_Medals and Prize Money._
On motion of Mr. BASSETT, the House resolved itself into a Committee of
the Whole, on the report of the Naval Committee on the proposed vote
of a gold medal to Captain Isaac Hull, late commander of the frigate
Constitution, and silver medals to the other officers, and a sum of
---- thousand dollars, to be distributed as prize-money among the
officers and crew, as an expression of the sense entertained by this
House of their bravery and conduct in attacking and vanquishing the
British frigate Guerriere.
Mr. BASSETT spoke in support of the resolution. He stated the magnitude
of the achievement; the amount of value of the capture; and assigned
many reasons particularly in favor of the donation to the officers and
crew, on whom collectively he proposed to bestow the sum of $100,000,
and made a motion to that effect. He said the prize money arising from
the capture, had not the public service required the destruction of
the Guerriere, would have amounted to much more; and the merits of
those concerned in the capture entitled them to this remuneration. He
dilated on the present low price of wages on board our public ships,
and adverted to the seaman's hardships and the seaman's risk, &c.
The question on filling up the blank with "one hundred thousand
dollars," was then taken, and decided in the affirmative--50 to 37.
The committee rose and reported their agreement to the resolution.
FRIDAY, November 27.
A new member to wit, from Georgia, WILLIAM BARNETT, returned to serve
as a member of this House, in the place of Howell Cobb, resigned,
appeared, was qualified, and took his seat.
TUESDAY, December 1.
_Naturalization Laws._
On motion of Mr. LACOCK, the House resumed the consideration of the
bill supplementary to the naturalization laws.
On motion of Mr. LACOCK, the bill was amended by adding thereto the
following additional section:
"_And be it further enacted_, That every naturalized citizen
of the United States, or the Territories thereof, shall
forfeit such citizenship on his voluntarily departing from and
remaining out of the United States for and during the term of
two years."
On motion of Mr. FITCH, the following other section was also
incorporated in the bill:
"_And be it further enacted_, That all persons who shall have
been naturalized subsequent to the 18th day of June last, shall
be entitled to all the rights and privileges of citizens of the
United States, from the date of such naturalization, any thing
in the declaration of war against Great Britain, or any other
act, to the contrary notwithstanding."
Mr. FISK moved to strike out _nine_ months, the time allowed to
citizens to take the benefit of our naturalization laws, and insert
_three_. He said he could not see why so long a time should be allowed.
The longest time extended to our citizens in Canada is thirty days;
and he did not see why so much more liberality should be extended to
their citizens here. He was opposed to their remaining here longer than
necessary, the more especially as they employed themselves in exciting
divisions, and fomenting the party feuds which now agitate the country.
Mr. LACOCK thought the time proposed was too short; that in some
districts they could scarcely hear of the law within that time, and at
any rate might not be able to meet with a tribunal, at which to comply
with the requisites of the naturalization law, before the expiration of
that period.
Mr. FISK withdrew his motion for the present.
THURSDAY, December 3.
SHADRACK BOND, returned to serve as a delegate, in this House, for the
Illinois Territory, appeared, was qualified, and took his seat.
SATURDAY, December 5.
_Privateer Captures._
Mr. MCKIM presented a petition of Commodore Joshua Barney, on behalf of
himself and the owners, officers, and crews, of sundry private armed
vessels of war, "praying to be considered as claimants to all property
proven to be enemy's property, found on board of vessels sailing under
the American flag, having on board British manufactured goods, coming
from Great Britain to the United States, and under the protection of
British licenses, which have been captured by them, or that they may
participate as '_informers_' in the seizure and condemnation of the
said property under the non-importation."--Referred to the Committee of
Ways and Means.
MONDAY, December 7.
Another member, to wit, from Virginia, EDWIN GRAY, appeared, and took
his seat.
TUESDAY, December 8.
Another member, viz: from Virginia, WILLIAM A. BURWELL, appeared, and
took his seat.
WEDNESDAY, December 9.
_Imprisonment of American Seamen._
Mr. BASSETT offered to the House the following resolution:
Whereas, It is represented, that Great Britain has seized
sundry persons fighting under the American flag, laying claims
to them alike incompatible with justice and the rights of the
United States as an independent nation:
_Resolved_, That the President be requested to lay before this
House the information he has received on that subject, and the
measures taken to redress an evil which violates the rights and
interests, and outrages the feelings of a free and independent
people.
