SECOND CONGRESS.—SECOND SESSION. (continued 4)

Mr. Findlay.—If my hopes respecting the Government have not been equally elevated with those of the gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. Ames,) neither are my apprehensions so much depressed with fears. But I hope I am equally anxious for the stability and prosperity of the Government; and though we differ in opinion on this question, yet I am firmly persuaded that the part I take is the best calculated to promote the necessary confidence in Government, and secure the virtue of its administration. As the gentleman, in an elegant discourse, has explained no difficulties, nor adduced any proofs in support of his opinions, I will only add, that I believe the Government to be so well established, and so much beloved by the citizens, as not to be endangered by the House of Representatives' examining how the laws have been obeyed in the application of public money, and giving their opinions upon the result of that examination.

That the Secretary has not reported fully to this House, in due time, is so much within the knowledge of every member, that it is impossible to doubt of the truth of the fact, however we may differ about the propriety of the conduct. To go no further back than last session—besides the references to the Secretary to report upon the Ways and Means, and inform the House what revenues were necessary, on the 20th of February, 1791, a standing order was resolved, directing that he should report to the House, within a few days after the meeting of the next session, "an accurate statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all the public moneys, in which shall be distinguished the expenditures which fall under each head of appropriation, and that it shall be shown the sums, if any, which remain unexpended," &c. Were not the moneys drawn upon loan, public moneys, and were not those loans appropriated? Undoubtedly, they were strictly so. It is a strange evasion to say, that by these expressions only the current revenue is intended. Arguments must be scarce when this becomes necessary. It requires no refutation.

On the 19th of January last, he was called upon to "lay before the House such information with respect to the finances of the United States, as will enable the Legislature to judge whether any or what additional revenues will be necessary." In consequence of the recommendations of the President, and the wishes of this House, to commence the discharge of the redeemable part of the Funded Debt, a reference was made to the Secretary, requiring him to report a mode for the application of the public money for that purpose; the House being assured, by the gentleman who moved the resolution, that no new tax was intended or necessary. But the Secretary, so far from informing the House how much money he had subject to his discretion, in the bank, in notes, &c., proposed a new and partial tax, as the foundation of a new system of loans. When the memorable bill to authorize another loan of $2,000,000, was before the House, a few weeks ago, we were told by gentlemen on this floor, that there was not time for argument; that the bill must be passed in three or four days, &c.; and when we wanted information, we were told by some of the friends of the bill that it was not convenient to give information there—that we might procure information elsewhere, as they had done. I confess I did not comprehend this method of legislating; but the Secretary has since explained it, in one of his reports, by complaining of the House, because the members did not go to his office and ask information, instead of requiring it to be publicly reported.

Even when this favorite bill for a new loan was before the House, the Secretary did not condescend to inform us that he had, without authority, provided near a million and a half of dollars for that purpose; he did not inform us how obligingly he had drawn bills upon our bankers in Holland, to have the money put in our way. Thus, in order to anticipate the payments due to the bank, he did what he could to induce Congress to break the public faith, by repealing the existing appropriation made for securing the discharge of a debt of justice and gratitude to the French nation. From this and other instances, it appears, that however high the Secretary's regard for public credit may be, there are other considerations which have obtained a higher degree of his attention than obedience to the laws. The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Madison) has so clearly explained the nature of that discretion with which the Secretary is vested, and so fully proved that there was no necessity to justify a departure from the appropriations made by law, that it is not necessary for me to explain further on this head. However, I cannot help remarking, that the discretionary powers were pretty freely exercised. The drawing of bills began early indeed, and was continued to a recent period. The times of drawing fortunately corresponded with the necessities of the bank, and the power of employing agents was pretty freely used. The same agents were frequently both the sellers and the purchasers of the bills. Perhaps this was necessary: no doubt it was convenient. Probably it was safe; but who can say it will be always so.

I have not said so much to prove the truth of the facts expressed in the resolution, for of this there can be no doubt—it is as clear as the sun, shining in daylight,—but, in order to prove the propriety of this committee expressing its disapprobation of a conduct so unjustifiable. That information was withheld unduly, is evident, from the lateness of this discussion; that it was obtained with difficulty, is evident, from the numerous applications we were obliged to make in order to obtain it.

The House then adjourned until seven o'clock post meridian.

Evening Session—7 P.M.

An engrossed bill making certain appropriations therein mentioned was read the third time, and passed.

