PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, AT THE SECOND SESSION OF THE TENTH CONGRESS, BEGUN AT THE CITY OF WASHINGTON, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1808. MONDAY, November 7, 1808. Conformably to the act, passed the last session, entitled "An act to alter the time for the next meeting of Congress," the second session of the tenth Congress commenced this day; and the Senate assembled at the City of Washington. PRESENT: GEORGE CLINTON, Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate. NICHOLAS GILMAN and NAHUM PARKER, from New Hampshire. TIMOTHY PICKERING, from Massachusetts. JAMES HILLHOUSE and CHAUNCEY GOODRICH, from Connecticut. BENJAMIN HOWLAND and ELISHA MATHEWSON, from Rhode Island. STEPHEN R. BRADLEY and JONATHAN ROBINSON, from Vermont. SAMUEL L. MITCHILL and JOHN SMITH, from New York. JOHN CONDIT and AARON KITCHEL, from New Jersey. SAMUEL MACLAY, from Pennsylvania. WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD, from Georgia. DANIEL SMITH, from Tennessee. JAMES LLOYD, Jun., appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Massachusetts, to supply the place of JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, resigned, took his seat in the Senate, and produced his eredentials, which were read, and the oath prescribed by law was administered to him. Ordered, That the Secretary acquaint the House of Representatives that a quorum of the Senate is assembled and ready to proceed to business; and that Messrs. BRADLEY and POPE be a committee on the part of the Senate, together with such committee as may be appointed by the House of Representatives on their part, to wait on the President of the United States and notify him that a quorum of the two Houses is assembled. A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that a quorum of the House is assembled and ready to proceed to business; and that the House had appointed a committee on their part, jointly, with the committee appointed on the part of the Senate, to wait on the President of United States and notify him that a quorum of the two Houses is assembled. Resolved, That each Senator be supplied, during the present session, with three such newspapers, printed in any of the States, as he may choose, provided that the same be furnished at the usual rate for the annual charge of such papers; and, provided, also, that if any Senator shall choose to take any newspapers other than daily papers, he shall be supplied with as many such papers as shall not exceed the price of three daily papers. The PRESIDENT communicated a resolution and memorial of the House of Representatives of the Mississippi Territory, signed by the Speaker, praying an extension of the time for payment of the first instalment for the purchase of lands, due January, 1809; also, praying that a bill under consideration in the House of Representatives at their last session, for establishing a Federal court in that district, should not pass into a law, for reasons mentioned in the memorial; which was read and ordered to lie for consideration. Resolved, That JAMES MATHERS, Sergeant-atArms and Doorkeeper to the Senate, be, and he is hereby, authorized to employ one assistant and two horses, for the purpose of performing such services as are usually required by the Doorkeeper to the Senate; and that the sum of twentyeight dollars be allowed him weekly for that purpose, to commence with, and remain during the session, and for twenty days after. On motion, by Mr. BRADLEY, Resolved, That two Chaplains, of different denominations, be appointed to Congress during the present session, one by each House, who shall interchange weekly. Mr. BRADLEY reported, from the joint commit SENATE. President's Annual Message. tee, that they had waited on the President of the United States, agreeably to order, and that the President of the United States informed the committee that he would make a communication to the two Houses at 12 o'clock to-morrow. TUESDAY, November 8. SAMUEL SMITH and PHILIP REED, from the The following Message was received from the Representatives of the United States: Orders. rejected. 12 NOVEMBER, 1808. The arrangement has, nevertheless, been failed, and no other event having occurred on which a This candid and liberal experiment having thus suspension of the embargo by the Executive was authorized, it necessarily remains in the extent originally given to it. We have the satisfaction, however, to reflect, ure, and which our fellow-citizens in general have borne that, in return for the privations imposed by the meassaving our mariners, and our vast mercantile property, with patriotism, it has had the important effects of as well as of affording time for prosecuting the defensive and provisional measures called for by the occasion. It has demonstrated to foreign nations the moderation and the necessity of uniting in support of the laws and the firmness which govern our councils, and to our citizens rights of their country, and has thus long frustrated volved war, if submitted to, sacrificed a vital principle those usurpations and spoliations which, if resisted, inof our national independence. It would have been a source, fellow-citizens, of much gratification, if our last communications from Europe had enabled me to inform you that the belligerent nations, whose disregard of neutral rights has been so destructive to our commerce, had become awakened to the duty and true policy of revoking their unrighteous edicts. That no means might be omitted to produce this salutary effect, I lost no time in availing myself of the act authorizing a suspension, in whole, or in part, of the several embargo laws. Our Ministers at London and Paris were instructed to explain to the respective Governments there, our disposition to exercise the authority in such manner as would withdraw the pretext on which aggressions were originally founded, and open the way for a renewal of that commercial intercourse which it was alleged, on all sides, had been