United States until 1802, when it was ceded to the State of Georgia. From the most correct information relative to the said territory, it appears that it is inhabited by about 800 souls, and (to adopt the words of a former report) it is not shown at what period they made the settlement, nor had they any title to the land on which they settled and made improvements. No such title indeed could have been created, as those lands remained within the boundary of the Cherokees until the year 1798, when a part of this territory was purchased by a treaty held at Tellico. It does not appear that the lines that bound the tract of land in question, and divide it from Carolina, have ever been established by public authority. After the transfer of this territory by the United States to Georgia, the Legislature of that State, in compliance with the earnest request of those selfgoverned people, praying that they might be allowed to participate in the civil rights enjoyed in common by the people of the United States, passed an act in the year 1803 to organize the inhabited part of the territory, and to form it into a county, authorizing, at the same time, the Governor to appoint commissioners, to meet such commissioners as should be appointed by the Government of North Carolina to ascertain and plainly mark the line dividing this territory from North Carolina. The Governor of North Carolina expressed a readiness to accede to the proposition, under the provisions of a former act of the Legislature of that State, but clogged with a condition which the Legislature of North Carolina refused to depart from, and which the Legislature of Georgia refused to accede to. Her reason may be found in a letter from General Pickens, of the State of South Carolina, attached to a report made to the House respecting that territory while the property of the United States. The letter states, that before the

people inhabiting that territory settled on the lands, it was surveyed, and grants obtained for most part of it from the State of North Carolina, and probably by men who cared little whether the land was within the Indian claim or the limits of South Carolina. Your committee conceive that they have no right to enter into the feelings of either of the parties, or to pronounce upon the justice of the condition made by North Carolina on the one part, or its rejection by Georgia on the other, and have therefore confined their attention to that part of the memorial which calls upon Congress to define and mark out the thirtyfifth degree of latitude-the line which North Carolina admits to bound her State-upon the south and north of which Georgia can have no claim of territo

ry.

Your committee, after giving to this point the

most deliberate consideration, are of opinion that the United States are bound, in good faith, to use their friendly offices with the State of North Carolina for obtaining an amicable adjustment of the limits of the territory, which they have transferred to Georgia, in all parts where such limits may be disputed.

Your committee, therefore, beg leave to offer the following resolution:

Resolved, That the President of the United States be authorized to appoint a commissioner, to meet such commissioners as may be appointed by the States of North Carolina and Georgia, for the purpose of ascertaining and running the line which divides the territory transferred by the United States to Georgia, from North Carolina.

The report was read, and referred to a Committee of the whole House on Friday next.

[FEBRUARY, 1806.

THURSDAY, February 13.

Society of Harmony.

The House went into a Committee of the Whole on the bill received from the Senate, the object of which is to authorize the location of a quantity of land in the Indiana Territory by George Rapp and his associates, they paying two dollars therefor, and giving them a credit, without the payment of interest, for six years, when they are to pay one-fourth of the purchase money, and the residue in six annual payments, on condition that, agreeably to prescribed terms, the vine shall be cultivated.

Mr. MCCREERY stated that George Rapp and his associates, amounting to about 3,000 persons, were natives of the Electorate of Wirtemberg; that they were Lutherans, who had fled from oppression in that country; that they were mostly cultivators of the vine, and wished an extension of the usual time for paying for public lands, they not having the means of the common payment; they wished to live together, and to cultivate the vine for their principal support, for their prosperity, and for the good of the community, in introducing its culture into this country.

Mr. ELY observed that the bill appeared to give a preference in the sale of the public lands; that the bill was presented from the Senate without the documents or testimony which might justify this preference; he therefore moved that it should be committed to the Committee on Public Lands.

of the best land at only two dollars per acre, Mr. GREGG. They obtain a whole township and it is proposed to extend to them an unusual indulgence in the time of payment. He would not agree to it.

Mr. FINDLAY spoke in favor of the bill. Mr. CONRAD.-The indulgence of time for payment is not unprecedented. He showed an act granting twelve years for payment where land was purchased for the same purpose, and that act does not bind the purchasers to plant the vine, whereas this does. It were better to make a present of the land than not have the settlement among us of such persons. If not thus sold, it is more than probable that the land will lie waste and unsold more than the six years.

Mr. OLIN.-If we car. be justified in a sale of this kind, why oblige foreigners instead of our own countrymen? We have citizens enough of our own who would be glad to purchase on such terms.

