delay, and not leave the house at the mercy of any two members....it is to this effect....Resolved, that the discussion of this day shall be public. Mr. COCKE. The object of gentlemen is plain enough, they wish to impose an opinion upon the public that we are afraid or ashamed to let what we are doing be known to the people. Gentlemen would find themselves mistaken in their designs. He was always for the open and public discussion of all subjects, and for none more than the subject of the gentleman's resolutions; but he was opposed to the disclosure of any thing which might prove injurious to the country, by retarding or throwing difficulties in the way of negociations set on foot by the executive. Gentlemen wished to treat the people like little children, to hold out a scare-crow or a bug-bear to frighten them. But they would find that the people were not to be driven from their sober senses. He came from a part of the country which was greatly interested in this subject; and he knew the people were not such fools as the gentlemen would make them.... they will not believe that those who know them, and have taken the most effectual measures to procure safety and security for them, are plotting evil for them. Mr. WRIGHT would move an amendment to the resolution (of Mr. Ross) that no member, during debate, shall directly or indirectly disclose the secrets of the Senate. The VICE PRESIDENT wished to have the precise question resolved....whether two gentlemen have a right, at their pleasure, to close the doors of the Senate? Mr. ANDERSON. Does the President mean, by again urging this question in this way, to suspend the resolution and the amendment just offered?....He hoped not! The resolution and amendment were then ried in the affirmative. put, and car The VICE PRESIDENT then read Mr. Ross's original resolutions as follows: 1. Resolved, "That the United States have an indispu table right to the free navigation of the river Mississippi, and to a convenient place of deposit for their produce and merchandize in the island of New Orleans. 2. "That the late infraction of such their unquestionable right, is an aggression hostile to their honor and in terest. 3. "That it does not consist with the dignity or safety of this union, to hold a right so important, by a tenure so uncertain. 4. "That it materially concerns such of the American citizens as dwell on the western waters; and is essential to the union, strength, and prosperity of these states, that they obtain complete security for the full and peaceable enjoyment of such their absolute right. 5. "That the President be authorised to take immediate possession of such place or places, in the said island, or the adjacent territories, as he may deem fit and convenient, for the purposes aforesaid; and to adopt such other measures for obtaining that complete security as to him, in his wisdom, shall seem meet. 6. "That he be authorised to call into actual service, any number of the militia of the states of South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, or of the Mississippi territory, which he may think proper, not exceeding fifty thousand, and to employ them, together with the military and naval forces of the union, for effecting the objects above mentioned. 7. "That the sum of five millions of dollars be appropriated to the carrying into effect the foregoing resolutions; and that the whole or any part of that sum be paid or applied on warrants drawn in pursuance of such directions as the President may, from time to time, think proper to give to the secretary of the treasury." Whereupon, Mr. WHITE, of Delaware, rose. Mr. President, on this subject, which has on a former day been discussed with so much ability, and with such eloquence by my friend from Pennsylvania, the honorable mover of the resolutions, I shall submit the few observations I may make, in as concise a manner as I am capable of; for it is very far from my wish to occupy the time, or attention of the Senate unneces sarily. The resolutions on your table I approve of in their full extent; I believe they express the firm and manly tone that at this moment, is especially becoming the dignity of the government to assume; I believe they mark out a sys tem of measures, that, if promptly pursued, will be honor able to the nation, and equal to the accomplishment of the important object which gentlemen on all sides seem to have in view. These alone, with me, would be sufficient inducements to yield them my feeble support ;....but in addition to these, and to the thorough conviction of my own mind as to the course I ought to pursue, I have the happiness of being supported in my opinions on this subject, by the unequivo cal expression of the sentiment of the state, to which I have the honor to belong. It was early seen, Mr. President, and required but little penetration to discover, that adventurers emigrating beyond the mountains, and settling on our western waters, must possess the free navigation of the Mississippi, it being their only outlet to the ocean. This important privilege it became necessary on the part of the government of the United States to secure by treaty, and not leave to the capricious will of whatever nation who might futurely hold the territory at the mouth of the river. Accordingly in the 4th and 22d articles of our treaty with Spain, I find on this subject the following stipulations : "ARTICLE IV. It is likewise agreed that the western boundary of the United States, which separates them from the Spanish colony of Louisiana, is in the middle of the channel or bed of the river Mississippi, from the northern boundary of the said States, to the completion of the 31st degree of latitude north of the equator. And his Catholic Majesty has likewise agreed that the navigation of the said river, in its whole breadth from its source to the ocean, shall