Chapter 11 1796

UNITED STATES,  January 4, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

A letter from the minister plenipotentiary of the French Republic,
received on the 22d of the last month, covered an address, dated the
21st of October, 1794, from the committee of public safety to the
Representatives of the United States in Congress, and also informed me
that he was instructed by the committee to present to the United States
the colors of France. I thereupon proposed to receive them last Friday,
the first day of the new year, a day of general joy and congratulation.
On that day the minister of the French Republic delivered the colors,
with an address, to which I returned an answer. By the latter Congress
will see that I have informed the minister that the colors will be
deposited with the archives of the United States. But it seemed to
me proper previously to exhibit to the two Houses of Congress these
evidences of the continued friendship of the French Republic, together
with the sentiments expressed by me on the occasion in behalf of the
United States. They are herewith communicated.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  January 8, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

I transmit to you a memorial of the commissioners appointed by virtue
of an act entitled "An act for establishing the temporary and permanent
seat of the Government of the United States," on the subject of the
public buildings under their direction.

Since locating a district for the permanent seat of the Government of
the United States, as heretofore announced to both Houses of Congress,
I have accepted the grants of money and of land stated in the memorial
of the commissioners. I have directed the buildings therein mentioned
to be commenced on plans which I deemed consistent with the liberality
of the grants and proper for the purposes intended.

I have not been inattentive to this important business intrusted by the
Legislature to my care. I have viewed the resources placed in my hands,
and observed the manner in which they have been applied. The progress is
pretty fully detailed in the memorial from the commissioners, and one
of them attends to give further information if required. In a case new
and arduous, like the present, difficulties might naturally be expected.
Some have occurred, but they are in a great degree surmounted, and I
have no doubt, if the remaining resources are properly cherished, so
as to prevent the loss of property by hasty and numerous sales, that all
the buildings required for the accommodation of the Government of the
United States may be completed in season without aid from the Federal
Treasury. The subject is therefore recommended to the consideration of
Congress, and the result will determine the measures which I shall cause
to be pursued with respect to the property remaining unsold.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  January 29, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

I send herewith for the information of Congress:

First. An act of the legislature of the State of Rhode Island, ratifying
an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to prevent suits
in certain cases against a State.

Second. An act of the State of North Carolina making the like
ratification.

Third. An act of the State of North Carolina, assenting to the purchase
by the United States of a sufficient quantity of land on Shell Castle
Island for the purpose of erecting a beacon thereon, and ceding the
jurisdiction thereof to the United States.

Fourth. A copy from the journal of proceedings of the governor in his
executive department of the territory of the United States northwest
of the river Ohio from July 1 to December 31, 1794.

Fifth. A copy from the records of the executive proceedings of the same
governor from January 1 to June 30, 1795; and

Sixth and seventh. A copy of the journal of the proceedings of the
governor in his executive department of the territory of the United
States south of the river Ohio from September 1, 1794, to September
1, 1795.

Eighth. The acts of the first and second sessions of the general
assembly of the same territory.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  January 29, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

In pursuance of the authority vested in the President of the United
States by an act of Congress passed the 3d of March last, to reduce the
weights of the copper coin of the United States whenever he should think
it for the benefit of the United States, provided that the reduction
should not exceed 2 pennyweights in each cent, and in the like
proportion in a half cent, I have caused the same to be reduced since
the 27th of last December, to wit, 1 pennyweight and 16 grains in each
cent, and in the like proportion in a half cent; and I have given notice
thereof by proclamation.

By the letter of the judges of the circuit court of the United States,
held at Boston in June last, and the inclosed application of the
underkeeper of the jail at that place, of which copies are herewith
transmitted, Congress will perceive the necessity of making a suitable
provision for the maintenance of prisoners committed to the jails of
the several States under the authority of the United States.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  February 2, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

I transmit herewith the copy of a letter, dated the 19th of December
last, from Governor Blount to the Secretary of War, stating the avowed
and daring designs of certain persons to take possession of the lands
belonging to the Cherokees, and which the United States have by treaty
solemnly guaranteed to that nation. The injustice of such intrusions and
the mischievous consequences which must necessarily result therefrom
demand that effectual provision be made to prevent them.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  February 15, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

Herewith I transmit, for your consideration and advice, a treaty of
peace and amity, concluded on the 5th day of last September by Joseph
Donaldson, Jr., on the part of the United States, with the Dey of
Algiers, for himself, his Divan, and his subjects.

The instructions and other necessary papers relative to this negotiation
are also sent herewith, for the information of the Senate.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  February 26, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

I send herewith the treaty concluded on the 27th of October last between
the United States and Spain by their respective plenipotentiaries.

The communications to the Senate referred to in my message of the 16th
of December, 1793, contain the instructions to the commissioners of
the United States, Messrs. Carmichael and Short, and various details
relative to the negotiations with Spain. Herewith I transmit copies of
the documents authorizing Mr. Pinckney, the envoy extraordinary from
the United States to the Court of Spain, to conclude the negotiation
agreeably to the original instructions above mentioned, and to adjust
the claims of the United States for the spoliations committed by the
armed vessels of His Catholic Majesty on the commerce of our citizens.

