Saturday, March 2.

Yeas.—Willis Alston, jr., Isaac Anderson, David Bard, William Blackledge, Walter Bowie, Adam Boyd, Robert Brown, Joseph Bryan, William Butler, Levi Casey, Thomas Claiborne, Joseph Clay, George Clinton, jun., John Clopton, Frederick Conrad, Jacob Crowninshield, Richard Cutts, John Dawson, John B. Earle, Peter Early, John W. Eppes, William Findlay, John Fowler, Peterson Goodwyn, Andrew Gregg, John A. Hanna, Josiah Hasbrouck, Jas. Holland, David Holmes, John G. Jackson, Walter Jones, Nehemiah Knight, Michael Leib, J. B. C. Lucas, Andrew McCord, William McCreery, Nicholas R. Moore, Thomas Moore, Jeremiah Morrow, Roger Nelson, Thomas Newton, jun., Joseph H. Nicholson, Gideon Olin, Beriah Palmer, Oliver Phelps, John Randolph, John Rea of Pennsylvania, John Rhea of Tennessee, Jacob Richards, Samuel Riker, Cæsar A. Rodney, Thomas Sammons, Ebenezer Seaver, James Sloan, John Smilie, Henry Southard, Richard Stanford, Joseph Stanton, John Stewart, David Thomas, Philip R. Thompson, Isaac Van Horne, Joseph B. Varnum, Matthew Walton, John Whitehill, Alexander Wilson, Richard Wynn, and Thomas Wynns.Nays.—Nathaniel Alexander, Simeon Baldwin, Silas Betton, William Chamberlin, Martin Chittenden, Clifton Claggett, Manasseh Cutler, Samuel W. Dana, John Davenport, Thomas Dwight, James Elliot, Ebenezer Elmer, Calvin Goddard, Gaylord Griswold, Roger Griswold, Seth Hastings, William Helms, John Hoge, Benj. Huger, Simon Larned, Thomas Lowndes, Nahum Mitchell, Erastus Root, William Stedman, Samuel Taggart, Benjamin Tallmadge, Samuel Tenney, Samuel Thatcher, George Tibbits, Killian K. Van Rensselaer, Peleg Wadsworth, Lemuel Williams, and Marmaduke Williams.

Nays.—Nathaniel Alexander, Simeon Baldwin, Silas Betton, William Chamberlin, Martin Chittenden, Clifton Claggett, Manasseh Cutler, Samuel W. Dana, John Davenport, Thomas Dwight, James Elliot, Ebenezer Elmer, Calvin Goddard, Gaylord Griswold, Roger Griswold, Seth Hastings, William Helms, John Hoge, Benj. Huger, Simon Larned, Thomas Lowndes, Nahum Mitchell, Erastus Root, William Stedman, Samuel Taggart, Benjamin Tallmadge, Samuel Tenney, Samuel Thatcher, George Tibbits, Killian K. Van Rensselaer, Peleg Wadsworth, Lemuel Williams, and Marmaduke Williams.

Another motion was made, and the question being put, that the said resolution be the order of the day for the first Monday in December next, it was resolved in the affirmative.

On a motion made by Mr.Nicholson,

Resolved, That the following article, when adopted by two-thirds of both Houses of Congress, and by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the respective States, shall become a part of the Constitution of the United States, viz:That the Legislature of any State may, whenever the said Legislature shall think proper, recall, at any period whatever, any Senator of the United States, who may have been elected by them; and whenever a vote of the Legislature of any State, vacating the seat of any Senator of the United States, who may have been elected by the said State, shall be made known to the Senate of the United States, the seat of such Senator shall thenceforth be vacated:

That the Legislature of any State may, whenever the said Legislature shall think proper, recall, at any period whatever, any Senator of the United States, who may have been elected by them; and whenever a vote of the Legislature of any State, vacating the seat of any Senator of the United States, who may have been elected by the said State, shall be made known to the Senate of the United States, the seat of such Senator shall thenceforth be vacated:

A motion was made and seconded, that the said proposed resolution be referred to the consideration of a Committee of the whole House; and the question being taken thereupon, it was resolved in the affirmative—yeas, 53, nays 46, as follows:

Yeas.—Willis Alston, junior, Isaac Anderson, David Bard, Walter Bowie, Robert Brown, Joseph Bryan, William Butler, Levi Casey, Thomas Claiborne, Joseph Clay, George Clinton, jun., John Clopton, Frederick Conrad, John Dawson, John B. Earle, Peter Early, J. W. Eppes, Peterson Goodwyn, Andrew Gregg, John A. Hanna, Josiah Hasbrouck, Joseph Heister, James Holland, David Holmes, Nehemiah Knight, Michael Leib, Andrew McCord, William McCreery, Nicholas R. Moore, Thomas Moore, Jeremiah Morrow, Roger Nelson, Anthony New, Thomas Newton, jun., Joseph H. Nicholson, Gideon Olin, Beriah Palmer, John Randolph, John Rea of Pennsylvania, John Rhea of Tennessee, Jacob Richards, Thomas Sammons, Ebenezer Seaver, James Sloan, Richard Stanford, Joseph Stanton, John Stewart, Philip R. Thompson, Abram Trigg, John Whitehill, Alexander Wilson, Richard Wynn, and Thomas Wynns.Nays.—Nathaniel Alexander, Simeon Baldwin, Silas Betton, William Blackledge, Adam Boyd, William Chamberlin, Martin Chittenden, Clifton Claggett, Jacob Crowninshield, Manasseh Cutler, Richard Cutts, John Davenport, Thomas Dwight, James Elliot, Ebenezer Elmer, William Findlay, John Fowler, Gaylord Griswold, Roger Griswold, Seth Hastings, William Helms, David Hough, Benjamin Huger, John G. Jackson, William Kennedy, Simon Larned, Thomas Lowndes, John B. C. Lucas, Nahum Mitchell, Oliver Phelps, Erastus Root, John Smilie, Henry Southard, William Stedman, Samuel Taggart, Benjamin Tallmadge, Samuel Tenney, Samuel Thatcher, David Thomas, George Tibbits, Killian K. Van Rensselaer, Joseph B. Varnum, Peleg Wadsworth, Lemuel Williams, and Marmaduke Williams.

