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 MR. PHILLIPS, OF MASSACHUSETTS, 
 
 CruN THE BILL TOR THE 
 
 RELIEF OF THE SUFFERERS BV THE FIRE AT NEW YORK. 
 
 Bin.irtnr.N 
 
 IN TUB HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 February 16, J83o. 
 
 W A S H I N O TON: 
 
 NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER OFFFCE. 
 1836 
 
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8 P K E C H. 
 
 The House being in Committee of the Whole on the New York relief bill, 
 and the motion of Mr. Hardin, to strike out the proviso of the first section] 
 still pending — 
 
 Mr. Phillips rose, and addressed the Committee as follows: 
 Mr. Chairman: I have felt it my duty to examine, with care, the provi- 
 s.ons ; ot th.s bill, and to weigh the objections which have been urged against 
 u. *rom an acquaintance with the state of business, and the general situa- 
 t.on of merchants in the city of New York; from personal observation of the 
 immediate effects of the recent calamity; and from inquiry into the probable 
 extent ol its wide-spread consequences, I have been convinced of the import- 
 ance, nay, of the absolute necessity of some early provision, on the part of this 
 Government, for the relief of its debtors in that city; and, upon reflection, 1 
 am satisfied that it is not more the impulse of liberality than the obvious 
 dictate of sound policy to do at least all that is proposed "in this bill. 
 
 The bill provides for two objects: first, the relief of such debtors of the 
 Government as were immediate sufferers by the fire; and, secondly, the re- 
 lief of all who were indebted to the Government in the city o<* New York at 
 the time when the fire occurred. The proposed relief is confined, in both 
 cases, to debtors of the Government, and consists simply of an extension 
 without interest, of the time of payment of bonds given to secure the duties 
 upon goods recently imported. This relief it is proposed to afford in the 
 largest measure to the immediate sufferers, and in a less degree to the others 
 who are supposed to be liable to temporary embarrassment, if not direct loss 
 from the necessary consequences of such a calamity. 
 
 The extension of payments thus provided for is an indulgence which the 
 Government can grant, in the present state of its finances, without incon- 
 venience, and, under the existing arrangements of the Treasury Department 
 without any sacrifice. Such is the amount of surplus revenue already collected' 
 that, if these bonds were paid at maturitv, the Government would have no' 
 use for the money, and it would be suffered to lie in the deposit banks with- 
 out interest. The effect of the bill will, therefore, be, to allow to the debtors 
 of the Government, rather than to the banks, the gratuitous use of the amount 
 of the bonds during the time of extension. So far as the privilege which the 
 banks would otherwise enjoy may be thus curtailed, they can have no right to 
 complain, since the use of the Government balances that will still remain in 
 their hands, must be more than an ample remuneration for the services thev 
 perform. J 
 
 All that is proposed, then, is nothing more than an ordinary arrangement 
 to which, under various circumstances, creditors are often obliged to accede 
 from considerations of prudence and liberality. In this case, while there may 
 be reason to suppose that, by refusing such temporary accommodation, the 
 Government might fail of securing its debts, it is clear that, by granting it, 
 it w,H afford direct and effectual relief to its debtors, and, in relieving so many 
 of them, do much to restore confidence and hope to a distressed community 
 
 I he relation between the Government, as a creditor, and the citizens 
 
whom it requires to become its debtors, by giving bonds for duties upon im- 
 ports, is, under our revenue system, in several respects, peculiar; and the 
 course of the discussion upon this bill has shown that it is not sufficiently un- 
 derstood. It differs essentially from the usual relation between creditor and 
 debtor, inasmuch as it results not from an ordinary and voluntary contract, as 
 between buyer and seller, but from a legislative exaction, which creates the 
 debt without furnishing to the debtor an immediate, but only a contingent 
 equivalent. Let me endeavor to illustrate my meaning upon this point, con- 
 fining the illustration to the case of duties secured by bonds. Immediately 
 upon the arrival of a ship in port, before the cargo can be landed, the im- 
 porter is required to execute his bond, with sureties, for the amount of duties 
 on the goods consigned to him; and, from that moment, except that he is en- 
 titled to an allowance for damage ascertained to have been incurred during 
 the voyage of importation, he is responsible to the Government for the amount 
 of his bond, whatever losses he may incur in landing and storing the goods, 
 or while they remain in store, before he has had an opportunity of disposing 
 of them for consumption or export. Should the goods be exported, he is en- 
 titled to a drawback of the duty; if they are sold for consumption, the duty 
 becomes an increment of value, and is received back by the importer in the 
 price which the consumer pays; but while they remain in the warehouse of the 
 importer, even, as in many cases, under the lock and key of the custom-house, 
 the Government holds him responsible for the duties, against all risks; and, 
 should the goods be destroyed or lost, will still exact the payment of his bond. 
 Now, it is obviously of no advantage to the importer that a duty is thus levied 
 upon his goods, and it is as obviously not the design of the revenue laws that he 
 shall be a loser, by reason of his being held subject to the payment of the 
 duty; but the design is, that the payment of the duty shall devolve ultimately 
 upon the consumer, and the Government employs the importer as its agent 
 for collecting the duty from the consumer. When the importer has sold the 
 goods to the consumer, (though he is obliged to take upon himself the risk of 
 bad debts, without any guaranty from the Government,) he has realized a 
 consideration for his bond, and acquired the means of paying it; but, until 
 that contingency has occurred, he remains in the situation of an agent who, 
 upon the receipt of goods on consignment, has made an advance in cash, or 
 given an acceptance to his principal, without being able to avail' himself of 
 the legal privilege of the agent in such cases, of recovering from the principal 
 the amount of the advance or acceptance, if the goods should be lost or de- 
 stroyed, in landing or in store, before they can be sold. 
 
 The disadvantage and injury to which the importer is thus exposed, may 
 be attributed to a prominent defect in our revenue laws — the want of a Ware- 
 housing system. In England, where that system, after many gradual ef- 
 forts to establish it, has been in full operation since 1826, the* evil does not 
 exist. It is there provided that the importer, upon landing his goods, may 
 deposit them, under the inspection of officers of the customs, in a "ware- 
 house of special security," as it is termed, which may be a private store or 
 quay duly licensed for the purpose, under prescribed regulations; and the 
 goods are allowed to remain in such warehouse for a term of three years, 
 subject only to the standing bond of the proprietor or occupier of the ware- 
 house, or the special bond of the importer, "for the payment of the full du- 
 ties of importation, or for the due exportation of the goods." If within three 
 years the goods are exported, the bond is discharged; if they are taken "for 
 home use," the duties are payable in cash upon delivery from the warehouse. 
 While the goods are warehoused, the duty does not accrue; if they are lest or 
 destroyed by unavoidable accident in the warehouse, the duty is not held to 
 
be payable; or, if they are lost or destroyed "in landing or shipping," or "in 
 the receiving into, or delivery from the warehouse," the duty, "payable or 
 paid," is remitted or returned. While the goods remain in the warehouse, 
 sales may be made by one party to another, (the law prescribing a mode of 
 transfer,) and the purchaser succeeds to all the privileges of the importer; or, 
 rather, the privilege attaches to the goods, so long as they remain in the ware- 
 house, whatever may be the changes of ownership in the meanwhile. It is 
 not until they are about to pass into immediate consumption that the duty is 
 payable; and thus the importer has the opportunity of collecting the duty from 
 the consumer before he is required to pay it to the Government; and it is 
 only after the goods have passed into the consumer's hands that the Govern- 
 ment is released from the risk of losing the duty, in consequence of any una- 
 voidable accident (by fire, or otherwise,) that may befall the goods. 
 
 Such, Mr. Chairman, is the design of the English warehousing system; and 
 the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Pickens) will perceive, that, in a 
 case like the present, it would save harmless (in respect to liability for duties) 
 most of the importers, for whose partial and temporary relief this bill makes 
 provision. Had the English system been in operation at New York, a large 
 proportion of the imported goods destroyed by the fire would have been ware- 
 housed; the duty would not have accrued, and would not have been payable; 
 and the Government could not have been a gainer by the calamity, as it now 
 may be, since it has secured the duty upon all goods which, if not burned, 
 would have been exported, and will derive an increase of revenue from the 
 importation of goods required to supply the place of those (also burned) which 
 were intended for consumption. 
 
 I regret, sir, that the warehousing system could not, long since, have been 
 introduced here. As perfected in England, it affords innumerable advantages 
 to the commerce of the country, and has not proved liable to abuse. I per- 
 ceive no sufficient obstacle to its introduction here. The principle was par- 
 tially recognised in the sixtieth section of the act of Congress of 2d March, 
 1799, providing for the landing, storing, and re-lading of the cargoes of ships 
 arriving from foreign ports in distress, without requiring the consignee, in such 
 cases, to enter the goods and secure the duty. The allowance of drawback 
 upon goods exported, is also a partial recognition of the principle; but, it is 
 only by adopting the system in its entire extent, that we can secure to our 
 citizens the same advantages of foreign trade that are now enjoyed in Eng- 
 land, as well also as at most of the principal ports of the continent of Europe. 
 The fire at New York furnishes striking proofs of the injury and injustice to 
 which merchants are exposed, from the want of the system; and I shall con- 
 sider it as the strongest indication of friendly regard for the mercantile in- 
 terest, whenever Congress shall see fit to entertain a suitable proposition in 
 reference to this object. I shall cheerfully vote for this bill, because I con- 
 sider it founded in the most equitable principles, and because it provides for 
 a case of suffering of appalling magnitude; and yet I am not unaware that it 
 furnishes some foundation for the charge of partial legislation, inasmuch as 
 there have been other cases, similar in all important respects to this, in which 
 importers, from unavoidable accident, have been subjected to the loss of goods 
 upon which they had secured the duties, and have received no relief from the 
 Government. It is impossible to refer to any single case which exhibits an 
 amount of loss at all approaching to what has been sustained at New York; 
 but I am safe in saying that the aggregate of losses in such cases as the 
 Government has failed to provide for, if it could be ascertained, would prove 
 that importers have been hitherto great sufferers from the unjust operation of 
 laws which are still in force, and from the want of a system which might 
 easily be established. 
 
The gentleman from South Carolina, (Mr. Pickens,) misapprehending, as 
 I conceive, the relation between the Government and the importer, upon 
 which the provisions of this bill are founded, has illustrated his view by the 
 assertion that the claim upon the Government is the same, or that there is 
 equally no ground for a claim, whether the sufferer by fire is an importer at 
 New York or a purchaser of imported goods at Cincinnati. The Government 
 is clearly under no obligations to the dealer at Cincinnati. It has subjected 
 him to no legislative exactions; it holds him under no peculiar responsibilities; 
 it sustains towards him no other than the ordinary relation of Government to 
 a citizen. It is, more especially, in no sense his creditor; it has no demand 
 against him as a debtor; and, most of all, it cannot regard him as a debtor, 
 of whom it is requiring the payment of a debt for which it has given him no 
 equivalent, and in regard to whom the contingency, upon which alone de- 
 pended the opportunity of his realizing an equivalent, through unavoidable 
 accident, cannot occur. This, then, is the distinction between the two cases, 
 resulting from the wideby different relations which the supposed sufferers sus- 
 tain towards the Government. When the foreign goods pass from the im- 
 porter to the consumer, (or to the consumer's agent, the purchaser for con- 
 sumption,) I agree that the duty becomes an increment of value; that the 
 importer then realizes the equivalent for what he has paid or owes the Gov- 
 ernment; that from that time the importer can have no claim upon the 
 Government, growing out of the peculiar relation which he had assumed; 
 and, that of course he cannot transfer to the consumer, or his agent, an 
 equitable right which was peculiar to himself as an importer, and has ceased 
 to exist. The purchaser for consumption buys the "foreign goods of the im- 
 porter, as he would buy any other goods, for a fair consideration, and after- 
 wards holds them, as he would hold any other goods, at his own risk. His 
 contract with the importer does not involve any assumption of responsibility 
 to the Government; he cannot therefore prefer a claim against the Govern- 
 ment as resulting from that contract, and there is no other ground upon which 
 lie can rest a claim. Whenever the Government shall return to a system of 
 which its experience has been too unfortunate again to recommend the adop- 
 tion, and shall levy an excise upon whiskey before it has been removed from the 
 vats, or, at least, from the warehouse of the distiller at Cincinnati; and when 
 that distiller can state the fact to Congress, that, as one of the sufferers by an 
 awful conflagration which has reduced to ashes an extensive section of the 
 thriving emporium of the west, he has been deprived, by the destruction of 
 his property, of the means of recovering from the consumer the amount of 
 the excise which he has paid or owes the Government, there may be a case 
 at Cincinnati resembling, in some of its features, and in its equitable claims 
 to the consideration of Congress, the present case at New York. 
 
 I have thus far confined myself to a statement of some of the reasons which 
 induce me to regard it as an act of justice, to make provision for those debtors 
 of the Government who have been immediate sufferers by the fire — the first 
 class designated in this bill. My convictions lead me to the conclusion that 
 the most reasonable objection to the first section of the bill is, that it falls 
 short of its proper object; and that it should have provided, not simply for 
 an extension of the time of payment, but, under suitable regulations, to pre- 
 vent fraud, for the absolute remission of the duties upon all goods subject to 
 duty which were destroyed by the fire. And, sir, if any argument applicable 
 to this case is to be drawn from that clause of the constitution which requires 
 duties to be " uniform," I submit to the gentleman who has quoted it, (Mr. 
 Pickens,) whether it is not virtually a palpable disregard of uniformity to 
 require of the importer, whose goods perished in the fire on the day of their 
 
landing, or on the day preceding that on which (the outward entry, perhaps, 
 having been lodged at the custom-house) they were to have been exported, 
 or on any intermediate day, so long as they remained in his hands undisposed 
 of for consumption or export, the same duty which has been paid by another 
 importer, who has received the duty from the consumer, and has thereby been 
 enabled to act as the law intended lie should act, merely as the agent of the 
 Government, in collecting the duty which is thus actually paid by the con- 
 sumer? Upon a proper construction of the clause, however, I do not consider 
 it as furnishing any argument applicable to this case; and I suppose it only 
 designed to prescribe that the general revenue laws shall operate equally and 
 alike throughout the country, without restraining the power of Congress to 
 make suitable provision for extraordinary cases arising under those laws, as 
 necessity, justice, or the public interests may require. I will barely submit, 
 in this connexion, that, to insure the most salutary effect to this and every 
 part of the constitution relating to the collection of revenue from imports, 
 and to the regulation of commerce incident thereto, there is no legal provision 
 so practicable, so simple and certain in its operation, and so well adapted to 
 exclude cases of special legislation, as a warehousing system. 
 
 It is my deliberate opinion, for the reasons which I have stated, that the 
 importers of "dutiable" goods, destroyed by the fire, and upon which the 
 bonds are in the course of collection, may justly claim a remission of duties. 
 If the bonds have been collected, or if the duties were paid in cash, I hold, 
 for the same reasons, that the amount of duty, in such cases, should be re- 
 funded. But, at this point the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Chambers) 
 encounters a difficulty which, it appears to me, may be easily removed. Con- 
 fining himself to the case of bonds which have been paid, he says, that as 
 soon as they are paid, the relation of creditor and debtor ceases; and that 
 thereupon the claim of the importer upon the Government expires. Allow 
 me to suggest to him, that, though the bond has been paid, if good cause shall 
 subsequently appear why it should not have been paid; or if it can be shown 
 that the consideration for which the bond was given has not been and could 
 not be realized; or if, where the duty was paid in cash at the time of entry, 
 the exportation of the goods has entitled the importer to drawback; that, in 
 all these cases, the fact of payment has not settled the account; and that, it 
 may be, the relation of creditor and debtor, instead of having ceased, has in 
 effect been reversed, the Government having become the debtor for the 
 amount paid, and the importer as a creditor being entitled to reclaim it. The 
 English law, in the cases to which I have referred, authorizes the commis- 
 sioners of customs to " remit or return" the duties " payable or paid;" and 
 the gentleman in justice must acknowledge that, when he can agree that the 
 duty cannot equitably be claimed by the Government, he should be equally 
 ready to refund the money if it has been paid, or to give up the bond if it 
 has been secured. He surely will not attempt to screen the Government from 
 the obligation to do equal justice to two claimants, similarly situated in respect 
 to the merit of their claims, merely because one claimant had been obliged 
 or had chosen to advance the amount which he claims in cash, and the other 
 had been suffered to substitute his bond; or between two claimants similarly 
 situated in all respects, except that both having given their bonds, the bond 
 of one should happen to fall due the day before, and that of the other the 
 day after the occurrence of an event which it is admitted annuls the con- 
 sideration for which both bonds were given. 
 
 Instead of providing for the remission of duties on goods destroyed by the 
 fire, and for refunding the money in such cases when the duties have been 
 paid, the bill simply provides (with the single exception of the first proviso in 
 
8 
 
 the first section) for an extension of credit to the importers, to allow them 
 time to recover from the necessary embarrassment of their present situation; 
 and to afford them some advantage in the saving of interest upon the amount 
 of their bonds. The gentleman from Vermont, (Mr. Everett,) regarding this 
 extension in the nature of a loan, would charge them with the full rate of in- 
 terest. Had these debtors actually received the principal of their debts from 
 the Government, the charge of interest might not be deemed unreasonable, 
 were it not that their unprecedented misfortunes entitle them to the most libe- 
 ral indulgence usually or ever granted under extreme circumstances; but I 
 submit to the gentleman that the principal of the debts, that is to say, the 
 amount of the bonds, has not been received by the debtors when the goods, 
 upon which the duties accrued, have been destroyed in their hands before 
 they have been enabled to dispose of them. With this understanding of 
 the case, I am sure he will agree with me that, if the Government is not 
 bound in equity to release the debtors altogether, it will have been suffi- 
 ciently rigorous in prosecuting its legal claims against them if it should allow 
 a short season of delay before insisting upon payment. I have already sug- 
 gested that, by the existing Treasury arrangements, if the bonds were promptly 
 paid, the Government would suffer the money to lie, without interest, in the 
 deposit banks; and that, therefore, the Government cannot be a loser by al- 
 lowing the proposed extension. The gentleman says that the arrangements 
 with the deposit banks have not been made, and will not be continued, with 
 his consent; and that he would not permit the use of the Government funds 
 either to importers or banks without requiring interest. I agree with the gen- 
 tleman in all his general views in respect to the management of the public 
 money; but I presume he has as little faith as myself in the practicability 
 of changing the present system; and that he cannot be disposed, (yet such 
 would be the virtual operation of his amendment,) to restrict 'the demand of 
 interest to such sufferers as this bill provides for. 
 
 It is undeniable, as has been suggested by the gentleman from Vermont 
 and others, that the proposed extension of payments to the immediate sufferers 
 will afford relief unequally, and, in some instances, in striking disproportion to 
 the losses actuall}' incurred. Any provision which comes short of remitting 
 the duties upon all dutiable goods destroyed by the fire must operate unequally; 
 and if this consideration should lead the committee to determine that it is 
 more equal as well as more strict justice — in other words, that it is the only 
 mode of doing justice — to authorize such remission, I shall be entirely prepared 
 to acquiesce in the decision. Still I cannot abandon the bill in its present 
 shape, from an apprehension that its beneficial effects will not precisely cor- 
 respond to its design in all the cases to which it may be applied. We can pass 
 but few laws not liable to this objection; and, in respect to this bill, I con- 
 tent myself with the conviction, that it will produce much general benefit, and 
 can furnish but few causes of complaint. I would prefer, as a substitute for 
 the first section, the provision in favor of which I have argued; but the bill 
 comes to us from the Senate; the committee who have it particularly in their 
 charge, do not propose to amend it; and I am willing, under such circum- 
 stances, to take it as I find it. I do so the less reluctantly, as we have had 
 an intimation that the provision I desire may yet be proposed in a separate 
 bill. 
 
 The second section of the bill proposes to relieve all the debtors of the 
 Government in the city of New York, by allowing an extension of the time 
 of payment of " all bonds given prior to the fire." The section, in my view, 
 is imperfect, in not providing for a similar indulgence in regard to the pay- 
 ment of cash duties; but still, so far as it goes, I am disposed to advocate it 
 
upon the ground of public policy, and to regard the measure it proposes as at 
 least an act of wise liberality. To judge of the expediency of this measure, 
 all the peculiar circumstances of the case deserve to be considered. 
 
 The fire at New York has been justly represented as a most desolating 
 calamity, unprecedented upon this continent, and with only one or two paral- 
 lels in the history of the world. This is a just, but, for our purpose, too gen- 
 eral a description. It becomes us to consider it in its necessary consequences 
 as a commercial embarrassment, and, by inquiring into the nature and extent 
 of these consequences, to satisfy ourselves how far it has affected the debtors 
 of the Government, who constitute a larg? portion of the merchants of the 
 city of New York. 
 
 What is the city of New York, and who are its merchants? The city of 
 New York is, far more distinctively than any other city, the commercial em- 
 porium of the United States. The advantages which it derives from its cen- 
 tral position, and from its unrivalled facilities of communication with every 
 section of the country, and every quarter of the globe, have made it the grand 
 depot of imports and exports, the principal resort of merchants and traders, 
 and a scene of unparalleled enterprize, industry, and improvement. To use 
 an expression which can hardly be considered as far-fetched here, it is the 
 seat of the commercial congress of the western hemisphere, in which every 
 State of the Union and all foreign nations are more or less numerously re- 
 presented by resident agents, and where negotiations are yearly effected of 
 sufficient magnitude to constitute a leading item of the business of the world. 
 I speak of the city of New York as a commercial emporium; and, regarding 
 it as such, who can behold its situation, or trace its rise, or conlemplate its 
 destiny, without emotions of admiration, astonishment, and pride? It is already 
 called the London of America; and it has ceased to be extravagant to 
 suppose that the time may come when this appellation will insufficiently 
 represent, if not the number of its inhabitants, at least the extent of its com- 
 merce and the magnitude of its resources. 
 
 And who are the merchants of New York? They are, as I have said, re- 
 sident agents from every foreign nation, and each State of the Union can 
 number among them the choicest specimens of one of the best classes of its 
 population. So intimately are they connected with every State, that perhaps 
 there is scarcely a gentleman upon this floor who would not recognise among 
 them some of his personal acquaintances, and constant or occasional corre- 
 spondents, or, at least, many of whose constituents could not fail thus to re- 
 cognise them. Known, therefore, as they are, personally, or by their general 
 reputation, 1 must presume that the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Hardin) 
 does them unintentional injustice, when he alludes to them in terms, which, if 
 not conveying a direct reproach, are adapted to excite an unfounded preju- 
 dice. But whatever may be his object, he cannot succeed in combatting the 
 public sentiment of the country. The merchants of New York have an estab- 
 lished character for intelligence, enterprize, and probity, which, while it has 
 been the brightest ornament of their prosperity, will prove to them the guaranty 
 of universal sympathy and confidence in the season of their adversity. They 
 occupy the front rank of the merchants of the country; and throughout the 
 country they are respected, honored, and will be sustained as eminent con- 
 tributors to the national welfare, as indispensable agents in the accumulation 
 and diffusion of the national wealth, and as worthy representatives of the na- 
 tional character in the wide extent of their commercial relations. 
 
 The merchants of New York are and always have been the principal debt- 
 ors of the Government, or its principal agents in the collection of its revenue. 
 At the custom-house in that city, and from the hands of its merchants, there 
 
10 
 
 have already been collected between two and three hundred millions of dol- 
 lars for the use of the country; more than one-half of the imposts regularly 
 accrues tbere; and upon the ability and integrity of the merchants of New 
 York, therefore, the Government must mainly depend for its available re- 
 sources. The facts which are upon the records of the Treasury Department 
 attest that, while the Government has been always a strict, and sometimes an 
 inexorable creditor, it lias sustained only the most inconsiderable loss from 
 the insolvency or fraud of its debtors in New York. Hitherto, they have 
 rarely as individuals, and never collectively, urged claims to its indulgence, 
 but have promptly and scrupulously fulfilled their engagements; occasionally, 
 too, during periods of serious embarrassment. Even now, when overwhelmed 
 with distress, they adhere strictly to their obligations, and not a bond, except 
 by the voluntary permission of the collector, remains unpaid. Since the 
 fire, the collector, in the use of a sound discretion, although in the exercise 
 of an authority not strictly conferred by law, has permitted bonds to lie over, 
 conformably to a suggestion of the Secretary of the Treasury that some sea- 
 sonable measure of relief might be expected from Congress. The present 
 bill is designed to satisfy that expectation. 
 
 Having said thus much injustice to the city of New York, to the charac- 
 ter of its merchants, and to their relations to the Government, I will ask the 
 attention of the committee to some of the circumstances of the case which 
 have determined my own judgment in regard to the expediency of the pro- 
 vision contained in the second section. 
 
 The fire laid waste a section of the city occupied by the merchants as a 
 place of business. When I visited the scene a k'w days after the sad event, 
 I beheld an area of fifty acres covered with smoking ruins, and strewed with 
 fragments of damaged goods partially rescued from the flames. I perceived 
 at once that the immense mass of buildings which had been thus laid pros- 
 trate consisted almost entirely of warehouses, the occupants of which I re- 
 collected to have been chiefly importing merchants, commission houses, or 
 grocers, such as were always the holders of heavy stocks of goods, the ag- 
 gregate value of which must have usually exceeded the largest estimate of 
 the loss which is supposed to have been sustained. I was told that the work 
 of destruction had been so rapid, that, in addition to the loss of buildings and 
 goods, many of the merchants had not been able to save their books, notes, 
 and papers. Now, Mr. Chairman, viewing this fire as a commercial embar- 
 rassment, I wish to remark that no ordinary estimate of the value of build- 
 ings and goods destroyed can convey a sufficient idea of the actual suffering 
 which has been produced, nor even of the positive pecuniary loss which has 
 been and is yet to be sustained. These sufferers are almost exclusively mer- 
 chants, who were holding a large amount of property, enjoying an extensive 
 credit, and engaged in profitable business. In consequence of this fire, not 
 only is their property destroyed, but, to a greater or less extent, their credit 
 must be impaired, and their business, for a time at least, is stopped. All their 
 previous engagements, nevertheless, remain to be fulfilled. The fire, while 
 it has destroyed their property, has left the debts which they owe untouched. 
 While it has burned their books, it has not finally balanced thenK Their 
 notes and bonds will still be produced against them, although they have lost 
 the record of their 'amount. They had used every precaution to guard 
 against such a calamity. Their buildings were properly secured — some 
 supposed to be fire proof. Whatever was the origin of the fire, none 
 of them, at most with but one exception, are chargeable with carelessness; 
 and they had insured their property for its full value. But the insurers were 
 not insured! It is an incident of this case, which distinguishes it above all 
 
11 
 
 others in the aggravation of misfortune, that the first names inscrihed upon 
 the list of bankruptcies attributahje to the fire, were those of one-half of the 
 fire insurance companies, who, perhaps, will not be able to pay upon an av- 
 erage above fifty per cent, of the demands against them, and may be com- 
 pelled by the state of their affairs to postpone the payment of this meagre 
 dividend to a period too late to afford seasonable relief. 
 
 Without going into further details, Mr. Chairman, I leave you to judge, 
 from this strictly accurate description, of the actual condition of the mer- 
 chants who were immediate sufferers by the fire. Estimate if you can the 
 necessary effect of these combined causes of suffering: destruction of prop- 
 erty, diminution of credit, suspension of business, overhanging debts, failure 
 of insurance — follow them out in their remote consequences, and contingent 
 results, ^nd tell me what sum of money will sufficiently denote the real ex- 
 tent of the deplorable calamity? Set down the loss of buildings and goods 
 at $25,000,000, and consider this as only the first item in the account. Es- 
 timate the value of the credit which such a capital in the hands of merchants 
 in active business would usually command, and make that the second item. 
 Calculate the accruing profits of the business in which all these merchants 
 were engaged, and also determine what the privilege is worth to so many 
 merchants of being well established in business; let this be the third item. 
 Conjecture (for it can only be conjectural) the amount of the sacrifices of 
 property which the pressure of debts, under such circumstances, and the sus- 
 pension of demands against insurers must occasion; and stop here: what is 
 the aggregate? Could the figures be cast and the sum stated, I think it 
 would be sufficient to convince the most incredulous that the immediate suf- 
 ferers are entitled, at least, to the scanty indulgence which the first section 
 of the bill provides for them. I think it would also be a convincing and 
 alarming proof that such an overwhelming calamity cannot be confined to 
 the immediate sufferers, but must, in its consequences, extend far beyond 
 them. I think it would satisfy the gentleman from Kentucky that such an 
 amount of loss may have given " a shock" to the business and credit of the 
 whole city; and I am sure it must compel him, if he will undertake to esti- 
 mate it, to carry his conceptions far beyond his ordinary standard of magni- 
 tude in money matters, and quite as much beyond the range of his previous 
 acquaintance with the nature and* extent of commercial transactions. 
 
 When the ravages of the fire had ceased, and the inhabitants began to re- 
 cover from the bewildering sensations of terror and alarm which at the in- 
 stant overcame them, how did they regard their general situation? They 
 saw, as they were collected on the spot, that though only a section of the city 
 had been destroyed, the whole community was doomed to suffer by the ca- 
 lamity; that, though the wound was local, the stroke of the destroyer had 
 been aimed at the heart; that, though it was an easy matter to complete 
 the list of immediate sufferers, it was difficult to know where to begin or 
 where to end in enumerating the many and many others who could not 
 escape uninjured. The merchants, more especially, instantly perceived that 
 not one of their number was a disinterested spectator of such a scene of ruin; 
 but that, connected as they were by mutual interests, and bound together by 
 reciprocal obligations, the consequences which would result from such a de- 
 struction of property, and a corresponding prostration of credit, and conse- 
 quent suspension of business must affect them all. The dense cloud of smoke 
 ascending from the spot to which the fire was confined, had overshadowed 
 the whole city, intercepting for a time the bright beams of the returning sun; 
 and these merchants felt that a heavier cloud of distrust and embarrassment, 
 produced by the misfortunes of the immediate sufferers, was fast gathering 
 
12 
 
 nvpr them all threatening to blast the gilded prospect of the near future, and, 
 ZwZwrf™^* which might involve them all in temporary distress., 
 tL P v felt at once that it was their common duty to prepare for the worst 
 T he imp.l "sympathy with their neighbors was blended with the instinct- 
 of se 1 fTre ervation. In the manifestation of mutual confidence in the readi- 
 est ad o sustain every other, in that spirit of accommodate to cir- 
 cumstances which belongs to the mercantile character, they proceeded to 
 ; e for the emergency To guard against the unavoidable scarcity ol 
 on y and the consequent difficulty of meeting such of their debts as wereap. 
 proach ng maturity, they appealed to the banks to co-operate in all prac , a, 
 be measles of re lief, and they imparted the force ot public opinion to th 
 oMigatio of creditors to grant indulgence to their debtors, by the extension o 
 n avments. They called upon the Bank of the United States to apply all the 
 Seans w hin its disposal for their accommodation; they called upon the c*J 
 "ovenmumt to create stock which might be made available capital Ita 
 invoked the State Government for its prompt and liberal interposition n 
 arious acts of legislation; and they appealed to the General Government t« 
 Z21 its just share of loss, to postpone the collection^ its supernuou 
 Avenue, and to give such a direction to its finances that they might be ren 
 dered more contributory to their immediate benefit. . 
 
 I am convinced, Mr/Chairman, that none who have made due inquiry in* 
 all the circumstances of their situation, can suppose that the merchants o 
 New York have acted with a greater degree of foresight or vigor than th 
 occasion required. Fortunately for them the fire occurred at the season o 
 the year which affords almost their only respite from the pressure of business 
 and they were enabled to avail themselves of a brief leisure to concert an 
 attempt to execute their plans. The efforts which they have made are me 
 morable proofs of manly fortitude and dauntless perseverance which deserv 
 if they should not achieve success. They illustrate a publ.c character whic 
 is entitled to universal admiration. They indicate a determined purpose 
 which if any thing can, will sustain them in their most unequal struggle wit 
 adversity, and enable them to start forward with redoubled energy upon 
 
 prosperous career. . 
 
 The crisis of their fate is still impending. The extent of the calamity 
 
 not yet developed in its results, and a period is approaching which must p.. 
 
 to the severest test their ability to support themselves. Independently c, 
 
 their own fruitful sources of embarrassment, the signs of the times indicate , 
 
 fearful tendency of events to aggravate and multiply the dangers ol the, 
 
 situation. What is the state of things in the country at large? Great! 
 
 brightened, I delight to acknowledge, by the cheering intelligence which w, 
 
 have this day received, but still sufficiently perplexed to deserve anxious con 
 
 sideration. A year of unexampled prosperity has closed, and another ye;, 
 
 has commenced, of which they who survive its termination may be obliged , 
 
 render a different account. A year has commenced fraught with resuli: 
 
 which must leave a durable impression upon the political and financial cond 
 
 tion of the country. Never were men of business more unprepared for suddi 
 
 reverses and severe pressure,and yet never, perhaps, has there been more sign 
 
 occasion to apprehend both. The over-trading of the past year, the rage 1 
 
 wild speculation, the abused spirit of enterprise, have led, as it would seei 
 
 to almost every conceivable misapplication of capital, in whatever form it exis 
 
 and to an extension of the system of credit to so dangerous an extreme that it, 
 
 difficult to imagine any mode of rescue from the evils which it must produ< 
 
 The present state of the money market affords some indication of what m 
 
 yet be expected; and let any member who has the means of forming a com 
 
13 
 
 judgment, turn his attention to the general situation, at the present moment, of 
 men of business, and of the many who, in the use of the most unheard-of 
 expedients, and under the impulse of the maddest passion for adventure, have 
 forced their projects and extended their transactions so vastly beyond the 
 views and purposes of men of business, properly so called; let him endeavor 
 to form some idea of tie unprecedented financial demands of the coming 
 year, of the engagements to be met, the contracts to be fulfilled, the notes 
 and bonds to be paid; let him consider the strained condition of the State 
 banks, and the necessary effects of the approaching dissolution of the Bank of 
 the United States, unless, indeed, they are to be obviated by a modified re- 
 suscitation of that important institution; let him anticipate the various vicissi- 
 tudes which usually precede and follow a diminution of the value of the 
 leading staples of the country and a general depreciation of real and personal 
 property; let him notice the consequences already experienced at New Orleans 
 of a suspension of the trade with Mexico; let him bear in mind the contingen- 
 cies to which all branches of our foreign trade are constantly liable; and then 
 let him judge of the influence — the combined influence as it may prove — of all 
 these causes of commercial embarrassment upon the straitened condition of the 
 merchants of New York. Let him then decide whether the circumstances are 
 not, or may not be, such as to justify this Government in extending to its debtors, 
 and all its debtors, in that distressed city, f the same measure of indulgence which, 
 amongst themselves, no creditor is sufficiently regardless of his honor or his in- 
 terest deliberately to refuse. Let him decide whether, when all their other ap- 
 plications for assistance have been freely granted, their resort to the General 
 Government shall be coldly, and sternly, and harshly repulsed. Let him con- 
 sider whether, when the stroke which has fallen so heavily upon that city is 
 universally regarded as a national calamity, smd when all that can be done for 
 her relief must be alike regarded as a national benefit, he will assume the re- 
 sponsibility of deciding that this Government may safely, and wisely, and hon- 
 orably postpone the claims of its debtors, and refuse to listen to the united and 
 urgent appeals of so many of its citizens. 
 
 I have already noticed some of the objections that have been urged against 
 this bill: there are others which may be supposed to deserve consideration. 
 The gentleman from Kentucky, (Mr. Hardin,) with his characteristic prompt- 
 ness, commenced an attack upon the bill before, as it proved, he had become 
 acquainted with its provisions; and, in the use of his accustomed weapons of 
 sarcasm and invective, endeavored to array against it the untimely influence 
 of sectional and political prejudice. In glancing at his objections, let me re- 
 spectfully suggest to him, that, if it be the misfortune of these debtors, it surely 
 is not their fault that the city in which they reside has become the principal 
 depository of the public revenue; and that the Government does not make 
 the most profitable use of its funds which are there collected. If it be their 
 misfortune, it surely is not their fault that the State^of which they are. citizens 
 possesses, under the constitution, a vast share of political influence; and that 
 this influence, here and elsewhere, has been, and is likely to be, applied to 
 purposes which that gentleman does not approve. Upon this occasion, he 
 ought to remember that the claim presented for his consideration is one totally 
 disconnected with political or sectional considerations — the simple, naked, and 
 (as I had hoped all would regard it) indisputable, irresistible claim of the suf- 
 ferers by an unprecedented calamity, who claim no other service at his hands 
 but such as is due to the circumstances to which this calamity has reduced 
 them. He ought to remember that, if so large a proportion of the revenue 
 is, and must continue to be, collected and deposited in the city of New York, 
 it is of great importance to the interests of the Government to prevent the 
 
14 
 
 occurrence of general embarrassment and distress; one consequence of which 
 will be, to endanger the security of the present deposites, and greatly to en- 
 hance the risk of bad debts, in respect to the bonds which remain unpaid. 
 He ought to remember that, upon the prosperity of New York, the accruing 
 resources of the Government are immediately dependent; and that, whatever 
 the Government may now do for the temporary accommodation of the mer- 
 chants of that city, will be more than repaid to the national treasury by the 
 future results of their persevering and successful enterprise. The gentleman 
 also owes it to himself, to his constituents, and to the country, not to forget 
 that all sectional interests are merged in the welfare of the great commercial 
 metropolis of the Union. He should not forget that such are the indissoluble 
 relations of New York to all parts of the country, that they must share in its 
 prosperity and misfortunes. He should not forget that, directly or indirectly, 
 the planters, manufacturers, and traders of Kentucky have always something 
 at stake in New York; and that he fails to consult their interests, and must 
 be presumed to oppose their wishes, when, in a time of the greatest need, he 
 refuses to extend the helping hand of the Government for the relief of those 
 with whom, by all the ties of mutual dependence, his constituents and tho 
 people of the whole country are thus intimately connected. I am sure, sir, 
 that I do not give to this consideration an undue importance. I am sure that 
 neither the gentleman from Kentucky, nor any other gentleman who will 
 allow himself to exercise a practical judgment upon this view of the sub- 
 ject, will disagree to the conclusion that the business of New York is in effect 
 (he business of the whole country; and that a sudden interruption and exten- 
 sive derangement of the business of that city will prove a check to the pros- 
 perity of the whole country. 
 
 The gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Pearce) has tasked his ingenuity 
 to produce popular objections to the object of this bill, and has perhaps been 
 more successful than the gentleman from Kentucky in exciting the prejudices 
 of some members against it. He has proved, 1 think, that the title of the 
 bill is not sufficiently definite, but has erred in Supposing that the object 
 which he considers to be implied in the title is, or ought to be, recognised 
 in our legislation. The provisions of the bill are designed to extend the 
 indulgence of the Government to those who are its debtors in the city of 
 New York, and exclusively to such as are its debtors. It proposes to afford 
 them the same indulgence which other creditors, under similar circumstances, 
 which other creditors in New York, at this moment, have extended to their 
 debtors. If it were proposed — if it were expedient, to attempt to relieve all 
 sufferers by the fire, without reference to the peculiar relation which some of 
 them sustain to the Government, the gentleman would do right to vindicate 
 the claims of such as are not now provided for; and, if the bill were designed 
 to be merely an act of charity, he might properly argue that the merchants of 
 New York are the last who should receive, as he must well know they are 
 the last who would accept, the bounty of the Government. But when the 
 gentleman perceives that the single object of the bill (which I agree ought to 
 be expressed in its title) is to make an equitable provision for the debtors of 
 the Government as such, he can hardly consider it a justifiable mode of de- 
 feating this object, to attempt to asperse not their character, but their occu- 
 pation, and to inveigh not at all against the equity of their claims in reference 
 to the grounds upon which alone the claims are urged, but in a strain — I will 
 not say of vulgar abuse — but of unmerited censure, against the necessary inci- 
 dents of the rank in society to which the circumstances of these debtors have 
 entitled them. I have no doubt that the recent fire has furnished many cases, 
 of such as are not debtors of the Government, whose claims to sympathy and 
 
15 
 
 relief are quite as strong as the gentleman represents them; and I hope and 
 believe that those claims will be cheerfully recognised by all to whom they 
 can be properly addressed. It may he fortunate for such sufferers that the 
 Government is not one of the creditors to whom they must now appeal for 
 indulgence, but that they have only to resort to their neighbors, the merchants, 
 for the ready acquision of the facilities they need. Yes, sir, to the abused 
 and denounced merchants, upon whom the tradesmen and mechanics, so 
 warmly and deservedly eulogized by the gentleman, are immediately depend- 
 ent for credit and employment, and in whose stability (to which the proposed 
 relief may prove essential) the only hopes of these tradesmen and mechanics 
 are directly and deeply involved. Lei me advise the gentleman, then to 
 consider whether he can do a greater injury to the very class of whose in- 
 terests he aspires to be regarded as the especial advocate, than by acting 
 himself, and endeavoring to persuade the committee to act, upon the supposi- 
 tion that their interests can be otherwise than injuriously affected by what- 
 ever is calculated to excite, distrust, and to produce ill will, and to direct the 
 force of the most illiberal prejudice against their only patrons and their best 
 friends. Let him consider, further, whether, at this critical moment, when 
 the working classes of New York have their all at stake upon the ability of 
 the merchants to recover from the disaster which threatens to overwhelm 
 them, he will not prove himself the true friend of the working classes, by ad- 
 vocating, upon this occasion, in reference to their proper object, the claims 
 of the merchants. 
 
