Ост. 14, 1837.]

Mr. THOMPSON strongly opposed the bill, and expressed his determination to defeat it, and moved that it be laid aside.

Mr. PHILLIPS said a few words in its support. Mr. OWENS moved that the committee rise, and report the Seminole war bill, which was agreed to; and that bill having been engrossed, was read the third time and passed. DEPOSITE BANKS.

On motion of Mr. JOHNSON, of Louisiana, the bill from the Senate "for adjusting the remaining claims upon the late deposite banks" was taken up.

Mr. J. moved to amend the bill by striking out the clause granting the deposite banks four, six, and nine months, and by inserting the following: "The first instalment to be paid on the first day of July next, the second on the first day of January, 1839, and the remaining instalment on the first day of July, 1839." Mr. J. explained the important services rendered to the Government by the two deposite banks in the city of New Orleans, and the strong claims they had upon the Government for indulgence, and exhibited a statement showing the millions which had been transferred, by order of the Secretary of the Treasury, from other points to the said banks in New Orleans, and paid there. He remarked that those banks would probably sustain immense losses by remittances in exchange to points designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consequence of the protest of the greater portion of them. Had the bills so purchased and remitted been paid, nearly the whole debt due to the Government would have been extinguished. They were drawn, he said, on houses believed to be perfectly good at the time, and would have been punctually paid but for the recent pressure, which had created such a convulsion in the commercial affairs of the country. Notwithstanding those losses, however, the banks, he said, are now prepared, and always have been, to pay the whole amount due by them, in such funds as they received in deposite.

Mr. J. contended that, independently of the claims of the deposite banks upon the Government for indulgence, it was due to the people that it should be granted; that, by pressing the banks, a pressure would be created upon the people. He was decidedly opposed to the amendment presented by his colleague, [Mr. GARLAND,] as well as to the one offered by the gentleman from New York. They were both calculated, if adopted, to operate injuriously.

Mr. POPE and Mr. ADAMS severally opposed the bill; when the amendment was agreed to: Yeas 77, nays 54. Mr. CAMBRELENG said, to put an end to this matter, he moved the previous question.

Mr. UNDERWOOD inquired, before he could vote for it, if the banks were required to pay interest.

Mr. CAMBRELENG replied in the affirmative. The previous question was then seconded, and the main question having been ordered, the amendment was concurred in; and the question being on the final passage of the bill, Mr. WILLIAMS, of North Carolina, said he was totally opposed to this bill in every shape and form; and, therefore, he asked for the yeas and nays, but they were refused.

Mr. BELL opposed the bill, and demanded some explanations, as to its details, of the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, which were given. He then suggested, as the best mode of disposing of the subject at so late a period in the session, to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to suspend all legal proceedings against the banks referred to in the bill, until the next session of Congress. He considered the bill to be loosely drawn, containing no provision for the case of those banks against which suits had been actually instituted.

After a few words from Mr. MARTIN, the question was taken on the passage of the bill, as amended, and decided in the affirmative.

LIBRARY

OF THE

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GENERAL APPROPRIATION BILL-AMENDMENTS THERETO.

On motion of Mr. CAMBRELENG, the House then resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, (Mr. BRIGGS in the chair,) and took up the amendments proposed thereto by the Senate. There were three.

The first makes appropriation of $25,000 for the printing and binding of certain documents ordered by the Sen

ate.

The second provides for an additional appropriation of $2,000, for extra clerk hire in the office of the Solicitor of the Treasury, under laws passed at the present session of Congress.

The third authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to settle all outstanding Treasury dafts or transfers on the deposite banks, under the deposite act of 1836, such drafts or transfers to be received at par in the payment of debts, without allowance of interest or damages thereon.

Mr. GARLAND, of Louisiana, made objection to the second proposed amendment; and, by consent, the other two amendments were first taken up, and concurred in by the committee.

The second amendment being then exclusively under consideration, after some remarks from Messrs. JOHNSON, of Louisiana, and THOMPSON, the proposition was rejected: Yeas 67, nays 62.

On motion, the committee then rose, and reported the amendments to the House. And the question being on the concurrence of the House with the Senate in the proposed amendments, (the question being taken on them severally,)

Mr. WHITTLESEY, of Ohio, demanded some explanation as to the first amendment, calling for an additional appropriation of $25,000 for certain printing and binding.

The Clerk read several resolutions of the Senate authorizing the printing of certain documents relating to the cession of the District of Columbia to the United States, and other subjects; and, after some remarks from Messrs. CARTER, MENEFEE, CUSHING, and DUNCAN, the amendment was concurred in.

Mr. CUSHING then asked for some information in regard to the third proposed amendment; and whether the provisions it contains were intended to reach, or to apply to, any particular case?

Mr. CAMBRELENG made a brief reply.

The first and third amendments of the Senate were agreed to, the House non-concurring with the second. A motion to adjourn was here made, and lost.

THE NEW YORK FIRE BILL.

Mr. CAMBRELENG moved that the House go into Committee of the Whole on the bill to relieve the owners of goods destroyed at the great fire in New York from the payment of duties thereon. And this motion was lost by a vote of 66 yeas to 70 nays.

HOUR OF MEETING ON MONDAY.

Mr. WHITTLESEY, of Ohio, asked the consent of the House to offer a motion, that when the House adjourn it be to meet on Monday, at 7 o'clock A. M. (Cries of No! no! from all sides.)

Mr. WHITTLESEY named 8 o'clock A. M. (Cries of No! repeated.)

A gentleman from Georgia named 9 o'clock A. M. (Same cries.)

Mr. WHITTLESEY demanded the suspension of the rule, to enable him to make the motion: this motion requiring a vote of two-thirds, prevailed-Yeas 112, nays not counted; and the motion to meet at 8 o'clock on Monday morning was carried.

Another unsuccessful motion was then made to adjourn.

Several enrolled bills were presented, and signed by the Speaker.

Mr. DUNCAN, on leave, had the record of his vote on the motion to lay the motion to reconsider the vote on the sub-Treasury bill this day, changed from the affirmative to the negative.

Mr. CURTIS made another unsuccessful attempt to prevail on the House to go into Committee of the Whole on the New York fire relief bill.

THE DEPOSITE BANK ADJUSTMENT BILL, AS AMENDED.

The Senate, having concurred in the amendment proposed by the House to this bill, proposed a further amendment, declaring that the default referred to in the bill shall be understood to be a failure of any of the deposite banks to pay the drafts of the Treasury; and that such bank be charged six per centum per annum interest on such drafts for the time of default.

Messrs. MCKAY, POPE, and GRAVES, made a few remarks upon the proposed amendment; and

Mr. LOOMIS, of Ohio, moved to lay the whole bill on the table; which motion was lost.

Mr. GRAVES thought the amendment partial and oppressive in its provisions, and was making some remarks to that effect, when he observed that he should suspend them, until the Chair had finished his conversation with

another member.

The SPEAKER said it was usual for the Chair to answer such questions, in regard to the pending business, as any member chose to come to the Speaker's table to propound; that he was doing this then, and could not be expected to look intently on every gentleman who addresses the House.

Mr. GRAVES thought the Chair could not attend to individual members of the House and to the business of the Chair at one and the same time.

The SPEAKER called the gentleman to order; and Mr. GRAVES proceeded with his remarks. He wished the amendment proposed to be so modified as to be uniform in its application to all the deposite banks.

Mr. LOOMIS, of New York, reviewed the course the debate had originally taken upon the proposed amendments, and upon the different propositions, as made by himself and others, and the action of the House upon the same. He thought the bill had better not pass in the form proposed by the Senate, but should rather, for the present, be postponed, and brought forward hereafter in a more digested form. Mr. L. closed his remarks by moving to postpone the further consideration of the bill until the first Monday in December next.

Mr. POPE said he had conceived that there were two objects for the convention of Congress at this session: the first was to relieve the mercantile distress of the country; and the second, to devise such means as would relieve the banks, and enable them to resume specie payments immediately. He was in favor of such action on this bill as would accomplish the latter object most speedily.

Mr. CAMBRELENG reminded the House that it was then ten o'clock at night, and that the proposition before them was the only one impeding their progress.

Several gentlemen expressed opinions favorable to immediate action on the amendment, and Mr. GRAVES hoped that the gentleman from New York [Mr. LooмIS] would withdraw his motion; which suggestion was complied with by the latter.

The question being on concurrence with the Senate in their amendments,

Mr. WISE called for a count, which was ordered, and it appeared that the House was without a quorum. A motion being made to proceed with the consideration of the subject before the House,

[Oct. 16, 1837.

