by said State under the act of cession of 1789, and which have remained unsatisfied; which memorial was referred to a select committee, and Mr. BURTON, Mr. BLAIR, Mr. SAUNDERS, Mr. ALLEN of Tennessee, and Mr. BUCHANAN, were appointed the said committee. The Committee of Ways and Means were discharged from the consideration of the memorial of the trustees of the Columbia College, in the District of Columbia, and leave was given to withdraw the same. Mr. Cook, from the Committee on the Public Lands, reported a bill granting certain public lots to the cities of St. Augustine and Pensacola, which was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the Whole. H. OF R. PARTRIDGE'S MILITARY ACADEMY. Mr. HAMILTON, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to which the subject was referred, reported a bill to authorize the President of the United States to cause to be issued to Captain Alden Partridge, fixed ammunition, and for other purposes; accompanied by a detailed report upon the subject; which bill was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the Whole. The report is as follows: The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred a resolution, instructing it "to inquire into the expediency of authorizing the Secretary of War to permit the issue of ammunition to Captain Alden Partridge, Superintendent of the American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy, for the improvement of the pupils of the said Academy in practical gunnery," beg leave to report: On motion of Mr. INGHAM, the Committee on the Judiciary were instructed to inquire into the That, in the consideration of this subject, they have expediency of fixing, by law, the fees proper to be felt that it was their duty to discuss the policy insepaallowed for the official duties performed in rela-rably connected with the resolution; nor have they tion to naturalization of aliens. On motion of Mr. RICHARD, of Michigan, the Committee on Roads and Canals were instructed to inquire into the expediency of reporting a bill to authorize the surveying and making a road from Detroit, or from Pontiac, in the county of Oakland, in the Territory of Michigan, to the Lake of Michigan or to Chicago. been unmindful of the necessity of instituting a proper inquiry into the merits of the Seminary, for which the proposed bounty is intended. Your committee would deem it altogether superfluous, that they should at this moment enforce, by any argument of theirs, the utility of encouraging the diffusion of useful knowledge, or that they should insist on a position so indisputably true, that a government cannot employ its energies more beneficially, or act under a higher moral sanction, than by advancing the prosperity of institutions of learning. But the proposition submitted for their consideration, affects the country in one of its most interesting relationsits defence; and as such, it forms one of the most im The Message of the President of the United States, in relation to the observance in the Army of the rules and regulations compiled by General Scott, was referred to the select committee appointed on the 30th December last, upon a Message from the President in relation to the expen-portant objects of our notice and regard. If it be additures in the Ordnance Department. Mr. SLOANE, from the Committee on Elections, who were instructed to inquire whether any members returned to serve in this House, were not, at the time of their election, inhabitants of the States from which they were respectively returned, made a report thereon, which was read, and committed to the Committee of the whole House to which is committed the report of the same committee in the case of John Bailey. The report is as follows: The Committee of Elections report, that, in compliance with the instructions contained in the resolution of the House of the 25th of February, they have obtained from the Department of Staté certain documents in relation to John Forsyth, one of the members returned from the State of Georgia, which they ask leave to make a part of this report. From these documents, it appears that Mr. Forsyth was elected a member of the present Congress during the time of his residing near the Court of Spain, in the character of Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States. The committee are of opinion that there is nothing in Mr. Forsyth's case which disqualifies him from holding a seat in this House. The capacity in which he acted excludes the idea, that, by the performance of his duty abroad, he ceased to be an inhabitant of the United States; and, if so, inasmuch as he had no inhabitancy in any other part of the Union than Georgia, he must be considered as in the same situation as before the acceptance of the appointment. The committee respectfully ask leave to be discharged from the further consideration of the subject referred to them. mitted, that the existence and dissemination of the knowledge of the military science, is perhaps more important to the ultimate defence of the country, than the