Part 252

Approved, March 3, 1813.

INDEX TO VOL. IV.

Absentees, recall of, resolution to direct the Speaker to request their attendance, 533.

ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY, resigns seat in Senate, 3. See Index, vols. 2, 3.

Allegiance, Foreign, petition of inhabitants of Kentucky, stating that the King of Great Britain, by proclamation, claims the allegiance of all persons born in his dominions, 46; had authorized their impressment, &c., &c.,--petition prays for resistance of this assumption, 46. See Index, vol. 1.

ALEXANDER, EVAN, Representative from North Carolina, 36; moves a committee of inquiry relative to proving the acts and proceedings of States, 87. See Index, vol. 3.

Algerine War.--See Index, vol. 1.

ALSTON, LEMUEL J., Representative from South Carolina, 36, 125, 187, 315. See Index, vol. 3.

ALSTON WILLIS, jr., Representative from North Carolina, 36, 125, 187, 315, 425, 577; on the value of blank ballots, 125; on a vote of approbation of the conduct of the Executive, 129; opposes the postponement of the resolution relative to the apportionment of representation, 224; on the ratio of representation, 319; on laying additional duties, 431; on establishing a quartermaster's department, 477. See Index, vols. 2, 3.

AMY DARDIN, report on petition of, 216; bill read, &c., 218; report for relief of, agreed to, 538. See Index, vols. 1, 2, 3.

Amendments to the Constitution.--See Index, vols. 1, 2, 3.

ANDERSON, JOSEPH, Senator from Tennessee, 5, 28, 116, 176, 252, 420; presents memorial of Legislative Council of Mississippi Territory, 265; on the incorporation of a Bank of the United States, 266; on a recess of Congress, 412. See Index, vols. 2, 3.

ANDERSON, WILLIAM, Representative from Pennsylvania, 124, 187, 315, 424, 577.

ARCHER, STEVENSON, Representative from Maryland, 424, 577; on foreign relations, 466; on the policy of the war, 638; on war taxes, 715.

Armed Vessels, public and private, encouragement of, resolution relative to, 711. See Privateers.

ARMSTRONG Gen., his letter to Mr. Pinkney, 361; letter of, on additional general officers, 713.

Army, pay of the.--In the House, bill concerning the pay of the army considered, 581; the present pay of the army much below the average price of labor, 581; wherefore should the soldier receive less than any other man, 581; the compensation should be proportioned to the risk, 581; to second section of the bill little objection apprehended, 581; third section founded on the principle that every man owes to the country which protects him, military service, 581; second section involves an infraction of the constitution, 582; any man who had contracted a debt had certainly given a pledge not only of his property but of his body to his creditor, 582; this right of the creditor to take the body is completely taken out of his hands in regard to those who enlist, 582; has an ex post facto operation, 582; this provision necessary to guard against fraud, 582; persons enlisted procure themselves to be arrested under fictitious debts, 582; when let out on bail and the commander attempts to take him he is rescued on a habeas corpus, and courts decide the man to be the property of his bail, 582; motion to strike out lost, 582; third section encourages the uneasy boy to throw off parental authority or to defraud a master, its tendency is to violate public morals and the spirit of the constitution, and to interfere with public economy, 582; it is unknown as well as immoral, 582; other objections, 583; minors above eighteen allowed to enlist, 583; you go into the workshop and the parent's dwelling and entice away the apprentice and the child, 583; this very population constitutes the strength and vigor of war, 583; what was the fact in France, 583; her army is made up of young men, 583; the case of husbands deserting wives and children aged parents, is as much entitled to sympathy, 583; better resort to liberal bounties and wages than violate important principles, 584; the extensiveness of the relation of master and apprentice, 584; can these relations dissolve under the charm of this bill, 584; necessity is alleged, 584; beware how you yield to this fancied necessity, 584; this section will be productive of much evil and perhaps little good, 584; reason to doubt its constitutionality, 584; amendments negatived and bill ordered to third reading, 584; the atrocity of the principle and the magnitude of the evil contained in this bill, 585; third section is calculated to seduce minors from their masters, guardians, and parents, 585; the absurdity of this provision--its inequality--its immorality considered, 585, 586; sixteen was the age called upon in the revolution, 587; which excites the most regret, a child leaving his parents to defend his country, or a parent torn from his family to defend a foreign power, 588; the charges against this bill are a libel on the House, 588; atrocious principle! let gentlemen damn the memory of the patriots of the revolution who originated this principle, 588; if there is an increase of population, there appears to be a deterioration of patriotism since the revolution, 588; what was the law in 1798, 588; the power to enlist minors is a new principle, 588; third section examined, 589; reason for the preference of young men, 589; House now prepared to take up a small subject and make a great thing of it, 589; a man ought not to be called on to defend his country until he has acquired political rights, 589; moved to recommit the bill, 590; it is of the nature of an ex post facto law, and tends to exalt the military over the civil authority, 591; the third section freighted with most fatal consequences, 591; cases supposed, 591; recommitment lost, 592; bill passed, 593.

