Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 3 (of 16)

by United States. Congress

Contingent Expenses.

Mr. Early said he held in his hand a resolution instructing the Committee of Ways and Means to inquire into the expediency of requiring the Secretaries of State, Treasury, War, and Navy, to lay before Congress at the opening of every session a detailed statement of the expenditure of the moneys appropriated to the contingent expenses of their departments. He would briefly state his reasons for offering this motion. The moneys for the contingent purposes of the Government were the only description of expenditures which were not controlled by the House. Over every other branch of expenditure the House exercised a control by specifying with definite clearness the respective objects of expenditure when an appropriation was made. But the moneys appropriated for contingent purposes, were left exclusively to the discretion of the different officers presiding over the several departments, in which they were alone governed by their own will and judgment. The only check which could be exercised over this description of expenditures, was to require a detailed statement of disbursements. It would be recollected that a committee had been appointed some time since to investigate the accounts of several officers of the Government, and that they made a detailed report to the House. About that time it had been contemplated to take the step which he now suggested, but for some reasons it had never been taken. Mr. Early said he by no means wished to be understood as entertaining the idea that the discretion with which the heads of department were clothed had been abused. He knew of no facts to justify such an opinion. It was on the ground of principle only that he offered this resolution. Through the four great departments which he had mentioned, passed nine-tenths of the whole money appropriated by Congress; and on looking at the statement contained in the estimates of the Secretary of the Treasury, he found that more than one-fourth of the whole amount of money estimated as necessary for the several departments, was for contingent purposes. By that statement it appeared that the whole expenses of the Department of State were $27,000, of which $14,400 were for contingent purposes. Under the head of foreign intercourse, $182,500 were estimated as necessary; of which $76,000 were for contingent purposes. The estimates for the Treasury Department were $72,100, of which $12,100 were for contingent purposes. The estimates for the War Department were $29,400, of which $2,000 were for contingent purposes. The estimates for the Military Establishment were $900,500, of which $18,000 were for contingent purposes. The estimates for the Navy Department were $21,100, of which $2,700 were for contingent purposes. The estimates for the Naval Establishment were $867,800, of which $411,900 were for contingent purposes. Mr. Early said he presumed this view of the subject would justify him in the eyes of the members of the House in offering the resolution. The resolution was agreed to, as follows:

Resolved, That the Committee of Ways and Means be instructed to inquire into the expediency of making provision by law, for requiring the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, and the Secretary of the Navy, to lay before Congress annually a detailed account of the expenditure of the fund appropriated for the contingent expenses of their several Departments, respectively.

Importation of Slaves.

The House again went into a Committee of the Whole on Mr. Sloan’s resolution for imposing a tax of ten dollars upon every slave imported into the United States.

Mr. Clark said it was essentially necessary to the passage of a law on this subject that the amendment should prevail. The original resolution contemplated a certain description of persons as slaves; the object of the amendment was to extend it to all persons imported into the United States. Suppose a cargo of slaves should arrive. Will they be entered at the custom-house as slaves? No. They will be recognized as a different description of persons, and by that means the payment of the tax will be evaded, and the law have no possible effect.

Mr. Dana.—Notwithstanding my great desire to gratify the gentleman from New Jersey, to gratify whom would afford me great pleasure, yet in the present case, with the best disposition in the world, I cannot do it. The amendment appears to me to be very consistent with the principles on which the resolution was offered. I understood it as a proposition of revenue relative to the importation of a species of men that is profitable to our merchants. I thought the revenue would be extended by taking in the consumption of a larger class of men, who might, therefore, be very fairly taxed. I could scarcely have expected that the gentleman should have travelled over the mountains, and have there counted the countless millions of acres spread out as a beneficent asylum for poor emigrants from Europe, much less that he should have so eloquently portrayed the oppression of England and France, and blended the number of persons about to occupy those western acres with the simple question of revenue now before the House. Gentlemen have brought this forward as a question of revenue. May we not be permitted to take them on their own ground? If, instead of revenue, their object be a condemnation of the trade, let them come out. The gentleman from New Jersey, with his knowledge, cannot be so ignorant as not to know that there are other persons besides slaves brought into the country, who are deemed beneficial to the community; are hardy and industrious, and that the price paid for their passage affords a profit to our merchants. Whether this description of imported persons is so beneficial as, in policy, not to be taxed, is one thing. By omitting to tax them, we virtually give a bounty. They may not be so valuable to the State as to justify an exemption from all taxation.

Mr. Macon (Speaker) said the State of which he was in part a representative, some time after the law now under consideration passed in a neighboring State, came to a resolution for amending the constitution, to give Congress the power of prohibiting the importation of slaves altogether, which was sent to the Legislature of the several States, many of whom had concurred in it, or in one similar to it. This showed the sense of the States as to this worst of all traffics. No person could more regret the conduct of South Carolina than he did. Perhaps coming from an adjoining State, his feelings might give him different impressions from that which they ought to do, although he was not sensible that this was the case. But it always seemed to him that this measure was nothing more nor less than arraigning the conduct of a State Legislature, a Legislature that was nearly equally divided, as pointing at them the finger of reprobation of the whole nation.

Mr. Southard said, the object of the resolution was to lay a tax of ten dollars on slaves imported into the United States. The amendment did not correspond with the spirit of the constitution; for it would not be contended that the convention ever meant to place free white persons wishing to emigrate to the United States under the same embarrassment as slaves. The importation of the latter had been considered as a great injury; but he would ask if the emigration of oppressed Europeans was an injury? We have only to look over the United States to see the large number, as well as the respectability of those who have been obliged to pay their passage by binding themselves out for a term of years. It was only necessary for gentlemen to view this subject dispassionately for a moment, to reject the amendment. He would ask, if the amendment carried, whether one member would vote for the resolution? He believed not, as it would be a greater evil to prevent the emigration of whites, than the importation of slaves; as the importation of the latter would be limited to the year 1808, when he had no doubt it would be prohibited by the unanimous vote of Congress.

Mr. Dana.—If I understand the gentleman from New Jersey right, he imagines the amendment is not in compliance with the spirit of the constitution, inasmuch as he is of opinion that the ninth section of the first article ought to be restricted in fair meaning to slaves. It is in the following words. [Mr. Dana here read the section.] It is, said he, indeed difficult for me to understand, how an amendment in the very words of the constitution, without the change of a single term, can violate its spirit. Because the same words are used, is it to be inferred it is contrary to the spirit of the constitution? I am sensible the amendment changes the complexion of the resolution; but while it embraces others, it includes likewise those persons in the resolution. Perhaps it may include some persons who ought to be excluded; but it should be observed that this is only a resolution for settling the principle, and that the subordinate details may be settled in a bill. Gentlemen will not contend that the importation of all descriptions of white persons is beneficial. I recollect one State into which a cargo of convicts was imported, which a law was passed to prohibit. The amendment then merely involves the question, whether the resolution shall be confined to slaves, or be extended to others.