of the amendment depending between the two Houses to the bill, entitled "An act in addition to an act, entitled 'An act supplementary to the act providing for a Naval Peace Establishment, and for other purposes," reported that they had met the managers on the part of the Senate, and had come to no agreement thereupon.

NAVAL PEACE ESTABLISHMENT.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate recede from their amendment to the bill, entitled "An act in addition to an act, entitled 'An act supplementary to the act providing for a Naval Peace Establishment, and for other purposes," to their disagreement to which this House hath insisted. The Senate adhere to their amendment to the bill, entitled "An act repealing the acts laying duties on salt, and continuing in force, for a further time, the first section of the act, entitled 'An act further to protect the commerce and seamen of the Uuited States against the Barbary Powers."

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the objects for which we have made appropriations be carried into effect. At the next session, however, we shall know the measures taken by the Executive, and what our wants will be. This bill only extends the continuance of the fund to the next session, which will be on the third of March; and since, as it now stands, it will not expire until three months from the ratification of the treaty, this bill will only continue it for a period of six or seven months.

Mr. FINDLEY.-Though I represent a district. which suffers more, perhaps than any other in the United States from the duty on salt, yet I confess myself astonished at the mannner in which this bill has been brought before us. We have heard on a former occasion much about a cabinet. In this instance no cabinet has been consulted-but the measure has been smuggled in at the last period of the session. Are we sitting here to embarrass the character and credit of the United States? I thought the measure had come in on calculation: but, I find since that it is founded Mr. GREGG, from the committee of conference on miscalculation; and that it is a part of the on the same bill, observed that the conferees on system to throw the gauntlet, to destroy the Adthe part of the Senate did not discover any dis-ministration. The people have offered us no position to recede from their amendments. The petitions to repeal this tax. What have we done? conferees on the part of the House stated the dan- The Mediterranean fund is about to cease, and ger of losing the bill if the conferees did not relax, it is now proposed to give up the salt tax for and proposed to meet them on the ground of com-it. This mode of bargaining-this system of corpromise, by taking off the duty of eight cents im-ruption, I have always been averse to. 1 voted posed on salt. To this proposition the conferees on the part of the Senate declined acceding.

Mr. J. RANDOLPH moved that the House adhere to their disagreement to the amendments of the Senate.

for the bill, because I thought it came from the Treasury Department, but instead of this, I find it part of a system to embarrass the Administration. I will agree to continue the Mediterranean fund, for I am not at war with the Government or any part of it. I know I am risking my popularity as much as any man; but I am not afraid of this, as I am convinced in a good cause I shall never suffer. There can be no good argument for the motion to adhere, but a desire to destroy the Administration.

Mr. SMILIE. I shall now be against this bill, though I was originally in favor of it. The Senate having adhered to their vote, to repeal the duty on salt is out of the question. The only question now is, whether we shall continue the Mediterranean fund independent of the other. Seeing that I cannot get the first, I will not on that Mr. D. R. WILLIAMS.-No man can be more account lose the last; for I do believe, under present earnestly impressed with the proverbial duty of circumstances, it would be unwise to divest our-paying respect to age than myself; but my feel

selves of the Mediterranean fund.

not.

Mr. ALSTON.-Having done everything in our power to repeal the duty on salt or to lessen it, the only question is, whether we shall continue the Mediterranean fund until the next session or I call on gentlemen to take a review of the different estimates from the Treasury during the present session, and to consider the expenses they warrant-I allude particularly to the appropriation of two millions towards the purchase of the Floridas, to decide whether we can do without the Mediterranean fund. The great object with me in advocating the repeal of the duty on salt was to obtain the Mediterranean fund. We have done our part to effect this object. I believe with the aid of that fund, though the duty on salt had been taken off, our revenue would have been sufficient; though even the greatest economy would have been requisite in the disbursement of the public money. Official documents on our tables from the proper departments will show that we cannot do without the Mediterean fund; provided

ings have never been more hurt than by the gentleman's impeaching the motive of those who have acted a patriotic part. The gentleman has avowed the idea, that the Committee of Ways and Means have been actuated by the view of embarrassing the Administration. I abhor and detest such an imputation. [Here was a loud cry of order by a number of gentlemen, and among others by Mr. T. M. RANDOLPH.]

Mr. FINDLEY said he hoped the gentlemen would be permitted to go on." He wished those who were opposed to the Government to speak out. [The call to order was again repeated.]

Mr. J. RANDOLPH.-I hope we shall adhere to our vote, and I will give my reasons for indulging this hope. I do not profess to be so well acquainted with the subjects of finance as some other gentlemen on this floor. But if the Mediterranean fund is to be continued for so short a time, it is obvious that the revenue to be gleaned from it will be proportionally small. The arguments of gentlemen therefore rebut themselves.

I have been hitherto a great admirer not only of the talents but of the utility of the gentleman in his public sphere. I am so no longer; the former are perverted, the latter has ceased. This gentleman has been from his first entrance into the public councils a kind of industrious, skilful, steady, and useful kitchen gardener in politics. His labor was constantly employed for the benefit of his country; it produced abundance of rich fruits and wholesome nutriment for its honor, its sustenance, and growth. He was beloved and cherished by it. Suddenly, last year he grew fond of the business of the florist, and took a distaste to the spade and manure by which he had come to such extraordinary thrift. He became dazzled with the splendors of that new calling, and not only resolved to change his trade, and set up in it, but conceived a strong contempt and aversion to such as followed the old. Behold, in one short season he has reached the verge of bankruptcy! For myself, I pronounce him bankrupt forever as a popular statesman.

H. OF R.

freedom with me. By a rapid movement of my mind, I came to a resolution not to go home with such a load on my feelings as was imposed by the recollection that the treatment I had received was in the face of a company of a hundred men, who were to disperse to-morrow, and spread my disgrace, through all quarters of the Union. I took the resolution to run all risk; to brave any danger which I might possibly incur, and by a severe retaliation to shake off the load which oppressed my spirits. I made use of the language you heard, and I addressed it particularly to the gentleman who I conscientiously believed had injured me. Since that I have been told by six or seven different gentlemen, that I was mistaken; that the words were not directed to me; that they were meant for another. I have not been able to find one who would agree with me that I was the object of them. I have even had the mortification to be asked if it was not a studied attack on my part on the gentleman, for the course he has taken this session. I disclaim such an intention. Whatever may have been my secret thoughts, I had no wish to utter them here. I could not have done so with honor, unprovoked, for private reasons. I have never imagined such a design, nor could I to answer that end have used such language as part of what I uttered. I am conscious of the disrespect I have shown the House, and it appears that it is not, as I supposed, justified by the necessity of the case. My mistake was honest and natural-I regret it, and the expressions I used in consequence of it.

HAMET CARAMALLI.

The House resolved itself into a Committee of

The tenor of my course has been, I confess, little noisy. I have been encouraged in making it so by the improper length to which the gentleman himself has gone to the other extreme. If I were to say it was the unlucky example he has given me, which alone induced me to follow a contrary course, I should not speak the truth. My diffidence, and, no doubt, incapacity for such exertions, have been the main reasons; and I am not ashamed to confess it, for I have no hope to make myself abler than nature intended I should be, and no shame to appear as I am. I acknowledge that the gentleman's example and the situation to which he has brought himself, influenced my conduct, by repressing my desire to be active in the House. When I saw him, like a ship at sea, without compass or rudder, tossed on the surges of his passions, driven at random by furious squalls which continually arose from unexpected quarters of the boundless horizon of his fancy; when I saw the weather-beaten appearance his public character began to wear- YEAS-Evan Alexander, Willis Alston, jun., Isaac his political honors, which I had been accustomed Anderson, Joseph Barker, Burwell Bassett, George M. to look on with clannish feelings of delight, bleach-Bedinger, Silas Betton, Barnabas Bidwell, John Blake, ed and fluttering like tattered canvass in the winds; jun., Levi Casey, John Chandler, John Claiborne, John above all, when I heard it whispered that he had Clopton, Frederick Conrad, Jacob Crowninshield, Sambecome leaky, I confess my want of boldness was uel W. Dana, John Davenport, jr., John Dawson, Peter increased. I feared to trust my little bark to the Early, Caleb Ellis, Ebenezer Elmer, William Ely, John rude sea of debate, with the tempest he had raised W. Eppes, William Findley, James Fisk, John Fowler, on it. I made a determination that I would, to Holmes, David Hough, John G. Jackson, Walter Jones, Andrew Gregg, Isaiah L. Green, Silas Halsey, David employ an apt term in use among seamen, hug the John Lambert, Joseph Lewis, jr., Matthew Lyon, Robland, and hold a safe though inglorious course. ert Marion, William McCreery, Nicholas R. Moore, Thomas Moore, Jeremiah Morrow, John Morrow, Gur

