2D SESS.] Treasury Notes. [MAY, 1838. ten millions could not be exceeded, and that not one dollar of Treasury notes could be issued under this bill, except to supply the place of a note that had been redeemed and cancelled. With reference to the amendment proposing to reduce the issue of Treasury notes to two millions, he would observe that there were the expenditures under the General Ap and, in addition to that, a bill to meet the expense of the Florida war must soon be expected here; and from information they had, at least two millions had been expended on that object alone, and drafts to a large amount for that service were waiting here for the necessary appropriations to pay them. Mr. BENTON rose for the purpose of answer at present out of money. He should be able to answer that question out of the book, and in such a way that there should not be a man, woman, or child, in the country but would be able to understand it. It was because the Congress of 1836 distributed among the States not only the surplus, but nine millions of appropriated moneys. [Mr. B. here read the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, showing this fact.] it was likely to bring on the Treasury, that | session, and that ten millions more were asked did not, in the main, meet their favor and sup- for now. Now every gentleman knew that port. There was no object of internal improvement, however improper and unconstitutional, that it did not find from them a warm sympathy and ready advocacy. They were, in the main, as a party, the supporters of the great project for a national road from Buffalo to New Orleans, the cost of which was estimated at from fifteen to twenty millions of dollars. It was this profuse system of extrav-propriation and Navy bills to be provided for, agance, which at that day found so much ! favor with the Opposition, that led to the memorable veto of President Jackson, on the occasion of the Maysville road bill; at which time bills were pending before Congress for various projects of internal improvement, the estimated cost of which was largely upwards of one hundred millions, and which were mostly arrested by that memorable deci-ing the question how the Treasury came to be sion of the President, and the public Treasury saved from a system of the most wasteful prodigality. It was true, that when some surplus had begun to accumulate in the Treasury, and a plan for distribution among the States had been formed, the language of economy had sometimes been heard from that quarter. It was a much more rapid and expeditious way of operating on public opinion,. to act on entire States, than by the slower and more detailed plan of acting on sections, by granting appro- By the act of Congress of 1795, every appropriations for roads, rivers, &c. Hence this priation made by Congress must remain two change, in his opinion, in the plan of the Oppo-years to be applied to the object for which sition and American System party. In this it was appropriated, and then, if not applied point of view he had always regarded the for, it was to go into the surplus fund. When possession of a surplus more as a source of weak- the bill of 1836 was passed, this policy of the ness than of patronage to those in power. By Government was violated, and it took all the the dexterous use which the Opposition had money in the Treasury on a certain day, been disposed to make of it, it had been in whether it was appropriated or not. The reality turned against the Administration, and distribution was peremptory on that head, and had been a source of patronage to those out divided the money, not that which remained of power, to aid their designs in obtaining after answering the appropriations, but that power. which was in the Treasury on the first of January. The stave-off policy was pursued then, as now, and it was midsummer before the appropriation bill was passed, and therefore, as he stated, there was a recapture of the appropriations. He denounced the recapture at the time, and at the ensuing session, when the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, showing that $9,646,000 had been recaptured, he called for the objects for which the appropriations thus recaptured had been made, and a detailed statement was made by the Secretary explaining them. These facts were known to every gentleman here, notwithstanding it is represented to the people that the Treasury is destitute in consequence of extravagance. If he had known that these statements Mr. WRIGHT said it was not necessary to would have been made, he would have protake up the time of the Senate by answering vided himself with the document, and shown all the misrepresentations which had been the portion of these appropriations that had made. Some of them were well understood, been recaptured. These Treasury_notes were and would be easily corrected. For instance, now wanted to pay for them. He took his we have been told, said he, that ten millions stand, (Mr. B. said,) with five or six others, of debt were contracted by the bill of the extra | against this Distribution bill, and he now con Mr. B. said, therefore, on a review of the whole course and policy of the two great political parties in this country, that no impartial mind could fail to arrive at the conclusion, that the policy of the late and present Ad ministrations had, by favoring a reduction of duties, and restricting appropriations for internal improvements, greatly promoted economy in the public expenditure, in comparison with the system of extravagance which would have prevailed if the policy of the Opposition had succeeded. It was not for those who had