Regency of Algiers had been adjusted in a manner to authorize the expectation of a speedy peace in that quarter, and the liberation of a number of American citizens from a long and grievous captivity.

A speedy and satisfactory conclusion was anticipated of a negotiation with the court of Madrid, "which would lay the foundation of lasting harmony with a power whose friendship," said Washington, "we have uniformly and sincerely desired to cherish."

Adverting to the treaty with Great Britain and its conditional ratification, the result on the part of his Britannic Majesty was yet unknown, but when ascertained, would immediately be placed before Congress.

In regard to internal affairs, every part of the Union gave indications of rapid and various improvement. With burthens so light as scarcely to be perceived; with resources fully adequate to present exigencies; with governments founded on the genuine principles of rational liberty; and with mild and wholesome laws, was it too much to say that our country exhibited a spectacle of national happiness never surpassed, if ever before equaled?

In regard to the late insurrection ; 'The misled," observes he, "have abandoned their errors, and pay the respect to our Constitution

and laws which is due from good citizens to the public authorities. These circumstances have induced me to pardon generally the of fenders here referred to, and to extend forgiveness to those who had been adjudged to capital punishment."

After recommending several objects to the attention of both Houses, he concludes by advising temperate discussion and mutual forbearance wherever there was a difference of opinion; advice sage and salutary on all occasions, but particularly called for by the excited temper of the times.

There was, as usual, a cordial answer from the Senate; but, in the present House of Representatives, as in the last one, the opposition were in the majority. In the response reported by a committee, one clause expressing undiminished confidence in the chief magistrate was demurred to; some members affirmed that, with them, it had been considerably diminished by a late transaction. After a warm altercation, to avoid a direct vote, the response was recommitted, and the clause objected to modified. The following is the form adopted: "In contemplating that spectacle of national happiness which our country exhibits, and of which you, sir, have been pleased to make an interesting summary, permit us to acknowledge

and declare the very great share which your zealous and faithful services have contributed to it, and to express the affectionate attachment which we feel for your character."

The feelings and position of Washington with regard to England at this juncture, may be judged from a letter dated December 22d, to Gouverneur Morris, then in London, and who was in occasional communication with Lord Grenville. Washington gives a detail of the various causes of complaint against the British government which were rankling in the minds of the American people, and which Morris was to mention, unofficially, should he converse with Lord Grenville on the subject. "I give you these details," writes he, "as evidences of the impolitic conduct of the British government towards these United States; that it may be seen how difficult it has been for the Executive, under such an accumulation of irritating circumstances, to maintain the ground of neutrality which had been taken; and at a time when the remembrance of the aid we had received from France in the Revolution was fresh in every mind, and while the partisans of that country were continually contrasting the affections of that people with the unfriendly disposition of the British government. And that, too, while their own suffer

ings, during the war with the latter, had not been forgotten.

"It is well known that peace has been (to borrow a modern phrase) the order of the day with me, since the disturbances in Europe first commenced. My policy has been, and will continue to be, while I have the honor to remain in the administration, to maintain friendly terms with, but be independent of, all the nations of the earth; to share in the broils of none; to fulfil our own engagements; to supply the wants and be carriers for them all. Nothing short of self-respect, and that justice which is essential to a national character, ought to irvolve us in war.

"By a firm adherence to these principles, and to the neutral policy which has been adopted, I have brought on myself a torrent of abuse in the factious papers of this country, and from the enmity of the discontented of all descriptions. But having no sinister objects in view, I shall not be diverted from my course by these, nor any attempts which are, or shall be, made to withdraw the confidence of my constituents from me. I have nothing to ask; and, discharging my duty, I have nothing to fear from invective. The acts of my administration will appear when I am no more, and the intelligent and candid part of mankind will not

condemn my conduct without recurring to them."

The first day of January, being "a day of general joy and congratulation," had been appointed by Washington to receive the colors of France, sent out by the Committee of Safety. On that day they were presented by Mr. Adet with an address, representing, in glowing language, the position of France, "struggling not for her own liberty, but for that of the human race. Assimilated to or rather identified with free people by the form of her government, she saw in them only friends and brothers. Long accustomed to regard the American people as her most faithful allies, she sought to draw closer the ties already formed in the fields of America, under the auspices of victory, over the ruins of tyranny."

Washington received the colors with lively sensibility and a brief reply, expressive of the deep solicitude and high admiration produced by the events of the French struggle, and his joy that the interesting revolutionary movements of so many years had issued in the formation of a Constitution designed to give permanency to the great object contended for.

In February the treaty with Great Britain, as modified by the advice of the Senate, came back ratified by the King of Great Britain,

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