Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1814-01-17

wlthdrawai Of the letter To be no iess an offence
IMAM he considered its conccament to have been
because the same rule extended would sanctiou the
nestruet'on or GIVING away Of any pnblic document
partment &c State.
Air. Calhoun again rose and took rapid view Of
tue rdriefy of objects aSnwed by the Supporters Of
this extraordinary motion, upon which he sepa-
rateiy remarked. Ga the subject of French SUBJ
scrvicncy. which hsd been tesighsted as one of the
subjects OF enquiry, Mr.. c. riculed the idea of an
enquiry by this House into that bsseless
aid on, document too, which on the face Of il pro-
ved, 1t 4 were permitted TO prove any thing, that
no such subserv'e"cy eSisle'l The very docrmen,
by Which sentemen wish 30 prove French infia
ence cut up by the roots the ianciful absursiity-
being pretcated ON the supposed existence Of an in
fueacc ola very different character. The molten
eeu'd have no other reasonable or probable object
than that avoweSi by Que of its advocates. % mt
down the majority-and Of the weight of sach a
motive tor sich acoarsc, the House wonl. iudx, .
Mr.. C. recapitulnted his objections 20 this measure
and concluded with expressing his hepe of a spec
ny aecisioi, as too much time had been already oc-
cupied. &c. go 80 - -
MT: Sharp in an ingenious speech Of some length,
nf which time allows us to give very short abb
suacts opposed the resolution. He could not xfeer
all the consideration he could give it, view il other
wise than as position taken by the minority.
from behind which to assa1 with insinu atoms and
| surmses, and attach odium to officers whose cha.
racters were impreguabie 70 direct attack. sIr s
contender THAT surprising all facts stated to be true,
the retraction by the Frene: minister of Ills letter
was retraetion OF and apology for the insult IL
containeti--and compared the ease to difference
IN private life between two gentlemen, in which a
rctraceon OF the offence given is always considered
repatriation of the offence. But how were the facts
he asked When any gentleman stated facts az
ms own knowledge. on the honor of man. he was
bound to believe, him, but when he stated facts
wmcn he could not know unless he had access 10
the Office OF state-facts which he could NOT know
unite, 6V collateral htndic 40
TON he tcit bcundto ask oSthem what those means
we're. Gentlemen say, such things arc facts II
they know them to be so, what more do they de-
sire Ii they IRE not certain, of them vLy do
they state as facts things they do know to be so!
II the facts. as they say, sufficient ground for
further proceeding, why not assert them at once
and boldly predicate proceedings on them forth
WIN! They VIII no, venture to do it.. The bon
orable mover had told the House the other day that
he had in his possession the only authentic copy OF
the letter, aasl ted in the hand writing Of one of
the clerks in the Department &c State. Howcame
4 into the gentieman's possession How dces he
in that manner !! Mr.. s. called upon gentlemen
to let the H6use know what they knew, and let
the House predicate any proceeding thereon it thot
proper.
srs. Grosvenor, Calhoun AID Macon of N C.. on
the subject Of the proceedings on the iinpeach emf
OF Judge Chase, which had been drawn INTO consi.
Iteration on the question Of precedent, &c.
Mr WhrEht oil Aid. Ia reply to some obscrva-
tons made by some gentieinaH in favor of the ma
ton, who had drawn parallel or contrast between
this case and that of jackson, the former British
munster, remarks that vast difference At least
was perceivabie IN the conuct of the opposition
IN the two cases, and adverted tn the dinners given
Go the dismissed minister ut philadelphia and az
Fanteil Hail in Boston, and TO the memorable
TOAST g.Tra nj the late dinner by member
OF THIS House" Britsin's fast anchored
isle, tie buiwark of our holy religion These din
aers, &c he believed to have been under British
influence, II not under that OF Dr. Hehry's pills
lie was proceeding to remark rather harshly on
the motives ofthe atlvocaes Of the proposition
When the Speaker checked him for personality
in debate,
Mr. CASTOR again spoke in support of the promo.
sittoas as atorsng innrmaton necessary for Ieeis-
lative acts likely to come before the House during
the present sesson--and in reply to Mr. CaIhoun;s
remarks on the variety of reasons offered by the
advocates of the motion.
Mr.. Wright rose TO say that the venerable gen
tenan IN whom lac had first alluded (NIr. Picker.
ing) had very politely corrected his statement ne
his toast, and written il down for him as fellows !:
The worlds last hope--Britain's fast anchored
isIc"-which sentiment, the sane gentleman had
informed him, " he had no objection should be in.
scribed on his tombsione." fh5
Mr.. Stockton, of n. j. spoke in support of the
resolution, and in reply TO Mr. Sharp's idea of re-
paraton niade-with whom he said he should COZ
cur ii the rcparation had been made at once with
out the long interval said to have interyene, and
m
ducc the minister to withdraw his notion &c
Mr.. Macon assigned the reasons why he should
vote for the proposition--not but he believed the
PRESIDENT to be pure and free from osrruption--bu.
because he had no objection to the whole trt be-
ing known TO which the Pres dent would have mo
objection, inasmuel, pure man, like pure gold.
need fear no scrutiny. lie conceived the retracti
on Of the letter To be disavowa in fact and in the
nature of an spoIngy for having sent t.
The question. 10 amend the resolve so as to re-
qu're the information therein stated from the Tx
&C tive instead OF obtaining it through committee
was decided In the negative by large majority.
ne main question on the adoption of The reso-
luton was taken, at late hour aud decided AS fol-
lows:
YEAS--Messrs- Baylies OF Mass. Bigeiow,
Boyd, bradbury, Breckenridge, Brigham, Ca
perton, Champion, Cilley, Cox, Culpeper, Da.
yenport, Davis. of Mass. Dewey, Ely, CASTOR,
Geddes, Grosvenor, Hale, Hanson, fluffy, Hun
gerford, Jackson, of Il. Kent Of N. Y. King,
OF Mass. Law, Lewis, Lovctt, Macon, Miller.
Motif, Mosely, Markell, Oakley, Pearson.
Pickering, Pitkin. Potter, John Reed, William
Reed, Ridgeiy, Ruggies, Schureman, sheficy,
Sherwood, Shiphcrd, Smitl, of N. Y Stanford.
Stockton, Stuart, Sturgcs, Tailmadge, Tbems
son, Yose, Ward, of Mass. Webster, Wheaton.
Wilcox. Wilson, of Mass, Winter--6O !.
NAYS--Messrs. Alexander, Aisto,,, Ander
son, Archer, Avery, Bard, Barnett. Bayly
Of yirg iIcall. Bowen, Bradley, Brown. Bur.
well. Butler, Caldwell, Calhoun, Chappell
Cheves, Clark, Clopton, Comstock, Conard,
Crawford, Creighton, Crouch, Davis of Penn
Dawson, Dennoyelles, Desha, Duvall, Earle.
Eppes. Evans, Farrow, Fisk, OF Yer. Fisk Of N.
Y. Forney, Forsythe, Franklin, Gholson, Glas
gov, Gourdip, Griffin, Grundy, Hall, Harris,
Hasbrouk, HAYES, Hubbard, Humphreys, In.
gersoli, ingham, lfw.n, jackson. Of virg. john
son Of Va Kennedy, Kent of Md. Kerr, Kerslaw,
kilbourn. Kirg, of N. G.. Lefferts, Lowndes.
Lyle, M'Coy, nj Kim, M'Lean, Moore, Murfrec,
Nelson, Newton, Ormsby, Parker, Pickens, Pi.
per, peasants, Rea, Of Pen Rhea, of Ten.