In the message of the president, the causes of complaint against Great Britain were stated, and also a concise summary of the abuses we had received, and were then receiving at her hands. It recommended the adoption of efficient and immediate measures of redress, by providing the means of prosecuting vigorously a war of defence and offence. This document was referred to a committee, which was selected by him. He was extremely solicitous that the subject of our foreign relations should receive that consideration which their exceedingly interesting character demanded; and to secure this, he was careful to choose those whose views, in reference to them, coincided with his own. Peter B. Porter, of New York, was the chairman of the committee. He presented their report to the house on the 29th of November. It stated succinctly and in a patriotic tone, the injuries we had received at the hands of both England and France, denominating them as ‘so daring in character, and so disgraceful in execution, that it would be impossible for the people of the United States to remain indifferent. We must now tamely and quietly submit, or we must resist by those means which God has placed within our reach. Your committee would not cast a slander over the American name, by the expression of a doubt which branch of this alternative will be embraced. The occasion is now presented when the national character, misrepresented and traduced for a time, by foreign and domestic enemies, should be vindicated. ‘If we have not rushed to the field of battle like the nations who are led by the mad ambition of a single chief, or the avarice of a corrupted court, it has not proceeded from a fear of war, but from our love of justice and humanity. That proud spirit of liberty and independence, which sustained our fathers in the successful assertion of their rights against foreign aggression, is not yet sunk. The patriotic fire of the revolution still burns in the American breast, with a holy and inextinguishable flame, and will conduct this nation to those high destinies which are not less the reward of dignified moderation than of exalted virtue. ‘But we have borne with injury until forbearance has ceased to be a virtue. The sovereignty and independence of these states, purchased and sanctified by the blood of our fathers, from whom we received them, not for ourselves only, but as the inheritance of our posterity, are deliberately and systematically violated. And the period has arrived, when, in the opinion of your committee, it is the sacred duty of congress to call forth the patriotism and resources of the country. By the aid of these, and with the blessing of God, we confidently trust we shall be enabled to procure that redress which has been sought for by justice, by remonstrance and forbearance, in vain.’ They introduced into the report suitable resolutions for accomplishing the object which it proposed, which received the deliberate and careful consideration of the house.