ber. Mr. M. would go over a few of the heads of complaint, by way of contrast to the statement made by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Botts), as to the object and motive of the gentleman in bringing that petition into this house. The gentleman had taken the position that that portion of the union from which Mr. M. came were trying, with all the influence they could exert, to effect a repeal of the act of habeas corpus, and of the trial by jury; that they were industriously endeavoring to extend the existence of slavery over the free states; that they sought to involve this country in a war with Great Britain, with a view to restore the African slave-trade, and to fix it upon these states forever; and that the project of the secretary of the navy for the establishment of a home squadron had for its real object, not the defence of the country, but the protection of the slave trade. And then, after enumerating all these different grounds of grievance, the gentleman had warned the house that he should go home to his people, and say to them that it was time to take the alarm; that he would give them the alarm, and that he had introduced this petition for the very purpose of exciting alarm. because the memorial asks for a peaceable dissolution | or may know, who can read, that the institution of of the union. A peaceable dissolution of the union! slavery is guarantied by the constitution, and placed It cannot be. Before the bonds are broken, war must exclusively under the control of the states. And all be made. It will be made for the union on one side, who know the facts of the case know that the people and against it on the other; and making war against of the south are falsely charged, when they are acthe government is treason. A peaceable dissolution! cused of attempting to introduce slavery into the free How will you go about it? The petition implies, and states. No man doubts that slavery is guarded by the gentleman maintains, that it can be done only by the present constitution. Massachusetts herself does congress. You may dissolve the union. God, in his not doubt it; and, therefore, seeking its abolition, she mercy, forefend that you ever should; but you will looks to a dissolution of the union; and my colleague never do it but by force. Never; never. I say that agrees with her that such dissolution is the surest the very idea of executing an act of congress provid- means of abolishing slavery. I do, in my soul, being for such a purpose, could the day ever arrive lieve that if the gentleman from Massachusetts himwhen such an act should pass, does involve treason, self, instead of looking into books, could travel among because it could not be executed but by force of arms. us, and look at facts as they exist; if he would see And that the very passage of the act does involve with his own eyes, and not with his learning, he perjury, because we have sworn to support the con- would at once be induced to depart from his plan. stitution. Suppose we do so much violence to our Mr. Adams! Not an inch. imaginations as to conceive that such an act has been Mr. Marshall resumed. It is the gentleman's pripassed, how will it work? It will come to Kentucky, vilege to interrupt and to insult every man on this and it will tell the people of that state that there is floor; it is his privilege, and I accord it to him freeno United States-no American constitution; that ly. But slavery, it seems, is to be abolished if the there is no federal government, and no state govern- union is dissolved, and the gentleman from Massament; that society is resolved into its original ele-chusetts says; therefore, dissolve the union; and that, Mr. Adams denied that he had said this, or anything ments. I say there are no state governments, be- therefore, it is that those whom he represents say so like it. What he had said was, that he had presented cause if the federal government is destroyed there is too; and these are the men in whose ears he is to the petition because he considered it his duty. no longer any government armed with the attributes Mr. Marshall, in reply, appealed to the report of of sovereignty. The state governments cannot make sound the tocsin of alarm, and whom he avows it is Mr. Adams' speech. He was asked from what paper peace or war; they cannot own a navy; they cannot he read. He replied, it was a report in the National coin money-I mean good money-and therefore I Intelligencer, given by one of the regular reporters say the dissolution of the union dissolves the state of that establishment in this house. Mr. M. read ex-governments. And will any gentleman tell me that, tensively from the report, observing that thus the in a juncture like this, under an attempt to dissolve gentleman's language had gone forth to the world; the national compact and throw all civil and social and, after he had stated these heads of grievance, he ties to the elements of Heaven, that I who have out of Egypt. I wonder who is to be their Moses? had concluded by giving a pledge that he would show sworn again and again to support the federal consti- Is it the venerable gentleman from Massachusetts? tution will have no right to draw the sword? Will A magnificent conception, truly! Abolish slavery! and any man that knows Kentucky believe that Kentucky how? Never in that way. will not do it? Most assuredly she will. the truth of all this. [Mr. Adams. And I intend to show it.] Now, Mr. M. was not going to enter into this detail of grievances; it was not his purpose to discuss them with the gentleman from Mass. Neither should he discuss the right of Great Britain to search vessels wherever she found them, under the pretence of suppressing the slave trade. [Mr. Adams. You had better not] Neither should he discuss the propriety or necessity of the home squadron, or enter upon the question whether such a defence was a grievance to the north. Mr. M. had adverted to this list of grievances merely to show what ground had actually been taken by the gentleman himself in his defence. He had undertaken to make out a case of such grievous oppression and tyranny, exercised by the government upon him and his, that if ever a case would justify an outraged people in going into a state of revolution, and bursting the bands of society, this case was one; and the gentleman insisted that he had done it. The right of petition was gone; and the action of congress, in preparing for a dissolution of the union, was the only means by which the sacred and eternal rights of his constituents could be carried out into effect. The gentleman had avowed that he had brought this petition forward in order to give those constituents the alarm, and to afford them needed information. Still, however, the gentleman had further declared that he should not at present advise an actual dissolution of the union-no-not yet-not yet; but it was coming-it was approaching. It is seldom worth while to discuss a mere abstract proposition, but when you come to such a proposition as the right to dissolve this union, the proposition is abstract no longer; it becomes practical and momentous in the highest degree. Dissolve the union! And then tell me that this can be done without force! that it is all to be effected under the mild, the bland, the pacific, the amiable reasoning of the gentleman from Massachusetts: No, sir; it never can, it never will be so effected. Come that day when it will, it will be bloody, it will be horrible. ers. his intention to rouse. Abolish slavery-and how? Why, according to my colleague, it is to be done by all the negroes running away to Ohio, and some of them through Ohio into Canada. The blacks are to come forth as the Israelites did But the gentleman from Massachusetts does not look to this mode of doing the thing; no, he is not quite so much of a monomaniac as that. What, then, to be done? Abolished slavery must be; and, in order to effect that end, the constitution-that venerable, that sacred, that holy instrument, whose powerful arm, whose eternal voices and whose covering shield had been hitherto our pride and our safetythe constitution, with all the oaths of the north to support it, must first be broken down, and then the union is to be abolished. And how? By FORCE. And what next? Why, then the Puritans, the descenIf I wander from the subject, I wander from it in dants of the British regicides, who were driven out pursuit of the gentleman from Massachusetts, who of England by the oppressions and persecutions of the has led the way. That gentleman objects to his tri- English nobility, and the Cavaliers, who were driven He tells us that gentlemen from the south are out by the persecutions of the Puritans, after both not competent to try him on the charge of bringing had united on this side the water, had buried their forward a proposition to dissolve this union. The differences, and had, with their common hands, consouth may well thank the gentleman from Massachu- structed a new government, united, strengthened, setts. It is a glorious compliment he has paid her.- cemented together by the shedding of their common According to the gentleman, northern men are fit; blood, are once more to be driven asunder, and all they can judge, having no such bias in their way. that fearful strife, which convulsed Europe two hunWill northern gentlemen here acquiesce in that state-dred and fifty years ago, is once more to affront the ment? When the question comes, is such a course sun and pollute the blessed light of heaven on the worthy of censure? will northern gentlemen here de- soil of these once free and happy states. The declare that it is not censurable? Will they endorse scendants of the regicides, are to invade the south this petition, and the reasoning by which it is sustain- and to terminate slavery by the power of the sword. ed? Will they tell the American people that the warn gentlemen that when that shall be done, or people of Massachusetts have a right to dissolve their attempted to be done, the Cavalier sword will, as it Mr. M. now replied in extenso to the grounds of ble, and that they are ready to endorse the moveunion? That to pray for such dissolution is justifia- was wont to do, drink blood. [Here Mr. M. introduced a poetic quotation.] defence taken in behalf of Mr. Adams by Mr. Botts, ment? Oh, sir, if they will, how a few years must Sir, proceeded Mr. M. there is in that region of and believed that, to allow Mr. Adams to prepare a have changed them; how must Massachusetts herself the country a state of society which that gentleman report to allay the discontent and quiet the minds of have changed since the memorable era of 1798, when cannot alter without involving consequences more his constituents, would be to allay agitation with a the south were ready to dissolve the union and Mas- horrible, more terrific, than he can now conceive. vengeance. He next replied to the grounds taken by sachusetts was first among the champions to defend That for which they ask involves the utter destrucMr. Saltonstall, and scouted the idea of being intimi- it! Do gentlemen recollect the short and pithy tion, the obliteration of that race to which he should dated by the fact of the venerable gentleman's being answer given by her to the resolutions of 1798, and be allied by color, by a common blood, education, a direct descendant of one of the forty regicides that which extorted from James Madison his famous re-association, descent, friendship, by near and blessed had brought Charles the First to the block. port, as the means of extracting the dagger which alliance, by descendants, by every indissoluble ligaMassachusetts had plunged into the vitals of his southern feeling? On all the great points of our glorious constitution she was then as sound as a roach. How has she changed? When the question to he decided shall be, has a portion of the people of the United States a right to abolish the constitution and union of the United States, and is congress a necessary organ to effect that purpose, so that without its action the right is nugatory, will Massachusetts be found voting ay while the south votes no? The gentleman from Massachusetts told me that I was not able to comprehend the right of the citizen; that I knew nothing of the constitution of my own country, or of the liberties and franchises which that instrument was made to protect, and that the resolutions I have offered here indicate such ignorance. I listened, too, to what my colleagues said about the charge of high treason which these resolutions involved. Will the house bear with me so far as to allow me to read the passage with which it was my desire to preface the resolutions I have offered? Ah! but there's a reason for it. It is the detesta[Mr. M. here read the preface of his resolutions.]tion of the south to abolition that makes her a unionNow, it is not here said that the drawing up of this ist. And it is the love of the north for abolition that petition is an act of treason; nor that the offering of has brought her in favor of dissolution. The north the petition here is treason; nor even that the enact- has vowed that slavery shall cease, and she resorts to ing of the statute for which the petition prays would dissolution as the means to effect it, while the south be treason; but it declares that the executing of those is equally resolved that slavery shall be maintained, statutes, in the actual dissolution of the union, would and therefore she rallies under the constitution to necessarily be attended by the commission of treason. support it: and my colleague over the way (Mr. Un[Mr. Adams. That begs the question. derwood) declares that if the union is dissolved slaveMr. M. I beg nothing of you, sir; nothing. But ry will be abolished. So far he and the gentleman I am told that I must correct the position here taken, from Massachusetts perfectly agree. Now all know, ment that can bind the human heart; or the as certain destruction of that very race towards whose liberation all his efforts are given, and in consummating whose deliverance he hopes to close a long and illustrious life in a blaze of glory, which shall rival that pure eternal light whose halo encircles the name of Wilberforce. If that is his hope, it is one that never can be fulfilled, because there is no parallel between the cases. There is nothing in the enterprise of Wilberforce, in the manner in which it was conducted, or the consequences which were to follow it, which can, for a moment, be likened to that achievement which seems the object of this gentleman's ambition. Mr. M. next ridiculed the idea of their being any analogy between the proposed amending of the constitution by Mr. Clay, and the petition to dissolve it as presented by Mr. Adams. I am myself a whig. I am not, indeed, a very old man; yet it has been my fate to live to see one of these two eminent individuals introduce a proposition to dissolve the union at one end of the capitol, and the other at the other end! [Laughter, loud and geance. them not to do so; I implored them to let him talk on. that, if any body, it was the petitioners; and the genThe gentleman is a neighbor of mine; we are separa- tleman had made a speech of upwards of two hours ted but by a narrow river; the views of him and his duration, to prove that he (Mr. A.) was responsible friends are of deep and vital interest to our section for the very same things as those who had signed the of the country, and we never were so near getting at petition. He (Mr. M.) had represented him (Mr. what those views actually are. I wanted to hear A.) in his speech as in favor of the petition, in the him; I wanted to hear what he would say under this face of his express declaration to the contrary; had new born alliance between himself and my colleague. not the gentleman from Kentucky logic enough (if he This is the first time that any man has been bold had not law) to see that the very proposition that this enough to introduce on this floor a paper proposing a house should instruct the committee to report against dissolution of the union. He ought to be boldly met. the petition, was a declaration on the part of this I did indeed vote for the repeal of the 21st rule; If we meet him and his proposition with as decided house, at the very first instant, that they held no such but since I have seen what is, as I believe, the real a temper as he himself exhibits; if we rebuke the in- opinions; that they disapproved of them; and that object of the gentleman from Massachusetts-after famous proposal to us to break our oaths in tones of only in defence of the sacred right of the petitioners he has avowed himself to be an alarmist, and his that indignant thunder which it justly merits, it will to present their grievances here, would they answer friend has warned us to remember that he is a de- have a healthful effect throughout this land; it will the petition and assign reasons why the prayer of it scendant of an English band of government over-gladden the heart and strengthen the hands of every should not be granted. throwers-I cannot consent to trust him with any loyal true-hearted American citizen, of whom I well He had heard it said