GALES & SEATON'S REGISTER

List of the Members.--First Proceedings.

DEBATES IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

ler, Joseph Hammons, Henry Hubbard, Joseph M. Har-Blair, William Fitzgerald, William Hall, Jacob C. Isac

VIRGINIA--Mark Alexander, Robert Allen, William
S. Archer, William Armstrong, John S. Barbour, Thomas
T. Bouldin, Nathaniel H. Claiborne, Robert Craig, Josephing it.]
W. Chinn, Richard Coke, jun., Thomas Davenport, The Hon. ANDREW STEVENSON, of Virginia, having r
Philip Doddridge, Wm. F. Gordon, Charles C. Johnston, ceived 98 votes, (the exact number necessary for a choice
John Y. Mason, Lewis Maxwell, Charles F. Mercer, Wil-was declared to be duly elected Speaker of the House
liam McCoy, Thomas Newton, John M. Patton, John J.
Roane, Andrew Stevenson.

NORTH CAROLINA-Daniel L. Barringer, Laughlin Bethune, John Branch, Samuel P. Carson, Henry W. "GENTLEMEN: In accepting, a third time, this exalte Conner, Thomas H. Hall, Micajah T. Hawkins, James J. station, I cannot adequately express the deep sense I e McKay, Abraham Rencher, William B. Shepard, Augus-tertain of the honor you have been pleased again to con tine II. Shepperd, Jesse Speight, Lewis Williams.

Ca

papers.
Adjourned.

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if, in times of profound tranquillity and repose, its duties of, for each member, not to exceed the price of three daily have justly been regarded by the most eminent of the distinguished individuals who have filled the chair, as arduous and responsible, how greatly must its labors and responsibilities be enhanced in times of high political and party divisions!

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6.

On motion of Mr. TAYLOR, it was

"I certainly am not vain enough to suppose that it will Resolved, That two Chaplains, of different denominabe in my power to discharge the duties of this high office tions, be elected by Congress, one by each House, to serve in a manner suitable to its dignity and importance, or as during the present session, who shall interchange weekly. I could myself wish; indeed, there is no man, I am very Mr. WARD, from the joint committee appointed yesconfident, be he whom he may, who could at such a time terday to wait on the President of the United States, and assume its responsibilities, without distrusting greatly his inform him that Congress is assembled, and ready to reown abilities. I shall not, however, despair. Actuated ceive any communication he may be pleased to make, reby an honest and manly zeal, I shall endeavor at least to ported that the committee had performed the duties of its justify the choice of my friends, and merit the confidence appointment, and that the President answered that he and the respect of the House. would make a communication to the two Houses of Con

"Whoever shall fill this chair to his own honor or the gress to-day at 12 o'clock, M. advantage of the nation, must possess not only this confi- Immediately after, a communication in writing was redence of the House, but the esteem and respect of theceived from the President of the United States, by Mr. honorable and high minded men over whom he presides. Donelson, his private Secretary; which was read. [Sce Neither station nor power can coerce esteem or respect. Appendix.] They can only be acquired by integrity, impartiality, and On motion of Mr. JOHNSON, of Kentucky, the said independence here. These alone can shed honor or lus-message was committed to the Committee of the Whole tre on this station, and make it, both as it regards the House on the state of the Union; and ten thousand copies House and the nation, what it should be. thereof, with the documents accompanying the same, were ordered to be printed for the use of the members of this Adjourned.

"I unfeignedly assure you, gentlemen, that I shall need and expect your cordial and kind co-operation in preservng order and dignity in our deliberations, and sustaining he authority of the Chair; and I earnestly hope so to disharge its duties as to ensure to its decisions not merely a eluctant support, but a steady and cheerful acquiescence n their justice and propriety.

House.

tary:

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7.

FIFTH CENSUS.

"I tender you gentlemen, my cordial co-operation in of the United States, by Mr. Donelson, his private Secre. The following message was received from the President he discharge of your high duties, and ardently pray that Fo we may, by our conduct and deliberations, render this. ed House worthy of the high name and character of our beloved country."

The oath to support the constitution of the United States, as prescribed by the act, entitled "An act to regulate the time and manner of administering certain oaths,' was then administered to the Speaker, by Mr. NEWTON, one of the ot Representatives from the State of Virginia, and the same oath (or affirmation) was thereupon administered by the SPEAKER to all the other members present.

