The war has proved moreover that our free Government, like other free
governments, though slow in its early movements, acquires in its
progress a force proportioned to its freedom, and that the union of
these States, the guardian of the freedom and safety of all and of each,
is strengthened by every occasion that puts it to the test.
In fine, the war, with all its vicissitudes, is illustrating the
capacity and the destiny of the United States to be a great, a
flourishing, and a powerful nation, worthy of the friendship which it
is disposed to cultivate with all others, and authorized by its own
example to require from all an observance of the laws of justice and
reciprocity. Beyond these their claims have never extended, and in
contending for these we behold a subject for our congratulations in the
daily testimonies of increasing harmony throughout the nation, and may
humbly repose our trust in the smiles of Heaven on so righteous a cause.
JAMES MADISON.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
DECEMBER 9, 1813.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
The tendency of our commercial and navigation laws in their present
state to favor the enemy and thereby prolong the war is more and more
developed by experience. Supplies of the most essential kinds And their
way not only to British ports and British armies at a distance, but the
armies in our neighborhood with which our own are contending derive from
our ports and outlets a subsistence attainable with difficulty, if at
all, from other sources.
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