Alexandria Gazette, Commercial And Political

CONGRESS.
HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES
Wednesday, Feb. 21.
After the presentation & reference
of a number of petitions-
Mr. Smith of Md submitted the
following resolution:
Resolved, That the committee of
Ways and Means be instructed to
enquire whether any, & if any, what
alterations are necessary to be made
in the laws imposing duties on the
tonnage of foreign vessels, entering
the ports of the U. States.
After some remarks from Mr.
Smith, illustrative of his views, and
the necessity of the resolution, it
was adopted without opposition.
The following resolution, submit-
ted yesterday by Mr. Bassett and
modified at the suggestion of Mr.
Taylor of N. Y so as to include the
Governors of territories, was con-
sidered, and agreed to.
Resolved. That the rules of this
House be so amended as to admit
within the Hall, the Governor, for
the time being. of any state in the
Union. or of any of the territories
thereof, who may attend at the
seat of the general government, dur-
ing the session of Congress, & who
may choose to avail himself of such
privilege.
On motion of Mr. Smith of Md.
the report of the Secretary of War.
on the petition of Taylor & M'Neill
was referred to the committee of
Claims.
On motion of Mr. Forsyth. the
House then proceeded to take up the
report of the Managers on the part
of this House, on the subject of the
disagreeing votes of the two Houses
on the bill to carry into effect the
Convention of Commerce with Great
Britain--This Report is too long to
be inserted here; embracing the
whole ground taken by the conferees
of this House, and those of the Se-
nate. The form given to the bill
by this House was substantially a-
greed to by the conferees, except the
declaratory words in the enacting
clause, which were insisted on by
the conferees of the Senate, adopted
by those of this House, and their
acceptation recommended.
Mr. King of Mass. expressed his
approbation of the report, which.
if agreed to. he thought. would go
to bind this House and the nation in
all cases hereafter. For one he was
not disposed to yield this principle;
& he enumerated some of the cases
in which legislation would be indis-
pensable. He expressed his dislike
of the manner of proceeding on the
part of the Senate, who, ten days
after a bill on the subject had been
under discussion here, thrust their
bill on this House.--The Report he
thought would tend to strengthen
the ground taken by the Senate, as
the concession of the declaratory
form would be giving up the point
entirely, &c.
Mr. Forsyth recapitulated the
reasons which induced the committee
to recommend the proposition to the
House. He had viewed the declara-
tory words as mere surplusage, and
not at all changing the character or
impairing the force of the act.
Mr. Calhoun moved, that the re-
port be laid on the table. His im-
pression was, that the report was en-
tirely negative, and recommended
nothing decisive on the subject. At
any rate, the House was just put in
possession of the printed report, and
being of a dubious character, some
further time was necessary to a due
consideration of the subject.
Mr. Yancey supported the motion.
He thought the report did yield the
ground taken by the House; and, in
his opinion, the House ought to stick
or go through. He hoped, therefore
more time for reflection would be al-
lowed.
Mr. Tucker was willing the report
should lie, for the present, on the
table. He was confident. however.
the House would find that nothing
had been yielded by the committee.
but, on the contrary, that the sub-
stantial rights of this House had been
maintained.
The report was then laid on the
table.
On motion of Mr. McLean of Ky.
Resolved. That the committee on
roads and canals be instructed to
enquire into the expediency of im-
proving the navigation of the Saline
creek, from its junction with the
Ohio, to the Saline Lick, in the Il-
linois territory.
On motion of Mr. Mills. the
House considered and adopted a re-
olution submitted by him some days
ago, calling on the secretary of war,
for a full statement of all the claims
which have been made for militia
services by the respective states,
those paid, those rejected, and
generally all the expenses incurred in
employing the militia etc.
On motion of Mr. Wilde.
Resolved, That the committee on
the judiciary be instructed to enquire
whether any, and what more con-
venient arrangements can be made
relative to the times and
places of
holding the circuit courts of the U.
States for the districts of Georgia &
South Carolina.
On motion of Mr. Easton.
Resolved, That the committee on
the judiciary be instructed to enquire
if any, what alterations are neces-
sary to be made to the act providing
for the government of Missouri, passed June 4. 1812.
On motion of Mr. Creighton,
Resolved, That the committee on
the public lands be instructed to en-
quire into the expediency of provid-
ing by law for the sale of the reser-
vation of the twelve miles square
at the foot of the Rapids of the
Miami of Lake Erie, and the reser-
vation of two miles square at the
Lower Rapids of Sandusky river,
in the state of Ohio.
On motion of Mr. Nelson of Vir-
ginia.
Resolved, That the committee on
the judiciary be instructed to en-
quire into the expediency of lending
some aid or encouragement to the
publication of Mr. Cranch's Re-
ports of the cases decided in the Su-
preme Court of the United States
during the last four or five years.
On Motion of Mr. Sergeant,
Resolved, That the committee on
the judiciary be instructed to en-
quire and report if any, and what,
alterations are necessary in the ju-
dicial system of the U. S.
The engrossed bill to compensate
certain Canadian volunteers, was
read the third time, and put on its
passage.
Mr. Williams stated succinctly
why he had voted against an indis-
criminate bounty to our own dis-
banded officers, and why he should
likewise oppose the present bill.
Mr. Alexander stated why he
should give a reluctant vote against
a bill whose object he so heartily
approved ; but his objections were
insuperable to the shape it had now
assumed.
Mr. Gaston made a few remarks
on the impropriety of opposing a
measure because it did not exactly
coincide with all our views; after
which the question was taken on
passing the bill and decided in the
affirmative by yeas and nays, as fol-
lows:
YEAS--Messrs. Adgate, Archer,
Barbour, Bassett, Bennett, Betts,
Birdsall, Blount, Brooks, Brown,
Bryan, Burnside, Cady, Calhoun,
Chappell, Cilley, Clarke, N C.
Clark, Ky. Clendennin, Comstock,
Condict, Crawford, Creighton, Cul-
pepper, Cuthbert, Darlington, Des-
a, Edwards, Forney, Forsyth,
Gaston, Gold, Goodwin, Griffith,
Grosvenor, Hann, Hammond, Hawes
Heister, Herbert, Huger, Hunger-
ford, Ingham, Jackson, Jewett
Johnson, Ky. Kent, Kerr, Va. King
N. C. Lyle, Maclay, Mayrant, M
Coy, McLean, K. McKean, O. New-
ton, Ormsby, Parris, Piper, Plea-
sants, Powell, Robertson, Root, Sar-
geant, Savage, Schenck, Sharp
Smith Md. Smith Va. Southard,
Sturges, Taylor, N. Y. Taylor, S. C.
Tate, Ward, N. J. Wendover, White-
sides, Townsend, Tucker, Wallace,
Wilde, Wilkin, Willoughby, Wood-
ward, Wright, Yancey, Yates--89.
NAYS--Messrs. Alexander, Baer,
Baker, Baylies, Boss, Bradbury,
Breckenridge, Burwell, Cannon,
Champion, Clayton, Cooper, Daven-
port, Goldsborough, Hale, Hall,
Henderson, Hopkinson, Hulbert,
King, Mass. Langdon, Law, Lewis,
Lovett, Lumpkin, McKee, Mills,
Moseley, Nelson, Mass. Newton,
Pickens, Pitkin, Reed, Rice, Roane,
Ruggles, Sheffey, Stanford, Stearns,
Strong, Tallmadge, Tate, Taylor,
S. C. Thomas, Vose, Ward, Mass.
Ward, N Y. Wheaton, Wilcox,
Williams--31.
The amendments of the senate, to
the bill for the relief of John Reed.
were taken up and agreed to.
The bill for the relief of Col. William
Lawrence, and the garrison of fort
Bowyer; were severally twice read
and referred, the former to a select
committee, and the latter to a com-
mittee of the whole.
The house then proceeded to the
order of the day, being the report
of the committee of the whole house on the bill making further provision for military services during the late war--the question on concurring with the Senate in striking out the 3d section of the bill (which provided a bounty in land for the disbanded officers of the late army) being still under consideration.
The question was taken without further debate, and decided in the affirmative, by yeas and nays, as follows:
YEAS--Messrs. Adgate, Archer, A. Atherton, Baer, Baylies, Betts, Boss, Bradbury, Breckenridge, Brown, Burwell, Cady, Cannon, Champion, Cilley, Clay, Clendennin, Condict, Comstock, Cooper, Crawford, Culpepper, Davenport, Edwards, Gaston, Gold, Goldsborough, Hahn, Hale, Hall, Hammond, Heister, Henderson, Herbert, Jewett, Kent, King, Mass. Langdon, Law, Lewis, Lovett, Lumpkin, Lyon, Mason, McKee, McLean, Ky. Mills, Minor, Nelson, Mass. Noyes, Pickering, Pitkin, Powell, Reed, Rice, Roane, Ruggles, Savage, Shelley, Smith, Penn. Smith, Va. Southard, Stanford, Stearns, Strong, Sturges, Taggart, Tallmadge, Tate, Taylor, N. Y. Thomas, Townsend, Vose, Ward, Mass. Ward, N. Y. Wheaton, Wilcox, Williams--77.
NAYS--Messrs. Alexander, Baker, Barbour, Bassett, Bennett, Birdsall, Brooks, Burnside, Calhoun, Chappell, Clark, Ky. Clendennin, Condict, Creighton, Cuthbert, Darlington, Forsyth, Goodwin, Griffin, Grosvenor, Hawes, Huger, Hulbert, Hungerford, Ingham, Jackson, Johnson, Ky. Kerr, Va. King, N. C. Maclay, Mayrant, McCoy, McLean, O. Moore, Nelson, Va. Ormsby, Parris, Pickens, Piper, Pleasants, Robertson, Root, Schenck, Sharp, Smith, Md. Taylor, S. C. Telfair, Tucker, Wallace, Ward, N. J. Wendover, Whiteside, Wilde, Wilkin, Willoughby, Thos. Wilson, Wm. Wilson, Woodward, Yancey--59.
So the House concurred with the committee of the whole, in striking out the said section; and successively adopted the remainder of the amendments reported by the committee.
Various motions were subsequently made to amend the bill; the most important of which was, by Mr. Wilde, to add a section, authorising a bounty in land, according to rank, to such disbanded officers as had served one year, and who had been wounded, brevetted or distinguished by any approving vote of Congress, &c.
The words one year were afterwards stricken out, and motions successively made to fill the blank with 10 years, 5 years, 4 years, 3 years, 2 years, 18 and 6 months, but all in vain. Mr. W. then withdrew his amendment, with the view, as he said, of bringing the subject before the house in a form unconnected with the present bill.
The house had not got through the bill, when, about 4 o'clock, a motion was made and carried to adjourn; and
The house adjourned.