Mr. J. RANDOLPH made a report, consisting of a letter from the Secretary
of the Treasury, representing the facts stated by him, and a bill,
supplementary to the act making provision for the payment of claims
of citizens of the United States, on the Government of France, the
payment of which has been assumed by the United States, by virtue of the
convention of the 30th of April, 1803, between the United States and the
French Republic.
The bill provides that the balance of the $3,750,000 remaining unexpended
on the 31st of December next, shall not be carried to the surplus fund,
but shall continue applicable to the satisfaction of the claims until
they shall be satisfied.--Referred to the Committee of the Whole on
Monday next.
THURSDAY, December 12.
Another member, to wit, JOHN HAMILTON, from Pennsylvania, appeared,
produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the House.
BENJAMIN PARKE having also appeared as a Delegate from the Indiana
Territory of the United States, the said oath was administered to him by
the SPEAKER, and he took his seat in the House accordingly.
_General Eaton._
On the motion of Mr. BIDWELL, the House resolved itself into a Committee
of the Whole on the resolution offered yesterday, relative to William
Eaton.
The Chairman read the resolution as follows:
“_Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America, in Congress assembled_, That
the President of the United States be requested to present a
sword, in the name of Congress, to William Eaton, Esq., as a
testimony of the high sense entertained of his gallantry and
good conduct in leading a small band of our countrymen and
others through the desert of Libya, on an expedition against
Tripoli, in conjunction with the ex-Bashaw of that Regency;
defeating the Tripolitan army at Derne, with the assistance
of a small part of the naval force of the United States, and
contributing thereby to a successful termination of the war,
and the restoration of our captive fellow-citizens to liberty
and their country.”
Mr. BIDWELL moved to amend the resolution by striking out the word
“sword,” and by inserting in lieu thereof the words, “a medal of gold,
with proper devices.”
Mr. J. CLAY wished the gentleman from Massachusetts would let the word
“sword” stand in the resolution. It was only on extraordinary occasions,
he believed, that a medal was awarded. He was very willing to vote for
presenting a sword on this occasion; but, if a medal was insisted upon,
he should be compelled to vote against the resolution.
Mr. ELLIOT requested that the resolution passed at the last session,
relative to Commodore Preble, and the officers and marines under his
command, might be read.
The resolution was accordingly read, which ordered a medal to be struck,
and a sword to be given to each of the officers.
Mr. E. said, that the objection of the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
J. CLAY) to the amendment offered by the gentleman from Massachusetts,
(Mr. BIDWELL,) substituting a gold medal in the room of a sword, appeared
to be founded on the idea that a medal would be a meed disproportionate
to the importance of the services, or the official rank of the gentleman
who was the object of the resolution; in other words, that it would be
too great a reward. I did not, said Mr. E., anticipate the objection from
any quarter of the House, and regret extremely that it has arisen. From
the peculiar character with which the gentleman who is intended to be
honored by the resolution, was invested by the Government, it becomes a
point of no small delicacy, and even of some difficulty, to debate the
question at all. We are, indeed, told in the President’s Message, that
the important services of our gallant countryman undoubtedly contributed
to the impression which produced peace with Tripoli. It was proper for
the President to say this, and to say no more; but, in order to enable us
to pay a proper tribute on our part to merit so conspicuous, it becomes
necessary to avail ourselves of information derived from unofficial
sources. In every thing which we can do upon this subject, we are
anticipated by the loud voice of fame, and this consideration has induced
me sometimes to doubt the propriety of doing any thing whatever. It has,
however, always been deemed policy, and even duty, in free governments,
to distinguish by national honors those citizens who have performed
important national services. It is perfectly understood that our brave
countryman commanded, in conjunction with the ex-Bashaw of Tripoli, a
force sufficiently respectable to be considered as an army, and of course
that the popular appellation of General Eaton had been conferred upon
good grounds. In that strong point of view in which the subject will
be seen by liberal minds, inadequacy of force and means, compared with
the greatness of the object and the event, will give greater honor to
the achieving of the enterprise. If we act at all, we ought to bestow
a mark of distinction suitable for a general officer, or an officer of
distinguished rank, to accept. Shall we refuse a medal, the appropriate
reward of the brave Preble, and offer a sword, which was given to
the subordinate naval officers, when the services of Preble, however
meritorious, and greatly meritorious they were, failed of effecting the
object which the world believes that Eaton has accomplished? By the
modern notions of martial etiquette and honor, a sword is the appropriate
token of distinction and reward for officers of subordinate rank. It is
believed that a simple and concise vote of thanks, by the Representatives
of a free people, is the noblest meed of exalted merit and patriotism.
An army, composed in part of Americans, but chiefly of the descendants
of the ancient Grecians, Egyptians and Arabians; in other words, an
army collected from the four quarters of the globe, and led by an
American commander to conquest and glory, is a phenomenon in military
history calculated to attract the attention of the world, not only by
its novelty, but by its real influence and consequence. It ought to
be considered, too, that this army, notwithstanding the singularity
of its organization and character, and the smallness of its numbers
and its means, acted in a cause which might be thought to affect, at
least in some remote degree, the general interest of mankind. Since
the destruction of Cato, and his little senate at Utica, the banner
of freedom had never waved in that desert and barbarous quarter of
the globe; and he who carried it so nobly, in the language of the
resolution, through the desert of Libya, and placed it so triumphantly
upon the African shore of the Mediterranean, deserves to be honorably
distinguished by that country and that Government, to which the
enterprise has added lustre. I repeat it, Mr. Chairman, we can do nothing
in which we are not anticipated by fame. Fame has already devoted to the
name which we are laboring to celebrate, the _monumentum ære perennius_,
the imperishable column of glory, which is the just reward of patriots
only, and which impartial history denies to the mere conquerors and
robbers of mankind.
Mr. SMILIE remarked, that it added to the value of an honor conferred, to
have it bestowed by a unanimous vote. It was not, however, his purpose
to trouble the House with a speech. He should confine himself to making
one or two remarks. He considered it correct that honors conferred should
be apportioned to merit. It was not so important whether the man on whom
they were bestowed, was the commander of an army, or whether he filled
an inferior station. Whatever his station might be, he who conducted
himself well in the service of his country, was entitled to her thanks.
Mr. S. said he would next examine the advantages which the services of
Mr. Eaton had gained to his country, and see whether they were equal to
those which we had derived from the services of other great men. From his
impression, he thought they had been highly advantageous, and equally so
with those rendered by Commodore Preble and his brave associates, whose
conduct he highly approved. He believed that the expedition of Mr. Eaton
had greatly contributed to a peace; and if this were so, he did not know
a more essential service he could have rendered. For these reasons he was
in favor of awarding a medal in preference to a sword.
Mr. QUINCY hoped the House would bestow a medal instead of a sword. He
would say that, on such an occasion, a medal was more proper than a
sword. When the resolution was offered, he had a solid objection to it,
which had, in some measure, been removed by the proposed amendment. A
sword was not an appropriate reward for the service rendered on this
occasion. It was a reward for valor, and mere valor. In this case he
considered the valor displayed as a very small part of the distinction
of Mr. Eaton. He wished that the motion had been submitted to a select
committee, that not only the nature of the compliment, but likewise
the form of the expression, might have been better adapted to what he
conceived to be the character of the service rendered. He did not think
the circumstances stated in the resolution were those which were the
most appropriate. He did not consider the leading a small band through
the desert of Libya, the defeating the Tripolitan army at Derne, the
contributing to a peace, and the liberation of our countrymen, as
characteristic of the services rendered. The peculiar character of those
services was this: that Mr. Eaton, being a private citizen, and called
upon by no official station or duty, had the greatness of mind to plan
a scheme by which the dethronement of a usurper, the restoration of the
lawful heir, and the release of our captive countrymen were to have been
effected. A conception of this kind belonged only to great and superior
minds; and what was sufficient to fill the minds of most men, the
machinery for effecting this plan, was to him but of a secondary nature.
He believed it would be for the reputation of the United States to give
some select and appropriate reward, such as a man like Eaton ought to
receive, and such as it would be to the honor of our country to give.
The question was then taken on Mr. BIDWELL’s amendment, which was carried
by a considerable majority.
Mr. JACKSON said, he entertained a high sense of the extraordinary merit
of the officer who was the object of the resolution under consideration,
and was of opinion that the House should express their highest sentiment
of approbation. To do this, he thought the phraseology of the resolution
ought to be changed in conformity to the ideas of the gentleman from
Massachusetts. He would, therefore, with this view, move that the
committee should rise, with the intention of moving in the House the
reference of the resolution to a select committee for such alteration.
The question was taken on the rising of the committee--yeas 52, nays 54.
Mr. QUINCY suggested the propriety of substituting Barca in the room of
Libya, as the latter was an antiquated word, not to be found in modern
maps.
Mr. BIDWELL observed, that he was not tenacious of the particular form
of the expression. If that suggested by his colleague was deemed most
correct, he had no objection to it. He would, however, remark, that the
word Libya was taken from an expression used by Mr. Eaton in one of his
letters. It was certainly a word used in modern times, although it might
not be in general use.
As to the general question, Mr. B. hoped that, as some gentlemen thought
the resolution went too far, while others thought it did not go far
enough, and, as the general sentiment was, that something ought to be
done by the House, it would be considered that a middle course between
the two Extremes was the fittest, and that there would be a sufficient
magnanimity to give a unanimous vote in favor of the resolution. For
himself, he was willing to have it varied so as to make it conform to the
general sense of the committee, for the purpose of insuring unanimity.
Mr. QUINCY said he was not particularly tenacious of the form of
expression used. He had only risen to state his knowledge as far as it
went. Libya was a word in use among classical men, among poets, but not
among men of business.
The question was put on substituting Barca in the room of Libya, and
passed in the negative by a considerable majority. The resolution, as
amended, was then agreed to without a division.
The committee rose and reported it to the House, who immediately took it
into consideration.
The amendment for substituting “a gold medal with proper devices,” in the
room of “a sword,” being under consideration,
Mr. J. CLAY said, as the Committee of the Whole had reported their
agreement to the amendment, and as a desire had been expressed that there
might be a unanimous vote on the occasion, he wished more information
on the subject than he possessed before he could act upon it. After
having obtained this, he might very probably vote for the amendment. He,
therefore, moved a reference of the resolution to a select committee, who
might obtain the information required from the Secretary of the Navy.
Mr. JACKSON observed, that the names of other gentlemen, who were before
the walls of Derne, had been announced in the newspapers, as having
assisted in the achievements that were the object of the resolution under
consideration. It was not improper to inquire whether they ought to be
associated in the honors awarded by Congress. To ensure, therefore,
unanimity, and bestow proper praise, he hoped the course pointed out by
the gentleman from Pennsylvania would be pursued.
The motion to refer the resolution to a select committee was
carried--yeas 69; and Messrs. BIDWELL, J. CLAY, THOMPSON, of New
Hampshire, MASTERS, GRAY, ARCHER, and CASEY, were appointed a committee.
FRIDAY, December 13.
Two other members, to wit: from Delaware, JAMES M. BROOM, and from
Kentucky, JOHN FOWLER, appeared, produced their credentials, were
qualified, and took their seats in the House.
MONDAY, December 16.
Two other members, to wit: from South Carolina, O’BRIEN SMITH, and from
New York, GEORGE CLINTON, junior, appeared, produced their credentials,
were qualified, and took their seats in the House.
TUESDAY, December 17.
Two other members, to wit: from Virginia, MATTHEW CLAY, and from
Kentucky, MATTHEW WALTON, appeared, produced their credentials, and took
their seats in the House.
WEDNESDAY, December 18.
_Indiana Territory--Slaves--Salt Springs--State Government._
_Ordered_, that the report of a select committee, made the 17th of
February, 1804, on a letter of William H. Harrison, President of a
Convention held at Vincennes, in the Indiana Territory, declaring the
consent of the people of the said Territory to a suspension of the sixth
article of compact between the United States and the said people; also,
on a memorial and petition of the inhabitants of the said Territory; be
referred to Mr. GARNETT, Mr. MORROW of Ohio, Mr. PARKE, Mr. HAMILTON, Mr.
SMITH of South Carolina, Mr. WALTON, and Mr. VAN CORTLANDT.
A petition of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of
the Indiana Territory was presented to the House and read, praying that
the introduction of slaves into the said Territory may be permitted by
Congress; that the right of suffrage therein may be enlarged; that the
salt licks and springs in the said Territory may be ceded to them on
certain conditions; that a certain description of claimants to land, in
the said Territory, may be permitted to make entry thereof in the mode
therein stated; that no division of the said Territory may take place;
and that the citizens thereof may be permitted to form a State government
as soon as their population will permit the measure.
Also, a petition of sundry purchasers of land settled, and intending to
settle, on that part of the Indiana Territory west of Ohio, and east of
the boundary line running from the mouth of Kentucky River, praying that
the said tract of country may be added to and made part of the State of
Ohio.
_Ordered_, that the said petitions be severally referred to the committee
last appointed; that they do examine the matter thereof, and report the
same, with their opinion thereupon, to the House.
Mr. VARNUM, from the committee appointed on the sixth instant, presented
a bill establishing rules and articles for the government of the armies
of the United States; which was read twice and committed to a Committee
of the Whole on Friday next.
_General Moses Hazen._
On motion of MR. THOMAS the House resolved itself into a Committee of the
Whole on the bill “supplementary to the act entitled an act regulating
the grants of land appropriated for the refugees from the British
Provinces of Canada and Nova Scotia.”
This bill directs the following locations of land and patents to be
granted:
“To Charlotte Hazen, widow of Moses Hazen, sixteen hundred
acres; Elijah Ayre, senior, one thousand acres; Elijah Ayre,
jun., three hundred and twenty acres; and Anthony Burk, two
hundred and fifty acres.”
Mr. Thomas explained the grounds on which this bill is predicated, in
virtue of inexecuted resolutions of the old Congress; when the committee
rose and reported it without amendment: in which report the House
immediately concurred, and ordered the bill to a third reading to-morrow.
TUESDAY, December 24.
Another member, to wit: ROGER NELSON, from Maryland, appeared, produced
his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the House.
FRIDAY, December 27.
Two other members, to wit: SETH HASTINGS and WILLIAM STEDMAN, from
Massachusetts, appeared, produced their credentials, were qualified, and
took their seats in the House.
MONDAY, December 30.
Another member, to wit: CHRISTOPHER CLARK, from Virginia, appeared,
produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the House.
_Road to the Ohio River._
The bill from the Senate to regulate the laying out and making a road
from Cumberland, on the Potomac, to the river Ohio, in the State of Ohio,
was read and referred to a Committee of the Whole on Thursday.
[This bill authorizes the President of the United States to appoint
three Commissioners to lay out a road from Cumberland on the Potomac
to the river Ohio, in the State of Ohio, to be four rods in width. The
Commissioners are directed to make a report to the President of their
proceedings, as well as the expense of making the road passable. The
President is authorized to accept or reject the report in whole or part.
If he shall accept it, he is then authorized to obtain the consent of
the States through which the road may pass; and, having obtained such
consent, to make a turnpike. Fifty thousand dollars are appropriated,
payable first out of the proceeds of the reservation from the sale of
lands in Ohio, and, secondly, out of the Treasury of the United States,
the last sum to be chargeable to the preceding fund.]
TUESDAY, December 31.
Another member, to wit: MATTHEW LYON, from Kentucky, appeared, produced
his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the House.
MONDAY, January 6, 1806.
_Impressment of a Revolutionary Soldier’s Son._
The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter received by him from David
Rumsey, representing that his son, though possessed of a protection,
had been impressed by the British; and that, notwithstanding his most
strenuous exertions, he is unable to obtain his release. The letter is
couched in unlettered, but pathetic terms, and concludes in the following
manner: “I lost an estate by lending money to carry on the Revolutionary
war, and I suffered every thing but death by being a prisoner among them
(the British) in Canada. I lay fifteen months in close confinement, when
I bore the rank of full captain; and if this is all the liberty I have
gained, to be bereaved of my children in that form, and they made slaves,
I had rather be without it. I hope that Congress will take some speedy
methods to relieve our poor distressed children from under their wretched
hands, whose tenderest mercy is cruelty.”--Referred to the Secretary of
State.
_Impressed Seamen._
Mr. CROWNINSHIELD observed that, at the last session, there had been a
return made to the House of the American Seamen impressed by British
vessels, which had not been acted upon. Since that period these
impressments had increased in a most astonishing degree. It was a fact
that from 2,500 to 3,000 of our best seamen were detained by the British.
We want the services of this useful class of men. That the attention of
the House may be drawn to the subject, in order that proper measures may
be taken by the Government, I have drawn up the following resolution:--
_Resolved_, That the Secretary of State be directed to lay
before this House a return of the number of American seamen
who have been impressed or detained by the ships of war, or
privateers of Great Britain, whose names have been reported to
the Department of State since the statement was made to the
House at the last session of Congress, mentioning the names of
the persons impressed, with the names of the ships and vessels
by which they were impressed, and the time of the impressment,
together with any facts and circumstances in relation to the
same which may have been reported to him; stating, also,
the whole number of American seamen impressed, from the
commencement of the present war in Europe, and including, in a
separate column, the number of passengers, if any, who may have
been taken out of American vessels coming to the United States
from Europe.
