SENATE.]

Captain Porter.

[JANUARY, 1826.

visions, &c., each recruit, sent, for instance, to | who has seen service, whether he does not find Green Bay, will cost eighty dollars. So that an old soldier, who will re-enlist, is worth eighty dollars more to the Government than a recruit, exclusive of the chance of desertion. To this may be added the pay and subsistence of the recruit till he arrives there, which will swell the amount to upwards of one hundred dollars.

Mr. CHANDLER said he believed that when the Senate considered what sort of men the ranks of the army were filled with, in time of peace, they would perceive how difficult it was to prevent desertion; for so long as such quantities of wild land remained, which is so easily obtained, it is impossible to induce men to enlist into your army, who have any thoughts of laying up any thing for themselves, those who do enlist in a time of peace, are generally a class of men, who enlist for the sake of the small amount of pay given, merely to supply them with something to drink, which is about all they wish. The object of the bill is to prevent desertion, and I don't know but what it will have the effect, for, if you stop one dollar and fifty cents a month from their pay they will not enlist, if they do not enlist they will not desert; but so long as your army is made up of such materials as are enlisted in a time of peace, they will desert, if enlisted; neither stoppage of pay, or appointing of chaplains, as suggested by the Chairman, will prevent it. I will, however, pass by the first section of the bill, and make a few observations upon the residue of it. With respect to the second section, which provides for increasing the pay of the soldier on his reenlisting, Mr. C. asked, to what kind of men do you give this additional pay? Why to this same class of men whom you enlist in time of peace; and the Chairman of the Committee has just informed us, that in one year, about nine hundred of them out of less than six thousand, say one-sixth of the whole, have deserted, including thirty or forty non-commissioned officers; they enter your service with habits and morals not the most correct, and they are not generally bettered by being in the service. The bill proposes, after the soldier has served five years, to add one dollar per month to his pay if he reenlists for five years more, and at the expiration of that five years, if he re-enlists to add to his monthly pay two dollars and fifty cents more, making three dollars and fifty cents per month more to this soldier, who is broken down by bad habits after ten or more years' service, than you give to the soldier who enlists at the commencement of a war, when your army is made up of a different class of men, men who enter it from far higher and better motives than those who enlisted in a time of peace. Those who enter the service at the commencement of a war, are men who have families and property to defend, men of correct habits, and after a few months' service one of them is worth three of those who have been fifteen years in service in time of peace; and I appeal to any officer

this to be the case. As to the third section of the bill, Mr. C. said, he agreed with the Chairman, that the pay of the non-commissioned staff was rather low, as also the first sergeant, and that they were a very important part of the army; but if the pay of a sergeant major and quartermaster sergeant, must be fifteen dollars, which he thought too high, he thought that the first sergeant of a company should not be more than twelve dollars; it would be more in proportion to the grade and the services performed, and quite as satisfactory. It may be well for gentlemen to remember when they make comparisons between the pay of the subaltern officers and the non-commissioned officers, that the latter are furnished with clothing by the Government in addition to their pay, while the former furnish their own clothing, which leaves less difference in their pay and emoluments than at first sight might appear.

The question then being on engrossing the bill for a third reading, was decided in the affirmative by yeas and nays, as follows:

YEAS.-Messrs. Barton, Benton, Berrien, Bou

ligny, Chase, Edwards, Ellis, Harrison, Hendricks,
Holmes, Johnson of Ky., Johnston of La., Kane,
King, Lloyd of Mass., McIlvaine, Marks, Mills,
Noble, Robbins, Rowan, Seymour, Thomas, Van
Buren, White, Woodbury-26.

NAYS.-Messrs. Bell, Chandler, Clayton, Cobb,
Eaton, Findlay, Macon, Randolph, Ruggles, Smith,
Willie, Van Dyke-12.

The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading.

MONDAY, January 16.

Affairs, made the following report:
Mr. HAYNE, from the Committee on Naval

"The Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was referred a letter from Captain David Porter, of the United States Navy, 'requesting an investigation of charges contained in communications from Thomas referred a letter from Thomas Randall, on the same Randall and John Mountain;' and to whom was also subject, together with a communication from the Secretary of the Navy, covering the proceedings of the Court of Inquiry and Court Martial, in relatio to Captain Porter, report:

"That they have had these several communic tions under consideration, and find nothing in th character of the transactions to which they relate that requires the interference of this House.

"It appears that the case of Captain Porter ha been submitted to the proper tribunals; and th committee do not feel themselves warranted forming any opinion unfavorable to their decision or indulging any impression that their proceeding alike to the preservation of a proper discipline an require revision. The committee consider it du to the reputation of our officers, that appeals shoul not be encouraged from the decisions of the Mil tary Courts. Under this view of the subject, and seeing no satisfactory reason for interposing the authority of the House in matters which have been finally settled by the competent authorities, the

e

D

SENATE.]

