New York--No. [FEB. 2, 1830 slaughter, when virgins were led off captive by savage monsters; when mothers were loaded with their children, Virginia, seconded by Mr. Grayson, having moved to subThe second movement was from the South, Mr. Lee, of and compelled to march; and when, unable to keep up, stitute four for two, so as to double the intended protection. were relieved of their burthen by seeing the brains of infants beat out on a tree; when the slow consuming fire of The vote upon this motion was-the stake devoured its victim in the presence of pitying Massachusetts--No. friends and in the midst of exulting demons; when the corn was planted, the fields were ploughed, the crops were ga thered, the cows were milked, water was brought from the spring, and God was worshipped, under the guard and protection of armed men; when the night was the season for travelling, the impervious forest the high-way, and the place of safety, most remote from the habitation of man; when every house was a fort, and every fort subject to siege and assault. Such was the warfare in the infant settlements of Kentucky and Tennessee, and which the aged men, actors in the dreadful scenes, have related to me so many times. North Carolina--No. Delaware and South Carolina-Absent. and exhibited the following vote: New Hampshire--Mr. Long, ay. Sedgwick, no, Mr. Dane, no. ay. New York-Mr. Haring, ay, Mr. Smith, ay. Mr. Virginia--Mr. Grayson, ay, Mr. Monroe, ay, Mr. Lee, * Appeals to the Federal Government were incessant and vain, during the long progress of these disastrous wars; but as the revolutionary struggle was going on during a part of the time, and engrossed the resources of the Union, I will draw no example from that period. I will take a period posterior to the Revolution-three years after the peace with Great Britain-when the settle-Harrison, ay. ments in the West had taken a permanent form, when the Indian hostilities were most inveterate, when the Federal ay. Government had a military peace establishment of seven hundred men, and when the acceptance of the cessions of the public lands in the West made the duty of protection no less an object of interest to the Union, than of justice were not counted. Six States only of those fully repreThose marked with an asterisk, having but one member, and humanity to the inhabitants. I will take the year 1786. sented voted in favor of the resolution; it was consequentWhat was the relative conduct of the North and South to ly lost! the infant, suffering, bleeding, imploring West, in this sea- State was Massachusetts! The next day that vote was Lost for want of the vote of one State, and that son of calamity to her, and ability in them to give her re supplied, but not by Massachusetts. lief? What was then the conduct of each? It was that of Mr. Huger arrived from South Carolina. unrelenting severity on the part of the North--of gener-seconded by Mr. Carrington, of Virginia, immediately Mr. Pinckney and ous and sympathizing friendship on the part of the South! moved the rejected resolution over again, and South CaroMr. Pinckney, The evidence which cannot err will prove this, and will lina voting with the ayes, made seven affirmative States, cover with confusion the bold declarations which have im- and carried the resolution. posed upon me the duty of this reply. I speak of the Journals of the old Congress, quotations from which I now proceed to read: From the Journals of Congress, vol. 4, p. 654. "WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1786. The Secretary of War, to whom was referred a motion of Mr. Grayson, of Virginia, reported the following resolution: "That the Secretary of War direct the commanding 'officer of the troops to detach two companies to the Rapids of the Ohio, to protect the inhabitants from the depredations and incursions of the Indians." a the Federal Government to the inhabitants of Kentucky. This is the history of the first relief ever extended by Your State, sir, now painted as the enemy of the West, turned the scale in favor of that small but acceptable succor. It hung upon one vote; Massachusetts denied that vote! South Carolina came and gave it! The Go legates of the great and magnanimous Virginia commencThe instant this much was obtained, the generous detion which the case required, namely, an expedition into ed operations, to procure the real and effectual protecthe Indian territory north of the Ohio river. vernor of Virginia, on the 16th of May, '86, in a letter to militia of his State to execute it. Congress, had recommended this course, and offered the to a committee of three, Messrs. Grayson and Monroe, of Virginia, and Mr. Dane, of Massachusetts. The letter was referred of June, just seven days after the vote had passed for detaching two companies to the Falls of the Ohio, Mr. Grayof Virginia. It was such a report as might be expected son reported upon the recommendation of the Governor from a committee of which Virginia delegates constituted On the 29th Mark well! the terms of this resolution to detach two companies then in service--not to raise them; for the purpose of protecting the inhabitants, not to attack the Indians. No expense in this; a mere change of position of part of the military force then on foot. course of treatment the resolution received. Observe the The first movement against it came from the North, in a motion to refer the resolution to a peace committee on Indian Affairs. The yeas and nays on that motion were the majority. It recommended the expedition, and gave Massachusetts-Ay. New York--Ay. Maryland-No. Virginia-No. North Carolina-No. Pennsylvania--Divided. New Jersey-Divided. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Georgia--But one they had treated with contempt the application which the member-not counted. Delaware and South Carolina-Absent. United States had made to them, to meet commissioners at the mouth of the Great Miami, and conclude a peace; The motion to refer was thus lost for want of seven ayes. that, issuing from their vast forests beyond the Ohio, and FEB. 2, 1830.] Mr. Foot's Resolution. [SENATE. returning to them for refuge, the war was to them a gra- the refusal of a member to vote, [Mr. Houston] who tification of their savage thirst for blood and plunder, seemed, upon all trial questions between the different without danger of chastisement; that, while confined to sections of the Union, to occupy a false position. defence on our side, and offence on their side, they had Defeated, but not subdued-repulsed, but not vanevery motive which their savage policy required, to carry quished--invincible in the work of justice and humanity, on the war, and no motive to stop it; that a march into the Virginia delegation immediately commenced new opetheir country was the only means of compelling them to rations, and devised new plans for the relief of the West. accept peace; and it concluded with a resolution that the On the very next day, June 30th, a motion was made by two companies ordered to the Falls of Ohio, and one Mr. Lee, seconded by Mr. Monroe, to have one thousand thousand Virginia militia, drawn from the district of Ken- men, of the Virginia militia, he'd in readiness, and tucky, under the command of a superior officer, be or- called out, in case of necessity, for the protection of the dered to march into the hostile Indian territory, armed West. Even this was resisted! A motion was made by with the double authority of Commissioner and General, Mr. King, of Massachusetts, seconded by Mr. Long, of to treat, as well as to fight. New Hampshire, to strike out the number "one thouWe will now see the reception which this report and sand." It was struck out accordingly, there being but resolution met with. The first movement upon it was in five States, to wit: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, the way of a side blow, one of those operations in legisla- South Carolina, and Georgia, in favor of retaining it. The tion which have the two-fold advantage of doing most resolution, eviscerated of this essential part, was allowed mischief, and doing it without appearing to be absolutely to pass; and thus, on the 30th day of June, in the year hostile to the measure. It was a motion to postpone the 1786, the Governor of Virginia obtained the privilege, consideration of the resolution, for the purpose of consi- from the Continental Congress, to order some militia in dering a proposition, which was the reverse of Mr. Gray- Kentucky to hold themselves in readiness to protect the son's report in all its material facts and conclusions. This country, in case of necessity! Thus, at the end of twelve new proposition recited, that Congress had received in-years from the commencement of the Indian wars, Kenformation that small parties of Indians had crossed the tucky obtained the assent of Congress to the defence of Ohio, and committed depredations on the district of Ken- herself! Tennessee never obtained that much! She tucky; but had not sufficient evidence of the aggression, fought out the war from 1780 to 1792 upon her own botor hostile disposition of any tribes of Indians to justify tom, without the assent, and against the commands, of the United States in carrying the war into the Indian Congress. Expresses were often despatched to recall country; and proposed a resolve, that Congress would her expeditions going in pursuit of Indians who had inproceed in the organization of the Indian Department! | vaded her settlements. The decisive expedition to the and adopt such measures as would secure peace to the In-Cherokee town of Nickajac, which was framed upon the dians, and safety to the inhabitants of the frontiers. plan of Mr. Grayson, was, in legal acceptation, a lawless Let it be remembered that this proposition was offer-invasion of a friendly tribe. The brave and patriotic men ed on the 29th of June, 1786, when the Indian war in Ken- who swam the Tennessee river, three quarters of a mile tucky had raged for twelve years, when thousands of men, wide, in the dead of the night, shoving their arms before women, and children, had perished; that it was four years them on rafts, and stormed the town, and drove the Inafter the great battle of the Blue Licks-that disastrous dians from the gap in the mountain--the Thermopyle of battle, in which the flower of Western chivalry was cut the country-and gave peace to the Cumberland settle. down, and the whole land filled with grief and covered jments, did it with federal halters round their necks: with mourning; that it was the very same year in which for the expedition was contrary to law. And now, in the an offer to treat for peace, at the mouth of the Great Mi-face of history, which proclaims, and