reluctantly obstructed. As each of those Governments had pledged its readiness to concur in renouncing a measure which reached its adversary through the incontestable rights of neutrals only, and as the measure had been assumed by each as a retaliation for an asserted acquiescence in the aggressions of the other, it was reasonably expected that the occasion would have been seized by both for evincing the sincerity of their professions, and for restoring to the commerce of the United States its legitimate freedom. The instructions of our Ministers, with respect to the different belligerents, were necessarily modified with a re- session explained the posture in which the close of the The communications made to Congress at their last ference to their different circumstances, and to the condition annexed by law to the Executive power of susdiscussions relating to the attack by a British ship of pension requiring a degree of security to our commerce the nation had manifested so honorable a sensibility. war on the frigate Chesapeake, left a subject on which which would not result from a repeal of the decrees of Every view of what had passed authorized a belief France. Instead of a pledge therefore of a suspension that immediate steps would be taken by the British of the embargo as to her, in case of such a repeal, Government for redressing a wrong, which, the more it was presumed that a sufficient inducement might it was investigated, appeared the more clearly to rebe found in other considerations, and particularly inquire what had not been provided for in the special the change produced by a compliance with our just mission. It is found that no steps have been taken for demands by one belligerent, and a refusal by the other, the purpose. On the contrary, it will be seen, in the in the relations between the other and the United documents laid before you, that the inadmissible preStates. To Great Britain, whose power on the ocean liminary, which obstructed the adjustment, is still adis so ascendant, it was deemed not inconsistent with hered to; and, moreover, that it is now brought into that condition to state, explicitly, on her rescinding her connexion with the distinct and irrelative case of the orders in relation to the United States, their trade Orders in Council. The instructions which had been would be opened with her, and remain shut to her given to our Minister at London, with a view to facilienemy, in case of his failure to rescind his decrees also. tate, if necessary, the reparation claimed by the United From France no answer has been received, nor any States, are included in the documents communicated. indication that the requisite change in her decrees is contemplated. The favorable reception of the proposition to Great Britain was the less to be doubted, as her Orders of Council had not only been referred for "their vindication to an acquiescence on the part of the United States no longer to be pretended, but as the arrangement proposed, whilst it resisted the illegal decrees of France, involved, moreover, substantially, the precise advantages professedly aimed at by the British which, in defiance of laws which consecrate the rights Under a continuance of the belligerent measures, of neutrals, overspread the ocean with danger, it will rest with the wisdom of Congress to decide on the bringing with them, as they do, from every part of the course best adapted to such a state of things; and Union, the sentiments of our constituents, my confidence is strengthened that, in forming this decision, they will, with an unerring regard to the essential rights and interests of the nation, weigh and compare the painful alternatives out of which a choice is to be made. Nor should I do justice to the virtues which, fellow-citizens, if I did not cherish an equal confidence on other occasions, have marked the character of our that the alternative chosen, whatever it may be, will be maintained with all the fortitude and patriotism which the crisis ought to inspire. the subject of foreign edicts against our commerce, The documents containing the correspondences on with the instructions given to our Ministers at London and Paris, are now laid before you. 이 undergone no material changes since our last session. Our relations with the other Powers of Europe have been alternately suspended and resumed, necessarily The important negotiations with Spain, which had experience a pause under the extraordinary and interesting crisis which distinguishes her internal situation. with the exception of an unjustifiable proceeding of the With the Barbary Powers we continue in harmony, Dey of Algiers towards our Consul to that Regency, Its character and circumstances are now laid before you, and will enable you to decide how far it may, either now or hereafter, call for any measures not within the limits of the Executive authority. With our Indian neighbors the public peace has been steadily maintained. Some instances of individual wrong have, as at other times, taken place, but in no wise implicating the will of the nation. Beyond the Mississippi, the lowas, the Sacs, and the Alabamas, have delivered up for trial and punishment individuals from among themselves, accused of murdering citizens of the United States. On this side of the Mississippi, the Creeks are exerting themselves to arrest offenders of the same kind; and the Choctaws have manifested their readiness and desire for amicable and just arrangements respecting depredations committed by disorderly persons of their tribe. And, generally, from a conviction that we consider them as a part of ourselves, and cherish with sincerity their rights and interests, the attachment of the Indian tribes is gaining strength daily, is extending from the nearer to the more remote, and will amply requite us for the justice and friendship practised towards them. Husbandry and household manufactures are advancing among them, more rapidly with the southern than northern tribes, from circumstances of