ence between a Military and a Naval Establishment: when your Army has effected the purpose for which it was raised, you can disband it; and the men who composed it will return home to their families, and become useful members of society. Not so with respect to your Navy. You will have to be burdened with the expense of that Establishment in peace as well as in war. Having shown, in a manner at least satisfac- Annual expense of 25 seventy-fours- One-twelfth part of original expenses for Annual expenditure, same as this year Total expenses H. OF R. no country possess greater wealth-and hence the inference is drawn that they are able to pay heavy taxes. But, when the Constitution of the United States is examined in relation to this subject, we find that direct taxes must be laid in proportion to population. In considering, therefore, what sum you may levy, you cannot exceed the sum which it is within the power of the poorest State to pay. The State of Ohio, perhaps, is one of the poorest States in the Union. This results from the reeigh-cent date of her settlements. The people who emigrate to that State settle down in the forest, and their capital is expended, first, in the purchase of the land, (for a part of which many of them are still in debt;) and. secondly, in the improvement of their lands, which has extended generally no further than to yield to the inhabitants the $15,165,000 means of comfortable subsistence-leaving nothing, or but little, for exportation. Their means 5,294,600 of paying taxes are, therefore, limited. A tax of 4,200,000 $100,000 on the State of Ohio would be a grievous tax; though to Connecticut, Maryland, or 1,263,750 South Carolina, it would be inconsiderable, and 9,400,000 not felt at all; because the lands in these States 4,800,000 are mostly in a high state of improvement, and the inhabitants enjoy the advantages of a productive capital, accumulated by the industry of past ages. One county in the State of Maryland could pay as much tax, without embarrassment, as the whole State of Ohio. But you are unable to lay your hands on this wealth while your Constitution remains unchanged, and consequently you cannot levy large taxes. $24,958,350 This course would produce a new public debt of $80,000,000, and an annual expenditure of $25,000,000. He left members to determine where this money was to be procured, and in what manner the annual expenditure could be provided. Mr. McK. said, he would now take some notice of the resources of this country in relation to revenue; and he could say, that, on this subject, he had prejudices to meet. He said, prejudices, because he had heard a gentleman in this House, speaking of our resources-alluding to public lands -declare this source of revenue as worth to the United States ten hundred millions of dollars! This declaration he considered as extravagant as if each of our gunboats was declared to be equal to a 74-gun ship; and that, therefore, we had a fleet of 180 sail-of-the-line. Since the public lands had been offered for sale, the receipts into the Treasury from that source had not averaged more than $600,000 per annum, at a time when the best lands too were in the market. The public lands may, therefore, as a source of revenue, be estimated at $10,000,000. But, gentlemen say, there are 300,000,000 of acres of public land, and each acre worth $2-making $600,000,000! But they seem not to recollect that one-third of this land is barren heath, that will never sell for a cent; and that it will require 100 years, perhaps, to sell the balance. And $10,000,000 laid out at interest, adding the interest to the principal yearly, or even at the end of the time required for the interest to equal the principal, would exceed any sum for which the public lands will ever be sold. Calculations with regard to direct taxes were equally fallacious. It is said that the people of this country are wealthy, and able to pay large taxes. It is true, that there is great wealth in the hands of the people of this country-perhaps the people of If you proceed in the course now proposed, and incur an annual expenditure of $18,000,000, how are you to raise the money? Suppose your revenue arising from commerce should again reach $14,000,000 per annum-which will not be the case in time of war, and it is scarcely to be expected on the recurrence of a general peace-a balance of more than $4,000,000 will remain unprovided for, which must be supplied by taxes. The taxes of 1800 (the most productive year) only brought into the Treasury about $1,500,000; and even these taxes were thought grievous. And the system now proposed will render a permanent tax of more than $4,000,000 necessary to meet the current expenses of Government. And when your political horizon shall again be overspread with difficulties and dangers, your debt will grow apace, and your annual expenditure in the same proportion, and eventually you will be cursed with the same miserable state of political existence under which the devoted people of England now groan. But, if the Navy project be now abandoned, the nation will not incur, in the proposed contest, a new debt of more than $55,000,000, and the annual expenditure will not much exceed $12,000,000 per annum. In order to substantiate this fact, he would submit a statement, predicated on the same facts on which his preceding statement was founded, omitting the items of naval expenditure, which is as follows, to wit: 1812. For the year tary of the Treasury, in his annual report $9,400,000 H. of R. Expenses of 30,000 men, in actual service, From which deduct the revenue, supposed to amount to Naval Establishment. 