National Intelligencer. (Washington [D.C.]), Vol. 47, No. 6758, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 16, 1846 Page: 1 of 4
four pages : ill. ; page 24 x 19 in. Scanned from physical pages.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
#
cs
Vol XLVII.
WASHINGTON: THURSDAY, APRIL J6, 1846.
No. 676S.
PUBLISHED BY GALES & SEATON.
THRICE A WEEK.
SIX DOLLARS A TEAR-PAYABLE IN ADVANCE.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 1846.
THE SENATE DEBATE.
Y esterday Mr. Westcott, of Florida, addressed
the Senate on the Oregon question. The title of
the United States to the entire line of coast, from
42° to 54° 40', and to all the interior country water-
ed by, or upon the rivers 'and tributary streams
which issue into, the Pacific between those lati-
tudes, was, in the opinion of Mr. W., clear and in-
disputable. He denied that Great Britain had the
shadow of a title to the sovereignty of any portion
of it: this, he said, had been admitted by some of
her own statesmen and negotiators. She had claim-
ed the privilege of residence for the purposes of
trading, but had left that of possession or exclusive
jurisdiction in abeyance. The dividing line of
49° extended only to the Rocky Mountains. He
asserted that the title of Spain to the whole country
had been admitted by Great Britain, and that our
treaty with Spain made our title complete. The
Nootka Sound Convention, he said, gave to Great
Britain nothing but the right of residence to her
subjects for the purposes of trade.
Mr. Westcott then said that he had now gone
as far as he could with the Senators who claimed
up to 54° 40k With respect to the notice to Great
Britain, he did not think it expedient at present to
give it in any shape. He did not believe, if the
notice was given, that we should be allowed the
year to make preparations in ; the interval would
be unnecessary to Great Britain; she would act
promptly, and call upon us to do the same. The
notice would not induce Great Britain to abate one
jot or tittle of her pretensions. For his part, he
would never agree to any treaty which ceded one
foot of territory south of 49°, on Vancouver’s Island
or elsewhere, or which gave to England the
permanent navigation of the Straits of Fuca or the
Columbia river.
He believed that Great Britain did not seek to
avoid a war with the United States ; but that, on the
contrary, occasion for a war would be sought; and
if it did not originate in any thing connected with
the Oregon question, it would be found in some
other quarter. He thought that the giving the no-
tice to Great Britain would bring a war upon the
United States before we were prepared for it; for
the twelve months’ notice would be waived by Great
Britain. There would be more danger, he said, of
a collision between the two classes of settlers in
Oregon if notice were given than if it were with-
held : both parties, in the former case, would feel
the irritating effects of the approaching crisis, and
peace and tranquillity would be hard to preserve.
Should Great Britain be averse to settle the ques-
tion upon fair and honorable principles, he would
go for the whole of Oregon, and declare war to
obtain it.
He should vote against the notice in all its shapes,
and under every possible mode in which it could
possibly be given. The naked notice was more
agreeable to him than any modification of it. He
would support a motion to defer the notice, and to
take immediate steps to protect and defend the
country : at present our coast was in a very unpro-
tected state.
Mr. Westcott regarded the giving notice as
tending inevitably to war—if not immediate, cer-
tainly at the end of twelve months. The notice
would, under all circumstances, be essentially a war
measure in its i*esults. This was a question, he
said, in which he could not acknowledge the alle-
giance of party. He owed it to himself thus to
designate the course which he felt it his duty to
pursue.
Air. McDuffie thought that the Senator from
f lorida had misconceived some observations made
by Mr. Fox, in the British House of Commons,
which he had quoted as asserting the goodness of
the Spanish title to the Northwestern territory.
Mr. McD. read an extract from Mr. Fox’s speech
on the next page- to that which Mr. Westcott had
quoted, which led to a directly different conclusion.
THE BLOW STRUCK
The blow so long threatened against the Tariff,
has at last been struck, so far as the Committee of
Ways and Means of the House of Representatives
could strike it. They reported their bill yesterday.
It is very long, but an abstract of it will be found
in another column under the proper head. We pre-
sume it is substantially the same as the plan pre-
pared and furnished to the Committee by the Se-
cretary of the 'Treasury, but of which the public has
never yet been put in possession officially. With
the exception of the duty on Foreign Brandy,
Spirits, and Cordials, the duties range from thirty
down to five per cent. All the duties are ad valo-
rem. One very extraordinary feature in this scheme
(and showing the distrust of its authors in its suffi-
ciency) is a provision that if in any year it shall not
yield a revenue sufficient for the ordinary wants of
the Government the President is invested with au-
thority to lay a duty of ten per cent, on Tea and
Coffee, and to announce the fact by proclamation.
Mr. John S. Skinner.—A number of gentlemen
of the city of New Orleans, desirous of testifying
their respect for a gentleman so long and well known
as Mr. Skinner, for his public spirit, and especial-
ly for his devotion to agricultural science, honored
him with a complimentary dinner on the 4th in-
stant, previous to his departure from that city.
._ [Bulletin.
The Pittsburg Gazette says that very valuable deposites
of copper ore have been discovered on the Alleghany range in
Pennsylvania. A company of gentlemen have purchased all
the lands indicating copper, and are now mining and prepar-
ing to commence smelting.
Naval.—The United States frigate Columbia, Com. Rous-
seau, sloops Plymouth, Commander Henry, Saratoga, Capt.
Shubrick, and the brig Bainbridge, Commander Pennington,
were at Montevideo on the 10th of February.
I he United States frigate Yorktown sailed from Sirera Leone
about the middle of February for the Mediterranean. Her
crew was remarkably healthy.
FROM SOUTH AMERICA.
The New York Commercial Advertiser has a file
of the British Packet (published at Buenos Ayres)
extending from the 20th of December to the 0th
of January. These dates are not so late as before
received, but they furnish some additional intelli-
gence from the seat of war in South America.