soil and climate; and one of the two great divisions of the Cherokee nation have now under consideration to solicit the citizenship of the United States, and to be identified with us in laws and government, in such progressive manner as we shall think best. In consequence of the appropriations of the last session of Congress for the security of our seaport towns and harbors, such works of defence have been erected as seemed to be called for by the situation of the several places, their relative importance, and the scale of expense indicated by the amount of the appropriation. These works will chiefly be finished in the course of the present season, except at New York and New Orleans, where most was to be done; and although a great proportion of the last appropriation has been expended on the former place, yet some further views will be submitted to Congress for rendering its security entirely adequate against naval enterprise. A view of what has been done at the several places, and of what is proposed to be done, shall be communicated as soon as the several reports are received. Of the gun-boats authorized by the act of December last, it has been thought necessary to build only one hundred and three in the present year. These, with those before possessed, are sufficient for the harbors waters most exposed, and the residue will require e time for their construction when it shall be deemed necessary. Under the act of the last session for raising an additional military force, so many officers were immediately appointed as were necessary for carrying on the business of recruiting, and in proportion as it advanced, others have been added. We have reason to believe their success has been satisfactory, although such returns have not yet been received as enable me to present you a statement of the number engaged. I have not thought it necessary, in the course of the last season, to call for any general detachments of militia or of volunteers, under the laws passed for that purpose. For the ensuing season, however, they will be required to be in readiness should their service be wanted. Some small and special detachments have been necessary to maintain the laws of embargo on that portion of our northern frontier which offered peculiar facilities for evasion, but these were replaced SENATE. as soon as it could be done by bodies of new recruits. By the aid of these, and of the armed vessels called into service in other quarters, the spirit of disobedience and abuse, which manifested itself early, and with sensible effect while we were unprepared to meet it, has been considerably repressed. Considering the extraordinary character of the times in which we live, our attention should unremittingly be fixed on the safety of our country. For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well organized and armed militia is their best security. It is therefore incumbent on us, at every meeting, to revise the condition of the militia, and to ask ourselves if it is prepared to repel a powerful enemy at every point of our territories exposed to invasion? Some of the States have paid a laudable attention to this object; but every degree of neglect is to be found among others. Congress alone having the power to produce an uniform state of preparation in this great organ of defence, the interests which they so deeply feel in their own and their country's security will present this as among the most important objects of their deliberation. Under the acts of March 11 and April 23, respecting arms, the difficulty of procuring them from abroad, during the present situation and dispositions of Europe, induced us to direct our whole efforts to the means of internal supply. The public factories have therefore been enlarged, additional machineries erected, and, in proportion as artificers can be found or formed, their effect, already more than doubled, may be increased so as to keep pace with the yearly increase of the militia. The annual sums appropriated by the latter act have been directed to the encouragement of private factories of arms, and contracts have been entered into with individual undertakers to nearly the amount of the first year's appropriation. The suspension of our foreign commerce, produced by the injustice of the belligerent Powers, and the consequent losses and sacrifices of our citizens, are subjects of just concern. The situation into which we have thus been forced has impelled us to apply a portion of our industry and capital to internal manufactures and improvements. The extent of this conversion is daily increasing, and little doubt remains that the establishments formed and forming will, under the auspices of cheaper materials and subsistence, the freedom of labor from taxation with us, and of protecting duties and prohibitions, become permanent. The commerce with the Indians too, within our own boundaries, is likely to receive abundant aliment from the same internal source, and will secure to them peace and the progress of civilization, undisturbed by practices hostile to both. The accounts of the receipts and expenditures during the year ending on the thirtieth day of September last, being not yet made up, a correct statement will hereafter be transmitted from the Treasury. In the meantime, it is ascertained that the receipts have amounted to near eighteen millions of dollars, which, with the eight millions and a half in the Treasury at the beginning of the year, have enabled us, after meeting the current demands, and interest incurred, to pay two millions three hundred thousand dollars of the principal of our funded debt, and left us in the Treasury, on that day, near fourteen millions of dollars. Of these, five millions three hundred and fifty thousand dollars will be necessary to pay what will be due on the first day of January next, which will complete the reimbursement of the eight per cent. stock. These payments, with those made in the six years and a half preceding, will have extinguished thirty-three