H. OF R. Foreign Relations. DECEMBER, 1811. time to time such detachments of the militia, as in his Hawes, John M. Hyneman, Richard Jackson, junior, opinion the public service may require." And decided as follows: Ws-Willis Alston, jr., William Anderson, Stevenson Archer, Daniel Avery, Ezekiel Bacon, John Baker, David Bard, Josiah Bartlett, Burwell Bassett, William W. Bibb, William Blackledge, Harmanus Bleecker, Thomas Blount, Adam Boyd, James Breckenridge, Robert Brown, William A. Burwell, William Butler, John C. Calhoun, Langdon Cheves, Martin Chittenden, James Cochran, John Clopton, Thomas B. Cooke, Lewis Condit, William Crawford, Roger Davis, John Dawson, Joseph Desha, Samuel Dinsmoor, Elias Earle, James Emott, William Findley, James Fisk, Asa Fitch, Meshack Franklin, Thomas Gholson, Thomas R. Gold, Charles Goldsborough, Peterson Goodwyn, Edwin Gray, Isaiah L. Green, Felix Grundy, Bolling, Hall, Obed Hall, John A. Harper, Aylett Hawes, Jacob Hufty, John M. Hyneman, Richard M. Johnson, Joseph Kent, William R. King, Abner Lacock, Joseph Lefever, Joseph Lewis, jr., Peter Little, Robert Le Roy Livingston, William Lowndes, Aaron Lyle, Nathaniel Macon, George C. Maxwell, Thomas Moore, Archibald McBryde, William McCoy, Samuel McKee, Alexander McKim, Arunah Metcalf, James Milnor, Samuel L. Mitchill, James Morgan, Jeremiah Morrow, Jonathan O. Moseley, Hugh Nelson, Thomas Newbold, Thomas Newton, Stephen Ormsby, William Paulding, jr., Joseph Pearson, Israal Pickens, William Piper, Timothy Pitkin, jr., Benjamin Pond, Peter B. Porter, Elisha R. Potter, Josiah Quincy, John Randolph, William Reed, Henry M. Ridgely, Samuel Ringgold, John Rhea, John Roane, Jonathan Roberts, William Rodman, Ebenezer Sage, Thomas Sammons, Ebenezer Seaver, John Sevier, Adam Seybert, Samuel Shaw, Daniel Sheffey, John Smilie, George Smith, John Smith, Richard Stanford, William Strong, George Sullivan, Benjamin Tallmadge, Peleg Tallman, Uri Tracy, George M. Troup, Charles Turner, jr., Pierre Van Cortlandt, jr., Laban Wheaton, Leonard White, Robert Whitehill, David R. Williams, William Widgery, Thomas Wilson, Richard Winn, and Robert Wright-120. NAYS-Abijah Bigelow, Elijah Brigham, Epaphroditus Champion, John Davenport, jr., Richard Jackson, jr., Lyman Law, Lewis B. Sturges, and Samuel Taggart-8. The question was then taken on the fifth resolution, in the words following: "That all the vessels not now in service belonging to the Navy, and worthy of repair, be immediately fitted up and put in commission." And carried, as follows: YEAS-Willis Alston, jr., William Anderson, Stevenson Archer, Daniel Avery, Ezekiel Bacon, John Baker, David Bard, Josiah Bartlett, Burwell Bassett, Abijah Bigelow, William Blackledge, Harmanus Bleecker, Thomas Blount, James Breckenridge, Elijah Brigham, William A. Burwell, William Butler, John Calhoun, Epaphroditus Champion, Langdon Cheves, Martin Chittenden, James Cochran, John Clopton, Thomas B. Cooke, Lewis Condit, William Crawford, Roger Davis, John Dawson, Joseph Desha, Samuel Dinsmoor, Elias Earle, William Ely, James Emott, William Findley, Asa Fitch, Meshack Franklin, Thomas Gholson, Thomas R. Gold, Charles Goldsborough, Peterson Goodwyn, Isaiah L. Green, Felix Grundy, Bolling Hall, Obed Hall, John A. Harper, Aylett Richard M. Johnson, Joseph Kent, William R. King, Abner Lacock, Lyman Law, Joseph Lefever, Peter Little, Robert Le Roy Livingston, William Lowndes, Aaron Lyle, George C. Maxwell, Thomas Moore, Archibald McBryde, William McCoy, Alexander McKim, Arunah Metcalf, James Milnor, Samuel L. Mitchill, James Morgan, Jeremiah Morrow, Jonathan O. Moseley, Hugh Nelson, Thomas Newbold, Thomas Newton, Stephen Ormsby, William Paulding, jr., Joseph Pearson, Israel Pickens, William Piper, Timothy Pitkin, jr., Benjamin Pond, Peter B. Porter, Josiah Quincy, William Reed, Henry M. Ridgely, Samuel Ringgold, John Rhea, John Roane, Jonathan Roberts, Ebenezer Sage, Thomas Sammons, Ebenezer Seaver, Adam Seybert, Samuel Shaw, George Smith, John Smith, William Strong, Lewis B. Sturges, George Sullivan, Samuel Taggart, Benjamin Tallmadge, Peleg Tallman, Uri Tracy, George M. Troup, Charles TurLeonard White, William Widgery, Thomas Wilson, ner, jr., Pierre Van Cortlandt, jr., Laban Wheaton, Richard Winn, and Robert Wright-111. NAYS-William W. Bibb, Adam Boyd, Robert Brown, Edwin Gray, Jacob Hufty, Joseph Lewis, jr., Nathaniel Macon, Elisha R. Potter, John Randolph, William Rodman, Daniel Sheffey, John Smilie, Richard Stanford, Robert Whitehill, and David R. Williams-15. The question was put from the Chair on the sixth resolution, in these words: "6. That it is expedient to permit our merchant vessels, owned exclusively by resident citizens, and commanded and navigated solely by citizens, to arm under proper regulations, to be prescribed by law, in self-defence, against all unlawful proceedings towards them on the high seas." When the resolution was, on motion, ordered to lie on the table. The three first resolutions, for filling up the present establishment, for raising an additional number of regulars, and authorizing the acceptance of volunteers' services, were referred to the committee who reported them, with instructions to bring in bills in pursuance thereof. TUESDAY, December 17. Mr. MORROW, from the Committee on Public Lands, presented a bill directing the terms on which lands sold at private sale, and that revert for a failure in payment, shall again be sold; which was twice read and committed. The following is the bill; Be it enacted, &c., That no tract or tracts of the reserved sections or other public lands of the United States, that have been or may hereafter be sold at public sale, and which may have, or shall, on account of failure to complete the payment of the purchase money, revert to the United States, shall hereafter be sold at private sale, at a price less than that for which the same tract was sold at public sale. Mr. WILLIAMS, from the committee appointed on that part of the President's Message which relates to filling the ranks and prolonging the enlistment of the regular troops, and to an auxiliary force, to the acceptance of volunteer corps, to detachments of militia, and to such a preparation of the great body of militia, as will proportion its usefulness to its intrinsic capacity, asked and obtained leave to lay on the table all the documents obtained by that committee from the War Department on the subject submitted to their consideration. Referred to the Committee of Foreign Relations. Mr. NEWTON reported a bill to deprive in certain cases ships or vessels of their American character, and to prevent, under certain disabilities, any citizen of the United_States from taking a license from any foreign Power to navigate the ocean, or trade with any other foreign Power. Twice read and committed. Mr. NEWTON also reported a bill to prevent the exportation from the United States, or Territories thereof, of any goods, wares, or merchandise, under the authority of permits or licenses derived from any foreign Power; which was twice read, and committed. Mr. MORROW reported a bill for the revision of former confirmations, and for confirming certain claims to land in the district of Kaskaskia, which was twice read, and committed. This bill was accompanied by a detailed report, which was committed to the same committee. The bill from the Senate for completing the existing Military Establishment was twice read, and committed. The House then proceeded, on motion of Mr. BLACKLEDGE, to consider the resolution summitted by him on the 13th, which was modified so as to read as follows: "Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to cause to be prepared and laid before the House a system of rules and regulations proper to be adopted for training and disciplining the regular troops and militia of the United States." The resolution was agreed to, and Messrs. BLACKLEDGE and LIVINGSTON appointed a committee to present the same to the President. Mr. POINDEXTER, from the committee appointed on the 13th ultimo, on the petition of the Legislature of the Mississippi Territory, made a detailed report, which was read; when a motion was made by Mr. WILLIAMS, that the report be recommitted to the committee that reported it; which was agreed to. H. OF R. The committee, to whom was referred the memorial of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Mississippi Territory, and the petition of sundry citizens thereof, praying to be admitted into the Union of the United States on an equal footing with the original States; and also the petition of the inhabitants of West Florida, setting forth their desire to be annexed to said Territory, for reasons therein conand beg leave to submit the following report: tained, have had these subjects under consideration, That there has existed in the Mississippi Territory a temporary government, founded on the ordinance for the government of the Territory Northwest of the river Ohio, since the eleventh day of April, one thousand ordinance has undergone some modifications, extendseven hundred and ninety-eight. That, although this ing, in a limited degree, the rights and privileges of the citizens, it still contains provisions incompatible with political liberty, and unfavorable to a due and impartial administration of justice, in the redress of private wrongs and injuries. The Chief Executive Magistrate is charged with the execution of the laws; is com mander-in-chief of the militia; has the sole power of appointment to offices, civil and military, within the Territory, and the removal of these officers at pleasure; is vested