JUNE 2, 1836.]

Louisville and Portland Canal.

of the committee, and by threats, and the exercise of an overwhelming power, affect injuriously the interests of this corporation. They had supposed themselves accused of a species of robbery; and yet, up to this time, they had not realized more than four per cent. upon the money which they had expended, though without the arbitrary and ungenerous interference of the General Government, in the manner threatened by the committee, the stock in the canal must become exceedingly valuable.

Mr. CLAY also advocated a high, just, and generous policy on the part of the United States; and

Mr. BENTON was anxious that some measures should be adopted to restrain the company from the further exercise of their alleged extortions.

Mr. B. then submitted the following, which he said he intended to offer as an amendment, as soon as the question on the pending amendment was disposed of: Sec. And be it further enacted, That so soon as the Secretary of the Treasury shall have completed the purchase of the stock in said canal, the same shall be offered to the State of Kentucky, upon condition that the said State will never impose higher tolls upon the said canal than shall be necessary to defray the expenses of superintending and keeping it in good order; and the President of the United States is hereby authorized to cause the said stock to be transferred to the State of Kentucky, whenever he shall be satisfactorily informed that the Legislature of that State has agreed by law to accept it on the conditions above mentioned.

Mr. CRITTENDEN thought that the market price of the stock would be advanced by fixing the maximum; and that if it were so fixed, fifteen per cent. would be a fairer price than eighteen per cent. fied that fifteen per cent. was a fair price, and said that He was satisif they fixed the maximum at eighteen per cent. they would have to pay that sum.

M. EWING, of Ohio, thought that the 12 per cent. proposed by the amendment, would not be giving the stockholders more than the amount of their investments. With respect to the amendment suggested by the Senator from Tennessee, and submitted by the Senator from Missouri, he hoped that it would not be passed at this time. He was for divesting the United States of all interest in this stock, as soon as it could be done without the difficulties that he apprehended at the present time. He hoped that it would be postponed till the next winter, when he thought that the proposition of the Senator from Missouri, with proper guards, would meet with the concurrence of all.

The question being taken on Mr. NAUDAIN'S amendment to the amendment, it was rejected.

Mr. CRITTENDEN then moved to amend the amendment, by striking out twelve and a half, and inserting sixteen; which was agreed to.

The amendment as amended was then agreed to. On motion of Mr. HENDRICKS, the third section of the bill was stricken out. [This contains a provision authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to vote on the stock of the United States.]

Mr. CRITTENDEN moved to strike out the second section, providing that the Secretary of the Treasury should sell out the stock of the United States, should the private stockholders refuse to sell for the price offered. Mr. HENDRICKS opposed this amendment; after which it was adopted: Ayes 15, noes 11.

Mr. BENTON then offered the amendment suggested by him.

Mr. WALKER hoped his friend from Missouri would not press his amendment. If pressed, this amendment would be adopted or not adopted, and in either case it would present those who voted for the bill, in the attitude of having voted for it after a measure of which they

1674 [SENATE.

of surrendering this stock to the State of Kentucky at approved had been rejected. He was decidedly in favor the next winter; but, as others might not be so, he feared that taking the question now would seriously embarrass the bill.

Mr. HENDRICKS said that he heartily concurred in WALKER,] on the subject of the proposed amendment. the remarks made by the Senator from Mississippi, [Mr. He hoped that the Senator from Missouri would not press embarrass the bill, and raise questions of constitutionality this proposition of transfer now. It would inevitably and of expediency from which it had wholly been restood, it was free from such questions, and the simple lieved by the amendments just adopted. As the bill now Senate. proposition of purchasing the stock was presented to the The details which might be necessary at a future day, were purposely avoided by the bill, and it stock. If this should not be obtained, no regulation of would be time enough to regulate these after we got the details would be needed. canal, after we get the stock, (said Mr. H.,) will be an important and difficult question. Shall it be transferred What shall be done with the to the State of Kentucky, on the condition proposed by question we are not prepared to decide at the present the Senator from Missouri, or any other condition, is a time. To this there would be serious objections; but he did not wish to see them raised or canvassed now. These subjects, if started now, would probably defeat the bill, which all from the West would very much renot, in the opinion of many, to be subjected to the congret. The commerce of the Western country ought trol or regulation of any State. He inclined strongly to that opinion himself. The constitution of the United States had put the regulation of commerce, domestic as ernment; and the constitutional power of Congress to well as foreign, under the control of the Federal Govtransfer that control to a State, was, to say the least of it, extremely doubtful. Western representatives, he

