Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1816-02-24


servant, w. J.. GOIcDoN,
To 1t. N. D. Nicholson, late
Com. U. S. brig sire,,.
II
.Nesy-Yorr, Jan. 90.
Dear Sir-in answer to yonr note of the 26tt,
INST | have no hesitation. in saving, that yo,r
statement respecting the 1reatment Of the crew
OF The late United States brig Siren. after c,p.
ture, by the British ship aepay, ri, is D srftct-
" correct. have the honor TO be, respectable
your obd't serv't.
;, THos. WAIVE.
~ ID. Nicholson, esq.
THE MEMORY OF WASHINGTON
Tie foto,cing ,cere the observations Nth
tohich sur. Hue Err p..sfaced his motion.
respecting The pledge Ct a former Con-
:reSs on Tie death q General Washing
ton.
Z DIR Huger said, that what he deemed a
solemn duty obliged him to claim the in
du'gcncc OF the house for few moments.
lie had been detained 5y severe indisuosi-
ton from attending his duties in that BODY
since Saturday last, and though better. he
should not have ventured out to day, but
tor piece of information which had acc.-
dentally reached him that morning. In
glanclng his eyes over the papers lust
brought him, he was struck by certain re-
solutions published i'll the Richmond En-.
quirer, from which it appeared that the
Legislature of Virginia had. by an unafi-
nous vote, authorised the governor of the
state to apply to the honorable Bushrod
Washington, to permit the remains of her
beloved son, the late general George
Washington, to be removed and inferred
near the capital of Virginia. His heart
sunk within hin, he confessed, on read
ing those resolutions, and recalling to
mind the scenes he had once witnessed,
and In which he had once acted part ON
the floor of that Congress, which repre-
sented the American nation on the death
OF this great man. He had often since
thought with astonishment, aud more than
regret, of the apathy of the American peo-
pie on this subject. But, although he re-
m n with the most poignant grief,
the failure OF his eSertions, and the far
more powerful exertions OF some of the best
and greatest men who were at that time
members OF Congress, to get something
done worthy of the father of his country,
and not unworthy of the American nation
yet ne had not forgotten, that the sixth
Congress had gone so far as to authorize
the resident OF that day to write in be-
aa!t OF the nation to Mrs. Washington.
and to make of her like request in re-
Sard to the remains Of our beloved Wash
rngton.-Neither had he forgotten the adj
mirabla and pathetic letter written by /.
that lady In which she grants their re-
quest. The remains of Washington then
were pledged to the whole nation !; and
she trusted the time was at length come,
when the honors sacredly due to them,
would be paid, as they ought long ago to
have been, by the representatives Of the
whole American people. He had himself
been member of that Congress. and one
OF those who had approved of the appli-
cation made to Mrs. Washington. He
had, moreover, been one ofthe committee.
1.-THE only one now honored with seat on
the fioorl to whom the subject had been
referred, when it had last been before con.
Sress. He did not therefore, he trusted.
assume too much to himself when be ven!
tured to think, that it had in some degree
deyOlyed on him, as sacred and solemn
duty, to call the attention of Congress to
this subject at the present time, and under
the particular circumstances which he had
noticed above. Accordingly, indispose,i
as he was, he had, without the loss of sim
gle moment, hurried down to the house.
and he seized the first possible opportuni.
ty to offer the resolution he held in his
hand. Before he read it to the chair. he
would be permitted to add, that he trusted
no gentleman could possibly suppose he
meant thereby to express any dIsapproba-
ton IN regard to the resolutions of the le-
gislature, or to evince the smallest disres-
pect to The state of Virginia. He was one
OF the last men in that house to do so.--
Virginia had been to him, in no small de
gree, q second alma mater. Though he
trst drew his breath in the capital of South
Carolina, he had passed during the reyo-
lutonary war several of his early years in
the former state being exiled from his ma.
tive state then in possession of the enemy.
lie had met every where, and from thou.
sands IN Virginia, hospitality, kindness,
friendship, and he might with propriety
add, parental affection and prote5tion.-it
was impossible all this could ever be e.
rased from his heart, and as he before OBJ.
served, he had never ceased to regard Vir-
pinla "a his spcond al,na ,,,ato. d. Q