January 10 was the 105th day of the blockade of Buenos
Ayres. The message of Governor Rosas, delivered at the
opening of the Legislature on the 1st of January, is published
in the Packet. It gives a condensed history of the proceed
ings taken by the diplomatic representatives of France and
England, justifying the conduct of Buenos Ayres, and declar-
ing the firm determination of the Argentine Government to
defend its territory and its independent flag.
The Consuls of Denmark, Prussia, and Hamburg had re-
monstrated against the decree of the Argentine Government,
declaring that the merchant vessels seeking to force their way
up the Parana would be dealt with as pirates. Gov. Rosas
informs the Legislature that the decree was not issued until
after an explanation had been demanded from the diplomatic
representatives of the Powers to which those vessels belonged,
who had replied that the vessels acted on their own responsi-
bility, and in contradiction to the orders of their Governments.
General Rosas estimates the expenses of the coming year at
sixty millions and a quarter—the revenue at six millions and
a half—leaving fifty-three millions to be provided by extraor-
dinary means. The war expenses are estimated at twenty-
eight millions. He proposes that a sum of two millions per
month be voted, to continue through the blockade and for
three months after its termination.
The Packet says that the principal battery at Montevideo
had been manned by British troops, and that the Montevidean
flag was replaced by the British. It gives a report, also, that
all the fortifications were to be manned by English soldiers.
Advices received at New Orleans to the 25th January men-
tion the recapture of Maldanado by the forces of Gen. Oribe,
who, it was said, had possession of all the contiguous country,
with fortifications around Montevideo so as to have full com-
mand of it.
A letter dated at Montevideo on the 16 th January says:
“ The Paraguayans will unite their forces with those under
General Paz at Corrientes, which must inevitably prove fatal
to Rosas ; the former can place twenty thousand men in the
field at short notice.”
The Journal of Commerce acknowledges the receipt of “ the
declaration of war by Paraguay against Rosas, and a treaty
of alliance, offensive and defensive, entered into by the Gov-
ernments of the Republic of Paraguay, the State of Corrientes,
and Don Jose Maria Paz, Director of the War and General-
in-chief of the Army of Operations, composed of Argentines
of the different Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, against Don
Juan Manual Rosas, Governor of Buenos Ayres.”
The Paraguay Independente of November 29th says : “ We
have the satisfaction of announcing that the Supreme Nation-
al Government has received official assurances, on the’ part of
the Government of the United States of North America, that
it will recognise the independence and sovereignty of the
Republic.”
FROM THE COAST OF AFRICA.
More Slavers Captured.—By the arrival at
New York of the British schooner Ida, which left
Sierra Leone on the 22d of February, we learn that
the following named slavers had been captured, all
under the Brazilian flag, by the British squadron on
the coast, and condemned by the mixed commission
courts of Sierra Leone :
Noadora, by the English brig Albert.
Regenerador, by the brig Albatross.
Uniano, by the steamer Hecate.
Isabella, by the steamer Hecate.
Princessa, by the brig Lily.
Boa Jute, by the brig Alert.
Belmeiera, by the brig Prometheus,
Espeiga, by the steamer Styx.
Recuperador, by the brig Prometheus.
Magico, by the brig Pantaloon.
Maraguiha, by the brig Heroine.
Fredicio, by the brig Pantaloon.
TIIOM THE LIBERIA HERALD.
The determination of the English to suppress the traffic in
slaves seems to increase with the difficulties of its suppression ;
and on the windward coast means will be resorted to, if milder
measures fail, which cannot fail to tear it up root and branch.
A few days ago the means were prepared—every thing was put
in readiness to make a formal and paternal visit to Cape Mount,
and inculcate on them, at the point of the bayonet and the
mouth of the cannon, those wholesome lessons which, under a
milder regimen, they had failed to learn. But the natives saw
the gathering cloud and heard the distant thunder, and they
and the slaves, too, sought refuge from the impending storm
under renewed and solemn engagements to sell slaves no more.
A deed of sale bearing the date of February, 1841, has
been frequently exhibited as proof that the native princes and
headmen had sold Cape Mount to Messrs. Canot and Redman.
It appears that an attempt was made to make the British Gov-
ernment a party to the transaction. Commodore Jones, in a
letter to the native authorities of Cape Mount, has distinctly
and explicitly disavowed on the part of his Government all
connexion with the affair, and has declared that Lieutenant
Seagram in aiding in the so-called transfer exceeded his autho-
rity. But he has proceeded further, and declared the deed
void and of no effect.
FROM THE ARMY OF OCCUPATION.
We understand that advices have been received
from General Taylor as late as the 18th of March,
at which date he was at El Sance, 119 miles from
Corpus Christi. The General had advanced to that
point with the cavalry and the 1st brigade of in-
fantry ; the 2d brigade being about seven miles,
and the 3d brigade nineteen miles in his rear. He
will concentrate all his forces on reaching the little
Colorado, thirteen miles in his front, so as to be pre-
pared for any contingency. The advance had met,
within a few days, with small armed parties of
Mexicans, who seemed disposed to avoid our
troops, and were doubtless thrown out to get infor-
mation of their movements. All the corps of the
army are in fine condition and spirits, and equal to
any service that may be before them.— Union.
FROM HAYTI.
The brig Hayti arrived at New York on Sunday
from Port Republican, having sailed on the 30th of
March. The change of Government was complete,
President Pierrot having yielded with a good
grace to the new President, Riche. Gen. Acaau,
who had attempted to get up a revolt in one of the
departments, had failed and committed suicide. It
was said that a deputation from the Dominicans had
arrived with overtures for peace.
From Tampico.—Captain Sawyer, of the schoon-
er Rechabite, arrived at New York from Tampico,
states that the United States Consul at that port in
formed him that an express from Matamoras had
reached there on the 8th of March, bringing a re
quisition for all the troops the Department could
spare, and that about five hundred men were pre-
paring to march. It was rumored that this move-
ment was caused by the near approach of the Uni-
ted States army to the city of Matamoras.
