3 00

6 00 10 00

17 00

28 00

45 00

75 00 100 00

" 9,000 One dollar on every horse kept exclusively for the saddle; one dollar and fifty cents for every horse kept for use in a carriage liable to be taxed; and one dollar and fifty cents for every horse kept for the use of both saddle and carriage.

Two dollars on every gold watch, and one dollar on every silver watch, kept for use.]

Several unsuccessful attempts were made to amend the bill; amongst which was one by Mr. GASTON, to strike out so much of the bill as includes the tax on household furniture; which was decided by yeas and nays-For the motion 52, against it 99, as follows:"

DECEMBER, 1814.

munity. The bill grows out of the report of the Committee of Ways and Means, accepted by the House, and forms a branch of an extensive system of taxation, which will probably continue for years; and as my opposition arises from a conviction that the objects to which the money is to be applied will not warrant the levy, my remarks will go to the system generally, as well as to this particular bill.

The object is to continue the war in which we are engaged; and as an inducement to us, to unite in the measures proposed, many considerations, are urged. Little is of late said of the justice of the war, or the principles on which it was declared; indeed, this would be now idle, if not indecorous, inasmuch as the Administration themselves have relinquished and abandoned every principle on which the war was declared. And instead of fighting to gain, or secure any rights, the question now seems to be, how much we shall give up, to regain that peace we rashly threw away.

We are now called upon to unite in grantYEAS-Messrs. Baylies of Massachusetts, Bigelow, ing the means necessary to prosecute the war; Boyd, Bradbury, Breckenridge, Brigham, Caperton, because it is said its character is changed, it has Cilley, Cooper, Culpeper, Davenport, Ely, Farrow, now become a defensive war ;-that as we are Gaston, Geddes, Grosvenor, Hale, Henderson, Jackson engaged in it, we must prosecute it with union, of Rhode Island, King of Massachusetts, Law, Lewis, firmness, and vigor, or submit to terms which the Lovett, Markell, Miller, Moseley, Pearson, Pickering, nation ought not to brook; and that the credit of Pitkin, Potter, John Reed, William Reed, Ruggles, the nation will be irretrievably lost, unless speedSchureman, Seybert, Sheffey, Sherwood, Shipherd,ily revived by making suitable and ample proSlaymaker, Stanford, Stockton, Sturges, Taggart, Vose, vision by taxes. And for these reasons we are Ward of Massachusetts, Ward of New Jersey, Web-required to unite, and this union is to be evister, Wheaton, White, Wilcox, Wilson of Massachu-denced by our willingness to grant all the means setts, and Winter.

the Administration demand in men and money. NAYS-Messrs. Alexander, Alston, Anderson, Ar- Let us, sir, examine these grounds, and calmly cher, Avery, Barbour, Barnett, Bayly of Virginia, inquire, whether they impose any obligation, or Bines, Bowen, Brown, Burwell, Butler, Caldwell, Cal- furnish any new claim on those who, from the houn, Cannon, Clark, Clopton, Comstock, Condict, Conard, Creighton, Cuthbert, Dana, Davis of Penn- beginning, have been opposed to the war, among which number I have the consolation to be ranked. sylvania, Denoyelles, Desha, Duvall, Earle, Eppes, Evans, Findley, Fisk of Vermont, Fisk of New York, That this nation is in a deplorable condition Forney, Forsyth, Franklin, Gholson, Gourdin, Griffin, cannot be denied; but that the character of the Hall, Harris, Hasbrouck, Hawes, Hopkins of Ken-war is changed I do deny. It is true, that the tucky, Howell, Hubbard, Humphreys, Ingersoll, Ing-effects and operation of the war on this people ham, Irving, Irwin, Johnson of Virginia, Johnson of Kentucky, Kennedy, Kerr, Kershaw, Kilbourn, King of North Carolina, Lefferts, Lowndes, Lyle, Macon, McCoy, McKim, McLean, Montgomery, Moore, Murfree, Nelson, Newton, Ormsby, Parker, Pickens, Piper, Pleasants, Rea of Pennsylvania, Rhea of Tennessee, Rich, Ringgold, Roane, Robertson, Sage, Sevier, Sharp, Skinner, Smith of New York, Smith of Pennsylvania, Smith of Virginia, Strong, Tannehill, Taylor, Telfair, Troup, Udree, Williams, Wilson of Pennsylvania, Wright, and Yancey.

