The President elect of the United States having informed the Senate that he proposes to take the oath which the constitution prescribes to the President of the United States before he enters on the execution of his office, on Wednesday, the 4th instant, at 12 o'clock, in the Senate Chamber:
Ordered, That the Secretary communicate that information to the House of Representatives; that seats be provided for such members of the House of Representatives and such of the public Ministers as may think proper to attend; and that the gallery be opened to the citizens of the United States.
And the motion was agreed to.
The Senate took into consideration the amendments to the amendments on the bill to erect a mausoleum for George Washington; and on motion to postpone the further consideration of this bill until the first Monday in December next, it passed in the affirmative—yeas 14, nays 13, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Baldwin, Brown, Cocke, Gunn, Hindman, J. Mason, Morris, Pinckney, Read, Ross, Tracy, and Wells.
Nays.—Messrs. Bloodworth, Chipman, Dayton, T. Foster, Franklin, Greene, Hillhouse, Howard, Langdon, Livermore, Marshall, Nicholas, and Paine.
The bill to prohibit the Secretary of the Navy from being concerned in trade or commerce, was read the third time and passed.
Mr. Nicholas, from the committee on the bill providing for a Naval Peace Establishment, reported amendments, which, being agreed to, the bill was read the third time by unanimous consent, and passed.
Mr. Morris, from the committee appointed to wait on the President elect of the United States, and present him with the answer of the Senate to his Address on taking leave, communicated his reply, which was read as follows:
Gentlemen: I receive with due sensibility the congratulations of the Senate on being called to the first Executive office of our Government; and I accept, with great satisfaction, their assurances of support in whatever regards the honor and interest of our country. Knowing no other object in the discharge of my public duties, their confidence in my future conduct, derived from past events, shall not be disappointed, so far as my judgment may enable me to discern those objects.
The approbation they are so good as to express of my conduct in the chair of the Senate, is highly gratifying to me; and I pray them to accept my humble thanks for these declarations of it.
TH. JEFFERSON.
March, 3, 1801.
Aaron Ogden, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of New Jersey, in place of James Schureman, resigned, produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the Senate.
A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that the House concur in the resolution of the Senate appointing a joint committee to wait on the President of the United States, and notify him of the proposed adjournment of the two Houses of Congress, and have appointed a committee on their part. And that the House of Representatives, having completed the business before them, are about to adjourn without day.
Mr. Read reported, from the joint committee, that they had waited on the President of the United States and that he replied, that he had nothing further to communicate to Congress, except his best wishes for the health and happiness of its members respectively.
The Senate then adjourned without day.
To the Senators of the United States, respectively:
Sir: It appearing to me proper and necessary for the public service, that the Senate of the United States should be convened on Wednesday the 4th of March next, you are desired to attend in the Chamber of the Senate on that day, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, to receive and act upon any communications which the President of the United States may then lay before you touching their interests, and to do and consider all other things which may be proper and necessary for the public service, for the Senate to do and consider.
JOHN ADAMS,
President of the United States.
January 30, 1801.
In conformity to the summons from the President of the United States above recited, the Senate assembled in their Chamber.
PRESENT:
Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United States, and President of the Senate.
Samuel Livermore, and James Sheafe, from New Hampshire.
Dwight Foster, and Jonathan Mason, from Massachusetts.
Theodore Foster and Ray Greene, from Rhode Island.
Uriah Tracy and James Hillhouse, from Connecticut.
Nathaniel Chipman, from Vermont.
Gouverneur Morris and John Armstrong, from New York.
Jonathan Dayton and Aaron Ogden, from New Jersey.
James Ross and Peter Muhlenberg, from Pennsylvania.
William Hill Wells and Samuel White, from Delaware.
John E. Howard, from Maryland.
Stevens T. Mason and Wilson Cary Nicholas, from Virginia.
John Brown, from Kentucky.
Jesse Franklin and David Stone, from North Carolina.
Joseph Anderson and William Cocke, from Tennessee.
Charles Pinckney, from South Carolina.
Abraham Baldwin, from Georgia.
Mr. Hillhouse administered the oath of office to the Vice President, who took the chair, and the credentials of the following members were read:
Of Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Muhlenberg, Mr. Sheafe, Mr. Stone, Mr. Tracy, and Mr. White.
