TENTH CONGRESS.—FIRST SESSION. PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

LIST OF REPRESENTATIVES.

New Hampshire.—Peter Carlton, Daniel M. Durell, Francis Gardner, Jedediah K. Smith, Clement Storer.

Massachusetts.—Joseph Barker, John Chandler, Ezekiel Bacon, Orchard Cook, Richard Cutts, Jacob Crowninshield, Josiah Deane, William Ely, Isaiah L. Green, Edward St. Loe Livermore, Daniel Ilsley, Josiah Quincy, Ebenezer Seaver, William Stedman, Samuel Taggart, Joseph B. Varnum, Jabez Upham.

Vermont.—Martin Chittenden, James Elliot, James Fisk, James Witherall.

Rhode Island.—Nehemiah Knight, Isaac Wilbour.

Connecticut.—Epaphroditus Champion, Samuel W. Dana, John Davenport, Jonathan O. Mosely, Timothy Pitkin, jr., Lewis B. Sturges, Benjamin Tallmadge.

New York.—John Blake, jr., George Clinton, Barent Gardenier, John Harris, Reuben Humphreys, William Kirkpatrick, Gurdon S. Mumford, Josiah Masters, Samuel Riker, John Russell, Peter Swart, David Thomas, John Thompson, James J. Van Allen, Philip Van Cortlandt, Killian K. Van Rensselaer, Daniel C. Verplanck.

New Jersey.—Ezra Darby, William Helms, Adam Boyd, John Lambert, Thomas Newbold, James Sloan, Henry Southard.

Pennsylvania.—David Bard, Robert Brown, Joseph Clay, William Findlay, John Heister, William Hoge, Robert Jenkins, James Kelly, William Milnor, Daniel Montgomery, jr., John Porter, John Pugh, John Rea, Jacob Richards, Matthias Richards, John Smilie, Samuel Smith, Robert Whitehill.

Delaware.—Nicholas Van Dyke.

Maryland.—John Campbell, Charles Goldsborough, Philip Barton Key, Edward Lloyd, Wm. McCreery, John Montgomery, Nicholas R. Moore, Roger Nelson, Archibald Van Herne.

Virginia.—Burwell Bassett, Wm. A. Burwell, Matthew Clay, John Clopton, John Dawson, John W. Eppes, James M. Garnett, Peterson Goodwyn, Edwin Gray, David Holmes, John G. Jackson, Walter Jones, Joseph Lewis, jr., John Love, John Morrow, Thomas Newton, jr., John Randolph, Abram Trigg, John Smith, Alexander Wilson.

North Carolina.—Evan Alexander, Willis Alston, jr., Wm. Blackledge, Thomas Blount, John Culpepper, Nathaniel Macon, Thomas Kenan, Lemuel Sawyer, James Holland, Richard Stanford, Meshack Franklin, Marmaduke Williams.

South Carolina.—Lemuel J. Alston, jr., William Butler, Joseph Calhoun, John Taylor, Robert Marion, David R. Williams, Richard Wynn.

Georgia.—William W. Bibb, Howell Cobb, Dennis Smelt, George M. Troup.

Ohio.—Jeremiah Morrow.

Kentucky.—Joseph Desha, Matthew Lyon, Benjamin Howard, Richard M. Johnson.

Tennessee.—John Rhea, G. W. Campbell, Jesse Wharton.

Orleans Territory.—Delegate; Daniel Clark.

Monday, October 26, 1807.

This being the day appointed by Proclamation of the President of the United States, of the thirtieth day of July last, for the meeting of the Congress, the following members of the House of Representatives appeared, produced their credentials, and took their seats, to wit:

From New Hampshire—Peter Carlton, Daniel M. Durell, Francis Gardner, Jedediah K. Smith, and Clement Storer.

From Massachusetts—Joseph Barker, John Chandler, Orchard Cook, Richard Cutts, Josiah Deane, William Ely, Isaiah L. Green, Daniel Ilsley, Josiah Quincy, Ebenezer Seaver, William Stedman, Samuel Taggart, Joseph B. Varnum, and Jabez Upham.

From Vermont—Martin Chittenden, James Elliot, James Fisk, and James Witherall.

From Rhode Island—Nehemiah Knight, and Isaac Wilbour.

From Connecticut—Epaphroditus Champion, Samuel W. Dana, John Davenport, Jonathan O. Mosely, Timothy Pitkin, jr., Lewis B. Sturges, and Benjamin Tallmadge.

From New York—John Blake, junior, Barent Gardenier, John Harris, Reuben Humphreys, William Kirkpatrick, Josiah Masters, Samuel Riker, John Russell, Peter Swart, David Thomas, John Thompson, James J. Van Allen, Philip Van Cortlandt, Killian K. Van Rensselaer, and Daniel C. Verplanck.

From New Jersey—Ezra Darby, William Helms, John Lambert, Thomas Newbold, James Sloan, and Henry Southard.

From Pennsylvania—David Bard, Robert Brown, William Findlay, John Heister, Robert Jenkins, James Kelly, William Milnor, Daniel Montgomery, jr., John Porter, John Pugh, John Rea, Jacob Richards, Matthias Richards, John Smilie, Samuel Smith, and Robert Whitehill.

From Maryland—John Campbell, Charles Goldsborough, Philip B. Key, Edward Lloyd, William McCreery, John Montgomery, Nicholas R. Moore, Roger Nelson, and Archibald Van Horne.

From Virginia—Burwell Bassett, William A. Burwell, Matthew Clay, John Clopton, John Dawson, John W. Eppes, James M. Garnett, Peterson Goodwyn, Edwin Gray, David Holmes, Walter Jones, Joseph Lewis, jr., John Love, John Morrow, Thomas Newton, jr., John Randolph, and John Smith.

From North Carolina—Evan Alexander, Willis Alston, jr., Thomas Blount, John Culpepper, Thomas Kenan, Lemuel Sawyer, Richard Stanford, and Meshack Franklin.

From South Carolina—Lemuel J. Alston, jr., Wm. Butler, Joseph Calhoun, Thomas Moore, John Taylor, and David R. Williams.

From Georgia—William W. Bibb, Howell Cobb, Dennis Smelt, and George M. Troup.

From Ohio—Jeremiah Morrow.

From Kentucky—Joseph Desha, Benjamin Howard, and Richard M. Johnson.

From Tennessee—John Rhea, and Jesse Wharton.

The Assistant Clerk of the House announced 117 members and one delegate to be present, being a majority of the whole number. He then inquired if it were the pleasure of the House to proceed to the appointment of a Speaker, which being determined in the affirmative, the members proceeded to ballot for that officer, Messrs. Cutts, Helms, and John Campbell, being named tellers.

The tellers, after examining the votes, reported that 117 were received, and Joseph B. Varnum, a Representative from the State of Massachusetts, having fifty-nine of them, was declared to be duly elected.

The votes were given as follows, viz:

Joseph B. Varnum, 59; Charles Goldsborough, 17; Burwell Bassett, 17; Josiah Masters, 8; Thomas Blount, 7; John Dawson, 4; John Smilie, 2; Benjamin Tallmadge, 1; Timothy Pitkin, 1; and R. Nelson, 1.

The Speaker being conducted to the Chair, by Mr. Van Cortlandt and Mr. Alston, addressed the House as follows:

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:

You will please to accept my most grateful acknowledgments for the honor which by your suffrages on this occasion you have conferred upon me. I am sensible of my own inability to perform the important duties you have been pleased to assign me, in the most desirable manner; but relying on your candor and readiness to afford me your aid, I accept the trust. And be assured, gentlemen, that it will be my assiduous endeavor to discharge the duties of the office faithfully and impartially; and in a manner which, in my opinion, shall be best calculated to meet your wishes and afford me the consolation of an approving conscience.

The oath to support the Constitution of the United States, as prescribed by the act, entitled “An act to regulate the time and manner of administering certain oaths,” was administered by Mr. Van Cortlandt, one of the Representatives for the State of New York, to the Speaker; and then the same oath, or affirmation, was administered by Mr. Speaker to all the members present.

George Poindexter, Esq., having also appeared as the delegate from the Mississippi Territory of the United States, the said oath was administered to him by the Speaker. The same oath, together with the oath of office prescribed by the said recited act, were also administered by Mr. Speaker to the Clerk.

A message from the Senate informed the House that a quorum of the Senate is assembled, and ready to proceed to business. Also, that the Senate have appointed a committee on their part, jointly with such committee as may be appointed on the part of this House, to wait on the President of the United States, and inform him that a quorum of the two Houses is assembled, and ready to receive any communications he may be pleased to make to them.

Ordered, That a message be sent to the Senate, to inform them that a quorum of this House is assembled, and have elected Joseph B. Varnum, Esq., one of the Representatives for the State of Massachusetts, their Speaker; and that the Clerk of this House do go with the said message.

Mr. Bassett, Mr. Goldsborough, and Mr. Masters, were appointed a committee on the part of this House, jointly with the committee appointed on the part of the Senate, to wait on the President of the United States, and inform him that a quorum of the two Houses is assembled, and ready to receive any communication that he may be pleased to make to them.