Mr. LAW, of Connecticut, spoke as follows. Mr. Speaker, as I have not hitherto retarded the despatch of the public business, by consuming the time of the House in debate, I trust I shall be indulged, while I make a few remarks in justification of the vote I intend to give, on the bill now under consideration. This bill proposes to lay a tax on the manufacture of iron, leather, candles, paper, and other articles which are indispensably necessary, for the people generally, and will be sensibly felt by the poorer classes of com

have been different from what was expected or anticipated by its advocates; but not diverse from those predicted by its opposers. Instead of possessing the British provinces on the North and East in rapid succession, we daily tremble even here, and on the whole seacoast, watching the movements of the hostile fleets, which ride undisturbed in every bay and inlet bordering along the Atlantic; scarcely a spot is guarded against their encroachment; they assail us, put the country in commotion, burn, ravage, and destroy the dwellings of our citizens, and retire when they please. Still the character of the war is not changed; everything else has changed, except the Administration and the character of the war, and this will remain the same, so long as they continue to guide and direct the affairs of this nation. Some of the causes which engendered and produced the war had been nurtured and cherished for years; nor was the act, in my opinion, so much the result of wise policy and sound judgment, as the effect of passion. Our grand object

DECEMBER, 1814.

Tax Bills.

H. or R.

which required a remedy by negotiation rather than by force-an opinion now entertained by the present Administration. But the people never were disposed to contend for abstract principles, and fight for rights, which required subtlety to define and sophistry to support. Many indeed believed, as they had been told, that a halcyon period would follow after a very short struggle. They acquiesced, and some justified the warothers deploring the mad career which the Administration were pursuing, and the certain ruin to which their measures would lead, strove to arrest the downward course; they were stigmatized as traitors and enemies to the country, and even threatened with confiscation and hemp, because they opposed the war; their apprehensions are now realized, and their prediction verified.

had been for years to cripple and injure Great Britain, then struggling for the liberties of the European world, as it is now proved and confessed. Hence, that long course of griping policy, which, under the pretence of regulating commerce, had been adopted in deadly succession, in unison with the views of the now fallen tyrant, and which was vainly believed would soon operate the destruction of that kingdom; the effects of which was only to impoverish ourselves, blast our prosperity, and check the vigor and enterprise of this once happy and active people; and which system was persevered in, until it brought down this nation from the proud eminence it once held, to abject poverty and ruin. Our trade was destroyed, our sailors dispersed and banished like our commerce, under the fostering care of the Government. Our stores and warehouses, which This war, sir, was invited at a time when it once teemed with merchandise of all climes, be- was altogether unwise and unnecessary to declare came vacant and solitary; our wharves and quays it; no preparations had been previously made to were deserted, or lined with empty and moulder-meet the crisis, and we all remember with what ing hulks; the hum of business which once en- hard and painful struggles it was produced; and livened our cities, changed to groans of poverty; Great Britain at that time had no wish to engage industry, which once invigorated and supported in the contest. I will not say that this disposithousands, driven for want of employment to idle- tion, on their part, proceeded from any regard to ness and beggary. And, to cap the climax of our this country, or respect for our rights, which our calamities, at last came the declaration of war, policy had inspired, but because they had other and converted thousands, who, in better times, engagements on hand, which required their whole might have been employed in productive labor, energies and resources; it was to rescue the world into drones, consuming the substance of the na- from the dominion of a bloody despot. And I contion, in the shape of soldiers, contractors, tax-gath-fess I was not a little surprised to notice in a late erers, and sharpers, in the employment of the Administration, in endless varieties.

