The New Hampshire Gazette

CONGRESS.

House of Representatives,

MONDAY JUNE 21, 1813.

The order of the day on Webster's Resolutions, having been called up—

Mr. Bibb stated the intention of the committee of Ways and Means to press the consideration of the revenue bills as soon as possible. The time already occupied in this debate had not been thrown away, as the committee of Ways and Means were not prepared for the discussion of the tax bills. Now they were ready, however, he rose in the absence of the chairman of the committee (Mr. Eppes) to give notice that those bills would be called up tomorrow: and, every gentleman now having fair notice, he hoped the discussion of these resolutions would terminate today.

Mr. Robertson assigned at length the reasons why, although he believed these resolutions wholly unnecessary, he should nevertheless be induced to vote for them.

The question was then taken on agreeing to the first resolution, in the following words—

Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to inform the House, unless the public interest should, in his opinion forbid such communication, when, by whom, and in what manner the first intelligence was given to this government of the decree of the government of France bearing date on the 28th of April, 1811, & purporting to be a definitive repeal of the decrees of Berlin and Milan.

And it was agreed to by the following vote—

YEAS—Messrs. Alexander, Alton, Anderson, Archer, Baylies of Mass. Beall, Benton, Bigelow, Bowen, Bowers, Boyd, Bradbury, Bradley, Brackenridge, Brigham, Buswell, Caperton, Calhoun, Champion, Chapel, Cheves, Coney, Comstock, Conic, Cooper, Cox, Creighton, Cupp, Davenport, Davis—of Mass. Davis, of Penn. Dewey, Duvall, Earl, Ely, Forney, Franklin, Gaston, Geddes, Gholsom, Gloninger, Goldsborough, Goodwin, Gourdine, G tia, Grovesnor, Grundy, Hale, Hall, Hanson, Harris, Haws, Hopkins, of N. York, Howell, Hubbard, Hussey, Humphreys, Hungerford, Ingersoll, Ingram, Jackson, of R. I. Jackson, of Va. Kennedy, Kent, of N. York, Kent, of Md. Kerr, Kilbourn, King, of Mass. King, of N. C. Lefferts, Lewis, Lovett, Lowndes, Lyle, Macon, M'Coy, M'Kee, M'Lean, Miller, Mosher, Mosely, Murfree, Murrell, Nelson, Newton, Oakley, Pearson, Pickering, Pickens, Piper, Pitkin, Pleasants, Post, Potter, J. Reed, Wm. Reed, Reed, of Penn. Rhea of Tenn. Ridgely, Ringgold, Robertson, Ruggles, Schureman, Sevier, Seybert, Sharp, Sheffey, Sherwood, Smith, of N. H. Smith, of N. Y. Smith, of Penn. Smith, of Va. Stanford, Stockton, Strong, Stuart, Sturges, Taggart, Tallmadge, S. Tannehill, Taylor, Thompson, Troup, Vose, Ward, of Va. Ward, of N. J. Webster, Wetmore, Whitehill, Wilcox, Wilson, of Mass. Wilson, of Penn. Winter, Wood, Wright, Yancey—137.

NAYS.—Baird, Barnett, Brown, Buckler, Caldwell, Clark, Clopton, Conrad, Crawford, Dawson, Desha, Evans, Findley, Fisk of N. Y. Glasgow, Honeyman, Kershaw, Montgomery, Ormby, Parker, Rich, Rounce, Sage, Skinner, etc.—26.

The question was then taken by Yeas & Nays, on the second resolution, in the following words;

Resolved That the President of the United States be requested to inform the House, whether Mr. Russell, late Charge d'Affairs of the United States at the Court of France hath ever admitted or denied to his government the correctness of the declaration of the Duke of Bassano to Mr. Barlow, the late Minister of the United States at that Court, as stated in Mr. Barlow's letter of the 12th May, 1812, to the Secretary of State, "that the said Decree of April 8, 1811, had been communicated to his (Mr. Barlow's) predecessor there;" and to lay before this House any correspondence with Mr. Russell relative to that subject which it may not be improper to communicate, and also any correspondence between Mr. Barlow and Mr. Russell on that subject, which may be in possession of the Department of State.

And the question was decided in the affirmative;

For the Resolve 137

Against it 29

The third resolution having been read in the following words;

Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to inform this House whether the Minister of France, near the United States, ever informed this government of the existence of the said Decree of the 28th April, 1811, and to lay before the House any correspondence that may have taken place with the said Minister relative thereto, which the President may not think improper to be communicated.

This question also was decided in the affirmative

For the said resolve 134

Against it 30

The 4th resolution was then read in the following words,—

Resolved That the President of the United States be requested to communicate to this House any other information which may be in his possession, and which he may not deem it injurious to the public interest to disclose relative to the said decree of the 28th of April, 1811. and tending to show at what time, by whom, and in what manner the said decree was first made known to this government, or to any of its representatives or agents.

And the question being taken thereon, it was decided as follows.

For the resolve 137

Against it 34

The 5th resolution was then read in the following words.

Resolved, That the President be requested in case the fact be, that the first information of the existence of said decree of the 28th of April 1811, ever received by this government or any of its ministers or agents was that communicated in May, 1812, by the Duke of Bassano to Mr. Barlow, and by him to his government, as mentioned in his letter to the Secretary of State of May 12, 1812, —and the accompanying papers, to inform this House whether the government of the United States hath ever received from that of France any explanation of the reasons /that decree being concealed from this government and its Minister for so long time after its date; and if such explanation has been asked by this government, as has been stated to be given by that of France, whether this government has by any remonstrance or expressed any dissatisfaction to the government of France such concealment

And the question thereon was decided as follows.

For the resolve 93

Against 68

The resolutions having been thus severally agreed to—

A committee was appointed to present the resolutions to the President of the United States.

On motion of Mr. Reed,

Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to transmit to this House copies of a Declaration and Order in Council by the British government of the 21st April, 1812, and a copy of a note from Lord Castlereagh to Mr. Russell, being the answer alluded to in the letter of Mr. Russell to the Secretary of State, of the 28th April, 1812

TUESDAY JUNE 22

HUNTER and PEARSON.

The bill to reward the officers and crew of the United States' sloop Hornet was read a third time and passed. The bill appropriates $25,000 for that purpose.

Ways and Means

On motion of Mr. Bibb, the House resolved itself into a committee of the whole, Mr. Nelson in the chair, on the several bills for laying direct and internal taxes.

On the suggestion of Mr. Bibb, the bill for establishing a direct tax was first taken up.

Mr. Bibb explained the provisions of the bill and expressed his regret at the necessity which had devolved this duty on him from the indisposition of the chairman (Mr. Eppes)

Considerable discussion arose on amendments proposed to the details of the bill respecting the arrangements of the districts,

The committee rose at the usual hour of adjournment reported progress and the House adjourned.

Wednesday, June 23

The House again resolved itself into a committee of the whole Mr. Nelson in the chair, on the several bills laying Taxes

The Direct Tax bill was further discussed and amended.

The question which excited most discussion was a proposition to take one the apportionment of the Direct taxes among the several counties in both states, as fixed by the bill, with a view to the appointment of assessors for the purpose of such apportionment in each state. The committee rose without deciding on the proposition, and the House adjourned.