with an unqualified veto on all bills passed by the other co-ordinate branches of the Legislature; and is, moreover, clothed with the odious and arbitrary authority to prorogue and dissolve the General Assembly whenever, in his opinion, it shall be expedient. These high and regal prerogatives, constituting some of the most obvious characteristics which distinguish an absolute monarchy from the constitution of a free State, are confided to the discretionary exercise of a Governor, who is neither chosen by, nor responsible to, the people. He is often a total stranger to the local interests and circumstances of the country over which he possesses such unlimited control, and is accountable only of the United States. The only security which exists for malconduct or corruption in office to the President against the frequent and wanton abuse of these powers is to be found in the mild and conciliatory disposition uniformly manifested by the General Government towards its Territories. But experience has shown that, in all colonial governments, officers situated at a remote distance from the tribunal to which they are responsible, too frequently "feel power and forget right;" and, by eluding the vigilance of rigid investigation, are enabled to practise acts of oppression with impunity. Mr. POINDEXTER, from the same committee, Your committee forbear to enter minutely into an presented a bill to enable the people of the Mis-examination of the various objections which might be sissippi Territory to form a constitution and State urged against the present system of Territorial governgovernment, and for the admission of such Statements. into the Union, on an equal footing with the original States; which was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the Whole on Monday next. The above summary of Executive powers, so opposite in their nature to those principles which form the basis of the Federal Constitution, and which are transfused through the constitution of the several States, is The House proceeded to consider the report sufficient to show that the people are deprived of all of the committee of conference on the apportion-participation in the choice of those who administer the ment bill; when, on motion of Mr. RANDOLPH, laws, and that public functionaries are rendered indethe further consideration thereof was postponed pendent of the community whose interests are confided to their management and discretion. These restrictions on the rights of the people can be justified only by the most evident necessity, resulting from peculiar and unavoidable circumstances. Your committee, therefore, consider it an act both of strict justice and sound policy to advance the respective Territories of the United States to the grade of a separate commonwealth, whenever they shall contain the number of in to to-morrow. MISSISSIPPI TERRITORY. Mr. POINDEXTER, from the committee to whom the said report was committed, reported the same with an amendment; which was read, and referred to the Committee of the Whole on Monday next. The report is as follows: habitants necessary to entitle them, under the ratio established by law, to a Representative in the Congress of the United States. On the subject. of population, there exists no difficulty, whether the Territory be tal en in connexion with West Florida or with its present limits. From the official returns of the census, taken during the summer of the past year, it appears that there were, in the Mississippi Territory, the number of forty thousand three hundred and fifty-two souls. This enumeration, it is alleged, fell considerably short of the act a' population of the Territory at that time; and, without casting the most remote censure on the officers who were employed in that service, such a suggestion is strongly supported by the vast extent of country over which the settlements are dispersed. It also appears to your committee that the progressive emigration from the old States to this section of the Union, added to the length of time which it will require to form a constitution, and put the same in operation, afford satisfactory pledges that, anterior to the final admission of the Territory to the rights of State sovereignty, the number of its inhabitants will amount to at least sixty thousand, whereby they will possess the unqualified right, in conformity with articles of cession and agreement between the United States and Georgia, to be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States. This view of the subject is presented without reference to the augmentation of population, which would result from the annexation of West Florida; in that event the number of souls in the Territory, exclusive of the county of Madison, which lies near the Great Bend of Tennessee river, may be estimated