continuance of a standing army in time of peace, the promotion of this sort of learning may well be called "the cheap defence of nations." The only inquiry would then seem to be, whether the Academy of Captain Partridge is subservient to these important purposes; and here your committee would rely on the fact, that this institution is founded on the basis of military subordination, and one of the primary branches of its course of instruction is the theory of the art of war, as far as it can be taught, in reference to its abstract principles. It appears that, independently of the Superintendent, (a gentleman of acknowledged genius and distinguished attainments) who takes upon himself the instruction of his pupils in mathematics, natural and moral philosophy, and the military science, there are at this school the following professorships, each filled by a separate instructer: 1st, of Ethics and Belles Lettres; 2d, Geography and History; 3d, Chemistry; 4th, Practical Geometry and Topography; 5th, the Greek language; 6th, of the Latin language; 7th, of the French language. Organized as this institution is, your committee must regard it as a very essential auxiliary to the Academy at West Point, as the lesser tactics are taught by field exercises, together with castrametation, military surveying, and most of the duties incident to active service, in the presence of an enemy. Out of one hundred and fifty students, now at Captain Partridge's Academy, there are eight officers of the Navy of the United States, on furlough, pursu ing those studies which are indispensably connected with the duties of their profession; and among the rest of the pupils, there are several who are looking to the navy as their ultimate avocation, and whose names are registered on the list of applicants for appointments in that service. MARCH, 1824. Mr. BRECK, of Pennsylvania, looked upon it as an incontrovertible principle of political economy, that raw materials must be furnished cheap to the manufacturer, to enable him to sell cheap. We have, said he, five or six articles admitted duty free, and the manufacturer of most of these not only supplies the home consumption, but is Indeed, your committee think, without hitherto sub-enabled to export largely. Thus, undressed furs jecting the Government to the cost of a cent, that being free, $86,000 worth of hats were exported Captain Partridge, by an enlightened public spirit, in 1822. Raw hides being likewise free, $326,000 and ardent devotion to his present enterprise, is car-worth of leather shoes were exported that year, as rying into effect a portion of the admirable purposes well as 450,000 pounds of gunpowder, owing to the raw material being lightly dutied. of our own institution. The value of the ammunition which, by the bill accompanying this report, is contemplated to be put at the disposal of Captain Partridge, it will be seen, will amount to $450 for the first year; a little more than the annual expense of a cadet at West Point. When a sum so trifling is contrasted with advantages so obvious, when it is recollected that Captain Partridge could not procure the fixed ammunition (as facilities for its preparation are only to be found in arsenals) except at an expense much beyond the annexed estimate, and not at all, perhaps, without great inconvenience, your committee cannot but believe, that, in recommending the passage of the bill herewith reported, they are firmly sustained by the enlightened policy which dictated the establishment of the Military School at West Point, and by considerations which tend to justify the liberal application of national patronage and beneficence to the meritorious and useful objects of individual enterprise and exer tion Your committee will not waste your time, or uselessly consume their own, by dwelling on the importance of lessons in practical gunnery to those on whom the future defence of this country may devolve. They cannot, however, refrain from offering one observation, which they think of some importance. Although many of the young men educated at Captain Partridge's Seminary may not be destined to obtain commissions in the Navy or regular Army of the United States, yet it is highly probable, from the military spirit and knowledge which they will thereby imbibe, that they will seek, in the militia of the several States, occasions for usefulness and distinction. In this de partment of the public service, a knowledge of practical gunnery is much wanted, nor could the General Government supply it more cheaply, (with the same degree of efficiency,) than by aiding its instruction at the fountain head of schools founded on a military basis. THE TARIFF BILL. The friends of the bill to regulate the tariff, now under consideration, profess to have, for their main object, the protection of manufactures; and yet, almost every article required by the manufacturer is saddled with enormous duties. Even the very dye stuffs are heavily taxed. Indigo, of which 1,160,000 pounds were imported in 1822, is to be charged with an additional duty, for