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contemplating the nature of our political institutions, tracing their formation and establishment, he will find nothing which would necessarily produce or justify the course of proceedings which have occurred here for the last and present sitting of Congress. Sir, (said Mr. M.,) why is it, then, that we are weekly, and almost daily, drawn into the consideration of abstract, impracticable, and (Mr. M. said he must be permitted to say) improper, if not reprehensible subjects, by the course adopted by the venerable member from Masachussetts? [Mr. ADAMS.] Is it from any defect in the forms or principles of our proceedings? Is it inherent in the compact upon which rests all that is valuable in our institutions? Is it to be found and justified in the condition and circumstances of our country? Can it be traced to a want of patriotic devotion in any considerable portion of our country to the Union? Would it be charitable to attribute it to any disappointment of individual ambition, seeking revenge for such disappointments in attempting to ruin that which it could not rule?

On no one of these inquiries, Mr. Speaker, (said Mr. M.,) can we find a satisfactory solution of the question why we are now presenting to the country the deplorable spectacle, shown off every petition day, by the honorable member from Massachussetts, in presenting the abolition petitions of his infatuated friends and constitu. ents. The House has, with a unanimity almost unparalleled, prescribed a rule for its government in respect to these petitions, with which it is, upon experience, as well (Mr. M. ventured the opinion) as the considerate men of all parties, in every portion of the confederacy, well satisfied. Yet the honorable member has made bimself to believe that it was his duty, against the sense of the whole House, (Mr. M. believed, with but few exceptions,) against the sense of the whole country, including his own political friends, (if any he has,) to resist the execution of that rule with a degree of vio lence paralleled only by revolutionary madness of desperation. Sir, (said Mr. M.,) it becomes me, the House, and the country, to remember that the venerable gentlemen from Massachusetts has occupied the executive chair, and administered the duties of the highest office of the civilized worid. And it becomes us, also, to respect his gray hairs, his old age, his long public services, and to seek out apologies and excuses in his behalf, if possible, for the obstinacy and ebullitions of temper which on these occasions he so often exhibits, and which is so much opposed to cool deliberation and the dignity of the proceedings of this House. Thus shielded and protected by his age and public character, it has been matter of surprise to those who are not spectators of our proceedings, that a member of his great learning and experience should so far forget his dignity as to presume upon that age and character às a license to him to annoy and trifle with the House and its most solemn and satisfactory regulations.

Sir, (said Mr. M.,) while we contemplate the character and respect the age of the honorable member, charBy claims that we should also remember the frailty of Our nature, and that man is mortal. It would be unjust to believe that, in the prime and vigor of manhood, the bonorable member would have adopted the course of action which, at this late period of his life, seems to control him. The high noontide of that life has long since passed with him, and its wane is no doubt upon him, before he is either aware or sensible of it; for it cannot be believed that, in the days of his more acute perceptions, he could have yielded to influences which now seem to have the mastery.

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In this, (Mr. M, said,) by the aid of a liberal charity, he found both the cause and apology for the course of proceedings adopted by the member, and for the consequent disorders and delays which occur in our proceed-I

[H. OF R.

ings. Sir, let me not be misunderstood; for although the honorable member is far advanced into the autumn of his career, yet (Mr. M. said) he entertained a vener ation for his learning and experience which he should always cherish with pride.

But, Mr. Speaker, (said Mr. M.,) the proceedings of this day should admonish us of the danger of being thrown into unusual excitements, and acting hastily under such influences. Mr. M. said he was aware of the nature of the petition which the honorable member had offered before he had, by innuendoes, explained it; but some gentlemen had supposed that it affected the constitutional rights of their States-their rights to their slave property; and, supposing this, it was very natural for them to be suddenly alarmed.

It now, however, appears probable that some mischievous persons have trifled with the honorable member from Massachusetts; and he, in turn, seeks to trifle with the House and country, by treating with seriousness that which was probably, in its origin, levity. The resolution to censure the honorable member is not, it seems, framed upon the real facts of the case, and assumes too much; and, as it now stands, cannot be maintained. It should describe truly the matters to justify its adoption. Mr. M. would have no hesitation, when the honorable member shall be guilty of a violation of the rules and rights of the House, and that violation shall be apparent, to vote any censure merited by the offence; and this, too, notwithstanding his age and character, because he is not elevated above law by any age or any character. Mr. M. said he had always viewed this question of abolition and its progress with the deepest solicitude, as affecting the political integrity of the confederacy. In the formation of this Union, it was, as we well know, one of the greatest obstacles to be overcome, and was only surmounted by a spirit of concession and compromise which it is feared does not exist now. In that compromise, we of the free States agreed to the doctrine of non-interference in the domestic institutions and concerns of the others. Some few of our people, however, pretending to a holy zeal, worthy of a better and more lawful cause, influenced by what they claim to be paramount considerations to the obligations of the constitution and the integrity of the republic, regardless of consequences, insidiously violate the spirit of the compact by interfering with the subject in this District. And we are now again called upon by our Southern brethren to know whether we will live up to the agreement we have made; whether we will keep the faith and perform our bargain. This is the true question propounded to us in all these proceedings. And, Mr. Speaker, (said Mr. M.,) as for me and my household, my constituents. and friends, I say, without reservation, we will. Is there a patriotic heart in this hall, in this nation, is there a friend to the welfare of the republic, who can answer that he will not? Mr. M. did not believe there was one; and he therefore asked that honorable members from the South should give themselves no uneasiness on account of these ill-advised proceedings. Mr. M. relied upon the patriotism and good faith of the people of the North to abide by the compact they have made. He knew that this reliance would not fail.

Mr. W. THOMPSON said he was sorry to see the air of levity which it is attempted to throw over this matter. He felt very differently. What, sir, is it a mere trifle to hoax, to trifle with the members from the South in this way and on this subject? Is it a light thing, for the amusement of others, to irritate, almost to madness, the whole delegation from the slave States? Sir, it is an aggravation. It is intimated that the petition does not pray for the abolition of slavery, but a very different object. It makes not the slightest difference; it is the attempt to introduce a petition from slaves for any object; as inso

H. OF R.]

Abolition of Slavery.

lent if it be for one purpose as for another. It is the naked fact of the presentation of a petition from slaves. But, sir, there is another view of this matter, which, in my judgment, makes the thing worse. The gentleman from Massachusetts had been presenting abolition petitions all the morning; it is his daily labor of love; and I appeal to every member on the floor, if the conduct of the member was not such as to induce every one to be. lieve that it was an abolition petition. He allowed resolutions to be presented on that supposition, and speeches to be made, without undeceiving the House. This triAing was an additional contempt of the House; how much befitting the age and standing of the gentleman it is not for me to say.

[FEB. 6, 1837.

Mr. T. then further modified his resolution by substi-vehicle of abuse and imputation upon his constituents-a tuting the three following resolutions:

1. Resolved, That the honorable JOHN Q. ADAMS, by an effort to present a petition from slaves, has committed a gross contempt of this House.

2. Resolved, That the member from Massachusetts above named, by creating the impression, and showing the House, under that impression, that the said petition was for the abolition of slavery, when he knew that it was not, has trifled with the House.

3. Resolved, That the honorable JOHN Q. ADAMS receive the censure of the House for his conduct referred to in the preceding resolutions.

Mr. PICKENS observed that it had not been his intention to address the House upon this subject; he had not intended to utter one word, if it had not been for the remarks that fell from his friend from Virginia, [Mr. WISE,] and that he would now endeavor to preserve all the calmness he could, considering the momentous topics which had been drawn into this discussion. Mr. P. perfectly agreed with the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. WISE] in reference to the resolutions which the member from. Charleston [Mr. PINCKNEY] introduced last ses sion, and which had been substantially adopted again at this session, by which all this class of petitions had been received into this House. They were miserable and pitiful resolutions; pitiful, because they had trifled with the rights of the South, and trifled with the rights of this House. He could thank God that he had nothing to do with their passage, and the deep responsibility they had brought down upon their authors. He would say, in reply to the remarks of the gentleman from New York, [Mr. GRANGER,] in censure of the gentlemen from the South who supported those resolutions, "Thou canst not say I did it." When those resolutions passed, he (Mr. P.) had predicted what had now come to pass: the scenes which we now see passing around us-the introduction of all kinds of vile petitions from free negroes and slaves, which, under the resolutions, are treated with the respect, in advance, of having them received and laid upon the table. But, (said Mr. P.,) although these were his opinions, yet, as long as we were members of this body, we were bound to maintain its dignity, and do what we could to prevent scenes calculated to harass and insult the feelings of a large portion of the members of this House, by calling down our censure upon the | gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. ADAMS] for his wanton attempt to introduce the rights of slaves upon this floor, and by avowing he held a paper in his pocket purporting to be a petition from slaves, signed by twenty-two. Mr. P. said this admitted that he had communication with slaves, and was evidence, in law, of collusion. It broke down the principle that the slave could only be known through his master. For this he was indictable, under statute, for aiding and abetting insurrection; and for such conduct is he not amenable to the censure of this House? The privilege of speech protected a member from being questioned before any oth. er tribunal, but does not exempt him from being questioned before this House.

Mr. P. said, if this House was to be made the tribunal before which we were to be traduced and slandered, if we were to be made the instruments through which de. nunciation and falsehood are to be heaped upon one half of this confederacy, if we are to sit here and have our feelings harrowed up and wounded by those who pretend to be our brethren, better, far better, for us to grasp the pillars that support the noble edifice of our Union, and make them rock and totter to their deepest foundation, even though we, together with the Philistines, should be overwhelmed and perish in one universal ruin. He (Mr. P.) would loathe and detest to hear his heart beat, if it could beat, with one single emotion of affection for this Union, if it is to be made habitually a Union that is to bring death and ruin upon my own home and country. He would not use moderate language on such a topic, and he would most cheerfully vote for the resolution of his colleague, [Mr. THOMPSON.] Viewing, as he did, the attempt which had been made as an outrage upon this House, perpetrated in a spirit of wantonness, sporting with the feelings of those who were here under a common constitution, with equal rights, and entitled to equal respect, he looked upon such conduct as amenable to the laws of the land, and could be shown as aiding and abetting insurrection. When the proceedings of this day get abroad throughout the country-that a member of this House held a petition from slaves, and was here the avowed and ready receptacle of such papers from slaves, what might be the consequences no man could foretell.

He (Mr. P.) was astonished to hear the gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. HARDIN,] an able lawyer, maintain that we were bound to receive petitions under the constitution. Mr. P. here read the amendment in the constitution securing the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition for redress of grievances, &c.; and then asked if we were engaged in passing any act abridging the freedom of speech, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition, &c. He contended that, if we were to pass such an act, it would be null and void, because unconstitutional; and this was the meaning of that part of the constitution; but when they peaceably assemble and petition, their rights under the constitution ended, and our rights under the same instrument commenced. As well might it be urged that the petition must necessarily be granted and forced through, as to say that we cannot judge of the propriety of its reception or rejection; we must necessarily judge of the propriety of receiving any papers whatever that may be presented to our judgment; it is our right and duty, as a reflecting or rational assembly; it is inherent. the issue made upon the right of petition is merely a diversion intended for public effect.

And

Mr. P. then made some other remarks, tending to show that it must not be supposed that he was apprehensive, or feared for any thing that might be brought upon the country. No; he said that South Carolina had no fears on this subject; she knew her rights, and, knowing them, was`resolved to maintain them, or to perish in the attempt. She asks no favors of this Government on this question; and, as one of her representatives, he proudly disdained to ask any forbearance whatever. He knew the power of this Government, and the rights of his country; and while South Carolina was prepared to defend the latter, she defied the former.

Mr. CAMBRELENG observed that he was not among the number of those who despaired of the safety of the Union, let the hurricane come from what quarter it would-from the North or from the South. There was sufficient virtue and power among a large population, in every quarter of the Union, to keep the two extremes from breaking down the pillars of the confederacy,

FEB. 6, 1857.]

Abolition of Slavery.

[H. OF R.

setts, [Mr. ADAMS.] That gentleman knew well, by his own showing, that, when he asked for information from the Chair on this subject, he was entering upon that which was calculated deeply to wound the feelings of the South; it was obvious, therefore, that his intention had been to inflict a wound; and why, he (Mr. G.) would inquire, why should he have asked such a question of of the Chair, when he must have known what would be the answer? His intentions being evidently such, name

a flame, he should feel himself recreant to every proper feeling of the heart and mind, if he did not give his vote

for this resolution.

