JANUARY, 1822.] DEBATES OF CONGRESS Virginia Land Warrants. [SENATE. to satisfy the legal bounties which had been purchased, he suggested the propriety of chang- Mr. JOHNSON, for the purpose of accommodating the views of the different gentlemen, while it would answer the object he had in view, modified his motion to read as follows: Resolved, That the Committee on Naval Affairs be instructed to inquire into the expediency of providing by law for the building or purchase of an additional number of small vessels of war, for the protection of the commerce of the United States. In this form the resolution was agreed to. MONDAY, January 28. tion for consideration: Resolved, That the Committee on Commerce and Manufactures be instructed to report a bill for allowing drawbacks on merchandise exported, which shall be manufactured from foreign materials, to amount of the duties on such materials. Mr. D'WOLF made a speech of considerable length, explanatory of his views in offering the resolution; embracing a variety of practical statements of the course of trade, to show the advantage which would accrue to the revenue by extending the benefit of drawbacks, inasmuch as it would encourage internal industry and exportation; urging the expediency of adopting such measures as would tend to diminish the existing inequality in the amount of imports and exports, as detrimental to the public interest as it always is to the interest of a private individual to buy more than he sells, &c. Virginia Land Warrants. The Senate took up the resolution submitted by Mr. RUGGLES, on Saturday, requesting of the President of the United States certain information relative to the lands granted and located by patents to the Revolutionary officers and soldiers of the Virginia line, in the reservations in the States of Kentucky and Ohio. Mr. RUGGLES offered a few remarks in explanation of the object of this resolution. He said it would be recollected that, in the year 1784, the State of Virginia ceded all her vacant and unappropriated lands northwest of the Ohio River, to the United States. Attached to this cession were certain conditions, one of which was, that, in case the quantity of good land on the southeast side of the Ohio, upon the waters of Cumberland River, and between the Green and Tennessee Rivers, should prove insufficient mation having been given to the Executive of It R. said this was a plain history of the proceed- SENATE.] Officers of the Customs. [JANUARY, 1822. He could not say that the President of the | ported thereto by the Committee on Finance. United States could furnish all that was called for, but he believed sufficient could be obtained to meet the objects he had in view. TUESDAY, January 29. Military Roads. The resolution offered yesterday by Mr. CHANDLER, proposing an inquiry into the expediency of making two military roads from the State of Maine to the British line, was next taken up; and some opposition being manifested to it Mr. CHANDLER briefly explained the importance which the proposed roads would be in a national point of view, and which might be easily constructed by the troops now in service. Mr. HOLMES, of Maine, gave a description of the country referred to, to show the value which these roads would be for military purposes, if the country should ever again be involved in war with the same nation with which it was recently engaged in hostilities, and there was little probability of a war with any other power. These preparations ought to be made in time of peace. He remarked, moreover, that the General Government had never been called on before to expend any of the public money in the State of Maine, or for her use, and he hoped the resolution would pass. [These amendments were numerous, but embraced principally modifications of detail, and regulations of the pay of weighers, gaugers, inspectors, &c.] Mr. HOLMES spoke as follows: On the subject, said Mr. H., of the compensation in the large ports, the committee adopted the rule to diminish the percentage on the commissions so low, that the emoluments would not exceed four thousand dollars and expenses. To fix the compensation of a collector, so that it would neither exceed nor fall short of a particular sum, as had been suggested by some gentlemen, would be making them all salary officers. This would be a new and extraordinary principle. The officer would have no interest in the amount of revenue collected-no inducement to economy. He would consult his ease at the public expense; multiply officers, careless of the necessity, and become indifferent and neglectful of the amount of the customs, in which his interest was no way concerned. It is apprehended that the percentage is reduced so low in some of the ports, that the fees and commissions will not, after deducting the expenses, secure the officer four thousand dollars. Upon a revision of the bill, the committee were apprehensive that in the district of Philadelphia such might be the result, and have therefore left that as before. New York is an important district, and the collector there ought Mr. MACON said, the two gentlemen did not to be pretty sure of his maximum; of this, with exactly agree. One of them asked for the road the economy which he can and ought to pracbecause he deemed it necessary, the other be- tise, we have no doubt. The law made a cause none of the public money had yet been deputy a substitute for the collector in cases spent in the State of Maine. The State of only "of sickness or occasional and necessary North Carolina might ask some public improve- absence;" but the collectors themselves have ment with the same justice; for there had been made them permanent officers, with a salary, precious little money expended in that State. in some instances, of