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that the town of Blakeley may be made a port of entry; and the petitions were read, and severally referred to the Committee on Commerce and Manufactures.

Mr. WALKER, of Alabama, presented a petition, signed by a number of individuals concerned directly or indirectly in the purchase of public lands prior to the law "making further provision for the sale of the public lands," stating that said law operates injuriously on them, and praying that they may be permitted to apply the payments already made to such portions of their entries as such payments will cover at two dollars per acre, and that the residue may revert to the United States; and the petition was read, and laid on the table.

Mr. THOMAS presented a petition, signed by a number of the inhabitants of the village of Cote Sans Dessein, in the Territory of Missouri, praying to be confirmed in their title to certain lands in said Territory; and the petition was read, and referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

Mr. SMITH Submitted the following motion for consideration:

Resolved, That, the better to enable Congress, in considering a bill to amend the act, entitled "An act to incorporate the subscribers to the Bank of the United States," to apportion the punishment to be inflicted upon the Presidents, Directors, Cashiers, and other officers or servants of the Bank of the United States, and its several offices, or branch banks, the President of the Bank be requested to transmit to the Senate, if any such exist, a statement of any and all fraudulent conversions by the said Presidents, Directors, Cashiers, officers, or servants, of any of them, of any moneys, bills, notes, securities for money, evidences of debt, or other effects whatsoever, belonging to the said bank, to his or their own use; and in what offices these frauds have been practised, and to what extent, and by whom committed, and at what times; and likewise to state what facilities each of those several officers have, by means of their stations respectively, to commit frauds of this character.

Mr. TRIMBLE submitted the following motions

for consideration:

1. Resolved, That the Committee on Roads and Ca

nals be instructed to inquire into the expediency of authorizing by law the employment of the Topographical engineers, under the direction of the President of

the United States, in surveying roads and canals through the public lands, in such places and upon such plan as will best promote the general interest, and improve the military defence of the United States.

JANUARY, 1821.

be annexed to the patent to be granted to each soldier.

On motion by Mr. MORRIL, the committee to whom was referred the Message of the President of the United States of the 13th December, transmitting information relative to the execution of the "Act authorizing the purchase of fire engines, and building houses for the safe-keeping of the same," were discharged from the further consideration thereof.

Mr. THOMAS, from the Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the memorial of the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, in behalf of settlers on public lands, made a report, accompanied by a resolution that the prayer of the memorialist be rejected.

Mr. THOMAS, from the same committee, to whom was referred the petition of the inhabitants of that part of the State of Indiana called the Brookville land district, made a report, accompanied by a resolution that the prayer of the petitioners ought not to be granted.

Mr. EDWARDS obtained leave to bring in a bill confirming certain claims to lands in the State of Illinois; and the bill was passed to a second reading.

Mr. ROBERTS, from the Committee of Claims, to whom was referred the petition of Elisha Gordon, reported a bill for the relief of the representatives of Patience Gordon, widow, deceased; and the bill was read, and passed to a second reading.

Mr. ROBERTS laid on the table a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury in relation to the claim of Elisha Gordon.

The Senate having proceeded to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. BURRILL, in the committee appointed to inquire into the expediency of reducing the pay of the members of Congress and officers of the Executive departments, Mr. STOKES was appointed to supply said vacancy.

Mr. MACON was appointed to supply the vacancy in the Committee of Pensions, occasioned by the resignation of Mr. WILSON.

The bill for the relief of Samuel Tucker, late captain in the Navy of the United States, was read

the second time.

The Senate proceeded to consider the report of the Committee on the Public Buildings on the petition of Julia Plantou; and, on motion by Mr. ROBERTS, it was laid on the table.

section of land; and agreed thereto.

The Senate proceeded to consider the motion of 2. Resolved, That the Committee on Roads and Ca- the 12th instant, instructing the Committee on nals be instructed to inquire into the expediency of Public Lands to inquire into the expediency of authorizing by law the employment of the Topograph-granting a patent to James Nickles, sr., for a quarter ical engineers in surveying, under the direction of the President of the United States, canals to connect the navigable waters between Boston Harbor, in the State of Massachusetts, and Pamlico Sound, in the State of North Carolina, in such direction and on such plan as will best promote the interests and military and naval defence of the United States.