whether threatened with fanaticism on the one hand, or insurrection on the other. This was the first time he (Mr. C.) had ever risen to speak upon this subject; he had felt as gentlemen from the South, when the honorable member from Alabama [Mr. LEWIS] presented his resolution; he felt, that great as the sacrifice was to bring to the bar of this House one who had occupied the highest station on earth, as President of the United States, yet thought that it ought to be made. But now, after having heard the explanation of the honorable gen-ly, to cast a spark which would immediately kindle into tleman, [Mr. ADAMS,] he viewed the subject altogether in a different light. It appeared to him that that gentleman [Mr. ADAMS] had been hoaxed by some young men in Fredericksburg. The two gentlemen from South Carolina [Mr. PICKENS and Mr. THOMPSON] must pardon him for attaching less importance to this whole affair as it now stood, and if he could not treat it with the same solemnity. The venerable gentleman from Massachusetts had evidently been not only hoaxed in regard to the Fredericksburg petition, but insulted in the very petition for making the inquiry about which he was now arraigned before the House. The contents of the petition were known in this House before the gentleman from Massachusetts announced them. It was manifestly designed to make him appear ridiculous, by presenting a petition praying for his own expulsion. It came from a slaveholding quarter, and was no doubt designed to insult him for presenting so frequently abolition petitions.

Mr. DAWSON called upon Mr. CAMBRELENG to mention who it was that had played this hoax; whoever it might be, he ought to be expelled from this House.

Mr. BOULDIN expressed the same opinion. Mr. CAMBRELENG said he would not answer the question as to persons; he had merely heard it stated near him that the character of the petition was known before the gentleman from Massachusetts alluded to its contents. There were two reasons why he should not vote as he had first intended to have done for the resolution of censure: the first was, because, viewing the matter in the light he had placed it, he thought it too trifling a matter for which to bring one who had been President of the United States to the bar of the House; and the second reason was, because that gentleman had, by the avowal of his hostility to the abolition of slavery in this District, made some atonement for the disorder he had occasioned from week to week in presenting these petitions. It was due to the gentleman from Massachusetts to say, further, that he took the occasion, on presenting the first petition some years ago, praying for the abolition of slavery in this District, to state explicitly, lest his opinioas might be misunderstood by the petitioners and the country, that he was utterly opposed to the prayer of the petition; he had distinctly said that he viewed the subject as one of those cases in which the remedy was to be considered worse than the disease. He (Mr. C.) should, therefore, with these views of the case, not now give his vote to the proposition for censuring that honorable gentleman, [Mr. ADAMS.]

Mr. GLASCOCK thought that what had fallen from the gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. PATTON,] so far from being a satisfactory explanation, only helped to make the matter worse.

[Mr. PATTON explained. When he (Mr. P.) saw the House proceeding with haste and warmth, he had merely risen to express his opinion that perhaps it would be necessary first to know if we had the facts; he (Mr. P.) did not know what the facts were, but he felt that it was undoubtedly necessary that, in such a case, the House ought first to be assured of the facts.]

Mr. G. proceeded. He (Mr. G.) would, after the explanation he had heard, confine himself to the statement which had been made by the gentleman from MassachuVOL. XIII.-101

Mr. PINCKNEY said that, from the peculiar position in which he stood in relation to this question, he was constrained to throw himself upon the indulgence of the House. He concurred entirely with the gentleman from Alabama, [Mr. Lewis,] that this subject ought not to be discussed by Southern members. Opposed, as he always was, to the agitation of the subject of slavery on that floor, he was decidedly of opinion that now, more than ever, under the extraordinary circumstances of the present case, no Southern delegate should have said a word. The decision of the question should have been left entirely to the members from the non-slaveholding portions of the Union. He was sure that, if the decision was left to them, without any of that excited debate which always injures a cause, however intrinsically good, the enlightened patriotism and liberal feeling of the members from the non-slaveholding States would have done all that was necessary either to satisfy the injured feelings of the South, or to maintain the order and dignity of that honorable House, both of which had been outraged by the extraordinary conduct of the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. ADAMS,] against whom resolutions of censure had been moved. But, instead of simply demanding the action of the House upon this matter, and having the seal of its reprobation placed instantly and promptly upon the indignity that had been offered both to the South and to the House, member after member had risen, speech after speech had been made, resolution upon resolution had been offered, by Southern members, until excite. ment had risen to the very highest pitch; and, now, what was the consequence? Why, the gentleman from Massachusetts tells us that, if the gentlemen who have moved these resolutions wish to have him censured by the House, they must modify their resolutions, by striking out all that relates to the abolition of slavery; for the petition which had caused all this excitement not only does not pray for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, but prays for directly the reverse, and even denounces him [Mr. ADAMS] for intermeddling with the subject. It seems, then, (said Mr. P.,) that the petition which the gentleman offered to present is not a petition in point of fact; that it is nothing more than a quiz, or hoax, which has been played off upon the gentleman himself; and that, probably, in retaliation for the joke practised on himself, he determined to carry it still fur ther, by playing it off upon the House. But whether the petition was genuine or not; whether it prayed for the abolition of slavery, or the expulsion of the gentleman himself; and whether the gentleman was in jest or earnest, his conduct was unquestionably reprehensible, and such as ought to be visited with the severest censure of the House. If the petition was genuine, it was an in dignity to the House to have offered to present it, purporting, as it did, to come from slaves. Does not the gentleman know that the right of petition only attaches to the free white people of the Union, and that slaves can only be heard in a legislative body through the agency of their owners? But if the petition was a hoax, then the conduct of the gentleman was still more unjustifia. ble. It was adding insult to injury: first, by creating the