three thousand dollars But, said Mr. M., we do not ask Congress to per year. This sum, it is understood, is allowed spend the public money in our State; all we in New York. This bill limits the compenask is, that you do not take our money and sation to one thousand five hundred. Other spend it elsewhere. As to preparing for war, improvements in the clerk hire, stationery, he said, there was no danger that a free people office rent, and contingent expenses, will much will ever be unprepared for it; the danger was diminish the expenses of that port. Taking the that they would be too well prepared for it; return of the year 1819, the emoluments, as reand too ready to engage in it; for it seemed to duced by this bill, will yield to that officer a him that free government had the same effect clear income of $6,441; by that of the year on the human constitution as heat had on iron 1820, it would not exceed $2,628; making an -it made it swell. Commence these roads, and average of $4,034. But it must be recollected, there is no telling where it will end; for legis- that in this last year a new collector was aplation might be compared to shingling a house-pointed, and a moiety of the commissions due the first row is useless unless you go on, lapping one row over another to the top. It will prove just so with appropriations for roads, if they are once begun. The resolution was agreed to-18 to 10. WEDNESDAY, January 30. Officers of the Customs. The Senate then resumed in Committee of the Whole, the consideration of the bill further to establish the compensation of the Collectors of the Customs, &c., and the amendments re on outstanding bonds goes to his predecessor, which hitherto diminished, but will not hereafter diminish, his compensation. On the whole, from a diminution of the expense which this bill will effect, and the constant increase of the commerce of that port, no possible doubt can exist that the rate of onesixth of one per cent. established by the bill, will amply secure the collector to the extent of his maximum. As to Boston, the extravagances in that district are so great that even a greater diminution might have been safely allowed. According to JANUARY, 1822.] DEBATES OF CONGRESS. Officers of the Customs. the officers' returns for several successive years, the diminution which we effect by a single reduction in the office of deputy, will leave the collector a sum above the maximum established by the bill. By the last returns, the collector of New Orleans is sure of his $4,000, without considering any deductions at all; and as the other districts, classed among the large ports, have not arrived at the sum limited, they consequently cannot yet be affected by it. [SENATE. even for a prudent man, to resist, and the The reduction from $5,000 to $4,000, in the large ports, has produced much opposition. Of the propriety of the measure your committee could entertain no doubt. $4,000, with a share in fines and forfeitures, and a right to receive $400 as agents for lighthouses, &c., is a greater compensation than you give to the Chief Justice of the United States, and a better living than you give any other officer in the Government, the President excepted. The office is responsible, to be sure, and in some degree arduous. On the amendment which proposed to inBut the Judge, the member of Congress, the ambassador, must leave his friends, his family, crease the salary of the collector of Wilmington, his country, and endure a banishment, as the in Delaware, Mr. H. observed the committee price of his reward. The collector enjoys the have found, upon examination, that the colfruits of his labor at his own fireside, and in the lector's services are more than commensurate bosom of his own family. Sir, let these men to his legal compensation. In his annual return resign, by reason of this reduction, and you will of his emoluments, this man, who is understood find thousands of the best men in the nation to be a faithful officer, has charged from $400 ready to step into their shoes. Amidst all our to $900 annually, under the name of official professions for economy and retrenchment, and contingent expenses. This is not permitted should we not blush to tell the people that a by any existing law; it is an abuse which has collector of their revenue, in these times of become pretty general, and, where the emoludepression, cannot live, at home, for five thou-ments approach a fixed maximum, goes to take sand a year; and, unless we give him more, he will carve for himself! from the Treasury, by indefinite and illegal charges. By this bill these abuses are cut up by the roots; and these deductions, from the compensation of this officer, will render it necessary that his salary should be increased to It has been remarked, said Mr. H., in discussing another part of this bill, that the office of deputy collector, as established by law, was occasional and temporary. Practice has, how-the sum limited in the bill. The sections abolishing the offices of weighers, ever, made it permanent, and fixed to it a permanent salary. The collector appoints the gaugers, &c., and transferring their duties to deputy, and fixes his pay. But his compensa- inspectors, being under consideration, Mr. H. tion is paid by the collector, unless there is a observed, on the 9th December, 1820, the surplus in his hands after he receives his ulti-Secretary of the Treasury, in obedience to a mate sum-then it is at the expense of the United States. If the collector's emoluments are $30,000, of which he can retain $4,000 only, the residue, after deducting expenses of clerk-hire, stationery, &c., goes into the Treasury. This clerk-hire, sir, has hitherto been at the entire discretion of the collectors, and their vouchers of payment