the ostensible purpose of encouraging that article in Carolina, although it is well known, to those who have occasion to use it, that its quality is so inferior that foreign indigo is universally preferred. Copperas, too, already paying a duty of one dollar per pound, is to be increased, although 16,000 pounds are annually wanted for our manufactures. As regards the article of iron, Mr. B. supposed there might be about thirty or forty iron masters in Pennsylvania, and perhaps as many more in the other States. They cannot, even if admitted into the class of manufacturers, compare, numerically, as more than one to five hundred, with manufacturers, properly so called, if the smitheries be included. Iron, from the hand of the iron master, can be considered as nothing else than a raw material, and its price is now very nearly what it worked the ore became exceedingly rich; and the was thirty years ago. At that period, those who chief reason why their successors have not been equally fortunate, is, because their skill has not in Europe, in the smelting of the ore, and other kept pace with the astonishing improvements made processes connected with its conversion into bar, hoop, and sheet iron, nail rods, &c. In England, thirty years ago, there were made only about 20,000 tons of iron, and now that country produces 300,000 tons; and it produces it at considerable less than half the cost of iron in America; the Liverpool price of bar iron being about $36 per ton. The reason is, that the furThe House then resolved itself into a Commit-naces are kept in blast the whole year, instead of tee of the Whole on the state of the Union, (Mr. CONDICT in the Chair,) on the bill "to amend the several acts laying duties on imports ;" and the question still being on Mr. FULLER's motion, to strike out the duty of one dollar and twelve cents per cwt. on bar iron-the debate of Saturday was resumed. Mr. BROWN, of Pennsylvania, opposed the motion to strike out, and advocated the duty in a speech abounding with the practical details of the subject, stated from his own knowledge and experience, as master and proprietor of extensive iron works, in that State. eight or nine months, as with us. There is a concentration too, of all the works necessary for hammering, slitting, rolling, casting, &c., which, with us, are scattered over the country. There, too, coal, at ten or eleven cents per bushel, is prepared for fuel. These facilities enable the manufacturer to send many articles of iron fabric to the American market, under a duty of twenty-four dollars per ton, with freight, &c., as cheap as our iron masters can afford to sell their bar iron here. With regard to hemp, Mr. B. stated that the Legislature of Massachusetts had tried the effect of a bounty, in order to supersede the importation of that article; but it was soon relinquished, as a hopeless experiment. The error lies, perhaps, in the mode of rotting. Be it what it may, the proposed duty, which increases the $30 dollars per ton now paid to $44, will cause our ship owners to seek for cordage abroad; and as a proportional increase is to take place on canvass, our sailmakers, ropemakers, riggers, and other mechanics now employed about ship building, will be left unemployed, whilst those of Russia, and even England, will exclusively possess the advantage of equipping our merchantmen. The effects of this monstrous bill, which touches upon nearly sixty millions of our imports, and seven millions and a half of our revenue, must be fatal to our navigation. All discriminating duties being abrogated, except with regard to Spain and Portugal, we find the tonnage, in our intercourse with European nations, to have increased, in the last three years, as follows: And in our intercourse with the single port of Liverpool, to have increased from 20,676 tons, in 1822, to 42,869 tons, in 1823. By which it appears that the British tonnage in our trade, with that port alone, has more than doubled in one year. What, then, I ask, is to become of the American tonnage, when, by this bill, you lay an additional duty upon iron, hemp, and sailcloth, which will augment the duties paid upon articles used to build a ship of 300 tons to eleven hundred dollars, instead of about six hundred now paid? Especially when unprotected, as our tonnage is, by the repeal of discriminating navigation laws, you deprive it, by prohibitory duties, of the freight of 32,000 tons of iron, 5,000 tons of hemp, and nearly 2,000,000 of pounds weight of raw wool. These bulky articles will occupy 60,000 tons of shipping, which are equivalent to 200 ships of 300 tons each. Are we prepared to risk the non-employment of so many vessels-to embarrass, if not to ruin their owners; and this, too, at the moment that the foreign tonnage, equipped at less cost abroad, is so fast gaining possession of our export trade? On the subject of foreign wool I will detain the Committee but a few moments. Imported wool comes from La Plata, Smyrna, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. A great deal of it is of a coarser kind than any raised in the United States, and the remainder, indeed the whole, gives to the industry of the country the most advantageous employment. One of our most intelligent manufacturers has divided the wool imported in 1822 as follows: Wool imported that year 1,733,426 lbs. Cost in foreign countries, $387,312; paid duty $58,100; average cost 22 cents per pound. 