H. OF R.] Appropriation Bill.-Deposite Question-U. S. Liabilities to Indians--Pension Laws. [JAN. 29, 30, 1834. the hour baving expired, the subject was postponed until pension system was established at least as far back as 1789, to-morrow. APPROPRIATION BILL. Mr. POLK now asked the consent of the House to take up the appropriation bill--but the House refused: ayes 102, noes 66--(not two-thirds, which is requisite to change the order of business.) THE DEPOSITE QUESTION. The House then passed to the order of the day, being the motion on the subject of the deposites; when Mr. ARCHER addressed the House for a short time; but, being indisposed, yielded to a motion of Mr. GRENNELL for an adjournment; and The House, thereupon, adjourned. THURSDAY, JANUARY 30. and he (Mr. H.) was willing to take for his text, on all constitutional questions, the acts and the opinions of those who framed the instrument. It would seem, too, that South Carolina herself did not formerly regard it as unconstitutional; for, by a reference to the journals, it will be found that, in the year 1804, her pensioners were placed upon the roll of the United States, without any apparent objection on her part. It was not, however, to argue the constitutionality of the matter that he had risen. His main object was, by a brief review of the history of the times, to show that the honorable gentleman from Rhode Island [Mr. BUBGES] had-he would not say wilfully misrepresented-but that he must have forgotten the real facts when he spoke of these wars as "mere petty feuds, predatory excursions, waged by way of retaliation for purposes of robbery and plunder." He (Mr. H.) esteemed the years, the character, and the standing of that gentleman too highly to suppose for a moment that he would wilfully and unjustly defame the acts and the reputation of any, far less those of the time-worn soldier and patriot, who, in defence of his counMr. M. stated that the object of this bill was to refer try, had stained her soil with his blood. Unwilling to beall claims for commutation and other similar claims to the lieve such things of that honorable gentleman, he was Secretary of the Treasury for settlement, and the com- bound to presume that he had forgotten. The version mittee had suspended its action upon these claims until given to the House by the honorable member would be this bill should be decided upon. The committee hoped fouud to be widely different from what he (Mr. H.) had the House would give it an early consideration; and he learned alike from history and tradition. moved its reference to the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union. Agreed to. Mr. MARSHALL, from the Committee on Revolutionary Claims, reported a bill providing for the settlement of certain revolutionary claims, which was twice read. UNITED STATES' LIABILITIES TO INDIANS. Mr. H. EVERETT moved that the resolution reported by him from the Committee on Indian Affairs, on the 28th instant, should be considered. This being objected to, the yeas and nays were taken upon the suspension of the rule, and it was decided that the rule should be sus pended, so as to enable the House to proceed to the consideration of the said resolution. The resolution was then read as follows: Of tradition, however, he would not speak, but refer alone to history to sustain his remarks. The honorable gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. DENNY,] and both the honorable members from Tennessee, [Messrs. DICKINSON and PEYTON] had stated to the House the atrocious character of this war on the part of the savages throughout the revolutionary struggle. At that period it had raged in the most horrid manner; and, if the honorable gentleman from Rhode Island was still not satisfied of the fact, he would refer him, for confirmation of the fact, and also for the character of the war, to Mar Resolved, That the Secretary of War be directed to lay shall's Life of Washington, representing, in the year 1778, before this House a statement of the present and future that whilst various "diplomatic concerns employed the liabilities of the United States to Indians and Indian tribes, American cabinet, and whilst the war seemed to languish under existing Indian treaties; the names of the tribes, on the Atlantic, it raged in the West in its most savage parties thereto; the several sums and annuities, designat- form." Would this appear to speak simply of some petty ing whether in money or goods, stipulated to be paid or feud? He thought not. delivered; the term of payment or delivery; and the specific services and specific articles stipulated to be performed for and delivered to them; the terms thereof; the place where to be performed or delivered; with an estimate of the expense of the performance of such stipulations, and the stipulations for removing Indians from the States; with an estimate of the number of Indians to be removed, and the expense of their removal. The resolution was then agreed to. EXTENSION OF THE PENSION LAWS. Mr. CHILTON's resolution on extending the pension law coming up, as the unfinished business of the morning Mr. HANNEGAN said he did not wish to intrude upon the time of the House, but the present question was one in which he felt a more than ordinary anxiety, arising not alone from the fact that some few of those who would be benefited by the resolution under consideration were his