THURSDAY, MAY 1. [H. of R. Mr. ADAMS, of Mass. (agreeably to notice,) asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill to prevent the Corporation of Washington, Alexandria, and Georgetown, from issuing bills of a less denomination than ten dollars. After some discussion between Mr. ADAMS and the SPEAKER, in reference to the rule providing for cases of bills introduced by leave, the bill was referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia. of, to move an amendment restricting the expenditure to appointments made "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate." That is the constitution, sir; and I intend to sustain the Senate in the maintenance and exercise of the powers confided to it by the people, to the utmost of my poor ability; and if this amendment be rejected, I shall vote for striking out, according to the motion of the gentleman from Connecticut, [Mr. Foor,] the entire appropriation. But, it is said, the annual appropriation bill is not a proper occasion to make war on these abuses. When, or where else can I contest it? If the Committee Mr. MERCER being under an impression that the bill on Foreign Relations had reported a separate bill, as I referred to banks, suggested that its passage would utterthink the better plan, and have permitted the appropria- ly ruinous to every bank south of the Potomac, as nine tion bill to contain nothing but those expenditures estab-tenths of their circulation consisted of notes of the delished and regulated by law, I should have said so too, nomination prohibited. and acted accordingly; but, instead of that, they are crammed into this bill, and I am not allowed to choose a field even between Pharsalia and Philippi. But, sir, the appropriation bill, or vote of supplies, is a fit time and occasion, and the very best means of checking executive abuses and usurpations. The power over the supplies is worth, in practice, all your parchment and paper constitutions; it has been the great conservative principle of English liberty in all its struggles with the Crown, through out the long line of her usurping Plantagenet Kings, her treacherous Stuarts, and stubborn Guelphs.' Sir, it is the Spanish bit to curb rampant executive power here, as well as in that illustrious country from which we obtained some of the soundest principles and safeguards of liberty. It is the best hold that the people have upon the rein to check abuse or usurpation of power; and as long, and it will not be long, as I am intrusted with a portion of that power, as their representative, I shall hold fast to it for their benefit, and put it to stern and practical purposes. Yes, sir, withhold the money of the people from their proud, forgetful servants, and the rampant lion becomes as gentle as the timid lamb! Mr. ADAMS set him right as to the object of the bill, and observed, if any serious inconvenience was likely to ensue from its adoption, that would, of course, be a matter for the consideration of the committee to whom the bill has been submitted. Mr. LINCOLN said he had a suggestion to submit to the House on a subject which he would explain. In the official paper published at this place, with the sanction, as was generally understood, of the Government, he ob served this morning a gross and base aspersion on the character of one of his colleagues and himself Here the SPEAKER interposed and said that, if the gentleman had any motion to submit to the House, he must make it; otherwise his remarks were out of order. Objection being made Mr. LINCOLN replied that it was his intention to ask the House to take up a resolution he had offered a day or two since, and he wished to state the circumstance he had alluded to as an inducement to the House to do so; supposing that it could not be a matter of indifference to them that the character of their members was assailed: but if the Chair had any objection, he should not insist on proceeding, and would at once move to take up the It is said that this appropriation for the salaries and out-resolution he had offered. fits of ministers is small and inconsiderable; and, indeed, that the salaries of all our foreign ministers are too low, Mr. L. said he would move for a suspension of the rule, and altogether insufficient to sustain the dignity of their to allow it to be taken up; and, as this was probably the diplomatic character in their association with those of last time he should trouble the House on the subject, he other countries. In regard to the first, I answer that, no would ask for the yeas and nays on the subject. They matter how small the appropriation, (but thirty-six thou- were ordered. sand dollars is not so very small a sum,) it does not avoid Mr. LINCOLN's resolution was then read, as follows: the necessity of obtaining the consent of that consultative Resolved, That the Postmaster General be directed to branch of the Government established by the people. As lay before this House a statement of the number, and it respects the supposed insufficiency of the outfit and names, and dates of the appointments, respectively, of salary, I am not prepared to decide from any specific in- the clerks, agents, and other officers and persons employformation; but this I will say, that he who seeks an office, ed in his Department, (other than postmasters and per the allowance of which he knows to be $9,000 as outfit, sons employed in the respective post offices,) and of the and $9,000 salary per annum, should be forever stopped distribution and assignment of the appropriate duties of from making a