MEXICAN EXTRACTS—Continued.
The Yera Cruz Indicador of the 16th ultimo
gives a sort of Spirit of the Press of the capital
and provinces ; a translation of which will serve to
show our readers in brief what is going on in that
country. It will point out to them, too, some of
the journals that are sustaining the monarchical re-
organization of Mexico ; and give, at the same time,
an analysis of their views of the pending questions
between them and the United States :
“ The Diario Oficial of the 10th March, in its editorial,
makes some just and strong remarks on the actual position of
things as to Texas and the perfidious conduct which the Ame-
rican Cabinet is practising towards our Government. In two
short articles, it replies to the Monitor Republicano,” (a con-
tinuation of the Siglo diez-y-nueve:) “ the one confutes the
doubt raised by Gen. Valencia as to the place in the Council
which should be held by its regular President and by the Pre-
sident of the Republic ; showing, by the third section of the
16th article of the Reglamento del Conseso, that the latter,
as Supreme Chief of the Republic, can preside in the Coun-
cil, both ordinary and extraordinary. In the other article, it
defends the Government from the charges made by the Moni-
tor as to the war with Texas. In its official part it announces
that Senor don Luis Keymolen has resumed his functions,'
temporarily suspended, as Belgian Consul at the capital. It
inserts a reprieve from capital punishment, and continues the
publication of the Rules for Army Surgeons.
“ The same, of the 11th, is occupied with the last notes
between England and the United States on the Oregon ques-
tion, and mentions that the Government Council has not yet
decided on the reply to be given to the last communication from
the American envoy, Mr. Slidell, at Jalapa. In its official
columns it gives various acts of adhesion to the plan of San
Luis”—(the latest Revolutionary Constitution, that is to say—
to wit, that of Paredes ; for, like us, the Mexicans excel in
making constitutions, that are not to he regarded afterwards.)
“The Monitor Republicano of the 10th sets forth the prin-
ciples for the formation of new codes as demanding three con-
ditions : First, that the people desire a change ; second, that
it approves the new laws that are laid upon it; third, that these
should be as plain and clear as possible.
“The Diario of the 12 th inserts the act of Pronunciamento
of Mazatlan ; says that some bodies of troops will be sent off
hither and to Matamoras; states that General Don Tomas
Requena has been appointed Commandant General of artille-
ry of the northern army ; and says that a report is very current
that a loan of three millions of dollars was about to he autho-
rized for the present necessities of the Treasury.
“The Monitor of the 11th affirms the setting out of
troops for this place ; the loan of which we have just spoken;
and, as to events in Sinaloa, explains the conduct of Senors
Urrea and Miramon.
“ The same, of the 12th, inserts the decree of the Most
Excellent Assembly of Mexico, for the regulation of courts of
vagrants and paupers ; states that the enemy has broken up
his camp at Corpus Christi; and publishes a letter of Don
Vincent Torres, addressed to the editors of the journal, in
which that gentleman sets forth the bitter expressions with
which he says the President ad interim (Gen. Paredes)
abused him, which were made in that paper ; threatening, at
the close, to have him shot, if he did not cease. And after
this comes the reply of the editors themselves, who unite in
some remarks on this conduct; that the responsibility is theirs,
not the printers ; and that if they copied the article from the
Zempoalteca, and that from the American journals, it was to
show the contempt with which the United States looked upon
Mexico.
“ As to ourselves, ” says the Indicador, ‘ * we think that if the
threats complained of by Senor Torres have been really used,
it is an act entirely illegal and violent. For his Excellency
should remember that the last printed circular and the addi-
tions to the Plan of San Luis secure to every citizen the right
freely to express his opinions ; that if he is to punish one for
them, he should have begun elsewhere, and let fall the whole
weight of the law on the Tiempo” (the chief royalist paper)
“and its subversive doctrines.”
[We thus see that the Indicador is anti-monarch-
ical, and of course imagines, therefore, that it is
very republican. That, however, is a very com-
mon mistake.] The Reforma of the 9th has the
following article :
“The Minister or the United States and the Go-
vernment.—It appears that the Government has at last de-
cided that it will say to Mr. Slidell that he will not be received
as representing the United States to treat of any arrangement
of the Texas question; that since that spoliation has been
completed, no arrangement, no friendly negotiation is possi-
ble ; that the question can only be decided by arms, and on
the banks of the Sabine. This has long been our own opinion;
and the perfidious conduct of the United States strengthens it
more and more every day. For whilst, encouraged by an
undeserved civility, they have been aiming to draw us into a
negotiation, they have been profiting by our inaction, and ad-
vancing their fortifications ; and now, pushing on their troops
into the neighborhood of Matamoras, and parading their ma-
rine before our ports, they think to intimidate us, and wring
from our Cabinet dishonorable concessions. We applaud,
then, the energy which the Government is said to have shown,
and hope that its further conduct will prove that Mexicans
know how to defend at once liberty within, honor, indepen-
dence, and the integrity of their territory without.”
“ The same, of the 10th, contains a sort of proclamation
of Juan Nepomuceno de la Garza y Eria, addressed to the
people of New Leon, as Constitutional Governor.” [We need
only say that he tells them that, until the Assembly of the
Department shall have acted under the plan of San Luis, and
reorganized the local authorities, he has been forced to resume
the command ; that the Americans, quitting Corpus Christi,
are threatening the province ; that it cannot, at such a time,
remain without a head ; and that he appeals to their patriotism
to sustain his effort to provide for the emergency.]
“ The same paper says that Senor Escandon is about to
embark from this port, by way of the United States, on an
important mission to London ; and invokes, as the result, all
possible advantages for Mexico.”
What the business is—to make a new and direct
appeal for aid against the United States ; or to for-
ward the plan of bringing in a European prince ;
or to borrow money for war; or, in fine, what—we
see no further hint in the Mexican papers.