was sure, had not come prepared to decide this question people. The proposition of the Senator from Missouri now. It had not been placed heretofore before the would have that good effect. It would place it before the people. The measure would be canvassed, and we it. Whenever the details of this matter shall be prewould return next session better prepared to act upon sented, (said Mr. H.,) there is another proposition which will no doubt be presented also. It is that of procuring

a transfer of this canal from the State of Kentucky, and
of leaving the navigation of the Ohio river, at the falls,
where the constitution has left it-in the hands of this
Government. The constitution of the United States had
made direct and positive provision for such cases. [Here
gress power to exercise exclusive legislation over all
Mr. H. referred to the constitution, which gives Con-
places purchased by consent of the States, for the erec-
ings.] Mr. H. contended that, under this clause of the
tion of forts, magazines, arsenals, or other needful build-
constitution of the United States, and that to regulate
commerce with foreign nations and among the several
States, Congress had full power to accept the cession
of Kentucky, and to exercise exclusive legislation in all
cases whatsoever over this position at the falls of the
Ohio; and this he believed was what public interest and
public sentiment would be found to require, rather than
a surrender of the canal to the State of Kentucky.

already been produced by offering his amendment;
Mr. BENTON observed that some good effect had
for several gentlemen had declared themselves in fa-
vor of it. He hoped to see the time when the United
ing accomplished part of his object in turning public
States would own no stock in a private company. Hav-
of his friend and withdraw it for the present.
attention to his amendment, he would yield to the wishes

SENATE.]

Incendiary Publications-General Ripley.

Mr. HENDRICKS moved to amend the bill by adding the following words: "and that a sum sufficient to carry into effect the provisions of this act be, and the same is hereby, appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated."

This amendment being agreed to, the bill was reported to the Senate as amended, and the amendments being concurred in, it was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading.

INCENDIARY FUBLICATIONS.

On motion of Mr. CALHOUN, the Senate took up the bill to prohibit the circulation, through the mails, of incendiary publications.

Mr. GRUNDY moved to amend the bill by striking out all after the enacting clause, and inserting a substitute.

Mr. CALHOUN moved to amend the amendment by providing that where incendiary publications are sent to the States where such publications are prohibited by law, they shall be delivered to such persons as may be appointed to receive them, and when there are no such persons appointed to receive them, they shall be burnt; or otherwise disposed of, under the regulations of the Post Office Department.

On taking the question, this amendment was lost: Yeas 15, nays 15, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Black, Brown, Calhoun, Clay, Cuthbert, Goldsborough, Grundy, Kent, King of Alabama, King of Georgia, Moore, Nicholas, Rives, Walker, White--15.

NAYS-Messrs. Benton, Buchanan, Davis, Hendricks, Hubbard, Morris, Prentiss, Robinson, Shepley, Southard, Swift, Tallmadge, Tomlinson, Webster, Wright-15. After some remarks from Messrs. MORRIS, CALHOUN, KING of Georgia, and GRUNDY, the question was taken on Mr. GRUNDY'S substitute; and it was agreed to without a division.

GENERAL LAND OFFICE.

A bill to reorganize the General Land Office was taken up for consideration.