The numerous papers exhibiting the progress of the negotiation under the
conduct of Mr. Pinckney, being in the French and Spanish languages, will
be communicated to the Senate as soon as the translations which appear
necessary shall be completed.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  March 1, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

The treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation concluded between the
United States of America and His Britannic Majesty having been duly
ratified, and the ratifications having been exchanged at London on the
28th day of October, 1795, I have directed the same to be promulgated,
and herewith transmit a copy thereof for the information of Congress.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  March 8, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

I send herewith, for the information of Congress, the treaty concluded
between the United States and the Dey and Regency of Algiers.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  March 15, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

By the ninth section of the act entitled "An act to provide a naval
armament" it is enacted "that if a peace shall take place between the
United States and the Regency of Algiers, that no further proceedings
be had under this act."

The peace which is here contemplated having taken place, it is incumbent
upon the Executive to suspend all orders respecting the building of the
frigates, procuring materials for them, or preparing materials already
obtained, which may be done without intrenching upon contracts or
agreements made and entered into before this event.

But inasmuch as the loss which the public would incur might be
considerable from dissipation of workmen, from certain works or
operations being suddenly dropped or left unfinished, and from the
derangement in the whole system consequent upon an immediate suspension
of all proceedings under it, I have therefore thought advisable, before
taking such a step, to submit the subject to the Senate and House of
Representatives, that such measures may be adopted in the premises
as may best comport with the public interest.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  March 25, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

I send herewith, for your information, the translation of a letter from
the minister plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the Secretary of
State, announcing the peace made by the Republic with the Kings of
Prussia and Spain, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and the Landgrave of Hesse
Cassel, and that the republican constitution decreed by the National
Convention had been accepted by the people of France and was in
operation. I also send you a copy of the answer given by my direction to
this communication from the French minister. My sentiments therein
expressed I am persuaded will harmonize with yours and with those of all
my fellow-citizens.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  March 29, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :

I send herewith a copy of the treaty of friendship, limits, and
navigation, concluded on the 27th of October last, between the United
States and His Catholic Majesty. This treaty has been ratified by me
agreeably to the Constitution, and the ratification has been dispatched
for Spain, where it will doubtless be immediately ratified by His
Catholic Majesty.

This early communication of the treaty with Spain has become necessary
because it is stipulated in the third article that commissioners for
running the boundary line between the territory of the United States and
the Spanish colonies of East and West Florida shall meet at the Natchez
before the expiration of six months from the ratification; and as that
period will undoubtedly arrive before the next meeting of Congress,
the House will see the necessity of making provision in their present
session for the object here mentioned. It will also be necessary to
provide for the expense to be incurred in executing the twenty-first
article of the treaty, to enable our fellow-citizens to obtain with as
little delay as possible compensation for the losses they have sustained
by the capture of their vessels and cargoes by the subjects of His
Catholic Majesty during the late war between France and Spain.

Estimates of the moneys necessary to be provided for the purposes of
this and several other treaties with foreign nations and the Indian
tribes will be laid before you by the proper Department.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  March 30, 1796 .

 To the House of Representatives of the United States :

With the utmost attention I have considered your resolution of the
24th instant, requesting me to lay before your House a copy of the
instructions to the minister of the United States who negotiated the
treaty with the King of Great Britain, together with the correspondence
and other documents relative to that treaty, excepting such of the said
papers as any existing negotiation may render improper to be disclosed.

In deliberating upon this subject it was impossible for me to lose sight
of the principle which some have avowed in its discussion, or to avoid
extending my views to the consequences which must flow from the
admission of that principle.

I trust that no part of my conduct has ever indicated a disposition to
withhold any information which the Constitution has enjoined upon the
President as a duty to give, or which could be required of him by either
House of Congress as a right; and with truth I affirm that it has been,
as it will continue to be while I have the honor to preside in the
Government, my constant endeavor to harmonize with the other branches
thereof so far as the trust delegated to me by the people of the United
States and my sense of the obligation it imposes to "preserve, protect,
and defend the Constitution" will permit.

The nature of foreign negotiations requires caution, and their success
must often depend on secrecy; and even when brought to a conclusion a
full disclosure of all the measures, demands, or eventual concessions
which may have been proposed or contemplated would be extremely
impolitic; for this might have a pernicious influence on future
negotiations, or produce immediate inconveniences, perhaps danger and
mischief, in relation to other powers. The necessity of such caution and
secrecy was one cogent reason for vesting the power of making treaties
in the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, the
principle on which that body was formed confining it to a small number
of members. To admit, then, a right in the House of Representatives
to demand and to have as a matter of course all the papers respecting
a negotiation with a foreign power would be to establish a dangerous
precedent.

It does not occur that the inspection of the papers asked for can
be relative to any purpose under the cognizance of the House of
Representatives, except that of an impeachment, which the resolution
has not expressed. I repeat that I have no disposition to withhold any
information which the duty of my station will permit or the public good
shall require to be disclosed; and, in fact, all the papers affecting
the negotiation with Great Britain were, laid before the Senate when
the treaty itself was communicated for their consideration and advice.

