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H. OF R.]

Exports.

[JANUARY, 1819.

THURSDAY, December 31.

Death of Mr. Mumford.

Mr. SMITH, of North Carolina, announced the death of GEORGE MUMFORD, a member of this House, from the State of North Carolina; whereupon,

Resolved unanimously, That a committee be appointed to take order for superintending the funeral of GEORGE MUMFORD, deceased, late a Representative from the State of North Carolina.

Messrs. SMITH, of North Carolina, WILLIAMS, of North Carolina, OWEN, STEWART, of North Carolina, SETTLE, EDWARDS, and SLOCUMB, were appointed the said committee.

village of Vevay are the countrymen of the | tingent fund of the House; which resolution illustrious Tell, that they are planters of the was concurred in. vine, and industrious and virtuous people, delighting in the exercise of the rights of hospitality, I find my sympathy strongly excited; yet I do not suffer that sympathy to delude my understanding. But, should these people write to their friends across the Atlantic, and inform them that they are here, enjoying the patronage and fostering care of our Government, would not those friends, although looking around them, and seeing themselves surrounded by ramparts of mountains, yet, perceiving the avalanches of European power continually tumbling upon their heads, be disposed to abandon a country where their liberties are so insecure, and come to one where they should be assured of an asylum? On the other hand, should they be informed that these persons came to their hard-hearted creditor-that creditor an opulent, powerful nation, and told him that they had been unfortunate, but not guilty; negli gent, but not delinquent; yet that he drove them from his door with scorn and contempt, bade them begone, and prepare to pay him the last farthing of their bond at the moment when it should become due, what, then, would be their feelings? They could not be other than those of the deepest aversion and horror. We cannot do too much, sir, to encourage the emigration of a class of population like that of the Cantons of Switzerland, a population remarkably assimilated to that of our own country, in manners, customs, feelings, and principles.

There is yet another argument more weighty than that just urged-I mean that resulting from the policy of encouraging the cultivation of the vine, encouraging it, paradoxical as it may seem, for the purpose of preventing intemperance; for, true it is, that there are no people more temperate than those of France and Switzerland. The reason is, that they make use of the products of their own vineyards, as the substitute for those deleterious ardent spirits which are here consumed to so lamentable an excess. Give then to these people a little indulgence, and you shall see not only the banks of the Ohio festooned by the grape vine, but it shall climb to our mountain tops, and its fruit bask in the sunshine upon all our hills.

The question was then taken on reconsidering the vote on the bill, and decided in the affirmative; when, on motion of Mr. PINDALL, the bill was referred to a select committee.

TUESDAY, December 29.

Mr. H. NELSON, from the Judiciary Committee, to whom had been referred the letter of the Sergeant-at-Arms, respecting the suit commenced against him by John Anderson, reported a resolution authorizing and requesting the Speaker to employ such counsel as he may think proper to defend the suit brought by John Anderson against the said Thomas Dunn, and that the expenses be defrayed out of the con

Resolved unanimously, That the members of this House will testify their respect to the memory of GEORGE MUMFORD, late one of their body, by wearing crape on their left arm, for one month.

Resolved unanimously, That the members of this House will attend the funeral of the late GEORGE MUMFORD, to-morrow morning at 10 o'clock.

Ordered, That a message be sent to the Senate, to notify them of the death of GEORGE MUMFORD, late a member of this House, and that his funeral will take place to-morrow, at | 10 o'clock.

The House then adjourned to Monday.

MONDAY, January 4, 1819.
The following Message was received from the
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 7th instant, requesting me to
lay before it the proceedings which have been had
under the act, entitled "An act for the gradual in-
crease of the Navy of the United States," specifying
the number of ships that have been put on the stocks,
and of what class, and the quantity and kind of ma-
terials which have been procured, in compliance
with the provisions of said act, and also the sums of
money which have been paid out of the funds created
by the said act, and for what objects; and likewise
the contracts which have been entered into, in exe-
cution of the said act, on which moneys may not yet
have been advanced; I transmit a report from the
acting Secretary of the Navy, together with a com-
munication from the Board of Navy Commissioners,
which, with the documents accompanying it, compre-
hends all the information required by the House of
Representatives.
JAMES MONROE.

DECEMBER 31, 1818.

The Message, with its enclosures, was ordered to be printed.

Exports.