Mr. WISE would not consent to act on a matter so important in that state the House. Here were some 80 members doing the business, to transact which 240 had been sent! Nor was there a quorum in the Senate, either; and on a bill like this! at a distress session, too! He could not consent to it.

Mr. HOWARD moved that the House non-concur with the Senate in its proposed amendment, with a view to a conference between the two Houses.

Mr. LEWIS remarked that there was neither a quorum in the Senate nor in the House.

Mr. ADAMS said, the House can neither concur nor non-concur. It was then Sunday morning, he observed, and he would move that the House adjourn. But he withheld this motion until the question on concurring was put, when it appeared (by a count of tellers) that there was no quorum present, 61 voting in the affirmative, and 22 in the negative. Mr. McKIM moved that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. WISE. Let us see who the members are who do not choose to adjourn under these circumstances. I call for the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered; and the vote stood: Yeas 38, nays 50.

Mr. CAMBRELENG then said that it would be subjecting the members present to too much inconvenience to keep them here during the tedious process of a call of the House, so late at night. But, if the officers of the House do their duty, a quorum may be kept on Monday, when he hoped to see such an attendance as would result in the transaction of the public business.

Mr. THOMAS suggested that it was better to pass a vote of non-concurrence, which would leave this question just where it was, when many members went home, believing that no further action would be had upon the bill before the House.

Mr. HAYNES could not consent to do business with the knowledge that there was no quorum present. Before any question could be entertained, the presence of members must be compelled.

Mr. LEWIS. Let us have a call of the House, then, and compel the attendance of members.

Mr. ADAMS would not consent to act upon any question without a quorum. This bill he considered as the price of the deposite postponement bill, passed this session by Congress; and a measure of too much importance to be acted upon in that state of the House. He would sit there till Monday morning, if required, but he, for one, would not do business with only eighty members present.

Mr. HAYNES said he was convinced nothing could be done that night, and he therefore would move an adjournment.

This motion prevailed, without a division, and the House adjourned, at half-past 1 o'clock on Sunday morning.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16.

DEPOSITE BANK ADJUSTMENT BILL. The House met at eight o'clock, and a quorum being present, proceeded to business.

The question being on concurrence in the Senate's amendment to the bill extending indulgence to the deposite banks, (declaring the time at which payment of interest on balances due shall commence, viz. from the date of any default or neglect to pay any draft or requisition of the Treasury,)

Mr. HAYNES said a few words on the amendment in relation to its application only to banks which had been delinquent. This excluded from the provisions of the bill entirely those which had not been drawn upon at all.

Mr. ADAMS spoke with warmth in opposition to the bill and amendment. Its provisions having reference to

the first section of the bill, would, in effect, apply not to banks which were delinquent, but involved the absurdity of applying it only to banks which were not delinquent. Mr. A. said he had demonstrated this at a previous sitting, to the conviction, he believed, of every one who had heard him. The chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means had not so much as attempted to answer the argument. And Mr. A. now declared, in the presence of this House, that if this bill was to go forth to the nation with that section in it, it would be a disgrace to our legislation. The first section of the bill extended relief to those banks only which were not delinquent; and, as the amendinent had reference to the same banks, it would, in fact, have no operation at all, unless from a constructive power in the Secretary of the Treasury, and a fraudful application of it to such banks as were delinquent. If the obstinate perseverance of the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means in forcing this bill through the House with this obvious absurdity on its face was to succeed, it should not be at least without opposition on the part of Mr. A. He would read the first section once more, and would demonstrate, a second time, that it had reference only to banks which were not delinquent. Let the chairman, cried Mr. A., answer me, if he can. [Mr. A. here read the section referred to.] What a power, said he, is here given to the Secretary of the Treasury! The power of selecting and discriminating between bank and bank, at his pleasure; of refusing to ap ply the benefits of the act to any bank he chose; for, he might reply to its application for relief, "You have not complied with the requisitions of the Department, and there fore you cannot be relieved." While, when a similar application was made by another bank which he wished to favor, he might pass over the matter in perfect silence and grant the request. It gave him the power of a double construction; and under that power he might select any bank he chose to ruin, and any other he chose to save, and apply the one construction or the other as best suited his purpose. It carried either fraud or absurdity upon its face.