 The gentleman from Rhode Island makes it another cause of complaint 
 against the bill, that it not only provides for the relief of those who are alm<*t 
 exclusively merchants, but that some of them, also, do not happen to he 
 American citizens. My answer to this objection is, very briefly, that thev 
 •are, nevertheless, debtors of the Government, and, as such, entitled to share 
 without discrimination, in whatever policy the Government may see fit to 
 adopt towards its debtors, it is the honorable characteristic of our commer- 
 cial system, that it offers every facility for the introduction of foreign capital; 
 ?hat it invites to our ports the ships and the merchants of all nations, (who do 
 not refuse to reciprocate the privilege,) and that, in the distribution of bur- 
 dens and benefits, it makes no distinction whatever between citizens and 
 foreigners. New York has been built up by the aid of foreign capital and 
 enterprise; the revenue which has been there collected, has been always 
 contributed, in a considerable measure, by foreigners or their agents; and 
 since, as the gentleman represents, tho recent calamity has fallen so heavily 
 upon the French and other foreign houses established in the city, the state- 
 ment of that fact affords a sufficient reason for extending to them whatever 
 benefit they may gain, as debtors of the Government, from the general oper- 
 ation of the bill. 
 
 The gentleman from Rhode Island has made an elaborate investigation of 
 precedents, and has shown, very conclusively, that they do not exhibit a 
 uniform practice of the Government; but that, deciding every case upon its 
 own merits, and with more or less consideration, Congress has sometimes 
 granted and sometimes refused applications somewhat similar to this. From 
 the number of such precedents, and from the fact that previous decisions 
 have been thus contradictory, I can readily infer that there is an inherent 
 defect in the existing laws, which, as I believe, and have stated, can only be 
 remedied by the introduction of the warehousing system, under which such 
 cases could not occur; but, as the precedents do not establish a general rule, 
 and as the present case is marked by circumstances in many respects unpre- 
 cedented, I do not see any thing that should deter us from the exercise of an 
 (independent judgment in deciding it. 
 
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 The gentleman from Rhode Island grounds another objection upon the 
 fact, that the relief afforded by this bill is so inconsiderable that it cannot be 
 desirable. It is, indeed, fortunate for the merchants, and for the Govern- 
 ment, that the fire did not occur a few years sooner, when almost all im- 
 ported goods were subject to duly, and, in many instances, a very heavy 
 duty, and when of course the average amount of bonds remaining unpaid 
 must have vastly exceeded the sum which is now payable. If the amount 
 of duties upon goods destroyed by the fire, instead of being as it is less than 
 a million of dollars, had not been less than five millions, and if the amount 
 of duties upon other goods, payable at the moment, instead of being between 
 three and four millions, had not been less than fifteen or twenty millions, 1 
 agree that the magnitude of the claims of the public debtors would have been 
 such that the Government must have yielded to the necessity, the uncontrollable 
 necessity, of the most liberal and extraordinary measures of relief. Still the 
 duty of the Government is not to be strictly measured by the magnitude of 
 the claims; and if it were, I can deduce no other conclusion from the gen- 
 tleman's premises than that, under the existing circumstances of this case, 
 we ought to do far more than the bill proposes — a conclusion, to say the least, 
 manifestly incompatible with the gentleman's avowed determination to do 
 nothing. 
 
 The relief afforded by the bill, I am free to admit, does not correspond to 
 the exigency of the case. 1 hope that still more may be done; especially that 
 another bill for the remission of duties upon goods burned may be reported 
 and passed, and that the Secretary of the Treasury may give such a direc- 
 tum to the public funds, already collected and constantly accruing at New 
 York, as to make them available for the greater accommodation of the mer- 
 cantile community, from whom these funds have been derived. An enlight- 
 ened policy seems to me to justify and require such an administration of the 
 finances at the present moment; and its results, I am well persuaded, must 
 be extensively and permanently beneficial. I say, then, let all this be done; 
 and let this bill be passed, in the first instance, as a measure of simple justice 
 and manifest expediency, and as an earnest of the disposition of Congress 
 lo sanction the other measures which should succeed it. Let this bill, at 
 least, be judged and decided upon its own merits; and, if there remains no 
 other objection to it than that it does not afford sufficient relief, let that ob- 
 jection be removed, as has been just suggested, by further legislation, and by 
 the arrangements of the Treasury Department. 
 
 The gentleman from Rhode Island does not exaggerate the influence and 
 importance of the city of New York. That city sustains a relation to the 
 Government and the country which gives her a right at all times to claim 
 from both the most favorable consideration. At the present moment her 
 call upon the Government, specially warranted by the circumstances of her 
 situation, is enforced by numerous and simultaneous demonstrations of the 
 approbation of the country. 
 
 It is not the call of New York alone. Philadelphia has seconded the 
 call with a spirit worthy of the name she bears. Baltimore has instructed 
 her representatives to sustain her honor by supporting any practicable meas- 
 ures of relief. Boston, speaking for Massachusetts, has invoked the mem- 
 bers from that State to a like generous co-operation. The memorial of 
 New Orleans is the spontaneous and emphatic utterance of the voice of the 
 West. It is not the call of New York alone; but every where, along the 
 coast and throughout the interior, wherever there has been an expression of 
 public sympathy, it is coupled with an earnest appeal to Congress. Let us 
 answer the appeal by an act that shall be worthy of the constituted guardians 
 of the national interests and the national honor. 
 
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