Part 145

Select Committees.

All the select committees which were thought necessary, being appointed, it was determined that the first, on Foreign Relations, should consist of nine members; the committee on the Spanish colonies and Navy concerns, to consist of seven members; and those on manufacturing cannon and Indian affairs, to consist of five members.

The resolutions, as amended, are in the following words:

1. Resolved, That so much of the President's Message as relates to the subject of our foreign relations, be referred to a select committee.

2. Resolved, That so much of the President's Message as relates to filling the ranks and prolonging the enlistments of the regular troops, and to an auxiliary force; to the acceptance of volunteer corps; to detachments of militia, and to such a preparation of the great body as will proportion its usefulness to its intrinsic capacity, be referred to a select committee.

3. Resolved, That those parts of the Message of the President which relates to the Naval force of the United States, and to the defence of our maritime frontier, be referred to a select committee.

4. Resolved, That so much of the President's Message as relates to the revenue and the provisions necessary for the service of the ensuing year, be referred lo the Committee of Ways and Means.

5. Resolved, That so much of the President's Message as relates to the evasion and infraction of our commercial laws, be referred to the Committee of Commerce and Manufactures.

6. Resolved, That so much of the President's Message as relates to foreign trading licenses, and to the protection of manufactures and navigation, be referred to the Committee of Commerce and Manufactures.

7. Resolved, That so much of the President's Message as relates to the Spanish American colonies, be referred to a select committee.

8. Resolved, That so much of the said Message as relates to the manufacture of cannon and small arms, and the providing munitions of war, be referred to a select committee.

9. Resolved, That so much of the said Message as relates to Indian affairs, be referred to a select committee.

Mr. Porter, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Grundy, Mr. Smilie, Mr. Randolph, Mr. Harper, Mr. Key, Mr. Desha, and Mr. Seaver, were appointed the committee on the first resolution.

Mr. Williams, Mr. Wright, Mr. Macon, Mr. Nelson, Mr. Stow, Mr. Maxwell, and Mr. Tallmadge, were appointed the committee on the second resolution.

Mr. Cheves, Mr. Newton, Mr. Milnor, Mr. Quincy, Mr. Cooke, Mr. McKim, and Mr. Fisk, were appointed the committee on the third resolution.

Mr. Mitchill, Mr. Bibb, Mr. Blackledge, Mr. Taggart, Mr. Champion, Mr. Butler, and Mr. Shaw, were appointed the committee on the seventh resolution.

Mr. Seybert, Mr. Little, Mr. Goodwyn, Mr. Tracy, and Mr. Sturges, were appointed the committee on the eighth resolution.

Mr. McKee, Mr. Sevier, Mr. Morrow, Mr. Sheffey, and Mr. Brown, were appointed the committee on the ninth resolution.

And then, on motion the House adjourned until to-morrow.

WEDNESDAY, November 13.

Another member, to wit, THOMAS GHOLSON, from Virginia, appeared, produced his credentials, was qualified, and took his seat.

Matthew Lyon's Claim for refunding his Fine under the Sedition Act.

The SPEAKER presented a memorial of Matthew Lyon, of Kentucky, stating that, whilst a member of the House of Representatives of the United States, from the State of Vermont, he was illegally tried and found guilty, under a charge of sedition, and fined the sum of one thousand dollars, and imprisoned twelve months, and praying that the said fine may be repaid, with interest, together with his pay as a member of Congress, which was withheld during his confinement.

The petition being read,

Mr. NEW moved that it be referred, with the accompanying documents, to the Committee of Claims.

Mr. BASSETT was opposed to this reference. If the petitioner had any claim upon the United States, it must be on the ground that the law under which he was convicted was unconstitutional. A claim of this kind could not be recognized by that committee. He thought, therefore, it would be more proper to refer this petition to a select committee. This was desirable, also, from the consideration that the Committee of Claims is generally overburdened with business.

Mr. NEW said, it having been represented to him that it would be most proper to refer the petition to a select committee, he would so change his motion.

Mr. RANDOLPH had no doubt it would be recollected, that at the first session of Congress under the administration of the present President, the session which met in May, 1809, a committee was raised "to inquire whether any and what prosecutions had been instituted before the courts of the United States for libels at common law, and to report such provisions as in their opinion may be necessary for securing the freedom of speech and of the press." Congress adjourned after a short session in June. The chairman of that committee was directed to address letters to the clerks of the several courts in which such prosecutions had been commenced. To some of these letters answers were received after the adjournment. These answers received in the recess (all except one, which the chairman had found amongst his private papers since the meeting of the present session) were transmitted to the clerk of this House, in whose possession it is presumed they now are. The chairman of that committee, at the two succeeding sessions, was, by the visitation of God, and from circumstances without his control, for the first time since he had the honor of a seat on this floor, prevented from attending to his duty till the sessions had considerably advanced, otherwise he would have felt it obligatory on him to have called the attention of Congress to this subject. It was his intention, at the present session, without knowing any thing of this petition, to have called the attention of the House to it, amongst others, at an early day. He thought it behooved this House, as the guardian of the public purse and public weal, to take care that the stream of public justice be preserved pure and free from pollution; and whether persons have suffered by prosecutions under the sedition law, or under the common law of England--not the common law of the United States, as modified by the laws of the United States in their corporate capacity--he was for affording them relief. He wished to see if any of our citizens had received injury from prosecutions of this kind; and, if they had to redress the wrong by such a prospective measure as may prevent a recurrence of similar mischief.