Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub

32D CONG.....2D SESS.

source of all political power, and their representatives control the Treasury of the country.

Now, sir, what benefit will the people of Ohio, or of any free State, receive by the annexation of Cuba, for which they are to be taxed to such a large amount? The first effect would be to bring to this Hall eleven Spanish members to enact laws to govern our people. Those Spaniards will be ignorant of our language, bred and educated under Spanish despotism, unacquainted with our institutions; men who never exercised the right of suffrage, and who have no just views of free governments. I do not think the influence of such men in this Hall would be worth $100,000,000. But the Spanish population of Cuba would not only be brought into full political association with our people, but they would come into the Union with greater advantages, influence, and power over our rights and interests than we ourselves possess. Their influence under our Constitution will be proportioned to the number of their slaves, counting five of those newly-imported Cuban negroes, fresh from the African coast, equal in moral and political influence to three of our free citizens of the North; so that the holder of five of those slaves will wield the same influence in the Federal Government which four of our northern men exercise. Now, let those representatives who really think their constituents to be worthy of only one fourth part of the moral and political influence to which those Cuban slaveholders are entitled, vote to give the $100,000,000 to degrade their constituents and posterity to the level of those Cuban slaves. Sir, I deny the right and the constitutional power of this Government thus to degrade and disgrace the freemen of Ohio. Will my Democratic colleagues, or my Whig colleagues take issue with me on this point? Will either of those parties inscribe Cuban annexation upon their banner at the next election? Yet, sir, until the people consent thus to disgrace themselves and their children in coming time, this insult to our dignity cannot be consummated. Will not such a proposition stir up agitation? But, sir, we have merely commenced upon the difficulties which surround and embarrass the purchase of Cuba. The eight hundred thousand slaves of Cuba were mostly born in Africa, and imported to that Island. They are desperate and have little regard for human life. For many years past the military force required to hold them in subjection has been estimated at twenty thousand men, or twice the military force now maintained by this Government. The annual cost of maintaining such an army in that Island would not probably fall short of $20,000,000; and the expense of civil government, including light-houses, local legislation, pay of members of Congress, &c., would not be less than $3,000,000. While the revenue, under our laws being assessed only upon imports, would not exceed $2,500,000. Thus there would be a net annual expenditure of more than $20,000,000 over the revenues of the Island to hold their slaves in subjection. That amount would be drawn mostly from our laboring men of the free States. And now I ask, in all kindness, how long do you believe the laboring people of Ohio would consent to pay troops at that rate to stand sentinel over the slave drivers of Cuba while they lash these degraded minions into submission?

Barque Georgiana, &c.-Mr. Smart.

mond, some Ward, or other hero, will be found to plan and conduct insurrections; some Touissant to lead them in battle. Your troops will find active employment. Fire and sword will be called into service; devastation, rapine, and slaughter will be carried by the infuriated slaves over the plantations and villages. Two hundred thousand colored men rendered desperate by barbarous oppres sion, will constitute no mean force when fighting for life and liberty. In that struggle Mr. Jefferson has assured us the Almighty possesses no attribute which will permit him to take sides with the oppressors. No, sir, our consciences and our sympathies must be with the oppressed. Our prayers will be that justice shall take place; and if the oppressors be laid low in death, we shall view it with christian submission. Then, sir, this Government will possess the constitutional power to conclude a peace by the total abolition of this accursed system of oppression. And do you think that Congress will long continue such a war? Will they shoot down those who thus strike for liberty? Or will they not rather consent to return to them their God-given rights?

And, sir, I would say to our southern friends, that when this spirit of liberty shall once be aroused among the blacks of Cuba, they will be very likely to bring the war into Florida, Alabama, and other southern States. Mr. Chairman, annex Cuba now, with its present slave population, and you and I may live to see our slave States devastated by a servile war. Indeed, I am surprised that the colored population there have remained supinely inactive so long. These States are at this time suppressed volcanoes, ready to burst forth whenever the elements shall become agitated. The annexation of Cuba will rock this Union to its center, and the hidden flames will find vent, and the fire will extend until slavery be consumed. When that day of retributive justice shall overtake our southern friends, we, sir, will interpose, not by shooting down the victims of oppression, by murdering those who have been oppressed, wronged and outraged, but by making peace with them upon terms of justice, and admitting them to the enjoyment of their liberty.

But, Mr. Chairman, I have spoken only of the peaceful purchase of Cuba and its consequences. It is the only mode in which we can obtain it. We can get it in no other mode. Slavery sits like an incubus upon our nation, paralyzing all our energies, and rendering a war with any powerful nation impolitic and dangerous. We cannot go to war for the conquest of Cuba. And, sir, from what we learn by the correspondence before us, as well as from other sources, Spain will not be likely to sell it to us. She has taken her position on this point, and has long maintained it. She will continue to maintain it. The old Castilian determination of purpose will guide her councils in future. I am, therefore, very clearly of opinion, that we shall not have Cuba so long as the friends of liberty continue to call public attention to the wrongs and crimes of slavery.

The policy of the Spanish Government to set the slaves of Cuba free in case of formidable invasion, forbids all hope of obtaining it by conquest. It is now well known that prior to the Lopez expedition, the Governor-General had express orders, if he found it necessary to defend the Island, to abolish slavery and put arms into the hands of the emancipated slaves. Now, sir, our fillibustering politicians will have no object in obtaining Cuba, unless they can thereby obtain it with slavery. They fight for oppression, not for freedom. With these facts before the country, we shall have no more fillibustering expeditions. Our political filibusters will now disappear. They will escape the garrote, but will be reserved for political suffocation.

But a standing army of twenty thousand men will not be sufficient to maintain this system of oppression. That Island now imports some thirty thousand African slaves annually. They are ignorant and stupid; they have no common language, and are incapable of any concerted movement for freedom. By annexing Cuba to the United States, this foreign slave trade will be cut off, and the supply of victims will then be drawn from our slave-trading States. This, sir, is the great object for which annexation is sought. It will enhance the price of human chattels in our northern slave Mr. Chairman, I speak my own opinions. No States. But here again, God has thrown around other man is responsible for what I say. I have this gigantic crime, dangers which cannot be given some attention to this subject, and have satavoided. These slaves will be more enlightened; isfied my own mind, that while the advocates of they will speak the English language, which is liberty shall continue their efforts for freedom, spoken in all the British Islands. They will have their struggles for justice to all men, Cuba will not some knowledge of their rights, and of the means be annexed. I congratulate the friends of liberty of obtaining them. Nor will they want for lead- and of humanity upon the important position they ers to guide them in the work of achieving their have attained. The very efforts which our oppoliberty. The whole eight hundred thousand free nents said would secure the annexation of Cuba colored people in the neighboring islands will sym- have, under the circumstances to which I have repathize with them. Some Douglass, some Re-ferred, prevented the perpetration of that outrage.

HO. OF REPS.

