RIL 5, 1832.] er. , made by General Bloomfield in 1818, when expe- and threatening, that is so flippantly bestowed upon any nce, two years after, more than quintupled his calcu- and all who should venture, in a spirit of frankness and ion, and to the many thousand fradulent claims for patriotism, to give you a wholesome warning. Sir, I mean nsions, which had been driven from the doors of the no menace-it rarely succeeds with individuals-ought not asury by the clearest proofs of perjury. The conti- ever, with masses of men; but surely I may, without inntal roll was a check then. You will have none here- curring this imputation, say to you, in the character of an Some of his friends, or rather those with whom American citizen-as a member of a co-ordinate branch of usually voted, especially from a neighboring State, are this Federal Government as well as yourself-beware, belently opposed to appropriations for internal improve-ware! Your usurpations, oppressions, and injustice, are ents, (in which he heartily concurred,) yet will vote for waking up a spirit in this land that you may not easily e bill upon your table, and, with one gulp, will easily allay. I do not allude, sir, merely to the South, where allow this immense camel. The annual appropriations the flame of liberty is burning brightly on ten thousand r internal improvement amount to about one, and the living altars, but to the middle, Eastern, and Western pornsions, when consolidated, will be a standing incubus of tions of this Union alike. The oppression and the anguish e millions of dollars per annum upon the people of this are, to be sure, at present, felt most intensely in the South untry. Why is this? Is it from political associations but, like the gout, may change place, and then other sufst or present? Is it because the President has put fering parts will thunder in your ears their griefs and s veto upon one, and recommended the other? Let them wrongs. The genius of liberty may again light her bonswer to the people who sent them here," my withers are fires in Independence Square-old Faneuil Hall will again awrung." re-echo her triumphing voice-her bugle notes again ascend the Alleghanies, and swell through the valleys of the West! I can speak of one portion of this country' with the certainty of knowledge. You have raised a spirit in the people there, that you can only appease by giving them back equity, justice, and their violated constitution. Abuse and denunciation, menaces and threatening, will have no more effect upon them than a breeze upon the solid rock. Yes, sir, you are rousing a spirit there, that will meet unawed and unterrified any human power-a spirit, sir, that will make a mirth and jest of danger-a spirit that will rise with the darkening of the tempest--a spirit, sir, that will make you quail and tremble, even under that gorgeous crimson canopy. I stated in the commencement of my speech, that I ought this the most unfortunate time for the introducon of this bill, and took occasion yesterday to allude the present distracted state of our once happy country, d deprecate the consequences that I felt confident would evitably follow from your perseverance in error, or a eglect on your part promptly to re-adjust and re-organize e dislocations of your federal machine. Sir, the cogs e breaking, the band is slipping, but the payment of the ublic debt has afforded you a pause; has given you time fficient to replace and repair, and to start anew. If, from pineness, lethargy, or a want of firmness and patriotism, ou permit this most favorable crisis to pass unimproved nd unattended to, be the consequences on your head; I Sir, said Mr. D., the passage of this bill will be a signal, ash my hands of it. In common with the citizens of my the sounding a reveille, that will wake up from the slumtate, I was born free, and, with the blessings of God, in-bers of the grave, (I mean no profanity,) almost as many end to continue so, little recking the menaces of imbe- dead militia as the last trumpet. Not harmless ghosts ility, or denunciations of avarice. The citizens of South and spectres, but substantial pensioners, tax receivers, and Carolina do not wear, like Gurth, a collar upon their consumers of the substance of the people. I believe, ecks, marked "this is the born thrall, of Cedric the however, I might be induced to vote for this bill, if it ane." No, sir; no, sir; they know their rights, and mean would have power and virtue to resurrect the blessed pao have them. They have been taught, and believe, triots who have gone before us; if it would arouse from that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom;" but their slumbers the real and true men who repose on the he fear of man is the consummation of folly. Thus be- sides of Breed's Hill, on the plains of Trenton, and eving, and thus feeling, who shall say to them, nay? The Princeton, on the banks of the Brandywine; of those who pirit of the constitution, of justice, of equity, or right? sleep on the gory but hallowed spots that scar the bosoms No. Brute force? Try it! The time is at hand. of the Southern States; of those who rest beneath the He referred, and called the attention, particularly of the green sod of Yorktown, Guilford, King's mountain, CowEastern