From Connecticut-Epaphroditus Champion, Samuel W. Dana, John Davenport, Jonathan O. Mosely, Timothy Pitkin, jr., Lewis B. Sturges, and Benjamin Tallmadge. From New York-John Blake, junior, Barent Gardenier, John Harris, Reuben Humphreys, William Kirkpatrick, Josiah Masters, Samuel Riker, John Russell, Peter Swart, David Thomas, John Thompson, James J. Van Allen, Philip Van Cortlandt, Killian K. Van Rensselaer, and Daniel C. Verplanck. From New Jersey-Ezra Darby, William Helms, John Lambert, Thomas Newbold, James Sloan, and Henry Southard. From Pennsylvania-David Bard, Robert Brown, William Findlay, John Heister, Robert Jenkins, James Kelly, William Milnor, Daniel Montgomery, jr., John Porter, John Pugh, John Rea, Jacob Richards, Matthias Richards, John Smilie, Samuel Smith, and Robert Whitehill. From Maryland-John Campbell, Charles Golds John Porter, John Pugh, John Rea, Jacob Richards, Matthias Richards, John Smilie, Samuel Smith, Robert New Hampshire.-Peter Carlton, Daniel M. Durell, Fran- Whitehill. cis Gardner, Jedediah K. Smith, Clement Storer. Massachusetts.-Joseph Barker, John Chandler, Ezekiel Bacon, Orchard Cook, Richard Cutts, Jacob Crowninshield, Josiah Deane, William Ely, Isaiah L. Green, Edward St. Loe Livermore, Daniel Ilsley, Josiah Quincy, Ebenezer Seaver, William Stedman, Samuel Taggart, Joseph B. Varnum, Jabez Upham. Delaware.-Nicholas Van Dyke. Maryland.-John Campbell, Charles Goldsborough, Philip Barton Key, Edward Lloyd, Wm. McCreery, John Montgomery, Nicholas R. Moore, Roger Nelson, Archibald Vaz Herne. Virginia.-Burwell Bassett, Wm. A. Burwell, Matthew Clay, John Clopton, John Dawson, John W. Eppes, James Vermont.-Martin Chittenden, James Elliot, James Fisk, M. Garnett, Peterson Goodwyn, Edwin Gray, David Holmes, James Witherall. Rhode Island.-Nehemiah Knight, Isaac Wilbour. Connecticut.-Epaphroditus Champion, Samuel W. Dana, John Davenport, Jonathan O. Mosely, Timothy Pitkin, jr., Lewis B. Sturges, Benjamin Tallmadge. New York.-John Blake, jr., George Clinton, Barent Gardenier, John Harris, Reuben Humphreys, William Kirkpatrick, Gurdon S. Mumford, Josiah Masters, Samuel Riker, John Russell, Peter Swart, David Thomas, John Thompson, James J. Van Allen, Philip Van Cortlandt, Killian K. Van Rensselaer, Daniel C. Verplanck. New Jersey-Ezra Darby, William Helms, Adam Boyd, John Lambert, Thomas Newbold, James Sloan, Henry Southard. Pennsylvania.-David Bard, Robert Brown, Joseph Clay, William Findlay, John Heister, William Hoge, Robert Jenkins, James Kelly, William Milnor, Daniel Montgomery, jr., John G. Jackson, Walter Jones, Joseph Lewis, jr., John Love, John Morrow, Thomas Newton, jr., John Randolph, Abram Trigg, John Smith, Alexander Wilson. North Carolina.-Evan Alexander, Willis Alston, jr., Wr. Blackledge, Thomas Blount, John Culpepper, Nathaniel Macon, Thomas Kenan, Lemuel Sawyer, James Holland, Richard Stanford, Meshack Franklin, Marmaduke Williams. South Carolina.-Lemuel J. Alston, jr., William Butler, Joseph Calhoun, John Taylor, Robert Marion, David E. Williams, Richard Wynn. Georgia.-William W. Bibb, Howell Cobb, Dennis Smelt, George M. Troup. Ohio.-Jeremiah Morrow. Kentucky.-Joseph Desha, Matthew Lyon, Benjamin Howard, Richard M. Johnson. Tennessee.-John Rhea, G. W. Campbell, Jesse Wharton Orleans Territory.-Delegate; Daniel Clark. OCTOBER, 1807.] DEBATES OF CONGRESS. Proceedings. [H. OF R. GEORGE POINDEXTER, Esq., having also ap borough, Philip B. Key, Edward Lloyd, William Mc- tion, was administered by Mr. SPEAKER to all From North Carolina-Evan Alexander, Willis Alston, jr., Thomas Blount, John Culpepper, Thomas Kenan, Lemuel Sawyer, Richard Stanford, and Me shack Franklin. From South Carolina-Lemuel J. Alston, jr., Wm. Butler, Joseph Calhoun, Thomas Moore, John Taylor, and David R. Williams, From Georgia--William W. Bibb, Howell Cobb, Dennis Smelt, and George M. Troup. From Ohio Jeremiah Morrow. From Kentucky-Joseph Desha, Benjamin Howard, and Richard M. Johnson. From Tennessee-John Rhea, and Jesse Wharton. The Assistant Clerk of the House announced 117 members and one delegate to be present, being a majority of the whole number. He then inquired if it were the pleasure of the House to proceed to the appointment of a Speaker, which being determined in the affirmative, the members proceeded to ballot for that officer, Messrs. CUTTS, HELMS, and JOHN CAMPBELL, being named tellers. The tellers, after examining the votes, reported that 117 were received, and JOSEPH B. VARNUM, a Representative from the State of Massachusetts, having fifty-nine of them, was declared to be duly elected. The votes were given as follows, viz: The Speaker being conducted to the Chair, by Mr. VAN CORTLANDT and Mr. ALSTON, addressed the House as follows: Gentlemen of the House of Representatives : You will please to accept my most grateful acI am knowledgments for the honor which by your suffrages on this occasion you have conferred upon me. sensible of my own inability to perform the important duties you have been pleased to assign me, in the most desirable manner; but relying on your candor and readiness to afford me your aid, I accept the trust. And be assured, gentlemen, that it will be my assiduous endeavor to discharge the duties of the office faithfully and impartially; and in a manner which, in my opinion, shall be best calculated to meet your wishes and afford me the consolation of an approving conscience. that Ordered, That a message be sent to the Senate, Election of Clerk, &c. The House next proceeded to the election of a Clerk. The same tellers which had been appointed on the former election having been named by the Speaker on this, the members proceeded to ballot, and Patrick Magruder having received 72 votes was declared duly elected. TUESDAY, October 27. Several other members, to wit: from Virginia, ABRAM TRIGG and ALEXANDER WILSON; from South Carolina, ROBERT MARION; and from Tennessee, GEORGE W. CAMPBELL, apfied, and took their seats in the House. peared, produced their credentials, were quali WEDNESDAY, October 28. Another member, to wit, WILLIAM HOGE, from Pennsylvania, appeared, produced his creHouse. dentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the THURSDAY, October 29. Another member, to wit, WILLIAM BLACKLEDGE, from North Carolina, appeared, produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the House. The oath to support the Constitution of the United States, as prescribed by the act, entitled "An act to regulate the time and manner of administering certain oaths," was administered The House proceeded, by ballot, to the apby Mr. VAN CORTLANDT, one of the Representatives for the State of New York, to the SPEAKER; and then the same oath, or affirma-pointment of a Chaplain to Congress, on the part FRIDAY, October 30. H. OF R.] Frigate Chesapeake. of this House; and, upon examining the ballots, a majority of the votes of the whole House was found in favor of the Rev. OBADIAH B. BROWN. MONDAY, November 2. Several other members, to wit: from Massachusetts, EZEKIEL BACON; from New York, GURDON S. MUMFORD; from North Carolina, JAMES HOLLAND; from Kentucky, MATTHEW LYON; and from South Carolina, RICHARD WYNN, appeared, produced their credentials, were qualified, and took their seats in the House. THURSDAY, November 5. Revolutionary Pensions. Mr. DANA said it was well known, that during the last Congress, an act was passed for the relief of persons claiming pensions. The object of the act was, to grant relief to some whose cases were not embraced by the former act, and to grant an increased allowance to others who had not, as yet, received sufficient. This act provides for taking depositions before the district judge, in cases where the claimants have never been placed on the pension list, as well as for examination of the claims of those who apply to have their pensions increased. Whether any compensation should be allowed for issuing commissions, or for making the examinations required, is not declared by the act. A difference of practice, he understood, had taken place. In some cases, commissions were issued gratuitously by the district judge; in other cases, these poor solicitors were obliged, from their small pittance, to pay for these services. If any compensation were to be allowed for this service, he thought it should be paid from the public treasury. Whatever might be the mode adopted, he wished it to be fixed by law. For this purpose he offered the following resolution: "Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire what compensation shall be allowed for issuing commissions giving authority for taking testimony, or examining evidence relative to claims or applications under the act to provide for persons who have been disabled by known wounds received in the Revolutionary war, and that the committee have leave to report by bill or otherwise." Frigate Chesapeake. Mr. QUINCY said the House would recollect that when in Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, some days ago, he submitted an amendment to a resolution of the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. DAWSON,) which went to an inquiry into the circumstances of the attack on the Chesapeake, and the causes assigned for it, as well as the manner in which it was repelled. At that time two objections of some apparent validity were urged against this motion; the one was that it might have an improper effect upon a pending trial, the other was as to its form. To obviate these objections, he had modified the resolution, which he should now offer