States, unless, by any change of circumstances, the President shall be induced to cause the same to be paid to them.

This amendment was agreed to.

The second amendment, increasing the appropriation for the expenses attending the execution of the treaty with the Creeks, of March 24, 1832, from $7,000 to $17,000, was agreed to.

The third amendment, increasing the appropriation for the expenses of the Choctaw treaty, from $6,000 to $8,900, was agreed to.

Mr. WEBSTER then submitted several communications from the War Department, showing that a considerable addition would be required to the appropriations for removing Indians.

After these communications had been read,

Mr. WEBSTER moved to amend the bill so as to conform to the estimates of the Secretary of War, which were founded on the supposed fact that 12,000 of the Creek Indians would be prepared to remove this summer. The amendment was agreed to.

Mr, LINN offered an amendment providing for the salary of a clerk for the superintendent of Indian affairs for the Territory of Wisconsin, ($1,200;) which was agreed to.

Mr. WRIGHT offered an amendment authorizing the Secretary of War to invest, in some safe public stocks, the sum of $33,000, the balance remaining from the sales of the lands acquired under the treaty with the Seneca and Sandusky Indians; which amendment was also agreed to.

Mr. WHITE submitted an amendment providing that the appropriation of $40,000 for removing the Indians of Wisconsin to the neutral ground on the borders of Missouri, shall not be used, unless said Indians will agree to emigrate to the country on the south side of the Missouri river.

Mr. W. explained the objects of the amendment, and strongly urged its propriety. If these Indians, he said, were troublesome neighbors now to the whites, they would be equally so in the country to which it was proposed to remove them. Indeed, they might as well remain where they are, as to be sent to the very borders of Missouri, and close upon the white settlements, and he hoped that the amendment would be adopted; so that if they were removed at all, they would be sent where they were not likely to give future trouble. Mr. W. spoke of the delays in the emigration of the Indians; he did not censure the Secretary of War, who had done every thing in his power to hasten the emigration; but there was blame somewhere, and it must be in the incompetence or unfaithfulness of some of the agents that had been employed.

Mr. KING of Alabama said, the interest of speculating white men had greatly retarded the removal of the Indians. The last agent appointed, he believed, was faithful, but had found his energies counteracted by these interested whites. The Secretary of War had facilitated their removal, by taking measures to prevent their being daily forced to travel unreasonable distances, and also to prevent their being exposed to inclement weather. But notwithstanding every precaution used by the Government to prevent it, he believed frauds had been committed which caused the difficulty with the Indians; and he therefore hoped the amendment containing the appropriation might prevail.

Mr. CALHOUN hoped that some gentleman who understood the subject would explain the uses for which this appropriation was intended, and the prospect there was of its being applied so as to accomplish the object in view. For his part, he feared that it would, like other appropriations of the kind, be productive only of the greatest frauds. He had long anticipated things of

[MAY 18, 1836.

this kind. He had long believed that this Indian de, partment was one of the branches of the Governmen under which the greatest frauds would be perpetrated— that, and the public lands, and the banking system. He only regretted that the speculators in Indian lands were not the persons to suffer, instead of the frontier inhabitants. It made his heart bleed to think of the sufferings of the innocent frontier settlers. All these evils, he said, had been the result of mismanagement. The persons appointed had been generally incapable or unfaithful. The Government ought to have appointed men of intelligence, of firmness, and of honor, who would have faithfully fulfilled their obligations to the United States and to the Indians. Instead of that, men were sent out to make fortunes for themselves, and to oppress the Indians. He believed that the two Indian wars they had had were the result of mismanagement, and that the one that was announced that morning might be traced to the same cause. All this resulted from want of capacity or honesty in the agents sent out by the Government. Did he not see, on one hand, large fortunes built up, and, on the other, the most degrading subserviency to those in power?