It is the bold, unflinching agitation and maintenance of truth, by political, moral, and religious efforts, that has saved us from that degradation. Had we, sir, united with the other political parties at the late election; had we then disbanded, there would have been danger of the annexation of Cuba, even at the price of war and bloodshed. But we have attained the position which enables us by our efforts to command the respect of our opponents; and, more especially, has our course commanded the respect of ourselves-of good men -of the lovers of liberty in this country and in Europe, and, as I humbly trust, the approval of God himself. Slavery can only flourish, it can only exist, in the quiet repose of peace. It cannot continue amid the storm of war or the rage of moral elements. All history shows us that slavery cannot exist amidst the agitation of truth. Justice is the great moral antagonism of oppression. They cannot exist together. I indulge the hope that slavery has reached its limits; that it cannot pass beyond its present boundaries, if we remain true to our purpose and our principles. Its proud waves are already stayed. Cuba must remain attached to the crown of Spain. Yet I would say to British and to French statesmen, that if they wish to obtain it for the purpose of establishing liberty there, of giving freedom to its down-trodden people, let them satisfy Spain and take the Island. We shall submit, for the very obvious reason, that while we hold our own slave population in subjection, we cannot enter into a war with either of those Powers in order to maintain that institution in Cuba. We, sir, would rather see Cuba free, under British or French rule, than see our fellow-men oppressed, degraded, and ruthlessly murdered under either Spanish or American authority. But if it remains subject to Spanish laws, its final redemption is not so far distant as we have been accustomed to think. The employment of Chinese laborers in that Island has proved far more profitable than of slaves. Indeed, it is said the expense of carrying on their plantations by the labor of these free people from China is less than half that of slave labor. At this time there are said to be six thousand Chinamen on their passage to Cuba, for the purpose of engaging in the cultivation of the soil. The laws of Cuba are also more favorable to emancipation than those of our slave States. These circumstances, under the guidance of Providence, amid the lights and intelligence of the present age, are slowly but surely working out the redemption of Cuba, even under Spanish rule. Yet its annexation to this Union would, in my opinion, hasten the overthrow of slavery, both there and in our slave States.

The world is moving in favor of liberty. Redemption to the African race upon this continent must soon come. I trust it will come in peace; but I will add, in the language of our departed coadjutor, John Quincy Adams, "Let it come; if it must come in blood, yet I say LET IT COME.

[ocr errors]

BARQUE GEORGIANA, &c. *REMARKS OF HON. E. K. SMART, OF MAINE,

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
December 27, 1852,

In reference to the seizure and confiscation, by the
Spanish authorities, of the barque Georgiana of
Maine, and brig Susan Loud of Mass.
Mr. SMART said:

Mr. Speaker: A number of my constituents, as well as interested citizens of Massachusetts, having made application to the State Department, to obtain relief, without success, I deem it now due to those I represent, to make a public statement of their claim upon the Spanish Government for indemnity. The Georgiana cleared from the port of New Orleans and left for Chagres on the 25th of April, 1850, with provisions and passengers, agreeably to her charter. After being at sea about seven days, she was compelled, by head winds and a strong current against her, to stop at

*These remarks were written out and handed to the Reporter for publication in the Daily Globe, as I could get no opportunity to deliver them in the House. I gave the House notice that I would send them to the Reporter for publication, my object being to get the facts before the country. E. K. S.

32D CONG.....2d Sess.

the Island of Contoy. She remained at that Island two days, waiting for a change of wind, after which she got under way for the Island of Mugures. Attempting for three days to reach Mugures, she was finally compelled, by head winds and adverse currents, to return to Contoy.

The Susan Loud cleared at the custom-house in New Orleans on or about the first day of May, A. D. 1850, for Chagres, the place to which she was bound according to her charter. She left New Orleans on the second day of May, 1850, having on board passengers and provisions. After she had left the Mississippi river, C. R. Wheat, who had chartered the Susan Loud, to transport passengers and provisions from New Orleans to Chagres, being on board, directed the master to proceed to latitude 260 north, in longitude 870 west. The Susan Loud proceeded to this point, at which the steamer Creole came up, taking the passengers and her captain from the Susan Loud, and commanding the captain to act as pilot to the steamer to Mugures and thence to Cardenas, which command he obeyed. The Susan Loud in charge of her mate, Mr. Hale, now went to Contoy.

The Georgiana and Susan Loud lay at anchor at Contoy harbor, on the 18th of May, when the Spanish war-steamer Pizarro, and brig-of-war Habanero, hove in sight, and immediately captured the American vessels, with all their officers, seamen, and passengers.

These vessels were taken into Havana, by the General of Marine, on the 5th of June, 1850, and confiscated to the use of the Spanish Governmer.t on the 9th of July following. These facts I believe are substantially agreed to on both sides. But the Spanish authorities rely on certain other circumstantial evidence as a justification of their seizure and confiscation of the American vessels. It is stated in the report of the Auditor of War and Marine, at Havana, in the proceedings carried on consequent to the detention, at Contoy, of the Georgiana and Susan Loud, that the Georgiana, two days after she left New Orleans, took in cases at the Balise, which were said to contain machinery, but turned out to contain arms.

Barque Georgiana, &c.—Mr. Smart.

sustained by her crew amounted to...
That of the Susan Loud to.

Total....

.$17,313 50
.12,787 37

.$30,100 87

HO. OF REPS.

cate the vessels to their own use! The American Government, instead of obtaining a release as a . matter of right, accepted of a pardon for these American citizens, convicted by the Spanish Government; and have obtained no indemnity, as I have before stated, for the confiscation of the vessels. Such has been the position of Mr. Fillmore's administration, in face of its valiant declarations that the Spanish authorities had no right to seize our citizens or vessels at the Island of Contoy-an Island within the jurisdiction of Mexico and that the eagle should protect them.

On the 15th of December, 1851, I submitted a resolution to the House of Representatives, requesting information concerning the seizure and confiscation of these vessels. The resolution was adopted, and answered by the Secretary of State on the 27th of January, 1852. From the papers communicated by the Secretary of State, I obtain the facts I have now stated. The Georgiana was the property of citizens residing in the district I have the honor to represent, and the Susan Loud was owned by citizens of Massachusetts. The owners of these vessels are honest, industrious, worthy men, and they are entitled to the protection of the Government, against the spoliation of their property by a foreign nation. Other citizens, indeed, can but regard their cause with solicitude. Every one engaged in commerce has an especial having captured these citizens on a Mexican Island, have interest in the protection of our flag, and in defending all our just rights upon the high seas; and every patriotic man must feel that the laws of nations should not be violated and American citizens thereby injured.

With this view of the subject, the seizure of these American vessels becomes a matter of general interest. If we suffer two vessels to be wrongfully seized and confiscated, what safety is there for any portion of our commercial marine? If we permit the clearest principles of international law to be violated in the confiscation of our property, we shall nowhere be safe from insult and injury.

I do not wish to complain, but I think our Government has been tardy, if not negligent in this matter. The Georgiana and Susan Loud were confiscated by the Spanish authorities in July, 1850, and up to this time no indemnification has been obtained by our Government. The American Government, strange as it may seem, has been more prompt to indemnify Spanish subjects for the destruction of Spanish property.

