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have neither ships, nor bonds, nor imposts. But were it otherwise, should we withhold it? Are the merchants not men? Are not their families women and children? Are they not subject to the same wants--hunger, thirst, griefs, dismay, ruin--as other folks? And because at merchant has lived well, and is now devastated, will he feel want and ruin the less poignantly on that account? Mr. Chairman, I have detained you too long. I have endeavored to confine myself strictly to the argument. I have meant to suppress all unnecessary detail. The peculiar relation I stand in towards the sufferers would not permit me to say less. Had I not prohibited myself, it were easy, sir, to give you volumes of detailed individual loss, distress, dismay, more affecting to the mind, more appalling to the heart, than the great view of the desolation.

I think the bill ought to pass; I trust it will pass. Mr. CHAMBERS, of Pennsylvania, said, the only power existing in the Government by which this bill could pass under the constitution and the laws, was the relation between debtor and creditor. He maintained that the money paid, the Government was not only bound to hold it, but had no right to return it. Mr. C. should vote in favor of the motion of the gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. HARDIN.]

Mr. VANDERPOEL said that, appreciating and admiring, as he did, that humane, liberal, and high-minded feeling, which should ever characterize an assembly composed of the representatives of a great and magnanimous nation, he had not permitted himself to doubt that the bill under consideration would pass, if there was no constitutional objection in the way of its passage. The greatest calamity with which the elements had ever Scourged any city on this continent formed the occasion for the appeal which was made in behalf of many of the enterprising and ill-fated citizens of one of your commercial cities. The disaster was one of unprece dented violence, and gentlemen should not too readily have startled, if the remedies proposed had even exhibited some extraordinary characteristics, which he humbly conceived that the provisions contained in the bill did not do. To call for chapter, and rule, and precedent, and section, to justify means of relief in such an emer. gency, would (he spoke it with all due deference) be too stoical a requisition for the occasion. It would be a libel upon legislation, under free and constitutional Governments, for it would be virtually saying that, in legislation, the head could never approve what the heart most eloquently dictated.

That the bill for the relief of the New York sufferers, frame it as you might, would be opposed, was indeed to have been expected. It was to have been expected that that jealous vigilance over the public interest and the national Treasury, which, salutary as it was in the main, so often detected objections and bugbears which its own creative energies only produced-it was to have been expected that this never-sleeping principle would, in any event, occasion some opposition to the bill; but the friends of the bill still hoped that when honorable gentlemen came to weigh all the arguments and considerations, derivable not only from precedent, but from principle, that could be urged in favor of the bill, they would not have the heart to give it their negative; for he firmly believed that they would not have the argument of the heart alone to justify them to their constituents; but that reason, justice, expediency, and even precedent, should plead their justification.

Were gentlemen aware that the statute books abounded with precedents to justify the relief proposed to be given by the first section of the bill, extending the credit upon the revenue bonds? He had collected a few, and he believed only a few, of the acts which Congress had passed to relieve those who had been over

[JAN. 14, 1836.

taken by such a calamity. In 1803, the town of Ports. mouth, in New Hampshire, was visited with a destructive fire, and Congress on that occasion promptly interposed and passed an act for the relief of the sufferers, similar in principle to the first section of the bill now under consideration. It authorized the collector at Portsmouth to cancel the old bonds, and take new ones, and to extend the credit given by the old bonds. In 1807, it seems that Portsmouth was again visited by a similar calamity, and the like relief was given by Congress. In March, 1804, an act was passed for the relief of the sufferers by fire in Norfolk, similar to those which were passed in the cases of Portsmouth. It will be recollected that, in 1820, a fire swept away a considerable portion of the city of Savannah; and you will find in your statute book a similar act for the relief of the Savannah sufferers on that occasion. Here, then, were precedents in abundance to justify the interference of this House, if there was any weight in precedents.

But, by examining these same statute books, it would be found that Congress had not limited their relief against such calamities to the mere extension of the bonds given for duties, but had also, on various occasions, wholly remitted the duties on the goods destroyed, and that, too, on a principle that he considered to be entirely defensible. Under our system of indirect taxation, it was intended that the consumer should actually pay the duties upon goods imported into the country; and if those goods were destroyed before they went into the hands of the actual tax payer, it was right that they should be refunded to him who had thus, in anticipation, paid them to the Government. If Congress had, then, as he asserted, on a variety of occasions remitted the duties, and the principle of such interposition could be supported, he could imagine no difficulty in supporting this bill on the ground of principle; a bill which did not at all propose to relinquish the debt to the Government, but only to extend the time for payment of it.

The gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. HARDIN,] and the gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. CHAMBERS,] had objected to the bill because, as they seemed to suppose, it dispensed charity. He (Mr. V.) did not, consider that the bill at all involved this principle of charity. Your great importing merchants were your agents, to bring into the country the means of raising revenue. You were the principal. The arm of your agent was crippled by a certain catastrophe, which no human skill could guard against; and the question was, whether you would let him sink, and be disabled from bringing into the country any more means to enlarge your revenue; or whether you would, by a little indulgence, encourage and enable him to go on in his occupation of enterprise, and bring from abroad new means of swelling your Treasury. All gentlemen would agree with him, that not one single dollar's worth the less of foreign goods would be consumed in the country, by reason of the immense mass of goods that had been destroyed in New York. The vacuum occasioned by the devouring element must, and would most assuredly, be filled up; not a coat less would be worn, not a cent's worth of groce❘ries the less would be consumed. What, then, would be the consequence to the Government? Why, sir, the Government would actually make money out of that which had blasted the hopes and annihilated the property of so many enterprising individuals. It would realize the duty upon the goods destroyed, upon the goods for which the bonds in question were given, and then derive an additional revenue from the immense quantity of goods that must and would be imported to supply the deficiency. The Government would then inevitably gain much by means of an. event which had created so much individual distress; and would we not, should we not, when we were to be the recipients of so

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much gain, extend a little indulgence to our unfortunate creditors? He humbly conceived that policy and expediency, as well as justice, dictated this course; that an opulent individual creditor would, under like circumstances, grant to his unfortunate debtor all the relief provided for by the bill. Suppose a debtor engaged in some occupation which consequentially produced much gain to the creditor; suppose him overtaken by a severe calamity, which paralyzed his energies and disabled him without some relief from further prosecuting his business, so directly profitable to himself, and so incidentally profitable to the creditor: would the latter, sir, considering his own interest, hesitate to extend his bond? He would do this, and be apt to go further, and make a new loan. Self-interest, if no better motive, would prompt him to do this; and was the arm of Goverment so tied up that it could not, in such a case, do for its own interest what an individual would do? He did not believe that we were so lamentably impotent.

[H. of R.

