have been met, have a happy effect on its
course. A step so friendly will afford further evidence that all
our proceedings have flowed from views of justice and conciliation,
and that we give them willingly that form which may
best meet corresponding dispositions.
Add to this, that the same motives which produced the postponement
of the act till the fifteenth of November last, are in
favor of its further suspension; and as we have reason to hope
that it may soon yield to arrangements of mutual consent and
convenience, justice seems to require that the same measure may
be dealt out to the few cases which may fall within its short
course, as to all others preceding and following it. I cannot,
therefore, but recommend the suspension of this act for a reasonable
time, on considerations of justice, amity, and the public
interests.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 22, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
Agreeably to the request of the House of Representatives,
communicated in their resolution of the sixteenth instant, I proceed
to state under the reserve therein expressed, information received
touching an illegal combination of private individuals
against the peace and safety of the Union, and a military expedition
planned by them against the territories of a power in amity
with the United States, with the measures I have pursued for
suppressing the same.
I had for some time been in the constant expectation of receiving
such further information as would have enabled me to
lay before the legislature the termination as well as the beginning
and progress of this scene of depravity, so far as it has been
acted on the Ohio and its waters. From this the state and safety
of the lower country might have been estimated on probable
grounds, and the delay was indulged the rather, because no circumstance
had yet made it necessary to call in the aid of the
legislative functions. Information now recently communicated
has brought us nearly to the period contemplated. The mass of
what I have received, in the course of these transactions, is voluminous,
but little has been given under the sanction of an oath,
so as to constitute formal and legal evidence. It is chiefly in
the form of letters, often containing such a mixture of rumors,
conjectures, and suspicions, as render it difficult to sift out the
real facts, and unadvisable to hazard more than general outlines,
strengthened by concurrent information, or the particular credibility
of the relater. In this state of the evidence, delivered
sometimes too under the restriction of private confidence, neither
safety nor justice will permit the exposing names, except that
of the principal actor, whose guilt is placed beyond question.
Some time in the latter part of September, I received intimations
that designs were in agitation in the western country,
unlawful and unfriendly to the peace of the Union; and that
the prime mover in these was Aaron Burr, heretofore distinguished
by the favor of his country. The grounds of these
intimations being inconclusive, the objects uncertain, and the
fidelity of that country known to be firm, the only measure taken
was to urge the informants to use their best endeavors to get
further insight into the designs and proceedings of the suspected
persons, and to communicate them to me.
It was not until the latter part of October, that the objects of
the conspiracy began to be perceived, but still so blended and
involved in mystery that nothing distinct could be singled out
for pursuit. In this state of uncertainty as to the crime contemplated,
the acts done, and the legal course to be pursued, I thought
it best to send to the scene where these things were principally
in transaction, a person, in whose integrity, understanding, and
discretion, entire confidence could be reposed, with instructions
to investigate the plots going on, to enter into conference (for
which he had sufficient credentials) with the governors and all
other officers, civil and military, and with their aid to do on the
spot whatever should be necessary to discover the designs of the
conspirators, arrest their means, bring their persons to punishment,
and to call out the force of the country to suppress any
unlawful enterprise in which it should be found they were engaged.
By this time it was known that many boats were under
preparation, stores of provisions collecting, and an unusual number
of suspicious characters in motion on the Ohio and its waters.
Besides despatching the confidential agent to that quarter, orders
were at the same time sent to the governors of the Orleans and
Mississippi territories, and to the commanders of the land and
naval forces there, to be on their guard against surprise, and in
constant readiness to resist any enterprise which might be attempted
on the vessels, posts, or other objects under their care;
and on the 8th of November, instructions were forwarded to
General Wilkinson to hasten an accommodation with the Spanish
commander on the Sabine, and as soon as that was effected,
to fall back with his principal force to the hither bank of the
Mississippi, for the defence of the intersecting points on that
river. By a letter received from that officer on the 25th of November,
but dated October 21st, we learn that a confidential
agent of Aaron Burr had been deputed to him, with communications
partly written in cipher and partly oral, explaining his designs,
exaggerating his resources, and making such offers of
emolument and command, to engage him and the army in his
unlawful enterprise, as he had flattered himself would be successful.
The general, with the honor of a soldier and fidelity
of a good citizen, immediately despatched a trusty officer to me
with information of what had passed, proceeding to establish
such an understanding with the Spanish commandant on the
Sabine as permitted him to withdraw his force across the Mississippi,
and to enter on measures for opposing the projected enterprise.
The general's letter, which came to hand on the 25th of November,
as has been mentioned, and some other information received
a few days earlier, when brought together, developed
Burr's general designs, different parts of which only had been
revealed to different informants. It appeared that he contemplated
two distinct objects, which might be carried on either
jointly or separately, and either the one or the other first, as circumstances
should direct. One of these was the severance of
the Union of these States by the Alleghany mountains; the
other, an attack on Mexico. A third object was provided, merely
ostensible, to wit: the settlement of a pretended purchase of a
tract of country on the Washita, claimed by a Baron Bastrop.
This was to serve as the pretext for all his preparations, an allurement
for such followers as really wished to acquire settlements
in that country, and a cover under which to retreat in the
event of final discomfiture of both branches of his real design.
He found at once that the attachment of the western country
to the present Union was not to be shaken; that its dissolution
could not be effected with the consent of its inhabitants, and
that his resources were inadequate, as yet, to effect it by force.
He took his course then at once, determined to seize on New
Orleans, plunder the bank there, possess himself of the military
and naval stores, and proceed on his expedition to Mexico; and
to this object all his means and preparations were now directed.
He collected from all the quarters where himself or his agents
possessed influence, all the ardent, restless, desperate, and disaffected
persons who were ready for any enterprise analogous to
their characters. He seduced good and well-meaning citizens,
some by assurances that he possessed the confidence of the government
and was acting under its secret patronage, a pretence
which obtained some credit from the state of our differences
with Spain; and others by offers of land in Bastrop's claim on
the Washita.
This was the state of my information of his proceedings about
the last of November, at which time, therefore, it was first possible
to take specific measures to meet them. The proclamation
of November 27th, two days after the receipt of General Wilkinson's
information, was now issued. Orders were despatched
to every intersecting point on the Ohio and Mississippi, from
Pittsburg to New Orleans, for the employment of such force
either of the regulars or of the militia, and of such proceedings
also of the civil authorities, as might enable them to seize on
all the boats and stores provided for the enterprise, to arrest the
persons concerned, and to suppress effectually the further progress
of the enterprise. A little before the receipt of these orders
in the State of Ohio, our confidential agent, who had been
diligently employed in investigating the conspiracy, had acquired
sufficient information to open himself to the governor of
that State, and apply for the immediate exertion of the authority
and power of the State to crush the combination. Governor
Tiffin and the legislature, with a promptitude, an energy, and
patriotic zeal, which entitle them to a distinguished place in the
affection of their sister States, effected the seizure of all the
boats, provisions, and other preparations within their reach, and
thus gave a first blow, materially disabling the enterprise in its
outset.
In Kentucky, a premature attempt to bring Burr to justice,
without sufficient evidence for his conviction, had produced a
popular impression in his favor, and a general disbelief of his
guilt. This gave him an unfortunate opportunity of hastening
his equipments. The arrival of the proclamation and orders,
and the application and information of our confidential agent, at
length awakened the authorities of that State to the truth, and
then produced the same promptitude and energy of which the
neighboring State had set the example. Under an act of their
legislature of December 23d, militia was instantly ordered to
different important points, and measures taken for doing whatever
could yet be done. Some boats (accounts vary from five
to double or treble that number) and persons (differently estimated
from one to three hundred) had in the meantime passed
the falls of the Ohio, to rendezvous at the mouth of the Cumberland,
with others expected down that river.
Not apprized, till very late, that any boats were building on
Cumberland, the effect of the proclamation had been trusted to
for some time in the State of Tennessee; but on the 19th of
December, similar communications and instructions with those
of the neighboring States were despatched by express to the
governor, and a general officer of the western division of the
State, and on the 23d of December our confidential agent left
Frankfort for Nashville, to put into activity the means of that
State also. But by information received yesterday, I learn that
on the 22d of December, Mr. Burr descended the Cumberland
with two boats merely of accommodation, carrying with him
from that State no quota toward his unlawful enterprise. Whether
after the arrival of the proclamation, of the orders, or of our
agent, any exertion which could be made by that State, or the
orders of the governor of Kentucky for calling out the militia at
the mouth of Cumberland, would be in time to arrest these boats,
and those from the falls of the Ohio, is still doubtful.
On the whole, the fugitives from Ohio, with their associates
from Cumberland, or any other place in that quarter, cannot
threaten serious danger to the city of New Orleans.
By the same express of December nineteenth, orders were
sent to the governors of New Orleans and Mississippi, supplementary
to those which had been given on the twenty-fifth
of November, to hold the militia of their territories in readiness
to co-operate for their defence, 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 defence; and on the tenth of December he was
joined by his troops from the Sabine. Great zeal was shown
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 had 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, 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 are 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
September, which came to hand two days after 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 come 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 the 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 our
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.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--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 on 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.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--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 session, 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.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--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 gun-boats 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 the present circumstances, and governed by the intentions
of the legislature, as manifested by their annual appropriations
of money for the purposes of defence, it has been concluded
to combine--1st, 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; 2d, movable
artillery which may be carried, as an occasion may require,
to points unprovided with fixed batteries; 3d, floating batteries;
and 4th, gun-boats, which may oppose an enemy at its entrance
and co-operate 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 subjects.
Those of Commodore Barron and Captain Tingey, now
here, are recently furnished in writing, and transmitted herewith
to the legislature.
The efficacy of gun-boats for the defence of harbors, and of
other smooth and enclosed 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 gun-boat itself is believed to be in use with every
modern maritime nation for the purpose of defence. In the Mediterranean,
on which are several small powers, whose system like
ours is peace and defence, few harbors are without this article of
protection. Our own experience there of the effect of gun-boats
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 gun-boats
at present in the neighborhood of Gibraltar, is well known, and
how much they were used both in the attack and defence 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, shows 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 gun-boats and galleys, and a Turkish
fleet of ships-of-the-line and frigates, in the Liman sea, 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 gun-boats 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 time
of war, about two hundred gun-boats 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, forty gun-boats.
To Savannah and Charleston, and the harbors on each side,
from St. Mary's to Currituck, twenty-five.
To the Chesapeake and its waters, twenty.
To Delaware bay and river, fifteen.
To New York, the Sound, and waters as far as Cape Cod,
fifty.
To Boston and the harbors north of Cape Cod, fifty.
The flotilla 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 reinforcing occasionally the strength of even the most
distant port 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, seventy-three are
built or building, and the hundred and twenty-seven still to be
provided, would cost from five to six hundred thousand dollars.
Having regard to the convenience of the treasury, as well as to
the resources of building, it has been thought that one half of
these might be built in the present year, and the other year 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 sudden emergency. It would be
only when the United States should themselves be at war, that
the whole number would be brought into actual service, and
would be ready in the first moments of the war to co-operate
with 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 coast; and still less can it become an excitement
to engage in offensive maritime war, toward which it
would furnish no means.
SEVENTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.--OCTOBER 27, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
Circumstances, fellow citizens, which seriously threatened the
peace of our country, have made it a duty to convene you at an
earlier period than usual. The love of peace, so much cherished
in the bosoms of our citizens, which has so long guided the proceedings
of the public councils, and induced forbearance under
so many wrongs, may not insure our continuance in the quiet
pursuits of industry. The many injuries and depredations committed
on our commerce and navigation upon the high seas for
years past, the successive innovations on those principles of public
law which have been established by the reason and usage of
nations as the rule of their intercourse, and the umpire and security
of their rights and peace, and all the circumstances which
induced the extraordinary mission to London, are already known
to you. The instructions given to our ministers were framed in
the sincerest spirit of amity and moderation. They accordingly
proceeded, in conformity therewith, to propose arrangements
which might embrace and settle all the points in difference between
us, which might bring us to a mutual understanding on
our neutral and national rights, and provide for a commercial intercourse
on conditions of some equality. After long and fruitless
endeavors to effect the purposes of their mission, and to obtain
arrangements within the limits of their instructions, they
concluded to sign such as could be obtained, and to send them
for consideration, candidly declaring to the other negotiators, at
the same time, that they were acting against their instructions,
and that their government, therefore, could not be pledged for
ratification. Some of the articles proposed might have been admitted
on a principle of compromise, but others were too highly
disadvantageous, and no sufficient provision was made against
the principal source of the irritations and collisions which were
constantly endangering the peace of the two nations. The
question, therefore, whether a treaty should be accepted in that
form could have admitted but of one decision, even had no
declarations of the other party impaired our confidence in it.
Still anxious not to close the door against friendly adjustment,
new modifications were framed, and further concessions authorized
than could before have been supposed necessary; and our
ministers were instructed to resume their negotiations on these
grounds. On this new reference to amicable discussion, we
were reposing in confidence, when on the 22d day of June last,
by a formal order from the British admiral, the frigate Chesapeake,
leaving her port for distant service, was attacked by one
of those vessels which had been lying in our harbors under the
indulgences of hospitality, was disabled from proceeding, had
several of her crew killed, and four taken away. On this outrage
no commentaries are necessary. Its character has been
pronounced by the indignant voice of our citizens with an emphasis
and unanimity never exceeded. I immediately, by proclamation,
interdicted our harbors and waters to all British armed
vessels, forbade intercourse with them, and uncertain how far
hostilities were intended, and the town of Norfolk, indeed, being
threatened with immediate attack, a sufficient force was ordered
for the protection of that place, and such other preparations
commenced and pursued as the prospect rendered proper. An
armed vessel of the United States was despatched with instructions
to our ministers at London to call on that government for
the satisfaction and security required by the outrage. A very
short interval ought now to bring the answer, which shall be
communicated to you as soon as received; then also, or as soon
after as the public interests shall be found to admit, the unratified
treaty, and the proceedings relative to it, shall be made
known to you.
The aggression thus begun has been continued on the part
of the British commanders, by remaining within our waters, in
defiance of the authority of the country, by habitual violations
of its jurisdiction, and at length by putting to death one of the
persons whom they had forcibly taken from on board the Chesapeake.
These aggravations necessarily lead to the policy, either
of never admitting an armed vessel into our harbors, or of maintaining
in every harbor such an armed force as may constrain
obedience to the laws, and protect the lives and property of our
citizens, against their armed guests. But the expense of such a
standing force, and its inconsistence with our principles, dispense
with those courtesies which would necessarily call for it, and
leave us equally free to exclude the navy, as we are the army
of a foreign power, from entering our limits.
To former violations of maritime rights, another is now added
of very extensive effect. The government of that nation has
issued an order interdicting all trade by neutrals between ports
not in amity with them; and being now at war with nearly
every nation on the Atlantic and Mediterranean seas, our vessels
are required to sacrifice their cargoes at the first port they touch,
or to return home without the benefit of going to any other market.
Under this new law of the ocean, our trade on the Mediterranean
has been swept away by seizures and condemnations,
and that in other seas is threatened with the same fate.
Our differences with Spain remain still unsettled; no measure
having been taken on her part, since my last communication to
Congress, to bring them to a close. But under a state of things
which may favor a reconsideration, they have been recently
pressed, and an expectation is entertained that they may now
soon be brought to an issue of some sort. With their subjects
on our borders, no new collisions have taken place nor seem
immediately to be apprehended. To our former grounds of complaint
has been added a very serious one, as you will see by the
decree, a copy of which is now communicated. Whether this
decree, which professes to be conformable to that of the French
government of November 21st, 1806, heretofore communicated
to Congress, will also be conformed to that in its construction
and application in relation to the United States, had not been
ascertained at the date of our last communications. These,
however, gave reason to expect such a conformity.
With the other nations of Europe our harmony has been uninterrupted,
and commerce and friendly intercourse have been
maintained on their usual footing.
Our peace with the several States on the coast of Barbary appears
as firm as at any former period, and is as likely to continue
as that of any other nation.
Among our Indian neighbors in the north-western quarter,
some fermentation was observed soon after the late occurrences,
threatening the continuance of our peace. Messages were said
to be interchanged, and tokens to be passing, which usually denote
a state of restlessness among them, and the character of the
agitators pointed to the sources of excitement. Measures were
immediately taken for providing against that danger; instructions
were given to require explanations, and with assurances of our
continued friendship, to admonish the tribes to remain quiet at
home, taking no part in quarrels not belonging to them. As far
as we are yet informed, the tribes in our vicinity, who are most
advanced in the pursuits of industry, are sincerely disposed to
adhere to their friendship with us, and to their peace with all
others; while those more remote do not present appearances sufficiently
quiet to justify the intermission of military precaution
on our part.
The great tribes on our south-western quarter, much advanced
beyond the others in agriculture and household arts, appear tranquil,
and identifying their views with ours, in proportion to their
advancement. With the whole of these people, in every quarter,
I shall continue to inculcate peace and friendship with all their
neighbors, and perseverance in those occupations and pursuits
which will best promote their own well-being.
The appropriations of the last session, for the defence of our
seaport towns and harbors, were made under expectation that a
continuance of our peace would permit us to proceed in that
work according to our convenience. It has been thought better
to apply the sums then given, toward the defence of New York,
Charleston, and New Orleans chiefly, as most open and most
likely first to need protection; and to leave places less immediately
in danger to the provisions of the present session.
The gun-boats, too, already provided, have on a like principle
been chiefly assigned to New York, New Orleans, and the Chesapeake.
Whether our movable force on the water, so material
in aid of the defensive works on the land, should be augmented
in this or any other form, is left to the wisdom of the legislature.
For the purpose of manning these vessels in sudden attacks on
our harbors, it is a matter for consideration, whether the seamen
of the United States may not justly be formed into a special
militia, to be called on for tours of duty in defence of the harbors
where they shall happen to be; the ordinary militia of the place
furnishing that portion which may consist of landsmen.
The moment our peace was threatened, I deemed it indispensable
to secure a greater provision of those articles of military
stores with which our magazines were not sufficiently furnished.
To have awaited a previous and special sanction by law would
have lost occasions which might not be retrieved. I did not
hesitate, therefore, to authorize engagements for such supplements
to our existing stock as would render it adequate to the emergencies
threatening us; and I trust that the legislature, feeling
the same anxiety for the safety of our country, so materially advanced
by this precaution, will approve, when done, what they
would have seen so important to be done if then assembled.
Expenses, also unprovided for, arose out of the necessity of calling
all our gun-boats into actual service for the defence of our
harbors; of all which accounts will be laid before you.
Whether a regular army is to be raised, and to what extent,
must depend on the information so shortly expected. In the
meantime, I have called on the States for quotas of militia, to
be in readiness for present defence; and have, moreover, encouraged
the acceptance of volunteers; and I am happy to inform
you that these have offered themselves with great alacrity in
every part of the Union. They are ordered to be organized, and
ready at a moment's warning to proceed on any service to which
they may be called, and every preparation within the executive
powers has been made to insure us the benefit of early exertions.
I informed Congress at their last session of the enterprises
against the public peace, which were believed to be in preparation
by Aaron Burr and his associates, of the measures taken to
defeat them, and to bring the offenders to justice. Their enterprises
were happily defeated by the patriotic exertions of the
militia wherever called into action, by the fidelity of the army,
and energy of the commander-in-chief in promptly arranging
the difficulties presenting themselves on the Sabine, repairing to
meet those arising on the Mississippi, and dissipating, before their
explosion, plots engendering there. I shall think it my duty to
lay before you the proceedings and the evidence publicly exhibited
on the arraignment of the principal offenders before the
circuit court of Virginia. You will be enabled to judge whether
the defeat was in the testimony, in the law, or in the administration
of the law; and wherever it shall be found, the legislature
alone can apply or originate the remedy. The framers of
our constitution certainly supposed they had guarded, as well
their government against destruction by treason, as their citizens
against oppression, under pretence of it; and if these ends are
not attained, it is of importance to inquire by what means, more
effectual, they may be secured.
The accounts of the receipts of revenue, during the year ending
on the thirtieth day of September last, being not yet made
up, a correct statement will be hereafter transmitted from the
treasury. In the meantime, it is ascertained that the receipts
have amounted to near sixteen millions of dollars, which, with
the five 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 more than four millions of the
principal of our funded debt. These payments, with those of
the preceding five and a half years, have extinguished of the
funded debt twenty-five millions and a half of dollars, being the
whole which could be paid or purchased within the limits of
the law and of our contracts, and have left us in the treasury
eight millions and a half of dollars. A portion of this sum may
be considered as a commencement of accumulation of the surpluses
of revenue, which, after paying the instalments of debts
as they shall become payable, will remain without any specific
object. It may partly, indeed, be applied toward completing the
defence of the exposed points of our country, on such a scale as
shall be adapted to our principles and circumstances. This object
is doubtless among the first entitled to attention, in such a
state of our finances, and it is one which, whether we have
peace or war, will provide security where it is due. Whether
what shall remain of this, with the future surpluses, may be
usefully applied to purposes already authorized, or more usefully
to others requiring new authorities, or how otherwise they shall
be disposed of, are questions calling for the notice of Congress,
unless indeed they shall be superseded by a change in our public
relations now awaiting the determination of others. Whatever
be that determination, it is a great consolation that it will become
known at a moment when the supreme council of the nation is
assembled at its post, and ready to give the aids of its wisdom
and authority to whatever course the good of our country shall
then call us to pursue.
Matters of minor importance will be the subjects of future
communications; and nothing shall be wanting on my part
which may give information or despatch to the proceedings of
the legislature in the exercise of their high duties, and at a moment
so interesting to the public welfare.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--NOVEMBER 23, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
Agreeably to the assurance in my message at the opening of
the present session of Congress, I now lay before you a copy of
the proceedings, and of the evidence exhibited on the arraignment
of Aaron Burr, and others, before the circuit court of the
United States, held in Virginia, in the course of the present year,
in as authentic form as their several parts have admitted.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--DECEMBER 18, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
The communications now made, showing the great and increasing
dangers with which our vessels, our seamen, and merchandise,
are threatened on the high seas and elsewhere, from
the belligerent powers of Europe, and it being of great importance
to keep in safety these essential resources, I deem it my
duty to recommend the subject to the consideration of Congress,
who will doubtless perceive all the advantages which may be
expected from an inhibition of the departure of our vessels from
the ports of the United States.
Their wisdom will also see the necessity of making every
preparation for whatever events may grow out of the present
crisis.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 20, 1808.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:--
Some days previous to your resolution of the 13th instant, a
court of inquiry had been instituted at the request of General
Wilkinson, charged to make the inquiry into his conduct which
the first resolution desires, and had commenced their proceedings.
To the judge-advocate of that court the papers and information
on that subject, transmitted to me by the House of Representatives,
have been delivered, to be used according to the rules and
powers of that court.
The request of a communication of any information, which
may have been received at any time since the establishment of
the present government, touching combinations with foreign nations
for dismembering the Union, or the corrupt receipt of
money by any officer of the United States from the agents of
foreign governments, can be complied with but in a partial degree.
It is well understood that, in the first or second year of the
presidency of General Washington, information was given to him
relating to certain combinations with the agents of a foreign government
for the dismemberment of the Union; which combinations
had taken place before the establishment of the present
federal government. This information, however, is believed
never to have been deposited in any public office, or left in that
of the president's secretary, these having been duly examined,
but to have been considered as personally confidential, and, therefore,
retained among his private papers. A communication from
the governor of Virginia to General Washington, is found in the
office of the president's secretary, which, although not strictly
within the terms of the request of the House of Representatives,
is communicated, inasmuch as it may throw some light on the
subjects of the correspondence of that time, between certain foreign
agents and citizens of the United States.
In the first or second year of the administration of President
Adams, Andrew Ellicott, then employed in designating, in conjunction
with the Spanish authorities, the boundaries between
the territories of the United States and Spain, under the treaty
with that nation, communicated to the executive of the United
States papers and information respecting the subjects of the present
inquiry, which were deposited in the office of State. Copies
of these are now transmitted to the House of Representatives,
except of a single letter and a reference from the said Andrew
Ellicott, which being expressly desired to be kept secret, is therefore
not communicated, but its contents can be obtained from
himself in a more legal form, and directions have been given to
summon him to appear as a witness before the court of inquiry.
A paper "on the commerce of Louisiana," bearing date of the
18th of April, 1798, is found in the office of State, supposed to
have been communicated by Mr. Daniel Clark, of New Orleans,
then a subject of Spain, and now of the House of Representatives
of the United States, stating certain commercial transactions
of General Wilkinson, in New Orleans; an extract from this is
now communicated, because it contains facts which may have
some bearing on the questions relating to him.
The destruction of the war-office, by fire, in the close of 1800,
involved all information it contained at that date.
The papers already described, therefore, constitute the whole
information on the subjects, deposited in the public offices, during
the preceding administrations, as far as has yet been found; but
it cannot be affirmed that there may be no others, because, the
papers of the office being filed, for the most part, alphabetically,
unless aided by the suggestion of any particular name which may
have given such information, nothing short of a careful examination
of the papers in the offices generally, could authorize such
affirmation.
About a twelvemonth after I came to the administration of the
government, Mr. Clark gave some verbal information to myself,
as well as to the Secretary of State, relating to the same combinations
for the dismemberment of the Union. He was listened
to freely, and he then delivered the letter of Governor Gagoso,
addressed to himself, of which a copy is now communicated.
After his return to New Orleans, he forwarded to the Secretary
of State other papers, with a request that, after perusal, they
should be burned. This, however, was not done, and he was
so informed by the Secretary of State, and that they would be
held subject to his order. These papers have not yet been found
in the office. A letter, therefore, has been addressed to the former
chief clerk, who may, perhaps, give information respecting them.
As far as our memories enables us to say, they related only to
the combinations before spoken of, and not at all to the corrupt
receipt of money by any officer of the United States; consequently,
they respected what was considered as a dead matter, known
to the preceding administrations, and offering nothing new to
call for investigations, which those nearest the dates of the transactions
had not thought proper to institute.
In the course of the communications made to me on the subject
of the conspiracy of Aaron Burr, I sometimes received letters,
some of them anonymous, some under names true or false, expressing
suspicions and insinuations against General Wilkinson.
But one only of them, and that anonymous, specified any particular
fact, and that fact was one of those which had already been
communicated to a former administration.
No other information within the purview of the request of the
house is known to have been received by any department of the
government from the establishment of the present federal government.
That which has recently been communicated to the
House of Representatives, and by them to me, is the first direct
testimony ever made known to me, charging General Wilkinson
with the corrupt receipt of money; and the House of Representatives
may be assured that the duties which this information devolves
on me shall be exercised with rigorous impartiality.
Should any want of power in the court to compel the rendering
of testimony, obstruct that full and impartial inquiry, which
alone can establish guilt or innocence, and satisfy justice, the
legislative authority only will be competent to the remedy.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 30, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
The Choctaws being indebted to their merchants beyond what
could be discharged by the ordinary proceeds of their huntings,
and pressed for payment, proposed to the United States to cede
lands to the amount of their debts, and designated them in two
different portions of their country. These designations not at all
suiting us, were declined. Still, urged by their creditors, as well
as their own desire to be liberated from debt, they at length proposed
to make a cession which should be to our convenience.
By a treaty signed at Pooshapakonuk, on the 16th November,
1805, they accordingly ceded all their lands south of a line to be
run from their and our boundary at the Omochita, eastwardly to
their boundary with the Creeks on the ridge between the Tombigbee
and Alabama, as is more particularly described in the
treaty, containing about five millions of acres, as is supposed,
and uniting our possessions there from Adams to Washington
county.
The location contemplated in the instructions to the commissioners
was on the Mississippi. That in the treaty being entirely
different, I was, at that time, disinclined to its ratification, and
have suffered it to be unacted on. But progressive difficulties in
our foreign relations have brought into view considerations others
than those which then prevailed. It is perhaps now as interesting
to obtain footing for a strong settlement of militia along our
southern frontier, eastward of the Mississippi, as on the west of
that river, and more so than higher up the river itself. The consolidation
of the Mississippi territory, and the establishment of a
barrier of separation between the Indians and our southern neighbors,
are also important objects; and the Choctaws and their
creditors being still anxious that the sale should be made, I submitted
the treaty to the Senate, who have advised and consented
to its ratification. I, therefore, now lay it before both houses
of Congress for the exercise of their constitutional powers as to
the means of fulfilling it.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--JANUARY 30, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
The posts of Detroit and Mackinac, having been originally
intended by the governments which established and held them,
as mere depôts for the commerce with the Indians, very small
cessions of land around were obtained or asked from the native
proprietors, and these posts depended for protection on the
strength of their garrisons. The principle of our government
leading us to the employment of such moderate garrisons in time
of peace, as may merely take care of the post, and to a reliance
on the neighboring militia for its support in the first moments
of war, I have thought it would be important to obtain from the
Indians such a cession of the neighborhood of these posts as
might maintain a militia proportioned to this object; and I have
particularly contemplated, with this view, the acquisition of the
eastern moiety of the peninsula between the lakes Huron,
Michigan, and Erie, extending it to the Connecticut reserve, so
soon as it could be effected with the perfect good will of the natives.
By a treaty concluded at Detroit, on the 17th of November
last, with the Ottawas, Chippewas, Wyandots, and Pottawatomies,
so much of this country has been obtained as extends from
about Saguina bay southwardly to the Miami of the lakes, supposed
to contain upward of five millions of acres, with a prospect
of obtaining, for the present, a breadth of two miles for a
communication from the Miami to the Connecticut reserve.
The Senate having advised and consented to the ratification
of this treaty, I now lay it before both houses of Congress for
the exercise of their constitutional powers as to the means of
fulfilling it.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 2, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
Having received an official communication of certain orders
of the British government against the maritime rights of neutrals,
bearing date of the 11th of November, 1807, I transmitted to
Congress, as a further proof of the increasing dangers to our navigation
and commerce which led to the provident measures of
the present session, laying an embargo on our own vessels.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 4, 1808.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:--
In my message, January 20th, I stated that some papers forwarded
by Mr. Daniel Clark, of New Orleans, to the Secretary
of State, in 1803, had not then been found in the office of State;
and that a letter had been addressed to the former chief clerk, in
the hope that he might advise where they should be sought for.
By indications received from him they are now found. Among
them are two letters from the Baron de Carondelet to an officer
serving under him at a separate post, in which his views of a dismemberment
of our Union are expressed. Extracts of so much
of these letters as are within the scope of the resolutions of the
house, are now communicated. With these were found the letters
from Mr. Clark, to the Secretary of State, in 1803. A part
of one only of these relates to this subject, and is extracted and
enclosed for the information of the house. In no part of the
papers communicated by Mr. Clark, which are voluminous, and
in different languages, nor in his letters, have we found any intimation
of the corrupt receipt of money by any officer of the
United States from any foreign nation. As to the combinations
with foreign agents for the dismemberment of the Union, these
papers and letters offer nothing which was not probably known
to my predecessors, or which could call anew for inquiries, which
they had not thought necessary to institute, when the facts were
recent and could be better proved. They probably believed it
best to let pass into oblivion transactions, which, however culpable,
had commenced before this government existed, and had
been finally extinguished by the treaty of 1795.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 9, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
I communicate to Congress, for their information, a letter from
the person acting in the absence of our consul at Naples, giving
reason to believe, on the affidavit of a Captain Sheffield of the
American schooner Mary Ann, that the dey of Algiers had commenced
war against the United States. For this no just cause
has been given on our part within my knowledge. We may
daily expect more authentic and particular information on the
subject from Mr. Lear, who was residing as our consul at Algiers.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 15, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
I communicate for the information of Congress a letter from the
consul of the United States at Malaga, to the Secretary of State,
covering one from Mr. Lear, our consul at Algiers, which gives
information, that the rupture threatened on the part of the dey
of Algiers has been amicably settled, and the vessels seized by
him are liberated.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 19, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
The States of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, having,
by their several acts, consented that the road from Cumberland
to the State of Ohio, authorized by the act of Congress of the
29th March, 1806, should pass through those States, and the report
of the commissioners communicated to Congress with my
message of the 31st January, 1807, having been duly considered,
I have approved of the route therein proposed for the said road,
as far as Brownsville, with a single deviation since located, which
carries it through Uniontown.
From thence the course of the Ohio, and the point within the
legal limits at which it shall strike that river, is still to be decided.
In forming this decision, I shall pay material regard to
the interests and wishes of the populous part of the State of
Ohio, and to a future and convenient connection with the road
which is to lead from the Indian boundary near Cincinnati, by
Vincennes to the Mississippi, at St. Louis, under authority of the
act, 21st April, 1806. In this way we may accomplish a continued
and advantageous line of communication from the seat
of the general government to St. Louis, passing through several
very interesting points of the western country.
I have thought it advisable also to secure from obliteration the
trace of the road so far as it has been approved, which has been
executed at such considerable expense, by opening one half of
its breadth through its whole length.
The report of the commissioners, herewith transmitted, will
give particular information of their proceedings, under the act of
the 29th March, 1806, since the date of my message of the 31st
January, 1807, and will enable Congress to adopt further measures
relative thereto, as they may deem proper under existing circumstances.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--FEBRUARY 25, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
The dangers of our country, arising from the contests of other
nations and the urgency of making preparation for whatever
events might affect our relations with them, have been intimated
in preceding messages to Congress. To secure ourselves by due
precautions, an augmentation of our military force, as well regular
as of volunteer militia, seems to be expedient. The precise
extent of that augmentation cannot as yet be satisfactorily suggested,
but that no time may be lost, and especially at a season
deemed favorable to the object, I submit to the wisdom of the
legislature whether they will authorize a commencement of this
precautionary work by a present provision for raising and organizing
some additional force; reserving to themselves to decide
its ultimate extent on such views of our situation as I may
be enabled to present at a future day of the session.
If an increase of force be now approved, I submit to their consideration
the outlines of a plan proposed in the enclosed letter
from the Secretary of War.
I recommend, also, to the attention of Congress, the term at
which the act of April 18th, 1806, concerning the militia, will
expire, and the effect of that expiration.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--MARCH 7, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
In the city of New Orleans, and adjacent to it, are sundry
parcels of 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 those grounds appear 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, &c., 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 appropriations 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
other reasonable considerations, expect them, are matters now
submitted to 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.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--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 21st, 1806, and of Spain,
February 19th, 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
17th, 1807, and a similar decree of the 3d 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.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--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 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. Beside 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 fulfil the duties which the public service
may call for.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--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 consequently
been 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 between the
frigates Leopard and Chesapeake. The call on that government
for reparation of this wrong produced, as Congress have already
been 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 to 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 negotiations, 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 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 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 for 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.
EIGHTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.--NOVEMBER 8, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:--
It would have been a source, fellow citizens, of much gratification,
if 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 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 profession, 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 reference to their different circumstances,
and to the condition annexed by law to the executive power of
suspension, requiring a degree 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, while 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 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, involve 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 discussion 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 ministers 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 distinguished 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 nowise implicating the will of
the nation. Beyond the Mississippi, the Iowas, 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 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 practised towards them. Husbandry
and household manufacture are advancing among them,
more rapidly with the southern than the 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 defence 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 gun-boats authorized by the act of December last, it
has been thought necessary to build only one hundred and three
in the present year. These, with those before possessed, are sufficient
for the harbors and waters exposed, and the residue will
require little time for their construction when it is 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 to 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 volunteers
under the law passed for that purpose. For the ensuing
season, however, they will require to be in readiness should their
services be wanted. Some small and special detachments have
been necessary to maintain the 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 actual 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 have power to produce
a uniform state of preparation in this great organ of defence;
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 11th and April 23d, 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 portion 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 on the 30th day 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 eighteen millions of dollars, 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 two millions three hundred thousand
dollars of the principal of our funded debt, and left us in
the treasury, on that day, near fourteen millions of dollars. Of
these, five millions three hundred and fifty thousand dollars will
be necessary to pay what will be due on the first day of January
next, which will complete the reimbursement of the eight per
cent. stock. These payments, with those made in the six years
and a half preceding, will have extinguished thirty-three millions
five hundred and eighty thousand dollars of the principal of the
funded debt, being the whole which could be paid or purchased
within the limits of the law and our contracts; and the amount
of principal thus discharged will have liberated the revenue from
about two millions of dollars 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 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
cannot 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 cannot have
escaped error. It is incident to our 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.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--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 attachment 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.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.--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 defence
which it has been thought necessary to provide in the first
instance, for the security of our seaports, 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 defence 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 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 renders this also a question for the
special decision of Congress.
* * * * *
Circumstances, fellow citizens, which seriously threatened the
peace of our country, have made it a duty to convene you at an
earlier period than usual. The love of peace, so much cherished
in the bosoms of our citizens, which has so long guided the proceedings
of the public councils, and induced forbearance under
so many wrongs, may not insure our continuance in the quiet
_States_:--
PART III.
REPLIES TO PUBLIC ADDRESSES.
MESSRS. NEHEMIAH DODGE, EPHRAIM ROBBINS, AND STEPHEN S. NELSON, A
COMMITTEE OF THE DANBURY BAPTIST ASSOCIATION, IN THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT.
January 1, 1802.
GENTLEMEN,--The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation
which you are so good as to express towards me, on
behalf of the Danbury Baptist Association, give me the highest
satisfaction. My duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of
the interests of my constituents, and in proportion as they are
persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them
becomes more and more pleasing.
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely
between man and his God, that he owes account to none other
for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government
reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with
sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which
declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,"
thus building a wall of separation between church and State.
Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in
behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction
the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to
man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in
opposition to his social duties.
I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing
of the common Father and Creator of man, and tender you for
yourselves and your religious association, assurances of my high
respect and esteem.
TO WILLIAM JUDD, ESQUIRE, CHAIRMAN.
WASHINGTON, November 15, 1802.
Expressions of confidence from the respectable description of
my fellow citizens, in whose name you have been pleased to address
me, are received with that cordial satisfaction which kindred
principles and sentiments naturally inspire.
The proceedings which they approve were sincerely intended
for the general good; and if, as we hope, they should in event
produce it, they will be indebted for it to the wisdom of our legislative
councils, and of those distinguished fellow laborers whom
the laws have permitted me to associate in the general administration.
Exercising that discretion which the constitution has confided
to me in the choice of public agents, I have been sensible,
on the one hand, of the justice done to those who have been systematically
excluded from the service of their country, and attentive,
on the other, to restore justice in such a way as might least
affect the sympathies and the tranquillity of the public mind.
Deaths, resignations, delinquencies, malignant and active opposition
to the order of things established by the will of the nation,
will, it is believed, within a moderate space of time, make room
for a just participation in the management of the public affairs;
and that being once effected, future changes at the helm will be
viewed with tranquillity by those in subordinate station.
Every wish of my heart will be completely gratified when
that portion of my fellow citizens which has been misled as to
the character of our measures and principles, shall, by their salutary
effects, be corrected in their opinions, and joining with good
will the great mass of their fellow citizens, consolidate an union
which cannot be too much cherished.
I pray you, Sir, to accept for yourself, and for the general
meeting of the Republicans of the State of Connecticut at New
Haven, whose sentiments you have been so good as to convey
to me, assurances of my high consideration and respect.
TO THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE.
December 24, 1803.
Amidst the anxieties which are felt for the favorable issue of
measures adopted for promoting the public good, it is a consolation
to meet the approbation of those on whose behalf they are
instituted. I shall certainly endeavor to merit a continuance of
the good opinion which the legislature of Tennessee have been
pleased to express in their address of the 8th November, by a
zealous attention to the interests of my constituents; and shall
count on a candid indulgence whenever untoward events may
happen to disappoint well-founded expectations.
In availing our western brethren of those circumstances which
occur for promoting their interests, we only perform that duty
which we owe to every portion of the Union, under occurrences
equally favorable; and, impressed with the inconveniences to
which the citizens of Tennessee are subjected by a want of contiguity
in the portions composing their State, I shall be ready to
do for their relief, whatever the general legislature may authorize,
and justice to our neighbors permit.
The acquisition of Louisiana, although more immediately
beneficial to the western States, by securing for their produce a
certain market, not subject to interruption by officers over whom
we have no control, yet is also deeply interesting to the maritime
portion of our country, inasmuch as by giving the exclusive
navigation of the Mississippi, it avoids the burthens and sufferings
of a war, which conflicting interests on that river would inevitably
have produced at no distant period. It opens, too, a fertile
region for the future establishments in the progress of that multiplication
so rapidly taking place in all parts.
I have seen with great satisfaction the promptitude with which
the first portions of your militia repaired to the standard of their
country. It was deemed best to provide a force equal to any
event which might arise out of the transaction, and especially to
the preservation of order, among our newly-associated brethren,
in the first moments of their transition from one authority to another.
I tender to the legislature of Tennessee assurances of my
high respect and consideration.
TO THE TWO BRANCHES OF THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS.
February 14, 1807.
It is with sincere pleasure that I receive, from the two branches
of the legislature of Massachusetts, an address, expressive of their
satisfaction with the administration of our government. The
approbation of my constituents is truly the most valued reward
for any services it has fallen to my lot to render them--their confidence
and esteem, the greatest consolation of my life. The
measures which you have been pleased particularly to note, I
have believed to have been for the best interests of our country.
But far from assuming their merit to myself, they belong first, to
a wise and patriotic legislature, which has given them the form
and sanction of law, and next, to my faithful and able fellow-laborers
in the Executive administration.
