Resolved, That so much of an act, entitled “An act regulating the grants of land, and providing for the disposal of the lands of the United States south of the State of Tennessee,” as appropriates any portion of the said lands for the purpose of satisfying, quieting, or compensating any claims to the said lands, derived from any act, or pretended act of the State of Georgia, and neither recognized by the articles of agreement and cession between the United States and the State of Georgia, nor embraced by the two first sections of the above-mentioned act, be repealed.
Ordered to lie on the table.
Executive Documents.
A Message was delivered from the President of the United States, by Mr. Coles, his Secretary, as follows:
“Mr. Speaker: I am directed by the President of the United States to deliver you a Message in writing.”
The Speaker having received and opened a packet of considerable size, observed that the Message was confidential, and thereupon ordered the galleries to be cleared.
In about one hour and a half, the doors were opened, when it appeared that part of the communications made by the President were confidential, and that the members of the House remained under an injunction of secrecy with regard to them; and that another part was not confidential. This part embraces, among others, the following documents:
1. A letter from Governor Claiborne to the Secretary of State, dated October 24, 1805, in which, after stating the preparations making by the Spaniards at Pensacola and other places, he says: “I flatter myself that hostilities between the United States and Spain may be avoided, and that an honorable adjustment of our differences may ensue. But I am inclined to think that the Spanish agents calculate on a speedy rupture, and are making all the preparations that their means permit to commence the war in this quarter.”
2. Statements respecting the detention of the American gunboats.
3. Correspondence between Governor Claiborne and the Marquis de Casa Calvo, on exempting the Spanish officers from municipal taxes.