As to the division of the Mexican press into the
favorers or opponents of the project of returning to
a monarchy, we have only space left to mention
such papers among those cited or analyzed in the
journals before us, and their opinions.
The Tiempo is the main propagator, at the capi-
tal, of that plan. The Diario Oficial, as under the
control of Paredes, of course favors, but appears
not directly to advocate it. We judge the Reforma
to be not unfriendly to it. The Jalisciense seems
of the same party, since it copies from the Tiempo.
The Voz de Michacan preserves a silence on the
subject, which is taxed as suspicious by the other
side. The two latter are provincial papers. On
the whole, we judge the movement for a return to
monarchy to be on the gain. It is, indeed, some-
what a question, for poor Mexico, of an avowed
Royalty, or of no Government.
TWENTY NINTH CONGRESS.
FIRST SESSION.
MARRIAGE.
In Vicksburg, Mississippi, on the evening of the 2d instant,
at the residence cf T. A. Marshall, Esq., by the Rev. Mr.
Davidson, EDWARD ROBERTS, of Baltimore, to Miss
ANNE M. HOBLITZELL, niece of Col. H. Stiduer, of
Vicksburg.
nnHE GLOUCESTER MACHINE COMPANY,
i having commenced operations at their New Works at
Gloucester, New Jersey, near Philadelphia, are now prepared
to make contracts for every description of Cotton Machinery ;
also, Slide and Screw Engine Lathes, and all other Machine
Shop Tools, which they pledge themselves will be superior in
quality and workmanship and at reasonable prices.
They are likewise prepared to furnish all kinds of Castings,
including Steam Pipe, for warming buildings, at a short notice.
Reference to Siter, Price Co., Philadelphia.
Address J. COOKE SITER,
feb 26—eo20t Treasurer, Gloucester New Jersey,
Tuesday, April 14, 1846.
IN SENATE.
After some unimportant morning business, the Senate took
UP the SPECIAL ORDER.
Mr. WESTCOTT spoke for upwards of an hour on the
Oregon question : attacking the British title, and asserting
our own up to 54° 40' ; but deprecating the policy of giving
the notice recommended by the President.
He quoted largely from the Annual Register, and also from
the translations of several Spanish manuscripts taken from the
Congressional Library.
Mr. McDUFFIE also quoted the Annual Register, referring
especially to Mr. Fox’s speech on the Nootka convention,
which, as he contended, proved that the view taken by Mr.
W. was incorrect.
Mr. HOUSTON moved that the Senate adjourn ; but the
motion did not prevail.
The Senate then proceeded to the consideration of Execu-
tive business ; and, after some time spent therein, adjourned.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
SMITHSONIAN BEQUEST AND JAVA COFFEE
BILLS.
Mr. OWEN said a number of his fellow-members had ex-
pressed to him this morning a strong wish that the bill which
is the special order of to-day (the Smithsonian bill) should be
postponed for one week, so as to make way for the Oregon
bill; it being understood that no further postponement should
be asked. He had, in consequence, agreed himself to move its
postponement, as he now did, for one week. And, as a bill
relative to the duty on Java coffee was the special order for
this day week, it became necessary to postpone that also.
With the consent of the gentleman who had charge of it,
(Mr. C. J. Ingersoll,) he moved that that bill be postponed
to a fortnight from to day.
Mr. HARALSON moved to amend the motion so as to
postpone each of the bills one week longer.
The motion to amend was put and lost.
And the question recurring on Mr. Owen’s motion, it was
put and carried.
So the Smithsonian bill is made the special order for Tues-
day, the 21st April, and the hill relative to Java coffee is made
the special order for Tuesday, the 28th April.
AN EXPLANATION.
Mr. DANIEL rose to a privileged question, and said that
the reports in the Union and Intelligencer of the remarks he
felt constrained to make on yesterday in the Committee of the
Whole on the state of the Union, upon the Oregon bill, were
such that he felt himself under the disagreeable necessity of
following the example, so often set, of asking the indulgence
of the House for a moment, in order to correct the erroneous
positions he had been made to assume.
In the report of his remarks in the Union there was scarcely
a single position taken by him correctly presented. The
whole tenor of the published remarks were so much at vari-
ance with the grounds he actually assumed, that, to prevent
himself from being drawn into false positions hereafter, he
might be under the necessity of publishing the substance of
what he did say. It was but justice to the standing Reporters
of the Union that he should say that the report was not pre-
pared by them.
In the brief report of the Intelligencer he was correctly re-
ported, as far as it went, with two exceptions. He was made
to say : “Let us state our ultimatum, and then we should
know whether we were to have peace or war.” So far from
saying that, what he did say was almost precisely the con-
trary. In expressing the regret he felt at the delay in pass-
ing the notice, and the diversity of opinion among us, he said,
in substance, that, in.his opinion, it would have been infi-
nitely better for us to have passed the notice promptly, and
with becoming unanimity, and to have left the maintenance
of our title to the country in question to the Executive De-
partment of the Government, to whom, by the Constitution,
it properly belongs. Such a course would evince confidence
in the Executive, in the proper discharge of those duties which
the Constitution devolves upon him, and probably cause Great
Britain to take her stand and make known her ultimatum.
We should then know whether we are to have peace or war.
Nor did he say he was opposed to all amendments. His op-
position was to the amendments in regard to boundary. He
thought the convention sufficiently indicated the country over
which it was proposed to extend the protection of our laws.
He did not wish to do any thing to fetter the Executive in
negotiation.
Mr. YANCEY" also made some observations in relation to
an explanation made by Mr. Asiimun yesterday, which our
Reporter did not hear, as he was not in the House at the
time, nor has a copy been furnished.
Mr. PHELPS was permitted to give notice of a motion for
leave to introduce a bill to confirm certain entries of land
made at the Springfield land office, in the State of Missouri.
POST ROUTES.