On motion of Mr. SPEIGHT, it was Resolved, unanimously, That M. St. C. CLARKE, Clerk to the late House of Representatives, be appointed Clerk

this House.

te of On motion of Mr. POLK, it was

ress

Ordered, That a message be sent to the Senate to inform hat body that a quorum of this House has assembled; that re- ANDREW STEVENSON has been elected Speaker thereof; ce,) that this House is now ready to proseed to business; and se of that the Clerk do go with said message. the

On motion of Mr. WARD, it was

the Resolved, That a committee be appointed, on the part pf this House, to join such committee as may be appointed ted on the part of the Senate, to wait on the President of the en- United States, and inform him that Congress is assembled, on- and ready to receive any communication he may be pleased his to make.

and Mr. WARD, of New York, and Mr. BELL, of Tennessee, were appointed the committee on the part of this House. On motion of Mr. JOHNSON, of Kentucky, it was Resolved, That the Clerk cause the members of this House to be furnished, during the present session, with such newspapers as they may direct, the expense where

ly

WASHINGTON, December 7, 1831 I transmit herewith, for the information of Congress, two letters from the Secretary of State, accompanied by statements from that department, showing the progress which has been made in taking the fifth census of the inhabitants of the United States. And also, by a printed copy of the revision of the statements heretofore transmitted to Congress, of all former enumerations of the population of the United States, and their Territories.

ANDREW JACKSON. The message being read, was laid on the table, and ordered to be printed.

The following is the recapitulation, Exhibiting the general aggregate amount of each description of persons in the United States, by classes.

EREE WHITE PERSONS.

Males under 5 years of age, 972,194
of 5 and under 10, 782,637

Females-under 5 years of age, 920,104
of 5 and under 10, 751,649

JOHN W. HUNTER, of Georgia, having, on the fourth

266-- 153,495 ballot, a majority of the votes, was declared duly elected.

DEC. 12, 1831.]

Slavery in the District of Columbia.-Appropriations for 1832.

Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.-Messrs. Johnson, of Kentucky, Conner, Russel, Pearce, Jewett, Johnston, of Virginia, and Newnan.

Committee on Private Land Claims.-Messrs. Johnson, of Tennessee, Coke, Stanberry, Mardis, Marshall, Carr, of Indiana, and Bullard.

Committee on Public Lands.--Messrs. Wickliffe, Duncan, Hunt, Irvin, Clay, Boon, and Plummer.

Committee on Revolutionary Claims.-Messrs. Muhlenberg, Nuckolls, Bouldin, Crane, Bates, of Massachusetts, Hammons, and Standifer.

Committee on Revolutionary Pensions.-Messrs. bard, Isacks, Mitchell, of South Carolina, Denny, Pendleton, Doubleday, and Kavanagh.

Committee on Invalid Pensions.-Messrs. Burges, Ford, Evans, of Maine, Reed, of New York, Appleton, Lansing, and Southard.

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which he did not know but that it might be a proper subject of legislation by Congress, and he, therefore, moved that the petitions he had had the honor of presenting, should be referred to the Committee on the Affairs of the District of Columbia, who would dispose of them as they, upon examination of their purport, should deem proper, and might report on the expediency of granting so much of the prayer of the petitioners as referred to the abolition of the slave trade in the District.

As to the other prayer of the petitions, the abolition by Congress of slavery in the District of Columbia, it had ocHub-curred to him that the petitions might have been committed to his charge under an expectation that it would receive his countenance and support. He deemed it, therefore, his duty to declare that it would not. Whatever might be his opinion of slavery in the abstract, or of slavery in the District of Columbia, it was a subject which he hoped would not be discussed in that House; if it should be, he might perhaps assign the reasons why he could give it no countenance or support. At present, he would only say to the House, and to the worthy citizens who had committed their petitions to his charge, that the most salutary medicines, unduly administered, were the most deadly of poisons. He concluded by moving to refer the petitions to the Committee for the District of Columbia.

Committee on Public Expenditures.-Messrs. Hall, of North Carolina, Davenport, Lyon, Thomson, of Ohio, Coulter, Pierson, and Henry King.

Committee on the Territories.--Messrs. Kerr, of Maryland, Creighton, W. B. Shepard, Williams, of North Carolina, Huntington, Allan, of Kentucky, and Roane.

Committee of Accounts.-Messrs. Allen, of Virginia, Burd, and Bergen.

Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business.—Messrs. Reed, of Massachusetts, Kennon, and Soule.

