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DEC. 30, 1835.]

Newspapers to Members--Reduction of the Revenue.

Treasury of the 15th instant, relative to the duties that may be reduced or repealed, be referred to the Committee on Manufactures, with instructions to report a bill providing for the reduction or repeal of all duties which, in their opinion, may be reduced or repealed consistently with a due regard to the manufacturing interest.

[SENATE.

be reduced or repealed. The Secretary of the Treasury had recommended some, and given a list of others, and it was for the committee to investigate the subject. He would not wish to touch a single article that could injure the manufacturer.

Mr. DAVIS suggested that he might probably concur in all the views of the Senator from South Carolina, if he had time to look into the report; but at present he would only ask that the resolution be permitted to lie on the table until to-morrow.

Mr. CALHOUN, on offering this resolution, adverted to the immense surplus which was daily accruing in the public treasury, to which we must look for an immense increase of power in the hands of the executive Government, and the overspreading of the country with corruption and subserviency. This was not a proper occasion to discuss the actual condition of the treasury; but, if it were, it would not be difficult to show that the actual surplus in the treasury was now from twenty-one to twenty-two millions, and that in the coming year it would be scarcely short of thirty millions. With this immense revenue at the disposal of the President, in banks under his control, and subject to be withdrawn at his discretion, it would be in vain, all our efforts would be impotent, to oppose the executive will. On this point, therefore, the battle would have to be fought between power and liberty. All other measures which could be devised would fall short of correcting the dan-resolution, and decided as follows: ger to be apprehended from the march of power. But if all those who were opposed to the usurpations of the Government could be brought zealously to unite in arresting the funds arising out of the revenue, as far as they could, in their passage to the public treasury, and would snatch from the grasp of the Executive the funds which have already accumulated in his hands, there would be still ground for the hope that the course of power would be stayed. Every dollar we can prevent from coming into the treasury, or every dollar thrown back into the hands of the people, will tend to strengthen the cause of liberty, and unnerve the arm of power. He hoped that the Committee on Manufactures would take up the report with an earnest desire to repeal and reduce all those duties that can be reduced or repealed without injury to the manufacturing interest. In doing this they will then feel that they are not only aiding in the cause of reform, as far as it can be assisted by these means, but that they are also contributing to the prosperity of that particular interest of which they are the special guardians; since every reduction of duty, and every tax removed, while it cheapens the cost of production at home, and thus benefits our own manufacturer, will open the prospect of securing the fereign market. As there will be the two interests thus concurring to favor reduction, he hoped the Committee on Manufactures would consider the subject, and report, at as early a period as possible, all the reductions which can be made without injury to the manufacturing interest. Mr. DAVIS said he was not quite prepared to vote at once for the proposition of the gentleman from South Carolina. It had come upon him suddenly, and he was not prepared to understand the exact extent of the proposition, as he had not in his mind the precise propositions of the Secretary of the Treasury on the subject. Therefore, he was rather unwilling to vote for an instruction to the committee; for it would seem that this was not in the shape of an inquiry, but a peremptory instruction, touching an interest of the first magnitude, and a measure of a very important character which was adopted a few years since. He hoped the Senate would not be called on to vote an instruction of this importance before they had time to examine its character. He had only risen to express the hope that the Senator from South Carolina would not press his resolution at this mo ment.

Mr. CALHOUN assented to the request, and the resolution was laid on the table.

NEWSPAPERS TO MEMBERS.

The resolution to supply the Senators with the usual newspapers was read a third time, and, on the question of its passage, Mr. KING, of Georgia, after a few remarks in opposition, asked for the yeas and nays; which were ordered.

Mr. KNIGHT, in consequence of the absence of Mr. ROBBINS, the mover, moved to lay the resolution on the table; but the motion was negatived: Ayes 15, noes 22. The question was then taken on the passage of the

YEAS-Messrs. Brown, Buchanan, Calhoun, Clay, Crittenden, Davis, Ewing, Goldsborough, Grundy, Hendricks, Hill, Hubbard, Kent, Knight, Leigh, Linn, McKean, Moore, Naudain, Niles, Preston, Prentiss, Porter, Robinson, Southard, Swift, Tallmadge, Tipton, Tomlinson, Wall, Wright-31.