Mr. A. then went into a recapitulation of what had passed in the House on Saturday in relation to the bill, characterizing the amendment offered by Mr. Loomis, of New York, as proposing nothing but simple, rigorous, abstract justice to the States which had been injured by the postponement of the deposites, by requiring that the banks of those States which held large amounts of money which would but for that postponement have gone to other States, should pay legal interest for its use. The subsequent amendment offered by Mr. JOHNSON, of Louisiana, he referred to as a consummation of the bargain which, he said, had been, with so much decency, consummated in the face of the House between the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means and certain gentleman from Louisiana, whose votes he wanted to pass his postponement bill.

Mr. RICE GARLAND here interposed. Does the gentleman refer to me?

Mr. AJAMS. I refer to no individual whatever.
Mr. R. GARLAND.

iana referred to?

Am I the gentleman from Louis

Mr. ADAMS. I did not allude to him more than to other gentlemen coming from those States where this money lies. I had no particular reference to one of them more than to another.

Mr. CHAPMAN. I am the only other member from Louisiana. I made no bargain of any sort about the matter. I have been no devoted friend to the measure from its inception to its consummation. The gentleman, therefore, cannot refer to me.

Mr. ADAMS. I did not allude to that gentleman-far from it. I am fully aware that he preferred that the bill should not pass. I would to God that all the gentlemen coming from the States most interested could say the I repeat that the bargain was pointed out by the

same.

[H. OF R.

gentleman from Georgia, [Mr. DAWSON,] and a gentleman from Missouri, at the very time it took place; and, I say further, that I take this amendment to be the consummation of that bargain. When it was proposed, in committee, that the bill to postpone the deposites should be laid aside until this bill for the relief of the banks should first be acted upon, the chairman of the committee did openly pledge himself, when resisting that arrangement, that those banks should be liberally dealt with: and here we have the fulfilment of that pledge. Is it in order to refer, in the

Mr. CAMBRELENG. House, to what passed in Committee of the Whole? The SPEAKER was replying, when Mr. ADAMS said he hoped the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means would not be suffered to put him down. He should declare the disgraceful scene, whatever interest that gentleman might have in shut ing his mouth.

The CHAIR here pronounced it wholly out of order to refer, in the House, to what had been said or done in Committee of the Whole.

Mr. ADAMS then said he would put a case, and would suppose that certain facts had transpired-not here, but in another legislature-in the moon, if gentlemen pleased. He then repeated what he had before stated as to the history of the amendments to the bill. When the amendments were still pending, the objections all urged, and none of them answered, the bill had been laid aside, other bills had been taken up, when the committee rose and reported progress on the whole. Immediately thereupon, it had been moved by a member from Maine, that the Committee of the Whole he discharged from the further consideration of this bill; the effect of which was to cut off the amendment of the gentleman from New York, [Mr. LooмIS.] The amendment of the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. JOHNSON] was then offered, and instantly on its adoption the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means sprang to his feet and demanded the previous question, and the bill was thus passed almost by acclamation.

Now the bill came back from the Senate with an amendment, which would render the whole either a palpable absurdity, or else an instrument of fraud. And this was the way in which the business of this whole session had been conducted-a session which had been called for the purpose. of organizing an entirely new system of finance for the country. The House had sanctioned a series of measures all tending to this object; but the most pernicious and cruel of them all had, he thanked God, been laid upon the table. At least a respite had thus been afforded to the nation, a breathing spell, before it had imposed upon it that state of servitude which the system, if successful, would not have failed to fasten upon it. He now said, openly, in the face of the House, that, whenever objections, however strong, had been urged against the system of measures which had originated in the Treasury, with the exception of a few paltry amendments proposed by the chairman of the Finance Committee, that gentleman had no other recourse against them but to call upon his party to "toe the mark ;" that had been his answer, and his whole answer, to every argument. That had been the history of the session. The chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, the minister of the Executive, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was here to carry into effect the rescripts of the Treasury Department, had no other answer to any objections, either in gross or in detail, than this cry of "toe the mark." Mr. A. had asked of him what part of this bill applied to delinquent banks? What it was that by the bill the United States gave up? And he had been utterly unable to answer; yet, from his official situation, it was his place to answer inquiries put to him in relation to the public measures he brought forward. His only reply had been to get the bill laid aside, to consummate his bargain, and then to call the previous question. Such had been his course

throughout; and Mr. A. could not suffer the session to come to a close without exposing and denouncing it to the country. Had the system originated in Heaven, (which seemed to be the very contrary place to that in which it did originate,) questions of a relevant nature, and properly presented, might be asked of him who brought it into the House; and it was his official duty to respond to them, and to give his reasons, if any he had; but nothing of this had been done at all. He had got the deposite postponement bill passed, after attempting to force it through the House in its original form, by admitting the minimum amendments, and excluding every other.

