An engrossed "Resolution directing the printing and distribution of the act to provide for the surviving officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary army," was read the third time, and passed. An engrossed bill, entitled "An act concerning the Territory of Alabama," was read the third time, and passed. SPANISH AMERICAN PROVINCES. The House again resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the general appropriation bill, Mr. CLAY's amendment, going to make an appropriation for the outfit and year's salary of a Minister to Buenos Ayres, still pending. H. OF R. ground of principle and mere public law, the exertion of the right of recognising another Power is cause of war. But, said Mr. C., though the gentleman from South Carolina admitted that the recognition would be no cause of war, and that it was not likely to lead to a war with Spain, we found him shortly after, getting into a war with Spain, how, I did not see, and by some means, which he did not deign to discover to us, getting us into a war with England also. Hav. ing satisfied himself, by this course of reasoning, the gentleman had discovered that the finances of Spain were in a most favorable condition! On this part of the subject, Mr. C. said, it was not necessary for him to say anything after what the Committee had heard from the eloquent gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. HOLMES,) whose voice, in a period infinitely more critical in our affairs than the present, had been heard with so much delight from the East, in support of the Mr. CLAY said that, as no other gentleman appeared disposed to address the Chair, he would avail himself of this opportunity of making some remarks in reply to the opponents of his motion. The first objection which he thought it incum-rights and honor of the country. He had clearly bent on him to notice was that of his friend from shown that there was no parallel between the South Carolina, (Mr. LOWNDES,) who opposed state of Spain and of this country; the one, of a the form of the proposition, as being made on a country whose resources were completely impovgeneral appropriation bill, on which he appeared erished and exhausted; the other, of a country to think nothing ought to be ingrafted which was whose resources were almost untouched. But, likely to give rise to a difference between the two Mr. C. said, he would ask of the gentleman from branches of the Legislature. If the gentleman South Carolina, if he could conceive that a State, himself had always acted on this principle, his in the condition of Spain, whose Minister of the objection would be entitled to more weight; but, Treasury admits that the people have no longer Mr. C. said, the item in the appropriation bill the means of paying new taxes; a nation with next following this, and reported by the gentle- an immense mass of floating debt, and totally man himself, was infinitely more objectionable without credit, could feel any anxiety to engage which was an appropriation of thirty thousand in war with a nation like this, whose situation dollars for defraying the expenses of three Com-was, in every possible view, directly the reverse? missioners, appointed, or proposed to be paid, in an unconstitutional form. It could not be expected that a general appropriation bill would ever pass without some disputable clauses; and in case of a difference between the two Houses, (a difference which we had no right to anticipate in this instance,) which could not be compromised as to any article, the obvious course was to omit such article altogether, retaining all the others; and, in a case of that character, relative to the brevet pay, which had occurred during the present session, such had been the ground the gentleman himself had taken in a conference with the Senate, of which he was a manager. The gentleman from South Carolina, Mr. C. said, had professed to concur with him in a great many of his general propositions; and neither he nor any other gentleman had disagreed with him, that the mere recognition of the independence of the provinces was no cause of war with Spain; except the gentleman from Maryland, (Mr. SMITH,) to whom he recommended, with out intending disrespect to him, to confine himself to the operations of commerce, rather than undertake to expound questions of public law; for he could assure the gentleman that, although he might make some figure with his practical knowledge, in the one case, he would not, in the other. No man, Mr. C. said, except the gentleman from Maryland, had come out with what he would call the hardihood to contend that, on the He asked, if an annual revenue, equal only to fiveeighths of the annual expenditure, exhibited a financial ability to enter upon a new war, when, too, the situation of Spain was altogether unlike that of the United States and England, whose credit, resting upon a solid basis, enabled them to supply, by loans, any deficit in the income? Notwithstanding the diversity of sentiment which had been displayed during the debate, Mr. C. was happy to find that, with one exception, every member had done justice to the