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BY JAMES W. JOAES.
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PROS PECTUS
OF TUB
paper formerly edited by Wm. E.
■L Jones, is now under the direction of the
undersigned. The growing importance of Ath
ens, the state of parties in Georgia, and the
agitation of certain questions having a direct
influence on southern interests; render it neces
sary that the northwestern part of Georgia
should have some vigilant, faithful sentinel
always on the watch tower,
construction of the true spirit ot
the maintiiitiance of ihe rights
of the States, the
patronage, reform, and a strict
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ly abuses and corruption wheu and whereevr
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J. W. JONES.
PROSPECTUS.
AT the late meeting of the Alumni of Frank
lin College, it was unanimously resolved to
be expedient to make arrangements to issue a
Monthly Literary Magazine, to be called
THE ATHENIAN.
The undersigned were appointed by the So
ciety a committee of publication and joint Edi
tors of the work, until the next meeting of tin.
Society. We have no interest in the work, ex
cept that which w« take in the welfare of the
country and honor of the State. We, of the
South, have too long depended upon foreign
parts forour Literature, and neglected our own
talents. We shall be weak so long as we think
we are weak: and dependent until we. make ef
forts to be independent. We hope all the friends
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Alumni of Franklin College, will patronize the
enterprise both by word and deed. State pride
the love of Literal ire, our interest in the cause
of general Education, all call upon us to sustain
an enterprise so necessary to our improvement,
and the honor ofthe State.
A S. CLAYTON,
JAMES JACKSON,
K. D. MOORE,
WM. L. MITCHELL,
C. F. McCAY,
SAMUEL P. PRESSLEY,
IL HULL.
Tme Athenian shall issue monthly, on fine |
paper-, stitched and covered in pamphlet form, I
-and shall contain sixty-four pages royal octavo. 1
derogatory to religion, offensive to any
denomination of Christians, or of any political
party, snail appear in the Athenian. ‘ Its pages
shall be. honestly devoted to general Literature,
the cause of Education, the Review of new
works, and notices of improvements in Science,
Arts and Agriculture. Price Five Dollars per"
annum, payable on the delivery ofthe first, num
ber.
Administrator’s Sale*:
AGREEABLE to an order from the Honora
ble the Inferior Court of the County of !
Oglethorpe, when sitting as a Court of Ordinary
for said County, will be sold, on th" first Tues
day in March next, to the highest bidder
before the Court-house door in Early Coun
ty, Two hundred and fifty Acres ofthe first
quality oak and hickory Land, known as No
360, in the 4th District of said County—
Likewise on the first Tuesday of Feb’y. next, i
at Carnesville, Franklin County, One hundred
Acres of Landen the waters of Webbs’ Creek,
adjoining Garrison at the time of survey—
Terms op the day of sale.
A- C. M’KINLEY, Adm’r:
Oct. 8, —23—tds
FOUR months after date, application will
be made to the Honorable Inferior Court
of Clark county, when sitting for Ordinary
purposes, for leave to sell all the real estate of
Robert R. Billups, late of Stewart county de.
ELIZABETH W. BILLUPS, Ex’r,
Nov. 26—30—4 m.
''.-s M> Ti''*"? M
ftWlWii 0 P P I jIW fils '
iwirr-a B’Wwwer’sifiHißwo —wf
©onsrcsK.
Speer si ok" Mr. Preston,
(of South Carolina.)
On the resolution to expunge a part of the jour
nal for the session of 1833-1834, delivered
January 13, 1837.