Mr. BASSETT stated that several cases had come to his knowledge in
which the British naval commanders had seized persons taken on board of
American armed vessels, and confined them, in one instance, in irons,
and in another had transported them to England for trial. It was not
his intention now to go into an examination of these cases. Such an
examination was not necessary to authorize the House to call for the
information required. He had given its present form to the motion he
had offered, because its adoption would go to show that the councils
of the nation were not indifferent to this subject. It would, he
trusted, further enable the Executive to show that it never slumbered
on any occasion in which the rights of the people were concerned; and
he had no doubt the information to be received would show it. When it
was received, the House might take what course it pleased; perhaps no
legislative act would grow out of it. But it was proper, in any event,
that the House should be in possession of information required.
Mr. MILNOR said he had no objection to the call for information, but
he excepted to the form of the resolution, for two reasons. It was
prefaced by a preamble, which was not usual in such cases, which
preamble, moreover, assumed as fact circumstances of which the House
had no official or authentic information. His other objection was,
that it expressed an opinion on a point on which he was not ready to
express one. Mr. M. said he knew not the extent of the evil of which
the gentleman complained. If it was merely that Great Britain laid
claim to her own subjects fighting our battles against her, he would
at least not say that this was an act on the part of Great Britain
deserving all those severe epithets which the gentleman had thought
proper to attach to it. The resolution stated facts not before the
House, and expressed an opinion on an act the degree of enormity of
which depended on the circumstances respecting which it was proposed to
ask for information. Mr. M. wished that the House should not lightly
be compelled into a discussion of this subject, and especially as the
gentleman had intimated the probability that no legislative act was to
grow out of the information called for.
Mr. SEYBERT said, as his colleague's principal objection to the motion
appeared to be a difficulty as to facts, he hoped to procure his
vote for its adoption by stating at least one which had come to his
knowledge. I, said Mr. S., had the honor to have a nephew on board the
ship Wasp. He informed me this morning that after they had been carried
into Bermuda, several of their crew were taken and confined in irons;
that he saw them in that situation; and that their crime was, having
fought the battles of our country. What may be my colleague's feelings
on this occasion, I know not--I hope they are honorable to himself and
the House--for myself I wish the subject investigated. Mr. S. concluded
by expressing his hope that the resolution would pass.
Mr. MACON said he was anxious to obtain information on this subject,
but doubted the propriety of the preamble. After the information was
received, it would be time enough to express an opinion on the subject.
He had no doubt that we must at last come to the determination to
protect every man that is on board of a ship of the United States. It
is what Great Britain herself does; and in this respect we ought to
follow her example. If these people undertake to fight our battles,
we ought to protect them. Mr. M. said he was opposed to the preamble,
because he did not wish to give reasons to the departments of the
Government for any call for information the House thought proper to
make; it was enough that the House should ask for it, and the President
should give or withhold it. The practice heretofore was against the
course now pursued.
Mr. BIGELOW said he had no objection to the call for information,
divested of the preamble and the opinion expressed in it, except that
it did not go far enough. He proposed to amend it by adding thereto the
following words, "accompanied with all the evidence in his possession,
which will tend to show whether such persons are American citizens or
British subjects."
Mr. BASSETT said he was indifferent as to the form, provided he
obtained the substance; he, therefore, should submit to such
modification as the gentleman from North Carolina should think proper
to make. But, said Mr. B., as it has been said that there is no
information before the House, I state that I understand, and it is my
belief, that six men of the crew of the United States brig Nautilus
were detained and sent to England for trial; and that Commodore Rodgers
had detained as hostages for their safety twelve British subjects. I
state also to the House that I understand and believe that six seamen
of another armed vessel have been detained, and that General Pinckney
had detained a like number of British subjects. I state that I have
received information that the boatswain of the Wasp had been put in
irons after she was taken. These violations of humanity and the law of
nations I believe to require retaliation. When I voted against a bill
on this subject (Mr. WRIGHT'S) it was not because I was opposed to
retaliation. No, sir; retaliation in war is often mercy--it puts an end
to those cruelties which would otherwise frequently disgrace parties at
war, and is indispensable in the conduct of hostilities.
Mr. B. having withdrawn his motion, it was substituted by the
following, offered by Mr. MACON:
"_Resolved_, That the President of the United States be
requested to cause to be laid before this House any information
which may be in his possession touching the conduct of British
officers towards persons taken in American armed ships."
Mr. RANDOLPH said he trusted that the resolution now before the House
would meet with no objection; although against the resolution as
first proposed, he must have voted for it, notwithstanding all the
odium which might have attached to such a vote. He hoped, he said,
that rigorous retaliation would take place if our countrymen found in
arms had been treated as criminals and not as prisoners of war. He
hoped we should have ample atonement for every drop of American blood
which should be spilt in such manner. Having taken occasion to pay a
handsome compliment to the gallantry of our Navy, which was not heard
with sufficient distinctness to be reported, Mr. R. concluded by hoping
there would be no objection to the resolution.
