[After a few slight amendments the answer was agreed to.]
Mr. Thatcher wished, as no objection was made to the Address, that it might be entered on the journals as unanimously agreed to; but, on the question being put, a few noes being heard, the Speaker declared it not carried.
The usual resolution was then passed, that the Speaker, attended by the House, do present the Address, and that a committee be appointed to wait upon the President, to know when and where he will be pleased to receive the same.
Messrs. Dana, Venable, and Harper, were appointed a committee for this purpose. They waited upon the President accordingly, and Mr. Dana reported that the President would receive the Address to-morrow, at his own house, at twelve o'clock.[37]
Friday, December 14.
Several other members, to wit: James Cochran, from New York; William Matthews, from Maryland; Josiah Parker, from Virginia; and Thomas Pinckney, from South Carolina, appeared, and took their seats in the House.
Answer of the President.
The hour having arrived at which the President had appointed to receive the Address of this House in answer to his Speech to both Houses, the Speaker announced it, and the House withdrew for the purpose of presenting the Address.
In about a quarter of an hour, the members returned; when the Speaker, having taken his chair, proceeded to read the answer to their Address, a copy of which had been put into his hand by the President. It was as follows:
To the House of Representatives of the United States: