FREEMAN, Mr. IMLAY, Mr. SPRIGG, and Mr. VAN ALEN. Ordered, That a Committee of Commerce and Manufactures be appointed, pursuant to the standing rules and orders of the House; And a committee was appointed, of Mr. SAMUEL SMITH, Mr. SEWALL, Mr. WALN, Mr. RUTLEDGE, Mr. SCHUREMAN, Mr. TILLINGHAST, and Mr. BLOUNT. A message was received from the Senate, informing this House that they had come to the following resolution, to which they request a con currence: Resolved, That two Chaplains be appointed to Congress for the present session, one for each House, who shall interchange weekly. The resolution was taken up and concurred in; and the House proceeded, by ballot, to the appointment of a Chaplain on its part, and upon examining the ballots, a majority of the vote was found in favor of the Rev. ASHBEL GREEN; and he was declared duly elected. ADDRESS TO THE PRESIDENT. On motion, the House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the Speech of the President of the United States, Mr. DENT in the Chair; when Mr. SPRAGUE proposed for adoption the following resolution : Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, that a respectful Address ought to be presented by the House of Representatives to the President of the United States, in answer to his Speech to both Houses of Congress at the commencement of this session, containing assurances that this House will take into consideration the various and important subjects recommended to their consideration. The resolution was agreed to without objection, and the committee rose and reported the resolution. The House took it up, concurred in it, and appointed a committee of five to prepare an answer accordingly. The committee consists of Messrs. DANA, VENABLE, HARPER, HOSMER, and BALDWIN. PRESIDENT'S SPEECH. Mr. J. WILLIAMS moved that the Speech of the President be referred to a Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union; which motion being carried, the House adjourned. TUESDAY, December 11. Two other members, to wit: THOMAS SINNICKSON and MARK THOMSON, from New Jersey, appeared and took their seats in the House. A message was received from the Senate, informing the House that they had elected Bishop WHITE as their Chaplain. The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, enclosing a statement from the Commissioners of the city of Washington, of their receipts and expenditures, from May 18 to November 18, of the present year, which was ordered to be printed. [H. or R. Mr. THATCHER, from the Committee of Revisal and Unfinished Business, made a report in part, which was ordered to lie on the table. COLLECTION OF DUTIES. Mr. S. SMITH moved that a letter, received from the Secretary of the Treasury, during the last session, accompanying a plan for regulating the collection of duties on imports and tonnage, be referred to the Committee on Commerce and Manufactures. Mr. MACON thought, as it was the intention of this report to provide a new law on this subject, it would save time if the committee were empowered to report by bill or otherwise. Agreed to. UNIFORM BANKRUPTCY. an early period of the last session, the House took Mr. HARPER said it would be recollected that, at into consideration an important subject relative posed, it was well known, was then passed over, to a uniform system of bankruptcy. The bill proon account of more pressing concerns; but, as he considered the business of great importance, he wished to call the attention of the House to it at an early period of the present session, and, therefore, proposed the following resolution for adop tion: "Resolved, That a committee be appointed to prepare and bring in a bill for establishing a uniform system of bankruptcy throughout the United States." The resolution was agreed to, and a committee of five appointed. ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS. Mr. HARPER said no member of this House could be ignorant of the use at this moment made of two acts passed during the last session of Congress. He meant the acts commonly called the alien and sedition laws. No one could be ignorant of the ferment which had been raised, and sedulously kept up on account of those laws. I do know, said he, of a certainty that this ferment has been raised, and is kept up, in many places, by a misrepresentation of the contents of those laws. The possibility of doing this will be readily allowed, when it is recollected how little newspapers are circulated in some parts of the Union, and even where they do circulate, how liable the readers of them are to pass over, without much attention, any law which may appear in them. A law, he said, is not an article of news, which, if a person remember in part, he may recollect the rest-of a law a man ought to have precise and accurate ideas; and, in order to attain these, it must be read at leisure, and he must have it by him so as occasionally to refer to it. This cannot be done, at present, with respect to the laws of the United States. A comparatively small number of copies only are printed; of course, they are far from being generally circulated, and the great mass of the people have no opportunity of becoming acquainted with them. I know, contiuued Mr. H., that the most unfair misrepresentations have been practised. I know an instance where, in a large assemblage of people, the bill which H. OF R.] President's Speech-Stamp Duties. [DECEMBER, 1798. WEDNESDAY, December 12. Several other members, to wit: from Rhode Island, CHRISTOPHER G. CHAMPLIN; from Pennsylvania, THOMAS HARTLEY; and from Virginia, CARTER B. HARRISON; appeared, and took their seats in the House. STATE BALANCES. Mr. HARPER wished to lay a resolution on the table, the subject of which had engaged the attention of Congress at their last session; and, as it was in substance the same with a bill which then passed this House, he