the Committee of the Whole, to which is committed the bill in addition to an act, entitled "An act to regulate the collection of duties on imports and tonnage," passed the second day of March, 1799.

The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter from Joseph Lancaster, containing an expression of the gratitude with which he is penetrated for the honor conferred upon him in admitting him to a seat within the Hall; which letter was read, and ordered to lie on the table.

The House took up and proceeded to consider the report of the Committee of Ways and Means, made at the last session, on the petition of Lawrence Muse; whereupon, it was ordered that the said report and petition be recommitted to the Committee of Ways and Means.

On motion of Mr. GARNETT, the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads were instructed to inquire into the expediency of extending the privilege of franking to agricultural societies, which are or may hereafter be incorporated in any of the United States, through their presidents or secretaries, as may be most expedient, and of limiting the privilege to the correspondence of such societies with each other.

H. OF R.

Orleans," was read twice, and referred to the
Committee on the Public Lands.

The bill from the Senate, entitled "An act to continue in force an act regulating the currency, within the United States, of the gold coins of Great Britain, France, Portugal, and Spain, and the crowns of France, and five franc pieces," was read twice, and committed to the Committee of the Whole, to which is committed the bill of this House continuing for a limited time the currency of the crowns and five franc pieces of France.

The resolution from the Senate, "proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, as it respects the choice of Electors of President and Vice President of the United States, and the election of Representatives in the Congress of the United States," was read twice, and committed to the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union.

An engrossed bill, entitled "An act providing additional penalties for false entries, for the benefit of drawback or bounty on exportation," was read the third time, and passed.

A Message was received from the PRESIDENT oF THE UNITED STATES, as follows: To the House of Representatives of the United States :

I communicate to Congress copies of applications received from the Minister of Great Britain, in behalf of certain British subjects, who have suffered in their property by proceedings to which the United States, by their military and judicial officers, have been parties. These inquiries have been sustained under circumstances which appear to recommend strongly, to the attention of Congress, the claim to indemnity for the losses occasioned by them, which the Legislative authority is alone competent to provide.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 1819.

JAMES MONROE.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate have passed bills of the following titles, to wit: "An act to regulate passenger ships and vessels;" "An act authorizing the election of a Delegate from the Michigan Territory to the Congress of the United States, and extending the right of suffrage to the citizens of said Territory," with amendments. They have also passed bills of the following titles, to wit: "An act for the relief of James H. Clark;" "An act for adjusting the claims to land and establishing land offices in the districts east of the island of New Orleans ;" and "An act to continue in force an act regula ting the currency within the United States, of the gold coins of Great Britain, France, Portugal, and Spain, and the crowns of France and five franc pieces;" also, "A resolution proposing an from the Secretary of War, transmitting a stateamendment to the Constitution of the United ment of moneys transferred, during the recess of States, as it respects the choice of Electors of Congress, from one branch of expenditure_to President and Vice President of the United States, another branch of expenditure, in the same Deand the election of Representatives in the Con-partment; which was read, and ordered to lie on gress of the United States;" in which amendments, bills, and resolution they ask the concurrence of this House.

The amendments proposed by the Senate to the bill, entitled "An act to regulate passenger ships and vessels," were read, and referred to the Committee of Commerce and Manufactures.

The amendments proposed by the Senate to the bill, entitled "An act authorizing the election of a Delegate from the Michigan Territory to the Congress of the United States, and extending the right of suffrage to the citizens of said Territory," were read, and concurred in by the House.

The Message was read, and, together with the documents accompanying the same, referred to the Committee of Claims.

The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter

the table.

SEMINOLE WAR.

The House then again resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole, (Mr. SMITH, of Maryland, in the chair,) on the subject of the Seminole war.

Mr. HARRISON concluded the speech which he commenced on Thursday, as given entire in preceding pages.

Mr. BALDWIN, of Penn., observed, that, in entering into the investigation of this subject, he should not inquire whether motives of feeling and compassion should induce us to palliate and excuse the conduct of General Jackson and the President, and whether it were right or wrong. If innocent blood had been shed, or the laws and Constitution The bill from the Senate, entitled "An act for of the country grossly violated, neither the exaltadjusting the claims to land and establishing landed character or eminent services of the persons offices in the district east of the island of New implicated ought to exempt them from the cen

The bill from the Senate, entitled "An act for the relief of James H. Clark," was read twice, and referred to the Committee of Claims.

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Seminole War.

FEBRUARY, 1819.

sure of this House. But, on a careful examina-see the negroes righted. The witness has further tion of all the evidence and documents submitted to us, he was fully of the opinion expressed by his friend from Kentucky, the chairman of the Military Committee, (Mr. JOHNSON,) that Gen

known the prisoner to give orders to the negroes; and that, at his suggestion, a party was sent from Suwanee to meet the Americans, to give them battle." Peter B. Cook testified, that, "some

eral Jackson, in the wilds of Florida, better un-time in March, the prisoner Ambrister took Arderstood the laws of nations, and the constitution of his country, than gentlemen in this House, who had been so long discussing the propriety of

his conduct.

6

buthnot's schooner, and with an armed party of negroes, twenty-four in number, set out to take Arbuthnot's goods, &c. The prisoner was sent by Woodbine to Tampa, to see about those negroes he had left there." Ambrister, in a letter to Nicholls, says, "There is about three hundred blacks at this place, a few of our Bluff people, (alluding to the negro fort on Prospect Bluff;) they beg me to say they depend on your promises, and expect you all on the way out. They have stuck to the cause, and will always depend on the faith of you," &c. The prisoner, Ambrister, according to the testimony of Jacob Hannon, "took possession of the schooner Chance, with an armed party of negroes, and stated his intention of taking St. Marks. While the prisoner was on board, he had complete command of the negroes, who considered him as their cap

He boasts that three hundred negroes have stuck to the cause-the cause of Indians attacking the defenceless inhabitants of our frontiers ; negroes fighting against their masters; and all joining in horrid butchery and murder; Ambrister leading them in the field, Arbuthnot their agent, adviser, commissary, quartermaster, storekeeper-secure in a Spanish post, concerting all their plans, and directing all their operations.

To come to a correct conclusion on the trial and execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister it would be well to inquire who they were, and their business and employment in Florida. Arbuthnot was the agent of Nicholls and Woodbine, to excite dissensions among the Indians, to make them dissatisfied with the treaty of Fort Jackson, induce them by force to reclaim the lands ceded to us by that treaty, and the British and Spanish Governments to become parties. By a special power of attorney he became the general agent of all the Indians hostile to us, and was the instigator of all their inroads upon our Southern border. He pretended to be there for trade, but this was a mere pretence. Examine his letter to Governor'tain." Cameron "I beg leave to represent to your excel'dency the necessity of my again returning to the 'Indian nation, with the deputies from the chiefs, and as my trouble and expense can only be defrayed by permission to take goods to dispose among them, I pray your excellency will be pleased to grant such a letter or license as prevents me being captured in case of meeting any Spanish cruiser on the coast of Florida." He was not the advocate for peaceful measures; his letter to General Mitchell justifies the murders of the frontier inhabitants. Speaking of the Indians, he says, "If, in the height of their rage, they com'mitted any excesses, you will overlook them, as 'the just ebullitions of an indignant spirit against 'an invading foe." To further ascertain his true character, and that of his agency and trade, I beg the Committee to examine his letter to Mr. Bagot. The bill of goods that this humane trader and innocent and injured man ordered to be sent to him, was "2,000 knives, blades from six to nine 'inches in length, of a good quality-1,000 tom'ahawks." This was Arbuthnot; and these facts appear from letters in his own handwriting.

Ambrister was a pretended patriot; the agent of McGregor and Woodbine. He came to Florida to command the runaway negroes of Georgia, slaves who had absconded from their masters, and were organized by him to return to our country, and visit it with all the horrors of a savage negro war. He came to Florida on their business, and to see them righted. According to the testimony of John J. Arbuthnot, "about the 3d of March the 'prisoner Ambrister came with a body of negroes, partly armed, to his father's store on Suwanee river, and told the witness that he had come to 'do justice to the country, by taking the goods, and distributing them among the negroes and Indians, which the witness saw the prisoner do; ' and that the prisoner said to him, that he had come to the country on Woodbine's business, to

เ

Gentlemen may differ as to the manner in which we consider Indians, whether as a nation, or as occupants of the soil, with a qualified right of ownership; but, as to negroes, there can be but one opinion. In Georgia they are slaves, property not merely personal but political, property of the highest description, which we are bound by the Constitution to protect, and to restore to their owners. These negroes could acquire no new right by absconding into Florida, and, however numerous their assemblage may be, we cannot acknowledge them as thus acquiring any national character. As between them and us they were still slaves; and their owners, the Georgia militia, who were with General Jackson, had a right to consider and treat them not as a nation entitled to the protection of the rules of civilized warfare. They were, in fact suppressing an insurrection of slaves, aided by an Indian force, all assembled and armed for purposes hostile to the country. One white man is found at their head, fighting and leading them on; another exciting, and supplying them with the means of destruction. These men cannot complain if they are put on a footing with those with whom they thus associate. They cannot expect to raise this compound mass to their own level, but must be satisfied to sink to theirs. Arbuthnot's own opin ion of himself is entitled to some weight. In his letter of 3d March, 1817, he says: "The Lower

Creeks seem to wish to live peaceably, and 'quietly, and in good friendship with the others,

FEBRUARY, 1819.