The progression of sentiment in the great body of our fellow
citizens of Massachusetts, and the increasing support of their
opinion, I have seen with satisfaction, and was ever confident I
should see; persuaded that an enlightened people, whenever they
should view impartially the course we have pursued, could never
wish that our measures should have been reversed; could never
desire that the expenses of the government should have been increased,
taxes multiplied, debt accumulated, wars undertaken,
and the tomahawk and scalping knife left in the hands of our
neighbors, rather than the hoe and plough. In whatever tended
to strengthen the republican features of our constitution, we
could not fail to expect from Massachusetts, the cradle of our
revolutionary principles, an ultimate concurrence; and cultivating
the peace of nations, with justice and prudence, we yet were always
confident that, whenever our rights would be to be vindicated
against the aggression of foreign foes, or the machinations
of internal conspirators, the people of Massachusetts, so prominent
in the military achievements which placed our country in the
right of self-government, would never be found wanting in their
duty to the calls of their country, or the requisitions of their
government.
During the term, which yet remains, of my continuance in the
station assigned me, your confidence shall not be disappointed,
so far as faithful endeavors for your service can merit it.
I feel with particular sensibility your kind expressions towards
myself personally; and I pray that that Providence in whose
hand are the nations of the earth, may continue towards ours
his fostering care, and bestow on yourselves the blessings of His
protection and favor.
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, AND SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES OF MASSACHUSETTS.
WASHINGTON, February 14, 1807.
GENTLEMEN,--I acknowledge, in the first moment it has been
in my power, the receipt of your joint letter of January 26th,
with the address of the two branches of legislature of Massachusetts,
expressing their approbation of the proceedings of our government.
This declaration cannot fail to give particular and
general satisfaction to our fellow citizens, and to produce wholesome
effects at home and abroad. The remarkable union of
sentiment which pervaded nearly the whole of the States and
territories composing our nation, was such, indeed, as to inspire
a just confidence in the course we had to pursue. Yet something
was sensibly wanting to fill up the measure of our happiness,
while a member so important, so esteemed as Massachusetts,
had not yet declared its participation in the common sentiment.
That it is now done, will be a subject of mutual congratulation.
I am sensible that the terms in which you have been pleased
to make this communication, are not merely those of official duty.
I feel how much I am indebted to the kind and friendly disposition
they manifest; and I cherish them as proofs of an esteem
highly valued.
Permit me, through you, to return to the two branches of the
legislature the enclosed answer, and accept the assurances of my
esteem and high consideration.
TO MESSRS. THOMAS, ELLICOT, AND OTHERS.
November 13, 1807.
FRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS,--I thank you for the address
you have kindly presented me, on behalf of that portion of the
Society of Friends of which you are the representatives, and I
learn with satisfaction their approbation of the principles which
have influenced the councils of the general government in their
decisions on several important subjects confided to them.
The desire to preserve our country from the calamities and
ravages of war, by cultivating a disposition, and pursuing a conduct,
conciliatory and friendly to all nations, has been sincerely
entertained and faithfully followed. It was dictated by the principles
of humanity, the precepts of the gospel, and the general
wish of our country, and it was not to be doubted that the Society
of Friends, with whom it is a _religious_ principle, would sanction
it by their support.
The same philanthropic motives have directed the public endeavors
to ameliorate the condition of the Indian natives, by introducing
among them a knowledge of agriculture and some of
the mechanic arts, by encouraging them to resort to these as
more certain, and less laborious resources for subsistence than the
chase; and by withholding from them the pernicious supplies of
ardent spirits. They are our brethren, our neighbors; they may
be valuable friends, and troublesome enemies. Both duty and
interest then enjoin, that we should extend to them the blessings
of civilized life, and prepare their minds for becoming useful
members of the American family. In this important work I owe
to your society an acknowledgment that we have felt the benefits
of their zealous co-operation, and approved its judicious direction
towards producing among those people habits of industry,
comfortable subsistence, and civilized usages, as preparatory to
religious instruction and the cultivation of letters.
Whatever may have been the circumstances which influenced
our forefathers to permit the introduction of personal bondage
into any part of these States, and to participate in the wrongs
committed on an unoffending quarter of the globe, we may rejoice
that such circumstances, and such a sense of them, exist no
longer. It is honorable to the nation at large that their legislature
availed themselves of the first practicable moment for arresting
the progress of this great moral and political error; and I sincerely
pray with you, my friends, that all the members of the
human family may, in the time prescribed by the Father of us
all, find themselves securely established in the enjoyment of life,
liberty, and happiness.
TO CAPTAIN JOHN THOMAS.
WASHINGTON, November 18, 1807.
SIR,--I received on the 14th instant your favor of August 31,
and I beg you to assure my fellow citizens of the Baptist church
of Newhope meeting-house, that I learn with great satisfaction
their approbation of the principles which have guided the present
administration of the government. To cherish and maintain the
rights and liberties of our citizens, and to ward from them the
burthens, the miseries, and the crimes of war, by a just and
friendly conduct towards all nations, were among the most obvious
and important duties of those to whom the management of
their public interests have been confided; and happy shall we be
if a conduct guided by these views on our part, shall secure to us
a reciprocation of peace and justice from other nations.
Among the most inestimable of our blessings, also, is that you
so justly particularize, of liberty to worship our Creator in the
way we think most agreeable to his will; a liberty deemed in
other counties incompatible with good government, and yet
proved by our experience to be its best support.
Your confidence in my dispositions to befriend every human
right is highly grateful to me, and is rendered the more so by a
consciousness that these dispositions have been sincerely entertained
and pursued. I am thankful for the kindness expressed
towards me personally, and pray you to return to the society in
whose name you have addressed me, my best wishes for their
happiness and prosperity; and to accept for yourself assurances
of my great esteem and respect.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR SMITH.
WASHINGTON, December 1, 1807.
SIR,--The Secretary of State has communicated to me your
letter to him of the 14th of November, covering the resolutions
of the General Assembly of Vermont of the 4th of the same
month.
The sentiments expressed by the General Assembly of Vermont
on the late hostile attack on the Chesapeake by the Leopard
ship-of-war, as well as on other violations of our maritime and
territorial rights, are worthy of their known patriotism; and their
readiness to rally around the constituted authorities of their country,
and to support its rights with their lives and fortunes, is the
more honorable to them as exposed by their position, in front of
the contest. The issue of the present misunderstandings cannot
now be foreseen; but the measures adopted for their settlement
have been sincerely directed to maintain the rights, the honor,
the peace of our country; and the approbation of them expressed
by the General Assembly is to me a confirmation of their correctness.
The confidence they are pleased to declare in my personal
care of the public interests, is highly gratifying to me, and gives
a new claim to everything which zeal can effect for their service.
I beg leave to tender to the General Assembly of Vermont, and
to yourself, the assurances of my high consideration and respect.
TO THE LEGISLATURE OF VERMONT.
December 10, 1807.
I received in due season the _address_ of the Legislature of
Vermont, bearing date the 5th of November 1806, in which, with
their approbation of the general course of my administration,
they were so good as to express their desire that I would consent
to be proposed again, to the public voice, on the expiration of
my present term of office. Entertaining, as I do, for the legislature
of Vermont those sentiments of high respect which would
have prompted an immediate answer, I was certain, nevertheless,
they would approve a delay which had for its object to avoid a
premature agitation of the public mind, on a subject so interesting
as the election of a chief magistrate.
That I should lay down my charge at a proper period, is as
much a duty as to have borne it faithfully. If some termination
to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the
constitution, or supplied by practice, his office, nominally for
years, will, in fact, become for life; and history shows how easily
that degenerates into an inheritance. Believing that a representative
government, responsible at short periods of election, is that
which produces the greatest sum of happiness to mankind, I feel
it a duty to do no act which shall essentially impair that principle;
and I should unwillingly be the person who, disregarding
the sound precedent set by an illustrious predecessor, should furnish
the first example of prolongation beyond the second term
of office.
Truth, also, requires me to add, that I am sensible of that decline
which advancing years bring on; and feeling their physical,
I ought not to doubt their mental effect. Happy if I am the
first to perceive and to obey this admonition of nature, and to
solicit a retreat from cares too great for the wearied faculties
of age.
For the approbation which the legislature of Vermont has been
pleased to express of the principles and measures pursued in the
management of their affairs, I am sincerely thankful; and should
I be so fortunate as to carry into retirement the equal approbation
and good will of my fellow citizens generally, it will be the
comfort of my future days, and will close a service of forty
years with the only reward it ever wished.
* * * * *
"Addresses approving the general course of his administration, were also
received from Georgia, December 6th, 1806; from Rhode Island, February
27th, 1807; from New York, March 13th, 1807; from Pennsylvania, March
13th, 1807; and from Maryland, January 3d, 1807; to all which answers
like that sent to Vermont, were returned."--_Ed._
TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE OF NEW JERSEY IN
THEIR LEGISLATURE.
December 10, 1807.
The sentiments, fellow citizens, which you are pleased to express
in your address of the 4th inst., of attachment and esteem
for the general government, and of confidence and approbation
of those who direct its councils, cannot but be pleasing to the
friends of union generally, and give a new claim on all those
who direct the public affairs, for everything which zeal can effect
for the good of their country.
It is indeed to be deplored that distant as we are from the
storms and convulsions which agitate the European world, the
pursuit of an honest neutrality, beyond the reach of reproach,
has been insufficient to secure to us the certain enjoyment of
peace with those whose interests as well as ours would be promoted
by it. What will be the issue of present misunderstandings
cannot as yet be foreseen; but the measures adopted for
their settlement have been sincerely directed to maintain the
rights, the honor, and the peace of our country. Should they
fail, the ardor of our citizens to obey the summons of their
country, and the offer which you attest, of their lives and fortunes
in its support, are worthy of their patriotism, and are
pledges of our safety.
The suppression of the late conspiracy by the hand of the
people, uplifted to destroy it whenever it reared its head, manifests
their fitness for self-government, and the power of a nation,
of which every individual feels that his own will is a part of
the public authority.
The effect of the public contributions in reducing the national
debt, and liberating our resources from the canker of interest,
has been so far salutary, and encourages us to continue in the
same course; or, if necessarily interrupted, to resume it as soon
as practicable.
I perceive with sincere pleasure that my conduct in the chief
magistracy has so far met your approbation, that my continuance
in that office, after its present term, would be acceptable to you.
But that I should lay down my charge at a proper period is as
much a duty as to have borne it faithfully. If some termination
to the services of the chief magistrate be not fixed by the constitution,
or supplied by practice, his office, nominally for years,
will, in fact, become for life, and history shows how easily that
degenerates into an inheritance. Believing that a representative
government, responsible at short periods of election, is that
which produces the greatest sum of happiness to mankind, I feel
it a duty to do no act which shall essentially impair that principle;
and I should unwillingly be the person who, disregarding the
sound precedent set by an illustrious predecessor, should furnish
the first example of prolongation beyond the second term of office.
Truth also obliges me to add, that I am sensible of that decline
which advancing years bring on, and feeling their physical,
I ought not to doubt their mental effect. Happy if I am the
first to perceive and to obey this admonition of nature, and to
solicit a retreat from cares too great for the wearied faculties of
age.
Declining a re-election on grounds which cannot but be approved,
I am sincerely thankful for the approbation which the
Legislature of New Jersey are pleased to manifest of the principles
and measures pursued in the management of their affairs;
and should I be so fortunate as to carry into retirement the equal
approbation and good will of my fellow citizens generally, it
will be the comfort of my future days, and will close a service
of forty years with the only reward it ever wished.
TO THE TAMMANY SOCIETY OF THE CITY OF WASHINGTON.
December 14, 1807.
The appearances for some time past, threatening our peace,
fellow citizens, have justly excited a general anxiety; and I have
been happy to receive from every quarter of the Union the most
satisfactory assurances of fidelity to our country, and of devotion
to the support of its rights. Your concurrence in these sentiments,
expressed in the address you have been pleased to present
me, is a proof of your patriotism, and of that firm spirit which
constitutes the ultimate appeal of nations. What will be the
issue of present misunderstandings, is, as yet, unknown. But, willing
ourselves to do justice to others, we ought to expect it from
them. If any among us view erroneously the rights which late
events have brought into question, let us hope that they will be
corrected by the further investigation of reason; but, at all
events, that they will acquiesce in what their country shall
authoritatively decide, and arrange themselves faithfully under
the banners of the law.
Your approbation of the measures which have been pursued,
is a pleasing confirmation of their correctness; and, with particular
thankfulness for the kind expressions of your address towards
myself personally, I reciprocate sincere wishes for your welfare.
TO MESSRS. ABNER WATKINS AND BERNARD TODD.
December 21st, 1807.
I have duly received, fellow citizens, the address of October
21st, which you have been so kind as to forward me on the
part of the society of Baptists, of the Appomatox Association, and
it is with great satisfaction when I learn from my constituents
that the measures pursued in the administration of their affairs,
during the time I have occupied the presidential chair, have met
their approbation. Of the wisdom of these measures, it belongs
to others to judge; that they have always been dictated by a desire
to do what should be most for the public good, I may conscientiously
affirm. Believing that a definite period of retiring
from this station will tend materially to secure our elective form
of government; and sensible, too, of that decline which advancing
years bring on, I have felt it a duty to withdraw at the close
of my present term of office; and to strengthen by practice a
principle which I deem salutary. That others may be found
whose talents and integrity render them proper deposits of the
public liberty and interests, and who have made themselves
known by their eminent services, we can all affirm, of our
personal knowledge. To us it will belong, fellow citizens,
when their country shall have called them to its helm, to give
them our support while there, to facilitate their honest efforts for
the public good, even where other measures might seem to us
more direct, to strengthen the arm of our country by union under
them, and to reserve ourselves for judging them at the constitutional
period of election.
I pray you to tender to your society, of which you are a committee,
my thanks for the indulgence with which they have
viewed my conduct, with the assurance of my high respect, and
to accept yourselves my friendly and respectful salutations.
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA.
January 10, 1808.
The wrongs our country has suffered, fellow citizens, by violations
of those moral rules which the Author of our nature has
implanted in man as the law of his nature, to govern him in his
associated, as well as individual character, have been such as
justly to excite the sensibilities you express, and a deep abhorrence
at indications threatening a substitution of power for right
in the intercourse between nations. Not less worthy of your
indignation have been the machinations of parricides who have
endeavored to bring into danger the union of these States, and
to subvert, for the purposes of inordinate ambition, a government
founded in the will of its citizens, and directed to no object
but their happiness.
I learn, with the liveliest sentiments of gratitude and respect,
your approbation of my conduct, in the various charges which
my country has been pleased to confide to me at different times;
and especially that the administration of our public affairs, since
my accession to the chief magistracy, has been so far satisfactory,
that my continuance in that office after its present term, would
be acceptable to you. But, that I should lay down my charge
at a proper period, is as much a duty as to have borne it faithfully.
If some termination to the services of the chief magistrate
be not fixed by the constitution, or supplied by practice, his
office, nominally for years, will in fact become for life; and history
shows how easily that degenerates into an inheritance.
Believing that a representative government, responsible at short
periods of election, is that which produces the greatest sum of
happiness to mankind, I feel it a duty to do no act which shall
essentially impair that principle; and I should unwillingly be the
person who, disregarding the sound precedent set by an illustrious
predecessor, should furnish the first example of prolongation
beyond the second term of office.
Truth also obliges me to add, that I am sensible of that decline
which advancing years bring on; and feeling their physical,
I ought not to doubt their mental effect. Happy if I am
the first to perceive and obey this admonition of nature, and to
solicit a retreat from cares too great for the wearied faculties of
age.
Declining a re-election on grounds which cannot but be approved,
it will be the great comfort of my future days, and the
satisfactory reward of a service of forty years, to carry into retirement
such testimonies as you have been pleased to give, of
the approbation and good will of my fellow citizens generally.
And I supplicate the Being in whose hands we all are, to preserve
our country in freedom and independence, and to bestow
on yourselves the blessings of his favor.
TO THE SOCIETY OF TAMMANY, OR COLUMBIAN ORDER, NO. 1, OF
THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
February 29, 1808.
I have received your address, fellow citizens, and, thankful
for the expressions so personally gratifying to myself, I contemplate
with high satisfaction the ardent spirit it breathes of
love to our country, and of devotion to its liberty and independence.
The crisis in which it is placed, cannot but be unwelcome
to those who love peace, yet spurn at a tame submission to
wrong. So fortunately remote from the theatre of European
contests, and carefully avoiding to implicate ourselves in them,
we had a right to hope for an exemption from the calamities
which have afflicted the contending nations, and to be permitted
unoffendingly to pursue paths of industry and peace.
But the ocean, which, like the air, is the common birth-right
of mankind, is arbitrarily wrested from us, and maxims consecrated
by time, by usage, and by an universal sense of right, are
trampled on by superior force. To give time for this demoralizing
tempest to pass over, one measure only remained which
might cover our beloved country from its overwhelming fury:
an appeal to the deliberate understanding of our fellow citizens
in a cessation of all intercourse with the belligerent nations,
until it can be resumed under the protection of a returning sense
of the moral obligations which constitute a law for nations as
well as individuals. There can be no question, in a mind truly
American, whether it is best to send our citizens and property
into certain captivity, and then wage war for their recovery, or
to keep them at home, and to turn seriously to that policy which
plants the manufacturer and the husbandman side by side, and
establishes at the door of every one that exchange of mutual
labors and comforts, which we have hitherto sought in distant
regions, and under perpetual risk of broils with them. Between
these alternatives your address has soundly decided, and I doubt
not your aid, and that of every real and faithful citizen, towards
carrying into effect the measures of your country, and enforcing
the sacred principle, that in opposing foreign wrong there must
be but one mind.
I receive with sensibility your kind prayers for my future happiness,
and I supplicate a protecting providence to watch over
your own and our country's freedom and welfare.
TO THE DELEGATES OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICANS OF THE CITY
OF PHILADELPHIA IN GENERAL WARD COMMITTEE ASSEMBLED.
May 25, 1808.
The epoch, fellow citizens, into which our lot has fallen, has
indeed been fruitful of events, which require vigilance, and embarrass
deliberation. That during such a period of difficulty,
and amidst the perils surrounding us, the public measures which
have been pursued should meet your approbation, is a source of
great satisfaction. It was not expected in this age, that nations
so honorably distinguished by their advances in science and civilization,
would suddenly cast away the esteem they had merited
from the world, and, revolting from the empire of morality, assume
a character in history, which all the tears of their posterity
will never wash from its pages. But during this delirium of the
warring powers, the ocean having become a field of lawless violence,
a suspension of our navigation for a time was equally necessary
to avoid contest, or enter it with advantage. This measure
will, indeed, produce some temporary inconvenience; but
promises lasting good by promoting among ourselves the establishment
of manufactures hitherto sought abroad, at the risk of
collisions no longer regulated by the laws of reason or morality.
It is to be lamented that any of our citizens, not thinking with
the mass of the nation as to the principles of our government, or
of its administration, and seeing all its proceedings with a prejudiced
eye, should so misconceive and misrepresent our situation
as to encourage aggressions from foreign nations. Our expectation
is, that their distempered views will be understood by others
as they are by ourselves; but should wars be the consequence
of these delusions, and the errors of our dissatisfied citizens find
atonement only in the blood of their sounder brethren, we must
meet it as an evil necessarily flowing from that liberty of speaking
and writing which guards our other liberties; and I have entire
confidence in the assurances that your ardor will be animated,
in the conflicts brought on, by considerations of the necessity,
honor, and justice of our cause.
I sincerely thank you, fellow citizens, for the concern you so
kindly express for my future happiness. It is a high and abundant
reward for endeavors to be useful; and I supplicate the care
of Providence over the well-being of yourselves and our beloved
country.
TO THE LEGISLATURE, COUNCIL, AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF
THE TERRITORY OF ORLEANS.
WASHINGTON, June 18, 1808.
I received, fellow citizens, with a just sensibility, the expressions
of esteem and approbation, communicated in your kind address
of the 29th of March, and am thankful for them. The
motives which have led to my retirement from office were dictated
by a sense of duty, and will, I trust, be approved by my
fellow citizens generally.
It is, indeed, a source of real concern that an impartial neutrality
scrupulously observed towards the belligerent nations of Europe,
has not been sufficient to protect us against encroachments
on our rights; and, although deprecating war, should no alternative
be presented us but disgraceful submission to unlawful pretensions,
I have entire confidence in your assurances that you
will cheerfully submit to whatever sacrifices and privations may
be necessary for vindicating the rights, the honor, and independence
of our nation.
Far from a disposition to avail ourselves of the peculiar situation
of any belligerent nation to ask concessions incompatible
with their rights, with justice, or reciprocity, we have never proposed
to any the sacrifice of a single right; and in consideration
of existing circumstances, we have ever been willing, where our
duty to other nations permitted us, to relax for a time, and in
some cases, that strictness of right which the laws of nature, the
acknowledgments of the civilized world, and the equality and
independence of nations entitle us to. Should, therefore, excessive
and continued injury compel at length a resort to the means
of self-redress, we are strong in the consciousness that no wrong
committed on our part, no precipitancy in repelling the wrongs
committed by others, no want of moderation in our exactions of
voluntary justice, but undeniable aggressions on us, and the
avowed purpose of continuing them, will have produced a recurrence
so little consonant with our principles or inclinations.
To carry with me into retirement the approbation and esteem
of my fellow citizens, will, indeed, be the highest reward they
can confer on me, and certainly the only one I have ever desired.
I invoke the favor of heaven, fellow citizens, towards yourselves
and our beloved country.
TO THE LEGISLATURE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
August 2, 1808.
In the review, fellow citizens, which, in your address of the
14th of June, you have taken of the measures pursued since I
have been charged with their direction, I read with great satisfaction
and thankfulness, the approbation you have bestowed on
them; and I feel it an ample reward for any services I may have
been able to render.
The present moment is certainly eventful, and one which
peculiarly requires that the bond of confederation connecting us
as a nation should receive all the strength which unanimity between
the national councils and the State legislatures can give it.
The depredations committed on our vessels and property on
the high seas, the violences to the persons of our citizens employed
on that element, had long been the subject of remonstrance
and complaint, when, instead of reparation, new declarations
of wrong are issued, subjecting our navigation to general
plunder. In this state of things our first duty was to withdraw
our sea-faring citizens and property from abroad, and to keep at
home resources so valuable at all times, and so essential, if resort
must ultimately be had to force.
It gave us time, too, to make a last appeal to the reason and
reputation of nations. In the meanwhile I see with satisfaction
that this measure of self-denial is approved and supported by the
great body of our real citizens; that they meet with cheerfulness
the temporary privations it occasions, and are preparing with
spirit to provide for themselves those comforts and conveniences
of life, for which it would be unwise evermore to recur to distant
countries. How long this course may be preferable to a
more serious appeal, must depend for decision on the wisdom of
the legislature; unless, indeed, a return to established principles
should remove the existing obstacles to a peaceable intercourse
with foreign nations. In every event, fellow citizens, my confidence
is entire that your resolution to maintain our national independence
and sovereignty will be as firm as it has been forbearing;
and looking back on our history, I am assured by the
past, that its future pages will present nothing unworthy of the
former.
I am happy that you approve of the motives of my retirement.
I shall carry into it ardent prayers for the welfare of my country,
and the sincerest wishes for that of yourselves personally.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR LANGDON.
August 2, 1808.
I received in due time your favor of June 24th, covering the
address of the House of Representatives and Senate of New
Hampshire, and I ask leave, through the same channel, to return
the enclosed answer, to be communicated to them in whatever
way you think most acceptable. Highly gratified by this approbation
of the legislature of your State, as it respects myself personally,
the moment at which it is expressed gives it peculiar
value as a public document. It is the testimony of a respectable
legislature in favor of a measure submitting our fellow citizens
to some present sufferings to preserve them from future and
greater, and cannot fail to strengthen the disposition to maintain
it which I am happy to perceive is so general. I tender you
my affectionate salutations, and with every wish for your health
and happiness, the assurance of my high respect and consideration.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR LANGDON. (PRIVATE.)
MONTICELLO, August 2, 1808.
MY DEAR SIR,--The enclosed are formal, and for the public;
but in sending them to you I cannot omit the occasion of indulging
my friendship in a more familiar way, and of recalling
myself to your recollection. How much have I wished to have
had you still with us through the years of my employment at
Washington. I have seen with great pleasure the moderation
and circumspection with which you have been kind enough to
act under my letter of May 6th, and I have been highly gratified
with the late general expressions of public sentiment in favor of
a measure which alone could have saved us from immediate war,
and give time to call home eighty millions of property, twenty
or thirty thousand seamen, and two thousand vessels. These
are now nearly at home, and furnish a great capital, much of
which will go into manufactures and seamen to man a fleet of
privateers, whenever our citizens shall prefer war to a longer continuance
of the embargo. Perhaps, however, the whale of the
ocean may be tired of the solitude it has made on that element,
and return to honest principles, and his brother robber on the
land may see that, as to us, the grapes are sour. I think one war
enough for the life of one man; and you and I have gone through
one which at least may lessen our impatience to embark in
another. Still, if it becomes necessary, we must meet it like
men, old men indeed, but yet good for something. But whether
in peace or war, may you have as many years of life as you
desire, with health and prosperity to make them happy years. I
salute you with constant affection and great esteem and respect.
TO THE HONORABLE JOSEPH ALSTON, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
MONTICELLO, August 4, 1808.
SIR,--I have duly received your letter of July 6th, covering
the resolutions of the legislature of South Carolina of June 29th,
and I see in those resolutions a new manifestation of the national
spirit of which South Carolina has given so many proofs. It is
the more exemplary, as it is certain that no State sacrifices more
by the operation of a measure which, whether to avoid war, or
to prepare for it, has been deemed equally necessary. The
unanimity too of these resolutions, does peculiar honor to those
individuals, who differing from the mass of their fellow citizens
in their opinions of government, yet forget all differences when
the rights of their country are in question; who when it is assailed
by foreign wrong, and menaced with the evils of war, instead
of encouraging enemies by forebodings of weakness and
division, present to them one common and undivided front.
Persuaded that the sentiments expressed in these resolutions are
a true specimen of those entertained by the great mass of our
fellow citizens, we may regret the evils which a contrary opinion
in others may produce, but we cannot fear the result of any
trial they may put us to.
I receive with particular gratification assurances of approbation
from the legislature of South Carolina, and will not cease in my
endeavors to merit a continuance of it. I pray you to accept
my salutations and assurances of great respect and consideration.
TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE TOWN OF BOSTON, NEWBURYPORT AND
PROVIDENCE, IN LEGAL TOWN MEETING ASSEMBLED.
August 26, 1808.
Your representation and request were received on the 22d inst.,
and have been considered with the attention due to every expression
of the sentiments and feelings of so respectable a body
of my fellow citizens. No person has seen, with more concern
than myself, the inconveniences brought on our country in general
by the circumstances of the times in which we happen to
live; times to which the history of nations presents no parallel.
For years we have been looking as spectators on our brethren of
Europe, afflicted by all those evils which necessarily follow an
abandonment of the moral rules which bind men and nations together.
Connected with them in friendship and commerce, we
have happily so far kept aloof from their calamitous conflicts, by
a steady observance of justice towards all, by much forbearance
and multiplied sacrifices. At length, however, all regard to the
rights of others having been thrown aside, the belligerent powers
have beset the highway of commercial intercourse with edicts
which, taken together, expose our commerce and mariners, under
almost every destination, a prey to their fleets and armies.
Each party, indeed, would admit our commerce with themselves,
with the view of associating us in their war against the other.
But we have wished war with neither. Under these circumstances
were passed the laws of which you complain, by those
delegated to exercise the powers of legislation for you, with every
sympathy of a common interest in exercising them faithfully.
In reviewing these measures, therefore, we should advert to the
difficulties out of which a choice was of necessity to be made.
To have submitted our rightful commerce to prohibitions and
tributary exactions from others, would have been to surrender
our independence. To resist them by arms was war, without
consulting the state of things or the choice of the nation. The
alternative preferred by the legislature of suspending a commerce
placed under such unexampled difficulties, besides saving to our
citizens their property, and our mariners to their country, has the
peculiar advantage of giving time to the belligerent nations to
revise a conduct as contrary to their interests as it is to our
rights.
"In the event of such peace, or suspension of hostilities between
the belligerent powers of Europe, or of such change in
their measures affecting neutral commerce, as may render that
of the United States sufficiently safe, in the judgment of the
President," he is authorized to suspend the embargo. But no
peace or suspension of hostilities, no change of measures affecting
neutral commerce, is known to have taken place. The orders
of England, and the decrees of France and Spain, existing
at the date of these laws, are still unrepealed, as far as we know.
In Spain, indeed, a contest for the government appears to have
arisen; but of its course or prospects we have no information on
which prudence would undertake a hasty change in our policy,
even were the authority of the Executive competent to such a
decision.
You desire that, in this defect of power, Congress may be specially
convened. It is unnecessary to examine the evidence or
the character of the facts which are supposed to dictate such a
call; because you will be sensible, on an attention to dates, that
the legal period of their meeting is as early as, in this extensive
country, they could be fully convened by a special call.
I should, with great willingness, have executed the wishes of
the inhabitants of the town of Boston, Newburyport, and Providence,
had peace, or a repeal of the obnoxious edicts, or other
charges, produced the case in which alone the laws have given
me that authority; and so many motives of justice and interest
lead to such changes, that we ought continually to expect them.
But while these edicts remain, the legislature alone can prescribe
the course to be pursued.
TO A PORTION OF THE CITIZENS OF BOSTON.
SIR,--I have duly received the address of that portion of the
citizens of [Boston] who have declared their approbation of the
present suspension of our commerce, and their dissent from the
representation of those of the same place, who wished its removal.
A division of sentiment was not unexpected. On no
question can a perfect unanimity be hoped, or certainly it would
have been on that between war and embargo, the only alternatives
presented to our choice. For the general capture of our
vessels would have been war on one side, which reason and interest
would repel by war and reprisal on our part.
Of the several interests composing those of the United States,
that of manufactures would of course prefer to war a state of
non-intercourse, so favorable to their rapid growth and prosperity.
Agriculture, although sensibly feeling the loss of market for its produce,
would find many aggravations in a state of war. Commerce and navigation,
or that portion which is foreign, in the inactivity to which they are
reduced by the present state of things, certainly experience their full
share in the general inconvenience; but whether war would to them be
a preferable alternative, is a question their patriotism would never
hastily propose. It is to be regretted, however, that overlooking the
real sources of their sufferings, the British and French edicts, which
constitute the actual blockade of our foreign commerce and navigation,
they have, with too little reflection, imputed them to laws which have
saved them from greater, and have preserved for our own use our vessels,
property and seamen, instead of adding them to the strength of those
with whom we might eventually have to contend.
The embargo, giving time to the belligerent powers to revise
their unjust proceedings, and to listen to the dictates of justice,
of interest and reputation, which equally urge the correction of
their wrongs, has availed our country of the only honorable expedient
for avoiding war; and should a repeal of these edicts
supersede the cause for it, our commercial brethren will become
sensible that it has consulted their interests, however against
their own will. It will be unfortunate for their country if, in
the meantime, these their expressions of impatience should have
the effect of prolonging the very sufferings which have produced
them, by exciting a fallacious hope that we may, under any
pressure, relinquish our equal right of navigating the ocean, go
to such ports only as others may prescribe, and there pay the
tributary exactions they may impose; an abandonment of national
independence and of essential rights, revolting to every
manly sentiment. While these edicts are in force, no American
can ever consent to a return of peaceable intercourse with those
who maintain them.
I am happy, in the approach of the period when the feelings
and the wisdom of the nation will be collected in their representatives
assembled together. To them are committed our rights,
to them our wrongs are known, and they will pronounce the
remedy they call for; and I hear with pleasure from all, as well
those who approve, as who disapprove of the present measures,
assurances of an implicit acquiescence in their enunciation of the
general will.
I beg leave through you to communicate this answer to the
address on which your signature held the first place, and to add
the assurances of my respect.
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE BALTIMORE BAPTIST ASSOCIATION.
October 17, 1808.
I receive with great pleasure the friendly address of the Baltimore
Baptist Association, and am sensible how much I am indebted
to the kind dispositions which dictated it.
In our early struggles for liberty, religious freedom could not
fail to become a primary object. All men felt the right, and a
just animation to obtain it was exhibited by all. I was one
only among the many who befriended its establishment, and am
entitled but in common with others to a portion of that approbation
which follows the fulfilment of a duty.
Excited by wrongs to reject a foreign government which directed
our concerns according to its own interests, and not to
ours, the principles which justified us were obvious to all understandings,
they were imprinted in the breast of every human
being; and Providence ever pleases to direct the issue of our
contest in favor of that side where justice was. Since this happy
separation, our nation has wisely avoided entangling itself in the
system of European interests, has taken no side between its rival
powers, attached itself to none of its ever-changing confederacies.
Their peace is desirable; and you do me justice in saying that to
preserve and secure this, has been the constant aim of my administration.
The difficulties which involve it, however, are
now at their ultimate term, and what will be their issue, time
alone will disclose. But be it what it may, a recollection of
our former vassalage in religion and civil government, will unite
the zeal of every heart, and the energy of every hand, to preserve
that independence in both which, under the favor of heaven, a
disinterested devotion to the public cause first achieved, and a
disinterested sacrifice of private interests will now maintain.
I am happy in your approbation of my reasons for determining
to retire from a station, in which the favor of my fellow citizens
has so long continued and supported me: I return your kind
prayers with supplications to the same almighty Being for your
future welfare and that of our beloved country.
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE KETOCTON BAPTIST ASSOCIATION.
October 18, 1808.
I received with great pleasure the affectionate address of the
Ketocton Baptist Association, and am sensible how much I am
indebted to the kind dispositions which dictated it.
In our early struggles for liberty, religious freedom could not
fail to become a primary object. All men felt the right, and a
just animation to obtain it was excited in all. And although
your favor selected me as the organ of your petition to abolish the
religious denomination of a privileged church, yet I was but one
of the many who befriended its object, and am entitled but in
common with them to a portion of that approbation which follows
the fulfilment of a duty.
The views you express of the conduct of the belligerent powers
are as correct as they are afflicting to the lovers of justice and
humanity. Those moral principles and conventional usages
which have heretofore been the bond of civilized nations, which
have so often preserved their peace by furnishing common rules
for the measure of their rights, have now given way to force, the
law of Barbarians, and the nineteenth century dawns with the
Vandalism of the fifth. Nothing has been spared on our part to
preserve the peace of our country, during this distempered state of
the world. But the difficulties which involve it are now at their
ultimate term, and what will be their issue, time alone will disclose.
But be that what it may, a recollection of our former
vassalage in religion and civil government will unite the zeal of
every heart, and the energy of every hand, to preserve that independence
in both, which, under the favor of heaven, a disinterested
devotion to the public cause first achieved, and a disinterested
sacrifice of private interests will now maintain.
I am happy in your approbation of my reasons for determining
to retire from a station in which the favor of my fellow citizens
has so long continued and supported me; and I return your kind
prayers by supplications to the same Almighty being for your
future welfare, and that of our beloved country.
TO THE GENERAL MEETING OF CORRESPONDENCE OF THE SIX BAPTIST
ASSOCIATIONS REPRESENTED AT CHESTERFIELD, VIRGINIA.
November 21, 1808.
Thank you, fellow citizens, for your affectionate address, and
I receive with satisfaction your approbation of my motives for retirement.
In reviewing the history of the times through which
we have past, no portion of it gives greater satisfaction, on reflection,
than that which presents the efforts of the friends of religious
freedom, and the success with which they were crowned.
We have solved by fair experiment, the great and interesting
question whether freedom of religion is compatible with order in
government, and obedience to the laws. And we have experienced
the quiet as well as the comfort which results from leaving
every one to profess freely and openly those principles of religion
which are the inductions of his own reason, and the serious
convictions of his own inquiries.
It is a source of great contentment to me to learn that the
measures which have been pursued in the administration of your
affairs have met your approbation. Too often we have had but a
choice among difficulties; and this situation characterizes remarkably
the present moment. But, fellow citizens, if we are
faithful to our country, if we acquiesce, with good will, in the
decisions of the majority, and the nation moves in mass in the
same direction, although it may not be that which every individual
thinks best, we have nothing to fear from any quarter.
I thank you sincerely for your kind wishes for my welfare,
and with equal sincerity implore the favor of a protecting Providence
for yourselves.
TO TABER FITCH, ESQ., CHAIRMAN.
WASHINGTON, November 21, 1808.
SIR,--I have received with great pleasure the address of the
republicans of the State of Connecticut, and am particularly sensible
of the kindness with which they have viewed my conduct
in the direction of their affairs. Having myself highly approved
the example of an illustrious predecessor, in voluntarily retiring
from a trust, which, if too long continued in the same hands,
might become a subject of reasonable uneasiness and apprehension,
I could not mistake my own duty when placed in a similar
situation.
Our experience so far, has satisfactorily manifested the competence
of a republican government to maintain and promote the
best interests of its citizens; and every future year, I doubt not,
will contribute to settle a question on which reason, and a knowledge
of the character and circumstances of our fellow citizens,
could never admit a doubt, and much less condemn them as fit
subjects to be consigned to the dominion of wealth and force.
Although under the pressure of serious evils at this moment, the
governments of the other hemisphere cannot boast a more favorable
situation. We certainly do not wish to exchange our difficulties
for the sanguinary distresses of our fellow men beyond
the water. In a state of the world unparalleled in times past,
and never again to be expected, according to human probabilities,
no form of government has, so far, better shielded its citizens
from the prevailing afflictions. By withdrawing awhile
from the ocean we have suffered some loss; but we have gathered
home our immense capital. Exposed to foreign depredation, we
have saved our seamen from the jails of Europe, and gained time
to prepare for the defence of our country. The questions of submission,
of war, or embargo, are now before our country as unembarrassed
as at first. Submission and tribute, if that be our
choice, will be no baser now than at the date of the embargo.
But if, as I trust, that idea be spurned, we may now decide on
the other alternatives of war and embargo, with the advantage
of possessing all the means which have been rescued from the
grasp of capture. These advantages certainly justify the approbation
of the embargo declared in your address, and I have no
doubt will ensure that of every candid citizen, who will correctly
trace the consequences of any other course.
I thank you for the kind concern you are pleased to express
for my future happiness, and offer my sincere prayers for your
welfare and prosperity.
TO THE YOUNG REPUBLICANS OF PITTSBURG AND ITS VICINITIES.
December 2, 1808.
The sentiments which you express in your address of October
27th, of attachment to the rights of your country, of your determination
to support them with your lives and fortunes, and of
disregard of the inconveniences which must be encountered in
resisting insult and aggression, are honorable to yourselves, and
encouraging to your country. They are particularly solacing to
those who, having labored faithfully in establishing the right of
self-government, see in the rising generation, into whose hands
it is passing, that purity of principle, and energy of character,
which will protect and preserve it through their day, and deliver
it over to their sons as they receive it from their fathers. The
measure of a temporary suspension of commerce was adopted
to cover us from greater evils. It has rescued from capture an
important capital, and our seamen from the jails of Europe. It
has given time to prepare for defence, and has shown to the aggressors
of Europe that evil, as well as good actions, recoil on
the doers. If these evils have involved our inoffending neighbors
also, towards whom we have not a sentiment but of friendship
and useful intercourse, it results from that state of violence
by which the interests of the American hemisphere are directed
to the objects of Europe. Endowed by nature with a system of
interests and connections of its own, it is drawn from these by
the unnatural bonds which enchain its different parts to the conflicting
interests and fortunes of another world, and render its inhabitants
strangers and enemies, to their neighbors and mutual
friends.
Believing that the happiness of mankind is best promoted by
the useful pursuits of peace, that on these alone a stable prosperity
can be founded, that the evils of war are great in their
endurance, and have a long reckoning for ages to come, I have
used my best endeavors to keep our country uncommitted in the
troubles which afflict Europe, and which assail us on every side.
Whether this can be done longer, is to be doubted. I am happy
that so far my conduct meets the approbation of my fellow citizens.
It is the highest reward I can receive for my endeavors to
serve them; and I am particularly thankful to yourselves for the
kind expressions of esteem and confidence, and tender my best
wishes for your personal happiness and prosperity.
TO THE SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT
PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.
WASHINGTON, December 9, 1808.
I am much indebted, fellow citizens, for your friendly address
of November 20th, and gratified by its expressions of personal
regard to myself. Having ever been an advocate for the freedom
of religious opinion and exercise, from no person, certainly, was
an abridgment of these sacred rights to be apprehended less than
from myself.
In justice, too, to our excellent constitution, it ought to be observed,
that it has not placed our religious rights under the
power of any public functionary. The power, therefore, was
wanting, not less than the will, to injure these rights.
The times in which we live, fellow citizens, are indeed times
of trouble, such as no age has yet seen, or perhaps will ever see
again. To avoid their calamitous influence, has been our duty
and endeavor, and to effect it, great sacrifices of our citizens have
been necessary. They have seen that these necessities were
forced by the wrongs of others, and they have met them with
the zeal which the crisis called for. What course we are finally
to take, cannot yet be foreseen; but reading, reflecting, and examining
for yourselves, you will find your public functionaries,
according to the best of their judgments, directing your affairs,
without passion or partiality, with a single view to your rights
and best interests. And it is the approbation of those who so
read, reflect, and examine for themselves, which is so truly consoling
to the persons charged with the guidance of your affairs.
For that portion of your approbation which you are pleased to
bestow on my conduct, I am truly thankful, and I offer my sincere
prayers for your welfare, and a happy issue of our country
from the difficulties impending over it.
TO THE ELECTORS OF THE COUNTY OF ONTARIO, IN THE STATE OF
NEW YORK.
December 13, 1808.