Military Force additional.--In the Senate, a bill to authorize the President to accept and organize certain military corps, &c., considered, 405; be productive of no efficacy, 405; be inoperative, 405; system of volunteers the favorite one of the Government, 405; the number should be reduced, 405; only a formidable display of armies on paper, 405.

In the House, bill taken up, 547; is it such as to require secrecy? 548; voted affirmatively, 548; bill ordered to be engrossed and passed, 548.

In the House, bills for the more perfect organization of the army, and to raise an additional military force considered in committee, 611; moved to fill the blanks relative to bounty, 611; the military committee present a system on which to rest the future operation of the war, 611; explanation of its merits, 611; object with all to terminate the war successfully, 611; no other mode than to call into the field a force adequate to command every honorable object, 611; the good the war has accomplished relative to our character abroad, 611; the honor of the nation requires that British power on our borders should be demolished in the next campaign, 611; after seeing the necessity of augmenting the regular forces, it was equally material to provide for filling the ranks, and keeping them at their full complement, 612; it is proposed to appoint recruiting officers for each regiment, 612; it may be said the results of the last campaign are so unfavorable that there is no object to vote further sums, 612; all our disasters sprang from a cause no man in the nation could anticipate, 612; treachery or cowardice caused the surrender at Detroit, 612; question on filling the blanks carried, 613; moved to repeal the offer of bounty land to the recruits, 613; this is a waste of the nation's capital without a single provident result, 613; it is proposed to increase the bounty in money, 613; motion agreed to, 613; blanks in the other bill authorizing an additional military force severally filled, 613; reason for giving the appointment of officers below the rank of colonel to the President alone, 613; bills reported to the House, 613; first bill ordered to be engrossed, 613; question on the engrossment of the bill to raise an additional military force, 614; great anticipations from the action of twenty thousand men in a single year, 614; when war was declared it was said Canada would be conquered in a single year, 614; experience has proved the fallacy of these predictions, 615; no pleasure to dwell upon the disasters and disgrace that have attended our military operations, 615; the annals of the last six months are most deplorable, 615; the tone and heart of the country broken, universal disgust at the past, anxiety and concern for the future, 615; what is now proposed for the future, 615; an army of twelve months' men--a broken reed, 615; an army and term of service which well nigh lost the country in the revolutionary war, 615; wherefore change the term of enlistment from five years or during the war to one year, 615; feelings of the Canadians, 616; let us see things as they are, and look danger in the face, 616; points in our relative conduct towards France and Great Britain which will not bear examination, 616; moved to strike out one and insert five years as the term of enlistment, 616; we must rise after reverses, 616; if we were to unite the question would soon be settled, 617; cause of the war concisely stated by Capt. Porter, "Free trade and sailor's rights," 617; is there a man doubts the war was justly undertaken? 617; what injury have we not suffered, 617; you have been told the Prince Regent and his ministers are firm, let us follow their example, 617; an army should be seasoned before it is taken into the field, 617; it will take a year to prepare them for the field; without discipline they are useless, 617; let us raise an army for the war, 617; we must take the continent from Britain, 617; the question is what is the kind of force, and for what length of time can you raise an army to take the field at the earliest period? 618; under this measure a force may be drawn into the field ready to act efficiently in the next campaign, 618; we have never engaged in any war in which we have come out better in the first campaign, 618; if this country will go into the war heart and hand, we shall shortly demonstrate to the enemy that it is her interest to be at peace with us, 618; amendment lost, 618; question on the passage of the bill, 618.