And the oath of office was administered to Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Muhlenberg, Mr. Sheafe, Mr. Stone, and Mr. White, by the Vice President.
Exception being taken to the credentials of the Hon. Mr. Tracy, a Senator from the State of Connecticut, a debate ensued; and, on motion that he be admitted to take the oath required by the constitution, it passed in the affirmative—yeas 13, nays 10, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Chipman, Dayton, Dwight Foster, Hillhouse, Howard, Livermore, J. Mason, Morris, Ogden, Ross, Sheafe, Wells, and White.
Nays.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Baldwin, Brown, Cocke, S. T. Mason, Muhlenberg, Nicholas, Pinckney, and Stone.
And the oath was accordingly administered to Mr. Tracy by the Vice President.
The President of the United States, attended by the Heads of Departments, the Marshal of the District, his officers and other gentlemen, came into the Senate Chamber and took his seat in the chair usually occupied by the Vice President. The Vice President took a separate seat on the right of the President of the United States, and the Chief Justice of the United States on the left. After a short pause, the President of the United States rose, and addressed the audience as follows:
Friends and fellow-citizens:
Called upon to undertake the duties of the first Executive office of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my fellow-citizens which is here assembled, to express my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been pleased to look towards me, to declare a sincere consciousness that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful presentiments which the greatness of the charge, and the weakness of my powers, so justly inspire. A rising nation spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce with nations who feel power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye; when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and the hopes, of this beloved country committed to the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magnitude of the undertaking. Utterly indeed should I despair, did not the presence of many whom I here see remind me, that, in the other high authorities provided by our constitution, I shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal, on which to rely under all difficulties. To you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, and to those associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which we are all embarked, amidst the conflicting elements of a troubled world.
During the contest of opinion through which we have passed, the animation of discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused to think freely, and to speak and to write what they think; but this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the constitution, all will of course arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in common efforts for the common good. All too will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression. Let us then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind, let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which, liberty, and even life itself, are but dreary things. And let us reflect, that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little, if we countenance a political intolerance, as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some and less by others; and should divide opinions as to measures of safety; but every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans: we are all Federalists. If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union, or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it. I know indeed that some honest men fear that a Republican Government cannot be strong; that this Government is not strong enough. But would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a Government which has so far kept us free and firm, on the theoretic and visionary fear that this Government, the world's best hope, may, by possibility, want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest Government on earth. I believe it the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.
Let us then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own federal and republican principles; our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation; entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed indeed and practised in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man, acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which, by all its dispensations, proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter; with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens—a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government; and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.
About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend every thing dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our Government, and consequently those which ought to shape its Administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, but not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political: peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none: the support of the State Governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies: the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace at home, and safety abroad: a jealous care of the right of election by the people; a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution, where peaceable remedies are unprovided: absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of Republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism: a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace, and for the first moments of war, till regulars may relieve them: the supremacy of the civil over the military authority—economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burdened: the honest payment of our debts, and sacred preservation of the public faith: encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid: the diffusion of information, and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason: freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of person, under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages, and blood of our heroes, have been devoted to their attainment: they should be the creed of our political faith; the text of civic instruction; the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps, and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety.
I repair then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have assigned me. With experience enough in subordinate offices to have seen the difficulties of this, the greatest of all, I have learnt to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man to retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which bring him into it. Without pretensions to that high confidence you reposed in our first and greatest revolutionary character, whose pre-eminent services had entitled him to the first place in his country's love, and destined for him the fairest page in the volume of faithful history, I ask so much confidence only as may give firmness and effect to the legal administration of your affairs. I shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional; and your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not, if seen in all its parts. The approbation implied by your suffrage is a great consolation to me for the past; and my future solicitude will be, to retain the good opinion of those who have bestowed it in advance, to conciliate that of others by doing them all the good in my power, and to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom of all.
Relying then on the patronage of your good will, I advance with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever you become sensible how much better choices it is in your power to make. And may that Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity.
The oath of office was then administered to him by the Chief Justice of the United States. After which the President of the United States retired.
The Senate then adjourned till to-morrow.
William Hindman, appointed a Senator by the State of Maryland, produced his credentials, and the oath of office was administered to him by the Vice President.
Ordered, That Messrs. Nicholas and Baldwin be a committee to wait on the President of the United States and notify him that the Senate is assembled and ready to receive any communications which he may be pleased to make to them.
