Phenix Gazette

Sparring.—In the House of Representatives on Wednesday last—

The Speaker laid before the House the Message of the President, respecting the anticipated information from England, relative to our commercial relations with that country, (as published yesterday:) which being read.

Mr. Cambreleng, Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, moved to refer the message to that Committee. [Some gentlemen around observing, that it ought to go to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.]

Mr. Cambreleng added that the message related to the commerce of the country, and ought not to go to that committee: another reason for moving which was, that he had for some time given his attention to the subject, and had already prepared a bill to meet the object of the message.

Mr. Archer, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, moved to refer the message to that committee.

Mr. Williams expressed the opinion that such messages were always sent to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Cambreleng was not anxious about the matter, but it had been the uniform practice, he said, to refer such subjects to the Committee on Commerce.

Mr. Ramsay was indifferent what Committee the message was referred to, so that it did not go to the Committee on Commerce or the Committee of Ways and Means. Those committees are in the habit of taking cognizance of subjects not committed to them, and reporting bills concerning the revenue, without instruction,—one tapping the Treasury at one end, and the other at the other. He had seen the Committee of Commerce and the Committee on Ways and Means, reporting bills, the effect of which would have been to empty the Treasury instead of filling it—to throw the country at the mercy of foreign nations, and compel us in the interior even to send abroad to have our horses shod.

Mr. Drayton referred to the Rules to shew that the Message might go, with propriety, to either of the Committees moved; but the practice had been to refer such communications to the Committee of Commerce. As the present message related exclusively to our commercial relations with a foreign country, Mr. D. thought it came properly within the province of that Committee, and he made a number of remarks to sustain this opinion.

Mr. McDuffie said he felt no sort of interest in this contest between the two Committees, and cared not how it was decided. But he saw no necessity for the gratuitous charge against the Committee of Ways and Means, which the gentleman had gone out of his way to make, which was utterly false, and could be founded only in gross ignorance. He would defy any old woman in this House or out of it, whether scolding or not scolding, to fix on that Committee the charge which had been alleged against it by the gentleman from Pennsylvania. He thought that every member in this House, however ignorant he might be, must know that every branch of the revenue of the country was, by the rules of the House, given in charge of the Committee of Ways and Means, and was always before that Committee, and that it would be perfectly competent for that Committee to-morrow to bring in a bill to revise the whole revenue system of the country, without any special instruction from the House. Nothing but the grossest ignorance could have given rise to the charge which had been made by the member from Pennsylvania against the Committee.

Mr. Ramsay said he was not ignorant of the rules of the House, or the duties of the Committee of Ways and Means: but the Chairman of that Committee was ignorant of the true policy of the nation, and had evinced that ignorance, by the bills which he had reported during the session affecting the revenue. That gentleman has called me an old woman; but, [the Speaker admonished Mr. R. that the question was on the reference of the message.] Sir, continued, Mr. R. he has called me an old woman, and it is my duty to repel it. I have always understood that the duty of the Committee of Ways and Means was to take measures to fill the Treasury, not empty it. That gentleman has shewn his sense of this duty, by just voting for a bill (the Indian bill) which tapped the Treasury at one end, while he professed to fill it at the other. I will tell that gentleman that I was in the field of politics before him—but I will not use the expression I was about to do—and now to stand up and be told that I am an old woman. Sir, whatever that gentleman may think of my knowledge of his duties, he shews but little knowledge of them himself, when he is seen day after day, and time after time, doing all he can to empty the Treasury; instead of filling it. Sir, I can say no more.

Mr. Everett, of Massachusetts, thought the message of a kind to require the action of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and that it could go, with propriety, to no other. If the message should be found to contain any thing requiring the action of the Committee of Commerce, that part of it could be sent to that Committee.

The reason assigned by the chairman of that committee for moving the reference of the message to it, namely, that he had prepared a bill in anticipation, was a reason with him (Mr. E.) for preferring another Committee. He would rather that a Committee should take up the subject that had made up no opinion on it, &c.

After some further debate on the part of Messrs. Cambreleng, P. P. Barbour, and Mr. Mc. Duffie, the question was taken, and the message referred to the Committee on Commerce.

Ayes 86, noes 31.