NAYS-Messrs. Benton, King of Alabama, King of
Georgia, Morris, Ruggles, Shepley, White-7.
Several bills were introduced and ordered to a second
reading; when,

On motion of Mr. DAVIS, the Senate proceeded to the consideration of executive business; after which, The Senate adjourned.

Mr. CALHOUN replied that there could be no difficulty on the subject. The Committee on Manufactures would have to examine and ascertain what duties might

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER SO.

REDUCTION OF THE REVENUE.

Mr. DAVIS moved that the resolution of the Senator from South Carolina, [Mr. CALHOUN,] (to instruct the Committee on Manufactures to report a bill to reduce certain duties on imports,) which was yesterday laid on the table on his motion, be taken up. Mr. D. said that, having given the resolution a careful examination, he found that it was not so extensive in its bearings as he had supposed that its object was merely financial-and that, consequently, he had no objection whatever to its passage.

Mr. CLAY said that, in the room of making it a matter of positive instruction, he would rather that it should be sent to the committee as a subject of inquiry. He did not suppose that the Senator from South Carolina and himself would finally disagree. It would be very easily discovered by any one who took the trouble of looking, that the two principal objects of duty were wine and silks-they could very well bear the collection of such duty-still, if there was no necessity for its collection, arising out of the wants of the Government, neither of these articles should bear it. He merely wished for an opportunity to examine and judge for himself; and, so long as there was a certain and abundant supply in the public exchequer, the resolution would meet with no opposition from him. It was his desire, as, in the event of the passage of the bill which he introduced yesterday, it might be necessary to retain the duties on wines and silks, to make some further examination. He would move that the usual words should be inserted, "to inquire into the expediency," &c.

Mr. CALHOUN said that was already done. The resolution directed the committee first to inquire and

SENATE.]

Joint Library Committee-Hospitals on the Ohio.

then to report. If, continued Mr. C., the land bill introduced by the Senator from Kentucky should pass, there would still remain a large surplus in the public treasury. The amount there already was twenty-one or twenty-two millions, and by the end of the first quarter of the coming year that amount will have swelled to thirty millions. If, as the Secretary of the Treasury had stated, the expenditures can be reduced to thirteen millions, there would be ample funds in the treasury, unless the reductions of duty should go far beyond what he had imagined.

He wished to impress upon the Senate the importance of two considerations: first, that there was an immense surplus in the public exchequer, which might be employed for the degrading purposes of bribery and corruption; and, secondly, that, by a timely and liberal reduction, all conflicting interests might be reconciled before the crisis which might be expected in 1842–’3. Every cent removed from the hands of Government is so much added to the wealth of the whole people. It cheapens production, and thus, by allowing a field for competition, it opens the foreign market at a shorter period.

Mr. CLAY said that the difference between himself and the honorable Senator was very trifling. Like him, he (Mr. C.) had looked a little into the subject of our finances. He believed with him that there were twentyone millions in the treasury, and that at the end of the first quarter of the ensuing year, with the seven millions coming from the Bank of the United States, the surplus revenue would amount to thirty millions. He perfectly concurred with him in the propriety of repealing all duties, so far as it could be done consistently with the interests of the manufacturer. But, sir, (said Mr. C.,) how many of the forty-five or forty-eight Senators here have looked into the matter as the Senator from South Carolina has done, and arrived with him at the same conclusion. They should not be called upon by a resolution, presented in either an unusual form and at an early period of the session, to vote at once, without reflection or examination, for the repeal of every duty.

He did not wish so to commit himself.

Mr. CALHOUN said that if any doubt of the ability of the treasury to meet all demands upon it should arise during the progress of this bill, he would then move to lay it upon the table, or to refer it to the Committee on Finance.

Mr. CLAY said that, with these pledges, he certainly should not oppose the motion.

The resolution was then agreed to.

JOINT LIBRARY COMMITTEE.

A message was received from the House of Represent atives, by Mr. FRANKLIN, their Clerk, stating that the House had passed a joint resolution for the appointment of a Committee on the Library; and that the House had appointed Messrs. LOYALL, MCKEAN, and WADDY THOMPSON, as the committee on their part.

