FOURTH CONGRESS.—FIRST SESSION.

HELD IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, DECEMBER 7, 1795.

LIST OF MEMBERS.

SENATORS.

New Hampshire.—John Langdon, S. Livermore.

Vermont.—Elijah Paine, Moses Robinson.

Massachusetts.—George Cabot, Caleb Strong.

Rhode Island.—William Bradford, Theodore Foster.

Connecticut.—Oliver Ellsworth, Jonathan Trumbull.

New York.—Aaron Burr, Rufus King.

New Jersey.—F. Frelinghuysen, John Rutherford.

Pennsylvania.—William Bingham, James Ross.

Delaware.—Henry Latimer, John Vining.

Maryland.—John Henry, Richard Potts.

Virginia.—Stevens T. Mason, Henry Tazewell.

North Carolina.—Timothy Bloodworth, Alexander Martin.

South Carolina.—Pierce Butler, Jacob Read.

Georgia.—James Gunn, George Walton.

Kentucky.—John Brown, Humphrey Marshall.

REPRESENTATIVES.

New Hampshire.—Abiel Foster, Nicholas Gilman, J. S. Sherburne, Jeremiah Smith, Paine Wingate.

Vermont.—Daniel Buck, Israel Smith.

Massachusetts.—Fisher Ames, Theop. Bradbury, Henry Dearborn, Dwight Foster, Nathaniel Freeman, Benjamin Goodhue, George Leonard, Samuel Lyman, William Lyman, John Read, T. Sedgwick, George Thatcher, Joseph B. Varnum, P. Wadsworth.

Rhode Island.—Benjamin Bourne, Francis Malbone.

Connecticut.—Joshua Coit, C. Goodrich, Roger Griswold, James Hillhouse, Nathaniel Smith, Zephaniah Swift, Uriah Tracy.

New York.—Theodorus Bailey, William Cooper, Ezekiel Gilbert, Henry Glenn, John Hathorn, J. N. Havens, E. Livingston, John E. Van Allen, Philip Van Cortlandt, John Williams.

New Jersey.—Jonathan Dayton, Thomas Henderson, Aaron Kitchell, Isaac Smith, Mark Thompson.

Pennsylvania.—David Bard, George Ege, William Findlay, Albert Gallatin, Andrew Gregg, Thomas Hartley, Daniel Heister, John W. Kittera, Samuel Maclay, Frederick A. Muhlenberg, John Richards, Samuel Sitgreaves, John Swanwick, Richard Thomas.

Delaware.—John Paton.

Maryland.—Gabriel Christie, Jeremiah Crabb, George Dent, Gabriel Duvall, William Hindman, Samuel Smith, Thomas Sprigg, William Vans Murray.

Virginia.—Richard Brent, Samuel J. Cabell, Thomas Claiborne, John Clopton, Isaac Coles, William B. Giles, George Hancock, Carter B. Harrison, John Heath, John George Jackson, Andrew Moore, Anthony New, John Nicholas, John Page, Josiah Parker, Francis Preston, Robert Rutherford, A. B. Venable.

North Carolina.—Thomas Blount, Nathan Bryan, Dempsey Burges, Jesse Franklin, James Gillespie, William B. Grove, James Holland, Matthew Locke, Nathaniel Macon, Absalom Tatom.

South Carolina.—Lemuel Benton, Samuel Earle, Wade Hampton, R. G. Harper, William Smith, Richard Winn.

Georgia.—A. Baldwin, John Milledge.

Tennessee.—Andrew Jackson.

Kentucky.—Christopher Greenup.

PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE.

Monday, December 7, 1795.

The following Senators appeared, and took their seats:

John Langdon and Samuel Livermore, from New Hampshire.

Caleb Strong and George Cabot, from Massachusetts.

Theodore Foster, from Rhode Island.

Oliver Ellsworth and Jonathan Trumbull, from Connecticut.

Moses Robinson, from Vermont.

Rufus King, from New York.

James Ross and William Bingham, from Pennsylvania.

Henry Latimer, from Delaware.

Henry Tazewell and Stevens T. Mason, from Virginia.

Alexander Martin and Timothy Bloodworth, from North Carolina.

Pierce Butler and Jacob Read, from South Carolina.

The Vice President being absent, the Senate proceeded to the election of a President pro tempore, as the constitution provides, and Henry Tazewell was duly elected.

Ordered, That the Secretary wait on the President of the United States, and acquaint him that a quorum of the Senate is assembled, and that, in the absence of the Vice President, they have elected Henry Tazewell President pro tempore.

Ordered, That the Secretary acquaint the House of Representatives that a quorum of the Senate is assembled, and ready to proceed to business; and that, in the absence of the Vice President, they have elected Henry Tazewell President pro tempore.

Ordered, That Messrs. Read and Cabot be a joint committee on the part of the Senate, together with such committee as the House of Representatives may appoint on their part, to wait on the President of the United States, and notify him that a quorum of the two Houses is assembled, and ready to receive any communications that he may be pleased to make to them.

A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that a quorum of the House is assembled; that they have elected Jonathan Dayton their Speaker; and that they have concurred in the appointment of a joint committee to wait on the President of the United States, and acquaint him that the two Houses of Congress are assembled, and are ready to receive any communications that he may be pleased to lay before them.

Mr. Read, from the joint committee appointed for that purpose, reported that they had waited on the President of the United States, and had notified him that a quorum of the two Houses of Congress were assembled; and the President of the United States acquainted the committee that he would meet the two Houses in the Representatives' Chamber at 12 o'clock to-morrow.

Tuesday, December 8.

Humphrey Marshall, from the State of Kentucky, attended.

A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that the House are now ready to meet the Senate in the Chamber of that House, to receive such communications as the President of the United States shall be pleased to make to them.

Whereupon, the Senate repaired to the Chamber of the House of Representatives for the purpose above expressed.

The Senate then returned to their own Chamber, and a copy of the Speech of the President of the United States to both Houses of Congress was read, as follows:

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives:

I trust I do not deceive myself, while I indulge the persuasion that I have never met you at any period, when, more than at the present, the situation of our public affairs has afforded just cause for mutual congratulation, and for inviting you to join with me in profound gratitude to the Author of all good for the numerous and extraordinary blessings we enjoy.

The termination of the long, expensive, and distressing war in which we have been engaged with certain Indians north-west of the Ohio, is placed in the option of the United States, by a treaty which the commander of our army has concluded, provisionally, with the hostile tribes in that region.

In the adjustment of the terms, the satisfaction of the Indians was deemed an object worthy no less of the policy than of the liberality of the United States, as the necessary basis of durable tranquillity. The object, it is believed, has been fully attained. The articles agreed upon will immediately be laid before the Senate, for their consideration.

