For may of the guard, including their arms, clothing, &c. For transportation of convicts to the state prison, since 1812 inclusive, being before that year paid by the agent of the prison, justice is attended with heavy, and it is believed, 134,660 16 with unnecessary expense; and that, great benefits might probably arise from some improvements in the system, and from a new arrangement of the court of exchequer. 67,930 15 In the case of creditors and debtors our law has departed from its general policy, and has authoris 976,157 44 ed the former to wield the power of punishment The efficacy of this system in reforming offend by the imprisonment of the latter for a default in ers, has not stood the test of experiment; and as the payment of debts, without considering whe it is very difficult to obtain accurate accounts of ther the failure be imputable to misfortune or to the convictions under the old system, it is not in fraud. Within a few years this code has been remy power to state with certainty, whether crimes laxed, and the debtor has been liberated from close have increased under the new, because in order to incarceration, and admitted to the benefit of exarrive at a fair result, it is necessary to compare tensive limits on giving security that he will not the convictions and the population under the ope- depart from them. The consequence is that it en ration of both codes; but l'am induced to believe tangles, and holds only the poor and the forlorn, that in this momentous respect, it has not answer while those favored with friends or opulence ed our wishes. It is with inexpressible regret that escape from its severity. If the legislature shall I am compelled by an imperious sense of duty, to consider it expedient to change the present system make this communication. I have done it not with and exempt the unfortunate debtor from the pea view of re-introducing sanguinary punishments, nalties of imprisonment, rigorous provisions ought which are as abhorrent to my feelings as they are to be adopted for the punishment of fraud, and the to the policy of good government, but to attract rights of creditors should be fortified by the teryour attention to this important subject, and to rors of criminal punishment. But if it shall be solicit the full exertion of your faculties in its in- deemed unadvisable to proceed to that extent, the vestigation. I am persuaded that the penitentiary system has not been subjected to a fair experiment, and that under a proper arrangement, and a virtu ous and able administration, it will answer all the ends of criminal justice, without imposing any great burden on the state. It is reasonable to impute our disappointment in a considerable degree to the incompetency of the means provided for executing the system on an ex tensive scale. The want of room has been hostile to discipline, injurious to industry, and productive of heavy expenses; and when the state undertook to carry on extensive manufacturing operations, it became liable to losses, in every stage of their progress from the purchase of the raw material to the sale of the wrought article. The injudicious organization of the board of superintendence; the repeated changes in that body, and the unavoida ble frequency of pardons have also produced detrimental effects. But making ample allowance for all these disadvantages and comparing our peniten tiary with those of other states, I cannot resist the impression that there has been some radical error in the general management. I behoves the representatives of the people to institute a solemn enquiry; to ascertain the causes of the failure, and to apply the appropriate remedies. poor debtor confined within the walls of a prison, ought at least to be supported by his unrelenting creditor, and the repetition of scenes at which humanity shudders ought no longer to disgrace our country. Our statues relating to the poor are borrowed from the English system. And the experience of that country as well as our own, shews that pauperism increases with the augmentation of the funds applied to its relief. This evil has proceeded to such an alarming extent in the city of New York, that the burdens of heavy taxation which it has imposed, menace a diminution of the population of that city, and a depreciation of its real property. The consequences will be very injurious to the whole state; for the decay of our great market will be felt in every department of productive labor. Under the present system the fruits of industry are appropriated to the wants of idleness; a laborious poor man is taxed for the support of an idle beggar; and the vice of mendicity, no longer consider. ed degrading, infects a considerable portion of our population in large towns. I am persuaded that the sooner a radical reform takes place, the bet ter. The evil is contagious, and a prompt extirpation ean alone prevent its pernicious extension. The inducement to pauperism may be destroyed The efficacy of the penitentiary system might be by rendering it a greater evil to live by charity sig ally promoted by the erection of solitary cells than by industry: its mischiefs may be mitigated in the several counties for the punishment of all of by diminishing the expenses of our charitable esfenders below the degree of grand larceny, and by tablishments and by adopting a system of coercive doubling the value of the property stolen in order labor: and its causes may be removed by preventto constitute that crime. Solitary confinement is, ing intemperance and extravagance, and by intel next to death, the most appalling punishment which lectual, moral and religious cultivation. It is the can be inflicted on a human being; and the expense decree of heaven that our lives should be spent in of erecting these prisons and of maintaining the useful or active employment. "In the sweat of thy convicts will be very inconsiderable, when compar. face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ed with the importance of the object. Under our ground," was the declaration of the Almighty to present code, the pardoning power has been fre- our first parent; and a course of blind indiscrimi quently exercised in a salutary manner by prescrib nating prodigal benevolence defeats its own object, ing as a condition that the convict to whom mercy by attempting to counteract the laws of our nature, is extended, shall depart from the state and never and the designs of Providence.