Mr. EWING, of Ohio, stated that the provisions of this bill looked to an entirely new organization of the General Land Office. It proposed the appointment of a large number of additional officers; every one of whom he was confident, from what he had seen and heard, was absolutely necessary to discharge the duties of this Department. An immense mass of business had accumulated upon the hands of its officers, which it would take years of industry and perseverance to bring up to the present time. The reason of this was evident. When the office was first established, the amount of business done was but trifling; it now amounted to ten or fifteen millions annually. At that time, too, the sales embraced only large tracts of land, from a half to a quarter section; now the case was different. Various laws, also, particularly the pre-emption laws, had served to swell and increase the business transactions of the General Land Office.

From these considerations, the committee had came to

the conclusion that all the force in clerks, &c. proposed
to be added, was imperatively necessary. Any mem-
ber of the Senate who would look into this office, and
see the immense amount of labor to be done, would
be perfectly satisfied that this conclusion was a just one.
The blanks for the salaries of the officers were filled
as follows:
Commissioner of the General Land Office,
Recorder,

Principal clerk of surveys,
Each of principal clerks,
One clerk,

Four clerks, each
Sixteen clerks, do.
Twenty clerks, do.
Five clerks,
Thirty-five clerks, do.

do.

The bill was then reported to the Senate; and on the question of concurring with the amendment made in committee, Mr. CALHOUN renewed his motion to amend the amendment that had been rejected in comTwo principal draughtsmen, each mittee. The question on this motion was also rejected: One assistant draughtsman, Yeas 15, nays 15, as follows: Two messengers, each YEAS-Messrs. Black, Brown, Calhoun, Clay, Cuth-Three assistant messengers, each bert, Goldsborough,, Grundy, King of Alabama, King of Georgia, Moore, Nicholas, Preston, Rives, Walker, White-15.

NAYS-Messrs. Buchanan, Davis, Ewing of Ohio, Hendricks, Hubbard, Morris, Niles, Prentiss, Robinson, Shepley, Swift, Tomlinson, Wall, Webster, Wright-15.

The amendment of the committee was then concurred in, and the question on ordering the bill to be engrossed for a third reading was carried: Yeas 18, nays 18, as follows; the Chair voting in the affirmative:

Two packers,

$4,000

2,000

2,000

2,000

1,600

1,500

1,400

1,200

1,100

1,000

1,750

1,200

700

350

450

do. The bill was reported with the amendments, and ordered to be engrossed.

GENERAL RIPLEY.

Mr. HUBBARD asked and obtained leave to introduce a bill to audit and settle the accounts of General Ripley.

On introducing the bill, Mr. HUBBARD addressed the Chair as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Black, Brown, Buchanan, Calhoun, Mr. President: A few mornings past I gave notice Cuthbert, Goldsborough, Grundy, King of Alabama, that I should ask leave to introduce a bill, giving authoriKing of Georgia, Moore, Nicholas, Preston, Rives, Rob-ty to the Secretary of War to audit and settle the acinson, Tallmadge, Walker, White Wright-18.

counts of Eleazer W. Ripley with the Government, and Nays-Messrs. Benton, Clay, Davis, Ewing of Illinois, to allow him a pension for a severe wound which he Ewing of Ohio, Hendricks, Hubbard, Kent, Morris, received during the last war while in the way of his Niles, Prentiss, Ruggles, Shepley, Southard, Swift Tom-duty. I have prepared the bill, and before I resume linson Wall, Webster-18.

DISTRICT BANKS.

Mr. KENT moved to take up the bill to extend the charters of certain banks in the District of Columbia. The question being on the third reading, Mr. BENTON opposed this motion, and moved to lay the bill on the table; which was negatived.

Mr. BENTON moved to postpone the bill, and make it the order for Saturday. Negatived.

Mr. BENTON asked the reading of the report; when,
The Senate adjourned.

my seat I shall ask leave to present it to the consideration of the Senate. But before I present it, I must be permitted to make a few remarks with reference to the extraordinary services of General Ripley as a military officer, and with reference to the severe, unjust, and unmerited treatment he has received at the hands of his Government while engaged in the employ of his country. And I will here state, that my movement in relation to this matter is wholly unknown to Gen. Ripley. I have not, up to this time, exchanged a word with him upon this subject. Whatever I shall say, or whatever I

1677

JUNE 3, 1836.]

