Newspaper Page Text
“The ferment of a free, is preferable to the torpor of a despotic, Government.”
VOL. III.
ATII£NS, GEORGIA, J|ILY 5, 1831.
NO. 16.
Iloetrfi.
[communicated.]
REFLECTIONS ON SUNSET.
Whm the last tints of daylight Jcck the skies,
AnJ ev’ry cloud is tinged with various dyes,
Why roams the thoughts beyond this native earth ?
Whv longs the soul for an immortal birth ?
Are they designed, by Providonco to bo
Tiic symbols of a blest eternity—
To cheer with hope the bom n of despair,
And to dispel the doubts tint linger there?
1 low swoot to think that when this being dios,
It giins a pure existence in the skies;
And that our present troubles ore but given,
To fit us for the nobler joys of Heaven.
When earthly scenes and sorrows are resign’d,
Ah ! whither vanishes the immortal mind ?
Has it now c:ist those vain desires away,
\\ liirli animated once this senseless clay ?
Or lingers it about its lowly tomb,
This mortal being to resume ?
Or if transported to some happier Fpot,
scene:; and joys of fife alike forgot;
Then with new sympathies its bosom glows,
f .n it no longer feel for human woes ?
Arc ali tlioso tics that bind the soul to earth,
i;-!ii!<|*iis!i'd at its spiritual birth ?
lllsc why no soothing message from the skies.
To i.-jcli mankind is awful mysteries ?
Ah ! none ran tell, save he whose soul has fled,
And viewed the dark dominions of ike dead ;
The sure decree—the inevitable doom—
i'ii.I waits the silent slumbers of the tomb! '■
commune with himself and feed on his own
thoughts ?” “ That is George McDuffie,”
answered my cicerone. “ You have hit him
off to the life. When he opens his mouth this
noisy House is as silent ns a sepulchre. Po
litical friends and foes are alike still; every
whisper is hushed—every head erect—every
eye open. You have no idea of the sensu-
pale fuces and sad countenances give admo
nition, that this is the region of death. I have
•stood by the wide prairie, aud beheld the green
billows rise and fall, and the undulations, che
quered with sun-light and shadow, chasing
one aller the other, afar over the wide ex
panse. And 1 liuve gone amid the storms of
winter, over the high hill, upon the loud-crack-
tion that little fellow can create. He rolls out I ing crust, amid the music of the merry sleigh-
his words, and bites them off, and thrashes bells. And here arc the Representatives from
and slashes as did old Iloratius Codes, when, | all these regions—here in one grand council
with his battle-axe, he stood upon the bridge,
and with his single arm defended Rome.
That stout.built man, a little to the right of
McDuffie, with a snowy head and a Roman
nose, is Burges, the “ Bald Eagle of the
House,” as he has been culled—a man adroit
at air sorts of weapons. He resembles one
of the old soldiers; he fights on foot or on
horse, with heavy or light arms—a battle-axe
or a spear. In modern warfare, he is at home
—all speaking one language—all impelled by
one law! Oh, iny Country, tny Country!
If our destiny he always linked ns one—if the
sumo flag, with its glorious stars and stripes,
is always the flag of our Union never un
furled or defended but by Freemen—then Po-.
etry and Prophecy, stretching to their utmost,
cannot pre-annouuce that destiny!
But lo return from our digression. Wo
have re-threaded the cork-screw galleries,
in the artillery or the infantry—the cavalry or I and are in the Senate Chamber. Here is a
the engineers: a broadsword or a pistol, a j different body from the one we have just left,
kngs-urm or a spade, are equally familiar to J The Senators seem older than the represent-
his hand. There is Johnson, the gallant co!- lives; hut so many of these bald seniors ex-
oncl—the Indian killer. He has a fine head, change gray heads for Muck ones, that it is
and a good countenance. He is writing kind difficult lo determine. They sit with their
things to his constituents. He has half a do- | hats otf—that looks better. They bustle about
,$a fiscellan y.
From the I- nicker backer.
A PEEP AT WASHINGTON:
v u:.vr cr.oM the journal or an American tourist.
