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SENATE.]

Indian Affairs.

[JAN. 14, 1830. making the appropriation. By persevering in the prac ance upon the integrity of its Executive department. We tice, the Senate will be, as it often has been, placed in the have all as much confidence in the present as in any for dilemma of either losing the money which has been ex-mer administration. Where, then, the necessity of this pended, or of ratifying the treaty, whether satisfactory or rule at this time? No man in the Senate has more confinot. Mr. McK. did not object to a necessary donation be-dence in the present Executive than the honorable Senaing made to the chiefs, if it were made public. Is it pro- tor who has introduced this amendment. He does not, I per, he asked, to make presents to the head men, which am sure, think it necessary to the purity of our intercourse the nation does not know? The less, he thought, which with the Indians, under the present administration. It is was given, the better: for the great amounts thus expend- agreed on all hands, that nothing like bribery should be ed often rendered it imperatively necessary for the Senate used in the making of an Indian treaty; that nothing of the to ratify bad treaties. The effect of this would be, to kind would receive the sanction of the present Chief Maprevent the insertion of secret articles in our treaties: for gistrate; and that this Senate would withhold its assent from he was of opinion that, in private as well as public trans- any treaty obtained by corrupt practices, on the part of actions, honesty was always the best policy. the commissioners. But [said Mr. R.] the Senator who Mr. HENDRICKS remarked that the reasons given by introduced this amendment, will perceive, upon a litthe Senator from Alabama, [Mr. MCKINLEY] in support of tle reflection, that it infringes upon the treaty-making the amendment, had suggested to his mind additional ar- power confided by the constitution to the President and Seguments against its adoption. It was not competent for nate. The amendment cannot regulate the conduct of the the Senate to legislate into existence instructions to be giv-commissioners while making a treaty; their conduct will be en to the Commissioners who negotiate Indian treaties. regulated by instructions from the President, and the conThis had uniformly been considered the constitutional pre-stitution alone can regulate him, in making out his instrucrogative of the President. The Senate, [said Mr. H.] in tions. It cannot regulate the conduct of the Senate in its legislative capacity, is no part of the treaty-making approving or rejecting a treaty. The constitution will be power; and legislation prescribing the duties which the their guide; nothing can be added to that instrument or constitution has plainly devolved on the Executive, is not taken from it by a statute. only unconstitutional, but impeaches the integrity of the Mr. R. said he was sorry to differ from his friend, who President, in pre-supposing that he would not perform his had introduced this amendment. He considered it as eviconstitutional duties. While he was up, he wouid say a dence of the purity of the sentiments not only of that word in reply to the Senator from New Jersey [Mr. FRE- gentleman, but of every member of the Senate, in relaLINGHUYSEN.] He deprecates the practice and the unne- tion to the subjects to which it related. But the exercise cessary expense of collecting, on such occasions, the young of the sentiment was enjoined by the constitution, and men, the women, and children: says that their influence would be displayed as well without as with the amendment. on their chiefs, who are competent to make treaties with- He thought, with a very respectful deference for the opinout them, is prejudicial to the Indians, and unworthy of ion of his friend, that the amendment was impolitic as well the Government. To this class of observations, it may be as unconstitutional. It would seem to justify the inference replied, that the chiefs never, without the consent of the that bribery had been heretofore practised in obtaining Intribes, make treaties at all. This consent is never given dian treaties. He should feel himself constrained to vote in advance, when they can be present. Their presence is against the additional section proposed. necessary to prevent the chiefs cousulting in a signal manner their own interests, instead of the interests of the tribe generally; and of all the treaties ever made with the Indians, those which have been made by the chiefs, remote from the tribes they represented, have been the worst for their people. These are the treaties in which special benefits have been most liberally provided for the chiefs. When the warriors were present, with the women and children, at the treaty-ground, every thing was known, and it was almost impossible for any thing unfair to be done by either party.

