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‘vThethsr thf Art {houM com nence its operation during the p j'ent congress, or on the 4th 0, March next, was a question oi con troverly in the ‘egifluure, and ex Cited much difcn ft m among tti - people. Vhe conititurion provides tlt.it, “ the ienaton an i reprelent atives ihall receive a combeas ition lor their Cervices, to be al'certained by law, and paid out of tie trea iury of the United States.” I’h - authority and the duty of deter, mining from time to ti ne what is * v a compensation for their iervi ces.” are clearly deelgated to con grels. It was obvious to the wile frames of the constitution, that what might be a compensation at onrtrne, would not be a compert fav m under different rtrcumftan ce , and therefore the whole fubjert was committed to the diferetion of the fogiffoture. I apprehend it will be admitted by every candid man, trii fmee the multiplication of b.inks, and the large ilfaes of bank paper, a greater ium has become heceffa y to def ay the expenses of a refidtnee in our cities, than for merly. Suppoftng fix dollars a day were a proper compensation when the price of boarding was from 6 to S dollars a week, it irre fiftibiy follows, that it cannot be a proper compensation now, when boarding has been raised to from twelve to fixte.n dollars a week, with an inertafe of other expenses. If then the inereafe of compensation be just, I cannot conceive upon wha; eqaita de principle, a future congress would be more entitled to it, to an the present.- It is not un ufuai for the members of a legis lature to raile their own wagers. I believe the legiflamre of this S ate did so, fume years ago ; and I ima gine there are none now who think thev were raised too high. lam a wart that in leg'll iting on such a question, a legislator is liable in a peculiar degree to the imputation c r inferefted motives lam ap prized of the objection, that if the iegiflhure is pennitted to inereafe its own compensation once, they may finally take all the people’s money; but I wouid enquire. For whrtt purpose was the conttitiftion al provision inferred, if it is never to be exerciled ? Os every power granted to congress, that of regn lating the pay of the members, ap pears to me the least dangerous* tiie least liable to abuse. lathe ex rcife, of no other power, will the people so naturally mifeon cove the motives of their public fer vents, however good those motives mav be, and-however well difpoled the people themselves ; and there fore, in no other case, is the fame caution in iegiilating, likely to be observed. I think this opinion is fithCtioned by pait experience. Hie love it Urne. ol popularity may for i(h a temptation to abstain from the u ; e of the power even when the welfare of the country would be promoted by its exercise, but it ;s very improbable that a majority of any congref. will ever exercise it ipipnperly. Nor is the pica ad missible, that a power fhouid not be used, because it may be abused. Sik : i ad ctrine would withhold tfie de: g non and the use of any an ■ every power, because any and every power may be abused. It would be subversive of every prin ciple of government, because the delegation and exercise of powers are inseparable from the existence of government. Hie truth is, that p the trust reposed in corigrefs of fixing their own compensation, has not been abused ■, (as 1 huoibiy con. ceive it Ins not) there is no ground for complaint; and if it ever sh rnld be abused, the remedy, as dor the abrufe other powers, is with the people. In the difeuffions which were had upon the fubjert, it appeared that fomc gentlemen felt a delicacy in voting for the bill unless the commencement of its operation fhouid be postponed until after another elertion, while others relying upon the fart, that the a mount of pay had ceased to be “ a compensation for their services.” deemed it as much their right and duty, to provide tor the present, as for the future. The latter prevail ed,artd the Art was sent in its pre sent ftiape, to the Senate. So far a* a question of delicacy was in volved, it could not be applicable to that branch of the legilliture. The Senators are elerted tor fix years, and therefore, if the measure had nor taken effort until the 4th of March next. Kill there would have been the lame grounds for scruples of delicacy ; because in either case they muff have voted their own compensation. I speak of the Senate as a body, and as fuel) they never con vote upon the pay of congress without voting it to rhemfelves unless indeed the Art fhouid commence fix years afterwards, or it fhouid provide that each member (hall continue to re ceive the former compensation un til after he is re-clerted* To pass a law on such a fubjert,jto begin fix vears thereafter, or to make the j compensation of a Senator from one State more or less than that of a Senator from another State, (de pending on the period of his elec tion) would be against the spirit of the constitution, and an art of ah furditv probably without a parallel in the history of legiflafice proceed ings. Had the bill k come to the Senate with a provision postponing its operation until after another e lertion for members of the ether house, 1 fhouid as readily and more willingly have voted for it in that form ; because of the accidental circurnftance that my term of ser vice is about to expire. But be- Ijevi g the compensation jult in a mount, I psreeived no adequate motive for entering into a coruro verfy with the other branch of the legislature, either on that po nt, or on tne q leftion whether the in crease of. pay fhouid be by the day or in the present mode. Such, fellow-citizens, are the vuws which have direrted my judgment on the Art changing the compensation of the members of coogrefs. it remains that I fhouid expose the mifr presentations on other fuhjerts, which have been art fully circulated for the purpose of impairing your confidence in those men who had served you faithful ly—that 1 fhouid present the farts and circumstances in their true af pert. The wages of the soldier, who has fought the-battles of his country, are said to be reduced by congress, wnile they raised their own, and while, owing to their ne glert, the brave defenders of the Nation’s rights are Kill unpaid. I am not surprised that such repre sentations fhouid awaken in every patriot bosom the flrongeft feelings of resentment. Such feelings, un der such circu mflances, are honor able to human nature. But are the allegations true ; and if they be not true, I leave you to deter nine what fhouW oe your feelings towards the authors of such un founded assertions. With them I ihall have nothing to do, but I will prove to your fat is fart ion that their charges affc filfe. On the j 2th of December* 1812, an Art was pad ed, raffing the pay of the soldier ip the regular army from five dollar,s to eight dollars n month, “ during the continuence of the war.'