The course which the debate has taken on the resolution of the House
leads to some observations on the mode of making treaties under the
Constitution of the United States.

Having been a member of the General Convention, and knowing the
principles on which the Constitution was formed, I have ever entertained
but one opinion on this subject; and from the first establishment of the
Government to this moment my conduct has exemplified that opinion  that
the power of making treaties is exclusively vested in the President,
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided two-thirds
of the Senators present concur; and that every treaty so made and
promulgated thenceforward became the law of the land. It is thus that
the treaty-making power has been understood by foreign nations, and
in all the treaties made with them  we  have declared and  they  have
believed that, when ratified by the President, with the advice and
consent of the Senate, they became obligatory. In this construction
of the Constitution every House of Representatives has heretofore
acquiesced, and until the present time not a doubt or suspicion has
appeared, to my knowledge, that this construction was not the true one.
Nay, they have more than acquiesced; for till now, without controverting
the obligation of such treaties, they have made all the requisite
provisions for carrying them into effect.

There is also reason to believe that this construction agrees with
the opinions entertained by the State conventions when they were
deliberating on the Constitution, especially by those who objected to it
because there was not required in  commercial treaties  the consent of
two-thirds of the whole number of the members of the Senate instead of
two-thirds of the Senators present, and because in treaties respecting
territorial and certain other rights and claims the concurrence of
three-fourths of the whole number of the members of both Houses,
respectively, was not made necessary.

It is a fact declared by the General Convention and universally
understood that the Constitution of the United States was the result
of a spirit of amity and mutual concession; and it is well known
that under this influence the smaller States were admitted to an equal
representation in the Senate with the larger States, and that this
branch of the Government was invested with great powers, for on the
equal participation of those powers the sovereignty and political
safety of the smaller States were deemed essentially to depend.

If other proofs than these and the plain letter of the Constitution
itself be necessary to ascertain the point under consideration, they
may be found in the journals of the General Convention, which I have
deposited in the office of the Department of State. In those journals
it will appear that a proposition was made "that no treaty should be
binding on the United States which was not ratified by a law," and
that the proposition was explicitly rejected.

As, therefore, it is perfectly clear to my understanding that the assent
of the House of Representatives is not necessary to the validity of a
treaty; as the treaty with Great Britain exhibits in itself all the
objects requiring legislative provision, and on these the papers called
for can throw no light, and as it is essential to the due administration
of the Government that the boundaries fixed by the Constitution between
the different departments should be preserved, a just regard to the
Constitution and to the duty of my office, under all the circumstances
of this case, forbids a compliance with your request.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  March 31, 1776 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

The treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between the United States
and Great Britain requiring that commissioners should be appointed
to fix certain boundaries between the territories of the contracting
parties, and to ascertain the losses and damages represented to have
been sustained by their respective citizens and subjects, as set forth
in the fifth, sixth, and seventh articles of the treaty, in order to
carry those articles into execution I nominate as commissioners on
the part of the United States:

For the purpose mentioned in the fifth article, Henry Knox, of
Massachusetts;

For the purpose mentioned in the sixth article, Thomas Fitzsimons,
of Pennsylvania, and James Innes, of Virginia; and

For the purposes mentioned in the seventh article, Christopher Gore,
of Massachusetts, and William Pinckney, of Maryland.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  April 8, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

By an act of Congress passed on the 26th of May, 1790, it was declared
that the inhabitants of the territory of the United States south of the
river Ohio should enjoy all the privileges, benefits, and advantages set
forth in the ordinance of Congress for the government of the territory
of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, and that the
government of the said territory south of the Ohio should be similar to
that which was then exercised in the territory northwest of the Ohio,
except so far as was otherwise provided in the conditions expressed in
an act of Congress passed the 2d of April, 1790, entitled "An act to
accept a cession of the claims of the State of North Carolina to a
certain district of western territory."

Among the privileges, benefits, and advantages thus secured to the
inhabitants of the territory south of the river Ohio appear to be the
right of forming a permanent constitution and State government, and of
admission as a State, by its Delegates, into the Congress of the United
States, on an equal footing with the original States in all respects
whatever, when it should have therein 60,000 free inhabitants; provided
the constitution and government so to be formed should be republican,
and in conformity to the principles contained in the articles of the
said ordinance.

As proofs of the several requisites to entitle the territory south of
the river Ohio to be admitted as a State into the Union, Governor Blount
has transmitted a return of the enumeration of its inhabitants and a
printed copy of the constitution and form of government on which they
have agreed, which, with his letters accompanying the same, are herewith
laid before Congress.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  April 28, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

Herewith I lay before you a letter from the Attorney-General of the
United States, relative to compensation to the attorneys of the United
States in the several districts, which is recommended to your
consideration.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  May 2, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

Some time last year Jeremiah Wadsworth was authorized to hold a treaty
with the Cohnawaga Indians, styling themselves the Seven Nations of
Canada, to enable the State of New York to extinguish, by purchase, a
claim which the said Indians had set up to a parcel of land lying within
that State. The negotiation having issued without effecting its object,
and the State of New York having requested a renewal of the negotiation,
and the Indians having come forward with an application on the same
subject, I now nominate Jeremiah Wadsworth to be a commissioner to
hold a treaty with the Cohnawaga Indians, styling themselves the Seven
Nations of Canada, for the purpose of enabling the State of New York
to extinguish the aforesaid claim.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  May 5, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

I lay before you, for your consideration and advice, an explanatory
article proposed to be added to the treaty of amity, commerce, and
navigation between the United States and Great Britain, together with a
copy of the full power to the Secretary of State to negotiate the same.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  May 25, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

The measures now in operation for taking possession of the posts of
Detroit and Michilimackinac render it proper that provision should be
made for extending to these places and any others alike circumstanced
the civil authority of the Northwestern Territory. To do this will
require an expense to defray which the ordinary salaries of the governor
and secretary of that Territory appear to be incompetent.