at about eighty thousand; and, from the geographical situation of the Territories belonging to the United States south of the State of Tennessee, and north of the Iberville and the lakes, your committee feel satisfied that an alteration of limits, so as to include the whole population between the Yazoo and the Iberville, where they unite with the river Mississippi, and from these points, respectively, east, to the boundary line of the State of Georgia, would greatly contribute to the future convenience and prosperity of the people who reside in that country. At a very early period after the treaty of 1763, between France and Great Britain, by which the latter became possessed of the Floridas, the jurisdiction of the province of West Florida was extended north, by a line drawn from the mouth of the Yazoo, due east, to the river Chatahouchy. The Government of Spain, also, when that Power succeeded to the possession of the country, by conquest, in the year 1781, continued to exercise authority over it in the same extent which the British Government had previously done, until, by the treaty concluded between the United States and Spain, on the 27th day of October, 1795, the southern boundary of the United States was declared to extend to the thirty-first degree of north latitude. The Government of the United States, by the treaty of 1803, with France, having acquired Louisiana in the extent that France then held it, and that it had in the hands of Spain, prior to the Treaty of St. Ildefonso, there does not seem to be a reasonable doubt as to the claim of the United States to the country east of the Mississippi, as far as the river Perdido, which lies between Mobile and Pensacola. Your committee, therefore, conceive that, insomuch as the entire tract of country formerly possessed by Great Britain, under the name of West Florida, and DECEMBER, 1811. subsequently transferred to Spain, as forming.a part of Louisiana, has fallen under the dominion of the United States, it ought, in strict propriety, to be restored to its ancient limits, as the measure corresponds with the wishes, and is calculated to promote the permanent welfare of the people whose interests are immediately concerned.. It is assuredly the incumbent duty of the General Government to make such a partition of its Territories on the waters of the Mississippi, as will combine with local advantages a due regard to national policy. These essential objects cannot, in the opinion of your committee, be secured without a suitable division of the seacoast, acquired by the purchase of Louisiana. It must be obvious, that, to confer on the State to be formed of the Territory of Orleans, the whole extent of seaboard from the river Perdido to the Sabine bay, would give to it an influence over the commerce of the Western country which might be productive of the most mischievous consequences; for, although the legislative authority of the State could impose no tax or duty on articles exported from any other State, yet there are many important regulations which would materially affect the navigation of the numerous rivers flowing through this country into the Gulf of Mexico, falling within the legitimate range of State powers; among these may be enumerated the incorporation of -navigation companies, and appropriations of the public revenue for the purpose of opening canals. Thus, by affording every facility to the trade passing down the river Mississippi to New Orleans, and by interposing vexatious obstructions to the commerce of those rivers emptying into the Bay of Mobile and the lakes, that city will become the emporium of all the bulky articles of agriculture, which constitute, in time of peace, the great export trade of the Western States and Territories. The direct tendency of such a monopoly, would be to raise the commercial importance of New Orleans, at the sacrifice of the best interests of those who inhabit the vast, fertile, and extensive region watered by the Tennessee, the Tombigbee, and Alabama rivers, and their tributary streams, besides many other important rivers, affording outlets through the Mississippi Territory into the Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain. To guard against these contingencies, and to unite a people whose language, manners, principles, and usages that tract of country, of which possession has been are assimilated, your committee recommend that all taken by virtue of the President's proclamation, bearing date the 27th day of October, 1810, be added to the State to be formed of the Mississippi Territory, whenever the same shall be admitted into the Union as such. Your committee cannot forbear to express their decided opinion, that, where no Constitutional difficulty occurs, the formation of new States on the southern extremity of