Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1824-05-14

drawn up without any knowledge Of the de.
cison ofthe Supreme Court.
Mr.. Vance, Of Ohio, further explained and
defended the provisions Of the hill, gave his
tory Of the case embraced in il and, on his
motion, the report 0fthe select committee, in
| the case, was read.
The hill was then ordered tn he enxrossed
for third reading, with"u, opposition.
| NAVIGATION OF THE WESTERN RIVERS.
| The House took up the report Of the COM
mittee Of the whole. made yesterday, upon
the bill making an appropriation towards re-
moving the sand bars aud INSTRUCTIONS in tho
beds Of the mississippi, Ohio. and Missouri
rivers, and the question being upon agreeing
to the amendment, published in our last, which
introduces substitute for the original bill
| MIR. Buchanan, Of Pennsylvania, objected
TO the amendment, as too FAR charging its rx-
tent, and leaving il without sufficient deli
mite object. IF system of internal improve
mrnt were {" l- adopted by the General Co
vernment, he should not he hostile 10 the OH
l-ct OF this bill rs part IF it. Considering
this amendment as not sufficiently specific, or
guarded, he should, il it succeeded, he oblig-
ed, Under present impressions, to vote against
the hill.
Mr.. Sharpe, of New York, was in favor Of
|
doubt Of the practicability Of the means pro-
POSED TO carry it into effect. IN New York,
he said, large sums of money had been appro-
priated FOR dams and sluices, &c. in its great
river aid, after the expenditure If all this
money, the ma, igatiOn If the river was worse
now than II was before ever dollar was laid
out upon It. The moment bar was rem0v-
I'd from one place in the river, a substitute
for il was created in another. Those bars
had increased to snch an extent, that the steam
boat cannot now find her way tn Albany and
he feared that the attempt to remove the sand
bars in the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi
rivers, might place those rivers in the same
situation. We may begin, said hs, with rs 600
dollars, which is a very small beginning we
may remove the bars from one place, hut
fear 1t will only he TO create them in another.
&c. The hill, he thought, proposed TO begin
on too large scale and, il he was compelled
TO vote on proposition so general as this
amendment, he should be compelled to vote
against il.
Mr.. Henry - Kentucky replied 10 the OBJ
jeci0ns al Mr.. Buchanan and Mr.. Sharpe, ~
the score of the praciicabity Of the propused
plan Of Improvement, &c. at some length. He
advertrd To the vast importance of the inte-
rior communication which this bill proposes
To facilitate, and the value Of the commerce Of
which II IL the channel. He compared the
expenditures in the interior, and for the ad
vancerpent of our internal navigation, with
what had been expended on the seaboard, for
various purposes connected with the prosper
iy of commerce, and even for the creation OF
commerce; and argued that this appropria
ton was demanded on principles ofjustice as
well as Of expediency.
MIR. Bassctt Of Virginia denied that the peo-
pie OF the Atlantic states derive any other hem
leGt from foreign commerce than such as the
people Of the west equally participate in. To
both Of them, commerce furnished, AZ tiimin.
ished cost and with increased facility articles
Of necessity ar convenience, sc The light.
houses. and other expenditures Of that sort
he SAID, were not for she henef, If the per-
sons living near them, hut Of the whole com
try, and properly considered, the people oI
the West were as much Interested in them
as the people Of the East. Mr.. B. objected
decidedly Ia the principles ofihis bill, which b.
considered To be as Unconstitutional as il the
constitution itself rose up against il. He con.
sidered it directly in the teeth oftbe constitu.
ton and was therefore opposed TO it 10 any
shape.
4 Mr.. Wicklilfe Of Kentucky replied at large
to MIR. Bassrtt. He explained the nature oil
the distractions tn the navigation ofthe IVES.
tern rivers, and the importance of removing
4 them il practicable. The Mississippi and the
Ohio, he said, were moi interior hut hounda-
ry rivers. They washed twelve states and
territories, and formed The only channel ol
con: enumeration with the ocean. His plan for
executing this improvement, hp said, would
be, first, to remove the snags in the Missis-
sippi, because the Improvement in the naviga-
ton Of rivers must begin at the month oil
them, &c. and thence 10 proceed up the river
II MIR. Buchanan, that he might he distinctl,
understood as to how far as he was willing tn
go on the subject, stated the comparative
merits Of the bill, and the amendment now
under consideration. By the hill, an expert
ment was to bp made in removing a sand bar
if successful, It was TO be followed up by other
similar operations If not, the attempt was to
be abandoned. The amendment, however
reported by the committee ofthe whole, was
as indefinite in its terms as language conld
make it {; it pledged the government ia pro-
coed To remove every obstruction tn naviga-
lion from the town of Brownsville to the
mouth OF the River Ohio, and dewn the Mis-
sIssippi, and this Herculean work was propos
ed by m amendment To the bill, which could
scarcely be understood, as read from the
Clerks table. Mr. b. said, he was friendly
To the improvement ofthe navigation Of the
Western waters, and also 10 the improvement
Of tb>f Of the Susquehapnah, the n udsOD, and
the Connecticut, and he was willing that the
experiment should be made in the Western
waters before il is made in the Susquehan-
nah, though he by no means admitted that
, they possessed superior claims. His objrc-
lion was, not to the object Of the BILL but to the
| indefinite terms of the amendment.
MIR. Stewart Of Pennsylvania having
been one Of the members Of the committee
which reported this bill, and assisted in pre-