Election of Clerk, &c.

The House next proceeded to the election of a Clerk. The same tellers which had been appointed on the former election having been named by the Speaker on this, the members proceeded to ballot, and Patrick Magruder having received 72 votes was declared duly elected.

Tuesday, October 27.

Several other members, to wit: from Virginia, Abram Trigg and Alexander Wilson; from South Carolina, Robert Marion; and from Tennessee, George W. Campbell, appeared, produced their credentials, were qualified, and took their seats in the House.

Wednesday, October 28.

Another member, to wit, William Hoge, from Pennsylvania, appeared, produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the House.

Thursday, October 29.

Another member, to wit, William Blackledge, from North Carolina, appeared, produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the House.

Friday, October 30.

The House proceeded, by ballot, to the appointment of a Chaplain to Congress, on the part of this House; and, upon examining the ballots, a majority of the votes of the whole House was found in favor of the Rev. Obadiah B. Brown.

Monday, November 2.

Several other members, to wit: from Massachusetts, Ezekiel Bacon; from New York, Gurdon S. Mumford; from North Carolina, James Holland; from Kentucky, Matthew Lyon; and from South Carolina, Richard Wynn, appeared, produced their credentials, were qualified, and took their seats in the House.

Thursday, November 5.

Revolutionary Pensions.

Mr. Dana said it was well known, that during the last Congress, an act was passed for the relief of persons claiming pensions. The object of the act was, to grant relief to some whose cases were not embraced by the former act, and to grant an increased allowance to others who had not, as yet, received sufficient. This act provides for taking depositions before the district judge, in cases where the claimants have never been placed on the pension list, as well as for examination of the claims of those who apply to have their pensions increased. Whether any compensation should be allowed for issuing commissions, or for making the examinations required, is not declared by the act. A difference of practice, he understood, had taken place. In some cases, commissions were issued gratuitously by the district judge; in other cases, these poor solicitors were obliged, from their small pittance, to pay for these services. If any compensation were to be allowed for this service, he thought it should be paid from the public treasury. Whatever might be the mode adopted, he wished it to be fixed by law. For this purpose he offered the following resolution:

“Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire what compensation shall be allowed for issuing commissions giving authority for taking testimony, or examining evidence relative to claims or applications under the act to provide for persons who have been disabled by known wounds received in the Revolutionary war, and that the committee have leave to report by bill or otherwise.”

Frigate Chesapeake.

Mr. Quincy said the House would recollect that when in Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, some days ago, he submitted an amendment to a resolution of the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Dawson,) which went to an inquiry into the circumstances of the attack on the Chesapeake, and the causes assigned for it, as well as the manner in which it was repelled. At that time two objections of some apparent validity were urged against this motion; the one was that it might have an improper effect upon a pending trial, the other was as to its form. To obviate these objections, he had modified the resolution, which he should now offer to the House.

Mr. Q. read his motion, as follows:

“Resolved, That the committee to whom was referred so much of the Message of the President of the United States as relates to aggressions committed within our ports and waters, by foreign armed vessels, to violations of our jurisdiction, and to measures necessary for the protection of our ports and harbors, be instructed to inquire into the circumstances of the attack made on the frigate Chesapeake in June last, and the pretexts or causes assigned for making it, and to report the same in detail to the House.”

Mr. Q. would lay before the House his reasons for offering this resolution. He could not acquiesce in the course which had been given to that part of the President’s Message which relates to the attack on the Chesapeake. He could not reconcile it with the sense of justice or with the honor of this House. He asked gentlemen to consider our situation in relation to this subject. A violent attack is made upon one of our public ships of war, in a manner undeniably hostile. A great degree of excitement has taken place in the public mind throughout the continent. Our newspapers have teemed with every species of information, a part of which has been correct, and a part incorrect; which has sometimes fallen short of the truth, and sometimes exceeded it; has been sometimes official, and sometimes unofficial. In this situation of things, the President of the United States deemed it wise and prudent to call an extraordinary session of this Legislature. We are now assembled. He has made a communication to us, and this attack is a striking feature in it. This is our situation. What have we done? The House has gone into a Committee of the Whole, taken up the Message of the President, cut it up into parts, according to Parliamentary custom; and we have taken as many of those parts as we pleased and referred them to particular committees; some of which are a kind of patchwork committees. In all of these references, notwithstanding it was the very object which occasioned the early meeting of the present session, no mention is made of the attack on the Chesapeake. The committee, which he proposed to instruct on this subject, had what related to aggressions committed within our ports and waters submitted to them generally, but they have no compass by which to steer; no prominent object is placed before them. He could not reconcile this manner of acting with his duty. He deemed it necessary to obtain a full development of all the circumstances relative to this affair, in order that Congress, and the people at large, may form a correct judgment of our situation. The course adopted is not the course to gain the information so desirable. It is a course of Parliamentary ignorance, not a course of development. It is a course of concealment. He spoke as to the general effect of measures, and not as to gentlemen’s motives.

He inquired of gentlemen what method they would pursue, if they wanted to understand any particular subject? Would they not refer it to a distinct committee, and not mix it up with extraneous matter? And if you give a committee two or three distinct objects to act upon, but wish them to attend more especially to one, it is proper to give them specific instructions to that point. This is the way to come at the proper understanding of a subject. But, on the contrary, if it were the wish of any member of this House to promote concealment, to prevent a knowledge of facts, the way is obvious. It would be to place three or four subjects together, and to suffer the committee to which they are referred to act as they please upon them. We know that committees thus left to themselves, will never do too much.

It was because the people of the United States wish to know something on this subject, that he made this motion. It may be said that this committee have already the power, and that they may make the necessary inquiries without this instruction. But it is the duty of this House to be certain that they will do so. Indeed, if the committee were now proceeding in this inquiry, this would be no good reason why this motion ought not to be adopted. If, without being instructed by this House, the committee should report the facts now called for, the honor of the act would rest upon that committee; whereas it ought to rest upon this House.

Perhaps it may be said, as on a former occasion, that every man, woman, and child, in the United States is acquainted with these facts; but what is known from popular report, or newspaper information, is not the kind of knowledge we want. We want facts from the proper authority.

An objection had been made to this course, that it would be casting a censure upon the committee. Not so; it would be no more than drawing the attention of an organ of the House to a particular subject. It may be objected to, because a negotiation is pending; but what is done by Congress, at this time, can have no effect on a negotiation carrying on across the Atlantic. The House is at present calm and tranquil, and this is therefore a proper time to undertake an investigation of the facts required. Let the negotiation terminate as it may, we shall never have a fair inquiry into these facts, unless we enter upon it at present. Suppose, said he, the negotiation has a favorable issue, and no inquiry has been made, is there a member present who will say the inquiry would then be entered upon? No, it would be said to be an old wound, which ought not to be probed, but forgotten. But suppose, on the other hand, that the negotiation should be abruptly broken off, and this House should be called upon to put the nation in hostile array, would that be a proper time for entering upon the proposed inquiry? Would the House be in a fit state for deliberating upon the facts required? Indeed, the subject appeared to him so clear, and the duty to bring forward this motion so impressive, that he could not refrain from making it.

Mr. Burwell said he had hoped he should have been able to have satisfied the gentleman from Massachusetts, as to the attention of the committee to whom this duty was assigned; but after an expression which had dropped from him, he despaired of doing it. He would, however, inform the House that the committee to whom the subject was referred were engaged in a course of investigation on the very part of it now agitated, and had come to a determination to obtain, from the proper authority, a correct detail of the circumstances attending this particular attack; not content with this, they were about to call on the Government for a detail of all aggressions that had been committed within our ports and waters.

Mr. Blount said, that, at the moment the gentleman from Massachusetts had moved this resolution, he was in the committee-room, in the act of addressing a note to the Secretary of State on this subject, according to the direction of the committee, calling for a full and correct statement of all the facts relative to the aggression committed on the frigate Chesapeake. For the satisfaction of the gentleman, he would read the note which he had written. [Mr. B. then opened and read the note.]

Thursday, November 12.

Two other members, to wit: from Massachusetts, Jacob Crowninshield; and from Pennsylvania, Joseph Clay, appeared, produced their credentials, were qualified, and took their seats in the House.

The Speaker laid before the House sundry documents, transmitted to him by Duncan McFarland, of the State of North Carolina, relative to his claim to a seat in this House, as a Representative for said State, in the room of John Culpepper; which were referred to the Committee of Elections.

Maryland Contested Election.[55]

The House then resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the report of the Committee of Elections, to whom was referred the memorial of Joshua Barney, of the State of Maryland. The report of the Committee of Elections is as follows:

The Committee of Elections, to whom was committed the petition of Joshua Barney, of the city of Baltimore, praying to be admitted to a seat in the House, he having, in his opinion, the highest number of votes given to a candidate legally qualified to represent the city of Baltimore, having carefully examined the facts stated on both sides, and compared the laws of Maryland under which the said election was held, with the Constitution of the United States, report—

That, by an act of the Assembly of Maryland, passed in November, 1790, it is required that the member shall be an inhabitant of his district at the time of his election, and shall have resided therein twelve calendar months immediately before.