the United States ought not to be delayed. To bind together every portion of the American people by the indissoluble cord of affection, and to perpetuate the integrity of the Union, are considerations paramount to all others which can be presented to the view of the National Legislature. Let us, therefore, extend to every section of our beloved country a just equality of rights and privileges, that each may enjoy civil, political, and religious liberty, subject to the control of independent local authorities, while the fostering hand of the Federal Government shall protect them in the enjoyment of these blessings from domestic feuds and external violence. Under these impressions, your committee submit the following resolution: Resolved, That it is expedient to admit all that tract of country, bounded north by a line drawn due east from the river Yazoo, where it unites with the Mississippi, to the river Chatahouchy, and down said river to the thirty first degree of latitude; thence, along said degree of latitude, to a point opposite the river Perdido; thence to the confluence of said last mentioned river, with the Gulf of Mexico; and thence, in a direct line through the middle of the Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the junction of the Iberville with the river Mississippi, and up said river to the above mentioned river Yazoo, into the Union of the United States, on an equal footing with the original States. MARITIME DEFENCE. Mr. CHEVES, from the committee appointed on that part of the President's Message which relates to the naval force of the United States and to the defence of our maritime frontier, made the following report in part: "The committee to whom was referred so much of the President's Message of the 5th of November, 1811, as relates to the defence of the maritiine frontier, report in part, that two communications from the Secretary of War, which accompany this report, which were made in reply to the queries propounded by the committee, contain the best information on the subject which they have been able to collect. That one of them contains an enumeration of the permanent fortifications which have been completed or commenced, with remarks on the troops necessary to garrison them. That, for the completion of works already commenced, no further appropriation is requisite. But that some additional works are deemed necessary, the precise extent of which cannot at present be determined; for which, and for contingent objects of defence on our maritime frontier, in the event of hostilities, the committee recommend an appropriation of one million of dollars; and the committee for that purpose beg leave to report a bill entitled "a bill making further appropriation for the defence of our maritime frontier." Mr. CHEVES then presented a bill making a further appropriation for the defence of our maritime frontier; which was twice read and committed. NAVAL ESTABLISHMENT. Mr. CHEVES, from the committee to whom was referred so much of the President's Message as relates to the Naval Establishment, made the following report: H. OF R. served the existence of the establishment, has had the effect of loading it with the imputations of wasteful epense and comparative inefficiency. No system has hitherto been adopted, which, though limited by the dispensing security of the times, and the just economy of our Republican institutions, was yet calculated to enlarge itself gradually with the progress of the nation's growth in population, in wealth, and in commerce, or expand with an energy proportioned to a crisis of particular danger. Such a course, impolitic under any circumstances, is the more so when it is demonstrably clear that this nation is inevitably destined to be a naval power, and that the virtue of economy, if no other motive could be found, would recommend a plan by which this force must be gradually increased, the necessary expenses diminished, and durability and permanency given to the strength which they may purchase. That a naval protection is particularly secured to the interest of commerce by our great political compact, is proved by that part of the Constitution which maintain a navy," and is confirmed by the history of expressly gave to Congress the power to provide and the times, and the particular circumstances which led to its institution; but it is alike secured by the fundamental nature of all Government, which extends to every interest under its authority a protection (if within the nation's means) which is adequate to its preservation; nor is this protection called for only by the partial interests of a particular description of men or of a particular tract of country. A navy is as necessary to protect the mouths of the Mississippi, the channel through which the produce of the agriculture