OF DEBATES IN CONGRESS.
General Ripley.

may do, will be induced by the respect which I enter-
tain for the high character and honorable services of
this distinguished individual. I know well his history.
The success, the fame, the prosperity of this early friend
I have, in
could not be a matter of indifference to me.
common with his other New England acquaintances, felt
a deep mortification at events which seemed, for a time,
to attach to his character a degree of ignominy; but re-
cent developments have wiped away every shade from
his moral reputation; and with great individual pleasure
and satisfaction do I avail myself of this opportunity to
bring foward a measure, the object of which is to ren-
der but an act of sheer justice to a highly honorable,
but much abused and injured fellow-citizen.

The bill which I have prepared, Mr. President, con-
tains two very distinct provisions. The first is, that the
accounts subsisting between General Ripley and his
Government shall be audited and settled by the Secre-
tary of War. The second is, that General Ripley shall
be placed on the list of invalid pensioners, for the
wound received while in public service, and that his
pension shall commence at the time the disability was
incurred. I have made myself believe, notwithstanding
the known usage and the practice of the Department,
that every consideration of right and of justice calls upon
us to carry into full effect the last provision of the bill.
That we have not only precedent upon precedent giving
authority for the proceeding, but the case of General
Ripley itself is so entirely distinguishable from other
cases, that I cannot doubt that, when all the facts shall
be known, the Senate will unhesitatingly adopt that
provision. With reference to the first provision of the
bill, my object has been merely to give authority to the
Secretary of War to settle and finally adjust the ac-
counts between General Ripley and the United States.
It was a fact well known, that these accounts embraced
receipts and disbursements of the public money to a
great amount during the last war, and while he was also
performing the high and honorable duty of a field offi-
cer in the army. No man was more unwilling, more
averse, to perform the additional duties of a disbursing
agent than General Ripley. He was not calculated for
the office. That particular service illy comported with
his habits He was uneducated in the school of an ac-
countant; but it was the call of his Government; it was
the order of his country, and he promptly obeyed that
call; he unhesitatingly submitted to that order; he never
shrunk from any duty; he never avoided any responsi
bility. He did undertake to disburse the hundreds of
thousands which were committed to his charge; and at
this late day, it is matter of joy to his friends that it has
finally been twice found by a jury of his country, that
every dollar of the public money received by him, has
been faithfully and honestly applied, and that there
exists an indebtedness on the part of the Government to
him in a large amount. I shall find it necessary before
I close my remarks, to advert to this history again. I
shall find it necessary so to do in order to show the
propriety of carrying into effect the second provision
of the bill which I have prepared, viz: to grant him a
pension for disability, and to have that pension com.
mence at the date of that disability.

There is a rule of practice prevailing in the Department with reference to the time when pensions shall commence, and that is when the evidence upon an application shall be closed. It will be found, upon an examination, that this practice originated under the act of May, 1820, which provides "that the right any person now has, or may hereafter acquire, to receive a pension, in virtue of any law of the United States, shall be considered to commence at the time of completing his tes timony." That act referred exclusively to those annuitants who were, or should be, in the receipt of pensions

[SENATE.

for 'revolutionary services; it in fact referred to the
It was not
pensioners under the act of March, 1818.
designed to have, nor in truth could it have, any appli-
cation to invalid pensioners under the act of the 11th of
January, 1812. The claim of the latter class rests upon
a totally different principle--a principle which has been
recognised from the foundation of our own Government
--a principle which has been recognised by every civil-
ized Government in christendom--a principle not only
connected with the justice, but having an intimate rela-
tion to the honor, of the country; that principle is loss of
physical power while in public service; that principle
is personal disability; a deprivation of the means of gain-
ing a livelihood occasioned by wounds received in the
performance of military duty; and whenever it so bap-
pens that any one who is thus engaged shall be de-
prived of limb, or in any way be disabled, a sense of com-
mon humanity, as well as of common justice, would
prompt the Government at once to make up for that disa-
bility; if not to heal, to pour balm into the wounds of
the faithful soldier, by giving him a pension-a reward
commensurate with the degree of his disability.

