any
measures at the present time which would change the defensive system of
the country. The resolution was negatived,--43 nays to 40 yeas.

One singular opposition of Gallatin is recorded towards the close of the
session; the Committee on the Treasury Department reported an amendment
to the act of establishment, providing that the secretary of the
treasury shall lay before Congress, at the commencement of every
session, a report on finance with plans for the support of credit, etc.
Gallatin and Nicholas opposed this bill, because it came down from the
Senate, which had no constitutional right to originate a money bill; but
Griswold and Harper at once took the correct ground that it was not a
bill, but a report on the state of the finances, in which the Senate had
an equal share with the House. The bill was passed by a vote of 43 to
39. It is worthy of note that the first report on the state of the
finances communicated under this act was by Mr. Gallatin himself the
next year, and that it was sent in to the Senate. The House adjourned on
May 14, 1800.

* * * * *

The second session of the sixth Congress was held at the city of
Washington, to which the seat of government had been removed in the
summer interval. After two southerly migrations they were now
definitively established at a national capital. The session opened on
November 17, 1800. On the 22d President Adams congratulated Congress on
"the prospect of a residence not to be changed." The address of the
House in reply was adopted by a close vote.

The situation of foreign relations was changed. The First Consul
received the American envoys cordially, and a commercial convention was
made but secured ratification by the Senate only after the elimination
of an article and a limitation of its duration to eight years. While the
bill was pending in the Senate, Mr. Samuel Smith moved to continue the
act to suspend commercial intercourse with France. Mr. Gallatin opposed
this motion; at the last session he had voted for this bill because
there was only the appearance of a treaty. Now that the precise state of
negotiation was known, why should the House longer leave this matter to
the discretion of the President? The House decided to reject the
indiscreet bill by a vote of 59 to 37. An effort was also made to repeal
a part of the Sedition Law, and continue the rest in force, but the
House refused to order the engrossing of the bill, taki