SENATE.] John Brahan. Treasury, in answer to a resolution of his on the subject of money paid by the legal representatives of the late General Brahan to the United States district attorney for the northern district of Alabama, and by him paid into the hands of certain men in Madison county, Alabama. Mr. MOORE said he had introduced the resolution which had brought forth the report and accompanying documents as a response, under a sense of official public duty, in consequence of rumors having obtained currency deeply implicating the Treasury Department, the United States district attorney for the northern district of Alabama, and others, concerning a loan of public money, amounting to something like thirty-six thousand dollars, to Caruthers & Kinkle, and others, in Alabama, for one, two, three, four, and five years. In order that others may fully understand the history of this transac tion, it would be necessary to bear in mind that, in 1819, the late General Brahan became indebted to the Government for about eighty thousand dollars; and upon his executing deeds of trust and mortgage, upon real and personal property, which gave the Government full and ample indemnity, indulgence had been given him in his lifetime, which had been extended to his legal representatives until a short time past; and now, he presumed, in consequence of the very great exigency and straitened condition of the public finances at present, the Department was not permitted to give longer indulgence, and that the Executive had been required to coerce payment from the estate; which having been done, and the money paid into the hands of the district attorney for the northern district of Alabama, he, in pursuance of what he presumed to be his instructions from the Treasury Department, had paid the same over to Caruthers & Kinkle, and others, on a loan upon time, and still holding the estate of the late General Brahan responsible for the final payment of the debt. [JUNE 28, 1836. speculations, which promise greater advantages than mail contracts without extra allowances. For he was informed, upon good authority, that Caruthers went forth with the money to the great land market, for the purpose of investing it in land speculations. It was necessary that he should be in a hurry, because he had good reason to believe that the heirs of General Brahan might complain, (as they have done,) and cause an examination to be made into the transaction, which might produce utter disappointment. And although he would not say that the head of the Treasury Department had been wilfully derelict in duty, yet he would say that he thought the whole correspondence authorized a strong suspicion that he had not used due diligence in this matter, in order to prevent impositions. Sir, said Mr. M., will any one believe, if he had been so lost to a proper sense of what was due to himself as a public functionary, and those whom he represented, as to have interested himself for any political friend, that he could have obtained from the Treas. ury Department the use of thirty-six thousand dollars for five years, under similar circumstances? No, sir. No one knew better than did the President, [Mr. KING,] that his application, either for himself or his friend, would have been properly scrutinized; and the impropriety would have appeared glaring. Can any one doubt whether the Secretary of the Treasury would then have replied to the Solicitor of the Treasury so readily, and in such laconic style, "make the arrangement (forthwith) to-day?" Mr. M. said he was not so much opposed to these men having the use of this money-for he would as soon they should have it as for the pet banks to receive it and loan it out to other partisans--but his objection was to the manner in which it had been unnecessarily coerced from the worthy widow and heirs of the late General Brahan, whom he thought had more claim upon the public sympathy than those into whose hands it had been placed, whose only merit was their zeal, activity, and devotion, in party politics. Mr. M. said, from the conspicuous situation these beneficiaries and recipients of the favor of the Treasury Department occupy in the correspondence now before the Senate, it may not be improper to inquire who they are, and more particularly as regards Caruthers & Kinkle. Sir, said he, these gentlemen are celebrated in their section of country as being warm and enthusiastic political partisans, great favorites of the administration, and particularly of the Post Office Department, from which they have heretofore (not under the present head of that Department) obtained all the important mail contracts in that section of country; and having risen to affluence by a liberal participation in the extra allowance system, they take "Turner also," Simon Pure, into the firm, who, by carrying religion on his lips and politics in his heart, had rendered himself acceptable to the party. The firm, the trio, have been loud and noisy politicians, "express great fears of the awful consequence of dividing the party; yes, the democratic party, in their estimation, ought not to be divided." They have been active, also, in exciting and prosecuting an unnatural and illiberal persecution against any public servant