by a person acquainted with thing in which the existence of this government is know there are millions at this day in the north; and Warren Hastings that when he was brought before involved; nor shall I act inconsistently. The 21st rule it will have the novel effect of checking this gentle-the judicial tribunals of his country for the commisstill remains in force, and I will not lend the gentle-man and his associates in any further proceedings sion of high crimes, upon the trial which lasted (Mr. man my aid in surreptitiously getting into this house they may now meditate in this line of policy. A. believed) seven years; when the thunders of elowhat that rule forbids. quence of Edmund Burke and Robert Brindley Sheridan were poured upon his head, he almost thought that he was guilty of the crimes with which he had been charged, so powerful was the eloquence with which he was assailed. The eloquence which the gentleman from Kentucky had now exercised personally against him, under the profession of having no personal feeling, was equal to that of Burke and Sheridan combined. But he (Mr. A.) did assure the gentleman and the house, that, not for one single instant, had the idea been impressed upon his mind that he was guilty of any part of the charges brought against him. Not for one moment had he been driven from that sense of conscious innocence with which he met this charge, coming, as it did, from the most extraordinary combination of parties that had ever been formed in this house-a combination of a most formidable character. What was that combination? It came in the first place from the state of Georgia. The first attack upon him here had been from Georgia whigs. [Mr. A. recapitulated the circumstances attending the presentation of the petition and letter from Clarkesville, Georgia, so postmarked and mailed.] A gentleman from Maryland, (Mr. Johnson,) to the opinions expressed by the members from Georgia that that petition was a hoax, had added a fact unknown to him (Mr. A.) that the petition and letter were written on congressional paper. Did the gentleman mean to say that he was privy to the compo For all the bitter and envenomed things he has said The gentleman has charged me with being an ene- against me, I forgive him. He said that I boasted of my of the north, and with a purpose to oppose her. my aristocratic blood. I will not characterize that Mr. M. disavowed every such feeling but claimed to assertion as it deserves. I forgive him that too; and be a friend to the north and a friend to Ameri- oh were it in my power to exorcise from the heart of can labor. We are warned not to censure this the that eminent man that demon of mischief which first proposition ever yet heard in this land to break threatens all that is dear to me--if it were possible down the fair fabric of the union! What! is it come that he could be brought, in any good degree, to reto this! This proposition goes a whole stone's cast cant what he has here declared if I could see any beyond any thing that the southern nullifiers ever gleaming of that spirit of pacification, that love for dreamed of. It seems that the New England brain, the constitution, and that zeal for the union, which wants but a hint straightway to improve on it. The has here been accorded to him by others-I would convention that sat at Columbia never took the instantly and joyfully retract all that I have said. ground that congress had power to dissolve the union, I am the last man on this carth who would wish to nor did they so much as pretend that they were them-strike at that venerable head, whose past history, selves overthrowing the constitution. I know what whose advanced age, whose distinguished talents, all they said, though I differed from them then, and shall whose associations plead so strongly to spare the forever differ. They said that they were maintain-blow. ing the constitution. They insisted that they had a right, though I never could see where they got it from, to arrest the execution of what they deemed an unconstitutional law, until there was time for the voice of all the other states to be heard upon it; but they never pretended that their rights were nullified unless they could come to congress and pray this body to dissolve the union. If I vote for any such measure-for a measure which professess to be preparatory to it-I am guilty of perjury; for I have been sworn, over and over, not to destroy, but to support the constitution. The principles of that instrument are worthy of my support, and I am bound by my oath to uphold it now and forever. Mr. Marshall renewed the motion to lay the whole the subject on the table. And the question recurring on the substitute amend- Mr. Adams rose and said: 1 have heard it said by person acquainted with Warren Hastings a Mr. Gilmer rose to a point of order. He said that he had made four or five efforts to obtain the floor.sition of these papers? And all that he desired to know was, whether, before Mr. W. C. Johnson said that he had not examined the debate closed, he would be entitled by the rule, or by parliamentary courtesy, to say a few words, not in relation to the proposition of the gentleman from Kentucky, but that which he (Mr. G.) had himself offered? The speaker said that unless the whole subject should be laid on the table, or the previous question should be demanded, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Gilmer) would be entitled, by the rule, to close the debate: the paper, but he had been told that it was the same kind-that it was gilt-edged, and that the signatures were all in one handwriting. The impression of all was that it was a hoax. He had never seen the paper till he had seen it at the clerk's desk. The representatives from the state of Georgia disclaimed any knowledge of it. And if the gentleman from Massachusetts had taken the same precaution, in reference to that petition, as he had done in reference to the petition now pending-written home to see if the paper was genuine-he would have found out whether the signatures were true or not. But we are told that the gentleman is an old man, and that therefore we must not censure him; it would be an ungracious act to pass a vote of censure on one so venerable. Are we to treat him as some old imbecile, whom it is not worth while to notice? No, sir; far from that. His friends have arrayed him in every quality that can make a man at once great and terrible. They have conceded to his hand every instrument of mighty mischief-gifts of understanding, of eloquence, of knowledge, of dignity, of power, to Mr. Gilmer explained that he had not risen to any move the public mind; and yet, after painting him point of order in relation to the personal right to the thus, the same gentleman turns round and tells us floor of the gentleman from Massachusetts, or with that he is no fit subject for the action of this house. any personal or political reference to the subject, so Sir, I have listened to that gentleman most attentive. far as that gentleman was concerned. The point re-jury was the greater to his rights and to the rights of ly whenever he has risen to address this house. I lated entirely to himself, (Mr. G.) and he begged the have placed myself near his seat and listened with pardon of the gentleman from Massachusetts for inprofound attention to every word which has proceed-terrupting him. ed from his venerable lips. I wanted to see what Mr. Adams said there was no occasion to ask his was really the course he designed to pursue; for one I am convinced. pardon for taking the floor from him. He did not feel Mr. Adams said he did not feel himself bound to send to Georgia to do so. If it was a hoax, the in his constituents, and the breach of privilege to him was greater than if the paper had been genuine. If, therefore, the gentleman's information was correct, and if the petition was on congress paper, what was the inference? That it was a fabrication on the part of some member of the house to draw him (Mr. A.) into the difficulty into which he had been brought.