Contemplating the internal situation, as well as the external relations, of the United States, we discover equal cause for contentment and satisfaction. While many of the nations of Europe, with their American dependencies, have been involved in a contest unusually bloody, exhausting, and calamitous; in which the evils of foreign war have been aggravated by domestic convulsions and insurrection; in which many of the arts most useful to society have been exposed to discouragement and decay; in which scarcity of subsistence has embittered other sufferings; while even the anticipations of a return of the blessings of peace and repose are alloyed by the sense of heavy and accumulating burdens which press upon all the departments of industry, and threaten to clog the future springs of Government; our favored country, happy in a striking contrast, has enjoyed general tranquillity—a tranquillity the more satisfactory, because maintained at the expense of no duty. Faithful to ourselves, we have violated no obligation to others. Our agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, prosper beyond former example; the molestations of our trade (to prevent a continuance of which, however, very pointed remonstrances have been made) being overbalanced by the aggregate benefits which it derives from a neutral position. Our population advances with a celerity which, exceeding the most sanguine calculations, proportionally augments our strength and resources, and guarantees our future security. Every part of the Union displays indications of rapid and various improvement; and with burdens so light as scarcely to be perceived; with resources fully adequate to our present exigencies; with Governments founded on the genuine principles of rational liberty; and with mild and wholesome laws—is it too much to say, that our country exhibits a spectacle of national happiness never surpassed, if ever before equalled?

Gentlemen:

Among the objects which will claim your attention in the course of the session, a review of our Military Establishment is not the least important. It is called for by the events which have changed, and may be expected still further to change, the relative situation of our frontiers. In this review, you will doubtless allow due weight to the considerations that the questions between us and certain foreign powers are not yet finally adjusted; that the war in Europe is not yet terminated; and that our Western posts, when recovered, will demand provision for garrisoning and securing them. A statement of our present military force will be laid before you by the Department of War.

With the review of our army establishment is naturally connected that of the militia. It will merit inquiry, what imperfections in the existing plan further experience may have unfolded. The subject is of so much moment, in my estimation, as to excite a constant solicitude that the consideration of it may be renewed until the greatest attainable perfection shall be accomplished. Time is wearing away some advantages for forwarding the object, while none better deserves the persevering attention of the public councils.

While we indulge the satisfaction which the actual condition of our Western borders so well authorizes, it is necessary that we should not lose sight of an important truth, which continually receives new confirmations, namely: that the provisions heretofore made with a view to the protection of the Indians from the violences of the lawless part of our frontier inhabitants are insufficient. It is demonstrated that these violences can now be perpetrated with impunity; and it can need no argument to prove, that, unless the murdering of Indians can be restrained by bringing the murderers to condign punishment, all the exertions of the Government to prevent destructive retaliations by the Indians will prove fruitless, and all our present agreeable prospects illusory. The frequent destruction of innocent women and children, who are chiefly the victims of retaliation, must continue to shock humanity, and an enormous expense to drain the Treasury of the Union.

To enforce upon the Indians the observance of justice, it is indispensable that there shall be competent means of rendering justice to them. If these means can be devised by the wisdom of Congress, and especially if there can be added an adequate provision for supplying the necessities of the Indians, on reasonable terms—a measure, the mention of which I the more readily repeat, as in all the conferences with them they urge it with solicitude—I should not hesitate to entertain a strong hope of rendering our tranquillity permanent. I add, with pleasure, that the probability even of their civilization is not diminished by the experiments which have been thus far made under the auspices of Government. The accomplishment of this work, if practicable, will reflect undecaying lustre on our national character, and administer the most grateful consolations that virtuous minds can know.

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:

The state of our revenue, with the sums which have been borrowed and reimbursed pursuant to different acts of Congress, will be submitted from the proper Department, together with an estimate of the appropriations necessary to be made for the service of the ensuing year.

Whether measures may not be advisable to re-enforce the provision for the redemption of the public debt, will naturally engage your examination. Congress have demonstrated their sense to be, and it were superfluous to repeat mine, that whatsoever will tend to accelerate the honorable extinction of our public debt, accords as much with the true interest of our country as with the general sense of our constituents.

Gentlemen of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives:

The statements which will be laid before you relative to the Mint will show the situation of that institution, and the necessity of some further Legislative provisions for carrying the business of it more completely into effect, and for checking abuses which appear to be arising in particular quarters.

The progress of providing materials for the frigates, and in building them; the state of the fortifications of our harbors; the measures which have been pursued for obtaining proper sites for arsenals, and for replenishing our magazines with military stores; and the steps which have been taken towards the execution of the law for opening a trade with the Indians—will likewise be presented for the information of Congress.

Temperate discussion of the important subjects which may arise in the course of the session, and mutual forbearance where there is a difference of opinion, are too obvious and necessary for the peace, happiness, and welfare of our country, to need any recommendation of mine.

G. WASHINGTON.

United States, December 8, 1795.

Ordered, That Messrs. King, Ellsworth, and Cabot, be a committee to report the draft of an Address to the President of the United States, in answer to his Speech this day to both Houses of Congress.

Wednesday, December 9.

The Vice President of the United States attended.

The following motion was made by Mr. Martin:

"Resolved, That, in conformity to a resolution of the Senate of the United States, passed the 20th day of February, 1794, the gallery of the Senate Chamber be permitted to be opened every morning, subject to the restrictions therein mentioned, a suitable gallery having been erected and provided in the Senate Chamber, in the late recess of Congress, for that purpose."

And, the motion being amended, it was

Resolved, That, in conformity to a resolution of the Senate of the United States, passed the 20th day of February, 1794, the gallery of the Senate Chamber be permitted to be opened every morning, subject to the restrictions in said resolution mentioned.

Thursday, December 10.

John Brown, from the State of Kentucky, and Frederick Frelinghuysen, from the State of New Jersey, severally attended.

Mr. King, from the committee appointed for that purpose, reported the draft of an Address to the President of the United States, in answer to his Speech to both Houses of Congress, at the opening of the session, which was read, and ordered to lie for consideration until to-morrow.

Friday, December 11.

Elijah Paine, from the State of Vermont, attended.

Address to the President.

The Senate took into consideration the report made by the committee, of an Address to the President of the United States, in answer to his Speech to both Houses of Congress, at the opening of the session, which is as follows:

Sir: It is with peculiar satisfaction that we are informed by your Speech to the two Houses of Congress, that the long and expensive war in which we have been engaged with the Indians north-west of the Ohio is in a situation to be finally terminated; and, though we view with concern the danger of an interruption of the peace so recently confirmed with the Creeks, we indulge the hope, that the measures that you have adopted to prevent the same, if followed by those Legislative provisions that justice and humanity equally demand, will succeed in laying the foundation of a lasting peace with the Indian tribes on the Southern as well as on the Western frontiers.