The SPEAKER laid before the House the following letter from the Secretary of the Treasury:

JANUARY, 1819.]

The Seminole War and General Jackson.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Jan. 1, 1819. Sır: I have the honor to transmit a statement of the exports of the United States, during the year ending the 30th of September, 1818, amounting in value, in articles of

[H. OF R.

Mr. MERCER then said, he had another resolution to offer, in relation to another branch of the same subject. We have all been informed, he said, in the course of the last few months, that individuals brought into the United States, in violation of the law before referred to, had, 19,426,696 in execution of the provisions of the law, been condemned to hereditary slavery; and, on ex$93,281,133

Domestic produce and manufacture, to $73,854,437
Foreign do do do do

following countries, viz:

Domestic.

To the northern countries of

Europe

1,554,259

To the dominions of the

Netherlands

4,192,776

Foreign. 1,081,424

Which articles appear to have been exported to the amining the acts of Congress, he found that the authority under which this iniquity (he would so call it) had been practised, was derived from one of those acts. To obtain such information as might assist the House in arriving at a proper remedy for this fault, he moved the following 8,022,711 resolution: 2,292,280 10,666,798 3,283,791 4,589,661 2,967,252 2,650,019 248,158

Of Great Britain 44,425,552

Of France

Of Spain.

Of Portugal.

The Hanse Towns and ports

of Germany

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All others

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to report to this House the number and names of the slave ships, if any, which have been seized and condemned within the United States for violation of the laws thereof against the importation 1,073,491 of slaves, and if any negroes, mulattoes, or persons 4,915,589 of color, have been found on board such vessels, their number, and the disposition which have been made $73,854,437 $19,426,696 of them by the several State Governments under whose jurisdiction they have fallen.

2,260,002 3,515,355

I have the honor to be, &c.

WM. H. CRAWFORD.

The SPEAKER of the House of Reps.

Mr. STROTHER moved to amend the resolution so as to direct a report to be made also of

The letter, with its enclosures, was ordered the number and names of the slave ships, if any, to be printed.

The Slave Trade.

and of the ports from which they had sailed, if they could be ascertained. Mr. S. said he wished that the ignominy of this trade, if any, should attach where it belonged, and not be imputed, on the authority of general rumor, to the whole country. He wished at least that the country of which he was a Representative should be absolved from any charge of participation in it.

Mr. FLOYD wished also, that the names of the places where the vessels are owned should be added to that of the place whence they sailed.

Mr. COBB desired to amend this resolve fur

ther, so as to require information by whom, as well as where, the vessels were owned.

Mr. MERCER introduced the resolution which follows by a few remarks, importing that the law of the United States prohibiting the citizens of the United States from engaging in the slave trade, was evaded in a manner which demanded the interposition of Congress. He referred to the law which authorizes the President of the United States to employ our armed vessels in executing its provisions, and also authorizes those vessels to seize and bring into the ports of the United States all ships and vessels engaged in the violation of it. In a publication which Mr. M. said he had seen, and to which he referred, the names were given of at least twenty vessels fitted out in the ports of the United States for the obvious purpose of carrying on the slave trade. Appeals had been taken from the decisions which had been made by the inferior tribunals in some of these cases, and the names of American houses and American citizens engaged in this detestable traffic, were to be found on the records of the British court. To obtain information having a direct bear-tled ing on this subject, Mr. M. submitted this resolation:

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Navy be directed to report to this House a copy of such instructions, if any, as may have been issued by this Department, in pursuance of the act of Congress of 1817, prohibiting the importation of slaves, to the commanders of the armed vessels of the United States, for the purpose of intercepting, on the coast of Africa, or elsewhere, such vessels as have been engaged in the slave trade.

The motion was agreed to.
VOL VL-15

These amendments were not objected to by Mr. MERCER, and were, as well as the original motion, all agreed to.

TUESDAY, January 12.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate have passed a bill, enti"An act to enable the people of the Alabama Territory to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into the Union, on an equal footing with the original States;" in which they ask the concurrence of this House.

The Seminole War and General Jackson.
Mr. T. M. NELSON, from the Committee on
Military Affairs, made a report concluding
with the following resolution:

Resolved, That the House of Representatives of the
United States disapproves the proceedings in the trial

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Mr. JOHNSON, of Kentucky, also of the Military Committee, submitted a paper drawn up in the shape of a report by that committee, which, by a majority of one vote, that commit-in tee had refused to accept, and the said paper was read, concluding with the expression of the opinion that General Jackson, his officers and men, are entitled to the thanks of the country in terminating the Seminole war.