The forming of a new county, or new counties, and the appointment of the
various officers, which the just exercise of government must require,
will oblige the governor and secretary to visit those places, and to
spend considerable time in making the arrangements necessary for
introducing and establishing the Government of the United States.
Congress will consider what provision will in this case be proper.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

UNITED STATES,  May 28, 1796 .

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

The extraordinary expenses to be incurred in the present year in
supporting our foreign intercourse I find will require a provision
beyond the ordinary appropriation and the additional $20,000 already
granted.

I have directed an estimate to be made, which is sent herewith, and
will exhibit the deficiency for which an appropriation appears to be
necessary.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

EIGHTH ANNUAL ADDRESS.

UNITED STATES,  December 7, 1796 .

 Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

In recurring to the internal situation of our country since I had
last the pleasure to address you, I find ample reason for a renewed
expression of that gratitude to the Ruler of the Universe which a
continued series of prosperity has so often and so justly called forth.

The acts of the last session which required special arrangements have
been as far as circumstances would admit carried into operation.

Measures calculated to insure a continuance of the friendship of the
Indians and to preserve peace along the extent of our interior frontier
have been digested and adopted. In the framing of these care has been
taken to guard on the one hand our advanced settlements from the
predatory incursions of those unruly individuals who can not be
restrained by their tribes, and on the other hand to protect the rights
secured to the Indians by treaty  to draw them nearer to the civilized
state and inspire them with correct conceptions of the power as well
as justice of the Government.

The meeting of the deputies from the Creek Nation at Colerain, in the
State of Georgia, which had for a principal object the purchase of
a parcel of their land by that State, broke up without its being
accomplished, the nation having previous to their departure instructed
them against making any sale. The occasion, however, has been improved
to confirm by a new treaty with the Creeks their preexisting engagements
with the United States, and to obtain their consent to the establishment
of trading houses and military posts within their boundary, by means of
which their friendship and the general peace may be more effectually
secured.

The period during the late session at which the appropriation was passed
for carrying into effect the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation
between the United States and His Britannic Majesty necessarily
procrastinated the reception of the posts stipulated to be delivered
beyond the date assigned for that event. As soon, however, as the
Governor-General of Canada could be addressed with propriety on the
subject, arrangements were cordially and promptly concluded for their
evacuation, and the United States took possession of the principal of
them, comprehending Oswego, Niagara, Detroit, Michilimackinac, and Fort
Miami, where such repairs and additions have been ordered to be made as
appeared indispensable.

The commissioners appointed on the part of the United States and of
Great Britain to determine which is the river Saint Croix mentioned in the
treaty of peace of 1783, agreed in the choice of Egbert Benson, esq., of
New York, for the third commissioner. The whole met at Saint Andrews, in
Passamaquoddy Bay, in the beginning of October, and directed surveys to
be made of the rivers in dispute; but deeming it impracticable to have
these surveys completed before the next year, they adjourned to meet
at Boston in August, 1797, for the final decision of the question.

Other commissioners appointed on the part of the United States,
agreeably to the seventh article of the treaty with Great Britain,
relative to captures and condemnation of vessels and other property,
met the commissioners of His Britannic Majesty in London in August last,
when John Trumbull, esq., was chosen by lot for the fifth commissioner.
In October following the board were to proceed to business. As yet there
has been no communication of commissioners on the part of Great Britain
to unite with those who have been appointed on the part of the United
States for carrying into effect the sixth article of the treaty.

The treaty with Spain required that the commissioners for running
the boundary line between the territory of the United States and His
Catholic Majesty's provinces of East and West Florida should meet at the
Natchez before the expiration of six months after the exchange of the
ratifications, which was effected at Aranjuez on the 25th day of April;
and the troops of His Catholic Majesty occupying any posts within the
limits of the United States were within the same period to be withdrawn.
The commissioner of the United States therefore commenced his journey
for the Natchez in September, and troops were ordered to occupy the
posts from which the Spanish garrisons should be withdrawn. Information
has been recently received of the appointment of a commissioner on the
part of His Catholic Majesty for running the boundary line, but none of
any appointment for the adjustment of the claims of our citizens whose
vessels were captured by the armed vessels of Spain.

In pursuance of the act of Congress passed in the last session for the
protection and relief of American seamen, agents were appointed, one to
reside in Great Britain and the other in the West Indies. The effects of
the agency in the West Indies are not yet fully ascertained, but those
which have been communicated afford grounds to believe the measure will
be beneficial. The agent destined to reside in Great Britain declining
to accept the appointment, the business has consequently devolved on the
minister of the United States in London, and will command his attention
until a new agent shall be appointed.

