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In

It is to appeal to them, therefore, on the ground which, of all others, they are the most sensitive, to tell them, or to induce them to believe, that this movement of the French armament was intended to awe or impose on them. Sir, I do not believe (said Mr. P.) that peace could be preserved in this country six months, if its citizens were once imbued with the notion that France, or any other country on earth, imagined that it could influence their judgment through their fears. And I rejoice (said Mr. P.) that it is so. Long may they preserve such a spirit; and may they ever spurn at the idea that any appeal can be made to them by the stranger, except to their reason, their magnanimity, and their sense of justice. But this feeling, which is so honorable, is, at the same time, one which, like all other strong passions, readily leads to error. It should, therefore, never be touched, unless we are perfectly convinced we have a solid reason for doing so. Mr. President, (said Mr. P.,) I do not think any such reasons exist in this case. the first place, sir, the honorable gentleman did not profess to have any further information as to the direction of that armament than that which is accessible to every member on this floor, namely, that which is derived from the newspapers. Sir, (said Mr. P.,) I have been unable to see any thing in them which gives the slightest countenance to the idea that the French fleet were destined for our coast, unless the West Indies, indeed, make a part of the coast of the United States. All the intelligence which has reached us lately from Europe on this subject distinctly informs us that the naval armament now fitting out in the ports of France is destined, not for our coast, but for the West Indies. It is plainly stated, in every newspaper that I have seen, that its destination is to the French dependencies in that quarter of the globe, to Guadaloupe and Martinique. The order of the Marine Department in France indicates that such a direction is given to it. I think, therefore, sir, the honorable Senator may quiet all his fears on this subject. Certainly nothing can be inferred from its designation, which can justify any alarm-the cruising place assigned to it is not in our seas.

[JAN. 14, 1836.

Sir, (said Mr. P.,) I am surprised that it did not occur to the honorable Senator that a rational motive could be found for such a movement of the French marine, at this moment, quite different from that of hostile aggression. It is known to us all, and it is well known to the French Government, that the President of the United States, at the last session of the twenty-third Congress, in his annual message, did specially recommend that reprisals should be resorted to by the United States, in case the Government of France longer delayed to render us that justice which, by her treaty, she should ere this have rendered. And it was equally well known to her that Congress did not negative such a course of action. It merely delayed acting on the recommendation. The unfortunate misconceptions and misunderstandings which have since prevailed between the two countries having induced our representative at Paris to withdraw, the Government of France, no doubt, feared that measures formerly recommended might be at once resorted to by the United States to compel the payment of the sum, and knew that, in that event, her West India possessions were most vulnerable to the blow. It is not, therefore, at all surprising that she should resort to this precautionary measure; that she should endeavor to guard distant possessions against the sudden movements of a country which is, relatively, much nearer to them than she is.

I am happy, however, to be able to give the Senator from Missouri information on the subject which will, I trust, effectually dissipate from his mind, and from any mind in the nation, all apprehension that we are about to sustain any aggression from France. Since I came into the Senate chamber this morning, there has been put into my hands a newspaper, containing an extract from the Moniteur, printed at Paris--a gazette which the honorable Senator knows is the recognised official organ of the French Government. In that paper I de. light to see it distinctly averred that France will not be the aggressors in this quarrel; that the armament is purely defensive; and that she entertains strong hopes that amicable relations may yet be preserved between the two countries. In answer to some of the journals in the interest of Charles X., who are anxious to involve this country and France in war, because they hate the institutions which prevail in both, the official organ of the Government thus indignantly states:

"It is false that the communication made by order of the French Government to that of the United States had for its object to obtain the insertion of such and such phrases in the next message of the President. The French Government did no more than make known officially the existence and the tenor of the law of June 17, 1835, as well as the duties imposed on it by this law, and the nature of the explanations which it had a right to expect.

"It is false that the communication made by order of the French Government remained without an answer. This was verbal, as had been the communication.