On motion by Mr. THOMAS, the Committee on Public Lands were discharged from the further consideration of the resolution of the 2d instant, instructing them to inquire into the expediency of authorizing a map of the military bounty lands to

The Senate proceeded to consider the motion of the 12th instant, instructing the Committee on Pensions to inquire into the expediency of increasing the pension of Willis Tandy; and agreed thereto.

The Senate proceeded to consider the motion of the 12th instant, instructing the Committee on Finance to inquire into the expediency of directing the publication of the private acts of Congress and Indian treaties; and agreed thereto.

The PRESIDENT communicated a letter from the

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The Senate then proceeded to consider the report of the select committee on the petition of Matthew Lyon, who prays to be indemnified for the damages which were inflicted on him under the former Sedition law. The report concludes with the following resolutions:

Resolved, That so much of the act, entitled "An act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States," approved the 14th July, 1798, as pretends to prescribe and punish libels, is unconstitutional.

Resolved, That the fines collected under that act ought to be restored to those from whom they were exacted; and that these resolutions be recommitted to the committee who brought them in, with instructions to report a bill to that effect.

The resolutions having been read, Mr. BARBOUR rose in support of them, and spoke about two hours; when (not having finished his argument) he gave way for a motion to postpone the subject until tomorrow; which prevailed.

TUESDAY, January 16.

SENATE.

petition of the trustees of Worthington College, in Ohio; and it was postponed to Monday next. MATTHEW LYON.

The Senate then resumed the consideration of the report of the select committee on the case of Matthew Lyon.

Mr. BARBOUR concluded the argument which he left unfinished yesterday, in support of the resolutions.

Mr. WALKER, of Georgia, next rose and spoke some time against the resolutions. Mr. JOHNSON of Kentucky replied to Mr. W. and advocated the resolutions.

WEDNESDAY, January 17.

Mr. WALKER, of Alabama, presented the petition of William Dick, of Alabama, praying that he may be permitted to surrender the certificate for a quarter section of land erroneously entered in his name, and that the amount paid therefor may be credited in payment for other lands; and the petition was read and referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

Mr. NOBLE presented the petition of Isaac M. Johnson and others, inhabitants of that part of the State of Indiana called the "New Purchase," in the Brookvill Land District, praying that the preemption right to a quarter section of land may be granted to Moses Finch, senr., for the purpose of building a bridge over Blue River; and the petition was read and referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

Mr. THOMAS presented the petition of the inhab- Mr. JOHNSON, of Louisiana, presented the meitants and settlers in that part of the State of Illi- morial of the General Assembly of that State, nois, commonly called the Sangamo country, pray-praying that a military road may be made on each ing the right of pre-emption to the lands settled by them; and the petition was read, and referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

Mr. EATON, from the Committee on Finance, to whom the subject was referred, reported a bill supplementary to an act passed on the 11th of May, 1820, entitled "An act to provide for the publication of the laws of the United States, and for other purposes;" and the bill was read, and passed to the second reading.

On motion, by Mr. HORSEY, the Secretary of the Treasury was directed to lay before the Šenate the latest statements he may have received, showing the state of the several incorporated banks in the District of Columbia.

On motion, by Mr. VAN DYKE, the Senate proceeded to consider, as in Committee of the Whole, the bill to establish an uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States; and it was postponed to, and made the order of the day for, Monday next.

The bill for the relief of the representatives of Patience Gordon, widow, deceased, was read the second time.

The bill confirming certain claims to land in the State of Illinois was read the second time, and referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

The Senate resumed the consideration of the report of the Committee of Public Lands on the

side of the Mississippi river, from Fort St. Philip to the English Turn; and the memorial was read and referred to the Secretary for the Department of War.

Mr. HOLMES, of Maine, from the Committee on Finance, to whom the subject was referred, reported a bill further to establish the compensation of the officers employed in the collection of duties on imports and tonnage, and for other purposes; and the bill was read, and passed to a second reading.

Mr. WILLIAMS, of Tennessee, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred the petition of Robert Swartwout, reported a bill for the relief of General Robert Swartwout; which was read, and passed to a second reading.

Mr. PARROTT gave notice, that, to-morrow, he should ask leave to bring in a bill authorizing the repair of a sea-wall at the Isles of Shoals, and for other purposes.

The Senate resumed the consideration of the motion of the second instant instructing the Committee on the Judiciary to report a bill extending the judicial authority of the United States over the State of Missouri; and, on motion by Mr. EATON, it was laid on the table.