gentlemen, to the period of the embargo, non-pens, Stono, and Eutaw; if it would bring to life and light utercourse, and other partial and iniquitous laws, restrainng the industry, and restricting, or rather destroying, the commerce of the country. These were the acts, he adnitted, of the party to which he belonged, and of the ndividual for whom he had the highest respect and prooundest esteem; but right and wrong depended not on men, or the opinions of men, but on principles that were eternal, unchanging, and unchangeable. He deplored, and the country must deplore, this great error of Jefferson, the sesult of his love of peace,) as the first step towards the precipice, on the verge of which we are now hanging. But, sir, the question is not how, or by whose fault, the ship is stranded, but how are we to get her off, and place her on her own free element again. He said he was well aware of the morbid sensibility felt or feigned, in some quarters, whenever allusions to or distant hints are given of the consequences that are likely to, he thought must certainly follow a continuance of your oppressions, and the promptness with which a charge and ry of treason, sedition, rebellion, disunion, are made, and shouted against those who will not close their eyes, or turn them from the signs for "coming events cast their shadows before"-of approaching calamity and danger; and of the ungenerous charge and imputation of menace VOL. VIII.-153 "the buried warlike and the wise," and give back to us, at this dread crisis, their counsels, advice, example, and countenance, to warm, animate, and cheer our country's wintery state! Yes, sir, I would give it my support, if it could cause the great Washington to burst the cerements that swathe him, and enable him to participate in the councils of this day; if it would call to your aid the gallant Greene, the wise and patriotic Hancock, the Adamses, Shermans, Pinckneys, and all that host of worthies; if it would resuscitate that brotherly feeling which once connected and made invincible the old thirteen States; which blazed with radiance the path of honor and virtue they trod together, and gave to history one bright page of spotless devotion to human liberty. What would such patriots feel and say, at the present state of the country? Would not Washington again warn you against sectional legislation? And what might we not expect from the heroic Greene-from him, (in the eloquent language of the gentleman from Rhode Island, uttered on another occasion in a different spirit, and for a different purpose, but which I cheerfully repeat,) "around the burning edges of whose shining buckler the whole chivalry of the South delighted to rally? From one so loved and cherished in life, so mourned in death by H. OF R.] Wiscasset Collector.-Internal Improvements. [APRIL 6, 1822 the whole South ?-from one, who chose to live and die on fields dear to him, to his and American glory?-from one, into whose lap she poured her rich treasures? Georgia alone gave him an estate equal to some European principalities. Were he alive, sir, he would scowl down into contempt and silence the cant and slang, the miserable party slanders and imputations cast upon that quarter of the country, by the herd of office-holders and hunters on the one hand, and by the monopolists on the other. He would tell you, for well he knew, that the Huguenots of Carolina, like the pilgrims of Plymonth rock, were a liberty-loving, but not a factious or seditious people. What, too, would the old Maryland line say to the charge Mr. MERCER went into a brief explanation of what of disaffection and want of patriotism made against us by had been done by the Committee on Internal Improve the selfish and interested? Would the Howards and Camp-ments in reference to this subject; the decided opinion of bells of that day (turning to the seats occupied by Colonel the War Department as to the facility of overcoming the HOWARD and Colonel WASHINGTON, and Mr. JENIFER, of obstacles to the navigation of the river; and urged the Maryland,) give the charge a moment's credence? Would measure, as calculated to bring into market a vast amouat they not remember when our banners floated, and our of the public land that never would sell while the raft in arms were stacked together on the bloody but victorious the river remained. He compared the expense of this plains of Eutaw? improvement with a road extending the same distance, and urged the amendment on the ground of economy. Mr. FOSTER was opposed to acting on a measure which had been rejected by a majority of the Committee of Ways and Means, especially in the absence of the chairman and of several other members of that committee. He therefore moved that the committee rise, or that this bill be laid aside, and another taken up; but withdrew the motion at the request of which must result to the commerce of all the souther part of Arkansas from removing the obstructions in t river, through which a navigation of one thousand mile from the Mississippi would be opened through one of the most fertile countries in the world. The work was no on the eve of completion. It wanted but one short cat more to admit the passage of boats, and another for the floating off of drift wood. But if the work should