immediate constituents, but he had a higher interest-an interest springing from another and a broader source-a wish to see some slight public recognition, some token of national gratitude, to those who, in youth and vigorous manhood, had devoted themselves exclusively to the service of their country. Rhode Island has disavowed all knowledge of the existBut, said Mr. H., as the honorable gentleman from ence of such a war as had been spoken of by the honorable gentleman from Tennessee, [Mr. DICKINSON,] he would ask the honorable gentleman from Rhode Island if there could be found any general treaty of peace, or suspension of the struggle with the hostile Indians, at the conclusion of the struggle with Great Britain? That gentleman could not. Upon the contrary, although various treaties had been occasionally formed with separate tribes at Fort Stanwix, Fort McIntosh, at Hopewell on the Keowee, and at the mouth of the Great Miami of the Ohio, they had proved entirely ineffectual. In pursuance of all these, however, a new treaty had been made at Fort Harmar in the year 1789, with numerous tribes, and almost the same stipulations adopted that had been agreed upon at the four places just named. At this last treaty, (said Mr. II.,) the Wabash and Miami Indians, though specially urged, had refused to attend. They were bent upon war alone. But, sir, to show how far this last treaty accomplished its object, it is only necessary to refer to a communication made to Congress by General Washington, in the year 1790, in which he informed that body that he had been In the fulfilment of this obligation he was not, like the compelled to call out the militia in the western country, gentleman from South Carolina, [Mr. PINCKNEY,] deterred in aid of the regular troops, against the increasing depre by constitutional scruples. Those who framed the con-dations of the savage enemy. This force was composed stitution, it would seem, had not such scruples; for the of one thousand men from Virginia and Kentucky, and JAN. 30, 1834.] nia. five hundred from four counties in western Pennsylva-iary body of Canadian volunteers, on the 20th of August, 1794. Yes, a body of Canadian volunteers, drawn from Sir, (said Mr. H.,) the pay could not have been the around the British post of Detroit, and encouraged by object with these men. What was it? Contrast it with the Colonel McKee, the British agent at that place, together pay that has been given in latter times: it was $22 per with Captain Elliott and others, of the British army, who month to a lieutenant, $5 per month to a sergeant, $3 were actually in view amongst the Indians at the comper month to a private; and they were to receive this only mencement of the engagement, which was fought within in time of actual service, when required by imminent sight of a British post and garrison. peril. Mr. H. said he believed he used the very words But still further to show how little this war deserves of the instructions given to the commanding general. the unkind description given of it by the honorable genThe documents were within the reach of the House, tleman from Rhode Island, [Mr. BURGES,] let any gentleshowing that, up to the period just mentioned, savage out-man look at the report of General Wayne, shortly after rages had increased with even greater violence, and the taking command of the army, then composed of two whole frontier was stained with a repetition of the most thousand six hundred regular officers and soldiers, and shocking barbarities. three hundred and sixty mounted volunteers from KenShortly after these men were raised, the melancholy tucky, under the command of General Charles Scott. campaigns of Harmar and St. Clair followed in quick suc- This force he reported at the time as utterly inadequate cession. They surely did not head mere predatory bands; to the difficulties of the enterprise, and the formidable they were each followed by a strong and organized force, enemy against whom he was to act. To supply the reat the direction and under the auspices of the Govern- quisite force, a draught of the militia was deemed indispenment. The bare recollection of the names of those who sable. This officer had, as was known to all, succeeded fell on those fields would certainly destroy any impres- in the end: and the treaty of Greenville, made on the 3d sion, as to the character of the war, that might have been day of August, in the year 1795, had constituted the basis produced on a portion of the House by the remarks of of all subsequent treaties held with the Indians northwest the honorable gentleman from Rhode Island. For years of the Ohio river; and it was the first and only sincere after, their loss had been deplored as a public calamity all peace made by them with this republic, having, he (Mr. over the Union. The father of his country, on receiving H.) believed, remained unbroken until within a short the news of St. Clair's defeat, was represented to have shed period anterior to the late war with Great Britain. tears: bitter and scalding they must have been, for num- Throughout the whole of this war, it would be found, bered with the dead was many a revolutionary comrade. upon examination, that instructions had been uniformly Sir, (said Mr. H.,) I concur with the honorable gentle- given by the department to the commanding general to man from Pennsylvania [Mr. DENNY] in his remarks upon