The Vice President communicated a letter from Ray Greene, a Senator from the State of Rhode Island, resigning his seat; which was read.
Resolved, That the Vice President be requested to notify to the Executive of the State of Rhode Island, that Ray Greene hath resigned his seat in the Senate.
Mr. Nicholas reported, from the committee, that they had waited on the President of the United States and that he had informed the committee that he would immediately lay a Message before the Senate. The Message was received, containing nominations to fill Executive offices; which, after being considered,
Ordered, That Messrs. Nicholas and Baldwin be a committee to wait on the President of the United States, and notify him, that, unless he has any further communication to make, the Senate are ready to adjourn.
Mr. Nicholas reported, from the committee, that they had waited on the President of the United States, and that he had informed them that he had no further communications to make to the Senate.
Whereupon, the Vice President adjourned the Senate without day.
The following Message was received from the President of the United States:
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and decision, a convention, both in English and French, between the United States of America and the French Republic, signed at Paris, on the thirtieth day of September last, by the respective Plenipotentiaries of the two Powers. I also transmit to the Senate, three manuscript volumes, containing the journal of our Envoys.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, Dec. 15, 1800.
The Message and convention were read; and after progress in reading the other papers accompanying the Message,
Ordered, That the further reading thereof be postponed.
The Senate proceeded to consider the motion, made yesterday, that the President of the United States be requested to lay before the Senate the instructions given to our late Commissioners to the French Republic; which, being amended, was adopted, as follows:
Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to lay before the Senate the instructions given to our late Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to the French Republic.
Ordered, That the Secretary lay this resolution before the President of the United States.
The following Message was received from the President of the United States.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
In conformity with your request, in your resolution of the 19th of this month, I transmit you the instructions given to our late Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary to the French Republic.
It is my request to the Senate that these instructions may be considered in strict confidence, and returned to me as soon as the Senate shall have made all the use of them they may judge necessary.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, Dec. 22, 1800.
On motion,
Resolved, That all confidential communications made by the President of the United States to the Senate, shall be, by the members thereof, kept inviolably secret; and that all treaties which may hereafter be laid before the Senate, shall also be kept secret, until the Senate shall, by their resolution, take off the injunction of secrecy.
The Senate resumed the consideration of the convention made on behalf of the United States with the Republic of France.
And the second article having been debated, a question was moved thereon, to wit: "Will the Senate advise and consent to the ratification of this article?"
And the yeas and nays being taken, are as follows—yeas 11, nays 16:
Yeas.—Messrs. Baldwin, Bloodworth, Brown, Cocke, T. Foster, Franklin, Greene, Langdon, S. T. Mason, Nicholas, and Paine.
Nays.—Messrs. Armstrong, Chipman, Dayton, D. Foster, Gunn, Hillhouse, Hindman, Howard, Latimer, Livermore, J. Mason, Morris, Read, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
So it passed in the negative.
And the third article being under consideration, a question was moved and put, "Will the Senate advise and consent to the ratification of this article?"
And the yeas and nays being taken, are as follows—yeas 12, nays 15:
Yeas.—Messrs. Armstrong, Baldwin, Bloodworth, Brown, Cocke, T. Foster, Franklin, Greene, Gunn, Langdon, S. T. Mason, and Nicholas.
Nays.—Messrs. Chipman, Dayton, D. Foster, Hillhouse, Hindman, Howard, Latimer, Livermore, J. Mason, Morris, Paine, Read, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
So it passed in the negative.
The Senate proceeded in the consideration of the convention, so far as the fourteenth article; and, after debate,
Ordered, That the further consideration thereof be postponed.
The Senate resumed the consideration of the convention made on behalf of the United States with the Republic of France.
On motion, to advise and consent to the adoption of an additional article, to wit:
"It is further agreed, between the said contracting parties, that nothing in this treaty contained, shall be construed or operate contrary to former and existing treaties with other States or sovereigns."
And, on the question, "Will the Senate advise and consent to the adoption of this article?" it passed unanimously in the affirmative—yeas 27, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Baldwin, Bloodworth, Brown, Chipman, Cocke, Dayton, D. Foster, Franklin, Greene, Gunn, Hillhouse, Hindman, Howard, Langdon, Latimer, Livermore, S. T. Mason, J. Mason, Morris, Nicholas, Paine, Read, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
On motion, to advise and consent to the adoption of the following additional article, to wit:
"The present convention shall be in full force during the term of —— years, to be computed from the time of the exchange of the ratifications."