now stop, all that had been done would be lost. The opening which had been made would soon close, the drift wood accumulate, and the obstruction of the river become permanent and incurable. An occasion now occurs, an opportunity now offers, which eighteen centuries have scarcely presented to the lover of fame, to the worshipper of true glory, to lodge his name forever in the affections and memory of the wise and good. Oh, how immeasurably superior, how incalculably above all offices, power, or station, would the name of him be placed in fame's high temple, whose genius and patriotism should restore this Government to its proper, legitimate, constitutional action, and bless with returning Mr. MERCER, who strenuously remonstrated against peace this distracted and discordant land! The ambitious suspending the action of the Government until the return aspirations for the Presidepcy become, in comparison, of the chairman, [Mr. McDUFFIE,] who had leave of the low and vulgar; an office that is rapidly assuming as its House to be absent till the 21st. He hoped this would be standard value $25,000 per annum, and nothing more. the last debate that would be had on the subject of inter But should this great crisis call up none such, I have stillnal improvements this session. Let the amendments be the confiding hope that there is one State that will continue true to liberty; one star of that federal constellation that will continue to burn with a bright and steady glory through a night of darkness and storm. I thank, I most sincerely thank, this honorable body, for the kindness, courtesy, and attention that has been extended to me through this long, tiresome, and, to me, exceedingly painful discussion. The committee then rose; and FRIDAY, APRIL 6. WISCASSET COLLECTOR. The House resumed this subject, and Mr. PEARCE continued his remarks (as given above) until the close of the hour allotted for resolutions, when the House passed to the orders of the day. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. The House went into committee, and took up the making appropriations for certain works of internal provement. Mr. BULLARD moved to amend the bill in the last clause, which contained an item of $2,628, for improving the navigation of Red river, by adding the words "and the further sum of $20,000." got through with in committee, so that the bill might pass in the House without debate. Mr. VERPLANCK disclaimed all intention to take ad vantage of the absence of any gentleman. Those who were opposed to these appropriations on constitutional ground, would have a fair opportunity to urge their objections when the bill should come into the House. And as to the chairman, the very last words he had said to Mr. V. at parting, were directed to urge him to call up this and the other bills as soon as possible. Mr. FOSTER again urged his objections to acting at this time. He agnin moved the rising of the committee, but once more withdrew his motion at the request of Mr. SEVIER, who expressed much regret that the amendment should be opposed. The chief part of the difficulty had been overcome. The river extended six or eight hundred miles above the obstruction called the raft, forming the Southern boundary of the United States, and forming the direct means of communication with an inportant military post. Should the navigation be opened, bill the saving to the Government in the transportation of sup im-plies would soon remunerate all that had been expended in this important and valuable improvement. Besides, the river would offer a direct channel for the great operation of removing the Southern Indians to the West, by which thousands of dollars would be saved to the Government; the raft, if left to the operation of nature, would become Mr. B. explained in what manner the appropriation of more and more extensive every year. It had already last year had been expended in the improvement of the ruined the most valuable improvements, causing a country navigation of that river, under the appropriation made in of unexampled fertility to be converted into swamps, and 1828. About fifty miles had been opened of an obstruc-driving the settlers from their improvements. The longer tion, extending in all sixty or seventy miles, so that a the work was delayed, the more difficult and expensive steamboat had passed, though not without some difficulty. it must become; and of such great improvement is it to the Mr. B. referred to a report from the War Department, settlement of the lands above, that an individual had offer containing the detailed statement of the progress which ed to accomplish it at his own expense, if the Govera had been made in this improvement, accompanied with a ment would convey to him the land thus redeemed from recommendation from the department for the appropria-destruction. tion which he had moved. He dwelt upon the benefit Mr. INGERSOLL remonstrated against delay. He ex Mr. DAVIS appealed to the House in support of Mr. For Grand river, Huron river, La Plaisance bay, For examinations and surveys, To Fort Gratiot, And from Detroit to Sagana, [H. of R. 2,600 6,600 10,000 1,500 8,000 30,000 15,000 1,500 10,000 Mr. CARSON addressed the committee at length in opposition to these amendments. Nothing had ever