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GALES & SEATON'S

REGISTER OF
OF DEBATES IN CONGRESS.

TWENTY-THIRD CONGRESS.... SECOND SESSION.

FROM DECEMBER 1, 1834, TO MARCH 3, 1335.

DEBATES IN THE SENATE.

LIST OF THE SENATORS.

MAINE-Peleg Sprague, Ether Shepley.
NEW HAMPSHIRE-Samuel Bell, Isaac Hill.
MASSACHUSETTS-Nathaniel Silsbee, Daniel Web-

ster.

RHODE ISLAND-Nehemiah R. Knight, Asher Robbins.
CONNECTICUT-Gideon Tomlinson, Nathan Smith.
VERMONT--Samuel Prentiss, Benjamin Swift.
NEW YORK--Silas Wright, N. P. Tallmadge.
NEW JERSEY-T. Frelinghuysen, S. L. Southard.
PENNSYLVANIA--Jas. Buchanan, Samuel McKean.
DELAWARE--John M. Clayton, Arnold Naudain.
MARYLAND--Robert H. Goldsborough, Joseph Kent.
VIRGINIA--B. W. Leigh, John Tyler.

NORTH CAROLINA--Bedford Brown, W. P. Mangum.

SOUTH CAROLINA--J. C. Calhoun, William C. Preston.

GEORGIA-Alfred Cuthbert, John P. King. KENTUCKY--George M. Bibb, Henry Clay. TENNESSEE--Felix Grundy, Hugh L. White. OHIO-Thomas Ewing, Thomas Morris. LOUISIANA-G. A. Waggaman, Alexander Porter. INDIANA--Wm. Hendricks, John Tipton. MISSISSIPPI--George Poindexter, John Black. ILLINOIS--Elias K. Kane, John M. Robinson. ALABAMA--William R. King, Gabriel Moore. MISSOURI--Thomas H. Benton, Lewis F. Linn.

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Resolved, That a committee be appointed, on the part of the Senate, to join such committee as may be appointed by the House of Representatives, to wait on the President of the United States, and inform him that quorums of the two Houses have assembled, and that Congress is ready to receive any communication he may be pleased to make. The resolution was agreed to.

Mr. CLAY then moved that the Senate waive balloting for the committee, and that the presiding officer appoint the same; which was agreed to; and Messrs. WHITE and SWIFT were appointed.

Mr. KNIGHT offered the following resolution, which lies one day on the table:

Resolved, That each Senator be supplied, during the present session, with three such newspapers, printed in any of the States, as he may choose: Provided, the same be furnished at the usual rate for the annual charge of such papers: And provided, also, that if any Senator shall choose to take any newspapers, other than daily papers, he shall be supplied with as many such papers as shall not exceed the price of three daily papers.

Mr. GRUNDY, from the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That the 34th rule of the Senate, so far as respects the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, be suspended; and that the present Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads be continued, with all the powers vested in them, and subject to all the duties enjoined on them, by the resolution of the Senate of the 28th day of June, 1834.

Mr. GRUNDY remarked that the resolution was one which he could find no precedent to sanction. But he offered it at this time, owing to the peculiar situation of the committee. They had been assiduously engaged, for some time past, collecting testimony and other evidence connected with their duties, but that they would not be able to make a satisfactory report for some time to come. Some of the witnesses for examination would be here to-morrow, and he was therefore desirous that the Senate should suspend the rule which requires the standing committees to be balloted for at the commence

SENATE).

On Supplying Senators with Newspapers, &c.

ment of each session, so far as the same applies to the Committee on the Post Office. He asked the immediate consideration of the resolution; which was agreed to, and it was then adopted.

A message was received from the House of Representatives, by Mr. FRANKLIN, their Clerk, stating that a quorum of members of that House was present, and that a committee had been appointed to join the Senate committee, for the purpose of informing the President of the United States that the two Houses were organized, and ready to receive his communications. The Senate then adjourned.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2.

Mr. MORRIS, of Ohio, attended to-day, and took his

seat.

Mr. WHITE, from the joint committee appointed to wait on the President of the United States, and inform him that quorums of the two Houses of Congress had assembled, and were ready to receive any communication he might be pleased to make, reported that they had performed the duty assigned them, and that the President would, at 12 o'clock this day, make a communication to Congress in writing.

The annual message of the President of the United States was then handed to the Chair, by Mr. DONELSON, his private secretary; and after being read,

On motion of Mr. WHITE, 5,000 extra copies of the message, and 1,500 of the accompanying documents, were ordered to be printed for the use of the Senate. (See Appendix.)

The resolution submitted yesterday by Mr. KNIGHT, relative to supplying the Senators with newspapers, was taken up.