Mr. Preston addressed the Senate as follows:
Nothing, Mr. President, (said he) was far
ther from my intention, than to have said a
single word on this subject. Nor do I now
propose to discuss it. That has been done
so fully and elaborately on both sides, that I
shtll not enter upon the argument. I thought
I should not have said a word, but I feel a sort
of impossibility to withhold the expression of
my utter repugnance to this proceeding. If
we had not arrived at the very issue; if the
question were not ready to be taken, I should
have retained my seat, for I have long been
endeavoring to school and to subdue my heart
down to this submission. During the entire
course of events which has gradually brought
mv mind to the conclusion that this resolution
would at some time pass, I have endeavored to
discipline my feelings, to curb and restrain
them, and bring down my’ mind to the event,
so that when at last the sad moment should ar- j
rive, I might meet it with a becoming resig
nation; and I did suppose that I had succeed
ed. I had long seen the growing popularity
of this measure. I was no stranger to the
arts and the industry by which the progress of
that popularity had been stimulated and urged
on from day to day. I well knew the power
and the popularity of the Chief Magistrate.
I had heard of his own personal exertions to |
promote this object. I saw that it was re
solved upon ns n party measure, and I saw the
party which had resolved upon it, rapidly and
triumphantly succeeding throughout a large
part of the Union. These things certainly are
sufficient to have forewarned me, and I had
hoped, and till this moment believed, that they
had forearmed me also. But there was added
to all these the still less equivocal evidence a
using from the proceedings of several of the
Slate Legislatures. Sir, when first I hoard
that, a State Legislature had instructed her
Senators on this floor to vote in favor of this
thing, it struck me with inexpressible sorrow
and dismay. But when I from time to time
beheld various other State Legislatures acting
under the same dictation, or at least misled in
to the same mistake, sorrow assumed in my
bosom the complexion oi despair. But there
was still one ingredient to be added to this
cup, to render the odious draught more intol
erably bitter. I could, I will confess it, with
some comparative degree of philosophy, have
seen certain States of this Confederacy one
after another giving way and bringing their
successive sacrifices to this altar of executive
power. I could have borne to see this and
ijjat. and the other State prostrating herself and
in the general conspiracy to prostrate
But when at length it came to
and powerful common
was brought to bow her
venl|QPß&’n«n>re the footstool of power,
forgot her past history, forgot who and what
she is and what she has been, and associated
herself io a combination like this, how shall I
describe to yon nty feelings. As a politician,
I might have been mortified at such a specta
cle; as a statesman, belonging to the United
States, I turned from it with shame; but as a
native of Virginia, I deplore, I lament, from the
bottom of my heart, that she, too, has joined the
funeral procession of the Constitution. Sir, I
was proud to remember her in her proud day;
i to consider her as she once was, anil perhaps
j still is—the great mother of mon; to look back
■ I to that bright, that immortal period in our his
j tory when she recalled her children from these
halls of national legislation into her own Le.
I gislature, there to vindicate the rights and in
[ dependence ot the State, and to re assert th
I violated Constitution against the usurpations
lof this Government. Then, indeed, Virginia
I preserved that illustrious character which had
; descended with her from the Revolution. Then
I she put herself on her State rights, and on the
popular doctrines of a free Government; and
I all who witnessed the animating sight must
j have concluded that, throughout her existence,
I she would ever continue to vindicate and to
j perpetuate the doctrine and the spirit of liber
j ty. Sir, I couict ut’-ve wished 'hat the honor-
■ avle gentleman who now represents that dis-
I tingttished State could have found in his own
I mind reasons for taking a different course from
I that which he Ims pursued in this matter.
! With the powers which he unquestionably
| possesses, with his libera! education and large
/ experience,and | espeeially withthe good fortune
■ of growing up a midst the very men who laid
: the foundations of our Republic, I hud hoped
j that he would have invoked the ancient spirit
; of his State, and would have added the suffrage
: as his voice to save the trembling Constitution,
1 about to be immolated at the footstool of Ex
| ecutjve power. But it was my lot to be dis
appointed; and I mourn, from the bottom of
my heart, the instruction under which he feels
himself constrained to vote for this very ex
traordinary resolution. Where are the se-
i dateness, the gravity, the calm and cautious
I wisdom of Madison? Where the philosophic
jspirit, the enlarged views, and popular predi.