word, in must penetrate into the most distant spot, diffusing dismay throughout every portion of this vast confederacy, wherever human industry was active. To follow the ramifications of such an event was impossible. Those ramifications were, as had been well expressed in another branch of this Legislature, so "complicated and implicated" that pursuit was impracticable; but so intimately were all the great interests of the country united, that the vibration must be felt in every point, with greater or lesser influence. If the smallest pebble thrown into the stream of commerce was sufficient to disturb the smoothness of its current, what must be the effects of a convulsion like this, which had, as it were, upturned the entire bed of the mighty river itself? It was a national calamity, and in that point he wished it to be viewed. So far as relief could be granted to the city, he was confident that when it was taken into consideration that thousands actively engaged in business, consisting of merchants, and all connected with them in It had been remarked by gentlemen, that the proviso their transactions, had, in the very midst of an inclement to the first section of the bill was objectionable, because season of the year, been thrown out of employment, it provided for cases where bonds had already been paid. their business disturbed; that confusion reigned where He did not consider this objection at all sound. If but a few hours before all was order; and that in the we legislated at all, we should do it in such a way as at hour of affliction, while with unsubdued spirits these least not to be subject to the imputation of partiality. very citizens were rallying their scattered force, while Why should not those sufferers who had been compel they were calling upon the Hercules of the General led to pay their bonds participate in the benefits intend- Government for assistance, yet they were exerting every ed to be secured by the bill, equally with those whose means to rise above the troubles with which they were bonds were unpaid? They had paid, because they could oppressed--he felt confident, he said, they would not not enter their goods when their bonds laid over. Was refuse the sanction of that committee to the bill. We this compulsory promptness, this inconvenient abstrac- do not, continued Mr. McK., in this bill ask for a remistion from those funds which were necessary to enable sion of duties-a question hereafter to be presented, and them to further prosecute their business, was this to op. which he hoped to see adopted. There is nothing in erate against them? He hoped and confidently believed this bill with regard to the surplus moneys of the Govthat the bill would pass this House without amendment. ernment, He wished gentlemen to understand these Mr. McKEON said, that in presenting himself to the points. He wished to remove impressions which he was committee, with a view of offering some remarks in re- aware existed in the minds of many, in relation to the lation to the subject then under consideration, he trusted provisions of the bill. The first section provided for an the committee would find in the catastrophe which exci- extension of the time of the bonds of all persons who ted the consternation of the whole country, and called had suffered loss by the fire of the 16th of December forth the bill on the table, sufficient apology for his last, for periods not exceeding three, four, and five rising. He should be wanting in the duty he owed to years, in equal instalments, from the day of payment the city which he had the honor in part to represent, specified in the bonds. It also provided for the canceland in gratitude to a constituency which had for years ling of the bonds, upon others being given with proper honored him with their confidence, if, on an occasion sureties, payable in the like space of three, four, and like the present, he did not endeavor to make known to five years. To the first section were annexed two prothe committee the claims of his fellow-citizens. He visions. The first, that those who were within the proconfessed that he was surprised to witness the observa- visions of the act, and who may have paid their bonds tions made in opposition to the measures then under subsequent to the fire, should be entitled to the benefit consideration. The relief asked for in the bill was so of the first section--that their bonds should be renewed, partial that he had hoped no objection would have been and the payments made on them refunded. The second raised; but, since it had been, it was his purpose, if the provision denied the benefit of the section to any person committee would favor him with their attention, to point whose loss did not exceed one thousand dollars. This out the propriety of the passage of the bill. An awful section was not only founded upon every principle of calamity had fallen upon the city of New York. It was justice, was dictated by every maxim of sound policy, not his intention, even if he had the power, to attempt but was in accordance with the settled practice of the to arouse their sympathies, by depicting the scenes of country. Nothing novel was presented in that part destruction which now might be visible in the commer- which provided for the extension of the bonds. They cial emporium of the Union. It was not his intention to would find in their statute book law after law, from the describe the effects of a conflagration which had never year 1803 to 1820, sanctioning the principle of this secbeen equalled, in its devastating and sweeping fury, on tion. They would discover the cases, already referred this continent. Our public journals had been filled with to, of the sufferers by the fires which occurred at Portsappalling statements of the misfortunes of our mer- mouth, at Norfolk, and at Savannah, and in which the chants; with descriptions setting forth that the section extent of the calamity giving rise to the legislation was of the city most devoted to mercantile operations, with not to be compared with that of the city of New York. its hundreds of stores and warehouses, and its millions of The section was fortified by precedents, to which he property, was now a pile of smoking ruins. The mis- solicited their serious consideration. fortune of New York was a national misfortune. This blow, struck at the commercial mart of the country-this wound, given to the very heart of the western worldwas sufficient to paralyze for a time the industry of the nation. It must alarm the capitalist-it must dishearten the manufacturer-it must harass the agriculturist: in a

The gentlemen from Kentucky and Pennsylvania [Messrs. HARDIN and CHAMBERS] objected to refunding the money already advanced by the debtors of the Government. We had no right to pay back the amount. There can be no doubt, sir, as to our right. The whole question is in our hands. We are here to adjust the

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differences between the Government and its debtors. We are here to do justice towards all those debtors. So far as those who have paid their bonds are concerned, would it not be refusing to them the kindness which we intend to give to all debtors of the Government, if we do not provide for a future period of payment? It would be cruelty to take advantage of their situation, and hold the money they were compelled to pay, in order to fulfil the law, and that they might enter their goods. If we intend to extend the time, let us extend it for the benefit of all who have suffered. Standing in the relation of a debtor overtaken by a sudden misfortune, the merchant has a strong claim upon the Government, with an overflowing Treasury, for forbearance, for time to meet the payments of his bonds. Is it prudent to harass your debtor? Is it not wise to sustain him in his efforts to obtain the means of satisfying your demands?

