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PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES

OF THE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES,

AT THE FIRST SESSION OF THE NINTH CONGRESS, BEGUN AT THE CITY OF WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 2, 1805.

MONDAY, December 2, 1805.

This being the day appointed by the Constitution for the annual meeting of Congress, the following members of the House of Representatives appeared, produced their credentials, and took their seats, to wit:

From New Hampshire-Silas Betton, Caleb Ellis, David Hough, Samuel Tenney, and Thomas W. Thompson.

From Massachusetts-Joseph Barker, Barnabas Bidwell, Phanuel Bishop, John Chandler, Orchard Cook, Jacob Crowninshield, Richard Cutts, William Ely, Isaiah L. Green. Jeremiah Nelson, Josiah Quincy, Ebenezer Seaver, Samuel Taggart, Joseph B. Varnum, and Peleg Wadsworth.

From Rhode Island-Nehemiah Knight, and Joseph

Stanton.

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From New Jersey-Ezra Darby, Ebenezer Elmer, John Lambert, James Sloan, and Henry Southard.

From North Carolina-Willis Alston, jr., Thomas
Blount, James Holland, Thomas Keenan, Nathaniel
Macon, Richard Stanford, Marmaduke Williams, Jos.
Winston, and Thomas Wynns.

From Tennessee-William Dickson, and John Rhea.
From South Carolina-Levi Casey, Elias Earle,
Thomas Moore, and David R. Williams.
From Georgia-Peter Early, Cowles Mead, and
David Meriwether.

From Ohio-Jeremiah Morrow.

Delegate from the Mississippi Territory-William Lattimore.

And a quorum, consisting of a majority of the whole number, being present, the House proceeded, by hallot, to the choice of a Speaker; and, upon examining the ballots, a majority of the votes of the whole House was found in favor of NATHANIEL MACON. one of the Representatives for the State of North Carolina: Whereupon, Mr. MACON was conducted to the Chair, from whence he made his acknowledgments to the House as follows:

"Gentlemen: Accept my sincere thanks for the honor you have conferred on me. Permit me to assure you, that my utmost endeavors will be exerted to discharge the duties of the Chair with fidelity, impartiality, and industry; and that I shall rely with confidence on the liberal and candid support of the House."

The House proceeded, in the same manner, to the appointment of a Clerk; and, upon examining the ballots, a majority of the votes of the whole House was found in favor of JOHN BECKLEY.

From Pennsylvania-Isaac Anderson, David Bard, Robert Brown, Joseph Clay, Frederick Conrad, William Findley, Andrew Gregg, Michael Leib, John Pugh, John Rea, Jacob Richards, John Smilie, Samuel Smith, The oath to support the Constitution of the John Whitehill, and Robert Whitehill. United States. as prescribed by the act, entitled From Maryland-John Campbell, Leonard Coving-An act to regulate the time and manner of adton, Charles Goldsborough, Patrick Magruder, William ministering certain oaths," was administered by McCreery, Nicholas R. Moore, and Joseph H. Nich- Mr. NICHOLSON, one of the Representatives for the State of Maryland, to the Speaker; and then the From Virginia-Burwell Basset, John Claiborne, John Clopton, John Dawson, John W. Eppes, Jamesame oith or affirmation was administered by Mr. M. Garnett, Peterson Goodwyn, David Holmes, John SPEAKER to all the members present. G. Jackson, Joseph Lewis, jr., John Morrow, Thomas Newton, jr., John Randolph, Thomas M. Randolph, John Smith, Philip R. Thompson, and Alexander

olson.

Wilson.

From Kentucky-George Michael Bedinger, and Thomas Sandford.

The same oath, together with the oath of office prescribed by the said recited act, were also administered by Mr. SPEAKER to the Clerk.

Ordered, That a message be sent to the Senate to inform them that a quorum of this House is assembled, and have elected NATHANIEL MACON, one

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of the Representatives for North Carolina, their Speaker; and that the Clerk of this House do go with the said message.

A message from the Senate informed the House that a quorum of the Senate is assembled and ready to proceed to business; and that, in the absence of the VICE PRESIDENT of the United States, the Senate have elected the honorable SAMUEL SMITH their President pro tempore: the Senate have resolved that two Chaplains, of different denominations, be appointed to Congress, for the present session, one by each House, who shall interchange weekly. The Senate have appointed a committee on their part, jointly, with such committee as may be appointed on the part of this House, to wait on the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, and inform him that a quorum of the two Houses is assembled, and ready to receive any communication that he may be pleased to make to them. Resolved, That Mr.JOHN RANDOLPH, Mr. CAMPBELL of Maryland, and Mr. CROWNINSHIELD, be appointed a committee, on the part of this House, jointly, with the committee on the part of the Senate, to wait on the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, and inform him that a quorum of the two Houses is assembled, and ready to receive any communication that he may be pleased to make to them.