About the time of the seizure of these vessels, the populace of New Orleans destroyed some property belonging to the Spanish Consul, and other subjects of Spain. Immediately after, upon the meeting of Congress, the President promptly recommended an appropriation to indemnify these Spanish subjects. In accordance with this recom

It seems that these cases were said to contain machinery, at the time they were taken on board the Georgiana. Should we not fairly infer that they were so considered by the captain and crew of the Georgiana? If, however, they were then found to contain arms, &c., the captain was with-mendation, Congress at its late session appropriaout the necessary power to break up the voyage, or prevent the shipment of these cases.

It is further stated in that report, that the Creole communicated with the Susan Loud at sea. The Creole did communicate with the Susan Loud at sea, and it was unquestionably by a previous arrangement with Wheat, the supercargo, and not with the captain. Wheat states in his deposition, communicated with the papers furnished by the President, that after they got to sea he directed the captain of the Susan Loud to sail to a point 260 north latitude, 870 west longitude. There the Creole came up, as I have already stated. The captain was then taken on board the Creole, and detained, against his will, as appears by Wheat's deposition.

It is further alleged that the Creole communicated with both vessels at Contoy; but this is no proof of combination on the part of their officers and crews with the Creole. They were evidently, after they got to sea, under the control of persons whom they had no power to resist. Many of the men on board the Georgiana and Susan Loud may have been.connected with the expedition; but the officers and crews of the vessels at the time of their departure, it certainly appears, regarded their destination as Chagres. The clearance of these vessels for Chagres is prima facie proof that their officers regarded Chagres, and not Cuba, as their destination, and there is no evidence to show that they had any knowledge, prior to their departure, of any combination of those on board their vessels with the invaders of Cuba. After the officers of the vessels were at sea, they found themselves compelled to obey those persons on board, who turned out to be connected with the expedition, and who had the physical power and determination to command them. Such are the facts, and upon these facts and some few others less important, the Spanish authorities appear to have acted. The value of the barque Georgiana and losses

ted $25,000 for that purpose.

While such peculiar care has been taken of the interests of Spanish subjects, no mention has been made by Mr. Fillmore in his message of the indemnity due to American citizens, and I do not learn that the American Government has made any progress in procuring indemnity from Spain for the outrage now under our notice. From an examination of the papers, I do not believe the Spanish Government had evidence sufficient to justify it in affirming that these vessels were bound for the Island of Cuba; and so far as I can learn, the testimony obtained by the Spanish Court of Admiralty affords no proof that the officers and crews of these vessels intended to invade the Island of Cuba, or even knew at the time of their departure of any connection of their vessels or passengers with such invasion. Be that as it may, they did not in fact invade that Island, nor did the vessels go into Spanish waters or within Spanish jurisdiction. They committed no offense against the laws of Spain, because they did not go within the limits of Spanish territory.

The only justification of the seizure of these vessels, seriously advanced by the Spanish Government, is that they were pirates on a desert Island, (at Contoy,) and that the Island was the same as the open sea. They therefore seized them as " pirates upon the high seas.

[ocr errors]

But they were not pirates even if they intended invading Cuba. The American Government took this position and demanded the immediate release of the vessels and passengers, and insisted that they should never be tried by Spain. This was patriotic. The position of the Government was taken under General Taylor, but it was not insisted on so far as the subsequent acts of the two Governments were concerned.

Our Government permitted the Cuban authorities to try the men taken at Contoy, and to convict such as they chose to convict; also, to confis

To show the position of our Government upon this question when the news was first received of the capture of the Georgiana and Susan Loud,` and their officers, crews, and passengers, I quote from Hon. John M. Clayton, then Secretary of State: "DEPARTMENT OF STATE, "WASHINGTON, June 3, 1850. "But it is not conceded that the Spanish Government,

a right to convey them to Havana and punish them capitally for crime. It is unnecessary for me to remind one so well versed in the law of nations, that there is a wide dis tinction between crime and the intention to commit it. Besides, it has been alleged that these men had abandoned the illegal enterprise, and relinquished all design to invade Cuba."

The Secretary of State to Mr. Calderon. "DEPARTMENT OF STATE, "WASHINGTON, July 9, 1850. "I have had the honor to receive your note of the 2d instant. In reference to so much of that note as refers to the trial of the Contoy prisoners by the Marine Court of the Havana station,' it is my duty to state, as I have heretofore said to you in conversation, that I do not admit the right of the Spanish authorities to try those prisoners, who, according to all the statements which have reached us, were captured beyond the Spanish jurisdiction, and had committed no act of hostility against Spain or her colonies. It is also my duty to repeat what I have heretofore said verbally to you, that the President of the United States had sent an agent to Havana to demand the release of these prisoners, who, in his judgment, were not guilty of any intention to invade the Island of Cuba. He claimed for these prisoners. that they should be tried by the courts of their own country, and that they were not amenable to the Spanish jurisdiction. "Were your reasoning correct, you might with equal propriety denounce the penalties of piracy upon any citizen of the United States who has been engaged in fitting out the illegal expedition against Cuba, although he may have never left the limits of his own country. I therefore take occasion again to repeat to your Excellency, that the desig nation of pirates,' when applied to the Contoy prisoners, is utterly erroneous, even supposing (what I would by no means admit) that they entertained hostile intentions against the Spanish dominion in Cuba.

*

*

[ocr errors]

"The facts related in your note to justify the capture and abduction of the prisoners taken at Contoy, and the two vessels, the Georgiana and the Susan Loud, are deemed entirely insufficient, and it is my object now to remind your Excellency that in all I have written and said to you upon this subject, I have endeavored faithfully to warn your Government of the danger which might result to the peaceful relations of the two countries, should illegal punishment be inflicted upon these American citizens."

The Secretary of State to Mr. Calderon. "DEPARTMENT OF STATE, "WASHINGTON, June 25, 1850. "You have repeatedly designated these American citizens concerned in the late outrageous violation of the laws, both of the United States and Spain, as pirates.' It is by no means my duty to shield them from the use of the most opprobrious epithets you can bestow. Still their crime was not piracy. Murder and robbery are crimes of the deepest dye; but unless committed on the high seas, they cannot amount to piracy. The distinction may appear of little consequence, except where the designation of 'pirate' is applied to citizens of the United States who may have engaged in an enterprise to invade Cuba, but have not executed their intention. The indiscriminate application of such a designation to these men, as well as to those who have been guilty of some overt act of felony, may give rise to errors which we may hereafter have occasion to regret. American citizens who may have engaged in an expedition for the invasion of Cuba have doubtless been guilty of a great crime, in violating the laws of their own country, for which they merit, and will receive, the just censure not only of Spain, but of the United States. Yet their offense, without some overt act of felony, and that, too, on the high seas, cannot with any propriety be characterized as 'piracy.""

I have stated that our Government demanded the immediate release of the vessels and passengers captured at Contoy. To show that it took such position, I refer to its instructions to Commodore Morris, which are as follows:

"DEPARTMENT OF STATE, "WASHINGTON, June 29, 1850. "The President directs that you proceed as soon as pos sible to Havana, in the war steamer Vixen; that, on your arrival there, you request an audience of the Governor and Captain General of Cuba, representing to him that you bear

32D CONG.....2D Sess、

a message to him from the President of the United States On beof importance to his country, as well as your own. ⚫ing admitted to his presence, you will demand of him the immediate release of all the prisoners taken at Contoy, and without the Spanish jurisdiction. He recognizes no right on the part of the Spanish authorities to try and punish the prisoners taken at Contoy; and he will view their punishment by the authorities of Cuba as an outrage upon the rights of this country. Without enlarging upon the grounds taken in making the demand through the Consu!, of which you are fully informed, the President is satisfied, from the reports which he has received of the evidence taken before Judge Marvin at Key West, as well as from other information, which he deems entirely reliable, that the men taken at Contoy had embarked to go to Chagres; and if any of them had ever designed to invade Cuba, they had repented of that design and abandoned it. Under these circumstances, the President cannot consent that the lives or liberties of citizens of the United States shall be forfeited, or that the question of the truth of the evidence above-mentioned shall be referred to any foreign tribunal.

"The owners of the bark Georgiana and the brig Susan Loud have exhibited to this Department statements to prove the innocence of the captains who chartered those vessels; and you will inform the Governor and Captain General of Cuba that this Government expects those vessels to be returned to their owners, with damages for their capture and detention. Those statements confirm the testimony taken before Judge Marvin of the innocence of the prisoners of any intention to invade Cuba-which testimony has, we learn, been fully communicated to the Governor and Captain General."

I also ask attention to the language of our Minister to Spain. Mr. Barringer to Mr. Clayton, giving an account of Mr. B.'s reply to the Spanish Minister of State, at Madrid, August 7, 1850,

says:

"I replied, that the Georgiana and Susan Loud were carrying passengers who believed bona fide that they were going to Chagres; that the vessels did not accompany each other, nor was there any proof that they ever had the same original destination; that even if the prisoners taken at Contoy were primarily engaged in the enterprise of Lopez and his comrades, they had abandoned that intention, and were about to return to the United States; that the Government of the United States were in possession of evidence tending to establish this conclusion; that the principle that an intent to commit a crime is not the crime itself, was too There must be some overt act, palpable to need comment. even when such criminal intention existed. There was if always a locus penitentiæ; and, in this particular case, the prisoners were guilty of any offense on the ground of intention, it was certainly not against the laws of Spain, but of the United States, and cognizable alone in their tribunals, which claimed the sole jurisdiction to decide on the competency of the evidence which might be offered to affect their guilt or innocence. But apart from all these considerations, the Government of the United States believed that the American occupants of the Island of Contoy, near the coast of Yucatan, belonging and subject to the jurisdiction and sovereignty of Mexico, a Power on terms of friendship and amity with the United States, and beyond the territory and jurisdiction of Spain, and who were there made prisoners by her direction and command, were not guilty of any offense, under the law of nations, against Spain; and that their seizure on the territory of a third and friendly Power was illegal and in derogation of the rights of the United States: much less did Spain have any right to detain and prosecute American citizens thus captured in her own tribunals, according to her own course of judicial procedure in criminal cases. The United States could not recOgnize such a right or pretension, and protested in the most firm and solemn manner against all proceedings and consequences which had or might follow from such unlawful capture, and the investigations had by virtue of it in the Spanish courts. I was instructed by the President to demand of her Majesty's Government, at Madrid, the immediate release of the American citizens thus taken, and now in confinement under Spanish authority; and that, as I had every reason to believe that her Majesty's Government had been fully apprised of the nature and character of this demand, I was also instructed to insist on a prompt reply."

Mr. Barringer, in a communication to Pedro J. Pidal, Spanish Minister of State, dated Legation of the United States in Spain, Madrid, September 19, 1850, made use of the following language:

pi

"The argument of your Excellency, in defense of the resolution of her Majesty's Government, is founded on two cardinal errors repeatedly asserted or insisted on in your communication: 1st. That the Contoy prisoners are rates,' according to the law of nations; 2d. That the Island of Contoy is desert,' and not subject to any local jurisdiction, so far as the purposes of this question are concerned. "Piracy, under the law of nations, has a fixed and determinate meaning, and is, in the language of the law, de fined with reasonable certainty.' Many acts may even partake, to some extent, in moral guilt, of a piratical character, which are nevertheless not piracy.

"To plan, to fit out, and send forth from the United States a military expedition against a colony of Spainalthough a most penal and flagitious crime under the laws of the United States, subjecting the offenders to severe punishment if arrested within their jurisdiction, (which extends to the vessels of all their citizens,) and to all the consequences of the violation of Spanish law, if taken within the dominions or jurisdiction of her Majesty-surely is not piracy under the law of nations.

"But to show how a resolute zeal (which I would rather commend than depreciate) to defend, at all hazards, the Island of Cuba against any attempted invasion, might, and did mislead the patriotic officers of her Majesty's Navy, I will suppose, for the sake of argument only, that all originally engaged in this criminal expedition were pirates by

Barque Georgiana, &c.-Mr. Smart.

the law of nations; even then the arrest at Contoy, and the
claim of jurisdiction founded upon it, are not authorized by
international law. If they were, in fact, pirates, they could
only be followed and seized in the territory of another Power
on fresh pursuit.""

Again: Mr. Barringer, writing to the Marquis
of Pidal, Minister of State, dated Legation of the
United States, Madrid, August 27, 1850, says:

"The Government of the United States cannot recognize the right of Spain to seize American vessels at anchor on the coast, and within the territory and jurisdiction of a Power having friendly relations with the United States; to capture and imprison the men and crew on board of vessels thus situated, and try them in Spanish tribunals, and according to Spanish rules and forms of proceeding, for any supposed violation of the law of nations, much less for that of Spanish municipal law.

"The prisoners whose release is demanded, were all arrested in the month of May last, either on the Island of Contoy or on board of two American vessels, the Georgiana and the Susan Loud, which were seized whilst at anchor at said Island on the coast of Yucatan, which is a portion of her domain and property, and within the jurisdiction of the Mexican Republic, of which the said State of Yucatan is a component part.

"The question of the guilt or innocence of these prisoners as connected with the late hostile expedition of Lopez, to invade the Island of Cuba, does not affect, in the slightest degree, the principles upon which this demand is made.

"Against any such illegal attempt to invade and attack the territory of a friendly Power, the Government of the United States has given too many proofs of its opposition and efficient resistance to render necessary any further as surance of its sincerity and its fidelity to every obligation of duty, or to leave any room for doubt as to its amicable dispositions..

"If these prisoners were guilty of any offense, it is cognizable and punishable by the laws of the United States, whose provisions are most ample and effectual against all such criminal enterprises set on foot within their territory or jurisdiction to invade the territory or dominions of any foreign kingdom, State, or colony, with which we are at peace.

"We deny that these men were guilty of any act of invasion or depredation on Spanish territory, or within Spanish jurisdiction. Even if guilty, originally, of an intention to join the frustrated expedition of Lopez and his coadjutors and followers, this was a crime punishable only by and un der the laws of the United States, and could not justify Spain in arresting and prosecuting them under her laws.

