DECEMBER, 1796.]

Address to the President.

[H. OF R.

members only appearing for the postponement, | your wise, firm, and patriotic Administration has been it was negatived.

The question was then put, whether the House agreed to the report of the Committee of the Whole and disagreed with the report of the select committee; which appeared in the affirmative. The motion was therefore lost.

Address to the President.

signally conducive to the success of the present form of Government, we cannot forbear to express the deep sensations of regret with which we contemplato your intended retirement from office.

As no other suitable occasion may occur, we cannot suffer the present to pass without attempting to disclose some of the emotions which it cannot fail to awaken.

The gratitude and admiration of your countrymen The House again resolved itself into a Comare still drawn to the recollection of those resplenmittee of the Whole on the Answer to the dent virtues and talents which were so eminently PRESIDENT'S Address; when the Answer re-instrumental to the achievement of the Revolution, ported by the select committee was read by the Clerk, and then in paragraphs by the Chairman, which is as follows:

and of which that glorious event will ever be the memorial. Your obedience to the voice of duty and your country, when you quitted reluctantly a second time the retreat you had chosen, and first accepted the Presidency, afforded a new proof of the devoted

SIR: The House of Representatives have attended to your communication respecting the state of our country, with all the sensibility that the contempla-ness of your zeal in its service, and an earnest of the tion of the subject and a sense of duty can inspire. patriotism and success which have characterized your Administration. As the grateful confidence of the citizens in the virtues of their Chief Magistrate has essentially contributed to that success, we persuade ourselves that the millions whom we represent participate with us in the anxious solicitude of the pre

We are gratified by the information that measures calculated to ensure a continuance of the friendship of the Indians, and to maintain the tranquillity of the interior frontier, have been adopted; and we indulge the hope that these, by impressing the Indian tribes with more correct conceptions of the justice, as well as power of the United States, will be attended with

success.

sent occasion.

Yet we cannot be unmindful that your moderation and magnanimity, twice displayed by retiring from your exalted stations, afford examples no less rare and instructive to mankind than valuable to a Republic.

While we notice, with satisfaction, the steps that you have taken in pursuance of the late treaties with several foreign nations, the liberation of our citizens who were prisoners at Algiers is a subject of Although we are sensible that this event, of itself, peculiar felicitation. We shall cheerfully co-operate completes the lustre of a character already conspicuin any further measures that shall appear, on consid-ously unrivalled by the coincidence of virtue, talents, eration, to be requisite.

We have ever concurred with you in the most sincere and uniform disposition to preserve our neutral relations inviolate; and it is, of course, with anxiety and deep regret we hear that any interruption of our harmony with the French Republic has occurred; for we feel with you and with our constituents the cordial and unabated wish to maintain a perfectly friendly understanding with that nation. Your endeavors to fulfil that wish, (and by all honorable means to preserve peace, and to restore that harmony and affection which have heretofore so happily subsisted between the French Republic and the United States,) cannot fail, therefore, to interest our attention." And while we participate in the full reliance you have expressed on the patriotism, self-respect, and fortitude of our countrymen, we cherish the pleasing hope that a mutual spirit of justice and moderation on the part of the Republic will ensure the success of your

perseverance.

The various subjects of your communication will, respectively, meet with the attention that is due to their importance.

When we advert to the internal situation of the United States, we deem it equally natural and becoming to compare the tranquil prosperity of the citizens with the period immediately antecedent to the operation of the Government, and to contrast it with the calamities in which the state of war still involves several of the European nations, as the reflections deduced from both tend to justify, as well as to excite, a warmer admiration of our free constitution, and to exalt our minds to a more fervent and grateful sense of piety towards Almighty God for the beneficence of His providence, by which its administration has been hitherto so remarkably distinguished.

And while we entertain a grateful conviction that

success, and public estimation, yet we conceive that we owe it to you, sir, and still more emphatically to ourselves and to our nation (of the language of whose hearts we presume to think ourselves at this moment the faithful interpreters) to express the sentiments with which it is contemplated.

