26TH CONG....1ST SESS. But to return to the Post Office building. The principal cause of all this monstrous increase of expenditure originated in this House. When the bill to authorize its erection was before the House of Representatives, in March, 1839, I attempted to have a clause added limiting the cost of the building to $300,000, although the estimate was but $280,000; but I was defeated by the votes of gentlemen (Whig members of Congress) who are Dow joining in the cry of extravagance against the Administration. I again attempted to add amendments to insure a strict accountability for the expenditure of the money, and I was again defeated by the votes of a large majority of those very Whigs who wish to make the people believe they are the friends of retrenchment and reform; in fact I was opposed by nearly all the Whigs in the House in every attempt I made to save the money of the people. His Something was said about the Postmaster General's agency in the erection of this building. I can assure the committee that Amos Kendall has had but a very small share in the management of it. There are indeed no responsible agents acting under any legal authority.. There is a commission composed of the five heads of Departments, each of whom may, if he chooses, give his opinion on subjects connected with the erection of the building, but neither of them are required, by any law, to assume any responsibility which ought to attach to such a plan. Of course Mr. Kendall had but one voice out of five. official duties are very arduous, his health bad, and i have no doubt he can spare but little time to examine into the details of a work so extensive as the new Post Office building. He also feels a delicacy in attempting to use a controlling power over his associates where they differ with him, on account of the building being for his own Department. If the act of Congress had given him the entire and sole control of the erection of this building, I have no doubt he would then have assumed the responsibility. He is a working mun, both honest and capable, and what he findeth for his hands to do, he doeth with all his might, while it is yet to-day, knowing that the night cometh when no man worketh. If there is any waste of the public money in the erection of the public buildings it is the business of the standing committee of this House “on the expenditures of public buildings" to investigate and report them, The President is not to be blamed for this species of waste and extravagance. If it exists, why do not those Argus-eyed gentlemen find it out and expose it, who tell us so often of their knowledge and belief of the extravagance of the Administration and its agents? I hope the committee will, before it rises, adopt the amendments I have suggested, for without the increase proposed the buildings for which they are proposed cannot be progressed with nor the workmen paid. If the House had ordered the proper reference of those estimates to the Committee on Public Buldings and Grounds, agreeably to the rules, then would that committee have furnished the Committee of Ways and Means with the proper amount in the first place, and precluded the necessity of my making the motion to amend. The whole course of the legislation of this House is loose and irregular. Standing committees are constituted by the rules of the House, but the business provided by those rules for the consideration of those committees is scattered about to suit the caprice or whim of the persons making the motion for reference, and when matters are done wrong the cry is raised by members against the executive branch of the Government to screen their own negligence or dereliction from duty. As an instance of this it will be found that the business properly belonging to the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds is generally referred to the Committee for the District of Columbia or the Committee of Ways and Means. I hope we shall hear less of this everlasting cry of extravagance, and see some attention paid by members to consistency, by their assisting to apply the proper remedy to prevent this kind of legislation which has been so prevalent of late years in this House, and which is the real cause of a very great waste of public money. For my part I cannot conceive how members can reconcile their conduct to their own consciences, or satisfy their Grant of Land to Michigan-Mr. Norvell. constituents, for their thus dishonestly, as I say, voting for millions of appropriations every session of Congress, and then endeavoring to lay all the blame of the burdens they impose upon the people on the President, when the President, at the commencement of every session of Congress, endeavors to impress upon them, in the most earnest manner, the necessity of economy and retrenchment. I am daily amused, Mr. Chairman, to see those croakers about extravagance day after day attempting to get millions of dollars appropriated to make harbors at places in their own districts where there is no water, and fortifications at places where there is nothing to defend and where no enemy, would think of going. All that matters nothing; the money is the object. I can tell these gentlemen the common people read of those matters and reflect upon them more frequently than some of our short-sighted politicians imagine. GRANT OF LAND TO MICHIGAN. SENATE. most, he was of the opinion that a steamboat canal would not cost more than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The land proposed to be granted might by judicious selection and disposition be made to yield that sum. He could not, however, doubt that the State would apply her own resources to the completion of the work if the grant proposed to be made in this bill should prove inadequate to the purpose. It had been objected to the present construction of this canal, that the population in the country surrounding it was sparse, and that consequently the work was premature. Sir, the sparseness of the population constitutes a strong argument for the immediate construction of the canal. That would at once increase the population of the neighboring country, settle and cultivate it, and rapidly develop its immense resources. When that most productive and splendid of all works of the kind —that great canal which first united the magnificentinland seas of the Northwest with the waters of the Atlantic ocean-was commenced by the State of New York, scarcely a white man dwelt along its western line for nearly two hundred SPEECH OF HON. JOHN NORVELL, miles. It was now dotted from one end to the OF MICHIGAN, IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, On the third reading of the bill making a grant of land to aid the State of Michigan in the construction of a canal around the falls of St. Maria. Mr. NORVELL said that he had heretofore described the bill as containing a grant of one hundred thousand acres of land, to be selected anywhere in Michigan, to aid that State in the construction of a canal around the falls of St. Maria,|| to connect by a navigable communication the waters of Lake Superior with those of Lake Huron, and with the other northwestern lakes. It provides that the canal shall ever be and remain a highway for the use of the Government of the United States, free from any toll or charge for the transportation of troops and public property, and by an amendment no toll or charge whatever, except for repairs and attendance, was to be imposed after the completion of the canal. The lands selected would not be sold under the minimum Government price. The selection must be made within two years, and the canal completed within five years. He had, moreover, no objection to a further amendment, requiring the State to pledge her faith to complete the canal or to return the grant to the United States. The report of the civil engineer of Michigan, with the surveys and estimates, in relation to this canal, had been printed and laid on the tables of Senators. It was probable, however, that notwithstanding the call for authentic information, and the production of that information, the report had attracted little or no attention from the Senators who had made opposition to the bill. Gentlemen determined in their objections to a measure indulge themselves in throwing out suggestions of all sorts against it, and were seldom disposed to be corrected by documentary or verbal statements of fact. The survey and estimates contemplated the construction of a ship-canal. The engineer states that no difficulties of a serious nature exist to the success of the work; that the portion of the line of canal where rock is indicated will not, from its peculiar quality and position, require blasting, and the expense will consequently be much less than would otherwise be incurred. The whole length of the canal is four thousand five hundred and sixty feet, less than a mile, about seven hundred feet of which only will require excavation. His survey and estimates, as before remarked, contemplated a shipcanal. But it was desirable that the work should be so expanded that the largest steamboats might pass from lake to lake upon it. This would require an increased magnitude of the locks, and a consequent increase of expense. The fall to be overcome by the locks is eighteen feet, and the number of locks three. Large masses of granite are found immediately along the line of the canal, and the cost of hauling that heavy material entirely saved. The estimate for the ship-canal amounted to not quite one hundred and thirteen thousand dollars. He should suppose, however, that the estimate was not sufficiently large. At the ut other with beautiful farm-houses and villages, with flourishing cities, and with a dense and prosperous population. What but the great Erie canal had caused this rapid conversion of the wilderness into cultivated fields, and into the ready means of subsistence and wealth to hundreds of thousands of people? From Fort Wayne to the Wabash, a distance of sixty or seventy miles, not a civilized inhabitant, as he had been informed by a Senator from Indiana, resided near the Erie and Wabash canal when its construction was begun. In the vicinity of the Delaware breakwater a very sparse population was even at this time to be found. Sir, the objection proceeds rather from a disposition to indulge in the flashes of wit and merriment than from the sober and sedate views which become the statesman. But, said the Senator from Kentucky, [Mr. CLAY,] the other day, why should the grants be made to Michigan, with a population of only two or three hundred thousand, because similar grants had been made to Ohio, with a population of two millions? Sir, that is the very reason why these grants should be made. Michigan was comparatively young and weak as a State, and required to be strengthened. Were she as populous and rich as Ohio, her own resources would enable her to march on without the aid of the General Government. It seemed, however, that the honorable Senator desired to make the rich richer, rather than to give his fostering aid to the comparatively poor. But when the earlier grants were made to Ohio she too was weak and needed extraneous aid. She received it from this Government, and that has accelerated her growth and prosperity. He was glad of it, and only wished the same measure of liberality and justice to be meted out to the other new States. Sir, you have, in the upper peninsula of Michigan, a public domain of fourteen or fifteen million acres, which could never be successfully brought into market without the construction of the proposed canal around the falls of St. Maria. Without that work the country could not be settled and cultivated. It had neither military nor any other roads to it or within it. The only medium of communication to it, the only channel of access to Lake Superior from the lower lakes, must for years be this canal. You have also an extensive public domain in the northern part of Wisconsin, which that canal will enable you the sooner to sell, settle, and cultivate. Open that important work and you immediately realize the creation and successful prosecution of a new and extensive commerce from Lake Superior to six States of this Union. From the information which he had gathered, he believed that he was within bounds when he stated that the fisheries of Lake Superior could, as soon as the canal should be finished, be made to produce annually one hundred thousand barrels of fish, worth from seven to ten dollars per barrel, and yielding altogether nearly one million dollars every year. These fisheries were thought to be inexhaustible. The fish caught in the upper lakes were of the most delicious sort. They were various; but the principal was the white fish, superior to the shad, 350 26TH CONG.... 1ST SESS. APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE. and susceptible of being salted and cured, so as to render it far better than the salted mackerel, which entered so largely into the consumption of the country. The white fish was so prepared and sent to market, in considerable quantities, from the lakes below Lake Superior. One fishery in the vicinity of Detroit had some seasons produced two thousand barrels. In the country bordering on the southern shore of Lake Superior copper ore and other minerals were believed to exist in abundance. Forests of the finest pine timber pervaded that country. It was known that the pineries in other parts of the Union were rapidly diminishing, and he had no doubt that in less than half a century the Atlantic States would be indebted to upper Michigan for that essential material in the construction of their ships. But these rich sources of wealth and prosperity could only be made available by means of a navigable communication between the lower lakes and Lake Superior. In such a communication New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin had as deep an interest as Michigan. It was a national work in all its aspects and results. It was important in a military point of view. The country, for hundreds of miles, was bordering on the British colonial frontier. A military station had, for a long succession of years, been kept up at the falls of St. Maria. It might, in the event of war, be necessary to send both a naval and military force to Lake Superior, both for the suppression of Indian bostility and for defense against British aggression. The proposed canal could alone enable as to accomplish these purposes. Government of Iowa--Mr. Chapman. had been pursued upon the ground that it was a But, said the Senator from Kentucky, on what ground should you make this grant to Michigan Why should this Government make it when they had been already so liberal to that State? Sir, this Government have been liberal to Michigan with a vengeance! They have