Mr. MILNOR said he thought it due to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr.
BASSETT) to state that, owing to the noise which prevailed in the
House, he had not before heard the statement which the gentleman had
now been kind enough to make. He had heard of no such case as that
alluded to by his colleague; but he trusted he had been sufficiently
guarded not to commit himself, even to the most invidious construction,
as opposed to a proper investigation of this subject. To the present
motion he yielded his perfect acquiescence. Mr. M. said he trusted that
in any thing that related to the honor of the country in the contest in
which we are now engaged, whatever might have been his opinion of the
propriety of entering into it, he should not be found more backward
than other gentlemen in sustaining the just rights of the nation.
Mr. SHEFFEY said, if American citizens had been treated in the manner
represented, he was clearly of opinion that severe retaliation ought to
follow. But did gentlemen pretend that a British subject, running away
from a British vessel, and found on board of one of ours, was to be
considered as entitled to be treated as a prisoner of war? Could this
doctrine be asserted by any gentleman? He presumed not. The resolution,
as it now stood, would not elicit the facts material as to this
point. He, therefore, moved to amend it, by inserting, after the word
"persons," the words "other than British subjects."
Mr. SEYBERT said he was happy to hear the declaration last made by his
colleague, (Mr. MILNOR.) He hoped the amendment first offered would be
rejected with disdain. [The SPEAKER declared that such language was
not proper in debate, the expression being too strong, and such as
sometimes led to a personal altercation, always to be avoided.] Mr.
S. thanked the Speaker for his caution; he meant no personality; but
he thought it did not become this House to debate whether the persons
in question were British subjects or not, when they had been put in
irons for fighting the battles of the country. Let the proof rest on
the aggressor on national law and the violator of the rules of war. He
hoped the House would without hesitation reject the amendment. I may go
too far, said he, by stating too much; but I will say thus much without
risk of contradiction: that the boatswain of the Wasp, a warrant
officer of the United States, had been twelve years within the United
States and has a wife and children here. These, I hope, are sufficient
characteristics to insure him our support: I will give him mine, and
have no doubt the House will do the same.
Mr. RANDOLPH said that the proposed amendment brought strongly to view
the impropriety of the House, on the rude suggestions of any member,
committing itself hastily by a definite determination which to-morrow
they might be disposed to retract. He believed this was one of those
cases in which there was no necessity for haste. The House would be as
competent to-morrow, to decide on the subject of the resolution and
the proposed amendment, and in a manner to redound, at least, as much
to the credit of the House and the national good, as now. With regard
to his own opinions, if they were of any importance with his worthy
colleague, he would at once say they were on this subject the opinions
of that man, from whom he never did dissent but upon one question,
without being wrong--that man who was emphatically called for eight
years our Commander-in-chief--the founder of this nation--the author
of the constitution--our first President--the man who was made for the
office, and the office for him--the man who discharged all its duties
so perfectly, as if it had been only to show those who come after him
their incompetency. Mr. R. said he would ask his worthy colleague, what
he supposed would have been the fate of a certain Benedict Arnold,
had he been brought alive to the American camp, after his desertion
from it? On that subject there can be but one opinion. On another
question, if his opinion was of any value, he would state it. It was
not a loose thought, taken upon the impulse of the moment; but the
result of meditation and reflection. As long as foreigners, naturalized
by our laws, remain on our soil, he was ready to throw over them the
mantle of the constitution--he would protect them, as he would protect
the native citizen, at the hazard of the last shilling of the public
revenue, and the last drop of the blood of our people. But, when they
go abroad on the high seas; when they come to this country to acquire
a neutrality of character, now indeed no longer to be found here; when
they come here only to neutralize goods in the Baltic, at Heligoland,
in the Black Sea, the White Sea, and the Red Sea, and the passing to
and fro on the highway of nations; if it please God, their old master
George the Third, or Napoleon, or Alexander of Russia, should lay his
hand on them, they were welcome, Mr. R. said, for him. He would not
spend one shilling, one drop of American blood, to redeem such a man;
much less would he have retaliation executed on subjects of the nation
claiming him, with whom we should happen to come in collision, which
might have to be expiated by the native blood of these States. I would
not, said Mr. R., have the New England man or old Virginian executed by
any despot, limited or unlimited in authority, in order to secure to
us the worthless property in the man who is a Christian in Christendom
and a Mussulman in Turkey. But, Mr. R. asked, did not this question
assume a different shape, when this man was not going to and fro on
the high seas in search of plunder, which he calls patriotism, but,
when he is found in a public ship of war of the United States? On that
subject--for it was a new question--he was not prepared to decide. It
was not, Mr. R. said, and the House might rely on it, the sentiment of
the people of these States--it might be of some comparatively small,
and therefore only insignificant section of the community--that we
should enter into a contestation with France and England for property
in their subjects.
