DECEMBER, 1823.] Accounts of Daniel D. Tompkins. [H. OF R. country awarded a balance of account in his favor to the amount of $139,000. Under these circumstances, he comes to Congress. They take his case into consideration, and what do they do? They provided for his relief, by the act of the last session, in the following words: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress Treasury be, and they are hereby, authorized to adassembled, That the proper accounting officers of the just and settle the accounts and claims of Daniel D. Tompkins, late Governor of the State of New York, revision and final decision of the President of the on principles of equity and justice, subject to the United States." claim, it declined doing it because of the want | ance alleged to be due by him, a jury of his of harmony between the decisions of the two accounting officers. But, in the present case, there is no want of harmony; the amount in this case is clearly due from the United States, by the decision of all branches of the Government. We have knowledge that the jury, which attentively examined this case, awarded to Mr. Tompkins a much larger sum. The award of the Third Auditor has fallen far short of the amount claimed, and the President, approving the award as far as it goes, reserved his decision as to the remainder. When that decision, which the gentleman from Tennessee looked forward to with so much alarm, should be made, Mr. C. said he should be ready to meet the gentleman on any ground. I might, said he, attempt to attract the sympathy of this Congress then referred the adjustment of his House on this occasion; but I will not do it. accounts to the officers of the Treasury, and It will be time enough to speak of the distin- | imposed a further check on them by calling in guished services of Mr. Tompkins when the oc- the ultimate decision of the President of the casion comes, as I presume it will, for discuss- United States. They authorized the settlement ing the propriety of allowing a further amount. of his accounts, upon the principles of equity We are now, however, called upon to act clearly and justice. We are not here to examine what within the principle of the law of the last ses- were the motives of every individual who sion, the amount asked being a balance actu- voted in favor of the act of the last session, but ally reported by the accounting officers, to be we are to take the law as it is. But, for one, due to the Vice President. said Mr. McLANE, I am free to say that, if the Mr. McLANE, of Delaware, rose to call the gentleman limited his views of equity and jusattention of the House to a few of the facts of tice to the affair of profit and loss-to the matthis case. The opposition of the gentleman ter of balancing the account, his views were from Tennessee was not a matter of surprise, not the same as mine. Would the honorable when the House considered the ground of it. gentleman say whilst, on the one hand, he But how was the fact? This was not the case would allow the account to be balanced, he of an individual, asking of the House a gratu- would not, on the other, pay any balance which ity or unauthorized allowance, but asking of might appear to be justly due to this individthem to do what the Congress was already ual? That, if he should appear to be indebted pledged to do. Under these circumstances, it to the United States, we should pursue him, was at least to be expected that the friends of made poor in public service, with the hard the bill should not be met by general surmises hand of strict justice; but that, if the United as to the state of the accounts of the person in States were found indebted to him, they should, question. The services of the individual, whose with their abundant Treasury, not pay to him claim was now under consideration, could not what is justly due? Congress could have had be unknown to any gentleman here. We all no other intention in the law of the last sesknow his services, said Mr. McL., which, at a sion, Mr. McL. said, than that if a balance very dark and gloomy period, were exceedingly should be found to be due to Mr. Tompkins, it patriotic, important to his country, and disin- should be paid to him. Under the authority of terested. We all know that, at a moment when our law, these accounts have been settled: the others were husbanding their funds, or dealing President has revised the settlement, and, in them out with a very scanty hand, this man his opinion, a larger balance is due than has risked every thing for the public cause, and been allowed by the accounting officers. This staked his private fortune in its support. It is bill goes no further than to give the sum which to services thus rendered, that his present em- is certainly due, reserving the balance of the barrassments may be traced. In consequence of accounts for further investigation. No weight, them, he now calls on his country, not for Mr. McL. hoped, would be given to the considcharity, but for justice. It is known to every-eration that, hereafter, more might be found to body that these accounts of his have remained suspended for a number of years; that the amount of his claim was much larger than in these years the Government was at any time willing to allow. The Government assumed one principle as the basis of settlement―he another. According to his statement of his case, a much larger credit was due than the Government was willing to give him. On suit being commenced by the United States, for the bal be due to the individual concerned than was now proposed to be granted to him. For myself, said he, I am free to declare, that if the accounting officer under the direction of the President, should find