which the Indian title had not been extinguished, have ere this time stopped the progress of the commissioners. And considering the mischiefs which may result from continuing the demarcation in opposition to the will of the Indian tribes, the great expense attending it, and that the boundaries which the commissioners have actually established probably extend at least as far as the Indian title had been extinguished, it will, perhaps, be come expedient and necessary to suspend further proceedings by recalling our commissioner.

The commissioners appointed in pursuance of the fifth article of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, between the United States and his Britannic majesty, to determine what river was truly intended under the name or the river St. Croix mentioned in the treaty of peace, and forming a part of the boundary therein described, have finally decided that question. On the 25th of October, they made their declaration that a river called Scoodiac, which falls into Passamaquoddy bay at its northwestern quarter, was the true St. Croix intended in the treaty of peace, as far as its great fork, where one of its streams comes from the westward and the other from the northward, and that the latter stream is the continuation of the St. Croix to its source. This decision, it is understood, will preclude all contention among individual claimants, as it seems that the Scoodiac and its northern branch bound the grants of lands which have been made by the respective adjoining governments. A subordinate question, however, it has been suggested, still remains to be determined. Between the mouth of the St. Croix as now settled, and what is usually called the bay of Fundy, lie a number of valuable islands. The commissioners have not continued the boundary line through any channel of these islands, and unless the bay of Passamaquoddy be a part of the bay of Fundy, this further adjustment of boundary will be necessary. But it is apprehended that this will not be a matter of any difficulty.

Such progress has been made in the examination and decision of cases of captures and condemnations of American vessels which were the subject of the seventh article of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, between the United States and Great Britain, that it is supposed the coinmissioners will be able to bring their business to a conclusion in August of the ensuing year.

The commissioners acting under the twenty-fifth article of the treaty between the United States and Spain, have adjusted most of the claims of our citizens for losses sustained in consequence of their vessels and cargoes having been taken by the subjects of his catholic majesty during the late war between France and Spain.

Various circumstances have occurred to delay the execution of the law for augmenting the military establishment; among these, the desire of obtaining the fullest information to direct the best selection of officers. As this object will now be speedily accomplished, it is expected that the raising and organizing of the troops will proceed without obstacle and with effect.

Gentlenen of the House of Representatives:

I have directed an estimate of the appropriations which will be necessary for the service of the ensuing year to be laid before you, accompanied with a view of the public receipts and expenditures to a recent period. It will afford you satisfaction to infer the great extent and solidity of the public resources from the prosperous state of the finances, notwithstanding the

unexampled embarrassments which have attended commerce. When you reflect on the conspicuous examples of patriotism and liberality which have been exhibited by our mercantile fellow-citizens, and how great a portion of the public resources depends on their enterprise, you will naturally consider whether their convenience can not be promoted and reconciled with the security of the revenue by a revision of the system by which the collection is at present regulated.

During your recess, measures have been steadily pursued for effecting the valuations and returns directed by the act of the last session, preliminary to the assessment and collection of a direct tax. No other delays or obstacles have been experienced, except such as were expected to arise from the great extent of our country and the magnitude and novelty of the operation, and enough has been accomplished to assure a fulfilment of the views of the legislature.

Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :

I can not close this address without once more adverting to our political situation, and inculcating the essential importance of uniting in the maintenance of our dearest interests; and I trust that by the temper and wisdom of your proceedings, and by a harmony of measures, we shall secure to our country that weight and respect to which it is so justly entitled.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JANUARY 8, 1799.

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :

In compliance with your desire, expressed in your resolution of the second of this month, I lay before you an extract of a letter from George C. Moreton, acting consul of the United States at the Havana, dated the 13th of November, 1798, to the secretary of state, with a copy of a letter from him to L. Trese vant and William Timmons, Esquires, with their

answer.

Although your request extends no further than such information as has been received, yet it may be a satisfaction to you to know that, as soon as this intelligence was communicated to me, circular orders were given by my direction to all the commanders of our vessels-of-war-a copy of which is also here with transmitted. I also directed this intelligence, and these orders, to be communicated to his Britannic majesty's envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the United States, and to our minister plenipotentiary to the court of Great Britain, with instructions to him to make the proper representations to that government on this subject. It is but justice to say, that this is the first instance of misbehavior of any of the British officers toward our vessels-of-war that has come to my knowledge. According to all the representations that I have seen, the flag of the United States, and their officers and men, have been treated by the civil and military authority of the British nation in Nova Scotia, the West India islands, and on the ocean, with uniform civility, politeness, and friendship. I have no doubt that this first instance of misconduct will be readily corrected.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 2, 1799.

Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :— JUDGING it of importance to the public that the legislature should be informed of the gradual progress of their maritime resources, I transmit to Congress a statement of the vessels, with their tonnage, warlike force and complement of men, to which commissions, as private armed vessels, have been issued since the ninth of July last.

THIRD ANNUAL ADDRESS.

DECEMBER 3, 1799.

Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :IT is with peculiar satisfaction that I meet the sixth Congress of the United States of America. Coming from all parts of the Union at this critical and interesting period, the members must be fully possessed of the sentiments and wishes of our constituents.

The flattering prospects of abundance from the labors of the people by land and sea; the prosperity of our extended commerce, notwithstanding interruptions occasioned by the belligerent state of a great part of the world; the return of health, industry, and trade, to those cities which have lately been afflicted with disease; and the various and inestimable advantages, civil and religious, which, secured under our happy frame of government, are continued to us unimpaired, demand of the whole American people sincere thanks to a benevolent Deity for the merciful dispensations of his providence.