On motion of Mr. PHELPS,
Resolved, That the Committee on the Post Office and Post
Roads be instructed to inquire into the expediency of estab-
lishing post routes from Greenfield, Dade county, by Back’s
Prairie, Cassville, and John B. Williams’s, to Forsyth, Taney
county, in the State of Missouri.
From Georgetown, Pettis county, by Clearfork Mills, to
Lexington, Lafayette county, in the State of Missouri.
From Warsaw, Benton county, Missouri, by Oceola and
Batesville, to Fort Scott, in the Indian territory.
From Washem’s Prairie, Barry county, Missouri, to Mays-
ville, in the State of Arkansas.
From Bolivar, Polk county, by Humderville, to Oceola, St.
Clair county, in the State ot Missouri.
On motion of Mr. McCONNELL,
Resolved, That the Committee on the Post Office and Post
Roads he instructed to inquire into the expediency of establish-
ing a mail-coach route from Huntsville, by Gunter’s Landing,
Double Spring, Jacksonville, and Talledega, to Montgomery,
in Alabama, the present seat of the State Government.
GOVERNMENT OF OREGON.
Mr. BOYD moved the usual resolution that all debate in
Committee of the Whole on the bill to protect the rights of
American settlers in the territory of Oregon, until the termi-
nation of the joint occupation of the same, shall cease on
Thursday next, the 16th instant, at two o’clock P. M.
After several modifications of the resolution had been offer-
ed and rejected, it was adopted in its original form.
And so all debate on the bill is to cease at two o’clock on
Thursday next.
On motion of Mr. HARALSON, the House then resolved
itself into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union,
(Mr. Hamlin in the chair,) and immediately resumed the
consideration of the bill to protect the rights of American set-
tlers in the territory of Oregon, until the termination of the
joint occupation of the same.
Mr. FARAN spoke in support of the bill, and in mainte-
nance of the right of the United States to 54° 40'.
Mr. TIBBATTS also supported the bill, and went into an
argument, and adduced many documents and facts in support
of the right of the United States to the whole of Oregon—
that is, up to 54° 40'; which right, he maintained, was clear
and conclusive. He said that the whole course of the Gov-
ernment, in its diplomacy and legislation, and the expression
of public sentiment in many ways and instances, particular-
ly the declaration of the Baltimore Convention, warranted the
President in his inaugural declaration of the clear and indis-
putable right of the United States to the whole of that coun-
try. Mr. T. further maintained that from the previous action
of the two Houses of Congress, the election of Mr. Polk,
subsequent to the publication of his letters declaring his views,
the declaration of the Baltimore Convention, and the appro-
bation expressed by the Democratic party of the position as-
sumed in his inaugural address, all fully justified the Presi-
dent in expecting the full and undivided support of the party
in the recommendations contained in his annual message.
And if the party or its leading members had changed their
views upon the subject, it was due to the President to come
out and say so, and give the reasons for the change.
Mr. VINTON proposed to strike out the proviso in the 1 st
section of the bill, (see our report of yesterday,) and to insert
the following :
“ Provided, That nothing in this act shall be so construed
or executed as to deprive the subjects of Great Britain of any
of the rights and privileges secured to them by the convention
signed at London between the United States and Great Britain
on the sixth day of August, in the year eighteen hundred and
twenty-seven, nor so as to violate said convention in any other
manner whatever. And this act shall remain in force till said
convention shall be annulled and abrogated, and no longer.”
Mr. V. supported his amendment in a speech of about three-
quarters of an hour’s continuance. He also discussed the
question of title to Oregon, and maintained that it was a
question open to compromise.
Mr. V. having referred to some remarks made yesterday by
Woodward—
Mr. WOODWARD, in reply to Mr. Vinton, explained.
He had not intended yesterday to make any charge against the
Whig members. He did not doubt that the gentleman from
Ohio (Mr. Vinton) voted as he then did, for the reasons he
now states, and he was free to admit that the rest of the Whig
members were actuated by the same views.
While Mr. VINTON was on the floor, the Speaker was
notified that a message from the President of the United States
was in waiting at the bar, ready to be delivered if he would
take the Chair of the House. This he notified to the chairman
of the Commiitee of the Whole, who intimated it to Mr. Vin-
ton, on which that gentleman suspended his remarks that the
Speaker might, temporarily, take the Chair, and receive the
message.
The SPEAKER took the Chair and the message was re-
ceived. [It was rumored through the House that the message
was in answer to the call for information respecting the ex-
penditure of the secret service fund for the years 1841, 1842,
and 1843.]
Several voices were heard : “ Read !” “ Read !”
The SPEAKER said the Chair had been resumed by him,
and the business of the Committee of the Whole interrupted,
only for the purpose of receiving the message, not for the read-
ing of it. This was usual; yet it was by courtesy only that it
was done. The message having been received, the Commit-
tee, according to right and practice, must resume its session.
The papers could not be read until the Committee should have
risen in due form.
Mr. C. J. INGERSOLL inquired if a motion to suspend
the rules would be in order ?
The SPEAKER answered in the negative, and immedi-
ately left the chair; which was resumed by Mr. Hamlin,
chairman of the Committee of the Whole.
Mr. VINTON concluded his speech.
Mr. COBB obtained the floor and moved that the Commit-
tee rise, and that the Speaker take the Chair for the purpose,
as it was understood, of reading the message just received from
the President.
Whilst the Chair was in the act of putting the question
on the motion, Mr. Cobb withdrew it, having in the mean
time ascertained that the message was not upon the subject it
was supposed to relate to, (the secret service money.)
Mr. COBB spoke in support of the bill, and thought it was
the duty of the country to extend the protection of our laws
over the whole territory, and he was opposed to all propositions
confining the operations of the bill to any thing less than the
whole. Those who had doubts of the title of the United
States above 49°, might vote to do this, as it would, in his
opinion, he one of the means of bringing about the compro-
mise they seemed desirous of effecting at 49° ; and those who
believed we had a title to 54° 40' it would not commit against
a compromise, if they should alterwards feel disposed to com-
promise on a line south of that parallel.
