FEBRUARY, 1823.] Apportionment of Midshipmen. [H. OF R. To the House of Representatives of the United States: In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives, of the 22d January last, requesting the communication to the House of all the correspondence between the Government of the United States and Great Britain, relating to the negotiation of the convention of the 20th October, 1818, which may not be inconsistent with the public interest,-I transmit herewith to the House a report from the Secretary of State, together with the papers requested by the resolution of the House. JAMES MONROE. The SPEAKER laid before the House a report from the Secretary of the Treasury on so much of the memorial of the General Assembly of the State of Alabama as relates to the sale of the public lands in the counties of Jackson and Decatur, in that State, referred to him on the 3d instant; which was read, and ordered to lie on the table. The SPEAKER also laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of War, transmitting a statement of the expenditures at the national armories, and of the arms made and repaired therein, during the year 1822; rendered in obedience to an act, passed on the 2d of April, 1794; which letter and statement were laid on the table. road; or, if ever, not short of one hundred years. Sir, if you take this mode of getting rid of the National road, you will adopt a sure way to lessen the value of your Western lands, and incense your Western brethren. Mr. Chairman, I have no doubt but people will soon settle on this road, and be sufficient to keep it in good repair with their common highway taxes, and not be burdened with higher taxes than other people are on other roads for people always like to settle on good roads. Sir, I wish a good, thorough superintendent may be appointed-a man that will work himself, and be always present with the men; and the laborers should be hired for the term of six months; the money from Government being sure, the men, thus hired, ought to repair this road with good economy. And, in my opinion, by adopting this mode, it would not cost the United States half the money to repair this road as it would by letting it out in jobs. Mr. Chairman, it is true, as my colleague has stated, I have spent large sums of money in making roads. In that part of the country where I live when I am at home, when I first went into it, when we had to travel the roads, with a cart or wagon loaded with six or eight hundredweight, we had to employ half a dozen men, to hang on one side or the other, to keep the cart from turning over; but, since we have constructed our turnpike roads, one man can drive his team with a On motion of Mr. TATTNALL, the Committee load of two or three tons on his wagon. And, on Naval Affairs were instructed to inquire into sir, although these roads give no dividends to the propriety of continuing the pension heretotheir owners or proprietors, yet the money ex-fore allowed to the widow of the late Lieutenpended in making them is not wholly lost; for ant Elbert, of the United States Navy. the farms and wild lands which they go through, or lead to, are worth double as much as they ever would have been without having these roads made to travel upon. Mr. Chairman, I know not how other gentlemen feel about giving away this road; but, sir, if I should, by my vote, give away two millions of the United States property, I should not dare to return home. Sir, I hope I have made myself intelligible to Congress; and, if I have, I presume they will go with me in appropriating a sum sufficient at once to repair the National road. Sir, I find some gentlemen, who are in favor of repairing the road, seem rather inclined to vote to appropriate the money in the bill which came from the Senate. But, sir, since we have the matter now before us, I think it would be a saving of time to decide upon it at this time. Sir, this road is the property of the nation, and I think it the duty of Congress to take care of it. When Mr. K. sat down the committee rose, and the House adjourned. SATURDAY, February 15. Convention with Great Britain for the Joint Occupation of the Columbia. A Message received yesterday from the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES was read, and is as follows: MONDAY, February 17. Apportionment of Midshipmen. Mr. FULLER, from the Committee on Naval Affairs, who were instructed to inquire into the propriety of ordering a more equal selection of midshipmen for the Navy of the United States, made a report thereon, adverse to the objects contemplated in the inquiry; which report was read, and ordered to lie on the table. The report is as follows: By the second section of the second article of the Constitution of the United States, the President is vested with power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to nominate and appoint all officers, whose appointment is not otherwise provided for by the constitution; thus giving him the exercise of his discretion, without any limitation as to place of birth or residence, in such appointments. This latitude in selecting persons of suitable character and qualifications, must have been deemed indispensable, of providing for the "faithful execution" of