The report having been read

Mr. POINDEXTER, of Mississippi, said he hoped that the House would never agree to a report, affirming which the House would be required to forget the wrongs inflicted on us by foreign nations, to overlook the inhuman deeds committed on the frontier of Georgia, and to turn its attention to the laudable object of destroying the reputation of one of its most distinguished citizens. It was not in the point of view in which the gentleman from Georgia had regarded the question; it was not from any

Mr. COBB, of Georgia, rose to make a motion, the object of which was to give to the report of the Military Committee, as well as to the sub-regard to the savages of Florida, and their allies, stitute presented by a member of that committee, a direction which should insure to it a discussion, as full as was desired, at the present session. For this purpose, he moved to refer them to a Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union. These papers, he said, involved | principles of great consequence, on which in some measure depended, as he believed, the character of the nation; they also necessarily involved important questions as to the laws of nations, and as to the constitution of our own country, and ought to have a deliberate consideration.

British refugees and Spanish agents, or from a wish to crush that man by the strong arm of power-that man who had so much merited the thanks of his country, that he wished a full and early discussion of the subject. He did not wish it, he said, to be referred to a Committee of the Whole, or to lie on the table and be forgotten. He was not willing that any such report as that from the Military Committee, calculated to ruin the reputation of a man who had rendered so signal services to his country, should be considered as representing the opinion of this House. He was not willing, therefore, that it should remain for a moment on the table, but should undergo a full discussion as early as practicable; which would be insured by referring it to a Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union.

Mr. FLOYD, of Virginia, was as desirous as the gentleman from Georgia of a deliberate discussion of the subject of these reports; but, if they were referred to a Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, a motion to go into which was always in order, the House might be taken Mr. MERCER, of Virginia, while he congratu by surprise, or brought into the discussion en-lated the House on the dignified report which tirely without notice, at the motion of any gentleman who wished it. He therefore wished the papers should be referred, as in ordinary cases, to a Committee of the Whole.

the Military Committee had presented to them, was disposed, in the proceedings on this subject, to act with all necessary deliberation. The only objection he had heard to the proposition to Mr. STROTHER, of Virginia, agreed with the refer the subject to a Committee of the Whole gentlemen who had preceded him, that the re- on the state of the Union, was, that it might be port should be so disposed of as to insure a full called up at any time; this objection, he said, examination of its merits. The subject, he said, might be entirely obviated by naming a day was one of considerable interest and excitement, when it should be called up; and, if a day were though he was not under the impression that it not named, the House would always have was one of great magnitude, nor that it carried it in its power, if it chose, to refuse to go into in its bosom the fate of the nation, as the gen- committee, if moved for at too early a day. He tleman from Georgia seemed to suppose, which should deplore, Mr. M. said, perhaps more than depended on far other considerations. The best any member of the House, that this should be course to pursue in regard to these papers, Mr. referred to an ordinary Committee of the Whole, S. thought, would be to lay them on the table. and that the whole session should pass off withThough not of momentous consequence, he out an expression, on the part of the House, of said, yet the decision on them was calculated to its opinion on this subject. With respect to the implicate the character, and perhaps the happi- character of General Jackson, though he would ness, of the illustrious individual whose proceed- not unnecessarily arraign it, Mr. M. said, he ings it was proposed to censure. He would, in looked, in the view which he took of the imregard to any proposition involving the happi-portance of this question, to higher objects ness or reputation of any individual, conspicu-to the character of this House and of this ous or obscure, act with great deliberation. He nation. was therefore opposed to referring this matter to a Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, thus putting it in the power of any individual to call it up when he pleased, and to precipitate the House into a discussion unadvisedly and unprepared. He was for not hastily acting on a proposition to censure a man who

Mr. SMYTH, of Virginia, hoped that the motion of the gentleman from Georgia would prevail. He presumed that the gentlemen adverse to General Jackson were none of them desirous of precipitating the discussion, or taking any advantage, by surprise, of those who approved of his conduct. He supposed that by Monday

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next every gentleman who desired to take a part in the discussion would be prepared, and that that day would be agreed on. He said he should, when the discussion came on, attempt to show that all the proceedings of General Jackson were justifiable by the law of na

tions.

