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Volume: I Pages:
451-456
NOVEMBER 8, 1808
To the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United
States :
It would have been a source,
fellow citizens, of much
gratification, if our last
communications from Europe had
enabled me to inform you that
the belligerent nations, whose
disregard of neutral rights has
been so destructive to our
commerce, had become awakened to
the duty and true policy of
revoking their unrighteous
edicts. That no means might be
omitted to produce this salutary
effect, I lost no time in
availing myself of the act
authorizing a suspension, in
whole or in part, of the several
embargo laws. Our ministers at
London and Paris were instructed
to explain to the respective
governments there, our
disposition to exercise the
authority in such manner as
would withdraw the pretext on
which the aggressions were
originally founded, and open a
way for a renewal of that
commercial intercourse which it
was alleged on all sides had
been reluctantly obstructed. As
each of those governments had
pledged its readiness to concur
in renouncing a measure which
reached its adversary through
the incontestable rights of
neutrals only, and as the
measure had been assumed by each
as a retaliation for an asserted
acquiescence in the aggressions
of the other, it was reasonably
expected that the occasion would
have been seized by both for
evincing the sincerity of their
profession, and for restoring to
the commerce of the United
States its legitimate freedom.
The instructions to our
ministers with respect to the
different belligerents were
necessarily modified with
reference to their different
circumstances, and to the
condition annexed by law to the
executive power of suspension,
requiring a degree of security
to our commerce which would not
result from a repeal of the
decrees of France. Instead of a
pledge, therefore, of a
suspension of the embargo as to
her in case of such a repeal, it
was presumed that a sufficient
inducement might be found in
other considerations, and
particularly in the change
produced by a compliance with
our just demands by one
belligerent, and a refusal by
the other, in the relations
between the other and the United
States. To Great Britain, whose
power on the ocean is so
ascendant, it was deemed not
inconsistent with that condition
to state explicitly, that on her
rescinding her orders in
relation to the United States
their trade would be opened with
her, and remain shut to her
enemy, in case of his failure to
rescind his decrees also. From
France no answer has been
received, nor any indication
that the requisite change in her
decrees is contemplated. The
favorable reception of the
proposition to Great Britain was
the less to be doubted, as her
orders of council had not only
been referred for their
vindication to an acquiescence
on the part of the United States
no longer to be pretended, but
as the arrangement proposed,
while it resisted the illegal
decrees of France, involved,
moreover, substantially, the
precise advantages professedly
aimed at by the British orders.
The arrangement has nevertheless
been rejected.
This candid and liberal
experiment having thus failed,
and no other event having
occurred on which a suspension
of the embargo by the executive
was authorized, it necessarily
remains in the extent originally
given to it. We have the
satisfaction, however, to
reflect, that in return for the
privations by the measure, and
which our fellow citizens in
general have borne with
patriotism, it has had the
important effects of saving our
mariners and our vast mercantile
property, as well as of
affording time for prosecuting
the defensive and provisional
measures called for by the
occasion. It has demonstrated to
foreign nations the moderation
and firmness which govern our
councils, and to our citizens
the necessity of uniting in
support of the laws and the
rights of their country, and has
thus long frustrated those
usurpations and spoliations
which, if resisted, involve war;
if submitted to, sacrificed a
vital principle of our national
independence.
Under a continuance of the
belligerent measures which, in
defiance of laws which
consecrate the rights of
neutrals, overspread the ocean
with danger, it will rest with
the wisdom of Congress to decide
on the course best adapted to
such a state of things; and
bringing with them, as they do,
from every part of the Union,
the sentiments of our
constituents, my confidence is
strengthened, that in forming
this decision they will, with an
unerring regard to the essential
rights and interests of the
nation, weigh and compare the
painful alternatives out of
which a choice is to be made.
Nor should I do justice to the
virtues which on other occasions
have marked the character of our
fellow citizens, if I did not
cherish an equal confidence that
the alternative chosen, whatever
it may be, will be maintained
with all the fortitude and
patriotism which the crisis
ought to inspire.
The documents containing the
correspondences on the subject
of the foreign edicts against
our commerce, with the
instructions given to our
ministers at London and Paris,
are now laid before you.
