American Watchman And Delaware Advertiser

Nineteenth Congress, Second Session.

Wednesday, January 3.

IN SENATE.

The bill granting certain lands for the endowment of seminaries in the State of Missouri, was read a third time, and passed.

Mr. Marcy asked and obtained leave to introduce a bill for the payment of the interest due the State of Pennsylvania: which was read.

Mr. Johnson, of Kentucky, from the Select Committee, upon the bill to abolish imprisonment for debt, reported the bill and a great number of amendments, mostly verbal, but including two or three new sections. The bill was read by sections, and the amendments severally considered, and agreed to, in Committee of the Whole.

Mr. Johnson then moved that the bill be made the order of the day for this day week, and that it be printed; which was agreed to.

Mr. Woodbury, from the Committee on Commerce, made a report in favor of the memorial of the Chamber of Commerce of Philadelphia; relative to a Breakwater at the mouth of the Delaware, accompanied by a bill making an appropriation for that purpose; which was read.

The report was ordered to be printed.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

The House proceeded to the consideration of the following resolution, submitted by Mr. Rives, on the 29th of December:

"Resolved, That the Committee on Ways and Means be instructed to inquire into the expediency of discontinuing the annual appropriation heretofore made for defraying the expense of such surveys of routes for roads and canals as may be directed by the Executive, and of substituting therefor distinct and specific appropriations for surveying such routes only as shall be authorized by Congress."

Mr. Bartlett withdrew his amendment, proposed on the same day, and Mr. Rives's resolution was then agreed to.

The bill to establish the office of Commissioner of the Customs, reported at the last session, was, on motion, re-committed to the Committee of Ways and Means.

The engrossed bill to authorize the importation of brandy in casks of a capacity not less than fifteen gallons, and the exportation thereof with benefit of drawback, was read a third time: and the question being, "Shall the bill pass?"—a very long debate ensued; when, on motion of Mr. Kremer the question was taken by yeas and nays, and decided as follows—yeas 106—nays 67.

So the bill was passed and sent to the Senate for concurrence.

The Speaker laid before the House a letter from the Postmaster General, transmitting a statement of the nett amount of postage accruing at each Post Office in the United States for the year ending 31st March, 1826, and shewing the nett amount accruing in each State and Territory. Referred to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.

The following is the recapitulation of the statement referred to in the preceding entry, and exhibits the nett amount of Postage which accrued in each State and Territory, for the year which ended on the 31st March, 1826.

Grand Total $912,893 09

New York	-	-	-	-	$212,536	15
Maine	-	-	-	-	22,916	07
Vermont	-	t	-	-	12,305	31
New Hampshire		-	-	-	11,827	78
Massachusetts	-	-	-	-	92,428	93
Rhode Island	-	-	-	-	12,662	90
Connecticut	-	-	-	-	27,640	71
New Jersey	-	-	-	-	15,584	05
Delaware	-	-	-	-	4,690	93
Maryland	-	-	-	-	56,046	13
Pennsylvania	-	-	-	-	118,066	58
Ohio	-	-	-	-	27,479	92
Michigan Territory	-	-	-	-	1,732	51
Virginia	-	-	-	-	67,294	81
North Carolina	-	-	-	-	24,505	08
South Carolina	-	-	-	-	44,763	65
Kentucky	-	-	-	-	23,111	64
Georgia	-	-	-	-	39,428	25
Louisiana	-	-	-	-	27,477	36
Illinois	-	-	-	-	2,446	64
Tennessee	-	-	-	-	16,112	07
Alabama	-	-	-	-	18,092	58
Indiana	-	-	-	-	4,996	23
Missouri	-	-	-	-	5,288	65
Arkansas Territory	-	-	-	-	785	65
Florida Territory	-	-	-	-	1,579	09
District of Columbia	-	-	-	-	11,518	44
Mississippi	-	-	-	-	9,574	97

Committee then rose, reported progress, and obtained leave to sit again.

Thursday, January 4.

IN SENATE.

Mr. Hayne, of South Carolina, presented a memorial of sundry citizens of Charleston, praying that Congress would no longer delay to establish an uniform system of Bankruptcy. The memorial, Mr. H. stated, was signed by some hundreds of the most respectable and intelligent citizens of Charleston. Ordered to be printed.

A Bill from the House of Representatives to authorize the importation of brandy in casks of a capacity of not less than fifteen gallons, and to export the same, was read twice, and made the order of the day for Monday.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Mr. Little, from the Select Committee on the subject, reported an Act fixing the ratio of representation after the 3d day of March, 1830; which was read twice, committed, made the order of the day for to-morrow, and ordered to be printed.

This bill fixes the ratio at one representative to 60,000.

Mr. Burges moved the House to postpone all the orders of the day which precede the bill to provide for the surviving officers of the army of the Revolution, and the bill to provide for certain persons engaged in the land and naval service of the United States during the Revolutionary war, and whose cases were not before provided for.—Ayes 70, Noes 52.