To the second section of the bill, which provided for an extension of all other bonds given prior to the late fire for a period of six, nine, and twelve months, he had anticipated objection. To many it might appear strange that the bill should extend in its provisions beyond the actual sufferers by the fire. Many would object (as had the member from Kentucky) to an extension of time without the exaction of interest; and many might imagine a preference would be given to the port of New York over other sections of the country.

He (Mr. McK.) was prepared to show that analogous cases could be found for the legislation which was now asked for. Congress had from time to time extended to the debtors of the Government, owing large sums on the purchase of public lands, the period of payments, and had at length not only released the interest, but also deducted a large per centage of the principal. Against such measures no objection ought to have been raised-it was part of a just, liberal, and sound policy, calculated to foster the enterprise and give an impulse to the industry of a large section of country. He therefore desired that the same principle which had been adopted in regard to the branch of the public revenue derived from lands should be extended to that received from the customs. If there had been extension and forbearance in one case, he hoped the same policy would be pursued in this instance. No deduction was solicited; mere

[JAN. 14, 1836.

lated at $17,115,692. This amount was far below the actual loss; upwards of twenty millions of capital had been sunk; and to relieve the community from the effects of the withdrawal of this amount, measures must be adopted, and without delay, if the country did not desire to see a prostration of a large portion of our mercantile population. The gentleman from Pennsylvania referred to the fact of the most of our merchants being insured, and the probability of their being indemnified by these insurance companies. He (Mr. McK.) had been furnished with a statement, by a member of the committee of the merchants from the city, in whose intelligence he had every confidence, setting forth that there were eighteen insolvent companies representing a capital of $6,850,000, and six solvent institutions amounting to $1,900,000. These millions, which performed many functions in the financial operations of the city, were now lost to the merchants. Under the present bankruptcy of the insurance offices, the merchants must be suffering. The payment of even the small amount which may be paid by the solvent companies could not be calculated upon under many months, and during that period the insured must be embarrassed to a great extent. So far as indemnity was concerned, there was no prospect. The remark had been made, in the course of the discussion, that New York was able to sustain herself; that we heard of no failures, therefore we were not called upon to act. He did not understand that, because extraordinary, he might say superhuman, efforts had been made to sustain the credit of the city, we ought to refuse assistance. These efforts, while they redound to the bonor of the merchant, ought to arouse us to assist men capable of making such powerful struggles against misfortunes.

Why do they here present their memorials? Because they cherish their commercial character; because they value their credit as their very life blood; because they wish to protect it from the slightest breath of suspicion. They well know its mighty efficacy in giving wings to the enterprise of our citizens. They are well aware how it has carried onward our commerce, and that with the loss of that credit must sink the high character which the American merchant now sustains throughout the commercial world. For these reasons ly further time for payment. The fire (Mr. McK. said) they appear here; and let it not be said that you permithad not only affected those whose goods were destroy-ted the honor of your merchants to be jeoparded in the ed, but every man in business of any nature in the city hour of an unexampled calamity; that you refused to of New York, and particularly merchants. Their ope- extend to them the generosity of the nation. Why was rations must be crippled by the destruction of a large the credit system originally adopted? To aid with your amount of capital; millions upon millions, the result of capital the rising commerce of the United States. Your the labors of years, the accumulations of enterprise, had merchants had industry and enterprise, but they wanted been entirely annihilated, totally abstracted, and the capital. It was granted to them, and the magnificent commercial community must suffer thereby to a consider- results show the sound policy of your movements. The able extent. The gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. reason which operated then, applies with great force to CHAMBERS] remarked there was no evidence of the the present case. Your merchants are now operating true state of losses. The committee had no estimate with a capital diminished twenty millions and upwards, before them. He (Mr. McK.) was in possession of a and to that extent have a strong claim upon your sympa. statement from which some calculation might be made thies. And now let me turn to my honorable friend of the immense amount of property destroyed. It was from Kentucky, and, with his permission, lay before the result of the labors of a committee which reported him the history of the transactions of New York in refto a meeting held in the city of New York, the mayor erence to the General Government. I wish to point out presiding, and from which it appeared that the whole to him the conduct of that city in the collection of the number of buildings destroyed is ascertained to be 527, public revenue. I speak not of the faithful discharge exclusive of the Exchange and the South Dutch Church, of duties as the agents for the collection of our imposts. and may be fairly valued at $4,000,000, which is a frac- I refer not to the immense revenue of that port in the tion over $7,000 each, and is generally considered a cor- spirit of exultation, or with a view of holding up to rect estimate. As far as the committee could ascertain, this House the gigantic means derived from the industry less than one half only of the mercantile houses have re- of our citizens. I regret that my honorable friend has ported their loss in goods by the late fire. By duplica- attempted to arouse the feeling of this House, by repreting this amount, ($6,557,846,) we have $13,115,692, senting our strength-our solicitations for the use of the as the probable total sum destroyed in merchandise of public treasure. I will not conceal the pride I feel in all descriptions. Add to this the estimated value in the city of New York, and how that feeling has been buildings, $4,000,000, and the whole loss may be calcu- increased by the recent display of energy on behalf