Mr. SLOAN.-Though I drink no wine myself, I have no wish to prevent others, for I think it may often be serviceable. I consider the indulgence as to the time of payment in the light of an encouragement or bounty, that may prove useful to us as well as the applicants.

Mr. SMILIE.-I cannot say with the gentleman from New Jersey that I drink no wine, for I certainly do when I can get it. I do not consider it as a valid objection that the peti

tioners are foreigners. I am myself a European, who have fled from oppression in the country where I was born. How great a part of Pennsylvania is settled by such characters! Mr. MCCREERY.-The applicants are men of piety and industry. Let us give them a good chance, for our own sakes as well as theirs, to introduce the culture of the grape here.

Mr. FINDLAY.-If this indulgence be not given, the land will lie waste. We wish to populate the territory. Their settlement will enhance the value of the public lands around them.

Mr. ELY.-I am sorry my motion has occasioned so much debate. I was ignorant of the circumstances relating to this society, and to the character of it; my object was information, not an intention to defeat the bill. We deviate from the usual mode, which is to have the report of a committee in cases of this sort.

Mr. GREGG.-This bill very improperly authorizes a deviation from the established practice of selling public lands-it is a change of principle. I do not wish to see so great a body of foreigners settled together; we shall have a little Wirtemberg; we must legislate for them; they cannot speak our language; they cannot serve as jurymen, and from the information I have received, I am confident they will not succeed in cultivating the vine in that country.

Mr. BEDINGER. I am a shareholder in a vineyard in Kentucky, and our success has exceeded our most sanguine expectations.

Mr. MACON.-In order to try the sense of the committee, I move to strike out the words "George Rapp and his associates." Why should we not grant bounties for raising wheat or corn as well as the vine? If wine can be made here to advantage, there is no need of the encouragement of this House. A few years since we raised no cotton, but the profit of this culture once known, it has become an article of vast exportation. What claim have these aliens over our own citizens? They have been oppressed; put your finger on any spot of Europe that is not under oppression. If you commence this new system, all the best sections of land will be taken up in this manner. Who will not purchase on such terms?

Mr. LYON.-Lands not belonging to the publie may be had for less than one dollar an acre in many places.

Mr. OLIN.We have men that can cultivate the vine as well as those foreigners. It is a plain, simple thing.

[H. OF R.

Mr. JACKSON.-I rise merely to state a fact I have just now learned. There are at this very time men waiting for the passage of this bill, who are ready to give six dollars per acre for much of the very land the bill contemplates.

Mr. HOLLAND.-Some small tracts only may sell for six dollars. We bind the purchasers to plant the first year 9,000 plants, and 3,000 annually after.

Mr. MORROW, of Ohio.-I rise only to reply to the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. JACKSON.) I never seek for information in the lobby, nor the gallery, nor Pennsylvania avenue. The gentleman is misinformed.

Mr. JACKSON.-My authority is an honorable member near me-an authority at least as respectable as any the gentleman from Ohio can have.

The question was taken-50 for striking out, 51 against it. The committee rose, and the House considered the bill.

Mr. CROWNINSHIELD.-There is no interest to be received. I have made a calculation that, considering the want of interest to the time of the last payment, we now get only ninety-seven cents per acre. I move to strike out two, and insert three dollars per acre.

The motion was lost-44 only for it.

Mr. CROWNINSHIELD.-There are in a section about 23,000 acres, making about 46,000 dollars. I move to insert six per cent. interest till paid.

Mr. NICHOLSON.- Public lands are sold without interest for a certain time. If the money be not punctually paid, I am willing the debt should be on interest after.

Mr. JACKSON.-I move to postpone the consideration of the bill indefinitely.

The ayes and nays were called for, and taken on this motion-ayes 53, nays 59.

Mr. CROWNINSHIELD's motion for the insertion of interest was lost-52 to 49.

Mr. D. R. WILLIAMS moved the insertion of two instead of six years for payment of the land. Motion lost-54 to 45. The bill passed to a third reading for to-morrow.

FRIDAY, February 14.

Indiana Territory.

