On postponing till Monday next, the question was decided in the affirmative—59 for and 31 against it.
An engrossed bill to incorporate the Washington Building and Fire Insurance Company was about being read, when
Mr. Gregg expressed a wish that it might be postponed, and a speedy decision had on the question of recession. He understood this was the day fixed for that subject.
Mr. Lewis observed that the motion for recession could have had no effect upon this bill, as it did not contemplate the recession of the City of Washington, but only of the other parts of the district.
Mr. Stanford had intended to have called up the resolutions for recession, but he had just received a letter from a number of the inhabitants of the district, wishing a short delay. There were also absent from the House several members who had taken considerable interest in the subject. For these reasons, he did not intend to call up the resolutions for two or three days.
Mr. Early was averse to a postponement. He thought an early decision ought to be made, to quiet the minds and soothe the feelings of the inhabitants, who felt a deep interest in the decision. Indeed, the members themselves had had their feelings excited in no inconsiderable degree. He hoped if the gentleman who brought the resolutions forward should forbear to bring them up, some other gentleman would do it for him.
Mr. Stanford was induced to let the subject rest a few days longer, on account of those very feelings, and interest, which pervaded the whole body of the people. He would also prefer a decision by a full House, rather than by such a thin one as now appeared.
Mr. Early did not think that a thin attendance by the members was a good argument for postponement. If it was expected that every member should attend, he feared the public business would progress very slowly; but if the subject was entered upon now, and the resolutions adopted, they would have to take the shape of a bill, and it would be many days before the subject was finally decided, by which time, no doubt, the absent gentlemen alluded to would arrive.
Mr. Lyon said the bill that was moved to be postponed had nothing to do with the recession, as it was not proposed to recede the city.
Mr. Gregg knew that the resolutions excepted Washington City, but he hoped that if a part of the district was to be receded, there would be found a majority for receding the whole. He was against the recession altogether, and so he should be till the question was decided against him. The business had been so long before the House, that he could not see any reason for further delay.