-Charity is an exreturn. This is in substance the punishment of baalted virtue, but it ought to be founded on reason nishment, and it would be well to fortify the effi and regulated by wisdom-While we must consider cacy of such pardons, by imposing severe penalties for their violation. As connected generally with this subject, it is proper to mention that the dispensation of criminal as worthy of all praise and patronage religious and moral societies, Sunday, free, and charity schools, houses of industry, orphan asylums, saving banks, and all other establishments, which prevent or al leviate the evils of pauperism, by inspiring indus. I to the pernicious vicissitudes of loans at one period try, dispensing employment and inculcating econo-profusely granted, and at another parsimoniously my; by improving the mind, cultivating the heart withheld, they finally settle down into a state of and elevating the character, we are equally bound torpid inaction, and become mere conduits of ac. to discourage those institutions which furnish the commodation to a few individuals. The legisla. aliment of mendicity by removing the incentives ture are then solicited to apply a remedy by the into labor, and administering to the blandishments of corporation of other banks, whereas every new one sensuality. of this description, unless attended by peculiar circumstances, paralizes a portion of capital and augments the general distress. The indians in our territory are experiencing the fate of all savage and barbarous tribes in the vicini ty of civilized nations, and are constantly deterio The banishment of metalic money, the loss of rating in character and diminishing in number; and commercial confidence, the exhibition of fictitious before the expiration of half a century there is a capital, the increase of civil prosecutions, the mul strong probability that they will entirely disappear. tiplication of crimes, the injurious enhancement of Their reservations amount to about 250,000 acres prices, and the dangerous extension of credit, are of excellent land, but as the greater part is within among the mischiefs which flow from this state of the cession to Massachusetts, the state has but things. And it is worthy of serious enquiry, whether little interest in the pre-emption. It is understood a much greater augmentation of such institutions that the western Indians are desirous that ours may not in course of time produce an explosion should emigrate to an extensive territory remote that will demolish the whole system. The slow from white population, and which will be granted and periodical returns of husbandry being incom. to them gratuitously. As this will preserve them petent to the exigencies of banking establishments, from rapid destruction, as it is in strict unison the agricultural interest is the principal sufferer with the prescriptions of humanity, and will not by these proceedings. And it is with deep regret interfere with the blessings of religious instruc- that I feel constrained to mention that some prac tion; and as their places will be supplied by indus. titioners of the law, regardless of the high respectrious and useful settlers, who will augment our tability of their profession, have added to the dispopulation and resources, it is presumed that there tresses of the country by buying up notes in order can be no reasonable objections to their removal. to obtain exhorbitant premiums and the costs of This, however, ought to be free and voluntary on prosecution. The fall of the manufacturing intertheir part, and whenever it takes place, it is our ests, the excessive consumption of foreign com. duty to see that they receive an ample compensa-modities, and the introduction of wide-spreading tion for their territory. At the present time they luxury and wide wasting extravagance, have had a are frequently injured and defrauded by intrusions most pernicious effect on the public welfare. upon their lands, and some of the most valuable domains of the state are subjected to similar detri ment. It is very desirable that our laws should provide adequate remedies in these cases, and that they should be rigorously enforced. But I felicitate you on the prospect of better times. The blessings of Heaven have visited the labors of the husbandman during the last year, and the products of another season will in all probability create a balance in favor of the country. The evils arising from the disordered state of Public attention is awakened to the encouragement our currency, have been aggravated by the banking of the useful arts, and to the diffusion of the lights operations of individuals, and the unauthorised of religion and knowledge, and we are, I hope, emission of small notes by corporations. They re-returning to these habits of economy and those quire the immediate and correcting interposition observances of republican simplicity, which are of the legislature. I