By another act of the Assembly of Maryland, passed in November, 1802, it is enacted that Baltimore town and county shall be the fifth district, which district shall be entitled to send two Representatives to Congress, one of which shall be a resident of Baltimore county, and the other a resident of Baltimore city.

That Joshua Barney is a citizen of Maryland, and has been a resident of Baltimore city for many years.

That William McCreery has been for many years a citizen of Maryland, and a resident of the city of Baltimore; but that, in the year 1803, he removed himself and his family to his estate in Baltimore county; that, from that time, though he himself has occasionally resided in Baltimore, yet he, with his wife and family, have not made the city their settled residence.

That William McCreery states that his intention was, and still is, to reside with his family on his country estate in summer, and in the city of Baltimore in winter; but that, ever since he has removed his family to his farm, he has been obliged every winter, in the public service, to reside, and frequently with his family, in the city of Washington, which prevented him from removing his family, agreeably to his intention, to the city of Baltimore; but he resided himself in the city of Baltimore five or six days before the election; that he and his family were residing in the same situation, when he was elected to serve in the ninth Congress, that they were when he was elected into the present Congress; that, however, not wishing to have been taken up as a candidate at the last election, he expressed to some of his friends some apprehensions that exceptions might be made on account of his constant family residence not being in the city of Baltimore.

At the election in that district for the Congress now in session, Nicholas R. Moore had 6,164 votes; he is a resident in Baltimore county; and William McCreery, against whose right to a seat in this House objection is made on account of residence, had 3,559 votes; and Joshua Barney, who claims a seat in this House, and it is admitted is a resident of Baltimore city, had 2,063 votes; and John Seat, also a resident in Baltimore city, had 353 votes. The above statement of facts being admitted by the parties, further evidence was not required. No question was taken on the legal residence of William McCreery in the city of Baltimore.

The committee proceeded to examine the constitution, with relation to the case submitted to them, and find that qualifications of members are therein determined, without reserving any authority to the State Legislatures to change, add to, or diminish those qualifications; and that, by that instrument, Congress is constituted the sole judge of the qualifications prescribed by it, and are obliged to decide agreeably to the constitutional rules; but the State Legislatures being, by the constitution, authorized to prescribe the time, place and manner of holding the elections, in controversies arising under this authority, Congress are obliged to decide agreeably to the laws of the respective States.

On the most mature consideration of the case submitted to them, the committee are of opinion that William McCreery is duly qualified to represent the fifth district of the State of Maryland, and that the law of that State, restricting the residence of the members of Congress to any particular part of the district for which they may be chosen, is contrary to the Constitution of the United States: therefore,

“Resolved, That William McCreery is entitled to his seat in this House.”

Tuesday, November 17.

Another member, to wit, Marmaduke Williams, from North Carolina, appeared, produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the House.

Frigate Chesapeake.

Mr. Blount, from the committee to whom was referred so much of the Message of the President as relates to aggressions, &c., made a report.

The report commences with an expression of sensibility at the outrage committed on the Chesapeake; states the receipt of information relative thereto from the State and Navy Departments; presents a general view of the circumstances; observes that it might be said to have been incontestably proved that William Ware, John Strachan, and Daniel Martin are citizens of the United States. But the committee add, that they conceive it unnecessary for them or the House to go into any inquiry on that part of the subject, as in their opinion whether the men taken from the Chesapeake were or were not citizens of the United States, and whether the Chesapeake was or was not within the acknowledged limits of the United States at the time they were taken, the character of the act of taking them remains the same.

“From the foregoing facts, it appears to your committee that the outrage committed on the frigate Chesapeake has been stamped with circumstances of indignity and insult of which there is scarcely to be found a parallel in the history of civilized nations, and requires only the sanction of the Government under color of whose authority it was perpetrated to make it just cause of, if not an irresistible call for, instant and severe retaliation. Whether it will receive that sanction, or be disavowed, and declared an unauthorized act of a subordinate officer, remains to be determined by the answer which shall be given to the demand of explanation. That answer (now daily expected) will either sink the detestable act into piracy, or expand it to the magnitude of premeditated hostility against the sovereignty and independence of this nation; and until its true character shall be fixed and known, your committee deem it expedient to decline expressing any opinion as to the measures proper to be adopted in relation to it. But, as other acts of aggression have been committed within our ports and waters by British ships of war, as well anterior as posterior to this, some of them manifesting the same disregard of our national rights, and seeming to flow from the same contempt for the authority of our laws; and especially as the British squadron, of which the Leopard was one, after being notified of the President’s proclamation, ordering them to depart from the waters of the United States which they knew had been published in conformity to an act of Congress, anchored within the capes of Chesapeake Bay, and in that situation remained, capturing American vessels, even within our acknowledged territorial limits, and sending them to Halifax for adjudication—impressing seamen on board American vessels—firing on vessels and boats of all descriptions, having occasion to pass near them in pursuit of their lawful trade, and occasionally denouncing threats, calculated to alarm and irritate the good people of the United States, particularly the inhabitants of Norfolk and Hampton—all which facts are substantiated by the accompanying documents, Nos. 1 to 6—the committee are of opinion that it is expedient to provide more effectually for the protection of our ports and harbors; but not being prepared to report specifically on that subject, they ask further indulgence of the House, and beg leave to submit for their consideration the following resolution:

“Resolved, That the attack of the British ship of war Leopard on the United States frigate Chesapeake was a flagrant violation of the jurisdiction of the United States, and that the continuance of the British squadron (of which the Leopard was one) in their waters, after being notified of the proclamation of the President of the United States, ordering them to depart the same, was a further violation thereof.”

The report was referred to a Committee of the Whole on Monday.

On a motion of Mr. Bassett, that the proceedings of this day, with closed doors, ought to be kept secret, the question being taken thereupon, it passed in the negative—yeas 22, nays 104.

Wednesday, November 18

British Aggressions.

Mr. Quincy said the House might have observed, that in the Message of the President of the United States to Congress, delivered on the 27th of October, there was an express reference to a certain Proclamation interdicting our ports and harbors to British armed vessels. It was in Great Britain, he understood, a universal Parliamentary rule, that proclamations of this kind should be laid before Parliament; and in this country it had heretofore been the usual practice. In the case of the Proclamation of Neutrality, issued by President Washington, in 1793, in his first communication to Congress, he laid it before them, and it was entered on the Journals. Circumstances of however great notoriety were not official information on which they could act; but, were it so, he had not been able to find it in any papers he could procure. He had expected it would have been connected with the report of the committee on aggressions; but, as it was not yet before the House, he moved the following resolution:

Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to cause to be laid before this House a copy of his Proclamation interdicting our harbors and waters to British armed vessels, &c., referred to in his Message of the 27th of October last.

Mr. Crowninshield could not see any necessity for calling for this paper. He well recollected that the President had issued proclamations on other subjects which had never been laid before the House. That issued in the case of an aggression committed by Captain Whitby, commanding an armed ship of Great Britain, had not been transmitted to the House; so, in the case of the famous conspiracy of Mr. Burr, a proclamation was issued at the time, and not laid before the House, nor had the House thought necessary to call for these papers. They were before the public, and every member of the House must have perused them. Mr. C. wished his colleague to show some necessity for the present call; for he could see none. The practice which had taken place in other countries was not to govern them; he might as well have drawn a precedent from the practice of France, Germany, or any other country, as from Great Britain. Besides, he doubted whether it was the practice there. It was well known that, under that Government, the King and Council legislated in a variety of instances. The citizens of this country had suffered severely by these measures. They legislated for neutrals in this way, and property to an immense amount had been taken from our merchants under these orders, and Mr. C. did not know that their acts in such cases had been laid before the Parliament, or even called for. He should, however, have no objection to the call in this instance, but that he saw no necessity for it. The gentleman might perhaps not have seen the Proclamation; but it was well known that it had been published in almost all the papers in the Union. It first appeared in a paper of this city, and he presumed was copied from that paper into the others. He had no doubt but the Proclamation would be communicated, or any other paper that might be called for.

Mr. Alston said it was certainly very immaterial whether the resolution was adopted or not; but it was certainly causing considerable trouble for nothing, to submit such a resolution to the House. The gentleman might have laid his hands on it in any paper published in the Union. Did that gentleman receive an official copy of the proclamation for convening Congress at this time? If he did, Mr. A. said he had an advantage over him; for he saw the Proclamation in the newspapers, and came on in consequence; and if there had been any proclamation issued, Mr. Q. could have found it in the newspapers. He had an objection to this resolution, because it was going out of the way; he had never before known an instance of a call upon the President for any proclamation which he had not thought proper to lay before them.