Mr. RUGGLES communicated the following resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of Ohio; which were read:

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"Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That our Senators and Representatives in Congress be requested to use their exertions to procure the passage of a law, granting and allowing, out of the United States' lands lying within this State, now unlocated, and to which the Indian title has been recently extinguished, so much land for the use of schools in that part of the State known by the Connecticut Reserve," as shall, with such lands as have heretofore been granted, amount to one thirty-sixth part of the land on said reserve.

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"JANUARY 1, 1821." The resolutions were referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

The Senate proceeded to consider the report of the Committee on Public Lands on the petition of the inhabitants of that part of the State of Indiana called the Brookville Land District; and, in concurrence therewith, resolved that the prayer of the petitioner ought not to be granted.

The Senate proceeded to consider the motion of the 15th instant instructing the Committee on Roads and Canals to inquire into the expediency of employing the topographical engineers in surveying roads and canals through the public lands; and agreed thereto.

The Senate proceeded to consider the motion of the 15th instant instructing the Committee on Roads and Canals to inquire into the expediency of employing the topographical engineers in surveying canals to connect the navigable waters between Boston Harbor and Pamlico Sound; and it was postponed until to-morrow.

The bill supplementary to an act passed on the eleventh of May, 1820, entitled "An act to provide for the publication of the laws of the United States, and for other purposes," was read the second time.

Mr. THOMAS, from the Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the memorial of the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, representing the injurious operation of the act of Congress, requiring prompt payment for the public lands, on the actual settlers thereon, submitted the following report:

That, by an act of Congress, of the 12th April 1814, every person, or the legal representative of every person, who had actually inhabited and cultivated a tract of land lying in the Missouri Territory, which tract was not rightfully claimed by any other person, and who had not removed from the said Territory, was entitled to a preference in becoming the purchaser from the United States of such tract of land, at private sale, at the same price and on the same terms and conditions, in every respect, as were or might be provided by law for the sale of other lands sold at private sale in said Territory at the time of making such purchase, under other restrictions prescribed by the said act. The committee are of opinion that, inasmuch as the right of pre-emption was granted to those settlers upon the express condition that the lands should be paid for on

JANUARY, 1821.

the same terms and conditions in every respect, that were or might be provided by law for the sale of their lands sold at private sale, in said Territory, at the time of making the purchase; and, moreover, as, by the act requiring prompt payment, the minimum price of the public land is reduced from two dollars to one dollar and twenty-five cents an acre, they have no just cause of complaint; and therefore recommend that the prayer of the memorialists be rejected.

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The report was taken up and concurred in by the Senate.

BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. The Senate proceeded to consider the motion made on Friday, by Mr. SANFORD, to print sundry papers connected with, or illustrative of, the bill reported by the Committee of Finance to amend the charter of the Bank of the United States Mr. BARBOUR'S motion to print all the papers communicated by the bank to the committee (including the private statement of frauds and the names of the defrauders) being the first question for decision. Mr. BARBOUR's motion was negatived, and the original motion was agreed to.

The Senate then took up the resolution offered by Mr. SMITH, on Monday, to call on the president of the bank for a list, as far as it could be furnished, of all frauds committed on the bank by any of its officers, the names of the defrauders, at what offices committed, the facilities possessed by the officers for committing them, &c.

On motion of Mr. SANFORD, the resolution was amended by adding a request for " a statement of the number of bank notes issued by the bank, signed by the president and countersigned by the cashier thereof, of every different amount or de'nomination; and also a statement of the amount of notes heretofore issued and made payable at the principal bank, and the amount of notes made 'payable at the different offices."

The question being then put on the resolution as amended, it was decided in the negative, and the resolution rejected.

MATTHEW LYON.

The Senate then resumed the consideration of

the report and resolutions in the case of Matthew Lyon."

Mr. SMITH delivered a speech of near two hours, principally against the expediency of legislating on the subject.

Mr. TALBOT followed in a speech of nearly the same length, in support of the resolutions. When he concluded, the Senate adjourned.

THURSDAY, January 18.

The PRESIDENT communicated a letter from the

Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting a report of the Director of the Mint; and the letter and report were read.

Mr. ROBERTS presented the memorial of the merchants, traders, manufacturers, mechanics, landlords, and others, of the city of Philadelphia, praying that a duty of ten per cent. may be imposed on all merchandise when disposed of at auction in the original packages, and fifteen per

JANUARY, 1821.

