MARCH, 1818. Spanish American Provinces. H. OF R. indifferent in such a cause; and while I am willing to vote in favor of recognition, as proposed, I am unwilling to step beyond the bounds of discretion, or depart from our neutral obligations. In the day of our adversity, how anxious were we to be recognised by foreign Powers, and to claim their assistance? But here we are asked only to recognise the independence of the South American provinces, already free and sovereign, system of cruelty was commenced, did our Chief Magistrate silently and tamely look on? When the gallant Irishman was taken in arms fighting for his adopted country, and thrown into prison as a traitor to his sovereign, what stayed the sentence of condemnation, or the hand of the executioner, but the firmness and decision of Mr. Madison-a name I can never utter without respect, veneration, and affection. He took hold on the British soldier and put him in' prison; and Eng-without requiring our aid, which cannot, consistland had, to her shame, to retrace her steps, and to acknowledge the harshness and infamy of her course. The lex talionis should be preserved blood should pay the price of blood. And, in this case, British officers and soldiers would have been the victims of British policy. There is nothing to condemn in the system of retaliation. If pursued by the patriots, it was a solemn discharge of a most solemn duty. The system of murder did not begin with them. To this day the armies of Old Spain consider and treat them as traitors; and if the patriots do not retaliate, whenever it may be necessary, they deserve to fall the victims of such folly and imbecility. In one point it is hoped, and it is known, that they have not imitated the enemy. The fact has been mentioned, and it is not denied, that the troops of Old Spain had been employed in poisoning the water, and the food of the patriots, to destroy them. In this system of destruction they have not been imitated. No, sir, Satan himself would be ashamed to claim kindred with a foe so infamous. When he rebelled, and was without hope, he exclaimed, farewell hope, and, with hope, farewell fear. Though fallen from his high estate, and in despair, he was content with a declaration of open war, and open acts of hostility. The arbitrary power of provincial officers; the cruelty of the Captain General of Old Spain; the vigilance of the spies of the inquisition; the unhappy condition of the natives, have not been, when combined, sufficiently powerful to stop the march, and arrest the progress of correct revolutionary principles. ently with the law of nations, give cause of complaint to any Power on earth. When clouds and darkness hung upon our political horizon, how did the bosom of the patriot swell with rapture and consolation when European nations began to acknowledge our independence! We have succeeded; we arose from the thraldom which benumbed our faculties with renovated vigor and redoubled energy; nations gazed with astonishment at the novelty of the spectacle and the magnitude of the enterprise. Despotism shrunk from our hemisphere as from contagion and death, and the world regarded us as a prodigy. South Amerihas pursued our track and imitated our glorious example. The gloom of superstition and oppression has vanished, and their path has been irradiated by the beams of liberty. They have waded through blood and submitted to misery to obtain a participation in the blessings we enjoy. They say to us. We are your brethren; you are the only Government on earth that ought to feel an interest in our destiny; the monarchs of Europe have set their faces against us; their policy, their interest, will not suffer them to give us countenance; we are fighting the battles of freedom; the cause is one which must, which ought to be dear to you; we stand alone, unaided and friendless; we wish you to recognise that independence which we have achieved. If you will not extend the hand of fraternal love, to whom can we look, to whom dare we apply? Should we be crushed by the hand of power, you stand alone against the despotism of Europe and the world. Could you hope to resist such a combination? And if you fall, where is freedom to find a shelter, and man an asylum? The patriots have acted in a manner worthy of themselves, in taking advantage of the first favorable opportunity, the invasion of Spain by Napoleon Bonaparte, and the subversion of the It is the will of Heaven that South America Spanish and kingly authority in that country, to should be free; let all opposition cease; let the declare themselves independent, and throw off nations of the earth search after His will and obey the yoke of bondage which bowed them to the His commands; His power cannot be controlled; earth. The most unlimited and arbitrary exer- His providence cannot be resisted; He governs cise of power has been practised by the Spanish the universe; then let us do these people, let us Viceroys; nocturnal arrests have been made do ourselves, justice. This is not a moment for by corrupt judges, the willing instruments of cor- hesitation. To pause will perhaps be serious. rupt power; banishment without trial; trans- The acknowledgment of their independence canportation to Old Spain, without assigning the not injure the cause of freedom, or give just causes; offices confined to European Spaniards; grounds of offence to nations; but it will inspire manufactures prohibited; the culture of other confidence-give them a stand and an attitude that commodities limited; the establishment or the Europe will respect, and reanimate the drooping inquisition, and a perfect system of religious in- spirits of the Patriots. We shall preserve the tolerance; liberty of speech and the press un-character we have acquired; our actions will known; no trial by jury; property insecure, and at the will of judges; the study of political economy prohibited; and other acts of oppression, which would fill a volume, have been the acts which they have groaned under. I cannot feel correspond with our professions; and the world and posterity will acknowledge that our career has been that of generosity and of greatness, and our conduct just and magnanimous. Why should we hesitate? Can we fear the H. OF R. Proceedings. MARCH, 1818. result, when we witness so universal a spirit of expenses incurred under the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th patriotism pervading all ranks and classes of so- articles of the Treaty of Ghent, be referred to a ciety, and setting at defiance want, and wretch-committee; and that they be instructed to inquire edness, and torture? Can we fear the result, into the nature and causes of said expenses; also, when we remember that every event is under into the principles upon which the Commissioners, the direction of God's providence? His infinite under the 6th, and 7th articles of said treaty have wisdom, and His tender mercy will be mani- heretofore proceeded in the execution thereof, and fested in the result. Then let us not hesitate; that said committee make a detailed report thereon, let us act worthy of ourselves, and evince to the for which purpose they shall have power to send world that we are not only free, but worthy of for such persons and papers as they may deem that freedom. Mr. FORSYTH spoke briefly in explanation; when, on motion of Mr. SMYTH, of Virginia, the Committee rose, and obtained leave to sit again. FRIDAY, March 27. necessary. Messrs. CLAIBORNE, BARBOUR, of Virginia, ROBERTSON, of Kentucky, MORTON, and WILLIAMS, of Connecticut, were appointed said committee. Mr. McLANE, from the Committee on Commerce and Manufactures, to whom was referred the bill from the Senate, entitled "An act concerning the bounty or allowance to fishing vessels, in certain cases," reported the same without amendment, and the bill was read a third time, and passed. Mr. RICH, from the Committee of Claims, to which was referred two reports of the Commissioner of Claims, containing the reports of the facts in one hundred and fifty-eight cases of applications for payment for property destroyed by the enemy in Buffalo, and its vicinity, on the Niagara Mr. SMITH, of North Carolina, submitted a frontier, from the 19th December, 1813, and the joint resolution, directing the printing and distri1st of January, 1814, both inclusive, made a re-bution of the act for the relief of certain surviving port thereon, which was read; when, Mr. R. reported a bill for the relief of the sufferers on the Niagara frontier, which was read twice and committed to a Committee of the Whole. officers of the Revolution, and the instructions issued relative thereto, from the Department of War, among the clerks of the several courts of record within the United States; which was twice read and ordered to be engrosed for a third reading. Mr. WILLIAMS, of North Carolina, made a report on the petition of Kenzie and Forsyth, which was read; when, Mr. W. reported a bill for the The bill supplementary to the act "to authorrelief of Kenzie and Forsyth, which was readize the State of Tennessee, to issue grants and twice and committed to a Committee of the Whole. perfect titles to certain lands therein described, Mr. RHEA reported a bill for the relief of Cor- ' and to settle the claims to the vacant and unapnelia Mason, which was read twice and commit-propriated land within the same," passed the ted to a Committee of the Whole. 18th day of April, 1816, was received from the Mr. BEECHER, from the Committee on the Ju-Senate, and, having been twice read, the question diciary, reported their agreement to the amend- was stated on its being ordered to a second readments proposed by the Senate to the bill, entitled ing"An act respecting the district courts of the United States, within the State of New York;" which were concurred in by the House. Mr. BEECHER also reported the agreement of the said committee to the amendments proposed by the Senate, to the bill, entitled "An act to alter the time of holding the circuit court in the southern district of New York, and for other purposes." The amendment was committed to a Committee of the Whole. Mr. HERBERT from the committee appointed on the petition of John Darnall, by leave of the House, reported a bill for the relief of the said John Darnall, which was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the Whole. On motion of Mr. PINDALL, a committee was appointed to inquire into the expediency of making provision, by law, touching the prosecution of petitions of right, and informations of intrusion, in the federal courts, in cases wherein the United States are concerned; and, Messrs. PINDALL, SERGEANT, COBB, ADAMS, and TALLMADGE, were appointed the committee. On motion of Mr. CLAIBORNE, Resolved, That the President's Message, and accompanying documents, upon the subject of the Mr. EDWARDS rose, not, he said, for the purpose of opposing the bill, for that would be unavailing ; nor had he any wish to commit it. It was well known that an unpleasant difference had long existed between the States of North Carolina and Tennessee in relation to the object of the bill, upon which both States had memorialized Congress. The Supreme Court of the United States had however lately pronounced an opinion in the case before it, by which the question in controversy was settled against the pretensions of North Carolina. As there is no other alternative, said he, since we ought to submit to the powers that be, he would content himself simply by saying that he did not concur in the opinion of the court, and by signifying his dissent to the bill, without troubling the House with his reasons for