Chapter 24 1807
JANUARY 5, 1807.

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

I transmit to each House of Congress a copy of the laws of the Territory
of Michigan passed by the governor and judges of the Territory during
the year 1805.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 22, 1807.

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

Agreeably to the request of the House of Representatives communicated
in their resolution of the 16th instant, I proceed to state, under the
reserve therein expressed, information received touching an illegal
combination of private individuals against the peace and safety of the
Union, and a military expedition planned by them against the territories
of a power in amity with the United States, with the measures I have
pursued for suppressing the same.

I had for some time been in the constant expectation of receiving
such further information as would have enabled me to lay before the
Legislature the termination as well as the beginning and progress of
this scene of depravity so far as it has been acted on the Ohio and its
waters. From this the state of safety of the lower country might have
been estimated on probable grounds, and the delay was indulged the
rather because no circumstance had yet made it necessary to call in the
aid of the legislative functions. Information now recently communicated
has brought us nearly to the period contemplated. The mass of what I
have received in the course of these transactions is voluminous, but
little has been given under the sanction of an oath so as to constitute
formal and legal evidence. It is chiefly in the form of letters, often
containing such a mixture of rumors, conjectures, and suspicions
as renders it difficult to sift out the real facts and unadvisable
to hazard more than general outlines, strengthened by concurrent
information or the particular credibility of the relator. In this state
of the evidence, delivered sometimes, too, under the restriction of
private confidence, neither safety nor justice will permit the exposing
names, except that of the principal actor, whose guilt is placed beyond
question.

Some time in the latter part of September I received intimations that
designs were in agitation in the Western country unlawful and unfriendly
to the peace of the Union, and that the prime mover in these was Aaron
Burr, heretofore distinguished by the favor of his country. The grounds
of these intimations being inconclusive, the objects uncertain, and the
fidelity of that country known to be firm, the only measure taken was to
urge the informants to use their best endeavors to get further insight
into the designs and proceedings of the suspected persons and to
communicate them to me.

It was not till the latter part of October that the objects of the
conspiracy began to be perceived, but still so blended and involved in
mystery that nothing distinct could be singled out for pursuit. In this
state of uncertainty as to the crime contemplated, the acts done, and
the legal course to be pursued, I thought it best to send to the scene
where these things were principally in transaction a person in whose
integrity, understanding, and discretion entire confidence could be
reposed, with instructions to investigate the plots going on, to enter
into conference (for which he had sufficient credentials) with the
governors and all other officers, civil and military, and with their
aid to do on the spot whatever should be necessary to discover the
designs of the conspirators, arrest their means, bring their persons
to punishment, and to call out the force of the country to suppress any
unlawful enterprise in which it should be found they were engaged.
By this time it was known that many boats were under preparation,
stores of provisions collecting, and an unusual number of suspicious
characters in motion on the Ohio and its waters. Besides dispatching
the confidential agent to that quarter, orders were at the same time
sent to the governors of the Orleans and Mississippi Territories and
to the commanders of the land and naval forces there to be on their
guard against surprise and in constant readiness to resist any enterprise
which might be attempted on the vessels, posts, or other objects under
their care; and on the 8th of November instructions were forwarded to
General Wilkinson to hasten an accommodation with the Spanish commandant
on the Sabine, and as soon as that was effected to fall back with his
principal force to the hither bank of the Mississippi for the defense
of the interesting points on that river. By a letter received from
that officer on the 25th of November, but dated October 21, we learnt
that a confidential agent of Aaron Burr had been deputed to him with
communications, partly written in cipher and partly oral, explaining his
designs, exaggerating his resources, and making such offers of emolument
and command to engage him and the army in his unlawful enterprise as he
had flattered himself would be successful. The General, with the honor
of a soldier and fidelity of a good citizen, immediately dispatched a
trusty officer to me with information of what had passed, proceeding
to establish such an understanding with the Spanish commandant on the
Sabine as permitted him to withdraw his force across the Mississippi
and to enter on measures for opposing the projected enterprise.

The General's letter, which came to hand on the 25th of November, as has
been mentioned, and some other information received a few days earlier,
when brought together developed Burr's general designs, different parts
of which only had been revealed to different informants. It appeared
that he contemplated two distinct objects, which might be carried on
either jointly or separately, and either the one or the other first,
as circumstances should direct. One of these was the severance of the
Union of these States by the Alleghany Mountains; the other an attack
on Mexico. A third object was provided, merely ostensible, to wit, the
settlement of a pretended purchase of a tract of country on the Washita
claimed by a Baron Bastrop. This was to serve as the pretext for all
his preparations, an allurement for such followers as really wished to
acquire settlements in that country and a cover under which to retreat
in the event of a final discomfiture of both branches of his real
design.

He found at once that the attachment of the Western country to the
present Union was not to be shaken; that its dissolution could not be
effected with the consent of its inhabitants, and that his resources
were inadequate as yet to effect it by force. He took his course then
at once, determined to seize on New Orleans, plunder the bank there,
possess himself of the military and naval stores, and proceed on his
expedition to Mexico, and to this object all his means and preparations
were now directed. He collected from all the quarters where himself or
his agents possessed influence all the ardent, restless, desperate,
and disaffected persons who were ready for any enterprise analogous to
their characters. He seduced good and well-meaning citizens, some by
assurances that he possessed the confidence of the Government and was
acting under its secret patronage, a pretense which procured some credit
from the state of our differences with Spain, and others by offers of
land in Bastrop's claim on the Washita.

