The Rhode-Island American, and general advertiser — Providence [R.I.], 1810-03-02 00:00:00, page 2

FW 34 The rejection of ClevaHtr Ooie, a
I " Minister sent to represent •« independent
and powerful nation struggling for liberty,
and empowered to pay 88,000,000, as a
compensation for past injuries, and to re
linquish the claim of Spain to a tract of
country which cost the United States
a g 15.000.000 .
4th. The attempt soon after made for a
specifick appropriation to defray the ex
pense of an embassy to Madrid, intended
for Xing Joseph.
sth. The arrival,in this port of the
French vessel Tilsit, bringing out French
emissaries, and commanded by a wealthy
banker of Paris, a man of great talents
•nd address, the intimate and serviceable
friend of Joseph Bonaparte, and who with
•11 bis wealth and influence at home, comes
here in the assumed character of the com
taander of a privateer; who has taken
bp hW residence in this city, the bead
quartuH of French democracy and Smitk
fom, foe residence of an Imperial Dutchess,
a /’n'nee of the Empire, and of the French
Minister General Thermal—-Above all,
it is affirmed by ona of foe seamen be
longing to foe Tilsit, that this pretended
Commander of a privateer, on the passage,
Was uniformly called rai mimistbx!
is, Joseph’s Minister.
' oth. The dismissal of the British Minis
ter possessed of full powers to conclude a
treaty with this country, upon a false
Charge of having insulted our government,
when too, even if he had given the insult,
fa afterwards folly atoned in a note Jo
Mr. "Smith, by solemnly declaring thafAe
had no such intention.
7th. The declaration in a periodical
Wark, published under foe direction of one
of Bonaparte's Senators, that the British
Minister had been dismissed, and thia too.
before Mr. Jackson’s arrival in America
Was known.
•th. The declaration made in the Au
rora and other government papers, that
the United States ought immediately to
form an alliance with France; and Mr.
Giles’s corresponding speech, that if Eng-
Mad should not declare war against us, we
ought to declare war against her.
To our minds these facta are conclusive
proofs that oar councils are already gov
erned by France, and that an alliance with
Napoleon is meditated, and has already
taken place ** in fact, if not in form.”
With foe evidence of this determination
before their eyes, if this conspiracy against
their rights, their liberty, and their inde
pendence, be not duty resisted by the Ame
jrican people, they have made up their
minds to submit, and exchange the cha
racter of freemen for the degraded and
wre'.ched condition of slaves.
. ON THt JOINT RR SOLUTIONS RHLATIVR
TO TH* CONDUCT OR MR. JACKSON.
Ma Speiker, in consequence of what I
•aid the other day, when thia subject was
befoie the house, and the use that has
been made of it. 1 feel it my duty to make
a few more observations.—l then said if
the object of those resolutions was to con
vince any nation that we were not a di
vided people, they were entirely unneces
sary ; and that however this question might
be decided, there was no division in thi.
house, nor in the nation, in respect to thei*
real and true interest, when contrasted
with that of any other nation ; and if un
happily this country should ever be en
gaged io a war with any nation, even by
declaring it ourselves or imprudently pro
voking it, there would bevbut one sentiment
in the nation on the occasion, and the result
would convince the world that there was
no such division.
I meant.also to state that by the resem
blance of the present resolutions to those ot
former days, it would appear that the
question had only been between the innt
and outs j and that it never had been, in
reality, how this government should be ad
ministered, but vkho should administer it—
not how many bAces should be created, but
who should fill them—not how much mo
ney should be spent, but who should have
U;—and to verify my position, I shall
undertake to show that although the ad
ministration has been changed, the mea
sures pursued by the present, in this and
many other respects, are precisely the
same, and, in many instances, worse be
yond all comparison; and that they are
doing all the unnecessary and unpopular
acts of a former administration, without
doing any of the beneficial ones. Under a
former administration, when the French
directory had insulted our government,
and committed depredations on our com
merce, it was said that we were a divided
people, and this tame system was then in
troduced, to convince France, and the
world, that we wire not divided, and that
we would b* out Executive. This
same system was then opposed by a pow
erful minority, composed of gentlemen of
the greatest abilities, who now fill some of
the first office* in the nation. Butthat
minority was then charged with being in
favour of France, and against tlw-ir own
government and country. Now, Sir, it is
HOUSE OF REPRESEN I’ATIVES,
Fvening sitting, January 3, 1810.