Mr. BENTON remarked that we had been in the babit, for upwards of half a century, of making Indian treaties, and no such provision as that now proposed had ever been inserted in a bill.

Mr. FOOT said the Senator from Indiana, or himself, certainly misunderstood the amendment offered. He [Mr. F.] did not consider it as applying to the customary presents to the tribe, or to articles in Indian treaties, making special reservations in favor of particular chiefs. These were not secret, being embodied in the treaty, and known to the whole tribe. This amendment was intended to proMr. ROWAN said, if it was the object of the amend- hibit "secret presents" to any influential chiefs, to induce ment to regulate the conduct of the commissioners, in them to sell the reservations of land belonging to the tribe. forming treaties or compacts with the Indians, it will be He felt some delicacy in discussing this subject in legislautterly unavailing. The intercourse between them and tive session, but thought he might safely say, without viothe Indians, during the treaty forming process, must, from lating any rules, that the Senate had not, as yet, ratified the nature of the transaction, necessarily. be apart from any treaty in which it appeared such secret presents or the public gaze; must be, to some extent at least, private. annuities had been given. But he considered it indispenThe intercourse between the contracting partics must be sable that this restriction should now be imposed, for reaof a conciliatory character. The object will be, to make sons which could be stated here, but which every Senthe treaty or compact; the means, in that, as in all other ator would fully understand, and he should most cheerfulcases of the like kind, will be adapted to the end. In- ly vote for the amendment. structions cannot be graduated to every occurrence which Mr. HAYNE said he did not apprehend that there exmay take place during the negotiation; much must neces-isted any difference of opinion with respect to the improsarily be left to the discretion of the commissioners, sub-priety of giving presents to the Indian chiefs, for the purject to be eventually controlled by the President and Se-pose of influencing them in their negotiations with us. So nate. Secret stipulations in a treaty will be unavailing, un- he had understood the chairman of the Committee who reless ratified by the Senate, according to the constitution. ported the bill, [Mr. WHITE] and every gentleman who We ought not to presume that any of an improper cha- had participated in the discussion, to have expressed themracter would be authorized by the President, or confirmed selves. The question is not, therefore, shall we give our by the Senate. Treaties with Indians have been made, sanction to such a practice? but it is, shall we attempt to from time to time, from the commencement of the Go-instruct the President, and put a limitation on the execuvernment up to the present period, without the force of tive power of the Senate? He [Mr. H.] had two objecthe rule contemplated by this amendment. There has been tions to this proposition. The first was, that the Senate, no complaint; the Government has found safety in its reli-in its legislative capacity, has no control over the Execu

JAN. 18, 1830.]

Heirs of Robert Fulton.-Internal Improvement.

[SENATE.

The motion was agreed to, and the Senate then adjourn

tive, in the exercise of the treaty-making power; and the looks to the guardian. Where, then, is the impropriety of second was, that the proposed amendment seemed to im- the legislative taking the lead of the executive, in anply a "far-gone conclusion" that the Executive intends to nouncing to the world that, in our negotiations with these do wrong. It belongs [said Mr. H.] to the Executive, subjected wards and broken tribes, such means should not and it is not for us to say how treaties are to be carried on. be lawful? Congress are the guardians of these people. We travel out of the sphere of our appropriate duties He voted for the amendment in Committee of the Whole, when we interfere in this matter; we ought not to do so; and must repeat that vote on the yeas and nays. we ought not to do any act that can be considered as Mr. McKINLEY said he had no design to question the casting imputations upon the Executive, or the commis-virtue and integrity of the present administration. He had sioners he may appoint. But we have no evidence of the as much confidence in it as those who made greater profact that any such practice exists as that which the amend- fessions. It is strange [said Mr. McK.] that a proposition ment is intended to prevent. If any such evil existed in the cannot be made to appropriate money, for public purposes, Government, and the facts be submitted to us, he would under certain restrictions, without having the charge imexamine the subject frankly and candidly, and suggest puted to us of entertaining unfriendly feelings to the prethe proper remedy. sent administration. As this was a new subject, and as But if the amendment were free from all constitutional there was no immediate necessity to have it settled, he objections, do we not see what a reproach it would still moved that the bill, as amended, be laid on the table, that cast on the Executive and the country! Suppose we had gentlemen may have an opportunity of giving it a suffiprovided for carrying on a treaty with any European Pow-cient examination. er, and a bill was submitted to appropriate a certain sum for fitting out a ship to carry our ambassadors, and to de-ed to Monday. fray the other expenses of the negotiation, what would be said if a proviso were added to the bill to the following effect: "Provided, however, That the President shall not appropriate any part of the money for secret or corrupt | purposes?" The impropriety would be the same in the Mr. BARTON rose and said, I wish to submit to the Sepresent case, where you are providing for making a treaty nate a resolution respecting the heirs of Robert Fulton, with the Indians. I take it for granted [said Mr. H.] that deceased, who are known not to be in circumstances suited the President will not permit any secret presents to be to their education, character, and feelings; nor to the made, and that the commissioners whom he shall appoint great public services of their father; and still less to will not be guilty of doing so. Until these practices were the magnanimity and honor of this republic, his greatest brought to view, he should oppose any bill containing such beneficiary. When we consider [said Mr. B.] the great a provision. He knew that the Senator who proposed and growing benefits derived by the United States from this amendment had the same views that he had on this Mr. Fulton's application of steam to the various purposes subject. That gentleman had certainly no design to inter-of machinery, stationary as well as locomotive; and espefere unconstitutionally with the Executive, or to express cially when we cast our eyes into the vast valley of the any distrust as to his proceedings. His only object un- Mississippi, and behold its long navigable rivers, reachquestionably was, to prevent any improper means from ing from the bases of the Alleghanies to those of the being resorted to, in making treaties with the Indians. Northern Andes, or Rocky Mountains, and from the NorWhile there existed, however, no just cause for apprehen- thern lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, rendered as useful and sion that any such means would be resorted to, the amend- valuable to us as so many Mediterranean seas, by the unrement was altogether unnecessary. quited genius, perseverance, and sacrifices, of Fulton, we

MONDAY, JAN. 18, 1830.

HEIRS OF ROBERT FULTON.

Mr. BENTON asked that the question be taken by must acknowledge him among our greatest public benefacyeas and nays, if they were not already ordered. He ex-tors, not even excepting Lafayette, or the founders and pressed his obligation to the Senator from South Caro-patrons of institutions of learning in America, or those of lina, who had called the attention of the House to the con- the African Colonization Society, when it shall be crownstitutional nature of the amendment. This was the first ed with success. In this view of the subject, I submit for year [said Mr. B.] of the new administration, and here was the consideration of the Senate this resolution : a proposition implying a direct censure of it, as the object of it was to place us on our guard against anticipated corruption. There was no necessity for the restraint on the present administration more than on any preceding one. Mr. B. repeated his desire to have the question taken by yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

Resolved, That the Committee on the Public Lands inquire into the expediency of making a grant to the heirs of Robert Fulton, deceased, of a portion of the public lands, bearing some proportion to the great benefits derived by the United States from his application of steam to the purposes of machinery, stationary as well as locomotive.