After many delays and disappointments arising out of the European war,
the final arrangements for fulfilling the engagements made to the Dey
and Regency of Algiers will in all present appearance be crowned with
success, but under great, though inevitable, disadvantages in the
pecuniary transactions occasioned by that war, which will render further
provision necessary. The actual liberation of all our citizens who were
prisoners in Algiers, while it gratifies every feeling heart, is itself
an earnest of a satisfactory termination of the whole negotiation.
Measures are in operation for effecting treaties with the Regencies
of Tunis and Tripoli.

To an active external commerce the protection of a naval force is
indispensable. This is manifest with regard to wars in which a State
is itself a party. But besides this, it is in our own experience that
the most sincere neutrality is not a sufficient guard against the
depredations of nations at war. To secure respect to a neutral flag
requires a naval force organized and ready to vindicate it from insult
or aggression. This may even prevent the necessity of going to war by
discouraging belligerent powers from committing such violations of
the rights of the neutral party as may, first or last, leave no other
option. From the best information I have been able to obtain it would
seem as if our trade to the Mediterranean without a protecting force
will always be insecure and our citizens exposed to the calamities
from which numbers of them have but just been relieved.

These considerations invite the United States to look to the means, and
to set about the gradual creation of a navy. The increasing progress of
their navigation promises them at no distant period the requisite supply
of seamen, and their means in other respects favor the undertaking. It
is an encouragement, likewise, that their particular situation will give
weight and influence to a moderate naval force in their hands. Will it
not, then, be advisable to begin without delay to provide and lay up the
materials for the building and equipping of ships of war, and to proceed
in the work by degrees, in proportion as our resources shall render it
practicable without inconvenience, so that a future war of Europe may
not find our commerce in the same unprotected state in which it was
found by the present?

Congress have repeatedly, and not without success, directed their
attention to the encouragement of manufactures. The object is of too
much consequence not to insure a continuance of their efforts in every
way which shall appear eligible. As a general rule, manufactures on
public account are inexpedient; but where the state of things in a
country leaves little hope that certain branches of manufacture will for
a great length of time obtain, when these are of a nature essential to
the furnishing and equipping of the public force in time of war, are
not establishments for procuring them on public account to the extent
of the ordinary demand for the public service recommended by strong
considerations of national policy as an exception to the general
rule? Ought our country to remain in such cases dependent on foreign
supply, precarious because liable to be interrupted? If the necessary
article should in this mode cost more in time of peace, will not the
security and independence thence arising form an ample compensation?
Establishments of this sort, commensurate only with the calls of the
public service in time of peace, will in time of war easily be extended
in proportion to the exigencies of the Government, and may even perhaps
be made to yield a surplus for the supply of our citizens at large, so
as to mitigate the privations from the interruption of their trade. If
adopted, the plan ought to exclude all those branches which are already,
or likely soon to be, established in the country, in order that there
may be no danger of interference with pursuits of individual industry.

It will not be doubted that with reference either to individual or
national welfare agriculture is of primary importance. In proportion as
nations advance in population and other circumstances of maturity this
truth becomes more apparent, and renders the cultivation of the soil
more and more an object of public patronage. Institutions for promoting
it grow up, supported by the public purse; and to what object can it
be dedicated with greater propriety? Among the means which have been
employed to this end none have been attended with greater success than
the establishment of boards (composed of proper characters) charged
with collecting and diffusing information, and enabled by premiums and
small pecuniary aids to encourage and assist a spirit of discovery and
improvement. This species of establishment contributes doubly to the
increase of improvement by stimulating to enterprise and experiment,
and by drawing to a common center the results everywhere of individual
skill and observation, and spreading them thence over the whole nation.
Experience accordingly has shewn that they are very cheap instruments
of immense national benefits.

I have heretofore proposed to the consideration of Congress the
expediency of establishing a national university and also a military
academy. The desirableness of both these institutions has so constantly
increased with every new view I have taken of the subject that I can not
omit the opportunity of once for all recalling your attention to them.

The assembly to which I address myself is too enlightened not to be
fully sensible how much a flourishing state of the arts and sciences
contributes to national prosperity and reputation.

True it is that our country, much to its honor, contains many seminaries
of learning highly respectable and useful; but the funds upon which they
rest are too narrow to command the ablest professors in the different
departments of liberal knowledge for the institution contemplated,
though they would be excellent auxiliaries.

Amongst the motives to such an institution, the assimilation of the
principles, opinions, and manners of our countrymen by the common
education of a portion of our youth from every quarter well deserves
attention. The more homogeneous our citizens can be made in these
particulars the greater will be our prospect of permanent union; and a
primary object of such a national institution should be the education of
our youth in the science of  government . In a republic what species of
knowledge can be equally important and what duty more pressing on its
legislature than to patronize a plan for communicating it to those who
are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?

