The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1814-03-05


out convincing the other States, that Colonel
swift and the Other Engineers alluded to IL.
the Secretary. at War had been, guilty. ,,s
| deception or error.
| AS the case now stands, the President &c
Secretary at War are bound TO make a, fur.
Their scrutiny into the subject. Wheteve-
may be done n,regard to the Fort, SHOULD
be done promptIy--a review of the position
and special report by some other Epsineer
than those a;ceady consulted. IS the bsst
means to remDve all doubts and controves1
sizes upen the subject; -
The Preamble ard Resolutions abaut the
! Cisiras ct. Virginia were introduced durinr
the lass week Of the session. and passed the
II. of ID like these upon the subject OF Fore
fowhatan, by an unanimous yofe. Uueni-
NOUS votes. during the last week in the SEES
| sion, when the members are in the hurry
AID confusion Of leaving or preparia- TO
leave town, are not siwavs 20 be construed
IN literal sense. In th;s instance at least.
the HouseS had not the time TO traverse alt
! the bearings IF this measure. TIE Report
was written. & avowed to he written, in the
rni'de 4 language possible, for tire purpose
OF srAeo1hing away ditIicultie- aud objections
They underwent some small notifications in
the Committee os tie II &c D.-ttcn re.
NAMED two or three DAYS on the table. when
they were acted or. SO little dii this pro
duction arrest attention. and 80 much were
the Senate engaged with the completion of
the business VI the Session. that some of it,
mrmhers knew not of the Introduction of
| such measure into the Lower House, until
1t appeared upon Their ,,bIr, in manuscript,
the d9y previous 20 their Adjournment. The
subject being highly important, anh coa.inE
up to the Senate, on the very morning VIXEN
they met under IN expectation or All urning.
that s'rong aversion to undertake the ne
cessary investigation was isnmed ,ately dis
played by part Of the Scnate
a motion tv postpone was ms. BY a bare
majority against it. The preamble end re-
s lutons were then committed. The com
mitttee retired immediately and examined
me preamble and esolu, ions, paragraph. by
paragraph. The facts appeared 20 be cor
rectiy stated. and the reasoning sound. SO
tar as they ccu'd be decided IN in so hasty
a manner. The on,y rrmailng ques ion was
whether the interpcsition of tie Legislature
with regard TO TIE states claim w,'uld AT
THIS time be proper. The CON m;ttee o. the
Senate reported the preamble & r~>o'ati. ns
back to me H.use, with only oue amend
ment which was TO strike mt a sentence res
pectng the Secretary at War. A lerp and
animated debate ensued in he Senate.
which ended in the rejection of the Resolu-
lions, by majority of one only. The pre-
ambe and resolutions were advocated bv
Mr. ohnson and Mr.. Watts, on the ground,
that Virginia was burthcned with an untuc.
portion of the expenses uf the war, AVID shac
sfhe otner states ought 10 REIMBURSE her
that the tendency OF these growing accounts
- &C cate ,iiecetCi q Cn;-,tes tue sti saF 20
carry Us back ~ the days of the conf, era,
t'on--that the sdoDtion of this measure " euld
prevent The growth Of discomfort among he
people OF Virginia that it would be an ac-
communication instead of en- enbarras p,ent
to the General Governments that the reso.
utons did not cali for pay men. in cash. but
IN STOCK that the aggregate amount OF the
Chains OF all the creditor states coul aus be
considerable. because Virginia was the prea-
test creditor Ssate hat procrastinaticn
would be productive of new and decreasing
dihicGltles; that he interpretation of the le-
gIsiature was prorer and necessary, because
the Executive Of the state had no auttorI-
" 10 send forward agents TO settle these &c
counts with the General Governmen. and
mad acted without authority in doing so last
sprirg; that this was probsbiy the reason
why the Secretary # War had not included
IN his late report on rnis ga iect what had
pas ed between himself and the agents senr
forward by the Exr cutive that the Dele
CATION in Congress from this stare, did not
thoroughly understand these acc u-ts. and
could NOT understand hem as W. Il, as com
missIoners selected for the purpose Of ex.
planning them, &c. &c.
Ch thS otner sid, 1t was ccntended ty
Nr. Poindexter & Mr.. Cabsll that the inea
sure was unne essary (; and might be iniu-
nous. lt'wss unnecessary, because the Del
egatioD OF Virginia, were then pressing the
claim Of the state IN he House Of Represen-
tailvee. 10 proof OF his, he following Letter
az IRON most respectable Member nc
che House cf Eepresen;s'iyes was read &
letters from MIR. Eppes to. the Governor and
others OF the same tenor, were referred
TO- 1t was unnecessary, not only because
the delegation at the suggestion OF General
Armstrong in the first instance, and OF the
Governor in the second, had token up the
subject, bot because they ccaid &c would ex-
plain & assert re'Ccngre IS the principles
on which the rejected items in our accounts
ought 10 he settled, C would.Froeure the pas1
sage OF law fx,ng those principles. & that
then the Executive of the state could do the
rest by sending forward special agents WIN
all the vouchers, To settle the accounts. and
procure Payment according To the primo.
pies and rules estsbl she'd in tn e law. That
the power Of he Executive to send agents
had not been objected to by the Secretary ~
war last spi ing, n by the Lcqisiature az
the state at the May session. That the
measure might bc pernicious--ws believed
not only possible, bat probable. A review re
the d Herent steps already taken, was rnade.
to shew that the subject of our claim had
not only been attended TO, but wa en W n,