Alexandria gazette, commercial and political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1812-1817, 1817-01-02
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
All WASHINGTON.
New-Ycar's Day, 1917,

II
the case of the claim bill, and the
commissioner under ii, Mr.. r. d.
Lee. The select committee laid be.
fore the house report desiring in the
conclusion of it to be discharged from
the further consideration of the mat
ter. As many of your readers will
require clue to this complication OF
committees and reports, with which
the zeal of certain gentlemen has in
tangled this affair, will give it to
you, as developed in very handsome
speech by Mr.. Mills. The committee
of claims and select committee were
directed to take coSnizance OF this
Alarming circumstance the former
to enquire intu the quality OF the act
f Of last session ia order to sec whether
any alterations in it might be adNisa-
bic: the latter to examine into ana
report their opinions cpan the COM
,:issicrers' decisions in tie cases OF
CAROLS and Ringgcld's claims, SC.
The select committee however, when
thew got TO the thrcshhold Of their
share o. tie business, found that the
place Was already occupied by the
committee Of claims, Who lii their a
miable earncstacss to End out the
guilt o. TIC commissioner, if an! find
allie there might be, had generously
anticipated the intended inquiry Of the
select one, and even taken possession
& of the huge mass OF documents sent to
the house at tseir request, by the Pre-
sident, and which came deposited il a
large trunk. the very sight of which
would have appalled, any man not en-
,lowed w:ii the most steady gcing,
courageous industry ard zeal III such
cases. The select committee, finding
this, suspended their proceedings, in
which you viii say they were lot very
much to be blamed, though same gen
tlemen in the house seemed to think
otherwise while the committee Of
claims took up those cases | have
mentioned, terrible though they were,
and prOduced all the mcise about them.
which has kept the house on the alert
for the past part OF the session. and
has been heard al over the union.
Thus circumstaacrd, what could thc
select committee do? were they to so
over the ground that had already
been sufficiently tranp!ed by the COM
mittee ofClaims. and present the very
sar1e facts to The house, iii other
forms? No, feeling that if their Opt
mons on the sIbscct wc.s the same as
those of the committee Gr claims, th2ir
report would be bit an useless echo.
and that fon the contrary they should
di!er from them, the two reports
would present the ludicroRs spectacle
of warfare and contradiction between
two committees Of the House. they
thought is best, as best it certainly
was. to abstain altogether from OK
pressing their opinions. Individually
however, some of them did let out
their opinion, iand that opinion was
honorable to Mr.. Lee. On these
grounds they desired to be discharged
from the further consideration of the
affair Iand FIR. Williams Of n. G..
who, believe was chairman of the
committee, made motion for the pur-
pose, in which it appeared from the
result that he had the judgment of the
house along with him.
Mr.. Forsyth however opposed it. d
insisted that the object fn appointing
the select committee and therefore the
duty of that committee was ITO exa-
mine ALL THE CASES on which