H. OF R.] Slavery in the District of Columbia. petitioners, and to abolish slavery and the slave trade throughout the District. They are not warranted by the laws of nature, or of God, and are oppressive and unjust-and injustice can never be tolerated without crime, where the power exists to correct it. And it appears to me that no one can seriously doubt that Congress possess full and ample power. It will strengthen the District, by the introduction of a free population, and do much to protect it against all future invasion. The abolition of slavery will render the District more prosperous. Agriculture will flourish; its fields and plantations will be better cultivated and improved. Arts and manufactures will be increased, and industry and enterprise will be doubled. The black population will be rendered more serviceable than they now are; for in the same proportion that you degrade man you destroy his usefulness. Money would be more freely appropriated, and a better feeling towards the District would exist. Greater harmony would prevail throughout the Union. The public mind would be quieted and tranquillized. The power of Congress over slavery spent and ended, there would be no more petitions for the abolition of slavery--none, none, would ask Congress to interfere with slavery in the several States. [FEB. 2,1835. peace, and blessed with the especial presence of liberty and justice. No bondage, no stripes, no fetters, or chains, inflicted or fastened on man without crime; no tears and screams of the oppressed, no heart-broken lamentations, no wailings of despair for the lights of morality and religion extinguished; for hopes present and hopes future ruined; for all the delightful and holy associations and joys of domestic bliss, (for I consider the negro as man;) for all the ties of kindred, of blood, and of nature, torn asunder and dissolved for ever, should fatigue the eye or pain the ear of any legislator or offi. cer of this Government, or of the citizen of this or of any other country, who makes a pilgrimage to this Mecca, this land of the faithful, this, as it should be, chosen residence of freedom, to render homage at the shrine of liberty. Every man, in looking at this District, and this alone, must agree with me. To render this chosen land beloved by all, the pride and the glory of all, we must first render it lovely. Lovely it can never be to all, while slavery and the slave trade continue to tarnish its annals. Methinks I hear some one exclaim, the present is an inauspicious time; the country is not yet prepared for such a measure. How long shall the legislators of this country wait, before they spread the unalloyed blessings of an entire exemption from personal servitude over this District? For more than thirty years the citizens of the country have petitioned Congress to abolish slavery and the slave trade in this District. trict have presented the slave trade as a nuisance. Es Grand juries of the Dissays have been published in the newspapers of the District, recommending, and more than one thousand citi zens of the District have petitioned for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. The prayer, then, of the petitioners is reasonable; in accordance with the nature of man, and founded on the principles of eternal justice. The time, the age, the progress of liberal principles throughout the world, seem to require of this Republic the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. The inquisitions of Spain and Portugal have been abolished, and slavery throughout the British dominions has ceased to exist. The abolition of slavery has kept pace with the march of republican principles in South America, and there, as sceptres have fallen from the hands of kings and tyrants, the shackles And again, I ask, how long shall Congress wait? have fallen from enslaved men; and slavery has ceased How long! oh, how long! before a citizen of this only to exist, and is unknown throughout the South Ameri- Republic, in view of the freedom of this District and can Republics. It is only known in Brazil, which is emancipated man. here, may with equal pride, equal still a monarchy, and has never assumed a republican justice, and with as much truth, burst forth in the ele form of Government. And shall slavery be upheld and vated sentiments, uttered in the warm impassioned lanretained by this Government, boasting of its freedom guage and burning words of the Irish advocate and oraand its republican principles? Our country spent hun- tor, when contemplating the freedom and exemption of dreds of millions of dollars and lost tens of thousands of England, a country governed by a crowned head and an lives to secure our independence and freedom from the hereditary peerage, whose tyranny and oppressions