not be the only defaulters, nor will the demoralizing effect be confined to them. It will evince a relaxation and want of tone in the administration, which will be felt by the whole community. I shall do all that I can to secure economy and fidelity in this important branch of the administration; and I doubt not that the Legislature will perform its duty with equal zeal. A thorough examination should be regularly made, and I will promote it.

"It is particularly gratifying to me to enter on the discharge of these duties, at a time when the United States are blessed with peace. It is a state most consistent with their prosperity and happiness. It will be my sincere duty to preserve it, so far as depends on the Executive, on just principles, with all nations, claiming nothing unreasonable of any, and rendering to each what is its due. Equally gratifying is it to witness the increased harmony of opinion which pervades our union.

Dis

cord does not belong to our system. Union is recommended, as well by the free and benign principles of our Government, extending its blessings to every individual, as by the other eminent advantages attending it. The American people have encountered together great dangers, and sustained severe trials with success. They constitute one great family, with a common interest.

"Experience has enlightened us on some questions of essential importance to the country. The progress has been slow, dictated by a just reflection, and a faithful regard to every interest connected with it. To promote this harmony,

in accord with the principles of our Republican Government, and in a manner to give them the most complete effect, and to advance in all other respects the best interest of our Union, will be the object of my constant and zealous exertions. Never did a Government commence under auspices so favourable, nor ever was success so complete. If we look to the history of other nations, ancient or modern, we find no example of a growth so rapid, so gigantic; of a people so prosperous and happy.

"In contemplating what we have still to perform, the heart of every citizen must expand with joy, when he reflects how near our government has approached to perfection; that, in respect to it, we have no essential improvement to make: that the great object is to preserve it in the essential principles and features which characterize it; and that it is to be done by preserving the virtue and enlightening the minds of the people; and, as a security against foreign dangers, to adopt such arrangements as are indispensable to the support of our independence, our rights, and liberties. If we persevere in the career in which we have advanced so far, and in the path already traced, we cannot fail, under the favour of a gracious Providence, to attain the high destiny which seems to await us.

"In the administrations of the illustrious men who have preceded me in this high station, with some of whom I have been connected by the closest ties from early life, examples are presented which wil always be found highly instructive

and

and useful to their successor. From these I shall endeavour to derive all the advantages which they may afford. Of my immediate predecessor, under whom so important a portion of this great and successful experiment has been made, I shall be pardoned for expressing my earnest wishes that he may long enjoy in his retirement the affections of a grateful country, the best reward of exaited talents and the most faithful and meritorious services. Relying on the aid to be derived from the other departments of the government, l'enter on the trust to which I have been called by the suffrages of my fellow-citizens, with my fervent prayers to the Almighty that he will be graciously pleased to continue to us that protection which he has already conspicuously displayed in our favour."

PRIS:DENT'S SECOND SPEECH.

Washington, Dec. 2. This day at 12 o'clock, the President of the United States transmitted to both Houses of Congress, the following Message, by Mr. Joseph Jones Monro, his secretary:

• Fe low Citizens of the Senate, and

of the House of Representatives, "At no period of our political existence had we so much cause to felicitate ourselves at the prosperous and happy condition of our ountry. The abundant fruits of the earth have filled it with plenty. An extensive and profitable commerre has greatly augmented our revenue. The public credit has at tined an extraordinary elevation. Our preparations for defence, in case of future wars, from which,

by the experience of all nations we ought not to expect to be exempted, are advancing under a well-digested system, with all the dispatch which so important a work will admit. Our free government, founded on the interest and affections of the people, has gained, and is daily gaining, strength. Local jealousies are rapidly yielding to more generous, enlarged, and enlightened views of national policy. For advantages so numerous and highly important, it is our duty to unite in grateful acknowledgments to that Omnipotent Being from whom they are derived, and in unceasing prayer that he will endow us with virtue and strength to maintain and hand them down in their utmost purity to our latest posterity.

