From New Jersey, From Pennsylvania, From Maryland, From Virginia, From Kentucky, From North Carolina, From Tennessee, From South Carolina, From Georgia, From Ohio, Adam Boyd, Frederick Conrad, John Rea, Jacob Richards, John Stewart, and John Archer, William McCreery, Thomas Claiborne, John Smith, James Stephenson, and George Michael Bedinger, John Boyle, and Willis Alston, jr. James Holland, William Kennedy, Nathaniel Macon, (Speaker) Richard Stanford, and Joseph Winston. George W. Campbell, William Dickson, and John B. Earle. Peter Early, and Jeremiah Morrow. Several new members, to wit: from Massachusetts, Simon Larned, returned to serve in this House as a member for the said State, in the room of Tompson J. Skinner, who has resigned his seat; from New York, Samuel Riker, returned to serve as a member for the said State, in the room of John Smith, appointed a Senator of the United States; and from Virginia, Christopher Clark, returned to serve as a member for the said State, in the room of John Trigg, deceased; appeared, produced their credentials, and took their seats in the House; the oath to support the Constitution of the United States being first administered to them by Mr. Speaker, according to law. And a quorum, consisting of a majority of the whole number, being present, Ordered, That a message be sent to the Senate, to inform them that a quorum of this House is assembled, and ready to proceed to business; and that the Clerk of this House do go with the said message. Ordered, That a Committee of Elections be appointed, pursuant to the standing rules and orders of the House; And a committee was appointed, of Mr. Findley, Mr. Varnum, Mr. Livingston, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Eppes, Mr. Clagett, and Mr. Elmer. Ordered, That a Committee of Ways and Means be appointed, pursuant to the standing rules and orders of the House; And a committee was appointed, of Mr. John Randolph, Mr. Joseph Clay, Mr. Gaylord Griswold, Mr. Boyle, Mr. Davenport, Mr. Nicholas R. Moore, and Mr. Meriwether. 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 L. Mitchill, Mr. Crowninshield, Mr. McCreery, Mr. Leib, Mr. Newton, Mr. Early, and Mr. Chittenden. Ordered, That a Committee of Claims be appointed, pursuant to the standing rules and orders of the House; And a committee was appointed, of Mr. John Cotton Smith, Mr. Holmes, Mr. Plater, Mr. Chamberlin, Mr. Bedinger, Mr. Stanford, and Mr. Stanton. Ordered, That a Committee of Revisal and Unfinished Business he appointed, pursuant to the standing rules and orders of the House; And a committee was appointed, of Mr. Tenney, Mr. Dickson, and Mr. Earle. The Speaker laid before the House a letter from the Governor of the State of Maryland, enclosing a certificate of the election of Roger Nelson, to serve in this House as a member for the said State, in the room of Daniel Heister, deceased; which were ordered to be referred to the Committee of Elections. Ordered, That the Clerk of this House cause the members to be furnished, during the present session, with three newspapers to each member, such as the members, respectively, shall choose, to be delivered at their lodgings; and that, if any member shall choose to take any newspaper other than a daily paper, he shall be furnished with as many of such papers as shall not exceed the price of a daily paper. Resolved, That, unless otherwise ordered, the daily hour to which the House shall stand adjourned, during the present session, be eleven o'clock in the forenoon. And then the House adjourned until to-morrow morning eleven o'clock. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1804. Several other members, to wit: from Massachusetts, Manasseh Cutler; from Connecticut, Samuel W. Dana and Roger Griswold; from New Jersey, James Mott; from Pennsylvania, John A. Hanna, John B. C. Lucas, and Isaac Van Horne; from Maryland, John Campbell; from Virginia, John Clopton; and from South Carolina, Thomas Lowndes; appeared, and took their seats in the House. Another new member, to wit: Roger Nelson, from Maryland, returned to serve in this House as a member for the said State, in the room of Daniel Heister, deceased, appeared, produced his credentials, and took his seat in the House; the oath to support the Constitution of the United States being first administered to him by Mr. Speaker, according to law. On motion, Resolved, That Mr. John Randolph and Mr. Roger Griswold be appointed a committee on the part of this House, jointly, with such committee as may be appointed on the part of the Senate, to wait on the President of the United States, and inform him that a quorum of the two Houses is assembled, and ready to receive any communications he may be pleased to make to them. Ordered, That the Clerk of this House do acquaint the Senate therewith. A memorial of Daniel Cotton, a citizen of the United States, and resident merchant of the city and State of New York, was presented to the House and read, praying compensation for losses and damage sustained by the memorialist, in the case of an American merchant vessel, called the Ann Maria, of New York, which he chartered some time in the month of August, one thousand eight hundred, to the Agent of the United States at Tunis, for the purpose of carrying a cargo for and on account of the American Government, where she was arrested and detained by order of the Bey of Tunis, in order to take in a cargo of oil for the port of Marseilles, in France. Ordered, That the said memorial, together with the petition of Moses White and Charlotte Hazen, executor and executrix of the last will and testament of Moses Hazen, deceased, presented the seventeenth of February, and the petition of Margaret Ralston, of the city of Philadelphia, presented the fifth of March, in the present year, be referred to the Committee of Claims. A petition of Samuel Beebee, of the city and State of New York, was presented to the House and read, praying that he may be permitted to fund a certain certificate of public debt, the property of the petitioner, or that he may receive the principal and interest due to him on the same. Ordered, That the said petition be referred to the Committee of Ways and Means. On motion, Ordered, That Mr. John Cotton Smith be excused from serving on the Committee of Claims; and that Mr. Dana be appointed of the said committee, in his stead. On