Mr. ELLIOT said that, in seconding the motion of the gentleman from
Massachusetts, he felt it a duty to express a hope that the resolution
would not only be adopted with perfect unanimity, but that we should no
longer stop at the precise point of the adoption of a simple resolution,
calling for information on this interesting subject. The information
which was laid before the House at the last session, with that which
has since been derived from the public papers, has produced a loud
expression of public indignation, which it is our duty to echo with
energy. To prefer every consequence to insult and habitual wrong, is a
sentiment of the Executive, which has been admitted even by its opponents
to be correct and honorable. Has the time arrived when it has become
indispensably necessary to reduce this principle to practice? Do we
suffer insult and habitual wrong? Our merchants call loudly for the
redress of injuries. I hope we shall redress them. Let us extend to them
the arm of national protection, but let us extend it also to another
class of injured citizens; while we give it to the rich, let us not
withhold it from the poor. The groans of our impressed fellow-citizens
mingle with the murmurs of every gale from the ocean! The queen of that
element ought no longer to be suffered to bespangle her diadem with the
tears of American seamen, or to substitute her will and her interest for
the laws of nature and of nations. It is to be hoped that, upon this
subject, we shall take an attitude worthy of the nation--an attitude not
to be abandoned but by obtaining complete justice.
The resolution was then agreed to unanimously.
THURSDAY, January 9.
_Naval Peace Establishment._
Mr. GREGG, from the committee appointed on so much of the President’s
Message as relates to a Naval Peace Establishment, having obtained leave,
submitted a bill in addition to an act, entitled an act supplementary
to the act providing for a Naval Peace Establishment, and for other
purposes; which was referred to a Committee of the whole House on Tuesday.
[This bill repeals the second and fourth sections of the act recited in
the title, authorizes the President to keep in actual service in time of
peace so many of the frigates and other public armed vessels, as in his
judgment the nature of the service may require, and to cause the residue
to be laid up in ordinary, in convenient ports--directs the public armed
vessels in actual service in time of peace to be officered and manned as
the President shall direct, provided that the officers shall not exceed
thirteen captains, nine masters commandant, seventy-two lieutenants,
and one hundred and fifty midshipmen, who are to receive no more than
half their monthly pay while not under orders for actual service, and
provided that the whole number of able seamen, ordinary seamen, and boys,
shall not exceed nine hundred and twenty-five; the President being at
liberty to appoint for the vessels in actual service, as many surgeons,
surgeons’ mates, sailingmasters, chaplains, pursers, boatswains, gunners,
sailmakers, and carpenters, as may in his opinion be necessary.]
TUESDAY, January 14.
The House commenced their proceedings this morning, at eleven o’clock,
in secret sitting, having yesterday adjourned while the doors continued
closed, and while confidential business was depending.
The House continued sitting until three o’clock, when the doors were
opened, and an adjournment ensued.
FRIDAY, January 17.
_Indiana Territory--Slavery._
A memorial and petitions of sundry inhabitants of the counties of
Randolph and St. Clair, in the Indiana Territory, were presented to the
House and read, suggesting the expediency of a division of the Indiana
Territory, and the erection into a separate Territorial government of
a part thereof; of the formation of a Western State; of the admission
of slavery into the said Territory, either unconditional or under
such restrictions as Congress may impose; and, also, praying redress
against certain oppressive acts of the Executive authority of the said
Territory.--Referred to the committee appointed, on the nineteenth
ultimo, on a letter from William Henry Harrison, Governor of the Indiana
Territory.
MONDAY, January 20.
_Importation of Slaves._
The House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on a motion of
the tenth ultimo, “for imposing a tax or duty of ten dollars per head
upon all slaves hereafter imported into any of the United States.”
Mr. SLOAN said, he would not take up much of the time of the House in
discussing a resolution, the object of which was so plain as rendered
it scarcely possible to elucidate it. He would read that section of
the constitution which gave Congress the power of legislating on this
subject, which was so clear as to require nothing to be said in addition
to it.
The ninth section of the first article is in these words:
“The migration or importation of such persons as any of the
States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be
prohibited by the Congress, prior to the year 1808; but a tax
or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten
dollars for each person.”
I conceive, said Mr. SLOAN, that, by this article, slaves are made an
article of importation, in common with other articles imported. Congress
have the same power to lay a tax of ten dollars a head on them, as they
have to lay an unlimited tax on every other imported article. I presume
every member of this committee has duly considered the subject, and has
made up his mind on the expediency of the resolution. For my own part I
can see no reason why this article of importation should remain without
duty, while all others pay one. For these reasons I hope the committee
will agree to the resolution.
The article of the constitution, together with the resolution, having
been read at the request of Mr. DANA, he called upon the mover of the
resolution to assign his reasons for using the word _slaves_ instead of
the word _persons_, the term used in the constitution.
Mr. CLARK hoped the committee would not agree to the resolution. He was
no advocate for a system of slavery; but he supposed the adoption of
this resolution could only be considered as expressing the opinion of
Congress, of the impropriety of importing slaves. As to the revenue to
be raised, it was too inconsiderable to be worthy of any attention. He
was opposed to the resolution, because it appeared to him that it would
be partial in its operation, inasmuch as there were only two States,
South Carolina and Georgia, which did not prohibit the importation of
slaves, at which it must consequently be considered as levelled. The more
he reflected on the subject, the more he doubted the propriety of that
species of legislation which bore exclusively on a particular section of
the United States, nor did it become the Government of the United States
to interfere with the internal police of the States, which were, in this
respect, sovereign and independent. For these reasons, he trusted the
resolution would not prevail.
Mr. EARLY rose barely to correct the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr.
CLARK,) in the remark he had made relative to the State of Georgia. There
existed no law in that State permitting the importation of slaves; on the
contrary, there was an article in their constitution prohibiting it.
Mr. MARION said, this was to be considered as a question of revenue.
With regard to the policy of importing slaves, that was left, until the
year 1808, exclusively to the States. If this resolution was intended to
express the disapprobation of the General Government of the legitimate
act of a particular State, he should deem it proper. As well might
Congress undertake to express its disapprobation of the election of a
Governor chosen in a particular State; his objection arose from the
partiality and injustice of the resolution. If in operation it was as
extensive as it appeared to be in words, or if he thought it would
prevent a single slave from being imported into the United States, it
should receive his hearty support; but the very limitation of the tax
by the constitution to ten dollars, was intended to prevent Congress
from laying a duty which should prevent the importation; it could not,
therefore, prevent the importation of a single slave. It followed that
revenue could be the only object. Whether, for this alone, we should
lay a tax that would fall exclusively on one State, was worthy of
consideration. That State already bore her full proportion of the public
burdens, and even more than her proportion. In point of numbers, she
contained about one-sixteenth part of the Union, and therefore, on the
basis of numbers, ought not to be called on to pay a quota of more than
six per centum on the whole amount of taxes. Her quota, on the principle
on which direct taxes were imposed, ought not to be more than four per
centum and four hundredths. On examination, it will be found that the
duties paid in South Carolina on imported articles, amount to between
one-thirteenth and one-fourteenth part of the whole duties paid into the
Treasury, which is between seven and eight per cent. of the whole. When
it is considered that no goods are imported into South Carolina for the
consumption of the other States, for it was known, Mr. M. said, from
the operation of causes which he would not undertake to explain, that
goods were considerably higher in Charleston than in the other States,
and that, consequently, a cheaper supply of goods could be obtained from
other States than from South Carolina; and when, to this circumstance,
it was added that South Carolina paid her portion of duties on East
India goods, which she derived from the importation of other States, it
would be found that she paid a still higher proportion of duties. Under
these considerations are Congress prepared to lay a duty on her alone,
for such it certainly was? Coming from the State he did, Mr. M. said it
might be supposed he was personally interested in this question; but
the fact was, he was as free to act on it as any other member of the
House. He had uniformly opposed the importation of slaves, and were he
to collect the sentiments of his constituents from the vote of their
immediate Representatives on a recent occasion, it would be found that a
majority of them were likewise opposed to it. As to himself, he was, in
truth, individually interested in preventing the importation of slaves.
He never had purchased, nor should he ever purchase a slave. The greater,
therefore, the restriction imposed on the importation, the more would it
raise the value of those he possessed.
Mr. SOUTHARD declared himself in favor of the resolution. His only
regret was, that it was not in the power of Congress to lay a more
effectual tax. He thought Congress had a right to declare their opinion
of a practice so injurious to the country. The idea was held up in the
constitution that slaves were a proper object of taxation. He believed
the tax would prevent few persons from being imported. About two years
ago a similar resolution had been agitated in this House. It was then
said the Legislature of South Carolina were in session, and that there
was a great probability of their repealing the obnoxious law. On this
ground the consideration of the resolution was postponed. Last session, a
similar resolution was brought forward, and was, owing to a pressure of
business, again postponed. Mr. SOUTHARD said there was no doubt, if the
resolution had been acted upon two years ago, and Congress had exercised
their constitutional power, it would have prevented a vast number of
slaves from being imported. It is said, however, that this resolution
will operate partially on South Carolina, but it has not South Carolina
particularly in view, but principle; and if that principle be correct,
let it operate where it may, let the people of South Carolina feel the
weight of it; it is right they should. As the proposed tax may prevent a
few, perhaps a single one of these miserable creatures from being torn
from the bosom of their family and country, in violation of the ties
of nature and the principles of justice, the time of Congress will be
well taken up in imposing it, nor has any State a right to complain of
such treatment; for, if the traffic is profitable, they can well afford
to pay for it. Mr S. concluded, by declaring that, not revenue, but an
expression of the national sentiment was his principal object.
Mr. DANA said, that black men were not the only men imported into the
United States. If the object of this tax was only to obtain revenue,
(and it really appeared to him that we wanted all the revenue we could
get,) it might, perhaps, be right to get as much revenue as possible from
the importation of men. To have this point elucidated, and to learn the
precise grounds of the mover in offering this resolution, he moved to
substitute the word _persons_, in lieu of the word _slaves_.
Mr. ALSTON said, in seconding this amendment, his object was to preserve
the words of the constitution, instead of deviating from them into the
language of the resolution. He defied gentlemen to show him the word
slave in the constitution; no such word was found in the constitution.
Here Mr. A. read that part of the constitution already recited, and
then proceeded: The word here used, is _person_, not _slave_. Where the
gentleman found the latter word, I am altogether at a loss to know. In
laying this tax on slaves, we shall defeat a very important part of the
constitution, which says all taxes and duties shall be uniform.
Mr. SMILIE.--There is no doubt but, by the constitution, we have a right
to prohibit, so far as the imposition of a tax of ten dollars can have
the effect, the importation of slaves or freemen, provided we think good
policy and humanity justify the measure. And if the House do entertain
the opinion, that the policy of the United States requires a prohibition
of the emigration of all such persons, they will agree to the amendment:
they have a right to do it. But I do not believe this is the disposition
of the present House, or of any that has sat under the constitution.
The gentleman rests his amendment on the word _person_, and concludes
it to be necessary, because the word slave is not to be found in the
constitution. I rejoice that that word is not in the constitution; its
not being there does honor to the worthies who would not suffer it to
become a part of it. What are the facts connected with this business?
They are these: When Congress were sitting and legislating for a free
people, they determined not to stain the constitution with that word.
The thing was perfectly understood in the convention. The power, as
it stands modified, was the result of that spirit of concession and
compromise which, in this as in many other instances, characterizes the
constitution. With regard to the allegation, that this tax would operate
partially and severely, I see, on reflection, nothing in it. The right
to impose duties on all other articles except this, is unlimited, and
the State of South Carolina, in this instance, has the power completely
to get rid of this tax. She has only to repeal her law, and she will
have no tax to pay. But if that or any other State pursue a trade which
justice or good policy forbid, they must submit to the constitutional
powers of Congress. We are placed now in a delicate and trying situation:
the resolution is actually before us; and the only question is, whether
we will or will not declare our approbation of this iniquitous traffic.
As to revenue, it is no object to me. Revenue, no doubt, will grow out
of the measure, but that alone would not induce me to patronize it. I
have another and a higher object--to express our disapprobation of this
traffic, to manifest to the world that, as the representatives of a free
people, we will, as far as we can, express our opinion of it.
The CHAIRMAN here interrupted Mr. SMILIE, by stating that the question
was on the amendment, to which the remarks of gentlemen must be confined.
Mr. FISK hoped that the amendment would not prevail. Gentlemen tell us
the resolution must be in the words of the constitution, and that it
is partial. He would consider how far this argument would carry them.
It is observed that it is improper to call in question the rights of
the States; but, according to the argument of the gentleman from North
Carolina, if the State of Massachusetts should prohibit her citizens
from consuming tea or coffee, Congress would be under the necessity of
repealing the duties on those articles, and in this way many other acts
of the States would prevent Congress from exercising their constitutional
powers. These things are in the power of the States; they are free
to exercise them or not to exercise them. When they conduce to their
benefit, they will exercise them; and when they cease to be beneficial,
they will abandon them. Congress have the same right to lay a tax in one
case as in the other, according as the public good will be advanced by
the imposition, as well of the limited tax on slaves, as of the unlimited
tax on other objects. In this resolution there is no partiality: it
applies to all the States, as well those who have prohibitory laws or
constitutions as those who have not. For it is incorrect to say, because
some States have constitutional provisions on the subject, the tax is
therefore inapplicable to them, because they have the power of altering
their constitutions, and what is in force to-day may be abandoned
to-morrow. To agree to the amendment would be, to hold out the idea to
foreigners, about to escape from the tyranny and injustice of Europe,
that we meant to refuse them an asylum in our country. It is, indeed,
to be presumed that the mover of the amendment is against the whole
resolution, and brought forward the one to defeat the other.
Mr. BEDINGER moved that the committee should rise. He said the subject
was important; it was late in the day, and he thought they ought to take
more time to reflect on it before they came to a decision.
This motion having been agreed to--ayes 64--the committee rose, reported
progress, and asked leave to sit again.
Mr. DAWSON hoped that they would not have leave, but that the resolution
would be postponed till some time in May.
Mr. NICHOLSON said, he hoped the committee would have leave to sit again,
and called for the yeas and nays on the question, which being taken,
were, yeas 98, nays 15.
TUESDAY, January 21.
_Contingent Expenses._
Mr. EARLY said he held in his hand a resolution instructing the
Committee of Ways and Means to inquire into the expediency of requiring
the Secretaries of State, Treasury, War, and Navy, to lay before
Congress at the opening of every session a detailed statement of the
expenditure of the moneys appropriated to the contingent expenses of
their departments. He would briefly state his reasons for offering this
motion. The moneys for the contingent purposes of the Government were
the only description of expenditures which were not controlled by the
House. Over every other branch of expenditure the House exercised a
control by specifying with definite clearness the respective objects of
expenditure when an appropriation was made. But the moneys appropriated
for contingent purposes, were left exclusively to the discretion of the
different officers presiding over the several departments, in which
they were alone governed by their own will and judgment. The only check
which could be exercised over this description of expenditures, was to
require a detailed statement of disbursements. It would be recollected
that a committee had been appointed some time since to investigate the
accounts of several officers of the Government, and that they made a
detailed report to the House. About that time it had been contemplated
to take the step which he now suggested, but for some reasons it had
never been taken. Mr. EARLY said he by no means wished to be understood
as entertaining the idea that the discretion with which the heads
of department were clothed had been abused. He knew of no facts to
justify such an opinion. It was on the ground of principle only that he
offered this resolution. Through the four great departments which he
had mentioned, passed nine-tenths of the whole money appropriated by
Congress; and on looking at the statement contained in the estimates
of the Secretary of the Treasury, he found that more than one-fourth
of the whole amount of money estimated as necessary for the several
departments, was for contingent purposes. By that statement it appeared
that the whole expenses of the Department of State were $27,000, of
which $14,400 were for contingent purposes. Under the head of foreign
intercourse, $182,500 were estimated as necessary; of which $76,000 were
for contingent purposes. The estimates for the Treasury Department were
$72,100, of which $12,100 were for contingent purposes. The estimates
for the War Department were $29,400, of which $2,000 were for contingent
purposes. The estimates for the Military Establishment were $900,500,
of which $18,000 were for contingent purposes. The estimates for the
Navy Department were $21,100, of which $2,700 were for contingent
purposes. The estimates for the Naval Establishment were $867,800, of
which $411,900 were for contingent purposes. Mr. EARLY said he presumed
this view of the subject would justify him in the eyes of the members of
the House in offering the resolution. The resolution was agreed to, as
follows:
_Resolved_, That the Committee of Ways and Means be instructed
to inquire into the expediency of making provision by law,
for requiring the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the
Treasury, the Secretary of War, and the Secretary of the
Navy, to lay before Congress annually a detailed account of
the expenditure of the fund appropriated for the contingent
expenses of their several Departments, respectively.
_Importation of Slaves._
The House again went into a Committee of the Whole on Mr. SLOAN’s
resolution for imposing a tax of ten dollars upon every slave imported
into the United States.
Mr. CLARK said it was essentially necessary to the passage of a law on
this subject that the amendment should prevail. The original resolution
contemplated a certain description of persons as slaves; the object of
the amendment was to extend it to all persons imported into the United
States. Suppose a cargo of slaves should arrive. Will they be entered at
the custom-house as slaves? No. They will be recognized as a different
description of persons, and by that means the payment of the tax will be
evaded, and the law have no possible effect.
Mr. DANA.--Notwithstanding my great desire to gratify the gentleman from
New Jersey, to gratify whom would afford me great pleasure, yet in the
present case, with the best disposition in the world, I cannot do it.
The amendment appears to me to be very consistent with the principles
on which the resolution was offered. I understood it as a proposition
of revenue relative to the importation of a species of men that is
profitable to our merchants. I thought the revenue would be extended by
taking in the consumption of a larger class of men, who might, therefore,
be very fairly taxed. I could scarcely have expected that the gentleman
should have travelled over the mountains, and have there counted the
countless millions of acres spread out as a beneficent asylum for poor
emigrants from Europe, much less that he should have so eloquently
portrayed the oppression of England and France, and blended the number
of persons about to occupy those western acres with the simple question
of revenue now before the House. Gentlemen have brought this forward as
a question of revenue. May we not be permitted to take them on their
own ground? If, instead of revenue, their object be a condemnation
of the trade, let them come out. The gentleman from New Jersey, with
his knowledge, cannot be so ignorant as not to know that there are
other persons besides slaves brought into the country, who are deemed
beneficial to the community; are hardy and industrious, and that the
price paid for their passage affords a profit to our merchants. Whether
this description of imported persons is so beneficial as, in policy,
not to be taxed, is one thing. By omitting to tax them, we virtually
give a bounty. They may not be so valuable to the State as to justify an
exemption from all taxation.
