The Rhode-Island American, and general advertiser — Providence [R.I.], 1810-04-06 00:00:00, page 2

r pass-4 Mt rty m wu !»« »
f another ceca**. - 0 that foine enemy
w (iu ld wSte a book”-but I should wish
one or two Ouch taws •• this passed and
enforced. I«* that case, the people. I be
litve would seen relieve themselves from a
repetition <4 tha like evil.
UmarM oh kM of armies taogo*
emmenl Ijke ours, except the common mj
litia, unless on the greatest necessity. We
begin by a smalt standing army*—the peo
ple would not hear an increase of lu-then
to *a large detached army,—
How we are to have a and
k d-rarhed militia army; a Ihtle better
P*' armed and more energeiiek. If this should
.be freed not to answer the expectation of
military-Mon, and we should hereafter
bare a President of more military habits,
tbe next change will be a large standing
army. And this is thq way that republi
canism gradually elides Into military des
■plfrjn .1 am against them all, call them
Cto pleasant names as ynu please. I find
igaankind ihe same. Give them pow
sod they generally go to the extent of
r ,la, If they do hot abuse It. Give them mo
wey an* they generally spend it all and
waMto borrow. And give almost aay ad
mtawtfMfam a large army and nary and a
fkiil treasury, and bht a email minority to
CppnsetheSfetMta Umgwill
? mfen have the country in war.
. When I consider that the men to be
tdtedby tbit bill may be sent to New-Or-
Amne, it brings to my mind melancholy re
factfau toepecting the fate of cur army
Jn that country the last summer. If the
■Uuatbou cf that place required that army
for its defence at that time, gad as there
.were according to the last returns out 2250
men, only about 430 officers and men fit for
duty, It may be possible,* that a part rf
these men may be required for the same
a. rvicei I h«Va in my head two letters
describing the situation and sufferings of
diat army, which I will read Co that the
.bouM may aee what la pubiickly reported
to have been their sufferings, they areas
I follows, viz. ['rhe following Is <me of the
extracts alluded to:
“ Ciwcixxati, (Ohio,) Dec. 20.
JUrrccr of • Mttr from a gentleman qf
the /tret reojleelaWity, to hucorreqfton-
V. dent in thie ftlace, doled Fort Manu,
October 30. 1809.
“The troops which were stationed be
fore Neip-Orleans, during the summer,
have just passed this place, op their way
.to Washington, (M. T.)«ai»d a more miser
able mt of beings I never beheld. Out of
t 2000 men which were mustered at New-
OrlenM fem spring, there bra now between
t ; . fiend FOO deed ; and those that remain
are a net <4 ragged squalid creatures, hard
ly able to crawl along with a musket on
their shoulder. The sick which they left
in the hospital at this place, on their way
up, present the meet dreadful spectacle of
human wretchedness and misery I ever
- saw in mydtfe. Figure to yourself about
120 beings, in the last stage of the dysen
tery and scurvy, tumbled into open rooms
on the floor, many of them without shirts
or blanket; and almost all without shoes
or eocke, and without fire—and the atten
dants which wrne left with them actually
unable to bury tfg dead, for the first few
L ' being'll lardy convalescent them-
eelvea Somebody must be blameable for
the dtuatiim of the additional army ip this
| country—they have been "exposed tn the
fatality- of 0e climate below, Without
either sufficiency of clothing, -or skilful sin*
geons, or hospital stores.”]—l have not
read these fetters for the purpose of crimi
nating any person; but they appear to be
Corroborated by the stubborn facte, contain
off fa, the report of the Secretary at War,
Where I me that in'about five or six months,
• such an army is reduced by sickness, death,
.and Uearrtlon to so small a number, and
that about fOO of them are dead—and I
And by the returns that 16 commissioned
officers have resigned their breath, 51 have
resigned their commissions to save their
jives, end that 6 haver been diemimed by
Court Martial whq lguppose have saved
their lives and lost their honour. Now,
Sir, as 1 have great reason to believe from
the great mortality, afoknem, desertion and
resignation, that thpoe people hape been
neglected and tteeied with great inhu
Inanity and abuse, I never will vote to raise
another soldier unless this country should
be actually invaded, until the cause of all
this misery and wretchedness is properly
Investigated—*and for the honour of the
United States I would hope that it will
turn out toby a calamity that could not be
•voided i add if it should turn out other
wipe, the adthour cf all this misery ought
gp be dismissed from office, and punished
With great severity. I had been in hopes
>, ' from the solemn and impremive manner
that this subject was first brought before
this hofcee by the gentleman from Virginia,
(Mr. Newton,) which was the meaneel
appointing an investigating committee*
. that wa should have had a report before
1 Ibis time. Bat I presume they will tfo
. Weir duty. That committee, and this
house in that respect have a solemn and
P imperious duty toperform, which they owe
to the friends of the deceased, to the rem*
t' ngnt of ih%t unfortonsta aad miserable ar*
aay.to their country, their cooecicncco and
army h tote composeduf the best materi-.
ah and blood of the country ; for my part I
.will never agree that the beat Hood or any
blood of my constituents shall go to ma
nure the bogs and' fens of the Mississippi.
When I take another view of the proba
ble uae of this army, and conaider that it
may be made use of in offensive war against
Canada, and that it it to be kept np and
become a regular system for twenty years,
to form a bulwartt as I understood the
gentleman from New-Jersey, (Mr. Bouth
aud,)!* my, and that with them he would
crmt lhe lines and annex Canada tc this
couat/y. When I bear so much of this pa
triotick Canadian fire, it leads me to think
immediately of the defenceless situation of
the state that I help feebly to represent,
and that as soon as the time shall arrive,
that we should make any attack on Cana
da or Quebec, that the' best part of that .
state must again fall a sacrifice to the
English who can, with a fleet take posses- i
slnn of it when they please, and I would not
give one hundred acres of it for the whole
province of Nova Scotia for me to live on.
The best part of that state was in pos
session of the enemy the greater part of
the tost war. They proved very bed ten
tets ; they burnt our houses and cut down
our orchards, and neither paid rent or
damages. Notwithstanding all this, that
state furnished ah many continental troops
as any state in the union in proportion to
their numbers; and such were its exer
tions and situation, that when the war was
over, U was in debt several hundred thou
sand dollars, incurred in consequence of
the war, having this debt to pay audits
government to support by direct taxation,
deriving no benefit from the wild and un
settled lands in the United States, which
were preserved as well by the exertions of
that state as by those Who have been ex
clusively benefited by them. Nor was
Rhode-Island so fortunate in the assump
tion of the state debts as to have this debt,
incurred in consequence of the war. as
sumed for them, while other states had
considerable sums assumed for them upon
a supposition that they had advanced more
-than their proportion, and upon a final set
tlement they were found in debt and would
neither refund the sum that was assumed
for them or pay the balance thus reported
Against them.
I Many gentlemen who talk strong for
war, if we should have one, from their lo
cal situation would hear but little of it;
nor cotild they be much injured by it;
white those places that are the more ex
posed, such as the state that I represent,
must be defended and guarded, if at all, I
-uppose by torpedoes. And W they should
not prove a sufficient protection, and our
towns and houses on the sea-coast should
be burnt, we must then move back into
the country and live in log houses of some
large landholder or be shut up in some
large manufacturing establishment to work
for our living.
But, Sir, we are told by the gentleman
from New-Jersey, (Mr. Southard,) that
the Govemour of Canada has made a war
speech. That gentleman has no occasion
to be alarmed, for in that kind of warfare
we are able to contend with all the world.
And we are the last nation that ought to
be frightened into unnecessary expenses
by high toned speeches, let them come
from where they may. By what I have
heard of his speech it was only calculated
to calm the fears of the Canadians, and to
persuade them not to be frightened at our
war speeches, by telling them that war
did not depend so much upon those speech
es as upon the moderation of his Majesty.
I presume If we will let them alone on the
land they will us.
lam against thia detaching for many
reasons that have great weight on my
mind. In the state of Rhode-Island we
have fifteen or twenty independent com
panies, composed of some of the first and
most active men in the state, and to their
honour be it said, that they are not excel
led by any companies of any kind in the
United States. iSey have been at very
great expense in arming, disciplining and
uniforming themsefres, and ate ready at
a moment’s warning to do theirduty, but
they will not turn out and be encamped
twenty days for the sake of a gun, or to be
disciplined by those who do not know as
much about It as they do. And if you de
tach them and take them from their com
panies it will be the meins of breaking
them up. It has already injured them very
much and put them to great expense, and
at they are to the most exposed parts of
the state it is of importance to encourage
and not discourage them. Many men de
tached from the militia who may think
I there may be more meant than is really
intended, wHI bo imposed upon and put to
great expense in hiring some person to
take their place.