the laws, to enable the Executive power to fulfil the high trust and at the same time involves a responsibility which would have been considerably diminished by such a restriction as is suggested by the resolution. In appointing officers in the civil department, for the performance of duties which are local in their nature, the committee believe that a regard to the circumstance of residence, and of the political and individual relations of the persons selected, must frequently be among the considerations most important to a just decision. Nor is there any reason to doubt, that a due regard to this consideration, in accordance with local predilections, and the spirit and genius of a free people, has guided the Executive of the United States, as far, hitherto, as the public good requires. [FEBRUARY, 1823. THURSDAY, February 20. Virginia Military Land Warrants. The Committee of the whole House to which is committed the bill extending the time for locating Virginia military land warrants, and returning surveys thereon to the General Land In the Army and the Navy, less scope is afforded to the Executive, in filling the higher grades of service, as long established usage limits the selection of suitable persons to an inconsiderable number, whose edu-Office; as, also, the bill extending the time for cation and probationary character are deemed to renissuing and locating military land warrants to der them the only subjects of such selection. It is officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary army, only in the appointments to the lower grades, from were discharged from the further consideration which, at a future day, the highest ranks of the mili- of the said bills. tary and naval corps are to be filled, that the utmost latitude is afforded to the President, for consulting the future interest of the country, by enrolling in her defence an adequate number of brave, intelligent, patriotic, and virtuous officers; and the committee are of opinion, that any restriction, by law, even if permitted by the constitution, would be highly pernicious in its operation, and might often result in the appointment of persons incompetent and unsuitable. În regard to the appointment of midshipmen, the particular subject of the present inquiry, it appears, by the letter of the Secretary of the Navy Department, accompanying this report, that a disposition sufficiently favorable to a general and fair participation of naval preferment has constantly pervaded that Department, and Iras been no otherwise counteracted than was unavoidable, from circumstances beyond its control. The committee fully concur in the propriety and policy of enrolling in the naval service the meritorious young men of the interior States, whenever they manifest a solicitude to enter it; and they are persuaded that such a disposition on their part has always been cncouraged, and will continue to be so, as far as a due regard to the constitutional discretion and responsibility of the Executive will permit. They, therefore, recommend the following resolution: Resolved, That any provision, by law, restraining the Executive of the United States, in the selection of midshipmen, is inexpedient. NAVY DEPARTMENT, Jan. 26, 1823. SIR: In answer to the inquiry, in your letter of the 21st instant, whether any general rules are adopted in the Department, by which the selection of midshipmen is made, particularly as relates to their residence, I have the honor to state, that the general rule, by which I have been governed in this respect, is, to apportion them among the several States, according to the ratio of representation in Congress, when the applicants were unexceptionable as to character and qualifications for the service. The disproportion, however, was so great, that I have not, as yet, been able to bring about an apportionment among the several States, according to the rule alluded to. But as, in all new appointments, due regard is had to the principle, the object will, before long, be effected. Whether it would be expedient to adopt, by law, this rule, leaving no discretion on the subject to the Department, may well be questioned. Although the applicants, in the aggregate, are very numerous, yet there are some States from which there are but few; and if the Department should be bound by law to conform, in all cases, to this rule, the selection might not always be of the most deserving and best qualified. I have the honor to be, &c. SMITH THOMPSON. Hon. TIMOTHY FULLER, Chairman Naval Committee. The House then proceeded to consider the bill extending the time for locating Virginia military land warrants, and returning surveys thereon to the General Land Office. A debate arose, of considerable length and animation; in the course of which, the principle of the bill was opposed by Mr. VANCE of Ohio, and Mr. Ross of Ohio; and supported by Messrs. STEVENSON, CAMPBELL of Ohio, McCox, RANKIN, MERCER, and HARDIN. Mr. SLOANE then moved to add the following, by way of amendment, to the bill: "SEC. 3. "Be it further enacted, That no holder of any warrant which has been located and surveyed, shall be permitted to remove the same, and again locate it on any other tract, except in cases of eviction, or unless it be found to interfere with a prior location." After some debate on this amendment, in which Messrs. McCoy, WRIGHT, WALKER, RHEA, and Cook, engaged, it was negatived by a considerable majority. The bill was then amended, on motion of Mr. CAMPBELL, so as to extend its operation to four years for locating, and six years for returning surveys. The debate was then resumed by Mr. VANCE, who zealously opposed the bill, which Mr. HARDIN again defended. Mr. Ross then offered the following amendment: "Provided, That no warrant shall hereafter be located by virtue of this or any other law, on any lands heretofore sold by the United States, to any individual or individuals." Messrs. HARDIN, RANKIN, and CAMPBELL of Ohio, opposed the amendment; and Messra. Ross and Cook supported it; when The amendment was negatived. Mr. WALWORTH, who was in favor of this bill, yet thought that justice required that the pledges of the Government in favor of one class of persons during the Revolutionary war should not be less binding than to another. Under this impression, he moved to add a new section to the bill, for reviving, for the term of four years, the act for the benefit of the Canadian refugees during the Revolutionary war. The amendment was opposed by Messrs. STEVENSON and RHEA, as unconnected with the principles of the bill; and The amendment was negatived. Mr. COOKE then proposed to amend the bill FEBRUARY, 1823.] DEBATES OF CONGRESS. by a proviso literally the same as that offered by Mr. Ross, with permission to those locating land warrants to make them on any land of the United States, in the country so reserved, unoccupied by previous location. Messrs. RANKIN, RHEA, ARCHER, and MERCER, opposed this amendment; and Messrs. COOKE, TRACY, WALWORTH, and NELSON of Maryland, supported it. One or two verbal amendments were made to the amendment of Mr. CoCKE; When the question was taken on the amendment, and agreed to. Mr. CAMPBELL, of Ohio, then moved to lay the bill on the table, he being unwilling to vote for the bill with this proviso attached to it. On this motion Mr. RANDOLPH required the yeas and nays; but a sufficient number not rising to sustain the call Mr. CAMPBELL withdrew his motion to lay the bill on the table; and Mr. Cook then moved to recommit it to the Committee on the Public Lands. This motion was agreed to―ayes 75. FRIDAY, February 21. The House resumed the consideration of the bill extending the time for issuing and locating military land warrants to officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary army; when Mr. Ross moved to subjoin thereto the following section: [H. or R. Mr. McLANE moved to postpone the election ment. The question was then taken on agreeing to the motion of Mr. ALLEN, of now proceeding to ballot for a Printer; and it was determined in the affirmative. After the nomination of candidates The House then proceeded to the balloting, 102 43 10 Gales & Seaton were then declared duly elected Printers to the next Congress. Fortifications-Internal Improvements. Mr. STEWART moved the following amendment: "For enabling the President of the United States to employ a competent number of Military or Topographical Engineers to ascertain the practicability and probable expense of uniting the waters of the Potomac and Ohio by a canal, the sum of three thousand dollars." The amendment having been read— Mr. STEWART said he regretted that it had become necessary to bring this subject before the House, by way of amendment to a bill providing for other, and, in his opinion, less important objects. He had hoped, he said, that the Committee on Roads and Canals, to whom many petitions upon this subject had been referred during the session, would have made a special report in its favor; but, he was sorry to say, that a majority of that committee, doubting the constitutionality or expediency of the meas "SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, at the expiration of the time limited by this act for the location of the military land warrants aforesaid, it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of the General Land Office to transmit to the Surveyor General a list of all the lots of land within the fifty quarter townships which shall at that time remain unlocated. And the Surveyor General shall prepare and transmit to the registers of the land office at Chillicothe and Zanes-ure, had not thought proper to act upon it at ville, respectively, general plats of the aforesaid unlocated lots; which lots shall, after the 4th day of June, 1825, be offered for sale at the land offices in the districts in which they are situated, in the same manner, and on the same terms and conditions, in every respect, as other public lands are offered at private sale in the same districts." Mr. Ross offered some remarks in explanation and support of his amendment, and was opposed by Mr. RANKIN and Mr. McCoy. On the question to agree to the amendment, it was negatived; and the bill was then ordered to be engrossed for a third reading. TUESDAY, February 25. Mr. ALLEN, of Massachusetts, pursuant to the notice he yesterday gave, that the House this day proceed to ballot for a Printer, to execute the printing for the next Congress, now made a motion