Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1824-03-19

| to them. lie could not see any valuable end to
be answered by adding another portico 10 the
Presidents house, unless indeed, it was to make
a monument of what the gentleman called I"
simple grandeur" Perhaps the gentleman might
think this Hall, too, was monument of g simple
granducr"-but, for his part, Mr.. X. said, he
thonght II was a monument q! pride and cxtrav-
agancc, and not of old Republican principles.
lie could not undertake to answer the gentle
mans line speech; TO him, great part of it was
unntclligiblc; and, III reply to some quotations
he had made in it, from dead language, he
shouldanswcr III his own mother German tongue:
ich ha6e nic:t rc,,sionden.* He did not be-
lieye that any man had a right to entail debt up
OH postcrty. Congress, TO be sure, had the
power to do SD, but they could not do it ON any
moral principle. And, before set about ma
! king monuments of simple grandeur" we had
better be sure that we have the money 10 make
them in our pocket. He did not think Congress
had Il right even TO put upa necessary building,
till we were able TO pay for lt-[a laugh, and
q call TO order. AS 10 this portico, il was, in
is opinion, as unnecessary a fifth wheel TO
Wagon. The gentleman, TO be sure, had made
"A long speech aboutit and might DC an orator, for
aught he knew, but it certainly had nothing of
solid reasoning i'll it.
Mr.. Hogcboom, of New York, rose for the
purpose OF obtaining information from the chair
man OF the Committee on tho Public Buildings
ready been incurred i'll preparing materials for
the proposed Portico. He did not consider tho
building OF this portico as matter very neccs-
sary, but If much expense had been gone into to
provide for it, ii might, perhaps be better to go
ON with it, If not, he thought the money might be
much better applied to repairing the injuries in
the wall which surrounds the enclosure of the
! Presidents house, and in smoothing away some
of the precpices IN the bank within it, which
are now so unsirhtly.
| MIR Sharpe, of New York, made farther in
curry about some stone which were dressed, and
lay i'll front of the Capitol.
| MIR. Cushnan explained.
| When the question was taken on the appro-
pratiation, and decided in the negative, by yeas
and nays, as already stated.
On the item of appropriation for public walks
in front of the lots and ground belonging to the
United States, i'll the city of Washington, 5000
! dollars, debate arose of 4 somewhat desultory
character.
Mr. Cooke, of Tennessee, said, that, when he
looked at the appropriations proposed, and heard
the gentleman from Maine support them by tel
lung us that we have an Overlooking Treasury,
it put him in mind of boy who has received
from his Papa supply of pocket money; he
thinks 1t Will never be gone, aul is engaged only
| IN contiying ways in which he can spend it.
| w have, to be sure, said Mr.. c., got some mo-
ncy now in the Treasury but do we forget that
whatever we iorbcar spending out of it will @,
toward dcraying our public debt or do not gen
tcmcn remember that, next year, there will be
| twcnty-siX millions of that debt to be paide If
we squandcr away our resources as soon as they
come into the Treasury, we shall beuueath to
our posterty large debt, which ought to have
been paid by. ourselves, and which we ought To
be paying, now, in time of profound peace.
TO give away our money, to make foot-paths for
The people of " ashngton, is not the way to do
tins, nor arc these fine gravel walks at all neces-
sary. We are told to be sure, by the gentle
man from Maine, who deals so much in gallant
~ Chat he is atroi the ladies may muddy their
toes III coming up The Capital TO hear the mem
bcrs make speeches. But, for bis part, Mr.. c.
sand, he thought Tic present walks were quite
sufficient for al useful purposes.
Nh. Kremer thought with the gentleman from
Tennessee. He had, for one, found no difficulty
whatever i'll going about the cite, OF in getting,
up to TIC House and, if ladies do muddy their
toes, why lei them cen stay at home and not
come crowdine' the galleries of this House.
sor tIs part, the travelling was convenient e.
noush foT isul-hc found no difficulty from the
mud. Hothug III life was in his opinion val
liable, but as it was useful. The nation wants
money, and how do gentlemen propose to get it
by ioans:' No. BY direct taxes, Not at ALL
But by transfer, the most Ubiquitous of all modes
OF paying debts. Look at England 1t was
not long since her debt was only small sum.
i and now 1t was grown to the enormous amount
| OF upwards OF i thousand millions of pounds
Sterling; and SO heavy was her load of taxes that
land In that country would not fetch half its val
NC. This course was beginning to be pursued
here; nay, it had been pursued, and that too
long already.
Mr.. Cooke called for the reading of an act
relating to the proceeds of the sales ofpublc lots
III Washington; and it was read accordingly
Mr. Taylor, of New York, thought that this
act, instead of weighing any thing against the
| proposed appropriation, rather shewe, that ON
gress is bound to make The pavement. There is
an unexpcndcd balance of the proceed. of these
sales now in the Treasury, and it ought, accord
ing TO the provisions oft act to be applied to
objects ofths description. The act passed two
years since, and TO which the gentleman from
Tennessee had alluded as proof OF our liberali-
ty to the citizens of Washington, was merely to
change the location of canal, and, when that
is completed, the balance oftie proceeds Of sales
must return into the Treasury, &c.
Mr.. Cooke explained. Nearly two millions
OF dollars had arisen from the sales ofpublic pro-
perry III tins city, and what had become of il was
not easy TO tell, unless it had been divided among
the citizens Of Washington. Only $4,000 of
1T, he believed, ever reached the Treasury and
that has no sooner got in than VIC have plan to
| draw II out again.
! Mr. Cushrnan replied to Mr. Cooke He had
not sad, we have 90 OVERLOOKING Treasury
There were, he believed about sixty millions in
the Treasury, and the sum he proposed to draw
from ii, for thcportico, was only S26 900, which
would not make any great hole in il. As To
what had fallen from the gentleman in relation
to his speech, he did not profess to deal in wit.
and therefore nc should not attempt to ans,verit.
| lie was PLAIN man, and aimed only at speaking
common sense. In relation to the particular