have, at the Treasury, been allowed without an inquiry into the economy of the expenditure. Hence high salaries to deputies, to relieve collectors of their duties, and extravagant expenditures for clerks and stationery, to accommodate relations and friends. Such has been the practice under the law, that the Secretary doubts his authority to go behind the collector's vouchers to settle his accounts; consequently, the collectors in the large ports, whose emoluments exceed their maximum, may lavish the surplus on whom His answers were, that the present inspectors they please. The necessity and importunity of friends and relatives is a temptation too great, I were amply sufficient; that the number had resolution of the House of Representatives of SENATE.] Election of President pro tem. [FEBRUARY, 1822. moved. The exercise of Executive power, and the selection of a few prominent examples, would no doubt be salutary; but so extensive and so habitual are these practices, the execution of the law, combined with the exertions of Executive power, will be scarcely sufficient to correct them. been increasing, from the representations of or connives at them ought to be instantly recollectors, at the solicitation of friends; that many of them were old and destitute, and that it would be better to increase their labor than diminish their number. It is, moreover, apparent, that in many ports inspectors perform these services, and receive the pay, in addition to their per diem allowance. Instances are not few, in which these inspectors have charged the United States three dollars a day for every day in the year, and during the same period have received compensation in these offices of weighers, gaugers, &c., equal to the best salaries. It is apprehended by some honorable gentlemen that these inspectors will not be sufficient to perform the duties. Sir, you have called on the officer who presides over your revenue; you have asked him if these men and this pay will be sufficient, and he answers yes. Although It appears by a report of the Secretary, in I would repose implicit confidence in no Secreobedience to a resolution of the House of Rep-tary, yet experience proves that we should be resentatives of the 19th January, 1821, that, in slow to believe that one would err in favor of the district of Boston and Charlestown, there economy. were six inspectors, who had received their three dollars per day for every day in the year, not omitting the additional day for leap-year during the same period; and found means to obtain, in these other capacities, about three thousand dollars more; each receiving from your Treasury an annual compensation of between four and five thousand dollars, and this not limited to one particular year, but an average for several years in succession. So prompt were these men at their duty-or rather at their charging-that in this same place, among this moral and religious people, there were ten inspectors, who never found an opportunity to be absent at church for one single day in four years, and never lost a day by sickness during the same period; similar facts, too, in New York, indicate that there, there is great punctuality in charging Sundays and all, and that, among inspectors, there is much stronger evidence of health than worship. In Philadelphia, the extravagance in clerk-hire has lately been corrected, but the same prodigality exists in those subordinate offices. The compensations to a single weigher at that post, and who I believe is a son of the collector, are reported at the Treasury Department as follows: in 1816, $6,405; 1817, $7,804 43; 1818, $5,313 14; 1819, $5,602 01; and in 1820, $5,202 45. If in one port the duties of one description of office can be heaped upon the shoulders of one favorite, and in another some four or five different offices can converge to the use of another, there must be a radical defect in the system, or a gross prodigality and infidelity in the officers of the customs who have the immediate control. These instances only are cited to point out the mischiefs, yet the evil is by no means limited, but is becoming general. In the second and even third-rate ports, instances might be mentioned where inspectors change every day, and are occupied and receive fees, for the same period, as weighers, gaugers, &c., and even in some instances serve as clerks and deputies besides. It has been said that these abuses are so palpable that the existing laws are adequate to their correction, and the collector who permits Here the Secretary testifies against interestagainst patronage. He offers to collect your revenue without the offices proposed to be abolished, and tells you they are useless. Would it not be, indeed, extraordinary to force upon him a horde of officers whom he does not want, at an expense of $100,000 per year? FRIDAY, February 1. The following letter, from the VICE PRESIDENT of the United States, addressed to Mr. KING, of New York, was read by that gentleman to the Senate: WASHINGTON CITY, Feb. 1, 1822. DEAR SIR: My health has suffered so much on my journey, and since my arrival at the Seat of Government, that I am desirous, as soon as the weather and the state of the roads will permit, to return to my family. And I have to request that you will be good enough to communicate this determination to the Senate at their meeting this day. I have the honor to be, with great respect, DANIEL D. TOMPKINS. Hon. RUFUS KING. Election of President pro tem. On motion of Mr. KING, of New York, it was thereupon resolved, that the Senate would, at two o'clock, proceed to the election of a President of the Senate pro tempore. At 2 o'clock accordingly the Senate proceeded to the election of a President, and, on counting the ballots, the following