•• 1 ciK.f to fetch you to the capitol."—Julius Ctrsar.
Undoubtedly, the point to which all eyes
: ; rc turned, during a certain portion of the
year, is flic city of Washington. The big
guns of the tuition are there—and there we
have batteries of eloquence, and oratorical
launder, and, in these high times, flashes of
li litning. 1 caino, this season, to take a sur-
v •*, of the war-ground—to look at the geuer-
: !s, and the colonels, the sergeants, and the
corporals, i’n«* drum-majors and the filers.
1 v.as dropped at Gudsby’s. It was yet
morning—and t he flags, with their stars, were
waving over both wings of the majestic capi-
:•»!, indicating that Congress was now under
fall way. I asccudcd the lull, whence pro-
roods so much noise, and smoke, and confu- j len away.
less—that is more agreeable, if you would
hear a speaker. “ Show me the lions,” said
I to my cicerone : “ Where is Van Buren,
where is Clay,and Webster,undCalhoun?”
My first query was answered by pointing to
die Vice President's chair. I should have
much to say of Mr. Van Buren ; hut they have
elevated him to a high office, which, like nil
offices, has its drawbacks and its disadvan
tages. “ He cannot figure,” said my guide,
zen messenger-hoys at his side, trolling at a
wink, sanding his letters, folding them, or hur
rying away to stamp them with the * U. S.’
scnl. There is Edward Everett, the ac
complished scholar, the fine writer! Indeed,
you might as well throw the muse of Histon
into a caravan, or put him on a “ broad horn”
on the Mississippi, with a huge pine for a rud-
der. and a cane-brake tor a bundle of quills.
Crockett, there, is a better Neptune, and
holds a steadier trident. And when a man I “ in debate : his mouth is shut, unless opened
can grin, and fight—flog a steamboat, and to say, ‘ The ayes have it,* or «The memo-
whip his weight in wild-cuts, what is the use rial is referred,’ or something of the like,
of reading and writing? There is Wayne, I His manner is calm and bland, and he pro
an accomplished man, and Wilde, a fine 1 sides with ease and dignity. Aud there he
scholar, a poot, and as civil a Georgian, too. sits, with no opportunity for display thump-
Binney is there, a grave looking man—a ing with bis mallet, when the galleries are out
mighty logic-chopper. of order, having occasion only to remark,
But I must pause—for what a mass of rep- now and then, that “ the question is so and
reseutatives there are here! What singular so,” etc. The newspapers talk of his shrink
samples of our Vast country! Here sits a I ing, cowering, blushing. This is all the ver-
Tennesseun, and there a Missourian, educa. I iest romance in the world. He lives in the
ted among buffaloes, and nurtured in the for-1 Senate like an embodied abstraction. He
est—as intimate with the passes of the Rocky lakes Clay’s jibes, and Webster’s thrusts, as
Mountains, as the cit with Broadway—who 1 the ghost of Creusss received the embraces
lives where hunters and trappers have vexed of Eneas. He heeds them not. He leans
every hill and who cares no more for a Paw- back his head—piles oue leg upon the other
nee than n professed beau for a bright-plumed and sits as if he were a pleasant sculptured
belle. Here is a mail from the prairies—and image, destined for that niche all his life,
there another from the swamps and morasses, I That m issive forehead—those prodigious
whose blood the musketoes have utterly sto-1 eyes—those heavy shouiders, that iron-built
There is a sallow face from the I frame, j oint out Webster. How like Satan
mi. and law. My heart beat high at the ! rice-grounds, and here the flushed cheek from himselt he can look—what a malicious smile!