The institution of a military academy is also recommended by cogent
reasons. However pacific the general policy of a nation may be, it
ought never to be without an adequate stock of military knowledge for
emergencies. The first would impair the energy of its character, and
both would hazard its safety or expose it to greater evils when war
could not be avoided; besides that, war might often not depend upon
its own choice. In proportion as the observance of pacific maxims might
exempt a nation from the necessity of practicing the rules of the
military art ought to be its care in preserving and transmitting, by
proper establishments, the knowledge of that art. Whatever argument
may be drawn from particular examples superficially viewed, a thorough
examination of the subject will evince that the art of war is at once
comprehensive and complicated, that it demands much previous study, and
that the possession of it in its most improved and perfect state is
always of great moment to the security of a nation. This, therefore,
ought to be a serious care of every government, and for this purpose
an academy where a regular course of instruction is given is an obvious
expedient which different nations have successfully employed.

The compensations to the officers of the United States in various
instances, and in none more than in respect to the most important
stations, appear to call for legislative revision. The consequences of a
defective provision are of serious import to the Government. If private
wealth is to supply the defect of public retribution, it will greatly
contract the sphere within which the selection of character for office
is to be made, and will proportionally diminish the probability of
a choice of men able as well as upright. Besides that, it would be
repugnant to the vital principles of our Government virtually to exclude
from public trusts talents and virtue unless accompanied by wealth.

While in our external relations some serious inconveniences and
embarrassments have been overcome and others lessened, it is with much
pain and deep regret I mention that circumstances of a very unwelcome
nature have lately occurred. Our trade has suffered and is suffering
extensive injuries in the West Indies from the cruisers and agents of
the French Republic, and communications have been received from its
minister here which indicate the danger of a further disturbance of our
commerce by its authority, and which are in other respects far from
agreeable.

It has been my constant, sincere, and earnest wish, in conformity with
that of our nation, to maintain cordial harmony and a perfectly friendly
understanding with that Republic. This wish remains unabated, and I
shall persevere in the endeavor to fulfill it to the utmost extent of
what shall be consistent with a just and indispensable regard to the
rights and honor of our country; nor will I easily cease to cherish the
expectation that a spirit of justice, candor, and friendship on the part
of the Republic will eventually insure success.

In pursuing this course, however, I can not forget what is due to
the character of our Government and nation, or to a full and entire
confidence in the good sense, patriotism, self-respect, and fortitude
of my countrymen.

I reserve for a special message a more particular communication on this
interesting subject.

 Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :

I have directed an estimate of the appropriations necessary for the
service of the ensuing year to be submitted from the proper Department,
with a view of the public receipts and expenditures to the latest period
to which an account can be prepared.

It is with satisfaction I am able to inform you that the revenues of the
United States continue in a state of progressive improvement.

A reenforcement of the existing provisions for discharging our public
debt was mentioned in my address at the opening of the last session.
Some preliminary steps were taken toward it, the maturing of which will
no doubt engage your zealous attention during the present. I will only
add that it will afford me a heartfelt satisfaction to concur in such
further measures as will ascertain to our country the prospect of a
speedy extinguishment of the debt. Posterity may have cause to regret
if from any motive intervals of tranquillity are left unimproved for
accelerating this valuable end.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

My solicitude to see the militia of the United States placed on an
efficient establishment has been so often and so ardently expressed
that I shall but barely recall the subject to your view on the present
occasion, at the same time that I shall submit to your inquiry whether
our harbors are yet sufficiently secured.

The situation in which I now stand for the last time, in the midst
of the representatives of the people of the United States, naturally
recalls the period when the administration of the present form of
government commenced, and I can not omit the occasion to congratulate
you and my country on the success of the experiment, nor to repeat my
fervent supplications to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe and Sovereign
Arbiter of Nations that His providential care may still be extended to
the United States, that the virtue and happiness of the people may be
preserved, and that the Government which they have instituted for the
protection of their liberties may be perpetual,

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

ADDRESS OF THE SENATE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES.

We thank you, sir, for your faithful and detailed exposure of the
existing situation of our country, and we sincerely join in sentiments
of gratitude to an overruling Providence for the distinguished share of
public prosperity and private happiness which the people of the United
States so peculiarly enjoy.

We are fully sensible of the advantages that have resulted from the
adoption of measures (which you have successfully carried into effect)
to preserve peace, cultivate friendship, and promote civilization
amongst the Indian tribes on the Western frontiers. Feelings of humanity
and the most solid political interests equally encourage the continuance
of this system.

We observe with pleasure that the delivery of the military posts lately
occupied by the British forces within the territory of the United States
was made with cordiality and promptitude as soon as circumstances would
admit, and that the other provisions of our treaties with Great Britain
and Spain that were objects of eventual arrangement are about being
carried into effect with entire harmony and good faith.

The unfortunate but unavoidable difficulties that opposed a timely
compliance with the terms of the Algerine treaty are much to be
lamented, as they may occasion a temporary suspension of the advantages
to be derived from a solid peace with that power and a perfect security
from its predatory warfare. At the same time, the lively impressions
that affected the public mind on the redemption of our captive
fellow-citizens afford the most laudable incentive to our exertions
to remove the remaining obstacles.

We perfectly coincide with you in opinion that the importance of our
commerce demands a naval force for its protection against foreign insult
and depredation, and our solicitude to attain that object will be always
proportionate to its magnitude.