"I am instructed to say, that my Government will view the punishment, by the authorities of Cuba, of the prisoners thus taken at Contoy, without the Spanish jurisdiction, as an outrage on the rights of the United States.

"In conclusion, and with a view to prevent misappre-
hension, I desire to say in reference to the barque Georgi-
ana and the brig Susan Loud, that their owners have
exhibited to my Government statements to prove the inno-
cence of the captains who chartered them; and that the
Government of the United States expects those vessels to
be returned to their owners, with damages for their capture
and detention."

It will thus be seen that Mr. Clayton, and Mr.
Barringer, our Minister to Spain, took the strong-
est ground against the legality of the seizure of
these vessels and the capture of their crews. Mr.
Webster, who afterwards came into the State De-
partment, expressed his entire approbation of the
manner in which the claims of indemnity for the
capture of the Georgiana and Susan Loud had
been maintained by Mr. Barringer. He also
pronounced an early acknowledgment of the equity
"" Here
of those claims "an act of sheer justice.
is what he said, in a letter to Mr. Barringer, dated
Department of State, Washington, February 5,
1851:

"I had hoped, ere this, to have been enabled to furnish
for your use the necessary materials, with instructions to
renew your application to her Catholic Majesty's Govern-
ment for the early acknowledgment of the equity of these
claims an act of sheer justice, which, however, cannot
fail to promote the friendly relations of the two countries.

"I feel that it is due to you, in closing this letter, to express my entire approbation of the manner in which these claims have been inaintained by you in your correspondence with the Marquis de Pidal. Spain must be made to understand that the Executive of the United States will not submit to behold an injury done to persons or property under the flag of the Union, without holding to a strict responsibility the Government by whose officers such an injury may have been inflicted."

It will thus be seen how emphatic our Government has been (in language) upon the subject of the seizure and confiscation of these vessels; and yet I regret to say their owners have received not one cent in the way of indemnification.

Our Consul at Havana took the same position
maintained by Messrs. Clayton, Webster, and
Barringer. I make a few extracts from his cor-
respondence with the Secretary of State:

"CONSULATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
"HAVANA, May 31, 1850.
"One of the vessels captured at Contoy is said to be the
American barque Georgiana. By reference to the New Or-
leans Price-current, I find that the American barque Geor-
giana, Benson master, was on the 25th of April regularly
cleared by G. W. Breedlove, with a cargo of coal, for Cha-

Ho. OF REPS.

gres, which proves the sailing of that particular vessel to have been with the knowledge of the collector of the port, and that her papers were in due order.

"There may have been justification in this particular instance for temporary detention of the two vessels, but, for aught I know to the contrary, no overt act had been committed against the Spanish Government by the master or those on board the captured vessels; there may have been intention, but that intention may have been repented of and changed; but if even the intention of overt acts against this Government were entertained at the time of capture, it cannot vest a power in this Government to arrest the parties in a foreign country, to be brought to Cuba for trial. To illustrate this it may not be amiss to refer to the case of the Duc d'Enghien (with which your Excellency is familiar) to prove the opinion of the civilized world on a parallel case. If (so far as appears) offense against any Government has been committed by the masters and others on board of the captured vessels, (supposing them to be American with regular papers,) the offense has been against the laws and Government of the United States, and to that Government alone are they amenable, unless they have in some way violated the laws of Mexico."

Mr. Campbell, in a letter dated 19th June, 1850, to the Secretary of State, giving an account of his interview with the Captain General of Cuba, says:

"I observed that the President of the United States does not admit the right on the part of the Spanish Government to capture those men; they never having been on Spanish territory, could not have committed any act violative of Spanish law. Even admitting them to be guilty, their guilt was against the laws of the United States: they are amenable to those laws, and to no others."

It would seem to be a work of supererogation to add anything to the language of our Government upon the illegality of the whole proceeding of the Spanish authorities in capturing and confiscating the American vessels at Contoy.

One fact is not disputed. These vessels never went into Spanish waters prior to their capture, and if they committed any offense, it was in Mexican or American territory. Contoy, the place of their capture, it is well known, is an island under the jurisdiction of Mexico.

I take the liberty, then, to quote a single authority applicable to this fact:

"It is evident that a State cannot punish an offense against its municipal laws, committed within the territory of another State, unless by its own citizens; nor can it arrest the persons or property of the supposed offender within that territory."-Wheaton's Law of Nations, pp. 169, 170. Upon what ground, then, could the Spanish Government capture these vessels, their officers and crews? That they were engaged, it is said, in piracy on the high seas. Certainly on no other ground. If they were pirates, they might, I admit, be lawfully captured on the high seas, but not within Mexican jurisdiction. But the idea that they were pirates is, to say the least, wholly absurd. "Piracy is the offense of DEPREDATING on the seas without being authorized by any sov'ereign State, or with commissions from different 'sovereigns at war with each other."(Wheaton's Law of Nations, p. 176.)

Now, let the facts in the case of these vessels be examined. Whatever was intended by the officers, crews, or passengers, as a matter of fact they sailed under regular papers from New Orleans to Contoy. They committed no depredations upon anybody. The vessels had no armanent to enable them to plunder and rob upon the high seas; and I hazard nothing in saying, that this Government will never assent to the extraordinary assumption that they were pirates.

The Spanish authorities having, then, no right to capture these vessels, I trust the American Government will do its duty, and submit to no longer delay in obtaining indemnity for our citizens. In my judgment, our vessels of war should have retaken the Georgiana and Susan Loud without hesitation. And while our Government pronounced the detention of these vessel an "outrage,' it should have had sufficient courage to have given an instant order for their recapture.

[ocr errors]

That model President, the illustrious Andrew Jackson, would have given the order without hesitation. But Mr. Fillmore shrunk from a maintenance of the unquestionable convictions of the Government, with such demonstration as those convictions would fully justify. He waited, without any forcible interposition, for the Spanish authorities to convict and pardon several of our citizens, who were on board these vessels. He received as a pardon, what should have been demanded as a right, and insisted on, if need be, at the cannon's mouth. The property of our citizens, amounting to more than thirty thousand dollars, he has suffered the Spanish Government to retain,

32D CONG.....2D SESS.

and no satisfaction has been made to those who were captured, for their unjust detention. We are all interested in this extraordinary proceeding. Should our Government continue such a foreign policy as it has lately pursued in its intercourse with Spain, we shall soon be liable to insult from every considerable Power of the earth. It is refreshing to know that the time is at hand when it will not pursue such a policy. I by no means justify fillibustering of any kind; but we should not allow an unjust infliction by an unauthorized Power even upon an erring citizen of this Republic. Whatever may be said of the acts or intentions of the men who were captured at Contoy, I repeat, the Spanish Government have convicted and punished them without the shadow of authority. There were aggravating circumstances connected with this transaction of the Spanish Government, not generally known. Our citizens were the victims of suffering and insult, which might have been prevented by a forcible interference of our Government at the time. The following statement of the seizure of the Contoy prisoners by eighteen of their number, will be found interesting:

"The officers of the Spanish vessels of war ordered the captain of the Georgiana and another to be bung; and as regards the captain, they proceeded so far as to place a rope around his neck ready greased, and from twenty to twentyfive pounds of lead to each leg. Why they did not carry their threats into execution we are unable to say, for they had declared to the first two (that had been carried on board, as already related in our statement of the 6th May, rendered on board the steamer Levan) that they should be hung, and also all hands; considering us as pirates, and applying the term as the crime for which they said they intended hanging.