The confirmation of our Treaty with Morocco, and the adjustment of a Treaty of Peace with Algiers, in consequence of which our captive fellow-citizens shall be delivered from slavery, are events that will prove no less interesting to the public humanity than they will be important in extending and securing the navigation and commerce of our country.

As a just and equitable conclusion of our depending negotiations with Spain will essentially advance the interest of both nations, and thereby cherish and confirm the good understanding and friendship which we have at all times desired to maintain, it will afford us real pleasure to receive an early confirmation of our expectations on this subject.

The interesting prospect of our affairs, with regard to the foreign powers between whom and the United States controversies have subsisted, is not more satisfactory than the review of our internal situation: if from the former we derive an expectation of the extinguishment of all the causes of external discord that have heretofore endangered our tranquillity, and on terms consistent with our national honor and safety, in the latter we discover those numerous and wide-spread tokens of prosperity which, in so peculiar a manner, distinguish our happy country.

Circumstances thus every way auspicious demand our gratitude, and sincere acknowledgments to Almighty God, and require that we should unite our efforts in imitation of your enlightened, firm, and persevering example, to establish and preserve the peace, freedom, and prosperity of our country.

The objects which you have recommended to the notice of the Legislature will, in the course of the session, receive our careful attention, and, with a true zeal for the public welfare, we shall cheerfully co-operate in every measure that shall appear to us best calculated to promote the same.

JOHN ADAMS, Vice President of the United States, and President of the Senate.

The Address was taken up by paragraphs.

The fourth and fifth paragraphs were moved to be struck out by Mr. Mason.[60]

Mr. Mason observed, that he had hoped nothing contained in the Address reported as an answer to the President's Speech, would have been such as to force the Senate to precipitate decisions. The two clauses he objected to disappointed him in that hope. They were calculated to bring again into view the important subject which occupied the Senate during their June session. This he conceived could answer no good purpose; the minority on that occasion were not now to be expected to recede from the opinions they then held, and they could not therefore join in the indirect self-approbation which the majority appeared to wish for, and which was most certainly involved in the two clauses which he should hope would be struck out. If his motion were agreed to, the remainder of the Address would, in his opinion, stand unexceptionable. He did not see, for his part, that our situation was every way auspicious. Notwithstanding the treaty, our trade is grievously molested.

Mr. King observed, that the principal features observable in the answer reported to the President's Address, were to keep up that harmony of intercourse which ought to subsist between the Legislature and the President, and to express confidence in the undiminished firmness and love of country which always characterize our chief Executive Magistrate. He objected to striking out especially the first clause, because founded on undeniable truth. It only declares that our prospects, as to our external relations, are not more satisfactory than a review of our internal situation would prove. Was not this representation true, he asked; could it be controverted? This clause, he contended, contained nothing reasonably objectionable; it did not say as much as the second, to which only most of the objections of the member up before him applied, an answer to which he should defer, expecting that a question would be put on each in order.

The Chair requested that the motion should be reduced to writing. Mr. Mason accordingly reduced it to writing, and it went to striking out both clauses at once.

Mr. Mason agreed most cordially that the situation of our external relations were not more a cause of joy than our situation at home. But the obvious meaning of the clause, he conceived, was an indirect approval of our situation relative to external concerns; and to this he could not give his assent, as he did not consider their aspect as prosperous or auspicious.

Mr. Butler said, that when the committee was appointed to draft an answer, he hoped they would have used such general terms as to have secured a unanimous vote. He was willing to give the Chief Magistrate such an answer as respect to his station entitled him to, but not such a one as would do violence to his regard for the constitution and his duty to his constituents. He could not approve of long and detailed answers, however unexceptionable the Speech might be in matter, and however respectable the character might be from whom it came. He had hoped, from the peculiar situation of the country, and of the Senate, that nothing would have been brought forward in the answer, on the subject which agitated the June Executive session, calculated to wound the feelings of members. He had been disappointed; it was evident that some members of the Senate could not give their voice in favor of the Address in its present shape, without involving themselves in the most palpable inconsistency.

He had long since, for his own part, declared himself against every article of the treaty, because in no instance is it bottomed on reciprocity, the only honorable basis. After this declaration, how could he, or those who coincided in opinion with him, agree to the present Address without involving themselves in the most palpable inconsistency?

The sentence objected to, notwithstanding the explanation of the gentleman from New York, appeared to him so worded as to lead the citizens at large to believe that the spoliations on our commerce were drawing to a fortunate close. This was not, he conceived, warranted by the existing state of things. Indeed, he protested, he knew no more of the actual situation of the treaty negotiation than the remotest farmer in the Union; could he then declare, he asked, that it was drawing to a happy close? Indeed, from the latest information received, far from our situation having been ameliorated by the negotiations of our Executive, he conceived our trade as much in jeopardy as ever.

As to the internal prosperity, he owned there was some cause for congratulation; but even in this his conviction could not carry him as far as the clauses in the Address seemed to go. In a pecuniary point of view, the country had made a visible progress; but he saw in it no basis of permanent prosperity. There were no circumstances attendant on it that gave a fair hope that the prosperity would be permanent. The chief cause of our temporary pecuniary prosperity is the war in Europe, which occasions the high prices our produce at present commands; when that is terminated, those advantageous prices will of course fall.

Mr. B. now came to speak of the second objectional clause. He regretted whenever a question was brought forward that involved personality in the most indirect manner. He wished always to speak to subjects unconnected with men; but the wording of the clause was unfortunately such as to render allusion to official character unavoidable. He objected principally to the epithet firm, introduced into the latter clause, as applied to the Supreme Executive. Why firmness? he asked. To what? or to whom? Is it the manly demand of restitution made of Great Britain for her accumulated injuries that called forth the praise? for his own part he could discern no firmness there. Is it for the undaunted and energetic countenance of the cause of France, in her struggle for freeing herself from despotic shackles? He saw no firmness displayed on that occasion. Where then is it to be found? Was it in the opposition to the minority of the Senate and the general voice of the people against the treaty that that firmness was displayed? If it is that firmness in opposing the will of the people, which is intended to be extolled, the vote shall never, said Mr. B., leave the walls of the Senate with my approbation.

Mr. Read said, he was not in the habit of giving a silent vote, and, as many of his constituents were adverse to the instrument to which he had given his assent, he thought this a fit opportunity to say something on the subject.

Gentlemen on the other side had spoken of their feelings; did they suppose, he asked, that those who were in the majority had not feelings? Also, gentlemen declared they would not recede from their former determinations; did they expect that the majority would recede?

He had, he said, taken the question of the treaty in all its aspects, and considered it maturely, and though he lamented that he differed in opinion on that subject with his colleague, and a portion of the people of his State, he nevertheless remained convinced that the ratification of it was advisable: it rescued the country from war and its desolating horrors.