struggle in the South, and admitted it to be entitled to the favor of the best feelings of the human heart. Even my honorable friend near me, (Mr. NELSON,) has made a speech on our side, and we should not have found out, if he had not told us, that he would vote against us. Although his speech has been distinguished by his accustomed eloquence, I should be glad, Mr. C. said, to agree on a cartel with the gentlemen on the other side of the House, to give them his speech for his vote. The gentleman says his heart is with us, that he ardently desires the independence of the South. Will he excuse me for telling him that, if he will give himself up to the honest feelings of his heart, he will have a much surer guide than by trusting to his head, to which, however, I am far from offering any disparagement? But, sir, it seems that a division of the Republican party is about to be made by the proposition under consideration. Who is to furnish, in H. OF R. Spanish American Provinces. MARCH, 1818. this respect, the correct criterion-whose conduct to the practice of the Government, and referred is to be the standard of orthodoxy? What has to various acts of Congress, for cases of appropribeen the great principle of the party to which the ations without the previous deputation of the gentleman from Virginia refers, from the first agent abroad, and without the preliminary of a existence of the Government to the present day? Message from the President asking for them. An attachment to liberty; a devotion to the great Mr. C. here quoted the act authorizing the estab cause of humanity-of freedom-of self-govern-lishment of certain consulates in the Mediterrament-and of equal rights. If there is to be a nean, and affixing salaries thereto, in consequence division, (as the gentleman says)-if he is going of which the President had subsequently apto leave us, who are following the old track-he pointed Consuls, who had been receiving their may in his new connexions find a greater variety salaries to this day. Other acts he quoted, of a of company, which perhaps may indemnify him similar character, from which it appeared, he said, for the loss of his old friends. What is the great that Congress had constantly pursued the great principle that has distinguished parties in all principle of the theory of the Constitution, for ages and under all Governments-Democrats and which he now contended; that each department Federalists, Whigs and Tories, Plebeians and of the Government must act within its own Patricians? The one, distrustful of human na-sphere, independently, and on its own responsiture, appreciates less the influence of reason and bility. It was a little extraordinary, indeed, after of good dispositions, and appeals more to physi- the doctrine which had been maintained the cal force; the other party, confiding in human other day, of a sweeping right in Congress to apnature, relies much upon moral power, and applies propriate money to any object, that it should now to force as an auxiliary only to the operations be contended that Congress had no right to apof reason. All the modifications and denomina-propriate money to a particular object. The gentions of political parties and sects may be traced tleman's (Mr. LOWNDES) doctrine was broadto this fundamental distinction. It is that which comprehending every case-but, when proposed separated the two great parties in this country. to be exemplified in any specific case, it did not If there is to be a division in the Republican apply. Mr. C. said, his theory of the Constituparty, I glory that I, at least, am found among tion on this particular subject, was, that Congress those who are anxious for the advancement of had the right of appropriating money for foreign human rights and of human liberty. And the missions-the President the power to use it. honorable gentleman who spoke of appealing to The President having the power, he was willing the public sentiment, will find when he does so, to say to him, Here is the money (which we alone (or I am much mistaken.) that public sentiment have a right to appropriate) which will enable is also on the side of public liberty and of human you to carry your power into effect, if it seems happiness. expedient to you. Both being before him-the power and the means of executing it, the Presi dent would judge, on his own responsibility, whether or not it was expedient to exercise it. In this course, Mr. C. said, each department of the Government would act independently, without influence from, and without interference with, each other. He had quoted cases from the stat But, the gentleman from South Carolina has told us, continued Mr. C., that the Constitution has wisely confided to the Executive branch of the Government the administration of the foreign concerns of the country. Has the honorable gentleman attempted to show, (though his proposition be generally true, and will never be controverted by me,) that we also have not our par-ute book to show, that in instances where no forticipation in the administration of the foreign eign agent had been appointed, but only a posinterests of the country, when