Mr. President, there is no situation so trying to the bravery and firmness of troops, as a retreat, (for even you, sir, I believe, had to retreat sometimes.) The volunteers upon this occasion, behaved like themselves; a sullen, indignant step marked their movements; and from the mouths of their guns they spoke to the enemy the language of defiance; the enemy did not advance one mile, before a fortunate position, supported by determined bravery, enabled the united force of the regulars and volunteers to arrest their progress for the remainder of the day. This day's action began with the dawn of the morning, and continued until the setting of the sun, when the enemy fell back to take a secure position against the expected attacks of the night. During the whole of this day's action, the volunteers kept the stations assigned them, which they sustained with as much firmness as the regular troops. Many of them were killed and wounded. Among the number, were said to be seven of one family connection-brothers, brothers-in-law, and cousins; several of whom he had himself seen after the action. Scenes like this, Mr. President, (said Mr. A.) of which he had been an eye-witness, and in which he claimed some participation, had given him that confidence in volunteers, which he had evinced to the Senate in the course of his ob servations, and which, he said, should never cease but with his existence. They are, sir, the best military materials in your country; they are the flower of your forests; they ought not to be thrown into the back ground, the better to enable the honorable member from Virginia to present his regulars in front.

Mr. A. said, I have stated, Mr. President, perhaps with some warmth, the grounds upon which my confidence in volunteers has been founded; and be it remembered, said Mr. A. that they were militia volunteers. He said, he ought to have stated, that the enemy they had encountered was composed of regulars and Hessians-the whole under the command of the Hessian General Knyphausen.-Mr. A. said, the volunteers he now proposed raising, he would have engaged for nine or twelve months from the time of their reaching the place of general rendezvous. They should be engaged by officers to be appointed by the President, under such regulations (of course) as might be provided by law; but which could not now be well detailed.

Mr. A. said, he should now offer some observations upon the number of troops that ought to be employed. He said, that the invasion of Canada was not now contemplated for the first time; it had often been a subject of conversation, whenever there had been any prospect of a war with England. It has been considered as the most convenient mean upon which we could make reprisal, and thereby obtain some small reparation for the many losses and injuries, which have been sustained from the depredations committed upon the honor and interests of the nation. Mr. A. said, that upon different occasions he had always given it as his opinion, that a descent upon Canada ought never to be attempted with a force of less than twenty-five thousand men; that such a force would make an awful impression,

and would in all probability save many valuable lives; as no opposing force, in the usual state of the country, would be able to meet it in the field. Mr. A. said, he repeated, that no expression had escaped him, either in public debate, or in private conversation, to justify the insinuations made by the gentleman, that he was unwilling to vote a sufficient force for the invasion of Canada. On the contrary, he believed no man who had seen active military service, and who had any knowledge of the situation and state of that country, would say that it would be prudent or safe to make a descent upon Canada with a force of less than twenty-five thousand men: peculiar circumstances might, however, render it necessary to attempt it with a smaller number, and depend upon immediate supplies being furnished to sustain the ground that might be acquired. Mr. A. said, the honorable member had intimated that he had not taken into consideration the peculiar situation of the United States in relation to the Floridas, and the other parts of the southern and western frontier. He said, he was much indebted to the honorable member for evincing so much interest for those sections of the union: but, Mr. A. said, he considered those already provided for, by the provision made to fill up the regiments on the establishment, which, when complete, would amount to ten thousand men; this number will be quite competent to all the objects suggested by the honorable member; and it had not been contemplated, that he had heard, to remove any of these troops from the south or west; consequently the situation of those parts of the union can have no relation to the number of men to be raised by the bill under consideration. These troops are understood to be exclusively for the northern section; and with that express view they are to be raised. Mr. A. said, before he quitted the subject of the southern and western frontier, he felt himself constrained to take notice of some very extraordinary language, used by the honorable member, in relation to the intentions of the late and present Presidents, respecting the city of Orleans, in the event of a war with England. It was extremely painful to doubt the correctness of any gentleman's statement; but this was of so very extraordinary a character, that in duty to the section of the country he represented, and from the respect due to those distinguished characters, Mr. A. said, he considered himself bound to take notice, in a particular manner, of the assertions made by the honorable member from Virginia. Mr. A. said, the words had very much surprized him, when he heard them uttered; and he had immediately written them down. The honorable member has said, that he did know, that in the event of a war, it was the intention of the late President to let the English take Orleans without opposition, and leave it to the western people to retake it themselves; and he did believe, that it was the intention of the present ' administration to act in the same way.-[Mr. Giles attempted to explain; but Mr. Anderson insisted that the words, as he had taken them down, were correct, for which he appealed to the house. Mr. G. desisted from making any further attempt at explanation, and Mr. A. proceeded.]-If, sir, I could believe the late President of

