Wednesday, May 24.
Elijah Paine, from the State of Vermont, attended.
Agreeably to the resolution of yesterday, the Senate waited on the President of the United States, and the Vice President, in their name, presented the Address then agreed to.
To which the President made the following reply:
Mr. Vice President, and Gentlemen of the Senate:
It would be an affectation in me to dissemble the pleasure I feel on receiving this kind Address.
My long experience of the wisdom, fortitude, and patriotism of the Senate of the United States, enhances in my estimation the value of those obliging expressions of your approbation of my conduct, which are a generous reward for the past, and an affecting encouragement to constancy and perseverance in future.
Our sentiments appear to be so entirely in unison, that I cannot but believe them to be the rational result of the understandings and the natural feelings of the hearts of Americans in general, on contemplating the present state of the nation.
While such principles and affections prevail, they will form an indissoluble bond of union, and a sure pledge that our country has no essential injury to apprehend from any portentous appearances abroad. In a humble reliance on Divine Providence, we may rest assured, that, while we reiterate with sincerity our endeavors to accommodate all our differences with France, the independence of our country cannot be diminished, its dignity degraded, or its glory tarnished, by any nation or combination of nations, whether friends or enemies.
JOHN ADAMS.
The Senate returned to their own Chamber, and adjourned.