The CHAIR here admonished Mr. A. that the deposite | bill could not now be discussed; it was not before the House. Mr. ADAMS. I consider each and all of these bills as part and parcel of one system, and therefore

The SPEAKER. This is a question of concurrence with the amendment of the Senate to a different bill. It has no connexion with the deposite law; and it is out of order to discuss that law at this time.

Mr. ADAMS. Does the SPEAKER deny that these measures constitute one system? Does he decide that this bill and amendment are not part of that system?

The SPEAKER. The CHAIR is not called to decide that question. This is not the deposite bill. And the deposite bill cannot now be discussed.

Mr. ADAMS. I was not discussing the deposite bill. I was connecting the other measure with that now before the House. I was showing its connexion with this bill and amendment. They are so connected that they cannot be separated; and I was deriving an argument against concurring in this amendment from external objects, and thẻ anti-deposite law among others.

The SPEAKER here said that, if it was the object of the gentleman to connect it with the present subject, and there could be shown to exist such a connexion, it would be in order to introduce it; but the CHAIR could perceive no connexion. He would leave it to the judgment of the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Mr. CAMBRELENG said he did not hear the decision of the CHAIR. If the gentleman from Massachusetts was out of order, he hoped he would not be permitted to pro▾ceed.

Mr. ADAMS. Well, since what I was saying is so exceedingly disagreeable to the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, and apparently to the SPEAKER of this House, I will sit down.

The SPEAKER. It is not disagreeable to the SPEAKER. He has no desire to interrupt the gentleman from Massachusetts; but the CHAIR must discharge its official duty. Mr. ADAMS. I have no doubt of the disposition of the SPEAKER to discharge his duty as he understands it;" but, unfortunately for me, the SPEAKER understands it in a different way from what I do.

Mr. CAMBRELENG rose to order. When a member was called to order by the CHAIR, and was manifestly out of order, and was ordered to take his seat, was it not his duty, under the rules of the House, to take his seat? and could he again proceed without the leave of the House?

The SPEAKER said that, when a member was so repeatedly out of order as to be directed by the CHAIR to take his seat, the rule was as the gentleman from New York had stated. But, in the case of the gentleman from Massachusetts, the CHAIR had abstained from interposing by an absolute command, as he was empowered by the rules to do. And the gentleman was, therefore, at liberty to proceed if he confined himself to the subject before the House.

Mr. ADAMS. Out of tenderness to the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, I will say no more.

Mr. CAMBRELENG. All I shall say in reply is, that as that gentleman has referred, in his supposititious case, to

[Oct. 16, 1837.

a council in the moon, I should consider the gentleman himself as very fit to be a member of such a council. I demand the previous question.

Mr. LINCOLN here moved to lay the bill and amendment on the table. And, as by the rules, this question takes precedence, the question was put upon laying on the

table.

Mr. RICE GARLAND hoped the motion would be withdrawn, that he might have an opportunity of replying to the very unjustifiable attack made by the gentleman from Massachusetts upon the members from Louisiana.

Mr. LINCOLN declined; and the question was thereupon put to the House, and decided in the negative The call for the previous question was seconded: Ayes 87, noes 37.