The spectacle of a whole nation, the freest and most enlightened in the world, offering by its Representatives the tribute of unfeigned approbation to its first citizen, however novel and interesting it may be, derives all its lustre—a lustre which accident or enthusiasm could not bestow, and which adulation would tarnish-from the transcendent merit of which it is the voluntary testimony.

For your

May you long enjoy that liberty which is so dear to you, and to which your name will ever be so dear. May your own virtues and a nation's prayers obtain the happiest sunshine for the decline of your days and the choicest of future blessings. country's sake-for the sake of Republican liberty— it is our earnest wish that your example may be the guide of your successors; and thus, after being the ornament and safeguard of the present age, bocome the patrimony of our descendants.

Mr. VENABLE observed, on a paragraph wherein it speaks of the "tranquillity of the interior frontier," he did not know what was the meaning of the expression: he moved to insert" Western frontier" in its stead.

Mr. AMES observed that the words of the report are in the PRESIDENT's Speech; however, he thought the amendment a good one. It then passed.

In the fourth paragraph are these words: "Your endeavors to fulfil that wish cannot fail, therefore, to interest our attention." At the word

H. OF R.]

Address to the President.

[DECEMBER, 1796. would soften the expression, and, acting with that spirit of justice and moderation, accomplish a reconciliation. The amendment was

On the Chairman's reading the last paragraph except one in the report, which reads thus: "The spectacle of a whole nation, the freest and most enlightened in the world," Mr. PARKER moved to strike out the words in italic. Although, said he, I wish to believe that we are the freest people, and the most enlightened people in the world, it is enough that we think ourselves so; it is not becoming in us to make the declaration to the world; and if we are not so, it is still worse for us to suppose ourselves what we are not.

"wish," Mr. GILES proposed to insert these
words: "and by all honorable means to pre-
serve peace, and restore that harmony and af-
fection which have heretofore so happily sub-adopted.
sisted between the French Republic and this
country;" and strike out the words that follow
"wish" in that paragraph. He said, his reasons
for moving this amendment were to avoid its
consequences. He really wished the report en-
tirely recommitted, as there were many objec-
tionable parts in it. He had been very seriously
impressed with the consequences that would
result from a war with the French Republic.
When I reflect, said Mr. G., on the calamities |
of war in general, I shudder at the thought;
but, to conceive of the danger of a French war
in particular, it cuts me still closer. When I
think what many gentlemen in mercantile sit-
uations now feel, and the dreadful stop put to
commerce, I feel the most sincere desire to cul-
tivate harmony and good understanding. I see
redoubled motives to show the world that we
are in favor of a preservation of peace and har-
mony.

Mr. HARPER said he had a motion of amendment in his hand which would supersede the necessity of the last made, which, if in order, he would propose: it was to insert words more simple. He thought the more simple, the more agreeable to the public ear. His amendment, he thought, would add to the elegance and conciseness of the expression. He did not disapprove Mr. W. SMITH said, he should not object to of the Address as it now stood, but he thought the amendment; but he thought it only an it might be amended. This, he said, would add amplification of a sentiment just before express-to the dignity, as well as to the simplicity of ed. He did not see any advantage in the sentiment as dilated, nor could he see any injury which could accrue from it. He hoped every gentleman in the House wished as sincerely for the preservation of peace as that gentleman did.

Mr. AMES wished to know of the gentleman from Virginia, whether he meant to strike out the latter part of this paragraph; if he did, he would object to it.

Mr. GILES said, he did not mean to strike out any more of this paragraph.

Mr. AMES wished it not to be struck out. By the amendment to strike out, we show the dependence we place on the power and protection of the French. While we declare ourselves weak by the act, we lose the recourse to our own patriotism, and fly, acknowledging an offence never committed, to the French for peace. He hoped the gentleman would be candid upon this occasion.

