In making this communication I deem it proper to observe that I was led by the regard due to the rights and interests of the United States and to the just sensibility of the portion of our fellow-citizens more immediately affected by the irregular proceeding at New Orleans to lose not a moment in causing every step to be taken which the occasion claimed from me, being equally aware of the obligation to maintain in all cases the rights of the nation and to employ for that purpose those just and honorable means which belong to the character of the United States. TH. JEFFERSON. DECEMBER 23, 1802. _Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_. In pursuance of the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 3d of May last, desiring a statement of expenditures from January 1, 1797, by the Quartermaster-General and the navy agents, for the contingencies of the naval and military establishments and the navy contracts for timber and stores, I now transmit such statements from the offices of the Secretaries of the Treasury, War, and Navy, where alone these expenditures are entered. TH. JEFFERSON. DECEMBER 27, 1802. _Gentlemen of the Senate_: I lay before you a treaty, which has been agreed to by commissioners duly authorized on the part of the United States and the Creek Nation of Indians, for the extinguishment of the native title to lands in the Talassee County, and others between the forks of Oconce and Oakmulgee rivers, in Georgia, in pursuance of the convention with that State, together with the documents explanatory thereof; and it is submitted to your determination whether you will advise and consent to the ratification thereof. TH. JEFFERSON. DECEMBER 27, 1802. _Gentlemen of the Senate_: I lay before you a treaty, which has been concluded between the State of New York and the Oneida Indians, for the purchase of lands within that State. One other, between the same State and the Seneca Indians, for the purchase of other lands within the same State. One other, between certain individuals styled the Holland Company with the Senecas, for the exchange of certain lands in the same State. And one other, between Oliver Phelps, a citizen of the United States, and the Senecas, for the exchange of lands in the same State; with sundry explanatory papers, all of them conducted under the superintendence of a commissioner on the part of the United States, who reports that they have been adjusted with the fair and free consent and understanding of the parties. It is therefore submitted to your determination whether you will advise and consent to their respective ratifications. TH. JEFFERSON. DECEMBER 27, 1802. _Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_: