DECEMBER, 1811.` Foreign Relations. H. OF R. We know the consequence. It was a fundamental principle of free Government that a Legislature which would preserve its liberty must avoid that canker, a standing army. Are we to forget, as chimerical, our notions of this institution, which we imbibed from our very cradles, which are imprinted on our Bills of Rights and Constitutions, which we avowed under the reign of John Adams? Are they to be scourged out of us by the birch of the unfledged political pedagogues of the day? If he were the enemy of this Government, could he reconcile it to his principles, he would follow the example set him in another quarter, and say to the majority, go to your inevitable destruction! He likened the people under this joint operation of the two parties, Minis terial and Federal, to the poor client between two lawyers, or the cloth between the tailor's shears. damned with a faint appropriation of two hundred thousand dollars, when millions were lavished upon miserable oyster boats. The Clerk of the Senate could not forbear a sneer, when he read the title of the bill, at the recollection of the means to enforce it. Mr. R. had proposed himself an annual million until the work should be accomplished. He would forever stand up for the militia. It was not in the scoffs of the epaulette gentry, who, for any service they have seen, are the rawest militia, to degrade them in his eyes. Who were they? Ourselves-the country. Arm them, and you are safe, beyond the possibility of danger. Yearly did the standing army sweep off the money, while the militia received empty praise. He would rather see the thing reversed. But there will forever be a Court and Country party. The standing army is the devoted creature of the Court. It must forever He was glad to hear from his venerable friend be so. Can we wonder that it should be cher- that this was not to be a party war. When the ished by its master? He spoke of a mercenary last additional force bill was raised, to which this soldier, in terms of the strongest abhorrence. He was about to be superadded, it was an indispenwould ever uphold the militia; and he detested sable preliminary to an appointment, to sign, or standing armies, as the profligate instruments of to promise to sign, the thirty-nine articles of despotism, as the blood-hounds of hell. They the creed of the reigning political church, But would support any and every existing Govern now, the political millenium was at hand-alment. In all history, he remembered only one ready had John Adams and Citizen Genet laid instance of their deserting their Government and down, like the lion and the lamb, in the same taking part with the people; and that was when fold. And if they were not joined by their felthe Duke of Orleans had bribed the army of the low-laborer in Newgate, it was his keeper's fault, last of the Bourbon Kings. A mercenary soldier not that of his inclination. Citizen Genet, now was disgusting to our senses; was odious and de- an American patriot of the first order, who extestable to the eye of reason, republicanism, and tols "our WASHINGTON;" the champion of the religion, Yet, that "mere machine of murder," laws of nations; the vindicator of American rude as it is, was the manufacturer of all the rights against foreign (and, of course, French) Cæsars, and Cromwells, and Bonapartes, of the aggression! He was glad to hear that it was not earth; consecrated by a people's curse, not loud to be a war for the protection of manufactures. but deep, to the infernal gods. As from the filth To domestic manufactures, in the true sense of the kennel and common sewer, spread the pes- of the term, he had always been, and ever should tilence that carried havoc, through a great city, be, a friend; he had taken a pride in clothso from this squalid, outcast, homeless wretch, ing himself in them until it was attempted to sprung the scourge of military despotism. And be made a political test. He abhorred tests of yet we were told that there was no danger from all sorts, political and religious, and never would an army of 30,000 or 40,000 men. With 5.000, submit to them. He was sick of this cant Cæsar had passed the Rubicon. With 22,000, of patriotism, which extended to a man's victuhe fought the battle of Pharsalia, which rendered als, drink, and clothes. He had, from a sort of him the master of the world. To come to later obstinacy that belonged to him, laid aside the extimes what number had Bonaparte, when, de-ternal use of these manufactures; but he was serting his companions in arms, he returned a solitary fugitive from Egypt, to overturn that Government, which, if it had possessed one particle of energy, if it had been possible for the civil authority to cope with military power, would have cashiered him for having ruined one of the best appointed fleets and armies that ever sailed from a European port? Well might the father of political wisdom (Lord Chatham) say to the Parliament of England, "entrench yourselves in parchment to the teeth, the sword will find a passage to the vitals of the constitution." As good a Republican as ever sat on that floor, (Andrew Fletcher, of Saltoun,) had dissolved his political friendsnip with the Earl of Sunderland, when he found him supporting an army; and the event justified his sagacity. Cromwell, the affected patron of liberty, always encouraged the army. their firm friend, and of the manufacturers also. They were no new things to him; no Merino hobby of the day; he had known them from his infancy. He had been almost tempted to believe, from the similarity of character and avocations, that Hector had a Virginian wife; that Lucretia herselffor she had displayed the spirit of a Virginian matron-was a Virginian lady. Where were they found? Spinning among their handmaids! What was the occupation of a Virginian wifeher highest ambition? To attend to her domestic and household cares; to dispense medicine and food to the sick; to minister to the comfort of her family, her servants, and her poor neighbors, where she had any. At the sight of such a woman, his heart bowed down, and did her reverence. Compare with such a being your gad-about card-players. Mr. RANDOLPH said that, if H. OF R. Foreign Relations. DECEMBER, 1811. the Empress Queen had presented herself decked honorable sentiment-but, a war of rapine, of in the spoils of a ravaged world, at the late exhi-privateering, a scuffle and scramble for plunder; bition, in contrast with our American matrons, when, like the duckers on the Potomac, we should bearing the triumphs of their own ingenuity and calculate at every discharge, "so much powder industry, we should have looked upon her, and and shot for so much game." all her splendor, with scorn and contempt in our hearts, although, from politeness to the sex, as gentlemen, we should have suppressed the sentiment. Mr. RANDOLPH adverted to our situation with the Indians to the symptoms of discontent which had manifested themselves in the South, as well as in the Northwest. What might grow out of the late occurrence at Savannah? Were gentlemen prepared to say? Was this a time for war? "But we must put on the armor of defence." Was that armor a standing army? Is that the natural defence of this country? Wo betide us, if such be the fact. Bred up in the school of the Revolution, he could not be unmind ful of the consequences of that war. In resist ance to British tyranny, we had been driven to the use of means that nothing but dire necessity could excuse-means so disgraceful and injurious, that the Constitution of 1787 had wisely prohibited a future resort to them. By our paper money and tender acts; by arbitrary impressments and privations of property, without semblance of equivalent; by acts of violence and confusion. inseparable, perhaps, from our situation, the tone of public morals had received a rude shock. His worthy colleague (Mr. NELSON) needed not to be reminded of the operation of the legal tender of worthless paper in discharge of bona fide debts. His noble father (General Nelson) had sacrificed a princely fortune at the shrine of patriotism. His was the old fashioned patriotism that spent, not made, money, in his country's service-not the patriotism of this, our day-the patriotism of of fice-seeking, of contracting, and commissarying the patriotism that quarters a man's whole family upon the public. By these acts of public robbery, (for they were no less,) the public morals had been tainted. To it had succeeded the corruptions of the funding system-a necessary consequence of providing for a debt, which the public beggary had caused to sell in open market, at a discount of eighty-seven and a half per cent.! But, in this operation, the harpies of speculation might plead that they had not actually cheated the poor soldier; that they practised no fraud upon him; that be sold, and they bought, with their eyes open; that they only took advantage of his necessities-as yet, they kept within the letter of the law. A step further was made in the path of iniquity. Actual swindling now comienced. The naked granite of our mountains was passed off, with decorations of imaginary corner trees of buck-eye and walnut, for fertile plains. A scene of depredation the most bare-faced and infamous ensued. Our name had become a by-word among the nations of the earth. Nothing was wanting to give the finishing blow to our character, to top the apex, but predatory Not a war for our homes and fire-sides-a war that might generate, or call forth manly and war. There was one observation of his eloquent colleague that could not be too often or too strongly enforced. That this war must eventuate in a French alliance. We must carry our prizes (if we took any) into French ports for condemnation and sale. Our vessels must seek a refuge there from pursuit, or to refit. We must come into contact upon so many points, as common enemies to England, that our temporary disgust at a French alliance would wear off. If in 1778, when the man who covered the retreat of the miserable remnant of Braddock's army, from the scalping knives and tomahawks of the French and the Indians, was at the head of our armies and councils-if at that day, with the glories of the war of 1755, and the atrocious massacres of France and her savage allies in fresh remembrance, we could so soon overcome our instinctive antipathy to all that was French, what might we not now expect after a few hard rubs? When France, too, had been permitted to boast that to her we were indebted for our independence! Sore from her recent defeats, she had lain back, she kept at a cautious distance, until the capture of Burgoyne had asserted our capacity to maintain our resistance. Then she stepped forth to cripple a hated rival, and had the effrontery to pretend that we were indebted to her for our independence. We owed it no more to her than to Tom Paine, the stay-maker. But if you become a party to this war, there will inevitably be another alliance. You will sink into the arms of Bonaparte as his ally, and awake from your slumber his abject constuprated slave. He had endeavored to paint, with feeble hand and timid pencil, the aggressions of France-but formidable as was her enmity, human powers were inade quate to portray the horrors of her friendship. He could not conclude without noticing the parallel attempted to be drawn by the gentleman from South Carolina, Mr. CALHOUN-not quite indeed after the manner of of Plutarchbetween himself and an illustrious statesman, (Lord Chatham.) The gentleman had been pleased to say, that at the mention of his name, Mr. RANDOLPH's heart had seemed to smite, him. It had indeed smitten him: from a sensation which he trusted that gentleman might never feel; against which he seemed well secured. It was a consciousness of his own unworthiness to sustain the high duties imposed upon him by his country, which the recollection of that great man's name had, at the moment, called up. He. felt humbled in the contemplation of his worth. Would to God! he possessed some portion of his powers; that he could borrow his eagle-eye, his withering look, the unrivalled majesty of his manner, the magic of his voice, at once the music and the thunder of the spheres, to rouse the House to a sense of their country's danger. In one respect, however, he might boast that he pos DECEMBER, 1811. Foreign Relations. H. OF R. Smith, John Smith, Silas Stow, William Strong, George lution, in the following words: sessed some qualities in common with that immortal statesman. He might assert as lofty a spirit, as unyielding an adherence to the deliberate convictions of his own understanding, as Lord Chatham himself; who, because he set his face against corruption, and had the art of making every coward scoundrel in the nation his foeditus Champion, Martin Chittenden, John Davenport, concentrating upon himself the "rays of royal indignation, which might illumine, but could not consume him;" who, because with intuitive glance he penetrated, resolved, and combined every interest of his country, and each design of her enemies, and reached his object" by the flashes of his mind, which, like those of his eye, might be felt, but could not be followed," was by the plodding, purblind, groping politicians of the day, attempted to be held up as an empty declaimer, a theatrical gesticulator. Gentlemen must not expect him to quit the anchorage of his own judgment in order to pursue the ignis fatui that wander about Goose Creek. Mr. Speaker, my heart is full-the recollection of that matchless orator and statesman has filled me with unspeakable feelings. To excite them there was no need of the cruel and insulting comparison which the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. CALHOUN) had attempted to draw between that gigantic statesman and the pigmy who now addresses you. The question was now taken on concurring with the Committee of the Whole in their agree: ment to the second resolution, which is in the following words: "That an additional force of - thousand regular troops ought to be immediately raised, to serve for three years; and that a bounty in lands ought to be given to encourage enlistment." "That it is expedient to authorize the President, under proper regulations, to accept the service of any number, of volunteers, not exceeding fifty thousand; to be organized, trained, and held in readiness to act on such service as the exigencies of the Government may require." And decided as follows: YEAS-Willis Alston, jr., William Anderson, Stevenson Archer, Daniel Avery, Ezekiel Bacon, John Baker, David Bard, Josiah Bartlett, Burwell Bassett, William W. Bibb, William Blackledge, Harmanus Bleecker, Thomas Blount, Adam Boyd, James Breckenridge, Robert Brown, William A. Burwell, William Butler, John C. Calhoun, Langdon Cheves, Martin Chittenden, James Cochran, John Clopton, Thomas! B. Cooke, Lewis Condit, William