UNITED STATES, _December 14, 1798_.
MONDAY, December 31.
Several other members, viz: from Connecticut, JOHN ALLEN; and from
Virginia, SAMUEL J. CABELL and THOMAS CLAIBORNE, appeared, and took
their seats in the House.
_Remonstrance of Georgia._
RECLAMATION FOR SACRIFICED TERRITORY--COMPARATIVE
EXPENDITURE IN DEFENDING NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN FRONTIERS
FROM INDIAN DEPREDATIONS.
The House then resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole, on the
report of a select committee on the representation and remonstrance of
the State of Georgia; which was read as follows:
"Report of the committee to whom was referred the
representation and remonstrance of the Legislature of the
State of Georgia:
"That a certain tract of country, within the limits of
Georgia, bounded by a line beginning at the fork of Oconee
and Ocmulgee Rivers, and thence running in a south-west
direction, until it intersects the most southern part of
St. Mary's River, thence down the river to the old line,
was ceded by the Creek nation of Indians, to the said
State, by a treaty held between the Commissioner of said
State, and the Creek Indians at Galphinton, on the 12th of
November, 1785, which tract of country was, by the
Legislature of said State, formed into a county, by the
name of Talessee county; and the cession thereof was
afterward confirmed, at a treaty held between the same
parties, at Shoulderbone, on the 3d day of November, 1786.
"Your committee further report, that, by the treaty made at
New York, between the United States and the Creek Indians,
bearing date on the 7th day of August, 1790, a boundary
line was established between the said nation of Indians and
the United States, whereby the above described tract of
country, named Talessee county, was declared to be within
the Indian territory.
"The committee have not been able to discover upon what
principles the relinquishment of the territory of the State
of Georgia was acceded to on the part of the United States;
it is therefore to be presumed that it was done upon
principles of general policy, with the intention of
establishing a permanent peace between the United States
and the said nation. They are, therefore, of opinion that
compensation ought to be made to the State of Georgia for
the loss of this territory, and recommend to the House to
adopt the following resolution:
"_Resolved_, That the United States will make compensation
to the State of Georgia, for the loss and damage sustained
by that State, in consequence of the cession of the county
of Talessee, made to the Creek nation, by the Treaty of New
York, unless it shall be deemed expedient to extinguish the
Indian title to the said land."
Mr. BALDWIN said, he should not call for the reading of the
remonstrance, as it had already been twice read, and had also been
published in the newspapers. The committee in their report have stated
such parts of it as they thought necessary to lead the House to a
decision. It is seen at once to relate to two objects: what they
consider as a dismemberment of the State, by giving back to the Indians
a district of country, called Talessee county, and the injurious
operation of the act for regulating trade and intercourse with the
Indians. He was himself at New York at the time when the treaty, called
the Treaty of New York, was made; he knew well it was with great concern
and reluctance that the Federal Government consented to an act which had
so much the appearance of dismembering a State, as giving back Talessee
county to the Indians; but that frontier was so extensive, the savages
who border upon it were so much more numerous and hostile than any
others in the United States, that they were induced to consent for a
time to the relinquishment of that district to them, as the counterpart
of all the other conditions which they obtained in that treaty. He was
sure it was at that time their expectation and design to have before now
peaceably repurchased it of the Indians. The act was not founded on any
defect in the right of the State to that county; but a short time
before, three Commissioners, viz: Gen. Lincoln, Judge Griffin, a former
member of Congress, and Mr. Humphreys, who is now our Minister at
Madrid, were sent to examine into the state of that frontier, and to
form treaties with the neighboring tribes; they were unwearied in the
execution of their trust, visited the frontier in person, collected the
Indian chiefs to meet them there, to learn what information they could
give; they afterwards returned to the seat of Government of Georgia, and
examined the treaties, laws, and journals, and examined individuals on
oath, so as to obtain all the information that it was possible to
procure, on the spot. On their return they made a special and very full
report, a copy of which is on the files of the House, and, without
doubt, is to be regarded on those subjects as a document paramount to
every thing else, at the time it was made. This document leaves no doubt
of the fairness of the transaction in the treaties of 1785 and 1786, in
which this Talessee county was purchased and contained, as stated by the
committee. The giving it back, by the subsequent Treaty of New York,
rested only on the importance and urgency of the case, as the only
possible means of obtaining peace.
On the other point contained in the remonstrance, viz: the injurious
operation of the law respecting trade and intercourse with the Indian
tribes, he did not think it necessary now to make many observations, the
report of the committee was, that it should be revised and amended; as
that law expires by its own limitation with this session, it is a
subject that must be taken up, and at that time he should submit to the
consideration of the House the various matters which seemed to impress
themselves so strongly upon the minds of his constituents.
Mr. B. said, the report of the committee was peculiarly grateful to him,
and he hoped the confirmation of it by Congress would be so to his
constituents, because the individuals who composed the committee were so
long and so well known in the United States, that their report will be
likely to have a great effect in finally settling the minds of people on
those old subjects of reproach and discord, especially as it is in
direct conformity with the copious report of the three Commissioners who
examined into the same subject on the spot, as he had before mentioned.
This appeared to him to be a matter of great importance.
From the close of the Revolution to the present time, these reproaches
have always been at the threshold, to encounter every thing that was
proposed in behalf of that growing and important part of the United
States. The Revolution had raged there to such a degree, and the minds
of men were so embittered against each other, that it required more than
the usual time for them to lay aside the fierceness of their hostility.
Though their enemies were driven from them, yet they were not driven
beyond the recoil of their resentment. This, joined to the
disappointment of some pecuniary enterprises of individuals for gain,
had been the cause of those malignant torrents of reproach which have
but too long poured forth upon the greater part of their councils, and
upon the most distinguished of their public servants.
