against the success of the first project. The grand distinction between the two projects is this: The first plan relied on loans for the relief of Government, and was modelled for the purpose of rendering loans practicable. This plan renounces all hopes of future loans, and proposes as a succedaneum, the issuing of twenty-four millions of Treasury notes. And on these notes alone is the Government to rely for present relief, and for all its supplies during the ensuing year. These Treasury notes are intended to range awhile through the country as a currency, pass into a solid mass of six per cent. stock, settle quietly and in full credit into the vaults of a bank; and assuming there yet another shape, to flutter forth, and constitute another circulating medium. Sir, the process is captivating in theory, charming to the fancy; but, unless I am much mistaken, it is one of those splendid visions which the noble science of alchemy has often produced, to mortify the pride and disappoint the hopes of man. It has no practicable qualities, and the danger is, that while you are pursuing the unsubstantial vision, admiring its varied colors, and fanciful forms, the mighty bubble will burst, and leave you in the midst of mortification and despair.

It will be perceived, Mr. Speaker, that should these Treasury notes make their grand tour ever so brilliantly, before they arrive at the vaults of the bank they settle down into stock, just like the stock now existing, of no more value in itself, and combining no superior qualities. And therefore it was that I stated, when this bank shall have passed its periods of danger, and issue forth a full-grown bank, it will be in nowise better calculated to aid the Government or furnish a national currency, than a bank formed of the stock already existing. In this respect, the two plans are upon a level. It is to the process, to which I have above alluded, that I object, as illusory, and highly dangerous to the country. Your Treasury notes never can be kept at par; they will probably never reach the bank at all; and if they do so, it will be after they have scourged the land by a dreadful depreciation, and through the ruin of thousands who shall hold them.

Of all paper, Government bills are the most unfit for a circulating medium. I might read from the pages of the great founder of your whole financial system, arguments conclusive, to show the wide difference between a paper medium, depending upon the faith of Government alone, and that which is founded on the capital of a private bank. The former has no bounds to its issue, but the discretion which generally becomes another name for the exigencies of the Government. It is always suspected, always received with doubt and hesitation, and, therefore, always depreciates. While the latter, founded on solid capital, always protected, regulated, and restrained by the honor and integrity of the directors, fortified by the interest of the stockholders and the exist

[NOVEMBER, 1814.

ence of the bank, all of which are jeopardized by an over issue, comes to the public with the strongest title to their confidence, and is generally received and circulated. The works of the lamented Hamilton are now before me; I will not detain the House, but refer them to his argument upon this interesting subject.

May I ask, said Mr. G., how these bills are ever to escape from the Treasury into circulation? Think you that capitalists will buy them of you at any thing like their par value? Will you put them forth as a currency under par; thus stamping them with the image of death before they issue from the womb? Nothing of this is practicable. No, sir, if they go forth at all, they must pass to your contractors, your commissaries, your soldiers, and your sailorsto any of your creditors who prefer your paper to your parol promise. Hence, it is possible they may pass to others, and thus obtain a partial circulation among the merchants, farmers, and mechanics.

Mr. Speaker, the capitalists of the country must convert the Treasury paper into bank stock, or it will remain unconverted. By capitalists, I mean those enterprising men who have accumulated masses of active and surplus capital, for the purpose of venturing it in great and advantageous speculations.

Have these men, at this time, the ability to perform the process? You have nothing to hope from New England. Her citizens have their money and their capital safe at home; and you will not find them idiots enough, in this tempestuous season, to venture it on the ocean, in any vessel that you can build and rig and navigate. From the capitalists south of the Hudson, and from them only must you expect aid. It is a mistake to suppose the depressed war stock to be in few hands. The original contractors retain, comparatively, but trifling portions of the whole mass. It is widely diffused among these capitalists, and, unless, by some acts of yours, its market value is elevated, it will paralyze all their efforts to afford any aid to your project.

The banks, too, are groaning under the weight of this depressed stock. They have received it in pledges and in payment. It lies useless in their vaults, and clogs even their operations. I have not a doubt of the fact, that from this cause, more than any other, they have been forced to suspend their specie payments. And, I think, nothing is hazarded in saying, that they never will resume them, until this cause shall be removed.