The prominent cause of these Indian disturbances had been the reservations, which he had invariably opposed from the first, predicting that they would be followed by speculations, the grossest frauds, and by the greatest injustice to the Indians themselves. He recollected that when the first Indian treaty, containing reservations, was brought in the Senate, it was strenuously opposed by a distinguished Senator from New York, (Rufus King,) who demonstrated the evils that these reservations would lead to. That treaty was confirmed; and since that time the system had been kept up, always accompanied by the same abuses. There was no remedy for this state of things, but in the appointment of honest, capable men, who would consult the interest of the Government and the welfare of the Indians, rather than their own selfish purposes. Let gentlemen think of the course of this administration, and the consequences of its mismanagement of public affairs. First, there was a French war threatened; then a Seminole war; next the probability of a war with Mexico; and now a Creek war. All this was the consequence of converting this Government into a political electioneering machine, instead of properly administering the high trusts that had been confided by the people. He hoped that some gentle man who understood this matter would explain the necessity of the appropriation.

Mr. WHITE said these were Indians who inhabited the other side of the Wisconsin river, and to whom we had agreed to give a particular sum for their lands. They had remained in the place to which they had removed, until they had expended all their money, and then returned back again to their old place of habitation, and were there now, to the great annoyance of the people. The nation had an annuity of ten thousand dollars. The object of this provision was, (although we were now under no obligation to advance them one dollar,) that the money should be withheld, unless they would go beyond the Missouri river, and remain there. The white people were settled close by them; and unless they were removed while in our power, they would be on the whites, and serious difficulties would arise. It was a matter of regret that the Indian agent there, who was an intelligent man, and had the subject much at heart, had recently died.

Mr. PORTER observed, that if the object was to place these Indians on the immediate borders of Missouri, the honorable Senators who so ably represented that State could better judge than himself whether they would be agreeable neighbors. For his part, he was opposed to the removing any more Indians to the borders of Mis

MAY 18, 1836.]

[SENATE.

Mr. LINN exhibited to the Senate a statistical account of the number and location of the different Indian tribes, and said that the State of Missouri had objected to the policy of locating them in her vicinity, but eventually submitted to it; and he would not now object to that system of policy being carried out. He would rather see them located on one frontier border than on two, as it was easier to establish an efficient line of posts for the protection of one, than it would be for the protection of two frontiers. He agreed with the views of the Senator from Tennessee, [Mr. WHITE.] It was too late to inquire now into the fact as to whether they had been cheated, which had been admitted from the beginning. The Senator from South Carolina [Mr. CALHOUN] Was mistaken as to the Black Hawk war. In that case, the Indians were bought off by salt and corn, and came back again expecting to be bought off again, and, being disappointed in not being bought off, commenced hostilities. Mr. CALHOUN regretted much that the Senator from Indiana, [Mr. TIPTON,] who knew more about the origin of Black Hawk's war than any body else, was not in his place. That gentleman rose in his place, and declared that that war broke out in consequence of the mismanagement of the officers of the Government. Let the Senator from Missouri recollect that this acknowledg ment came from one of the warmest friends of the administration.

He acknowledged, with the Senator from Missouri, that the Indians had been treated wrong from beginning to end; which, unfortunately, would ever be the case, when savage and civilized man came in conflict; but this was no reason why they should suffer their agents to practise frauds both against the Indians and the Government. They ought to have honest, intelligent, and active men to manage their Indian affairs, or there never would be an end to these abuses. There were no people on earth so easy to deal with as our half-civilized Indians. It only required ordinary justice, a inild but firm course of conduct, with a strict adherence to truth in all transactions with them; and it was the easiest thing in the world to keep them quiet. The Senator spoke of the cordons of Indians around the frontier; but let him look to the heavy annuities paid them, which made it their interest to keep at peace. With proper management, they were the best allies we could have to keep off the wild Indians at a distance. He saw, he said, very plainly, the progress of events. These Indian disturb ances were to furnish the pretext for a large increase of the standing army. This was the consequence of carrying out the principles of the spoils party, enriching men with large jobs and contracts, and the system to be

should not oppose the appropriation after the explanation of the Senator from Tennessee, but he feared that it would be used to give jobs to reward some political partisans.

