H. OF R.] Navy Pay Bill. over any deliberative body, either as Speaker, or as deputy Speaker, or as Speaker's Chairman, for he was never accustomed to wait round the Speaker's chair, and of course he was ignorant of all the forms of order. He had only referred to the proceeding on the bill for the purpose of showing the anxiety of the House to get the question, by having ordered an amendment to be engrossed instead of the original bill. He regretted that the subject had been so earnestly pressed upon the consideration of the House. One argument had been urged in favor of legislating upon this subject, which, in his opinion, was altogether unsustainable. It was remarked that we were out of debt; at peace with all the world; that our finances were in a flourishing condition; and that now was the time to increase the pay of the officers of the navy. In answer to this, he would only remark that we had to legislate for the future; that however we might increase the pay, that increase would remain hereafter for ages to come. In regulating the pay of the army, the navy, and the civil list, we should bear in mind that we ought to regulate it with a view to its permament continuance, not for the sunshine of peace and prosperity, but also with a view to the fiscal embarrassments incident to war; for no nation could expect to go on for more than twenty years without experiencing the vicissitudes of war. He was opposed, generally, to all propositions for the increase of pay for any officers of the Government, and invariably voted against them; because, when a man once got into office, there was a kind of understanding between the officers and the Government that the salary should not be diminished, and he was therefore opposed to an increase of them. He would ask, why was this bill, then, pressed with such earnestness? Where was the necessity for it? We were told by gentlemen upon the floor of the House, and we heard it in our private rooms, over and over again, from officers of the navy, that those officers could not live upon their present pay. If that were true, Mr. H. was ready to admit an increase should be made; but if it could be proved to be enough, it ought to stand as it was. We should bear in mind that our navy was yet in infancy, and it might be increased, and probably would become twice as large as at present, and that therefore we ought to limit our present expenditure of the army and navy both within what might be considered our capacity and means. on the What was the present pay of the navy? The aggregate amount, as certified by the Naval Department, was $770,000, using round numbers. The officers of the navy were but few in number, perhaps not more than from seven hundred to a thousand, including the whole provided in this bill. How many of them were now, in a time of profound peace, when the necessity for the increase of pay had all at once sprung up, employed? He had made some calculation from the report of the Secretary of the Navy, and, with an honorable member from Ohio, had compared the number in commission with those out of commission or stocks, and he had ascertained that there were not more than one sixth part employed from year to year, one with another. With the exception of those employed at the navy yards, who, God knows, were well enough provided for, better than any other officers of the Government, there were not more than one fifth employed on the ocean. Where were the residue? Generally at their houses, or taking their pleasure. Now, he would ask, when only about one fourth or one fifth of these officers were employed on the ocean, and the balance at home, where was the imperious necessity for the increase of their pay at this particular time? They now received, as he had said, about $770,000, not in [FEB. 18, 1835. cluding the appropriations under the ordinary bill. Now, what was the increase proposed by this bill? As the bill was reported last February twelvemonth, it increased the pay of the navy $116,000, and the pay of the officers of the army $70,000, in round numbers, for he would not detain the House with fractions. On referring the bill back again to a select committee, they knocked the army off altogether, and reported a substitute for the original bill, increasing the pay of the navy $84,500, making a total increase of $200,500. The bill was then referred to a Committee of the Whole House, where it underwent a variety of modifications, and, before it came to the amendment passed yesterday, Mr. H. sent the bill to the Navy Department, and by that means ascertained that the increase amounted to the sum he had stated, $200,500. After that calculation had been made, one of his colleagues [Mr. POPE] moved an amendment, proposing to increase the pay of passed midshipmen. A gentleman from Maine made a calculation as to how much that amendment would add to the bill, and he made it appear to be $32,000. Mr. H's calculation, founded upon the returns of the Navy Department, brought it to $31,000; and, if these were correct, the whole increase would be $266,000. The modification of the gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. WISE,] adopted yesterday, in relation to the pay of captains of the navy, diminished that sum about $15,000. There were thirty-seven captains, about two thirds of them had their pay lessened about $500 each, and about one third of them $250 each, making, according to Mr. H's estimate, about $15,000, leaving the actual increase by the bill, as it passed the committee yesterday, $251,000 and all this in a time of profound peace; and, if even our navy should be filled up, he had no doubt the increase would amount to no less than $500,000 a year. He was perfectly confident that he was not inaccurate to the amount of fifty dollars, in any one calculation. If the estimates of the Navy Department were correct, then by the first bill there would be an increase of $116,000, and by the second bill of $84,500 additional. If the calculations of the Navy Department were not inaccurate, Mr. H. was satisfied that the whole increase would be $251,000. Gentlemen might say this bill was in lieu of all commutation, and that the $770,000 included every thing except the item of mileage, which could not be calculated with any probable certainty. As this bill was an actual increase upon the present pay of the navy, taking it altogether, of about $257,000, better than one fourth, and not quite a fifth, the whole would hereafter amount to about $1,026,000 a year; and when the mileage of ten cents a mile was added, they might fairly estimate that our naval officers, in times of profound peace, would cost the Government $11,000,000 annually. He had made inquiries as to the cost of the whole civil government, including the legislative, executive, and judicial departments, of the several States of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and North and South Carolina, (eleven States,) and found that the whole machinery of the government of those States put together fell short, by at least $100,000, of what was proposed, in a time of profound peace, for the officers of the navy of the United States. Surely there was something in this. How much was it on the old Jeffersonian plan? That a mere handful of men, in times of profound peace, when not more than one fifth of them were engaged, should cost the Government of the United States $100,000 more than the whole civil Governments together of eleven States of the Union! Surely, surely, we must have fallen on fine days of retrenchment and reform, indeed! In the year 1828, it was promulgated to the world what wondrous things would be done upon the subject of retrenchment and reform! How have these promises been ful filled? Office after office had been created; emolument after emolument had been added and increased, and now, to sum up all, an increase of pay of officers of the navy to more than a fourth, and little less than a third, was to be made. He called upon those gentlemen associated with him, who were attached to the political party that governed the nation, and who would be held responsible to the country, to look at the reports issued from the House-to look at the circular letters, the speeches published, and those also made on the stump, and they would find themselves held responsible for all this. For twenty years Mr. H. had been contending to bring this Government back to its original expenditure, and he should continue to do so as long as he had the honor of a seat upon that floor. He had not confined his denunciations of these extravagant expenditures to the stump; he had made them in that House, and he should do it again, and upon every opportunity, when the occasion presented itself. The country would hold the party attached to the present administration responsible for their profligacy of the public money. But we have been told that we have been ungrateful to the navy; in the language of one gentleman, "the right arm of the nation." Let us make a comparison of their pay with that of the army. A lieutenant com. manding in the navy got above $1,100 a year; a lieutenant in the army, taking every thing into calculation, got $820, and a second lieutenant $762, &c. Mr. H. here went into a statement of the salaries paid to the officers of different grades in both branches, in order to sustain his proposition that the naval received more in proportion to the number of men he commanded than the military officer. A lieutenant in the navy, he maintained, got as much as a major in the army, and a captain in the navy got higher pay than a brigadier general, besides the former got ten cents a mile for his travelling expenses. If the latter got more than he had stated, he made it up by left-handed charges, by transportation of baggage, quarters, &c. ; but this would show that abuses had crept in, and if so, Mr. H., for one, was prepared to go into the correction of them. [Mr. WISE explained that a lieutenant in the navy acted as a colonel in the army, and a captain as a general, for they were liable to be called upon to command more ships than one.] Mr. HARDIN resumed. In general, a full complement of a first rate ship did not exceed 733 men; in the English ships about 750. The French had taken up a foolish idea; he ought not to say foolish, but they had adopted the policy that the more men the better, and their large ships now usually took up a thousand men. But if you took all vessels in the United States naval service, of different sizes, from a seventy-four down to the smallest, they would not average more, at the outside, than five hundred men each-nay, in general they would not reach four hundred. When a captain went out with his ship, with a complement of four hundred men, he usually took with him a lieutenant to about every seventy men. That was the average Commodore Porter took in his expedition to the Pacific; that was the average of the old Constitution in the last war. Mr. H. entered further into this statement, to show that a lieutenant and midshipman did not command more men, upon an average, than a first and second lieutenant in the army. Upon the subject of gratitude, also, he would call one fact to the recollection of gentlemen, that, if a man died an officer in the naval service, his widow was pensioned from five years to five years. He knew widows of meritorious officers in the army who were starving. One in his own neighborhood, whose husband, an officer in the army, fought at Raisin, Niagara, and at New Orleans, was now without a cent in the world; and he had brought on a letter from her to GenVOL. XI.-90 [H. OF R eral Jackson, stating that she was reduced to want and beggary, and the General promised to do all he could for her. He knew a similar instance of a major in the army, who died at New Orleans, whose widow and children were also reduced to want and beggary. Hence it was that he said the navy got more than the army. He wished to God there was a law providing for the widows of all those who lost their lives in the service of their country. But he would again call the attention of the House to the contrast between the pay of the two services. Mr. H. then read an estimate of the different sums paid to the officers and crews of various ships engaged during the late war. On Mr. H. then referred to the addresses of Commodore Porter, Lord Nelson, &c., to show that prize money was the greatest incentive for sailors to fight well, relating an ancient anecdote to that effect, of a soldier who, having lost his budget, as he called his wealth, on an assault, was the first to mount the breach, and recovered by the plunder of the town more than he had lost. another occasion, being called on by his commander to do the same, he requested some other man to take his place who had lost his budget, for he possessed one. A gentleman referred to a captain, yesterday, who had been twenty-nine years in the service, but who was not worth $700. Mr. H. said there were some men whom you could not make rich. But he would refer to the numerous captains in this city, living in the finest palaces-no, he must not say palaces-in the most splendid mansions, built by the public money they had obtain ed. Ask a commander how much he had made, and he would reply, why, in the last war, probably about $100,000. It was said "Their march is on the mountain wave, Their march here was too often from their mansions to Mr. H. referred to the officers of the army who were then toiling in the West, and who were not represented there by committees, &c.; and complained of the proposal for the army having been rejected by the select committee, and the navy alone taken up and acted on, [Mr. WATMOUGH explained,] contrary to the just expectations of all. In regard to a lavish expenditure of the public money, the history of the last three hundred years furnished us with one fact, that it was the natural tendency of all Governments to increase their expenses from year to year. Such was the case with the Governments of Europe; and he was afraid the Government of the United States would exhibit the same melancholy picture; that its expenses will be so increased that, at last, they will become too oppressive and onerous for the people to bear; and, according to the language of the other House, reform or revolution must be the end of it. It was the lavish waste of the public money that brought Charles I of England, and Louis XVI of France, to the block, and it is one of the main causes of all the revolutions of empires that have ever happened. Gentlemen say that the navy was a popular branch of the public service. He agreed. But ought that House to legislate for fashionable attachment? He knew there was a continual He had struggle to get expenditures on the seaboard. no wish to impeach the integrity of gentlemen who were so zealous on the subject of fortifications and other works on the seaboard; but they could not help being acted on by their feelings. In the language of Sir Robert Walpole, prime minister of England, he said they came up, year after year, to be shorn like sheep. We, said Mr. H., come from the interior every year to be shorn for your fortifications on the seaboard; but I, for H. OF R.] Navy Pay Bill. one, am not exactly like the sheep; for although I might be willing to be shorn, I will make a noise about it. Mr. H. concluded by saying that he had a great many more observations which he wished to have offered on the present occasion, but he was unwilling to intrude too far upon the indulgence afforded to him by the House, for which he offered his acknowledgments; and he should probably take some other opportunity of giving his sentiments more at length to the public. Mr. WISE said: Mr. Speaker, I have already expressed my views on the merits of this bill, and have now only to make a few observations in reply to what I consider, with perfect respect to the gentleman, the ad captandum remarks of the honorable member from Kentucky, [Mr. HARDIN.] One would be led to suppose, sir, that the gentleman, from his uniform and earnest opposition to all money bills, was fighting at his late period of life for the fame of an economist and reformer. When the Alexandria canal bill was up, there was the gentleman from Kentucky; when Hull's claim was before us, there was the gentleman from Kentucky; when Meade's claim was presented, there was the gentleman from Kentucky; and now that the navy bill is on its passage, there is still the gentleman from Kentucky. Such indiscriminate opposition to every description of claim we might suppose to proceed more from habit than from calculation. But, sir, when the Louisville and Portland canal bill came up, there was not the gentleman from Kentucky. And at the very moment the gentleman was so manfully opposing this reasonable increase of navy pay, we found him entertaining us with the most delightful eloquence upon the sufferings and services of the army, and perfectly content with the army pay; when on a former occasion I have shown, and now assert, that the pay of the army is more than double that of the navy. The army, sir, is to the gentleman what the Louisville canal is; it is stationed in part in the West, and clears the path of the settlers on the frontiers. It is not regarded with the same contracted view as the navy is regarded by some, as solely for the seaboard, and, therefore, its services and its pay are fully appreciated by the gentleman. Why does the gentleman not bleat a little when wool is plastered on him as well as when it is shorn off? The gentleman, sir, is no more shorn, nor is the West, by increasing the pay of the navy than by increasing the pay of the army. If there is one branch of the public service in which the whole country is more equally interested than in another, it is that of the navy. Sir, I have watched the course of the gentleman from Kentucky in no little or mean spirit, but to see what weight should be attached to his opposition to measures like this, and what impression it should make. And I must say, sir, that I have never caught him opposing measures of appropriation for his own part of the country. Another consideration which detracts from the weight of his opposition in this instance is, that, like the old experienced lawyer, he forgot himself, and thought he was talking to a jury of ignorant men. He made a one-sided argument, and must have forgot himself, when he expected to drive the friends of this bill who are friendly to the administration from its support, by appealing to them to guard the administration from his own censure for extravagant expenditures of the public money. True, sir, that all expenditures, except for themselves, are denounced by some gentlemen; and the gentleman himself acknowledges that he will abuse the administration for appropriations which are passed by opposition votes; but I put it to the House if this bill is not sustained by gentlemen of all parties, and if it is fair to treat this bill as a party measure in any sense? It is a mere question of dollars and cents, of adequacy or inadequacy of the compensation of public officers who [FEB. 18, 1835. have less to do with party politics, and are less affected I hope, sir, the House will take a liberal and enlarged view, and reflect that all are equally interested in this bill. I will conclude by answering the remarks of the gentleman as to the great wealth and the "splendid palaces" of the officers of our navy. I assert, without the fear of contradiction, that not a single officer has laid up a competency from his pay. And it cannot be supposed that all are spendthrifts. If any are rich, they have derived their wealth, in every case, from inheritance or marriage. I doubt whether any have provided a dollar from their present pay. It is wholly inadequate for a gentleman in a service the honor and respectability of which require liberal and expensive living and outfits. The navy is the last service, above all others, in which to acquire fortunes, with the most liberal emoluments. The navy pension fund is not created out of the treasury. If the army chooses, it can provide from its own pay or plunder a similar pittance for its widows and orphans; or the Government can so provide for it, if its pay is not already rich enough to leave more than pittances for those it leaves behind. Nor does prize money come from the pockets of the people. It is wrested from your foes, and, in the language of a lieutenant whose letter I have once read, "it is hardly fought for and dearly won." It is true, sir, that we have paid: admit it, as the gentleman says, we have paid some $1,200,000 for vessels and property destroyed by our gallant navy; but how much has the one half of inferior prizes brought into your treasury, and how many millions of your enemies' property and shipping have been destroyed by your navy without one cent of compensation? And if a Decatur and his crews, who are dead and gone, have been paid hundreds of thousands for their exploits, what is that to your officers who are now starving on poor pay? A gratuity is one thing, pay is another. The one depends on your bounty and liberality, the other on your justice and sound policy. When the one has been given, we should never more hear of it; when the other is to be fixed and established by law, it should be permanent, and on a just scale, proportioned to service and responsibility. But, sir, this bill has been sufficiently discussed. Mr. LYTLE said: Mr. Speaker, Before this bill goes to a vote on its final passage, I feel constrained to say that I must differ with some of my colleagues with whom I have generally acted, and perhaps with a majority of the delegation from the West. The objections just made to it by the honorable gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. HARDIN,] furnish an additional inducement for me briefly to make some explanations of my views at this time upon the bill before you. I know well, sir, that, whenever that gentleman chooses to devote the powerful, active energies of his mind to the investigation of any subject, he can always present that subject in a clear and plausible, if not a conclusive, manner before this body. The only objection I have to his style and manner of effecting his object is, that his long and successful practice at the bar has had a tendency to make him forget that he is not here in full practice before a jury; and that, having taken sides, he makes his argument, in correspondence with his professional habits, altogether a one-sided one. He has omitted nothing in the presentment of his views, from the organization of the navy to the present time, which was calculated to prejudice the passage of the bill. But I did hope, sir, that, when he undertook to naval and army expenditures, his sense of justice would enlighten the House by a comparison between the have kept pace with his zealous spirit of inquiry, and that he would have made the contrast perfect. But, alas, sir, it was followed out on the one side by facts in opposition to the navy, and on the other by assertions in relation to the pay, the duties, and expenses, of the army, in reference to which my honorable friend from Virginia, [Mr. WISE,] who, by the way, has given to the subject, with a view to this very matter, great attention, entertains a wide and total difference of opinion, both as to facts and conclusions. [H. OF R. respect which it is so eminently our duty and policy as a nation to maintain, without the indispensable patronage of the Government they belong to. Sir, this is nothing more than naked justice, and, so far myself from being horror-stricken at the provisions of this bill, I would be glad to have it improved by the amendments proposed by.the gentleman from Georgia, [Mr. JONES,] some time back, in reference to the additional grades in the service, thereby perfecting the navy of our Union, and making it, in all respects, equal with all others, Sir, these opinions may surprise some of my friends with whom I have acted, but they are the same that I have always cherished, and hold myself ready to defend-but not on the grounds assumed by my honorable friend from Kentucky, [Mr. HARDIN.] He christens it a party measure, and holds, after an eloquent description of the reform and retrenchment measures promised by this ad most extravagant proposition, the administration and its friends. Sir, how is this? when, in the same breath, he tells us that one third of the administration party is opposed to the bill, and that the two thirds are made up by the opposition members of the House? The two averments are admirably reconciled to each other. Sir, so far as I have seen or heard any thing in this discussion, it is totally exempt from all spirit of party. I go for the improvement of this great arm of the national Government, upon principles of national policy and right. Party feeling and party interest never entered into my brain. When reflecting or acting on it, party feeeling is dead, as it should be, in reference to it, except so far as it may concern the common interest of our common country. But, sir, said Mr. L., I object to such comparisons-ministration, that he will hold as responsible for this they are altogether erroneous. They are calculated to create invidious feelings between the members of those two branches of the service; to awaken jealousies, and produce embarrassments which should never exist amongst members of the same family. Sir, the cause is a common cause. Both are contending for the same great interests, and both should be well paid. If the army is indifferently provided for, let us know it, and apply there also the needful remedy; but as we are now regulating merely the pay of the naval officers, why start objections which may result in envy and the generation of bad blood between the members of these two classes of our public service. It is a just tribute to the officers of the army to say, that, in reference to this bill, I have heard but one expression in relation to it; all have hoped for and encouraged its passage with a spirit of magnanimity and chivalry; they have always told me it was right, and wished it success. Sir, they are sworn brethren in arms, fighting under the same banner, and governed by the same interests and feelings. Let not discord come among them, by any act of ours calculated to awaken causeless jealousies, where all is now harmonious and friendly. The matter, Mr. Speaker, is reduced to this point: it is too late in the session essentially to change the features of this bill;immediate action is required, and we must either take this as we find it, or leave the navy in a weak and deplorable condition. I am free to say, sir, if you are not disposed to make it respectable and sound, abolish it at once; burn down your fleets, and block up your harbors; destroy your fortifications; act on the defensive altogether, at the expense of not only the trade and commerce of the country, but so much of its liberty as may be considered dependent on a naval armament-on the marine power of the Government. If, however, it is the desire of the House to place our navy on a rank and power that shall correspond with any and all others that she may come in contact with; that our stars and stripes" may float proudly and triumphantly wherever a breeze may waft or a wave may bear it; that the products of our rich and happy country may be safely carried into every port where any other ship may ride; that the seamen in our service may be enabled by their pay to exhibit, in their intercourse with those they meet, the aspiring, generous, and proud character of the Government they represent. Pass this bill, and furnish the means by which it shall be done. Already, upon the most slender means and diminished resources, have they sustained the national honor and the national character, at the expense of personal comfort and independence. If you are to have a navy at all, then, let it be such a one as you will not be ashamed of. By your pay bill, show that you do not mean that men shall fight your battles, protect your exiled citizens, cultivate by reciprocal hospitalities with foreign Powers that most desirable feeling of amity and The gentleman from Kentucky did not seem to expect support from the Western country for this bill. Sir, I admit with him that an opposition might justly and fairly have been anticipated from our quarter. The close, and partial, and exclusive policy of those on the seaboard to our Western interests, was well calculated to make us return the compliment on this and on all other such occasions. But I have ever regarded the navy of our country as a subject of the deepest and most thrilling national interest. I have sunk, and have always been willing to sink, my feeling of local or sectional interest, in a question that involved the common welfare, glory, and perpetuity of the country. Born and nurtured in the back woods; a Buckeye in feeling and thought, in education, habits, and action, I trust, as a Representative on this floor, I shall never forget the obligations thus imposed upon me by that station of common, national, indivisible interest. Thus, sir, I regard the bill which proposes to protect and sustain the navy of our Union. I have never seen the ocean, never inhaled a breeze from the salt water. I have never but once trod the deck of a man-of-war, and have yet to see a ship of the first class under sail. But I hope and believe, sir, if I know myself, that there is that within me, which, if I were on the extremest boundary of our Western frontiers, would never, never make me forget that I was an American citizen-would never subdue the feelings of proud exultation which I still remember of having felt in early boyhood, when hearing of the result of our well-fought battles of our gallant tars upon the high seas-nor make me pause upon a proposition to amend the unjust policy of the Government towards them; for the gallantry they have displayed, the privations they are still enduring, and the demands which they now have, and are entitled to make, on the justice of their country. Again, sir, we are told of the pensions already received by the widows of deceased naval officers; and my friend before me has instanced one in his own neighborhood. I am glad it is so, and that she is comfortable, and I wish to God that I could say as much of the widows of the living officers of our navy. I know one, sir, whose residence is not out of sight of the Capitol, who may now indeed be within the sound of my voice, whose gallant husband is on a two or three years' cruise in the Pacific, and whose salary amounts to the miserable pittance of $1,100; the one half of which he has divided with a lovely and growing family, consisting of his wife and some five or six children; and out of this sum he must interchange civilities, as commandant of the station, with the officers of all other Governments he may happen to find there. Sir, if you mean to have a navy that will answer the just purposes and expectations of the Government, you must expect to pay for it; but yet we are furnished with the history of the enormous sums paid to different crews, or received by them in the shape of prize money. Well, sir, it is earned only in time of war, and well earned then, Mr. Speaker-earned as much for the country as for the sailor who enjoys it; for it is a reciprocal benefit to the country, and whoever the country may employ to take it. By crippling the resources of the enemy, you add to the country's strength, no matter into whose pockets the plunder goes, or if one farthing should never reach the coffers of your treasury. But my worthy friend has had his sensibilities excited, also, by the appearance of navy officers in the city, and has told you that, instead of their "march" being on the mountain wave, and their home upon the deep," their "march is now from the tavern to the Capitol, and their home in our gallery." He seems offended at the appointment of a committee to come on here to explain to the members of this House and its committee, matters which could never have been furnished elsewhere. Why, sir, is there any thing unjust or presumptuous in this? Their every thing is at stake; the rules and principles by which they are to be governed, perhaps for the balance of their lives; their whole future destiny dependent on the decision of the House this day, sir, upon the fate of this bill, and they debarred the common privileges of American freemen, of expressing their opinions, or giving their advice, when it is really indispensable to correct action, and denied a seat in the gallery, to ascertain the result! I am unable to perceive or appreciate the enormity of this offence. The officers of the army do, also, come here, and they have the right to come; and I think the honorable gentlemen will find two army to one naval officer at this time in the city; and so great was this grievance, as complained of by the Secretary of War, from the too frequent visitations of his troops here last winter, that he had to issue a proclamation to keep them off during the session of Congress, as every gentleman here must remember. The order was revoked, and with at least as much propriety as it was made; but we all know the fact. The officers of the navy, then, have done no more than other people; they have looked a little after their own interests; they found them in jeopardy, and came, for the last time, to their rescue. Sir, I deny that the navy is the "spoiled child of the Government." She is the abused, neglected, cast off member of the family. It is time her injuries should be redressed, her services rewarded; no better time could have happened than the present. Even the vote upon the present bill, sir, may be regarded as big with the fate of the dearest interests of the country. Sir, it may, it will, have an important bearing, as it should, upon our foreign relations: it will show that the people are awakened to a sense of the difficulties that are approaching, and to a correct appreciation of the same. No man can look at the papers from the East this morning, and not be satisfied that a war cloud is now lowering upon us; it is plainly visible, sir, at least in the horizon; if I mistake not, it [FEB. 18, 1835. will soon be upon us, and if I had, or could have, my way, so far from being staggered by the provisions of this bill, I would add the full amount claimed by this Government from the French as an extra appropriation for repairing the navy, and completing the fortifications of the country, and, by hard knocks, make the French pay the whole expense for the trouble of collecting our just debts in that way. It will come to that at last; and when we send off our gallant seamen to undertake the work, let those who are now anxiously watching the results of our deliberations, start with light hearts and fuller pockets, leaving a better prospect of comforts and happiness behind them, and entering with increased ardor and renewed spirit into the service of a country liberal enough to reward and honor them; at least, sir, the bill shall have my hearty and most ardent support. Mr. CHILTON now put an end to the debate, by moving the previous question. The CHAIR inquired whether the motion was seconded. Mr. HARD moved a call of the House. On this motion Mr. HARDIN demanded the yeas and nays; which were ordered, and resulted as follows: Yeas 101, nays 103. So the House determined against the call. The SPEAKER now again inquired whether there was a second to the previous question. On which question the ayes were 116, the noes 24. So the call for the previous question was seconded. The previous question was thereupon put and carried; and the question being on the passage of the bill, Mr. CHILTON demanded the yeas and nays; which were ordered, and, being taken, stood as follows. YEAS-Messrs. John Quincy Adams, Heman Allen, Anthony, Archer, Ashley, Banks, Barber, Barnitz, Bates, Baylies, Beale, Bell, Binney, Boon, Briggs, Brown, Bull, Burd, Burges, Cage, Cambreleng, Campbell, Carmichael, Chambers, William Clark, Clay, Clayton, Coffee, Cramer, Crane, Crockett, Darlington, Deberry, Denny, Dickson, Evans, Edward Everett, Horace Everett, Ewing, Ferris, Fillmore, Foster, Fulton, Gamble, Garland, Gholson, Gorham, Grennell, Hannegan, Hazeltine, Heath, Henderson, Howell, Huntington, W. Jackson, Ebenezer Jackson, Wm. C. Johnson, R. M. Johnson, Henry Johnson, S. Jones, Kavanagh, King, Lane, Lay, Lincoln, Love, Loyall, Lucas, Lytle, Manning, Martindale, Marshall, John Y. Mason, McComas, McKim, McKinley, Mercer, Milligan, Miner, Moore, Morgan, Murphy, Parker, Patton, Dutee J. Pearce, Phillips, Pickens, Pinckney, Pope, Potts, Reed, Rencher, W. B. Shepard, Slade, Sloane, Spangler, Steele, Stoddert, W. P. Taylor, Philemon Thomas, Trumbull, Turner, Tweedy, Vance, Vanderpoel, Van Houten Vinton, Ward, Watmough, White, Frederick Whittlesey, E. Whittlesey, Wilde, Wilson, Wise, Young-117. NAYS-Messrs. John J. Allen, Chilton Allan, William Allen, Barringer, Bean, Beardsley, Beaty, Beaumont, Bockee, Bunch, Bynum, Carr, Casey, Chaney, Chilton, Chinn, Claiborne, Samuel Clark, Clowney, Connor, Coulter, Day, Dickerson Dunlap, Forester, Fowler, Philo C. Fuller, W. K. Fuller, Galbraith, Gillet, Gilmer, Gordon, Graham, Grayson, Griffin, J. Hall, T. H. Hall, Halsey, Hamer, Hard, Hardin, Joseph M. Harper, Harrison, Hathaway, Hawkins, Hawes, Hiester, Hubbard, Inge, Janes, Jarvis, Noadiah Johnson, Cave Johnson, B. Jones, Kilgore, Kinnard, Lansing, Laporte, Luke Lea, T. Lee, Lewis, Lyon, A. Mann, Joel K. Mann, Mardis, Moses Mason, May, McIntire, McKay, McLene, McVean, Miller, Henry Mitchell, R. Mitchell, Muhlenberg, Osgood, Page, Parks, Patterson, F. Pierce, Pierson, Plummer, Folk, Ramsay, Reynolds, |