SENATE.] General Appropriation Bill. [MARCH, 1824 said he, will elect the President, be the consti- | under the act of Congress of the 12th of April, 1814; tution what it may. The question was then put, on postponing the whole subject indefinitely, and decided in the affirmative-yeas 30, nays 13, as follows: YEAS.-Messrs. Barbour, Barton, Bell, Brown, Chandler, Clayton, D'Wolf, Eaton, Edwards, Findlay, Hayne, Holmes of Mississippi, Johnson of Kentucky, Henry Johnson, Josiah S. Johnston, Kelly, King of Alabama, King of New York, Knight, Lanman, Lloyd of Massachusetts, Mills, Palmer, Parrott, Seymour, Talbot, Taylor of Indiana, Taylor of Virginia, Van Dyke, and Williams. NAYS.-Messrs. Benton, Branch, Dickerson, Elliott, Holmes of Maine, Lowrie, Macon, Noble, Ruggles, Smith, Thomas, Van Buren, and Ware. and, above all, from the fact that, by an order issued from the War Department, the 15th December, 1818, a line drawn from the source of the Koamichi, to the source of the Poteau, was fixed as the limit of western settlements in Arkansas, and settlers west of that line were ordered to be removed to the east of it; in the execution of which order, by the commanding officer of Fort Smith, on the Arkansas River, the settlers in the now counties of Miller and Crawford were not removed, because found to be on the eastern side of the said line. The third alternative is, therefore, adopted by the committee, as well for the reasons growing out of the objections to the first and second, as because a line further west will divide into two equal parts the territory of the United States upon the Arkansas, east of the Mexican boundary, and will give to the future State of Arkansas that power and mag So it was resolved that the said resolution be nitude, to which, as a frontier State, in relation both indefinitely postponed. TUESDAY, March 23. Lake Superior Copper Mines. Western Boundary Line of the Territory of Mr. BENTON, from the select committee, to whom was referred, on the 17th December last, the memorial of the General Assembly of the Territory of Arkansas, made a report, accompanied by a bill to fix the western boundary line of the Territory of Arkansas; which were read, and the bill passed to a second reading.-The report is as follows: That the memorialists represent that the line, prescribed by an act of the last session of Congress, for the western boundary of the Territory of Arkansas, will pass through the counties of Miller and Crawford, and leave a proportion of the population of the said counties on the outside of said line and beyond the jurisdiction of said Territory; and they pray that the line may be altered, and fixed so far west as will include the residue of said counties and their inhabitants. to a foreign nation and numerous Indian tribes, it will be justly entitled. The adjustment of the Indian boundary lines not being a subject of legislation, the committee do not make any report upon the existing boundary between the Choctaws and white settlers in the Territory of of treaties made or to be made, and report a bill Arkansas. They leave that subject to the operation solely for the extension of the western boundary line of the Territory of Arkansas.* THURSDAY, March 25. Lake Superior Copper Mines. Mr. BENTON, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, to whom the subject was referred by a resolution of the Senate of the 23d instant, reported a bill to authorize the President to hold a treaty with the Indians owning the country on the south side of Lake Superior, for the purPose of extinguishing their title to certain districts supposed to contain valuable mines of copper; which was read, and passed to a second reading. General Appropriation Bill. The unfinished business of yesterday, being the bill from the other House, "making appropriations for the support of Government, for the year 1821," with the several amendments proposed thereto, by the Committee on Finance of *The bill which accompanied this report, and which was By information derived from the Delegate of said passed into a law, (which was afterwards most unfortunately Territory, the committee are informed that the num- repealed,) extended the western boundary of the territory ber of inhabitants thus cut off from the government forty miles west, upon a breadth of three hundred; and from under which they had lived, amounts to about twelve the excellence of the territory added would have made Arhundred souls; and the inquiries which present them-kansas a State of nearly the first class. The following was selves, are: 1st. Whether the said inhabitants shall be left as they are, without law to govern them? 2d. or, Whether they shall be compelled to come within the present limits of the Territory? 