Mr. R. here drew a comparison between the practice of harboring
slaves in some of our Northern cities, Philadelphia for instance, and
the countenance given in this country to European emigrants. As to
these foreigners, Mr. R. said he owed them nothing. He was sorry they
had ever found refuge here--he wished he had driven them from our
shores--or have permitted, as we have the merchants, to go out where
they pleased, without attempting to protect them.
Mr. QUINCY rose, he said, simply to express his regret, that a debate
in this form and manner should have arisen. The question which had been
touched, was one which required all the information and light which
could be shed on it. The principles connected with it were so numerous
and critical, that it required all the reflection of which gentlemen
were capable, to enable them to discuss and decide it in a proper
manner. He rose also to express his regret that a motion for amendment
should be made by a gentleman with whom he frequently coincided in
opinion, which went to exclude information of the manner in which
officers treated persons other than British subjects. He could not vote
against receiving information of any kind--particularly on a subject so
interesting. Mr. Q. was proceeding in his remarks, when--
Mr. SHEFFEY withdrew his motion.
Mr. BASSETT explained his ideas of expatriation. He would not protect
the man who had left the country with an intention not to return, &c.,
but he would protect the man who went out to fight the battles of the
country.
Mr. RANDOLPH rose for the purpose of moving an amendment. He adverted
to the language of the resolution, and drew a distinction between
the character of privateers and of our public armed vessels. Was it
competent, he asked, to the Government to receive as testimony the
statement of the commander or crew of an American corsair? It was well
known, too, he remarked, that the high wages which had been paid to
the crews of the privateers, was one of the reasons why the American
Navy was in some degree unmanned. And, was it not a different question,
whether we should interpose our authority between the subject of a
foreign nation and his Government, when that subject is fighting your
battles, bleeding on the deck of your public ship, at twelve dollars
a month, and when he is decoyed into a corsair by the temptation of
eighty, fifty, or forty dollars a month? There is a difference, sir,
said Mr. R. I trust, said he, if we receive the information we are
about to ask, we shall get it from a pure and authorized source, such
as no man can question. I mean the commanders of our public ships of
war. Mr. R. concluded by moving to strike out "American," and insert
"public," so as to read "public armed ships."
Mr. WIDGERY expressed his surprise at the various expedients resorted
to, to embarrass this question; and hoped this would have the same fate
as the other. He said he could tell the gentleman that many privateers
had been manned without a cent of wages. But, suppose they had been
manned in other ways, were not privateers as useful in annoying the
enemy as public ships? No man that knew any thing about maritime
affairs would deny it. Whereever our privateers had come across an
armed vessel of the enemy, of any thing like equal force, they had
done their duty like American tars. We are at war, Mr. W. said, and
ought to check the enemy wherever we come in contact with them. He
believed the privateering carried on had been of great advantage to us
and injury to our enemy. As to the objection which had been offered to
receiving the statement of their commanders, what were gentlemen afraid
of? No disparagement to the commanders of the navy, (for he respected
them all,) he knew gentlemen commanding privateers whose opinions were
entitled to as great respect as that of any other, and whose word could
not be questioned. In relation to the cases referred to in the resolve,
particularly that of the boatswain, Mr. W. said we were bound by every
principle of the law of nations to support him to the last cent of our
money, more especially as he had a warrant under the seal of the United
States. The conduct of our enemy was the less justifiable, as she
manned her own ships with people of all nations.
Mr. RANDOLPH'S proposed amendment was negatived by a large majority;
and the resolution was agreed to without further debate or opposition.
FRIDAY, December 11.
_Macedonian and Frolic._
The following Message was received from the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES:
_To the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit to Congress copies of a letter to the Secretary of
the Navy, from Captain Decatur, of the frigate "United States,"
reporting his combat and capture of the British frigate
Macedonian. Too much praise cannot be bestowed on that officer
and his companions on board, for the consummate skill and
conspicuous valor by which this trophy has been added to the
naval arms of the United States.
I transmit, also, a letter from Captain Jones, who commanded
the sloop-of-war Wasp, reporting his capture of the British
sloop-of-war, the Frolic, after a close action, in which other
brilliant titles will be seen to the public admiration and
praise.
A nation feeling what it owes to itself and to its citizens
could never abandon to arbitrary violence on the ocean, a class
of them which gives such examples of capacity and courage, in
defending their rights on that element; examples which ought to
impress on the enemy, however brave and powerful, a preference
of justice and peace, to hostility against a country whose
prosperous career may be accelerated, but cannot be prevented,
by the assaults made on it.