The wrongs which we have sustained, fellow citizens, from
the belligerent powers of Europe, and of which you have taken
so just a view in your address, received by me on the 27th of
the last month, could not fail to excite in the bosoms of freemen
the sentiments of high indignation expressed by you. The love
of peace had long induced us to bear with these aggressions,
and the hope of a return to a spirit of justice had encouraged us
to persevere in endeavors at amicable adjustment. Their outrages,
however, have at length forced us to suspend all intercourse with
them, to gather home our resources, and to prepare for whatever
may happen. Your approbation of these measures is gratifying
to your public functionaries, and the readiness you express to
encounter the privations and sacrifices which these aggressions
occasion, is honorable to yourselves. The legislature of the
nation now assembled together, will decide how long the state
of non-intercourse may be preferable to a more serious appeal.
The decided support which you tender either of the present, or
such other measures as they shall adopt for the good of the
Union, and the pledge of your lives, your fortunes and honor for
that purpose, are calculated to inspire them with firmness in their
deliberations, and an assurance that the result will be supported
by their country. The confidence you are so good as to express
in the conduct of the administration, is highly gratifying to
them, and encourages a perseverance in their best endeavors for
the public good. That these may issue in effecting your happiness,
and the peace and prosperity of our country, is my sincere
prayer.
TO THE CITIZENS OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF PHILADELPHIA IN
TOWN-MEETING ASSEMBLED.
February 3, 1809.
In the resolutions and address which you have been pleased
to present to me, I recognize with great satisfaction the sentiments
of faithful citizens, devoted to the maintenance of the
rights of their country, to the sacred bond which unites these
States together, and rallying round their government in support of
its laws. After the intolerable assault on our maritime rights, by
the declarations of the belligerent powers, that we should navigate
the ocean only as they should permit, the recall of our seamen,
recovery of our property abroad, and putting ourselves into a state
of defence, should perseverance on their parts force us to the
last appeal, were duties to first obligation. No other course was
left us but to reduce our navigation within the limits they dictated,
and to hold even that subject to such further restrictions
as their interests or will should prescribe. To this no friend to
the independence of his country should submit.
Your resolution to aid in bringing to justice all violators of the
laws of their country, and particularly of the embargo laws, and
to be ready at all times to assist in carrying them into effect, is
worthy of the patriotism which distinguishes the city and county
of Philadelphia. This voluntary support of laws, formed by
persons of our own choice, distinguishes peculiarly the minds
capable of self-government. The contrary spirit is anarchy,
which of necessity produces despotism. It is from the supporters
of regular government only that the pledge of life, fortune, and
honor is worthy of confidence.
I learn with great satisfaction your approbation of the several
measures passed by the government, and enumerated in your address.
For the advantages flowing from them you are indebted
principally to a wise and patriotic legislature, and to the able and
inestimable coadjutors with whom it has been my good fortune
to be associated in the direction of your affairs. That these
measures may be productive of the ends intended, must be the
wish of every friend of his country; and the belief that everything
has been done to preserve our peace, secure the rights of
our fellow citizens, and to promote their best interests, will be a
consolation under every situation to which the great disposer of
events may destine us.
Your approbation of the motives for my retirement from the
station so long confided to me, is a confirmation of their correctness.
In no office can rotation be more expedient; and none
less admits the indulgence of age. I am peculiarly sensible of
your kind wishes for my happiness in the tranquillity of retirement.
Nothing will contribute more to it than the hope of
carrying with me the approbation of my fellow citizens, of the
endeavors which I have faithfully exerted to be useful to them.
To the all-protecting favor of heaven I commit yourselves and
our common country.
TO THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA.
February 3, 1809.
The address which the Legislature of Georgia, the immediate
organ of the will of their constituents, has been pleased to present
to me, is received with that high satisfaction which the approbation
of so respectable a State is calculated to inspire. During the
unexampled contest which has so long afflicted Europe, which
has prostrated all the laws which have hitherto been deemed
sacred among nations, and have so long constituted the rule of
their intercourse, we had vainly hoped that our distance from
the scene of carnage, and the invariable justice with which we
have conducted ourselves towards all parties, would shield us
from its baleful effects. But that commerce indispensably necessary
for the exchange of the produce of this great agricultural
country for the things which we want, increased by a temporary
succession to the commerce of other nations, as being ourselves
the only neutrals, has brought us into contact with the lawless
belligerents in every sea, and threatens to involve us in the vortex
of their contests. The privations for the want of a vent for
our produce, have been the unavoidable result of the edicts of the
belligerent powers. Should the measure adopted in consequence
of them, and which meets your approbation, still save the lives
and property of our brethren from the insults and rapacity of
these powers, it will be a fortunate addition to the other benefits
derived from it. On the other hand, should our present embarrassments
eventuate in war, I am satisfied that the State of Georgia
will zealously emulate her sister States in supporting the
government of their choice, and in maintaining the rights and
interests of the nation. Our soil, our industry, and our numbers,
with the bravery which will be engaged in the cause, can never
leave us without resources to maintain such a contest.
To no events which can concern the future welfare of my
country, can I ever become an indifferent spectator; her prosperity
will be my joy, her calamities my affliction.
Thankful for the indulgence with which my conduct has been
viewed by the Legislature of Georgia, and for the kind expressions
of their good will, I supplicate the favor of heaven towards
them and our beloved country.
TO THE SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT NEW
LONDON, CONNECTICUT.
February 4, 1809.
The approbation you are so good as to express of the measures
which have been recommended and pursued during the
course of my administration of the national concerns, is highly
acceptable. The approving voice of our fellow citizens, for endeavors
to be useful, is the greatest of all earthly rewards.
No provision in our constitution ought to be dearer to man
than that which protects the rights of conscience against the
enterprises of the civil authority. It has not left the religion of
its citizens under the power of its public functionaries, were it
possible that any of these should consider a conquest over the
consciences of men either attainable or applicable to any desirable
purpose. To me no information could be more welcome
than that the minutes of the several religious societies should
prove, of late, larger additions than have been usual, to their
several associations, and I trust that the whole course of my
life has proved me a sincere friend to religious as well as civil
liberty.
I thank you for your affectionate good wishes for my future
happiness. Retirement has become essential to it; and one of
its best consolations will be to witness the advancement of my
country in all those pursuits and acquisitions which constitute
the character of a wise and virtuous nation; and I offer sincere
prayers to heaven that its benediction may attend yourselves,
our country and all its sons.
TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA.
February 16, 1809.
I receive with peculiar sensibility the affectionate address of
the General Assembly of my native State, on my approaching
retirement from the office with which I have been honored by
the nation at large. Having been one of those who entered
into public life at the commencement of an æra the most extraordinary
which the history of man has ever yet presented to his
contemplation, I claim nothing more, for the part I have acted in
it, than a common merit of having, with others, faithfully endeavored
to do my duty in the several stations allotted me. In
the measures which you are pleased particularly to approve, I
have been aided by the wisdom and patriotism of the national
legislature, and the talents and virtues of the able coadjutors with
whom it has been my happiness to be associated, and to whose
valuable and faithful services I with pleasure and gratitude bear
witness.
From the moment that to preserve our rights a change of government
became necessary, no doubt could be entertained that a
republican form was most consonant with reason, with right, with
the freedom of man, and with the character and situation of our
fellow citizens. To the sincere spirit of republicanism are
naturally associated the love of country, devotion to its liberty,
its rights, and its honor. Our preference to that form of government
has been so far justified by its success, and the prosperity
with which it has blessed us. In no portion of the earth were
life, liberty and property ever so securely held; and it is with infinite
satisfaction that withdrawing from the active scenes of
life, I see the sacred design of these blessings committed to those
who are sensible of their value and determined to defend them.
It would have been a great consolation to have left the nation
under the assurance of continued peace. Nothing has been
spared to effect it; and at no other period of history would such
efforts have failed to ensure it. For neither belligerent pretends
to have been injured by us, or can say that we have in any instance
departed from the most faithful neutrality; and certainly
none will charge us with a want of forbearance.
In the desire of peace, but in full confidence of safety from
our unity, our position, and our resources, I shall retire into the
bosom of my native State, endeared to me by every tie which
can attach the human heart. The assurances of your approbation,
and that my conduct has given satisfaction to my fellow
citizens generally, will be an important ingredient in my future
happiness; and that the supreme ruler of the universe may have
our country under his special care, will be among the latest of
my prayers.
TO THE CITIZENS OF WILMINGTON AND ITS VICINITY IN TOWN
MEETING ASSEMBLED.
February 16, 1809.
The resolutions which have been entered into by the citizens
of Wilmington and its vicinity, are worthy of the well-known
patriotism of that place.
The storm which with little intermission has been raging for
so many years, which has immolated the ancient dynasties and
institutions of Europe, and prostrated the principles of public
law heretofore respected, has hitherto been felt but in a secondary
degree by us. But threatening at length to involve us in its
vortex, it is time for all good citizens to rally round the constituted
authorities by a public expression of their determination to
support the laws and government of their choice, and to frown
into silence all disorganizing movements. Strong in our numbers,
our position and resources, we can never be endangered but
by schisms at home. It has been the anxious care of the government
to preserve the United States from this destructive contest;
but whether it can yet be done depends on a return to reason
by those who have so long rejected its dictates. On our part,
there is no doubt of a continuance of the same desire to conduct
the nation quietly through the political storms prevailing, and to
lead it in safety through the perils with which we are menaced
by the ambition of foreign nations.
I am thankful for the great indulgence with which you have
viewed the measures of my administration. Of their wisdom
others must judge; but I may truly say they have been pursued
with honest intentions, unbiassed by any personal or interested
views. It is a consolation to know that the motives for my retirement
are approved; and although I withdraw from public
functions, I shall continue an anxious spectator of passing events,
and offer to heaven my constant prayers for the preservation of
our republic, and especially of those its best principles which secure
to all its citizens a perfect equality of rights.
TO JOHN GASSAWAY, ESQ.
WASHINGTON, February 17, 1809.
SIR,--I have duly received the resolutions of the republican
citizens of Annapolis and Anne-Arundel county, of the 4th inst.,
which you were so kind as to forward to me.
That the aggressions and injuries of the belligerent nations
have been the real obstructions which have interrupted our commerce,
and now threaten our peace, and that the embargo laws
were salutary and indispensably necessary to meet those obstructions,
are truths as evident to every candid man, as it is worthy
of every good citizen to declare his reprobation of that system
of opposition which goes to an avowed and practical resistance
of these laws. To such a resistance I trust that the patriotism
of our faithful citizens in no section of the Union will give any
countenance. Where the law of majority ceases to be acknowledged,
there government ends, the law of the strongest takes its
place, and life and property are his who can take them.
I receive with particular pleasure and thankfulness the testimony
of the republican citizens of Annapolis and Anne-Arundel,
in favor of the course of proceedings during my administration
of the public affairs. And I can truly say, in their words, that
they have been conducted with the purest regard and devotion
to the interests of the people and the national safety and honor;
and I pray you, with my acknowledgments for these favorable
sentiments, to accept the assurances of my high respect and consideration.
TO CAPTAIN JOSEPH ----, JR.
WASHINGTON, February 17, 1809.
SIR,--The resolutions entered into at a meeting of the officers
of the Legionary Brigade of the 1st Division of Massachusetts
militia, on the 31st ult., which you have been pleased to forward
to me, breathe that spirit of fidelity to our common country
which must ever be peculiarly the spirit of its militia, and which
renders that the safest and last reliance of a republican nation.
The perils with which we have been for some time environed,
have been such as ought to have induced every faithful citizen
to unite in support of the rights of his country, laying aside little
differences, political or personal, till they might be indulged without
hazarding the safety of our country. Assailed in our essential
rights by two of the most powerful nations on the globe, we
have remonstrated, negotiated, and at length retired to the last
stand, in the hope of peaceably preserving our rights. In this
extremity I have entire confidence that no part of _the people_ in
any section of the Union, will desert the banners of their country,
and co-operate with the enemies who are threatening its existence.
The subscribing officers of the legionary brigade have
furnished an honorable example of declaring their attachment to
the constitution, the laws, and the union of the States, that they
will at the call of law, rally around the standard of their country,
and protect its constitution, laws, right and liberties, against all
foes. I thank them, in the name of their country, for these patriotic
resolutions, the pledge of support they tender will lead
them to no more than the honor of a soldier and fidelity of a citizen
would of itself require. I salute yourself and the subscribing
offices with esteem and respect.
TO THE REPUBLICAN YOUNG MEN OF NEW LONDON, BENJAMIN
HEMPSTEAD CHAIRMAN.
February 24, 1809.
The approbation which you are pleased to express of my past
administration, is highly gratifying to me. That in a free government
there should be differences of opinion as to public measures
and the conduct of those who direct them, is to be expected.
It is much, however, to be lamented, that these differences should
be indulged at a crisis which calls for the undivided councils
and energies of our country, and in a form calculated to encourage
our enemies in the refusal of justice, and to force their country
into war as the only resource for obtaining it.
You do justice to the government in believing that their utmost
endeavors have been used to steer us clear of wars with
other nations, and honor to yourselves in declaring that if these
endeavors prove ineffectual, and your country is called upon to
defend its rights and injured honor by an appeal to arms, you
will be ready for the contest, and will meet our enemies at the
threshold of our country. While prudence will endeavor to
avoid this issue, bravery will prepare to meet it.
I thank you, fellow citizens, for your kind expressions of
regard for myself, and prayers for my future happiness, and I
join in supplications to that Almighty Being who has heretofore
guarded our councils, still to continue his gracious benedictions
towards our country, and that yourselves may be under the protection
of his divine favor.
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF LOUDON COUNTY, CONVENED AT LEESBURG,
FEBRUARY, 13, 1809.
February 24, 1809.
The measures lately pursued in preference either to war or an
ignominious surrender of our rights as an independent people,
have undoubtedly produced the beneficial effects of saving our
property and seamen, of lengthening the term of our peace, and
of giving time for defensive preparations. Other efficacious results
would probably have been produced, in a much higher degree,
had not the measures been counteracted by unworthy
passions. It is still possible that the blessings of peace may be
continued to us, should sounder calculations of interest induce a
return to justice by the aggressive nations. But should we be
disappointed in what ought to be so justly expected, the solemn
pledge of life and fortune in vindication of our violated rights
received from yourselves as well as from other citizens, leaves
us without apprehension as to the issue of any contest into
which we may be forced.
I thank you particularly for the approbation you manifest of
my conduct and motives, and the kind concern you express for
my future happiness, and I beg leave to tender you my best
wishes and assurances of respect.
TO GOVERNOR TOMPKINS.
WASHINGTON, February 24, 1809.
SIR,--I received, a few days ago, your Excellency's favor of
the 9th inst., covering the patriotic resolutions of the Legislature
of New York, of the 3d. The times do certainly render it incumbent
on all good citizens, attached to the rights and honor
of their country, to bury in oblivion all internal differences, and
rally around the standard of their country in opposition to the
outrages of foreign nations. All attempts to enfeeble and destroy
the exertions of the General Government, in vindication of our
national rights, or to loosen the bands of union by alienating the
affections of the people, or opposing the authority of the laws at
so eventful a period, merit the discountenance of all.
The confidence which the Legislature expresses in the national
administration is highly consolatory, and their determination
to support the just rights of their country with their lives and
fortunes, are worthy of the high character of the State of New
York.
By all, I trust, the union of these States will ever be considered
as the Palladium of their safety, their prosperity and glory,
and all attempts to sever it will be frowned on with reprobation
and abhorrence. And I have equal confidence, that all moved
by the sacred principles of liberty and patriotism will prepare
themselves for any crisis we may be able to meet, and will be
ready to co-operate with each other, and with the constituted
authorities, in resisting and repelling the aggressions of foreign
nations.
The Legislature may be assured that every exertion will be
used to put the United States in the best condition of defence,
that we may be fully prepared to meet the dangers which menace
the peace of our country. I avail myself with pleasure of
every occasion to tender to your Excellency the assurances of
my high respect and consideration.
TO GENERAL JAMES ROBERTSON.
WASHINGTON, February 24, 1809.
SIR,--I have duly received your letter covering the resolutions
of the citizens of West Tennessee, assembled in the town of
Nashville. Every friend of his country must feel the regret and
indignation they so laudably express at the unjust and unprecedented
measures adopted by the belligerent powers of Europe,
violating our maritime rights as a free and independent nation,
and compelling us for their preservation to resort to measures
the effects of which we must all feel. And all must see with
pleasure their honorable declaration against receding from the
grounds taken with regard to the belligerent nations, and their
reprobation of the surrender of any essential points in difference
between us and those nations.
Should the embargo be continued, or a non-intercourse be
substituted, it is pleasing to know that our fellow citizens will
afford every aid in their power to render it effectual; and if war
must at length be resorted to, I have entire confidence in their
declarations, that as citizen soldiers they will be ready at the
call of their country to prove to their enemies that they know
how to value and defend their rights.
I am happy to learn their approbation of the measures adopted
by the General Government in relation to Great Britain and
France, and particularly thankful for the satisfaction they express
with the course I have pursued in the discharge of the arduous
duties which devolved on me as chief magistrate of the United
States.
I pray you to accept for yourself and them the assurances of
my great respect and consideration.
THE REPUBLICANS OF THE COUNTY OF NIAGARA, CONVENED
AT CLARENCE ON THE 26TH OF JANUARY, 1809.
February 24, 1809.
The eventful crisis in our national affairs so truly portrayed in
your very friendly address, has justly excited your serious attention.
The nations of the earth prostrated at the foot of power,
the ocean submitted to the despotism of a single nation, the laws
of nature and the usages which have hitherto regulated the intercourse
of nations and interposed some restraint between power
and right, now totally disregarded. Such is the state of things
when the United States are left single-handed to maintain the
rights of neutrals, and the principles of public right against a
warring world. Under these circumstances, it is a great consolation
to receive the assurances of our faithful citizens that they
will unite their destiny with their government, will rally under
the banners of their country, and with their lives and fortunes,
defend and support their civil and religious rights. This declaration,
too, is the more honorable from those whose frontier residence
will expose them particularly to the inroads of a foe.
I receive with great pleasure your approbation of the impartial
neutrality we have so invariably pursued, and of the trying
measure of embargo rendered necessary by the belligerent edicts,
which has saved our seamen and our property, has given us time
to prepare for vindicating our honor and preserving our national
independence, and has excited the spirit of manufacturing for
ourselves those things which, though we raised the raw material,
we have hitherto sought from other countries at the risk
of war and rapine.
I thank you for your kind wishes for my future happiness in
retiring from public life to the bosom of my family. Nothing
will contribute more to it than the assurance that my fellow
citizens approve of my endeavors to serve them, and the hope
that we shall be continued in the blessings we have enjoyed
under the favor of Heaven.
TO CAPTAIN QUIN MORTON.
WASHINGTON, February 24, 1809.
SIR,--I have duly received your favor tendering the service
of fifty citizens of Tennessee as a company of volunteer riflemen.
There are two acts of Congress which regulate the acceptances
of these tenders; that of the last year (1808) is for a
service of six months, and authorizes the governors to accept;
and that of 1807, for a service of twelve months, authorizing the
President to accept, who has delegated that power to the governors
of the several States. Under whichever of these, therefore,
your tender was meant to be made, I must pray you to repeat
it to the governor of the State; expressing, at the same time,
my great satisfaction at the readiness and patriotism with which
I see my fellow citizens resort to the standard of their country
when danger threatens it. Accept for your company my thanks
on the public behalf, and for yourself the assurances of my respect.
TO THE TAMMANY SOCIETY OR COLUMBIAN ORDER OF THE CITY OF
WASHINGTON.
March 2, 1809.
The observations are but too just which are made in your
friendly address, on the origin and progress of those abuses of
public confidence and power which have so often terminated in
a suppression of the rights of the people, and the mere aggrandizement
and emolument of their oppressors. Taught by these
truths, and aware of the tendency of power to degenerate into
abuse, the worthies of our own country have secured its independence
by the establishment of a constitution and form of
government for our nation, calculated to prevent as well as to
correct abuse.
Beyond the great water the torch of discord has been long
lighted up, and long and unremitting have been the endeavors
of the belligerents to immerge us in the evils they were inflicting
on each other, and to make us parties in their quarrels. Whether
it will be possible much longer to escape these evils, is difficult
to decide; but you do me justice in believing that no efforts on
my part have been spared to effect this purpose, and to preserve
for our nation the blessings of peace.
I learn with sincere pleasure that the measures I have pursued
in directing the affairs of our nation have met with approbation.
Their sole object has certainly been the good of my fellow citizens,
which sometimes may have been mistaken, but never intentionally
disregarded. This approbation is the more valued
as being the spontaneous effusion of the feelings of those who
have lived in the same city with myself, and having examined
carefully and even jealously my conduct through every passing
day, bear testimony to their belief in its fidelity.
I am happy, in my retirement, to carry with me your esteem
and your prayers for my health, peace and happiness; and I sincerely
supplicate Heaven that your own personal welfare may
long make a part of the general prosperity of a great, a free, and
a happy people.
TO THE CITIZENS OF WASHINGTON.
March 4, 1809.
I received with peculiar gratification the affectionate address
of the citizens of Washington, and in the patriotic sentiments it
expresses, I see the true character of the national metropolis.
The station which we occupy among the nations of the earth
is honorable, but awful. Trusted with the destinies of this solitary
republic of the world, the only monument of human rights,
and the sole depository of the sacred fire of freedom and self-government,
from hence it is to be lighted up in other regions
of the earth, if other regions of the earth shall ever become susceptible
of its benign influence. All mankind ought then, with
us, to rejoice in its prosperous, and sympathize in its adverse fortunes,
as involving everything dear to man. And to what sacrifices
of interest, or convenience, ought not these considerations
to animate us? To what compromises of opinion and inclination,
to maintain harmony and union among ourselves, and to
preserve from all danger this hallowed ark of human hope and
happiness. That differences of opinion should arise among men,
on politics, on religion, and on every other topic of human inquiry,
and that these should be freely expressed in a country where all
our faculties are free, is to be expected. But these valuable
privileges are much prevented when permitted to disturb the
harmony of social intercourse, and to lesson the tolerance of
opinion. To the honor of society here, it has been characterized
by a just and generous liberality, and an indulgence of those
affections which, without regard to political creeds, constitute
the happiness of life. That the improvement of this city must
proceed with sure and steady steps, follows from its many obvious
advantages, and from the enterprizing spirit of its inhabitants,
which promises to render it the fairest seat of wealth and
science.
It is very gratifying to me that the general course of my administration
is approved by my fellow citizens, and particularly
that the motives of my retirement are satisfactory. I part with
the powers entrusted to me by my country, as with a burthen
of heavy bearing; but it is with sincere regret that I part with
the society in which I have lived here. It has been the source
of much happiness to me during my residence at the seat of
government, and I owe it much for its kind dispositions. I
shall ever feel a high interest in the prosperity of the city, and
an affectionate attachment to its inhabitants.
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF GEORGETOWN.
March 8, 1809.
The affectionate address of the republicans of Georgetown on
my retirement from public duty, is received with sincere pleasure.
In the review of my political life, which they so indulgently
take, if it be found that I have done my duty as other
faithful citizens have done, it is all the merit I claim. Our lot
has been cast on an awful period of human history. The contest
which began with us, which ushered in the dawn of our
national existence and led us through various and trying scenes,
was for everything dear to free-born man. The principles on
which we engaged, of which the charter of our independence
is the record, were sanctioned by the laws of our being, and we
but obeyed them in pursuing undeviatingly the course they
called for. It issued finally in that inestimable state of freedom
which alone can ensure to man the enjoyment of his equal rights.
From the moment which scaled our peace and independence,
our nation has wisely pursued the paths of peace and justice.
During the period in which I have been charged with its concerns,
no effort has been spared to exempt us from the wrongs
and the rapacity of foreign nations, and with you I feel assured
that no American will hesitate to rally round the standard of his
insulted country, in defence of that freedom and independence
achieved by the wisdom of sages, and consecrated by the blood
of heroes.
The favorable testimony of those among whom I have lived,
and lived happily as a fellow citizen, as a neighbor, and in the
various relations of social life, will enliven the days of my retirement,
and be felt and cherished with affection and gratitude.
I thank you, fellow citizens, for your kind prayers for my future
happiness. I shall ever retain a lively sense of your friendly
attentions, and continue to pray for your prosperity and well
being.
TO STEPHEN CROSS, ESQ., TOPSHAM.
MONTICELLO, March 28, 1809.
To the delegates from the various towns in the county of
Essex and commonwealth of Massachusetts, assembled on the
20th of February, at Topsham.
The receipt of your kind address in the last moments of the
session of Congress, will, I trust, offer a just apology for this late
acknowledgment of it. I am very sensible of the indulgence
with which you are so good as to review the measures of my
late administration, and I feel for that indulgence the sentiments
of gratitude it so justly calls for. The stand which has been
made on behalf of our seamen enslaved and incarcerated in
foreign ships, and against the prostration of our rights on the
ocean under laws of nature acknowledged by all civilized nations,
was an effort due to the protection of our commerce, and
to that portion of our fellow citizens engaged in the pursuits of
navigation. The opposition of the same portion to the vindication
of their peculiar rights, has been as wonderful as the loyalty
of their agricultural brethren in the assertion of them has been
disinterested and meritorious. If the honor of the nation can
be forgotten, whether the abandonment of the right of navigating
the ocean may not be compensated by exemption from the
wars it would produce, may be a question for our future councils,
which the disclaimer of our navigating citizens may, if continued,
relieve from the embarrassment of their rights.
Sincerely and affectionately attached to our national constitution,
as the ark of our safety, and grand palladium of our peace
and happiness, I learn with pleasure that the number of those in
the county of Essex, who read and think for themselves, is
great, and constituted of men who will never surrender but with
their lives, the invaluable liberties achieved by their fathers.
Their elevated minds put all to the hazard for a three penny
duty on tea, by the same nation which now exacts a tribute
equal to the value of half our exported produce.
I thank you, fellow citizens, for the kind interest you take in
my future happiness, and I sincerely supplicate that overruling
providence which governs the destinies of men and nations, to
dispense his choicest blessings on yourselves and our beloved
country.
TO THE REPUBLICAN MECHANICS OF THE TOWN OF LEESBURG AND
ITS VICINITY, ASSEMBLED ON THE 27TH OF FEBRUARY LAST.
MONTICELLO, March 29, 1809.
The receipt of your kind address in the last moments of the
session of Congress, will, I trust, offer a just apology for its late
acknowledgment.
Your friendly salutations on the close of my public life, and
approbation of the motives which dictated my retirement, are received
with great satisfaction.
That there should be a contrariety of opinions respecting the
public agents and their measures, and more especially respecting
that which recently suspended our commerce and produced temporary
privations, is ever to be expected among free men; and I
am happy to find you are in the number of those who are satisfied
that the course pursued was marked out by our country's
interest, and called for by her dearest rights. While the principles
of our constitution give just latitude to inquiry, every citizen
faithful to it will, with you, deem embodied expressions of
discontent, and open outrages of law and patriotism, as dishonorable
as they are injurious; and there is reason to believe
that had the efforts of the government against the innovations
and tyranny of the belligerent powers been unopposed among
ourselves, they would have been more effectual towards the establishment
of our rights.
Unconscious of partiality between the different callings of my
fellow citizens, I trust that a fair review of my attention to the
interests of commerce in particular, in every station of my political
life, will afford sufficient proofs of my just estimation of
its importance in the social system. What has produced our
present difficulties, and what will have produced the impending
war, if that is to be our lot? Our efforts to save the rights of
commerce and navigation. From these, solely and exclusively,
the whole of our present dangers flow.
With just reprobations of the resistance made or menaced
against the laws of our country, I applaud your patriotic resolution
to meet hostility to them with the energy and dignity of
freemen; and thankful for your solicitude for my health and
happiness, I salute you with affectionate sentiments of respect.
TO THE FRIENDS OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE UNITED STATES
IN BRISTOL COUNTY, RHODE ISLAND.
MONTICELLO, March 20, 1809.
The receipt of your friendly address in the last moments of the
session of Congress, will, I trust, offer a just apology for its late
acknowledgment.
We have certainly cause to rejoice that since the waves of affliction
and peril, raised from the storm of war by the rival belligerents
of Europe, have undulated on our shores, the councils
of the nation have been able to preserve it from the numerous
evils which have awfully menaced, and otherwise might have
fallen upon us. How long we may yet retain this desirable position
is difficult to be foreseen. But confident I am that as long
as it can be done consistently with the honor and interest of our
country, it will be maintained by those to whom you have confided
the helm of government. A surer pledge for this cannot
be found than in the public and private virtues of the successor
to the chair of government, which you so justly recognize. Your
reflections are certainly correct on the importance of a good administration
in a republican government, towards securing to us
our dearest rights, and the practical enjoinment of all our liberties;
and such an one can never fail to give consolation to the
friends of free government, and mortification to its enemies. In
retiring from the duties of my late station, I have the consolation
of knowing that such is the character of those into whose hands
they are transferred, and of a conviction that all will be done for
us which wisdom and virtue can do.
I thank you, fellow citizens, for the kind sentiments of your
address, and am particularly gratified by your approbation of the
course I have pursued; and I pray heaven to keep you under its
holy favor.
TO THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLICAN DELEGATES FROM THE TOWNSHIPS OF WASHINGTON
COUNTY, IN PENNSYLVANIA, CONVENED ON THE 21ST OF FEBRUARY, 1809.
MONTICELLO, March 31, 1809.
The satisfaction you express, fellow citizens, that my endeavors
have been unremitting to preserve the peace and independence
of our country, and that a faithful neutrality has been observed
towards all the contending powers, is highly grateful to
me; and there can be no doubt that in any common times they
would have saved us from the present embarrassments, thrown in
the way of our national prosperity by the rival powers.
It is true that the embargo laws have not had all the effect in
bringing the powers of Europe to a sense of justice, which a
more faithful observance of them might have produced. Yet
they have had the important effects of saving our seamen and
property, of giving time to prepare for defence; and they will
produce the further inestimable advantage of turning the attention
and enterprise of our fellow citizens, and the patronage of
our State legislatures, to the establishment of useful manufactures
in our country. They will have hastened the day when an
equilibrium between the occupations of agriculture, manufactures,
and commerce, shall simplify our foreign concerns to the exchange
only of that surplus which we cannot consume for those
articles of reasonable comfort or convenience which we cannot
produce.
Our lot has been cast, by the favor of heaven, in a country
and under circumstances, highly auspicious to our peace and
prosperity, and where no pretence can arise for the degrading
and oppressive establishments of Europe. It is our happiness
that honorable distinctions flow only from public approbation;
and that finds no object in titled dignitaries and pageants. Let
us then, fellow citizens, endeavor carefully to guard this happy
state of things, by keeping a watchful eye over the disaffection
of wealth and ambition to the republican principles of our constitution,
and by sacrificing all our local and personal interests to
the cultivation of the Union, and maintenance of the authority
of the laws.
My warmest thanks are due to you, fellow citizens, for the affectionate
sentiments expressed in your address, and my prayers
will ever be offered for your welfare and happiness.
TO THE CITIZENS OF ALLEGHANY COUNTY, IN MARYLAND.
MONTICELLO, March 31, 1809.
The sentiments of attachment, respect, and esteem, expressed
in your address of the 20th ult., have been read with pleasure,
and would sooner have received my thanks, but for the mass of
business engrossing the last moments of a session of Congress. I
am gratified by your approbation of our efforts for the general
good, and our endeavors to promote the best interests of our
country, and to place them on a basis firm and lasting. The
measures respecting our intercourse with foreign nations were the
result, as you suppose, of a choice between two evils, either to
call and keep at home our seamen and property, or suffer them
to be taken under the edicts of the belligerent powers. How a
difference of opinion could arise between these alternatives is
still difficult to explain on any acknowledged ground; and I am
persuaded, with you, that when the storm and agitation characterizing
the present moment shall have subsided, when passion
and prejudice shall have yielded to reason its usurped place, and
especially when posterity shall pass its sentence on the present
times, justice will be rendered to the course which has been pursued.
To the advantages derived from the choice which was
made will be added the improvements and discoveries made and
making in the arts, and the establishments in domestic manufacture,
the effects whereof will be permanent and diffused through
our wide-extended continent. That we may live to behold the
storm which seems to threaten us, pass like a summer's cloud
away, and that yourselves may continue to enjoy all the blessings
of peace and prosperity, is my fervent prayer.
TO THE REPUBLICAN CITIZENS OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, MARYLAND,
ASSEMBLED AT HAGERSTOWN ON THE 6TH INSTANT.
MONTICELLO, March 31, 1809.
The affectionate sentiments you express on my retirement
from the high office conferred upon me by my country, are
gratefully received and acknowledged with thankfulness. Your
approbation of the various measures which have been pursued,
cannot but be highly consolatory to myself, and encouraging to
future functionaries, who will see that their honest endeavors for
the public good will receive due credit with their constituents.
That the great and leading measure respecting our foreign intercourse
was the most salutary alternative, and preferable to the
submission of our rights as a free and independent republic, or to
a war at that period, cannot be doubted by candid minds. Great
and good effects have certainly flowed from it, and greater would
have been produced, had they not been, in some degree, frustrated
by unfaithful citizens.
If, in my retirement to the humble station of a private citizen,
I am accompanied with the esteem and approbation of my fellow
citizens, trophies obtained by the blood-stained steel, or the tattered
flags of the tented field, will never be envied. The care
of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the
first and only legitimate object of good government.
I salute you, fellow citizens, with every wish for your welfare,
and the perpetual duration of our government, in all the purity
of its republican principles.
TO JAMES HOCHIE, ESQ., PRESIDENT OF THE ANCIENT PLYMOUTH
SOCIETY OF NEW LONDON.
MONTICELLO, April 2, 1809.
SIR,--I have duly received your favor of March 17th, covering
resolutions of the Ancient Plymouth Society of New London,
approving my conduct, as well during the period of my late administration,
as the preceding portion of my public services.
Our lot has been cast in times which called for the best exertions
of all our citizens to recover and preserve the rights which
nature had given them; and we may say with truth, that the
mass of our fellow citizens have performed with zeal and effect
the duties called for. If I have been fortunate enough to give
satisfaction in the performance of those allotted to me by our
country, I find an ample reward in the assurances of that satisfaction.
Possessed of the blessing of self-government, and of
such a portion of civil liberty as no other civilized nation enjoys,
it now behooves us to guard and preserve them by a continuance
of the sacrifices and exertions by which they were acquired, and
especially to nourish that union which is their sole guarantee.
I pray you to accept for yourself and your associates the assurances
of my high consideration and respect.
TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR WRIGHT.
MONTICELLO, April 3, 1809.
DEAR SIR,--Your friendly note of March 3d, was delivered
to me on that day. You know the pressure of the last moments
of a session of Congress, and can judge of that of my own departure
from Washington, and of my first attentions here. This
must excuse my late acknowledgment of your note. The assurances
of your approbation of the course I have observed are
highly flattering, and the more so, as you have been sometimes
an eye-witness and long of the vicinage of the public councils.
The testimony of my fellow citizens, and especially of one who,
having been himself in the high departments, to the means of
information united the qualifications to judge, is a consolation
which will sweeten the residue of my life. The fog which arose
in the east in the last moments of my service, will doubtless clear
away and expose under a stronger light the rocks and shoals
which have threatened us with danger. It is impossible the
good citizens of the east should not see the agency of England,
the tools she employs among them, and the criminal arts and
falsehoods of which they have been the dupes. I still trust and
pray that our union may be perpetual, and I beg you to accept
the assurances of my high esteem and respect.
TO THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
MONTICELLO, April 12, 1809.
I receive with respect and gratitude, from the Legislature of
New York, on my retirement from the office of chief magistrate
of the United States, the assurances of their esteem, and of their
satisfaction with the services I have endeavored to render. The
welfare of my fellow citizens, and the perpetuation of our republican
institutions, having been the governing principles of my
public life, the favorable testimony borne by the Legislature of a
State so respectable as that of New York, gives me the highest
consolation. And this is much strengthened by an intimate conviction
that the same principles will govern the conduct of my
successor, whose talents, and eminent services, are a certain
pledge that the confidence in him expressed by the Legislature
of New York, will never be disappointed.
Sole depositories of the remains of human liberty, our duty to
ourselves, to posterity, and to mankind, call on us by every motive
which is sacred or honorable, to watch over the safety of
our beloved country during the troubles which agitate and convulse
the residue of the world, and to sacrifice to that all personal
and local considerations. While the boasted energies of monarchy
have yielded to easy conquest the people they were to
protect, should our fabric of freedom suffer no more than the
slight agitations we have experienced, it will be an useful lesson
to the friends as well as the enemies of self-government. That
it may stand the shocks of time and accident, and that your own
may make a distinguished part of the mass of prosperity it may
dispense, will be my latest prayer.
TO THE REPUBLICANS OF QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY.
MONTICELLO, April 13, 1809.
I have received, fellow citizens, your farewell address, with
those sentiments of respect and satisfaction which its very friendly
terms are calculated to inspire. With the consciousness of having
endeavored to serve my fellow citizens according to their
best interests, these testimonies of their good will are the sole
and highest remuneration my heart has ever desired.
I am sensible of the indulgence with which you review the
measures which have been pursued; and approving our sincere
endeavors to observe a strict neutrality with respect to foreign
powers. It is with reason you observe that, if hostilities must
succeed, we shall have the consolation that justice will be on
our side. War has been avoided from a due sense of the miseries,
and the demoralization it produces, and of the superior
blessings of a state of peace and friendship with all mankind.
But peace on our part, and war from others, would neither be
for our happiness or honor; and should the lawless violences of
the belligerent powers render it necessary to return their hostilities,
no nation has less to fear from a foreign enemy.
I thank you, fellow citizens, for your very kind wishes for my
happiness, and pray you to accept the assurances of my cordial
esteem, and grateful sense of your favor.
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH OF BUCK MOUNTAIN IN
ALBEMARLE.
MONTICELLO, April 13, 1809.
I thank you, my friends and neighbors, for your kind congratulations
on my return to my native home, and on the opportunities
it will give me of enjoying, amidst your affections,
the comforts of retirement and rest. Your approbation of my
conduct is the more valued as you have best known me, and is
an ample reward for any services I may have rendered. We
have acted together from the origin to the end of a memorable
revolution, and we have contributed, each in the line allotted us,
our endeavors to render its issue a permanent blessing to our
country. That our social intercourse may, to the evening of
our days, be cheered and cemented by witnessing the freedom
and happiness for which we have labored, will be my constant
prayer. Accept the offering of my affectionate esteem and respect.
TO JONATHAN LOW, ESQ., HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.
MONTICELLO, April 13, 1809.
SIR,--I received on the 6th instant your favor covering the
resolutions of the general meeting of the republicans of the State
of Connecticut who had been convened at Hartford; and I see
with pleasure the spirit they breathe. They express with truth
the wrongs we have sustained, the forbearance we have exercised,
and the duty of rallying round the constituted authorities,
for the protection of our Union. Surrounded by such difficulties
and dangers, it is really deplorable that any should be found
among ourselves vindicating the conduct of the aggressors; co-operating
with them in multiplying embarrassments to their own
country, and encouraging disobedience to the laws provided for
its safety. But a spirit which should go further, and countenance
the advocates for a dissolution of the Union, and for setting in
hostile array one portion of our citizens against another, would
require to be viewed under a more serious aspect. It would
prove indeed that it is high time for every friend to his country,
in a firm and decided manner, to express his sentiments of the
measures which government has adopted to avert the impending
evils, unhesitatingly to pledge himself for the support of the laws,
liberties and independence of his country; and, with the general
meeting of the republicans of Connecticut, to resolve that, for
the preservation of the Union, the support and enforcement of
the laws, and for the resistance and repulsion of every enemy,
they will hold themselves in readiness, and put at stake, if necessary,
their lives and fortunes, on the pledge of their sacred honor.
With my thanks for the mark of attention in making this
communication, I pray you to accept for yourself and my respectable
fellow citizens from whom it proceeds, the assurance
of my high consideration, and my prayers for their welfare.
TO THE TAMMANY SOCIETY OF THE CITY OF BALTIMORE.
MONTICELLO, May 25, 1809.
Your free and cordial salutations in my retirement are received,
fellow citizens, with great pleasure, and the happiness of that retirement
is much heightened by assurances of satisfaction with
the course I have pursued in the transaction of the public affairs,
and that the confidence my fellow citizens were pleased to repose
in me, has not been disappointed.
Great sacrifices of interest have certainly been made by our
nation under the difficulties latterly forced upon us by transatlantic
powers. But every candid and reflecting mind must agree
with you, that while these were temporary and bloodless, they
were calculated to avoid permanent subjection to foreign law and
tribute, relinquishment of independent rights, and the burthens,
the havoc, and desolations of war. That these will be ultimately
avoided, we have now some reason to hope; and the successful
example of recalling nations to the practice of justice by
peaceable appeals to their interests, will doubtless have salutary
effects on our future course. As a countervail, too, to our short-lived
sacrifices, when these shall no longer be felt, we shall permanently
retain the benefit they have prompted, of fabricating
for our own use the materials of our own growth, heretofore
carried to the work-houses of Europe, to be wrought and returned
to us.
The hope you express that my successor will continue in the
same system of measures, is guaranteed, as far as future circumstances
will permit, by his enlightened and zealous participation
in them heretofore, and by the happy pacification he is now effecting
for us. Your wishes for my future happiness are very
thankfully felt, and returned by the sincerest desires that yourselves
may experience the favors of the great dispenser of all
good.
PART IV.
INDIAN ADDRESSES.
I.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, June 1781.