"Having, as stated, changed their mode of procedure as regards the hanging part, they set to work binding each man's arms so tight that it caused many to complain of the stagnation of blood; thus manacled, we were conducted to the third deck of the Pizarro, (viz: the thirteen,) and the thirty-nine were placed in similar situation on board of the brig Habanero. Once secured in this way, their next move was to get under way for Havana, at which place we arrived on the 20th May, and from our custody on the Pizarro we, the Pizarro party, were removed on board the ship of-theline Soberano, with the exception of one, A. B. Moore. Arriving on board said Soberano, we were placed in line on the top deck; when thus placed, our persons were searched to see if we had concealed weapons; (the same policy bad been pursued at the time of seizing us at Contoy, and was here again dastardly repeated.) After having rifled our persons of whatever articles of value found with us, we were ordered, in the most brutal manner, to descend to the third gun deck; and having arrived there, orders were issued to chain or shackle us two by two, i. e., placing a shackle on one leg of each party; there was an iron bar, of eighteen inches long and three inches in circumference, placed in said shackles so as to connect the parties together. Being manacled in this manner, we were placed on the floor and ordered to lie down and keep silence; and to this was added the vigilance of two sentinels. To this added the various modes they exercised of tormenting us, be may such as would be too lengthy to give in detail. We, the party of twelve thus manacled, remained until the 24th in the utmost suspense, not knowing what course they were going to pursue towards us; finally, on this date, we were informed of their intentions of trying us by our affidavits, which were to be given by us, and according to their purport to implicate or clear us of the accusation pending at the time. The plan pursued during the whole of this farce was bombastic-Spanish pomposity, arrogance, and vindictive looks, and threats used from time to time during the examination of the culprit pro tem.; and further to impose on this state of procedure a further mark of ignominy, the prisoner was led manacled by both legs in the presence of his honor the fiscal and his interpreter, who, pretending to be a thorough English scholar, proceeded with his inquiries as dictated by the fiscal, and in his efforts to use the figurative and flowing speech of Señor Fiscal, plunged himself deeper and deeper into a labyrinth that already appeared to them insurmountable. They continued to pursue this course during the investigation of the twelve; and on the arrival of the thirty-nine, from on the brig Habanero, on the said Soberano, pursued further acts of restraining, such as cautiouing us not to speak to each other, &c., for if we did we would bring down their ire in such a manner as to cause us to be double manacled and sent to the Puntillo; (this is a solitary place of confinement, where the rod and other modes of punishment are recurred to, and from whence the prisoner seldom ever returns to the light of day.")

To the statement of these individuals I will add that of the American Consul, R. B. Campbell, in a letter to the Secretary of State, dated, Consulate of the United States, Havana, July 16, 1850:

"The captain, two mates, and seven seamen, detained by this Government, have not yet been relieved from incommunication; but permission being granted to Commodore Morris for him and myself to see the prisoners, we first called at the military hopital, at ten and half, a. m., of this day, to see Captain Benson, who had been placed in the hospital, as was understood, on account of indisposition. We found him in a room with grated windows, and had the pain and mortification to discover that his intellect was entirely destroyed, and he had become a raving maniac. The madness is manifestly real and not assumed. The acts and words of a madman it would be idle to report, and I therefore pass them unnoticed.

[ocr errors]

Gold Coin in California-Mr. Gwin.

"My feelings have been so harassed and wounded by

the melancholy and hopeless condition of Captain Benson, and the conviction that, with the strongest desires, I have been impotent to save him from so sad and cruel a fate, that I hope I shall be excused by the President should I for a time visit the States, even in advance of permission being received. A few days, however, may lessen the present intensity of feeling; should they not, I shall leave by an early opportunity.

"The trial of the Contoy prisoners is, I suppose, being proceeded with. Captain Benson, of the Georgiana, it is believed, has been removed to a lunatic hospital. I feel a deep interest in his fate, and very much fear that his mind cannot be restored so long as he continues in a situation where he never hears his native language, or sees a familiar face. Should anything occur by which, officially or personally, I can in any manner serve him, the contingency will be immediately availed of."

I shall not be charged with drawing on my own imagination, or with exaggeration in an exhibition of the suffering and insult to which our people were subjected while in custody of the Spanish authorities. I simply refer to the documents I have quoted. They certainly present a picture sufficiently unpleasant to awaken American sensibilities.

I take this occasion again to express the hope that our Government will demand immediate satisfaction for the confiscation of these vessels, and for the damages sustained by their officers and crews. Should the Spanish Government refuse to make such satisfaction, I have no hesitation in expressing my own opinion as to the course the American Government would have a right to pur

sue.

I have no ulterior objects in expressing that opinion; I want no war for conquest, and no annexation that is not brought about by peaceable negotiation. I would not involve the country in difficulty upon frivolous pretexts with a view that annexation of territory might result. But a positive right, whether the amount in dispute is large or small, should not be surrendered. In this case the amount, though comparatively small, is not small to those who have suffered. I repeat, then, I have no hesitation in expressing my own opinion as to the course this Government would have a right to pursue, if the Spanish authorities do not make immediate satisfaction. I think we should be justified in making reprisals of Spanish property. We should be fully justified in doing this. Whether the Government would do this, it is, of course, not for me to say. Vattel says:

"Reprisals are used between nation and nation, in order to do themselves justice, when they cannnot otherwise obtain it. If a nation has taken possession of what belongs to another, if it refuses to pay a debt, to repair an injury, or to give adequate satisfaction for it, the latter may seize something belonging to the former, and apply it to its own advantage till it obtains payment of what is due, together with interest and damages; or keep it as a pledge till the offending nation has refused ample satisfaction or justice. As soon as that hope disappears, they are confiscated, and then reprisals are accomplished."

I have called the attention of the House and the country to this subject, because my constituents, having applied to this Government more than two years ago, have failed to accomplish anything.

SENATE.

ject. But as the receipt of pieces of assayed gold fore, I am not anxious to reargue the whole subfor public dues in that State is a question of conobtaining the legislation connected with the matter, siderable importance, and as I had an agency in I shall avail myself of this occasion to give a short history of my action in connection with the currency in California, that it may be correctly understood by my constituents and this body.

Soon after I arrived here as one of the Senators elect from California, among the first subjects that engaged my attention, was that of proposed legislation connected with the staple production of California, to wit, her gold; and inasmuch as I was not so well informed as I wished to be, I consulted the most eminent scientific men in the country, as to the best provisions that could be devised for the benefit of my constituents, concerned in the gold industry, and especially in relation to the coinage of said gold.

