readiness to verify our predictions; they seem resolved that we shall have the reputation of prophets, and to leave nothing for us to do to acquire this reputation. I have read, said Mr. N., of two brothers in England, who became fanatics, and imagined that they had the gift of prophecy; among other predictions, they foretold the death of their mother on a certain day; but as the good lady did not value the reputation of her sons as prophets sufficiently to be willing to establish it at so great a sacrifice, she obstinately refused to die; and, to avoid the imputation of being false prophets, they were obliged to murder But the advocates of the distribution scheme, who now talk about defending the country by railroads, impose no such hard terms on the opponents of that scheme; and, although they may not be willing to sacrifice their lives, they volunteer their declarations and votes, to confirm our predictions and establish our reputation as true prophets.

her.

To this and every measure involving expenditure, the distributors discover serious objections; they complain, they remonstrate, they cannot be satisfied; and although they do not tell us in so many words the true source of their objections, it is sufficiently manifest it is the surplus, which they want for other purposes. Sir, said Mr. N., we are informed of an ancient people, for whom much was done, and great exertions made for their benefit; they were led out from a land of bondage, and conducted safely through the wilderness to a goodly land; yet they were not satisfied; they murmured; they complained; they found fault with their leader; they could not be satisfied with the manna of the wilderness, although sent down from Heaven; but when the true cause of their complaint was discovered, it was found that they all sprang from a longing and hankering after the "fleshpots of Egypt." So it is with those who murmur against this bill; the true secret of their opposition is, a longing after the surplus, a hankering after the Aleshpots of Egypt. That the honorable Senator from Massachusetts is under this influence, is perfectly manifest; he is thinking about the fleshpots; he wants a part of the surplus to complete the western railroad his State is constructing. But the citizens of that enterprising and wealthy State are abundantly able to accomplish that work without looking here for aid. It is within the means of individuals, and certainly within those of the State. Let them go ahead, then, with the work, and rely on their own resources; he wished them success, although rather skeptical as to the benefits and influence of railroads on the general prosperity. He hoped the gentleman would think no more of the surplus, nor longer cherish a hankering after the leeks and onions of Egypt, but rely on the ample resources of his State; and in that he trusted that the objection to this measure will not appear so insurmountable.

Mr. DAVIS said there seemed to be no great disa greement between the Senator from Connecticut [Mr. NILES] and himself. The gentleman, said Mr. D., seemed to have been so great a lover of these "fleshpots," that he is not willing to let us have any. He was glad to have the Senator going along with him, and that he would not raise an army to eat up the militia. He hoped that as the gentleman had seemed to consider the standing army not the proper means of defence, in accordance with the spirit of our constitution, he would not go for these fortifications, that would require an army to maintain them.

[The Senate adjourned without the vote being taken.]

WEDNESDAY, MAY 25.

LOUISVILLE AND PORTLAND CANAL. The bill to authorize the purchase, on the part of the United States, of the private stock in the Louisville and Portland canal, was taken up as the general order.

[MAY 25, 1836.

Mr. HENDRICKS said, that, having reported this bill to the Senate, it would no doubt be expected that he should give an explanation of it, and he would ask the attention of the Senate a short time for that purpose. This bill (said Mr. H.) is based on a memorial of the Louisville and Portland Canal Company, referred by the Senate to the Committee on Roads and Canals. The memorialists state the whole cost of the canal, the interest the Government has in it, the dividends it has declared and is declaring, and the present and increasing produc tiveness of the stock; and go on to say that, notwithstanding all this, much remains yet to be done to make the canal what it is capable of being made, and what it must be made, before it will be capable of accommodating the immense and rapidly increasing trade of the western country; and that the individual stockholders do not think it a duty incumbent on them to make additional expenditures pro rata with the federal Government. They pray that the tolls accruing on the stock owned by the United States in the canal may be appropriated to improving the canal, until it shall be rendered as capable as may be required to give all proper facilities to the trade passing through it, or that the tolls belonging to the United States may be relinquished for the benefit of those who pay toll.