our tyranny and oppression of Britain. And we uphold and ancestors could not endure, from personal servitude and support, at the seat of our Government, personal servi- negro bondage. How long! oh my God! how long, tude, personal bondage, and cruel oppressions, harder before an American citizen, before American law, in to be endured by the sufferers for one day, than years, the genuine spirit of American freedom, may with truth ay, than ages, of the oppressions of Britain, by our an- proclaim to and of the stranger and sojourner here, to cestors. And do not our professions, consistency, and and of man, to every man in this District-"that the the honor of our country, demand freedom from person-ground on which he treads is holy, and consecrated by al bondage in all places under the sole legislation of the national Government? If we refuse to grant it, shall we not be liable to be reproached in the following language of the illustrious Jefferson, when speaking of slavery and the struggle of our ancestors with England: "What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man, who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment, and death itself, in vindication of his own liberty, and the next be deaf to all those motives whose power supported him through his trial, and inflict on his fellowmen a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose." Those whose early education, associations, habits, and interests, have familiarized them to slavery, surely cannot refuse to unite with those opposed to it from education, early habits of association, thinking, and acting, and, as they believe, from religion itself, to banish slavery, and all its real or supposed evils, from the District of Columbia. The common land, where all the legislators of this country meet to transact the business of a great and the only Republic, should be lovely, smiling with the genius of emancipation. No matter in what language his doom may have been pronounced; no matter what complexion incompatible with freedom an Indian or an African sun may have burnt upon him; no matter in what disastrous battle his liberty may have been cloven down; no matter with what solemnities he may have been devoted on the altar of slavery, the first moment he touches the sacred soil," not, ah not of Britain, but of the District of Columbia, "the altar and the god sink together in the dust; his soul walks abroad in her own native majesty; his body swells beyond the measure of his chains that burst from around him, and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled, by the genius of universal emancipation." Mr. D. then moved a reference of the memorials to a select committee. Mr. CHINN said that he did not rise to defend the course pursued by the present or any previous Commit tee of the District of Columbia, upon the subject of the memorial. He hoped that neither the present nor any previous committee required any such defence. Nor did he mean to disbturb the deep sympathy or the tender FEB. 2, 1835.] Improvement of the Monongahela-Indian Reserves. mercies of the gentleman from New York, still less of the eight hundred fair memorialists who have made the gentleman their champion. He only moved to lay the whole subject on the table, and upon that question he demanded the yeas and nays. Mr. DENNY asked whether, if the motion prevailed, it would be in order to call up the memorials at any other time. The SPEAKER said it would be in order to take them up whenever the House pleased. The question being taken, it was decided in the affirmative, as follows: YEAS-Messrs. John J. Allen, Chilton Allan, William Allen, Archer, Ashley, Bouldin, Bunch, Bynum, Cage, Cambreleng, Campbell, Carmichael, Carr, Chaney, Chilton, Chinn, Claiborne, Clay, Clayton, Clowney, Coffee, Cramer, Crockett, Davis, Davenport, Day, Deberry, Dickerson, Dickinson, Dunlap, Felder, Ferris, Forester, Foster, William K. Fuller, Fulton, Gamble, Garland, Gholson, Gillet, Gilmer, Gordon, Gorbam, Graham, Grayson, Griffin, J. Hall, T. H. Hall, Halsey, Hamer, Hannegan, Hardin, Hathaway, Hawkins, Heath, Howell, Huntington, Inge, Ebenezer Jackson, Jarvis, R. M. Johnson, H. Johnson, Kinnard, Lane, Lansing, Lea, Lewis, Love, Loyall, Lucas, Lyon, Abijah Mann, Marshall, Mardis, May, McComas, McIntire, McKay, McKim, McVean, Mercer, Henry Mitchell, Robert Mitchell, Murphy, Parks, Patterson, Peyton, Pickens, Pierce, Pierson, Pinckney, Plummer, Polk, Pope, Rencher, Reynolds, Robertson, Schley, Shepard, Smith, Spangler, Speight, Standefer, Steele, Wm. P. Taylor, Philemon Thomas, Tompkins, Turner, Turrill, Vanderpoel, Van Houten, Watmough, White, Wilde, Williams, Wilson, Wise-117. NAYS-Messrs. John Quincy Adams, Heman Allen, Banks, Barber, Bates, Baylies, Bell, Binney, Bockee, Briggs, Brown, Burd, Burges, Burns, Casey, Chambers, William Clark, Coulter, Crane, Darlington, Denny, Dickson, Evans, Edward Everett, Fillmore, Fowler, Philo C. Fuller, Galbraith, Grennell, Hard, J. M. Harper, James Harper, Harrison, Hazeltine, Hiester, Hubbard, William Jackson, Benjamin Jones, Kilgore, Laporte, Lay, Thomas Lee, Lincoln, Joel K. Mann, Martindale, Moses Mason, McCarty, McKennan, McLene, Miller, Milligan, Miner, Morgan, Osgood, Parker, D. J. Pearce, Phillips, Potts, Ramsay, Reed, Schenck, Shinn, Slade, Sloane, Stewart, W. Taylor, Thomson, Trumbull, Tweedy, Vance, Vinton, Wagener, Wardwell, Webster, Whallon, F. Whittlesey, Young-77. IMPROVEMENT OF THE MONONGAHELA. Mr. DENNY presented a memorial from a large number of delegates representing five counties and many towns of Pennsylvania, extending along the Monongahela river, from the head of the Ohio to the Virginia State line, asking for an appropriation for the improvement of the Monongahela river, from Pittsburg to the national road at Brownsville, according to the plan sug gested by Mr. Howard; which he moved to have referred to the Committee on Roads and Canals, and that it be printed, with the accompanying documents. Mr. STEWART suggested to his colleague [Mr. DENNY] the propriety of giving this memorial a different direction. In 1832 an appropriation was made for this object, under which a survey, plan, and estimate, had been made by direction of the President. At the last session, this report and estimate were referred to the Committee on Roads and Canals, and he had been authorized by that committee to report a bill making an appropriation in exact conformity with the prayer of the memorialists. This bill the gentleman would find on the orders of the day, and which he hoped would be reached before the close of the session, and receive the favorable [H. OF R. consideration of the House, to which he conceived it was so eminently entitled. He therefore suggested the reference of the memorial to the Committee of the Whole House to which this bill had been referred. Mr. DENNY acquiesced in this suggestion, and the memorial was referred accordingly. INDIAN RESERVATIONS. The following resolution, heretofore offered by Mr. MCCARTY: Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to transmit to this House copies of all letters and correspondence of all Indian agents and sub-agents, and other persons connected with the Indian department, now in the executive or War Departments, or in the office of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, connected with or relative to the survey, location, sale, and transfer of all Indian reserves of land, since the year 1825, up to this time; and, also, all the orders and communications from the Executive of the United States, through the War Department, or General Land Office, or otherwise, in reference to said surveys, locations, sales, and transfers of Indian reserves; together with maps and plats of said surveys, and of the tracts approved and confirmed by the President under said transfers and sales, and what remains unappropriated that have been reported and submitted for his approval, together with the evidence of title: To which Mr. PLUMMER moved an amendment, to restrict the call for information to "that not already communicated to the Senate under resolutions of that body adopted at the last session:" And which having been referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs Mr. Love, from that committee, reported the same, with an amendment, as follows: Strike out, after the word "correspondence," the words" of all Indian agents, sub-agents, and other persons connected with the Indian department," and insert, after the words "General Land Office," the words "of all Indian agents, sub-agents, and other persons," and insert, after the words "reserves of lands," the words "east of the Mississippi river:" Then came up for consideration. Mr. MCCARTY rose and said: Mr. Speaker, when I closed my remarks upon this subject, more than a week ago, upon the motion of the gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. LovE,] to refer this subject to the Committee on Indian Affairs, I had no intention of again troubling the House with any further remarks of mine. Nor, sir, important as I consider the subject to the country, should I have done so, but for the reported remarks of one of my colleagues, [Mr. LANE,] of the debate which took place on that day, and the subsequent debate upon this subject. Mr. Speaker, when I introduced the resolution under consideration, I carefully and studiously avoided locating charges of fraud in any district, or in any particular section of the country, or upon any individual officer; nor in any remark made by me on this floor, during the time I