Chapter XLVI: Introduction (45)

It is true, that the Secretary is only a finger of his hand, and the intimate connection which must of necessity subsist between them, perhaps, is the ground upon which the assertion has been made. The Secretaries are all equally near to the PRESIDENT, and if it be admitted that he is the author of this, he may, with equal propriety, be said to have been the author of every system on general subjects which either of them have recommended.

Was he the author of the report on the fisheries? Was he the author of the plan for establishing the National Bank? It is known that he was not, and circumstances might be mentioned (which are withheld from delicacy) to confirm this opinion.

Was he the author of the Funding System? Some gentlemen in the opposition to this motion, would not be willing to give the PRESIDENT that credit if he claimed it, and some who support this motion would not only be sorry that the PRESIDENT had even claimed such a credit, but believe that it was in no respect attributable to him. The same gentleman (Mr. WADSWORTH) who first asserted that the PRESIDENT was the author of this military plan, in the same speech admitted it to be the war, as well as the plan of the House, and then argued on the necessity of stability in our measures. It is not very material to the present question whose plan it is; being a public measure, we are justified in offering our objections to it; and this is the first time that I have heard it publicly asserted that a Government should persevere in an error, because they had undertaken it. If the plan be a good one, it may be supported by reason; if a bad one, no name ought to be called in to prop it up.

The inconsistency of that gentleman's (Mr. WADSWORTH's) arguments not only supports the motion before the committee, but shows the wretched shifts which have been used to defeat it.

It has been said, in the course of the debate, that individual members, and even this House, are incompetent to decide upon the efficacy or inefficacy of military plans. In answer to this it may be said, that if we are not all Generals, we are all members, and that we have the privilege of thinking for ourselves and for our constituents. To admit this doctrine in the latitude which has been expressed, would be to introduce military ideas indeed; it would be to make soldiers of us, instead of Legislators: nay, worse than that, it would be to revive the exploded doctrines of passive obedience and non-resistance.

In regard to the sincerity of his intentions to afford effectual protection to the frontiers, Mr. S. said that he had been sufficiently explicit; that a feeling for the sufferers had dictated this motion; that he was sorry that it had been whispered in the ears of some of the members that it was intended to withhold the necessary appropriations, and divert them to other purposes.

If two regiments were insufficient to garrison all the posts necessary for defence, he would even, under certain restrictions, consent to continue the three sub-legions, thereby enabling the PRESIDENT to establish double the number of posts now erected, if he should deem it advisable. Regular troops being incapable of active expeditions against Indians in the wilderness, his wish was to abandon that system and confine them entirely to the garrison.

The next objection to the motion is the incompetency of the militia; and to support this opinion the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. WADSWORTH) has made this expression, "that as to the expedition under General St. Clair, the regulars were few, and not to be named when compared with the number of the militia." The truth is, there was not a man engaged that day as a militia man, except the advance guard commanded by Colonel Oldham, which consisted of about three hundred, perhaps a few more. The field return of the day preceding the action being in the War Office, this can be ascertained with precision. The balance of the army on that unfortunate day, had been enlisted as regulars, were fought as regulars, even clothed as regulars, and, poor fellows, died like regulars. They suffered the fate which awaits every regular army destined for similar expeditions. Even the handful of militia employed that day, did not deserve that name; they were chiefly substitutes for drafted men from the ceded territory. This draft became unavoidable, from a misfortune to General Sevier, which Mr. STEELE related.

The attack on Major Adair has also been mentioned as a proof of the incompetency of militia, and Mr. S. insisted that the only inference which could be drawn from thence was, that one hundred militia were able to repel, but not destroy, near two hundred Indians. This event he conceived was in favor of and not against his motion.

He next adverted to the arguments of Mr. WADSWORTH, in regard to the war of 1762; of the establishment of posts in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and of the success of Colonel Boquet's expedition. If two worn-out regiments at that time were sufficient to defend the frontiers, and, with the aid of the militia, to terminate the war, two new regiments, with all the vigor which the gentleman described them to possess, with the aid of established posts, and a much more effective militia, can certainly be equal to the same end. After examining Mr. W.'s arguments for some time, Mr. S. said, that when analyzed, it would be found that they proved more than they were intended to prove; but the merits of this motion did not require that he should take advantage of these indiscretions.

He showed from the history of 1762, that though posts were established, with a handful of regular troops in each, they never answered the purpose of effectual protection; but the frontier people were always obliged, in a great degree, to defend themselves; that they were best calculated for that service, and that they would perform it now with alacrity and success, if well rewarded.

Mr. S. then refuted the objection against the militia on account of their waste and expense which Mr. W. had alluded to. The law allows a mounted volunteer, furnishing himself with a good horse, good arms, provisions, and every other necessary, except ammunition, at his own risk and expense, one dollar per day. The exact expense of such an expedition can be calculated. Whether successful or not, the charge to the public cannot be increased. The contractors, quartermasters, and hospital departments, are all avoided, with the abuses, expenses, and frauds, attending such establishments. Mr. S. enlarged upon this point, and said that these were always found to be the most expensive departments in any army, and that the Federal Treasury had felt their effects already. In favor of the militia, it may be asked, who fought the battle of Bunker's Hill? Who fought the battles of New Jersey? Who have fought the Indians so often with success, under Generals Wilkinson, Scott, Sevier, and others? Who marched in 1776 under General Rutherford, through the Cherokee nation, laid waste their country, and forced them to peace? Who fought the battles of Georgia, under Clark and Twiggs? Who fought the battles of South Carolina, under the command of an honorable member now present? Delicacy forbids me to enlarge upon his successes in his presence.