whom they thought had been too honest to sacrifice his principles and his honor for party considerations, who was too proud to become a fawning sycophant, and too independent to be as servile as some of their own party and they themselves were. And now, when from the laborious exertions of his honorable friend from Ohio, [Mr. EwING,] and his colleagues on the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads, to whom the public owe much for the exposure of that mal-ad-tures in turn through all their line of many contracts. ministration and system of favoritism and espionage that had bankrupted the Department, and which exposure had put a stop to the extra allowance system, these gentlemen abandoned many of their contracts for carrying the mail, and became successful applicants for the loan of the public money, in order to carry on large land Sir, (said Mr. M.,) one thing most extraordinary was, that whilst the Treasury Department acknowledges the debt already well secured, and that "it had no right to substitute one debtor in the place of another for the same debt," that it should have seen the propriety and utility, as connected with the public interest, and a due regard to that justice which the worthy widow and heirs of the late General Brahan had a right to demand, of granting indulgence for the payment of this money, when a portion had already been paid into the hands of the executors, and the property sold and bonds obtained entirely sufficient to meet the payment of the remainder, and upon application not made by the widow and heirs or legal representatives, but those unconnected with the estate; but for the estate to be held still responsible for the final payment of the debt virtually already discharged, whilst others have the use of the money for speculative purposes, was truly "the unkindest cut of all." Sir, (said Mr. M.,) men are so ignorant and blind as not to see the leading cause which influences these men in their political course; why they inscribe on the door of their mail coaches the name of the heir apparent "in large capital letters;" why they cry out so loud, "don't divide the democratic party;" yes, the lovely democratic party" "must not be divided;" why the Governor of Alabama appoints the senior contractor his aidde-camp, and why his aid franks him and his slavish crea Sir, (said Mr. M.,) is it not a little surprising that this military Governor should have permitted his patriotic and military aid to go in pursuit of large land speculations, instead of accompanying him to the Creek nation in pursuit of that rich harvest of military glory and military laurels which have been so profusely heaped upon JUNE 29, 1836.] Colonization Society--Fortification Bill. him of late? But, sir, to be serious. The plain English of all this is, they do not want "the spoils divided;" they want "all the loaves and fishes," all the money themselves; and to obtain it they are willing to become "man-worshippers" and mere subalterns in the ranks of unprincipled partisans. Mr. M. said he would detain the Senate no longer; but concluded by asking that it would indulge him in his proposition to have the report and accompanying documents printed. Here Mr. WRIGHT moved that the motion to print be laid on the table until to-morrow morning; which was agreed to. After transacting some other business, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29. COLONIZATION SOCIETY. Mr. CLAY rose and said he had a petition to present from the citizens of a portion of Kentucky, recommending the Colonization Society to the favorable notice of Congress, and asking aid in its behalf. Mr. C. said it was too late, he was aware, for any action on the peti tion at this session; but he would take occasion to remark that, after all his experience and his observation of the course of the society, his convictions as to the utility of this great project remained without change; and he trusted that the society would hereafter receive a larger portion of the public favor than it had heretofore enjoyed. At present, he would merely move to lay the petition on the table; which was agreed to. JOHN BRAHAN. On motion of Mr. KING, of Alabama, the Senate resumed the consideration of the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, in the case of General John Brahan, which was yesterday laid on the table; and a discussion ensued, which lasted several hours, in which Mr. KING of Alabama, Mr. PORTER, and Mr. EWING of Ohio, participated. Mr. MOORE said he had not been disappointed in the effort made by his colleague to palliate the censure which he thought was likely to fall upon the Treasury Department for the course it had pursued relative to this matter; but he could not believe he had been at all successful in that effort. Mr. M. said his colleague had been adroit in his attempt to change the true issue. He had done him the honor to refer to his course some three or four years since, in opposition to the bill for the relief of General Brahan himself. He would not deny that at that time he opposed the bill, believing conscientiously that, from the peculiar manner in which the debt had accrued, he, consistently with a duty he then owed those whom he represented, was bound