Chapter 20 1803

JANUARY 5, 1803.

 Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :

Agreeably to the request of the House of Representatives, I now transmit
a statement of the militia of those States from which any returns have
been made to the War Office. They are, as you will perceive, but a small
proportion of the whole. I send you also the copy of a circular letter
written some time since for the purpose of obtaining returns from all
the States. Should any others in consequence of this be made during the
session of Congress, they shall be immediately communicated.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 7, 1803.

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

I submit for your approbation and consent a convention entered into with
the Choctaw Nation of Indians for ascertaining and marking the limits of
the territory ceded to our nation while under its former government, and
lying between the Tombigbee and Mobile rivers on the east and the
Chickasawhay River on the west.

We are now engaged in ascertaining and marking in like manner the limits
of the former cessions of the Choctaws from the river Yazoo to our
southern boundary, which will be the subject of another convention,
and we expect to obtain from the same nation a new cession of lands
of considerable extent between the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers.

These several tracts of country will compose that portion of the
Mississippi Territory which, so soon as certain individual claims are
arranged, the United States will be free to sell and settle immediately.

TH. JEFFERSON

JANUARY 11, 1803.

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

The cession of the Spanish Province of Louisiana to France, and perhaps
of the Floridas, and the late suspension of our right of deposit at New
Orleans are events of primary interest to the United States. On both
occasions such measures were promptly taken as were thought most
likely amicably to remove the present and to prevent future causes of
inquietude. The objects of these measures were to obtain the territory
on the left bank of the Mississippi and eastward of that, if
practicable, on conditions to which the proper authorities of our
country would agree, or at least to prevent any changes which might
lessen the secure exercise of our rights. While my confidence in our
minister plenipotentiary at Paris is entire and undiminished, I still
think that these objects might be promoted by joining with him a person
sent from hence directly, carrying with him the feelings and sentiments
of the nation excited on the late occurrence, impressed by full
communications of all the views we entertain on this interesting
subject, and thus prepared to meet and to improve to an useful result
the counter propositions of the other contracting party, whatsoever form
their interests may give to them, and to secure to us the ultimate
accomplishment of our object.

I therefore nominate Robert R. Livingston to be minister plenipotentiary
and James Monroe to be minister extraordinary and plenipotentiary, with
full powers to both jointly, or to either on the death of the other, to
enter into a treaty or convention with the First Consul of France for
the purpose of enlarging and more effectually securing our rights and
interests in the river Mississippi and in the Territories eastward
thereof.

But as the possession of these provinces is still in Spain, and the
course of events may retard or prevent the cession to France being
carried into effect, to secure our object it will be expedient to
address equal powers to the Government of Spain also, to be used only
in the event of its being necessary.

I therefore nominate Charles Pinckney to be minister plenipotentiary,
and James Monroe, of Virginia, to be minister extraordinary and
plenipotentiary, with full powers to both jointly, or to either on the
death of the other, to enter into a treaty or convention with His
Catholic Majesty for the purpose of enlarging and more effectually
securing our rights and interests in the river Mississippi and in the
Territories eastward thereof.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 11, 1803.

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

The spoliations and irregularities committed on our commerce during
the late war by subjects of Spain or by others deemed within her
responsibility having called for attention, instructions were
accordingly given to our minister at Madrid to urge our right to just
indemnifications, and to propose a convention for adjusting them. The
Spanish Government listened to our proposition with an honorable
readiness and agreed to a convention, which I now submit for your advice
and consent. It does not go to the satisfaction of all our claims, but
the express reservation of our right to press the validity of the
residue has been made the ground of further instructions to our minister
on the subject of an additional article, which it is to be hoped will
not be without effect.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 18, 1803.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

As the continuance of the act for establishing trading houses with the
Indian tribes will be under the consideration of the Legislature at its
present session, I think it my duty to communicate the views which have
guided me in the execution of that act, in order that you may decide
on the policy of continuing it in the present or any other form, or
discontinue it altogether if that shall, on the whole, seem most for
the public good.