occupied the attention of the House upon this subject, have I adverted or made any allusion whatever to any specific place, or upon any individual, of the frauds contemplated to be laid open by this resolution. It is not my practice, sir, to stand here and charge individuals, elsewhere, with any act dishonorable to themselves or to the country, where they would be unable to defend themselves. The object of the resolution was, as expressed on its face, simply for the purpose of bringing forward-believing, as I do, that frauds exist-such evidence as would lead to an investigation into the conduct of public agents which may be thought prejudicial to the public interest, for the purpose of enabling the Executive and the proper departments to correct those fraudulent practices, and of exposing the perpetrators. But, notwithstanding my repeated disclaimers against any thing like locating charges in any section of the country, my colleague [Mr. LANE] has been kind enough, in his reported remarks in the Globe, to insinuate the charges upon myself and an honorable colleague [Mr. EWING] of having located the frauds referred to within the State of Indiana. Sir, it is needless for me to reiterate this disclaimer here, for every gentleman upon this floor, who participated in that discussion, must well remember it; but it is due to myself that I should expose this misrepresentation, which was intended to operate more elsewhere than here. The gentleman [Mr. LANE] after having made his first remarks, in which he goes on to state that he objected to the resolution because I had not been sufficiently specific, and for that reason he could not vote for it, was so fully satisfied that I had located charges no where, that he called upon me to put my finger upon the agent who had acted fraudulently. And this was also all the ground of objection taken by the gentlemen who opposed the resolution: these were the remarks, I believe, of my colleague, in his first speech upon the subject. In his second remarks, he changes his ground, and instead of opposing the adoption of the resolution as before, he says, in substance, "that he feels it incumbent upon him to redeem the people of the State of Indiana from the charges imputed to them by my colleague and myself;" "as they had, if fraud had been committed, located it there." His corrected remarks read thus: "and that, inasmuch as the resolution originated with the gentleman from his own State, and inasmuch as two of his honorable colleagues [Messrs. EWING and MCCARTY] had expressed a belief that frauds had been perpetrated in the transfer of Indian reservations, it might be supposed that some of those frauds had taken place in Indiana." Here the gentleman has travelled out of his way, and out of the subject under consideration, to seek an excuse to pass a eulogy upon the citizens of Indiana, entirely gratuitous and uncalled for by the occasion, in reply to charges that not only were never made, but upon which nothing had been said. The gentleman has endeavored to show that he had corrected this error, by the publication of a letter in the Globe. But mark! He professes to have written it on Saturday, but instead of appearing in Monday's paper, it did not appear till Tuesday, although the gentleman assured the House that he took the earliest occasion to correct the error, but that his letter did not reach the office until late on Sunday night, and after the form of the paper had been made up. Now, sir, the resolution came from myself, and, in my remarks on its introduction, I distinctly stated that I was personally acquainted with the agent in Indiana, and disavowed any intention of imputing wrong to that individual, whom I believe to be incapable of perpetrating a fraud. Why, then, was the State of Indiana, and the agents there, named by my colleague? Why, he says, "inasmuch as the resolution orginated with a gen. tleman from his own State." Sir, no such inference can be drawn, either from any remarks that I made, or from the resolution itself. The resolution was introduced by me for the purpose of getting at the subject generally. It was known to the gentleman, that for two years I have been connected with the Committee on Indian Affairs; and that my investigations on this subject were general. How, then, could he come to the conclusion he states, in the total absence of any thing said or done on my part to warrant such an inference? He could not. But, even admitting that I had been disposed to locate these frauds in the State of Indiana, would it have been considered disreputable to a whole people, because a [FEB. 2, 1835. few dishonest persons may be found among them? Would that have offered a sufficient ground for a gentleman to misrepresent his colleagues, for the purpose of