MR. POTTER’S SPEECH
Congreaa.
said foe nation hath been InsuJUd, through
our Secretary by a foreign Minister, in a
letter supposed to convey certain insolent
ideas and insinuations ; and in consequence
of this supposed insult, we have this same
old system resorted to by many of those
who formerly opposed if, to convince Great-
Britain that we are not a divided people—
solemnly pledging ourselves to the Ameri
can people, awd the world, to stand by and
support the executive government in its
refusal to receive any further communica
tions from the said Minister, and to call
into action foe whole force of the nation, if
it should become necessary in consequence
of the conduct of the executive govern
ment in this respect, to repel such insults
and maintain the rights, the honour, and
interest of the United States.
The minority now, Sir, honestly declare,
that they cannot discover the supposed in
sult and that the passing those resolutions
is inexpedient; that they can do no possi
ble good, are pregnant with many evils,
and are likely to be followed with bad con
sequences; and for this they have been
charged with pleading (he cause of the
British Minister, on this floor, against our
own government and country, and of be
ing willing to surrender our independence
to the British nation.—ln another repect
the present, are pursuing the steps of a
former administration. They were three
weeks in answering a President’s speech;
which coot the United States fifty thousand
dollars at least. The present, although I
thought they had exploded the custom and
taken to themselves much credit for it,
have been more than three weeks pass
ing these resolutions, which are in effect
foe same thing, and must have cost the
United States mure money.
Again, Sir, This very system though in
another form was, under a former admin
istration, combatted with seal and great
ability, by the same gentleman who report
ed and advocated the present resolution.
Again, Sir, A former minority in the
United States found much fault with a
former President for sending his son on
foreign and useless missions- The present
administration have taken up the same
gentleman, and have sent him on a foreign
mission, in my opinion, not only useless, but
very pernicious to the true interest of this
country.
Again. A former administration was
charged with raising foe salaries of the
heads of the department, which caused
much clamour among the people. It is true
they passed a law with a limitation, raising
them for a time, in order to assist them in
their removal from Philadelphia to this
place. But after they had removed, and
the former law expired, and other gentle
men were appointed, a permanent law was
passed, continuing them at the same sum
it which they now remain.
In order to verify my position still fur
ther, and to prove that the present ma
jority are in this respect pursuing the steps
of a former one, I have with great satisfac
tion discovered two gentlemen from North-
Carolina, (Messrs. Macon and Stanford,)
who have spoken on this occasion, and of
whose integrity and patriotism I never
have had but one opinion, (and who, as
strange as it may seem, have been con
sistent in their politicks for the last twelve
years,) opposing, greatly to their honour,
with seal and ability, the same system un
der this, as under a former administration,
.nd there is in fact such a similarity in the
two administrations in those respects, that
if I had been out of this country for the
last twelve years, and had come into this
house during the present debate, without
knowing the state of the parties in this
country, and had discovered one of the old
resolution makers advocating the present
resolutions, and those two gentlemen from
North-Carolina opposing them, I should
have supposed that the old administration
was now in power; and if on new year’s
day I should have gone to the palace to
pay my respects to the President, undei
the same impressions, I should have ex
pected to have made my bow to a formei
President.
former administration, have been taken
into favour by the present, and promoted
in preference to many honest political ser*
vants in the United States, who did much
to bring about a change in the politicks ot
this country, and to some who are yet do
ing their duty on the floor of this house,
and who remain true to themselves and
faithful to their constituents.
But, Sir, as soon as the old administra
tion progressed so for as to lose the affec
tions of the people, and thought they stood
infeed of this kind of praising and prop
ping, they soon crumbled to nothing and
passed away; and I presume the same
thing will happen to this, or any other ad
ministration, when its friends thiuk that it
stands in need of the same kind of support.