Discriminating Duties.

[JANUARY, 1826.

Court Martial, in relation to Captain Porter,' re- | Committee, that something more was expected port:

"That they have had these several communications under consideration, and find nothing in the character of the transactions to which they relate, that requires the interference of this House."

The Senate proceeded to the consideration of the following bill, reported by the Committee on Commerce, in addition to an act, entitled 'an act concerning discriminating duties on tonnage and impost.'

from him; and that other elucidations of the bill should be given. These expectations he would endeavor, then, as briefly as in his power, to comply with, and, in doing it, attempt to trace the origin, progress, and effect of the discrimi nating duties, adverting, in his remarks, to three or four marked eras in the commercial history of the United States; showing the relative amount of the foreign trade at the different periods referred to; the proportion of it enjoyed by the citizens of the United States, and that part of it occupied by foreign navigation; also, the present state of this trade, and the amount

would then advert to the effect to be produced of it exhibited at the date of the latest returns from the Treasury Department in 1824. He by the passing the bill, on the commerce of this and other countries, and leave it to the better judgment of the Senate for its decision.

dence being given to the President of the United "Be it enacted, &c., That upon satisfactory eviStates, by the Government of any foreign nation, that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost, to the disadvantage of the United States, are imposed or levied in the ports of the said nation, upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the The discriminating duties, he said, were co United States, or upon the produce, manufactures, eval with the Government, being among the first or merchandise, imported in the same, from the acts after its adoption; the effect was salutary United States, or from any foreign country, the and beneficent in a high degree; at this time President is hereby authorized to issue his procla- the navigation of the United States was in not mation, declaring that the foreign discriminating only a depressed, but nearly a prostrate state. duties of tonnage and impost, within the United We had, before the adoption of the Federal ConStates, are, and shall be, suspended and discontin- stitution, scarcely recovered from the impoverued, so far as respects the vessels of the said for-ishment and exhaustion of the war for Independ eign nation, and the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported into the United States in the same, from the said foreign nation, or from any other foreign country; the said suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given to the President of the United States, and to continue so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United States, and their cargoes, as aforesaid, shall be continued, and no longer."

Mr. LLOYD, of Massachusetts, said, the object of the bill was to clothe the Executive with the authority to proffer to any foreign nation who would reciprocate the same liberal conditions to the United States, an entire equality of commercial intercourse; in other words, that the vessels and merchandise of foreign powers, agreeing to this condition, should be admitted into the ports of the United States on precisely the same terms, and be subject to no other or higher rates of duty, whether of tonnage or of impost, than the vessels and cargoes of the citizens of the United States. This, it would be perceived, when acceded to, amounted to a complete removal of the system of discriminating duties with the parties agreeing to it. The report, he said, which had been made by the Committee of Commerce, laid on the tables of the members of the Senate, would give the general reasoning on the subject, and more especially would the minute statements accompanying it, furnish precise data, on which gentlemen could correctly form their opinions as to the expediency of adopting the course of policy recommended, and of passing or rejecting the bill. Most gladly, he said, he would leave the subject on this ground, but he had been informed, in the position in which he stood, as Chairman of the

alien

ence; we had no common head to protect our rights or property in foreign countries; duties abroad were laid on our navigation, which we had no power to retaliate; for, if one State retaliated these duties, and the others did not follow her example, her situation was only changed from bad to worse-as it drove the little foreign trade she might have from her ports to those of the States where no duty was imposed. The consequence was, we could not compete with foreign navigators; they taxed our vessels, but we could not tax theirs; and this inequality was decisive against us; the conse quence in a little while would have been, that the whole, or nearly the whole carrying trade of the United States, even for our own products, would have been in the hands of foreign naviga tors. At this period the General Government was most happily adopted, and the discriminating duties were imposed; the effect was electrical; the merchants and navigators of the United States saw the whole revenue of enactions of the Government based upon the interest with which they were most nearly connected; they felt they had a Government, not only able, but willing, to protect them; and that the countervailing duties would place them in some degree on a footing with other nations; from this moment the navigation and commerce of the United States most rapidly expanded, increasing in a ratio unexampled in the records of any other people. In 1789, the whole tonnage employed in the foreign commerce of the United States, was only 234,000 tons, of which more than 100,000 was in foreign navigation; but in the short space of 17 or 18 years the tonnage employed in the foreign trade of the United States had swelled to no less an

JANUARY, 1826.]