It was well known to him, and to some who heard him, that their calls
for protection on a very extensive and very turbulent frontier, had,
till within these few years, always been repelled with reproaches, that
they had never been any thing but an expense; were totally delinquent in
bearing the burdens of the Revolution; that they had been carried
through entirely at the expense of the other States; and that they ought
not now to be protected any further till they were willing to pay
requisitions. When this reproach was wiped off by the report of the
General Board of Commissioners, on the settlement of the whole account
of the old co-partnership of the Confederation, and the very small
number there, at that time, appeared to have done the proportion of the
whole number by the census which was the rule of the settlement, and to
have reimbursed the great delinquency of the loan officers appointed by
Congress, for which they were made accountable, still they were told
they must protect themselves, for they wronged the Indians out of their
lands, and this was the cause of their suffering. It appears now, in the
result, that they have always discharged all their Federal obligations,
and much more, and instead of getting away the lands from the Indians,
the Indians have got away their lands, and they cannot get them back.
He believed there could not be much doubt left but that the principles
contained in the report of the committee were just and proper. These had
been to him for many years very sore objects; the position in which he
considered them immovably fixed gave him great pleasure. His
constituents had not sent him here to play the champion. He thought it
could not be denied that there was some ground for them to triumph over
those who had so long vilified and abused them. He begged leave still
further to urge the measures recommended by the committee, from the
consideration of the small expenditures which have been made on that
frontier, in proportion to the others.
The accounts of the military expenditures on the northern frontiers,
were now more than ten millions of dollars. This had been begun, and
principally originated from a regular expedition to destroy a village of
fugitive Indians, who committed depredations on the northern frontier; a
similar village on the southern frontier, called the Chehaw, was also
destined by the Government for a similar expedition; but the measure
failed in the Legislature, and that frontier was left to protect
themselves. This has been done; the fugitives in that village have been
driven off by a party of volunteers. He believed the whole amount of
military expenditures on that frontier, till the time of entire peace
with the Indians, did not exceed a quarter of a million, and nearly one
hundred thousand of that the militia had now been kept out of for four
or five years; though he hoped and trusted they would not much longer
have cause of complaint on that head. After the observations which he
had made, he thought no apology was necessary for some apparent
harshness in the language of the remonstrance.
As to the course which it is proper to pursue in granting relief on the
subject, he had not much to say. He was confident the expectations of
the State were not unreasonable; he was sure they would be satisfied
with any result which could be considered as fair and honorable; and his
confidence in the House forbade him to suppose for a moment that it
could be brought to any other. The course recommended by the committee
in their resolution now under consideration, is either to make
compensation to the State for the land which has been relinquished, and
for the damages which they have sustained, or else to repurchase that
district or another district, on that frontier, of equal value. He said
he had laid on the table a certificate from the Surveyor General of that
State, taken at that time, as to the length of the lines enclosing that
district, and the probable contents of it. If the report of the
committee should be agreed to, a bill might be reported in conformity
to one or the other, or all of those principles, as might be thought
proper. He was contented in leaving it to the judgment of the House.
On the call of Mr. BROOKS, the representation and remonstrance were
read. After which,
Mr. CHAMPLIN moved that the committee might rise, with a view of
postponing this subject till the next session of Congress. He thought
the language of the remonstrance too violent and indecorous to claim
attention from the House. This opinion was also supported by Mr. DANA.
Messrs. BAYARD and N. SMITH wished this motion to prevail, because they
doubted the propriety of the report, and supposed there would not be
time thoroughly to investigate the business during this session.
On the other hand, Messrs. PINCKNEY, RUTLEDGE, HARPER, GALLATIN,
VENABLE, W. CLAIBORNE, J. PARKER, and MACON, were against the
postponement. The objection to the language, it was said, was out of
time. If made at all, it ought to have been made when the remonstrance
was presented; that some allowance ought to be made for the language, as
it appeared to have been drawn in a moment of passion; that if the claim
was just, it ought not to be rejected because it was made in improper
language, especially, since the Legislature of Georgia were not the only
persons concerned, as the inhabitants on the frontier, while this
subject is undecided, are suffering severely from Indian cruelties and
depredations.
The question for leave to be given to the committee to sit again, was
carried by 69 votes.
TUESDAY, January 8, 1799.
_Impressment of Seamen._
The following Message was received from the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES:
_Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:_
In compliance with your desire, expressed in your
resolution of the 2d of this month, I lay before you an
extract of a letter from George C. Morton, acting Consul of
the United States at Havana, dated the 13th of November,
1798, to the Secretary of State, with a copy of a letter
from him to L. Trezevant and William Timmons, Esqs., with
their answer. Although your request extends no further than
to such information as has been received, yet it may be a
satisfaction to you to know that as soon as this
intelligence was communicated to me, circular orders were
given, by my direction, to all the commanders of our
vessels of war; a copy of which is also herewith
transmitted. I also direct this intelligence and these
orders to be communicated to His Britannic Majesty's Envoy
Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United
States, and to our Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of
Great Britain, with instructions to him to make the proper
representation to that Government upon this subject.
It is but justice to say that this is the first instance of
misbehavior of any of the British officers towards our
vessels of war, that has come to my knowledge. According to
all the representations that I have seen, the flag of the
United States, and their officers and men, have been
treated by the civil and military authority of the British
nation, in Nova Scotia, the West India Islands and on the
ocean, with uniform civility, politeness, and friendship. I
have no doubt that this first instance of misconduct will
be readily corrected.
_Jan. 8, 1799._