All desire peace, but what is the best course to obtain it, 618; will the passage of this bill, and the actual enlistment of the proposed force secure peace? 618; this war can be terminated with honor and advantage without further effusion of human blood, 619; this does not mean that the honor of the nation is identical with the honor of those who declared the war, 619; the question of contest is reduced to a single point, 619; the British Orders in Council have been repealed, the practice of impressment alone remains, 619; this has been subjected to much exaggeration, 619; it is not certain England has been unwilling to enter into such an arrangement as would place this question on a fair and honorable basis, 619; see the correspondence of Messrs. Monroe and Pinkney, 619; at one period she was willing to advance considerable lengths towards an adjustment, 619; our duty to make an effort for the sanction of our just rights and the restoration of peace without further appeal to force, 619; facts tending to confirm this belief, 620; the late communications from the Executive to the British Government present a novelty in the history of war and diplomacy, 620; this bill is a kind of second declaration of war, 621; the war is both politically and morally wrong, 621; it is of an offensive character, 621; something unaccountable that the disposition to prosecute this war should increase, 621; it rests now solely on the subject of impressment, 621; this must be settled by treaty, 621; we shall create an annual expense of forty millions, 621; if Canada could be taken it would be a great public misfortune, 621; this war cannot be prosecuted without violating the laws of humanity and justice, of religion and morality, 621; it is becoming more unpopular in the Eastern States, 622; the force contemplated to be raised is unnecessary, 622; the present military establishment is certainly sufficient for all purposes of defence, 622; neither Canada nor any other British province will be worth the blood and treasure they will cost us, 622; the militia of Canada estimated too low, 622; of what value would these provinces be to us, 623; duty to inquire into the policy and necessity of this measure, as well as the present state of our relations with Great Britain, 623; would the principle, if yielded to us to-morrow, benefit our native seamen, or promote the real interests of the country? 624; is there probability of obtaining a recognition of this principle by a continuance of the war? 624; the traffic in American protections, 625; the bill is altogether inadequate to the purpose intended to be accomplished, 626; it cannot be admitted that because the war is declared, we are bound to lend aid to promote every plan for prosecuting it which may be proposed, 627; the bill is unnecessary for the attainment of the original object of the war, 627; some of the pretended causes of the war have never been seriously relied on by our Government, 627; what was the avowed object of this war? 628; the pretence was to take or rather to receive Canada, 628; the effect of this bill is to place at the disposal of the Executive an army of fifty-five thousand men, 628; the purpose for which these men are demanded is the invasion of Canada, 628; is the conquest of Canada an object desirable in itself, or advantageous by its effect in promoting an early and honorable peace? 628; note, 628; the intention of the American Cabinet thus unequivocally avowed, 628; anxious that no doubt should exist on this subject, 628; no scheme ever was or ever will be rejected by the men now in power merely on account of its running counter to the ordinary dictates of common sense and common prudence, 629; illustration, 629; the great mistake of all those who reasoned concerning the war and the invasion of Canada, that it was impossible, was that they never took into consideration the connection of these events with the then pending election of Chief Magistrate, 629; the invasion of Canada considered as a means of carrying on the subsisting war, a means of obtaining an early and honorable peace, and a means of advancing the personal and local projects of ambition of the members of the American Cabinet, 630; never was there an invasion in any country worse than this in point of moral principle, since the invasion of the Buccaneers, or of Capt. Kidd, 632; they had the hope of plunder, here there is not even the poor refuge of cupidity, 632; the disgrace of our arms on the frontier is terrestrial glory compared with the disgrace of the attempt, 632; this nation is the last which ought to admit the design of foreign conquest, 632; multitudes who approve of the war detest the invasion, 633; look at the elections, what do they speak? 633; the people of New England have no desire for Canada, 633; the surest way to defeat any hope from negotiation is this threat of invasion, 634; the American Cabinet understood this, 634; the project of this bill is to put further off the chance of amicable arrangement, 634; the present men were raised to power by elements constituted of British prejudices and British antipathies, 634; such men will never permit a state of things to pass away so essential to their influence, 635; the Cabinet has been careful to precede negotiation with some circumstance sure to make it fail, ever since the refusal to renew the Treaty of 1794, 635; the Executive power passed into new hands, under the old influences and principles of the former Administration, 635; the whole stage of the relations induced between this country and Great Britain was a standing appeal to the fears of Great Britain, 635; what is the truth in relation to the repeal of the Berlin and Milan decrees? 636; were ever a body of men so abandoned in the hour of need as the American Cabinet by Bonaparte? 636; reasons for referring to this subject, 636; illustrations of what is doing and intended at present, 637; the invitations to union which have been so obtrusively urged, 638; the liberty of debate prostituted in disseminating the most unfounded charges, 639; it has been charged that war had been declared prematurely and without due preparation, 639; it has been said that the nature of the war is changed, 640; what the Legislature considered as the cause of war, 641; the manner in which the points of difference between the two nations ought to be considered, 641; negotiation has been tried in the matter of impressment for twenty years, 641; it is pretended that this Government is not desirous of peace, and that this is a war of conquest and ambition, 642; if we now recede, are not points conceded to the enemy which the opposition never would concede if in power, 642; how much more powerful is the objection to the right of search now than when first made, 643; exemption from impressment is no new claim set up, 644; the evils we have complained of were of a nature not to be remedied by war, 644; what has been the state of the country since the declaration of war, 645; our relations with the belligerents have essentially changed since war was declared, 645; Napoleon has inveigled us into a war, 645; why was the evidence of a repeal of the decrees withheld, 646; believing the French decrees repealed, we departed from our neutral stand, by enforcing the non-intercourse law against Great Britain, 647; the prominent causes of the war examined, 648; whether this bill is right or wrong depends upon circumstances, 652; it is said to be the constitutional duty of the opponents of the war to afford every aid and encouragement, 653; not the most suitable measure to be selected by the opposition, upon which to show their resistance, 653; a view of the past, of different parties which have at various times appeared, and the manner by which we have been driven from a peaceful posture, 654; the course of the opposition in impeding the Government for the last twelve years has been unexampled in history, 654; gentlemen seem to forget that they stand on American soil, 655; a plot for the dismemberment of the Union, 656; cause of the declaration of war, 656; it is said France inveigled us into the war, 656; the war might have been declared even if the Orders in Council had been repealed earlier, 657; it is said Great Britain has always been willing to make a satisfactory arrangement on the subject of impressment, 658; what cause which existed for declaring the war has been removed, 659.