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of her inhabitants. But, sir, the Union has a right to be proud of her also. She belongs to you all, and any injury inflicted upon her must react upon the whole country. She is the storehouse of the industry of the nation, and to the representatives of the nation belongs the protection of her interests. The gentleman from Kentucky ought not to blame us if, with natural advantages unequalled upon the face of the globe, with a location commanding an immense foreign commerce, and hundreds of miles of inland communication, our merchants have exerted themselves to advance the prosperity of not only that city, but also of the entire country. By an examination of the Treasury accounts, the honorable member would find that upwards of two hundred and sixty millions had been paid by the port of New York into the Treasury of the Union. A vast portion of revenue had been collected by some of the very men now applying for relief. New York paid annually two thirds of your revenue; she has been a faithful and indefatigable agent in the collection of your imposts; and to deny her the request now made would be an unkind requital for her conduct towards the Govern

ment.

The bill ought not to be delayed. Every day it was postponed added to the difficulties the merchants were now suffering under. Goods were daily arriving which must be entered, and he entreated the committee no longer to delay the adoption of the measure now before it, and to destroy at once the fears which otherwise might be entertained of an unparalleled commercial distress. Prudence dictated an immediate decision on the question.

My colleague [Mr. CAMBRELENG] has given you to understand that a pressure must come, and you ought to put these merchants over it. The storm was gathering, and you ought to protect them from its fury. It would be well for the members to consider that the connexion between New York and the whole country is so close that distress cannot fall upon her alone. Credit has been given on the faith of these bonds to every part of the Union, and must be redeemed. If you insist on payment from the merchants, they must call upon the different sections of the country. On the representatives of the whole nation rests an awful responsibility. They ought not to add to the natural difficulties with which the commercial community might be compelled to contend. True it was, we had their bonds; but did it become us to insist on the penalty at this moment? When the great master of the human heart was desirous of presenting to us the character of an opulent and unmerciful creditor, he gave us a Shylock. How had we all burned with indignation at the recital of the unfortunate victim who had given the bond! But, sir, he had, like our debtors, calculated on his future success to meet his engagements; he rested on the return of his rich argosies, wherewith he might discharge his debts. But misfortune came upon him; and when his unmerciful creditor insisted on the penalty, when the cruelty to be inflicted was defended on the very same principle which we have put forward on this floor, that its nonfulfilment might establish a dangerous precedent, whose heart has not revolted from even the sketch of imagination? Would it be believed that we should present to the civilized world the reality, that, with our cof. fers overflowing with funds accumulated by our own agents, we should insist on payment, because it is so nominated in the bond? You may insert the knife, you may have your pound of flesh "nearest the heart," but you may be satisfied that the most delicate nerve in this immense body politic will grieve under the operation. You will affect the whole country, which must inevitably suffer from such a policy.

To the city of New York you have been indebted for

[H. OF R.

a large portion of the surplus revenue which you now have in your Treasury. Is it not sound policy to give those facilities which will permit the stream of wealth to pour on in its natural course, (now I trust but temporarily checked) into the great reservoir of the nation? Is it not sound policy in you to inspire the recuperative energies and to infuse into the great body of the merchants that confidence which is the foundation of credit, and the companion of prosperity of a commercial people? Believe me, the aid of your Treasury will be returned fourfold hereafter. The money is not required, the security of the Government is not diminished, and you afford the means of renovating the commercial system. Give New York the means to sustain her commercial credit, and she will soon add to the riches of the public coffers by her extended importations.