"Of the same kind were those which took place at Paris between the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the chargé de affaires of the United States. The documents relative to these conferences will be laid on the tables of the two Chambers. If it has been impossible to come to an understanding, nothing has passed, at least, of a nature to render more grave the differences be

tween the two countries.

"Nevertheless, the recall of the American chargé de affaires, coming after the measures proposed by the President last year to Congress, hostile to French prop. erty, has rendered some precautions necessary. It was the duty of the French Government, under such cir cumstances, to be prepared, at all events, to protect French interests. Such is the aim of the armaments

equipping in our ports-an aim purely defensive. There exists, at this moment, no legitimate cause of war between France and the United States, and in no case shall the aggression come in the first instance from France."

Sir, I rejoice to see this. It is conformable to what we have a right to expect, and to the position of that country in this unfortunate dispute. If she entertained for one moment the idea of war, because we were complaining of the injuries we sustained by the long-delayed payment of a just debt, I should say that she had effaced all claim to our respect and our regard. And yet, sir, (said Mr. P.,) even in the bitterness which such a conduct would not fail to engender, there would be times, and those not unfrequent, when each party would feel that their position was not a natural one. Old friendship and old sympathies would, in spite of all the passions war excites, rise in their breasts. Neither could he forget those days, nor those associations, when the gallant nobles of France and the intrepid freemen of the new world battled side by side, on the same field, for the same cause.

They could not, if they would, obliterate the remembrance of the time when their risk was common, their exertions common, and their glory common; each, I should think, (said Mr. P.,) would look with anxiety to the day when they could lay down those weapons which each can well wield, and embrace once more as friends.

I enter not (said Mr. P.) into the question whether, dear as these recollections must be, they may not be sacrificed to the sterner claims which each may suppose they owe to their country. And I express no opinion how near or how distant we are now to that sacrifice. All I wish to enforce is, that questions of this kind cannot be examined too calmly, and that every thing which is irritating, and extraneous, and collateral to the main question, should be studiously put aside from our consideration. War! (said Mr. P.,) with the fearful passions it excites, the crimes it produces, the enduring miseries it inflicts, is a sad affair, and those on whom the responsibility of making it rests cannot be too cautious. Any one who compares Europe for the last twenty years with the twenty years which preceded them, and sees how vastly the balance in the sum of human happiness preponderates in favor of the period first mentioned, may take lessons on this head in the best of all schools--that of experience.

But, sir, (said Mr. P.,) though I have thought it necessary to say something in reply to the observations of the honorable Senator on the points which I have just noticed, still had this been all which fell from the honorable Senator, I should not have mingled in this debate. But, sir, the honorable Senator thought proper to say that the failure to put the country in a state of defence against foreign aggression was owing to the conduct of the Senate last winter in refusing to concur in the proposition of the House of Representatives, to put the sum of three millions into the hands of the Executive. Never in my life, sir, did I hear any thing which gave me more surprise. I shall examine, before I sit down, on what foundation that assertion rests. But before I do, I must refer to another assertion of the honorable Senator, which startled me still more. He said that this was not all; that there was a much larger account for which we were responsible: that all the specific appropriations contained in the fortification bill were lost by the conduct of the Senate; and he proceeded to enumerate them, including, among others, a proposition of the Military Committee to apply the sum of $500,000 to the defence of the country. The honorable Senator from Delaware [Mr. CLAYTON] having satisfactorily shown that the measure originated with VOL. XII.-10

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him, and was abandoned under circumstances which take away all ground for imputing its failure to become a law to any action of the Senate, the Senator from Missouri has, as I understand him, given up that part of the accusation. If he will bestow some of his attention on me, (said Mr. P.,) I think I will satisfy him that he will be compelled to surrender all the rest.

And first, sir, before we proceed to the point, (said Mr. P.,) I wish the issue which I now make with the honorable Senator to be clearly understood. I undertake, then, to say that it was not the fault of the Senate that the fortifications of the country were not last year put in defence. I assert distinctly that every thing which patriotism could suggest, under their views of duty, was done by them to get the fortification_bill passed. I say that it was not lost in the Senate. I assert that it was passed there, and returned to the House for its action; and I say it was lost in the House of Representatives; lost by the conduct of that body, without precedent in the history of this Government.

