Wooster, in the
State of Ohio, on the first Monday in July next, and continue open for
seven days and no longer, and that the lands authorized to be sold by
the last-mentioned act shall be offered for sale to the highest bidder
at the same place on the third Tuesday in July next, and continue open
for seven days and no longer.

Given under my hand this 15th day of April, 1817.

JAMES MONROE.

By the President:
J. MEIGS,
_Commissioner of the General Land Office_

FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:

At no period of our political existence had we so much cause to
felicitate ourselves at the prosperous and happy condition of our
country. The abundant fruits of the earth have filled it with plenty. An
extensive and profitable commerce has greatly augmented our revenue. The
public credit has attained an extraordinary elevation. Our preparations
for defense in case of future wars, from which, by the experience
of all nations, we ought not to expect to be exempted, are advancing
under a well-digested system with all the dispatch which so important
a work will admit. Our free Government, founded on the interest and
affections of the people, has gained and is daily gaining strength.
Local jealousies are rapidly yielding to more generous, enlarged, and
enlightened views of national policy. For advantages so numerous and
highly important it is our duty to unite in grateful acknowledgments
to that Omnipotent Being from whom they are derived, and in unceasing
prayer that He will endow us with virtue and strength to maintain and
hand them down in their utmost purity to our latest posterity.

I have the satisfaction to inform you that an arrangement which had
been commenced by my predecessor with the British Government for the
reduction of the naval force by Great Britain and the United States on
the Lakes has been concluded, by which it is provided that neither party
shall keep in service on Lake Champlain more than one vessel, on Lake
Ontario more than one, and on Lake Erie and the upper lakes more than
two, to be armed each with one cannon only, and that all the other armed
vessels of both parties, of which an exact list is interchanged, shall
be dismantled. It is also agreed that the force retained shall be
restricted in its duty to the internal purposes of each party, and
that the arrangement shall remain in force until six months shall have
expired a