we are called upon, sibility of their being appointed, appropriations in our legislative capacity, to defray the expenses had been made for paying them. He proceeded of foreign missions, or to regulate commerce? to show, that, even in case of the subject-matter Mr. C. said he had stated, when up before, (and of a negotiation-a right much more important he had listened in vain for an answer to the argu- than that of sending an agent-an appropriation ment,) that no part of the Constitution had said of money had preceded the negotiation of a treaty. which should have precedence-the act making Thus, in the third volume of the new edition of an appropriation for paying a Minister, or the the laws, page 27, he quoted a case of an approact of sending one. He had then contended, and priation of twenty-five thousand eight hundred now repeated, that either the acts of deputing and eighty dollars to defray the expense of such and of paying a Minister should be simultaneous, treaties as the President of the United States or (if either had preference) the act of appropri- might deem proper to make with certain Indian ating for his pay should precede the sending of tribes. An act, which had been lately referred a Minister. He challenged gentlemen to show to, appropriating two millions for the purchase him anything in the Constitution which direct- of the Floridas, was a case still more strongly in ed that a Minister should be sent before his pay-point, as contemplating a treaty, not with a savment was provided for. He repeated what he had said the other day, that by sending a Minister abroad during the recess, to nations between whom and us no such relations existed as to justify incurring the expense, the legislative opinion was forestalled or unduly biassed. He appealed age, but a civilized Power. In this case there might have been (though he believed there was not) an Executive Message, recommending the appropriation; but he took upon himself to assert, that in almost all the cases he had quoted, there was no previous Executive intimation that the appropriation of the money was necessary to the object. But Congress had taken up the subjects, and authorized these appropriations, without any official call from the Executive to do so. With regard to the general condition of the provinces now in revolt against the parent country, Mr. C. proceeded to say, he would not take up much of the time of the House. Gentlemen were, however, much mistaken as to many of the points of their history, geography, commerce, and produce, which had been touched upon. Gentlemen had supposed there would be from those countries a considerable competition of the same products which we export. Mr. C. ventured to say, that, in regard to Mexico, there could be no such competition; that the table lands were at such a distance from the seashore, and the difficulty of reaching it was so great as to make the transportation to La Vera Cruz too expensive to be borne, and the heat so intense as to destroy the breadstuffs as soon as they arrive. With respect to New Grenada, the gentleman from Maryland was entirely mistaken. It was the elevation of Mexico, principally, which enabled it to produce breadstuffs; but New Grenada, lying nearly under the line, could not produce them. The productions of New Grenada for exportation were the precious metals, (of which, of gold particularly, a greater portion was to be found than in any of the provinces except Mexico,) sugar, coffee, cocoa, and some other articles of a similar character. Of Venezuela the principal productions were coffee, cocoa, indigo, and some sugar. Sugar was also produced in all the Guianas, French, Spanish, and Dutch. The interior of the provinces of La Plata might be productive of breadstuffs, but they were too remote to come into competition with us in the West India market, the voyages to the United States generally occupying from fifty to sixty days, and sometimes as long as ninety days. By deducting from that number the average passage from the United States to the West Indies, the length of the usual passage between Buenos Ayres and the West Indies would be found, and would show that, in the supply of the West India market with breadstuffs, the provinces could never come seriously into competition with us. And, with regard to Chili, productive as it might be, did the gentleman from Maryland suppose that vessel were going to double Cape Horn, and come into competition with us in the West Indies? It was impossible. But, Mr. C. said, he felt a reluctance at pursuing the discussion of this part of the question; because he was sure these were considerations on which the House could not act, being entirely unworthy of the subject. We might as well stop all our intercourse with England, with France, or with the Baltic, whose products are in many respects the same as ours, as to act on the present occasion under the influence of any such considerations. It was too selfish, too mean a principle, for this body to act on, to refuse its sympathy for the patriots of the South, because some little advantage of a commercial nature might be retained to us from their remaining in the present H. OF R. condition-which, however, he totally denied. Three-fourths of the productions of the Spanish provinces were the precious metals, and the greater part of the residue not of the same character as the staple productions of our soil. But, it seemed, that a pamphlet had recently been published on this subject, to which gentlemen had referred. Now, said Mr. C., permit me to express a distrust of all pamphlets of this kind, unless we know their source. It may, for aught I know, if not composed at the instance of the Spanish Minister, have been written by some merchant who has a privilege of trading to Lima under royal license; for such do exist, as I am informed, and some of them procured under the agency of a celebrated person by the name of Samiento, of whom, perhaps, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. SMITH) could give the House some information. To gentlemen thus privileged to trade with the Spanish provinces under royal authority, the effect of a recognition of the independence of the provinces would be to deprive them of that monopoly. The reputed author of the pamphlet in question, Mr. C. said, if he understood correctly, was one who had been, if he were not now, deeply engaged in the trade, and he would venture to say that many of his statements were incorrect. In relation to the trade of Mexico, Mr. C. said he happened to possess the Royal Gazette of Mexico of 1804, showing what was the trade of that province in 1803; from which it appeared that, without making allowance for the trade from the Philippine Islands to Acapulco, the imports into the port of Vera Cruz were in that year twenty-two millions in value, exclusive of contraband, the amount of which was very considerable. Among these articles were many which the United States could supply as well, if not on better terms, than they could be supplied from any other quarter; for example, brandy and spirits; paper, iron, implements for agriculture, and the mines; wax, spices, naval stores, salt fish, butter, provisions; these articles amounting in the whole to oneseventh part of the whole import trade to Mexico. With regard to the independence of that country, which gentlemen seemed to think improbable, Mr. C. rejoiced that he was able to congratulate the House that we have, this morning, intelligence that Mina yet lives, and the patriot flag is still unfurled, and the cause infinitely more prosperous than ever. This intelligence he was much in hopes would prove true, notwithstanding the particular accounts of his death; which, there was so much fabrication and falsehood in the Spanish practice, were not entitled to credit unless corroborated by other information. Articles were manufactured in one province to produce effect on the other provinces and in this country; and he had therefore always been disposed to think that the details respecting the capture and execution of Mina were too minute to be true, and were made up to produce an effect here. With regard to the general value of the trade of a country, Mr. C. said, it is to be determined by the quantum of its population, and its charac ter, its productions, and the extent and character of the territory; and, applying these criteria to Spanish America, no nation offered higher inducements to commercial enterprise. Washed on the one side by the Pacific, on the other by the South Atlantic; standing between Africa and Europe on the one hand, and Asia on the other, lying along side of the United States, her commerce must, when free from the restraints of despotism, be immensely important, particularly when it is recollected how great a proportion of the precious metals it produced, for that nation which can command the precious metals, may be said to command almost the resources of the world. One moment, said Mr. C., imagine the mines of the South locked up from Great Britain for two years, what would be the effect on her paper system? Bankruptcy, explosion, revolution. Even if the supply which we get abroad of the precious metals was cut off for any length of time, I ask if the effect on our paper system would not be, not perhaps equally as fatal as to England, yet one of the greatest calamities which could befall this country. The revenue of Spain in Mexico alone, was, in 1809, twenty millions of dollars, and in the other provinces in about the same proportion, taking into view their population, independent of the immense contributions annually paid to the clergy. When you look at the resources of the country, and the extent of its population, recollecting that it is double our own; that its consumption of foreign articles, under a free commerce, would be proportionally great; that it yields a large revenue under the most abominable system, under which nearly three-fourths of the population are unclad, and almost as naked as from the hands of nature, because absolutely deprived of the means of clothing themselves; what may not be the effect on this country, under the operation of a different system which would let industry develope its resources in all possible forms? Such a