Mr. JACKSON said, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. MACLAY) had picked a hole in the bill, and what effect it would produce, he could not pretend to say. If the word “Baltimore” had been suffered to remain, it would have been rejected by a large majority.
Mr. J. then went at some length into a view of the unconstitutionality of a removal, and the happy situation of Washington for the seat of the Government. He said that he was far from being friendly, in the first instance, to this measure, which might be called the hobby-horse of, perhaps, the most illustrious man that ever lived. But, once adopted, it became sacred in his eyes; and nothing short of an act of God, in the shape of an earthquake, a plague, or some other fatal scourge, would justify a removal; and, he trusted, that unless some such act occurred, this would be the last time the measure was proposed.
The time would come, though he hoped to God neither his children nor his children’s children would live to see it, when the population on this side of the Mississippi would pass that river, and when the seat of Government would be translated to its banks. Centuries would, however, elapse before that period arrived.
Mr. ANDERSON said, there was no such word in the constitution as “permanent,” applied to the seat of Government; nor did the constitution prohibit the removal of it when the public interest should require it. Believing that such would be the experience of the inconveniences of the place, that Congress would certainly remove within five years, he was for taking that step now. The ill accommodation of the place was manifest to every man; nor did he believe that time would cure the evil. Such losses, however, as should be sustained by the proprietors, he was ready to remunerate. This was the least expensive course which could be pursued, as to make the necessary improvements in this place will require at least the annual sum of fifty thousand dollars for twenty years to come, and at least thirty thousand dollars a year to keep the public buildings in a state of repair. In addition to this immense expense was to be added, the great loss of time which arose from the inconvenient arrangements of the place, and the consequent expenditure of public money. For these reasons, Mr. A. said, he should give a decided vote in favor of the bill.