introduced and established an exorbitant system of duties and taxes, by which large and unnecessary sums were brought into the Treasury, to reproach others with extravagance. MAY, 1838.] Treasury Notes. [25TH CONG. gratulated himself that he had done so. The con- | report was made before a meeting of all the sequences resulting from this bill had shown that banks of the city, and approved of by the he was right. He said at the time that it was whole of them. an illusion; that there was no money; that it was all bank credits, that would vanish into nothing as soon as the banks were called upon. He remembered a former occasion, when all this song of a surplus was sung in the same key, and ended very much in the same manner. When he came into Congress, in Mr. Monroe's time, we had an income of forty millions, and a surplus of nine millions, and in the next there was not a dollar-no recapture. In the first year he was here, eight millions were borrowed, and that too within a year after Mr. Monroe had called on Congress to know what to do with the surplus. Now here was an enumeration of the causes which produced a stoppage of the New York banks. Four causes were given; and one of them was the simultaneous withdrawal of the public deposits, etc. Now, what caused the withdrawal of the public deposits? It was caused by the distribution act, and not by the Secretary of the Treasury. This is what he asserted; and he was supported in the assertion by all the banks of New York. None of the extravagant appropriations were mentioned in the report of the New York banks, His fortification bill was not mentioned; and even the Specie Circular was not thought of. Mr. CALHOUN said that the necessity of passing the Deposit act of 1836 was so imperious, and its benefits so manifest, that it required but little to be said in its vindication. Such was the urgency, that it is well known many who were disinclined to the measure, felt compelled to give it their reluctant support, as the only possible means of extricat ing the country from overwhelming difficulties, and of saving any portion of the immense surplus that had accumulated in the Treasury, and which was still daily augmenting. If there had been no other argument in its favor, the one which is so clearly stated and forcibly urged in the late report of the Finance Com Mr. TALLMADGE recollected the word "bamboozled." It had been quoted by the Senator as often in 1836 as to-day, and was a kind of catch phrase used for political effect. Mr. T. contended that if the deposit law had gone into operation as originally intended, all the present disasters would have been avoided. The Senator from Missouri has told us that he was proud he was one of the six that had stood up against that measure, and that he had warned gentlemen at the time that it would destroy the banks. It so happened that two of the cashiers of banks of New York had told him to take the money out of their hands, and deposit it with the States, and that conversation was what induced him to make a propo-mittee on the resolutions of the Senator from sition to that effect. It was well known the President said he would veto such a bill; and with this threat of the veto over our heads, the bill was not passed as originally drafted. If it had, we should now have had any money that we might have wanted, had it not been for Executive interference. If this act had not been passed, which arrested the eight or nine millions that the Senator spoke of, where would the gentleman now have been if his magnificent schemes of fortifications had been carried out? If the report sent in by Secretary Cass had not had the effect to arrest this extravagant appropriation, instead of now being called on for ten millions, we should be required to give twenty or thirty millions. Mr. CRITTENDEN said he did not understand how this nine millions was recaptured. Mr. BENTON. Here take the book and read it. After some remarks from Mr. CRIttenden, Mr. BENTON said he meant to speak out of the book, inasmuch as the Senator from New York (Mr. TALLMADGE) had denied that the distribution act had contributed to the suspension of the banks, and gave as his authority information derived from gentlemen who were directors of two of the New York banks. Now he had a report made by Mr. Albert Gallatin, and others, at a convention of the city of New York banks, and as that report was made for all of them, the two banks alluded to by the Senator must have been of the number. The Kentucky, (Mr. CLAY,) was all-sufficient. That document clearly proves, as was urged at the time, that a vicious circle had been formed from the deposit banks to the speculators in land, and from them to the land offices, and thence again to the banks; by which millions of millions of the choicest portions of the public domain were, at every revolution, passed from the people to the speculators for worthless bank notes. Every time the wheel went round the surplus was increased, and the capacity for another and more sweeping revo lution augmented in the same proportion. The Deposit act, by withdrawing the funds from the banks, and placing them in the safekeeping of the States, cut and destroyed this circle, and broke down the speculation; which, if it had continued another year unchecked, would have transferred most of the public lands worth having from the Government to those whom the banks might choose to designate. It did more: it saved the large amount which was withdrawn from the banks, and safely deposited with the States, much of which, without it, must necessarily have been lost. But we are told that the withdrawal of the funds