literary communication, from one who may be presumed to have some knowledge of the views, We, sir, struck the first blow, as it were, in the and perhaps some influence in the Cabinet, an dark, against the defenceless provinces of Canada; insinuation that Great Britain, "suddenly withthey resisted and repelled our attacks; disgrace drawn from a great war, full armed and full and mortification ensued. Our Administration handed, taking advantage of this nation, whom were disappointed; they awoke from their deli- they had recently forced into war unarmed and rium, and behold! the author and contriver of unprepared, to indulge themselves in acts of barthe evils we have suffered, and are suffering, re-barism which do not belong to a civilized age;" tires from the nations of the earth-his kingdom taken from him. Our enemy increased in strength, having finished his work on the continent of Europe, is at liberty to succor his provinces, and send his ships on our coast, not in the small number of six or seven, which was once stated on this floor to be the extent he could maintain at any one time on our Atlantic frontier, but in fleets powerful and numerous; and powerful and numerous must they be to drive our gallant navy from the ocean, compel them to retire into rivers, or seek refuge under fortifications, to avoid the grasp of the enemy.

representing, with no little art, that Great Britain first declared war against this country, at a moment unexpected, and solely for the purpose of indulging a fiend-like disposition! Now, sir, the world knows we first declared this war, and whatever consequences may flow from it, the blood will be required at our hands. We have none to reproach for the miseries we are now suffering but ourselves-our own rash folly produced them. We did expect Great Britain would be occupied for years in the war with France, as was suggested in the Message at the opening of the present session; we are disappointed-that struggle Sir, the great body of the people in this coun- is at an end; we have lost the aid we expected, try were never heartily disposed to engage in this and we are now left with war, distress, and miscontroversy. We perceive no national enthusi-ery, while most other nations are reposing in the asm on the subject of the war; this appears pret- calm delights of peace. And so indignant is the ty clear from the difficulty in recruiting the army, enemy we have chosen, at the time and manner even with the artificial stimulus of great boun- in which the war was declared, and so flushed ties and high wages, which have been held out to and willing is that nation to continue the conflict them. They saw nothing at the time of the dec-in which we are engaged, that, although we have laration, different from what had existed for years; injuries they knew this country had experienced from Great Britain, but they were, and ever had been considered, as growing out of the peculiar relation the countries stood in to each other, and

in the very ashes of humility and repentance, given up every principle, real or pretended, for which war was declared, we are now willing to make peace without securing anything but national poverty and ridicule. Yet Great Britain,

H. OF

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Tax Bills.

DECEMBER, 1814.

not pitying, but mocking at our calamities, re-conformity with the plan of the Secretary of War, fuses to treat of peace, but on the most humiliating conditions.

raise 100,000 men, and actually invade Canada the ensuing campaign, have we not reason to fear that, before the next 24th of August, many of our beautiful and most flourishing cities, towns, and villages, on the seacoast, will present the same melancholy spectacle which the capital of the nation now exhibits? And yet we are called on to furnish money to prosecute this war of conquest, regardless of all consequences. The passions which gave birth to the war have not yet subsided, nor will they be suffered to expire so long as the present Administration continue in power.