Nays.—Nathaniel Alexander, Simeon Baldwin, Silas Betton, William Blackledge, Adam Boyd, William Chamberlin, Martin Chittenden, Clifton Claggett, Jacob Crowninshield, Manasseh Cutler, Richard Cutts, John Davenport, Thomas Dwight, James Elliot, Ebenezer Elmer, William Findlay, John Fowler, Gaylord Griswold, Roger Griswold, Seth Hastings, William Helms, David Hough, Benjamin Huger, John G. Jackson, William Kennedy, Simon Larned, Thomas Lowndes, John B. C. Lucas, Nahum Mitchell, Oliver Phelps, Erastus Root, John Smilie, Henry Southard, William Stedman, Samuel Taggart, Benjamin Tallmadge, Samuel Tenney, Samuel Thatcher, David Thomas, George Tibbits, Killian K. Van Rensselaer, Joseph B. Varnum, Peleg Wadsworth, Lemuel Williams, and Marmaduke Williams.

Another motion was then made, and the question being put, that the said resolution be the order of the day for the first Monday in December next, it was resolved in the affirmative—yeas 70, nays 28.

The House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the bill, sent from the Senate, entitled “An act to amend an act, entitled ‘An act for imposing more specific duties on the importation of certain articles; and, also, for levying and collecting light money on foreign ships or vessels,’” to which the Committee of Ways and Means, to whom it had been referred, reported no amendment, on the eighteenth of January last; and, after some time spent therein, the Committee reported the same to the House without amendment.

The House then proceeded to consider the said bill: Whereupon a motion was made and seconded that the further consideration thereof be postponed until the first Monday in December next, and the question being put thereon, it passed in the negative—yeas 43, nays 46, as follows:

Yeas.—David Bard, Silas Betton, Adam Boyd, William Butler, John Campbell, William Chamberlin, Martin Chittenden, Clifton Claggett, Frederick Conrad, Samuel W. Dana, John Davenport, Thomas Dwight, James Elliot, Ebenezer Elmer, John W. Eppes, Calvin Goddard, Peterson Goodwyn, Andrew Gregg, Gaylord Griswold, Roger Griswold, John Hoge, David Hough, Benjamin Huger, Samuel Hunt, John G. Jackson, Thomas Lowndes, John B. C. Lucas, Nahum Mitchell, Beriah Palmer, Thomas Plater, John Rea of Pennsylvania, John Rhea of Tennessee, Thomas Sammons, Thomas Sanford, Henry Southard, Richard Stanford, William Stedman, John Stewart, Samuel Taggart, Benj. Tallmadge, Samuel Tenney, Samuel Thatcher, and George Tibbits.Nays.—Willis Alston, jun., Nathaniel Alexander, Isaac Anderson, William Blackledge, Walter Bowie, Robert Brown, Joseph Clay, Matthew Clay, John Clopton, Jacob Crowninshield, John Dawson, John Fowler, Josiah Hasbrouck, James Holland, David Holmes, William Kennedy, Nehemiah Knight, Simon Larned, Michael Leib, Matthew Lyon, Andrew McCord, William McCreery, Nicholas R. Moore, Thomas Moore, Jeremiah Morrow, Roger Nelson, Anthony New, Thomas Newton, jr., Joseph H. Nicholson, Gideon Olin, John Randolph, Thomas Mann Randolph, Jacob Richards, James Sloan, John Smilie, Joseph Stanton, Philip R. Thompson, Abram Trigg, Joseph B. Varnum, John Whitehill, Lemuel Williams, Alexander Wilson, Richard Wynn, Joseph Winston, and Thomas Wynns.

Nays.—Willis Alston, jun., Nathaniel Alexander, Isaac Anderson, William Blackledge, Walter Bowie, Robert Brown, Joseph Clay, Matthew Clay, John Clopton, Jacob Crowninshield, John Dawson, John Fowler, Josiah Hasbrouck, James Holland, David Holmes, William Kennedy, Nehemiah Knight, Simon Larned, Michael Leib, Matthew Lyon, Andrew McCord, William McCreery, Nicholas R. Moore, Thomas Moore, Jeremiah Morrow, Roger Nelson, Anthony New, Thomas Newton, jr., Joseph H. Nicholson, Gideon Olin, John Randolph, Thomas Mann Randolph, Jacob Richards, James Sloan, John Smilie, Joseph Stanton, Philip R. Thompson, Abram Trigg, Joseph B. Varnum, John Whitehill, Lemuel Williams, Alexander Wilson, Richard Wynn, Joseph Winston, and Thomas Wynns.