also submit it to your serious demanded by the voice of patriotism, and the consideration, whether the incorporation of banks genius of our government. And when we compare in places where they are not required by the exi- our actual and prospective state with that of other gencies of commerce, trade or manufactures, ought nations, we have every reason to be grateful to to be countenanced. Such institutions having but Divine Providence for the exalted destinies of our few deposits of money, must rely for their profits country. principally on the circulation of their notes, and I shall now lay before you a letter from the gov. they are therefore tempted to extend it beyond ernor of Pennsylvania, respecting the contemplat. their faculties. These bills are diffused either in ed canal between the Seneca Lake and one of the the shape of loans, or by appointing confidential branches of the Susquehannah river; a communica agents to exchange them for those of other estab- tion from the secretary of state enclosing a reprelishments. But the former mode being conducive sentation of the minister of Great Britain respectto profit, is at first generally adopted, and in the ing the statute of the state "to amend an act entit. early stages of their operations, discounts are li-led an act relative to the pilots of the port of N. berally dispensed. This produces an apparent activity of business and the indications of prosperity. But it is all fictitious and deceptive, resembling the hectic heat of consuming disease, not the genial warmth of substantial health. A re-action soon takes place. Their bills are in turn collected by rival institutions, or pass to the banks of the great cities, and payment being required, the only resource left is to call in their debts, and exact partial or total returns of their loans. The continual struggle between conflicting establishments to collect each other's notes, occasions constant appre-diately considered. hension. The sphere of their operations is narrow- I should do injustice to my feelings, were I not ed. Every new bank contracts the area of their to express my grateful and respectful sense of the paper circulation; and after subjecting the commu- confidence reposed in me by the people of this nities within their respective spheres of operation state.-Conscious that I ought to be judged by my York"; a request from the engineer of the U. States who superintends the erection of the important works at Rouse's Point on lake Champlain, for further cessions of soil and jurisdiction; cer tain proceedings of the states of Kentucky, New Jersey and Connecticut, respecting amendments to the national constitution, and sundry papers relative to the demand of this state against the United States. All these subjects will require your attention in the course of the session, but the last, from the circumstances of the case, ought to be imme conduct and not by my professions, I shall wave | wishes upon whatever relates to the public service, The chiefs were required to surrender the offen. state governments, in all wise and patriotic mea-ders! Is was deliberately resolved in a large coun Indian News, From the Georgia Journal, Extra. Copy of a letter from maj. gen. Gaines to the governor HEAD-QUARTERS, Some of their chiefs have triumphantly asserted, that we cannot beat them!-that we never have beaten them, except when we had "red people 19 help us." It is not extraordinary they should enwhatever information they have derived from their tertain these opinions-they know little or nothing of the strength or resources of our country-and white friends (British officers and traders) could have no tendency to give them favorable impres reasonably calculate upon peace. sions towards us. T'hey must be beaten before we can Hartford, Geo. January 23, 1818. SIR-By a letter just now received from briga dier general Glascock, I am informed, that a party of Indians concealed in the swamp of Cedar creek, killed by those Indians in the two years immediate. It is well known that seven of our citizens were 7 miles east of Flint river, yesterday morning, fired ly succeeding the late war with England. Their upon and killed Mr. Thos. Leigh, assistant wag. chiefs admitted this, and that among the number gon master, and Samuel Lofters, of captain Avary's was a woman and two children (Mrs. Garrett of company of Georgia militia. had been sent out with a small party of men and a The waggon master this state.) drove of pack-horses, laden with provisions; which, by a prompt and judicious arrangement on the part of major Heard, were secured, with the residue of the party and horses. Gen. Glascock immediately ordered out a detachment under major Morgan, in pursuit of the Indians. the warriors of the resolution of the chiefs in counThe principal chief, Chapichimico, in notifying cil, added that, "the day never should come when he would give up or punish a red man for killing a white man." These facts have been communicated to me by Indians, and though interpreters who I these facts were well known to those philanthropic believe to be men of truth-nor have I a doubt but writers of Peace, who have had the sagacity to discover, that hostilities were commenced by the troops under my command, on the 20th of Novem ber last-and that we are the aggressors. By a letter from col. Arbuckle of the 18th inst. I learn, that the Indians were to assemble near the mouth of Flint river, on the 21st. for the purpose of concerting measures for the destruction of the inhabitants on the Chatahoochie, and the reduction of Fort Scott. The latter they calculate upon starving out. Fort Gaines it was apprehended to massacre and scalp