On motion of Mr. ROBBINS, the resolution was concurred in; and Messrs. PRESTON, PORTER, and ROBBINS, were chosen, by ballot, as the committee on the part of the Senate.

EXECUTIVE PATRONAGE.

The bill to repeal the 1st and 2d second sections of an act to limit the terms of office of certain officers therein named was read a second time, and made the special order for the second Monday in January.

The bill to regulate the deposites of the public money was read a second time, and made the special order for the second Monday in January.

The joint resolution proposing to amend the constitu. tution was read a second time, and made the special order for the third Monday in January.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM.

[DEC. 31, 1835.

A bill supplementary to the act to amend the judicial system was taken up as in Committee of the Whole; when

Mr. LEIGH, suggesting that the gentleman who had introduced the bill [Mr. BLACK] was not in his seat, and as the bill was an important one, and it was proper that the Western Senators should have an opportunity to examine it, moved to postpone its further consideration, and make it the special order for Monday next. The motion was agreed to.

When some other business had been disposed of,

On motion of Mr. TIPTON, the Senate proceeded to the consideration of executive business; and after a short time the doors were reopened, and

The Senate adjourned.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31.

HOSPITALS ON THE OHIO RIVER.

Mr. HENDRICKS presented the memorial of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, on the subject of hospitals within that State for the relief of sick and disabled persons employed in navigating the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He said that, in this memorial, the Legislature represented the strong necessity, as well as the humanity, of providing these receptacles for the sick and disabled navigators of the Western waters. The necessity for this measure (Mr. H. said) was peculiarly strong and pressing. For this class of men, it could scarcely be affirmed that there was any provision at all in existence, while the protecting arm and the fostering care of the Government had always been extended in aid of the sick and disabled seamen both of the navy and of our commercial marine. It was true that the boatmen and raftmen of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers were properly entitled to the benefits of the several acts of Congress for the relief of sick and disabled seamen engaged in foreign commerce and in the coasting trade; but so defectively supplied were the Western waters with hospitals and asylums for the sick, that these benefits had seldom been felt. In the foreign commerce and in the coasting trade, although there may be scanty provision made in hospitals on shore, yet these men are almost always afloat. The vessels in which they are employed are receptacles for them, and their shipmates are companions around them. They have generally society and comfort to some extent. But often it is not so with the boatmen of the West. The very boat in which they have descended, when at abandoned, no matter where that may be, or in what the termination of their voyage, if a flat boat, bas to be condition they are. Anxiety to return home generally deprives them of all their companions. These men are constantly landed and left destitute on the banks of those rivers, often amongst a population unable, and sometimes unwilling, to take care of them; for, however humane and hospitable the people of the West are, (and there are none more so,) the frequent repetition of these acts of kindness becomes a burden insupportable.

These men so left are generally destitute of medical aid, and frequently of the most ordinary attentions and comforts of life. They go from high and healthful latitudes to southern and sickly climates. The change of their habits, as well as of climate, was generally greater than that of seamen; the trade in which they were engaged was that of transporting their own produce and that of the country to the lower markets, and this was necessarily carried on in the spring and summer seasons of the year, when they were most susceptible of the diseases which prevail on the waters of the Mississippi and the South. The people of the West engaged in this

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river trade were exposed to more and perhaps greater casualties than any other in the world; and there was no class whose occupation and business contributed more largely to the prosperity of the Union, and especially of the West, than this class of our citizens. only were they exposed to sickness and death, without the usual comforts of the last hour, but they were subjected also to an almost innumerable train of evils, exposures, and casualties; boats getting aground; running upon snags and sawyers; sinking, from these and various other causes, when the greatest danger and exposure of health for the preservation of property takes place; and if this be hopeless, there is the still greater peril of life. In addition to these, there are the casualties by steam, the bursting of boilers, the crushing of boats against each other by night, and the more terrible and appalling disasters of fire and storm. These are some of the evils and dangers to which this whole class of men are exposed, and which many of them suffer.

