expense before they passed this bill. It was not to be disguised, that the argument which had prevailed thus far with the House, was based on the necessity of building these vessels for the avowed purpose of putting down piracy. This, however, was now discarded and thrown quite out of view, and we were to build these sloops of war to increase our naval force. It appeared, from the estimates, that each of these vessels will cost 85,000 dollars. If ten of them are built, they will cost 850,000 dollars. The contingent expenses of one of these ships are 61,000 dollars; for the ten, it will be 610,000 dollars. The interest of the cost, together with this contingent expense, will cost the nation upwards of 1,000,000 dollars annually; and this expense is to be permanent so long as these vessels continue in service. We are called upon to do this directly in the face of the law of 1821-22. We are called upon to alter the policy we then established, and appropriate 1,400,000 dollars, instead of the small sum which we then determined should be appropriated for the increase of the navy. If it was necessary then to reduce our expenses, Mr. R. was by no means convinced that it was as necessary now why we should add the difference between 500,000 and 1,400,000 to the national burden. The vessels we purchased before are still in existence, and our sea ports are lined with officers. The bill had indeed been trimmed down, but he was still opposed to it as unnecessary and extravagant.

Mr. COOK, of Illinois, followed on the opposite side. He said it might be thought, that as he represented that state, which was the furthest of any from the ocean, he neither knew nor cared much about a bill which related wholly to naval affairs; but if any gentleman had drawn that conclusion, they had misunderstood him, and misunderstood the West. The Western country knows and feels that it is dependant for its prosperity, to a very great extent, on the owners of our shipping. It is through them that the trade of the interior gets an outlet to the ocean, and it has experienced the vast advantage which has been conferred by the navy on the secu rity and advancement of the commerce of the country. The West has an extensive interest in enjoying a market for its product. In the present state of the country, the only market for a very large portion of the interior, is found at New Orleans; and the Western states have, therefore, a direct concern in the protection of the trade in the Gulf of Mexico, from those vile marauders, who have so long vexed and harassed it.

He thought that the whole country had a common interest in hunting those murderers from their lurking places, and executing upon them the punishment they deserved. The existence of piracy was a disgrace, as well as an injury to the country, and it was the interest of those on the land, equally with those on the sea, that it should be promptly and effectually put down. Gentlemen ought all to endeavor to bring home to their own bosoms the injuries and sufferings of their fellow citi zens exposed to these merciless monsters. He hoped there would be no reluctance manifested. He hoped, especially, that the West would not hesitate, but that those members who came from the remotest parts of the interior would vie with those on the sea-board in exertions for the common protection.

Mr. WOOD), of New York, observed, in reply to Mr. Ross, that that gentleman was mistaken in supposing that this bill was at war with the principles of economy. On the contrary, experience had proved, that there was no class of vessels so cheap as that now proposed; the plan of the bill was eminently an economical plan. The expense of a 74 gun ship was five times as great as that of a sloop of war. Allowing one of the latter to cost $70,000, five of them will cost $350,000, but one 74 costs $370,000. These sloops, while costing less than a 74, employ at the same time, 200 more men. There was no comparison as to the efficiency of the two kinds of ves

[H. of R.

sels in time of peace. Our 74's, as such, are now in a great measure useless. They are employed only for the want of smaller vessels. Sloops of war employ more men and more officers. They afford a desirable opportunity of making our midshipmen into masters, and furnish the best and only effectual means to train up officers for the navy service. It is in vain you give them education in a school, of however excellent a kind; a naval officer must be a sailor, or he is utterly inefficient. If Congress mean to make the navy an effectual arm of defence, they must provide it with officers who have not only theory but practice. To this end, the plan of the present bill is the most efficient, while it is the most economical.

Sloops of war only draw 12 feet; they are able, therefore, to penetrate almost all rivers, where we have any commerce. Most of the rivers in South America are not navigable for 74's. Sloops, owing to their small draft, are well adapted to the chase of slave ships, pirates, and smugglers, and these are all we have to encounter in time of peace. This description of vessels was omitted in 1816, because the nation had recently felt the benefit of large ships, and it ordered them accordingly; but as they could not be built except in a long time, and small vessels could be built almost immediately, it ordered many of the latter also. The adoption of a middle course is no invasion of that plan. The bill does not compel the building of these vessels, but leaves it discretionary with the Executive. He was persuaded that officer would exercise his discretion soundly. It might safely be trusted in his hands. If only four of these vessels are wanted, only four will be built; if more are built, it will be because they are needed.

Mr. NEWTON, of Va. supported the bill. If the House should now reject it, it was too late to originate a new one, and the commerce of the country would be left to the depredation of the pirates to the next session. A state of things which would cost the nation fifty times as much as the whole amount of the bill.

Gentlemen ought to consider that all the necessaries of life are exported to the West Indies, and that the West and the South are equally interested in the market with the North and East. The whole nation had an interest in supporting this trade. The West Indies, in fact, presented our best market; there we sent our food; there we sent our manufactures. There was no mem. ber on the floor more ready to meet responsibility than he was. But the responsibility of destroying this bill, and exposing our West India commerce, was one from which he must shrink. He held it to be the great duty and interest of the nation to keep up our navy; we are the solitary republic towards whom all look who are struggling for freedom in the old world or the new. If you reject this bill, it will have a most injurious impression in Mexico, and throughout all the Gulf. He thought the interest at stake too important thus to be put by.