_To Brother John Baptist de Coigne_:--
BROTHER JOHN BAPTIST DE COIGNE,--I am very much pleased
with the visit you have made us, and particularly that it has
happened when the wise men from all parts of our country were
assembled together in council, and had an opportunity of hearing
the friendly discourse you held to me. We are all sensible of
your friendship, and of the services you have rendered, and I
now, for my countrymen, return you thanks, and, most particularly,
for your assistance to the garrison which was besieged by
the hostile Indians. I hope it will please the great being above
to continue you long in life, in health and in friendship to us;
and that your son will afterwards succeed you in wisdom, in
good disposition, and in power over your people. I consider the
name you have given as particularly honorable to me, but I value
it the more as it proves your attachment to my country. We,
like you, are Americans, born in the same land, and having the
same interests. I have carefully attended to the figures represented
on the skins, and to their explanation, and shall always
keep them hanging on the walls in remembrance of you and
your nation. I have joined with you sincerely in smoking the
pipe of peace; it is a good old custom handed down by your ancestors,
and as such I respect and join in it with reverence. I
hope we shall long continue to smoke in friendship together.
You find us, brother, engaged in war with a powerful nation.
Our forefathers were Englishmen, inhabitants of a little island
beyond the great water, and, being distressed for land, they came
and settled here. As long as we were young and weak, the
English whom we had left behind, made us carry all our wealth
to their country, to enrich them; and, not satisfied with this,
they at length began to say we were their slaves, and should do
whatever they ordered us. We were now grown up and felt ourselves
strong, we knew we were free as they were, that we came
here of our own accord and not at their biddance, and were
determined to be free as long as we should exist. For this
reason they made war on us. They have now waged that war
six years, and have not yet won more land from us than will
serve to bury the warriors they have lost. Your old father,
the king of France, has joined us in the war, and done many
good things for us. We are bound forever to love him, and
wish you to love him, brother, because he is a good and true
friend to us. The Spaniards have also joined us, and other
powerful nations are now entering into the war to punish the
robberies and violences the English have committed on them.
The English stand alone, without a friend to support them, hated
by all mankind because they are proud and unjust. This quarrel,
when it first began, was a family quarrel between us and the
English, who were then our brothers. We, therefore, did not
wish you to engage in it at all. We are strong enough of ourselves
without wasting your blood in fighting our battles. The
English, knowing this, have been always suing to the Indians to
help them fight. We do not wish you to take up the hatchet.
We love and esteem you. We wish you to multiply and be
strong. The English, on the other hand, wish to set you and
us to cutting one another's throats, that when we are dead they
may take all our land. It is better for you not to join in this
quarrel, unless the English have killed any of your warriors or
done you any other injury. If they have, you have a right to
go to war with them, and revenge the injury, and we have none
to restrain you. Any free nation has a right to punish those who
have done them an injury. I say the same, brother, as to the
Indians who treat you ill. While I advise you, like an affectionate
friend, to avoid unnecessary war, I do not assume the
right of restraining you from punishing your enemies. If the
English have injured you, as they have injured the French and
Spaniards, do like them and join us in the war. General Clarke
will receive you and show you the way to their towns. But if
they have not injured you, it is better for you to lie still and be
quiet. This is the advice which has been always given by the
great council of the Americans. We must give the same, because
we are but one of thirteen nations, who have agreed to
act and speak together. These nations keep a council of wise
men always sitting together, and each of us separately follow
their advice. They have the care of all the people and the
lands between the Ohio and Mississippi, and will see that no
wrong be committed on them. The French settled at Kaskaskias,
St. Vincennes, and the Cohos, are subject to that council,
and they will punish them if they do you any injury. If you
will make known to me any just cause of complaint against
them, I will represent it to the great council at Philadelphia, and
have justice done you.
Our good friend, your father, the King of France, does not lay
any claim to them. Their misconduct should not be imputed to
him. He gave them up to the English the last war, and we
have taken them from the English. The Americans alone have
a right to maintain justice in all the lands on this side the
Mississippi,--on the other side the Spaniards rule. You complain,
brother, of the want of goods for the use of your people. We
know that your wants are great, notwithstanding we have done
everything in our power to supply them, and have often grieved
for you. The path from hence to Kaskaskias is long and dangerous;
goods cannot be carried to you in that way. New Orleans
has been the only place from which we could get goods
for you. We have bought a great deal there; but I am afraid
not so much of them have come to you as we intended. Some
of them have been sold of necessity to buy provisions for our
posts. Some have been embezzled by our own drunken and
roguish people. Some have been taken by the Indians and
many by the English.
The Spaniards, having now taken all the English posts on the
Mississippi, have opened that channel free for our commerce,
and we are in hopes of getting goods for you from them. I will
not boast to you, brother, as the English do, nor promise more
than we shall be able to fulfil. I will tell you honestly, what
indeed your own good sense will tell you, that a nation at war
cannot buy so many goods as when in peace. We do not make
so many things to send over the great waters to buy goods, as
we made and shall make again in time of peace. When we buy
those goods, the English take many of them, as they are coming
to us over the great water. What we get in safe, are to be divided
among many, because we have a great many soldiers,
whom we must clothe. The remainder we send to our brothers
the Indians, and in going, a great deal of it is stolen or lost.
These are the plain reasons why you cannot get so much from
us in war as in peace. But peace is not far off. The English
cannot hold out long, because all the world is against them.
When that takes place, brother, there will not be an Englishman
left on this side the great water. What will those foolish nations
then do, who have made us their enemies, sided with the English,
and laughed at you for not being as wicked as themselves?
They are clothed for a day, and will be naked forever after;
while you, who have submitted to short inconvenience, will be
well supplied through the rest of your lives. Their friends will
be gone and their enemies left behind; but your friends will be
here, and will make you strong against all your enemies. For
the present you shall have a share of what little goods we can
get. We will order some immediately up the Mississippi for
you and for us. If they be little, you will submit to suffer a
little as your brothers do for a short time. And when we shall
have beaten our enemies and forced them to make peace, we
will share more plentifully. General Clarke will furnish you
with ammunition to serve till we can get some from New Orleans.
I must recommend to you particular attention to him. He is
our great, good, and trusty warrior; and we have put everything
under his care beyond the Alleghanies. He will advise you in
all difficulties, and redress your wrongs. Do what he tells you,
and you will be sure to do right. You ask us to send schoolmasters
to educate your son and the sons of your people. We
desire above all things, brother, to instruct you in whatever we
know ourselves. We wish to learn you all our arts and to make
you wise and wealthy. As soon as there is peace we shall be
able to send you the best of schoolmasters; but while the war is
raging, I am afraid it will not be practicable. It shall be done,
however, before your son is of an age to receive instruction.
This, brother, is what I had to say to you. Repeat it from
me to all your people, and to our friends, the Kickapous, Piorias,
Piankeshaws and Wyattanons. I will give you a commission
to show them how much we esteem you. Hold fast the chain
of friendship which binds us together, keep it bright as the sun,
and let them, you and us, live together in perpetual love.
II.
_Speeches of John Baptist de Coigne, Chief of the Wabash and
Illinois Indians, and other Indian Chiefs._
Thomas Jefferson has the honor to send to the President the
speech of De Coigne, written at length from his notes very exactly.
He thinks he can assure the President that not a sentiment delivered
by the French interpreter is omitted, nor a single one inserted
which was not expressed. It differs often from what the
English interpreter delivered, because he varied much from the
other, who alone was regarded by Thomas Jefferson.
February 1, 1793. The President having addressed the chiefs
of the Wabash and Illinois Indians, John Baptist De Coigne,
chief of Kaskaskia, spoke as follows:--
FATHER,--I am about to open to you my heart. I salute first
the Great Spirit, the Master of life, and then you.
I present you a black pipe on the death of chiefs who have
come here and died in your bed. It is the calumet of the dead--take
it and smoke it in remembrance of them. The dead pray
you to listen to the living, and to be their friends. They are
gone, we cannot recall them. Let us then be contented; for, as
you have said, to-morrow, perhaps, it may be our turn. Take
then their pipe, and as I have spoken for the dead, let me now
address you for the living. [He delivered the black pipe.]
[Here Three-Legs, a Piankeshaw chief, came forward and carried
round a white pipe, from which every one smoked.]
John Baptist De Coigne spoke again:
_Father_,--The sky is now cleared. I am about to open my
heart to you again. I do it in the presence of the Great Spirit,
and I pray you to attend.
You have heard the words of our father, General Putnam.
We opened our hearts to him, we made peace with him, and he
has told you what we said.
This pipe is white, I pray you to consider it as of the
Wyattanons, Piankeshaws, and the people of Eel river. The
English at Detroit are very jealous of our father. I have used
my best endeavors to keep all the red men in friendship with
you, but they have drawn over the one-half, while I have kept
the other. Be friendly then to those I have kept.
I have long known you, General Washington, the Congress,
Jefferson, Sinclair. I have labored constantly for you to preserve
peace.
You see your children on this side, [pointing to the friends of
the dead chief,] they are now orphans. Take care, then, of the
orphans of our dead friends.
_Father_,--Your people of Kentucky are like mosquitos, and try
to destroy the red men. The red men are like mosquitos also,
and try to injure the people of Kentucky. But I look to you as
to a good being. Order your people to be just. They are always
trying to get our lands. They come on our lands, they hunt
on them; kill our game, and kill us. Keep them then on one side
of the line, and us on the other. Listen, father, to what we say,
and protect the nations of the Wabash and Mississippi in their lands.
The English have often spoken to me, but I shut my ears to
them. I despise their money, it is nothing to me. I am attached
to my lands. I love to eat in tranquillity, and not like
a bird on a bough.
The Piankeshaws, Wyattanons, Wiaws, and all the Indians of
the Mississippi and Wabash, pray you to open your heart and ears
to them, and as you befriend them, to give them Captain Prior
for their father. We love him, men, women, and children of us.
He has always been friendly to us, always taken care of us, and
you cannot give us a better proof of your friendship than in leaving
him with us.
[Here Three-Legs handed round the white pipe to be
smoked.] De Coigne, then, taking a third pipe, proceeded:
This pipe, my father, is sent you by the great chief of all the
Wiaws, called Crooked-Legs. He is old, infirm, and cannot
walk, therefore is not come. But he prays you to be his friend,
and to take care of his people. He tells you there are many red
people jealous of you, but you need not fear them. If he could
have walked he would have come; but he is old and sick, and
cannot walk. The English have a sugar mouth, but Crooked-Legs
would never listen to them. They threatened us to send
the red men to cut off him and his people, and they sent the red
men who threatened to do it, unless he would join the English.
But he would not join them.
The chiefs of the Wabash, father, pray you to listen. They
send you this pipe from afar. Keep your children quiet at the
Falls of Ohio. We know you are the head of all. We appeal
to you. Keep the Americans on one side of the Ohio, from the
falls downwards, and us on the other; that we may have something
to live on according to your agreement in the treaty which
you have. And do not take from the French the lands we have
given them.
Old Crooked-Legs sends you this pipe, [here he presented it,]
and he prays you to send him Captain Prior for his father, for
he is old, and you ought to do this for him.
_Father_,--I pray you to listen. So far I have spoken for
others, and now will speak for myself. I am of Kaskaskia, and
have always been a good American from my youth upwards.
Yet the Kentuckians take my lands, eat my stock, steal my
horses, kill my game, and abuse our persons. I come far with
all these people. My nation is not numerous. No people can
fight against you father, but the Great God himself. All the red
men together cannot do it; but have pity on us. I am now old.
Do not let the Kentuckians take my lands nor injure me, but
give me a line to them to let me alone.
_Father_,--The Wyattanons, Piankeshaws, Piorias, Powtewatamies,
Mosquitoes, Kaskaskias, have now made a road to you. It
is broad and white. Take care of it then, and keep it open.
_Father_,--You are powerful. You said you would wipe away
our tears. We thank you for this. Be firm, and take care of
your children.
The hatchet has been long buried. I have been always for
peace. I have done what I could, given all the money I had to
procure it.
The half of my heart, father, is black. I brought the Piorias
to you. Half of them are dead. I fear they will say it was my
fault; but, father, I look upon you, my heart is white again, and
I smile.
The Shawanese, the Delawares, and the English, are always
persuading us to take up the hatchet against you, but I have
been always deaf to their words. [Here he gave a belt.]
Great Joseph who came with us is dead. Have compassion
on his niece, his son-in-law, and his chiefs, [pointing to them.]
It is a dead man who speaks to you, father; accept, therefore,
these black beads. [Here he presented several strands of dark
colored beads.] I have now seen General Washington, I salute
and regard him next after the Great Spirit.
Como, a Powtewatamy chief, then said, that as the President
had already been long detained, and the hour was advanced, he
would resume what he had to say at another day.
Shawas, the Little Doe, a Kickapou chief, though very sick,
had attended the conference, and now carried the pipe round to
be smoked. He then addressed the President.
_Father_,--I am still very ill, and unable to speak. I am a
Kickapou, and drink of the waters of the Wabash and Mississippi.
I have been to the Wabash and treatied with General Putnam,
and I came not to do ill, but to make peace. Send to us Captain
Prior to be our father, and no other. He possesses all our love.
_Father_,--I am too ill to speak. You will not forget what the
others have said.
_February 2._--The day being cloudy, the Indians did not
choose to meet.
_February 4._--The morning was cloudy, they gave notice
that if it should clear up they would attend at the President's
at 2 o'clock. Accordingly, the clouds having broke away about
noon, they attended a little after 2, except Shawas and another,
who were sick, and one woman.
Como, a Powtewatamy chief, spoke.
_Father_,--I am opening my heart to speak to you, open yours
to receive my words. I first address you from a dead chief, who
when he was about to die, called us up to him and charged us
never to part with our lands. So I have done for you, my children,
and so do you for yours. For what have we come so far?
Not to ruin our nation, nor yet that we might carry goods home
to our women and children; but to procure them lasting good, to
open a road between them and the whites, solicit our father to
send Captain Prior to us. He has taken good care of us, and
we all love him.
Now, Father, I address you for our young people, but there
remains not much to say, for I spoke to you through General
Putnam, and you have what I said on paper. I have buried the
hatchet forever, so must your children. I speak the truth, and
you must believe me. We all pray you to send Captain Prior
to us, because he has been so very kind to us all. [Here he delivered
strands of dark colored beads.]
_Father_,--Hear me and believe me. I speak the truth, and
from my heart; receive my words then into yours. I am come
from afar for the good of my women and children, for their
present and future good. When I was at home in the midst of
them, my heart sunk within me, I saw no hope for them. The
heavens were gloomy and lowering, and I could not tell why.
But General Putnam spoke to us, and called us together. I rejoiced
to hear him, and determined immediately to come and
see my father. Father, I am happy to see you. The heavens
have cleared away, the day is bright, and I rejoice to hear your
voice. These beads [holding up a bundle of white strands] are
a road between us. Take you hold at one end, I will at the
other, and hold it fast. I will visit this road every day, and
sweep it clean. If any blood be on it, I will cover it up; if
stumps, I will cut them out. Should your children and mine
meet in this road they shall shake hands and be good friends.
Some of the Indians who belong to the English will be trying
to sow harm between us, but we must be on our guard and prevent
it.
_Father_,--I love the land on which I was born, the trees which
cover it, and the grass growing on it. It feeds us well. I am
not come here to ask gifts. I am young, and by hunting on my
own land, can kill what I want and feed my women and children
in plenty. I come not to beg. But if any of your traders
would wish to come among us, let them come. For who will
hurt them? Nobody, I will be there before them.
_Father_,--I take you by the hand with all my heart. I will
never forget you; do not you forget me.
[Here he delivered the bundle of white strands.]
The Little Beaver, a Wyattanon, on the behalf of Crooked-Legs,
handed round the pipe, and then spoke.
_Father_,--Listen now to me as you have done to others. I am
not a very great chief; I am a chief of war, and leader of the
young people.
_Father_,--I wished much to hear you; you have spoken comfort
to us, and I am happy to have heard it. The sun has
shone out, and all is well. This makes us think it was the
Great Spirit speaking truth through you. Do then what you
have said, restrain your people if they do wrong, as we will ours
if they do wrong.
_Father_,--We gave to our friend (Prior) who came with us,
our name of Wyattanon, and he gave us his name of American.
We are now Americans, give him then unto us as a father. He
has loved us and taken care of us. He had pity on our women
and children, and fed them. Do not forget to grant us this request.
You told us to live in quiet, and to do right. We will
do what you desire, and let Prior come to us.
Now that we have come so far to hear you, write a line to
your people to keep the river open between us, that we may go
down in safety, and that our women and children may work in
peace. When I go back, I will bear to them good tidings, and
our young men will no longer hunt in fear for the support of our
women and children.
_Father_,--All of us who have heard you are made happy, all
are in the same sentiment with me, all are satisfied. Be assured
that, when we return, the Indians and Americans will be one
people, will hunt, and play, and laugh together. For me, I never
will depart one step from Prior. We are come from afar to make
a stable peace, to look forward to our future good. Do not refuse
what we solicit, we will never forget you.
Here I will cease. The father of life might otherwise think
I babbled too much, and so might you. I finish then, in giving
you this pipe. It is my own, and from myself alone. I am but
a warrior. I give it to you to smoke in. Let its fumes ascend
to the Great Spirit in heaven.
[He delivered the pipe to the President.]
The wife of the soldier, a Wyattanon, speaks:
_Father_,--I take you by the hand with all my heart because
you have spoken comfort to us. I am but a woman, yet you
must listen.
The village chiefs, and chiefs of war, have opened their bodies
and laid naked their hearts to you. Let them too see your heart
and listen to them.
We have come, men and women, from afar to beseech you to
let no one take our lands. That is one of our children, [pointing
to General Putnam.] It was he who persuaded us to come.
We thought he spoke the truth, we came, and we hope that good
will come of it.
_Father_,--We know you are strong, have pity on us. Be firm
in your words. They have given us courage. The father of
life has opened our hearts on both sides for good.
He who was to have spoken to you is dead, Great Joseph. If
he had lived you would have heard a good man, and good words
flowing from his mouth. He was my uncle, and it has fallen to
me to speak for him. But I am ignorant. Excuse, then, these
words, it is but a woman who speaks.
[She delivers white strands.]
Three-Legs, a Piankeshaw spoke.
I speak for a young chief whom I have lost here. He came
to speak to you, father, but he had not that happiness. He died.
I am not a village chief, but only a chief of war.
We are come to seek all our good, and to be firm in it. If
our father is firm, we will be so. It was a dark and gloomy
day in which I lost my young chief. The master of life saw
that he was good, and called him to himself. We must submit
to his will. [He gave a black strand.] I pray you all who are
present to say, as one man, that our peace is firm, and to let it be
firm. Listen to us if you love us. We live on the river on one
side, and shall be happy to see Captain Prior on the other, and
to have a lasting peace. Here is our father Putnam. He
heard me speak at Au Porte. If I am false let him say so.
My land is but small. If any more be taken from us, I will
come again to you and complain, for we shall not be able to live.
Have pity on us father. You have many red children there,
and they have little whereon to live. Leave them land enough
to labor, to hunt, and to live on, and the lands which we have
given to the French, let them be to them forever.
_Father_,--We are very poor, we have traders among us, but
they will sell too dear. We have not the means of supplying
our wants at such prices. Encourage your traders then to come,
and to bring us guns, powder, and other necessaries, and send
Captain Prior also to us.
[He gave a string of white beads.] De Coigne spoke:
Jefferson, I have seen you before, and we have spoken together.
Sinclair, we have opened our hearts to one another. Putnam,
we did the same at Au Porte.
_Father_,--You have heard these three speak of me, and you
know my character. The times are gloomy in my town. We
have no commander, no soldier, no priest. Have you no concern
for us, father? If you have, put a magistrate with us to
keep the peace. I cannot live so. I am of French blood. When
there are no priests among us we think that all is not well.
When I was small we had priests, now that I am old we have
none; am I to forget, then, how to pray? Have pity on me and
grant what I ask. I have spoken on your behalf to all the nations.
I am a friend to all, and hurt none. For what are we
on this earth? But as a small and tender plant of corn; even
as nothing. God has made this earth for you as well as for us;
we are then but as one family, and if any one strikes you, it is
as if he had struck us. If any nation strikes you, father, we
will let you know what nation it is.
_Father_,--We fear the Kentuckians. They are headstrong,
and do us great wrong. They are not content to come on our
lands, to hunt on them, to steal and destroy our stocks, as the
Shawanese and Delawares do, but they go further, and abuse our
persons. Forbid them to do so. Sinclair, you know that the
Shawanese and Delawares came from the Spanish side of the
river, destroyed our corn, and killed our cattle. We cannot live
if things go so.
_Father_,--You are rich, you have all things at command, you
want for nothing, you promised to wipe away our tears. I commend
our women and children to your care.
[He gave strands of white beads.]
The President then assured them that he would take in consideration
what they had said, and would give them an answer
on another day; whereupon the conference ended for the present.
III.
January 7, 1802.
_Brothers and friends of the Miamis, Powtewatamies, and Weeauks:--_
I receive with great satisfaction the visit you have been so
kind as to make us at this place, and I thank the Great Spirit who
has conducted you to us in health and safety. It is well that
friends should sometimes meet, open their minds mutually, and
renew the chain of affection. Made by the same Great Spirit,
and living in the same land with our brothers, the red men, we
consider ourselves as of the same family; we wish to live with
them as one people, and to cherish their interests as our own.
The evils which of necessity encompass the life of man are sufficiently
numerous. Why should we add to them by voluntarily
distressing and destroying one another? Peace, brothers, is better
than war. In a long and bloody war, we lose many friends,
and gain nothing. Let us then live in peace and friendship together,
doing to each other all the good we can. The wise and
good on both sides desire this, and we must take care that the
foolish and wicked among us shall not prevent it. On our part,
we shall endeavor in all things to be just and generous towards
you, and to aid you in meeting those difficulties which a change
of circumstances is bringing on. We shall, with great pleasure,
see your people become disposed to cultivate the earth, to raise
herds of the useful animals, and to spin and weave, for their food
and clothing. These resources are certain; they will never disappoint
you: while those of hunting may fail, and expose your
women and children to the miseries of hunger and cold. We
will with pleasure furnish you with implements for the most
necessary arts, and with persons who may instruct you how to
make and use them.
I consider it as fortunate that you have made your visit at this
time, when our wise men from the sixteen States are collected
together in council, who being equally disposed to befriend you,
can strengthen our hands in the good we all wish to render you.
The several matters you opened to us in your speech the other
day, and those on which you have since conversed with the
Secretary of War, have been duly considered by us. He will
now deliver answers, and you are to consider what he says, as
if said by myself, and that what we promise we shall faithfully
perform.
IV.
February 10, 1802.
_Brothers of the Delaware and Shawanee nations_:--
I thank the Great Spirit that he has conducted you hither in
health and safety, and that we have an opportunity of renewing
our amity, and of holding friendly conference together. It is a
circumstance of great satisfaction to us that we are in peace and
good understanding with all our red brethren, and that we discover
in them the same disposition to continue so which we feel
ourselves. It is our earnest desire to merit, and possess their
affections, by rendering them strict justice, prohibiting injury from
others, aiding their endeavors to learn the culture of the earth,
and to raise useful animals, and befriending them as good neighbors,
and in every other way in our power. By mutual endeavors
to do good to each other, the happiness of both will be better
promoted than by efforts of mutual destruction. We are all
created by the same Great Spirit; children of the same family.
Why should we not live then as brothers ought to do?
I am peculiarly gratified by receiving the visit of some of your
most ancient and greatest warriors, of whom I have heard much
good. It is a long journey which they have taken at their age,
and in this season, and I consider it as a proof that their affections
for us are sincere and strong. I hope that the young men,
who have come with them, to make acquaintance with us, judging
our dispositions towards them by what they see themselves,
and not what they may hear from others, will go hand in hand
with us, through life, in the cultivation of mutual peace, friendship,
and good offices.
The speech which the Blackhoof delivered us, in behalf of
your nation, has been duly considered. The answer to all its
particulars will now be delivered you by the Secretary of War.
Whatever he shall say, you may consider as if said by myself,
and that what he promises our nation will perform.
V.
WASHINGTON, November 3, 1802.
_To Brother Handsome Lake_:--
I have received the message in writing which you sent me
through Captain Irvine, our confidential agent, placed near you
for the purpose of communicating and transacting between us,
whatever may be useful for both nations. I am happy to learn
you have been so far favored by the Divine spirit as to be made
sensible of those things which are for your good and that of your
people, and of those which are hurtful to you; and particularly
that you and they see the ruinous effects which the abuse of
spirituous liquors have produced upon them. It has weakened
their bodies, enervated their minds, exposed them to hunger,
cold, nakedness, and poverty, kept them in perpetual broils, and
reduced their population. I do not wonder then, brother, at
your censures, not only on your own people, who have voluntarily
gone into these fatal habits, but on all the nations of white
people who have supplied their calls for this article. But these
nations have done to you only what they do among themselves.
They have sold what individuals wish to buy, leaving to every
one to be the guardian of his own health and happiness. Spirituous
liquors are not in themselves bad, they are often found to
be an excellent medicine for the sick; it is the improper and intemperate
use of them, by those in health, which makes them
injurious. But as you find that your people cannot refrain from
an ill use of them, I greatly applaud your resolution not to use
them at all. We have too affectionate a concern for your happiness
to place the paltry gain on the sale of these articles in competition
with the injury they do you. And as it is the desire
of your nation, that no spirits should be sent among them,
I am authorized by the great council of the United States to prohibit
them. I will sincerely coöperate with your wise men in
any proper measures for this purpose, which shall be agreeable to
them.
You remind me, brother, of what I said to you, when you
visited me the last winter, that the lands you then held would
remain yours, and shall never go from you but when you should
be disposed to sell. This I now repeat, and will ever abide by.
We, indeed, are always ready to buy land; but we will never ask
but when you wish to sell; and our laws, in order to protect you
against imposition, have forbidden individuals to purchase lands
from you; and have rendered it necessary, when you desire to
sell, even to a State, that an agent from the United States should
attend the sale, see that your consent is freely given, a satisfactory
price paid, and report to us what has been done, for our approbation.
This was done in the late case of which you complain.
The deputies of your nation came forward, in all the forms
which we have been used to consider as evidence of the will of
your nation. They proposed to sell to the State of New York
certain parcels of land, of small extent, and detached from the
body of your other lands; the State of New York was desirous
to buy. I sent an agent, in whom we could trust, to see that
your consent was free, and the sale fair. All was reported to be
free and fair. The lands were your property. The right to sell
is one of the rights of property. To forbid you the exercise of
that right would be a wrong to your nation. Nor do I think,
brother, that the sale of lands is, under all circumstances, injurious
to your people. While they depended on hunting, the
more extensive the forest around them, the more game they
would yield. But going into a state of agriculture, it may be as
advantageous to a society, as it is to an individual, who has more
land than he can improve, to sell a part, and lay out the money
in stocks and implements of agriculture, for the better improvement
of the residue. A little land well stocked and improved,
will yield more than a great deal without stock or improvement.
I hope, therefore, that on further reflection, you will see this
transaction in a more favorable light, both as it concerns the interest
of your nation, and the exercise of that superintending
care which I am sincerely anxious to employ for their subsistence
and happiness. Go on then, brother, in the great reformation
you have undertaken. Persuade our red brethren then to be
sober, and to cultivate their lands; and their women to spin and
weave for their families. You will soon see your women and
children well fed and clothed, your men living happily in peace
and plenty, and your numbers increasing from year to year. It
will be a great glory to you to have been the instrument of so
happy a change, and your children's children, from generation
to generation, will repeat your name with love and gratitude forever.
In all your enterprises for the good of your people, you may
count with confidence on the aid and protection of the United
States, and on the sincerity and zeal with which I am myself
animated in the furthering of this humane work. You are our
brethren of the same land; we wish your prosperity as brethren
should do. Farewell.
VI.
January 8, 1803.
_Brothers Miamis and Delawares_:--
I am happy to see you here, to take you by the hand, and to
renew the assurances of our friendship. The journey which you
have taken is long; but it leads to a right understanding of what
either of us may have misunderstood; it will be useful for all.
For, living in the same land, it is best for us all that we should
live together in peace, friendship, and good neighborhood.
I have taken into serious consideration the several subjects on
which you spoke to me the other day, and will now proceed to
answer them severally.
You know, brothers, that, in ancient times, your former fathers
the French settled at Vincennes, and lived and traded with your
ancestors, and that those ancestors ceded to the French a tract
of country, on the Wabash river, seventy leagues broad, and extending
in length from Point Coupee to the mouth of White
river. The French, at the close of a war between them and the
English, ceded this country to the English; who, at the close of
a war between them and us, ceded it to us. The remembrance
of these transactions is well preserved among the white people;
they have been acknowledged in a deed signed by your fathers;
and you also, we suppose, must have heard it from them. Sincerely
desirous to live in peace and brotherhood with you, and
that the hatchet of war may never again be lifted, we thought
it prudent to remove from between us whatever might at any
time produce misunderstanding. The unmarked state of our
boundaries, and mutual trespasses on each others' lands, for want
of their being known to all our people, have at times threatened
our peace. We therefore instructed Governor Harrison to call a
meeting of the chiefs of all the Indian nations around Vincennes,
and to propose that we should settle and mark the boundary between
us. The chiefs of these nations met. They appeared to
think hard that we should claim the whole of what their ancestors
had ceded and sold to the white men, and proposed to mark
off for us from Point Coupee to the mouth of White river, a
breadth of twenty-four leagues only, instead of seventy. His
offer was a little more than a third of our right. But the desire
of being in peace and friendship with you, and of doing nothing
which should distress you, prevailed in our minds, and we agreed
to it. This was the act of the several nations, original owners
of the soil, and by men duly authorized by the body of those
nations. You, brothers, seem not to have been satisfied with it.
But it is a rule in all countries that what is done by the body
of a nation must be submitted to by all its members. We have
no right to alter, on a partial deputation, what we have settled
by treaty with the body of the nations concerned. The lines
too, which are agreed on, are to be run and marked in the presence
of your chiefs, who will see that they are fairly run. Your
nations were so sensible of the moderation of our conduct towards
them, that they voluntarily offered to lend us forever the salt
springs, and four miles square of land near the mouth of the
Wabash, without price. But we wish nothing without price.
And we propose to make a reasonable addition to the annuity
we pay to the owners.
You complain that our people buy your lands individually,
and settle and hunt on them without leave. To convince you
of the care we have taken to guard you against the injuries and
arts of interested individuals, I now will give you a copy of a
law, of our great council the Congress, forbidding individuals to
buy lands from you, or to settle or hunt on your lands; and making
them liable to severe punishment. And if you will at any
time seize such individuals, and deliver them to any officer of the
United States, they will be punished according to law.
We have long been sensible, brothers, of the great injury you
receive from an immoderate use of spirituous liquors; and although
it be profitable to us to make and sell these liquors, yet
we value more the preservation of your health and happiness.
Heretofore we apprehended you would be displeased, were we to
withhold them from you. But leaving it to be your desire, we
have taken measures to prevent their being carried into your
country; and we sincerely rejoice at this proof of your wisdom.
Instead of spending the produce of your hunting in purchasing
this pernicious drink, which produces poverty, broils and murders,
it will now be employed in procuring food and clothing
for your families, and increasing instead of diminishing your
numbers.
You have proposed, brothers, that we should deduct from your
next year's annuity, the expenses of your journey here; but this
would be an exactness we do not practise with our red brethren.
We will bear with satisfaction the expenses of your journey,
and of whatever is necessary for your personal comfort; and
will not, by deducting them, lessen the amount of the necessaries
which your women and children are to receive the next
year.
From the same good will towards you, we shall be pleased to
see you making progress in raising stock and grain, and making
clothes for yourselves. A little labor in this way, performed at
home and at ease, will go further towards feeding and clothing
you, than a great deal of labor in hunting wild beasts.
In answer to your request of a smith to be stationed in some
place convenient to you, I can inform you that Mr. Wells, our
agent, is authorized to make such establishments, and also to furnish
you with implements of husbandry and manufacture, whenever
you shall be determined to use them. The particulars on
this subject, as well as of some others mentioned in your speech,
and in the written speech you brought me from Buckangalah
and others, will be communicated and settled with you by the
Secretary at War. And I shall pray you in your return, to be
the bearers to your countrymen and friends of assurances of my
sincere friendship, and that our nation wishes to befriend them
in everything useful, and to protect them against all injuries
committed by lawless persons from among our citizens, either on
their lands, their lives or their property.
VII.
December 17, 1803.
_Brothers of the Choctaw nation_:--
We have long heard of your nation as a numerous, peaceable,
and friendly people; but this is the first visit we have had from
its great men at the seat of our government. I welcome you
here; am glad to take you by the hand, and to assure you, for
your nation, that we are their friends. Born in the same land,
we ought to live as brothers, doing to each other all the good we
can, and not listening to wicked men, who may endeavor to
make us enemies. By living in peace, we can help and prosper
one another; by waging war, we can kill and destroy many on
both sides; but those who survive will not be the happier for
that. Then, brothers, let it forever be peace and good neighborhood
between us. Our seventeen States compose a great and
growing nation. Their children are as the leaves of the trees,
which the winds are spreading over the forest. But we are just
also. We take from no nation what belongs to it. Our growing
numbers make us always willing to buy lands from our red
brethren, when they are willing to sell. But be assured we
never mean to disturb them in their possessions. On the contrary,
the lines established between us by mutual consent, shall
be sacredly preserved, and will protect your lands from all encroachments
by our own people or any others. We will give
you a copy of the law, made by our great Council, for punishing
our people, who may encroach on your lands, or injure you
otherwise. Carry it with you to your homes, and preserve it,
as the shield which we spread over you, to protect your land,
your property and persons.
It is at the request which you sent me in September, signed
by Puckshanublee and other chiefs, and which you now repeat,
that I listen to your proposition, to sell us lands. You say you
owe a great debt to your merchants, that you have nothing to
pay it with but lands, and you pray us to take lands, and pay
your debt. The sum you have occasion for, brothers, is a very
great one. We have never yet paid as much to any of our red
brethren for the purchase of lands. You propose to us some on
the Tombigbee, and some on the Mississippi. Those on the
Mississippi suit us well. We wish to have establishments on
that river, as resting places for our boats, to furnish them provisions,
and to receive our people who fall sick on the way to or
from New Orleans, which is now ours. In that quarter, therefore,
we are willing to purchase as much as you will spare. But
as to the manner in which the line shall be run, we are not
judges of it here, nor qualified to make any bargain. But we
will appoint persons hereafter to treat with you on the spot, who,
knowing the country and quality of the lands, will be better able
to agree with you on a line which will give us a just equivalent
for the sum of money you want paid.
You have spoken, brothers, of the lands which your fathers
formerly sold and marked off to the English, and which they
ceded to us with the rest of the country they held here; and
you say that, though you do not know whether your fathers
were paid for them, you have marked the line over again for us,
and do not ask repayment. It has always been the custom,
brothers, when lands were bought of the red men, to pay for
them immediately, and none of us have ever seen an example of
such a debt remaining unpaid. It is to satisfy their immediate
wants that the red men have usually sold lands; and in such a
case, they would not let the debt be unpaid. The presumption
from custom then is strong; so it is also from the great length
of time since your fathers sold these lands. But we have, moreover,
been informed by persons now living, and who assisted the
English in making the purchase, that the price was paid at the
time. Were it otherwise, as it was their contract, it would be
their debt, not ours.
I rejoice, brothers, to hear you propose to become cultivators
of the earth for the maintenance of your families. Be assured
you will support them better and with less labor, by raising
stock and bread, and by spinning and weaving clothes, than by
hunting. A little land cultivated, and a little labor, will procure
more provisions than the most successful hunt; and a woman
will clothe more by spinning and weaving, than a man by hunting.
Compared with you, we are but as of yesterday in this
land. Yet see how much more we have multiplied by industry,
and the exercise of that reason which you possess in common
with us. Follow then our example, brethren, and we will aid
you with great pleasure.
The clothes and other necessaries which we sent you the last
year, were, as you supposed, a present from us. We never meant
to ask land or any other payment for them; and the store which
we sent on, was at your request also; and to accommodate you
with necessaries at a reasonable price, you wished of course to
have it on your land; but the land would continue yours, not
ours.
As to the removal of the store, the interpreter, and the agent,
and any other matters you may wish to speak about, the Secretary
at War will enter into explanations with you, and whatever
he says, you may consider as said by myself, and what he promises
you will be faithfully performed.
I am glad, brothers, you are willing to go and visit some other
parts of our country. Carriages shall be ready to convey you,
and you shall be taken care of on your journey; and when you
shall have returned here and rested yourselves to your own mind,
you shall be sent home by land. We had provided for your
coming by land, and were sorry for the mistake which carried
you to Savannah instead of Augusta, and exposed you to the
risks of a voyage by sea. Had any accident happened to you,
though we could not help it, it would have been a cause of great
mourning to us. But we thank the Great Spirit who took care
of you on the ocean, and brought you safe and in good health
to the seat of our great Council; and we hope His care will accompany
and protect you, on your journey and return home;
and that He will preserve and prosper your nation in all its just
pursuits.
VIII.
_My Children, White-hairs, Chiefs, and Warriors of the Osage
Nation_:--
I repeat to you assurances of the satisfaction it gives me to receive
you here. Besides the labor of such a journey, the confidence
you have shown in the honor and friendship of my countrymen
is peculiarly gratifying, and I hope you have seen that your
confidence was justly placed, that you have found yourselves,
since you crossed the Mississippi, among brothers and friends,
with whom you were as safe as at home.
_My Children_,--I sincerely weep with you over the graves of
your chiefs and friends, who fell by the hands of their enemies
lately descending the Osage river. Had they been prisoners,
and living, we would have recovered them. But no voice can
awake the dead; no power undo what is done. On this side the
Mississippi, where our government has been long established,
and our authority organized, our friends visiting us are safe.
We hope it will not be long before our voice will be heard
and our arm respected, by those who meditate to injure our
friends on the other side of that river. In the meantime, Governor
Harrison will be directed to take proper measures to inquire
into the circumstances of the transaction, to report them to
us for consideration, and for the further measures they may require.
_My Children_,--By late arrangements with France and Spain,
we now take their place as your neighbors, friends, and fathers;
and we hope you will have no cause to regret the change. It is
so long since our forefathers came from beyond the great water,
that we have lost the memory of it, and seem to have grown out
of this land, as you have done. Never more will you have occasion
to change your fathers. We are all now of one family,
born in the same land, and bound to live as brothers; and the
strangers from beyond the great water are gone from among us.
The Great Spirit has given you strength, and has given us
strength; not that we might hurt one another, but to do each
other all the good in our power. Our dwellings, indeed, are
very far apart, but not too far to carry on commerce and useful
intercourse. You have furs and peltries which we want, and we
have clothes and other useful things which you want. Let us
employ ourselves, then, in mutually accommodating each other.
To begin this on our part, it was necessary to know what nations
inhabited the great country called Louisiana, which embraces
all the waters of the Mississippi and Missouri, what number
of peltries they could furnish, what quantities and kind of
merchandize they would require, where would be the deposits
most convenient for them, and to make an exact map of all those
waters. For this purpose I sent a beloved man, Captain Lewis,
one of my own household, to learn something of the people with
whom we are now united, to let you know we were your friends,
to invite you to come and see us, and to tell us how we can be
useful to you. I thank you for the readiness with which you
have listened to his voice, and for the favor you have showed
him in his passage up the Missouri. I hope your countrymen
will favor and protect him as far as they extend. On his return
we shall hear what he has seen and learnt, and proceed to establish
trading houses where our red brethren shall think best,
and to exchange commodities with them on terms with which
they will be satisfied.
With the same views I had prepared another party to go up
the Red River to its source, thence to the source of the Arkansas,
and down it to its mouth. But I will now give orders that they
shall only go a small distance up the Red River this season, and
return to tell us what they have seen, and that they shall not set
out for the head of that river till the ensuing spring, when you
will be at home, and will, I hope, guide and guard them in their
journey. I also propose the next year to send another small
party up the river of the Kansas to its source, thence to the head
of the river of the Panis, and down to its mouth; and others up
the rivers on the north side of the Missouri. For guides along
these rivers, we must make arrangements with the nations inhabiting
them.
_My Children_,--I was sorry to learn that a schism had taken
place in your nation, and that a part of your people had withdrawn
with the Great-Track to the Arkansas river. We will send
an agent to them, and will use our best offices to induce them to
return, and to live in union with you. We wish to make them
also our friends, and to make that friendship, and the weight it
may give us with them, useful to you and them.
We propose, my children, immediately to establish an agent
to reside with you, who will speak to you our words, and convey
yours to us, who will be the guardian of our peace and friendship,
convey truths from one to the other, dissipate all falsehoods
which might tend to alienate and divide us, and maintain a good
understanding and friendship between us. As the distance is
too great for you to come often and tell us your wants, you will
tell them to him on the spot, and he will convey them to us in
writing, so that we shall be sure that they come from you.
Through the intervention of such an agent we shall hope that
our friendship will forever be preserved. No wrong will ever be
done you by our nation, and we trust that yours will do none to
us. And should ungovernable individuals commit unauthorized
outrage on either side, let them be duly punished; or if they escape,
let us make to each other the best satisfaction the case
admits, and not let our peace be broken by bad men. For all
people have some bad men among them, whom no laws can restrain.
As you have taken so long a journey to see your father, we
wish you not to return till you shall have visited our country
and towns toward the sea coast. This will be new and satisfactory
to you, and it will give you the same knowledge of the
country on this side the Mississippi, which we are endeavoring
to acquire of that on the other side, by sending trusty persons to
explore them. We propose to do in your country only what we
are desirous you should do in ours. We will provide accommodations
for your journey, for your comfort while engaged in it,
and for your return in safety to your own country, carrying with
you those proofs of esteem with which we distinguish our friends,
and shall particularly distinguish you. On your return tell your
people that I take them all by the hand; that I become their
father hereafter; that they shall know our nation only as friends
and benefactors; that we have no views upon them but to carry
on a commerce useful to them and us; to keep them in peace
with their neighbors, that their children may multiply, may grow
up and live to a good old age, and their women no more fear the
tomahawk of any enemy.