This was the state of my information of his proceedings about the last
of November, at which time, therefore, it was first possible to take
specific measures to meet them. The proclamation of November 27, two
days after the receipt of General Wilkinson's information, was now
issued. Orders were dispatched to every interesting point on the Ohio
and Mississippi from Pittsburg to New Orleans for the employment of such
force either of the regulars or of the militia and of such proceedings
also of the civil authorities as might enable them to seize on all the
boats and stores provided for the enterprise, to arrest the persons
concerned, and to suppress effectually the further progress of the
enterprise. A little before the receipt of these orders in the State
of Ohio our confidential agent, who had been diligently employed in
investigating the conspiracy, had acquired sufficient information to
open himself to the governor of that State and apply for the immediate
exertion of the authority and power of the State to crush the
combination. Governor Tiffin and the legislature, with a promptitude,
an energy, and patriotic zeal which entitle them to a distinguished
place in the affection of their sister States, effected the seizure
of all the boats, provisions, and other preparations within their
reach, and thus gave a first blow, materially disabling the enterprise
in its outset.

In Kentucky a premature attempt to bring Burr to justice without
sufficient evidence for his conviction had produced a popular impression
in his favor and a general disbelief of his guilt. This gave him an
unfortunate opportunity of hastening his equipments. The arrival of
the proclamation and orders and the application and information of our
confidential agent at length awakened the authorities of that State
to the truth, and then produced the same promptitude and energy of
which the neighboring State had set the example. Under an act of their
legislature of December 23 militia was instantly ordered to different
important points, and measures taken for doing whatever could yet be
done. Some boats (accounts vary from five to double or treble that
number) and persons (differently estimated from 100 to 300) had in
the meantime passed the Falls of Ohio to rendezvous at the mouth of
Cumberland with others expected down that river.

Not apprised till very late that any boats were building on Cumberland,
the effect of the proclamation had been trusted to for some time in the
State of Tennessee; but on the *19th of December similar communications
and instructions with those to the neighboring States were dispatched by
express to the governor and a general officer of the western division
ofthe State, and on the 23d of December our confidential agent left
Frankfort for Nashville to put into activity the means of that State
also. But by information received yesterday I learn that on the 22d of
December Mr. Burr descended the Cumberland with two boats merely of
accommodation, carrying with him from that State no quota toward his
unlawful enterprise. Whether after the arrival of the proclamation, of
the orders, or of our agent any exertion which could be made by that
State or the orders of the governor of Kentucky for calling out the
militia at the mouth of Cumberland would be in time to arrest these
boats and those from the Falls of Ohio is still doubtful.

On the whole, the fugitives from the Ohio, with their associates from
Cumberland or any other place in that quarter, can not threaten serious
danger to the city of New Orleans.

By the same express of December 19 orders were sent to the governors of
Orleans and Mississippi, supplementary to those which had been given
onthe 25th of November, to hold the militia of their Territories in
readiness to cooperate for their defense with the regular troops and
armed vessels then under command of General Wilkinson. Great alarm,
indeed, was excited at New Orleans by the exaggerated accounts of Mr.
Burr, disseminated through his emissaries, of the armies and navies
he was to assemble there. General Wilkinson had arrived there himself
on the 24th of November, and had immediately put into activity the
resources of the place for the purpose of its defense, and on the 10th
of December he was joined by his troops from the Sabine. Great zeal was
shewn by the inhabitants generally, the merchants of the place readily
agreeing to the most laudable exertions and sacrifices for manning the
armed vessels with their seamen, and the other citizens manifesting
unequivocal fidelity to the Union and a spirit of determined resistance
to their expected assailants.

Surmises have been hazarded that this enterprise is to receive aid
from certain foreign powers; but these surmises are without proof or
probability. The wisdom of the measures sanctioned by Congress at its
last session has placed us in the paths of peace and justice with the
only powers with whom we had any differences, and nothing has happened
since which makes it either their interest or ours to pursue another
course. No change of measures has taken place on our part; none ought
to take place at this time. With the one, friendly arrangement was then
proposed, and the law deemed necessary on the failure of that was
suspended to give time for a fair trial of the issue. With the same
power friendly arrangement is now proceeding under good expectations,
and the same law deemed necessary on failure of that is still suspended,
to give time for a fair trial of the issue. With the other, negotiation
was in like manner then preferred, and provisional measures only taken
to meet the event of rupture. With the same power negotiation is still
preferred, and provisional measures only are necessary to meet the event
of rupture. While, therefore, we do not deflect in the slightest degree
from the course we then assumed and are still pursuing with mutual
consent to restore a good understanding, we arc not to impute to them
practices as irreconcilable to interest as to good faith, and changing
necessarily the relations of peace and justice between us to those of
war. These surmises are therefore to be imputed to the vauntings of the
author of this enterprise to multiply his partisans by magnifying the
belief of his prospects and support.

By letters from General Wilkinson of the 14th and 18th of December,
which came to hand two days after the date of the resolution of the
House of Representatives  that is to say, on the morning of the 18th
instant  I received the important affidavit a copy of which I now
communicate, with extracts of so much of the letters as comes within the
scope of the resolution. By these it will be seen that of three of the
principal emissaries of Mr. Burr whom the General had caused to be
apprehended, one had been liberated by habeas corpus, and two others,
being those particularly employed in the endeavor to corrupt the general
and army of the United States, have been embarked by him for ports in
the Atlantic States, probably on the consideration that an impartial
trial could not be expected during the present agitations of New
Orleans, and that that city was not as yet a safe place of confinement.
As soon as these persons shall arrive they will be delivered to the
custody of the law and left to such course of trial, both as to place
and process, as its functionaries may direct. The presence of the
highest judicial authorities, to be assembled at this place within a few
days, the means of pursuing a sounder course of proceedings here than
elsewhere, and the aid of the Executive means, should the judges have
occasion to use them, render it equally desirable for the criminals as
for the public that, being already removed from the place where they
were first apprehended, the first regular arrest should take place here,
and the course of proceedings receive here its proper direction.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 26, 1807.