The Indian tribes residing within the limits of the United States
have for a considerable time been growing more and more uneasy at the
constant diminution of the territory they occupy, although effected by
their own voluntary sales, and the policy has long been gaining strength
with them of refusing absolutely all further sale on any conditions,
insomuch that at this time it hazards their friendship and excites
dangerous jealousies and perturbations in their minds to make any
overture for the purchase of the smallest portions of their land. A
very few tribes only are not yet obstinately in these dispositions. In
order peaceably to counteract this policy of theirs and to provide an
extension of territory which the rapid increase of our numbers will call
for, two measures are deemed expedient. First. To encourage them to
abandon hunting, to apply to the raising stock, to agriculture, and
domestic manufacture, and thereby prove to themselves that less land and
labor will maintain them in this better than in their former mode of
living. The extensive forests necessary in the hunting life will then
become useless, and they will see advantage in exchanging them for
the means of improving their farms and of increasing their domestic
comforts. Secondly. To multiply trading houses among them, and place
within their reach those things which will contribute more to their
domestic comfort than the possession of extensive but uncultivated
wilds. Experience and reflection will develop to them the wisdom of
exchanging what they can spare and we want for what we can spare and
they want. In leading them thus to agriculture, to manufactures, and
civilization; in bringing together their and our sentiments, and
in preparing them ultimately to participate in the benefits of our
Government, I trust and believe we are acting for their greatest good.
At these trading houses we have pursued the principles of the act of
Congress which directs that the commerce shall be carried on liberally,
and requires only that the capital stock shall not be diminished. We
consequently undersell private traders, foreign and domestic, drive them
from the competition, and thus, with the good will of the Indians, rid
ourselves of a description of men who are constantly endeavoring to
excite in the Indian mind suspicions, fears, and irritations toward us.
A letter now inclosed shows the effect of our competition on the
operations of the traders, while the Indians, perceiving the advantage
of purchasing from us, are soliciting generally our establishment
of trading houses among them. In one quarter this is particularly
interesting. The legislature, reflecting on the late occurrences on
the Mississippi, must be sensible how desirable it is to possess a
respectable breadth of country on that river, from our southern limit to
the Illinois, at least, so that we may present as firm a front on that
as on our eastern border. We possess what is below the Yazoo, and can
probably acquire a certain breadth from the Illinois and Wabash to the
Ohio; but between the Ohio and Yazoo the country all belongs to the
Chickasaws, the most friendly tribe within our limits, but the most
decided against the alienation of lands. The portion of their country
most important for us is exactly that which they do not inhabit. Their
settlements are not on the Mississippi, but in the interior country.
They have lately shown a desire to become agricultural, and this leads
to the desire of buying implements and comforts. In the strengthening
and gratifying of these wants I see the only prospect of planting on the
Mississippi itself the means of its own safety. Duty has required me to
submit these views to the judgment of the Legislature, but as their
disclosure might embarrass and defeat their effect, they are committed
to the special confidence of the two Houses.

While the extension of the public commerce among the Indian tribes may
deprive of that source of profit such of our citizens as are engaged
in it, it might be worthy the attention of Congress in their care of
individual as well as of the general interest to point in another
direction the enterprise of these citizens, as profitably for themselves
and more usefully for the public. The river Missouri and the Indians
inhabiting it are not as well known as is rendered desirable by their
connection with the Mississippi, and consequently with us. It is,
however, understood that the country on that river is inhabited by
numerous tribes, who furnish great supplies of furs and peltry to the
trade of another nation, carried on in a high latitude through an
infinite number of portages and lakes shut up by ice through a long
season. The commerce on that line could bear no competition with that of
the Missouri, traversing a moderate climate, offering, according to the
best accounts, a continued navigation from its source, and possibly with
a single portage from the Western Ocean, and finding to the Atlantic a
choice of channels through the Illinois or Wabash, the Lakes and Hudson,
through the Ohio and Susquehanna, or Potomac or James rivers, and
through the Tennessee and Savannah rivers. An intelligent officer,
with ten or twelve chosen men, fit for the enterprise and willing to
undertake it, taken from our posts where they may be spared without
inconvenience, might explore the whole line, even to the Western
Ocean, have conferences with the natives on the subject of commercial
intercourse, get admission among them for our traders as others are
admitted, agree on convenient deposits for an interchange of articles,
and return with the information acquired in the course of two summers.
Their arms and accouterments, some instruments of observation, and light
and cheap presents for the Indians would be all the apparatus they could
carry, and with an expectation of a soldier's portion of land on their
return would constitute the whole expense. Their pay would be going on
whether here or there. While other civilized nations have encountered
great expense to enlarge the boundaries of knowledge by undertaking
voyages of discovery, and for other literary purposes, in various parts
and directions, our nation seems to owe to the same object, as well
as to its own interests, to explore this the only line of easy
communication across the continent, and so directly traversing our own
part of it. The interests of commerce place the principal object within
the constitutional powers and care of Congress, and that it should
incidentally advance the geographical knowledge of our own continent
can not but be an additional gratification. The nation claiming the
territory, regarding this as a literary pursuit, which it is in the
habit of permitting within its dominions, would not be disposed to view
it with jealousy, even if the expiring state of its interests there did
not render it a matter of indifference. The appropriation of $2,500 "for
the purpose of extending the external commerce of the United States,"
while understood and considered by the Executive as giving the
legislative sanction, would cover the undertaking from notice and
prevent the obstructions which interested individuals might otherwise
previously prepare in its way.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 18, 1803.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