The House then proceeded, by ballot, to the appointment of a Sergeant-at-Arms to this House; and, upon examining the ballots, a majority of the votes of the whole House was found in favor of JOSEPH WHEATON.

Resolved, That THOMAS CLAXTON be appointed Doorkeeper, and THOMAS DUNN Assistant Doorkeeper of this House.

Resolved, That the Rules and Orders established by the late House of Representatives, shall be deemed and taken to be the Rules and Orders of proceeding to be observed in this House, until a revision or alteration of the same shall take place. Ordered, That a committee be appointed to prepare and report such standing rules and orders of proceedings as are proper to be observed in this House; and that Mr. VARNUM, Mr. DAWSON, Mr. TALLMADGE, Mr. GREGG, and Mr. HOLLAND, be the said committee.

The following committees were appointed, pursuant to the standing rule and orders of the House, viz:

Committee of Ways and Means-Mr. JOHN RANDOLPH, Mr. NICHOLSON, Mr. JOSEPH CLAY, Mr. QUINCY, Mr. MERIWETHER, Mr. DICKSON, and Mr. MOSELY.

Committee of Commerce and ManufacturesMr. CROWNINSHIELD, Mr. M'CREERY, Mr. LEIB, Mr. EARLY, Mr. DANA, Mr. NEWTON, and Mr. MUMFORD.

Committee of Elections-Mr. FINDLEY, Mr. ELMER, Mr. EPPES, Mr. CHITTENDEN, Mr. SCHUNEMAN, Mr. BIDWELL, and Mr. ELLIS.

Committee of Claims-Mr. JOHN C. SMITH, Mr. HOLMES, Mr. BEDINGER, Mr. STANFORD, Mr. STANTON, Mr. MOORE of Maryland, and Mr. MOORE of South Carolina.

DECEMBER, 1806.

Committee of Revisal and Unfinished Business— Mr. TENNEY, Mr. ALSTON, and Mr. CLAIBORNE. Resolved, That a committee be appointed, to consist of three members, to be styled the "Committee of Accounts," whose duty it shall be to superintend and control the expenditure of the contingent fund of the House of Representatives, and to audit and settle all the accounts which may be charged thereon.

And a committee was appointed, of Mr. CoNRAD. Mr. DAVENPORT, and Mr. CUTTS.

The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter from the Clerk, accompanying a report of his proceedings, in obedience to a resolution of the House, of the twenty-eighth day of February last, for letting to the lowest bidder the printing work and supplies of stationery for the use of the House, together with sundry documents respecting the same.-Referred to the Committee of Accounts.

On motion of Mr. THOMAS,

Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire whether any, and what, amendments are necessary to be made in the acts establishing a Post Office and Post Roads within the United States; and that the said committee have leave to report by bill, or otherwise:

And a committee was appointed, of Mr. THOMAS, Mr. ROBERT WHITEHILL, Mr. BETTON, Mr. COOKE, Mr. ELLIOT, Mr. KNIGHT, Mr. STURGES, Mr. COVINGTON, Mr. CLOPTON, Mr. SANDFORD, Mr. WILLIAMS of North Carolina, Mr. RHEA of Tennessee, Mr. WILLIAMS of South Carolina, Mr. MEADE, Mr. MORROW of Ohio, Mr. SOUTHARD, and Mr. LEWIS.

Ordered, That the Clerk of this House cause the members to be furnished, during the present session, with three newspapers to each member, such as the members, respectively, shall choose, to be delivered at their lodgings; and that if any member shall choose to take any newspaper other than a daily paper, he shall be furnished with as many of such papers as shall not exceed the price of a daily paper.

Mr. JOHN RANDOLPH, from the joint committee appointed to wait on the President of the United States, and notify him that a quorum of the two Houses is assembled, reported that the committee had performed that service; and that the President signified to them that he would make a communication to this House to-morrow, at twelve o'clock, by way of Message.

TUESDAY, December 3.

Several other members, to wit: ABRAM TRIGG, from Virginia; GEORGE W. CAMPBELL, from Tennessee; and ROBERT MARION, from South Carolina; appeared, produced their credentials, and took their seats in the House.

The House proceeded to consider the resolution of the Senate for the appointment of two Chaplains of Congress for the present session, one by each House, to interchange weekly, and concurred with the Senate therein.

A Message was received from the President of

DECEMBER, 1805.