refused to complete the roads which they themselves had commenced in that State. They have despoiled her of a rich and fertile territory on her southern borders. They have received into their Treasury nearly eleven million dollars from sales of the public lands lying within her limits; and, sir, they have graciously expended not quite four hundred thousand dollars, all told, on harbors and roads within those limits! These have been the evidences of the liberality of this Government toward Michigan; and she may chiefly thank the honorable Senator and his friends for the generous amount of that liberality! But this canal is in the moon, or beyond the extremest verge of civilization. Sir, the honorable Senator from Kentucky [Mr. CLAY] ought to have known the country better. Gentlemen have, on this occasion, made a sorry exhibition of their geographical and statistical attainments. The honorable Senator scems not to have learned that ships and steamboats, freighted with merchandise and civilized passengers, have for years plowed their way to the very foot of this canal. He seems to have yet to learn that a civilized settlement and an American fort have existed there for nearly half a century. It is a pity, sir, that we cannot once in a while peep out of our own narrow shells and look abroad on that broad and magnificent fabric of nature comprised within the boundaries of the great lake States. The genius of the enlightened, patriotic statesman surveys every part of his country, his whole country, its various wants and interests. He strengthens and guards the vulnerable points. He extends the aegis of his protection where that protection is most wanted. The waters of the great lakes are under the special charge of the Federal Government; and the man fit to gov. ern the country will neither close his eyes to their importance, nor will he affect to want, or in reality want, some degree of knowledge at least of the just claims of that quarter upon the constitutional care of the public councils which he may be called upon to guide and direct. [April 29, Ho. oF REPS. 2611 but for the improper interference of the United He would add that the large grant of lands to He considered all the difficulties and objections interposed, on loose and imperfect information, to have been conclusively removed, and he hoped that the bill would be permitted to pass without further opposition. GOVERNMENT OF IOWA. REMARKS OF HON. W. W. CHAPMAN, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The honorable Senator had said that the Sen- In Committee of the Whole on the amendment offered by Mr. CHAIRMAN: I rise not to make a speech for home consumption, but, if possible, to sustain the proposition which I have had the honor of submitting for the consideration of the committee, and I very much regret that the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means has thought it necessary to oppose this appropriation, because his influence here is very great, both as a gentleman and as being at the head of the most important and re that possible in this case? Here was a canal not But the honorable Senator alleged that on this side of the Senate we had lately denounced the States for their extravagant and profligate expenditures on internal improvements, and here we were about to create and carry on a new scheme of internal improvement within the States. Now, sir, if the denunciations alluded to by the Senator had been uttered, they certainly met with no response from a large majority of the members on this side of the Senate; and it was a little extraordinary that the honorable gentleman should treat the grant of one hundred thousand acres of But the Senator from South Carolina [Mr. land by the United States to a canal within a State PRESTON] had pronounced this bill to be the re- as a continuance of State extravagance and State vival of a magnificent system of internal improve-prodigality. On the contrary, the grant would ment by the General Government. It was no such thing. It had been the practice of this Government, almost ever since the Constitution was adopted, to grant lands for the construction of roads and canals in the new States. This policy supersede the necessity of State expenditure. Generally, the Territories are looked upon in the light of begging the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table; but I base this proposition upon more substantial grounds. You established the territorial government; it is a creature of your own; and by every principle of justice, human and divine, you are bound to support it. In the organic law of lowa, which passed Congress and became a law the 12th June, 1838, may be found the following clause: "And there shall also be appropriated annually a sufficient sum, to be expended by the secretary of the Treritory, and upon an estimate to be made by the Secretary of the Treas ury of the United States, to defray the expenses of the Legislative Assembly, the printing of the laws, and other incidental expenses." Now, sir, Congress made a pledge to appropri ate annually a sufficient sum to defray the expenses of the Legislature of lowa. Heretofore you have failed to make this appropriation because you were not advised of the necessary amount. Now, when the expenses have been incurred, and it is found that there is a substantial deficiency, we are told by the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means that the deficiency, actual and substantial as it is, must not be supplied because the Secretary of the Treasury refuses to sanction it. Sir, you have been told by the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means that my let ter to the Secretary of the Treasury, inclosing a copy of the resolution of the Legislature of lows, was submitted to his committee, but that as the Treasury Department had failed to recommend the appropriation, the papers were returned for the opinion of the Secretary. What answer does the gentleman say he received from the Depart ment? Why, sir, "that he (the Secretary) does not feel inclined to go beyond the estimates furnished by the Governor." This, sir, is the answer, as read by the honorable member. Well, sir, the Committee of Ways and Means rejects the appropriation, and the result is the chairman of the committee, with his acknowledged abilities, is here opposing this appropriation because the Secretary of the Treasury says he cannot sanc tion it. ture of lowa have exceeded in their expenditure Mr. Chairman, it is not because the Legisla expenses of the other Territories, but because, the amount usually appropriated to defray the from some cause or other, you have appropriated 26TH CONG....1ST SESS. Treaty with New York Indians-Mr. Wright. a less sum to defray the expenses of Iowa than Wisconsin, with precisely the same form of gov ernment. What are the relative appropriations for those two Territories? I invite the attention of the House to facts, and challenge the gentleman to account satisfactorily for the difference. The whole amount of appropriation for Wisconsin for the year 1838 was $38,725; for the year 1839 the sum appropriated was $41,825; and the estimate and amount in the bill now under consideration for 1840 is $43,535, making in the aggregate the sum of $124,075 appropriated to defray the expenses of the government of Wisconsin, including Governor, judges, &c. Now, sir, what were the appropriations on Iowa