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H. OF R.]

Sub-Treasury Bill.

[ОСТОВЕР, 1837.

ican general; and I trust, sir, they meet with | one, is new. Public opinion has not been proper sympathy in the bosoms of the members of this House.

I have thought it an act of justice to General Jesup to make the preceding statement; and now that I am up, I shall take the occasion to say, that I trust the resolution will be adopted, and that the fullest investigation may be had into all the operations of the Florida war.

Mr. WISE vindicated himself from having, in his own person, made the charge at all: he had stated it as it had been stated to him: he rejoiced to hear the language of General Jesup in relation to it but insisted that this very reply went to show the importance of the investigation he advocated, that justice might be done to the innocent, while the guilty were exposed.

Mr. UNDERWOOD exculpated Mr. WISE from all blame in the matter, and expressed approbation of his course, as an honest discharge of his duty.

Sub-Treasury Bill.

The question being on ordering to its third reading the bill from the Senate imposing additional duties, as depositaries, in certain cases, on public officers

sufficiently enlightened to draw any correct conclusion of its disposition. It has not been, to any considerable extent, the subject of discussion, either in the social circle, or in the primary assemblies of the people. And the same remark is true as regards the newspaper press. I doubt whether five country papers in the State of New York, previous to the session of Congress, had canvassed this project, or given any opinions thereon. The Albany Argus, the leading democratic journal in that State-a journal which possesses great influence over the country press-had not, up to that period, taken ground on this subject. Under these circumstances, it can hardly be expected that resolutions emanating from county conventions could be considered as furnishing that evidence of the popular will as they otherwise would. All the republican conventions have expressed their approbation of the general principles set forth in the Message; few of them, however, have given any expression of opinion as regards this specific measure. No one is more ready, on all occasions, to bow with deference to the will of his constituents, when formed upon reflection and deliberation, and fairly and fully expressed, than myself; and it will ever be my Mr. CLARK, of New York, said: Mr. Speaker, pleasure to carry that will into execution. I do not rise to discuss the merits of the bill, or Were I opposed to this bill, (and I repeat that to express any opinion in relation to them. II give no opinion in regard to it,) I would, with should have preferred that a motion had been alacrity, surrender my own opinion at the feet made to postpone its further consideration until of my constituents. the first day of the next session. The subject matter of the bill is one on which there is, among the friends of the administration, a difference of opinion, and, I have no doubt, an honest difference. The gentleman from South Carolina, a friend of the administration, in his remarks of yesterday, regretted that he should be called upon at this time for final action on the bill. He preferred to wait until an opportunity should be afforded to him to ascertain the wishes of his constituents. In these views I concur. In voting for the present motion, I shall do so for the same reasons which would influence me to vote for a postponement until the next session, considering the effects the same, neither of which determines the ultimate fate of the bill. The vote I am about to give will furnish no evidence of my opinion as to the merits of the bill, or of my action on the question of its final passage. The sub-Treasury scheme, considered as an administration measure, is novel. In 1835, it was proposed by the whigs in Congress, and received the unanimous and vigorous opposition of the democratic members. Whether it is possible for the opposition to originate a good measure, I will not inquire. They have, however, been unfortunate in presenting at this session any measure, good, bad, or indifferent, always saving and excepting their sovereign remedy, their universal panacea for all our fiscal maladies, the United States Bank.

I repeat that this measure, as a democratic

It has been my misfortune not to have enjoyed any interchange of sentiment with my constituents, as have most of the gentlemen of this House. I wish to obey their will, and for this purpose I should be glad, by a personal interview, to ascertain that will; and when ascertained, I shall not fail to execute it.

Mr. C. moved to lay the bill on the table. The yeas and nays were thereupon taken, as follows:

J. W. Allen, Aycrigg, Bell, Biddle, Bond, Borden,
YEAS.-Messrs Adams, Alexander, Heman Allen,
Briggs, W. B. Calhoun, John Calhoon, W. B. Camp-
bell, John Campbell, W. B. Carter, Casey, Cham-
bers, Cheatham, Childs, Clark, Clowney, Corwin,
Cranston, Crockett, Curtis, Cushing, Darlington,
Dawson, Davies, Deberry, Dennis, Dunn, Elmore,
Everett, Ewing, R. Fletcher, Fillmore, J. Garland,
R. Garland, Goode, J. Graham, W. Graham, Graves,
Grennell, Griffin, Halsted, Harlan, Harper, Hastings,
Hawes, Henry, Herod, Hoffman, Hopkins, Henry
Johnson, W. C. Johnson, Kilgore, Lawler, Legare,
Lincoln, A. W. Loomis, Lyon, Mallory, Marvin, J. M.
Mercer, Milligan, M. Morris, C. Morris, Naylor,
Mason, S. Mason, Maury, May, Maxwell, Menefee,
Noyes, Ogle, Patterson, Patton, Pearce, Peck, Phil-
lips, Pope, Potts, Rariden, Randolph, Reed, Rencher,
Richardson, Ridgway, Rumsey, Russell, Sawyer, Ser-
geant, A. H. Shepperd, C. Shepard, Shields, Sibley,
Slade, Smith, Snyder, Southgate, Stanly, Stewart,
Stone, Stratton, Taliaferro, Thompson, Tillinghast,
Toland, Underwood, A. S. White, John White, E.
Whittlesey, L. Williams, Sherrod Williams, J. L.
Williams, C. H. Williams, Wise, Yorke-119.

OCTOBER, 1837.]

Adjournment.

[H. OF R.

reconsideration on the table, which was decided by-yeas 118, nays 105.

So the House ordered the motion to reconsider to lie on the table.

Adjournment.

The resolution which had been received from

the Senate, for the appointment of a joint committee to wait on the President of the United States, and inform him that, unless he had other communications to make to Congress, the two Houses were about to close the present session by an adjournment, was now taken up and agreed to, and

NAYS.-Messrs. Anderson, Andrews, Atherton, Beatty, Beirne, Bicknell, Birdsall, Boon, Bouldin, Brodhead, Bronson, Bruyn, Bynum, Cambreleng, T. J. Carter, Chaney, Chapman, Cilley, Claiborne, Cleveland, Coles, Connor, Craig, Cushman, Davee, DeGraff, Duncan, Edwards, Farrington, Fairfield, I. Fletcher, Foster, Fry, Gallup, Gholson, Glascock, Grant, Gray, Haley, Hammond, Hamer, Harrison, Hawkins, Haynes, Holsey, Howard, Hubley, W. H. Hunter, R. M. T. Hunter, Ingham, T. B. Jackson, J. Jackson, J. Johnson, N. Jones, J. W. Jones, Kemble, Klingensmith, Leadbetter, Lewis, Logan, Arphaxed Loomis, Martin, McKay, R. McClellan, A. McClellan, McClure, McKim, Miller, Montgomery, Moore, Morgan, S. W. Morris, Muhlenberg, Noble, Owens, Palmer, Parker, Parmenter, Paynter, Pennybacker, Petrikin, Pickens, Plumer, Potter, Pratt, Prentiss, Reily, Rives, Robertson, Sheffer, Sheplor, Spencer, Taylor, Thomas, Titus, Toucey, Towns, Turney, Vail, Vanderveer, Wagener, Webster, Mr. THOMAS having reported that the comWeeks, T. T. Whittlesey, J. W. Williams, Worthing-mittee appointed for the purpose had waited ton, Yell-107.

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Mr. THOMAS of Maryland, Mr. POPE of Kentucky, and Mr. TAYLOR of New York, were appointed of the committee on the part of the House.

I on the President of the United States, and received for answer to their message to him that he had no further communication to make,

The House adjourned until the first Monday in December next, the day fixed by the Constitution of the United States for the annual meeting of Congress.

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[The form of the original Debates, as reported, is changed at this date, and the proceedings of each day are placed together, instead of the distinct continuous reports of the proceedings of each House during the entire Session.]

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
December 4, 1837.

The roll of the members of the House was called over by States.

On motion of Mr. MUHLENBERG, a message was ordered to be sent to the Senate, to inform that body that a quorum of the House of Representatives had assembled, and that the House was ready to proceed to business.

On motion of Mr. MUHLENBERG, a committee of three was appointed, in conjunction with such committee as might be appointed on the part of the Senate, to wait on the President of the United States, and inform him that the two Houses of Congress had convened, and were ready to receive any communication he might be pleased to make.

IN SENATE.

TUESDAY, December 5. Mr. HUBBARD of New Hampshire, and Mr. TALLMADGE of New York, took their seats. The following Message was received from the President of the United States: Fellow-Citizens of the Senate

and House of Representatives: We have reason to renew the expression of our devout gratitude to the GIVER OF ALL GOOD for his

benign protection. Our country presents, on every side, the evidences of that continued favor, under whose auspices it has gradually risen from a few feeble and dependent Colonies to a prosperous and mestic tranquillity, and all the elements of national powerful Confederacy. We are blessed with doprosperity. The pestilence which, invading for a time, some flourishing portions of the Union, interrupted the general prevalence of unusual health, has happily been limited in extent, and arrested in its fatal career. The industry and prudence of our niary embarrassments under which portions of them citizens are gradually relieving them from the pecuhave labored; judicious legislation, and the natural and boundless resources of the country, have afforded wise and timely aid to private enterprise; and the activity always characteristic of our people has already, in a great degree, resumed its usual and profitable channels.

The condition of our foreign relations has not materially changed since the last annual message of my predecessor. We remain at peace with all nations; and no efforts on my part, consistent with the preservation of our rights and the honor of the country, shall be spared to maintain a position so sustained the foreign policy with which the United consonant to our institutions. We have faithfully

States, under the guidance of their first President, took their stand in the family of nations-that of regulating their intercourse with other powers by the approved principles of private life; asking and according equal rights and equal privileges; rendering and demanding justice in all cases; advancing their own, and discussing the pretensions of others, with candor, directness, and sincerity; appealing at all times to reason, but never yielding to force, nor seeking to acquire any thing for themselves by its exercise.

A rigid adherence to this policy has left this Gor

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ernment with scarcely a claim upon its justice, for injuries arising from acts committed by its authority. The most imposing and perplexing of those of the United States upon foreign Governments, for aggressions upon our citizens, were disposed of by my predecessor. Independently of the benefits conferred upon our citizens by restoring to the mercantile community so many millions of which they had been wrongfully divested, a great service was also rendered to his country by the satisfactory adjustment of so many ancient and irritating subjects of contention; and it reflects no ordinary credit on his successful administration of public affairs, that this great object was accomplished, without compromising, on any occasion, either the honor, or the peace of the nation.

With European powers no new subjects of difficulty have arisen; and those which were under discussion, although not terminated, do not present a more unfavorable aspect for the future preservation of that good understanding, which it has ever been our desire to cultivate.

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[DECEMBER, 1837.

common to all, of the injurious consequences that result from keeping open this irritating question, and the certainty that its final settlement cannot be much longer deferred, will, I trust, lead to an early and satisfactory adjustment. At your last session, I laid before you the recent communications between the two Governments, and between this Government and that of the State of Maine, in whose solicitude, concerning a subject in which she had so deep an interest, every portion of the Union participates.

The feelings produced by a temporary interruption of those harmonious relations between France and the United States, which are due as well to the recollections of former times as to a correct appreciation of existing interests, have been happily succeeded by a cordial disposition on both sides to cultivate an active friendship in their future intercourse. The opinion, undoubtedly correct, and steadily entertained by us, that the commercial relations at present existing between the two countries are susceptible of great and reciprocally beneficial improvements, is obviously gaining ground in France; and I am assured of the disposition of that Government to favor the accomplishment of such an object. This disposition shall be met in in a proper spirit on our part. The few and comparatively unimportant questions that remain to be adjusted between us, can, I have no doubt, be settled with entire satisfaction, and without difficulty.

Between Russia and the United States, sentiments of good will continue to be mutually cherished. Our Minister recently accredited to that Court, has been received with a frankness and cordiality," and with evidences of respect for his country, which leave us no room to doubt the preservation in future of those amicable and liberal relations which have so long and so uninterruptedly existed between the two countries. On the few subjects under discussion between us, an early and just decision is confidently anticipated.

A correspondence has been opened with the Government of Austria, for the establishment of diplomatic relations, in conformity with the wishes of Congress, as indicated by an appropriation act of the session of 1837, and arrangements made for the purpose, which will be duly carried into effect.

Of pending questions, the most important is that which exists with the Government of Great Britain, in respect to our north-eastern boundary. It is with unfeigned regret, that the people of the United States must look back upon the abortive efforts made by the Executive, for a period of more than half a century, to determine, what no nation should suffer long to remain in dispute, the true line which divides its possessions from those of other powers. The nature of the settlements on the borders of the United States, and of the neighboring territory, was for a season such, that this perhaps was not indispensable to a faithful performance of the duties of the Federal Government. Time has, however, changed this state of things; and has brought about a condition of affairs, in which the true interests of both countries imperatively require that this question should be put at rest. It is not to be disguised, that with full confidence often expressed, in the desire of the British Government to terminate it, we are apparently as far from its adjustment as we were at the time of signing the treaty of peace, in 1783. The sole result of long pending negotiations, and a perplexing arbitration, appears to be a conviction, on its part, that a conventional line must be adopted, from the impossibility of ascertaining the true one according to the description contained in that treaty. Without coinciding in this opinion, which is not thought to be well founded, my predecessor gave the strongest proof of the earnest desire of the United States to terminate satisfactorily this dispute, by proposing the substitution of a conventional line, if the consent of the States interested in the question could be obtained. To this proposition, no answer has yet been received. The attention of the British Government has, however, been urgently invited to the subject, and its reply cannot, I am confident, be much longer delayed. The general relations between Great Britain and the United States are of the most friendly character, and I am well satisfied of the sincere disposition of that Government to maintain them upon their present footing. This disposition has also, I am per- Having received satisfactory evidence that discrimsuaded, become more general with the people of inating tonnage duties were charged upon the vessels England than at any previous period. It is scarce- of the United States in the ports of Portugal, a procly necessary to say to you, how cordially it is re- lamation was issued on the 11th day of October last, ciprocated by the Government and people of the in compliance with the act of May 25, 1832, declarUnited States. The conviction, which must being that fact; and the duties on foreign tonnage

VOL. XIII.-35

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With Austria and Prussia, and with the States of the German empire, now composing with the latter the Commercial League, our political relations are of the most friendly character, whilst our commercial intercourse is gradually extending, with benefit to all who are engaged in it.

Civil war yet rages in Spain, producing intense suffering to its own people, and to other nations inconvenience and regret. Our citizens who have claims upon that country will be prejudiced for a time by the condition of its Treasury, the inevitable consequence of long-continued and exhausting internal wars. The last instalment of the interest of the debt due under the convention with the Queen of Spain has not been paid; and similar failures may be expected to happen, until a portion of the resources of her kingdom can be devoted to the extinguishment of its foreign debt.

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which were levied upon Portuguese vessels in the United States, previously to the passage of that act, are accordingly revived.

The act of July 4, 1836, suspending the discriminating duties upon the produce of Portugal imported into this country in Portuguese vessels, was passed upon the application of that Government, through its representative here, under the belief that no similar discrimination existed in Portugal to the prejudice of the United States. I regret to state that such duties are now exacted in that country upon the cargoes of American vessels; and as the act referred to vests no discretion in the Executive, it is for Congress to determine upon the expediency of further legislation on the subject. Against these discriminations, affect ing the vessels of this country and their cargoes, seasonable remonstrance was made, and notice was given to the Portuguese Government that unless they should be discontinued, the adoption of countervailing measures on the part of the United States would become necessary; but the reply of that Government, received at the Department of State through our Charge d'Affaires at Lisbon, in the month of September last, afforded no ground of hope for the abandonment of a system so little in harmony with the treatment shown to the vessels of Portugal, and their cargoes in the ports of this country, and so contrary to the expectations we had a right to en

tertain.

With Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Naples, and Belgium, a friendly intercourse has been uninterruptedly maintained.

With the Government of the Ottoman Porte and its dependencies on the coast of the Mediterranean, peace and good will are carefully cultivated, and have been fostered by such good offices as the relative distance and the condition of those countries would permit.

Our commerce with Greece is carried on under the laws of the two governments, reciprocally beneficial to the navigating interests of both; and I have reason to look forward to the adoption of other measures which will be more extensively and permanently advantageous.

Copies of the treaties concluded with the Governments of Siam and Muscat are transmitted for the information of Congress, the ratifications having been received, and the treaties made public, since the close of the last annual session. Already have we reason to congratulate ourselves on the prospect of considerable commercial benefit; and we have, besides, received from the Sultan of Muscat prompt evidence of his desire to cultivate the most friendly feelings, by liberal acts towards one of our vessels, bestowed in a manner so striking as to require ou our part a grateful acknowledgment.

Our commerce with the Islands of Cuba and Porto Rico still labors under heavy restrictions, the continuance of which is a subject of regret. The only effect of an adherence to them will be to benefit the navigation of other countries, at the expense both of the United States and Spain.

The independent nations of this continent have, ever since they emerged from the colonial state, experienced severe trials in their progress to the permanent establishment of liberal political institutions. Their unsettled condition not only interrupts their own advances to prosperity, but has often seriously injured the other powers of the world. The claims of our citizens upon Peru, Chili, Brazil, the Argentine Republic, the Governments formed out

[25TH CONG.

of the Republics of Colombia and Mexico, are still pending, although many of them have been presented for examination more than twenty years. New Grenada, Venezuela, and Ecuador, have recently formed a convention for the purpose of ascertaining and adjusting claims upon the Republic of Colombia, from which it is earnestly hoped our citizens will, ere long, receive full compensation for the injuries originally inflicted upon them, and for the delay in affording it. An advantageous treaty of commerce has been concluded by the United States with the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, which wants only the ratification of that Government. The progress of a subsequent negotiation for the settlement of claims upon Peru, has been unfavorably affected by the war between that power and Chili, and the Argentine Republic; and the same event is also likely to produce delays in the settlement of our demands on those powers. The aggravating circumstances connected with our claims upon Mexico, and a variety of events touching the honor and integrity of our Government, led my predecessor to make, at the second session of the last Congress, a special recommendation of the course to be pursued to obtain a speedy and final satisfaction of the injuries complained of by this Government and by our citizens. He recommended a final demand of redress, with a contingent authority to the Executive to make reprisals, if that demand should be made in vain. From the proceedings of Congress on that recommendation, it appeared that the opinion of both branches of the Legislature coincided with that of the Executive, that any mode of redress known to the law of nations might justifiably be used. It was obvious, too, that Congress believed, with the President, that another demand should be made, in order to give undeniable and satisfactory proof of our desire to avoid extremities with a neighboring power; but that there was an indisposition to vest a discretionary authority in the Executive to take redress, should it unfortunately be either denied or unreasonably delayed by the Mexican Government. So soon as the necessary documents were prepared, after entering upon the duties of my office a special messenger was sent to Mexico, to make a final demand of redress, with the documents required by the provisions of our treaty. The demand was made on the 20th of July last. The reply, which bears date the 29th of the same month, contains assurances of a desire, on the part of that Government, to give a prompt and explicit answer respecting each of the complaints, but that the examination of them would necessarily be deliberate; that in this examination, it would be guided by the principles of public law and the obligation of treaties; that nothing should be left undone that might lead to the most speedy and equitable adjustment of our demands; and that its determination, in respect to each case, should be communicated through the Mexican Minister here.

Since that time, an Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary has been accredited to this Government by that of the Mexican Republic. He brought with him assurances of a sincere desire that the pending differences between the two Governments should be terminated in a manner satisfactory to both. He was received with reciprocal assurances; and a hope was entertained that this mission would lead to a speedy, satisfactory, and final adjustment of all existing subjects of complaint. A sincere believer in the wisdom of the pacific policy by which the United States have always been governed in their intercourse with foreign nations; it was my

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