the Whole on the bill sent from the Senate, entitled "An act for the temporary relief of Hamet Caramalli." The bill was reported without amendment, read the third time, and passed-yeas 71, nays 6, as follows:

The House then agreed to recede from their disagreement to the amendment of the Senate-don S. Mumford, Jeremiah Nelson, Thomas Newton, ayes 45, noes 36.

Mr. T. M. RANDOLPH, a short time after this, rose and made the following remarks:

jun., Gideon Olin, Timothy Pitkin, jr., Josiah Quincy,
Russell, Peter Sailly, Martin G. Schuneman, James
Thomas M. Randolph, John Rhea of Tennessee, John

Sloan, John Smilie, Henry Southard, Samuel Taggart,
Benjamin Tallmadge, Samuel Tenney, David Thomas,
Thomas W. Thompson, Uri Tracy, Killian K. Van
Rensselaer, Joseph B. Varnum, Peleg Wadsworth,
John Whitehill, Robert Whitehill, Nathan Williams,
Richard Winn, and Joseph Winston.

Mr. Speaker-A little while since I made use of some very severe and harsh language towards a gentleman of this House, such as I acknowledge altogether improper to be used in it. I did so,because I believed that certain expressions of a disrespectful nature which dropped from him were directed to me. It struck me that they were, if not intended to insult, at least an unpardonable | David R. Williams.

NAYS-Ezra Darby, Josiah Masters, John Rea of Pennsylvania, Thomas Sammons, Samuel Smith, and

on an even floor, in any civilized country-invade the judgment seat of the Most High, and undertake to judge the secrets of the hearts, of not only the members of both branches of the Legislature of the United States, but also of the citizens in the galleries? Shall any member of this House be permitted to declare that Yazoo principles governed the high court of impeachment, in their decision on the trial of Judge Chase; and also the decisions of this House during the present session? Shall that member's multifarious declamations, and groundless accusations, against the first officers of the United States, and a large majority of their representatives, (after being so mutilated as scarcely to resemble the original,) go forth without any investigation or contradiction, to deceive the innocent, and unsuspecting, to hold up that member as the invincible champion of liberty, and that his opposition to the present Administration flows from the same pure motives that his opposition to the former Administration did? They shall

APRIL, 1806.

Appointment of Committees.

