Norfolk Gazette And Publick Ledger

MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE.
IN SENATE JUNE 8.
IMPORTANT.

The following able Report was presented to the two branches of our Legislature on Tuesday last and taken up for consideration in the Senate, yesterday; the debate continued until the hour of adjournment, without a decision. It is a manly and independent appeal to the patriotism and good sense of the people of Massachusetts.

REPORT

The committee to whom was referred the letter of the secretary of war of the United States, to his excellency the governor, bearing date at Washington, March 30th, 1813, in answer to an application, made by his excellency in compliance with a resolve of the honorable the general court of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, to the executive of the United States, requesting such supply of muskets as might be considered the proportion to which the commonwealth was entitled under a law of the United States, passed in April, 1808; by which law the annual sum of two hundred thousand dollars was appropriated for the purpose of providing arms for the militia of the United States, to be transmitted to the several states in proportion to the effective militia in each state,

Respectfully report,

That the law of the United States referred to by his excellency the governor, and entitled 'an act making provision for arming and equipping the whole body of the militia of the United States, and appropriating annually $200,000 for that purpose,' provides that the arms procured in virtue of that act, shall be transmitted to the several states composing the union, and the territories thereof, to each state and territory respectively, in proportion to the number of effective militia therein, under such rules and regulations as shall be by law prescribed by the legislature of each state or territory.

In the apprehension of your committee, the terms of the law are simple, precise, and definite, admitting neither of a perversion of purpose nor latitude of construction--of the favoritism of partiality, or an indulgence of caprice.

The people of the United States for the better defence thereof, by an act of their constituted authorities, set aside from their revenue the annual sum of two hundred thousand dollars, for arming and equipping the whole body of the militia of the United States, and expressly directed that the arms provided in virtue of that act should be transmitted to the several states composing the Union and territories thereof, to each state and territory, respectively, in proportion to the number of its effective militia. Hence it became the duty of the government not to wait for the application of the several states, but on the receipt of such supply of arms, as would admit of a reasonable division, promptly to transmit the same to the respective states and territories.

Whether this has been done, conformably with the provisions of the law, or consistently with those principles of respect, equity, and impartiality, which ought to regulate the conduct of the general government towards each member of the confederacy; the history of the amount of this fund; the distribution of the arms; and the letter of the secretary of war will determine.

The act having passed in April, 1808, it is evident that at this time one million of dollars must have accrued under it, and ought to have been appropriated towards arming the whole body of the militia of the United States. Of this sum or the proceeds of it, on the ratio of her contributions to the revenue of the United States, Massachusetts would be entitled to about one-fifth part, having paid upwards of forty millions towards the two hundred and fifteen millions of dollars derived by the United States under the operation of the Federal government--but predicated upon the more unfavorable ratio of the law, which in this case must govern, Massachusetts, although capable of bringing into the field an effective force of one hundred and twenty thousand free white citizens, for the purpose of sustaining her rights, of checking usurpation, or of repelling invasion, would be entitled only to the number of arms procured under the act of April, 1808, in the ratio that 70,830, the number of militia agreeably to the last return to the general government from Massachusetts, bears to 719,449, the whole return of the militia of the United States as communicated to Congress by the president, on the 10th of February of the present year--thus giving to Massachusetts an indisputable claim, a vested right, without the power of alienation or diversion, in any department of the general government, to about one tenth of the said sum of one million of dollars already accumulated, or of about one-tenth of the number of arms that have been procured therefrom.

And your committee further report, that, from the returns made to Congress by the war department in December last, it appears, that contracts under the law of the United States of April 23, 1808, have been made for 90,200 stands of arms, 24,000 stands were contracted for in Massachusetts, and 8,715 stands were actually delivered by the manufacturers within the state, prior to October last, and that, from these contracts, there had been received by the general government, six months since, 81,640 stands of arms, at which time 53,560 stands of arms in addition were due and ought to have been delivered into the public arsenals, of which about one tenth part from the moment of their receipt by the general government, became, in the opinion of your committee, the actual property of the state of Massachusetts, and by the terms of the same law, it also became the duty of the administrators of the general government, to have caused a proportion of them in that ratio to be transmitted or delivered to this state; that not a single musket of this number has been received, or has been intended to be transmitted, or delivered, is too apparent, from the reply of the secretary of war to the application of his excellency.

Of the distribution of the stands of arms which had been actually received by the government of the United States, under the law of April 1808, it appears from returns made to Congress by the department of war to the month of December last, that

1000 stands had been delivered to N. Hampshire.
2500 to Vermont.
1000 to Rhode-Island, to which state 250 stands had also been loaned.
1000 to New-Jersey.
500 to Delaware to which state 650 stands had also been loaned.
2130 to North Carolina.
2000 to South-Carolina.
1000 to Georgia.
1500 to Ohio (which state 8500 stands had also been loaned),
to Kentucky.
60 to Tennessee.
to Louisiana, and to the territory of Illinois, and that there had been loaned to the district of Columbia, 2200.