10,540,000 2,500,000 22,440,000 8,200,000 $14,240,000 This sum may be credited by $2,947,818 Balance to be borrowed For the year 1813. $11,292,182 Current expenses, including the Army of 30,000 men Interest of the new debt of $11,292,182 From which deduct the revenue, supposed to be Balance to be borrowed For the year 1814. $19,400,000 20,077,530 8,200,000 $11,877,530 Current expenses, including an Army of From which deduct the revenue, supposed to be $16,945,045 18,335,227 8,200,000 $10,135,227 $16,945,045 18,943,341 8,200,000 $10,743,341 1815 $16,945,045 Interest on the new debt of $44,047,279 - 2,642,847 If, said Mr. McKEE, our commerce in the year 1817 should resume its former activity, we shall not only be able to meet the current expenses of the year, but to appropriate portions of the reve nue to the discharge of the public debt; so that, in ten years of peace and prosperity, our debt will be nearly paid off, and we should be in a condition to commence a new war, if the public good required it. Mr. McK. had said, this nation was not destined, under the present Constitution, to be a great Naval Power; and he maintained that the statements which he had exhibited-and which he believed, for the purposes of argument, would be found substantially correct, when tested by experiencewent conclusively to show that the expenses of the Naval Establishment of ten frigates and twelve seventy-four gun ships, now proposed to be built, could not be supported without permanent inter nal taxes, and a constant increase of the public debt and annual expenditure. And if the system was gone into, to the extent contemplated by the gentleman from South Carolina, (Mr. CHEVES,) of building forty frigates and twenty-five seventyfour gun ships, which he admitted would be neCessary to relieve the Naval Establishment from comparative inefficiency, the annual expenses of the Government with such a system (as already shown) would be more than $25,000,000, which would rapidly increase the public burdens, and entail on this country that fatal system which has almost ruined the British empire. The gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. CHEVES) takes it for granted that our commerce can be effectually protected by a navy; and, assuming this fact, he proceeds to show that every portion of the American people are equally interested in the building a navy, because all are more or less interested in protecting commerce. But, the fact is, that navies have never been considered as adequate to the complete protection of commerce. Look, said he, at the situation of the Old World, in times, to them, more prosperous than the present! What is the fact? Holland, with almost no navy, possessed an extensive and profitable commerce; and Spain, about the same period, with a large and powerful fleet, had no commerce. But the situation of Europe is, in all respects, different from ours. The Governments of Europe are surrounded by rival Powers, who are mostly engaged in war with each other, while we are 8,200,000 happily far removed from them all, and have no neighbors to annoy us." Therefore, arguments $11,387,892 drawn from the Old World are wholly inapplica ble to this country, because their situation and form of Government are altogether unlike ours. And when we turn our eyes from foreign Governments to our own, we find that no people since Adam were ever more prosperous or more happy than the American people have been for the eight or ten years previous to the year 1808. Private fortunes have been accumulated with unequalled ease and rapidity; commerce has prospered beyond example; agriculture has flourished; and the revenue abundant, beyond the wants of the Government. And did this state of prosperity exist at a time when your commerce was protected by vessels of war? No; but at a time when your Navy was out of use; and in proportion to the increase of your naval expenditure, in the same proportion has your commerce decreased. The protection of commerce is the only ostensible object for which navies are created, while power and conquest are the main objects. Show me, said Mr. McK., a nation possessed of a large navy, and I will show you a nation always at war. When has England been at peace with all the world, since she became a great naval Power?. Such instances in British history were so rare, and of such short duration, (if they existed at all,) that he could not answer the question; and he believed it would be difficult for the ingenuity of the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. CHEVES) to answer it. It is true, that England, the greatest naval Power in the world, is also the most commercial; and it was not to be doubted that her commerce received aid from her navy, though it owed its extent principally to the industry and consequent wealth of the nation. But, England has other and far more important objects to effect by her navy than that of protecting commerce. Her insular situation renders it necessary for her protection, and she keeps it up for the purposes of war and dominion. England would destroy her navy to-morrow, if the protection of commerce was her only object; because it cannot be denied that the expense of keeping up her navy exceeds the profits of that commerce which it is said to protect. Navies, therefore, must be considered as instruments of power, rather than as the means of protecting commerce. They are the vile offspring of those nations where the power and grandeur of the Government is everything, and the people are nothing but slaves! Mr. McK. having stated that a navy was an instrument of power, rather than a means of protecting commerce, in order to show that this opinion was not a mere vagary of his own imagination, but the deliberate opinion of some of the wisest men of this country, most solemnly pronounced, he would beg leave to read a document, which he hoped would have weight with some gentlemen of the Committee. It is taken from the celebrated instructions of the Virginia Legislature, of 1801, to their Senators in Congress, and is said to have come from the pen of the present Chief Magistrate of the United States; and he believed he could venture to say, that no Legislature ever possessed more talents than were drawn together into the Virginia Assembly on that occasion. After having noticed other subjects, in speaking of the Navy, they say: "With respect to the Navy, it may be proper to remind you, that, whatever may be the proposed object of its establishment, or whatever may be the prospect H. OF R. of temporary advantages resulting therefrom, it is demonstrated by the experience of all nations who have ventured far into naval policy, that such prospect is ultimately delusive; and that a navy has ever, in practice, been known more as an instrument of power, a source of expense, and an occasion of collisions and wars with other nations, than as an instrument of deNor fence, of economy, or of protection to commerce. Assembly, to whose circumstances this remark is more is there any nation, in the judgment of the General applicable than to the United States." These opinions may now, however, be considered as old-fashioned; but being himself an oldfashioned man, he confessed he was more pleased with them than with the new political doctrines preached by the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. CHEVES) to the House and the nation. It might, however, possibly be the fact, that he (Mr. McK.) was wrong, and only indulged ancient prejudices, and the gentleman from South Carolina right; and if such were the case, he could only say, in his own defence, that, under the influence of those old doctrines, the American people had enjoyed a state of prosperity and happiness unparalleled in the history of man-a state of prosperity which he feared he would never see equalled. He looked back on those days of happy prosperity with the same feelings of mournful regret with which he looked back to the days of his youth, fearing that they, like the days of his youth, would never again return-especially if the Navy mania should prevail. Another great objection to a navy with Mr. McK. was, that a great proportion of the expense and the advantages (if any) to be derived from would fall on the agricultural class of the people, be derived by the mercantile class. The State of the protection afforded by it to commerce, would Ohio, for instance, will pay within one-third as much tax as the State of Maryland or South Carless than one-tenth of the commerce to receive olina, and nearly as much as Connecticut, with protection. Is it, therefore, reasonable or just to and support a navy for the protection of comtax that portion of the people in order to create merce, when they have none, or but little, to proand manufacturers throughout the Union will pay tect? But, it is also true, that the agriculturists supporting a navy-perhaps nine-tenths thereof a large proportion of the expense of creating and while the mercantile class will receive the greatest share of the advantages. As a further illustration of this subject, he would refer gentlemen to an argument of Mr. Gallatin, made in 1799, on the establishment of a navy, in which this point was clearly demonstrated, with an ability that defied refutation, even by the ingenuity of the gentleman from South Carolina. Why, said Mr. McK., is this period fixed on for commencing this great Naval Establishment? And why was it not commenced when our finances were in a more flourishing condition-at a time when the means necessary to effect the object were possessed by the Government? Would any man say that the vessels proposed to be built could be furnished in time to be serviceable in the ap H. OF R. Naval Establishment. JANUARY, 1812. proaching contest? He believed no man would await their exertions. They are, therefore, inhazard his reputation by such an assertion, unless terested in keeping up a state of war, and being the war should continue longer than was expected. invested with the management of an instrument It would appear as if gentlemen were disposed to of war, it is to be expected, that it will be used in take advantage of the fever of the public mind-some degree to answer their own purposes? No when the people were indignant at the conduct man who will reflect for a moment, but must be of Great Britain, and determined to have redress satisfied that the disgraceful and lawless conduct almost without counting the cost; and when they of the British