for the safety of our shores, and for the protection of our property committed to the ocean.

The present navy of the United States, called suddenly into existence by a great national exigency, has raised us in our own esteem, and by the protection afforded to our commerce has effected, to the extent of our expectations, the objects for which it was created.

In connection with a navy ought to be contemplated the fortification of some of our principal seaports and harbors. A variety of considerations, which will readily suggest themselves, urge an attention to this measure of precaution. To give security to our principal ports, considerable sums have already been expended, but the works remain incomplete. It is for Congress to determine whether additional appropriations shall be made, in order to render competent to the intended purposes the fortifications which have been commenced.

The manufacture of arms within the United States still invites the attention of the national legislature. At a considerable expense to the public, this manufacture has been brought to such a state of maturity as, with continued encouragement, will supersede the necessity of future importations from foreign countries.

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:

I shall direct the estimates of the appropriations necessary for the ensuing year, together with an account of the public revenue and expenditure, to a later period, to be laid before you. I observe, with much satisfaction, that the product of the revenue during the present year has been more considerable than during any former equal period. This result affords conclusive evidence of the great resources of this country, and of the wisdom and efficiency of the measures which have been adopted by Congress for the protection of commerce and preservation of public credit.

Gentlemen of the Senate,

and House of Representatives:

As one of the grand community of nations, our attention is irresistibly drawn to the important scenes which

surround us. If they have exhibited an uncommon portion of calamity, it is the province of humanity to deplore, and of wisdom to avoid, the causes which may have produced it. If, turning our eyes homeward, we find reason to rejoice at the prospect which presents itself; if we perceive the interior of our country prosperous, free, and happy, if all enjoy safety, under the protection of laws emanating only from the general will, the fruits of their own labor, we ought to fortify and cling to those institutions which have been the source of much real felicity, and resist with unabating perseverance the progress of those dangerous innovations which may diminish their influence.

To your patriotism, gentlemen, has been confided the honorable duty of guarding the public interests; and, while the past is to your country a sure pledge that it will be faithfully discharged, permit me to asssure you that your labors to promote the general happiness will receive from me the most zealous co-operation.

THOMAS JEFFERSON.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, the third President of the United States, was born on the 2d day of April, (O. S.) 1743, at Shadwell, in Albemarle County, Virginia. Of the first incidents of his life very little is recorded. We first hear of him as a student in the college of William and Mary, and, still ignorant of what success he met with in his literary pursuits at this institution, we find him a student at law in the office of George Wythe. Mr. Jefferson was admitted to the bar in 1766, and pursued his profession with zeal and success, and during the short period in which he devoted himself to its practice, he acquired considerable reputation, and there still exists a monument of his early labor and talents in a volume of Reports of Cases in the Supreme Courts of Virginia.

He was not, however, permitted long to remain in a private station. We find him, as early as 1769, a distinguished member of the legislature of Virginia, associated with men whose names have come down to us as the earliest and most determined champions of our rights.

On the first of January, 1772, Mr. Jefferson married the daughter of Mr. Wayles, an eminent lawyer of Virginia. On the 12th of March, 1773, Mr. Jefferson was appointed a member of the first committee of correspondence, established by the colonial legislatures, one of the most important acts of the Revolution, and which paved the way for that union of action and sentiment, from which arose the first effective resistance, and on which depended the successful conduct and final triumph of the cause.