to go into the election of the said Printer. all. There remained, therefore, he said, no way The union of the great rivers of the East and the West, opening an inland navigation of near three thousand miles, through the heart and together by the strongest ties-the ties of intercentre of this immense Republic, and binding it est and intercourse-was, in every point of an object which could not fail at any time to view, a national object of the first magnitude; command the favorable attention of the House; but, at this moment, he said, it was peculiarly interesting. Sir, said Mr. S., this great subject forty years ago occupied the anxious attention of the wisest and best man that this or any other country had ever produced-he would name but WASHINGTON, its zealous advocatethe advocate of every thing promotive of the he said, had been recently revived, and now good and the glory of his country. The subject, H. OF R.] Fortifications-Internal Improvements. But, sir, this very communication is pointed out and recommended, by the present Secretary of War, as connected with the military defence of the country, in his very able and luminous report, made some time since, on the subject of "military roads and canals." And if, sir, it has been shown that this measure is better calculated to secure the defence of this city, in time of war, than the forts provided for at an expense of millions, how is it in time of peace? Your forts are a constant burden of expense-the other is a source of unceasing profit and advantage. To support the one, you must keep a standing army in time of peace; the other, while it affords every facility, in peace and in war, to trade and intercourse, uniting and bringing more nearly together distant parts of our country, giving interest and activity to new sources of wealth, will yield you, perhaps, twelve or fifteen per cent. on the stock invested. The one is effected at the joint expense of this Government, and States, and individuals interested; the other exclusively out of the public purse. For these reasons, I say, the gentleman is mistaken, when he supposes this amendment has no connection with the bill under consideration. [FEBRUARY, 1823. occupied the attention of several of the greatest | splendid purpose, this Capitol never would have States in the Union. But a few days since a been violated and profaned by a hostile foot, bill, he said, had been passed by the Legislature nor our public edifices consumed by a Vandal of Virginia, incorporating a company, with a foe. capital of two millions of dollars, for the purpose of carrying this canal from tide water, at this city, to Cumberland, two-thirds of the whole distance to Pittsburg. This was an act of liberal and enlightened policy, worthy of that great State. In the Maryland Legislature, though there was evidently a majority in favor of this measure, yet its friends had consented to its postponement, with a view to bring it forward under more favorable auspices at the next session. In the Legislature of Pennsylvania it appeared, from a letter he had just received, a committee, raised upon this subject, had reported decidedly in its favor; and he hoped the great and growing States of Ohio and Kentucky, so deeply interested, (where he understood this subject was now agitated,) would be found willing to afford a prompt and hearty co-operation. And shall we sit here, the quiet, passive, and indifferent spectators of these great efforts to accomplish an object so vitally interesting to the union and prosperity of this nation? He hoped not. He hoped this proposition would be adopted; it would at least afford countenance and encouragement; it would stimulate and strengthen the efforts of its friends in the States; it was due to them-it was due to the country. In another point of view, the nation, said Mr. Sir, I am told by a gentleman near me, said S., has a deep interest in the growth and prosMr. S., that this is not a proper bill in which to perity of this city. Sir, this Government owns introduce this amendment. I beg leave, sir, to five thousand lots. These lots, I discover, are differ with the gentleman. What is the object estimated at two millions of dollars. By this of this bill? It is to provide for the defence of measure, they will be enhanced more than fivethe country, and especially for the defence of fold in value. They would at once become an this city, by the erection of forts and fortifica-object of speculation to the capitalist. Without tions. You have just, said he, voted $46,000, to be expended, during the next season, on a fort near the confines of this District of ten miles square a few miles below Alexandria. Sir, I ask, which will afford the most effectual defence to this city, the erection of this fort, or the opening of this canal? The canal, continued Mr. S., will make this one of the greatest commercial cities in the Union. A water communication is opened into the interior, which must throw into this city all the rich, varied, and abundant productions of the agricultural and manufacturing industry of the West; and here The perfect practicability of uniting the they will purchase most of the immense quan-waters of the Potomac and the Ohio seems to tities of goods