Mr. LINN said he did not rise to prolong this discussion, but merely to do justice to the character of an individual now no more. Injustice had been done the agent of the Sacs and Foxes, in saying that the Black Hawk war was caused either by want of character or competency. He had the pleasure of an intimate acquaintance with Mr. St. Vrain, the agent, and knew him to be a man of sterling virtue, active, and of business habits, and very intelligent. He had done all that mortal man could do to prevent the war with Black Hawk, and was cut off in the prime of life by a band of the Winnebagoes, who were on their way to join the forces of Black Hawk. He fell in the discharge of his duty to the Indians and to his country. The appointment of agent was not given to him from political considerations, as he was known to be what was then called a Clay man.

Mr. WHITE repeated, that if these Indians were not removed southwest of the Missouri, difficulties and schisms would take place between them and the whites. But, by removing them southwest of the Missouri, we would have a natural boundary between them and our people. And if he belonged to Missouri, he would prefer having them removed across the river; for although they might be nearer, they could not be so annoying to the whites as if on two borders, and not bounded by any natural boundary. The plan was, if they were removed there, to have laws adapted to them enacted for their Government. But if removed to where they now own the lands, no practical benefit would result from it. Take them from among the settlements in Wisconsin, under the direction of a faithful agent, and, instead of endangering, they would add to the safety of the States near whose borders they were to be removed to; and so far from being apprehensive of any injury from them, their attachment was so strong to the United States, that he would repeat what he had said before, that if the country was in need of volunteers, there was no part of our white population that would make more faithful soldiers than they. If they were to remain to annoy our whites, they might as well remain where they were, as to remove them back to the place proposed in the bill.

Mr. WALKER did not rise to continue this discussion, but to notice some observations that had fallen from the Senator from Louisiana, [Mr. PORTER.] The Senator supposed that the removal of the Indians from Mississippi and Alabama to the borders of Louisiana, had operated unfavorably towards that State. Now he took it upon himself to say that it was a measure the most favorable to her interests; the Choctaws, the Indians thus removed, having been uniformly the friends and allies of the United States, from the time of the revolution to this day. These Choctaws had invariably been our warmest friends; they had fought by the side of our riflemen,

SENATE.]

both in the revolution and in the last war. And as the Senator from Tennessee well observed, he would rely on no volunteers sooner than they for faithful and effi cient service. If the Senator from Louisiana would inquire at the War Department, he would find that these Choctaws had offered to raise a thousand volunteers to act against the Seminoles. So far from the removal of these Indians having been a disadvantage to Louisiana, the putting them on her frontiers rendered her more

secure.

Mr. PORTER said, if the people of the States of Mississippi and Alabama loved these Indians so, they ought not to permit them to pass beyond the lines of their States. He apprehended there would be nothing but "weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth," on account of the dear Choctaws being removed away beyond the Missouri river; but he contended, however, that, whatever might be the state of their feelings now towards the whites, there was no certainty as to what it might be in the coming generation or a hundred years

hence.

Mr. WALKER replied that the people of Mississippi and Alabama never intimated that these Choctaws were troublesome or dangerous neighbors; it was only be cause they occupied a valuable territory in these States, keeping the States dismembered, that they wanted them removed.

Mr. WHITE's amendment was then agreed to. After being further amended, the bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading.

PAYMASTERS.

A bill to authorize the President to appoint three additional paymasters, was read a third time.

Mr. BUCHANAN requested that the bill should lie until to-morrow. He had received a long letter from a friend, in whose judgment he had much confidence, against the whole system of paymasters.

Mr. PRESTON, although willing to accommodate, stated that he felt himself, in this instance, acting under restraint. He referred to the state of the country, and the absolute necessity which existed for these additional paymasters.

Mr. BUCHANAN reiterated his request, and said, if the bill were laid over one day, he should not be inclined to oppose it. If not, he should be obliged to put his information in the hands of a member of the House. The bill was then passed.

On motion of Mr. WHITE,

The Senate proceeded to the consideration of executive business; after which, the Senate adjourned.

THURSDAY, MAY 19.
VOLUNTEERS.

On motion of Mr. KING of Alabama,

The Senate proceeded to the consideration of the disagreement of the House to the Senate's amendment to the bill authorizing the President to accept the services of volunteers for the defence of the frontiers; when,

Mr. KING of Alabama moved that the Senate insist on its amendment. He looked on this amendment of the Senate as a very important one, and that without it the corps to be raised would not be an efficient one. The difficulties with the Executives of the States, with regard to the appointment of the general and field officers, would effectually prevent this corps from being so organized as to be efficient and useful. He hoped that the Senate would insist on its amendment, and that a message would be sent to the House without delay, so as to expedite the passage of this bill as much as possible.