an amount due to him equal to the amount of the verdict of the New York jury, I, for one, would freely vote it to him. Mr. CLAY (the Speaker) then rose and said, that, to him, it appeared that the considerations urged by the gentleman from Tennessee would have been in their proper place, if urged at the last session, but were certainly out of place at this time, when we are called upon, not to investigate a new claim, but to redeem the pledged faith of the public. On such a question, it was entirely unnecessary for the friends of the Vice President to refer to the public services, eminent as they had been, of the distinguished gentleman in question. This was not a fit occasion to introduce them. If the claimant were the meanest and the most obscure individual in society, the House were equally bound to pass that bill. For, what was it? The accounts to which it refers had long been pressing on the public for liquidation; they had at length been brought before this House; and, after deliberate consideration, an act is passed for their final settlement. The accounts were quietly examined and liquidated by the accounting officer. But, mark the precaution by which that act is characterized! Not only were those accounts to be submitted to the severe scrutiny of the most rigid officer of this Government-an officer whose scrupulous accuracy in the admission of accounts against the Government is as deservedly approved as it is universally known; but, after they had gone through the crucible, after they had been subjected to all the jealous scrutiny of this vigilant officer, they are to be submitted to the President for revisal. The President revises them, and then he sends to this House a Message, in which he declares, not only that he is satisfied that this balance is justly due, but that much more is due to him. Under such circumstances, all that is now asked is, that we shall pay so much as has been thus ascertained to be due. It is, in fact, to do nothing more than supply the defect of the act of the last Congress, in which, by some omission, no appropriation had been made to meet the balance, if, according to the provisions of that act, a balance should have been ascertained to be due to Mr. Tompkins. Now, what does the gentleman from Tennessee tell us? He wishes to know the ground of the settlement. He wants, in short, to settle this account himself to see the basis on which the officers of the Treasury proceeded in coming to the decision which they have laid before the President. This, Mr. C. said, might have been proper when the subject was under consideration at the last session; but Congress had committed the liquidation of these accounts to another tribunal. It had committed it to the accounting officers of the Government, gentlemen whose characters were unimpeached, and on whose accuracy, in this settleinent, no reflections had been cast. The gentleman from Tennessee, whose vigilance over the Treasury was the admiration of the country and of the House, should have reserved the remarks with which he had favored the House, until the time when a final settlement of the demands of the Vice President on this Govern [DECEMBER, 1823. ment is called up in this House; but now, when the sum reported is incontestable, when all the guards of the Treasury unite in declaring it justly due, when all that is asked is to supply a deficiency in the law of the last session, those remarks, however eloquent, would, he trusted, have no weight. Mr. LIVERMORE said that he was opposed to the appropriation, and of course in favor of the amendment proposed. He had great respect for the individual concerned-no man cherished a higher opinion of his services; but the House was now called upon to decide a great question. The act of the last session empowered the officers of the Treasury to settle this account. The account was not settled-the President's Message expressly declares it remains unsettled. He has to be sure partially examined it, but that is all. Mr. L. said he was willing to pay as much respect to Executive recommendations as any man, but he wanted to see what was due. To use a familiar phrase, he did not like enteringwedges. Congress had been led on in this way on other occasions. In the case of the Cumberland road, for instance, the sum asked was small at first, but it grew larger and still larger, until, at length, it became intolerable; and Congress would vote no more for it. If he were sure the appropriations for the Vice President were to end here, he would vote the sum at once, but the House were threatened with a claim for other and larger amounts, The settlement had been delayed at the request of the claimant himself. He did not like to be led on blindfold, and wished to know at once how far he was to go. Mr. TRIMBLE said that he believed his worthy friend from New Hampshire was under some mistake in his conception of this subject. In ordinary cases of this description a fund was provided out of which the public creditor, if his demand was just, and the documents in proof of it were regular and sufficient, received his due without further difficulty. But, if it should happen that his vouchers, though substantially evincing the justice of the demand, were wanting in due form, or were of a kind not admitted in settlement by Treasury rule, then an application to Congress was necessary, and Congress, when they knew such to be the fact, would order the account to be settled on principles of equity and justice; that is, as he understood it, without excluding valid evidence though of an informal or irregular sort. This was a matter of every day occurrence. The case of Mr. Tompkins was one of this description; there were informal vouchers held by the claimant, which showed him to be justly entitled to what he claimed, and the question was not, now, whether the gentlemen from Tennessee and New Hampshire were to audit those vouchers; they had already been audited; but, by some omission, for which he was at a loss to account, there was no appropriation in the bill to meet the result of such settlement. The claim had, at the last session, been submitted to a committee, of which he had the honor to be a member, and he saw gentlemen near him who had been his companions in the same service. It had been carefully examined, and afterwards by law submitted to the Treasury officers. Those officers have reported that this balance is due. Now, I pray you, said Mr. T., when the account has, thus far, been settled, why is it not to be paid? The gentleman from New Hampshire had insisted that nothing should be paid until we knew the whole that we had to pay. But what would he say to a paymaster, for instance, who held a large amount of Government money-acknowledged himself to hold it-acknowledged it to be due-but who, having other accounts unsettled at the Treasury, should say to the Government, I owe you this balance, clear of all demands, but my other account is not settled, and I will not pay a dollar of what I owe you until I know all that. I must pay on the final settlement? He believed the gentleman would call such a paymaster a dishonest man. But why is Government to be bound by different rules in paying its debts from those which bind an honest man? The question was then taken on striking out the enacting clause of the bill, and decided in the negative, by a large majority. Mr. COCKE then moved an amendment to the bill, the object of which was to declare that the amount now appropriated should be in full of the claim of Mr. Tompkins. The amendment was also negatived, by a decided majority; and the bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading to morrow. FRIDAY, December 12. Another member, to wit, from New shire, ICHABOD BARTLETT, appeared, was qualified, and took his seat. Chaplain to the House. A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate have elected the Rev. WILLIAM STAUGHTON a Chaplain to Congress, on their part, during the present session. [H. OF R. be requested to communicate to this House a plan for a Peace Establishment of the Navy of the United States. The resolution was ordered to lie on the table one day, under the rule. MONDAY, December 15. BURWELL BASSETT, appeared, produced his Another member, to wit, from Virginia, credentials, was qualified, and took his seat. Naval Officers - Inquiry into their actual service at sea. Mr. MERCER presented the following resolution, which lies one day of course: Resolved, That the Secretary of the Navy be directed to transmit to this House a list of the officers of the Navy of the United States, denoting the periods of their admission into the public service, the dates of their present commissions, and the time of their actual service at sea since the 1st of January, 1815. TUESDAY, December 16. Another member, to wit, from New York, ALBERT H. TRACY, appeared, was qualified, and took his seat. Grants of Land for Education. Mr. KENT moved that the House do come to the following resolution: Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire into the expediency of making such an appropriation of the public lands to the purposes of education, in those States to which no grants have yet been made, as will correspond, in a just proportion, with the appropriations which may have been made heretofore, in favor of those States; and that said committee have leave to report by bill or otherwise. Mr. KENT said, he offered the resolution just Hamp-object embraced by it, but because certain read, not only from the importance of the resolutions which had passed the Legislature of the State of which he was a representative, had been presented to the last Congress, and not finally acted on. His object in calling the attention of the House to the resolution at this time, was, to obtain their decision on it, if favorable, that the State of Maryland, and those States equally interested with her, might derive the contemplated advantages from it; but if, contrary to their just expectations, the decision should be unfavorable, that they might turn their attention to some other source for the promotion of the important purposes of education. He would mention, for the information of the House, that Maryland was not singular in adopting the principle contained in the resolution; that it had received, after a deliberate examination, the approbation of the Legislatures of several of the States-the disapprobation of Mr. FULLER Submitted the following resolu- but few. Mr. K. hoped the resolution would tion, viz: be adopted, that the subject might be fully Resolved, That the President of the United States examined. County Seats in Arkansas Territory. Mr. CONWAY presented a petition of the General Assembly of the Territory of Arkansas, praying that a quarter section of land may be granted to each of the counties of Hempsted, Miller, and Crawford; to be improved and occupied as the seats of justice of the said counties. Referred to the Committee on Public Lands. Naval Peace Establishment. H. OF R.] Amendment of the Constitution-Election of President and Vice President. [DECEMBER, 1823. THURSDAY, December 18. iana, HENRY H. GURLEY and EDWARD LIVINGThree other members, to wit: from LouisSTON; and from New York, JOHN J. MORGAN, appeared, were qualified, and took their seats. The question being on agreeing to the resolve, Mr. RANKIN observed, that a similar proposition to that now offered had been brought forward