tions, and to guard against the degradation and fervility which they must finally stamp on the American character, is an important duty of government.

A naval power, next to the militia, is the natural defence of the United States. The experience of the last war would be fufficient to how that a moderate naval force, fuch as would be eafily within the prefent abilities of the union, would have been fufficient to have baffled many formidable tranfportations of troops, from one flate to another, which were then practifed; our fea-coafts, from their great extent, are more eafily annoyed, and more easily defended by a naval force than any other; with all the materials our country abounds; in fkill, our naval architects and navigators are equal to any; and commanders and feamen will not be wanting.

But although the establishment of a permanent fyftem of naval defence appears to be requifite, I am fenfible it cannot be formed fo fpeedily and extenfively as the prefent crifis demands. Hitherto I have thought proper to prevent the failing of armed veffels, except on voyages to the Eaft-Indies, where general ufage, and the dan-. ger from pirates, appeared to render the permiffion proper; yet the reftrition has originated folely from a with to prevent collufions with the powers at war, contravening the act of congrefs of June, one thousand feven hundred and ninety-four, and not from any doubt entertained by me of the policy and propriety of permitting our veff is to employ means of defence, while engaged in a lawful foreign commerce. It remains for congrefs to prefcribe fuch regulations as will enable our feafaring

1797.

citizens to defend themfelves againft violations of the law of nations, and at the fame time restrain them from committing acts of hoftility against the powers at war. In addition to this voluntary provision for defence by individual citizens, it appears to be neceffary to equip the frigates, and provide other veffels of inferior force to take under convoy fuch merchant veffels as hall remain unarmed.

The greater part of the cruifers whofe depredations have been moft injurious have been built, and fome of them partially equipped, in the United States. Although an ef fectual remedy may be attended with difficulty, yet I have thought it my duty to prefent the fubject generally to your confideration. If a mode can be devifed by the wifdom of congrefs to prevent the refources of the United States from being converted into the means of annoying our trade, a great evil will be prevented. With the fame view I think it proper to mention, that fome of our citizens refident abroad have fitted out privateers, and others have voluntarily taken the command or entered on board of them, and committed fpoliations on the commerce of the United States.

Such unnatural and iniquitous practices can be restrained only by fevere punishments.

But, befides protection of our commerce on the feas, I think it highly neceffary to protect it at home, where it is collected in our most important ports. The diftance of the United States from Europe, and the well known promptitude, ardour, and courage of the people, in defence of their country, happily diminish the probability of invafion: nevertheless, to guard againft fudden and predatory incurlions the fituation of fome of our

(X) principal

principal fea-ports demands your confideration; and, as our country is vulnerable in other interefts befides thofe of its commerce, you will seriously deliberate, whether the means of general defence ought not to be increased by an addition to the regular artillery and cavalry, and by arrangements for forming a provifional army.

With the fame view, and as a measure which even in time of univerfal peace ought not to be neglected, I recommend to your confideration a revifion of the laws for organizing, arming, and difciplining the militia, to render that natural and fafe defence of the country efficacious. Although it is very true, that we ought not to involve ourselves in the political fyftem of Europe, but to keep ourfelves always diftinct and feparate from it if we can; yet to effect this feparation, early, punctual, and continual information of the current chain of events, and of the political projects in contemplation, is no lefs neceffary, than if we were directly concerned in them. It is necellary, in order to the discovery of the efforts made to draw us into the vortex, in feafon to make preparation against them: however we may confider ourselves, the maritime and commercial power of the world will confider the United States of America as forming a weight in that balance of power in Europe, which never can be forgotten or neglected. It would not only be against our intereft, but it would be doing wrong to one half of Europe at leaft if we fhould voJuntarily throw ourselves into either fcale; it is a natural policy for a nation that ftudies to be neutral, to confult with other nations engaged in the fame ftudies and purfuits; at the fame time that measures

might be purfued with this view, our treaties with Pruffia and Sweden, one of which is expired, might be renewed.

Gentlemen of the house of reprefentatives,

It is particularly your province to confider the state of our public finances, and to adopt fuch meafures refpecting them as exigencies fhall be found to require. The prefervation of public credit, the regular extinguifhment of the public debt, and a provifion of funds to defray any extraordinary expences will, of course, call for your ferious attention: although the impofition of new burthens cannot be in itself agreeable, yet there is not ground to doubt that the American people will expect from you fuch meafures as their actual engagements, their prefent fecurity, and future intereft demand.

Gentlemen of the fenate, and gentlemen of the houfe of reprefentatives,

The prefent fituation of our country impofes an obligation on all the departments of government to adopt an explicit and decided conduct. In my fituation an expofition of the principles by which my adminiftration will be governed, ought not to be omitted.

It is impoffible to conceal from ourselves or the world what has been before obferved, that endeavours have been employed to fofter and eflablifh a divifion between the government and people of the United States. To inveftigate the caufes which have encouraged this attempt is not neceffary; but to repel by decided and united councils infinuations fo derogatory to the honour, and aggreffions fo dangerous to the conflitution, union, and even independence of the na, tion, is an indifpenfable duty.

fhall be carefully avoided, that might impair for the future, the union happily established between them. No affiftance or protection thall be given, directly or indirectly, to those who might defire to do any prejudice to either of the contracting parties.