of the Western States must pass to become valuable, as the bays of the Chesapeake and Delaware, and more necessary than on the shores of the Eastern or the South ern States. that a Naval Establishment is forbidden by the great It has, indeed, been urged, your committee are aware, and burdensome expenditures of public money which, it is said, will be required to support it, and by the inability of the country, by any expenditure to maintain a navy which can protect its maritime rights against the power of Great Britain. The first objection appears to your committee to be founded on a mistaken assumption of the fact; for in their opinion a naval force within due limits and under proper regulations will constitute the cheapest defence of the nation. The permanent fortifications necessary to the dein the opinion of your committee, as much annually, fence of the ports and harbors of the Union will cost, if properly provided and garrisoned, as the naval force which, it is confidently believed, on the testimony of persons competent to decide, would be amply sufficient to prevent all attacks from reaching our shores. It will thus furnish the most appropriate, adequate, and cheap protection against a foreign enemy, and will at the same time be perfectly innoxious to the public liberty and the private morals of the country; dispense almost entirely with a standing army, so hostile to the genius of our free institutions, and remove the stand That the subject referred to your committee in its several relations presents a question of the highest importance to the interests of the people of this country, inasmuch as it embraces one of the great and leading objects of their Government; that which, above all others, laid the foundation of the happy union of these States. Your committee need hardly say they mean the protection of maritime commerce; an interest which, though when superficially viewed, seems to affect only the Atlantic portions of the country, yet reallying extends as far as the utmost limits of its agriculture, and can only be separated from it, in the opinion of your committee, by a total blindness to the just policy of Government. The important engine of national strength and national security which is formed by a The other objection your committee suppose to be naval force, has hitherto, in the opinion of the commit- founded on an imperfect examination of the subject; tee, been treated with a neglect highly impolitic, or for those who are best able to form opinions on this supported by a spirit so languid, as, while it has pre-matter, from congenial professional pursuits, as well vices and evils of camps and garrisons from the cities on our seacoast; cherish a noble body of mariners, who in honorable peace will spread the sails of a prosperous and vivifying commerce on every sea, and in necessary war terribly avenge their country's wrongs. as a particular knowledge of the marine of Great Britain, declare that she cannot, at any time, spare more than a very limited force for the American station : one which can be effectually resisted' by an establishment which may be supported by this Government without a great direct expense, while in its effects it will greatly more than reimburse to the national wealth, the sums which may be drawn from it for this object; protect our harbors from insult, our coasting trade from spoliations, and give us the dominion of a sea on our borders which we ought to call our own, and defend with our cannon. DECEMBER, 1811. of the nation. Your committee are, at the same time, not unaware that some of those who are unfriendly to a navy, ground their opposition rather upon its future permanent establishment, than on its present expense. But your committee will only observe, that the wisdom of that policy seems to reach as far beyond reasonable practicable views, as it will probably fall short of the attainment of its object. To restrain the great energies of such a number, as this country possesses, of the best seamen the world ever beheld, and such a mass of tonnage as Great Britain herself has not boasted more than twenty years, will as much transcend the feeble efforts of the politician as it would be beyond his power to create them; they are formed by the high behest of beneficent nature, nurtured by our wise, free and happy, public institutions, and can only perish with the latter. To detail all the reasons on which this opinion is founded, would, perhaps, not be in the power of your committee, who are in part governed by the opinions of men of experience and professional skill, (often among the best grounds of human faith, but not always equally communicable :) but the leading facts and prinYour committee, however, admit, that it will neither ciples on which it is founded, are too plain and