Mr. DESHA, of Kentucky, wished the papers to lie on the table, that the members of the House might have an opportunity of examining them; but, if referred to any committee of the House, he wished the substitute as well as the report to be referred-and that, in their publication, they might go together, that the world should see and understand the views of both sides of the House.

Mr. JOHNSON, of Kentucky, suggested the propriety of a concurrence, on all sides of the House, in the commitment of the report and the amendment to a committee, as proposed. If for no other reason than that the Speaker might wish to participate in the debate, he should approve of that course. The subject had excited considerable sensation, and he hoped every opportunity would be given to members, on all sides of the House, to express their opinions. To debate it now was to take up the time of the House to no useful purpose whatever.

[H. OF R.

this subject, and the views of the transaction entertained by the committee, have been already given.

II. In not requiring the fulfilment of the engagement made by the stockholders on subscribing, to pay the second and third instalments on the stock, in coin and funded debt. The facts on this point are fully before the House, and they establish, beyond to receive, and did receive, what they deemed an all doubt, 1st, that the directors of the bank agreed equivalent for coin, in checks upon, and the notes of the bank and other banks to pay specie. This substitution of any equivalent whatever, for the specific things required by the charter, was in itself a departure from its provisions; but, 2d, the notes and checks thus received were not, in all cases, equivalent to coin, because there was not specie to meet them in the bank; 3d, that notes of individuals were discounted and taken in lieu of the coin part of the second instalment, by virtue of a resolution for that purpose, passed before that instalment became due; 4th, that the notes of individuals were taken in many instances, and to large amounts, in lieu of the whole of the second and third instalments, which notes are

yet unpaid.

III. In paying dividends to stockholders who had not completed their instalments, the provisions of the charter in that respect were violated.

IV. By the judges of the first and second election allowing many persons to give more than thirty votes each, under pretence of their being attorneys for persons in whose names shares then stood, when those judges, the directors, and officers of the bank, perfectly well knew that those shares really belonged to the persons offering to vote upon them as attorneys. The facts in relation to this violation are in possession of the House, and establish it beyond the reach of doubt.

After some further remarks from Messrs. FLOYD, COBB, and STROTHER, in support of their respective opinions, and some conversation on a point of order, the question on referring the report of the Military Committee to a Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union was car-stance of a violation of the charter has been estabried without a division.

On motion of Mr. DESHA, the paper offered by Mr. JOHNSON, of Kentucky, as a substitute, was then referred to the same committee; and

The committee are of opinion that no other in

lished. In closing this report of a most laborious investigation, the committee observe, that whatever difference of opinion can exist among them as to the results and inferences to be drawn from the facts stated, they unanimously concur in giving, to the preceding statements of facts and abstracts of docu

Mr. TALLMADGE gave notice that, if no one else did, he should, on Monday next, move to go into a Committee of the Whole on this sub-ments, their sanction. They have not recommended ject.

SATURDAY, January 16.

Bank of the United States. Mr. SPENCER, from the committee appointed on the 30th of November last, to inspect the books and examine into the proceedings of the Bank of the United States, to report thereon, and to report whether the provisions of its charter have been violated or not, made a detailed report thereon; which was read and committed to the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union. The report concludes as follows:

The committee, then, are of the opinion that the provisions of the charter of the Bank of the United States have been violated in the following instances: I. In purchasing two millions of public debt, in order to substitute them for two other millions of similar debt, which it had contracted to sell, or had sold in Europe, and which the Secretary of the Treasury claimed the right of redeeming. The facts on

the adoption of any measures to correct the many evils and mischiefs they have depicted, excepting that of the bill before mentioned, because, by the provisions of the charter, the Secretary of the Treasury has full power to apply a prompt and adequate remedy, whenever the situation of the bank shall require it. And if, after the stockholders have become tion, they shall adopt no means to prevent its conacquainted with the mismanagement of the institutinuance, or the directors themselves shall persist in a course of conduct requiring correction, the committee cannot entertain a doubt that the salutary power lodged in the Treasury Department will be exerted, as occasion may require, and with reference to the best interests of the United States.

Government of Florida.

Mr. EDWARDs rose to offer a resolution calling for information in relation to the posts, without the limits of the United States, now in the possession of the United States. The object of his motion was in itself so plain as to need no elucidation. It would be recollected that the law of 1811 authorized the taking possession, on certain contingencies, of that part

H. OF R.]

The Seminole War.