prospect of beholding the assembled wisdom j the mountains—and by his side a man from He talks as if he were telling a plain story
■if the nation : and I did not long pause to look : the pine grounds—the land of tar and turpen-1 not enthusiastic, but concise and clear,
at the magnificent grounds around the capitol , tine. What a people we are ! What a conn. 1 arm comes up as it’ lifted bv a spring. He
—the sirong-huiU terrace—nor the naval mon-j try is this of ours! How wide in extent—| speaks like one from the grave—so solemn
ur.,cut, floating, as it were, in an artificial re-, how rich in produc
vervoir, supplied by nn ever-running fountain. ! ty ! I have asked in my travels, for the West, I What a voice ? The sentences leap into life
1 hurried,out of breath, up the sleeps of stairs, ; in the streets of the Queen of the West—a —with well timed metaphor, skilfully inter-
threaded the corridors and rocky mazes, un- fairy city, which but as yesterday was a wil- j woven—all perfectly wrought out. Yet Web-
til I found myself under the huge dome that! derncss. They smiled at my inquiry, and ster is a man of no imagination. He has a
arch- s the rotunda. Every foot-fall echoed said it was among the * lioosiers’ of Indiana well-disciplined taste ; and give him a clu
and re-echoed, and each whisper reverbera- ; or ‘the suckers’ of Illinois. Then I journey. I to a figure, and he will trace it out with force
ted from n thousand quarters. The groups ed along. I crossed great rivers and broad I and beau
peeping at this thing mid that—the sculpture prairies, and again I asked for the West. J That slender-built man, apparently about
in fi.e niches of the walls—and the paintings They said it was in Missouri. I arrived at | fifty years of age, in a blue coat wi h bright
th.a half encircled the area, detained my eye
but a moment—for my cicerone hurried me
on, amid mazes and galleries yet more confi
ned, until I found myself overlooking the Rep-
but it is a handsome one. He is all case and
composure ; is uever thrown off his guard.
He is ever ready, and the less prepared, the
better for the fight. He eludes with the ut
most skill all manner of weapons. No nicm-
her of Congress is better at the rcconnoitcr-
ing and skirmishing of debate.
That tall, rcd-hcadcd man, with a large
manly figure, and full face, is Preston, the
new member from South Carolina. He
looks as if lie had long lived under the rays
of a Southern sun. Preston is sui generis.
He talks poetry—all in rich array, and gor
geous sentences. When there is a storm in
the Senate, they hang him out as a rainbow;
and although the rough clouds often darken
his glittering hues before the storm is hushed,
yet tempers are cooled, and spirits are sof
tened by the dazzling arch, and thc rich inter-
lacings of its bow. Ilis is unpremeditated el
oquence. He does not, like Sheridan, mark,
in his orations, the place to introduce “ Good
God ! Mr. Speaker.” The incidents of de
bate suggest all his.fine sentences. Iiisjes-
lures are admirable. No American orator is
more graceful—few have more art: and yet
few understand so well the “ art above arts.”
Such a man was necessary in the Senate. All the
kinds of eloquence that Cicero describes, are
now exemplified and illustrated in that body,
and no two are formed on the same model.
Felix Grundy is a happy man. There is
not a more jovial benevolent face in Christen
dom. than he wears. He was an actor upon
the stage of public life, long beforo my re-
membmnee. His head is now alt grey, and
his step begins to falter and bear the marks
of age, but his mind has lost nothing of its
vigor, and none of his humor. He is happy at
a thrust, and good humored, even in the an-
griest debate. lie has a mind happily tem
pered for political warfare.
Leigh is a new comer from Virginia; a
round thick.built man, with a little sharp eye,
that snaps at times like a spark of fire. He
is something of a lion in the National Mcnag.
erie. Perhaps my metaphors might seem
objectionable, were it not that we ‘Republicans’
have a right to talk of our < Servants,’ as we
please. Wright has a fine person and coun
tenance. No one exhibits more calmness
and dignity, or more narrowly watches the
progress of debate.
I would tarry here had I lime and space, to
serve up the stout framed Benton, und give
a touch of his manner of speaking, so odd to
Northern eye and car, but doubtless the mode
in his Missouri, where his heart unquestiona
bly is. 1 would have something to say of
Senator Smith, who in his dress connects this
age with the days of our fathers and grandfa
thers—of Porter, with Ins Ire.li face and Irish ;
His : eloquence, a worthy so;, of the green Isle of
Erin—and of Wilkins, too, who hates a juke ;
but I must pause.
