The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, Fifth Congress, [Second Session] Page: 1,241
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1241
HISTORY OF CONGRESS.
1242
March, 1798.]
Imprisonment for Debt.
[H.opR.
and policy required that the same attention should
be paid to their widows and orphans. In case of
danger, he supposed the militia of the country
were principally to be relied upon, and he thought
it would not be good policy to reject a provision
intended for the relief of widows and orphans ot
militia officers, in case they should fall in the de-
fence of their country. He would rather the bill
was rejected altogether than that parnal justice
should thus be done; but he hoped, ,if the amend-
ment was disagreed to, and a conference took
place between the two Houses, the Senate would
recede from this amendment.
Mr. Harper did not think the amendment
ought to be concurred in from a fear of losing the
bill, because, if the Senate persisted in their amend-
ment, the House could afterwards determine whe-
ther they would agree to it or lose the bill.
Mr Gordon was in favor of the amendment
from the Senate. He thought there was a strong
reason why relief should be given to the family
of an officer in the army in preference to an
officer in the militia. When a man went into the
army he gave up all other business, and, of course,
if he fell in his country's service, his widow and
children were left destitute. It was not so with
the militia. ,.
Mr. T. Claiborne thought this an extraordi-
nary reason for agreeing to the amendment; lor
thouo-h militia men were not constantly m ser-
vice,°they were frequently called upon at a time
when to leave their plantations was attended with
great loss and inconvenience; and if the officers
of the army were in constant employ, they also
received constant and good pay.
Mr Findley wished as much as any man that
widows and orphans of militia officers should be
provided for, but because he could not obtain re-
lief for them, he should not wish to deny it to
other unfortunate families.
Mr. Core said, it was his opinion, that the
widows and orphans of deceased militia officers
ought to be provided for, but the present bill was
not the proper place of doing it, as this bill was
intended onlv to make more complete a former
law which did not contain anything respecting
militia officers. If this was a general provision,
the clause in favor of militia officers might have
eMrPLYON could not concur in the amendment
of the Senate. Jealousies already existed among
the people that the Federal Government had a
preference for a standing army, to the discou-
ragement of the militia, and to concur in the
amendment would strengthen those jealousies.
The militia officers, he said, are as respectable a
set of men as any in the community and ought
not to be offended. He would rather lose the bill
altogether than strike out the militia officers.
The Senate's amendment was disagreed to.
HEALTH OFFICER FOR MARYLAND.
The House went into a Committee of the
Whole on the bill to continue in force the law de-
claring the consent of Congress to the law ap-
pointing a health officer for the State of Maryland.
The bill was agreed to without debate or amend-
ment, and ordered to be read a third time to-
morrow.
IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT.
Mr. N. Smith called for the order of the day on
the report on the subject of making some altera-
tions in the execution of the law for the relief of
persons imprisoned for debt; which being agreed
to the House resolved itseli into a Committee of
the Whole on that subject, and the report was
read as follows:
" The committee appointed to inquire into the expe-
diency of making alterations in the act lor the relief of
persons imprisoned for debt, beg leave to report: That,
in their opinion, the said act ought to be so amended as to
extend its provisions, in express terms, to persons im-
prisoned in civil causes at the suit of the United States;
also, that the several District Judges ought to be au-
thorized to issue their warrants, commanding the jailers
to bring the prisoners before them, at such time and
place as they shall think proper to appoint, for the pur-
pose of executing the business assigned them by tb-esaia
act. And in case of prisoners confined in the cities of Phi-
ladelphia, New York, Boston, Baltimore, and Charles-
ton, the Judges ought to be empowered to appoint two
commissioners to do the business, under the said act,
when it shall be inconvenient for the Judges to attend
on the said business, by reason of other judicial duties,
absence, sickness, or inability. Your committee are also
of opinion that provision ought to be made by law, for
the support of poor prisoners during their confinement,
previous to taking the oath provided for them by the
said act."
On motion, the report was amended by striking
out Philadelphia, New York, &c, making the
provision general.
Mr. Livingston observed, that he supposed this
report would go further than was intended. When
this business was first introduced, on the petition
of William Bell, the Committee of Commerce and
Manufactures reported to the House that one ot
two courses might be taken, either to give relief
specially to the petitioner, or admit the principle
now recommended. The objections they had to
the latter course were strongly fortified by the
letter of the Attorney General of the United
States, who was strongly of opinion, that though
the United States were not specially named they
were bound by this act. What then would be
the effect of the doctrine arising out of an adop-
tion of this report? It would be, that in cases
where the United States are not named, they
are not bound, directly contrary to _the opin-
ion of the Attorney Genera. If it did not
establish that opinion, it would, however have
a tendency to establish it, though this House
had not at all examined the opinion. Indeed, the
opinion of the Attorney General of this State was
directly different. The Committee of Commerce
and Manufactures thought therefore that it would
be best that a determination should first be had
in the Supreme Court, upon which the Legisla-
ture might act; but that any previous proceeding
would not have the certainty which such deci-
sions ought to have. ...
Mr. N. Smith said, it was true there was adit-
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Gales, Joseph, 1761-1841. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, Fifth Congress, [Second Session], book, 1851; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc29472/m1/15/: accessed April 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.