[JANUARY, 1819.

of Florida east of the Perdido, and to establish | House in the discharge of its duty, or that was a government therein. One object of the resolution was to ascertain how far, if at all, that law had been carried into effect, &c. The resolution was in the following words:

Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to cause any information, not already communicated, to be laid before this House, whether Amelia Island, St. Marks, and Pensacola, yet remain in the possession of the United States, and, if so, by what laws the inhabitants thereof are governed; whether articles imported therein from foreign countries are subject to any and what duties, and by what laws; and whether the said duties are collected, and how; whether vessels arriving in the United States from Pensacola and Amelia Island, and in Pensacola and Amelia Island from the United States, respectively, are considered and treated as vessels arriving from foreign countries.

Mr. HOLMES said that the resolution embraced some objects which the Committee of Foreign Relations had had under consideration, that concerning Amelia Island, for example; respecting which they had directed him to make of the Secretary of State all the inquiries embraced in the resolution, and more. That information might be expected to be soon received, and laid before the House. He therefore wished the gentleman to waive his motion for the present.

Mr. EDWARDS said he had no objection, if the committee had asked for the information, (though he still thought it would have been better had the information been specially called for by the House,) to waive his motion for the present, with the reservation of the right to renew it, if the expected information was not laid before the House.

Mr. HOPKINSON suggested that the information which had been required by the Committee of Foreign Relations was limited to Amelia Island, and therefore did not embrace the principal part of the information required by the resolution.

necessary to enable them to ascertain the manner in which the Executive department had discharged the duties assigned it by the constitution and laws of the country. The stability the right to call for and obtain information; and integrity of the Government depended upon but he objected to this resolution, introduced by his friend from North Carolina, because the information called for had been furnished this House, in that voluminous document laid upon our table upon the subject of the Seminole war. Mr. S. said, if his honorable friend would examine the correspondence between General Jackson and the Secretary of War, he would ascertain that a government has been established at Pensacola, and functionaries appointed to administer the government; a temporary govern ment, confined to the necessary and legitimate purpose of protection to the persons and property of the people inhabiting that region; a proceeding springing from necessity, and to terminate with it. Upon this ground he was opposed to the resolution.

The Seminole War.

The order of the day, on the report of the Committee on Military Affairs respecting the Seminole war, being announced

The House then went into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, to whom that report was committed, Mr. PITKIN in the Chair.

There was some conversation previously about postponing the subject for a day or two; but the House, by a majority of ten or fifteen votes, resolved to take it up.

The report of the Military Committee was read through, concluding with the following res olution:

"Resolved, That the House of Representatives of the United States disapproves the proceedings in the trial and execution of Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert C. Ambrister."

Mr. EDWARDS said, if that were the case, he Mr. COBB, of Georgia, commenced the debate, should certainly not waive his motion. If we by observing, that although he concurred in are correctly informed by the newspapers, there opinion with the Military Committee, as exhad been something like a government estab-pressed in their report under consideration, yet lished at St. Marks and at Pensacola, by the he thought they had not gone far enough. military authority, as well as at the Amelia There were other matters, arising out of the Island; and he wished to ascertain how far the late Seminole war, which he thought of infiarrangements of the military authority had nitely greater importance, and, in comparison been sanctioned by the Executive. Vessels had with which, indeed the trials of Arbuthnot and cleared out and entered at Pensacola; he wish-Ambrister were objects of but secondary coned to know whether it had been regarded in sideration. As highly, therefore, as he disapthis respect as a foreign or domestic port. If proved the proceedings in the trial of these civil officers, collectors, &c., had been appointed, he wished to obtain information by what tenure they held their offices, and also the nature of their accountability. If ultimate measures should be found necessary, information would be wanted, without which the House was groping in the dark. He had no other object than to ascertain, officially, the facts on these subjects.

Mr. STROTHER said he never should oppose a resolution calling for information to instruct this

men, yet as, by the report, the matters to which he had allusion were not presented for consideration, he held in his hand certain resolutions which it was his intention to propose, by way of amendment to the report of the Military Committee. [Mr. COBB here read the amendment, which he subsequently moved.] From these resolutions, the Committee of the Whole would observe that it was his intention to open

the whole field of debate, and to present for discussion, not only the trials of these

men,

but

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