Mr. BARTON said he had voted for this amendment in [This resolution was taken up on the next day, and Committee of the Whole; but certainly not for the pur-agreed to.] pose of reflecting on those who had preceded us, or on the INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. present administration. He was not aware, now, that it Mr. WEBSTER said he rose to present the petition of amounted to any undue reflection on any branch of the the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company, prayGovernment, legislative or executive; for he knew of nó ing Congress to authorize a subscription, on the part of instance of treaties, procured by means of secret bribes, the Government of the United States, of two thousand and known to this Government, having been ratified. five hundred shares of the capital stock of that company. The parallel drawn, or attempted, between our negotia- The rail road, contemplated by the petitioners, was to extions with the European nations and with the aboriginal tend from Charleston to Hamburg, in the vicinity of Autribes of America, did not hold. Europe does not ac- gusta; and the petition sets forth the practicability of the knowledge us as her Great Father; nor our protection or intended work. The enterprise certainly was one of a supremacy over her; but as an equal. And hence the very laudable nature, such as had, in other instances, met evident impropriety of such a provision to guard those ci- encouragement and assistance from the Government of the vilized nations from such influences. But the Indian tribes United States, and it was with pleasure that he presented are a conquered broken down people, who acknowledge it to the consideration of the Senate. It had been confidour protection and supremacy, and call us their Great Fa-ed to his hands from no disrespect, certainly, towards the ther; looking to us for justice and protection, as the ward honorable gentlemen who were Senators from S. Carolina,

SENATE.]

Mr. Foot's Resolution.

[JAN. 18, 1830.

but solely because the petitioners were unwilling to tres- distance. In Missouri they are the refuse of forty years pass on the reluctance which the honorable Senators from picking under the Spanish Government, and twenty more South Carolina naturally felt, or might be supposed to under the Government of the United States. The characfeel, to presenting petitions for aid from the Government ter and value of this refuse had been shown, officially, in of the United States, in cases in which their known opin- the reports of the Registers and Receivers, made in obediions, as to the constitutional powers of Congress, would ence to a call from the Senate. Other gentlemen would oblige them to oppose the prayer of the petitioners. For show what was said of it in their respective States; he his own part, [Mr. W. said] it was well known, that, dur- would confine himself to his own, to the State of Missouri; ing the whole time in which he had had any connexion and show it to be miserable indeed. The St. Louis Diswith Congress, he had uniformly been in favor of what trict, containing two and a quarter millions of acres, was was called internal improvement, when applied to objects estimated at an average value of fifteen cents per acre; of sufficient magnitude and importance to be properly the Cape Girardeau District, containing four and a half called national. And, while he admitted the necessity of millions of acres, was estimated at twelve and a half cents great caution and wisdom in the exercise of the power, per acre; the Western District, containing one million and he must still say that every day convinced him, more and three quarters of acres, was estimated at sixty-two and a more, of the necessity of such exercise, in suitable cases. half cents; from the other two districts there was no intelHe would take occasion to add, that he was a thorough ligent or pertinent return; but assuming them to be equal convert to the practicability and efficacy of rail roads. to the Western District, and the average value of the He believed that the great results which the power of lands they contain would be only one-half the amount of steam had accomplished, in regard to transportation by the present minimum price. This being the state of the water, were not superior to those which it would yet ac- lands in Missouri which would be subject to sale under the complish, in regard to transportation by land. The only operation of this resolution, no emigrants would be atdoubt was, as to the amount of cost; and that was a point tracted to them. Persons who remove to new countries which experience would shortly solve, he hoped satisfac- want new lands, first choices; and if they cannot get torily. He would only add, that, while he felt pleasure in these, they have no sufficient inducement to move. presenting this petition, he looked forward, with equal Senator from Connecticut [Mr. Foot] had read a part of pleasure, to the time, he hoped not distant, when it would Mr. Graham's, the Commissioner's report, to show that be his duty, in conjunction with his colleague, to ask a the lands had sold rapidly in the Steubenville District, the subscription, by Congress, to the Massachusetts Rail Road, oldest in the Union; he had shown the sales there for 1828, a contemplated work, which, if executed, would facilitate to be about thirty-five thousand dollars; but if he had intercourse between several States, and be felt, in its beneficial effects, all the way from the bay of Massachusetts to the mouth of the Ohio. When the proper time should come, he doubted not the Senate, and the other branch of the Legislature also, would give to that enterprise such aid and assistance as it should be entitled to by the consideration of its magnitude, and its obvious public utility and importance.

t

Mr. W. then presented the petition, and it was referred o the Committee on Roads and Canals.