journals, which reami, had been contemptuously rejected; and, after recol-cord these facts; in contempt of all memory that retains, lecting these things, then judge of its statements and and tradition that recounts them, Massachusetts and the conclusions! To me it seems to class itself with the mo- Northeast, which abandoned the infant West to the rifle, tions afterwards witnessed in the French National Conven- the hatchet, the knife, and the burning stake of the Intion, to proceed to the order of the day when petitions dians, are to be put forth as the friends of the West! Virwere presented to save the lives of multitudes upon the point of assassination. The motion to postpone was made; the yeas and nays were called for by Mr. Grayson; the delegations of several States voted for it, and let the Journal of the day announce their names. New Hampshire.-Mr. Livermore, no, Mr. Long, ay. Massachusetts.-Mr. Gorham, ay, Mr. King, ay, Mr. Sedgwick, ay, Mr. Dane, no. Rhode Island.--Mr. Manning, no. New York.-Mr. Haring, ay, Mr. Smith, ay. Virginia.-Mr. Grayson, no, Mr. Monroe, no, Mr. Carrington, no, Mr. Lee, no. ginia, and the South, which labored for them with a zcal and perseverance which eventually obtained the kind protection recommended in the report of Mr. Graysonthe expedition of Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne--are to be set down as their enemies! And upon this settlement of the account the West is now to be wooed into an alliJance with the trainbands of New England federalismthe elite of the Hartford Convention--for the oppression of Virginia and the South, and the subjugation of New England democracy! History and the Journals are to be faced down with the assertion that the protecting arm of the Government was forever stretched over the infant settlements of the West, the North taking the lead of the South in its defence and protection! Two more brief references to incidents of different ' characters, but highly pertinent and instructive, will North Carolina.-Mr. Bloodworth, no, Mr. White, no. complete my selection of examples from the history of South Carolina.--Mr. Pinckney, no, Mr. Huger, no. the old Congress. One was a refusal, on the 25th of JuGeorgia.-Mr. Few, no. ly, 1787, to treat for a cession of Indian lands either on The motion to postpone was lost, only three States vot-the north or the south side of the Ohio; the other was a ing for it. Some amendments were agreed to, the reso-refusal, on the second of August of the same year, to let lution put on its passage, and rejected! New Hampshire, Virginia "be credited" with the expenses of an expedition Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and which she had carried on in the winter of '86-'87, against Maryland, voting no. Virginia, North Carolina, and the Indians on both sides of the Ohio river, because that South Carolina, ay. Delaware absent. Rhode Island, expedition was "not authorized" by the United States. but one member present. The vote of Georgia lost, by The Journals of the day will show the particulars, and SENATE.] Mr. Foot's Resolution. [FEB. 2, 1830. exhibit the delegation of Massachusetts-that Nathan Dane world, and a standing force of seven hundred men, made included, who is now to be set up as the founder, legisla- it easy to give protection to the West; and when the cestor, and benefactor of the Northwest--as heading the op- sion of the Western lands to the Federal Government, for position on both occasions. And here I submit, that, thus the payment of the revolutionary debt, and the establishfar, the assertion of the Senator from South Carolina [Mr.ment of new States in the Northwest, devolved the busiHAYNE] that the West had received hard treatment from ness of Western protection upon the Federal Government, the Federal Government, is fully sustained. His remark no less as an object of interest to themselves, than of duty was chiefly directed to the hard terms on which they get to the settlers. In all these instances, I have exhibited lands; but it holds good on the important point of long the States of Massachusetts and Virginia as antagonist neglect, the effect of Northern jealousy in giving pro- powers--the one opposing, the other supporting, the meatection against the Indians. sures favorable to the West, and each supported by more or less of its neighboring States. Second Day's Remarks. The Senator from Massachusetts [Mr. WEBSTER] has I resume my speech [said Mr. B.] at the point at which since occupied the floor two days, and has taken no noit was suspended when I gave way to the natural and laud- tice of facts so highly authenticated, drawn from sources able impatience of the Senator from South Carolina, who so wholly unimpeachable, and so pointedly conflicting with sits on my right, [Mr. HAYNE] to vindicate himself, his the denials and assertions which he has made on this floor. State, and the South, from what appeared to me to be a It is not for me to account for this neglect, or forbearance. most gratuitous aggression. Well and nobly has he done Rhetoricians lay down two cases in which silence upon Much as he had done before, to establish his reputa- the adversaries' arguments is the better part of eloquence; tion as an orator, a statesman, a patriot, and a gallant son first, where they are too insignificant to merit any notice, of the South, the efforts