Aud here let me remark, that I should
like the Senate better, if it were not such a
prodigious snuff-box, and the snuff takers were
less numerous. “ Give me youi snuff-box,?’
says Clay to Prentiss ; and “ yours,” and
“ yours,” and thus a snuff-box runs a jour
ney for a day, from Senator to Senator,
without ten minutes rets. Aud, by the way,
in a long day’s session, let me add, the
hungry Representatives bring in crackers
Levee is a delicious affair. What odd amal
gamation of character! What strange groups
of men and women ! A Cherokee there a
Choctaw here; His Christian Majesty’s
Charge to the right, and squadrons of Attach,
es hither and thither : some in stars, some
with ribands^ all in princely court dresses.
A drab dressed, broad brimed-hut Quaker,
here; and a modern belle there ; a thick
built German, a happy Irishman, & chattering
Frenchman, a proud Castilian, jabbering all
sorts of tongues, from that of the wild Indian,
to the double refined and patent English;
the easy dash ; the mouth wide open, and
head erect—take all in all, in such a current,
and my word for it, such a collection cannot
be found upon the face of the earth. But
parties and balls are pretty much the same in
Washington os any where else. Etiquette, it
may be, is severer here—the art of carding is
carried to sublimer perfection. Yet, the chief
distinction is, the fine minds, the distinguish
ed men, among whom you are thrown. The
charm of Washington society is in the array
of intellect, of character, of reputation, civil,
political, and military, and of that influence
which exercises a vast power over the des
tinies of our Union. We meet with men
and women of the very first order of intellect,
assembled from almost all nations, and from
the various divisions of our country ; thus
concentrating an immense variety of infor-
mation, manners, and customs. Talent no
where, finds more, who can appreciate its
worth—no matter whether it be the mind that
thunders ir. the forum, or the foot that trips
it gracefully in ine lively da*ice. This is our
court, an odd court, indeed it is—but the on-
ly difference between us and our brethren
over the water, is, that they have court dress
es, and rules of etiquette, and we all sorts
of dresses, and do as we please. There is
no Parisian milliner in our dominions who can
spread her wand over our whole Union—
nor French Peruquier w ho is monarch over
the externals of the head, making every lock
tremble at his bidding. As we arc singular
in government, so we are singular iu fashions.
In such an assemblage, therefore, from so
many quarters, costumes necessarily partake
of the variety of tastes and fashions. But.
enough v I have taken my peep at the court
city r ; alighting here, and sipping there ;
spurning the bitter and extracting the sweet.
R.
From the Rose Bud.
The Hygrometer at Sineath’s,—If any
of our readers have occasion, when travel,
ling on the Rail Road, to stop at the first lan
ding place from Charleston, formerly Si
neath’s, but now Simms’, they may well be-
1 guile u quarter of an hour, in examining a
rosontalivos of the Nation. I was in the La- Missouri—farther than from us to New Eng-
its capital. They complained that they were 1 buttons, a frizzly head, and an eye like aland cheese, and ginger-bread, into the
“loo far down east.’ “But*go,’.’ they said, hawk, erect and earnest, with mouth partly j House, and spread them out, as for a dinner,
“if you would see the West, days and days, open—that is Calhoun. He is not nn orator.! upon their mahogany desks I if 1 hud the
and hundreds and hundreds of miles up the | —y**t few command so much attention—none | pen of a Trollope, how I would 1 ish them !