If, in peaceful and prosperous times, this bank might present a fair speculation, and obtain ample subscriptions; yet, can it be hoped, that prudent men would venture their fortunes in it, in these times of dismay and peril? Look around, sir. From abroad, invasion is menaced of every part of your extended coast. cities, the great depositories of our surplus wealth, have but feeble assurance of safety, The storms of war are beating on our country

Our

from every quarter of the heavens. What is our condition at home? The foul spirit of party sits like a bloated incubus upon the Cabinet, and turns all its counsels to rashness and folly. Like the fabled Gorgon, this foul fiend daily mounts this very Capitol, and scattering the snakes of discord among the people, he calls them, in tones of fury, to civil commotion and bloody violence. The constitution has received deep, perhaps mortal wounds. War, in his iron chariot, is rolling through the land, crushing, with its heavy wheels, our civil institutions, those bulwarks of civil liberty. The Government totters from untimely decrepitude. And the very temple of our Union, toppled from its base, is ready to be dashed to the earth, and to leave the country encumbered with its fragments. This country resembles the strong man filled with wine, his head full of delirious visions, and mad projects of ambition and vengeance, revolving vast projects, and deciding on prompt and vigorous exertion; but his limbs are palsied, his nerves are withered, and he lies, supine on the earth, huge, disgusting, and impotent.

To what fate we are destined is unknown to man. We have been borne along to our destruction almost with the rapidity of the lightning. And it is not for human foresight ever to conjecture whether the God of our fathers has finally forsaken us, and whether the end of our Republic is at hand. In such " crazy times," think you that men, who possess sane minds, will embark their fortunes in any vessel whose safety depends on such commanders, such pilots, and such a crew as you can furnish?

But, Mr. Speaker, suppose I am mistaken in all this. If there are men able and willing to purchase the Treasury paper and transmute it to bank stock-the very process of transmutation will be destructive to the country. Such men, if they exist at all, exist for the most part in our cities, and are closely connected by the strong band of common interest. In these moneyed operations, their interests lead them to act united and in concert. What will be their conduct in this business?

Finding your Treasury notes wholly unsupported, and beginning to descend, they will leave them to take their downward course. Nay, they will aid their descent, certain that they will remain at all times within the reach of their coin. The strong interests of these men will impel them to such a course, and they will surely pursue it. And thus the whole machinery becomes disordered by the very agents upon whom you rely to keep it in motion. Immediately, and of necessity, your paper will greatly depreciate. Will the Government, then, suffer me to repeat the question, Will the Government then stop its issues? It has no alternative-the gate must continue hoisted, and the stream must continue running. The very period has now arrived so eloquently deprecated by an honorable friend from North Carolina, (Mr. GASTON.) Your con

VOL, V.-25

[H. OF R.

tractors are clamorous-give them "assignats."

Your sailors demand their wages-out with a new edition of Treasury notes.

Your armies clamor for arrearages. Dare you refuse them? Remember the tragedy at Newburgh-it may be attempted in your day. There are Armstrongs still alive to excite rebellion, but no WASHINGTON remains to parry its fury and save the country. A new swarm of "assignats" will be the dreadful and the only remedy.

Your paper will rapidly reach its lowest point of depression. And now it is that the remorseless speculator will begin to prowl for his prey.

The war-worn soldier, as he halts slowly and painfully from Canada, must surrender the price of his blood for half its value.

The widow and the orphan of him who in your battles has laid his bones amid the snows of the North, must sacrifice their little all for a lean subsistence. Some of you witnessed, we all have read and have wept, the fate of the ruined soldiers of the Revolution. The same picture will be now presented, only on a larger canvas, and with more tragical coloring.

I appeal to those who belong to the dominant party. Have you forgotten the history of those days when the debt of our independence was funded? Your party then, with the present Chief Magistrate at its head, professed to be the soldier's friend and champion; and the country rung with your clamors for a discrimination of the debt. So strongly did you then profess to feel for the soldier, that you were ready to violate the most solemn contracts to save him from the loss of depreciated money. What is now your conduct? You are about to adopt a system which will bring the soldiers of your present armies to the same loss and the same condition. You are not contented even with this. In this bill, you consummate the whole transaction; you not only frame the engine by which the soldier may be defrauded, but you provide an asylum to which the agents who shall defraud him may fly with their spoils, and set at defiance all human justice and power. You do not intend this crying iniquity.

