Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 2 (of 16)

by United States. Congress

Thursday, April 8.

Mr. John Taliaferro, Jun., from the committee to whom was referred, on the fifth instant, the petition of sundry citizens of Georgetown, in the District of Columbia, with instruction to report thereon by bill or otherwise, presented a bill to incorporate the Directors of the Columbian Library Company; which was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the whole House on Monday next.

Mr. Dennis, from the committee to whom was referred, on the fifth of February last, a motion, in the form of two resolutions of the House, "respecting the adjustment of the existing disputes between the Commissioners of the City of Washington, and other persons who may conceive themselves injured by the several alterations made in the plan of the said city; also, relative to a plan of the said City of Washington, conformably, as nearly as may be, to the original design thereof, with certain exceptions," made a report thereon; which was read, and ordered to be referred to a Committee of the whole House on Monday next.

Mr. John Taliaferro, Jun., from the committee appointed, presented a bill to incorporate the inhabitants of the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia; which was read twice and committed to a Committee of the whole House on Monday next.

The Speaker laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, enclosing a statement prepared by the Register, of the application of the appropriations made by Congress for clerk-hire, in the several offices of the Treasury Department, specifying the names of the persons, and the salaries allowed to each, for the three last years, in pursuance of a resolution of this House, of the twenty-fifth ultimo; which were read, and ordered to lie on the table.

The Speaker laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, accompanying two statements, marked A and B, relative to expenses incurred by the United States in the exercise of jurisdiction over the territory of Columbia, since the assumption of jurisdiction by Congress, prepared in pursuance of a resolution of this House of the first instant; which were read, and ordered to be referred to the committee appointed, on the eighth of December last, to inquire whether any, and, if any, what alterations or amendments may be necessary in the existing government and laws of the District of Columbia.

The House proceeded to consider the report of the select committee to whom were referred, on the fifth instant, the amendments of the Senate to the bill, entitled "An act for revising and amending the acts concerning naturalization," which lay on the table: Whereupon,

Resolved, That this House doth agree to the said amendments, with amendments, to the section proposed to be substituted by the Senate in lieu of the first and second sections of the original bill.

Mr. Nicholson, from the committee appointed on the second instant, presented a bill to abolish the Board of Commissioners in the city of Washington, and to make provision for the repayment of loans made by the State of Maryland for the use of the city; which was read twice and committed to a Committee of the whole House on Monday next.

Mr. Nicholson, from the committee appointed, presented a bill to provide more effectually for the due application of public money, and for the accountability of persons intrusted therewith; which was read twice and committed to a Committee of the whole House on Monday next.

The House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the supplementary report of the Committee on Claims, of the seventh instant, to whom was recommitted, on the fifteenth ultimo, their report on the memorial of Paul Coulon, a French citizen; and after some time spent therein, the committee rose and reported a resolution, which was twice read, and agreed to by the House, as follows:

Resolved, That there be paid to Paul Coulon, as agent for the captors of the ship Betty Cathcart and brig Aaron, prizes to the French privateer La Bellone, out of any moneys in the Treasury, not otherwise appropriated, the sum of six thousand two hundred and forty-one dollars and forty-four cents, being the amount retained by the Treasury Department, from the sales of the ship Betty Cathcart, and for duties on the cargo of the brig Aaron.

Ordered, That a bill or bills be brought in, pursuant to the said resolution; and that the Committee on Claims do prepare and bring in the same.

North-western Territory.

The House proceeded to consider the amendments reported yesterday from the Committee of the Whole to the bill to enable the people of the Eastern division of the Territory north-west of the river Ohio to form a constitution and State Government, and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, and for other purposes, which lay on the table; and the same being severally twice read, were, on the question put thereupon, agreed to by the House.

A motion was then made, further to amend the said bill, at the Clerk's table, by striking out, in the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth lines of the second section thereof, the following words: "and on the north, by an east and west line, drawn through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan, running east, after intersecting the due north line aforesaid, from the mouth of the Great Miami, until it shall intersect Lake Erie or"—and inserting in lieu thereof, the word "to."

It passed in the negative—yeas 27, nays 44, as follows:

Yeas.—James A. Bayard, Thomas Boude, Manasseh Cutler, John Davenport, Thomas T. Davis, John Dennis, Ebenezer Elmer, Abiel Foster, Calvin Goddard, Roger Griswold, William Helms, Joseph Hemphill, Archibald Henderson, William H. Hill, Benjamin Huger, Thomas Lowndes, Lewis R. Morris, James Mott, Thomas Plater, Nathan Read, John Cotton Smith, John Stanley, John Stratton, Samuel Tenney, Thomas Tillinghast, Lemuel Williams, and Henry Woods.

Nays.—Willis Alston, John Archer, John Bacon, Theodorus Bailey, Phanuel Bishop, Richard Brent, Robert Brown, William Butler, Samuel J. Cabell, Thomas Claiborne, Matthew Clay, John Clopton, John Condit, Richard Cutts, John Dawson, William Dickson, Lucas Elmendorph, William Eustis, John Fowler, William B. Giles, John A. Hanna, Daniel Heister, William Hoge, James Holland, David Holmes, George Jackson, Charles Johnson, Samuel L. Mitchill, Thomas Moore, Anthony New, Thomas Newton, jr., Joseph H. Nicholson, John Smilie, Israel Smith, John Smith, (of Virginia,) Samuel Smith, Richard Stanford, Joseph Stanton, jr., John Taliaferro, jr., Philip R. Thompson, Abram Trigg, John Trigg, Isaac Van Horne, and Robert Williams.

