The National Intelligencer And Washington Advertiser

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER.

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT.

February 2, 1802.

Gentlemen of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives,

I now lay before you, 1. A return of ordnance, arms and military stores, the property of the United States.

2. Returns of muskets and bayonets fabricated at the armouries of the United States, at Springfield and Harper's Ferry, and of the expenditures at those places; and,

3. An estimate of the expenditures which may be necessary for fortifications and barracks, for the present year.

Besides the permanent magazines established at Springfield, West-Point and Harper's Ferry, it is thought one should be established in some point convenient for the states of North-Carolina, South-Carolina and Georgia; such a point will probably be found near the borders of the Carolinas, and some small provision by the legislature, preparatory to the establishment, will be necessary for the present year.

We find the United States in possession of certain iron mines and works, in the county of Berkeley, and state of Virginia, purchased, as is presumable, on the idea of establishing works or the fabrication of cannon and other military articles, by the public. Whether this method of supplying what may be wanted will be most advisable, or that of purchasing at market, where competition brings every thing to its proper level of price and quality, is for the legislature to decide; and if the latter alternative be preferred, it will rest for their further consideration in what way the objects of this purchase may be best employed or disposed of.

The Attorney-General's opinion on the subject of the title accompanies this.

There are, in various parts of the United States, small parcels of land which have been purchased, at different times, for cantonments and other military purposes. Several of them are in situations not likely to be accommodated to future purposes. The loss of the records prevents a detailed statement of these, until they can be supplied by enquiry; in the mean time, one of them, containing 88 acres, in the county of Essex, in New Jersey, purchased in 1799 & sold the following year to Cornelius Vermule and Andrew Codmus, though its price has been received, cannot be conveyed without authority from the legislature.

I enclose herewith a letter from the Secretary at War on the subject of the islands in the lakes and rivers of our Northern boundary, and of certain lands in the neighbourhood of some of our military posts, on which it may be expedient for the legislature to make some provisions.

TH: JEFFERSON.

February 2, 1802.

Here follows, 1. A detached statement of ordnance, arms, &c. the property of the United States.

2. Return of muskets and bayonets fabricated at Springfield, from 1795, to Nov. 28, 1801, viz. 16,120 muskets, and 12,968 bayonets.

3. Expenditures of armoury at Springfield, from July 10, 1794, to Sept. 30, 1801, viz. 230,251 dollars.

4. Ditto at Harper's Ferry from Oct. 1, 1798, to June 30, 1801, viz. 75,314 dollars.

5. Muskets and bayonets fabricated at Harper's Ferry from Jan. 1, to Sept. 30, 1801, viz. 260 muskets, and 260 bayonets.

Estimate of expenditures necessary for erecting and completing Fortifications and Barracks for the year 1802.

For repairs of platforms and remounting cannon in Fort Constitution, in Portsmouth harbour, New-Hampshire. 1,000

For completing fort Independence, and Barracks, &c. on Castle-Island, in the harbour of Boston, 38,000

For completing two fortifications, of Fort Adams already commenced, in and about the harbour of Newport, Rhode-Island, 1,500

For completing Fort Mifflin, near Philadelphia, 1,000

For erecting a battery and barracks near Norfolk, in Virginia, 2,000

For completing a battery, near Wilmington, North-Carolina; 600

For completing the work at Georgia, 6,000

For a new enclosed work at Niagara, 5,000

For sundry repairs at Detroit, Michilimackinac, Chickasaw Bluffs, and Fort Massacre.