STATE PAPERS. 



713 



largement of the capital employed 

 iu that commerce, as a more etlec- 

 tual, economical, and humane in- 

 strument for preserving peace and 

 good neighbourhood ^vith them. — 

 On this side the Mississippi, an im- 

 portant relinquishment of nitive ti- 

 tle has been received from the Dela- 

 wares, that tribe desiring' to extin- 

 guish the spirit of hunting, and to 

 convert superfluous lands into the 

 means of improving what tliey re- 

 tain, has ceded to us all the coun- 

 try between the Wabash and the 

 Ohio, south of, and including the 

 road from the Rapids towards Vin- 

 ceunes, for which they are to receive 

 annuities in animals and implements 

 of agriculture. The Pinkeshaws 

 having some claim to the country 

 ceded by the Delawares, it has beoii 

 thought better to quiet that claim 

 by fair purchase also. So soon as 

 the treaties on this subject shall 

 have received their constitutional 

 sanctions, they shall be laid before 

 bothiliouses. The act of Congress 

 of February 28, 1803, lor build- 

 ing and employing a number of 

 gun-boats is now in a course of exe- 

 cution to the extent there provided, 

 for the obstacle to naval enterprise, 

 which vessels of this constructjon 

 offer to our sea-port towns, their 

 utility towards supporting, within 

 our waters, the authority of the 

 law, the promptness with which 

 they will be nianned by the seamcii 

 and militia of the place, in the mo- 

 ment they are wanting, the facility 

 of their assembling, Irom ditferent 

 parts of the coast, to any point 

 where they are required in greater 

 force than ordinary, the economy 

 of their maintenance, and preserva- 

 tion from decay, when not in actual 

 •crvice, and of the competence of 

 our fiuaaccs to this defensive provi- 



sion, without any new burthen, arc 

 considerations which will have due 

 weight with congress in deciding on 

 the expediency of adding to their 

 number from year to year, as expe- 

 rience will test their utility, until 

 all our important harbours, by these 

 and auxiliary means, shall be se- 

 cured agaiust insult and opposition 

 to the laws. No circumstance has 

 arisen since your last session, which 

 calls for any augmentation of our 

 militia force. Should any improve- 

 ment occur in the militia system, 

 that Mill be always seasonable. — 

 Accounts of the receipts and ex- 

 penditure of the last year, with 

 estimates for the ensuing one, will 

 be, as usual, laid before you. The 

 sfate of our linances continue to ful- 

 fil our expectations: eleven millions 

 and a half of dollars received in the 

 course of last year, ending the 3Gth 

 of September last, have enabled us, 

 after meeting all the ordinary ex- 

 pences of the vcar, to pay upwards 

 of 3,600,000 dollars of the debt in- 

 curred, exclusive of interest. This 

 payment, with those of the two pre- 

 ceding years, has extinguished up- 

 wards of twelve millions of princi- 

 pal. But in the discharge of the 

 great duties confided to you by our 

 country, you Mill take a broader 

 view of the field of legislation. 

 Whether the great interests of agri- 

 culture, manufactures, commerce, 

 navigation, can, within the pale of 

 your constitutional powers, be aid- 

 ed in any of their relations; whe- 

 ther laws are provided in all cases 

 where they are wanting; whether 

 any abuses take place in their ad- 

 ministration, or to that of the pub- 

 lic revenues? Whether the orga- 

 nization of the public agents, or of 

 the public force, is perfect in all its 

 parts? Jn fine, whether any thing 



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