On motion, it was _Ordered_, That a committee be appointed to prepare an Answer to the Speech. Mr. VENABLE, Mr. KITTERA, Mr. FREEMAN, Mr. RUTLEDGE, and Mr. GRISWOLD, were nominated to report the Answer. FRIDAY, May 19. RICHARD BRENT, from Virginia, appeared, produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat. _Documents Referred to in the President's Speech._ The SPEAKER informed the House that he had received a communication from the Department of State, containing sundry documents referred to by the President in his Speech to both Houses, numbered from 1 to 18. He proceeded to read No. 1, viz: 1. A letter from General Pinckney to the Secretary of State, dated Paris, December 20, 1796, giving an account of his arrival at Bordeaux; of his journey from thence to Paris, in which, from the badness of the roads, he broke three wheels of his carriage; of the ill treatment he received from M. Delacroix, &c. He remarks, that it is not surprising that the French Republic have refused to receive him, since they have dismissed no less than thirteen foreign Ministers; and since they have been led to believe by a late emigrant, that the United States was of no greater consequence to them than the Republics of Genoa or Geneva. He also mentions, that it seemed to be the opinion in France, that much depended on the election of the President, as one of the candidates was considered the friend of England, the other as devoted to France. The people of France, he observes, have been greatly deceived, with respect to the United States, by misrepresentation, being led to believe that the people and Government have different views; but, adds he, any attempt to divide the people from the Government, ought to be to the people of the United States, the signal for rallying. Gen. Pinckney several times mentions Mr. Monroe in this letter with great respect; and says that before his arrival the Directory had been very cool towards him, but, since that time, they had renewed their civilities to him. 2. Is a report of Major General Mountflorence to General Pinckney, dated December 18, 1796, on the subject of American vessels brought prizes into the ports of France.