What has become of nearly 16,000 stands of arms in addition, which are acknowledged to have been received, and of 53,560 stands of arms which were contracted to be delivered on or before the 7th October, 1812, and remain unaccounted for; or what number has been received since October, or under what authority the department of war has assumed a discretion neither given, nor warranted by the law, of loaning an excess beyond the proportion to which it was entitled by the provisions of the law, to any state or territory, or of making any loan whatever, your committee have not the means of ascertaining; and the short duration of the present session of the legislature will not admit of a timely reference to the only source from which perhaps information might be obtained.

Of the causes or pretences which have induced the government of the United States to furnish eleven states of the union, the district of Columbia, and the territory of Illinois, with a proportion of arms, which it has seen proper to withhold from the populous, respectable, and exposed state of Massachusetts, and which had been delivered from its own manufactories--the letter of the hon. John Armstrong, secretary at war of the United States, of March 15, communicated by his excellency, furnishes the evidence.

By that letter his excellency is informed, that 'the President has deemed it most conducive to the general interest to supply in the first place the frontier states, and the militia who have come forward in the defence of the country, and that when the state of the public arsenals will justify the measure, Massachusetts will receive her proportion of arms, agreeably to the provisions of the law.'

In commenting on these reasons of the secretary at war, for the omission to transmit, or to deliver to the state of Massachusetts, the proportion of arms to which it was entitled, your committee beg leave to remark, that the state of the public arsenal in December last, as it respects the supply of arms, provided for the respective states and territories, will be manifested by the preceding statement, from which it appears, that of the 85,200 stands of arms, which were due to the general government from the contractors in October, and of which it is acknowledged 81,640 had at that time been delivered, short of 16,000 had been distributed as late as December last, but they confess they are wholly unable to comprehend, or perceive even on the alleged principles of distribution, how the withholding from the state of Massachusetts, rashly and unpreparedly plunged, in common with the rest of the union, into a disastrous war with the most powerful maritime nation the world ever witnessed; possessing a defenceless, more extended, and more densely populated sea board than any other state in the union, intersected with ports and harbors in every direction, heretofore, by the goodness of God, the blessings of peace, and the industry of their inhabitants, the native havens of one third of the tonnage of the nation, and bordered by a long line of boundary, on the east, and on the north by the provinces of the enemy, can be justified or palliated, by a pretence, that it has been deemed most conducive to the general interest,--in the first place to supply the frontier states, and in consequence, to omit the transmission or delivery of a single musket to a state with a frontier of nearly a thousand miles in circuit.

The additional cause assigned by the secretary at war, for withholding the proportion of arms allotted to Massachusetts--'that it was most conducive to the general interest to supply in the first place, the militia who have come forward in the service of the country.' alone remains to be considered; and your committee with reverence approach this part of the duty assigned them; for they are confident that while the State of Massachusetts, among the most ancient and powerful of the sisters of the great family of states, who compose this confederated empire, will duly guard her own honor and self respect, and will ever be alive to the maintenance of her just right at every hazard, that she will never compromise her dignity, nor stoop from her pride of place, to repel unmerited aspersion, if any such were intended, on the motives of the man, whom she is gratified to honor who has evinced himself to be a wakeful Watchman on the citadel, and a faithful Guardian of the constitutional rights and liberties of his fellow citizens nor upon a militia, inferior to none in the Union, and who are at once the ornament, the boast, and the security of the state which has reared and formed, and which delights to cherish and respect them. And should at any time hereafter any insidious foe seek to sow the seeds of jealousy and discord between the militia of the several parts of the Union, by unfounded imputations on the efficiency or patriotism of the military of Massachusetts--the Legislature will view all such attempts with horror, and reject them with disdain.

Under the influence of these convictions, the committee forbear to dilate on this part of the letter of the secretary at war, and limit themselves to reporting, that from the whole view of the subject which they have been enable to take, they are of opinion, that the proportion of arms provided under the law of the United States of the 23d of April, 1808, to which the state of Massachusetts is entitled, has been unduly withheld from her, and that in the present exposed situation of the country, it is the imperious duty of the Legislature to place that part of it under their protection in an effective state of defence, as speedily as may be practicable, and they therefore recommend the adoption of the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Adjutant General of the state be directed forthwith to request of the secretary at war of the United States, that the proportion of arms to which the state of Massachusetts is entitled under the law of the 23d of April, 1808, for arming and equipping the whole body of the militia of the United States, may be immediately transmitted to him, in his official capacity in behalf of the state: and in case of refusal that the Senators and Representatives of this commonwealth, in the Congress of the United States, be requested to endeavor to obtain the enacting of a law, by which such proportion of the money collected under the said act, as if invested in arms would of right belong to Massachusetts, should be held subject to the disposition of the treasurer of this commonwealth, in order that the state may be enabled to adopt those measures of defence which the general government neglect to provide for it.

JOHN WELLES.