Mr. GILES said, he only wished this House to express their most sincere and unequivocal | desire in favor of peace, and not merely to leave it to the PRESIDENT. He said, he had spoken upon this occasion as he always had done on this floor. He always had, and he hoped always should state his opinions upon every subject with plainness and candor.

The amendment passed unanimously. Mr. GILES then proposed an amendment to the latter part of the same paragraph which would make it read thus: "We cherish the pleasing hope that a spirit of mutual justice and moderation will ensure the success of your perseverance." The amendment was to insert the word "mutual." He thought we ought to display a spirit of justice and moderation as well as the French. This amendment, he thought,

the expression. He thought it would be improper to give too much scope to feeling: amplitude of expression frequently weakens an idea.

Mr. GILES said he saw many objectionable parts in the amendments proposed by the gentleman just sat down. He wished to strike out two paragraphs more than Mr. HARPER had proposed; indeed, he wished the whole to be recommitted, that it might be formed more congenial to the wishes of the House in general, and not less agreeable to the person to be addressed.

Mr. SMITH observed, that as the answer had been read by paragraphs nearly to the close, he thought it very much out of order to return to parts so distant.

The Chairman said that no paragraph on which an amendment had been made could be returned to; but where no amendment had been made, it was quite consistent with order to propose any one gentlemen may think proper.

Mr. W. SMITH opposed striking out any paragraph. It was, he said, the last occasion we should have to address that great man, who had done so much service to his country. The warmth of expression in the answer was only an evidence of the gratitude of this House for his character. When we reflect on the glowing language used at the time when he accepted of the office of PRESIDENT, and at his re-election to that office, why, asked he, ought not the language of this House to be as full of respect and gratitude now as then? particularly when we consider the addresses now flowing in from all parts of the country. I object to the manner of gentlemen's amendments as proposed, to strike out all in a mass. If the sentiments were

DECEMBER, 1796.]

Address to the President.

[H. OF R.

agreeable to the minds of the House, why | wish him to enjoy all possible happiness. I waste our time to alter mere expressions while the sentiment is preserved? No doubt every gentleman's manner of expression differed, while their general ideas might be the same. He hoped mere form of expression would not cause its recommitment.

Mr. GILES did not object to a respectful and complimentary Address being sent to the PRESIDENT, yet he thought we ought not to carry our expressions out of the bounds of moderation; he hoped we should adhere to truth. He objected to some of the expressions in those paragraphs, for which reason he moved to have the paragraphs struck out, in order to be amended by the committee. He wished to act as respectful to the PRESIDENT as any gentleman, but he observed many parts of the Address which were objectionable. It is unnatural and unbecoming in us to exult in our superior happiness, light, or wisdom. It is not at all necessary that we should exult in our advantages, and thus reflect on the unhappy situation of nations in their troubles; it is insulting to them. If we are thus happy it is well for us; it is necessary that we should enjoy our happiness, but not boast of it to all the world, and insult their unhappy situation.

As to those parts of the Address which speak of the wisdom and firmness of the PRESIDENT, he must object to them. On reflection, he could see a want of wisdom and firmness in the Administration for the last six years. I may be singular in my ideas, said he, but I believe our Administration has been neither wise nor firm. I believe, sir, a want of wisdom and firmness has brought this country into the present alarming situation. If after such a view of the Administration, I was to come into this House and show the contrary by a quiet acquiescence, gentlemen would think me a very inconsistent character. If we take a view of our foreign relations, we shall see no reason to exult in the wisdom or firmness of our Administration. He thought nothing so much as a want of that wisdom and firmness had brought us to the critical situation in which we now stand.