Mr. Quincy said he had cited the example of Great Britain, because that was the country from whose Parliamentary practice so many precedents had been drawn. The Proclamation of President Washington, however, was published in all the papers on the continent, and yet the President had laid it before Congress on the first day of the succeeding session. He would refer to the mode in which it was presented, in order to convince the House it had been heretofore done. The case was thus: The President of the United States, after some prefatory observations, tells them that the Proclamation laid before the House had been issued. Immediately after this, the Journal says, a Message was received from the President of the United States, enclosing a copy of the Proclamation. The case in the present instance was of much more importance: he had no conception, before he saw the report of the committee, but that it would be laid before them; he had not conceived it possible that it would not be laid before them in some way. It had been said, that he should give reasons for calling for it. He thought that in an important case like this the House should know what was done. He had no objection to the Proclamation; but it contained certain national principles to which they ought to refer.

He was at a loss to account for the opposition which this motion received from some quarters of the House; it was impossible it could be made on any other grounds than a determination to vote down at all events any question that might be moved, or any inquiry that might be requested on the part of gentlemen of one description in the House. It seemed to him to be following up the advice which had lately been given to them through the channel of a paper printed in this city, which was understood generally to speak a demi-official language. I have before me, (said he,) the words in which this House were a short time since addressed in that paper, by a person making observations on a motion which Mr. Q. had made, and which was negatived. Mr. Q. then read the following paragraph from the National Intelligencer, of November 9:

“Let them weigh well the advice of an enemy before they adopt it. Let them act as they have done in the present instance. Let them entertain no apprehensions on the sense of popularity, even though their adversaries should sound the tocsin of alarm, and declare themselves in patriotic strains the exclusive friends of the people. Let them remember that while their opponents have nothing to do but talk, they have to act.”

And was this the language in which this House was to be addressed through the medium of a newspaper printed at their doors? Was a mere printer to obtrude upon them his advice as to what course they were to pursue in relation to the interest of the nation, and to denounce a portion of the House as unworthy of notice or confidence? He hoped not. But he could account for the opposition which was now given to this motion from no other reasons; for if a Proclamation of this kind had been issued, they ought to have it before them.

Mr. Q. said he possessed no interests different from any other member of this House; and assuming the right to which he was entitled, he would ask for information when he had occasion for it.

Mr. Crowninshield felt much surprised at what had been said by the gentleman last up. Had Mr. C. said any thing about it, had he made any allusion to what had appeared in a newspaper in this city? The publication was made before he had been able to arrive at this city. [Mr. Quincy here remarked, he did not refer to him.] Mr. C. did not know to whom he could refer, except to him or his friend from North Carolina. He had no intention to make any remark to hurt the gentleman’s feelings with respect to what had appeared in a newspaper of this city; but what relation could that have to the subject under consideration? If the paper alluded to had infringed any privilege appertaining to him as a member of that House, of which Mr. C. said he knew nothing, he had his remedy. If of a personal nature, the gentleman had other means of satisfaction. He was perfectly at a loss as to the object the gentleman could have in bringing the matter up now. Mr. C. had alluded to the same paper: it was the only paper of any consequence in the city, and the President was obliged to take that course to circulate official acts throughout the Union. It had always been the custom of the President to publish his Proclamations, but in no instance had he laid them before the House. The two extraordinary sessions of Congress had been held by Proclamation published in the newspapers, and the Proclamations for convening them had not been laid before the House. It having been done by another President had no bearing on the present case: no law existed authorizing President Washington to issue such a Proclamation as that referred to; but the Proclamation now referred to, as well that in the case of Mr. Burr, were issued under an act of Congress. Mr. C. had no particular objection to the call; but he could not see the necessity for it. With respect to precedents in other countries, he wished them to have no influence on the proceedings in this.

Mr. Burwell did not rise to oppose the resolution; he was willing that the Proclamation should be sent to them by the President; but the gentleman had expressed his surprise that he did not find that Proclamation contained in the report of the committee. The only reason was, that they had supposed it was sufficiently official in the newspapers, and had referred to them when occasion required, as they would have done to any other authority. He held it a correct proceeding, that it was the right of any member of that House to call for any information relative to any subject; he should always favor such an application; he therefore did not rise to oppose the gentleman’s motion, but to apologize for the committee’s not having reported it.

Mr. Dana said that the observations of the gentleman from Virginia had been made with his general candor he had no doubt, but the committee considered such reference as they had made correct; but as no public prints were strictly official, and as they were called upon to deliberate on the Proclamation itself, he thought it necessary they should have it before them. Were they not called together on this subject particularly, he might not see the same necessity for having it; but as it was to be the basis in some measure of their proceedings, they ought to have an official copy of it. Mr. D. also thought it was more correct, whenever Congress were called together by Proclamation, that they should be specially notified. The gentleman from Massachusetts was in an error so far as related to the form of giving notice of extraordinary sittings; he had understood the gentleman to say, that Congress were called together by a Proclamation published in a newspaper, which was official notice. This was not the correct course. It was true they were now all gathered together; but their journals would not show how. When an extraordinary session had been called formerly, a letter had been addressed to each member from the Secretary of State, enclosing the Proclamation for the purpose; and this was capable of being done in every instance, by transmitting these letters to the Executive of each State, who might notify them individually. This had been the course, and he thought it more correct than the other.

The question on the resolution being taken, was carried, 70 to 32; and Messrs. Quincy and Burwell named a committee to wait on the President for the purpose.

Thursday, November 19.

British Armed Vessels.

The following Message was received from the President of the United States:

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

According to the request expressed in your resolution of the eighteenth instant, I now transmit a copy of my proclamation interdicting our harbors and waters to British armed vessels, and forbidding intercourse with them, referred to in my message of the twenty-seventh of October last.

TH. JEFFERSON.

November 19, 1807.

By the President of the United States of America:

A PROCLAMATION.

During the wars which, for some time, have unhappily prevailed among the powers of Europe, the United States of America, firm in their principles of peace, have endeavored, by justice, by a regular discharge of all their national and social duties, and by every friendly office their situation has admitted, to maintain with all the belligerents their accustomed relations of friendship, hospitality, and commercial intercourse. Taking no part in the questions which animate these powers against each other, nor permitting themselves to entertain a wish but for the restoration of general peace, they have observed with good faith the neutrality they assumed; and they believe that no instance of a departure from its duties can be justly imputed to them by any nation. A free use of their harbors and waters, the means of refitting and of refreshment, of succor to their sick and suffering, have, at all times, and on equal principles, been extended to all, and this, too, amidst a constant recurrence of acts of insubordination to the laws, of violence to the persons, and of trespasses on the property of our citizens, committed by officers of one of the belligerent parties received among us. In truth, these abuses of the laws of hospitality have, with few exceptions, become habitual to the commanders of the British armed vessels hovering on our coasts, and frequenting our harbors. They have been the subject of repeated representations to their Government. Assurances have been given that proper orders should restrain them within the limits of the rights and of the respect due to a friendly nation; but these orders and assurances have been without effect; no instance of punishment for past wrongs has taken place. At length a deed, transcending all we have hitherto seen or suffered, brings the public sensibility to a serious crisis, and our forbearance to a necessary pause. A frigate of the United States, trusting to a state of peace, and leaving her harbor on a distant service, has been surprised and attacked by a British vessel of a superior force, one of a squadron then lying in our waters and covering the transaction, and has been disabled from service, with the loss of a number of men killed and wounded. This enormity was not only without provocation or justifiable cause, but was committed with the avowed purpose of taking by force, from a ship of war of the United States, a part of her crew; and that no circumstance might be wanting to mark its character, it had been previously ascertained that the seamen demanded were native citizens of the United States. Having effected her purpose she returned to anchor with her squadron within our jurisdiction. Hospitality under such circumstances ceases to be a duty; and a continuance of it, with such uncontrolled abuses, would tend only, by multiplying injuries and irritations, to bring on a rupture between the two nations. This extreme resort is equally opposed to the interests of both, as it is to assurances of the most friendly dispositions on the part of the British Government, in the midst of which this outrage has been committed. In this light the subject cannot but present itself to that Government, and strengthen the motives to an honorable reparation of the wrong which has been done, and to that effectual control of its naval commanders, which alone can justify the Government of the United States in the exercise of those hospitalities it is now constrained to discontinue.

In consideration of these circumstances and of the right of every nation to regulate its own police, to provide for its peace and for the safety of its citizens, and consequently to refuse the admission of armed vessels into its harbors or waters, either in such numbers or of such descriptions, as are inconsistent with these, or with the maintenance of the authority of the laws, I have thought proper, in pursuance of the authorities specially given by law, to issue this my Proclamation, hereby requiring all armed vessels bearing commissions under the Government of Great Britain, now within the harbors or waters of the United States, immediately and without any delay to depart from the same, and interdicting the entrance of all the said harbors and waters to the said armed vessels, and to all others bearing commissions under the authority of the British Government.

And if the said vessels, or any of them, shall fail to depart as aforesaid, or if they or any others, so interdicted, shall hereafter enter the harbors or waters aforesaid, I do in that case forbid all intercourse with them, or any of them, their officers or crews, and do prohibit all supplies and aid from being furnished to them or any of them.