But while these numerous blessings are recollected, it is a painful duty to advert to the ungrateful return which has been made for them by some of the people in certain counties of Pennsylvania, where, seduced by the arts and misrepresentations of designing men, they have openly resisted the law directing the valuation of houses and lands. Such defiance was given to the civil authority as rendered hopeless all further attempts by judicial process to enforce the execution of the law, and it became necessary to direct a military force to be employed, consisting of some companies of regular troops, volunteers, and militia, by whose zeal and activity, in co-operation with the judicial power, order and submission were restored, and many of the offenders arrested. Of these some have been convicted of misdemeanors, and others, charged with various crimes, remain to be tried.

To give due effect to the civil administration of government, and to insure a just execution of the laws, a revision and amendment of the judiciary system is indispensably necessary. In this extensive country, it can not but happen that numerous questions respecting the interpretation of the laws, and the rights and duties of officers and citizens, must arise. On the one hand, the laws should be executed; on the other, individuals should be guarded from oppression. Neither of these objects is suffi

ciently assured under the present organization of the judicial department. I therefore earnestly recommend the subject to your serious consideration. Persevering in the pacific and humane policy which has been invariably professed and sincerely pursued by the executive authority of the United States, when indications were made on the part of the French republic of a disposition to accommodate the existing differences between the two countries, I felt it to be my duty to prepare for meeting their advances by a nomination of ministers upon certain conditions which, the honor of our country dictated, and which its moderation had given a right to prescribe. The assurances which were required of the French government previous to the departure of our envoys, have been given through their minister of foreign relations, and I have directed them to proceed on their mission to Paris. They have full power to conclude a treaty, subject to the constitutional advice and consent of the senate. The characters of these gentlemen are sure pledges to their country that nothing incompatible with its honor or interest, nothing inconsistent with our obligations of good faith or friendship to any other nation, will be stipulated.

It appearing probable, from the information I received, that our commercial intercourse with some ports in the island of St. Domingo might safely be renewed, I took such steps as seemed to me expedient to ascer tain that point. The result being satisfactory, I then, in conformity with the act of Congress on the subject, directed the restraints and prohibitions of that intercourse to be discontinued on terms which were made known by proclamation. Since the renewal of this intercourse, our citizens trading to those ports, with their property, have been duly respected, and privateering from those ports has ceased.

In examining the claims of British subjects by the commissioners at Philadelphia, acting under the sixth article of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, with Great Britain, a difference of opinion, on points deemed essential in the interpretation of that article, has arisen between the commissioners appointed by the United States, and the other members of that board, from which the former have thought it their duty to withdraw. It is sincerely to be regretted that the execution of an article produced by a mutual spirit of amity and justice, should have been thus unavoidably interrupted. It is, however, confidently expected that the same spirit of amity and the same sense of justice in which it originated will lead to satisfactory explanations. In consequence of the obstacles to the progress of the commission in Philadelphia, his Britannic majesty has directed the commissioners appointed by him under the seventh article of the treaty relating to British captures of American vessels, to withdraw from the board sitting in London; but with the express declaration of his determination to fulfil, with punctuality and good faith, the engagenents which his majesty has contracted by his treaty with the United States, and that they will be instructed to resume their functions when ever the obstacles which impede the progress of the commission at Philadelphia shall be removed. It being in like manner my sincere determination, so far as the same depends on me, that with equal punctuality and good faith the engagements contracted by the United States in their treaties with his Britannic majesty shall be fulfilled, I shall immediately instruct our minister at London to endeavor to obtain the explanations necessary to a just performance of those engagements on the part of the United States. With such dispositions on both sides, I can not entertain a doubt that all difficulties will soon be removed, and that the two boards

will then proceed and bring the business committed to them respectively, to a satisfactory conclusion.

The act of Congress relative to the seat of government of the United States, requiring that on the first Monday of December next it should be transferred from Philadelphia to the district chosen for its permanent seat, it is proper for me to inform you that the commissioners appointed to provide suitable buildings for the accommodation of Congress and of the president and for the public offices of the government, have made a report of the state of the buildings designed for those purposes in the city of Washington, from which they conclude that the removal of the seat of government to that place at the time required will be practicable and the accommodation satisfactory. Their report will be laid before you.

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :

I shall direct the estimates of the appropriations necessary for the service of the ensuing year, together with an account of the revenue and expenditure, to be laid before you. During a period in which a great portion of the civilized world has been involved in a war unusually calamitous and destructive, it was not to be expected that the United States could be exempted from extraordinary burdens. Although the period is not arrived when the measures adopted to secure our country against foreign attacks can be renounced, yet it is alike necessary, for the honor of the government and the satisfaction of the community, that an exact economy should be maintained. I invite you, gentlemen, to investigate the different branches of the public expenditure. The examination will lead to beneficial retrenchments, or produce a conviction of the wisdom of the measures to which the expenditure relates.

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives :

At a period like the present, when momentous changes are occurring and every hour is preparing new and great events in the political worldwhen a spirit of war is prevalent in almost every nation with whose affairs the interest of the United States have any connexion-unsafe and precarious would be our situation were we to neglect the means of maintaining our just rights. The result of the mission to France is uncertain; but however it may terminate, a steady perseverance in a system of national defence commensurate with our resources and the situation of our country is an obvious dictate of wisdom. For remotely as we are placed from the belligerent nations, and desirous as we are, by doing justice to all, to avoid offence to any, nothing short of the power of repelling aggressions will secure to our country a rational prospect of escaping the calamities of war or national degradation. As to myself, it is my anxious desire so to execute the trust reposed in me as to render the people of the United States prosperous and happy. I rely with entire confidence on your co-operation in objects equally your care, and that our mutual labors will serve to increase and confirm union among our fellow-citizens and an unshaken attachment to our government.