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Abolition of Slavery.

impression that it was a genuine petition, and producing a scene of unparalleled excitement in the House; and then, as if he revelled in the tempest he had raised, turning it all into ridicule, by telling us now, after a protracted debate of several hours, that the petition is in favor of slavery, not against it, and that it was more against himself than any thing else. The gentleman, if such is his disposition, may enjoy this joke, and enjoy this scene; but farces of this kind neither suit the humor of the slaveholding States, nor comport with the character and dignity of the Legislature of the nation. But the gentleman says he did not present this petition, nor offer to present it; he only stated that he had such a petition, and inquired of the Chair whether it would come under the order of the House, by which all papers relating to slavery are directed to be laid upon the table, without printing or commitment, or any action whatsoever.

It would seem, then, (said Mr. P.,) that this notable hoax of a slave memorial was an ingenious device, by which the gentleman had attempted to manifest his contempt for an order solemnly adopted by this House, under the pitiful pretext that because the said hoax had reference to slavery, it must, therefore, be received and laid upon the table, as included in the general and comprehensive scope of the aforesaid order. If this was the object of the gentleman, so far from mending the matter, it only made it worse; for, according to his own showing, he had not only offended the House, in earnest, or trifled with it, if in jest, but, in either case, had determined, if possible, to throw ridicule upon a resolution which the House had thought proper to adopt for its own governance, in relation to all papers connected with the subject of the abolition of slavery. Mr. P. had no doubt that this laudable motive was duly appreciated by the House, and that they would manifest their high sense of the ingenuity of the gentleman in the manner that became them. But it was not Mr. P's object to discuss the conduct of that gentleman; that had been amply done by others. He rose for another and a very dif ferent purpose; one somewhat personally affecting himself, and but for which he would not have troubled the House with a single observation. Pointed allusions, which he felt it his duty to notice, had been made by two gentlemen to the resolution adopted at the last session, in relation to abolition, and of which he was proud that he had been the mover. The gentleman from New York [Mr. GRANGER] had endeavored to prove that the attempt by the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. ADAMS] to offer a petition from slaves, and all the mischief and excitement produced by that attempt, were all entirely owing to the adoption of the resolution to which he had just adverted. Such an argument was scarcely worthy of serious refutation; but, coming from the high source it did, he could not permit it to pass unnoticed. Strictly speaking, Mr. P. had no connexion with the order or resolution recently adopted and now in force. The Speaker had decided that the resolution adopted last session ceased its operation with the termination of that session. The resolution now in force was moved by Mr. Hawes, a member from Kentucky. Mr. P. did not say this by way of avoiding any responsibility connected with that movement; far from it. He had voted for the resolution most cordially, because it was identical with the one adopted last session, and which originated with himself. Nay, more: he had intended to have renewed that proposition this session, but was anticipated by the member from Kentucky. A gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. BYNUM] had the floor upon the question of reception, raised upon a memorial presented by the member from Massachusetts, [Mr. ADAMS.] He had spoken on one Monday, and was to have concluded on the next. Courtesy demanded the postponement of the resolution until he should have had an opportunity

[FEB. 6, 1837.