And I do declare, and make known, that if any person from or within the jurisdictional limits of the United States, shall afford any aid to any such vessel, contrary to the prohibition contained in this Proclamation, either in repairing any such vessel, or in furnishing her, her officers or crew, with supplies of any kind, or in any manner whatsoever, or if any pilot shall assist in navigating any of the said armed vessels, unless it be for the purpose of carrying them, in the first instance, beyond the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, or unless it be in the case of a vessel forced by distress, or charged with public despatches as hereinafter provided for, such person or persons shall, on conviction, suffer all the pains and penalties by the laws provided for such offences.

And I do hereby enjoin and require all persons bearing office, civil or military, within or under the authority of the United States, and all others, citizens or inhabitants thereof, or being within the same, with vigilance and promptitude to exert their respective authorities, and to be aiding and assisting to the carrying this Proclamation, and every part thereof, into full effect.

Provided, nevertheless, that if any such vessel shall be forced into the harbors or waters of the United States, by distress, by the dangers of the sea, or by the pursuit of an enemy, or shall enter them charged with despatches or business from their Government, or shall be a public packet for the conveyance of letters and despatches, the commanding officer immediately reporting his vessel to the collector of the district, stating the object or cause of entering the said harbors or waters, and conforming himself to the regulations in that case prescribed under the authority of the laws, shall be allowed the benefit of such regulations respecting repairs, supplies, stay, intercourse, and departure, as shall be permitted under the same authority.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same.

Given at the City of Washington the second day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seven, and of the sovereignty and independence of the United States the thirty-first.

TH. JEFFERSON.

By the President:

JAMES MADISON, Secretary of State.

The Message was read, and, together with the Proclamation, ordered to lie on the table.

Saturday, November 21.

Sir James Jay.

Mr. Jones moved that the House should, according to the order of the day, go into Committee of the Whole on the report in favor of the petition of Sir James Jay. Agreed to, 18 to 29. The report being read with the letter from the Secretary of State accompanying it,

Mr. Taylor opposed and Mr. Jones supported it.

The question being taken on concurrence with the report, the votes were, in favor of it 45, against it 46; there appearing some doubt whether this decision was correct, a second count was about to be had, when a debate took place, in which Messrs. Upham, Cook, Dana, Quincy, loan, and Blackledge, supported, and Messrs. J. Clay, Gardenier, D. R. Williams, Holland, Taylor, and Burwell opposed the report.

In support of the report it was urged that the secret mode of correspondence, for which the petitioner prays a compensation, was very useful in the Revolutionary War, and no doubt might be again; that the testimony in favor of the invention was very satisfactory; that there was on file in the office of the Secretary of State, a letter written by General Washington in this invisible ink; that Mr. Jay had never received compensation; that although it had been used by various persons, none had ever yet known the composition of it but himself; that the report was only to authorize the President to purchase this secret if he thought fit, leaving him the judge of its utility.

Those who opposed the report, argued that it was absurd to vote away money for a thing they did not and could not understand; that there never yet was a secret ink made but a composition could be invented that would bring it out, and that possibly Sir James himself might know such a composition; that the House had no security before them that it was not or would not be disclosed to other Governments as well as this; that if secret correspondence was wanted, it had from late occurrences appeared that Entick’s Dictionary and a key word would afford, by writing in cipher, sufficient secrecy.

In the course of this debate much wit was displayed in speaking on different modes of keeping secrets, and the futility of all; with allusions to the secret proceedings of Congress, particularly those which took place on the 19th instant, which were said to have been known before the House took them up. Some amusement also arose amongst the members from the difficulty of hearing each other, and the consequent mistakes that took place.

The question on concurrence being taken was carried, 50 to 48.

The committee rose and reported to the House their agreement to the resolution contained therein; which was read, as follows:

Resolved, That it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to obtain, by purchase, at a reasonable price, the exclusive right, on behalf of the public, of the system invented by Sir James Jay, as submitted by him to the Executive Department of Government: provided, in the opinion of the President, it will be of public utility and importance to possess the same.

The House proceeded to consider the said resolution; and, on the question that the House do concur with the Committee of the whole House in their agreement to the same, Messrs. J. Clay and Southard opposed, and Messrs. Sloan, Quincy, Newton, Blackledge, and Crowninshield, supported it. The question was then taken, and decided in the affirmative—yeas 74, nays 53.

Tuesday, November 24.

British Aggressions.

Mr. Blount, from the committee appointed on so much of the Message of the President of the United States as relates to aggressions committed within our ports and waters by foreign armed vessels; to violations of our jurisdiction; and to measures necessary for the protection of our ports and harbors; presented to the House a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, stating that, in a letter addressed by him, on the twelfth instant, to the chairman of the said committee, some erroneous information had been given, and an omission made, which he had since discovered, and thought it his duty now to correct. The said letter was read, and ordered to lie on the table.

Mr. Blount, from the committee to whom was referred so much of the Message of the President of the United States as relates to aggressions, &c., reported further, in part,

“That the numerous aggressions and violations of our jurisdiction recently committed within our ports and waters by British ships of war, whether they are to be regarded as the effects of positive orders from the British Government, or as proceeding from that unrestrained insolence and rapacity in British naval commanders which previously produced the murder of our fellow-citizen, Pierce, and the perpetration of many other well-remembered outrages and irritating acts, are convincing proofs of the necessity of placing our ports and harbors, as speedily as possible, in a situation to protect from insult and injury the persons and property of our citizens living in our seaport towns, or sailing in our own waters, and to preserve therein the respect due to the constituted authorities of the nation.

“That the committee, having maturely considered the subject, are of opinion that the protection desired can be best and most expediously afforded by means of land batteries and gunboats, as they have been induced to believe that by a judicious combination and use of these two powers, effectual protection can be given, even to our most important seaport towns, against ships of any size unaccompanied by an army.

“That our most important ports and harbors, and those requiring the earliest attention and the most expensive fortifications, are, New Orleans, Savannah, Charleston, S. C., Wilmington, N. C., Norfolk, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, New London, Newport, R. I., Boston, Salem, Newburyport, Portsmouth, N. H., and Portland.

“And that the ports, harbors, and places of minor importance requiring protection, and which may be protected by less expensive works, are, St. Mary’s, Ga., Beaufort, and Georgetown, S. C., Ocracoke, Albemarle Sound, James River, York, and Rappahannock Rivers, Potomac, Patuxent, Annapolis, and Eastern Shore, Md., Delaware Bay and River, Egg Harbor, N. J., Amboy, Long Island, Connecticut shore, Tiverton, R. I., New Bedford, Marblehead, and Cape Ann, York, Kennebunk, and Saco, Kennebeck, Sheepscut, Damarescotta, Broad Bay, and St. Georges, Penobscot, Frenchman’s Bay, and Passamaquoddy Bay.

“Wherefore, your committee holding themselves bound, by the tenor of the resolution referred to them, to report hereafter their opinion of the expediency of interdicting the waters of the United States to foreign armed vessels, according as circumstances, now unknown, may, when known, seem to require, submit the following resolutions, viz:

“Resolved, That it is expedient to authorize the President of the United States to cause such fortifications to be erected as, in addition to those heretofore built, will, with the assistance of gunboats, afford effectual protection to our ports and harbors, and preserve therein the respect due to the constituted authorities of the nation; and that there be, and hereby is, appropriated for that purpose, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of —— dollars.

“Resolved, That it is expedient to authorize the President of the United States to cause to be built an additional number of gunboats not exceeding ——, and to arm, equip, man, fit, and employ the same for the protection of our ports and harbors; and that there be, and hereby is, appropriated for that purpose, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of ——.”

The report was referred to a Committee of the Whole on Thursday.

Tuesday, December 1.

Mr. Quincy offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Department of War be directed to lay before this House an account of the state of the fortifications of the respective ports and harbors of the United States, with a statement of the moneys appropriated for fortifications remaining unexpended; and an estimate of the sums necessary for completing such fortifications as may be deemed requisite for their defence.

Which being under consideration,

Mr. Q. said the House would perceive the object of this resolution was to obtain information; there was a document on their table which gave some information on the subject, but was not explicit. This resolution was exactly similar to one passed last session, by which the House obtained some important and interesting information; this being the case, he hoped no objection would be made to it.

The resolution was agreed to without a division.

Soldiers of the Revolution, &c.

Mr. Randolph rose and said, that as long as the subject of national defence was in possession of a respectable committee of the House, and as long as their report was pending before it, he had deemed it, if not improper, at least unavailing in him, to offer any thing upon that subject. But, that committee having reported, he saw, from the course which the debate had taken yesterday, a necessity so pressing that he could no longer dispense with it, for offering some propositions on this most important subject. These propositions grew out of the almost universal impression which seemed to exist that there was but one peculiar mode of defence to which the nation could turn itself in this perilous juncture of their affairs. When so great an appropriation was demanded for this favorite expedient, he feared, that if other plans of defence, which had at least as high claims to the public attention, were not now brought forward, they might hereafter find an empty Treasury, and be compelled to resort to the system of loans, recommended by the head of that department, as the only means, however precarious, of providing for them.