My children, these are my words, carry them to your nation,
keep them in your memories, and our friendship in your hearts,
and may the Great Spirit look down upon us and cover us with
the mantle of his love.
IX.
March 7, 1805.
_My Children, Chiefs of the Chickasaw nation, Minghey, Mataha, and
Tishohotana_:--
I am happy to receive you at the seat of the government of
the twenty-two nations, and to take you by the hand. Your
friendship to the Americans has long been known to me. Our
fathers have told us that your nation never spilled the blood of
an American, and we have seen you fighting by our side and
cementing our friendship by mixing our blood in battle against
the same enemies. I rejoice, therefore, that the Great Spirit has
covered you with his protection through so long a journey and
so inclement a season, and brought you safe to the dwelling of
a father who wishes well to all his red children, and to you especially.
It would have been also pleasing to have received the
other chiefs who had proposed to come with you, and to have
known and become known to them, had it been convenient for
them to come. I have long wished to see the beloved men of
your nation, to renew the friendly conferences of former times,
to assure them that we remain constant in our attachment to
them, and to prove it by our good offices.
Your country, like all those on this side the Mississippi, has
no longer game sufficient to maintain yourselves, your women
and children, comfortably by hunting. We, therefore, wish to
see you undertake the cultivation of the earth, to raise cattle,
corn, and cotton, to feed and clothe your people. A little labor
in the earth will produce more food than the best hunts you can
now make, and the women will spin and weave more clothing
than the men can procure by hunting. We shall very willingly
assist you in this course by furnishing you with the necessary
tools and implements, and with persons to instruct you in the
use of them.
We have been told that you have contracted a great debt to
some British traders, which gives you uneasiness, and which you
honestly wish to pay by the sale of some of your lands. Whenever
you raise food from the earth, and make your own clothing,
you will find that you have a great deal of land more than
you can cultivate or make useful, and that it will be better for
you to sell some of that, to pay your debts, and to have something
over to be paid to you annually to aid you in feeding and
clothing yourselves. Your lands are your own, my children,
they shall never be taken from you by our people or any others.
You will be free to keep or to sell as yourselves shall think most
for your own good. If at this time you think it will be better
for you to dispose of some of them to pay your debts, and to
help your people to improve the rest, we are willing to buy on
reasonable terms. Our people multiply so fast that it will suit us
to buy as much as you wish to sell, but only according to your
good will. We have lately obtained from the French and Spaniards
all the country beyond the Mississippi called Louisiana, in
which there is a great deal of land unoccupied by any red men.
But it is very far off, and we would prefer giving you lands
there, or money and goods as you like best, for such parts of your
land on this side the Mississippi as you are disposed to part with.
Should you have anything to say on this subject now, or at any
future time, we shall be always ready to listen to you.
I am obliged, within a few days, to set out on a long journey;
but I wish you to stay and rest yourselves according to your own
convenience. The Secretary at War will take care of you, will
have you supplied with whatever you may have occasion for,
and will provide for your return at your own pleasure. And I
hope you will carry to your countrymen assurances of the sincere
friendship of the United States to them, and that we shall
always be disposed to render them all the service in our power.
This, my children, is all I had proposed to say at this time.
X.
_To the Wolf and people of the Mandar nation._
WASHINGTON, December 30, 1806.
_My Children, the Wolf and people of the Mandar nation._--I
take you by the hand of friendship and give you a hearty
welcome to the seat of the government of the United States.
The journey which you have taken to visit your fathers on
this side of our island is a long one, and your having undertaken
it is a proof that you desired to become acquainted with
us. I thank the Great Spirit that he has protected you through
the journey and brought you safely to the residence of your
friends, and I hope He will have you constantly in his safe keeping,
and restore you in good health to your nations and families.
My friends and children, we are descended from the old nations
which live beyond the great water, but we and our forefathers
have been so long here that we seem like you to have
grown out of this land. We consider ourselves no longer of the
old nations beyond the great water, but as united in one family
with our red brethren here. The French, the English, the Spaniards,
have now agreed with us to retire from all the country which
you and we hold between Canada and Mexico, and never more
to return to it. And remember the words I now speak to you,
my children, they are never to return again. We are now your
fathers; and you shall not lose by the change. As soon as Spain
had agreed to withdraw from all the waters of the Missouri and
Mississippi, I felt the desire of becoming acquainted with all my
red children beyond the Mississippi, and of uniting them with
us as we have those on this side of that river, in the bonds of
peace and friendship. I wished to learn what we could do to
benefit them by furnishing them the necessaries they want in
exchange for their furs and peltries. I therefore sent our beloved
man, Captain Lewis, one of my own family, to go up the
Missouri river to get acquainted with all the Indian nations in its
neighborhood, to take them by the hand, deliver my talks to them,
and to inform us in what way we could be useful to them. Your
nation received him kindly, you have taken him by the hand and
been friendly to him. My children, I thank you for the services
you rendered him, and for your attention to his words. He will
now tell us where we should establish trading houses to be convenient
to you all, and what we must send to them.
My friends and children, I have now an important advice to
give you. I have already told you that you and all the red men
are my children, and I wish you to live in peace and friendship
with one another as brethren of the same family ought to
do. How much better is it for neighbors to help than to
hurt one another; how much happier must it make them. If you
will cease to make war on one another, if you will live in friendship
with all mankind, you can employ all your time in providing
food and clothing for yourselves and your families. Your men
will not be destroyed in war, and your women and children will
lie down to sleep in their cabins without fear of being surprised
by their enemies and killed or carried away. Your numbers will
be increased instead of diminishing, and you will live in plenty
and in quiet. My children, I have given this advice to all your
red brethren on this side of the Mississippi; they are following
it, they are increasing in their numbers, are learning to clothe and
provide for their families as we do. Remember then my advice,
my children, carry it home to your people, and tell them that
from the day that they have become all of the same family, from
the day that we became father to them all, we wish, as a true
father should do, that we may all live together as one household,
and that before they strike one another, they should go to their
father and let him endeavor to make up the quarrel.
My children, you are come from the other side of our great
island, from where the sun sets, to see your new friends at the
sun rising. You have now arrived where the waters are constantly
rising and falling every day, but you are still distant from
the sea. I very much desire that you should not stop here, but
go and see your brethren as far as the edge of the great water.
I am persuaded you have so far seen that every man by the way
has received you as his brothers, and has been ready to do you
all the kindness in his power. You will see the same thing quite
to the sea shore; and I wish you, therefore, to go and visit our
great cities in that quarter, and see how many friends and brothers
you have here. You will then have travelled a long line
from west to east, and if you had time to go from north to south,
from Canada to Florida, you would find it as long in that direction,
and all the people as sincerely your friends. I wish you,
my children, to see all you can, and to tell your people all you
see; because I am sure the more they know of us, the more
they will be our hearty friends. I invite you, therefore, to pay
a visit to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and the cities still
beyond that, if you are willing to go further. We will provide
carriages to convey you and a person to go with you to see that
you want for nothing. By the time you come back the snows
will be melted on the mountains, the ice in the rivers broken up,
and you will be wishing to set out on your return home.
My children, I have long desired to see you; I have now
opened my heart to you, let my words sink into your hearts and
never be forgotten. If ever lying people or bad spirits should
raise up clouds between us, call to mind what I have said, and
what you have seen yourselves. Be sure there are some lying
spirits between us; let us come together as friends and explain
to each other what is misrepresented or misunderstood, the clouds
will fly away like morning fog, and the sun of friendship appear
and shine forever bright and clear between us.
My children, it may happen that while you are here occasion
may arise to talk about many things which I do not now particularly
mention. The Secretary at War will always be ready to
talk with you, and you are to consider whatever he says as said by
myself. He will also take care of you and see that you are furnished
with all comforts here.
XI.
WASHINGTON, December 31, 1806.
_To the Chiefs of the Osage nation_:--
_My Children, Chiefs of the Osage nation_,--I welcome you
sincerely to the seat of the government of the United States.
The journey you have taken is long and fatiguing, and proved
your desire to become acquainted with your new brothers of this
country. I thank the master of life, who has preserved you by
the way and brought you safely here. I hope you have found
yourselves, through the whole journey, among brothers and
friends, who have used you kindly, and convinced you they
wish to live always in peace and harmony with you.
My children, your forefathers have doubtless handed it down
to you that in ancient times the French were the fathers of all
the red men in the country called Louisiana, that is to say, all
the country on the Mississippi and on all its western waters. In
the days of your fathers France ceded that country to the Spaniards
and they became your fathers; but six years ago they restored
it to France and France ceded it to us, and we are now
become your fathers and brothers; and be assured you will have
no cause to regret the change. It is so long since our forefathers
came from beyond the great water, that we have lost the
memory of it, and seem to have grown out of this land as you
have done. Never more will you have occasion to change your
fathers. We are all now of one family, born in the same land,
and bound to live as brothers, and to have nothing more to do
with the strangers who live beyond the great water. The Great
Spirit has given you strength and has given us strength, not that
we should hurt one another, but to do each other all the good
in our power. Our dwellings indeed are very far apart, but not
too far to carry on commerce and useful intercourse. You have
furs and peltries which we want, and we have clothes and other
useful things which you want. Let us employ ourselves, then,
in making exchanges of these articles useful to both. In order
to prepare ourselves for this commerce with our new children,
we have found it necessary to send some of our trusty men up
the different rivers of Louisiana, to see what nations live upon
them, what number of peltries they can furnish, what quantities
and kinds of merchandize they want, and where are the places
most convenient to establish trading houses with them. With
this view we sent a party to the head of the Missouri and the
great water beyond that, who are just returned. We sent another
party up the Red river, and we propose, the ensuing spring, to
send one up the Arkansas as far as its head. This party will
consist, like the others, of between twenty and thirty persons.
I shall instruct them to call and see you at your towns, to talk
with my son the Big Track, who, as well as yourselves and your
people, will I hope receive them kindly, protect them and give
them all the information they can as to the people on the same
river above you. When they return they will be able to tell us
how we can best establish a trade with you, and how otherwise
we can be useful to them.
My children, I was sorry to learn that a difference had arisen
among the people of your nation, and that a part of them had
separated and removed to a great distance on the Arkansa. This
is a family quarrel with which I do not pretend to intermeddle.
Both parties are my children, and I wish equally well to both.
But it would give me great pleasure if they could again reunite,
because a nation, while it holds together, is strong against its
enemies, but, breaking into parts, it is easily destroyed. However
I hope you will at least make friends again, and cherish
peace and brotherly love with one another. If I can be useful
in restoring friendship between you, I shall do it with great
pleasure. It is my wish that all my red children live together
as one family, that when differences arise among them, their old
men should meet together and settle them with justice and in
peace. In this way your women and children will live in safety,
your nation will increase and be strong.
As you have taken so long a journey to see your fathers, we
wish you not to return till you have visited our country and
towns towards the sea coast. This will be new and satisfactory
to you, and it will give you the same knowledge of the country
on this side of the Mississippi, which we are endeavoring to acquire
of that on the other side, by sending trusty persons to explore
them. We propose to do in your country only what we
are desirous you should do in ours. We will provide accommodations
for your journey, for your comfort while engaged in it,
and for your return in safety to your own country, carrying with
you those proofs of esteem with which we distinguish our
friends, and shall particularly distinguish you. On your return,
tell your chief, the Big Track, and all your people, that I take
them by the hand, that I become their father hereafter, that they
shall know our nation only as friends and benefactors, that we
have no views upon them but to carry on a commerce useful to
them and us, to keep them in peace with their neighbors, that
their children may multiply, may grow up and live to a good old
age, and their women no longer fear the tomahawk of any enemy.
My children, these are my words, carry them to your nation,
keep them in your memories and our friendship in your hearts,
and may the Great Spirit look down upon us and cover us with
the mantle of his love.
XII.
February 19, 1807.
_To the Chiefs of the Shawanee Nation_:--
_My children, Chiefs of the Shawanee nation_,--I have listened
to the speeches of the Blackhoof, Blackbeard, and the other head
chiefs of the Shawanese, and have considered them well. As all
these speeches relate to the public affairs of your nation, I will
answer them together.
You express a wish to have your lands laid off separately to
yourselves, that you may know what is your own, may have a
fixed place to live on, of which you may not be deprived after
you shall have built on it, and improved it; you would rather
that this should be towards Fort Wayne, and to include the three
reserves; you ask a strong writing from us, declaring your right,
and observe that the writing you had was taken from you by
the Delawares.
After the close of our war with the English, we wished to establish
peace and friendship with our Indian neighbors also. In
order to do this, the first thing necessary was to fix a firm
boundary between them and us, that there might be no trespasses
across that by either party. Not knowing then what parts on
our border belonged to each Indian nation particularly, we
thought it safest to get all those in the north to join in one
treaty, and to settle a general boundary line between them and
us. We did not intermeddle as to the lines dividing them one
from another, because this was their concern, not ours. We
therefore met the chiefs of the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanese,
Ottaways, Chippeways, Powtewatamies, Miamis, Eel-Rivers,
Weaks, Kickapoos, Pianteshaws, and Kaskaskies, at Greeneville,
and agreed on a general boundary which was to divide their
lands from those of the whites, making only some particular reserves,
for the establishment of trade and intercourse with them.
This treaty was eleven years ago, as Blackbeard has said. Since
that, some of them have thought it for their advantage to sell us
portions of their lands, which has changed the boundaries in
some parts; but their rights in the residue remain as they were,
and must always be settled among themselves. If the Shawanese
and Delawares, and their other neighbors, choose to settle the
boundaries between their respective tribes, and to have them
marked and recorded in our books, we will mark them as they
shall agree among themselves, and will give them strong writings
declaring the separate right of each. After which, we will protect
each tribe in its respective lands, as well as against other
tribes who might attempt to take them from them, as against our
own people. The writing which you say the Delawares took
from you, must have been the copy of the treaty of Greeneville.
We will give you another copy to be kept by your nation.
With respect to the reserves, you know they were made for
the purpose of establishing convenient stations for trade and intercourse
with the tribes within whose boundaries they are.
And as circumstances shall render it expedient to make these
establishments, it is for your interest, as well as ours, that the
possession of these stations should enable us to make them.
You complain that Blue-jacket, and a part of your people at
Greeneville, cheat you in the distribution of your annuity, and
take more of it than their just share. It will be difficult to remedy
this evil while your nation is living in different settlements.
We will, however, direct our agent to enquire, and inform us
what are your numbers in each of your settlements, and will
then divide the annuities between the settlements justly, according
to their numbers. And if we can be of any service in bringing
you all together into one place, we will willingly assist you
for that purpose. Perhaps your visit to the settlement of your
people on the Mississippi under the Flute may assist towards
gathering them all into one place from which they may never
again remove.
You say that you like our mode of living, that you wish to
live as we do, to raise a plenty of food for your children, and to
bring them up in good principles; that you adopt our mode of
living, and ourselves as your brothers. My children, I rejoice to
hear this; it is the wisest resolution you have ever formed, to
raise corn and domestic animals, by the culture of the earth, and
to let your women spin and weave clothes for you all, instead
of depending for these on hunting. Be assured that half the
labor and hardships you go through to provide your families by
hunting, with food and clothing, if employed in a farm would
feed and clothe them better. When the white people first came
to this land, they were few, and you were many: now we are
many, and you few; and why? because, by cultivating the
earth, we produce plenty to raise our children, while yours,
during a part of every year, suffer for want of food, are forced to
eat unwholesome things, are exposed to the weather in your
hunting camps, get diseases and die. Hence it is that your
numbers lessen.
You ask for instruction in our manner of living, for carpenters
and blacksmiths. My children, you shall have them. We will
do everything in our power to teach you to take care of your
wives and children, that you may multiply and be strong. We
are sincerely your friends and brothers, we are as unwilling to
see your blood spilt in war, as our own. Therefore, we encourage
you to live in peace with all nations, that your women and
children may live without danger, and without fear. The greatest
honor of a man is in doing good to his fellow men, not in
destroying them. We have placed Mr. Kirk among you, who
will have other persons under him to teach you how to manage
farms, and to make clothes for yourselves; and we expect you
will put some of your young people to work with the carpenters
and smiths we place among you, that they may learn the trades.
In this way only can you have a number of tradesmen sufficient
for all your people.
You wish me to name to you the person authorized to speak
to you in our name, that you may know whom to believe, and
not be deceived by impostors. My children, Governor Harrison
is the person we authorize to talk to you in our name. You
may depend on his advice, and that it comes from us. He stands
between you and us, to convey with truth whatever either of us
wishes to say to the other.
My children, I wish you a safe return to your friends and
families, that you may retain your resolution of learning to live
in our way, that it may give health and comfort to your families,
and add members to your nation. In me you will always
find a sincere and true friend.
XIII.
WASHINGTON, February 27, 1808.
_To Kitchao Geboway_:--
_My son Kitchao Geboway_,--I have received the speech which
you sent me through General Gansevoort from Albany on the 13th
of this month, and now return you my answer. It would have
given me great pleasure to have been able to converse with and
understand you, when you visited me at Washington; but the
want of an interpreter rendered that impossible.
My son, tell your nation, the Chippewas, that I take them by
the hand, and consider them as a part of the great family of the
United States, which extends to the great Lakes and the Lake
of the Woods, northwardly, and from the rising to the setting
sun; that the United States wish to live in peace with them, to
consider them as a part of themselves, to establish a commerce
with them, as advantageous to the Chippewas as they can make
it, and in all cases to render them every service in our power.
We shall never ask them to enter into our quarrels, nor to spill
their blood in fighting our enemies. My son, in visiting this
quarter of the United States, you have seen a part of our country,
and some of our people from East to West. If you had travelled
also from North to South, you would have seen it the
same. You see that we are as numerous as the leaves of the
trees, that we are strong enough to fight our own battles, and
too strong to fear any enemy. When, therefore, we wish you
to live in peace with all people, red and white, we wish it because
it is for your good, and because it is our desire that your
women and children shall live in safety, not fearing the tomahawk
of any enemy, that they may learn to raise food enough
to support their families, and that your nation may multiply and
be strong. If any white men advise you to go to war for them,
it is a proof they are too weak to defend themselves, that they
are in truth your enemies, wishing to sacrifice you to save themselves;
and when they shall be driven away, my son, what is to
become of the red men who may join in their battles? Take
the advice then of a father, and meddle not in the quarrels of
the white people, should any war take place between them; but
stay at home in peace, taking care of your wives and children.
In that case not a hair of your heads shall be touched. Never
will we do you an injury unprovoked, or disturb you in your
towns or lands by any violence.
My son, I confirm everything which your father, Governor
Hall, said to you at Detroit on my part: and in all your difficulties
and dangers apply to him, and take his advice. If some
of your principal chiefs will pay me a visit at Washington, I
shall be very happy to receive them, to smoke the pipe of friendship
with them, to take them by the hand and never to let go
their friendship. They shall see that I want nothing from them
but their good will, and to do them all the good in my power.
My son, the Secretary at War will comply with your request
in giving you a chief's coat with epaulettes, and a stand of the
colors of the United States, to plant in your town, to let all the
world see that you are a part of the family of the United States.
My son, I wish you a pleasant journey, and a safe return to
your family and friends.
XIV.
WASHINGTON, April 22, 1808.
_To the Chiefs of the Ottawas, Chippewas, Powtewattamies, Wyandots,
and Senecas of Sandusky_:--
_My Children_,--I received your message of July last, and I am
glad of the opportunity it gives me of explaining to you the sentiments
of the government of the United States towards you.
Many among you must remember the time when we were
governed by the British nation, and the war by which we separated
ourselves from them. Your old men must remember also
that while we were under that government we were constantly
kept at war with the red men our neighbors. Many of these
took side in the English war against us; so that after we had
made peace with the English, ill blood remained between us for
some time; and it was not till the treaty of Greeneville that we
could come to a solid peace and perfect good understanding with
all our Indian neighbors. This being once done and fixed lines
drawn between them and us, laying off their lands to themselves,
and ours to ourselves, so that each might know their own, and
nothing disturb our future peace, we have from that moment,
my children, looked upon you heartily as our brothers, and as a
part of ourselves. We saw that your game was becoming too
scarce to support you, and that unless we could persuade you to
cultivate the earth, to raise the tame animals, and to spin and
weave clothes for yourselves as we do, you would disappear from
the earth. To encourage you, therefore, to save yourselves has
been our constant object; and we have hoped that the day would
come when every man among you would have his own farm
laid off to himself as we have, would maintain his family by
labor as we do, and would make one people with us. But in all
these things you have been free to do as you please; your lands
are your own; your right to them shall never be violated by us;
they are yours to keep or to sell as you please. Whenever you
find it your interest to dispose of a part to enable you to improve
the rest, and to support your families in the meantime, we are
willing to buy, because our people increase fast. When a want
of land in a particular place induces us to ask you to sell, still
you are always free to say "No," and it will never disturb our
friendship for you. We will never be angry with others for
exercising their own rights according to what they think their
own interests. You say you were told at Swan's Creek, that if
you would not let us have lands, we should be angry with you,
and would force you. Those, my children, who told you so,
said what was false, and what never had been said or thought
of by us. We never meant to control your free will; we never
will do it. I will explain to you the ground of our late application
to you for lands. You know that the posts of Detroit and
Macinac have very little lands belonging to them. It is for
your interest as well as ours that these posts should be maintained
for the purposes of our trade with one another. We were
desirous therefore to purchase as much land around them as
would enable us to have sufficient settlements there to support
the posts; and that this might be so laid off as to join with our
possessions on Lake Erie. But we expressly instructed our beloved
man, Governor Hall, not to press you beyond your own convenience,
nor to buy more than you would spare with good will.
He accordingly left you to your own inclinations, using no
threats whatever, as you tell me in your message. You agreed
to let us have a part of what we wished to buy. We are contented
with it my children. We find no fault with you for
what you did not do, but thank you for what you did.
You complain, my children, that your annuities are not regularly
paid, that the goods delivered you are often bad in kind, that
they sometimes arrive damaged, and are dear, and that you would
rather receive them in money. You shall have them in money.
We had no interest in laying out your money in goods for you.
It cost us considerable trouble in the purchase and transportation,
and as we could not be everywhere with them to take care
of them ourselves, we could not prevent their being injured sometimes
by accident, sometimes by carelessness. To pay money
therefore, is more convenient to us, and as it will please you better,
it shall be done.
I am now, my children, to address you on a very serious subject,
one which greatly concerns your happiness. Open your
ears, therefore, let my words sink deeply into your bosoms, and
never forget them. For be assured that I will not, and that I
will fulfil them to their uttermost import. We have for sometime
had a misunderstanding with the English, and we do not
yet know whether it will end in peace or in war. But in either
case, my children, do you remain quiet at home, taking no part
in these quarrels. We do not wish you to shed your blood in
our battles. We are able to fight them ourselves. And if others
press you to take part against us, it is because they are weak,
not able to protect themselves nor you. Consider well then
what you do. Since we have freed ourselves from the English
government, and made our peace with our Indian neighbors, we
have cultivated that peace with sincerity and affection. We
have done them such favors as were in our power, and promoted
their interest and peace wherever we could. We consider them
now as a part of ourselves, and we look to their welfare as our
own. But if there be among you any nation whom no benefits
can attach, no good offices on our part can convert into faithful
friends, if relinquishing their permanent connection with us for
the fugitive presents or promises of others, they shall prefer our
enmity to our friendship, and engage in war against us, that nation
must abandon forever the land of their fathers. No nation
rejecting our friendship, and commencing wanton and unprovoked
war against us, shall ever after remain within our reach;
it shall never be in their power to strike us a second time. These
words, my children, may appear harsh; but they are spoken in
kindness; they are intended to warn you beforehand of the ruin
into which those will rush, who shall once break the chain of
friendship with us. You know they are not spoken from fear.
We fear no nation. We love yours. We wish you to live forever
in peace with all men, and in brotherly affection with us;
to be with us as one family; to take care of your women and
children, feed and clothe them well, multiply and be strong with
your friends and your enemies.
My children, I salute you with fatherly concern for your welfare.
XV.
May 4, 1808.
_To the Chiefs of the Upper Cherokees_:--
_My Children, Chiefs of the Upper Cherokees_,--I am glad
to see you at the seat of government, to take you by the hand,
and to assure you in person of the friendship of the United
States towards all their red children, and of their desire to extend,
to them all, their protection of good offices. The journey
you have come is a long one, and the object expressed in
our conference of the other day is important. I have listened
to it with attention, and given it the consideration it deserves.
You complain that you do not receive your just proportion of the
annuities we pay your nation; that the chiefs of the lower towns
take for them more than their share. My children, this distribution
is made by the authority of the Cherokee nation, and according
to their own rules over which we have no control. We
do our duty in delivering the annuities to the head men of the
nation, and we pretend to no authority over them, to no right of
directing how they are to be distributed. But we will instruct
our agent, Colonel Meigs, to exhort the chiefs to do justice to all
the parts of their nation in the distribution of these annuities,
and to endeavor that every town shall have its due share. We
would willingly pay these annuities in money, which could be
more equally divided, if the nation would prefer that, and if we
can be assured that the money will not be laid out in strong
drink instead of necessaries for your wives and children. We
wish to do whatever will best secure your people from suffering
for want of clothes or food. It is these wants which bring
sickness and death into your families, and prevent you from multiplying
as we do. In answer to your question relating to the
lands we have purchased from your nation at different times, I
inform you that the payments have for the most part been made
in money, which has been left, as the annuities are, to the discharge
of your debts, and to distribute according to the rules of
the nation.
You propose, my children, that your nation shall be divided
into two, and that your part, the upper Cherokees, shall be separated
from the lower by a fixed boundary, shall be placed under
the government of the United States, become citizens thereof,
and be ruled by our laws; in fine, to be our brothers instead of
our children. My children, I shall rejoice to see the day when
the red men, our neighbors, become truly one people with us,
enjoying all the rights and privileges we do, and living in peace
and plenty as we do, without any one to make them afraid, to
injure their persons, or to take their property without being punished
for it according to fixed laws. But are you prepared for
this? Have you the resolution to leave off hunting for your living,
to lay off a farm for each family to itself, to live by industry,
the men working that farm with their hands, raising stock,
or learning trades as we do, and the women spinning and weaving
clothes for their husbands and children? All this is necessary
before our laws can suit you or be of any use to you. However,
let your people take this matter into consideration. If they
think themselves prepared for becoming citizens of the United
States, for living in subjection to laws and under their protection
as we do, let them consult the lower towns, come with them to
an agreement of separation by a fixed boundary, and send to this
place a few of the chiefs they have most confidence in, with
powers to arrange with us regulations concerning the protection
of their persons, punishment of crimes, assigning to each family
their separate farms, directing how these shall go to the family
as they die one after another, in what manner they shall be
governed, and all other particulars necessary for their happiness
in their new condition. On our part I will ask the assistance of
our great council, the Congress, whose authority is necessary to
give validity to these arrangements, and who wish nothing more
sincerely than to render your condition secure and happy.
Should the principal part of your people determine to adopt this
alteration, and a smaller part still choose to continue the hunter's
life, it may facilitate the settlement among yourselves to be told
that we will give to those leave to go, if they choose it, and settle
on our lands beyond the Mississippi, where some Cherokees
are already settled, and where game is plenty, and we will take
measures for establishing a store there among them, where they
may obtain necessaries in exchange for their peltries, and we
will still continue to be their friends there as much as here.
My children, carry these words to your people, advise with
Colonel Meigs in your proceedings, ask him to inform me from
time to time how you go on, and I will further advise you in what
may be necessary. Tell your people I take them all by the
hand; that I leave them free to do as they choose, and that whatever
choice they make, I will still be their friend and father.
XVI.
May 5, 1808.
_To Colonel Louis Cook and Jacob Francis of the St. Regis Indians_:--
_My Children_,--I take you by the hand, and all the people of
St. Regis within the limits of the United States, and I desire to
speak to them through you. A great misunderstanding has taken
place between the English and the United States, and although
we desire to live in peace with all the world and unmolested, yet
it is not quite certain whether this difference will end in peace or
war. Should war take place, do you, my children, remain at home
in peace, taking care of your wives and children. You have no
concern in our quarrel, take therefore no part in it. We do not
wish you to spill your blood in our battles. We can fight them
ourselves. Say the same to your red brethren everywhere, let
them remain neutral and quiet, and we will never disturb them.
Should the English insist on their taking up the hatchet against
us, if they choose rather to break up their settlements and come
over to live in peace with us, we will find other settlements for
them, and they shall become our children. The red nations
who shall remain in peace with the United States, shall forever
find them true friends and fathers. Those who commence
against them an unprovoked war, must expect their lasting enmity.
My children, I wish you well, and a safe return to your own
country.
XVII.
WASHINGTON, December 2, 1808.
_To the Delaware Chief, Captain Armstrong_:--
I have received your letter of October 20th, wherein you
express a wish to obtain a deed for the thirteen sections of lands
reserved for the Delawares in the State of Ohio, by an act of
Congress. I accordingly now send you an authentic deed designating
the thirteen sections, and signed by the Secretary of
the Treasury, who was authorized for this purpose by the act of
Congress. Under this you are free to settle on the lands when
you please, and to occupy them according to your own rules.
You cannot, indeed, sell them to the white citizens of the United
States. Knowing how liable you would be to be cheated and
deceived, were we to permit our citizens to purchase your lands,
our government acting as your friends and patrons, and desirous
of guarding your interests against the frauds that would surround
you, does not permit white persons to purchase your lands from
you. In every other way they are yours, free to be used as you
please; and their possession will be protected and guaranteed to
you by the United States. I salute you and my children, the
Delawares, with friendship.
XVIII.
December 21, 1808.
_To the Miamis, Powtewatamies, Delawares and Chippeways._
_My Children_:--Some of you are old enough to remember,
and the youngest have heard from their fathers, that the country
was formerly governed by the English. While they governed
it there were constant wars between the white and the red people.
To such a height was the hatred of both parties carried
that they thought it no crime to kill one another in cold blood
whenever they had an opportunity. This spirit led many of
the Indians to take side against us in the war; and at the close
of it the English made peace for themselves, and left the Indians
to get out of it as well as they could. It was not till twelve
years after that we were able by the treaty of Greeneville to close
our wars with all our red neighbors. From that moment, my
children, the policy of this country towards you has been entirely
changed. General Washington, our first President, began a line
of just and friendly conduct towards you. Mr. Adams, the
second, continued it; and from the moment I came into the administration
I have looked upon you with the same good will as
my own fellow citizens, have considered your interests as our
interests, and peace and friendship as a blessing to us all. Seeing
with sincere regret that your people were wasting away, believing
that this proceeded from your frequent wars, and the
destructive use of spirituous liquors, and scanty supplies of food,
I have inculcated peace with all your neighbors, have endeavored
to prevent the introduction of spirituous liquors among you, and
pressed on you to rely for food on the culture of the earth more than
on hunting. On the contrary, my children, the English persuade
you to hunt, they supply you with spirituous liquors, and are now
endeavoring to engage you to join them in the war against us,
should a war take place. You possess reason, my children, as we
do, and you will judge for yourselves which of us advise you as
friends. The course they advise has worn you down to your present
numbers, but temperance, peace and agriculture will raise you
up to be what your forefathers were, will prepare you to possess
property, to wish to live under regular laws, to join us in our
government, to mix with us in society, and your blood and ours
united will spread again over the great island.
My children, this is the last time I shall speak to you as your
father, it is the last counsel I shall give. I am now too old to
watch over the extensive concerns of the seventeen States and
their territories. I have, therefore, requested my fellow citizens
to permit me to retire, to live with my family and to choose
another chief and another father for you, and in a short time I
shall retire and resign into his hands the care of your and our
concerns. Be assured, my children, that he will have the same
friendly disposition towards you which I have had, and that you
will find in him a true and affectionate father. Entertain, therefore,
no uneasiness on account of this change, for there will be
no change as to you. Indeed, my children, this is now the disposition
towards you of all our people. They look upon you as
brethren, born in the same land, and having the same interests.
In your journey to this place you have seen many of them. I
am certain they have received you as brothers and been ready to
show you every kindness. You will see the same on the road
by which you will return; and were you to pass from north to
south, or east to west in any part of the United States, you would
find yourselves always among friends. Tell this, therefore, to
your people on your return home, assure them that no change
will ever take place in our dispositions towards them; deliver to
them my adieux and my prayers to the Great Spirit for their happiness,
tell them that during my administration I have held their
hand fast in mine, that I will put it into the hand of their new
father, who will hold it as I have done.
XIX.
_To Little Turtle, Chief of the Miamis_:--
_My Son_,--It is always with pleasure that I receive you here
and take you by the hand, and that to the assurances of friendship
to your nation I can add those of my personal respect and
esteem for you. Our confidence in your friendship has been the
stronger, as your enlarged understanding could not fail to see the
advantages resulting to your nation as well as to us from a mutual
good understanding. We ask nothing from them but their
peace and good will, and it is a sincere solicitude for their welfare
which has induced us, from time to time, to warn them of
the decay of their nation by continuing to rely on the chase for
food, after the deer and buffalo are become too scanty to subsist
them, and to press them before they are reduced too low, to begin
the culture of the earth and the raising of domestic animals.
A little of their land in corn and cattle will feed them much better
than the whole of it in deer and buffalo, in their present
scarce state, and they will be scarcer every year. I have, therefore,
always believed it an act of friendship to our red brethren
whenever they wished to sell a portion of their lands, to be ready
to buy whether we wanted them or not, because the price enables
them to improve the lands they retain, and turning their industry
from hunting to agriculture, the same exertions will support
them more plentifully.
You inform me, my son, that your nation claims all the land
on the Wabash and the Miami of the Lake and their waters, and
that a small portion of that which was sold to us by the Ottaways,
Wyandots, and other tribes of Michigan belonged to you.
My son, it is difficult for us to know the exact boundaries which
divide the lands of the several Indian tribes, and indeed it appears
often that they do not know themselves, or cannot agree
about them. I have long thought it desirable that they should
settle their boundaries with one another, and let them be written
on paper and preserved by them and by us, to prevent disputes
among themselves. The tribes who made that sale certainly
claim the lands on both sides of the Miami, some distance up
from the mouth, as they have since granted us two roads from
the rapids to the Miami, the one eastwardly to the line of the
treaty of Fort Industry, and the other south eastwardly to the
line of the treaty of Greeneville. I observe, moreover, that in
the late conveyance of lands on the White River branch of the
Wabash, to the Delawares, the Powtewatamies join you in the
conveyance, which is an acknowledgment that all the lands on
the waters of the Wabash do not belong to the Miamis alone.
If, however, the Ottaways and others who sold to us had no
right themselves, they could convey none to us, and we acknowledge
we cannot acquire lands by buying them of those who have
no title themselves. This question cannot be determined here,
where we have no means of inquiring from those who have
knowledge of the facts. We will instruct Governor Hull to collect
the evidence from both parties, and from others, and to report
it to us. And if it shall appear that the lands belonged to
you and not to those who sold them, be assured we will do you
full justice. We ask your friendship and confidence no longer
than we shall merit it by our justice. On this subject, therefore,
my son, your mind may be tranquil. You have an opportunity
of producing before Governor Hull all the evidences of your
right, and they shall be fairly weighed against the opposite
claims.
My son, I salute your nation with constant friendship, and assure
you of my particular esteem.
XX.
_To Manchol, the great War Chief of the Powtewatamies_:--
_My Son_,--I am happy to receive you at the seat of Government
of the United States, to take you and your nation by the
hand, and to welcome you to this place. It has long been my
desire to see the distinguished men of the Powtewatamies, and
to give them the same assurances of friendship and good will
which I have given to all my other red children. I wish to see
them living in plenty and prosperity, beginning to cultivate the
earth and raise domestic animals for their comfortable subsistence.
In this way they will raise up young people in abundance
to succeed to the old, and to keep their nation strong. For this
reason I recommend to them to live in peace with all men, and
not, by destroying one another, to make the whole race of red
men disappear from the land.
You say, my son, that you have engaged in a war with the
Osages, and that the war club is now in your hand for that purpose;
but you do not tell me for what cause you are waging
war with the Osages. I have never heard that they have crossed
the Mississippi and attacked your villages, killed your women
and children, or destroyed the game on your lands. What is the
injury then which they have done you and for which you wish
to cross the Mississippi and to destroy them? If they have done
you no wrong, have you a right to make war upon innocent and
unoffending people? Be assured that the Great Spirit will not
approve of this,--He did not make men strong that they might
destroy all other men. If your young people think that in this
way they will acquire honor as great warriors, they are mistaken.
Nobody can acquire honor by doing what is wrong.
You say, my son, that it is not the wish of my red children
to meddle in the wars between the whites, nor that we should
meddle in the wars among our red children. If your wars in no
wise affect our rights, or our relations with those on whom you
make war, we do not meddle with them but by way of advice,
as your father and friend submitting it to your own consideration.
But my son, your war parties cannot pass from your towns to
the country of the Osages, nor can the Osages come to revenge
themselves on your towns without traversing extensively a country
which is ours. They must cross the Mississippi which is
always covered with our boats, our people and property. All
the produce of the western parts of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky,
Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, and Louisiana, goes down the
river Mississippi to New Orleans. It cannot be indifferent to us
that this should be exposed to danger from unruly young men
going to war. Our interests require that the Mississippi shall
be a river of peace, not to be crossed by men seeking to shed
blood. We have a right then to say that no war parties shall
cross our river or our country without our consent. The Sacs
and Foxes, besides the country from the Illinois to the Wisconsin
on the east side of the Mississippi, ceded to us the country
on the west side of the Mississippi, between that river and
the Missouri, for about one hundred miles up each. The Osages
have ceded to us all the country from the south side of the Missouri
to the Arkansas, more than two hundred miles up each
river. Surely, my son, we are justifiable in so far meddling
with your wars as to say that, in carrying them on neither the
Osages nor you must cross that country which is ours, to get at
one another, and in doing so to endanger our people and our
property, and to stain our land with blood; and friendship requires
that we should give you this warning.
My son, I wish you to consider this subject maturely, and to
tell your nation that I request them to consider it also. I am
ready to do them every favor in my power, and to give them
every aid, but not aids to carry war across our territory. Do
not suppose that in refusing this I am not your friend. If I were
your enemy, what could I do better than to encourage you in
tomahawking one another till not a man should be left. Neither
must you suppose this to proceed from partiality to the Osages.
You are nearer to me than the Osages, and on that account I
should be more ready to do you good offices. But my desire to
keep you in peace arises from my sincere wish to see you happy
and prosperous, increasing in numbers, supplying your families
plentifully with food and clothing, and relieving them from the
constant chance of being destroyed by their enemies.
My son, the Secretary at War will give to you those tokens of
our good will by which we manifest our friendship to the distinguished
men among our red children who visit us. Be assured
that I shall set a great value on your friendship; and convey
for me to your nation assurances that I wish nothing more
than their welfare. You shall return by the way of Baltimore
and Philadelphia as you desire. I wish you to see as many of
your brothers of the United States as you can. You will find
them all to be your friends, and that they will receive you hospitably.
XXI.
December 21, 1808.
_To Beaver, the head warrior of the Delawares_:--
_My Son_,--I am glad to see you here to take you by the hand.
I am the friend of your nation, and sincerely wish them well.
I shall now speak to them as their friend, and advise them for
their good.
I have read your speech to the Secretary at War, and considered
it maturely. You therein say that after the conclusion
of the treaty of Greenville, the Wapanakies and other tribes of
Indians mutually agreed to maintain peace among themselves
and with the United States. This, my son, was wise, and I
entirely approve of it. And I equally commend you for what
you further say, that yours and the other tribes have constantly
maintained the articles of peace with us, and have ceased to
listen to bad advice. I hope, my son, that you will continue in
this good line of conduct, and I assure you the United States
will forever religiously observe the treaty on their part, not only
because they have agreed to it, but because they esteem you;
they wish you well, and would endeavor to promote your welfare
even if there were no treaty; and rejoicing that you have
ceased to listen to bad advice, they hope you will listen to that
which is good.
My son, you say that the Osage nation has refused to be at
peace with your nation or any others; that they have refused
the offers of peace, and extended their aggressions to all people.
This is all new to me. I never heard of an Osage coming to
war on this side of the Mississippi. Have they attacked your
towns, killed your people, or destroyed your game? Tell me in
what year they did this? or what is the aggression they have
committed on yours and the other tribes on this side the Mississippi?
But if they have defended themselves and their country,
when your tribes have gone over to destroy them, they have
only done what brave men ought to do, and what just men
ought never to have forced them to do. Your having committed
one wrong on them gives you no right to commit a second; and
be assured, my son, that the Almighty Spirit which is above will
not look down with indifference on your going to war against
his children on the other side the Mississippi, who have never
come to attack you. He is their father as well as your father,
and He did not make the Osages to be destroyed by you. I tell
you that if you make war unjustly on the Osages, He will punish
your nation for it. He will send upon your nation famine, sickness,
or the tomahawk of a stronger nation, who will cut you off
from the land. Consider this thing well, then, before it is too
late, and before you strike. His hand is uplifted over your
heads, and His stroke will follow yours. My son, I tell you
these things because I wish your nation well. I wish them to
become a peaceable, prosperous, and happy nation; and if this
war against the Osages concerned yourselves alone, I would confine
myself to giving you advice, and leave it to yourselves to
profit by it. But this war deeply concerns the United States.
Between you and the Osages is a country of many hundred
miles extent belonging to the United States. Between you also
is the Mississippi, the river of peace. On this river are floating
the boats, the people, and all the produce of the western States
of the Union. This commerce must not be exposed to the
alarm of war parties crossing the river, nor must a path of blood
be made across our country. What we say to you, my son, we
say also to the Osages. We tell them that armed bands of warriors,
entering on the lands or waters of the United States without
our consent, are the enemies of the United States. If, therefore,
considerations of your own welfare are not sufficient to restrain
you from this unauthorized war, let me warn you on the
part of the United States to respect their rights, not to violate
their territory.