Committee on Expenditures in the Treasury Department.--Messrs. Stephens, Wardwell, and Fitzgerald. Committee on Expenditures in the War Department.-Messrs. A. H. Shepperd, Mann, and Felder.

Committee on Expenditures in the State Department.— Messrs. Lent, Evans, of Pennsylvania, and McKay.

Committee on Expenditures of Public Buildings.--Messrs. Young, Spence, and Tracy.

APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1832.

The SPEAKER laid before the House the following communication from the Secretary of the Treasury, which was referred to the Committee of Ways and Means:

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, December 8, 1831.

Sir: I have the honor to transmit, for the information of the House of Representatives, an estimate of the appropriations proposed to be made for the service of the year 1832, amounting to $11,551,154 38

Viz.

Civil list, foreign intercourse, and miscellaneous,

Military service, including fortifications,

Committee on Expenditures in the Post Office.-Messrs. Hawes, Bates, of Maine, and Brodhead, of New York. Committee on Expenditures in the Navy Department.-Messrs. Maxwell, Hall, of Tennessee, and Harper. SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. This being the first day of the session for presenting peti-armories, ordnance, Indian affairs, revolutions, a great number were presented. Among others, tionary and military pensions, and interMr. ADAMS, of Massachusetts, (the ex-President of nal improvements, the United States,) presented fifteen petitions, all nume- Naval service, including the marine rously subscribed, from sundry inhabitants of Pennsylvania, corps, all of the same purport, praying for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia, and moved To the estimates are added statements, that the first of them should be read; and it was read ac-showingcordingly.

1. The appropriations for the service

Mr. A. then observed that it had doubtless been remark-of the year 1832, made by former acts, ed that these petitions came not from Massachusetts, a including public debt, gradual improveportion of whose people he had the honor to represent, ment of the navy arming and equipping but from citizens of the State of Pennsylvania. He had the militia, subscription to canal stocks, received the petitions many months ago, with a request revolutionary claims, and Indian affairs, that they should be presented by him, and, although the amounting to petitioners were not of his immediate constituents, he had 2. The existing appropriations, which not deemed himself at liberty to decline presenting their will not be required for the service of the petitions, their transmission of which to him manifested a year 1831, and which it is proposed to confidence in him for which he was bound to be grateful. apply in aid of the service of the year From a letter which had accompanied those petitions, he 1832, amounting to inferred that they came from members of the Society of Friends; a body of men than whom there was no more respectable and worthy class of citizens, none who more strictly made their lives a commentary on their professions; a body of men comprising, in his firm opinion, as much of human virtue, and as little of human infirmity, as any other equal number of men of any denomination upon the face of the globe.

3. The existing appropriations, which will be required to complete the service of 1831, and former years, but which will be expended in 1831, amounting to

2,407,065 65

5,736,470 02

3,407,618 71

11,312,945 00

501,102 78

3,423,525 87

These three last mentioned amounts, together with as much as may remain unexpended of the sum stated in the report on the finances, presented by this department on the 7th instant as the estimated expenditure in the fourth quarThe petitions, Mr. A. continued, asked for two things: ter of the present year, and with such sums as may be apthe first was the abolition of slavery; the second, the propriated by Congress for the year 1832, will complete the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia. whole amount subject to the disposition of the Executive There was a traffic in slaves carried on in the District, of Government in that year.

VOL. VIII.-90

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Dissection of the President's Message.--Bank of the United States.

[DEC. 12, 1831.

There is also added to the estimates a statement of the manufactures, and a modification of the tariff, be referred several appropriations which will probably be carried to to the Committee on Manufactures. the surplus fund at the close of the present year, either because the objects for which they were made are completed, or because these sums will not be required for, or will no longer be applicable to, them, amounting to two hundred and fifteen thousand one hundred and ninetyfour dollars and forty-eight cents.

10. Resolved, That so much of said message as relates to the Indian tribes, and to their removal beyond the limits of the States, be referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

11. Resolved, That so much of said message as relates to the public lands, be referred to the Committee on Pub

12. Resolved, That so much of said message as relates to the condition of the District of Columbia, be referred to the Committee for the District of Columbia.

13. Resolved, That so much of said message as relates to our system of public accounts, and which recommends the subject to the attention of Congress, "with a view to a general reform in the system," be referred to a select committee.

