ing tonnage duties which has
been conceded in the Netherlands to the vessels of the United States
by a similar exemption to the vessels of the Netherlands which have
arrived, or may hereafter arrive, in our ports, commencing from the time
when the exemption was granted to the vessels of the United States. I
would further recommend to the consideration of Congress the expediency
of extending the benefit of the same regulation, to commence from the
passage of the law, to the vessels of Russia, Hamburg, and Bremen, and
of making it prospectively general in favor of every nation in whose
ports the vessels of the United States are admitted on the same footing
as their own.

JAMES MONROE.

WASHINGTON, _March 23, 1818_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I lay before the Senate a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with
the estimate of the expense which will be incurred by the establishment
of two dockyards for repairing vessels of the largest size.

JAMES MONROE.

WASHINGTON, _March 25, 1818_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I now lay before Congress all the information in the possession of
the Executive respecting the war with the Seminoles, and the measures
which it has been thought proper to adopt for the safety of our
fellow-citizens on the frontier exposed to their ravages. The inclosed
documents show that the hostilities of this tribe were unprovoked, the
offspring of a spirit long cherished and often manifested toward the
United States, and that in the present instance it was extending itself
to other tribes and daily assuming a more serious aspect. As soon as the
nature and object of this combination were perceived the major-general
commanding the Southern division of the troops of the United States was
ordered to the theater of action, charged with the management of the war
and vested with the powers necessary to give it effect. The season of
the year being unfavorable to active operations, and the recesses of
the country affording shelter to these savages in case of retreat, may
prevent a prompt termination of the war; but it may be fairly presumed
that it will not be long before this tribe and its associates receive
the punishment which they have provoked and justly merited.

As almost the whole of this tribe inhabits the country within the limits
of Florida, Spain was bound by the treaty of 1795 to restrain them from
committing hostilities against the