The act of the 11th of January, 1812, provides "that if any officer, non-commissioned officer, musician, or private, shall be disabled by wounds or otherwise, while in the line of his duty in public service, he shall be placed on the list of invalids of the United States, at such rate of pension, and under such regulations, as are or may be directed by law: Provided, always, That the compensation to be allowed for such wounds or disabilities to a commissioned officer, shall not exceed, for the highest rate of disability, half the monthly pay of such officer at the time of his being disabled or wounded; and that no officer shall receive more than the half pay of a lieutenant colonel."

It does seem to me that the language of this act is too plain, too precise, to admit of cavil or doubt, and its inacter. It declares that whoever shall be disabled while junctions are of the most imperative and positive char in the line of his duty in public service, shall be placed on the list of invalids of the United States, at such rate of pension as may be directed by law.

It will not be denied that General Ripley continued in the service long after the battle at the sortie from Fort Erie, adding, year after year, to his fame as a military officer; but in that battle he was severely and dan gerously wounded, and by that wound he was disabled. His right, then, to an immediate pension, must depend the act. The late Attorney General (Mr. Taney) has upon the meaning of the word "disabled," as used in given a clear and sensible exposition upon this point; not with reference to this particular case, but one not unlike it. "Does the word disabled," he remarks,

mean that the officer must be disabled from the duties of his station before he can receive a pension? or does it mean any degree of personal debility which renders him less able to provide for his subsistence? The latter interpretation of the word disabled is most consonant with the spirit and objects of the law, and, indeed, it is the only one consistent with that provision of the statute which directs that the pension shall be graduated, so that the compensation to be allowed to a commissioned officer shall not exceed half of the monthly pay of such officer at the time of his being disabled or wounded."

The act provides that the officer disabled shall be placed on the list of invalids at such rate of pension, and under such regulations, as may be directed by law. And it being a provision of the law that the pension shall' be graduated according to the nature and degree of his disability, all that was necessary to the grant of an immediate pension to General Ripley was to ascertain the In this pardegree of his disability, in order to fix the rate of his pension. This is also a regulation of law.

SENATE.]

General Ripley.

ticular case, from the very nature of the wound, although General Ripley continued to discharge the duties of his situation, he was not only exposed to great bodily suffering, but he was also subjected to great additional expense in the performance of his public duties, by rendering the assistance of others necessary to do those offices about his person which, before the injury, he could perform for himself. It was a disability which commenced in 1814, but it increased with the increase of his years. The effects of a premature old age, by reason of his severe sufferings, are now manifest to every observer. He is no longer that active, athletic, and vigorous man which he once was. He has become decrepit, disabled, disfigured. He is no longer full of health and of life; he is enfeebled, worn down; and how has all this happened? The effect will find its cause in the disability which was incurred on the battle-field in September, 1814. It was the wound he then received, the suffering he then endured, the exposure to which he was unavoidably subjected, while in the way of his duty, that has brought all this upon him; and shall it now be said that he was not then disabled, because for many years he continued to perform the accustomed duties of his station? No, sir. It was wise and politic in the Government to retain General Ripley in the service; his presence, his example, his precepts, nerved the arm of the soldier, and gave energy and confidence in the hour of battle.

General Ripley was, Mr. President, seriously disabled by the wound he then received, and his pension ought not to have been withheld on the ground that he continued in the employment of his country; and, as it was not then extended to him, it becomes our duty at this late day to do him justice, by carrying back his pension to the commencement of his disability.

"When is the disabled officer to receive his pension, which the law so emphatically awards to him, if he does not receive it while in service? After he has resigned his commission and become a private citizen? Certainly not; because it must be borne in mind that, by the act of congress just cited, pensions are contingent and graduated, and that the highest rate of pension for the greatest disability cannot exceed half the monthly pay to which the disabled person was entitled at the date of his injury."