It had always been his opinion, that whether in war or in peace, there was one system of national defence which ought sedulously to be cherished, and concerning which there could not exist a contrariety of opinion between any two men in that House, or out of it; and he had hoped that the attention of the committee (for there were more than one) would have been directed towards it. Were they not told, and was it not self-evident, that if matters came to the last extremity we should not only have an extensive frontier exposed to the inroads of the enemy’s continental possessions, but that a vast line of country, from Detroit to Natchitoches, would have the native savages let loose upon their dispersed and almost defenceless population? Did there exist then no necessity for defence but of a few places on the coast, the depots of privileged wealth, when the whole line of back settlements were left at the mercy of the enemy and their savage adherents, without a force, even upon paper, to protect them? If it should be said that there existed no obligation on the Union gratuitously to bestow arms upon the individual States which had failed to furnish themselves, the same reason would apply yet more forcibly to the fortification of States which had neglected to provide that species of self-defence. In the one case the arms issued were still the general property, at all times disposable for the good of the whole; in the other, the fortifications were so much real estate, vested in the country where erected; fixtures to the freehold. It appeared to him that, whether they considered themselves in a state of profound peace, or on the eve of war, or (as he feared would prove to be the case) in actual war, it behooved them to arm the natural defence of their country; to rely, as had been said by a gentleman from New York, not upon delusive theory but established practice; upon that which, heretofore, had carried them triumphant through danger, and upon which, when they could no longer depend, there was an end of our existence as a nation.

There was another subject to which he hoped the committee would also have turned their attention, one on which, as on the first, no two men could differ; not like gunboats, perishable in its nature, and susceptible of dispute as to its utility, which remained to be tested by experience; a train of formidable artillery, that might not only oppose the enemy in a particular harbor, but calculated to change its position, to bear upon his armed vessels wheresoever they might lie, to compel him to quit our waters, and even, if he should effect a landing, confront him under any possible change of circumstances. He was the more inclined to hope that his opinion would prevail upon this subject, when he heard a gentleman whose influence was almost decisive in that House—he trusted that it was deserved—declare that terra firma was our natural element, that it was madness to dream of coping with the enemy on his own vantage ground: and yet all the provision which they had thought of making, was to fight him with his own weapons. He reminded the House with what striking effect his friend from Maryland, (Mr. R. Nelson,) whose military experience entitled him to a peculiar weight in this matter, had on a former occasion cautioned them, that erect what fortifications they might, the enemy were not obliged to lie before them; that ships of war were a movable force on the water, and to be resisted with effect must be opposed by a movable force on the land.

These were the two leading measures which were impressed on his mind as proper to be adopted. Muskets in the hands of our citizens, and cannon in our arsenals, were so much national wealth, even exclusive of the idea of present national danger. The uses to which they were to be applied under any possible emergency, were not susceptible of dispute. No man could arraign this as a visionary plan of defence, as had been done with respect to gunboats and fortifications. Upon them however he should say nothing at present, except that he thought his the preferable mode of defence, and one entitled to be provided for, before the Treasury should be drained for less worthy purposes.

But there was another and more important measure, which ought to precede any step which the House might take for defence. It was a measure of justice; which would not only entitle them to success, but was eminently calculated to insure it; a measure which would unite all hearts, and nerve every hand in the cause of their country. It would do away the stigma of suffering those who had fought and bled in their service, to starve in the streets. With what face could the Government call upon the youth of the nation to turn out in the public defence, when their eyes were every where assailed by the spectacle of their countrymen and kindred, veterans of the Revolution, who had raised the proud fabric of our independence, begging from door to door a morsel of bread? It was impossible to contemplate the condition of these gallant men, who, after giving to their country every thing, were consigned by it to beggary and want, without sensations of indignation and shame, as well as of commiseration. But it is a subject, said Mr. R., on which I will say no more; I cannot supply feelings to those who are destitute of them; and I should as soon undertake to raise the very dead as to excite those whom the subject itself is unable to move. He concluded by offering three resolutions, calculated to meet the objects he had in view, professing himself, at the same time willing to submit to any amendment which did not alter their substance.

Before he handed these resolutions to the Chair, Mr. R. said he would obviate an objection which might be made at the first; that they had already a law to provide for these persons. To the disgrace of the statute book, they had a pension law. What was the provision? That a man who had incurred disability by known wounds during the Revolutionary war, after being tied down to the most minute proofs, which in most cases, from the death or removal of his old companions in arms, he was unable to give, although the fact might be of general notoriety, was, if he could surmount all the difficulties thrown in his way, entitled to a miserable annuity, to take date, not from the time when the disability occurred, but; from the time when his claim should be established. So that the man whose keen sensibility had restrained him from applying to the public for relief, who had struggled on, in the hope of better days, till the last gasp, was put off with a pension, which so far from discharging the petty debts which he might have contracted previous to his application, would hardly keep soul and body together; when, if his pension were to take date from the time of the service being rendered, as in common justice it ought to do, he might be placed in comparatively easy circumstances.

Mr. R. then submitted to the House the following resolutions:

Resolved, That provision ought to be made, by law, for an adequate and comfortable support of such officers and soldiers of the late Revolutionary army as are still existing in a state of indigence, disgraceful to the country which owes its liberties to their valor.

Resolved, That provision ought to be made, by law, for arming and equipping the whole body of the militia of the United States.

Resolved, That provision ought to be made, by law, for procuring a formidable train of field artillery for the service of the United States.

The resolutions were referred to a Committee of the whole House to-morrow.

Wednesday, December 2.

Another member, to wit, from Delaware, Nicholas Van Dyke, appeared, produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the House.

Soldiers of the Revolution.

The House went into Committee of the Whole on the resolutions offered by Mr. Randolph yesterday; and the first resolution being under consideration, as follows:

Resolved, That provision ought to be made, by law, for an adequate and comfortable support of such officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary army as are still existing in a state of indigence, disgraceful to the country which owes its liberties to their valor.

Mr. Randolph said he trusted that on this resolution there would exist in the House, as there did in the nation, but one sentiment. The provision which had been made for the officers and soldiers of the Revolution was notoriously scanty and mean. Who, he asked, enjoyed the carrying trade for which, two years ago, we were near being plunged into a war? Emigrants since the peace of 1783. Men who ran no risk—who put nothing to hazard—whilst those who met the enemy in the field, with the gibbet staring them in the face at the same time, were left to pine in want and obscurity. Had the persons who achieved this right to trade with every quarter of the globe less claim to the benefits acquired by their blood than the man of yesterday? But they had no capital for such enterprises. They had sown that others might reap. The very lands which they had won with their swords had become the prey of rapacious adventurers. Should the fruits of the Revolution inure to the sole benefit of those who never put their persons to hazard, or even spent one dollar for the acquisition of our independence? He reminded the House of the pathetic appeal which had been made on a former occasion by one of its oldest members, (Mr. Van Cortlandt,) whom he hoped would long enjoy his seat there: “We shall not prove very chargeable to you—there are but few of us left, and they are daily dropping off—you will not be burdened with us long—most of us have broken our constitutions in the public service.” Mr. R. hoped that provision would be made for these gallant veterans—living monuments of the ingratitude of their country; that every man who had a claim on the public for services rendered during the Revolution, would be made comfortable for life, unless his own misconduct should forbid it.

Mr. Quincy said he did not rise to make objections to the general object of the resolution; but there was one part which he did not think it decorous for the committee to adopt; he meant the epithet disgraceful. He was not prepared to fix a disgrace upon the nation by his vote; if it were true that it was disgraced, he should wish more evidence of the fact than had been exhibited on that floor. Were he even to admit that it was a disgrace, he was not willing to turn the eyes of the world upon the shame of his country. In another point of view he objected to this declaration, as it would, by a strained or forced construction, limit the provision contemplated to be made. He should not offer an amendment to the resolution, because he trusted the gentleman himself would amend it. It would, however, meet his wishes either to strike out the last declaratory sentence, or to strike out the words “disgraceful to the,” and insert “in a.”

Mr. Randolph said that he did not feel for his resolution that sort of parental affection which authors were supposed to bear towards their works. The language was perfectly immaterial to him, so as it embraced his object. He thought it needless in a matter of this kind to attend to those verbal niceties with which the gentleman from Massachusetts had amused himself and the committee. So far from disgracing the country, he thought the acknowledgment in question the first step towards wiping off the stigma—a sort of atonement; and if the nation was disgraced, it was their duty as faithful servants to tell her so, and not to flatter her with the success of her arms, and persuade her that she was the very mirror and pink of chivalry, when they knew to the contrary.