to oppose it; and although he then differed from his colleague, the Senate then accorded in his views. But times had changed. The Treasury at that time was not overflowing. The wits of the best statesmen then had not been put to the rack in order to devise ways and means for its appropriation. The bill then was for the relief of General Brahan, for the reasons alluded to, which it was unnecessary for him to enlarge upon. It was true he opposed it from a sense of duty, but he could not admit that his colleague had done him justice in quoting some terms in which that opposition was made; in that he had been mistaken. But this was a matter foreign to the question before the Senate. He had, as a member of the Committee on Public Lands, been desirous that the bill for the relief of the widow and heirs of the late General Brahan should have received their favorable consideration, and was yet in hopes the Senate would pass the bill, and for this he did not consider himself as obnoxious to the charge of inconsis [SENATE. tency. Times were different; the parties had changed, and the bill itself was a different measure. Again he said his colleague had unnecessarily and gratuitously volunteered himself in the defence of the honorable member in the other House who represented the district in which the parties resided, before any charge against him had been made; he had never mentioned his name in any remarks of his in connexion with this matter; his volunteering his defence, therefore, was altogether uncalled for. He knew his colleague was unwilling to see any thing like politics connected with the giving Caruthers & Kinkle and D. B. Turner the use of the thirty-six thousand dollars of the public money. It was natural for his colleague to be skeptical and unwilling to receive light on this subject, yet he hoped he would be willing to let the report and accompanying documents be printed, which would enable others to judge for themselves. Mr. M. said it was contended that all who of promoting the interest of Mrs. Brahan and the heirs had had any agency in this matter had acted with a view of the late General Brahan; but with such views the course pursued, he thought, was inconsistent, and not at all calculated to produce such a result. If the indulgence and the use of the money had been sought for them, the application would have been made by them or the legal representatives; and if, as has been contended by his colleague, the object in giving the order upon the United States district attorney in favor of Caruthers had been only to suspend the final settlement of the matter until time was given to know the final action of Congress upon the bill now pending, why then he would say they had been very unfortunate in the means they had availed themselves of in order to effect that object. With such an object in view, it seemed to him the order would have been different. Not that the "arrangement" should be made to-day, or immediately (he believed was the word;) but let a conditional arrangement be made by which these men may have the money for the use of the estate until the fate of the bill pending before Congress shall be known; but, in lieu of this, orders were given that these partisan gentry should have the benefit of the money for five years, unconditionally, and without consulting the widow and heirs immediately interested. Mr. M. said he thought, as he had said before, that if the application for the use of this money had proceeded from those entertaining different political views, and by some who had been less distinguished as enthusiastic and zealous partisans, the application would have been more rigidly scrutinized, and the result different; but he was willing the public should have an opportunity of forming a correct opinion upon this subject, and, to enable it to do so, he hoped the report and documents would be printed; and they were ordered to be printed accordingly. FORTIFICATIONS. On motion of Mr. WRIGHT, the bill from the House making appropriations for the fortifications of the United States for the year 1836, was taken up; and Mr. W. went into an explanation of the details of the bill. Mr. CALHOUN moved to recommit the bill to the Committee on Finance, with instructions to reduce the amount of appropriations, on the ground that it was impossible to expend so large a sum as that appropriated during the remainder of the year, economically or profitably. The old rate of expenditure for fortifications, he said, had never exceeded $800,000 in a year; and now it was proposed to appropriate, in time of profound peace, when there was not the slightest prospect of a war, in this bill, and the one that had been sent from the Senate to the House, at least four and a half millions SENATE.] Fortification Bill. of dollars. He wished to know, and he earnestly desired gentlemen to answer him, why it was sought to make this vast and unusual appropriation at this time. Was it intended that it should remain locked up in the Treasury, or remain in the hands of the disbursing agents? It was perfectly clear, he said, that this money would not be required, and ought not be appropriated; and he therefore moved to recommit the bill with, instructions to reduce the appropriations