from the banks was the cause of the suspension of specie payment. That the manner in which it was done accelerated that event, he did not doubt; but it was idle and preposterous to suppose that the suspension would not have taken place without it. The approximate cause of that was the indebtedness of the banks beyond their means of payment; and the withdrawal of the deposits so far from contributing to its increase, was the most effectual measure that could be devised to arrest its further progress. But we are also told that it is the cause of the present embarrassment of the Treasury, and that if we could command the deposits with the States, we should have ample means. That is true; but he did not regard it an evil. It is, on the contrary, a great good, and one intended by the passage of the act. In the midst of the vast profusion of means, which the now expiring protective tariff poured into the Treasury, the Government had lost all conception of economy and accountability. He foresaw the evil, and recommended, some years since, in a report on Executive patronage, the measure now complained of, as the only effectual remedy for the great and growing danger. He then saw clearly that nothing could reach the evil, but the withdrawal of the surplus revenue, which could only be effected by placing it in the custody of the States. This the deposit act did, and its operation now begins to tell. The Government can no longer indulge in boundless extravagance. It must economize. Among those who had resisted extravagant appropriations, he had constantly stood; and he now gave notice, that he would support no party that did not make economy and accountability a leading article in their creed and practice. They were essential to the preservation of free institutions. He regarded fifteen millions annually as ample for the support of the Government, under ordinary circumstances. He believed, indeed, that it might be well administered for three millions less, allowing for the navy five or six millions annually. Mr. Monroe's administration, which was charged with extravagance, did not average more than ten, deducting the payment on the national debt, although the pensions then were nearly as great as at present. Mr. C. said that his colleague had made an objection against the constitutionality of this bill, which he deemed proper to notice. It was a rule with him, where the constitution is supposed to be involved, to bestow his serious consideration before he acted; and, if he saw reasons to doubt, not to give his assent. He had complied with the rule in this case, and the result was a clear conviction that the bill was constitutional. The right had been exercised from the commencement of the Government, without being before questioned; and, according to his conception, came within the powers expressly granted to Congress to borrow money, which meant neither more nor less than to raise supplies on the public credit. Interest was not essential to borrowing; and it would be ridiculous to suppose that the framers of the constitution intended to authorize the raising of supplies with interest, and to prohibit it [MAY, 1838. without it. He denied that Treasury notes were bills of credit in any proper sense of those terms. They were intended to raise supplies to meet a temporary deficit in the Treasury, and were, in fact, nothing more than means of anticipating the revenue. His colleague is the strenuous advocate of the joint resolution of 1816, which authorizes the collection of the public dues in the notes of the specie-paying banks, and has no scruples as to the right of collecting in the notes of banks that do not pay specie. Now, no one will deny that to authorize the receipt of bank notes in the dues of the Government, is virtually to endorse on each note that it shall be received in the public dues; or that, if the Government had the right to do the one, it had the right to do the other. Nor will it be denied, that if the Government has the right to write on the back of a bank note, that it will be received in the public dues, it has an equal right to write the same on a blank piece of paper, or, which is the same thing, to make a Treasury note. The truth is, that to authorize bank notes to be received in the public dues, is neither more nor less than to make them, to that extent, Treasury notes, and is, pro tanto, as much the making and issuing such notes as if done on a separate piece of paper. The bill was ordered to a third reading. YEAS.-Messrs. Allen, Brown, Buchanan, Calhoun, Clay of Alabama, Cuthbert, Fulton, Grundy, Hubbard, King, Linn, Lumpkin, Morris, Mouton, Nicholas, Niles, Norvell, Pierce, Roane, Robinson, Sevier, Smith of Connecticut, Strange, Trotter, Williams, Wright, and Young-27. NAYS.-Messrs. Clay of Kentucky, Clayton, Crittenden, Davis, McKean, Merrick, Preston, Robbins, Spence, Swift, Tallmadge, Webster, and White-13. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. SATURDAY, May 19. The Hon. LINN BANKS, member elect from the State of Virginia, in the place of Mr. Patton, appeared, was qualified, and took his seat. TUESDAY, May 29. North-east Boundary. The Message of the President of the United States in relation to the claims of the State of Maine for aggressions, &c., committed on her boundary, was taken up on its reference. Mr. EVANS said: The Message referred to claims of the State of Maine for the reimbursement of expenses incurred by them in relation to the boundary, but that he considered the least important question for consideration. Maine, he said, was averse to the original proposition, which was made on the 30th of April, 1833; and there had been a controversy between the General and State Governments ever since, and they could never agree, but the original proposition has been coupled with a highly objectionable principle of surveying and MAY, 1838.] Rescision of the Treasury Specie Order. [25TH CONG. the treaty. Another objection was that Great Britain had, in the negotiations of 1783, and in 1814, asserted that the United States held all their lands as a grantee, and could hold no territory to which they could not show a title by deed. This ground he was disposed to resist as fatal and false, involving questions of boundary wherever our frontier met with that of Great Britain. WEDNESDAY, May 30. Representatives from Mississippi. Mr. GARLAND, of Louisiana, said he had to an nounce to the House that the agreeable duty had been confided to him, and no doubt it was extremely agreeable to a large portion of the members of the House, that the people of Mississippi had re-affirmed the election made by themselves in November last, in sending SERGEANT S. PRENTISS and THOMAS J. WORD, as their representatives in the 25th Congress. Messrs. PRENTISS and WORD then presented themselves for qualification, and as the SPEAKER was about to administer the oath exploration. It went to limit and restrict the | such highlands existed as were mentioned in commission, and instead of allowing them to examine and run the line according to the treaty, they would be compelled to run a line different from that heretofore contended for. They would be allowed to depart from the true north line, and run a line westward, which would be in effect an abandonment of all the claims made on our part. Maine insisted that the commission should not be restricted by any thing but the terms of the treaty, because it was apparent that the restrictions proposed would all operate for the benefit of Great Britain. The Government of Great Britain proposed that the commission should ascertain a point in the highlands, which divide the waters, and it would inevitably give them the whole territory in dispute, for the commissioners would certainly stop at the only point where they could agree, and that would undoubtedly be a point south of Mars Hill, where they had always been willing the line should run. He went into an examination of the terms of the treaty, and referred to various acts of parliament and proclamations, together with the original charters of the provinces of Massachusetts, Quebec, and Nova Scotia, and contended that the original boundary of Massachusetts, (now Maine,) was upon the river St. Lawrence; and after the act of Parliament in 1784, which, he contended, confirmed and recognized the boundary of Nova Scotia, and referred to the north-west angle of that province as the starting point to run the boundary of Maine, and from that time to this, the angle, as mentioned in the treaty, had been fully recognized, and well known. But he objected to the terms of the commission, that they omitted altogether to take that starting point, and proposed to find another and a different one; and all the evidence contained in charters, treaties, acts of Parliament, and maps, was to be left out of their consideration. Mr. FAIRFIELD referred to and read several papers to show that the proposition of the American Government would be favorable, and that it was agreed in the conditions that the award of the commission should be final and binding upon the parties; and he thought it would lead to a just and satisfactory award. Mr. CUSHING went into a protest against the terms proposed for the commission, and said that Great Britain had always declared that they would stop south of the boundary claimed, and would never consent to go farther north than Mars Hill. He considered the American proposition was an entire abandonment of the claims of this country. It was yielding to the false assumption that there were no such highlands as were described in the treaty, which were to be reached by a line running due north from the north-east angle of Nova Scotia. This false assumption had been made by Great Britain, and by consenting to the proposition, our Government would yield the point, because, by consenting to run a line in a different direction to other highlands, it would concede that no Mr. PRENTISS said, before taking the oath, he wished to state his objections,. Though elected by the people of the State of Mississippi, in the election just taken place, he himself did not believe that election to be constitutional or valid. In taking the oath, sir, said he, I shall take it under the previous election, in November last, and not under the recent one, because, in our consciences, we do not believe the latter to be constitutional or valid. Rescision of the Treasury Specie Order. Mr. SHIELDS called for the reading of the fol lowing resolution: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representa tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That it shall not be lawful for the Secre tary of the Treasury to make, or to continue in force, any general order which shall create any difference between the different branches of revenue, as to the money or medium of payment in which debts or dues accruing to the United States may be paid. Mr. BooN demanded the previous question; which was seconded, the main question ordered, and the resolution was ordered to a third reading. Mr. BooN said he would content himself with demanding the previous question. The House seconded the demand, and the main question, being on the passage of the resolution, having thus been ordered thereon The yeas and nays were-. John