JANUARY, 1823.] Road from Ohio to Michigan. [H. OF R. pend, ought to have the means of concentrating | the country, as well as its blood, had been its strength, the want of which means was so severely felt during the late war. Mr. S. added other arguments in support of the bill; such as that the road is necessary to secure any thing like a regular transportation of the mail; that the Michigan Territory must people slowly until an access is opened to it, without being obliged, as was now necessary at some seasons of the year, to go through foreign territory to get to it. Thus, Mr. S. said, supposing there was no right derived from the treaty, the object was of the utmost importance, and the bill proposed no new principle. Lands had been often granted | by Congress for objects of much less importance, and, as for this land, it would be of no value to the United States until a road was made, and it became worth the trouble to drain it. The quantity of land proposed to be allotted to this purpose would not, in his opinion, be sufficient to accomplish it, but it was probable that, by the aid of this grant, those who were interested would be able to complete the work. Mr. COCKE said, that a reference to almost every treaty with the Indians, for twenty years past, would exhibit provisions for roads in almost every direction. It was no new thing to prevail upon the Indians to give their consent to have a road made. The Indians are pressed into the measure; and it was the first time he had ever heard it suggested that the Indians were desirous of having a highway through their lands. Such an idea was contrary to their nature; their pursuits are repugnant to it. He could not therefore yield to the argument, in favor of this bill, that the Indians are desirous to see the road made. He did not understand, he said, how the making of a road through it was to drain the swamp, and he wished for information on that head. And why were the United States to pay for making this road any more than roads in other parts of the country? Were the people of Michigan so regardless of their interest that they would not make a road to lead to their Territory? If it was necessary to appropriate this land to this object, for the benefit of the people of Michigan, why was it to be given to the State of Ohio? Why not let Michigan have it? No, Mr. C. said, let us keep it in our hands, that we may ourselves regulate the matter, if the road is to be made. He was obliged to the gentleman for the suggestion that the proceeds of the land would not be sufficient to make the road. This bill would then be but a beginning. And, said he, once enter the wedge, and you will not get clear of it for ten years to come. Mr. C. concluded by requiring the yeas and nays on the question of ordering this bill to a third reading. Mr. LITTLE said that, to any measure calculated to promote the prosperity and happiness of any section of our country, and not impairing the rights of anybody, he felt himself bound to give his support. That the public is greatly interested in the measure proposed by this bill, had been sufficiently shown. The treasure of wasted for want of the road. His reflection on the subject, too, had induced him to believe, that it was in consequence of the access being so difficult, that the Michigan country had filled up so slowly. It was an inconvenience which ought to be remedied; that, in order to get into the United States, it was for one half of the year necessary for the people of Michigan to pass through the territory of a nation with whom we have already had two wars, and with whom he should not be surprised to live to see a third. It was no reason against this bill, that application might be hereafter made from other quarters for similar grants. This is not the first grant which has been made for similar purposes, but no grant had been made for any as important. The facts which had been stated respecting the evils suffered in the late war for want of this road were undoubted; and Mr. L. hoped that, on further consideration, the gentleman from Tennessee would withdraw his opposition to the bill. Mr. MITCHELL, of South Carolina, said that he knew very little of the merits of this question, but what he had gathered from the report which accompanied the bill. He was of opinion, however, that this cession ought to be made. In the first place, he said, this land was conveyed to the United States for the express purpose of making the road; and with the same object the land had been surveyed, without any thing further being done upon it. If we choose to give this land, he said, while we do not diminish the funds of the nation, we comply with the condition of the cession to us, and effect a valuable object to the nation. It was, he said, a matter of great importance to the United States that this road should be made. The country between the Miami River and the Connecticut Reserve is a swamp, often impassable, and intercepts the communication between Michigan and Ohio. Michigan is a frontier country; it adjoins Upper Canada; its population is so small that it cannot defend itself in the event of a war again occurring with the owners of Upper Canada, and must fall, unless a communication be established between it and the more populous parts of our country. It is our interest, therefore, if we wish to hold the Territory of Michigan, to have the road cut. At present, it is understood that the communication to and from Michigan with the United States must, for a considerable portion of the year, be carried on through Upper Canada. Ought we, he asked, to permit our territory to be so dissociated as to have to communicate with it through the medium of a foreign territory? He thought not, and was therefore in favor of this bill. Mr. HARDIN said that, of the power of Congress to pass this bill, he entertained no doubt. One of the most vulnerable points of our country to an enemy is the Michigan Territory. It has not within itself strength for its defence, and has to call on the neighboring States for H. OF R.] Road from Ohio to Michigan. [JANUARY, 1823. thousand acres of land to those who would settle it, or he would sell the land at fifty cents per acre if it would induce a settlement of it. He would use every means to accomplish an object so desirable. On the score of money, which was said to be the sinew of war, much that was expended during the late war would have been saved, had the proposed road then existed; and the petitions even at this day presented by the delegate from that Territory re succor to repel invasion. Mr. H. adverted to the enormous expense to which the United States were put on that frontier during the late war, which would not have been one-fourth as great had the proposed road then existed. The whole army, when at Fort Meigs, &c., had to be supplied by transportation on horses for a hundred or a hundred and fifty miles, so that every barrel of flour consumed had cost the United States some fifty dollars per barrel. It was important, therefore, that a direct inter-mind us in what condition the fortune of war course should be opened between the settled country and that part of our territory. There could be no objection, in a constitutional view, to making this road, in the character of a mili-ment of the State of Ohio, she would take a tary road. As to the expediency of the road, Mr. H. said, he entertained no doubt. The two vulnerable points of our country are Florida and Michigan. Mr. H. said he wished to see them strengthened as much as possible and as fast as possible. He also adverted to the increased value which would be given to the lands of the United States in that quarter by the increased facility of access. There was but one objection to the bill, that he could see. It was this: that, if we cede the land to the State of Ohio, and she does not make the road, we shall have no power to get it back again. But, Mr. H. said, he had so much confidence in the integrity of the State of Ohio, that he was willing to pass the bill without a clause providing for its reversion in such case. He had no doubt the State of Ohio would lay out every cent of the proceeds of the sales of the lands in making or repairing the road. This case being clearly distinguishable from the exercise of the general power of internal improvement, as contemplating a military road, he hoped his friend from Tennessee would withdraw his opposition, and let the bill pass by a unanimous vote. He hoped, too, when the question regarding the Cumberland road came up, to witness the same spirit of unanimity in its favor which was to be seen on this occasion. has once placed it. In a pecuniary point of view, Mr. C. said, the House could not err in passing this bill. As far as he knew the sentideep interest in making the road. Mr. C. examined the treaty provision respecting this road, which, he argued, did not assimilate itself to the general treaty provisions respecting roads, adverted to by Mr. COCKE, inasmuch as those provisions were inserted to accommodate the United States, and to be executed at our pleasure, whilst in this case the stipulation was obligatory and binding on the United States. The population of Upper Canada, Mr. C. said, had greatly increased in consequence of the liberality of the British Government to settlers. That Government considers its possessions in that quarter vulnerable; but they are not as vulnerable as ours. Whilst they are increasing their strength in that direction, ought we not to be increasing ours? Any course different from this must be a blind one, and such as the Government ought not to pursue. The gentleman from Tennessee had said, if the people of Michigan are interested, let them make the road. But, Mr. C. asked, will their physical means enable them to make it? They are interested in the road, it is true; but there is no population in the Union of ten thousand souls able to make a road of forty-five miles in length through such a swamp as that. They are already weighed down with taxation, and are perhaps the most oppressed people under the Government of the United States. In answer tion would be hereafter made to the United States for further aid to complete the road, Mr. C. said, when those applications were made it would be the duty of Congress to act upon them as should appear to be right. They must stand or fall on their own merits or demerits. If rightful, they would be granted; if otherwise, they would be rejected. Mr. CAMPBELL, of Ohio, rose, not so much to urge arguments in support of the bill, as to no-to the remark that, if this bill passed, applicatice a remark which fell from the gentleman who had just taken his seat, as to what might be the conduct of the State of Ohio in regard to the road. A year ago, Mr. C. said, the Legislature of Ohio had passed an act on this subject, in which she had evinced her willingness to take upon herself the trouble and expense of making this road, if the right of the United States to the land in question were ceded to her. He did not pretend to say that this road would not be an advantage to the State of Ohio, but it would be of more importance to the interests of the Union generally. The country in which this road lies is one of the most valuable in the Union, and as little had been done for it as for any section of the Union. On this point he would only observe, he said, that so great was his zeal to increase the popu-lution down to the defeat of General Wayne, lation of the Peninsula of Michigan, he was willing to vote even two or three hundred Mr. FARRELLY observed, that he lived on the Northwestern frontier, and rose to communicate facts which every one on that frontier must know. Michigan was, without doubt, the most exposed point, and also the weakest of the Union. The Territory was inhabited by numerous nations of Indians, who had been accustomed to war with the people of the United States. From the close of the war of the Revo they were in a state of continual hostility. During the late war they desolated that Terri States. 