Part 230

FRIDAY, November 7.

Several other members, to wit: from Pennsylvania, JAMES ARMSTRONG and WILLIAM MONTGOMERY; from Virginia, WILLIAM B. GILES; from North Carolina, JOSEPH WINSTON; and from South Carolina, JOHN HUNTER, appeared, and took their seats in the House.

On motion,

Resolved, That a Standing Committee of Elections be appointed, whose duty it shall be to examine and report upon the certificates of election, or other credentials of the members returned to serve in this House, and to take into their consideration all such matters as shall or may come in question, and be referred to them by the House, touching returns and elections, and to report their proceedings with their opinion thereupon, to the House.

And a committee was appointed of Mr. DAYTON, Mr. HILLHOUSE, Mr. SHERBURNE, Mr. DENT, Mr. LEE, Mr. MACON, and Mr. HUNTER.

Ordered, That the letter from the Governor of Maryland, together with the return of the election of Gabriel Duvall, to serve as one of the members of this House for the said State, in the room of JOHN FRANCIS MERCER, who has resigned his seat, which was laid before the House at the last session, be referred to the said Committee of Elections.

MONDAY, November 10.

Several other members, to wit: from New York, THOMAS TREDWELL; from New Jersey, LAMBERT CADWALADER; from Pennsylvania, JOHN SMILIE; from North Carolina, WILLIAM BARRY GROVE and JOSEPH MCDOWELL; and from South Carolina, RICHARD WINN, appeared, and took their seats in the House.

The SPEAKER informed the House that the Senate had not yet been able to make a quorum. Fifteen members only appeared. One more was necessary.

TUESDAY, November 11.

Two other members, to wit: from Massachusetts, SHEARJASHUB BOURNE, and from New York, PETER VAN GAASBECK, appeared, and took their seats in the House.

The SPEAKER informed the House that one Senator was yet wanting to the making of a quorum. [The Senate consists of thirty members, of whom only fifteen have yet (Tuesday) made their appearance; of consequence, a majority is wanting. The VICE PRESIDENT has, it is true, arrived, but he is not, strictly speaking, a Senator. He does not give a vote in questions that come before the Senate, unless the voices on a division are equal.]

The SPEAKER laid before the House a letter from James White, enclosing the credentials of his appointment as a Representative of the territory of the United States, south of the river Ohio, in the Congress of the United States, according to the ordinance of Congress of the thirteenth of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven; which were read, and ordered to be referred to Mr. BALDWIN, Mr. GILBERT, Mr. WALKER, Mr. SWIFT, and Mr. JEREMIAH SMITH, with instructions to examine the matter thereof, and report the same, with their opinion thereupon, to the House.

WEDNESDAY, November 12.

Another member, to wit, CARTER B. HARRISON, from Virginia, appeared, and took his seat in the House.

THURSDAY, November 13.

Two other members, to wit: ANDREW GREGG and DANIEL HEISTER, from Pennsylvania, appeared, and took their seats in the House.

FRIDAY, November 14.

Several other members, to wit: from Massachusetts, SAMUEL DEXTER; from Virginia, ABRAHAM VENABLE; and from Kentucky, ALEXANDER D. ORR, appeared, and took their seats in the House.

MONDAY, November 17.

Two other members, to wit: from Rhode Island, BENJAMIN BOURNE, and from South Carolina, ANDREW PICKENS, appeared, and took their seats in the House.

Delegate south of the Ohio.

The House resolved itself into a Committee of the whole House on the report of the committee to whom was referred the letter from JAMES WHITE, together with the credentials of his appointment as a Representative of the territory of the United States south of the river Ohio.

Mr. SWIFT objected to complying with the report of the committee. He thought that it could not be carried into execution, because it involved inconsistencies. If the object of the law referred to, was to admit this person to debate, and not to vote, that was unconstitutional. He was, by that law, to be a member of Congress; but the House of Representatives are not Congress, and, therefore, this person may equally vote in the House of Representatives and in the Senate; while, at the same time, he may interrupt the PRESIDENT consenting to a bill, by giving his advice. The constitution has made no provision for such a member as this person is intended to be. If we can admit a delegate to Congress or a member of the House of Representatives, we may with equal propriety admit a stranger from any quarter of the world. We may as well admit the gallery, or a foreign Minister, as this person from the territory south-west of the Ohio. At this rate, we may very soon overturn the constitution. If this person has any proper title to a seat, it must be in the Senate; it could not be in the House of Representatives, who were not delegates. The Senate, perhaps, might be called such. His election was nearer the mode of theirs, than that of this House.

Mr. SMITH (of South Carolina) had no difficulty in declaring that the gentleman was fully qualified to take a seat in that House, by the terms of an express compact with the people. He was convinced that the Representatives have a right to admit those whom they regard as lawfully entitled to a seat in the House, for the purpose of debating. They may admit the Secretary of State, if they consider it as expedient. If this gentleman had applied to the Senate, that body also were authorized to admit him, if they thought it lawful. Under the old constitution, he would have been a member sui generis. He does not claim a right of voting, but of speaking only; and when the affairs of the South-western Territory were agitated in the Senate, he had a right, in his (Mr. S.'s) judgment, to speak and debate in that House also. Mr. S. wished that there had been previously settled another part of this business, viz: by whom the delegate was to be paid for his attendance. It may be a future question, also, whether he is to be dismissed when the galleries are cleared?

Mr. GILES was not prepared to speak on the subject. On the score of expediency, his present opinion was, that the delegate from the south-west of the Ohio should be admitted. He had no objection to the motion of the member from Maryland, (Mr. MURRAY,) for the committee rising, but he would never consent to it for the sake of consulting the Senate. He would agree to it, for the sake of further deliberation among themselves. If the House chose to consult the gallery--a resource for information that he should never wish to see adopted--they had a right to consult it, or to ask advice from any other quarter, notwithstanding the assertion of the gentleman from Connecticut.

Mr. DEXTER said, he thought the obstacle should be got over by a formal act of the Legislature. He was clear that the House had a right to consult or admit to the privilege of debating, any individual whom they thought proper. They might, for instance, admit an advocate to plead; in a particular case; but that was entirely a different matter from allowing him to give a vote on the question before the House. Mr. D. declared that he would vote against the report, as it now stands, not because he thought the gentleman from the South-western Territory unentitled to a seat, but because he regarded an act of the whole Legislature as a requisite for his introduction.

It was now moved that the committee should rise, and report the resolution of the select committee.