Mr. SLOAN.-This bill will enhance the value of lands adjoining. It will be a humane act.

opinion that a qualified suspension, for a limited time, of the sixth article of compact between the original States and the people and States west of the river Ohio, would be beneficial to the people of the

Indiana Territory. The suspension of this article is an object almost universally desired in that Territory. It appears to your committee to be a question entirely different from that between slavery and freedom, inasmuch as it would merely occasion the removal of persons, already slaves, from one part of the country to another. The good effects of this suspension, in the present instance, would be to accelerate the population of that Territory, hitherto retarded by the operation of that article of compact, as slaveholders emigrating into the Western country might then indulge any preference which they might feel for a settlement in the Indiana Territory, instead of seeking, as they are now compelled to do, settlements in other States or countries permitting the introduction of slaves. The condition of the

slaves themselves would be much ameliorated by it, as it is evident, from experience, that the more they are separated and diffused, the more care and attention are bestowed on them by their masters, each proprietor having it in his power to increase their comforts and conveniences in proportion to the smallness of their numbers. The dangers, too, (if any are to be apprehended,) from too large a black population existing in any one section of country, would certainly be very much diminished, if not entirely removed. But whether dangers are to be feared from this source or not, it is certainly an obvious dictate of sound policy to guard against them, as far as possible. If this danger does exist, or there is any cause to apprehend it, and our Western brethren are not only willing but desirous to aid us in taking precautions against it, would it not be wise to accept their assistance ? We should benefit ourselves, without injuring them, as their population must always so far exceed any black population which can ever exist in that country, as to render the idea of danger from that source chimerical.

Your committee consider the regulation contained in the ordinance for the government of the Territory of the United States, which requires a freehold of fifty acres of land as a qualification for an elector of the General Assembly, as limiting too much the elective franchise. Some restrictions, however, being necessary, your committee conceive that a residence continued long enough to evince a determination to become a permanent inhabitant, should entitle a person to the rights of suffrage. This probationary period need not extend beyond twelve months.

The petition of certain settlers in the Indiana Territory, praying to be annexed to the State of Ohio, ought not, in the opinion of your committee, to be granted

After attentively considering the various objects desired in the memorials and petitions, the committee respectfully submit to the House the following

resolutions:

1. Resolved, That the sixth article of the ordinance of 1787, which prohibits slavery within the Indiana Territory, be suspended for ten years, so as to permit the introduction of slaves, born within the United

States, from any of the individual States.

age

2. Resolved, That every white freeman of the of twenty-one years, who has resided within the Territory twelve months, and within the county in which he claims a vote, six months immediately preceding the election, shall enjoy the rights of an Elector of the General Assembly.

3. Resolved, That the petition of certain settlers in

[FEBRUARY, 1806. the Indiana Territory, praying to be annexed to the State of Ohio, ought not to be granted.

4. Resolved, That it is inexpedient, at this time, to grant that part of the petition of the people of Randolph and St. Clair which prays for a division of the Indiana Territory.

Referred to a Committee of the Whole on Thursday next.

Society of Harmony.

The bill allowing George Rapp and his associates to locate a township of land in the Indiana Territory on certain conditions, was read a third time.

Mr. CLARK moved to recommit the bill to the

Committee on Public Lands. The bill wants several amendments. There is no penalty, should the petitioners neglect to plant the vines.

Mr. JACKSON.-I second the motion of my colleague. These public lands formerly belonged to the State of Virginia; when ceded by that State, the Government of the United States were made trustees "for the common benefit of the Union; faithfully and bona fide for that use, and for no other," to use the words of the act granting the cession. This is a contract between Virginia and the United States; we are in the place of trustees; we cannot vio late the trust, yet this mode of selling the land tion of the trust. This precedent will be quoted for the benefit of individual foreigners is a violahereafter, and will operate most injuriously. Notwithstanding what the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. MORROW) has said, I cannot help saying, that there are men ready at this time to give six dollars per acre for this very land, or land of this description. This bill will give them a whole township, 23,000 acres of land of the first quality. I cannot conceive the cultivation of the vine as a national benefit, as being "for the common benefit of the Union." It will diminish the revenue, should vines be raised in abundance here. the tax is paid by the rich. I am altogether Wine is heavily taxed, and opposed to the bill.

Mr. SMILIE.-A new argument indeed is brought forward by the gentleman from Virginia. We can hardly turn round without somehow invading the rights of Virginia. If we talk of building a bridge or erecting a dam, at once the rights of Virginia are invaded. If we wish to dispose of some of our public land in the West as we think proper, the rights of Virginia are invaded. Virginia claimed lands stretching to the north pole; she took what she wanted, and gave a quit claim to the United States for the rest. Some of the House think this sale, this indulgence in the payment for the purpose of introducing the cultivation of the vine, and of serving these worthy foreigners, will be "for the common benefit of the Union;" some think otherwise; it is merely a matter of opinion, and a majority of opinion must decide.

