Mr. Quincy rose to move a resolution. He said he very deeply regretted the situation in which this House had been placed in relation to the memory of that distinguished officer of the Revolution, General William Washington, in consequence of the resolution moved on the 11th instant. He thought that the impression exhibited on the journals was not such as either did justice to that individual or to the feelings of every member of the House. He hoped that to the resolution which he was about to offer, and which had for its object an explanation of the grounds on which he knew a majority of the House had voted, would not find an objection. It would take away the appearance that this House had not that deep sense of the merits and services of that officer which he knew they possessed. He then read the following resolution:
Resolved, That the House of Representatives are deeply sensible of the loss this nation has sustained in the death of General William Washington, late Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army of the Revolution, and that the rejection of the resolution offered on the 11th instant, in relation to that distinguished officer, having been produced wholly by considerations of a general nature, cannot be deemed to derogate from the high sense which this House, in common with their fellow-citizens, entertain of his civil and military virtues and services.
The House agreed to consider the resolution—58 to 13.
The resolution passed—ayes 63; about seventy-five members were present.
Friday, April 20.
General Wilkinson.
The Speaker laid before the House the following letter, which was read:
Washington, April 19, 1810.
Sir: After a tedious passage from New Orleans I arrived at Baltimore on the 16th instant, and reached this city the next day. My absence has been necessarily protracted by the selection of papers, from a mass of twenty years' accumulation, for the establishment of facts, to refute the multifarious and diversified calumnies by which I have been assailed.
I now present myself to the Representative body of the nation, the guardians of the public weal and the protectors of individual rights, to express my earnest desire that they may constitute some impartial tribunal, which may be governed with strictness by the principles of the constitution and the laws of evidence, to investigate the conduct of my whole life, civil and military, whereby justice may be done, and my unexampled persecution be terminated.