The gentlema>i from North-Carolina,
(Mr. W. Alston,) seems to be frightened
at the words innt and outa, as though he
was in danger of losing his place before his
time was out; and hopes, if 1 wish the old
federal party in power again, that I shall
be disappointed. He states that they pass
ed alltn and sedition laws, raised salaries,
and laid taxes, and asks me what was the
situation of this country when that party
went out of power, and the present one
Again, Sir, many of those who ruined a
cane in? With yoflr permission, Sir, I will
give him the best information I can as v
foe situation of the country at that time,
and foe cause of it, and its progress to fo<
present,—He further says, that they car
ried taxation home to every man’s door it
the nation; and I would inform him tha
they at the same time carried protection
home to every man’s door in the nation.—
And as to taxation, it is equally true, tha<
they laid the foundation of the whole reve
nue system ivhich provided for the support
of the government, the support of its credit,
and the payment of its debts. They taxed
to fill your treasury with money, to buy
bank stodk, to fortify your ports and har
hours, to build and buy ships to ptotect
your commerce, and to enable them at that
time to defend it on the grand turnpike of
nations, without paying toll or duty to any
nation in the world ; and by these means
the nation became rich and prosperous,
and its citizens happy ; and we were, as a
nation, respected abroad, even by our ene
mies. <
Yet in devising this system, and laying
those taxes, with the best intentions, which
have answered foe most valuable purposes,
the minds of the people became irritated ;
as it frequently happens that a nation will
appear the most dissatisfied when in the
greatest prosperity.
Now, Sir, let us examine what has been
done by a subsequent administration. The
gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Newton,)
observed that they had done much with
what came into their hands, that they had
not been like a prodigal son, spending the
patrimony left him by his father—and that
they paid off much of the publick debt. I
have no reason to doubt that gentleman’s
zeal, or the purity of his motives. But,
Sir, whefre did all this money come from ?
It was produced by the revenue system,
devised entirely by a former administration,
and which I believe has received no addi
tion, revision or amendment by the pre
sent. And as the prudence and industry
of a father provides a valuable inheritance
for a son, and perhaps in doing this, may
have irritated some of those of whom he
acquired a part of it; so the wisdom and
pt udence of a former administration, in de
vising the revenue system, have been the
means of supplying money for the use of
the present; and although they may have
irritated the people in doing it, yet that
circumstance does not prevent those from
the use of it who have not suffered any
thing in consequence of any unpleasant sen
sations excited in the people from whom it
was collected. The revenue of the United
States being received from the consump
tion of dutiable articles, and that consump
tion increasing with the population of the
United States, the revenue hath been ra
pidly increasing, and has in fact, doubled
since it came into the hands of the present
administration. I would now ask, Sir,
what has become of all this revenue in their
hands ? The gentleman from Virginia,
(Mr. Newton,) said they had paid off much
of the debt. But in addition to this reve
nue they have sold your bank stock and
put it into the treasury—they have re
ceived large sums from the sales of our
western lands—they have received a con
siderable part of the unpopular land tax—
and many of the ships that were built and
purchased by a former administration to
protect your commerce, have been sold by
the present. The revenue, as I before ob
served has been rapidly increasing, until
very lately, ever since they had the gov
ernment ; and would have continued to in
crease but for their restrictions on com
merce ; and after all this, what do you
hear from the report of the treasury de
partment ? The strong box is almost emp
ty ; the good old federal stock exhausted,
and no very great anxiety discovered
about the accumulating surplus.
I would now ask, in my turn what has
been done in this state of things ? The na
tion has been insulted and our commerce
plundered. Has any thing been done to
repel those insults or protect your com
merce ? Have your ships been employed
for that purpose ? or has any thing been
done to replenish your treasury ? We have
not done, precisely, as some men do when
they get offended abroad, go home and
chastise an unoffending family; but we
have resorted to resolutions and proclama
tions against those who have .injured us,
and as it respects ourselves, the whole na
tion has been put under guardianship.—
Our ships have been employed to blockade
our own ports; our citizens have been pun
ished with inhibitions, restrictions, en-
hath been encreased and employed for the
innocent fnirfioae of keeping our unoffend
ing citiaens quiet and patient under their
privations and sufferings. Notwithstand
ing this may be done from the best of mo
tives ; yet, if it was a mistaken or ill-judged
policy, and the consequences have been
ruinous to the nation and destructive to the
peace, morals and interest of the people,
it is equally injurious to them.