MR. FOOT'S RESOLUTION.

The consideration of the resolution submitted by Mr. FOOT, and which was before the Senate on Wednesday at the hour of adjournment, was resumed:

Mr. BENTON commenced a speech with an analysis of the resolution, which, he said, presented three distinct propositions, viz;

1. To stop the surveying of the public land.

2. To limit the sales of the land now in market. 3. To abolish all the offices of the Surveyors General. These were the propositions. The effect of them would be:

1. To check emigration to the new States and Terri

tories.

2. To limit their settlement.

3. To deliver up large portions of them to the dominion of wild beasts.

4. To remove all the land records from the new States. Mr. B. disclaimed all intention of having any thing to do with the motives of the mover of the resolution: he took it according to its effect and operation, and conceiving this to be eminently injurious to the rights and interests of the new States and Territories, he should justify the view which he had taken, and the vote he intended to give, by an exposition of facts and reasons which would show the disastrous nature of the practical effects of this resolution.

On the first branch of these effects--checking emigration to the West-it is clear, that, if the sales are limited to the lands now in market, emigration will cease to flow; for these lands are not of a character to attract people at a

The

wished to have shown the other side of the question--how much faster they sell in new districts--what a fine oppor tunity he would have found in the Crawfordsville District, in Indiana: the sales there, in the same year, being no less than one hundred and ninety thousand dollars.

The second ill effect to result from this resolution, supposing it to ripen into the measures which it implies to be necessary, would be in limiting the settlements in the new States and Territories. This limitation of settlement would be the inevitable effect of confining the sales to the lands now in market. These lands in Missouri, only amount to one-third of the State. By consequence, only one-third could be settled. Two-thirds of the State would remain without inhabitants; the resolution says, for "a certain period," and the gentlemen, in their speeches, expound this certain period to be seventy-two years. They say seventy-two millions of acres are now in market; that we sell but one million a year; therefore, we have enough to supply the demand for seventy-two years. It does not enter their heads to consider that, if the price was adapted to the value, all this seventy-two millions that is fit for cultivation would be sold immediately. They must go on at a million a year for seventy-two years, the Scripture term of the life of man-a long period in the age of a nation; the exact period of the Babylonish captivity--a long and sorrowful period in the history of the Jews; and not less long nor less sorrowful in the history of the West, if this resolution should take effect.

The third point of objection is, that it would deliver up large portions of new States and Territories to the dominion of wild beasts. In Missouri, this surrender would be equal to two-thirds of the State, comprising about forty thousand square miles, covering the whole valley of the Osage river, besides many other parts, and approaching within a dozen miles of the centre and capital of the State. All this would be delivered up to wild beasts: for the Indian title is extinguished, and the Indians gone; the white people would be excluded from it; beasts alone would take it; and all this in violation of the Divine command to replenish the earth, to increase and multiply upon it, and to have dominion over the beasts of the forest, the birds of the air, the fish in the waters, and the creeping things of the earth.

JAN. 18, 1830.]

Mr. Foot's Resolution.

[SENATE.