appeared more extraordinary to him than the course taken by the gentleman from New York [Mr. VERPLANCK] in proposing them. By adverting to the laws passed by the last Congress respecting internal improvements, it would be perceived that the manner in which these amendments had been worded was calculated to deceive, and Mr. SUTHERLAND was opposed to delaying the bill to impose on the House and the nation. As an example, nder the pretence of extreme courtesy. The appropri- he quoted the appropriation of the year before last, for ion for the breakwater, which was the heaviest item in completing the repairs in Dunkirk harbor, $1,342." e bill, had been inserted in the handwriting of the The year following there was another appropriation, for hairman himself. The bill had been up a week ago, "completing" the same "repairs," for $6,400. And the ad it was time the House should act upon it. It con- present amendment was in the very same words, "for ined no new works. They had been expressly reserved completing the repairs in Dunkirk harbor, $10,200." or another bill. This bill made appropriation only for Thus the appropriations for "completing'' this harbor works which had already been approved and commenced. appeared to proceed in a regularly increasing ratio. In he President had sanctioned objects of precisely the the name of all that was just, and all that was pure, me kind, and so had the other branch of the Legisla- when was the House to be done with “completing the ure. If the great battle on the subject of internal im- harbor of Dunkirk?'' rovement must be fought, the proper time would be, when the other bill should be introduced. Mr. C. proceeded to remark in the same strain upon other successive appropriations for improvements in the Mr. FOSTER said he had not come here to fight any Kennebeck river, and particularly those on Deer island, attles or engage in any great parliamentary struggle; he in Boston harbor. The last appropriation had been for nly wished to oppose what he deemed injurious to his $12,000, which was "to complete" the sea wall, and ountry, and what was against his own views of consti- now "to complete" the same thing, the department utional power. Here was a bill making appropriation very modestly asked for $60,000. So with the breakor $12,000, and amendments to be proposed to it for ex-water at Hyannis; that was to be " completed" for ending $600,000. Was this a small matter? He had $8,400; now it was to be "completed" with $7,600. He easons for opposing it which satisfied himself, but if they thought this a very "complete" way of getting money vere plenty as blackberries he would not give them out of the people's pockets. The pier at Oswego, and Low. He urged the impropriety of haste, and concluded the Delaware breakwater, the improvement in the Geney moving that the committee rise. The motion was see river, and several creeks in Ohio, received in succesegatived by a very large majority; and the question being sion their respective shares of animadversion. out on Mr. BULLARD's amendment, it was agreed to. Mr. VERPLANCK said he had had an amendment ›rinted two months ago, going to reinstate in the bill all the objects which had been recommended by the department. The details on which the appropriations were Founded, were to be found in the estimates furnished to he committee. The grounds on which the appropriaions were recommended, were to be found at large in the report of Engineers, which had accompanied the President's message, and had been printed for the use of the House. He then moved appropriations for public works at the following places: The breakwater, he said, had been slipped through very quietly. He feared that his name was to be found as having once voted for it. He was sorry for it, and was sorry it had ever been commenced. Some of these completions had been going on for five years; could the gentleman from New York penetrate the vista of time, and say whether five years more would satisfy their friends? It certainly would not if the American system was to be persevered in. So much he would venture to predict; and he desired the stenographers to be particular in taking a note of that prediction; he did not pretend to be a prophet, but he believed it would turn out to be true. A $17,000 gentleman near him inquired how much was proposed for 60,000 Ocracock inlet? This question, he supposed, must be ad7,600 dressed to him as a representative from North Carolina. 6,000 The amount for that inlet was $22,000, and he understood 19,000 that the department estimated that it would require at 17,000 least ten years to complete that work, so he supposed that 16,000 was to cost $220,000. So there was this year, for Cape 10,800 Fear river, $28,000; the appropriation for last year had 5,100 been $25,000. But did gentlemen suppose that these ap10,200 propriations for North Carolina would so sanctify this bill 4,500 in his eyes, that he would be induced to take it? They 10,000 were greatly mistaken. Did the gentleman who had ask22,000 ed him that question ever know him to have voted in 28,000 favor of the appropriation for Ocracock? He never had, 50,000 and never would. And even if these appropriations for 7,800 North Carolina should be put in a separate bill, he would, 8,800 