Chapter 19 1802

JANUARY 11, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives .

I now communicate to you a memorial of the commissioners of the city of
Washington, together with a letter of later date, which, with their
memorial of January 28, 1801, will possess the Legislature fully of the
state of the public interests and of those of the city of Washington
confided to them. The moneys now due, and soon to become due, to the
State of Maryland on the loan guaranteed by the United States call for
an early attention. The lots in the city which are chargeable with the
payment of these moneys are deemed not only equal to the indemnification
of the public, but to insure a considerable surplus to the city to be
employed for its improvement, provided they are offered for sale only in
sufficient numbers to meet the existing demand. But the act of 1796
requires that they shall be positively sold in such numbers as shall be
necessary for the punctual payment of the loans. Nine thousand dollars
of interest are lately become due, $3,000 quarter yearly will continue
to become due, and $50,000, an additional loan, are reimbursable on the
1st day of November next. These sums would require sales so far beyond
the actual demand of the market that it is apprehended that the whole
property may be thereby sacrificed, the public security destroyed, and
the residuary interest of the city entirely lost. Under these
circumstances I have thought it my duty before I proceed to direct a
rigorous execution of the law to submit the subject to the consideration
of the Legislature. Whether the public interest will be better secured
in the end and that of the city saved by offering sales commensurate
only to the demand at market, and advancing from the Treasury in the
first instance what these may prove deficient, to be replaced by
subsequent sales, rests for the determination of the Legislature. If
indulgence for the funds can be admitted, they will probably form a
resource of great and permanent value; and their embarrassments have
been produced only by overstrained exertions to provide accommodations
for the Government of the Union

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 12, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

I now communicate to you a letter from the Secretary of State inclosing
an estimate of the expenses which appear at present necessary for
carrying into effect the convention between the United States of America
and the French Republic, which has been prepared at the request of the
House of Representatives.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 27, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

I lay before you the accounts of our Indian trading houses, as rendered
up to the 1st day of January, 1801, with a report of the Secretary of
War thereon, explaining the effects and the situation of that commerce
and the reasons in favor of its further extension. But it is believed
that the act authorizing this trade expired so long ago as the 3d of
March, 1799. Its revival, therefore, as well as its extension, is
submitted to the consideration of the Legislature.

The act regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes will
also expire on the 3d day of March next. While on the subject of its
continuance it will be worthy the consideration of the Legislature
whether the provisions of the law inflicting on Indians, in certain
cases, the punishment of death by hanging might not permit its
commutation into death by military execution, the form of the punishment
in the former way being peculiarly repugnant to their ideas and
increasing the obstacles to the surrender of the criminal.

These people are becoming very sensible of the baneful effects produced
on their morals, their health, and existence by the abuse of ardent
spirits, and some of them earnestly desire a prohibition of that article
from being carried among them. The Legislature will consider whether the
effectuating that desire would not be in the spirit of benevolence and
liberality which they have hitherto practiced toward these our
neighbors, and which has had so happy an effect toward conciliating
their friendship. It has been found, too, in experience that the same
abuse gives frequent rise to incidents tending much to commit our peace
with the Indians.

It is now become necessary to run and mark the boundaries between them
and us in various parts. The law last mentioned has authorized this to
be done, but no existing appropriation meets the expense.

Certain papers explanatory of the grounds of this communication are
herewith inclosed.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 2, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

I now lay before you  

1. A return of ordnance, arms, and military stores the property of the
United States.

2. Returns of muskets and bayonets fabricated at the armories of the
United States at Springfield and Harpers Ferry, and of the expenditures
at those places; and

3. An estimate of expenditures which may be necessary for fortifications
and barracks for the present year.

Besides the permanent magazines established at Springfield, West Point,
and Harpers Ferry, it is thought one should be established in some point
convenient for the States of North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Georgia. Such a point will probably be found near the border of the
Carolinas, and some small provision by the Legislature preparatory to
the establishment will be necessary for the present year.

We find the United States in possession of certain iron mines and works
in the county of Berkeley and State of Virginia, purchased, as is
presumable, on the idea of establishing works for the fabrication of
cannon and other military articles by the public. Whether this method of
supplying what may be wanted will be most advisable or that of
purchasing at market where competition brings everything to its proper
level of price and quality is for the Legislature to decide, and if the
latter alternative be preferred, it will rest for their further
consideration in what way the subjects of this purchase may be best
employed or disposed of. The Attorney-General's opinion on the subject
of the title accompanies this.