Mr. MACON (Speaker) said the State of which he was in part a
representative, some time after the law now under consideration passed in
a neighboring State, came to a resolution for amending the constitution,
to give Congress the power of prohibiting the importation of slaves
altogether, which was sent to the Legislature of the several States,
many of whom had concurred in it, or in one similar to it. This showed
the sense of the States as to this worst of all traffics. No person
could more regret the conduct of South Carolina than he did. Perhaps
coming from an adjoining State, his feelings might give him different
impressions from that which they ought to do, although he was not
sensible that this was the case. But it always seemed to him that this
measure was nothing more nor less than arraigning the conduct of a State
Legislature, a Legislature that was nearly equally divided, as pointing
at them the finger of reprobation of the whole nation.
Mr. SOUTHARD said, the object of the resolution was to lay a tax of ten
dollars on slaves imported into the United States. The amendment did
not correspond with the spirit of the constitution; for it would not be
contended that the convention ever meant to place free white persons
wishing to emigrate to the United States under the same embarrassment
as slaves. The importation of the latter had been considered as a great
injury; but he would ask if the emigration of oppressed Europeans was
an injury? We have only to look over the United States to see the large
number, as well as the respectability of those who have been obliged to
pay their passage by binding themselves out for a term of years. It was
only necessary for gentlemen to view this subject dispassionately for a
moment, to reject the amendment. He would ask, if the amendment carried,
whether one member would vote for the resolution? He believed not, as it
would be a greater evil to prevent the emigration of whites, than the
importation of slaves; as the importation of the latter would be limited
to the year 1808, when he had no doubt it would be prohibited by the
unanimous vote of Congress.
Mr. DANA.--If I understand the gentleman from New Jersey right, he
imagines the amendment is not in compliance with the spirit of the
constitution, inasmuch as he is of opinion that the ninth section of the
first article ought to be restricted in fair meaning to slaves. It is in
the following words. [Mr. DANA here read the section.] It is, said he,
indeed difficult for me to understand, how an amendment in the very words
of the constitution, without the change of a single term, can violate
its spirit. Because the same words are used, is it to be inferred it is
contrary to the spirit of the constitution? I am sensible the amendment
changes the complexion of the resolution; but while it embraces others,
it includes likewise those persons in the resolution. Perhaps it may
include some persons who ought to be excluded; but it should be observed
that this is only a resolution for settling the principle, and that the
subordinate details may be settled in a bill. Gentlemen will not contend
that the importation of all descriptions of white persons is beneficial.
I recollect one State into which a cargo of convicts was imported, which
a law was passed to prohibit. The amendment then merely involves the
question, whether the resolution shall be confined to slaves, or be
extended to others.
The question was then taken on Mr. DANA’s amendment, to substitute
persons in the room of slaves, and passed in the negative, only 32
members rising in favor of it.
Mr. EARLY.--I wish for the attention of the committee while I submit a
very few observations on the resolution under consideration, which are
intended to go to a single point which has been but slightly noticed
by the honorable speaker, but which may be placed in some points of
view that are important. I mean to consider the subject as a matter of
feeling, in relation to the State on which it is about to bear. To her
it is not unimportant. The object of the resolution certainly is either
to point the disapprobation of this nation at the practice in question,
or to raise a revenue from that practice. It is either one, or a union
of both these ends. If the object be to point the disapprobation of the
nation against South Carolina, I pray gentlemen to pause and reflect on
the consequences of such a policy; and I beg all to recollect that they
are interested as well as South Carolina with regard to such policy.
Those who regard either the feelings of one State, or the peace and
harmony of the whole nation, will do well to reflect before they adopt a
policy bottomed on such a principle.
As it may be, that the measure is entertained as a source of revenue, if
this is the object, I will ask one question. Is the price they are to get
worth the evil they create? Is the petty sum of $40,000 or $50,000 of
so much moment? Is it a sufficient object to this Government to induce
them to adopt a measure, which will irritate and wound the feelings of a
respectable member of the confederacy? Forty or fifty thousand dollars
is a petty sum to this Government; but it is not so to a State; it is
not so to South Carolina. Let gentlemen, if they please, attempt to get
round the question, by saying that this resolution is not exclusively
confined to South Carolina--the evasion is unworthy of them. The whole
nation knows, South Carolina knows, and we know, what is intended by it;
and it is the same as if South Carolina was on the face of it. The sum,
though trifling to the United States, is not so to South Carolina. The
revenue intended by this resolution to be drawn from South Carolina, will
equal, if it does not exceed, the whole expense of her government. What,
then, will be the situation of the people of that State, in case this
resolution is adopted? It will be the situation of a people who pay a
double tax. They will pay a tax for the support of their own government;
revenue will be drawn from them for national purposes, as from the other
parts of the Union; and they will be burdened with an additional tax,
equal to the whole expense of their State Government. I will ask now,
whether the evils attending such an imposition, and the reflections
arising from it, will not necessarily irritate, wound, and offend the
feelings of the people of that State? Whether, then, we consider it as
a measure to evince the disapprobation of the nation, or as a source
of revenue, it flows from a policy equally questionable. The people,
sir, of South Carolina cannot avoid the reflection, that the finger of
scorn is pointed at them; that a double tax is imposed on them. What
will be the consequence? That which every gentleman must foresee. It
is not difficult to foresee it, because it is a natural consequence,
such as must follow whenever the common feelings of human nature are
entertained. The consequence will be, an alienation of attachment to, and
respect for this Government. I ask gentlemen to put the question home to
themselves, whether the revenue they expect is worth the sacrifice? This
is a question which ought never to be stirred in our national councils.
Though older men than myself might better tell the committee than I can
do, the effect which introducing this subject in any shape invariably has
had on the feelings of the Government, or on the representatives of the
nation, I will undertake to give my opinion of it. Sir, I have always
understood that this subject was found most difficult to be adjusted
in the Federal Convention. I have always understood that, when brought
before the councils of the nation, in any period or in any shape, a
fervor of feeling and warmth of sentiment never failed to disturb the
public harmony. Every man knows the effect of the first application to
Congress on this subject, by a man at the head of a noted body of men in
Pennsylvania or Delaware, of the name, I believe, of Warner Mifflin. All
know the effects of an application of a more recent date, in the other
branch of the Legislature, from some friendly people northwardly. All
know the effects of the celebrated resolution laid on our table the last
session, by the same gentleman who has favored us with the resolution
under consideration, to make free all persons born of a mother in the
Territory of Columbia, after a certain period. All will recollect the
height to which the feelings of men were wrought on those occasions. It
is because the agitation of this subject always had and always will have
the same effect, that I think it ought never to be introduced into this
House.
Mr. BROOM.--I agree with the gentleman from Georgia in expressing the
wish that this resolution had never been brought forward, inasmuch as I
wish that the State of South Carolina, in imitation of her sister States,
had never given occasion for it. It is said that this is a question which
has always produced agitation in this House whenever it came before it.
If this be any argument at all, it is in favor of bringing the discussion
to a close, by extinguishing the cause which produces it; for, until this
shall be the case, there will always be found men in this House to offer
a similar resolution, the result of which may be a like agitation. The
question is not now whether this resolution shall be introduced, but,
as it is introduced, whether it shall not be put to sleep for ever, by
exercising at once our constitutional powers.
I need not dwell on the great number of slaves concentrated in the
Southern States. At the time of taking the census they amounted to
832,000. In the State of South Carolina there were 146,000 slaves, and
199,000 whites. I need not expatiate on the greatness of this evil. Not
only South Carolina may suffer, but all the other neighboring States may
share the evil. Those States who are ashamed to avow a participation in
the trade, may be indebted to her for an augmentation of their slaves;
and the evil may extend to those States who now believe themselves
secure. If these people were to rise on their masters, I ask if the whole
Union would not be bound to assist in putting them down? It is not,
therefore, South Carolina alone, but all the members of this confederacy,
that may be disturbed by the accumulation of this evil. It is from
these considerations--because I wish this traffic to be checked, and
because, as an object of revenue, I am for making the most of the evil,
and because we may be enabled thereby to exempt articles of the first
necessity from at least a part of the duties imposed upon them--that I
am of opinion that we ought not, in justice, to exempt this article any
longer from duty.