procure, by all means, the services of some influential and the conduct of General Arthur St. Clair. Injustice has intelligent gentlemen resident in the West. A Logan, a been done his memory, notwithstanding a complete vindi- Shelby, a Hardin, or a Spenser, were uniformly found cation at the hands of those who best knew, and whose with their little bands around them, opening the way, and province it was to judge of the facts. He was sorry that directing the march of the advancing army. To the temthe honorable gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. HARDIN] porizing policy of the Government, the valuable life of had, in the course of his remarks on a former day, joined Colonel John Hardin had been finally sacrificed; he havin the censure of that man, whom he considered among ing, at the request of the Government, undertaken a misthe most meritorious this country had ever produced. His sion to the Wabash and Miami Indians, accompanied only disasters on that campaign were caused entirely by circum- by an interpreter, for the purpose, if possible, of effectstances beyond his control: their introduction, however, ing a reconciliation. Shortly after entering their country, at this time he (Mr. H.) considered as unnecessary, per- he was seized as a prisoner, and, regardless of the charachaps unbecoming the present discussion; he hoped, how-ter in which he came, he was burnt at the stake, with ever, that history would finally do justice to the memory every circumstance of savage cruelty. of this gallant soldier and accomplished gentleman, whose | Are the survivors of these men, when now asking for name stood so intimately blended with some of our proud- some little pecuniary aid to cheer their declining existest national recollections. ence, to be treated only with contumely? After having But to return to the subject: In September, 1791, a re-served for years, armed at their own expense, carrying port from the Secretary of War, to which he had before their provisions in their wallets, without tents, with no alluded, would be found to contain, amongst many other shelter from the piercing night save a single blanket, their statements, a representation that "a strong coercive force" humble request is to be rejected without even an inquiry; would be required to carry into effect the objects then whilst those who fought on this side the mountains have contemplated by the campaign; and the same report been so freely provided for. clearly explained the principles of justice and of policy It could not be that greater devotion to their country which dictated a most vigorous prosecution of this war. had characterized the soldiers of the East and the North, It was not for success against the Indians alone that we than those of the West. A more striking instance of were contending. Would the honorable gentleman from genuine patriotism could not be found, either in the history Rhode Island, [Mr. BURGES,] or any other gentleman on of this country or any other, than that displayed by some that floor, hazard an assertion to the contrary? They early settlers (intruders as they were termed) upon the could not; for an object, which all must admit to have been vacant lands in East Tennessee. They were removed of the highest importance, was still further to be attained: in a large body by a military force despatched for the purit was the possession and subjugation of the British posts pose, under Major Bradly, some short time previous to the on Lake Michigan, and of Niagara and Detroit, withheld defeat of General St. Clair. Sir, these very men, although from us contrary to the treaty with Great Britain. From they had just beheld their families in the most distressing these posts the hostile Indians were constantly furnished possible situation-naked, houseless, and starving, were with arms and munitions, and excited to continue their among the first to volunteer in the expedition then concareer of indiscriminate butchery and massacre, to such templating; and met their fate in the ensuing campaign, an extent that the frontiers were made desolate from gallantly fighting for the very Government that had just Georgia to Canada. driven them from their cabins. From this state of things the country had been redeem- Sir, from the brief history of facts I have given, it will ed by the successful engagement of General Anthony be seen that, down to the year 1795, no general cessation Wayne with the combined Indian force and a large auxil-¡of hostilities had occurred; and that the savages were con tinually urged, by British emissaries, to the commission of the most brutal outrages. I have given this sketch to satisfy the honorable member from Rhode Island, and the House, that in no point of view can this long and protracted war be deserving of the character he has seen proper to bestow upon it. [JAN. 30, 1834. the socket, be left alone to the "cold charity of the world?" His youth and manhood, that vigorous portion of existence which, in these times, men devote to hoarding up for age, were, by him, passed in the constant and arduous service of his country. It may be said that this is but a single instance, and that If at any period it had assumed a predatory character, the provisions of the resolution are general. Sir, this the fault was in the Government, and not the inhabitants brief sketch would represent the claims of a majority of of the