The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1807-12-08
mo. g..
in the petition going to that COMMITTEE whose
dutyit would be to consider of the propriety
of the repeal. '
Debate 10 Be Continued.


Rssohce9, That the Secretary for the Deport
n'eh, Oh war be directed to lay before this House
s'"'eHe'it OF the respective numbers of officers.
no"cpi''ihSsionrd officers ard soldiers compo-
sing the army OF the u. s. netting the number,
wanting to complete the present establishment
| heSoSeo, mat the Secretary for the Der,art
ment OF var he directed to lay before this House.
statement OF the respective numbers of volun.
tcers, either of artillery cavalry or ;nfntr,, ,vhoy
services have been offered and accepted, in pur-
suance OF the act entitled, &c An act autbor;s;no
the President of the u. s. to accept the service Of
a number of volunteer companies, not exoeedmv
| SO, 600 men,"
Which being read,
Mr.. IaAn,aGge said, that it would he remern.
bered when the President had transmitted his
message to Congress at the opening of the sessi-
on, one part of it related to what might be the.
probable situation of the country and to the ne.
cessity that might exist for raising regular ar
my. Mr: l. presumed that every gentleman on
the floor felt the satne sentiment with respect to
the Importance OF the preservation of the nation
ond IN order Tia: s,,:c; mig ht be prepared to meet
any possible event. it became essentially necessa-
| r. TO know what was our actual force. This was
the OBJECT OF the first resolution which he had pro-
posed He wished TO know not only what that
| force was, but how far it was deficient Another
reason Which operated strongly on his mind was
that the House never failed ut each session To vote
money Tor the support of the army and navy of the
~ 'NNlSs uiSy CerIalnly could MAKE the exact
| appropriations required, without knowing what
| the actual force of the army was
win respect to the second resolution it would
De remembered that an act WAS passed in Febilln-
~, 1917, authorship the President TO accept OF
the services OF any number of volunteers, not cx-
| cecdng $4,000, which act was to remain IN force
| Tor two years. 1t became important to know how
far volunteer companies had offered, and how far
tins force might be brought into the field In case
or emergency An act had also passed in April,
1oUo authorising the President to call out 100 600
militia, to continue in force two wears from its date
and would of course expire next AnriI Tbess
were the different species Of force ON which tho
PRESIDENT could calculate an emergency That
/ inc House might know the exact force of the uni
on and how far it might be relied on were tho
it.:So"s' Which induced INN to move these reso-
| lItions at this time
| a desuitory conversation took place as to the
ability OF the Executive to give the information
called tor Ill the second resolution in which
Messr5 Tallmadge, Thomas, Dana, Quincy, Chan
dier' Dureii, Aston, Upham, and Smile tooI
| part, when the resolutions were agreed to without
| a division
On motion of Mr. Poiadcxter, the House went
llto committee of the whole on the bill to extend
the right OF suffrage in the Mississippi tcrritorv.
ana Tor other purposes, Mr.. MASTERS in the chair
MI. lFoLp withdrew his motion for striking QUE
the first section Of the BILL with view to give the
gentleman from the Mississippi territory an op.
portunity OF making the bill less Questionable.
and Tor that reason solely
Mr. Bi66 moved that the following provision be
| inserted III the bill
:" Provided, That this act shall not take effect
III the assent OF tia state of Georgia shall have
| been signitied thereto"
Which motion was negatived, 6s to IS.
Inc 6in beng gone through, the committee
| Mr.. Bib wished the provision he had ,no,,oJ
n committee OF the whole to be now added to the
bill. - ~ ing
| The Speaker said the House must first decide
upon the amendment made in committee.
| Mr.. Poindeetcr SAID as the gentleman from Geor-
| gia Mr.. Bib had declared an intention 70 ON.
pose the bill i'll toto, if his provision were not a.
greed to, he should now be opposed to the amend
iheht winch he himself had proposed, and which
| had been adopted in committee, rs it had been
offered with sole view to the accommodation of
the gentleman from Georgia and as even after
| tins compromise, they were still determined TO
oppose the bill. He there fore wished il now to be
decided on in its original shape, which was most
| agreeable to the wishes of his constituents
| Inc question being taken by yeas and nays on
concurrence with the amendment of the commit
tee OF the whole, there were Ayes 70, Nays Al.
On each OF the foregoing questions some de-
bate arose, in which Mcssrs Poinlcxter, Quincy.
| Bacon, Sloan, Smile, Cook, Rhea CT LYON and
| Holland generally supported the right of Con-
gross to eglsate on tho subject without the con.
sent OF Georgia, and advocated the political expe-
| VI llbIlt OF Su1frSgc orr
| glnally contemplated by the BILL so that every
free white male inhabitant who had paid taxes {;
months, and been resident in the territory 2
months previous to the eI ction, should be entitled
to vote for representatives in the legislature
Mesyrs. Bib6 7roub, Garienier, GDdney and
Rowan generally denied the right of Congress to
legislHe on the subject in violation Of the compact
entered into with Georgia at the time of her cess;
on of the territory, minated that the TERRITORY
| would soon become state, when she could fix thu,
Qualifications of her own voters and added that
III the mean time, there abundant evidence
other elections being properly conducted from the
talents and responsibility of her representatives
The House adjourned without taking a Dues
ton on Mr.. Bibb's proviso.
THURSDAY, November 90
Mr. Lloyd present d u memorial praying that
the monument in honor of the officers who fen in
the attack Of Trpoli, imported from Europc Inv
their brother officers, be admitted free of duty
Referred 20 the committee Of Commerce and Ma
nufactures.
FRIDAY, November 81.
Mr.. Randolph from the committee appointed
Tor the purpose, reported 4 bill 20 explain AN act
passed last session, entitled "An act to prohib;t
the importation of Slaves into any port or mac.
within the jurisdiction Of the u. States. from snJ
after the first day OF Januasy in the wear of Gre
II Al