IV. CHAPTER and thirteen members, but leaving large unrepresented fractions in several of the Northern States. The Senate 1791. sent back this bill so amended as to raise the ratio to Dec. 7. thirty-three thousand, with the avowed intention of di minishing the fractions. In the House, Williamson complained that if this amendment decreased the fractions in the Northern States, it increased those of the South; to which Sedgwick answered, that the ratio proposed by the Senate would produce smaller fractions than any other number, from thirty to forty thousand inclusive, and that the fraction of only one state was increased by it. Boudinot adverted to the advantage possessed by the Southern States in the representation allowed them by reason of their slaves. He would not interfere with the Constitution on that point, but every dictate of justice and equality was opposed to giving any additional advantage to the South. Hillhouse and Ames complained of the unequal operation on the small states of the ratio originally proposed by the House, under which Virginia had as many representatives as six smaller states, which, together, exceeded her in federal population to the amount of seventy thousand, while the five larger states acquired between them seven representatives beyond their fair proportion. Giles, with Venable, the new member from Virginia, replied, that, taking both houses together, the smaller states had a very great preponderance in their favor. The House refused to accede to the amendment of the Senate; but the Senate insisted upon it by the casting vote of the vice-president, and, as the House declined to recede, the bill by this disagreement was lost. A second bill passed by the House adopted the same ratio of thirty thousand, and provided for a new census and a new distribution previous to the termination of the next following Congress. The Senate struck out all IV. that part relating to a new census, and increased the CHAPTER whole number of representatives to one hundred and twenty, by allowing a representation to the larger frac- 1791. tions. The same idea had been suggested in the House; but Madison had opposed it as unconstitutional, on the ground that the restriction of one representative to thirty thousand inhabitants was intended to apply to the states individually, and not to the total number of inhabitants. After a very warm debate in the House, in which threats of dissolving the Union were freely uttered, the amendment of the Senate was disagreed to, thirty-one 1792. to thirty, and a Committee of Conference was asked. March 23. This conference produced no result, and the Senate still insisting on their amendment, the House finally agreed to it, thirty-one to twenty-nine-a vote almost entirely geographical, the North in favor of concurrence, the South against it. The bill having been sent to the president, he took the opinions of his cabinet as to its constitutionality. Jefferson and Randolph thought it decidedly unconstitu tional. Hamilton and Knox thought that matter rather doubtful, but, on the whole, advised to sign the bill. With some hesitation, lest he might appear to be acting under sectional influence, Washington sent back the bill with objections to it, based on the ground of its unconstitutionality; and, upon reconsideration, it was lost, thirty-three votes against it to twenty-eight for it. A third bill was then introduced, which speedily passed both houses, conforming to the original proposition of the Senate for a ratio of thirty-three thousand, thus giving a house of a hundred and five members. At the return of every succeeding ten years during the next half century the precise ratio of representation became a matter of warm discussion, it being scarcely possible to fix on April 5. IV. CHAPTER any number which did not operate unequally on some states. At the end of that period the former decision on 1792. the constitutional point was set aside, and the policy was adopted of allowing representatives to the larger fractions. In providing for the census of 1850, by fixing beforehand the number of the House, an obvious and simple expedient was hit upon for preventing a repetition of tedious and unprofitable contests as to the exact ratio to be adopted. The news of the defeat of St. Clair by the Indians produced so much alarm on the western frontier, that the Legislatures of Pennsylvania and Virginia made provision for raising state troops for immediate defense. A detailed report from the War Department on the state of the frontier, and the origin and progress of the Indian hostilities, having been laid before Congress, a bill was Jan. 21. introduced in accordance with its recommendations, and presently passed (though not without serious opposition from several Northern members, who generally supported the views of the administration), for completing the two existing regiments to nine hundred and sixty men each, and adding three others of equal strength-the additional regiments to be disbanded, however, at the conclusion of the Indian war. The battalion of artillery was to be recruited to its full establishment, and one of the new regiments was to include a battalion of dragoons, the president being authorized to call into temporary service such additional cavalry as might be found necessary. This would give an army of five thousand men and more, to be commanded by a major general and four brigadier generals, provision being made by the bill for three additional brigadiers. St. Clair having resigned, Washington was disposed to give the chief command to Henry Lee, distinguished as a parti IV. san officer in the Southern campaigns under Greene, CHAPTER and lately elected governor of Virginia. But as there threatened to be difficulty in persuading some of those 1792. destined for inferior commands to serve under one who had been their junior in the Revolutionary army, Washington finally selected as major general, Wayne, just ousted from his seat in the House. This appointment, like most other acts of the government, was very unpopular in Virginia, but, as in many other things which Virginia disapproved, the result proved the soundness of Washington's judgment. While he yet retained his seat, Wayne had succeeded in getting through Congress a bill for the relief of Greene's family from the pecuniary responsibilities to which that general had subjected himself through his anxiety to uphold the commissary's department of the Southern army--a bill which did not pass without strong objections from Sumter, who took great offense at some extracts from Greene's letters, contained in Gordon's recently published History of the American War, not quite complimentary enough, as Sumter thought, to the South Carolina militia. The places of first and second brigadiers, declined by Morgan and Willett, were given to Otho H. Williams and Rufus Putnam, among the junior brigadiers of the Revolutionary army. Willett seemed to have scruples about the justice of the war. "The intercourse I have had with these people," he wrote, "and the treatment which I have myself received from them, and which I have. known others to receive, makes me an advocate for them. The honor of fighting and beating Indians is what I do not aspire after." The other two brigadiers were Brooks, of Massachusetts, who had commanded a regi-. ment during the late war, and Wilkinson, late commandant of the second regiment. As this last appoint CHAPTER ment was made with a full knowledge of the imputaIV. tions against Wilkinson, of having been concerned in 1792. intrigues with the Spanish at New Orleans for the separation of Kentucky from the Union, those imputations, it is probable, could not have made much impression on Washington's mind. The subject of St. Clair's defeat was referred, toward the end of the session, to a special committee, with pow er to send for persons and papers. A call by this committee upon the War Department for all the papers relating to the expedition first raised the question of the extent of the authority of the House in such matters. It was unanimously agreed by the cabinet that the House had no power to call on the head of any department for any public paper, except through the president, in whose discretion it rested to furnish such papers as the public good might seem to require and admit; and that all such calls must be made by special resolution of the House, the power to make them being an authority which could not be delegated to any committee. Such was the origin of the form of proceeding, ever since in use, in calling upon the president for public papers. To support the increased army, an additional revenue would be needed to the amount of $673,500. The resistance encountered by a motion to call upon the Secretary of the Treasury to report the ways and means of meeting this additional expense made it sufficiently evident that the distrust of that officer felt by Jefferson was shared by a considerable party in the House. Hamilton's report suggested three ways of raising the money: a sale of the bank stock belonging to the government, a loan, or additional taxes. He objected to the sale of the bank stock, especially as it was every day rising in value, and if sold at all, he thought the proceeds should be applied |