Mr. KING, of Georgia, said that, on inquiry, he found that resolutions, such as the one before the Senate, had been passed by both Houses of Congress for a number of years past, without any interruption to this constant practice. It seemed, however, that, at one" period, in the purer days of the republic, this practice was thought improper, and if it was so then, it was equally so now. He hoped, therefore, that some gen. tleman who was favorable to the resolution would undertake to show what connexion there was between the progress of legislation and the purchase of newspapers. He thought it would be just as easy to show the necessary connexion between the purchase of newspapers for the use of the members and the purchase of the last Waverley novel, or one of Mrs. Radcliff's works. It was perfectly true that the daily newspapers might contain interesting speculations on political subjects. They did, and so did the writings of Voltaire, Bolingbroke, and other political writers. It was also true that they contained (some of them) the proceedings of Congress, but they did not necessarily contain them. They were perfectly independent of every branch of the Government, and had no possible connexion with their operations. Admitting, said Mr. K., the power on the part of the Senate to subscribe for these papers, was there no such thing as expediency to be considered? What he wished to impress on the minds of every legislator, 2nd every officer of the Government, was, that power ought not to be exercised merely because it was possessed. There was not a more unprofitable expenditure than that for the purchase of newspapers for the members. It had been said that the publications were useful; but how far useful? He would make an application that would be understood. Was there a member of this or of the other House, who had made sufficient progress in political knowledge to qualify him for his station, that did not subscribe for more papers than he had time to read? He answered that there was not one. The expenditure, therefore, would be entirely a useless

one.

[DEC. 2, 3, 4, 1834.

You, sir, continued Mr. K., (addressing the presiding officer,) occupy a station from which you can observe all that passes. You must have seen every day, at 12 o'clock, when members take out their mail, gentlemen taking out of their covers the Lady's Book, or the Mirror, or the Albion, or some fashionable periodical, and looking at some new rondo or fashionable overture, and then folding the work up again, and putting it back on the shoulders of Mr. Barry, in order that it may be conveyed to their wives, or sweethearts, or friends. And thus it is that the revenue is injured, and that the mail stages are improperly burdened. He could not see any connexion between the power of Congress to make appropriations, and the practice of pur chasing these periodical publications. The practice of subscribing for particular books, which had prevailed for many years, was last session arrested by the Senate. This was done by the majority, and to that majority the credit was entirely due; for the party with which he was generally in the habit of acting had no power to do either evil or good.

Mr. K. then moved to lay the resolution on the table; but the motion was negatived.

The resolution was then agreed to.

Mr. POINDEXTER submitted the following resolution, which was considered and adopted:

Resolved, That the 34th rule of the Senate, so far as respects the Committee on Public Lands, be suspended; and that the present committee be continued, with all the powers vested in them, and subject to all the duties enjoined on them, by the several resolutions of the Senate at the last session, relative to frauds in the sale of the public lands.

On motion of Mr. POINDEXTER,
The Senate adjourned.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3.

Mr. BROWN, of North Carolina; Mr. TOMLINSON, of Connecticut; and Mr. SPRAGUE, of Maine, attended today, and took their seats.

The CHAIR communicated the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the state of the finances; which, without reading, was, with the accompanying documents, ordered to be printed. (See Appendix.)

Mr. POINDEXTER submitted the following resolu tions:

Resolved, That the Commissioner of the General Land Office be directed to communicate to the Senate a list of the purchasers of the public lands at the land office in Columbus and Chocshuma, in the State of Mississippi, specifying the name of each original purchaser, and of chase may have been endorsed; the quantity of land the assignee or assignees to whom the certificate of purpurchased by each; and the price per acre for each tract, respectively, between the 1st day of October, 1833, and the 1st day of January, 1834.

Resolved, That the said Commissioner be directed to report to the Senate the aggregate number of acres of the public lands offered at public sale, by proclamation land offices in the State of Mississippi, from the 1st day of the President of the United States, at each of the of January, 1833, up to the present time. After transacting some other business, The Senate adjourned.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4.

Mr. LEIGH, of Virginia, attended to-day, and took his

seat.

The following message was received from the President of the United States by Mr. DONELSON, his secretary:

DEC. 8-11, 1834.]

Bequest of Gen. Lafayette--Branch Bank Drafts--Standing Committees.

To the Senate of the United States:

I transmit to Congress a communication addressed to me, by Mr. George Washington Lafayette, accompanying a copy of the Declaration of Independence, engraved on copper, which his illustrious father bequeathed to Congress, to be placed in their library, as a last tribute of respect, patriotic love, and affection for his adopted country.

I have a mournful satisfaction in transmitting this precious bequest of that great and good man, who, through a long life, under many vicissitudes, and in both hemispheres, sustained the principles of civil liberty asserted in that memorable declaration, and who, from his youth to the last moment of his life, cherished for our beloved country the most generous attachment.

DECEMBER 4, 1834.