Sir, what are our hopes by continuing the war? The Administration have had, so far as we could grant, all the means, in men and money, which their ambition and prodigality demanded; and, under the most auspicious circumstances, they have now wasted two years and a half, and what have they accomplished? Have they secured "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights," this darling national amulet? Both have been, on mature consideration, deliberately abandoned. Have they made any progress in the conquest of the Canadas? So far from progressing in this great The character of the war is not changed, nor work, that for a long time after the declaration ought we to be deceived, and imagine it is altered of war no rays of that glory, which at one time essentially from an offensive to a defensive war; seemed almost to intoxicate some gentlemen, or believe that the people have become more in darted in the Northern sky. And except the in-love with it, because thousands have volunteered stances of Perry, Macdonough, and a few others, without request, on well-founded hopes of reward over whose heads the Aurora Borealis has shone from the General Government, to defend their resplendent, we have gained nothing; and our soil and their homes. The Administration have prospects in that quarter now are as gloomy and one object in view, and the brave yeomanry of cheerless as the sterile regions we covet. We our country are actuated by totally different mohave lost much territory; our armies have been tives. The first are regardless of the duty of prowasted; our money is exhausted, and our credit tection, and are eager for conquest and aggrangone. If, after all this, we persevere in the orig- dizement; the latter are influenced by the strong inal scheme of conquering the Canadas, thereby principle of self-defence. Men who detest the provoking the enemy to commit devastation and war, its authors, and the vain objects of ambition waste on the seaboard, how can it be said the they are pursuing, are constrained to defend themcharacter of the war is changed? It is still marked selves against those dangers which Government with its original hideous and deformed features. have invited, but against which they have proAnd, sir, it is owing in no small degree to the vided no protection. The States, feeling themweakness and incompetency of the Administra- selves abandoned by the General Government, tion to execute their own projects, that the pro- have defended themselves; and while fighting gress of the enemy has not been marked with for defence of their soil, they generally have been, more extended ruin; recollect the proclamation and will be, meritorious, for they are animated in of the Governor of Canada, when he took ample a just cause, which must be triumphant. But vengeance on the wretched borderers, on Lake the Administration having started in this war Erie, the last year; also the correspondence be- upon wrong principles, and having pursued a tween Mr. Monroe and Admiral Cochrane in the course as unwise as it is difficult, have failed in months of August and September last, in which all their plans-military, financial, and diplothe Admiral says: matic. Indeed, such is the baneful influence which hangs about them, that, where they personally direct and control, even patriotism, and the stronger principles of self-defence, is benumbed and withered by their touch. Witness the disgraceful scene which took place where we now are, on the 24th of August last! when our troops were led to battle in one of the most honorable causes which could possibly occur; when everything dear and valuable, everything which could animate the breast or nerve the arm, should have prompted them to valorous resistance their fam

"Having been called upon by the Governor of the Canadas, to aid him in carrying into effect measures of retaliation against the inhabitants of the United States, for the wanton destruction committed by their army in Upper Canada, it has become imperiously my duty, conformably with the nature of the Governor General's application, to issue to the naval force under my command an order to destroy and lay waste such towns and districts upon the coast as may be found assailable."

And in reply to Mr. Monroe's argumentative answer, complaining of the above plan of deso-ilies, houses-the very ark and sanctuary of the lating warfare, the Admiral says:

"As I have no authority from my Government to enter upon any kind of discussion relative to the points contained in your letter, I have only to regret that there does not appear to be any hope that I shall be authorized to recall my general order; which has been further sanctioned by a subsequent request from Lieutenant General Sir George Provost."

This order, sir, has been partially, but too fatally executed already. But should we grant the money required by this and other bills, and, in

nation was the prize of the conflict; yet under such leaders our troops retired before the enemy; they fled after the example of the Captain General and his sympathetic Secretaries, the guardians of this consecrated spot, and surrendered the pride of the nation to the spoilers, to be stamped with indelible disgrace in characters of vandalism! On that fatal day our mighty chieftains seemed to possess no power or energy, except to vie with the victorious vandals in destroying the costly works of taste and art; and skilful rivals

they proved themselves to be, as the sad monuments of their destruction now within our view do testify. In most other cases, where the States have depended on themselves, and confided in the justice of their cause, and directed their energies merely to defend their soil, they have resisted manfully, and generally with success. This I know has been the fact in the State I have the honor to represent; there, although they were opposed to the war, neither believing in its justice, expediency, or policy, yet they are determined to defend and protect the soil which gave them birth, and is hallowed by the sepulchres of their fathers; but from this noble determination the Administration can derive no aid in their ulterior views.

