The instrument is now submitted to the Senate, with a request of their
advice and consent as to its ratification.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 17, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I have heretofore communicated to Congress the decrees of the Government
of France of November 21, 1806, and of Spain of February 19, 1807, with
the orders of the British Government of January and November, 1807.
I now transmit a decree of the Emperor of France of December 17,1807,
and a similar decree of the 3d of January last by His Catholic Majesty.
Although the decree of France has not been received by official
communication, yet the different channels of promulgation through which
the public are possessed of it, with the formal testimony furnished by
the Government of Spain in their decree, leave us without a doubt that
such a one has been issued. These decrees and orders, taken together,
want little of amounting to a declaration that every neutral vessel
found on the high seas, whatsoever be her cargo and whatsoever foreign
port be that of her departure or destination, shall be deemed lawful
prize; and they prove more and more the expediency of retaining our
vessels, our seamen, and property within our own harbors until the
dangers to which they are exposed can be removed or lessened.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 18, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
The scale on which the Military Academy at West Point was
originally established is become too limited to furnish the number
of well-instructed subjects in the different branches of artillery
and engineering which the public service calls for.
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