700.000 pounds superfine, 6 and 7 1-4 wide, made 350,000 yards, at $4 $1,400,000 140.000 pounds common wool made 200,000 yards, at $2 400,000 H. OF R. 331,875 $2,131,875 387,000 $1,744,875 Leaving a profit to the laborer of America of more than one dollar per pound. We have not the means of raising immediately 6 or 8,000,000 sheep to furnish this wool. The manufacturers must stop whilst the sheep are growing, and when the wool is ready for market there will be no buyers. This article Í beg leave to add one word upon the effects of this bill on the revenue. The duty upon foreign spirits is increased by it 15 per cent. now pays from 42 to 70 cents per gallon, according to the proof; and this is 2 or 300 per cent. upon its cost abroad. Under the existing law, spirits alone produce to our revenue more than two millions of dollars; but a system of smuggling has been organized in the State of Maine, and other places, which is so successfully carried on, particularly at Eastport and Lubec, near the British province of New Brunswick, that spirits are purchased in that section of the country for less than the average duty; fifty cents being the highest price asked by the dealers. If so bulky an article as rum in hogsheads can be landed without detection, a bale of fine muslins, silks, and other light goods will soon follow. No measure is better calculated to injure the revenue than high duties. I am friendly to manufactures, but I wish our commerce to bring to them the raw material cheap, in order that they and the shipping interest may thrive together. Mr. B. was succeeded by Mr. STEWART, of Pennsylvania, who moved an amendment to the bill, proposing an additional tax on the descriptions of iron in the item under consideration, of twentyfive cents a year, for three years to come. He supported his amendment by a speech, in which he took a general view of the state of the iron factories, the fatal operation of the tariff of 1816, upon them, and the advantages arising from an effectual protection, towards which his amendment looked. The question being put, the amendment moved by Mr. STEWART was not agreed to. Mr. HAMILTON then moved that the Committee rise; which motion was lost-ayes 66, noes 73. The question then recurring on Mr. FULLER'S motion to strike out the duty, it was decided in the negative-ayes 54, noes 85. When the Committee rose, and, having obtained leave to sit again, the House adjourned. H. OF R. The Tarif Bill. MARCH, 1824. Mr. COBB also, by leave of the House, presented made a report, accompanied by a bill to encourage a similar remonstrance from the citizens of the vaccination; which, by leave of the House, was city of Augusta, in the State of Georgia. reported, read twice, and committed to a ComOrdered, That the said remonstrances be committee of the Whole. The report is as follows: mitted to the Committee of the whole House on the state of the Union to which the said bill is committed. Mr. LITTLE, from the Committee on Pensions and Revolutionary Claims, reported a bill for the relief of William Hall, an invalid soldier of the Revolutionary army; which was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the Whole. On motion of Mr. COCKE, a committee was appointed to inquire what number of public lots in the City of Washington have been sold by the agents of the United States; when sold, by whom, to whom, and for what price; what part of the purchase money has been paid, the amount due, and when payable; whether the debts are well secured, and whether all the money received has been applied to objects authorized by any existing law; how much thereof has been paid into the Treasury; and what disposition has been made of the money placed in the hands of the late Superintendent of the City, for disbursement; and that said committee have power to send for persons and papers. Mr. CockE, Mr. FLOYD, Mr. MERCER, Mr. VINTON, Mr. MARVIN, Mr. BAYLIES, and Mr. BRENT, were appointed the said committee. Two Messages received from the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES were read, as follows: To the House of Representatives of the United States: In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives, of the 1st March, 1823, requesting information of the number and position of the permanent fortifications, which have been, and are now, erecting for the defence of the coast, harbors, and frontiers of the United States, with the classification and magnitude of each, with the amount expended on each; showing the work done and to be done; the number of guns, of every caliber, for each fortification; the total cost of a complete armament for each; the force required to garrison each in time of peace and war; I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, containing the information required by the resolution. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, March 4, 1824. The Message and report were laid on the table. To the House of Representatives of the United States: I transmit a report of the Secretary of the Treasury, which communicates all the information in possession of the Department, called for by a resolution of the House requesting a copy of the report of the Register of the Land Office in the Eastern District of Louisiana, bearing date the 6th of January, 1821; together with all the information from the said Register to the Treasury Department. MARCH 4, 1824. JAMES MONROE. The memorial of Dr. James Smith states that the smallpox is now spreading, to a very alarming extent, to most of the great cities, and to many other parts of the United States; and that beside the calamities immediately attendant on the disease, it necessarily suspends and interrupts commerce and intercourse between different portions of the Union. To arrest the progress of this scourge, and to prevent its future appearance, the memorial recommends the appointment of a general agent for the United States, and local agents in the several Congressional districts, to whom the general agent shall at all times furnish the real vaccine matter, free of postage. The memorial also contains much detail on the nature and distinguishable character of the vaccine from the smallpox or variolous disease. It also asserts that medical skill is not required for the effectual and safe application of the vaccine matter; that this process may be performed by any person. But that, to insure confidence and success in the vaccine system, great care, attention, and experience, are necessary in obtaining and preserving the true vaccine matter, or crusts, and that if it be not pure, no reliance can be placed on it as a guard against the smallpox. To this point much evidence, drawn from practice and long observation, is set forth also much evidence tending to show its ample protective character when pure. In a paper accompanying the memorial Dr. Smith has furnished statements, with extracts of letters, and a certificate of a Mr. Phillips, tending to show that the unfortunate occurrence at Tarborough was the result of some wanton interference with his letter and directions, after they were by him enclosed, and before they reached Dr. Ward. That Dr. Ward is inclined to the belief of this fact, and made the first suggestion of it in April, 1822. The committee do not pretend to account for the unfortunate occurrence at Tarborough, nor do they see as much reason for imputing its wilful commission to those who were publicly engaged, and of course the first to be made responsible, as to some secret hand not responsible. They beg leave to suggest the propriety and public necessity for paying some respect and attention to the general sentiment, which prevails throughout the civilized world, in favor of the preventive power of the vaccine disease against the smallpox; and that to obtain security from the latter, which so materially affects both life and our maritime relations, cannot be less than a national object. They ask leave to report a bill, and with that view offer the following resolution: Resolved, That the select committee raised on the subject of vaccination have leave to report a bill. THE TARIFF BILL. The House then resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the bill amending the several acts laying duties on imports. Mr. Top, Chairman of the Committee on Man The Message and report were referred to the ufactures, moved to amend the first section of the Committee on the Public Lands. VACCINATION. Mr. GAZLAY, from the committee appointed on the 9th ultimo, on a memorial of Dr. James Smith, I bill, by altering the minimum cost of imported woollen cloths on which a duty of thirty per centum ad valorem is proposed to be imposed, from eighty cents to forty cents, and striking out the subsequent clause, which fixes the minimum for flannels, baizes, and other unmilled woollen cloths (except carpets and blankets) at forty cents. Mr. MARTINDALE, of New York, opposed this amendment. He said that the friends of the bill were taken by surprise by such a motion. The amendment went to alter the whole character of the bill by striking out one of its most important and most valuable parts. The labor of the country, formerly occupied in commerce and agriculture, has, by the reduction of those great national interests, been thrown out of employ, and wants occupation. No manufacture aids the farmer more than those the staple of which consists of wool, a product easily raised, easily extended, and for the manufacture of which we have mechanics in abundance. He hoped the Chairman, and the friends of the bill, would act on the conviction of their own judgment, and not by yielding to that of others, for the sake of conciliation, jeopardize or sacrifice the most valuable parts of the system of protection. The