to the House. [NOVEMBER, 1807. ferred so much of the Message of the President of the United States as relates to aggressions committed within our ports and waters, by foreign armed vessels, to violations of our jurisdiction, and to measures necessary for the protection of our ports and harbors. be instructed to inquire into the circumstances of the attack made on the frigate Chesapeake in June last, and the pretexts or causes assigned for making it, and to report the same in detail to the House. Mr. Q. would lay before the House his reasons for offering this resolution. He could not acquiesce in the course which had been given to that part of the President's Message which relates to the attack on the Chesapeake. He could not reconcile it with the sense of justice or with the honor of this House. He asked gentlemen to consider our situation in relation to this subject. A violent attack is made upon one of our public ships of war, in a manner undeniably hostile. A great degree of excitement has taken place in the public mind throughout the continent. Our newspapers have teemed with every species of information, a part of which has been correct, and a part incorrect; which has sometimes fallen short of the truth, and sometimes exceeded it; has been sometimes official, and sometimes unofficial. In this situation of things, the President of the United States deemed it wise and prudent to call an extraor dinary session of this Legislature. We are now assembled. He has made a communication to us, and this attack is a striking feature in it. This is our situation. What have we done? The House has gone into a Committee of the Whole, taken up the Message of the President, cut it up into parts, according to Parliamentary custom; and we have taken as many of those parts as we pleased and referred them to partieular committees; some of which are a kind of patchwork committees. In all of these references, notwithstanding it was the very object which occasioned the early meeting of the present session, no mention is made of the attack on the Chesapeake. The committee, which he proposed to instruct on this subject, had what related to aggressions committed within our ports and waters submitted to them generally, but they have no compass by which to steer; no prominent object is placed before them. could not reconcile this manner of acting with his duty. He deemed it necessary to obtain a full development of all the circumstances relative to this affair, in order that Congress, and the people at large, may form a correct judg ment of our situation. The course adopted is not the course to gain the information so desirable. It is a course of Parliamentary ignorance, not a course of development. It is a course of concealment. He spoke as to the general effect of measures, and not as to gentlemen's motives. He He inquired of gentlemen what method they would pursue, if they wanted to understand any particular subject? Would they not refer it to a distinct committee, and not mix it up with extraneous matter? And if you give a "Resolved, That the committee to whom was re- committee two or three distinct objects to set Mr. Q. read his motion, as follows: NOVEMBER, 1807.] DEBATES OF CONGRESS. Maryland Contested Election. upon, but wish them to attend more especially to one, it is proper to give them specific instructions to that point. This is the way to come at the proper understanding of a subject. But, on the contrary, if it were the wish of any member of this House to promote concealment, to prevent a knowledge of facts, the way is obvious. It would be to place three or four subjects together, and to suffer the committee to which they are referred to act as they please upon them. We know that committees thus left to themselves, will never do too much. It was because the people of the United States wish to know something on this subject, that he made this motion. It may be said that this committee have already the power, and that they may make the necessary inquiries without this instruction. But it is the duty of this House to be certain that they will do so. Indeed, if the committee were now proceeding in this inquiry, this would be no good reason why this motion ought not to be adopted. If, without being instructed by this House, the committee should report the facts now called for, the honor of the act would rest upon that committee; whereas it ought to rest upon this House. Perhaps it may be said, as on a former occagion, that every man, woman, and child, in the United States is acquainted with these facts; but what is known from popular report, or newspaper information, is not the kind of knowlWe want facts from the propedge we want. er authority. [H. OF R. from Massachusetts, as to the attention of the THURSDAY, November 12. Two other members, to wit: from Massachusetts, JACOB CROWNINSHIELD; and from Pennsylvania, JOSEPH CLAY, appeared, produced their credentials, were qualified, and took their seats in the House. The SPEAKER laid before the House sundry documents, transmitted to him by Duncan McFarland, of the State of North Carolina, relative to his claim to a seat in this House, as a Representative for said State, in the room of John Culpepper; which were referred to the Committee of Elections. Maryland Contested Election.* memorial of Joshua Barney, of the State of Maryland. The report of the Committee of Elections is as follows: An objection had been made to this course, that it would be casting a censure upon the committee. Not so; it would be no more than drawing the attention of an organ of the House to a particular subject. It may be objected to, because a negotiation is pending; but what is The House then resolved itself into a Comdone by Congress, at this time, can have no effect on a negotiation carrying on across the Atlantic. The House is at present calm and tran-mittee of the Whole on the report of the Comquil, and this is therefore a proper time to un-mittee of Elections, to whom was referred the dertake an investigation of the facts required. Let the negotiation terminate as it may, we shall never have a fair inquiry into these facts, unless we enter upon it at present. Suppose, said he, the negotiation has a favorable issue, and no inquiry has been made, is there a member present who will say the inquiry would then be entered upon? No, it would be said to be an old wound, which ought not to be probed, but forgotten. But suppose, on the other hand, that the negotiation should be abruptly broken off, and this House should be called upon to put the nation in hostile array, would that be a proper time for entering upon the proposed inquiry? Would the House be in a fit state for deliberating upon the facts required? Indeed, the subject appeared to him so clear, and the stitution prescribes? rises above a question between indi. duty to bring forward this motion so impres-viduals, and becomes an exception to the general rule of this sive, that he could not refrain from making it. Mr. BURWELL said he had hoped he should have been able to have satisfied the gentleman The Committee of Elections, to whom was committed the petition of Joshua Barney, of the city of Baltimore, praying to be admitted to a seat in the House, he having, in his opinion, the highest number of votes given to a candidate legally qualified to represent the city of Baltimore, having carefully examined the facts stated on both sides, and compared was held, with the Constitution of the United States, reportthe laws of Maryland under which the said election * This contested election, as involving a point of constitutional law, to wit, whether a State Legislature can add to, or diminish, the representative qualifications which the con contested elections. The report of the committee, after exabridgment, to omit reports, debates, and proceedings on tended debate, was agreed to by the House, almost unanimously-89 to 18. H. OF R.] Frigate Chesapeake. [NOVEMBER, 1807. That, by an act of the Assembly of Maryland, | mitted to them, the committee are of opinion that passed in November, 1790, it is required that the William McCreery is duly qualified to represent the member shall be an inhabitant of his district at the fifth district of the State of Maryland, and that the time of his election, and shall have resided therein law of that State, restricting the residence of the twelve calendar months immediately before. members of Congress to any particular part of the By another act of the Assembly of Maryland, pass-district for which they may be chosen, is contrary to ed in November, 1802, it is enacted that Baltimore the Constitution of the United States: therefore, town and county shall be the fifth district, which dis- Resolved, That William McCreery is entitled to trict shall be entitled to send two Representatives to his seat in this House." Congress, one of which shall be a resident of Baltimore county, and the other a resident of Baltimore city. That William McCreery has been for many years a citizen of Maryland, and a resident of the city of Baltimore; but that, in the year 1803, he removed himself and his family to his estate in Baltimore county; that, from that time, though he himself has occasionally resided in Baltimore, yet he, with his wife and family, have not made the city their settled residence. 