poor mouth about its inadequacy. I have each; and especially of the character of the services reheard, from sources I am disposed to trust, that the allow-quired by the solicitor, and clerks of the solicitor's office; ances to our agents at some Courts are too little; but I am and the duties and official employment of each of the per again forced to doubt this, when I see what you all have, sons who, in the register of the officers and agents of the nay, do now see, applicants for these offices moving Government, called the "Blue Book," who are denomiheaven and earth; using all their means, high and low; throwing aside the very principles that gave them all their consequence; abandoning the people whose voice cherished and supported them, and stooping to a course of political prostitution that compels their friends to blush and hang their heads for very shame, for the purpose of obtaining these appointments. I have some other views to present, but I fear I have wearied the House--I am wearied myself, and that is reason enough to stop. Mr. ADAMS rose to make some explanation, but gave Way to Mr. MERCER, who said, as this amendment was not to be disposed of lightly, and it was then close upon six o'clock, he would move that the committee rise. The motion prevailed, and The House adjourned. nated “clerks of appointment;" and that he do inform the House from what fund or appropriation all the officers and persons aforesaid, employed in his Department, have received their compensation; and that he be further directed to state to this House, to what corporations or individuals (if any) the Post Office Department is indebted for money borrowed, and to what amount to each of such corporations or individuals respectively, and at what rates of interest such loans have been obtained; whether the Department has overdrawn the amount of deposites to its credit in any bank or banks; and, if so, in what balances it is now indebted to such banks; in what instances (if any) and to what amount, the Department has anticipated its revenue by drafts on post offices in advance of the current quarter, and whether there are arrearages due to any contractors, according to the terms of their contracts, H. OF R.] The General Appropriation Bill. [MAY 1, 1834. either executed or continuing for the conveyance of the been a period in which Mr. A. well knew the value of mails, and to whom, and to what amount respectively, maintaining diplomatic relations there; he did not attach and what is the aggregate amount of the indebtedness of the same importance to it now; but he held it still to be the Department, beyond its present means and resources, of quite sufficient importance for us to have a minister of to discharge all its pecuniary obligations in time, and ac- the highest grade constantly residing there. cording to its engagements and liabilities." The yeas and nays being taken, stood as follows: Yeas 93, nay's 63. There not being two-thirds in the affirmative, the rule was not suspended. GENERAL APPROPRIATION BILL. On motion of Mr. POLK, the House went into Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, Mr. HUBBARD in the chair, upon the general appropriation bill. The question being upon Mr. Foor's motion to strike out Great Britain and Russia, and to insert eighteen instead of thirty-six, in the following clause: "For the salaries of the ministers of the United States to Great Britain, France, Spain, and Russia, thirty-six thousand dollars." Mr. ADAMS said that, at the adjournment of the House last evening, he had been desirous of saying a few words in reply to the remarks which had been made to what he had before said. He should confine himself as much as possible to those remarks. The gentlemen who had spoken after him yesterday, particularly the honorable chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, [Mr. ARCHER,] had entered upon subjects of an exciting nature, and which, as they had been discussed heretofore, it was not so necessary to bring now into debate. Mr. A. had had particular reasons for wishing to avoid these topics; but it was no longer left to his choice. The true ground taken called for the amendment he had offered. He had not expected that it would call up the friends of the administration as it had done; nor that they would have considered it necessary to put forth their whole strength in vindicating the course pursued. His objection to the appropriation did not rest on that ground at all. He objected to it, because Congress was appropriating, year after year, for a minister to Russia, when we had no such minister there. The House appropriated for a full minister's salary; and the country ought to have a minister of that rank contantly on the spot. There ought not to be an interval of a month in which either of these important missions should be vacant. The House went on appropriating from year to year, and at the end of the year they were still asked for more. When they inquired the reason, and adverted to the fact that no minister had been sent, they were then told that the mo ney had all been spent, just as it would have been had a minister of the highest grade been resident at the Court in question during the whole year. This was Mr. A.'s objection. In reference to some of the topics which had been touched upon by the gentleman from Georgia, [Mr. WAYNE,] and the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, [Mr. POLK,] he felt himself under a restraint which would compel him to avoid reply, were he otherwise situated. He had stated, when up on the previous day, that this state of things to which he objected had happened not at the Court of Russia alone. A minister would be sent, and, on arriving at his destination, would remain but a brief space of time, and then return home, or go elsewhere. He had noticed a case in which one staid but six weeks; this, to be sure, was the strongest instance that had occurred; but there were others not much less exceptionable. The chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, [Mr. ARCHER,] with that candid, open, manly, and mag. The chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, nanimous spirit in which he always acted, had underwith that high and honorable spirit which belonged to him, taken the vindication of the case more particularly ad had considered himself called upon, by the place he occu- verted to. He appreciated the feelings of that gentle. pied, to come forth in support of so much of the course man; but the nation had agreed in the opinion he had of the administration as he believed capable of defence, expressed in relation to that embassy. The gentleman and its conduct had been further and more at large de- from Georgia [Mr. WAYNE] had endeavored to turn what fended by another member of the same committee, [Mr. he had said into a personal reflection on the character WAYNE, and also by the chairman of the Committee of of the minister who had been sent. Sir, said Mr. A., I Ways and Means [Mr. POLK.] Each of these gentlemen am incapable of making such a reflection, because the had submitted considerations peculiar to themselves, in person alluded to is in his grave. That is of itself suffi support of the present item of appropriation. cient to seal my lips for ever in silence respecting him in Mr. A. should confine himself, in reply, to those con- this House. It was not to the individual sent that my siderations which belong to the merits of the question, remarks were intended to apply; nor shall I refer to and to the grounds on which he should support the mo-him now, with any design of passing censure upon his tion of the gentleman from Connecticut, [Mr. FOOT,] to conduct. Sir, he is far beyond the reach of my censure, strike out the words "Great Britain" and "Russia." or that of any other human being. But I mentioned He did not advocate the amendment on the grounds that case, in which the conduct of this administration assumed by the gentleman from Connecticut, who had had been justly subject to censure. I do not speak moved it: and still less on those which had been taken by merely of the appointment of that individual; I refer to the eloquent gentleman from South Carolina, [Mr. DAVIS.] the whole course preceding his appointment; and I menAs to the principles laid down by the latter gentleman, tion it only as one instance out of many of a similar they would have all that weight with the House which kind. they ought to have. Mr. A. did not attach the same im- The same gentleman from Georgia [Mr. WAYNE] has portance to them which that gentleman did. undertaken, as a sort of apology for what he seemed to As to the honorable chairman of the Committee on admit to have been not very defensible, to bring before Foreign Relations, [Mr. ARCHER,] So far as Mr. A. recol- the House the important purposes which had been ef lected, the principal answer given to his previous re- fected by the diplomacy of the present administration; marks, had been the expression of great surprise on the as if the ministers had rendered services which, from part of that gentleman, that Mr. A. should underrate the their great importance, amply compensated for the shortimportance of a mission to Russia. He did not under-ness of their stay abroad. Under this head, the gentle. rate it. He knew its importance. There was no gentle- man adduced certain treaties which had been made, man in that House who knew it so well. He ought to and negotiations which had been successfully carried know it better than others, as his opportunities had been through. better. He had been in circumstances fully to appreciate Sir, I admit, that if all the negotiations to which the the value of a good understanding with that Power, in honorable gentleman alluded had been concluded as suc critical circumstances of our own affairs. There had cessfully and honorably as he says they have been, it MAY 1, 1834.] The General Appropriation Bill. [H. OF R. might better have answered the objection that, although liberty beforehand, to go where he pleases, instead of reabsent but a month or two, they had been paid for a maining at his post? The gentleman will no pretend it year. But is that any answer at all? Is it any reason why does. a minister should go and return in a single year? and But further. In that very case, although the gentleman should get double and treble the compensation allowed stated that he imputed no blame to the administration him by law? This is the case to which the gentleman for the appointment, and only brought it forward by way from Georgia should have directed his attention. Sir, of precedent; but if the gentleman will go back beyond this reminds me of an anecdote of Frederick II. King of the last four years, (I will not say what that gentleman Prussia. He had appointed a certain judge, who turned out to be unfaithful in his office. Complaints multiplying against his numerous malversations, the King sent for him, and inquired into the case. The judge appeared in his own vindication, and was going on to tell a long story in his defence, when the King stopped him short in the midst of