passing a hypocritical eulogy, uncalled for and out of place, and entirely gratuitous on his part? No one thinks higher of my fellow-citizens of Indiana than I do; but would any gentleman believe me if I were to assert it as my opinion that there was not a man among them capable of committing fraud? Was it an imputation upon the honest portion of any community to charge some one or two of them with the perpetration of fraud, had I even done so, which is not true? Even the records of the gentleman's own county, which had as honest men as any in the world, would show that things had been done there not altogether consistent with honesty and fair dealing. But where was there a county in this Union, whose rec ords would not show that dishonest and corrupt men had lived there? And yet is this an imputation upon the inhabitants of the county! Does it argue against the integrity and purity of the community generally? Certainly not. My motive, Mr. Speaker, was a general one, in reference to the general interest of the country. Sir, were I disposed, I might instance a circumstance in my own State, not of fraud, sir, but of deep interest to those concerned, as well as the State, which, of itself, I think, is of sufficient interest and importance to warrant the call contemplated by this resolution. It is this: a good many reserves were made by the treaty of 1826, in Indiana, to the minor Indian children of a particular school. Those children have mostly gone from the country, and it is believed their lands, or many of them, have been transferred. If so, the titles may be questioned, and innocent purchasers may suffer; and it is important these facts should be known. I will again, sir, recur to the speech of my colleague, [Mr. LANE,] subsequently made, in reference to his feelings upon this subject. He says "he would ever be ready to co-operate with them (his colleagues) in any thing and every thing they may undertake, calcu lated to promote the interests of their constituents, the interest and prosperity of our State, and the interest and prosperity of the Union." Now, sir, these sentiments are certainly worthy of a Representative upon this floor; but take them in con. nexion with the following, from another speech, made by the same gentleman. As I design to correct public opinion upon this matter, I deem it due to myself, from the attitude in which I have been placed, that I should quote it: "Mr. LANE said he regretted he could not, in justice to himself, accept the kind aid of his good-feeling col league, [Mr. MCCARTY,] in the motion he had made to reconsider the vote of yesterday, rejecting the resolu tion he had the honor of presenting to the House for adoption. That it was his intention to present it anew to the House, locating its commencement." "Now, be could have no such motive, for its commencement had been designated by the resolution itself." Now, Mr. Speaker, the resolution was offered by the gentleman himself, referring, as I thought, to a subject already before one of the standing committees of the House, and it was for that reason alone I made the sug gestion to it. As soon, however, as I discovered the mistake, I myself moved its reconsideration, and the gentleman, although it was his own resolution, his own proposition, objected to its reconsideration, under the pretence that he would "present it anew to the House, locating its commencement." I have quoted this for the purpose of connecting these subjects, and to show that the opposition to the reconsideration of the gentle man's own resolution, and his published remarks on that subject, were intended for political effect at home, and not for the information of the House, because they were made out of this House, and written by the gentleman himself. Mr. Speaker, I have upon all occasions carefully avoided any collision with any gentleman upon this floor. It is both unpleasant and disagreeable, and it is especially so with a colleague. But when I see my remarks and my motives misrepresented, and those misrepresentations sent abroad throughout the country, to produce an effect against me at home, I could not, in justice to myself and those I represent, permit them to pass unnoticed. Sir, there are a species of animals in our forests, with whom, notwithstanding their weakness and abject meanness of spirit, the lion himself would shun a controversy. There are, Mr. Speaker, many men who owe their impunity from rebuke and chastisement to their resemblance to these quadrupeds. I hope 28 the House will pardon me for thus trespassing upon its patience, by introducing matters not altogether relevant to the subject under consideration. I know, sir, the gentleman may suppose that the length of time that has elapsed since his remarks have gone forth, would