After reading that part of the President's Speech to which the clauses objected to were an echo, he asked, whether any one could say, under the conviction that the measures of Government had prevented a war, that our view of foreign relations was not consolatory? On all hands, he observed, the idea of a war was deprecated; both sides of the House wished to avoid it; then is it not a consolatory reflection to all that its horrors have been averted? Is there a man who does not believe that, had the treaty not been ratified, we should have had war? If the country had been plunged into a war, would it be as flourishing as it is?

The trifling vexations our commerce has sustained are not to compare to the evils of hostility. What good end could have been answered by a war? The Address, in the part under discussion, says no more than that we rejoice at the prospect that the blessings of peace will be preserved; and does not this expectation exist?

Great Britain, in the plenitude of her power, had availed herself of the right she had under the law of nations, of seizing enemies' goods in neutral vessels; but has allowed compensation to some Americans, and a system of mild measures on our part is the best security for further.

But the Senate and the President are the constitutional treaty-making powers. If mistaken in their decisions, they cannot be accused of having been misled by sudden and immatured impressions. He should conceive himself unfit to fill a chair in the Senate, if he suffered himself to be carried away by such impressions. The people could not, in their town meetings, deprived of proper information, possibly form an opinion that deserved weight, and it was the duty of the Executive not to be shaken in their determination by tumultuous proceedings from without. Upon this ground he much approved the President's conduct, and thought it entitled to the epithet, firm.

In local questions, affecting none but the interest of his constituents, he should attend to their voice, but on great national points, he did not consider himself as a Representative from South Carolina, but as a Senator for the Union. In questions of this last kind, even if the wishes of his constituents were unequivocally made known to him, he should not conceive himself bound to sacrifice his opinions to theirs. He viewed the President as standing in this situation, and though he might hear the opinions of the people from every part of the United States, he should not sacrifice to them his own conviction; in this line of conduct he has shown his firmness, and deserves to be complimented for it by the Senate.

Mr. Ellsworth was opposed to striking out. The clause records a fact, and if struck out, the Senate deny it. The President asserts it; in the Address reported, the Senate assent; a motion is made to strike out; is it because the truth of it is doubted? It cannot be called an unimportant fact, therefore its omission will not be imputed to oversight. The latter part of the clause expresses our gratitude to Almighty God. Will the Senate refuse to make an acknowledgment of that kind? Do they not admit that He is the source of all good, and can they refuse to acknowledge it? And if so, is it possible that, in admitting the fact and expressing the sentiment, which so naturally flows from it, the Senate should wound the feelings of any friend to his country?

The truth of the fact is as clear as that the sun now shines; the sentiment is unexceptionable; he, therefore, recommended to his friend the mover, not to insist upon striking out merely, but that he should vary the motion, and propose a substitute.

To bring the mind to the point with precision, it was necessary to attend to the wording of the clause. He read it. As to the signification of that part which relates to our foreign concerns, he did not consider it as hypothetical, but a positive declaration of a conviction that their situation is satisfactory, and on that ground he wished to meet the question.

The clause objected to expresses an expectation that the causes of external disagreement which have unhappily existed, will be peaceably done away. He said he had that expectation; many have it not. Those who have it not will negative the clause; those who have it will vote in its favor; the result will be the sense of a majority; the Senate could not be expected, more than on other occasions, to be unanimous; if the declarations contained in those clauses are supported, they will be considered as the sense of the majority of the Senate; others may dissent; but because unanimity could not be obtained, it was no reason why the majority should give a virtual negative to the declaration which they conceived founded on truth.

Mr. Tazewell said, the discussion had taken a turn different from that which he expected when he heard the motion. He understood the motion at the time it was made, and still so understood it, as not intending to question the propriety of any thing which was contained in the President's communication to both Houses of Congress. But from what had been said, (by Mr. Read, of South Carolina,) that part of the answer to the President's communication which had given rise to the motion, was intended to have a further operation than he originally believed. He asked what had given rise to the practice of returning an answer of any kind to the President's communication to Congress in the form of an Address? There was nothing, he said, in the constitution, or in any of the fundamental rules of the Federal Government, which required that ceremony from either branch of the Congress. The practice was but an imitation of the ceremonies used upon like occasions in other countries, and was neither required by the constitution, nor authorized by the principles upon which our Government was erected. But having obtained, he did not intend now to disturb it. To allow the utmost latitude to the principle which had begotten the practice, it could only tolerate the ceremony as a compliment to the Chief Magistrate. It could not be permitted to arrest all opinions previous to regular discussions, nor to operate as a means of pledging members to the pursuit of a particular course, which subsequent and more full inquiries might show to be extremely improper. Every answer, therefore, to the President's communication ought to be drawn in terms extremely general, neither seducing the President into a belief that this House would pursue a general recommendation into points not at first contemplated by them, nor pledge themselves to the world that that state of things was just, which time had not permitted them thoroughly to examine. The clauses now under consideration had, at least in one instance, deviated from this principle. They declare to the world, "That the interesting prospect of our affairs with regard to the foreign powers, between whom and the United States controversies have subsisted, is not more satisfactory than the review of our internal situation." The communications from the President have not uttered so bold a sentiment, nor is there any thing in those communications that justifies the assertion of this fact. Placing the treaty with Great Britain out of the question, which seems to have been the uppermost consideration when this sentence was penned, the seizure of our provision vessels since the signature of that treaty, and the unwarrantable imprisonment of our seamen, are acts which cloud our prosperity and happiness. The minds of the Americans must be brought to consider these things as trivial incidents in our political affairs, before the sentence under consideration can be approved. He said he must, therefore, vote for the motion to strike out the two clauses of the answer, in order that some more fit expressions might then be introduced to succeed them. He hoped the answer might be couched in terms just and delicate towards the President, without wounding the feelings of any Senator; and he believed both might be done without any difficulty, after the two clauses were expunged.

After some further observations from Messrs. Mason, Butler, and Bloodworth, in which the latter expressed the opinion that he did conceive the terms of our peace with Great Britain consistent with the dignity and honor of the United States, the question was put, and decided for striking out—ayes 8, noes 14.

On a further attempt to amend one of the clauses some conversation took place more remarkable for ingenuity than interesting for solidity, being chiefly a debate upon words. The Senate divided on it—7 to 15.

On the question, of agreeing to the Address, it was carried—14 to 8, as follows:

Yeas.—Messrs. Bingham, Cabot, Ellsworth, Foster, Frelinghuysen, King, Latimer, Livermore, Marshall, Paine, Read, Ross, Strong, and Trumbull.

Nays.—Messrs. Bloodworth, Brown, Butler, Langdon, Martin, Mason, Robinson, and Tazewell.

Ordered, That the committee who prepared the Address wait on the President of the United States, and desire him to acquaint the Senate at what time and place it will be most convenient for him that it should be presented.

Mr. King reported, from the committee, that they had waited on the President of the United States, and that he would receive the Address of the Senate to-morrow at 12 o'clock. Whereupon, resolved, that the Senate will, to-morrow at 12 o'clock, wait on the President of the United States accordingly.