And then the main question being taken, that the said bill do pass, it was resolved in the affirmative.

An engrossed bill further to provide for the accommodation of the President of the United States, was read the third time, and passed.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate have passed a bill, entitled “An act supplementary to an act, entitled ‘An act making an appropriation for carrying into effect the Convention between the United States of America and His Britannic Majesty;’” to which they desire the concurrence of this House.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate have passed the bill, entitled “An act supplementary to the act, entitled ‘An act making provision for the disposal of the public lands in the Indiana Territory, and for other purposes,’” with an amendment; to which they desire the concurrence of this House; also, the bill, entitled “An act further to alter and establish certain post roads, and for other purposes,” with several amendments; to which they desire the concurrence of this House.

The House proceeded to consider the amendment proposed by the Senate to the bill, entitled “An act supplementary to the act, entitled ‘An act making provision for the disposal of the public lands in the Indiana Territory and for other purposes:’” Whereupon,

Resolved, That this House doth agree to the said amendment.

Mr.Varnum, one of the members for the State of Massachusetts, presented to the House a letter from the Governor of the said State, enclosing an attested copy of two concurrentresolutions of the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Massachusetts, passed the fifteenth of February in the present year, “instructing the Senators and requesting the Representatives in Congress, from the said State, to take all legal and necessary steps, to use their utmost exertions, as soon as the same is practicable, to obtain an amendment to the Federal Constitution, so as to authorize and empower the Congress of the United States to pass a law, whenever they may deem it expedient, to prevent the further importation of slaves from any of the West India islands, from the coast of Africa, or elsewhere, into the United States, or any part thereof:” Whereupon, a motion was made and seconded, that the House do come to the following resolution:

Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, That the following article be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as a part of the said constitution, to wit:“That the Congress of the United States shall have power to prevent the further importation of slaves into the United States and the Territories thereof.”

“That the Congress of the United States shall have power to prevent the further importation of slaves into the United States and the Territories thereof.”

The said proposed resolution was read, and ordered to lie on the table.

The resolutions sent from the Senate, “expressive of the sense of Congress of the gallant conduct of Commodore Edward Preble, the officers, seamen, and marines, of his squadron,” together with the amendments agreed to this day, were read the third time; and on the question that the same do pass, it was unanimously resolved in the affirmative.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate insist on their amendments disagreed to by this House to the bill, entitled “An act making an appropriation for the payment of witnesses summoned on the part of the United States, in support of the impeachment of Samuel Chase,” and desire a conference with this House on the subject-matter of the said amendments; to which conference the Senate have appointed managers, on their part.

The Senate have agreed to the amendments proposed by this House to the resolutions “expressive of the sense of Congress of the gallant conduct of Commodore Edward Preble, the officers, seamen, and marines, of his squadron,” with amendments; to which they desire the concurrence of this House.

The order of the day for the House to resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole on the bill to authorize the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia to decree divorces in certain cases, being called for, a motion was made, and the question being put, that the said order of the day be postponed until the first Monday in December next, it was resolved in the affirmative.

A motion was then made and seconded, that the House do come to the following resolutions:

Resolved, That the Clerk of this House be, and he is hereby, directed to pay out of the contingent fund of this House, to every witness summoned on behalf of the House of Representatives, to attend the Senate in support of the impeachment of Samuel Chase, for every day’s attendance, the sum of three dollars, and the further sum of twenty cents for each mile in coming from and returning to his place of abode.Resolved, That the Clerk be likewise directed to pay, out of the said fund, any other expense incurred by order of the managers of the said impeachment, and certified by their chairman.

Resolved, That the Clerk be likewise directed to pay, out of the said fund, any other expense incurred by order of the managers of the said impeachment, and certified by their chairman.

On which motion, various efforts were made to obtain a decision of the House on the previous question, “that the House do now proceed to consider the said motion;” but no result could, in any instance, be obtained for the want of a quorum.

After which, a quorum being present,

A message from the Senate informed the House, that the Senate have appointed a committee, on their part, jointly with such committee as may be appointed on the part of this House, to wait on the President of the United States, and notify him of the proposed recess of Congress.

The House proceeded to consider the foregoing message of the Senate, and

Resolved, That this House do agree to the same, and that Mr.John Randolph, Mr.Huger, and Mr.Nelson, be appointed of the said committee, on the part of this House.

Mr.John Randolph, from the committee appointed on the part of this House, jointly with the committee appointed on the part of the Senate, to wait on the President of the United States, and notify him of the proposed recess of Congress, reported that the committee had performed that service; and that the President signified to them that he had no further communication to make during the present session.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate, having finished the legislative business before them, are now ready to adjourn.

Ordered, That a message be sent to the Senate to inform them that this House, having completed the business before them, are now about to adjourn, without day; and that the Clerk of this House do go with the said message.

The Clerk, accordingly, went with the said message; and, being returned,

TheSpeakeradjourned the House,sine die.[27]

BEGUN AT THE CITY OF WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 2, 1805.

PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE.

New Hampshire.—William Plumer, Nathaniel Gilman.

Vermont.—Stephen R. Bradley, Israel Smith.