You request, my son, to be informed of our warfares, that you
may be enabled to inform your nation on your return. We are
yet at peace, and shall continue so, if the injustice of the other
nations will permit us. The war beyond the water is universal.
We wish to keep it out of our island. But should we go to war,
we wish our red children to take no part in it. We are able to
fight our own battles, and we know that our red children cannot
afford to spill their blood in our quarrels. Therefore, we do not
ask it, but wish them to remain home in quiet, taking care of
themselves and their families.
You complain that the white people in your neighborhood
have stolen a number of your horses. My son, the Secretary of
War will take measures for inquiring into the truth of this, and
if it so appears, justice shall be done you.
The two swords which you ask shall be given to you; and
we shall be happy to give you every other proof that we esteem
you personally, my son, and shall always be ready to do anything
which may advance your comfort and happiness. I hope
you will deliver to your nation the words I have spoken to you,
and assure them that in everything which can promote their
welfare and prosperity they shall ever find me their true and
faithful friend and father, that I hold them fast by the hand of
friendship, which I hope they will not force me to let go.
XXII.
_To Captain Hendrick, the Delawares, Mohiccons, and Munries_:--
_My Son and my Children_,--I am glad to see you here to receive
your salutations, and to return them by taking you by the
hand, and renewing to you the assurances of my friendship. I
learn with pleasure that the Miamis and Powtawatamies have
given you some of their lands on the White River to live on,
and that you propose to gather there your scattered tribes, and
to dwell on it all your days.
The picture which you have drawn, my son, of the increase
of our numbers and the decrease of yours is just, the causes are
very plain, and the remedy depends on yourselves alone. You
have lived by hunting the deer and buffalo--all these have been
driven westward; you have sold out on the sea-board and moved
westwardly in pursuit of them. As they became scarce there,
your food has failed you; you have been a part of every year
without food, except the roots and other unwholesome things you
could find in the forest. Scanty and unwholesome food produce
diseases and death among your children, and hence you have
raised few and your numbers have decreased. Frequent wars,
too, and the abuse of spirituous liquors, have assisted in lessening
your numbers. The whites, on the other hand, are in the habit
of cultivating the earth, of raising stocks of cattle, hogs, and
other domestic animals, in much greater numbers than they could
kill of deer and buffalo. Having always a plenty of food and
clothing they raise abundance of children, they double their
numbers every twenty years, the new swarms are continually
advancing upon the country like flocks of pigeons, and so they
will continue to do. Now, my children, if we wanted to diminish
our numbers, we would give up the culture of the earth, pursue
the deer and buffalo, and be always at war; this would soon
reduce us to be as few as you are, and if you wish to increase
your numbers you must give up the deer and buffalo, live in
peace, and cultivate the earth. You see then, my children, that
it depends on yourselves alone to become a numerous and great
people. Let me entreat you, therefore, on the lands now given
you to begin to give every man a farm; let him enclose it, cultivate
it, build a warm house on it, and when he dies, let it belong
to his wife and children after him. Nothing is so easy as
to learn to cultivate the earth; all your women understand it,
and to make it easier, we are always ready to teach you how to
make ploughs, hoes, and necessary utensils. If the men will
take the labor of the earth from the women they will learn to
spin and weave and to clothe their families. In this way
you will also raise many children, you will double your numbers
every twenty years, and soon fill the land your friends have
given you, and your children will never be tempted to sell the
spot on which they have been born, raised, have labored and
called their own. When once you have property, you will want
laws and magistrates to protect your property and persons, and
to punish those among you who commit crimes. You will find
that our laws are good for this purpose; you will wish to live
under them, you will unite yourselves with us, join in our great
councils and form one people with us, and we shall all be Americans;
you will mix with us by marriage, your blood will run in
our veins, and will spread with us over this great island. Instead,
then, my children, of the gloomy prospect you have drawn
of your total disappearance from the face of the earth, which is
true, if you continue to hunt the deer and buffalo and go to war,
you see what a brilliant aspect is offered to your future history,
if you give up war and hunting. Adopt the culture of the earth
and raise domestic animals; you see how from a small family
you may become a great nation by adopting the course which
from the small beginning you describe has made us a great
nation.
My children, I will give you a paper declaring your right to
hold, against all persons, the lands given you by the Miamis and
Powtewatamies, and that you never can sell them without their
consent. But I must tell you that if ever they and you agree to
sell, no paper which I can give you can prevent your doing what
you please with your own. The only way to prevent this is to
give to every one of your people a farm, which shall belong to
him and his family, and which the nation shall have no right to
take from them and sell; in this way alone can you ensure the
lands to your descendants through all generations, and that it
shall never be sold from under their feet. It is not the keeping
your lands which will keep your people alive on them after the
deer and buffalo shall have left them; it is the cultivating them
alone which can do that. The hundredth part in corn and cattle
will support you better than the whole in deer and buffalo.
My son Hendrick, deliver these words to your people. I have
spoken to them plainly, that they may see what is before them,
and that it is in their own power to go on dwindling to nothing,
or to become again a great people. It is for this reason I wish
them to live in peace with all people, to teach their young men
to love agriculture, rather than war and hunting. Let these
words sink deep in their hearts, and let them often repeat them
and consider them. Tell them that I hold them fast by the
hand, and that I will ever be their friend to advise and to assist
them in following the true path to their future happiness.
XXIII.
_To Kitchao Geboway_:--
_My Son_,--I am happy to receive your visit at the seat of our
government, and to repeat to you the assurances of my friendly
dispositions towards your nation. I am the more pleased to see
you again, as at your last visit we could not converse together
for want of an interpreter. This difficulty is now removed by
the presence of Mr. Ryley. I approve of your disposition, my
son, to live at peace with all the world. It is what we wish all
our red children to do, and to consider themselves as brethren of
the same family, and forming with us but one nation. The
Great Spirit did not make men that they might destroy one another,
but doing to each other all the good in their power, and
thus filling the land with happiness instead of misery and murder.
This is the way in which we wish all our red children to
live with one another, and with us; and this is what I wish you
to say to your nation from me, when you deliver to them what I
said to you the last winter. I am sorry you have not been able
to carry it to them; they would have seen by that, that you
came here as the friend of your own nation, and of all your red
brethren. My son, I take by the hand the young man, the son
of your friend, whom you brought with you. He is now young,
and I hope will live to be old, and through his life will be steadfast
in encouraging his nation to live in peace and friendship with
their white brethren of the United States.
The Secretary at War will provide for your journey back, and
your father Governor Hull will be glad to see you on your way.
He will always give good advice to your nation in my name, and
will guide them in the paths of peace and friendship with all men.
XXIV.
January 9, 1809.
_To the Deputies of the Cherokee Upper Towns_:--
_My Children_,--I have maturely considered the speeches you
have delivered me, and will now give you answers to the several
matters they contain.
You inform me of your anxious desires to engage in the industrious
pursuits of agriculture and civilized life. That finding
it impracticable to induce the nation at large to join in this, you
wish a line of separation to be established between the upper
and lower towns, so as to include all the waters of the Hiwassee
in your part, and that having thus contracted your society within
narrower limits, you propose within these to begin the establishment
of fixed laws and of regular government. You say that
the lower towns are satisfied with the division you propose; and
on these several matters you ask my advice and aid.
With respect to the line of division between yourselves and
the lower towns, it must rest on the joint consent of both parties.
The one you propose seems moderate, reasonable, and
well defined. We are willing to recognize those on each side of
that line as distinct societies, and if our aid shall be necessary to
mark it more plainly than nature has done, you shall have it. I
think with you, that on this reduced scale it will be more easy
for you to introduce the regular administration of laws.
In proceeding to the establishment of laws, you wish to adopt
them from ours, and such only for the present as suit your present
condition; chiefly, indeed, those for the punishment of
crimes, and the protection of property. But who is to determine
which of our laws suit your condition, and shall be in force
with you? All of you being equally free, no one has a right to
say what shall be law for the others. Our way is to put these
questions to the vote, and to consider that as law for which the
majority votes. The fool has as great a right to express his
opinion by vote as the wise, because he is equally free, and equally
master of himself. But as it would be inconvenient for all your
men to meet in one place, would it not be better for every town to
do as we do, that is to say, choose by the vote of the majority of
the town and of the country people nearer to that than to any
other town, one, two, three, or more, according to the size of the
town, of those whom each voter thinks the wisest and honestest
men of their place, and let these meet together and agree which
of our laws suit them. But these men know nothing of our
laws; how then can they know which to adopt. Let them associate
in their council our beloved man living with them,
Colonel Meigs, and he will tell them what our law is on any
point they desire. He will inform them, also, of our methods
of doing business in our councils, so as to preserve order, and to
obtain the vote of every member fairly. This council can make
a law for giving to every head of a family a separate parcel of
land, which, when he has built upon and improved, it shall belong
to him and his descendants forever, and which the nation
itself shall have no right to sell from under his feet; they will
determine, too, what punishment shall be inflicted for every
crime. In our States, generally, we punish murder only by
death, and all other crimes by solitary confinement in a prison.
But when you shall have adopted laws, who are to execute
them? Perhaps it may be best to permit every town and the
settlers in its neighborhood attached to it, to select some of their
best men, by a majority of its votes, to be judges in all differences,
and to execute the law according to their own judgment.
Your council of representatives will decide on this or such other
mode as may best suit you. I suggest these things, my children,
for the consideration of the upper towns of your nation, to be decided
on as they think best; and I sincerely wish you may succeed
in your laudable endeavors to save the remains of your nation
by adopting industrious occupations and a government of
regular law. In this you may always rely on the counsel and
assistance of the government of the United States. Deliver these
words to your people in my name, and assure them of my friendship.
XXV.
January 9, 1809.
_To the Deputies of the Cherokees of the Upper and Lower Towns_:--
_My Children_,--I understand from the speeches which you
have delivered me, that there is a difference of disposition among
the people of both parts of your nation, some of them desiring to
remain on their lands, to betake themselves to agriculture, and
the industrious occupations of civilized life, while others, retaining
their attachment to the hunter life, and having little game
on their present lands, are desirous to remove across the Mississippi,
to some of the vacant lands of the United States, where
game is abundant. I am pleased to find so many disposed to
ensure, by the cultivation of the earth, a plentiful subsistence
for their families, and to improve their minds by education; but
I do not blame those who, having been brought up from their
infancy to the pursuit of game, desire still to follow it to distant
countries. I know how difficult it is for men to change the
habits in which they have been raised. The United States, my
children, are the friends of both parties, and as far as can reasonably
be asked, they will be willing to satisfy the wishes of
both. Those who remain may be assured of our patronage, our
aid, and good neighborhood; those who wish to remove, are permitted
to send an exploring party to reconnoitre the country on
the waters of the Arkansas and White rivers, and the higher up
the better, as they will be the longer unapproached by our settlements,
which will begin at the mouths of those rivers. The
regular districts of the government of St. Louis are already laid
off to the St. Francis. When this party shall have found a tract
of country suiting the emigrants, and not claimed by other Indians,
we will arrange with them and you the exchange of that
for a just portion of the country they leave, and to a part of
which proportioned to their numbers they have a right. Every
aid towards their removal, and what will be necessary for them
there, will then be freely administered to them, and when established
in their new settlements, we shall still consider them as
our children, give them the benefit of exchanging their peltries
for what they want at our factories, and always hold them firmly
by the hand.
I will now, my children, proceed to answer your kind address
on my retiring from the government. Sensible that I am become
too old to watch over the extensive concerns of the seventeen
States and their territories, I requested my fellow citizens
to permit me to retire, to live with my family, and to choose
another President for themselves and father for you. They have
done so; and in a short time I shall retire, and resign into his
hands the care of your and our concerns. Be assured, my children,
that he will have the same friendly dispositions towards you
which I have had, and that you will find in him a true and affectionate
father. Indeed, this is now the disposition of all our people
towards you; they look upon you as brethren, born in the same
land, and having the same interests. Tell your people, therefore,
to entertain no uneasiness on account of this change, for
there will be no change as to them. Deliver to them my adieux,
and my prayers to the Great Spirit for their happiness. Tell
them that during my administration I have held their hand fast
in mine, and that I will put it into the hand of their new father,
who will hold it as I have done.
XXVI.
January 10, 1809.
_To the Chiefs of the Wyandots, Ottawas, Chippewas, Powtewatamies
and Shawanese_:--
_My Children_,--This is the first time I have had the pleasure
of seeing the distinguished men of our neighbors the Wyandots,
Ottawas and Chippewas, at the seat of our government. I welcome
you to it as well as the Powtewatamies and Shawanese, and
thank the Great Spirit for having conducted you hither in safety
and health. I take you and your people by the hand and salute
you as my children; I consider all my red children as forming
one family with the whites, born in the same land with them,
and bound to live like brethren, in peace, friendship and good
neighborhood. In former times, my children, we were not our
own masters, but were governed by the English. Then we
were often at war with our neighbors. Ill blood was raised and
kept up between us, and in the war in which we threw off the
English government, many of the red people, mistaking their
brothers and real friends, took sides with the English government
against us; and it was not till many years after we made peace with
the English, that the treaty of Grenville closed our last wars with
our Indian neighbors. From that time, my children, we have
looked on you as a part of ourselves, and have cherished your
prosperity as our own. We saw that these things were wasting
away your numbers to nothing; that the intemperate use of
ardent spirits produced poverty, trouble and murders among you;
your wars with one another were lessening your numbers, and
attachment to the hunter life, after game had nearly left you,
produced famine, sickness and deaths among you in the scarce
season of every year. It has been our endeavor, therefore, like
true fathers and brothers, to withhold strong liquors from you, to
keep you in peace with one another, and to encourage and aid
you in the culture of the earth, and raising domestic animals, to
take the place of the wild ones. This we have done, my children,
because we are your friends, and wish you well. If we
feared you, if we were your enemies, we should have furnished
you plentifully with whiskey, let the men destroy one another
in perpetual wars, and the women and children waste away for
want of food, and remain insensible that they could raise it out
of the earth. We have been told, my children, that some of
you have been doubting whether we or the English were your
truest friends. What do the English do for you? They furnish
you with plenty of whiskey, to keep you in idleness, drunkenness
and poverty; and they are now exciting you to join them
in war against us, if war should take place between them and
us. But we tell you to stay at home in quiet, to take no part
in quarrels which do not concern you. The English are now at
war with all the world but us, and it is not yet known whether
they will not force us also into it. They are strong on the
water, but weak on the land. We live on the land and we fear
them not. We are able to fight our own battles; therefore we
do not ask you to spill your blood in our quarrels, much less do
we wish to be forced to spill it with our own hands. You have
travelled through our country from the lakes to the tide waters.
You have seen our numbers in that direction, and were you to
pass along the sea shore you would find them much greater.
You know the English numbers, their scattered forts and string
of people, along the borders of the lakes and the St. Lawrence,
how long do you think it will take us to sweep them out of the
country? and when they are swept away, what is to become of
those who join them in their war against us? My children, if
you love the land in which you were born, if you wish to inhabit
the earth which covers the bones of your fathers, take no part
in the war between the English and us, if we should have war.
Never will we do an unjust act towards you. On the contrary,
we wish to befriend you in every possible way; but the tribe
which shall begin an unprovoked war against us, we will extirpate
from the earth, or drive to such a distance as that they shall
never again be able to strike us. I tell you these things my
children, not to make you afraid. I know you are brave men
and therefore cannot fear. But you are also wise men and prudent
men. I say it, therefore, that, in your wisdom and prudence,
you may look forward. That you may go to the graves
of your fathers and say, "fathers, shall we abandon you?" That
you may look in the faces of your wives and children and ask,
"shall we expose these our own flesh and blood to perish from
want in a distant country and have our race and name extinguished
from the face of the earth?" Think of these things,
my children, as wise men, and as men loving their fathers, their
wives and children, and the name and memory of their nation.
I repeat, that we will never do an unjust act towards you. On
the contrary, we wish you to live in peace, to increase in numbers,
to learn to labor as we do, and furnish food for your increasing
numbers, when the game shall have left you. We wish
to see you possessed of property, and protecting it by regular
laws. In time, you will be as we are; you will become one
people with us. Your blood will mix with ours; and will spread,
with ours, over this great island. Hold fast then, my children,
the chain of friendship which binds us together, and join us in
keeping it forever bright and unbroken.
I invite you to come here, my children, that you might hear
with your own ears, the words of your father; that you might
see with your own eyes, the sincere disposition of the United
States towards you. In your journey to this place you have seen
great numbers of your white brothers; you have been received
by them as brothers, have been treated kindly and hospitably,
and you have seen and can tell your people that their hearts are
now sincerely with you. This is the first time I have ever addressed
your chiefs, in person, at the seat of Government,--it
will also be the last. Sensible that I am become too old to
watch over the extensive concerns of the seventeen States and
their territories, I requested my fellow citizens to permit me to
retire to live with my family, and to choose another President
for themselves, and father for you. They have done so; and in
a short time I shall retire and resign into his hands the care of
your and our concerns. Be assured, my children, that he will
have the same friendly dispositions towards you which I have
had, and that you will find in him a true and affectionate father.
Indeed this is now the disposition of all our people towards you;
they look upon you as brethren, born in the same land, and having
the same interests. Tell your people, therefore, to entertain
no uneasiness on account of this change, for there will be no
change as to them. Deliver to them my adieus, and my prayers
to the Great Spirit for their happiness. Tell them that during
my administration, I have held their hand fast in mine; and that
I will put it into the hand of their new father, who will hold it
as I have done.
XXVII.
January 18, 1809.
_To the Chiefs of the Ottawas, Chippewas, Powtewatamies, Shawanese and
Wyandots_:--
_My Children_,--I have considered the speech you have delivered
me, and will now make answer to it. You have gone
back to ancient times, and given a true history of the uses made
of you by the French, who first inhabited your country, and
afterwards by the English; and how they used you as dogs to
set upon those whom they wanted to destroy. They kept the
hatchet always in your hand, exposing you to be killed in their
quarrels, and then gave you whiskey that you might quarrel and
kill one another. I am glad you understand these things, and
are determined no more to fight their battles. We shall never
wish you to fight ours, but to stay at home in peace and take care
of yourselves. You still wish, however, to keep up a correspondence
with the English, because you say your young
people find an advantage in it. The less you have to do with
them the better, because all their endeavors will be, as you
know, to persuade you to go to war for them. If they owe you
for lands, they ought to pay you once for all and be done with
it. With respect to your people on the English side of the
water, should we have war with the English, let them remain
neutral and we shall not disturb them; but if the English should
endeavor to force them into the war, you would do well to receive
them and let them live with you till we can clear the way
for them to go back again, which will not take long.
You ask me what passed between this Government and the
Little Turtle, the chiefs of the Chippewas, Powtewatamies,
Shawanese, Ottawas, Isaac Williams, the Crane and the Delawares,
at their visits to the seat of this Government many years
ago. Those visits were in the time of my predecessors, so that
I did not hear their speeches, and they did not leave them in
writing. It is not in my power, therefore, to tell you what they
were. But I can assure you that when the Little Turtle visited
me, and in like manner when the chiefs of other tribes have
visited me, not one word was ever said to the prejudice of the
other Indians. I have no reason to believe they wished to speak
to me in that way, but if they did, they knew I would not listen
to them, and therefore did not do it. My advice to them all has
been constantly to live in peace and friendship with one another,
to begin to cultivate the earth, to raise domestic animals,
and leave off the use of ardent spirits: in short, precisely what I
have said to yourselves.
You ask whether the treaties at Swan's creek, and those of
the last fall, and the fall before, were made by my desire. I
will explain the subject to you. We consider your lands as belonging
fully to yourselves, and that we have no right to purchase
them but with your own free consent. Whenever you
wish to sell, we are willing to buy, although it may be lands
which we do not immediately want. We believe it to be for
your benefit to sell a part of your lands for annuities, which may
enable you to improve farms, and in the meantime to support
yourselves. While you keep such large tracts of country, the
few deer which remain tempt you to continue hunters, and are
yet not enough to maintain you plentifully through the year.
A small part of the land cultivated in corn, with the cattle, hogs,
and sheep it would enable you to raise, would maintain you better
through the year, than the whole does in game. A thorough
persuasion, therefore, that it is better for you to turn your surplus
lands from time to time into money, induces us to buy when you
desire to sell. On this principle, at the treaty of Swan's creek
we purchased the slip of land which laid between what you sold
to the Connecticut company and our former lines. We had no
particular desire to buy it, but were told that it would be convenient
to you to sell that parcel, and therefore we bought it.
The lands which were purchased of you near Detroit the last
fall and the fall before, we did wish to purchase, provided you
were willing freely to sell. At Detroit, you know, we keep a
garrison to watch the English, and to protect the factory we
establish there, to carry on trade with you. It is very desirable
for us, therefore, to obtain so much land in the neighborhood as
would receive settlers sufficient to raise provisions for the garrison,
and to strengthen the garrison if attacked by the English.
But still we instructed Governor Hull, however much we wished
to get some land there, not to press it on you if you were not entirely
willing to accommodate us. The settlement of our people
there will be a great advantage to you if you become cultivators
of the earth. You saw the Cherokees who were here when you
arrived, my children. These were wealthy men, and became
wealthy merely by living near our settlements. Their mother
towns of Chota and Chilowee, are but twelve miles from our
principal town of Knoxville. The Cherokees there have good
farms, good houses, and abundance of cattle and horses. If a
family raises more cattle or corn than they want for their own
use, instead of letting it be eaten by their own lazy people who
will not work, they carry it to Knoxville, sell it to our people,
and purchase with the money clothes and other comforts for themselves.
Our settlements around Detroit will give you the same
advantages. If you become farmers and raise cattle, hogs, sheep,
fowls, and such things to spare, you can immediately exchange
them for clothing and other necessaries. I am satisfied, therefore,
my children, that the accommodating us with that land was as
beneficial to you as to us. But, notwithstanding, I believe it to
be better for you to sell your surplus lands from time to time;
yet I repeat to you the assurances that although we may go so
far, sometimes, as to say we would be willing to buy such a
piece of land, yet we will never press you to sell, until you shall
desire yourselves to sell it.
I have thus, my children, answered the particulars of your
speech. I have done it with truth and an open heart, and I hope
it will be satisfactory to you.
XXVIII.
January 31, 1809.
_To the Chiefs of the Ottawas, Chippewas, Powtewatamies, Wyandots, and
Shawanese_:--
_My Children_,--I have considered the speech you have delivered
me, and I will now give you an answer to it.
You have told us on former occasions of certain promises
made to you at the treaty of Grenville, by General Wayne, respecting
certain lands whereon you and your friends live. But
when we looked into the treaty of Grenville, we found no such
promises there; and as it is our custom to put all our agreements
into writing, that they may never be forgotten or mistaken, we
concluded no such promises had been made. But you now explain
that the chiefs of the Wyandots near Detroit did not arrive
at Grenville till after the treaty was signed--that they then convinced
General Wayne that provision ought to be made for securing
to them possession of the lands they lived on, so long as
they and their descendants shall choose to live on them, and that
he agreed to it. Of this, besides other evidence, you now produce
the belt of wampum reserved by you, in memory of it, the
counter-belt given us having probably been destroyed in the fire
which consumed our war office in the year 1800. Such evidence,
therefore, being now produced as induces a belief of the
agreement, it shall be committed to writing, according to what
has passed between the Secretary at War and yourselves; and
we will also put into writing what has passed respecting the reserves
for the Indians, and you shall have a copy of these writings
which shall be firm and good to you forever.
You complain that white people go on your lands and settle
without your consent. This is entirely against our will, and I
earnestly desire you, my children, as soon as any intruder of the
whites sets down on your lands, that you will not delay a moment
to inform our agent, who will always be instructed in the
measures to be taken for their immediate removal; and I desire
you to do this, on your return, as to the intruders you now complain
of.
The Secretary at War has explained to you the circumstances
which attended the running the boundary line near Sandusky,
under the treaty at Swan's creek, so as to satisfy you that no
variation of it was intended; and you may be assured that when
we proceed to run the lines for the roads granted us the last fall,
you shall have notice, in order that your chiefs may attend and
see it fairly done.
For these roads, with which your nations have been so friendly
as to accommodate us, and which you wished us to accept as a
present, I return you my thanks, and I accept them; and I request
you, on our part, to accept as a token of our good will, the
sum of a thousand dollars, of which five hundred dollars will be
paid you here. And we shall be happy if you can employ this
sum to your benefit or comfort in any way. Our settlements are
now extending so much in every direction, that we shall be
obliged to ask roads from our Indian brethren, that we may pass
conveniently from one settlement to another, for which we will
always gladly pay them the full value.
You have been informed, as you desired, of the exact amount
of your annuities.
I have thus, my children, answered all the parts of your
speech, and I have done it sincerely and with good will to you.
I have not filled you with whiskey, as the English do, to make
you promise, or give up what is against your interest, when out
of your senses. I have listened to your complaints and proposals,
I have found them reasonable, and I have given you the answers
which a just and a reasonable nation ought to do. And this you
may be assured is the way in which we shall always do business
with you, because we do not consider you as another nation,
but as a part of us, living indeed under your own laws, but having
the same interests with us. I hope you will tell these things
to your people, and that they will sink deep into their minds.
APPENDIX TO PART II, OF BOOK III.
CONFIDENTIAL MESSAGE RECOMMENDING A WESTERN EXPLORING
EXPEDITION--JANUARY 18, 1803.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:--
As the continuance of the act for establishing trading-houses
with the Indian tribes, will be under the consideration of the
legislature at its present session, I think it my duty to communicate
the views which have guided me in the execution of that
act, in order that you may decide on the policy of continuing it,
in the present or any other form, or discontinue it altogether, if
that shall, on the whole, seem most for the public good.
The Indian tribes residing within the limits of the United
States, have, for a considerable time, been growing more and
more uneasy at the constant diminution of the territory they occupy,
although effected by their own voluntary sales; and the
policy has long been gaining strength with them, of refusing absolutely
all further sale, on any conditions; insomuch that, at this
time, it hazards their friendship, and excites dangerous jealousies
and perturbations in their minds to make any overture for the
purchase of the smallest portions of their land. A very few
tribes only are not yet obstinately in these dispositions. In order
peaceably to counteract this policy of theirs, and to provide an
extension of territory which the rapid increase of our numbers
will call for, two measures are deemed expedient. First: to
encourage them to abandon hunting, to apply to the raising
stock, to agriculture and domestic manufactures, and thereby
prove to themselves that less land and labor will maintain them
in this, better than in their former mode of living. The extensive
forests necessary in the hunting life will then become useless,
and they will see advantage in exchanging them for the
means of improving their farms and of increasing their domestic
comforts. Secondly: to multiply trading-houses among them,
and place within their reach those things which will contribute
more to their domestic comfort than the possession of extensive
but uncultivated wilds. Experience and reflection will develop
to them the wisdom of exchanging what they can spare and
we want, for what we can spare and they want. In leading
them thus to agriculture, to manufactures, and civilization; in
bringing together their and our settlements, and in preparing
them ultimately to participate in the benefits of our government,
I trust and believe we are acting for their greatest good. At
these trading-houses we have pursued the principles of the act
of Congress, which directs that the commerce shall be carried
on liberally, and requires only that the capital stock shall not be
diminished. We consequently undersell private traders, foreign
and domestic; drive them from the competition; and thus, with
the good will of the Indians, rid ourselves of a description of men
who are constantly endeavoring to excite in the Indian mind
suspicions, fears, and irritations toward us. A letter now enclosed,
shows the effect of our competition on the operations of
the traders, while the Indians, perceiving the advantage of purchasing
from us, are soliciting generally our establishment of
trading houses among them. In one quarter this is particularly
interesting. The legislature, reflecting on the late occurrences
on the Mississippi, must be sensible how desirable it is to possess
a respectable breadth of country on that river, from our southern
limit to the Illinois at least, so that we may present as firm a
front on that as on our eastern border. We possess what is below
the Yazoo, and can probably acquire a certain breadth from
the Illinois and Wabash to the Ohio; but between the Ohio and
Yazoo, the country all belongs to the Chickasaws, the most
friendly tribe within our limits, but the most decided against the
alienation of lands. The portion of their country most important
for us is exactly that which they do not inhabit. Their settlements
are not on the Mississippi, but in the interior country.
They have lately shown a desire to become agricultural, and this
leads to the desire of buying implements and comforts. In the
strengthening and gratifying of these wants, I see the only prospect
of planting on the Mississippi itself, the means of its own
safety. Duty has required me to submit these views to the judgment
of the legislature; but as their disclosure might embarrass
and defeat their effect, they are committed to the special confidence
of the two houses.
While the extension of the public commerce among the Indian
tribes, may deprive of that source of profit such of our citizens as
are engaged in it, it might be worthy the attention of Congress,
in their care of individual as well as of the general interest, to
point in another direction the enterprize of these citizens, as profitably
for themselves, and more usefully for the public. The
river Missouri, and the Indians inhabiting it, are not as well
known as is rendered desirable by their connection with the
Mississippi, and consequently with us. It is, however, understood,
that the country on that river is inhabited by numerous
tribes, who furnish great supplies of furs and peltry to the trade
of another nation, carried on in a high latitude, through an infinite
number of portages and lakes, shut up by ice through a
long season. The commerce on that line could bear no competition
with that of the Missouri, traversing a moderate climate,
offering, according to the best accounts, a continued navigation
from its source, and possibly with a single portage, from the
western ocean, and finding to the Atlantic a choice of channels
through the Illinois or Wabash, the lakes and Hudson, through
the Ohio and Susquehanna, or Potomac or James rivers, and
through the Tennessee and Savannah rivers. An intelligent
officer, with ten or twelve chosen men, fit for the enterprize, and
willing to undertake it, taken from our posts, where they may
be spared without inconvenience, might explore the whole line,
even to the western ocean; have conferences with the natives
on the subject of commercial intercourse; get admission
among them for our traders, as others are admitted; agree on
convenient deposits for an interchange of articles; and return
with the information acquired, in the course of two summers.
Their arms and accoutrements, some instruments of observation,
and light and cheap presents for the Indians, would be all the
apparatus they could carry, and with an expectation of a soldier's
portion of land on their return, would constitute the whole expense.
Their pay would be going on, whether here or there.
While other civilized nations have encountered great expense to
enlarge the boundaries of knowledge, by undertaking voyages
of discovery, and for other literary purposes, in various parts and
directions, our nation seems to owe to the same object, as well
as to its own interests, to explore this, the only line of easy communication
across the continent, and so directly traversing our
own part of it. The interests of commerce place the principal
object within the constitutional powers and care of Congress, and
that it should incidentally advance the geographical knowledge
of our own continent, can not but be an additional gratification.
The nation claiming the territory, regarding this as a literary
pursuit, which it is in the habit of permitting within its own dominions,
would not be disposed to view it with jealousy, even if
the expiring state of its interests there did not render it a matter
of indifference. The appropriation of two thousand five hundred
dollars, "for the purpose of extending the external commerce of
the United States," while understood and considered by the executive
as giving the legislative sanction, would cover the undertaking
from notice, and prevent the obstructions which interested
individuals might otherwise previously prepare in its way.
BOOK IV.
MISCELLANEOUS.
PART I.--NOTES ON VIRGINIA.
" II.--BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF DISTINGUISHED MEN.
" III.--THE BATTURE AT NEW ORLEANS.
" IV.--JEFFERSON'S MANUAL.
" V.--THE ANAS.
" VI.--MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS.
INTRODUCTORY TO BOOK IV.
This fourth and last division of the work contains a large mass of very valuable
and interesting miscellaneous matter--everything, indeed, valuable and interesting
written by Mr. Jefferson, and not embraced in the previous divisions
of the work. To the general reader, it will be found much the most instructive
and entertaining portion of the publication, ranging, as it does, over a vast field
of discussion--unless, perhaps, the latter portion of Mr. Jefferson's Correspondence
be excepted, say, from 1812 to the end of his life. Among the interesting papers
contained in this division of the work, may be enumerated the "Notes on Virginia,"
biographical sketches of distinguished Revolutionary characters, Mr. Jefferson's
argument in vindication of his official action while President of the United
States in connection with the Batture at New Orleans--the celebrated Anas,
Resolutions defining the relations between the State and Federal Governments,
and believed to be the originals of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1799, &c. These
are but a few of the interesting papers comprised in Book IV. There are many
others possessing great intrinsic interest and a very considerable historical value,
as throwing much light upon the early history of our country. And nowhere
does the genius of the distinguished Author, and the richness and diversity of his
resources, more impress the reader than in the mass of miscellaneous matter collected
in this last division of the work.
CONTENTS
TO
NOTES ON VIRGINIA.
PAGE
I.--An exact description of the limits and boundaries of
the State of Virginia, 249
II.--A notice of the rivers, rivulets, and how far they
are navigable, 250
III.--A notice of the best seaports of the State, and how
big are the vessels they can receive, 263
IV.--A notice of its mountains, 263
V.--Its cascades and caverns, 266
VI.--A notice of the mines and other subterraneous riches;
its trees, plants, fruits, &c., 270
VII.--A notice of all that can increase the progress of
human knowledge, 320
VIII.--The number of its inhabitants, 328
IX.--The number and condition of the militia and regular
troops, and their pay, 334
X.--The marine, 334
XI.--A description of the Indians established in that State, 336
XII.--A notice of the counties, cities, townships and villages, 350
XIII.--The constitution of the State, and its several charters, 352
XIV.--The administration of justice and the description of
the laws, 372
XV.--The colleges and public establishments, the roads,
buildings, &c., 391
XVI.--The measures taken with regard to the estates and
possessions of the rebels, commonly called tories, 396
XVII.--The different religions received into that State, 398
XVIII.--The particular customs and manners that may happen to
be received in that State, 403
XIX.--The present state of manufactures, commerce, interior
and exterior trade, 404
XX.--A notice of the commercial productions particular to
the State, and of those objects which the inhabitants
are obliged to get from Europe and from other parts
of the world 406
XXI.--The weights, measures, and the currency of the hard
money. Some details relating to exchange with Europe, 409
XXII.--The public income and expenses, 410
XXIII.--The histories of the State, the memorials published
in its name in the time of its being a colony,
and the pamphlets relating to its interior or
exterior affairs, present or ancient, 415
Appendix, 429
PART I.
NOTES ON VIRGINIA.
QUERY I.
_An exact description of the limits and boundaries of the State
of Virginia?_
_Virginia_ is bounded on the east by the Atlantic; on the north
by a line of latitude crossing the eastern shore through Watkin's
Point, being about 37° 57' north latitude; from thence by a
straight line to Cinquac, near the mouth of Potomac; thence by
the Potomac, which is common to Virginia and Maryland, to the
first fountain of its northern branch; thence by a meridian line,
passing through that fountain till it intersects a line running
east and west, in latitude 39° 43' 42.4" which divides Maryland
from Pennsylvania, and which was marked by Messrs.
Mason and Dixon; thence by that line, and a continuation of
it westwardly to the completion of five degrees of longitude
from the eastern boundary of Pennsylvania, in the same latitude,
and thence by a meridian line to the Ohio; on the west
by the Ohio and Mississippi, to latitude 36° 30' north, and
on the south by the line of latitude last mentioned. By admeasurements
through nearly the whole of this last line, and
supplying the unmeasured parts from good data, the Atlantic
and Mississippi are found in this latitude to be seven hundred
and fifty-eight miles distant, equal to 30° 38' of longitude,
reckoning fifty-five miles and three thousand one hundred and
forty-four feet to the degree. This being our comprehension
of longitude, that of our latitude, taken between this and Mason
and Dixon's line, is 3° 13' 42.4" equal to two hundred and
twenty-three and one-third miles, supposing a degree of a great
circle to be sixty-nine miles, eight hundred and sixty-four feet,
as computed by Cassini. These boundaries include an area
somewhat triangular of one hundred and twenty-one thousand
five hundred and twenty-five square miles, whereof seventy-nine
thousand six hundred and fifty lie westward of the Alleghany
mountains, and fifty-seven thousand and thirty-four westward of
the meridian of the mouth of the Great Kanhaway. This State
is therefore one-third larger than the islands of Great Britain and
Ireland, which are reckoned at eighty-eight thousand three hundred
and fifty-seven square miles.
These limits result from, 1. The ancient charters from the
crown of England. 2. The grant of Maryland to the Lord
Baltimore, and the subsequent determinations of the British court
as to the extent of that grant. 3. The grant of Pennsylvania
to William Penn, and a compact between the general assemblies
of the commonwealths of Virginia and Pennsylvania as to the
extent of that grant. 4. The grant of Carolina, and actual location
of its northern boundary, by consent of both parties.
5. The treaty of Paris of 1763. 6. The confirmation of the
charters of the neighboring States by the convention of _Virginia_
at the time of constituting their commonwealth. 7. The
cession made by _Virginia_ to Congress of all the lands to which
they had title on the north side of the Ohio.
QUERY II.
_A notice of its rivers, rivulets, and how far they are navigable?_
An inspection of a map of _Virginia_, will give a better idea
of the geography of its rivers, than any description in writing.
Their navigation may be imperfectly noted.
_Roanoke_, so far as it lies within the State, is nowhere
navigable but for canoes, or light batteaux; and even for these
in such detached parcels as to have prevented the inhabitants
from availing themselves of it at all.
_James River_, and its waters, afford navigation as follows:
The whole of _Elizabeth River_, the lowest of those which
run into James River, is a harbor, and would contain upwards of
three hundred ships. The channel is from one hundred and fifty
to two hundred fathoms wide, and at common flood tide affords
eighteen feet water to Norfolk. The Stafford, a sixty gun ship,
went there, lightening herself to cross the bar at Sowel's Point.
The Fier Rodrigue, pierced for sixty-four guns, and carrying
fifty, went there without lightening. Craney Island, at the
mouth of this river, commands its channel tolerably well.
_Nansemond River_ is navigable to Sleepy Hole for vessels of
two hundred and fifty tons; to Suffolk for those of one hundred
tons; and to Milner's for those of twenty-five.
_Pagan Creek_ affords eight or ten feet water to Smithfield,
which admits vessels of twenty tons.
_Chickahominy_ has at its mouth a bar, on which is only twelve
feet water at common flood tide. Vessels passing that, may go
eight miles up the river; those of ten feet draught may go four
miles further, and those of six tons burden twenty miles further.
_Appomattox_ may be navigated as far as Broadways, by any vessel
which has crossed Harrison's bar in James River; it keeps eight
or ten feet water a mile or two higher up to Fisher's bar, and four
feet on that and upwards to Petersburg, where all navigation ceases.
_James River_ itself affords a harbor for vessels of any size in
Hampton Road, but not in safety through the whole winter; and
there is navigable water for them as far as Mulberry Island. A
forty gun ship goes to Jamestown, and, lightening herself, may
pass Harrison's bar; on which there is only fifteen feet water.
Vessels of two hundred and fifty tons may go to Warwick;
those of one hundred and twenty-five go to Rocket's, a mile below
Richmond; from thence is about seven feet water to Richmond;
and about the centre of the town, four feet and a half,
where the navigation is interrupted by falls, which in a course
of six miles, descend about eighty-eight feet perpendicular; above
these it is resumed in canoes and batteaux, and is prosecuted
safely and advantageously to within ten miles of the Blue Ridge;
and even through the Blue Ridge a ton weight has been brought;
and the expense would not be great, when compared with its
object, to open a tolerable navigation up Jackson's river and Carpenter's
creek, to within twenty-five miles of Howard's creek of
Green Briar, both of which have then water enough to float vessels
into the Great Kanhaway. In some future state of population
I think it possible that its navigation may also be made to
interlock with that of the Potomac, and through that to communicate
by a short portage with the Ohio. It is to be noted
that this river is called in the maps _James River_, only to its confluence
with the Rivanna; thence to the Blue Ridge it is called
the Fluvanna; and thence to its source Jackson's river. But in
common speech, it is called James River to its source.
The _Rivanna_, a branch of James River, is navigable for
canoes and batteaux to its intersection with the South-West mountains,
which is about twenty-two miles; and may easily be
opened to navigation through these mountains to its fork above
Charlottesville.
_York River_, at Yorktown, affords the best harbor in the State
for vessels of the largest size. The river there narrows to the
width of a mile, and is contained within very high banks, close
under which vessels may ride. It holds four fathom water at
high tide for twenty-five miles above York to the mouth of
Poropotank, where the river is a mile and a half wide, and the
channel only seventy-five fathom, and passing under a high
bank. At the confluence of _Pamunkey_ and _Mattapony_, it is
reduced to three fathom depth, which continues up Pamunkey
to Cumberland, where the width is one hundred yards, and up
Mattapony to within two miles of Frazier's ferry, where it becomes
two and a half fathom deep, and holds that about five
miles. Pamunkey is then capable of navigation for loaded flats
to Brockman's bridge, fifty miles above Hanover town, and
Mattapony to Downer's bridge, seventy miles above its mouth.
_Piankatank_, the little rivers making out of _Mobjack Bay_ and
those of the eastern shore, receive only very small vessels, and
these can but enter them.
_Rappahannock_ affords four fathom water to Hobb's hole, and
two fathom from thence to Fredericksburg.
_Potomac_ is seven and a half miles wide at the mouth; four
and a half at Nomony bay; three at Aquia; one and a half at
Hallowing point; one and a quarter at Alexandria. Its soundings
are seven fathom at the mouth; five at St. George's island; four
and a half at Lower Matchodic; three at Swan's point, and
thence up to Alexandria; thence ten feet water to the falls,
which are thirteen miles above Alexandria. These falls are fifteen
miles in length, and of very great descent, and the navigation
above them for batteaux and canoes is so much interrupted
as to be little used. It is, however, used in a small degree up
the Cohongoronta branch as far as fort Cumberland, which was
at the mouth of Willis's creek; and is capable, at no great expense,
of being rendered very practicable. The Shenandoah
branch interlocks with James river about the Blue Ridge, and
may perhaps in future be opened.