2d. A summary statement of the same. [H. OF R. of domestic articles exported. 4th. A general statement of the quantity and value of foreign articles exported. 5th and 6th. Summary statements of the value of domestic and foreign articles exported. tory; and, in case of any rupture between us | submit the following statements of the commerce and and the British Government, we know, from navigation of the United States, during the year endthe experience of the past, on which side they ing on the 30th September, 1822, viz: will be engaged. If the Territory of Michigan value of merchandise imported into the United 1st. A general statement of the quantity and were able to protect itself during the late war, what a saving it would have been to the nation in treasure and blood; the Kentucky militia would not have been massacred-which happened after they passed that swamp. It is an object of the greatest importance to the United States to encourage the population of Michigan, which has been hitherto kept down by the impracticability of going to it. By passing the bill, the United States will secure the most important advantages. I know it to be a fact that the merchants of the place where I reside, and generally of the district I represent, who have commercial relations with Detroit, have to go there and return, at some seasons of the year, through Upper Canada, in consequence of the obstacles opposed by the Black Swamp. The United States fleet has disappeared on Lake Erie; and it is of the utmost importance to strengthen the interior of the country, which has not resources itself to make this road. 7th. A general statement of the amount of American and foreign tonnage employed in the foreign trade of the United States. 8th. A general statistical view of the commerce and navigation of the United States; and 9th. A statement of the tonnage entered and cleared, in and from the several States. From these statements, it appears that the imports, during the year ending on the 30th of September, 1822, have amounted to $83,241,541, of which amount $76,984,331 were imported in American vessels and $6,257,210 in foreign vessels: That the exports have, during the same period, amounted to $72,160,281, of which $49,874,079 were domestic, and $22,286,202 were foreign articles: That of the domestic articles $39,931,913 were exported in American vessels, and $9,942,166 in foreign vessels; and, of the foreign articles exported, $20,783,655 were exported in American, and $1,502,547 in foreign vessels: That 787,961 tons of American shipping entered, and 813,748 cleared from ports of the United States; and that 100,541 tons of foreign shipping entered, and 97,490 cleared from the ports of the United States during the same period. Mr. SIBLEY again rose. There was, he said, in reply to Mr. COCKE, no want of patriotism and liberality in the Territory of Michigan. He mentioned large appropriations of money which they had had to make for roads, of which the United States were deriving the benefit; and also that there was a road of considerable length which the Territory would have to make to meet the very road embraced in this bill. He appealed to the House whether Michigan, who had been doing her utmost to connect herself with the rest of the Union, ought to be expect-Hon. ed to make this road. The question was then taken on ordering the bill to be engrossed and read a third time, and decided-yeas 130, nays 21. MONDAY, January 20. JOHN SERGEANT, from Pennsylvania, appeared, and took his seat. Naval Peace Establishment. Mr. FULLER, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, to which was referred the Message from the President, upon the subject of a Naval Peace Establishment, made a report thereon, accompanied by a bill to fix and render permanent the Naval Peace Establishment of the United States; which bill was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the whole House on the state of the Union. Commerce and Navigation. The SPEAKER communicated the following letter from the Secretary of the Treasury : TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Jan. 18, 1823. SIR: In conformity with the provisions of the act of 10th January, 1820, entitled "An act to provide for obtaining accurate statements of the foreign commerce of the United States," I have the honor to VOL. VII.-27 I remain, with respect, &c. PHILIP P. BARBOUR, WM. H. CRAWFORD. Speaker of the House of Representatives. The letter was read, and, with the documents, ordered to be printed." TUESDAY, January 21. Pension to Sarah Perry. Mr. FULLER, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, to whom was committed the petition of Sarah Perry, mother of Oliver H. Perry, late a Captain in the Navy of the United States, made the following report; which was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the Whole. By the decease of the son of the petitioner,. Captain Oliver H. Perry, and, subsequently, by the decease of another son, a lieutenant in the Navy, she has been deprived of the support which those sons had successively bestowed; and is, as sufficiently appears to the committee, advanced in years, and incapable of profirst mentioned having called forth the bounty of the viding for herself. The eminent services of her son Government in providing for his widow and children, by an act for their relief, passed on the 3d of March, 1821, the committee believe that his mother, the present petitioner, is entitled to consideration, in at least an equal degree, and for similar reasons. They therefore report a bill in her favor. That your petitioner