Mr. EARLY said that he was far from intending to charge the mover of the
resolution with a disposition to wound the feelings of any member of the
House. He had said nothing to that effect. He would, on the contrary,
observe that he considered the manner of the gentleman mild, and such
as had not rendered him in the least obnoxious to such a charge. He had
said that the feelings of South Carolina would be probably wounded by the
measure. He had no disposition, however, to charge the gentleman from
New Jersey (Mr. SLOAN) with, such an intention. The task of wounding the
feelings of South Carolina (if the observations of a gentleman on this
floor could wound her feelings) had been reserved for the gentleman’s
friend from Delaware, (Mr. BROOM,) who had taken occasion to heap on
her head, so far as related to the importation of slaves, every term of
reproach which his imagination could bring to his aid. If he expected he
would be imitated in such a procedure, he would be mistaken. One word in
reply to an observation which he had applied to the State of Georgia.
He had said that the evil was not confined to South Carolina, but that
it extended to the neighboring States--that it extended to the State of
Georgia, who, though ashamed to avow her approbation of it, participated,
notwithstanding, with South Carolina in it. Give me leave to say, said
Mr. E., so far as relates to the State of Georgia, that she has not
been--that she never will be--ashamed to avow what she does; and that,
so far from approving this trade, she took a step six or eight years
back, that had not then been taken by any other State: she prohibited the
traffic by an express injunction of her constitution. Let the gentleman
from Delaware show any thing in his own constitution like this. On this
occasion the opponents of the resolution were disposed to treat the
subject with temper. Heretofore, the temper which had been displayed had
originated with them, but now it has proceeded from a different quarter.
The debate here closed for this day. The committee rose about four
o’clock, and obtained leave to sit again.
WEDNESDAY, January 22.
_Importation of Slaves._
The House again went into a Committee of the Whole on Mr. SLOAN’s
resolution for imposing a tax of ten dollars upon every slave imported
into the United States.
Mr. DAWSON.--Every gentleman who has spoken on this unfinished business
has expressed his regret at its introduction--none feel it more than I
do; of the sincerity of which declaration I mean to give a proof by the
motion which I shall make to you.
If this regret was felt at the introduction, it must be increased by the
course which the argument has taken, and by the warmth which has attended
it. At a time like this, when depredations are committed on our commerce,
coasts, and harbors; when our property is plundered, our citizens and
our country maltreated and insulted, it would seem to me to be more wise
and more patriotic to cherish a spirit of accommodation, and to unite
all our efforts and wisdom in adopting those measures best calculated to
meet this state of things, to support our just claims, to vindicate our
violated rights; and not to introduce subjects which will inevitably
create division, which will excite one section of the continent, one
portion of our fellow-citizens, against another, thereby disturbing that
harmony and union of councils so necessary for the good of the whole.
Mr. J. C. SMITH supported the resolution, and vindicated the State he
represented from any imputation from not having a similar feature in her
constitution to that of the constitution of Georgia. He observed that
the constitution of Connecticut, having had its origin about two hundred
years ago, had not foreseen the present state of things; but he begged
permission to say, that Connecticut had never received into her bosom any
of the species of property alluded to.
Some recriminations ensued between several members, on the participation
of the traders of some of the New England States in carrying on the slave
trade.
When the question being put, the resolution was agreed to--yeas 79.
The committee having risen, and the House being resumed, took the report
of the committee into consideration.
Mr. CLARK, having made a few remarks against agreeing to the resolution,
asked for the taking of the yeas and nays.
The main question was then taken by yeas and nays on agreeing to the
resolution--yeas 90, nays 25, as follows:
YEAS.--Isaac Anderson, John Archer, David Bard, Burwell Basset,
Silas Betton, Barnabas Bidwell, Thomas Blount, James M. Broom,
Robert Brown, John Boyle, John Chandler, Martin Chittenden,
John Claiborne, George Clinton, jun., John Clopton, Frederick
Conrad, Orchard Cook, Leonard Covington, Richard Cutts, Samuel
W. Dana, Ezra Darby, John Davenport, jun., William Dickson,
Caleb Ellis, Ebenezer Elmer, William Eli, William Findlay,
Jas. Fisk, John Fowler, Charles Goldsborough, Edwin Gray,
Andrew Gregg, Silas Halsey, John Hamilton, Seth Hastings,
William Helms, David Holmes, David Hough, John G. Jackson,
Walter Jones, James Kelley, Thomas Kenan, Nehemiah Knight, John
Lambert, Michael Leib, Joseph Lewis, jun., Henry W. Livingston,
Matthew Lyon, Nicholas R. Moore, Jeremiah Morrow, Jonathan O.
Mosely, Jeremiah Nelson, Roger Nelson, Thomas Newton, jun.,
Gideon Olin, Timothy Pitkin, jun., John Pugh, Josiah Quincy,
John Rea of Pennsylvania, John Russell, Peter Sailly, Thomas
Sammons, Ebenezer Seaver, James Sloan, John Smilie, John Cotton
Smith, John Smith, Samuel Smith, Henry Southard, Richard
Stanford, Joseph Stanton, William Stedman, Lewis B. Sturges,
Benjamin Tallmadge, Samuel Tenney, Philip R. Thompson, Uri
Tracy, Abram Trigg, Philip Van Cortlandt, Joseph B. Varnum,
Daniel C. Verplanck, Peleg Wadsworth, Matthew Walton, John
Whitehill, Robert Whitehill, Eliphalet Wickes, Marmaduke
Williams, Nathan Williams, Alexander Wilson, and Joseph Winston.
NAYS.--Willis Alston, jun., George M. Bedinger, William
Butler, John Campbell, Levi Casey, Christopher Clark, Jacob
Crowninshield, John Dawson, Elias Earle, Peter Early, James
Elliot, James M. Garnett, Robert Marion, Josiah Masters,
William McCreery, David Meriwether, Thomas Moore, Thomas M.
Randolph, John Rhea of Tennessee, Thomas Sanford, O’Brien
Smith, Thomas Spalding, Thomas W. Thompson, David R. Williams,
and Thomas Wynns.
_Ordered_, That a bill, or bills, be brought in pursuant to the said
resolution; and that Mr. SLOAN, Mr. FISK, and Mr. DANA, do prepare and
bring in the same.
MONDAY, January 27.
_Detachment of Militia._
An engrossed bill authorizing a detachment from the Militia of the United
States was read the third time.
Mr. TALLMADGE, of Connecticut, said he had never recollected an instance,
since he had been honored with a seat in that House, when a question
of equal magnitude with the present, had passed on, from the report
which was first made, to the third reading of the bill, and there had
scarcely been a remark submitted to the House to elucidate or justify
the measure. We have before us a bill of no trifling import; it provides
for organizing, arming, and equipping, a military force of one hundred
thousand men, and it appropriates two millions of dollars to enable the
Government to bring this force into the field. Now this bill contemplates
some serious intentions on the part of the Government, or else it is a
solemn mockery, a mere political farce. At any rate, we shall hereby,
if the bill passes into a law, lock up two millions of dollars in the
Treasury, which must remain appropriated and sequestered from any other
use, however urgent and pressing the calls of our country may be from
any other quarter. Under the present aspect of this bill, as it has been
presented to my mind, I shall be constrained to give it my unequivocal
negative, unless some gentleman shall be able to remove my objection
against its final passage. I, therefore, take the liberty to call on the
honorable chairman of the committee, who reported the bill, (Mr. VARNUM,
of Massachusetts,) to state to the House the reasons which induced him to
submit the bill now under consideration, and to request of him, for my
particular information, to answer the two following queries, viz:
1st. What special objects are to be answered by the passage of this bill?
2d. What effect will such a law have upon the militia systems of the
different States in the Union?
I make these inquiries of the honorable gentleman from Massachusetts,
who reported this bill, from a knowledge of the high station which he
holds in the militia of that State; and from a hope that he has fully
weighed all the relative bearings of this bill, with the advantages and
inconveniences thence resulting, that he may be able to confirm the
wavering, and to satisfy those who doubt respecting the provisions of
this bill.
In the public Message of the President of the United States, communicated
to Congress on the third of December last, we are informed that
spoliations are committed on our commerce, and our seamen are impressed
on the high seas; while aggressions and insults are offered to the
citizens of the Territories of Orleans and the Mississippi, by the
regular officers and soldiers of the King of Spain. Some of these
injuries may admit of peaceable remedy, but some of them are of a nature
to be met by force only, and all of them may lead to it.
From the fullest examination I have been able to make of this public
document, (and I lay no claim to private communications,) I can discover
but one point on which this great military force can be brought to bear.
Is it possible, then, Mr. Speaker, (and I do hope that the honorable
chairman will give us an answer to the inquiry,) is it possible, I say,
that an apportionment must be made on all the militia of the United
States, from Georgia to the District of Maine, that the President of the
United States may be enabled to repel an invasion, or chastise an insult
offered to our citizens within the district of Orleans? If this be not
the object, the inquiry returns with redoubled force--what is it? Or,
are we to conclude that all this parade and expense is to form an army
on paper, and to hold out to the world the high sense we entertain of
our national honor and dignity, and the promptitude and vigor with which
we are ready to defend it? Can it be possible, sir, that gentlemen can
be serious in offering this preposterous parade of military defence,
when the recommendation of the President, and the voice of our country,
call so imperiously for something more efficient? Will the European
powers believe that you are in sober earnest, when they shall read the
provisions of this bill? Will the people of our own country be satisfied
with this kind of military farce? The former, I am persuaded, will not be
deceived by it; the latter cannot fail to be disgusted with this pitiful
parade. Whatever may be my opinion of the military defence which our
present circumstances call for, it is hardly proper for me now to discuss
that question. If the difficulties and objections which so forcibly press
upon my mind can be obviated, notwithstanding my general doubts of the
efficacy of this measure, I shall vote for the bill on your table.