I should be very glad to know the object
of these resolutions. It would seem that we
forcing acts and penalties ; and our army
are to pledge ourselves to stand by the Ex
ecutive, and that he is to pledge himself to
stand by himself. If this were all, the
thing might be very natural, although ve
>y unnecessary. But if any thing else is
meant by them, I should be glad to knew
foe amount of foe pledge ; for if I pledge
myself, or make a promise to do a thing, I
want to know whether I shall be able to
terform it or not—at any rate, I want to
anow whether I should have a disposition
to try. If these resolutions are to be made
the foundation of some unknown system, to
be hereafter pursued, and are to be made
to mean any thing and every thing, 1 am
very much opposed to that kind of legisla
tion, as much as I should be to Abbe Seyes’
constitution-making system. As I have
generally been against the addressing and
approving system, I shall now be against
the present resolutions. But we have al
most been persuaded, by gentlemen who
have advocated those resolutions, to believe
that they are full of charms; and if we
would pass them unanimously, it woujd
teach Great-Britain to respect us, and do
us justice; that we should have peace and
harmony at home, and that it would heal
all the political backslidings of the minori
ty. Do gentlemen believe this? If they
do, Ido not. Ido not believe that either
passing qr rejecting them unanimously
would weigh the dull ‘in the balance with
any nation. What was the case in Eng
land in the days of Pitt and Fox ? When
Pitt was in office, he was held up in this
country as our enemy, and Fox as our firm
friend. But, Sir, what was the fact, when
Fox came into the same office after Pitt’s
death ? Did we experience any friendship
from him ? I believe pot. He was an Eng
lishman, and acted as nearly like his prede
cessor as his abilities would permit him ;
and this kind of business is perfectly un
derstood in that country ; they know very
well, whatever may take place here among
ourselves, that as it respects their jnterest
and ours, we shall be Americans and con
sult our own interest.
I would now ask the honourable mem
bers of tNs house, if there be ten amongst
the whole number who would have advised
the introduction of these resolutions? I
presume not. I believe many of the mem
bers of this house are in the same situation
with the gentleman from Pennsylvania,
(Mr. Findlay,) who in former days was op
posed to such measures, as well as the two
gentlemen from N. Carolina, (Messrs. Ma
con and Stanford.) He has honestly told
us that he should not have advised these
resolutions; that he sincerely condemns
the practice ; and that he will be .induced
tn vote for them, not because he approves
of them, but on account of the opposi
tion they have met with from the minori
ty ; so that a measure, bad in itself,.and
condemned by a majority, is to pass this
house because it has met with opposition
from a minority. According to this kind
of reasoning, when a minority want any
thing to pass they must oppose it, and
when not to pass, they must be in favour
of it I
I would seriously ask this house if they
are ready and willing to pass those resolu
tions; and thereby pledge themselves to
support a system of measures which they
never have seen ? I hope not. This, under
a former administration, would have been
called an ending wedge to be followed up
by a great deal of unforeseen mischief;
for when once you have committed your
selves, you must go on. Suppose the se
cond and third part of this'System should
be presented for your adoption, and you
find that you like It even less than you do
this—and it should be opposed by .the mi
nority ; are you, for the same reason, to go
on ? with the additional one, too, that you
have pledged yourselves so to do by this re
solution and even against your better
judgement ? Suppose, Sir, that such reso
lutions had been submitted to the Senate
and House of Representatives, in the year
1798. Although they were something in
this kind of business, I do not recollect any
thing under that administration, which
went as far as this. It would have been
then opposed with great ability, I presume
by many of the same gentlemen who now
advocate it. The people would have con
sidered that it looked towards monarchy,
and the next thing they would have ex
pected, would have been a coronation !
In reply to the gentleman from New*
York, (Mr. Fisk,) I would observe, that
the minority are not contending for flower
but for principle: and lam very sorry, if
their feelings should have been hurt by my
not explaining myself fully when on thia
subject before > but I apeak my own senti
ments without consulting any person, and
feel myself responsible for my own con
duct. lam one of those who never have
changed for the sake of power; and if I
have changed at all, it has been from the
majority to the minority. This was, in
some measure, my conduct on a former
liccasion, when in Congress before. I at
that time ranked with the majority. They
were then going on in this and many other
respects, as the present Congress are go
ing on. I voted in the minority then,
against their armies, direct taxes and
general appropriations; and I shall do the
same now. It was my lot, at that time, as
it is now, to hold back with the minority,
on many occasions, to check the extrava
gance of the majority. But, Sir, what did
the gentleman from New-York, (Mr. Fisk,)
do at the last session, when a very simple
resolution was before this house appro
bating the President's condort for doing a
particular act, tending to relieve the qoua*
try from ilasmbarraswnents ? He v«» foeu
opposed to ft. The majority would not
vote for ft themselves, nor would they let
the minority. sVhat does A do on the
present occasion, when a joint resolution is
before the house, do no possi
ble good, likely to do mucMfoischief, and
tending to lead us into a long, expensive
and very unnecessary war? He is now
very anxious for adoptin g it, and hopes
that it will not only pass unanimously, but
immediately! He appears to have a very
fortunate kind of patriotism, that leads
him into the majority on all occasions.