Ttequakers er friends must suffer very
much by the operation of this law, their
personal service most be had and they
made subject to martial law, their persons
cannot be qxempt by fines or commutation
as from the common militia duty in the
state of Rhode-Island; some of those peo
ple in the country that I live in are in fa
vour of the present administration because
they suppose them against war. This law
hart vpcp
ctety. and I wish it HI in mjr power *> «t
-liyve them from th« military penecutioa,,
which will be very injurious to them, end
the publick can derive no kind of benefit I
from it, A» a society, with few excep
tions, they m much and very deservedly
respected {‘ as cklten* and member* of the I
community, peaceable and indu.triou*.
But. gentlemen say that the minority
find fault because the nation 1* not prelect
ed and their right* respected, and oppose
every measure that the majority attempt I
for that purpose. We da not find fault be-1
cause you donot protect our ooosmsrse |
We' know it dknaot be dene with what 1
ship* we hovel buthrh <®d fault with the
administration far resttwining and ember- I
raising it when they knew h to out of their I
power to protect it. r> t I
And as it respects the opposition of the I
minority to measure* that they consider I
ruinous to the best interests of the country, I
you must expect it. We would help the
administration to retrace, revise and cor
rect what we consider their former er
rours. This great anxiety to do something
is always attended with bad consequences.
I have always considered it a very fortunate I
session of Congress, under any administra
tion, for them I* Meet and revise their for
mer acts, and repeal and amend them, I
when and where they were found from
experience tqpoed it. and separate with- II
out doing much other business other than r
making the necessary appropriations.
W* cannot protect our commerce with
out an immense fleet, and I have always ||
been of opinion, that such an one cannot be I
built, manned, and supported in this com-1
try, unless by imfireationt or ofiftreuiont. I
You must either impress men to man your r
ships for almost nothing, or you must give
them such wages to induce them to enter
on board as would oppress the whole na
tion to pay them. In this I differ from ma
ny of my political friend* and many of my
constituent*. But 1 must be permitted to
act according to my own judgement, I
would have a few ships for the Mediterra
nean service. Our Ministers should go
abroad and return home in a vessel of I
vir—a gun-boat at least—and not in a I
trading coffee ship.
We have been a favoured nation in many
respects, and a very unfortunate one in I
many other*. ‘ For many years past we I
have been a nation of experiments and sub- I
stitutea. In respect to our navy, we began
by building frigates; then we got timber
to build seventy-fours; and we have g*ne
through every hind and grade, even down
to gun-boats, and ail we hear about gun
boats now is, that it costa us about sixty- I
four tbousaod dollars a year to take care
of th<oe that are not in use. Now torpe- I
does ar* all the rage, the use of which is to I
supersede the necessity of ships or «v*o
gun-boats.
We began Mr commercial warfare with
non-importation, for which we substituted
embargo, for which we substituted non
intercourse, which is agreed by all parties
to be very injurious and ought to be repeal
ed, and it ha* been continued all winter,
and all the commerce and enterprise of the
nation suspended for its friends If it ha* any I
to find another substitute, as it will not by I
any means answer to let this restrictive
system run out for fear there would be an
end to legislation on that subject.
We began by a standing army; then a
jargc paper detached army. The present
are to be enlisted volunteers, to be armed
and encamped.
If you want to add to your army you ought
to enlist them. If you want militia to do I
the duty assigned them by the constitution, I
to enforce your laws, quell insurrections
and repel invasion, arm them, and they I
will do their duty. You cannot carry the
militia out of the United States by the con
stitution. If the constitution gives that pow
er you Would not want a law to that effect,
and if it does. not. any law that you may
make will be unconstitutional and not bind
ing. But, Sir, whenever that time shall
come, that we have an army of one hun-1
dred *a< ten thousand men at the com
mand** a President, and perhaps one of I
mor* martial ambition than the present,
our constitution will gradually lose its vir
tue, and will only answer far us to read |
: and see what w* have b**n. I hay* al-
I way* belonged «* the militia, until exensed
by my age, and stood my chance in th* last
detachments, and have always been ready
to perform thhtiiuty whenever called upon.
My practical republicanism never would
permit me, to obtaitf a travelling title, for
the purpose of excusing myself from that
service. Bnt if I had supposed, that the
constitution could have been so construed
' as to have authorised the detaching or Im
pressing the militia for nine months regular
service, and that I could have been, for
that length of time, encamped at New-
Orleans, or on the *now, in Canada, or be
fore the wall* of Quebec, it would have put
the to thinking very seriously «t feast.