What is the object of this vast military force? 660; retrospect of the last eight years, to show how much gentlemen have been mistaken and disappointed in their views of foreign policy, 661; the picture of impressments has been too highly colored, 663; in that section of the Union where two-thirds of the seamen come from, there is an overwhelming opinion against the war, 663; the controversy seems brought to a single point, 663; it is supposed this is the auspicious moment to assert our rights, 664; the opinions of the majority have undergone a strange revolution, 664; the conquest of the British provinces doubtful, 665; physical and moral evils resulting from your measures, 666; some observations on the bill itself, 666; none can deny the propriety of defending the country, 666; objections to the further prosecution of the war examined, 667; contrariety of opinions respecting Canada, 668; none but cowards calculate on the cowardice of their foe, 668; the war was improperly commenced and is unnecessarily continued, 669; examination of the causes as they existed at the commencement and exist now, 669; the claim on the part of Britain relative to seamen, 670; this claim examined, 670, 671, 672, 673; the points made in debate, impressment, the right to expatriate, the right to naturalize, and French influence, 675; a distinction been drawn throughout this debate between the rights of a man who cultivates the soil, and one who follows the seas, 675; every attempt to settle the question of impressment for twenty years has failed, 676; it is said that it is the abuse of impressment of which we complain, 676; Porcupine paper, 676; all agree that we ought to fight for the rights of our seamen, why not all join heart and hand to do so, 678; this has been a most unfortunate Government as ever existed; every thing has gone wrong, 678; bill ordered to be engrossed, 679.

