I have not by this first act given to the said territory the whole extent of which it is susceptible in the direction of the river, because I thought it important that Congress should have an opportunity of considering whether by an amendatory law they would authorize the location of the residue at the lower end of the present, so as to comprehend the Eastern Branch itself and some of the country on its lower side, in the State of Maryland, and the town of Alexandria, in Virginia. If, however, they are of opinion that the Federal territory should be bounded by the water edge of the Eastern Branch, the location of the residue will be to be made at the upper end of what is now directed. I have thought best to await a survey of the territory before it is decided on what particular spot on the northeastern side of the river the public buildings shall be erected. GO WASHINGTON. UNITED STATES, January 26, 1791. Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives: I lay before you the copy of a letter from the President of the National Assembly of France to the President of the United States, and of a decree of that Assembly, which was transmitted with the above-mentioned letter. GO WASHINGTON. UNITED STATES, January 27, 1791. Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives: In order that you may be fully informed of the situation of the frontiers and the prospect of hostility in that quarter, I lay before you the intelligence of some recent depredations, received since my message to you upon this subject of the 24th instant. GO WASHINGTON. UNITED STATES, February 9, 1791. Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives: I have received from the governor of Vermont authentic documents, expressing the consent of the legislatures of New York and of the Territory of Vermont that the said Territory shall be admitted to be a distinct. member of our Union; and a memorial of Nathaniel Chipman and Lewis R. Morris, commissioners from the said Territory, praying the consent of Congress to that admission, by the name and style of the State of Vermont, copies of which I now lay before Congress, with whom the Constitution has vested the object of these proceedings. GO WASHINGTON. UNITED STATES, February 14, 1791. Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives: Soon after I was called to the administration of the Government I found it important to come to an understanding with the Court of London on several points interesting to the United States, and particularly to know whether they were disposed to enter into arrangements by mutual consent which might fix the commerce between the two nations on principles of reciprocal advantage. For this purpose I authorized informal conferences with their ministers, and from these I do not infer any disposition on their part to enter into any arrangements merely commercial. I have thought it proper to give you this information, as it might at some time have influence on matters under your consideration. GO WASHINGTON. Gentlemen of the Senate: UNITED STATES, February 14, 1791. Conceiving that in the possible event of a refusal of justice on the part of Great Britain we should stand less committed should it be made to a private rather than to a public person, I employed Mr. Gouverneur Morris, who was on the spot, and without giving him any definite character, to enter informally into the conferences before mentioned. For your more particular information I lay before you the instructions I gave him and those parts of his communications wherein the British ministers appear either in conversation or by letter. These are two letters from the Duke of Leeds to Mr. Morris, and three letters of Mr. Morris giving an account of two conferences with the Duke of Leeds and one with him and Mr. Pitt. The sum of these is that they declare without scruple they do not mean to fulfill what remains of the treaty of peace to be fulfilled on their part (by which we are to understand the delivery of the posts and payment for property carried off) till performance on our part, and compensation where the delay has rendered the performance now impracticable; that on the subject of a treaty of commerce they avoided direct answers, so as to satisfy Mr. Morris they did not mean to enter into one unless it could be extended to a treaty of alliance offensive and defensive, or unless in the event of a rupture with Spain. As to the sending a minister here, they made excuses at the first conference, seemed disposed to it in the second, and in the last express an intention of so doing. Their views being thus sufficiently ascertained, I have directed Mr. Morris to discontinue his communications with them. GO WASHINGTON. Gentlemen of the Senate: us. UNITED STATES, February 18, 1791. The aspect of affairs in Europe during the last summer, and especially between Spain and England, gave reason to expect a favorable occasion for pressing to accommodation the unsettled matters between them and Mr. Carmichael, our chargé d'affaires at Madrid, having been long absent from his country, great changes having taken place in our circumstances and sentiments during that interval, it was thought expedient to send some person, in a private character, fully acquainted with the present state of things here, to be the bearer of written and confidential instructions to him, and at the same time to possess him in full and frequent conversations of all those details of facts and topics of argument which could not be conveyed in writing, but which would be necessary to enable him to meet the reasonings of that Court with advantage. Colonel David Humphreys was therefore sent for these purposes. An additional motive for this confidential mission arose in the same quarter. The Court of Lisbon had on several occasions made the most amicable advances for cultivating friendship and intercourse with the United States. The exchange of a diplomatic character had been informally, but repeatedly, suggested on their part. It was our interest to meet this nation in its friendly dispositions and to concur in the exchange proposed. But my wish was at the same time that the character to be exchanged should be of the lowest and most economical grade. To this it was known that certain rules of long standing at that Court would produce obstacles. Colonel Humphreys was charged with dispatches to the prime minister of Portugal and with instructions to endeavor to arrange this to our views. It happened, however, that previous to his