I have a very serious objection to this ar
my, on acc.'dht of the expense. If the
whole of those men enlist, ‘their guns. fee.
will be worth a million of dollar* at least,
and If they encamp, the twenty day* In the
two yean, the pay and rations with the
terns and camp equipage, with the expense
of transporting those things, altogether will
be equal to a dollar a day, for a man, in-
eluding officer And scMlef, wkacM*4it italap
ofdaWrsmcre. <3
dred men encamped, in a place, you mutt
have two hundred encampments, and a*
many armourers and arsenals. And if you
don’t have mere some of the men must
travel a great distance. These expenses
must all be incurred by this bill, provided
they should never be called into actual ser
vice.
We now have but little money and cur
revenue is for want of commerce dwindled
to almost nothing, ft Is therefore improper
under such circumstances, to increase our
expenses, which will compel ft to lay ad
ditional duties and burdens on the people;
who already have enough to da
A few days since, while in my seat,
thinking bow long we hod* been here and
how little we had done; and how much
we had cost the; nation, my attention was
called very agreeably to a speech of a gen
tleman on my left, from Virginia, (Mr.
Eppes,) describing the great wealth of the
United States, saying, that they had a solid
capital off ten hundred millions of dollars.—
This immediately raised my spirits very
much, thinking if that was the case. • few
millions off dollars squandered a Way would
scarcely be missed; but when I heard that
gentleman describe this Wealth and iiifckm
us in yr hat ft consisted ; and that Jt was, |n
an unsaleable and unprodactive wilderness,
I must confess I again felt the necessity of
economy. I have always been pleased to
hear that gentleman; he speaks feelingly,
and generally with a full knowledge of the
subject; but as I hope, he never has been
reduced to the necessity of borrowing
'money, he may not know quite as much on
that subject as some gentlemen, who may
have experienced the ill effects of it.
I presume, Sir, that it is on the credit of
this unproductive wilderness, that we art
to borrow money to build and man ships,
raise and support armies, and to carry on
war.
It is with a government, about borrow
ing money, as with an individual. As long
as there is ability to pay this interest punc
tually, and the principal in a reasonable
time, your credit will continue. But if you
cannot pay the interest, your revenue hav
ing failed; if you depend upon borrowing
to support government—to support armies
and navies, and have no income to meet
these expenses, the stock of the United
States will soon be below par, and your
credit is at an end. If we borrow, putting
a nominal value on our land as our credit
fails, our creditors will have some hapd in
fixing the price. The value of this land |
depends entirety upon the commercial pros
perity of the United States, and it ought
not to be sold and sacrificed until that pros
perity is again restored. If we get into i
war our floating Capital must be had at
some rate or other to carry it on. Our
young men will go into the army and navy • (
and if we cannot import foreign manufac
tures, many of them must go into manufac
turing establishments. That instead of
this new land being saleable, it will reduce
the value of the land already settled, one
half, at least. And instead of the people
making new purchases and settling new
countries, those who are already in new
countries, where there are but few inhabi
tants, will, for the sake of society, and to
better their circumstances, move back to
resettle the old states, »o that thia wild land,
in such a state off things, would be worth
but little, for a century to come.
It is with the publick, ns with an indi
vidual, who spends his estate at his own
valuation. An individual puts a value on
his estate and borrows money until he gets
up to half its value, in his judgement—then
hit creditor undertakes to put on his valua
tion, according to Old Hudibras’s mode of
valuing property, and take the whole of
the estate for half its value, according to
the opinion of the owner—and he is at once
made a poor man; but if an individual has
wild land, and wants to borrow money os
keep up hie credit, it is only to add a few
dollars or cents to the acre, which adds to
his nominal wealth and sometimes gives
him additional credit.
Political and domestick economy are
much the same. When a mad** income
fails him, instead of putting a nominal or
fictitious Value on his estate, which will de
ceive himself and his creditors, he had bet
ter reduce his expenses to his mean*. Our
revenue having failed, owing to our restric
tions on commerce, instead of increasing
our expenses, which will make it necessa
ry to lay additional duties and burdens on
the people, I would much sooner retrench
our expanses, and instead of incressing the
duties to warrant this expanse, I would re
duce them on the necessaries of life. And
instead of spending three millions of dol
lars about the present contemplated army
I would reduce the present establishment
ton peace establishment, at least much
sooner than I would add to the burden, of
the people, »r sacrifice our Western land*.