Reference of the President's Message.

the United States; which was read, and referred to the consideration of a Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union. [For this Message see Senate proceedings of this day's date, ante, page 11.]

Mr. JOHN RANDOLPH, from the Committee of Ways and Means, presented a bill "making an additional appropriation for the Naval service, during the year one thousand eight hundred and five; which was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the Whole immediately.

The House, accordingly, resolved itself into the said Committee; and, after some time spent therein, the bill was reported with an amendment thereto; which was twice read, and agreed to by the House.

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.

H. OF R.

On motion of Mr. J. RANDOLPH, the House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, Mr. VARNUM in the Chair. Mr. J. RANDOLPH offered the following resolutions:

1. Resolved, That so much of the Message of the President of the United States, as relates to the subject of quarantine and health laws, be referred to the Committee of Commerce and Manufactures.

2. Resolved, That so much of the Message of the President of the United States as relates to the aggres sions committed on our coasts by foreign armed vessels; to the defence of our ports and harbors; to the building of seventy-four-gun ships; and to the prohibiting the exportation of arms and ammunition; be refer

Ordered, That the said bill, with the amend-red to a select committee. ment, be engrossed, and read the third time to

morrow.

President of the United States as relates to the organ3. Resolved, That so much of the Message of the ization and classification of the militia, and to the augResolved, That the Committee on the Post Ofmentation of our land forces, be referred to a select

On motion of Mr. J. CLAY,

fice and Post Roads be instructed to inquire whether any, and what, abuse exists of the privilege of franking letters; and to report such provision as, in their opinion, will tend to remedy the same. The House adjourned.

WEDNESDAY, December 4.

Two other members, to wit: JOHN ARCHER, from Maryland, and WILLIAM BUTLER, from South Carolina, appeared, produced their credentials, and took their seats in the House.

An engrossed bill making an additional appropriation for the Naval service, during the year one thousand eight hundred and five, was read the third time, and passed.

The House proceeded, by ballot, to the appointment of a Chaplain to Congress, on the part of this House, and, upon examining the ballots, a majority of the votes of the whole House was found in favor of the Reverend Mr. GLENDY.

A memorial of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Mississippi Territory was presented to the House and read, praying that a reasonable time may be allowed to the pre-emption claimants for land within the said Territory, under the authority of the act of Congress of the third of March, one thousand eight hundred and three, to make payment for the first instalment due for the said land on the first of January next, after the date of the certificate to be granted therefor.

Also, the petition of sundry inhabitants of the Mississippi Territory, praying a right of pre-emption as occupants of certain public lands which they have, severally, improved and settled.

Ordered, That the said memorial and petition, together with the memorial and petition of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Mississippi Territory, which were presented to this House on the twenty-fifth of January last, be severally referred to Mr. THOMAS M. RANDOLPH. Mr. LATTIMORE, Mr. SMILIE, Mr. OLIN, and Mr. TAGGART.

9th CoN.-9

committee.

4. Resolved, That so much of the Message of the President of the United States as relates to our Naval Peace Establishment, be referred to a select committee.

Previous to a decision on these resolutions, Mr. BIDWELL rose and said that it was his wish to offer an additional resolution relative to a subject not embraced in them.

The CHAIRMAN observed that the resolutions first offered must, in point of order, be first decided upon, after which the resolution alluded to could be received, or it might be read in argument while they were under consideration.

The foregoing resolutions were then severally read, and agreed to without a division.

Mr. NICHOLSON said he would offer another resolution, the substance of which was not embraced in the resolutions submitted by his friend from Virginia, viz:

Resolved, That so much of the Message of the President of the United States as relates to the conduct of the belligerent Powers towards the United States, and to the unjustifiable construction lately given by some of them to the law of nations, as it regards the rights of neutrals, be referred to the Committee of Ways and Means.

Mr. BIDWELL said this resolution embraced, in some measure, his object; but, as it did not exactly comport with it, he would take the liberty of reading, by way of argument, the resolution which he had prepared. Mr. B. then read the following resolution:

Resolved, That so much of the Message of the Presi

dent of the United States as relates to injuries done to us as a neutral nation, by the interpolation of new, unjust, and unacknowledged principles into the law of nations, be referred to a select committee, with instruction to inquire in what respects, and to what extent, our neutral rights have thus been violated, and what legislative measures the true interest of the United States requires to counteract such violations.

