1569 MAY 25, 1836.] Louisville and Portland Canal. the agricultural productions of the western country, which seek the markets of the Gulf of Mexico, are already much greater than those of the eastern or Atlantic cities. When speaking, Mr. President, of the propositions for this extraordinary expenditure of eighty millions, in the military and naval defences of the country, let me not be understood as referring to the document from the Secretary of War, which is sanctioned by the President. Far from it. That document, in the main, has my entire approbation. It is worthy of the source from which it comes, and gives us opinions on these subjects which we shall probably all approve of, now that the excitement It is agreed, howand danger of a French war is over. ever, on all hands, that, our means being ample, we should look to a more perfect and permanent state of defence, as a means of avoiding war as well as of repelling aggression. And surely the internal prosperity of the country, as far as that is intrusted to the care of the federal Government, in the regulation and protection of domestic commerce, ought to be no secondary object. The domestic commerce which floats on the noble rivers of the West to the markets of the South, that supplies the consumption of the cotton and sugar regions, that enters into and becomes a portion of the exports, or that creates and enlarges the still more valuable and important coasting trade, must not be abandoned, or left without the protection of this Government, on its way to the markets of the Gulf stream. What, Mr. President, is the magnitude of the interest making this appeal to your justice? It is, sir, the whole country west of the mountains; and there is no portion of it, however remote, without an interest in the very question now presented to the Senate; a country almost unlimited in extent, and perhaps unparalleled and unequalled in the salubrity of its climate, the fertility of its soil, the magnificence of its rivers, its agricultural productions and commercial facilities, by any region of country on the face of the earth; a country extending from the Allegany to the Rocky mountains, from the Gulf of Mexico to the great northern lakes-a circle whose diameter is more than two thousand miles; a country having many thousand miles of steamboat navigation, and admirably adapted to internal improvement by roads and canals; a country which half a century ago contained fifty or a hundred thousand inhabitants, and which at the present time contains near six millions; and one which will be capable of sustaining, when population and cultivation shall have reached their maximum in it, hundreds of millions. It is a larger country than China, and capable of sustaining as great a population. This country asks you to do what? It asks you to appropriate out of your thirty-eight millions of surplus revenue, which you do not know what to do with, less than three fourths of one million in favor of its commerce and navigation, in the removal of the obstructions at the falls of the Ohio. Sir, can it be possible that there will be any the least hesitation in the present Congress in doing all that this bill requires? Let this subject be viewed in its proper light, and the principle of this bill will certainly and promptly be adopted. Should the details of the bill not please the Senate, let them be amended. Is par value not enough to offer to the acceptance of the stockholders, let it be increased, or let the attention of Congress be directed to the improvement of the other side of the river. is easy to see that there is something in this proposition which can never slumber or sleep. The people interested in the navigation and commerce of the Ohio river, have petitioned Congress upon this subject until they The prevailing dishave become tired of petitioning. content upon this subject is general, and deeply felt. The representatives of that country in the Congress of the United States will be required to do their duty. The VOL. XII.-99 Jt [SENATE. petitioning of the people thus far has been but the distant murmur in the western breeze, but it will become will command obedience of their own representatives, louder and louder, and speak in tones and accents which and attract the attention of members from all other sections of the Union. I might go on, Mr. President, to swell the importance of this matter, by going into statements showing the already great and daily increasing magnitude of the commerce of the West, to show how much of western production entered into the foreign exports of the country, how much into the coasting trade, and how much into the consumption of the South; but I forbear. I do not feel it necessary or proper much longer to detain the A glance will Senate with any thing I can say about it. present it more fully to the mind of every Senator, than any description I could give. On a former occasion (said Mr. H.) I entered into a calculation of this kind, based on the official statement of our exports of a previous year. On the present