land, and beyond the Rocky Mountains, and
among the Snake Indians of the Oregon, arid
you may find it.” It was the work of a roz-
on years to find the.West, end i lur.ied about,
in despair. Indeed, I have found no founds
more. His voice is bad. Ilis gesticulation j And, indeed, why may I not undertake the
is without grace. He is zealous and enthu-! reform, before some Hamilton comes in
sinstic. but without being frantic. Ilis appa. j among us, and murders us all, for the sins of
rent candor, earnestness, and sincerity com. the few, who, having been but recently caught,
maud attention. His voice struggles in his , we li.ive not had time to civilize, so well as
throat, and you almost understand the thoughts j we shall by the time another session comes
dies’ Gallery, amid a sea of tossing heads,
among belles from the sunny South, with their
sallow faces, and the blooming girls of thn
Northern and Middle Siat<-s: some bleached
by the fogs of New-Englund—such as pre
vail at Newport, Rhode Island, and along the 1 to my country. I have searched for them for ] swellingthere,and they rush out as fast as words - round ? “ Off with your tegs, then, gentle,
coast of Maine, and others, grown pale amid months, in almost every clime—under the can convey them. He speaks in debate as a j men, not from your bodies, but frbm your
the swamps of Georgia and the Carolinas, but torrid zone of Louisiana, the land of the or- firmer, in earnest, would talk to his boys, or j desks ! Off with your gingerbread, your
ranking in sjilri* h*®i and conversation, all ange and the olive, and beneath the cold sky j a merchant to bis clerks. He steps about, t crackers and cheese ! Cease your snoring
\ L hull before me"! A noniY.it of e-ritig rich treasures from a bountiful soil, and I that—and if a man looks inquiring at him, he | sofhs, and no longer repose there, sprawled
L i Fayotlo and the flag of the Union were at tile fisherman anchoring bis little bark oiMhc j asks “ I am right, am I uot ?” “ But as I was ' out like leviathans ! Men will talk, whisper,
* * “ ‘ tramp, rustle their papers, and yawn; this
mv left—in front, u large circular gall ry for rocky island, dropping hid b—.. as carefully j saving, this conservative principle”—“it
.« i; lc people,” supported by huge columns, of as if the ocean were full of pearls, ana not Oi meto talk to-day ; I’ve got „ cold,” etc.
surpassing grandeur. —mackerel. I have seen the mill-man, saw- ’ I ' 1 * *’
“ And7s this," said I, “ the House of Rep- • ing wood in all variety of forms, on the far-
resentatives? Those men, there, with hats ' thest soil of New England ; und 1 have be-
on,huzzingan<] chatting, whispering and laugh- j held the sumo wood floating down the Savan-
ing—reading newspapers, hemming and cough, nah, or the beautiful Alabama, in the stmn-
j,,?. a re they the law-makcrs of our twenty- | gest metamorphoses : it may be, in a clock,
four St .tcs ?” A member is speaking, but regularly ticking off llie time-in a pail —per-
no! )(!v hears him : und the louder he t iki’, chance in a button ; and for aught l know, i..
the loader iho buzzing. “Sir,” says lie; | a tasteless ham, or an unfragrant nutmeg!
“ Sir," again, in ayct loudcrlonc; “Sir j I have never been off the soil of my own coun-
and now ia a voice, like ‘ the wry necked 1 try : and yet I have seen the sun «ro down, a
fife.’ The Speak-r pricks up and yields his ball of fire, without a moiuent’s twilight, fling-
ears : “ Sir, I call the attention of the House j ing over rich, alluvial lands—blooming with
to the important fact ” By this time, raagnoli.ts and
unless die orator is a favorite, the Speaker’s
head is again dropped, and the yawning mem-
b:-rs, it may be, have fallen into a quiet sleep.
I borrowed a glass—for one can see but lit*
tie with unaided eyes athwart the wide.extend.
cd hall—to take my peep at a few of the talked,
of, the written-about—‘ the Lions.’ “There,”
said mv cicerone, «is Mr. Adams, the Ex-
lTfcsidcnt, in iiis faded frock-coat, and whits
woollen stockings,plodding and plodding, ever
plodding. lie is always in his seat, perpet
ually at work—keeping a journal, it may be,
or writing poetry in a young lady’s album—
perhaps studying to ascertain whether Hesiod
ts an older poet than Homer;—knowing eve
ry thing, interested in every thing—a busy
spirit, clogged in cold clay; a small Vesuvius,
with a peak of snow—with a heart of fire and
a hand of ice.” « And who,” I inquired, «is
this other unquiet, slow, moping, head-drop
ping body, who seems to live by himself, and
range trees—a robe of gold;
and again I have stood upon the bare rocks
of colder climes, and when the trees were
pinched by the early frost, I have marked the
samo vanishing rays reflected from the leaves,
as if a thousand birds of paradise were resting
inthe branches: and when the clouds, stream-
ing with red, and purple, and blue,—tinged
and tipped by the pencil of B«nn*y—.were
floating afar, like rainbows in motion, ns if
broken from their confinement—now mingling
and interlacing their dyes, and glittering ar.