I inclose a report of the Secretary of War, stating the trading houses
established in the Indian territories, the progress which has been made
in the course of the last year in settling and marking boundaries with
the different tribes, the purchases of lands recently made from them,
and the prospect of further progress in marking boundaries and in new
extinguishments of title in the year to come, for which some
appropriations of money will be wanting.

To this I have to add that when the Indians ceded to us the salt springs
on the Wabash they expressed a hope that we would so employ them as to
enable them to procure there the necessary supplies of salt. Indeed, it
would be the most proper and acceptable form in which the annuity could
be paid which we propose to give them for the cession. These springs
might at the same time be rendered eminently serviceable to our Western
inhabitants by using them as the means of counteracting the monopolies
of supplies of salt and of reducing the price in that country to a just
level. For these purposes a small appropriation would be necessary to
meet the first expenses, after which they should support themselves and
repay those advances. These springs are said to possess the advantage of
being accompanied with a bed of coal.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 19, 1803.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

I now lay before Congress the annual account of the fund established
for defraying the contingent charges of Government. A single article of
$1,440, paid for bringing home 72 seamen discharged in foreign ports
from vessels sold abroad, is the only expenditure from that fund,
leaving an unexpended balance of $18,560 in the Treasury.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 24. 1803.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

I transmit a report by the superintendent of the city of Washington on
the affairs of the city committed to his care. By this you will perceive
that the resales of lots prescribed by an act of the last session of
Congress did not produce a sufficiency to pay the debt to Maryland
to which they are appropriated, and as it was evident that the sums
necessary for the interest and installments due to that State could not
be produced by a sale of the other public lots without an unwarrantable
sacrifice of the property, the deficiencies were of necessity drawn from
the Treasury of the United States.

The office of the surveyor for the city, created during the former
establishment, being of indispensable necessity, it has been continued,
and to that of the superintendent, substituted instead of the board of
commissioners at the last session of Congress, no salary was annexed by
law. These offices being permanent, I have supposed it more agreeable to
principle that their salaries should be fixed by the Legislature, and
therefore have assigned them none. Their services to be compensated are
from the 1st day of June last.

The marshal of the District of Columbia has, as directed by law, caused
a jail to be built in the city of Washington. I inclose his statements
of the expenses already incurred and of what remains to be finished. The
portion actually completed has rendered the situation of the persons
confined much more comfortable and secure than it has been heretofore.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 3, 1803.

 Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :

The inclosed letter and affidavits exhibiting matter of complaint against
John Pickering, district judge of New Hampshire, which is not within
Executive cognizance, I transmit them to the House of Representatives,
to whom the Constitution has confided a power of instituting proceedings
of redress, if they shall be of opinion that the case calls for them.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 14, 1803.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

In obedience to the ordinance for the government of the Territories of
the United States requiring that the laws adopted by the governor and
judges thereof shall be reported to Congress from time to time, I now
transmit those which have been adopted in the Indiana Territory from
January, 1801, to February, 1802, as forwarded to the office of the
Secretary of State.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 21, 1803.