3d. or, Whether the western boundary shall be extended to include them? The first alternative the committee reject, for reasons too obvious to require specification. To the second, many objections are found, arising from the organized state of the counties; the claims which mary of the inhabitants set up for pre-emption rights, the bill, as it passed, and became a law: Be it enacted, &c., That the western boundary line of the Territory of Arkansas shall begin at a point forty miles west of the southwest corner of the State of Missouri, and run south, to the right bank of the Red River, and thence, down the river, and with the Mexican boundary, to the line of the State of Louisiana, any law heretofore made, to the contrary notwithstanding. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the sum of two thousand dollars, to defray the expense of running and marking said boundary line, to be expended under the directions of the President of the United States, be, and the same hereby is, appropriated, to be paid out of any money in the Treasury, not otherwise appropriated. MARCH, 1824.] Public Agent to take care of U. S. Interest, &c. [SENATE. the Senate, was again taken up in Committee of | fidence which harmony between the co-ordinate the Whole. General Appropriation Bill.-Salaries to Ghent Commissioner and Arbitrator. The Committee on Finance propose to amend the bill, by striking out the sum of $18,000, appropriated "for the payment of the salaries of the Commissioner and Arbitrator, under the first article of the Treaty of Ghent, half the salary of their secretary, and half the contingent expenses of said commission;" and to insert in lieu thereof, the sum of "$2,500," together with the unexpended balance of the last year's appropriation for this purpose. Public Agent to take care of U. S. Interest before this Commission. Mr. KING, of New York, yesterday moved to amend this amendment, by including, in this item, a provision for a "public agent," to take care of the claims before this commission. That motion being under consideration, when the Senate adjourned yesterday, the question again | recurred upon it. Mr. SMITH made some further remarks, in opposition to the motion. It was opposed, also, by Messrs. VAN DYKE, HOLMES of Maine, NOBLE, and MACON; and supported by Messrs. JOHNSON of Kentucky, EATON H. JOHNSON of Louisiana, BARBOUR, KING of New York, and HAYNE. Mr. KING, of New York, observed that the gentleman from Delaware having inquired by what authority the proposed agent was appoint ed, and what is the nature of the appointment, he would state the opinion which he entertained on the subject. The agency in question having no connection with the Legislature or the Judiciary, he conceived it to be wholly of an Executive character, proceeding from, and having relation to the Executive power, which, by the constitution, is vested in the President of the United States. The President is authorized to nominate, and, by the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint ambassadors, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States whose appointments are not, by the constitution, otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law. The enumerated officers are created by the constitution; various other officers of the United States are provided for by law. Executive services which from time to time may be requisite, and concerning which no law has made provision, from the beginning, have been performed by agents, appointed by the President alone. Should such appointments be made unnecessarily, and, in making them, it should be believed by the Congress that the Executive power is employed corruptly or improvidently, they will check such appointments by refusing to appropriate money to defray the expenses of them. Congress, in exercising such check, will act with the discretion and caution that the occasion calls for, manifesting the consideration and con departments of the Government requires. Thus, soon after General WASHINGTON became President, Baron Steuben was sent to General Halderman, the Governor and Commanderin-chief of Canada, to ascertain whether he was authorized and prepared to deliver the northern posts, pursuant to the treaty of peace; and, upon General Halderman's declining to deliver them, Mr. Gouverneur Morris, then in Europe on his private business, was authorized by the President, General WASHINGTON, to proceed from France to England, to inquire of the English Ministry whether orders had been or These would be sent to the Commander-in-chief in Canada to evacuate the American posts, according to treaty. The Baron Steuben and Mr. G. Morris were Executive agents on these occasions. Soon after the commencement of the war between France and Great Britain, the