Mr. MORROW.-There are some small tracts of land, on which what are called squatters are

FEBRUARY, 1806.]

them.

[H. OF R

Mr. PARKE, of the Indiana Territory.-Even in the settled parts of the Territory, lands are not above three dollars.

Mr. ELY.-Gentlemen have said that poor lands were proper for the vine. It may be so; but the petitioner and his associates mention also the raising of hemp, which requires the best bottom lands. I am far from wishing to discourage these settlers; but they are already among us, and will not leave this country. They are represented to be (and I fully believe the representation) men of piety and morality; the United States are not beyond improvement in piety and morality; instead of putting them in one, and that a far-distant place, let them be scattered over the Union, that all parts may be benefited. Such a body of men, of one sect, of one language, will wish to seclude itself from the rest of the Union; they will wish what this bill gives them, and what I think injurious, an exclusive territory. We are deviating from our common usage in the sale of land. Is the deviation necessary or proper? Gentlemen have said they were flying from oppression to this land of liberty; liberty was their object; a republican Government; yet it appears that when they left Wirtemberg, their expectation and intention was to settle in Louisiana, then under the Spanish Government. The bill obliges them to plant a certain number of vines; perhaps the expense of this will not be $100, and there is no forfeiture even if they should refuse to comply. It may prove a fine speculation for them; they may get perhaps the finest land and the best salt lick in the territory.

Mr. NICHOLSON, (after recapitulating the arguments previously adduced.)—I have no objection to the settlement of the applicants in one body; nor can I see any probable evil resulting from it. The gentleman from Massachusetts has informed us that the people of the United States are bad enough, and that the distribution of this society over the whole States might prove advantageous to the Union; if not in one body, they must settle on lands for sale in different parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, &c. This distribution would be unfair, as Massachusetts has not lands for sale, except perhaps in the district of Maine; hence that State would be deprived of the advantage it might obtain by an improvement of its piety and morality from a distribution of a part of this society among the citizens of that State. I know not why the sale of this land, according to the terms of the bill, should be considered as not conducing to the good of the nation. We have given lands for colleges and schools, and for the support of clergymen; we have also sold lands, the proceeds of which were to be expended for the improvement of roads-roads by which the public at large would be benefited, though the

The bill was recommitted to a Committee of the Whole-62 to 53, and made the order of the day for Monday next.

MONDAY, February 17.

Non-Importation of Slaves into Territories. Mr. DAVID R. WILLIAMS, from the committee appointed, on the seventh instant, "to inquire whether any, and, if any, what, additional provisions are necessary to prevent the importation of slaves into the Territories of the United States," made the following report:

That the act of Congress, passed the 7th April, 1798, authorizing the establishment of a Government in the Mississippi Territory, permits slavery within that Territory, by excluding the last article of the ordinance of 13th July, 1787. The seventh_section of this act prohibits, after the establishment of a Government, the importation of slaves from any port or place without the limits of the United States; of course, the right to import slaves from any place within the limits of the United States is not restricted.

the Government of the Territory of Orleans, secures The act of 2d March, 1805, further providing for to its inhabitants "all the rights, privileges, and advantages, secured by the ordinance of 13th July, 1787, and now enjoyed by the people of the Mississippi Territory." The importation of slaves, from any place within the limits of the United States, is one of those rights; consequently, the inhabitants of the Territory of Orleans may exercise it also.

The tenth section of the act of 26th March, 1804, "erecting Louisiana into two Territories, and providing for the temporary government thereof," prohibits the introduction of slaves into that Territory, from any place, "except by a citizen of the United States, removing into said Territory, for actual settlement, and being at the time of such removal bona fide owner of such slave or slaves." This tenth section, being repugnant to the first section of the act of 2d March, 1805, was repealed by the last section of said act,

which declares: "that so much of an act, entitled 'An act erecting Louisiana into two Territories, and providing for the temporary government thereof,' as is repugnant with this act, shall, from and after the first Monday of November next, be repealed."

The committee are in the possession of the fact, that African slaves, lately imported into Charleston, have been thence conveyed into the Territory of Orleans; and, in their opinion, this practice will be continued to a very great extent while there is no law to pre

vent it.

Upon this view of the subject, the committee be lieve it is expedient to prohibit any slave or slaves, who may be hereafter imported into the United States, from being carried into any of the Territories thereof; they, therefore, respectfully recommend the following resolution:

Resolved, That it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to import or bring into any of the Territories of the United States any slave or slaves that may hereafter be imported into the United States.

The report was referred to the Committee of the Whole to-morrow