Crawford, Roger Davis, John Dawson, Joseph Desha, Samuel Dinsmoor, James Emott, William Findley, James Fisk, Asa Fitch, Meshack Franklin, Thomas Gholson, Thomas R. Gold, Charles Goldsborough, Peterson Goodwyn, Isaiah L. Green, Felix Grundy, Bolling Hall, Obed Hall, John A. Harper, Aylett Hawes, Jacob Hufty, John M. Hyneman, Richard M. Johnson, Joseph Kent, William R. King, Abner Lacock, Joseph Lefever, Peter Little, Robert Le Roy Livingston, William Lowndes, Aaron Lyle, Nathaniel Macon, George C. Maxwell, Thomas Moore, Archibald McBryde, William McCoy, Samuel McKee, Alexander McKim, Arunah Metcalf, James Milnor, Samuel L. Mitchill, James Morgan, Jeremiah Morrow, Jonathan O. Moseley, Hugh Nelson, Thomas Newbold, Thomas Newton, Stephen Ormsby, William Paulding, jr., Joseph Pearson, Israel Pickens, William Piper, Timothy Pitkin, jr., Benjamin Pond, Peter B. Porter, Josiah Quincy, William Reed, Henry M. Ridgely, Samuel Ringgold, John Rhea, John Roane, Jonathan Roberts, William Rodman, Ebenezer Sage, Thomas Sammons, Ebenezer Seaver, John Sevier, Adam Seybert, Samuel Shaw, Daniel Sheffey, John Smilie, George Smith, Silas Stow, William Strong, George Sullivan, Benjamin Tallmadge, Peleg Tallman, Uri Tracy, George M. Troup, Charles Turner, jr., Pierre Van Cortlandt, jr., Leonard White, Robert Whitehill, David R. Williams, William Widgery, Thos. Wilson, Richard Winn and Robert Wright-113. And decided as follows: YEAS-Willis Alston, jr., William Anderson, Stevenson Archer, Daniel Avery, Ezekiel Bacon, John Baker, David Bard, Josiah Bartlett, Burwell Bassett, William W. Bibb, William Blackledge, Harmanus Bleecker, Thomas Blount, Adam Boyd, James Breckenridge, Robert Brown, William A. Burwell, William Butler, John C. Calhoun, Langdon Cheves, James Coch ran, John Clopton, Thomas B. Cooke, Lewis Condit, William Crawford, Roger Davis, John Dawson, Joseph Desha, Samuel Dinsmoor, Elias Earle, James Emott, William Findley, James Fisk, Asa Fitch, Meshack Franklin, Thomas Gholson, Thomas R. Gold, Charles Goldsborough, Peterson Goodwyn, Isaiah L. Green, Felix Grundy, Bolling Hall, Ohed Hall, John A. Harper, Aylett Hawes, Jacob Hufty, John M. Hyneman, Richard M. Johnson, Joseph Kent, Philip B. Key, William R. King, Abner Lacock, Joseph Lefever, Peter Little, Robert Le Roy Livingston, William Lowndes, Aaron Lyle, Nathaniel Macon, George C. Maxwell, Thomas Moore, Archibald McBryde, William McCoy, Samuel McKee, Alexander McKim, Arunah Metcalf, James Milnor, Samuel L. Mitchill, James Morgan, Jeremiah Morrow, Hugh Nelson, Anthony New, Thos. Newbold, Thomas Newton, Stephen Ormsby, William Paulding, jr., Israel Pickens, William Piper, Benjamin Pond, Peter B. Porter, Josiah Quincy, William Reed, Henry M. Ridgely, Samuel Ringgold, John Rhea, John Roane, Jonathan Roberts, William Rodman, Ebenezer The question was next taken on the fourth resSage, Thomas Sammons, Ebenezer Seaver, John Se-olution, in the following words: vier, Adam Seybert, Samuel Shaw, John Smilie, George "That the President be authorized to order out from 12th CoN. 1st Sess.-18 NAYS-Abijah Bigelow, Elijah Brigham, Epaphro- John H. OF R. Foreign Relations. DECEMBER, 1811. time to time such detachments of the militia, as in his Hawes, John M. Hyneman, Richard Jackson, junior, opinion the public service may require." And decided as follows: Richard M. Johnson, Joseph Kent, William R. King, Richard Winn, and Robert Wright-111. NAYS-Willis Alston, jr., William Anderson, Stevenson Archer, Daniel Avery, Ezekiel Bacon, John Baker, David Bard, Josiah Bartlett, Burwell Bassett, William W. Bibb, William Blackledge, Harmanus Bleecker, Thomas Blount, Adam Boyd, James Breckenridge, Robert Brown, William A. Burwell, William Butler, John C. Calhoun, Langdon Cheves, Martin Chittenden, James Cochran, John Clopton, Thomas B. Cooke, Lewis Condit, William Crawford, Roger Davis, John Dawson, Joseph Desha, Samuel Dinsmoor, Elias Earle, James Emott, William Findley, James Fisk, Asa Fitch, Meshack Franklin, Thomas Gholson, Thomas R. Gold, Charles Goldsborough, Peterson Goodwyn, Edwin Gray, Isaiah L. Green, Felix Grundy, Bolling Hall, Obed Hall, John A. Harper, Aylett Hawes, Jacob Hufty, John M. Hyneman, Richard M. Johnson, Joseph Kent, William R. King, Abner La-ner, jr., Pierre Van Cortlandt, jr., Laban Wheaton, cock, Joseph Lefever, Joseph Lewis, jr., Peter Little, Robert Le Roy Livingston, William Lowndes, Aaron Lyle, Nathaniel Macon, George C. Maxwell, Thomas Moore, Archibald McBryde, William McCoy, Samuel McKee, Alexander McKim, Arunah Metcalf, James Milnor, Samuel L. Mitchill, James Morgan, Jeremiah Morrow, Jonathan O. Moseley, Hugh Nelson, Thomas Newbold, Thomas Newton, Stephen Ormsby, William Paulding, jr., Joseph Pearson, Israal Pickens, William Piper, Timothy Pitkin, jr., Benjamin Pond, Peter B. Porter, Elisha R. Potter, Josiah Quincy, John Randolph, William Reed, Henry M. Ridgely, Samuel Ringgold, John Rhea, John Roane, Jonathan Roberts, William Rodman, Ebenezer Sage, Thomas