Massachusetts.—John Quincy Adams, Timothy Pickering.

Rhode Island.—James Fenner, Benjamin Howland.

Connecticut.—James Hillhouse, Uriah Tracy.

New York.—Samuel L. Mitchill, John Smith.

New Jersey.—John Condit, Aaron Kitchel.

Pennsylvania.—George Logan, Samuel Maclay.

Delaware.—Samuel White, James A. Bayard.

Maryland.—Samuel Smith, Robert Wright.

Virginia.—Andrew Moore.

North Carolina.—David Stone, James Turner.

South Carolina.—Thomas Sumter, John Gaillard.

Georgia.—Abraham Baldwin, James Jackson.

Tennessee.—Daniel Smith, Joseph Anderson.

Kentucky.—Buckner Thruston, John Adair.

Ohio.—Thomas Worthington, John Smith.

The first session of the Ninth Congress conformably to the Constitution of the United States, commenced this day, at the city of Washington, and the Senate assembled.

William PlumerandNicholas Gilman, from New Hampshire.

John Quincy AdamsandTimothy Pickering, from Massachusetts.

James HillhouseandUriah Tracy, from Connecticut.

James Fenner, from Rhode Island.

Stephen R. BradleyandIsrael Smith, from Vermont.

Samuel L. Mitchill, from New York.

John ConditandAaron Kitchel, from New Jersey.

George LoganandSamuel Maclay, from Pennsylvania.

Samuel White, from Delaware.

Samuel Smith, from Maryland.

David Stone, from North Carolina.

Thomas SumterandJohn Gaillard, from South Carolina.

Abraham Baldwin, from Georgia.

David Smith, from Tennessee.

Thomas Worthington, from Ohio.

TheVice Presidentbeing absent, the Senate proceeded to the election of a Presidentpro tem., as the constitution provides, and the HonorableSamuel Smithwas appointed.

The credentials of the following Senators were read, viz:

OfAbraham Baldwin, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Georgia, for the term of six years, from the 3d day of March last; ofJames A. Bayard, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Delaware, for the term of six years, from the 3d day of March last; ofJames Fenner, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Rhode Island, for the term of six years, from the 3d day of March last; ofNicholas Gilman, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of New Hampshire, for the term of six years, from the 3d day of March last; ofAaron Kitchel, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of New Jersey, to serve during the term limited by the constitution; ofTimothy Pickering, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Massachusetts, for the term of six years, to commence on the 4th day of March last; ofDaniel Smith, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Tennessee, for the term of six years, from the 3d of March last; and ofBuckner Thruston, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Kentucky.

The oath was administered by the President to the following Senators, as the law prescribes: Mr.Baldwin, Mr.Fenner, Mr.Gilman, Mr.Kitchel, Mr.Pickering, and Mr.Smithof Tennessee; also, to Mr.Sumter, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of South Carolina, for the term of six years, commencing on the 4th day of March last.

Ordered, That the Secretary wait on the President of the United States, and acquaint him that a quorum of the Senate is assembled, and that, in the absence of the Vice President, they have elected the HonorableSamuel SmithPresident of the Senatepro tempore.

Ordered, That the Secretary make a like communication to the House of Representatives.

Ordered, That Messrs.SumterandMitchillbe a committee, on the part of the Senate, withsuch committee as the House of Representatives may appoint on their part, to wait on the President of the United States and notify him that a quorum of the two Houses is assembled, and ready to receive any communication that he may be pleased to make to them.

Joseph Anderson, from the State of Tennessee;Buckner Thruston, from the State of Kentucky; andRobert Wright, from the State of Maryland, attended.

A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that a quorum of the House of Representatives is assembled, and have appointedNathaniel Macon, Esq., one of the Representatives for North Carolina, their Speaker, and are ready to proceed to business. The House of Representatives have appointed a committee on their part, jointly with the committee appointed on the part of the Senate, to wait on the President of the United States, and notify him that a quorum of the two Houses is assembled, and ready to receive any communications that he may be pleased to make to them. The House of Representatives agree to the resolution of the Senate for the appointment of two Chaplains.

Mr.Sumterreported, from the committee appointed yesterday to wait on the President of the United States, that they had performed the service, and that the President of the United States informed the committee that he would make his communications to the two Houses at twelve o’clock this day.

The oath prescribed by law was administered to Mr.Thruston.

The following message was received from thePresident of the United States:

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America: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 towards 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 the wisdom of the whole will approve and support.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 coasts, 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 interpolated into the law of nations, founded neither in justice nor the usage or acknowledgment of nations. According to these, a belligerent takes to itself 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 interests 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 a 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 a 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 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 aggressions 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 all be 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.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 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 occasions permitted, in the late 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 providing for 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 be manned by not 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 ensure 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 disjoined 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 for ever 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 assurances of their satisfaction with the new relations in which they are placed with us, of their dispositions to cultivate our peace and friendship, and their desire to enter into commercial intercourse with us. A state 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 on 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, upwards 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 10, 1803, authorized us to borrow $1,750,000, towards 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 debt, 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 leave us 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 ofthe times, this surplus will furnish the means of doing so.On the 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 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.TH. JEFFERSON.December 3, 1805.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America:

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 towards 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 the wisdom of the whole will approve and support.