one half. Mr. CLAYTON did not consider the appropriations too high, considering that last year the fortification bill was lost, and that they were now appropriating for two years instead of one. In order to obviate the difficulties suggested by the Senator from South Carolina, as to the moneys remaining idle in the hands of the disbursing agents, he would submit an amendment, providing that it shall not be drawn from the Treasury until it is wanted for the expenditures authorized by the bill. Mr. CALHOUN withdrew his motion to recommit, in order to give way to the above amendment by Mr. CLAYTON. Mr. CLAY thought there was no inconsistency between the two propositions, to amend the bill as proposed by the Senator from South Carolina, with the view of reducing the amount proposed for fortifications, and to amend it as proposed by the Senator from Delaware, to restrain the issue of money from the public Treasury, except as it should be called for in a course of regular disbursement. Both might be well adopted, and he hoped would be. He had, however, risen more particularly for the purpose of calling the attention of the Senate to the enor mous and alarming amount of appropriations which had been actually made, or were in progress, during the session. He had procured from the Secretary of the Senate a statement of such as had been made by bills which had passed one or both Houses up to the 27th of last month, when it amounted to about twenty-five millions. Since then, other bills had passed, which swelled it up to thirty-two or three millions; and other bills were now in progress, and would probably pass, carrying it up to forty millions, or beyond that sum. Forty millions of dollars in one year, when we have no debt, and no foreign war! Will not the country be justly alarmed, profoundly astonished, when it hears of these enormous appropriations? Is it possible to proceed with the Government on such a scale of expenditure? Why, sir, it is a greater amount than is appropriated to similar objects by the British Parliament, since its reform, in one year. The whole revenue of Great Britain is about forty-two millions sterling, of which sum twenty-eight millions is applied to the public debt, six to the payment of pensions, annuities, &c., and only about eight millions to the current annual expenses of the whole of their vast establishment, military and naval, and the civil Government at home and abroad. Now, forty millions of dollars exceed eight millions sterling. Who would have supposed that an administration which came in upon pledges and promises of retrenchment, reform, and economy, should in the eighth year of its rule have swelled the expenditure of the Government to an amount exceeding that of Great Britain? And this surprise must be increased when we reflect that the British Parliament stands to the people of Great Britain in the double relation of the Federal and State Governments to the people of the United States. When Mr. Adams left the administration, the current annual expenses of the Government, exclusive of the public debt, amounted to about twelve millions. Only a few years ago a Secretary of the Treasury under the present administration (Mr. McLane) estimated the ordinary expenses of the Government at fifteen millions annually. Even during the present session, the able [JUNE 29, 1836. Senator from New York, when the land bill was under discussion, placed them, for a series of succeeding years, at eighteen millions. And now we propose, in this year, to more than treble the amount of expenditure during the extravagant administration, as it was charged, of Mr. Adams! Mr. C. hoped the Senate would pause. He called upon the friends of the administration, in no taunting or reproachful spirit, to redeem the pledges and promises with which they came into power. If the love of country, if a faithful discharge of duty to the people, if a just economy would not animate them, and stay these extrav agant appropriations, he hoped the devotion to party would. Could they expect to continue in power (and he candidly confessed that he was not particularly anxious that they should) with such unexampled appropriations? How can they meet their constituents with these bills staring them in the face? And for what purpose shall they be made? Does any man believe, will any Senator rise in his place and say, that these immense appropriations can be prudently, safely, and wisely disbursed? He had, indeed, heard it was not expected they would be. He had heard, what was too wicked, profligate, and monstrous, for him to believe, that it was intended to withdraw the appropriations from the public Treasury, place them to the credit of disbursing officers, in the custody of local banks, and thus elude the operation of the deposite bill which has recently passed. That bill had been demanded by the people of this country. It had passed, from a profound sense of duty, in consequence of that demand, by unprecedented majorities in both Houses. And he would not allow himself for a moment to believe that a sinister design existed any where to elude the operation of that great and salutary measure. What, sir! is the money of the people of this country to be held in the deposite banks, one of which, according to a statement going the rounds of the papers, has made 14 per cent. dividend for six months? The annual average appropriations for fortifications heretofore have been about seven hundred and fifty or eight hundred thousand dollars; and by the bill now before us, and that for a similar object which we have sent to the House, if both pass, we shall have appropriated for fortifications for one year four millions and a half. Is it possible in one year judiciously to expend this enor mous sum? When we look at the price of labor, the demands upon it, for an increase of the army, for volunteers, and for the general avocations of society, does any body believe that this vast sum can be judiciously laid out? It has been said that, having omitted to make any appropriation last year, we ought this year to appropriate double the ordinary sum. But, if you cannot safely expend it, why should that be done? He was willing to make large and liberal appropriations for the navy and for fortifications; we ought, however, to look to all our great interests, and regulate the appropriations in reference to a survey of the whole country; and he earnestly entreated the Senate to fulfil the hopes and expectations which had been recently inspired in the people of this country, by checking and putting itself decidedly against this rash, wild, and ruinous extravagance. He would vote for the commitment, to reduce the appropriations one half; after which there would remain an amount equal to double the ordinary annual appropriations, without including the sum in the bill now before the House. Mr. WRIGHT opposed the recommitment in a speech of some length. He denied that the appropriations were unreasonable, considering that they were now passing a bill for two years, instead of one, in consequence of the loss of the fortification bill of the last year. He asked gentlemen to point out any particular item in the bill, and show that it was unnecessary and unreasonable. The appropriations, he said, were all founded on estimates from the War Department, and made with a view to economy, as far as was consistent with the public service. Even if gentlemen were correct in their predictions, there could be no inconvenience in appropriating more money than would be expended within the year; for by the deposite bill just passed, it would all, after the 1st of January, be distributed among the States, no more being drawn from the Treasury than would be wanted for expenditure. In reply to Mr. CALHOUN's argument, as to time, Mr. W. said that last year not a dollar was appropriated; and now that they were in the middle of the year, without having appropriated a dollar, they were told that they must not appropriate this money be cause it could not be expended. When, he asked, would another bill for fortifications be passed? Why, not before the 3d of March next; and the works would be stopped. Mr. W. said that gentlemen, in speaking of the heavy appropriations under this bill, did not seem to consider that there was a considerable amount appropriated in it that had no connexion with fortifications. Mr. W. then took a view of these items; such as arsenals, accoutrements for the volunteers and for the army, fire engines, to be distributed among the public buildings, &c. As to the amendment of the Senator from Delaware, he had no objections to it. Mr. EWING, of Ohio, expressed his strong objec. tions to appropriating at this time so much larger a sum than had ever been before applied to such objects; and contended that the experience of former years showed that when appropriations did not run over $800,000, large balances of it remained unexpended at the end of the year. He was satisfied that it would be impossible to spend more than one third of this money, from the want of engineers, and the difficulty of procuring labor and materials in sufficient quantities. If there was any one to blame for the lateness of the appropriation, it was the House of Representatives, who had kept the bill back to this time. After some remarks from Mr. CALHOUN, Mr. CLAYTON's amendment was agreed to. Mr. WALL moved to amend the bill by providing that of the appropriation in the 18th line, for Fort Delaware, the Secretary of War shall be authorized to expend a sum not exceeding $36,000, to perfect the title of the United States to the Pea Patch, in case it shall be his opinion, and that of the Attorney General, that such perfection of title is necessary. An elaborate and lengthy legal argument grew out of this motion, in which the original and conflicting titles of the States of Delaware and New Jersey, and the title of the United States under Delaware, and that of Dr. Gale under New Jersey, was discussed with great force and ability. Messrs. WALL and SOUTHARD contending for the validity of the title of New Jersey, to show that the title of the United States was imperfect, and Messrs. BAYARD and CLAYTON contending for the validity of the title of the State of Delaware, and the perfection of the grant to the United States; the argument being principally between Messrs. WALL and BAYARD. On taking the question, Mr. WALL'S amendment was rejected by the following vote: [SENATE. After some remarks from