And how numerous is this class? And how large a population and extent of country are closely identified with their prosperity and business? This class of men are the bone and sinew of more than four millions of people. They are the farmers and farmers' sons of the whole valley of the Mississippi, engaged in the laudable and valuable business of transporting their own produce to market, and in the transportation of the entire commerce of the West. They are closely and intimately identified with a country of great extent; the whole country beyond the mountains; a country much larger than the residue of the United States; a country perhaps unequalled in resources; in the fertility of its soil; the navigation of its rivers; the internal commerce which it creates and sustains; the rapidly increasing magnitude of its population, and the maximum of which it is susceptible; unequalled in these particulars, in all probability, by any other region of the earth of the same extent. I take this occasion (said Mr. H.) to say to the Committee of Commerce, to which I wish this memorial referred, that this is an important interest of the Western country; one in the hands, and especially so, of the federal Government. I tell the committee and the Senate that its importance within the last few years has increased into a ratio far beyond the increase of the the population and the commerce of the country.

The cholera, so prevalent on the Mississippi and its tributary streams, has given this subject of late years an importance and a magnitude almost indescribable. The want of these hospitals scatters the cholera, and distributes it in the neighborhoods and villages of these rivers; whereas, if erected, they would aid in concentrating and extinguishing it, by collecting its patients together, and preventing their intercourse with society. A man known to a boat's crew to have the cholera is put on shore wheresoever he can, by persuasion or stratagem, be deposited. He produces consternation wherever left, is neglected or abandoned, and dies. Thus the cholera is spread upon these rivers among the citizens on shore, and its fatality is greatly increased among the river-faring men themselves. The Committee of Commerce cannot be engaged in a work of patriotism and devotion to the best interests of the country of more importance, in a work of benevolence and humanity more broad and expansive. This subject has been greatly neglected.

He did not stand alone in these opinions. The Secretary of the Treasury had pressed this matter upon the attention of the last session of Congress. He tell us, in his report, that the laws for the relief of sick and disabled seamen should be revised; that hospitals should be built, and that the fund should be made more productive; that, instead of yielding about $30,000 a year, it ought to produce $180,000. A fair dividend of these

[SENATE.

operations of philanthropy on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers would be productive of the most beneficial results, It would produce sanatary regulations which would be the means of saving thousands of lives perhaps every year, and of checking and controlling, in some measure, the cholera-that minister of desolationamongst us.

On this subject (continued Mr. H.) efforts had been unceasing for several years past. This was the third time it had been placed before the Senate by himself: last session by the same memorial which he now presented, and the previous session by a resolution, which, on his motion, had been adopted by the Senate. He hoped that the Legislatures and the Representatives of the Western States would not cease to importune Congress until they obtained on this subject some beneficial regulation. It had been referred to the Committee of Commerce of the Senate at the last and previous sessions. A bill was reported last winter in the other House. It was, however, insufficient in its provisions. It did not contain any appropriation for hospitals above the mouth of the Ohio. It was his intention to have proposed an amendment to it in the Senate, if not amended in the House, but it never reached this body. The practice of the Committee of Commerce for years past, in waiting for bills from the other House, had, as it seemed to him, been deleterious to much useful business; he hoped it would not be so at the present session, but that this subject would at least be taken up and acted on by the committee of the Senate. The want of money was not at this time a consideration. We had enough, and more than we knew what to do with; and there was surely no object more deserving the appropriation of a few thousand dollars than that of erecting hospitals for the relief of sick and disabled seamen and riverfaring men.

He moved the reference of the memorial to the Committee of Commerce; and it was so referred. On motion of Mr. GRUNDY, it was

Resolved, That when the Senate adjourn, it adjourn to meet on Monday next.

The resolutions on the table were severally considered and adopted.

Agreeably to the resolution offered on Wednesday last in relation to the Patent Office, Messrs. RUGGLES, PRENTISS, and HILL, were chosen members, on the part of the Senate, of the joint committee ordered by said resolution.

Mr. PRESTON being absent, the resolution in regard to the regulation of the Senate chamber was, on motion of Mr. TIPTON, laid on the table.

The bill concerning writs of error and judgments arising under the revenue laws was read a third time; when

Mr. WEBSTER made a few observations on the character of the measure, approving of the general tendency, but desiring some explanations which rendered him desirous, as Mr. PRESTON was absent, to have the bill laid over for the present.