occasion, I have not gone into cient data for such calculation. We have no means of asany such calculation. Indeed, there is not anywhere sufficertaining the amount of our agricultural productions which go into the consumption of the South, or of ascertainthe Gulf stream. These go into the foreign trade, the ing with accuracy the amount of millions which float upon exports of the country, or fall into the channel of the coasting trade. This great amount has been variously estimated. On one occasion, not long since, and on the floor of the Senate, it was computed at sixty or seventy millions. But he would no longer occupy the time of the Senate. Mr. CRITTENDEN and Mr. PORTER severally addressed the House in support of the bill. Mr. HENDRICKS moved to amend the bill by providing that the stock may be purchased at a price not exceeding 12 per cent. above par value, instead of at par. He would Mr. WALKER opposed the amendment. gladly support any measure calculated to relieve the commerce of the West from the burdens imposed on it by the extravagant tolls of this canal; but he could not, consistently with his views of the constitution, vote for a measure which would make the United States joint partners in a stock company, and a collector of tolls. viewed this as a revival of the system of internal improvements in its worst form; and it was, in his opinion, equally objectionable for the United States to collect tolls at the locks of a canal as at the gates of the Cumberland road. He Mr. BENTON spoke in favor of the amendment; showing the great importance of purchasing out this stock to relieve the commerce of the western cities from the injurious burdens now imposed on it. Mr. B. spoke of the tolls on this canal as being now double as much as they were at the commencement; and said they were so extravagant that he regarded them more as a fine or a Boats, he said, in some instances, penalty on the boats for passing the canal, than as an ordinary toll. paid as much in a year for tolls as the whole amount of their cost, and sometimes more than the amount of profit divided among the stockholders; while the extravagant charges on flat boats and keel boats were such that the rough boarding put up at their sides to keep in the loose articles was calculated as being part of their tonnage, thus charging thirty or forty dollars toll on a common flat boat. Mr. EWING, of Ohio, said that the proposed measure, or something equivalent to it, was of very great importance to the western country, and was due to them on We annually apevery principle of justice and policy propriate very large sums on the Atlantic seaboard to open harbors, to remove bars, and to erect light-houses; all for the purpose of aiding the foreign commerce and the coasting trade of our country. Now, (said Mr. E.,) the navigation upon the Ohio river partakes of the nature both of foreign commerce and of coasting trade. The trade which is carried on upon that river and the Mississippi, between New Orleans and Pittsburg, a distance of two thousand miles, is as fairly a coasting trade as that between Mobile and New York, on the Atlantic coast. The only difference is, that we have a const on both sides of two great rivers, and on but one side of the ocean. In a national point of view, the commerce in both cases is the same in character and value, and both alike require the aid and protection of the nation. Those rivers are also the great channel through which the produce of a very large region finds its way to the ocean, and thence to foreign countries. If there be an obstruction to its navigation, that obstruction, whether it be a bar at the mouth of the Mississippi, which all admit we should remove, or a fall fifteen hundred miles from its mouth, it acts alike upon the foreign commerce of that portion of the country which lies above it, and should, on the very same principle, be removed. The chairman of the Committee on Roads and Canals has very fully explained the nature of this obstruction to our navigation, and the very large amount which the people of the western country are taxed to avoid it. I need not dwell on that part of the subject. But I will take this occasion to say that, heavy as the tolls are, I attach no blame whatever to the enterprising individuals who constructed the canal, and who ought to be well indemnified for their trouble and cost. But the United States ought to relieve the western country of this burden, and it ought to be done on terms that will compensate that company fully for their enterprise, their expense, and their risk. The 12 per cent. advance on the stock proposed to be given by the amendment is certainly little enough, and, unless that amendment prevail, there is no prospect of procuring the stock. Messrs. HENDRICKS and CRITTENDEN also addressed the Senate in favor of the amendment; after which, the question on the amendment was taken, and lost by the following vote: YEAS-Messrs. Benton, Crittenden, Davis, Ewing of Illinois, Ewing of