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

The Tuscarora Indians, having an interest in some lands within the State
of North Carolina, asked the superintendence of the Government of the
United States over a treaty to be held between them and the State of
North Carolina respecting these lands. William Richardson Davie was
appointed a commissioner for this purpose, and a treaty was concluded
under his superintendence. This, with his letter on the subject, is now
laid before the Senate for their advice and consent whether it shall be
ratified.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 23, 1803.

 Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives :

I lay before you a report of the Secretary of State on the case of
the Danish brigantine  Henrick , taken by a French privateer in 1799,
retaken by an armed vessel of the United States, carried into a British
island, and there adjudged to be neutral, but under allowance of such
salvage and costs as absorbed nearly the whole amount of sales of
the vessel and cargo. Indemnification for these losses occasioned
by our officers is now claimed by the sufferers, supported by the
representations of their Government. I have no doubt the legislature
will give to the subject that just attention and consideration which
it is useful as well as honorable to practice in our transactions with
other nations, and particularly with one which has observed toward us
the most friendly treatment and regard.

TH. JEFFERSON.

PROCLAMATION.

 (From the National Intelligencer, July 18, 1803.)

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas great and weighty matters claiming the consideration of the
Congress of the United States form an extraordinary occasion for
convening them, I do by these presents appoint Monday, the 17th day
of October next, for their meeting at the city of Washington, hereby
requiring their respective Senators and Representatives then and there
to assemble in Congress, in order to receive such communications as may
then be made to them and to consult and determine on such measures as in
their wisdom may be deemed meet for the welfare of the United States.

 (SEAL.)

In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be
hereunto affixed, and signed the same with my hand.

Done at the city of Washington, the 16th day of July, A.D. 1803, and
in the twenty-eighth year of the Independence of the United States.

TH. JEFFERSON.

By the President:
  JAMES MADISON,
     Secretary .

THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.

OCTOBER 17, 1803.

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

In calling you together, fellow-citizens, at an earlier day than was
contemplated by the act of the last session of Congress, I have not been
insensible to the personal inconveniences necessarily resulting from
an unexpected change in your arrangements. But matters of great public
concernment have rendered this call necessary, and the interests you
feel in these will supersede in your minds all private considerations.

Congress witnessed at their late session the extraordinary agitation
produced in the public mind by the suspension of our right of deposit at
the port of New Orleans, no assignment of another place having been made
according to treaty. They were sensible that the continuance of that
privation would be more injurious to our nation than any consequences
which could flow from any mode of redress, but reposing just confidence
in the good faith of the Government whose officer had committed the
wrong, friendly and reasonable representations were resorted to, and
the right of deposit was restored.

Previous, however, to this period we had not been unaware of the danger
to which our peace would be perpetually exposed whilst so important a
key to the commerce of the Western country remained under foreign power.
Difficulties, too, were presenting themselves as to the navigation of
other streams which, arising within our territories, pass through those
adjacent. Propositions had therefore been authorized for obtaining on
fair conditions the sovereignty of New Orleans and of other possessions
in that quarter interesting to our quiet to such extent as was deemed
practicable, and the provisional appropriation of $2,000,000 to be
applied and accounted for by the President of the United States,
intended as part of the price, was considered as conveying the sanction
of Congress to the acquisition proposed. The enlightened Government of
France saw with just discernment the importance to both nations of such
liberal arrangements as might best and permanently promote the peace,
friendship, and interests of both, and the property and sovereignty of
all Louisiana which had been restored to them have on certain conditions
been transferred to the United States by instruments bearing date the
30th of April last. When these shall have received the constitutional
sanction of the Senate, they will without delay be communicated to the
Representatives also for the exercise of their functions as to those
conditions which are within the powers vested by the Constitution in
Congress.

Whilst the property and sovereignty of the Mississippi and its waters
secure an independent outlet for the produce of the Western States
and an uncontrolled navigation through their whole course, free from
collision with other powers and the dangers to our peace from that
source, the fertility of the country, its climate and extent, promise
in due season important aids to our Treasury, an ample provision for
our posterity, and a wide spread for the blessings of freedom and
equal laws.

