H. OF R.] Amendment to the Constitution. stable. The omnipotent force of habit over individuals loses none of its power when extended to communities. Time and custom have an effect upon opinions and feelings, and modes of action, which alone can render them distinctive and characteristic. Thus it is that they become intimately associated with the affections, and are converted into what is emphatically called a second nature. It is the part of political wisdom to create and strengthen this union between the affections of the people and the forms of their Government. You thus consecrate these forms in their estimation, and establish a solid basis on which the Government itself can rest. May I not be permitted to say, too, without an attack upon any political party, that the honor of the country demands that we should prevent the recurrence of those scenes which, on the return of every Presidential election, are exhibited in some one or more of the States? I mean, sir, the struggles between contending parties to render the mode of appointment subservient to their immediate views. This subject has not charms enough to induce me to examine it in detail. Every gentleman has witnessed such No party can claim to be guiltless of such designs "Peccatur et intra mania et extra." In one State we behold the same class of political believers contending strenuously for a mode of appointment, which in another they as zealously oppose. scenes. An eminent advantage which I believe likely to flow from this fair expression of the sentiments of every portion of the people, in the choice of a President, will be found in the security which it affords to the minority in each State against the intolerance of the majority. In Republican Governments the majority must indeed rule, but it is of vast importance that the majority should be compelled to respect, not only the rights, but the opinions, feelings, and even prejudices of the minority. Unless it feel this sentiment, nature and history prove that it will be unjust and overbearing. When the Electors of President are chosen by States, the minority in each State is utterly without weight. As to this purpose it has no political power. Its opinions are treated with arrogance. The individuals who belong to it are viewed as a class that is arrayed against the cause of the State. They must either forbear from all interference in its concerns, or be subjected to the jealousies and malignant tyranny of intolerant power-never more intolerant than when backed by the physical force of the community, or when exerted upon those who are without the ability to retaliate. Let the voice of every part of the nation be heard in the appointment of the Chief Magistrate, and the minority in each State acquires an importance, which insures to them respect and political freedom. If they can give but one vote, it is worth the attention of the majority to conciliate that vote; for, joined with the suffrages of other portions of the people in other States, it may weigh heavily in the balance. (JANUARY, 1814. Sir, I conscientiously believe, that a remedy like that proposed, is essentially necessary to effectuate the objects which the framers of the constitution designed to secure in the election of a President. He who in his heart loves that constitution, cannot view, but with bitter regret, the contrast which, in the choice of this Magistrate, the practice under the constitution opposes to its pure and chaste theory. It was contemplated, that the people from each State should select from among the wisest and most virtuous of their neighbors, the persons best qualified to vote for a President. The original primary act was to be theirs-spontaneously theirs. They were free to choose whomsoever they pleased, except those who, from their situation, might have too great a leaning towards the President actually in office. Of this description were Senators and Representatives. Whatever might be their individual virtue or intelligence, these were too near the Palace to be safely trusted with the power of declaring who should occupy it. The Electors thus chosen, thus free from all irregular impulse, convening in each State on the same day, and under circumstances the most favorable to deliberation, were to vote for a President, and immediately afterwards to mingle with their fellow-citizens, from whom they had been called forth but for that special purpose. Every practicable obstacle was supposed to be thus thrown in the way of "cabal, intrigue, and corruption." There was no "pre-existing body of men who might be tampered with beforehand to prostitute their votes." No sinister bias could be presumed to exist "from too great devotion to the President in office." The "transient existence" of the Electors, and their "detached situation," seemed to render cabal and combination impracticable, and to remove all opportunity of corruption. The voice of the people operating fairly and fully in the appointment, the President would feel himself indebted to them for his office, and independent of all but them for his continuance in it. Thus beauteous smiled the theory. How hideous the deformity of the practice! The first step made in the election is by those whose interference the constitution prohibits. The members of the two Houses of Congress meet in caucus, or convention, and there ballot for a President and Vice President of the United States. The result of their