nction. The result on the part of His
Britannic Majesty is unknown. When received, the subject will without
delay be placed before Congress.

This interesting summary of our affairs with regard to the foreign
powers between whom and the United States controversies have subsisted,
and with regard also to those of our Indian neighbors with whom we have
been in a state of enmity or misunderstanding, opens a wide field for
consoling and gratifying reflections. If by prudence and moderation
on every side the extinguishment of all the causes of external discord
which have heretofore menaced our tranquillity, on terms compatible
with our national rights and honor, shall be the happy result, how firm
and how precious a foundation will have been laid for accelerating,
maturing, and establishing the prosperity of our country.

Contemplating the internal situation as well as the external
relations of the United States, we discover equal cause for contentment
and satisfaction. While many of the nations of Europe, with their
American dependencies, have been involved in a contest unusually bloody,
exhausting, and calamitous, in which the evils of foreign war have been
aggravated by domestic convulsion and insurrection; in which many of
the arts most useful to society have been exposed to discouragement and
decay; in which scarcity of subsistence has imbittered other sufferings;
while even the anticipations of a return of the blessings of peace and
repose are alloyed by the sense of heavy and accumulating burthens,
which press upon all the departments of industry and threaten to clog
the future springs of government, our favored country, happy in a
striking contrast, has enjoyed general tranquillity--a tranquillity
the more satisfactory because maintained at the expense of no duty.
Faithful to ourselves, we have violated no obligation to others. Our
agriculture, commerce, and manufactures prosper beyond former example,
the molestations of our trade (to prevent a continuance of which,
however, very pointed remonstrances have been made) being overbalanced
by the aggregate benefits which it derives from a neutral position. Our
population advances with a celerity which, exceeding the most sanguine
calculations, proportionally augments our strength and resources,
and guarantees our future security. Every part of the Union displays
indications of rapid and various improvement; and with burthens so
light as scarcely to be perceived, with re