be free only to his subjects and the citizens of the United States, unless he should extend this privilege to the subjects of other powers by special convention." "ART. XXII. The two high contracting parties, hoping that the good correspondence and friendship which happily reigns between them, will be further encreased by this treaty, and that it will contribute to augment their prosperity and opulence, will in future give to their mutual commerce all the extension and favor which the advantages of both countries may require. "And in consequence of the stipulations contained in the fourth article, his Catholic Majesty will permit the citizens of the United States, for the space of three years from this time, to deposit their merchandizes and effects in the port of New Orleans, and to export them from thence without paying any other duty, than a fair price for the hire of the stores ....and his majesty promises either to continue this permission, if he finds, during that time, that it is not prejudicial to the interests of Spain, or if he should not agree to continue it there, he will assign to them, on another part of the banks of the Mississippi, an equivalent establishment." This instrument, Mr. President, it is known, for a time quieted the fears and jealousies of our western brethren; they supposed it had removed forever the possibility of any future embarrassment to their commerce on those waters. And after it had been proclaimed as the law of the land, after it had been ratified by both nations, and become obligatory upon the faith and honor of each; who could have thought otherwise? Yet, sir, it has happened otherwise.... This place of deposit at New Orleans, secured to our citizens by the article last read, has been recently wrested from their hands by the authority of the Spanish government, and no other equivalent one assigned, where after more than two thousand miles of boat navigation, they may disembark their produce in order to be shipped for sea, and without this advantage the navigation of the river is to them but an empty name. I have said by the authority of the Spanish government, it has indeed been given out to the world for reasons that every man may conjecture, and are unnecessary to be mentioned, that this was not the act of the government, but the rash measure of a single officer; the intendant general of the Spanish provinces....that the Spanish minister had issued orders for the speedy adjustment of these difficulties....had kindly offered to throw himself into the breach to prevent this intendant general from going to extremities with the government of the United States. Sir, gentlemen may find, when too late, that this is a mere piece of diplomatic policy, intended only to amuse them; and to say nothing of the humiliating idea of resorting to such a plaister for the wound that has been inflicted upon our national honor; if they had taken the trouble, they might have been informed that the Spanish minister near this government has no control at New Orleans....that the intendant general is, like himself, an immediate officer of the crown, and responsible only to the crown for his conduct. If the Spanish minister has interfered, which I am not disposed to question, to make the best of it, it could only have been by the intreaties of men in power, as a mere mediator, to beg of the intendant general of New Orleans, justice and peace on behalf of the people of the U. States. Are honorable gentlemen prepared to accept of peace on such terms?.... They might do, sir, for a tribe of starving Indians; but is this the rank that we are to hold among the nations of the world? And it seems that even these supplicating advances are likely to avail us nothing; by accounts very lately received from New Orleans, by a private letter which I have seen since these resolutions were submitted to the Senate, the intendant general has expressed much displeasure at the interference of the Spanish minister ....stating that it was not within his duty or his province, and that he, the intendant, acted not under Spanish but French orders. As to the closing of the port of New Orleans against our citizens, the man who can now doubt, after viewing all the accompanying circumstances, that it was the deliberate act of the Spanish or French government, must have locked up his mind against truth and conviction, and be determined to discredit even the evidence of his own senses; but sir, it is not only the depriving us of our right of deposit by which we have been aggrieved, it is by a system of measures pursued antecedent and subsequent to that event, equally hostile and even more insulting. I have in my hand a paper, signed by a Spanish officer, which, with the indulgence of the chair, I will read to the Senate. "ADVERTISEMENT. "Under date of the 16th inst. (December,) the intendant general of these provinces tells me, that the citizens of the United States of America, can have no commerce with his majesty's subjects....they only having the free navigation of the river for the exportation of the fruits and produce of their establishments, to foreign countries, and the importation of what they may want from them. As such I charge you, so far as respects you, to be zealous and vigilant, with particular care, that the inhabitants neither purchase or sell any thing to the shipping, flat bottomed boats, barges, or any other smaller vessels that may go along the river destined for the American possessions, or proceeding from them, that they shall be informed of it, for their due compliance of the same." (Signed) CARLOS DE GRANDPREE. Baton Rouge, December 22, 1802. The foregoing is a translation from the original, directed to me by his lordship, Carlos de Grandpree, col. of the royal armies, and governor of Baton Rouge. (Signed) J. O. CONNER, Baton Rouge, December 27, 1802." |