The communications made to
Congress at their last session
explained the posture in which
the close of the discussion
relating to the attack by a
British ship of war on the
frigate Chesapeake left a
subject on which the nation had
manifested so honorable a
sensibility. Every view of what
had passed authorized a belief
that immediate steps would be
taken by the British government
for redressing a wrong, which,
the more it was investigated,
appeared the more clearly to
require what had not been
provided for in the special
mission. It is found that no
steps have been taken for the
purpose. On the contrary, it
will be seen, in the documents
laid before you, that the
inadmissible preliminary which
obstructed the adjustment is
still adhered to; and, moreover,
that it is now brought into
connection with the distinct and
irrelative case of the orders in
council. The instructions which
had been given to our ministers
at London with a view to
facilitate, if necessary, the
reparation claimed by the United
States, are included in the
documents communicated.
Our relations with the other
powers of Europe have undergone
no material changes since your
last session. The important
negotiations with Spain, which
had been alternately suspended
and resumed, necessarily
experience a pause under the
extraordinary and interesting
crisis which distinguished her
internal situation.
With the Barbary powers we
continue in harmony, with the
exception of an unjustifiable
proceeding of the dey of Algiers
toward our consul to that
regency. Its character and
circumstances are now laid
before you, and will enable you
to decide how far it may, either
now or hereafter, call for any
measures not within the limits
of the executive authority.
With our Indian neighbors the
public peace has been steadily
maintained. Some instances of
individual wrong have, as at
other times, taken place, but in
nowise implicating the will of
the nation. Beyond the
Mississippi, the Iowas, the
Sacs, and the Alabamas, have
delivered up for trial and
punishment individuals from
among themselves accused of
murdering citizens of the United
States. On this side of the
Mississippi, the Creeks are
exerting themselves to arrest
offenders of the same kind; and
the Choctaws have manifested
their readiness and desire for
amicable and just arrangements
respecting depredations
committed by disorderly persons
of their tribe. And, generally,
from a conviction that we
consider them as part of
ourselves, and cherish with
sincerity their rights and
interests, the attachment of the
Indian tribes is gaining
strength daily -- is extending
from the nearer to the more
remote, and will amply requite
us for the justice and
friendship practiced towards
them. Husbandry and household
manufacture are advancing among
them, more rapidly with the
southern than the northern
tribes, from circumstances of
soil and climate; and one of the
two great divisions of the
Cherokee nation have now under
consideration to solicit the
citizenship of the United
States, and to be identified
with us in laws and government,
in such progressive manner as we
shall think best.
In consequence of the
appropriations of the last
session of Congress for the
security of our seaport towns
and harbors, such works of
defense have been erected as
seemed to be called for by the
situation of the several places,
their relative importance, and
the scale of expense indicated
by the amount of the
appropriation. These works will
chiefly be finished in the
course of the present season,
except at New York and New
Orleans, where most was to be
done; and although a great
proportion of the last
appropriation has been expended
on the former place, yet some
further views will be submitted
by Congress for rendering its
security entirely adequate
against naval enterprise. A view
of what has been done at the
several places, and of what is
proposed to be done, shall be
communicated as soon as the
several reports are received.
Of the gun-boats authorized by
the act of December last, it has
been thought necessary to build
only one hundred and three in
the present year. These, with
those before possessed, are
sufficient for the harbors and
waters exposed, and the residue
will require little time for
their construction when it is
deemed necessary.
Under the act of the last
session for raising an
additional military force, so
many officers were immediately
appointed as were necessary for
carrying on the business of
recruiting, and in proportion as
it advanced, others have been
added. We have reason to believe
their success has been
satisfactory, although such
returns have not yet been
received as enable me to present
to you a statement of the
numbers engaged.
I have not thought it necessary
in the course of the last season
to call for any general
detachments of militia or
volunteers under the law passed
for that purpose. For the
ensuing season, however, they
will require to be in readiness
should their services be wanted.
Some small and special
detachments have been necessary
to maintain the laws of embargo
on that portion of our northern
frontier which offered peculiar
facilities for evasion, but
these were replaced as soon as
it could be done by bodies of
new recruits. By the aid of
these, and of the armed vessels
called into actual service in
other quarters, the spirit of
disobedience and abuse which
manifested itself early, and
with sensible effect while we
were unprepared to meet it, has
been considerably repressed.
Considering the extraordinary
character of the times in which
we live, our attention should
unremittingly be fixed on the
safety of our country. For a
people who are free, and who
mean to remain so, a
well-organized and armed militia
is their best security. It is,
therefore, incumbent on us, at
every meeting, to revise the
condition of the militia, and to
ask ourselves if it is prepared
to repel a powerful enemy at
every point of our territories
exposed to invasion. Some of the
States have paid a laudable
attention to this object; but
every degree of neglect is to be
found among others. Congress
alone have power to produce a
uniform state of preparation in
this great organ of defense; the
interests which they so deeply
feel in their own and their
country's security will present
this as among the most important
objects of their deliberation.
