special messenger with instructions to our commissioners, which are among the papers now communicated. This last letter gives us reason to expect very shortly to know the result. I must add, that the Spanish representatives here, perceiving that their last communication had made no considerable impression, endeavored to abate this by some subsequent professions, which, being also among the communications to the legislature, they will be able to form their own conclusions.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

DECEMBER 16, 1793.

To the Senate of the United States:—

I LAY before you a report of the secretary of state on the measures which have been taken on behalf of the United States for the purpose of obtaining a recognition of our treaty with Morocco, and for the ransom of our citizens and establishment of peace with Algiers.

While it is proper our citizens should know that subjects, which so much concern their interests and their feelings, have duly engaged the attention of their legislature and executive, it would still be improper that some particulars of this communication should be made known. The confidential conversation stated in one of the last letters sent herewith is one of these. Both justice and policy require that the source of that information remain secret. So a knowledge of the sums meant to have been given for peace and ransom might have disadvantageous influence on future proceedings for the same objects.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JANUARY 21, 1794.

Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :—

IT is with satisfaction I announce to you that the alterations which have been made by law in the original plan for raising a duty on spirits distilled within the United States, and on stills, co-operating with better information, have had a considerable influence in obviating the difficulties which have embarrassed that branch of the public revenue. But the obstacles which have been experienced, though lessened, are not yet entirely surmounted, and it would seem that some further legislative provisions may usefully be superadded; which leads me to recall the attention of Congress to the subject. Among the matters which may demand regulation, is the effect, in point of organization, produced by the separation of Kentucky from the state of Virginia; and the situation, with regard to the law, of the territories northwest and southwest of the Ohio.

The laws respecting lighthouse establishments require, as a condition of their permanent maintenance, at the expense of the United States, a

complete cession of soil and jurisdiction. The cessions of different states having been qualified with a reservation of the right of serving legal process within the ceded jurisdiction, are understood to be inconclusive, as annexing a qualification not consonant with the terms of the law, I present this circumstance to the view of Congress, that they may judge whether any alteration ought to be made.

As it appears to be conformable with the intention of the "ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio," although it is not expressly directed that the laws of that territory.should be laid before Congress, I now transmit to vou a copy of such as have been passed from July to December, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, inclusive, being the last which have been received by the secretary of state.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 28, 1794.

Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives :—

In the execution of the resolution of Congress, bearing date the 26th of March, 1794, and imposing an embargo, I have requested the governors of the several states to call forth the force of their militia, if it should be necessary for the detention of vessels. This power is conceived to be incidental to an embargo.

It also deserves the attention of Congress, how far the clearances from one district to another, under the law as it now stands, may give rise to evasions of the embargo. As one security, the collectors have been instructed to refuse to receive the surrender of coasting-licenses, for the purpose of taking out registers, and to require bond from registered vessels, bound from one district to another, for the delivery of the cargo within the United States.

It is not understood that the resolution applies to fishing-vessels, although their occupations lie generally in parts beyond the United States. But without further restrictions, there is an opportunity of their privileges being used as a means of eluding the embargo.

All armed vessels, possessing public commissions from any foreign power (letters of marque excepted), are considered as not liable to the embargo.

These circumstances are transmitted to Congress for their consideration.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MAY 20, 1794.

Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

In the communication which I have made to Congress, during the present session, relative to foreign nations, I have omitted no opportunity of testifying my anxiety to preserve the United States in peace. It is pecu

liarly, therefore, my duty at this time to lay before you the present state of certain hostile threats against the territories of Spain, in our neighborhood.

The documents which accompany this message develop the measures which I have taken to suppress them, and the intelligence which has been lately received.

It will be seen thence that the subject has not been neglected; that every power vested in the executive, on such occasions, has been exerted; and that there was reason to believe that the enterprise projected against the Spanish dominions was relinquished.

But it appears to have been revived upon principles which set public order at defiance, and place the peace of the United States in the discretion of unauthorized individuals. The means already deposited in the different departments of government are shown by experience not to be adequate to these high exigencies, although such of them as are lodged in the hands of the executive shall continue to be used with promptness, energy, and decision, proportioned to the case. But I am impelled, by the position of our public affairs, to recommend that provision be made for a stronger and more vigorous opposition than can be given to such hostile movements under the laws as they now stand.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MAY 21, 1794.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:I LAY before you in confidence sundry papers, by which you will perceive the state of affairs between us and the Six Nations, and the probable cause to which it is owing; and also certain information, whereby it would appear that some encroachment was about to be made on our territory by an officer and party of British troops. Proceeding on a supposition of the authenticity of this information, although of a private nature, I have caused the representation to be made to the British minister, a copy of which accompanies this message.

It can not be necessary to comment upon the very serious nature of such an encroachment, nor to urge that this new state of things suggests the propriety of placing the United States in a posture of effectual preparation for an event, which, notwithstanding the endeavors making to avert it, may, by circumstances beyond our control, be forced upon us.

PROCLAMATION.

AUGUST 7, 1794.

