The act of Congress of February 28, 1803, for building and employing
a number of gunboats, is now in a course of execution to the extent
there provided for. The obstacle to naval enterprise which vessels of
this construction offer for our seaport towns, their utility toward
supporting within our waters the authority of the laws, the promptness
with which they will be manned by the seamen and militia of the place
in the moment they are wanting, the facility of their assembling from
different parts of the coast to any point where they are required in
greater force than ordinary, the economy of their maintenance and
preservation from decay when not in actual service, and the competence
of our finances to this defensive provision without any new burthen are
considerations which will have due weight with Congress in deciding
on the expediency of adding to their number from year to year, as
experience shall test their utility, until all our important harbors,
by these and auxiliary means, shall be secured against insult and
opposition to the laws.
No circumstance has arisen since your last session which calls for any
augmentation of our regular military force. Should any improvement occur
in the militia system, that will be always seasonable.
Accounts of the receipts and expenditures of the last year, with
estimates for the ensuing one, will as usual be laid before you.
The state of our finances continues to fulfill our expectations.
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