Proceedings.

Speaker of this House, which, with the leave of For Mr. Taylor 62; for Mr. Lowndes 57; for the House, he read as follows: Mr. Smith 15; scattering 1.

A motion was then made that the House doing 3. now adjourn; and the question thereon being put by the Clerk, it was decided in the negative. The House then proceeded to ballot a sixth time; and the votes, being counted, stood thus: For Mr. Taylor 67; for Mr. Lowndes 61; for Mr. Smith 7; scattering 1.

No election having yet taken place, another motion was then made to adjourn, and the vote thereon was for adjourning 65, against it 68.

So the House refused to adjourn, and another ballot was held, which resulted as follows:

This ballot having been also ineffectual; another motion was made to adjourn, but without

success.

The House then proceeded to the seventeenth ballot, which resulted as follows-73 necessary to a choice: For Mr. Lowndes 72; for Mr. Taylor 44; for Mr. Smith 17; for Mr. Sergeant 11.

No election being made, the House went into the eighteenth ballot, when the following result was announced-73 necessary to a choice: For Mr. Lowndes 66; for Mr. Taylor 55; for Mr. Smith 21; for Mr. Sergeant 2.

No one having yet a majority of the votes, the House proceeded to the nineteenth ballot, which resulted as follows-73 necessary to a choice: For Mr. Taylor 66; for Mr. Lowndes 65; for Mr. Smith 14.

This ballot being also ineffectual; a motion was made to adjourn, which motion prevailed, ayes 76-and, about five o'clock, the House adjourned.

WEDNESDAY, November 15.

Several other members appeared, and took their seats, to wit:

From Vermont, CHARLES RICH; from Pennsylvania, GEORGE DENNISON; from Maryland, THOMAS BAYLY; from North Carolina, CHARLES FISHER; and from South Carolina, ELDRED SIM

KINS.

Election of Speaker.

The House, having been called to order at twelve o'clock, proceeded to ballot, the twentieth time, for a Speaker, in the place of Mr. Clay, resigned.

[H. OF R.

Mr. RANDOLPH made it a point of order whether the Clerk had any right to express to the House his opinion of their powers, or to decide for them what was, or was not, in order.

The CLERK declared, that, under the rules of the House, which prescribe the mode of election by ballot, he could not receive this motion. Some brief debate took place on the point of order, Mr. RANDOLPH protesting against what he pronounced an assumption of power on the part of the Clerk, and asserting the right of any member to propound any question to the House through the Clerk, the Speaker's Chair being vacant, or from himself, if he thought proper.

Other gentlemen, Mr. STORRS, Mr. LITTLE, Mr. SERGEANT, Mr. MERCER, and Mr. LIVERMORE, expressed their opinions, and the following rule of the House was read:

"In all other cases of ballot than for committees,

a majority of the votes given shall be necessary to an election; and, when there shall not be such a majority on the first ballot, the ballot shall be repeated until a majority be obtained."

Mr. LITTLE, asserting his right to make the motion, yet, not desiring to prolong discussion in regard to it, waived the moving of it himself. The House then proceeded to ballot the The whole number of twenty-second time. Votes was 148-75 necessary to a choice. The votes were-For Mr. Taylor 76; for Mr. Lowndes 44; for Mr. Sinith 27; scattering 1.

SO JOHN W. TAYLOR, Esq., a Representative from the State of New York, was elected Speaker; and, having been conducted to the Chair by Mr. NEWTON and Mr. MOSELY, ad

dressed the House as follows:

The votes having been counted, it appeared Gentlemen: I approach the station to which your that the number of votes given in was 141-favor invites me, greatly distrusting my ability to necessary to a choice 71. Of which there fulfil your just expectations. Although the duties of were: For Mr. Taylor 67; for Mr. Lowndes the Chair have become less arduous by improvements 65; for Mr. Smith 8; scattering 1. in its practice during the administration of my distheir responsibilities without a firm reliance on your tinguished predecessor, I should not venture to assume the preservation of order must depend in a greater In all deliberative assemblies, indulgent support. degree upon the members at large than upon any efforts of a presiding officer. The forbearance and

No choice having been made, the House proceeded to ballot the twenty-first time; when the result was declared as follows: Whole number of votes 147-necessary to a choice 74. Of which there were: For Mr. Taylor 73; for Mr. Lowndes 42; for Mr. Smith 32.

No choice having yet been made, the House was about to ballot again; when

Mr. LITTLE rose, and, remarking on the extraordinary aspect of the present proceedings of the House; the necessity for choosing a Speaker; the uncertainty, under present appearances, when a choice would be made; the weariness of the House at these repeated ballotings, &c. moved, that the House do come to a resolution, that the lowest on each ballot should be dropped at the succeeding ballot, and that any votes given for such lowest person should not be

taken into account.

