of exacting from them, the fulfilment of their duties towards us. The United States ought not to indulge a persuasion that, contrary to the order of human events, they will for ever keep at a distance those painful appeals to arms, with which the history of every other nation abounds. There is a rank due to the United States among nations, which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most pow erful instruments of our prosperity, it must be known that we are, at all times, ready for war."

After advising the greatest appropriations for the redemption of the publick debt, which the resources cf the country would permit, he in the following manner concluded the address.

"The several subjects to which I have now referred open a wide range to your deliberations, and involve some of the choicest interests of our common country. Permit me to bring to your remembrance the magnitude of your task. Without an unprejudiced coolness, the welfare of the government may be hazarded; without harmony, as far as consists with freedom of sentiment, its dignity may be lost. But as the legislative proceedings of the United States will never, 1 trust, be reproached for the want of temper, or of candour, so shall not the publick happiness languish from the want of my strenuous and warmest co-operations."

The party in the United States, opposed to the general system on which the Federal Government had been administered, by associating the cause of France with their own, had increased their members in the present Congress; but they were not prepared to attack either the discernment or the patriotism of the President. The House of Representatives, in their answer, thus noticed the unanimous suffrage, by which General WASHINGTON had, a second time, been elected to the Presidency.

"It was with equal sincerity and promptitude they embraced the occasion for expressing to him their con. gratulations on so distinguished a testimony of publick approbation, and their entire confidence in the purity and patriotism of the motives which had produced this obedience to the voice of his country. It is to virtues that have commanded long and universal reverence, and services from which have flowed great and lasting benefits, that the tribute of praise may be paid without the reproach of flattery; and it is from the same sources that the fairest anticipations may be derived in favour of publick happiness." The proclamation of neutrality was in a cautious manner approved, and a disposition was expressed to support the Executive.

The answer of the Senate breathed unreserved af fection and confidence. Referring to the second election of the President, they observed, " In the unanimity which a second time marks this important national act, we trace with particular satisfaction, besides the distinguished tribute paid to the virtues and abilities, which it recognises, another proof of that just discernment, and constancy of sentiments and views, which have hitherto characterized the citizens of the United States." They declared the Proclamation to be " measure well timed and wise, manifesting a watchful solicitude for the welfare of the nation, and calculated to promote it."

a

At the close of this year, Mr. Jefferson resigned his Secretaryship, and was succeeded by Mr. E. Randolph; and Mr. William Bradford was appointed At torney General.

After a very animated debate, January, 1794, a bill passed Congress by a very small majority, to build six frigates, and it received the cordial assent of the Executive. This was the commencement of the Ameri can navy.

In November 1793 the British government had given instructions to her ships to detain all vessels laden with

goods, the produce of any colony belonging to France, or carrying provisions, or other supplies to those colonies, and bring them into English ports for adjudication.

These instructions were thought, by reflecting men in America, to be proof of a hostile spirit in the British Cabinet towards the United States, and Congress deemed it expedient to be prepared to meet the probable event of war. They accordingly laid an embargo for the term of thirty days, and with great unanimity adopted provisional measures of self defence.

While these measures were in train, the President on the 4th of April, 1794, transmitted to Congress a letter from Mr. Pinckney, who had been appointed Minister at the Court of London, which contained in. formation, that the orders of November were revoked, and instructions given to cruizers to bring in for adjudications only those neutral vessels which were laden with the produce of French Islands on a direct voyage from those islands to Europe; and gave the substance of a conversation between Lord Grenville and Mr. Pinckney in which his Lordship more satisfactorily explained the instructions of November; and manifested a disposition to cultivate peace and amity with the United States.

This communication made a deep impression on the Federal members of Congress. They thought that a door was opened for negotiation, and that war might probably be avoided.

The opposition members and the partisans of France, alarmed by these symptoms of moderation, redoubled their attack upon England, and upon all, who were disposed to cultivate friendship with her. Newspapers were filled with invectives of this nature, and every epithet of vileness and calumny was made use of to inflame the publick mind, and increase the hostility of the nation against Great Britain. The majority of Congress discovered a disposition to proceed in their

military preparations, in which the sentiment of the community seemed to support them, and general appearances still indicated approaching hostilities.

The President foresaw the evils that must be introduced by a war with Great Britain, in the distempered state of the publick mind. He knew that sne commanded the Ocean, that she presented the best markets for the exports of the United States, and furnished, on the easiest terms, those manufactures which were necessary to his countrymen. He perceived that the devotion of the people to France would throw the United States into her arms, and that his country must become a mere satellite of her will. He was not without some apprehension, that the bloody and ferocious spirit that had disgraced the French revolution, might be introduced into the peaceable society of America.

Under these solemn impressions, he determined to use his endeavours to arrest the dreaded evil, and on the 16th of April he nominated in the Senate an Envoy Extraordinary to the Court of Great Britain, and for the following reasons.

"The communications which I have made to you during your present session, from the despatches of our Minister in London, contain a serious aspect of our affairs with Great Britain. But as peace ought to be pursued with unremitted zeal, before the last resource, which has so often been the scourge of nations, and cannot fail to check the advanced prosperity of the United States, is contemplated, I have thought proper to nominate John Jay, as Envoy Extraordinary of the United States to his Britannick Majesty.

"My confidence in our Minister Plenipotentiary in London continues undiminished. But a mission like this, while it corresponds with the solemnity of the occasion, will announce to the world a solicitude for the friendly adjustment of our complaints, and a re luctance to hostility. Going immediately from the

United States, such an Envoy will carry with him a full knowledge of the existing temper and sensibility of our country; and will thus be taught to vindicate our rights with firmness, and to cultivate peace with sincerity."

To a considerable part of Congress, and to a large portion of the American people, this decisive act was unexpected and displeasing; and it was adopted in full view of the obloquy and abuse of which it would be the occasion.

A motion made to stay the proceedings against Great Britain, on account of the pending negotiation was overruled in the House of Representatives; and a bill prohibiting commercial intercourse with her carried by a considerable majority; which was lost in the Senate by the casting vote of the Vice President.

The authority of the Executive to issue the proclamation of neutrality had by many been doubted ; his power to call out the militia to prevent the sailing of privateers, which had violated his rules, denied ; and the American citizens, who had been prosecuted for engaging in expeditions against the nations at war, had been acquitted by a jury of trials. The President therefore, although entertaining himself no doubt about his constitutional authority, was desirous to obtain the sanction of Congress for the system he had adopted to preserve the peace of the country.

At the commencement of the session, he intimated to the National Legislature the propriety of the measure, and in pursuance of his advice, the Senate introduced a bill, prohibiting within the United States the exercise, by Foreign Ministers, of those acts of sovereignty which Genet claimed, and subjecting to fine and imprisonment those who should be guilty of any of the acts towards the belligerent nations, which the Executive had forbidden. This bill, necessary as it was to the honour and peace of the nation, was opposed by the whole force of the Antifederalists, and finally