Mr. HOLMES followed Mr. Cobb, and spoke nearly an
hour, but was very imperfectly heard at the Reporter’s desk.
He was understood to say that the enactment of the bill would
be a violation of the existing conventions and treaties between
the United States and Great Britain ; it would he a breach of
faith to pass the bill. The erection of military posts beyond
the pass of the Rocky Mountains would be taking military
possession of the country : the extension of the laws of Iowa
and the appointment of Indian agents, all of which were pro-
vided for in the bill, would be such an exercise of jurisdiction
over the country as is prohibited to either party by the con-
vention of 1818. He was opposed to the bill in all its pro-
visions and forms, and deprecated its passage as unwise and
improper.
Mr. MILTON BROWN obtained the floor, but before he
commenced—
Mr, BELL moved that the committee rise.
The motion prevailed, and the committee rose.
THE NEW TARIFF BILL.
Mr. McKAY, from the Committee of Ways and Means,
reported a bill reducing the duty on imports, and for other
purposes.
It was read the first time by the title.
Mr. STEWART objected to the second reading of the hill,
that the question might come up under the rule, Shall the bill
be rejected ?
Mr. BAYLY said : Will the gentleman from Pennsylvania
suffer me to put a question to him ?
Mr. STEWART said he did not want to be catechised.
Mr. BAYLY, however, inquired if the gentleman had
read the bill }
Mr. STEWART said he had not, because he had not been
suffered to read it. He had been denied permission to do so.
Mr. COLLAMER rose to a question of order; it was this :
The rule says the first reading of a bill shall be for informa-
tion ; and, if opposition be made to it, the question shall he,
Shall this bill be rejected ? The rule requires that the bill
(meaning the whole bill) shall be read for information. This
bill had not been read ; its title only had been read: and,
according to the Manual, the title formed no part of a bill or
of alaw ; therefore, even in a parliamentary sense, the bill had
not been read ; and his point was, that it must be read through
for information, in compliance with the rule.
The SPEAKER said the invariable practice of the House
had been to consider a bill as read in the sense of the rule
and of the parliamentary law when read by the title. That
had been done in the present instance; he therefore ruled
against the point raised.
Mr. STEWART appealed from the Speaker’s decision.
Mr. VINTON asked Mr. Stewart to withdraw his objec-
tion, and let the bill take the usual course.
Mr. T. B. KING moved to adjourn. Negatived.
Mr. BARRINGER requested Mr. Stewart to let the bill
take its course.
Mr. McKAY said if the gentleman from Pennsylvania, in
making his opposition to the bill on its first reading, intended
to speak upon it and occupy his hour, he could not do it, as
the bill proposed a tax on the people, and must, therefore,
under the rule, receive its first discussion in Committee of
the Whole.
The SPEAKER said he had intended to state this.
Mr. STEWART here withdrew his appeal.
And the question was put on the rejection of the bill, and
negatived.
The bill was then read a second time, again by the title.
Mr. McKAY moved that it he committed to the Committee
of the Whole on the state of the Union.
Mr. J. Q. AD AMS inquired, Does the Speaker decide that
to lead a bill the first time by its title only is the reading of
the bill for information, as required by the rules of the
House ?
The SPEAKER said he had so decided.
Mr. ADAMS. Then the decision is directly in the face of
the rale. You could as well pass the bill now.
Mr. McKAY said he intended to have moved a day as a
special order for the bill, but would not do it now.
The bill was then committed to the Committee of the
Whole.
[Our Reporter has compiled, with much haste, the follow-
ing abstract or synopsis of the bill.]
From and after the 1st December next the duties on imports
shall be as follows :
Goods to pay 75 per cent, ad valorem.—Brandy and other
spirits, cordials.
Goods to pay 30 per cent, ad valorem.—Alabaster, almonds,
anchovies, German silver, gold and silver embroidery ; articles
worn by men, women, and children, made wholly or in part
by hand ; asses, skins, balsams, cosmetics, &c. ; baskets,
bay rum, beads, benzoats, Bologna sausages, bracelets, &c. ;
gum-elastic articles, brooms and brushes, cameos set, canes,
capers, &c. ; caps made of fur, caps, gloves, leggins, &c. ;
card cases, pocket books, &c. ; carpets and carpeting, &c. ;
carriages and parts, cassia, cayenne pepper, cheese, cinnamon,
clocks and parts of clocks, ready-made clothing, cloves, coach
and harness furniture, coal, coke, combs, compositions of
glass, &c. when set, composition table tops, comfits, &c. ;
confectionary of all kinds ; coral, cotton cords, court plaster ;
crayons of all kinds, currants, cutlery of all kinds, dates,
diamonds, &c. when set in gold, &c. ; dolls and toys of all
kinds, epaulets, &c.; fans, feathers, and flowers; figs, frames
and sticks for umbrellas ; furniture, cabinet; ginger, grapes,
gum benzoin, hair pencils ; hat bodies, of cotton ; honey,
human hair, ink and ink powder; iron, in blooms, bolts, bars,
loops, pigs, rods, slabs, or other form, not otherwise provided
for ; castings of iron, scrap iron, vessels of cast iron, japanned
ware, jewelry, jet or manufactures of jet, lead pencils, mac-
caroni, &c. ; mace, manufactures of the cork tree, manufac-
tures of bone, &c. ; manufactures of brass, copper, gold, iron,
lead, pewter, platina, silver, tin, &c. ; manufactures of cotton,
wool, silk, worsted; linen, if embroidered or tamboured ;
manufactures of glass, colored, stained, or painted; crystals
of glass for watches, glasses for spectacles ; paintings on glass,
porcelain glass; manufacture of leather, manufactures of mar-
ble, of paper, of papier mache, of wood, of wool ; medicinal
preparations, metallic pens, mineral waters, molasses, mus-
kets, rifles, &c. ; nutmegs, oil cloth ; oils volatile, essential or
expressed ; olive oil, salad; olives, paper, paper boxes, and
other fancy boxes; paper envelopes, parasols, parchment,
pepper, pimento ; plated and gilt ware, of all kinds ; playing
cards, plums, prepared fish, poultry and game, prunes, raisins,
red chalk pencils ; sadlery, of all kinds ; salmon, preserved;
scagliola table tops, sealing wax ; cigars, and manufactures of
tobacco; side arms, silver-plated metal, soaps, sugars, sirups
of sugar ; umbrellas, vellum, wafers, water colors ; wines, of
Whig members, in alluding to their course last winter upon
the “ notice.” He only meant to state, historically, the facts all kinds,
as they occurred, and to explain their influence on the vote of j Goods to pay 25 per cent, ad valorem. Buttons cf all
the House upon the Oregon bill. He was,. perhaps, wrong j kinds, baizes, bookings, &c. ; cables and cordage ; laces, &c.
