Mr. Coit said, very probably the resources of his mind may not be equal to that gentleman's, he therefore wished the subject to be delayed that he might have time to get into the knowledge of the business.
Mr. Coit's motion for postponement was then put and carried—yeas 46, nays 30.
Hugh Lawson White.
Mr. Blount then called for the order of the day on the report of the Secretary of War on the petition of Hugh Lawson White, a soldier under General Sevier, against the Indians. The House accordingly resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole.
The following report from the Committee of Claims was then read:
That the claim set forth in the said petition, is intended to establish a principle that will apply to the whole of the militia which were called out under Brigadier General Sevier, in 1793, to act offensively against certain Indians south-west of the Ohio.
That the expedition against these Indians, as appears from the muster-rolls, comprehended a period of above five months, or from the 22d July to 31st December, 1793.
That it was undertaken without authority derived from the President, under the laws of the United States, and for the avowed purpose of carrying the war into the Cherokee country.
That the tenor of the instructions from the Department of War to the Governor of the South-western Territory forbade offensive operations.
Having given these facts, it may be proper to add, that it appears, by a recurrence to official papers, that the Indians had greatly perplexed and harassed by thefts and murders, the frontier inhabitants of Tennessee; and previous to the service, for which compensation is demanded, had shown themselves in considerable force, and killed at two stations (one of them within seven miles of Knoxville) fifteen persons, including women and children: that it must rest with Congress to judge how far these aggressions of Indians, and such other circumstances as can be adduced to the parties, constitute a case of imminent danger, or the expedition a just and necessary measure.