There are in various parts of the United States small parcels of land
which have been purchased at different times for cantonments and other
military purposes. Several of them are in situations not likely to be
accommodated to future purposes. The loss of the records prevents a
detailed statement of these until they can be supplied by inquiry. In
the meantime, one of them, containing 88 acres, in the county of Essex,
in New Jersey, purchased in 1799 and sold the following year to
Cornelius Vermule and Andrew Codmas, though its price has been received,
can not be conveyed without authority from the Legislature.

I inclose herewith a letter from the Secretary of War on the subject of
the islands in the lakes and rivers of our northern boundary, and of
certain lands in the neighborhood of some of our military posts, on
which it may be expedient for the Legislature to make some provisions.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 16, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

I now transmit a statement of the expenses incurred by the United States
in their transactions with the Barbary Powers, and a roll of the persons
having office or employment under the United States, as was proposed in
my messages of December 7 and 22. Neither is as perfect as could have
been wished, and the latter not so much so as further time and inquiry
may enable us to make it.

The great volume of these communications and the delay it would produce
to make out a second copy will, I trust, be deemed a sufficient reason
for sending one of them to the one House, and the other to the other,
with a request that they may be interchanged for mutual information
rather than to subject both to further delay.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 18, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

In a message of the 2d instant I inclosed a letter from the Secretary of
War on the subject of certain lands in the neighborhood of our military
posts on which it might be expedient for the Legislature to make some
provisions. A letter recently received from the governor of Indiana
presents some further views of the extent to which such provision may be
needed, I therefore now transmit it for the information of Congress.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 24, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

I communicate to both Houses of Congress a report of the Secretary of
the Treasury on the subject of our marine hospitals, which appear to
require legislative attention.

As connected with the same subject, I also inclose information
respecting the situation of our seamen and boatmen frequenting the port
of New Orleans and suffering there from sickness and the want of
accommodation. There is good reason to believe their numbers greater
than stated in these papers. When we consider how great a proportion of
the territory of the United States must communicate with that port
singly, and how rapidly that territory is increasing its population and
productions, it may perhaps be thought reasonable to make hospital
provisions there of a different order from those at foreign ports
generally.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 25, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

No occasion having arisen since the last account rendered by my
predecessor of making use of any part of the moneys heretofore granted
to defray the contingent charges of the Government, I now transmit to
Congress an official statement thereof to the 31st day of December last,
when the whole unexpended balance, amounting to $20,911.80, was carried
to the credit of the surplus fund, as provided for by law, and this
account consequently becomes finally closed,

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 26, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

Some statements have been lately received of the causes decided or
depending in the courts of the Union in certain States, supplementary or
corrective of those from which was formed the general statement
accompanying my message at the opening of the session. I therefore
communicate them to Congress, with a report of the Secretary of State
noting their effect on the former statement and correcting certain
errors in it which arose partly from inexactitude in some of the returns
and partly in analyzing, adding, and transcribing them while hurried in
preparing the other voluminous papers accompanying that message.

TH. JEFFERSON.

MARCH 1, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

I transmit for the information of Congress letters recently received
from our consuls at Gibraltar and Algiers, presenting the latest view of
the state of our affairs with the Barbary Powers. The sums due to the
Government of Algiers are now fully paid up, and of the gratuity which
had been promised to that of Tunis, and was in a course of preparation,
a small portion only remains still to be finished and delivered.

TH. JEFFERSON.

MARCH 9, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

The governor of New York has desired that, in addition to the
negotiations with certain Indians already authorized under the
superintendence of John Taylor, further negotiations should be held with
the Oneidas and other members of the Confederacy of the Six Nations for
the purchase of lands in and for the State of New York, which they are
willing to sell, as explained in the letter from the Secretary of War
herewith sent. I have therefore thought it better to name a commissioner
to superintend the negotiations specified with the Six Nations
generally, or with any of them.

I do accordingly nominate John Taylor, of New York, to be commissioner
for the United States, to hold a convention or conventions between the
State of New York and the Confederacy of the Six Nations of Indians, or
any of the nations composing it.