The previous question was agreed to: Ayes 92, noes 32. The main question, on concurring with the Senate in their amendment to the bill, (as above stated,) was then put, and carried by yeas and nays, as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Alexander, Heman Allen, John W. Allen, Anderson, Andrews, Atherton, Aycrigg, Beatty, Beirne, Bell, Bicknell, Biddle, Birdsall, Boon, Bouldin, Brodhead, Bronson, Bruyn, Cambreleng, John Campbell, Casey, Chambers, Cilley, Claiborne, Clark, Cleveland, Coles, Conner, Corwin, Crockett, Cushing, Cushman, Davee, De Graff, Duncan, Dunn, Ewing, Foster, Gallup, James Garland, Gholson, Goode, William Graham, Grant, Graves, Griffin, Hamer, Harlan, Harrison, Harper, Hawkins, Herod, Hoffman, Hopkins, Howard, Hubley, Jabez Jackson, Jenifer, Kilgore, Lewis, A. W. Loomis, Maury, Maxwell, McKay, Robert McClellan, Abraham McClellan, McKim, Menefee, Miller, Montgomery, Morgan, Matthias Morris, S. W. Morris, C. Morris, Muhlenberg, Murray, Noble, Ogle, Palmer, Parker, Parmenter, Patton, Plumer, Pope, Pratt, Prentiss, Reily, Ridgway, Rives, Rumsey, Shields, Sheplor, Southgate, Spencer, Stewart, Stone, Taylor, Thomas, Titus, Toland, Turney, Vail, Webster, A. S. White, E. Whittlesey, C. H. Williams, Yell-107.

NAYS-Messrs. Adams, Bond, William B. Calhoun, W. B. Campbell, W. B. Carter, Chapman, Cheatham, Curtis, Davies, Dennis, Edwards, Everett, R. Fletcher, Fillmore, Rice Garland, James Graham, Grennell, Hastings, Haynes, Henry, Holsey, Robert M. T. Hunter, Lawler, Lincoln, A. Loomis, Marvin, Mercer, Naylor, Patterson, Peck, Phillips, Potts, Reed, Russell, C. Shepard, Sibley, Snyder, Stanly, Stratton, Taliaferro, Tillinghast, Underwood, Lewis Williams, Joseph L. Williams, Wise, Yorke-46.

[This decision completed the passage of the bill through both Houses.]

[NOTE. In explanation of the part Mr. ADAMS took in the above debate, he addressed the following note to the Editors:]

Note by Mr. Adams.

Immediately after Mr. ADAMS concluded, Mr. CAMBRELENG moved the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union to lay aside this bill, without taking the question upon either of the amendments proposed by Mr. LOOMIS, of New York, or by Mr. JOHNSON, of Louisiana, and to take up the general appropriation bill. This was accordingly done. That bill was debated between two and three hours, and Mr. CAMBRELENG moved it should be reported to the House. It was so reported, and the chairman [Mr. HOWARD] added that the committee had had the bill for adjusting the balances remaining due by the late deposite banks under consideration, and had come to no resolution thereon. The appropriation bill was then debated, amended, and passed in the House. Just before the House went into Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union again, Mr. SMITH, of Maine, a member of the Committee of Ways and Means, moved to discharge the Committee of the Whole from the further consideration of the bill for adjusting the balances of the banks. This movement had the effect of stifling all further debate in committee, not only on the bill, but on the amendments proposed by Mr. JOHNSON and by Mr. LOOMIS. It was made by Mr. SMITH, doubtless because Mr. CAMBRELENG was aware that, if made by him, it would have been opposed; the committee having taken no order upon the proposed amendments. The motion of Mr. SMITH, probably not understood by the House, passed without opposition. The House went again into Committee of the

Whole on the state of the Union; reported, without debate, a bill appropriating one million six hundred thousand dollars for the suppres sion of Indian hostilities. The House passed it with equal expedition; and then the bill for settling the balances of the banks was called up again. Mr. JOHNSON forthwith presented his amendment, which was to strike out four, six, and nine months, the time allowed by the bill as it came from the Senate, and insert the 1st of July, 1838, the 1st of January and 1st of July, 1839, for the times of payment by the banks of their balances. This amendment was at once adopted, and Mr. CAMBRELENG instantly moved the previous question, thereby depriv ing Mr. LOOMIS of the opportunity of moving his amendment in the House; which amendment was, that the banks should pay interest at the rate of four per cent. per annum upon all balances remaining in deposite with them. By this series of manoeuvres, the promise made by Mr. CAMBRELENG to the members of the debtor States, when the postponement bill was laboring on its passage, that if that bill should pass. a liberal indulgence would be extended to their banks, was faithfully, as to them, performed. The bill was thus driven through the House, with the time for settling the balances of the banks extended, and without even requiring interest of them for the time of defal cation. The manner in which Mr. ARPHAXED LOOMIS's amendment was extruded from the consideration of the House was peculiarly reinarkable. The bill soon came back from the Senate, agreeing to the amendment of the House, (extending the time for seulement,) with an amendment, as follows:

"And the default mentioned in this act, on which interest is to commence at the rate of six per cent. shall be understood to be the neglect or omission of said banks, or any of them, to answer the drafts or requisitions of the Secretary of the Treasury, made on them according to the provisions of the first section of this act."