No, when the crisis shall arrive, when your paper shall sink to half its nominal value, when, like voracious sharks prowling the ocean, the speculators shall range through every village, seizing the miserable victims of their cupidity, then will you step boldly forth, and cheered by the approving voice of the people, which now would thunder indignation against the measure, you would consummate your goodly work, by that unpardonable political sin, a tender law. This bill will lay the sure foundation for such a measure.

I appeal to the friends who sit around me. Are you ready to support a system which will press on to this consummation of ruin, with a step "steady as time, certain as death?"

The plan of the Secretary may be vicious.

H. OF R.]

[NOVEMBER, 1814.

TUESDAY, November 29.

A new member, to wit, from Pennsylvania, SAMUEL HENDERSON, appeared, produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat in the place of Jonathan Roberts, appointed a Senator.

Capture of Washington City.

Mr. JOHNSON, of Kentucky, from the committee appointed to inquire into the causes of the success of the enemy, in his invasion into this District in August last, delivered in a report of very great length, together with a voluminous mass of documents. This report (principally of a narrative character) Mr. J. moved to be print

quences.

When Mr. GROSVENOR concluded

Mr. JOHNSON, of Kentucky, assigning as a reason therefor his anxiety to expedite the public business, and proceed to the adoption of those measures which the times imperiously demand, required the previous question.

The previous question was then put in the following form, viz: "Shall the main question be now put?" and decided by yeas and nays. For the previous question 75, against it 67.

The requisite number having required the main question to be put, it was put on the engrossing the bill for a third reading; and was decided in the negative. For the motion 49, against it 104, as follows:

YEAS.-Messrs. Alexander, Alston, Barnett, Bines, Bradley, Caldwell, Calhoun, Cannon, Chappell, Clark, Condict, Crawford, Creighton, Crouch, Culpeper, Cuthbert, Duvall, Earle, Findlay, Forney, Gaston, Gourdin, Griffin, Harris, Hasbrouck, Irving, Kent of Maryland, Kerr, Kershaw, Kilbourn, King of North Carolina, Lowndes, McKee, McLean, Montgomery, Oakley, Pearson, Pickens, Rea of Pennsylvania, Rich, Robertson, Sevier, Sharp, Skinner, Smith of Virginia, Taylor, Ward of New Jersey, Winter, and Yancey.

NAYS.-Messrs. Anderson, Avery, Barbour, Bard, Baylies of Massachusetts, Bayly of Virginia, Bigelow, Bowen, Boyd, Bradbury, Brigham, Brown, Burwell, Cilley, Clopton, Comstock, Conard, Cooper, Cox, Dana, Davenport, Davis of Massachusetts, Davis of Pennsylvania, Denoyelles, Desha, Ely, Eppes, Evans, Farrow, Fisk of Vermont, Fisk of New York, Forsyth, Franklin, Geddes, Gholson, Goodwyn, Grosvenor, Hale, Hanson, Hawes, Hopkins of Kentucky, Hubbard, Humphreys, Hungerford, Hulbert, Ingersoll, Ingham, Irwin, Jackson of Rhode Island, Johnson of Virginia, Johnson of Kentucky, Kennedy, Kent of New York, King of Massachusetts, Law, Lefferts, Lewis, Lovett, Lyle, Macon, Markell, McCoy, McKim, Miller, Moore, Mosely, Murfree, Nelson, Newton, Parker, Pickering, Piper, Pitkin, Pleasants, Potter, John Reed, William Reed, Rhea of Tennessee, Roane, Ruggles, Sage, Schureman, Seybert, Sheffey, Shipard, Smith of Pennsylvania, Stanford, Stockton, Strong, Sturges, Taggart, Tannehill, Telfair, Thompson, Udree, Vose, Ward of Massachusetts, Webster, Wheaton, White, Wilcox, Williams, Wilson of Massachusetts, and Wilson of Pennsylvania.

So the House decided that the bill should not be read a third time-in other words, that it should be rejected.

lected from the mass laid before the committee, as tending to give an impartial view of the whole transaction:

1. A report of the Army, its number and distribution, previous to the 1st of July, 1814.

2. Letter of Colonel Monroe, then Secretary of State.

3. Letter of General Armstrong, late Secretary of War.

of the Navy. 4. Letter from the Hon. William Jones, Secretary

5. Letters from the Hon. Richard Rush, Attorney General.

6. Communication from the War Department, including the orders in relation to the 10th military district, the requisition of the 4th July, and the correspondence with the Governors of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland, and with General Winder.

