Слике страница
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

willing to bow down their servile necks, and elevate the chosen servant of their imperial master. Has it come to this: that, in the lapse of little more than half a century, they who resisted oppression and corruption, and their descendants, have sunk into a degradation too vile for slaves? Are gentlemen willing to allow this high coloring to remain upon our national character? Is not something due to the people themselves, to the cause of liberal principles? I will not believe that they for whom this Government was formed, and by whom it is sustained, are withdrawing their guardianship. I will not believe them. He who has been intrusted with the chief management of their public affairs will not be deserted by them so long as he relies with confidence on their intelligence, and makes the cynosure of his public conduct the welfare of the whole confederacy. In this will be found a rule which cannot but lead to success. In this a position perfectly impregnable to any assault. Mr. JENIFER spoke at great length in favor of the original resolution, and in reply to the remarks heretofore made by Mr. HAMER.

Mr. VANDERPOEL said he took it for granted that those gentlemen who had made speeches in favor of the appointment of this committee, and those who proposed it, were in earnest, and were desirous to have it done immediately, in order that the work of investigation might go on, and something effectual might be done before the termination of the session.

We shall talk (said Mr. V.) to the end of the session, and then, what would those who originated the resolution say? They would say, you made your long speeches to the end of the session, and we had no time allowed us. For the purpose of obviating these objections, and in order to give to the friends of this investigation the broadest power that they could wish, and also for the purpose of doing justice to the administration party, and of saving them from the imputation that would rest upon them if this inquiry were not allowed, he would move the previous question.

After some little conversation between Mr. WISE and Mr. VANDERPOEL, the latter gentleman withdrew bis motion, on the pledge of the former that he would renew it.

And

Mr. WISE then said that the parliamentary practice had been that the gentleman who had offered a resolution, and opened a debate, should be indulged in replying to members who had opposed it, and in concluding the debate. He had intended to avail himself of this indulgence, but now the previous question was forced upon the House. Now, it appeared, gentlemen seemed disposed to pass the resolution; to pass it, in order to save the administration party from the imputation of delaying action on the resolution by debate. He would ask, however, and he would thank gentlemen to answer him, whether they could now relieve themselves from this olious imputation-an imputation which they deserve. I tell you and the country (said Mr. W.) that I have been asking for this investigation for nearly two years. how far are we now from the end of the session? Within six weeks of the end, with all our other duties to attend to, and we are told that this is a sufficient space of time to investigate the huge, the mammoth operations of this corrupt and profligate administration. Six weeks, sir. I have been detained two weeks at home, detained by the state of the weather, and I find, on my return, that the administration has already carried out their own work for me, by which I am detained from ten until nearly midLight in wading through one branch of this investigation. Gentlemen now propose to give me this Herculean k. Gentlemen, it is like all your candor, all your plans, and all your honesty. Make the most of it. Go, with a blush on your cheeks, without shame or confuson, before the people, and tell them this! VOL. XIII.-89

[H. OF R.

Mr. Speaker, the whole of a short session is not suffi cient to investigate Reuben's concerns alone; the whole of a long session, the whole time for which a Congress is elected, would not be time enough to call up all the witnesses from the extreme borders of this immense republic to testify against your Government--witnesses that I know can be brought up to testify against youwitnesses who can change inquiries into specifications, and can change your notes of triumph and your strains of eulogy into humble notes of shame and looks of confu

sion.

Sir, I will say, for one, to the gentleman from New York, [Mr. VANDERPOEL,] that it is too late to grant the investigation proposed by this resolution. It is now the 17th day of January, and more than one half of the session is gone, necessarily terminating on the 4th of March. It is too late for any investigation. If any good can be done by it, if any clews can be afforded to the corrup tions of the Government, they must be afforded by the indulgence of the freedom of debate on this floor. Will you refuse that indulgence? Will you require that all our lips should be hermetically sealed, now that this farce of an investigation has been gotten up? You have given us one committee that has no power to investigate abuses. All questions of corruption or no corruption are limited and bound down to facts that were already notorious. Yet that investigation alone will take all our time.

How can I or my friend from Tennessee [Mr. PEYTON] attend to both these committees? We are held up as persecutors; we are no persecutors, but we are placed in this odious light in relation to these charges against the Government. If gentlemen intend to hold us responsible for a failure, give us time, means, and opportunity, and do not drive us into the space of a moment, and contract us into the compass of a nut-shell. Bind a man hand and foot, and then tell him to arise and walk! Tie him fast with your power, and then tell him to war against a giant! Is this your justice? It is your justice! Heaven defend me from such justice! Heaven defend the country from such guardians as these! Sir, I have witnessed enough within the last twenty-four hours to make me feel that the country has no guardians.