Who fought the ever-memorable battles of Cowpens, King's Mountain, Hanging Rock, Blackstocks, the pivots on which the Revolution turned in the Southern States? In short, who fought all the battles of the Southern States, while we had a mere handful of regular troops, scarcely the shadow, much less the reality of an army?

They were all fought by freemen, the substantial freeholders of the country--the men attached to the Revolution from principle, men who were sensible of their rights and fought for them.

Such men will not enlist in regular armies, nor will any one who has the disposition or the constitution of a freeman. It would give me pain to describe the trash which composes all regular armies: they enlist for three dollars a month; which, in a country like the United States, is a sufficient description of their bodies as well as their minds. Such men are not fit to combat the most active enemy in the world. Here Mr. S. read Major Gaither's and Major Trueman's depositions, respecting the defeat of the 4th November, 1791, stating that they could not see the Indians, because they were behind trees, &c.; that the regular troops tried, but could not fight that way; that they seemed to be stupid, and incapable of resistance; and that if any General in the world had commanded such men that day, he must have been defeated as they were.

An additional argument, and one of the most weighty, too, against regular expeditions, in this species of warfare, is, that, by the slowness of their movements, the force of the enemy may be concentrated; time is afforded them to form alliances, and to confederate against those whom they consider a common enemy. It is otherwise with militia incursions. He offered a number of reasons to show that it was so, and how essential for the interest of the United States to adopt a policy calculated to detach the tribes from each other as much as possible.

But it has been said, these men were not regular troops. Mr. S. asked, what, then, were they? They surely were not militia. The last objection, and the least serious of all, to this motion, is the expectations of a treaty in the spring. Mr. S. said, if he thought the gentleman who threw this difficulty in the way believed himself that we have any reason to expect a permanent peace from the treaty now proposed, it might deserve an answer. Facts are more to be relied upon than words. From the channel through which these propositions have come--from the whole complexion of their talks, and from the late attack on Major Adair, it may safely be asserted that no peace can be effected in the spring. He recapitulated some of the difficulties which this motion had to conflict with, and said that he could mention others, if he was at liberty to do so. Under such circumstances, success is hardly to be expected; but he knew the merits of the motion deserved it.

Mr. HILLHOUSE, who had hitherto sat silent, observed that nothing new had been advanced in the whole course of this long debate, but what he had heard mentioned last winter in that House. He was then opposed in principle to a war establishment, and he still retained the same opinion; but, from the complexion of affairs, it appeared to him that he ought to submit, and give up his own opinion to the general sense of the Legislature, which at present seemed to be for persevering in the system already adopted, and which, as it had scarcely had time for a fair trial, he thought, therefore, ought not to be arrested, perhaps in the very instant when its efficacy was to be expected. If peace should not be established during the next summer, he would then join with such members as would propose a better system; but as the law provides for the discretionary powers of the Executive, it would be best to rely on them. A standing army, he said, was a thing impossible to be accomplished in the United States whilst the House of Representatives have the power of granting money only for two years at any time; he therefore had no fears on that score. An army existing in time of peace was the idea he had of a standing army, and not an army embodied for only a year or two. Upon the whole, it would be as expensive to disband the present force, and to institute another of militia, &c., as it will be to keep up the existing establishment for a little longer time; it was therefore his advice to let the matter rest where it is, with the Executive, for the present. But, in case of a peace not being accomplished within a reasonable period, he would join those who would be for a change in the system; and he was clearly of opinion that a system might easily be adopted, not only to protect our frontiers by repelling the savages, but to exterminate them altogether.

Mr. FINDLAY felt himself inclined to say a word or two more in reply to Mr. STEELE. He thought it would be unjust to lay so much of the weight of protecting the frontiers on the militia only. He expatiated on the meaning of the word _militia_ as defined by law, &c. He also remarked that, however it might be fashionable to despise the levies, yet amongst them there were examples of great bravery to be found, and particularly in one battalion of the unfortunate army on the 4th of November, 1791. He noticed the well-conducted retreat of Major CLARK, and the success of General Broadhead up the Alleghany. It was unjust to expect to raise enough of militia in the back parts of Pennsylvania; and the inhabitants of Virginia are so dispersed near the frontiers that they cannot be expected from that State. With respect to the men who went out with General Harmar, and whose time of enlistment expired soon after they reached the scene of operations, many of them remained and settled in that country. He again repeated the injustice of calling out heads of families from one part of the frontier; and above all, he lamented the risk and loss of lives. But, if it should be determined to carry on the war with militia, let them be called from all parts of the United States. The burden already laid on a part of the inhabitants is extremely unequal, and must not lie longer on them. Let the troops now raising be disciplined. I am informed that many of them are considerably advanced in point of discipline, and may before spring become expert soldiers. Let these go on in the present system, and let the militia also be kept up or increased, until the object shall be attained for which the law was intended, and then, and not before, it may be proper to talk of reducing the present establishment. We are now in a situation that it would be extremely imprudent to retreat from.

Mr. MURRAY delivered some opinions on the preceding arguments of all the members, and remarked that the army, under the present establishment, had no right to be compared to or called a standing army; it bore no more comparison to a standing army than a chameleon to an owl.

Mr. WADSWORTH closed this tedious debate with a few further explanations. He accounted for the difference between his calculations and those of the gentleman from North Carolina by observing that he got some of his statements from the War Office. Mr. STEELE's were taken from the appropriation laws, and in one instance he had underrated the appropriations. With regard to the opinions he had delivered on the militia, he had never meant to traduce the character of militia, because he had often experienced their brilliant actions; his arguments went no further than to show that the operations of regular troops were in general more effectual. He never wished to detract from the honor of militia, but only to remark that they were not so efficient as regular troops.

The question on the original motion being now put, was negatived.

Mr. WILLIAMSON did not entirely approve of the motion in its present form; the blanks might be so filled, he thought, as to import a thing opposite to his wishes--they might import a discharge of the regular troops already raised. He believed his colleague had no such desire; he thought the measure would be improper; but he wished not to have a regiment of officers without soldiers; he wished to fix a time at which the recruiting service should cease and the supernumerary officers should be discharged. As he intended to move that the proposition might be so amended, he should consider it in that light, and he believed the measure would not be imprudent nor inconsistent with the most vigorous measures of defence or offence.

It should be remembered that the House of Representatives, when they had the bill before them, which last winter passed into a law, for defending the frontiers, sent it to the Senate, with a clause importing that officers below the rank of field-officers should not be put into commission any faster than troops could be enlisted. The Senate, adhering to their privilege, refused to agree to that clause in the bill, and it became necessary immediately to commission the officers for five thousand men, some of whom, if report speaks truth, not covetous of honor, are content with their pay, without having raised three men. By the proposed amendment the officers only would be dismissed, whom most of us wished never to have seen in commission.

The proposed regulation has been censured as implicating some kind of censure on the Executive. He viewed it in a different light. The Executive had done what was proper and necessary at the time. But if it should appear that other measures would fit the change of circumstances, he did not see why those measures should not be adopted. It should be recollected that, during the last winter, when the estimate of five thousand men as necessary for the defence of our frontiers was handed to Congress, there was no militia law. A well-armed effective militia, that palladium of liberty, had once and again been recommended by the PRESIDENT to the attention of Congress; but Congress, from year to year, as if they wished for a standing army, had neglected the militia. Towards the close of the last session, indeed, they passed a law. He hoped he might, without offence, call it the shadow of a law. It was saying, in a few words, that the several States might have a good militia if they pleased; and, if they pleased, they might have none at all. Was the Executive to trust the defence of a country to a militia formed under such a law? He thought not. But he observed that, since the last winter, it had come to be generally known that a class of our fellow-citizens exist on the frontiers who are at all times ready to serve, not as drafted militia, but as volunteers. These are the men by whom the Indians must be chastised, or we shall never have peace. They are the best woodsmen and marksmen, and they have no professional interest in spinning out the war. He must repeat the observation that volunteers of the militia are the only troops for vigorous offensive operations. Figure to yourselves an army of regulars creeping through the wilderness, with all its cannon and other military apparatus, in chase of a naked savage, who sees it without being seen. It is an elephant in chase of a wolf. The troops already raised may be pretty well disciplined before the season for action; they are sufficient, with the co-operation of the militia, to take a post, and build forts where they please; every thing else is beyond their power, if they were not five but fifteen thousand. They will never see an Indian unless he chooses to be seen. He wished to be indulged in a single observation respecting a case in which it was said the other day, the militia had been surprised. He was sorry that his naming Major Adair had produced the remark. He would nevertheless venture to repeat the case as an instance of vigilance and bravery. The Major, believing there was an enemy at hand, had visited all his posts at midnight in person; his Lieutenant, Madison, before the dawn of day, roused all the men, telling them that the Indians were coming. The Major, wishing to leave the ground before daylight, called in the sentinels; but the Indians, rushing in with them, gave a heavy fire before there was light by which they could be seen. The Major had not the merit, as he believed, of having been a continental officer, but he had the merit, not less honorable, of having served bravely in the militia. He questioned whether any of the green troops to be recruited next spring or summer will make so good a defence as Major Adair's militia had made. They had taken scalp for scalp, though they fought against the odds of three to one. He prayed it might be remembered that his ideas were not founded on any hopes of sudden peace with the Indians; on the contrary, every motion of the Indians, and every measure taken by those who had most influence over the Indians, induced him to regard an Indian war as the perpetual tax of at least one million per annum. It is fortunate, as he conceived, that the United States know the source of their misfortunes; and if they are compelled to spend one million per annum in opposing a savage enemy, who seems to be hunted upon them, perhaps they may be taught to indemnify themselves by refusing to expend several millions which they can easily save. If a perpetual tax on this head must be raised, sound policy will readily point to the proper object of taxation; but this must remain over for our successors. In the mean time, believing that the troops already raised are sufficient to maintain every fort that is or may be erected, and being confident that volunteers may be found at any time sufficient, if it shall be necessary, to extirpate every hostile tribe of Indians, he should vote for the proposition with the proposed amendment.

The question being taken on Mr. W.'s amendment, viz:

"_Resolved_, That a committee be appointed to bring in a
bill to reduce the military establishment of the United
States to ---- regiments, to consist of the men who are now
in service, or who may be recruited before the ---- day of
---- next," &c.--

was negatived--32 to 24. The question then was on the original resolution, as moved by Mr. STEELE; which, being put, it was negatived--21 members only rising in favor of it. The committee then rose, and the Chairman reported accordingly. The report was laid on the table, and the House adjourned.

MONDAY, January 7.

Mr. LIVERMORE, from the committee appointed, presented a bill to repeal part of a resolution of Congress of the 29th of August, 1788, respecting the inhabitants of Post Saint Vincents; which was received, read twice, and committed.

Mr. LAURANCE, from the committee to whom was recommitted the bill making appropriations for the support of Government for the year 1793, reported an amendatory bill; which was read twice, and committed to a Committee of the whole House immediately.

The House accordingly resolved itself into the said committee, and, after some time spent therein, the Chairman reported that the committee had had the said bill under consideration, and made no amendment thereto.

_Ordered_, That the said bill do lie on the table.

The House again resolved itself into a Committee of the whole House on the bill to regulate the claims to Invalid Pensions; and, after some time spent therein, the committee rose, and reported progress.

TUESDAY, January 8.

The House proceeded to the consideration of the bill making appropriations for the support of Government for the year 1793, which lay on the table; and the said bill being amended, was, together with the amendments, ordered to be engrossed, and read the third time to-morrow.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate have passed a bill entitled "An act in addition to the act entitled 'An act to establish the Judicial Courts of the United States;'" to which they desire the concurrence of this House.

The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of State, accompanying a report of the assays and experiments made by the Director of the Mint, on the gold and silver coins of France, England, Spain, and Portugal, pursuant to the order of the 29th of November last; which were read, and ordered to lie on the table.

The bill sent from the Senate entitled "An act in addition to the act entitled 'An act to establish the Judicial Courts of the United States,'" was read twice, and committed.

_Military Establishment._

The House proceeded to consider the motion of the 28th ultimo, for reducing the Military Establishment of the United States, to which the Committee of the whole House had reported their disagreement on Saturday last. Whereupon,

A motion was made and seconded to amend the same by striking out the words "each of ---- non-commissioned officers, privates, and musicians," and inserting, in lieu thereof, the words "of ---- non-commissioned officers, musicians, and ---- of the privates who are now in service, or may be recruited before the ---- day of ---- next."

And the question being put thereupon, it passed in the negative--yeas 26, nays 32, as follows:

YEAS.--John Baptist Ashe, Abraham Clark, Elbridge Gerry,
William B. Giles, Nicholas Gilman, Benjamin Goodhue,
Christopher Greenup, William Barry Grove, Richard Bland
Lee, George Leonard, Samuel Livermore, Nathaniel Macon,
James Madison, John Francis Mercer, Andrew Moore, Nathaniel
Niles, Alexander D. Orr, Josiah Parker, Jeremiah Smith,
John Steele, Thomas Sumter, Thomas Tredwell, Thomas Tudor
Tucker, Abraham Venable, Artemas Ward, and Hugh Williamson.

NAYS.--Fisher Ames, Abraham Baldwin, Robert Barnwell,
Egbert Benson, Elias Boudinot, Shearjashub Bourne, Benjamin
Bourne, Jonathan Dayton, William Findlay, Thomas
Fitzsimons, Andrew Gregg, Thomas Hartley, Daniel Heister,
James Hillhouse, Daniel Huger, Aaron Kitchell, John Wilkes
Kittera, John Laurance, John Milledge, Frederick Augustus
Muhlenberg, William Vans Murray, Cornelius C. Schoonmaker,
Theodore Sedgwick, Peter Sylvester, Israel Smith, William
Smith, Samuel Sterrett, Jonathan Sturges, George Thatcher,
Jeremiah Wadsworth, Alexander White, and Francis Willis.

And then the main question being put, that the House do agree to the said motion, it passed in the negative--yeas 20, nays 36, as follows:

YEAS.--John Baptist Ashe, Abraham Clark, William B. Giles,
Nicholas Gilman, Benjamin Goodhue, Christopher Greenup,
William Barry Grove, George Leonard, Samuel Livermore,
Nathaniel Macon, John Francis Mercer, Nathaniel Niles,
Alexander D. Orr, Josiah Parker, Jeremiah Smith, John
Steele, Thomas Sumter, Thomas Tredwell, Abraham Venable,
and Artemas Ward.

