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Congress of the United Slates Mouse of representatives. Wcdnefday, Nov. 18. Mr. Quincy. The house will ob serve, that in the Meffege of the Preli•’ dent of the 27th of Ofctober, there is an express reference to his .Proclama tion, rnterdifting our harbors and wa. ters to the Briufh armed vessels, and prohibiting our intercourse with them. According to the mod approved rules of parliamentary proceedings, this pro clamation ought to be laid before the Houle. In Great Britain, whence we draw so many of our precedents, the king lays all proclamations, affe&ing the peace or foreign relations of the kingdom, before Parliament. Such, too, has formerly been the case in this country. ‘lhe celebrated proclama tion of Neutrality, iflued in 17931 was Jaid before Congrefson the brit day of the hellion. It is true that this procla. mation has been pubiifhed in the news papers but that is not official informa tion for this House, But if it was, I, as an individual cf the Koufe, have searched for it in vain. I had expect ed to find it among the documents ac companying the report ofihe commit tee appointed on the fubjeCi of aggrcL fions, but not finding it there, I iubmit to the house the following resolution : Refolvcd, That the President of the Gniied Siates be requeued to caofe to be laid before this Houle, his Procla mation interdicting our harbors and waters to Bririfh armed veffels', and forbidding intercourse with them, re furred to in Hs Meffoge of the 27th of October last. Mr. Crowninfhicld could fee no neceflity for the call, nor couid he dii* cover the objeft of his colleague in w filing to make it. The course was unulual, and he thought unneceflarv. On o her occasions, the President had iflued'Proclamations, which were ne. ver laid before the House, nor called for bv the House. In the case of ihe aggreifion by Whitby, off New York, a proclamation hacl been iuued, but had not been iubmitted to them-. Sq, alio, in the case of the famous vVeflern Conspiracy, a proclamation had been iflued, which had not been laid before the House ; yet in neither of these cases had a call for the proclamation been made. His colleague had cited the pradice in Great Britain—The prac tice in Great Britain could have no in* fluence on that house. lie might as well have cited the practice of Fiance, Get many, or any other country. — But be doubted whether such was the practice in Great Britain. A call was never there made, except on particular occasions, and then it was refuffed or complied will*, as Ministers pieafed.— He bad r;o other objection to the re solution, than that he few no xtcceffity for it. ‘ Mr. A’fton. It is immaterial to me whether the resolution passes or not — but to make the heft of ir, it is making much ado about nothing. Every man can lay his hand to the proclamation •—lt has been published in ail thenewf pacers. But, fays the gentleman, that is not official information. Did not the gentleman come here on the 26th of Ottober, on the ttrength of anew I piper copy of the proclamation ? I imagine be did. I certainly received no other information, and I took it for gianted that it was core£t. This is the ii.lt resolution of the kind ever laid upon our table. —■- Mr. Quincy observed, that the pa per be had req netted was an official document, such as had always been communicated —that the house. had a right to have ii in an official way— 'J hat although it had been pubhfhcd in. the .new {papers, yet that the fame was the cale with President Washing ton’s Pioc arna.ton 1792, and yet ibis Wis no realon for t.iat ‘Brefident for not cornaiunica mg i. to the houtr.— Jt was 10 much a matter oT centric that lie had no doubt it was an accidental ntudinn. ii:s colleague(Mr. Crown• inthiekij had said, that he might find it iu any newfpoper ptibhlhed in this city. He was not in the habit of look ing into thole papers, either lor official duty or official documents. The op pumion to Uas reloluiion was io uti expected and so extraordinary, thru he could not reconcile it tc any general principles prevalent in that house. — Pofiibly an explanation might be found in one or rhofe papers to which his colleague referred. He had, indeed observed, that a motion winch he had made a few days since, and which the House negatived, had been commented upon in a certain deniLpflkial paper, and a general rule of conduct preferib - ed to the members of the, house,? in a very extraordinary Lot them keep a ftendv eye on every e ffort to ensbarras, or -to lead them from the flraight line of correct policy. Let them weigh well ike advice of an enemy before they adopt it. Let them ait as they have done in the prefeat inflance.” tive any Proposition from that quar ter — Vote Him Down. Mr. Quincy said, he would not dis grace the house so much as to i ttimat that members would be influenced b such advice as this ;anu yet lit? couta j scarce conceive it pnffible tha t 1 user i Primer should have the buldnefs to preferibe the treatment which trvmber iliouta give one another on that fi > r —to denounce particular individual to be voted down . if he had not bej.i him more llrength than his own. i - not have referred to it, if’ th extraordinary oppofiiion to a motio like that he had made, had