JAN. 11, 1835.]

Increase of the Navy.

fairs had already determined that they would not, without a call from the Navy Department, increase or recommend the increase of the naval appropriations. The Committee on Naval Affairs would be called upon by the Navy Department for an increase of appropriations, should they be required. He had no idea that the committees of this House should be over zealous and over active in recommending and urging the increase of the appropriations. If there was any necessity for an increase, it ought to be made known by the executive Departments, and they should take the responsibility of recommending the measure. If the appropriations should not be found necessary, it would be said by the Departments, we did not recommend them to you. He believed that some of the Departments were anxious that this House should take the responsibility of measures at the present time.

[H. OF R.

some means of defence, without waiting to hear from the Department or the President. He was not afraid to take the responsibility of making the proposed inquiry, without waiting for the opinion of the Executive. No injury could result from it, and he thought it highly proper to invest the committee with the power of making the inquiry.

Mr. HAMMOND, of South Carolina, said this was an extraordinary resolution, and the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. GLASCOCK] had supported it with most extraordinary arguments. He had said that, on the evidences around us, he was for the immediate action of this House. I understand him to be for putting the country in a state of hostile preparation upon this subject. To what evidences does the gentleman allude? Were they the paragraphs of foreign newspapers with which the country had been lately inundated? Did the gentleman call upon this House to legislate upon this kind of informa come to us from the proper quarter, and let us not be smuggled into one by resolutions such as this, predicated on the idle rumors of the newspapers. Had a resolution been offered calling for information from the Executive, he would have voted for it cheerfully; but without that information he could not consent to act.

Mr. JARVIS remarked that seven out of nine of the committee united in the recommendation of the resolution? If, sir, we are to have a war, let the proposition tion proposed. The gentleman from Virginia seemed to think that this House ought not to take any responsibility upon itself, but merely to act as the organ of the will of the Executive. He dissented from this doctrine. If we found the Executive going too fast, it was our duty to check him; and, if he was going too slow, to spur

him on.

Mr. WISE put it, he said, to the honorable chairman to say whether he had called on the Secretary of the Navy to ask whether the additional appropriations contemplated in the resolution were required. If the gentleman would not answer, he would state that this call had been made upon the Department, and had not yet been answered. He (Mr. W.) would not take action on this subject until it was answered. However much he might seem to think that the House ought to be merely the organ of the Executive, he was, in fact, utterly opposed to such a doctrine. He did not wish to be the organ of the Executive, nor the tool of the Executive. When the Executive was afraid to call for money, he did not wish him to make tools of us to make the call for him. He wished to know why this resolution was introduced here in anticipation of any information on the subject. The gentleman had said that, when the President was too tardy, it was necessary to spur him up. General Jackson never needed a spur in his life, but some of the Departments needed it, with the rowels struck in very deeply. He wanted to know what danger was now in prospect for which preparation should be made. At the commencement of the session, the Secretary of the Navy proposed to fit out two new frigates and two sloops of war; a most ridiculous preparation, indeed, if it was intended to get into a war with France. If there was danger, the call upon us for appropriations should be made by the President himself-not in a whisper, but in a bold and direct way, in a message. He wanted the responsibility of the meas'ures of preparation to rest where it belonged.

The question of war was a great question. It involved vast interests. It should not be entertained in any shape without all the information which the Executive could give, and then fully discussed and deliberately decided. For his part, he could see nothing that had happened to change materially the relations of this country with France since the opening of the session. The French Government have refused to pay the indemnity to Mr. Barton. It was not the first refusal. No man in this House, or in this country, could have expected its payment on his demand, under the circumstances. The President himself could not have looked for it when he instructed him to make the demand. Gentlemen spoke of the tardy movements of the Government, and that it required spurring. He hoped the House would not suffer itself to be booted and spurred, for the purpose of kicking this country into a war. 'There had been irritation enough already. The resolution was calculated to have that effect. There had been messages and correspondences, diplomatic and undiplomatic, sufficient for that purpose; and he hoped this House would be disposed to allay rather than increase the excitement. He saw no cause for war. He believed a war would be entirely unnecessary; and, were it not for the serious consequences it involved, he should say it would be utterly ridiculous in both parties. He looked upon this resolution as the commencement of a series of war measures. He should not therefore vote for it, nor would he at this time support any measure looking towards a war.