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 coasts, 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 interpolated into the law of nations, founded neither in justice nor the usage or acknowledgment of nations. According to these, a belligerent takes to itself 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 interests 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 a 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 a 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 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 aggressions 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 all be 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.

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 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 occasions permitted, in the late 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 providing for 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 be manned by not 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 ensure 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 disjoined 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 for ever 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 assurances of their satisfaction with the new relations in which they are placed with us, of their dispositions to cultivate our peace and friendship, and their desire to enter into commercial intercourse with us. A state 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 on 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, upwards 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 10, 1803, authorized us to borrow $1,750,000, towards 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 debt, 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 leave us 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 ofthe times, this surplus will furnish the means of doing so.

On the 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 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.

TH. JEFFERSON.

December 3, 1805.

The Message was read and three hundred copies thereof ordered to be printed for the use of the Senate.

The Senate proceeded to the election of a Chaplain, on their part, in pursuance of the resolution of the two Houses, and the ballots being collected, were, for DoctorGantt, 15; BishopClaggett, 5; Mr.McCormick, 2. So the Reverend DoctorGanttwas elected a Chaplain to Congress, on the part of the Senate, during the present session.

James Jackson, from the State of Georgia, attended.

John Adair, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Kentucky, in place of John Breckenridge, Esq., resigned, produced his credentials, which were read; and the oath prescribed by law having been administered, he took his seat in the Senate.

A confidential Message was received from thePresident of the United States, as follows:

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:The depredations which have been committed on the commerce of the United States during a preceding war, by persons under the authority of Spain, are sufficiently known to all. These made it a duty to require from that Government indemnifications for our injured citizens; a convention was accordingly entered into between the Minister of the United States at Madrid, and the Minister of that Government for Foreign Affairs, by which it was agreed that spoliations committed by Spanish subjects, and carried into ports of Spain, should be paid for by that nation; and that those committed by French subjects, and carried into Spanish ports, should remain for further discussion. Before this convention was returned to Spain with our ratification, the transfer of Louisiana by France to the United States took place; an event as unexpected as disagreeable to Spain. From that moment she seemed to change her conduct and dispositions toward us. It was first manifested by her protest against the right of France to alienate Louisiana to us; which, however, was soon retracted, and the right confirmed: then high offence was manifested at the act of Congress establishing a collection district on the Mobile, although, by an authentic declaration, immediately made, it was expressly confined to our acknowledged limits; and she now refused to ratify the convention signed by her own Minister, under the eye of his sovereign, unless we would consent to alterations of its terms, which would have affected our claims against her for the spoliations by French subjects carried into Spanish ports.To obtain justice, as well as to restore friendship, I thought a special mission advisable; and accordingly appointed James Monroe, Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, to repair to Madrid, and, in conjunction with our Minister resident there, to endeavor to procure a ratification of the former convention, and to come to an understanding with Spain as to the boundaries of Louisiana. It appeared at once that her policy was to reserve herself for events, and, in the mean time, to keep our differences in an undetermined state. This will be evident from the papers now communicated to you. After nearly five months of fruitless endeavor to bring them to some definite and satisfactory result, our ministers ended the conferences, without having been able to obtain indemnity for spoliations of any description, or any satisfaction as to the boundaries of Louisiana, other than a declaration that we had no rights eastward of the Iberville, and that our line to the west was one which would have left us but a string of land on that bank of the river Mississippi. Our injured citizens were thus left without any prospect of retribution from the wrong-doer; and, as to boundary, each party was to take its own course. That which they have chosen to pursue, will appear from the documents now communicated. They authorize the inference that it is their intention to advance on our possessions, until they shall be repressed by an opposing force. Considering that Congress alone is constitutionally invested with the power of changing our condition from peace to war, I have thought it my duty to await their authority for using force in any degree which could be avoided. I have barely instructed the officers stationed in the neighborhood of the aggressions, to protect our citizens from violence, to patrol within the borders actually delivered to us, and not to go out of them, but, when necessary to repel an inroad, or to rescue a citizen or his property; and the Spanish officers remaining at New Orleans are required to depart without further delay. It ought to be noted here, that since the late change in the state of affairs in Europe, Spain has ordered her cruisers and courts to respect our treaty with her.The conduct of France, and the part she may take in the misunderstandings between the United States and Spain, are too important to be unconsidered. She was prompt and decided in her declarations, that our demands on Spain for French spoliations carried into Spanish ports were included in the settlement between the United States and France: she took at once the ground that she had acquired no right from Spain, and had meant to deliver us none, eastward of the Iberville; her silence as to the western boundary, leaving us to infer her opinion might be against Spain in that quarter. Whatever direction she might mean to give to these differences, it does not appear that she has contemplated their proceeding to actual rupture, or that, at the date of our lastadvices from Paris, her Government had any suspicion of the hostile attitude Spain had taken here; on the contrary, we have reason to believe that she was disposed to effect a settlement on a plan analogous to what our ministers had proposed, and so comprehensive as to remove, as far as possible, the grounds of future collision and controversy on the eastern as well as western side of the Mississippi.The present crisis in Europe is favorable for pressing such a settlement, and not a moment should be lost in availing ourselves of it. Should it pass unimproved, our situation would become much more difficult. Formal war is not necessary—it is not probable it will follow; but the protection of our citizens, the spirit and honor of our country, require that force should be interposed to a certain degree. It will probably contribute to advance the object of peace.But the course to be pursued will require the command of means which it belongs to Congress exclusively to yield or to deny. To them I communicate every fact material for their information, and the documents necessary to enable them to judge for themselves. To their wisdom, then, I look for the course I am to pursue; and will pursue, with sincere zeal, that which they shall approve.TH. JEFFERSON.December 6, 1805.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

