SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JANUARY 29, 1796.

Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:

In pursuance of the authority vested in the president of the United States, by an act of Congress, passed the 3d of March last, to reduce the weights of the copper coin of the United States, whenever he should think it for the benefit of the United States-provided the reduction should not exceed two pennyweights in each cent, and in a like proportion in the half cent-I have caused the same to be reduced, since the 27th of last December, to wit: one pennyweight and sixteen grains in each cent, and in the like proportion in the half cent; and I have given notice thereof by proclamation.

By the letter of the judges of the circuit court of the United States, held at Boston in June last, and the enclosed application of the under-keeper of the jail at that place, of which copies are herewith transmitted, Congress will see the necessity of making a suitable provision for the maintenance of prisoners committed to the jails of the several states, under the authority of the United States.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 30, 1796.

To the House of Representatives of the United States

WITH the utmost attention I have considered your resolution of the 24th instant, requiring me to lay before your house a copy of the instructions to the minister of the United States who negotiated the treaty with the king of Great Britain, together with a correspondence and other documents. relative to that treaty, excepting such of the said papers as any existing negotiation may render improper to be disclosed.

In deliberating upon this subject, it was impossible to lose sight of the principle, which some have avowed in its discussion, or to avoid extending my views to the consequences which must flow from the admission of that principle.

I trust that no part of my conduct has ever indicated a disposition to withhold any information which the constitution has enjoined upon the president as a duty to give, or which could be required of him by either house of Congress as a right; and with truth I affirm that it has been, as it will continue to be while I have the honor to preside in the government, my constant endeavor to harmonize with the other branches thereof, so far as the trust delegated to me by the people of the United States, and my sense of the obligation it imposes to "preserve, protect, and defend the constitution," will permit.

The nature of foreign negotiations requires caution, and their success must often depend on secrecy; and, even when brought to a conclusion, a full disclosure of all the measures, demands, or eventual concessions, which may have been proposed or contemplated, would be extremely im

politic for this might have a pernicious influence on future negotiations, or produce immediate inconveniences, perhaps danger and mischief, if relation to other powers. The necessity of such caution and secrecy was one cogent reason for vesting the power of making treaties in the president, with the advice and consent of the senate; the principle on which that body was formed confining it to a small number of members. To admit, then, a right in the house of representatives to demand, and to have, as a matter of course, all the papers respecting a negotiation with a foreign power, would be to establish a dangerous precedent.

It does not occur that the inspection of the papers asked for can be relative to any purpose under the cognizance of the house of representatives, except that of an impeachment, which the resolution has not expressed. I repeat, that I have no disposition to withhold any information which the duty of my situation will permit, or the public good shall require, to be. disclosed; and, in fact, all the papers affecting the negotiation with Great Britain were laid before the senate when the treaty itself was communicated for their consideration and advice.

The course which the debate has taken on the resolution of the house, leads to some observations on the mode of making treaties under the constitution of the United States.

Having been a member of the general convention, and knowing the principles on which the constitution was formed, I have ever entertained but one opinion on this subject; and, from the first establishment of the government to this moment, my conduct has exemplified that opinion that the power of making treaties is exclusively vested in the president, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, provided two thirds of the senators present concur; and that every treaty, so made and promulgated, thenceforward became the law of the land. It is thus that the treaty-making power has been understood by foreign nations; and, in all the treaties made with them, we have declared, and they have believed, that, when ratified by the president, with the advice and consent of the senate, they became obligatory. In this construction of the constitution, every house of representatives has heretofore acquiesced; and, until the present time, not a doubt or suspicion has appeared, to my knowledge, that this construction was not the true one. Nay, they have more than acquiesced: for, till now, without controverting the obligations of such treaties, they have made all the requisite provisions for carrying them into effect.

There is also reason to believe that this construction agrees with the opinions entertained by the state conventions, when they were deliberating on the constitution; especially by those who objected to it because there was not required, in commercial treaties, the consent of two thirds of the whole number of the members of the senate, instead of two thirds of the senators present; and because, in treaties respecting territorial and certain other rights and claims, the concurrence of three fourths of the whole number of both houses respectively was not made necessary.

It is a fact decided by the general convention, and universally understood, that the constitution of the United States was the result of a spirit of amity and mutual concession.

And it is well known, that, under this influence, the smaller states were admitted to an equal representation in the senate with the larger states, and that this branch of the government was invested with great powers; for on the equal participation of those powers the sovereignty and political safety of the smaller states were deemed essentially to depend.

If other proofs than these, and the plain letter of the constitution itself, be necessary to ascertain the point under consideration, they may be found in the journals of the general convention, which I have deposited in the office of the department of state. In those journals it will appear that a proposition was made, "that no treaty should be binding on the United States, which was not ratified by a law;" and that the proposition was explicitly rejected.

As, therefore, it is perfectly clear to my understanding that the assent of the house of representatives is not necessary to the validity of a treaty; as the treaty with Great Britain exhibits, in itself, all the objects requiring legislative provision, and on these the papers called for can throw no light; and as it is essential to the due administration of the government that the boundaries, fixed by the constitution, between the different departments, should be preserved a just regard to the constitution and to the duty of my office, under all the circumstances of this case, forbids a compliance with your request.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JANUARY 19, 1797.

Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

Ar the opening of the present session of Congress, I mentioned that some circumstances of an unwelcome nature had lately occurred in relation to France; that our trade had suffered, and was suffering extensive injuries in the West Indies, from the cruisers and agents of the French republic; and that communications had been received from its minister here, which indicated danger of a further disturbance of our commerce by its authority, and that were in other respects far from agreeable; but that I reserved for a special message a more particular communication on this interesting subject. This communication I now make.

The complaints of the French minister embraced most of the transactions of our government, in relation to France, from an early period of the present war; which, therefore, it was necessary carefully to review. A collection has been formed of letters and papers relating to those transactions, which I now lay before you, with a letter to Mr. Pinckney, our minister at Paris, containing an examination of the notes of the French minister, and such information as I thought might be useful to Mr. Pinckney in any further representations he might find necessary to be made to the French government. The immediate object of his mission was, to make to that government such explanations of the principles and conduct of our own, as, by manifesting our good faith, might remove all jealousy and discontent, and maintain that harmony and good understanding with the French republic which it has been my constant solicitude to preserve. government which required only a knowledge of the truth to justify its measures, could not but be anxious to have this fully and frankly displayed

A

SPECIAL MESSAGES OF JOHN ADAMS.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JUNE 12, 1797.

Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :I HAVE received information from the commissioner appointed on the part of the United States, pursuant to the third article of our treaty with Spain, that the running and marking of the boundary line between the colonies of East and West Florida and the territory of the United States, have been delayed by the officers of his catholic majesty; and that they have declared their intention to maintain jurisdiction, and to suspend the withdrawing of his troops from military posts they now occupy, within the territory of the United States, until the two governments shall, by negotiation, have settled the meaning of the second article respecting the withdrawing of the troops, garrisons, or settlements, of either party in the territory of the other; that is, whether, when the Spanish garrisons withdraw, they are to leave the works standing or to demolish them; and, until, by an additional article to the treaty, the real property of the inhabitants shall be secured; and, likewise, until the Spanish officers are sure the Indians will be pacific. The first two questions, if to be determined by negotiation, might be made subjects of discussion for years; and, as no limitation of time can be prescribed to the other, a certainty in the opinion of the Spanish officers that the Indians will be pacific, it will be impossible to suffer it to remain an obstacle to the fulfilment of the treaty on the part of Spain.

To remove the first difficulty, I have determined to leave it to the discretion of the officers of his catholic majesty, when they withdraw their troops from the forts within the territory of the United States, either to leave the works standing or to demolish them; and, to remove the second, I shall cause an assurance to be published, and to be particularly communicated to the minister of his catholic majesty, and to the governor of Louisiana, that the settlers or occupants of the lands in question shall not be disturbed in their possessions by the troops of the United States; but, on the contrary, that they shall be protected in all their lawful claims; and to prevent or remove every doubt on this point, it merits the consideration of Congress, whether it will not be expedient immediately to pass a law, giving positive assurances to those inhabitants, who, by fair and regalar grants, or by occupancy, have obtained legal titles or equitable claims to lands in that country, prior to the final ratification of the treaty between the United States and Spain, on the twenty-fifth of April, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six.

This country is rendered peculiarly valuable by its inhabitants, who are represented to amount to nearly four thousand, generally well effected and

much attached to the United States, and zealous for the establishment of a government under their authority.

I therefore recommend to your consideration the expediency of erecting a government in the district of Natchez, similar to that established for the territory northwest of the river Ohio, but with certain modifications, relative to titles or claims of land, whether of individuals or companies, or to claims of jurisdiction of any individual state,

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JUNE 22, 1797.

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives :

IMMEDIATELY after I had received your resolution of the tenth of June, requesting a report respecting the depredations committed on the commerce of the United States, since the first of October, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six, specifying the name of the vessel taken, where bound to or from, species of lading, the value (when it can be ascertained) of the vessel and cargo taken, and by what power captured, particularizing those which have been actually condemned, together with the proper documents to ascertain the same, I directed a collection to be made of all such information as should be found in the possession of the government in consequence of which, the secretary of state has made the report and the collection of documents which accompany this message, and are now laid before the house of representatives, in compliance with their desire.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JULY 3, 1797.

Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:THE whole of the intelligence which has for some time past been received from abroad, the correspondences between this government and the ministers of the belligerent powers residing here, and the advices of the officers of the United States, civil and military, upon the frontiers, all conspire to show, in a very strong light, the critical situation of our country. That Congress might be enabled to form a more perfect judgment of it, and of the measures necessary to be taken, I have directed the proper officers to prepare such collections of extracts from the public correspondences as might afford the clearest information. The reports made to ine from the secretary of state and the secretary of war, with the collection of documents from each of them, are now communicated to both houses of Congress. I have desired that the message, reports, and documents, may be considered as confidential, merely, that the members of both houses of Congress may be apprized of their contents before they should be made public. As soon as the houses shall have heard them, I shall submit, to their discretion, the publication of the whole, or any such parts of them, as they shall judge necessary or expedient for the public good.