Recollecting always that for every advantage which may contribute to distinguish our lot from that to which others are doomed by the unhappy spirit of the times we are indebted to that Divine Providence whose goodness has been so remarkably extended to this rising nation, it becomes us to cherish a devout gratitude, and to implore from the same omnipotent source a blessing on the consultations and measures about to be undertaken for the welfare of our beloved country.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
According to the request of the House of Representatives expressed in their resolution of the 11th instant, I now lay before them a printed copy of a paper purporting to be a circular letter from Mr. Jackson to the British consuls in the United States, as received in a Gazette at the Department of State; and also a printed paper received in a letter from our minister in London, purporting to be a copy of a dispatch from Mr. Canning to Mr. Erskine of the 23d of January last.
Agreeably to the request in the resolution of the 15th instant, I transmit a copy of the correspondence with the governor of Pennsylvania in the case of Gideon Olmstead,
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
Agreeably to the request expressed in the resolution of the 13th instant, I lay before the House extracts from the correspondence of the minister plenipotentiary of the United States at London.
I lay before the Senate, for their consideration whether they will advise and consent to the ratification thereof, a treaty concluded on the 30th September last with the Delaware, Potawattamie, Miami, and Eel-river Miami Indian tribes northwest of the Ohio; a separate article of the same date, with the said tribes, and a convention with the Weea tribe, concluded on the 26th October last; the whole being accompanied with the explanatory documents,
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
The act authorizing a detachment of 100,000 men from the militia will expire on the 30th of March next. Its early revival is recommended, in order that timely steps may be taken for arrangements such as the act contemplated.
Without interfering with the modifications rendered necessary by the defects or the inefficacy of the laws restrictive of commerce and navigation, or with the policy of disallowing to foreign armed vessels the use of our waters, it falls within my duty to recommend also that, in addition to the precautionary measure authorized by that act and to the regular troops for completing the legal establishment of which enlistments are renewed, every necessary provision may be made for a volunteer force of 20,000 men, to be enlisted for a short period and held in a state of organization and readiness for actual service at the shortest warning.