Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1822-04-12

progress, and obtain leave to sit again, and
then the House adjourned.
SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 1899.
Mr.. Cooke laid on the table the following
resolution:
Resoired, That the Secretary or State he din ected
10 furnish this House with statement a the amount
Of money ,ntid salaries, outfits, and contingent ex
pense- TO foreign ministers, since the year eighteen
hundred, and the amount paid to each. Also, the
court nj which they were employ ed, au, the time they
respectively engaged in the discharge of their
duties as ministers from the United States.
APPROPRIATIONS.
The House then resolved itself into com
mittee of the whole on the unfinished b,lsi-
ness of yesterday, 1.-THE general appropriation
billy Mr.. ToMLrNsoS in the chair.
The clause to provide for repairing the
Cumberland road being under consideration:
Mr.. CoNDIcT moved to strike out the clause.
He said the United States had already -xpend-
ed enormous sums in the construction of this
road, and he could not consent To impose up
| on his constituents any further expense in re-
pairing If.
Mr.. BRECKENR1DGE had not expected the
opposition which the gentleman from New
Jersey, Mr.. CONDIcT,) had made to the bill,
and the manner was as unexpected as the
matter. He has said that he is unwilling
to tax his constituents for this object. Does
not that gentleman recollect that the people
fthc West have been from time TO time heav-
| lily taxed, tn build Notifications on the sea-
| hoard, and support naves, in which they have
| no special interest What would that gen
tleman say, if we should avow that we would
pay no more for those objects, and urge for
reason that we are far enough ont of the way
OF an enemy, and therefore are not disposed
to contribute TO the common defence ? This
was a magnificent plan Of connecting the east
/ A. Il IN Of II
BILE 10 the munfcence and policy of the go
vernment and he would not ask whether il
was expedient to suffer this valuable road To
go TO decay and ruin, rather than appropriate
! this triflinS sum To an object so important
| III was the common property of the nation,
and it could not be confDrmable To the inte-
rests of the country TO break the chain that
binds the eastern and western states together
| Mr.. FARRELLT regretted that the gentle
man last up should have introduced local con-
! siderations into this discussion. He did not
understand in what way this appropriation
found its way into the bill. He objected to
the manner in which it had been brought for
ward, and thought it should be done by way
of bill, as was done in the case of payment for
horses destroyed in the Seminole campaign.
Nor did he see how the repair of this road
could come within the constitutional provi.
sion for the support of the government Mr..
| r. was willing to go as far ON This subject as
] the compact required. The act of Congress,
ON this subject, provided for the construction,
but not for the repair, of the road If this ap-
| preparation was made, it would be followed by
similar calls from year to year to keep it i'm
repair The gentleman from Kentucky, (Mr.
BREcKENRIDGE.) had alluded to the expen-
ditures for Notifications for the protection of
the sea-board, which he contends is made for
| the exclusive benefit of those who live upon
| 1t. But lie should remember that, in these
Notifications, New Orleans had not heen over
looked, which was done almost entirely for
the benefit of the people of the west.--
As much attention has been paid to the
fertilization of that place as those OF New
York, and he thought no fair argument
could be adduced from that source.-It
had been said, indeed, that the sum asked
for was trine lie admitted it, and If this
was to be the end of it, it would not perhaps
he worth the time to be occupied in the con-
test. But he regarded this as only an enter
ing wedge for future appropriations for the
same purpose. The state Of Pennsylvania has
a road nearly parallel with this from Harris
burg TO Pitts6urg, which is materially affected
by this. Mr. T. was opposed to this appro-
| priation also on the ground that the expendi-
ture of the moneys heretofore granted for this
road, had been wasteful and corrupt and
there was no guarantee that the sum which is
now asked far would not he applied IN "A sim
liar manner. Mr. +. did not wish to have
| this road go to destruction but he thought if
| those who live on IFS borders would not sup
port and repair it, it should revert to the states
| through which 1t passes. And he could not
think that, for the sum Of $4,000, it was expe-
dent to draw into discussion constitutional
question of doubtful construction. After so
large a sum had been expended so far beyond
the amount that was originally contemplated,
he thought il was time to put an end TO these
appropriations
MIR. Smith of Md. explained the manner in
which this provision had been introduced into
the appropriation bill, which was in conse-
quence OF n resolution of the house, directing
the Committee Of Ways and Means to inquire
into the expectancy Of appIying the unexpcnd-
ed balance Of former appropriations for this
purpose. That Committee had obcyed the
direction Of the house, and they thought
themselves justified in that course when they
knew that 81 100000 had been expended by
the United States in constructing the CunIber-
land road, and that it was now in q state of
GiIapidatiOn. All the items ofthat amount
had been made from timctO time, in the appre- |
priatiOn bills. The Committee thought that |
sum would be well applied in repairing and |
protecting what 1t had cost go large Il sum 10 |
CONSTRUCT Inc superintendent h0d been cor |
suited, and it appeared, from MS statements,
that the road, owing to The torrents, &C. in that
mountainous country, will soon be impossible, !
unless 1he necessary repairs arc made. The
question, therefore, is, whether you will throw
away what you have already done, rather than
be at a little expense to sustain it II had been
said by the gentleman from Pennsylvania, |
(Air. Farrelly,) that those who live upon il |
ought 10 repair il. But they have little inter- 1
est in i. IL is those who pass great distaacc