I now renew the motion made by the gentleman from New York for the previous question.

And the House seconded the call: Yeas 94, nays 51. Mr. MORGAN called for the yeas and nays on the question of taking the main question; which were ordered, and, being taken, were: Yeas 121, nays 52.

So the House determined that the main question should now be put.

Mr. HUNTSMAN asked for the yeas and nays on the main question; which were ordered.

And the main question, being on concurring with the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, on the original resolution of Mr. WISE, reported therefrom, was taken, and decided in the affirmative: Yeas 165, nays 9, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Adams, Chilton Allan, Heman Allen, Anthony, Ashley, Bailey, Bean, Black, Bond, Bouldin, Bovee, Boyd, Briggs, Brown, Buchanan, Bunch, Burns, Bynum, John Calhoon, William B. Calhoun, Cambreleng, Carr, Carter, Casey, John Chambers, Chaney, Chapman, Nathaniel H. Claiborne, John F. H. Claiborne, Clark, Connor, Corwin, Craig, Crane, Cushing, Darlington, Davis, Dawson, Deberry, Denny, Doubleday, Dunlap, Elmore, Evans, Farlin, Forester, Fowler, French, Fry, James Garland, Gholson, Glascock, Graham, Granger, Grantland, Graves, Grayson, Grennell, Griffin, Haley, Joseph Hall, Hamer, Hannegan, Hardin, Samuel S. Harrison, Hawkins, Haynes, Hazeltine, Hiester, Hoar, Holsey, Holt, Hopkins, Howard, Howell, Hubley, Huntington, Huntsman, Ingersoll, Ingham, Janes, Jarvis, Jenifer, J. Johnson, R. M. Johnson, C.

H. OF R.]

Abolition of Slavery--Crimes in the District of Columbia, &c.

Johnson, H. Johnson, J. W. Jones, Benjamin Jones, Klingensmith, Lane, Laporte, Lawler, Lawrence, Lay, Joshua Lee, Luke Lea, Leonard, Lewis, Lincoln, Logan, Loyall, Lucas, Lyon, Abijah Mann, Job Mann, Martin, Samson Mason, Maury, McCarty, McComas McKay, McKennan, McKim, McLene, Mercer, Milligan, Montgomery, Moore, Morgan, Owens, Page, Parker, Patterson, Patton, Pearson, Pettigrew, Peyton, Phillips, Pickens, Pinckney, Potts, Reed, Rencher, John Reynolds, Richardson, Robertson, Rogers, Russell, Augustine H. Shepperd, Shields, Shinn, Sickles, Slade, Spangler, Standefer, Storer, Taliaferro, Thomas, John Thomson, Toucey, Turner, Underwood, Vanderpoel, Vinton, Ward, Washington, Webster, Weeks, Elisha Whittlesey, Thomas T. Whittlesey, Lewis Williams, Wise, Yell, Young-165.

NAYS-Messrs. Ash, Cushman, Fuller, Lansing, Parks, Schenck, Taylor, Turrill, Wardwell-9.

So the resolution was adopted.
The House then adjourned.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.

Mr. HAWES submitted the following resolution: Resolved, That all petitions, memorials, resolutions, propositions, or papers, relating in any way, or to any extent whatever, to the subject of slavery, or the abo lition of slavery, shall, without being either printed or referred, be laid upon the table, and that no action whatever shall be had thereon.

Mr. H. said he thought it was time that the House should adopt a resolution of this character, with a view to put an end to discussions which had occupied so much of its time on the subject of abolition of slavery. He wished to have no debate; he thought there had already been enough. To test the sense of the House, he called for the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. E. WHITTLESEY objected to the reception of the resolution.

The SPEAKER said the State of Kentucky had been called in its regular order for resolutions, and the motion of the gentleman from Ohio could not therefore be entertained.

Mr. ADAMS objected to the consideration of the resolution at this time.

Some desultory conversation ensued on the point of order, in which Messrs. ADAMS and MERCER participated, when the Speaker decided that the question "Shall the resolution be now considered?" should be first entertained.

[JAN. 18, 1837.

just taken, he was desirous of having the yeas and nays on the main question. He therefore asked for them, and they were ordered by the House; and the main question, being on the adoption of the resolution, was taken, and decided in the affirmative: Yeas 129, nays 69.

So the resolution was adopted.