WHEREAS, Combinations to defeat the execution of the laws laying duties upon spirits distilled within the United States and upon stills have, from the time of the commencement of those laws, existed in some of the western parts of Pennsylvania: and whereas, the said combinations, pro

ceeding in a manner subversive equally of the just authority of govern ment and of the rights of individuals, have hitherto effected their dangerous and criminal purpose by the influence of certain irregular meetings whose proceedings have tended to encourage and uphold the spirit of opposition by misrepresentations of the laws calculated to render them odious; by endeavors to deter those who might be so disposed from accepting offices under them through fear of public resentments and of injury to person and property, and to compel those who had accepted such offices by actual violence to surrender or forbear the execution of them; by circulating vindictive measures against all who should otherwise, directly or indirectly, aid in the execution of the said laws, or who, yielding to the dictates of conscience and to a sense of obligation, should themselves comply therewith; by actually injuring and destroying the property of persons who were understood to have so complied; by inflicting cruel, humiliating punishments upon private citizens for no other cause than that of appearing to be the friends of the laws; by interrupting the public officers on the highways, abusing, assaulting, and otherwise ill treating them; by going to their houses in the night, gaining admittance by force, taking away their papers, and committing other outrages; employing for these unwarrantable purposes the agency of armed banditti, disguised in such a manner as for the most part to escape discovery: and whereas, the endeavors of the legislature to obviate objections to the said laws, by lowering the duties and by other alterations conducive to the convenience of those whom they immediately affected (though they have given satisfaction in other quarters), and the endeavors of the executive officers to conciliate a compliance with the laws, by expostulation, by forbearance, and even by recommendations founded on the suggestion of local considerations, have been disappointed of their effect by the machinations of persons whose industry to excite resistance has increased with the appearance of a disposition among the people to relax in their opposition and tc acquiesce in the laws; insomuch that many persons in the said western parts of Pennsylvania have at length been hardy enough to perpetrate acts which I am advised amount to treason, being overt acts of levying war against the United States; the said persons having, on the sixteenth and seventeenth of July last, proceeded in arms (on the second day amounting to several hundred) to the house of John Neville, inspector of the revenues for the fourth survey of the districts of Pennsylvania-having repeatedly attacked the said house with the persons therein, wounding some of them-having seized David Lennox, marshal of the district of Pennsylva nia, who previously thereto had been fired upon while in the execution of his duty, by a party of men, detaining him for some time prisoner, till for the preservation of his life and obtaining of his liberty he found it necessary to enter into stipulations to forbear the execution of certain official duties touching processes issuing out of the court of the United Statesand having finally obliged the said inspector of the revenue and the marshal, from considerations of personal safety, to fly from this part of the country, in order, by a circuitous route, to proceed to the seat of government, avowing as the motives of these outrageous proceedings an intention to prevent by force of arms the execution of the said laws, to oblige the said inspector of the revenues to renounce his office, to withstand by open violence the lawful authority of the government of the United States, and to compel thereby an alteration in the measures of the legislature, and a repeal of the laws aforesaid: and whereas, by a law of the United States,

entitled, " An act to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions," it is enacted, "that whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed, or the execution thereof obstructed, in any state by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the power vested in the marshals by that act, the same being notified by an associate justice or the district judges, it shall be lawful for the president of the United States to call forth the militia of said state to suppress such combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed. And if the militia of a state where such combinations may happen, shall refuse or shall be insufficient to suppress the same, it shall be lawful for the president, if the legislature of the United States shall not be in session, to call forth and employ such numbers of the militia of any other state or states most convenient thereto as may be necessary; and the use of the militia so to be called forth may be continued, if necessary, until the expiration of thirty days after the commencement of the ensuing session; Provided always, that whenever it may be necessary in the judgment of the president to use the military force hereby directed to be called forth, the president shall forthwith, and previous thereto, by proclamation, command such insurgents to disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within a limited time:" and whereas, James Wilson, an associate justice, on the fourth instant, by writing under his hand, did, from evidence which had been laid before him, notify to me that "in the counties of Washington and Allegany, in Pennsylvania, the laws of the United States are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshal of that district :"

And whereas, it is in my judgment necessary, under the circumstances of the case, to take measures for calling forth the militia in order to suppress the combination aforesaid, and to cause the laws to be duly executed; and I have accordingly determined so to do, feeling the deepest regret for the occasion, but withal the most solemn conviction that the essential interests of the Union demand it, that the very existence of government and the fundamental principles of social order are materially involved in the issue, and that the patriotism and firmness of all good citizens are seriously called upon as occasion may require, to aid in the effectual suppression of so fatal a spirit:

Wherefore, and in pursuance of the provision above recited, I, George Washington, president of the United States, do hereby command all persons, being insurgents as aforesaid, and all others whom it may concern, on or before the first day of September next, to disperse and return peaceably to their respective abodes. And I do moreover warn all persons whomsoever against aiding, abetting, or comforting, the perpetrators of the aforesaid treasonable acts; and do require all officers, and other citizens, according to their respective duties and the law of the land, to exert their utmost endeavors to prevent and suppress such dangerous proceedings.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my nand. Done at the city of Philadelphia, the seventh day of August, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four, and of the independence of the United States of America the nineteenth.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.