We may be told that in a question of this nature we are in danger of surrendering our judgments to our feelings. I do not admit by the adoption of this bill we should be committing such an act, and, even if we did, to what nobler conqueror could we yield submission than to the best feeling of our nature--to the sympathy for the sufferings of our fellow-men. The destruction does not confine itself to those for whose relief the bill on your table is intended. Would that our action, within constitutional limits, would permit us to encircle all who suffer by this calamity-to relieve the thousands thrown out of employment--to succor the infirm, the aged, and the helpless-to save from misery those who now must bide the pelting of the pitiless storm! Much do I regret that, to borrow the figure of eloquence, our kindness must resemble the sun, which in its rising only illumines the loftiest eminences, and not that sun in its meridian effulgence which diffuses its light and warmth, not only over the loftiest palace, but into the deepest valley. We ask not for charity--for that charity which has already afforded precedents for noble acts in the thousands given to the people of Caraccas, and to the people of New Madrid. I will not refer to cases to show how former legislation has not been remiss in the execution of the duties of philanthropy; but while I point to these cases, and ask you to not even advance so far, but to afford us cold, unfeeling justice, to relieve the distresses of our community, I do hope this will not be denied to us.

Let it not be supposed that this is a mere local question. I feel confidence in appealing to the various interests which are here represented: to the manufac turer and mechanic, the profitable result of whose labor depends much on the capacity and integrity of the merchant; to the agriculturist who, although his main dependance is upon the soil, is aware that the value of that soil, and the products of that soil, must be increased by his sustaining the prosperity of our commercial interests. The various industries of the country are so interwoven, and depend so much upon each other, that it is the duty of all to uphold such as may be in danger. The influence of commerce is not only felt in particu lar points. To its invisible power not only the magnifi cent cities with which our seacoast is studded, but the most remote hamlet in the Union, may attribute their prosperity and advancement. The gentleman from Kentucky asks, who are these merchants? Will he permit me to answer him by remarking that they are his brethren, protected by the constitution of our country, which extends its blessings to every citizen; that constitution which provides that into your hands shall be given the care of the interests of commerce? And for whom do I ask the sympathy of this committee? For men whose industry is ever active, whose talent is unsurpassed, men who are strongly identified with the interests of the country, who have ever been foremost in works of kindness, and whose philanthropy has been extended

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to the unfortunate of every clime. I claim it for those whose spirits are unbroken and energies uncrushed amid the ruins of their desolate Rialto; I ask it for those who have carried the glory of the American name and the fruits of American labor into the most distant por. tions of the earth. For such men I claim it.

But a few days since and but one feeling was in this House. The glow of sympathy was visible in every quarter. I was indulging the hope that relief would be instantaneously afforded. The whole country seemed to be alive to the consequences of the catastrophe. I cannot forego this opportunity which is here afforded me of offering my thanks to those communities which have expressed their kind feelings in behalf of New York. To their Representatives on this floor I cannot but say that, however my constituents may want in me one who can give competent expression to the deep feeling of gratitude which they entertained for the generous sentiments sent forth from every quarter in their behalf, they may rest assured that their kindness has not been extended to those who are cold or insensible of its value, or by whom it will soon be forgotten.

I trust, sir, that the warm feelings of sympathy expressed on every side are not dying away with the sounds which carry to the furthermost bounds of our coun try the report of this awful calamity. The tumultuous noise is still breaking over the land; but it is echoed back into these halls, in the shape of the resolutions calling upon the Representatives of a generous people to sustain the commercial metropolis of the Union. Confident I am it will be heard before long from beyond the Alleghany, calling upon my friends from Kentucky. Let us obey that voice, which speaks to us in tones of comfort for the distressed, which tells us to aid in the cause of our afflicted merchants, and to allow commerce once more to pursue her course. It does not become us to refuse assistance to that gallant | vessel which, in the hour of misfortune, has been overtaken by this sudden tempest-she still appears above the wave, with shattered spars, and riven with lighten ing, yet bearing upon her deck a noble crew, whose energies are unchecked, and hopes unbroken, amid the darkness of the storm, and struggling to preserve their bark from the yawning gulf. Must they be deserted in such an hour? Must they perish? Will you extinguish the light which has been shining here, cheering them in their struggle, towards which they have turned their anxious eyes? Let it not be said that you hesitated to extend the indulgence of the nation to the unfortunate; that commerce had made her appeal in these halls to the Representatives of a generous people, to those intrusted with the guardianship of her interests, and that her appeal was denied. Let it not be said that an American Congress refused to American merchants forbear

ance.