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

I received from General Wilkinson on the 23d instant his affidavit
charging Samuel Swartwout, Peter V. Ogden, and James Alexander with the
crimes described in the affidavit a copy of which is now communicated
to both Houses of Congress.

It was announced to me at the same time that Swartwout and Bollman, two
of the persons apprehended by him, were arrived in this city in custody
each of a military officer. I immediately delivered to the attorney of
the United States in this district the evidence received against them,
with instructions to lay the same before the judges and apply for their
process to bring the accused to justice, and put into his hands orders
to the officers having them in custody to deliver them to the marshal
on his application.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 27, 1807.

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

I now render to Congress the account of the fund established for
defraying the contingent expenses of Government for the year 1806.
No occasion having arisen for making use of any part of the balance of
$18,012.50, unexpended on the 31st day of December, 1805, that balance
remains in the Treasury.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 28, 1807.

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

By the letters of Captain Bissel, who commands at Fort Massac, and of
Mr. Murrell, to General Jackson, of Tennessee, copies of which are now
communicated to Congress, it will be seen that Aaron Burr passed Fort
Massac on the 31st December with about ten boats, navigated by about six
hands each, without any military appearance, and that three boats with
ammunition were said to have been arrested by the militia at Louisville.

As the guards of militia posted on various points of the Ohio will be
able to prevent any further aids passing through that channel, should
any be attempted, we may now estimate with tolerable certainty the means
derived from the Ohio and its waters toward the accomplishment of the
purposes of Mr. Burr.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 31, 1807.

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

In execution of the act of the last session of Congress entitled "An
act to regulate the laying out and making a road from Cumberland, in
the State of Maryland, to the State of Ohio," I appointed Thomas Moore,
of Maryland; Joseph Kerr, of Ohio, and Eli Williams, of Maryland,
commissioners to lay out the said road, and to perform the other duties
assigned to them by the act. The progress which they made in the
execution of the work during the last season will appear in their report
now communicated to Congress. On the receipt of it I took measures
to obtain consent for making the road of the States of Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and Virginia, through which the commissioners proposed to
lay it out. I have received acts of the legislatures of Maryland and
Virginia giving the consent desired; that of Pennsylvania has the
subject still under consideration, as is supposed. Until I receive full
consent to a free choice of route through the whole distance I have
thought it safest neither to accept nor reject finally the partial
report of the commissioners. Some matters suggested in the report belong
exclusively to the Legislature.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 6, 1807.

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

I lay before Congress the laws for the government of Louisiana, passed
by the governor and judges of the Indiana Territory at their session at
Vincennes begun on the 1st of October, 1804.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 6, 1807.

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

The Government of France having examined into the claim of M. de
Beaumarchais against the United States, and considering it as just and
legal, has instructed its minister here to make representations on the
subject to the Government of the United States. I now lay his memoir
thereon before the Legislature, the only authority competent to a final
decision on the same.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 10, 1807.

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

I communicate, for the information of Congress, a letter from Cowles
Mead, secretary of the Mississippi Territory, to the Secretary of War,
by which it will be seen that Mr. Burr had reached that neighborhood
on the 13th of January.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 10, 1807.

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

In compliance with the request of the House of Representatives expressed
in their resolution of the 5th instant, I proceed to give such
information as is possessed of the effect of gunboats in the protection
and defense of harbors, of the numbers thought necessary, and of the
proposed distribution of them among the ports and harbors of the United
States.

Under present circumstances, and governed by the intentions of the
Legislature as manifested by their annual appropriations of money for
the purposes of defense, it has been concluded to combine, first, land
batteries furnished with heavy cannon and mortars, and established on
all the points around the place favorable for preventing vessels from
lying before it; second, movable artillery, which may be carried, as
occasion may require, to points unprovided with fixed batteries; third,
floating batteries, and fourth, gunboats which may oppose an enemy at
his entrance and cooperate with the batteries for his expulsion.

On this subject professional men were consulted as far as we had
opportunity. General Wilkinson and the late General Gates gave their
opinions in writing in favor of the system, as will be seen by their
letters now communicated. The higher officers of the Navy gave the same
opinions in separate conferences, as their presence at the seat of
Government offered occasions of consulting them, and no difference of
judgment appeared on the subject. Those of Commodore Barren and Captain
Tingey, now here, are recently furnished in writing, and transmitted
herewith to the Legislature.