Messrs. CALHOUN, CRITTENDEN, and EWING of Ohio, in favor of the motion, and from Mr. CLAYTON, in opposition to it, the question was taken and lost: Yeas 18, nays 20, as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Bayard, Black, Calhoun, Clay, Crittenden, Ewing of Ohio, Geldsborough, Kent, King of Alabama, Leigh, Moore, Porter, Preston, Robbins, Southard, Swift, Tomlinson, White-18. NAYS-Messrs. Benton, Brown, Buchanan, Clayton, Cuthbert, Ewing of Illinois, Hendricks, Hubbard, Linn, Morris, Nicholas, Niles, Page, Rives, Robinson, Tallmadge, Tipton, Walker, Webster, Wright-20. Mr. CLAY then moved to lay the bill on the table, for the purpose of going into executive business. Mr. BENTON asked for the yeas and nays; which were ordered, and the question was decided: Yeas 16, nays 21, as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Black, Calhoun, Clay, Clayton, Crittenden, Ewing of Ohio, Kent, Leigh, Moore, Porter, Preston, Robbins, Southard, Swift, Tomlinson, Webster-16. NAYS-Messrs. Bayard, Benton, Brown, Buchanan, Cuthbert, Ewing of Illinois, Hendricks, Hubbard, King of Alabama, Linn, Morris, Nicholas, Niles, Page, Rives, Robinson, Tallmadge, Tipton, Walker, White, Wright-21. Mr. CLAY said he would make another effort to bring down the expenditures of this bill, and this would be the last effort he would make for arresting the enor mous, extravagant, and alarming appropriations of this Congress. After some remarks, Mr. C. moved to recommit the bill with instructions to reduce the appro priations one third. Mr. CLAYTON asked for a division of the question. He desired to see it taken on the question of recommitment first. He felt the force of the arguments of the Senators from South Carolina and Kentucky, and he was willing that the bill should be recommitted, in order that an examination might be made to see if any of the items could be reduced consistently with a due regard to the public service. But he never could give his vote to instruct the committee to bring down the appropriations to an arbitrary standard without considering what could or could not be properly reduced. Gentlemen talked of unprecedented, enormous, and alarming appro priations, and this might all be so, but he doubted it. He wanted gentlemen to put their fingers on a single item of this bill and show him that it could be dispensed with. He, for his part, could not see any that ought to be dispensed with. He knew that there were many items in this bill which were in the bill of the last year that was lost, and no man objected to them. Now gen tlemen talked of the enormous appropriations in the aggregate, without showing any particular items that could be objected to. Mr. CUTHBERT said that it was well known, in the first place, that this bill had not suddenly sprung up, and that it did not come before them without sufficient estimates. It came to them with the approbation of the other House, with whom appropriations usually originate. It was, therefore, not a little extraordinary that the Senators from South Carolina and Kentucky should indulge in a strain of invective and declamation, not to show that the appropriations were not suited to the ex YEAS-Messrs. Brown, Clay, Ewing of Illinois, Linn, Niles, Preston, Robinson, Southard, Tomlinson, Wall-10. NAYS-Messrs. Bayard, Benton, Black, Clayton, Crit-igencies of the country, but against the strength and tenden, Cuthbert, Ewing of Ohio, Goldsborough, Hendricks, Hubbard, Kent, King of Alabama, Leigh, Moore, Nicholas, Page, Porter, Rives, Robbins, Swift, Talimadge, Walker, Webster, White, Wright-25. Mr. CALHOUN then moved to recommit the bill to the Committee on Finance, with instructions to reduce the appropriations to an amount not exceeding one million six hundred thousand dollars. VOL. XII.-120 capacity of the country to carry on the usual and ordinary operations in providing for its defence. Never before was it doubted that a nation had the strength and capacity to use the ample means at its own disposal. A most wonderful and profound calculation, that the power of a nation to provide for the security and happiness of its members was diminished in proportion to the abundance of its resources! He had no objections to a SENATE.] Expunging Resolution--Armories, Arsenals, &c. full examination of the appropriations contained in this bill; but let it, he said, be made on just and correct principles, and not in accordance with the denunciations of the Senators from Kentucky and South Carolina. It was not the mere sound of pompous language and loud declamation that should weigh against the appropriations in this bill. Let gentlemen, as the Senator from Delaware had well remarked, point out the items that were extravagant or unnecessary; let gentlemen correct the estimates, and show that they were too high, instead of indulging in general denunciations. Convince him that any particular item was extravagant or unnecessary, and he would most cheerfully vote either to reduce or strike it out. The debate was further continued by Messrs. WEBSTER, CALHOUN, PRESTON, and DAVIS, after which the question was taken on the recommitment without instructions, and carried: Yeas 24, nays 18, as follows: [JUNE 30, 1836. democratic fountain in this country a precedent,* on all substantial points directly applicable, against the process of mutilating and expunging the journals of the Senate. But, solicitous as he was to discuss the particular topic, and to spread before the Senate the precedent to which he referred, he could not think of trespassing on the time of the Senate during the precious moments that remain. With respect to the final disposition to be made of the resolution, he was content to acquiesce in any decision the Senate might think proper to make. If it be its pleasure to take up the resolution and pass definitively upon it, without further debate, he would be satisfied. The bill from the House to change the time for the annual meeting of Congress was taken up, and indefi. nitely postponed: Yeas 24. The resolution from the House to change the joint rules so as to continue all unfinished business in both Houses over to the next session was indefinitely post YEAS-Messrs. Bayard, Black, Calhoun, Clay, Clay-poned. NAYS-Messrs. Benton, Brown, Buchanan, Cuthbert, After the consideration of executive business, THURSDAY, JUNE 30. The VICE PRESIDENT announced that he should not resume the Chair, during the present session, after this day. EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. Mr. BENTON, after a few remarks, in reference to the cause which prevented him from calling up the expunging resolution yesterday, said he left it to the Senate to act in reference to it as they might think proper. After a few remarks from Mr. PRESTON, Mr. CLAY, and Mr. BENTON, the subject was finally dropped. The remarks of Mr. CLAY were as follows: Mr. CLAY said that he would take the opportunity of saying that it had been his fixed purpose, considering the relation in which he stood to the resolution of March, 1834, and to the Senate, as having offered it, to address the Senate on the subject of it. He was particularly desirous to have vindicated the resolution in the assertion which it contained of the exercise of executive power in derogation from the constitution and laws of the United States. After the fullest reflection, his judgment remained unchanged, that it was an exercise of illegal and unconstitutional power, and dangerous to the liberties of the people of this country. And if he could have seen a suitable occasion, after hearing all that could be urged against the resolution, he should have endeavored to maintain, by argument, that proposition. But it has been so treated, from time to time, taken up and laid upon the table, (the last time to afford an opportunity to the present Chief Magistrate of an eastern State to deliver his sentiments upon it, when he (Mr. C.) was detained from the Senate by the illness of a member of his family,) that he has not seen a fit moment when he could, according to his sense of propriety, address the Senate. It is now, as every Senator must feel, entirely too late in the session, when important public business was pressing upon both Houses, to protract the discussion upon this resolution. Mr. C. was anxious to have brought forward from the present TEXAS. Mr. CLAY moved to take up the resolution reported by the Committee on Foreign Relations on the subject of Texas. Mr. KING, of Alabama, suggested that the subject should be made the special order for the 4th of July, when legislative business shall be ended, this being the last day when bills can be sent to the House. Mr. PRESTON moved to postpone the subject till to-morrow. The question was then taken, and the consideration of the subject was postponed till to-morrow. ARMORIES, ARSENALS, &c. On motion of Mr. BENTON, the bill to establish a foundry or armory in the West, arsenals in the States in which none have yet been established, and depots for arms in certain States and Territories, was taken up. The bill was supported by Messrs. WALKER, BENTON, WEBSTER, and LINN, and opposed by Messrs. CRITTENDEN and CALHOUN. Mr. KING, of Georgia, said that, as he was in favor of some of the objects of the bill, it was with great reluctance that he voted against the bill, on account of some items that he could not approve. He could not at * We have procured from the printed journals of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania the following extract, containing the precedent to which Mr. CLAY is understood to have alluded.-EDITORS. "Saturday, February 10, 1816. "The Speaker informed the House that a constitutional question being involved in a decision by him yesterday, on a motion to expunge certain proceedings from the journal, he was desirous of having the opinion of the House on that decision, viz: that a majority can expunge from the journal any proceedings in which the yeas and nays have not been called. "Whereupon, Mr. Holgate and Mr. Smith appealed from said decision. "And on the question, 'Is the Speaker right in the decision?' "There were 3 ayes and 78 noes (including the two present Senators from Pennsylvania) against the Speaker's decision. "On the same day, "A motion was made by Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Kelly, and read, as follows, viz: "Resolved, That in the opinion of this House no part of the journals of the House can be expunged, even by unanimous consent." |