Mr. PICKENS said he deeply regretted the public calamity that had prompted the chairman of the Comman of Ways of Means to propose the bill upon the table. Mr. P. said no gentleman in the House could feel more sympathy for that noble city, the pride and the ornament of this confederacy, so far as commercial wealth, prosperity, and enterprise, are concerned. To see her, to a great extent, laid in ashes and ruins, is enough to call up all the charitable feelings and kind emotions of the buman heart; but (said Mr. P.) we stand here not to pass measures that may constitute precedents important to the future welfare of a common country, from the mere impulses of feeling and sympathy. We stand here to exercise certain great trusts, for the benefit of the people of this confederacy, which trusts are regulated and defined by the great provisions of the constitution. He said he did not intend to press the argument out elaborately, but begged to refer to

[JAN. 14, 1836.

two provisions of the constitution: First, "All duties, imposts, and excises, shall be uniform throughout the United States;" and, secondly, "No preference shall be given, by any regulation of commerce or revenue, to the ports of one State over those of another," &c. Mr. P. said that an essential element in the amount and regulation of duties was time and indulgence upon the revenue bonds; if, for instance, three, four, and five years were given in the city of New York, and only six months in Boston, he apprehended that this would be not only a violation of the spirit but the letter of the constitution. He remarked that, in reply to this, the argument might be that this was not a regulation of revenue or a revenue law; but he contended that if this preference could not be given directly, in the first instance, it could not be done indirectly afterwards; for this would involve us in the additional difficulty of passing, to a certain extent, an ex post facto law. If, after a revenue law be passed, operating under the provisions of the constitution equally in every port and on every class, you by law then vary its operations, and grant indulgences and preferences, you in fact, for all practical purposes, violate the spirit of the constitution. Mr. P. said that, as to the different precedents that had been referred to in the practice of the Government, it was matter of indifference to him, as the action of no preceding Congress could have any great weight on the present Congress in its constitutional opinions on any subject. So far as mere expediency was involved, then, the precedents of former Congresses might be referred to as entitled to consideration.

He continued, that the Treasury agents might and had extended indulgences on bonds; but it was upon the principle that, if they were pressed, the amount, or part of it, might be passed to the Treasury; and, if indulged, the whole might finally be paid. This was exercising a sound discretion, for the exclusive benefit of our fiscal affairs, for the advantage of the Treasury, but not with a view to benefit the debtor. Mr. P. said that in all such cases the circumstances with which it was connected made the law of that particular case, and the discretion of the Treasury officers was to be exercised for the benefit of the Government. But (said Mr. P.) here you propose a general law, for the benefit of a whole class in a particular port, not extended to other ports, and not for the benefit of the Treasury, but avowedly, as its title purports, "for the relief of the sufferers by fire in the city of New York." This, Mr. P. said, he apprehended was a perversion of the pow ers of this Government. He said that the gentleman from New York [Mr. MCKEON] had referred to the case of Caraccas, when this Government afforded relief in a public calamity; but that stood on different principles. As far as the foreign intercourse and relation which exists between us, as one people, and other nations, this Government is, in a great measure, unlimited. There are certain duties which we owe as a united people amongst the family of nations, which duties are to be performed by this Government, defined and laid down by treaties, and regulated by the admitted precepts of national law. Mr. P. said that, even in the case of Caraccas, he would not have voted the relief, as he doubted whether alms-doing and charity could legitimately be included amongst the laws of nations, particularly amongst those nations under limited and constitutional Governments. There was, however, an obvious distinction between the case of Caraccas and affording relief by extending credits on custom-house bonds to a certain class in a certain port, which is not extended equally to all other ports. Mr. P. said that, in the case of Alexandria, it was unconstitutional, as the Government had no power to appropriate, except from a local Treasury, in such a case; the general

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