ever ready to accept peace from the hand of justice, we prosecute the war with united counsels and with the ample faculties of the nation, until peace be so obtained, and as the only means, under the divine blessing, of speedily obtaining it.

SPECIAL MESSAGE

NOVEMBER 6, 1812.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :THE bill, entitled, " An act supplementary to the acts heretofore passed on the subject of a uniform rule of naturalization," which passed the two houses at the last session of Congress, having appeared to me liable to abuse by aliens having no real purpose of effectuating a naturalization, and therefore not been signed; and having been presented at an hour too near the close of the session to be returned with objections for reconsideration, the bill failed to become a law. I recommend that provisions be now made in favor of aliens entitled to the contemplated benefit, under such regulations as will prevent advantage being taken of it for improper purposes.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

DECEMBER 12, 1812.

To the Senate and House of Representaties of the United States :

:

I TRANSMIT to Congress copies of a letter to the secretary of the navy from Captain Decatur of the frigate United States, reporting his combat and capture of the British frigate Macedonian. Too much praise can not be bestowed on that officer and his companions on board, for the consummate skill and conspicuous valor by which this trophy has been added to the naval arms of the United States.

I transmit also a letter from Captain Jones, who commanded the sloopof-war Wasp, reporting his capture of the British sloop-of-war Frolic, after a close action, in which other brilliant titles will be seen to the public admiration and praise.

A nation, feeling what it owes to itself and to its citizens, could never abandon to arbitrary violence on the ocean a class of them which give such examples of capacity and courage in defending their rights on that element; examples which ought to impress on the enemy, however brave and powerful, preference of justice and peace to hostility against a country whose prosperous career may be accelerated but can not be prevented by the assaults made on it.

SPECIAL MESSAGE

FEBRUARY 22, 1813.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :— I LAY before Congress a letter, with accompanying documents, from Captain Bainbridge, now commanding the United States frigate the Constitution, reporting his capture and destruction of the British frigate the Java. The circumstances and the issue of this combat afford another example of the professional skill and heroic spirit which prevail in our naval service. The signal display of both by Captain Bainbridge, his officers, and crew, command the highest praise.

This being a second instance in which the condition of the captured ship, by rendering it impossible to get her into port, has barred a contemplated reward of successful valor, 1 recommend to the consideration of Congress the equity and propriety of a general provision, allowing in such cases, both past and future, a fair proportion of the value which would accrue to the captors on the safe arrival and sale of the prize.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 24, 1813.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:I LAY before Congress copies of a proclamation of the British lieutenantgovernor of the island of Bermuda, which has appeared under circumstances leaving no doubt of its authenticity. It recites a British order in council of the 26th of October last, providing for the supply of the British West Indies and other colonial possessions, by a trade under special licenses; and is accompanied by a circular instruction to the colonial governors, which confines licensed importations from ports of the United States to the ports of the eastern states exclusively.

The government of Great Britain has already introduced into her commerce during war, a system which, at once violating the rights of other nations and resting on a mass of perjury and forgery unknown to other times, was making an unfortunate progress in undermining those principles of morality and religion which are the best foundation of national happiness.

The policy now proclaimed to the world introduces into her modes of warfare a system equally distinguished by the deformity of its features and the depravity of its character; having for its object to dissolve the ties of allegiance and the sentiments of loyalty in the adversary nation, and to seduce and separate its component parts the one from the other.

The general tendency of these demoralizing and disorganizing contrivances will be reprobated by the civilized and Christian world, and the insulting attempt on the virtue, the honor, the patriotism, and the fidelity of our brethren of the eastern states, will not fail to call forth all their indignation and resentment, and to attach more and more all the states to that happy union and constitution against which such insidious and malignant artifices are directed.

The better to guard, nevertheless, against the effect of individual cupidity and treachery, and to turn the corrupt projects of the enemy against himself, I recommend to the consideration of Congress the expediency of an effectual prohibition of any trade whatever by citizens or inhabitants of the United States under special licenses, whether relating to persons or ports, and in aid thereof a prohibition of all exportations from the United States in foreign bottoms, few of which are actually employed, while multiplying counterfeits of their flags and papers are covering and encouraging the navigation of the enemy.

SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

MARCH 4, 1813.

ABOUT to add the solemnity of an oath to the obligations imposed by a second call to the station in which my country has heretofore placed me, I find, in the presence of this assembly, an opportunity of publicly repeating my profound sense of so distinguished a confidence, and of the responsibility united with it. The impressions on me are strengthened by such an evidence, that my faithful endeavors to discharge my arduous duties have been favorably estimated; and by a consideration of the momentous period at which the trust has been renewed. From the weight and magnitude now belonging to it, I should be compelled to shrink, if I had less reliance on the support of an enlightened and generous people, and felt less deeply a conviction, that the war which forms so prominent a feature in our situation, is stamped with that justice which invites the smiles of Heaven on the means of conducting it to a successful termination.

May we not cherish this sentiment without presumption, when we reflect on the characteristics by which this war is distinguished?

It was not declared on the part of the United States until it had been long made on them, in reality, though not in name; until arguments and expostulations had been exhausted; until a positive declaration had been received that the wrongs provoking it would not be discontinued; nor until this appeal could no longer be delayed, without breaking down the spirit of the nation, destroying all confidence in itself and its political institutions; and either perpetuating a state of disgraceful suffering, or regaining by more costly sacrifices, and more severe struggles, our lost rank and respect among independent powers.