I may be permitted to say that I made inquiries of the able and distinguished gentleman who is now Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and of a at the head of the Coast Survey, as well as of the gentleman whom they mentioned as one who had subject of coining. On the 11th of May, 1850, great practical experience and knowledge on the this gentleman favored me with a communication, which I will read :

COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY, PRINCETON, May 11th, 1850. MY DEAR SIR: In compliance with your request, I have gold and commerce of California. the honor to present the following views in relation to the Of course you may make any use of them you see fit. On the continent of Europe, as you are aware, payments in large amount are rarely made in coin. Bars of the purest preferred and used for that purpose. gold, of exactly-determined weight, quality, and value, are

The size of said bars is usually about ten inches in length, three wide, and one-and-a-half thick, value, about $10,000. The color of pure gold, a rich orange yellow, is much more difficult to imitate than that of any of its alloys. This, united with its great density, is a security against counterfeiting. Large bullion and specie transactions, are also generally confined to institutions, and persons whose commercial character is a guarantee against deception and fraud. There is, therefore, reason to believe that the counterfeiting of such bars would rarely occur, especially if it be rendered criminal to mutilate the bar without destroying or entirely changing its form, or to imitate or alter, the assay marks upon it.

In France, bars of refined gold, stamped by an assayer, appointed by authority of law, with their respective weights, qualities, and values, and with the name and seal of said assayer, are a legal tender for their certified values.

During the administration of President Jackson, the French indemnity was paid in such bars. And the Rothschilds frequently send them to their agent, A. Belmont, Esq., in New York, from whom they sometimes go to the United States Mint for coinage.

For international commerce, gold bars are far preferable to coin; being compact and liable to no loss of parts, they are adapted to transportation. As the equivalent value in the coin of any country is readily deduced, by a little simple ari hmetic, from the weight and fineness of a bar, it is equally suited to all nations-being a sort of universal coin. Besides, bars require no tedious and difficult counting of numerous small pieces, and dispense with the cost and delay of coinage.

England and the United States alone seem to restrict commerce to coin. In 1847, the heavy payments of specie in return for our breadstuffs were made in sovereigns, rated as pounds sterling, though inore or less worn, and therefore of variable value. Also, the Smithsonian bequest was paid

I express the hope now, publicly, which I long ago expressed by letter to the State Department-that our Government will take this matter in hand and obtain indemnity for the men who have suffered, by what has been properly charac-in sovereigns. These sovereigns were all melted and reterized by Mr. Clayton and Mr. Webster, as an outrage upon the property and persons of American citizens.

GOLD COIN IN CALIFORNIA.

SPEECH OF HON. W. M. GWIN,

OF CALIFORNIA,

On the occasion of the presentation of several MeIN THE SENATE, December 29, 1852, morials by Mr. WELLER, signed by Merchants in the city of San Francisco and California, complaining of an act of Congress passed on the 20th of August, 1852.

Mr. GWIN said:

Mr. PRESIDENT: These memorials are old acquaintances of mine. They played a part in the late political campaign in California, and were contrived for the purpose of exciting prejudice in the minds of the people of that State against the members of Congress from that State. I met the issues contained in them, on the stump there, and I have no reason to complain of the result. There

coined at the United States Mint; and our own coin is similarly treated when it crosses the Atlantic. Why should commercial nations be thus constantly recoining the money of each other, every time that the precious metals pas to and fro in the settlement of balances of trade, which are but temporary and oscillating?

The gold of California will find its way chiefly to Enrope. Had it not better go there, then, in bars of exactly determined value, without the expense and delay of preparatory coinage by the United States, free of charge (as it now is) to the owners, but costly to the nation?

For the inhabitants of Ca ifornia and for their commerce with the Pacific nations, with China, and with the United States, a Mint is, however, indispensable. And it should be established as soon as practicable. At that Mint, it should be optional with any one depositing bullion to have it either. coined, or cast into bars, upon which their weight, fineness, and value, and the stamp of the United States should be impressed,-all the penalties against counterfeiting being extended to the imitation of such stamped bars of the United States; but this provision not to interfere with the rights of any private or State assayer to manufacture, and stamp bars with his seal and their value, &c.

Of the organization of the California Mint, I could present much of valuable detail, from which I refrain. To justify public confidence, it should be as perfect as possible, and be intrusted only to men of the highest integrily and skill.

It should, I think, be less dependent upon or controlled by the Philadelphia Mint than the existing branches are; for its greater distance, if so dependent, might produce vex

32D CONG.....2D SESS.

atious hindrances and inefficiency-besides it should be free from the local policy of a remote city.

With the view to economy, dispatch, and other advantages, the Mint system of the United States might be varied. In France the coinage is very well executed by contract, under supervision and verification by the Government. In England an association of chartered companies performs the work of refining, coining, &c., under similar governmental control. And the contract system, as in France, may be found that best suited for California. Very truly, yours,

Hon. W. M. GWIN, U. S. Senate.

R. S. McCULLOH.

Gold Coin in California—Mr. Gwin.

could lead to so gross an usurpation as that of the
coining power by the Secretary of the Treasury,
with or without the advice of the Director of the
Mint, or any other officer of this Government, or
that it would have embarrassed and deferred the
passage of the California Mint bill.

These memorialists say that we intended to give
them power to make that which would be legally
receivable for public dues, in fact coin. I deny it.
No such power was ever intended to be given.
The power to coin money is conferred by the Con-
Constitution exclusively on the Congress of the United
States. I will not go as largely into this question||
now as I would if the subject was regularly before
the Senate. But, inasmuch as I have been very
bitterly assailed in regard to this matter, I shall
now controvert some statements which these me-
morialists make. Among other things, they say
of this enactment which they ask you to repeal,
that its object was, and is, to prohibit the receipt
of the issues of the United States assay office for
customs and other public dues.
It was

On the 9th of May, 1850, the Senator from necticut [Mr. SMITH] offered a resolution of inquiry, contemplating a change of the system of coinage, to wit: that authority be given to the Mint of the United States to issue coin without separating the silver from the gold of California-to let the alloy be entirely of silver, instead of silver and copper. On the 17th of July, the chairman of the Committee on Finance, to which that resolution was referred, reported against it, and that for the reason that in commerce silver which enters into gold coin is not considered of any value, and that, if the alloy was of silver only, the producers of gold in California would therefore lose the value of their silver. For this, and other good and valid reasons, the committee were discharged from the further consideration of the resolution.

In July, the bill establishing a branch Mint of the United States in California passed this body, before I was a member of it, and in it was incorporated the power of appointing immediately an assayer in California, and permitting him to assay gold. Soon after this I was admitted to my seat, and not looking upon that as a proper mode of accomplishing the object I had in view, I introduced two bills on the 19th of September, one providing for assay offices in Stockton and Sacramento City, and the other for the manufacture of large gold coins in the Mint, its branches, and assay offices. The bills were drawn up with great care and attention, and I shall publish them with

these remarks.

After my bills reached the Committee on Finance, I ascertained that the Mint of the United States at Philadelphia was hostile to the establishment of a large Mint and assay offices in California. No sooner had I introduced my bill for large coins, than the Director of the Mint opened a correspondence with me, assuming that I was wrong, and that I did not understand the subject. He sent me a substitute for my bill, and a letter explaining how it was wrong, and his right. I found that mine met with no favor in the Committee on Finance; and the session passed without action on it. To the letter of the Director I replied, though not immediately, because I had not time at the close of the session of Congress; and in said reply I showed, I think, that his views, not mine, were erroneous. That correspondence, or extracts from it, I will also append to these remarks, as I do not wish to detain the Senate by reading it.

