present moment, and according to the information now possessed. But such is the situation of the nations of Europe, and such too the predicament in which we stand with some of them, that we cannot rely with certainty on the present aspect of our affairs that may change from moment to moment, during the course of your session or after you shall have separated. Our duty is, therefore, to act upon things as they are, and to make a reasonable provision for whatever they may be. Were armies to be raised whenever a speck of war is visible in our horizon, we never should have been without them. Our resources would have been exhausted on dangers which have never happened, instead of being reserved for what is really to take place. A steady, perhaps a quickened pace in preparations for the defence of our seaport towns and waters; an early settlement of the most exposed and vulnerable parts of our country; a militia so organized that its effective portions can be called to any point in the Union, or volunteers instead of them to serve a sufficient time, are means which may always be ready yet never preying on our resources until actually called into use. They will maintain the public interests while a more permanent force shall be in course of preparation. But much will depend on the promptitude with which these means can be brought into activity. If war be forced upon us in spite of our long and vain appeals to the justice of nations, rapid and vigorous movements in its outset will go far toward securing us in its course and issue, and toward throwing its burdens on those who render necessary the resort from reason to force. The result of our negotiations, or such incidents in their course as may enable us to infer their probable issue; such further movements also on our western frontiers as may show whether war is to be pressed there while negotiation is protracted elsewhere, shall be communicated to you from time to time as they become known to me, with whatever other information I possess or may receive, which may aid your deliberations on the great national interests committed to your charge. SPECIAL MESSAGE ON GREAT BRITAIN.1 December 3, 1806. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I have the satisfaction to inform you that the negotiation depending between the United States and the government of Great Britain is proceeding in a spirit of friendship and accommodation which promises a result of mutual advantage. Delays indeed have taken place, occasioned by the long illness and subsequent death of the British minister charged with that duty. But the commissioners appointed by that government to resume the negotiation have shown every disposition to hasten its progress. It is, however, a work of time, as many arrangements are necessary to place our future harmony on stable grounds. In the meantime, we find by the communications of our plenipotentiaries, that a temporary suspension of the act of the last session prohibiting certain importations, would, as a mark of candid disposition on our part, and of confidence in the temper and views with which they have been met, have a happy effect on its course. A step so friendly will afford further evidence that all our proceedings have 1 In the Jefferson papers is the following draft: "Madison's Notes." (Indorsed: "Message British. Rec. Nov. 27") "I have the satisfaction to inform you that the negotiation on foot between the U. States & the govt of G. B. is proceeding in a spirit of friendship & accommodation which promises a result of mutual advantage. The delays which have taken place are to be regretted; but as they were occasioned by the long illness which ended in the death of the British Minister charged with that duty, they could not have been foreseen nor taken into calculation: and it appears that the commissioners appointed to resume the negotiation, have shown every disposition to hasten its progress. Under these circumstances our special ministers recommend a suspension of the acts prohibiting certain importations the commencement of which was postponed till the 15th of last month when it went into operation, and assured us that such a mark of candor and confidence in the temper & views with which they have been met in the negotiation will have a happy effect on the course of it; whilst a disregard of that friendly consideration may have a different tendency. Considering that justice & conciliation have been the real objects of all our measures, and that whatever will promote them will be most conformable to our wishes & our interests, I cannot but join in the recommendation that the operation of the act be suspended for such additional term as may be deemed reasonable. It is not known here &c." flowed from views of justice and conciliation, and that we give them willingly that form which may best meet corresponding dispositions. Add to this, that the same motives which produced the postponement of the act till the fifteenth of November last, are in favor of its further suspension; and as we have reason to hope that it may soon yield to arrangements of mutual consent and convenience, justice seems to require that the same measure may be dealt out to the few cases which may fall within its short course, as to all others preceding and following it. I cannot, therefore, but recommend the suspension of this act for a reasonable time, on considerations of justice, amity, and the public interests. TO CESAR A. RODNEY. J. MSS. WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 06. DEAR SIR, I have not sooner been able to acknolege the receipt of your favors of the 21st & 29th ult. and to thank you for the communication of the letters they covered, & which are now re-inclosed. The designs of our Catèline are as real as they are romantic, but the parallel he has selected from history for the model of his own course corresponds but by halves. It is true in it's principal character, but the materials to be employed are totally different from the scourings of Rome. I am confidant he will be compleatly deserted on the appearance of the proclamation, because his strength was to consist of people who had been persuaded that the government connived at the enterprise. However we have not trusted to this weapon alone. Altho' we shall possibly come to blows with Spain, it will accelerate the treaty instead of preventing it. The appointment of a successor to judge Patterson was bound up by rule. The last judiciary VOL. VIII.-32 system requiring a judge for each district, rendered it proper that he should be of the district. This has been observed in both the appointments to the supreme bench made by me. Where an office is local we never go out of the limits for the officer. Accept my friendly salutations & assurances of great esteem & respect. TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR. (HENRY DEARBORN.) J. MSS. Dec. 12, 06. Th. Jefferson returned to General Dearborn yesterday the letter of Mr. John Randolph, to which he thinks some of the following ideas might enter into the answer; to wit that the military establishment of the U. S. being known, it is only necessary to observe that it is nearly full; that a considerable portion of it is necessarily retained at the several forts & posts of the U. S. to preserve them & the property at them; that all the residue were on the line of frontier between the U. S. & the Spanish dominions, under the command of Genl. Wilkinson, who has also authority to call on the territories of Orleans & Mississippi for militia that the force which Spain has on the Sabine has been represented as amounting to 1500 men, but it is believed to be considerably below that; that it is impossible to say what force she can bring from her extensive dominions West & South of us or from beyond sea; probably the less on account of the war in which she is engaged, & which endangers other parts of her possessions; that the President in his message of Dec. 2 expressed his ideas of the means of protecting our citizens in the commencement of a war & until time could be given for raising regulars; but that the right of deciding on these being with the legislature, he will rely on those means which they shall think it most expedient to provide &c. &c. TO THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY. J. MSS. December 12, 1806. Although I have the most perfect confidence in the integrity of Briggs, and very little in Davies, his accuser, yet where a charge is so specific and direct, our duty calls for investigation. The distance is too great to wait for preliminary explanation. I think with you that Mr. Williams, the former register will be a proper person to inquire into the charge, but that he would probably be less willing to undertake it alone than joined with another; and I would propose to join with him Mr. Dunbar, who deserves entire confidence. In the case of the removal proposed by the collector of Baltimore, I consider it as entirely out of my sphere, and resting solely with yourself. Were I to give an opinion on the subject, it would only be by observing that in the cases under my immediate care, I have never considered the length of time a person has continued in office, nor the money he has made in it, as entering at all into the reasons for a removal. The want of a collector at Chestertown shall be attended to with the first nominations. The allegations against Pope, of New Bedford, are insufficient. Although meddling in political caucusses is no part of that freedom of personal suffrage which ought to be allowed him, yet his mere presence at a caucus does not necessarily involve an active and official influence in opposition to the government which employs him. Affectionate salutations. PROCLAMATION CONCERNING CAMBRIAN, ETC.1 [Dec. 20, 1806.] Whereas by a proclamation bearing date the 3d day of May last, for reasons therein stated, the British vessels of war called the Leander, the Cambrian & the Driver, were forever interdicted the entrance of the harbors & the waters under the jurisdiction 1 Endorsed: "This was not issued, the Cambrian having gone off." On this proclamation Jefferson wrote to Madison on Dec. 19: "I send you the draft of a Proclamation, dated for tomorrow. I think all the letters & orders, to the effect already agreed on, should be instantaneously |