Mr. DAVIS. I shall feel constrained to vote against this bill. I shall do it with exceeding reluctance. There is no object for the appropriation of money that commerids itself more deeply to my heart than an appropriation for the relief of the sufferers by the Portland fire. But, sir, I do not concede that Congress has any power whatever to make such an appropristion. It seems to me that we have, or ought to have, a Government of a constitutional character, in which the whole power of Congress is definitely laid down, and Iknow of no authority in the Constitution that would sanction congress in making any such appropriation. Irecollect the precedent that was made in connection with the earthquake at Caraccas, and also that for the relief of the sufferers by fire at Alexandria; but this is not a Government of precedents; it was never intended so to be; and there cannot be any more dangerous principle established in our Government than that prece dents shall mnke constitutional law. I utterly protest against any such position. I concede, as the Senfrom Maryland has assumed, that there was no authority whatever, according to my reading and comprehension of the Constitution, to authorize the charities voted in the Freedmen’s Bureau bill; and the fact that Congress chose, according to my judg ment, so lar to disregard constitutional restrictions and to grasppower not conceded to it by that instrument as to make those appropriations, instead of being an argument with me to do the same thing now, is an argument that would have a restraining influence upon my mind and judgment. It shows the proneness of Congress, from various considerations, to transcend the powers that it possesses by the fundamental law of the Government. I think it is time for Congress to retrace its steps in relation to the licentious interpretation which it has been giving to its powers under the constitution. If I thoughtthere was a power, (even if I entertains some doubt about the existence of the power,) on the part of congress to make this appropriation, I would vote for it with the greatest degree of alacrity and pleasure; but notwithstaning that this is an object that commends itself so strongly to my sympathies, a sense of duty and of obligation to act within the powers conferred upon Congress by the Constitution will constrain me most reluctantly to vote against it.