Ohio, Goldsborough, Hendricks, Kent, Linn, Morris, Naudain, Nicholas, Porter, Robinson, Webster-15. NAYS--Messrs. Black, Brown, Calhoun, Grundy, Hill, Hubbard, King of Alabama, King of Georgia, Leigh, McKean, Mangum, Moore, Niles, Rives, Ruggles, Shepley, Swift, Tallmadge, Tomlinson, Walker, White, Wright-22. Mr. CRITTENDEN then moved to amend the bill by striking out the proviso in the first section, which is in the following words: "Provided, That so much of said stock can be procured at par value, within the present year, as will give the United States the control of the company." And also the second and third sections of the bill, which read as follows: "SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, if it be found impracticable to purchase the stock agreeably to the foregoing section of this act, then the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to sell the United States stock to said company at market price, not below par value. "SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury shall vote for the president and directors of said company, according to such number of shares as shall belong to the United States at the time of giving such vote; and to receive upon said stock the proportion of the tolls which shall from time to time be due to the United States." And to insert at the end of the first a proviso that the [MAY 25, 1836. price of the stock shall not be more than twelve and a half per cent. above the par value. After some remarks from Messrs. LINN and WALKER, Mr. BENTON thought a majority could go for it, if a little time were allowed to regulate its details. He wished, therefore, that it might lie over until to-mor row morning. This was one thing he was in favor of He was informed that the tolls were doubled, and he was in favor of a reduction of them. They were enormous at first, and they were now no longer tolls, but a fine--a penalty; a penalty on those who went through. Owners of boats had shown him how enormous the amount was. There were boats that had, in two or three years, paid as much toll as the original amount of the cost of the boats themselves. And loose boards, that were used to keep the loading in, were actually charged as tonnage in weighing the boats. He wished to obviate the imposition, as far as the United States was concerned. Mr. B. concluded by suggesting the following as an amendment: "And from and after the passing of this act, no toll shall be collected on any stock owned by the United States in the said canal." Mr. EWING, of Ohio, considered the vote upon the amendment as absolutely decisive of the fate of the bill, and he had no wish to press it further; for, without the amendment, the whole measure will be idle and illusory. The owners of that stock will not sell it to the United States at par; they ought not, and it would be an act of crying injustice, if it be in our power, to coerce them to do so. And I confess (said Mr. E.) I witnessed the vote on the measure with surprise and disappointment. There are gentlemen in this body who are of opinion that Congress ought not to appropriate public money for the improvement of our bays, and harbors, and rivers, under any circumstances whatever. Those gentlemen have pursued consistently their course, followed out their principles, and voted against this, with every other measure of the kind. But they form a small minority in this body; and when our northern brethren ask for an appropriation for the improvement of their harbors, the construction of breakwaters, beacons, lighthouses, fortifications, any thing to facilitate or to protect their commerce, we of the West unite almost to a man in their support, and always secure them a majori ty; but now, sir, when this great western measure-a measure in which the commerce of the whole West is deeply concerned--a measure entitled to more of the favor of the nation, considering the extent of interest involved, than any which has been agitated for years, we find a large portion of the friends of these improvements in the East, those with whom we have always gone steadily, faithfully, thoroughly, when similar measures affecting their interests have been involved--we find them, sir, ranged on the side of our opponents; and this, our favorite measure, defeated by their votes. This, sir, I again repeat, is painful, unexpected; it will be deeply felt, and not soon forgotten. Mr. WEBSTER next addressed the Senate, as follows: Mr. President: I regret the warmth with which my friend from Ohio, [Mr. EWING,] and my friend from Louisiana, [Mr. PORTER,] have spoken on this occasion. But, while I regret it, I can hardly say I blame it. They have expressed disappointment, and, I think, they may well feel disappointment. I confess, sir, I feel disappointment also. Looking to the magnitude of this object-looking to its highly interesting character to the West-looking to the great concern which our western friends have manifested for its success--I feel, myself, not only disappointment, but, in some degree, mortification, at the result of the vote which has now been taken. That vote, if it stands, must be decisive