Question on the passage of the bill, 679; the army has been represented as dangerous to the liberties of the country, 679; what have been the propositions heretofore made by our Government to Great Britain? 679; equitable as they were all were rejected, 680; for every British seaman obtained by impressment a number of Americans have been made victims, 680; the change of Administration in former years, 681; characters of the two contending parties, 681; course of the successful party, 682; proceedings of our Government, 683, 684; the Orders in Council constituted no insurmountable obstacle to negotiation between this country and Great Britain, 685; if the President had made that repeal a basis of negotiation, every man in the country would have hailed him as the restorer of peace, 686; the ruler of France has turned with contempt from your reclamations, 686; what atonement has been made for these insults and injuries, 686; the Indian wars on the frontier, 686; has this subject been inquired into, 687; a word on the subject of impressments, 687; Great Britain rather than surrender the right of impressing her own seamen, will nail her colors to the mast and go down with them, 688; this lies in a small compass, 688; what was the offer made to our Government by the British Ministry? 688; the right of search does exist, and has been acknowledged by all nations, 689; the French doctrine in relation to impressment, 689; author of the Newburg letters to command your army, 690; can the force contemplated be obtained; will it accomplish the end proposed, and will it be an economical force? 690; the grounds taken by the opponents of this bill examined, 691, 692; what is the object of this debate, 694; to thwart the final success of the war, 694; all the arguments of the opposition have been directed to destroy the union and zeal of the people, 694; but say our opponents, as they were opposed to the war, so they are not bound to support it, 694; but we are told that peace is in our power without a further prosecution of the war, 694; it is said we ought to offer England suitable regulations on this subject to secure to her the use of her seamen, 695; will the intended effect of the opposition be produced? 695; gentlemen are conjured to bring this debate to a close, 696; the success against the Canadas doubtful, 696; mortifying to see the conduct of the enemy vindicated and palliated, 696; the several heads of discussion introduced in this debate considered, 697; what is a just and necessary war? 698; what did an elevated fitness of character and conduct require of this nation when war was declared? 699; popular opinion was not against this war, 700; impressment alone would have ultimately produced war, 700; all public law, it is said, has denied the right of expatriation, 701; bill passed, 702. See Index, vols. 1, 2, 3.

AVERY, DANIEL, Representative from New York, 424, 577.

BACON, EZEKIEL, Representative from Massachusetts, 36, 124, 187, 315, 424, 578; supports the resolution for immediate measures to liberate American prisoners in Carthagena, 95; offers a resolution relative to petitions respecting the Presidential election in Massachusetts, 105; on a vote of approbation of the conduct of the Executive, 127; on Miranda's expedition, 144; reports relative to challenges and duels, 191; against the petition of Elizabeth Hamilton, 215; on reduction of the navy, 244; against the admission of Mississippi, 352; on pay of the army, 582; against encouragement to privateer captures, 704. See Index, vol. 3.

BAYLY, MOUNTJOY, Sergeant-at-Arms to the Senate, 403.

BAINBRIDGE, WILLIAM, letter relative to the capture of the frigate Java, 717.

BAKER, JOHN, Representative from Virginia, 425, 577; on the location of a military academy, 531.