The efficacy of gunboats for the defense of harbors and of other smooth
and inclosed waters may be estimated in part from that of galleys
formerly much used but less powerful, more costly in their construction
and maintenance, and requiring more men. But the gunboat itself is
believed to be in use with every modern maritime nation for the purposes
of defense. In the Mediterranean, on which are several small powers
whose system, like ours, is peace and defense, few harbors are without
this article of protection. Our own experience there of the effect of
gunboats for harbor service is recent. Algiers is particularly known
to have owed to a great provision of these vessels the safety of its
city since the epoch of their construction, Before that it had been
repeatedly insulted and injured. The effect of gunboats at present in
the neighborhood of Gibraltar is well known, and how much they were used
both in the attack and defense of that place during a former war. The
extensive resort to them by the two greatest naval powers in the world
on an enterprise of invasion not long since in prospect shews their
confidence in their efficacy for the purposes for which they are suited.
By the northern powers of Europe, whose seas are particularly adapted
to them, they are still more used. The remarkable action between the
Russian flotilla of gunboats and galleys and a Turkish fleet of ships
of the line and frigates in the Liman Sea in 1788 will be readily
recollected. The latter, commanded by their most celebrated admiral,
were completely defeated, and several of their ships of the line
destroyed.

From the opinions given as to the number of gunboats necessary for some
of the principal seaports, and from a view of all the towns and ports
from Orleans to Maine, inclusive, entitled to protection in proportion
to their situation and circumstances, it is concluded that to give them
a due measure of protection in times of war about 200 gunboats will be
requisite.

According to first ideas the following would be their general
distribution, liable to be varied on more mature examination and
as circumstances shall vary; that is to say:

To the Mississippi and its neighboring waters, 40 gunboats.

To Savannah and Charleston, and the harbors on each side from Saint Marys
to Currituck, 25.

To the Chesapeake and its waters, 20.

To Delaware Bay and River, 15.

To New York, the Sound, and waters as far as Cape Cod, 50.

To Boston and the harbors north of Cape Cod, 50.

The flotillas assigned to these several stations might each be under
the care of a particular commandant, and the vessels composing them
would in ordinary be distributed among the harbors within the station
in proportion to their importance.

Of these boats a proper proportion would be of the larger size, such
as those heretofore built, capable of navigating any seas and of
reenforcing occasionally the strength of even the most distant ports
when menaced with danger. The residue would be confined to their own
or the neighboring harbors, would be smaller, less furnished for
accommodation, and consequently less costly. Of the number supposed
necessary, 73 are built or building, and the 127 still to be provided
would cost from $500,000 to $600,000. Having regard to the convenience
of the Treasury as well as to the resources for building, it has been
thought that the one-half of these might be built in the present year
and the other half the next. With the Legislature, however, it will rest
to stop where we are, or at any further point, when they shall be of
opinion that the number provided shall be sufficient for the object.

At times when Europe as well as the United States shall be at peace
it would not be proposed that more than six or eight of these vessels
should be kept afloat. When Europe is in war, treble that number might
be necessary, to be distributed among those particular harbors which
foreign vessels of war are in the habit of frequenting for the purpose
of preserving order therein. But they would be manned in ordinary, with
only their complement for navigation, relying on the seamen and militia
of the port if called into action on any sudden emergency. It would be
only when the United States should themselves be at war that the whole
number would be brought into active service, and would be ready in the
first moments of the war to cooperate with the other means for covering
at once the line of our seaports. At all times those unemployed would be
withdrawn into places not exposed to sudden enterprise, hauled up under
sheds from the sun and weather, and kept in preservation with little
expense for repairs or maintenance.

It must be superfluous to observe that this species of naval armament
is proposed merely for defensive operation; that it can have but little
effect toward protecting our commerce in the open seas, even on our own
coast; and still less can it become an excitement to engage in offensive
maritime war, toward which it would furnish no means.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 11, 1807.

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

I now lay before Congress a statement of the militia of the United
States according to the latest returns received by the Department
of War. From two of the States no returns have ever been received.

TH. JEFFERSON.

FEBRUARY 19, 1807.

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

I transmit to Congress a letter from our ministers plenipotentiary
at London, informing us that they have agreed with the British
commissioners to conclude a treaty on all the points which had formed
the object of their negotiation, and on terms which they trusted we
would approve.

Also a letter from our minister plenipotentiary at Paris covering one
to him from the minister of marine of that Government assuring him that
the imperial decree lately passed was not to affect our commerce, which
would still be governed by the rules of the treaty established between
the two countries.

Also a letter from Cowles Mead, secretary of the Mississippi Territory,
acting as governor, informing us that Aaron Burr had surrendered himself
to the civil authority of that Territory.

TH. JEFFERSON.

PROCLAMATIONS.

BY THOMAS JEFFERSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

During the wars which for some time have unhappily prevailed among the
powers of Europe the United States of America, firm in their principles
of peace, have endeavored, by justice, by a regular discharge of all
their national and social duties, and by every friendly office their
situation has admitted, to maintain with all the belligerents their
accustomed relations of friendship, hospitality, and commercial
intercourse. Taking no part in the questions which animate these powers
against each other, nor permitting themselves to entertain a wish but
for the restoration of general peace, they have observed with good faith
the neutrality they assumed, and they believe that no instance of a
departure from its duties can be justly imputed to them by any nation.
A free use of their harbors and waters, the means of refitting and of
refreshment, of succor to their sick and suffering, have at all times
and on equal principles been extended to all, and this, too, amidst a
constant recurrence of acts of insubordination to the laws, of violence
to the persons, and of trespasses on the property of our citizens
committed by officers of one of the belligerent parties received among
us. In truth, these abuses of the laws of hospitality have, with few
exceptions, become habitual to the commanders of the British armed
vessels hovering on our coasts and frequenting our harbors. They have
been the subject of repeated representations to their Government.
Assurances have been given that proper orders should restrain them
within the limits of the rights and of the respect due to a friendly
nation; but those orders and assurances have been without effect  no
instance of punishment for past wrongs has taken place. At length a deed
transcending all we have hitherto seen or suffered brings the public
sensibility to a serious crisis and our forbearance to a necessary
pause. A frigate of the United States, trusting to a state of peace, and
leaving her harbor on a distant service, has been surprised and attacked
by a British vessel of superior force  one of a squadron then lying in
our waters and covering the transaction  and has been disabled from
service, with the loss of a number of men killed and wounded. This
enormity was not only without provocation or justifiable cause, but was
committed with the avowed purpose of taking by force from a ship of war
of the United States a part of her crew; and that no circumstance might
be wanting to mark its character, it had been previously ascertained
that the seamen demanded were native citizens of the United States.
Having effected her purpose, she returned to anchor with her squadron
within our jurisdiction. Hospitality under such circumstances ceases to
be a duty, and a continuance of it with such uncontrolled abuses would
tend only, by multiplying injuries and irritations, to bring on a
rupture between the two nations. This extreme resort is equally opposed
to the interests of both, as it is to assurances of the most friendly
dispositions on the part of the British Government, in the midst of
which this outrage has been committed. In this light the subject can not
but present itself to that Government and strengthen the motives to
an honorable reparation of the wrong which has been done, and to that
effectual control of its naval commanders which alone can justify the
Government of the United States in the exercise of those hospitalities
it is now constrained to discontinue.

In consideration of these circumstances and of the right of every nation
to regulate its own police, to provide for its peace and for the safety
of its citizens, and consequently to refuse the admission of armed
vessels into its harbors or waters, either in such numbers or of such
descriptions as are inconsistent with these or with the maintenance
of the authority of the laws, I have thought proper, in pursuance of
the authorities specially given by law, to issue this my proclamation,
hereby requiring all armed vessels bearing commissions under the
Government of Great Britain now within the harbors or waters of the
United States immediately and without any delay to depart from the same,
and interdicting the entrance of all the said harbors and waters to the
said armed vessels and to all others bearing commissions under the
authority of the British Government.

And if the said vessels, or any of them, shall fail to depart as
aforesaid, or if they or any others so interdicted shall hereafter
enter the harbors or waters aforesaid, I do in that case forbid all
intercourse with them, or any of them, their officers or crews, and
do prohibit all supplies and aid from being furnished to them, or any
of them.

And I do declare and make known that if any person from or within the
jurisdictional limits of the United States shall afford any aid to any
such vessel contrary to the prohibition contained in this proclamation,
either in repairing any such vessel or in furnishing her, her officers
or crew, with supplies of any kind or in any manner whatsoever; or if
any pilot shall assist in navigating any of the said armed vessels,
unless it be for the purpose of carrying them in the first instance
beyond the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, or unless it
be in the case of a vessel forced by distress or charged with public
dispatches, as hereinafter provided for, such person or persons shall
on conviction suffer all the pains and penalties by the laws provided
for such offenses.

And I do hereby enjoin and require all persons bearing office, civil or
military, within or under the authority of the United States, and all
others citizens or inhabitants thereof, or being within the same, with
vigilance and promptitude to exert their respective authorities and to
be aiding and assisting to the carrying this proclamation and every part
thereof into full effect.

Provided, nevertheless, that if any such vessel shall be forced into the
harbors or waters of the United States by distress, by the dangers of
the sea, or by the pursuit of an enemy, or shall enter them charged
with dispatches or business from their Government, or shall be a public
packet for the conveyance of letters and dispatches, the commanding
officer, immediately reporting his vessel to the collector of the
district, stating the object or causes of entering the said harbors
or waters, and conforming himself to the regulations in that case
prescribed under the authority of the laws, shall be allowed the benefit
of such regulations respecting repairs, supplies, stay, intercourse, and
departure as shall be permitted under the same authority.

 (SEAL.)

In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be
affixed to these presents, and signed the same.

Given at the city of Washington, the 2d day of July, A.D. 1807, and of
the Sovereignty and Independence of the United States the thirty-first.

TH. JEFFERSON.

By the President:
  JAMES MADISON,
     Secretary of State .

 (From Annals of Congress, Tenth Congress, first session, vol. i, 9.)

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 26th day
of October next, for their meeting at the city of Washington, hereby
requiring the 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 30th day of July, A.D. 1807, and in
the thirty-second year of the Independence of the United States.

TH. JEFFERSON.

By the President:
  JAMES MADISON,
     Secretary of State .

 (From the National Intelligencer, October 19, 1807.)

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas information has been received that a number of individuals who
have deserted from the Army of the United States and sought shelter
without the jurisdiction thereof have become sensible of their offense
and are desirous of returning to their duty, a full pardon is hereby
proclaimed to each and all of such individuals as shall within four
months from the date hereof surrender themselves to the commanding
officer of any military post within the United States or the Territories
thereof.

 (SEAL.)

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

Done at the city of Washington, the 15th day of October, A.D. 1807, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the thirty-second.

TH. JEFFERSON.

By the President:
  JAMES MADISON,
     Secretary of State .

SEVENTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.

OCTOBER 27, 1807.

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

Circumstances, fellow-citizens, which seriously threatened the peace
of our country have made it a duty to convene you at an earlier period
than usual. The love of peace so much cherished in the bosoms of our
citizens, which has so long guided the proceedings of their public
councils and induced forbearance under so many wrongs, may not insure
our continuance in the quiet pursuits of industry. The many injuries
and depredations committed on our commerce and navigation upon the high
seas for years past, the successive innovations on those principles
of public law which have been established by the reason and usage of
nations as the rule of their intercourse and the umpire and security
of their rights and peace, and all the circumstances which induced
the extraordinary mission to London are already known to you. The
instructions given to our ministers were framed in the sincerest spirit
of amity and moderation. They accordingly proceeded, in conformity
therewith, to propose arrangements which might embrace and settle all
the points in difference between us, which might bring us to a mutual
understanding on our neutral and national rights and provide for a
commercial intercourse on conditions of some equality. After long and
fruitless endeavors to effect the purposes of their mission and to
obtain arrangements within the limits of their instructions, they
concluded to sign such as could be obtained and to send them for
consideration, candidly declaring to the other negotiators at the same
time that they were acting against their instructions, and that their
Government, therefore, could not be pledged for ratification. Some
of the articles proposed might have been admitted on a principle
of compromise, but others were too highly disadvantageous, and no
sufficient provision was made against the principal source of the
irritations and collisions which were constantly endangering the peace
of the two nations. The question, therefore, whether a treaty should
be accepted in that form could have admitted but of one decision, even
had no declarations of the other party impaired our confidence in it.
Still anxious not to close the door against friendly adjustment, new
modifications were framed and further concessions authorized than could
before have been supposed necessary; and our ministers were instructed
to resume their negotiations on these grounds. On this new reference to
amicable discussion we were reposing in confidence, when on the 22d day
of June last by a formal order from a British admiral the frigate
 Chesapeake , leaving her port for a distant service, was attacked
by one of those vessels which had been lying in our harbors under the
indulgences of hospitality, was disabled from proceeding, had several
of her crew killed and four taken away. On this outrage no commentaries
are necessary. Its character has been pronounced by the indignant voice
of our citizens with an emphasis and unanimity never exceeded. I
immediately, by proclamation, interdicted our harbors and waters to all
British armed vessels, forbade intercourse with them, and uncertain how
far hostilities were intended, and the town of Norfolk, indeed, being
threatened with immediate attack, a sufficient force was ordered for
the protection of that place, and such other preparations commenced and
pursued as the prospect rendered proper. An armed vessel of the United
States was dispatched with instructions to our ministers at London to
call on that Government for the satisfaction and security required by
the outrage. A very short interval ought now to bring the answer, which
shall be communicated to you as soon as received; then also, or as soon
after as the public interests shall be found to admit, the unratified
treaty and proceedings relative to it shall be made known to you.

The aggression thus begun has been continued on the part of the British
commanders by remaining within our waters in defiance of the authority
of the country, by habitual violations of its jurisdiction, and at
length by putting to death one of the persons whom they had forcibly
taken from on board the  Chesapeake . These aggravations necessarily
lead to the policy either of never admitting an armed vessel into our
harbors or of maintaining in every harbor such an armed force as may
constrain obedience to the laws and protect the lives and property
of our citizens against their armed guests; but the expense of such
a standing force and its inconsistence with our principles dispense
with those courtesies which would necessarily call for it, and leave
us equally free to exclude the navy, as we are the army, of a foreign
power from entering our limits.

To former violations of maritime rights another is now added of very
extensive effect. The Government of that nation has issued an order
interdicting all trade by neutrals between ports not in amity with
them; and being now at war with nearly every nation on the Atlantic and
Mediterranean seas, our vessels are required to sacrifice their cargoes
at the first port they touch or to return home without the benefit of
going to any other market. Under this new law of the ocean our trade
on the Mediterranean has been swept away by seizures and condemnations,
and that in other seas is threatened with the same fate.

Our differences with Spain remain still unsettled, no measure having
been taken on her part since my last communications to Congress to
bring them to a close. But under a state of things which may favor
reconsideration they have been recently pressed, and an expectation is
entertained that they may now soon be brought to an issue of some sort.
With their subjects on our borders no new collisions have taken place
nor seem immediately to be apprehended. To our former grounds of
complaint has been added a very serious one, as you will see by the
decree a copy of which is now communicated. Whether this decree, which
professes to be conformable to that of the French Government of November
21, 1806, heretofore communicated to Congress, will also be conformed
to that in its construction and application in relation to the United
States had not been ascertained at the date of our last communications.
These, however, gave reason to expect such a conformity.

With the other nations of Europe our harmony has been uninterrupted,
and commerce and friendly intercourse have been maintained on their
usual footing.

Our peace with the several states on the coast of Barbary appears as
firm as at any former period and as likely to continue as that of any
other nation.

Among our Indian neighbors in the northwestern quarter some fermentation
was observed soon after the late occurrences, threatening the
continuance of our peace. Messages were said to be interchanged and
tokens to be passing, which usually denote a state of restlessness among
them, and the character of the agitators pointed to the sources of
excitement. Measures were immediately taken for providing against that
danger; instructions were given to require explanations, and, with
assurances of our continued friendship, to admonish the tribes to remain
quiet at home, taking no part in quarrels not belonging to them. As
far as we are yet informed, the tribes in our vicinity, who are most
advanced in the pursuits of industry, are sincerely disposed to adhere
to their friendship with us and to their peace with all others, while
those more remote do not present appearances sufficiently quiet to
justify the intermission of military precaution on our part.

The great tribes on our southwestern quarter, much advanced beyond
the others in agriculture and household arts, appear tranquil and
identifying their views with ours in proportion to their advancement.
With the whole of these people, in every quarter, I shall continue to
inculcate peace and friendship with all their neighbors and perseverance
in those occupations and pursuits which will best promote their own
well-being.

