Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States,

MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1799.

Two other members, to wit: Josiah Parker and Robert Page, from Virginia, appeared, produced their credentials, and took their seats in the House; the oath to support the Constitution of the United States being first administered to them by Mr. Speaker, according to law.

The Speaker laid before the House a letter from the Treasurer of the United States, accompanying his account of the receipts and expenditures of public moneys, from the thirtieth of September, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, to the thirtieth of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, inclusive; also, his accounts of payments and receipts for the War and Navy Departments, from the thirtieth of September, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, to the thirtieth of September, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, inclusive; which were read, and ordered to lie on the table.

The House, according to the order of the day, resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole House on the report of the committee appointed to prepare an address in answer to the speech of the President of the United States to both Houses; and, after some time spent therein, Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Dent reported that the committee had, according to order, had the said report under consideration, and directed him to report to the House their agreement to the same.

The said address being then read throughout at the Clerk's table,

Resolved, That this House doth agree to the same, in the words following, to wit:

To the President of the United States:

Sir: While the House of Representatives contemplate the flattering prospects of abundance from the labors of the people by land and by sea; the prosperity of our extended commerce, notwithstanding the interruptions occasioned by the belligerent state of a great part of the world; the return of health, industry, and trade, to those cities which have lately been afflicted with disease; and the various and inestimable advantages, civil and religious, which, secured under our happy frame of Government, are continued to us unimpaired; we cannot fail to offer up to a benevolent Deity our sincere thanks for these, the merciful dispensations of his protecting providence.

That any portion of the People of America should permit themselves, amid such numerous blessings, to be seduced by the arts and misrepresentations of designing men, into an open resistance of a law of the United States, cannot be heard without deep and serious regret. Under a Constitution where the public burthens can only be imposed by the People themselves, for their own benefit, and to promote their own objects, a hope might well have been indulged that the general interest would have been too well understood, and the general welfare too highly prized, to have produced, in any of our citizens, a disposition to hazard so much felicity, by the criminal effort of a part to oppose, with lawless violence, the will of the whole. While we lament that depravity which could produce a defiance of the civil authority, and render indispensable the aid of the military force of the nation, real consolation is to be derived from the promptness and fidelity with which that aid was afforded. That zealous and active co-operation with the judicial power, of the volunteers and militia called into service, which has restored order and submission to the laws, is a pleasing evidence of the attachment of our fellow citizens to their own free Government, and of the truly patriotic alacrity with which they will support it.

To give due effect to the civil administration of Government, and to insure a just execution of the laws, are objects of such real magnitude as to secure a proper attention to your recommendation of a revision and amendment of the judiciary system.

Highly approving, as we do, the pacific and humane policy which has been invariably professed, and sincerely pursued by the Executive authority of the United States; a policy which our best interests enjoined, and of which honor has permitted the observance; we consider as the most unequivocal proof of your inflexible perseverance in the same well chosen system, your preparation to meet the first indications on the part of the French Republic of a disposition to accommodate the existing differences between the two countries, by a nomination of Ministers on certain conditions, which the honor of our country unquestionably dictated, and which its moderation had certainly given it a right to prescribe. When the assurances thus required of the French Government, previous to the departure of our Envoys, had been given through their Minister of Foreign Relations, the direction that they should proceed on their mission was, on your part, a completion of the measure, and manifests the sincerity with which it was commenced. We offer up our fervent prayers to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for the success of their embassy, and that it may be productive of peace and happiness to our common country. The uniform tenor of your conduct through a life useful to your fellow citizens and honorable to yourself, gives a sure pledge of the sincerity with which the avowed objects of the negotiation will be pursued on your part, and we earnestly pray that similar dispositions may be displayed on the part of France. The differences which unfortunately subsist between the two nations cannot fail, in that event, to be happily terminated. To produce this end, to all so desirable, firmness, moderation, and union at home, constitute, we are persuaded, the surest means. The character of the gentlemen you have deputed, and still more the character of the Government which deputes them, are safe pledges to their country that nothing incompatible with its honor or interest, nothing inconsistent with our obligations of good faith or friendship to any other nation will be stipulated.

We learn, with pleasure, that our citizens, with their property, trading to those ports of St. Domingo with which commercial intercourse has been renewed, have been duly respected, and that privateering from those ports has ceased.

With you, we sincerely regret that the execution of the sixth article of the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, with Great Britain, an article produced by a mutual spirit of amity and justice, should have been unavoidably interrupted. We doubt not that the same spirit of amity, and the same sense of justice in which it originated, will lead to satisfactory explanations; and we hear with approbation that our Minister at London will be immediately instructed to obtain them. While the engagements which America has contracted by her treaty with Great Britain, ought to be fulfilled with that scrupulous punctuality and good faith to which our Government has ever so tenaciously adhered; yet no motive exists to induce, and every principle forbids us to adopt, a construction which might extend them beyond the instrument by which they are created. We cherish the hope that the Government of Great Britain will disclaim such extension, and by cordially uniting with that of the United States, for the removal of all difficulties, will soon enable the Boards, appointed under the sixth and seventh articles of our treaty with that nation, to proceed, and bring the business committed to them, respectively, to a satisfactory conclusion.

The buildings for the accommodation of Congress and of the President, and for the public offices of the Government, at its permanent Seat, being in such a state as to admit of a removal to that District by the time prescribed by the act of Congress, no obstacle, it is presumed, will exist to a compliance with the law.

With you, sir, we deem the present period critical and momentous. The important changes which are occurring; the new and great events which are every hour preparing in the political world; the spirit of war which is prevalent in almost every nation with whose affairs the interests of the United States have any connection; demonstrate how unsafe and precarious would be our situation should we neglect the means of maintaining our just rights. Respecting, as we have ever done, the rights of others, America estimates too correctly the value of her own, and has received evidence, too complete, that they are only to be preserved by her own vigilance, ever to permit herself to be seduced by a love of ease, or by other considerations, into that deadly disregard of the means of self-defence, which could only result from a carelessness, as criminal as it would be fatal, concerning the future destinies of our growing Republic. The result of the mission to France is, indeed sir, uncertain. It depends not on America alone. The most pacific temper will not always ensure peace. We should, therefore, exhibit a system of conduct as indiscreet as it would be new in the history of the world, if we considered the negotiation happily terminated, because we have attempted to commence it, and peace restored, because we wish its restoration. But, sir, however this mission may terminate, a steady perseverance in a system of national defence, commensurate with our resources and the situation of our country, is an obvious dictate of duty. Experience, the parent of wisdom, and the great instructor of nations, has established the truth of your position, that remotely as we are placed from the belligerent nations, and desirous as we are, by doing justice to all, to avoid offence to any, yet nothing short of the power of repelling aggressions will secure to our country a rational prospect of escaping the calamities of war, or national degradation.

In the progress of the session we shall take into our serious consideration the various and important matters recommended to our attention.

A life devoted to the service of your country, talents and integrity which have so justly acquired, and so long retained, the confidence and affection of your fellow-citizens, attest the sincerity of your declaration that it is your anxious desire so to execute the trust reposed in you as to render the People of the United States prosperous and happy.

Resolved, That Mr. Speaker, attended by the House, do present the said address; and that Mr. Marshall, Mr. Rutledge, and Mr. Sewall, be a committee to wait on the President, to know when and where it will be convenient for him to receive the same.

The House, according to the standing order of the day, resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union; and, after some time spent therein, Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Dent reported that the committee had, according to order, had the state of the Union under consideration, and come to several resolutions thereupon; which he delivered in at the Clerk's table.

The first resolution being twice read, was, on the question put thereupon, agreed to by the House, as follows:

Resolved, That so much of the speech of the President of the United States to both Houses of Congress, at the commencement of the present session, as relates to "a revision and amendment of the judiciary system," be referred to a committee, with leave to report by bill or bills, or otherwise.

On motion,

Ordered, That the further consideration of the second resolution reported from the Committee of the Whole House, be postponed until to-morrow.

The third resolution, being the second read, was, on the question put thereupon, agreed to by the House, as follows:

Resolved, That so much of the speech of the President of the United States to both Houses of Congress, at the commencement of the present session, as relates to "a system of national defence, commensurate with our resources and the situation of our country," be referred to a committee.

Ordered, That Mr. Harper, Mr. Chauncey Goodrich, Mr. Bayard, Mr. Marshall, and Mr. Sewall, be appointed a committee, pursuant to the first resolution.

Ordered, That Mr. Otis, Mr. Nicholas, Mr. Edmond, Mr. Abiel Foster, Mr. Champlin, Mr. Waln, and Mr. Hill, be appointed a committee, pursuant to the third resolution.

On motion,

Resolved, That a standing Committee of Ways and Means be appointed, whose duty it shall be to take into consideration all such reports of the Treasury Department, and all such propositions relative to the revenue, as may be referred to them by the House; to inquire into the state of the public debt; of the revenue; and of the expenditures; and to report, from time to time, their opinion thereon.

Ordered, That Mr. Harper, Mr. Griswold, Mr. Otis, Mr. Gallatin, Mr. Powell, Mr. John Brown, Mr. Stone, Mr. Nott, and Mr. Platt, be appointed a committee, pursuant to the said resolution.

On motion,

Ordered, That the credentials of William Henry Harrison, who has appeared as a Delegate from the Territory of the United States Northwest of the river Ohio, be referred to the Committee of Elections; and that they be directed to report whether the Territory is entitled to elect a Delegate who may have a seat in this House.

Mr. Marshall, from the committee appointed to wait on the President of the United States to know when and where it will be convenient for him to receive the address of this House in answer to his speech to both Houses of Congress, reported that the committee had, according to order, waited on the President of the United States, who signified to them that it would be convenient to him to receive the said address at two o'clock to-morrow, at his own house.

And then the House adjourned until to-morrow morning eleven o'clock.