JANUARY, 1819.] The Seminole War. [H. OF R. tims, and sacrificing an equal number, though we have lost hundreds, we have only executed units. It is said, however, that we have never departed from the rules of modern war but in burning their habitations and destroying their food. Is this departure, indeed, allowable; and will gentlemen yet say, that it is not a measure of more rigorous severity than the death of the two men, who are the subject of this discussion? the mere existence of war made every individ-| makes use of the poniard. But, said the ual, and every description of property belong- Speaker, we have never, in a long series of ing to each country, mutually and reciprocally wars, practised retaliation for Indian barbarity. hostile, and subject to destruction in every Sir, this is not retaliation. That consists in a possible mode, yet, since the usages of civiliz- literal execution of the great precept of "an ed warfare were introduced, certain instru- eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth "—that ments of war are altogether reprobated, and "measures blood by drops, and bates not one persons as well as property of certain descrip- in the repay." It is never appeased until it tions, and under particular circumstances, are sacrifice just as many victims as the enemy has, spared. Sir, at the moment of expressing this and those, too, of the same grade, if within its sentiment, I behold one memorable exception reach. Thus, if the Indians had killed three to this mitigated rule, in an act perpetrated by hundred of our men, women, and children, we a nation conspicuous for its civilization. I see should, upon this principle, put to death an the Capitol of my country just rearing its head equal number of theirs. Retaliation then not from a heap of ruin and desolation; in its de- only may, but frequently does, fall upon the instruction a lasting monument of British out-nocent. The execution of these two men is, in rage; in its re-edification a magnificent emblem the most prominent points of view, the reverse of the recuperative energy of my country! But of this. Instead of the innocent, we have punI will let the pall of oblivion fall upon any pain-ished the guilty; instead of counting the vicful recollections-I will return to my subject. Those usages of civilized warfare which I mentioned a moment since to the committee, are the subject, though not of express yet of tacit compact; they are founded upon the idea of an equivalent, and based upon the principle of reciprocal obligation. Thus the language of one nation to another is, spare my monuments of art, and I will not ravage your country-spare my people engaged in the peaceable pursuits of agriculture, and I will spare your women and When we destroy their habitations, we turn children. Am I asked for the proof of this? out, not only their warriors, but the old and It is found at once in the doctrine of retalia- the young, without respect to age or sex, withtion, universally recognized as a sound princi- out a roof to shelter them from the pelting of ple of public law. If, contrary to the rules of the pitiless storm. The miserable pittance of modern war, you put my soldiers, when made property which they own, is all consumed by prisoners, to death, in return I may inflict the the same devouring flame which destroys their same severity upon yours, if, by the fortune of dwellings and makes them houseless wanderers. war, they shall chance to fall into my power; When we destroy their food, we expose them because, in this instance, as you have violated to the danger of all the horrors of famine which your part of the compact in relation to mitiga- may involve in indiscriminate death the guilty ted war, I am consequently absolved from mine, and the innnocent; whilst, in the execution of and restored to my original rights. What is an these men, the guilty only have suffered. Genexception merely in civilized States, is the gentlemen have, indeed, in the most glowing colors eral rule in relation to savages; because, as they never acknowledge the obligations of the rules of modern war, they are without the pale of the compact, and can, therefore, claim no benefit from it. But as against them we have a right, if we choose, to exercise, in its fullest extent, the original rule which I have just laid down. True it is, sir, that we do extend to them many of the benefits of this compact, but it is a gratuitous act on our part, and what, therefore, they have no right to demand; for, in the language of Bynkershoek, though justice may be insisted on in war, yet generosity cannot. Sir, it was Arbuthnot who poured the secret poison of discontent into the minds of the Indians; it was he who awakened the sleeping tiger and let him loose against us, with all his native ferocity whetted by exasperation; it was he who sharpened with new keenness the edge of the tomahawk; it was he who used the deluded savages as the instrument of his wicked purpose, as the man who stabs you to the heart of pathetic eloquence portrayed to us the sufferings of Arbuthnot and Ambrister. If I could dip my pencil in as vivid colors as they have used, and if I had occasion to use them, I, too, could present a picture which, I am