semble, for the first time, in this solemn temple, without looking up to the Supreme Ruler of the unverse, and imploring his blessing. May this territory be the residence of virtue and happiness! In this city may that piety and virtue, that wisdom and magnanimity, that constancy and self-government, which adorned the great character whose name it bears, be for ever held in veneration! Here, and throughout our country, may simple manners, pure morals, and true religion, flourish for ever! "It is with you, gentlemen, to consider whether the local powers over the district of Columbia, vested by the constitution in the congress of the United States, shall be immediately exercised. If in your opinion this important trust ought pow to be executed, you cannot fail, while performing it, to take into view the future probable situation of the territory for the happiness of which you are about to provide. You will consider it as the capital of a great nation, advancing with unexampled rapidity in arts, in commerce, in wealth, and in population; and possessing within itself those energies and resources, which, if not thrown away, or lamentably misdirected, secure to it a long course of prosperity and self-government. "In compliance with a law of the last session of congress, the officers and soldiers of the temporary army have been discharged. It affords real pleasure to recollect the honourable testimony they gave of the patriotic motives which brought them into the service of their country, by the readiness and regularity with which they returned to the station of private citizens. execution, and to render that part of the administration of justice, which the constitution and laws devolve on the federal courts, as convenient to the people as may consist with their present circumstances, that I cannot omit once more to recommend to your serious consideration the judiciary system of the United States. No subject is more interesting than this to the public happiness, and to none can those improvements which may have been suggested by experience bu more beneficially applied. "A treaty of amity and commerce with the king of Prussia has been concluded and ratified. The ratifications have been exchanged, and I have directed the treaty to be promulgated by proclamation. "The difficulties which suspended the execution of the 6th article of our treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation with Great Britain, have not yet been removed. The negotiation on this subject is still depending. As it must be for the interest and honour of both nations to adjust this difference with good faith, I indulge confidently the expectation, that the sincere endeavours of the government of the United States to bring it to an amicable termination will not be disappointed. "The envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary from the United States to France were received by the first consul with the respect due to their character, and. three persons with equal powers were appointed to treat with them. Although at the date of the last oficial intelligence the negotiation Lad not terminated, yet it is to be hoped that our efforts to effect an accommodation will at length meet with a success proportioned to the sincerity with which they have been so often repeated. (N4) "While "While our best endeavours for the preservation of harmony with all nations will continue to be used, the experience of the world, our own experience, admonish us of the insecurity of trusting too confidently to their success. We cannot, without committing a dangerous imprudence, abandon those measures of self-protection which are adapted to our situation, and to which, notwithstanding our pacific policy, the violence and injustice of others may again compel us to resort, While our vast extent of sea-coast, the commercial and agricultural habits of our people, the great capital they will continue to trust on the ocean, suggest the system of defence which will be most beneficial to ourselves, our distance from Europe, and our resources for maritime strength, will enable us to employ it with effect. Seasonable and systematic arrangements, so far as our resources will justify, for a navy adapted to defensive war, and which may, in case of necessity, be quickly brought into use, seem to be as much recommended by a wise and true economy, as by a just regard for our future tranquillity, for the safety of our shores, and for the protection of our property committed to the ocean.. The present navy of the United States, called suddenly into existence by a great national exigency, has raised us in our own esteem; and by the protection afforded to our commerce has effected, to the extent of our expectations, the objects for which it was created. "In connexion with a navy ought to be contemplated the fortification of some of our principal sea-ports and harbours. A variety of considerations, which will readily suggest themselves, urge an attention to this measure of precaution: to give security to our principal ports considerable sums have been expended; but the works remains incomplete. It is for congress to determine whether additional appropriations shall be made in order to render competent to the intended purposes the fortifications which have been commenced. "The manufacture of arms within the United States still invites the attention of the national legisla ture. At a considerable expense to the public, this manufactory has been brought to such a state of maturity, as, with continued en couragement, will supersede the necessity of future importations from foreign countries. 66 Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, "I shall direct the estimates of the appropriations necessary for the ensuing year, together with an account of the public revenue and expenditures to a late period, to be laid before you. I observe, with much satisfaction, that the product of the revenue, during the present year, has been more considerable than during any former equal period. This result affords conclusive evidence of the great resources of this country, and of the wisdom and efficiency of the measures which have been adopted by congress for the protection of commerce and preservation of public credit. "Gentlemen of the Senate, and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, "As one of the grand community of nations, our attention is irresistibly drawn to the important scenes which surround us. If they have exhibited an uncommon portion of calamity, it is the province of humanity to deplore, and of wisdom to avoid, the causes which may have produced it. If turning onr eyes homeward we find reason to re joice at the prospect which presents itself; if we perceive the interior of our country prosperous, free, and happy; if all enjoy in safety, under the protection of laws emanating only from the general will, the fruits of their own labour; we ought to fortify and cling to those institutions which have been the source of such real felicity, and resist with unabating perseverance the progress of those dangerous innovations which may diminish their influence. and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye; when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honour, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking. Utterly, indeed, should I despair, did not the presence of many whom I here see remind me, that in the other high authorities provided by our constitution, I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal, on which to rely under all difficulties. To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support which may enable us to steer with safety the "JOHN ADAMS." vessel in which all are embarked amidst the conflicting elements of a troubled world. "To your patriotism, gentlemen, has been confided the honourable duty of guarding the public interests; and while the past is to your country a sure pledge that it will be faithfully discharged, permit me to assure you, that your labours to promote the general happiness will receive from me the most zealous co-operation. Speech of the President of the Ameri- "During the contest of opinion through which we have passed, the animation of discussions and exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely, and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the constitution, all will of course arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. All too will bear in mind this sacred principle, that, though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must protect; and to violate would be oppression. Let us then, fellow-citizens, unite with one one heart and one mind; let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection, without which liberty, and even life itself, are but dreary things; and let us reflect, that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance, as despotic as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonising spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore that this should be more felt and feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions as to measures of safety; but every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all republicans, all federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this union, or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government cannot be strong-that this government is not strong enough. But would the honest, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm, in the theoretic and visionary fear that this government, the world's best hope, may, by possibility, want energy to preserve itself? I trust not; I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest go. vernment on earth. I believe it the only one where every man at the call of the law would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order, as his own personal concern. Some times it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself-Can he then be trusted with the government of others? or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer the question. Let us then with courage and confidence pursue our own federal and republican principles; our attachment to unioŋ and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thou sandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of ours equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisition of our own industry, to honour and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions; and their sense of then enlightened by a benign religionprofessed indeed and practised in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, tempe rance, gratitude, and the love of man-acknowledging and adoring an over-ruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter; with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens; a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labour the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government: and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities. "About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend every thing dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our government, and consequently those which ought to shape its administration. will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear; stating the general principle, but not all its limitations:-Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none; the support of the state governments in all their rights, as the most competent administration for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional vigour, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people; a mild and safe corrective of abuses, which are lopped by the sword of revolution, where peace able remedies are unprovided; ahsolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia-our best reliance in peace, and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public expense, that labour may be lightly burthened; the honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture and commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information, and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of the person, under protection of the habeascorpus; and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of all our sages, and blood of our heroes, have been devoted to their attainment: they should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and, should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps, and regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety. "I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have assigned me. With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen the difficulties of this, the greatest of all, I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfeet man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favour which bring him into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in your first and greatest revolutionary character, whose pre-eminent services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love, and destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful history, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and effect to the legal administration of your affairs. I shall often ga |