Saturday, December 12.

Agreeably to the resolution of yesterday, the Senate waited on the President of the United States, and the Vice President, in their name, presented the Address then agreed to.

To which the President of the United States was pleased to make the following reply:

Gentlemen: With real pleasure I receive your Address, recognizing the prosperous situation of our public affairs, and giving assurances of your careful attention to the objects demanding Legislative consideration; and that, with a true zeal for the public welfare, you will cheerfully co-operate in every measure which shall appear to you best calculated to promote the same.

But I derive peculiar satisfaction from your concurrence with me in the expressions of gratitude to Almighty God, which a review of the auspicious circumstances that distinguish our happy country have excited; and I trust the sincerity of our acknowledgments will be evinced by a union of efforts to establish and preserve its peace, freedom, and prosperity.

G. WASHINGTON.

The Senate returned to their own Chamber, and soon after adjourned.

Monday, December 14.

John Rutherford, from New Jersey, attended.

Tuesday, December 15.

Aaron Burr, from New York, and John Vining, from Delaware, severally attended.

Wednesday, December 16.

William Bradford, from Rhode Island, attended.

Friday, December 18.

George Walton, appointed a Senator of the United States by the Executive of the State of Georgia, in place of James Jackson, resigned, produced his credentials, and, the oath required by law being administered, he took his seat in the Senate.

Monday, January 4.

The following Message was received from the President of the United States, by Mr. Dandridge, his Secretary. Captain Sedam, of the first Sub-legion, bearing the colors mentioned in the Message:

Gentlemen of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives:

A Letter from the Minister Plenipotentiary of the French Republic, received on the 22d of the last month, covered an Address, dated the 21st of October, 1794, from the Committee of Public Safety to the Representatives of the United States in Congress; and also informed me that he was instructed by the Committee to present to the United States the Colors of France. I therefore proposed to receive them last Friday, the first day of the new year, a day of general joy and congratulation. On that day the Minister of the French Republic delivered the Colors with an Address, to which I returned an answer. By the latter, the Senate will see that I have informed the Minister that the Colors will be deposited with the archives of the United States. But it seemed to me proper previously to exhibit to the two Houses of Congress these evidences of the continued friendship of the French Republic, together with the sentiments expressed by me on the occasion in behalf of the United States. They are herewith communicated.

G. WASHINGTON

United States, January 4, 1796.

The Message and papers were read; after which the colors were withdrawn, and the Message and papers ordered to lie for consideration.

Tuesday, January 5.

Presentation of French Flag.

A motion was made by Mr. Tazewell, seconded by Mr. Langdon, that it be—

"Resolved by the Senate of the United States in Congress assembled, That the President be informed the Senate have received, with the purest pleasure, the evidences of the continued friendship of the French Republic, which accompanied his Message of yesterday.

"That he be requested to assure that magnanimous nation, through the proper organ, that the Senate unite with him in all the feelings expressed to the Minister of France, on the presentation of the Colors of his nation, and devoutly wish that this symbol of the triumphs and enfranchisement of that great people, given as a pledge of faithful friendship, and placed among the evidences and memorials of the freedom and independence of the United States, may contribute to cherish and perpetuate the sincere affection by which the two Republics are so happily united."

Mr. Ellsworth moved that these resolutions should lie on the table until to-morrow, that members should have an opportunity of perusing attentively the papers accompanying the Message of the President.

Mr. Butler said, that he should very reluctantly, in general cases, oppose a motion of the kind now made; but, on the present occasion, he could not give it his assent. If the resolutions were intricate, or by the question the judgment of the Senate could be committed, he should accord in the wish expressed by the mover; but, as the resolutions go merely to an expression of the sentiments of the House respecting the French Republic, their feelings and judgment must be as ripe for such expression now as they can be at any future period. It was not like a law that was to affect the Senate hereafter; it had nothing to do with the internal situation of the country or municipal regulations; but they only went to express a sympathetic feeling for the French Republic, and a wish to see them enjoy every happiness under the form of government they have lately chosen.

This cannot commit the Senate, he conceived. If the motion for postponement prevailed, it might convey a distrust of the sense of the Senate respecting that Republic. He felt a lively sense towards that nation on account of the glorious cause in which they had embarked; of their gallantry and spirit in their arduous struggle to place men upon a footing they were entitled to, raising them from a state of the most abject and debasing slavery.

He declared himself always ready to express his feelings on the magnanimity of such a people. If other members of the Senate possessed not those feelings, they could now give the resolutions their negative. He did not wish for a postponement, as it might be viewed as in a manner slighting the Republic.

Mr. Ellsworth believed there was no real difference of opinion on the subject. All felt an ardent friendship for the French; but one mode of expressing it might be more proper than another. Besides, it might be a doubt whether an expression of the feelings of the Senate on this occasion was necessary—the Representatives had already spoken. He was not, as the member who spoke before him, ready on all occasions to express his sentiments; but only on fit occasions, and then he wished to do it in the most proper manner. The operations of his mind, he confessed, were slow. He wished more time for the perusal of the documents laid before the Senate by the President.

Mr. Livermore was also in favor of postponement.

Mr. Langdon observed, that since members did so earnestly require time, he should not urge an immediate decision; he should no longer object to a postponement till to-morrow. He was happy to hear gentlemen say there was no difference of sentiment upon the present occasion; he hoped that, upon subjects relative to France, this might always be the case, and that the Senate would not confine itself to empty professions of attachment, but would evince it by substantial deeds.

Mr. Tazewell did not wish to press the business to an immediate decision, since members desired time. He confessed he did not expect a motion for a postponement would be made, as the resolutions he offered contained nothing more than the President had expressed on the occasion. However, if it was wished that the Senate should express their sentiments in still stronger language than the President, he should not object.

The opposition to the motion for postponement being withdrawn, it was agreed to.

Wednesday, January 6.

The Senate resumed the consideration of the motion made yesterday on the Message of the President of the United States, of the 4th instant, and the presentation of the flag of the French Republic; and,

On motion of Mr. Cabot, seconded by Mr. Ellsworth, to expunge these words from the second paragraph of the motion: "that he be requested to assure that magnanimous nation, through the proper organ"—

Mr. Strong was in favor of striking out. He observed that the communication made to the Senate by the President consisted of two distinct parts, the letter from the French Committee of Safety and the address accompanying the flag. In the letter not one word was said about the flag; it was written in October, '94, and there was probably then no idea of sending one. The letter and the flag only happened to be delivered at the same time; there was no other connection between them. The letter, he said, was in answer to one from this country, and was meant to close a complimentary correspondence. It required no answer; it would puzzle any one to make an answer to it. An attempt was made by the resolution offered, which proved it impossible to answer it. The resolution forsook the contents of the letter, which, he repeated, closed the correspondence. The United States had presented to the National Convention our flag; or rather our Minister (and he was unwilling to question the propriety of his so doing) presented it on behalf of this Government; a French flag was sent in return; then the propriety of an answer on this ground became the sole question. This flag had been delivered to the President, who made an answer on the presentation of it—a complete and perfect answer. He communicated his answer to the Senate. Then was it proper, he asked, that the Executive should be requested to make a second answer, and nearly in the same words? The President, in his answer, expressly says, that he speaks not only his own sentiments, but those of the citizens at large, including, no doubt, the Senate. In this situation of the transaction nothing can be proper to be done by the Senate but to express their opinion of the propriety of his answer; and this would be accomplished by adopting the substance of the resolution, after striking out the words proposed.