November Order of Council was issued in England, by which their armed vessels were instructed to detain, and send into port for adjudication, all American vessels employed in a trade which they were not permitted to carry on in peace; and the British ships of war detained American ships, and impressed their seamen in the West India seas. proceedings induced President WASHINGTON to send Mr. Higginson, of Boston, to the islands, and to obtain from the Courts of Admiralty copies of the decrees of condemnation of American vessels and cargoes, and to send these to the United States or to London. About the same time Captain Talbot, of the Navy of the United States, was sent by General WASHINGTON, as an agent, to assist and recover the American seamen impressed into the British service. Captain Talbot proceeded to Jamaica, and other English islands, and afforded great assistance and protection to impressed American seamen. Mr. Samuel Bayard was contemporaneously sent by General WASHINGTON, as an agent to England, to enter, in the High Court of Admiralty, appeals from the colonial Admiralty Courts, to engage proctors to assist him, and to place in their hands the colonial decrees of condemnation of American vessels and cargoes. All of these agencies were derived from mere Executive appointments; they were faithfully executed, and contributed much to protect the rights and to secure the property of our countrymen. After the treaty with Great Britain, of 1794, two sets of Commissioners met in America. One concerning the river St. Croix, assembled at Halifax; another concerning debts, convened at Philadelphia. A third set of Commissioners met at London. Concerning the debts, an agent was authorized by law to be appointed by the President and Senate, to be employed before the Philadelphia commission. Concerning the river St. Croix, an agent was appointed either by the President of the United States, or by the State of Massachusetts, that State being con [MARCH, 1824. son, Holmes of Maine, Lowrie, Macon, Noble, Smith, Taylor of Indiana, Thomas, Van Buren, and Van Dyke-13. The Senate then adjourned. FRIDAY, March 26. cerned in the settlement of this boundary. In respect to the London Commissioners, three successive agents were appointed by the President. The first, Mr. Bayard, by President WASHINGTON; the second, Mr. Samuel Cabot, by General WASHINGTON, or by his successor, Mr. Adams; the third, Mr. Erving, who superAccounts of Governor Tompkins. seded Mr. Cabot, by President Jefferson. These The following Message was yesterday receivappointments, except the agent before the ed from the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Philadelphia commission, were not made in pur-To the Senate of the United States: suance of any law, but considered as Executive agencies, appointed and employed by the Executive alone. Having stated to Congress, on the 7th of December last, that Daniel D. Tompkins, late Governor of New York, was entitled to a larger sum than that reported in his favor by the accounting officers of the Government, and that, in the execution of the law of the last session, I had the subject still under consideration, I now communicate to you the result. Under Mr. Jefferson, or his successors, Mr. Poinsett, in South America; Mr. B. Provost, in Peru; Messrs. Rodney, Bland, and Breckenridge, at Buenos Ayres; Mr. Baptiste Irvine at Caraccas; Mr. Tod, in Colombia, and Mr. RobOn full consideration of the law by which this inson in Mexico, have been employed as Execu- duty was enjoined on me, and of the report of the tive agents, all being appointed by the Execu- committee on the basis of which the law was foundtive alone, no law creating their respective em-ed, I have thought that I was authorized to adopt the principles laid down in that report, in deciding ployment having been made. Each and all on the sum which should be allowed to him for his these agents have been paid out of the Treasservices. With this view, and on a comparison of ury of the United States; appropriations for his services with those which were rendered by other which must, from time to time, have been made. disbursing officers, taking into consideration, also, Whether these agencies have been carried his aid in obtaining loans, I had decided to allow further than they ought to have been, Mr. K. him five per cent. for all sums borrowed and disbursI could give no information; but no opposition ed by him, and of which decision I informed him. is recollected to have been made to them. Mr. Tompkins has since stated to me that this allowWithin suitable limits, the power of the Execu- ance will not indemnify him for his advances, loans, tive to employ agents to obtain information, expenditures, and losses, in rendering