arrival at Lisbon the Queen had appointed a minister resident to the United States. This embarrassment seems to have rendered the difficulty completely insurmountable. The minister of that Court in his conferences with Colonel Humphreys, professing every wish to accommodate, yet expresses his regrets that circumstances do not permit them to concur in the grade of chargé d'affaires, a grade of little privilege or respectability by the rules of their Court and held in so low estimation with them that no proper character would accept it to go abroad. In a letter to the Secretary of State he expresses the same sentiments, and announces the appointment on their part of a minister resident to the United States, and the pleasure with which the Queen will receive one from us at her Court. A copy of his letter, and also of Colonel Humphreys's giving the details of this transaction, will be delivered to you. On consideration of all circumstances I have determined to accede to the desire of the Court of Lisbon in the article of grade. I am aware that the consequences will not end here, and that this is not the only instance in which a like change may be pressed. But should it be necessary M P-VOL I-7 to yield elsewhere also, I shall think it a less evil than to disgust a government so friendly and so interesting to us as that of Portugal. I do not mean that the change of grade shall render the mission more expensive. I have therefore nominated David Humphreys minister resident from the United States to Her Most Faithful Majesty the Queen of Portugal. GO WASHINGTON. Gentlemen of the Senate: UNITED STATES, February 22, 1791. I will proceed to take measures for the ransom of our citizens in captivity at Algiers, in conformity with your resolution of advice of the Ist instant, so soon as the moneys necessary shall be appropriated by the Legislature and shall be in readiness. The recognition of our treaty with the new Emperor of Morocco requires also previous appropriation and provision. The importance of this last to the liberty and property of our citizens induces me to urge it on your earliest attention. Gentlemen of the Senate: GO WASHINGTON. UNITED STATES, February 23, 1791. Information having been received from Thomas Auldjo, who was appointed vice-consul of the United States at Cowes, in Great Britain, that his commission has not been recognized by that Government because it is a port at which no foreign consul has yet been received, and that it has been intimated to him that his appointment to the port of Poole and parts nearer to that than to the residence of any other consul of the United States would be recognized and his residence at Cowes not noticed, I have therefore thought it expedient to nominate Thomas Auldjo to be vice-consul for the United States at the port of Poole, in Great Britain, and such parts within the allegiance of His Britannic Majesty as shall be nearer thereto than to the residence of any other consul or vice-consul of the United States within the same allegiance. I also nominate James Yard, of Pennsylvania, to be consul for the United States in the island of Santa Cruz and such other parts within the allegiance of His Danish Majesty as shall be nearer thereto than to the residence of any other consul or vice-consul of the United States within the same allegiance. Gentlemen of the Senate: GO WASHINGTON. UNITED STATES, March 4, 1791. The act for the admission of the State of Vermont into this Union having fixed on this as the day of its admission, it was thought that this would also be the first day on which any officer of the Union might legally perform any act of authority relating to that State. I therefore required your attendance to receive nominations of the several officers necessary to put the Federal Government into motion in that State.* For this purpose I nominate Nathaniel Chipman to be judge of the district of Vermont; Stephen Jacobs to be attorney for the United States in the district of Vermont; Lewis R. Morris to be marshal of the district of Vermont, and Stephen Keyes to be collector of the port of Allburgh, in the State of Vermont. Gentlemen of the Senate: GO WASHINGTON. UNITED STATES, March 4, 1791. Pursuant to the powers vested in me by the act entitled An act repealing after the last day of June next the duties heretofore laid upon distilled spirits imported from abroad and laying others in their stead, and also upon spirits distilled within the United States, and for appropriating the same," I have thought fit to divide the United States into the following districts, namely: The district of New Hampshire, to consist of the State of New Hampshire; the district of Massachusetts, to consist of the State of Massachusetts; the district of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, to consist of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations; the district of Connecticut, to consist of the State of Connecticut; the district of Vermont, to consist of the State of Vermont; the district of New York, to consist of the State of New York; the district of New Jersey, to consist of the State of New Jersey; the district of Pennsylvania, to consist of the State of Pennsylvania; the district of Delaware, to consist of the State of Delaware; the district of Maryland, to consist of the State of Maryland; the district of Virginia, to consist of the State of Virginia; the district of North Carolina, to consist of the State of North Carolina; the district of South Carolina, to consist of the State of South Carolina; and the district of Georgia, to consist of the State of Georgia. And I hereby nominate as supervisors of the said districts, respectively, the following persons, viz: For the district of New Hampshire, Joshua Wentworth; for the district of Massachusetts, Nathaniel Gorham; for the district of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, John S. Dexter; for the district of Connecticut, John Chester; for the district of Vermont, Noah Smith; for the district of New York, William S. Smith; for the district of New Jersey, Aaron Dunham; for the district of Pennsylvania, George Clymer; for the district of Delaware, Henry Latimer; for the district of Maryland, George Gale; for the district of Virginia, Edward Carrington; for the district of North Carolina, William Polk; for the district of South Carolina, Daniel Stevens; for the district of Georgia, John Mathews. GO WASHINGTON, * For proclamation convening Senate in extraordinary session see p. 587. |