Part 78

The House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the following resolution reported by the Committee of Claims on the petition of Elizabeth Hamilton:

Resolved, That the prayer of the petitioner ought not to be granted.

Messrs. NELSON and TAYLOR opposed, and Messrs. ROOT, BOYD, and MONTGOMERY, supported the report--each at considerable extent.

At length the question was taken in committee, and the report disagreed to, 60 to 52. The committee rose, and reported their disagreement.

The House concurred with the Committee of the Whole in their disagreement--yeas 62, nays 52.

After some conversation as to the proper course now to be pursued,

Mr. GHOLSON moved that the Committee of Claims be instructed to report a bill, pursuant to the prayer of Elizabeth Hamilton.

The motion was agreed to by yeas and nays--61 to 46.

FRIDAY, March 9.

The bill sent from the Senate, entitled "An act for the relief of Charles Minifie," was read twice, and committed to the Committee of Claims.

Torpedoes.

The bill from the Senate, entitled "An act making appropriation for the purpose of trying the practical use of the torpedo, or submarine explosion," was read the first time.

A motion was made by Mr. LIVERMORE, that the bill be rejected; and the question being taken thereon, it was determined in the negative--yeas 27, nays 76.

The bill was then read the second time, and committed to a Committee of the Whole on Monday next.

MONDAY, March 12.

Another member, to wit, from Virginia, JOHN RANDOLPH, appeared, and took his seat in the House.

WEDNESDAY, March 14.

Claim for Indian Depredations.

Mr. WITHERSPOON, from the committee appointed on the fourteenth ultimo, on the petition of Alexander Scott, made a report thereon, which was read, and referred to a Committee of the Whole on Friday next. The report is as follows:

That in the month of February, 1794, William Scott, James Pettigrew, and John Pettigrew, of South Carolina, left that State, with a view of establishing themselves in the present Mississippi Territory, and took with them twenty-one negro slaves, with goods and chattels to the value of more than one thousand dollars; that they proceeded in safety on their journey as far as the Muscle Shoals, on the river Tennessee, where they were attacked, about the 9th of June, 1794, by a party of Cherokee Indians, who put to death all the white people of the family, and took possession of and carried away the negroes and other property. It appears, also, to your committee, that repeated endeavors have been made, at very great expense, to recover the aforesaid property, without any other success than the recovery of a negro child; and that the persons legally entitled to the said property are forever foreclosed from any remedy by which to recover the same, in consequence of the stipulations of the ninth article of a treaty made with the Cherokee Indians on the 2d day of October, 1798, which article is in the following words: "It is mutually agreed between the parties that the horses stolen, and not returned within ninety days, shall be paid for at the rate of sixty dollars each. If stolen by a white man, citizen of the United States, the Indian proprietor shall be paid in cash; and if stolen by an Indian from a citizen, to be deducted, as expressed in the fourth article of the Treaty of Philadelphia. This article shall have retrospect to the commencement of the first conferences at this place in the present year, and no further. And all animosities, aggressions, thefts, and plunderings, prior to that day, shall cease, and be no longer remembered or demanded on either side." By the above-recited article, the petitioners are wholly deprived of redress in the premises. If there existed any tribunal of justice before whom the case could be brought, the right of the petitioners to the said negro slaves and their increase would doubtless be established. But there is no court within the United States having cognizance of an action for the recovery of property held within the Indian boundary. Neither is it in the power of the petitioners to avail themselves of force or stratagem, whereby to regain possession of the aforesaid slaves and their increase, because they would be liable to punishment for a violation of the statute of the United States regulating intercourse with the Indian tribes. From these premises, it appeared to your committee that the petitioners have an undoubted right to the above-mentioned slaves and their increase, and that they have been deprived of all remedy for their recovery by the acts of the Government of the United States; that the voluntary renunciation of their rights by the Government gives to the petitioners a fair claim on the Government for indemnification. Your committee, therefore, under an impression that the aforesaid slaves would be delivered to the agent of the United States for Indian Affairs among the Cherokee Indians upon conditions more favorable to the United States than a full remuneration of their value to the petitioners, respectfully submit the following resolution:

Resolved, That the prayer of the petitioner is reasonable, and that the President of the United States be authorized and requested to treat, by such commissioner as he shall appoint, for the delivery to the rightful owners of the slaves and their increase taken from William Scott, James Pettigrew, and John Pettigrew, on or about the 9th of June, 1794, by a party of the Cherokee nation of Indians, at or near the Muscle Shoals, on the river Tennessee, upon such equitable conditions as to him shall appear just and reasonable.

FRIDAY, March 16.

Mrs. Hamilton's Claim.

The House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole, on the bill for the relief of Elizabeth Hamilton.

Messrs. SMILIE, ROOT, W. ALSTON, BACON, MACON, CLAY, and BOYD, opposed the bill, and Messrs. JOHNSON, SHEFFEY, and NELSON, supported it.

The committee rose about four o'clock, and reported the bill.

Mr. MACON moved to amend the said bill by striking out the following words: "five years' full pay for the services of her said deceased husband as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Revolutionary war, which five years' full pay is the commutation of his half-pay for life;" for the purpose of inserting, "whatever may be due to her for his services as an officer during the Revolutionary war."

Mr. GHOLSON called for a division of the question.