(Concluded from page 412.)
During the summers of 1796 and 1797 the yellow fever again prevailed widely and increased the public alarm by the extension of its area and the fatality of its attacks.
On the opening of the Fifth Congress, at Philadelphia, November 23, 1797, the President, John Adams, commenced his speech to the Houses as follows:
"I was for some time apprehensive that it would be necessary, on account of the contagious sickness which afflicted the city of Philadelphia, to convene the national legislature at some other place. This measure it was desirable to avoid, because it would occasion much public inconvenience and considerable public expense, and add to the calamities of the inhabitants of this city, whose sufferings must have excited the sympathy of all their fellow-citizens; therefore, after taking measures to ascertain the state and decline of the sickness, I postponed my determination, having hopes, now