Mr. CALHOUN understood that the effect of this

|

[MAY 19, 1836.

disagreement of the House was to change the character of this volunteer force from regular soldiers to volunteer militia. The bill, in this particular, as it came from the House, might have been informally worded; but he thought the intention of that body was sufficiently expressed that this should be a volunteer militia, and not a regular force. He hoped that the Senator from Alabama would, in a spirit of conciliation, agree to add to his motion a request for a conference. Mr. C. then moved to amend the motion of Mr. KING, by adding the words, "and ask for a conference."

Mr. KING of Alabama asked for a division of the question as it stood; and after a discussion, as to the points of order, between Messrs. CALHOUN and KING of Alabama,

The CHAIR stated that the proper question would be, "Shall the question on the motion of the Senator from South Carolina be first put?"

This question having been decided in the negative,
Mr. CALHOUN withdrew his motion.

The question was then taken on Mr. KING'S motion that the Senate insist on its amendment, and decided in the affirmative.

Mr. HUBBARD thought that it would expedite the passage of the bill through both Houses to have a conference with a committee of the other House.

Mr. CALHOUN renewed his motion to ask for a conference; which motion was agreed to; and the committee, with the unanimous consent of the Senate, was appointed by the Chair, consisting of Messrs. CALHOUN, KING of Alabama, and BUCHANAN.

TRANSFERS OF PUBLIC MONEY.

The following resolution, submitted on Tuesday by Mr. EWING of Ohio, came up for consideration:

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to inform the Senate what amount of transfers of the public money has been made by his direction, since the 30th of June last, from the Commercial Bank of Cincinnati, and also from the Clinton Bank of Columbus, to banks east of the Alleghany mountains; giving the date and amount of all such transfers, and the banks from and to which they were made. And, also, that he inform the Senate what transfers are ordered from each of the above named banks, and when and to what banks they are to be made; that he also inform the Senate what amount of transfers was made to each one of the said banks in Ohio, since 30th of June last, and what amount, if any, is now ordered to each.

Mr. HUBBARD moved to amend the resolution by inserting "and the Franklin Bank of Ohio," which was also a deposite bank in that State, and which was omitted in the resolution in its original form.

Mr. EWING, of Ohio, explained his object in moving the resolution. He said that, about the middle of last month, a resolution had been adopted by the Senate, inquiring of the Secretary of the Treasury whether he had given to the deposite banks power to direct what currency should, and what should not, be received for the public lands; and also what amount of the public moneys had been, since the 30th of June, 1835, transferred, by his directions, from the four northwestern States and the Michigan Territory to the Eastern cities, and whether further transfers were ordered. This resolution, (said Mr. E.,) after long delay, drew forth two answers, in all occupying hetween twenty and thirty printed pages-a mass of matter, intricate, ill-digested, and involved, so that few persons can have the patience to read it; and most of those who do, will rise from the perusal without deriving any certain or definite notion of the meaning of the Secretary, and with few facts distinctly impressed upon the mind. This, however, is, I presume, rather the misfortune than the fault of

SENATE.]

[MAY, 19 1836.

officers.

There are a few other matters set forth in this report, which I think it proper to notice. The Secretary, after stating the amount of transfers from the West to the East, says (page 7) that "this small amount of $3,500,000 has been transferred from banks and States where the excesses had become unprecedentedly great, to banks and States where there is still a deficiency for all probably just and useful fiscal objects during the current year." And in another part of the report he says that the amount of these transfers from these northwestern States have been but about one million greater than the transfers from one single city (meaning, I suppose, New York) to other parts of the Union. Now, if there have been in fact, as is stated in the Globe, (and I suppose the statement is by authority,) these large transfers made and still making from the Clinton Bank, is it true that it was because there was an excess of the public money in that bank, and in that district of country? The Clinton Bank is the only one having deposites which can use them in any manner to the advantage of the northern and eastern half of the State of Ohio, and that bank I believe has not had more at any one time than about $400,000. The banks to which the transfers have been made, within the distance of about two hundred miles on the seacoast, have about $20,000,000, and are in the receipt of nearly all the customs. They, it seems, are to hold on to all they have got and all they receive, and the transfers to them from the West are to meet and balance the transfers from them to other parts of the Union. How stands the alleged deficiency of the money in these city banks for ordinary expenditures? They have now about twenty millions, and they will probably receive from customs, within the year, twelve millions more. How is this to be expended' and where the necessity of these further transfers, this perpetual drain on the West, of all the money that is in it, or that is brought to it?

