The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1888-03-03
The Maryland and Virginia Claim.

was Styleui mas deem peiore NOhSEesS ioi ioi :.
years. During that time many reports o
committees of both houses have been mad
favorable to the payment of the claims.
In the debates in the Senate the foremos
men of the old political parties have partici
pated, and its payment has been urged b!
Seward, Fish and Wade, of the old Whit
party, and by Mason, Hunter, Pearee ant
others, of the Democratic party. Mr.. Nc
Daniel, of the House, and Senator Under
wood, in 1850; Mr.. Rantoul, of the House
and Senator Brodhead, in 1852; Mr.. Kerr, O
the House, in. 1858; Mr.. Mayberry, in 1884,
and DR.. Shaw, in 1886, and Senator Malone
in 1887, and DR.. Shaw again, in 1888, have
each reported bills for the payment of these
claims. But in all these reports, except those
by DR.. Shaw, the reasons assigned for the
repayment have proceeded mainly from the
language used by both States in making the
loan-the word advance having been used
in the laws as passed by each commonwealth.
While this language was esteemed amply
broad to carry the right of reimbursement,
DR.. Shaw has extended his inquiry beyond
Ine inert lduSudSc vi thSsa"i ohu SSe"D'iSASN
from historical data that the location of the
permanent seat of government on the Poto-
mac was matter of political compromise,
proceeding from considerations of the public
good, rather than from any matters of inter
est to Maryland and Virginia.
When this claim was before the House CON-
mittee of the Judiciary in the 4Sth Congress,
its payment was assaulted by the late Mr.. Po-
land and minority of the committee on the
ground that the ddrdnces by Maryland and
Virginia was "pecuniary argument," which,
in the then impoverished condition of federal
finances, had decided Congress to locate the
seat of government on the Potomac, and that
the inducement which moved Maryland and
Virginia to make the "advance," was the ad-
vantages to be derived by these States from
the proximity of the capital to their citizens,
which, in that period of slow and difficult in
accommodation, was of much greater I'M
portance than it would be at the present time
ofsteam locomotion and electric intercourse
In the 10th Congress the same view was
taken by minority of the committee, and it
was to meet this objection that DR.. Shaw de-
termped to investigate contemporaneous his
tory and expose the fallacy of the alleged
"pecuniary argument.
Mr. Jefferson had designated the Potomac
location as the "sugar plum which sweeten-
ed the ''bitter pilr' of the assumption of the
debts ofthe States, and Chief Justice Marshall,
in his life of Washington, had shown that it
was the union of the friends of the Assump-
ton bill and the Capitol bill, which Mr.. Ham
ilton effected as the best means Of securing
the passage of the former bill, that saved the
Union. But neither of these great authori-
ties, nor any other writer of that time, had
explained why the Potomac site. more than
that on the Susquehanna, had been made the
means of uniting the vote on the Assumption
bill, until the private journal of Mr.. William
Maclay, Senator from Pennsylvania in the
first Congress, was fished out Of the congress
sonal library and the daily record of all that
passed in the Senate during the LIST Congress
brought forth to throw light upon that obscure
chapter in the history of the country. From
this journal DR.. Shaw has extracted all that
related to the debate on the location of the
capital, and shown that the Potomac site was
selected because Maclay and -Msrtis, the
PennsgIyaniar Senators, could not agree upon
any site in that State. The journal shows
that Mr.. Maclay felt strong desire to have
the seat OF government on the Susquehanna,
and that he was defeated by reason of the OPP
position of Mr.. Robert Morris. who was equal
l. L., tl,,E Kali
of the Delaware, or in district around Ger
mantown. The Susquehanna site was selected
by bill which passed the House of Repre-
sentatives, and was agreed TO in the Senate,
Int Germantown was afterwards substituted
in the Senate through the pertinacious efforts
of Mr.. Morris. This amendment was also
agreed to in the House, and thus Congress
actually selected two points in Pennsylvania
the first on The Susquehanna. which was
changed to Germantown, but the act failing
to extend the laws Of Pennsylvania over this
district selected at Germantown, it was amend
ed in the House in that respect and sent back
to the Senate, where il failed to be acted upon.
Thus the matter went over and the bill was
postponed. This was in 1889. The journal
shows that Mr. Maclay raised his warning
voice against yielding the Susqnehanna for
Germantown, and predicted that at the next
session the seat of government would be hxed
ON the Potomac and sure enough, at the next
session, through an arrangement between Mr..
Hamilton and certain members from Pennsyl-
vania, the funding bill, the temporary seat and
the permanent seat of government were united
in two bills, made inter dependent, and the
Assumption bill passed-Philadelp was
given the Temporary capital for ten years, and
the permanent seat of government liked on
the Potomac.
1t does not clearly appear from the journal
of Mr.. Maclay that General Washington, as
has been elsewhere intimated, interposed his
influence in favor of the Potomac whilst the
bill was pending before the LIST Congress; but
It is not improbable that he expressed pre-
ference for its location on the Potomac during
the second session. The Inference is clear
fseps Nj Maelay's journal. that if Mr. Nor
ris had acceded to the vote in favor OF loea-
ting the seat of government on the Susque-
hanna, after the designation of that position
by majority vote in both houses, it would
probably have received the official approval
ofthe President; and If Mr. Maclay had agreed
to Germantown as the seat, it might have
been carried by his vote and influence,
after the return of the bill with the amend
ment as to the Pennsylvania laws. Thus it
is certain that the permanent seat of govern
ment was lost to Pennsylvania through the
disagreement between her Senators.
The Intrigue of Mr.. Hamilton for the As
sumption bill. carried by means of bargain
on the capital bill. is also fully explained by
Mr. Maclay The joHFpai in the entry for
june l4th says:
~ went TO Mr.. Morris's lodgings. Loand hun
somewhat engaged. but the moment he disposed OF
small matter OF business he dismissed his clerk
fold me he was Just going to look for me, ana was
fortunate Ia ms coming in said he had mnch 70 say
bnI some part Of II must be the most entire conn
dence: that on Friday. Jackson Of the Presidents
fsalily. In whom he said be could not have conn
dence had been at Clymer and Fiizspmons iodg
Jugs that Coke, of the Treasury, had been theTei
thst their business was 10 negotiate bargain-the