The memorialists declare their object to be to relieve the commerce of the West from the burden of the tolls: which now go into the Treasury of the United States, either by causing those tolls to be expended in improving the work, or by reducing the tolls in favor of those whose business requires them to use the canal. They, therefore, pray that an act of Congress may be passed, authorizing the Louisville and Portland Canal Company to retain the dividends that may be declared on the Government stock, and to disburse the same in improvement on the canal; or that an act may be passed authorizing the company to retain the dividends on the stock belonging to the United States, and appropriate them to their own use, on condition that they reduce the present rates of toll twenty per cent.

The committee, however, have not adopted either of these propositions. They have not been able to see how the commerce of the West can be materially relieved by expending the Government dividends in enlarging and improving the canal--if, indeed, the work be already what it has heretofore been represented to be, and what the committee supposes it to be, capable of answering fully the purposes for which it was intended. Nor has it been perceived how the commerce of the West can be permanently benefited by permitting the company to appropriate to their own use the Government dividends, on condition that they reduce the present rates of toll twenty per cent.; for the time will soon come in which the commerce of the West will swell the dividends of the company to the maximum of their charter, or a tariff of tolls twenty per cent. below the present rates; and whenever that time shall come, the company would, if this proposition were adopted, be receiving the tolls on Government stock, without giving any consideration therefor; and western commerce could not be benefited by such arrangement between the company and the Government.

The committee believe that the great commerce of the West ought not to be in the hands, or subjected to the control, of any company; but that the canal should belong to the Government, and be made free; and they have adopted a proposition, made by the company some three years ago, to purchase the stock of individuals, take the control of the canal, and take off all the tolls, except so much as shall be necessary to keep it in a state of preservation and repair; enlarging it, also, as the business of commerce shall require.

The committee have therefore reported a bill author

izing the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase up the individual stock, provided so much of it can be procured at par value as will give the United States the control of the company; leaving the regulation of the tolls, and the whole matter afterwards, for the future legislation of Congress. The object of the bill is the purchase of the stock, the control of the canal, and that it be thrown open to the free navigation of the commerce of the West, charging such tolls only as will be necessary to preserve it and keep it in repair.

The second section of the bill authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury, in the event of his being unable to purchase in the individual stock, to dispose of the Government stock, on the principle that it is useless to retain a quantum of stock which will give no control what- | ever of the canal, and in the expectation that, if the individual stock cannot be purchased at par, the public stock can readily be sold at par. The stock, however, is above par in market, and has been sold as high as seventeen and a half per cent. advance; and that which the committee hesitated most about was, the price which ought to be offered for the stock. Par value has been adopted, in the belief that the stock ought not to be considered as valuable as the present price in market would indicate. Various reasons might be given for this opinion, such as the reasonable demand of the western people that this canal should be made free; the adverse interest of the whole country to the company monopoly there; the unceasing war of western commerce upon this company-a conflict so permanent and so unequal, that the interests of the company must necessarily yield, and that at no distant day; and, if on no other principle, upon the principle that private proper. ty may be appropriated to public use, giving remuneration therefor. But this remuneration ought to be based on liberal justice, instead of the power of the one party, or the weakness of the other. The stock, then, ought not to be considered of value equal to the current market price, which has perhaps no reference to the suggestions just made. The amount authorized to be paid to the stockholders ought to be liberal. ought, if we err, to err on the right side; to give more than the true value, rather than less; and I, for one, would be willing to give considerably above par. I speak, however, the sense of the committee, when I say par; which is perhaps not far wrong, and which, as I believe, it will be for the interest of the stockholders to take. Another reason why it is the interest of the company to sell at par is, that a canal of equal value-in deed, of greater value-of any capacity, however great, can be constructed on the Indiana side of the river; preventing in this way the undisturbed enjoyment of the monopoly in the Louisville and Portland canal.

We

This bill is based on the principle that the canal should be made free, and that it is the duty of the federal Government to remove the obstruction to the navigation at the falls of the Ohio. This has been a serious and solitary obstruction to the navigation of the western country ever since its first settlement. It is a fall of twentyfour feet in a distance of two miles, where the river is broad and interspersed with islands, rocks, and crooked channels, making the navigation for light boats extremely dangerous, and prohibiting the passage of heavy boats altogether, during the low stages of water in the summer and fall seasons. This has, to a certain extent, destroyed the navigation of the river altogether, and produced great delays and heavy expenses in drayage around the falls; which, perhaps, never costs less than one dollar per ton.

To remove these obstructions, the Louisville and Portland canal was made. It was expected, when undertaken by the stockholders, that the work would not cost more than half a million, and that its assessment

[SENATE.

upon western commerce and river-faring men would be lightly felt and cheerfully borne. But the fact is far otherwise. The company inform us that so great has been the capital expended in this work, and so heavy the necessary tolls upon it, that it imposes a tax on western commerce, which, in many instances, it is unable to bear. This has given rise to the great and general discontent which exists in relation to this work, and to the pressing and importunate demand of the western country that the canal may be made free. To give some idea of the condition of this public work, the Senate will indulge me in giving a short history of it. It was first authorized by a charter granted to the stockholders by the Legislature of Kentucky, in January, 1825, with a capital of $600,000. The company were required to commence the work in eighteen months, and finish it in three years. But the work was so much procrastinated by unforeseen difficulties, and probably by the want of experience in those who had the management of it, that additional legislation, giving further time, was asked for and granted. The same, and perhaps other special causes, also conspired in greatly increasing the expenditure and cost of the work; and the company contracted heavy debts, in addition to the capital originally chartered, for the progress of the work. Of the stock first chartered, Congress subscribed $233,500, and became to that extent interested in the concern. Finally, by act of the Kentucky Legislature, the company were authorized to issue stock, or to sell stock sufficient to pay the debts contracted by the company, to finish the construction of the canal, and to pay the interest which had accrued upon loans, and upon moneys advanced by the stockholders. In this process the stock of the United States was increased to $290,200, the present amount of Government stock. And the whole cost of the canal, from its commencement to its completion in November, 1832, is upwards of $950,000. The charter is unlimited in its duration, and the company are authorized to charge a toll of eighteen per cent. upon the whole cost of the construction.

The present tariff of tolls is forty cents per ton, United States measure, on the boats passing through it, no matter whether empty or loaded; and this is a charge upon boats and commerce which cannot be sustained. It stops much of the upward bound trade, and causes delays, transhipments, and porterage at Louisville and Portland, injurious to commerce, and onerous upon the consumers of articles thus improperly taxed. A steamboat, for instance, employed in the trade between Louisville and St. Louis, measuring one hundred tons, will pay $80 per trip; and suppose she makes a trip a week, she will pay to the canal, in one year, about $4,000--almost her whole value. A large boat leaving New Orleans with full freight, and discharging at Natchez and other ports as she ascends the river, a fourth, a half, or perhaps three-fourths of her load, before she reaches Portland, cannot afford to pay the toll on her whole admeasurement, and has to terminate her voyage below the falls, however much she may desire to visit the ports above. This state of things is so greatly injurious to the commerce and prosperity of the whole country, that it cannot much longer be borne. The representatives of the western country are imperiously required to look to this state of things, and to have it changed. They are, or their constituents are, all interested in this matter. There is not one congressional district in the valley of the Mississippi, but has a direct and positive interest in this affair. The people will require us to do our duty, and the subject cannot any longer sleep. The expenditure necessary for all this is about $700,000, less than three-fourths of a million; while millions almost without number have been expended, and are expending, upon the seaboard, for the

the agricultural productions of the western country, which seek the markets of the Gulf of Mexico, are already much greater than those of the eastern or Atlantic cities.

When speaking, Mr. President, of the propositions for this extraordinary expenditure of eighty millions, in the military and naval defences of the country, let me not be understood as referring to the document from the Secretary of War, which is sanctioned by the President. Far from it. That document, in the main, has my entire approbation. It is worthy of the source from which it comes, and gives us opinions on these subjects which we shall probably all approve of, now that the excitement and danger of a French war is over. It is agreed, however, on all hands, that, our means being ample, we should look to a more perfect and permanent state of defence, as a means of avoiding war as well as of repelling aggression. And surely the internal prosperity of the country, as far as that is intrusted to the care of the federal Government, in the regulation and protection of domestic commerce, ought to be no secondary object. The domestic commerce which floats on the noble rivers of the West to the markets of the South, that supplies the consumption of the cotton and sugar regions, that enters into and becomes a portion of the exports, or that creates and enlarges the still more valuable and important coasting trade, must not be abandoned, or left without the protection of this Government, on its way to the markets of the Gulf stream.

What, Mr. President, is the magnitude of the interest making this appeal to your justice? It is, sir, the whole country west of the mountains; and there is no portion of it, however remote, without an interest in the very question now presented to the Senate; a country almost unlimited in extent, and perhaps unparalleled and unequalled in the salubrity of its climate, the fertility of its soil, the magnificence of its rivers, its agricultural productions and commercial facilities, by any region of country on the face of the earth; a country extending from the Allegany to the Rocky mountains, from the Gulf of Mexico to the great northern lakes-a circle whose diameter is more than two thousand miles; a country having many thousand miles of steamboat navigation, and admirably adapted to internal improvement by roads and canals; a country which half a century ago contained fifty or a hundred thousand inhabitants, and which at the present time contains near six millions; and one which will be capable of sustaining, when population and cultivation shall have reached their maximum in it, hundreds of millions. It is a larger country than China, and capable of sustaining as great a population. This country asks you to do what? It asks you to appropriate out of your thirty-eight millions of surplus revenue, which you do not know what to do with, less than three fourths of one million in favor of its commerce and navigation, in the removal of the obstructions at the falls of the Ohio. Sir, can it be possible that there will be any the least hesitation in the present Congress in doing all that this bill requires? Let this subject be viewed in its proper light, and the principle of this bill will certainly and promptly be adopted. Should the details of the bill not please the Senate, let them be amended. Is par value not enough to offer to the acceptance of the stockholders, let it be increased, or let the attention of Congress be directed to the improvement of the other side of the river. It is easy to see that there is something in this proposition which can never slumber or sleep. The people interested in the navigation and commerce of the Ohio river, have petitioned Congress upon this subject until they have become tired of petitioning. The prevailing discontent upon this subject is general, and deeply felt. The representatives of that country in the Congress of the United States will be required to do their duty. The

VOL. XII.-99

[SENATE.

petitioning of the people thus far has been but the distant murmur in the western breeze, but it will become louder and louder, and speak in tones and accents which will command obedience of their own representatives, and attract the attention of members from all other sections of the Union.

I might go on, Mr. President, to swell the importance of this matter, by going into statements showing the already great and daily increasing magnitude of the commerce of the West, to show how much of western production entered into the foreign exports of the country, how much into the coasting trade, and how much into the consumption of the South; but I forbear. I do not feel it necessary or proper much longer to detain the Senate with any thing I can say about it. A glance will present it more fully to the mind of every Senator, than any description I could give. On a former occasion (said Mr. H.) I entered into a calculation of this kind, based on the official statement of our exports of a previous year. On the present occasion, I have not gone into any such calculation. Indeed, there is not anywhere sufficient data for such calculation. We have no means of ascertaining the amount of our agricultural productions which go into the consumption of the South, or of ascertaining with accuracy the amount of millions which float upon the Gulf stream. These go into the foreign trade, the exports of the country, or fall into the channel of the coasting trade. This great amount has been variously estimated. On one occasion, not long since, and on the floor of the Senate, it was computed at sixty or seventy millions. But he would no longer occupy the time of

the Senate.

Mr. CRITTENDEN and Mr. PORTER severally addressed the House in support of the bill.

Mr. HENDRICKS moved to amend the bill by providing that the stock may be purchased at a price not exceeding 12 per cent. above par value, instead of at par.

Mr. WALKER opposed the amendment. He would gladly support any measure calculated to relieve the commerce of the West from the burdens imposed on it by the extravagant tolls of this canal; but he could not, consistently with his views of the constitution, vote for a measure which would make the United States joint partners in a stock company, and a collector of tolls. He viewed this as a revival of the system of internal improvements in its worst form; and it was, in his opinion, equally objectionable for the United States to collect tolls at the locks of à canal as at the gates of the Cumberland road.

Mr. BENTON spoke in favor of the amendment; showing the great importance of purchasing out this stock to relieve the commerce of the western cities from the injurious burdens now imposed on it. Mr. B. spoke of the tolls on this canal as being now double as much as they were at the commencement; and said they were so extravagant that he regarded them more as a fine or a penalty on the boats for passing the canal, than as an ordinary toll. Boats, he said, in some instances, paid as much in a year for tolls as the whole amount of their cost, and sometimes more than the amount of profit divided among the stockholders; while the extravagant charges on flat boats and keel boats were such that the rough boarding put up at their sides to keep in the loose articles was calculated as being part of their tonnage, thus charging thirty or forty dollars toll on a common flat boat.

Mr. EWING, of Ohio, said that the proposed measure, or something equivalent to it, was of very great importance to the western country, and was due to them on every principle of justice and policy We annually ap propriate very large sums on the Atlantic seaboard to open harbors, to remove bars, and to erect light-houses;

all for the purpose of aiding the foreign commerce and the coasting trade of our country. Now, (said Mr. E.,) the navigation upon the Ohio river partakes of the nature both of foreign commerce and of coasting trade. The trade which is carried on upon that river and the Mississippi, between New Orleans and Pittsburg, a distance of two thousand miles, is as fairly a coasting trade as that between Mobile and New York, on the Atlantic coast. The only difference is, that we have a coast on both sides of two great rivers, and on but one side of the ocean. In a national point of view, the commerce in both cases is the same in character and value, and both alike require the aid and protection of the nation.

Those rivers are also the great channel through which the produce of a very large region finds its way to the ocean, and thence to foreign countries. If there be an obstruction to its navigation, that obstruction, whether it be a bar at the mouth of the Mississippi, which all admit we should remove, or a fall fifteen hundred miles from its mouth, it acts alike upon the foreign commerce of that portion of the country which lies above it, and should, on the very same principle, be removed.

The chairman of the Committee on Roads and Canals has very fully explained the nature of this obstruction to our navigation, and the very large amount which the people of the western country are taxed to avoid it. I need not dwell on that part of the subject. But I will take this occasion to say that, heavy as the tolls are, I attach no blame whatever to the enterprising individuals who constructed the canal, and who ought to be well indemnified for their trouble and cost. But the United States ought to relieve the western country of this burden, and it ought to be done on terms that will compensate that company fully for their enterprise, their expense, and their risk. The 12 per cent. advance on the stock proposed to be given by the amendment is certainly little enough, and, unless that amendment prevail, there is no prospect of procuring the stock.

Messrs. HENDRICKS and CRITTENDEN also addressed the Senate in favor of the amendment; after which, the question on the amendment was taken, and lost by the following vote:

YEAS-Messrs. Benton, Crittenden, Davis, Ewing of Illinois, Ewing of Ohio, Goldsborough, Hendricks, Kent, Linn, Morris, Naudain, Nicholas, Porter, Robinson, Webster-15.

NAYS--Messrs. Black, Brown, Calhoun, Grundy, Hill, Hubbard, King of Alabama, King of Georgia, Leigh, McKean, Mangum, Moore, Niles, Rives, Ruggles, Shepley, Swift, Tallmadge, Tomlinson, Walker, White, Wright-22.

Mr. CRITTENDEN then moved to amend the bill by striking out the proviso in the first section, which is in the following words:

"Provided, That so much of said stock can be procured at par value, within the present year, as will give the United States the control of the company."

And also the second and third sections of the bill, which read as follows:

"SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, if it be found impracticable to purchase the stock agreeably to the foregoing section of this act, then the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to sell the United States stock to said company at market price, not below par value.

"SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall vote for the president and directors of said company, according to such number of shares as shall belong to the United States at the time of giving such vote; and to receive upon said stock the proportion of the tolls which shall from time to time be due to the United States."

And to insert at the end of the first a proviso that the

[MAY 25, 1836.

price of the stock shall not be more than twelve and a half per cent. above the par value.

After some remarks from Messrs. LINN and WALKER,

Mr. RENTON thought a majority could go for it, if a little time were allowed to regulate its details. He wished, therefore, that it might lie over until to-morrow morning. This was one thing he was in favor of. He was informed that the tolls were doubled, and he was in favor of a reduction of them. They were enormous at first, and they were now no longer tolls, but a fine--a penalty; a penalty on those who went through. Owners of boats had shown him how enormous the amount was. There were boats that had, in two or three years, paid as much toll as the original amount of the cost of the boats themselves. And loose boards, that were used to keep the loading in, were actually charged as tonnage in weighing the boats. He wished to obviate the imposition, as far as the United States was concerned.

Mr. B. concluded by suggesting the following as are amendment:

"And from and after the passing of this act, no toll shall be collected on any stock owned by the United States in the said canal."

Mr. EWING, of Ohio, considered the vote upon the amendment as absolutely decisive of the fate of the bill, and he had no wish to press it further; for, without the amendment, the whole measure will be idle and illusory. The owners of that stock will not sell it to the United States at par; they ought not, and it would be an act of crying injustice, if it be in our power, to coerce them to do so. And I confess (said Mr. E.) I witnessed the vote on the measure with surprise and disappointment. There are gentlemen in this body who are of opinion that Congress ought not to appropriate public money for the improvement of our bays, and harbors, and rivers, under any circumstances whatever. Those gentlemen have pursued consistently their course, followed out their principles, and voted against this, with every other measure of the kind. But they form a small minority in this body; and when our northern brethren ask for an appropriation for the improvement of their harbors, the construction of breakwaters, beacons, lighthouses, fortifications, any thing to facilitate or to protect their commerce, we of the West unite almost to a man in their support, and always secure them a majority; but now, sir, when this great western measure-a measure in which the commerce of the whole West is deeply concerned--a measure entitled to more of the favor of the nation, considering the extent of interest involved, than any which has been agitated for years, we find a large portion of the friends of these improvements in the East, those with whom we have always gone steadily, faithfully, thoroughly, when similar measures affecting their interests have been involved--we find them, sir, ranged on the side of our opponents; and this, our favorite measure, defeated by their votes. This, sir, I again repeat, is painful, unexpected; it will be deeply felt, and not soon forgotten.

Mr. WEBSTER next addressed the Senate, as fullows:

Mr. President: I regret the warmth with which my friend from Ohio, [Mr. EwING,] and my friend from Louisiana, [Mr. PORTER,] have spoken on this occasion. But, while I regret it, I can hardly say I blame it. They have expressed disappointment, and, I think, they may well feel disappointment. I confess, sir, I feel disappointment also. Looking to the magnitude of this object-looking to its highly interesting character to the West-looking to the great concern which our western friends have manifested for its success--I feel, myself, not only disappointment, but, in some degree,