neighbor could not but be a valuable acquisition in a commercial point of view. Gentlemen had denied the fact of the existence of the independence of Buenos Ayres at as early a date as he had assigned to it. The gentleman from South Carolina, who was well informed on the subject, did not, Mr. C. thought, exhibit his usual candor on this part of it. When the gentleman talked of the upper provinces being out of the possession of the patriots as late as 1815, he ought to have gone back and told the House what was the actual state of the fact, with which he was sure the gentleman was very well acquainted. In 1811 the Government of Buenos Ayres had been in possession of every foot of the territory of the Viceroyalty. The war had been raging from 1811 to 1815 in those interior provinces, bordering on Lima, which had been as often as three times conquered by the enemy, and as often recovered, and from which the enemy was now finally expelled. Was this at all remarkable during the progress of such a revolution? During the different periods of our war of independence, the British had possession of different parts of our country; as late as 1780, | MARCH, 1818. the whole of the Southern States had been in their possession; and at an earlier date they had possession of the great Northern capitals. There was, in regard to Buenos Ayres, a distinguishing trait, which did not exist in the history of our Revolution. That was, that from 1810 to the present day the capital of the Republic of La Plata had been invariably in the possession of the patriot Government. Gentlemen must admit that when, in 1814, she captured at Montevideo an army as large as Burgoyne's, captured at Saratoga, they were then in possession of independence. If they have been since 1810 in the enjoyment of self-government, it was, indeed, not very material under what name or under what form. The fact of their independence is all that is necessary to be established. In reply to the argument of the gentleman from South Carolina, derived from his having been unable to find out the number of the provinces, this arose from the circumstance that, thirty-six years ago, the Viceroyalty had been a Captain-Generalship; that it extended then only to Tucuman, while of late and at present the Government extended to the Desaguedara, in about the sixteenth degree of south latitude. There were other reasons why there was some confusion in the number of the provinces, as stated by different writers; there was, in the first place, a territorial division of the country-then a judicial, and next a military division, and the provinces have been stated at ten, thirteen, or twenty, according to the denominations used. This, however, he, with the gentleman from South Carolina, regarded as a fact of no sort of consequence. Mr. C. said he would pass over the report lately made to the House by the Department of State, respecting the state of South America, with only one remark: that it appeared to him to exhibit evidence of an adroit and experienced diplomatist negotiating, or rather conferring on a subject, with a young and inexperienced Minister, from a young and inexperienced Republic. From the manner in which this report was communicated, after a call for information so long made, and after the lapse of two months from the last date in the correspondence on the subject, Mr. C. declared he was mortified at hearing the report read. Why talk of the mode of recognition? Why make objections to the form of the commission? If the Minister had not a formal power, why not tell him to send back for one? Why ask of him to enumerate the particular States whose independence he wished acknowledged? Suppose the French Minister had asked of Franklin what number of States he represented? Thirteen, if you please, Franklin would have replied. But, M. Franklin, will you tell me if Pennsylvania, whose capital is in possession of the British, be one of them? What would Dr. Franklin have said? Mr. C. said it would have comported better with the frankness of the American character, and of American diplomacy, if the Secretary, avoiding cavils about the form of the commission, bad said to the Minister of Buenos Ayres, "at the present moment we do not intend to recognise you, or to receive or send a Minister to you." But among the charges which gentlemen had industriously brought together, the House had been told of factions prevailing in Buenos Ayres. Do not factions, Mr. C. asked, exist everywhere? Are they not to be found in the best regulated and most firmly established Governments? Respecting the Carreras, public information was abused, Mr. C. said; they were supposed to have had improper views, designs hostile to the existing Government, and it became necessary to deprive them of the power of doing mischief. And what was the fact respecting the alleged arrest of American citizens ?