Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-04-27

dent signed it and If the President coult
have defeated the operation Of the law I'll
the 51st Of May, 1902, hs1eculd defeat j
altogether. 1t was the boast of a free go
vernment that law, and not the discretiono
men, was to govern; and the highest Office
of this, government was as strictly anenablt
to law, as the meanest member OF society
in the eye of the law, and in foro conscientid
more so; because they must be presumed t.
! know the law, altho' the lower orders may
not. If there be one proposition IN thu
world clearer than another, it is the propo
I sition which I am about to submit to The
consideration of the house. know tai
lateness of the session, and the house vii
appreciate the motives by which am acta
ated. If not, it is my misfortune, not my
fault. should be sorry to labor under the
censure of the house, bur if / incur it in the
discharge Of my duty, shall bear 1t with
| equanimity-I trust, as becomes man.
| therefore move as follows:
ResoIved, That the allowance OF 1888
dollars and Is cents for So ratons per
day." made by the department Of war to
brigadier general Wilkinson at Natchlto.
ches, from the 18Th to the 3oth OF Sept.
1906, and from the first of October to the
11th Of November ia the same year, and
. whilst commanding at New Orleans, from
18th Of November, 1906, to Gath Novem-
der, 1867, and Of 600 dollars for 6 quar-
tiers, stables, &C." at the same place, is con-
trary to law the said allowance being ex-
pressly prohibited by the act passed the 10Th
day of March, 1902, entitled 6 An act fx-
ing the military peace establishment OF the
United States
The house agreed aow to consider the re-
solution.
Mr.. RmlA5sta said it would be recolleut-
ed that he had SAID the attorney general had
nisanpFSg,ended, because he hld mistated
the law ON the 1sslbject o. The aniiitary peace
establishments and yet wien he came to
read the attorney general opinion as Print
ed, he found TO his very great surPrlze and
embarrassment, that the law was correctly
quoted. Eewould state how it happened
| In the ION page OF the printed report, min
paragraph and fourth line, the word : az
| ditionaP' preceding the words s number OF
ra,ions," Will be found but ought not to be,
( because it was not in the attorney general
! official report. It-was omitted, and Mr.. K.
! said ne wished4to state how it got IT. When
the copy of the attorney generals aPlnlon
had been put into has hands, he had percelv-
ed the difference between the opinion and
! the law as it now stood, and with his pen
had marked the omission as guide to hln-
self, and the printer had inserted it in the
printed COPY and thus Mr.. /. said wher
he read the printer report TO the house he
was astonished that it did not tally with hls
conct ption. This being pa'pable error
! every gentleman who had the report, ana
those who publish ii, ought to omit the word
g ddlAtl0nal." This would shew to the
house, he hoped, that it was not very I'm.
reasonable in him TO differ ON this occasion
with gentleman Of the attorney generals
erudition as hc had so far misunderstood
! the law.
Mr.. T. G. Jackt9a moved that the reso-
luton lie on the table. He said it would
be unnecessary for him to state, that at this
! late period OF the session it would be iaapos-
| sible to give to the resolution tharconsiter-
] alton to which it YVES entitled. ~ it was
announced by TIE mover of the resolution,
said he, and as 6,,d by the printed state
sment, OF which | was really ncverposscs-
sed before this evening, the attorney geue-
raj has given in his official capacity en- OPT
MON that the allowance was jus and pro-
per; and that in pursuance OF such an OPT
Mon the amount charged was allowed
What is the house about to do? What are
they asked to do? Even admitting that
there was no difficulty on the subject, that
a person of the high responsibility Of the
attorney general had not given an opinion,