time every assurance for believing that some of the most important of our foreign affairs would have been concluded, and others considerably matured, before they should rise. But, notwithstanding I have waited until this moment, it has so happened, that, either from causes unknown to me, or from events which could not be controlled, I am yet unable to execute my original intention. That I may, however, fulfil the expectation given, as far as the actual situation of things will in my judgment permit, I now, in confidence, lay before Congress the following general

statement:

Our minister near the French republic has urged compensation for the injuries which our commerce has sustained from captures by French cruisers, from the non-fulfilment of the contracts of the agents of that republic with our citizens, and from the embargo at Bordeaux. He has also pressed an allowance for the money voted by Congress for relieving the inhabitants of St. Domingo. It affords me the highest pleasure to inform Congress that perfect harmony reigns between the two republics; and that those claims are in a train of being discussed with candor, and of being amicably adjusted.

So much of our relation to Great Britain may depend upon the result of our late negotiations in London, that, until that result shall arrive, I can not undertake to make any communication upon this subject.

After the negotiation with Spain had been long depending, unusual and unexpected embarrassments were raised to interrupt its progress. But the commissioner of his catholic majesty, an envoy extraordinary, has been specially charged to bring to a conclusion the discussions, which have been formerly announced to Congress.

The friendship of her most faithful majesty has been often manifested by checking the passage of the Algerine corsairs into the Atlantic ocean. She has also furnished occasional convoys to the vessels of the United States, even when bound to other ports than her own. We may therefore promise ourselves, that, as in the ordinary course of things, few causes can exist for dissatisfaction between the United States and Portugal, so the temper with which accidental difficulties will be met on each side will speedily remove them.

Between the executive of the United States and the government of the United Netherlands but little intercourse has taken place during the last year. It may be acceptable to Congress to learn that our credit in Holland is represented as standing upon the most respectable footing.

Upon the death of the late emperor of Morocco, an agent was despatched to renew with his successor the treaty which the United States had made with him. The agent unfortunately died after he had reached Europe, in the prosecution of his mission. But until lately it was impossible to determine, with any degree of probability, who of the competitors for that empire would be ultimately fixed in the supreme power. Although the measures which have been since adopted for the renewal of the treaty have been obstructed by the disturbed situation of Amsterdam, there are good grounds for presuming, as yet, upon the pacific disposition of the emperor in fact toward the United States, and that the past miscarriage will be shortly remedied.

Congress are already acquainted with the failure of the loan attempted in Holland for the relief of our unhappy fellow-citizens in Algiers. This subject, than which none deserves a more affectionate zeal, has constantly commanded my best exertions. I am happy, therefore, in being able to

say, that, from the last authentic accounts, the dey was disposed to treat for a peace and ransom, and that both would in all probability have been accomplished, had we not been disappointed in the means. Nothing which depends upon the executive shall be left undone for carrying into immediate effect the supplementary act of Congress.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JUNE 25, 1795.

To the Senate of the United States :—

JUST at the close of the last session of Congress, I received, from one of the senators and one of the representatives of the state of Georgia, an application for a treaty to be held with the tribes or nations of Indians claiming the right of soil to certain lands lying beyond the present temporary boundary line of that state, and which were described in an act of the legis lature of Georgia, passed on the 28th of December last, which has already been laid before the senate. This application, and the subsequent correspondence with the governor of Georgia, are herewith transmitted. The subject being very important, I thought proper to postpone a decision upon that application. The views I have since taken of the matter, with the information received of a more pacific disposition on the part of the Creeks, have induced me now to accede to the request: but with this explicit declaration, that neither my assent, nor the treaty which may be made, shall be considered as affecting any question which may arise upon the supplementary act passed by the legislature of the state of Georgia on the 7th of January last, upon which inquiries have been instituted, in pursuance of a resolution of the senate and house of representatives; and that any cession or relinquishment of the Indian claims shall be made in the general terms of treaty of New York, which are contemplated as the form proper to be generally used on such occasions; and on the condition that one half of the expense of the supplies of provisions, for the Indians assembled at the treaty, be borne by the state of Georgia.

Having concluded to hold the treaty requested by that state, I was willing to embrace the opportunity it would present, of inquiring into the causes of the dissatisfaction of the Creeks which has been manifested, since the treaty of New York, by the numerous and distressing depredations on our southwestern frontier. Their depredations on the Cumberland have been so frequent and so peculiarly destructive, as to lead me to think they must originate in some claim to the lands upon that river. But whatever may have been the cause, it is important to trace it to its source; for, independent of the destruction of lives and property, it occasions a very serious annual expense to the United States. The commissioners for holding the proposed treaty will therefore be instructed to inquire into the causes of the hostilities to which I have referred, and to enter into such reasonable stipulations as will remove them, and give permanent peace to those parts of the United States.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JANUARY 4, 1796.

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

SPECIAL MESSAGE

JANUARY 8, 1796.

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

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

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

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

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JANUARY 29, 1796.

Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

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

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

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 30, 1796.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

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

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

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

The nature of foreign negotiations requires caution, and their success must often depend on secrecy; and, even when brought to a conclusion, a full disclosure of all the measures, demands, or eventual concessions, which may have been proposed or contemplated, would be extremely im

politic for this might have a pernicious influence on future negotiations, or produce immediate inconveniences, perhaps danger and mischief, in relation to other powers. The necessity of such caution and secrecy was one cogent reason for vesting the power of making treaties in the president, with the advice and consent of the senate; the principle on which that body was formed confining it to a small number of members. To admit, then, a right in the house of representatives to demand, and to have, as a matter of course, all the papers respecting a negotiation with a foreign power, would be to establish a dangerous precedent.

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

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

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

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

It is a fact decided by the general convention, and universally understood, that the constitution of the United States was the result of a spirit of amity and mutual concession.

And it is well known, that, under this influence, the smaller states were admitted to an equal representation in the senate with the larger states, and that this branch of the government was invested with great powers; for on the equal participation of those powers the sovereignty and political safety of the smaller states were deemed essentially to depend.