Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to cause an inquiry to be instituted into the conduct of Brigadier-General Wilkinson, Commander-in-chief of the Armies of the United States, in relation to his having, at any time, while in the service of the United States, corruptly received money from the Government of Spain, or its agents.
He said he had withdrawn it only to give the gentleman from Kentucky an opportunity of taking the sense of the House on his proposition; to do which, in his opinion, every gentleman had a right. He perceived that the gentleman from Kentucky was about to be deprived of taking the sense of the House by an evasion of the question, and now renewed his own motion, which he had only withdrawn with an intention to renew it if that of the gentleman from Kentucky should not be adopted. He would here say, that though he did not agree with all the doctrines of the gentleman, that he thought all his arguments which bore upon this case were unanswerable.
The House agreed to consider Mr. Randolph’s resolution—51 to 36.
A further extended and heated discussion took place, interrupted by calls for the question.
The question, on Mr. Randolph’s resolution, was then taken by yeas and nays—yeas 72, nays 49, as follows:
Yeas.—Evan Alexander, Lemuel J. Alston, Burwell Bassett, William W. Bibb, William Blackledge, Thomas Blount, John Boyle, William A. Burwell, William Butler, John Campbell, Epaphroditus Champion, Martin Chittenden, Matthew Clay, Howell Cobb, John Davenport, jr., Joseph Desha, James Elliot, William Ely, John W. Eppes, Barent Gardenier, Francis Gardner, James M. Garnett, Charles Goldsborough, Edwin Gray, John Harris, William Helms, William Hoge, David Holmes, Benjamin Howard, Reuben Humphreys, Richard M. Johnson, Walter Jones, James Kelly, Thomas Kenan, Joseph Lewis, jun., Edward St. Loe Livermore, Edward Lloyd, Nathaniel Macon, Robert Marion, Josiah Masters, Daniel Montgomery, jun., Thomas Moore, Jonathan O. Mosely, Gurdon S. Mumford, Thomas Newton, Timothy Pitkin, jr., Josiah Quincy, John Randolph, John Rea of Pennsylvania, Jacob Richards, Samuel Riker, John Rowan, John Russell, Dennis Smelt, Samuel Smith, John Smith, Richard Stanford, William Stedman, Lewis B. Sturges, Peter Swart, Samuel Taggart, Abram Trigg, George M. Troup, Jabez Upham, James I. Van Allen, Nicholas Van Dyke, Killian K. Van Rensselaer, Daniel C. Verplanck, Jesse Wharton, Marmaduke Williams, Alexander Wilson, and Richard Wynn.
Nays.—Willis Alston, jr., Ezekiel Bacon, David Bard, Joseph Barker, Robert Brown, Joseph Calhoun, George W. Campbell, Peter Carlton, John Chandler, Richard Cutts, Josiah Deane, Daniel M. Durell, William Findlay, James Fisk, Meshack Franklin, Isaiah L. Green, John Heister, James Holland, Daniel Ilsley, Robert Jenkins, William Kirkpatrick, Nehemiah Knight, John Lambert, John Love, Matthew Lyon, William McCreery, William Milnor, Nicholas R. Moore, Jeremiah Morrow, John Morrow, Roger Nelson, Thomas Newbold, Wilson C. Nicholas, John Porter, John Pugh, John Rhea of Tennessee, Mathias Richards, Ebenezer Seaver, James Sloan, John Smilie, Jedediah K. Smith, Henry Southard, Clement Storer, John Taylor, John Thompson, Archibald Van Horn, Robert Whitehill, Isaac Wilbour, and James Witherell.
Mr. Eppes said he had stated on a former day, in his place, that no information had at any time been received by the present Administration which went to charge Brigadier-General Wilkinson with being a Spanish pensioner. This statement was made in reply to a gentleman from Kentucky, who thought it unnecessary to forward to the Executive the evidence exhibited against General Wilkinson, on the ground that this evidence was already in possession of the Executive Department. A fact so important to the public ought not to rest on the assertion of any individual. If corruption has at any period of our political existence fixed its fangs on this Government, if men known to be Spanish pensioners have at any period been honored with confidence by any administration, it is proper the people should understand at what period this confidence commenced, and by whom it was reposed. So far back as the year 1789 or 1790, information was forwarded to the Executive Department of this Government, that a combination between citizens of the United States and the Spanish Government had been formed, for the purpose of dismembering the United States. The information (together with the names of most of the persons concerned in the combination) was forwarded to the first Administration formed under this Government, at the head of which General Washington was placed. It was known to the second Administration under Mr. Adams, and additional information forwarded to him by Mr. Ellicott. If General Wilkinson was originally concerned in this combination, he must have been appointed to office by the first administration under this Government, and continued by the second, with a full and complete knowledge of this fact. The present Republican party found General Wilkinson in office, and abundant proof can be produced that he possessed the confidence of the two preceding Administrations. If he was originally a member of the old Spanish combination, or has, at any period prior to the year 1801, been guilty of any act calculated to destroy the public confidence, let the responsibility rest on those who appointed and continued him in office. We have seen in one State of the Union a member of this combination removed from the important office of judge, on the ground of being a Spanish pensioner. A charge of the same kind is now made on oath by a member of this House, against an officer of the United States. It is time that all the information possessed by the Government of the United States on the subject of this combination, should be brought fairly before the public. With a view to obtain this information, he offered the following resolution:
Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to lay before the House of Representatives all the information which may at any time from the establishment of the present Federal Government to the present time, have been forwarded to any department of the Government, touching a combination between the agents of any foreign Government and citizens of the United States, for dismembering the Union, or going to show that any officer of the United States has at any time corruptly received money from any foreign Government or its agents; distinguishing as far as possible the period at which such information has been forwarded, and by whom.
Mr. Randolph seconded this motion.