te and House of Representatives of the United States_:

To a people, fellow-citizens, who sincerely desire the happiness and
prosperity of other nations; to those who justly calculate that their
own well-being is advanced by that of the nations with which they have
intercourse, it will be a satisfaction to observe that the war which
was lighted up in Europe a little before our last meeting has not yet
extended its flames to other nations, nor been marked by the calamities
which sometimes stain the footsteps of war. The irregularities, too, on
the ocean, which generally harass the commerce of neutral nations, have,
in distant parts, disturbed ours less than on former occasions; but in
the American seas they have been greater from peculiar causes, and even
within our harbors and jurisdiction infringements on the authority of
the laws have been committed which have called for serious attention.
The friendly conduct of the Governments from whose officers and subjects
these acts have proceeded, in other respects and in places more under
their observation and control, gives us confidence that our
representations on this subject will have been properly regarded.

While noticing the irregularities committed on the ocean by others,
those on our own part should not be omitted nor left unprovided for.
Complaints have been received that persons residing within the United
States have taken on themselves to arm merchant vessels and to force a
commerce into certain ports and countries in defiance of the laws of
those countries. That individuals should undertake to wage private war,
independently of the authority of their country, can not be permitted in
a well-ordered society. Its tendency to produce aggression on the laws
and rights of other nations and to endanger the peace of our own is so
obvious that I doubt not you will adopt measures for restraining it
effectually in future.

Soon after the passage of the act of the last session authorizing the
establishment of a district and port of entry on the waters of the
Mobile we learnt that its object was misunderstood on the part of
Spain. Candid explanations were immediately given and assurances
that, reserving our claims in that quarter as a subject of discussion
and arrangement with Spain, no act was meditated in the meantime
inconsistent with the peace and friendship existing between the two
nations, and that conformably to these intentions would be the execution
of the law. That