has at length determined to intrude her sorrows and distresses on your notice, confident of obtaining your sympathy and commiseration, should she even fail in adducing any claims to your justice and liberality. [JANUARY, 1823 capable of bearing it. She knows not that she has and that she is the mother of that hero who earned Your petitioner therefore humbly hopes that your honorable body will take her situation into consideration, and that you will be pleased to place her on the pension list for five years, or grant her such other permanent support or relief as to you shall seem meet and proper. And your petitioner, as in duty bound, will ever SARAH PERRY. pray, &c. Death of William Lowndes. Your petitioner, after the death of her husband, (who had the honor of bearing a commission in the naval service of his country,) subsisted on the bounty of her deceased son, Oliver Hazard Perry, whose filial devotion and affection were such as to leave none of her wants, and few of her desires, in this world, unsatisfied. During his life, he invariably set aside a liberal proportion of his pay and emoluments for the support of your petitioner, notwithstanding the Mr. HAMILTON, of South Carolina, rose and many claims of his immediate family on his compara-nounced in the gazettes of yesterday, of the said, the melancholy intelligence which was antively slender income. The lamentable death of this son, on board of the death of my distinguished predecessor, the priJohn Adams, at Port Trinidad, in August, 1819, de-vate advices which I have received from South prived your petitioner of this succor, and the burden of the support of herself and an unmarried daughter devolved on the younger branches of her family, more especially on her son, the late Lieutenant James Alexander Perry, whose recent loss your petitioner has also to deplore. It must be within the knowledge of your honorable body, that, after the death of your petitioner's son, Oliver H. Perry, a bill was introduced into the House of Representatives, and finally passed both branches of Congress, making a provision for his immediate family. In this bill, as originally reported by the committee to whom it was referred, there was a clause affording a competent support for your petitioner. In its progress, however, through the House, some of its best friends, fearful that the whole bill might be lost if too much was asked, consented that the clause in your petitioner's behalf should be stricken out, which was accordingly done; and, in this shape, the bill ultimately passed, with an unanimity on the part of Congress that conferred an inestimable value on the gifts of their patriotic benevolence. Your petitioner did not repine that the consideration of her claims, whatever they might have been, should have been thus postponed; it was enough that such a sacrifice was deemed essential in procuring a support for the wife and children of such a son. Carolina have but too fully confirmed. When, sir, (said he,) it is recollected that Mr. LOWNDES was constructively a member of this House at the period of his death, for I believe that his resignation at that time had not then reached his home; but, above all, sir, when we consider the station which he occupied on this floor, with such remarkable honor to himself, and advantage to his country; when we are sensible that he was here as it were but yesterday, occupying that place which I now so feebly and inefficiently fill; that the impression left by his delightful character and commanding intellect, is yet almost animated by the vigor of life, I am sure you will not regard the few observations I shall offer on this mournful occasion, as an unseasonable trespass. I know too well how you cherish the recollection of his virtues, not to be certain of your kindest and most. respectful sympathy. "where It might, sir, be seemingly presumptuous in me to descant on his public virtues in this assembly, where they were so conspicuously exercised for a period of ten years, in which the richest and most various knowledge was successfully blended with the purity and ardor of About this period, the son of your petitioner, James an ingenuous spirit, and the intelligence of a Alexander Perry, who had recently been promoted to lofty intellect. But, of his private virtues, I a lieutenantcy in the Navy returned from the Medi- may be permitted to speak. At home, "where terranean, and forthwith contributed a large pro- we knew him best and loved him most; portion of his pay and emoluments to the support of our opportunities were most abundant for observyour petitioner. Had his precious life been spared, ing the delightful sway which the simplicity and your petitioner would not have been constrained to modesty of his character exercised over the highmake this application. The calamity by which this er faculties of his nature, it will be allowed us to last resource has been cut off from your petitioner is indulge in an affection for the individual which known to you; and, although she cannot boast that is quite equal to the admiration which accomthis son has fallen in the battles of his country, she panied him abroad. In the softer charities of has the consolation of reflecting that, at the early age human life, in the relations of husband, parent, of thirteen, he fought by his brother's side in the memorable engagement on Lake Erie; and that the friend, and master, he was amiably and conspiclife which he had devoted to his country was sacrific-uously loved and distinguished. ed, ultimately, in a generous and noble effort for the There was a belief in which public opinion is preservation of another. supposed to have indulged, in regard to Mr. LOWNDES, which was radically unsound; that he was deficient in decision of character. The mistake naturally grew out of the extreme To confess our poverty is a humiliating declaration. Your