The appropriations of the last session for the defense of our seaport
towns and harbors were made under expectation that a continuance of
our peace would permit us to proceed in that work according to our
convenience. It has been thought better to apply the sums then given
toward the defense of New York, Charleston, and New Orleans chiefly, as
most open and most likely first to need protection, and to leave places
less immediately in danger to the provisions of the present session.

The gunboats, too, already provided have on a like principle been
chiefly assigned to New York, New Orleans, and the Chesapeake. Whether
our movable force on the water, so material in aid of the defensive
works on the land, should be augmented in this or any other form is
left to the wisdom of the Legislature. For the purpose of manning
these vessels in sudden attacks on our harbors it is a matter for
consideration whether the seamen of the United States may not justly
be formed into a special militia, to be called on for tours of duty
in defense of the harbors where they shall happen to be, the ordinary
militia of the place furnishing that portion which may consist of
landsmen.

The moment our peace was threatened I deemed it indispensable to secure
a greater provision of those articles of military stores with which our
magazines were not sufficiently furnished. To have awaited a previous
and special sanction by law would have lost occasions which might not
be retrieved. I did not hesitate, therefore, to authorize engagements
for such supplements to our existing stock as would render it adequate
to the emergencies threatening us, and I trust that the Legislature,
feeling the same anxiety for the safety of our country, so materially
advanced by this precaution, will approve, when done, what they would
have seen so important to be done if then assembled. Expenses, also
unprovided for, arose out of the necessity of calling all our gunboats
into actual service for the defense of our harbors; of all which
accounts will be laid before you.

Whether a regular army is to be raised, and to what extent, must depend
on the information so shortly expected. In the meantime I have called
on the States for quotas of militia, to be in readiness for present
defense, and have, moreover, encouraged the acceptance of volunteers;
and I am happy to inform you that these have offered themselves with
great alacrity in every part of the Union. They are ordered to be
organized and ready at a moment's warning to proceed on any service to
which they may be called, and every preparation within the Executive
powers has been made to insure us the benefit of early exertions.

I informed Congress at their last session of the enterprises against the
public peace which were believed to be in preparation by Aaron Burr and
his associates, of the measures taken to defeat them and to bring the
offenders to justice. Their enterprises were happily defeated by the
patriotic exertions of the militia whenever called into action, by the
fidelity of the Army, and energy of the commander in chief in promptly
arranging the difficulties presenting themselves on the Sabine,
repairing to meet those arising on the Mississippi, and dissipating
before their explosion plots engendering there. I shall think it my duty
to lay before you the proceedings and the evidence publicly exhibited on
the arraignment of the principal offenders before the circuit court of
Virginia. You will be enabled to judge whether the defect was in the
testimony, in the law, or in the administration of the law; and wherever
it shall be found, the Legislature alone can apply or originate the
remedy. The framers of our Constitution certainly supposed they had
guarded as well their Government against destruction by treason as their
citizens against oppression under pretense of it, and if these ends are
not attained it is of importance to inquire by what means more effectual
they may be secured.

The accounts of the receipts of revenue during the year ending on the
30th day of September last being not yet made up, a correct statement
will be hereafter transmitted from the Treasury. In the meantime, it is
ascertained that the receipts have amounted to near $16,000,000, which,
with the five millions and a half in the Treasury at the beginning
of the year, have enabled us, after meeting the current demands and
interest incurred, to pay more than four millions of the principal of
our funded debt. These payments, with those of the preceding five and a
half years, have extinguished of the funded debt $25,500,000, being the
whole which could be paid or purchased within the limits of the law and
of our contracts, and have left us in the Treasury $8,500,000. A portion
of this sum may be considered as a commencement of accumulation of the
surpluses of revenue which, after paying the installments of debt as
they shall become payable, will remain without any specific object. It
may partly, indeed, be applied toward completing the defense of the
exposed points of our country, on such a scale as shall be adapted to
our principles and circumstances. This object is doubtless among the
first entitled to attention in such a state of our finances, and it is
one which, whether we have peace or war, will provide security where it
is due. Whether what shall remain of this, with the future surpluses,
may be usefully applied to purposes already authorized or more usefully
to others requiring new authorities, or how otherwise they shall be
disposed of, are questions calling for the notice of Congress, unless,
indeed, they shall be superseded by a change in our public relations now
awaiting the determination of others. Whatever be that determination, it
is a great consolation that it will become known at a moment when the
supreme council of the nation is assembled at its post, and ready to
give the aids of its wisdom and authority to whatever course the good
of our country shall then call us to pursue.

Matters of minor importance will be the subjects of future
communications, and nothing shall be wanting on my part which may give
information or dispatch to the proceedings of the Legislature in the
exercise of their high duties, and at a moment so interesting to the
public welfare.

TH. JEFFERSON.

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

NOVEMBER 11, 1807.