There could be (he concluded by observing) no difference of feeling in the Senate on the occasion. The only difference was in the mode of expressing it, and he inclined, for the reasons given, to that which was the object of the motion for striking out.

Mr. Ellsworth was also of opinion that the subject divided itself into two distinct parts. The first object was an expression of the pleasure of the Senate at this new evidence of the friendship of France, and joining with the President in all the feelings he had expressed on the occasion. This would be effectually done by entering on the journals the resolution as proposed to be amended. The President received the flag and answered, then communicated the transaction to the Senate.

It appeared, by the papers communicated, he contended, that there was no connection between the letter of the Committee of Public Safety and the flag. He would not say that both were not very important transactions, but they were disconnected. The letter was written much antecedent to the sending of the flag—it was written in '94, and was intended to close a correspondence. The correspondence began by an address from the Convention, while Robespierre was an active member of it. This address was to Congress: the President transmitted it to each House, and they sent it back to the Executive, requesting he would answer it, with expressions of the friendly dispositions of the United States towards France. The resolutions of the Houses and the letter of the Executive were transmitted through Mr. Monroe. The letter now in the view of the Senate is an answer to that, and closes the complimentary correspondence, if it ever can close. Propriety did not require another word from the Senate; indeed, decency did not admit it, for it could not be contended that the correspondence should be kept up ad infinitum.

As to the flag, how can it require an answer from the Senate? It was not presented to them by the French Minister, but to the President, who had answered, not only for himself, but for the citizens of the United States; and he imagined it would not be contended that the members of the Senate were not citizens.

It is not advanced, he said, that the President did not express the sentiments of the Senate in the answer to the Minister; on the contrary, his words are borrowed in this resolution. But it is wished he should answer again in the same strain, and this was, in his opinion, neither necessary nor even proper.

Mr. Ellsworth next combated the resolution as originally offered as unconstitutional. Nothing, he contended, could be found in the constitution to authorize either branch of the Legislature to keep up any kind of correspondence with a foreign nation. To Congress were given the powers of legislation and the right of declaring war. If authority beyond this is assumed, however trifling the encroachment at first, where will it stop? It might be said, that this was a mere matter of ceremony and form, and, therefore, could do no harm. A correspondence with foreign nations was a business of difficulty and delicacy—the peace and tranquillity of a country may hinge on it. Shall the Senate, because they may think it in one case trifling, or conceive the power ought to be placed in them, assume it? If it was not specially delegated by the constitution, the Senate might, perhaps, but it is positively placed in the hands of the Executive. The people who sent us here, (said Mr. E.) placed their confidence in the President in matters of this nature, and it does not belong to the Senate to assume it.

So forcibly, he said, were both Houses impressed with the impropriety of the Legislature corresponding with any foreign power, that, when it was announced to them that the unfortunate Louis XVI. had accepted the constitution of '89, the communication was sent back to the President, with a request that he would answer it on their behalf, with congratulations and best wishes.

But even this, he considered, they had not strictly a right to do. It was only saving appearances. Neither branch had a right to dictate to the President what he should answer. The constitution left the whole business in his breast. It was wrong to place him in the dilemma of disobliging the Legislature or sacrificing his own discretion. But if such practices had inadvertently been followed, it was full time to secede from them.

He recapitulated, in a few words, and concluded, by observing, that should the motion for striking out prevail, members would still be in order to amend the resolution, if they chose, by adding to the warmth of expression it already contained.

Mr. Butler considered the situation into which the member up before him seemed desirous that the Senate should be placed, as highly degrading; they were to be deprived of the right of expressing their own sentiments, they were to have no voice, no will, no opinion of their own, but such as it would please the Executive to express for them.

The only fault he found in the resolve was, that it was not full and expressive enough. He observed, that it appeared the studied desire of one part of the House to cut off all communication between the people of the United States and the people of the French Republic. Their representatives are now told, that they can have no will, no voice, but through the Executive. Their constituents never intended that they should be placed in this ridiculous point of view, and he declared he never could sit under it silently.

He turned to the journals of the Senate to show that in the proceedings in the case of the answer to the communication from Robespierre and others, there was a considerable division in the Senate, and the mode adopted was by a majority only; but did not meet the sense of the Senate very generally.

Upon the presentation of the flag to the President, the Minister particularly observes, that it is for the people of the United States. The President in his answer, speaks of himself and his own feelings. He read part of his answer—"Born in a land of Liberty," &c. He does intimate, he observed, in a cursory manner, that he trusts he speaks the sentiments of his fellow-citizens: but does not attempt to make any professions of either branch of the Legislature, thinking, no doubt, that when the subject came before them, they would speak for themselves.

Suppose, he asked, that the expression of friendship contained in the President's Address on the occasion, fell short of the feelings of the Senate, would they, he asked, adopt the expressions for their own? For his own part, he declared, he could not leave it to others to speak his sentiments, but chose to reserve that right to himself. Even if no communication had been received from the French Republic, no token of attachment, the present period in their affairs, the establishment of a new government, would warrant an address of congratulation. There could be no impropriety in it, unless there were objections to drawing nigher to the Republic. Besides, the address of the Committee of Safety was certainly intended for the Legislature, being directed to the Representatives, unless it could be denied that the Senate were Representatives of the people of the United States.

There was nothing in the constitution, he contended, that could prevent the Legislature from expressing their sentiments: it was not an Executive act, but a mere complimentary answer to a complimentary presentation. If this right was denied them, where would the principle stop? The Senate might be made in time mere automata. It was as proper, he contended, for the Senate to express an opinion on the occasion as for the President or the House of Representatives.

He concluded by observing, that the resolution as offered, said as little as could be said on the occasion, and he never could consent to the striking out, which would cause it to be entered only on the journal, and would be an indirect slight of the French Republic, as the sentiments of the Senate would not be communicated to them.

Mr. Tazewell was happy to find no difference in the Senate as to the substance of the resolution. As the form, however, had been made matter of debate, some importance had been given to it which its intrinsic consequence perhaps did not deserve, and it became the Senate to weigh well their decision. It certainly, he said, could not be unknown to the Senate, that unfavorable impressions have travelled abroad respecting their feelings and sentiments towards the French, and he suggested to their consideration whether if the present motion for striking out prevailed, even in the face of their own precedents, it would not give countenance to the surmise. On a former occasion, he stated, a communication was made to the Senate through the President, informing that the King of France had accepted the Crown under the constitution of 1789. The Senate were not content on that occasion with barely approving what the President had done, but requested the President to say in their behalf, that they were happy at the event, and to assure the king of their good will for the prosperity of the French nation and his own. What difference, he asked, was there on that occasion and the present, when the French just adopted and organized a new government? Will it not be said, he asked, that the robes of royalty have charms with the Senate, which the humble habiliments of Democracy do not possess in their eyes, if on the present occasion they should deviate from a precedent established before royalty was abolished? This would be naturally implied, and the Senate, he conceived, should avoid the imputation. There was no necessity pleaded in favor of striking out; if the motion was not insisted on, it would remove impressions which it was useful should be removed, and which he trusted would be removed.

He dwelt on the impropriety of the Senate's rejecting a form of proceeding in this case, not only sanctioned by their own precedent, but by the practice of both the President and Senate. Why, especially, he asked, should they give rise to invidious comparisons between themselves and the other branch? He hoped the motion for striking out would not prevail.

Mr. Ellsworth conceived there existed a material difference between the present case and that cited by the member last up. The communication was then to Congress, now to the President, who had only given an account of the transaction to the Senate. He added, however, that the line of conduct pursued by the Senate on the former occasion did not meet his approbation; they expressed hopes which he never thought could be realized, and in the event it proved so; for before the sentiments of the Senate could cross the Atlantic, the unfortunate king and constitution were both over-thrown. This, he argued, should make the Senate wary in their proceedings in analogous cases. Upon the communication from Robespierre, Barrere, and others, the Senate were more cautious, they said nothing about the constitution, but only requested the President to express in their behalf the sentiments of friendship, &c., which the Senate entertained for France. The Senate gave the President a short text on that occasion; and he wrote according to his own discretion, and perhaps expressed more than the Senate would have said. If a short text was given, this objection occurred; if the Senate amplified, then they dictated improperly to the President what he should write.

The example of the House of Representatives had been mentioned; he conceived it was no rule of proceeding for the Senate. The fact was, that the resolve carried in that House was upon a very slight view indeed of the papers communicated. Indeed, it would appear upon the face of it, that it was penned before the papers were read. This was, in his opinion, no example for imitation; the Senate ought to proceed with their usual deliberation.

It had been said that doubts had gone abroad, whether the Senate were friendly to France. Those doubts had been raised by writers among us, the same who also endeavor to convince the Americans that the friendship of France towards them was not cordial. This must appear unfounded from the proceeding now the object of debate, and the former suspicion must be removed by an insertion of the substance of the resolution now before the Senate on their journals.

Mr. Tazewell said a few words to show that there was no difference between the case he had already cited, the proceeding of the Senate, when they expressed their satisfaction at the manner in which the National Convention had honored the memory of Benjamin Franklin, and the present case.

Mr. Ross differed. In the former instances, the President made the original communications to the Senate before he had answered them; now he has answered and only communicates an account of the transaction.

Mr. Burr was against striking out. The National Convention, he observed, might, when they received the answer to their first communication, have said, as is now said on the floor of the Senate, that the correspondence there ended, and that it was not necessary to make us a reply; but they acted differently, and he hoped the Senate would acknowledge the receipt of their pledge of friendship. Indeed he said, he could not see that any great harm would arise in the two branches of the Legislature interchanging even once a year a letter of friendship and good will with the Republic. It was objected that the present resolution was no answer to the letter. A few lines would make it so, and they might easily be added. The omission did not prove, as had been asserted by one member, that it was impossible to answer it. That it was not impossible was testified by the proceedings of the other branch. He did not intend to slight the dignity of the Senate, however, he said, by quoting the proceedings of the other House as a binding rule of proceeding for this; but their proceedings certainly proved the possibility of making an answer; and besides, there was full as much propriety in looking for precedents in their conduct, as in the proceedings of a British Parliament. Each, however, in their place might deserve weight, though not implicit reliance.

He advocated the rights of the Senate to answer for themselves, and the propriety of acknowledging the receipt of the Colors, which were not sent to the Executive exclusively.

He concluded by citing the Senate's own precedents in analogous cases, and he hoped that it would not be insisted that the practice of two or three successive years deserved to be laid to the charge of inadvertency.

After a few words more from Messrs. Strong, Burr, Read, and Butler, the yeas and nays were called upon striking out, which were taken and stood—yeas 16, nays 8, as follows:

Yeas.—Messrs. Bingham, Bradford, Cabot, Ellsworth, Foster, Gunn, Latimer, Livermore, Marshall, Paine, Read, Ross, Rutherford, Strong, Trumbull, and Walton.

Nays.—Messrs. Bloodworth, Brown, Burr, Butler, Langdon, Martin, Robinson, and Tazewell.

Whereupon it was

Resolved, unanimously, that the President be informed the Senate have received, with the purest pleasure, the evidences of the continued friendship of the French Republic, which accompanied his Message of the 4th inst.

That the Senate unite with him in all the feelings expressed to the Minister of France on the presentation of the Colors of his nation, and devoutly wish that this symbol of the triumphs and enfranchisement of that great people, given as a pledge of faithful friendship, and placed among the evidences and memorials of the freedom and independence of the United States, may contribute to cherish and perpetuate the sincere affection by which the two Republics are so happily united.

Ordered, That the Secretary lay this resolution before the President of the United States.

Monday, May 9.

On motion, that a paper purporting to be the appointment of William Blount and William Cocke, respectively, to seats in the Senate, should be read, it was agreed that the motion be postponed until to-morrow.

Tuesday, May 10.

New State of Tennessee.

The Senate resumed the consideration of the report of the committee to whom was referred the Message of the President of the United States, of the 8th of April last, respecting a new State south of the river Ohio; together with the motion for amendment, made on the 11th; and on the question to agree to the proposed amendment, it passed in the negative.

Wednesday, May 23.

The Proposed State of Tennessee.

The Senate resumed the consideration, in paragraphs, of the bill laying out into one State the territory ceded by the State of North Carolina to the United States, and providing for an enumeration of the inhabitants thereof.

A letter, signed William Blount and William Cocke, was read, stating that they have been duly and legally elected Senators to represent the State of Tennessee in the Senate.

On motion,

"That Mr. Blount and Mr. Cocke, who claim to be Senators of the United States, be received as spectators, and that chairs be provided for that purpose until the final decision of the Senate shall be given on the bill proposing to admit the South-western Territory into the Union:"

A motion was made to refer the consideration thereof to a committee; and it passed in the negative.