Mr. HAWES was deeply mortified, he said, at the speeches which he had heard. He believed it had been by such speeches as these that the country had been Mr. GLASCOCK said, if the gentleman would look prevented from receiving redress, before this, from at the resolution, he would see that it was not liable to France. The nation, he believed, had been robbed of the objections which he had urged against it. That its rights by factious speeches and essays. Are we (said there should be some action in reference to the increase Mr. H.) to stand here making speeches, which will be of the naval force, was agreed by the committee. They hailed abroad as evidence that the country will not insist had proposed this resolution, not from the idea that upon its rights, while the French are making hostile there existed any disposition on the part of the Depart-preparations against us? He cared not through what ments to shrink from responsibility. But this House was not to be told that it could act only as the creature of the Executive. The House, as well as the Departments, must share in the responsibilities of public measures, and they should act in union. Perhaps the views of the Department would be made known to the House to-morrow. If we looked to the preparations made by a foreign nation, and which, it was evident, had reference to hostilities with us, we would not hesitate to adopt VOL. XII.-136

channel the proposition might come; he would support any measure for putting the country in a state of defence. It was evident that France was making hostile preparations; and even if she was not, what objection could there be to the proposed inquiry into the expediency of increasing our naval force? In what a situation would the constituents of the gentleman from Virginia stand, in case of a war? The whole seaboard of Virginia would be exposed to the enemy, unless we had a sufficient naval

H. OF R.]

Increase of the Navy.

[JAN. 11, 1836.

country. Who talks of war? Who has sounded the toc. sin which is to give the alarm throughout the country, to disturb the quiet of the land, and conjure up into timid minds the dire apparitions of desolation and destruction, the concomitants of a belligerant state? No one but the gentleman himself. If war must come, it was a question to be settled hereafter. That was not the question then under consideration, but merely whether it was expedient to inquire if the country should be put in a state of preparation. The inquiry may be necessary in other points totally separated from our present difficulties. The gentleman from South Carolina tells us we are to be driven into-spurred into -a war with France, which he, if it should happen, would term a ridiculous war. Sir, I deprecate as much as he does a state of hostility. I regret that he has used the term ridiculous. Much as I regret war, I prefer it to dishonorable peace. Ridiculous he may consider the war, if it must come; but there may be a peace which cannot be otherwise than degrading. With robberies committed years ago upon our unoffending citizens, and presenting in the acts a gross violation of the code of civilized nations; with years of patient negotiation; with a treaty solemnly ratified; added to all these injuries, the insult of demanding from the American people explanations (and those with a fleet before our harbors-with the rod hanging over our heads) which are incompatible with their self-respect and character as an inde pendent people. If, under such circumstances, compelled to assume a hostile attitude, 1, said Mr. McK., cannot consider that attitude ridiculous.