The bill was then, on his motion, laid on the table until Monday.

A bill for the relief of Commodore Isaac Hull was considered as in Committee of Whole, and, after a few remarks from Messrs. SHEPLEY and SOUTHARD, was, on motion of the latter, laid on the table.

Several other bills were taken up in the course of the day, and appropriately disposed of; after which The Senate adjourned to Monday.

MONDAY, JANUARY 4.

BANK OF THE METROPOLIS. Mr. KENT moved to take up the memorial of the president and directors of the Bank of the Metropolis,

SENATE.]

Judicial System.

praying for a recharter, and refer it to the Committee on the District of Columbia.

Mr. BENTON said he should to-morrow submit a resolution to refer the memorials of all these banks to a select committee. He wished an inquiry instituted into the affairs of these banks: the manner in which their business had been conducted, the amount of capital employed, and if necessary for the commercial wants of the District. He preferred that the memorial should lie on the table till to-morrow.

Mr. KENT expressed the hope that the gentleman would permit the memorial to take the usual course.

Mr. BENTON said that, in order that the Senate might not be taken by surprise, he would inform the Senate that he intended to-morrow to make a motion to go into an investigation of the concerns of these banks. He should move for a pretty extensive committee. He would not repeat in the Senate the charges he had heard against these banks. But if a tithing of what he had heard concerning them was true, those petitioners ought to have leave to withdraw their petitions.

The petition was then referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM.

The bill supplementary to the act entitled an act to amend the judicial system of the United States was taken up as the special order of the day.

Mr. CLAYTON said this bill had passed the Senate at the last session, by a vote of thirty-one to five. The plan adopted in the bill, he thought, was not the best possible plan that might have been adopted; and he was one of the five that had voted against it at the last session. But the subject had been before Congress a number of years, and the action upon it had been greatly procrastinated. He was, under existing circumstances, at present disposed to acquiesce in its provisions and vote for the bill. It was not necessary, as the bill had been acted on at the last session, to go into a discussion of the merits of it.

Mr. GOLDSBOROUGH suggested an amendment as to the day of holding the courts, so as to make the "first of May" read "the first Monday of May," &c.

Mr. CLAYTON said it had been intended by the committee that it should read as the gentleman [Mr. GOLDSBOROUGH] had suggested, and that its not reading so was perhaps a clerical error. Mr. GOLDSBOROUGH'S amendment was agreed to.

Mr. BLACK moved an amendment, by striking out "Natchez," and inserting "Jackson;" and made some remarks in favor of it.

Mr. CLAYTON stated he had no objection to it. Mr. PORTER thought the increase of travelling by the judges, which would be caused by the amendment offered by the gentleman, [Mr. BLACK,] would make the performance of their duty very heavy on them.

Mr. BLACK said it was only forty-five miles from Pittsburg to Jackson, and a daily mail was now running between those places; also, that a railroad would soon be completed on that route, which he thought would meet the objection of the gentleman from Louisiana, [Mr. PORTER.J

Mr. BUCHANAN, for one, would be willing to take the suggestion of the gentleman from Mississippi, [Mr. BLACK.] But he would suggest, himself, that a good deal of commercial and maritime business accrued at Natchez; many matters of small amount were litigated there, and he thought it would be burdensome to the parties to oblige them to follow their small claims to Jackson. Mr. BLACK's amendment was agreed to.

Mr. KING, of Alabama, said, of the district of Pennsylvania and other districts one circuit had been formed in the bill, as he understood it.

[JAN. 4, 1836.

As the law now stood they were divided into several districts. He wished to know whether the same judge was to hold courts in the two districts in Pennsylvania, There was a clause in the bill which gave a direct appeal from the circuit to the district courts. He would like to know, also, whether Pennsylvania was included in that provision; and spoke of Mobile as an eligible point for a circuit court to be established in Alabama.

Mr. PORTER said, if the gentleman from Alabama [Mr. KING] could show the Senate that the one judge could not perform the duties in his district, he (Mr. P.) would be willing to modify the bill to meet his views.

