taining
vessels actually equipped, or in a course of equipment, with a warlike
force within the jurisdiction of the United States, or, as the case may
be, for obtaining from the owners or commanders of such vessels adequate
securities against the abuse of their armaments, with the exceptions in
such provisions proper for the cases of merchant vessels furnished with
the defensive armaments usual on distant and dangerous expeditions, and
of a private commerce in military stores permitted by our laws, and
which the law of nations does not require the United States to prohibit.

JAMES MADISON.

JANUARY 25, 1817.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I lay before Congress copies of ratified treaties between the United
States and the following Indian tribes:

First. The Wea and Kickapoo.

Second. The united tribes of Ottawas, Chippawas, and Potowotomies
residing on the Illinois and Melwakee rivers and their waters and
on the southwestern parts of Lake Michigan.

Third. That portion of the Winnebago tribe or nation residing on the
Ouisconsin River,

Fourth. The Sacs of Rock River and the adjacent country.

Fifth. Eight bands of the Siouxs, composing the three tribes called the
Siouxs of the Leaf, the Siouxs of the Broad Leaf, and the Siouxs who
Shoot in the Pine Tops.

Sixth. The Chickasaw tribe of Indians.

Seventh. The Cherokee tribe of Indians.

Eighth. The Chactaw tribe of Indians.

Congress will take into consideration how far legislative provisions may
be necessary for carrying into effect stipulations contained in the said
treaties,

JAMES MADISON.

JANUARY 31, 1817.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

The envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of His Most
Christian Majesty having renewed, under special instructions from his
Government, the claim of the representative of Baron de Beaumarchais for
1,000,000 livres, which were debited to him in the settlement of his
accounts with the United States, I lay before Congress copies of the
memoir on that subject addressed by the said envoy to the Secretary of
State.

Considering that the sum of which the million of livres in question made
a part was a gratuitous grant from the French Government to the United
States, and the declaration of that Government that that part of the
grant was put into the hands of M. de Beaumarchais as its agent, not as
the agent of the United St