CRIMES IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

The following message, in writing, was received from the President of the United States, by the hands of his private secretary, ANDREW JACKSON, Esq. To the Speaker of the House of Representatives:

SIR: I hereby transmit to the House of Representatives certain communications from the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney of the United States for the District of Columbia.

They relate to the difficulties which have been interposed, under the existing laws, in bringing to conviction and punishment the supposed incendiaries of the Treasury buildings in the year 1833.

The peculiar circumstances of this case, so long concealed, and of the flagrant frauds by persons disconnected with the Government, which were still longer concealed, and to screen some of which forever was probably a principal inducement to the burning of the buildings, lead me earnestly to recommend a revision of the laws on this subject. I do this with a wish not only to render the punishment hereafter more severe for the wanton destruction of the public property, but to repeal entirely the statute of limitation in all criminal cases except small misdemeanors, and in no event to allow a party to avail himself of its benefits during the period the commission of the crime was kept concealed, or the persons on trial were not suspected of having perpetrated the offence.

It must be manifest to Congress that the exposed state of the public records here, without fire-proof buildings, imperatively requires the most ample remedies for their protection, and the greatest vigilance and fidelity in all officers, whether executive or judicial, in bringing to condign punishment the real offenders.

Without these, the public property is in that deplorab'e situation which depends quite as much on accident and good fortune as the laws for safety.

JANUARY 17, 1837.

ANDREW JACKSON.

Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury.
WASHINGTON, December 27, 1836.

SIR: According to the request in your letter of this

Mr. PHILLIPS called for the yeas and nays on the day, I enclose a copy of the instructions given by the question of consideration; which were: Yeas 115, nays 57.

were ordered, and

So the House determined that the resolution should be now considered.

Mr. HAWES inquired if his motion for the previous

question was now in order.

The SPEAKER said he supposed that motion stood first in order, but the gentleman could renew it.

Mr. HAWES thereupon renewed his call for the previous question.

And the House seconded the call: Yeas 104, nays 42. Mr. EVANS called for the yeas and nays on the question of taking the main question; which were ordered.

Mr. ROBERTSON moved a call of the House; which motion was lost.

And the question on taking the main question was then put, and decided in the affirmative: Yeas 127, nays 66.

So the House determined that the main question should

now be taken.

Mr. GRENNELL said that, notwithstanding the vote

court to the jury, on the act of 1790, on the trial of Richard H. White.

I understand that the only juror who held out for acquitting the prisoner was satisfied of his guilt, but refused to find him guilty on the ground of this instruction as to the limitations. It is certainly highly necessary that the law should be so amended as to prevent the bar of the statute from operating in cases where the proper officers of Government did not know, and could not by due diligence have known, by whom the offences were committed. One or two cases similar to the present have occurred heretofore in the circuit court, in which this defence has been sustained.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

F. S. KEY, U. S. Att'y D. C. The message, having been read, was, on motion of Mr. THOMAS, referred, with the accompanying documents, to the Committee on the Judiciary, and ordered to be printed.

PAY AND MILEAGE.

The "bill to establish a more uniform rule of compu

[blocks in formation]

ting the mileage and per diem compensation of members of Congress' coming up in its order

Mr. VANDERPOEL said that he would move its postponement until to-morrow, with a view, if possible, of reaching the bill to provide for the admission of Michigan into the Union.

Mr. CAMBRELENG inquired if it would be in order to call for the previous question.

The SPEAKER said it would be in order.

Mr. CAMBRELENG called for the previous question. Mr. WARDWELL moved to lay the bill on the table, for the purpose of affording members an opportunity at a future day of proposing amendments. [This motion was entitled to priority.]

Mr. CRAIG asked for the yeas and nays on the lastnamed motion; which were ordered, and were: Yeas 11, nays 192.

So the House refused to lay the bill on the table. The question recurred on the call for the previous question; which was seconded by the House: Yeas 78, nays 63.

Mr. HANNEGAN called for the yeas and nays on the question of taking the main question; but they were not ordered.

And the question on taking the main question was decided in the affirmative: Yeas 112, nays not counted. So the House determined that the main question should now be put.

Mr. HIESTER called for the yeas and nays on the main question; which were ordered.

The main question was on the engrossment of the bill in the following form:

A bill to establish a more uniform rule of computing the mileage and per diem compensation of members of Congress.

Be it enacted, &c., That there shall be appointed, at the commencement of each session of Congress, a joint select committee of three members from each House, whose duty it shall be, within the first thirty days of the session, to ascertain, by information from each member or delegate, the exact distance, by the nearest principal mail route by land, from the seat of the Federal Government to the residence of the said member or delegate; and the said committee shall immediately make a report thereof to their respective Houses, upon which report the mileage of each member or delegate shall be computed.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That no member or delegate shall receive any per diem compensation for any days during which he may be absent from the seat of the Federal Government while the House to which he belongs shall be in session, except such absence be by leave or authority of the House, or on business of the House of which he is a member, or occasioned by sick. ness; and upon the final settlement of his account, it shall be the duty of each member or delegate to certify the number of days he may be thus absent; which account, so certified, shall be published at the commencement of the next session of Congress, under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

The question on the engrossment of the bill was taken, and carried: Yeas 187, nays 16.

So the bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading; and the question being when the bill should be read,

Mr. HAWES moved it have its third reading now. Mr. HANNEGAN said he hoped not. He thought the House had done injury enough for one day; for they had ordered to a third reading one of the most crude and ill-digested bills ever brought before that House; a bill containing more imperfections and doing more injustice

[H. OF R.

than any they had ever acted on. He moved that the House adjourn; which motion was rejected. And the bill was ordered to a third reading now.

ADMISSION OF MICHIGAN.

The House took up the bill from the Senate, entitled "An act to admit the State of Michigan into the Union upon an equal footing with the original States;" the question being on its commitment to the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union.

Mr. THOMAS said that much injustice had been done to the inhabitants of Michigan, by keeping them out of the Union, and by denying them the right to participate in the legislation of the country. After the great delay which had taken place in the action of Congress on the subject, he hoped that the House would adopt that mode of action now which would expedite a decision; that was, to keep the bill within the control of a majori ty of the House. In the House the previous question could be called; in Committee of the Whole that privilege was taken away. In the present instance the House ought to be reasonably indulgent in debate; and Mr. T. had no doubt that, so long as gentlemen confined themselves strictly to the merits of the bill, every latitude would be extended to them. But if a disposition should be manifested to diverge from the true question before the House, and to take up time on mere party considerations, the debate ought to be closed, and he hoped, in justice to the people of Michigan, would be closed.

Mr. HARDIN said he had been a member of the committee to which this subject had been referred at the present and last session of Congress, and he had been constrained to differ from the majority of both these committees on this subject. He had never explained the reasons which induced him to differ from them. He did not care whether the bill were referred to the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union or not, provided a fair opportunity was given to gentlemen wishing to express their views. He would inquire who was to be the judge whether a member was confining himself to the subject or not? He hoped that, if the bill was not committed, the few remarks he had to make on one subject would be heard with patience; and that was, the spirit of mobocracy and the revolutionary movements which had characterized the proceedings in relation to the admission of Michigan, to which he wished to call the attention of the House, and against which he intended to enter his protest.

Mr. JENIFER raised the question whether the bill must not necessarily be committed; and, after a few remarks thereon by Mr. BRIGGS,

The SPEAKER expressed his adherence to his decision made the other day, that the bill, inasmuch as it contained no appropriation, need not be committed.

Mr. REED called for the yeas and nays on the question of commitment; which were ordered.

Mr. PATTON urged the propriety of commitment. There was not an instance of a State having been admit. ted into the Union without the bill which provided for its admission having been referred to the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union. And, if the bill were committed, the majority could at any time discharge the Committee of the Whole from the consideration of it.

Mr. SUTHERLAND said that if this were a new question, which had not been discussed, and the merits of which were not thoroughly understood, it would be well to go into committee; but every member of the House was master of the subject. He thought that commitment was unnecessary, and that the House ought not to delay the admission of Michigan into the Union unnecessarily. He believed that action on the bill had

H. OF R.]

Post Office Building-Mileage of Members, &c.

been already delayed too long. He reminded the gen tleman from Virginia [Mr. PATTON] that the received notion in the House was, that a majority could not discharge a Committee of the Whole from the consideration of a bill, so long as an amendment was pending.

Mr. PATTON inquired if the Committee of the Whole could not be instructed to report the bill forthwith to the House, without amendment.

Mr. SUTHERLAND said that a bill could not be taken out of committee in the midst of a gentleman's speech; and suppose a gentleman had the floor, and chose to speak two or three days, there was no power to interfere with him.

Mr. STORER insisted that, under a fair construction of the rule of the House, the bill required commitment. And the question on the commitment was taken, and decided in the negative: Yeas 86, nays 110.

So the House determined that the bill should not be committed.

Mr. THOMAS said that, if it was the sense of the House, he was prepared now to submit his remarks; but if the House preferred an adjournment, he was perfectly willing. With a view to test that question, he moved that the House adjourn; which motion prevailed; and The House adjourned.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19.