The depredations which have been committed on the commerce of the United States during a preceding war, by persons under the authority of Spain, are sufficiently known to all. These made it a duty to require from that Government indemnifications for our injured citizens; a convention was accordingly entered into between the Minister of the United States at Madrid, and the Minister of that Government for Foreign Affairs, by which it was agreed that spoliations committed by Spanish subjects, and carried into ports of Spain, should be paid for by that nation; and that those committed by French subjects, and carried into Spanish ports, should remain for further discussion. Before this convention was returned to Spain with our ratification, the transfer of Louisiana by France to the United States took place; an event as unexpected as disagreeable to Spain. From that moment she seemed to change her conduct and dispositions toward us. It was first manifested by her protest against the right of France to alienate Louisiana to us; which, however, was soon retracted, and the right confirmed: then high offence was manifested at the act of Congress establishing a collection district on the Mobile, although, by an authentic declaration, immediately made, it was expressly confined to our acknowledged limits; and she now refused to ratify the convention signed by her own Minister, under the eye of his sovereign, unless we would consent to alterations of its terms, which would have affected our claims against her for the spoliations by French subjects carried into Spanish ports.

To obtain justice, as well as to restore friendship, I thought a special mission advisable; and accordingly appointed James Monroe, Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, to repair to Madrid, and, in conjunction with our Minister resident there, to endeavor to procure a ratification of the former convention, and to come to an understanding with Spain as to the boundaries of Louisiana. It appeared at once that her policy was to reserve herself for events, and, in the mean time, to keep our differences in an undetermined state. This will be evident from the papers now communicated to you. After nearly five months of fruitless endeavor to bring them to some definite and satisfactory result, our ministers ended the conferences, without having been able to obtain indemnity for spoliations of any description, or any satisfaction as to the boundaries of Louisiana, other than a declaration that we had no rights eastward of the Iberville, and that our line to the west was one which would have left us but a string of land on that bank of the river Mississippi. Our injured citizens were thus left without any prospect of retribution from the wrong-doer; and, as to boundary, each party was to take its own course. That which they have chosen to pursue, will appear from the documents now communicated. They authorize the inference that it is their intention to advance on our possessions, until they shall be repressed by an opposing force. Considering that Congress alone is constitutionally invested with the power of changing our condition from peace to war, I have thought it my duty to await their authority for using force in any degree which could be avoided. I have barely instructed the officers stationed in the neighborhood of the aggressions, to protect our citizens from violence, to patrol within the borders actually delivered to us, and not to go out of them, but, when necessary to repel an inroad, or to rescue a citizen or his property; and the Spanish officers remaining at New Orleans are required to depart without further delay. It ought to be noted here, that since the late change in the state of affairs in Europe, Spain has ordered her cruisers and courts to respect our treaty with her.

The conduct of France, and the part she may take in the misunderstandings between the United States and Spain, are too important to be unconsidered. She was prompt and decided in her declarations, that our demands on Spain for French spoliations carried into Spanish ports were included in the settlement between the United States and France: she took at once the ground that she had acquired no right from Spain, and had meant to deliver us none, eastward of the Iberville; her silence as to the western boundary, leaving us to infer her opinion might be against Spain in that quarter. Whatever direction she might mean to give to these differences, it does not appear that she has contemplated their proceeding to actual rupture, or that, at the date of our lastadvices from Paris, her Government had any suspicion of the hostile attitude Spain had taken here; on the contrary, we have reason to believe that she was disposed to effect a settlement on a plan analogous to what our ministers had proposed, and so comprehensive as to remove, as far as possible, the grounds of future collision and controversy on the eastern as well as western side of the Mississippi.

The present crisis in Europe is favorable for pressing such a settlement, and not a moment should be lost in availing ourselves of it. Should it pass unimproved, our situation would become much more difficult. Formal war is not necessary—it is not probable it will follow; but the protection of our citizens, the spirit and honor of our country, require that force should be interposed to a certain degree. It will probably contribute to advance the object of peace.

But the course to be pursued will require the command of means which it belongs to Congress exclusively to yield or to deny. To them I communicate every fact material for their information, and the documents necessary to enable them to judge for themselves. To their wisdom, then, I look for the course I am to pursue; and will pursue, with sincere zeal, that which they shall approve.

TH. JEFFERSON.

December 6, 1805.

The Message was read, and ordered to lie for consideration.

Andrew Moore, from the State of Virginia, attended.

George Clinton, Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate, attended.

John Smith, from the State of Ohio, also attended.

John Smith, from the State of New York, attended.

Agreeably to notice given on the 18th instant, Mr.Loganasked leave to bring in a bill to suspend the commercial intercourse between the United States of America and the French island of St. Domingo.

Mr. L. observed that the attention of Congress had been called to this subject by the President of the United States, at the commencement of the last session of Congress, in the following words:

“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 aggressions 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.”

