Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1817-01-21

Hence IT could be no cause of surprize,
that at all times, where any measure with
IN The scope of public contemplation
should be peculiarly odious, great anx-
iety should be manifested as To who
should be foremost in the repeal; or o.
therwise, IT the measure was entirely de
siraDic, the same struggle Should take
place IN the race who should be first to
reach the goal. He for one, he said, had
been extremely glad that the House Of
Representatives had. Oh this occasion, so
far al least, not been wanting in sense
OF decent seii-respect. He hoped the
committee would not under stand him 10
intend 10 enter into the merits of the bill,
or 10 comini. himself 10 the support of it
on IFS final passage; but he had no hest
tation IN saying, it was to pass, that il
ought not to pass in the shape in which
II had been offered by the committee
What urgency was there in this case
Would any honorable member shew him
that there was great urgency that the
act the oflast session should he repealed as
to the remaining part of this session,
and that the law should be further modi-
fed by an increase of the compensation
thirty-three and third per cent? This
body ought not 10 act on any frivolous
impulse; il ought not 10 act on any tenn
porary excitement He hoped not to be
misunderstood. The people OF the Uni
ted States are the sovereigns Ofthe Uni
ted States: the government is theirs, be-
cause the soil is theirs-the country is
theirs ; they have right 10 be heard
But what, said he, have we heard from
the public on this occasion, except so
litary petition this morning from some
part of Pennsylvania for repeal of the
law Now, with all due respect for pub
lie opinion, where Is the necessity for the
passage of the bill on the table! If this
House, said he, is TO act on this subject
if il is to undo or patch up the act of the
last session if this House is TO offer
something like tub to the great Levia-
than popularity, what ought they 10
do nothing. In what situation otherwise
shall we stand? In what predicament
shall we presc:t ourselves TO our consti-
tuents !-going on the principle that these
constituents are hostile 10 the law
Thank God mine have said nothing to me
about 1t; no, sir, do not think mine
Will say any thing TO me on that score
What shall we say TO the people who
have been clamoring about if, when they
are told that we have repealed the act,
and taken the difference of thlrty-thrce
and thIrdper cent. more than we should
have had five had never passed it
would not wish to stand in a more pita-
bic, would add pitiful, condition before
the people, than with this bill in nv
hand as amendatory of the act OF the last
session.
Without now giving an opinion OH the
merits of the bill, reserving himself till
the bill should be more fully before the
Honse, he rose TO offer all amendment
which lie believed would supercede the
amendment proposed by the gentleman
from Kentucky. Take notice, said he,
do not pledge myself to vote for the bill,
even if my amendment be adopted. do
not wish 10 entrap the House, but 10 shew
what, in my opinion, ought to be done,
IT we move in the question at all Mr.. Il.
then proposed 10 strike out the whole bill,
and insert in lieu thereofa provision TO
repeal entirely the law of the last session,
and require deduction from the amount
Of pay received by the members, of so
much as, during the past and present
sessions, they shall have received over
and above the rate of six dollars per day.
The act of last session was retrospective
and retroactive III its operation and if
the House touched the law at this ses-
sion, III his opinion they ought TO take up
the matter where they did at the last SEES
sion, and any law now passed should be
retroactive III the same manner as the act
passed at the last session. 1t PERHAPS
might be remembered by the clair, or
perhaps the chairman might not have
thought it worth while 10 remember, that
at the last session, he (Mr. Randolph)
had made a motion, limiting the opera
lion Of the law TO future Congress and
that that motion, on the argument OF o.
Tier gentlemen, he had seen fit to with
draw-and he had so thought for this
reason, that each Congress ought to take
upon itself the responsibility of assessing
its own pay that to do so was duty
devOlving on it, from whicht had no right
to shrink. If they had now assessed it
too high in their own opinions, they ought
TO refund the surplus.
The Chairman having declared that Mr.. |
Randolph's motion did not supercede that |
of Mr.. Johnson
Mr.. Randolph said, he was not in the
situation oftlie man, who had been so long
remembered that he was forgot; but he |
had been so long a member of the House |
as TO have lost all knowledge of its rules |
and orders proceeding. The rule with !
which he had been acquainted for near |
fourteen years, in this House, was, that !
the motion TO strike ont the section of a |
bill superseded motion to amend it.
lie wished TO know, if not now in order, |
when it would be in order to PROFOUND |
his motion to the House.
MIR. Guy (the Speaker explained the
Change OF practice in late years in the
1 n. "a 4