The question was then taken on the passage of the bil!, and carried by a large majority; its title was amend ed, so as to read, "An act to authorize the building of ten sloops of war, and for other purposes," and it was then sent to the Senate for concurrence.

[The Senate subsequently concurred in all the amendments made to the House by this bill.]

Mr. STORRS offered the following:

Resolved, That the Postmaster General be directed to communicate to this House, annually, at each session of Congress, a statement of the amount of postage accruing in the preceding year, at each of the post offices in the several states and territories of the United States, classifying the said accounts of postage so accruing, by states and territories.

Mr. COOK, of Illinois, offered the following resolu tion, which lies on the table:

Resolved, That the President of the United States be 'requested to prepare and report to this House, at the

Sen. & H. of R.]

ment.

Mr. M'DUFFIE objected to the bill, as being for External Improvement, and moved that it lie on the table. The motion was carried-Ayes 68, Noes 48.

IN SENATE-WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1825. The committee appointed to make such arrangements as may be necessary for the reception of the President of the United States, on the occasion of his inauguration, reported, in part, the following resolution :

"Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate inform the House of Representatives, that the President Elect of the United States, on Friday next, at 12 o'clock, will take the oath of office required by the Constitution, in the chamber of the House of Representatives; and that he also inform the President Elect, that the Senate will

be in session at that time."

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES-SAME DAY.

MASSACHUSETTS CLAIMS.

Mr. HAMILTON, in moving that the Committee on Military Affairs be discharged from the further consider ation of the President's late message, urging on Congress the immediate adjustment of the claim of Massachusetts for militia services during the late war, said he was au thorized to say, that the Committee, participating in the desire felt by the President for the settlement of the claim in question, had submitted to the joint delegations from Massachusetts and Maine, a proposition to report immediately a short bill for the payment of so much of the claims as might be free from all constitutional objection; but these gentlemen, deeming such a course inexpedient, and that, from the indications of the House, it was not intended this session to discuss the subject, (from, he believed, an entire misapprehension on the part of the House, that the topic involved a long and perhaps unpleasant discussion,) had declined accepting this partial measure, under a belief that it might ultimately be prejudicial, if any hope could have been entertained, that it would, within the last ten days, have been consider ed by the House. This state of things left the committee no other course than to move that they be discharged from the further consideration of the recent message of the President, on the claims of Massachusetts for certain militia services rendered during the late war.

The Committee were then discharged, agreeably to the motion of Mr. H.

[MARCH 2, 1825.

to ascertain the probable expense of extinguishing the Indian title to a portion of the country lying west of the Rocky Mountains, that may be suitable for colonizing the free people of color, the best known route across the said mountains, and the probable cost of a road and military posts necessary to a safe communication with such colony, and to report thereon to the House at the next session of Congress."

Mr. HAMILTON, of South Carolina, said he wished the gentleman would withdraw his motion, to give him an opportunity of expressing his sentiments on so extraordinary s proposition, on which there prevailed a distempered enthusiasm, which ought, for the interest of the country, to be repressed.

The motion was not withdrawn, but, after some further remarks, the resolve was ordered to lie on the table. Mr. MERCER called up the consideration of the resolution reported by the Committee on the Slave Trade, requesting the Executive to continue negotiations with foreign powers, for the purpose of its final suppression. ed in the negative. So the House refused now to consiThe question of consideration being put, it was decidder the resolution.

The House then went into committee of the whole, on the bill concerning the Copper Mines on the South side of Lake Superior.

Mr. COCKE inquired for farther information; and a letter from Mr. Schoolcraft, the Mineralogist, was read.

Mr. OWEN moved to strike out all of the bill after the enacting clause, and substitute the body of another bill for adjusting certain land claims.

The Chair pronounced the motion out of order.

Mr. COCKE then stated that he had just received information from the Delegate from Michigan, which induced him to believe the Copper Mines in question were of great value-and that the longer the purchase was de ferred, the more its price would be enhanced.

Mr. ELLIS opposed the bill. It was beneath the dignity of the government, he said, to seize upon a feature of value in the Indian country the moment it was heard of, &c.

Mr. RANKIN deprecated the interference of the United States in mining property. The experience of the government, in relation to lead mines and salt springs, afforded a warning on the subject. He moved to strike out the enacting clause.

Mr. RICHARD, Delegate from Michigan, stated the facts of the case. One vein of very pure ore had been discovered, of six feet in thickness, he said, and of great, and at present, unknown length. The value of this mine made it very important to legislate on the subject, &c.

Mr. CONWAY, the Delegate from Arkansas, corrobo rated this statement. Masses of Copper had been found there, he said, weighing several hundred pounds. He replied to the remarks of Mr. RANKIN. The bill only looks to the extinguishment of Indian title to a small tract of country embracing the mine, which, if not worked by the Government, might be sold to great advantage.

