to soften our irritated country by conciliatory language; not to offer atonement for offences, and indemnifications for wrongs that are past: these, with a single exception, he passes over as things beneath the notice of the British Government or its Envoy, or as injuries to which the inexhaustible forbearance, the presumed timidity, or the abject debasement of the American Government would insure her silent submission. He commences a new species and system of insult. He prescribes to the President what he shall recommend, and what the National Legislature shall enact. He demands a law which shall admit the products and manufactures of Great Britain into the ports of the United States, although American manufactures are, even in time of peace, excluded from the British dominions. He commands the American Government to procure of Napoleon an abandonment of his continental system, and the admission of British products and manufactures into his own and the ports of his allies. A compliance with the first of these demands is a relinquishment of sovereignty; to fulfil the latter, the United States have neither right, nor power, nor the folly to attempt. The first is degrading, the second impossible. And yet a submission to these royal mandates is menacingly declared to be the only condition on which the Orders in Council shall be repealed, and the violation of our neutral rights discontinued.

DECEMBER. 1811.

can citizen, to seize a subject of His Britannic Majesty, wherever such subject can be found, and to subject him to imprisonment and labor, corresponding to the condition of the impressed American on board of a British ship of war.

6. Resolved, That the wisdom, patriotism, and firmness of the Executive and Councils of the General Government entitle them to our perfect confidence, and their measures to our prompt and zealous cooperation; and, in case an appeal to arms should be deemed necessary, we will support them at the risk of our lives and fortunes.

7. Resolved, That the Governor of this Commonwealth be instructed to transmit an authenticated copy of these resolutions to the President of the United States, with a request that he communicate them to Congress. JOHN TODD, Speaker of the House. P. C. LANE, Speaker of the Senate.

MONDAY December 30.

Soon after the Journal was read, Mr. DAWSON rose and addressed the Chair. The lowness of his voice, owing to recent indis position prevented his being heard distinctly; but his observations were nearly as follows:

ent people, therefore,

1. Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met, That the policy of the British Government, as exhibited by her naval power on the high seas, and expressed by her Envoy near the United States, merits the reprobation, and cannot but arouse the virtuous indignation of every friend of this country

and its Government.

2. Resolved, That, when submission or resistance to the unjust demands of a tyrant is the alternative, the latter only can be chosen by the freemen of America.

3. Resolved, That, though we would rejoice in that adoption and practice of justice which would secure to Great Britain and to the world our friendship and friendly intercourse, we will, in order to repel aggression and obtain reparation, vigorously exert all the powers which we possess to accelerate the accomplishment of such military preparations as the wisdom of our National Legislature may require.

untimely end.*

the metropolis of that State, on that sad night, Among those who perished in the flames, in were the Chief Magistrate of the State, and a gentlemant well known to many of us, and who, for years, held an honorable station in this House. Some of the most valuable and prominent characters in their professions, and others who promised ere long to be ornaments to their country. With these, sir, was the rising offspring of one of our present most valuable members, and many other amiable and virtuous women who adorned and improved society.

These, sir, with many others, have fallen victims to that unrelenting element, notwithstanding the bold and generous efforts which were made to save them.

and their spirits have ascended to Heaven. Their ashes are now mingled with the dust,

It is to us a great national calamity.

practice to our constituents.

5. Resolved, That the question merits serious consideration, whether, in order to suppress the system of plunder and impressment on the high seas, it would or would not be a just, humane, and efficient retaliation to lay hold on property of the British Government or of its subjects, whenever such property can be found to an amount sufficient to indemnify the plundered American; and for every impressed Ameri

respect and sorrow which this nation feels for the deceased, and to prove that we sympathize this painful subject, I beg leave to offer the folwith the afflicted, without further comment on lowing resolution:

Resolved, That the members of this House will wear crape on the left arm for one month, in testimony of the respect and sorrow which they feel for those unfortunate persons who perished in the fire in the city

*At the burning of the Theatre at Richmond. † Mr. Venable.

Mr. M. Clay's daughter.

H. OF R.

1808 and 1809, and have been occasioned by two

causes:

1st. The generally depressed state of commerce, during those years, which so materially affected the general revenue of the country, and, consequently, the emoluments of the officers employed in its collection, in different degrees.