it, exclaiming," Stop, stop! have heard enough; the fault is not in you, but in me, for appointing such a knave." I do not find so much fault with the minister who leaves the Court to which he was sent, and visits all the watering places in Europe, and on his return home pockets his salary; the blame rests not so much on him, as on the administration who permits such things. What I say is, that the practice which has arisen, ought not to be suffered to continue. Every foreign minister should be confined to the place and the duties of his mission. said on the subject,) but if he will take the trouble of looking at the journals of that day, or if he will consult the record of the debates of this very House, he will find that that appointment was held up before the whole country as one of the most heinous sins of that administration. Well, sir, and are we now to have the very worst acts of that administration adduced as precedents for the very best acts of this? I will add a word as to that letter from the State Department which was read to us by the honorable chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. Sir, it is an oracle.. [Here Mr. ARCHER interposed, and meminded Mr. A. that the paper he had read was not a letter from any body; but his own written memorandum of the reply he had received from the Secretary of State.] As to the achievements of these gentlemen, there was Well, sir, it was information in some shape. It was much panegyric, and particularly in reference to the ar- the answer of the State Department, made in such manner rangement made with Great Britain on the subject of the that the gentleman thought proper to take it down, word West India trade. This, sir, is a subject which I pur- for word, as he received it. The gentleman could not posely pass over; it is fit to be commented on by any per- have considered it as a casual communication, in an ordison rather than by me; it is a subject concerning which nary form, or he would not have immediately reduced it there has been much controversy, and great difference of to writing. Sir, I again say it was an oracle. I did not opinion. I could wish that much of the angry disputation say that my friend, the chairman of the Committee of to which it has given rise were forever forgotten. I may Foreign Affairs, was the god from whom this oracle was say of it "Incedo per ignes suppositos Cineri doloso." issued. He was only the-[priest said Mr. ARCHER] -yes, the priest, [resumed Mr. ADAMS] to communicate the response of the deity to the worshippers. Sir, I wish the gentleman had not brought up this sub-i Mr. ARCHER here rose to explain. He said, that, in ject. How must it apply? What will be its unavoidable consequence of the peculiar position he occupied in rebearing? Is there not a gentleman in another hall of this spect to the administration, he considered it his duty to building, who must be immediately and personally affect- let the House understand why he had been so exceeded by any remarks on this subject? And will I say any-ingly precise in stating what had been said to him by the thing in reference to that gentleman any where but in his Secretary. He had thought that if he should answer in own presence? No, sir. And is there not another gen- any different mode, he might perhaps commit the admintleman now in the Department of State, whose character istration further than the President wished. There was is deeply implicated? And shall I go into any observa- a reservation in the answer which he was bound to give tions on his conduct when he is not present to answer? 1 precisely as he had received it-lest he might be reprewill not. But, sir, if we are to judge of these marvellous sented as having made a positive declaration that the Presnegotiations by their effects, I should send the gentleman dent would nominate during the session. Mr. A. did from Georgia to that portion of the Union more immedi- not wish to commit himself, or to commit the President ately affected by their results, and let him ask of them further than he was warranted in doing. what they think of the matter. I therefore pass over this Mr. ADAMS. Precisely so. The chairman acted topic entirely. I wish to say nothing about it. Not that with perfect prudence, and perfect honor, as he always my objection to discussing it has any reference to myself: does. But still, sir, I say this statement is an oracle. on that score I have none whatever. My objection has Understand it who can, I am unable to penetrate its respect to individuals not here. I will not censure any meaning. It is much such a reply as that famous response man in this House in a manner which I would not were of the Oracle to Pyrrhus, "Aio te Eacida Romanos vincere he personally present. posse." I declare that you will conquer the Romans, or The gentleman from Georgia, in answering my objec-the Romans will conquer you. Sir, if the answer is equiv tions to the short duration of certain missions abroad, al- ocal, it is not my fault, or the fault of the honorable luded, by way of retort, to an unfortunate appointment chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. For made by the administration preceding the present, in myself, I take it for granted that no nomination will be which case the individual appointed happened to fall sick made. My word for it, some little incidents will arise, and to die, and on that account did not remain seven connected with the public interest, which will cause no years, or three years, at his post. Does a case like that nomination to be made. And this is reason enough for justify us to appropriate, from year to year, for a minister me to vote against this appropriation. I will not put it at a foreign court, when we have no minister there? The into the power of the Executive to make the happening case referred to has hapened, but not in the way the of a vacancy, and then enable him to fill it. I do not, ingentleman had stated it." It is true that the eminent in-deed, adopt this as a general principle, but, owing to dividual was appointed, nor does this nation contain a the peculiar circumstances of the times, I will not be acgreater statesman, nor one who has rendered to his coun- cessary to granting any appropriation, so long as this try more important services; and it is true that he was matter remains in dubio-not until this oracular style prevented by illness from continuing abroad. But does shall be laid aside, and the chairman of the Committee this justify an administration in appointing a man, with on Foreign Relations shall say distinctly that the nomina 3887 H. OF R.] tained. GALES & SEATON'S REGISTER The General Appropriation Bill. [MAY 1, 1834. tion will be made as it ought to be made. Sir, I will not and this is one of the occasions on which it is their duty pledge myself to any thing, (because, if I do, I shall be to act. They have the power to act, and it is their duty There was one observation which fell from the chairaccused of a bargain,) but I will say, that, with a distinct to exercise it in emergencies like the present. and explicit declaration that the nomination will be made, I shall lose all my objections to this appropriation. Iman of the Committee of Ways and Means, that struck would vote it most cordially, and I believe Congress will me as somewhat oracular. Sir, it was much like that The gentleman referred to a case in which a do the same, if that gentleman will give us a pledge that with which we are favored from the Department of the nomination will be made to the Senate before the State. I say that the nomination ought to minister had been sent out, but had not been able to find close of the session. be so made. I say that no contingency that can arise can his place of destination. My reply to this will be nearly take from the Executive the duty of making it. Sir, in the same as to the remark made by the gentleman from these portentous times, it may not be proper for me to Georgia. I ask the gentleman what was his opinion reAnd what did all those that acted with him tell speak of any doctrines of which I have heard, but con- specting that mission? What did the gentleman think cerning which I can produce no conclusive or authentic and say? testimony. But I have heard of certain messages sent to the people concerning such appointment? Was not that the other House of Congress, signifying, that if certain one of the heaviest charges which they preferred against nominations submitted to them shall not be confirmed, that administration? And will the gentleman stand no others for the same offices will be made. I have heard here, and bring up one of the worst acts of an adminisof such things: and I would call for copies of such com- tration he opposed, in justification of a measure he now He says that there was one munication, if I were not confident that any thing I shall recommends? I am not, however, quite certain that I ask for from the Executive department will not be ob- know what he means. minister who went out from this country, and never Yes, sir! Because he found a In this matter of calls, a new practice has obtained, (I could find the place to which he was sent. do not charge it upon the present administration;) but And why could he not find it? in the days with which I have been acquainted, it was grave in seeking it. Of that man I will say as I said of enough for a member to say that he wished for any inform- another, to whom allusion was made in this debate, that, ation for him to obtain it. Why, sir, in the days of if he was not a man whose name ought ever to be men. a former administration, I well remember that all the tioned with reverence and honor in this House, then I departments were ransacked, at every session of Con- know not who is deserving such feeling. The result of gress, to satisfy the calls of members on this floor: at their labors was not anticipated. Sir, as to that mission, But if the gentle. that time, any member could obtain whatever information it would be a waste of time for me to undertake to justify It is now a part of our history. he demanded. But how is it now? I have offered reso- it. lutions calling for information on the Departments, man will take the trouble of looking at the executive I have en- documents, he will see that the result of that unfortunate which have lain there for weeks and months. deavored to get them up, but never could succeed. This mission was not unforeseen. It was foreseen, and it was House is hermetically sealed. Why, sir, what did we see foretold, too, as not improbable; and when the House was this very day? My colleague [Mr. LINCOLN] offered a called upon for the requisite appropriation, it was with resolution calling for information touching the condition full notice to them that the result could not be foretold And is this to be thrown up as a of the Post Office Department--a resolution going to the with certainty, but was in the decision of the Supreme deepest foundations of its honor and honesty; but the Disposer of events. House, after hearing the resolution read, refused to per-charge against that administration, and to be quoted in We can get support of what is asked from us now? And this is our situation. Mr. A. concluded with an apology for the desultory mit it to be sent. no information, or I would send an inquiry to the Executive, and endeavor to learn if the fact be as I have stated. character of his speech, and for the time it had occupied, Mr. WAYNE had no desire or intention of occupying But as this would be vain, I am reduced to the necessity The character of the answer the time of the House, by pursuing the course taken by of believing that it is so. given by the honorable chairman does not, certainly, tend the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. ADAMS.] Did to remove such an impression. I say again, that, assum-he consider it to be proper or necessary, it would not be ing that the appointments are to be made, it is the duty a difficult task to show that the present administration, in of the Executive to present the nominations at the pres- its negotiations, particularly with Great Britain, had ac It is his duty, under the oath of God which complished what the former one had not done. The is upon him, to carry the laws into effect. But if, instead gentleman declines going into the particulars of the nego of this, the Executive refuses to tell us whether he will tiations with Great Britain, because two distinguished make any nomination or not, I am compelled to conclude gentlemen, who were engaged in them under appoint I connect this ments by the present administration, were not present in He had only to say that he does not intend to make them. The next step this House to defend their conduct. conclusion with rumors that are abroad. will be to make a vacancy, and to fill it by his own au- that the conduct of those gentlemen, on that subject, was thority. At the next session, he must be convinced that part of the public history of the country. Individual Their conduct was upon paper, and had his nominations will not be confirmed by the advice and statements from those gentlemen were therefore totally No consideration of consent of the Senate. It will be the duty of that body unnecessary. And what then? The minister will come become a part of our political annals. to reject it. home, and you will have another minister, who, for an delicacy towards those persons, as being absent, should absence of a few months, will thus receive 20 or prevent the fullest discussion that was necessary to throw light upon their conduct in this negotiation. The gentle. $30,000. man had introduced this subject, on the preceding day, by insinuating that the ministers appointed by the present administration had remained but a very short time at the places of their mission. In referring to the case of Randolph, it was natural to recollect that of Mr. King, who had been sent to negotiate with Great Britain, respecting the colonial trade, without his instructions. The gentle man had not been pleased to allude to the sending of Mr. Gallatin, who was directed by the former administration ent session. Sir, these are changes in our fundamental laws. They MAY 1, 1834.] The General Appropriation Bill. [H. or R. [Here Mr. ARCHER observed that Mr. Buchanan's appointment had ceased.] to abandon the principles which had been persisted in by thought sufficient. It was usual, indeed, that we should our Government for a long series of years, and which were be represented there by one of a higher order; and, a the basis of the instructions given to Mr. Rush in 1824. short time since, a minister of that grade had been resiMinisters, he believed, had been sent quite as often by dent there. Whether his functions had ceased, or whether the former administration as the present. He did not he was at home on leave, Mr. C. could not say. The allude to this circumstance as a matter of reproach; but it House had no information on that point. He had seen a would have been at least desirable that the ministers sent suggestion of the latter kind in the papers. by the former administration should have been furnished with the necessary instructions. They might possibly, in that case, have closed the negotiations, which were not As it was but a few months since a worthy and talented finished until it was done by the successor of Mr. Barbour. gentleman, a native of his own State, had returned from If he understood the grounds of apprehension now ex- that country, it was but justice to the Executive to permit pressed by gentlemen, they were, that a minister might him to judge of the propriety of sending another, or of be sent to England without the consent of the Senate. retaining only a charge. It was not according to the The House had the authority of the gentleman from Mas-usual courtesy of the House, when it was requested in sachusetts, [Mr. ADAMS,] that a minister at London was the usual forms of business, to refuse an appropriation of necessary. Why, then, strike the provision for his salary this kind, in so short a period. Believing that the mission, though now vacant, would soon be filled up again, he should vote for that item of appropriation. out of this bill? Is it upon suspicion that the President will not do his duty? Suspicions of that kind were, perhaps, suitable for newspaper discussions, but he could not But as to the provision for the salary of a minister to regard them as furnishing any basis for legislative action. Great Britain, Mr. C. was constrained to say that he The gentleman stated, in the former debate, that the in- should not vote for it. He had abundant reasons thus to terests of the country required the appointment of a min- constrain him. They were found, not in conjectures as ister to London; that a charge d'affaires was not capable, to what would be the conduct of the Executive in referfrom his inferior rank, to afford adequate protection to ence to the appointment, but grew out of the course of the interests of the country at that Court; and he now ad- the administration heretofore. Mr. C. said he agreed vocates the motion for striking out the proposed salary fully in the position which had been taken on all sides, for a minister, and proposes to substitute the salary of a that, according to the course of management of our for charge. He did not understand the consistency of this eign affairs, the Executive had the exclusive right to course, any more than he did the criticism upon the reply judge as to the propriety of sending foreign ministers, which had been made to the inquiry of the chairman of and also of their grade; and, therefore, the House ought the Committee on Foreign Affairs. That reply had been not, too long or too often, to proceed in a course of dic. called oracular. He could not imagine why it should be tation to the Executive. During the last two years, the so called in an offensive sense. He did not know what House of Representatives and the Senate had both exother answer could be given to the inquiry than what pressed, in a solemn form, their opinion that a minister had been made. It was a subject upon which, from the of the first grade should be constantly resident at the nature of things, a precise answer could not, and ought Court of St. James. They had put that judgment upon not to be given. It might be absolutely necessary to the statute book. Yet the Executive had declined to have a minister sent to England forthwith. The custom- send any. He had thought proper, and it was his right, ary appropriation for the salary should not, therefore, be to disregard entirely this manifestation of the opinion of withheld. On the other hand, a question deeply impor- the Legislature. tant to the territorial extent of one of the States of the It seemed to be his opinion that the dignity of the counUnion might induce that State to request that no minister try did not require that we should be represented at that be sent at this time. He disclaimed knowing any thing Court by a minister of higher grade than a charge d'af relative to these affairs, which was not equally well known faires. Here was the solemn and deliberate decision of to others. As to these inquiries, he deprecated any at- the Executive. And now, after an overture of this kind tempt to go beyond the constitutional rights of the House. having been made for two years in succession, and disre If it was rightful to require official information relative to garded, would this branch of the Legislature make that the intention to send a minister, it was equally so to know overture again? Would it suffer the expression of its who is the person intended to be sent; then the question judgment again to be slighted? He presumed not. Cer. as to the propriety of the appropriation might turn upon tainly he should not, for one. The Executive, by the a discussion of the character and fitness of the individual expressive language of action, which spoke louder than proposed to be nominated. Such signs of the times he words, has said that he considered the Legislature as indeprecated. As to one of the insinuations of the gentle- truding on him. And Mr. C. had lived long enough in man from Massachusetts, that a minister had been ap- the world to know that advice, when too often repeated, pointed with permission to go wherever he pleased, what was of little value in the eyes of those who rejected it. minister had been so appointed? In the case of Mr. Ran. It seemed to him that the dignity of the House of Repre dolph, no latitude had been taken which common reason sentatives required that they should consider this course would not justify. We are daily granting permission to of action, on the part of the Executive, as conclusive; and the members of this House to leave their duties, upon that they could not thus continue to intrude upon him less pressing grounds than those upon which Mr. Ran- their advice without a loss of dignity and character. dolph absented himself, for the benefit of his health. To the other topics alluded to by the gentleman, he felt capable of making conclusive replies, but did not feel justified in trespassing any further upon the time of the committee. Mr. COULTER asked that the question might be divided, and put first on striking out the item for Great Britain alone, and then upon that for Russia. As to the mission for Russia, Mr. C. was prepared to vote for the appropriation. He saw no valid reason for refusing it. The Government was now represented at that Court by a minister of such grade as the Executive VOL. X.-244 It had been said by the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. PoLK] that, notwithstanding the President had not seen fit to accept the offer of the House for these two years past, it was still proper that the offer should be repeated, and that the House should go on and make a third appropriation for a mission still vacant, because the Executive had, in the usual mode, asked of the House to But how had he asked it now-in a mode at all different from that he had employed in former years? This sum had been included in the estimates from the State Department. He presumed those estimates had been supervised by the head of the Department. But do so. |