Mr. WHIPPLE opposed the bill. He did not doubt the existence of quantities of copper there-but the transportation, &c. would make it cost more than that

Mr. STRONG advocated the object of the bill. Its object was not to extinguish the Indian title to the tract, but to have the country thoroughly explored, and, if copper exists, as is represented, to get the right over it for the United States, by purchase. Mr. McCOY opposed the bill. Mines were the last

Mr. TUCKER offered the following, which lies on the table:

“Resolved, That the Secretary of War be required

public money.

Mr. WOOD stated facts, and quoted Long's Expedition, to show that the mine would be of no value till local commerce required copper in that neighborhood.

to all of you, gentlemen, in the utmost sincerity of heart, the high sense of gratitude which I feel for the many acts of kindness and of favor that you have bestowed on me: they have been such as can never be effaced from my memory, and they will ever be to me a source of proud and of grateful recollections. Accept, I pray you, individually, as well as collectively, an affectionate farewell, and my best wishes for your health, happiness, and prosperity.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES-SAME DAY. Mr. FORSYTH laid upon the table the following resolution :

“Resolved, That while this House anxiously desires that the Slave Trade should be universally denounced as Piracy, and, as such, should be detected and punished under the law of nations, it considers that it would be highly inexpedient to enter into engagements with any foreign power by which all the merchant vessels of the United States would be exposed to the inconveniences of any regulation of search from which any merchant vessels of that foreign lower would be exempted." The resolution lies on the table.

Mr. FORSYTH also offered the following: 66 Resolved, That the purchase of lands from the Indians occupying it in the state of Georgia, is a peaceable extinguishment of their title; and that a purchase should be made, if it can be effected on reasonable terms, although the residue of the tribes to which the said Indians may be attached should not join in the contract." This resolution, also, was, on motion of the mover, ordered to lie on the table.

On motion of Mr. MARKLEY, of Penn. it was "Resolved, That the thanks of this House be presented to the Hon. HENRY CLAY, for the able, impartial, and dignified manner in which he has presided over its deliberations, and performed the arduous and unpleasant duties of the chair, during the present session of Congress."

A few minutes after this vote, Mr. CLAY, the Speaker, having resumed the Chair, addressed the House as follows:

"GENTLEMEN: For the honorable testimony which you have been pleased this day to express to my official conduct in this highly distinguished station, I pray you to accept my profound acknowledgments. Near fourteen years, with but two comparatively short intervals, the arduous duties of the Chair have been assigned to me. In that long period, of peace and of war, causes from without and within, of great public excitement, have occasionally divided our councils, disturbed our harmony, and threatened our safety. Happily, however, past dangers, which appeared to encompass us, were dispelled, as I anxiously hope those of the present will be, in a spirit of mutual forbearance, moderation, and wisdom. The debates in this House, to which those causes gave rise, were sometimes ardent and animated; but, amidst all the heats and agitations produced by our temporary divisions, it has been my happy fortune to experience, in an unexampled degree, the kindness, the confidence, and the affectionate attachment of the members of the House. Of the numerous decisions which 1 have been called upon to pronounce from this place, on questions often suddenly started, and of much difficulty, it has so happened, from the generous support given me, that not one of them has ever been reversed by the House. I advert to this fact, not in a vain spirit of exultation, but as furnishing a powerful motive for undissembled gratitude.

In retiring, perhaps for ever, from a situation with which so large a portion of my life has been associated, 1 shall continually revert, during the remainder of it, with unceasing respect and gratitude, to this great theatre of our public action, and with the firm belief that the

[MARCH 3, 1825.

66

Resolved, That a Department, to be denominated the Home Department, should be established, for the purpose of superintending whatever may relate to the interests of Agriculture and Manufactures, the prome tion of the progress of Science and the Arts, the intercourse and trade between the several states by Roads and Canals, and all other subjects and matters apper taining to the cognizance of such Department.”

Mr. FLOYD required the question of consideration on the resolution, with a view to stamp it at once with the disapprobation of the House.

The question being taken on considering this resolve, it was decided in the negative.

Mr. TUCKER, of Va. called for the consideration of the resolve yesterday submitted by him, looking to the Colonization of the free people of color beyond the Rocky Mountains; which motion the House refused now to consider.

Mr. WEBSTER said, that, as the attention of the House seemed not occupied for the moment, he would take the opportunity of making a remark on a subject, in relation to which he had, at the last session, created some expectation in the House, and perhaps in the country: he meant the question of a general bankrupt law. His relation to the House, as a member of the Committee on the Judiciary, had occasioned sundry re solutions upon that subject, and divers petitions to be brought to his attention. It would be remembered, that a majority of the Committee at the last session had reported against the expediency of a general system of bankruptcy. Differing from the Committee in that opision, he had signified an intention of obtaining, if he might, an expression of the opinion of the House upon it, so soon as a matter intimately connected with the question then pending, and still pending, before the Supreme Court, should be decided. It was well known that the State insolvent laws, so far as they applied to contracts entered into before the enactment of those laws, had been declared inoperative upon those contracts. more general question remained to be decided, viz: Whether such laws can constitutionally impair the vali

The