Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1816-02-06
CONGRESS-.
DFBATE.

In the House Of Representatives, ON the
tW 10 carry into effect the Commercial
Contention svith B,i.qi7,.
CCon.inuedl
Mr.. PINKEXY said, he intended yester-
day, if the state of his health had permit
ted, to have tresPassed ON the house with
short sketch ofthe grounds upon which
he disapproved of the bill. What could
not do then, said he, | am about TO eadca-
vor now, under the pressure, neverthe-
less, Of continuing ndisposition, as well as
uuder the influence of a natural reluctance
thus to manifest an apparently ambit GUS
and improvident hurry to lay aside the
character OF listener to the wisdom of O
theirs. by which l could not fail to profit.
for that OF an expounder of my own hum
be notions, which are not likely to be pro
fitab!e to any body. 1t is, indeed, but too
probable that / should best have consulted
both delicacy and discretion, if / had for
borne this precious attempt to launch nv
little bark upon What an honorable mem
Der has aptly termed the torrent of de-
bate" which this bill has produced. l am
conscious that it may with singular pro
prietY be said of me. that | am now NOUS
hosfeS here thar / have scarcely begun
TO acquire domicil among those whom |
am undertaking to address and that re-
Gently transplanted hitler from courts of
judicature, | ought for season to look
upon myself as sort of exotic, which time
has not sufficiently faRiiarized with the
soil to which it has been removed, to ena-
bic it TO put forth either fruit or flower.
However all this may be, it is now too late
to be silent. l proceed, therefore, to en-
treat your indulgent attention 10 the few
words with which have to trouble you
upon the subject under de,iberation.
That subject has already been treated
with an admirable force and perspicuity ON
al! sides of the house. The strong power
OF argument has drawn aside, as it ought
to do, the veil which is supposed to belong
to it, and which some ofus seem unwilling
to disturb; and the stronger power. of pc
MUS, from higher region than that of ar
guuent, has thrown upon it all the light
with which it IS the prerogative of eenius
to invest and illustrate every thing. II is
fit that 1t should be SO; for the subject is
worthy by its dignity and importance to
employ IN the discussion of it all the DOW
ers of the mind, and all the eloquence by
which have already felt that this assem-
bly, is distinguished. The subject is the
fundamental law. We owe it to the Deo-
pie to labor with sincerity and diligence, to
ascertain the true construction of that law,
which is but record of Their will. We owe
it TO the obligations of the oath which has
recently been imprinted upon our copsci-
enCes, as well as to the people, to be ODE
dient to that Will when we have succeeded
in asoertaining i. i shall give you nv o.
piniou upon this matter, with the utmost
Difference for the Judgment Of others; but
at the same time with that honest and un-
reserved freedom which becomes this
place, and is suited to my habits.
Before we can be in Il situation to decide
whether this bill ought to pass, we must
knowpreciseIy what it is what it is not is
obvious 1t is not bill which is auxiliary
to the treaty. 1t does not deal with de;a Is
whi-h the treaty does not bear in its own
bosom. 1t contains no Subsidiary enact
ments, no dependent provisions, flowing as
corrollarles from the treaty. 1t is not to
raise money. or to make appropriations, or
to do any thing else beyond or out of the
treaty. II acts simply as the echo of the
treaty.
Lngcmmat uoccs, auditaque ver6a re-
horfdt." 1t may properly be called the
twin brother of the treaty; its duplicate,
its reflected image, for it re-ers,cts with
t'mid fidelity, somewhat inconsistent with
49, NNN~''N'o " 10 RiNNCtiolll4Sg dlt Lltdl Tie
treaty stipulstes, and having performed
that work of supererogaton, stops. Il
once attempted something more, indeed
but that surplus has been expunged from It
as desperate intruder, as something
which might violate, by misinterpretatlon
of the treaty, that very public faith which
we are now prepared to say the treaty has
never plighted in any the smallest degree.
In word, the bill is fac 8imiKe Of the
treaty in all its clauses.
am warranted in concluding, then, that
ii it be any thing but an empty form of
words, it is a corjfrmafion or ratification of
the treaty, or, to speak with a more
guarded accuracy, is an act to which only
Of passed into law) the treaty can owe its
being. IL it does not spring from the 'hru-
rtus ieges .firendi," by which this body can
never be afflicted, I am warranted in say
ing, that il springs from an hypothesis
(Which may afiliot us with worse disease)
that no treaty Of commerce can be made
by any power in the state but Congress
i stands upon that postulate, or it is a
| mere bubble, which might be suffered to
float through the forms Of legislation, and