have enabled them to produce the desired effect; but this being the first occasion that has offered to make the correction, I have thought it due to myself to embrace it. I have no objection that gentlemen should take any course they think proper to write out their own speeches, when it is not done at the expense of truth and to the detriment of others. The gentleman, the other day, in reply to my colleague, [Mr. EWING,] after he had been told, in emphatic terms, that his published remarks were not true; that he had written them himself; and that the reporter, therefore, was not chargeable with the misrepresentation, boastingly tells the House, that whoever contradicts his assertion, does it at his peril. Why, sir, this reminds me of a very troublesome fellow in my neighborhood, who had offended a very good citizen, and, refusing to make the necessary redress, the gentleman took upon himself the responsibility of redressing his own wrong by making a very unpleasant application to the young man's shoulders. After giving him about thirty, he let him pass. The fellow immediately ap plied to the clerk for a writ, who asked him why he did not fight back. "Why," said the fellow, "I had determined if he had struck another lick, I would have given him hell!" Mr. Speaker, when I introduced the subject here, I did it in the character of a representative of the people. I consulted no personal feeling, nor am I responsible to any but my constituents, out of this House; but, notwithstanding this, I shall never shrink from any responsibility that may grow out of any thing that I may say here. Nor, sir, have I introduced it for the purpose of ferreting out and making charges against the administration. No, sir, I am an older soldier in the support of the administration than that gentleman, and have defended it from the earliest period, and expect to do so as long as I have the honor of a seat here, when I think its measures are correct. But I claim the right of differing in opinion upon all subjects, when my duty to my constituents shall demand it. There is no intention of bringing any charge upon the Executive by this resolution. On the contrary, its object is to enable the Executive to do justice to the country. I have brought it forward, sir, after due deliberation and reflection, and I trust it will be adopted, so that the country may see where frauds have been perpetrated, and who have been guilty of them, and that those who have been unjustly charged may have it in their power to exculpate themselves. I again repeat, sir, that so far from locating the frauds in Indiana, or intending to locate them there, I located them nowhere; I made no charge against the agent in Indiana, (whom I believe to be as [H. OF R. honest and honorable a man as lives,) nor against any other individual whatsoever. I have reason to believe that fraud has been perpetrated somewhere, and I wish it known. In conclusion, sir, let me assure my honorable colleague, that I will never suffer misrepresentations of myself to pass here unheeded, nor, so long as I shall be honored with a seat on this floor, permit them to go without exposing them to public view. I have thus, Mr. Speaker, said all I intended on this subject, and beg to express my acknowledgments to the House for the indulgence afforded me. My main object was to correct this error, and to do justice to myself by placing the whole matter fairly before the public. Mr. EWING then rose, but Mr. WATMOUGH called for the orders of the day; which motion was not sustained: Ayes 55, noes not counted. Mr. EWING, of Indiana, said he did not rise to protract the debate upon this resolution, and he should not now add one word after the remarks of his respected colleague [Mr. MCCARTY] who had just taken his seat, were it not that the correction of false and injurious matter made by the member on his right, [Mr. LANE,] was little less offensive than his original publication. In his effort to avert the force of the correction I felt myself called upon to apply, he seemed to take offence at the language I had used, when it is known to the House that I used no language but what his injurious misrepresentation justly merited. I am in the habit of calling things by their right names, and so are the upright people I represent. I call a spade a spade, when I allude to that implement, and in repelling the charge that I had implicated the people of Indiana in any participation of fraud, or that the resolution was calculated to do so, or that it justified or required his bold eulogium, I used only such terms as were necessary to expose the falsehood. But The member [Mr. LANE] commenced his remarks by stating that he would not "bandy epithets," but that he would state the truth, and that contradiction would