of the success of the measure. [SENATE. novel character, its sudden development, its amazing progress, confounding all calculation, and almost overwhelming the imagination. Our rivers are not the rivers No doubt, sir, it is altogether vain to pass this bill, of the European world. We have not to deal with the unless it contain such provisions as will induce the stock-Trent, the Thames, and the Severn. With us, at least holders in the corporation to part with their interests. In the first place, sir, why do we hear so much reproach and denunciation against the members of this corporation? Have they not hazarded their property in an undertaking of great importance and utility to the country? Has not Congress itself encouraged their enterprise, by taking a part of the stock on account of the Government? Are we not ourselves shareholders in this company? Their tolls, it is said, are large. That is true; but then, not only did they run all the risks usually attending such enterprises, but, even with their large tolls, all their receipts, up to this hour, by no means gives an increase on their capital equal to the ordinary interest of money in that part of the country. There appears to me very great injustice in speaking of their tolls as "fines" and "penalties," and unjust impositions; or of their charter as an odious monopoly. Who called it so, or who so thought of it, when it was granted to them? Who, but they, were willing to undertake the work, to advance the money, and to run the risks and chances of failure? Who then blamed, reproached, or denounced the enterprising individuals who hazarded their money in a project to make a canal round the falls of the Ohio? Who then spoke of their tolls as impositions, fines, and penalties? Nobody, sir. Then, all was encouragement and cheering onward. The cry was then, Go on, run the hazard, try the experiment; let our vessels and boats have a passage round this obstruction; make an effort to overcome this great obstacle. If you fail, the loss, indeed, will be yours; but if you succeed, all the world will agree that you ought to be fairly and fully remunerated for the risk and expenditure of capital. Sir, we are bound in all justice and fairness to respect the legal rights of these corporators. For one, I not only respect their legal rights, but I honor their enterprise, I commend their perseverance, and I think they deserve well of the community. But, nevertheless, sir, I am for making this navigation free. If there were no canal, I should be for making one, or for other modes of removing the obstructions in the river. As there is a canal, now the subject of private ownership and private property, I am for buying it out, and opening it, toll free, to all who navigate the river. In my opinion, this work is of importance enough to demand the attention of Government. To be sure, it is but a canal, and a canal round the falls of a river; but that river is the Ohio. It is one of those vast streams which form a part of the great water communication of the West. It is one of those running seas which bear on their bosom the riches of western commerce. It is a river; but, to the uses of man, to the purposes of trade, to the great objects of communication, it is one of those rivers which has the character of an ocean. Indeed, when one looks at the map, and glauces his eye on all these rivers, he sees at once water enough to constitute or to fill an ocean, pouring from different, distant, and numerous sources, and flowing many thousand miles, in various channels, with breadth and depth of water in each sufficient for all the purposes of rapid communication and extensive trade. And if, in any portion of these inland seas, we find obstructions which the hand of man can remove, who can say that such removal is not an object worthy of all the attention of Government? Whoever, Mr. President, would do his duty, and his whole duty, in the councils of this Government, must look upon the country as it is, in its whole length and breadth. He must comprehend it in its vast extent, its in this part of our country, navigation from the sea does not stop where the tide stops. Our ports and harbors are not at the mouths of rivers only, or at the head of the tides of the sea. Hundreds of miles-nay, thousands of miles-beyond the point where the tides of the ocean are felt, deep waters spread out, and capacious harbors open themselves, to the reception of a vast and increasing navigation. To be sure, sir, this is a work of internal improvement; but it is not, on that account, either the less constitutional, or the less important. Sir, Ihave taken a part in this great struggle for internal improvement from the beginning, and I shall hold out to the end. Whoever may follow, or whoever may fly, I shall go straight forward for all those constitutional powers, and for all that liberal policy, which I have heretofore supported. I remember, sir-and, indeed, a very short memory might retain the recollection-when the first appropriations for harbors on the great lakes were