CONGRESS. PHILADELPHIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, TUESDAY, December 6, 1791. IV COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE On the Ft/1 -Office Bill. Mr. Sedgwick's motion under coupderation. MR. STEELE said he would not take up the time of the House in confiderina whether the motion was conrti tutional or not; but he was appre hensive it would he bui'thenfome to impofc the du tyon the President, who must feel very itifugreea bly to hear that after he had exerted his utlnoft abilities togive fatisfatftion,difcontents had taken place. He hoped the gentleman from N. York, ■who had hitherto fhevvn himfelf so fta tinch a friend to the present Conrtitution, Would not «p ---pofe the diflufion of knowledge and information amongst the people, upon an jdea of a supposed deficiency in the revenue of the port-office, for ir might very soon increase to a film more than Sufficient ior the expences of the eftabiifliment. Mr. Vining said that since this fubjecl had been before the Jaft House, during the receis, he had seen many lights thrown on ir, and he was convinced that the members were as fully competent to judge of the bufniefs as any one wan could be : this he thought a fatfl not now to be difptued, as well as that more fatisfadtton would be given to the country in general. There is no analogy between the United States and Great-Britain, when the fubjectof the pod-roads and poftroffices are to be considered : this coun try, from its great extent and uncultivated state, as well as from a thoufancl other causes, is not at all similar to the situation of Great-Britain ; therefore any attempt to imitate their regula tions would be improper. With regard to the regulation Heinggiven to the Prefident,two things ffiould be coniidered ; to a good President it would be burthen, to a bad President a danger ous power of ' v abliihing offices and roads' 3 in t liofe 'places only pro incited, and removing others of long landing, in order to hat-raft those he might fippofe inimical to his ambitious views. The Conrtittuion has certainly given us the power of eftab'lifliSng ports and loads, and it is not even implied that it ft on Id be transferred to the President—his pow ers are well defined ; we create offices, and he fills them with such persons as he approves of. with the advice of tha Senare. Having thus far slated his opinion, he said he would vote aoainfl she amendment to the bill, and when the firlt fetfion was got over he would propose a clause to he inserted in the second fec r ti->n, which he hoped would meet the ideas of the pentlenian from New-York, viz. that the cross roads and offices ffiould be so regulated as not to exceed the forplulHge of the revenue of the general erta blifhment. The doubt of the bill's not paffintr 'he Senate fficruld have no weight in his mind • lie would rather fifty bills ffiould be loft than ffirink from his trnrt ;w d lit hoped the House of Repnefenraiives would ffioiv their fii'mnefs in the present inrtance ; and if the Senate ffiould afterwards reject the bill, they had done be lore, let them be answerable for their own con duit • rliey can do these things- more gtacefnlly than this House, as they aTe not feerr in the acl ivlr. Vining concluded bv dr R another ar gument from that part of thefpeecfc of rhfe Pre iidenr, art lie-opening of the present " session, which refpeiSs the port-office and w lerem lie !o warmly recommends it to'the i-egiUatture to take tip the fubjetft : this jfxpref .loll is as: trorig an argument an can prtffihly he 6iiduc*d>, Co ihew fhftt he had ho other c :I?cep tion M the matter than that it was the peculiar privjJegeof theLegiflinire. Mr.. Barnwell was not forprifed that a divcrfi tv of opinions fnoulcl prevail on such a fubietft • but that there ffiould beany quertion the court, T.tf.onahty of tlie amendment artonin,'- v "'r 5 Ve '"- V nat,n ' al f ° fn mem bers from the fame.State would differ in opinion, and this fliewe'd the greater dtgiee of necessity aiere was to vert the pawer in the hands of a igh lefpsouhblft olhcer to det ermine the bnfinefs ior by doing so, there would beliefs partiality ex cited in the delineation of the roads, &c." But if left to the House, it would be almofc imnoflible o reconcile any line to all parties ; for the mem. bers fi'oin each Stare would probably be guided oy the principle of domestic convenience (continued!) than by a sense of jeneral good.—ln rfply to Mr. Vinings argument, that it would be a bur den to a good President, lie thought it would be a pleasure to him to tender fer*ic£ to his coun try. Upon the \Vhole, he was in favor of Mr. Sedgwick's motion. Mr. Gerry took a genera* view of moll of the arguments in of the motion ; replied to each ; and concluded by alkii.g why the com mercial interest only fliould be accommodated, and the inland inhabitant's excluded from the advantage? of post-roads—why one claft of citi- Zens fliould be preferred to another ? The dif fnfion of knowledge and information is as jiecef fary to one as the other ; and the revenue from the poft-oriice, he had no doubt would inoeafe from year to year,to defray the expcnce of ciie ad ditional poll roads which are proposed in the bill. •Mr. Steele defended the committee wh\i had reported the bill, and explained the grounds 011 which they had proceeded in laying out rhe roads for the general advantage of the Unite 1 States rather than to accommodate a few trading ulaces only 011 the sea coast ; and with regard to the route to Charleston, to which Mr. Barnwell had objected, he said it would canfe letters to arrive there 4 or j days sooner than by the old rouie. Mr. Benfon observed, that the conftitut(ona! ity of the amendment js denied—and it is said that the legislature alone is competent frf efta blifhiug poft-offices and post-roadS ; nofivith ftanding this there is not a single poll-office de fignated by the bill ; much has been observed refpe&ing the legislative and executive ptfwers, and the committee are cautioned againfl' dele gating the powers of the legislature to su preme execnrive; without attempting a definition of their powers, or determining their refp*<ftive limits, which he conceived it was extremely diffi cult t# do—he would only observe that taucli raufl necefliuily be left to the discretion <f" the legislature. He vtras very doubtful it would ever be in the power of the House ' any bill that would give fatisfatfiion. Tjjiis he spoke from experience ; for it had been often tried in the old Congress, and was as often de feated by the partial and local clauses projpofed by the different members. For these rtafons "he believed it would be better to delegate the power, and let the regulations be made l?y the President, than to be always enntling fjjppJe mentary laws year after year, at the inftaiice of individual nneipbers. WEDNESDAY, December 7. Mr. Ssdgwick's motion under conjideratien, Mr. White observed that there was a n^ceffity ll,e- jwofe.vt , hc pott, and although gentlemen have said that in formation on the fnbjettt cannot be so weOl ob tained froni this House as from the executive, be cause 110 one member knows all the roads,'yet it mutt be allowed that every road is known t o some of the members. The people of tha Uni ted Stares have fuffered too long under the pre sent eftabliffiment-486,000 inhabitants Jn the western fide of the river Patowmac, in the State of Virginia, are deprived of the benefit ofia pott road : will any gentlemen fay, that nearly half a million of persons shall not h.lve the privile e of a pott-office, or the meajis of information ? I He said he should not go into any lengil.y ob [ fervations, as the fubje<Tr had been f„ f„1. ly difcuHed yetterday. He then declared his opinion that the House had aright to fend a pcr fon to lay out the pott-roads, agreeably to their directions, and therefore hoped the amendment would be negatived, and that the bill w.,nld be gone through wiib.with such reasonable amend ments as might be fug'gefted. Mr. Livermore said that gentlemen had drawn arguments from the second clause of tiie i>ilJ be fore it was yet tinder consideration, froijj which they endeavored to prove an abfurdiry in the nift clause, and thus take an uncandid advantage of tiie liberality of the committee in leaving the appointment of the deputy, pott-matte. s"a nd branching offices to the Post-Master-General - If however 1 here be any defeat in the second clause it cau be amended when we come to it ; but to attempt bringing forward this fedion as a bar Co tine adoption ofthe,firtt, is an unfair mode of rirotecdrftfo and ft ems as if intended to throw the bill out at any rate. With regard t„ what las been said of the 1 efponfibility of an high ex ecutive officcr, he did not deny the wisdom and integrity of the President, who would no doubt condua tins as well as he had always done anv ounrtefs coitinutted 10 - his care ; but this would be a very troublefotne business to impose upon him, and those who were defeous of doini " were not acting a friendly pa, t. The conttitu! "on has pointed out one certain mode for the legislature to proceed in, and it is more proper for the liotife to determine on the fubjectt than any one man: let the experiment be made for thiee years, or for ten years, and it wili always be found ui cur power .0 amend the dcfens 'in the fyttem as they aiife to our view. (TO BE CONTINUED.) 262 TvfOMD'AY, Dsce::snj Read s report of the Secretary ofi'he Trea,o ry, on the petition of George V/ebb la'e are ceiver of conrinenral taxes i„ the ftat'e 0 f Viral" n.a, praying compensation for fcfrvicei and demnificat'on for a f.nn of public money', of which he had been robbed. Read, and reierred to the Secretary of the '" ea ' l »7, t w " petitions ,rom a number cf the, inhabitants of Northombfcrland County the duty on (pints (liftiUed from articles the growth of the United States_ B ffo ,he petition Gilbert Dertcb, praying comprnf irion for Jot's oltatned in contracts for tranfportina cioarbino and military {lores during the iate war A second petition from Charles Hatelcv was read, and referred to the Secretary of Sta f e ' Several other petitions were read and referred to the Secretary of War. . , The fallowing Me flags f.om she President of the United States, wasprefentedby his Secretary Mr. Lear. J ' United St'ates, Dec. r 2 , i 79 1. Gentlemen of the Senate, and of the House of Repefentatives, IT is.with great concern that T communis fte you the information received imm Mapr-Ctnerat St Clair, of the misfortune- that has befallen the troops under his command. Although the national. Icfs is confid;r able, according to the scale tf the event,yet it may be repaired Without great difficulty , excepting as to the brave men who have ' fallen on the cccafon, and-who are a fthje.Ci of public as well as private regret. J further cc;nvinmcation v/n'l fjyortly be made of all« such matters as shall be r:ece(fary to-'enable the Lcfif- " lature to j,vdge_ of the future measures which it maybe proper to s purjue. [The Foregoing mefTage was accompanied with three letters from General St. Clair— the two firft dated Oct. 6, and Nov. i—thefe contain a derail of the movements of the army from its leavlnp- Fort-Washington, till the time of the action with the enemy—the interesting of that day are related in the third letter, which follows.] Fort-lVafuwgton, Nov. p, 1791. SIR, YESTERDAY afternoon the remains oFthe 'army under my command got back .to this piace and I have now the painful talk to give you an account of as warm ?i;id unfortunate an atftion as almost any that has been fought, in which every corps was engaged and worsted, except, the firit regiment—that had been detached open a Ser vice I had the honor to inform yon of in my lad: dispatch, and had not joined me. On the 3d inft. the arm.y had reached a creek about twelve yards wide, l the south ward of weft, which I believe to We been the river St. Mary, that empties itfelf into the Mia mi, of the lake at the Miami village, about four o'clock in the afternoon, having marched nenr 9 miies, and were immediately encamped upon a very commanding piece of ground in two lines, having the above mentioned creek in front. The right wing conipofed of Butler's, Clarke's and Patterfon s battalions, commanded by Major-Ge neral Butler, formed the firft line, and the left wing, consisting of Btfdinger's and Gaither's bat talions, and the second regiment commanded by Lieur. Colonel Darke, formed the second line, with an interval between them of about seventy yards, which was all the ground would allow.— he right flank was prery well secured by the creek, a steep bank and Faulkner's corps ; some of the cavalry and their piquets covered the left flank. Ihe militia were thrown over the creek, and advanced about one quarter of a mile and en camped in the fame order. '.There were a few Indians who appeared on the oppofire fide of the eieek, but fled with the uttnoft precipitation on the advance of the militia. At this place, which I judged ;o be about fifteen miles from the Miami village,! had determined to thrownpa flight work, the plan of which was concerted that evening with Major Fergufon, wherein to have deposited the men's knapsacks, and every thing else that ■ was not of absolute necessity, and to have moved on to attack the enemy as soon as the firft regi ment had come up ; but they did not permit'me te execute either, for on the 4th, about half an hour before sunrise, and when the men had been ' jult difiiiifled si •om the parade (for it was aeon ftant pradlice to have them all under armsacon fiderable time before day-light) an attack was made upon the militia—thole gave way in a very little time, and rushed into camp through Major Butler's battalion, which, together with part of, Clarke's, threw them into considerable disorder, which,notwuhftanding the exertions of both,and thole officers, was never altogether remedied, the Indians following close at their heels. The fire, however, of the firft line, checked them, but al nioll instantly a very heavy attack began upon that line, and in a few minutes it was extended to the second likewise—the great weight of it " was directed against the centre of each, where the artillery was placed, and from whiclithemen GEORGE WASHINGTON
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