no’ the ap pearance of an attempt to cairy tha determination into execution. Mr. Crowninlhield really did not know wheat his col eagne meant. He had not dropt any exprefiion. which ought to wound his feelings. As to any thing which hal appealed 10 the newspapers, the house could have no thing to do with it. If the newspapers had injured his colleague, there was a proper remedy. Mr. C. said, lie bad no idea of wiih holding info;mation Iron! the koule. His oppufuion to ihe refotation arose foicly from the fubjebi of it being a!, ready known. The executive had pursued the fame course in this that he had in cases of a like nature ;he had caused the Proclamation to bepublifh ed in the National intelligencer, the on ly paper .of an) consequence printed here. That si former president had communicated a copy cf his pr-ocLm-s tion, had not hearing on the case. Pre fident had no weight with him in any case. He could yet fee no necefiuy , for the call. Mr. Harwell did not rife to eppofe the refutation, he was willing that the Proclamation fhoitld be sent to tbctn by the President ; hut the gentleman had expressed his furprize that he did not find that proclamation contained in the report of the committee. The on ly rcafon was that they had supposed it was sufficiently official in the newfpa* pers, and h?d referred *0 them when occasion required, as they would have done to any other authority. He held it a corrett proceeding, that it was the right of any member of that house to call for any Information relative to i ny fubjecl ; he should always favor luch an application ; he therefore did riot rile to oppose the gentleman’s mo tion, but to apologize for the commit tee’s not having reported it. Mr. Dana. The observations ofthe gentleman from Virginia. (Me. Bur well) correspond with that candor, which I have with plea fare observed to charaQerizc him. 1 have no doubt out die newspapers copies of this pro clamation are corvetl > but they are not official information on which this house can att. If this proclamation, like many others, contained no important principles on which the house might be called to aft, -hi official copy might ne dispensed with, hut as it contains important pi maples, which liiay. form the buffs of ettr deliberations on lome points, it certainly ought to be laid be fore us. I apprehend the gentleman from Noitli Catolina (Mr. Alder;) is in a uiiliake as to the mode ol convening | Congress. It is true we are here now < under a newspaper proclamation, but J it is not trie proper course. IVc are here gathered together, as if by the found cf a trumpet, and not one of us can g.vc any evidence ui a conffitu tional cal!. When the extraordinary 1 call was made in 1803, every member ‘ had a letter directed to him by the Se : crctary of State, covering a copy oi the ptoclamatton making the call.— I bis too was the mode adopted during the adminifiration of Mr. Adams, and is certainly the regular way. The house divided on the refolurion 70 in the affirmative —54 in the nega tive. Mr. Quincy and Mr. Burweil were appointed a committee purluant to this refutation. In the|courfe of the I day Mr. Quincy reported that they | lad peif urm and that lei vice and that the ; Frdider.it would cause a copy of the 1 proclamation to be laid before ,the r home tomorrow. j Thursday, Nov. tg* \lr. Milnor moved, that the conri mi.teeof the whole hou>e be discharg-. •t from the farther consideration of* he report of the committee of elect ions >r the petition of |ofliua Barney, vlr. M. faul he made this motion with i view, should it succeed, to move foi a recominitrnent cf that report to the cointniit'.-e of elections. Affe. a defultorv diicuffion ©f fome length, the queffion was taken on the motion to discharge, and carried—77 m the affirmative. The report was then committed to the committee of elections. Thus has the House eon. lamed the greater part of five days on this fubjdd, and it is now no near er a conclusion than the day the peti. •ion was prelented. Mr. Daw lon, Iron the committee •ppotnted on that part of the presi dent’s mtffage which relates to the mi-’ aaiy and naval establishments, report d the following resolutions : hcjolved , That a fura not exceed ing ddl'ais be appropriated for he pur pole of esefcting a national r oundery in the; Ct'y of Washington, for the pur pole of calling ordtiance. lufclved , 1 -hat the Secretary of War be authorized, under the direc tion of the President ol the United States, o fell to such individual (fares as may wish to purchase any aims be longing to th:? Unoed Stares, which nay he fold without injury to the pub lic Cervjce. Committed to a committee of the whole. Mr. Lewis called for the order of -he day on the bill authorifing theerec 'ion of a bridge over the Potomac in the did rift oi Columbia. The houle accordingly went into committee of : the whole cn this bill. After fome ob let vat 10 ns from Messrs. Neilon, Key, Sloan and Lewis, the queffion was taken on the motion to Ur ike out the fit ft fed!ion, and loft—in ihe affirma **.ve -111 ihe negative 78. 1 he committee then proceeded to fill up the blanks—when they had got nearly over, they differed on the a mount of toil tofe, reported progrels and had leave to fit again. The house adjourned till 11 o’clock to morrow. Friday, Nov. 20. Mr. Paik offered the following re- folution : Refolvcd , That a committee be ap pointed to inquire into the expediency of amending ihe ordinance for the go vernment ofthe North Western terri tory, passed the 13* h of Julj, 1787 so far as it relates to the jurisdifction of the taper ior judges of the Miff iff ippi ter riioi y. Referred to a committee of five. Mr. Eppcs presented a petition from sundry inhabitants ofthe City of Wash iugton, praying for an aheration in the af.l of incot poration, so as to give them ’ ward inUead of general elections for members of the city council. Referred to a committee of five. Mr. Park presented a petition from the truffees ofthe Vincennes Univeifi ty, praying that a tax may he impoferi on Salt, manufafclurtd at the United States fait works on the Wabash, and on licenses to Indian traders, the pro l ceed;. of which should be given to said Univetfity. Referred to the committee of cr jm . mrree atid manufatiuics. r I he house refolvcd itfelFinto a com mittee of the whole on the Bxidgs- Bh.l, tlie Blanks were filled up>—-fonie trifling amendments made—the com mittee trofe ind reported, the house concurred, and the bill was ordered to J a third reading on Monday. The house resolved itfelf into a com- * mittee of the whole on the bill allow ing additional com Den tation to the se cretaries of the MifLlfippi, Indiana, Louisiana, and Michigan Territories; the blank was filled up wi.h 1000 dol lars, and concurred in by the house. A motion to adjourn till Monday was loft. Saturday, Nov. 21. Ordered , That the clerk of the house furnifh for the use of the fevcral (land ing committees, and the committee of poll offices and post toads, such maps as rnay be required by them relpec ’ tivelv. Ordered, That the clerk furnifh the several landing committees with co pies of Gray don’s Digest of the Laws jg of the U. States. \ The house resolved itfelf into a com mittee of the whole on the report of the committee to whom was referred be petition of James Jay. There* port concluded wiih a refoiution au thoiifing the president to purchase the right to use a secret mode of correfi. poiwVnee invented by the memorialiit in England during the revolutionary war. This system of correspondence has been declared extremely ufeful by general Wa&ingtoru On the queftiom of agreeing to the report of the felefifc committee, a difeuffion of fome length ensued. The report was opposed on the ground, that this was a secret of which the house could know nothing—• that it w r ent to authorife the president to expend the public money, on aa objetfc of uncertain utility—on a sub jett at any time to be destroyed by J the inventor himfelf, or to be detefled ‘ by a chemical analysis.—That the pre. sent tc.obe of correspondence betweea the government and its agents was found to answer every requisite pur. pofc, and it would therefore be a ufe* Ids expenditure of the public money. The report was supported on the ground, that ‘here was every evidence which could be required, that the in. vention o f the petitioner was a ufeful one, that it could not be fully explain, ed to the howfe, without defffoying us utility, which confided in its fecre cy—tha-t -there could he no danger ir* entruftmg the p-efident with the dis cretion proposed to be given him, and if the hou'e feared that too large a p/ici; would be given for this inven tion, they could limit the president in the hill. The report of the seLet committee was supported by Mesars. Upham, Cook. Da ra, Quincey, and Sloan ) and opposed by Messrs. J. Clay, Gardiner, B. R. Wil liams, Taylor and Burweil. I he report was adopted in committee of the whole, and their report was imme diately taken up the house. The avs awd noes were called for on the question of concurrence with the committee ofthe whole, when the subject was farther di cussed. The of concurrence seas carried— a\es 54—noes 53, and 3 committee of five appointed to bring in a bill. Mr. Quirteey presented a petition from sundry inspectors of rhe ofthe port of Boston, praying for an augmenta tion of their salaries.—>—/?eferred to the committee of wavs and means. Mr. Van Cortlaodt presented the pe tition of Peter Landais, representing tha c he had rendered important services to this country during the revolutionary war, iu capturing a number of the enemy's ves sels, for which he had never received anp compensation, except £4OOO allowed hinx in part at last session, and praying tor ftv*> ther compensation.—•Tieferre.ii to tbfc com mittee of claims. Some other petitions., of trtnor impor tance, were presented a nd referred. ‘i he house adjoined till Monday, U o’clock. ’ WoD'day, Movember 23. On motio' i)o j Morrow, a committee was ins'ir clt£ j to fcn q U i re into the expedi ency oi allowi pi naions to those mein bcrß° . the *.<l l liTia, or of volunteer corps, wbr , have oeen wounded in defending tha w cstern. frontiers. A Hill allowing additional eompcotu tion r 0 the secietaiies of the Mississippi, Indii a na Louisiana and Michigan I'ernto ries wa4 rea d a third time and passed. The third reading of the bill author:. *1 aji he ertdion oi a bridge over the po * uuac, in the district of Columbia, was ta ’ am up- Mr. Nelson moved for Us rc qammututat w a select committee, tor