naval officers on our coast origiare most likely to examine subjects of this sort nated in a desire on their part to bring on a war with the least deliberation, we are called upon to with this country, in which they looked forward establish a permanent system which will remain a to large dividends of prize money; and these acts set-fast on the nation forever. All history proves were contrary to the wish and expectation of that it is in such times that the most pernicious Great Britain; in one instance the act was dis and ruinous principles are established, and we avowed; and it may be asked why were the offi seem disposed to follow the example. If we are cers not punished who acted contrary to the wishes to become a great naval power, let us commence of the Government? The answer is obvious; bethe system in times of peace and tranquillity, when cause the influence of the Navy in England is so the expression of public sentiment in relation to predominant that the Government are afraid it can be fairly and dispassionately had. to touch the subject, and the consequence is, that the Government are compelled to bear the odium of acts which they disapprove; and the same cause which has produced this effect in England, if permitted to operate, will produce a similar effect in this country. Our little Navy has already contributed much towards the irritation, which exists between this But, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. CHEVES) says, that our Ministers abroad are placed in a very delicate and unpleasant situation, because our Navy is not sufficient to command the respect of foreign Powers. So long, said Mr. McK., as we maintain our character at home-so long as we preserve our title to character abroad; and so long as the people are industrious and happy-country and England; and under any other Pres it was to him a matter of but small concern whether a Turkish Bashaw or a potentate of Europe respected us or not. If our friendship was desirable to them, it would be courted; if it was not, we could not fight them into it by twenty-five seventy-four gun ships and forty frigates. But, if it were an object of primary importance with the gentleman to render this nation respectable in the eyes of foreign nations, his object perhaps could be more easily effected by assimilating our form of Government more to the forms of the Governments of Europe-by making the Presidency hereditary, creating some Princes and Princesses, Dukes and Duchesses, Lords and Ladies, Stars and Garters. The gentleman will then, perhaps, no longer be told that we are without honor and just political views by the monarchies of the Old World. [Mr. CHEVES said, he would not accept the gentleman's project.] Mr. MCKEE said, he did not wish him to accept it, neither would he accept that gentleman's naval project, because the consequences to the country, in his opinion, would be similar. Create a great national debt, impoverish one portion of the community with heavy taxes, by which a different portion of the community are benefited, and you have the foundation of a moneyed aristocracy, which is the substance which will, by its own operation, create substantially those distinctions in society which in other Governments have names. Establish a navy, said Mr. McK. and this country may bid farewell to peace; because you thereby organize a class of society who are interested in creating and keeping up wars and contention. Officers in the Navy and Army are mere cyphers in society in times of peace, and are only respectable in time of war, when wealth and fame may ident than Mr. Jefferson, it would have brought on a war in 1807. And what real benefit has re sulted from it to the Government? Has a picaroon or a buccaneer ever been chastised by them? If they have, he had no recollection of the case; he had seen indeed paragraphs in the newspapers mentioning that the frigate President, or some one of the vessels, had sailed from the navy yard to Norfolk, from thence to New York, and finally arrived safe at Boston; but for what purpose he was totally ignorant, unless, indeed, it was to sail back again, and furnish the materials for a new article for the newspapers; and for these eminent services, the American people have already paid about $30,000,000. If, said Mr. McK., your twelve seventy-fours and twenty frigates were built, you could not man them, without resorting to impressment. And the argument of the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. CHEVES) seems to admit this fact; because he summons the whole force of his ingenu ity to prove, first, that you can in time of war, by law, prevent your seamen from engaging on board of privateers, beyond a certain number, and second, that if this expedient should fail, you can man your ships of war with militia. This, said Mr. McK. is a monstrous doctrine, and amounts substantially to the doctrine of impressment, which is a perversion even of the British constitution. Whence do you derive the power of prohibiting your mariners from engaging on board of privateers, and thus by starvation forcing them to engage in your service? No such power is known in the Constitution, and any attempt to exercise it (if you possessed the power) would only excite irritation. With regard to marching the militia on board of your ships, or out of the United States, Mr. McK. said, he had been