The pAtple are much in debt one with
another. The common farmers off mode
rate property have suffered much, for the
last three yean. Every thing, they have
been obliged to buy, has cost them nearly
double. Imported woollen doth which
commonly cost three dollars per yard
has coft them five dollar*: and their pro-
. ig TwowM ’
years. Bntlihallbe asked how cw thto
be done ? Esther than not do UI would P*F
the interest of the debt, and hit the princi
pal rfemafn. I can see no ore la borrowing
money of one man to pay another when ha
does not want his money. If we have alt
this wealth, why should the peofio banish
ed to pay the publick debt al <hbdme? f
Our debt Is about fifty million* ef dollars,
and if our population should poly be five <j
million*, at this time, ft waoM baddy tan
dollars to each individual. And as our
revenue is derived town consumption of du
tiable articles, that consumption b*.
creases with the population, so’that as out fc
population Increases, our ability to pay in
creases ; arid if it should amount to ten
millions in twenty years to come, our reve
nue would be increasing aft tbk intermedi
ate time to answer the purposes of the
government, nnd at the end rf twenty
years, our numbers having doubted, our
ability to pay i*.doubled. So that each h»*
dividual’s proportion would be but five dtt
lars, being reduced one halt, without bis
paying one cent. lam therefore, not only
against raising ibis army for the purpose
laying additional burdens upon the pet^le r
but I am against taxing them one cent di
rectly or iodtfCOtty-bu- the purptyecf pMf
ing anyof&a principal of the peefcot
when our creditors do not wesfc It. Let
those who may come on the stage hereaf
ter take some of the debt and bear a small
part of the burden with the blessings that
X hope they may inherit.
Momday, Maxc* 36.
MnLivermore offered the following re to-,
lutioo: W
“ Jtaofoed, Thai the President of the U.
States be requested to cause to be laid
fore this House, copies of any letters or de*
spatches which may have been received tn
the Department of Stftte,.and<fo not require i%
secrecy, from Mr. Pinkney, our Minister
at the Court of London, since the receipt-bf
the letter of the Secretary of State, of the
23d of November last, communicated to
this Hott* by the Fterident oh the 2Pth of
Mid November.** >
This resolution produced ceosifiernbio
debate. The question was Anally taken by
ayes and Dries end carriedr-ayos ICT, Buns
14. A committee was appointed t# Wait oft
the President and present the raMtatiom
[Before the House adjourned Mr. Liver- j
more reported that the committee had per 4
formed thataervice, and that the President ~
bad been pleased to declare that the c*M
should-be attended to.) '
The unfinished business of Saturday—
Tfte Torfiedo BUt, was resumed.
concluded the obayrvatiaqn
which ftMmmnmenced en 'Saturday. " Jia
went tfttwgh the hittttry Torpedoes from
the time of., Bushnell the inventor, to thp
present day. He gave an account of the
various experiments which had been tried
both in Europe and America, and stated
that nothing could be expected from the
contemplated trial mere than had already
been proved by former experiments.
Mr. Fisk moved to commit the bill to a
select committee for the purpose of intro
ducing amendments, as Ms was of opinion
that the contemplated experiment could
not be satisfactory to the nation. The
question on this motkn was loot—4J to <5.
Mr. Tallmadge made a manly and im
pressive speech against the bill. He stated
that he commanded the detachment of the
army which protected Mr. Bushnell while
making his experiments on the North River,
in the time of the revolutionary war, He
was knowing to die whole affair. He said
Mr. Bushnell had a fair chance to malfe
every trial which his ingenuity could sug
gest—that he was more than a month at
tempting to operate on a British frigate
lying in the river, and h every attempt he
failed of success. Mr. Tallmadge did not
1 perceive that Mr. Fulton had improved on
the plan of Mr. Bushnell—and he was sat
isfied thpt the contemplated experiment
would pr<he nothing snore than what every
gentleman was ready to admit, that a ship
might be blown up, where there .wa» no
resistance. \
The question on the final ptopagn <thn
bill was taken and carried—ayes 65, nods*63.
OLD &OLDIRRS!
On motion of Mr. Nelson the House fib*
solyed into committee of the whole—Mr.
Pitkin in the chair—on the bill providing
for the relief of disabled and auperanuated
officers and soldiers of the late revolutkem
ry, and present armies of the United States.
Thfe committee went through the bill,
and reported it to the Hoose with amend
ments. The House concurred in the
amendments, and ordered the bill to fie en
grossed for a third reading on Wednesday
next.
The House went into committee of <hn
whole—Mr. Pitkin in the chsrir—on the bill
for the relief of Tristram Horny. The bill
waa reported to the House, the amend
ments agreed to, and ordered to be engraia
ed for a third reading to- mor row.
On motion of Mr. Mumford, the House
passed a resolution calling on the President
rf the United Astes, for addhtanal infor
mation relative to the impmetneut ef
American seamen by the British. - 4