It was matter of notoriety, and as such it was proper for the House to act upon, that there existed a great number of citizens in this nation in a state of indigence, who, if their country had done its duty, might, and probably would, have been in far different circumstances. This failure on the part of Government had thrown the evidences of their claims into the hands of men, many, if not most of them, emigrants since the Revolution. He asked whether our public lands, our free commerce—every blessing of our country—should be participated by those who had sacrificed nothing to our independence, and the men who achieved it be suffered to live and die in wretchedness? This was the question which he had propounded to the House, and those who could not comprehend it in its present shape, would not be assisted by any explanations which it was in his power to give. He knew comparisons were odious, but he must be permitted to make one. He would compare the services of Captains Lewis and Clarke, in exploring the continent of the Pacific Ocean, and their remuneration, with the hardships and dangers of the soldiers of the Revolution and their reward. He had no disposition to undervalue the services of those gentlemen and their companions; far from it. He thought them deserving of what they had obtained, and he had voted accordingly. But he should be guilty of gross injustice were he to aver that their labors had been as important to the United States as the services of those who had fought their battles, before they were United States. Yet, what a wide difference in their remuneration! On the one side, ample compensation; on the other, the statute of limitation, or perhaps a scanty pension. Mr. R. wished this subject to be taken up on the broadest ground—that where services could be shown, they should be recompensed—that the State should take the sufferer under her protection, and secure him from want.

Mr. Thomas asked the gentleman who moved this resolution, whether he intended to confine his provisions to the officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary war, and not to extend relief to other sufferers? It was well known that there were many others in the service who suffered equally with those in the army—some of whom had lost their limbs, and others who performed meritorious services—and were of as much benefit as soldiers. Were they excluded by the resolution? It was but lately that an officer, who commanded one of our armed ships in the Revolutionary war, was in a state of almost starvation; and there were many more equal sufferers and equally meritorious with those who served in the army.

Mr. Randolph could only say, that his object was to provide for every man who had fought, whether in the militia, the regular army, or the navy.

Mr. Quincy said he really had not meant to amuse the House or the gentleman from Virginia by the observations which he had made. In certain cases words were things, and certainly this was one of those cases. Would the committee declare their own disgrace by passing the resolution as it now stood? No; they would declare their country to be disgraced. He could not consent to this. He therefore moved, as he wished to make as little alteration in the resolution as possible, to strike out the words “disgraceful to the,” and insert “in a.”

Mr. Randolph did not perceive the necessity of the amendment, neither was he very tenacious of the language of his resolution. The object of it alone was dear to him. Yet, there were occasions in which it behooved men, and nations too, to confess their sins. He thought the present one of them. Would the State of Georgia, for instance, have done herself more honor, if, instead of passing sentence of indelible disgrace on the Legislature which passed the famous law of the 5th of January, 1795, commonly called the Yazoo act, and expunging it from her records, she had faintly censured its authors and their abettors by a dainty circumlocution? He feared he would not be pardoned for introducing the Yazoo act in this case, since he had seen a most respectable Representative from the State of Georgia, (Mr. Troup,) attacked on all sides for daring to lisp the word Yazoo. They were told it was a worn out thing. That the House and the people were tired of it. That, like the cry of wolf in the fable, it had been repeated until no one would heed it. Mr. R. said that those who calculated in this way reckoned without their host. The people of the Union could never become familiarized and hardened to acts of corruption, by whomsoever they might be practised or patronized. Whether the words were stricken out or not, was perfectly immaterial to him. Perhaps, in rendering the censure more delicate, it was only rendered more severe. He thought the situation of these gentlemen—for gentlemen they were, by the most honorable of all titles, the sword—disgraceful to the country. Whenever the country was disgraced, he was for confessing it, that the people might be roused to wipe it away. For this reason he had said that the navy of the United States was a disgraced navy, and he should continue to say so until its character was retrieved.

Mr. Quincy said he was as willing as any gentleman to confess his own sins, but did not like to cast censure on other people, much less on his country. They would declare, by passing the resolution as it now stood, that their country was disgraced. He hoped they would not do it. He had no objection to the House confessing its own misdeeds. Let us, said he, work out our own reformation, but not pass a censure on our country. He declared his objection to the resolution to extend no further than to those words.

The amendment moved by Mr. Quincy was then agreed to without a division; and the question recurring on the original resolution,

A motion was then made for the committee to rise, and carried—75 voting in favor of it.

Tuesday, December 8.

Fortifications and Gunboats.

On motion of Mr. Burwell, the House went into a Committee of the Whole on the bill from the Senate for building gunboats, and the bill for fortifying our ports, as reported by the Committee of Aggressions.

The bill from the Senate being still under consideration,

Mr. Milnor said, when he was on the floor yesterday, and interrupted by the message from the President, it was his intention to have moved an amendment. The bill provided for building one hundred and eighty-eight gunboats; he moved to strike out the words “and eighty-eight,” so as to reduce the number to one hundred. He thought a hundred gunboats in addition to those they already had, would be fully sufficient, if they also adopted other modes of defence. He had yesterday stated that he did not believe the building additional fortifications, and an additional number of gunboats, would effect the object which appeared to be contemplated by the committee. He confessed he did not place as much reliance in gunboats as some gentlemen did. While he thought they might be useful in aid of land batteries or frigates, it was also his opinion, that if gentlemen examined the statement respecting different aggressions by a certain power, they would find that not one single act of aggression could have been prevented or punished by any batteries on land or gunboats in aid of them. They were not committed in the face of our batteries, or in that part of our ports and harbors where the gunboats could have acted with effect; they were committed within the mouths of our rivers, or just outside them. He thought the construction of a few frigates would be expedient, in addition to those now in our possession. They might act with gunboats; and might drive any foreign nation either to the necessity of bringing a large force on our coasts, and keeping it all together, by which the number of their aggressions would be lessened, or expose their fleets to a force which would be able to avenge the insults offered to us.

Mr. Burwell said he should vote against the amendment proposed, and in favor of the number reported by the Committee of Aggressions, as contained in the bill from the Senate now under discussion. It appeared to Mr. B. that the gentleman from Pennsylvania had taken a very incorrect view of the subject. That gentleman has objected to this law because it did not make provision for ships of war to serve as a defence to our commerce, and because he supposed the committee had taken up this mode of defence to the exclusion of any other. Mr. B. said it must be obvious to every gentleman that it was almost impossible to have crowded into one bill all the measures of defence which might become necessary; thus it contained no provision for arming the militia, for raising a standing army, building or repairing frigates, &c. The only question now was, on building a number of gunboats, for defence against the attack of a foreign nation. He thought a sufficient number should at once be authorized: for if the number were insufficient to answer the intended purpose, the money expended in their purchase would be so much thrown away; so much expended from which the public would derive no benefit. The opinions of those men best acquainted with the force which might be necessary, which had been communicated to the Committee of Aggressions, has stated this as the competent number.

With respect to the expense of building gunboats, it would be found that the cost of building a frigate would be much greater than a number of gunboats equal to the number of guns carried by a frigate. The Secretary of the Navy had estimated the annual expense of gunboats at $11,000. Mr. B. admitted that the sum appeared enormous, and it remained for the consideration of the House whether they would expend so large a sum for that purpose. The estimate of the Secretary of the Navy went upon the ground that during the whole of the year, forty men would be required to man each of these boats. Mr. B. thought that regulations might be adopted, that would render eight or ten men sufficient to be regularly employed on board these boats; a sufficient force fully to man and use them upon occasion might be organized from the different ports or seaport towns; and it would be found, by recurring to the President’s Message, that the same idea had been entertained by the Executive. And he believed, that although the Secretary of the Navy had estimated $11,000 as the sum necessary for the annual expense, he had done it on the supposition that forty men would be employed during the whole year in each gunboat. At times when Europe and the United States were at peace, it would not be necessary that more than a small portion of those boats should be afloat; they might be kept in ordinary, relying on the seamen of the port for any sudden emergency.

With respect to the propriety of building gunboats, he would observe that they were not a mere experiment; they were sanctioned by the practice of Europe, and were very beneficial for the defence of ports against sudden attack. The French, Spanish, Dutch, and other nations, in the vicinage of the British Navy, had combined their boats with land batteries, for the purpose of defence against the assaults of that formidable Navy. These boats were also a part of a system heretofore practised in other countries, and proposed to be further pursued here.

Mr. Crowninshield said that there was some inconsistency in the observations of the gentleman from Pennsylvania; he had said gunboats would be useful with the aid of large vessels, and at the same time said they were entirely useless in the mouths of rivers or deep waters. [Mr. Milnor explained that he had meant they would be useless when acting alone.] Mr. C. said he had formed a very different opinion, indeed, from that expressed by the gentleman from Pennsylvania with respect to gunboats. It was well known that no longer ago than the year before last, this Government had employed eight or ten gunboats to assist in the attack on Tripoli; they all crossed the Atlantic in safety, except one boat. Although they did not come into the attack on Tripoli, because a peace was prematurely concluded, yet he himself had heard the late Commodore Preble say that, without them the squadron would not have been competent to have made an effectual assault on the city. These boats then kept the sea in very tempestuous weather, a fact which the despatches from the commanding officer had announced. He believed that they could not at this time adopt a better mode of defence than that proposed by the bill. He should be sorry to see the proposed number reduced, because he believed they would render important services, if at any time our ports or harbors should be attacked. These gunboats were not boats that would sink the moment they got into rough water; they were boats of 60 or 70 tons burden, which might navigate the globe with safety. He spoke from experimental knowledge. The gentleman surely did not mean to say they could not swim. In Mr. C.’s opinion, there could be no better system of defence in aid of fortifications than that proposed by the bill.

