Friday, December 1.
Two other members, to wit: from Virginia, Edwin Gray; and from North Carolina, Meshack Franklin, appeared, and took their seats in the House.
Navigation Laws.
Mr. Macon said he wished early to call the attention of the House to two motions, the object of which he deemed to be very important. The first of them had been formerly submitted to the House by a gentleman from Georgia, (Mr. Early) but never acted on, and afterwards by a gentleman from South Carolina, (Mr. D. R. Williams;) the other had been presented by Mr. Macon himself at the last session, but at so late a period that it had not been acted on. It appeared to Mr. Macon that these motions combined with one submitted at different times by a gentleman from Connecticut, (Mr. Dana,) would form something like a system. The object of the first motion he was about to submit, was to prohibit any foreign vessel from coming from any port or place to which the vessels of the United States could not go. Gentlemen would at once observe that there were many places whence vessels came to this country, to which we cannot go, and would perceive the extent of the motion. The other motion related to sea-letter vessels only. Mr. Macon said he wished to put them out of the nation, and to have no vessels belonging to the United States which were not perfectly American. He would have our vessels wholly American, or they should not at all partake of the character of American vessels.
After declaring that he considered his motions as calculated for permanent regulations, Mr. Macon submitted the following resolutions:
Resolved, That the Committee of Commerce and Manufactures be instructed to inquire into the expediency of prohibiting the entry of any vessel into the United States from any port or place to which a vessel of the United States is not admitted by permanent regulation of the Government owning such port or place by treaty.
Resolved, That the Committee of Commerce and Manufactures be instructed to inquire into the expediency of authorizing the registering anew of vessels built in the United States, which are owned in whole by citizens of the United States, any disability incurred by such vessel to the contrary notwithstanding; and also into the expediency of forbidding by law sea-letters or any custom-house documents being granted to vessels not registered or licensed according to law, or not owned by citizens of the United States, within a limited time after the passing of such a law.
Mr. Newton having seconded these motions, Mr. Macon moved to refer them to the Committee of Commerce and Manufactures.
Mr. Dana observed that these resolutions had in view merely an investigation by the Committee of Commerce and Manufactures into the subject of them. On such a question it was but necessary to ask whether the subject be of itself interesting, and whether or not the proposition bears on the face of it so much of probability and propriety that there could be no objection to it on the score of its being utterly inadmissible. Unless, therefore, the propositions were utterly inadmissible, if they related to a subject interesting to the nation in time of peace as well as of war, if they had a connection with one great branch of national policy, there could be no objection to have them investigated by a committee. Without expressing any opinion on the first proposition, which embraced a variety of important considerations, Mr. D. said that the motions were recommended to the House by their being founded on permanent principles, to which the nation may adhere in every alternative; and in addition to the attention due to them because they were of a permanent character and not merely temporary expedients, they might contribute to some of those measures of temporary policy deemed proper, and without a possibility of thwarting, might perhaps aid any project the Government might adopt. As to the second resolution, that he considered important in another point of view, as tending to encourage American manufactures. If there be any manufacture which requires great precision of science and experimental skill, any one which embraces more of the profound and elevated principles of science, and requires more dexterity in practical execution than any other, it is the constructing of ships. With these ideas, which Mr. Dana said were not applicable to the merits of the proposition, but to the question of reference, he should vote for referring them. He was extremely glad the motions had been brought forward, and particularly that they had been introduced by a gentleman so well qualified to sustain them, by his character and talents.
The motion for referring Mr. Macon's propositions was carried.