election is published through the Union under the name of a recommendation. This modest recommendation then comes before the members of the respective State Legislatures. Where the appointment ultimately rests with them, no trouble whatever is given to the people. The whole business is disposed of without the least inconvenience to them. Where, in form, however, the choice of Electors remains with the people, the patriotic members of the State Legislature, vieing with their patriotic predecessors, back this draft on popular credulity with the weight of their endorsement. Not content with this, they benev JANUARY, 1814.] Naval Exploits. [H. OF R. olently point out to the people the immediate | the people will be heard and respected, notagents through whom the negotiation can be withstanding all efforts to suppress or control it. most safely carried on, make out a ticket of Electors, and thus designate the individuals who, in their behalf, are to honor this demand on their suffrages. Sir, this whole proceeding appears to be monstrous. It must be corrected, or the character of this Government is fundamentally changed. Already, in fact, the Chief Magistrate of the nation owes his office principally to aristocratic intrigue, cabal, and management. Pre-existing bodies of men, and not the people, make the appointment. Such bodies, from the constitution of nature, are necessarily directed in their movements by a few leaders, whose talents, or boldness, or activity, give them an ascendency over their associates. On every side these leaders are accessible to the assaults of corruption. I mean not, sir, that vulgar species of corruption, only, which is addressed to the most sordid of human passions, but that which finds its way to the heart, through the avenues which pride, ambition, vanity, personal resentment, family attachment, and a thousand foibles and vices open to the machinations of intrigue. Their comparatively "permanent existence," and concentrated situation, afford the most desirable facilities for the continued operation of these sinister acts. It is not in nature that they should long operate in vain; nor is it in nature that the individual elected by these means should not feel his dependence on those to whom he owes his office, or forego the practices which are essential to insure its continuance, or its transmission in the desired succession. Thus, in practice, do we find all the advantages frustrated which, in the choice of a President, the Convention so anxiously sought to secure, and all the evils realized against which barriers were so sedulously erected. Who can recognize, in the object thus exhibited, any of those features which its early friends contemplated with admiration, and joy, and hope? If a single trace remains of its former charms Faction cannot but exist, but it will be rendered tolerant. State attachments must yet continue, (ever may they continue,) but they will not swallow up all attachment to the General Government. States may endanger the perpetuity of our Confederacy by their combinations or their quarrels, but these dangers will be stripped of half their terrors when our citizens feel that they have a common country, and are linked together by the strongest bond of connection. Under the hope and belief that this amendment will impart vigor to the constitution, re-establish it upon its true basis, and perpetuate its duration, I avow myself its warm and decided friend. The earthly wish nearest my heart is, that, admidst the storms which threaten the submersion of all that is precious in civilization or refinement, we may cling to that constitution as the mariner to the floating spar which Providence throws in the way of his preservation. When Mr. GASTON had concluded, the committee rose, and had leave to sit again. "Tis but that loveliness in death, Which parts not quite with parting breath; A gilded halo hovering round decay." SATURDAY, January 4. JOHN G. JACKSON, from Virginia, appeared, and took his seat. Honors to Captain Lawrence. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be requested to present to the nearest male relative of Captain James Lawrence, a gold medal, and a silver medal to each of the commissioned officers who served under him in the sloop of war Hornet, in her conflict with the British vessel of war, "the Peacock," in testimony of the high sense entertained by Congress of the gallantry and good conduct of the officers and crew in the capture of that vessel: and the President is also requested to communicate to the nearest relative of Captain Lawrence, the sense which Congress entertains of the loss which the Naval service of the United States has since sustained in the death of that distinguished officer. The said resolution was read, and referred to the Committee of the whole House on the resolutions from the Senate, relative to the brilliant achievement of Lieutenants Burrows and McCall, and expressive of the sense entertained by Congress of the conduct of Captain Perry, his officers and men, in the capture of the British fleet on Lake Erie. The engrossed bill for the relief of Daniel Boone was read a third time, and passed. Naval Exploits. Our motion of Mr. LOWNDES, of South Carolina, the House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole, on the resolutions expressive of the sense of Congress of the merits of several of our naval heroes, who particularly distinguished themselves