either. The bill was ordered to a third reading, and passed. The bill from the Senate "regulating the staff of the Army;" the bill "regulating the fees of notaries in the county of Washington, in the District of Columbia;" the bill "to incorporate a Fire Insurance Company in the City of Washington;" and "the bill to make valid certain acts of the Justices of Peace in the District of Columbia,” were severally twice read and referred to select committees. BENEFIT OF DRAWBACK. Mr. McLANE, from the Committee of Commerce and Manufactures, made a report on the petition of Thomas Hutchinson, and partners; which was read, as follows: H. OF R. mines what foreign Ministers shall or shall not The petitioners state that in the year 1815 they imported into New York a quantity of merchandise, which they were desirous of reshipping from the Uni-pation, if it shall have any effect. Should the ted States, and to obtain a drawback. Being ignorant themselves of the requisites necessary to obtain the benefit of drawback, they applied to the deputy naval officer, who undertook to have the proper entries made, and to superintend the whole business; that the deputy naval officer, however, failed to apprize them of the necessity of giving the bonds required by the act of Congress, and, being themselves ignorant of the law, they neglected to enter into any such bonds; that the goods were re-exported, and regularly landed at the foreign port to which the vessel cleared out. The bonds having never been given, however, the petitioners have been denied the benefit of drawback, and they pray Congress to allow it, as though the bonds had been regularly given. The committee consider that it would be establishing a dangerous precedent to allow the plea of ignorance of the requisites of the law to dispense with their provisions. In this instance the bonds were the most essential part of the whole business, and indispensable to the safety of the revenue. If the petitioners applied to the deputy naval officer for advice, rather than to the regular officer of the district, the United States should not be liable for his omission or want of information. The committee, therefore, recommend the following resolution : Resolved, That the prayer of the petitioners ought not to be granted. The report was concurred in. SPANISH AMERICAN PROVINCES. The House having resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the general appropriation bill-to which an amendment had been moved by Mr. CLAY to introduce an appropriation for the outfit of a Minister to Buenos Ayres Mr. A. SMYTH, of Virginia, said, that he was opposed to the proposition under consideration, and should contend, in the first place, that the measure proposed is an act of usurpation, an invasion of the Executive authority. Secondly, he would contend, that the conduct of the Executive branch of the Government, as respected Spain and her American provinces, has been perfectly impartial and honorable, and such as was required by the interest and honor of the United States; that, therefore, no interference on our part was necessary. And, thirdly, he would contend that the measure proposed was pregnant with evil, and may jeopardize the safety of the United States. The Constitution, said Mr. S., grants to the President, by and with the consent of the Senate, power to appoint Ambassadors and public Ministers, and to make treaties. According to the usage of the Government, it is the President who receives all foreign Ministers, and deter15th CoN. 1st SESS.-50 You possess the power of impeachment, and. consequently, may discuss, and, by resolution, express, an opinion on any past act, either of the Executive or of the Judiciary; but you have no right to give a direction to either. The President is responsible for the proper execution of his Constitutional powers; he may be punished for abusing them, or for neglect of his duty. This House is the proper body to prosecute him, if he shall fail to do his duty. We are not. in like manner, responsible and punishable. If we direct the President to do an act, however injurious to the nation it may prove, we cannot make him responsible. Is it proper thus to deprive the people of the security which they have reserved to themselves, in the President's Constitutional responsibility? The President is re-eligible at the end of four years; it is, therefore, fair that he should be left free to execute his Constitutional powers; that the people may be enabled to judge the manner in which he has executed them. If you undertake to direct the President in the performance of his duties, you deprive him of the merit of those acts which the people might approve. Let it be supposed that the President intends to do the act which it is proposed that we shall direct him to do, and that the act is one which deserves, and will receive, the approbation of the people. If you shall direct him to do the act, his performance of it will be ascribed to your direction, and all the credit due to the aet will be given to you, and withheld from the President. On the contrary, should the President disapprove of the proposed measure, resist the usurpation, and maintain his Constitutional rights, the consequence must be, that either the President or Congress must sink in the estimation of the people. By adopting the proposition under consideration, you will pronounce to the world, that the President will not voluntarily do his duty; and that it has become necessary that you, by direct H. of R. Spanish American Provinces. MARCH, 1818. power to direct the President, this House becomes the efficient Executive. Who would be President on such conditions? ing, should compel him. You certainly intend that your direction shall have effect, and it can have no effect, unless it compels the President to do an act which