This nomination, if advised and consented to by the Senate, will
comprehend and supersede that of February 1 of the same John Taylor so
far as it respected the Seneca Indians,

TH. JEFFERSON.

MARCH 10, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

I now submit for the ratification of the Senate a treaty entered into
by the commissioners of the United States with the Choctaw Nation of
Indians, and I transmit therewith so much of the instructions to the
commissioners as related to the Choctaws, with the minutes of their
proceedings and the letter accompanying them.

TH. JEFFERSON.

MARCH 29, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

The Secretary of State, charged with the civil affairs of the several
Territories of the United States, has received from the marshal of
Columbia a statement of the condition, unavoidably distressing, of the
persons committed to his custody on civil or criminal process and the
urgency for some legislative provisions for their relief. There are
other important cases wherein the laws of the adjoining States under
which the Territory is placed, though adapted to the purposes of those
States, are insufficient for those of the Territory from the dissimilar
or defective organization of its authorities. The letter and statement
of the marshal and the disquieting state of the Territory generally are
now submitted to the wisdom and consideration of the Legislature.

TH. JEFFERSON.

MARCH 29, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

The commissioners who were appointed to carry into execution the sixth
article of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between the
United States and His Britannic Majesty having differed in opinion as to
the objects of that article and discontinued their proceedings, the
Executive of the United States took early measures, by instructions to
our minister at the British Court, to negotiate explanations of that
article. This mode of resolving the difficulty, however, proved
unacceptable to the British Government, which chose rather to avoid all
further discussion and expense under that article by fixing at a given
sum the amount for which the United States should be held responsible
under it. Mr. King was consequently authorized to meet this proposition,
and a settlement in this way has been effected by a convention entered
into with the British Government, and now communicated for your advice
and consent, together with the instructions and correspondence relating
to it. The greater part of these papers being originals, the return of
them is requested at the convenience of the Senate.

TH. JEFFERSON.

MARCH 30, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

The Secretary of War has prepared an estimate of expenditures for the
Army of the United States during the year 1802, conformably to the act
fixing the military peace establishment, which estimate, with his letter
accompanying and explaining it, I now transmit to both Houses of
Congress.

TH. JEFFERSON.

MARCH 31, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :

According to the desire expressed in your resolution of the 23d instant,
I now transmit a report of the Secretary of State, with the letters it
refers to, shewing the proceedings which have taken place under the
resolution of Congress of the 16th of April, 1800. The term prescribed
for the execution of the resolution having elapsed before the person
appointed had sat out on the service, I did not deem it justifiable to
commence a course of expenditure after the expiration of the resolution
authorizing it. The correspondence which has taken place, having regard
to dates, will place this subject properly under the view of the House
of Representatives.

TH. JEFFERSON.

APRIL, 8, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

In order to satisfy as far as it is in my power the desire expressed in
your resolution of the 6th instant, I now transmit you a letter from
John Read, agent for the United States before the board of commissioners
under the sixth article of the treaty with Great Britain, to the
Attorney-General, bearing date the 25th of April, 1801, in which he
gives a summary view of the proceedings of those commissioners and of
the principles established or insisted on by a majority of them.

Supposing it might be practicable for us to settle by negotiation with
Great Britain the principles which ought to govern the decisions under
the treaty, I caused instructions to be given to Mr. Read to analyze
the claims before the board of commissioners, to class them under the
principles on which they respectively depended, and to state the sum
depending on each principle or the amount of each description of debt.
The object of this was that we might know what principles were most
important for us to contend for and what others might be conceded
without much injury. He performed this duty, and gave in such a
statement during the last summer, but the chief clerk of the Secretary
of State's office being absent on account of sickness, and the only
person acquainted with the arrangement of the papers of the office, this
particular document can not at this time be found. Having, however,
been myself in possession of it a few days after its receipt, I then
transcribed from it for my own use the recapitulation of the amount of
each description of debt. A copy of this transcript I shall subjoin
hereto, with assurances that it is substantially correct, and with the
hope that it will give a view of the subject sufficiently precise to
fulfill the wishes of the Senate. To save them the delay of waiting till
a copy of the agent's letter could be made, I send the original, with
the request that it may be returned at the convenience of the Senate.

