their houses, when thus built and completed, at prices handsomely remunerating them. They are thus proprietors and owners, as well as laborers; and this practical ownership of property, this substantial interest in the community, is one of the causes which give independence and respectability to the mechanics in the cities of the United States, far beyond the general experience of other countries. But see, Sir, how the Secretary's "experiment" has affected the interest of these persons. On the one hand, they can now obtain no new credits, they can commence no new operations on their own account, and other and richer persons will not build houses in the present state of things; so that these mechanics are out of employment; and, on the other hand, nobody buys, at fair and usual prices, the houses which they have already built; but they are obliged to sell them to capitalists, or others, at great loss. At the same time, therefore, that they are deprived of employment for the present, and the hope of it for the future, they are subjected, also, to great sacrifices in the earnings of former years.

These, Sir, are plain matters of fact; and they are manifestly the results of the measures of government. Have not these mechanics, then, a right to complain? Ought they to hold their tongues, and starve, in order to enable the Secretary to try his experiment? Are they to be the willing victims of such fantastical and arrogant schemes? No, Sir; that is not their notion of patriotism and duty. They think the government was estab lished for them, and for the rest of the people of the United States, for their protection, security, and happiness. They think it not a subject for the practice of every raw conceit, every presumptuous theory, every impulse of arrogant and self-sufficient love of change. Sir, they are not the dupes of the Secretary's experiment; and, if they can help it, they do not intend to be its victims. They know full well in what purpose these measures originated, which have since obtained the name of the "experiment." They think they have a right to demand of Congress not to sanction such purposes to their ruin. As American citizens, they demand the shelter of the laws; as tax-payers to government, they demand the protection of government; as industrious citizens, they demand security for their industry; and they protest, solemnly protest-in their name, Sir, in their be half, in their presence, I now enter their protest against these

unnecessary and wanton measures, which destroy their property, break up their employments, and reduce them and their children to want and beggary.

Mr. President, the Senate will perceive that, in one of the resolutions, this meeting of mechanics expressed their hope that the Governor of Pennsylvania would adhere to his former opinions, and lend his countenance and support to the restoration of the currency, by rechartering the bank. In this hope they have been disappointed. They feel it to be a great misfortune, certainly, that they do not come here sustained by the government of the State at home. No doubt, Sir, it is a great misfortune; at least, I agree with them in thinking it such. They most assuredly had expected a different result of the Governor's deliberations. In addition to their intense individual interest in this great question, they feel an interest, also, in the public works of the State, which have come, or may come, to a stop, in consequence of the pressure of the times; although it is true, perhaps, that they have not so direct an interest as their fellow-citizens of Lancaster County, whose memorial has just been presented, since the great western railway is to penetrate that important county from end to end. I refer to the proceedings of Gover nor Wolf, Sir, with entire respect, personal and public; but I cannot help expressing my deep regret at the views which he seems to have adopted. I would even hope that the subject has not yet passed beyond his reconsideration, because I am fully aware of the weight and influence of Pennsylvania on this great question. Yet, Sir, I see nothing in this proceeding to alter my own view in the slightest degree. The state of things is not changed. The promulgation of such opinions by the chief magistrate of Pennsylvania, is, in my judgment, unfortunate, because its only effect is to prolong the sufferings of the country by postponing the only adequate remedy.

Sir, the agitations of the country are not to be hushed by authority. Opinions, from however high quarters, will not quiet them. The condition of the nation calls for decided action, for the prompt interposition of Congress; and until Congress shall act, be it sooner or be it later, there will be no content, no repose, no restoration of former prosperity. Whoever supposes, Sir, that he, or that any man, can quiet the discontents or hush the complaints of the people by merely saying,

"Peace, be still!" mistakes, shockingly mistakes, the real condition of things. It is an agitation of interests, not of opinions; a severe pressure on men's property and their means of living, not a barren contest about abstract sentiments. Even the voice of party, often so sovereign, is not of power to subdue discontents and stifle complaints. The people, Sir, feel great interests to be at stake; and they are rousing themselves to protect those interests. They consider the question to be, whether the government is made for the people, or the people for the government. They hold the former of these two propositions, and they mean to prove it.

