Monday, January 17.
Two other members, to wit: from Virginia Samuel J. Cabell, and from North Carolina Robert Williams, appeared, and took their seats in the House.
Emancipated Slaves from French West Indies.
A memorial of sundry inhabitants of the town of Wilmington, in the State of North Carolina, was presented to the House and read, stating that a certain number of negroes or mulattoes, to whom emancipation has been granted by the Executive of the French Government in the Island of Guadaloupe, had been recently landed at the said town of Wilmington; that, in the opinion of the memorialists, much danger to the peace and safety of the people of the Southern States of the Union in particular, is justly to be apprehended from the admission of persons of that description into the United States, from the West India Islands; and praying that Congress will be pleased to take the premises into consideration, and adopt such effectual measures for prevention thereof, as they in their wisdom may deem proper.
Ordered, That the said memorial be referred to Mr. Hill, Mr. Early, Mr. Huger, Mr. Randolph, and Mr. Campbell, to report their opinion thereupon to the House.
Case of John P. Van Ness.
Mr. Davis called up the report of the Committee of Elections on the case of John P. Van Ness.
The House went into Committee of the Whole on the report, as follows:
"That, from the free concessions and agreement of the said member, it appears to your committee that he has accepted and exercised the office of a major of the militia, under the authority of the United States, within the Territory of Columbia; and that a paragraph in the sixth section of the first article of the constitution, which expressly provides, that 'No person holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office,' does, in the opinion of your committee, render the acceptance and exercise of the office aforesaid incompatible with the holding, at the same time, of a seat in the House.
"Your committee, therefore, ask leave to submit to the House the following resolution, to wit:
"Resolved, That John. P. Van Ness, one of the members of this House, having accepted and exercised the office of major of militia, under the authority of the United States, within the Territory of Columbia, has thereby forfeited his right to a seat as a member of this House."
Mr. Van Ness said he would make a remark or two that would, perhaps, remove any impressions of indelicacy on his part in retaining his seat under the circumstances in which he was placed. He considered himself as standing on that floor, not as a private individual, but as a Representative of New York; and as holding a trust which he was not authorized to abandon before a constitutional decision should be made. His constituents had placed him there as the guardian of their rights; and that trust he could not desert without a constitutional decision being made. If that decision should be adverse to his retaining his seat, in retiring from the House he should feel no regret but at leaving his constituents unrepresented during the remainder of the session, at not having discharged all the business assigned him by the Chair, and at ceasing to associate with gentlemen whom, for the most part, he respected. In a pecuniary view, the relinquishing his seat could not in the least affect him; nor should he consider it disreputable to leave a body without any imputation of dishonor or impropriety.
The reasons he should offer to the committee for retaining his seat, were few and simple. He thought the fair, liberal, and sound construction of the constitution did not affect his case; that the incapacitating provision only applied to civil offices. The constitution was only a digest of the most approved principles of the constitutions of the several States, in which the spirit of those constitutions were combined. Not one of those constitutions excluded from office those who had accepted military appointments, except in the regular service. He, therefore, felt a full conviction that it was never the intention of the framers of the Constitution of the United States to exclude militia officers from holding a seat in Congress. And however important it might be to adhere to the letter of the constitution, yet, when the spirit of it was so clear as it appeared to him, it ought to have weight in the decision of the question before the committee, which might affect objects of great importance. The right of every portion of the Union to a representation in that House was very important, and ought to be respected in all cases which may either directly or indirectly affect it. Gentlemen, therefore, ought to reflect before they deprive a part of the Union of this important right.
Had he supposed that the acceptance of an office in the militia would have interfered with his seat in that House, he would never have accepted it. He had never entertained a doubt on this point until broached in the House. Since then, he had heard various opinions. By what he had heard, his own opinion was not changed, as he believed that a true construction of the constitution would exclude his case. Should, however, a decision against his holding his seat be made, he should retire without any other regret than that which he had expressed. He had not risen to argue the case as an advocate, but merely to assign the grounds on which he had acted.
The question was then taken on the report of the Committee of Elections, which was agreed to without a division.
The committee rose, and the House immediately took up their report.
Mr. Randolph observed that, on a precedent so important as was about to be established by the vote of the House, it was unnecessary to say a word. He wished, however, that the disposition of the House to exclude, by a unanimous vote, even the shadow of Executive influence, should be recorded on their journals; for which purpose he called the yeas and nays; which were taken, and were unanimously in favor of the resolution.