The guilt is in the heart that plots and not the hand that executes, as was most forcibly expressed by a gentleman from Virginia. Not in the musket, but in him who directs it. If, who was present and assisted at the burning of the unfortunate Colonel Crawford, had been taken by our troops, and executed; if, on that day, so proud and yet so fatal for Kentucky, when, after the battle of the river Raisin, there was a barbarous massacre of her captive soldiers, it had been true, as was alleged, that a British officer, high in com

'but there are some designing and ill-minded per'sons, self-interested, who are endeavoring to create quarrels between the Upper and Lower 'Creek Indians, contrary to their interests, their happiness, and welfare. Such people belong to 'no nation, and ought not to be countenanced by 'any government." He did excite this war, and thus, by his own account, belongs to no nation. What then is he, but an outlaw and a pirate, placed beyond the protection of civilized society? Thus we find General Jackson and Arbuthnot agree as to him, and, as to Ambrister, I will will-mand, abetted and connived at the murders, and ingly leave it to be decided whether he was less an outlaw than the runaway brigands whom he commanded.

The greater part of the hostile Indians were the Creeks, who had been outlawed by their own people. To call a gregarious collection of this kind, composed of outlawed Indians and runaway negroes a nation, and give them national attributes, is idle. Neither mass was so by themselves, and their union for a common object could not change the character of the constituent parts. A better or more appropriate name could not be given to them as a mass, or as individuals, than outlaws and pirates. They were so in fact, and, whatever rights we had against any, we had against all, whether black, white or red.

he had been taken and executed, would his fate have been more lamented than that of the poor savage, whom they encouraged? In executing Arbuthnot and Ambrister, it is not charged against General Jackson that he has shed innocent blood. The facts were admitted; their guilt was established; one threw himself on the mercy of the court, the other rested his defence on the rules of evidence. The charge is, that the guilty have not been punished according to the forms of law, and that the Constitution and laws of the country have been violated in their trial and execution. I think that neither have any bearing on the case of these men. They were found and executed out of the territorial limits of the United States, where our laws or Constitution have no operaArbuthnot was near the scene of operations, tion, except as between us and our own citizens, aiding and abetting, an accessary before the fact. and where none other could claim their benefit An attempt is made to distinguish his case from and protection. If the rights of an American Ambrister's, because he was a non-combatant. citizen had been violated by an American officer, But to me it seems, that the man who, as the he must answer to our laws for an abuse of an agent, commissary, and quartermaster, directed authority which he derived under them. These and planned the operations of this assemblage, men were not our citizens, not bound by our laws; and directly supplied them with the means, is as they owed us no allegiance, and were entitled to much a combatant as one who actually bore arms no protection. The General claimed no power in the field. Thus were these men completely to punish them under our laws. He knew that identified with the Indians and negroes, and, being legislation was necessarily confined to the boundfound in this situation by General Jackson, heary of the Sovereign; that, on the ocean, where practised towards them not the right of retaliation, each nation has concurrent jurisdiction, or in the which is punishing the innocent for the guilty, territory of any other where it is exclusive, our but applied to them what is admitted and con- laws could not give us any power over the citiceded to be the established law of nations: to zens of other Governments or within their boundtreat those with whom we are at war as they aries. All that we could claim or exercise, in treat us. Indians put their prisoners to death, and either case, is by the laws and usages of nations. in this war they did not spare women and chil- Our legislation cannot extend or annul this code. dren; the brains of the latter were dashed out on We may, indeed, prescribe the mode in which the sides of the boat, after the massacre of Lieu- our officers shall execute the powers which the tenant Scott and party, and I think it can hardly laws of nations give us over the persons, territobe contended that we were bound to extend to ry, or property of others, but cannot extend our these savages, to runaway slaves, or white incen-jurisdiction over either or give it in cases where diaries, the humane rules of modern civilized warfare. Their execution was only the exercise of an acknowledged right in us.

those laws are silent. In advocating the resolution which requires some legislative rule on this subject, gentlemen seem to forget these princiIn distinguishing between the moral depravity ples-we have no power-we should encroach of the ignorant Indian, who, in roasting his pris- on the rights of other nations. As we cannot, oner and murdering the mother and the infant, therefore, give ourselves any new powers by any follows the customs of his fathers, and as he thinks, act of legislation, I trust gentlemen will see the the dictates of his religion; and the white man, bad policy and the injustice we should do ourwho, forgetting the mild customs of his nation, selves by adopting any rule not to be found in and deaf to the benignant dictates of the Chris-national law. If we take from our officers the tian religion, instigates, aids, and abets the Indian powers which that law gives them, we go to war and negro to the horrid butchery of innocence, I on unequal terms, with our hands tied, so that think all must agree that the one who sins against we shall not be at liberty to treat our enemy as light and knowledge is infinitely more criminal. I they treat us. Our officers could neither retal

H. or R.

Seminole War.