be at "peril." Now, I bandy no "epithets;" I establish the fact that he did not state the truth; and of his "perils," I am, here and elsewhere, utterly regardless. if his "perils" are the garbled and untrue reports sent through the medium of the Globe, to injure faithful Representatives at home, I confess I cannot express such indifference. Why, sir, the report of my late remarks, in that partisan print, were so garbled and shaped as to give covert point to his misrepresentations. I acknowledge, sir, there is art manifested in this course; the same sort of art which he displayed in his uncalled-for allusion to the people of Indiana. The people require services, not flattery; and in his case it was dealt out upon the unfounded assumption that the resolution of my colleague [Mr. MCCARTY] had cast a stigma on them; when in fact the people of Massachusetts, and every other State, were as much implicated as they were; for the resolution is only calculated to bring necessary information to all. But I suppose the "peril" threatened by the member [Mr. LANE] had reference to the new version of his remarks, and not to those that he reported for the Globe, which were the original cause of complaint. Now, how does the matter stand, the threatened peril notwithstanding? I charged him with having written for the Globe a bold eulogy, founded on a false and injurious statement, calculated to do great injustice to myself and my colleague on my right, [Mr. MCCARTY,] and to deceive our constituents. I further charged him with making such a correction of it as might still gain for him unmerited credit for defending them from the false and injurious statement which originated in his own imagination, and appeared in the Globe. The House has witnessed his pretext, inuendoes, and subterfuge, in reply to these exposures, and heard his declaration, that what he then said was "true and not false, and that the contradicter would himself assert a falsehood." This, too, accompanied by an intimation that I had sought protection under the dome and within the walls and drapery of this House, for the exposure of the impositions. He [Mr. LANE] did not deny that he had written the false statement for the Globe; but he may have wished to convey the idea that I could be intimidated from stating facts. Now, I would have that member to understand that such an idea is as unfounded as the falsehoods I have already exposed. I claim no protection from the walls, dome, or drapery. It is not these, but my constituents, that I regard; and I have not, nor shall I ever make any remarks here, which I shall shrink from reiterating elsewhere. The intimation was given as a disclaimer on his part, that he would seek no such protection. He must now know that I hold myself personally responsible, and he may pursue what course he chooses. As the able exposition of my respected colleague [Mr. MCCARTY] has placed the matter at issue in its true light, I would say no more, were it not for the degrading perversions of my former remarks, and the declaration of what the member [Mr. LANE] "would never do" which accompanied his perversions. He labored to make the erroneous impression that I took offence at his unneces sary eulogy on my constituents, instead of the false ground on which he based it. He knew I had taken of fence only at this attempt to show that his pretended defence of them was required by my course; and he knew, and this House knew, he was attempting to do the very thing he disclaimed. Thank God, sir, I and that member are known to the people of Indiana; and if he does not know me better than his course indicates, I can inform him that I have long known him. This, sir, is no place to play the braggart, and I hope he will hereafter seek some place more suitable. If, as he said, he would indulge in no defamation, why did he not frankly and effectually correct his error in proper time, and why did he labor to avert the force of my correction? I wish only that the constituents of each shall know the facts of this case, as the House knows them; and that each of us may be judged by the tendency of our acts. The resolution I hope will be adopted. Mr. LANE said his colleagues [Messrs. MCCARTY and EWING] were upon a cold trail; that he deemed it a duty to the House and himself to say he had not, in the House, on a former occasion, said his colleagues had located the frauds in Indiana-that as soon as he saw the report of his remarks in the Globe, he had detected the error, and sent a note to the office correcting it. That his remarks had, at the request of the reporter, been written out by himself, as is usual in the House. That, in setting the type, the compositor omitted the following words: which would seem to locate them." Had this line not been