j lections of JeffersoiT? Where the sturdy re-
I publicanism of John Taylor? Where those
i blight names which make her history? They
1 are gone—gone, and others coti ro! her desti
j uy. Sir, I lament, I mourt? that, my native
; State should have lent herself and the remnant
of her glory to promote and gloss over this
proceeding. I take consolation, however. Mr-
President, that there is one State, one free and
fearless State which has kept herself aioofJ
from this combination; whose
whose pride and honor de ma ifi } iOO j
to
k.ili ot' S ‘ii'h < •' l
1 ofthe
B it, sir, I 1 4>r2itm-’i.t t*
.-.il' i' l 'I; th>-
judgment ;
sir, and let irrsaf: here
Il and:
gentlemen. called on to do
I execution.—do it. iHe ase is in your hano;
perform that which is so loudly called lor.
Execution, sir? Os what? Is the.axe aimed
at me, and at those of us who voted for the re
solution you are about to expunge? Is it
you strike ?t? Ifse, I would say, and with
comparative satisfaction, in God’s name let the
blow come, and while the fatal edge lellupmi
my neck, I would declare, with honest sincer
ity, that I had rather be the criminal of 1834
than the executioner of 1837. Proceed, gen
tlemen, do your hc.dy work. Grant judgment.
Do execution—execution upon your own ic
cords—execution upon the Constitution oi
your country, Ido not envy you your otice.
“WHERE POWERS ARE A SSUMED WHtCH HAVE NOT RREN DELEGATED, A NULLIFICATION OF THE ACT IS THE RIGHTFUL REMEDY.
• Personally, however, it docs not touch us. No,
sir, I am glad, I rejoice that, on that record,
my name is found as one against whdm this
act is aimed. 1 would appeal from the pres
ent time to posterity, and ask whether the
names of mvselfand my associates or the names
of our executioners are then most likely to be
I venerated as guardians of the Constitution.
But can you suppose that your work is to bi
done on that body of representatives of the
States who voted for the obnoxious record?
That you will execute us? Our reputation,
our character, and standing? No, sir; it is not
in the power of your black lines to touch us.
I, indeed, was but a common soldier, and sei
ved tn the ranks under greater men. But
would gentlemen strike out ot the record of
’ this Government, the names of those who offer
' ed that resolution? No, no. They are far
beyond your reach, and the only result of your
impotent attack will be the more firmly to es
tablish their fame. Wrong they may have
been, buttheir business and their aim was to
sustain the Constitution, An act had been
done of equivocal import, and attended with
tremendous consequences. Those consequen
ces swept over the Union like an inundation,
and in that dark hour, and in the face of a
popularity before which nothing could stand,
I they dared to raise theii voice in this Hall,
I and, so far as an expression of opinion could
j go, to record their censure of that act. And
will gentlemen pretend to tell me that these
mon will not receive the gratitude of posterity?
This expunging process may for a season pro
mote the reputation of those who perform it;
but this deed w.ll bring fresh into remembrance
the names of those who passed that resolution
which they cannot suffer to stand on the re
cords of the Senate. Some of these individ
uals are present, and I must forbear. Bat
long after we shall have passed awav, when
the history of our country is written, and fond
ly proudly dwelt upon by our posterity, their
names will be mentioned. Thev will be fa
rnilliaras household words, and will be taught
to children as the names of Washington, and
Adams, and Hancock, and Lee, and Lafayette I
are now taught to oUr children.
If the h >pe, if the design is to efface those '
names from the leaves of onr national memo- I
rials, it will fail. Every effort to extinguish :
will but increase the splendor which surrounds ,
them. An attack upon the C 1 institution may, I
indeed, confer on those who perpetrate it, a :
sort of immortality, but it is not such as will i
belong to its defenders. We remember, in- j
deed, but we execrate, the name of the mis- I
creant who, for a sort of fame, destroyed a
venerable temple of antiquity. And whom, .
I again ask, will you do execution up >n ? Up
on the records ? Is it the object of offence ?