seven unoffending persons, It is not an act of war, according to this doctrine, would be attacked. One of the inhabitants (Mr. among them a woman and her infants! What numWeaver) had been killed near the fort; a house had ber then, I would ask, the massacre of which would been burnt, and some property destroyed. The detachment and vessels under maj. Muhlen-pressions upon this subject are, that the wanton constitute an act of war? Sir, my own humble imburg with military stores arrived at Fort Scott massacre of an infant not yet able to lisp the enviable without any material loss, other than that mention- declaration of “I am an American citizen," should ed in my last, although incessantly annoyed by a be as promptly avenged, as if fifty, or fifty thousand very large force from each shore, from the 15th to citizens had been thus massacred. When reparation the 25th of December. A supply of provision or- is refused by the nation (whether red or white, civi. dered in November last, had not reached the Ap-lized or savage) to whom the offenders belong palachicola at the date of col. Arbuckle's letter, the nation itself becomes accountable, and should (the 18th inst.) The troops were then without be chastised for the outrage. meat, but had engaged nearly one month's supply I have little confidence in the expectation of ob upon the Chattahoochie, part of which left Fort taining any considerable aid from the friendly InGaines under a strong guard on the 16th. The dians; even should they join me, the loss of their supply of flour at Fort Scott is sufficient allowing chiefs may induce them to follow the example of full rations of that article for the troops there, until the warriors under Perryman, and go over to the the middle of next month; and the arrival of sixty enemy; and I owe it to myself and to the public thousand rations from New-Orleans is daily expect-service to apprize you of the existence of a spirit ed; and even should this supply fail, I have not a of opposition, tending to counteract my efforts, doubt of having a competent supply sent down the Flint and Chattahoochie, in time to prevent the troops from suffering. I have been thus particular in communicating to your excellency the state of our supplies, as well as the movements of the enemy, from an impres sion, that a knowledge of these subjects would be acceptable to you, and beneficial to the state over which you preside-as well as from a wish to draw from you free communications of your views and having recently manifested itself in what is deemed to be the friendly part of the Creek Nation; evil disposed white persons, actually engaged in originating as I have reason to believe, with some smuggling negroes into the United States from East Florida. A considerable number, as I am credibly informed and believe, have been taken to the immediate vicinity of the Creek Agency. It rests with the agent to detect or explain this apparent violation of law. The movement of the troops and the active and general hostility of the | for sale, to be held to labor, which was passed to I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your His excellency Wm. Rubun. Head-quarters, Hartford, Ga. Jan. 28, 1818. cable. A detachment of col. Wimberly's regiment of I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your His excellency Wm. Rabun. CONGRESS. SENATE. February 6.-Mr. Williams, of Miss. submitted Resolved, That the committee on the public Mr. Wilson submitted the following resolution: The request of the other house for a conference On motion of Mr. Campbell, the senate agreed to The senate went into the consideration of the ex- The senate adjourned to Monday. Feb. 10.-A good deal of preparatory business Mr. Daggett presented the memorial of the Mil- Mr. Lacock presented the memorial of the Phi- Mr. Ruggles submitted the following resolution Resolved, That the committee on military affairs Agreeably to notice given, Mr. Barbour intro- Feb. 11.-A message was received from the pre- The senate resumed the consideration of the mo- The resolution to instruct the committee of claims to enquire into the expediency of providing bate. Feb. 12. After a good deal of other business- Mr. Campbell, from the managers on the part of HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Friday, February 6.-Mr. Taylor, from the com- The speaker laid before the house a letter from lowed;' which was read and ordered to lie on the duties on the exportation of gun-powder. [The table. On motion of Mr. Forsyth, it was Resolved, That the president of the U. States be requested (if in his opinion not inconsistent with the public interest) to lay before this house the correspondence with the government of Spain, to which the letter of Geo. W. Erving, the American minister near that court, of the 26th October, 1816, communicated with his message of the 29th Jan. 1818, refers, and any subsequent correspondence between the two governments on the same subject. And a committee was appointed to lay the said resolution before the president. The house took up the senate's message, insist ing on their amendment to the military appropria tion bill, (respecting brevet pay) and agreed to insist on its disagreement thereto; and to ask of the senate a conference thereon: to manage which conference on the part of this house, Messrs. Lowndes, Smith, of Md. and Pitkin were appointed. The engrossed bill for the relief of maj. gen. Arthur St. Clair, was read a third time, passed and sent to the senate for concurrence. Monday, February 9.