persuaded, would excite the keenest sympathies of the human heart. I would present to you, not two guilty men, suffering death according to the sentence of the law, but a scene of slaughtered innocence-not one or two suffering victims only, but a group, a family group. That is but a miniature painting. To make it as large as life, I would present you almost a national group. The figures represented on it would be, old men bending beneath a weight of years, inhumanly butchered; multitudes of women and children gored with wounds and weltering in their own blood; and others, sleeping in the arms of death, with here and there a solitary survivor to deplore their fate. But, sir, I will not attempt to harrow up the feelings of the committee by even a further description of such scenes-it is not necessary; for I cannot H. OF R.] The Seminole War. but believe that the execution of these men stands justified by the laws of nature and of nations. [JANUARY, 1819. Mr. SAWYER, of North Carolina, rose and said Mr. Chairman: As it is not my intention to go over the same grounds that other gentlemen have, my observations will be necessarily few. And I am sorry to be obliged to differ with my friend from New York, in the outset, with respect to the powers of this House over the present question. I think the principle a new one, that Congress But, it has been objected, that whatever our rights may have been, it was not competent to the commanding General to execute them. Do gentlemen mean to say, that their offences were cognizable before any court having criminal jurisdiction? I answer, that they could not have been tried in the United States; because the acts were not committed within our jurisdic-has no power to pass any resolution of condemtional limits. They could not have been tried nation or removal, nor of censure, of any miliin England, for the same reason. And, indeed, tary officer. If such a power exists, let it be though the offences were committed within the pointed out. I have examined the constitution, territorial limits of Spain, yet the authors of clause by clause, for such a power, but I have them were on the lands owned, or at least oc- searched in vain. The Legislative and Execucupied, by the Indians. I do not believe that tive powers are distinctly marked and independ they could have been tried there-for, I will ently delegated, and we cannot pursue this ask, whether we should claim jurisdiction to course without infringing upon the rights of the punish an offence against a foreign Government, | Executive. He is, by the constitution, the committed by an Indian on the lands occupied Commander-in-chief of all our forces, and to by his tribe within our boundary? This, how-him alone are our officers responsible. Besides, ever, is an objection to jurisdiction founded upon a resolution of this kind implies a censure on locality only. I assume a much higher ground. I object to it upon the ground of the nature and character of the act committed. My principle is this that it is a right directly derived from, and appertaining to war, and, therefore, the civil power has no jurisdiction over it. our Executive, by intimating that he had been so negligent in his duty or partial in his affections, as to permit a fault in one of his officers to pass unnoticed, which this House might think worthy of animadversion. I have too much confidence in the Executive to believe he would In regard to the court-martial, gentlemen say fail to do his duty, upon the commission of any it had no jurisdiction. This is conceded to be criminal act on the part of General Jackson. correct; and I have attempted to show, that the But I am yet to learn whether such has been power belonged to the commanding General. the case on the part of the General. What is Although, however, the court had no jurisdic- the true state of the case? Arbuthnot and tion to decide the fate of the two men, it was Ambrister were apprehended in the Indian not improper through them to get at the facts; country, under such circumstances as would and though they had no jurisdiction, it would have justified their immediate execution. But have been desirable that the General, after sub- General Jackson, wishing to afford proofs to the mitting the case to them, should have followed world of their guilt, ordered a special court of the sentence which they pronounced, but for inquiry to convene at St. Marks, the 26th of an unanswerable reason, which, I believe, has April last, for the purpose of investigating the already been urged, that the punishment which charges, and imbodying the evidence against they pronounced in the case in which their them. [Here, Mr. S. read the order, &c.] This sentence was not followed was unknown to the court, as a court of inquiry, had no right to national law, and therefore could not properly pass judgment. They were sitting merely as be inflicted. I have thus, sir, shown, as I think, jurors, and were to find a verdict of guilty or that the power of putting these men to death, not guilty. They did find the prisoners guilty belonged to us as one of the rights of war, and of such charges as subjected them to the punthat it was legitimately exercised by the com- ishment of death. They found Arbuthnot