The CLERK of the House, after reading the resolve, expressed doubts of the power of the House to pass such a resolution, consistently with the rules established for its government.

decorum which characterized this House in its for

mer session, at a period of peculiar excitement, afford of their continued exercise a happy anticipation. For the confidence with which you have honored me, be pleased to accept my profound acknowledgments. In my best endeavors to merit your approbation, which shall not be intermitted, I can promise nothing more than diligence, and a constant aim at impartiality. I can hope for nothing greater than that these endeavors may not prove altogether unavailing.

The new members having been sworn inA message was received from the Senate, informing the House that a quorum thereof was formed, and that they were ready to proceed to business.

On motion of Mr. NELSON, of Virginia, a similar message was returned to the Senate.

On motion of Mr. NELSON, also, a committee

Missouri State Constitution-Citizenship of Free Colored Persons. [NOVEMBER, 1820. priations for the erection of fortifications shall be so made as to require a less sum annually, by extending the time within which they shall be completed.

was appointed, jointly with such committee as should be appointed by the Senate, to wait upon the President of the United States, and inform him of the organization of the two Houses, and of their readiness to receive any communication he may have to make to them.

Mr. COBB, of Georgia, presented to the Chair stitution of the State of Missouri respectfully report: the following series of propositions:

|

[H. OF R.

abandoned. On the other hand, if Congress shall determine neither to expound clauses which are obscure, nor to decide constitutional questions which must be difficult and perplexing, equally interesting to old States, whom our construction could not, as to the new, whom it ought not to coerce, the rights and duties of Missouri will be left to the determination of the same temperate and impartial tribunal which has decided the conflicting claims, and received the confidence, of the other States.

The committee recommend the adoption of the following resolution:

the resolution therein referred to was read, as This report having been read by the Clerk, follows:

position of an equivocal phrase, and that it would be yet more objectionable, by deciding on the powers of a State just emerged from territorial dependence, that it should give the weight of its authority to an opinion which might condemn the laws and constitutions of old, as well as sovereign States. The committee are not unaware that a part of the twenty-sixth section of the third article of the constitution of Missouri, by which the Legislature of the State has been directed to pass laws to prevent free negroes and mulattoes from coming to, and settling in, the State," has been construed to apply to such of that class as are citizens of the United States, and that their exelusion has been deemed repugnant to the Federal Constitution. The words which are objected to are to be found in the laws of at least one of the Middle States, (Delaware,) and a careful examination of the Whereas, in pursuance of an act of Congress passclause might perhaps countenance the opinion that it ed on the sixth day of March, one thousand eight applies to the large class of free negroes and mulat-hundred and twenty, entitled "An act to authorize toes who cannot be considered as the citizens of any the people of the Missouri Territory to form a conState. But, of all the articles in our constitution, stitution and State government, and for the admission there is probably not one more difficult to construe of such State into the Union on an equal footing with well, than that which gives to the citizens of each the original States, and to prohibit slavery in certain State the privileges and immunities of citizens of the Territories," the people of said Territory did, on the several States; there is not one, an attention to nineteenth day of July, in the year one thousand whose spirit is more necessary to the convenient and eight hundred and twenty, by a convention called for beneficial connection of the States; nor one of which the purpose, form for themselves a constitution and too large a construction would more completely break State government, which constitution and State govdown their defensive power, and lead more directly ernment, so formed, is republican, and in conformity to their consolidation. This much, indeed, seems to to the provisions of the said act: be settled by the established constitutions of States in every section of the Union; that a State has a right to discriminate between the white and the black man, both in respect to political and civil privileges, though both be citizens of another State; to give to the one, for instance, the right of voting and of serving on juries, which it refuses to the other. How far this discrimination may be carried, is obviously a matter of nice and difficult inquiry. The committee do not propose to engage in it. They believe it best, whenever a case occurs which must necessarily involve the decision of it, that it should be remitted to judicial cognizance.

Be it therefore resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of Missouri shall be, and is hereby declared to be, one of the United States of America, and is admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, in all respects whatever.

The resolution was then read a second time. Mr. LOWNDES moved to refer the resolution to a Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, which would put it in the power of the House to act upon it at any time it thought proper. He need not say, that there was no disposition to act upon this subject without full notice to all parties concerned; and if no other person did, he should himself, when proposing to call for the consideration of the report, give a day or two notice of his intention to do so. Whilst up, he took occasion to say, that this report, as indeed all reports of committees, must be considered as the act of a majority of the committee, and not as expressing the sentiments of every individual of the committee. The reference was agreed to.