force to defend it. As a member of this Congress, and as an American citizen, he hoped this proposition would be adopted. Mr. McKEON would ask the indulgence of the House for a few moments. It was well known that he was not in the habit of intruding himself; and, but for the circumstances in which he found himself placed, he should have remained a silent observer of the discussion. The gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. HAWES] informed us that he was mortified to hear the language of the gentlemen from Virginia and South Carolina, [Messrs. WISE and HAMMOND,] who addressed the House in opposition to the resolution upon the table. He was not only mortified, but also astonished, at their arguments at such a period-at such a crisis as that in which we find the country now placed. Representing as he did, in part, a portion of the Union deeply interested in the question which now engrosses the public mind, he (Mr. McK.) could not but endeavor to give an impulse to an investigation which had for its object the defence of our seacoast and the protection of our commerce. Well might he be astonished to hear opposition to a measure of this nature, with regard to the increase of our naval force, when the rumor is abroad that we have a squadron approaching our very borders. When the noise is actually ringing in our ears of the armaments in hostile array, while every thing portends difficulty, and points out the propriety and necessity of preparation, we must pause and discuss the expediency of inquiry into the propriety of moving forward in a work which relates to the public defence. We must debate the question by whom the first step ought to be taken-on whom the responsibility ought to rest. For one, he was willing to assume the responsibility. Why, sir, said Mr. McK., I was sent here to take responsibility like that now under consideration. Every member of this House was bound to take the similar responsibility. We are bound to our constituents, to the country, by every tie which can unite us to the honor and safety of the country, not to hesi tate. The present situation of our foreign affairs required the patriotism and action of every member of the Government. While around all was activity, we ought not to be passive. It was well known that the Executive, as the head of the Government, had been alive to the importance of this question. To the Executive the country, throughout the long and difficult negotiations to which gentlemen had alluded, looked with anxiety, and thus far the movements of his patriotic administration had received the grateful applause of the coun. try. The Chief Magistrate had thrown into the whole question the powers of his mighty intellect; had called into action his wonderful foresight; and with sleepless vigilance had endeavored to obtain the rights of our citizens, and to maintain the dignity of the country. With an Executive identified as he is with the history of the most brilliant periods of the country, he had no fears but that in his hands the interest and character of our country would be entirely secure. While other branches of the Government were zealously engaged, must we hesitate to execute our portion of the task imposed upon us by the peculiar state of things? It did not become Being one of the committee, I beg to state to the us, said Mr. McK., to hesitate about directing an inquiry House the part I have taken. The chairman, a few into the expediency of putting the country into a state hours ago, handed me in my seat the resolution now of preparation against aggression. It cannot result in under consideration, and asked me, as one of the com producing trouble; it cannot throw us into difficulty.mittee, to give my consent that he should offer it to the The resolution should have been adopted without a question; but, sir, it appears obstacles must be thrown in the way, impediments interposed before us, to operate upon our minds, and deter us from an attempt to overcome them. The gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. HAMMOND] threw out the suggestion that a war into which this country was about to be plunged, would be a ridiculous war, and fatal to the liberties of the

He regretted that this discussion had taken place. To our divided councils many of our difficulties may be at tributed. They give confidence to those who deny us justice. It is time, these divisions should be healed. He had hoped that, on an occasion like the present, but one feeling pervaded their body, as was certain but one feeling animated the entire people of the country. To re. fuse the inquiry would look like an indisposition on the part of the House to sustain the country. He could not believe that one would object to a course which was demanded by the exigency of the times, or that we should present, when the slightest speck was visible in the horizon portending the approaching storm, a divided people. On the question which had given rise to this debate, let us, whether it continues to retain its present aspect, or assume any other character, rally around the altar of our country, and be true to our motto; let us be, in fact, E pluribus unum. Let us be true to our selves and to our own character, and present to the world but one front. Coming, as he before remarked, from a section of country, the lives and property of the citizens of which were most exposed, he (Mr. McK.) felt compelled to address those remarks to the House on this occasion, and ask the adoption of the resolution.

Mr. REED, of Massachusetts, observed that the chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs [Mr. Jarvis] had stated that seven out of nine of the committee had instructed him to present the resolution he had just of fered.

House. After I had read it, I replied that I did not know that I had any objection. On further reflection, apprehending that the resolution might lead to an exciting debate, I called upon the chairman, and expressed my fear to him, and retracted my approbation of presenting it.

I feared it might lead to a debate which might be in jurious to the country. I do not consider the resolu

tion itself as one of great moment. I admit the importance of the subject. But the resolution does not instruct the committee; it is one of inquiry only. I consider the whole subject now before the Committee on Naval Affairs. They have power at any time, whether the resolution be adopted or not, to report a bill to increase or any way improve the navy, and of course the appropriation of money to carry those objects into effect. The subject of increasing and improving our naval force is one that deserves the deliberate consideration of the committee and of this House. Our commerce needs protection, and this is stated by the Executive in his message; and new difficulties may arise with Mexico, which may require a part of our navy in that quarter.