W. Allen, Anderson, Aycrigg, Banks, Beirne, 2D SESS.] Books for Members. (JUNE, 1838. was rett, Ewing, Fairfield, Richard Fletcher, Fillmore, Gal- | both of the supreme and inferior courts shall lup, James Garland, Rice Garland, Glascock, Goode, hold their offices during good behavior." The William Graham, Grantland, Graves, Griffin, Haley, judges of the Territories are the United States Hall, Halstead, Hamer, Harlan, Hastings, Hawes, judges, appointed by the President and Senate, Haynes, Henry, Herod, Hoffman, Hopkins, Howard, under the authority of laws of the United Robert M. T. Hunter, Ingham, Thomas B. Jackson, States. If they are not United States judges, Jabez Jackson, Joseph Johnson, Nathaniel Jones, they must be foreign judges, or no judges at all. Kemble, Kilgore, Klingensmith, Legare, Lincoln, Loomis, Mallory, Marvin, James M. Mason, Samson In the government of the North-western TerriMason, Martin, Maury, May, Maxwell, Robert Mc- tory, the first Territorial government establishClellan, McKennan, Mercer, Milligan, Mitchell, Mont-ed by the United States, and established in the gomery, Morgan, Calvary Morris, Murray, Naylor, same year in which the constitution Noble, Noyes, Ogle, Owens, Parmenter, Patterson, framed, a provision is found constituting a Peck, Pennybacker, Phelps, Pickens, Pope, Potts, court of three judges; "and their commissions Pratt, John H. Prentiss, Sergeant S. Prentiss, Rari- shall continue in force during good behavior." den, Randolph, Reed, Reily, Rencher, Ridgway, Rob- | This may be considered a contemporaneous inertson, Robinson, Rumsey, Russell, Sawyer, Sergeant, terpretation of the constitutional provision in Sheffer, Augustine H. Shepperd, Charles Shepard, relation to the tenure and character of the juShields, Slade, Snyder, Stanly, Stuart, Stratton, Talia- dicial office in the Territories of the United ferro, Taylor, Tillinghast, Titus, Toland, Underwood, States. He considered the constitution clear Vanderveer, Webster, Albert S. White, John White, on this subject. While, therefore, he should, Elisha Whittlesey, Thomas T. Whittlesey, Lewis if unrestrained by that instrument, be in favor Williams, Sherrod Williams, Joseph L. Williams, of a term of years, instead of the term for life, Christopher H. Williams, Wise, Word, Worthington, he could not consent to vote for the amendment Yell, and Yorke-154. which proposed to limit the tenure of these Iowa judges to four years. NAYS.-Messrs. Atherton, Bouldin, Cambreleng, Clowney, Coles, Cushman, Dromgoole, Duncan, Farrington, Isaac Fletcher, Fry, Harrison, Holt, Hubley, Keim, Leadbetter, Logan, McKay, Abraham McClellan, McClure, Moore, Parris, Petriken, Rives, Sheplor, Spencer, Thomas, Turney, and Jared W. Williams -29. IN SENATE. FRIDAY, June 1. Iowa Territory-Motion to make the Tenure of Judges during Good Behavior-Rejected_because the Constitution does not apply to Territories. The Senate took up, as the order of the day, the bill to divide the Territory of Wisconsin, and to establish the Territorial government of Iowa. Mr. CLAY, of Alabama, moved to amend the bill by making the tenure of office of the judges during good behavior, instead of for four years, as in the bill. Mr. SEVIER opposed the motion, and spoke of the inconvenience of having officers for life, who must be continued in office, no matter how unqualified, unless they could be convicted under an impeachment, which was exceedingly difficult to be done. He thought it the safest practice that the tenure of office for all public servants should be for short periods. Mr. NORVELL said, that if any defect or inconvenience resulted from the tenure of good behavior, prescribed in this bill as the tenure by which the judges of the territory of Iowa were to hold their offices, the fault was in the Constitution of the United States. The first section of the third article of that instrument provides that "the judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may, from time to time, ordain and establish. The judges Messrs. ALLEN and MORRIS Opposed the motion, contending that the provision in the constitution referred to by the Senator from Michigan, did not apply to the Territories. The motion of Mr. CLAY, of Alabama, was lost, and after amendments, the bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. MONDAY, June 4. Mr. CUSHING asked leave to offer the follow ing joint resolution: Resolved, That the Secretary of State of the United States be authorized and directed to deliver to the Secretary of the Senate, forty copies, and to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, three hundred and sixty copies (in addition to the number he is now authorized to deliver to those officers) of the 1st volume of the 4th series, now published, of the doculished by Messrs. Clark and Force; and that he mentary history of the American Revolution, pubdeliver a like number of copies to each of those officers, of every succeeding volume of that work, as soon as may be after the same shall have been delivered to him by the publishers. That the Secretary of the Senate, and Clerk of the House of Representatives be, and they are hereby directed, of the copies so furnished, to distribute one to each member of the Senate and House of Representatives, and to each Territorial delegate of the 23d, 24th, and 25th Congresses, who are not entitled to receive the same under some former act or resolution of Congress. Objection being made, Mr. C. moved a suspension of the rules; which prevailed—ayes 104, noes not counted. The resolution was then read twice, and the question being on its engrossment, Mr. BOND asked for the yeas and nays; but |