I thank you, gentlemen, for your assurance that the several subjects for legislative consideration recommended in my communication to both Houses shall receive from the Senate a deliberate and candid attention.

With you, gentlemen, I sincerely deprecate all spirit of innovation. which may weaken the sacred bond that connects the different parts of this nation and Government, and with you I trust that under the protection of Divine Providence the wisdom and virtue of our citizens will deliver our national compact unimpaired to a free, prosperous, happy, and grateful posterity. To this end it is my fervent prayer that in this city the foundations of wisdom may be always opened and the streams of eloquence forever flow. Here may the youth of this extensive country forever look up without disappointment, not only to the monuments and memorials of the dead, but to the examples of the living, in the members of Congress and officers of Government, for finished models of all those virtues, graces, talents, and accomplishments which constitute the dignity of human nature and lay the only foundation for the prosperity or duration of empires.

JOHN ADAMS.

ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO JOHN ADAMS, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

JOHN ADAMS,

President of the United States.

SIR: The House of Representatives have received with great respect the communication which you have been pleased to make to the two Houses of Congress at the commencement of the present session.

The final establishment of the seat of National Government, which has now taken place, within the District of Columbia is an event of no small importance in the political transactions of our country, and we cordially unite our wishes with yours that this Territory may be the residence of happiness and virtue.

Nor can we on this occasion omit to express a hope that the spirit which animated the great founder of this city may descend to future generations, and that the wisdom, magnanimity, and steadiness which marked the events of his public life may be imitated in all succeeding ages.

A consideration of those powers which have been vested in Congress over the District of Columbia will not escape our attention, nor shall we forget that in exercising these powers a regard must be had to those events which will necessarily attend the capital of America.

The cheerfulness and regularity with which the officers and soldiers of the temporary army have returned to the condition of private citizens is a testimony clear and conclusive of the purity of those motives which induced them to engage in the public service, and will remain a proof on all future occasions that an army of soldiers drawn from the citizens of our country deserve our confidence and respect.

No subject can be more important than that of the judiciary, which you have again recommended to our consideration, and it shall receive our early and deliberate attention.

The Constitution of the United States having confided the management of our foreign negotiations to the control of the Executive power, we cheerfully submit to its decisions on this important subject; and in respect to the negotiations now pending with France, we sincerely hope that the final result may prove as fortunate to our country as the most ardent mind can wish.

So long as a predatory war is carried on against our commerce we should sacrifice the interests and disappoint the expectations of our constituents should we for a moment relax that system of maritime defense which has resulted in such beneficial effects. At this period it is confidently believed that few persons can be found within the United States who do not admit that a navy, well organized, must constitute the natural and efficient defense of this country against all foreign hostility.

The progress which has been made in the manufacture of arms leaves no doubt that the public patronage has already placed this country beyond all necessary dependence on foreign markets for an article so indispensable for defense, and gives us assurances that, under the encouragement which Government will continue to extend to this important object, we shall soon rival foreign countries not only in the number but in the quality of arms completed from our own manufactories.

Few events could have been more pleasing to our constituents than that great and rapid increase of revenue which has arisen from permanent taxes. Whilst this event explains the great and increasing resources of our country, it carries along with it a proof which can not be resisted that those measures of maritime defense which were calculated to meet our enemy upon the ocean, and which have produced such extensive protection to our commerce, were founded in wisdom and policy. The mind must, in our opinion, be insensible to the plainest truths which can not discern the elevated ground on which this policy has placed our country. That national spirit which alone could vindicate our common rights has been roused, and those latent energies which had not been fully known were unfolded and brought into view, and our fellow-citizens were prepared to meet every event which national honor or national security could render-necessary. Nor have its effects been much less important in other

respects.

Whilst many of the nations of the earth have been impoverished and depopulated by internal commotions and national contests, our internal peace has not been materially impaired; our commerce has extended, under the protection of our infant Navy, to every part of the globe; wealth has flowed without intermission into our seaports, and the labors of the husbandman have been rewarded by a ready market for the productions of the soil.

Be assured, sir, that the various and important subjects recommended to our consideration shall receive our early and deliberate attention; and, confident of your cooperation in every measure which may be calculated to promote the general interest, we shall endeavor on our part to testify by our industry and dispatch the zeal and sincerity with which we regard the public good.

NOVEMBER 26, 1800.

REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.

WASHINGTON, November 27, 1800.

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:

Compelled by the habits of a long life, as well as by all the principles of society and government which I could ever understand and believe, to consider the great body of the people as the source of all legitimate authority no less than of all efficient power, it is impossible for me to receive this address from the immediate Representatives of the American people at this time and in this place without emotions which it would be improper to express if any language could convey them.