[H. OF R.

possible. Of this Mr. L. had no doubt, and he could see no cause thus to arraign the Executive for want of vigilance, industry, or patriotism.

Mr. L. well recollected what had taken place on a former occasion. He recollected that complaints, long and loud, were made, that the proposed measure of preparing the country for defence at the last Congress was intrusting the President with too much power. Mr. L. would now say that he rested under the firm conviction, and he would proclaim it here and elsewhere, that if the last Congress had sustained the President of the United States, by making appropriations to put the country in a reasonable state of defence, the provisions of the treaty with France would all have been complied with, and the money paid, and this dark and lowering cloud, now I regret that, upon a subject of inquiry merely, gen- hanging around us, would never have been seen. It tlemen should indulge themselves in debating upon the was the maxim of the Father of his Country, "in peace danger and probability of a war with France. I regret prepare for war." What was the situation of this that the debate should assume a tone and manner calcu- country, compared with France? She had been actively lated to produce mischief. It is calculated, unneces- preparing and fitting out her fleets and armaments, sarily and unjustly, to alarm the country. It seems to which were hourly expected upon our coasts. me we are precipitate. The debate is assuming a most was the situation of the American people? Scarce a unfavorable character. We are debating upon the all- ship in a condition to defend them! Not a solitary regi important subject of peace and war with France. I hope ment, perhaps, full! The very omitting to make that and trust we shall have more light and knowledge upon appropriation might involve this country in war, cost this momentous subject, before we seriously debate it. hundreds of millions of money, and tens of thousands of The debate seems to me ill-judged and unadvised, and lives, all of which might have been averted. Had this calculated to produce the evil which I am quite sure a appropriation been adopted, we should have had no war, great majority of this House and nation deprecate, and no apprehension of war, with a powerful and ancient hope to avoid. I do not propose to engage in such; it is ally. Mr. L. said he was in favor of the resolution, altogether premature. I beg the House to be calm and though, if he had been consulted, he would have predeliberate, and to avoid excitement, which may be inferred waiting for a communication from the President, jurious, but cannot be useful to the country. who, he had no doubt, would, at as early a period as possible, communicate all the information of which he was possessed; and then the House may be called upon to act in a very different manner and form.

Mr. MILLER asked for the yeas and nays on the question, and they were ordered.

Mr. EVERETT, of Vermont, said he should vote for the resolution. He could not disregard the signs of the times; he thought it high time that the country should prepare for defence. From assurances in the annual message, the House had reason to expect a special message on the arrival of the final answer of France to our demand for payment. It was now known that the Executive had been in possession of that answer for more than five days; yet the promised special message had not been received. It was also known that a French fleet had been ordered to the West Indies. This, however, was only procured through the papers. Yet, in the absence of all official information, the course of the Executive is no secret. The result of a cabinet council is no secret. In the course of this debate, a gentleman of high standing, and in the confidence of the administration, had stated that he was prepared to anticipate the course of the Executive. He begged the House to mark the expression, taken in connexion with his support of this resolution, and not what that course will be. If the Executive had neglected its duty to the House, he trusted the House would not neglect its duty to the country. Why the special message was delayed, he would not undertake to say; he referred the question to those more immediately in the confidence of the Executive. He was prepared to go for every proper measure for defence.

What

Mr. GRENNELL said, if he felt all the alarm that seemed to oppress the minds of some gentlemen, he might vote for the resolution of the member from Maine. But he believed these alarms unnecessary, and the dec. laration of them uncalled for and unwise. If the public dangers resulting from our relations with a foreign Power were so imminent as gentlemen imagine, we should hear from the Executive, and in twenty-four hours we may have information from him that will make us act intelligently on the subject. It was certain the President had received communications from France; but he (Mr. G.) was disposed not to anticipate their character, and should regret the expression of sentiments of horror and alarm here, which might make a false and injurious impression upon the country. They were not to suppose that the Executive had neglected his duty, or that he was slumbering over it. No; Mr. G. would not for a moment entertain such a suspicion. It had been said this was a very important resolution; that it was demanded by the exigency of the times; and it was also said by the gentleman from Indiana, [Mr, LANE,] that if, at the last session of Congress, an appropriation had been made for the navy and fortifications, there would exist no necessity for calling upon Congress now.