carried through this body, not without the utmost difficulty, and against the most determined opposition. I remember when Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and Lake Michigan were likely to be condemned to a continuance in the state in which nature and the Indian tribes had left them, with no proof upon their shores of the policy of a civilized state, no harbors for the shelter of a hundred vessels, no light-house even to point out to the inland mariner the dangers of his course. I remember even when the harbor of Buffalo was looked upon as a thing either unimportant in itself, or, if not unimportant, yet shut out from the care and the aid of Congress by a constitutional interdiction of works of internal improvement. But, in this case, as in others, the doctrine of internal improvement has established itself by its own necessity, its own obvious and confessed utility, and the benefits which it has already so widely conferred. So it will be, I have no doubt, in the case before us. We shall wonder, hereafter, who could doubt of the propriety of setting free the navigation of the Ohio, and shall wonder that it was delayed even so long. Mr. President, on the question of constitutional power, I entertain not a particle of doubt. How is it, let me ask, that we appropriate money for harbors, piers, and breakwaters on the seacoast? Where do we find power for this? Certainly nowhere, where we cannot find equal power to pass this bill. The same clause covers such appropriations, inland as well as on the seacoast; or else it covers neither. We have foreign commerce, and we have internal commerce; and the power and the duty, also, of regulating, protecting, aiding, and fostering both, is given in the same words. For one, therefore, sir, I look to the magnitude of the object, and not to its locality. I ask not whether it be east or west of the mountains. There are no Alleganies in my politics. I care not whether it be an improvement on the shore of the sea, or on the shore of one of these mighty rivers, so much like a sea, which flow through our vast interior. It is enough for me to know that the object is a good one, an important one, within the scope of our powers, and called for by the fair claims of our commerce. So that it be in the Union, so that it be within the twenty-four States, or the twenty-six States, it cannot be too remote for me. This feeling, sir, so natural, as I think, to true patriotism, is the dictate also of enlightened self-interest. Were I to look only to the benefits of my own immediate constituents, I should still support this measure. Is not our commerce floating on these western rivers? Are not our manufactures ascending them all, by day and by SENATE.] Fortification Bill. [MAY 25, 1836. NAYS--Messrs. Black, Calhoun, Crittenden, Davis, Ewing of Ohio, Goldsborough, Hendricks, Kent, King of Georgia, Leigh, McKean, Mangum, Moore, Naudain, Porter, Prentiss, Robbins, Swift, Tomlinson, Webster, White.-21. night, by the power of steam, incessantly impelling a thousand engines, and forcing upwards, against their currents, hundreds of thousands of tons of freight? If these cargoes be lost, if they be injured, if their progress be delayed, if the expense of their transportation be increased, who does not see that all interested in them become sufferers? Who does not see that every producer, every manufacturer, every trader, every la-propriations for fortifications at Federal Point, North borer, has an interest in these improvements? Surely, sir, this is one of the cases in which the interest of the whole is the interest of each. Every man has his dividend out of this augmented public advantage. But if it were not so, if the effect were more local, if the work were useful to the western States alone, or useful mainly to Kentucky and Indiana alone, still I should think it a case fairly within our power, and important enough to demand our attention. But, Mr. President, I felt the more pain at the result of the last vote of the Senate on account of those western gentlemen, who are so much interested in this measure, and who have uniformly supported appropriations for other parts of the country, which, though just and proper,are, as it seems to me, no more just or proper than this. These friends have stood by us. They have uniformly been found at our side, in the contest about internal improvement. They have upheld that policy, and have gone with us through good report and evil report. And I now tell them that I shall stand by them. I shall be found where they look for me. I have asked their votes, once and again, for objects important to the Atlantic States. They have liberally given those votes. They have acted like enlightened and wise statesmen. I have duly estimated the high justice and liberality of their conduct. And having now an object interesting to them and to their constituents, a just object, and a great object, they have a right to find me at their side, acting with them, acting according to my own principles, and proving my own consistency. And so they