Inasmuch as I could not get my own bills, nor any Mint bill through Congress, at the close of the session of 1850, a law authorizing the establishment of an assaying office at San Francisco, as the only alternative, and the only legislation we could have, was passed. It was proposed to employ temporarily an assaying establishment in California, for the purpose of assaying gold. I wished to have bars, which should be of prescribed fineness and weight, stamped with legends and tracery, of given denominations, legalized and protected as coins of the United States; but the Director of the Mint denied that they could be made, and urged that gold in bars should be merely assayed, and that they should not be coins, nor be protected by penal statutes. When, towards the close of the session, chiefly, I believe, because of the interference of the Director of the Mint, this opposition to my bills, authorizing the making of gold coin in bars, I became convinced that I could not get such an act passed before the adjournment, and the proposition to employ an assay office by contract on the most reasonable terms for the assaying of gold in bars at San Francisco, was presented to me as all that could be enacted for the gold industry of California before the end of that session. I deemed it expedient to accede to that enactment, which might give some commercial facilities, but without any thought that it

SENATE.

speak in the name of the people of California. Why, all these memorials originated at this assay office, and those of the last session were sent to me after the Mint bill passed the Senate. They sought to connect the two together in public estimation, and thus help their speculation of the assay office through the popularity of the Mint. As to the views of the people of California, they are not given in these memorials, for they never eame from the people. They were got up by interested parties, who have reaped enormous profits from the order issued by the Secretary of the Treasury. But with all their exertions, sending them by express through the country as a Whig electioneering document, they could not get the signatures of more than a thousand out of the seventy thousand votes cast in the late election.

No coin is receivable for the public dues except that which is made so by authority of law; and no foreign coin can be received unless its value is regulated by law, and it particularly specified. The coining is one of the highest powers of this Now, I will state what our object was. and other Governments; and if we had intended to restrain the exercise of a legislative power that this assay office should issue coin, do you usurped by the Secretary of the Treasury, to wit: suppose that we would not have provided a penthe sovereign power of coinage; and to reduce the alty for counterfeiting, debasing, or mutilating it? charge for doing what the law had authorized, to Could we have given this power without prescribing wit: the assaying of bars from two and three penalties for violations of the high trust devolved? fourths per cent. to one per cent.; and to arrest The act, I repeat, was merely intended to furnish the substitution and augmentation of a debased commercial facilities, to determine and stamp the metallic currency for the lawful coins of the land, fineness of gold bullion in bars, instead of leaving to their exclusion. We never intended to confer it in grains and lumps, and it was designed to acthe coining power upon the Secretary of the Treas-complish this object, authorize this, and only this. ury in the provision of 1850, otherwise we would I am prepared to show that there was plenty of not have passed the act during the last session of coin in California to pay the public dues before Congress prohibiting the receipt of ingots made this order was issued from the Treasury Departunder the aforesaid provision, because that would ment, making ingots receivable as coin. have been a violation of contract. We never in- always is and ever will be imported and exported tended that any coin should be made and issued according to the wants and course of commerce. by the assaying office. We wished merely that bars should be prepared for commercial purposes.

The memorialists refer to the sub-treasury act for the authority for making these assayed bars receivable; but that law expressly enacts that all public dues "shall be paid in gold and silver coin only;" and it goes further, and enacts that if any officer shall neglect, evade, or violate this law, he shall be immediately reported by the Secretary of the Treasury to the President, with the facts of such neglect, evasion, or violation, and also to Congress.

Here is a palpable violation of the sub-treasury law, which is brought by these memorialists to the notice of the Senate and of the country, for they show that the collector of the customs at San Francisco has refused to conform to the law, and has taken the responsibility of receiving other gold and silver than the current coin of the land; and it has never been reported to Congress, as the law requires, nor has he been dismissed from office. I will not detain the Senate, but I will not permit false statements, concerning the interests of California, to go to the country without rebuke, expo sure, and refutation. They say, for instance, that the establishment of this assaying office has raised the price of gold dust from $16 to $17 25 per ounce. This is not true. Competition and other causes independent of this assay office, have increased said price. Two and three quarters per cent., the price this assay office was allowed to charge, is about fifty cents per ounce; besides, as the miner loses his silver, worth about fourteen cents per ounce, subject to a charge for parting and alloy, the stamping of slugs costs the miner fifty-five cents or more per ounce, which is taken from his gold in transitu to the Mint at Philadelphia, where these slugs have to be separated, and are not more valuable than the mere dust itself. How, then, can the assay office, independent of other causes, have made the price of gold dust rise from $16 to $17 25? This office was intended to give a more merchantable form to the gold, and therefore was expected to be of some service.

It may be proper to make these slugs receivable for public dues at their real value, as my colleague has suggested, if that can be ascertained. The Mint publishes them to be worth $49 90 only for the gold they contain, and to be of irregular weight and value. They go on in this memorial, Mr. President, and present some extracts from memorials which came here last session in favor of a Mint connected with this assay office, and they presume to

||

Coin

In 1848 and 1849, there was a great scarcity of coin, but it afterwards became abundant. Ånd in my opinion, if it had not been for this usurpation of power, it would have remained so, and we should have got along very well until a Mint was established. But by the substitution consequent upon that usurpation of an inferior and debased currency, for the coins expressly and exclusively authorized by the laws of the United States to be received in payment of public dues, the coin was shipped out of the country.

I will now declare that I am entirely opposed to the manner in which the Treasury Department has proposed to construct a Mint in California, with all due deference to those to whom the progress of that work is intrusted. A new state of affairs has arisen in the bullion trade of the world, since the Mint in Philadelphia was planned and built; and the whole arrangements of a new Mint ought to be adapted to this change. The plan of the Mint projected is servilely copied from that in Philadelphia, with all its incongruities, and would not be suitable to my State at all. By the leave of the Senate, I will, on a fit occasion, ask their consideration of the question whether we had not better suspend the building of a Mint on the plan proposed, until we can ascertain from those who understand the subject, what kind of a Mint is best calculated for California. This can be better done after the fourth of March next, when those shall come into power who will hold themselves, and be held by others, to be fully responsible to the people for the manner in which they expend money appropriated by Congress.

Ever since I took my seat I have had to contend with the Philadelphia Mint, closely connected with this assay office, and attempting to establish a local monopoly, injurious alike to the interests of my constituents and of the commerce of the country. And I intend shortly to bring to the notice of the Senate abuses in the management of this Mint and its branches.

They have resorted to falsehood to mislead legislation, by misrepresenting the capacity of the Mint; and to conceal this imposture, they even neglected to separate silver from the gold, coining it without parting, contrary to the report of the Committee on Finance to which I have referred; thereby depriving the depositors of their silver, whom they, at the same time, charged for its extraction; and therein they defrauded them of that which legally belonged to them.

The poor miner who brings with him his savings

« PoprzedniaDalej »