TH. JEFFERSON.

APRIL 15, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :

I now transmit the papers desired in your resolution of the 6th
instant. Those respecting the  Berceau  will sufficiently explain
themselves. The officer charged with her repairs states in his letter,
received August 27, 1801, that he had been led by circumstances, which
he explains, to go considerably beyond his orders. In questions between
nations, who have no common umpire but reason, something must often be
yielded of mutual opinion to enable them to meet in a common point.

The allowance which had been proposed to the officers of that vessel
being represented as too small for their daily necessities, and still
more so as the means of paying before their departure debts contracted
with our citizens for subsistence, it was requested on their behalf that
the daily pay of each might be the measure of their allowance.

This being solicited and reimbursement assumed by the agent of their
nation, I deemed that the indulgence would have a propitious effect in
the moment of returning friendship. The sum of $870.83 was accordingly
furnished them for the five months of past captivity and a proportional
allowance authorized until their embarkation.

TH. JEFFERSON.

APRIL 20, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :

I transmit you a report from the Secretary of State, with the
information desired by the House of Representatives, of the 8th of
January, relative to certain spoliations and other proceedings therein
referred to.

TH. JEFFERSON.

APRIL 26, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

In pursuance of the act entitled "An act supplemental to the act
entitled 'An act for an amicable settlement of limits with the State
of Georgia, and authorizing the establishment of a government in the
Mississippi Territory,'" James Madison, Secretary of State, Albert
Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, and Levi Lincoln, Attorney-General
of the United States, were appointed commissioners to settle by
compromise with the commissioners appointed by the State of Georgia the
claims and cession to which the said act has relation.

Articles of agreement and cession have accordingly been entered into and
signed by the said commissioners of the United States and of Georgia,
which, as they leave a right to Congress to act upon them legislatively
at any time within six months after their date, I have thought it my
duty immediately to communicate to the Legislature.

TH. JEFFERSON.

APRIL 27, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

The commissioners who were appointed to carry into execution the sixth
article of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between the
United States and Great Britain having differed in their construction
of that article, and separated in consequence of that difference, the
President of the United States took immediate measures for obtaining
conventional explanations of that article for the government of the
commissioners. Finding, however, great difficulties opposed to a
settlement in that way, he authorized our minister at the Court of
London to meet a proposition that the United States by the payment of a
fixed sum should discharge themselves from their responsibility for such
debts as can not be recovered from the individual debtors. A convention
has accordingly been signed, fixing the sum to be paid at L600,000 in
three equal and annual installments, which has been ratified by me with
the advice and consent of the Senate.

I now transmit copies thereof to both Houses of Congress, trusting that
in the free exercise of the authority which the Constitution has given
them on the subject of public expenditures they will deem it for the
public interest to appropriate the sums necessary for carrying this
convention into execution.

TH. JEFFERSON.

SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.

DECEMBER 15, 1802

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

When we assemble together, fellow-citizens, to consider the state of our
beloved country, our just attentions are first drawn to those pleasing
circumstances which mark the goodness of that Being from whose favor
they flow and the large measure of thankfulness we owe for His bounty.
Another year has come around, and finds us still blessed with peace and
friendship abroad; law, order, and religion at home; good affection and
harmony with our Indian neighbors; our burthens lightened, yet our
income sufficient for the public wants, and the produce of the year
great beyond example. These, fellow-citizens, are the circumstances
under which we meet, and we remark with special satisfaction those which
under the smiles of Providence result from the skill, industry, and
order of our citizens, managing their own affairs in their own way and
for their own use, unembarrassed by too much regulation, unoppressed by
fiscal exactions.

On the restoration of peace in Europe that portion of the general
carrying trade which had fallen to our share during the war was abridged
by the returning competition of the belligerent powers. This was to
be expected, and was just. But in addition we find in some parts of
Europe monopolizing discriminations, which in the form of duties tend
effectually to prohibit the carrying thither our own produce in our own
vessels. From existing amities and a spirit of justice it is hoped that
friendly discussion will produce a fair and adequate reciprocity. But
should false calculations of interest defeat our hope, it rests with the
Legislature to decide whether they will meet inequalities abroad with
countervailing inequalities at home, or provide for the evil in any
other way.