result was declared: FEBRUARY, 1822.] DEBATES OF CONGRESS. Louisiana Land Titles. Mr. GAILLARD, having received a majority, was declared to be elected President of the Senate pro tempore. On taking the Chair, Mr. GAILLARD addressed the Senate as follows: GENTLEMEN: No one can estimate more highly the value of your favorable opinion, nor could any one receive with more profound respect, or with more unfeigned gratitude, than I do, this fresh token of your confidence and favor. The gratification I derive from it would indeed have been complete, but for the unaffected apprehension I feel that, in the discharge of the duties assigned to me, I may disappoint your just and reasonable expectations. If purity of intention and an anxious desire to act correctly, which I bring with me to this station, should prove no security against the commission of error, I shall have to throw myself on that liberality and indulgence which have been ever ready to exercise, and which I have already so frequently experienced from you. On this consoling and encouraging reflection I will rest; and I will only add, that, whatever of industry, of experience, or of capacity, I possess, shall be faithfully directed to an honest and impartial execution of the trust reposed in me. you On motion of Mr. KING, of New York, it was ordered that the Secretary communicate to the President of the United States, and to the House of Representatives, the election of the President of the Senate pro tempore. MONDAY, February 4. Rebecca Hodgson. The Senate took up the report of the Committee of Claims unfavorable to the petition of Rebecca Hodgson. [She prays payment for a house rented to the Government for the use of the War Department, when the Government was first removed to Washington, in the year 1800, which house was burnt-the petition being grounded on the stipulation in the lease that the premises should be returned in the condition in which they were received, inevitable accidents excepted.] The report was opposed at considerable length by Mr. PINKNEY, who argued and referred to testimony to show that the petitioner was entitled to payment according to the terms of the contract, that the claim was sustainable in law, were the Government suable, and that it ought to be allowed. He concluded by moving that the report be recommitted to the Committee of Claims, with instructions to report a bill for the relief of the petitioner to the extent of the value of the house. Mr. RUGGLES spoke at length in reply to Mr. PINKNEY and in support of the report of the committee. He took a particular view of the circumstances of the claim, and the evidence on which it was founded, embracing the contract of the lease, to show that the petitioner had no rightful claim on the Government for indemnity. Messrs. HOLMES, of Maine, BARTON, VAN DYKE, and TALBOT, also offered some remarks on the subject; and [SENATE. Mr. P. at the suggestion of some of the gentlemen, having varied his motion to a simple recommitment, without instructions, except to make a report on a re-examination of the case and the documents-it was recommitted accordingly. TUESDAY, February 5. Louisiana Land Titles. Mr. BENTON Submitted for consideration the following resolution: Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to communicate to the Senate any information which may be in the Department of State contained in documents filed in the Department of relative to land titles in Louisiana, particularly as State by order of Mr. Jefferson, if there be any. Also, a copy of the proclamation (if in the Department of the year 1803, by General Salcedo and the Marquis State) addressed to the inhabitants of Louisiana in de Casa Calvo, Commissioners on the part of His Catholic Majesty for delivering the province of Louisiana to the Commissioners of the French republic, announcing to the inhabitants the cession of the province. Also, a copy of that article of the Treaty of San Ildefonso, (if any such there be in the Department of State,) which secured to the inhabitants of Louisiana their rights of property; and if there be no copy of that treaty, nor of the article referred to, in the Department of State, that the President be requested to cause application to be made to the Courts of France and Spain for an authentic copy of the article in question, for the benefit of the inhabitants of the ceded province. In offering this resolution, Mr. B. explained the object of it. The first clause was to procure from the Department of State, if there to be found, the copy of a paper concerning land titles in the State of Louisiana, which had once been printed by the order of this or the other House, but of which he had not been able to find a copy in the public Library, because this Capitol was once entered by an enemy who made war upon letters as well as upon men. The second clause called for another document which he was desirous to obtain; and the third called for a copy of that article of the Treaty of St. Ildefonso, which secured the inhabitants of Louisiana in the possession of the rights and property which they had previously enjoyed. That article had never been published. might be in the Department of State; but, if it should not be there, the resolution proposes that application be made to the Governments of France and Spain for a copy of it. As the object of the resolution was not to pry into State secrets, but to get a copy of an article said to be in existence, which was intended for the security of the people of Louisiana in their rights and property, he hoped it would be considered unobjectionable. If there be such an article in existence, it ought to be made known for the benefit of those whom it may concern. It The resolution lies on the table for one day of course. |