as a North Carolinian, take the responsibility of voting 1,500 against it. The same gentleman now suggested to him H. or R.] Internal Improvements. [APRIL 6, 1882 lieved, the gentleman from North Carolina was one di those who had voted in its favor. to move to strike out this item: he should not do so, because he was opposed to the whole amendment. But if the gentleman wanted any evidence of his being in ear- Mr. CARSON admitted that he had voted for the obnest in his opposition to the system of internal improve- ject. He had been seduced to do so by a member of the ments, he would refer him to another bill which would Pennsylvania delegation, who represented the city of Phishortly be before the House. proposing a communication ladelphia, [Mr. SUTHERLAND.] He owned with shame that between the Ohio river and the shores of the Atlantic, he had been seduced to give his vote from party priawhich was to pass through his own estate, or his brother's ciples. That measure had been carried by Jackson votes. adjoining it, most probably within one hundred yards of The gentleman from Philadelphia had appealed to him his own door; yet, he should vote against that bill, as he on that ground; had assured him that it would be the best did against these amendments, although the plan was a thing for General Jackson in the world, if he could bat favorite one with his constituents. He adverted to the get an appropriation for that object. As to his own con large sum asked for; referred to the state of discontent at stitutional scruples, he really could hardly tell by what the South, and the obligation of making some sacrifice for process the gentleman had convinced him that they were the peace and union of the country. These amendments erroneous.The gentleman had told him that it was immense were part and parcel of that system which was racking the ly important to him, as Mr. Sergeant was his competitor. Union in such a manner, that he feared it could not be and he did not wish that gentleman to carry off his plubrought together again. mage. Mr. C. said he had never heard the system more admirably, more forcibly, or more eloquently described and exposed, than in the speech of the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. DAVIS] on the preceding day. Every Southern man who loved the Union, and who wished and looked forward with the hope that his children should enjoy the benefit of its free institutions; every Southern man, who possessed a single spark of that chivalrous spirit which was the acknowledged attribute of the sons of the South, must be opposed to every portion of a system which had been the cause of such deplorable effects on that section of country. Whatever might be the representations of the prejudiced and interested party-writers of the present day, as to the operation of this system on the interests of the South, the future historian would tell, in his impartial pages, the story of her wrongs, and the true cause of her miseries. He would tell the gentleman from New York, though he charged him not with the design, that these appropriations were but a part of a system, which had already led to the distraction, and threatened to lead to the dissolution of the Union; nay, he felt himself almost compelled to say, that on the action of the present Congress, with regard to that system, depended, not merely the safety, but the existence of that Union. Mr. VERPLANCK said, in reply, that the speech of the gentleman had been very eloquent, discursive, and playful; and lamented his inability, especiallyunder physical indisposition, to follow it out in reply. It contained some things which called for some remark, but he could not think it contained any very solid arguments. The language which had unfortunately occasioned the gentleman so much uneasiness, and on which he had commented so very largely, had been introduced through inadvertence. The estimates submitted to the department were sometimes very general, and at other times more minute.. It often became necessary, either from the nature of the works proposed, or for financial reasons, to distribute the appropriation through different years. The total estimate was for completing certain works; and in breaking down that total amount into several annual appropriations, the original phrase, “for completing" the work, had been erroneously retained. So much for the "deception" practised on the House and the nation: In some instances the estimate of the Engineers had not been exactly accurate; and in others, the laws of nature had been found not to obey the laws of Congress; and works, partially finished, had, in some instances, been swept away. In other cases, the very delays in making the appropriations produced the necessity for increasing them As to the Delaware breakwater, the House would perfectly remember that, when that object had been first appropriated for, they had been distinctly warned that the total cost of that great work would be two million three hundred thousand dollars. With that knowledge before them, they had begun to appropriate, and, he be Mr. SUTHERLAND replied to the remarks of Mr. CARSON. That gentleman, it seemed, had voted for the breakwater for the sake of the interests of Jacksonism That consideration had not