The necessity of accelerating the establishment of certain useful
manufactures by the intervention of legislative aid and protection and
the encouragement due to agriculture by the creation of boards (composed
of intelligent individuals) to patronize this primary pursuit of society
are subjects which will readily engage our most serious attention.

A national university may be converted to the most useful purposes. The
science of legislation being so essentially dependent on the endowments
of the mind, the public interests must receive effectual aid from the
general diffusion of knowledge, and the United States will assume a
more dignified station among the nations of the earth by the successful
cultivation of the higher branches of literature.

A military academy may be likewise rendered equally important. To aid
and direct the physical force of the nation by cherishing a military
spirit, enforcing a proper sense of discipline, and inculcating a
scientific system of tactics is consonant to the soundest maxims of
public policy. Connected with and supported by such an establishment
a well-regulated militia, constituting the natural defense of the
country, would prove the most effectual as well as economical
preservative of peace.

We can not but consider with serious apprehensions the inadequate
compensations of the public officers, especially of those in the more
important stations. It is not only a violation of the spirit of a
public contract, but is an evil so extensive in its operation and so
destructive in its consequences that we trust it will receive the most
pointed legislative attention.

We sincerely lament that, whilst the conduct of the United States has
been uniformly impressed with the character of equity, moderation, and
love of peace in the maintenance of all their foreign relationships, our
trade should be so harassed by the cruisers and agents of the Republic
of France throughout the extensive departments of the West Indies.

Whilst we are confident that no cause of complaint exists that could
authorize an interruption of our tranquillity or disengage that Republic
from the bonds of amity, cemented by the faith of treaties, we can not
but express our deepest regrets that official communications have been
made to you indicating a more serious disturbance of our commerce.
Although we cherish the expectation that a sense of justice and a
consideration of our mutual interests will moderate their councils, we
are not unmindful of the situation in which events may place us, nor
unprepared to adopt that system of conduct which, compatible with the
dignity of a respectable nation, necessity may compel us to pursue.

We cordially acquiesce in the reflection that the United States, under
the operation of the Federal Government, have experienced a most rapid
aggrandizement and prosperity as well political as commercial.

Whilst contemplating the causes that produce this auspicious result, we
must acknowledge the excellence of the constitutional system and the
wisdom of the legislative provisions; but we should be deficient in
gratitude and justice did we not attribute a great portion of these
advantages to the virtue, firmness, and talents of your Administration,
which have been conspicuously displayed in the most trying time and on
the most critical occasions. It is therefore with the sincerest regret
that we now receive an official notification of your intentions to
retire from the public employments of your country.

When we review the various scenes of your public life, so long and so
successfully devoted to the most arduous services, civil and military,
as well during the struggles of the American Revolution as the
convulsive periods of a recent date, we can not look forward to your
retirement without our warmest affections and most anxious regards
accompanying you, and without mingling with our fellow-citizens at large
in the sincerest wishes for your personal happiness that sensibility and
attachment can express.

The most effectual consolation that can offer for the loss we are about
to sustain arises from the animating reflection that the influence of
your example will extend to your successors, and the United States thus
continue to enjoy an able, upright, and energetic administration.

JOHN ADAMS,

 Vice-President of the United States and President of the Senate .

DECEMBER 10, 1796.

REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.

GENTLEMEN: It affords me great satisfaction to find in your address a
concurrence in sentiment with me on the various topics which I presented
for your information and deliberation, and that the latter will receive
from you an attention proportioned to their respective importance.

For the notice you take of my public services, civil and military, and
your kind wishes for my personal happiness, I beg you to accept my
cordial thanks. Those services, and greater had I possessed ability to
render them, were due to the unanimous calls of my country, and its
approbation is my abundant reward.

When contemplating the period of my retirement, I saw virtuous and
enlightened men among whom I relied on the discernment and patriotism
of my fellow-citizens to make the proper choice of, a successor  men
who would require no influential example to insure to the United States
"an able, upright, and energetic administration." To such men I shall
cheerfully yield the palm of genius and talents to serve our common
country; but at the same time I hope I may be indulged in expressing the
consoling reflection (which consciousness suggests), and to bear it with
me to my grave, that none can serve it with purer intentions than I have
done or with a more disinterested zeal.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

DECEMBER 12, 1796.

ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: The House of Representatives have attended to your communication
respecting the state of our country with all the sensibility that the
contemplation of the subject and a sense of duty can inspire.

We are gratified by the information that measures calculated to insure
a continuance of the friendship of the Indians and to maintain the
tranquillity of the Western frontier have been adopted, and we indulge
the hope that these, by impressing the Indian tribes with more correct
conceptions of the justice as well as power of the United States, will
be attended with success.

While we notice with satisfaction the steps that you have taken in
pursuance of the late treaties with several foreign nations, the
liberation of our citizens who were prisoners at Algiers is a subject
of peculiar felicitation. We shall cheerfully cooperate in any further
measures that shall appear on consideration to be requisite.

