berations of the legislature connected with that subject.

There was reason, not long since, to apprehend that the warfare in which we were engaged with Tripoli, might be taken up by some other of the Barbary powers. A reinforcement therefore, was immediately ordered to the vessels already there. Subsequent information however has removed these apprehensions for the present. To secure our com. merce in that sea, with the smallest force competent, we have supposed it best to watch strictly the harbor of Tripoli. Still, however, the shallowness of their coast, and the want of smaller vessels on our part, has permitted some cruisers to escape unobserved: and to one of these an American vessel unfortunately fell a prey. The captain, one American seaman, and two others of colour, remain prisoners with them; unless exchanged under an agreement formerly made with the Bashaw, to whom, on the faith of that, some of his captive subjects had been restored,

The convention with the state of Georgia has been ratified by their legislature, and a re-purchase from the Creeks has been consequently made, of a part of the Tallasscee county. In this purchase has been also comprehended a part of the lands within the fork of Oconee and Oakmulgee rivers. The particulars of the contract will be laid before Congress so soon as they shall be in a state for communication.

In order to remove every ground of difference possible with our Indian neighbors, I have proceeded in the work of settling with them, and marking the boundaries between us. That with the Choctaw nation is fixed in one part, and will be through the whole within a short time. The country to which their title had been extinguished before the revolution is sufficient to receive a very re

spectable population, which Congress will probably see the expediency of encouraging, so soon as the limits shall be declared. We arc to view this position as an outpost of the United States, surrounded by strong neighbors, and distant from its support, And how far that monopoly, which prevents population, should here be guarded against, and actual habitation made a condition of the continuance of title, will be for your consideration. A prompt settlement too of all existing rights and claims within this territory, presents itself as a preliminary operation.

In that part of the Indiana territory which includes Vincennes, the lines settled with the neighboring tribes fix the extinction of their title at a breadth of twenty-four leagues from East, to West, and about the same length parallel with and including the Wabash, They have also ceded a tract of four miles square, including the SaltSprings, near the mouth of that river.

In the department of finance it is with pleasure I inform you that the receipts of external duties, for the last twelve months, have exceeded those of any former year, and that the ratio of increase has been also greater than usual. This has enabled us to answer all the regular exigencies of government, to pay from the treasury, within one year, upwards of eight millions of dollars, principal and interest, of the public debt, exclusive of upwards of one million, paid by the sale of bank stock, and making in the whole a reduction of nearly five millions and an half of principal, and to have now in the treasury four millions and an half of dollars, which are in a course of application to the further discharge of debt, and current demands. Experience too, so far, authorises us to believe, if no extraordinary event supervenes, and the expences which will be actually incurred shall not be greater

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than were contemplated by Congress at their last session, that we shall not be disappointed in the expectations then formed. But nevertheless, as the effect of peace on the amount of duties is not yet fully ascertained, it is the more necessary to practise every useful economy, and to incur no expence, which may be avoided without prejudice.

The collection of the internal taxes having been completed in some of the states, the officers employed in it are of course out of commission. In otheis they will be so shortly. But in a few, where the arrangements for the direct tax had been retarded, it will still be some time before the system is closed. It has not yet been thought necessary to employ the agent authorised by an act of the last session, for transacting business in Europe. relative to debts and loans, nor have we used the power, confided by the same act, of prolonging the foreign debt by reloans, and of redeeming instead thereof, an equal sum of the domestic debt. Should however the difficulties of remittance on so large a scale, render it necessary at any time, the power shall be executed, and the money thus unemployed abroad shall, in conformity with that law, be faithfully applied here in an equivalent extinction of domestic debt. When effects so salutary result from the plans you have already sanctioned, when merely by avoiding false objects of expence, we are able, without a direct tax, without internal taxes, and without borrowing, to make large and effectual payments towards the discharge of our public debt, and the emancipation of our posterity from that mortal canker, it is an encouragement, fellow citizens, of the highest order, to proceed as we have begun, in substituting economy for taxation, and in pursuing what is useful for a nation placed as we are, rather than what is practised by others under different circumstances. And when

soever we are destined to meet events which shall call forth all the energies of our countrymen, we have the firmest reliance on those energies, and the comfort of leaving for calls like these the extraor dinary resources of loans and internal taxes. In the mean time, by payments of the principal of our debt, we are liberating, annually, portions of the external taxes, and forming from them a growing fund, still further to lessen the necessity of recurring to extraordinary resources.

The usual account of receipts and expenditures for the last year, with an estimate of the expences of the ensuing one, will be laid before you by the Secretary of the Treasury.'

No change being deemed necessary in our military establishment, an estimate of its expences for the ensuing year, on its present footing, as also of the sums to be employed in fortifications, and other objects within that department, has been prepared by the Secretary at War, and will make a part of the general estimates which will be presented you.

Considering that our regular troops are employed for local purposes, and that the militia is our general reliance for great and sudden emergencies, you will doubtless think this institution worthy of a review, and give it those improve. ments of which you find it susceptible.

Estimates for the naval department, prepared by the Secretary of the Navy for another year, will in like manner be communicated with the general estimates. A small force in the Mediterranean will still be necessary to restrain the Tripoline cruisers and the uncertain tenure of peace with some other of the Barbary powers, may eventually require that force to be augmented. The ne cessity of procuring some smaller vessels for that service will raise the estimate: but the difference

in their maintenance will soon make it a measure of

economy.

Presuming it will be deemed expedient to expend annually a convenient sum towards providing the naval defence which our situation may require, I cannot but recommend that the first appropriations for that purpose, may go to the saving what we already possess. No cares, no attentions, can preserve vessels from rapid decay, which lie in water, and exposed to the sun. These decays require great and constant repairs; and will consume, if continued, a great portion of the monies destined to naval purposes. To avoid this waste of our resources, it is proposed to add to our navy yard here a dock, within which our present vessels may be laid up dry, and under cover from the sun. Under these circumstances experience proves that works of wood will remain scarcely at all affected by time. The great abundance of running water which this situation possesses, at heights far above the level of the tide, if employed as is practised for lock navigation, furnishes the means for raising and laying up our vessels, on a dry and sheltered bed. And should the measure be found useful here, similar depositories for laying up, as well as for building and repairing vessels, may hereafter be undertaken at other navy yards, offering the same means. The plans and estimates of the work, prepared by a person of skill and experience, will be presented to you without delay, and from these it will be seen that scarcely more than has been the cost of one vessel, is necessary to save the whole, and that the annual sum to be employed towards its completion may be adapted to the views of the legislature, as to naval expenditure.

To cultivate peace and maintain commerce and navigation in all their lawful enterprizes; to foster