Will vou make yottr war on the paper? Will
you wreak your spite upon so much rags and
cotton ? Who or what is it that is to be pros
trated and broken down? It is the Senate of
the United States. It is one of the co-ordinate
branches of the General Government. Pio
eeed .hen to the sacrifice. Do execution on
the Senate. Consummate your solemn farce,
ind then rise and congratulate yourselves that
you are yourselves members of the very body
'hat you have bowed to the footstool of power.
)ffer your glad hosannas—ay, triumph and
boast that you have brought that Senate, of
which you form a part, to this pass. But while
you are making the welkin ring, I will mourn
at your jubilee. I shah be present at the scene,
hut not of it, and my only consolation will be
that I can reply to my country, “ Thou canst
'ot say I did it.” The Peoole, it seems, have
decided against the Senate. The People or
der the Senate totakethe Constitution in their
hand—to bring it into the presence ot the
“ miraculous man,” as an honorable Senator,
(Mr. Dana) has just, termed him, and, as an of
fering for his great services, for his unequalled
popularity, for the unsurpassed confidence
which he enjoys, sing hosannas in his etirs,
and, while the sky re-echoes to your shouts of
exultation, burn the Constitution as incense I
under his nostrils. This, and nothing less than .
this, will satisfy the idolatrous devotion of his
admirers. Do execution on the records of
your land. Obliterate your own journal. Do I
not introduce the report of a committee. Do |
not revoke your former act by recording a re- j
solution; but perform a physical act of exe- j
cuiion. Why, sir, does the Senate of to day 1
diffi'i from the Senate of yesterday? Has
the Senate of 1837 different views from the '
Senajc of 1834 ? Does the Senate now think '
j (bat the Senate fb«n grossly transcended its
power? Aid is not language capable of ex- |
pressing this ? Are there no word* 1° impress
a difference of opinion? Cannot you state,
the strength of your conviction in all the com- |
: pass of your mother tongue ? No. You must I
|do a physical act. You must do something I
that has no precedent. Your Clerk is to be !
| exhibited, not reading, not writing, not emm- ,
I eiating your decisions, but performing mechan-
, ! ical execution on a bit of paper. He is not I
> to be occupied in his ordinary and legal func
tions. No, sir. He is to perform the duty of j
a common hangman. Might it not be as well
to order in a file of soldiers with fixed bayo
nets? Or would it not be better still to purify
the journal bv fire? Fire is the ancient or
deal. Give the victim to the flames ; and then,
like a company of native Sagamores, sit round
j and inhale the agreeable fragrance as the
smoke of the guilty lines shall darkly ascend
Ito heaven. When'the act is performed you
' will have sot a memorable precedent. And
I go you think there will be no improvement on
this patent mode of conciliating the Execu
tive ? May it not be profitably applied to some
other purposes ? tV hy not expunge those uho
made the record? If the proceeding had a
1 mult so monstrous as to rentier necessary this
isovel and extraordinary course, the men them
who perpetrated the deed—it is they
mßfcfroukl be cxpungi-d. JZen who entered
page upon your journals cannot be
R&v of a seat here. Remove us. Tun: j
Expel us from the Senate. Would |
to God vou could. Call io the Praitorian guard. '
1 Take us—apprehend ns—march us off.
; But. the honorable Senator who has just re
-1 sumed his seat takes the ground that this ex
i purging resolution is marely a strong mode ot
j expressing an opinion. 1 put it to the candor
i of that, honorable gentleman whether this is a
I mere expression of opinion ? 'I he resolution
! which is to he expunged asserted, on behalf of
I the Senate, a difference of opinion from the
i president of the United States. It expressed
■ that diff'retice fairly and openly. The whole
extent of its offence is the expression of a. dif
ference of opinion from the President on a
constitutional question. It never once enter
ed the minds of the authors ol' that resolution
to slain your record l,y an official act of ha
. tre.d. 1 admit, indeed, that the bosoms of
some of them may not. have been wholly free
from some feelings of that description, and
that some of the speeches on this floor mani
fested at times a strong sentiment of hostility
ATHENS, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY' 18, 1837.
inwards the President. But did it ever enter
heir thoughts to make the journal of this bo
dy a record of personal spite? They expres
sed a difference of sentiment, and this surely
may be done in the very kindest spirit. But.
sir,'is that the temper of the present proceed
ing? Is it to express a difference of opinion
that we are now invited? Is it to express an
opinion at all? What is it the expression of?
Vengeance. That is what is to be expressed,
The compass of the English language is not
able to bring forth a tone sufficient for the pur
nose. Vengeance ! vengeance I must be ta
ken on the records. 1 hey are to be put in
mourning. They are to be hung with black.
In this there may be a double purpose. The
Senate may intend that their journals shall
bear imperishable evidence of their deep
mourning that, the feelings of the President
should have been wounded. The record is to
be carried into his presence, that we may show
the Chief Magistrate that we have put our
selves permanently into mourning for the of
fence we have committed, and to express our
humble hope that this may go some little way
toward healing the wounds which have been
inflicted on his sensibility. Possibly the Pre
sident may deign to listen to us; nay, he may
give a gracious smile of approbation, a giance
of complacency, on those who h'itnbiv present
to him this most grateful oblation. Ves, sir;
the proceeding is intended to inscribe upon
records more than langu ige can impart, more
than we are willing or able to put into words;
a deed, an overt act, will, it is humbly hoped,
prove more grateful than any words could have
been rendered to the august, the “miraculous”
being who is to be propitiated. Attend, sir, to
the palinode which has just been sting to the
honor and glory of the President ot the Uni
ted States.' The attenuated period both of po
liiical and physical existence of the President,
makes me very reluctant indeed to offer any
remarks on the very extraordinary language in
which he has been praised; nor should I ad
vert to the gentleman’s speech at all but to no
nce the ground on which this measure is advo
cated. “ Expunge, expunge,” cries the gen.
tieman ; expunge a resolution which is an
attack on the good, the glorious, the popular,
the powerful, the ‘miraculous’ President of .
the United States.” This, sir, was the tone,
and this the argament in three.fourths, nay,
in four-filths of the venerable gentleman’s dis
course. He puts this resoluti.»u on the ground
of his eulogy of the President, That is the
sole argument. Because President Jackson
is praiseworthy and glorious, expunge, expunge
Why, sir, what is the connexion ? The Sena
tor has certainly not given us a very logical
conclusion. General Jackson is to be praised :
that forms the premixes of his argument. This
record is to be expunged ; that is the conclu
sion. We are to obliterate our records, and
bring them, in the habiliments of mourning, to
his feet, because President Jackson is gracious, I
glorious, popular, powerful, miraculous. And I
all these properties, and all this glory is to be j
transferred bodily to another gentleman who is
just like himself. Alter el idem. VA e are to
abolish our journal, because General Jackson
is thus and thus. Diat is the argument. I
say nothing now of the truth ot the premises,
because this is not a convenient opportunity
for the investigation of that subject. Those
who are in ecstacies, who are in the exulta
tions of admiration, who are shouting, clap
ping hands, and singing hallelujahs, are not
exactly in a condition of mind to listen or be
argued with. They may be within the ex
treme pale of reason, but. they are, to say the
least, on the cmfincs of enthusiasm. But, ad
mitting that the President is that exalted, that
immaculate, that unequalled, that miraculous
person which he is represented ; allowing that
lie leaves out of sight all that history has left
us of ancient Rome, and all we have read of
modern worth and virtue; and admitting that
all this is transferable and has been transferred,
for the glory an I blessedness of onr country,
to one worthy to be his successor, let me ask, j
how does this bring us to the conclusion that
the record of our proceedings is to be expun
ge(l ?
Let the gentleman introduce a resolution
embodying the substance ot bis speech, to wit,
that General Jackson is the greatest and best
man that now lives, has lived, or will ever live
again ; that he is worthy of alt honor and gio
rv ; that the Coiistiultion is to be sacrificed,
and the records of one branch of tile Govern
ment defaced and mutilated for his gratifica
tion. Let him lay that resolution before the
People, to whose verdict he has appealed, and
see how it will be received.
The honorable gentleman, however, stated
one fact in reference to the President, which
is more ucvcl, at least, than many of the re
marks with which he favored the Senate. It
is, if I mistake not, something entirely novel
on this floor. He told us that the President
was miraculous. Bat the miracle, it seems,
liesin the fact that he was born a foreigner,
and is President of the United States. Sir.
General Jackson, I admit, has overcome great
difficulties. He has fought the battle of life ;
he has fought it every where for success, and
with saccwss. But I never knew until 1 was
now officially informed, that he was born in
Ireland. [A laugh.] To prevent his future
historians from falling into a difficulty like that
which happened in the case ot a more obscure
individual in Greece, for whose birth-place se
ven cities are said to have contended, the gen
tleman from Naw Hampshire has kindly fixed
the spot; and when that cloud cf future histo
rians of whom we have been told, and who are
themselves to become immortal by writing
General Jackson’s lite, shall be searching for
pam gyric to adorn their rival pages on that
deathless theme, they will at least be relieved
from the pains of uncertain conjecture us to
the nativity of the hero of their story.
It is said, from high authority, that men
make to themselves idols and worship them,
and I shall not now pause to censure this pro
pensity of our nature; ana 1 know when the
idol is fashioned it is difficult to restrict its
worshippers as to the mode of worship, or the
extent of the sacrifice. To the idols in the
East men sacrifice themselves, and sometimes
their wives and children. But these gentle
men are far wiser. They do not sacrifice
themselves—nothing is farther from their
thoughts. Such a thing docs not enter into
their purposes. But still the sacrifice mustbe
conspicuous, impressive—such as will produce
effect. They look round for a victim. But
will they, like the Eastern devotees, cast them,
selves beneath the onward crushing car of Ex
ecutive Power ? Oh, no. sir. Nothing like it.
They stand cautiously out, of the way cf its
career, and cast down the Constitution of their
country. That is the victim—crush it. There
is the official record of the Senate—crush it.
There is the very body itself, the collected Se
nate of the United States—crush it. And do
you crush it, gentlemen ? Do you expunge
the Senate for daring to speak a word in i.s last
expiring hours, to indicate that it is still a co
ordinate branch of the Government, and in fa
vor of the dying liberty of the land ? I ask,
again, whom it is that you thus offer to stigma
tize ? On whom is this resolution to oct?
Against what body is your blow directed ?
What body will you brand with infamy as the
aristocratic branch of the Government ? If is
the Senate of the United States ; your own
Senate. That is the victim dragged out for
immolation to the powers tilat be.
But this expunging process is defended by
i the gentleman from Virginia, on the ground
that it is a great engine to maintain the cause
of human liberty.’ And how does he attempt
to maintain his position ? Why. truly, because
it was resorted to in England in support of the
right of popular election. Ay? And will
gentlemen seek to wrest out of the hands of
the British Whigs a weapon so powerfully
wielded by them, but in a cause so different?
Eor whom did they employ it ? and against
whom? Was it not used to protect their po
pular rights ? to guard the rights of popular
bodies? the rights of the People and the rights
of Parliament against the arbitrary power of
the Kirg and of the royal party iti the House
of Commons? Was it wielded for the Whigs
against the Tories ? or for the Tories against
the Whigs? Let the gentleman answer. Yes)
when the beams of Liberty Struggle out to
day and gild the British history once in two
hundred years, you find this process of expun
ging resorted to by our sturdy ancestors in
their struggle with the Crown, and as an ex
treme measure, to resist the encroachments of
lawless power; not, as here, to wipe out and
obliterate forever the last effort for freedom.