during the past Summer. H. OF R.] Naval Exploits. [JANUARY, 1814. Mr. LOWNDES said that he should be inexcu- | few moments. He knew not an instance in sable if he were long to detain the committee | naval or military history in which the success from the vote-he hoped the unanimous vote of the contest appeared so obviously to result which they were prepared to give upon the res- from the personal act of the commander as in olutions. The victories to which they refer this. When the crew of Captain Perry's vessel were, indeed, of unequal magnitude and im- lay bleeding around him; when his ship was a portance; but, the least important of them, if defenceless hospital; if he had wanted-not it had been obtained by the subjects of any courage, which in an American officer forms no Government on the Continent of Europe, would distinction-but, if he had wanted that fertility have been heard with admiration, and rewarded of resource which extracts from disaster the with munificence. The action between the means of success and glory, he did not say, if Enterprise and the Boxer, from which the pub- he had surrendered his ship, but if he had oblic eye appears to have been withdrawn by the stinately defended her; if he had gone down greater magnitude and the confessedly superior wrapped in his flag; if he had pursued any splendor of a more recent victory-this action other conduct than that which he did pursue, has shown, as conclusively as a contest between his associates might have emulated his desperate single ships could show, the superiority of Amer-courage, but they must have shared his fate. ican officers and seamen over those of the na- The battle was lost. tion which the continued success of a century Now examine any other victory, however has proved to be superior to all the rest of the brilliant. If, in the battle of the Nile, Lord world in naval warfare. Although Lieutenant | Nelson had fallen even by the first fire, does Burrows was mortally wounded, early in this any man believe that it would have affected the action, yet the skill and gallantry with which result of the contest? In the battle of Trahe commenced it, leave no doubt, that if he had falgar he did fall, and victory never for a been longer spared to the wishes and the wants moment fluttered from what was then her of his country, the same brilliant success which chosen eyry-the British mast. And, not only resulted would have been obtained under his in this view was the victory of Captain Perry command; while the ability with which Lieu- unrivalled, but, in the importance even of its tenant McCall continued and completed the con- immediate consequences, he knew none in the test, assures to him as distinguished a fame as if modern history of naval warfare that could be he had carried the vessel into action. The loss compared with it. An important territory imof a commander, indeed, may fairly be consider-mediately rescued from the grasp of English ed as rendering a victory more honorable to a power-uppermost, Canada conquered, or presuccessor, because it must render it more diffi-pared for conquest; an ocean secured from the cult it may be expected to confuse, though it does not depress. But, the victory, which was achieved in forty minutes, with a disparity in the effect of the fire of which there are other examples in American history-such a victory could only have been achieved by men who did not lose for a moment their confidence, or their cool intrepidity. Of the victory of Lake Erie, Mr. L. said that it was more difficult to speak. It was impossible for him to speak in terms which could convey any adequate conception of the importance of the victory-of the unrivalled excellence of the officers of the gratitude of the country. The documents referred to the committee sufficiently prove that superiority of force on the part of the enemy which would have insured their victory, if it were not the appropriate character of military genius to refute the calculations which rely on the superiority of force. Nor was the victory obtained over an unskilful or a pusillanimous enemy. The English officers were brave and experienced, and the slaughter on board their vessels, before they were surrendered, sufficiently attests the bravery of their seamen. They were skilful officers, subdued by the ascendency of still superior skill. They were a brave foe, who yielded to one yet braver. There was one characteristic of this action, Mr. L. said, which seemed to him so strongly to distinguish it, that he could not forbear to ask the attention of the committee to it for a intrusion of every foreign flag; a frontier of a The naval Mr. L. concluded by saying that the resolu tion respecting the capture of the Peacock, proposed by the committee of the House, was the usual expression of approbation which, in similar instances, had never been omitted; it was an inadequate memorial of the merit of an officer who voted his life to the honor of his country. [H. OF R. They were accordingly read a third time, and unanimously passed. Mr. WRIGHT spoke in support of the_resolution, and Mr. SHIPARD against it. Mr. PIOKENS made a few remarks in reply. tion. The vote was-for the resolve 57, against The question was then taken on the resoluit 70. The committee rose and reported their disagreement to the resolution, and the House adjourned. WEDNESDAY, January 5. Amendment to the Constitution. The House resumed the order of the day on the report of the Committee of the Whole on the proposed amendment to the constitution, for making_uniform the mode of choosing Electors of President and Vice President. The report of the committee is against the resolution. Amendment to the Constitution. Mr. CLAY, of Kentucky, (Speaker,) said that, before the question was put, the Chairman the House again resolved itself into a CommitOn motion of Mr. PICKENS, of North Carolina, must allow him an opportunity of expressing the high satisfaction he felt at the very hand-tee of the Whole, on Mr. PICKENS's resolutions some and eloquent manner in which the gentle-uniform mode of election of Electors of Presito amend the constitution, so as to establish a man from South Carolina had acquitted himself dent and Vice President. in the observations he had just made. It would, indeed, have illy become the Representatives of the people, when every city on the continent had almost literally blazed with joy on the occasion of these victories, to have remained silent on this subject. Our ships on the ocean, commanded by the most gallant officers in the world, had already shown what American tars could do, ship to ship. It remained for the hero of Erie to exhibit to them an awful lesson of our capacity to fight in a squadron against, not only an equal but superior force. If he were to relate the circumstances which, in his opinion, most distinguished the hero of that battle, Mr. C. said he should certainly refer to that mentioned by the gentleman from South Carolina. Imagine to yourself, said he, this valuable officer in the hour of peril, his vessel a wreck, her deck strewed with the mangled bodies of his dead and dying comrades, and admire with me the cool intrepidity and consummate skill with which he seized the propitious moment, changed his station, and, aided by his gallant second in command, and only second in merit, pressed forward to fame and to victory. Such an action, it has been well said, has scarcely its parallel in history. The importance of victory can be more readily realized, when we look at its consequences. It led to the victory on land, by which a territory was delivered, and a province conquered. No longer is the patriotic soldier, whose safety ought to be guarded by all the principles of honor and of modern warfare, to be delivered over in cold blood to the merciless tomahawk. No longer the mother wakes to the agonizing spectacle of her child torn from her breast, and immolated to savage brutality. Here, sir, said he, the consequences of that victory are most conspicuous; and, coming from a country in the vicinity of the scene of action, and so sensibly alive to its consequences, I could not forbear expressing my high satisfaction at giving my vote in favor of these propositions. Mr. C. could not sit down, he said, without expressing his pleasure at finding that the name of Elliott was coupled with that of Perry. Lieutenant Elliott had given, in the capture of the British brig Detroit, last Winter, a promise of future greatness in the line of his profession. The admirable manner in which he had in the battle of Erie seconded his brave Commander, attested the propriety of connecting his name in their resolve with that of the hero of the Lake. The committee then rose and reported the resolutions; which were, by the House, ordered to a third reading to-day. Mr. GHOLSON said, in substance, that as he expected to vote on the question before the House differently from a large majority of his colleagues, he would beg permission very succinctly to assign some of the reasons by which he was governed. The reasons which operate on my mind, said Mr. G., are not such as have been resorted to in the debate. I shall support, sir, the proposition submitted by the honorable gentleman from North Carolina, (Mr. PICKENS,) because it will tend to nationalize the institu tions of the country to which it relates, and will give to them a more federative republican form. At present the electors of the Chief Magistrate of the nation are chosen by the variant modes of eighteen distinct independent State sovereignties. In some States the choice is by the Legislatures thereof; in some by general ticket; in others by districts, &c. Now, it is perfectly manifest, that where those who are to appoint the President are themselves thus selected, the election of a President may not be substantially and unequivocally by the people. There is no certainty or assurance that Electors chosen by the State Legislatures, for instance, would select the same person for President as would the people, or persons immediately appointed by them for the purpose. Under the present mode, the fact cannot be concealed, and I am far from attempting to disguise it, that recourse must of necessity be had to the agency of bodies called caucusses-and I do not know, sir, under the present arrangement how they could be avoided. The custom, for example, in the States choosing electors by general ticket, is for the Legislatures of such States to meet informally, that is in caucus, and to designate and recommend to the people certain persons for the most part unknown to them, to be Electors; and these persons are accordingly uniformly chosen by the people. In this case the right of election is virtually exercised by the Legislatures, and only formally by the people. This is obvious to every gentleman. It would be uncandid to deny it. Here