Friday, August 7.
The Senate, in the absence of the Vice President, proceeded to elect a President pro tempore; and the votes being collected and counted, the Honorable John Langdon was unanimously appointed.
A message from the President of the United States, by General Knox:
Gentlemen of the Senate:
The business which has hitherto been under the consideration of Congress has been of so much importance, that I was unwilling to draw their attention from it to any other subject. But the disputes which exist between some of the United States and several powerful tribes of Indians, within the limits of the Union, and the hostilities which have, in several instances, been committed on the frontiers, seem to require the immediate interposition of the General Government.
I have, therefore, directed the several statements and papers which have been submitted to me on this subject, by General Knox, to be laid before you for your information.
While the measures of Government ought to be calculated to protect its citizens from all injury and violence, a due regard should be extended to those Indian tribes whose happiness, in the course of events, so materially depends on the national justice and humanity of the United States.
If it should be the judgment of Congress that it would be most expedient to terminate all differences in the southern district, and to lay the foundation for future confidence, by an amicable treaty with the Indian tribes in that quarter, I think proper to suggest the consideration of the expediency of instituting a temporary commission for that purpose, to consist of three persons, whose authority should expire with the occasion. How far such a measure, unassisted by posts, would be competent to the establishment and preservation of peace and tranquillity on the frontiers, is also a matter which merits your serious consideration.
GEO. WASHINGTON.
New York, August 7, 1789.
The above message was ordered to lie for consideration.[6]
Mr. Morris, in behalf of the committee on the bill for allowing a compensation to the President and Vice President of the United States, reported an amendment, to wit:
To expunge, in the provision for the Vice President, "five thousand dollars," and insert "six thousand dollars."
On motion to reduce the provision for the President of the United States, from "twenty-five thousand" to "twenty thousand dollars:"
Passed in the negative.
On motion to make the provision for the Vice President eight thousand dollars, instead of five thousand dollars:
Passed in the negative.
The Senate entered on executive business.
The following message from the President was laid before them:
Gentlemen of the Senate:
My nomination of Benjamin Fishbourn for the place of naval officer of the port of Savannah not having met with your concurrence, I now nominate Lachlan McIntosh for that office.[7]
Whatever may have been the reasons which induced your dissent, I am persuaded they were such as you deemed sufficient. Permit me to submit to your consideration whether, on occasions where the propriety of nominations appears questionable to you, it would not be expedient to communicate that circumstance to me, and thereby avail yourselves of the information which led me to make them, and which I would with pleasure lay before you. Probably my reasons for nominating Mr. Fishbourn may tend to show that such a mode of proceeding, in such cases, might be useful. I will, therefore, detail them.
First. While Colonel Fishbourn was an officer, in actual service, and chiefly under my own eye, his conduct appeared to me irreproachable; nor did I ever hear any thing injurious to his reputation as an officer or a gentleman. At the storming of Stony Point, his behavior was represented to have been active and brave, and he was charged by his General to bring the account of that success to the head quarters of the army.
Secondly. Since his residence in Georgia, he has been repeatedly elected to the Assembly as a representative of the county of Chatham, in which the port of Savannah is situated, and sometimes of the counties of Glynn and Camden; he has been chosen a member of the executive council of the State, and has lately been president of the same; he has been elected by the officers of the militia, in the county of Chatham, lieutenant-colonel of the militia in that district; and, on a very recent occasion, to wit, in the month of May last, he has been appointed by the council (on the suspension of the late collector) to an office in the port of Savannah, nearly similar to that for which I nominated him; which office he actually holds at this time. To these reasons for nominating Mr. Fishbourn, I might add that I received private letters of recommendation, and oral testimonials in his favor, from some of the most respectable characters in that State; but as they were secondary considerations with me, I do not think it necessary to communicate them to you.
It appeared, therefore, to me, that Mr. Fishbourn must have enjoyed the confidence of the militia officers, in order to have been elected to a military rank; the confidence of the freemen, to have been elected to the Assembly; the confidence of the Assembly, to have been selected for the council; and the confidence of the council, to have been appointed collector of the port of Savannah.
GEO. WASHINGTON.
New York, August 6, 1789.