2d. The payment over, by some of the present incumbents of those particular offices, to the legal representatives of their deceased predecessors, of a moiety of the commissions arising from duties bonded by such predecessors, but actually received by such incumbents, pursuant to the 4th section of the act to establish the compensations for those officers, passed March 2d, 1799. On this view of the subject, the committee would remark, that, so far as such diminution of compensation has been occasioned by the first mentioned cause, it must be expected by public officers, whose emoluments depend, in a great degree, upon the actual state of the general commerce of the country, that they should, in some measure, share their part in the occasional variations which, at particular periods, may happen to that commerce; and if, during some years, they are enabled to receive an amount which is obviously something more than an average compensation for services equally arduous, in the ordinary branches of private business, it ought not to be complained of, if, in other years, they should receive somewhat less. Applying this principle to the case of the particular officers under consideration, the committee are convinced that, upon an average of three years, from 1808 to 1810, both inclusive, those officers (with the exception of the collector of Baltimore) have been enabled to receive an annual compensation for their services, which, in reference to the general rewards of skill and industry, during that period, ought, under all the circumstances of their case, to be deemed a reasonable one. The net emoluments of the collector of Philadelphia, (including the half commissions paid to his predecessor) during that period, amounting to the average sum of $2,537 12, annually; those of the naval officer of that port, to $2,625 89; those of the collector of Norfolk, to $921 82; and those of the collector of Plymouth, to $1,341 45. That, so far as the net emoluments of some of those officers have been affected by the second consideration above stated, it ought not to form a ground for remuneration by the Government, since it is a circumstance incident to all other officers of the same description, upon the commencement of their official duties, and is, in effect, but the advance of a sum out of their first year's emoluments, which they may calculate upon being refunded to them, or their legal representatives, after the expiration of their official duties by death or resignation.

That some inequalities exist in the compensations now allowed to the officers of the customs, is not improbable, and a general review of that subject may, at a suitable time; be proper and expedient. But it is doubted whether the present unsettled state of our commerce and revenue will afford sufficient data on which any permanent regulations in this behalf ought to be founded.

The case of the collector of Baltimore is the only one, amongst those referred to them, which, in the judgment of the committee, is attended with such obvious circumstances of hardship, and so striking inadequacy of compensation, as to justify extending to him specific and temporary relief. The present collector came into office near the commencement of the year 1808; and

DECEMBER, 1811.

it appears, from the official returns of his emoluments and expenditures, that his net emoluments for that and the two succeeding years have amounted to but $1,180 57, being an average annual compensation for those years of but $393 52; and, so far as can be ascertained from a comparative view of the official returns, it appears that the expenditures of that office have, during that period, been kept within as reasonable limits as circumstances would justify.

Under this view of the several cases referred to them, the committee recommend to the House the follow ing resolutions:

1st. That the prayer of the several petitions of the collectors of the ports of Philadelphia, Norfolk, and Plymouth, (Massachusetts,) and of the naval officer of the port of Philadelphia, ought not to be granted.

2d. That there be allowed to James H. McCulloch, collector of the port of Baltimore, the sum of $1,500, as a remuneration for services in his said office, during the years 1808, 1809, and 1810, for which his official emoluments were an inadequate compensation.

The committee beg leave further to report: That, in the course of the examinations which became necessary in relation to the merits of the particular cases under consideration, their attention has been drawn to the practical operation of those portions of the rev enue laws which were designed to limit, within reasonable bounds, the net annual emoluments of the officers of the customs, in some of the principal ports of the Union.

By the third section of the act of Congress, passed on the 20th day of April, 1802, it is provided "that, whenever the annual emoluments of any collector of the customs, after deducting therefrom the expendi tures incident to his office, shall amount to more than five thousand dollars, or those of a naval officer, after a like deduction, to more than three thousand five hun dred dollars, or those of a surveyor, after a like deduction, to more than three thousand dollars, the surplus shall be accounted for, and paid by them, respectively, to the Treasury of the United States."

The principal items composing the aggregate of “ex penditures incident to these offices," consist of clerk hire, stationery, office rent, and fuel; an account of which, those officers are now required by law to transmit, annually, to the Comptroller of the Treasury, to be by him laid before Congress. So long as the whole net amount of emoluments received by them, respectively, does not exceed the maximum which they are authorized to retain for their own compensation, the personal interest of the officer is undoubtedly a suffi cient check against an unreasonable application of their gross emoluments for clerk hire and other official expenses. But, whenever the net amount comes exceed that maximum, it is evident that the expendi tures for those objects are liable to misapplication and abuse. In the branch of clerk hire, particularly, thes tablishment of an officer may be extended among this friends, connexions, and dependents, to a degree lim ited only by the amount of which the whole net e uments of the office exceeded that to which the law has limited the personal compensation of the officer. The committee do not pretend to aver that any instances of such actual misapplication or abuse have been brought to their knowledge; but it is deemed their duty to state those of which the system, under present regulations, is susceptible, From the informa tion received from the Treasury Department, it ap pears that no legal or practical check against such