And, after debate,
Ordered, That the further consideration thereof be postponed.
The Senate resumed the consideration of the convention made on behalf of the United States with the Republic of France; and
The motion made on the 9th instant, being amended as follows:
The present convention shall be in full force until two years, to be computed from the day of the signature of the preliminary or other articles of peace, which shall conclude the war in which the French nation is now engaged, or for a term not exceeding —— years, to be computed from the time of the exchange of the ratifications, whichever event shall first happen.
On the question, "Will the Senate advise and consent to the adoption of this article?" it was determined in the affirmative—yeas 25, nay 1, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Baldwin, Bingham, Bloodworth, Brown, Chipman, Cocke, Dayton, T. Foster, D. Foster, Franklin, Greene, Hillhouse, Hindman, Howard, Latimer, Livermore, Morris, Nicholas, Paine, Read, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
Nay.—Mr. Langdon.
The Senate resumed the consideration of the convention made on behalf of the United States with the Republic of France: Whereupon,
The Vice President reported to the House, that the Senate, as in a Committee of the Whole, had had under their consideration the convention, and had gone through the same, and had agreed to sundry modifications, which he proceeded to state to the House, and again to put questions thereon, severally, for confirmation, as follows:
On the question, whether the Senate would advise and consent to the ratification of the second article of the convention? it passed in the negative—yeas 10, nays 15, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Anderson, Baldwin, Bloodworth, Cocke, T. Foster, Franklin, Langdon, Marshall, Nicholas, and Paine.
Nays.—Messrs. Bingham, Chipman, Dayton, D. Foster, Hillhouse, Howard, Latimer, Livermore, J. Mason, Morris, Read, Ross, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
On the question whether the Senate would advise and consent to the ratification of the third article of the convention? a motion was made to amend the article, by adding to the end thereof, these words, "or paid for." Whereupon,
A motion was made to amend the amendment by adding thereto the following words: "And so likewise, the merchant ships and vessels which have been taken, and definitively condemned on the one part and the other, shall be restored or paid for."
On the question to agree to the amendment to the amendment, it passed in the negative—yeas 8, nays 20, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. D. Foster, Hillhouse, Howard, Latimer, Livermore, Read, Tracy, and Wells.
Nays.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Baldwin, Bingham, Bloodworth, Brown, Chipman, Cocke, Dayton, T. Foster, Franklin, Langdon, Marshall, S. T. Mason, J. Mason, Morris, Nicholas, Paine, Ross, and Schureman.
So the amendment to the amendment was lost.
On the question to agree to the original amendment, to wit: to add the words "or paid for;" it passed in the negative—yeas 7, nays 21, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Brown, Baldwin, Cocke, S. T. Mason, and Nicholas.
Nays.—Messrs. Bingham, Bloodworth, Chipman, Dayton, T. Foster, D. Foster, Franklin, Hillhouse, Howard, Langdon, Latimer, Livermore, Marshall, J. Mason, Morris, Paine, Read, Ross, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
So the amendment was lost.
On the question, whether the Senate would advise and consent to the ratification of the third article? it passed in the negative—yeas 13, nays 16, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Baldwin, Bloodworth, Brown, Cocke, T. Foster, Franklin, Greene, Langdon, Marshall, S. T. Mason, and Nicholas.
Nays.—Messrs. Bingham, Chipman, Dayton, D. Foster, Hillhouse, Howard, Latimer, Livermore, J. Mason, Morris, Paine, Read, Ross, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
On the question, whether the Senate would advise and consent to the adoption of the first additional article, agreed to as in Committee of the Whole, on the 9th instant? it passed unanimously in the affirmative—yeas 28, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Baldwin, Bingham, Bloodworth, Brown, Chipman, Cocke, Dayton, T. Foster, D. Foster, Franklin, Greene, Hillhouse, Howard, Langdon, Latimer, Livermore, S. T. Mason, J. Mason, Morris, Nicholas, Paine, Read, Ross, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
On motion to fill the blank in the second additional article, agreed to as in Committee of the Whole, with the words, "ten years;" it passed in the negative—yeas 9, nays 19, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Baldwin, Bloodworth, Brown, Cocke, T. Foster, Franklin, Langdon, S. T. Mason, and Nicholas.
