At the commencement of this session of Congress I proposed in the course of it to communicate to both Houses further information concerning the situation of our affairs in the territories of the United States situated on the Mississippi River and in its neighborhood; our intercourse with the Indian nations; our relations with the Spanish Government, and the conduct of their officers and agents. This information will be found in a report of the Secretary of State and the documents attending it, which I now present to the Senate and House of Representatives. JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, _February 2, 1798_. _Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_: I have received from our minister in London two acts of the Parliament of Great Britain, one passed on the 4th of July, 1797, entitled "An act for carrying into execution the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation concluded between His Majesty and the United States of America," the other passed on the 19th day of July, 1797, entitled "An act for regulating the trade to be carried on with the British possessions in India by the ships of nations in amity with His Majesty." These acts have such connections with the commercial and political interests of the United States that it is proper they should be communicated to Congress. I have accordingly transmitted copies of them with this message. JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, _February 5, 1798_. _Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_: I have received a letter from His Excellency Charles Pinckney, esq., governor of the State of South Carolina, dated the 22d of October, 1797, inclosing a number of depositions of witnesses to several captures and outrages committed within and near the limits of the United States by a French privateer belonging to Cape Francois, or Monte Christo, called the _Vertitude_ or _Fortitude_, and commanded by a person of the name of Jordan or Jourdain, and particularly upon an English merchant ship named the _Oracabissa_, which he first plundered and then burned, with the rest of her cargo, of great value, within the territory of the United States, in the harbor of Charleston, on the 17th day of October last, copies of which letter and depositions, and also of several other depositions relative to the same subject, received from the collector of Charleston, are herewith communicated. Whenever the channels of diplomatical communication between the United States and France shall be opened, I shall demand satisfaction for the insult and reparation for the injury.