MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS, DEC. 15, 1802. TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE U. STATES, WHEN We assemble together, fellow citizens, to consider the state of our beloved country, our just attentions are first drawn to those pleasing circumstances which mark the goodness of that Being from whose favour they flow, and the large measure of thankfulness we owe for his bounty; another year is come around, and finds us still blessed with peace and friendship abroad; law, order, and religion at home; good affection and harmony with our Indian neighbours; our burdens lightened, yet our income sufficient for the publick wants, and the produce of the year great beyond example. These, fellow citizens, are the circumstances under which we meet and we remark, with special satisfaction, those which, under the smiles of Providence, result from the skill, industry, and order of our citizens, managing their own affairs in their own way, and for their own use, unembarrassed by too much regulation, unoppressed by fiscal exactions. : On the restoration of peace in Europe, that portion of the carrying trade, which had fallen to our share during the war, was abridged by the returning competition of the belligerent powers. This was to be expected, and was just. But, in addition, we find in some parts of Europe, monopolizing discriminations, which, in the form of duties, tend effectually to prohibit the carrying thither our own produce in our own vessels. From existing amities, and a spirit of justice, it is hoped that friendly discussion will produce a fair and adequate reciprocity. But should false calculations of interest defeat our hope, it rests with the legislature to decide whether they will meet inequalities abroad with countervailing inequalities at home, or provide for the evil in any other way. It is with satisfaction I lay before you an act of the British Parliament, anticipating this subject, so far as to authorize a mutual abolition of the duties and countervailing duties, permitted under the treaty of 1794. It shews on their part a spirit of justice and friendly accommodation, which it is our duty and our interest to cultivate with all nations. Whether this would produce a due equality in the navigation between the two countries, is a subject for your consideration. Another circumstance which claims attention, as directly affecting the very source of our navigation, is the defect,' or the evasion of the law providing for the return of seamen, and particularly of those belonging to vessels sold abroad. Numbers of them, discharged in foreign ports, have been thrown on the hands of our consuls, who, to rescue them from the dangers into which their distresses might plunge them, and save them to their country, have found it necessary, in some cases, to return them at the publick charge. The cession of the Spanish province of Louisiana to France, which took place in the course of the late war, will, if carried into effect, make a change in the aspect of our foreign relations, which will doubtless have just weight in any deliberations of the legislature connected with that subject. There was reason, not long since, to apprehend that the warfare in which we were engaged with Tripoli might be taken up by some other of the Barbary powers. A reinforcement, therefore, was immediately ordered to the vessels already there. Subsequent information, however, has" removed these apprehensions for the present. To secure our commerce in that sea, with the smallest force competent, we have supposed it best to watch strictly the harbour of Tripoli. Still, however, the shallowness of their coast, and the want of smaller vessels on our part, has permitted some cruisers to escape unobserved: and to one of these an American vessel unfortunately fell a prey. The captain, one American seaman, and two others of colour, remain prisoners with them; unless exchanged under an agreement formerly made with the Bashaw, to whom, on the faith of that, some of his captive subjects had been restored. The convention with the state of Georgia has been ratified by their legislature, and a re-purchase from the Creeks has been consequently made, of a part of the Talassee country. In this purchase has been also comprehended a part of the lands within the fork of Oconee and Oakmulgee rivers. The particulars of the contract will be laid before Congress so soon as they shall be in a state for communication. us. In order to remove every ground of difference possible with our Indian neighbours, I have proceeded in the work of settling with them, and making the boundaries between That with the Choctaw nation is fixed in one part, and will be through the whole within a short time. The country to which their title had been extinguished before the revolution is sufficient to receive a very respectable population, which Congress will probably see the expediency of encouraging, so soon as the limits shall be declared. We are to view this position as an outpost of the United States, surrounded by strong neighbours, and distant from its support. And how far that monopoly, which prevents population, should here be guarded against, and actual habitation made a condition of the continuance of title, will be for your consideration. A prompt settlement too of all existing rights and claims within this territory, presents itself as a preliminary operation. In that part of the Indiana territory which includes Vincennes, the lines settled with the neighbouring tribes fix the extinction of their title at a breadth of twenty-four leagues from east to west, and about the same length, parallel with and including the Wabash. They have also ceded a tract of four miles square, including the Salt Springs, near the mouth of that river. In the department of finance, it is with pleasure I inform you that the receipts of external duties, for the last twelve months have exceeded those of any former year, and that the ratio of increase has been also greater than usual. This has enabled us to answer all the regular exigencies of government, to pay from the treasury, within one year, upwards of eight millious of dollars principal and interest, of the publick debt, exclusive of upwards of one million paid by the sale of bank stock, and making in the whole a reduction of nearly five millions and an half of principal, and to have now in the treasury four millions and an half of dollars, which are in a course of application to the further discharge of debt, and current demands. Experience, too, so far, authorizes us to believe, if no extraordinary event supervenes, and the expenses which will be actually incurred shall not be greater than were contemplated by congress at their last session, that we shall not be disappointed in the expectations then formed. But nevertheless as the effect of peace on the amount of duties is not yet fully ascertained, it is the more necessary to practise every useful economy, and to incur no expense which may be avoided without prejudice. The collection of the internal taxes having been com pleated in some of the states, the officers employed in it are of course out of commission. In others they will be so shortly; but in a few, where the arrangements for the direct tax had been retarded, it will still be some time before the system is closed. It has not yet been thought ne cessary to employ the agent authorized by an act of the last session, for transacting business in Europe relative to debts and loans. Nor have we used the power, confided by the same act, of prolonging the foreign debt by re-loans, and of redeeming, instead thereof, an equal sum of the domestick debt. Should however the difficulties of remittance on: so large a scale render it necessary at any time, the power shall be executed, and the money thus unemployed abroad, shall, in conformity with that law, be faithfully applied here in an equivalent extinction of domestick debt. When effects so salutary result from the plans you have already sanctioned, when merely by avoiding false objects of expense, we are able, without a direct tax, without internal |