The work has met with public favor far beyond all expectations, and words of praise for it have come from all classes and callings. Those who possess it may be assured that they have in their libraries all the official utterances of the Presidents of the United States from 1789 to 1897 that could possibly be found after the most diligent search, and that these utterances are not to be found complete in any other publication.
I close by quoting from the Prefatory Note to Volume I: "If my work shall prove satisfactory to Congress and the country, I will feel compensated for my time and effort."
JAMES D. RICHARDSON.
JULY 4, 1899.
APPENDIX
Messages, Proclamations, Executive Orders, etc.,
Omitted from Volumes I to IX
SPECIAL MESSAGES, ETC.
SATURDAY, August 22, 1789.[1]
The President of the United States came into the Senate Chamber, attended by General Knox, and laid before the Senate the following state of facts, with the questions thereto annexed, for their advice and consent:
"To conciliate the powerful tribes of Indians in the southern district, amounting probably to 14,000 fighting men, and to attach them firmly to the United States, may be regarded as highly worthy of the serious attention of Government.