SATURDAY, December 11.

Mr. FRANKLIN, from North Carolina, attended. The number of members assembled not being sufficient to constitute a quorum, the Senate adjourned.

MONDAY, December 13.

Mr. J. MASON, from Massachusetts; Mr. DAYTON, and Mr. OGDEN, from New Jersey; and Mr. SUMTER, from South Carolina, severally attended.

The VICE PRESIDENT being absent, the Senate proceeded to the choice of a President pro tempore, as the Constitution provides, and the ballots being collected and counted, the whole number was found to be 17, of which 9 make a majority. Mr. Bradley had 7, Mr. Tracy had 7, Mr. Baldwin 1, Mr. Dayton 1, Mr. Logan 1.

There was consequently no choice. Whereupon, the Senate proceeded to the election of a President pro tempore, as the Constitution provides, and the ballots being collected and counted, the whole number was found to be 17, of which 9 make a majority.

Mr. Bradley had 8, Mr. Tracy 7, Mr. Dayton 1, Mr. Logan 1.

There was consequently no choice. Whereupon, the Senate proceeded to the election of a President pro tempore, as the Constitution provides, and the ballots being counted, the whole number was found to be 17, of which 9 make a majority.

Mr. Bradley had 8, Mr. Tracy 7, Mr. Dayton 1, Mr. Logan 1.

There was consequently no choice. Whereupon, the Senate proceeded to the election of a President pro tempore, as the Constitution provides, and the ballots being counted, the whole number of votes was 14, of which 8 make a majority.

Mr. Tracy had 7, Mr. Bradley 5, Mr. Dayton 1, Mr. Logan 1.

There was consequently no choice; and the Senate adjourned.

TUESDAY, December 14.

The VICE PRESIDENT being absent, the Senate proceeded to the choice of a President pro tem

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

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

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

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

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

In the department of finance it is with pleasure I inform you that the receipts of external duties for the last twelve months have exceeded those of any former year, and that the ratio of increase has been also greater than usual. This has enabled us to answer all the regular exigencies of Government, to pay from the Treasury within one year upwards of eight millions of dollars, principal and interest, of the public debt, exclusive of upwards of one million paid by the sale of bank stock, and making in the whole a reduction of nearly five millions and a half of principal, and to have now in the Treasury four millions and a half of dollars, which are

SENATE.

in a course of application to the further discharge of debt and current demands. Experience, too, so far, authorizes us to believe, if no extraordinary event supervenes, and the expenses which will be actually incurred shall not be greater than were contemplated by Congress at their last session, that we shall not be disappointed in the expectations then formed. But, nevertheless, as the effect of peace on the amount of duties is not yet fully ascertained, it is the more necessary to practise every useful economy, and to incur no expense which may be avoided without prejudice.

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

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

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

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

Estimates for the Naval Department, prepared by the Secretary of the Navy, for another year, will, in like manner, be communicated with the general estimates. A small force in the Mediterranean will still be neces

Under

Presuming it will be deemed expedient to expend annually a convenient sum towards providing the Naval defence which our situation may require, I cannot but recommend that the first appropriations for that purpose may go to the saving what we already possess. No cares, no attentions, can preserve vessels from rapid decay, which lie in water and exposed to the sun. These decays require great and constant repairs, and will consume, if continued, a great portion of the moneys destined to Naval purposes. To avoid this waste of our resources, it is proposed to add to our navy yard here a dock, within which our present vessels may be laid up dry, and under cover from the sun. these circumstances, experience proves that works of wood will remain scarcely at all affected by time. The great abundance of running water which this situation possesses, at heights far above the level of the tide, if employed as is practised for lock navigation, furnishes the means for raising and laying up our vessels on a dry and sheltered bed. And should the measure be found useful here, similar depositories for laying up, as well as for building and repairing vessels, may hereafter be undertaken at other navy yards offering the same The plans and estimates of the work, prepared by a person of skill and experience, will be presented to you without delay; and from this it will be seen that scarcely more than has been the cost of one vessel is necessary to save the whole, and that the annual sum to be employed towards its completion may be adapted to the views of the Legislature as to Naval expenditure. To cultivate peace, and maintain commerce and navigation in all their lawful enterprises; to foster our fisheries as nurseries of navigation and for the nurture of man, and protect the manufactures adapted to our circumstances; to preserve the faith of the nation by an exact discharge of its debts and contracts, expend the public money with the same care and economy we would practise with our own, and impose on our citizens no unnecessary burdens; to keep, in all things, within the pale of our Constitutional powers, and cherish the Federal Union as the only rock of safety; these, fellow-citizens, are the landmarks by which we are to

means.

guide ourselves in all our proceedings. By continuing

to make these the rule of our action, we shall endear

to our countrymen the true principles of their Constitution, and promote an union of sentiment and of action, equally auspicious to their happiness and safety. On my part you may count on a cordial concurrence in every measure for the public good; and on all the information I possess which may enable you to discharge to advantage the high functions with which you are invested by your country.

TH. JEFFERSON.

DECEMBER 15, 1802. The Message and papers therein referred to were read; and

Ordered, That five hundred copies of the Message of the President of the United States, together with one hundred copies of each of the papers referred to in the Message, be printed for the use of the Senate.

A message from the House of Representatives

DECEMBER, 1802.

informed the Senate that the House have elected the Reverend WILLIAM PARKINSON a Chaplain to Congress, on their part.

THURSDAY, December 16.

The Senate assembled, but transacted no busi

ness.

FRIDAY, December 17.

The Senate assembled, but no business was transacted.

SATURDAY, December 18.

The Senate assembled, and adjourned to Monday morning.

MONDAY, December 20.

Mr. CLINTON, from the State of New York, and Mr. JACKSON, from the State of Georgia, attended. The PRESIDENT communicated a letter from the Secretary for the Department of Treasury, together with a report, of the 16th.instant, on the permanent revenues of the United States, referring to a statement of the sale of lands in the districts of Cincinnati, Steubenville, Chillicothe, and Marietta, and the moneys paid thereon, 1st November, 1802, marked A; to a statement (B) exhibiting the amount of revenue arising on importations for each quarter, from the 1st day of October, 1800, to the 30th September, 1802; also, to certain proceedings of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, in relation to the sale of the shares of the stock of the Bank of the United States, marked C; which were severally read.

Ordered, That they be printed for the use of the Senate.

Mr. J. MASON presented the petition of Sarah Fletcher and Jane Ingraham, widows, stating that they have unfortunately lost their husbands in the public service, on board the armed ship Insurgent, and armed brig Pickering; whereby they are reduced to indigent circumstances, and praying relief; and the petition was read.

Ordered, That it be referred to Messrs. J. MASON, DAYTON, and TRACY, to consider and report thereon.

Mr. TRACY notified the Senate that he would, to-morrow, ask leave to bring in a bill to carry into effect the resolution of Congress, passed on the 17th day of June, 1777, for erecting a monument to the memory of General Wooster.

TUESDAY, December 21.

Mr. S. T. MASON presented the memorial of the members of the first and second Chambers of the City Council of Washington, in the District of Columbia, praying that certain alterations in the law establishing their incorporation may be made; which memorial was read, and referred to Messrs. S. T. MASON, HOWARD, and BALDWIN, to consider and report thereon.