obvious be politic nor practicable to swell the Naval Establishto labor under this difficulty. The history of all times ment of this country to the size of our desires or of our proves the inability of Great Britain or any other Pow-necessities; but a gradual increase of it is, in their er to station a large force in remote seas; for, indepen- opinion, within the most limited means, and within the dent of the necessity which always exists for its pres-obvious policy of our Government, and in attempting ence in more proximate quarters, could the former this some present addition will be made (too littlenation place the whole of her thousand ships on our much too little, they lament) to the best strength of coast, she would be unable, in a state of hostility with the nation, and as a measure of preparation for this the United States, competently to supply even a concrisis of danger. siderable squadron of them, for any duration of time, with the least regard to the efficiency of the service, and without a wasteful and ruinous expense: let those who hold a different opinion declare how and from whence? To the defence of your ports and harbors and the protection of your coasting trade should be confined, in the opinion of your committee, the present objects and operations of any navy which the United States can or In this view our advantages are great ought to have. and manifest. Looking along our extended line of coast, from the northeastern to the southern extreme of our territory, we discover in quick succession ports and harbors furnishing in abundance every supply for active and constant service; in which to concentrate by mutual advice and information, which can be transmitted with the greatest certainty and speed, the forces of different stations, to attack the enemy in detail when his vessels may be scattered; and in which our ships may find refuge and security when approached by a force so much superior as to forbid a combat. To enter no further into details, it is obvious that, from these advantages, the power and efficiency of an American Navy must be double its nominal proportion to that of an assailing enemy. But your committee beg leave to observe, that it would be unworthy the magnanimity of the nation to look only at one Power, and forget that it stands in the relation of an independent sovereignty to other nations, against whom, unless man change his nature and cease to be violent and unjust, it may be necessary to array the national force on that element where the injury may be suffered and where alone it can be avenged or redressed. With this view your committee have not considered this subject with regard only to the practicable and advisable tion for the present momentous crisis, which, whatever it may be, must be greatly inadequate, for the reasons already stated; but the object of the committee is to recommend a system which shall look to futurity, and though limited by the present situation and means of the country, have a capacity to be enlarged in proportion to the growing wealth, commerce, and population prepara With these observations, and with a full, detailed, and useful report of the Secretary of the Navy, in reply to questions propounded by your committee, they beg leave to recommend, that all the vessels of war of the United States, not now in service, which are worthy of repair, be immediately repaired, fitted out, and put into actual service: That ten additional frigates, averaging thirty-eight guns, be built; that a competent sum of money be apthat a dock, for repairing the vessels of war of the Uni propriated for the purchase of a stock of timber, and ted States, be established in some central and convenient place. They also beg leave to report a bill, entitled "A bill concerning the Naval Establishment." Mr. CHEVES then presented a bill concerning the Naval Establishment; which was twice read and committed. FOREIGN RELATIONS. The House resumed the consideration of the unfinished business. The fifth resolution, yesterday adopted, respecting the Navy, was referred to the Committee of the Whole, to whom was this day committed the bill concerning the Naval Establishment; and the fourth, respecting authorizing the Executive to call out detachments of militia, was referred to the Committee of Foreign Relations to report a bill. and last resolution reported by the committee, in The House then proceeded to consider the sixth the following words: "6. That it is expedient to permit our merchant vessels, owned exclusively by resident citizens, and commanded and navigated solely by citizens, to arm under proper regulations, to be prescribed by law, in self-defence, against all unlawful proceedings towards them on the high seas.' Mr. WRIGHT moved to amend the resolution, by adding thereto the following: |