hands of the dominant party, at this critical moment, when the Presidential election is pending? It is a misfortune that the power and influence of the Executive over the new States are so great. Through the medium of the public lands they are ramified in every direction, accompanied by that corruption and subserviency, which are their never failing companions. It is our duty to check, instead of increasing this evil;-but, instead of this, we seem to seek every opportunity of increasing its impulse. In the present case, we have placed Michigan in a position calculated to give almost unlimited control to executive influence, as the final arrangement in respect to the public lands (a question of such deep importance to her) must mainly depend on that branch of the Government. Not satisfied with this, we have divested ourselves of the right to determine whether Michigan shall comply with the condition which we are about to prescribe for her admission, and to confer it on the President, with the corresponding diminution of our influence and the increase of his over the State. In our eagerness to divest the Senate of its power, we propose to go still further. In direct violation of an express provision of the constitution, which confers on this body the right to judge of the qualifications of its members, this bill provides for the creation of two Senators by law, the first instance of the kind ever attempted since the commencement of the Govern

ment.

Such are the leading objections to the bill. There are others of no inconsiderable magnitude. I have never read one, containing more objectionable provisions, submitted to the consideration of Congress. And yet it has been urged with as much precipitancy through the body, as if its provisions were in accordance with those which are usual on such occasions. A trained and despotic majority have resisted every attempt at amendment, and every effort to gain time to reflect on the extraordinary and dangerous provisions

which it contains. If there were any reason for this urgency, I would be the last to complain; but none has been assigned, or can be imagined. We all agree that Michigan should be admitted, and are anxious for the admission. I, individually, feel solicitous that the bill should be so modified that I can reconcile it to my conscience and views of expediency to vote for it. For this purpose, I only ask that it shall be put in the usual form; and that the numerous precedents which we have, shall not be departed from. But the majority, as if anxious to force a division, seem obstinately bent on refusing compliance to so reasonable a request.

SPEECH

On the Bill to prohibit Deputy-Postmasters from receiving and transmitting through the Mail, to any State, Territory, or District, certain Papers therein mentioned, the circulation of which is prohibited by the Laws of said State, Territory, or District; delivered in the Senate, April 12, 1836.

I AM aware, said Mr. Calhoun, how offensive it is to speak of one's self; but as the Senator from Georgia on my right (Mr. King) has thought fit to impute to me improper motives, I feel myself compelled in self-defence to state the reasons which have governed my course in reference to the subject now under consideration. The Senator is greatly mistaken in supposing that I am governed by hostility to General Jackson. So far is that from being the fact, that I came here at the commencement of the session with fixed and settled principles on the subject now under discussion, and

which, in pursuing the course the Senator condemns, I have but attempted to carry into effect.

As soon as the subject of abolition began to agitate the South, last summer, in consequence of the transmission of incendiary publications through the mail, I saw at once that it would force itself on the notice of Congress at the present session; and that it involved questions of great delicacy and difficulty. I immediately turned my attention in consequence to the subject, and after due reflection arrived at the conclusion, that Congress could exercise no direct power over it; and that, if it acted at all, the only mode in which it could act, consistently with the constitution and the rights and safety of the slaveholding States, would be in the manner proposed by this bill. I also saw that there was no inconsiderable danger in the excited state of the feelings of the South; that the power, however dangerous and unconstitutional, might be thoughtlessly yielded to Congress-knowing full well how apt the weak and timid are, in a state of excitement and alarm, to seek temporary protection in any quarter, regardless of after consequences; and how ready the artful and designing ever are to seize on such occasions to extend and perpetuate their power.

With these impressions I arrived here at the beginning of the session. The President's Message was not calculated to remove my apprehensions. He assumed for Congress direct power over the subject, and that on the broadest, most unqualified, and dangerous principles. Knowing the influence of his name-by reason of his great patronage and the rigid discipline of his party-with a large portion of the country, who have scarcely any other standard of constitution, politics, or morals, I saw the full extent of the danger of having these dangerous principles reduced to practice, and I determined at once to use every effort to prevent it. The Senator from Georgia will, of course, understand that I do not include him in this subservient portion of his party. So far from it,

I have always considered him as one of the most independent. It has been our fortune to concur in opinion in relation to most of the important measures which have been agitated since he became a member of this body, two years ago, at the commencement of the session during which the deposit question was agitated.. On that important question, if I mistake not, the Senator and myself concurred in opinion, at least as to its inexpediency, and the dangerous consequences to which it would probably lead. If my memory serves me well, we also agreed in opinion on the connected subject of the currency, which was then incidentally discussed. We agreed, too, on the question of raising the value of gold to its present standard, and in opposition to the bill for the distribution of the proceeds of the public lands, introduced by the Senator from Kentucky (Mr. Clay). In recurring to the events of that interesting session, I can remember but one important subject on which we disagreed, and that was the President's protest. Passing to the next, I find the same concurrence of opinion on most of the important subjects of the session. We agreed on the question of executive patronage on the propriety of amending the constitution for a temporary distribution of the surplus revenue-on the subject of regulating the deposits-and in support of the bill for restricting the power of the Executive in making removals from office. We also agreed on the propriety of establishing branch mints in the South and West-a subject not a little contested at the time.

Even at the present session we have not been so unfortunate as to disagree entirely. We have, it is true, on the question of receiving abolition petitions, which I regret, as I must consider their reception, on the principle on which they were received, as a surrender of the whole ground to the abolitionists, as far as this Government is concerned. It is also true, that we disagreed, in part, in reference to the present subject. The Senator has divided, in relation to it,

between myself and General Jackson. He has given his speech in support of his Message, and announced the intention of giving his vote in favor of my bill. I certainly have no right to complain of this division. I had rather have his vote than his speech. The one will stand for ever on the records of the Senate (unless expunged) in favor of the bill, and the important principles on which it rests-while the other is destined, at no distant day, to oblivion.

If

I now put to the Senator from Georgia two short questions. In the numerous and important instances in which we have agreed, I must have been either right or wrong. right, how could he be so uncharitable as to attribute my course to the low and unworthy motive of inveterate hostility to General Jackson? But if wrong, in what condition does his charge against me place himself, who has concurred with me in all these measures?

[Here Mr. King disclaimed the imputation of improper motives to Mr. C.]

I am glad to hear the gentleman's disclaimer, said Mr. C., but I certainly understood him as asserting, that such was my hostility to General Jackson, that his support of a measure was sufficient to insure my opposition; and this he undertook to illustrate by an anecdote borrowed from O'Connell and the pig, which I must tell the Senator was much better suited to the Irish mob to which it was originally addressed, than to the dignity of the Senate, where he has repeated it.

But to return from this long digression. I saw, as I have remarked, there was reason to apprehend that the principles embraced in the Message might be reduced to practiceprinciples which I believed to be dangerous to the South, and subversive of the liberty of the press. The report fully states what those principles are, but it may not be useless to refer to them briefly on the present occasion.

The Message assumed for Congress the right of determining what publications are incendiary and calculated to excite