DEBATES

IN

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

LIST OF MEMBERS

Composing the House of Representatives the present session.

MAINE-John Anderson, James Bates, George Evans, Cornelius Holland, Leonard Jarvis, Edward Kavanagh, Rufus McIntire-7.

NEW HAMPSHIRE-John Brodhead, Thomas Chandler, Joseph Hammons, Henry Hubbard, Joseph M. Harper, John W. Weeks--6.

MASSACHUSETTS--John Quincy Adams, Nathan Appleton, Isaac C. Bates, George N. Briggs, Rufus Choate, H. A. S. Dearborn, John Davis, Edward Everett, George Grennell, jr., Joseph G. Kendall, John Reed, James L. Hodges, Jeremiah Nelson--13.

RHODE

Pearce--2.

ISLAND--Tristam Burges, Dutee J.

CONNECTICUT-Noyes Barber, William W. Ellsworth, Jabez W. Huntington, Ralph I. Ingersoll, William L. Storrs, Ebenezer Young--6.

VERMONT--Heman Allen, William Cahoon, Horace Everett, William Slade, Hiland Hall--5.

NEW YORK--William G. Angel, Gamaliel H. Barstow, William Babcock, Joseph Bouck, John T. Bergen, John C. Brodhead, Samuel Beardsley, John A. Collier, Bates Cooke, Churchill C. Cambreleng, John Dickson, Charles Dayan, Ulysses F. Doubleday, William Hogan, Michael Hoffman, Freeborn G. Jewett, John King, Gerrit Y. Lansing, James Lent, Job Pierson, Nathaniel Pitcher, E. H. Pendleton, Edward C. Reed, Erastus Root, Nathan Soule, John W. Taylor, Phineas L. Tracy, Gulian C. Verplanck, Frederick Whittlesey, Samuel J. Wilkin, G. II. Wheeler, Campbell P. White, Aaron Ward, Daniel Wardwell--34.

NEW JERSEY--Lewis Condict, Silas Condit, Richard M. Cooper, Thomas H. Hughes, James F. Randolph, Isaac Southard--6.

PENNSYLVANIA--Robert Allison, John Banks, George Burd, John C. Bucher, Thomas H. Crawford, Richard Coulter, Harmer Denny, Lewis Dewart, Joshua Evans, James Ford, John Gilmore, William Heister, Henry Horn, Peter Ihrie, Jr., Adam King, Henry King, Joel K. Mann, Henry A. Muhlenberg, T. M. M'Kennan, Robert McCoy, David Potts, Jun., Andrew Stewart, Samuel A. Smith, Philander Stephens, Joel B. Sutherland, John G. Watmough-26.

DELAWARE-John J. Milligan-1.

MARYLAND-Benjamin C. Howard, Daniel Jenifer, John L. Kerr, Benedict I. Semmes, Charles S. Sewall, John S. Spence, Francis Thomas, George C. Washington, J. T. H. Worthington-9.

VIRGINIA-Mark Alexander, Robert Allen, William S. Archer, William Armstrong, John S. Barbour, Thomas T. Bouldin, Nathaniel H. Claiborne, Robert Craig, Joseph W. Chinn, Richard Coke, Jun., Thomas Davenport, Joseph Draper, William F. Gordon, John Y. Mason, Lewis Maxwell, Charles Fenton Mercer, William McCoy,

VOL. IX.-52

Thomas Newton, John M. Patton, John J. Roane, Andrew Stevenson, Joseph Johnson-22.

NORTH CAROLINA-Daniel L. Barringer, Laughlin Bethune, John Branch, Samuel P. Carson, Henry W. Conner, Thomas H. Hall, M. T. Hawkins, James McKay, Abraham Rencher, William B. Shepard, A. H. Shepperd, Jesse Speight, Lewis Williams--13.

SOUTH CAROLINA--Robert W. Barnwell, James Blair, Warren R. Davis, William Drayton, John M. Felder, John R. Griffin, Thomas R. Mitchel, George McDuffie, Wm. T. Nuckolls--9.

GEORGIA--Augustine S. Clayton, Thomas F. Foster, Henry G. Lamar, Daniel Newnan, Wiley Thomson, Richard H. Wilde, James M. Wayne--7.

KENTUCKY--John Adair, Chilton Allan, Henry Daniel, Nathan Gaither, Albert G. Hawes, Richard M. Johnson, Joseph Lecompte, Robert P. Letcher, Chittenden Lyon, Thomas A. Marshall, Christopher Tompkins, Charles A. Wickliffe--12.

TENNESSEE--Thomas D. Arnold, John Bell, John Blair, William Fitzgerald, William Hall, Jacob C. Isacks, Cave Johnson, James K. Polk, James Standifer--9.