With the wisdom of Congress it will rest to take those ulterior measures
which may be necessary for the immediate occupation and temporary
government of the country; for its incorporation into our Union; for
rendering the change of government a blessing to our newly adopted
brethren; for securing to them the rights of conscience and of property;
for confirming to the Indian inhabitants their occupancy and
self-government, establishing friendly and commercial relations with
them, and for ascertaining the geography of the country acquired. Such
materials, for your information, relative to its affairs in general as
the short space of time has permitted me to collect will be laid before
you when the subject shall be in a state for your consideration.

Another important acquisition of territory has also been made since the
last session of Congress. The friendly tribe of Kaskaskia Indians, with
which we have never had a difference, reduced by the wars and wants of
savage life to a few individuals unable to defend themselves against the
neighboring tribes, has transferred its country to the United States,
reserving only for its members what is sufficient to maintain them in an
agricultural way. The considerations stipulated are that we shall extend
to them our patronage and protection and give them certain annual
aids in money, in implements of agriculture, and other articles of
their choice. This country, among the most fertile within our limits,
extending along the Mississippi from the mouth of the Illinois to and up
the Ohio, though not so necessary as a barrier since the acquisition of
the other bank, may yet be well worthy of being laid open to immediate
settlement, as its inhabitants may descend with rapidity in support of
the lower country should future circumstances expose that to foreign
enterprise. As the stipulations in this treaty also involve matters
within the competence of both Houses only, it will be laid before
Congress as soon as the Senate shall have advised its ratification.

With many of the other Indian tribes improvements in agriculture
and household manufacture are advancing, and with all our peace and
friendship are established on grounds much firmer than heretofore.
The measure adopted of establishing trading houses among them and of
furnishing them necessaries in exchange for their commodities at such
moderate prices as leave no gain, but cover us from loss, has the most
conciliatory and useful effect on them, and is that which will best
secure their peace and good will.

The small vessels authorized by Congress with a view to the
Mediterranean service have been sent into that sea, and will be able
more effectually to confine the Tripoline cruisers within their harbors
and supersede the necessity of convoy to our commerce in that quarter.
They will sensibly lessen the expenses of that service the ensuing year.

A further knowledge of the ground in the northeastern and northwestern
angles of the United States has evinced that the boundaries established
by the treaty of Paris between the British territories and ours in those
parts were too imperfectly described to be susceptible of execution.
It has therefore been thought worthy of attention for preserving and
cherishing the harmony and useful intercourse subsisting between the
two nations to remove by timely arrangements what unfavorable incidents
might otherwise render a ground of future misunderstanding. A convention
has therefore been entered into which provides for a practicable
demarcation of those limits to the satisfaction of both parties.

An account of the receipts and expenditures of the year ending the 30th
of September last, with the estimates for the service of the ensuing
year, will be laid before you by the Secretary of the Treasury so soon
as the receipts of the last quarter shall be returned from the more
distant States. It is already ascertained that the amount paid into the
Treasury for that year has been between $11,000,000 and $12,000,000, and
that the revenue accrued during the same term exceeds the sum counted on
as sufficient for our current expenses and to extinguish the public debt
within the period heretofore proposed.

The amount of debt paid for the same year is about $3,100,000, exclusive
of interest, and making, with the payment of the preceding year, a
discharge of more than $8,500,000 of the principal of that debt,
besides the accruing interest; and there remain in the Treasury nearly
$6,000,000. Of these, $880,000 have been reserved for payment of the
first installment due under the British convention of January 8, 1802,
and two millions are what have been before mentioned as placed by
Congress under the power and accountability of the President toward the
price of New Orleans and other territories acquired, which, remaining
untouched, are still applicable to that object and go in diminution of
the sum to be funded for it.

Should the acquisition of Louisiana be constitutionally confirmed and
carried into effect, a sum of nearly $13,000,000 will then be added to
our public debt, most of which is payable after fifteen years, before
which term the present existing debts will all be discharged by the
established operation of the sinking fund. When we contemplate the
ordinary annual augmentation of impost from increasing population and
wealth, the augmentation of the same revenue by its extension to the new
acquisition, and the economies which may still be introduced into our
public expenditures, I can not but hope that Congress in reviewing their
resources will find means to meet the intermediate interest of this
additional debt without recurring to new taxes, and applying to this
object only the ordinary progression of our revenue. Its extraordinary
increase in times of foreign war will be the proper and sufficient fund
for any measures of safety or precaution which that state of things may
render necessary in our neutral position.

