he Government have made a
report of the state of the buildings designed for those purposes in
the city of Washington, from which they conclude that the removal of
the seat of Government to that place at the time required will be
practicable and the accommodation satisfactory. Their report will
be laid before you.

_Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_:

I shall direct the estimates of the appropriations necessary for the
service of the ensuing year, together with an account of the revenue and
expenditure, to be laid before you. During a period in which a great
portion of the civilized world has been involved in a war unusually
calamitous and destructive, it was not to be expected that the United
States could be exempted from extraordinary, burthens. Although the
period is not arrived when the measures adopted to secure our country
against foreign attacks can be renounced, yet it is alike necessary
for the honor of the Government and the satisfaction of the community
that an exact economy should be maintained. I invite you, gentlemen,
to investigate the different branches of the public expenditure. The
examination will lead to beneficial retrenchments or produce a conviction
of the wisdom of the measures to which the expenditure relates.

_Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_:

At a period like the present, when momentous changes are occurring and
every hour is preparing new and great events in the political world,
when a spirit of war is prevalent in almost every nation with whose
affairs the interests of the United States have any connection, unsafe
and precarious would be our situation were we to neglect the means of
maintaining our just rights. The result of the mission to France is
uncertain; but however it may terminate, a steady perseverance in a
system of national defense commensurate with our resources and the
situation of our country is an obvious dictate of wisdom; for, remotely
as we are placed from the belligerent nations, and desirous as we are,
by doing justice to all, to avoid offense to any, nothing short of the
power of repelling aggressions will secure to our country a rational
prospect of escaping the calamities of war or national degradation. As
to myself, it is my anxious desire so to execute the trust reposed in me
as to render the people of the United States prosperous and happy. I
rely with entire confidence on your cooperation in objects equally your
c