in undertaking to guess at the motives which actuated the of cotton ; manufactures of cotton, goat’s-hair or mohair; of
silk, of worsted ; slates other than roofing slate, woollen and
worsted yarn, wool unmanufactured.
Goods to pay 20 per cent, ad valorem.—Acids, ale, beer,
and porter; aloes, alum, amber, ambergris, anniseed, animal
carbon, antimony, arrowroot; dyeing or tanning articles, not
in a crude state ; assafoetida, bacon, bananas, barley, beef,
beeswax, berries, bismoth, bitter apple, blankets, blank books,
blue vitriol, lumber, baran, honcho leaves, breccia, bronze
powder, burgundy pitch, butter, cadmium, calamine, calomel;
camphor, cantharides, caps, gloves, &c. made of cotton, cas-
sia buds, castor oil, castorum, chromate of lead, chocolate,
chromate, bichromate, hydryodate and prussiate of potash, co-
balt, cocoa nuts, coculus indicus, copperas, copper, rods, bolts,
nails, and spikes ; copper bottoms, copper in sheets or plates,
called brazier’s copper ; corks, cubebs, dried pulp ; earthen,
china, and stone ware ; emery, ether ; feathers and downs,
feldspar, fig blue, firewood ; fish, smoked, salted, dried, or
pickled ; fish glue, fish skins, flats, braids, plaits, sparture and
willow squares ; floss silks, flour of sulphur, Frankfort black,
French chalk, fruit, fulminates, furs dressed on the skin ;
gamboge, ginger; glass tumblers, not cut or printed ; glue,
grass cloth, gunpowder ; hair-cloth, hair, &c. used for beds
and mattresses ; hams, hats and bonnets of straw, hats of
wool, hat- bodies of wool, hatters’ plush of silk or cotton,
hemp unmanufactured ; hernpseed, and linseed, and rapeseed
oil; Indian corn and cornmeal ; ipecacuanha, iridium, iris or
orris root, ivory or hone black ; jalap, juniper berries, jute,*
Sisal grass ; coir and other vegetable substances, unmanufac-
tured ; lac sulphur, lamp-black, lard, leather, lead, lead pipes,
lead shot, leeches, linen, liquorice paste, juice or root,
litharge ; malt, manganese ; manufactures of flax, of hemp ;
marine coral, unmanufactured; floor matting, of flags, jute, or
grass; medicinal drugs, roots, and leaves, in a crude state; me-
tals unmanufactured; mineral and bituminous substances,
crude; musical instruments; nitrate of lead, nuts, oats,
ochres, oils, (animal,) olive oil other than salad, opium, oranges,
lemons and limes, orange and lemon peel; patent mor-
dant, paints, paper-hangings, pearl barley ; periodicals,
and other works in the course of republication in the
United States; pineapples, pitch, plantain, plumbago, pork,
potatoes, potassia, Prussian blue, pumpkins, putty, quills,
red chalk, rhubarb, rice or paddy, roofing slates; roll
brimstone, Roman cement; rye and rye flour ; saddlery, com-
mon, tinned or japanned; sago, sal soda, and all other car-
bonates of soda, salt, salts, sarsaparilla ; sewing silks, shad-
docks, sheathing paper, shoes of India rubber, silk, twist,
tanned and dressed skins, slate pencils, smaltz, spermaceti
candles, spirits of turpentine, sponge, spunk, squills, starch,
stearine candles, stereotype plates, still bottoms, sulphates of
barytes and quinine, tallow candles, tapioca, tar, thread laces
and insertings; tobacco, unmanufactured; twine and pack
thread, type metal, types, vanilla beans, verdigris, cotton vel-
vet, velvet ot cotton and silk, vermilion, vinegar, wax can-
dles, whalebone, wheat and wheat flour, white and red lead,
whiting, white vitriol, window glass, unmanufactured wood,
woollen listings, yarns.
To pay 15 per cent, ad valorem■—Angola, Thibet, and
goat’s hair, unmanufactured ; arsenic, Peruvian and quilla
bark, Brazil paste, cedar wood, ebony, granadilla, mahogany,
rosewood, satin wood, eodilla, glazier’s diamonds, dragon’s
blood, extracts of indigo, logwood and madder, unmanufactur-
ed flax, gold and silver leaf, bronze and iron liquors, manna,
marble in the rough, Dutch and bronze metal in the leaf, mi-
neral chromes ; sewing, darning, and knitting needles ; ozier
or willow for baskets, paving tiles, seppia; steel in bars, plates,
or sheets ; zinc, spelter, or teutenugue, in sheets.
