From the attention he had paid to the debates reported this session, he believed them to be better and more accurately taken, than they had been on former occasions. This to him was a proof that the present situation of the stenographers was a good one. He acknowledged, at the same time, that the ability with which the debates were taken entitled those who took them to the best accommodation the House could afford. He concluded with renewing the motion for a reference to a select committee.
Mr. Nicholas replied, that no debate had taken place which could test the accuracy of the stenographers. From his own experience he pronounced the situation at present occupied utterly inconvenient. What he had some days since remarked had been misstated. He well knew that this did not arise from the inability of the reporter to state correctly what occurred. He knew him to be intelligent, and fully capable of conceiving and conveying the meaning of any remarks which could be made in that House. But it arose from his situation, from which it was impossible to hear distinctly.
He declared the objections of Mr. Otis, in relation to the number of applicants, perfectly chimerical. Did the gentleman suppose that the number would be so great as to make a demand on their seats? As well might he imagine this, as that they would swell to the ideal compass he had given them. It was known to the House, that at Philadelphia the number was small; seldom more than two, and often not more than one persevered during the session, though a greater number appeared on its earliest days. Fact and experience, therefore, demonstrated the fallacy of the danger apprehended from this source.
The question was then taken on the reference to a select committee, and carried—ayes 42, noes 34.
And a committee of five, viz: Messrs. Otis, Nicholas, Platt, Morris, and Hill, was appointed.
Friday, December 5.
Several members, to wit: from North Carolina, William Barry Grove; from Kentucky, Thomas T. Davis; and from Rhode Island, Christopher G. Champlin, appeared, and took their seats in the House.
Mausoleum to Washington.
Mr. H. Lee moved that the House do go into a Committee of the Whole on the bill "directing the erection of a mausoleum to George Washington."
On which motion the House divided—yeas 36, nays 34. Mr. Morris took the chair.