Nays.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Bingham, Chipman, Dayton, D. Foster, Greene, Hillhouse, Howard, Latimer, Livermore, J. Mason, Morris, Paine, Read, Ross, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
On motion to fill the blank with the words "eight years," it passed unanimously in the affirmative—yeas 28, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Baldwin, Bingham, Bloodworth, Brown, Chipman, Cocke, Dayton, T. Foster, D. Foster, Franklin, Greene, Hillhouse, Howard, Langdon, Latimer, Livermore, S. T. Mason, J. Mason, Morris, Nicholas, Paine, Read, Ross, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
On motion to amend the second additional article agreed to as in Committee of the Whole, by striking out these words, "until two years, to be computed from the day of the signature of the preliminary or other articles of peace, which shall conclude the war in which the French nation is now engaged."
And, on the question, "Shall these words stand?" it passed in the negative—yeas 4, nays 23, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Livermore, Paine, Read, and Tracy.
Nays.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Baldwin, Bloodworth, Brown, Chipman, Cocke, Dayton, T. Foster, D. Foster, Franklin, Greene, Hillhouse, Howard, Langdon, Latimer, Marshall, S. T. Mason, J. Mason, Morris, Nicholas, Schureman, and Wells.
And the article having been further amended, by unanimous consent, to read as follows:
"The present convention shall be in full force for the term of eight years, to be computed from the time of the exchange of the ratifications."
On the question, whether the Senate would advise and consent to the said additional article, as amended? it passed in the affirmative—yeas 26, nay 1, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Baldwin, Bloodworth, Brown, Chipman, Cocke, Dayton, T. Foster, D. Foster, Franklin, Greene, Hillhouse, Howard, Langdon, Latimer, Marshall, S. T. Mason, J. Mason, Morris, Nicholas, Paine, Read, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
Nay.—Mr. Livermore.
Ordered, That Mr. Morris, Mr. Nicholas, and Mr. Dayton, be a committee to reduce the several votes on this treaty into the form of a ratification.
The following Message was received from the President of the United States:
Gentlemen of the Senate:
In compliance with your request, signified in your resolution of the twentieth day of this month, I transmit you a report, made to me by the Secretary of State, on the same day; a letter of our late Envoys to him on the 4th of October last; an extract of a letter from our Minister Plenipotentiary in London, to him, of the 22d of November last; and an extract of another letter from the Minister to the Secretary, of the 31st of October last.
The reasoning in the letter of our late Envoys to France is so fully supported by the writers on the law of nations, particularly by Vattel, as well as by his great masters, Grotius and Puffendorf, that nothing is left to be desired to settle the point, that if there be a collision between two treaties, made with two different powers, the more ancient has the advantage; for no engagement contrary to it can be entered into in the treaty afterwards made; and if this last be found, in any case, incompatible with the more ancient one, its execution is considered as impossible, because the person promising had not the power of acting contrary to his antecedent engagement. Although our right is very clear to negotiate treaties according to our own ideas of right and justice, honor and good faith, yet it must always be a satisfaction to know that the judgment of other nations with whom we have connection, coincides with ours, and that we have no reason to apprehend that any disagreeable questions and discussions are likely to arise. The letters from Mr. King will, therefore, be read by the Senate, with particular satisfaction.
The inconveniences to public officers and the mischiefs to the public, arising from the publication of the despatches of Ministers abroad, are so numerous, and so obvious, that I request of the Senate that these papers, especially the letters from Mr. King, be considered in close confidence.
JOHN ADAMS.
United States, Jan. 21, 1801.
The Message and papers were read, and ordered to lie for consideration.
The Senate resumed the consideration of the report of the committee appointed to reduce the several votes on the convention made on behalf of the United States with the Republic of France, into the form of a ratification, together with the motion made yesterday thereon, to wit: to amend the proviso, by inserting after the word "third," the words "and nineteenth." And, on the question, to agree to the insertion of the words, it was determined in the negative—yeas 6, nays 22, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Bingham, Hillhouse, Read, Ross, Tracy, and Wells.
Nays.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Baldwin, Bloodworth, Brown, Chipman, Cocke, Dayton, T. Foster, D. Foster, Franklin, Greene, Howard, Langdon, Latimer, Livermore, S. T. Mason, J. Mason, Morris, Nicholas, Paine, and Schureman.
Ordered, That the further consideration of the convention, and the report of the committee thereon, be postponed until Friday next.
The Senate resumed the consideration of the report of the committee appointed to reduce the several votes on the convention made on behalf of the United States with the Republic of France, into the form of a ratification, which report is as follows:
Resolved by the Senate of the United States, (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring therein,) That they do consent to and advise the ratification of the convention between the French Republic and the United States of America, made at Paris the eighth day of Vendemaire, of the ninth year of the French Republic, the thirtieth day of September, anno Domini eighteen hundred: Provided, The second and third articles be expunged, and that the following articles be added or inserted:
1st. It is understood that nothing in this convention shall be so construed as to operate contrary to any former and existing treaties between either of the parties and any other State or Sovereign.
2d. It is agreed that the present convention shall be in force for the term of eight years from the time of the exchange of the ratifications.
Whereupon a motion was made to strike out the whole of the proviso; on which it was agreed to divide the question into four parts, viz:
1st. Whether so much as provides that the second article shall be expunged, shall stand?
2d. Whether so much as provides that the third article be expunged, shall stand?
3d. Whether that part shall stand which restrains it from operating against former treaties?
4th. Whether that part shall stand which provides a limitation of time to its duration?
And, on the question on the first division, to wit: Whether so much as provides that the second article shall be expunged, shall stand? it passed in the negative, two-thirds of the Senators present not agreeing thereto—yeas 17, nays 13, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Armstrong, Bingham, Chipman, Dayton, D. Foster, Hillhouse, Hindman, Howard, Latimer, J. Mason, Morris, Paine, Read, Ross, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
Nays.—Messrs. Anderson, Baldwin, Bloodworth, Brown, Cocke, T. Foster, Franklin, Greene, Langdon, Livermore, Marshall, S. T. Mason, and Nicholas.
And on the question on the second division, to wit: Whether so much as provides that the third article shall be expunged, shall stand? it passed in the negative, two-thirds of the Senators present not agreeing thereto—yeas 16, nays 17, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Bingham, Chipman, Dayton, D. Foster, Hillhouse, Hindman, Howard, Latimer, J. Mason, Morris, Paine, Read, Ross, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
Nays.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Baldwin, Bloodworth, Brown, Cocke, T. Foster, Franklin, Greene, Langdon, Livermore, Marshall, S. T. Mason, and Nicholas.
And, on the question on the third division, to wit: Whether that part shall stand which restrains it from operating against former treaties? it passed in the negative, two-thirds of the Senators present not agreeing thereto—yeas 17, nays 13, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Bingham, Chipman, Dayton, D. Foster, Greene, Hillhouse, Hindman, Howard, Latimer, J. Mason, Morris, Paine, Read, Ross, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
Nays.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Baldwin, Bloodworth, Brown, Cocke, T. Foster, Franklin, Langdon, Livermore, Marshall, S. T. Mason, and Nicholas.
And, on the question on the fourth division, to wit: Whether that part shall stand which provides a limitation of time to its duration? it was determined in the affirmative—yeas 24, nays 6, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Bingham, Bloodworth, Chipman, Cocke, Dayton, D. Foster, Franklin, Greene, Hillhouse, Hindman, Howard, Langdon, Latimer, Livermore, J. Mason, Morris, Paine, Read, Ross, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
Nays.—Messrs. Baldwin, Brown, T. Foster, Marshall, S. T. Mason, and Nicholas.
And, on the question to agree to the report of the committee, as amended, it was determined in the negative, two-thirds of the Senators present not agreeing thereto—yeas 16, nays 14, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Baldwin, Bloodworth, Brown, Chipman, Cocke, T. Foster, Franklin, Greene, Langdon, Livermore, Marshall, S. T. Mason, Nicholas, and Paine.
Nays.—Messrs. Bingham, Dayton, D. Foster, Hillhouse, Hindman, Howard, Latimer, J. Mason, Morris, Read, Ross, Schureman, Tracy, and Wells.
On motion, it was agreed to reconsider the vote passed the 23d of January, on the report of the committee appointed to reduce the several votes on the convention made on behalf of the United States with the French Republic, into the form of a ratification.
On motion, it was agreed to reconsider the first division of the report, to wit: