Mr. R. added, that if the petitions which had this morning been presented by the gentleman from North Carolina had been read, the necessity of taking some measure similar to the one which he proposed, would have been evident to every member of the House, as the Indian countries are become an asylum for persons guilty of every enormity.
Mr. Pickens stated, that if any doubt existed as to the propriety of passing this resolution, he would call for the reading of the petitions which he had presented.
Mr. Wright had some doubts whether the laws of the United States did not at present extend to cases of this kind, and wished the resolution to lie on the table until the subject could be looked into.
Mr. Bibb said, a case had lately occurred in the State of Georgia, which showed the necessity of some farther provision on this subject. A murder of a most atrocious kind had been committed within the Indian country; the parties were taken near the spot, and brought before the federal authority in Georgia; and upon a question of jurisdiction, the judges decided that the court had no authority in the case. In a similar instance, the offenders were brought before the State authorities, which determined in the same way, and the offenders, of course, were in both cases discharged.
Mr. Grundy was of opinion that the United States courts had, at present, complete jurisdiction of all criminal cases which might arise within the Indian boundary, the case cited by the gentleman from Georgia notwithstanding; but he supposed the object of this resolution was to supply the defects of the law at present in civil cases.
Mr. Poindexter had no doubt but the courts of the United States had jurisdiction of criminal offences, committed within the Indian boundary. Congress, at their first session, made provision for the punishment of offenders charged with murder, piracy, &c., committed on the high seas or without the territory of the United States. But the difficulty suggested by the gentleman from Tennessee existed. Persons who have committed petty offences and debtors go over to the Indian territory, where the law cannot reach them. He doubted whether the resolution was calculated to reach this object, and therefore wished it to lie on the table that it might be amended.
Mr. Rhea hoped he might be permitted to judge for himself whether the resolution which he had offered was calculated to accomplish the object which he had in view. His colleague had intimated that the laws, at present, extend to criminal offences, though the gentleman from Georgia had stated a case in which the judges had determined otherwise. This shows, at least, that the law wants revision, not only with respect to criminal, but civil matters. He had drawn the resolution in the most general terms.
Mr. Bibb could not conceive how the judges of the Federal Court, in the case he had cited, could have decided as they did with the law which had been referred to before them. Perhaps it might have arisen from a clause of the constitution, which directs that jurors shall be drawn from the district where the offence is committed.
The resolution was laid on the table.
Domestic Manufactures.