Wednesday, December 22.
Another member, to wit, John Archer, from Maryland, appeared, and took his seat.
Violation of the Right of Deposit at New Orleans.
A Message was received from the President of the United States, as follows:
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I now transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with the information requested in your resolutions of the seventeenth instant.
In making this communication, I deem it proper to observe, that I was led by the regard due to the rights and interests of the United States, and to the just sensibility of the portion of our fellow-citizens more immediately affected by the irregular proceeding at New Orleans, to lose not a moment in causing every step to be taken which the occasion claimed from me; being equally aware of the obligation to maintain, in all cases, the rights of the nation, and to employ, for that purpose, those just and honorable means which belong to the character of the United States.
TH. JEFFERSON.
Dec. 22, 1802.
The Message, and the papers referred to therein, were read, and ordered to lie on the table.
The Mint.
Mr. Randolph rose, in order to renew a motion which he had made yesterday, and on which—being called to the door when some objections were urged against it—he was surprised to find himself in a small minority. Understanding that the refusal to resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole on his motion for abolishing the Mint, was the effect of a desire on the part of the House to receive the report of the Director of that institution, for the past year, he would endeavor to show that the House were already in possession of competent information, and that it could not be affected by any communication which the head of that department might make. If this were a subject novel to the House, and of an undigested nature, he should readily acknowledge his motion to have been premature; nor would it, under those circumstances, have been submitted to the House. But, on examination, it would appear that the subject had been matured during the last session; that information of the most satisfactory nature had been received from the Director; and a bill actually passed the House. That information, if it were not in the recollection of every member of the House, was accessible to all of them. It stated explicitly that the machinery would not last, without repair, longer than another year—this, he presumed, had not renewed itself; that the horses were so old that it would be necessary, at the end of the year, to replace them by others—these had not, he supposed, grown younger; that the lot was too circumscribed, and this, he imagined, had not enlarged its limits; that the expense of the institution could not, by any new arrangements, be reduced below twenty thousand dollars. The Director had not only recommended a change of the site, but of the modus operandi of the machinery of the Mint, by supplying the labor of horses by steam. Upon this information the House had acted last session. No general election having intervened, he must presume that no change of sentiment had taken place. He, therefore, thought he had a right to consider this subject as perfectly matured, and there being no other business before the House, hoped it would be taken up; although he was not surprised at the reluctance of those gentlemen who cherished the institution as one of the insignia of sovereignty, to act upon it. This aspect of the subject could not, however, be changed by any report of the detailed operations of the Mint. He, therefore, moved that the House, agreeably to the order of the day, resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole on the resolution to repeal so much of the laws on the subject of the Mint as relate to the establishing of a Mint.
Mr. Southard was in favor of the postponement. There were now present a number of gentlemen not members at the period of discussion during the last session. They have no documents, and cannot be correctly informed. He saw no advantage in entering upon the discussion at this time, as new and additional information may be received from the report of the Director. It had been said there was no business before the House; but there was business; there was a bill upon their table, why not take that up and act upon it?
Mr. Randolph called for the reading of a document that would throw clear and full light upon the subject; not light of that fleeting kind that may be derived from an annual report. From this document sufficient information could be had to convince any member that we might act as well now as at any other time.
[The Clerk read a report from the Director of the Mint, received during the last session, stating the real and personal property attached to the Mint; that the machinery might last for one year; that the horses may last a year; that to conduct the operations of the Mint to advantage, steam should be used instead of horses; that the lot on which the Mint is erected was too small; and that a less annual sum than seventeen or eighteen thousand dollars would not provide for the establishment.]
Mr. Randolph said he would state a fact, which was, that notwithstanding all the issues from the Mint, no member sees a coin. For himself he had not seen a piece of gold coined in the Mint for two years.
Mr. Lowndes said the remark of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Randolph) was not correct, as he had seen many pieces of American coin. But he could assign a satisfactory reason for the appearance of so little gold in ordinary circulation. It was the practice of the banks to count over once a month the specie in their vaults. This trouble was considerably lessened by depositing gold instead of silver. He had been credibly assured that there was now in the vaults of the banks of the United States gold, in eagles and half eagles, to the amount of two millions of dollars.[72]
Mr. Dennis said that, if, on full inquiry, the establishment appeared to be a drain on the Treasury, he should be for abolishing it; but he should not, on immature information, be for abolishing an institution, coeval with the Government, and founded on good reasons. The reasons adduced by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Randolph) were insufficient. So far as related to the horses, he believed there were only four employed, and the purchase of four fresh ones would be a very unimportant consideration. Another argument was drawn from the smallness of the lot on which the Mint stands. Though it might be better conducted on a more extensive lot, yet he was not satisfied, notwithstanding present disadvantages, that it might not be profitably conducted, at least so far as regarded a copper coinage. For these reasons he thought it proper to wait a few days, in order to receive information that would enable them to understand the points on which their decision may ultimately turn.
The question was then taken on Mr. Gregg's motion to postpone the subject till the second Monday in January, and carried—ayes 47, noes 28.