ches, and anon sprinktal over, and mellowing
the whole heaven—then I have fancied that
I was indeed in a fairy land, where the very
forests danced in golden robes,—responding
to the setting sun, as the statue of the fabled
Memnou gave forth its welcoming notes, os
the rays of the morning played upon its sum
mit. I have been where the dog star rages,
scattering pestilence in its train; whore the
long moss hangs from the treeswhere the
This is much the manner of Mr. Calhoun.—
If an idea comes into his head, out it comes,
without regard to rhetorical polish. Mr,
Calhoun’s power is in colloquy—animated
von are permitted to do ; but I insist upon it,
you shall not sleep, you shall not snore, you
shall not * feed,’ and’make a stable of your
conversation. Men arc willing to listen to a
man who talks well,whose declamation might
be insufferable. Calhoun links words togeth
er—bites off the las: sellable—and often
times cats up as it were, whole sentences,
iu the rapidity of his enunciation.
That tall, well formed man, with a wido
mouiii, :l:u1 a countenance indicating every
change of thought within, is Clay. He has
been so often described, that I shall dwell
upon him briefly, here. Nature made him
an orator to figure in a free government,
in a despotism, his head would have reached
the block, for his impudence, before he was
thirty. He is good at every tiling. I have
never heard such r. voice. It is equally dis-
tiuct and clear, whether ut its highest key or
lowest whisper—rich, musical, captivating.
His action is the spontaneous offspring of the
passing thought. He gesticulates all over.
Tiie nodding of his head, hung on a long neck,
his arms, hands, fingers, feet, and even nis
spectacles and pocket handkerchief, aid him
in debate. He steps forward aud backward,
and from the right to the left, with effect.—.
Every feature speaks. The whole body has
its story to tell.
That is Forsyth, with his arms a-kimbo,
head thrown back, spectacles on, laughing at
what somebody has to say, who is speaking
over the way. I cannot describe his figure,
magnificent hall—for if you do, aud the ma
ny English travellers who have been hanging
on this session, taking notes, don’t print you
all, 1 will I” I should like to turn orthoe-
pist, too, and teach, the Yaukees to leave off
some of the breadth, in their pronunciation of
the short words, and to give the long ones
more longitude and les3 latitude. The na-
sal twang of some of them is abominable.
And I «\oild teach the Southrons, likewise,
some of them, that stairs were not stars, and
clear weather not clar weather. Aud i would
say too, that although mighty smart and a
mighty smart chance—mighty big, and mighty
little, was excellent “ nigger,” dialect, yet it
was not so refined, as an orator might use.
Btif, after all, albeit you can see in Congress
peculiarities of speech and pronunciation
enough to indicate wiiat portion of the coun
try a member comes from, yet .no country
on the earth can assemble people from sueb
a wide domain, where one language is spo
ken more correctly. The English—talking
Irish, Scotch, Berkshire, Lancashire, and
all manner of dialects—ought, of all na»
tions, to be the lust to laugh at us for our very
few peculiarities.
Go with me, for a single moment, into Wash'
ington society, I can discourse little about
'splendor, magnificent suites of • rooms, and
gorgeous furniture; but if I had a woman’s eye,
which sees every thing,and marks every thing,
I could make out quite a picture. A President’s
curious Hygrometer, or instrument to tell the
state of the atmosphere, placed under the
roof of the piazza. It consists of a box rep
resenting a dwelling house, having two doors
in front, near the ends. Whou the weather
is wet, a little figure representing a little old
man, comes out from one of the doors, and ad
vances before the house with his hat on. As
soon as dry weather approaches, the little
man slowly retires back again to the door,
and at length enters within, quite out of sight,
while the good lady, his wife, advances from
the other door, and takes her stand out at the
same distance to enjoy the fair weather and
sun shine. Sometimes when the weather is
neither exactly moist nor dry, you may dis-
ccrn the good couple standing both on their
own thresholds. But this is not often the case,
and you rarely ever see more than oreat a time.