Mr. BIDWELL remarked that this resolution went further than that offered by the gentleman from Maryland. So far as that resolution went it met his ideas. But he thought it ought to go further;

H. OF R.

Reference of the President's Message.

and, should it not be adopted, he would afterward move the one he had just read. His reason for thinking the House ought to go further was this: We have been informed by the President that new principles have been interpolated by foreign Powers into the law of nations. What these principles are is not stated, except in one instance. To what extent they have been carried, we are not informed. We have, it is true, out-door information on the subject, but not of such a nature as to justify our acting in our legislative capacity. These principles, as well as the injuries we have received, were, in his opinion, a proper subject for the investigation of a committee.

DECEMBER, 1805.

the law of nations, founded neither in justice nor the usage or acknowledgment of nations. According to these, a belligerent takes to itself a commerce with its own enemy, which it denies to a neutral, on the ground of its aiding that enemy in the war. But reason revolts at such an inconsistency, and the neutral having equal right with the belligerent to dethe duty of maintaining the authority of reason, the cide the question, the interests of our constituents, and only umpire between just nations, impose on us the position to a doctrine so injurious to the rights of peaceobligation of providing an effectual and determined op

able nations."

Our attention is called to the important point of Mr. NICHOLSON said he could not conceive in new interpolations into the law of nations, or in what the two resolutions differed, except in lan- other words, to the adoption by the Government guage. They both embraced the same object. In of one or more foreign Powers of what is considone respect only they differed. While the resolu-ered as a modification of the ancient laws of nation of the gentleman from Massachusetts refer- tions, as accommodating them to their wishes, red the subject to a select committee, his own and as introducing new principles which they resolution referred it to the Committee of Ways wish to impose upon other nations. How a suband Means. The investigation contemplated by jeet so important naturally and necessarily belongs the gentleman could be as well made by the Com- to the Committee of Ways and Means, it was mittee of Ways and Means, as by a select com- impossible for him to say. But, says the gentlemittee. Nor was it necessary for this purpose to man, it is a question of revenue. How so? It give them any instructions. If the subject required may affect the revenue incidentally; but the quesinvestigation, it would be their duty to make it, tion of revenue, from its comparative unimportand to lay the result of the investigation before ance, is at once merged and lost in the more imthe House. It would be allowed, that it was a portant question, whether we shall passively subject in which the revenue was most deeply in- submit to the introduction of new principles to be terested, and as such properly the province of the imposed upon neutrals, by any Government whatCommittee of Ways and Means. For his own ever, however powerful or extensive its influence. part, said Mr. N., he could have no objection to On this subject, Mr. E. said, he thought, as it apthe resolution of the gentleman from Massachu- peared by the Message the Executive thought, setts; but, as his own resolution embraced the that it possessed great importance in itself. Nor same object and went to the same extent, he per- did he conceive it possible to present any view ceived no reason against adopting it. more important than that taken by the resolution of the gentleman from Massachusetts. He acknowledged that the Committee of Ways and Means were fully competent to an investigation of the subject; in their ability to investigate it, he had full confidence. But he thought they had sufficient business in their proper sphere to occupy their attention. For these reasons, he hoped the resolution offered by the gentleman from Maryland would be rejected, and that submitted by the gentleman from Massachusetts substituted in its room.

Mr. QUINCY could not agree that the resolution offered by the gentleman from Maryland either embraced the same object, or went to the same length with that proposed by his colleague. He thought that offered by his colleague far preferable, as it was more extensive in its views. He was of opinion, that, whatever committee was appointed should investigate the nature of the principles alluded to in the Message, as well as the measures referred to. The Committee of Ways and Means were not bound to make a special report on the subject; they might content themselves with a general one; and it might be necessary afterward to appoint a new committee to make the requisite investigation. Mr. Q. was the more anxious, as he thought it necessary that a complete investi gation should be made in the House of the nature and extent of the principles referred to in the Message.

Mr. GREGG thought the gentleman from Massachusetts would fully attain his object by offering a part of the resolution he had read, as an amendment to the resolution before the House. The resolution of the gentleman embraced two distinct parts; the first regarded the objects to be inquired into, and the last instructed the committee how to act. The resolution of the gentleman Mr. ELLIOT said he did not perfectly under- from Maryland mbraces the same object. The stand the gentleman from Maryland when he told end, therefore, of the gentleman from Massachuthem that the subject contemplated to be referred, setts would be fully gined by adding the instructnaturally and exclusively fell w thin the proper ive part of his own resolution to the resolution jurisdiction of the Committee of Ways and Means. under discussion. As to the difference between a It would be admitted, on all hands, that the sub-s anding and select committee, it was not so imject was not only important, but likewise novel. Our attention is forcibly called, in the Message, to this as a subject of the first importance:

"New principles, too, have been" interpolated into

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portant as it appeared to be to the gentleman from Vermont. The subject, from its character, naturally came before the Committee of Ways and Means; and it was understood that standing com

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