frontier. They were left alone to defend them- those benefited by the ultimate success of the principle selves against the public enemy, and, at the same time, by contained in the resolution. The instance I have given is their own labor and exertions to procure the necessaries far from being solitary. It is, in reality, the history of a peof life for the subsistence of their families. It is well culiar body of men, whose services cannot be obliterated known, that, after the treaty of peace with Great Britain by time; who, regardless of personal peril, seeking no inin 1783, the Government could control neither men nor dividual advantage, dared every thing in a most hazardmeans; and, consequently, these people were compelled ous cause. Mr. Speaker, did they effect nothing? They for some years to defend the lives and property of all fought amid a wilderness, boundless in extent; they fought around them, as they best could, from their own re- for a wilderness; they succeeded; the result is known to all. That wilderness is now peopled by more than five I have aimed in my remarks, sir, at nothing more than millions of rational and intelligent beings, as happy, as the performance of an act of simple justice to the surviv-free, as generous, and as brave, as the sun ever shone ing representatives of former days, so unjustly or unfeel-down upon. The eye is every where greeted with smil ingly denounced as robbers and plunderers! ing and beautiful farms, with flourishing villages; in the sources. Whether the resolution shall ultimately prevail, or not, midst, cities have risen; and over all, law and order, the I hope their services at least may be regarded in a proper lights of revealed religion, and the blessings of civil liberlight. By their valor, their constancy, their unshaken ty, prevail. fortitude, a title to the whole wide-spread country of the Sir, it is for the surviving patriarch, whose toils have West was secured. In giving protection to an extensive brought so rich a harvest to others, that some little mefrontier, of which they constituted the only means of suc-mento of national gratitude is now asked. It is not sought cor and defence, every danger, every privation, every for robbers and plunderers. The gentleman from Rhode toil was encountered without murmur or complaint. Island knows them not: from nothing on earth could they Year after year, they freely suffered; their only reward, be more remote. Wanton aggression and unlicensed pilthe warm and heartfelt prayer of the lonely woman and lage stain not the history of their lives. Their devotional her offspring, acknowledging their preservation from cap-love of liberty was united to a singleness of heart and a tivity, violation, and death. simplicity of manner, that might vie with the shepherd of old, "watching his flocks on Chaldea's hills." I have (said Mr. H.) in my possession the petition of John Ritchie, one of these men, now upwards of 64 years Mr. H. said that, before concluding, he wished to beold, who, from the age of 16, was constantly engaged in stow a few observations on the amendment offered by the the service of his country; he went, throughout his whole honorable gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. BOULDIN,] precampaign, with Colonel Logan; he fought in, and was one posing to abolish all pension laws. Throughout the entire of the few who fortunately escaped from, the disastrous discussion of the question, this amendment, in reality the action at the junction of the St. Mary's and St. Joseph's, legitimate subject of debate, had been totally overlooked, generally known as the defeat of General Harmar; he was until the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. PINCKNEY] with the five hundred picked men who performed one of had raised it from the condition of deep apathy to which the boldest tours on record against the Indians, under the common consent had apparently consigned it. To that command of General Charles Scott, that chivalric hero of honorable gentleman [Mr. PINCKNEY] it was indebted for almost a hundred fields, with whose name history at least at least the active portion of its existence; for at the moassociates no ideas of robbery and plunder! This same ment of its first appearance "in this breathing world,” it individual was afterwards with the first force that ever had seemingly fallen still-born into the hands of the Clerk, penetrated to the upper Wabash, under General Wilkin- without, so far as he (Mr. H.) recollected, even a show of son, and was present at the destruction of the Wea towns; fatherly fondness from the honorable mover of this unforand, sir, he finally followed the steps of Anthony Wayne tunate and ill-conceived bantling. Notwithstanding this throughout the whole of his memorable and glorious cam-neglect of the natural protec'or, however, the imp has paign, concluded by the treaty of Greenville in 1795. been so far resuscitated as to chirp in the fostering arms Years afterwards, when the Government again required of its late fond nurse. the services of her citizens in the field, this man, although The policy and the justice of that amendment are alike advanced in life, was amongst the first of the gallant and beyond my comprehension. Even a well-founded reason patriotic Kentuckians who so freely flocked to her stand for its adoption is more than I can imagine; no suggestions ard. He was at the siege of Fort Meigs, and, if my recol- of necessary economy can be brought in aid of the propo lection of the events of his life serve me right, although it sition. No national debt hangs over us; no national pecuis not stated in his petition, an honorable and highly distin- niary embarrassment of any nature or character whatsoevguished gentleman on this floor from Kentucky, [Colonel er. Is the Government, then, so poor that she cannot pay Richard M. Johnson,] one distinguished alike by his pre- this slight acknowledgment of gratitude for services reneminent civil and military services on every occasion so dered in a cause that has been sanctified beyond all others, cheerfully and efficiently rendered his country, can bear by its result upon the happiness and liberties of mankind? individual testimony to the gallant conduct of my old We have thousands to give annually for the improvement friend in that field, where, by the defeat and death of the and repairs of Pennsylvania Avenue; we have thousands to most justly celebrated man of all their warriors, the In- give for trimming the bushes and turning the walks dian power in the West was finally and forever broken. around this building; thousands to make "Goose creek I allude to the battle of the Thames. once, the Tiber now," flow in a direction something dif In declining age he now finds himself a prey to pover-ferent from what nature intended it; thousands to give ty; a constitution broken, and health enfeebled by early for innumerable other purposes of about equal importance hardships, disable him from ordinary agricultural labor. to the country; but not one cent to those who fought to Sir, should such a man, as life wanes lower and lower in make that country free. JAN. 30, 1834.] The Pension Laws-Removal of the Deposites-Appropriation Bill. [H. of R. Mr. WAYNE opposed the concurrence, and went into an argument to show that the conferees had transcended their power. He appealed, in support of his views, to works on parliamentary law. Mr. CLAYTON declined urging any question of order, but reprobated the compromise as being, in fact, a purchase by money of the point for which the House had contended. What, sir, strike out the pension act! When you do so, when you efface it from the statute book, blot out at the same time from the history of your country the name of every consecrated field on which these veterans fought, whether of victory or disaster. Do it, sir! erase the one, but leave no vestige of the other. Let not posterity be left to blush, that we sedulously preserved the record of those glorious fields, but consigned to poverty and misery the individuals who had rendered them immortal. Shall Mr. SUTHERLAND supported the report, and went we tell the gallant mariner, who has borne our flag in tri- into a variety of precedents to show that the committee umph over every sea, that hereafter, when worn down acted with full authority in modifying the bill as they had and unfit for service, he will be cast aside unnoticed, un- done. regarded; the country he has so fondly loved, so proudly defended, with millions in her treasury, will leave him, the neglected victim of age, disease, and poverty combined? Mr. HARDIN treated the question as one of common sense, and denied that the committee could go beyond the express matter of disagreement between the Houses. Mr. POLK explained the grounds on which the comFor myself, I cannot concur in such sentiments: patri-mittee of conference had proceeded, and insisted that they otism alone forbids the thought; and it is to be hoped that had touched only the matter of disagreement, though the justice and the generosity of this House will forever they had struck out some words not disagreed to. preclude it. My vote shall never deny to him, who aided Mr. ADAMS, of Massachusetts, called for the reading either in establishing or defending the Union and the lib- of the title of the bill, and it was read at the Clerk's taerties of this republic, a just reward, sufficient to render ble, as follows: easy his declining years. He had no fear, however, that the amendment of the gentleman from Virginia would prevail, and sincerely hoped that a law would be passed pursuant to the principle proposed by the resolution. [Mr. H. extended his remarks until the expiration of the hour, when the subject was again laid on the table.] THE DEPOSITE QUESTION. The order of the day being the deposite question, Mr. WAYNE stated that he had received from Mr. ARCHER, (who had the floor from yesterday,) a communication stating that he was too unwell to proceed in his speech to-day. APPROPRIATION BILL. Mr. POLK now asked the consent of the House to take up the appropriation bill. Objections were made; but the rule having been suspended, the House determined to take up the bill. And the question being on agreeing to the report of the conferees on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses, Mr. WILDE demanded that the question should be taken by yeas and nays. Mr. SPEIGHT moved for a call of the House; but it was negatived. Mr. HUBBARD, although formerly opposed to the compromise, having since examined precedents, had become convinced that the committee had not gone further than former cases would bear them out in going. He quoted two cases from the Journal. Mr. WAYNE then raised a question of order, on the ground that the bill under consideration ought not to have remained with the House, but should, by rule, have been sent to the Senate, when a conference was asked. The CHAIR decided that it was too late to raise this as a question of order; though it might be urged, in argument, as a reason against agreeing to the report of the conferees. Mr. FOOT, agreeing to this decision as correct, and agreeing also with Mr. WAYNE in the belief that the bill ought to have been sent to the Senate, moved that a new conference be asked, in order to correct the error. The CHAIR decided that this would not be in order until the House had passed on the question now before it, viz: whether it would concur in the report of the conferees. Mr. FOOT disagreed to this decision, but declined pressing his objections at present. The question then being, Will the House concur in the report of the committee of conference? A debate on doctrines of order commenced. "A bill making appropriations, in part, for the support of Government for the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.” Mr. A. having deliberately repeated the words of the title, asked for the reading of the bill itself; and it was read accordingly. He then called for the reading of the report of the conferees; which also was read. Mr. A. then said that the first question he had to put to the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means [Mr. POLK] was this: What had this compromise to do with a partial appropriation bill, the sole object of which was to pay the members, and provide for the expenses of both Houses of Congress for the year 1834? What agreement was there between the bill (as proposed to be amended) and the title of the bill? Mr. POLK replied, that if the gentleman would look at the original bill, he would find that it contained a limitation upon the purchase of books by either House, without an appropriation by law: this part of the bill immediately connected it with the matter of the compromise proposed by the committee. Mr. ADAMS resumed. It was true that this showed some connexion between them; but that very clause itself ought never to have been in the bill: it was inconsistent with the title of the bill. It showed that there was more in the bill than the title warranted. The question before the House was not a mere question of order: it was a question of legislation, a question of consistency, a question of the honor of Congress, which required that there should be a consistency between the matter of a bill and its title. The House would remember that when the adherence of the Senate to its amendment of the bill had first been announced, he had entreated the House to recede from its disagreement; and that, if there was such a necessity for the restriction which the Senate had stricken out, to let it be put into a separate and distinct law. What was the use of the restriction? It effected nothing; for the Senate could still apply the money by a separate bill. The restriction died with the law of which it was a part. The moment the money was paid, the law was dead; and the proviso was dead with it. But, if the restriction was necessary-if the Houses of Congress could not trust themselves with the purchase of a few books to aid them in their public duty without such a restriction-it should be made by a general law. It assumed to be passed as a general and permanent regulation; but it could not be such in this bill. It was out of place in such a bill. It did not belong to the bill. He hoped the House would not concur. If the worst came to the worst, the House would only lose this partial appropriation bill; and what H. OF R.] Appropriation Bill. [JAN. 30, 1834. would be the great evil of that? The members would because the agreement of both Houses to the residue of only have to wait for their pay till the general appropria- the bill was only conditional. tion bill should pass. He hoped the gentleman at the Mr. H. EVERETT followed on the same side, and exhead of the Committee of Ways and Means would pro- pressed his satisfaction with the compromise. As to the ceed with his bill without delay. This very bill, itself, title of the bill, if it disagreed with the contents it could was an anomaly-a mere accommodation to the mem- be altered. bers-nothing more. He did not know why the general bill was not in the House before that time. The estimates on which it was to be founded had long been pub. lished. All the legitimate objects of the present bill would be attained by disagreeing to the report of the conferees, and then receding from the House's dissent to the Senate's amendment. If gentlemen wished an additional appropriation for the library, let it be done in a separate bill. But here was a sum of $5,000 levied upon the people to the end of time, under color of a partial appropriation bill for the year 1834? As for the library, it was such a favorite with him, that, if the honorable chairman would bring in a bill to add this sum to the annual provision for its increase, he would vote for it with all his heart. But such a clause in a bill like this looked to him, for all the world, like a golden eagle in the centre of a three-colored cock ade. Mr. HUBBARD further explained the cases of precedent he had before referred to, and insisted that they fully warranted the doings of the committee. A motion to adjourn failed. Mr. WAYNE again took the floor on the question of order, and