The fourth point of objection is, in the removal of the an inquiry would become nugatory and idle. Why send land records-the natural effect of abolishing all the offi-a resolution of inquiry to be returned non est inventus? ces of the Surveyors General. These offices are five in Why send your bucket to the bottom of a dry well? Why number. It is proposed to abolish them all, and the reason this perseverance for three weeks to get the inquiry beassigned in debate is, that they are sinecures; that is to fore a committee who are to reject it? Surely for some say, offices which have revenues and no employment. purpose; and that purpose may be to gain a foot hold, This is the description of a sinecure. We have one of to get jurisdiction, to get the subject agoing, and then these offices in Missouri, and I know something of it. The refer it to another committee that would report favorably, Surveyor General, Colonel McRee, in point of fidelity to under the plea that the first committee was composed of his trust, belongs to the school of Nathaniel Macon; in interested members from the new States. He then took point of science and intelligence, he belongs to the first notice of the terrifying argument which was used to get order of men that Europe or America contains. He and the resolution through. It was said it would excite sushis clerks carry labor and drudgery to the ultimate point of picion and prejudice against us, if we did not agree to it. human exertion, and still fall short of the task before Suspicion of what? Prejudice in what? Explain these terms. them; and this is an office which it is proposed to abolish Name the thing, foul or hidden, which the new States under the notion of a sinecure, as an office with revenue, have to avoid in this inquiry. There is none. None can and without employment. The abolition of these offices be named. It is an attempt to terrify little children and would involve the necessity of removing all their records, aged women. Prejudice indeed! The way to avoid it, and thus depriving the country of all the evidences of the and to command respect, is to show a knowledge of your foundations of all the land titles. This would be sweeping rights, and a determination to defend them. He next adwork; but the gentleman's plan would be incomplete with-verted to a class of arguments which undertook to smugout including the General Land Office in this city, the gle this resolution through-to convey it along unobserprincipal business of which is to superintend the five Sur-vedly, as one of the harmless or beneficial inquiries which veyor General's offices, and for which there could be daily passed as a matter of course. This was putting the but little use after they were abolished. enemy into a covered wagon; but he would pull off the These are the practical effects of the resolution. Emi-cover, and show the character of the cargo. He animadgration to the new States checked; their settlement limit-verted upon the suggestion, that a rejection of the resolu ed; a large portion of their surface delivered up to the do- tion was a suppression of inquiry. He thought the attempt minion of beasts; the land records removed. Such are the to send it off to a committee-room was more like supinjuries to be inflicted upon the new States, and we, the pressing debate. But he had no notion of letting it escape Senators from those States, are called upon to vote in favor under a flash and a smoke. He would wait till the atmosof the resolution which proposes to inquire into the expe-phere cleared up, and then call gentlemen back to the diency of committing all these enormities! I, for one, will character of the resolution, and urge them to meet him on not do it. I will vote for no such inquiry. I would as the perniciousness of that character. He discriminated soon vote for inquiries into the expediency of conflagrating between resolutions for good and for evil; the former cities, of devastating provinces, and of submerging fruitful passed, of course; the latter should be resisted. If not, lands under the waves of the ocean. the whole country may be alarmed, agitated, and en

I take my stand upon a great moral principle: that it is raged, with mischievous inquiries: the South about its never right to inquire into the expediency of doing wrong. slaves and Indians; the West about its lands; the NorthThe proposed inquiry is to do wrong; to inflict unmix-east on the subject of its fisheries, its navagation, its light ed, unmitigated evil upon the new States and Territories. houses, and its manufactories. What would be the conSuch inquiries are not to be tolerated. Courts of law will dition of the Union, what the chance for the preservation not sustain actions which have immoral foundations; legis- of harmony, if each part struck at the other in a system of lative bodies should not sustain inquiries which have ini-pernicious and alarming inquiries? And yet, unless the quitous conclusions. Courts of law make it an object to give discrimination is made which I propose, all this may be public satisfaction in the administration of justice; legisla- done. The argument used by the Senator from Alabama, tive bodies should consult the public tranquillity in the [Mr. McKINLEY] the Senator from Connecticut [Mr. prosecution of their measures. They should not alarm Foor] and others, would carry through every species of and agitate the country; yet, this inquiry, if it goes on, inquiry, even the most fatal to the interest, the most inwill give the greatest dissatisfaction to the new States in sulting to the pride, and most destructive to the harmony the West and South. It will alarm and agitate them, and of the States. ought to do it. It will connect itself with other inquiries But this resolution is not only unjust to the new States," going on to make the new States a source of revenue to but it is partial and unequal in its operation among them. the old ones, to deliver them up to a new set of masters, It bears hard upon some, and not at all upon others. It to throw them as grapes into the wine press, to be trod would lock up twenty-five millions of acres from sale and and squeezed as long as one drop of juice could be pressed settlement in the State of Louisiana, and not one acre in from their hulls. These measures will go together; and Ohio; it would desolate Florida, and do comparatively but if that resolution passes, and this one passes, the transition little mischief in Michigan. It is not sufficient to reject will be easy and natural, from dividing the money after the such a resolution-the sentiments in which it originated, lands are sold, to divide the lands before they are sold, must be eradicated. We must convince gentlemen that it and then to renting the land and drawing an annual in- is wrong to entertain such sentiments--that it will be come, instead of selling it for a price in hand. The signs wrong to act upon them in the progress of any of our land are portentous; the crisis is alarming; it is time for the bills. This whole idea of checking emigration to the new States to wake up to their danger, and to prepare West, must be shown to be erroneous. It is an old idea, for a struggle which carries ruin and disgrace to them, if and lately brought forward with great openness of manner, the issue is against them. and distinctness of purpose. Mr. Rush's Treasury ReMr. B. alluded to the coaxing argument of some gen-port of 1827 placed it before Congress and the people. The tlemen, who endeavored to carry this resolution through, Since then, there has been no ambiguity about it. by promising the Senate that the Committee on Public doctrine has taken a decided turn. The present resoluLands, to whom it was to be referred, would report tion is, in effect, a part of the same system, and a most against it. He ridiculed this species of argument. Such efficient part. The public mind has laid hold of this doc