On the issue of the war are staked our national sovereignty on the high seas, and security of an important class of citizens, whose occupations give the proper value to those of every other class. Not to contend for such a stake, is to surrender our equality with other powers, on the element common to all; and to violate the sacred title which every member of the society has to its protection, I need not call into view the unlawfulness of the practice, by which our mariners are forced, at the will of every cruising officer, from their own vessels into foreign ones, nor paint the outrages inseparable from it. The proofs are in the records of each successive administration of our government; and the cruel sufferings of that portion of the American people have found their way to every man's bosom not dead to the sympathies of human nature.

As the war was just in its origin, and necessary and noble in its objects, we can reflect with a proud satisfaction, that in carrying it on, no principle of justice or honor, no usage of civilized nations, no precept of courtesy

or humanity, have been infringed. The war has been waged on our part with scrupulous regard to all these relations, and in a spirit of liberality which was never surpassed.

How little has been the effect of this example on the conduct of the enemy!

They have retained as prisoners-of-war, citizens of the United States not liable to be so considered under the usages of war.

They have refused to consider as prisoners-of-war, and threatened tc punish as traitors and deserters, persons emigrating without restraint to the United States; incorporated by naturalization into our political family, and fighting under the authority of their adopted country, in open and honorable war, for the maintenance of its rights and safety. Such is the avowed purpose of a government, which is in the practice of naturalizing, by thousands, citizens of other countries, and not only of permitting, but compelling them to fight its battles against their native country.

They have not, it is true, taken into their own hands the hatchet and the knife, devoted to indiscriminate massacre, but they have let loose the savage, armed with these cruel instruments; have allured them into their service, and carried them to battle by their sides, eager to glut their savage thirst with the blood of the vanquished, and to finish the work of torture and death on maimed and defenceless captives. And what was never before seen, British commanders have extorted victory over the unconquerable valor of our troops, by presenting to the sympathy of their chief. captives awaiting massacre from their savage associates. And now we find them, in further contempt of the honorable modes of warfare, supplying the place of a conquering force by attempts to disorganize our political society, to dismember our confederated republic. Happily, like others, these will recoil on the authors; but they mark the degenerate councils from which they emanate, and if they did not belong to a series of unexampled inconsistencies, might excite the greater wonder, as proceeding from a government which founded the very war in which it has been so long engaged, against the disorganizing and insurrectional policy of its adversary. To render the justice of the war on our part the more conspicuous, the reluctance to commence it was followed by the earliest and strongest manifestations of a disposition to arrest its progress. The sword was scarcely out of the scabbard before the enemy was apprized of the reasonable terms on which it should be resheathed. Still more precise advances were repeated, and have been received in a spirit forbidding every reliance not placed on the military resources of the nation.

These resources are amply sufficient to bring the war to an honorable issue. Our nation is, in number, more than half that of the British isles. It is composed of a brave, a free, a virtuous, and an independent people. Our country abounds in the necessaries, the arts, and the comforts of life. A general prosperity is visible in the public countenance. The means employed by the British cabinet to undermine it, have recoiled on themselves; have given to our national faculties a rapid development; and draining or diverting the precious metals from British circulation and British vaults, have poured them into those of the United States. It is a propitious consideration, that an unavoidable war should have found this seasonable facility for the contributions required to support it. When the public voice called for war, all knew, and still know, that without them it could not be carried on, through the period it might last; and the patriot ism, the good sense, and the manly spirit of our fellow-citizens, are

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pledges for the cheerfulness with which they will bear each his share of the common burden. To render the war short, and its success sure, animated and systematic exertions alone are necessary; and the success of our arms now may long preserve our country from the necessity of another resort to them. Already have the gallant exploits of our naval heroes proved to the world our inherent capacity to maintain our rights on one element. If the reputation of our arms has been thrown under clouds on the other, presaging flashes of heroic enterprise assure us that nothing is wanting to correspondent triumphs there also, but the discipline and habits which are in daily progress.

SPECIAL SESSION.-MESSAGE.

MAY 25, 1813.

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives :

Ar an early day after the close of the last session of Congress, an offer was formally communicated from his imperial majesty the emperor of Russia, of his mediation, as the common friend of the United States and Great Britain, for the purpose of facilitating a peace between them. The high character of the emperor Alexander being a satisfactory pledge for the sincerity and impartiality of his offer, it was immediately accepted; and as a further proof of the disposition on the part of the United States to meet their adversary in honorable experiments for terminating the war it was determined to avoid intermediate delays, incident to the distance of the parties, by a definitive provision for the contemplated negotiation. Three of our eminent citizens were accordingly commissioned, with the requisite powers to conclude a treaty of peace with persons clothed with like powers on the part of Great Britain. They are authorized also to enter into such conventional regulations of the commerce between the two countries as may be mutually advantageous. The two envoys who were in the United States at the time of their appointment have proceeded to join their colleague already at St. Petersburgh.

The envoys have received another commission, authorizing them to conclude with Russia a treaty of commerce, with a view to strengthen the amicable relations and improve the beneficial intercourse between the two countries.

The issue of this friendly interposition of the Russian emperor, and this pacific manifestation on the part of the United States, time only can decide. That the sentiments of Great Britain toward that sovereign will have produced an acceptance of his offered mediation must be presumed. That no adequate motives exist to prefer a continuance of war with the United States to the terms on which they are willing to close it, is certain. The British cabinet also must be sensible, that, with respect to the important question of impressment on which the war so essentially turns, a search for or seizure of British persons or property on board neutral vessels, on the high seas, is not a belligerent right derived from the law of nations; and it is obvious that no visit or search, or use of force for any purpose, on board the vessels of one independent power on the high seas, can in war or peace be sanctioned by the laws or authority of another power. It is equally obvious, that for the purpose of preserving to each state its seafaring members, by excluding them from the vessels of the other,