On motion to agree to the original motion, it passed in the affirmative—yeas 12, nays 11, as follows:

Yeas.—Messrs. Bloodworth, Brown, Burr, Butler, Foster, Henry, Langdon, Martin, Potts, Robinson, Tattnall, and Tazewell.

Nays.—Messrs. Bingham, Bradford, Gunn, Latimer, Livermore, Marshall, Read, Ross, Rutherford, Strong, and Trumbull.

After debate, the further consideration of the bill last mentioned was postponed until to-morrow.

A letter from Rufus King was read, stating that he had accepted the appointment of Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of London, and resigning his seat in the Senate.

Thursday, May 26.

New State of Tennessee.

The bill laying out into one State the territory ceded by the State of North Carolina to the United States, and providing for an enumeration of the inhabitants thereof, was read the third time.

On motion, that the bill be amended, so that the State be called and known by the name of Tennessee, it passed in the negative.

And, after agreeing to sundry amendments, on motion, that the following be an additional section to the bill:

"And be it further enacted, That if on the returns by the Supervisor of the Revenue for the District of Tennessee, as directed by this act, it shall appear to the President of the United States that the territory by this act laid out, and formed into a State, doth contain sixty thousand free inhabitants, that then it shall be lawful for the President, by his Proclamation, to declare the same; and that, in that event, and on their forming a constitution consistent with the ordinance of Congress of the thirteenth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, the said State, by the name and style of 'The State of Tennessee,' shall be received and admitted into the Union as a new and entire member of the United States of America. And, until an enumeration shall be made, under the authority of Congress, for the purpose of apportioning Representatives, the said State of Tennessee shall be entitled to choose one Representative:"

A motion was made to amend this motion, by striking out the following words:

"And on their forming a constitution consistent with the ordinance of Congress of the thirteenth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven:"

It passed in the negative—yeas 11, nays 12, as follows:

Yeas.—Messrs. Bloodworth, Brown, Burr, Butler, Henry, Langdon, Livermore, Martin, Robinson, Tattnall, and Tazewell.

Nays.—Messrs. Bingham, Bradford, Foster, Gunn, Latimer, Marshall, Potts, Read, Ross, Rutherford, Strong, and Trumbull.

And, on the question to agree to the motion without amendment, it passed in the negative—yeas 10, nays 12, as follows:

Yeas.—Messrs. Burr, Foster, Gunn, Henry, Latimer, Livermore, Martin, Potts, Tattnall, and Trumbull.

Nays.—Messrs. Bingham, Bloodworth, Bradford, Brown, Langdon, Marshall, Read, Robinson, Ross, Rutherford, Strong, and Tazewell.

On the question, that the bill pass, it was determined in the affirmative—yeas 15, nays 8, as follows:

Yeas.—Messrs. Bingham, Bradford, Brown, Foster, Gunn, Latimer, Martin, Potts, Read, Ross, Rutherford, Strong, Tattnall, Tazewell, and Trumbull.

Nays.—Messrs. Bloodworth, Burr, Butler, Henry, Langdon, Livermore, Marshall, and Robinson.

So it was resolved, that this bill pass; that it be engrossed; and that the title thereof be "An act laying out into one State the territory ceded by the State of North Carolina to the United States, and providing for an enumeration of the inhabitants thereof."

Tuesday, May 31.

A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that the House have passed a bill, entitled "An act to alter the time of the next annual meeting of Congress;" in which they desire the concurrence of the Senate. They insist on their amendment, disagreed to by the Senate, to the bill, entitled "An act laying out into one State the territory ceded by the State of North Carolina to the United States, and providing for the enumeration of the inhabitants thereof;" ask a conference thereon, and have appointed managers at the same, on their part. They agree to all the amendments of the Senate to the bill, entitled, "An act regulating the grants of land appropriated for military services, and for the Society of United Brethren, for propagating the Gospel among the Heathen;" except to the last, to which they disagree.

New State of Tennessee.

The Senate proceeded to consider the resolution of the House of Representatives, desiring a conference on the bill, entitled, "An act laying out into one State the territory ceded by the State of North Carolina to the United States, and providing for an enumeration of the inhabitants thereof."

On motion, to postpone the further consideration thereof until the next session of Congress, it passed in the negative—yeas 10, nays 13, as follows:

Yeas.—Messrs. Bingham, Bradford, Foster, Latimer, Potts, Read, Ross, Rutherford, Strong, and Trumbull.

Nays.—Messrs. Bloodworth, Brown, Burr, Butler, Gunn, Henry, Langdon, Livermore, Marshall, Martin, Robinson, Tattnall, and Tazewell.

Resolved, That the Senate agree to the proposed conference, and that Messrs. Burr and Strong be managers at the same on their part.

Mr. Burr, from the joint committee of conference on the bill, entitled "An act laying out into one State the territory ceded by the State of North Carolina to the United States, and providing for an enumeration of the inhabitants thereof," reported, as the opinion of the majority of the joint committee, that the Senate recede from their disagreement to the amendment of the House of Representatives. Whereupon,

Resolved, That the Senate recede from their disagreement to the said amendment.

A motion was made by Mr. Burr, as follows:

"Resolved, That any enumeration of the inhabitants of any district under the temporary Government of the United States, for the purpose of furnishing evidence to Congress that such district contains the number which may entitle it to admission into the Union, shall have been taken and made, under a law to be made by the Legislature of the said district, of the free inhabitants only, and, in all other respects, pursuant to the provisions contained in the act, entitled "An act providing for the enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States:""

Which motion was read and ordered to lie until to-morrow for consideration.

Wednesday Evening, 5 o'clock, June 1.

New State of Tennessee.

On motion, by Mr. Martin, that it be

"Resolved, That the Honorable William Blount, and William Cocke, Esquires, who have produced credentials of being duly elected Senators for the State of Tennessee, be admitted to take the oath necessary for their qualification, and their seats accordingly;"

Ordered, That a paper, purporting to be the credentials of Mr. Blount and Mr. Cocke, be read.

And, on the question to agree to the resolution, it passed in the negative—yeas 10, nays 11, as follows:

Yeas.—Messrs. Bloodworth, Brown, Burr, Butler, Gunn, Langdon, Martin, Robinson, Tattnall, and Tazewell.

Nays.—Messrs. Bingham, Bradford, Foster, Latimer, Livermore, Marshall, Potts, Read, Ross, Rutherford, and Trumbull.

A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate, that the House, having finished the business before them, are about to adjourn to the first Monday in December next.

Mr. Butler, from the joint committee appointed to wait on the President of the United States, and notify him that, unless he had any further communications to make to them, they were ready to adjourn, reported, that the President of the United States had no further communication to make, except the nomination of certain persons to execute the laws passed the present session.

After the consideration of the Executive business, the President adjourned the Senate to the first Monday in December next.