The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-02-23

| necessarily severe in his structures, IN commenting
upon the call which the House of Representatives
made upon the Executive, day or two since, Tor
| such additional correspondence as may have taken
place between the t1o Governments, since the opsfI-
ing" Of the present Congress, relative to the oregon
| dlficulty-coBnecung II with resolution suisse
quendy adopted by the House to close the present
debate on the 9Th of this month The great comb
| dence with which he spoke of additional cor
rcspondence between the two governments
since that which was presented to US, accom-
panying the Presidents annual message, as well as
his seeming knowledge of the state and condition OF
| the negotiation, might create suspicion In the
| minds Of those who may not know him AS well as
| | do that he has means Of information, channel
through which he receives information, on this sub.
jecr, not "jTes and open" to the other members OF
this committee. How can he kiOig DythiDg about
correspondence not yet made public OF that such
an one has taken place at all He certainly cannot
get il from the government of the United States for
aside from The fact that the President keeps such
things from the "publie earl" as he should do, he
| evidently would refuse to communicate it 10 an
| ayowed political opponent, even were he disposed
TO violate the profound secrecy usual TO such cor
rcspondence; There is but one other source from
which IL could emanate. | do not intend TO say
that the honorable member obtains his information
either directly or indirectly from that Zone other
source" to say so would be unchnTable. know
him we'll enough 10 believe that he intended to be
understood as giving AN opinion, instead Of as
SertIng "A knowledge las he was unteTsood by some
Of the existence Of the correspondence to which be
alluded
| opposed the call upon the Executive, to which
| have just referred and am hnppy to have this
opportunity OF giving some ol lLe :cnsons for my
opposition.
II will be remembered that the Senate had but u
day or two before made call for the same lnfor-
mation-correspondence Sufficient time had not
Ella psed to enable the President TO respond TO it, 1t
il known that If the Information should be sent to
the Senate, It will also come into this House with
out call. These ihcts will not be denied or ques-
toned but instead Of waiting and giving the Pres
dent u reasonable time to respond, we In "hOt
haste" bring into the House and ndopta literal copy
Of the Scnates resolution, under the lead Of dlstin
grished wing from Vermont Mr.. CoLLAMLR.l | do
deny that the wings have the same right propose
Such calls as the democrats. ] will not dispute or
question their right, nor will | mpugn the motives
of the honorable mover Of this reeolution But
have have rig BIT to draw my own differences from
the facts presented; and as the call had been made
by the Senate-and as not one member OF either
House Of Congress would say or suppose that the
President would disregard that call-and as it was
known, il reknonded 10, the correspondence or all
swer would also necessarily be cent TO the House,
am left without a reason for its introduction into
the House, unless arrive at the conclusion that it
was intended a stab at the Presdent-intended TO
create the belief on the minds Of the people, that he
would not or that a majority Of the House belicv ed
that the House had 10 join in and "dog at his heels"
In order TO obtain from him the desired correspond
ence. Under these circumstances ! opposed the
call, and feel conscious conviction Of having
done that which vas right and proper for me to do.
| also voted for the resolution closing this debate
because thought 1t time TO close it. Six weeks will
certainly to discuss a single propositions; If
we bestow but half of that time upon each of
the other measures connected with Oregon, we
will have no time to do anything else. The people
l. . r 4 Il -.
"a vote Of the House; they want To what in
tend TO do did not doubt, however, but that the
call would be responded TO before the 9th inst. |
think still. Nor do believe that the President
would have suffered this House TO commit an error
upon an important question like this for the want
of correspondence Information in his possession
that he would quietly stand by and sec Us involve
the country in war; upon point of etiquette be-
tween him and the leSslature-w thhod Informal
ton which we ought to have, and which he desired
should have, merely because VIC had not made
a formal call upon him for it. Such an idea
is ridiculous; but we have made the call, | am in
favor of waiting for the response; and if not made
by the 9Th extend the time.
You and |, Mr.. Chairman, US well as the present
governor of the State of Tennessee should feel our
selves arragned before this committee and the
try by member from that State Mr.. CocKEl for
Inconsistency. That honorable member has thought
fl to read paragraph from report made by the
Hon. A. V. BRowE at the last Congress chair
man Of the Committee on Territories, of which
we were then members, in which paragraph, he
says, the committee declare this TO be an executive,
and not a legislative question. regret that the gen.
tleman is not now in his seat, as have few words
to say in reply and explanation, which desired he
should hear. He does not show perfect knowl-
edge of the practice Of this House, when he takes
II as granted that each member who fails TO make
minority report thereby subscrbes to all of the doc
trines, much less the reasoning, Of the majority
port. He forgets that there is, in truth such
thing known to the rules Of the House "n,inor-
ity report" A committee make but one report
and that is to be done by direction Of ma jority.
admit that minority reports as we pleased to
call them, have grown into by permission of the
House; and, under that Permission the mi
nority of that committee might have presented
their views. 1t was not necessary, however, for
them to do so in order to shield themselves from
committa to the report Of the majority Their fail
ure 10 report implies such committal. 1t would
be strange state of things if the reverse of what
say were true You could, by searching the re-
cords, involve every man who has ever been on
committee in Congress in the same character of in
consistency if his position Should hold. wished
the honorable member Mr.. CocKLl to account to
this committee, if he could do So land | Of course,
presume he coud,) for some very strange omissions
on his part.
He ia mistaken in saying that the report to which
he referred makes positive declaration as to the
true character Of this immediate question. IL he
nau pau inc same W anu hTgu-
mcnts of that report which he seems to have done
in hunting out an inconsistency on the part Of the
governor of his State, he could but have seen and
understood that, far the report itself goes, the
question is left in doubt, and, such, the chair
man declined to enter into premature investigation
and useless decision Of It. The committee, it
seems for not given, had determined to re-
port bill without the notice; possibly because they
thought that branch OF the subject belonged to the
Committee on Foreign Affairs, as it in truth does,
and rs the notice then pending in the House, or
Committee of the Whole on the state Of the Union,
| in separate resolution, and negotiations were
also in progress between the two governmt nis, the
the chairman very properly passed on with but little
more than bare alluson to il. And my honorable
friend had read the beginning Of the very next
| paragraph to the one quoted by him, he would have
seen that the report proceeded to say, "in conerOn
,o This branch of the subject, &C." and states that it
was then understood that negotiations in pro-
gress between the governments, and connected that
fact as reason, il not the principal reason with the
doubt expressed to the nature of the question
why he declined its investigation. There is an
other fact to which he should have referred, and
,yb;ch he shnuld have stated i'm Justice Governor