— It might be so. In the usual simplicity of his heart, he had received the paper as a genuine paper, and he believed it to be so. Mr. Habersham disclaimed any knowledge whether the document was on congress paper or not, and said that he would disdain, on behalf of himself and his colleagues, to say a word in denial of the charge or insinuation (which ever it might be) of this kind; yet he felt bound to say, that the gentleman from Massachusetts ought to have known, that he did know, that he had good reason to know, or, at all events, to believe, that the petition came from no meeting of citizens of Habersham county, and must, if it came from them at all, have come from a single individual. The gentleman must either have disbelieved what he (Mr. H.) had stated to him, or at least have doubted the fact. If the gentleman's own declarations and action are to be trusted as true exponents of his purpose, his purpose is that which is expressed in the petition he has offered; it is the ultimate and utter ruin of southern institutions; and I now call upon northern men to say whether these are their serious purposes or not. I ask of them to tell me whether these are the views of the able and honorable men who represent north- Mr. A. alluded to the distress which, he could not ern interests on this floor. Does the north really deny, the propositions, both of the gentleman from mean this, and do they put this gentleman forward by Virginia and the gentleman from Kentucky, had given way of feeler, because his age and dignity, and past hit, and said that the most poignant part of that disservices, and venerable appearance are such as will tress arose from the fact that the house would be unsuspend the act of this house to punish him? Do they der the necessity of consuming a large portion of its thus seek to escape personal responsibility? When time in his defence, if he was to be held to answer the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Giddings) the other the charges of the gentleman from Kentucky. And day shook hands with tears in his eyes with my col- the first proposition that he should make was, what league over the way, and my colleague, with scarce he had already insisted upon, as would appear by the less emotion, shook hands with him, he talked much journal, namely, that he should be entitled to the of friendly understanding and friendly feeling, and benefits of a trial before his peers upon the charges Mr. Adams, after protesting against the constant assured my colleague and all southern gentlemen of subornation of perjury and of high treason, be-interruptions to which he was liable, and recurring that he had no thought of such a thing as interfering cause these charges were contained in the proposition to the manner in which he had been cut off at the with slavery within the states where it existed; but of the gentleman from Kentucky, whatever ingenuity very moment he was entering upon his defence, stood he and his friends wanted to be free from the ex- the gentleman might have used in his remarks to-day here, he said, upon the accusation of the gentleman pense of maintaining it, and he was fast going on to to explain them away. from Virginia, (Mr. Gilmer), on the one hand, and explain himself further, when, at that moment, south- Amongst other things, the gentleman had stated the gentleman from Kentucky on the other, both of ern gentlemen rose and stopped him. I entreated that it was not him (Mr. A.) that he charged, but them being apparently anxious to have the question solutions. taken; so that if he should be acquitted on the charge commander-in-chief from Accomac and the admiral to offer them. He wanted the information which of the gentleman from Kentucky, there yet remained of the Kentucky squadron from Kentucky. [A they asked for, for the purpose of his defence. He the other, upon which he was to defend himself, upon laugh.] The gentleman from Accomac, in a five further said, that he should ask for a postponement. other grounds, against the gentleman from Virginia. hours' speech, had considered this as a question of He wanted this trial, and those documents for Who on this floor could fail to be surprised to see abolition from beginning to end. And how did his which he asked; before the house acted upon the rethe gentlemen from Kentucky and Virginia unit- friend, rival and opponent, (for he bore all those ed together in this purpose of casting censure upon characters), brave that most preposterous charge The clerk then read the resolutions, as follows: him-the gentleman from Kentucky, the head of the ever made in this house, that all the movements of Resolved, That the president of the United States be home squadron, and the gentleman from Virginia the his, (Mr. A's) were under English influence. Among requested to cause to be communicated to this house, if head, the nominal head, (from the dignity which he the beautiful parts of the composition of the gentle- not incompatible with the public interest, copies of the exercised as late governor of Virginia), of the Tyler man from Kentucky, he was happy to find that he correspondence between the department of the state and party. There was a coalition for you! [Laughter.] disclaimed as totally false any such imputation. He the ministers of Great Britain; also with the governor of Pointed against whom? Against one single individual, also thanked him for another part of his speech, for the state of South Carolina and with the late William Johnson, a judge of the supreme court of the United a member of this house, charged with half a dozen every word he had used to show what horrors this States, relating to an act or acts of the legislature of South capital crimes; and this house was called upon to country in every part would endure in the event of a Carolina, directing the imprisonment of colored persons censure him because he had presented a petition.-dissolution of the union. And he hoped his southern arriving from abroad in the ports of that state; also, of For, come to the real point of the matter, that, and confederates would lay it to their hearts, that they the act or acts themselves, and of any official opinions that alone for which he had really to answer before should have no more such resolutions as were prepar- given by the said Judge Johnson of the unconstitutionalithis house, as he conceived, was for the crime of ed by the gentleman from South Carolina, (Mr. ty of the said acts. presenting a petition. Rhett), and kept in his drawer to be presented to this to communicate to this house copies of the proceedings of Resolved, That the secretary of the navy be requested house. He should have hoped that, out of mere the naval court martial, recently held for the trial of capsympathy, the gentleman, if he had thought him, tain William Compton Bolton, and of the preceding (Mr. A.) guilty of the crime of perjury or high trea- court of inquiry upon whose report the said naval court son, as he would be necessarily included in it, would martial was ordered. Also, copies of all despatches rehave given him, (Mr. A.) the benefit of his vote ceived at the department from Isaac Hull, late commanupon this occasion. [A laugh.] But no, he was a der of the squadron of the United States in the Mediterpart of the party. He now voted that he, (Mr. ranean, reporting the proceedings of that squadron contreason for presenting a petitition exactly agreeing late minister of the United States at the court of Great A.) was guilty of subornation of perjury or high sequent upon the receipt of a letter or letters by the said commander of the squadron from Andrew Stevenson, with his views! [A laugh.] That gentleman and Britain, together with copies of any such letter or letters. the rest of the representatives from South Carolina-Also, copies of all instructions from the navy department that land of nullification against whom Andrew Jack-to the said commander of the squadron, or to his successon himself was reduced to the necessity of issuing a sor in the command, consequent upon and relating to proclamation threatening them with the second sec- these transactions. tion if they continued in it-here was the whole representation from that state ready to endorse the charges of the gentleman from Kentucky, of high treason because forty-five of his fellow citizens thought on the particular point of the dissolution of the union just as they did!" Now in what part of the constitution of the United States was this declared to be a crime? He would like the gentleman from Kentucky to look into his deep researches of law, common or national, and to define where the law was which constituted it a crime to present a petition, lead to what it might. Where was the gentleman's law? He was a great and prowhere he found his law for this? Let him look into found lawyer, and he, (Mr. A.) asked him to show the constitution of the United States and show where the law was by which he would punish, in any shape or form, a member of this house for presenting a petition. No; in the first place, the gentleman had made the law; he had then gone on and accused an associate member of violating that law-to sit as a judge upon him, and then to turn executioner. And, to crown all, had declared that it was a great mercy and favor that the punishment was not much more severe. Resolved, That the president of the United States be requested to communicate to this house, if not incompa tible with the public interest, a copy of any letter or letters written by him to William Cost Johnson, ¡elating tions of any kind from any portion of the people of to the rule of the house excluding from reception peti the United States, or to any agency of the said William Cost Johnson in the introduction and establishment of that rule. Resolved. That the president of the United States be requested to inform this house whether he ever authorised president was in favor of the rules or any rule of the house Henry A. Wise to affirm in his place that he knew the excluding any class of petitions, resolutions, or other papers, including resolutions of state legislatures, from reception. Long as the gentleman's speech had been, under a profession of personal explanation, he (Mr. A.) was He said this was a formidable combination. He willing he should make another speech as long as should certainly belie his feelings if he could say that to show where he found this law. Was this re- that he was indifferent as to what the effect of such publican? Was there a government on the face of a combination of parties might be in this house. But, the earth that would punish a man for a crime, when as it was concluded, and the house had thought prothere was no law which constituted that crime? He per to determine that this proposition should not be should like to hear the gentleman on that subject.-laid on the table, he was obliged to meet it, and he He, (Mr. A.) on the contrary, declared that there now repeated here, what he was afraid his own counwas a law expressly against it. There was a pro- trymen and constituents would not fully understand, Mr. Adams continued. He should want the adopvision in the constitution of the United States which that he was not responsible for one moment of the tion of all these resolutions by the house. They declared that no ex post facto law should be passed; time consumed on this subject, in the present condi- were all extremely essential to his defence. But he and that provision was declared to apply to all cri- tion of the country. He would have sat down just was further going to say that before the house had minal and penal laws. The provision was the dictate now, under the heavy weight of the eloquence of the decided to adopt the resolution before them, he should of justice and humanity; and he trusted he should gentleman from Kentucky, without asking to say a insist upon their decision whether they would turn have the benefit of it before the house came to de- word on this subject, if the house had thought pro-him over to the criminal court to establish the facts cide upon the question. per to lay it on the table. He would have rejoiced on which this resolution was founded; and then he at it, if the house had said they would have nothing should ask time for the trial to be gone through, further to do with this accusation. What was it, af- where he hoped he should be able to stand up and ter all, that the gentlemen from Virginia, Kentucky defend himself before a jury of his countrymen and Georgia were all pushing? It was to make him against these enormous charges, and where he hoped (Mr. A.) sit here, hour after hour, and hear invec- he should have an impartial trial. If not, if it was tive from the most eloquent members from this house the pleasure of the house to proceed and to presume -personal invective; and that all their grievancies, that he had been guilty of this crime, in order to public and private, were to be detailed here, in the pass this vote of censure on him, then he should have face of the nation, and the time of the country to be nothing but his country to appeal to. And then he consumed. He was willing to submit to it, but he had hoped he should have it in his power to send out to the thought proper not to be accountable himself for this country not only the nature and extent of the accusaconsumption of the time of the house. tion, but the manner in which it had been conducted by this house. The gentleman from Kentucky, Mr. A. repeated, had first made the law, had next charged him with a violation of that law-(in what Mr. A. must be permitted to call blackguard language)—and, in addition to this, had proceeded to punish him. We read in the scriptures, that when Michael, the Archangel, had quarrelled with the devil, [great laughter,] he used no railing accusation against him. He advised the gentleman, who was so profound a lawyer, to read a little of the Bible; and there learn, that if he meant to attack a man-to ruin his character, to ruin his usefulness to the country, and to deprive him of his right as a member of this house-to make it not a railing accusation. The gentleman's accusation against him, (Mr. A.) in addition to all its other defects, was a railing accusation. He had demanded, if this house were to act on him-on the position assumed that he had been guil- If he was called to answer the accusation made by ty by act or thought of the charges contained in the Mr. Gilmer, of contempt of the house it would occugentleman's preamble and resolutions-he had de-py much less time than the other, but still it would He had spoken of the extraordinary position of manded a trial by his peers, as secured to him by the require some time-a good deal of time. He hoped the gentleman from Kentucky combined with the constitution of the United States. And he demanded that members of this house, if they could not be opechief of the Tyler party, heretofore called the cor- now that, before the house came to the final conclu-rated upon by public considerations, would consider poral's guard, but who, Mr. A. should think, was the sion on the motives assumed in this charge, they what each and every one of themselves would be subfield marshal of the armies of the present administra- should send him out to be tried before a tribunal of jected to if they undertook to pass a vote of censure tion. When he saw that combination in the first in- the country. It was in the power of the house to on one of their members for the act of which he was stance, he could not help asking, What is this? Mise-issue an order to the attorney general of the United accused-for presenting a petition in this house. He ry, it was said, makes strange bed-fellows. And he States to prosecute him for this crime before the hoped the house would take occasion to consult the thought to himself, was the gentleman from Ken- proper courts. Then he should have the benefit se- precedents of what had been done heretofore on tucky in such misery that he was compelled to cured by the constitution of the United States. He charges of a similar kind. The most apposite case seek such companions? [Laughter.] Then came the demanded this still, if the house was to proceed and of any that existed was that of a trial for a breach of Georgia whigs, who, after endeavoring to produce act on the resolutions. They were bound, before privilege, about four years ago, in this house, upon a an impression unfavorable to him for having present- they came to any such resolution, to have the act es- charge of cold-blooded deliberate murder of one of ed a petition, on the ground that it was a hoax, and tablished, and established in the judicial court. The the members of this house. He had alluded to that! had gone on voting against him, for the purpose of house had no right whatever to act without first hav-case from absolute necessity heretofore. He now bringing censure upon him. ing established the fact on which they themselves alluded to it in order that the house, before they undertook to censure him. That was the course pur- came to decide on him, would inform themselves sued in the case of John Smith; into the particulars of what were the proceedings in that case; he knew of which he briefly entered. none that so clearly resembled it. The third part of this combination was a large portion of the Virginia whigs, who were neither Tylerites nor Kentuckyans. And then, the great democracy of the free states-the auxiliaries of the "peculiar institutions." [Laughter.] This was a combination of parties he was called to meet in order to maintain his right as a member of this house, to present petitions complaining of grievances. A very strange composition! And already he found that in the operation of that great party there was a radical difference of opinion on some things extremely important and vital in all this controversy between the But he was going to say, that, after having done with that, and if the house thought proper to proceed with this matter, he should want to have two or three calls made on the departmeats for documents and information which would be necessary for his defence. He would send a list of the resolutions to the chair. It was as an accused person before a criminal court trying him on this charge that he claimed the right [Here a message was received from the senate, by its secretary, A. Dickens, esq. announcing that that body had rejected the bill from the house repealing the bankrupt law]. Mr. A. said he hoped this was a good omen for the decision of another of the favorite projects of the gentleman from Kentucky. [A laugh]. About four years ago, he continued, a deliberate cold-blooded murder was committed on a member of this house, and, after the funeral ceremonies had been perform-| ed, according to the custom of the house upon the decease of any member, a proposition was brought in for taking up the subject, on the ground of a breach of privilege. It was referred to a committee of the house; which committee, after a reasonable time, presented three distinct reports. When the house came to make up their minds as to their right and duty to pass a censure upon him, he hoped the members would take care to read each of these reports, and mark particularly and attentively the report of the single member from South Carolina. He begged leave to ask that a small extract from the report of the majority be read; [which was accordingly read by the clerk]. This first paragraph (continued Mr. A.) established, in the name of the majority of the committee who reported these resolutions, that the honse had no right to try their members for crimes over which the courts had jurisdiction; for it appealed to the very amendment of the constitution of which he had claimed the benefit in his own case, as a motive and reason for them to confine their inquiries exclusively to the question of a breach of privilege of the house. So far, then, as that would go as a precedent, it established at once the very question, and he presumed the house would consider it as a precedent, binding on them in this case. [The clerk then further read from the report, at the request of Mr. A]. Mr. Wise [the floor having been yielded by Mr. A.] said: Now he had an opportunity of saying what he had long wished to say. He thanked God that there was a large assembly here to hear it. An opportunity had at length arrived for him to vindicate himself, now and forever, from the charge of instigating and advising the duel of Graves and Cilley.The gentleman from Massachusetts had charged him with being an instigator and adviser of that duel, and of being more guilty than "the man who pulled the trigger." He was now calling for the reading of the Journal in the case, with the view incidentally of convicting him of that charge. He said that he was glad to see that the two senators from Kentucky who then (at the time of the duel) represented that state, were here now present. One of them (Mr. Clay) was just sitting immediately behind the gentleman from Massachusetts. And he could appeal to them as his witnesses, that his advice was not the advice relied upon or followed in the preliminaries of that duel-it was the advice of another, higher better and more distinguished man which was relied on. And as to what occurred upon the ground, he was there an armed second, to guard the life of his friend, with written instructions in his pocket. And the only regret he had was, that he was induced to go there, not approving the preliminary steps which had been taken in that fight. Here Mr. Adams interrupted Mr. Wise, and asked him to do him the favor of giving him the name of his colleague who had told him (Mr. W.) that he had heard him (Mr. A.) justify his conduct on the merits of the case. names of both. Mr. Wise. It was not one only, but two colleagues. Mr. Adams. I would thank the gentleman for the Mr. Wise. Both are present in this hall, he believed. One he knew to be present, who told him that, at a public meeting at some place, the name of which he did not remember, when there was a large assemblage of people in Massachusetts, where he had been arraigned before the moral people of New England on this charge, that had rested on him now long enough, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. A). vindicated him on the occasion, and pledged himself that he (Mr. W.) was innocent of the charge as made. Whether this was true or not, he did not know. Mr. Adams asked for the names. Mr. Wise. As to the names, I leave that to the gentlemen who gave me the information to rise in their places and declare them; as they are present, I shall give them the opportunity to disclose the names. And for further proof that the gentleman did defend me on the floor at that time, and to what extent, he (Mr. W.) referred to Gales & Seaton's report of the speech of the gentleman at the time. I refer also to the chairman, (Mr. Toucey), who made the majority report, and who is not now a member, who, when called on to say whether there was a scintilla of proof of any thing dishonorable on my part on the ground, promptly and fully declared that there was no such conduct. He referred to that man's feelings, (Mr. Toucey's), who was personally assailed-a man whom he thought a victim of consumption, and whose personal appearance should have excited sympathy in any bosom for his malady-most brutally assailed for the "sepulchral tones of his voice" by the gentleman from Massachusetts. Such was the ardor, zeal and impetuosity with which he (Mr. A.) defended him (Mr. W.) on that occasion. He declared again that He said Mr. John J. Crittenden and Mr. Menefee, The question on concurring in the amendments of the senate was then taken, and the two first were concurred in. And the question again recurring on concurring in the amendment of the senate striking out the proviso of the house that the amount of treasury notes which might be issued under the authority of this act should be deemed and taken in lieu of so much of the loan bill, &c. The yeas and nays were taken, and resulted as follows:YEAS-Messrs. Adams. Allen, Landaff, W. Andrews, S. J. Andrews, Arnold, Aycrigg, Baker, Barnard, Birdseye, Blair, Boardman. Briggs, Brockway, Milton Brown, Jeremiah Brown, Burnell, Calhoun, Thomas J. Campbell, Caruthers, Childs, Chittenden, John C. Clark, Staley N. Clarke, Cowen, Cranston, Cravens, Cushing, Garrett Davis, Deberry, John Edwards, Everett, Fessenden, Fillmore, Gamble, Gates, Gentry, Giddings, Patrick G. Goode, Graham, Granger, Green, Hall, Halsted, Henry, Hudson, J. R. Ingersoll, W. W Irwin, James, William Cost Johnson, Isaac D. Jones. J. P. Kennedy, Lawrence, He was ready to meet his God in that case, so far Linn, Samson Mason, Mathiot, Mattocks, Maxwell, as being responsible for murder, or for instigating the Maynard, Meriwether, Moore, Morgan, Morrow, Osduel; though, as far as the sin of duelling was con-borne, Pendleton, Pope, Powell, Ramsey, Benjamin cerned, he confessed he was not ready to meet Him. Randall, Randolph, Rayner, Ridgway, Rodney, WilHe would add one word. He believed that the liam Russell, James M. Russell, Saltonstall, Shepperd, gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. Adams), at the Truman Smith, Stanly, Stokely, A. H. H. Stuart, Summers, Taliaferro, John B. Thompson, Tillinghast, Totime he defended him (Mr. W.) so strongly, was land, Tomlinson, Trumbull, Wallace, Warren, Washingconvinced and believed, and is now convinced and ton, Edward D. White, Thomas W. Williams, Lewis believes, that he (Mr. W.) was not responsible for Williams, Christopher H. Williams, Joseph L. Williams, that duel. He then knew the facts, and he knows Winthrop, Wise, Yorke, Augustus Young, John Young them now; but from subsequent causes of hostility, with malice prepense, and without the fear of God before his eyes-[the speaker here called Mr. W. to order, but he concluded the sentence]-or any regard to truth in his heart, he seeks every occasion to reiterate the charge. Mr. Adams. Amiable discourse towards a criminal on trial! He called on his colleagues to say if they had ever said to the gentleman from Virginia that they had heard him (Mr. A.) defend Mr. W. on the merits of that duel before any assembly of that kind. He called on them to appear, since the gentleman from Virginia did not choose to name them. -100 NAYS-Messrs. Arrington, Atherton, Beeson, Bidlack, Botts, Bowne, Boyd, Brewster, Aaron V. Brown, Charles Brown, Burke, Samson H. Butler, William Butler, Green W. Caldwell, Patrick C. Caldwell. John Campbell, Cary, Casey, Chapman, Clifford, Clinton, Coles, Cross, Daniel, Richard D. Davis, Dean, Doan, Doig, Eastman, John C. Edwards, Egbert, Ferris, John G. Floyd, Charles A. Floyd, Fornance, Thos. F. Foster, Gerry. Gilmer, Goggin, Gordon, Gustine, Gwin, Harris, John Hastings, Hays, Holmes, Hopkins, Houck, Houston, Hubard, Hunter, Jack, Keim, Andrew Kennedy, Lane, Lewis, Littlefield, Lowell, Abraham McClellan, R. C. McClellan, McKay, Mallory. Marchand, Alfred MarHe had referred to this matter of the duel solely in shall, John Thompson Mason, Mathews. Medill. Miller, Newhard, Owsley, Partridge, W. W. Payne, Pickens, order to show precedents for the conduct of this Proffit, Reding, Reynolds. Rhett, Riggs, Roosevelt, San house, that this house might have some ground for ford, Saunders, Shaw, Shields. Wm. Smith, Snyder, recurring to what had been done before, when they Sprigg, Steenrod, Stratton, John T Stuart, Sumter, Richcame to the decision of the present case. In one re-ard W. Thompson, Jacob Thompson, Turney, Underspect, the charge at that time was identical with the wood, Van Buren, Van Rensselaer, Watterson, Westcharge made on him. It was for a breach of privi- brook, James W. Williams, Wood-100. lege of this house. Without making further reference [A tie vote.] to it, he would call for the reading of an extract of the report of the gentleman from South Carolina. It related to the power of this house to add to the capacities under which members of this house acted in cases of criminal charges. Mr. Botts here appealed to the gentleman from Massachusetts to yield the floor to a motion to adjourn. The speaker voted in the affirmative, causing the vote to stand-yeas 101, nays 100. So the amendment was concurred in. The bill stands in the following form: Be it enacted, &c., That the president of the United States is hereby authorized to cause treasury notes to be issued for such sum or sums as the exigencies of the government may require, and in place of such of Mr. A. said he was urged to yield to a motion to the same as may be redeemed, to cause others to be adjourn. He would consent, from the moment a ma-issued; but not exceeding the sum of five millions of jority of this house thought this matter ought to be no dollars of this emission outstanding at any one time, further pursued, as relates to this house, that this and to be issued under the limitations and other procourse should be taken; and would put his justifica- visions contained in the act entitled "an act to authortion and defence before his own constituents, and re-ize the issuing of treasury notes," approved the fer it to them. He said this solely for the purpose twelfth of October, one thousand eight hundred and of saving the time of the house. He could not in thirty-seven, except that the authority hereby given conscience, even for the defence of himself before to issue treasury notes shall expire at the end of one the house, consent to consume their time to the ex-year from the passage of this act. tent which he knew would be necessary for him to do, if it was possible for any action of his to avoid it. He then yielded the floor; and, on motion of Mr. Botts, the house adjourned. SATURDAY, JAN. 29. Mr. Fillmore said that, with the permission of the gentleman from Mass., (Mr. Adams) he would propose to take up the bill to provide for the issue of treasury notes. Mr. Pendleton desired to offer an amendment to the amendment of the gentleman from Kentucky, (Mr. Marshall) on the question of privilege pending before the house in the case of the petition presented by Mr. Adams; but, as objection was made, was not permitted to read it. A motion to adjourn was made; some confusion ensued, and Mr. Adams resumed the floor, but yield Mr. Adams said he had already more than once de-ed to clared that he would not be responsible for the con- Mr. Barnard, who moved an adjournment, previous sumption of one hour or one moment of the time of to which this house in relation to the question which had been The speaker laid before the house a communication engaging its attention for several days past. So far, from the president of the United States, transmitting therefore, as he was concerned, and however impor- a report from the secretary of war, in obedience to a tant to him was his defence against the charges which resolution of the house of the 9th August, 1841, of had been made against him, he was willing to yield all the evidences in his possession, not heretofore to any motion by which the business of the nation communicated, respecting the origin, &c., of the should be taken up and acted upon. Seminole war. Laid on the table. The question on Mr. Fillmore's motion was then taken and agreed to without division, and the house resumed the consideration of the treasury note bill. When the bill was last before the house, Mr. Fillmore had moved that the house concur in the amendments made thereto by the senate. And the house adjourned till Monday next. MONDAY, JAN. 31. The speaker laid before the house a letter from the secretary of the treasury, transmitting a report of the progress made in the survey of the coast; the amount of money expended upon the same since the commencement thereof; and the And Mr. Sprigg had moved that the bill and amend-probable length of time and amount of money which ments be committed to the committee of the whole will be required to complete it. on the state of the union. Mr. Sprigg resumed his remarks, and advocated the reference of this bill to the committee of the whole on the state of the union. A letter from the postmaster general, transmitting a statement of the nett revenue of each post office in the United States and the territories thereof, for the year ending June 30, 1841. Resolved, That in addition to the information required of the secretary of state by the resolution of this house of September 3, 1841, he be required to give a table exhibiting a comparative statement between the tariffs of other nations ad that of the United States. And the question was taken, on the motion of Mr. A message was received from the senate, by A. Mr. Pickens desired to inquire of the gentleman Dickins, esq. secretary, informing the house that the hon. N. F. Dixon, senator from the state of Rhode from Massachusetts, (Mr. Adams) whether he emIsland, had departed this life in this city on the 29th braced in this resolution the opinion of the attorney If that was instant, and that his funeral would take place to-general of the United States in the case. to be embraced, he (Mr. P.) had no objection to the morrow, the 1st day of February, at 12 o'clock. adoption of the resolution. Mr. Tillinghast thereupon rose and addressed the house in reference to the character and services of the deceased and submitted the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted: Resolved, That the house has received with deep sensibility the communication from the senate announcing the death of the hon. Nathan Fellows Dixon, a senator from the state of Rhode Island. Mr. Adams replied, no-because that opinion was a public document which he should use without calling for it. Mr. Holmes objected to the call, because he was not willing, as a member from the state of South Carolina, and as a citizen of the confederacy, again to throw up the embers over which ashes were now Resolved, That, in token of sincere and high respect lying. He well knew that a call of this kind, so far for the memory of the deceased, this house will attend from harmonizing, would again produce an excitehis funeral obsequies to-morrow, at the hour appointed ment which every citizen desirous of peace and harby the senate, and will wear crape upon the left arm as mourning for thirty days; and, as a further mark of remony in the republic must deprecate. Still, if these spect, Resolve d, That the honse do now adjourn. And then the house adjourned. TUESDAY, FEB. 1. The members of the house attended the funeral of the hon. N. F. DIXON, late senator from Rhode Island. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 2. Mr. Habersham, of Georgia, introduced to the house the hon. M. A. Cooper and the hon. Mr. Colquitt, members elect from that state, and they were qualified and took their seats. The house resumed the consideration of the question of privilege, and the first of the series of resolutions offered by Mr. Adams having been read Mr. Gilmer (addressing Mr. Adams), inquired whether, if the house adopted the resolutions, that gentleman intended to move a postponement of the ques tion? Mr. Adams. I do not admit the gentleman from Virginia to demand of me [Mr. Gilmer. I do not claim it as a right.] Mr. Adams, (continuing)—of me, standing in the position of a criminal before the house, what I shall do in consequence of the house performing an act of justice to me, by granting me evidence which I may deem indispensable to my defence. I claim no privilege of him as prosecutor, and want him to ask none of me as criminal. Mr Gilmer said he did not profess to be a prosecutor in the case; and it struck him as somewhat singular that the gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr. Adams), should insist on regarding himself as a criminal. He moved that the resolution of Mr. A. be laid on the table. Mr. Jones, of Maryland, moved that the whole subject be laid on the table. Mr. Adams was understood to request the gentleman from Maryland, (Mr. Jones), to withdraw his motion to lay the whole subject on the table; and he, (Mr. A.) would say that no friend to his rights as a member of this house-no friend to the rights of the people-no friend to the right of habeas corpus, which was sacred to the people of the United States -no friend to the right of trial by jury— papers were essential to the defence of the gentle- he was called upon as a trier here. He had no dis- Mr. Adams' second resolution was then read, and by yeas 95, nays 84, was adopted. Mr. Adams' third and fourth resolutions were then read. Mr. Wise then offered the following as an amendment to these resolutions: "And that the president of the United States furnish to this house all information on the executive files, or in any of the executive departments, or wherever the same may be had and obtained, touching the charge which John Quincy Adams is said at one time to have preferred, to Mr. Jefferson and others, against the federalists of New England, inculpating them with designs and acts to dissolve the union of these states." Mr. Adams submitted to the speaker whether any amendment was to be made to a resolution calling for information which he had declared to be necessary for his defence. At the same time he declared that he had no objection, at any time, to vote for the amendment, if the gentleman would offer it as a separate resolution. The speaker declared the amendment to be out of order, as being incongruous with the resolutions, and not relevant with the information demanded by the gentleman from Massachusetts for his defence. Mr. Gentry submitted to the speaker that there could be no doubt that congress had no right to call for a correspondence of the president before he was president of the United States; and he moved to lay the resolutions on the table. Mr. Adams said that these two resolutions were most important to his defence, because they related to the establishment of the 21st rule, which was the foundation of all these proceedings. The question on the motion of Mr. Gentry was Mr. Adams, after expressing obligation to Mr. taken, and by yeas 111, nays 64, was decided in the Holmes for the statement he had made, remarked that affirmative; and so the resolutions were laid on the that statement was but made verbally by the gentle- table. man from South Carolina, (Mr. Holmes). He, (Mr. Mr. Adams said the evidence was exceedingly imA.) declared, as an accused person put on his de-portant, and he must confess, when he saw the votes fence, that these papers were necessary for him in on the resolutions asking for that information, which his defence before the house, and if the house re- would not be denied to the vilest villain in the land, quired it, he was ready to do what was done in courts that it bore on him in a heavy manner as to what he of justice in such cases-to support the declaration was to expect from the votes of the same party hereby oath. He did not think that the house could take after. He thanked again the house for allowing him the statement of the gentleman from South Caro- a portion of that information which he had requested. lina (Mr. Holmes) as one of his judges; and however unwilling he (Mr. A.) might be to raise any question as to the accuracy of that statement, yet he called for the papers themselves, for the proof. But the gentleman had said that if the call was made, it would be denied. If it were made on the governor of South Carolina, he (Mr. A.) thought it very possible that it might be denied. One of the grounds he should take for his own defence would be, that he had been, neither by himself nor by the petitioners whose petition he had presented, guilty of any offence against the laws of the land whatsoever; and that, so far as related to this, he was under no responsibility, having declared at the time he presented the petition, and repeating now, that their petition was the last thing in the world he But the call was not made on the governor of South would ever vote to grant. And he hoped that he Carolina. It was a call on the president of the United should be able to show that, for attachment to this States for papers in the department, which were es-union, he might put sixty or seventy years of public sential to his (Mr. A's) defence. He therefore, hoped life before almost all mankind in proof. If there was Mr. Adams continued. I simply request every such that the objection of the gentleman from South Ca- one member of this house who had given more strong, person to abstain hereafter from any motion to post-rolina would not prevail, and that the house would more clear and unequivocal proofs of attachment to pone or to lay the subject on the table, or from any the union of these states than the man who now stood other thing by which a direct vote, ay or no, on the charged with crime before this house, he did not proposition of the gentleman from Kentucky, (Mr. know who that man was. He hoped to be allowed Marshall), will be evaded. to prove that to this house. The speaker here interrupted Mr. A. and said that these remarks were not in order, pending the motion | to lay the whole subject on the table. Mr. Jones, of Maryland, briefly explained. The gentleman from Massachusetts, (Mr. Adams), had many times in the course of proceedings in this case, declared that he would not be responsible for the time which might be consumed therein. He, (Mr. J.) for his part, was not willing to be responsible for it, and therefore he had made the motion to lay the whole subject on the table, in order to test the sense of the house. do him the favor to let these papers, which he again Mr. Smith, of Virginia, said that the whole ques- Mr. Pickens said if this call was allowed on the grounds on which the gentleman from Massachusetts Mr. Adams. The gentleman has done me the ho- had placed it; then upon these grounds every paper nor to refer to a proposition which I have again and or document which the gentleman might choose again made, to yield to any motion by which this to say was necessary to his defence, must be called subject should be dismissed. If the house think pro- for. Upon that ground alone he (Mr. P.) should vote per to do so, I am willing to submit. But I give no. He said, then, so far as respected his own act, which was the presentation of the petition, here, before this house, and in presence of his God, he did it under a sense of irremissible duty. At the last session of congress he heard a great deal on the subject of what was to be allowed to the conscience of the president of the United States. He was one of those who fully allowed him the benefit of the dictates of his conscience in everything he did, and he now claimed, before this house and the country, the right to have a conscience as well as he. He said, further, that this was no new thing to this house and this country. He had been now ten years successively a representative of a portion of the peonotice to the house that I have done with all propo- Mr. Warren declared that this whole proceeding, ple of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, and withsitions of that kind on my part; and that I now claim from beginning to end, in all its aspects, and under in the very first week of his holding a seat in this the time of this nation for that defence which these all its circumstances, had taken place against his ex-house, he had presented fifteen petitions for the abogentlemen have forced upon me. I claim a decision press wish; and against his express wish it was that [lition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and at |