When this amendment came back to the House, it was near midnight, and there was no quorum of the House present. Mr. HOWARD, of Maryland, moved that the House should non-concur with the amend ment of the Senate, with a view to a conference between the two Houses. The question was taken on Mr. HOWARD'S motion, when there appeared 61 for non-concurring, and 22 against it. No quorum. Mr. THOMAS, of Maryland, observing that, as it appeared from the vote just taken, that there was a large majority of the members present, and a majority of a quorum for non-concurring with the amendment of the Senate, a vote should now be taken, and if a majority of a quorum should vote for non-concurrence, it should be considered as a vote of the House, and it would leave this question just where it was before many of the members had withdrawn from the House.

To this Mr. ADAMS objected; and, at one o'clock, Sunday morning, moved to adjourn, which a majority of the members present refused. The same motion was afterwards made by another member, and the question being taken by yeas and nays, there appeared 38 for, and 30 against adjournment.

A call of the House was moved, but it was apparent that in less than four hours a quorum could not have been collected; and, at a quarter before two in the morning, the House adjourned to meet again at eight o'clock Monday morning.

At that time the rules prescribing the order of business were sus pended at the motion of Mr. CAMBRELENG. The House took up the amendment of the Senate; and instead of the question moved by Mr. HOWARD on Saturday night, that the House should non-concur with that amendment, and upon which the vote had stood 61 to 22, and upon which Mr. THOMAS had urged that a majority of a quorum had voted to non-concur-instead of this, the motion now substituted was to con. cur with the amendment of the Senate.

Mr. ADAMS repeated his objections to the bill; to the promise made by the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, on the 29th of September, at the passage of the deposite postponement bill, that further indulgence should be extended to the delinquent banks, if the postponement bill should pass; and to the indecent inanner, as he thought, in which that promise was performed by the proceedings on Saturday night. While making these objections, Mr. A. was repeat. edly called to order by the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, for referring to what had passed in Committee of the Whole, and the SPEAKER twice decided that the deposite postponement bill, not being now before the House, could not be discussed at this time. Two members from the debtor States, Mr. GARLAND, of Louisiana, and Mr. CHAPMAN, of Alabama, called upon Mr. ADAMS to say whether, by charging the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means with a bargain of further indulgence to the delinquent banks, he meant to allude to them. Mr. A. disclaimed all intention of alluding to any individual. He considered the promise of the chairman of the Conimittee of Ways and Means as a pledge given to the members of the debtor States to purchase their votes for the postponement bill; and the transactions of Saturday night as a redemption of that pledge. Mr. GARLAND earnestly entreated the House to permit him to answer what he considered as a most unjustifiable attack of Mr. ADAMS upon the members from Louisiana, but the House, that is, the majority, would not listen to him. Nothing was more remote from Mr. A.'s intentions than an attack upon the members from Louisiana, both of whom he highly and sincerely respects and esteems. He deeply regretted that the House refused to hear Mr. GARLAND, not only becanso it was Mr. GARLAND's desire to be heard, but because he knew that if the House would hear him, it would give Mr. A. the right and the opportunity, in reply, to unfold, at full length, the two transactions of the evenings of the 29th of September, and of the 14th of October-of the pledge given, and the pledge redeemed. These were memorable

[H. OF R.

and remarked, that it would not only be very useful to be deposited in the library, but, as a statistical work, was absolutely indispensable as a book of reference. He, therefore, asked leave to submit a resolution for the purchase of three hundred copies of the said work, at a price not ex

days in the history of this country, and chiefly memorable as characteristic examples of the means to be used by this incipient administration to influence legislative action. The States, by Executive agency, had already been divided into two classes, of debtor and creditor, and now the creditor States were to be deprived of their fourth instalment by the votes of the members from the debtor States. The debate of the 29th September has never been fully reported. The speeches of Mr. Dawson, of Georgia, and of Mr. SAMSON MASON, of Ohio, signalizing the bargain at the very moment when it was con cluded in the face of the House, have been suppressed.