millions five hun SENATE. HISTORY OF CONGRESS. dred and eighty thousand dollars of the principal of the will have liberated the revenue from about two millions of dollars of interest, and added that sum annually to the disposable surplus. The probable accumulation of the surplusses of revenue beyond what can be applied to the payment of the public debt, whenever the freedom and safety of our commerce shall be restored, merits the consideration of Congress. Shall it lie unproductive in the public vaults? Shall the revenue be reduced? Or, shall it not rather be appropriated to the improvements of roads, canals, rivers, education, and other great foundations of prosperity and union, under the powers which Congress may already possess, or such amendment of the Constitution as may be approved by the States? While uncertain of the course of things, the time may be advantageously employed in obtaining the powers necessary for a system of improvement, should that be thought best. 16 NOVEMBER, 1808. THURSDAY, November 10. Mr. SMITH of Maryland, submitted the follow ing motion: whether any, and, if any, what, amendments are necesResolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire sary to the militia laws of the United States. The following motion was submitted by Mr. GILES: ident of the United States as relates to the several emResolved, That so much of the Message of the Presbargo laws, be referred to a select committee, with instructions to examine and report whether any further measures are now necessary to enforce a due observtime, and that such committee have leave to report by ance thereof during their continuance; and, also, whether any further modification thereof be expedient at this bill or otherwise. On making this motion, Mr. GILES observed, respecting the embargo laws, was intended only that, as the resolution he had the honor of moving as an inquiry into that subject, which was deemed important to all, and if to be further acted upon, requiring immediate attention; and, as it did not commit the Senate upon any point in relation to those laws, he hoped that the committee might Availing myself of this, the last occasion which will occur, of addressing the two Houses of the Legislature at their meeting, I cannot omit the expression of my sincere gratitude for the repeated proofs of confidence manifested to me by themselves and their predecessors since my call to the administration, and the many indulgences experienced at their hands. The same grate-be now appointed. ful acknowledgments are due to my fellow-citizens generally, whose support has been my great encouragement not be acted upon until to-morrow, to which Mr. Mr. GOODRICH requested that the motion might GILES agreed. under all embarrassments. In the transaction of their business I cannot have escaped error. our imperfect nature. It is incident to But I may say with truth my errors have been of the understanding, not of inten-lain on their part, in pursuance of the resolution The Senate proceeded to the election of a Chaption, and that the advancement of their rights and in- of the two Houses, and the whole number of votes terests has been the constant motive for every measure. collected was 20, of which the Reverend Mr. On these considerations I solicit their indulgence. Look- ELLIOTT had 11, and was accordingly elected. ing forward with anxiety to their future destinies, I trust, that, in their steady character, unshaken by difficulties, in their love of liberty, obedience to law, and support of the public authorities, I see a sure guarantee of the permanence of our Republic; and retiring from the charge of their affairs, I carry with me the consolation of a firm persuasion that Heaven has in store for our beloved country long ages to come of prosperity and happiness. TH. JEFFERSON. NOVEMBER 8, 1808. The Message and papers were in part read, and one thousand copies ordered to be printed for the use of the Senate. A confidential Message was also received, with sundry documents therein referred to, which were read for consideration. WEDNESDAY, November 9. JESSE FRANKLIN, from the State of North Carolina, attended. The Senate proceeded in reading the documents referred to in the Message of the President of the United States of yesterday. On motion by Mr. REED, Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire into the state and condition of the Chamber prepared for the Senate to convene in during the present session, and to report whether it is safe and expedient to continue therein, or to remove to some other apartment. Ordered, That Messrs. REED, WHITE, and BRADLEY, be the committee. FRIDAY, November 11. Mr. WHITE Submitted the following motion: ders and decrees of the belligerent Powers of Europe, Resolved, That the President of the United States cause to be laid before the Senate copies of all the orpassed since one thousand seven hundred and ninetytwo, affecting the commercial rights of the United States. Mr. HILLHOUSE submitted the following motion: the ports and harbors of the United States," and the Resolved, That it is expedient that the act, entitled several acts supplementary thereto, be repealed; and "An act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in that a committee be appointed to prepare and report a bill for that purpose. Mr. LLOYD submitted the following motion: Resolved, That the President of the United States statement showing the number of vessels which have be requested to cause to be laid before the Senate a departed from the United States, with permission, between the 22d of December, 1807, and the 30th Septheir owners; the size of the vessels; the date of their tember, 1808; specifying the names of the vessels and clearances; the ports or places for which they were destined; and the amount authorized to be brought back to the United States in each of such vessels. made yesterday, that a committee be appointed to The Senate proceeded to consider the motion inquire whether any, and, if any, what, amend |