ANDREW JACKSON.

[The letter enclosed in the above.]

PARIS, June 15, 1834. SIR: A great misfortune has given me more than one solemn and important duty to fulfil, and the ardent desire of accomplishing with fidelity my father's last will emboldens me to claim the patronage of the President of the United States, and his benevolent intervention, when I am obliged respectfully and mournfully to address the Senate and Representatives of a whole nation. Our for ever beloved parent possessed a copperplate, on which was inscribed the first engraved copy of the American Declaration of Independence, and his last intention, in departing this world, was that the precious plate should be presented to the Congress of the United States, to be deposited in their library, as a last tribute of respect, patriotic love, and affection for his adopted country.

Will it be permitted to me, a faithful disciple of that American school, whose principles are so admirably exposed in that immortal declaration, to hope that you, sir, would do me the honor to communicate this letter to both Houses of Congress, at the same time that, in the name of his afflicted family, you would present to them my venerated father's gift.

In craving such an important favor, sir, the son of General Lafayette-the adopted grandson of Washington-knows, and shall never forget, that he would become unworthy of it, if he was ever to cease to be a French and American patriot.

With the utmost respect, I am, sir,

Your devoted and obedient servant, GEORGE W. LAFAYETTE. To the PRESIDENT of the United States. The resolution submitted yesterday by Mr. POINDEXTER was considered and adopted.

The Senate then adjourned to Monday.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 8.

Messrs. WEBSTER, of Massachusetts; WAGGAMAN, of Louisiana; PRENTISS, of Vermont; KING, of Alabama; and CLAYTON, of Delaware, appeared and took their seats.

The CHAIR communicated the credentials of the honorable JAMES BUCHANAN, elected a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania, to supply the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of the honorable William Wilkins.

After the reception of sundry communications, notices of bills, &c.,

Mr. SOUTHARD submitted the following resolution, which was laid on the table:

Resolved, That the Senate will, on Wednesday next, proceed to the appointment of the standing committees. The Senate adjourned.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9.

[SENATE.

A message was received from the House of Represen. tatives, by Mr. Franklin, their Clerk, stating that the House had passed joint resolutions for the appointment of a Library Committee for the two Houses, and for the appointment of two chaplains, of different religious denominations, to serve alternately in each House; both of which resolutions having been concurred in, the Senate proceeded to ballot for three members of the Joint Committee on the Library, to serve on their part; and Messrs. ROBBINS, POINDEXTER, and BIBB, were chosen.

Mr. WEBSTER, in pursuance of notice given, asked and obtained leave, and introduced a bill to provide for the satisfaction of the claims of American citizens for spoliations committed on their commerce by the French, prior to the year 1800; and the bill having been read the first and second time, was referred to a select committee appointed by ballot, consisting of Messrs. WEBSTER, GRUNDY, PRENTISS, PRESTON, and SHEPLEY.

After disposing of some other business-
The Senate adjourned.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10.

Mr. PRESTON, of South Carolina, attended to-day, and took his seat.

The resolution offered by Mr. SOUTHARD, relative to the appointment of the standing committees, was taken up, and, on motion of Mr. SOUTHARD, amended so as to fix the appointment of the committees for to-morrow, at one o'clock, and carried without a division.

BANK UNITED STATES BRANCH DRAFTS. The following resolution, submitted yesterday by Mr. BENTON, was taken up for consideration:

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury be directed to communicate to the Senate any correspondence with the Bank of the United States on the subject of the branch drafts, and dividends withheld, not heretofore communicated. Also, to inform the Senate whether the directors on the part of the Government have been refused access to the books and accounts of the institution.

Mr. TYLER presumed that no gentleman could have any objection to the passage of the resolution; it was desirable that the information should be obtained. But he felt that it was due to the Committee on Finance to say, that if the honorable gentleman who offered the resolution had waited a few days, the necessity of submitting it would have been entirely obviated. The subject of it had attracted the attention of the committee. It was of considerable importance, and in a few days a full report would be made on the subject by the committee.

Mr. BENTON observed that, under the circumstances, he had no objection that the resolution lie on the table; and made a motion to that effect, which prevailed.

Several bills were taken up in Committee of the Whole, and some other business of minor importance gone through with; when,

On motion of Mr. KING, the Senate proceeded to the consideration of executive business. When the doors were opened, The Senate adjourned.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11.

STANDING COMMITTEES.

In pursuance of the resolution passed yesterday, the Senate proceeded to ballot for its standing committees; and the ballots resulted in the choice of the following gentlemen, to serve for the present session:

Foreign Relations.-Mr. Clay, chairman; Messrs. King, of Georgia, Mangum, Sprague, Tallmadge.

SENATE.]

General Lafayetle--Resolution of Condolence.

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ton.