7. The narrative of General Winder.

8. Reports of Generals Stansbury, Smith, Young, Douglass, and Hungerford; Colonels Sterrett, Minor, Tayloe, Laval, and Beall; Major Pinkney; and Captains Burch and Caldwell.

9. Report from the Navy Department, including the official report of Commodore Barney.

10. Letters from General Van Ness, Doctor Catlett, and John Law.

11. Reports from the Ordnance Department. 12. Sentence of the court martial in relation to Captain Dyson, and the correspondence between him and the Secretary of War.

13. Report from the corporation of Alexandria, including the capitulation, and letter from General John Mason.

14. Report from the Superintendent of Public Buildings.

15. Letter from William Simmons.

Mr. GROSVENOR, of New York, observing the great volume of the report and documents, objected to the printing of these papers, lest the length of time it would occupy should delay a consideration of the report.

Mr. WEBSTER, of New Hampshire, (a member of the Committee of Investigation,) hoped the papers would be printed. He dissented altogether from the manner in which that report had been prepared, though he was willing to do justice to the assiduity of the chairman of the committee in maturing the report. As soon as the documents should be properly in the possession of the House, Mr. W. said he should think it his duty to make some motion

WEDNESDAY, November 30. Another member, to wit, from New York, NATHANIEL HOWELL, appeared, and took his

seat.

SATURDAY, December 3. Moneys Receivable for Taxes. Mr. EPPES, from the Committee of Ways and Means, to whom was referred a resolution of the House of Representatives, instructing them to inquire into the expediency of providing by law, that any kind of money paid by the Government to the troops in the service of the

the Secretary of War arrived, and in a few moments after, the President and the Attorney-General, and proceeded to examine the disposition of the troops. In the mean time, as the enemy advanced into Bladensburg, the officers were forming rapidly the second line. The command of Commodore Barney came up in a trot, and formed his men on the right of the main road, in a line with the command under Colonels Beall and Hood, with a considerable vacancy, owing to the ground. The heavy artillery, Commodore Barney planted in the road; the three twelve-pounders to the right, under Captain Miller, who commanded the flotilla men and marines, as infantry, to support the artillery. Lieutenant Colonel Kramer, with a battalion of Maryland militia, was posted in the wood, in advance of the marines and Colonels Beall and Hood's command. The regiment under command of Colonel Magruder was stationed on the left of Commodore Barney, and in a line with him and Colonel Beall. The regiment under command of Colonel Brent, and Major Warring's battalion, and some other small detachments, formed the left flank of this second line, and in the rear of Major Peter's battery; and Lieutenant Colonel Scott, with the regulars, was placed in advance of Colonel Magruder, and to the left, forming a line towards Major Peter's battery, but in such a manner as not to mask it: other small detachments in various directions.

About half-past twelve o'clock, while the second line was thus forming, the enemy approached, and the battle commenced. The Baltimore artillery opened a fire and dispersed the enemy's light troops now advancing along the street of the village, who took a temporary cover behind the houses and trees, in loose order, and presented objects only occasionally for the fire of the cannon. The enemy commenced throwing his rockets, and his light troops began to concentrate near the bridge, and to press across it and the river, which was fordable above. The battalion of riflemen, under Major Pinkney, now united gallantly with the fire from the battery. For some minutes the fire was continued with considerable effect; the enemy's column was not only dispersed while in the street, but while approaching the bridge they were thrown into some confusion, and the British officers were seen exerting themselves to press the soldiers on. Having now gained the bridge, it was passed rapidly, and as the enemy crossed, flanked, formed a line, and advanced steadily on, which compelled the artillery and battalion of riflemen to give way, after which Major Pinkney was severely wounded. He exerted himself to rally his men, and succeeded, at a small distance in the rear of his first position, and united with the fifth Baltimore regiment. It appears from reports of several officers, Stansbury, Pinkney, Law, Sterret, &c., that the command of General Stansbury was three or four hundred yards in the rear of the battery, and Major Pinkney's riflemen and some other small corps to the left of the battery; of course this small party had to fight with the whole force of the enemy until they retired; and the enemy occupied the ground they left without any considerable resistance, as the enemy marched on without halting after the bridge was passed. Captain Burch and Colonel Sterret were about the same distance, when Colonel Sterret was ordered to advance to support the first line. One of the pieces of artillery was abandoned, but spiked previously. The enemy soon took advantage of the trees of an orchard, which was occupied or held by the force which had just retreated, and kept up a galling fire on part of our line. Captain Burch's artillery, and a small detachment near it, now opened a cross fire upon the enemy. Colonel Sterret, with the fifth Baltimore regiment, was ordered to advance, and made a prompt movement, until ordered to halt, as at this moment the rockets assuming a