trusted no objection would be made to it. It was as follows: originated in the Senate on the subject of sedition, and which was never passed into a law, was read as the sedition law complained of, and resolutions were founded upon it. I also know that, in another State, resolutions have been passed, not upon the laws which are reprobated, but upon a letter from a member of Congress, which contained, not perhaps wilful misrepresentations, but certainly misrepresentations of the laws in question. In order to counteract these evils, Mr. H. said, he held a proposition in his hand which he meant to submit to the House. And, as an additional reason for moving it, he mentioned that, in the course of an excursion he had lately made of many hundred miles, he had met with no individual (who was Resolved, That if any State against which a balnot himself actively employed in spreading the ance was reported by the Commissioners appointed to misinformation which he complained of) who did settle the accounts between the United States and the not approve of these laws. He had, indeed, met several States, shall, within -, either pay into the with many who had been misinformed with respect Treasury of the United States, or expend, or by a Leto them. But all of these, without exception, gislative act engage to expend, in executing, enlarging, have expressed themselves satisfied that the laws or completing, any fortifications for the defence of the are wise and Constitutional measures, when made said State, at such place or places, and according to such acquainted with their contents. In order, there- plan or plans, as shall be approved by the President of fore, to enable the people to judge for themselves the United States, and under his direction, a sum of upon this subject, to do away the misrepresenta- balance reported as aforesaid against such State, or to money, or in stocks of the United States, equal to the tions so industriously propagated respecting them, the sum assumed by the United States, in the debt of and to defeat the attempts which he believed were such State, such payment or expenditure, when so made in some places to produce an armed opposi-made, shall be accepted by the United States as a full tion to them, he offered a resolution to the House acquittance of all demands on account of the said balto the following effect: ance; and the President of the United States shall be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause credit to be given to such State, on the books of the Treasury of the United States, accordingly: Provided, however, That no more than one-third part of the whole payment or expenditure that may be made by such State, shall be made in three per cent. stock, nor more than one-third part of the remaining two-thirds shall be made in deferred stock: And provided, also, That any such State may obtain a full acquittance, as aforesaid, by the payment or expenditure of a sum of money sufficient, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury, to purchase, at market price, the different species of stock, the payment or expenditure of which would be accepted, as a full acquittance as aforesaid: And provided, further, That if any such State as is indebted as aforesaid, shall have expended, since the establishment of the present Government of the United States, any sum of money in fortifying any place since ceded by such State to the United States, or which may be so ceded within ascertained and proved to the satisfaction of the Secresuch expenditure having been tary of the Treasury, shall be taken and allowed. "Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives, That the Secretary of State be, and he is hereby authorized, to cause to be printed and distributed throughout the United State, copies of two acts passed during the last session, the one entitled "An act respecting aliens," the other "An act in addition to an act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States, and for other purposes." Ordered to lie on the table. PRESIDENT'S SPEECH. Mr. SPRAGUE called for the order of the day on the President's Speech. Mr. MACON said it was unusual to enter upon this business until an answer was returned to it. The Speech was, at present, before the committee appointed to draught the answer. Mr. SPRAGUE replied that his intention was to refer the several matters contained in the Speech to select committees, which he thought no way connected with the answer to the Speech. The motion was negatived. Mr. THATCHER moved an adjournment, which was negatived; only 14 votes appearing for it. But in a short time after, Mr. RUTLEDGE observed that, as he supposed the motion for an adjournment had been negatived from an idea that the committee appointed to draught an answer to the Speech of the President might be ready, in the course of the sitting, to make their report, he could inform the House, as one of the committee, that they would not be ready to make their report this day. He then renewed the motion for adjournment, and the House adjourned accordingly. of this bill is to correct that part of the law which subjects all the copies of foreign bills of exchange and bills of lading to the same stamp with the original, and of course makes the duty on those kind of transactions fall heavier than upon any other. Mr. MACON suggested the propriety of appointing a Committee of Ways and Means, to which this and all other subjects respecting revenue might be referred. Mr. HARPER had no particular objection to the business taking the course which the gentleman from North Carolina suggested, if he thought proper to move for the appointment of a Committee of Ways and Means; but he saw no objection to the course he himself had proposed-it was that taken last session. A committee of three was appointed. ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS. Mr. HARPER then called up the resolution which he yesterday laid upon the table respecting the publication of an extra number of copies of the Alien and Sedition Laws, to be distributed gratis throughout the United States. Mr. NICHOLAS had no objection to the publication of the laws in any manner which might be thought proper. The reason which had been given for the extraordinary publication of the laws in question were founded upon facts which had come within the mover's own knowledge, and from others which he said he had learned from his friends. Mr. N. could not help suspecting the gentleman had been misinformed; but as he had stated that certain public meetings had acted upon false information, rough draughts of bills, and other papers, which discovered the extremest ignorance, he would be glad if the gentleman from South Carolina would indulge the House with the evidence which he possessed upon this subject. [H. OF R. lieved he did not before mention where they were passed, but he did not hesitate now to do it. He stated that these resolutions had every appearance of being founded upon a letter written by a member of Congress, which letter he had read, and which contained what, perhaps, were not wilful misrepresentations; indeed, from the character of the gentleman, he must suppose them unintentional misconceptions; but the letter certainly contained gross errors, for the law is stated as laying the most unjustifiable restraints on speech, which was not within the purview of the act. The third fact came within his own observation. It was, that in no instance had he met with any individual, not himself actively employed in misrepresenting these laws, or a most zealous party man, who was not, upon hearing their contents simply stated, convinced of their wisdom and propriety. He had, indeed, met with many well intentioned people who had conceived prejudices of so strong a nature against these laws that they could not view them but through a perverted medium; but every man not of this description, or still worse, expressed his astonishment that such pains should have been taken to produce so much discord with respect to them. Though, said Mr. H., the gentleman from Virginia may not have met with persons of this description, yet he himself had, and upon this statement of facts he had founded his motion. And he believed it to be of primary importance, for whatever may be the intention of gentlemen who promote the measures which he complained ofwhether the persons who stand by and say these resolves pass unanimously, intend to follow them up by acts he knew not; but, said he, if these measures have any meaning, or the persons any consistency in their conduct, they must mean, and he supposed they did mean, an armed opposition to these laws, and consequently to this Government. Mr. HARPER had no objection to indulge the He hoped these effects would not take place; but gentleman from Virginia. and, if an indulgence, it had been heretofore seen that similar proceedthe House, with the information which he requirings in another part of the Union, in reference to ed. When he introduced this motion, Mr. H. a former law, had produced the same lamentable said, he stated three matters of fact, two of which catastrophe. He saw the same steps pursuing he asserted to be within his own knowledge, the now that were then pursued; the same inflamother he mentioned to have received from author- matory resolutions, and the same tumultuous asity which he could not doubt-which was, that at semblages of the people. The best way of counta public meeting, when resolutions of an extraor-eracting these designs, in his opinion, was to give dinary and hostile complexion were passed upon the people correct information with respect to the subject of these laws, in one of the harangues these laws. He believed that the great body of which preceded these resolutions, and upon which the citizens of this country are ready to give a the resolutions were apparently founded, a person hearty support to these and all the other acts of read, not the law commonly called the Sedition Government; but he knew the laws in question Law, but the draft of a bill which was reported in are not understood in various parts of the Union, the Senate, which there underwent a total alter- and that discontents exist, which would be removation, and was in this House further amended. ad by a simple publication of them. He was also This fact, though not founded upon his own in- convinced, that if even this should not be the case, formation, was told him by an eye-witness. The the publication could have no other than a good meeting, he said, was held in Louisa county, Vir- effect. In a matter, however, which so materially ginia; and if the gentleman wished to know the concerns the rights of the people, they ought to name of the man, he would give it to him when have full information, which must, he was conhe sat down, but he did not think it proper to vinced, produce general content. But if, on the mention names on that floor. contrary, these laws are as full of mischief as they are represented to be, their publication will increase the present discontent on account of them, The other two facts were these: One related to certain resolutions passed in Kentucky. He be so that gentlemen who have always been opposed to them ought not to object to their publication; for his own part, he wished truth to have its full force, and therefore did he advocate this motion. Mr. NICHOLAS said he had not the least objection to the proposed publication. As to the general charge of ignorance, which the gentleman from South Carolina had made against the people whom he had conversed with in his travels, he expected it, as he knew that gentleman had always been in the habit of setting down all opposition to his own opinions to the