Messrs. Logan and Pickering spoke in favor of the resolution, and Mr. Israel Smith against it; when, after some verbal amendments, the question was taken upon it, by yeas and nays, and the resolution carried—yeas 23, nays 7, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Adams, Anderson, Baldwin, Bayard, Gaillard, Gilman, Hillhouse, Howland, Kitchel, Logan, Maclay, Mitchill, Moore, Pickering, Smith of Maryland, Smith of New York, Smith of Ohio, Smith of Tennessee, Tracy, Turner, White, Worthington, and Wright.
Nays.—Messrs. Adair, Bradley, Plumer, Smith of Vermont, Stone, Sumter, and Thruston.
So it was Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to demand the restoration of the property of their citizens captured and condemned on the pretext of its being employed in a trade with the enemies of Great Britain, prohibited in a time of peace; and the indemnification of such American citizens, for their losses and damages sustained by these captures and condemnations; and to enter into such arrangements with the British Government, on this and all other differences subsisting between the two nations, (and particularly respecting the impressment of American seamen,) as may be consistent with the honor and interests of the United States, and manifest their earnest desire to obtain for themselves and their citizens, by amicable negotiation, that justice to which they are entitled.
Wednesday, February 19.
Lewis and Clarke’s Expedition.
The following Message was received from the President of the United States:
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
In pursuance of a measure proposed to Congress, by a Message of January 18th, 1803, and sanctioned by their approbation, for carrying it into execution, Captain Meriwether Lewis, of the first regiment of infantry, was appointed, with a party of men, to explore the river Missouri from its mouth to its source, and crossing the high lands by the shortest portage, to seek the best water communication thence to the Pacific Ocean; and Lieutenant Clarke was appointed second in command. They were to enter into conference with the Indian nations on their route, with a view to the establishment of commerce with them. They entered the Missouri, May 14, 1804, and on the 1st of November, took up their winter quarters near the Mandan towns, sixteen hundred and nine miles above the mouth of the river, in latitude 47° 21´ 47´´ north, and longitude 99° 24´ 45´´ west, from Greenwich. On the 8th of April, 1805, they proceeded up the river in pursuance of the objects prescribed to them. A letter of the preceding day, April 7, from Captain Lewis, is herewith communicated. During his stay among the Mandans, he has been able to lay down the Missouri, according to courses and distances taken on his passage up it, corrected by frequent observations of longitude and latitude, and to add to the actual survey of this portion of the river, a general map of the country between the Mississippi and Pacific, from the 34th to the 54th degrees of latitude. These additions are from information collected from Indians, with whom he had opportunities of communicating during his journey, and residence with them. Copies of this map are now presented to both Houses of Congress. With these, I communicate, also a statistical view, procured and forwarded by him, of the Indian nations inhabiting the Territory of Louisiana and the countries adjacent to its northern and western borders, and of other interesting circumstances respecting them.
TH. JEFFERSON.