omitted, all this difficulty would have been avoided; but as it is, the assault on the part of my colleagues was uncalled for, and unprovoked on my part, inasmuch as the correction was made before the assault. Mr. L. said it was extremely unpleasant, repugnant to all his feelings, to be called upon to make even a goodnatured reply to such language as had been thrown upon the House. It has been said, with wisdom, there is a time for all things. A poor thing said in, is better than a good one out, of place. The one is the manifestation of a weak mind-the other of a depraved taste. Sir, we are in the house of mourning. Some for the loss of a personal and esteemed friend--all for the loss of a valuable member. That tongue, lately so eloquent, is silent. Those eyes so bright, are closed in death. Those limbs so active, and face so comely, in the tomb. I could not have found it in my heart to have said aught [FEB. 2, 1835. to have disturbed the repose of the mourner--the solemn feast of feeling-the Sabbath of the mind. Nor would I have forgotten the late tragical attempt in this Capitol, which, had it been acted out, as did Othello his part, this Capitol, this nation, would have been shaken, as by some mighty earthquake, from its centre to its circumference. Thus situated, had I ever so much cause for revenge, my bow and my arrow in my hand, my eye on the victim, the very thought of these recent events to have flitted across my mind-a look at this badge of mourning on my arm, as a manifestation of regard for departed worth, and my bow and my arrow should have fallen. With my eyes on Heaven, I would have made one effort to rise, in all the pride and glory of man, superior to the brutal passion. Sir, (said Mr. L.,) to the people of Indiana it would be a subject of curiosity how this difficulty should have arisen between myself and colleagues, [Messrs. MCCARTY and EWING,] in the consideration of a resolution in the adoption of which we agree. They will see at once it has not grown out of any thing seen or heard in this debate; that the cause lies deeper; not in the virtue, but in the depravity of the human heart. Man, sir, may dissemble for a while--may deceive-but, sooner or later, like the pent up heated waters, the least enviable qual ities will burst forth. The politician who abandons his first love, his principles, and betrays his trust, looks with envy upon the faithful. Sir, there is a manner, a language, a courtesy, a delicacy, and sweetness of expres sion, in the heat of even angry debate, that characterizes the gentleman and the scholar-a language, a look, that distinguishes him from the vulgar ruffian. To look at such a man is to know him a gentleman, elevated in mind, pure in thought, sensitive in feeling, alive to his honor-always respecting the feelings and regarding the honor of others. Sir, pursue the other through all the walks and shades of life, to his own or his neighbor's fireside, to the gay circle, or to a more elevated station, and he is still no gentleman, but a ruffian, without feeling or honor, regardless of both in others. To see such a man is to know his ruling passions, his weapons of warfare-envy, revenge, detraction, calumny. Sir, it is to be presumed, neither of my honorable colleagues [Messrs. MCCARTY and EWING] will claim this picture or desire the garment, not being intended for them. If, however, contrary to my wishes and intentions, a claim should be asserted, I assure the House and my honorable col leagues, [Messrs. MCCARTY and EWING,] that nothing shall be charged for the cutting or the making. Mr. Speaker, I was elected by a highly respectable district, as their immediate representative, to act in har monious concert with my honorable colleagues, in promoting the best interests of the people of Indiana, to maintain their interests, their honor, the union, the dig nity of this House, and not to tarnish the one or neglect the other by entering into a private quarrel with them. Sir, there is a point in the scale of human degradation, to notice or look at, which no honorable man will descend. There is a language and men, (not, surely, in this House,) to notice either, is disgrace-to disregard, a virtue. Mr. Speaker, I feel myself called upon to say one word in relation to myself. During the last, and so far of the present session, I have been at my post; not a day or an hour absent. I have voted on all occasions; have been the watchful, and, to the extent of my humble and the honor of the district and State I represent. Unlike my honorable colleague at my right, [Mr. MCCARTY,] the Clerk of this House has not dashed his pen across my name, as absent, in the taking the ayes and noes, eightyand-two times, and unlike my colleague on the left, [Mr. EWING,] forty-and-seven times. |