If the resolution of Parliament in the great
Westminster election had been in favor of
Wilkes and against Mr. Luttrel, would it have
been expunged ? No, sir. It was because it
was entered at the instance of Luttrel against
John Wilkes, the Patroclus over whose body ;
this fight for freedom was maintained; that
was the reason of its expunctien from the jour
nals. And it forms one of the most ominous
signs of the times we live iu, that here, the
most powerful engines wielded in the land of
our ancestors in favor of popular rights are all
seized upon and employed for the increase
and advancement of Executive power. All
that belongs to the People is invoked only to
betray them. The People, the People, the
voice of the People, gentlemen claim as their
own. They cite every popular argument, and
all for what? To hold up the cause of the
many against the few ; of the millions against
the grasping power of the one ? No. sir; no,
no. All these mighty motive powers are call
ed up to exalt the Executive, and to put down
the Legislative power; to increase the power
ot the one against the rights of the many.—
They are brought forward to silence, tor all
future time, the voice of the Senate, whenev
er it shall be raised against the encroachments
of power. Yes, sir, they seek to hang up in
terrorem over your head, and in full view of
every Senator, a scourge, to be applied with
out mercy to any who shall dare to use aught
but the language of eulogy.
“ Horribili seilere flagello,”
that is the fate which awaits him. It is to be
setup byway of memento, to muzzle this bo
dy for ail future time. No, sir; our voice
must never be heard save in strains of adula
tion, and in chanting palinodes like that which
has recently been furnished as a patern to tins
bodv.
A gentleman, whose talent and intelligence
I highly honor, has asked us to strip this mat
ter of all the humbuggery which has been
thrown around it. Well sir, let us do so.
And what is it, when thus denuded, but a bit
in the mouth of this Senate, to bring it dnwt
when it becomes too restive for the taste or
safety of those in power; so that the Chief
Magistrate may, undisturbed by its curvetings.
proceed to seize upon the national treasure,
and repeal the decisions of the Supreme Court,
and if any adventurous mouth shall dare to
whisper he is acting against the Constitution,
such rashness may instantiy be checked by the
warning “hush! take care! remember the ex
punging resolution!—do you wish to bring us
again under the discipline of the black lines?'’
I suppose the sac simile of that blotted and
defaced page of our records Will be fixed up
in some conspicuous position above the seat
ofour presiding officer, so that, when we would
dare to think, to feel, and to speak, as freemen
and American legislators, We may look up, and.
beholding tho awful monitor, may put our
hands on our mouths, and our mouths, in the
dust, and repent, while it is yet time, all such
presumptuous aspirations.
In other days, it has often happened that
successive Senates have differed ?om each
other in opinions and policy, and have in like
manner differed from the Executive, and each
Senate has freely expressed its own sentiment.
In regard to the United States Bank, for ex
ample, the opinions of this body have varied
at different periods. Tho Senate, at one, time
thought that bank constitutional; at another
time, they thought it unconstitutional; a ma
jority now consider it as a monster. Why not,
then, expunge? Why not |raw your black
lines round that part of your journal which re
cords the act by which that bank was charter
ed? The resolution against which your mag
nanimous wrath is now directed has done no
harm. It has led to no action. 11 has brought
no long train of evils on the country. But the
charter of the Bank of the United States—
what did not that effect? That was no empty
declaration of opinion. It was a substantial
act. And to what a long black catalogue of
national calamities did it not in your opinion
lead? I f any thing is to be expunged, why
not expunge that? It seems not to have en
tered the imagination of gentlemen on the oth
er side to draw their lines round that resolu
tion. Yet the honorable Senator from Virgin
ia believes most sincerely that the act was un
constitutional. He holds that it led to conse
quences greatly detrimental to the national (
good, and tells us that the President deserves
the everlasting gratitude ot the country tor hav
ing abolished and destroyed the bank. M ell,
sir, if it is not fit in that case, how and why
is it fit in this? Because tins violates the rights
of the People? So did that. Is this miconsti
tutional? So was the other. Is this deroga
tory to the feelings and wishes of the 1 resident.