of these days eclipse and surpass secondly, where they are too well fortified to be overthe whole. They will be an era in his Senatorial career thrown. In such cases, it is recommended, as the safest which his friends and his country will mark and remem-course, to pass them by without notice, and as if they had ber, and look back upon with pride and exultation. not been heard. I do not intimate which, or if either of it. Before I go on with new matter, [said Mr. B.] I must these rules governed the conduct of the Senator from be permitted to reach back, and bring up, in the way of Massachusetts. I can very well conceive of a third, and recapitulation, and for the purpose of joining together the very different reason for this inattention; a reason which broken ends of my speech, the heads and substance of the was seen in the fulness of the occupation which the Senagreat facts which I quoted and established at the com-tor from South Carolina [Mr. HAYNE] had given him. mencement of this reply. They are: True, the Senator from Massachusetts tells us that he felt nothing of all that; that the arrows did not pierce; and makes a question whether the arm of the Senator from South Carolina was strong enough to spring the bow. This he repeated so many times, and with looks so well adjust 1. The attempt of the seven Northern States, in 1786, '87, 88, to surrender the navigation of the Mississippi to the King of Spain. 2. The attempt to effect that surrender, in violation of the articles of confederation, by the votes of seven States,ed to the declaration, that we all must have been reminded when nine could not be had. 3. The design of this surrender, to check the growth of the West. of what we have read in ancient books, of the brave gladiator, who, receiving the fatal thrust which starts the cry of "hoc habet" from the whole amphitheatre, instead of displaying his wound and beseeching pity, collects requir-himself over his centre of gravity, assumes a graceful attitude, dresses his face in smiles, bows to the ladies, and acts the unhurt hero in the agonies of death. 4. The clause in the first ordinance for the sale of the public lands, in the Northwestern territory, which ed the previous townships to be sold out complete before the subsequent ones could be offered for sale. 5. The refusal to sell a less quantity than six hundred and forty acres together. 6. The refusal to reduce the minimum price from one dollar to sixty-six and two-thirds cents per acre. 7. The opposition, in 1786, to the motion to detach two companies to the falls of the Ohio, for the protection of Kentucky against the incursions and depredations of the But admitting that the arrows did not pierce; what then? Is it proof of the weakness of the arm that sprung the bow, or of the impenetrability of the substance that resisted the shaft? We read, in many books, of the polished brass that resists, not only arrows, but the iron headed javelins, thrown by gigantic heroes. But, pierced or not pierced, we have all witnessed one thing; we have seen the Senator from Massachusetts occupy one whole day in picking these 8. The opposition to Mr. Grayson's unanswerable re-arrows out of his body; and to judge from the length and port, in the same year, in favor of sending an expedition seriousness of this occupation, he might be supposed to into the hostile Indian country. have been stuck as full of them as the poor fellow whose 9. The refusal, at the same time, to permit Virginia to transfixed effigy, on the first leaf of our annual almanacs, hold one thousand of her own militia in readiness to pro-attracts the commiseration of so many children. tect Kentucky. Indians. 10. The refusal, in 1787, to treat for a cession of Indian lands, on either side of the Ohio. 11. The refusal, in the same year, to let Virginia "be credited" with the expenses of an expedition, carried on in the winter of 1786, '87, by her troops, on both sides of the Ohio river, for the defence of the West. 12. The refusal, for twelve years, from 1774 to 1786, to send any aid to Kentucky. 13. The refusal, throughout the entire war, to send any aid to the Cumberland settlements, in Tennessee. 14. The opposition to Western emigration, as proved by Mr. Adams's letter. In all these instances, and I have omitted a thousand others, having confined myself to a single and brief period, by way of example, and that period the one when the termination of the revolutionary war, peace with all the I pass by these inquiries, [said Mr. B.] and come to the things which concern me most; the renewed and repeated declarations of the Senator from Massachusetts, [Mr. W.] that, from first to last, from the beginning to the ending of the chapter of this Government, all the measures favorable to the West have been carried by Northern votes, in opposition to Southern votes; that this has always been the case; that there are no grounds for asserting the contrary; and that the West is ungrateful to desert their ancient friends in the North for a new alliance in the South. These, sir, are the things for me to attend to. They concern me somewhat, because I have asserted the contrary: they concern the Union much more, because, upon the propagation and belief of these assertions, depends a most unhallowed combination for the government of this confederacy; commencing in the oppression of one half