Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1814-01-10
MONDAY, JANUARY 10. 1914.

that they have leave to report by bill or other
wise.
| rhe House then adjourned to meet on Mon.
day next.
MONDAY. JAN. 8.
Several portions, &c. were presented
which shall be noticed in our next.
Mr.. Efhes Of Va. from the committee Of
ways and Means, reported a bill making
certain, partial appropriations for the ser
vice Of the year 1914; and bill to amend
the -th section of an act to lay and collec,
direct tax within the United States lexten-
ding the time allowed to the states who
have assumed their quota of the direct tax,
to pay in the same) which was twice read
q ID, committed.
MIR. Fisk of Vert. from the committee o.
Elections, made report on the petition ol
Mr.. Kelly. contesting. the election of Mr.
Harris.a string member from the state ol
Tennessee. concluding with resolution &c
this cffct -
ResoiyeS, That Mr.. Kelly has not snppor.-
ed his petition. and that Tho. K. Harris Is
entitled to seat in this House.
The report-was referred to a committee
Of the whole.
Mr.. M'Kee Of KY from the committee of
Public Lands, reported bill for the relief
Of Daniel Boone which was twice read and
ordered to be engrossed for a third reading.
Mr.. Lowudes If D c. from the committee
on Naval Affairs, reported the resolutions
from the Senate relative to the heroic actions
of our navy officers during the past SUNNI err
without amendment and they were refer
red TO Committee of the whole. ~ $780,
The Speaker laid before the House let.
ter FROM the SECRETARY Of the Navy, trans
hitting an account Of the expenditures in
that department daring the past year, &c.
FOREIGN RELATIONS.
Mr. Webster of N. H aid, that it would
be remembered that at the last session,
message was received by the House from
the President, in answer to certain reson;i-
ons ofthe House, relative to the repeal Of the
French DEGREES. This message was refer
red 20 the committee on Foreign relations,
who made their repor,. On this report the
House did not act at thai session. / now rise
sad Mi. w. for the purpose of submitting
motion, which shall agaln bring the subject
before the House. mean, Sir, that the mes
sage and the report of the committee of Fo
reign Relations thereon, be again referred to
The same. understand such reference,
OF some similar proceeding, to be necessary,
III order to bring this subject again regular,
ly before US. ! am induced to this. as we'll
by the intrinsic importance of the matter
contained in the report of the Secretary of
State, as by an unwillingness that the man
ner in which the resolutions of the House
were answered on that occasion should qui
ely pass into a precedent. idsRpecasethe
idea, that when this House, which is the in
quest of the nation. calls for information on
certain specific points. the call is to be an
swered by any elaborate argument, and that
! such argument is to be holden to be conclus
sive Oh the judgment ofthe House and of the
nation.
The subject to which the message and the
report of the Secretary relate, has LIST none
of its Importance. 1t remain an object of
great interest. to those especially who have
| been and still are dissatisfied with the pre-
fessed grounds of the war.
| Thfs House, by IA almost nnanim Gus vote
| has recently expressed its sense Of the ne
cessity of an enquiry into the causes OF the
failure of our arms. agree, sir, with the
general sense of the House, and with what
am persuaded is equally the general sense
of the community. 1t is doubtless necessa
~ to know iftheir be not something wrong
| or defective ID the conduct OF the war;
But is it not equally important to inquire, if
I there were nothing wrong or defective in the
| original commencement of it9 May it not
have been i'll judged and i'll timed in the be-
1 x,
/ There may be, sir, a want of better armies
and better Generals. Let us enquire If there
be not also the want of better cause--l
| mean cause that stands clearer in regard
to the justice and necessity of the war "a
cause that approves itself better to the judg-
ments and coDscieHces of those wiIose.eforts
are Indispensable to its vigorous prosecution
IF its advocates can show satisfactorily
that this war was undertaken on grounds
plainly and maniicstly just if they canshew
that it was necessary and unavoidable -
! that it is strictly an American war that Il
! rests solely ON American grounds; and thai
it grew out of policy just and impair; al. as
| it related to the beiligerents of E.urope---i
they ever make all this manifest, the wal
! will change its character. II will then grow
as eDerietic, as it now is feeble. 1t will be
come the cause of the people, and not tn,
cause Df party. The people would thel
/ MAINTAIN their own cause with vigor and #
feet. In such cause, government woult
have n.,thing 10 do but to direct the sponta-
neous actions Of the community. II now ha
| tocreate thataction, by the application of e
very artificial stimulus that can be invented
In such cause, we should not have been
| at the end Of two dwelling campaigns, far
Their from our object--,he conquest Of Cana
da--than when we begun. No sir, Caaada
to the walls of Quebec, would have BEEF
yours in thirty days, if the cause had bee
one with which the Whole people had bee
satisfied, and which they had espoused will
! ardor.
The Speaker here said, that Il was neces
sary. before further discussion for the hous
to decide whether it would now consider tn