OHIO--Joseph H. Crane, Elutheros Cooke, William Creighton, Jun., Thomas Corwin, James Findlay, William W. Irvin, William Kennon, Humphrey H. Leavitt, William Russell, William Stanbery, John Thompson, Joseph Vance, Samuel F. Vinton, Elisha Whittlesey-14. LOUISIANA--Henry A. Bullard, Philemon Thomas, Edward D. White--3.

INDIANA--Ratliff Boon, John Carr, Jonathan Mc

MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1832.

At 12 o'clock Mr. Speaker STEVENSON took the chair, and called the House to order.

The Clerk having called over the roll, one hundred and sixty-five members answered to their names; which being a quorum, a message was ordered to be sent to the Senate announcing that the House of Representatives was organized, and ready to proceed to business.

DEATH OF MR. DODDRIDGE.

Mr. MERCER rose and observed, that it was his melancholy duty to announce to the House the decease of his lamented colleague, the honorable PHilip Doddridge, and to offer a resolution, assuring the friends of the de

H. OF R.]

Veto of the Harbor Bill.

[DEC. 4, 5, 6, 1832.

ceased, and the country at large, of the sense entertained To facilitate as far as I can the intelligent action of by this House of the loss it had sustained. In perform- Congress upon the subjects embraced in this bill, I transing this duty, Mr. M. said, that were he to indulge the mit, herewith, a report from the Engineer Department, feeling he possessed of the merits of his departed friend, distinguishing, as far as the information in its possession he should find himself speedily arrested. In intellectual would enable it, between those appropriations which do, power, that friend had been surpassed by few in this or and those which do not, conflict with the rules by which any other country; in integrity of motive, he was excelled my conduct in this respect has hitherto been governed. by none; and in simplicity of heart, by no man he had By that report it will be seen that there is a class of apever known. Mr. M. then offered the following reso-propriations in the bill for the improvement of streams, lution: that are not navigable, that are not channels of commerce,

Resolved, unanimously, That the members of the and that do not pertain to the harbors or ports of entry House of Representatives, from a sincere desire of show-designated by any law, or have any ascertained con ing every mark of respect due to the memory of PHILIP nexion with the usual establishments for the security of DODDRIDGE, late a member thereof from the State of Vir-commerce, external or internal. ginia, will go in mourning by the usual mode of wearing crape round the left arm for one month. The resolution was agreed to.

It is obvious that such appropriations involve the sanc tion of a principle that concedes to the General Government an unlimited power over the subject of internal imOn motion of Mr. WHITTLESEY, of Ohio, a resolu-provements; and that I could not, therefore, approve a tion was adopted fixing the time of meeting of the House at 12 o'clock, M., until otherwise ordered.

After the usual orders for a joint committee to wait on the President, and to furnish the members with newspapers,

The House adjourned.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4.

On motion of Mr. TAYLOR, it was ordered that two chaplains, of different denominations, be appointed for the session; one by each House.

a

On motion of Mr. WICKLIFFE, it was ordered that the House proceed on Thursday next to the election of Sergeant-at-arms, in the place of John O. Dunn, resigned.

A message was then announced from the President of the United States; and Mr. Donelson, his private secretary, delivered to the Chair the message of the President to the two Houses of Congress at the opening of their session. [See Appendix.]

The message was read, referred to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union, and 10,000 copies ordered to be printed. Adjourned.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5.

bill containing them, without receding from the positions taken in my veto of the Maysville road bill, and, after wards, in my annual message of December 7, 1830.

It is to be regretted that the rules by which this classifi cation of the improvements in this bill has been made by the Engineer Department are not more definite and certain, and that embarrassment may not always be avoided by the observance of them; but, as neither my own re flection, nor the lights derived from other sources, have furnished me with a better guide, I shall continue to ap ply my best exertions to their application and enforce ment. In thus employing my best faculties to exercise the powers with which I am invested, to avoid evils, and to effect the greatest attainable good for our common country, I feel that I may trust to your cordial co-operation; and the experience of the past leaves me no room to doubt the liberal indulgence and favorable consideration of those for whom we act.

The grounds upon which I have given my assent to ap propriations for the construction of light-houses, beacons, buoys, public piers, and the removal of sand-bars, sawyers, and other temporary or partial impediments in our navigable rivers and harbors, and with which many of the provisions of this bill correspond, have been so fully stated, that I trust a repetition of them is unnecessary. Had there been incorporated in the bill no provisions for

The House met, and adjourned to-day without trans- works of a different description, depending on principles acting any business.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6.