We hear it said, sir, (said Mr. G.,) in a way of comMr. LANE rose, he said, with no intention of discus-plaint, that Congress did not sustain the President at the sing this subject, but merely to state, for the information of the House, what his understanding was in relation to the course of the Executive on this occasion. He believed it was only on Saturday or Sunday that Mr. Barton arrived in Washington. [Several voices: "that is not correct; he has not yet arrived."] Well, said Mr. L., there was such a report, and he made no inquiries as to its foundation. He would observe that he was well assured that the President would communicate all the information in his possession, at as early a period as

last session; by which, I suppose, the gentleman from Indiana intends that the Senate did not vote the three millions to his discretion, in the fortification bill. And, moreover, the blame of losing the entire bill is intended to be cast upon that body. Sir, (said Mr. G.,) what was the action of this House on that important bill, and what of the Senate? It originated and passed here, and was sent to the Senate. That branch, deeming our appropriations too low for the repair and preservation of the great seaboard defences of the country, raised them, by

amendment, if recollection serves me, by about 400,000
dollars; and thus the bill was sent to the House for con-
currence and adoption, several days before the close of
the session. On the last evening of the session, the
House agreed to the increased appropriation, and added,
with unwarrantable haste, the sum of three millions of
dollars by way of amendment, to be expended, in whole
or in part, under the direction of the President, for the
military and naval service, fortifications, and increase of
the navy.
And those who voted against the monstrous
proposition, and the Senate too, because they saw
danger in placing that great amount of treasure at the
President's discretion, and almost without specification
or restriction, are to be charged with leaving the fortifi-
cations of the country, and the navy too, in an unpre-
pared and ruinous state-with not sustaining the Presi-
dent! Sir, (said Mr. G.,) did the President ask the ap-
propriation? No. Did any of the Departments ask for
this amount, or any thing like it, or any committee of
the House? No, sir, none. It was moved by a gentle-
man of the House, on his own responsibility, and adopt
ed. A majority was found here to take three millions,
and lay them at the feet of the Executive. The Senate
wisely disagreed to the precipitate measure; and subse-
quent proceedings showed that the Senate was ready
and anxious to save the bill, and instead of the three
millions, in such general, unlimited form, to appropriate
$500,000 for the refitting and equipments of ships of
war, and $300,000 for fortifications. If this proposition
had been adopted by the House, the bill might have
been saved, and the result would have been, that it
might have passed into a law making appropriations for
the defences of the country, greater by about $1,200,000
than had originally been proposed by the House of Rep-
resentatives. Such (said Mr. G.) is my general recol
lection of the facts, as they transpired about the last mid-
night hour of the last session of Congress. If I am in-
correct, there are many gentlemen present who can set
me right, and some who had no very obscure agency in
the matter.

Now, Mr. G. was neither disposed to be too hasty nor too slow; he believed, and had long believed, the navy ought to be increased and the fortifications repaired. Indeed, he believed both to be in a worse condition than at the beginning of the last war. Yet alarming haste, he trusted, was not required; and there was something in the idea that each department should sus. tain its own appropriate responsibility. And when a proposition should come from the Executive, or from any of the Departments, relating to the increase of either arm of the public defence, giving this House the requisite information, he would be found ready to consider the exigency under which it was brought forward, and act with promptness and liberality. He deprecated the voting and speaking as if war was surely impending. And he must hear, from those who know, of the state of our relations with France, and in regard to the public danger, before he voted for this or any other resolution which looks to a great increase of our naval or military force, in the trembling apprehension of war with a foreign Power.

Mr. PEARCE, of Rhode Island, protested, he said, against the doctrine that we could not act without hearing from the Executive or the Departments. He was not disposed to wait for the recommendations of the one or the other before he acted, on any question. He did not wish to enter into an argument on this subject. In ordinary times not a voice would be raised against this proposition. It was but a simple inquiry, was proper now, and would be proper at any time. He moved the previous question.