by the gentleman from Maryland, at a former session of Congress; and he regretted that it had not, now, been thrown into the same form as when before offered. It was then presented in an affirmative shape, which afforded facility for a more direct and immediate FRIDAY, December 19. discussion of the merits of the proposition by the House. He was opposed to the reference Widow of Captain Lawrence. of this inquiry to a select committee, if it went Mr. CROWNINSHIELD, from the Committee on to a committee at all; not on any special, but Naval Affairs, made a report on the petition of on a general principle. It was the well-known Julia Lawrence, widow of Captain James Lawand universal usage, in appointing select com-rence, deceased, late of the Navy of the United mittees, to compose them of the known friends of the measures proposed; in consequence of which only an ex parte view of subjects was presented to the House in the reports of the committees, and time was consumed in obtaining, by discussion, the views of gentlemen of the opposite opinion. But, a standing committee was a sort of general tribunal, composed neither of the friends nor the opposers of any particular measures such a committee was likely to present a more general view of subjects committed to their consideration, than a select committee; and, should they report against any particular measure, its advocates had still their appeal to the House, and full liberty to discuss its merits. He thought the subject of the resolution had better be referred to the Committee on Public Lands-not because he happened personally to be connected with that committee, but because the nature of the object embraced by the resolution seemed naturally to belong to it. Mr. JENNINGS said, he apprehended the resolution was not very well understood by the House. It certainly was not by him, judging from the remarks which had been made upon it. For further examination of it, he moved that the resolve lie on the table, and be printed. Which motion was agreed to. Civilization and Education of the Indians. Mr. HEMPHILL presented a memorial of a meeting of the Synod of Philadelphia, embracing the Presbyterian Churches in the southwestern part of New Jersey, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the States of Maryland and Delaware, and the District of Columbia, convened at Georgetown, in said District, in October, 1823, praying for an increase of the annual appropriation for civilizing the Indian tribes and introducing the knowledge of letters among them; which memorial was referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. States, accompanied by a bill further extending the term of half-pay pensions to the widows and children of officers, seamen, and marines, who died in the public service; which bill was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the Whole. MONDAY, December 22. Dry Tortugas-Abaco-Hole in the Wall- Buoys, Floating-lights. Mr. LIVINGSTON laid the following resolutions on the table for consideration on tomorrow, viz: directed to report what progress has been made in Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be erecting light-houses on the Dry Tortugas, and at or the security of the navigation of the Gulf Stream, near Cape Florida; and that he also report whether between Florida and the Bahama Banks, does not require the erection of light-houses, or bea cons, or the placing of buoys or floating-lights on some other places, on or near the coast of Florida. Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to negotiate with the Government of Great Britain for a cession of so much land on the Island of Abaco, at or near the Hole in the Wall, and at such other places, within the acknowledged dominion of that power, on the islands, keys, or shoals, on the Bahama Banks, as may be necessary for the erection and support of light-houses, beacons, buoys, or floating-lights, for the security of navigation over and near the said banks, and to be used solely for such purposes. Resolved, That the Secretary of State be directed to ascertain and report to this House, whether the rocks called the double-headed shot keys, or any other of the rocks or desert islets, near the Bahama Banks, but separated therefrom by a deep channel, and on which the security of navigation of the Gulf of Florida requires that light-houses or beacons should be placed, are within the dominion of any and what foreign Kingdom or State, or whether they are not now subject to be appropriated by the right of ocen pancy. Amendment of the Constitution-Election of DECEMBER, 1823.] Amendment of the Constitution-Election of President and Vice President. [H. OF R. ing to the several States the propriety of amending the Constitution of the United States, in such manner, that the mode of electing the members of the House of Representatives in Congress may be uniform throughout the United States; also, that the mode of choosing Electors of President and Vice President of the United States may be, in like manner, uniform; and, also, that the election of the said officers may, in no event, devolve upon the House of Representatives;" made a detailed report, accompanied by a joint resolution, proposing an amend-system, against any changes proceeding from an ment to the Constitution of the United States, in respect to the election of a President and Vice President of the United States; which resolution was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the whole House on the state of the Union. The report and resolution are as follows: The committee, profoundly impressed with the importance of the propositions embraced in the resolution under which they have been appointed, have felt a