of the public, and the vote for him in the Electoral
College was unanimous. In a letter to a friend, he declared himself
gratefully impressed by so distinguished and honorable a testimony of
public approbation and confidence. George Clinton, of New York, was
held up for the vice-presidency, in opposition to John Adams; but the
latter was re-elected by a majority of twenty-seven electoral votes.

The session of Congress opened on the 5th of November. The continuance
of the Indian war formed a painful topic in the President's address.
Efforts at pacification had as yet been unsuccessful; two brave
officers, Colonel Hardin and Major Trueman, who had been sent to
negotiate with the savages, had been severally murdered. Vigorous
preparations were therefore making for an active prosecution of
hostilities, in which Wayne was to take the field. The factious and
turbulent opposition which had been made in some parts of the country
to the collection of duties on spirituous liquors distilled in the
United States, was likewise adverted to by the President, and a
determination expressed to assert and maintain the just authority of
the laws. In a part of the speech addressed to the House of
Representatives, he expressed a strong hope that the state of the
national finances was now sufficiently matured to admit of an
arrangement for the redemption and discharge of the public debt.

The address was well received by both houses, and a disposition
expressed to concur with the President's views and wishes. The
discussion of the subjects to which he had called their attention,
soon produced vehement conflicts of opinion in the House, marking the
growing virulence of parties. The Secretary of the Treasury, in
reporting, at the request of the House, a plan for the annual
reduction of so much of the national debt as the United States had a
right to redeem, spoke of the expenses of the Indian war, and the
necessity of additional internal taxes. The consideration of the
report was parried or evaded, and a motion made to reduce the military
establishment. This gave an opportunity for sternly criticising the
mode in which the Indian war had been conducted; for discussing the
comparative merits and cost of regular and militia forces, and for
inveighing against standing armies, as dangerous to liberty. These
discussions, while they elicited much heat, led to no present result,
and gave way to an inquiry into the conduct of the Secretary of the
Tr