I am aware that as the consent of the legislature of the State to the purchase of the site may not in some instances have been previously obtained, exclusive legislation can not be exercised therein by Congress until that consent is given.

These have been much exceeded by the cost of the work done, a fact not known to me till the close of the season.

From these causes the defense of our seaboard, so necessary to be pressed during the present season, will in various parts be defeated unless a remedy can be applied.

With a view to this I submit the case to the consideration of Congress, who, estimating its importance and reviewing the powers vested in them by the Constitution, combined with the amendment providing that private property shall not be…

From the State of Delaware alone no return has been made.

I request their return, and that their contents may not be made public.

I have suppressed in the documents of the other message the parts which ought not to be made public and have given them in the supplementary and confidential papers herewith inclosed, with such references as that they may be read in their…

Everyone must be sensible that in the details of instructions for negotiating a treaty and in the correspondence and conferences respecting it matters will occur which interest sometimes and sometimes respect or other proper motives forbid…

The want of such characters is already sensibly felt, and will be increased with the enlargement of our plans of military preparation.

The scale on which the Military Academy at West Point was originally established is become too limited to furnish the number of well-instructed subjects in the different branches of artillery and engineering which the public service calls…

Besides the advantage of placing it under the immediate eye of the Government, it may render its benefits common to the Naval Department, and will furnish opportunities of selecting on better information the characters most qualified to…

The idea suggested by him of removing the institution to this place is also worthy of attention.

These decrees and orders, taken together, want little of amounting to a declaration that every neutral vessel found on the high seas, whatsoever be her cargo and whatsoever foreign port be that of her departure or destination, shall be…

they prove more and more the expediency of retaining our vessels, our seamen, and property within our own harbors until the dangers to which they are exposed can be removed or lessened.

The instrument is now submitted to the Senate, with a request of their advice and consent as to its ratification.

It is by no means proposed that these works should be conducted on account of the United States.

Until this question can be decided under legislative authority, measures have been taken according to law to prevent any change in the state of things and to keep the grounds clear of intruders.

This having been lately claimed by a private individual, the city opposed the claim on a supposed legal title in itself.

It is understood to have been a shoal or elevation of the bottom of the river adjacent to the bank of the suburbs of St. Mary, produced by the successive depositions of mud during the annual inundations of the river.

The title to these grounds appears to have been retained in the former sovereigns of the Province of Louisiana as public fiduciaries and for the purposes of the Province.

It has been adjudged that the legal title was not in the city.

The great volume of the documents and the time necessary for the investigation will explain to the Senate the causes of the delay which has intervened.

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of February 26, I now lay before them such memorials and petitions for the district of Detroit, and such other information as is in my possession, in relation to the conduct of William Hull…

Although nothing forbids the general matter of these letters from being spoken of without reserve, yet as the publication of papers of this description would restrain injuriously the freedom of our foreign correspondence, they are…

I recommend also to the attention of Congress the term at which the act of April 18, 1806, concerning the militia, will expire, and the effect of that expiration.