The doings and misdoings (said Mr. P.) of the 23d Congress are now as much matter of history as the affairs of Greece and Rome are. Still it is my desire to speak of a Legislature of which I formed a part with all the respect and gentleness which is consistent with a frank exposition of truth. With this feeling, sir, I proceed to disclose to the American people the extraordinary circumstances which prevented the passage of the fortification bill.

So far, sir, (said Mr. P.,) from the Senate having refused or neglected to pass all the specific appropriations which were presented to it by the House of Representatives, for the use of the fortifications, they not only passed them, but they passed them with amendments, by which large additions were made to these appropriations. Sir, (said Mr. P.,) I do not wish to fatigue the Senate with going through all the items which compose the amendments made by the Senate; it would be too tedious to do so. I now speak for the bill itself, as it passed this body. It is at this moment under my eye. And I learn from it that the bill which reached the Senate on the 7th day of February, from the House of Representatives, appropriated only the sum of $439,000 to this portion of the national defence. What, sir, was the conduct of this body, which is now charged with neglecting the defence of the country? Why, sir, to approve of the appropriation made in it; and, after consultation with the heads of Departments, send it to the House of Representatives seven days before the adjournment. What, sir, was the conduct of that body, which it appears was, according to the honorable Senator, so much alive to the true interests and honor of the country? Why, sir, this: to keep it nearly the whole of these seven days without action, and to return it to us seven hours before the termination of Congress, with an amendment placing three millions of dollars at the disposal of the Executive!

Sir, (said Mr. P.,) the Senate found itself placed, by this extraordinary step on the part of the House, in a position at once singular and difficult. The unusual course adopted would, if any other sentiment but that of respect for a co-ordinate branch of the Government could have found place in our minds, have suggested the suspicion that the late period at which such a measure was introduced, and the annexing to it the fortification bill, which the wants of the country required action on, was intended to coerce them into a vote in favor of it, or to enable those opposed to the majority here to charge them with neglecting the true interests of the country. Little time was left us, sir, for consultation; there was none to obtain information to guide our conduct. We asked each other, why was this sent at so late a period? What change has occurred in our foreign relations

Among these measures may be mentioned the following, viz:

The Post Office reform bill, which passed the Senate unanimously, and of the necessity for which the whole country is certainly now most abundantly satisfied;

The custom-house regulations bills, which also passed nearly unanimously, after a very laborious preparation by the Committee on Commerce, and a full discussion in the Senate;

The judiciary bill, passed here by a majority of thirtyone to five, and which has again already passed the Senate at this session with only a single dissenting vote; The bill indemnifying claimants for French spoliations before 1800;

The bill regulating the deposite of the public moneys in the deposite banks;

The bill respecting the tenure of certain offices, and the power of removal from office; which has now again passed to be engrossed, in the Senate, by a decisive majority.

All these important measures, matured and passed in the Senate in the course of the session, and many others whose importance was less, were sent to the House of Representatives, and we never heard any thing more from them. They there found their graves.

It is worthy of being remarked, also, that the attendance of members of the Senate was remarkably full, particularly toward the end of the session. On the last day every Senator was in his place till very near the hour of adjournment, as the journal will show. We had no breaking up for want of a quorum, no delay, no calls of the Senate; nothing which was made necessary by the negligence or inattention of the members of this body. On the vote for the three millions of dollars, which was taken at about eight o'clock in the evening, forty-eight votes were given, every member of the Senate being in his place and answering to his name. This is an instance of punctuality, diligence, and labor, continued to the very end of an arduous session, wholly without example or parallel.

The Senate, then, sir, must stand, in the judgment of every man, fully acquitted of all remissness, all neg. ligence, all inattention, amidst the fatigue and exhaustion of the closing hours of Congress. Nothing passed unheeded, nothing was overlooked, nothing forgotten, and nothing slighted.