Sammons, Ebenezer Seaver, John Sevier, Adam Seybert, Samuel Shaw, Daniel Sheffey, John Smilie, George Smith, John Smith, Richard Stanford, William Strong, George Sullivan, Benjamin Tallmadge, Peleg Tallman, Uri Tracy, George M. Troup, Charles Turner, jr., Pierre Van Cortlandt, jr., Laban Wheaton, Leonard White, Robert Whitehill, David R. Williams, William Widgery, Thomas Wilson, Richard Winn, and Robert Wright-120. NAYS-Abijah Bigelow, Elijah Brigham, Epaphroditus Champion, John Davenport, jr., Richard Jackson, jr., Lyman Law, Lewis B. Sturges, and Samuel Taggart-8. The question was then taken on the fifth resolution, in the words following: "That all the vessels not now in service belonging to the Navy, and worthy of repair, be immediately fitted up and put in commission." And carried, as follows; YEAS-Willis Alston, jr., William Anderson, Stevenson Archer, Daniel Avery, Ezekiel Bacon, John Baker, David Bard, Josiah Bartlett, Burwell Bassett, Abijah Bigelow, William Blackledge, Harmanus Bleecker, Thomas Blount, James Breckenridge, Elijah Brigham, William A. Burwell, William Butler, John Calhoun, Epaphroditus Champion, Langdon Cheves, Martin Chittenden, James Cochran, John Clopton, Thomas B. Cooke, Lewis Condit, William Crawford, Roger Davis, John Dawson, Joseph Desha, Samuel Dinsmoor, Elias Earle, William Ely, James Emott, William Findley, Asa Fitch, Meshack Franklin, Thomas Gholson, Thomas R. Gold, Charles Goldsborough, Peterson Goodwyn, Isaiah L. Green, Felix Grundy, Bolling Hall, Obed Hall, John A. Harper, Aylett Brown, Edwin Gray, Jacob Hufty, Joseph Lewis, jr., NAYS-William W. Bibb, Adam Boyd, Robert Nathaniel Macon, Elisha R. Potter, John Randolph, William Rodman, Daniel Sheffey, John Smilie, Richard Stanford, Robert Whitehill, and David R. Williams-15. The question was put from the Chair on the sixth resolution, in these words: "6. That it is expedient to permit our merchant vessels, owned exclusively by resident citizens, and commanded and navigated solely by citizens, to arm under proper regulations, to be prescribed by law, in self-defence, against all unlawful proceedings towards them on the high seas." When the resolution was, on motion, ordered to lie on the table. The three first resolutions, for filling up the present establishment, for raising an additional number of regulars, and authorizing the acceptance of volunteers' services, were referred to the committee who reported them, with instructions to bring in bills in pursuance thereof. TUESDAY, December 17. Mr. MORROW, from the Committee on Public Lands, presented a bill directing the terms on which lands sold at private sale, and that revert for a failure in payment, shall again be sold; which was twice read and committed. The following is the bill: Be it enacted, &c., That no tract or tracts of the reserved sections or other public lands of the United States, that have been or may hereafter be sold at public sale, and which may have, or shall, on account of failure to complete the payment of the purchase money, revert to the United States, shall hereafter be sold at private sale, at a price less than that for which the same tract was sold at public sale. Mr. WILLIAMS, from the committee appointed on that part of the President's Message which relates to filling the ranks and prolonging the enlistment of the regular troops, and to an auxiliary force, to the acceptance of volunteer corps, to detachments of militia, and to such a preparation of the great body of militia, as will proportion its usefulness to its intrinsic capacity, asked and obtained leave to lay on the table all the documents obtained by that committee from the War Department on the subject submitted to their consideration.-Referred to the Committee of Foreign Relations. Mr. NEWTON reported a bill to deprive in certain cases ships or vessels of their American character, and to prevent, under certain disabilities, any citizen of the United States from taking a license from any foreign Power to navigate the ocean, or trade with any other foreign Power. Twice read and committed. Mr. NEWTON also reported a bill to prevent the exportation from the United States, or Territories thereof, of any goods, wares, or merchandise, under the authority of permits or licenses derived from any foreign Power; which was twice read, and committed. Mr. MORROW reported a bill for the revision of former confirmations, and for confirming certain claims to land in the district of Kaskaskia, which was twice read, and committed. This bill was accompanied by a detailed report, which was committed to the same committee. The bill from the Senate for completing the existing Military 'Establishment was twice read, and committed. H. of R. The committee, to whom was referred the memorial of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Mississippi Territory, and the petition of sundry citizens thereof, praying to be admitted into the Union of the United States on an equal footing with the original States; and also the petition of the inhabitants of West Florida, setting forth their desire to be annexed to said Territory, for reasons therein contained, have had these subjects under consideration, and beg leave to submit the following report: That there has existed in the Mississippi Territory a temporary government, founded on the ordinance for the government of the Territory Northwest of the river Ohio, since the eleventh day of April, one thousand ordinance has undergone some modifications, extendseven hundred and ninety-eight. That, although this ing, in a limited degree, the rights and privileges of the citizens, it still contains provisions incompatible with political liberty, and unfavorable to a due and impartial administration of justice, in the redress of private wrongs and injuries. The Chief Executive Magistrate is charged with the execution of the laws; is commander-in-chief of the militia; has the sole power of appointment to offices, civil and military, within the Territory, and the removal of these officers at pleasure; is vested with an unqualified veto on all bills passed by the other co-ordinate branches of the Legislature; and is, moreover, clothed with the odious and arbitrary authority to prorogue and dissolve the General Assembly whenever, in his opinion, it shall be expedient. These high and regal prerogatives, constituting some of the most obvious characteristics which distinguish an absolute monarchy from the constitution of a free State, are confided to the discretionary exercise of a Governor, who is neither chosen by, nor responsible to, the people, He is often a total stranger to the local interests and circumstances of the country over which he possesses such unlimited control, and is accountable only of the United States. The only security which exists for malconduct or corruption in office to the President against the frequent and wanton abuse of these powers is to be found in the mild and conciliatory disposition Mr. POINDEXTER, from the committee appointed uniformly manifested by the General Government toon the 13th ultimo, on the petition of the Legis- wards its Territories. But experience has shown that, lature of the Mississippi Territory, made a detailed in all colonial governments, officers situated at a rereport, which was read; when a motion was made mote distance from the tribunal to which they are eby Mr. WILLIAMS, that the report be recommit-sponsible, too frequently "feel power and forget right;" ted to the committee that reported it; which was agreed to. The House then proceeded, on motion of Mr. BLACKLEDGE, to consider the resolution summitted by him on the 13th, which was modified so as to read as follows: "Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to cause to be prepared and laid before the House a system of rules and regulations proper to be adopted for training and disciplining the regular troops and militia of the United States." The resolution was agreed to, and Messrs. BLACKLEDGE and LIVINGSTON appointed a committee to present the same to the President.. and, by eluding the vigilance of rigid investigation, are enabled to practise acts of oppression with impunity. Mr. POINDEXTER, from the same committee, Your committee forbear to enter minutely into an presented a bill to enable the people of the Mis-examination of the various objections which might be sissippi Territory to form a constitution and State urged against the present system of Territorial governgovernment, and for the admission of such Statements. into the Union, on an equal footing with the original States; which was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the Whole on Monday next. The above summary of Executive powers, so opposite in their nature to those principles which form the basis of the Federal Constitution, and which are transfused through the constitution of the several States, is The House proceeded to consider the report sufficient to show that the people are deprived of all of the committee of conference on the apportion-participation in the choice of those who administer the ment, bill; when, on motion of Mr. RANDOLPH, laws, and that public functionaries are rendered indethe further consideration thereof was postponed pendent of the community whose interests are confided to their management and discretion. These restrictions on the rights of the people can be justified only by the most evident necessity, resulting from peculiar and unavoidable circumstances. Your committee, therefore, consider it an act both of strict justice and sound policy to advance the respective Territories of the United States to the grade of a separate commonwealth, whenever they shall contain the number of in to to-morrow. MISSISSIPPI TERRITORY. Mr. POINDEXTER, from the committee to whom the said report was committed, reported the same with an amendment; which was read, and referred to the Committee of the Whole on Monday next. The report is as follows: |