H. OF R.

Administration evinces either gross ignorance or same situation that republican France did in 1793, evil design, and that a principal part of the ingre- that she is fighting the battles of liberty, that her dients of which his multiform harangues are fleets are our only protection from Gallic tyranny, composed are a compound of insinuations, inuen- and that she has a ship of war for every square does, and positive invectives, against some mem-league of the ocean; but that, if we offend her bers of the Executive and their supporters. Hence, Minister, he will not barely withdraw his former a most important question arises: Are those high most gracious protection, but wreak his vengeance officers (alluding to the President and Secretary upon us by capturing all our vessels, burning all of State) in our Executive department changed; our seaport towns, and driving us from the seaor, is the member from Virginia? It is of the coasts over the mountains? Is it from that source highest importance to these United States that that he has received information that the conduct this question should be justly and speedily de- of our Executive evinces either gross ignorance, cided; for that purpose, let me ask what proof or evil design, which has induced him to withhas he brought to substantiate his charges against draw his confidence from them forever, and that the Administration? He has been called upon in he is the only true patriot, the only honest, inflexithis House to bring forward an impeachment; ble member of Congress that remains uncontamithis he has declared he will not do; but still nated? or, to use his own metaphor, that is not continues his declamatory accusations, and pro- yet melted down by the powerful sunbeams of duces no kind of testimony to support his charges; Executive favors? he stands alone a public accuser and witness. Will the people of the United States, the tribunal to whom he appeals, pass sentence of condemnation upon the two first officers of the Government, and upon a great majority of their representatives, who, having the same opportunity of knowing the conduct of those officers, and from a conviction that they have faithfully discharged their duty, still continue their full confidence and support? I trust they will not.

Mr. Speaker, as the people of the United States is the tribunal to whom the member from Virginia has appealed, and to whom he has presented his multiform harangues and declamatory accusations, (I will not call them speeches; I think them as unworthy of that title as he can possibly think his fellow representative of the same State of being styled his colleague ;) I conceive it necessary through the same medium (that is to say by a member of Congress in the House of Representatives) to present at least a brief statement of the defence of the accused and the conduct of the accuser. In doing this, I shall not pursue his course by invading the judgment seat of Him who only knoweth the secret imaginations of all hearts, and boldly assert what were his motives; but as he has adduced no proof but his own assertions, common report, and hearsay testimony from those few that he yet styles his very worthy friends, I trust I am correct in adducing the same kind, to enable the public to judge for themselves what are his motives, which I will now proceed to do, with the addition of some incontrovertible facts, which I am persuaded will carry conviction to every impartial mind.

Report says that the member from Virginia contemplated a voyage to the south of France, or England, for his health. Did he wish to have been appointed Minister to one of those Courts, that he might have had a chance of increasing his property as well as his health? or, is he so enamored with the spark that has emanated from the British Court, and now glitters in this city, that he is anxious to behold with what effulgence the source from which it proceeded glows? Is it from this source that he has received information that Great Britain stands now precisely in the

While contemplating the invincible power of the British navy, has he also been enamored with the insolent tyranny of the commanders of her armed vessels, and has that induced him to pour forth torrents of abuse upon those members of Congress, who will not, in all cases, agree to see with his eyes, to hear with his ears, and to understand with his heart?

Has he been so enamored with the conduct of the once patriotic statesman, but afterward apostate Burke, as to induce him to make a puerile attempt to exhibit, on the floor of this House, his impressive and energetic mode of delivery, by exerting his weak nerves and feeble arms, to cause the pens, the papers, the books, and the hats, to fly in every direction, insomuch that, if they had been musket balls instead of those light materials, the American patriot would soon have been left to exhibit the remainder of his superlative eloquence within empty walls?

Upon this subject an all-important question arises, in which the interest, the peace, and the happiness of these United States are deeply involved. Can you, my brethren, members of this House, who have been witnesses of those scenes, represent to your constituents the actor as an inflexible patriot, of a sound mind, influenced by pure motives, and views, solely directed to the promotion of the interest, peace, and happiness of the Union; or, as a petted, vindictive school-boy, in the absence of his master; or as a maniac in his straight-jacket, accidentally broke out of his cell? Can you, after being charged by that member with refusing to take a question on Saturday, in order that you might serve the Lord on Sunday, by holding a caucus, and thereby be corruptednay, further, that you have been swindled out of your opinion in half an hour by a few individuals round the fires, and after his charging you with having your eyes fixed on the half-way house, between the Capitol and Georgetown, and your views directed toward our next Presidential elec. tion, instead of the great business of the nation; and that you would attend to nothing but writing circulars and newspaper accounts; that is to say, you were not disposed to fix your whole attention upon him-to implicitly obey his mandates, or