otherwise he would not have I proceed to show that the conduct of the Exdone. You do not intend merely to place Con-ecutive, as relates to Spain and the provinces, gress in collision with the President; to raise an has been impartial, honorable, and such as comopposition to him, in case he shall have firmness ported with the true interest of the United enough to maintain his Constitutional rights, and States. to act according to his own views of the interests of the United States. The people have, by the Constitution, distributed distinct powers to the several departments of the Government: the Executive power they have confided to the President, either alone, or by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; they have adopted a particular mode of electing the President, intended to secure to the office of Chief Magistrate the greatest wisdom, knowledge, patriotism, and integrity. They have a right to the free and voluntary services of the citizen whom they have selected, as possessing those qualities, to fill the Presidential Chair; a right to all the advantages to be derived from his talents and his information. And at no time has the Executive department of this Government more deserved the public confidence than at present. At no moment since the formation of the Constitution, did the Cabinet possess, in so great a degree, the qualities which a Cabinet ought to possess, viz: talents, knowledge, political information, and harmony. The honorable Speaker has been pleased to say, that the conduct of the Executive towards Spain and the provinces was calculated to irritate both parties, and conciliate neither. This brings to our recollection what he said on a former occasion-that the acts of the Executive had been all on one side, and bearing entirely against the colonists. This charge, which has never been answered, was made by a gentleman whose assertion will be respected as authority throughout Europe, as well as throughout this country, by those who do not examine for themselves. If we examine those acts of the Executive which have any bearing on the contest between Spain and the colonies, it will be found, that the greater number was favorable to the patriots; and those were the result of the free will and discretion of the Executive, while the acts complained of, which have had a bearing against the patriots, were performed by the Executive in obedience to the laws, and were not the result of the exercise of discretion. The acts of the Executive of the United States favorable to the Spanish provinces, I will notice in the order of time. In Mr. Madison's Message of November, 1811, we find this passage: "An enlarged philanthropy, and an enlightened forecast, concur in im posing on the National Councils an obligation to take a deep interest in their destinies; to cherish reciprocal sentiments of good will; to regard the progress of events; and not to be unprepared for whatever order of things may be ulti Yet, at the very moment when the President has his agents in those countries, which claim to be admitted to the rank of nations, for the purpose of ascertaining their true situation, and to discover what order of things will probably be ultimately established, it is proposed that you shall prematurely interfere, and that, before the desirable information has been obtained in such a mode as may be relied on, you shall, on such information as the Speaker (Mr. CLAY) has gleaned from newspapers and pamphlets, direct the President to send a Minister to Buenos Ayres.mately established." Here is a voluntary act, Should your interference be at any time expedient, certainly this is the most improper time to interfere. The want of information on this subject has been fully shown by this discussion. No one will pretend that the members of this House generally are well informed concerning the actual and political state of the Spanish provinces, and the contradictory nature of the information given to the Committee, by those members who have taken pains to procure information, proves that we have none that is worthy of being relied on. favorable to the cause of the provinces; and this recommendation was followed by an act of Congress giving a considerable sum to the people of Venezuela. The next act favorable to the provinces, was the issuing by Mr. Madison to the collector of the customs instructions to admit the flag of the provinces; by which their ships became entiled, in the ports of the United States, to every privilege granted to the ships of other foreign Powers. The President was at liberty to have considered the patriots as rebels against their Sovereign, and to exclude their flag from our ports; or to consider them as a party in a civil war, and as such to admit their flag into our ports; he decided favorably to the patriots, and admitted their flag. It is by the President only that the United States communicate, negotiate, and treat, with foreign nations. To them, as has been properly observed by the gentleman from South Carolina, (Mr. LOWNDES,) we should present a single front, The measure proposed seems, in itself, of little The next act of the Executive, favorable to importance; but it will be understood by the the Spanish provinces, was the declaration by speeches of the honorable mover, and others, by the present Chief Magistrate, that those proviawhom it is supported. Thus understood, the prop-ces are partial to a civil war, in which their osition goes to degrade your President in the rights, as relates to neutrals, are equal to the eyes of foreign nations. If Congress shall assume rights of Spain; the President thus looking on MARCH, 1818. Spanish American Provinces. the independence of the provinces as actually existing. The next Executive act which has a bearing favorable to the Provinces, was the construction