those services, with which his office requires he should be fur- nor place him on the footing of those who loaned nished, will hardly be doubted; and the prac-money to the Government at that interesting period. tice is the usage of all other nations, and has He has also expressed a desire that I would submit been that of the United States from the begin- the subject to the final decision of Congress, which I now do. In adopting this measure, I think proper ning, and under all the Presidents. The pres- to add, that I concur fully in the sentiments express ent agency is thought to be important, and useed by the committee in favor of the very patriotic ful to the States whose citizens lost their slaves; and valuable services which were rendered by Mr. and, according to former precedents, this agency Tompkins in the late war. JAMES MONROE. is well justified; it is deemed requisite by the MARCH 25, 1824. Secretary of State, to whose department the subject belongs; it has received the approbation of the American Commissioner and Arbitrator; The unfinished business of yesterday, being and, as the averago value of the lost slaves, the most important preliminary point, yet remains the consideration of the bill "Making approprito be determined, the assistance of the agent ations for the support of Government, for the continues to be useful, if not absolutely neces- year 1824," was again resumed, in Committee sary. Should the agent be discontinued, the of the Whole. The question was upon striking session of the Commissioners will be prolonged, out the appropriation of $18,000, ❝for the salaand its expense thereby enlarged; so that theries of commissioner, arbitrator, and an agent continuance of the agency will not only be of general utility, but a measure of positive econ omy. The question on Mr. KING's motion was then put, and decided in the affirmative, 25 to 13. The discussion on this subject was continued till four o'clock. The yeas and nays were ordered and were as follows: YEAS.-Messrs. Barbour, Barton, Benton, Brown, Eaton, Edwards, Elliott, Findlay, Hayne, Holmes of Mississippi, Jackson, Johnson of Kentucky, Henry Johnson, Josiah S. Johnston, Kelly, King of New York, Knight, Lanman, Lloyd of Massachusetts, McIlvaine, Parrott, Ruggles, Seymour, Taylor of Virginia, and Ware-25. The Message was read, and laid on the table. Appropriation Bill-Public Agent. under the first article of the Treaty of Ghent, and half the salary of their secretary, and half the contingent expenses of said commission," and to insert in lieu thereof the sum of "$2,500," for that purpose. This was the amendment proposed by the Committee on Finance of the Senate, as yesterday amended, on motion of Mr. KING, of New York. The amendment was agreed to. MONDAY, March 29. Portrait of Columbus, &c. Mr. DICKERSON, from the Select Committee, appointed on the 11th December last, on the distribution of the rooms of the centre buildNAYS.-Messrs. Bell, Chandler, Clayton, Dicker-ing of the Capitol, to whom was referred a MARCH, 1824.] DEBATES OF CONGRESS. Indian Fur Trade. [SENATE. And the remaining copies to the different Univercommunication from the Secretary of State of the 2d January last, reported resolutions pro-sities and Colleges of the United States, as the PresResolved, That the President of the United States viding a place of deposit for the portrait of ident of the United States may direct. Columbus, and directing the distribution of certain copies of the Declaration of Independence now in the Department of State; which was read, and passed to a second reading. The report is as follows: That the committee have had under consideration the following letter of the Secretary of State, which was referred to them: "To the President of the Senate: DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I have the honor of enclosing, herewith, a copy of a letter received at this department, from George G. Barrell, Consul of the United States at Malaga, and informing you that the picture mentioned in it, is at the office of this department, subject to such disposal of it as Congress may direct. Having been some time retained at New York, to which place it was shipped by Mr. Barrell, it has very recently been received here in a frame, upon which is engraved the following inscription: 'Columbus. 