Mausoleum to Washington.
Mr. H. Lee, from the committee to whom was referred the several propositions made commemorative of the services of George Washington, reported a bill for the erection of a mausoleum, differing in no other respects from the former bill reported, except as to the materials of which the mausoleum is to be constructed; the present bill directing it to be made of stone, the former one directing it to be made of marble. He said that the committee, after maturely considering the relative merits of all the plans proposed, had preferred the mausoleum, as well from its superior durability as cheapness, to any other.
Tuesday, December 23.
Mausoleum to Washington.
Mr. H. Lee moved the going into a Committee of the Whole on the bill for erecting a mausoleum to George Washington.
On this question the House divided—yeas 42, nays 34.
Mr. Morris took the chair, and read the bill by paragraphs.
Mr. H. Lee said the merits of the bill had been so often discussed, and the subject was so delicate, that he would not again offer his sentiments generally on it. As it was the opinion of several members, that the dimensions of the mausoleum should not be fixed in the law, but that they should be governed by the sum appropriated, he moved to strike out "100 feet at the base and of proportionate dimensions."
The motion was agreed to.
Mr. H. Lee then moved an amendment confining the ground on which the mausoleum should be erected to public property.