66 TUESDAY, November 17. Another member, to wit, MARMADUKE WILhis credentials, was qualified, and took his seat LIAMS, from North Carolina, appeared, produced in the House. Frigate Chesapeake. Mr. BLOUNT, from the committee to whom was referred so much of the Message of the President as relates to aggressions, &c., made a report. The report commences with an expression of sensibility at the outrage committed on the Chesapeake; states the receipt of information relative thereto from the State and Navy Departments; presents a general view of the circumstances; observes that it might be said to have been incontestably proved that William Ware, John Strachan, and Daniel Martin are citizens of the United States. But the com That William McCreery states that his intention was, and still is, to reside with his family on his country estate in summer, and in the city of Baltimore in winter; but that, ever since he has removed his family to his farm, he has been obliged every winter, in the public service, to reside, and frequently with his family, in the city of Washington, which prevented him from removing his family, agreeably to his intention, to the city of Baltimore; but he re-mittee add, that they conceive it unnecessary sided himself in the city of Baltimore five or six days before the election; that he and his family were residing in the same situation, when he was elected to serve in the ninth Congress, that they were when he was elected into the present Congress; that, however, not wishing to have been taken up as a candidate at the last election, he expressed to some of his friends some apprehensions that exceptions might be made on account of his constant family residence not being in the city of Baltimore. At the election in that district for the Congress now in session, Nicholas R. Moore had 6,164 votes; he is a resident in Baltimore county; and William McCreery, against whose right to a seat in this House objection is made on account of residence, had 3,559 votes; and Joshua Barney, who claims a seat in this House, and it is admitted is a resident of Baltimore city, had 2,063 votes; and John Seat, also a resident in Baltimore city, had 353 votes. The above statement of facts being admitted by the parties, further evidence was not required. No question was taken on the legal residence of William McCreery in the city of Baltimore. The committee proceeded to examine the constitution, with relation to the case submitted to them, and find that qualifications of members are therein determined, without reserving any authority to the State Legislatures to change, add to, or diminish those qualifications; and that, by that instrument, Congress is constituted the sole judge of the qualifications prescribed by it, and are obliged to decide agreeably to the constitutional rules; but the State Legislatures being, by the constitution, authorized to prescribe the time, place and manner of holding the elections, in controversies arising under this authority, Congress are obliged to decide agreeably to the laws of the respective States. On the most mature consideration of the case sub for them or the House to go into any inquiry whether the men taken from the Chesapeake on that part of the subject, as in their opinion and whether the Chesapeake was or was not were or were not citizens of the United States, within the acknowledged limits of the United States at the time they were taken, the character of the act of taking them remains the same. "From the foregoing facts, it appears to your committee that the outrage committed on the frigate Chesapeake has been stamped with circumstances of indignity and insult of which there is scarcely to be found a parallel in the history of civilized nations, and requires only the sanction of the Government under color of whose authority it was perpetrated to make it just cause of, if not an irresistible call for, instant and severe retaliation. Whether it will receive that sanction, or be disavowed, and declared an unauthorized act of a subordinate officer, remains to be determined by the answer which shall be given to the demand of explanation. That answer (now daily expected) will either sink the detestable act into piracy, or expand it to the magnitude of premeditated hostility against the sovereignty and independence of this nation; and until its true character shall be fixed and known, your committee deem it expedient to decline expressing any opinion as to the measures proper to be adopted in relation to it. But, as other acts of aggression have been committed within our ports and waters by British ships of war, as well anterior as posterior to this, some of them manifesting the same disregard of our national rights, and seeming to flow from the same contempt for the authority of our laws; and especially as the British squadron, of which the Leopard was one, after being notified of the President's proclamation, ordering them to depart from the waters of the United States which |