guilty manding General; and yet, sir, I acknowledge of both charges; exciting the Creek Indians to that I feel a regret at their execution-but what war against the United States, and of comfortkind of regret? Just such as I would feel for ing and supporting the enemy, by furnishing the execution of a man who had been sentenced him with the means to carry it on. This was, to death under the municipal law of the coun- in fact, treason against the United States; for try, and in whose favor, under certain circum- these Creek Indians were quasi citizens, enjoystances, I might join in a petition for a pardon, ing the protection, and were under the jurisdic which petition was rejected. I could not, how- tion of the United States, and, notwithstanding ever, in the case which I have stated, concur in Arbuthnot was a foreigner, he could commit a vote of censure against the executive officer treason against the United States as well as a for refusing this pardon, because he has only citizen, and would be either punished for it executed the sentence of the law; because he civilly, by being turned over to the civil auhas carried into effect the public justice of the thority, or by martial law, for such other of country; and, because an act, conformably to fences as came under the cognizance of that trilaw, and in accordance with the principles of bunal. As to Ambrister, it was proved that he justice, even if you call it stern justice, cannot gave intelligence to the enemy, and he plead be morally wrong. guilty to the second change, that of being party and even a leader in the war; of course, they brought on themselves and justly deserved that punishment, which the right of retaliation entitled us, and the orders of General Jackson commanded him, to inflict upon the savage foe. The prisoners being found guilty on such charges as subjected them to capital punishment, there was an end of the authority of the court, and it remained with General Jackson to apply the law of the military code, and see it executed. The opinion which the court thought proper afterwards to express, that the offence of Ambrister did not deserve capital punishment, could only be viewed by General Jackson as a recommendation to mercy by several respectable individuals; but which, in obedience to the laws of the army, he could not observe. But it was inconsistent with the sentence which they had already pronounced against Arbuthnot; for they had ordered him to be hung, although he was only an accessory in the war, and how could they condemn Ambrister to a less severe punishment, who was a principal in it! General Jackson was merely reconciling their own decisions, when he, at the same time, conformed to the laws of his country, which forbid the infliction of torture, and was the minister of even-handed justice, that "returned the poisoned chalice to their lips who prepared it." Although I am hurt at the zeal with which I see this prosecution carried on, and the joy manifested at it from a certain quarter of the House, yet I cannot be so uncharitable as to impute their motives to the conduct of General Jackson prior to this event. Surely no gentleman within these walls can harbor a prejudice against him for his victories over any of our enemies. I must believe their motives are pure, but I cannot but think their views are erroneous. What would they have, even admitting, for argument's sake, that the conduct of General Jackson was not strictly legal? Would they wish to see that man, at his time of life, grown gray in his country's service, dragged before a military tribunal to answer for it? Can his age-can his services --can his victories-plead nothing? Must they all be buried at the shrine of two demi-devils, whose conduct has drawn tons of blood from an unoffending country's breast? I trust not. The blaze of Jackson's glory is too bright, in my eyes, to be obscured by the transaction. But the course proposed is very extraordinary. Are we a self-constituted tribunal, to whom General Jackson is responsible? What purpose can it serve to pass a resolution criminating the commanding General? Have we any authority, and can we claim the privilege of attacking the characters of the best and greatest men among us, and of depriving them of the most "precious jewels of their souls?" This is a new species of legislative domination, dangerous to the liberties of the people. If you claim the use of it, what man can be safe? There is no man of elevated rank but what may be obnoxious to some member of this House; and would it be right for him to use his privilege of a member [H. OF R. to assail his character? Will the people endure to be dragged before this council of anatomists, to undergo the worst of all dissections? I for one will not, by any act of mine, sanction the extension of this censorial power over my constituents. The age of proscription, I trust, is over, never to be revived. There is a proper tribunal, clearly marked out by the constitution, for the punishment and censure of every grievance; to that tribunal General Jackson is answerable, and no other. If the President has omitted to do his duty, let the gentleman impeach him; but this criminating course, in this House, is mere brutum fulmen, without