Averaging an annual expenditure of about one million two hundred thousand dollars.

During the administration of Mr. Jefferson they have been

Averaging for the four last years the annual sum of one million two hundred thousand dollars; and for the last three years the annual sum of about nine hundred thousand dollars. It is proper to remark that the heavy appropriation for 1801 was made during Mr. Adams's administration.

The expences of the army during the administration of Mr. Adams, were,

In the year 1797

1798

1799

1800

DOLLARS.

1,022,000

1,824,000

2,296,000

2,444,000

Averaging the annual sum of one million ninehundred thousand dollars.

It may be proper under this head to notice the measures taken by the Executive with regard to the

(a) For these years the sums stated are those appropriated.

Indians. Considerations of justice as well as humanity enforce the duty of rendering their condition as comfortable as possible. Notwithstanding the atrocious outrages of European nations upon the aborigines of conquered countries, the obligations of justice are not extinguished, the rights of humanity are not blotted out. Although it may not be practicable to weigh with equal scales the rights of the natives with the claims of intruders, and apportion justice impartially between them, there can be no doubt of the duty of the latter, while they deprive the former of their lands, to contribute, as highly as circumstances will allow, to their welfare. While, therefore, a spirit of dicadly extermination has, under the sanguinary career of other nations, spread desolation and death among the natives of regions seized by violence, it is our pride to have been animated by a pacific policy, and to have aimed at the improvement, instead of the extirpation of that brave race of men we found on our shores. Under the influence of these worthy feelings the President says, Among our Indian neighbours also a spirit of peace and friendship generally prevails; and I am happy to inform you that the continued efforts to introduce among them the implements and the practice of husbandry, and of the household arts have not been without success; that they are become more and more sensible of the superiority of this dependance for clothing and subsistance, over the precarious resources of hunting and fishing; and already we are able to announce that, instead of that constant diminution of numbers produced by their wars and their wants, some of them begin to experience an increase of population."

These sentiments and views appear to have constantly actuated the administration. Under their auspices numerous treaties have been formed, and,

notwithstanding the extensive regions, to which the Indian claims have been extinguished, no serious dissatisfaction has arisen in any quarter. The government has, in every instance, given what has been received as a compensation. Tranquility reigns on the frontier; the scalping knife is no longer lifted against the innocent and defenceless; nor is a murderous spirit indulged by the whites towards their less civilised neighbours. The emi grant, on the borders of the republic, enjoys the same security with the inhabitant of the interior.

Some retribution, it is hoped, is found by the aborigines of the soil tor the deprivation of their possessions, in the good clothing they receive, in their gradual progress in husbandry and the arts, and, more than all, in their exemption from the frequent and bloody wars' they waged among each other, which have almost entirely ceased, from a sense of common danger, and from the policy of a government that no longer seeks its own security in the animosities of its enemies.

A just appreciation of the measures of the administration relative to a NAVAL ESTABLISHMENT, requires an accurate acquaintance with the antecedent measures of the government, and the motives that dictated them.

To the importance of this object the framers of the constitution could not be insensible. They therefore gave congress the power to "provide and maintain a navy." But by this investiture of power they neither determined the time when, or the degree to which it would be expedient to exercise it. These were wisely left to circumstances, according to which the power might or might not be carried. It has by some been feebly contended that all the powers given ought immediately to be exercised. But the good sense of every sound mind has rejected this idea. It is evident that ma

ny of the powers bestowed were intended to provide for cases without the existence of which their exercise would be nugatory or pernicious. Thus the power to impose taxes of any kind to an unlimited amount, however necessary on a great emergency of affairs, was never intended to be exercised in ordinary times. The power to borrow money is of the same contingent nature; as are the powers, to declare war and grant letters of marque and reprisal, and to raise and support armies. Many of the powers conferred were likewise given with the view of averting the evils against which they provide. Thus the knowledge that the United States possessed the power of draw, ing forth the whole physical resources of the nation, in the shape of taxes, armies and navies, would probably be of itself, in most cases, a pro. tection against the injustice of foreign nations to disturb our internal harmony, or our external com. merce. It follows, that the constitution in con. ferring this power only assumes the fact that cir. cumstances might arise that would authorise its exercise, leaving the time when, and the degree to which it should be exercised to the wisdom of congress.

When that body first met, under the constitution, the illustrious citizen called to the chief magistracy was cautiously silent on this subject. We may thence infer that neither his own opinions, or those of the public, contemplated a navy as expedient at that time. The fate of Carthage may have been still on their memories, and the not dissimilar ca. reer of the great maritime nations of modern times, who sought to protect their extended trade by si milar means, was undoubtedly plainly before them. Of these, it is sufficient to name Holland, Spain, the Hanse towns, and the Italian republics, all of whom have lost either their weaith, their political

importance, or their liberties. Nor could they have been unmindful of the awful state of Great Britain, whose vast navy, and extensive conquests, have only served to immerse her still deeper in debt and in war.

However indispensable they may have considered naval armaments to the nations of the old world, they probably contemplated in the situation of the United States a fortunate exemption from many of the causes which there gave birth to them. Pcssessed of a vast tract of land, which offers the means of remaining an agricultural nation for at least two centuries, they may have believed that the solid prosperity of the citizen would be better promoted by pursuing the tract designated by the bountiful hand of nature, than by embarking in the uncertain and hazardous enterprises of trade. They may have perceived an intimate alliance between agriculture and liberty. They may have remarked, that the habits of industry and hardihood it requires, with the plain and regular manners it creates, cherish a love of virtue and of independence, equally indisposed to invade the rights of others, or to suffer invasion themselves. They undoubtedly perceived that it would be the surest preservative of equality of possessions.

They may, on the contrary, have been of opinion, as the experience of the world taught them, that excessive commerce produces numerous vices, subverts cquality of wealth, causes effeminacy of manners, and thus hastens the downfall of states.

They may have thought that agricultural pursuits would preserve the peace of the country, by cutting off all grounds of foreign jealousy, while extensive trade, by giving rise to them, and creating numerous sources of collision, would almost necessarily produce war.

K