* On the id of February, tßi 3, an Art was alfu palled, providing that “duiing the continuence of tile present war,” the fame inereafe of wages fhouid be allowed to the mi litii. The Arts therefore expired by their own limitation at the con clufion of peace ; but a liberal con ftrurtion ol their intent and mean ing awarded the inereafe of com penfition to the soldier, not to the end of the war only, but until he was difeharged from the service called for by the war. * And yet it was never e fk ed why were the wages of (ol diers raised, without at the fame time railing the compensation of the members of congress, and of the other public funrtionaries ? Oongefs leg'fluted on the fubjedft at the time, as wife men will always do, according to the particular cir cum(lances of the case. So far then from reducing the soldier’s pay, we had raised if ; and Upon the expiration of the Arts of 1812 and it Continued pre cisely as it was before they were pa (Ted. And fhouid the fttuation of our country again call for active military services, it will then be time enough to enquire into the ad equacy ot the soldier’s compensa tion. As refpert the regular troops, it cannot be neceftary to recapitulate the various n edifica tions of their emoluments, which were fucceflively made during the war ; nor is it to be prefmped that any man <t>f ordinary underltand ing will imagine, that congress ought to have continued in time of peace the unprecedented pecuniary inducement.;, for enlistments in the army, which the imminent dangers of the country during tfte continu t nee of hostilities, rendered wile and politic. When therefore, the treaty of peace was ratified, a law Was pal Ted reducing the army to a peace establishment of ten thousand men, and leaving th’. compensation as it had been previoufly.fixed for The Art which had raised the compensation, hav ing expressly declared that it would expire with the war. and the soldier having enlisted und.r that provi sion, there is, on. his part, no just ground of complaint ; nor, consi dering the nature of the service at present, or in any othei view of the fubjert with which lam acquaint ed, has any fufficient reason been difdofed, for crycreafing it under exifUna circumfhances. t > As refperts the militia, no Arts were palled uring the last session, except for the purpose of granting them additional benefits. They have been publifhetl ; and in no repertare they more distinguished, than for the liberality of their pro vifijns towards the militia. They provide that the family of every ol ficer and soldier, who during the late war, shall have loft his life in the service of his country, shall be allowed one half the monthly pay to which the deceased would have been entitled, for, and during the term of five years; and luch offi cers and soldiers as were disabled * V* the Grand Jury have rccomn/-: cfol ct: curnKpc-etion in Voting tur owlulaU h to tin, state Legislature, it may not l>e amiss fortt.f petiple to enquire, whether any Who aix- soiieh votes, have pivt-n currency to tie f.dsebwxl,lhat the preaentconf'-rcss hiul dimir. isli-d iie soldiers pat ten 8 •> ‘i do'l.cs a I rooutli, and then tak n ot it ’o ! f>nr ..is’- the “h.ms of ti.e nuiiia, for tc si t an their rcai value. by wounds or otherwise in the dlf •harge of their duty, are placed on ‘he lift of penfionersin thefameman ner as the officers and soldiers of the regular army. At the fame time, the rate of pen fir ns was in creased from five to eight dollars a month. VViih compensation for horses loft in the service—an in crease of pay—a pennon, and that railed from five to eight dollars a month, and provision for the fami lies of the deceased, I submit to your determination, whether there 1 he any foundation for a charge of iiliberality towards the iniliria. No, fellow Citizens, had half the ze-.l been employed in the purlu r of truth, which has been manifolded in the employment of unworthy means for the attainment of un worthy purposes, you would never have been told that the present con gress Wereunmm Jfubft the loldier’s rights, or unwilling to reward the soldier’s services. That the reward haa been so long wi;hheld, I sin cerely lament, bur it as not attribu table to n-glert on the part <ft con gress. It was their duty, on the estimates furnifhed by the depirt ment having charge of the subj. ct, to provide the neceftary sums tor fatisfying the claims againlt the government. I’hetreaty of peace Was ratified on the 17th ot Februa ry, 1815, and the 1 }th congress, according to the provisions ot the conllitution, was dillblved on the 3J of March following Great ex ertions were therefore indifpenfibie to eftbrt the important changes in our (yft, in of measures which bad been adopted for a flare ot war, within the period allowed us. I’o What extent the army fhouid be re duced, was a quest on of much controverly between the Senate and House of Representatives, and it was not finally fettled until the last night ot the fftfi >n. UntiJ tn at quettion was determined, the bill of appropriation could not be pal - ed, because xhe pr per a count which would be wanted,could not be afeer ained* In Inch a litu.uion. it was hardly to be expected that the estimate fhouid be fudden jy made, or the am >unt of mi litia claims al’certained, with per fect accuracy, ihe dtlav, murc over, in reducing ihe army to fie peace establishment, which 11 ap pears, the executive could not a* void, neceharily increased the ex penditure. The last session commenced on the firft Monday in December; and on the 17th or ißtn day of the fame mdn’h, the estimate the pay-master was laid before ?he House ot Representatives by the chair.nan of the committee ot ways and means. So promptly did we iegillue on the fuojert, that on the 2 1 ft, an Art appropriating five mil lions, fix hundred and leventeen thousand dollars, for the pay of the army and militia, had palled both houses, and was approved, by the PrefiJent. Ihe duty of congress was therefore performed, and tne application of the money to the on jerts for which it was appropriat ed, belonged to another depart ment of the government. The unfortunate delay which Ins oc curred, is explained in a corres pondence between the Pay-rnafler of the army and mylelf, the sub stance of which, I will briefly state. Having underltood before my de parture from Wafnington, that the militia of Georgia were then un paid, I wrote a note to the Pay master, enquiring why it was so. lut reply. 1 Was inu-rmeo ‘ tome 1 difficulty and delay haa teen pro-