In the House of Representatives.

trine, and subjected it to the ordeal of reason and discussion. Professor Dew, in the college of William and

SENATE.]

case.

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Mr. Foot's Resolution.

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One thing is certain, that the prevention of emigration to the Western country is injurious to the West."

[JAN. 18, 1830

The con

vention required them to report what they had witnessed on this subject, and they did so under all the responsibilities of so great and serious an occasion.

Mary, in his able lectures, has spoken my sentiments on Mr. B. said that he felt himself compelled, by these this point, and I will avail myself of his language, to con-persevering measure, to stop emigration to the West, vey them to the Senate. to recur to the early history of the confederation, to show Mr. B. then read as follows, Mr. Dew's lectures, page 43: the origin and policy of these measures, and to do justice "In the second place, these tariff measures injure the to the patriots by whom they were then defeated. The South and West, by preventing that emigration which first of these measures that he would bring to the notice would otherwise take place. Now, this is an injustice of the Senate, was the famous attempt, about the year committed upon those States, towards which the tide of 1786, to surrender the navigation of the Mississippi to the emigration sets. If there was a bounty King of Spain, for a period of twenty-five or thirty years. upon emigration, then those States would have no right to Seven States voted for the surrender; six, beginning at complain of the adoption of any measure which might Maryland, and going South, voted against it. The articles counteract the effects of the bounty; but this is not the of confederation required the consent of nine States to It is true, the Secretary of the make a treaty, and therefore the surrender was not acTreasury, in his annual report, in December, 1827, thinks complished. The Spanish negotiator, Don Gardoqui, in the low price at which the public lands are sold, operates his communications to his court, said that the object of as a bounty; but I doubt much whether Government price this surrender was to prevent the growth of the West. is too low; were this the case, would not enterprising in- But it is not necessary to have recourse to foreign testidividuals, with large capitals, quickly buy Government mony; we have that of our own countrymenw, ho were out, in order that they might speculate on the lands, and actors in the scene. The seal which covered all these thus raise them to their proper value? doings in the old Congress, has since been broken; their journals are published; and besides the evidence of the journals, we have the testimony of the Virginia delegation, Mr. B agreed with the Virginia pofessor, that the pre-afterwards given in the convention of that State which vention of emigration to the West was an injury to that ratified the constitution of the United States. quarter of the Union. He said farther, it was an injury to the people of the Northeast, who were to be prevented from bettering their condition by removal; and that it was an injury to the whole human race to undertake to pre- Mr. B. then read from Mr. Monroe's statement several serve the vast and magnificent valley of the Mississippi for passages, which showed that Spain viewed with jealousy the haunts of beasts and savages, instead of making it the our settlements in the Western country, and wished them abode of liberty and civilization, and the asylum of the checked, and had made communications to the old Conoppressed of all the States and nations. He inveighed gress, in secret session, to that effect; that the surrender against the horrid policy of making paupers by law of the navigation of the Mississippi to Spain, for twentyagainst the cruel legislation which would confine poor five to thirty years, would have that effect; that this sarpeople in the Northeast to work as journeymen in the manu- render was resisted by the Southern States, because it factories, instead of letting them go off to new countries, would depress the growth of the