Case of Matthew Lyon-Roads and Canals.

cent. when so disposed of in less quantities, with certain exceptions; and the memorial was read, and referred to the Committee on Commerce and Manufactures.

Mr. THOMAS, from the Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred the petition of the chiefs of the Choctaw nation of Indians in behalf of Silas Dinsmore, made a report, accompanied by a resolution, that the prayer of the petitioners ought not to be granted. The report and resolution were read.

Mr. ROBERTS, from the Committee of Claims, to whom was referred the bill for the relief of John Hoffman, reported it without amendment.

Mr. PARROTT asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill authorizing the repair of a sea-wall at the Isles of Shoals, and for other purposes; and the bill was read, and passed to a second reading.

Mr. KING, of Alabama, submitted the following motion for consideration:

Resolved, That the Committee on Public Lands be instructed to inquire into the expediency of authorizing Jared E. Groce to enter a fraction of seventy-four acres of land situate on the Alabama river, township five, range four east, at such price as they may deem proper.

Mr. JOHNSON, of Kentucky, submitted the following motion for consideration:

Resolved, That the Committee on Public Lands be instructed to inquire into the expediency of amending an act, entitled "An act for the relief of the inhabitants of the late county of New Madrid, in the Missouri Territory, who suffered by earthquakes," passed on the 17th February, 1815.

The bill further to establish the compensation of the officers employed in the collection of duties on imports and tonnage, and for other purposes; and, also, the bill for the relief of General Robert Swartwout, were severally read the second time.

ROADS AND CANALS.

The Senate proceeded to consider the resolution submitted by Mr. TRIMBLE, on the 15th inst., which is in the following words:

SENATE.

ure, that, as far as the line had been run under the fifth article of the Treaty of Ghent, it was found to include a much more extensive portion of territory than was supposed to belong to the United States in that quarter.

Mr. TRIMBLE said he had no further objection to the amendment than that it embraced an object totally distinct from the original proposition, and which should therefore be separately proposed.

To which Mr. CHANDLER replied, that, though the objects were geographically distinct, the power to be exercised in regard to both was the same, and the inquiry as to both was properly referable to the same committee.

The amendment of Mr. CHANDLER was agreed to, as was the resolution as amended.

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On motion, by Mr. RUGGLES, the Committee of Claims were discharged from the further consideration of the bill from the House of Representatives, entitled "An act for the relief of Daniel Seward;" and it was referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

Mr. JOHNSON, of Louisiana, presented the petiResolved, That the Committee on Roads and Canals tion of L. B. Macarty, of Louisiana, praying to be instructed to inquire into the expediency of author- be compensated for the injury and losses sustained izing by law the employment of the topographical en-in consequence of the military occupancy of his gineers, in surveying, under the direction of the President of the United States, canals to connect the navigable waters between Boston harbor, in the State of Massachusetts, and Pamlico Sound, in the State of North Carolina, in such direction and on such plan as will best promote the interest, and the military and

naval defence of the United States.

Mr. CHANDLER moved to amend it by adding thereto the following:

"And a military and post road from some part of the Penobscot river, in the State of Maine, to the Schodiac river, in said State, on the Eastern line of the United States."

Mr. CHANDLER made a few remarks in support of his proposed amendment, to show how necessary such a road is to the military defence of that part of the Union, &c.

Mr. HOLMES, of Maine, seconded his colleague, adding, as a further reason in favor of the meas

plantation by order of General Jackson in the Winter of 1814 and 1815; and the petition was read, and referred to the Committee of Claims.

Mr. HORSEY, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, to whom the subject was referred, reported a bill authorizing the sale of certain grounds belonging to the United States in the City of Washington; and the bill was read, and passed to a second reading.

On motion, by Mr. THOMAS, the Committee on Public Lands were discharged from the further consideration of the petition of Isaac M. Johnson and others.

The Senate proceeded to consider the motion of yesterday, instructing the Committee on Public Lands to inquire into the expediency of authoriz ing Jared E. Groce to enter a fraction of land; and agreed thereto.

The bill authorizing the repair of a sea-wall at

SENATE.

Case of Matthew Lyon.

JANUARY, 1821.

the Isles of Shoals, and for other purposes, was and several thousands from other States; but beread the second time; and referred to the Com-fore that Congress, this multitude were as grassmittee on Commerce and Manufactures. hoppers, and their noise was as the chirping of grasshoppers.

MATTHEW LYON.