then, not intentionally, but from the very nature of our institutions, there is an encroachment on the privileges of the citizen. Now, sir, without any previous nomination, or recommendation in this way of electors to the people, I would prefer that the people themselves should select by districts, and within their acquaintance, their own immediate responsible agents for the purpose of appointing a President. Thus we should have a system at once uniform and national, and referring directly to the people for their decision. And in all cases I would prefer a decision by the people, where it is practicable and can be fairly expressed. (JANUARY, 1814. Resolved, That the Committee on Military Affairs be instructed to inquire into the expediency of empowering by law the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint one Lieutenant General to command the Armies of the United States, with such powers and emoluments as may be deemed expedient. Mr. M. said, in his opinion the result of the last campaign had disappointed the expectations of every one. That opinion had been decidedly expressed by this House, in its recent vote for inquiry into the causes which led to the failure of our arms. However general might be the opinion in this House, it was still more so in the nation. He hoped and trusted the inquiry embraced in the resolution just alluded to, would be so prosecuted as to show where the blame really rests; that, if misconduct has taken place, it may be laid at the door of the person by whom it was committed; for, as the matter now stands, no two persons in the House would agree on the causes whence this Let it not be understood that I am fond of an unexpected result has proceeded. But the ininnovation, or that I would encourage frequent quiry, desirable as it is, though it may point constitutional amendments. No, sir; on the out the cause of recent failures, cannot operate contrary, I have with much reflection adopted any beneficial effects on the next campaign. it as a fixed principle, that, in a Government The time, Mr. M. said, was fast approaching whose form is a pure representative democracy, when that campaign ought to commence, and, I would make no change in the constitution as far as he had seen, no measures, the tendency except such as should be suggested by practical of which was to render the ensuing campaign experience. I never would alter a Republican more successful than the last had been adopted. Constitution merely for the sake of theorizing. In every age, and under every government, it Testing the operations of our constitutional pro- had been found necessary to have some officer vision on the subject now before the House by appointed who should be responsible for the this maxim, the question arises whether any conduct of the army, so that it should not repartial inconveniences have resulted. It is perquire an investigation of two or three years to fectly notorious that such inconveniences have ascertain who was to blame for any particular "taken place, and they require to be remedied. error or misconduct. Previous to the war with They need not be recited. I am justified by France in 1798, it was thought necessary to experience in saying I would take as little power have a person of that character. At that period, out of the hands of the people as possible. I Mr. M. said, there were a great many more of would restore it to them in this case-I would the officers of our Revolutionary army living not deprive them of the important privilege than there are now, many of whom held seats embraced and secured to them by the amend-in Congress. He should be justified in saying, ment before us. There is no necessity for withholding it, and it is at least as likely to be exercised with safety by the people as in any other way. I therefore hope the amendment will be adopted. Mr. WRIGHT, Mr. MACON, and Mr. ALSTON, spoke against the report; when the further consideration of the report was postponed to to-morrow, on the suggestion of Mr. GASTON, that he had understood that some gentlemen who had voted against the amendment were friendly to the principle of the proposed amendment, but opposed to its detail; and that, being desirous that the principle should be fairly tried, he wished time to prepare an amendment which should place the principle directly before the House. THURSDAY, January 10. there was at least as much military talent in the nation at that time as there is now; and if it was at that day expedient, on a mere prospect of war, to appoint a Lieutenant General, he could not for his own part conceive that the Same step was not equally necessary at this day, when war actually exists. It must, indeed, be admitted on all hands, to be more necessary now than it was then. It was a fact, he said, of which no gentleman in the House could be ignorant, that the Secretary of War had been absent from the seat of government for some months, for the purpose, as report said, of giv ing effect to the operations of the campaign. If such was his object, what was that but assuming upon himself the office of Commanderin-chief? If it was necessary such an office should exist, he conceived it highly proper that another officer should be appointed to execute its duties, and that they should not devolve on Mr. MURFREE offered for consideration the the Secretary of War, in addition to the imfollowing resolution: portant duties prescribed for him to perform. |