Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1816-12-19

a,'', ,othins OF his decisions but he wanted
~ ~ rnow whether, in these six weeks spoken OF
,Ie officer in question would become more
~. 10 the discharge OF his duties than
80 ~ now. The whole argument OF the gen
,I.man went IN the question sfrequesting The
President to suspend or renew the oIicer.
tstathe propriety OF addressing the President
.oreouest him 10 remove any plrtc War onicer,
AZ Il said he would not enter into that ques-
.;an now As to the decisions OF the officer,
AIR. n. submitted whether, the conduct OF the
officer being under examination before spe-
c;al committee. a sense of justice to the party
IN question did not require gentlemen In sus-
mend their opinions i'll regard to the execution
Of the law, till they had report from their
committee. fte asked gentlemen, suppose
they could bring into court case of extreme
faulty in the execution othis duties by Judge
OF the u. States--would they request the Pre-
sident to suspend the law under which he was
appointed The more the gentleman from
Georgia insisted on the misconduct of the Off
GER the more he convinced Mr.. X. that lac was
,yrorr in the course he had taken. cannot
consent said MIR. Il. that whenever gentlemen
come on this floor, and bring cases, however
fagyant, ofmisconduct OF public officers. that
= suspension of the law, under winch they are
appointed is TO be the remedy. But one gen
tleinan says, it's proposed to suspend not the
lar bnt ne erccatioR Of the lac. MIR. x. said
he would leave it TO the ingenuity of the
gentleman from Massachusetts to explain
the difference between two things, which
were to his mind precisely of the same i'm
port
MIR Hilbert said a few words in explanation.
His idea was, that TO suspend certain procee-
lings under a law was By no means to suspend
the law ITSELF
Mr.. Harrison of Ohio, said he wished the
gentleman from Georgia 10 point outwhat part
Of the constitutonor laws of tie United States
deprived regular military officer of the same
rights which appertained to all other persons i'm
the U. States. Iftlie law IN question actually
did not embrace the cases of regular officers
a Ix.-A
tia officers, he could only say, in his opiuion,its
provisions were extremely partial and unjust.
If the provisions of the act were general, as to
all officers of the United States, why were not
the officers of the regular army much enti-
tied to its benefits IS other cltizens2 lie SHOULD
like to know.
MIR. Forsyth said he had referred only to the
case of regular officers, only because there WAS
"A special provision, by other acts, for their
case; whilst there were none such, except in
the act of last session for militia officers. With
respect TO the question of the gentleman from
Virginia. said Mr.. +. will answer il. would
not propose TO remove judicial officer, because
the President has not the power; but if an
officer over whom he has power, were to act
with evident incorrectness. would ask the
President to remove that officer. L do not
presume to say that the decisions OF the com
missioner are erroneous or corrupt: only
state what believe them to be. 1t may he,
that after the production of evidence and its
examination, IL may appear that the Judg-
impression is to the contrary; that the more
they are examined, the more erroneous they
Will appear. Suppose II should be found,
MIR. F. said, that the commissioners had been,
e-k' yet was making erroneous decisions would
it not be the bounlen duty of this House, tn
inform the President, that he might suspend
wholly the execution of that law which he had
partially suspended? Was ii not their bounden
duty to guard the Treasury against this indivi-
dual? Gentlemen appeared not to recollect
the peculiar nature of this act; every judy
ment the commissioner made, however errone-
Gus; or however corrupt, was instantly paid at
the Treasury of the United Stares, and the mo-
ney beyond the control OF this House. II there
had been controlling power; if there had
been any appellate jurisdiction by which the
acts OF this commissioners were 10 be revised
and examined, he should never, lac said, have
thought OF introducing the resolution. But it
was directly the contrary. He trusted the
House was satisfied that something should be
done. He declared he said that he wasa little
surprised al the extraordinary indisposition to
exercise power of this sort. We have no OBJ
lection, said he, TO take up this subject, pro-
vided somebody stands between Us and respon-
sibuity bus we wait for the Presidents direc-
tion before we will move in the case wish
10 20 more, said Mr.. FL wish to give infor-
nation to the President, that it is the opinion
or tns House that he has not done sufficient
HE rules prescribed for the commissioner
were found insufficient; they were evaded-
the whole operation Of the law has been more
than once suspended to prevent further viOia-
ton, and the evidence III the cases has changed
ITS shape TO sult the new regulations MIR. +.
hoped the resolve would be passed.
u MIR. Johnson ofiAy. claimed the attention of
the House for one moment, on matter OF
fact. The chairman of the committee ofcains
(lr. fancey)m explanation 20 the House OF his
view of the question, did not pretend TO state,
that lie had himself examined one individual
case of the commissioners decisions The hon
oTabie gentleman WHO introduce Ell this rcsoluti-
a on, hatsad, in his appeal to the House, that of
MS own knowledge he could not condemn the
declsiciiS; that no case had been examined by
4 MIN, which attached blame to the commission
er, either oferror or corruption. The facts then
were narrowed to this that no gentleman in
favor OF the resolution had any personal know
ie.ge OF them. | will only state one more fact
said Nir. j. and sit down. On INV first arrival
here,it was stated to me that the house in our
view cauglit fire from thecapitol-I heard il of
fen-t took the trouble to examine the eyi-
dence in this and another case the only two
ever heard complained of before this day-an,l
other gentlemen might, ifthcy chose have done
the same, particularly who introduce
INTO this House solemn resolutions for suspend
ing laws. [ did look over the papers and tIIp
TACT was established by the testimony Of the
acting secretary ofwar, and by other incontes-
tlbie evidence, hattlc building had been Occur
4 pied by military force, and that the rockets
OF the enemy were, therefore, applied 10 it,
For the honor of the House, for the reputation
q OF the man, Mr.. j. asked would they, without
examination. press forward resolutions decidinu
questions, of the merits of which they were
u wholly gnorantS
MIR. Forsyth said, the gentleman misunder-
ID stood him, il he supposed he had offered aud
pressed his resolution without just grounds
lie had, hesaid, TO be sure, no personal know
& ledge of facts, but his resolution was botfomed
on Information received from the Heads of De-
=" nd info ,.fi IN oI In, IA.