Committee on Militia.-Mr. Robinson, chairman; Messrs. Hendricks, McKean, Waggaman, Swift. Committee on Naval Affairs.-Mr. Southard, chairman; Messrs. Robbins, Tallmadge, Bibb, Black. Committee on Public Lands.-[The Committee on the Public Lands of the last session was continued for the present session, by a unanimous vote. The members consist of Messrs. Poindexter, chairman; Moore, Prentiss, McKean, and Clay.]

Committee on Private Land Claims.-Mr. Black, chairman; Messrs. Kane, Naudain, Porter, Shepley. Committee on Indian Affairs.—Mr. White, chairman; Messrs. Tipton, Smith, Swift, Frelinghuysen.

Committee on Claims.-Mr. Bell, chairman; Messrs. Tipton, Naudain, Brown, Shepley.

Committee on the Judiciary.-Mr. Clayton, chairman; Messrs. Preston, Bell, Smith, Leigh.

Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.-[The Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads of the last session was continued for the present session, by a resolution passed unanimously. The members consist of Messrs. Grundy, chairman; Ewing, Robinson, Knight, Southard.]

Committee on Pensions.-Mr. Tomlinson, chairman; Messrs. Tallmadge, McKean, Prentiss, Preston.

Committee on Roads and Canals.-Mr. Hendricks, chairman; Messrs. Kent, Robinson, Robbins, McKean. Committee on the District of Columbia.-Mr. Tyler, chairman; Messrs. Kent, Bibb, Southard, Tomlinson.

Committee on Revolutionary Claims.-Mr. Moore, chairman; Messrs. Smith, White, Leigh, Frelinghuysen. Committee to Audit and Report the Contingent Expenses of the Senate.—Mr. Knight, chairman; Messrs. Tomlinson, Morris.

Committee on Engrossed Bills.-Mr. Shepley, chair

man; Messrs. Robinson, Morris.

On motions of the several chairmen of the standing committees just appointed, the different parts of the President's message were appropriately referred. The Senate adjourned over to Monday next.

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[DEC. 15, 1834.

pressing their sensibility on the intelligence of the death of General Lafayette, were communicated, in compli ance with their will, to George Washington Lafayette, and the other members of the family of that illustrious man. By their request, I now present the heartfelt acknowledgment of the surviving descendants of our beloved friend, for that highly valued proof of the sympathy of the United States. ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, December 10, 1834.

WASHINGTON, June 27, 1834. TO GEORGE WASHINGTON LAFAYETTE, and the other members of the family of the late General Lafayette: In compliance with the will of Congress, I transmit to you the joint resolutions of the two Houses, unanimously expressing the sensibility with which they received the intelligence of the death of "General Lafayette, the friend of the United States, the friend of Washington, and the friend of liberty;" and I also assure you of the condolence of this whole nation in the irreparable bereavement which by that event you have sustained.

In complying with the request of Congress, I cannot omit the occasion of offering you my own condolence in the great loss you have sustained, and of expressing my admiration of the eminent virtues of the distinguished patriot, whom it has pleased Providence to remove to his high reward.

I also pray you to be persuaded that your individual welfare and prosperity will always be with me objects of that solicitude which the illustrious services of the great friend and benefactor of my country are calculated to awaken.

ANDREW JACKSON,
President of the United States.

LA GRANGE, October 21, 1834.

SIR: The resolution of Congress, communicated to me by your honored favor of the 27th of June, that glorious testimony of American national affection for my

beloved and venerated father, has been received by his

family with the deepest sense of the most respectful, and, give me leave to say, filial gratitude.

And now, sir, that we experience the benefits of such a high and soothing sympathy, we find ourselves called to the honor of addressing to the people and Congress of the United States our heartfelt and dutiful thanks.

Sir, you were the friend of my father, and the kind letbe for us a sufficient authorization to our claiming once ter which accompanied the precious message seems to more your honorable assistance, for the accomplishment of a duty dear to our hearts.

We most fervently wish that the homage of our everlasting devotion to a nation, whose tears have deigned to mingle with ours, should be offered to both Houses of Congress. Transmitted by you, sir, that homage shall be rendered acceptable; and we earnestly pray you, sir, to present it in our name. Our gratitude shall be for ever adequate to the obligation.

The resolution which so powerfully honors my father's memory shall be deposited, as a most sacred family property, in that room of mourning where once his son and grandsons used to receive, with avidity, from him, lessons of patriotism and active love of liberty: there, the daily contemplation of it will more and more impress their minds with that encouraging conviction, that the affection and esteem of a free nation is the most desirable reward that can be obtained upon earth. With the utmost respect, sir, I have the honor to be Your devoted and obedient servant,

GEORGE W. LAFAYETTE.
After disposing of several bills, petitions, &c.
The CHAIR communicated a report from the Com-

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