UNITED STATES, February 18, 1798. Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: In the report of the Secretary of State and the documents herewith transmitted will be found such information as is in our possession of the losses recovered by the citizens of the United States under the treaty made with Great Britain, which are now presented to the House of Representatives in compliance with their request in their resolution of the Ist of this month, JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, February 20, 1798. Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: In obedience to the law of the United States of the 3d of March, 1797, entitled "An act authorizing an expenditure and making an appropriation for the prosecution of the claims of certain citizens of the United States for property captured by the belligerent powers," I submit to Congress the account exhibited to me by the Secretary of State with his report of the 17th of this month. Gentlemen of the Senate: JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, February 21, 1798. Having received the original treaty concluded between the United States and the Government of Tunis, I lay it before the Senate of the United States whether they advise and consent to its ratification. JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, February 23, 1798. Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: The inclosed memorial from the commissioners appointed under an act of the United States entitled "An act for establishing the temporary and permanent seat of the Government of the United States," representing the situation and circumstances of the city of Washington, I take this opportunity to present to both Houses of the Legislature and recommend to their consideration. Alexander White, esq., one of those commissioners, is now in this city, and will be able to give to Congress, or any of their committees, any explanation or further information which the subject may require. JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, March 5, 1798. Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: The first dispatches from our envoys extraordinary since their arrival at Paris were received at the Secretary of State's office at a late hour last evening. They are all in a character which will require some days to be deciphered, except the last, which is dated the 8th of January, 1798. The contents of this letter are of so much importance to be immediately made known to Congress and to the public, especially to the mercantile part of our fellow-citizens, that I have thought it my duty to communicate them to both Houses without loss of time. Gentlemen of the Senate: JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, March 12, 1798. Insinuations having been repeatedly made in the name of the Court of Sweden of an inclination to renew the connection between the United States and that power, I sent, in the recess of the Senate, to our minister at Berlin a full power to negotiate that business, with such alterations as might be agreeable to both parties; but as that commission, if not renewed with the advice and consent of the Senate, will expire with the present session of Congress, I now nominate John Quincy Adams to be a commissioner with full powers to negotiate a treaty of amity and commerce with His Majesty the King of Sweden. JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, March 19, 1798. Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: The dispatches from the envoys extraordinary of the United States to the French Republic, which were mentioned in my message to both Houses of Congress of the 5th instant, have been examined and maturely considered. While I feel a satisfaction in informing you that their exertions for the adjustment of the differences between the two nations have been sincere and unremitted, it is incumbent on me to declare that I perceive no ground of expectation that the objects of their mission can be accomplished on terms compatible with the safety, the honor, or the essential interests of the nation. This result can not with justice be attributed to any want of moderation on the part of this Government, or to any indisposition to forego secondary interests for the preservation of peace. Knowing it to be my duty, and believing it to be your wish, as well as that of the great body of the people, to avoid by all reasonable concessions any participation in the contentions of Europe, the powers vested in our envoys were commensurate with a liberal and pacific policy and that high confidence which might justly be reposed in the abilities, patriotism, and integrity of the characters to whom the negotiation was committed. After a careful review of the whole subject, with the aid of all the information I have received, I can discern nothing which could have insured or contributed to success that has been omitted on my part, and nothing further which can be attempted consistently with maxims for which our country has contended at every hazard, and which constitute the basis of our national sovereignty. Under these circumstances I can not forbear to reiterate the recommendations which have been formerly made, and to exhort you to adopt with promptitude, decision, and unanimity such measures as the ample resources of the country afford for the protection of our seafaring and commercial citizens, for the defense of any exposed portions of our territory, for replenishing our arsenals, establishing foundries and military manufactures, and to provide such efficient revenue as will be necessary to defray extraordinary expenses and supply the deficiencies which may be occasioned by depredations on our commerce. The present state of things is so essentially different from that in which instructions were given to the collectors to restrain vessels of the United States from sailing in an armed condition that the principle on which those orders were issued has ceased to exist. I therefore deem it proper to inform Congress that I no longer conceive myself justifiable in continuing them, unless in particular cases where there may be reasonable ground of suspicion that such vessels are intended to be employed contrary to law. In all your proceedings it will be important to manifest a zeal, vigor, and concert in defense of the national rights proportioned to the danger with which they are threatened. JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, April 3, 1798. Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: In compliance with the request of the House of Representatives expressed in their resolution of the 2d of this month, I transmit to both Houses those instructions to and dispatches from the envoys extraordinary of the United States to the French Republic which were mentioned in my message of the 19th of March last, omitting only some names and a few expressions descriptive of the persons. I request that they may be considered in confidence until the members of Congress are fully possessed of their contents and shall have had opportunity to deliberate on the consequences of their publication, after which time I submit them to your wisdom. Gentlemen of the Senate: JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, April 12, 1798. A treaty with the Mohawk Nation of Indians has by accident lain long neglected. It was executed under the authority of the Honorable Isaac Smith, a commissioner of the United States. I now submit it to the Senate for their consideration, JOHN ADAMS. Gentlemen of the Senate: UNITED STATES, May 3, 1798. His Excellency John Jay, esq., governor of New York, has informed me that the Oneida tribe of Indians have proposed to sell a part of their land to the said State, and that the legislature at their late session authorized the purchase, and to accomplish this object the governor has desired that a commissioner may be appointed to hold a treaty with the Oneida tribe of Indians, at which the agents of the State of New York may agree with them on the terms of the purchase. I therefore nominate Joseph Hopkinson, esq., of Pennsylvania, to be the commissioner to hold a treaty with the said Oneida tribe of Indians for the purpose above mentioned. JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, June 21, 1798. Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: While I congratulate you on the arrival of General Marshall, one of our late envoys extraordinary to the French Republic, at a place of safety, where he is justly held in honor, I think it my duty to communicate to you a letter received by him from Mr. Gerry, the only one of the three who has not received his congé. This letter, together with another from the minister of foreign relations to him of the 3d of April, and his answer of the 4th, will shew the situation in which he remains-his intentions and prospects. I presume that before this time he has received fresh instructions (a copy of which accompanies this message) to consent to no loans, and therefore the negotiation may be considered at an end. I will never send another minister to France without assurances that he will be received, respected, and honored as the representative of a great, free, powerful, and independent nation. JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, June 27, 1798. Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives: I have received a letter from His Excellency Thomas Mifflin, gov. ernor of Pennsylvania, inclosing some documents which I judge it my duty to lay before Congress without loss of time. As my opinion coincides entirely with that of his excellency the governor, I recommend the subject to the consideration of both Houses of Congress, whose authority alone appears to me adequate to the occasion. JOHN ADAMS. Gentlemen of the Senate: UNITED STATES, July 2, 1798. I nominate George Washington, of Mount Vernon, to be LieutenantGeneral and Commander in Chief of all the armies raised or to be raised in the United States. JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, July 13, 1798. Gentlemen of the Senate: Sensible of A resolution of both Houses of Congress authorizing an adjournment on Monday, the 16th of this month, has been laid before me. the severity of the service in so long a session, it is with great reluctance that I find myself obliged to offer any consideration which may operate against the inclinations of the members; but certain measures of Executive authority which will require the consideration of the Senate, and which can not be matured, in all probability, before Monday or Tuesday, oblige me to request of the Senate that they would continue their session until Wednesday or Thursday, Gentlemen of the Senate: JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, July 17, 1798. Believing that the letter received this morning from General Washington will give high satisfaction to the Senate, I transmit them a copy of it, and congratulate them and the public on this great event-the General's acceptance of his appointment as Lieutenant-General and Commander in Chief of the Army. JOHN ADAMS, President of the United States. JOHN ADAMS. MOUNT VERNON, July 13, 1798. DEAR SIR: I had the honor, on the evening of the 11th instant, to receive from the hands of the Secretary of War your favor of the 7th, announcing that you had, with the advice and consent of the Senate, appointed me "Lieutenant-General and Commander in Chief of all the armies raised or to be raised for the service of the United States." I can not express how greatly affected I am at this new proof of public confidence and the highly flattering manner in which you have been pleased to make the communication. At the same time I must not conceal from you my earnest wish that the choice had fallen upon a man less declined in years and better qualified to encounter the usual vicissitudes of war. You know, sir, what calculation I had made relative to the probable course of events on my retiring from office, and the determination I had consoled myself with of closing the remnant of my days in my present peaceful abode. You will therefore be at no loss to conceive and appreciate the sensations I must have experienced to bring my mind to any conclusion that would pledge me, at so late a period of life, to leave scenes I sincerely love to enter upon the boundless field of public action, incessant trouble, and high responsibility. |