The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-12-16

IN posSeSston OF the oeCtctafy OF State. -
Mr. Uhhen, though, it necessary TO have
the very paper THAI was communicated by
our Secretary of State to Mr.. p:akney He
lrecoilected very well that on his journey to
this city, he saw in two papers in N. York
this very circular represented in two differ
ent ways.
I Mr.. Gardener remarked that he took IL
for granted, that the moro carefully the
House proceeded. the more fully it possess
ed itself of all the documents on the SUBJECT
on which they were about To legislale, the
more Impressive upon their own country and
| upon the world, to whom in part the reso
Eiiion appeared Intended to be addressed,
! would their decision be. The determination
to be made should appear not to rcS,,t from
passion. but from a deliberaton aud COOL
| ness worthy the representatives of Il great
nation. He protested sincerely that upon
! the subject of the resolution from the Sen
ate he had formed no opinion, neither should
nc vote for the present motion, because lie
| inclined TO one side or other on the former.
He wished to possess himself of all the flcts
on the subject. 1t appeared that copy of
this circular had been forwarded to our Mi :.
mister in London, in order to guide him in
his conduct, Mr.. G.. presumed. We (said
| MIR. u. are called upon to act here Oh the
subject ; our minister at London is directed
to act there. If ne has right, to enable
him to discharge his .lutr, to have "a copy of
this paper communicated to him, shall we
not also have the same privilege The
question, he said, was not whether the do
cument was officially on record in the Score
| tary of States Office, but whether the House
| should be called upon 10 act OH a dncrnen mt
which was not before it. With the same
propriety might a jury be refused the near
| ing evidence on case on which they were
1 lcI IN 1ar,1 d. IT y
| fused n copy of this paper. II WAS said that
twas only newspaper publication. News
paper publication or not, originally, Mr..
! GARDENER said that the President had made
1t public document by communicating it
officially to our minister in London He
| was satisfied that the President could have
| no objection to communicate it; for he well
| remembered that his predeccsso had sent
To the House, about the time Of having the
| famous embargo, paragraph from an Eng
| lish newspaper containing something like
| surmise that certain orders in council wor.i
be issued. If, as it had be.n said, the pre-.
sent President would follow in the foot steps
OF his predecessor. he could not have the
least objection to comply with the request of
the House To send newspaper document
| when his predecessor had sent one without
any request at all.
Mr.. Saiiic said that if the call was made,
the House could get no more than what
| very one had scotland he called upon any
| gentleman to say that he had not seen she
| circular in the public prints and also vhe
ther he believed that the House could get
from the Executive any other information
/, than that which every member had or night
have i'll his possession. He confessed for
Ills own par, that he thought it would scarce
| iy be tI2ating the Executive with that deli
cacy due from one department of the gov
eminent to another. TO call upon him for a
paper not officially in his possession. in or.
der to see whether or not lie had transmit
ted faithful copy to our minister in Lon
don. 1t seemed to insinuate a doubt Of the
propriety of his conduct.-[Mr. GARDENER
said that no such thing was meanf1 Mr..
Smile said he did not believe gentlemen did
mean it; but it was a reflection that natu
rally flowed from the circumstances. H.
did not know, if they could trust the Exc
cutive, why they should call for paper al
ready in every ones hands. He recollected
a former case-for this was not the first ap
peal that had ever been made to the people
! When Genet was the French minister here
Mr.. D. said he had taken step more direct
than in the present case, and yet Cong, ess
had never called on Gen, Washington io,.
copy of his appeal; for it had, as in the
present case, been published in all the pa
apers, and no one had doubted its authen
ITCHY. If the House was not to act on the
case till they got an authenticated copy OF the
docunSent IN question, they never would act
Tor assuredly they would net get it but If
no one entertained doubt on the subject, he
thought they might act with propriety.
Mr.. Dana said that by the message from the
} Senate the House was called upon 20 express All
opinion on a certain paper, to decide what was
lis meaning, and to concur with the Senate in al
fixing to it terms Of reprobation. And was the
4 House of Representatives to pronounce on this
subject without having TIE paper before them
Could they, in point of legislative decorum and
propriety, undertake to Judge without seeing the
paper in form Would gentlemen refer then TO
newspapers for docum snts on which to act / He
certainly never expected to hear it advanced on
this Roor that members of the House were 10
Keep file OF every newspaper continuing 10
cur1ent II this WIS necessary, he had certain y
been deficient IN his duty for he had not kept a
paper containing copy OF the circular sad TO
have been written by Mr. Jackson Whatever
construction had been given By the President or
Secretary OF State TO particular document ;
with AL difference to their honor and virtue, MIR
Dana SAID, he could not consent to- surrender his
own right OF construction, Of examination and
OF Judgment, nor to PROSTATE his understanding,
however IL ebie, at the foot of the Executive or
any department of the government. Really, il
newspaper publications were to be considered as
authentic and sufficient for the use Of members
oil this House. why had tie House ordered 5000
copies OF the documents to be printed for its use
when all the documents appeared in the newspa.
pers before they had been printed and delivered
for the use OF tie House (! In point OF propricty
an 1o~N sl,a a 4 l.