any corresponding power, but fraught with great mischief, by fixing a sting in the bosom of a person who is not permitted to be present to make his defence. What effect can the passage of this resolution have? Can it deprive General Jackson of his commission? If the President approves his conduct, will he be driven to act the ungrateful task of dismissing from his service the man whom he may think deserves well of his country, by any officious intermeddling on our part? Sir, I trust the President has too high a sense of his own rights and dignity. The Government-the people-have too high a sense of Jackson's merit, ever to give him up as a victim to the manes of such creatures as Arbuthnot and Ambrister. So far from censure, he deserves the grateful thanks of this House, and I trust he will receive them. I consider we are bound to tender him a vote of thanks, as a balm to his wounded spirit-as an antidote to the worst of all poisons-that which is inflicted with the tooth of ingratitude? And here I beg leave to quote the General's own words, for, as ably as he has been defended on this floor, I believe his own defence, considering all circumstances, is nearly as good as any that can be made for him. I will take the liberty of reading an extract from his letter of the 5th of May last, dated at Fort Gadsden, to the Secretary of War. This letter affords another proof that he had the heart to conceive, the hand to execute, and the talents to defend, the best measures which the urgency of the occasion required. "I hope the execution of these two unprincipled villains will prove an awful example to the world, and convince the Government of Great Britain, as well as her subjects, that certain, if slow, retribution awaits those unchristian wretches, who, by false promises, delude and excite an Indian tribe to all the horrid deeds of savage war. Previous to my leaving Fort Gadsden, I had occasion to address a communication to the Governor of Pensacola, on the subject of per Fort Crawford. This letter, with another from St mitting supplies to pass up the Escambia River to Marks, on the subject of some United States clothing, shipped in a vessel in the employ of the Spanish Government to that post, I now enclose, with his reply. The Governor of Pensacola's refusal to my demand, cannot but be viewed as a hostile feeling on his part, particularly in connection with some cir cumstances reported to me from the most unquestionable authority. It has been stated that the In H. OF R.] Regulation of Coins. [JANUARY, 1819. | Spain; let us not be guilty of such monstrous ingratitude to our worthy commander as to forget all his services, his midnight vigils, and his uniform success, by passing a string of resolutions which many of us do not comprehend, and which he never could have intended to violate. For, I believe it is not usual to censure a general for his success; he could have expected no worse had he been beaten. This is but poor encouragement to our officers. TUESDAY, January 26. Honor to Learning and Philanthropy. Mr. BASSETT addressed the Chair, and said that he rose to perform a pleasing task, because it was connected with humanity. It was to give praise and honor where praise and honor were due. It was, continued Mr. B., said last dians at war with the United States have free access into Pensacola, that they are kept advised, from that quarter, of all our movements; that they are supplied from thence with ammunition and munitions of war; and that they are now collecting in a body, to the amount of four or five hundred warriors, in that town; that inroads from thence have been lately made on the Alabama, in one of which eighteen settlers fell by the tomahawk. These statements compel me to make a movement to the west of the Appalachicola, and, should they prove correct, Pensacola must be occupied with an American force, the Governor treated according to his deserts, or as policy may dictate. I shall leave strong garrisons in Forts St. Marks, Gadsden, and Scott, and in Pensacola, should it be necessary to possess it. It becomes my duty to state it as my confirmed opinion, that so long as Spain has not the power or will to enforce the treaties by which she is solemnly bound to preserve the Indians within her territory at peace with the United States, no security can be given to our southern frontier, without occupy-night, from that chair, that sensible objects ing a cordon of posts along the shore. The moment the American army retires from Florida the war hatchet will be again raised, and the same scenes of indiscriminate massacre, with which our frontier settlers have been visited, will be repeated, so long as the Indians within the territory of Spain are exposed to the delusion of false prophets and poison of foreign intrigue; so long as they can receive ammunition, munitions of war, from pretended traders and Spanish commandants, it will be impossible to restrain their outrages. The burning their towns, destroying their stock and provisions, will produce but temporary embarrassments. Resupplied by Spanish authorities, they may concentrate and disperse at will, and keep up a lasting and predatory warfare against the United States, as expensive to our Government as harass