I beg all people to admire the exceeding
complaisance of this good little old gentleman.
He will never let his wife be exposed to the
stormy weather, but keeps her within, while
he is on ;-Hurt! out of doors. But so :-oon as
th’j sunshine appears, he retreats, : nd lets his
F-ir dame enjoy the beauty of the sky.
And now for the secret of the matter. It
is-well known that almost all kinds of strings
grow shorter in wet weather than in dry. A
common example ia presented in the harp,
whose strings will snap, one "by one, in a damp
day, unless they are considerably loosened.
Now this good lady and gentleman are connec
ted together iu some way or other by such a
string, which, when it shortens, pulls the old
lady in, and when it lengthens, suffers her to
move out, acting in the contrary manner on the
gentleman.
I exhort every married pair to resolve them,
selves at once into such an admirable hy
drometer.
And therefore let them be untted by a
sympathetic string, which shall never break,
but yield easily this way and that, according
to circumstances, whether it be in the wet
weather of adversity, or in the sunshine of
prosperity.
And next, let every gentleman show to his-
wedded wife, the same polite and tender be
nevolence, which marks- the master oi the.
household in our little hygrometer. If he
does not go out of doors while she stays with.
iD, he can' at least show equal marks of ci.
vilify in many other things. He can let her
take her turn in iaVcing, if he does- not in
mounting guard. He can avoid finding con.
stant fault with, her innocent peculiarities.
He can praise her good qualities, and ac
knowledge her efforts to please him. And
so, into a household thus lovingly constituted,
the angels as they rush along on some ethe-
real rail road,.will take a peep and exclam,
« What an excellent hygrometer we have
here, to judge of the atmosphere of human
notare!" - Yours, &c. gTEAMER
Speech ol’.Hr. King, of Georgia,
IN THR SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
On Mr. Clay’s Resolutions.
Mr. Kino said, ho did not wish to interfere with
what ho had no doubt was tho general wish of Sena-
tore, to take the question on the remaining resolution
without protracted debate. But, 08 it was possible
ru'.u- ^ su PPe®od by some, that the vote which ho
ten it bis duty to give on this resolution, would bo
inconsistent with tho vote which he had given on a
previous occasion, he wished to make a few remarks,
for the purpose of reconciling the tote which ho
should now give, with tho one he had given on tho
occasion referred to.
My opinion, said Mr. K., on the first resolution, a,
vote upon which was taken on yesterday, is well
known, and has been now twice expressed in tho
Senate. He believed, he said, (and eo had voted)
that tho removal of the public money from tho R.™y
of the United States, by the Secretary of the Treaau-
ry, at the timo the act was done, was impolitic and
inexpedient, and calculated to produce, or rather to
induce, a great dual of mischief, and not calculated
to secure any one desirable end. He said the motives'
of the President, and Secretary, had not been very
generally questioned, and it was therefore ufmeccs.
sary that either ho or others should undertake to do-
fend them. The motivos of the President were plain.
The President thought the Bank a powerful and cor
rupt^ institution, inconsistent with the character of
our institutions, and as he states, even dangerous to
liberty itself. However this might bo, the object of
the President was to destroy it. This was tho end
proposed. The means by which he proposed to ac
complish this, to him, desirable object, were (he ex.
ercise of his veto power, and tho removal of the dc-
positeB. The President had discovered that tho
Bank of the United States, in the year 1833, had ex.
tended its .loans and accommodations to an amount
altogether unprecedented in the history of the insti.
tution; and he thought from some indications, that
it was intended by the direction to make such sudden
and extensive contractions of the loans and accommo
dations of the Bink, as t o produce a degree -of dis.
tress m the community, that would extort from tho
people of tho United States a rc.charter of the insti-
tution.
This, said Mr. K., would have been defeating hia
object; and this was what he intended to prevent—
Tho President thought, by removing the depositee, to
cripple the powers of the institution in the first place.