of it, and ending in the ruin of the whole. These considerations FEB. 2, 1830.] Mr. Foot's Resolution. [SENATE. impel me forward, and impose upon me the high obliga-farm, the labor of the year was annihilated; the produce tion to make out my case; to show the South to be the of the fields seemed to be changed into dust--struck by ever generous friend of the West; the democracy of the the wand of an enchanter, which transformed cotton, toNorth the same; and the political adversaries of both tobacco, and hemp, into the useless leaves of the forests. have been the unrelenting enemies of the West, until new The shock was incredible; the sensation universal; the reviews, and recent events, have substituted the soft and sentment overwhelming; the cry for redress loud and insweet game of amorous seduction for the ancient and iron cessant. Congress met. That great man was then Presystem of contempt and hostility. In discharging this sident, whose memory it has been my grief and shame to duty I shall confine myself to an elevated selection of his- see struck at, this day, on this floor. The energy of the torical facts; to the great epochs, and great questions, people, and the blessing of God, had just made Thomas which are cardinal in their nature, notorious in their exist-Jefferson President of these United States. It was a blessence, eventful in their conseqences, and pertinent to the ed election, and a providential one for the people of the trial of the issue joined. On this plan, skipping over ma- West! Upon that event depended the acquisition of Louny minor measures, I come to the great epoch of the Louisiana! Congress met. The outrage at New Orleans was isiana purchase, and the resulting measures connected the main topic in the President's message. His public with that event. message to the House of Representatives, replete with the The first point of view under which we must look at spirit which filled the West, is known to the Union. His that great measure, [said Mr. B.] is its incredible value, confidential message to the Senate is not known. It has and the absolute necessity, then created by extraordinary been locked up until lately, in the sealed book of our seevents, for making the acquisition. The West at that pe- cret proceedings. That seal is now broken, and I will riod (1803) was filling up with people, and covering over read the part of this confidential message which developed with wealth and population. It was no more the feeble the means of recovering, enlarging, and securing, our viosettlement which the Congress of the Confederation had lated rights, and asked the aid of the Senate in doing so. seen, and whose rights, few as they were to the free navi- It is the message which nominated the ministers to France gation of the Mississippi, had given birth to the most ar- who made the purchase of Louisiana. The Message--Extract. "While my confidence in our minister plenipotentiary the death of the other, to enter into a treaty or convention with the First Consul of France, for the purpose of enlarging and more effectually securing, our rights and interests in the river Mississippi, and in the territories eastward thereof." duous struggle ever beheld in that Congress. States had superseded these infant settlements. Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, had been admitted into the Union: the territories of Indiana, Illinois, and Mississippi, were making at Paris is entire and undiminished, I still think that these their way to the same station. The Western settlements objects might be promoted by joining with him a person of Pennsylvania and Virginia lined the left bank of the sent from hence directly, carrying with him the feelings Ohio, for half the length of its course. All was animated and sentiments of the nation excited on the late occurwith life, gay with hope, independent in the cultivation of rence, impressed by full communications of all the views a grateful soil, and rich in the prospect of sending their we entertain on this interesting subject, and thus prepared accumulated productions to all the markets of the world, to meet, and improve to an useful result, the counter prothrough the great channel which conducted the King of positions of the other contracting party, whatsoever form Rivers to the bosom of the ocean. The treaty with Spain their interest may give to them, and to secure to us the ulin the year 1795 had guarantied this right of passage; had timate accomplishment of our object: I, therefore, nomistipulated, moreover, for a right of deposite in New Or-nate R. R. Livingston to be minister plenipotentiary, and leans, with the further stipulation, that, if this place of de- James Monroe to be minister extraordinary and plenipoposite should ever be denied, another should immediately tentiary, with full powers to both, jointly, or to either, on be assigned, equally convenient for storing produce and merchandise, and for the exchange of cargoes between the river and the sea vessels. This right of deposite, thus indispensable, and thus secured, was violated in the fall of 1802. New Orleans, at that time, was suddenly shut up, and locked against us, and no other place was assigned at The reason for sending an additional minister is here which Western produce could be landed, left, or sold. stated, and stated with force and clearness. Mr. LivingsThe