'Presented to the nation, by G. G. Barrell, United States Consul at Malaga. The frame presented by Parker & Clover, picture framers, New York, A. D. 1823.' I avail myself of this occasion to state, that an exact fac-simile, engraved on copperplate, has been made by direction of this department, of the original copy of the Declaration of Independence, engrossed on parchment, and signed by all the members of Congress on the 2d of August, 1776, as appears by the secret journal of that day. Two hundred copies have been struck off from this plate, and are now at the office of this department, subject to the disposal of Congress. I am, with great respect, sir, your very humble and obedient servant, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS." The committee beg leave to report the following resolutions: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled: That the picture mentioned in the foregoing letter of the Secretary of State be placed in the National Library. Resolved, That the two hundred copies of the Dec- 2 copies to each of the surviving signers of the Dec- 2 copies to the President of the United States; 12 copies to the different Departments of Govern ment; 2 copies for the President's House; 1 copy to the Legislative Council of each Territory; be requested to cause the distribution of the said Indian Fur Trade. On motion of Mr. BENTON, the Senate, as in Committee of the Whole, proceeded to consider the bill reported by the Committee on Indian Affairs, "to enable the President to carry into effect the Treaty of Ghent, to prevent foreigners from trading with the Indians within the limits of the United States, and to secure the fur trade to the citizens of the said United States." Mr. ELLIOTT was called to the Chair. The bill having been read Mr. BENTON said that the provisions it contained were bottomed upon the fact, that foreigners instigated the Indians on the Upper Missouri to kill and pillage American citizens. To preour own citizens, it was necessary to exclude vent these outrages, and save the fur trade to these foreigners wholly from the dominions of the United States. As the chairman of the committee which reported the bill, it became his duty to sustain the views it presented; and, in doing so, he would recall to the recollection of the Senate that, from the day of our independence, the frontiers of the United States have been constantly harassed by the machinaour own boundaries. tions of foreigners among the Indians within In the South, the instigations of the Spanish authorities, and the incitements of a foreign mercantile house in Pensacola, kept the Southern Indians at war with the Southern and Western States, with a few intermissions, for a period of forty years. It is only within four or five years past that these hostilities have ceased. The acquisition of the Floridas, by putting an end to the practices of foreigners, has given permanent peace to the Southern frontier. The Northwest has presented a more extended theatre for the same kind of machinathe peace of '83, in violation of the treaty of tions. The Western posts were retained, from that date, until the year '96. The pretext for the retention was, the non-payment of debts claimed by the British merchants; the motive, to monopolize the fur trade, to retain the control of the Indians, and to check the progress of the Western settlements. The first of these Imotives was admitted in the year '89 by the Duke of Leeds and Mr. Pitt. The admission was made to Mr. Gouverneur Morris, authorized by President WASHINGTON to sound the British Ministry on the subject of restoring the Northwestern posts, and entering a commercial treaty with the United States.-(Marshall's Life of Washington, vol. 5, p. 276.) The second was proclaimed by Lord Dorchester, Governor General of Canada, in the year '92-proclaimed under circumstances which admitted of no de SENATE.] Indian Fur Trade. [MARCH, 1824. nial, in a public speech to prepare the Western | Britain without excluding her traders from all inIndians for a war with the United States.- tercourse with Indians living within the United (American State Papers, vol. 2, p. 56.) British States. In pursuance of this determination, intraders, protected by their Government, and in-structions were given to our commissioners at cited by their own cupidity, succeeded in bring- Ghent not to renew the third article of Mr. ing on the great Indian war which desolated, Jay's treaty. A treaty was made and the artifor so many years, the frontiers of Kentucky cle was not renewed. Great was the joy of the and Ohio, overwhelmed two American armies West. Vast as had been her losses, her sacrifices with disastrous defeat, and was only terminated of brave citizens in the prosecution of the war, by the great victory of General Wayne in the she felt herself compensated by the single adyear '94, on the Miami of the Lakes, in sight vantage of excluding British traders from all of a British garrison. This war was the fruit intercourse with her Indians. But the care of of the retention of the Northwestern posts in the Administration did not cease with the conviolation of the treaty of '83. The knowledge clusion of the treaty. It