given by the President to the law of March, 1817, respecting the neutral duties of the United States. That act, in consequence of the omission of the words "district, colony, or people," in one of its sections, perhaps admitted of a construction that would have denied to the patriots equal rights with the subjects of Spain in the ports of the United States. We have employed some time on a bill intended to remedy the defect; but the construction given by the President to the act of March, 1817, had rendered its operation perfectly equal as related to Spain and the provinces, so far as the Executive authority is concerned. In a letter written by the Secretary of the Treasury, which may be considered as official, is this paragraph: "Having declared that the flags of Spain and of independent Gov'ernments established in Spanish America should be treated in the same manner in the ports of the United States; the Executive authority 'would not hesitate to consider the flag of Venezuela that of a foreign State, within the mean'ing of the fourth section of the act." H. or R. force collected by Toledo came within the meaning of the law; and Mr. Madison had no discretion to exercise. The law pointed out his duty, and he performed it. The suppression of the establishment made by McGregor, and continued by Aury at Amelia Island, was required by the interests and the honor of the United States. The world knew that the Executive was authorized to take East Florida against any foreign Power. Those who follow the profession of arms, must either be robbers or pirates, or they must have some power. The friends of Aury will not admit that he was a pirate; then they must contend that he served a foreign Power. Let us admit that Aury served the Republic of Venezuela, a Power whose flag is admitted into the ports of the United States, under the laws respecting the vessels of foreign Powers. If Venezuela had been formally acknowledged as an independent State, the act of 1811 authorizes the President to take Florida against the attempt of Venezuela to take possession of it; and the want of such formal acknowledgment cannot diminish the rights of the United States. It being the duty of the President to execute the laws, and the case contemplated by the act of 1811 having happened, a foreign PowThe last act that I shall mention, manifestlyer having attempted to take possession of Florfavorable to the provinces, is the act of sending commissioners to ascertain what is their situation; to prevent misunderstandings; to correct errors; perhaps to redress past grievances, and prevent their recurrence in future. ida, and having in execution of that attempt made an establishment at Amelia Island, the President was bound to suppress the establishment maintained there by Aury. Had no such law existed, the conduct of the These various acts of the Executive, having a President would have been worthy of approbabearing favorable to the patriots, and all of them tion. A nation has a right to protect itself from resulting from the discretion of the Executive, the evils of bad neighborhoods. Upon this prinwere overlooked by the Speaker, when he said ciple it was that the act for taking possession of that the acts of the Executive were all on one East Florida was passed. So when Louisiana side, and bearing entirely against the colonists. was transferred from Spain to France, our MinLet us now examine those acts of the Execu-ister at Paris most seriously remonstrated against tive of which the Speaker complains as having the occupation of that country by the forces of so unfavorable a bearing against the patriots. Napoleon; and many of our distinguished poliThese are, the proclamation of Mr. Madison, ticians urged the expediency of taking Louisiissued for the purpose of dispersing the armed ana by war, rather than admit a dangerous neighforce collected under Toledo, in violation of the bor to come there. Perhaps Louisiana might law of the United States; and the suppression have been obtained by war, at an expense of one by the President of the establishment at Amelia hundred and fifty millions; but the wisdom and Island, made by McGregor, with a force unlaw-moderation of Mr. Jefferson obtained it by purfully prepared within the United States, and maintained by Aury, who pretended to act under the authority of Mexico, New Grenada, and Venezuela. chase for the tenth part of the sum. It was to preserve herself from the evils of bad neighborhood that Prussia involved herself in war, first with Great Britain and afterwards with France, rather than have French troops in possession of Hanover. Is there any nation more interested than the United States? Would it be safe to allow Florida to be revolutionized by black troops? We have said, and I presume will continue to say, that no Power except Spain shall As to the proclamation which was issued for dispersing the armed force collected under Toledo, it will be remembered that President Mad-in avoiding neighbors of a certain description ison was sworn faithfully to execute his office, the chief duty of which is to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. An act provides that when the execution of the laws of the Uni ted States is opposed or obstructed by combina-come there. tions too powerful to be suppressed by the ordi- I have shown that the conduct of the Execunary course of judicial proceedings, the Presi-tive, as respects Spain and her American posdent may call forth the militia; but he shall by proclamation command those who thus oppose or obstruct the laws, to retire peaceably to their respective abodes, within a limited time. The sessions, has been impartial. The honorable member did not indeed say that it was partialbut he could not be understood as meaning any; thing else, when the acts of the Executive were |