more horizontal direction, and passing near the heads of Colonels Shutz and Ragan's regiments, the right gave way, which was followed in a few minutes by a general flight of

[DECEMBER, 1814.

United States, for military services, shall be receivable from the people in payment of taxes, made the following report:

That, under the general power to regulate the collection of taxes, the Secretary of the Treasury is preparing instructions to the collectors, in which a uniform rule as to the receipt of bank notes will be prescribed. The committee consider that it would be

unsafe to designate, by law, the notes in which taxes lic interest requires that this subject should be regushall be received, and that a due regard for the publated, at present, by instructions issued, from time to time, from the Treasury Department; which may be

so framed, as to unite the safety of the revenue with the accommodation of the individual citizens. A

the two regiments, in defiance of all the exertions of General Winder, Stansbury, and other officers. Burch's artillery and the fifth regiment remained with firmness; the orchard obstructed their fire; but notwithstanding the enemy's light troops were, for a moment, driven back by them, the enemy having gained the right flank of the fifth, which exposed it, Burch's artillery and Colonel Sterret, who commanded the fifth, were ordered by General Winder to retreat, with a view of forming at a small distance in the rear; but instead of retiring in order, the fifth, like the two other regiments under General Stansbury, in a very few minutes were retreating in disorder and confusion, notwithstanding the exertions of Colonel Sterret to prevent it. From reports of various officers, exertions were made to rally the men and to bring them again to the battle, which partly succeeded in the first instance, but ultimately, and in a short time, all attempts were vain, and the forces routed; and the first line, together with the horse, were totally routed, and retreated in a road which forked in three directions; one branch led by Rock Creek Church to Tenleytown, and Montgomery Courthouse, another led to Georgetown, and s third to the city of Washington. It does not appear that any movement was made or attempted by the cavalry or horsemen, although the enemy to the left were in open and scattered order, as they pursued or pressed upon our lines, and a most fortunate moment presented itself for a charge of cavalry and horsemen.

It may be proper here to observe that General Winder states his exertions to direct the retreating line to the Capitol, with a view of rallying. This intention is corroborated by Colonel Sterret; but it appears as if this determination was not generally understood by the officers or men. Colonel Kramer, posted on the right of the road, and in advance of Commodore Barney, was next drawn from his position, after having maintained his ground with considerable injury to the enemy, and retreated upon the command of Colonels Beall and Hood, on a commanding eminence to the right. After the retreat of the militia under Colonel Kramer, from his first position, the enemy's column in the road was exposed to an animated discharge from Major Peter's artillery, which continued until they came into contact with Commodore Barney; here the enemy met the greatest resistance, and sustained the greatest loss, advancing upon our retreat ing line. When the enemy came in full view, and in a heavy column in the main road, Commodore Barney ordered an eighteen pounder to be opened upon them, which completely cleared the road, scattered and repulsed the enemy for a moment. In several attempts to rally and advance, the enemy was repulsed, which induced him to flank to the right of our lines in an open field. Here Captain Miller opened upon him with the three twelve-pounders, and the flotilla men, acting as infantry, with considerable effect. The enemy continued flanking to the right, and pressed upon the command of Colonels Beall and Hood, which gave way, after three or four rounds of ineffectual fire, at a consider able distance from the enemy, while Colonel Beal 1 and other officers attempted to rally the men on this high position. The enemy very soon gained the flank and even the rear of the right of the second line. Commodore Barney, Captain Miller, and some other officers of his command being wounded, his ammunition wagons having gone off in the disorder, and that which the marines and flotilla men had being exhausted; in this situation, a retreat was ordered by Commodore Barney, who fell himself into the hands of the