FEBRUARY, 1819.

elty to ourselves. And, when the chance of war places in our power those who excite and direct these ravages, and not content with ordering one thousand tomahawks and two thousand scalping knives for the murder of the helpless, must prescribe their quality and length, to make the butchery more inhuman, I trust the nation will think it is time to hang them up as an example to others, and to insure peace on our borders. In

iate nor punish for the most atrocious outrages on humanity. Innocent blood would forever flow. Indian wars would never cease. Foreign emissaries would always hang on our borders, and escape with impunity. The law of nations and of war gives the General power over his prisoners. The old practice was to put them to death; and that still exists, when the consent of the belligerents has not adopted a different rule. Civilized nations govern themselves by the laws of human-ordering their execution, General Jackson was ity; but our savages have not yet learned them. War, with them, has lost none of its horrors or cruelties. It surely cannot be pretended that we are bound by a rule which they do not respect; that we cannot, by retaliation or by just punishment, revenge for past or prevent future murders; or that where we take white men who have served in civilized armies and know their usages, and yet aid and instigate the most dreadful savage war, we may not treat them as we might the savages or negroes whom they command and lead on. By the laws and uniform practice of civilized nations, this power is in the commanding General. In the case of Captain Asgill, the old Congress resolved that it was in every commander of a detachment. This was a strong case. He was about to be executed for the crimes of another. We have never, by any law, prohibited to a commanding officer the exercise of this power, and it therefore remains with him.

fully authorized by national law, by humanity to our own citizens, and the orders of the War Department. "The honor of the United States," says the Secretary of War in his letter of the 16th January, 1818, "requires, that the war with the Seminoles should be terminated speedily, and with exemplary punishment for hostilities so unprovoked." Exemplary punishment means to make an example of force, and the order would be otherwise disobeyed. In inflicting this exemplary punishment, he has violated no Constitutional provision. It was not made to protect such men; they are no parties to it; owe it no obedience, and can claim no protection from it. The fate of war placed them in his hands; the laws of nations gave him power over their lives, and they had justly forfeited them by their crimes. The General was to decide between their punishment by that law, or their absolute impunity. They were never in our territory; our laws could not reach them; our civil courts could not try; but, on application, must discharge and leave them at liberty to foment new wars and commit new murders. He could not hesi tate; he pursued the only course which the safety of our country could justify; he assumed no power, violated no rights, and punished the guilty only.

The honorable Speaker relies on our uniform usage in all our Indian wars, which is said to have been not to put an Indian prisoner to death; and insists on this use as conclusive evidence that our officers do not possess this power. This argument, if true in fact, might lead to correct conclusions: provided the power exercised in this case by General Jackson had not been one clearly vested in him by national law. There is a great I think this nation ought not to be agitated by difference between the assumption of a power an inquiry whether their execution was accordgrowing merely out of usage and justifiable only ing to the strict and technical forms of law, when on the ground of precedent, and one which has the proceedings are justifiable by the only laws been from time immemorial a part of the code of and usage which would apply to the case. The nations. In the latter case, it is matter of discre- General had the undoubted power over them; tion and policy, and not right, whether the power he might execute it on his own responsibility or shall be used. I presume gentlemen would refer it to the opinion of a board of officers or a hardly think that this argument, drawn from special court for their advice and opinion. This usage, would be a safe one by which to test the reference did not take away his inherent power, powers of this Government. We have had in- as the commanding officer, or make their opinion surrections which have endangered its existence. binding on him. If the court misapprehended or Traitors have been tried and condemned to death, exceeded their powers, it could not affect his, and but no one has ever been executed; it has been if, in their proceedings, they committed any other the uniform practice to pardon. Would gentle- errors, it could not purge the fault of the prismen now say, that the President who would sign oners. Many gentlemen seem to think that the a death warrant for the execution of a traitor General ought to have executed them on his own would be guilty of murder or other crime?-authority, without convening any court or givThough I may be disposed to admit, for argument sake, that in our Indian wars we had abstained from the exercise of acknowledged rights, yet I think that fatal experience must convince us that the safety of our frontiers imperiously demanded that this policy should be changed. Foreign incendiaries have for years caused our new settlements to be desolated by the sacrifice of innocence. Past impunity has emboldened to future crimes. Mercy to such miscreants is cru

ing them any trial. I think that the course which this investigation has taken clearly shows his prudence in adopting this mode of proceeding. He knew the execution would excite much feeling; that he was taking on himself a high responsibility. To justify himself to the nation, it was necessary that the evidence should be taken under the sanction of an oath, and recorded to us, to be in authentic form, that all might judge of their guilt and the propriety of his pro