for the same objects? For the year 1838 the sum of $24,675, and for the year 1839 the sum of $28,950 was appropriated, and the estimates for the year 1840, being the amount now contained in this bill, the sum of $36,500, amounting in the whole to the sum of $90,125, including the salary of Governor, judges, &c,, which shows a difference in the appropriations for the two Territories of $33,950. Why this distinction in governments precisely similar in every respect? I mention this, Mr. Chairman, not by way of complaint against the treatment toward the other Territories. No, sir, far be it from me to complain of them. They do not receive half as much as they deserve. Rest this proposition alone upon the estimates of the Governor, and in justice it must succeed, because, for the expenses of the Assembly, printing, fuel, &c., for the year 1839, the Governor estimated the amount of $20,400; for the same object in 1840 his estimate is $27,050, requiring for 1840 a larger sum by nearly seven thousand dollars than for 1839. These sums of course do not include the salary of the Governor, judges, &c. We see, by comparing the estimates of the Governor, that the increase is at the rate of nearly seven thousand dollars per annum. And I ask why it is so. Is it because the neces sary expenditure in 1840 will be larger than 1839, or is it because experience has taught him that the estimates of 1839 were not sufficient? Sir, it is plain to every gentleman that the latter is the cause of the increase. The sessions of 1838 and of 1839 were the first two sessions of the Legislature of lowa. The government was to organize, a new code of laws to make, print, and publish, unless the honorable chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means should think it proper to restrict fifty or sixty thousand inhabitants, dispersed over a territory nearly three hundred miles in length, to the use of three or four copies of the Michigan code. Buildings for the sitting of the Legislature must be secured, and various other expenses incurred, always greater in organizing a government than at any other periods. All these expenses were incurred in the first two and only sessions yet held. satisfy him, I would show that the presumption is that the Governor has sanctioned this sum. The letter now in my hand will show that the Legislature, at the close of the session, after expending the sum of $20,400, when alone it could be ascertained how much money was necessary, passed a resolution requesting the sum I proposed as an amendment to the bill under consideration: BURLINGTON, January 14, 1840. DEAR SIR: Among the resolutions which have passed both branches of the Legislature, now in session, the inclosed copy of which is deposited in my office, I find the following: "Resolved by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Iowa, That our Delegate in Congress be instructed to apply for an additional appropriation of $14,000 to defray the expenses of the present Legislative Assembly of Iowa Territory," Signed by the presiding officers. Hon. W. W. CHAPMAN. JAMES CLARK. This resolution, if not returned by the Governor to the Legislature, in law is considered as sanctioned by him, and is to be filed with the secretary of the Territory. Sir, what difference is there between an estimate submitted before the expenditure is incurred and afterward? There is this difference, in my opinion: the first is based upon mere supposition, the latter upon actual expenditure, and should, therefore, be the one to govern legislation. What would be the state of your public buildings if the estimate, in advance of the expenditure, should fix the bounds of appropriations? Look to your estimates for public buildings, and compare them with subsequent legislation. Why, they have never been sufficient. This very bill proves that fact beyond dispute. Then, sir, I have sustained this proposition, not only upon the ground that it requires as much to defray the expenses of the Iowa Legislature as that of Wisconsin, but also, under the rule which the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means wishes to establish, that the estimates of the Governor and Secretary of the Treasury should form the basis of the appropriation. Mr. Chairman, I propose to answer one other objection raised by the gentleman who opposes this amendment; that is, that instead of $20,400, as stated by me, he says there was the sum of $36,000 appropriated for 1839. It is true that that sum was appropriated in 1839; but if he will examine the act of last session he will see that upward of $16,000 of that sum was specifically appropriated to defray the deficiency in the appropriation for 1838, which, taken from the whole sum, leaves, applicable to the expenses of 1839, the sum only of $20,400. Sir, if the honorable gentleman will turn his attention to the letter of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, which I now send to the Clerk to be read, he will perceive very strong inducements to continue the support of the territorial government of lowa. The Clerk read, as follows: GENERAL LAND OFFICE, February 6, 1840. SIR: I have the honor to make the following statements in reply to your inquiries of the 3d instant, to wit: Amount paid by purchasers of public land in Iowa, from the earliest period of the sales to the 31st December, 1830.... ...$716,844 72 Quantity of public land offered for sale during the same period, acres... ..1,240,468.68 Quantity now under proclamation to be offered for sale in March and May next, namely, at the Burlington land office 895,705.66 At the Dubuque land office.......1,337,053.10 To defray the expenses of 1839, the sum of $20,400 was appropriated upon the estimates of the Governor. To defray the expenses of 1849, the Governor's estimates are $27,050. Now, sir, although the latter sum will be scarcely sufficient, yet I am sure the causes for expenditure in the annual session of 1840 will be less than in 1839 by at least $5,000, because the code of laws will have been made, printed, and published, the government organized and under way, and the expenses consequently much less than in former years. Then, sir, take the estimates of the Gov2,232,756.76 ernor for 1840 as the standard, and compare the necessary expenditures of 1839 with those of 1840, ..1.497,312.59 And that the period of bringing this last-named quantity and it will at once be perceived that if the sum of into market will depend upon the action of Congress in $27,050 is necessary for 1840, that the expend-regard to the mineral lands of the United States. tures of 1839 being necessarily greater by at least With great respect, sir, your obedient servant, $5,000 than the succeeding year, this appropriation JAMES WHITCOMB, is just and proper, and will not, when it is added to the sum of $20,400, exceed the standard fixed by the Governor. Thus, sir, meeting the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means upon his own grounds, I think the proposed amendment to the bill should be agreed to. The honorable member seems to argue as though the sanction of the Governor is indispensable to the success of this proposition, and that he cannot think of going beyond the sum contained in his If I could be certain that it would estimates. Quantity remaining to be proclaimed for sale, acres.. Commissioner. Hon. W. W. CHAPMAN, House of Representatives. Mr. CHAPMAN. It is from that country you are receiving large sums of money-an amount calculated, in the present state of the Treasury, to do much good. I have before me a table which shows the number of acres of land proclaimed for sale in this year: Amount offered in March, 1840, 895,000 acres. Money received at the sales in March, 1840, as stated in the newspapers, $476,000. Number of acies proclaimed for 1840, 1,337,000. SENATE. I inquire of every gentleman whether it is just to establish this Territory and then refuse to support it, especially when you have derived so much revenue from the sale of lands within its limits. Well, sir, debts have been incurred, and if you refuse to pay them the people must necessarily be taxed to raise the money. With what countenance can I meet my constituents if this proposition is rejected? And in such event what must be the feelings of the people toward the General Government? If you intend to cast us off, say so at once, and we will cut loose from you. Mr. Chairman, to whom are these debts owing? Not to the members of the Legislature against whom an unjust prejudice has been excited here. No, sir-laboring men, merchants, and mechanics. The church is your creditor, and you refuse payment, not because you are unable, but because you are unwilling, to pay. The building of the Methodist church was finished under very emgislature with a place to hold its sessions. Their barrassing circumstances to accommodate the Le schools were turned out of doors, and members of the church put to great expense for your convenience; and yet this proposition is opposed. Ways and Means, a high-minded and honorable Sir, I put it to the chairman of the Committee of gentleman, as I know him to be, whether he could reconcile it to his feelings to have the benefit of the labor and property of hard-working men, and refuse a just compensation. Some of these debts are due to printers for printing and publishing the laws. One of them is a Democrat and the other a Whig. Therefore, so far as political considerations can have any bearing, I shall expect the support of both parties. TREATY WITH NEW YORK INDIANS. SPEECH OF HON. SILAS WRIGHT, IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, In executive session, on the several days when the treaty with the New York Indians was under consideration, commencing on the 18th and ending on the 25th of March, 1840. Mr. WRIGHT said he must precede the direct discussion of the treaty by a few preliminary remarks calculated to show the grounds upon which he acted and the considerations which had governed him in the examination of the complicated case presented in the book of printed documents which had been laid before the Senate. And his first remark of this character was that if he knew himself, his principal motive in urging the final consummation of this treaty upon the Senate was his deep conviction of the benefits, present and future, which would be conferred upon the sinking bands of Indians, who were parties to it, from its final confirmation. He was well aware that in making this declaration he was subjecting himself to double suspicion. These Indians were within his own State, and it would be assumed that the whites were anxious for their final removal out of their way. Not so in fact, to an extent which would warrant a removal in any degree unjust. The bands had become too small, too much worn away by that contact with the whites which is destruction to the Indian, to leave any fear from them remaining upon the minds of their white neighbors. The territory they retain, too, had become too small to excite an extensive cupidity for its possession, or any strong hope of profit from its purchase by the white man. Then the treaty contained no provision for the forcible removal of any of these Indians, and therefore considerations of this char acter could have but a qualified influence in the natter. The real truth was, and he owed it to his constituents to state it, that a just and rational sympathy for this perishing remnant of a once mighty savage confederacy prevailed much more strongly in favor of the treaty than any motives of individual or associated interest. True it was that all the bands were in the midst of a dense population, and that one portion of one of them was upon the border of a large and growing city, imbibing its vices with the readiness with which the dry earth absorbs the rain which falls upon it; and yet all that dense population, even that incommoded city, would be the last to urge a removal of these Indians against their interests, and the first to censure him if he should urge the proclamation of a treaty for that purpose which was not palpably beneficial to the suffering red men. He was liable to suspicion, too, as favoring the interests of the company who held the preemptive right to the lands of the Seneca band of these Indians when they shall surrender the possession. He believed the members of this company were mostly, and perhaps entirely, residents of his State, and hence it might be believed that his action was influenced by their persuasion, or influence, or interest. It would become his duty, in the course of the discussion, to speak more particularly of this company and of their rights; but it was enough now to say that but one single member of it, to his knowledge, had ever mentioned the subject of this treaty to him; that this was a call within the last two or three days, and since his opinions had been formed, his course marked out, and his preparations made for this discussion; that the individual was Thomas L. Ogden, Esq., of the city of New York, a gentleman of the legal profession, of advanced age, and great eminence, and whose call was made upon him as a known friend of the treaty, and not to persuade him to become so. If, then, he should hereafter be able to show that the treaty was beneficial to the Indians, he hoped he should be credited in the declaration that his anxiety for its final confirmation was predicated upon their interests rather than upon the interested wishes of his constituents or the selfish desires of the preemption company. ceed to the discussion of the treaty, and the facts upon which it rested. A question had been raised as to the right of the New York Indians to their "Green bay lands," so called; but inasmuch as the history of that matter had been fully gone into by the honorable chairman of the committee, [Mr. SEVIER,] and by his honorable friend from Georgia, [Mr. LUMPKIN,] he would not consume time with it here. The treaty between the United States and the Menomonee tribe of Indians, of the 8th of February, 1831, by which the latter ceded to the United States, for the benefit of and "as a home to the several tribes of New York Indians," five hundred thousand acres of land in the now Wisconsin Territory, and the former paid in money for that cession the sum of $20,000, was sufficient for his purpose. It established the right of the New York Indians to that land, independently of any action of their own, though certain of the bands, the Senecas not included, had long previously purchased of the Menomonees, for the benefit of the Six Nations, a much larger tract of country, and had paid some $12,000 in cash as purchase money therefor. Yet disputes arose between them and the Menomonees as to the authority of the persons with whom they contracted either to sell the lands or receive the pay