abuses now exists in that Department. It may, perhaps, be difficult to provide any which shall be entirely effectual. It has occurred to the committee, that some limitations upon the amount of clerk hire might properly be provided; that it should be made the duty of all custom-house officers to return to the Comptroller of the Treasury a specification of the number, names, and respective compensation, of all clerks employed by them; and giving to the accounting officers of the Treasury Department a power of revising the accounts of office expenditures, and disallowing such parts thereof as should appear to them unreasonable or improper. That all the emoluments arising from any agency employment, or office, attached to, or dependent on, any principal office in the customs, should be included in their general annual return of emoluments and expendEitures-the returns heretofore made, as it is understood, not being uniform in this respect, some of the officers including those particular emoluments in their returns, and others omitting them. In illustration of the nature E and extent of these emoluments, it is to be observed that all the collectors, in the ports where there are no surveyors, and the surveyors, in those ports where there are such officers, hold a separate commission of inspector of the revenue for the port, in virtue of which they are entitled to certain fees. One collector, in each State, under the act of April 6th, 1802, (for repealing the internal taxes) has been authorized to prepare certain certificates to accompany spirits, wines, and teas, imported, for which they receive certain fees. Sundry collectors are agents for the marine hospital, and superintendents of light-houses, for which they receive certain commissions on moneys expended by them. And whether it is within the intention of the law of the 30th of April, 1802, limiting the compensations of these officers, that such incidental emoluments should be included in that limitation, or not, it is equally proper that their annual amount should be known, and brought within the review and controlling powers of Congress.

Although the amount received by the custom-house officers, for their share of fines, penalties, and forfeitures, does not form a part of their ordinary emoluments, so as to subject this portion of them to the limitation, yet they ought, as it is conceived, to include them in their returns, and for this obvious reason, viz: that the same causes which may have much diminished the regular emoluments of those officers, may, and probably have, greatly increased the casual ones arising from this source. Another reason for requiring such returns is that of uniformity-some of the officers now including, and others omitting them.

Some regulations of this sort, designed to bring the official expenditures of the officers of the customs more mmediately under the review of the Legislature, and The reasonable control of the Treasury Department, have suggested themselves to the committee, and have Deen incorporated into the bill, which, by order of the Touse, is herewith reported.

COMMITTEE Room, November 19, 1811. SIR: The Committee of Ways and Means, to whom as been referred the several memorials of the collecOrs of Norfolk, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, praying for xtra compensation for past services, and for an increase the commissions attached to their offices, for the fure, and which are herewith enclosed, have directed e to request of you the following information, viz: 1st. A statement of the gross emoluments and offi

H. OF R.

cial expenditures of the collector of Baltimore, from the year 1805, inclusive, to the present period.

2d. A similar statement in relation to the collectors of Philadelphia and Norfolk for the preceding quarters of the year 1811.

3d. A statement of the official expenditures of the three officers aforesaid, from the year 1807, inclusive, to the present period, noting distinctly, the nature of those expenditures, the number of clerks employed by each, with their respective salaries and compensations. 4th. Whether the official expenditures of the collectors (particularly that portion of them occasioned by clerk hire) may not, without inconvenience, be diminished in proportion to the corresponding diminution of the current official business and emoluments of the several officers.

5th. Whether the necessary actual duties of said officers have not, in a good measure, diminished in a corresponding proportion to the diminution of their net emoluments.

6th. What practical checks exist against the improper expenditure of money for clerk hire and other office expenditures, and what are the general rules adopted by the Treasury Department in relation thereto.

7th. Such information, tending to elucidate the subjects referred to the committee, as you may think proper to communicate.

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, E. BACON.

Hon. A. GALLATIN,

Secretary of the Treasury.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
December 2, 1811.

SIR: I have the honor to enclose the statements of

emoluments and official expenditures of certain collectors, required by your letter of 19th ultimo, so far as the same are known at the Treasury.

I do not know the number and salaries of clerks em

ployed by the collectors. No other returns are required from them by law, in that respect, than those which have been annually transmitted to Congress. The Treasury has no control over, or checks against, the employment of a superfluous number of clerks by those officers-the only check provided by law being the amount of their gross emoluments, out of which they must pay their clerks, office rent, fuel, stationery, &c. The expense of clerk hire may certainly be diminished when there is a great diminution of business; but this may decrease more suddenly than it is practicable to dismiss men in your employment. It is so much the interest of the collectors to reduce their expenses, when their profits are diminished, that it is probable that they have all done it as far as they could; but I cannot assert the fact of my own knowledge. I am of opinion that, under the restrictive laws, the personal and actual duties of the collectors have been increased, notwithstanding the diminution of business in other respects. That the three collectors, whose petitions you enclosed, have not, during the period of their services, received a compensation adequate to those services, appears to me evident. How far justice and policy may require that an additional allowance shonld be made to them on that account, is not a question for me to decide. I have the honor to be, &c.

ALBERT GALLATIN.

Hon. E. BACON, Chairman
Committee of Ways and Means.

H. OF R.

TUESDAY, December 31.

Mr. MORROW, from the Committee on the Public Lands, presented a bill giving further time to the purchasers of public lands Northwest of the river Ohio to complete their payments; which was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the Whole on Monday next.

On motion of Mr. KENT,

Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to cause to be laid before this House information whether tobacco, the growth of the United States, is admitted into Holland, and, if admitted, whether the administration, en regie. on that article, as it exists in France, extends to Holland and the Hanseatic Towns, and whether the tariff in Holland is the same as that in France.

Mr. KENT and Mr. ORMSBY were appointed a committee to present the said resolution to the President.

An engrossed bill for the revision of former confirmations, and for confirming certain claims to land in the District of Kaskaskia, was read the third time, and passed.

An engrossed bill providing for the more convenient taking of affidavits and bail in civil causes depending in the courts of the United States, was read the third time, and passed.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate have passed a bill "extending the time of certain patents granted to Robert Fulton;" as also a bill for the establishment of a Quartermaster's Department; to which they desire the concurrence of this House.

The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting the estimates of appropriations for the year 1812; which were ead, and referred to the Committee of Ways and Means.

Mr. POINDEXTER called for the consideration of the resolution which had been laid upon the table some days ago, calling upon the President for information whether any negotiation be now pending between the United States and Spain, or any other Power, respecting the claim of the United States to that part of the country of which possession was taken by virtue of the President's proclamation of October. 1810, &c., which was agreed to, and a committee appointed to wait upon the President therewith.

ADDITIONAL MILITARY FORCE. The House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the bill from the Senate to raise an additional military force; when,

Mr. D. R. WILLIAMS moved that the committee rise, and have leave to sit again, in order to take up the bill from the Senate, authorizing the President of the United States to raise certain companies of rangers for the protection of the frontiers of the United States; as, from information received, it was probable that this force would be immediately wanted, serious apprehensions being entertained of renewed hostilities from the Indian tribes on our frontier.

The Committee rose accordingly, and the

DECEMBER, 1811.

House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the proposed bill. The bill was gone through, reported without amendment, read a third time, and passed.

The House then resumed the consideration, in Committee of the Whole, of the bill to raise an additional military force; when,

Mr. CLAY (the Speaker) moved to amend the bill by the following proviso:

"Provided, however, That officers for eight regi ments only shall be appointed, until three-fourths of the privates of such eight regiments shall be enlisted, when the officers for the remaining five regiments shall, also, be appointed."

Mr. CLAY observed that a difference of opinion had arisen yesterday, whether the additional mil itary force proposed to be raised ought to be fifteen thousand, or twenty-five thousand men; not so much, he believed, from a conviction that twentyfive thousand men would be too many, but from a dislike to the appointment of officers for the whole before they would be wanted, so as to have an army of officers without the requisite num ber of men for them to command. This objec tion would be obviated by the adoption of this amendment, for the officers for eight regiments would not be more than would be required for fifteen thousand men, had the friends of that number carried their point. And, as the whole twenty-five thousand men could not be got at once, the expense of the officers, whose appointment was proposed to be deferred, would be saved; and the officers for eight regiments would be fully sufficient for the recruiting service. He hoped, therefore, the amendment would be adopt ed.-Agreed to.

The CHAIRMAN was about to put the question on the Committee's rising, when

Mr. CLAY (the Speaker) said. that when the subject of this bill was before the House in the abstract form of a resolution, proposed by the Committee of Foreign Relations, it was the plea

sure of the House to discuss it while he was in

the Chair. He did not complain of this course of proceeding; for he did not at any time wish the House, from considerations personal to him, to depart from that mode of transacting the public business which they thought best. He merey adverted to the circumstance, as an apology for the trouble he was about to give the Committee. He was at all times disposed to take his share of responsibility, and, under this impression, he felt that he owed it to his constituents and to himself, before the Committee rose, to submit to their attention a few observations.

He saw, with regret, diversity of opinion among those who had the happiness generally to act together, in relation to the quantum of force proposed to be raised. For his part, he thought it was too great for peace; and, he feared, too small for war. He had been in favor of the number recommended by the Senate, and he would ask gentlemen who had preferred fifteen thousand, to take a candid and dispassionate review of the subject. It was admitted, on all hands, that it was a force to be raised for the purposes of war, and