Mr. John C. Smith moved further to amend the bill, by striking out the third section thereof, in the words following, to wit:

And be it further enacted, That all male citizens of the United States, who shall have arrived at full age, and resided within the said Territory at least one year previous to the day of election, and shall have paid a territorial or county tax, and all persons having, in other respects, the legal qualifications to vote for Representatives in the General Assembly of the Territory, be, and they are hereby, authorized to choose Representatives to form a Convention, who shall be apportioned amongst the several counties within the Eastern division aforesaid, in a ratio of one Representative to every —— inhabitants of each county, according to the enumeration taken under the authority of the United States, as near as may be, that is to say: from the county of Trumbull, —— Representatives; from the county of Jefferson, —— Representatives, —— of the —— to be elected within what is now known by the county of Belmont, taken from Jefferson and Washington Counties; from the county of Washington, —— Representatives; from the county of Ross, —— Representatives, —— of the —— to be elected in what is now known by Fairfield County, taken from Ross and Washington Counties; from the county of Adams, —— Representatives; from the county of Hamilton, —— Representatives, —— of the —— to be elected in what is now known by Clermont County, taken entirely from Hamilton County: and the elections for the Representatives aforesaid, shall take place on the second Tuesday of October next, the time fixed by a law of the Territory, entitled "An act to ascertain the number of free male inhabitants of the age of twenty-one, in the Territory of the United States north-west of the river Ohio, and to regulate the elections of Representatives for the same," for electing Representatives to the General Assembly, and shall be held and conducted in the same manner as is provided by the aforesaid act, except that the qualifications of electors shall be as herein specified.

The motion to strike out was supported by Messrs. John C. Smith, Goddard, Fearing, and Henderson, and opposed by Messrs. Giles, Mitchill, R. Williams, Elmer, and Holland, on the ground that the right of the United States to admit necessarily involved the power of prescribing a convention.

The yeas and nays were taken, and it passed in the negative—yeas 26, nays 48, as follows:

Yeas.—Thomas Boude, Manasseh Cutler, Samuel W. Dana, John Davenport, Abiel Foster, Calvin Goddard, Roger Griswold, Seth Hastings, Joseph Hemphill, Archibald Henderson, Benjamin Huger, Thomas Lowndes, Thomas Morris, Thomas Plater, Nathan Read, William Shepard, John Cotton Smith, John Stratton, Samuel Tenney, Thomas Tillinghast, George B. Upham, Killian K. Van Rensselaer, Peleg Wadsworth, Lemuel Williams, and Henry Woods.

Nays.—Willis Alston, John Archer, John Bacon, Phanuel Bishop, Richard Brent, William Butler, Samuel J. Cabell, Thomas Claiborne, John Clopton, John Condit, Thomas T. Davis, John Dawson, William Dickson, Lucas Elmendorph, Ebenezer Elmer, John Fowler, William B. Giles, Edwin Gray, John A. Hanna, Daniel Heister, William Helms, William Hoge, James Holland, David Holmes, George Jackson, Charles Johnson, Samuel L. Mitchill, Thomas Moore, James Mott, Anthony New, Thomas Newton, jr., Joseph H. Nicholson, John Smilie, Israel Smith, John Smith, (of Virginia,) Josiah Smith, Samuel Smith, Henry Southard, Richard Stanford, Joseph Stanton, jr., John Stewart, John Taliaferro, jr., David Thomas, Philip R. Thompson, Abram Trigg, John Trigg, Isaac Van Horne, and Robert Williams.

Mr. Fearing said he was of opinion that some provision ought to be made for the inhabitants excluded from the new State, and the continuance of suits from the old to the new Government; for these purposes he moved the recommitment of the bill. Lost.

Mr. Dana proposed so to amend the fourth section, as that a majority of the whole number of delegates elected in the Convention, instead of a majority of those present, should first determine whether it be or be not expedient to form a constitution, &c.

The yeas and nays were called, and the motion carried—yeas 38, nays 33, as follows:

Yeas.—Thomas Boude, William Brent, John Condit, Manasseh Cutler, Samuel W. Dana, John Davenport, Thomas T. Davis, Lucas Elmendorph, Ebenezer Elmer, William Eustis, Abiel Foster, John Fowler, Calvin Goddard, Edwin Gray, Roger Griswold, John A. Hanna, Joseph Hemphill, Archibald Henderson, William Hoge, Benjamin Huger, Lewis R. Morris, Thomas Morris, James Mott, Thomas Plater, Nathan Read, William Shepard, John Cotton Smith, Henry Southard, Richard Stanford, Joseph Stanton, jr., John Stewart, John Stratton, Samuel Tenney, Thomas Tillinghast, John Trigg, George B. Upham, Peleg Wadsworth, and Lemuel Williams.

Nays.—Willis Alston, John Archer, John Bacon, Robert Brown, William Butler, Samuel J. Cabell, Thomas Claiborne, Matthew Clay, John Clopton, Richard Cutts, John Dawson, William Dickson, William B. Giles, William Helms, James Holland, David Holmes, George Jackson, Charles Johnson, Samuel L. Mitchill, Thomas Moore, Anthony New, Thomas Newton, jr., Joseph H. Nicholson, John Smilie, Israel Smith, John Smith, (of Virginia,) Samuel Smith, John Taliaferro, jr., David Thomas, Philip R. Thompson, Abram Trigg, Isaac Van Horne, and Robert Williams.

The bill was then ordered to be engrossed for a third reading to-morrow.