Discriminating Duties.

[SENATE

amount than 1,200,000 tons, giving an increase, ceived of the treaty of Ghent, the Government in this short space, of more than five fold, of of the United States, accommodating itself to which not nearly one-half, as in 1789, was in the change of circumstances, and acting up to foreign navigation, but only 86,000 tons, out of those liberal principles of equal trade, which the 1,200,000 tons; giving an increase of the Amer- late President of the United States, a few years ican tonnage, nine times over-it having in- since, in his message to Congress, correctly stated creased during this time from about 120,000 had ever characterized its proceedings, from the tons to 1,100,000 tons. This was the second pe- first commercial treaty it had formed, that with riod to which he should allude. But this highly France, in 1776-passed the act of March 3, 1815, gratifying state of prosperity for the commerce repealing the discriminating duties on vessels and navigation of the United States, he could and merchandise, so far as regarded the produce not contend, arose exclusively, or principally, and manufacture of such foreign nation, to from the imposition of discriminating duties; which the vessel belonged, as should abolish, in nor did it arise mainly from them; it arose from their ports, all discriminating duties on Amerother and more powerful causes; from the po- ican vessels and merchandise. This act, at the litical events of the times; from the wars of the time, attracted no great attention; it was conFrench Revolution, which soon followed sidered, in some degree, as embracing an abstract which continued for twenty years, embracing proposition, which might or might not be realin their vortex within that time, all the nav-ized; but shortly after, to wit, in July, 1815, of igating States of Europe; deranging and over- the same year, a convention was formed with turning their commercial systems, and, when en- Great Britain, by which it was agreed that the gaged in war, sweeping all their shipping from same, and no other or higher rate of duties, the ocean, with the single exception of Great should be payable on the vessels of the respecBritain, whose naval preponderance enabled her tive countries, entering the ports of the other, to protect her mercantile marine. In this state with their cargoes, being of the growth, produce, of things, the commerce of the world was almost or manufacture, of either, than on their own vesentirely thrown into the hands of American mer- sels when entering such ports. chants and ship owners; and this, to the greater extent, was the source from which the unexampled success of American commerce and American navigation had arisen.

At this period, he said, the two great combatants of Europe were struggling for their political existence; and a great object on each side undoubtedly was, to gain powerful auxiliaries, or allies, in the contest. This motive, increased by a jealousy of the unrivalled prosperity, and growing power of the United States-and perhaps also by something of cupidity to reap a part of the profitable business they were prosecuting -probably led to that series of wrongs and insults, captures and plunderings, to the amount of not far short of one hundred millions of dollars, with which the United States were visited; and which, from necessity, first led to remonstrances, which produced nothing; to measures of restriction, and withdrawal from the ocean, which were scarcely more efficient; and, finally, eventuated in a war with the more powerful of the maritime belligerents.

These two eras, he said, for a reason before assigned, would not test the operation of the discriminating duties. But he had now reached the period when the evidence to be derived from their existence could be perceived, and their influence estimated. The war with Great Britain was terminated by the treaty of Ghent, in December, 1814; the peace of Europe had been secured not long before, by the treaty of Paris. The Temple of Janus was now closed, and each nation would thereafter re-occupy its former Commercial habitudes, resume its colonial relations, and cultivate its own resources to the extent of its means and ability.

This was reducing theory to practice; the American ship owners and navigators became somewhat alarmed; they very naturally concluded, that, as a large mass of our imports were of British manufactured goods; as these were procured from, and shipped by British manufacturers or merchants; that, if British ships could come into the ports of the United States, precisely on the same terms as American ships, that a fellow-feeling between the British merchant and ship owner would arise, and that the greater part, if not the whole, of the importations from Great Britain to the United States, would be made in British shipping, to the exclusion of American navigation; such also was the impression of the British ship owners; for they prepared to put some fine ships into the trade; two, he believed, went into the trade with Boston; our merchants knew British ships could be constructed on about the same terms as American ships; but, as they last longer, in the end they might be cheaper. The British oak being more durable than the American oak-he did not mean the live oak of the country, which is the best material for ship building in the world

but it is too scarce, too costly, and perhaps too heavy, for the purposes of mercantile navigation. They also knew, that, in time of peace, the wages of American seamen were one-third, or one-half higher than the British; that, although provisions were generally cheaper in the United States than in Great Britain; that as we gave our seamen more indulgences and comforts, especially in port, that the cost of subsistence was also probably dearer. These were disadvantages the American ship owner knew he had to contend with, but he did not shrink from the conAs soon as this state of things was known in test; he breasted himself to meet it: also put the United States, and intelligence had been re-fine ships into the trade, taking more care than

SENATE.]

