588 
freedom... The inftruétions to our minifters, 
with refpeé&t to the different, Belligerents, 
were neteffarily modified with a reference to 
_ their different circumstances, and to. the 
condition annexed by law. to, the executive 
power of fufpenfion, requiring, a degree,.of 
security to our commerce, which would;not 
refult from.a repealiof the decrees of France. 
Inftead of a pledge, therefore, for a fufpenfion 
. of the, embargo as to her, in, cafe of fuch a 
repeal, it)was prefumed that a fuflictent in- 
ducement might ve. found in other confide- 
rations, and particularly in the chenge pro- 
duced by a compliance with our juft demands, 
by one Belligerent, and a.refufal by..the 
- other, in therrelations between this other 
. and the United States. 
To Great Britain, 
_ whofe power on the ocean is fo afcendant, it 
: dition, 
was deemed not inconfiftent with that con- 
to. fate, explicitly, that on her 
refcinding her orders in relation to the com- 
Merce of the United. States, their trade 
_ would be opened with her, and remain fhut 
to her enemy, in cafe of his failure to rescind 
his decrees alfo. From France no anfwer has 
Been received, nor any indication that. the 
requifite change in her decrees is contem- 
plated. The favourable reception of the 
_ propofition to Great Britain was the lefs to 
* be doubted, as her orders of council had not 
” “beft adapted to fuch a flate of things; 
only been referred for their vindication to an 
acquiefcence on the part af the United 
States, no longer to be pretended ; but as the 
arrangement: propofed, whilft it refifted’ the 
illegal decrees of France, involved, moreover, 
fubftantially the precife advantages profef- 
fedly aimed at by the. Britifh orders... The 
” arrangement has, neverthelefs, been rejected. 
This candid and liberal experiment having 
thus failed, and no other event having oc- 
curred os which a fufpenfion of the embargo 
by the executive was authorifed, it neces- 
farily remains ii the extent originally given 
toit. We have the satisfaétion, however, 
to vefleét, that in return for the privations 
impofed by the meafure, and which our fel- 
low-citizeas in. general. have borne with 
patriotifm, it has had the important efects of 
faving our mariners, and our vaft mercantile 
_ property, as well as of affording time for 
profecuting the defenfive and provifional 
meafures called for by the oceafion, It has 
demonftrated to foreign nations the mode- 
ration and firminefs which govern our coun- 
cils, and to our citizens the neceffity of uni- 
ting in fupport of the laws and the rights of 
their country 3 and has thus long fruftrated 
thofe ufurpations and fpoliations which, if 
refifted, involved war ;_if fubmitted to, facri~ 
ficed a vital principle ef our national inde- 
pendence. 
Under a continuance of the belligerent 
meafures, which, in defianceof laws which 
confecrate the rights of neutrals, overfpread 
the ocean with danger, it will reft with the 
wifdom of congrefs to decide on the courfe 
and 
4 
woe 
Message of the President.to the United States. 
(Jan. 1, 
-bringing with them, as they do, from evesy 
part of the Union, the fentiments of our 
conftituents, my confidence is ftrengthened 
that in forming this decifion, they will, 
with an unerring regard to the effential rights 
and interefts of the nation, weigh and comi- 
pare the painful alternatives out of whicha 
choice is tobe made. Nor fhould 1 do juftice 
to the virtues which on other occafions have 
marked the charaéter of our fellow-citizens, 
if I did not cherish an equal confidence that 
the alternative chofen, whatever-it may be, 
will be maintained with all the fortitude and 
patriotifm which the crifis ought to infpire. 
The documents containing the correfpon- 
dence on the fubje& of the foreign edits 
againft our commerce, with the inftru@ions 
given to our minifters at London and Paris, 
are now laid before you. 
The communication made to congrefs at 
their laft feffion explained the pofture in 
which the clofe of the difcuflion relating to 
the attack by a Britith fhip of war on the 
frigate Chefapeake, left a fubje&t on which 
the nation had manifefted fo honourable a 
fenfibility. Every view of what had paffed 
authorized a belief that immediate fteps would 
be taken by the Britifh government for re- 
drefling a wrong, which, the more it. was 
inveftigated, appeared the more clearly to 
require what had not been provided for in 
the fpecial miffion. It is found that no fteps 
have been taken for the purpofe. Qn the 
contrary, it will be feen in the documents 
_ laid before you, that the inadmiffible preli- 
minary which obftru€ts the adjuftment is ftill 
adhered to; and, moreover, that it is now 
brought into connexion with the diftinét and 
irrelative case of the orders in council, The 
inftruétions which had been given to our 
minifters at London, with a view to facilitate, 
if neceflary, the reparation claimed by the 
United States, are included in the documents 
communicated, — 
Our relations with the other powers of 
Europe have undergone no material changes 
fince your laftfeflion. The important nego- 
tiations with Spain, which had been alter- 
nately {ufpended and refumed, neceflarily 
experience a.paufe, under the extraordinary 
and interefting ctifis which diftinguifh her 
internal fituation. 
With the Barbary powers we continue. in 
harmony, with the exception of an umgul- 
tifiable proceeding of the Dey of Algiers 
towards our conful to that regency. Its 
character and circumftances are now laid 
before you, and will enable you to decide how 
far it may, either now or hereafter, call for 
any meafures not within the limits of the 
executive authority. ~ 
With our Indian neighbours the public 
peace has been fteadily maintained. Some 
inftances of individual wrong have, as at 
other times, taken place, but in no wife im- 
plicating the will of the nation. Beyond 
the Millifippi, the funttys the Saca, e 
t e 