Mr. VARNUM, of Massachusetts, then rose. He said it was difficult for
him to enter into all the details which the questions of the gentleman
implied; it depended upon the situation of the different parts of the
country, whether the objections of the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr.
TALLMADGE) were applicable. It was not necessary, from the provisions
of the act, to cull this out of the great body of the militia of the
United States. That in Massachusetts it did not exempt from militia duty
in the year 1797. They were only selected and officered, and ordered
to be equipped and in readiness to march at a moment’s warning. They
afterward returned to their ranks and were held to do duty there, in the
same manner as if they had not been detached. If the argument of the
gentleman was correct relative to a detachment, all the militia of the
United States might be undisciplined, as the President had a right to
call out the whole. As to the objection made by the other gentleman from
Connecticut, (Mr. DANA,) there was some difference in the pay proposed
to be allowed by this bill, to the militia, which should compose the
detachment, but it was not much less. The difference was small, from that
allowed by the existing law. Mr. Chairman, the President has told us of
dreadful depredations upon our commerce, and of insults and inroads upon
our territories; that our seamen and fellow-citizens are impressed, and
ill-treated in a most cruel manner. It becomes us, sir, to take some
measure suitable to the occasion, unless we mean to show the world that
we possess a servile and degraded spirit. And, in my opinion, this is
that measure.
Mr. QUINCY, of Massachusetts, said, that the reason given by his
colleague, (Mr. VARNUM,) for passing this bill, “that we ought to show
in the present state of our country, that we do not possess a servile,
degraded spirit,” was a principal reason with him against the bill. He
believed that if, after all the evidence this House had received of
the temper of the people, and of their expectations of efficient, real
measures of defence, such a bill as this was to be the first fruit of a
seven weeks’ deliberation, it would, indeed, indicate that our spirit
was servile and degraded--at least, that such was the spirit of this
House. And, indeed, in fact, its spirit was, in his opinion, far below
the temper and spirit which prevailed in the community. It was, indeed,
very extraordinary that, after all the urgent demands made upon us by
the people and by the President, for various augmentations of our force,
the first step we publicly take should be, not to increase the power
of the Executive arm, but to diminish that which it already possesses.
If this was the real character of this bill, he thought the conclusion
inevitable, that a House which, in such a state of public affairs as
ours, should be guilty of such an act, was actuated by “a servile and
degraded spirit.” And whatever we may think of it ourselves, I have great
fears that both the people and foreign nations will draw that conclusion
concerning us. That this was no increase of Executive power, but a real
diminution of it, was very evident.
The gentleman, my colleague, (Mr. VARNUM,) had stated three reasons
for passing the present and repealing the old law. 1st. The want of
an appropriation for the expense of the detachment. This is a very
good reason for an appropriating act, but it is none at all for an act
repealing the provisions of the old law, and reenacting the same nearly
in the same form. 2d. His second reason was, that the former act was
permanent--this temporary. The former law had been passed in 1803, by
the gentlemen who now constituted the majority in this House. It had
been suffered to sleep for three years, and now, at the very moment
the act is about to be useful, this great constitutional discovery is
made. It is very unlucky that, when the people expect to see us alive
to their protection, we are alive to nothing but theoretic questions
and constitutional difficulties. The third reason for this law was the
new apportionment of the detachment of militia it contemplates. In this
consists the mischief and imbecility of the measure. By the law of 1803,
which this bill proposes to repeal, the President is authorized to call
out a detachment of eighty thousand militia. He may take the whole from
any part of the Union. Wherever the exigency requires, he may there
call for all, or any part, of the eighty thousand. By the present law,
the detachment made is to consist, indeed, of a hundred thousand men;
but this number is to be apportioned upon the States, and whatever is
wanted for actual service is to be collected from seventeen independent
divisions, in a country fifteen hundred miles in length.
The bill was then passed, 79 rising in the affirmative.
WEDNESDAY, January 29.
_Neutral Rights._
Mr. JACKSON called for consideration of the unfinished business of
yesterday, viz: the motion of Mr. SMILIE to discharge the Committee
of Ways and Means from the further consideration of so much of the
President’s Message as relates to the invasion of neutral rights by
some of the belligerent powers. On taking up this business the House
divided--yeas 37; carried.
The motion having been submitted from the Chair, Mr. DAWSON opposed it.
He said the wish of the gentleman from Pennsylvania to bring this subject
under the view of the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union
might at any time be gratified by going into that committee and moving
any resolution he might see fit, as the Message generally was referred
to the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union. He believed,
however, that the floor of the House was not the proper place to make
declarations of what is the law of nations. He believed that a volume of
such declarations would be of no avail; it was their duty to act and not
to declare on such subjects; and whenever the gentleman from Pennsylvania
or any other gentleman, would bring forward measures calculated to
prevent an infraction of our neutral rights, they should receive his
support. At present he must be against adopting the resolution.
Mr. SMILIE said he did not expect any opposition to the motion he had
made. If the Committee of Ways and Means should be discharged from the
business, it would consequently come before the Committee of the Whole on
the state of the Union without any motion, as the Message was generally
before that committee.
In reply to the remark that this motion would be treating the Committee
of Ways and Means with disrespect, Mr. SMILIE said, he thought the
ground on which he had placed the business would have removed every idea
of the kind. He did not say the Committee of Ways and Means were not as
competent to the business as any other select or standing committee;
but he had declared from the beginning that in his opinion, in point of
principle, the reference ought to have been made to the Committee of
the Whole. This is the ninth week of the session, and gentlemen charge
us with having done nothing. Do not gentlemen see, from the state of
the Committee of Ways and Means, that this course has become absolutely
necessary? Shall a business of the first importance that can occur
during the session, be neglected on this account? Not only the eyes of
all America, but likewise of all Europe, are looking with anxiety on
the steps which we shall take in this business; for all the maritime
powers of Europe are interested in this great question relative to
neutral rights. Are we, then, in consequence of the deranged situation
of a select committee, to remain with our hands tied up? For myself
I do think, that the interests of our country call upon us to take
immediate steps. I repeat it, that on a similar occasion with this, a
similar course was pursued. Gentlemen will remember, that in the third
Congress, when we before suffered from the misconduct of Great Britain,
certain resolutions which became the subject of discussion originated in
a Committee of the whole House. What, indeed, are we to expect from the
Committee of Ways and Means? Are they in possession of the general sense
of the House on this subject, as a guide in making their report? This is
not the case, as we have had no discussion of the subject; and until it
shall be brought under a view of a Committee of the whole House, it is
impossible to tell in what the opinions of members will centre.
Mr. JACKSON.--I have but a single observation to make in addition to
those which have fallen from the gentleman from Pennsylvania. So far
as relates to myself, it is not my object to discuss in Committee of
the Whole, the abstract questions of the law of nations, but to adopt
measures for the effectual resistance and punishment of the infraction
of those laws, as far as we can. If, according to the course pointed out
by my colleague, any resolution should be submitted on this subject in
Committee of the Whole, it will be objected that the subject is before
a standing committee, and it will be said to be disrespectful to act on
it until they shall have reported. If my colleague, therefore, be of
opinion, that we should adopt any efficient and prompt measures, the
better and speedier way will be for him to join in the motion. I hope the
motion will prevail. In the name of heaven, if we are not disposed to do
any thing, let us tell the people so.
Mr. CROWNISHIELD.--From the beginning I was opposed to referring this
subject to the Committee of Ways and Means. I saw no reason for its
going to a standing committee. Without meaning to cast any censure on
the Committee of Ways and Means, I am in favor of the motion. We have
been in session seven or eight weeks--the reference was made as early as
the 6th of December, and we have yet no report. The question is perhaps
as interesting a one as has been presented since the establishment of a
National Government. What is our situation? Our ships are plundered in
every sea, our seamen are impressed, three thousand of them are in the
service of one nation. We are a neutral nation, and it is not proper
that any belligerent nation should employ them in this manner. Like the
gentleman from Virginia, I am ready to act, I want no report to guide my
decision. I am prepared--not for war measures, but for a non-intercourse
act with Great Britain. I am willing to suspend all intercourse with
Great Britain until she shall give back the ships she has stolen from us,
and the seamen she forcibly detains. I shall not be more ready to take
this step after a report from the Committee of Ways and Means than I am
now. The simple question is, whether we shall abandon trade altogether,
or resist the unjust aggressions made upon it? But it was not my object
in rising, to go any length into the subject; I only rose to express my
opinion in favor of the course pointed out by the motion. The Committee
of Ways and Means is deranged, disorganized; two members are absent, and
the Chairman unfortunately is sick. We have no expectation of a report;
it may not come till the end of the session.
