_Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_: The first dispatches from our envoys extraordinary since their arrival at Paris were received at the Secretary of State's office at a late hour last evening. They are all in a character which will require some days to be deciphered, except the last, which is dated the 8th of January, 1798. The contents of this letter are of so much importance to be immediately made known to Congress and to the public, especially to the mercantile part of our fellow-citizens, that I have thought it my duty to communicate them to both Houses without loss of time. JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, _March 12, 1798_. _Gentlemen of the Senate_: Insinuations having been repeatedly made in the name of the Court of Sweden of an inclination to renew the connection between the United States and that power, I sent, in the recess of the Senate, to our minister at Berlin a full power to negotiate that business, with such alterations as might be agreeable to both parties; but as that commission, if not renewed with the advice and consent of the Senate, will expire with the present session of Congress, I now nominate John Quincy Adams to be a commissioner with full powers to negotiate a treaty of amity and commerce with His Majesty the King of Sweden. JOHN ADAMS. UNITED STATES, _March 19, 1798_. _Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_: The dispatches from the envoys extraordinary of the United States to the French Republic, which were mentioned in my message to both Houses of Congress of the 5th instant, have been examined and maturely considered. While I feel a satisfaction in informing you that their exertions for the adjustment of the differences between the two nations have been sincere and unremitted, it is incumbent on me to declare that I perceive no ground of expectation that the objects of their mission can be accomplished on terms compatible with the safety, the honor, or the essential interests of the nation.