And in tho second place, he expected to afford such
a'd to the State Banks as would enable them to re
lieve the me re i utile community, from at least a por
tion of that distress which he apprehended it was the
design of the Bank to inflict upon it. Without dwel
ling, however, said Mr. K., longer upon tho mo
tives of the President, I will only add, that I think
the end did net justify tho means. In fact, ho
thought the means employed, most eminently calcu-
latod to defeat Iho end which was proposed to be
effected by them. He therefore had thought, and
twice voted, that however pure the motive, the rea.
sous of the Secretary for the removal of the depo-
sites wore unsatisfactory and insufficient.
But. said Mr. K., does it follow as a necessary
consequence, that all there who believo the reasons
for the removal at the time tho act was done, unsatis-
tory and insulnciou' should fee 1 themselves called
on by claims of consistency now, to voto for their
restoration? Ho thought not. It was perfectly
trCic, lie said, that all thoso who took the samo view
of the subject with the honorable Senator from Ken
tucky, and believed that the Constitution had been
broAcn, that tho laws had liecn violated, and that
tho chartered rights of the Bank had been ravished
from it, were perfectly consistent—in fact, impera
tively called on to voto a restoration of the depo-
sitas, whatever might be their opinion of the resto
ration a 8 a measure'of expediency; for with this
view, a restoration was duo to a broken constitution,
to the violated laws,; nay, sir, said Mr. I(., due to
tho Bank, for the Bank had private rights os well as
individuals, which should be respected.
But, said Mr. K., not believing myself that either
law or couEtitution lias been violated; or that any
right of the Bank has been touched; that tho Bank
did not agree in the 16th section of its charter to
submit to the discretion of the Secretary, I feel my.
self at liberty to look at tho question purely as ono
of expediency, and not to vot-: for the restoration,
unless I should think that the public good requires it.
He Bnid that the diflereuce of opinion between him.
self and others, on the constitutional .point, arose, ho
thought, from a natural propensity in man to deny
the existence of power, where, in their view, it had
been improperly exercised; charging usurpation
where there has been, at most, only abuse. Between
these, said Mr. K., we should carefully distinguish,
or we strike at the root of all government. For it
should, he said, bo assumed as the basis of all reason
ing on tho subjoct of government—-that power must
be lodged somewhere. And whenever power was
given, an aburo of it wosjui inseparable incident.—
Show rr.o a government, said Mr. K., that has no
power to do evil, and I'll show you one that has no-
power to do good.
Power, he said, in different governments, differed
more in degree, than in its nature, for the timo being.
Iu despotisms, he said, the power was unlimited. In
this case, there could be no usurpation; there could
only be an abuse of power, and there was no respon
sibility for that.
In constitutional monarchies, he said, the only li
mitation of power is by restriction upon the preroga
tive of the prince who is supposed to be the original
source of all power, but who on a demand of the
people, has con.-ented to divido tho power with
them. To tako England as the example, (which was
said to be thn freest constitutional monarchy on earth)
this would be found the only restriction; for even
there, when government acted as a unit, there was
no limitation on its power. Parlinment united, was
omnipotent, and might take away the right of tho
citizen without redress, and even for a usurpation of
power, on tho part of a prince, he was not constitu
tionally responsible, os he could do no wrong—
though in some cases the act might be avoided by a
resort to tho judiciary. Not to multiply examples
and distinctions, said Mr. K., let us come at once to
our own government. Hero our great - security
against power consists : -
1st. In a limitation upon the powers of Govern-
mont ituolf.
with the whole of their power,
but have limited the
delegation byTt"written constitution; and the Mto oT
the Government if authorized, may be annulled by
law, at the instance of the humblest mdividual »n tho
’ m ,. n it V And the second, and most important
security, consist* in the responsibility of tho agent,
and the limited term of his office. If he be guilty oi
a criminal usurpation, or abuse of power, he may be
criminally punished, either by indictment or by im
peachment, according to the forms prescribed by
tb» constitution. If he abuse, or misuse power, but
not sufficiently to bo reached in either of theso
modes, the evil is only temporary, as it can bo peace
ably cured by election. With these restrictions, ho
said, no great danger was to be apprehended from tho
exercise of power; and we should be careful to re-
collect, that whilst wo are hastily forcing construc
tions to ruin an administration, wo may break up a
constitution.