The pension of General Ripley should, and it must, if the Government would be consistent with itself, commence on the day when the wound was received--at the time when the disability was incurred. And I am, and ever have been, unable to understand why the commencement of an invalid pension should be controlled by the circumstance of application and proof. Whenever the physical disability takes place, then should the justice of Government be extended.

"The act of January, 1812, was a compact, and cases occurring under it were to be viewed as a compact, and they have no more right to cut off the pension than they would the pay or the lands which they had stipulated to give."

With reference to pensions for individual services in the war of the Revolution, they were specially created by the act of March, 1818, and by the subsequent acts of Congress. The Government had not been able to perform the contract, in letter or in spirit, with the soldiers of the Revolution, and these annuities were granted to the surviving officers and soldiers of that day to make up for the deficiency. All this is the regulation by law. It was competent for Congress, in relation to. this matter, to fix the amount as well as the commencement of the annuity. It was a legislative provision to reward for service rendered more than half a century before the adoption of the provision. That was a matter addressing itself to the high sense of the justice of Con

[JUNE 3, 1836.

gress. They were to make such an enactment in relation to this matter as they might think just and proper. They have done it; and the whole matter is now particularly regulated by acts of Congress. This class of pensioners ought to have their pensions commence when they shall bring themselves within the provisions of the existing acts. These pensions may be regarded now in the nature of a debt, which the Government must be presumed to be able and willing to pay whenever the creditor shall make out his claim. But the act of January 11, 1812, declares what shall be done upon the hap. pening of particular events. It says to the officer, Join the service of your country; and, should you be wounded in battle, you shall he compensated according to the disability incurred.

Entirely different, then, is the case of an invalid pensioner; his claim arises under previous acts of Congress, and should commence with the commencement of the disability, for the best of all reasons-it was for that very disability which the legislation of the Government was intended to provide. The grant, then, should go back to the origin of the disability, and should continue while the disability continues. This, I contend, should be the policy and the practice of the Government; any thing short of this would work the most manifest wrong and injustice. If there is any title under the acts of Congress to an invalid pension, it results from the fact of having been disabled while in the actual military service of the country. And would it not be absurd to contend that the commencement of such a pension should be controlled by extraneous circumstances? It seems to me that any such practical construction would be wrong in principle, and in violation of the spirit, if not of the express letter, of the act of January, 1812.

It was under this act "to raise an additional military force, that General Ripley entered the army of the United States. Those who knew him in early life felt a pride that so pure a patriot, and so gallant an officer, had joined the standard of his country in that day of her danger, when the most unhallowed sentiments were avowed, both as to the existing causes, and as to the probable effects of a war with England. It was when dismay had almost chilled the ardor, and broken down the force of popular feeling, that Ripley came forward and united his fate with the fate of his native country. And from the commencement of his public service to the time when he resigned his commission, a period of eight years, it is a fact worthy of all praise that he was never absent from the scene of his duty. A furlough, a temporary relief from the severe hardships of the camp, was a favor which he never sought, and which he never received. I know this man well. We were natives of the same State, and educated at the same institution. His early and unchanging principles, his habits of industry, his known character, his high and honorable feelings, gave the promise of his becoming a bold, a daring, a brave, and a humane officer; a pledge which has been most faithfully redeemed. He was first appointed a lieutenant colonel of the 21st regiment; a regiment which was enlisted by his untiring efforts; a regiment which was second to no other attached to the American army for the bravery of its officers and men during the period of the war. Its commander was rarely absent from the field of battle. He was by the side of Pike when that gallant officer fell at York. He led the advance, consisting of his own regiment, at Chrystlerfields, and repeatedly drove the enemy back with the bayonet. He was, without solicitation on his part, for this particular act of daring courage, advanced to the office of a brigadier general. He was present at the capture of Fort Erie, at the battle of Chippewa, and at Bridgewater, where his brigade stormed the heights; and with Miller, another son of the granite State, at the