The House then resolved itself into Committee of the whole on these bills—Mr. Condict in the chair.

Mr. Burges, of Rhode Island, rose and addressed the House at considerable length.

The Bill was then read.

Mr. Burges then moved to amend the Bill, by striking out after the enacting clause the whole of the old bill, and to insert in lieu the bill for the relief of the surviving officers of the army of the revolution.

On motion of Mr. Mitchell, of Tennessee, the

Friday, January 5.

IN SENATE.

Mr. Clayton, from the Committee of Claims, reported a bill for the relief of Daniel Fielding, and a bill for the relief of Jacob Butler.

The bill to authorize the President of the United States to cause the reserved Salt Springs, in the State of Missouri, to be exposed to sale; and the bill to provide for taking evidence in the Courts of the United States in certain cases; were severally read a third time and passed.

The Senate adjourned to Monday.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

On motion of Mr. Wright, it was

Resolved, That the Committee of Ways and Means be instructed to inquire into the expediency of remitting to the Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and to Kenyon College, in Ohio, the duties imposed on certain articles gratuitously presented to said seminary and college by certain benevolent citizens in England, and imported into the United States for the use of said seminary and college.

This being a day appropriated for the consideration of private business, the Speaker called the orders of the day, when

Mr. Burges moved to postpone all the other orders of the day to take up the bill to provide for the surviving officers of the army of the revolution, &c.

Ayes 82, Noes 51.

On motion of Mr. Burges, the House resolved itself into a Committee of the whole on these bills,

Mr. Condict in the Chair.

Saturday, January 6.

The Senate did not sit to day.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

On motion of Mr. Brent, it was

Resolved, That the Committee of Ways and Means be instructed to inquire into the expediency of making an appropriation to increase the salary of the Postmaster General.

EXPORTATION OF FREE PERSONS OF COLOR.

Mr. Weems offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That a special Committee be appointed by this House to inquire into the expediency of making an appropriation for the transportation of such free People of color as may wish to be sent to the Colony at Liberia.

Mr. Weems said, it was not his intention, at the moment of offering a subject of this nature, for the consideration of this honorable body, to attempt entering into the merits of the proposition, because he would wish it to remain for consideration; but, with the indulgence of the House, he would state, in as condensed a manner as possible, two reasons that had influenced his mind, with the hope that it might induce every member of Congress to examine well the subject. In Maryland, said he, the State which I have the honor, in part, to represent, it has been found impracticable to extend to this unhappy part of our community, equal rights as criminals, in the blessings even of Penitentiary confinement. At first, we did, until it was found that, in a few more years, a building covering ten or twelve acres would not, perhaps, contain them. Banishment, therefore, has been substituted, and, although furnished with a copy of the record, they have no security for future liberty. On the contrary, they are purchased, and carried to a distance: and, it is verily believed, that they are no sooner beyond the confines of the State, than they are robbed of that evidence, and carried into slavery for life. Regretted, as this must be, by all men of feeling, there is no remedy, it would seem, left: so that, in truth, whilst we are endeavoring to prevent the slave trade being any longer carried on by American citizens abroad, we are, in fact, carrying it on at home.

Another reason is, sir, that, now satisfied of their degraded situation, a large number of the free blacks of Maryland have memorialized the citizens of Baltimore on the subject, making a strong appeal to their best feelings of charity and justice; inviting assistance sufficient only to waft them to the land of their forefathers—to the young colony at Liberia, where they expect to be able, as humble instruments in the hands of the Great I A I, to cause the wilderness to rejoice, and the heathen become the worshippers of the living God. They have reminded us of our ancestors, when forced by persecution to emigrate to this country—then a savage wilderness—now the Paradise of the world. And shall we not endeavor to do something to meet this call: thereby aiding in the very object, perhaps, which was intended to be produced, when our forefathers were persuaded to bring them here? For I never can consent, sir, to view it in any other light, believing, as I do, that the right of property of this sort of purchase without money, has been recognized under every dispensation from God to man. It is the justice and humanity of the act, sir, that influences my conduct, and not a belief that there is any thing like a mine that may be blown up with a match—

Mr. W. was here interrupted by Mr. Webster, who made a point of order—inquiring if it was in order to discuss a resolution when the person who offered it himself expressed his intention to move that it lie on the table—a motion to lay any proposition upon the table not being debatable.

After some explanations by the Chair,

Mr. Webster demanded that the previous question of consideration be taken.

The question was accordingly taken, Will the House now consider the resolution? And it was decided in the negative, by a large majority.

So, for the present, the subject passed off.

Mr. Barney moved the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Committee of Ways and Means be instructed to inquire into the expediency of reducing the duties on Teas, Wines, Coffee, and Salt. Also, into the propriety of requiring cash payments for duties on foreign manufactures.

This resolution was read, and was rejected by the House.

The engrossed joint resolution, directing the Secretary of the Navy to apply to the Government of Pennsylvania for jurisdiction over certain lands at the Navy Yard at Philadelphia, was read the third time, passed, and sent to the Senate for concurrence.