To pay 10 per cent, ad valorem.—-Ammonia, aranatto ;
printed books, magazines, pamphlets, periodicals, and illus-
trated newspapers ; building stones, cameos and mosaics,
chronometers and parts, cocoa and cocoa-shells, compositions
of glass and paste, cork-tree bark, cream tartar, cudbear ; dia-
monds, gems, pearls, rubies, and other precious stones, un-
set ; engravings ; flax, hemp, and rape seed ; fuller’s earth,
hatters’ furs, goldbeaters’ skins, gunny cloth ; hair of all kinds,
uncleaned, unmanufactured ; india-rubber, in bottles, slabs, or
sheets ; lemon and lime juice, lime, music and music paper,
maps and charts, nux vomica, palm and cocoanut oils, orpi-
rnent, palm-leaf, plaster of Paris,,polishing stones, pumice,
quicksilver, rattans and reeds, rotten-stone, sal amoniac, salt-
petre, raw silk, soda ash, sulphuric acid, tatton, marrow and
all other soap stocks, tearne tin plates, tinfoil, tin in plates
and sheets, tin plates galvanized, watches and watch mate-
rials, woad or pustel.
To pay 5 per cent, ad valorem.—Alcomoque, barilla ;
bells, when old, or hell metal; bleaching powders ; brass, in
pigs or bars ; old brass, bristles, burr stones, chalk, clay, co-
chineal ; copper, in pigs and bars ; old copper, flints, grind-
stones, gam Arabic, gum Barba.y, gum East India, gum
Jeddy, gum Senegal, gum substitute or burnt starch, gum
tragacanth, horns, bones and teeth, indigo, kelp, kermes, lac
dye, lac spirits, madder, nation, nickel, paving stones, old
pewter, rags; raw hides and skins, whether dried or salted ;
raw hides, pickled ; safflower, saffron and saffron cake ; salt-
petre or nitrate of soda, or potash when crude ; seedlac, shel-
lac, sumac, terra japonica, or catachu ; tin, in pigs, bars, or
blocks ; tortoise and other shells, unmanufactured ; tumeric ;
waste, or shoddy ; weld ; zinc, spelter, or teutenugue, un-
manufactured, not otherwise provided for.
All articles not specially provided for shall pay twenty per
cent, ad valorem.
The following to be admitted free of duty.—Animals im-
ported for breed ; argol, or crude-tartar berries ; nuts and ve-
getables, unmanufactured, used for dyeing; all dyewoods in
sticks ; crude brimstone ; gold and silver bullion ; cabinet
coins, medals, and collections of antiquities; coffee and tea
when imported direct from place of growth in American ves-
sels, or foreign vessels entitled by reciprocal treaties to be ex-
empt from discriminating duties, tonnage, and other charges;
coffee, the growth of the possessions of the Netherlands, im-
ported from the Netherlands in the same manner ; gold, sil-
ver, and copper coin; copper ore, copper imported for the
United States Mint; cotton, felt for shealting vessels ; fish
fresh caught; garden, pnd other seeds not otherwise pro-
vided for ; goods, wares, and merchandise, the growth or
manufacture of the United States exported and brought
back to the United States in the same condition as when
exported, on which no bounty or drawback has been allowed;
green turtles, guano, household effects, old and in use of per-
sons or families from abroad, not intended for sale, &c.; ivory
unmanufactured, ivory nuts or vegetable ivory, old junk,
madder root, models of inventions and other improvements in
the arts, nutgalls, oakum, spermaceti oil, whale and other fish
of American fisheries, other articles produce of such fisheries,
paintings and statuary of American artists, other paintings and
statuary if imported as objects of taste, mother ot pearl, per-
sonal and household effects of citizens dying abroad, plaster of
paris unground, platina unmanufactured, sheathing copper,
48 by 14 inches, weight 14 to 34 ounces per square foot;
sheathing metal, specimens of natural history, mineralogy, or
botany ; trees, shrubs, plants, and roots ; wearing apparel in
use and other personal effects, professional books, implements
and tools of trade.
In any year in which there shall be a deficiency of revenue,
10 per cent ad valorem on tea and coffee, to take effect after
the first quarter of the ensuing year.
Instead of the bounty on pickled fish, a drawback equal in
amount to the duty on salt shall be paid.
Goods in public store on the 2d December, 1846, shall be
subject to no other duty upon the entry thereof than if im-
ported after that day.
Goods imported from this side the Cape of Good Hope or
Cape Horn may remain in public store for one hundred and
fifty days ; and, if imported from beyond those Capes, one
hundred and eighty days.
On entry, an addition to the cost or value of the invoice
may be made by the person making the entry, so as to raise
the value to the true market value in the markets of the coun-
try whence imported, and to add all costs, &c. upon which
amount so made duty shall he assessed.
If the appraisers think the goods are undervalued with the
intention of fraud, the goods may be taken for the use of the
United States, and sold at auction, and the proceeds placed in
the Treasury ; the owner to he paid the amount declared m
the entry, and five per centum in addition. Fins to be the
law till 1st January, 1848.
All revenue and custom-house officers who are not now
sworn, to he sworn faithfully and diligently t,o perform the du-
ties of their offices respectively.
All acts and parts of acts repugnant to be repealed.
MARINE HOSPITALS.
Mr GRINNELL, from the Committee on Commerce, to
which was referred sundry petitions of officers and seamen en-
t,a<red in the whale fishery, and of citizens of various towns in
Massachusetts and other States in their behalf, reported a bill
supplementary to the act for the relief of sick and disabled
seaman, and for other purposes. The bill provides that ves-
sels arriving from a whaling voyage shall pay ten cents per
month for the time consumed in the voyage for every seaman,
to be retained from the wages or shares of the seamen ; which
sum shall be added to the fund for the benefit of sick and dis-
abled seamen. And there is appropriated, out of the public
Treasury, $20,000 for the erection of a marine hospital at
New Bedford, in Massachusetts, and the further sum of
$20,000 for the erection of a marine hospital at New London,
in Connecticut. The hill was read and committed.
And the House adjourned.
TTTANTED TO HIRE, by the year, a good steady
W hand, on a farm near Georgetown,
ap 2—itc L, M. MORTON, Georgetown.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
National Intelligencer. (Washington [D.C.]), Vol. 47, No. 6758, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 16, 1846, newspaper, April 16, 1846; Washington, District of Columbia. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1024981/m1/1/: accessed June 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .