- Jagger
Floods of rain, in successive showers the whole day long— H.R.U.S. The
house are to meet henceforth at ten O’Clock A.M. but this morning after
the reading of the Journal, Mr Taliaferro asked that there
should be a count of the members present and there were but 87. A call
of the House was moved, and on taking the question by yeas and nays,
they were 63 to 66 rejecting the call, but shewing a Quorum present—
After the reports from Committees, Sampson
Mason continued without finishing his critical review of
the majority Report of the duelling Committee; which he scrutinized with
great severity— Cambreleng
interrupted, and finally arrested him by calling for the orders of the
day, and he was so desirous of finishing that he was on the point of cutting
495cutting short his Speech— I intreated him not to
curtail or abridge his remarks, but to wait for another day—which he
finally concluded to do. On Mr Cushing’s Resolution,
Elmore, waved his right to
address the House— M’Kay asked
leave to offer a Call on the Secretary of
War, for an immediate return of the amount of additional
allowance to the Cherokees for their removal proposed by his ultimatum
addressed to their delegation— The rules were twice suspended, first to
receive and then to pass this Resolution which was carried— Committee of
the whole, Howard in the Chair,
on the Bill of Appropriations to suppress Indian Hostilities— Bell moved an Amendment authorising an
allowance of two Millions of dollars more to effect peaceably the
removal of the Cherokees, and with their own consent— Wise made a long and ardent speech upon
the general subject of our policy towards the Indians—exposing
especially the baseness and perfidy of the pretended Treaty of New
Echota— The complaints of the Seneca Indians were incidentally brought
into the discussion, and Filmore had by some unnatural influence been induced to
assume the defence of Schermerhorn’s swindling practices— Townes of Georgia undertook to answer
Wise, but with little success.— Wise resumed and continued his Speech
till near four O’Clock without concluding—frequently interrupted by
Dawson, Legare, Graham, Grantland, Towns, and Downing the delegate from Florida— A Message from the
President was received
containing a Letter from the Governor of
Maine to the Legislature of that State and Resolves
adopted by them relating to the North-eastern boundary— Evans moved that the Message and
Documents should be printed and the consideration of them postponed till
Friday—which after some objection from Cambreleng was carried— Mr
Webster had come in to the House, and had me called from
my Seat to say, that this Message had been received in the Senate— That
it was not satisfactory— That it was desirable that a joint Meeting of
the delegations in both Houses of Massachusetts and Maine should be held
to consult together on the subject, and that a previous meeting of the
Massachusetts delegation would be expedient— I promised to give notice
to the members from the State in the House; and to inform Mr Webster of the time and place for the
first of these Meetings— The House adjourned soon after four— My
Carriage was in waiting— J.
Sergeant and J. P.
Kennedy took seats with me, and I took them to their
lodgings— The rain was falling in torrents.— This Evening, Charles and his wife paid a visit to President
Van Buren—and I had one from