communicate what has since passed on that subject. The Senate will judge
whether the prospect it offers will justify a longer suspension of
that portion of indemnities conceded by Spain should she now take no
advantage of the lapse of the period for ratification. As the settlement
of the boundaries of Louisiana will call for new negotiations on our
receiving possession of that Province, the claims not obtained by the
convention now before the Senate may be incorporated into those
discussions.

TH. JEFFERSON.



DECEMBER 31, 1803.

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

I now lay before Congress the annual account of the fund established
for defraying the contingent charges of Government. No occasion having
arisen for making use of any part of it in the present year, the balance
of $18,560 unexpended at the end of the last year remains now in the
Treasury.

TH. JEFFERSON.



JANUARY 16, 1804.

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