to complete his argument, and it was delayed accordingly. The member from North Carolina knew of Mr. P's intention, and of his motive for delaying its execu tion, because he had communicated with him on the subject. [Mr. BYNUM signified assent.] But, as he had already stated, he was anticipated by the the member from Kentucky. The resolution, notwithstanding, had had his most cordial concurrence; and, if gentlemen desired to lay it to his door, he was perfectly willing to assume its paternity. Considering the present resolution, then, and the one adopted last session, as one and the same, and himself responsible therefor, what was the history of that much-abused resolution? Every gentleman recollects the occurrences that transpired last session. After three months of extraordinary excitement, arising from a most injudicious contest on the question of recep tion, or, in other words, on the great constitutional question of the right of petition, a resolution was adopted by the House, referring all abolition memorials to a select committee, with instructions to report that Congress cannot interfere with the institution of slavery in the District of Columbia, because it would be a violation of the public faith, and dangerous to the existence of this Union. That resolution was adopted by a very large majority; and when the committee submitted their report, another resolution, recommended by the committee, was subsequently adopted by the House, directing that all abolition papers should, without being printed or referred, be laid upon the table, and that no further action whatever should be had thereon. By the adoption of the first resolution, particularly when taken in connexion with the report of the committee, the faith of the nation was solemnly pledged to the slaveholding States that no interference whatever would be attempted, on the part of the Federal Government, with the institution of slavery in the District of Columbia. By the adoption of the second, an equally solemn assurance was given that no further agitation of the subject of slavery would be permitted within the hall of the House of Representatives. The latter was an appropriate corollary to the former, and showed conclusively that the House did not intend to "hold the word of promise to the ear, and break it to the hope." The great object of all those proceedings was to allay excitement, to repress the fanatical spirit of abolitionism, to restore harmony to our distracted country, and to strengthen and burnish that beautiful constitutional compact which binds us in unity as a family of States. And that object has been attained. The resolutions alluded to were satisfactory to the South and satisfactory to the North. Their success succeeded the expectations of their most sanguine advocates. Every thing that has occurred since the last session of Congress affords abundant evidence of this. Abolition meetings and lectures were incomparably fewer and less numerous than formerly. Several Legislatures of the nonslaveholding States had adopted admirable and patriotic resolutions against the abolitionists, and in favor of the constitutional rights of the Southern States, as regards their peculiar domestic polity. The spirit of the people every where was against abolition. It was manifestly going down, though, in its dissolution, it heaved and struggled with convulsive agony. This was clearly proved by the comparative fewness and exclusive char acter of the memorials presented to the House this ses sion. They are decidedly fewer than those presented last session, and, with only two or three exceptions, are all signed by women and children. This is a remarka ble fact, and well worthy of attention. Last year there were upwards of 20,000 male signatures; now we have scarcely any thing but female. The fact is undeniable that the proceedings of the last session have been pro ductive of immense advantage. They have roused the patriotism of the nation, and chained down fanaticism in

FEB. 6, 1837.]

Abolition of Slavery.

[H. OF R.

its den of darkness. But it is because the spirit of abo-ly of the right of a slave to memorial ze that House; and lition is thus repressed and kept down by the resolutions he would therefore say nothing farther upon that point. of this House that it struggles and screams as it does But again: the gentleman from New York, [Mr. GRANwith demoniac rage. Its element is agitation, its life- GER,] after denouncing the resolution, contends that the blood is excitement. Give it the question of reception-only true way to treat the subject of abolition is to algive it a daily contest on the right of petition-produce low every memorial to be considered on its merits, and constant confusion and turmoil here-produce a corre. to be received or rejected, as the House may think sponding spirit in every section of the Union-and this proper to determine, after a manly trial of the issue on is all it wants and all it asks. Like the abhorrent the question of reception. No doubt (said Mr. P.) animal that preys on corpses, it thrives and fattens on every abolition journal in the country is of the same the distresses of the country. All that it asks is to kin- opinion. Mr. P. said he had recently been favored by dle a flame at the Capitol that may consume the Union. the editor of "The Friend of Man," with a number of Allow it to do that, and its work is done. Allow it to do that paper. It contained a long review of the report he that, and it will soon "cry Hecate, and let slip the dogs had submitted to the House, at the last session, on the of war." But repress agitation-give no scope for tur- subject of abolition. It not only condemned that remoil-nail the memorials to the table-allow no discus- port, but assailed Mr. P. himself, in the most bitter and sion or action on them-and having nothing to go on, unsparing terms. It insisted that the resolutions adoptno flame to fan, no strife to stir, it must necessarily ed by the House were equivalent to a denial of the droop and die, and soon cease to infect us with its pestif- right of petition, and charged the House with cruelty erous breath. This is not only the language of common and despotism, arguing very naturally that the right to sense, but it is the testimony of experience. We have petition is a nuility, if, after the memorials are received, the evidence of this session, and of the last six months, they are deposited quietly in the tomb of the Capulets, to prove that abolition has decreased and is decreasing. with no hope of resurrection from their sleep of death. And this result has been produced by the resolutions of And it had a great deal about the rights of freemen, and this House; and it is because this result has been pro- the insolence of slaveholders, and the base servility of duced, and because slavery can no longer be made the the House, declaring unequivocally that it would rather subject of agitation and excitement, that the resolu- see the Union dissolved than that the free citizens of tion of the last session is now assailed on all sides with the free States should be forced to succumb to slaves. unwonted bitterness and fury. But then it went most manfully for the question of reception-the editor, no doubt, chuckling at the recollection of the memorable vote of three fourths and more by which the South was defeated in the Senate.

