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what terms they ought to be provided for"....it is granted, however, by the committee, that Congress were bound to provide for the interest on "It is a well known fact," some terms or other. continues the report, "that these bills sunk in the same vortex of depreciation with the old continental bills, and while they continued to circulate, were generally in the ratio of forty of the old for This unfortunate depreciation, one of the new. which operated upon all the paper money notes and certificates, issued during the war, necessitated the United States to adopt principles relative to them, which cannot apply in case of ordinary contract. The States, individually, have assumed similar privileges, and in making provision for the bills in question, in some instances have considered them as depreciated currency. The committee are informed, that all the States who issued bills of this description, have already made provision for their redemption either at their nominal amount, or a certain ratio of depreciation, except the State of Rhode-Island; and they think, it is fairly to be presumed, that the States have made as liberal a provision as the nature of the case demanded. The United States have once made allowances to the several States, in settlements of their accounts for the supplies for which those bills were issued should they make any further provision, they must consider the several States as indebted to them for the amount of such provision.

"From an attentive consideration of all the circumstances of this case, which the committee have endeavored fully to examine and present to the view of the House, they are of opinion, that it will not be expedient for Congress to make any provision for the payment of the said bills, or any interest thereon; they therefore recommend, that the petitioners respectfully have leave to withdraw their petitions."

The House of Representatives agreed to the report, and Ball and his fellow sufferers were obliged to submit to the fraud.

CHAPTER VIII.

Meeting of Congress....Speech of the President.... Remarks....Impeachment of Blount....Gerry's dispatches....Story of the female spy and her tabs of seditious papers....Acts passed by Congress.

On Monday, the 3d of December, the third session of the fifth Congress commenced; but eight members being absent from the Senate of the number necessary to form a quorum, the President did not meet them until the 8th. A melancholy gloom was diffused over the countenances both of the Senators and the Representatives. They had assembled at the close of the greatest pestilence America had yet experienced, and there were few of them who had not to lament the loss of some par

ticular friend or acquaintance. Even the President himself, whose feelings are not the most tender, seemed deeply affected, and for the first time, appeared to sympathise with the sufferings of the people. This temporary compassion might, however, have proceeded from a different cause: Amidst the flattering compliments of Timothy Pickering, Oliver Wolcott, and a train of federal courtiers, it was impossible Mr. Adams could disguise from himself, that he had incurred the contempt and hatred of every man of honesty and virtue in the United States. The dungeon in which the Vermont patriot was starving, must, in the solitary moments of silent reflection, have stared him in the face, and reminded him of the fate his crimes deserved. The just apprehension of a guilty conscience, heightened, perhaps, by the calamity with which America had been afflicted, and not the praise-worthy compassion of a generous mind, was most probably the cause of that unusual diffidence and appearance of sorrow which he exhibited in delivering the following speech:

"Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,

"While with reverence and resignation we contemplate the dispensations of Divine Providence, in the alarming and destructive pestilence with which several of our cities and towns have been visited, there is cause for gratitude and mutual congratulations that the malady has disappeared, and that we are again permitted to assemble in safety, at the seat of government, for the discharge

of our important duties....but when we reflect that this fatal disorder has, within a few years made repeated ravages in some of our principal sea-ports, and with increased malignancy; and when we consider the magnitude of the evils arising from the interruption of public and private business, whereby the national interests are deeply affected, I think it my duty to invite the legislature of the union to examine the expediency of establishing suitable regulations in aid of the health-laws of the respective states; for these being formed on the idea, that contagious sickness may be communicated through the channels of commerce, there seems to be a necessity that Congress, who alone can regulate trade, should frame a system, which, while it may tend to preserve the general health, may be compatible with the interests of commerce, and the safety of the revenue.

"While we think on this calamity, and sympathise with the immediate sufferers, we have abundant reason to present to the Supreme Being, our annual obligations of gratitude, for a liberal participation in the ordinary blessings of his providence to the usual subjects of gratitude I cannot omit to add one of the first importance to our wellbeing and safety....I mean the spirit which has arisen in our country against the menaces and aggressions of a foreign nation. A manly sense of national honor, dignity and independence has appeared, which, if encouraged and invigorated by every branch of the government, will enable

us to view, undismayed, the enterprises of any foreign power, and become the sure foundation of national property and glory.

"The course of the transactions in relation to the United States and France, which have come to my knowledge during your recess, will be made the subject of a future communication. That communication will confirm the ultimate failure of the measures which have been taken by the government of the United States, towards an amicable adjustment of differences with that power. You will, at the same time, perceive that the French government appears solicitous to impress the opinion, that it is averse to a rupture with this country, and that it has in a qualified manner, declared itself willing to receive a minister from the United States, for the purpose of restoring a good understanding. It is unfortunate for professions of this kind, that they should be expressed in terms which may countenance the inadmissable pretension of a right, to drescribe the qualifications which a minister from the United States should possess, and that while France is asserting the existence of a disposition on her part to conciliate with sincerity the differences which have arisen, the sincerity of a like disposition on the part of the United States, of which so many demonstrative proofs have been given, should even be indirectly questioned. It is also worthy of observation, that the decree of the Directory, alledged to be intended to restrain the depredations. of French cruisers on our commerce, has not given,