We have ever concurred with you in the most sincere and uniform
disposition to preserve our neutral relations inviolate, and it is of
course with anxiety and deep regret we hear that any interruption of
our harmony with the French Republic has occurred, for we feel with you
and with our constituents the cordial and unabated wish to maintain a
perfectly friendly understanding with that nation. Your endeavors to
fulfill that wish, and by all honorable means to preserve peace, and
to restore that harmony and affection which have heretofore so happily
subsisted between the French Republic and the United States, can not
fail, therefore, to interest our attention. And while we participate in
the full reliance you have expressed on the patriotism, self-respect,
and fortitude of our countrymen, we cherish the pleasing hope that a
mutual spirit of justice and moderation will insure the success of your
perseverance.

The various subjects of your communication will respectively meet with
the attention that is due to their importance.

When we advert to the internal situation of the United States, we deem
it equally natural and becoming to compare the present period with
that immediately antecedent to the operation of the Government, and to
contrast it with the calamities in which the state of war still involves
several of the European nations, as the reflections deduced from both
tend to justify as well as to excite a warmer admiration of our free
Constitution, and to exalt our minds to a more fervent and grateful
sense of piety toward Almighty God for the beneficence of His
providence, by which its administration has been hitherto so remarkably
distinguished. And while we entertain a grateful conviction that your
wise, firm, and patriotic Administration has been signally conducive to
the success of the present form of government, we can not forbear to
express the deep sensations of regret with which we contemplate your
intended retirement from office.

As no other suitable occasion may occur, we can not suffer the present
to pass without attempting to disclose some of the emotions which it can
not fail to awaken.

The gratitude and admiration of your countrymen are still drawn to the
recollection of those resplendent virtues and talents which were so
eminently instrumental to the achievement of the Revolution, and of
which that glorious event will ever be the memorial. Your obedience to
the voice of duty and your country when you quitted reluctantly a second
time the retreat you had chosen and first accepted the Presidency
afforded a new proof of the devotedness of your zeal in its service and
an earnest of the patriotism and success which have characterized your
Administration. As the grateful confidence of the citizens in the
virtues of their Chief Magistrate has essentially contributed to that
success, we persuade ourselves that the millions whom we represent
participate with us in the anxious solicitude of the present occasion.

Yet we can not be unmindful that your moderation and magnanimity, twice
displayed by retiring from your exalted stations, afford examples no
less rare and instructive to mankind than valuable to a republic.

Although we are sensible that this event of itself completes the luster
of a character already conspicuously unrivaled by the coincidence of
virtue, talents, success, and public estimation, yet we conceive we owe
it to you, sir, and still more emphatically to ourselves and to our
nation (of the language of whose hearts we presume to think ourselves
at this moment the faithful interpreters), to express the sentiments
with which it is contemplated.

The spectacle of a free and enlightened nation offering, by its
Representatives, the tribute of unfeigned approbation to its first
citizen, however novel and interesting it may be, derives all its luster
(a luster which accident or enthusiasm could not bestow, and which
adulation would tarnish) from the transcendent merit of which it is
the voluntary testimony.

May you long enjoy that liberty which is so dear to you, and to which
your name will ever be so dear. May your own virtues and a nation's
prayers obtain the happiest sunshine for the decline of your days and
the choicest of future blessings. For our country's sake, for the sake
of republican liberty, it is our earnest wish that your example may be
the guide of your successors, and thus, after being the ornament and
safeguard of the present age, become the patrimony of our descendants.

DECEMBER 15, 1796.

REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.

GENTLEMEN: To a citizen whose views were unambitious, who preferred the
shade and tranquillity of private life to the splendor and solicitude
of elevated stations, and whom the voice of duty and his country could
alone have drawn from his chosen retreat, no reward for his public
services can be so grateful as public approbation, accompanied by a
consciousness that to render those services useful to that country has
been his single aim; and when this approbation is expressed by the
Representatives of a free and enlightened nation, the reward will admit
of no addition. Receive, gentlemen, my sincere and affectionate thanks
for this signal testimony that my services have been acceptable and
useful to my country. The strong confidence of my fellow-citizens, while
it animated all my actions, insured their zealous cooperation, which
rendered those services successful. The virtue and wisdom of my
successors, joined with the patriotism and intelligence of the citizens
who compose the other branches of Government, I firmly trust will
lead them to the adoption of measures which, by the beneficence of
Providence, will give stability to our system of government, add to its
success, and secure to ourselves and to posterity that liberty which is
to all of us so dear.

While I acknowledge with pleasure the sincere and uniform disposition
of the House of Representatives to preserve our neutral relations
inviolate, and with them deeply regret any degree of interruption of
our good understanding with the French Republic, I beg you, gentlemen,
to rest assured that my endeavors will be earnest and unceasing by all
honorable means to preserve peace and to restore that harmony and
affection which have heretofore so happily subsisted between our two
nations; and with you I cherish the pleasing hope that a mutual spirit
of justice and moderation will crown those endeavors with success.

I shall cheerfully concur in the beneficial measures which your
deliberations shall mature on the various subjects demanding your
attention; and while directing your labors to advance the real interests
of our country, you receive its blessings. With perfect sincerity my
individual wishes will be offered for your present and future felicity.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

DECEMBER 16, 1796.