had in the cases now under consideration. The law therefore, wisely and justly, avoids specifying the evidence, and leaves the fact to be settled agreeably to the usage of nations. Here then the Creeks affirm that property has been taken from one of their nation, that this cannot be recovered in our courts of justice by the individual injured because one offender is dead, the other fled & no property of either existing; & the law says, if the offender is unable, paiment shall be made out of the Treasury of the U. S. The Superintendent therefore, according to his instructions, is to ascertain the fact affirmed by the Creeks, by the best evidence in his power, and make report of the same & of the case to the Department of War that justice may be done.' I do not see any cause for changing the course of proceeding so established, but on the contrary I believe it to be right & lawful & that it ought to be pursued in this instance. TO WILLIAM A. BURWELL. J. MSS. WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 1806. DEAR SIR,-Your favor of Dec. 26th was duly received, as also the correspondence therein referred to. Mr. Coles delivered me to-day your request of a copy of the Parl. manual for yourself, and another for the speaker. I therefore send one to each of you in separate packages by this post. You will have seen an account in all the papers (with so many details, as to make one forget for a moment that they never utter a truth) of our affairs being entirely made up with Spain. There is not one word of truth in it, if we may judge from Mr. Pinckney's silence in a letter dated the day before he left Madrid. I may say further, it is impossible it should be true. Congress are not unanimous in the Spanish business. They act in it however by a strong majority. When our affairs with England come on there will be much greater & more irreconcilable differences of opinion. The classification of the militia has been reported against by a committee. But if any judgment can be formed from individual conversations it will be established. If it is, we need never raise a regular in expectation of war. A militia of young men will hold on until regulars can be raised, & will be the nursery which will furnish them. I had rather have that classification established, than any number of regulars which could be voted at this time. We are told you are to come to Congress. In the meantime your berth here stands in statu quo. I shall always be glad to hear from you and to give you every assurance of my constant affection. Accept with it that of my respect & esteem. SPECIAL MESSAGE ON NEUTRAL COMMERCE. January 17, 1806. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:In my message to both houses of Congress at the opening of their present session, I submitted to their attention, among other subjects, the oppression of our commerce and navigation by the irregular practices of armed vessels, public and private, and by the introduction of new principles, derogatory of the rights of neutrals, and unacknowledged by the usage of nations. The memorials of several bodies of merchants of the United States are now communicated, and will develop these principles and practices which are producing the most ruinous effects on our lawful commerce and navigation. The rights of a neutral to carry on a commercial intercourse with every part of the dominions of a belligerent, permitted by the laws of the country (with the exception of blockaded ports and contraband of war), was believed to have been decided between Great Britain and the United States by the sentence of the commissioners mutually appointed to decide on that and other questions of difference between the two nations, and by the actual payment of damages awarded by them against Great Britain for the infractions of that right. When, therefore, it was perceived that the same principle was revived with others more novel, and extending the injury, instructions were given to the minister plenipotentiary of the United States at the court of London, and remonstrances duly made by him on this subject, as will appear by documents transmitted herewith. These were followed by a partial and temporary suspension only, without any disavowal of the principle. He has therefore been instructed to urge this subject anew, to bring it more fully to the bar of reason, and to insist on the rights too evident and too important to be surrendered. In the meantime, the evil is proceeding under adjudications founded on the principle which is denied. Under these circumstances the subject presents itself for the consideration of Congress. On the impressment of our seamen our remonstrances have never been intermitted. A hope existed at one moment of an arrangement which might have been submitted to, but it soon passed away, and the practice, though relaxed at times in the distant seas, has been constantly pursued in those in our neighborhood. The grounds on which the reclamations on this subject have been urged, will appear in an extract from instructions to our minister at London now communicated. DEAR SIR,-Your favor of the 26th came to hand yesterday. I had understood that Mr. Randolph had directed that you should have the free use of the library at Monticello, or I should have directed it my VOL. VIII.-27 self. I have great pleasure in finding an opportunity of making it useful to you. The key is at present in the hands of Mr. Dinsmore, at the place, who on sight of this letter will consider you as at all times authorized to have access to the library & to take from it any books you please. I will only ask the favor of you to keep a piece of paper on one of the tables of the room, & to note on it the books you have occasion to take out, and to blot it out when returned. The object in this is that should I want a book at any time when at home, I may know where it is. The arrangement is as follows: 1. Antient history. 2. Modern do. 3. Physics. 4. Nat. Hist. proper. 5. Technical arts. 6. Ethics. 7. Jurisprudence. 8. Mathematics. 9. Gardening, architecture, sculpture, painting, music, poetry. IO. Oratory. II. Criticism. 12. Polygraphical. You will find this on a paper nailed up somewhere in the library. The arrangement begins behind the partition door leading out of the Bookroom into the Cabinet, & proceeds from left to right round the room; Then entering the Cabinet it begins at the eastern angle, & goes round that room. The presses not having sufficed to contain the whole, the latter part of polygraphics was put into the kind of closet at the first entrance of the book-room. As after using a book, you may be at a loss in returning it to it's exact place, & they cannot be found again when misplaced, it will be better to leave them on a table in the room. My familiarity with their places will enable me to replace them readily. I hope in April the pleasure of seeing you there. In the meantime accept my friendly salutations & assurances of great esteem & respect. TO C. F. COMTE DE VOLNEY. J. MSS. DEAR SIR,-Since mine of Feb. 18 of the last year, I have received yours of July 2. I have been constantly looking out for an opportunity of sending your Polygraph; but the blockade of Havre has cut off that resource, and I have feared to send it to a port from which there would be only land carriage. A safe conveyance now offering to Nantes, & under the particular care of Mr. Skipwith, who is returning to France, he will take care of it from Nantes by land if an easy carriage is found, or if not, then by the canal of Briare. Another year's constant use of a similar one attaches me more and more to it as a most valuable convenience. I send you also a pamphlet published here against the English doctrine which denies to neutrals a trade in war not open to them in peace in which you will find it pulverized by a logic not to be controverted. Our last news of Captn Lewis was that he had reached the upper part of the Missouri, & had taken horses to cross the Highlands to the Columbia river. He passed the last winter among the Manians 1610 miles above the mouth of the river. So far he had delineated it with as great accuracy as will probably be ever applied to it, as his courses & distances by |