TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. SIR-The Citizens of Providence beg leave to offer to you their sincere and cordial congratulations upon your arrival in this town. With the most sensible pleasure, they again see amongst them the first Magistrate of the Union, under a Constitution, the adoption of which they so earnestly desired, to which they are so much attached, and from the operation of which they have derived so many advantages; and have the honour of presenting their respectful address to you within their own municipal jurisdiction, as they have before had the satisfaction of doing to two of your illustrious predecessors. The time and circumstances of your visit to this part of the United States, are such as to excite in every mind the most gratifying and patriotic sentiments. A great and free people in the full enjoyment of peace and good government, unanimously bestowing upon their Chief Magistrate in his progress through the country, the unsought and spontaneous expressions of their good will and confidence, offers unequivocal evidence of general happiness and freedom, and is a spectacle which no country in the world, except our own, can now exhibit. The history of the United States affords the most consoling assurances that the attachment of the people to the principles of Liberty and to the blessings of a tranquil and well ordered government, founded upon the will and choice of the majority, arises from rational conviction and experience, and rests upon the solid foundation of early and general education, and good moral habits. The proofs which you every where receive of the respect and confidence of the people, and of their reverence for our republican institutions, must be to your own mind a source of the highest satisfaction, and a rich reward for all your arduous labours in the public service. May you long continue to receive these rewards, so grateful to your heart, and so honourable to your character, and to witness the increasing prosperi ty of the Republic, to whose service, in the field and in the Cabinet, both your youth and your mature age have been so faithfully, and so successfully devoted. We have the honour to be with the highest respect, in behalf of the citizens of the town of Providence, your most obedient and humble servants. Signed by the Committee. GENTLEMEN : The President's answer. I receive with great satisfaction the address which the citizens of Providence, through their Committee, have been pleased to communicate to me. The pleasure of my journey has been greatly enhanced by the uniform kindness and promptitude with which the objects of my visit have been seconded by my fellow citiizens. Every where in our country the reflecting mind cannot fail to observe the blessings of a free government. Living under a Constitution which secures equal civil, religious and political rights to all, it is a great consolation in administering it, that the people have formed so just an estimate of its value, and from rational conviction and not from blind prejudices, are sincerely devoted to its preservation. I hope that this just confidence in the stability of our government may continue to increase; and if it does, it cannot fail to produce the happiest effects by encouraging a love of our country, and an honest zeal to promote its best and permanent interests. Happy shall I be, if my exertions in the public service shall be so far successful, that they may assist the industry and enterprize of my fellow citizens, in increasing the general prosperity. JAMES MONROE. To the Committee of the Town of Providence. Providence is situated at the head of ship navigation, upon Providence river, which divides the town into two sections, being connected together by a bridge. It owes its settlement to the same cause which drew the ancient Puritans from their native land to New England -religious intolerance. "The first planters of NewEngland," could not endure the "act of uniformity" in their own country, and fled here to enjoy civil and religious liberty. "The act of uniformity (says the most modern eulogist of the Puritans) rigorously enforced, was the fatal rock upon which the English Church foundered."* But no sooner had the Puritans began to exercise ecclesiastical dominion themselves, than they claimed a submissive acquiescence in their own religious creed. ROGER WILLIAMS, an eminent minister in Salem," being unwilling to renounce or conceal the sentiments which he entertained," but, like an independent Christian, determining to form his own belief upon divine revelation, untrammelled from the mysterious, and inexplicable systems formed by human creatures as imperfect as himself, he was banished from the colony of Massachusetts by its government, in 1635. He is admitted, by the work referred to, to have been " a man of considerable ability and learning, active and diligent in his pursuits, humane and benevolent in his character.” But he was a non-conformist! That the English government should have transported MUIR and PALMER to Botany Bay for reading "The Rights of Man," disseminating its exalted principles in that country, and wishing to see man emancipated from bondage, is not surprising. But, that the government of a commonwealth, expressly founded upon the two great pillars of civil liberty, and religious freedom, * Hist. should drive from its bosom an unoffending citizen, who could not, conscientiously, conform to the canonical institutes of that day, excites the astonishment of a reader in the nineteenth century. Mrs. Hutchinson had been banished also from the mother colony for "errors" of opinion only. The eminent WILLIAM CODDINGTON, who adopted her opinions, left the colony; and, with the aid of the benevolent Williams, settled Rhode-Island, which being connected with Providence plantations, formed a new colony, and obtained a charter in 1643. The State of Rhode-Island, in the revolutionary contest, was without a rival in patriotism. Roger Williams, having experienced but little of the tender mercies of man, in gratitude to Heaven, named this place PROVIDENCE. In a commercial point of view, it exceeds any interior town in New-England. The trade to the East Indies has been prosecuted by the citizens of this place to an extent truly surprising. Brown's University in this town maintains a respectable rank with the seminaries of New-England. The cotton manufactories here, were the first of any consequence established in the Eastern States, and are still prosecuted with great vigour. Population in 1810, 10,000. The President left this place upon the first of July, and proceeded towards Boston. The Legislature of Massachusetts, thinking it improper that the CHIEF MAGISTRATE OF THE UNION should owe the flattering reception he was sure to meet with in this ancient commonwealth, to republican munificence, and individual hospitality, passed a resolution directing the proper authorities to escort the President N through the State, and to draw upon the Treasury for a reimbursement of the expense. He entered the State, and was conducted to Boston in the following manner : "The President, on his arrival at the lines of the State, was received by Colonel Sumner, Aid-de-Camp to his Excellency the Governour, who, by his command, bid the President welcome to Massachusetts, requested him to accept the escort which the Governour had ordered for him through the State, and offered his services as an attendant on the President on his way to the Capital, which was accepted, and the attention of the Governour acknowledged by the President with the greatest urbanity. After this ceremony, the President reviewed a body of the militia, under the command of Brigadier General Lincoln, of the fifth division, consisting of a detachment of Cavalry of fiftyeight rank and file, under the command of Capt. Hunt, of Seekonk; Captain Walker's company of Artillery, from Norton, a company of Light Infantry, from Easton, under the command of Lieut. Alger, a company of Light Infantry, from Rehoboth, under command of Capt. Carpenter, and a Rifle Company from Attleborough, under command of Capt. Daggett, forming a battalion under command of Colonel Leach, of Easton; after receiving the marching and standing salutes, the officers and many of the citizens of the neighbourhood were introduced to the President, who then visited the extensive Cotton Factory, under the agency of Timothy Green. Capt. Hunt's cavalry then escorted the President, preceded by the Marshal of the District, to Col. Hatch's in Attleborough, through the fifth Division. Following the President, were a number of citizens of |