-Buenos Ayres had been organizing an army to attack Chili. Carrera arrives at the river La Plata with some North Americans; he had before defeated the revolution in Chili by withholding his co-operation; the Government of Buenos Ayres, therefore, said to him, we do not want your resources; our own army is operating; if you carry yours there it may produce dissension, and cause the loss of liberty-you shall not go. On his opposing this course, what was done which has called forth the sympathy of gentlemen? He and those who attended him from this country were put in confinement, but only long enough to permit the operations of the Buenos Ayrean army to go on; they were then permitted to go, or made their escape, to Montevideo, and afterwards, where they pleased. With respect to the conduct of that Government, he would only recall the attention of gentlemen to the orders which had lately emanated from it for the regulation of privateers, which had displayed a solicitude to guard against irregularity, and to respect the rights of neutrals, not inferior to that ever shown by any Government which had ever attempted to regulate this licentious mode of warfare. H. OF R. character, that, although groaning under three hundred years of tyranny and oppression, they had been unwilling to cast off their allegiance to that Throne, which had been the Throne of their ancestors. But, looking forward to a redress of wrongs, rather than a change of Government, they gradually, and perhaps at first unintentionally, entered into revolution. Mr. C. said he had it from those who had been actively engaged in our Revolution; from that venerable man, (Chancellor Wythe,) whose memory he should ever cherish with filial regard, that a very short time before our Declaration of Independence, it would have been impossible to have got a majority of Congress to declare it. Look at the language of our petitions of that day, carrying our loyalty to the foot of the Throne, and avowing our anxiety to remain under the Crown of our ancestors; independence was then not even remotely suggested as our object. The present state of facts, and not what has passed and gone in South America, must be consulted. At the present moment, the patriots of the South are fighting for liberty and independence-for precisely what we fought for. But their revolution, the gentleman told the House, was stained by scenes which had not occurred in ours. If so, Mr. C. said, it was because execrable outrages had been committed upon them by the troops of the mother country, which were not upon us. Could it be believed, if the slaves had been let loose upon us in the South, as they had been let loose in Venezuela; if quarters had been refused; capitulations violated; that General WASHINGTON, at the head of the armies of the United States, would not have resorted to retribution? Retaliation is sometimes mercy; mercy to both parties. The only means by which the coward soul that indulges in such enormities can be reached, is to show to him that they will be visThe honorable gentleman from Georgia hadited by severe but just retribution. There were commenced his remarks the other day by an ani- traits in the history of this revolution, Mr. C. madversion which, Mr. C. said, he might well said, which showed what deep root liberty had have spared, when he told us that even the pray- taken in South America. He stated an instance. ers of the Chaplain of this House had been of- The only hope of a wealthy and reputable famfered up in behalf of the patriots. And was itily, said he, was charged, at the head of a small reprehensible, Mr. C. asked, that an American force, with the care of the magazine of the army. chaplain, whose cheeks were furrowed by age, He saw that it was impossible to defend it. "Go," and his head as white as snow, who had a thou- said he to his companions in arms, "I alone am sand times, during our own Revolution, implored sufficient for its defence." The assailants apthe smiles of Heaven on our exertions, should proached; he applied a match and blew up the indulge in the pious and patriotic feelings flow-magazine, with himself, scattering death and ing from his recollections of our own Revolu-destruction on his enemy. Mr. C. narrated anotion? Ought he to be subject to animadversion for so doing, in a place where he could not be heard in reply? Ought he to be subject to animadversion for soliciting the favor of Heaven on the same cause as that in which we fought the good fight, and conquered our independence? He trusted not. But the gentleman from Georgia, it appeared, could see no parallel between our Revolution and that of the Spanish provinces. Their revolution, in its commencement, did not aim at complete independence; neither, Mr. C. said, did ours. Such was the loyalty of the Creole ther instance of the intrepidity of a female of the patriot party. A lady in New Grenada had given information to the patriot forces of plans and instructions by which the capital might be invaded. She was put upon the rack to divulge her accomplices. She bore the torture with the greatest fortitude, and died exclaiming-"You shall not hear it from my mouth; I will die, and may those live who can free my country." But the House had been told, and told with a triumph worthy of a better cause-why recognise this Republic? Where is the use of it? And was it possible, Mr. C. asked, that gentlemen could |