actuated Mr. S., because Jacksonism did not need that aid. But if the gentleman had voted for this object at that time, because the interests of General Jackson stood in need of it, he could assure the gentleman that General Jackson needed it quite as much now, and was likely to need it twice as much hereafter. He was happy that there could be now no doubt of his [Mr. S.'s] Jacksonism entertained at the white house, since it had received the certificate of such a gentleman. Mr. S. said that, having wished to enlighten gentlemen with reference to the breakwater, he had written a document on that subject, from which he would beg leave to read s little to the House. He then read from a statement in reference to the value of the commerce in the Delaware. the losses which had been sustained, &c., and concluded by observing that he was sure the gentleman from North Carolina had been convinced by the argument. Mr. VERPLANCK thanked the gentleman from Pennsylvania for this pleasant interlude, which served in some degree to relieve a very dry subject. He stated, hos ever, with pleasure, to the House, that he learned from the department that there was the best reason to conclude the breakwater might be completed for a sum very far short of the original estimate. The gentleman had adverted, apparently with marked emphasis, to some of the improvements proposed for New York. The places there named were remote from Mr. V.'s residence and interests. The object in those appro priations was not the improvement of the small streams at whose mouths they were situated. It was the security of immensely valuable internal commerce on the lakes, and the appropriations were to be put upon the same ground, as to principle, with light-houses, light-vessels, and buoys. They were harbors of refuge. A pier had been com pleted at Oswego last year, and so beneficial had been the result already, that the tonnage at that port had increased in a single season from two thousand to twenty thousand tons. The present appropriation went to extend that benefit by giving the harbor additional security. Should the appropriations for many of these works be now stopped, not only would the object intended fail, but the partial progress which had been made would destroy the harbor, and Congress must appropriate to remove the ma terials which they had begun to deposite. As to the appropriation for Ocracock inlet, the works there were of a singular character. It was a great expe riment, which, if successful; must prove immensely bene ficial to the trade between New York and the ports of North Carolina, by diminishing the risk to which it was exposed, and consequently reducing the rates of freight and insurance. Whatever might be the opinion of the gettleman's constituents as to otherworks of internal improve t, the Legislature of his State had declared this work ssary both for defence and economy. Mr. V. quoted port from the War Department, going to show that experiment, as far as it had been prosecuted, had been ently successful. He then explained why the item Deer island was so much greater this year than last. works which had been begun there had been swept y by a violent tempest. The island was very importas a defence to the outer harbor of Boston, especially he navy yard, to which it was directly opposite. Were f no value as to commerce, it would still be highly imtant as a military post. Ir. V. concluded by a recapitulation and a very commentary notice of General Jesup. Ir. CARSON disclaimed any personal allusion in his arks on New York. fr. WHITTLESEY went into a very full exposition he importance and value of the works proposed on the thern shore of Lake Erie. He showed how it happenthat the estimates for some of them had been augment in consequence of the necessity which experience had veloped for increasing the length of the walls, piers, These, being erected on the sand, continued to sink m year to year, until they reached the solid clay beath, during which they must be continually augmented ove. No engineer could calculate this with precision forehand. Mr. W. dwelt upon the importance of harre of refuge to the shipping on the lake; the vast inease of that shipping; its exposure from sudden flaws; d the loss of lives formerly experienced. In 1810, there d been ten vessels on Lake Erie; now there were a andred. The tonnage that entered Buffalo last year was venty-five thousand, and there were more than seventy ousand human beings constantly exposed to danger in e navigation of a lake which was without a natural haror for two hundred miles. He appealed to Mr. CARN's humanity. The gentleman had voted for the vacciation bill; and when Alexandria was in flames, his patheo appeal had moved and swayed the whole House. No nstitutional scruples had restrained him then; and why hould they now, when human life was at stake? The oney heretofore appropriated for these objects in Ohio ad been judiciously applied, and most economically exended. He concluded by deprecating and disclaiming y political feeling in reference to those appropriations. Mr. REED, of Massachusetts, observed, as frequent alsion had been made to the breakwater of Delaware, he would remark, that he had the honor to belong to the ommittee who had originally examined and reported the ill. The subject was fully examined. The report of he engineers gave full assurance that it was practicable o make a good harbor at the mouth of the Delaware. The expense would be great. He never supposed less han three millions of dollars. The hundreds of lives and millions of property lost by Philadelphia alone, demanded hat the harbor should be made for future security and proection. Was this harbor for Philadelphia alone? Ought Pennsylvania to make it? Certainly not. It was for the protection and benefit of the nation. There was no safe arbor after you left New York to the south until you reached Norfolk, a great distance of dangerous navigation; more or less vessels were constantly lost, and which, he rusted, might have been saved, had there been a harbor. He had been forcibly reminded of the importance of the harbor by the loss of two vessels near the very place where the breakwater is located, from his own neighborhood the year past. But if the harbor were useful to Philadelphia alone, its importance to the nation would require the appropriation. Objections had been taken to the appropriation for the breakwater at Hyannis. It would be remembered that Hyannis was situated on the Vineyard Sound; that all the commerce between the North and South passed through [H. OF R. that Sound; that more than twenty thousand vessels pass ed every year. It was a place of difficult navigation, and the light-houses and improvements which had been made there within a few years had already greatly facilitated the navigation. A voyage from New York to Boston was now performed in half the time it formerly was, and freight was reduced more than one hundred per cent. Who derives the benefit of these important and useful improve ments? The nation, the farmer, the producer of corn, and rye, and flour, and every other production of the country. It benefited buyer and seller, the whole nation. As it facilitated the commerce of the different parts of the country, and reduced freights, it increases the commerce, and is mutually beneficial to all. It is a national benefit. The providing and making such harbors, I consider, said he, a fair and legitimate exercise of the powers granted to Congress "to provide for the general welfare" and "to regulate commerce." The objects are national and useful; the harbors ought to be made by those who use them: the nation use them. If such improvements do not promote commerce and the national welfare, I should like to be informed in what way we may be able to effectuate that great purpose. Mr. INGERSOLL, of Connecticut, went into some explanations in reference to the Delaware break water. He reminded the House, that when that improvement had been proposed, it had been distinctly stated what amount of money would probably be needed for its completion. It was not a work gone into to gratify Pennsylvania alone. The recommendations in its behalf came up from every portion of the country, even from the Carolinas. All the ship owners along the coast were interested in providing an asylum for their vessels. Our shipping was constantly passing to and fro, bringing naval stores, lumber, and corn from the South, especially from South Carolina. It was the owners of vessels engaged in this coasting trade who had memorialized Congrees in behalf of the work. Mr. I. would put it to the honorable feelings of the gentleman from North Carolina, whether, having received the consideration which, according to that gentleman, had been sought in return for this harbor improvemet, viz. the elevation of General Jackson to the Presidency, he ought now to resist the appropriations necessary to carry it on? The gentleman had got his side of the bargain; General Jackson had been elected; and he now said to that gentleman, "stick to your agreement, I hold you to your bond." As for gentlemen who were opposed to internal improvements on the ground of constitutional scruples, they should wait till the report of the committee on that subject came in; then the field would be open, and they could go on with the war, in opposition to any new projects; but this bill was merely for works which had been commenced, and which were in a state of progress. The gentleman complained of an increase in some of the appropriations. This was chargeable chiefly on the delay which occurred in this House. Every item was fought, inch by inch; members were sent away, and then their absence urged as a reason why every thing must stop. As to the works on the lakes, if the gentleman had once been n one of the storms which occurred there, his voice never would again be raised against providing some harbor for distressed vessels. The House would then again witness the display of the gentleman's pathetic powers, such as it had witnessed after the conflagration of a neighboring city. The gentleman would then vote for the bill from feelings of humanity, if not out of regard to the sound policy of the nation. Mr. BELL, of Tennessee, observed that the amendment contained a great number and variety of objects, and he thought that the committee ought to be willing to go into some discrimination as to the subjects of appropriation. He should like to know whether, in any single instance, the result of the examination and the experi |