motion, Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire whether any, and what, amendments are necessary to be made in the acts establishing a post office and post roads within the United States; and that the said committee have power to report by bill, or otherwise. Ordered, That Mr. Newton, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Hanna, Mr. Nahum Mitchell, Mr. Lowndes, Mr. George Washington Campbell, and Mr. Southard, be appointed a committee, pursuant to the said resolution. On motion, Resolved, That two Chaplains, of different denominations, be appointed to Congress, for the present Session, one by each House, who shall interchange weekly. Ordered, That the Clerk of this House do carry the said resolution to the Senate, and desire their concurrence. Ordered, That the report of the committee appointed, on the thirteenth of March last, to prepare and report articles of impeachment against Samuel Chase, one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, be referred to a select committee; and that Mr. John Randolph, Mr. Joseph Clay, Mr. Early, Mr. Boyle, and Mr. John Rhea, of Tennessee, be appointed of the said committee. And then the House adjourned until to-morrow eleven o'clock. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1804. Several other members, to wit: from Maryland, Joseph H. Nicholson; from Virginia, Walter Jones; from South Carolina, Thomas Moore; and from Georgia, Joseph Bryan, appeared, and took their seats in the House. On motion, Resolved, That a committee be appointed, to consist of three members, to be styled "The Committee of Accounts," whose duty it shall be to superintend and control the expenditure of the contingent fund of the House of Representatives, and to audit and settle all accounts which may be charged thereon. Ordered, That Mr. Early, Mr. Blackledge, and Mr. Van Rensselaer, be appointed a committee, pursuant to the said resolution. A message from the Senate, by Mr. Otis, their Secretary: Mr. Speaker: I am directed to inform this House, that a quorum of the Senate is assembled, and ready to proceed to business. The Senate have appointed a committee, on their part, jointly, with the committee appointed, on the part of this House, to wait on the President of the United States, and inform him that a quorum of the two Houses is assembled, and ready to receive any communications he may be pleased to make to them. And then he withdrew. A petition of John McClenan, of the State of Virginia, was presented to the House and read, praying an augmentation of the pension heretofore granted to him by law, in consideration of military services rendered, and wounds received, in the service of the United States, whilst a soldier in the Continental army, during the Revolutionary war with Great Britain; which wounds, together with the increasing infirmities of age, have rendered the petitioner incapable of obtaining a livelihood by labor. Ordered, That the said petition, together with the petition of Edmund Brooke, presented the first of February, one thousand eight hundred and three; the memorial of Moses Tryon and Richard Law, jun., presented the eighteenth of October, in the same year; and the petition of Henry Lenhart, the elder, presented the seventeenth of February, one thousand eight hundred and four, be referred to the Committee of Claims. A message from the Senate, by Mr. Otis, their Secretary : Mr. Speaker: The Senate have agreed to the resolution of this House, for the appointment of Chaplains to Congress, for the present session, and have appointed the Reverend Mr. McCormick, on their part. And then he withdrew. The House then proceeded, by ballot, to the appointment of a Chaplain to Congress, on the part of this House; and, upon examining the ballots, a majority of the votes of the whole House was found in favor of the Reverend William Bentley. Ordered, That the Clerk of this House do acquaint the Senate therewith. Mr. John Randolph, from the joint committee appointed to wait on the President of the United States, and inform him that a quorum of the two Houses is assembled, and ready to receive any communication he may be pleased to make to them, reported that the committee had, according to order, performed that service; and that the President signified to them, he would make a communication to this House, in writing, to morrow at twelve o'clock. And then the House adjourned until to-morrow morning eleven o'clock. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1804. Several other members, to wit: from New Hampshire, Samuel Hunt; from Massachusetts, Samuel Taggart; from Connecticut, Simeon Baldwin and Calvin Goddard; and from North Carolina, Samuel D. Purviance; appeared, and took their seats in the House. On motion, Ordered, That Mr. Early be excused from serving on "the Committee of Accounts," and that Mr. Conrad be appointed of the said committee, in his stead. A memorial of the Board of Trustees of Jefferson College, in the Mississippi Territory of the United States, signed by Cato West, their President pro tempore, and attested by Felix Huges, their Secretary, was presented to the House and read, praying that the title to certain lots or parcels of land, situate within the city of Natchez, also to an outlot, adjoining the same, may be confirmed by Congress, for the benefit and accommodation of the said College, and thereby to promote the education of youth within the said Territory. Ordered, That the said memorial, together with the petitions of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Assistants, of the city of Natchez, and of William Dunbar, presented the ninth of November, one thousand eight hundred and three, and twenty-sixth of January, one thousand eight hundred and four, and two reports of select committees, made at the last session, thereon, be referred to Mr. Latimore, Mr. Thomas M. Randolph, Mr. Stedman, Mr. Alston, and Mr. Elliot; that they do examine the matter thereof, and report the same, with their opinion thereupon, to the House. A message was received from the President of the United States, by Mr. Burwell, his Secretary, as followeth : Mr. Speaker: I am directed to hand you a communication, in writing, from the President to the two Houses of Congress. And he delivered in the same, and then withdrew. The said communication was read, and is as followeth : To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States : To a People, fellow-citizens, who sincerely desire the happiness and prosperity of other nations, to those who justly calculate that their own well-being is advanced by that of the nations with which they have intercourse, it will be a satisfaction to observe that the war which was lighted up in Europe a little before our last meeting, has not yet extended its flames to other nations, nor been marked by the calamities which sometimes stain the footsteps of war. The irregularities, too, on the ocean, which generally harass the commerce of neutral nations, have, in distant parts, disturbed ours less than on former occasions. But, in the American seas, they have been greater, from peculiar causes; and, even within our harbors and jurisdiction, infringements on the authority of the laws have been committed, which have called for serious attention. The friendly conduct of the Governments from whose officers and subjects these acts have proceeded, in other respects, and in places more under their observation and con trol, gives us confidence that our representations on this subject will have been properly regarded. While noticing the irregularities committed on the ocean by others, those on our own part should not be omitted, nor left unprovided for. Complaints have been received, that persons, residing within the United States, have taken on themselves to arm merchant vessels, and to force a commerce into certain ports and countries, in defiance of the laws of those countries. That individuals should undertake to wage private war, independently of the authority of their country, cannot be permitted in a well ordered society. Its tendency to produce aggression on the laws and rights of other nations, and to endanger the peace of our own, is so obvious, that I doubt not you will adopt measures for restraining it effectually in future. Soon after the passage of the act of the last session, authorizing the establishment of a district and port of entry on the waters of the Mobile, we learnt that its object was misunderstood on the part of Spain. Candid explanations were immediately given, and assurances that, reserving our claims in that quarter as a subject of discussion and arrangement with Spain, no act was meditated, in the mean time, inconsistent with the peace and friendship existing between the two nations: and that, conformably to these intentions would be the execution of the law. That Government had, however, thought proper to suspend the ratification of the Convention of 1802. But the explanations which would reach them soon after, and still more the confirmation of them by the tenor of the instrument establishing the port and district, may reasonably be expected to replace them in the dispositions and views of the whole subject which originally dictated the convention. I have the satisfaction to inform you, that the objections which had been urged by that Government against the validity of our title to the country of Louisiana, have been withdrawn its exact limits, however, remaining still to be settled between us. And to this is to be added, that, having prepared and delivered the stock created in execution of the Convention of Paris of April 30th, 1803, in consideration of the cession of that country, we have received from the Government of France an acknowledgment, in due form, of the fulfilment of that stipulation. With the nations of Europe, in general, our friendship and intercourse are undisturbed: and, from the Governments of the belligerent Powers, especially, we continue to receive those friendly manifestations which are justly due to an honest neutrality, and to such good offices, consistent with that, as we have opportunities of rendering. The activity and success of the small force employed in the Mediterranean in the early part of the present year, the reinforcement sent into that sea, and the energy of the officers having command in the several vessels, will, I trust, by the sufferings of war, reduce the barbarians of Tripoli to the desire of peace on proper terms. Great injury, however, ensues to ourselves as well as to others interested, from the distance to which prizes must be brought for adjudication, and from the impracticability of bringing hither such as are not seaworthy. The Bey of Tunis having made requisitions unauthorized by our treaty, their rejec tion has produced from him some expressions of discontent. But to those who expect us to calculate whether a compliance with unjust demands will not cost us less than a war, we must leave as a question of calculation for them also, whether to retire from unjust demands will not cost them less than a war. We can do to each other very sensible injuries by war. But the mutual advantages of peace make that the best interest of both. Peace and intercourse with the other Powers on the same coast, continue on the footing on which they are established by treaty. In pursuance of the act providing for the temporary Government of Louisiana, the necessary officers for the Territory of Orleans were appointed in due time to commence the exercise of their functions on the first day of October. The distance, however, of some of them, and indispensable previous arrangements may have retarded its commencement in some of its parts. The form of Government thus provided, having been considered but as temporary, and open to such future improvements as further information of the circumstances of our brethren there might suggest, it will, of course, be subject to your consideration. In the District of Louisiana, it has been thought best to adopt the division into subordinate districts which had been established under its former Government. These being five in number, a commanding officer has been appointed to each, according to the provisions of the law, and so soon as they can be at their stations, that district will also be in its due state of organization. In the mean time, their places are supplied by the officers before commanding there, and the functions of the Governor and Judges of Indiana having commenced, the Government, we presume, is proceeding in its new form. The lead mines in that district offer so rich a supply of that metal as to merit attention. The report now communicated will inform you of their state, and of the necessity of immediate inquiry into their occupation and titles. |