therefor; and the proceeding having taken place in pursuance of a consent previously obtained from the President of the United States (Mr. Monroe) by the New York Indians, the treaty of 1831 was negotiated by the United States as a compromise between the Six Nations of New York and the Menomonee tribe. Hence the estate of the New York Indians in their Green bay lands. His next preliminary remark was, that, in discussing the merits of this treaty, he should pass entirely over that mass of evidence which had been collected against it by those mistaken philanthropists-mistaken in his judgment-whoopposed its confirmation upon the ground that they were, at some future day, to civilize these Indians in their present locations. To the purity of the motives of these enthusiasts he yielded the fullest belief; but in the reality of their hopes he had long since lost all confidence. The idea of civilizing the Indians of our continent had once been a rich source of hope to him; but practical observation and experience had compelled him to abandon the delusion. Many worthy and good men yet retained their confidence in the practicability of the undertaking, but he could only say to them that when he should see the deer of the forest the domestic animal of the farm, and the partridge of the woods the familiar fowl of the barn-yard, then, and not till then, should he again hope for the practical civilization of the Indian. A further remark was that he should enter upon the discussion with a full and perfect understanding, assented to upon all sides of the Senate, that the character and standing and credit of the com- missioner who negotiated the treaty on the part of the United States remained unimpeached and unimpeachable, and that his statements of fact were to be implicitly relied upon in all matters touching the execution of the treaty by the In dians. [To this position the chairman of the committee and all the dissenting members assented.] Article one cedes to the United States the lands of the New York Indians at Green bay, not otherwise disposed of, computed at four hundred and thirty-five thousand acres. Article two secures to these Indians a country in the Indian Territory, west of the Mississippi, equal to three hundred and twenty acres of land for each soul, the whole computed at one million eight hundred and twenty-four thousand acres. Article fifteen stipulates to pay to the Indians from the Treasury of the United States $400,000 "to aid them in removing to their new homes, and supporting themselves the first year after their removal; to encourage and assist them in education, and being taught to cultivate their lands; in erecting mills and other necessary houses; in purchasing domestic animals and farming utensils, and acquiring a knowledge of mechanic arts." These were the principal provisions of the treaty, in a property sense, as affecting the pecuniary interests of the Government or the Indians. Some other articles there were, stipulating for the payment of small sums to some of the smaller bands, but the amount in no single case exceeds $5,000, and the aggregate amount is but about twenty thousand dollars. As connected with this branch of the subject, however, are two separate treaties: the one between the Seneca band of Indians, the preemption company, and the State of Massachusetts, and the other between the Tuscarora band and the same parties. The first conveys to the preemption company all the remaining lands of the Senecas within the State of New York, consisting of four reservations, as follows: The Buffalo creek reservation, containing.. 49,920 acres. ...114,869 " He was aware that the original cession from the Menomonees required that the New York Indians should remove to the. lands, and reside thereon as their home, within three years from the date of the treaty; but the cession to the United States was positive and perfect; the condition of forfeiture, a forfeiture to the United States, and not to the Menomonees; and hence the whole title was in the United States and the New York Indians. This being the fact, the United States had, since the treaty of cession from the Menomonees, and before the expiration of the three years, entered into a further treaty with the New York Indians, by which they were released from the condition of removal to the lands within three years, and the time of their removal was to being the property of individual Indians, shall be fixed by the President. That time has never been fixed, and therefore their right remains precisely what it was after the execution of the treaty of 1831 with the Menomonees. Another rule for the discussion on his part would be that the commissioner on the part of the State of Massachusetts, General H. A. S. Dearborn, was present at all the transactions the validity of which is now in dispute, and is a respectable, credible, and disinterested witness to every fact to which he gives testimony. With these preliminary remarks he would pro It is now said that this right depends upon the mere indulgence of the President, and that the known determination of these Indians not to remove to Green bay places it in his power to terminate the right at pleasure, by fixing a day for their removal to these lands. The soundness As the consideration money for the purchase, the preemption company stipulate to pay to the Seneca Indians the sum of $202,000 in money, and the tenth article of the treaty with the United States, now under consideration, stipulates that the United States will receive, hold, and invest for these Indians $100,000 of this money, and will pay them the annual interest thereon forever; and that the improvements upon the reservations, beappraised, and the $102,000 be paid to the owners thereof in just proportions. The treaty with the Tuscarora band cedes to the preemption company their small reservation of one thousand nine hundred and twenty acres, called "the Tuscarora reservation," or "Seneca grant," for which the preemption company stipulate to pay the sum of $9,600 in money. The title of the respective bands to the lands last mentioned was the ordinary Indian title of hereafter appear, having long since purchased the preemption right from the State of Massachu setts. By the fourteenth article of the treaty with the United States the Tuscarora band cede to the Uni ted States five thousand acres of land which they own in fee, situate in Niagara county, in the State of New York, to be held for them in trust, and to be sold at the value as appraised, and the money to be paid to them, so far as the value of the improvements is concerned, and invested for their benefit, and the annual interest thereon paid to them forever, so far as the value of the soil, separate from the improvements, shall be realized, the expenses of survey, appraisement, and sale being first deducted. of this position in technical law is freely admit-possession and occupancy, the company, as will ted, and does anybody fear a sacrifice of the interests of the New York Indians from the admission? Had such been the policy of this Government as to Indian claims and Indian titles? If physical power and technical law were the rules by which these people were to be dealt with, they had no rights. We had never recognized in them any other estate in lands than that of simple occupancy, a mere possessory title; and if we were to canvass that right by the rules of