Part 147

WEDNESDAY, December 18.

Indiana Territory--Slaves--Salt Springs--State Government.

Ordered, that the report of a select committee, made the 17th of February, 1804, on a letter of William H. Harrison, President of a Convention held at Vincennes, in the Indiana Territory, declaring the consent of the people of the said Territory to a suspension of the sixth article of compact between the United States and the said people; also, on a memorial and petition of the inhabitants of the said Territory; be referred to Mr. GARNETT, Mr. MORROW of Ohio, Mr. PARKE, Mr. HAMILTON, Mr. SMITH of South Carolina, Mr. WALTON, and Mr. VAN CORTLANDT.

A petition of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Indiana Territory was presented to the House and read, praying that the introduction of slaves into the said Territory may be permitted by Congress; that the right of suffrage therein may be enlarged; that the salt licks and springs in the said Territory may be ceded to them on certain conditions; that a certain description of claimants to land, in the said Territory, may be permitted to make entry thereof in the mode therein stated; that no division of the said Territory may take place; and that the citizens thereof may be permitted to form a State government as soon as their population will permit the measure.

Also, a petition of sundry purchasers of land settled, and intending to settle, on that part of the Indiana Territory west of Ohio, and east of the boundary line running from the mouth of Kentucky River, praying that the said tract of country may be added to and made part of the State of Ohio.

Ordered, that the said petitions be severally referred to the committee last appointed; that they do examine the matter thereof, and report the same, with their opinion thereupon, to the House.

Mr. VARNUM, from the committee appointed on the sixth instant, presented a bill establishing rules and articles for the government of the armies of the United States; which was read twice and committed to a Committee of the Whole on Friday next.

General Moses Hazen.

On motion of MR. THOMAS the House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the bill “supplementary to the act entitled an act regulating the grants of land appropriated for the refugees from the British Provinces of Canada and Nova Scotia.”

This bill directs the following locations of land and patents to be granted:

“To Charlotte Hazen, widow of Moses Hazen, sixteen hundred acres; Elijah Ayre, senior, one thousand acres; Elijah Ayre, jun., three hundred and twenty acres; and Anthony Burk, two hundred and fifty acres.”

Mr. Thomas explained the grounds on which this bill is predicated, in virtue of inexecuted resolutions of the old Congress; when the committee rose and reported it without amendment: in which report the House immediately concurred, and ordered the bill to a third reading to-morrow.

TUESDAY, December 24.

Another member, to wit: ROGER NELSON, from Maryland, appeared, produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the House.

FRIDAY, December 27.

Two other members, to wit: SETH HASTINGS and WILLIAM STEDMAN, from Massachusetts, appeared, produced their credentials, were qualified, and took their seats in the House.

MONDAY, December 30.

Another member, to wit: CHRISTOPHER CLARK, from Virginia, appeared, produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the House.

Road to the Ohio River.

The bill from the Senate to regulate the laying out and making a road from Cumberland, on the Potomac, to the river Ohio, in the State of Ohio, was read and referred to a Committee of the Whole on Thursday.

TUESDAY, December 31.

Another member, to wit: MATTHEW LYON, from Kentucky, appeared, produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the House.

MONDAY, January 6, 1806.

Impressment of a Revolutionary Soldier’s Son.

The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter received by him from David Rumsey, representing that his son, though possessed of a protection, had been impressed by the British; and that, notwithstanding his most strenuous exertions, he is unable to obtain his release. The letter is couched in unlettered, but pathetic terms, and concludes in the following manner: “I lost an estate by lending money to carry on the Revolutionary war, and I suffered every thing but death by being a prisoner among them (the British) in Canada. I lay fifteen months in close confinement, when I bore the rank of full captain; and if this is all the liberty I have gained, to be bereaved of my children in that form, and they made slaves, I had rather be without it. I hope that Congress will take some speedy methods to relieve our poor distressed children from under their wretched hands, whose tenderest mercy is cruelty.”--Referred to the Secretary of State.

Impressed Seamen.

Mr. CROWNINSHIELD observed that, at the last session, there had been a return made to the House of the American Seamen impressed by British vessels, which had not been acted upon. Since that period these impressments had increased in a most astonishing degree. It was a fact that from 2,500 to 3,000 of our best seamen were detained by the British. We want the services of this useful class of men. That the attention of the House may be drawn to the subject, in order that proper measures may be taken by the Government, I have drawn up the following resolution:--

Resolved, That the Secretary of State be directed to lay before this House a return of the number of American seamen who have been impressed or detained by the ships of war, or privateers of Great Britain, whose names have been reported to the Department of State since the statement was made to the House at the last session of Congress, mentioning the names of the persons impressed, with the names of the ships and vessels by which they were impressed, and the time of the impressment, together with any facts and circumstances in relation to the same which may have been reported to him; stating, also, the whole number of American seamen impressed, from the commencement of the present war in Europe, and including, in a separate column, the number of passengers, if any, who may have been taken out of American vessels coming to the United States from Europe.