Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1818-12-01


lie stated the Important services render
ed TO the United States bv NJ. Beaumar.
chais, and the reduced fortunes of his
heirs. After reading the warm express.
SION ot thanks 10 that genlleman. by the
Continental Congress, aud stating tina:
his AID had essentially contributed 10
some ct the most important ami success
III events OF ilie Revolutionary war, Sir.
Il. expressed his hope, that the door would
not be closed IN The face of his represent
tatives. sueing for debt justly due by
the United States, and the want Of Which
had impoverished them.
MIR. PHkin said, that this claim was of
that natHre, ana ofilIat amount too, which
required cool consideration of its ma
ture and that The house should closel,
examine into itsmeriis for themselves. -
With regard TO this claim, some OF The
documents unfavorable 10 il had been
destroyed at the time of the invasion of
1914 others were not generally accessible,
or not generally understood. As gentlemen
could not have had time 10 look over the
papers al the present session, and il was,
wiihal, growing late, he moved that the
committee should rise, that, on meeting
again, gentlemen might be better prepared
than at present 10 20 into d consideration
OF the question.
Nhereupon The committee rose and OBJ
tanned leave To SIT again and the House
adjourned.
PROCEEDINGS ON FRIDAY NOV. 81.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE.
Mr.. BaH, OF Virginia, appeared 10 day
and took his seat.
The Speakc,' laid before the hose re-
port from the Secretary of War, of The
names and places ofresdence oil the seye-
raj persons placed upon the pension list,
under The act oilasi session, granting pen
sious TO revolutionary soldiers which was
read and ordered to he printed.
On motion of MIR. Speacer, it was order
ed thai The esiimonytdk under commits
sions issued by The Commissioner Of
Claims, and all other testimony in rea-
ton 10 the claims for remuneration Tor
property captured and destroyed on the
Niagara frontier during tie laie war,
which were before the committee ofclaims
during the last session, be referred 10 the
committee of Il inns.
On motion of Mr.. LoWndes, ii was
EeSdtred, That n committee be appointed to
enquire whether ii be eSpedient to make any
amendment in the laws which regulate the
COINS of the u. States and foreign coins.
Mr.. Spencer called for the considera-
iion Of the resolution submitted by him
| on Thursday, for an enquiry into the con
duet OF the Bank of the United States.
MIR. Lo,cndeS suggested 10 the mover
the propriety OF deierriug the considera-
lion of the resolution day or two longer,
when the House would he III possession of
information on the subject which it had
not yet rec lived. =
Mr.. Spencer not giving way to this sug-
gestioD--
The question was taken whether the
House would now proceed 10 consider the
| resolution, and decided il in tile negative
ayes G2, nays 20.
On motion OF MIR. r. ~. Nelson, ii was
Resoired. That the military committee be
instructed TO enquire into the expectancy of
amending The act passed at the last session of
Congress, approved April IA, 1918, eutited
p" An act regulating the staff of the army" so
as 10 du away the Offices of Surgeon General
and Assistant Surgeon General +; Ato have,wo
surgeon Generals, coIrespOudils.. 20 the Office
o. Assistant Surgeon General, with their pre-.
sent pay emolument, aud duty who shall make
their returns, through he AdJutant and Inspec-
tor General, 10 the Secretary of War, as they
now 10 through the Surgeon General; aud that
they have leave to report by bill or otherwise.
The Hou g then again resolved itself
into committee of the whole, Mr.. Smith
oil Md. IN the chair, on the bill for the re
lief OF the heirs of Caron dc Beaumar-
chais.
The subject Of The Debate, which com
menced 10 day on this question, is Que
OF "a strictly legal nature, depending on
close attention TO facts, and not there
fore susceptible of abbrcviaiiom, and not
properly the subject oil a Newspaper Re-
port, since MOI only verbal bGt literal ac-
curacy is necessary IN the very many
quotations lroRa authorities respecting IT,
All that we shall attempt, therefore, is to
state the general tenor of what may he
said oil the question.
MIR. PITKIN, OF Connecticut, opened
The Debate, IN opposition TO ibe bill. in a
speech which occupied in the delivery
The whole of The days sitting. la the
outset, lac remarked on The importance Of
the subject in hand the interest it had
excited, and the feelingii had produced
IN The Old Congress, as well as under ihe
present government, whenever II had pre-
spnIed itself for consideration. During
The existence ofthe war Of the RevOtu
ton, some of the documenrs relating 10
II had nilscarried, and some had been sto
len IN their transmission Others had
been since destroy d by fire, or overlook
ed in the mass of public papers. Hence
the clam had been involved in much
mystery, requiring close investigation TO
mnravel If. Mir. p. then proceeded 10
the examination of the subject, as ii had
been viewed by The Commissioners of the
u. States at Paris, by the French govern
ment, and by the claimants. In The
course of his argument, he read extracts
from letters at Arthur Lee, Benjamin
Franklin, aud Silas Deanc from tie a
mcrican and French diplomatic volumes
from Gordon history, and from various
other sources. From all these docu-
ments. and connecting all the facts dis
closed by them together, Mr.. r. thought
the conclusion irresistible, that Tie sup