Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-12-15
s ronv DC this s.5cr.s Il was said that It W.,

publication or not. Originally, AIr. Cslrdr.
niGr said hat the President had made i {,
ptlhl.c cioeuinen, By communicating it oiaci.
rltv 10 yn.ir aaintstet III. L1ons.on. q Nas Sd.
tished HAT tI,e SgsasitiT7; coa!s! nave no al.
lection to coaa;:auVicase i: spr he veil 70,
nlembered thai his predecessor hac. syu; to
the house ab4uS. the ti.ne 81 laying th- f..
nous embargo, {, paragraph rom an Eng,
lish paper containing something ike s4i-
mise that certain orders in colacil would lie
issued. IF, as it hal l,Sen said, shc preseae
President would follow in the foot .steps Of
his predecessor, he could aor have the .cass
oEjeeton to comply @lta the REQUEST Of tie
house TO send nswspapcf document, " h
his predecessor had sent oae wit.Gut nv
request at all
lir. Smile said that if the call was l1!A44r.
the house could get no more than what {.
verv one had seen--ani be called upon any
gentleman to say that he had not seen the
circular in the public prints, and also wnc.
ther he believed that the house could &c.
from the executive any other information
than that which every nAember had or might
have in his possession. He confessed for
his own part that he thought it would
scarcely be treating the executive with thar
del;cacy due from one department OF the
government to another, to call upon hin
for paper not officially in his possession,
in order to see whether or not ne had trans.
mit.ed a faithful copyto oar minister in
London. It seemed to insinuatr doub.
of the propriety Of his conduct. Mr.. Gar
denief said that no such shing was meaAvl
Mr.. Smile said he did not believe gen,!e.
men did mean it Z; but it was reflection
that naturally flowed from the cIrcumstaa'
ces. He did not know, ii they could trust
the executive, why they should cali tor
paper already in every ones hands. Here.
collected former case-for this was not
the first appeal that had ever been made to
the people. When Genet was the French
minister here, Mr.. S. said he had taken
step more direct than in the p'esest case,
and yet congress had never called On Gem :
Washington for a copy of his appeal; for
If had, as i'll the present cas-, b4Sn estblish. |.
ed in all the papers, and no one had doubt.
ed its authenticity. If the house was not
to act on the case till they hal got an au-
thentlcated copy OF the document in ques-
ton, they never would act, for assuredly
they never would get it but it no one enc
tertained doubt on the subject, he thos
they might act with propriety.
air. Dana said that by the message from
the Senate the house was called upon to ex.
press an opinion on certain paper, to DE-.
eide what was lis meaning, and to concur
with the senate in afixing to it terms of re.
probation. And was the house of repre-. +
senta:lves to pronounce on this subject with. &
out having the paper before them? Could
they, In point of Legislative decorum and 3
ProPrlesy, undertake to Judge without see.
ing the paper In form? Would gentlemen
feIer them to newspapers for documents on
which to act? He certainly never expected
to hear 1t advanced On this floor that mem
oers OF the house were to keep file ofeve-
~ newspaper containing document. If
TINS was necessary, lie had certainly been
dehclent in his duty; for he had not kept E
paper containing a copy of the circular said h
20 TO, nave oeen written by Mr.. Jscksoa.-
w ha'eVer construction had been given BY K
the president or secretary of state to par-
tlcuiar document; with all Difference to Their
honor and virtue, Mr.. Dana said, he coul
not consent to surrender his own RIGHT of
construction, OF examination and of iudg. +.
ment, nor to PROSTATE his understandings &
however feeble, at the foot of the executive Il
or any other department of the government.
Heaiiy, II newspaper publications were to
be considered as authentic, AMI sufcisn: E.
Tor the use OF members of this house, wnY Il
had the house ordered 5000 COPIES of the e
documents % to DC printed for its use, when
AL the documents appeared in the newspa.