Distribution of Public Money.

[JANUARY, 1826.

usual to select active, vigorous, spirited young | ing the predictions which have been made of men, to command them, who would never strike a topsail while a mast could carry it. The result was, before the end of a twelve-month, it was perceived the American ship would perform nearly three trips to the other's two; and that goods, shipped by the former, would be received more frequently, and enable the importers better to supply the market than by British ships; the consequence of which was, the latter quitted the trade, and we have now the whole of it in American vessels.

the general distress which was to pervade the United States, in consequence of the balance of trade being against us; the high price of exchange; the exportation of specie, and the sale of American stocks in Europe,-so far is this from being the case, the country, generally, is in a state of great prosperity. Specie, where the laws have their force, and credit is good, hardly bears any premium. American stocks stand higher than any other foreign stock in European markets; and the portentous balance of trade, so far from being against us, is, in fact, a million of dollars in our favor; the exports, according to the Secretary's account, being ninety-two millions of dollars, and the imports only ninety-one millions. This spectre, he hoped, had vanished forever; and this account was the more cheering, as it appeared that, of these ninety-one millions, eighty-six millions were transported in our own naviga tion; showing the sympathy which exists be

This, he said, was to his mind conclusive; and this was the period when the first suspension of the discriminating duties had taken place. He would trace further the operation | of the act of Congress of 1815. The convention with Great Britain was for four years. In 1818, it was renewed for ten years, and is now in existence. In that year a treaty was also formed with Sweden, embracing the same provision, and for the same period. This principle has been still further extended, by diplomatic ar-tween the tonnage and the value. This result, rangements with Russia, Prussia, Norway, Oldenburg, the Hanse Towns, France, and Sardinia. Negotiations, it is understood, are depending, in relation to it, with some other of the powers of Europe, and the States of South America, and will, probably, issue in the same result.

This, then, is the third period, 1815-'16, and the principal one, in connection with the next era, or 1824, on which a correct estimation may be formed of the effect of the discriminating duties. It was a time of peace, and they were unaided. In 1816, the whole amount of tonnage employed in the foreign trade of the United States, was 1,300,000 tons; of which 258,000 were in foreign navigation. Part of this had to come in under the disadvantage of the discriminating duties. What did not come in on equal terms with American shipping, had this quantity of foreign navigation increased in 1824, when the tonnage duty had been taken off from the vessels of nearly all the navigating powers of Europe? Let the same record

answer.

he said, if it did not give every thing that
could be desired, as there was a little residuum
still possessed by foreign navigators, gave, as ha
believed, if foreign nations were to have any
concern in it at all, as much as any rational
man could either anticipate or expect.

MONDAY, January 30,
Distribution of Public Money.

Mr. DICKERSON rose to submit a resolution.

He said, as, by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, it appeared, that, after the year 1830 the whole amount of the public debt, on the principles assumed in that report, would stand at about forty millions of dollars, and as in a way to leave large surpluses, beyond the our revenues upon commerce are increasing exigencies of the General Government, it has been deemed important that such surplus should be appropriated to the purposes of education and internal improvement; but as these im meet with constitutional as well as other ob provements, by the arm of the United States, jections, the only way to obviate these difficulties, and at the same time serve the public interest, would be to distribute these surplus funds to the different States and Territories for these important purposes, to be appropriated according to their discretion. The sums to be distributed may be taken in part from the sinking fund-in part from the retrenchments in our present expenditures-and in part from future Mr. D. concluded by offering the following excesses of revenue above the present receipts.

The amount of tonnage employed in the foreign trade of the United States, in 1824, the latest to which we have returns, had fallen off, owing to the causes before mentioned; but it amounted to 935,000 tons. What proportion had foreign ship owners of this, when relieved from the tonnage duties? Not nearly one-half, as in 1789; not more than one-fifth, or 258,000 tons, as in 1816. No, sir, they had not a tithe, a tenth part, having only 89,000 tons out of 935,000; and this is decisive: it shows that, on a fair field, and a clear stage, your merchants and navigators, on equal terms, are able success-resolution: fully to compete with any nation on the face of

the earth, with or without discriminating duties. Resolved, That provision ought to be made by This, however, is only the statement of the ton-law to authorize and require the Secretary of the nage employed: it does not show the amount Territories of the United States, three millions of Treasury to distribute, annually, to the States and or value. Pursuing the inquiry on this head, dollars for the purposes of education and internal we have authentic information at command. improvement to be apportioned among the States It is to be derived from the annual report of the and Territories according to the rate of direct taxSecretary of the Treasury; and, notwithstand-ation.