[JAN. 12, 1836.

The motion for the previous question was seconded by the House, and the main question was ordered to be put.

The question being taken on the adoption of the resolution, it was decided in the affirmative, as follows: YEAS-Messrs. John Q. Adams, Ash, Bean, Beardsley, Beaumont, Bell, Bockee, Bond, Borden, Boyd, Briggs, Brown, Buchanan, Bunch, John Calhoon, William B. Calhoun, Cambreleng, Carr, Carter, Casey, George Chambers, Chaney, Chapman, Chapin, N. H. Claiborne, J. F. H. Claiborne, Clark, Cleveland, Coles, Connor, Craig, Cramer, Cushing, Cushman, Darlington, Davis, Denny, Doubleday, Dromgoole, Everett, Fairfield, Farlin, Forester, French, Fry, Philo C. Fuller, William K. Fuller, Galbraith, James Garland, Rice Garland, Gillet, Glascock, Graham, Granger, Grantland, Haley, Joseph Hall, Hamer, Hannegan, Harper, Albert G. Harrison, Hawes, Hawkins, Haynes, Hiester, Holsey, Hopkins, Howard, Hubley, Huntington, Huntsman, Ingham, William Jackson, Jabez Jackson, Janes, Jarvis, Cave Johnson, John W. Jones, Benjamin Jones, Jud. son, Kennon, Kilgore, Kinnard, Klingensmith, Lane, Lansing, Laporte, Lawler, Lawrence, J. Lee, L. Lea, Leonard, Lincoln, Logan, Loyall, Lucas, Lyon, Abijah Mann, Job Mann, Manning, Martin, John Y. Mason, Moses Mason, Samson Mason, Maury, McCarty, McKay, McKennan, McKeon, McKim, Miller, Milligan, Montgomery, Morgan, Morris, Muhlenberg, Page, Parker, Parks, Patterson, Patton, F. Pierce, Dutee J. Pearce, J. A. Pearce, Pettigrew, Peyton, Phelps, Phillips, Pinckney, Rencher, John Reynolds, Ripley, Roane, Rogers, Russell, Seymour, A. H. Shepperd, Shields, Shinn, Slade, Smith, Spangler, Sprague, Standefer, Steele, Storer, Sutherland Taliaferro, Taylor, Thomas, John Thomson, Toucey, Towns, Turner, Turrill, Underwood, Vinton, Wagener, Wardwell, Washington, Webster, White, Whittlesey, Sherrod Williams-164.

NAYS-Messrs. Chilton Allan, Heman Allen, John Chambers, Corwin, Crane, Grennell, Hammond, Hardin, Harlan, Hazeltine, Hoar, Howell, Ingersoll, Mercer, Potts, Robertson, Waddy Thompson, Lewis Williams,

Wise--19.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 12.

SLAVERY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. Mr. WARD said, as there was a bill before the House for the relief the sufferers by fire in New York, which it was necessary should be acted on, he would move that the further consideration of the memorial praying for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, presented by the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. ADAMS,] be postponed to Monday next.

Mr. ADAMS said he hoped the gentleman would allow the vote to be taken on the point of order. The question was upon the appeal which he took from the decision of the Speaker. If the House would come to a decision on the appeal, he would be willing to let the consideration of the memorial lie over, and he would be glad if the discussion of these memorials would also lie over, at least on the day appropriated for the receiving of petitions. Gentlemen had not an opportunity of getting in their petitions, on account of these discussions. There was a great many obstacles thrown in the way of petitions--motions were made to reject them--that they be not received. He should rather see a multiplication of modes for getting in petitions than for getting rid of them. Petitions appeared to be in bad odor; and when he heard a gentleman commence a speech by saying that he was very much attached to the Union,

Mr. HOWELL. moved an adjournment: negatived, he took it for granted he was going to end by a motion

80 to 96.

to exclude petitions. Petitions had been presented on