as much with the true interest of our country as with the general sense of our constituents. GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The statements, which will be laid before you, relative to the mint, will show the situation of that institution, and the necessity of some further legislative provisions for carrying the business of it more completely into effect, and for checking abuses which appear to be arising in particular quarters. The progress in providing materials for the frigates, and in building them; the state of the fortifications of our harbours; the measures which have been pursued for obtaining proper sites for arsenals, and for replenishing our magazines with military stores; and the steps which have been taken towards the execution of the law for opening a trade with the Indians, will likewise be presented for the information of Congress. Temperate discussion of the important subjects, which may arise in the course of the session, and mutual forbearance where there is a difference of opinion, are too obvious and necessary for the peace, happiness, and welfare of our country, to need any recommendation of mine. GEORGE WASHINGTON. REPLY TO THE ANSWER OF THE SENATE. GENTLEMEN, With real pleasure I receive your address, recognising the prosperous situation of our public affairs, and giving assurances of your careful attention to the objects demanding legislative consideration, and that, with a true zeal for the public welfare, you will cheer fully coöperate in every measure, which shall appear to you best calculated to promote the same. But I derive peculiar satisfaction from your concurrence with me in the expressions of gratitude to Almighty God, which a review of the auspicious circumstances that distinguish our happy country have excited; and I trust that the sincerity of our acknowledgments will be evinced by a union of efforts to establish and preserve peace, freedom, and prosperity GEORGE WASHINGTON REPLY TO THE ANSWER OF THE HOUSE OF GENTLEMEN, Coming as you do from all parts of the United States, I receive great satisfaction from the concurrence of your testimony in the justness of the interesting summary of our national happiness, which, as the result of my inquiries, I presented to your view. The sentiments we have mutually expressed of profound gratitude to the Source of those numerous blessings, the Author of all good, are pledges of our obligations to unite our sincere and zealous endeavours, as the instruments of Divine Providence, to preserve and perpetuate them. Accept, Gentlemen, my thanks for your declaration, that to my agency you ascribe the enjoyment of a great share of these benefits. So far as my services contribute to the happiness of my country, the acknowledgment thereof by my fellow-citizens, and their affectionate attachment, will ever prove an abundant reward. GEORGE WASHINGTON. SPEECH TO BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS, FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, In recurring to the internal situation of our country, since I had last the pleasure to address you, I find ample reason for a renewed expression of that gratitude to the Ruler of the Universe, which a continued series of prosperity has so often and so justly called forth. The acts of the last session, which required special arrangements, have been, as far as circumstances would admit, carried into operation. Measures calculated to insure a continuance of the friendship of the Indians, and to preserve peace along the extent of our interior frontier, have been digested and adopted. In the framing of these, care has been taken to guard, on the one hand, our advanced settlements from the predatory incursions of those unruly individuals, who cannot be restrained by their tribes; and, on the other hand, to protect the rights secured to the Indians by treaty; to draw them nearer to the civilized state; and inspire them with correct conceptions of the power, as well as justice, of the govern ment. The meeting of the deputies from the Creek nation at Colerain, in the State of Georgia, which had for a principal object the purchase of a parcel of their land by that State, broke up without its being accomplished; the nation having, previous to their departure, instructed them against making any sale. The occasion, however, has been improved, to confirm, by a new treaty with VOL. XII. 9 F* the Creeks, their preexisting engagements with the United States, and to obtain their consent to the establishment of trading-houses and military posts within their boundary; by means of which their friendship, and the general peace, may be more effectually secured. The period, during the late session, at which the appropriation was passed for carrying into effect the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between the United States and his Britannic Majesty, necessarily procrastinated the reception of the posts stipulated to be delivered, beyond the date assigned for that event. As soon, however, as the governor-general of Canada could be addressed with propriety on the subject, arrangements were cordially and promptly concluded for their evacuation, and the United States took possession of the principal of them, comprehending Oswego, Niagara, Detroit, Michilimackinac, and Fort Miami, where such repairs and additions have been ordered to be made, as appeared indispensable. The commissioners, appointed on the part of the United States and of Great Britain, to determine which is the river St. Croix mentioned in the treaty of peace of 1783, agreed in the choice of Egbert Benson, Esquire, of New York, for the third commissioner. The whole met at St. Andrew's, in Passamaquoddy Bay, in the beginning of October, and directed surveys to be made of the rivers in dispute; but, deeming it impracticable to have these surveys completed before the next year, they adjourned, to meet at Boston in August, 1797, for the final decision of the question. Other commissioners, appointed on the part of the United States, agreeably to the seventh article of the treaty with Great Britain, relative to captures and condemnations of vessels and other property, met the commissioners of his Britannic Majesty, in London, in August last, when John Trumbull, Esquire, was chosen by lot for the fifth commissioner. In October following, the board were to proceed to business. As yet, there has been no communication of commissioners on the part of Great Britain, to unite with those who have been appointed on the part of the United States, for carrying into effect the sixth article of the treaty. The treaty with Spain required, that the commissioners for running the boundary line between the territory of the United States and his Catholic Majesty's provinces of East and West Florida should meet at the Natchez, before the expiration of six months after the exchange of the ratifications, which was effected at Aranjuez on the 25th day of April; and the troops of his Catholic Majesty, occupying any posts within the limits of the United States, were, within the same period, to be withdrawn. The commissioner of the United States, therefore, commenced his journey for the Natchez in September, and troops were ordered to occupy the posts from which the Spanish garrisons should be withdrawn. Information has been recently received of the appointment of a commissioner on the part of his Catholic Majesty for running the boundary line; but none of any appointment for the adjustment of the claims of our citizens, whose vessels were captured by the armed vessels of Spain. In pursuance of the act of Congress, passed in the last session, for the protection and relief of American seamen, agents were appointed, one to reside in Great Britain, and the other in the West Indies. The effects of the agency in the West Indies are not yet fully ascertained; but those, which have been communicated, afford grounds to believe the measure will be beneficial. The agent destined to reside in Great |