account of ignorance. With respect to the fact, it had turned out also as he expected. Upon the information of a single man, that a certain public meeting had acted upon the first draught of a law, instead of the law itself, he has thought proper here to assert the fact. He could inform the gentleman from South Carolina, that there were, in the quarter alluded to, friends of the Administration as respectable for accuracy and information as himself, and that a man of this description was chairman of the meeting in question. With respect to the Kentucky resolutions, the gentleman from South Carolina states, he is induced to believe, from concomitant circumstances, as he now understood, that they must have been founded upon the letter of one of their members, though he understood him as saying, yesterday, that he knew it was the fact. As the gentleman, however, has been so successful in his justification of these laws on his travels, he would advise him to suspend this matter for a time, until his own observations accompanied a publication of the laws; for, if nobody else does it, he would assure him, that, as soon as the seats of the House shall be a little better filled, he would himself move a repeal of these laws. For his own part, he had never met with a man in Virginia, favorable to these laws, who was not possessed of all the arguments which had been used in support of them in this House; however, since the gentleman from South Carolina supposed them so grossly ignorant, he had no objection to their receiving all the light he could throw upon the subject. [DECEMBER, 1798. parts of the Constitution which, it is alleged, are infringed by those laws. With respect to the county of Louisa; he believed he had spent more of his time in that county, during the recess, than the gentleman from South Carolina, and yet this was the first time he had heard of the circumstance which had been mentioned, and not having heard of it, he did not believe that such a thing existed; and though he did not doubt the gentleman from South Carolina had received the information, he did not think the fact was sufficiently ascertained to be brought forward on this floor. He concluded, by moving a postponement. Mr. J. WILLIAMS wished this motion had not been made. It appeared to him that, whatever laws are passed, the more they are promulged the better. Even those who wish for a repeal of the laws in question, ought not to be against the proposed publication of them, since, according to their ideas, the more they are known, the more they will be disliked. They were passed at the close of the last session after he had been called home by the indisposition of his family; and if gentlemen meant to attempt a repeal of them, he should be glad to hear the arguments they had to offer in favor of the measure; but, in Republican Governments, too much information could not be given to the people at large, and he should therefore be in favor of any motion which had that for its object. The question on a postponement was put and negatived-42 to 29. The original motion on the resolution then recurred Mr. MACON was of opinion that, as this measure would involve an expense, the subject ought to be committed. He thought it ought also to be done by a law. When the laws of the United States were ordered to be printed, it was effected by a special law, and though this will by no means be so expensive, yet it involves the same principle. He submitted it, therefore, to the mover, whether it would not be best to refer his resolution to bring in a bill. he saw no reason for departing from it. Mr. HARPER knew no essential difference beMr. DAWSON inquired, whether it would be in tween the two modes of proceeding. The mode order to suspend the consideration of this motion. which he proposed was the same with that adoptOn being informed that it would, he moved for a ed last session in the extra publication of the depostponement of it for a month, not, he said, be-spatches from our Commissioners in France, and cause he was opposed to the resolution, but because he wished to give every information on the subject, as he was convinced that the more the laws in question are known, the more they will be reprobated by the citizens of the United States, and more especially by the friends of the Constitution. It must be understood, from what had fallen from his colleague, that an attempt will be made, in the course of the present session, to obtain a repeal of those laws, and, whenever the subject came up, he trusted there would be found a majority of Congress in favor of the measure. Should he be disappointed in this hope, he would join as heartily as any other member, in supporting the present resolution, after having attempted to amend it by adding to it, as was proposed during the last session, by a gentleman from North Carolina, those Mr. THATCHER was in favor of the principle of this resolution; but he was doubtful whether the mode of publication proposed was the best. He thought, if these laws were ordered to be printed in all the newspapers of the United States once a week for three or four weeks, it would better answer the purpose, than publishing them in a pamphlet. As to the principle, it could not be objected to. The gentleman who proposes an adjournment, acknowledges that the information may be proper a month hence. Mr. HARPER believed, if one hundred thousand copies of these laws were struck off, it would answer the purpose. With respect to the idea of the gentleman who was last up, it is better calculated for a particular part of the Union than for the Continent at large. Indeed, it is owing to the imperfect and limited circulation of newspapers, in certain parts of the Union, that it is necessary for the Legislature to take a step of this kind. Where newspapers are abundantly circulated, and post cfices are