the courts the Indian might as well abandon his claim. His occupancy would be too limited or too questionable to give him a resting-place, and might would make right on the side of the whites when such rules came to govern the questions. Such, however, was not, and was not to be, our Indian policy; and no technical action of the President was to forfeit the right of these Indians to their Green bay lands. The treaty, therefore, upon this point, required no more support than was given to it by former compacts of the same char acter. What, then, was this treaty in its essential provisions, so far as the rights of the United States and of these Indians were concerned? The en tire instrument was too long to trouble the Senate with, while a very short statement would give the points upon which the discussion must rest. This was a concise view of the pecuniary stipulations of the three treaties, and upon them the discussion had hitherto rested, and must rest, as he had heard of no complaints from any quarter as to the other stipulations with any portion of these Indians. It would now be proper to examine the con dition of the question before the Senate, in order that a clear understanding of the case presented may be had. What, then, is the real question before the body, and how has it come here? We find the first printed paper in the large filo 26TH CONG.... 1ST SESS. upon our tables to be a message from the President of the United States transmitting this treaty to the Senate, with the volume of papers which accompany it, and expressing his clear convictions upon the following points: 1. That the removal of these Indians is essential to their prosperity and welfare, and even to their preservation as a people. 2. That the true interests of the sections of country where they are require that they should be removed. 3. That the terms of the treaty are liberal toward the Indians in every respect. Yet it is not proclaimed by the President, but returned to the Senate for a further expression on its part; and what expression is sought? Whether, in its judgment, this liberal treaty has been assented to by the Indians in conformity with the rule established by the Senate for giving that assent. This is the single point presented, and upon which an expression of the Senate is desired. How have doubts arisen upon this point? Certainly from the peculiar action of the Senate upon the treaty at some former stage of that action, or from the peculiarity of the assent which the Indians have in fact given, or from both. An examination of the history of the treaty will show where rest the difficulties. The original treaty, which forms the basis of this discussion, was concluded between the New York Indians and the United States on the 15th day of January, 1838. About the due execution of that treaty by the Indians there has not been, and is not, any question. It was presented to all the bands convened in a common council, and was assented to by all, to the satisfaction of the Senate. Treaty with New York Indians-Mr. Wright. vote of two thirds of the Senators present; and was, therefore, if met by the Indians with the assent required, the final close of our action on the subject of the treaty in our executive character. The resolution was in the following words: "Provided always, and be it further resolved, (two thirds of the Senate present concurring.) That the treaty shall have no force or effect whatever, as it relates to any of said tribes, nations, or bands of New York Indians, nor shall it be understood that the Senate have assented to any of the contracts connected with it, until the same, with the amendments herein proposed, is submitted, and fully and fairly explained by a commissioner of the United States, to each of said tribes or bands, separately assembled in council, and they have given their free and voluntary assent thereto; and if one or more of said tribes or bands, when consulted as aforesaid, shall freely assent to said treaty as amended, and to their contract connected therewith, shall be binding and obligatory upon those so assenting, although other or others of said bands or tribes may not give their assent, and thereby cease to be parties thereto: Provided further, That if any portion or part of said Indians do not emigrate, the President shall retain a proper proportion of said sum of $400,000, and shall also deduct from the quantity of land allowed west of the Mississippi such number of acres as will leave to each emigrant three hundred and twenty acres only." With its full ratification and this conditional resolution, the Senate returned the treaty to the President as amended, for him, as the Executive of the nation, to carry its orders into effect, but most clearly without anything further on its part to be done to make the whole a valid and operative treaty. The President, during the vacation of Congress, caused the treaty, as amended by the Senate, to be again submitted to the Indians for their assents, according to the resolution of the Senate above given. for that reason to have returned the treaty and papers to the Senate. On the 21st of January, 1839, the President by a message returned the amended treaty to the Senate. For what? For ratification again by this body? No; but for this body to say whether the That treaty, thus made on the part of these assents given by the various bands of Indians bands, was subsequently, and during the annual were in conformity with our resolution of the 11th session of the Senate of 1837-38, transmitted to of June, 1838, and were sufficient to authorize him this body, for its ratification, by the President of to proclaim the treaty. As to all the bands, exthe United States in the usual form of transacting cept the Seuccas, the President expresses the opinsuch business. It was referred to the proper com- ion in his then message that the assents had been mittee of the Senate for examination and advise"entirely satisfactory." As to the assent of the ment. The committee found many of its provis-Senecas he seems not to have been satisfied, and ions objectionable to them from being too vague and presenting too uncertain a responsibility on the part of this Government. The removal of the Indians, their subsistence for one year, the erection of mills, school-houses, blacksmith shops, churches, and many other expenditures, were stipulated, without any amount stated as the maximum of expenditure to which the Treasury of the United States might be subjected. The committee, as he understood at the time, and now believes, referred these matters of ordinary expenditure to the head of the Indian Bureau for an estimate of the amount of money required to meet them, and framed their fifteenth article of the amended treaty upon the estimate returned from that officer; thus giving for the objects enumerated in that article the full amount of that estimate, but limiting the amount which could be called for to the $400,000 therein stipulated to be paid, that being the amount estimated. There were other articles in the original treaty stipulating for the payment of gratuities to individual Indians by name, providing funds for a university and the like, which the committee wholly rejected without proposing any equivalent. Thus an amended treaty was formed by the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate, and reported to the body for its acceptance, which met