petitioner is destitute, and her support, small as it is, is thrown on hands but inadequately JANUARY, 1823.] DEBATES OF CONGRESS. Death of William Lowndes. [H. OF R. way to the gentleman from Virginia, whose facility of his disposition, in relation to all ob- | tions in which I have indulged; but I give jects that were personally advantageous to himself; out of an habitual acquiescence in the postponement of his own interests and distinction, to make room for the aspirations of the more sanguine and confident. But, in any of those delicate junctures which arise in morals and patriotism, where it might be expedient to be wrong, but honest to be right, he had, and would uniformly have evinced the triumphant resolves of an undismayed and inflexible spirit. He had emphatically less self-love and more self-denial than any man who ever came within the sphere of my experience. These virtues were exemplified in a remarkable degree in the manner in which he received, and invariably treated, the nomination which was made, in his behalf, by his native State to the first office in the gift of this people. Whatever opinion he might have entertained, as to the propriety of this measure, he could not but be sensible of the favorable estimation of those who had a right to know him most intimately, but his generous sensibilities were principally aroused by the ill omens which might possibly be gathered from flinging another competitor into the perilous and troubled arena. Whilst he was conscious that "the office of President of the United States was one neither to be solicited nor declined," he would have regarded it as the greatest misfortune of his life, if he could have won it by inflicting upon his country the example of successful intrigue and ambition-if he could have obtained it even by one harsh collision, which could have shaken the foundation of this Union. In this review of an interesting era of his life, I am doing little more than giving utterance to those sentiments that fell from his own lips. Alas, sir, when I contemplate the void his death has produced at home, that in a State not absolutely sterile in the production of able men, it will be long, if ever, that we can hope for the proud distinction of furnishing such a contingent of genius, worth, and knowledge, so large in its amount, so estimable in its qualities, for the service of our common country, I cannot but sink under an invincible dismay. Good men do not die, however, without bequeathing something to posterity. I have somewhere seen a remark, which appears to me to be as philosophically just as it is consoling to humanity. However feebly, I will attempt its illustration. Vice in its immediate operation is undoubtedly pernicious. The bad man poisons the atmosphere in which he lives, contaminates, "frets his busy hour on the stage," dies and is forgotten. But the virtuous man, such a being as our deceased friend, not only is a blessing to the age in which he lives, but his virtues visit the remotest posterity in a thousand impressive shapes, giving "ardor to virtue and confidence to truth." From his grave there arises a halo of unfading brightness! I would now tender to you a resolution which would seem naturally to follow the few observa Mr. ARCHER, of Virginia, rose to follow, with the resolution which had been intimated by his friend from South Carolina, the feeling annunciation which had been just addressed to the House. That gentleman might well feel and speak more strongly than any other member of the House could do, on the subject of this melancholy event, from his more intimate association, both by residence and friendship, with the eminent man whose loss we deplored; and the peculiarity of whose character and fortune it was to be esteemed and beloved in the exact proportion in which he was known. It was, indeed, a character, Mr. A. said, in which the qualities which won esteem, were blended in the happiest unison with those which commanded it. He had no intention of entering into any minute delineation of his character, for many reasons. The most important was, that he felt he was unequal to the office. Nor was it necessary, after the picture which had been presented to us to-day, to which if he attempted to add any coloring, he should only contribute to deface, perhaps that which did not require to be improved. Panegyric, on this occasion, was indeed rendered unnecessary by the settled feeling and opinion of this country in relation to Mr. Lowndes. He had been, for a considerable time conspicuously before the public, a part of that time comprehending a very trying period of our history, and the judgment of the public had been awarded in relation to him. He was already ranked with the eminent names which had passed by and been consecrated to national respect. He was already ranked as a man superior in worth as he was in mind-as one of the purest, and ablest, and most faithful of the statesmen who might claim from our country the meed of honor-as combining a large share of the highest titles to human deference and estimation, talent, and public service, and virtue. Mr. A. said that the House would be deficient in the discharge of its appropriate office, it would not reflect the sentiments and the wishes of the people whom it represented, if it omitted the testimony of respectful regret which was due to this afflicting occasion. The face of this country was clothed in mourning, and this countenance ought to be reflected in its proper mirror, the proceedings and language of this House. The House would be wanting in a due respect to itself, if it omitted this last tribute to a man who had filled so large a space in its service, and brought to it so great an accession of reputation. The House had, he knew, no disposition to withhold the tribute. Their feeling, on the subject, was in a true accord with the feeling of the country. |