 To the Senate of the United States :

Some time had elapsed after the receipt of the late treaty between
the United States and Tripoli before the circumstance drew particular
attention that, although by the third article the wife and children of
the ex-Bashaw were to be restored to him, this did not appear either
to have been done or demanded; still, it was constantly expected that
explanations on the subject would be received. None, however, having
arrived when Mr. Davis went as consul to Tripoli, he was instructed to
demand the execution of the article. He did so, but was answered by the
exhibition of a declaration, signed by our negotiator the day after the
signature of the treaty, allowing four years for the restoration of the
family. This declaration and the letter of Mr. Davis stating what passed
on the occasion are now communicated to the Senate. On the receipt of
this letter I caused the correspondence of Mr. Lear to be diligently
reexamined in order to ascertain whether there might have been a
communication of this paper made and overlooked or forgotten. None such,
however, is found. There appears only in a journalized account of the
transaction by Mr. Lear, under date of June 3, a passage intimating that
he should be disposed to give time rather than suffer the business to be
broken off and our countrymen left in slavery; and again, that on the
return of the person who passed between himself and the Bashaw, and
information that the Bashaw would require time for the delivery of the
family, he consented, and went ashore to consummate the treaty. This was
done the next day, and being forwarded to us as ultimately signed, and
found to contain no allowance of time nor any intimation that there was
any stipulation but what was in the public treaty, it was supposed that
the Bashaw had, in fine, abandoned the proposition, and the instructions
before mentioned were consequently given to Mr. Davis.

An extract of so much of Mr. Lear's communication as relates to this
circumstance is now transmitted to the Senate, the whole of the papers
having been laid before them on a former occasion. How it has happened
that the declaration of June 5 has never before come to our knowledge
can not with certainty be said, but whether there has been a miscarriage
of it or a failure of the ordinary attention and correctness of that
officer in making his communications, I have thought it due to the
Senate as well as to myself to explain to them the circumstances
which have withheld from their knowledge, as they did from my own,
a modification which, had it been placed in the public treaty, would
have been relieved from the objections which candor and good faith can
not but feel in its present form.

As the restoration of the family has probably been effected, a just
regard to the character of the United States will require that I make
to the Bashaw a candid statement of facts, and that the sacrifices of
his right to the peace and friendship of the two countries, by yielding
finally to the demand of Mr. Davis, be met by proper acknowledgments and
reparation on our part.

TH. JEFFERSON.

NOVEMBER 19, 1807.

 To the House of Representatives of the United States :

According to the request expressed in your resolution of the 18th
instant, I now transmit a copy of my proclamation interdicting our
harbors and waters to British armed vessels and forbidding intercourse
with them, referred to in my message of the 27th of October last.

TH. JEFFERSON.

NOVEMBER 23, 1807.

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

Agreeably to the assurance given in my message at the opening of
the present session of Congress, I now lay before you a copy of the
proceedings and of the evidence exhibited on the arraignment of Aaron
Burr and others before the circuit court of the United States held in
Virginia in the course of the present year, in as authentic form as
their several parts have admitted.

TH. JEFFERSON.

NOVEMBER 23, 1807.

 To the Senate of the United States :

Some circumstance, which can not now be ascertained, induced a belief
that an act had passed at the last session of Congress for establishing
a surveyor and inspector of revenue for the port of Stonington, in
Connecticut, and commissions were signed appointing Jonathan Palmer,
of Connecticut, to those offices. The error was discovered at the
Treasury, and the commissions were retained; but not having been
notified to me, I renewed the nomination in my message of the 9th
instant to the Senate. In order to correct the error, I have canceled
the temporary commissions, and now revoke the nomination which I made
of the said Jonathan Palmer to the Senate.

TH. JEFFERSON.

DECEMBER 2, 1807.

 To the Senate of the United States :

In compliance with the request made in the resolution of the Senate
of November 30, I must inform them that when the prosecutions against
Aaron Burr and his associates were instituted I delivered to the
Attorney-General all the evidence on the subject, formal and informal,
which I had received, to be used by those employed in the prosecutions.
On the receipt of the resolution of the Senate I referred it to the
Attorney-General, with a request that he would enable me to comply with
it by putting into my hands such of the papers as might give information
relative to the conduct of John Smith, a Senator from the State of Ohio,
as an alleged associate of Aaron Burr, and having this moment received
from him the affidavit of Elias Glover, with an assurance that it is the
only paper in his possession which is within the term of the request of
the Senate, I now transmit it for their use.

TH. JEFFERSON.

DECEMBER 7, 1807.

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

Having recently received from our late minister plenipotentiary at
the Court of London a duplicate of dispatches, the original of which
has been sent by the  Revenge  schooner, not yet arrived, I hasten
to lay them before both Houses of Congress. They contain the whole
of what has passed between the two Governments on the subject of
the outrage committed by the British ship  Leopard  on the frigate
 Chesapeake . Congress will learn from these papers the present
state of the discussion on that transaction, and that it is to be
transferred to this place by the mission of a special minister.

While this information will have its proper effect on their
deliberations and proceedings respecting the relations between the two
countries, they will be sensible that, the negotiation being still
depending, it is proper for me to request that the communications may
be considered as confidential.

TH. JEFFERSON.

DECEMBER 18, 1807.

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

The communications now made, shewing the great and increasing dangers
with which our vessels, our seamen, and merchandise are threatened
on the high seas and elsewhere from the belligerent powers of Europe,
and it being of the greatest importance to keep in safety these
essential resources, I deem it my duty to recommend the subject to
the consideration of Congress, who will doubtless perceive all the
advantages which may be expected from an inhibition of the departure
of our vessels from the ports of the United States.

Their wisdom will also see the necessity of making every preparation
for whatever events may grow out of the present crisis.

TH. JEFFERSON.

DECEMBER 30, 1807.

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

I communicate to Congress the inclosed letters from Governor Hull,
respecting the Indians in the vicinity of Detroit residing within our
lines. They contain information of the state of things in that quarter
which will properly enter into their view in estimating the means to
be provided for the defense of our country generally.

TH. JEFFERSON.