The President of the United States requests the Secretary of the Navy to take immediate measures for carrying into execution the resolution of Congress of the 29th, for presenting to Captain Thomas Truxtun a gold medal, emblematical of the late action between the United States frigate Constellation, of thirty-eight guns, and the French ship-of-war La Vengeance, of fifty-four, in testimony of the high sense entertained by Congress of his gallantry and good conduct in the above engagement, wherein an example was exhibited by the captain, officers, sailors and marines, honourable to the American name, and instructive to its rising navy. John ADAMS. _____ _John Adams to Captain Thomas Truxtun._ To CAPTAIN THOMAS TRUXTUN, U.S.N. Quincy, November 30th, 1802. Sir: I have many apologies to make for omitting so long to acknowledge the receipt of your obliging favour of the 10th of July. The copy you have done me the honour to present me, of the medal voted by Congress, and executed according to my directions to the Secretary of the Navy, I accept with great pleasure, not only from my personal regard to the giver, but because I esteem every laurel conferred upon you, for the glorious action of the 1st of March, 1800, as an honour done to our beloved country. From both of these motives I have been highly gratified with the honour the gentlemen of Lloyd's Coffee House have done themselves in the handsome acknowledgment they have made of their obligations to you. I regret that the artist had not completed the medal in season, that I might have had the satisfaction of presenting it to an officer who has so greatly deserved it; and I lament still more that I had not the power of promoting merit to its just rank in the navy, that of an admiral. The counsel which Themistocles gave to Athens, Pompey to Rome, Cromwell to England, De Witt to Holland, and Colbert to France, I have always given and shall continue to give to my countrymen, that, as the great questions of commerce and power between nations and empires must be decided by a military marine, and war and peace are determined at sea, all reasonable encouragement should be given to the navy. The trident of Neptune is the sceptre of the world. I am, Sir, etc., John ADAMS. No. 22. (p. 133) PLATE XXIII. _March 4, 1801--March 4, 1809._ Th. Jefferson President of the U.S. A.D. 1801. [Rx]. Peace and friendship. PRESIDENT THOMAS JEFFERSON. [_Third President of the United States of America._]