Remittances for the installments of our foreign debt having been found
practicable without loss, it has not been thought expedient to use the
power given by a former act of Congress of continuing them by reloans,
and of redeeming instead thereof equal sums of domestic debt, although
no difficulty was found in obtaining that accommodation.

The sum of $50,000 appropriated by Congress for providing gunboats
remains unexpended. The favorable and peaceable turn of affairs on the
Mississippi rendered an immediate execution of that law unnecessary,
and time was desirable in order that the institution of that branch of
our force might begin on models the most approved by experience, The
same issue of events dispensed with a resort to the appropriation of
$1,500,000, contemplated for purposes which were effected by happier
means.

We have seen with sincere concern the flames of war lighted up again
in Europe, and nations with which we have the most friendly and useful
relations engaged in mutual destruction. While we regret the miseries
in which we see others involved, let us bow with gratitude to that
kind Providence which, inspiring with wisdom and moderation our late
legislative councils while placed under the urgency of the greatest
wrongs, guarded us from hastily entering into the sanguinary contest and
left us only to look on and to pity its ravages. These will be heaviest
on those immediately engaged. Yet the nations pursuing peace will not
be exempt from all evil. In the course of this conflict let it be our
endeavor, as it is our interest and desire, to cultivate the friendship
of the belligerent nations by every act of justice and of innocent
kindness; to receive their armed vessels with hospitality from the
distresses of the sea, but to administer the means of annoyance to none;
to establish in our harbors such a police as may maintain law and order;
to restrain our citizens from embarking individually in a war in which
their country takes no part; to punish severely those persons, citizen
or alien, who shall usurp the cover of our flag for vessels not entitled
to it, infecting thereby with suspicion those of real Americans and
committing us into controversies for the redress of wrongs not our
own; to exact from every nation the observance toward our vessels and
citizens of those principles and practices which all civilized people
acknowledge; to merit the character of a just nation, and maintain
that of an independent one, preferring every consequence to insult and
habitual wrong. Congress will consider whether the existing laws enable
us efficaciously to maintain this course with our citizens in all places
and with others while within the limits of our jurisdiction, and will
give them the new modifications necessary for these objects. Some
contraventions of right have already taken place, both within our
jurisdictional limits and on the high seas. The friendly disposition of
the Governments from whose agents they have proceeded, as well as their
wisdom and regard for justice, leave us in reasonable expectation that
they will be rectified and prevented in future, and that no act will
be countenanced by them which threatens to disturb our friendly
intercourse. Separated by a wide ocean from the nations of Europe
and from the political interests which entangle them together, with
productions and wants which render our commerce and friendship useful to
them and theirs to us, it can not be the interest of any to assail us,
nor ours to disturb them. We should be most unwise, indeed, were we to
cast away the singular blessings of the position in which nature has
placed us, the opportunity she has endowed us with of pursuing, at a
distance from foreign contentions, the paths of industry, peace, and
happiness, of cultivating general friendship, and of bringing collisions
of interest to the umpirage of reason rather than of force. How
desirable, then, must it be in a Government like ours to see its
citizens adopt individually the views, the interests, and the conduct
which their country should pursue, divesting themselves of those
passions and partialities which tend to lessen useful friendships and to
embarrass and embroil us in the calamitous scenes of Europe. Confident,
fellow-citizens, that you will duly estimate the importance of neutral
dispositions toward the observance of neutral conduct, that you will
be sensible how much it is our duty to look on the bloody arena spread
before us with commiseration indeed, but with no other wish than to see
it closed, I am persuaded you will cordially cherish these dispositions
in all discussions among yourselves and in all communications with your
constituents; and I anticipate with satisfaction the measures of wisdom
which the great interests now committed to you will give  you  an
opportunity of providing, and  myself  that of approving and of
carrying into execution with the fidelity I owe to my country,

TH. JEFFERSON.