The _Mississippi_ will be one of the principal channels of future
commerce for the country westward of the Alleghany.
From the mouth of this river to where it receives the Ohio, is
one thousand miles by water, but only five hundred by land,
passing through the Chickasaw country. From the mouth of
the Ohio to that of the Missouri, is two hundred and thirty miles
by water, and one hundred and forty by land, from thence to the
mouth of the Illinois river, is about twenty-five miles. The
Mississippi, below the mouth of the Missouri, is always muddy,
and abounding with sand bars, which frequently change their
places. However, it carries fifteen feet water to the mouth of
the Ohio, to which place it is from one and a half to two miles
wide, and thence to Kaskaskia from one mile to a mile and a
quarter wide. Its current is so rapid, that it never can be
stemmed by the force of the wind alone, acting on sails. Any
vessel, however, navigated with oars, may come up at any time,
and receive much aid from the wind. A batteau passes from
the mouth of Ohio to the mouth of Mississippi in three weeks,
and is from two to three months getting up again. During its
floods, which are periodical as those of the Nile, the largest vessels
may pass down it, if their steerage can be insured. These
floods begin in April, and the river returns into its banks early
in August. The inundation extends further on the western than
eastern side, covering the lands in some places for fifty miles
from its banks. Above the mouth of the Missouri it becomes
much such a river as the Ohio, like it clear and gentle in its current,
not quite so wide, the period of its floods nearly the same,
but not rising to so great a height. The streets of the village at
Cohoes are not more than ten feet above the ordinary level of
the water, and yet were never overflowed. Its bed deepens
every year. Cohoes, in the memory of many people now living,
was insulated by every flood of the river. What was the eastern
channel has now become a lake, nine miles in length and
one in width, into which the river at this day never flows. This
river yields turtle of a peculiar kind, perch, trout, gar, pike, mullets,
herrings, carp, spatula-fish of fifty pounds weight, cat-fish
of one hundred pounds weight, buffalo fish, and sturgeon. Aligators
or crocodiles have been seen as high up as the Acansas.
It also abounds in herons, cranes, ducks, brant, geese, and swans.
Its passage is commanded by a fort established by this State, five
miles below the mouth of the Ohio, and ten miles above the
Carolina boundary.
The _Missouri_, since the treaty of Paris, the Illinois and northern
branches of the Ohio, since the cession to Congress, are no
longer within our limits. Yet having been so heretofore, and
still opening to us channels of extensive communication with the
western and north-western country, they shall be noted in their
order.
The Missouri is, in fact, the principal river, contributing more
to the common stream than does the Mississippi, even after its
junction with the Illinois. It is remarkably cold, muddy, and
rapid. Its overflowings are considerable. They happen during
the months of June and July. Their commencement being so
much later than those of the Mississippi, would induce a belief
that the sources of the Missouri are northward of those of the
Mississippi, unless we suppose that the cold increases again with
the ascent of the land from the Mississippi westwardly. That
this ascent is great, is proved by the rapidity of the river. Six
miles above the mouth, it is brought within the compass of a
quarter of a mile's width; yet the Spanish merchants at Pancore,
or St. Louis, say they go two thousand miles up it. It heads far
westward of the Rio Norte, or North River. There is, in the
villages of Kaskaskia, Cohoes, and St. Vincennes, no inconsiderable
quantity of plate, said to have been plundered during the
last war by the Indians from the churches and private houses of
Santa Fé, on the North river, and brought to the villages for
sale. From the mouth of the Ohio to Santa Fé are forty days
journey, or about one thousand miles. What is the shortest distance
between the navigable waters of the Missouri, and those
of the North river, or how far this is navigable above Santa Fé,
I could never learn. From Santa Fé to its mouth in the Gulf
of Mexico is about twelve hundred miles. The road from New
Orleans to Mexico crosses this river at the post of Rio Norte, eight
hundred miles below Santa Fé, and from this post to New Orleans
is about twelve hundred miles; thus making two thousand
miles between Santa Fé and New Orleans, passing down the
North river, Red river, and Mississippi; whereas it is two thousand
two hundred and thirty through the Missouri and Mississippi.
From the same post of Rio Norte, passing near the mines
of La Sierra and Laiguana, which are between the North river,
and the river Salina to Sartilla, is three hundred and seventy-five
miles, and from thence, passing the mines of Charcas, Zaccatecas,
and Potosi, to the city of Mexico, is three hundred and seventy-five
miles; in all, one thousand five hundred and fifty miles from
Santa Fé to the city of Mexico. From New Orleans to the city
of Mexico is about one thousand nine hundred and fifty miles;
the roads after setting out from the Red river, near Natchitoches,
keeping generally parallel with the coast, and about two hundred
miles from it, till it enters the city of Mexico.
The _Illinois_ is a fine river, clear, gentle, and without rapids;
insomuch that it is navigable for batteaux to its source. From
thence is a portage of two miles only to the Chicago, which affords
a batteau navigation of sixteen miles to its entrance into
lake Michigan. The Illinois, about ten miles above its mouth,
is three hundred yards wide.
The _Kaskaskia_ is one hundred yards wide at its entrance into
the Mississippi, and preserves that breadth to the Buffalo plains,
seventy miles above. So far, also, it is navigable for loaded batteaux,
and perhaps much further. It is not rapid.
The _Ohio_ is the most beautiful river on earth. Its current
gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks
and rapids, a single instance only excepted.
It is one-quarter of a mile wide at Fort Pitt, five hundred
yards at the mouth of the Great Kanhaway, one mile and
twenty-five poles at Louisville, one-quarter of a mile on the
rapids three or four miles below Louisville, half a mile where
the low country begins, which is twenty miles above Green
river, a mile and a quarter at the receipt of the Tennessee, and a
mile wide at the mouth.
Its length, as measured according to its meanders by Captain
Hutchins, is as follows:--
From Fort Pitt
To Log's Town 18½
Big Beaver Creek 10¾
Little Beaver Creek 13½
Yellow Creek 11¾
Two Creeks 21¾
Long Reach 53¾
End Long Reach 16½
Muskingum 25½
Little Kanhaway 12¼
Hockhocking 16
Great Kanhaway 82½
Guiandot 43¾
Sandy Creek 14½
Sioto 48¼
Little Miami 126¼
Licking Creek 8
Great Miami 26¾
Big Bones 32½
Kentucky 44¼
Rapids 77¼
Low Country 155¾
Buffalo River 64½
Wabash 97¼
Big Cave 42¾
Shawanee River 52½
Cherokee River 13
Massac 11
Mississippi 46
-----
1188
In common winter and spring tides it affords fifteen feet water
to Louisville, ten feet to Le Tarte's rapids, forty miles above the
mouth of the great Kanhaway, and a sufficiency at all times for
light batteaux and canoes to Fort Pitt. The rapids are in latitude
38° 8'. The inundations of this river begin about the last
of March, and subside in July. During these, a first-rate man-of-war
may be carried from Louisville to New Orleans, if the
sudden turns of the river and the strength of its current will admit
a safe steerage. The rapids at Louisville descend about
thirty feet in a length of a mile and a half. The bed of the
river there is a solid rock, and is divided by an island into two
branches, the southern of which is about two hundred yards
wide, and is dry four months in the year. The bed of the northern
branch is worn into channels by the constant course of the
water, and attrition of the pebble stones carried on with that, so
as to be passable for batteaux through the greater part of the
year. Yet it is thought that the southern arm may be the most
easily opened for constant navigation. The rise of the waters
in these rapids does not exceed ten or twelve feet. A part of
this island is so high as to have been never overflowed, and to
command the settlement at Louisville, which is opposite to it.
The fort, however, is situated at the head of the falls. The
ground on the south side rises very gradually.
The _Tennessee_, Cherokee, or Hogohege river, is six hundred
yards wide at its mouth, a quarter of a mile at the mouth of
Holston, and two hundred yards at Chotee, which is twenty
miles above Holston, and three hundred miles above the mouth
of the Tennessee. This river crosses the southern boundary of
Virginia, fifty-eight miles from the Mississippi. Its current is moderate.
It is navigable for loaded boats of any burden to the
Muscle shoals, where the river passes through the Cumberland
mountain. These shoals are six or eight miles long, passable
downwards for loaded canoes, but not upwards, unless there be a
swell in the river. Above these the navigation for loaded canoes
and batteaux continues to the Long island. This river has its
inundations also. Above the Chickamogga towns is a whirlpool
called the Sucking-pot, which takes in trunks of trees or boats,
and throws them out again half a mile below. It is avoided by
keeping very close to the bank, on the south side. There are
but a few miles portage between a branch of this river and the
navigable waters of the river Mobile, which runs into the Gulf
of Mexico.
_Cumberland_, or Shawanee river, intersects the boundary between
Virginia and North Carolina sixty-seven miles from the
Mississippi, and again one hundred and ninety-eight miles from
the same river, a little above the entrance of Obey's river into
the Cumberland. Its Clear fork crosses the same boundary about
three hundred miles from the Mississippi. Cumberland is a very
gentle stream, navigable for loaded batteaux eight hundred miles,
without interruption; then intervene some rapids of fifteen miles
in length, after which it is again navigable seventy miles upwards,
which brings you within ten miles of the Cumberland
mountains. It is about one hundred and twenty yards wide
through its whole course, from the head of its navigation to its
mouth.
The _Wabash_ is a very beautiful river, four hundred yards
wide at the mouth, and three hundred at St. Vincennes, which
is a post one hundred miles above the mouth, in a direct line.
Within this space there are two small rapids, which give very
little obstruction to the navigation. It is four hundred yards
wide at the mouth, and navigable thirty leagues upwards for
canoes and small boats. From the mouth of Maple river to that
of Eel river is about eighty miles in a direct line, the river continuing
navigable, and from one to two hundred yards in width.
The Eel river is one hundred and fifty yards wide, and affords
at all times navigation for periaguas, to within eighteen miles of
the Miami of the Lake. The Wabash, from the mouth of Eel
river to Little river, a distance of fifty miles direct, is interrupted
with frequent rapids and shoals, which obstruct the navigation,
except in a swell. Little river affords navigation during a swell
to within three miles of the Miami, which thence affords a similar
navigation into Lake Erie, one hundred miles distant in a
direct line. The Wabash overflows periodically in correspondence
with the Ohio, and in some places two leagues from its banks.
_Green River_ is navigable for loaded batteaux at all times fifty
miles upwards; but it is then interrupted by impassable rapids,
above which the navigation again commences and continues
good thirty or forty miles to the mouth of Barren river.
_Kentucky River_ is ninety yards wide at the mouth, and also
at Boonsborough, eighty miles above. It affords a navigation
for loaded batteaux one hundred and eighty miles in a direct
line, in the winter tides.
The _Great Miami_ of the Ohio, is two hundred yards wide at
the mouth. At the Piccawee towns, seventy-five miles above, it
is reduced to thirty yards; it is, nevertheless, navigable for loaded
canoes fifty miles above these towns. The portage from its
western branch into the Miami of Lake Erie, is five miles; that
from its eastern branch into Sandusky river, is of nine miles.
_Salt River_ is at all times navigable for loaded batteaux seventy
or eighty miles. It is eighty yards wide at its mouth, and keeps
that width to its fork, twenty-five miles above.
The _Little Miami_ of the Ohio, is sixty or seventy yards wide
at its mouth, sixty miles to its source, and affords no navigation.
The _Sioto_ is two hundred and fifty yards wide at its mouth,
which is in latitude 38° 22', and at the Saltlick towns, two hundred
miles above the mouth, it is yet one hundred yards wide.
To these towns it is navigable for loaded batteaux, and its eastern
branch affords navigation almost to its source.
_Great Sandy River_ is about sixty yards wide, and navigable
sixty miles for loaded batteaux.
_Guiandot_ is about the width of the river last mentioned, but
is more rapid. It may be navigated by canoes sixty miles.
The _Great Kanhaway_ is a river of considerable note for the
fertility of its lands, and still more, as leading towards the head
waters of James river. Nevertheless, it is doubtful whether its
great and numerous rapids will admit a navigation, but at an expense
to which it will require ages to render its inhabitants
equal. The great obstacles begin at what are called the Great
Falls, ninety miles above the mouth, below which are only five
or six rapids, and these passable, with some difficulty, even at
low water. From the falls to the mouth of Greenbriar is one
hundred miles, and thence to the lead mines one hundred and
twenty. It is two hundred and eighty yards wide at its mouth.
_Hockhocking_ is eighty yards wide at its mouth, and yields
navigation for loaded batteaux to the Press-place, sixty miles
above its mouth.
The _Little Kanhaway_ is one hundred and fifty yards wide
at the mouth. It yields a navigation of ten miles only. Perhaps
its northern branch, called Junius' creek, which interlocks
with the western of Monongahela, may one day admit a shorter
passage from the latter into the Ohio.
The _Muskingum_ is two hundred and eighty yards wide at its
mouth, and two hundred yards at the lower Indian towns, one
hundred and fifty miles upwards. It is navigable for small batteaux
to within one mile of a navigable part of Cuyahoga river,
which runs into Lake Erie.
At Fort Pitt the river Ohio loses its name, branching into the
Monongahela and Alleghany.
The _Monongahela_ is four hundred yards wide at its mouth.
From thence is twelve or fifteen miles to the mouth of Yohogany,
where it is three hundred yards wide. Thence to Redstone
by water is fifty miles, by land thirty. Then to the mouth
of Cheat river by water forty miles, by land twenty-eight, the
width continuing at three hundred yards, and the navigation
good for boats. Thence the width is about two hundred yards
to the western fork, fifty miles higher, and the navigation frequently
interrupted by rapids, which, however, with a swell of
two or three feet, become very passable for boats. It then admits
light boats, except in dry seasons, sixty-five miles further
to the head of Tygart's valley, presenting only some small rapids
and falls of one or two feet perpendicular, and lessening in its
width to twenty yards. The _Western fork_ is navigable in the
winter ten or fifteen miles towards the northern of the Little
Kanhaway, and will admit a good wagon road to it. The _Yahogany_
is the principal branch of this river. It passes through
the Laurel mountain, about thirty miles from its mouth; is so
far from three hundred to one hundred and fifty yards wide, and
the navigation much obstructed in dry weather by rapids and
shoals. In its passage through the mountain it makes very great
falls, admitting no navigation for ten miles to the Turkey Foot.
Thence to the Great Crossing, about twenty miles, it is again
navigable, except in dry seasons, and at this place is two hundred
yards wide. The sources of this river are divided from
those of the Potomac by the Alleghany mountain. From the
falls, where it intersects the Laurel mountain, to Fort Cumberland,
the head of the navigation on the Potomac, is forty miles
of very mountainous road. Wills' creek, at the mouth of which
was Fort Cumberland, is thirty or forty yards wide, but affords
no navigation as yet. _Cheat_ river, another considerable branch
of the Monongahela, is two hundred yards wide at its mouth,
and one hundred yards at the _Dunkard's_ settlement, fifty miles
higher. It is navigable for boats, except in dry seasons. The
boundary between Virginia and Pennsylvania crosses it about
three or four miles above its mouth.
The _Alleghany_ river, with a slight swell, affords navigation
for light batteaux to Venango, at the mouth of French Creek,
where it is two hundred yards wide, and is practised even to Le
Bœuf, from whence there is a portage of fifteen miles to Presque
Isle on the Lake Erie.
The country watered by the Mississippi and its eastern
branches, constitutes five-eighths of the United States, two of
which five-eighths are occupied by the Ohio and its waters; the
residuary streams which run into the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic,
and the St. Lawrence, water the remaining three-eighths.
Before we quit the subject of the western waters, we will take
a view of their principal connections with the Atlantic. These
are three; the Hudson river, the Potomac, and the Mississippi
itself. Down the last will pass all heavy commodities. But the
navigation through the Gulf of Mexico is so dangerous, and that
up the Mississippi so difficult and tedious, that it is thought probable
that European merchandise will not return through that
channel. It is most likely that flour, timber, and other heavy
articles will be floated on rafts, which will themselves be an article
for sale as well as their loading, the navigators returning by
land, or in light batteaux. There will, therefore, be a competition
between the Hudson and Potomac rivers for the residue of
the commerce of all the country westward of Lake Erie, on the
waters of the lakes, of the Ohio, and upper parts of the Mississippi.
To go to New York, that part of the trade which comes
from the lakes or their waters, must first be brought into Lake
Erie. Between Lake Superior and its waters and Huron, are the
rapids of St. Mary, which will permit boats to pass, but not larger
vessels. Lakes Huron and Michigan afford communication with
Lake Erie by vessels of eight feet draught. That part of the
trade which comes from the waters of the Mississippi must pass
from them through some portage into the waters of the lakes.
The portage from the Illinois river into a water of Michigan is
of one mile only. From the Wabash, Miami, Muskingum, or
Alleghany, are portages into the waters of Lake Erie, of from one
to fifteen miles. When the commodities are brought into, and
have passed through Lake Erie, there is between that and Ontario
an interruption by the falls of Niagara, where the portage
is of eight miles; and between Ontario and the Hudson river are
portages at the falls of Onondago, a little above Oswego, of a
quarter of a mile; from Wood creek to the Mohawks river two
miles; at the little falls of the Mohawks river half a mile; and
from Schenectady to Albany sixteen miles. Besides the increase
of expense occasioned by frequent change of carriage, there is an
increased risk of pillage produced by committing merchandise
to a greater number of hands successively. The Potomac offers
itself under the following circumstances: For the trade of the
lakes and their waters westward of Lake Erie, when it shall
have entered that lake, it must coast along its southern shore, on
account of the number and excellence of its harbors; the northern,
though shortest, having few harbors, and these unsafe.
Having reached Cuyahoga, to proceed on to New York it will
have eight hundred and twenty-five miles and five portages;
whereas it is but four hundred and twenty-five miles to Alexandria,
its emporium on the Potomac, if it turns into the Cuyahoga,
and passes through that, Big Beaver, Ohio, Yohogany, (or
Monongahela and Cheat,) and Potomac, and there are but two
portages; the first of which, between Cuyahoga and Beaver, may
be removed by uniting the sources of these waters, which are
lakes in the neighborhood of each other, and in a champaign
country; the other from the waters of Ohio to Potomac will be
from fifteen to forty miles, according to the trouble which shall
be taken to approach the two navigations. For the trade of the
Ohio, or that which shall come into it from its own waters or
the Mississippi, it is nearer through the Potomac to Alexandria
than to New York by five hundred and eighty miles, and it is
interrupted by one portage only. There is another circumstance
of difference too. The lakes themselves never freeze, but the
communications between them freeze, and the Hudson river is
itself shut up by the ice three months in the year; whereas the
channel to the Chesapeake leads directly into a warmer climate.
The southern parts of it very rarely freeze at all, and whenever
the northern do, it is so near the sources of the rivers, that the frequent
floods to which they are there liable, break up the ice immediately,
so that vessels may pass through the whole winter,
subject only to accidental and short delays. Add to all this,
that in case of war with our neighbors, the Anglo-Americans or
the Indians, the route to New York becomes a frontier through
almost its whole length, and all commerce through it ceases
from that moment. But the channel to New York is already
known to practice, whereas the upper waters of the Ohio and the
Potomac, and the great falls of the latter, are yet to be cleared
of their fixed obstructions. (A.)
QUERY III.
_A notice of the best Seaports of the State, and how big are the
vessels they can receive?_
Having no ports but our rivers and creeks, this _Query_ has
been answered under the preceding one.
QUERY IV.
_A notice of its Mountains?_
For the particular geography of our mountains I must refer
to Fry and Jefferson's map of Virginia; and to Evans' analysis
of this map of America, for a more philosophical view of them
than is to be found in any other work. It is worthy of notice,
that our mountains are not solitary and scattered confusedly over
the face of the country; but that they commence at about one
hundred and fifty miles from the sea-coast, are disposed in
ridges, one behind another, running nearly parallel with the sea-coast,
though rather approaching it as they advance north-eastwardly.
To the south-west, as the tract of country between the
sea-coast and the Mississippi becomes narrower, the mountains
converge into a single ridge, which, as it approaches the Gulf of
Mexico, subsides into plain country, and gives rise to some of
the waters of that gulf, and particularly to a river called the
Apalachicola, probably from the Apalachies, an Indian nation
formerly residing on it. Hence the mountains giving rise to
that river, and seen from its various parts, were called the Appalachian
mountains, being in fact the end or termination only of
the great ridges passing through the continent. European geographers,
however, extended the name northwardly as far as the
mountains extended; some giving it, after their separation into
different ridges, to the Blue Ridge, others to the North Mountain,
others to the Alleghany, others to the Laurel Ridge, as may be
seen by their different maps. But the fact I believe is, that none
of these ridges were ever known by that name to the inhabitants,
either native or emigrant, but as they saw them so called
in European maps. In the same direction, generally, are the
veins of limestone, coal, and other minerals hitherto discovered;
and so range the falls of our great rivers. But the courses of the
great rivers are at right angles with these. James and Potomac
penetrate through all the ridges of mountains eastward of the
Alleghany; that is, broken by no water course. It is in fact the
spine of the country between the Atlantic on one side, and the
Mississippi and St. Lawrence on the other. The passage of the
Potomac through the Blue Ridge is, perhaps, one of the most stupendous
scenes in nature. You stand on a very high point of land.
On your right comes up the Shenandoah, having ranged along the
foot of the mountain an hundred miles to seek a vent. On your left
approaches the Potomac, in quest of a passage also. In the moment
of their junction, they rush together against the mountain,
rend it asunder, and pass off to the sea. The first glance of this
scene hurries our senses into the opinion, that this earth has been
created in time, that the mountains were formed first, that the
rivers began to flow afterwards, that in this place, particularly,
they have been dammed up by the Blue Ridge of mountains,
and have formed an ocean which filled the whole valley; that
continuing to rise they have at length broken over at this spot,
and have torn the mountain down from its summit to its base.
The piles of rock on each hand, but particularly on the Shenandoah,
the evident marks of their disrupture and avulsion from
their beds by the most powerful agents of nature, corroborate the
impression. But the distant finishing which nature has given to
the picture, is of a very different character. It is a true contrast
to the foreground. It is as placid and delightful as that is wild
and tremendous. For the mountain being cloven asunder, she
presents to your eye, through the cleft, a small catch of smooth
blue horizon, at an infinite distance in the plain country, inviting
you, as it were, from the riot and tumult roaring around, to pass
through the breach and participate of the calm below. Here
the eye ultimately composes itself; and that way, too, the road
happens actually to lead. You cross the Potomac above the
junction, pass along its side through the base of the mountain
for three miles, its terrible precipices hanging in fragments over
you, and within about twenty miles reach Fredericktown, and the
fine country round that. This scene is worth a voyage across
the Atlantic. Yet here, as in the neighborhood of the Natural
Bridge, are people who have passed their lives within half a
dozen miles, and have never been to survey these monuments of
a war between rivers and mountains, which must have shaken
the earth itself to its centre. (B.)
The height of our mountains has not yet been estimated with
any degree of exactness. The Alleghany being the great ridge
which divides the waters of the Atlantic from those of the Mississippi,
its summit is doubtless more elevated above the ocean than
that of any other mountain. But its relative height, compared
with the base on which it stands, is not so great as that of some
others, the country rising behind the successive ridges like the
steps of stairs. The mountains of the Blue Ridge, and of these
the Peaks of Otter, are thought to be of a greater height, measured
from their base, than any others in our country, and perhaps
in North America. From data, which may found a tolerable
conjecture, we suppose the highest peak to be about four thousand
feet perpendicular, which is not a fifth part of the height of the
mountains of South America, nor one-third of the height which
would be necessary in our latitude to preserve ice in the open
air unmelted through the year. The ridge of mountains next
beyond the Blue Ridge, called by us the North mountain, is of
the greatest extent; for which reason they were named by the
Indians the endless mountains.
A substance supposed to be Pumice, found floating on the
Mississippi, has induced a conjecture that there is a volcano on
some of its waters; and as these are mostly known to their
sources, except the Missouri, our expectations of verifying the conjecture
would of course be led to the mountains which divide
the waters of the Mexican Gulf from those of the South Sea;
but no volcano having ever yet been known at such a distance
from the sea, we must rather suppose that this floating substance
has been erroneously deemed Pumice.
QUERY V.
_Its Cascades and Caverns?_
The only remarkable cascade in this country is that of the
Falling Spring in Augusta. It is a water of James' river where
it is called Jackson's river, rising in the warm spring mountains,
about twenty miles south west of the warm spring, and flowing
into that valley. About three-quarters of a mile from its source
it falls over a rock two hundred feet into the valley below. The
sheet of water is broken in its breadth by the rock, in two or
three places, but not at all in its height. Between the sheet and
the rock, at the bottom, you may walk across dry. This cataract
will bear no comparison with that of Niagara as to the
quantity of water composing it; the sheet being only twelve or
fifteen feet wide above and somewhat more spread below; but
it is half as high again, the latter being only one hundred and
fifty-six feet, according to the mensuration made by order of
M. Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, and one hundred and thirty
according to a more recent account.
[Illustration: An eye draught of Madison's cave on a scale of
67 feet to the inch. The arrows show
where it descends or ascends.]
In the lime-stone country there are many caverns of very considerable
extent. The most noted is called Madison's Cave, and is on the north side
of the Blue Ridge, near the intersection of the Rockingham and Augusta
line with the south fork of the southern river of Shenandoah. It is in
a hill of about two hundred feet perpendicular height, the ascent of
which, on one side, is so steep that you may pitch a biscuit from its
summit into the river which washes its base. The entrance of the cave
is, in this side, about two-thirds of the way up. It extends into the
earth about three hundred feet, branching into subordinate caverns,
sometimes ascending a little, but more generally descending, and at length
terminates, in two different places, at basins of water of unknown extent,
and which I should judge to be nearly on a level with the water of the
river; however, I do not think they are formed by refluent water from
that, because they are never turbid; because they do not rise and fall
in correspondence with that in times of flood or of drought; and because
the water is always cool. It is probably one of the many reservoirs with
which the interior parts of the earth are supposed to abound, and yield
supplies to the fountains of water, distinguished from others only by
being accessible. The vault of this cave is of solid lime-stone, from
twenty to forty or fifty feet high; through which water is continually
percolating. This, trickling down the sides of the cave, has incrusted
them over in the form of elegant drapery; and dripping from the top
of the vault generates on that and on the base below, stalactites of a
conical form, some of which have met and formed massive columns.
Another of these caves is near the north mountain, in the county
of Frederic, on the lands of Mr. Zane. The entrance into
this is on the top of an extensive ridge. You descend thirty or
forty feet, as into a well, from whence the cave extends, nearly
horizontally, four hundred feet into the earth, preserving a breadth
of from twenty to fifty feet, and a height of from five to twelve
feet. After entering this cave a few feet, the mercury, which in
the open air was 50°, rose to 57° of Fahrenheit's thermometer,
answering to 11° of Reaumur's, and it continued at that to the
remotest parts of the cave. The uniform temperature of the
cellars of the observatory of Paris, which are ninety feet deep,
and of all subterraneous cavities of any depth, where no chemical
agencies may be supposed to produce a factitious heat, has
been found to be 10° of Reaumur, equal to 54½° of Fahrenheit.
The temperature of the cave above mentioned so nearly corresponds
with this, that the difference may be ascribed to a difference
of instruments.
At the Panther gap, in the ridge which divides the waters of
the Crow and the Calf pasture, is what is called the _Blowing
Cave_. It is in the side of a hill, is of about one hundred feet
diameter, and emits constantly a current of air of such force as
to keep the weeds prostrate to the distance of twenty yards before
it. This current is strongest in dry, frosty weather, and in
long spells of rain weakest. Regular inspirations and expirations
of air, by caverns and fissures, have been probably enough
accounted for by supposing them combined with intermitting
fountains; as they must of course inhale air while their reservoirs
are emptying themselves, and again emit it while they are filling.
But a constant issue of air, only varying in its force as the
weather is drier or damper, will require a new hypothesis. There
is another blowing cave in the Cumberland mountain, about a
mile from where it crosses the Carolina line. All we know of
this is, that it is not constant, and that a fountain of water issues
from it.
The _Natural Bridge_, the most sublime of nature's works,
though not comprehended under the present head, must not be
pretermitted. It is on the ascent of a hill, which seems to have
been cloven through its length by some great convulsion. The
fissure, just at the bridge, is, by some admeasurements, two hundred
and seventy feet deep, by others only two hundred and five.
It is about forty-five feet wide at the bottom and ninety feet at
the top; this of course determines the length of the bridge,
and its height from the water. Its breadth in the middle is
about sixty feet, but more at the ends, and the thickness of the
mass, at the summit of the arch, about forty feet. A part of
this thickness is constituted by a coat of earth, which gives
growth to many large trees. The residue, with the hill on both
sides, is one solid rock of lime-stone. The arch approaches the
semi-elliptical form; but the larger axis of the ellipsis, which
would be the cord of the arch, is many times longer than the
transverse. Though the sides of this bridge are provided in some
parts with a parapet of fixed rocks, yet few men have resolution
to walk to them, and look over into the abyss. You involuntarily
fall on your hands and feet, creep to the parapet, and peep
over it. Looking down from this height about a minute, gave
me a violent head-ache. If the view from the top be painful
and intolerable, that from below is delightful in an equal extreme.
It is impossible for the emotions arising from the sublime
to be felt beyond what they are here; so beautiful an arch,
so elevated, so light, and springing as it were up to heaven! the
rapture of the spectator is really indescribable! The fissure continuing
narrow, deep, and straight, for a considerable distance
above and below the bridge, opens a short but very pleasing view
of the North mountain on one side and the Blue Ridge on the
other, at the distance each of them of about five miles. This
bridge is in the county of Rockbridge, to which it has given
name, and affords a public and commodious passage over a valley
which cannot be crossed elsewhere for a considerable distance.
The stream passing under it is called Cedar-creek. It is
a water of James' river, and sufficient in the driest seasons to
turn a grist-mill, though its fountain is not more than two miles
above.[2]
FOOTNOTE:
[2] Don Ulloa mentions a break, similar to this, in the
province of Angaraez, in South America. It is from sixteen
to twenty-two feet wide, one hundred and eleven feet deep,
and of 1.3 miles continuance, English measure. Its breadth
at top is not sensibly greater than at bottom. But the
following fact is remarkable, and will furnish some light
for conjecturing the probable origin of our natural bridge.
"Esta caxa, ó cauce está cortada en péna viva con tanta
precision, que las desigualdades del un lado entrantes,
corresponden á las del otro lado salientes, como si aquella
altura se hubiese abierto expresamente, con sus bueltas y
tortuosidades, para darle transito á los aguas por entre
los dos morallones que la forman; siendo tal su igualdad,
que si llegasen á juntarse se endentarian uno con otro sin
dextar hueco." Not. Amer. ii. § 10. Don Ulloa inclines to
the opinion that this channel has been effected by the
wearing of the water which runs through it, rather than
that the mountain should have been broken open by any
convulsion of nature. But if it had been worn by the running
of water, would not the rocks which form the sides, have
been worn plain? or if, meeting in some parts with veins
of harder stone, the water had left prominences on the one
side, would not the same cause have sometimes, or perhaps
generally, occasioned prominences on the other side also?
Yet Don Ulloa tells us, that on the other side there are
always corresponding cavities, and that these tally with the
prominences so perfectly, that, were the two sides to come
together they would fit in all their indentures, without
leaving any void. I think that this does not resemble the
effect of running water, but looks rather as if the two
sides had parted asunder. The sides of the break, over which
is the natural bridge of Virginia, consisting of a veiny
rock which yields to time, the correspondence between the
salient and re-entering inequalities, if it existed at all,
has now disappeared. This break has the advantage of the
one described by Don Ulloa in its finest circumstance; no
portion in that instance having held together, during the
separation of the other parts, so as to form a bridge over
the abyss.
QUERY VI.
_A notice of the mines and other subterraneous riches; its trees,
plants, fruits, &c._
I knew a single instance of gold found in this State. It was
interspersed in small specks through a lump of ore of about four
pounds weight, which yielded seventeen pennyweights of gold, of
extraordinary ductility. This ore was found on the north side
of Rappahanoc, about four miles below the falls. I never heard
of any other indication of gold in its neighborhood.
On the Great Kanhaway, opposite to the mouth of Cripple
creek, and about twenty-five miles from our southern boundary,
in the county of Montgomery, are mines of lead. The metal is
mixed, sometimes with earth, and sometimes with rock, which
requires the force of gunpowder to open it; and is accompanied
with a portion of silver too small to be worth separation under
any process hitherto attempted there. The proportion yielded is
from fifty to eighty pounds of pure metal from one hundred
pounds of washed ore. The most common is that of sixty to
one hundred pounds. The veins are sometimes most flattering,
at others they disappear suddenly and totally. They enter
the side of the hill and proceed horizontally. Two of them are
wrought at present by the public, the best of which is one hundred
yards under the hill. These would employ about fifty laborers
to advantage. We have not, however, more than thirty
generally, and these cultivate their own corn. They have produced
sixty tons of lead in the year; but the general quantity
is from twenty to twenty-five tons. The present furnace is a
mile from the ore bank and on the opposite side of the river.
The ore is first wagoned to the river, a quarter of a mile, then
laden on board of canoes and carried across the river, which is
there about two hundred yards wide, and then again taken into
wagons and carried to the furnace. This mode was originally
adopted that they might avail themselves of a good situation on
a creek for a pounding mill; but it would be easy to have
the furnace and pounding mill on the same side of the river,
which would yield water, without any dam, by a canal of about
half a mile in length. From the furnace the lead is transported
one hundred and thirty miles along a good road, leading through
the peaks of Otter to Lynch's ferry, or Winston's on James' river,
from whence it is carried by water about the same distance to
Westham. This land carriage may be greatly shortened, by delivering
the lead on James' river, above the Blue Ridge, from
whence a ton weight has been brought on two canoes. The
Great Kanhaway has considerable falls in the neighborhood of
the mines. About seven miles below are three falls, of three
or four feet perpendicular each; and three miles above is a rapid
of three miles continuance, which has been compared in its descent
to the great falls of James' river. Yet it is the opinion,
that they may be laid open for useful navigation, so as to reduce
very much the portage between the Kanhaway and James'
river.
A valuable lead mine is said to have been lately discovered in
Cumberland, below the mouth of Red river. The greatest,
however, known in the western country, are on the Mississippi,
extending from the mouth of Rock river one hundred and fifty
miles upwards. These are not wrought, the lead used in that
country being from the banks on the Spanish side of the Mississippi,
opposite to Kaskaskia.
A mine of copper was once opened in the county of Amherst,
on the north side of James' river, and another in the opposite
country, on the south side. However, either from bad management
or the poverty of the veins, they were discontinued. We
are told of a rich mine of native copper on the Ouabache, below
the upper Wiaw.
The mines of iron worked at present are Callaway's, Ross's,
and Ballendine's, on the south side of James' river; Old's on the
north side, in Albemarle; Miller's in Augusta, and Zane's in
Frederic. These two last are in the valley between the Blue
Ridge and North mountain. Callaway's, Ross's, Miller's, and
Zane's make about one hundred and fifty tons of bar iron each,
in the year. Ross's makes also about sixteen hundred tons of
pig iron annually; Ballendine's one thousand; Callaway's, Miller's,
and Zane's, about six hundred each. Besides these, a
forge of Mr. Hunter's, at Fredericksburg, makes about three hundred
tons a year of bar iron, from pigs imported from Maryland;
and Taylor's forge on Neapsco of Potomac, works in the same
way, but to what extent I am not informed. The indications
of iron in other places are numerous, and dispersed through all
the middle country. The toughness of the cast iron of Ross's
and Zane's furnaces is very remarkable. Pots and other utensils,
cast thinner than usual, of this iron, may be safely thrown
into, or out of the wagons in which they are transported. Salt-pans
made of the same, and no longer wanted for that purpose,
cannot be broken up, in order to be melted again, unless previously
drilled in many parts.
In the western country, we are told of iron mines between the
Muskingum and Ohio; of others on Kentucky, between the
Cumberland and Barren rivers, between Cumberland and Tennessee,
on Reedy creek, near the Long Island, and on Chesnut
creek, a branch of the Great Kanhaway, near where it crosses
the Carolina line. What are called the iron banks, on the Mississippi,
are believed, by a good judge, to have no iron in them.
In general, from what is hitherto known of that country, it seems
to want iron.
Considerable quantities of black lead are taken occasionally
for use from Winterham in the county of Amelia. I am not
able, however, to give a particular state of the mine. There is
no work established at it; those who want, going and procuring
it for themselves.
The country on James' river, from fifteen to twenty miles
above Richmond, and for several miles northward and southward,
is replete with mineral coal of a very excellent quality.
Being in the hands of many proprietors, pits have been opened,
and, before the interruption of our commerce, were worked to
an extent equal to the demand.
In the western country coal is known to be in so many places,
as to have induced an opinion, that the whole tract between the
Laurel mountain, Mississippi, and Ohio, yields coal. It is also
known in many places on the north side of the Ohio. The
coal at Pittsburg is of very superior quality. A bed of it at that
place has been a-fire since the year 1765. Another coal-hill on
the Pike-run of Monongahela has been a-fire ten years; yet it
has burnt away about twenty yards only.
I have known one instance of an emerald found in this country.
Amethysts have been frequent, and crystals common; yet
not in such numbers any of them as to be worth seeking.
There is very good marble, and in very great abundance, on
James' river, at the mouth of Rockfish. The samples I have
seen, were some of them of a white as pure as one might expect
to find on the surface of the earth; but most of them were variegated
with red, blue, and purple. None of it has been ever
worked. It forms a very large precipice, which hangs over a
navigable part of the river. It is said there is marble at Kentucky.
But one vein of limestone is known below the Blue Ridge.
Its first appearance, in our country, is in Prince William, two
miles below the Pignut ridge of mountains; thence it passes on
nearly parallel with that, and crosses the Rivanna about five
miles below it, where it is called the South-west ridge. It then
crosses Hard-ware, above the mouth of Hudson's creek, James'
river at the mouth of Rockfish, at the marble quarry before
spoken of, probably runs up that river to where it appears again
at Ross's iron-works, and so passes off south-westwardly by Flat
Creek of Otter river. It is never more than one hundred yards
wide. From the Blue Ridge westwardly, the whole country
seems to be founded on a rock of limestone, besides infinite
quantities on the surface, both loose and fixed. This is cut into
beds, which range, as the mountains and sea-coast do, from
south-west to north-east, the lamina of each bed declining from
the horizon towards a parallelism with the axis of the earth.
Being struck with this observation, I made, with a quadrant, a
great number of trials on the angles of their declination, and
found them to vary from 22° to 60°; but averaging all my
trials, the result was within one-third of a degree of the elevation
of the pole or latitude of the place, and much the greatest part
of them taken separately were little different from that; by which
it appears, that these lamina are, in the main, parallel with the
axis of the earth. In some instances, indeed, I found them perpendicular,
and even reclining the other way; but these were
extremely rare, and always attended with signs of convulsion,
or other circumstances of singularity, which admitted a possibility
of removal from their original position. These trials were
made between Madison's cave and the Potomac. We hear of
limestone on the Mississippi and Ohio, and in all the mountainous
country between the eastern and western waters, not on the
mountains themselves, but occupying the valleys between them.
Near the eastern foot of the North mountain are immense bodies
of _Schist_; containing impressions of shells in a variety of
forms. I have received petrified shells of very different kinds
from the first sources of Kentucky, which bear no resemblance
to any I have ever seen on the tide-waters. It is said that shells
are found in the Andes, in South America, fifteen thousand feet
above the level of the ocean. This is considered by many, both
of the learned and unlearned, as a proof of an universal deluge.
To the many considerations opposing this opinion, the following
may be added: The atmosphere, and all its contents, whether
of water, air, or other matter, gravitate to the earth; that is to
say, they have weight. Experience tells us, that the weight of
all these together never exceeds that of a column of mercury of
thirty-one inches height, which is equal to one of rain water of
thirty-five feet high. If the whole contents of the atmosphere,
then, were water, instead of what they are, it would cover the
globe but thirty-five feet deep; but as these waters, as they fell,
would run into the seas, the superficial measure of which is to
that of the dry parts of the globe, as two to one, the seas would
be raised only fifty-two and a half feet above their present level,
and of course would overflow the lands to that height only. In
Virginia this would be a very small proportion even of the champaign
country, the banks of our tide-waters being frequently, if
not generally, of a greater height. Deluges beyond this extent,
then, as for instance, to the North mountain or to Kentucky,
seem out of the laws of nature. But within it they may have
taken place to a greater or less degree, in proportion to the combination
of natural causes which may be supposed to have produced
them. History renders probably some instances of a partial
deluge in the country lying round the Mediterranean sea.
It has been often[3] supposed, and it is not unlikely, that that sea
was once a lake. While such, let us admit an extraordinary
collection of the waters of the atmosphere from the other parts
of the globe to have been discharged over that and the countries
whose waters run into it. Or without supposing it a lake, admit
such an extraordinary collection of the waters of the atmosphere,
and an influx from the Atlantic ocean, forced by long-continued
western winds. The lake, or that sea, may thus have
been so raised as to overflow the low lands adjacent to it, as
those of Egypt and Armenia, which, according to a tradition of
the Egyptians and Hebrews, were overflowed about two thousand
three hundred years before the Christian era; those of
Attica, said to have been overflowed in the time of Ogyges,
about five hundred years later; and those of Thessaly, in the
time of Deucalion, still three hundred years posterior. But such
deluges as these will not account for the shells found in the
higher lands. A second opinion has been entertained, which is,
that in times anterior to the records either of history or tradition,
the bed of the ocean, the principal residence of the shelled tribe,
has, by some great convulsion of nature, been heaved to the
heights at which we now find shells and other marine animals.