wish him to retire, and that this was the moment of his retirement. He thought the Government of the United States could go on very well without him; and he thought he would enjoy more happiness in his retirement than he possibly could in his present situation. What calamities would attend the United States, and how short the duration of its Independence, if one man alone can be found to fill that capacity! He thought there were thousands of citizens in the United States able to fill that high office, and he doubted not that many may be found whose talents would enable them to fill it with credit and advantage. Although much had been said, and that by many people, about his intended retirement, yet he must acknowledge he felt no uncomfortable sensations about it; he must express his own feelings, he was perfectly easy in prospect of the event. He wished the PRESIDENT as much happiness as any man. He declared he did not regret his retreat; he wished him quietly at his seat at Mount Vernon; he thought he would enjoy more happiness there than in public life. It will be very extraordinary if gentlemen, whose names in the yeas and nays are found in opposition to certain prominent measures of the Administration, should come forward and approve those measures: this we could not expect. He retained an opinion he had always seen_reason to support, and no influence under Heaven should prevent him expressing his established sentiments; and he thought the same opinions would soon meet general concurrence. He hoped gentlemen would compliment the PRESIDENT privately, as individuals; at the same time, he hoped such adulation would never pervade that House.

I must make some observation, said Mr. G., on the last paragraph but one, where we call ourselves "the freest and most enlightened nation in the world:" indeed, the whole of that paragraph is objectionable; I disapprove the whole of it. If I am free, if I am happy, if I am enlightened more than others, I wish not to proclaim it on the house top; if we are free, it If it had been the will of gentlemen to have is not prudent to declare it; if enlightened, it been satisfied with placing the PRESIDENT in is not our duty in this House to trumpet it to the highest possible point of respect amongst the world; it is no Legislative concern. If men, the vote of the House would have been gentlemen will examine the paragraph, [referunanimous, but the proposal of such adulation ring to that contained in the parenthesis,] it could never expect success. If we take a view seems to prove that the gentleman who drew it into our internal situation, and behold the up was going into the field of adulation; which ruined state of public and private credit, less would tarnish a private character. I do think now than perhaps at any former period how-this kind of affection the PRESIDENT gains nothever, he never could recollect it so deranged. If we survey this city, what a shameful scene it alone exhibits, owing, as he supposed, to the immense quantity of paper issued. Surely this could afford no ground for admiration of the Administration that caused it.

I must acknowledge, said Mr. GILES, that I am one of those who do not think so much of the PRESIDENT as some others do. When the PRESIDENT retires from his present station, I

ing from. The many long Addresses we hear of, add nothing to the lustre of his character. In the honor we may attempt to give to others we may hurt ourselves. This may prove a self-destroyer; by relying too much on administration, we may rely too little on our own strength.

Mr. SITGREAVES said, that whatever division of the question gentlemen would propose, was indifferent to him; the words of the answer

H. OF R.]

Address to the President.

[DECEMBER, 1796 changed, why alter it merely to substitute other words? On the whole, Mr. S. observed, that he did not see the answer could in any degree be reproached. There are no sentiments in it but what are justifiable on the ground of truth; they are free from adulation. It is such an expression of national regret and gratitude as the circumstance calls for; a regret at the retirement of a faithful and patriotic Chief Magistrate from office. A regret and gratitude which he believed to be the sentiment of Americans.