On motion of Mr. WAYNE, of Georgia, the House then resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the state 14. Resolved, That so much of said message as relates of the Union, Mr. ADAIR, of Kentucky, in the chair. The to giving the election of President and Vice President to result of the proceedings in Committee of the Whole was the people, and limiting the service of the former to a sinthe adoption of the following resolutions; all of which were gle term, and which recommends the disqualification of moved by Mr. WAYNE, except that concerning the Patent members of Congress to receive an office from a PresiOffice, which was moved by Mr. TAYLOR, of New York; dent in whose election they may have had an official agenthat concerning internal improvements, which was moved cy, be referred to a select committee. by Mr. WICKLIFFE, of Kentucky; and that concerning imprisonment for debt, which was moved by Mr. JoHNSON, of Kentucky.

15. Resolved, That so much of said message as relates to the Bank of the United States, and to the disposal of the stock held in the same by the Government, be referred to 1. Resolved, That so much of the President's message a select committee.

as relates to the political relations of the United States 16. Resolved, That so much of said message as relates with foreign nations, and which recommends a revisal of to internal improvements, be referred to a select comour consular laws, be referred to the Committee on Fo-mittee. reign Affairs.

2. Resolved, That so much of the said message as relates to the state of the public finances, the public debt, and revenue, of the Bank of the United States, and which recommends that arrangements be adopted at the present session of Congress to relieve the people from unnecessary taxation after the extinguishment of the public debt, be referred to the Committee of Ways and Means.

On these resolutions there was some desultory debate, the only remarkable part of which was what concerned the BANK OF THE UNITED STATES.

The form of the resolution on that subject, as Mr. WAYNE first moved it, was, that so much of the message as relates to the subject of the Bank of the United States should be referred to a select committee.

Mr. McDUFFIE moved to amend the resolution so as to refer the subject to the Committee of Ways and Means. Mr. WAYNE observed that he must earnestly oppose

3. Resolved, That so much of said message as relates to the commerce of the United States with foreign nations and their dependencies, and which submits to the consideration of Congress occurrences which have lately the amendment offered by the gentleman from South taken place at the Falkland Islands, in which the name of Carolina, and that in doing so he would be obliged to the republic of Buenos Ayres" has been used to cover say more than he wished to do at this early period of the with a show of authority acts injurious to our commerce, and to the property and liberty of our fellow-citizens, be referred to the Committee on Commerce.

4. Resolved, That so much of said message as relates to the report of the Secretary of War, and the public interests entrusted to the War Department, be referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

session.

Among the resolutions offered by him, referring the different parts of the President's message to the standing and select committees, there was a proposal to refer so much of the message as related to the Bank of the United States to a select committee. He had been induced to make it for many reasons--besides the peculiar attitude in which the 5. Resolved, That so much of said message as relates to subject had been presented to the country, by the differthe report of the Secretary of the Navy and the naval ser-ence of opinion in regard to it between the President of vice, be referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs. the United States and the Secretary of the Treasury. The 6. Resolved, That so much of said message as relates to one told us that his opinions heretofore expressed in relathe operation of the laws respecting patents; to the exten- tion to the Bank of the United States, as at present orsion of the judiciary system of the United States, which ganized, were unchanged; and those opinions had been recommends a more liberal policy towards unfortunate so expressly, distinctly, and positively announced, that no debtors to the Government; the extension of the provi- one doubted what they were. The Secretary's were disions of the act passed for the relief of certain insolvent rectly the reverse of those of the President, and, Mr. W. debtors in the second session of the twenty-first Congress, thought, had already been improperly used, or had been and which recommends a modification of the laws for affected to be considered as a compromise by the Presienforcing the payment of debts due either to the public or dent of his original views upon the subject. Indeed, many to individuals suing in the courts of the United States, as said they once thought the bank to have been in danger, to restrict the imprisonment of the person to cases of but now no longer so; because the Secretary's report befraudulent concealment of property, be referred to the gan with an extended argument in support of the bank, Committee on the Judiciary. and was concluded with a petitionary recommendation that it might be viewed as one of those subjects of concession and compromise which the public good required. The disclaimer of the Secretary, that the expression of his own views implied no commitment of any other de partment of the Government, is overlooked, or said to bẹ

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7. Resolved, That so much of said message as relates to the patent laws, be referred to a select committee.

8. Resolved, That so much of said message as relates to imprisonment for debt, be referred to a select committee. 9. Resolved, That so much of said message as relates to