numerous, there is no necessity for other information; but there are parts of the United States, and the part where he lived is one of them, where the circulation of newspapers is extremely limited, and that is the reason why these laws are so little understood in those parts. Mr. H. said, he must be indulged in a single word of reply to the gentleman from Virginia who was first up. In the first place, he denied that he had said the facts which he stated were all within his own knowledge. If that gentleman had attended to what he said, he would have known that he stated, part were within his own knowledge, and that he had the other from a person upon whom he could depend. The gentleman from Virginia next spoke of another matter of fact; he had stated the uniform tenor of his, Mr. H.'s, conduct to be, to consider ail differences of opinion from his own to be proofs of ignorance. If so, he must always have treated the gentleman from Virginia as the most ignorant of mankind; yet this House, and that gentleman himself, must remember the acknowledgments which he had always been ready to make to that gentleman's superior talents, which was a proof against the assertion. But the gentleman from Virginia, in order to make this witty remark upon him, had misstated the fact. He did not say that the persons of whom he spoke differed in opinion from himself, but that they had taken up misconceptions of the law; nor did he say that he had convinced them of their errors by his arguments, but that this was effected by the bare reading of the law. Mr. H. concluded by saying, that from the known urbanity of the gentleman from Virginia, he supposed he would have suffered the first three or four days of the session to have passed, without a personal attack of this kind; but because he hoped the gentleman would speedily return to that good humor for which he was always remarked, except driven from it by the heat of debate, (when it is perhaps excusable,) he should forbear making any further observations upon what had fallen from him. The question was then put for filling the blank with 100.000; which was negatived, 12 votes only being in favor of it; then upon 50,000; which was negatived-36 to 31; then upon 40,000, in favor of which only appeared 40 votes; then upon 20,000; which was carried; 42 votes being for it. The question was now on the resolution as amended. Mr. GALLATIN believed that every one was agreed as to the propriety of giving all necessary information to the people of the United States; and he believed they wanted it in relation to the laws of last session generally, more than on any other, for he found on his arrival at this city, the laws of last session are not yet printed. But, if 5th CON.-78 [H. or R. any laws had been published throughout the United States more than others; or if there were any laws upon which less information is required, they were the two laws selected by the gentleman from South Carolina for an extraordinary publication. He has selected these laws for publication, because he says the people of the United States do not understand them." What sort of evidence has he adduced in support of this resolution? His own. He has said that, in travelling through the country, he has met with misinformed individuals. He had no doubt of this; he might have met with five, ten, or fifty persons who did not properly comprehend the sedition law. But, said Mr. G., because one member of this House, in travelling through the United States, has found individuals misinformed, are we to conclude that the people of the United States generally want information? Are there not one hundred members on this floor, and is there one among them, besides this gentleman, who says the people in his district are misinformed with respect to these laws? But, said Mr. G., let us take the evidence of the gentleman himself. The resolution embraces two laws, yet his evidence only relates to one of these laws. The alien law, he does not pretend to say the people do not understand. It is impossible to say so. It cannot be misunderstood. It gives the President power to send out of the United States, any foreigner whom he thinks dangerous, which is too plain to be misunderstood. What does his evidence amount to? That resolutions have been passed in one of the counties in Virginia, not founded upon the sedition law, but upon a bill which never passed the Legislature. Mr. HARPER explained, by saying he did not say the resolutions were founded upon the bill, but that it was read there by a person speaking on the subject, as the law. Mr. GALLATIN said, he was going to state what he understood to be the fact, but the gentleman himself had saved him the trouble. He supposed the gentleman who read this bill did so merely to show what were the views of the supporters of this law, as an incident in the history of the business. If the resolutions were really founded upon that bill, and not upon the law, let the resolutions be produced in proof of the assertion. It would be readily discovered whether they were founded on misinformation or not. From what the gentleman had himself said, there appeared to be no foundation for the opinion. The next part of the gentleman's evidence relates to resolutions passed in the State of Kentucky. He mentioned that a letter, written by one of the members from that State, contains some misrepresentations, and that the resolutions passed there were founded upon those misrepresentations. This is mere matter of supposition, nor does he show, if it be true, how sending the law will correct the misrepresentation. We are informed, said he, that the Legislature of that State are now acting upon these laws, and, therefore, if copies of the laws were sent to that body, it would answer the gentleman's object. If his arguments have any weight, not only individuals are misin |