West, and advocated by acquire land, become independent freeholders, and lay the Northeastern States: that the pursuit of this object the foundation of comfort and independence for their was animated, and met with a warm opposition from the children. Manufactories are now realizing what was said southern members; that he believed the Mississippi safer by Dr. Franklin forty-five years ago, that they need great under the articles of confederation, than under the new numbers of poor people to do the work for small wages; constitution; and that, as mankind in general, and States that these poor people are easily got in Europe, where there in particular, were governed by interest, the Northern was no land for them, but that they could not be got in States would not fail of availing themselves of the opporAmerica till the lands were taken up. These are the words tunity given them by the constitution of relinquishing of that wise man, near half a century ago. The experience that river, in order to depress the Western country, and of the present day is verifying them. The manufactories prevent the southern interest from preponderating. Mr. want poor people to do the work for small wages; these B. also read, in support of Mr. Monroe's statement, as to poor people wish to go to the West and get land; to have the jealousy of Spain, the following curious passages flocks and herds-to have their own fields, orchards, from the Secret Journals of Congress for the year 1780, gardens, and meadows-their own cribs, barns, and contained in a communication from the Spanish court: dairies; and to start their children on a theatre where they "It is the idea of the cabinet of Madrid, that the Unitcan contend with equal chances with other people's ed States extend to the westward no farther than settlechildren for the honors and dignities of the country. This ments were permitted by the royal (British) proclamation is what the poor people wish to do. How to prevent it-- of the 6th of October, 1763."+ "That how to keep them from straying off in this manner-is the the lands lying on the east side of the Mississippi, question. The late Secretary of the Treasury could discover whereon settlements were prohibited by the aforesaid prono better mode than in the idea of a bounty upon non- clamation, are possessions of the Crown of Great Britain, emigration, in the shape of protection to domestic manu- and proper objects against which the arms of Spain may factures! A most complex scheme of injustice, which be employed for the purpose of making a permanent contaxes the South to injure the West, to pauperize the poor quest for the Crown of Spain. That, such conquest may of the North! All this is bad enough, but it is a trifle, a probably be made during the present war. That, therelame, weak, and impotent contrivance, compared to the fore, it would be advisable to restrain the Southern States scheme which is now on the table. This resolution, which from making any settlements or conquests in those terriwe are now considering, is the true measure for supply- tories."-Vol. 4, p. 310. ing the poor people which the manufactories need. It Having read these extracts, Mr. B. remarked that proposes to take away the inducement to emigration. It here was the germ of that policy, which, thirty years aftakes all the fresh lands out of market. It stops the surveys, abolishes the office of the Surveyor General, confines the settlements, limits the sales to the refuse of innumerable pickings; and thus annihilates the very object of attraction--breaks and destroys the magnet which was drawing the people of the Northeast to the blooming regions of the West.

New Jersey was one of the seven, but the Legislature of that State, on hearing what their Delegates had done, recalled them, in virtue of federation, and which the best patriots of '89 endeavored to preserve the salutary power reserved to the States under the articles of conover Senators under the new constitution,

the English Colonies to extend further West, than the heads of the This proclamation of George the Third, forbid the settlements of

rivers which flowed into the Atlantic Ocean.

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