The honorable gentleman informs us, that the The Senate resumed the consideration of the grasshoppers in the field make more noise than the report of the select committee on the petition of beasts which graze the pasture. I understand the Matthew Lyon, together with the motion to post-application, but the figure is an unfortunate one, pone the same indefinitely.

Mr. DICKERSON, of New Jersey, rose, and expressed himself as follows:

In addressing the Senate upon the subject of the resolutions for the relief of Matthew Lyon, I shall, said Mr. D., make some preliminary observations upon a few remarks that fell from the honorable | gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. Oris,) which seem not intended as any solid part of his argument, but were introduced by way of embellishment to his very ingenious and very eloquent speech.

The honorable gentleman seems much annoyed by the thunders from the West, and the roaring of the lion.

notwithstanding it has the authority of Mr. Burke for its support. Surely Mr. Burke could never have heard the tremendous bellowings of the lordly leader of the herd, or the nasal, harsh, ear-rending note of one of the descendants of Sancho's Dapple. Why, sir, a single jack will bray more noise in a minute than could be made in the same time by all the grasshoppers that ever hopped. Believe me, it was an egregious error to mistake the voice of the people for the chirping of grasshoppers.

The honorable gentleman thinks that most of us must have been too young in 1798, to have formed accurate opinions of the transactions of that time, insinuating that those who were not young then must be old now. Whether I was old enough then, or even now, to form accurate opinions of the transactions of that time, is not so certain; but I have perfect recollection of what happened then, within the sphere of my own obserI have a painful recollection that my mind was irritated, my indignation excited, my passions roused, by what I thought a systematic attempt to impair the liberties of my country. But time cures all things. In twenty years I have cooled down to what my former associates think much below the temperate point, and, even on the measure now before the Senate, the propriety or expediency of which I never doubted, I have embarked with great reluctance, as those know who first presented the petition of Matthew Lyon. I do not wish to throw Congreve rockets into the ranks of this corps of invalids, as the gentleman chooses to designate himself and friends. I do not wish to revive the feuds of 1798; but I did hope that, at this time, when we are all federalists, all republicans; when not a breath disturbs the harmony of this amalgamation, the good feel

By the thunders from the West, I understand the torrent of eloquence which we have heard with delight from the honorable gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. TALBOT.) That thunder, sir, was not a mere brutum fulmen; it was a succession of electric shocks, attended with the most vivid light-vation. nings. Such thunder tends to purify the political atmosphere, and to invigorate our languid systems. The honorable gentleman says, the lion will come again, and, if he does, he will heed him not, but say, encore, let him roar, once more. Sir, the lion will come again and again, unless we restore him the money we have taken from him; but, give him that, and then, if I may borrow a line from Pyramus and Thisbe, as that gentleman has done and he always keeps within the pale of senatorial decorum-give him the money, and then he will roar you as gently as any sucking dove. And this, I am confident, would be the cheaper way of getting rid of him. I have other reasons for believing it would be the better way.

The honorable gentleman conducted the correspondence between himself and one of his constituents, with great address, and brought it to a hap-ings which we perceive every day would not be py conclusion; which is the less to be wondered exercised exclusively on one side, but that there at, as he managed on both sides, and composed would be some degree of reciprocity; that, as that the answer as well as the letter. But, when he gentleman allows that the sedition act was inexinformed his correspondent that the case of Mat-pedient, and had been pronounced to be so by the thew Lyon was obtruded upon our notice, at a time when we were crowded with a great variety of important business, I wish he had added, by way of postscript, that the Senate had adjourned from Friday to the Monday following, every week this session, except one, and then I think there would be a postscript to the answer, that, on the score of want of time, or press of business, there could be no excuse for refusing to hear the case of Matthew Lyon. In which opinion I most heartily

concur.

The honorable gentleman seems to doubt as to the numbers said to have been arrayed against the sedition act. There were eighteen thousand petitioners against that act, from Pennsylvania alone,

people, it was also hoped, that the punishing of Matthew Lyon under the act would be deemed inexpedient; that it would be deemed inexpedient to raise money by such means; that it would be deemed inexpedient to retain moneys thus raised, in our Treasury, and therefore that it would be deemed quite expedient to return the moneys thus obtained; or, at least, it was hoped that no very determined opposition would be given to this measure. But so far from this, the honorable gentleman admonishes us not to press him and those with whom he acts; not to irritate them, for, although nobody was disposed to attack the present administration, comparisons might be made; com|parisons of the expenses of former times, with

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