But as a further excuse for these heavy transfers, of which he himself evidently feels the injustice, the Secretary says, in pages 9 and 10 of his report:

people. But we have a clew to much of this matter in another part of the report. I have frequently asserted upon this floor my conviction that the public deposites were made the fund with which companies of speculators, with enormous capital, purchase in the choicest parcels of the public land. Now, sir, bear in mind what is said in the above paragraph respecting transfers of the public money from the Northwest to the Atlantic cities, and from those cities to the Southwest; bear in mind this suggestion, and then examine with me the actual condition of things, and you will, I think, perceive its solution.

First, then, it will be perceived that the Secretary of the Treasury, either by himself or his agents, the deposite banks, requires that eastern funds only shall be paid for western lands; for, if the notes of banks be taken, who agree to redeem their notes in eastern funds, it is in effect the payment of eastern funds for the lands. They alone answer the purpose; and where they are not to be had, no purchases can be made. The people in the western States cannot get those eastern funds, nor can they get specie to any extent, for it is not in the country, except what is in the vaults of the banks; and they dare not loan in such manner as to draw it from them. The public lands, then, can be purchased only by those who have the confidence of the eastern deposite banks; that is to say, the companies of speculators who are formed in the eastern cities, and who are buying up the whole western country. The Secretary of the Treasury intimates, (p. 6,)--what is no doubt the fact that nearly all the money paid for lands comes from the eastern cities; and he is pursuing the course which will make it continue to be so. He is making the fund in the deposite banks in those cities inexhaustible, by returning the public money to them as fast as it is paid in for lands in the West; so that it has only to take its round, and be paid and repaid for lands, at the pleasure of those who manage it. For example: the Manhattan Bank lends a million of dollars to a company of land speculators, who choose to purchase up and monopolize all the fine land in the northwestern part of the State of Ohio, or in the adjacent parts of Indiana and Michigan. The notes of this bank, being receivable for public lands, are given to the company on their loan, and by them paid into the land offices; they are paid over by the receiver to one of the Detroit banks or to the Clinton Bank of Columbus, and by them trans

Now, if the prospect of a French war was indeed the cause of any of these transfers, as is intimated, why is it that, since the prospect of war has ceased, those transfers still continue to be ordered? And why is it that, while transfers are made from Ohio to New York, transfers are also ordered from New York to the Southwest, instead of permitting them to take the easy current of trade down the Mississippi, where the produce of the West finds its earliest spring market? I know not who may profit by these circuitous transfers, but I do

back to the Manhattan Bank; that bank, then, can lend these same notes out again to the same company, and they will do to buy land again three or four times in the course of the summer. If they happen to get worn out in the service, it is very easy to supply new ones; for these companies, which make large entries, use large bank notes. Those of $500 or $1,000 suit their purpose very well, and it will be no hardship to them if small notes are no longer receivable for public lands.

You see, Mr. President, how this thing works. No one can be blind to it. The rage of speculation is thus carried to its height, and the means of speculation is, by the custody of the public funds, made infinite; there is no conceivable bound or limit to them, when the speculators can secure the confidence of the deposite banks, and the favor of the agents of the Treasury. And what does the public get for these lands? Nothing at all. You pretend to make cash sales-sales for funds better than specie; but they are in effect sales on credit. You trust the deposite bank-the deposite bank trusts the purchaser-not a dollar of specie or any thing available is paid into the Treasury; in the mean time you part with your most valuable lands, and they go in to the hands of those who will sell them out at five