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

OCTOBER 17, 1803.

 Gentlemen of the Senate :

In my message of this day to both Houses of Congress I explained the
circumstances which had led to the conclusion of conventions with France
for the cession of the Province of Louisiana to the United States. Those
conventions are now laid before you with such communications relating to
them as may assist in deciding whether you will advise and consent to
their ratification.

The ratification of the First Consul of France is in the hands of his
charge d'affaires here, to be exchanged for that of the United States
whensoever, before the 30th instant, it shall be in readiness.

TH. JEFFERSON.

OCTOBER 21, 1803.

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

In my communication to you of the 17th instant I informed you that
conventions had been entered into with the Government of France for the
cession of Louisiana to the United States. These, with the advice and
consent of the Senate, having now been ratified and my ratification
exchanged for that of the First Consul of France in due form, they are
communicated to you for consideration in your legislative capacity. You
will observe that some important conditions can not be carried into
execution but with the aid of the Legislature, and that time presses
a decision on them without delay.

The ulterior provisions, also suggested in the same communication,
for the occupation and government of the country will call for early
attention. Such information relative to its government as time and
distance have permitted me to obtain will be ready to be laid before you
within a few days; but as permanent arrangements for this object may
require time and deliberation, it is for your consideration whether you
will not forthwith make such temporary provisions for the preservation
in the meanwhile of order and tranquillity in the country as the case
may require.

TH. JEFFERSON.

OCTOBER 24, 1803.

 To the Senate of the United States :

I lay before you the convention signed on the 12th day of May last
between the United States and Great Britain for settling their
boundaries in the northeastern and northwestern parts of the United
States, which was mentioned in my general message of the 17th instant,
together with such papers relating thereto as may enable you to
determine whether you will advise and consent to its ratification.

TH. JEFFERSON.

OCTOBER 31, 1803.

 To the Senate of the United States of America :

I now lay before you the treaty mentioned im my general message at the
opening of the session as having been concluded with the Kaskaskia
Indians for the transfer of their country to us under certain
reservations and conditions.

Progress having been made in the demarcation of Indian boundaries, I am
now able to communicate, to you a treaty with the Delawares, Shawanese,
Potawatamies, Miamis, Eel-rivers, Weeas, Kickapoos, Piankeshaws, and
Kaskaskias, establishing the boundaries of the territory around Saint
Vincennes.

Also a supplementary treaty with the Eel-rivers, Wyandots, Piankeshaws,
Kaskaskias, and Kickapoos, in confirmation of the fourth article of the
preceding treaty.

Also a treaty with the Choctaws, describing and establishing our
demarcation of boundaries with them.

Which several treaties are accompanied by the papers relating to them,
and are now submitted to the Senate for consideration whether they will
advise and consent to their ratification.

TH. JEFFERSON.

NOVEMBER 4, 1803.

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

By the copy now communicated of a letter from Captain Bainbridge, of
the  Philadelphia  frigate, to our consul at Gibraltar, you will learn
that an act of hostility has been committed on a merchant vessel of the
United States by an armed ship of the Emperor of Morocco. This conduct
on the part of that power is without cause and without explanation. It
is fortunate that Captain Bainbridge fell in with and took the capturing
vessel and her prize, and I have the satisfaction to inform you that
about the date of this transaction such a force would be arriving in
the neighborhood of Gibraltar, both from the east and from the west,
as leaves less to be feared for our commerce from the suddenness of
the aggression.

On the 4th of September the  Constitution  frigate, Captain Preble,
with Mr. Lear on board, was within two days' sail of Gibraltar, where
the  Philadelphia  would then be arrived with her prize, and such
explanations would probably be instituted as the state of things
required, and as might perhaps arrest the progress of hostilities.

In the meanwhile it is for Congress to consider the provisional
authorities which may be necessary to restrain the depredations of
this power should they be continued,

TH. JEFFERSON.

NOVEMBER 14, 1803.

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

I now communicate a digest of the information I have received relative
to Louisiana, which may be useful to the Legislature in providing for
the government of the country. A translation of the most important laws
in force in that province, now in press, shall be the subject of a
supplementary communication, with such further and material information
as may yet come to hand.