with its unanimous.concurrence. It was ratified on the 11th of June, 1838, and returned to the Indians for their assent, with a special resolution, which has laid the foundation for the present controversy. The whole matter was then again referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs of this body, and underwent before them a laborious investigation, including the examination of numerous witnesses. The result was an inability, on the part of the committee, then consisting of four members, to come to any conclusion or to recommend any specific course of action to the Senate. Under these circumstances the subject first came up for the consideration and action of the body on Saturday, the 2d day of March, 1839, at that time universally supposed to be the last legislative day of the session. It was immediately apparent, as all who were then here will recollect, that no decisive action could take place without protracted debate, as the documents were voluminous, the statements complicated and contradictory, and the opinions of Senators, as well as of the different members of the committee, strongly conflicting. The public appropriation bills also, with a large share of the other legislation of the session, remained in an unfinished state, and it was impossible for the Senate to devote its time to a subject of this character at that period of a short session. To pass the subject over, therefore, and not permit the treaty and the whole negotiation to drop for want of consideration and action, the Senate passed its resolution of the 2d of March, 1839. That resolution was offered by his honorable colleague, a friend to the treaty, and after a very little conversation and some slight verbal modifications, suggested by others and promptly accepted by the mover, was adopted, as his present impression was, by two thirds of the Senators present. It was in the following words: It was proper here to remark that the resolutions of the Senate of the 11th of June, 1838, were a complete ratification of the amended treaty on its part; that the instrument, in all its parts, was thus made perfect, so far as the constitutional action of this body in the formation of a treaty was concerned, and that the only thing which remained to be done was the giving of the requisite assent by the several bands of Indians according 11, 1838, with the New York Indians, according to the true to the resolutions for that purpose which the Senate adopted. That resolution was made part of the proceedings of ratification on the part of the Senate; was, upon its face, to be adopted by a No. 23. "Resolved, That whenever the President of the United States shall be satisfied that the assent of the Seneca tribe of Indians has been given to the amended treaty of June intent and meaning of the resolution of the Senate of the 11th of June, 1838, the Senate recommend that the President make proclamation of said treaty, and carry the same into effect." With this resolution the treaty was remanded SENATE. to the President for the further action of the executive department. Inasmuch as the President had returned the amended treaty to the Senate for an expression of its opinion as to the sufficiency of the assent of the Seneca band, and as the resolution above given did not express an affirmative opinion upon that point, that officer very naturally supposed that further efforts on his part to obtain the assent of this band were contemplated. During the vacation of 1839, therefore, ife sent the Secretary of War, in person, to hold a council with this band, and again lay the-amended treaty before their chiefs in council, for their more formal as sents. The council was held on the 13th and 14th days of August, 1839, and "talks" were interchanged between the Secretary, the agent of the New York Indians, and the chiefs and principal men, not of the Seneca band merely, but of several of the other bands. These "talks," on the part of the Indians, were principally strong recriminations between the friends and the opponents of the treaty, and resulted in nothing decisive, either in favor of or against the measure, as applicable to the Seneca band, or to any other portion of the New York Indians. A full report of the proceedings of this council is found with the printed documents before the Senate, and is all the evidence of any efforts on the part of the Executive to obtain the further assent of any portion of the Indians to the treaty after the passage of the res olution of the Senate of the 2d March, 1839., Under this state of facts, the amended treaty, with a mass of documents in favor of and against it, was returned to the Senate by the President during our present session, accompanied by his message of the 15th of January, before referred to. All the papers have been again referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs of this body, and, after full consideration, the committee unanimously report that the state of facts has not been changed, so far as the action of the Senate is concerned, since the treaty was last submitted to us; that the question now is, as it was in 1839, when the amended treaty was before the Senate upon the submission of the President, with his message of the 21st of January of that year, have the Seneca band of Indians given their assent to this amended treaty, in conformity with the spirit and intent of the Senate's resolution of ratification of the 11th of June, 1838? This is the simple question for the Senate to decide, and this long history shows in what manner and under what circumstances it has come before us. Before proceeding to discuss this question, justice to the President requires a few words in explanation of his course. It has been already more than intimated that his reference of this question to the Senate is improper; that the point was one for him to decide, as his action alone is called for to render the treaty perfect and operative. Differing with the President, as he did, in reference to the sufficiency of the assent of the Senecas, within the fair intent and meaning of the resolution of the Senate of the 11th of June, 1838, yet his convictions were clear that that officer had discharged his duty most properly in again referring the question of doubt to the decision of the Senate. Where was the doubt, and how had it arisen? Out of the acts of the Indians, by way of assent or dissent? No; but out of what should be considered the true construction of the resolution of the Senate, under which that assent was to be made. The President tells us he thinks we intended that the chiefs should assent "in council," and he says, no advance toward obtaining the assent of the Seneca tribe to the amended treaty, in council, was made, nor can the assent of a majority of them, in council, be now obtained." This language refers expressly to the efforts made by the President, through the Secretary of War, after the passage of the resolution of the Senate of the 2d of March, 1839; and, while it shows the construction which he was inclined to put upon the resolution of ratification of the 11th of June, 1838, proves also that he supposed the resolution of the 2d of March, 1839, contemplated further measures on his part to obtain the assent of this band. Still he was not confident, as his message abundantly shows, that his construction of the resolution of ratification was that which the Senate intended; 66 |