[57] Col. Timothy Pickering, in place of Gen. Knox, resigned.
[58] The distinction was invidious, and soon fell under the ban of public opinion; but the mode of making it was commendable, and freed the Senators voting for the increase from the imputation of a personal motive.
[59] This was nominally a private petition, but in reality a question between the State of North Carolina and the Federal Government in relation to their relative rights over Indian lands within the chartered limits of the State.
[60] This was the first discussion with open doors, except on the contested election of Mr. Gallatin.
[61] This was the first formal opposition to the mode of answering the President's Speech at the opening of the Sessions of Congress, though many members had from the first been repugnant to it as being too close an imitation of the British mode of opening the Sessions of Parliament by an Address from the sovereign in person, an answer to it, and the presentation of the answer by the House in a body.
[62] Description of the Flag.—It is tricolor, made of the richest silk, and highly ornamented with allegorical paintings. In the middle, a cock is represented, the emblem of France, standing on a thunderbolt. At two corners, diagonally opposite, are represented two bombshells bursting; at the other two corners, other military emblems. Round the whole is a rich border of oak leaves, alternately yellow and green; the first shaded with brown and heightened with gold; the latter shaded with black and relieved with silver; in this border are entwined warlike musical instruments. The edge is ornamented with a rich gold fringe. The staff is covered with black velvet, crowned with a golden pike, and enriched with the tricolor cravatte and a pair of tassels worked in gold, and the three national colors. The flag is to be deposited in the archives of the United States.
[63] Counsel for the prisoner.
[64] Of all the members who opposed this trading establishment from the commencement, Mr. Macon was the only one that remained in Congress until it was abolished in 1822.
[65] This motion, going to the destruction of the Mint itself, brought up an incidental debate on the right of Congress to withhold appropriations for the support of existing establishments—which is the only part of the debate on the bill which retains a surviving interest.
[66] This being the last year of Washington's administration, it presents a proper occasion for seeing what the support of the Government then cost, both as an inquiry pertinent in itself, and as furnishing a point of comparison for the future. This is shown in the introductory clause to the appropriations, stating, "That for defraying the expenditure of the civil list of the United States for the year 1796, together with the incidental and contingent expenses of the several departments and officers thereof, there be appropriated a sum not exceeding $530,392 85 cents." The objects to which this expenditure went, were, 1. Salary to President and Vice President. 2. Compensation to the members of Congress, with all the incidental expenses of that body. 3. The federal judiciary, with all its contingent expenses. 4. The Executive departments, with all their subordinate offices and expenses of every kind. 5. The Mint establishment. 6. The light-house establishment. 7. North-western and South-western territorial governments; with a few other small objects. For each of these items a specific sum was appropriated, of which, the appropriations for Congress were, for the pay of the members and all the officers and attendants, (estimated for a session of six months,) $193,460; and the expenses, fuel, stationery, printing, and all other contingencies of the two Houses, were $11,500. For diplomatic intercourse, $40,000.