It is with satisfaction I lay before you an act of the British
Parliament anticipating this subject so far as to authorize a mutual
abolition of the duties and countervailing duties permitted under the
treaty of 1794. It shows on their part a spirit of justice and friendly
accommodation which it is our duty and our interest to cultivate with
all nations. Whether this would produce a due equality in the navigation
between the two countries is a subject for your consideration.

Another circumstance which claims attention as directly affecting the
very source of our navigation is the defect or the evasion of the law
providing for the return of seamen, and particularly of those belonging
to vessels sold abroad. Numbers of them, discharged in foreign ports,
have been thrown on the hands of our consuls, who, to rescue them from
the dangers into which their distresses might plunge them and save them
to their country, have found it necessary in some cases to return them
at the public charge.

The cession of the Spanish Province of Louisiana to France, which took
place in the course of the late war, will, if carried into effect, make
a change in the aspect of our foreign relations which will doubtless
have just weight in any deliberations of the Legislature connected with
that subject.

There was reason not long since to apprehend that the warfare in which
we were engaged with Tripoli might be taken up by some other of the
Barbary Powers. A reenforcement, therefore, was immediately ordered to
the vessels already there. Subsequent information, however, has removed
these apprehensions for the present. To secure our commerce in that sea
with the smallest force competent, we have supposed it best to watch
strictly the harbor of Tripoli. Still, however, the shallowness of their
coast and the want of smaller vessels on our part has permitted some
cruisers to escape unobserved, and to one of these an American vessel
unfortunately fell a prey. The captain, one American seaman, and two
others of color remain prisoners with them unless exchanged under an
agreement formerly made with the Bashaw, to whom, on the faith of that,
some of his captive subjects had been restored.

The convention with the State of Georgia has been ratified by their
legislature, and a repurchase from the Creeks has been consequently made
of a part of the Talasscee country. In this purchase has been also
comprehended a part of the lands within the fork of Oconee and Oakmulgee
rivers. The particulars of the contract will be laid before Congress so
soon as they shall be in a state for communication.

In order to remove every ground of difference possible with our Indian
neighbors, I have proceeded in the work of settling with them and
marking the boundaries between us. That with the Choctaw Nation is fixed
in one part and will be through the whole within a short time. The
country to which their title had been extinguished before the Revolution
is sufficient to receive a very respectable population, which Congress
will probably see the expediency of encouraging so soon as the limits
shall be declared. We are to view this position as an outpost of the
United States, surrounded by strong neighbors and distant from its
support; and how far that monopoly which prevents population should
here be guarded against and actual habitation made a condition of
the continuance of title will be for your consideration. A prompt
settlement, too, of all existing rights and claims within this territory
presents itself as a preliminary operation.

In that part of the Indiana Territory which includes Vincennes the lines
settled with the neighboring tribes fix the extinction of their title
at a breadth of 24 leagues from east to west and about the same length
parallel with and including the Wabash. They have also ceded a tract of
4 miles square, including the salt springs near the mouth of that river.

In the Department of Finance it is with pleasure I inform you that the
receipts of external duties for the last twelve months have exceeded
those of any former year, and that the ratio of increase has been also
greater than usual. This has enabled us to answer all the regular
exigencies of Government, to pay from the Treasury within one year
upward of $8,000,000, principal and interest, of the public debt,
exclusive of upward of one million paid by the sale of bank stock, and
making in the whole a reduction of nearly five millions and a half of
principal, and to have now in the Treasury $4,500,000, which are in a
course of application to the further discharge of debt and current
demands. Experience, too, so far, authorizes us to believe, if no
extraordinary event supervenes, and the expenses which will be actually
incurred shall not be greater than were contemplated by Congress
at their last session, that we shall not be disappointed in the
expectations then formed. But nevertheless, as the effect of peace
on the amount of duties is not yet fully ascertained, it is the more
necessary to practice every useful economy and to incur no expense which
may be avoided without prejudice.

The collection of the internal taxes having been completed in some of
the States, the officers employed in it are of course out of commission.
In others they will be so shortly. But in a few, where the arrangements
for the direct tax had been retarded, it will be some time before the
system is closed. It has not yet been thought necessary to employ the
agent authorized by an act of the last session for transacting business
in Europe relative to debts and loans. Nor have we used the power
confided by the same act of prolonging the foreign debt by reloans, and
of redeeming instead thereof an equal sum of the domestic debt. Should,
however, the difficulties of remittance on so large a scale render it
necessary at any time, the power shall be executed and the money thus
unemployed abroad shall, in conformity with that law, be faithfully
applied here in an equivalent extinction of domestic debt. When effects
so salutary result from the plans you have already sanctioned; when
merely by avoiding false objects of expense we are able, without a
direct tax, without internal taxes, and without borrowing to make large
and effectual payments toward the discharge of our public debt and
the emancipation of our posterity from that mortal canker, it is an
encouragement, fellow-citizens, of the highest order to proceed as we
have begun in substituting economy for taxation, and in pursuing what is
useful for a nation placed as we are, rather than what is practiced by
others under different circumstances. And whensoever we are destined to
meet events which shall call forth all the energies of our countrymen,
we have the firmest reliance on those energies and the comfort of
leaving for calls like these the extraordinary resources of loans and
internal taxes. In the meantime, by payments of the principal of our
debt, we are liberating annually portions of the external taxes and
forming from them a growing fund still further to lessen the necessity
of recurring to extraordinary resources.

The usual account of receipts and expenditures for the last year, with
an estimate of the expenses of the ensuing one, will be laid before you
by the Secretary of the Treasury.

No change being deemed necessary in our military establishment, an
estimate of its expenses for the ensuing year on its present footing,
as also of the sums to be employed in fortifications and other objects
within that department, has been prepared by the Secretary of War, and
will make a part of the general estimates which will be presented you.

Considering that our regular troops are employed for local purposes,
and that the militia is our general reliance for great and sudden
emergencies, you will doubtless think this institution worthy of a
review, and give it those improvements of which you find it susceptible.

Estimates for the Naval Department, prepared by the Secretary of the
Navy, for another year will in like manner be communicated with the
general estimates. A small force in the Mediterranean will still be
necessary to restrain the Tripoline cruisers, and the uncertain tenure
of peace with some other of the Barbary Powers may eventually require
that force to be augmented. The necessity of procuring some smaller
vessels for that service will raise the estimate, but the difference
in their maintenance will soon make it a measure of economy.

Presuming it will be deemed expedient to expend annually a convenient
sum toward providing the naval defense which our situation may require,
I can not but recommend that the first appropriations for that purpose
may go to the saving what we already possess. No cares, no attentions,
can preserve vessels from rapid decay which lie in water and exposed
to the sun . These decays require great and constant repairs, and will
consume, if continued, a great portion of the moneys destined to naval
purposes. To avoid this waste of our resources it is proposed to add
to our navy-yard here a dock within which our present vessels may be
laid up dry and under cover from the sun . Under these circumstances
experience proves that works of wood will remain scarcely at all
affected by time. The great abundance of running water which this
situation possesses, at heights far above the level of the tide, if
employed as is practiced for lock navigation, furnishes the means for
raising and laying up our vessels on a dry and sheltered bed. And should
the measure be found useful here, similar depositories for laying up as
well as for building and repairing vessels may hereafter be undertaken
at other navy-yards offering the same means. The plans and estimates
of the work, prepared by a person of skill and experience, will be
presented to you without delay, and from this it will be seen that
scarcely more than has been the cost of one vessel is necessary to save
the whole, and that the annual sum to be employed toward its completion
may be adapted to the views of the Legislature as to naval expenditure.

To cultivate peace and maintain commerce and navigation in all their
lawful enterprises; to foster our fisheries as nurseries of navigation
and for the nurture of man, and protect the manufactures adapted to our
circumstances; to preserve the faith of the nation by an exact discharge
of its debts and contracts, expend the public money with the same care
and economy we would practice with our own, and impose on our citizens
no unnecessary burthens; to keep in all things within the pale of our
constitutional powers, and cherish the federal union as the only rock
of safety  these, fellow-citizens, are the landmarks by which we are to
guide our selves in all our proceedings. By continuing to make these the
rule of our action we shall endear to our countrymen the true principles
of their Constitution and promote an union of sentiment and of action
equally auspicious to their happiness and safety. On my part, you may
count on a cordial concurrence in every measure for the public good and
on all the information I possess which may enable you to discharge to
advantage the high functions with which you are invested by your
country.

TH. JEFFERSON.

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

DECEMBER 22, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :

I now transmit a report from the Secretary of State with the information
requested in your resolution of the 17th instant.

In making this communication I deem it proper to observe that I was led
by the regard due to the rights and interests of the United States and
to the just sensibility of the portion of our fellow-citizens more
immediately affected by the irregular proceeding at New Orleans to lose
not a moment in causing every step to be taken which the occasion
claimed from me, being equally aware of the obligation to maintain in
all cases the rights of the nation and to employ for that purpose those
just and honorable means which belong to the character of the United
States.

TH. JEFFERSON.

DECEMBER 23, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the House of Representatives .

In pursuance of the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 3d
of May last, desiring a statement of expenditures from January 1, 1797,
by the Quartermaster-General and the navy agents, for the contingencies
of the naval and military establishments and the navy contracts for
timber and stores, I now transmit such statements from the offices of
the Secretaries of the Treasury, War, and Navy, where alone these
expenditures are entered.

TH. JEFFERSON.

DECEMBER 27, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

I lay before you a treaty, which has been agreed to by commissioners
duly authorized on the part of the United States and the Creek Nation
of Indians, for the extinguishment of the native title to lands in the
Talassee County, and others between the forks of Oconce and Oakmulgee
rivers, in Georgia, in pursuance of the convention with that State,
together with the documents explanatory thereof; and it is submitted
to your determination whether you will advise and consent to the
ratification thereof.

TH. JEFFERSON.

DECEMBER 27, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

I lay before you a treaty, which has been concluded between the State of
New York and the Oneida Indians, for the purchase of lands within that
State.

One other, between the same State and the Seneca Indians, for the
purchase of other lands within the same State.

One other, between certain individuals styled the Holland Company with
the Senecas, for the exchange of certain lands in the same State.

And one other, between Oliver Phelps, a citizen of the United States,
and the Senecas, for the exchange of lands in the same State; with
sundry explanatory papers, all of them conducted under the
superintendence of a commissioner on the part of the United States, who
reports that they have been adjusted with the fair and free consent
and understanding of the parties. It is therefore submitted to your
determination whether you will advise and consent to their respective
ratifications.

TH. JEFFERSON.

DECEMBER 27, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

In my message of the 15th instant I mentioned that plans and estimates
of a dry dock for the preservation of our ships of war, prepared by a
person of skill and experience, should be laid before you without delay.
These are now transmitted, the report and estimates by duplicates; but
the plans being single only, I must request an intercommunication of
them between the Houses and their return when they shall no longer be
wanting for their consideration.

TH. JEFFERSON.

DECEMBER 30, 1802.

 Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :

In addition to the information accompanying my message of the 22d
instant, I now transmit the copy of a letter on the same subject,
recently received.

TH. JEFFERSON.

WASHINGTON,  December 30, 1802 .

The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

SIR: Although an informal communication to the public of the substance
of the inclosed letter may be proper for quieting the public mind, yet I
refer to the consideration of the House of Representatives whether the
publication of it in form might not give dissatisfaction to the writer
and tend to discourage the freedom and confidence of communications
between the agents of the two Governments. Accept assurances of my high
consideration and respect.

TH. JEFFERSON.

NATCHEZ,  November 25, 1802 .

The Honorable the Secretary of State,

 Washington .

SIR: I have the honor to inclose you an original copy of a communication
(together with a translation thereof) which I this morning received
from the governor-general of the Province of Louisiana in answer to my
letters of the 28th ultimo.

I am, sir, with respect and esteem, your humble servant,

WILLIAM C.C. CLAIBORNE.

 (Translation.)

New Orleans,  November 15, 1802 .

His Excellency WILLIAM C.C. CLAIBORNE.