the United States capable of such an act, capable of so deliberate an infringement of the letter and spirit of the constitution, and all the moral and political obligations by which he was bound to his country and to his duty, I should not hesitate to say, that all his well-earned fame ought to be forever merged in such an atrocious contemplated But knowing, as I do, the motives and views by which the late President had been uniformly actuated with respect to the whole western country, I have very solid reason to believe he never contemplated, nor was he capable of committing, so daring an outrage on the rights and interests of the whole western section of the union. What, sir, would any one of the old states say, at thus being thrown out of the protection of the union? Nay, what would be the impulse of the nation, were the President capable of declaring, that in the event of a war with an enemy, no matter whom, he would leave either Philadelphia, New-York, or Boston, without offering any defence, to be taken possession of by the army of the enemy, and leave it to the citizens of the state, whose town should be thus occupied, to retake it themselves? Sir, the indignation of these people, and of the nation, would rise to such a height, that whatever respect, esteem or veneration they might have had for him, all would be instantly swept from their bosoms, and he would be hurled from their confidence forever. But the well-earned fame of our late illustrious chief, is his shield and his buckler, as well upon this as it has been upon many other occasions; and an elucidation of facts will test the correctness of the assertion made by the honorable member from Virginia. If, Mr. President, there was any one part of the United States dearer to the late President than any other, in a national point of view, Mr. A. said, he should naturally suppose it was New-Orleans. It was, as it were, his own begotten child; he had nursed it in its infancy, and had almost reared it to manhood. Sir, he could never forsake it; much less could he voluntarily surrender it, to be sacked and plundered, as it most certainly would be, by a mercenary foe. I will now, Mr. President, examine some facts, said Mr. Anderson, which have a strong bearing upon the assertion made by the honorable member from Viginia.— It would be recollected by every honorable member upon this floor, that some few years ago, when it was understood that General Prevost, with a body of troops, had sailed from Halifax, with intent, as it was expected, for the mouth of the Mississippi, the then President apprehended the movement might possibly be to possess Orleans

What was the conduct of the President upon that occasion? Did he leave it defenceless for the enemy to take? No, sir; he immediately gave orders for all the troops that could be collected within almost any reasonable distance, to march immediately for the protection of the place; and those who were near the sea-board were instantly transported by water; and every exertion was made to throw a sufficient force into Orleans and its vicinity, to afford it the most ample protection. This, sir, happened shortly before the President went out of office; and no other occasion presented itself of evincing his good disposition towards that portion of the union, until he was succeeded by the present chief magistrate, who has also been measurably implicated in the same charge, by the honorable member; but

of this he has only expressed his belief: he has not, however, told us upon what that belief is founded. Inasmuch, then, Mr. President, as the charge exists only in the belief of the honorable member, it is fair to presume purity of intention on the part of the executive, until the contrary shall appear; and this, Mr. A. said, he felt entirely confident never would appear. The uniform tenor of the President's moral and political rectitude, were ample vouchers for the correctness of his motives, and the purity of his intentions. Mr. A. said,

so far as we have had an opportunity of judging of the disposition of the present chief magistrate, in relation to the protection of Orleans, we had not the smallest reason to doubt the purity of his intentions; and he had entire confidence, should an occasion present, that the President would faithfully, ably and impartially discharge the duties he owed to every part of the union.

Mr. A. said the observations of the honorable member, respecting the Secretary of the Treasury, the financial department, and the administration as connected with it, required and should receive an answer. Mr. A. said, he considered nimself peculiarly bound to support the Secretary, as he had been the innocent cause, by introducing him into the debate, in the course of the observations he had made, in support of his motion, and thereby bringing upon him the animadversions, which the honorable member had taken the occasion to make. His attack upon the Secretary is of a singular kind; he does not impeach a single official act of that officer, but throws out vague insinuations in so untangible a shape, as almost to defy an enquiry into their truth. The official acts of a public officer are always free subjects of investigation and discussion; but, does it comport with the dignity of a member of this body, to asperse without proof, not his acts, but his supposed opinions? The honorable member presumes the Secretary gave his assent to to the repeal of the salt tax-upon what authority does he found this opinion of the Secretary? No proof can be given of it. Mr. A. said, he had always understood that the Secretary was opposed to the repeal of that tax. His numerous reports prove the fact, in all of which, if they are examined, it will be found, that he considered that duty as one of the branches of revenue upon which he relied. But there would be no crimin. ality, if we were to suppose that the Secretary had joined in the general opinion and given his assent to the repeal, as well as the honorable member has done; the fact, however, Mr. A. averred to be otherwise. That officer must be supposed more alive to every thing connected with the Treasury, than other members of the government. So far had the Secretary carried this feeling toward the Treasury, that he was not only opposed to the repeal of the salt tax; but Mr. A. had always understood that he was opposed to the repeal of the internal taxes at the time they took place; with a view no doubt not only to be able to meet all the demands that could be legally made upon the Treasury, but to procure a surplus to meet any contingency that the peculiar state of our foreign relations might demand. How then the honorable member can charge the Secretary with the deficency which the salt tax would have prevented, according to the gentleman's calculation, Mr. A. said he was at a loss to know. The honorable

member ought more properly to charge his own complaisance with the great deficit which he seems so anxious to charge to the Secretary. The Secretary was opposed to the repeal of the salt tax, from his opinion of the correctness of it. The honorable member was also opposed to it, for the same reason; but from complaisance, he himself tells us, he voted for the repeal. He then, and not the Secretary, is answerable to the Treasury for the great loss sustained by the repeal of that tax; for he has told us, that its repeal depended upon his single vote; and that that vote he gave from complaisance, not from a conviction of its correctness.

The honorable member charges the treasury department with a recession from the difficulties of the nation during the last three years, and with the unwillingness of the Secretary to afford the usefulness of his talents to government. Mr. A. said he could not well understand the meaning of this charge, as the honorable member acknowledges that government had not called on the Secretary for greater exertions. Mr. A. said, he would ask the honorable member, in what do that recession and unwillingness consist? Have not all the duties of the office been performed? Has the Secretary ever shrunk from responsibility upon any occasion, or declined answering to the fullest extent any calls made upon him by Congress, either for information or opinion? Has he not carried the financial bark safely to this moment, notwithstanding the difficulties of the times? Have not all the public engagements been fulfilled; all the increased expenses been defrayed; notwithstanding the decrease of revenue, occasioned by the state of our foreign relations? What then is meant by recession? Does the honorable member mean to say, that it was the duty of the Secretary to point out new branches of revenue,while those already existing were sufficient to defray the expenses authorized by law? At this moment, whilst we are acting on the subject of the army, which will (greatly) more than double the public expenses, the honorable member does not deign to inquire into the ways and means. He scouts the very idea, and finds great fault with him, (Mr.A.) because he presumed to make some inquiry into the present state of the national treasury. Whether we now vote six or ten regiments of infantry, with the addition of those of artillery and horse, the expense will be great; but we think it necessary some additional troops should be raised, and will vote accordingly. After they shall have been authorised, and not before, the treasury department may properly be called upon, to point out the resources, and present them to our consideration. The honorable member, not satisfied with his vague charge of what he calls a recession of the treasury department, extends the charge in a most extraordinary manner, to the late and present administrations. To their indisposition to press on the treasury, and to disturb the repose and popularity of the Secretary of the Treasury, the honorable member ascribes the measures, which, in his opinion, had dishonored the nation, the last three years. Can this be correct, Mr. President? Can this house believe that the late and present administrations would be capable of acting