shall find me; and so they do find me. On this occasion I am with them; I am one of them. I am as western a man, on this bill, as he among them who is most western. This chair must change its occupant, another voice will address the Senate from this seat, before an object of this nature, so important, so constitutional, so expedient, so highly desirable to a great portion of the country, and so useful to the whole, shall fail, for the want, here, either of a decisive vote in its support, or an earnest recommendation of it to the support of others. After some further remarks from Messrs. WALKER, HENDRICKS, and CRITTENDEN, Mr. EWING of Ohio suggested that it would be better to lay the bill over until the next day, that gentlemen might, in the mean time, consider what shape it would be best to give it, in order to procure its passage. The bill was accordingly postponed. FORTIFICATION BILL. The bill making appropriations for the purchase of sites, the collection of materials, and the commencement of certain fortifications, was taken up; the question being on Mr. BENTON's motion to strike out $75,000 for fortifications at Salem, Massachusetts, and insert "for fortifications at Salem, Massachusetts, $75,000 annually for two years." Mr. WEBSTER addressed the Senate in opposition to the system of making appropriations in advance; after which, the question was taken, and the amendment was rejected by the following vote: On motion of Mr. BENTON, The bill was further amended by increasing the apCarolina, from $12,000 to $18,000; and for fortifications at Fort St. Philip, from $77,000 to $100,000. Mr. BENTON then submitted amendments making the appropriations for two years, instead of one, for New Bedford, Massachusetts, New London, Connecticut, Soller's flats, and Fort Barrancas; the questions on which were severally put, and rejected. The bill was then reported to the Senate, and the questions on concurring in the amendments made in Committee of the Whole, were taken as follows. The first question was on concurring in the amendment making the appropriation for fortifications at Penobscot bay, $75,000 annually for two years, instead of $101,000, as in the bill. This amendment was rejected: Yeas 20, nays 21, as follows: YEAS--Messrs. Benton, Brown, Buchanan, Cuthbert, Ewing of Illinois, Grundy, Hill, Hubbard, King of Alabama, Linn, Morris, Nicholas, Preston, Rives, Robinson, Ruggles, Shepley, Tallmadge, Walker, Wright--20. NAYS--Messrs. Black, Calhoun, Crittenden, Davis, Ewing of Ohio, Goldsborough, Hendricks, Kent, King of Georgia, Leigh, McKean, Mangum, Moore, Naudain, Porter, Prentiss, Robbins, Swift, Tomlinson, Webster, White.--21. The question was next taken on making the appropriations for fortifications at Kennebec, $100,000 annually for two years, instead of $100,000 as in the bill, and also rejected by the following vote: YEAS-Messrs. Benton, Brown, Buchanan, Cuthbert, Ewing of Illinois, Grundy, Hill, Hubbard, King of Alabama, Linn, Morris, Nicholas, Rives, Robinson, Ruggles, Shepley, Tallmadge, Walker, Wright--19. NAYS--Messrs. Black, Calhoun, Crittenden, Davis, Ewing of Ohio, Goldsborough, Hendricks, Kent, King of Georgia, Leigh, McKean, Mangum, Moore, Naudain, Porter, Prentiss, Preston, Robbins, Swift, Tomlinson, Webster, White--22. The amendments for fortifications at Portland, $75,000 per annum for two years, instead of $100,000; and for Portsmouth, $150,000 per annum for two years, instead of $200,000, were also rejected. The remainder of the amendments made in committee were then concurred in. Mr. PRESTON then moved to strike out the appropriations for fortifications at Kennebec. He had made this motion, he said, when there was not a full Senate, and it was rejected. He wished, now that the Senate was full, to try the principle, whether appropriations should be made where there were no plans or estimates. After some remarks from Messrs. PRESTON and CRITTENDEN, this motion was rejected: Yeas 11, nays 29, as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Calhoun, Crittenden, Ewing of Ohio, King of Georgia, Leigh, Mangum, Moore, Naudain, Preston, Swift, White--11. NAYS-Messrs. Benton, Black, Brown, Buchanan, Cuthbert, Davis, Ewing of Illinois, Goldsborough, Grundy, Hendricks, Hill, Hubbard, Kent, King of Alabama, Linn, McKean, Morris, Nicholas, Niles, Porter, Rives, Robbins, Robinson, Ruggles, Shepley, Tallmadge, Tomlinson, Walker, Webster--29. The bill was then ordered to be engrossed for a third YEAS-Messrs. Benton, Buchanan, Cuthbert, Ewing of MAY 26, 1836.] PUBLIC DEPOSITES. Public Deposites--Fortification Bill. On motion of Mr. CALHOUN, the Senate took up the bill to regulate the deposites of the public moneys; when Mr. C. was permitted, by general consent, to modify the bill by adding new sections, the purport of which is, that the unexpended balance remaining in the Treasury, on the 31st of December of each year, except dollars, shall be deposited with the several States of the Union, each in proportion to its population; that the Secretary of the Treasury shall