Under the acts of March 11th and
April 23d, respecting arms, the
difficulty of procuring them
from abroad, during the present
situation and dispositions of
Europe, induced us to direct our
whole efforts to the means of
internal supply. The public
factories have, therefore, been
enlarged, additional machineries
erected, and in proportion as
artificers can be found or
formed, their effect, already
more than doubled, may be
increased so as to keep pace
with the yearly increase of the
militia. The annual sums
appropriated by the latter act,
have been directed to the
encouragement of private
factories of arms, and contracts
have been entered into with
individual undertakers to nearly
the amount of the first year's
appropriation.
The suspension of our foreign
commerce, produced by the
injustice of the belligerent
powers, and the consequent
losses and sacrifices of our
citizens, are subjects of just
concern. The situation into
which we have thus been forced,
has impelled us to apply a
portion of our industry and
capital to internal manufactures
and improvements. The extent of
this conversion is daily
increasing, and little doubt
remains that the establishments
formed and forming will -- under
the auspices of cheaper
materials and subsistence, the
freedom of labor from taxation
with us, and of protecting
duties and prohibitions --
become permanent. The commerce
with the Indians, too, within
our own boundaries, is likely to
receive abundant aliment from
the same internal source, and
will secure to them peace and
the progress of civilization,
undisturbed by practices hostile
to both.
The accounts of the receipts and
expenditures during the year
ending on the 30th day of
September last, being not yet
made up, a correct statement
will hereafter be transmitted
from the Treasury. In the
meantime, it is ascertained that
the receipts have amounted to
near eighteen millions of
dollars, which, with the eight
millions and a half in the
treasury at the beginning of the
year, have enabled us, after
meeting the current demands and
interest incurred, to pay two
millions three hundred thousand
dollars of the principal of our
funded debt, and left us in the
treasury, on that day, near
fourteen millions of dollars. Of
these, five millions three
hundred and fifty thousand
dollars will be necessary to pay
what will be due on the first
day of January next, which will
complete the reimbursement of
the eight per cent. stock. These
payments, with those made in the
six years and a half preceding,
will have extinguished
thirty-three millions five
hundred and eighty thousand
dollars of the principal of the
funded debt, being the whole
which could be paid or purchased
within the limits of the law and
our contracts; and the amount of
principal thus discharged will
have liberated the revenue from
about two millions of dollars of
interest, and added that sum
annually to the disposable
surplus. The probable
accumulation of the surpluses of
revenue beyond what can be
applied to the payment of the
public debt, whenever the
freedom and safety of our
commerce shall be restored,
merits the consideration of
Congress. Shall it lie
unproductive in the public
vaults? Shall the revenue be
reduced? Or shall it rather be
appropriated to the improvements
of roads, canals, rivers,
education, and other great
foundations of prosperity and
union, under the powers which
Congress may already possess, or
such amendment of the
constitution as may be approved
by the States? While uncertain
of the course of things, the
time may be advantageously
employed in obtaining the powers
necessary for a system of
improvement, should that be
thought best.
Availing myself of this the last
occasion which will occur of
addressing the two Houses of the
Legislature at their meeting, I
cannot omit the expression of my
sincere gratitude for the
repeated proofs of confidence
manifested to me by themselves
and their predecessors since my
call to the administration, and
the many indulgences experienced
at their hands. The same
grateful acknowledgments are due
to my fellow citizens generally,
whose support has been my great
encouragement under all
embarrassments. In the
transaction of their business I
cannot have escaped error. It is
incident to our imperfect
nature. But I may say with
truth, my errors have been of
the understanding, not of
intention; and that the
advancement of their rights and
interests has been the constant
motive for every measure. On
these considerations I solicit
their indulgence. Looking
forward with anxiety to their
future destinies, I trust that,
in their steady character
unshaken by difficulties, in
their love of liberty, obedience
to law, and support of the
public authorities, I see a sure
guaranty of the permanence of
our republic; and retiring from
the charge of their affairs, I
carry with me the consolation of
a firm persuasion that Heaven
has in store for our beloved
country long ages to come of
prosperity and happiness.
TH. JEFFERSON.
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