Mr. President, this measure of the Secretary has produced a degree of evil that cannot be borne. Talk about it as we will, it cannot be borne. A tottering state of credit; cramped means; loss of property and loss of employment; doubts of the condition of others; doubts of their own condition; constant fear of failures and new explosions; an awful dread of the future,Sir, when a consciousness of all these things accompanies a man at his breakfast, his dinner, and his supper; when it attends him through his hours both of labor and rest; when it even disturbs and haunts his dreams; and when he feels, too, that that which is thus gnawing upon him is the pure result of foolish and rash measures of government, depend upon it, he will not bear it. A deranged and disordered currency; the ruin of occupation; distress for present means; the prostration of credit and confidence; and all this without hope of improvement or change, -is a state of things which no intelligent people can long endure.

ON Tuesday, March 18th, Mr. Webster presented a memorial from citizens of Boston, with the following remarks.

It will be perceived by the Senate, that I have a roll before me of no ordinary dimensions. It is a protest, respectfully addressed to both Houses of Congress, against the recent proceedings of the executive government in regard to the public moneys of the United States, and urgently requesting Congress, by the interposition of its own just authority, to restore the Constitu

tion and laws to that free and proper action which the public interest and prosperity demand. This paper, Sir, proceeds from a place not altogether obscure, not altogether unknown in the history of the United States. It.comes from the people of Boston, assembled in Faneuil Hall; it comes from those walls. in which the earliest accents of independence rang; from under that roof beneath which our young American Liberty shook her wings, ere she went forth, for the first time, to fly over a thousand hills, and to proclaim independence to three millions of souls. It was sent by those, and the sons of those, who, in the same place, in '74, 75, and 76, had heard the voices of Otis, of Warren, and of Hancock, and who gave to those distinguished speakers as much patriotic impulse as they received from them.

This paper is signed by 6,841 independent voters, tax-payers, and men of property of the city of Boston. Here are no men of straw. This paper presents the names of men of different habits and occupations, electors of that city; and, so far as I know, of a greater number of persons than any excited election has ever called together. The names are here for the inspection of the Senate; and my colleague, who is well acquainted with many of them, can vouch for their high standing and respectability. Whatever character the memorial may bear elsewhere, it here challenges investigation. The sentiments of the meeting at which the memorial was agreed upon approached nearer to a feeling of unanimity than is usual on such occasions; and the strictest investigation will be unable to detect in it any fault, even if accidental error should be discovered. The memorial has no secret communication with the government, or any department of it. I have heard, it is true, of attempts which have been made to influence some departments of the government by communications not destined to see the light or to reach the public ear. I will not say that by such communications the President has been deceived, but I will say, that, if he listens to them, there is great danger of his being deceived; and I hope he will look with great caution at any paper which comes to him without his possessing a full knowledge of those who framed it.

An honorable Senator from Tennessee, early in the session, expressed an opinion, with regard to these representations to Con

gress, equally sound and liberal. He said he looked with distrust on any proceedings which had been got up by those who had any interest in the offices of the government. No such interest influenced those whose memorial I now present. They have no party feelings which would induce them to uphold the evils produced by the measures of those who administer the government, and they have no motives to make them causeless. fault-finders with the chief magistrate. He has recently been with them, and they have received him with hospitality and cordiality. Many of them, though not all, preferred him for the distinguished station to which he has been elevated; but all saw that a majority so large as to command respect had placed him at the head of the government, and they cheerfully acquiesced. They wish nothing else but that he should complete the second term of his presidency with as much honor as has distinguished that of any of his illustrious predecessors. They are not eager complainants against the measures of the administration; they are not swift witnesses in the cause in which they are engaged; they did not rush forward to make known their sense of their own grievances at an early hour; they have not raised the cry of distress, whether distress existed or not; they come to speak their sentiments with moderation and firmness; they come to speak of their sufferings, and to describe a state of things they know to exist.

This paper has been brought here by a committee of gentlemen, of whom, as they are my neighbors and friends, I can hardly speak with delicacy; and especially as some of them are as well known to Congress as to myself, and need no recommendation from me. They are gentlemen of different relations in life, social and political. They come here to testify to what they know; to represent a state of things which they believe the majority of Congress cannot realize, and which they believe they cannot, without actual and personal participation, understand. Their mission is to Congress; they have no order to go elsewhere for relief, have no message for any other department of the government; and, believing that the evils of which they complain admit only of legislative remedy, they come to the legislature. Believing the law to have been violated, they come to Congress; believing that distress exists to a calamitous extent, and believing that no other power on earth can relieve it, their