Mr. KING, of Alabama, did not wish to throw any obstacles in the way of the passage of the bill. He thought a point somewhere between the northern and southern division in his district would best accommodate the State he represented. Business would naturally go to the central point, and it would be a saving in the mileage of witnesses, &c. He would like the modification.

Mr. LEIGH said he understood there were two district courts in Alabama. His purpose was to extend the jurisdiction of the circuit courts over the whole State. He would suggest an amendment, which he thought would meet the views of the gentleman, [Mr. KING, of Alabama,] which was to strike out "southern district" and insert the "several districts." That would place Alabama in the same situation with North Carolina. He would therefore move to amend it; which was agreed to.

Mr. L. suggested another amendment, to make the bill correspond with North Carolina and Virginia; which was to make it read "the district of Maryland, the eastern district of Virginia, and the district of North Carolina."

Mr. PORTER moved to insert, after the word "Delaware," the words "eastern district of Pennsylvania;" which was agreed to.

Mr. CLAYTON moved to make Delaware read "the district of Delaware;" which was agreed to.

Mr. KING, of Alabama, moved to strike out the word "southern," in the third section; which was agreed to. Mr. WRIGHT felt as if he and his colleague would be very inexcusable were they to let the bill pass in its present shape. Mr. W. set forth, at some length, the particular objections to the bill, as related to New York. He would not propose an amendment now; but before the bill was ordered to be engrossed, he wished to reserve the right to offer an amendment.

Mr. PORTER said that, as this bill had progressed so far towards its final passage, he would suggest to the gentleman from New York [Mr. WRIGHT] the propriety of bringing in another bill embracing his object. In the Western country, they thought this bill had been much delayed. He felt anxious for the early passage of it.

Mr. CLAYTON suggested another amendment, to correspond with the amendment already made in relation to Alabama.

Some conversation between Mr. LEIGH and Mr. CLAYTON, respecting the amendment of Mr. CLAYTON, took place, when

Mr. CLAYTON said he would take occasion to state he was willing to co-operate with the gentleman from New York [Mr. WRIGHT] in a separate bill for the regulation of the western district of New York, and thought he (Mr. W.) had better let this bill pass.

Mr. WRIGHT could not comply with the request of the gentleman from Delaware, [Mr. CLAYTON.] The bill had come up before he had anticipated it. He would, however, convince the Senate of the propriety of the amendment he would offer. He would venture to say that the judge would never pass through his circuit without passing through Albany, either going or returning. He spoke of the vast amount of business that

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originated in the city of New York, for the United States court. He objected to a separate bill. His constituents would complain, and ask why they were taxed with a separate bill, when a general bill had passed. The amendment he should propose would adopt the feelings of his constituents. He did not say so by way of threat, but by way of persuasion. Mr. W. then moved to insert after the word "hereafter," in the ninth line of the first section, the words "the districts of Vermont, Connecticut, and New York, shall constitute the second district."

Mr. CLAYTON observed that, as this amendment was pressed by the Senator from New York, he would not oppose it. He would, however, ask the honorable Senator if he had sufficiently considered the details of the bill, and how far the amendment would interfere with them. He should regret if the bill was retarded by the amendment. He would also ask whether the judge who is to perform the duties contemplated by the amendment would be willing to encounter the additional labor, and whether he had not already as much business as he could attend to. He was willing, however, to take the amendment as offered by the gentleman from New York, leaving it to him to make such other amendment as the details of the bill rendered necessary.

Mr. WRIGHT was aware that some additional amendment, as to the time and place of holding the court, would be necessary; and if the amendment should be adopted, he or his colleague would submit the proper

motion.

Mr. KING, of Alabama, observed that, as the Senator from New York had thought proper to introduce this amendment, other Senators coming from States where there was no more than one district judge might be induced to offer a similar amendment. Why, he asked, was not this inconvenience as regards New York thought of before? He asked the Senator if it was right at this time to throw obstacles in the way of a bill so important to the new States-a bill fraught with a measure which he conceived they had a constitutional right to, which they had been so long contending for, and which they were now about to obtain? He hoped the amendment would not be pressed at this time. If, hereafter, the gentleman, on finding that the judge can perform the additional duties required, chooses to introduce the measure in the shape of a separate bill, he would most readily extend to him the helping hand. But he trusted that a bill which was to render the judiciary system uniform throughout the Union, which the new States had endeavored year after year to get through, would not be embarrassed by obstacles thrown in its way, when it was about to pass. He should vote against the amendment, though he hoped it would be withdrawn.