NAYS.--Fisher Ames, Abraham Baldwin, Robert Barnwell,
Egbert Benson, Elias Boudinot, Shearjashub Bourne, Benjamin
Bourne, Jonathan Dayton, William Findlay, Thomas
Fitzsimons, Elbridge Gerry, Andrew Gregg, Thomas Hartley,
James Hillhouse, Daniel Huger, Aaron Kitchell, John Wilkes
Kittera, John Laurance, Richard Bland Lee, John Milledge,
Andrew Moore, Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, William Vans
Murray, Cornelius C. Schoonmaker, Theodore Sedgwick, Peter
Sylvester, Israel Smith, William Smith, Samuel Sterrett,
Jonathan Sturges, George Thatcher, Thomas Tudor Tucker,
Jeremiah Wadsworth, Alexander White, Hugh Williamson, and
Francis Willis.

_Ordered_, That the committee to whom was commiteed the letter and representation from the Chief Justice and Associate Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, referred to in the PRESIDENT's Message of the 7th of November last, be discharged from the further consideration of the same.

The House again resolved itself into a Committee of the whole House on the bill to regulate the claims to Invalid Pensions; and, after some time spent therein, the Chairman reported that the committee had again had the said bill under consideration, and made several amendments thereto; which were read, and partly considered.

FRIDAY, January 18.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate have passed a bill, entitled "An act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters," in which they desire the concurrence of this House.

MONDAY, January 21.

The bill sent from the Senate entitled "An act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters," was read twice, and committed.

MONDAY, February 4.

_Fugitives from Justice and from Labor._

The House resolved itself into a Committee of the whole House on the bill sent from the Senate entitled, "An act respecting fugitives from justice and persons escaping from the service of their masters;" and, after some time spent therein, the Chairman reported that the committee had had the said bill under consideration, and made an amendment thereto; which was twice read, and agreed to by the House.

_Ordered_, That the said bill, with the amendment, do lie on the table.

TUESDAY, February 5.

_Fugitives from Justice and from Labor._

The House proceeded to consider the bill sent from the Senate entitled "An act respecting fugitives from justice and persons escaping from the service of their masters," which lay on the table: Whereupon, the said bill, together with the amendment agreed to yesterday, was read the third time; and, on the question that the same do pass, it was resolved in the affirmative--yeas 48, nays 7, as follows:

YEAS.--Fisher Ames, John Baptist Ashe, Abraham Baldwin,
Robert Barnwell, Egbert Benson, Elias Boudinot, Shearjashub
Bourne, Benjamin Bourne, Abraham Clark, Jonathan Dayton,
Wm. Findlay, Thomas Fitzsimons, Elbridge Gerry, Nicholas
Gilman, Benjamin Goodhue, James Gordon, Christopher
Greenup, Andrew Gregg, Samuel Griffin, William Barry Grove,
Thomas Hartley, James Hillhouse, William Hindman, Daniel
Huger, Israel Jacobs, Philip Key, Aaron Kitchell, Amasa
Learned, Richard Bland Lee, George Leonard, Nathaniel
Macon, Andrew Moore, Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, William
Vans Murray, Alexander D. Orr, John Page, Cornelius C.
Schoonmaker, Theodore Sedgwick, Peter Sylvester, Israel
Smith, William Smith, John Steele, Thomas Sumter, Thomas
Tudor Tucker, Jeremiah Wadsworth, Alexander White, Hugh
Williamson, and Francis Willis.

NAYS.--Samuel Livermore, John Francis Mercer, Nathaniel
Niles, Josiah Parker, Jonathan Sturges, George Thatcher,
and Thomas Tredwell.[46]

MONDAY, February 11.

_Examining Votes for President, &c._

Mr. WILLIAM SMITH, from the committee appointed on the part of this House jointly with a committee appointed on the part of the Senate, to ascertain and report a mode of examining the votes for PRESIDENT and VICE PRESIDENT of the United States, and for other purposes expressed in the resolution of the fifth instant, made a report; which was twice read, and agreed to by the House, as follows:

"That the two Houses shall assemble in the Senate Chamber
on Wednesday next, at twelve o'clock: that two persons be
appointed tellers on the part of this House, to make a list
of the votes as they shall be declared: that the result
shall be delivered to the PRESIDENT of the Senate, who
shall announce the state of the vote, and the persons
elected, to both Houses, assembled as aforesaid, which
shall be deemed a declaration of the persons elected
PRESIDENT and VICE PRESIDENT, and, together with a list of
the votes, be entered on the journal of the two Houses."

_Ordered_, That Mr. WILLIAM SMITH and Mr. LAURANCE be appointed tellers on the part of this House, pursuant to the said report.

WEDNESDAY, February 13.

_Votes for President and Vice President._

A message from the Senate informed the House that a PRESIDENT of the Senate is elected for the sole purpose of opening the certificates, and counting the votes of the several States, in the choice of a PRESIDENT and VICE PRESIDENT of the United States; and that the Senate is now ready, in the Senate Chamber, to attend, with this House, on that occasion.

_Resolved_, That the SPEAKER, attended by the House, do now withdraw to the Senate Chamber, for the purpose expressed in the said message.

The SPEAKER accordingly left the chair, and, attended by the House, withdrew to the Senate Chamber, and, after some time, returned to the House.

The SPEAKER resumed the chair.

Mr. WILLIAM SMITH and Mr. LAURANCE then delivered in, at the Clerk's table, a list of the votes of the Electors of the several States, in the choice of a PRESIDENT and VICE PRESIDENT of the United States, as the same were declared by the PRESIDENT of the Senate, in the presence of the Senate and of this House; which was ordered to be entered on the journal, and is as follows:

[The same as in the Senate proceedings.]

THURSDAY, February 28.

_Official conduct of the Secretary of the Treasury._

The resolutions brought forward yesterday by Mr. GILES, were called for by that gentleman. The reading being finished, Mr. AMES moved that the resolutions should be taken up.

Mr. MURRAY suggested the necessity of giving a preference to the Judiciary Bill reported by him some days since. He was seconded by Mr. KEY.

The motion for taking up the resolutions was carried, forty members rising in favor of it. The resolutions were accordingly read by the Clerk, and are as follow, viz:

1. _Resolved_, That it is essential to the due
administration of the Government of the United States, that
laws making specific appropriations of money should be
strictly observed by the administrator of the finances
thereof.

2. _Resolved_, That a violation of a law making
appropriations of money, is a violation of that section of
the Constitution of the United States which requires that
no money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in
consequence of appropriations made by law.

3. _Resolved_, That the Secretary of the Treasury has
violated the law passed the 4th of August, 1790, making
appropriations of certain moneys authorized to be borrowed
by the same law, in the following particulars, viz:
_First_, By applying a certain portion of the principal
borrowed to the payment of interest falling due upon that
principal, which was not authorized by that or any other
law. _Secondly_, By drawing part of the same moneys into
the United States, without the instructions of the
President of the United States.

4. _Resolved_, That the Secretary of the Treasury has
deviated from the instructions given by the President of
the United States, in exceeding the authorities for making
loans under the acts of the 4th and 12th of August, 1790.

5. _Resolved_, That the Secretary of the Treasury has
omitted to discharge an essential duty of his office, in
failing to give Congress official information in due time,
of the moneys drawn by him from Europe into the United
States; which drawing commenced December, 1790, and
continued till January, 1793; and of the causes of making
such drafts.

6. _Resolved_, That the Secretary of the Treasury has
without the instructions of the President of the United
States, drawn more moneys borrowed in Holland into the
United States than the President of the United States was
authorized to draw, under the act of the 12th of August,
1790: which act appropriated two millions of dollars only,
when borrowed, to the purchase of the Public Debt: And that
he has omitted to discharge an essential duty of his
office, in failing to give official information to the
Commissioners for purchasing the Public Debt, of the
various sums drawn from time to time, suggested by him to
have been intended for the purchase of the Public Debt.

7. _Resolved_, That the Secretary of the Treasury did not
consult the public interest in negotiating a loan with the
Bank of the United States, and drawing therefrom four
hundred thousand dollars, at five per cent. per annum, when
a greater sum of public money was deposited in various
banks at the respective periods of making the respective
drafts.

8. _Resolved_, That the Secretary of the Treasury has been
guilty of an indecorum to this House, in undertaking to
judge of its motives in calling for information which was
demandable of him, from the constitution of his office; and
in failing to give all the necessary information within his
knowledge, relatively to the subjects of the reference made
to him of the 19th January, 1792, and of the 22d November,
1792, during the present session.

9. _Resolved_, That a copy of the foregoing resolutions be
transmitted to the President of the United States.

Mr. GILES then moved that they should be referred to a Committee of the whole House.

Mr. W. SMITH was decidedly opposed to referring those resolutions to the consideration of the Committee of the whole House, because he neither viewed a discussion of them as necessary on the present occasion nor warranted by the nature of the inquiry into the Secretary's conduct. It was trifling with the precious time of the House to lavish it on abstract propositions, when the object of the inquiry ought to be into the facts. He was satisfied that should the House once involve itself in an investigation of theoretic principles of government, the short residue of the session would be exhausted, and no opportunity remain for examining the charges themselves. Those charges being made, it became the House, from a sense of duty to the public and justice to the accused, to proceed immediately to consider them. If the mover intended to apply the principles of the two first resolutions to the facts contained in the subsequent ones, it was unquestionably proper first to substantiate the facts, and then establish the principles which were applicable to them; but it was surely a reversal of order to spend much time in establishing principles, when it might happen that the charges themselves would be totally unsupported. He did not like this mode of proceeding, because it might tend to mislead the House; it was sometimes a parliamentary practice to endeavor to lead the mind to vague and uncertain results, by first laying down theorems from which no one could dissent, and then proceeding by imperceptible shades to move unsettled positions, in order ultimately to entrap the House in a vote which in the first instance it would have rejected. This mode of conducting public business, he considered as inconsistent with fair inquiry. The question was, had the Secretary violated a law? If so, let it be shown; every member was competent to decide so plain a question. He could examine the proofs, read the law, and pronounce him guilty or innocent without the aid of these preliminary metaphysical discussions.

If it were urged that the propositions are so plain and obvious that no time would be lost in considering them, he then begged leave to observe that all antecedent discussions of constitutional questions had never failed to occupy a large portion of their time, and that however self-evident the resolutions might at the first glance appear, a more critical attention would satisfy a mind not much given to doubt that they were by no means so conclusive as to be free from objections.

Though the position contained in the first resolution, as a general rule, was not to be denied; yet it must be admitted, that there may be cases of a sufficient urgency to justify a departure from it, and to make it the duty of the Legislature to indemnify an officer; as if an adherence would in particular cases and under particular circumstances, prove ruinous to the public credit, or prevent the taking measures essential to the public safety, against invasion or insurrection. In cases of that nature, and which cannot be foreseen by the Legislature nor guarded against, a discretionary authority must be deemed to reside in the PRESIDENT, or some other Executive officer, to be exercised for the public good; such exercise, instead of being construed into a crime, would always meet the approbation of the National Legislature. If there be any weight in these remarks, it does not then follow, as a general rule, that it is essential to the due administration of the Government, that laws making specific appropriations should in all cases whatsoever, and under every public circumstance, be strictly observed. Before the committee could come to a vote on such a proposition, it would be proper to examine into the exceptions out of the rule, to state all the circumstances which would warrant any departure from it, to whom the exercise of the discretion should be intrusted, and to what extent. Did any member wish at this period to attempt this inquiry? He supposed not. Let every deviation from law be tested by its own merits or demerits.

The second resolution was liable to stronger objections. It might with propriety be questioned whether, as a general rule, the position was well founded. A law making appropriations may be violated in various particulars without infringing on the constitution, which only enjoins that no moneys shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of the appropriations made by law. This is only to say, that every disbursement must be authorized by some appropriation. Where a sum of money is paid out of the Treasury, the payment of which is authorized by law, the constitution is not violated, yet there may have been a violation of the law in some collateral particulars. There may even have been a shifting of funds, and however exceptionable this may be on other accounts, it would not amount to that species of offence which is created by the constitution. The Comptroller of the Treasury must countersign every warrant, and is responsible that it be authorized by a legal appropriation; yet it cannot be supposed that he is to investigate the source of the fund.

One of the alleged infractions stated in the subsequent resolution, namely, the drawing part of the loans into the United States without the instructions of the PRESIDENT, evinces that the opposite construction is not a sound one. For suppose the fact proved, and suppose it a violation of the law, it certainly would be a very different thing from drawing money out of the Treasury without an appropriation by law; for in this case, there would be no drawing money from the Treasury at all, the money never having been in the Treasury.

Mr. S. then, said, he should also object to referring the last resolution, which is in these words,

"_Resolved_, That a copy of the foregoing resolutions be
transmitted to the PRESIDENT."

The object of this resolution went clearly to direct the PRESIDENT to remove the Secretary from office; the foregoing were to determine the guilt, the last to inflict the punishment, and both the one and other without the accused being heard in his defence. When the violation of the constitution was so uppermost in our minds, it would be indeed astonishing that we should be so hoodwinked as to commit such a palpable violation of it in this instance. The principles of that constitution, careful of the lives and liberties of the citizens, and what is dearer to every man of honor, his reputation, secure to every individual in every class of society, the precious advantage of being heard before he is condemned.

That constitution, peculiarly careful of the reputation of great public functionaries, directs that when accused of a breach of duty, the impeachment must be voted by a majority of the House of Representatives, and tried by the Senate, who are to be on oath, and two-thirds of whom must concur before a sentence can pass, by which the officer is to be deemed guilty. The officer is to be furnished with a copy of the charge, and is heard by himself or his counsel in vindication of his conduct. Such are the solemnities and guards by which they are protected, and which precede a sentence, the only effect of which is a removal from office. But if the House proceed in the manner contemplated by this resolution; if they first vote the charges, and send a copy of them to the PRESIDENT, as an instruction to him to remove the officer, they will violate the sacred and fundamental principles of this, and every free Government. They will condemn a man unheard, nay, without his having even been furnished with the charges against him; they will condemn to infamy a high and responsible officer convicted by the Representatives of the people, of a violation of the important trusts committed to him, without affording him one opportunity of vindicating his character and justifying his conduct.

Mr. MURRAY said he was opposed to the reference of the resolutions to the Committee of the Whole. He had, as far as the time permitted, examined the several reports on which the examination depended, and was then ready to vote on them, though he confessed, from the intricacy which was inherent in such a subject, as well as from the vast variety of the detail involved, he had not had sufficient time for a complete investigation. Nor did he imagine that any man who had not previously meditated on the subject for a length of time, and made choice of his ground of attack, could say he was completely master of the subject. Some vote, however, was now rendered essential to the character, not only of Government, but of the gentleman who presided over the finances of the country. But three days were left for this inquiry, and to finish a great deal of other business; and he thought that despatch which was usual in the House ought to be used in preference to the indulgence which a committee afforded. As to the abstract propositions, if it were necessary now to go into them, he thought it would be proper to decide on them first. He thought it most logical to lay down principles of reasoning before facts were developed. Were they agreed to by the House, it would be under provisions and restrictions. They could not have the implicit force of axioms, but at most must be yielded to as wholesome maxims, the application of which must be frequently modified by a certain degree of discretion. With respect to all the other resolutions, he imagined they would, on examination, be found to be unwarranted by facts. He hoped the movers and supporters of the resolutions would not be gratified at so late a season by the House in resolving itself into a Committee of the Whole. The mode in which they were brought forward did not entitle them to much confidence. He said, a more unhandsome proceeding he had never seen in Congress. It had been a practice, derived from the lights of common liberty, common right, and the first principles of justice, that whoever was charged with a violation of law on which a punishment ensued, should have some mode of answering to the charge. It had, in a recent instance, been the practice of Congress, when an officer's conduct was even in the first instance inquired into, to afford the officer an opportunity of attending upon the examination on which his offence or his freedom from blame was to appear. He alluded to the conduct of the House when an examination took place relatively to the failure of General St. Clair's expedition. Suspicions were entertained that blame lay somewhere. A committee was appointed to examine. The three officers particularly concerned were, he understood, invited, as it were, to come before the committee, to explain, to interrogate, and to give information. Though the Secretary of War was not permitted to explain on this floor, justice and delicacy, and the most common principles of jurisprudence, to which we attempted to hold some analogy, demanded that he should be heard somewhere, and the committee was renewed for this purpose. The Quartermaster General asked to be heard on this floor. Though refused, he was permitted to attend that committee on whose examination his character as a Quartermaster depended. Were any man responsible as an officer to this House to fall under the suspicion of its members, a regard to decency and to the established rights of citizenship, would teach gentlemen to inquire formally before they hastily laid a charge on the table, to which they might move the assent of the House. But in this proceeding a Legislative charge was gone into before inquiry had been instituted. Every rule of justice, and all that delicacy which ought ever to attend her progress, had been disregarded, and in the very first instance, a number of charges are brought forward, not for inquiry, but conviction, which, if sanctioned by a majority of the House, are to be followed by the dismission of one of the highest officers in the Government. This mode was as tyrannical as it was new, and if any thing could throw a bias against the resolutions, independent of inquiry, it was the partial and unjust form in which the proceeding had commenced. Resolutions of conviction might rise out of the report of a committee of inquiry, who would act as a Grand Jury to the House, but could never precede it. He hoped the House would not refer to a Committee of the Whole what might be decided in the House with more despatch.

Mr. PAGE in reply to Mr. SMITH, spoke, in substance, as follows:

Mr. Chairman: The more precious our time, the more readily shall I vote for a consideration of the first resolution; for I think it of more consequence that we should decide on it, than on any other before us. We find, from the inquiry which has been set on foot into the conduct of the Secretary of the Treasury, that he differs from the mover of the resolution in opinion respecting his powers, and the constitutional obligation he may be under of regarding acts of appropriation; it therefore must be the wish of the Secretary himself, whether we agree with him or not; and it is our duty, as soon as possible, I conceive, to let our constituents know whether we approve, or not, of his opinion. The Secretary himself, I think, confesses "that a strict adherence to appropriations, in certain cases, would be pusillanimity." He preferred, no doubt, the public good, which he thought he had in view, to a strict compliance with an act of appropriation. It becomes us, then, to determine whether we wish that the Secretary shall hereafter be bound by our acts of appropriation or not.

I cannot conceive that the rejection of the first resolution can alter the nature of the case before us, or in any manner confirm or invalidate the truth of facts which some gentlemen seem so apprehensive may lead to an impeachment. For my part, I keep in view the first resolution, without thinking a moment of the last, or the intermediate propositions. When they shall come under consideration, I shall be ready to show a proper attention to them. How the first resolution can be called an abstract proposition, I know not, when the nature of the last before us requires a decision on it. The Secretary himself should desire it, and our constituents must expect it. If the Committee of the Whole shall be of opinion that appropriations ought to be sacredly regarded, they will agree to the resolution; if they think they may be dispensed with "in certain cases," they may amend the resolution, and qualify it so as to justify the conduct of the Secretary. To call the resolution a preamble, and to object to it as such, appears to me as extraordinary as to call it an abstract proposition; for I have always thought it inconsistent with Republican principles to object to preambles. I have remarked, sir, when they have been objected to, it became the Representatives of a free people to show on what principles and with what views their laws are enacted, and, not in a dictatorial manner enact that it shall be so and so. The framers of our constitution have set us an example of an excellent preamble; and, as it has been remarked by several members, this House has occasionally used them; I think, therefore, that none of the objections to the commitment of the first resolution are of sufficient weight to induce the House to agree to the motion for striking out the two first resolutions.

The question was now taken on committing the first two resolutions, and negatived--25 to 32. On the question of referring the last, only fourteen members voted in the affirmative.

_Ordered_, That the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth resolutions contained in the said motion be committed to a Committee of the whole House immediately.

The House accordingly resolved itself into the said committee; and, after some time spent therein, the committee rose, and had leave to sit again.

FRIDAY, March 1.

_Official conduct of the Secretary of the Treasury._

The House again resolved itself into a Committee of the whole House on the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth resolutions contained in the motion of yesterday, respecting the official conduct of the Secretary of the Treasury.

The third resolution being under consideration, in the words following, viz:

"_Resolved_, That the Secretary of the Treasury has
violated the law, passed the fourth of August, one thousand
seven hundred and ninety, making appropriations of certain
moneys authorized to be borrowed by the same law, in the
following particulars, to wit:

"1. By applying a certain portion of the principal borrowed
to the payment of the interest falling due upon that
principal, which was not authorized by that or any other
law.

"2. By drawing part of the same moneys into the United
States without the instructions of the President of the
United States."