Mr. GREGG.--I rise to express a similar opinion with the gentleman who
has just sat down.
I am in favor of the motion for the reasons which he has assigned and
for another reason; for the sake of consistency. Though the subject be
referred to the Committee of Ways and Means, it is likewise referred to
the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union. The memorials from
the merchants of New York and Philadelphia have taken this latter course.
This brings the subject before a Committee of the Whole. We are under
the same obligation to take up the business of our constituents as the
Message; and as the business is of the greatest importance, I hope the
whole subject will be referred to a Committee of the Whole.
Mr. BIDWELL.--The gentleman from Pennsylvania has anticipated me in an
idea which I meant to have expressed. As the principal document on this
subject is the Message of the President, I think it proper that that
should be placed with the same committee charged with the memorials of
merchants from different towns. Another reason may be mentioned in favor
of this course of procedure. At the commencement of the session there
was a strong reason for referring the subject to a special committee.
It was a principal object at that time to inquire into the extent and
degree of the injuries received from belligerent nations; as since that
time we have received full information on those points from the Executive
Department, that reason is done away, and there is no necessity for any
investigation by a select committee.
The motion to discharge the Committee of Ways and Means was then agreed
to--yeas 68.
_Non-Intercourse._
Mr. GREGG said, that he considered the insults offered to our Government,
and the injuries done to our citizens by some of the belligerent nations,
to be of such a nature, as to demand the interposition of Government to
obtain redress. It appeared from the memorials and remonstrances of the
merchants of New York, Philadelphia, and other of our seaport towns, now
on our table, as well as from Executive communications, that vessels the
_bona fide_ property of citizens of the United States, have been seized
by their cruisers, and they and their cargoes condemned, contrary to our
rights as a neutral nation, and to what has long been considered as the
law of nations on this subject. Great numbers of our fellow-citizens have
been impressed, and notwithstanding our repeated remonstrances, they are
cruelly retained in bondage, and compelled to act in a service, perhaps
very abhorrent to their feelings, far from their country and their
friends. To these insults and injuries, said Mr. G., we can no longer
submit, unless we are willing to surrender that independence which has
been, and I trust always will be, our pride and our boast. So great are
these injuries and aggressions, and so unremittingly are they persevered
in, that I do not know but that they might be considered as a sufficient
cause on which to ground a declaration of war. That, however, is not my
object. I deprecate war, and will not agree to resort to it, until other
means, which we have in our power, are tried in vain. We do, I think,
possess means, which, if properly used, cannot fail of accomplishing
the object. To these I hope we will now resort, and for the purpose of
bringing them into view, I will submit a resolution to the consideration
of the House, reserving any further observations on the subject, until
the resolution shall be taken up in Committee of the Whole on the state
of the Union, to which I intend moving its reference.
Mr. GREGG then offered the following resolution:
Whereas Great Britain impresses citizens of the United States,
and compels them to serve on board her ships of war, and also
seizes and condemns vessels belonging to citizens of the United
States, and their cargoes, being the _bona fide_ property of
American citizens, not contraband of war, and not proceeding to
places besieged or blockaded, under the pretext of their being
engaged in time of war in a trade with her enemies which was
not allowed in time of peace:
And whereas the Government of the United States has repeatedly
remonstrated to the British Government against these injuries,
and demanded satisfaction therefor, but without effect:
Therefore, _Resolved_, That until equitable and satisfactory
arrangements on these points shall be made between the two
Governments, it is expedient that from and after the ----
day of ---- no goods, wares, or merchandise, of the growth,
product, or manufacture of Great Britain, or of any of the
colonies or dependencies thereof, ought to be imported into the
United States. _Provided_, however, that whenever arrangements
deemed satisfactory by the President of the United States shall
take place, it shall be lawful for him by proclamation to fix a
day on which the prohibition aforesaid shall cease.
The House having agreed to consider this resolution,
Mr. THOMAS said he had seconded the motion of the gentleman from
Pennsylvania, and should give it his decided support. It would however
have suited him better, had it gone still further, and interdicted all
commercial intercourse with that nation, until she should cease to commit
depredations on our commerce, impress our citizens on the high seas
into her service, and abandon the new principles which she had lately
interpolated in the maritime code, and which he considered as unjust as
they were unauthorized by the acknowledged law of nations.
But as unanimity in the Legislature of the nation was desirable at all
times, and particularly so on great national questions, he was disposed,
in order to produce that result on the present occasion, to yield a part
of his own opinion to meet the views of other gentlemen.
The present was an important question, and he hoped the honorable mover
would consent that it should lie a day or two for consideration, and
moved that it be printed.
Mr. GREGG said his wish was to refer the resolution to a Committee of
the Whole on the state of the Union; and made a motion to that effect
which was agreed to without a division, and the resolution ordered to be
printed.
THURSDAY, January 30.
The bill sent from the Senate, entitled “An act to empower George Rapp
and his associates, of the Society of Harmony, to purchase certain
lands,” was read twice and committed to a Committee of the Whole on
Monday next.
Mr. STANFORD, from the committee appointed on the twenty-third instant,
presented a bill for altering the time for holding the circuit court in
the district of North Carolina; which was read twice and committed to a
Committee of the Whole to-morrow.
A memorial of the inhabitants of the town of Salem, in the State of
Massachusetts, signed by a committee, in behalf of the said inhabitants,
was presented to the House and read, setting forth that they have beheld,
with the deepest regret and anxiety, the aggressions committed on the
commerce of the United States, and the consequent violation of neutral
rights, under the new assumed principles and adjudications of the
maritime courts of Great Britain; that they view with equal abhorrence
the impressment of our seamen, the violation of our jurisdiction by
captures at the mouths of our harbors, and the insulting treatment of our
ships on the ocean, by the same nation, not less hostile than the conduct
of other nations, by piratical depredations, and the lawless plunderings
of privateers on our coasts; that, while they ask for no measure but
what justice approves and reason enforces--claiming merely to pursue
a fair commerce, with its ordinary privileges--wishing for peace, for
honorable peace, and to support the independence of their country by the
acquisitions of lawful industry, they pledge their lives and properties
in support of the measures which may be adopted to vindicate the public
rights and redress the public wrongs. Referred to the consideration of a
Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union.
The SPEAKER laid before the House the following letter from the Secretary
of the Navy addressed to the House:
SIR: In obedience to the resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 27th instant, directing the Secretary
of the Navy “to lay before the House a report on the condition
of the frigates, and other public armed vessels, belonging to
the United States, distinguishing the frigates fit for actual
service; distinguishing such as require repair, and the sum
necessary for repairing each; and distinguishing also such
as it may be the interest of the United States to dispose of
rather than repair,” I have the honor to state--
That the frigate Constitution is now in a state of thorough
repair, and in all respects prepared for service.
That the frigate Chesapeake has lately been repaired and is fit
for service.
That the frigates Adams, Essex, and John Adams, are also fit
for service.
That the brigs Syren, Hornet, Argus, and Vixen, the schooners
Nautilus and Enterprise, the bombs Spitfire and Vengeance, and
all the gunboats are fit for service.
That the frigates President, United States, Congress,
Constellation, New York, and Boston, required to be repaired;
but it is utterly impossible to form an accurate estimate of
the “sum necessary for repairing each.”
I know of no vessel belonging to the navy, which I consider
it would be “the interest of the United States to dispose of,
rather than repair.”
On the motion of Mr. J. Randolph, the first and third sections of the
bill to repeal so much of an act as authorizes the evidences of the
public debt to be received in payment for public lands, and for other
purposes, was referred to a Committee of the whole House.
The discussion which ensued on the details of this bill occupied nearly
the whole of the residue of the day.
The committee having reported the bill, with sundry amendments, it was
ordered to a third reading to-morrow.
_Neutral Rights._
Mr. J. RANDOLPH said it would be recollected that, very early in the
session, so much of the Message of the President of the United States as
relates to the invasion of neutral rights by belligerent powers, had been
referred to the Committee of Ways and Means. It would also be recollected
that another Message on the same subject, or on one connected with it,
had been referred to the same Committee of Ways and Means. I understand,
said Mr. R. (for my indisposition has not permitted me for some days
past to attend to the duties of my seat) that a motion has prevailed
to discharge the Committee of Ways and Means from the consideration of
that subject. Inasmuch as this discharge may have been effected under
an impression that the committee, have been delinquent in executing the
duty devolved upon them, I feel it my duty before I surrender the papers
connected with this subject, to give some account of the proceedings of
the committee. On the eleventh of December the committee instructed their
Chairman to write a letter to the Secretary of State, which I will read.
Mr. R. here read the letter as follows:
COMMITTEE ROOM, _Dec. 11, 1806_.
SIR: The Committee of Ways and Means have instructed me to
request you will cause to be laid before them such information,
on the subject of the enclosed resolution, as the Department of
State can furnish.