POST OFFICE BUILDING.

Mr. HARLAN submitted the following resolution: Resolved, That the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads be instructed to inquire into the expediency of providing by law for the insurance and protection from accidents, by fire or otherwise, the building lately leased by the Postmaster General from B. O. Tayloe, for the use of the Post Office Department; and that said committee ascertain and report to this House the terms and conditions of the lease entered into by the Secretary of the Treasury for the buildings rented by him, referred to, and made a part of the agreement between the Postmaster General and said Tayloe.

[JAN. 19, 1837.

had, on his own motion, referred the subject of investigation into the causes of the destruction of the Post Office building to his own committee. As the gentleman had taken charge of that subject, Mr. H. was disposed to give him this also; and he might ascertain of the Secretary of the Treasury the real character of the lease, and lay it before the House.

Mr. CONNOR said, in relation to offering the resolution alluded to by the gentleman, he had only to say that, after a consultation in the committee room, it was concluded that the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads was the most appropriate committee to which to refer the subject of the investigation into the causes of the destruction of the Post Office building; and he was instructed to introduce the resolution, and introduced it under those instructions. Had it not been for this, certainly he should not have been desirous of bringing upon himself the arduous duty connected with this investigation.

The resolution was then adopted: Yeas 77, nays not counted.

MILEAGE OF MEMBERS.

Mr. UNDERWOOD offered the following resolution: Resolved, That the Sergeant-at-arms be directed to lay before this House a statement showing the mileage claimed and sums paid therefor to members of this House and delegates from the Territories, respectively, during the last and present session of Congress; and also a similar statement in relation to the Senators in Congress.

Mr. BOON moved to amend the resolution, by striking out all that portion which related to the Senate. Some debate followed, in which Messrs. BOON, UNDERWOOD, HARDIN, W. THOMPSON, and CRAIG, participated,

When Mr. BOON moved to lay the whole subject on the table.

Mr. CRAIG called for the yeas and nays on that motion; which were ordered.

And, pending this question, the House, on motion of Mr. A. MANN, proceeded to the orders of the day. ADMISSION OF MICHIGAN.

The House proceeded to the consideration of the bill to provide for the admission of Michigan into the Union on an equal footing with the original States; the pendquestion being on ordering the bill to be engrossed for a third reading.

Mr. THOMAS addressed the House at great length in favor of the bill, contending that Michigan had complied with all the conditions which, by the act of last session, were made indispensable prerequisites to her admission into the Union; and that the proceedings of the second convention were the clearly expressed views of the majority of the people of that State.

Mr. HARLAN said that, by referring to the contract made by the Postmaster General for the building alluded to, it seemed to him, and he submitted it to the consideration of other gentlemen, whether, if this contract was binding on the Government, it would not become the insurer of the buildings. By the stipulations of that contract, the head of the Post Office Department bounding himself to return the building in good condition; and he took it, if the building was destroyed by fire, the Government would be bound to rebuild it. He thought, then, that Congress ought to make some provision for having this building insured, so as to exonerate the Government from the risk incurred by the terms of this contract. He did not pretend to say whether the contract was binding on the Government or not; it was very certain there was no authority given to make the contract; but he supposed, from the emergency of the case, that the Government would recognise it, and fulfil its stipulations. He was also desirous of ascertaining from the Postmaster General the terms and conditions of the contract entered into by the Secretary of the Treasury for a part of this building; because it appeared that the Secretary had contracted for all the back buildings, stables, &c. And, for the purpose of procuring this information, he proposed to refer the subject to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.

Mr. CONNOR suggested that the gentleman might obtain his object more directly by making calls on the Secretary of the Treasury and Postmaster General.

Mr. HARLAN observed that he was induced to refer the subject to the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, because the chairman of that committee

Mr. HARDIN replied at great length, insisting that the movements in the second convention were revolutionary in their character and tendency; that, under the proceedings of that convention, Michigan could not, constitutionally, be admitted into the Union, and that she should not be admitted until a convention, held by State authority, had acceded to the terms which Congress had presented.

Mr. VANDERPOEL obtained the floor, and moved that the House adjourn; but withdrew the motion, and, on the suggestion of Mr. THOMAS, moved that the bill be made the special order of the day for to-morrow. Mr. E. WHITTLESEY asked for the yeas and nays on that motion.

Mr. MERCER moved that the House adjourn; which motion prevailed; and

The House adjourned.

« ПретходнаНастави »