notify the Executive of each State that the sum allotted to his State will be paid on the warrant of the Chief Magistrate of said State, or deposited in the State Treasury, at his option; the sum thus deposited with the States to be retained without interest until wanted by the General Government, month's notice shall be given before it is withdrawn; that where a State is not authorized by its existing laws to receive the deposite, the sum allotted to it shall be transferred to it on the warrant of its Executive, or deposited in its Treasury, as soon as it shall have passed a law authorizing such transfer or deposite: this act to continue in force till the 30th of June, 1842. and that The question then recurred on Mr. WRIGHT's amendment, providing for the investment of the surplus in the Treasury in some safe public stocks, &c.; and it being late in the evening, On motion of Mr. WRIGHT, the bill was laid on the table, with an understanding to take it up to-morrow. DISTRICT BANKS. The bill to extend the charters of certain banks in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes, being the next special order, Mr. BENTON moved to postpone its consideration for the purpose of taking up the defence bill: Yeas 14, nay's 19. [SENATE. Mr. WEBSTER reminded the Senate that, on the motion of a Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. HunBARD] a few days ago, a resolution was adopted, instructing the Committee on Finance to inquire whether it was necessary for Congress to disaffirm any of the acts of the Legislature of Florida, on the subject of the inThe whole of the laws of the corporation of banks. Territorial Legislatures ought to be returned to Congress every year, and which, perhaps, are sent, but never laid before Congress. It appeared to be very important, at a moment when the rage for the incorporation of banks is so alarmingly prevalent, that these Territorial Legislatures should be restrained in their action on such questions, as the process of disaffirming is sometimes attended with much inconvenience. Something of this kind had taken place in Louisiana, from which that State might yet be visited with inconvenience. He concluded with expressing his hope that, before the termination of this session, the Committee on the Judiciary would present to the Senate some provision, ordaining that all legislative incorporations of banking companies in the Territories shall receive the sanction of Congress before they shall be in force. FORTIFICATIONS. The bill making appropriations for the purchase of sites, the collection of materials, and the commencement of certain fortifications, was read the third time. Mr. KING, of Georgia, said, that having voted for this bill throughout, he wished to say a few words explanatory of the vote he was about to give on its final passage. His motives for voting against it were not from any hostility to its general objects, or to the fortifications which were in it; on the contrary, he was disposed to believe, from the quantity of evidence that had been adduced in the course of this debate, that the fortifications now in the bill should be ultimately added to the defences of the country. With him, however, the question was more as to time, than as to the propriety of the measure. If the report of the Secretary of War, sent in on the 7th of April, was to be relied on, not a single dollar should be appropriated for new works, until a re-examination was had of the whole subject, in order to adapt the system to the present condition of the country. Now his opinion (Mr. K. said) was this: that if this appropriation should be made at the present session of Congress, it would have no effect, but to confine several millions of dollars from the control of the Government, which cannot be expended in the objects for which it was appropriated. If the Secretary should examine these new works before commencing them, with that care and deliberation with which he should proceed, with regard to the works intended for the permanent defences of the country, they would not be commenced before the next session of Congress, and, therefore, there was no necessity for hurrying the appropriations at this time. Mr. K. said that he did not wish to be understood as committing himself in favor of the plan originally presented by the Military Committee. He never could agree to vote for any plan which changed the whole system so long practised by the Government, and perhaps looked to a change of our institutions. The report of the Secretary of War was, to his mind, a conclusive argument against the present bill, if he had no other objections to urge against it. Mr. K. highly complimented the report of the Secretary, saying that it showed a great mind, as well as a practical talent, well calculated to give to science a practical effect. Taking into consideration that they then were nearly at the end of the session of Congress, and that if they passed the bill it would be departing from the principles of the report, he conceived himself but in the performance of a duty |