And now, sir, I would proceed immediately to give the history of the fortification bill, if it were not necessary, as introductory to that history, and as showing the circumstances under which the Senate was called on to transact the public business, first to refer to another bill which was before us, and to the proceedings which were had upon it.

It

It is well known, sir, that the annual appropriation bills always originate in the House of Representatives. This is so much the course that no one ever looks to see such a bill first brought forward in the Senate. is also well known, sir, that it has been usual, heretofore, to make the annual appropriations for the Military Academy at West Point in the general bill which provides for the pay and support of the army. But last year, the army bill did not contain any appropriation whatever for the support of West Point. I took notice of this singular omission when the bill was before the Senate, but presumed, and indeed understood, that the House would send us a separate bill for the Military Academy. The army bill, therefore, passed; but no bill for the Academy at West Point appeared. We waited for it from day to day, and from week to week, but waited in vain. At length, the time for sending bills from one House to the other, according to the joint rules of the two Houses, expired; and no bill had made its appearance for the support of the Military

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Academy. These joint rules, as is well known, are sometimes suspended on the application of one House to the other, in favor of particular bills, whose progress has been unexpectedly delayed, but which the public interest requires to be passed. But the House of Rep resentatives sent us no request to suspend the rules in favor of a bill for the support of the Military Academy, nor made any other proposition to save the institution from immediate dissolution. Notwithstanding all the talk about a war, and the necessity of a vote for the three millions, the Military Academy, an institution cherished so long, and at so much expense, was on the very point of being entirely broken up.

Now it so happened, sir, that at this time there was another appropriation bill which had come from the House of Representatives, and was before the Committee on Finance here. This bill was entitled "an act making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic expenses of the Government for the year 1835."

In this state of things, several members of the House of Representatives applied to the committee, and besought us to save the academy by annexing the necessary appropriations for its support to the bill for civil and diplomatic service. We spoke to them, in reply, of the unfitness, the irregularity, the incongruity, of this forced union of such dissimilar subjects; but they told us it was a case of absolute necessity, and that, without resorting to this mode, the appropriation could not get through. We acquiesced, sir, in these suggestions. We went out of our way. We agreed to do an extraordinary and irregular thing, in order to save the public business from miscarriage. By direction of the committee, I moved the Senate to add an appropriation for the Military Academy to the bill for defraying civil and diplomatic expenses. The bill was so amended; and in this form the appropriation was finally made.

But this was not all. This bill for the civil and diplomatic service being thus amended, by tacking the Military Academy upon it, was sent back by us to the House of Representatives, where its length of tail was to be still much further increased. That House had before it several subjects for provision, and for appropriation, upon which it had not passed any bill, before the time for passing bills to be sent to the Senate had elapsed. It was anxious that these things should, in some way, be provided for; and when the diplomatic bill came back, drawing the Military Academy after it, it was thought prudent to attach to it various of these other provisions. There were propositions to pave streets in the city of Washington, to repair the Capitol, and various other things, which it was necessary to provide for; and they, therefore, were put into the same bill by way of amendment to an amendment; that is to say, Mr. President, we had been prevailed on to amend their bill for defraying the salary of our ministers abroad, by adding an appro priation for the Military Academy; and they proposed to amend this our amendment, by adding to it matter as german to it as it was to the original bill. There was also the President's gardener. His salary was unprovi ded for, and there was no way of remedying this important omission but by giving him place in the diplomatic service bill, among chargés d'affaires, envoys extraordinary, and ministers plenipotentiary. In and among these ranks, therefore, he was formally introduced by the amendment of the House, and there he now stands, as you will readily see by turning to the law. Sir, I have not the pleasure to know this useful person; but, should I see him some morning, overlooking the workmen in the lawns, walks, copses, and parterres, which adorn the grounds around the President's residence, considering the company into which we have introduced him, I should expect to see at least a small diplomatic button on his working-jacket.