A few words in answer to the gentle-
man from Tenneseee, (Mr. Rhea,) and I
have done. That gentleman observed, that
be hoped he should hear no more of such
expressions as I had made use of about foe
inns and outs, on this floor; and that I
must myself be hungry. I would inform
that gentleman that I never was troubled
with hunger for office; and even if that
were the fact, I am not in a situation to be
gratified. The state I represent has no of
fice todispoee of, in a pecuniary point of
view, worth my having; and being in a
minority here,'l havq no reason to expect
any thing from the United States. If that
were my object, I would remove to the
western country, purchase a tract of land
and.it possible, become a member of this
house. I would praise the President and
all his measures, on all occasions. My
morning and evening prayers should be for
him, and I would take good care to Wor
ship rhe rising That gentleman is
entirely mistaken in me; for as far as I
a m capable of knowing myself, lam neither
an advocate for power, nor an applicant
for favour or for office. And I do most
sincerely pray to God, that I may yet see
this government, in all its branches, ad
ministered in republican purity: and, in
order to avoid difficulties like the present, P
that I shall live to see the constitution fo
altered, that no President shall be elected
more than once, before he shall retire He
private life; and that no Member of Con
gress shall be eligible to any office, within
the gift of the President, during the time
for which such Member shall be elected?
Then, Sir, we should not bear so much of
, the Members of Congress meeting at the
close of the administration, to nominate I*
the people, a President and VicwPreai* >
dent, nor see them so intent on praising
and approving their conduct after they
were elected.
Moxday, Fksruakt 19?
Mr. Newton from the committee ef coni'* ■
merce and manufactures, reported f bill M t
remit certain penalties, fines and for*
feitures. Referred to a committee of the
whole on Thursday next.
Mr. Clay from the committee to whom
was referred the army bill, reported the *
same with amendments. Referred to a ..
committee of the whole on Monday.
Mr. Gardenier said that In thi present
exhausted state of the Treasury, whew
there appeared no way, speedily to replen
ish it, the officer at the head of that de
partment should be without suspicion ; the • w
purity pf his character should be unques
tionable ; it should be like Cesar’s wife, hot
only unspotted but unsuspected. He had
been induced to make these observations
on account of a publication which was now
Winning the rounds of the newspapers, and
which originally appeared in the Virginia
Argus. This publication charged the pre
sent Secretary of the Treasury with grow
ing enormously rich by speculating in foe
publick funds and publick lands; as also
of having drained the country of cash, by
sending against the inclination of. the Pre
sident specie to Holland to pay the interest
of the publick debt,—-Mr. Gardenier read
a part of the letter which contained the
above charges. He said such serious and
specifick charges would deserve notice
from any quarter, but these charges had
an importance attached to them, as it was
rumoured that the publication in question
originated in the office of tfa Secretaryof
State. He thought, therefore, that an in
quiry ought to take place, that if the chargee
■ were true, which he did not believe,
tl|e guilty might be punished. And if fotee
the propagators apd instigators of such a
calumny might meet with that axecranion
which their conduct deserved. In order
that the inquiry be made, be offered the
following resolution■
“ J?e«o/ved, That a Committee be ap
pointed to inquire generally into the Con
duct of the present Secretary of the Trea
sury, and particularly Whether the laid
Secretary has at any tfoe, when, and hs
what manner, and to what amount specu
lated in the publick foods, and whether the
said Secretary has become proprietor of
any and what tracts of fond sold by the
United States and how the sales thereof
have been conducted. And also, in what
manner remittances either of principal er
interest of foreign debt have been, end
whether io any and what cases contrary to
the inclination President, either as
to amount or madNk. And that the said
committee have power to call or send for
any persons or papers.**
This resolution pmdaoed • long and ahi
mated debate, which consumed the great
est part of the day. ißtaws. Barnwell,
Smile, Ross, Mlirn, Gholson, Johnsen,
Findlay, and ethers hfaiast the re-