Samuel Holten, John Wilkes Kittera, Henry Latimer, Amasa Learned, Francis Malbone, William Vans Murray, Andrew Pickens, Thomas Scott, Theodore Sedgwick, John S. Sherburne, Jeremiah Smith, George Thatcher, John E. Van Allen, Peter Van Gaasbeck, Jeremiah Wadsworth, Artemas Ward, John Watts, Paine Wingate, and Richard Winn.

Mr. MADISON, from the committee to whom was referred the memorial and representation of the Legislature of New Hampshire, made a report; which was read, and ordered to lie on the table. Mr. NICHOLAS, from the committee appointed, presented a bill to authorize the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES to obtain a cession of claim to certain territory; which was read twice and committed.

The SPEAKER laid before the House a Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, accompanying a return of the exports of the United States. for one year, ending the thirtieth of September, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four; as, also, an explanatory Letter to him, from the Commissioner of the Revenue; which were read, and

ordered to lie on the table.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate have passed the bill, entitled "An act relative to cessions of jurisdiction in places where light-houses, beacons, buoys, and public piers, have been, or may hereafter be, erected and fixed," with several amendments; to which they desire the concurrence of this House: the Senate have also passed a bill, entitled "An act relative to the passing of coasting vessels between Long Island and Rhode Island;" to which they desire the concurrence of this House.

The bill sent from the Senate, entitled "An act relative to the passing of coasting vessels between Long Island and Rhode Island," was read three times and passed.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate have passed a bill, entitled "An act for the relief of William Seymour;" the Senate have also passed a bill, entitled "An act to regulate the compensation of Clerks;" to which they desire the concurrence of the House. The Senate have also agreed to a resolution "authorizing the exportation of arms, cannon, and military stores, in certain cases;" to which they desire the concurrence of this House.

[H. of R.

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the duty of eight cents per pound, laid by the act of the last session, entitled 'An act laying certain duties upon snuff and refined sugar,' shall cease on the last day of March, in the present year, and shall. not thenceforth be collected; but, in lieu thereof, there shall be levied and collected upon all mills employed in the manufacture of snuff in the United States, the following yearly rates and duties, to wit: For and upon each and every mortar contained in any mill worked by water, and for every pair of mill-stones employed in the manufacture of snuff, dollars; upon every pestle dolin any mill, other than mills worked by hand, lars; upon every pestle in any mill worked by hand, dollars; and upon every mill in which snuff is manufactured by stampers and grinders, dollars per annum."

Mr. CoIT moved to strike out the section. Mr. B. BOURNE seconded the motion. Mr. W. SMITH said, that the committee had taken a great deal of care in learning how matters stood, and found, both from the manufacturers and officers of excise, that alterations were equally necessary for the existence of the manufacturers and the revenue. If this bill was destroyed, there would be the utmost inconvenience to the manufacturer, and very little chance of revenue.

Mr. FITZSIMONS Vindicated the clause. It would the operation exceedingly. It prevented the neces be seen, at once, that the present bill simplified sity for the attendance of excise men, and the swearing of the manufacturer. He did not expect to improve the revenue, but it would be more easily raised. He did not see what Mr. BOURNE had feared, that the law would bear hard upon persons of small capital. He understood it to be rather in their favor than otherwise.

Mr. SEDGWICK said, that all taxes ought to be levied with as little trouble as possible to the persons who pay them. He feared that the section before the Committee might produce inequalities. The Committee may have been wrongly informed by tobacconists, and he could suppose that these individuals might themselves be unacquainted with the way in which the manufacture is carried on in other and distant parts of the Union.

Mr. MADISON was clearly in favor of the clause, as much better than the original idea.

The motion of Mr. Coir, for striking out the first clause, was negatived by a great majority. of this bill, with very little debate. It was then The Committee went through the other clauses

3d CoN.-41

Mr. HEISTER hoped that it would not, as there was an amendment intended to be also made in

favor of the snuff-makers.

The House, however, took up the bill, which was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading.

A resolution from the Senate, for a partial repeal of the law against the exportation of arms and ammunition, was read and referred to a Committee of the Whole.

Mr. W. SMITH said, that he did not see the use of resolutions for repealing bills. It would be

ing threatened that the Army of the United States should be withdrawn from the frontiers. [He had made some other advances against that gentleman, to which Mr. SEDGWICK answered not loud enough to be heard; but at this last, he arose, and said that he would not sit still to hear himself thus quoted for affirmations of which he had never uttered a single word.]

Mr. FITZSIMONS really hoped that the House would not agree to this amendment. It would totally defeat all the effects proposed by the bill. It had been said that if a man had his family murdered, and he was in pursuit of the murderers, he might be stopped, by a military officer, and sent to jail. The answer was, that if the officer refused to join him in the pursuit, he would lose his commission. He should be sorry if those resolutions, which had cost so much time and labor to the House, were thus to be thrown away.

The amendment was, on a division, carriedyeas 36, nays 28. The Committee then rose.

SATURDAY, February 28.

An engrossed bill to alter and amend the act, entitled "An act laying certain duties upon snuff and refined sugar," was read the third time and passed.

Mr. HEATH, from the committee appointed on the 12th of December last, respecting the settlement of the accounts of the former Government, and the unpaid balances due thereon, reported a statement of accounts which originated under the late Government, and which have been settled since the establishment of the Treasury Department, to the 31st day of December, 1794; which was read, and ordered to lie on the table.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate have passed a bill, entitled "An act to amend the second section of an act to erect a light-house on the head-land of Cape Hatteras, and a lighted beacon on Shell Castle Island, in the harbor of Ocracock, in the State of North Carolina;" to which they desire the concurrence of this House.

The said bill was read twice, and ordered to be committed to Mr. B. BOURNE, Mr. BLOUNT, and Mr. WATTS.

The SPEAKER laid before the House a Report from the Secretary of War, accompanying further statements in the cases of claimants to be placed on the list of pensioners, returned to the War Office by the Judges of the District Courts of the United States, since his report of the 21st instant, and of the additional evidence received further to support certain claims, formerly stated; which were read, and ordered to be referred to the Committee of Claims, with instructions to report thereon, by bill or otherwise.

Mr. BEATTY at several times had moved that the bill amendatory of the "act laying duties upon carriages for the conveyance of persons," reported by him a few days since, should be taken up. The pressure of other more important business before the House prevented his motion from succeeding, so that this bill may be expected to stand over in in its present shape till next session.

[H. OF R.

Mr. TRACY, from the Committee of Claims, to whom were referred the reports of the Secretary of War, accompanying sundry statements in the cases of claimants to be placed on the list of pensioners returned to the War Office by the Judges of the District Courts of the United States, made a report; which was read. Whereupon,

Ordered, That a bill or bills be brought in making provision for the cases of the said claimants, respectively; and that the Committee of Claims do prepare and bring in the same.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate have passed a bill, entitled "An act to authorize a grant of lands to the French inhabitants of Galliopolis, and for other purposes therein mentioned ;" to which they desire the concurrence of this House.

The said bill was read twice, and ordered to be committed to Mr. SwIFT, Mr. SCOTT, and Mr. VENABLE.

Mr. SEDGWICK, from the committee appointed, presented a bill supplementary to the act, entitled "An act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes;" which was read twice, amended at the Clerk's table, and, together with the amendments, ordered to be engrossed, and read the third time on Monday next.

INDIAN TRADING HOUSES.

It was moved that the House should resolve itself into a Committee on the bill for establishing trading houses for the purpose of supplying the Indian nations within the territory of the United States. This was done accordingly, Mr. SHERBURNE in the Chair.

Mr. GILES then moved to strike out the first section.

Mr. GOODHUE wished to move that the Committee rise; to which Mr. GILES agreed. Mr. GOODHUE then said, that his reason for this motion was the inattention of members to the business before them. To attempt going through the bill at present was a perfect farce. He was satisfied that the bill would never go through this session. He did not, for his own part, yet know whether it was proper or not.

Mr. PARKER said, that the bill had been long enough before the House for the gentleman from Massachusetts to have made himself acquainted with its contents and its merits. He vindicated the principle of the bill, as tending to conciliate the affections of a distressed and unhappy people, and as it might likewise prevent the expenses of a war with them. France, Britain, and Spain, had adopted this policy, and found the good ef fects of it. He considered the bill as of the utmost consequence, and, thinking so, he should use his utmost influence to get it passed. The expense proposed was not great, as the affair was only experimental.

Mr. MONTGOMERY was of the same opinion with the gentleman who spoke last. He thought that the Indians had common sense enough not to quit allies who supplied them with articles which they wanted, till we also made some effectual establishment of that kind. The member

went on the same ground with the gentleman who spoke last.

Mr. BOUDINOT thought that the reason given by Mr. GOODHUE for moving that the Committee should rise, viz: that gentlemen would not attend to their duty, was the worst imaginable. What did the House meet for at all? It was the duty of the Chair to compel them to mind their business. Mr. B. then referred to something which had been said by Mr. SWIFT, who had been up just before Mr. BOUDINOT. Mr. B., in reply to this gentleman, said, that he would not wish to press the bill this session if members did not think it proper. He was willing, if agreeable, to refer the matter for one year to the PRESIDENT. But there never would nor could be a complete peace till something of this kind was done. The PRESIDENT himself had told us as much.

Mr. GILES said, that the bill could not be got through this session. He was willing to take the question either in the first way that he had moved it, or in any other. This was a most improper time of the session to bring it in.

Mr. MURRAY hoped that the Committee would seriously attend to the first clause in the bill, and would not rise. He felt the shortness of the time, but he was willing to devote to-morrow (Sunday) to this subject, and he trusted that the importance of it would give the employment a solemnity not inconsistent with the day. Without a bill to establish a well-guarded intercourse with the Indians, the frontier policy will be unsystematic and despicable. To complete the system, it appeared to him that three great objects are to be embraced: 1st. Force to protect the frontier from Indian invasion-for this the Military Establishment is made. 2d. A regulation, by law, that shall restrain the frontier people from predatory invasion into the Indian country, carrying law and settlement hand in hand. 3d. The establishment of trading houses under the influence of the two first parts of the system, for the purpose of conciliating the Indians by supplying their wants, and detaching their habits of trade and their affections from a foreign nation. With these three points embraced in one system. he had no doubt but their co-operation would produce the great object. peace on the frontier. Without the last, the other parts of the system would be totally inefficient.

Mr. HILLHOUSE said, that the House ought to begin at the right end of the subject, by reversing the vote which the Committee passed yesterday, authorizing the frontier people to pass the line in pursuit of the Indians as often as they pleased. If this was allowed, it would be impossible ever to keep the peace.

On a division, shall the Committee now rise? it was determined in the affirmative-Yeas 35, nays 31.

The question was then put by the SPEAKER, Shall the Committee have leave to sit again? It passed in the affirmative-Yeas 34, nays 33.

But it was presently remarked, that some gentlemen had risen both in the yeas and nays; others had been without the bar. The question was, therefore, taken over again, and determined

[FEBRUARY, 1795.

in the negative-Yeas 36, nays 41. The bill is, therefore, thrown out.

INDIAN LANDS IN GEORGIA. The House proceeded to consider the resolutions and amendments thereto, reported yesterday from the Committee of the Whole House on the report of the committee to whom was referred a motion of the 25th instant, respecting such persons as shall be assembled or embodied in arms, on any lands belonging to Indians out of the ordinary jurisdiction of any State, or of the territory of the United States South of the river Ohio: Whereupon, The first resolution being read, in the words following, to wit:

Resolved, That all persons who, unauthorized by law, and with hostile intent, may be found in arms on any lands allotted or secured to the Indians by treaties between the United States and any Indian tribes, shall, on conviction thereof, forfeit a sum not exceeding

dollars, and be imprisoned not exceeding months."

And the amendment thereto, reported by the Committee of the Whole House, to add to the end thereof the words, "unless it shall be in immediate pursuit of Indians who shall have recently committed hostilities.”

When the question was about to be taken on it, Mr. VENABLE rose, and pointed out the difference of opinion between two gentlemen who were both opposed to his amendment. One of them [Mr. SEDGWICK] had maintained that, when individual Indians, unauthorized by the rest of their tribe, crossed the line and committed depredations, a settler was, by the law of nations, authorized to pursue them across the line and to retaliate, and that this was implied in the bill. Mr. HILLHOUSE had materially differed from him, and agreed with Mr. VENABLE, in supposing that the person so pursuing across the line was punishable by the resolution as it stood, without the amendment. He then reminded the House that this frontier line was perhaps fifteen hundred miles long. The Indians may come over any part of it, while the citizens of the United States are not to be allowed to cross it one mile in pursuit. Even a man in pursuit of savages who may have carried off his wife and children, may be stopped. The amendment he regarded as essential. Military officers may judge on the spot whether such persons whom they meet beyond the line, in pursuit of Indians, are within the sense of the act or not.

Mr. AMES denied that the resolution as it first stood took away the right of a man to pursue the Indians in order to recover his wife and children. But the amendment of Mr. VENABLE went to legalize all those acts of violence and revenge, that, for a century past, have deluged the frontier with blood.

Mr. LYMAN vindicated the inhabitants of the frontier. If the Indians are so unfortunate as to be the dupes of other nations, (viz: the Spaniards and British,) that is not our fault. The frontier people, from time to time, have done every thing in their power to keep them in peace.

Mr. HILLHOUSE opposed the amendment.

Mr. McDOWELL said, that weekly and daily murders were committed by the Creeks in the district of Mero and in the Southwestern Territory. Do the United States avenge these murders? No. Do they demand back the property carried off? No. Instead of any satisfaction to the people, their characters are abused on this floor. The frontier people know that their happiness consists in peace, and, therefore, cultivate it as much as they can. He took a general view of the subject, and explained the insignificance of the posts as at present held by the troops of the United States for any purpose of protection. He noticed the inveterate hatred of the Indians against the whites, and their innate thirst of blood.

Mr. MOORE went on the same grounds. Mr. GILES did not like the harsh style assumed by some gentlemen in speaking of the frontier settlers. An hundred years hence these people would preponderate over this part of the Continent. He represented an Atlantic part of the Union, but, at the same time, he would carefully avoid any thing that might offend the Western people. The first settlers in this country were, when they first landed, frontier settlers. For his own part, he believed that the war between the whites and the Indians would be eternal. He said, that, from some intelligence received this day, there was reason to believe that a war with the Creeks might soon be expected.

Mr. WADSWORTH.-Gentlemen have a great disposition to husband our little time, and I need not mention their manner of doing it. He said that he was willing to grant protection to the frontiers, but not to give leave, as by the amendment proposed, for an eternal war. He thought it calculated to drive the gentlemen on each side of this question into such opposite extremes, that they would never meet again upon the subject. He was willing to grant any degree of protection, but nothing for conquest. He said that the ancestors of the people now in the Atlantic part of the country were once frontier people, and he believed them to have been neither worse nor better than the present settlers, who are in the same situation. We are told of murders and robberies committed by the Indians; but the accounts of some of the officers employed by Government vary a little from this, and give room to suspect that there may be some error on both sides. He did not believe that this amendment would pass; but, if it should do so, it would widen the difference of opinion in the House.

Mr. PAGE was for the amendment.

Mr. CARNES Could not conceive the reason why all regulations made in this House were for Indians only, as if the whites were constantly the aggressors. He asked if the Creeks performed a single tittle of the treaty of New York, about which there had been so much parade? No. The only design of Indians in making a peace is to get presents, for these they always get. As soon as these are spent they commit a new set of murders, in the hopes of another treaty. Thus they always have gone on, and always will go on, from murders to treaties, and from treaties to mur

[H. OF R.

ders. Mr. C. complained that a gentleman from Maryland [Mr. MURRAY] had some days ago called the frontier people semi-savages. He hoped that such an expression would never again be used in that House. As to the treaty of New York, he might be told that the Creeks restored a number of women and children. He knew that; but he also knew that, before they did so, the relations of those people were obliged to put their hands in their pockets and pay large sums for their redemption, as the prisoners would not have been delivered up in consequence of the treaty of New York. This bill, without the amendment of Mr. VENABLE, would be an encouragement to the savages to come over the line and murder with impunity.

Mr. SCOTT was entirely in favor of the amendment. If the resolution passes without the amendment houses will soon be smoking and blood running. He believed that the subject in question was beyond the reach of human wisdom to regulate. He thought that striking out the amendment would only encourage the Indians to come in a body across the line. This they were never afraid of doing. The only thing which they feared was a pursuit, and this was to be effectually prevented by striking out the amendment. Was there ever such a thing heard of before as that, when the savages have carried off a man's wife and children, he must not be at liberty to pursue them? It would be the most frightful thing imaginable for the House to pass a law declaring such a pursuit criminal. Mr. S. could figure a case where the farm of a settler might come close to the Indian line, and the Indians might stand on the other side of the line and shoot him, and his neighbors would not be at liberty to pursue the murderer. Mr. S. said, that in that part of the country where he resided (Washington county) nothing of this kind was to be feared, as the line was at a sufficient distance from the cultivated lands, but there were other places on the frontier of the United States where this might happen. He said that no Christian nation had a right to ask better terms than this amendment offered to the savages. Stay upon your own side of the line and you are safe, but, if you cross over to us, we shall cross over in pursuit of you. This was fair play. If the resolution passed without the amendment, Mr. S. said that the Indians would immediately encamp close on their side of the line, and lie in watch there for whole months together, till they found a safe opportunity of crossing.

Mr. MURRAY said, he would make a remark or two on the criticism of the gentleman from Georgia, who had felt affected by an expression of his a few days since, when he called some of the people of the frontier "semi-savages." He did so, and he felt the expression not inapplicable. He confined the import of this expression exclusively to those upon the frontier who lead an unstationary life-who press forward into the deeper wilderness, by the new waves of advancing population, and live the life of savages without their virtues. He begged leave to call the gentleman's