-Several reports were received from committees, of no general importance. Mr. Newton reported a bill "to increase the duties on iron in bars and bolts, iron in pigs, castings, nails and allum; and to disallow the drawback of The following is the letter referred to: MR. ERVING TO MR. CEVALLOS. MADRID, Oct. 25th, 1816. To his excellency Don Pedro Cevallos, first secretary of state, &c. SIR-By your excellency's note of the 17th inst. in reply to mine of Sept. 26th, respecting the proclamation blockade of gen. Morillo, and the rava ges on the American commerce, which are committing under it, I am told that his majesty has ordered that information shall be taken (se pida informe of the tribunal of admiralty. That gen. Morillo has issued such a proclamation as I have described in my note of Sept. 26th, is a fact of universal notoriety; your excellency has had before you long since, the correspondence between the American secretary of state and Mr. Onis on the subject, and I have transmitted to you a copy of the letter of Don Francisco Montalvo, viceroy of Santa Fe, to the American commissioner, Mr. Hughes,in which the existence of the blockade is admitted, and in which the American go. vernment is referred for redress to his Catholic majesty. It was, therefore, that, by the orders of my government, I wrote to you on the subject. With the fact which I have above stated before to you, I am wholly at a loss to imagine what kind of information the tribunal of admiralty can afford, which may regulate the decision of his majesty on the subject. The tribunal cannot deny the existence of the proclamation; it cannot show that the proclamation is legal; it cannot deny that American vessels have been taken under the proclamation; it cannot contest the right of the American government to demand the restitution of such vessels. In fine, sir, it is my duty to assure you, that any demur or delay in affording the satisfaction demanded, in a case of this principal importance, cannot but be very sensibly felt by the government of the United States. I renew to you assurances of the very distinguish ed consideration with which I am yours, &c. G. W. ERVING. duties to be substituted for those now existing are, on iron pigs, 50 cents per hundred weight; on iron castings, 75 cents per hundred weight; on nails four cents per pound; on iron in bars and bolts, excepting iron manufactured by rolling, one dollar per hundred weight; and on allum, two dollars per hundred weight.] The bill was twice read and committed. The speaker laid before the house the annual report of the commissioners of the sinking fund, (the president of the senate, the chief-justice of the U. States, the secretary of the treasury, and the attorney general.) [The amount of the public debt on the 1st of Jan. 1818, stands at $99,004,800 51] [Both houses of congress adjourned at very early hour this day-"probably," the National Intelligencer observes, "on account of the excessive cold." Tuesday, February 10.-Mr. Simkins, from S. C. appeared yesterday, was qualified and took his seat. On motion of Mr. Hopkinson, it was Resolved, That the committee on the judiciary be directed to enquire into the expediency of increasing the salaries of the judges of the supreme court of the United States. The house then resolved itself into a committee of the whole, Mr. Smyth in the chair, on the bill "concerning half-pay pensions, &c. and for other purposes." After many amendments, the details having been gone through, the committee rose, reported the bill to the house, which then adjourned. [The National Intelligencer, of Wednesday, ob. serves-"The bill reported in the house of representatives, by Mr. Forsyth, from the committee to whom was referred so much of the president's message as relates to the commercial intercourse between the United States and the British West-India islands and possessions in North America, was worthy of more particular notice, than from its technical title of "a bill supplementary to the act regulating duties on imports and tonnage, &c." we gave to it. It is a literal transcript, we believe, of the bill reported by the same committee at the last session; which was ably debated, but was laid over as deserving more mature consideration. Few subjects of the present session are likely to excite more interest than this bill for countervailing the British colonial policy; if we except, perhaps, the bill for establishing an uniform system of bankruptcy, which seems to be loudly demanded from all sections of the country.] Wednesday, Feb. 11.-On motion of Mr. Mills, the committee of ways and means were instructed to enquire into the expediency of exempting from duty the articles of Sicilian sumac and merino wool, imported into the United States. The house then took up the report of the com. mittee of the whole on the bill concerning half-p-y pensions, &c. and agreed, successively, to all the amendments thereto reported by the committee. After several proposed amendments and much debate,-The question was then taken on ordering the bill to be engrossed and read a third time, and decided in the negative, as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Anderson, Ken. Barber, Ohio, Beecher, BellinCruger, Culbreth, Earle, Ellicott, Erving, S. C. Floyd, Forney, ger, Bloomfield, Bryan, Butler, Campbell, Colston, Comstock, Fuller, Gage, Harrison, Hendricks, Herkimer, Hitchcock, Holmes, Marr, Mason, Mass. Mercer, Merrill, Mosely, Murray, 1. M. NelMass. Hunter, Irving, N. Y. Johnson, Ken. Kinsey, Lawyer, Little, son, New, Ogle, Palmer, Parrott, Patterson, Pindall, Porter, Quarles, Reed, Ringgold, Robertson, Lou. Silsbee, Simpkins, Smith, Balt. Southard, Spencer, Stuart, Md. Tallmadge, Trimble, Tucker, S. C. Walker, N. C. Walker, Ken. Wallace, Wendover, Whiteside Whitman, Williams, N. Y. Wilkin-65, |