Mr. PORTER said he felt very much embarrassed at the situation in which he had been placed by the amendment. He was favorably disposed towards the objects it contemplated, though he feared it might somewhat embarrass the important measure before them. He did hope that the gentleman from New York would not press the amendment at this stage of the business; that he would not throw obstacles in the way of an important measure, by tacking to it objects that might be accomplished in a separate bill. This bill had been before the Senate at the last session, and if the claims of New York were so very strong, and the inconveniences under which she suffered were so great, surely they ought to have occurred to the gentleman then. He felt, however, that, in opposing the amendment, his hand was on the lion's mane. There were forty-two members from New York in the other House, and he feared that if the bill passed without the amendment, it would be greatly embarrassed there. He was confident that the gentle. man did not intend this, but he feared that such would

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[SENATE.

The bill was lost the last year in consequence of the amendments that delayed it. Perhaps the Senator from Pennsylvania might be enlightened, and think that a similar amendment was necessary for his State, and, in moving it, occasion further embarrassment to the bill.

Mr. WRIGHT said that there was one remark he was compelled to make in reply to the Senator from Louisiana. He understood that gentleman as saying that he had attacked the bill by throwing obstacles in its way.

[Mr. PORTER explained. He said tacked, not attacked. He had expressed the hope that the gentleman would not throw obstacles in the way of the bill, by tacking other objects to it.]

Mr. WRIGHT said he was glad he had misunderstood the gentleman, who was himself mistaken as to the time of the introduction of the measure contemplated by the amendment. Long before any effort had been made to extend to Alabama the circuit system, an effort had been earnestly, though respectfully, made to extend it to the northern portion of New York. The gentleman did not seem to appreciate the geographical situation of New York, nor consider the great extent of its frontier requiring this system. He and his colleague had been asked not to press their amendment at this stage of the bill. But did the gentlemen from Alabama and Louisiana suppose that they could do their duty without pressing this measure? As to the details, he confessed he had not sufficiently examined them to conform his amendment to them at this time. But gentlemen must see that this was a mere matter of form, and the gentlemen from Connecticut and Vermont, and himself and colleague, could not differ with regard to them. The gentleman from Louisiana had asked him not to press this amendment, and thus bring down on the bill the numerical force of the New York members in the other House. Now, it was to make the bill acceptable to this numerical force, that he had introduced the amendment.

Mr. BUCHANAN said he had been too long following the same lights on this subject to be enlightened at this time, as the Senator from Louisiana supposed he might be. He had been endeavoring for many years to extend the circuit system to the new States, and should continue his exertions until that object was accomplished. What was the single proposition before the Senate? It was to extend this system to two of the new States who were justly entitled to it, and who had so long been deprived of it. That was the sole proposition. It was so considered when the bill was introduced, and was so considered by the Judiciary Committee, who had it under examination and reported on it. It was admitted that it was desirable to extend this system to New York; but suppose it was done by the amendment, what then would be the duty of the Senators from Pennsylvania? The western district of Pennsylvania was not entirely inland. It had considerable maritime frontier, and he understood to-day, for the first time, that there was a petition, numerously signed, from the western part of Pennsylvania, for the establishment of a circuit court for their benefit. Could he and his colleague, then, sit still, and not ask this for Pennsylvania, when they saw the same favor granted to New York? He would prefer, however, that the circuit system should be extended both in Pennsylvania and New York by a separate bill; and he would advise gentlemen from New York to wait, and go pari passu with Pennsylvania in accomplishing an object so desirable to both. We want, said Mr. B., the same advantages for the western district of Pennsylvania, that they want for the northern district of New York; but we shall give no vote that will embarrass the passage of the bill.

Mr. NILES said there were two district courts in Connecticut. The business in them was merely nominal.

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