The gentleman from New York [Mr. GRANGER] regrets that Mr. ADAMS should have offered to present a memorial from slaves, but ascribes it entirely to the circumstance that the resolution now in force requires that all papers relating to slavery, or the abolition of slavery, shall be laid upon the table. This was the argument of Mr. ADAMS himself. But the gentleman from New York is mistaken. The resolution is answerable for no such consequence. In the first place, this slave memorial has not been received, and never will be. It has not been laid upon the table, and never will be. It does not come within the order of the House, nor ever will. This answer is sufficient. The objection to the resolution is scattered to the winds. But again: the resolution necessarily embraces only those who are constitutionally entitled to address this House. It relates exclusively to the free white citizens of the United States. Slaves are not entitled to petition. They are not known to the Federal Government. They cannot approach it, nor can the Government legislate for them. Even in the slaveholding States, a slave can only approach the Legislature through the intervention of his master. He has no right to petition for himself. How absurd, then, to suppose that he can petition here! If he had a right to petition, Congress would have the correlative right to hear him. But Congress cannot hear him, cannot act for him, and therefore it is demonstrable that, as Congress cannot hear him, he cannot have a right to be heard.

Who ever dreamt, when

that resolution was adopted, that any member of this House would so far forget its dignity as to endeavor to evade the resolution, or to cast contempt upon it, by attempting to introduce a memorial from negroes! Mr. P. said he would just as soon have supposed that the gentleman from Massachusetts would have offered a memorial from a cow or a horse-for he might as well be the organ of one species of property as another. Slaves were property. They were not only recognised as such by the laws of the slaveholding States, but by the federal constitution itself. This could easily be shown by reference to various provisions in that instrument, bearing on this subject. But the subject itself was too absurd for argument. Not a single member, he was sure, one only excepted, could be persuaded to think serious

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But the question of reception is the true issue. So says the gentleman from New York. So say the abolitionists. So say certain gentlemen from the slaveholding States. We must not fight the principle of abolition, but the right of petition. We must not repress the actual movements of the fanatics, but give them every advantage that we can by making factitious issues upon abstract points. We must not meet them upon grounds on which we are able to conquer them, but on those grounds only on which they are most sure to conquer us. Well, gentlemen have had their will. Their true issue has been made. The question of reception has been foreed upon the House, as it was upon the Senate and the South, a second time; has been most signally defeated. And how have the abolitionists borne their triumph? He would tell the House. Another paper, "The Emancipator," had been very kindly sent him. It hailed with ecstasy the "glorious news from Washington." It sung Io pean to the victory that had been gained at last over the nullifiers of the South." It rallied its forces to a renewed conflict with "the dark spirit of slavery.' It called upon them to exert all their energies in the transmission of memorials to Congress. The enemy was beaten; the Capitol was theirs; they had only to enter, and possess the spoils. It was a remarkable fact, that before that issue was made, very few abolition memorials had been sent to be presented to the House. The general understanding was, that, under the resolutions of the last session, every memorial of that kind would be instantly laid upon the table, there to lie untouched forever; and under that gloomy and discouraging prospect, even the indomitable spirit of fanaticism had no heart to send them. But the moment the abolitionists had beard that the Chair had decided that the resolution of the last session expired with the expiration of the session, and, in addition to that, that the question of reception had been tried and carried in their favor, they revived from the dead, shook off their despondency, renewed the contest with redoubled vigor, and began to pour in the memorials with which the gentleman from Massachusetts has entertained and edified the House for the last three weeks. Such

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