On motion of Mr. TAYLOR, of New York, it was Ordered, That the standing committees of the House be now appointed.

VETO OF THE HARB O

The following message was received from the President of the United States, by Mr. Donelson, his private secretary:

To the House of Representatives:

which extend the power of making appropriations to every object which the discretion of the Government may select, and losing sight of the distinctions between na tional and local character, which I had stated would be my future guide on the subject, I should have cheerfully signed the bill.

Dec. 6.

ANDREW JACKSON.

Mr. TAYLOR moved that the communication be laid on the table, and printed; but withdrew his motion at the request of

Mr. WICKLIFFE, who moved its reference to the Committee on Internal Improvement; which was agreed

to.

In addition to the general views I have heretofore ex- Mr. CLAY, of Alabama, subsequently moved to repressed to Congress on the subject of internal improve- consider the above vote, on the ground that the question ment, it is my duty to advert to it again in stating my ob-had not been understood by all the House. jections to the bill entitled "An act for the improvement of certain harbors, and the navigation of certain rivers," which was not received a sufficient time before the close of the last session to enable me to examine it before the adjournment.

Having maturely considered that bill within the time allowed me by the constitution, and being convinced that some of its provisions conflict with the rule adopted for my guide on this subject of legislation, I have been compelled to withhold from it my signature; and it has, therefore, failed to become a law.

After some conversation between him and Mr. WICKLIFFE, he agreed to postpone the consideration of his motion for re-consideration until to-morrow.

The annual report from the Treasury Department on the finances of the Government was received, and, on motion of Mr. POLK, 10,000 additional copies of it were ordered to be printed.

Reports were also received from the Treasury and Navy Departments, and from the Treasurer of the United States; which were laid on the table, and ordered to be printed.

T

Standing Committees.—Election of Sergeant-at-arms.--President's Message.

Mr. SPEIGHT hoped that the amendment would not On Agriculture.-Messrs. Root, McCoy, of Virginia, be agreed to. It must be obvious, from the reading of Smith, of Pennsylvania, Chandler, Wheeler, McCoy, of the message, that the President was of opinion that, on Pennsylvania, and Tompkins. this subject, a new policy ought to be adopted. It was, On Indian Affairs.-Messrs. Lewis, Thompson, of indeed, true, that all the bills for a subscription of stock Georgia, Angel, Storrs, Lecompte, Kennon, and Haw-in companies of the kind indicated, had originally been kins. proposed by the Committee on Roads and Canals. It was known to be the favorite scheme of the gentleman's ingenuity, and for that very reason there would be a manifest impropriety in referring this part of the message On Naval Affairs.-Messrs. Anderson, White, of New to that committee. They had prejudged the subject. York, Milligan, Watmough, Patton, Dearborn, Lansing. Besides, the subject itself was appropriate to the ComOn Foreign Affairs.-Messrs. Archer, Everett, of Mas-mittee of Ways and Means, which had charge of the revesachusetts, Taylor, Crawford, Barnwell, Wayne, and nue, and who would, of course, recommend in what way Thomas, of Maryland. this part of the revenue should be transferred. Believing

On Territories.-Messrs. Kerr, Creighton, Williams, that it was time that the policy of the country was Huntington, Allan, of Kentucky, Potts, and John King.changed, Mr. S. has been induced to draw up the reso

H. OF R.]

The President's Message.

[DEC. 10, 1832.

lution. If the object of the gentleman from Virginia The fourth resolution being read, proposing to refer was to smother it, and to prevent its being fairly treated, to a select committee so much of the President's message and if the House agreed with him in sentiment, they as relates to the Bank of the United States, would vote for the gentleman's amendment. For him- Mr. WICKLIFFE said that he did not know exactly self, it was his desire to meet the gentleman openly upon how to arrive at the object he had in view with regard to that floor. He should fight him fairly. And if the gen- this resolution. His object was to postpone the reference tleman could convince him that the policy at present pur- in this resolution until an answer should be obtained to a sued ought to remain as the policy of this country, he resolution which he this day had the honor to submit to should then submit, but not otherwise. the House, and which now lay on the table. He was at a loss whether to move to strike out the whole resolution, or to ask the mover to withhold his proposition for the present, until such answer could be obtained.

Mr. INGERSOLL, of Connecticut, said he would agree in part with the gentleman from Virginia, but could not go to the extent of the amendment. It was very true that, so far as stock in canal companies was concerned, Mr. SPEIGHT said he should have no objection to the bills had originated in the gentleman's committee, comply with such a request, except that it would be a but a majority of the stock held by the United States departure from the ordinary course of legislation. He was not of that description, it was stock in the Bank of had proposed to refer this subject to a select committee, the United States. Of this kind of stock the Govern- because he believed that the Committee of Ways and ment held to the amount of 7,000,000, but of canal stock Means would not be able to give the subject a proper only about 2,000,000. There was, therefore, a manifest investigation. Should the resolution pass, the House impropriety in sending the whole subject to the Commit- might restrain its action upon it until the answer desired tee on Roads and Canals; and he hoped, therefore, that by the gentleman should be received. He was sorry he the gentleman would modify his amendment so as to send could not accommodate the gentleman from Kentucky, the subject of canal stock to the Canal Committee, and but he did not see how he could do it. He had no obleave the rest to the Committee of Ways and Means. ject to carry in proposing this measure; he expected no action on the subject of the bank during the present Congress.

Mr. MERCER replied, that, if the amendment he had offered erred in point of analysis, it was owing to the fact that the President, in his message, had not intimated Mr. WAYNE said it was probable he might be able any impolicy in the subscription of stock in the Bank of to meet the wishes of the gentleman from Kentucky. the United States. If stock of that description was in- He saw plainly that that gentleman did expect some deed included, it had not only escaped Mr. M's. notice, action of the House upon the bank subject during this but that of the more powerful and sagacious mind of the session, and it was Mr. W.'s own belief that some action gentleman from North Carolina, [Mr. SPEIGHT.] How- in reference to it would be necessary. Mr. W. then ofever, to avoid all confusion or mistake, he would amend fered an amendment, that the committee should have his amendment as suggested. The gentleman from North power to send for persons, and to call upon the bank and Carolina had spoken of the proposed measure as simply a its branches for papers, and to examine witnesses genfinancial arrangement, and had argued that, on that ac-erally in relation to the operations of the bank. count, it ought to go to the Financial Committee. If it Mr. WICKLIFFE said that the amendment proposed was a mere question as to the supply of funds, such a by the gentleman from Georgia would not answer the obreference would no doubt be proper; but it was a ques-ject he had in view. Mr. W. had every confidence, both tion as to the policy or impolicy of promoting works of from his own judgment and from information in his posinternal improvement by a subscription of stock. This session, that when the resolution he had offered should certainly was a question which belonged to the Commit- receive its answer, and the House should have the report tee on Internal Improvement. The present committee of the agent sent by the Secretary of the Treasury to incould not be considered as having prejudged the ques- quire into the affairs of the bank, with a view to ascertion of such a policy, because the policy had existed tain whether it was a safe depository for the public funds, antecedent to the appointment of the committee, and the answer would be favorable to the bank and to the even before the existence of the present Congress. The entire security of the revenue. Mr. W. said he had gentleman seemed apprehensive that, if the subject were hoped that the resolution he had offered would have sureferred to the Committee on Roads and Canals, it would perseded the necessity of another bank discussion in be suppressed and smothered. He could assure the gen- that House, and of the consequences upon the financial tleman that it was very far from his intention to suppress and commercial operations of the country, and upon the the subject; on the contrary, the gentleman might rely credit of our currency. He had not understood, from a upon his meeting him in the most ample discussion he hasty reading of the report of the Secretary of the Treacould desire. sury, that that officer had expressed any desire for the Mr. SPEIGHT said he had not intended to convey any appointment of any committee on the subject. The Sesuch idea; but he considered the gentleman from Virginia cretary said that he had taken steps to obtain such inforas committed on this subject, and it was reasonable to mation as was within his control, but that it was pessible suppose that a majority of that committee agreed with he might need further powers hereafter. What had him in sentiment. The policy which the President pro- already been the effect throughout the country of the posed to change was itself the work of that gentleman. broadside discharged by the message at the bank? Its It was he who had brought the project into the House; stock had, on the reception of that message, instantly and was it to him or his committee that the question fallen down to 104 per cent. Connected with this proshould be proposed, whether that policy ought to be position to sell the stock, a loss had already been incurred changed. It was a policy which threatened to disturb by the Government of half a million of dollars. What the peace and harmony of the country. Would the gentleman still insist upon pushing it on?

The question being put on Mr. MERCER'S amendment as modified, it was carried-ayes 83, noes 78. So it was agreed that so much of the message as related to the sale of canal stock should be referred to the Committee on Internal Improvement, and that in reference to the other stock should go to the Committee on Ways and

Means.

further investigations did gentlemen require? What
new bill of indictment was to be presented? There was
one in the Secretary's report, which was also alluded to
in the message: it was, that the bank bad, by its unwar-
ranted action, prevented the Government from redeem-
ing the three per cent. stock at the time it desired.
what was the actual state of the fact? What had the
bank done to prevent such redemption? It had done
nothing more nor less than what it had been required by

But