news of this event stunned the West. I well recolton was in Paris, and, however faithful and able he might lect the effect upon the country, for I saw it, and felt it in be, he was a stranger to the feelings excited by the occamy own person. I was a lad then, the eldest of a widow's sion. The addition of Mr. Monroe would only make an sons-was living in Tennessee, and had come into Nash- embassy of two persons. Embassies of three, as in the ville to sell the summer's crop, and lay in the winter's sup- mission to the French republic in '98, and of five, as at plies. We raised cotton, then, in that Southern part of Ghent, in 1815, have been seen in our country. An emTennessee, and the price of fifteen cents a pound which bassy of two, in such a case as the violation of our right had been paid for it, and three or four hundred pounds to of deposite at New Orleans, and only one of them fresh the acre, and so many acres to the hand, had filled us all with from the United States, could not be considered extraorgolden hopes. I came into Nashville to sell the summer's dinary or extravagant. The selection of Mr. Monroe crop. I offered it to the merchant, a worthy man, with was, of all others, the most fit and acceptable. He was a whom we dealt. His answer, and the reason, came toge-citizen of Virginia--that great State, which had been the ther, and gave the first intelligence of my own loss and the most carly, steadfast, and powerful friend of the West; he calamity of the country. Not a cent could he give for the was the champion of the Mississippi in that struggle of cotton, for he was not a griper to take it for a nominal two years, under lock and key, when seven States underprice. Not an article could be advanced upon the faith of it; not even the indispensable item of one barrel of salt. The salt and the articles were indeed furnished, and upon indulgent terms, but not upon the faith of the cotton; that was recommended to be laid away, and to wait the course of events. took to surrender the navigation of that river; he was the ambasador called for, by the public voice of the South and West, and Mr. Randolph was the organ of that voice, on the floor of the House of Representatives, when he declared that Mr. Jefferson could nominate no other person than Mr. Monroe. He was nominated. I have shown the This was the state of one and of all-of the entire message that did it, and the reasons that influenced the country--Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, the western coun- President. Let us now continue our reading of the Jourties of Pennsylvania and Virginia; the territories of In-nal, and see how that nomination was received by the Sediana, Illinois and Mississippi. Every where, at every nators from the North and from the South. SENATE.] roe. The Journal. The glory of Jefferson was complete. He had found the "WEDNESDAY, 12th January, 1803. Mississippi the boundary, and he made it the centre of the "The Senate took into consideration the message of the republic. He re-united the two halves of the Great ValPresident of the United States, of January 11th, nominat. ley, and laid the foundation for the largest empire of freeing Robert R. Livingston to be minister plenipotentiary, men that time or carth ever beheld. He planted the seed and James Monroe to be minister extraordinary and pleni- of imperishable gratitude in the hearts of myriads of genepotentiary, to enter into a treaty or convention with the rations who shall people the banks of the Father of Floods, First Consul of France, for the enlarging and more effec-and raise the votive altar, and erect the monumental statually securing our rights and interests on the river Missis- tue, to the memory of him who was the instrument of God sippi; and in the accomplishment of so great a work. And great is "Resolved, That they consent and advise to the ap my grief and shame to have lived to see his name attacked pointment of R. R. Livingston, agreeably to the nomination. in the American Senate! To have been myself the un"On the question, will the Senate consent and advise conscious instrument of clearing the way for an impeachto the nomination of James Monroe? The yeas were, ment of his word! and that upon the recollections of meMessrs. Anderson, Baldwin, Bradley, Breckenridge, Clin-mories from whose tablets the stream of time may have ton, Cocke, Ellery, T. Foster, Franklin, Jackson, Logan, washed away this small part of their accumulated treasures. Nicholas, Stone, Sumpter, and Wright-15. The nays, Let us pause, and reflect for a moment, upon the conseMessrs. Dayton, Dwight, Foster, Hillhouse, Howard, J. quences to the West, and to the Union, if President JefMason, Morris, Ogden, Olcott, Plumer, Tracy, Wells, and ferson had not seized the opportunity of purchasing LouiWhite--12." siana; or, having purchased it, the Senate, or the House Fifteen for, twelve against, the nomination of Mr. Men of Representatives, should have rejected the acquisition. A majority of three rotes in his favor; which is a dif- In the first place, it is to be remembered that France, ference of two voters; so that the nomination of Mr. Mon-emerging from the vortex of her Revolution, overflowing roe lacked but two of being rejected. Whence came with warriors, and governed by the Conqueror who was these twelve? Every one from the north of the Potomac, catching at the sceptre of the world, was then the owner nearly all from New England, and the whole from the of Louisiana. The First Consul had extorted it from the ranks of that political party, whose survivors, and residu- King of Spain in the year 1800; and the violation of the ary legatees, are now in hot pursuit of the alliance of the right of deposite at New Orleans was his first act of ownerWest! If any evidence is wanting to shew that the vote ship over the new possession, and the first significant intiagainst Mr. Monroe was a vote against the object of his mation to us, of the new kind of neighbor that we had mission, it will be found, ten days afterwards, in the same acquired. Cotemporaneously with this act of outrage upJournal, upon the passage of a bill appropriating two mil-on us, was the concentration of twenty-five thousand men, lions of dollars to accomplish the purposes of the mission. under the general of division, afterwards Marshal Victor, in On this bill the vote stood: the ports of Holland, for the military occupation of LouiYEAS.-- Messrs. Anderson, Baldwin, Bradley, Breck- siana. So far advanced were the preparations for this enridge, Clinton, Cocke, Ellery, T. Foster, Jackson, Lo-expedition, that the troops were ready to sail; and comgan, S. T. Mason, Nicholas, Sumpter, and Wright-14." missaries to provide for their reception were engaged in NAYS." Messrs. Dayton, Dwight, Foster, Hillhouse, New Orleans and St. Louis, when the transfer of the proHoward, J. Mason, Morris, Olcott, Plumer, Ross, Stone, vince was announced. Now, s", put it on either foot: Wells, and White--12." Louisiana remains a French, or becomes a British, possesMr. Monroe went. Fortune was at work for the West, sion. In the first contingency, we must have become the while nearly one half of the American Senate, and a large ally, or the enemy, of France. The system of Bonaparte proportion of the House of Representatives, were at work admitted of no neutrals; and our alternatives would have against her. War between France and England was im-been, between falling into the train of his continental pending; the loss of Louisiana in that war was among the system, or maintaining a war against him upon our own most certain of its events; to get rid of the province before soil. We can readily decide that the latter would have the declaration of hostilities, was the policy of the First been most honorable; but it is hard to say which would have Consul; and the cession to the United States was determin-been most fatal to our prosperity, and most disastrous to ed on before our minister could arrive. This was the our republican institutions. In the second contingency, work of Providence, or fortune, which no one here could and the almost certain one, we should have had England foresee; which few are lawyerlike enough to lay hold of established on our western as well as on our northern to justify the previous opposition to Mr. Monroe, and the frontier; and I may add, our southern frontier also: for vote against the two millions. The treaty of cession was sign- Florida, as the property of the ally of France, would have ed by the First Consul; was brought home, made known to been a fair subject of British conquest in the war with the nation, and received in the South and West with one France and Spain, and a desirable one, after the acquisi universal acclaim of joy. Throughout the South and West tion of Louisiana, and as casily taken as wished for; the it was hailed as a national benefaction, prepared by for- vessel that brought home the news of the victory at Tratune, seized by Jefferson, and entitled to the devout thanks-falgar being suflicient to summon and reduce the places giving of the American people. Not so in the Northeast. of Mobile, Pensacola, St. Marks, and St. Augustine. This There a violent opposition broke out against it, upon the nation, thus established upon three sides of our territory, express ground that it would increase the power of the the most powerful of maritime Powers, jealous of our West; and when the treaty came up for ratification in the commerce, panting for the dominion of the seas, unscruSenate, it received seven votes against it, being so many pulous in the use of savage allies, and nine years afterof the same party which had voted against the nomination wards to be engaged in a war with us! The results of of Mr. Monroe and the appropriation of two millions. In such a position would have been, the loss, for ages and the House of Representatives the money bill for carrying centuries, of the navigation of the Mississippi; the perthe treaty into effect was voted against by twenty-five mem-manent occupation of the Gulf of Mexico by the British bers, nearly the whole from the geographical quarter, and fleet; the consequent control of the West Indies; and the from the political party, that had opposed the treaty in the ravage of our frontiers by savages in British pay. Senate. The crisis was over, the great event was consummated; Louisiana was acquired; the navigation of the Mississippi secured; the prosperity of the West established forever. These would have been the permanent consequences, to say nothing of the fate of the late war, commenced with our enemy encompassing us on three sides with her land forces, and covering the ocean in front with her proud navy, vic |