TH. JEFFERSON.

NOVEMBER 24, 1803.

 To the House of Representatives of the United States :

In conformity with the desire expressed in the resolution of the House
of Representatives of the 15th instant, I now lay before them copies of
such documents as are in possession of the Executive relative to the
arrest and confinement of Zachariah Cox by officers in the service of
the United States in the year 1798. From the nature of the transaction
some documents relative to it might have been expected from the War
Office; but if any ever existed there they were probably lost when the
office and its papers were consumed by fire.

TH. JEFFERSON.

NOVEMBER 25, 1803.

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

The treaty with the Kaskaskia Indians being ratified with the advice
and consent of the Senate, it is now laid before both Houses in their
legislative capacity. It will inform them of the obligations which the
United States thereby contract, and particularly that of taking the
tribe under their future protection, and that the ceded country is
submitted to their immediate possession and disposal.

TH. JEFFERSON.

NOVEMBER 29, 1803.

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

I now communicate an appendix to the information heretofore given on
the subject of Louisiana. You will be sensible, from the face of these
papers, as well as of those to which they are a sequel, that they
are not and could not be official, but are furnished by different
individuals as the result of the best inquiries they had been able
to make, and now given as received from them, only digested under
heads to prevent repetitions.

TH. JEFFERSON.

DECEMBER 5, 1803.

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

I have the satisfaction to inform you that the act of hostility
mentioned in my message of the 4th of November to have been committed by
a cruiser of the Emperor of Morocco on a vessel of the United States has
been disavowed by the Emperor. All differences in consequence thereof
have been amicably adjusted, and the treaty of 1786 between this country
and that has been recognized and confirmed by the Emperor, each party
restoring to the other what had been detained or taken. I inclose the
Emperor's orders given on this occasion.

The conduct of our officers generally who have had a part in these
transactions has merited entire approbation.

The temperate and correct course pursued by our consul, Mr. Simpson, the
promptitude and energy of Commodore Preble, the efficacious cooperation
of Captains Rodgers and Campbell, of the returning squadron, the proper
decision of Captain Bainbridge that a vessel which had committed an open
hostility was of right to be detained for inquiry and consideration,
and the general zeal of the other officers and men are honorable facts
which I make known with pleasure. And to these I add what was indeed
transacted in another quarter  the gallant enterprise of Captain Rodgers
in destroying on the coast of Tripoli a corvette of that power of 22
guns.

I recommend to the consideration of Congress a just indemnification
for the interest acquired by the captors of the  Mishouda  and
 Mirboha , yielded by them for the public accommodation.

TH. JEFFERSON.

DECEMBER 5, 1803,

 To the Senate of the United States :

In compliance with the desire of the Senate expressed in their
resolution of the 22d of November, on the impressment of seamen in
the service of the United States by the agents of foreign nations,
I now lay before the Senate a letter from the Secretary of State with
a specification of the cases of which information has been received.

TH. JEFFERSON.

DECEMBER 21, 1803.

 To the Senate of the United States :

On the 11th of January last I laid before the Senate, for their
consideration and advice, a convention with Spain on the subject of
indemnities for spoliations on our commerce committed by her subjects
during the late war, which convention is still before the Seriate. As
this instrument did not embrace French seizures and condemnations of
our vessels in the ports of Spain, for which we deemed the latter power
responsible, our minister at that Court was instructed to press for
an additional article, comprehending that branch of wrongs. I now
communicate what has since passed on that subject. The Senate will judge
whether the prospect it offers will justify a longer suspension of
that portion of indemnities conceded by Spain should she now take no
advantage of the lapse of the period for ratification. As the settlement
of the boundaries of Louisiana will call for new negotiations on our
receiving possession of that Province, the claims not obtained by the
convention now before the Senate may be incorporated into those
discussions.

TH. JEFFERSON.

DECEMBER 31, 1803.

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

I now lay before Congress the annual account of the fund established
for defraying the contingent charges of Government. No occasion having
arisen for making use of any part of it in the present year, the balance
of $18,560 unexpended at the end of the last year remains now in the
Treasury.

TH. JEFFERSON.