required for the supply of those be no longer doubtful. On this subject there great and growing States. Thus, sir, you in- exists but one opinion among the many skilful crease the population, you increase the wealth, and experienced engineers who have examined the strength, the resources of this city; and the head waters of these streams. They are this, sir, give me leave to say, is the best way found to approach within two miles, at a point to defend it-by increasing its men, its bone, its where the water in each is abundantly sufficient muscle, by adding to the number of balls and to turn mills in the dryest seasons, or supply bayonets to encounter the enemy on its approach. canals to any extent. [Mr. S. here referred to But, sir, of what avail will be your forts and the report of the Virginia and Maryland Comfortifications, some fifteen or twenty miles dis-missioners, laid upon the table a few days since.] tant? The enemy will avoid your forts, and attack and burn your city, as they did during the late war, and return unmolested. Sir, had WASHINGTON lived to carry into effect this this canal, this city and your public property must decline together. The avenues now open to the public Treasury must soon be closed; and the immense expenditure of money, in building and rebuilding the Capitol, the public offices, &c., must soon cease; and the crowd of population which has thus been fed upon the offal of the public Treasury must depart and seek employment elsewhere, leaving the capital of this proud Republic, the wonder and admiration of the world, a melancholy scene of desolation and decline. This report, made, said Mr. S., by gentlemen of the highest respectability, possessing much practical skill, not only establishes the practicability of uniting these streams, but it shows, by FEBRUARY, 1823.] DEBATES OF CONGRESS. Fortifications-Internal Improvements. a minute calculation, that the whole sum re- [H. OF R. | interior, to the Eastern markets. He would But this report, continued Mr. S., establishes two other propositions, to which he begged leave to call the attention of the House. The first, though not new, he said, was important; it was, that the difference in the cost of transportation by canals and by land was as twenty to one; that is, that the cost of carriage on canals was one-twentieth part only of the cost upon roads. This was, he believed, a common result to which all writers on the subject had come, and which was confirmed by the use of The other position established by the comcanals wherever adopted; from this, it evidently followed that the opening of this canal missioners in their report, to which he referred, would place the seat of the National Govern- was this-that a moderate toll upon this canal ment, for all the purposes of trade and of inter- could not fail to yield a revenue of at least fifcourse, within fifteen and a half miles of Pitts- teen per cent. on the stock invested. And this burg. The whole distance by water would be was supported and confirmed by another able three hundred and ten miles; divide this by writer on this subject, late a Senator in Contwenty, gives fifteen and a half by land. It has gress, who showed that a much larger amount been ascertained, said he, that the sum paid in would be received from the profits of the coal Pittsburg alone, in one year, for the transporta- trade alone, independent of the tolls on the tion of goods for the supply of Ohio, Kentucky, lumber, lime, goods, and the various produc&c., had amounted to $1,500,000; divide this tions of the interior. And this would, perhaps, by twenty, and it will be reduced by the canal not be considered extravagant, when we recolto $75,000, saving the West from an annual lect that in England some of the canals emtaxation of $1,425,000. For the cost of trans-ployed exclusively in the transportation of coal portation was, he said, paid by the consumer of yield a revenue of one hundred and seventy per the goods, in the same way that he paid the cent. per annum, and the shares of stock had duty that enriched the public Treasury. But increased in value from one hundred to three Pittsburg was not the only place of deposit. thousand five hundred pounds each. He reMr. S. here read from a letter which he had ferred, he said, to the Loughborough canal, lately received from a respectable merchant in which overcome a fall of more than twentyWheeling, who stated that he received on an eight feet per mile, while an average of less average $3,000,000 worth of goods per annum, than eleven feet would overcome the fall from at his store, transported on the Cumberland this city to the summit level of the Alleghany road, for the carriage of which he paid about mountain. The whole fall from the top of the $120,000; by the canal, this sum would be re-mountain to tide-water was two thousand two duced (according to the principle of the report to which he referred) to $6,000. But an equal saving would be effected on the transportation of the agricultural, and other products of the VOL. VII.-29 hundred and fourteen feet. He had in his hand, he said, a statement of the value of the stocks and the tolls collected on thirty canals in England, taken from a London Magazine of 1812, |