ing to our troops. The savages, therefore, must be made dependent on us, and cannot be kept at peace without being persuaded of the certainty of chastisement being inflicted on the commission of the first offence. I trust, therefore, that the measures which have been pursued will meet with the approbation of the President of the United States; they have been adopted in pursuance of your instructions, and under a firm conviction that they alone were calculated to insure peace and security to the Georgian frontier." There would have been no end to the war, if he had permitted the enemy to retreat to those strongholds, the Spanish forts, without pursuing them with fiery expedition. The trial was made, and as soon as our forces retraced their steps, the Indians recommenced their system of robbing and murder. Does the gentleman require that we should be at the expense of keeping up a regular standing force throughout the whole extent of the Georgia frontier; to make it an armed barrier against the savages? Ought he not to be satisfied that the war has terminated in the manner it has, in the complete dispersion and conquest of the enemy, by the only mode in which it could be done promptly and completely? Ought he not to be thankful that his constituents can now pursue their peaceful avocations, without hourly apprehensions of murder and conflagration? If any irregularities have happened in the course of this war, leave it to be settled between us and most forcibly attracted us. My heart responds to its truth. Most sensibly did I feel, on beholding in that chair a man whose life has been devoted to the amelioration of the state of man; one who, without influence of kindred or country, and without any aid save that of a common tongue, has passed the vast Atlantic, to make known the hidden powers and blessings of knowledge. Thousands, said Mr. B., are now enjoying the happy fruits of his exertions, and millions to come will reap their profits, and drink again and again of the never-failing spring. I should do injustice to the feelings of the House, to dwell on this subject. Mr. B. then submitted the following resolution, which was read and agreed to: Resolved, That Joseph Lancaster, the friend of learning and of man, be admitted to a seat within the hall of the House of Representatives. The bill for the relief of Hannah Ring and Luther Frink, was ordered to a third reading; and the bill for the relief of Lewis Joseph Beaulieu, was taken up, and ordered to lie on the table. Regulation of Coins. Mr. LOWNDES, from the committee appointed to inquire whether it be expedient to make any amendment in the laws which regulate the coins of the United States, and foreign coins, made the following report: That the laws of the United States make all gold and silver coins issued from their Mint, and Spanish dollars, and the parts of such dollars, a legal tender for the payment of debts. The gold coins of Great Britain, Portugal, France, Spain, and the dominions of Spain, and the crowns and five franc pieces of France, are also declared to be a tender, by an act passed on the 29th of April, 1818. These coins, ex cepting the five franc pieces, had been made legal by and their renewal, with slight modification, must be two earlier acts, which had been allowed to expire, attributed, not to a disregard of the inconveniences which the use of coins so various and unequal in their purity must produce, but to the exigencies of a country endeavoring suddenly to recover a specie circulation. The act of 1816 was accordingly passed but for three years, and will expire on the 29th of April, 1819, after which, no foreign coin but the Spanish dollar will, under our present laws, pass current as money within the United States. The act for establishing a Mint was passed in April, 1792, and it was then expected that foreign coins, including the Spanish dollar, might be disused after three years. But, neither an examination of the laws which regulate the currency of American and foreign coins, nor the observations of the effects which they have as yet produced, will justify us in expecting that a continued reliance upon them will enable us to dispense at any time with foreign coins. | [H. OF R. 1786, was nearly 1 to 15 1-4; and the reduction in the valuation of gold by the act of April 12th, 1792, to the proportion of 1 to 15, may be attributed to the belief, which was expressed in the report on which that act was founded, "that the highest actual proportion in any part of Europe, very little, if at all, exceeds 1 to 15; and that the average proportion was probably not more than 1 to 14 8-10." The difficulty of obtaining correct information upon points of this kind, makes it not improbable, that there may have been some error as to the state of the Mint regulations of Europe at the period of the report. But, be this as it may, the principle which seems to be assumed in it, that the valuation of gold in this country should be higher than in Europe, would lead to the conclusion, that the present valuation of 1 to 15 is too low. As the committee entertain no doubt that gold is estimated below its fair relative value, in comparison to silver, by the present regulations of the Mint; and as it can