was necessary to give of this fact determined the American Govern- it effect to carry it into execution, not to suffer ment to procure, at any sacrifice, the surrender a repetition of the faithless conduct which folof these posts. The treaty of '94 effected this lowed the treaty of '83. A plan was immeobject, but left to British subjects the fatal diately projected to occupy, with a military privilege of entering our territories and trading force, all the commanding positions on the fronwith our Indians. The use which was made tiers of the Northwest. The Falls of St. Mary, of this privilege is known to all America. at the outlet of Lake Superior; the Falls of St. Everywhere the British traders were engaged in Anthony; Prairie du Chien; the Council Bluffs; poisoning the minds of the Indians, and inciting and the Yellow Stone River, were each to rethem to war and hatred against the Americans. ceive a garrison. This plan of defence was proA circular speech was composed, and sent jected in the year 1815, Mr. Madison being among all the tribes, in which the Great Spirit President, and Mr. Monroe Secretary of War. was made to declare the British and Indians It was a part of that system of defence which were his own children, and the Americans the covered the seacoast with fortifications. All the children of the Evil Spirit-"that they grew positions were occupied, the Yellow Stone exfrom the scum of the great waters when it was cepted. British traders disappeared from the troubled by the Wicked Spirit, and the froth Upper Mississippi and the Lower Missouri. The was driven into the woods by a strong East Indians, within the points occupied by our wind." troops, returned to habits of friendly intercourse By these arts, long before the declaration of and regular trade with American citizens. But the late war, the Indians were ripe for hostilities the Upper Missouri was left in the hands of the with us, and their formidable confederacy, in- British. For want of the protection of a miliflamed by fanaticism, extended from the Lakes tary post, American traders, for several years of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. They would after the conclusion of peace, made no attempt not even wait for the co-operation of their allies, to penetrate that rich fur region which lies at but boldly began the war in the year 1811, upon the foot of the Rocky Mountains. In 1821-2, the bloody field of Tippecanoe. In the three the first attempts were made. The companies succeeding years, they occasioned the expendi- which went out, were engaged in hunting as ture of millions of money, and the loss of thou- well as trading. The Crow Indians, a numersands of lives. Massacres, the recital of which ous and powerful tribe on the south side of the freeze the blood, were repeatedly perpetrated, Yellow Stone, made no objection to the use of and British traders led the attack, and presided the beaver trap among them.-(Mr. Pilcher's at the slaughter of the wounded and the cap-statement, page 19, document No. 56.) In the tive. Does any one doubt that these traders instigated these Indians to begin the war? Let him read the Message of President Madison, recommending war against England, and he will find the conduct of these traders stated as one of the reasons for declaring war against that power. Let him look to the papers which accompanied that Message, and he will find a volume of testimony supporting that charge. Let him look to the report of the committee in Congress, to whom these proofs were referred, and he will find it unanimously agreed that these traders, in a period of profound peace, while carrying on a lucrative trade within the American Territories, under the protecting sanction of a treaty, had systematically encouraged the Indians to war against us. The full knowledge of all these facts determined the Administration to make no peace with Great Spring and Summer of 1823, hostilities broke out on the Upper Missouri. General Ashley was attacked by the Arikaras, and lost twentysix men, killed and wounded. The Missouri Fur Company was attacked by the Blackfeet on the Yellow Stone River, lost seven men killed, and fifteen thousand dollars' worth of furs and merchandise. Major Henry was attacked on the same river, by the same tribe of Indians, and lost four or five men killed. The Assinaboins had previously robbed him of some fifty horses upon the Missouri River. This, continued Mr. BENTON, is the narrative of our Indian relations beyond the Mississippi. Of nearly thirty tribes which are found there, no more than three have been hostile to us! The questions which now present themselves to the Senate, are, first, to ascertain the cause of hostility from these three tribes; secondly to provide the |