The favorers of this opinion do well to suppose the great events
on which it rests to have taken place beyond all the eras of history;
for within these, certainly, none such are to be found; and
we may venture to say farther, that no fact has taken place, either
in our own days, or in the thousands of years recorded in history,
which proves the existence of any natural agents, within or
without the bowels of the earth, of force sufficient to heave, to
the height of fifteen thousand feet, such masses as the Andes.
The difference between the power necessary to produce such an
effect, and that which shuffled together the different parts of
Calabria in our days, is so immense, that from the existence of
the latter, we are not authorized to infer that of the former.
M. de Voltaire has suggested a third solution of this difficulty.
(Quest. Encycl. Coquilles.) He cites an instance in Touraine,
where, in the space of eighty years, a particular spot of earth
had been twice metamorphosed into soft stone, which had become
hard when employed in building. In this stone shells of
various kinds were produced, discoverable at first only with a
microscope, but afterwards growing with the stone. From this
fact, I suppose, he would have us infer, that, besides the usual
process for generating shells by the elaboration of earth and
water in animal vessels, nature may have provided an equivalent
operation, by passing the same materials through the pores of
calcareous earths and stones; as we see calcareous drop-stones
generating every day, by the percolation of water through limestone,
and new marble forming in the quarries from which the
old has been taken out. And it might be asked, whether is it
more difficult for nature to shoot the calcareous juice into the
form of a shell, than other juices into the forms of crystals, plants,
animals, according to the construction of the vessels through
which they pass? There is a wonder somewhere. Is it greatest
on this branch of the dilemma; on that which supposes the
existence of a power, of which we have no evidence in any
other case; or on the first, which requires us to believe the creation
of a body of water and its subsequent annihilation? The
establishment of the instance, cited by M. de Voltaire, of the
growth of shells unattached to animal bodies, would have been
that of his theory. But he has not established it. He has not
even left it on ground so respectable as to have rendered it an
object of inquiry to the _literati_ of his own country. Abandoning
this fact, therefore, the three hypotheses are equally unsatisfactory;
and we must be contented to acknowledge, that this
great phenomenon is as yet unsolved. Ignorance is preferable
to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing,
than he who believes what is wrong.
There is great abundance (more especially when you approach
the mountains) of stone, white, blue, brown, &c., fit for the chisel,
good mill-stone, such also as stands the fire, and slate stone. We
are told of flint, fit for gun-flints, on the Meherrin in Brunswick,
on the Mississippi between the mouth of the Ohio and Kaskaskia,
and on others of the western waters. Isinglass or mica is in
several places; loadstone also; and an Asbestos of a ligneous texture,
is sometimes to be met with.
Marle abounds generally. A clay, of which, like the Sturbridge
in England, bricks are made, which will resist long the
violent action of fire, has been found on Tuckahoe creek of
James' river, and no doubt will be found in other places. Chalk
is said to be in Botetourt and Bedford. In the latter county is some
earth believed to be gypseous. Ochres are found in various parts.
In the lime-stone country are many caves, the earthy floors
of which are impregnated with nitre. On Rich creek, a branch
of the Great Kanhaway, about sixty miles below the lead mines,
is a very large one, about twenty yards wide, and entering a hill
a quarter or half a mile. The vault is of rock, from nine to fifteen
or twenty feet above the floor. A Mr. Lynch, who gives
me this account, undertook to extract the nitre. Besides a coat
of the salt which had formed on the vault and floor, he found
the earth highly impregnated to the depth of seven feet in some
places, and generally of three, every bushel yielding on an average
three pounds of nitre. Mr. Lynch having made about ten
hundred pounds of the salt from it, consigned it to some others,
who have since made ten thousand pounds. They have done
this by pursuing the cave into the hill, never trying a second
time the earth they have once exhausted, to see how far or soon
it receives another impregnation. At least fifty of these caves
are worked on the Greenbriar. There are many of them known
on Cumberland river.
The country westward of the Alleghany abounds with springs
of common salt. The most remarkable we have heard of are
at Bullet's-lick, the Big-bones, the Blue-licks, and on the north
fork of Holston. The area of Bullet's-lick is of many acres.
Digging the earth to the depth of three feet the water begins to
boil up, and the deeper you go and the drier the weather, the
stronger is the brine. A thousand gallons of water yield from a
bushel to a bushel and a half of salt, which is about eighty
pounds of water to one pound of salt. So that sea-water is
more than three times as strong as that of these springs. A salt
spring has been lately discovered at the Turkey foot on Yohogany,
by which river it is overflowed, except at very low water.
Its merit is not yet known. Dunning's lick is also as yet untried,
but it is supposed to be the best on this side the Ohio. The salt
springs on the margin of the Onondago lake are said to give a
saline taste to the waters of the lake.
There are several medicinal springs, some of which are indubitably
efficacious, while others seem to owe their reputation
as much to fancy and change of air and regimen, as to their real
virtues. None of them having undergone a chemical analysis
in skilful hands, nor been so far the subject of observations as to
have produced a reduction into classes of the disorders which
they relieve; it is in my power to give little more than an enumeration
of them.
The most efficacious of these are two springs in Augusta near
the first sources of James' river, where it is called Jackson's river.
They rise near the foot of the ridge of mountains generally
called the Warm spring mountains, but in the maps Jackson's
mountains. The one distinguished by the name of the Warm
spring, and the other of the Hot spring. The Warm spring issues
with a very bold stream, sufficient to work a grist mill and
to keep the waters of its basin, which is thirty feet in diameter,
at the vital warmth, viz. 96° of Fahrenheit's thermometer. The
matter with which these waters is allied is very volatile; its
smell indicates it to be sulphureous, as also does the circumstance
of its turning silver black. They relieve rheumatisms. Other
complaints also of very different natures have been removed or
lessened by them. It rains here four or five days in every
week.
The _Hot spring_ is about six miles from the Warm, is much
smaller, and has been so hot as to have boiled an egg. Some
believe its degree of heat to be lessened. It raises the mercury
in Fahrenheit's thermometer to 112 degrees, which is fever heat.
It sometimes relieves where the Warm fails. A fountain of common
water, issuing within a few inches of its margin, gives it a
singular appearance. Comparing the temperature of these with
that of the Hot springs of Kamschatka, of which Krachininnikow
gives an account, the difference is very great, the latter raising
the mercury to 200° which is within 12° of boiling water.
These springs are very much resorted to in spite of a total want
of accommodation for the sick. Their waters are strongest in
the hottest months, which occasions their being visited in July and
August principally.
The Sweet springs are in the county of Botetourt, at the eastern
foot of the Alleghany, about forty-two miles from the Warm
springs. They are still less known. Having been found to relieve
cases in which the others had been ineffectually tried, it is
probable their composition is different. They are different also
in their temperature, being as cold as common water; which is
not mentioned, however, as a proof of a distinct impregnation.
This is among the first sources of James' river.
On Potomac river, in Berkley county, above the North mountain,
are medicinal springs, much more frequented than those of
Augusta. Their powers, however, are less, the waters weakly
mineralized, and scarcely warm. They are more visited, because
situated in a fertile, plentiful, and populous country, better provided
with accommodations, always safe from the Indians, and
nearest to the more populous States.
In Louisa county, on the head waters of the South Ann branch
of York river, are springs of some medicinal virtue. They are
not much used however. There is a weak chalybeate at Richmond;
and many others in various parts of the country, which
are of too little worth, or too little note, to be enumerated after
those before mentioned.
We are told of a sulphur spring on Howard's creek of Greenbriar,
and another at Boonsborough on Kentucky.
In the low grounds of the Great Kanhaway, seven miles above
the mouth of Elk river, and sixty-seven above that of the Kanhaway
itself, is a hole in the earth of the capacity of thirty or
forty gallons, from which issues constantly a bituminous vapor,
in so strong a current as to give to the sand about its orifice the
motion which it has in a boiling spring. On presenting a lighted
candle or torch within eighteen inches of the hole it flames
up in a column of eighteen inches in diameter, and four or five
feet height, which sometimes burns out within twenty minutes,
and at other times has been known to continue three days, and
then has been still left burning. The flame is unsteady, of the
density of that of burning spirits, and smells like burning pit
coal. Water sometimes collects in the basin, which is remarkably
cold, and is kept in ebullition by the vapor issuing through
it. If the vapor be fired in that state, the water soon becomes
so warm that the hand cannot bear it, and evaporates wholly in
a short time. This, with the circumjacent lands, is the property
of His Excellency General Washington and of General Lewis.
There is a similar one on Sandy river, the flame of which is
a column of about twelve inches diameter, and three feet high.
General Clarke, who informs me of it, kindled the vapor, staid
about an hour, and left it burning.
The mention of uncommon springs leads me to that of Syphon
fountains. There is one of these near the intersection of
the Lord Fairfax's boundary with the North mountain, not far
from Brock's gap, on the stream of which is a grist mill, which
grinds two bushel of grain at every flood of the spring; another
near Cow-pasture river, a mile and a half below its confluence
with the Bull-pasture river, and sixteen or seventeen miles from
Hot springs, which intermits once in every twelve hours; one
also near the mouth of the north Holston.
After these may be mentioned the _Natural Well_, on the lands
of a Mr. Lewis in Frederick county. It is somewhat larger than
a common well; the water rises in it as near the surface of the
earth as in the neighboring artificial wells, and is of a depth as
yet unknown. It is said there is a current in it tending sensibly
downwards. If this be true, it probably feeds some fountain,
of which it is the natural reservoir, distinguished from others,
like that of Madison's cave, by being accessible. It is used
with a bucket and windlass as an ordinary well.
A complete catalogue of the trees, plants, fruits, &c., is probably
not desired. I will sketch out those which would principally
attract notice, as being first, Medicinal; second, Esculent;
third, Ornamental; or four, useful for fabrication; adding the
Linnæan to the popular names, as the latter might not convey
precise information to a foreigner. I shall confine myself too to
native plants.
1. Senna. Cassia ligustrina.
Arsmart. Polygonum Sagittatum.
Clivers, or goose-grass. Galium spurium.
Lobelia of several species.
Palma Christi. Ricinus.
(3,) Jamestown weed. Datura Stramonium.
Mallow. Malva rotundafolia.
Syrian mallow. Hibiscus moschentos.
Hibiscus Virginicus.
Indian mallow. Sida rhombifolia.
Sida abutilon.
Virginia marshmallow. Napæa hermaphrodita.
Napæa dioica.
Indian physic. Spirea trifoliata.
Euphorbia Ipecacuanhæ.
Pleurisy root. Asclepias decumbens.
Virginia snake-root. Aristolochia serpentaria.
Black snake-root. Actæa racemosa.
Seneca rattlesnake-root. Polygala Senega.
Valerian. Valeriana locusta radiata.
Gentiana, Saponaria, Villosa & Centaurium.
Ginseng. Panax quinquefolius.
Angelica. Angelica sylvestris.
Cassava. Jatropha urens.
2. Tuckahoe. Lycoperdon tuber.
Jerusalem artichoke. Helianthus tuberosus.
Long potatoes. Convolvulus batatas.
Granadillas. Maycocks, Maracocks, Passiflora incarnata.
Panic. Panicum of many species.
Indian millet. Holcus laxus.
Indian millet. Holcus striosus.
Wild oat. Zizania aquatica.
Wild pea. Dolichos of Clayton.
Lupine. Lupinus perennis.
Wild hop. Humulus lupulus.
Wild cherry. Prunus Virginiana.
Cherokee plum. Prunus sylvestris fructu majori. Clayton.}
Wild plum. Prunus sylvestris fructu minori. Clayton. }
Wild crab apple. Pyrus coronaria.
Red mulberry. Morus rubra.
Persimmon. Diospiros Virginiana.
Sugar maple. Acer saccarinum.
Scaly bark hiccory. Juglans alba cortice squamoso. Clayton.
Common hiccory. Juglans alba, fructu minore rancido. Clayton.
Paccan, or Illinois nut. Not described by Linnæus, Millar, or Clayton.
Were I to venture to describe this, speaking of the fruit from memory,
and of the leaf from plants of two years' growth, I should specify it as
Juglans alba, foliolis lanceolatis, acuminatis, serratis, tomentosis, fructu
minore, ovato, compresso, vix insculpto, dulci, putamine tenerrimo. It
grows on the Illinois, Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi. It is spoken of
by Don Ulloa under the name of Pacanos, in his Noticias Americanas.
Entret. 6.
Black walnut. Juglans nigra.
White walnut. Juglans alba.
Chesnut. Fagus castanea.
Chinquapin. Fagus pumila.
Hazlenut. Corylus avellana.
Grapes. Vitis. Various kinds; though only three described by Clayton.
Scarlet strawberries. Fragaria Virginiana of Millar.
Whortleberries. Vaccinium uliginosum.
Wild gooseberries. Ribes grossularia.
Cranberries. Vaccinium oxycoccos.
Black raspberries. Rubus occidentalis.
Blackberries. Rubus fruticosus.
Dewberries. Rubus cæsius.
Cloudberries. Rubus Chamæmorus.
3. Plane tree. Platanus occidentalis.
Poplar. Liriodendron tulipifera.
Populus heterophylla.
Black poplar. Populus nigra.
Aspen. Populus tremula.
Linden, or lime. Telia Americana.
Red flowering maple. Acer rubrum.
Horse-chesnut, or buck's-eye. Æsculus pavia.
Catalpa. Bignonia catalpa.
Umbrella. Magnolia tripetala.
Swamp laurel. Magnolia glauca.
Cucumber-tree. Magnolia acuminata.
Portugal bay. Laurus indica.
Red bay. Laurus borbonia.
Dwarf-rose bay. Rhododendron maximum.
Laurel of the western country. Qu. species?
Wild pimento. Laurus benzoin.
Sassafras. Laurus sassafras.
Locust. Robinia pseudo-acacia.
Honey-locust. Gleditsia. 1. _b_
Dogwood. Cornus florida.
Fringe, or snow-drop tree. Chionanthus Virginica.
Barberry. Barberis vulgaris.
Redbud, or Judas-tree. Cercis Canadensis.
Holly. Ilex aquifolium.
Cockspur hawthorn. Cratægus coccinea.
Spindle-tree. Euonymus Europæus.
Evergreen spindle-tree. Euonymus Americanus.
Itea Virginica.
Elder. Sambucus nigra.
Papaw. Annona triloba.
Candleberry myrtle. Myrica cerifera.
Dwarf laurel. Kalmia angustifolia} called ivy with us.
Kalmia latifolia }
Ivy. Hedera quinquefolia.
Trumpet honeysuckle. Lonicera sempervirens.
Upright honeysuckle. Azalea nudiflora.
Yellow jasmine. Bignonia sempervirens.
Calycanthus floridus.
American aloe. Agave Virginica.
Sumach. Rhus. Qu. species?
Poke. Phytolacca decandra.
Long moss. Tillandsia Usneoides.
4. Reed. Arundo phragmitis.
Virginia hemp. Acnida cannabina.
Flax. Linum Virginianum.
Black, or pitch-pine. Pinus tæda.
White pine. Pinus strobus.
Yellow pine. Pinus Virginica.
Spruce pine. Pinus foliis singularibus. Clayton.
Hemlock spruce Fir. Pinus Canadensis.
Arbor vitæ. Thuya occidentalis.
Juniper. Juniperus Virginica (called cedar with us.)
Cypress. Cupressus disticha.
White cedar. Cupressus Thyoides.
Black oak. Quercus nigra.
White oak. Quercus alba.
Red oak. Quercus rubra.
Willow oak. Quercus phellos.
Chesnut oak. Quercus prinus.
Black jack oak. Quercus aquatica. Clayton.
Ground oak. Quercus pumila. Clayton.
Live oak. Quercus Virginiana. Millar.
Black birch. Betula nigra.
White birch. Betula alba.
Beach. Fagus sylvatica.
Ash. Fraxinus Americana.
Fraxinus Novæ Angliæ. Millar.
Elm. Ulmus Americana.
Willow. Salix. Qu. species?
Sweet gum. Liquidambar styraciflua.
The following were found in Virginia when first visited by
the English; but it is not said whether of spontaneous growth,
or by cultivation only. Most probably they were natives of
more southern climates, and handed along the continent from
one nation to another of the savages.
Tobacco. Nicotiana.
Maize. Zea mays.
Round potatoes. Solanum tuberosum.
Pumpkins. Cucurbita pepo.
Cymlings. Cucurbita verrucosa.
Squashes. Cucurbita melopepo.
There is an infinitude of other plants and flowers, for an
enumeration and scientific description of which I must refer to
the Flora Virginica of our great botanist, Dr. Clayton, published
by Gronovius at Leyden, in 1762. This accurate observer was
a native and resident of this State, passed a long life in exploring
and describing its plants, and is supposed to have enlarged
the botanical catalogue as much as almost any man who has
lived.
Besides these plants, which are native, our _farms_ produce
wheat, rye, barley, oats, buck-wheat, broom corn, and Indian
corn. The climate suits rice well enough, wherever the lands
do. Tobacco, hemp, flax, and cotton, are staple commodities.
Indigo yields two cuttings. The silk-worm is a native, and the
mulberry, proper for its food, grows kindly.
We cultivate, also, potatoes, both the long and the round, turnips,
carrots, parsnips, pumkins, and ground nuts (Arachis.)
Our grasses are lucerne, st. foin, burnet, timothy, ray, and
orchard grass; red, white, and yellow clover; greensward, blue
grass, and crab grass.
The _gardens_ yield musk-melons, water-melons, tomatoes,
okra, pomegranates, figs, and the esculant plants of Europe.
The _orchards_ produce apples, pears, cherries, quinces, peaches,
nectarines, apricots, almonds, and plums.
Our quadrupeds have been mostly described by Linnæus and
Mons. de Buffon. Of these the mammoth, or big buffalo, as
called by the Indians, must certainly have been the largest.
Their tradition is, that he was carnivorous, and still exists in the
northern parts of America. A delegation of warriors from the
Delaware tribe having visited the Governor of Virginia, during
the revolution, on matters of business, after these had been discussed
and settled in council, the Governor asked them some
questions relative to their country, and among others, what they
knew or had heard of the animal whose bones were found at the
Saltlicks on the Ohio. Their chief speaker immediately put
himself into an attitude of oratory, and with a pomp suited to
what he conceived the elevation of his subject, informed him
that it was a tradition handed down from their fathers, "That
in ancient times a herd of these tremendous animals came to the
Big-bone licks, and began an universal destruction of the bear,
deer, elks, buffaloes, and other animals which had been created
for the use of the Indians; that the Great Man above, looking
down and seeing this, was so enraged that he seized his lightning,
descended on the earth, seated himself on a neighboring
mountain, on a rock of which his seat and the print of his feet
are still to be seen, and hurled his bolts among them till the
whole were slaughtered, except the big bull, who presenting his
forehead to the shafts, shook them off as they fell; but missing
one at length, it wounded him in the side; whereon, springing
round, he bounded over the Ohio, over the Wabash, the Illinois,
and finally over the great lakes, where he is living at this day."
It is well known, that on the Ohio, and in many parts of America
further north, tusks, grinders, and skeletons of unparalleled magnitude,
are found in great numbers, some lying on the surface of
the earth, and some a little below it. A Mr. Stanley, taken
prisoner near the mouth of the Tennessee, relates, that after being
transferred through several tribes, from one to another, he was
at length carried over the mountains west of the Missouri to a
river which runs westwardly; that these bones abounded there,
and that the natives described to him the animal to which they
belonged as still existing in the northern parts of their country;
from which description he judged it to be an elephant. Bones
of the same kind have been lately found, some feet below the
surface of the earth, in salines opened on the North Holston, a
branch of the Tennessee, about the latitude of 36½° north. From
the accounts published in Europe, I suppose it to be decided
that these are of the same kind with those found in Siberia.
Instances are mentioned of like animal remains found in the
more southern climates of both hemispheres; but they are either
so loosely mentioned as to leave a doubt of the fact, so inaccurately
described as not to authorize the classing them with the
great northern bones, or so rare as to found a suspicion that they
have been carried thither as curiosities from the northern regions.
So that, on the whole, there seem to be no certain vestiges of
the existence of this animal farther south than the salines just
mentioned. It is remarkable that the tusks and skeletons have
been ascribed by the naturalists of Europe to the elephant, while
the grinders have been given to the hippopotamus, or river horse.
Yet it is acknowledged, that the tusks and skeletons are much
larger than those of the elephant, and the grinders many times
greater than those of the hippopotamus, and essentially different
in form. Wherever these grinders are found, there also we find
the tusks and skeleton; but no skeleton of the hippopotamus nor
grinders of the elephant. It will not be said that the hippopotamus
and elephant came always to the same spot, the former to
deposit his grinders, and the latter his tusks and skeleton. For
what became of the parts not deposited there? We must agree
then, that these remains belong to each other, that they are of
one and the same animal, that this was not a hippopotamus, because
the hippopotamus had no tusks, nor such a frame, and because
the grinders differ in their size as well as in the number
and form of their points. That this was not an elephant, I think
ascertained by proofs equally decisive. I will not avail myself
of the authority of the celebrated[4] anatomist, who, from an examination
of the form and structure of the tusks, has declared
they were essentially different from those of the elephant; because
another[5] anatomist, equally celebrated, has declared, on a
like examination, that they are precisely the same. Between
two such authorities I will suppose this circumstance equivocal.
But, 1. The skeleton of the mammoth (for so the incognitum
has been called) bespeaks an animal of five or six times the cubic
volume of the elephant, as Mons. de Buffon has admitted. 2.
The grinders are five times as large, are square, and the grinding
surface studded with four or five rows of blunt points; whereas those
of the elephant are broad and thin, and their grinding surface flat.
3. I have never heard an instance, and suppose there has been
none, of the grinder of an elephant being found in America. 4.
From the known temperature and constitution of the elephant,
he could never have existed in those regions where the remains
of the mammoth have been found. The elephant is a native
only of the torrid zone and its vicinities; if, with the assistance
of warm apartments and warm clothing, he has been preserved
in the temperate climates of Europe, it has only been for a
small portion of what would have been his natural period, and
no instance of his multiplication in them has ever been known.
But no bones of the mammoth, as I have before observed, have
been ever found further south than the salines of Holston, and
they have been found as far north as the Arctic circle. Those,
therefore, who are of opinion that the elephant and mammoth
are the same, must believe, 1. That the elephant known to us
can exist and multiply in the frozen zone; or, 2. That an eternal
fire may once have warmed those regions, and since abandoned
them, of which, however, the globe exhibits no unequivocal indications;
or, 3. That the obliquity of the ecliptic, when these
elephants lived, was so great as to include within the tropics all
those regions in which the bones are found; the tropics being,
as is before observed, the natural limits of habitation for the elephant.
But if it be admitted that this obliquity has really decreased,
and we adopt the highest rate of decrease yet pretended,
that is, of one minute in a century, to transfer the northern tropic
to the Arctic circle, would carry the existence of these supposed
elephants two hundred and fifty thousand years back; a period
far beyond our conception of the duration of animal bones less
exposed to the open air than these are in many instances. Besides,
though these regions would then be supposed within the
tropics, yet their winters would have been too severe for the
sensibility of the elephant. They would have had, too, but one
day and one night in the year, a circumstance to which we have
no reason to suppose the nature of the elephant fitted. However,
it has been demonstrated, that, if a variation of obliquity
in the ecliptic takes place at all, it is vibratory, and never exceeds
the limits of nine degrees, which is not sufficient to bring
these bones within the tropics. One of these hypotheses, or
some other equally voluntary and inadmissible to cautious philosophy,
must be adopted to support the opinion that these are the
bones of the elephant. For my own part, I find it easier to believe
that an animal may have existed, resembling the elephant
in his tusks, and general anatomy, while his nature was in other
respects extremely different. From the 30th degree of south
latitude to the 30th degree of north, are nearly the limits which
nature has fixed for the existence and multiplication of the elephant
known to us. Proceeding thence northwardly to 36½ degrees,
we enter those assigned to the mammoth. The farther
we advance north, the more their vestiges multiply as far as the
earth has been explored in that direction; and it is as probable
as otherwise, that this progression continues to the pole itself, if
land extends so far. The centre of the frozen zone, then, may
be the acme of their vigor, as that of the torrid is of the elephant.
Thus nature seems to have drawn a belt of separation
between these two tremendous animals, whose breadth, indeed,
is not precisely known, though at present we may suppose it
about 6½ degrees of latitude; to have assigned to the elephant
the regions south of these confines, and those north to the
mammoth, founding the constitution of the one in her extreme
of heat, and that of the other in the extreme of cold.
When the Creator has therefore separated their nature as far as
the extent of the scale of animal life allowed to this planet would
permit, it seems perverse to declare it the same, from a partial
resemblance of their tusks and bones. But to whatever animal
we ascribe these remains, it is certain such a one has existed in
America, and that it has been the largest of all terrestrial beings.
It should have sufficed to have rescued the earth it inhabited,
and the atmosphere it breathed, from the imputation of impotence
in the conception and nourishment of animal life on a large
scale; to have stifled, in its birth, the opinion of a writer, the
most learned, too, of all others in the science of animal history,
that in the new world, "La nature vivante est beaucoup moins
agissante, beaucoup moins forte:"[6] that nature is less active, less
energetic on one side of the globe than she is on the other. As
if both sides were not warmed by the same genial sun; as if a
soil of the same chemical composition was less capable of elaboration
into animal nutriment; as if the fruits and grains from
that soil and sun yielded a less rich chyle, gave less extension
to the solids and fluids of the body, or produced sooner in the
cartilages, membranes, and fibres, that rigidity which restrains all
further extension, and terminates animal growth. The truth is,
that a pigmy and a Patagonian, a mouse and a mammoth, derive
their dimensions from the same nutritive juices. The difference
of increment depends on circumstances unsearchable to beings
with our capacities. Every race of animals seems to have received
from their Maker certain laws of extension at the time of
their formation. Their elaborate organs were formed to produce
this, while proper obstacles were opposed to its further progress.
Below these limits they cannot fall, nor rise above them. What
intermediate station they shall take may depend on soil, on
climate, on food, on a careful choice of breeders. But all the
manna of heaven would never raise the mouse to the bulk of
the mammoth.
The opinion advanced by the Count de Buffon,[7] is 1. That
the animals common both to the old and new world are smaller
in the latter. 2. That those peculiar to the new are on a smaller
scale. 3. That those which have been domesticated in both
have degenerated in America; and 4. That on the whole it exhibits
fewer species. And the reason he thinks is, that the heats
of America are less; that more waters are spread over its surface
by nature, and fewer of these drained off by the hand of man.
In other words, that _heat_ is friendly, and _moisture_ adverse to the
production and development of large quadrupeds. I will not
meet this hypothesis on its first doubtful ground, whether the
climate of America be comparatively more humid? Because
we are not furnished with observations sufficient to decide this
question. And though, till it be decided, we are as free to deny
as others are to affirm the fact, yet for a moment let it be supposed.
The hypothesis, after this supposition, proceeds to another;
that _moisture_ is unfriendly to animal growth. The truth of
this is inscrutable to us by reasonings _à priori_. Nature has
hidden from us her _modus agendi_. Our only appeal on such
questions is to experience; and I think that experience is against
the supposition. It is by the assistance of _heat_ and _moisture_
that vegetables are elaborated from the elements of earth, air,
water, and fire. We accordingly see the more humid climates
produce the greater quantity of vegetables. Vegetables are mediately
or immediately the food of every animal; and in proportion
to the quantity of food, we see animals not only multiplied
in their numbers, but improved in their bulk, as far as the
laws of their nature will admit. Of this opinion is the Count
de Buffon himself in another part of his work;[8] "en general il
paroit ques les pays un peu _froids_ conviennent mieux á nos
boeufs que les pays chauds, et qu'ils sont d'autant plus gross et
plus grands que le climat est plus _humide_ et plus abondans en
paturages. Les boeufs de Danemarck, de la Podolie, de l'Ulkraine
et de la Tartarie qu habitent les Calmouques sont les plus
grands de tous." Here then a race of animals, and one of the
largest too, has been increased in its dimensions by _cold_ and
_moisture_, in direct opposition to the hypothesis, which supposes
that these two circumstances diminish animal bulk, and that it is
their contraries _heat_ and _dryness_ which enlarge it. But when
we appeal to experience we are not to rest satisfied with a single
fact. Let us, therefore, try our question on more general
ground. Let us take two portions of the earth, Europe and
America for instance, sufficiently extensive to give operation to
general causes; let us consider the circumstances peculiar to
each, and observe their effect on animal nature. America, running
through the torrid as well as temperate zone, has more _heat_
collectively taken, than Europe. But Europe, according to our
hypothesis, is the _dryest_. They are equally adapted then to
animal productions; each being endowed with one of those
causes which befriend animal growth, and with one which opposes
it. If it be thought unequal to compare Europe with
America, which is so much larger, I answer, not more so than to
compare America with the whole world. Besides, the purpose
of the comparison is to try an hypothesis, which makes the size
of animals depend on the _heat_ and _moisture_ of climate. If,
therefore, we take a region so extensive as to comprehend a sensible
distinction of climate, and so extensive too as that local accidents,
or the intercourse of animals on its borders, may not
materially affect the size of those in its interior parts, we shall
comply with those conditions which the hypothesis may reasonably
demand. The objection would be the weaker in the present
case, because any intercourse of animals which may take place
on the confines of Europe and Asia, is to the advantage of the
former, Asia producing certainly larger animals than Europe.
Let us then take a comparative view of the quadrupeds of Europe
and America, presenting them to the eye in three different
tables, in one of which shall be enumerated those found in both
countries; in a second, those found in one only; in a third,
those which have been domesticated in both. To facilitate the
comparison, let those of each table be arranged in gradation according
to their sizes, from the greatest to the smallest, so far as
their sizes can be conjectured. The weights of the large animals
shall be expressed in the English avoirdupois and its decimals;
those of the smaller, in the same ounce and its decimals.
Those which are marked thus *, are actual weights of particular
subjects, deemed among the largest of their species. Those
marked thus †, are furnished by judicious persons, well acquainted
with the species, and saying, from conjecture only, what the
largest individual they had seen would probably have weighed.
The other weights are taken from Messrs. Buffon and D'Aubenton,
and are of such subjects as came casually to their hands for
dissection. This circumstance must be remembered where their
weights and mine stand opposed; the latter being stated not to
produce a conclusion in favor of the American species, but to
justify a suspension of opinion until we are better informed, and
a suspicion, in the meantime, that there is no uniform difference
in favor of either; which is all I pretend.
_A comparative view of the Quadrupeds of Europe and of
America._
I. ABORIGINALS OF BOTH.
Europe. America.
lb. lb.
Mammoth
Buffalo. Bison *1800
White Bear. Ours blanc
Carribou. Renne
Bear. Ours 153.7 *410
Elk. Elan. Original palmated
Red deer. Cerf 288.8 *273
Fallow Deer. Daim 167.8
Wolf. Loup 69.8
Roe. Chevreuil 56.7
Glutton. Glouton. Carcajou
Wild cat. Chat sauvage †30
Lynx. Loup cervier 25.
Beaver. Castor 18.5 *45
Badger. Blaireau 13.6
Red fox. Renard 13.5
Gray fox. Isatis
Otter. Loutre 8.9 †12
Monax. Marmotte 6.5
Vison. Fouine 2.8
Hedgehog. Herisson 2.2
Marten. Marte 1.9 †6
oz.
Water rat. Rat d'eau 7.5
Weasel. Belette 2.2 oz.
Flying squirrel. Polatouche 2.2 †4
Shrew mouse. Musaraigne 1.
II. ABORIGINALS OF ONE ONLY.
EUROPE.
lb.
Sanglier. Wild boar 280.
Mouflon. Wild sheep 56.
Bouquetin. Wild goat
Lievre. Hare 7.6
Lapin. Rabbit 3.4
Putois. Polecat 3.3
Genette 3.1
Desman. Muskrat oz.
Ecureuil. Squirrel 12.
Hermine. Ermin 8.2
Rat. Rat 7.5
Loirs 3.1
Lerot. Dormouse 1.8
Taupe. Mole 1.2
Hampster .6
Zisel
Leming
Souris. Mouse .6
AMERICA
lb.
Tapir 534.
Elk, round horned †450.
Puma
Jaguar 218.
Cabiai 109.
Tamanoir 109.
Tammandua 65.4
Cougar of North-America 75.
Cougar of South-America 59.4
Ocelot
Pecari 46.3
Jaguaret 43.6
Alco
Lama
Paco
Paca 32.7
Serval
Sloth. Unau 27.25
Saricovienne
Kincajou
Tatou Kabassou 21.8
Urson. Urchin
Raccoon. Raton 16.5
Coati
Coendou 16.3
Sloth. Aï 13.
Sapajou Ouarini
Sapajou Coaita 9.8
Tatou Encubert
Tatou Apar
Tatou Cachiea 7.
Little Coendou 6.5
Opossum. Sarigu
Tapeti
Margay
Crabier
Agouti 4.2
Sapajou Saï 3.5
Tatou Cirquinçon
Tatou Tatouate 3.3
Mouffette Squash
Mouffette Chinche
Mouffette Conepate
Scunk
Mouffette. Zorilla
Whabus. Hare. Rabbit
Aperea
Akouchi
Ondatra. Muskrat
Pilori
Great gray squirrel †2.7
Fox squirrel of Virginia †2.625
Surikate 2.
Mink †2.
Sapajou. Sajou 1.8
Indian pig. Cochon d'Inde 1.6
Sapajou Saïmiri 1.5
Phalanger
Coqualain
Lesser gray squirrel †1.5
Black squirrel †1.5
oz.
Red squirrel 10.
Sagoin Saki
Sagoin Pinche
Sagoin Tamarin
Sagoin Ouistiti 4.4
Sagoin Marakine
Sagoin Mico
Cayopollin
Fourmillier
Marmose
Sarigue of Cayenne
Tucan
Red mole
Ground squirrel 4.
III. DOMESTICATED IN BOTH.
Europe. America.
lb. lb.
Cow 765. *2500
Horse *1366
Ass
Hog *1200
Sheep *125
Goat *80
Dog 67.6
Cat 7.
I have not inserted in the first table the Phoca,[9] nor leather-winged
bat, because the one living half the year in the water,
and the other being a winged animal, the individuals of each
species may visit both continents.
Of the animals in the first table, Monsieur de Buffon himself
informs us, [XXVII. 130, XXX. 213,] that the beaver, the
otter, and shrew mouse, though of the same species, are larger
in America than in Europe. This should therefore have corrected
the generality of his expressions, XVIII. 145, and elsewhere,
that the animals common to the two countries, are considerably
less in America than in Europe, "et cela sans aucune
exception." He tells us too, [Quadrup. VIII. 334, edit. Paris,
1777,] that on examining a bear from America, he remarked no
difference, "dans _la forme_ de cet ours d'Amerique comparé a
celui d'Europe," but adds from Bartram's journal, that an American
bear weighed four hundred pounds, English, equal to three
hundred and sixty-seven pounds French; whereas we find the European
bear examined by Mons. D'Aubenton, [XVII. 82,] weighed
but one hundred and forty-one pounds French. That the palmated
elk is larger in America than in Europe, we are informed
by Kalm,[10] a naturalist, who visited the former by public appointment,
for the express purpose of examining the subjects of natural
history. In this fact Pennant concurs with him. [Barrington's
Miscellanies.] The same Kalm tells us[11] that the black moose, or
renne of America, is as high as a tall horse; and Catesby,[12] that it is
about the bigness of a middle-sized ox. The same account of
their size has been given me by many who have seen them.
But Monsieur D'Aubenton says[13] that the renne of Europe is
about the size of a red deer. The weasel is larger in America
than in Europe, as may be seen by comparing its dimensions as
reported by Monsieur D'Aubenton[14] and Kalm. The latter tells
us,[15] that the lynx, badger, red fox, and flying squirrel, are the
_same_ in America as in Europe; by which expression I understand,
they are the same in all material circumstances, in size as
well as others; for if they were smaller, they would differ from
the European. Our gray fox is, by Catesby's account,[16] little
different in size and shape from the European fox. I presume
he means the red fox of Europe, as does Kalm, where he says,[17]
that in size "they do not quite come up to our foxes." For
proceeding next to the red fox of America, he says, "they are
entirely the same with the European sort;" which shows he had
in view one European sort only, which was the red. So that
the result of their testimony is, that the American gray fox is
somewhat less than the European red; which is equally true of
the gray fox of Europe, as may be seen by comparing the measures
of the Count de Buffon and Monsieur D'Aubenton.[18] The
white bear of America is as large as that of Europe. The bones
of the mammoth which has been found in America, are as large
as those found in the old world. It may be asked, why I insert
the mammoth, as if it still existed? I ask in return, why I should
omit it, as if it did not exist? Such is the economy of nature,
that no instance can be produced, of her having permitted any
one race of her animals to become extinct; of her having formed
any link in her great work so weak as to be broken. To add
to this, the traditionary testimony of the Indians, that this animal
still exists in the northern and western parts of America, would
be adding the light of a taper to that of the meridian sun. Those
parts still remain in their aboriginal state, unexplored and undisturbed
by us, or by others for us. He may as well exist there
now, as he did formerly where we find his bones. If he be a
carnivorous animal, as some anatomists have conjectured, and
the Indians affirm, his early retirement may be accounted for
from the general destruction of the wild game by the Indians,
which commences in the first instant of their connection with
us, for the purpose of purchasing match-coats, hatchets, and firelocks,
with their skins. There remain then the buffalo, red
deer, fallow deer, wolf, roe, glutton, wild cat, monax, bison,
hedgehog, marten, and water-rat, of the comparative sizes of
which we have not sufficient testimony. It does not appear
that Messieurs de Buffon and D'Aubenton have measured, weighed,
or seen those of America. It is said of some of them, by some
travellers, that they are smaller than the European. But who
were these travellers? Have they not been men of a very different
description from those who have laid open to us the other
three quarters of the world? Was natural history the object of
their travels? Did they measure or weigh the animals they
speak of? or did they not judge of them by sight, or perhaps
even from report only? Were they acquainted with the animals
of their own country, with which they undertake to compare
them? Have they not been so ignorant as often to mistake the
species? A true answer to these questions would probably lighten
their authority, so as to render it insufficient for the foundation
of an hypothesis. How unripe we yet are, for an accurate comparison
of the animals of the two countries, will appear from the
work of Monsieur de Buffon. The ideas we should have formed
of the sizes of some animals, from the information he had received
at his first publications concerning them, are very different
from what his subsequent communications give us. And indeed
his candor in this can never be too much praised. One sentence
of his book must do him immortal honor. "J'aime autant une
personne qui me releve d'une erreur, qu'une autre qui m'apprend
une verité, parce qu'en effet une erreur corrigée est une verité."[19]
He seems to have thought the cabiai he first examined wanted
little of its full growth. "Il n'etoit pas encore tout-a-fait
adulte."[20] Yet he weighed but forty-six and a half pounds, and
he found afterwards,[21] that these animals, when full grown, weigh
one hundred pounds. He had supposed, from the examination
of a jaguar,[22] said to be two years old, which weighed but sixteen
pounds twelve ounces, that when he should have acquired
his full growth, he would not be larger than a middle-sized dog.
But a subsequent account[23] raises his weight to two hundred
pounds. Further information will, doubtless, produce further
corrections. The wonder is, not that there is yet something in
this great work to correct, but that there is so little. The result
of this view then is, that of twenty-six quadrupeds common to
both countries, seven are said to be larger in America, seven of
equal size, and twelve not sufficiently examined. So that the
first table impeaches the first member of the assertion, that of
the animals common to both countries, the American are smallest,
"et cela sans aucune exception." It shows it is not just, in all the
latitude in which its author has advanced it, and probably not to
such a degree as to found a distinction between the two countries.
Proceeding to the second table, which arranges the animals
found in one of the two countries only, Monsieur de Buffon observes,
that the tapir, the elephant of America, is but of the size
of a small cow. To preserve our comparison, I will add, that
the wild boar, the elephant of Europe, is little more than half
that size. I have made an elk with round or cylindrical horns
an animal of America, and peculiar to it; because I have seen
many of them myself, and more of their horns; and because I
can say, from the best information, that, in Virginia, this kind
of elk has abounded much, and still exists in smaller numbers;
and I could never learn that the palmated kind had been seen
here at all. I suppose this confined to the more northern latitudes.[24]
I have made our hare or rabbit peculiar, believing it
to be different from both the European animals of those denominations,
and calling it therefore by its Algonquin name,
Whabus, to keep it distinct from these. Kalm is of the same
opinion.[25] I have enumerated the squirrels according to our own
knowledge, derived from daily sight of them, because I am not
able to reconcile with that the European appellations and descriptions.
I have heard of other species, but they have never
come within my own notice. These, I think, are the only instances
in which I have departed from the authority of Monsieur
de Buffon in the construction of this table. I take him for my
ground work, because I think him the best informed of any
naturalist who has ever written. The result is, that there are
eighteen quadrupeds peculiar to Europe; more than four times
as many, to wit, seventy four, peculiar to America; that the[26]
first of these seventy-four weighs more than the whole column
of Europeans; and consequently this second table disproves the
second member of the assertion, that the animals peculiar to the
new world are on a smaller scale, so far as that assertion relied
on European animals for support; and it is in full opposition to
the theory which makes the animal volume to depend on the
circumstances of _heat_ and _moisture_.