H. OF R.

we are in a sad dilemma, and must prosecute the war, or submit to degrading terms? My answer is, that notwithstanding our present prospects are dark and gloomy, yet I believe it is in the power of the Administration to obtain terms, which would be for the honor and interest of both nations to accept ; and I indulge this opinion for the following reasons: I believe Great Britain probably would, under a change of circumstances, negotiate with us on principles of reciprocity. I say it is probable she would, because it appears by the documents before us that our Administration, while Bonaparte was on his throne, and when it was supposed we were strong and Great Britain weak, were as haughty and arrogant in their demands as Great Britain is now, when Bonaparte is confined at Elba, and when they believe themselve strong and us weak; yet our Administration did descend from the high and lofty pretensions they once set up, to a tone of humil ity and condescension, which not long since would have been considered no less than a sacrifice of national pride, honor, and independence. This appears from a variety of documents. I will advert to a few extracts only.

and the proud attitude the United States had assumed by the declaration, he says:

"To have shrunk, under such circumstances, from manly resistance, would have struck us from the high rank where the victories of our fathers had placed us, and have betrayed the magnificent legacy which we held in trust for future generations; it would have acknowledged that on the element which forms threefourths of the globe we inhabit, and where all independent nations have equal and common rights, the American people were not an independent people, but vassals and colonists."

In the report of the Committee of Foreign Relations, to whom the above Message was referred, they say

It is further urged, as a reason why we should grant money to prosecute the war, that it appears by the communications containing the instructions and correspondence with our commissioners, that the terms proposed by Great Britain are such as cannot be accepted, consistent with the honor and dignity of this nation, and therefore we ought to unite in a vigorous prosecution of the war. I am willing to admit the terms, as contained in the Message of October last, taken in In the Message of the President, of November the extent they seem to imply, without any mod-4th, 1812, after stating the progress of the war, ification or qualification, are such as we ought not to accept. But, I am happy to say, the correspondence contained in the Message of the first of the present month, looks much more favorable, and the aspect is much more pacific now than was at first supposed. Yet suppose the terms of peace are as hard and unreasonable as they at first appeared, it would not necessarily follow that we must unite in carrying on our offensive war against the Canadas, and thereby add tenfold to the miseries and distresses of the country. It is by no means certain that, during the time the present Administration remain in power, with their present views of territorial aggrandizement, we shall be able to obtain better terms. Great Britain is now powerful and flourishing; war is the habit of that nation; they are flushed with their recent successes, and, by commanding the trade of the world, they possess great resourcesmen, and munitions of war-they may continue the war for years, without greatly impairing their strength, while we are daily wasting our vigor; being locked up within ourselves, all our resources must be derived from internal impositions. This bill is to reach the hard earnings of the mechanic; another on your table is to spread over the farming interest, with supplements adapted to the pockets of all. Further, sir, the war is at a distance from them, and conquering the pro- "War having been declared, and the case of imvinces will not conquer that nation; but we have pressment being necessarily included as one of the unwisely brought the war within our own bosom most important causes, it is evident that it must be -they can retire and recruit when they please, provided for in the pacification; the omission of it in we cannot-and a continuance of the contest will a treaty of peace would not leave it on its former be certain destruction to us, even if we succeed ground; it would, in effect, be an absolute relinquishin the conquest of Canada. It is also uncertainment-an idea at which the feelings of every Ameriwhat the conditions of peace may eventually be ; can must revolt." this may depend on our success, and, judging of In the instructions to our Ministers, in the letthe past, our future prospects are not very flatter-ter of the 15th April, 1813, Mr. Monroe says— ing. It may be here asked what we shall do; "You are authorized to conclude a peace, in case

"To appeal to arms, in defence of a right, and to lay them down without securing it, or a satisfactory evidence of a good disposition in the opposite party to secure it, would be considered in no other light than a relinquishment of it; to attempt to negotiate afterwards for the security of our right, in expectation that any of the arguments which have been urged before the declaration of war and been rejected, would have more weight after that experiment had been made in vain, would be an act of folly, which would not fail to expose us to the scorn and derision of the British nation and the world."

Again, in the same report