The true Democrat., 1855-03-07

of the committee on finance hope will stata. the Senate Ii such be the case But avo, o there were necessity for passing it immedia." ly, should vote against retaining it in tbis I;T because l do'not believe that it has nronorI' any business here. This is not the nIacdP sV such appropriations. They have never bno ior put here, and they never ought to ba 'pvn ra here. put
 Mir. Hunter. MT. President should roo... to see this appropriation stricken out. W. om know that this was matter of great controvo. sy at the last session in the House of Renroso+ tatves, and Ishould not desire to see that SUI ject mooted there again. There is a necoos;. for some appropriation, and for this appronr;S: ton, III order to carry on the work in tha o,' tenton of the capitol. It might, perhaps bo~. been we'll if it had been introduced in ano4hoe bill; but still, it seems to me- that is too sn,on matter to justify us in striking out tbo nn proprlation now; and re-opening the subject fp. discussion. 1 presume the reason for insert;nI the appropriation here is, that the work is 1ro der the charge of an engineer and that ena neer belongs to the war department. WIZ this was done originally, it is hardly wor.i while now to explain. Ibelieve that arraUra Oa.1 ment has worked we'll. think we have se"r good fruits arising out of it. It was not douu un from any idea, as the Senator from Arkanaao no seems to suppose, that the secretary of ,~as was peculiarly lit to manage such matters. hut because It was believed that the engineer ubo had charge of 1t was managing it well; and in. asmuch as he belonged to the war department the appropriation, l suppose-I never inquired the reason-was put into this bill.
 Now sir, do not think that the vain effort to preserve congruity in the index to our laws would be sufficient reason for strikinp tb;p appropriation out of the bill That evil has gone so far; the subjects which have been in. cluded ln the various appropriation bills have been so multifarious, that think, we should not remedy the evil much by striking out this particular appropriation. 1 should be glad therefore, if my friend from Arkansas would permit 1t to remain. do not think it can lead to any mischief and it may save us some trou- ble. l know that he feels the necessity for continuing this building; and I do not suppose he desires to reopen the discussion, in the Se- nate or the House of Representatives, upon that formerly much-vexed question of civil and mi lltary superlntendence. l am sure 1 do not wish to see It re-appear either there or here. hope, sir, that the clause will be retained.
 Mr. Cass, MT. President, there is much justice in the objection stated by the honorable Senator from Arkansas. have had some oc caslon lately to revert to the earlier statutes of the government and 1t is singular what simpli- city there IS pervading them all. You can tell, from the very title of bill passed in those days, almost everything that is in it. Now you know nothing of the contents of sta- ute by its title. The most heterogeneous ob- Jects are brought together; and those unwilling to vote for all of them are compelled to vote agalnSt the whole measure, or to hazard losing very important propositions which they would desire to see carried. If this were a question of first instance 1 should agree with the Sena- tor from Arkansas; but, as has been well said by the Senator from Virginia, here is the ap- proprlation i'll this bill, and 1 can see no parE- cular propriety in striking it out. I do not suppose that at this time of day we can change the plan for the buildng
 By way of illustrating the tendency to which have referred, l may allude to the fact, that the honorable Senator from Illinois Is about to propose, as an amendment to this bill, pro- position for the increase of the army. It should not be here. This is bill of appropriations to carry into effect existing laws. The question involved in the proposed increase of the army IS a very grave one, and it should not be in this bill. l am not opposed to the measure in itself, but doubt the propriety of inserting it in this bill, though do not suppose that any thing l can say will prevent its insertion. merely mention it as an illustration.
 | l rose principally, sir, to say that, some time since, when this bill was referred to the con- mittee on finance, 1 stated that, when the sub ject came up for consideration, I should ask the chairman of the committee on public build ings, my honorable friend from Delaware. CMr. BAYARD, some questions in relation to the probability Of accomplishing the three great objects of light, hearing, and means of heating, Tn the new chambers for the Senate and the House of Representatives Since then I have seen the superintendent of the work, very in- telllgent man, and most excellent officer; and although have doubts great doubts. about the result, q state 1t here, and l am willing that it shall go on record that 1 have doubts about the result,) l have satisfied myself that the build- Ing has made such progress that 1t will be a- most impossible now to make any alteration. have doubts whether you will be able to hear in that building, and those doubts are confirmed by the experience of the whole world. Architects sacrifice everything to beau- ty. They appeal to the eye, and not to the ear; and 1t never seems to enter into their heads that the first object of room is, that it shall be such as to allow hearing. Such a building as this presents great problem, and that pro- blem is, simply, how you are to hear every where anything that may be spoken anywhere. It IS not like church, wfcre the pulpit is in a particular place, nor like a room with French tribune, where you can stand in one place, and can be heard distinctly all over the room; but you are to hear distinctly from any portion of the room; and, in my judgment, nothing but the greatest simplicity and Restitution of orna- ments, plain walls, no arches, no domes, will remedy the difficulty. I do not know that it can be reached in this building.
 l understand that the experiments made on this subject lately, by the British government, have cost them upwards of million of dollars. They have been changing and rechanging their plans and do not understand that the objects have yet been attained there Sir, it really does appear to me, looking at the present building, that It has, as the poet says,
 Windows that exclude the light, And corridors that lead to nothing
 Here we have lamps burning in the middle of the day, in all the corridors through which we pass to reach this chamber It is a shame to have such building. Irepeat, all is sacrificed 1 to the eye.
 1 Mir. President, it has seemed to me that the