corresponding sense of the magnitude and difficulty of the duty imposed upon them by the order of the House. To devise a plan for the election of members of the House of Representatives, and of the President and Vice President of the United States, which will correct existing and obviate impending evils, and, at the same time, harmonize the conflicting views of States, variously situated, and variously affected by it, has been the anxious desire and laborious effort of the committee. How far they have been successful in accomplishing these great objects, they submit it to the indulgence and liberality of the House to determine. The Constitution of the United States provides, that "the times, places, and manner, of holding elections for Representatives, shall be prescribed, in each State, by the Legislature thereof; that Congress may, at any time, by law, make or alter such regulations." It also provides, that "each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of Electors equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in Congress." The plan submitted by the committee, proposes that each State shall be divided into as many districts as will equal the number of Representatives to which the State may be entitled in Congress; and that each of the said districts shall elect one Representative. It also proposes, that each of the said districts shall choose one Elector of President and Vice President of the United States; and that the Electors, thus appointed in each State, shall have the two additional Electors to which the State is entitled. of a written constitution, will lead us to the extraordinary but manifest conclusion that, in relation to the mode of choosing the popular branch of the National Legislature, and of the Chief Executive Magistrate of the Republic, we have no constitutional provision at all. A fixedness and permanence, not liable to be disturbed by ordinary acts of legislation, are essentution. Accordingly, in all Governments having any tially involved in the elementary notion of a constijust pretensions to civilization or freedom, it has been a primary object to secure those fundamental canons which give organization and impulse to the political authority less solemn and weighty than the source of sovereignty itself. To secure liberty against the violent tyranny of successive and temporary factions, and, also, against the more systematic encroachments of ambition, this extraordinary stability of the law, which constitutes the Government, has been found, by universal experience, to be an indispensable safeguard. Yet, in direct violation of this primary and essential principle of regulated freedom, the very foundations of the two most important branches of this Government are permitted to fluctuate with the mutable counsels of twenty-four separate Legislatures. The committee, therefore, believe that the plan proposed is recommended, not less by the consideration that it permanently and uniformly fixes the rule which it introduces, than by the intrinsic superiority of that rule to any other that has been adopted, amidst the changes incident to the existing state of constitutional laxity. Under the existing system, if system that may be called which is without system, the inquiry in the respective States is not, which is intrinsically the best mode of choosing Representatives in Congress, and Electors of President and Vice President of the United States, but what is the best defensive expedient to counteract the regulations of other States, and secure the utmost relative weight in the affairs of the Union. The party which happens to have the ascendency will thus be furnished with pretexts, at least plausible and imposing, for the adoption of measures calculated to deprive the minority of their just rights, and tending to produce, as they invariably have produced, that acrimonious political excitement which inevitably results from injustice and oppression, however disguised or palliated by motives of public expediency. To prevent majorities from exercising this sort of oppression, is one of the primary objects of a written constitution. With these general preliminary views, the committee will proceed to the separate consideration of the amendments embraced in the plan submitted to the House. It has been seen that the "times, places, and manner," of electing the members of this House, are now liable to be prescribed by the Legislatures of the several States, subject to the controlling and superseding power of Congress. From this collated view of the existing provisions and proposed amendments of the constitution, it will be seen that a fundamental change is contemplated, in reference to the mode of choosing members of the House of Representatives, and Electors of President and Vice President of the United States. It is a change, however, which counts among its strongest claims to our favorable consideration, its absolute efficacy in preventing changes. For it will fix upon uniform principles those creative operations of popular sovereignty, which are now liable to be If it should happen to this, as it has happened to controlled by the diversified and clashing expedients all other free countries, that the administration of of twenty-four States, mutually independent. Indeed, the Republic should fall into the hands of a faction; an attentive consideration of the nature and functions of men who, having acquired power by corrupt In addition to the remarks already made on the political solecism of placing it in the power of every State government virtually to change the constitution of the Union, the committee feel bound to examine briefly the nature and tendency of the power thus vested in Congress. |