In this view (which narrows their inquiries and duties) the committee are confirmed, by a consideration of the embarrassments and disasters which a different course of proceeding might sometimes produce. When a people are authorized to form a State, and do so, the trammels of their territorial condition fall off. They have performed the act which makes them sovereign and independent. If they pass an unconstitutional law, and we leave it, as we should that of another State, to the decision of a judicial tribunal, the illegal act is divested of its force by the operation of a system with which we are familiar. The control of the General Government is exercised in each particular case, in support of individual right, and the State retains the condition which it has just acquired, and would not easily renounce. But a decision by Congress against the constitutionality of a law passed by a State which it had authorized the establishment, could not operate directly by vacating the law; nor is it believed that it could reduce the State to the dependence of a Territory. In these circumstances, to refuse admission into the Union to such a State, is to refuse to extend over it that judicial authority which might vacate the obnoxious law, and to expose all the interests of the Government within the territory of that State, to a Legislature A new member, to wit, from Massachusetts, and a Judiciary, the only checks on which have been | BENJAMIN GORHAM, elected to supply the va

FRIDAY, November 24.

Two members appeared and took their seats, viz: from Maryland, THOMAS CULBRETH, and from Virginia, JOHN TYLER.

MONDAY, November 27.

Another member, to wit, from Mississippi, CHRISTOPHER RANKIN, appeared, and took his seat.

H. OF R.]

Vaccine Institution.

[DECEMBER, 1820.

cancy occasioned by the resignation of Jonathan | were induced to accept of a proposition made Mason, also appeared, was qualified, and took his seat.

The engrossed bill to incorporate the Managers of the National Vaccine Institution, was read the third time; and, on the question of its passage

Mr. LIVERMORE, of New Hampshire, moved to recommit the bill, so as to allow of its being amended in one particular, and thus obviating the only objection which he had to its passage. His object was to incorporate in the bill the words "within the District of Columbia." There was not a general agreement of opinion as to the power of Congress to establish corporations to pervade the United States; but there was no doubt of its power within the District, to which therefore he wished expressly to limit the corporate authority proposed to be conferred by this bill.

by Dr. Smith, to establish an institution here in the capital of the country, from whence should issue gratuitously the vaccine matter to such States, counties, or towns, as should subscribe a certain amount for the establishment and en

couragement of this institution; by which means every class in society, the poor as well as the rich, would receive the matter free of expense. In six of the adjacent States $26,000 were subscribed on the 1st day of January last, and no doubt a considerable addition has been made during the present year to that sum. These subscriptions have been made to Dr. Smith, who is the agent for vaccination; and, in the event of his death, without the passage of some such bill as the one before you, would be lost to those who made them with such benevolent views. The bill does not propose to take from the Treasury one dollar, its only object is to withdraw from the hands of Dr. Smith the whole amount of those subscriptions, and place them under the control and direction of six discreet, judicious managers, who are named in the bill, and whose successors are to be appointed by the President of the United States. It has been under the hope of the securing the full benefit of such liberal subscriptions, that I have been induced to advocate the bill, and now ask for the concurrence of the House in its passage.

Mr. BURWELL, of Virginia, was opposed to the recommitment, on different ground from that taken by other gentlemen. He adverted to a construction which had been recently put upon the powers of Congress within the States, (in the case of the lotteries authorized by Congress,) and said that he believed that construction was too absurd to be entertained by many men of sense in this country, and he regarded it as very unfortunate that such a construction had been sanctioned by the names of any men of sense and character. Believing that Congress had not the power to make this law operative within the States, and that inserting the words proposed might, by implication, give countenance to what he considered the most dangerous and absurd construction ever given to the constitution, he was opposed to limiting, by words in the bill, what he considered as already limited by the constitution.

Mr. FLOYD, of Virginia, said, he saw no unconstitutional feature in the bill, which he hoped, therefore, would be permitted to pass as it stood. The object of the bill was to aid in the eradication of the small-pox from our country-an object which all must admit to be not only innocent but laudable. The gentleman who had been most earnest in asking from Congress the passage of this bill, had devoted himself to this object with a perseverance seldom exceeded, and with desirable success. To enable those who took an interest in this matter, to avail themselves of the donations of charitable persons in all parts of the United States, it was necessary that a company should be incorporated, with power to erect the necessary buildings. Mr. KENT, of Maryland, said, the gentleman from New Hampshire appeared to be under some misapprehension in relation to the bill first read. By its provisions, said Mr. K., the National Vaccine Institution is to be established here, and this provision renders unnecessary the gentleman's proposition. It will be recollected by the House that, some years past, the oppointment of an agent for vaccination was authorized by law, with the privilege of frank-power. Within this District, he did not know ing his letters; and, although this measure gave that their power was any thing less than absosome facility in the transmission of vaccine lute. He did not know of any restraints upon matter to the different parts of the country, yet it but reason and a sound discretion. It was a it was found too limited in its effects for the question whether Congress had the power to accomplishment of an object fraught with such extend a corporate authority into the States; incalculable benefits to the community. Hence, and he did not see that the remarks of gentlethe citizens of several of the adjacent Statesmen in favor of the bill had obviated the diffi

Mr. LIVERMORE said he was as friendly to the object of this bill as any gentleman within these walls, and he had no desire to impede its passage. But, he said, Congress have a power within the District which they have not beyond it. They have here the power of exclusive legislation; beyond it, they have not that