Mr. L. observed that the commerce as carried on by the citizens of the United States is not only a violation of the law of nations, which the United States as an independent nation is bound to obey, but is in direct violation of a treaty made in 1800, between the United States and France—a treaty on the most liberal principles as to the rights of neutrals, and highly advantageous and honorable to both nations.

To remedy the evils complained of, a law was enacted during the last session of Congress to regulate the clearance of armed merchant vessels; this act has operated as a deception, as, since the publication of the law, the trade with St. Domingo has been carried on to as great if not greater extent than formerly. The only merit of the arming law is, that in a national view it removes the responsibility from the individual who may be engaged in the trade, to the Government by which it is authorized.

Mr.Adams.—Mr. President: Had the gentleman who asks leave to introduce this bill, assigned any new reasons as the foundation of his motion, whatever my opinion might have been upon their merits, I should not think it proper to combat them at this time; but the object of the bill is so simple, that its details are immaterial. Its purpose is totally to prohibit a branch of our commerce, which at the last session of the Legislature was proved to be of great importance to the country. Unless, therefore, a majority of the Senate should be of opinion that the bill ought to pass, it appears to me that the present is the stage at which it ought to be arrested: since the mere discussion of the question, and pendency of the measure before Congress, may have an unfavorable effect upon the commercial interest, or at least injuriously affect individual merchants, in the course of their affairs.

Mr.Jacksonseconded Mr.Logan’s motion, and in reply to Mr.Adamssaid, that he wished Mr.Loganto make it an annual motion, as Mr. Sawbridge had, in the Parliament of England, to reduce septennial Parliaments, but with more effect, until the trade so highly dishonorable to national character was annihilated. As to Mr.Adams’s observations that the bill was not allowed to be brought in last session, and that he had heard no new arguments, he would answer the gentleman by asking what new arguments had been advanced on the bill to prohibit the importation of slaves, when leave was given two days since to bring in the bill, and the same arguments had been rung in our ears by Quakers and others, ever since the constitution had been in operation, and not a new one had been produced. He said that the day would come when this dishonorable trafficwould be rued by the United States; that day must arrive when a general peace would take place, when the present hostilities must cease; that it must and would then become the interest of every nation of Europe, having colonies in the West Indies, to extirpate this horde or ship them off to some other place. That the United States, by affording them succor, arms, ammunition, and provisions, must be considered by them as their allies—their supporters and their protectors. That he believed the United States would be viewed in this light by the French Government and by themselves, and that they would demand and expect us to grant them an asylum as allies and protectors, and send them to our coast. This was no novelty; and he had received information from a late celebrated French General, given in a public company at the city of Washington where he boarded, and the General was one who dined there, that arrangements had been made, if General Le Clerc had been victorious, to send those brigands to the Southern States. This was a melancholy subject for South Carolina and Georgia, and one of those brigands introduced into the Southern States was worse than a hundred importations of blacks from Africa, and more dangerous to the United States.

Mr.S. Smith.—We are told that a celebrated French General, since here, has said, that had General Le Clerc succeeded, he meant to have landed all the blacks of St. Domingo on our southern shores. This may be—but, sir, it is not probable. If such, however, had been his intention, it could not have arisen from resentment on account of our commerce, for we had been of the greatest utility to him and his army, and had then carried on no commerce that was not fully sanctioned by France. Nay, I might say, that owing to the supplies from the United States, the colony of St. Domingo had been preserved to the mother country until the arrival of General Le Clerc. Unless, Mr. President, the honorable mover shall produce some new information, I shall be under the necessity of voting against leave to bring in this bill.

Mr.Mitchill, in a speech of considerable length and detail, stated his objections to giving leave.

During the last session of Congress, the whole of the intercourse with St. Domingo had undergone a full investigation. While the bill regulating the clearance of armed merchant vessels was under discussion, that part of our foreign commerce had been minutely examined. It would be remembered that the bill had been committed, recommitted, amended, and modified, with the utmost labor and skill. Besides the talents which the Senate afforded, all the sources of Executive information had been drained, to aid their researches. And the letters of the British and French Ministers, complaining of the conduct of our merchants in forcing this trade, were opened to our view. The crude material of the bill had been hammered at and worked upon so elaborately, as to have at last received the complete burnish of a law. With all the knowledge that could be derived from so many quarters, the bill was at length passed to check the violence of our navigators, and to restrain the adventurous zeal of our merchants. The provisions of this law were such as it was deemed just and proper that a neutral nation should take. And this was a liberal condescension to the wishes of the two great maritime and belligerent powers, without forgetting the respect that we owed to our own. With both these he wished to cultivate peace and good understanding; but to neither of them would he consent to yield any portion of our neutral and national rights.

The difficulties exhibited in the ministerial correspondence, Mr. M. said, were thus removed. With a promptitude that deserved to be admired, Congress interposed its authority, for the purpose at once of doing justice to our neighbors, regulating our commerce, and tranquillizing the Mexican seas. With these salutary provisions, he believed the two complaining nations had been satisfied. At least we had done so much that they ought in all reason to be content. Congress had already manifested a due regard to all that France and Great Britain had offered upon the branch of West Indian commerce, and in the true spirit of good neighborhood, and correct principle, had modified and restricted the intercourse with Hayti. And so fully did the Europeans seem to acquiesce in our conduct, that he had not heard any further remonstrances made by either of them about it. He thought the observations of the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.Adams) very much in point. Under a conviction that we had done as much as public faith and national honor required, he had given his vote against the introduction of a similar bill during the last session. Nothing had occurred from that time to this day, to alter the circumstances of the case, or to make it necessary for him to change his conduct.

For my own part, said Mr. M., I think the St. Domingo commerce is no great thing in itself. We might do exceedingly well without it; and I am very far from approving the means by which it has been carried on; but I dislike the idea of forbidding it, at the mandate of a foreign power. Like our Revolutionary patriots, let us put our foot here, and hence refuse to budge. It is not for us to legislate at the nod or bidding of any nation. I hope we understand our business better than to register edicts for them; while we pay due respect to others, it becomes us also to respect ourselves. The precedent is a dangerous one. If we agree to interdict this intercourse, we may, at the next session, be informed that we ought to withdraw from some other important port or region. When we are found to be so complying to one nation, we shall be subjected to a like request or menace from another, until, sir, our flag shall be furled in one foreign port after another, and nothing be left us but the coasting trade at home. The sad consequences have been ablyportrayed by the gentleman from Maryland, (Mr.Samuel Smith.)

Mr.Hillhousesaid, he hoped the question would be taken by yeas and nays, because he confidently expected there would be a great majority of the Senate opposed to giving leave to bring in the bill, for he considered the measure not only as improper, but as ill-timed.

The gentleman from Georgia has told us that the conflict in St. Domingo is that of masters attempting to reclaim their slaves, and that if the United States suffer the trade to be carried on, we shall be considered as aiding and upholding those slaves, and give offence to France. And that when peace shall take place in Europe, the French will transport those negroes by thousands to the shores of South Carolina and Georgia, to the endangering the lives of the citizens of those States. This Mr. H. considered as a bugbear, with which we ought not to be frightened, for, as to the warfare in St. Domingo being a mere conflict between master and slave, it will be well remembered that the French Republic long ago liberated all the slaves in that island, and declared them free. As to the citizens of the United States carrying arms and military stores to the enemies of France, the law of nations has declared the penalty, which is a forfeiture of the property, and the United States can in no way be implicated thereby. And as to France landing those negroes on our shores, he said there was power, and he believed there would be found a disposition in the people of the United States to repel such an insult; for if we cannot prevent France or any other power from invading our territory and insulting our national honor, by landing their outcasts upon our shores, we shall no longer deserve the name of an independent nation.

Mr.Jackson, in reply to Mr.Smithand Mr.Mitchill, confessed he had seen no official document, other than what the honorable mover had read, but he had seen at Newcastle, in Delaware, a whole fleet bound to St. Domingo, to force a trade which even captains of vessels, true Americans, cried shame on. That the honorable gentleman had called out, why had not the mover brought forward a resolution against Britain or some other power who had committed depredations on our commerce! Mr. J. said he wished to begin here, by preventing our own merchants from doing injury to other nations, and then to strike at those who insulted us. He for himself was prepared and willing to attack the first power who had insulted us with far more superior weapons than arming our ships. He was an agricultural man, and would suffer with the flour-makers; but he would call on the honorable gentleman either from Maryland, from New York, from Massachusetts, or Connecticut, to strike at Great Britain or any other nation who had injured us, by a resolution of prohibition of trade or intercourse, and he was the man who would second it and keep it on till the injuring nation should crypeccavi—keep it on one twelvemonth, and you would see them all at your feet. Look at the Legislature of Jamaica petitioning their Governor from time to time for American intercourse. Look at Trinidad, the same, in a state of famine. Sir, we have no favors to ask the nations of the earth; they must ask them of us, or their West India colonies must starve.

That, however, with respect to documents, he would inform the gentleman from Maryland, that he had seen, though not official, a letter from General Ferrand, Governor of St. Domingo, and which was published in all the principal newspapers of the United States, complaining to the French Government on this subject, and laying all the blame to the American Government, if not in direct, in the most severe indirect terms. That as to the total separation of the self-created Emperor and nation of Hayti, and its independence of the parent country, and under which gentlemen declared our rights of trade founded on the laws of nations—the late attack on that General by the Emperor proved it did not exist; he was defeated, his army scattered and driven to the mountains; that Ferrand held the island as French Governor for the French nation, and the separation was not such as to warrant the arguments used for a right to trade. It would be a fatal argument used against us as respected our Southern States by other powers. On the same grounds, a parcel of runaways and outcasts from South Carolina and Georgia, to the amount of some hundreds, now collected on or near the Okefonokee[28]swamp in Georgia, might be termed an independent society; or if an insurrection took place in those States, the rebellious horde, on creating an emperor, be supplied with arms and ammunition, as a separate and independent nation. This, as the honorable gentleman from Connecticut had been pleased to term his fears bugbears, might be no bugbear to him, safe and remote from the scene of action, near New Haven; but it was a serious bugbear to him, and would be to the whole southern country, where the horrid scenes of that island would be reacted, their property destroyed, and their families massacred.

After a few replicatory remarks from Mr.Logan, the consideration of the subject was postponed to Monday.

James Turner, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of North Carolina, for the term of six years, from the third of March, 1805, produced his credentials, which were read, and the oath prescribed by law having been administered, he took his seat in the Senate.

The following Message was received from thePresident of the United States:

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