were perfectly congenial with his wishes, and he was prepared to give his opposition to any of the amendments proposed. On mature deliberation, there was not a sentiment in the report but he highly approved. He could not see any thing unnatural or unbecoming in drawing just comparisons of our situation with that of our neighbors; this is the only way we can form a just view of our own happiness. It is a very necessary way to come to a right knowledge of our own situation by comparing it with that of other nations. He would not reproach another Mr. SWANWICK began by observing that there people because they are not so happy as we are; were points in the Address in which all gentlebut he thought drawing simple comparisons in men seemed to agree, while on other parts they the way of the report was no reproach. He cannot agree. We all agree in our desire to pay was not against bringing the comparison down the PRESIDENT every possible mark of respect; to private life, as the gentleman from Virginia but we very materially disagree wherein a comhad done; he should think it wrong in a man parison is drawn between this and foreign nato exult over his neighbor who was distressed tions. If we are happy and other nations are or ignorant, because himself was wealthy or not so, it is but well for us; but he thought it wise. Yet he saw no impropriety in his own would be much more prudent in us to let other family of speaking of their happiness and ad- nations discover it, and not make a boast of it vantages, compared with that of others; it ourselves. It is very likely that those nations would awaken in them a grateful sense of their whom we commiserate may think themselves superior enjoyments, while it pointed out the as happy as we are: they may feel offended to faults and follies of others, only in order that hear of our comparisons. If we refer to the those he had the care of may learn to avoid British Chancellor of the Exchequer in his them: thus while our happiness is pointed out, speeches, he would tell us that is the happiest the miseries of nations involved in distress are and most prosperous nation upon earth. How delineated to serve as beacons for the United then can we commiserate with it as an unforStates to steer clear of. He did not, with the tunate country? If, again, we look to France, gentleman from Virginia, in any degree, doubt that country which we have pointed out as full of the wisdom or firmness of the Administra- of wretchedness and distress, yet we hear them tion of America. In the language of the Ad- boast of their superiority of light and freedom, dress, he entertained a very high opinion of it, and we have reason to believe not without 66 a grateful conviction that the wise, firm, and foundation. A gentleman had talked about the patriotic Administration of the PRESIDENT had flourishing state of our agriculture, and asserted been signally conducive to the success of the that our late commercial calamities were not present form of Government." Such language proofs of our want of prosperity, which the as this is the only reward which can be given gentleman compared to specks in the sun. That by a grateful people for labors so eminently gentleman speaks as though he lived at a disuseful as those of the PRESIDENT had been. tance. Has he heard of no commercial distresses, This was not his sentiment merely, it was the when violations so unprecedented have of late sentiment of the people of America. Every occurred? One merchant has to look for his public body were conveying their sentiments of property at Halifax, another at Bermuda, gratitude throughout the whole extent of the another at Cape Francoise, another at Gonaives, Union. Why then should this House affect a &c.; all agree that they have suffered, and that singularity, when our silence on these points by the war. These are distresses gentlemen would only convey reproach instead of respect. would not like to feel themselves. Mr. S. said If these sentiments were true, why not express he had felt for these occurrences. We are not them? But if, on the contrary, what the gen-exempt from troubles: probably we may have tleman asserted, that the Administration of the PRESIDENT had been neither wise, firm, nor patriotic, then he would concur with the motion for striking out; but he was not convinced of the truth of this assertion; and while this is not proved, he should vote against the motion.

Mr. SITGREAVES said, he could not agree with the motion of the gentleman from South Carolina, (Mr. HARPER,) because his motion was for substituting other words in the place of those in the report, without any reason whatever. If the gentleman, by altering the phraseology, can make the sentiment any better, by all means let it be done but if the sentiment is not to be

suffered as much as other nations who are involved in the war. It is a question whether France has been distressed at all by the war. She has collected gold and silver in immense quantities by her conquests, together with the most valuable stores of the productions of the arts; as statues, paintings, and manuscripts of inestimable worth; and at sea has taken far more in value than she has lost: besides, her armies are subsisting on the requisitions her victories obtain. And has England gained nothing by the war? If we hearken to Mr. Pitt, we may believe they are very great gainers. Surely the islands in the West and East Indies, Ceylon, and the Cape of Good Hope, the key to

Address to the President.

the East Indies, are advantages gained; besides | would remind the committee, that if they the quantity of shipping taken from our mer-wished to retain, or even to amend, any section chants. Mr. S. thought if we were to compare, or sentence of all that was proposed to be we should find those nations had gained by the struck out, they ought to give their negatives to war, while we had lost; and of course there this motion, as the only means of accomplishing was no reason for us to boast of our advan- their purpose. It was sufficient, therefore, for tages. those who were opposed to the question for striking out the whole, to show that any part included within it ought to be preserved. Not unnecessarily to waste time, by lengthening the debate, he would take the clause first in order, and confine his remarks to that alone. This part of the Address had certainly not been read, or had been misunderstood and misrepresented by the member from Pennsylvania.