Thursday, February 6.
Purchase of Florida.
The Senate resumed the third reading of the bill, entitled “An act making provision for defraying any extraordinary expenses attending the intercourse between the United States and foreign nations;” and,
On motion that the bill, and message from the House of Representatives accompanying the same, be referred to a select committee, with instructions to inquire and report to the Senate their opinion, whether West Florida was or was not included in the cession of Louisiana to the United States by the treaty with France, concluded on the 30th of April, 1803, together with the evidence upon which such an opinion may be supported; it was determined in the negative—yeas 8, nays 23, as follows:
Yeas.—Messrs. Adair, Adams, Bayard, Hillhouse, Pickering, Plumer, Tracy, and White.
Nays.—Messrs. Anderson, Baldwin, Bradley, Condit, Fenner, Gaillard, Gilman, Howland, Kitchel, Logan, Maclay, Mitchill, Moore, Smith of Maryland, Smith of New York, Smith of Tennessee, Smith of Vermont, Stone, Sumter, Thruston, Turner, Worthington, and Wright.
On motion to postpone the further consideration of the bill at this time, and to take up the following resolution:
Resolved, That the President be requested to lay before the Senate the instructions given to Messrs. Monroe and Pinckney, late Ministers of the United States to the Court of Spain, together with the facts and arguments exhibited by them, in their negotiation, in support of their claims to territories eastward of the Mississippi, as far as the river Perdido, and of territory on the western side of the Mississippi, as far as the Rio Bravo; the essay of Mr. Cevallos, the Minister of His Catholic Majesty, in answer to our Ministers, in relation to the western limits; and any other documents in his possession, tending to establish the rightful boundaries of Louisiana:
It passed in the negative.