scarcely be considered as having formed a material part of our money circulation for the last twenty-six years, they have no hesitation in recommending that its valuation shall be raised, so as to make it bear a juster proportion to its price in the commercial world. But the smallest change which is likely to secure this object (a just proportion of gold coins in our circulation) is that which the committee prefer, and they believe it sufficient to restore gold to its original valuation in this country, of 1 to 15 6-10. Seminole War. To preserve the coins which are issued from the Mint from being melted and exported, the laws must give them some advantages in internal commerce over foreign coins of equal purity and weight. In respect to the gold coinage of the United States, the This conclusion is confirmed by the circumstance Mint depends for its supply of bullion upon banks or of the contract made not long since, between the individuals, as it does in the coinage of silver. But Bank of the United States and Messrs. Baring and there is a difficulty in the operations of the Mint, Reed, for the supply of specie. Under this contract, which is peculiar to the coinage of the gold. The gold and silver were to be furnished, if it were pracrelative value of gold to silver is fixed by our law at ticable, in equal amounts, according to the American one to fifteen, which is much below the relative value relative valuation of 1 to 15. Upwards of two milwhich is assigned to it in all those countries from lions of dollars of silver have been accordingly supwhich we might have expected to procure it. In plied, but not an ounce of gold. Spain and Portugal, the legal value of gold is to that of silver as one to sixteen; and in the colony of Spain with which our intercourse is most frequent and valuable, (Cuba,) its price in commerce is at least seventeen for one. Hence, we are not only precluded in the common course of trade from obtaining gold from these rich sources of supply, but the little which finds its way into the country from other quarters, is drawn from us by the higher estimate which is there placed upon it. In France, the legal value of gold is to that of silver nearly as 1 to 15 1-2. In most parts of Italy, it is somewhat higher. In England, silver coin is only current in small sums; but if a specie circulation shall be restored in that country on the basis of its present mint regulations, the relative value of gold to silver will be about 1 for 15 1-5. The exaction of a seignorage on its silver coins makes the comparison less easy; but the merchant who shall carry bullion to the British mint, will obtain very nearly the same amount of current money for one ounce of pure gold, or 15 1-5 of pure silver. In Holland, the relative value of gold to silver is estimated Mr. MERCER addressed the Chair as follows: (if there have been no recent changes in respect to it) The resolutions before us have for their obat 1 to about 14 3-4. In Germany, and the north of Europe, the value may be stated as rather below an ject neither a censure of General Jackson nor average of 1 to 15. The West Indies, which are of the Executive. Pursuing the natural course probably our most considerable bullion market, esti- of legislation, they ascertain the existence of a mate gold in proportion to silver very little, if at all, public abuse, and recommend the application of below an average of 1 to 16. And this is done, al- a constitutional corrective. They spring from. though some of the most considerable colonies belong an inquiry into the conduct of the Seminole to powers whose laws assign to gold a lower relative war, to which the President's Message at the value in their European dominions. This estimate, opening of the present session, called the attenwhich was forced upon many of the colonies by the tion of the House. It cannot be forgotten, that, necessity of giving for gold the price which it com during the two first administrations of the manded in their neighborhood, and particularly in Federal Government, the President, at the the countries which formed the great sources of their commencement of every session of Congress, supply, seems to indicate the fair proportion between the metals in the West Indies, since it is believed to met in person the two Houses, convened tohave been, in most instances, confirmed by the colo-gether, and pronounced the address which his nial laws, rather than introduced by them. The difference established by custom in the United States, between coined gold and silver, before the establishment of the present Government, seems to have been nearly as 1 to 15 6-10. The difference proposed by Congress, in their resolution of the 8th of August, VOL. VI.-18 The House then again proceeded, in Committee of the Whole, (Mr. PITKIN in the chair,) to the consideration of the report of the Military Committee, and the amendments moved thereto by Mr. COBB, touching the transactions of the Seminole war. Secretary now conveys to us in the form of a Message. In relation to every part of the address, the two Houses separately exercised the unquestioned right of responding. These responses brought into brief review the whole course of administration. All the political acts |