further illustrated his former positions, insisting that if the report should be sanctioned, all rule would virtually be set aside. Mr. BATES opposed the compromise, as yielding every thing, and gaining almost nothing. Mr. LANE wished to hear the Speaker's opinion on the question of order. Mr. WILLIAMS said there was no question of order strictly before the House, but only a question of concurrence on a report. Mr. FOOT was about to read his authority to show that it would be in order to ask for a conference; but, being cut short by the Chair, he waived it, and said a few words in opposition to the compromise. It left the contingent fund without restriction of any kind. The gentleman from New Hampshire [Mr. HUBBARD] had quoted to the House two precedents, which, it seem ed, had changed that gentleman's view of the question. The question had been loudly demanded, and several But in the case first quoted by him, (one which Mr. A. motions for adjournment had been made and negatived; was not without reason for well remembering,) the disa- when, at past four o'clock, the question was taken on greement between the Houses had been, not respecting concurring in the report of the committee of conference, one particular clause, but concerning the whole bill. and decided in the negative, by yeas and nays, as follows: From the Journal of the House of Representatives, to YEAS.-Messrs. John Adams, Beale, Bean, Beardsley, which the gentleman from New Hampshire referred, it John Bell, James Blair, John Blair, Bockee, Bodle, appeared that the amendment proposed by the House, Brown, Bunch, Burns, Chambers, Chinn, Samuel Clark, and to which the Senate disagreed, was to strike out the Clay, Darlington, Davenport, Deberry, Dennis, Philemon whole bill except the enacting clause, and to insert Dickerson, Dunlap, Edward Everett, Horace Everett, another. The disagreement upon which the conference Foster, W. K. Fuller, Fulton, Galbraith, Gillett, Gorham, was held, therefore, embraced the whole bill; and thus Joseph Hall, T. H. Hall, Halsey, Joseph M. Harper, the entire bill being open to the action of the committee James Harper, Harrison, Hathaway, Hawkins, Heister, of conference, they had stricken out whatever parts of it Howell, Hubbard, Abel Huntington, Inge, Jarvis, Richthey chose; and this without in the least transcending the ard M. Johnson, Noadiah Johnson, Kavanagh, King, Lane, limits of their legitimate authority. But, in the present Lansing, Laporte, Lawrence, Luke Lea, Leavitt, J. K. case, Mr. A.'s objection was, that, under color of a disa-Mann, Mardis, John Y. Mason, Moses Mason, jr., McKim, greement respecting a temporary bill, the conferees had Robert Mitchell, Samuel McD. Moore, Muhlenberg, Murreported what amounted, in reality, to a new bill, and had grafted a permanent provision upon a bill which was intended only to effect a transient and temporary purpose. He would ask the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means what he would say, supposing, on some disa greement of the Houses touching the general appropriation bill, a committee of conference should deem it expedient to report a section rechartering the Bank of the United States? For his own part, if it were in order, he should be very glad they would. But, on this principle, where were a committee to stop? He asked again, where were they to stop? phy, Osgood, Page, Parks, Patterson, Pierson, Polk, NAYS.-Messrs. J. Q. Adams, Heman Allen, John J. Allen, C. Allan, William Allen, Barber, Barringer, Bates, Baylies, Beaty, Beaumont, James M. Bell, Binney, Bouldin, Briggs, Bull, Bynum, Cage, Carmichael, Casey, Chaney, Chilton, Choate, Claiborne, William Clark, Clayton, Coffee, Connor, Corwin, Coulter, Crane, Amos Davis, Day, Deming, Denny, Dickson, D. W. Dickinson, Should the present bill be lost, all that would have to Duncan, Evans, Felder, Fillmore, Foot, Philo C. Fuller, be done would be to insert the same provisions in the Gamble, Gholson, Gilmer, Gordon, Graham, Grayson, general appropriation bill; and this would be a very de- Griffin, Hiland Hall, Hamer, Hardin, Hawes, Hazeltine, sirable result, in his view. While the House was thus Henderson, Jabez W. Huntington, Cave Johnson, Seaspending so much time and money in providing for their born Jones, Benjamin Jones, Kinnard, Lay, Lewis, Love, own pay, other great and extensive departments of the Lucas, Lyon, Lytle, Martindale, Marshall, McComas, Government were suffering; and he supposed the general McDuffie, McIntyre, McKay, McKennan, Miller, Milligan, bill was, as usual, to be postponed till March or April. Parker, D. J. Pearce, Franklin Pierce, Pinckney, Potts, Should the result of the present difficulty be only to in- Ramsay, Rencher, Schley, Selden, Augustine H. Shep troduce the reform of passing a general appropriation bill perd, William Slade, Charles Slade, Sloane, Smith, Stodat this period of the session, the time would, in his judg-dert, William P. Taylor, Francis Thomas, J. Thomson, ment, have been well spent. Mr. E. EVERETT replied to the objections which had been urged against the compromise, and distinguished between questions of mere order and those of expediency and propriety. He denied that the committee had touched any part of the bill which both Houses had agreed to; Tompkins, Tweedy, Vance, Vinton, Wagener, Wat- Mr. WILDE now moved that the House recede from its disagreement. |