May the spirit which animated the great founder of this city descend to future generations, and may the wisdom, magnanimity, and steadiness which marked the events of his public life be imitated in all succeeding ages.

I thank you, gentlemen, for your assurance that the judiciary system shall receive your deliberate attention.

With you, gentlemen, I sincerely hope that the final result of the negotiations now pending with France may prove as fortunate to our country as they have been commenced with sincerity and prosecuted with deliberation and caution. With you I cordially agree that so long as a predatory war is carried on against our commerce we should sacrifice the interests and disappoint the expectations of our constituents should we for a moment relax that system of maritime defense which has resulted in such beneficial effects. With you I confidently believe that few persons can be found within the United States who do not admit that a navy, well organized, must constitute the natural and efficient defense of this country against all foreign hostility.

Those who recollect the distress and danger to this country in former periods from the want of arms must exult in the assurance from their Representatives that we shall soon rival foreign countries not only in the number but in the quality of arms completed from our own manufactories. With you, gentlemen, I fully agree that the great increase of revenue is a proof that the measures of maritime defense were founded in wisdom. This policy has raised us in the esteem of foreign nations. That national spirit and those latent energies which had not been and are not yet fully known to any were not entirely forgotten by those who had lived long

enough to see in former times their operation and some of their effects. Our fellow-citizens were undoubtedly prepared to meet every event which national honor or national security could render necessary. These, it is to be hoped, are secured at the cheapest and easiest rate; if not, they will be secured at more expense.

I thank you, gentlemen, for your assurance that the various subjects recommended to your consideration shall receive your deliberate attention. No further evidence is wanting to convince me of the zeal and sincerity with which the House of Representatives regard the public good.

I pray you, gentlemen, to accept of my best wishes for your health and happiness.

JOHN ADAMS.

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

Gentlemen of the Senate:

UNITED STATES, December 15, 1800.

I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and decision, a convention, both in English and French, between the United States of America and the French Republic, signed at Paris on the 30th day of September last by the respective plenipotentiaries of the two powers. I also transmit to the Senate three manuscript volumes containing the journal of our envoys.

JOHN ADAMS.

UNITED STATES, January 1, 1801.

Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: I transmit to both Houses of Congress, for their information and consideration, copies of laws enacted by the governor and judges of the Mississippi Territory from the 30th of June until the 31st of December, A. D. 1799.

JOHN ADAMS.

UNITED STATES, January 17, 1801.

Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: I have received from Elias Boudinot, esq., Director of the Mint of the United States, a report of the 2d of January, representing the state of it, together with an abstract of the coins struck at the Mint from the 1st of January to the 31st of December, 1800; an abstract of the expenditures of the Mint from the 1st of January to the 31st of December, inclusive; a statement of gain on copper coined at the Mint from the 1st of January

to the 31st of December, 1800, and a certificate from Joseph Richardson, assayer of the Mint, ascertaining the value of Spanish milled doubloons in proportion to the gold coins of the United States to be no more than 84 cents and parts of a cent for 1 pennyweight, or 28 grains and 1358 parts of a grain to one dollar. These papers I transmit to Congress for their consideration.

00

84848

JOHN ADAMS.

Gentlemen of the Senate:

UNITED STATES, January 21, 1801.

In compliance with your request, signified in your resolution of the 20th day of this month, I transmit you a report made to me by the Secretary of State on the same day, a letter of our late envoys to him of the 4th of October last, an extract of a letter from our minister plenipotentiary in London to him of the 22d of November last, and an extract of another letter from the minister to the Secretary of the 31st of October last.

The reasoning in the letter of our late envoys to France is so fully supported by the writers on the law of nations, particularly by Vattel, as well as by his great masters, Grotius and Puffendorf, that nothing is left to be desired to settle the point that if there be a collision between two treaties made with two different powers the more ancient has the advantage, for no engagement contrary to it can be entered into in the treaty afterwards made; and if this last be found in any case incompatible with the more ancient one its execution is considered as impossible, because the person promising had not the power of acting contrary to his antecedent engagement. Although our right is very clear to negotiate treaties according to our own ideas of right and justice, honor and good faith, yet it must always be a satisfaction to know that the judgment of other nations with whom we have connection coincides with ours, and that we have no reason to apprehend that any disagreeable questions and discussions are likely to arise. The letters from Mr. King will therefore be read by the Senate with particular satisfaction.

The inconveniences to public officers and the mischiefs to the public arising from the publication of the dispatches of ministers abroad are so numerous and so obvious that I request of the Senate that these papers, especially the letters from Mr. King, be considered in close confidence. JOHN ADAMS.

UNITED STATES, January 30, 1801. Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: I transmit to Congress for their consideration a letter from William Thornton, Alexander White, and William Cranch, esquires, commissioners of the city of Washington, with a representation of the affairs of