Most Excellent Sir: I received a few days past your excellency's
esteemed letter of the 28th ultimo, in which your excellency, referring
to the twenty-second article of the treaty of friendship, navigation,
and limits agreed upon between the King, my master, and the United
States of America, has been pleased to inquire, after transcribing the
literal text of said article (which you find so explicit as not to
require any comment nor to admit of dubious construction), if His
Majesty has been pleased to designate any other position on the banks
of the Mississippi, and where that is, if his royal pleasure does not
continue the permission stipulated by the said treaty which entitled the
citizens of the United States to deposit their merchandise and effects
in the port of New Orleans; and you request at the same time that, as
the affair is so interesting to the commerce of the United States and
to the welfare of its citizens, I may do you the favor to send you an
answer as early as possible. I can now assure your excellency that His
Catholic Majesty has not hitherto issued any order for suspending the
deposit, and consequently has not designated any other position on the
banks of the Mississippi for that purpose. But I must inform you, in
answer to your inquiry, that the intendant of these provinces (who
in the affairs of his own department is independent of the general
Government), at the same time that, in conformity with the royal
commands (the peace in Europe having been published since the 4th of May
last), he suspended the commerce of neutrals, also thought proper to
suspend the tacit prolongation which continued, and to put a stop to
the infinite abuses which resulted from the deposit, contrary to the
interest of the State and of the commerce of these colonies, in
consequence of the experience he acquired of the frauds which have been
committed and which it has been endeavored to excuse under the pretext
of ignorance, as is manifested by the number of causes which now await
the determination of His Majesty, as soon as they can be brought to his
royal knowledge, besides many others which have been dropt because the
individuals have absconded who introduced their properties into the
deposit and did not extract them, thus defrauding the royal interests.

It might appear on the first view that particular cases like these ought
not to operate against a general privilege granted by a solemn treaty,
and it is an incontestable principle that the happiness of nations
consists in a great measure in maintaining a good harmony and
correspondence with their neighbors by respecting their rights, by
supporting their own, without being deficient in what is required by
humanity and civil intercourse; but it is also indubitable that for a
treaty, although solemn, to be entirely valid it ought not to contain
any defect; and if it be pernicious and of an injurious tendency,
although it has been effectuated with good faith but without a knowledge
of its bad consequence, it will be necessary to undo it, because
treaties ought to be viewed like other acts of public will, in which
more attention ought to be paid to the intention than to the words in
which they are expressed; and thus it will not appear so repugnant
that the term of three years fixed by the twenty-second article being
completed without the King's having granted a prolongation, the
intendancy should not, after putting a stop to the commerce of neutrals,
take upon itself the responsibility of continuing that favor without the
express mandate of the King, a circumstance equally indispensable for
designating another place on the banks of the Mississippi.

From the foregoing I trust that you will infer that as it is the duty of
the intendant, who conducts the business of his ministry with a perfect
independence of the Government, to have informed the King of what he has
done in fulfillment of what has been expressly stipulated, it is to be
hoped that His Majesty will take the measures which are convenient to
give effect to the deposit, either in this capital, if he should not
find it prejudicial to the interests of Spain, or in the place on
the banks of the Mississippi which it may be his royal pleasure to
designate; as it ought to be confided that the justice and generosity
of the King will not refuse to afford to the American citizens all
the advantages they can desire, a measure which does not depend upon
discretion, nor can an individual chief take it upon himself. Besides
these principles on which the regulation of the intendant is founded, I
ought at the same time to inform you that I myself opposed on my part,
as far as I reasonably could, the measure of suspending the deposit,
until the reasons adduced by the intendant brought it to my view; that
as all events can not be prevented, and as with time and different
circumstances various others occur which can not be foreseen, a just
and rational interpretation is always necessary. Notwithstanding the
foregoing, the result of my own reflections, I immediately consulted on
the occasion with my captain-general, whose answer, which can not be
long delayed, will dissipate every doubt that may be raised concerning
the steps which are to be taken, By all means your excellency may live
in the firm persuasion that as there has subsisted, and does subsist,
the most perfect and constant good harmony between the King, my master,
and the United States of America, I will spare no pains to preserve it
by all the means in my power, being assured of a reciprocity of equal
good offices in observing the treaty with good faith, ever keeping it in
view that the felicity and glory of nations are deeply concerned in the
advantages of a wise and prudently conducted commerce.

I have the honor to assure your excellency of the respect and high
consideration which I profess for you; and I pray the Most High to
preserve your life many years.

I kiss your excellency's hands.

Your most affectionate servant,

MANUEL DE SALCEDO.