at a loss to know why the gentleman from South Car olina (Mr. CHEVES) had ushered into this House H. OF R. to the Government the power of marching the militia out of the United States, and we ought not to invest ourselves with the power by implication or construction. Mr. McK. apologized for detaining the Committee so long. He hoped gentlemen would consider well the subject before they gave a vote which may not only affect the present generation, but extend its effects to future generations. The Committee rose, and had leave to sit again. MONDAY, January 20. Mr. McKEE said, he had been led into the error by the circumstance that the gentleman from South Carolina first within his hearing opened the discussion on this point in the House, and he had therefore supposed it had originated with him. That gentleman had, however, contended, that the militia could be marched out of the United States, and now holds the opinion, that in the last resort, your ships may be manned by the same means. No such power is known in the Constitution. You have the power of calling out the militia for three specified objects, to wit:mittee on the District of Columbia. "To execute the laws of the Union, suppress in surrections, and repel invasions." This specification of the objects for which the militia may be called out, operates as a limitation of the power; no rule of construction is more universal or liable to Whitelow, of the city of New York, praying for Mr. MITCHILL presented the petition of Charles permission to occupy a tract of ground lying west of the Capitol in the City of Washington, (originally intended for a botanic garden,) for the purpose of improving it as an agricultural and boof this kind in Europe.-Referred to the Comtanical garden; stating his experience in business fewer exceptions in law or reason, than that a grant of power, accompanied with a specification of the objects to which the power is to be applied, is, in its nature, a limitation of the power to those objects alone; and in this case the power of calling out the militia is limited to those objects and for those purposes which of all others the militia are the best adapted to effect, and for the effectuation of which, it is the most natural that the militia would be resorted to. [The Chairman, Mr. NELSON, asked Mr. MCKEE if he thought the remarks in relation to marching the militia out of the United States were applicable to the question before the committee?] Mr. MCKEE said, unquestiouably he did believe them applicable; because he contended, that the ships, if built, could not be manned, unless by the militia; and if he showed they could not be manned by the militia, he thereby proved that the ships ought not to be built. dry inhabitants of the Indiana Territory, com- INCREASE OF REVENUE. Mr. BACON observed that the Committee of Ways and Means had received a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, in answer to an inquiry addressed to him by the committee, which they deemed of public importance; and therefore, contrary to their usual practice, the committee had directed him to communicate it to the House, in order that it might be printed for the use of the members, as it might be some time before the committee would be able to make their report, and by having the letter of the Secretary of Treasury before them, and their attention drawn to the subject, the House would be better able to meet the consideration of it, when it shall be brought before them by the committee. Mr. B. then laid the letter of the Chairman of the committee to the Secretary of the Treasury When the Constitution of the United States with his answer (containing his budget of prowas submitted to the consideration of the Amer-posed taxes for meeting the expenses of war) beican people, and every objection which the inge- fore the House; which being read, nuity of party rage could invent was raised against its ratification or adoption, yet it never occurred to any one that the militia could be marched out of the United States; and if the history of those times is looked into, it will be found that the power of marching the militia of Georgia to New Hampshire, and the militia of Maine to Georgia, was the subject of serious complaint on the part of the opposers of the Constitution, and when such objections were raised, it is evident that if ever the thought of marching the militia out of the United States had occurred, or had been supposed to have been contained in the instrument, it never would have been ratified. It therefore seemed to him clear, that it was not the intention of the framers of the Constitution to grant Mr. MOSELEY proposed that five thousand copies of the communication should be printed. This motion was seconded by Mr. MILNOR, who, on account of its importance, contended for the necessity of making it as public as possible. It was opposed by Mr. BACON, as improper and as incurring an unnecessary expense. Improper, because it would be giving an undue sanction to a letter to one of the committees of the House, which had not been acted upon, (and which it was unusual to publish at all;) incurring an unnecessary expense, because the letter of the Secretary would undoubtedly be printed in every newspaper in the United States, and by this means be made more generally public, than it would be in any other way.-Motion negatived 75 to 42. |