The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1859-02-20


Aien, Bates Bcnsinin, Bser brown e'esaa'
Davis poug Iioh Fzpacs, ereen Swim iio"son iverson
yones Lane Mason, iOlk, fSh Reid Rice sac suh saF'
Ssss~Mss.rs Fayard Ben Bright, proderk Chandler, clsrk
Foo Hamn amn.ond Harlan Iunc johnson Of Tennessee
Kennedy King Mallory fsares Seward s'd sm"o"s is'"e'
Mr. WADE moved to take up the homestead bill.
MIR BRIGHT, although friend to that bill felt COM
PEELED TO against the notion lac was hound TO fol
low the lead of the chairman Of the Committee GA Finance
who desired to press the appropriation bill
The question being taken, the motion WAS not agreed
to-yeas "a, nays 31--as follows
rosre shaHas, Clark osmss msss DoS
,aar nnss.es r sS"S ks G r.ss S Rice Seward sAd' ""''
NAYs-Messrs Alien Ihp,e- pyar Bspamn, fxicr Bright,
Brown cesnn Clay clnEman, cr'enen Iav lnch h',paLs
Mason rearcc oik Reid Sebastian shie smith, roo"os sna
coSsrrAn AND paploA,rlc Arpnornrar,os rIlL.
On motion by Mr. HUNTER, the Senate resumed the
consideration of the bill from the House of Representa-
ves making appropriations for the consular and diplo
matte expenses of the for the year ending the
30th of June, 1860.
The question pending the amendment OF Mr..
Puan to strike out all down to the sixteenth line OF the
bill, and insert clause that the bill would read
For salaries extraordinary and minister. penpolen~
Brazil Mexico and China for salaries ministers resident a. rru @
zeriand Rome Iiclnd Denmark sseie Turkey japan yene
ze aud New Granada for salaries OF commissioner 10 inc s
the duties the mission states Naples
s,rdn BY the nnster resident at swtzerinnd;
sion at Belgium by The minister resident a. Holland those o. ne
the resident New Granada those Of The mission AZ
BY resident And oided fur
n That other ambassador, envoy extraordinary minister pen
be entitled compensation during the said fiscal year
Mr. PUGH spoke in advocacy Of his amendment La
the bill reported there glarng errors fox
instance the bill provided for mniter to the Argentine
Confederation and another to Paraguay, which
and the mission If the President chose to confer
increased rank these foreign ministers that
reason why they should have increased pay He would
ask for vote first the first proposition, which only
cut down Prussia and Austria from full missions to sec
ond class missions
Mr.. MASON thought the effect Of the amendment
would be bring the executive and legislative branches
of the into collision In his view the Pres
ident had the sole power to fix the grade of foreign min
listers The only to effect the object which the sen
ator from Ohio had in view would he amendment to
the constitution directly limiting the power Of the Ex
| ecutve in this respect.
| Mr. BENJAMIN doubted whether the senator from
Ohio had taken the most cxpeden course to reduce the
expenses of foreign diplomacy. He would suggest
the better way would BIC to limit the appropriation
done in the early days of the republic, when Con
gress gave the President sum for the diplomatic
expenditures of the government, to be expended in such
missions he might think proper to maintain If the
President should nominate minister of certain rank
for certain country the Senate could not to
firm the appointment the ground that there
law for sending minister of that grade to that coun
try The evil which tho senator sought to remedy could
reached by striking out particular missions but
if the expenditure should be limited to gross sum he
| would vote for that -.t's.
| Mr.. SEWARD remarked that by the law Of nations it
was the duty of the United States to be social nation
and maintain ministers at foreign courts for that
purpose but the constitution gave the President no
to determine the grade of minister's where they
should be sent 1t much the duty OF Congress to
regulate this matter to decide upon the number of
1 Judges and other officers 8 y t+k
Mr. PUGH said that in his judgment the President had
right to appoint foreign ministers without the
authority of Congress than to appoint additional judges
] to the Supreme Court; but this amendment only
confined their salaries The President might appoint
| as many he chose but without salaries. Where
this thing to end According to the doctrine Of the
senator from Virginia, Mr. MAsoS the President had
the power to appoint envoy extraordinary to any petty
government under the that he might choose What
could prevent the abuse of this power He saw no
other way do it than for Congress to declare that they
will only pay the salaries of many ministers and no
Mr. MASON regarded this as clear usurpation of the
authority confdcd in the Executive by the constitution
The amendment says that certain duties shall be per-
| formed by certain officers
! Mr.. PUGH would change the word shall'' to may"
| Mr.. MASON said that g may generally construed
| to mean " shall" in the laws Of Congress.
| Mr.. HALE did not think this amendment would do
any good but he would vote for it because it showed
disposition to do good. ls AiF
| The question being takcn the first clause of the
amendment was not agreed yeas 26, nays 26 ms fol-
! lows
YEAsMesHrs Broderck Chandler Clay Clingman Coaper
cr'snlsn Dixon poote urkee fscndsn Foot Hale Hsr
Seward, shields simmons Trumban, Wade, and wison-ae
NAYS-Messrs. Rger Bright, Brown,
Chestnut, Davis Douglas, Fitch Fitzpatrick Green Gwn, Ham
Houston Hunter johnson Arkansas jones Ml
lory Mason, Rice, Sebastian, sidcll Smith, and Toomts
| Mr. MASON sad that the amendment provided that
the duties of the mission at Ecuador should be discharged
by the minister resident at Venezuela but he would
like inquire of the senator from Ohio how the min
lister was going get from Venezuela to Ecuador The
senator from Florida Mr. MALLonYI who was fa-
iliar with the geography of that country than he
| had informed him that the minister would have to
travel from of these places to the other by the way of
New York
! Mr. sLIDELL remarked that it was evident the sub
ect was not understood, and the amendment had
been printed. He would therefore that this bill be
laid aside with view Of taking up the bill for the
QUESTION of Cuba which the senator from Vermont
| Mr. CoILAMERl had the floor tat8Ff IS
Mr. PUGH said that the just taken indicated the
disposition of the Senate pcrpetuate the present
res of the ministers at Austria and Prussia and uas-
much the first branch of his amendment had failed
he would Withdraw the remainder with the exception of
the last proviso, which prevents the payment OF any
salary to any ministers besides those named in the
| bill
| The question being taken on the motion of Mr. Sill
prIr IL not agreed to- yeas 5, nays 46as follows
tYEAs-Messrs Mallory, sfhei5
NAYS-Mcssrs. Iayard, gicr, Brocrck Brown
Chandler Chesru Clay Clugman, Crtcnden
amin hammond ffsrlan Hunter vcrson Arkansas
johnson of Tennessee, Jones, Kennedy King Polk Pugh
Re Rice Seward, Shields, Simmons, Smith, Toonbs Tumhu
Wade, and wilson-s6.
| Mr.. PUGH modified his amendment so that it would
read follows to add after the 10th line of the bill