Mr. Blount presumed the gentleman would admit, as a certainty, that it was the duty of the House to provide effectual protection. The select committee having determined, in their own mind, that the best system of defence would be composed by fortifications and gunboats, had inquired what number, would be of use. The answer to this inquiry was already before the House; it was stated that the United States had already 69 gunboats—that 257 were the whole number which might be usefully employed; consequently that 188 were wanting. If it were the object of gentlemen to afford a certain protection to the country, he hoped they would not hesitate to pass this bill. If the gentleman from Pennsylvania should be able, when the subject was properly before them, to prove to Mr. B. that frigates or ships of war would add to the protection which might be afforded by fortifications and gunboats, he would vote with him for their construction. It would be time to discuss this when the subject was before them. He hoped the idea of the utility of a naval force would not induce gentlemen to withhold from the Executive that force which they had signified as necessary for the protection of our ports and harbors. If any doubt were entertained by gentlemen who were not members of the last Congress, there was a report, which he held in his hand, made at a former session, containing the opinions of naval officers on the expediency or utility of these boats. The report was lengthy, and he should not call for the reading of it, except gentlemen wished it. There was, however, no necessity to demonstrate their utility, as no gentleman had attempted to show that they were not eminently and essentially useful as one species of defence.

The gentleman last up has stated that I wished this mode of defence because it was the wish of the Executive. I stated expressly, and the gentleman must so have understood me, that the committee had selected this number of gunboats because they were informed that this number would be necessary. I referred to the document where this statement is expressed and where it may be found. I meant to express the opinion, that if we built a less number than necessary, it would be a waste of public money; and that protection would not be obtained by a less force than that which is proposed.

Mr. B. also said that the 88 gunboats would cost $440,000; that sum, when applied to the building of a large frigate, would not complete her; and when built, she would carry but 44 guns, one-half the number of guns which would be carried by 88 gunboats; besides which, the expense of rigging and making her fit for service would be enormous. Thus, by building one frigate only at the same expense as would complete 88 gunboats, they lost 44 guns, besides the additional expense of fitting out and manning the frigate. He had, however, only risen at this time to explain that he had been misrepresented when it was stated that he had said he should vote for this number of gunboats because the Executive had recommended it.

Mr. Smilie said the question was, whether they would appropriate a certain sum of money for the defence of their ports and harbors. He had not heard it said, and he hoped it never would be said, that they ought to defend themselves beyond their own shores. He confessed that he was now called upon to give his vote on a question to the decision of which he was not competent; but it being his duty to decide, he should, on this as on other subjects with which he was not well acquainted, depend upon the opinions of those who were. He believed many gentlemen in the House were in the same situation with himself, not being acquainted with naval affairs. It was the duty of the Executive to communicate information in answer to any inquiries which it was necessary to make. They had performed that duty, and the answers were in favor of gunboats. Should he then pursue any opinion of his own in contradiction to this, when he had no evidence on which to ground that opinion? Certainly not; he should depend upon those who possessed better information on the subject than himself, except there was something so absurd in their opinions that he could not swallow it.

Mr. Chandler said, when they had information from actual examination, that the contemplated number of gunboats would be necessary, he did believe that the proposed sum should be appropriated to that object. The gentleman from Pennsylvania, who had moved this amendment, professed himself as willing to protect our ports and harbors as any gentleman, but wished to strike out part of the number of gunboats, in order to adopt another mode of defence. Admitting that a frigate could be built for the sum which would complete eighty-eight gunboats; could he demonstrate that the force of forty-four guns would be equal to eighty-eight of heavier metal? Another thing he would mention; when the gunboats were constructed, a part of them might be removed, and they could increase or diminish the force at any particular place, as occasion might require; if they had one frigate in place of them, they could not divide her strength, and it could be retained at one point only.

Mr. Newton said it was not his intention to take up the time of the committee in a disquisition on the subject of gunboats; though, were he to attempt it, he had no doubt but he might be equally qualified with some gentlemen who had displayed their eloquence on this occasion. He thought they should now take into consideration the situation of the country in relation to Great Britain. Why were they now talking of defence, of fortifications, and of gunboats? Because they had arrived at a perilous crisis; the nation had been attacked; the blood of its citizens had been spilled; and they must have war, if reparation were not made. They heard by the papers that a Minister was to be sent to negotiate on the subject; but when that Minister arrived here, would any gentleman say that they would receive that reparation which he was prepared to offer? He believed not. When our affairs were thus situated, and as the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Macon) said a few days ago, when they were actually in a state of war, ought they not to make a better use of their time and the public money, than in debating on the details of a bill? If a treaty with Great Britain were laid upon their table at this moment, should they for that reason desist from preparations for defence? No; that nation had trampled on every moral principle; there was no faith in her; paper and parchment were no security for her good conduct. If they wished to be respected by that power, they must place themselves in a situation to return injury for injury; to retaliate on her for the violations of their rights. When they did this, they might expect something like decency of conduct, or respect for their rights from that power; until they put themselves in a situation to command her respect, they would in vain expect to receive it.

Mr. Gardenier said that although he was not one of those who entertained a great passion for gunboats, yet he could see certain situations in which they would be useful in aid of fortifications; but they should be restricted to a certain number. The mode of fortification which was proposed, was by gunboats and batteries; and the proportionate expenditure for these two objects, how much for one, and how much for the other, was a subject which would engage the attention of the House when it came properly before them. He should feel no objection to vote for the whole number of gunboats, were he certain at the same time that enough would be appropriated for land-batteries and other objects.

Mr. Masters said, if the amendment of the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Blount) had for its object to authorize the President to dam up the Hudson River by sinking blocks, he trusted the good sense of the committee would reject such a preposterous proposition. The injurious consequences of such an experimental measure to the city of New York, and the State at large, would be beyond calculation. It would, in all human probability, inundate, in high freshets, a considerable part of the town; and in low water, in the summer season, so prevent the influx of water as to cause the tide to recede more than thirty miles, and ruin a number of most flourishing towns one hundred and seventy miles up the river. The effects would be ruinous to one of the finest rivers in the world. It was a well-known fact that sinking the piers of Westminster bridge, in the river Thames, caused the tide to recede in that river upwards of seven miles; take the same data for calculation, and the tide in Hudson River would recede more than fifty miles. This, said Mr. M., is a visionary scheme to evade the real object of defence, and to introduce false notions of economy. Whenever we attempt to make appropriations for permanent forts and batteries, expense and economy are brought forward as an objection. The objects of necessary defence, and a prudent, well-regulated economy, can be easily reconciled; but your plausible and popular sound of economy, which is always the sweeping argument when this and similar measures are under consideration, is like a fine net, which is intended to catch every thing, both great and small. It may serve for a fine fancy to fill up a speech with, but will not answer for fortifications. It will endanger the nation by keeping us defenceless and weak, tempt aggressions, and invite the destruction of our seaport towns. Where, then, will be your economy?

Mr. Quincy said he would only ask the gentleman from North Carolina, as to his precise meaning in inserting the word “works.” This word was, perhaps, in common life, confined to constructions other than fortifications; he believed, however, it might include fortifications also. When he had asked the question as to the species of works contemplated to be erected, he had no conception that it was possible, under an expression of this kind, to comprehend the sinking of blocks to choke up the harbor of New York; for he had thought the erection of works was putting up, whilst sinking blocks was putting down. He had, however, a different object in rising. He had understood it to be the intention of this bill not only to authorize the repair of old fortifications, but the erection of new ones; and the bill as it stood antecedent to the gentleman’s amendment, might have been competent to that end. Now, as the gentleman had amended it, it would imply works different from fortifications as he understood. If indeed it were the real object of the gentleman to repair old fortifications only, and not to erect new ones, the bill would now answer his purpose fully. If it were otherwise, he conceived the language was not correct.

Mr. Blount said he felt very little solicitude as to the fate of his motion. His intention was to give a greater latitude to the discretion of the President. He would not, however, undertake to dispute with the gentleman from Massachusetts on the precise meaning of words; for he had not spent his early life within the walls of a college, as that gentleman had, but in the field, fighting for the liberties of his country. Under the belief that the word works did include fortifications, he had made his motion for amendment. It was the intention of the committee both to erect new works and to repair old ones. If the gentlemen from New York and Massachusetts were determined to restrain the President from giving that protection to the port of New York which the people of that State should think proper, he was content. He did not wish to waste the time of the House unnecessarily, especially on a subject which required so much expedition.