GENERAL HISTORY. 



[151 



and useful to their successor. 

 From these I shall eudeavoilr to 

 derive all the advantages which 

 they may afford. Of tny immedi- 

 ate predecessor, under whom so 

 important a portion of this great 

 and successful experiment has been 

 made, I shall be pardoned for ex- 

 pressing my earnest wishes that 

 he may long enjoy in his retire- 

 ment tlie affections of a grateful 

 country, the best reward of ex- 

 alted talents and the most faithful 

 and meritorious services. Rely- 

 ing on the aid to be derived from 

 the other departments of the go- 

 vernment, I enter on the trust to 

 which 1 have been called by the 

 suffrages of my fellow-ciiizehs, 

 with my fervent prayers to the 

 Almighty that he will be gracious- 

 ly pleased to continue to us that 

 protection which he has already 

 conspicuously diisplayed in our 

 favour." 



PRfeSIDENT's SECOND SPEECH. 



Washington, Dec. 2. 

 This day at 12 o'clock, the Pre- 

 sident of the United States trans- 

 mitted to both tlouses of Con- 

 gress, the following Message, by 

 Mr. Joseph Jones Monro, his se- 

 cretary : 



" Fellow Citizens of the Senate, and 

 of the House of Repre^entalWcs, 

 " At no period of our political 

 existence had we so much cause 

 to felicitate ourselves at the pros- 

 perous and happy condition of our 

 country. The abundant fruits of 

 the earth have tilled it with plenty. 

 Ad extensive and profitable com- 

 merce has greatly augmented our 

 revenue. The public credit has at- 

 tained an extraordinary elevation. 

 Our preparations for defenc-e, in 

 case of future Wars^ from which. 



by the experience of aU nations 

 we ought not to expect to be ex- 

 empted, are advancing under a. 

 well-digested system, with all the 

 dispatch which so important a 

 work will admit. Our free go- 

 vernment, founded on tlie interest 

 and affections of the people, has 

 gained, and is daily gaining, 

 strength. Local jealousies are ra- 

 pidly yielding to more generous, 

 enlarged, and enlightened views 

 of national policy. For advantages 

 so numerous and highly import- 

 ant, It is our duty to ilnite in 

 grateful acknowledgments to that 

 Omnipotent Being fi-om whom 

 they are derived, and in unceasing 

 prayer that he will endow us with 

 virtue and strength to maintain 

 and hand them down in their ut- 

 most purity to our latest posterity. 

 " 1 have the satisfaction to in- 

 forhi you, that an arrangement, 

 which had been commenced by 

 my predecessor, with the British 

 Government, for the reduction of 

 the naval force, by Great Britain 

 and the tJnited States, on the 

 Lakes, has been concluded ; by 

 which it is provided, that neither 

 party shall keep in servic'e on Lake 

 Champlain more than one vessel ; 

 on Lake Ontario more than one ; 

 and on Lake Erie and the Upper 

 Lakes more than two; to be armed 

 each with one cannon only ; and 

 that all the other armed vessels of 

 both parties, of AVhich an exact 

 list is interchang'ed, shall be dis- 

 mantled. It is also agreed, that 

 the force retained shall be re- 

 stricted in its duty to the internal 

 purposes of each party ; and that 

 the arrangement shall remain in 

 force iintil six months shall have 

 expired, after notice given by one 

 of the parties to the other of its 



desire 