The bill to postpone, till further order of Congress, that is, forever, the fourth instalment of the deposite, as it came from the Senate, had been forced to the third reading by a vote of 119 to 117. This vote had been reconsidered at the motion of Mr. PICKENS, of South Caro lina, to let in an amendment proposed by him, limiting the postponement to the 1st of January, 1839, which was found indispensable to secure the passage of the bill. It had then, by the application of the previous question, been again forced to the third reading by the meager majority of 118 to 106 votes.

Mr. GARLAND, of Louisiana, then moved that the further consideration of that bill should be postponed to the ensuing Tuesday, to take up, in the meantime, and pass the bill for adjusting the balances with the delinquent banks, on the avowed plea that the bill ought not to be permitted to pass till the banks of the debtor States should have the pledge of a longer indulgence of time than they would have by the settlement bill, as it had come from the Senate.

Mr. CAMERELENG opposed the motion of Mr. GARLAND to postpone the postponement bill, but gave the pledge, for himself, to deal as gen. erously with those banks as circunstances would admit; for, though no friend to the banks, yet he was willing to afford them every indulgence for the sake of the people who were indebted to them.

So says the report of his reinarks in the Globe, very prudently con densing in a few words what was much more largely said in the House. The Globe adds: "Mr. DAWSON and Mr. MASON, of Ohio, designated this as a bargain between the two gentlemen," and made some strictures thereon, and then again very prudently suppresses those strictues. Mr. DAWSON and Mr. MASON did not designate it as a bargain between th two gentlemen. They designated it as a bargain tendered by the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means to the mem bers from the States of the most deeply indebted banks, of longer indulgence of time to those banks as an equivalent for the votes of those members to postpone the payment of the fourth instalment to the creditor States.

That this was the phenomenon designated by Mr. DAWSON and Mr. MASON; and that it was the bargain actually concluded, any one may perceive who will read the remarks of Mr. GHOLSON, of Missis sippi, which are reported at full length, and very correctly, in the Globe. No one can doubt of the bargain, after reading them.

But the consummation of the bargain was accomplished on Saturday evening, the 14th of October. The deposite postponement bill had been sledge hammered through the House, by the previous question and the votes of members from the debtor States, on the 29th of Sep tember. The promised equivalent of every indulgence to the debtor State banks was to be granted on the 14th of October; and it was done. The dexterous discharge of the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union from the consideration of the bank settlement bill, while the amendments of Mr. JOHNSON, of Louisiana, and of Mr. Loomis, of New York, were pending; the adroitness with which the amendment of Mr. JOHNSON, of Louisiana, was then squeezed into the House, and the instantaneous start of the previous question, to cut off the amendment proposed by Mr. Loomis, of New York, were exem. plary specimens of legislative legerdemain. And, although the final amendment of the Senate somewhat discomposed the desperate fidelity of the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means to the redemp tion of his pledge, yet that untoward event was not fairly imputable to him. If he could have kept a quorum together on Saturday night, be would have non-concurred the amendment, and then, at a conference, the Senate would have receded from it. But Monday morning it was too late. If he had non concurred then, his quorum might have chanced to slip from under him while he was holding his conference with the Senate, and so he was obliged to call upon his majority of a quoruin to toe the mark again. Right about face, and vote to concur in that amendment, which on Saturday night they had stubbornly voted to

non-concur.

If the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means could get over his aversion to a discussion upon nouns, pronouns, verbs and adverbs, he might find an edifying text for a lecture upon the literary composition of statute law, in his act for the adjustment of the bank balances, as it now stands among the rolls of the Department of State, signed by the Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate, and by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and approved by the President of the United States. Besides the absurdity in the first section, pointed out by Mr. A., of providing a relief for delinquent banks, by an exclusive application of it to banks not delin quent; banks which have met and shall hereafter meet all the requisitions of the Department: besides this, the last amendment of the Senate has got stowed away in a wrong place. It should have been added to the end of the bill, for it evidently refers to the last clause of the bill; but as it was presented by the Senate as an amendment to an amendment of the House, inserted in the body of the bill, the engrossing clerks seem to have thought that an amendment to an amendment must hold its location with the amendment itself, and could not be trans.