"I have the satisfaction to inform you, that an arrangement, which had been commenced by my predecessor, with the British Government, for the reduction of the naval force, by Great Britain and the United States, on the Lakes, has been concluded; by which it is provided, that neither party shall keep in service on Lake Champlain more than one vessel; on Lake Ontario more than one; and on Lake Erie and the Upper Lakes more than two; to be armed each with one cannon only; and that all the other armed vessels of both parties, of which an exact list is interchanged, shall be dismantled. It is also agreed, that the force retained shall be restricted in its duty to the internal purposes of each party; and that the arrangement shall remain in force until six months shall have expired, after notice given by one of the parties to the other of its

desire that it should terminate. By this arrangement, useless expense on both sides, and, what is of still greater importance, the danger of collision between armed vessels in those inland waters which was great, is prevented., "I have the satisfaction also to state, that the Commissioners, under the fourth article of the treaty of Ghent, to whom it was referred to decide, to which party the several islands in the bay of Passamaquoddy belonged, under the treaty of 1783, have agreed in a report, by which all the islands in the possession of each party before the late war have been decreed to it. The Commissioners acting under the other article of the treaty of Ghent, for the settlement of the boundaries, have also been engaged in the discharge of their respective duties, but have not yet completed them. The difference which arose between the two Governments under that treaty, respecting the right of the United States to take and cure fish on the coast of the British provinces north of our limits, which had been secured by the treaty of 1783, is still in negotiation. The proposition made by this Government, to extend to the colonies of Great Britain the principle of the convention of London, by which the commerce between the ports of the United States and British ports in Europe had been placed on a footing of equality, has been declined by the British Government. This subject having been thus amicably discussed between the two Governments, and it appearing that the British Government is unwilling to depart from its present regula

tions, it remains for Congress to decide whether they will make any other regulations, in consequence thereof, for the protection and improvement of our navigation.

"The negotiation with Spain, for spoliations on our commerce, and the settlement of boundaries, remains, essentially, in the state it held, by the communications that were made to Congress by my predecessor. It has been evidently the policy of the Spanish Government to keep the negotiation suspended, and in this the United States have acquiesced, from an amicable disposition towards Spain, and in the expectation that her Government would, from a sense of justice, finally accede to such an arrangement as would be equal between the parties. A disposition has been lately shewn by the Spanish Government to move in the negotiation, which has been met by this Government, and should the conciliatory and friendly policy, which has invariably guided our Councils, be reciprocated, a just and satisfactory arrangement may be expected. It is proper, however, to remark, that no proposition has yet been made, from which such a result can be presumed.

"It was anticipated, at an early stage, that the contest between Spain and her colonies would become highly interesting to the United States. It was natural that our citizens should sympathise in events which affected their neighbours. It seemed probable, also, that the prosecution of the conflict along our coast, and in contiguous countries, would occasionally interrupt our commerce, and

otherwise

war.

otherwise affect the persons and property of our citizens. These anticipations have been realized. Such injuries have been received from persons acting under the authority of both the parties, and for which redress has, in most instances, been withheld. Through every stage of the conflict, the United States have maintained an impartial neutrality, giving aid to neither of the parties, in men, money, ships, or munitions of They have regarded the contest, not in the light of an ordinary insurrection or rebellion, but as a civil war between parties nearly equal, having as to neutral powers, equal rights. Our ports have been open to both; and every article, the fruit of our soil, or of the industry of our citizens, which either was permitted to take, has been equally free to the other. Should the colonies establish their independence, it is proper now to state, that this Government neither seeks, nor would accept from them any advantage, in commerce or otherwise, which would not be equally open to all other nations. The colonies will, in that event, become independent states, free from any obligation to or connexion with us, which it may not then be their interest to form on a basis of fair reciprocity.

"In the summer of the present year an expedition was set on foot against East Florida, by persons claiming to act under the authority of some of the colonies, who took possession of Amelia Island, at the mouth of St. Mary's river, near the boundary of the state of Georgia. As this province lies east of the Mississippi, and is bounded by the United States and

the ocean on every side, and has been a subject of negotiation with the Government of Spain, as an indemnity for losses by spoliation, or in exchange for territory of equal value westward of the Mississippi, a fact well known to the world, it excited surprise that any countenance should be given to this measure by any of the colonies. As it would be difficult to reconcile it with the friendly relations existing between the United States and the colonies, a doubt was entertained whether it had been authorized by them, or any of them. This doubt has gained strength, by the circumstances which have unfolded themselves in the prosecution of the enterprise, which have marked it as a mere private unauthorized adventure. Projected and countenanced with an incompetent force, reliance seems to have been placed on what might be drawn, in defiance of our laws, from within our limits; and of late, as their resources have failed, it has assumed a more marked character of unfriendliness to us, the island being made a channel for the illicit introduction of slaves from Africa into the United States, an asylum for fugitive slaves from the neighbouring States, and a port for smuggling of every kind.

"A similar establishment was made, at an earlier period, by persons of the same description in the Gulph of Mexico, at a place called Galvestown, within the limits of the United States, as we contend, under the cession of Louisiana. This enterprise has been marked in a more signal manner, by all the objectionable circumstances which characterized

the