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 Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow 28 Jan. 1799: MESSAGE TO BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS; TRANSMITTING A FRENCH DECREE RESPECTING NEUTRAL SAILORS. - The Works of John Adams, vol. 9 (Letters and State Papers 1799-1811)

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Subject Area: Political Theory
Topic: The American Revolution and Constitution

28 Jan. 1799: MESSAGE TO BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS; TRANSMITTING A FRENCH DECREE RESPECTING NEUTRAL SAILORS. - John Adams, The Works of John Adams, vol. 9 (Letters and State Papers 1799-1811) [1854]

Edition used:

The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: with a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations, by his Grandson Charles Francis Adams (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1856). 10 volumes. Vol. 9.

Part of: The Works of John Adams, 10 vols.

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


MESSAGE TO BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS;

TRANSMITTING A FRENCH DECREE RESPECTING NEUTRAL SAILORS.

28 January, 1799.

An edict of the executive directory of the French republic of the 29th of October, 1798, inclosed in a letter from our minister plenipotentiary in London, of the 16th of November, is of so much importance, that it cannot be too soon communicated to you and the public.

John Adams.

MESSAGE TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES;

RESPECTING THE SUSPENSION OF A FRENCH DECREE

15 February, 1799.

In pursuance of the request in your resolve of yesterday, I lay before you such information as I have received, touching a suspension of the arrêt of the French republic communicated to your house by my message of the 28th of January last. But if the execution of that arrêt be suspended, or even if it were repealed, it should be remembered that the arrêt of the executive directory of the 2d of March, 1797, remains in force, the third article of which subjects, explicitly and exclusively, American seamen to be treated as pirates, if found on board ships of the enemies of France.

John Adams.

MESSAGE TO THE SENATE;

NOMINATING AN ENVOY TO FRANCE.

18 February, 1799.

Gentlemen of the Senate,

I transmit to you a document, which seems to be intended to be a compliance with a condition mentioned at the conclusion of my message to Congress of the twenty-first of June last.

Always disposed and ready to embrace every plausible appearance of probability of preserving or restoring tranquillity, I nominate William Vans Murray, our minister resident at the Hague, to be minister plenipotentiary of the United States to the French republic.

If the Senate shall advise and consent to his appointment, effectual care shall be taken in his instructions that he shall not go to France without direct and unequivocal assurances from the French government, signified by their minister of foreign relations, that he shall be received in character, shall enjoy the privileges attached to his character by the law of nations, and that a minister of equal rank, title, and powers, shall be appointed to treat with him, to discuss and conclude all controversies between the two republics by a new treaty.

John Adams.

MESSAGE TO THE SENATE;

NOMINATING THREE ENVOYS TO FRANCE.

25 February, 1799.

Gentlemen of the Senate,

The proposition of a fresh negotiation with France, in consequence of advances made by the French government, has excited so general an attention and so much conversation, as to have given occasion to many manifestations of the public opinion; from which it appears to me that a new modification of the embassy will give more general satisfaction to the legislature and to the nation, and perhaps better answer the purposes we have in view.

It is upon this supposition and with this expectation that I now nominate

Oliver Ellsworth, Esquire, Chief Justice of the United States;

Patrick Henry, Esquire, late Governor of Virginia; and

William Vans Murray, Esquire, our minister resident at the Hague; to be envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to the French republic, with full powers to discuss and settle, by a treaty, all controversies between the United States and France.

It is not intended that the two former of these gentlemen shall embark for Europe, until they shall have received, from the Executive Directory, assurances, signified by their secretary of foreign relations, that they shall be received in character, that they shall enjoy all the prerogatives attached to that character by the law of nations, and that a minister or ministers, of equal powers, shall be appointed and commissioned to treat with them.

John Adams.

MESSAGE TO BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS;

ANNOUNCING THE DECEASE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.

19 December, 1799.

Gentlemen of the Senate, and
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,

The letter herewith transmitted will inform you that it has pleased Divine Providence to remove from this life our excellent fellow-citizen, George Washington, by the purity of his character and a long series of services to his country, rendered illustrious through the world. It remains for an affectionate and grateful people, in whose hearts he can never die, to pay suitable honors to his memory.

John Adams.

Mount Vernon, 15 December, 1799.

Sir,—

It is with inexpressible grief that I have to announce to you the death of the great and good General Washington. He died last evening, between ten and eleven o’clock, after a short illness of about twenty hours. His disorder was an inflammatory sore throat, which proceeded from a cold, of which he made but little complaint on Friday. On Saturday morning, about three o’clock, he became ill. Doctor Craik attended him in the morning, and Doctor Dick, of Alexandria, and Doctor Brown, of Port Tobacco, were soon after called in. Every medical assistance was offered, but without the desired effect. His last scene corresponded with the whole tenor of his life; not a groan, nor a complaint escaped him in extreme distress. With perfect resignation, and in full possession of his reason, he closed his well-spent life.

I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, Sir, your most obedient and very humble servant.

Tobias Lear.