proposed duty would not operate to raise, but to diminish the price, as a similar duty had operated on coarse cottons. This was a sort of fabric with which American manufacturers could easily fill the market. Mr. INGHAM, of Pennsylvania, considered the item, now proposed to be altered, as a very important part of the bill. Its effect would be to raise the price to the consumer without benefiting the manufacturer. He suggested a modification of Mr. ToD's motion, by which the minimum would be left open for discussion. Mr. Top thought there was no way in which to ascertain the views of the members on this part of the bill but by taking a vote. He certainly had no wish to see this clause stricken out; but he had made the motion in consequence of an assurance given him by several leading members, now in opposition to the bill, that, if this feature were removed, they would support the residue, and he wished the friends of the plan to remember that a bill which attained only a part of the object desired, and which passed the House, was better than a bill of the most finished and perfect form that did not pass. Mr. TRACY, of New York, expressed his regret that this amendment should have proceeded from the honorable Chairman against his own better judgment. It certainly aimed a blow at the most important item in the whole bill. He believed the country is fully able to raise all the wool it needs. He hoped the motion would be withdrawn. If it was intended as a compromise with the opponents of the bill, the honorable Chairman might find that, while he won over a few of them to his side, he at the same time lost many of those who were now its supporters. Mr. BAYLIES, of Massachusetts, hoped the amendment would not be withdrawn. He did not believe this country possessed (at least not at present) the capacity to raise its own wool; and, if we cannot get it at home, we must get it from abroad. He thought the duty left by the amendment would be sufficient to keep out of the country those fabrics which the gentlemen had described as made of woollen rags ground up, and which H. of R. would scarce endure a puff of wind without falling to pieces. The minimum at forty cents would, in his opinion, be sufficient for the present. We must attain a maximum by degrees. Mr. McKIM went into a calculation in figures, and insisted that the bill would diminish the importation of woollen goods one-half; that the revenue would lose at least eight hundred thousand dollars; the minimum at forty cents was equal to seventy-three per cent; what more was wanted for a protection? Mr. BUCHANAN, of Pennsylvania, supported the amendment, as a measure proper in itself, and calculated to promote a spirit of mutual conciliation. The present duty on woollen goods is twenty-five per cent. ad valorem-the bill would raise it to thirty-three and a third. The minimum proposed by the amendment is forty cents per square yard; a yard of coarse baize costs eight pence sterling; the ad valorem duty, as amended, is equal to eighty per cent.; without the amendment, it will amount to one hundred and thirty per cent. He thought we were not yet ready for à prohibitory duty on coarse woollens; to which article the arguments from coarse cottons did not apply, because cotton was abundant-wool was not. The amount imported last year was one million six hundred thousand pounds-worth three hundred and forty thousand dollars. By going too rapidly, in pressing the system, we shall injure both the consumer and the manufacturer. If the raw material was abundant, he should oppose any reduction of the mimimum; but at present he should advocate the amendment. Mr. Top observed that the Committee of Manufactures had used the greatest diligence in collecting information, not only from the members of this House, but from persons in various classes of the community, whose interests were involved in the several parts of the bill. Some doubt existed as to the point at which the minimum on coarse woollens ought to be fixed. And the Committee were unwilling, by going too far, to risk the popularity of the bill, and thereby jeopardize its success. But, as several of its friends had expressed a wish to have time for further deliberation, he would consent to withdraw his amendment. Mr. T. then moved to amend the third section of the bill by making the annual increase of duty on unmanufactured wool more gradual, and by adding a proviso "That all wool, the actual value of which, at the place whence imported, shall not exceed ten cents per pound shall be charged with a duty of fifteen per cent ad valorem, and no more." Mr. T. stated that the committee had learned that objections existed to this part of the bill, both among the manufacturers and the raisers of sheep. It appeared that a coarser wool was wanted than any raised in this country, for a particular kind of coarse goods, (negro cloths, &c.,) and that that species of wool may be procured sometimes for eight and sometimes as low as six cents a pound, while the lowest priced American costs twentyfive cents. |