II. Immediately after the exchange of the ratifications of the prefent treaty, the contracting parties thall caufe all the fequeftrations which have been placed on the property, rights, and revenues of the individuals refiding in the respective territories which are united to them, as well as of the public establishments which are fituated in thofe territories, to be taken off. They bind themfelves to difcharge all they may owe which has been lent to them, as funds, by the said individuals or public establishments, and to pay or reimburse all engage. ments entered into for their advantage by each of them.

[The prefent article is declared common to the Cifalpine republic.]

III. His majefty the emperor, king of Hungary and Bohemia, relinquithes, on his own part, and on that of his fucceffors, in favour of the French republic, all his rights and titles on the ci-devant Belgic provinces, known by the name of the Auftrian Low Countries. French republic fhall poffefs thefe countries for ever, in full fovereignty and propriety, and with all the territorial poffeffions which depend

on them.

The

IV. All the mortgages entered into before the war on the land of the countries expreffed in the preceding articles, and the contracts of which thall be drawn up with the ufual formalities, fball become the charge of the French republic. The plenipotentiaries of his majefty the emperor thall furnish an account of

them in as fpeedy a manner as pofible to the plenipotentiaries of the French republic, and that before the exchange of the ratifications, that when the exchange takes place, the plenipotentiaries of both powers may be enabled to agree with refpect to all the articles explanatory of, and additional to, the present article, and fign them.

V. His majesty the emperor, king of Hungary and Bohemia, confents that the French republic poffefs in full fovereignty, the former Venetian iflands of the Levant, to wit,- Corfu, Zante, Cephalonia, Santa Maura, Cerigo, and other iflands depending on them, as well as Butrinto, Larta, Voniffa, and in general all the former Venetian establishments in Albania, which are fituate lower than the gulf of Londrino.

VI. The French republic confents that his majefty the emperor, king of Hungary and Bohemia, fhall poffefs in full fovereignty and propriety the country hereafter expreifed, to wit, Iftria, Dalmatia, the former Venetian islands of the Adriatic, the mouths of the Cattaro, the city of Venice, the canals, and the countries comprehended between the hereditary ftates of his majesty the emperor and king, the Adriatic fea, and a line which thall be drawn from the county of Tyrol fhall follow the torrent forward to Gardola, and crofs the lake of Garda as far as Lacifa; from thence a military line as far as Sangiacomo, holding out an equal advantage to both parties, which thall be traced by engineers named on each fide previ ous to the exchange of the ratifications of the prefent treaty. The line to afcertain the limits fhall crofs the Adige at San Giacomo, follow the left bank of that river as far as the mouth of the White Canal, compre

bend

hending that part of Porto Legnago which is on the right bank of the Adige, with a circle drawn of 3,000 fathoms. The line fhall be carried on by the left bank of the White Canal, the left bank of the Tartaro, the left bank of the canal called the Polifella, until it difcharges itself into the Po, and the left bank of the Great Po as far as the fea.

VII. His majefty the emperor, king of Hungary and Bohemia, relinquishes for ever, for himself and his fucceffors, in favour of the Cif alpine republic, all the rights and titles arifing out of thofe rights which his faid majefty might pretend to have on the countries which he poffeffed before the war, and which now conftitute a part of the Cifalpine republic, which thall poffefs them in full fovereignty and propriety, with all the territorial poffeffions that depend on them.

VIII. His majefty the emperor, king of Hungary and Bohenia, acknowledges the Cifalpine republic as an independent power. This republic comprehends the former Auftrian Lombardy, the countries of "Bergamo, of Brescia, and of Cremona, the city and fortrefs of Mantua, the Mantuan territory, Pefchiera, that part of the former Venetian ftates to the weft and fouth of the line, defcribed in the 6th article, as the frontier of the ftates of his majefty the emperor in Italy, the country of Modena, the principality of Mafia and Carnira, and the three legations of Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna.

IX. In all the countries ceded, acquired, or exchanged by the prefent treaty, the fequeftration placed on the property, effects, and revenues of all the inhabitants and properties of every defcription, on account of the war which has been carried on between his imperial majefty

and the French republic, fhall be taken off, without their being expofed in that refpect to be molefted in their property or perfons. Thofe who for the future may not with to continue their refidence in these countries, fhall be bound to make a declaration to that effect, three months after the publication of the treaty of definitive peace. They fhall be allowed the term of three years to fell their moveable and inmoveable poffeffions, or to dispose of them as they think proper.

X. The countries ceded, acquired, or exchanged by the present treaty, fhall incumber those in whose poffeffion they fhall remain with the mortgages that have been incurred on the land.

XI. The navigation of the part of the rivers and canals, ferving as limits between the poffeffions of his majefty the emperor, and thofe of the Cifalpine republic, fhall be free, without either being able to eftablish any toll, or to keep any veffels armed for war; which however does not exclude the neceffary precautions for the safety of the fortress of Porto Legnago.

XII. All fales or alienations made, all engagements contracted, whether by the towns, or by the government, or the civil and adminiftrative authorities of the countries formerly Venetian, for the maintenance of the German and French armies, until the date of figning the prefent treaty, fhall be confirmed and confidered as valid.

XIII. The titles of the domains, and the archives of the different countries ceded or exchanged by the prefent treaty, fhall be given up in the fpace of three months, to date from the exchange of the ratifications to the powers which thall have acquired the propriety of them. The plans and maps of the for

treffis,