170] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



North aiid South America. 



THE principal public occur- 

 rences of the great country 

 which may now be properly called 

 North America, having in fact 

 no other government which can 

 island in competition with it, 

 relate to the state of affairs 

 transmitted to the nation through 

 the medium of its President. The 

 first of these refer to the war 

 subsisting with the Seminole 

 Indians, who are said to inhabit 

 almost entirely within the limits 

 of Florida, and consequently in 

 the Spanish territory. The Pre- 

 sident therefore affirms it as an 

 undoubted fact, that " where the 

 authority of Spain ceases to exist, 

 there the United States have a 

 right to pursue their enemy, on a 

 principle of self-defence." The 

 latter, transmitted on Nov. 16th 

 to both Houses of Congress, is a 

 message in which the Senate and 

 the House of Representatives are 

 informed at length of all that 

 belongs to the public business of 

 the nation, and is therefore 

 highly worthy of an attentive 

 perusal. 



With respect to the condition 

 of South America, so extremely 

 uncertain are all the accounts 

 communicated from Spain on the 

 one side, and from the southern 

 states on the other, that we 

 choose to refer the whole to our 

 Chronicle, as the only guide on 



which an impartial relation can 

 be formed. 



CONGRESS. — IN SENATE, Mar. 25. 



SEMINOLE WAR. 



The following Message was 

 received from the President of 

 the United States : — 



To the Senate and House 

 of Representatives of the 

 United States ; 

 I now lay before Congress all 

 the infoxmation in the possession 

 of the Executive, respecting the 

 war with the Serainoles, and the 

 measures which it has been 

 thought proper to adopt, for the 

 safety of our fellow- citizens on 

 the frontier exposed to their 

 ravages. The enclosed docu- 

 ments show that the hostilities of 

 this tribe were unprovoked, the 

 offspring of a spirit long cherished 

 and often manifested towards the 

 United States, and that, in the 

 present instance, it was extend- 

 ing itself to other tribes, and 

 daily assuming a more serious 

 aspect. As soon as the nature 

 and object of this combination 

 were perceived, the Major-Gene- 

 ral commanding the southern 

 division of the troops of the 

 United States was ordered to the 

 theatre of action, charged with 

 the management of the war, and 

 vested with the powers necessary 



to 