The bill sent from the Senate entitled "An act providing for the compensation of Ebenezer Storer," was read twice and committed.

Official Conduct of the Secretary of the Treasury.

The House again resolved itself into a Committee of the whole House on the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth resolutions contained in the motion of Thursday last, respecting the official conduct of the Secretary of the Treasury. The third resolution being still under consideration, in the words following, viz:

"Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury has violated the law passed the 4th of August, 1790, making appropriations of certain moneys authorized to be borrowed by the said law, in the following particulars, viz: First, by applying a certain portion of the principal borrowed to the payment of interest falling due upon that principal, which was not authorized by that or any other law. Secondly, by drawing a part of the said moneys into the United States, without the instructions of the President of the United States."

A motion was made, and the question being put, that the House do agree with the Committee of the whole House in their disagreement to the resolution, it was resolved in the affirmative—yeas 40, nays 12, as follows:

Yeas.—Fisher Ames, Robert Barnwell, Egbert Benson, Elias Boudinot, Shearjashub Bourne, Benjamin Bourne, Jonathan Dayton, Thomas Fitzsimons, Elbridge Gerry, Nicholas Gilman, Benjamin Goodhue, James Gordon, Christopher Greenup, Samuel Griffin, William Barry Grove, Thomas Hartley, James Hillhouse, William Hindman, Philip Key, Aaron Kitchell, John Laurance, Amasa Learned, Richard Bland Lee, George Leonard, Samuel Livermore, Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, William Vans Murray, Nathaniel Niles, Theodore Sedgwick, Jeremiah Smith, Israel Smith, William Smith, John Steele, Samuel Sterrett, Jonathan Sturges, George Thatcher, Thomas Tudor Tucker, Artemas Ward, Hugh Williamson, and Francis Willis.

Nays.—John Baptist Ashe, Abraham Baldwin, William Findlay, William B. Giles, Andrew Gregg, Nathaniel Macon, James Madison, John Francis Mercer, Andrew Moore, Alexander D. Orr, John Page, and Josiah Parker.

A motion was then made, and the question put, that the House do agree with the Committee of the whole House in their disagreement to the fourth resolution, in the words following:

"Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury has deviated from the instructions given him by the President of the United States, in executing the authorities for making loans, under the acts of the fourth and twelfth of August, one thousand seven hundred and ninety."

It was resolved in the affirmative—yeas 39, nays 12, as follows:

[The same as above.]

Another motion was then made, and the question being put, that the House do agree with the Committee of the whole House in their disagreement to the fifth resolution, in the words following:

"Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury has omitted to discharge an essential duty of his office, in failing to give Congress official information, in due time, of the moneys drawn by him from Europe into the United States; which drawing commenced December, one thousand seven hundred and ninety, and continued until January, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three; and of the cause of making such drafts:"

It was resolved in the affirmative—yeas 33, nays 15, as follows:

Yeas.—Fisher Ames, Robert Barnwell, Egbert Benson, Elias Boudinot, Shearjashub Bourne, Benjamin Bourne, Jonathan Dayton, Thomas Fitzsimons, Elbridge Gerry, Nicholas Gilman, Benjamin Goodhue, James Gordon, Thomas Hartley, James Hillhouse, William Hindman, Philip Key, Aaron Kitchell, John Laurance, Amasa Learned, George Leonard, Samuel Livermore, Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, William Vans Murray, Theodore Sedgwick, Jeremiah Smith, William Smith, John Steele, Samuel Sterrett, Jonathan Sturges, George Thatcher, Thomas Tudor Tucker, Artemas Ward, and Hugh Williamson.

Nays.—John Baptist Ashe, Abraham Baldwin, William Findlay, William B. Giles, Samuel Griffin, William Barry Grove, Richard Bland Lee, Nathaniel Macon, James Madison, John Francis Mercer, Andrew Moore, Nathaniel Niles, John Page, Josiah Parker, and Israel Smith.

Another motion was then made, and the question being put, that the House do agree with the Committee of the whole House in their disagreement to the sixth resolution, in the words following:

"Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury has without the instruction of the President of the United States, drawn more moneys, borrowed in Holland, into the United States, than the President of the United States was authorized to draw, under the act of the twelfth of August, one thousand seven hundred and ninety, which act appropriated two millions of dollars only, when borrowed, to the purchase of the public debt; and that he has omitted to discharge an essential duty of his office, in failing to give official information to the commissioners for purchasing the public debt, of the various sums drawn from time to time, suggested by him to have been intended for the purchase of the public debt:"

It was resolved in the affirmative—yeas 33, nays 8, as follows:

[Yeas as above.]

Nays.—John Baptist Ashe, Abraham Baldwin, William Findlay, William B. Giles, Nathaniel Macon, James Madison, John Francis Mercer, and Josiah Parker.

Another motion was then made, and the question being put, that the House do agree with the Committee of the whole House in their disagreement to the seventh resolution, in the words following:

"Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury did not consult the public interest, in negotiating a loan with the Bank of the United States, and drawing therefrom four hundred thousand dollars, at five per centum per annum, when a greater sum of public money was deposited in various banks, at the respective periods of making the respective drafts:"

It was resolved in the affirmative—yeas 33, nays 8, as follows:

[Same as above.]

Another motion was then made, and the question being put, that the House do agree with the Committee of the whole House in their disagreement to the eighth resolution, in the words following:

"Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury has been guilty of an indecorum to this House, in undertaking to judge of its motives in calling for information, which was demandable of him, from the constitution of his office, and in failing to give all the necessary information within his knowledge relatively to the subjects of reference made to him of the nineteenth of January, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, and of the twenty-second of November, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, during the present session;"

Mr. William Smith said, that, after the vote which had just prevailed by so considerable a majority on the preceding resolutions, the committee could not, with any propriety, criminate the Secretary of the Treasury for failing to give the information alluded to, because by that vote it had been established that the Secretary had only acted under the authority of the President, and conformably to his instructions. If there had been any omission to communicate information to Congress, that omission was surely not chargeable to the Secretary. But it had been already clearly shown, by documents in the possession of the House, that the necessary information had been communicated. The Treasurer's accounts, which had been from time to time laid before the House, exhibited the amount of moneys proceeding from the sale of bills, and the Secretary's report of February, 1791, conveyed full information of the drawing. It was true, there was a sum of about $600,000, the proceeds of bills which, as had been remarked by a gentleman, (Mr. Madison,) did not appear in the Treasurer's account, but this was owing to the sales of the bills by the bank not having been closed at the time the last quarterly account was rendered, and consequently that sum could not appear in the Treasurer's account.

[Mr. Madison said, he had not meant to blame the Treasurer.]

Mr. Smith proceeded. The gentleman, however, had attributed misconduct to the Secretary, for withholding information of the amount of moneys in the Treasury accruing from foreign loans, when directed by the House, January 19th, 1792, to report whether the existing revenues were adequate to face the additional expense of the Indian war. Mr. S. could not forbear expressing great surprise at this remark of the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Madison,) when he recollected what had been just before said by the same gentleman in support of the former resolution. The gentleman, on that occasion, in his attempt to disprove the right of the Secretary, ex officio, to superintend the moneys derived from the foreign loans, had endeavored to establish a nice distinction between the ordinary internal revenues of the country, and the resources resulting from foreign loans. The law constituting the Treasury Department, he had said, gave the Secretary power only over the revenues, which embraced only the ordinary resources, whereas loans were distinct things, the management of which was specially intrusted by law to the Supreme Magistrate, and in relation to which the Secretary could exercise no authority whatever that was not derived from the President. The gentleman now argued that the Secretary was blameable in not giving information of the state of these extraordinary resources, which were not within his department, when only called upon to state the amount of the ordinary revenues, which were within his department. He left it to the gentleman to reconcile this contradiction, for certainly his doctrine was erroneous on the former occasion, or it must be so now. If the moneys obtained from foreign loans were to be deemed the revenues of the country, then they fell of course under the management of the Head of the Treasury Department, and it was wrong in the gentleman to impute misconduct to the Secretary for exercising a legal authority; if, on the contrary, those moneys were viewed as an extra resource, and not within the purview of the Secretary's functions, then it was wrong to censure him for not communicating the state of those moneys, when required only to report the ordinary revenues.

But though the Secretary would not have been censurable for omitting to give the information, the truth was, that the President's Speech of 8th December, 1790, the Secretary's Report of 25th February, and the act of the 3d of March, 1791, were conclusive proofs that the Legislature knew that the proceeds of the loans were in a train of being brought to the United States and the accounts of receipts and expenditures presented in the first week of the session, informed the House that a large sum had been drawn for, and the Treasurer's quarterly account contained further information on the subject, all which was prior to any call of the House for such information. Hence, Mr. S. deduced, that it was not a fact that the Secretary had failed to give the information, as stated in the resolution, and that had he even so failed, he would not have been censurable for a breach of an essential duty of his office. It had been said, by a member from Pennsylvania, (Mr. Findlay,) that the lateness of the information from the Secretary made it inconvenient to go into an inquiry of his official conduct so near the close of the session. To this, Mr. S. replied, that he did not expect such a remark from that quarter of the House. If the gentleman had not been prepared for the inquiry, or thought it an improper season to enter upon it, why did he second the motion for bringing forward the charges? If suspicion had so long existed against the integrity of the Secretary, why was not information called for at the beginning of the session? Why was the call delayed till the session was within a few weeks of its termination? It was admitted that the Secretary had obeyed the order of the House with wonderful alacrity and promptitude. It was indeed strange that the gentleman who brought forward the charges, should be the first to complain that there was not time for their consideration.

Mr. S. concluded by noticing the observation of Mr. Mercer and Mr. Madison, that the opinion of the House on the preceding resolutions would not change the truth of facts, and that the public would ultimately decide whether the Secretary's conduct was criminal or not. This, said Mr. S., was like the conduct of a prosecutor, who, having chosen his jurisdiction, and being nonsuited, wished to appeal to another tribunal. Why were the resolutions brought before the House? Was it not to substantiate the truth of them by a vote? And had the prosecution succeeded, would the Secretary have had an appeal to the public? No, the resolutions would have been sent to the President, and the Secretary would have been removed, disgraced, and ruined for ever, without appeal.

The question was then taken, and it was resolved in the affirmative—yeas 34, nays 7, as follows:

Yeas.—Fisher Ames, Robert Barnwell, Egbert Benson, Elias Boudinot, Shearjashub Bourne, Benjamin Bourne, Jonathan Dayton, William Findlay, Thomas Fitzsimons, Elbridge Gerry, Nicholas Gilman, Benjamin Goodhue, James Gordon, Thomas Hartley, James Hillhouse, William Hindman, Aaron Kitchell, John Laurance, Amasa Learned, George Leonard, Samuel Livermore, Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, Nathaniel Niles, Josiah Parker, Theodore Sedgwick, Jeremiah Smith, William Smith, John Steele, Samuel Sterrett, Jonathan Sturges, George Thatcher, Thomas Tudor Tucker, Artemas Ward, and Hugh Williamson.

Nays.—John Baptist Ashe, Abraham Baldwin, William B. Giles, William Barry Grove, Richard Bland Lee, Nathaniel Macon, and James Madison.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate having completed the Legislative business before them, are now about to adjourn.

Resolved. That Mr. Boudinot, Mr. Sedgwick, and Mr. Hindman, be appointed a committee jointly, with a committee on the part of the Senate, to wait on the President of the United States, and inform him that Congress is ready to adjourn without day, unless he may have any farther communications to make to them.

A message from the Senate informed the House that the Senate have agreed to the resolution of this House for the appointment of a joint committee, to wait on the President of the United States, and inform him of the intended recess of Congress, and have appointed a committee for that purpose, on their part.

On a motion made and seconded,

"That the thanks of the House of Representatives be presented to Jonathan Trumbull, in testimony of their approbation of his conduct in the chair, and in the execution of the difficult and important trust reposed in him, as Speaker of the said House,"

It was resolved unanimously: Whereupon,

Mr. Speaker made his acknowledgments to the House, in manner following:

"Gentlemen: You have made me very happy by this testimony of your approbation of my conduct in the chair. I feel, at the same time, an additional pleasure in the opportunity of rendering to you my sincere acknowledgments for the kind candor and indulgence, as well as the constant aid and support, which I have experienced in the performance of the duty which you were pleased to assign me. Be assured, gentlemen, I shall ever retain a grateful sense of your goodness; and you will suffer me to add, that my best wishes for your welfare and happiness, in public and private life, will attend each member of this honorable body."

Mr. Boudinot, from the joint committee appointed to wait on the President of the United States, and inform him of the intended recess of Congress, reported that the committee had performed that duty, and that the President was pleased to say he had no farther communication to make during the present session: Whereupon,

Mr. Speaker adjourned the House sine die.