So was that. Is the Senate bound m duty to
express its disapprobation of this act? Mhy
not of the other? But is tt real yso great an
offence to differ from the President on a con
stiiutionnl question, insomuch that all traces >ot
such a thing must he obliterated from our re
cords? that it must be c^ ace ‘ l "* e^’ U "f‘(p
purged off? Why, s>r, the President differs
from us constantly on constitutional points;
, uld both he and this Senate d.ffer wtduly from
President Washington on a constitutional point,
vi- on tiie constitutionality ot the bank oi the
United States. Why is not the opinion of
Washington to be expunged? Why not go
back, and hold him up as a sacrifice? It has,
indeed, in some sort, been already done. You
have not broken into the sepulchre of Mount
Vernon, and dug up his bones, and burnt them,
like Wickliffe’s, but you have i nmoiated his
name; his virtues, his glory, have been taken
from him, and transferred to another. Why
not make your sacrifice complete? If the
principle on which you act is jealousy for the
honor and power of the Executive, why not,
when former presidents have sent us messages
containing unconstitutional notions, expu ige
their messages from your archives? The
President sent us a message in the panic ses
sion of 1834. How would gentlemen have
taken it. had those who constituted the major
ity at that day proposed to expunge it from the
records?
Both Houses of Congress have differed from
other Presidents. Does any gentb man here
dream of a leading mennber in either House
under the Jefferson administration proposing
to expunge any Presidential opinion which did
not correspond with his own? Or would any
supporter of the wise, the sedate, the grave, the
temperate, the forbearing Madison, ever con
ceive the notion that he was to be propitiated
by effaeiitg the public records? Did he ever
require his friends to depart from their public
duties, neglect the exigencies, and address
themselves to this most extraordinary method
of silencing the indignation of a President?
There was a great struggle i i ’9B, and after a
long course of most bi.ter and acrimonious par
ty warfare, the republican party eventually tri
umphed, and came into power, but in the very
heat of conquest; and still covered, as it was,
with the sweat and the dust of battle, did it
once enter into their heads to expunge from
the public journals the acts of their predeces
sors? Or could it now occur to the minds of
intelligent and honorable men that they are
called upon to vindicate the ashes of the illus
trious dead by removing from the national ar
chives all traces of difference of opinion on the
part of either House of Congress, from the de
parted saviours of our country? Dare the
honorable Senator from, Pennsylvania rise in
his place, and with a reverend regard to yon
der image of Washington, introduce a resolu
tion to cxpiing'- whatever on our journal inti
mates a difference of opinion from that great
man? Will he venture to lo®k into that ven
erable and venerated countenance,* and make
such a motion in this chamber? No, sir. His
own heart tells him that the image would
frown upon him from its frame, and. could it
speak, would cry, Forbear. Destroy not your
Constitution. Dishonor not your own archives.
Draw noblack lines upon your journal on my
account. Write no history for me. My his
tory is written in a nation’s eyes. I desire you
to play off no mountebank farce fi>r my glory;
it is safe in the keeping of my countrymen.
Yes, sir: such would be the language of Wash
ington; and I well know that the honorable
Senator from Pennsylvania has its response
in his heart. And, sir, if weave not called to
io this for the illustrious great and good, who
have departed, shall we do it for the living be
cause he is powerful? Because he is the dis
penser of office, who is to propagate his own ;
system of policy through another generation, !
and to transfuse his own vital jpirit into a liv
iig branch of the same stem? If this sacrifice
was to be offered to the illustrious dead, whom
history has already fixed in niches of imper
ishable honor, we might endure it with great.
>r patience. But to a living man, and a man
who can reward the deed, sir, I cannot look
ihe thing steadily in the face. I protest to
you that my inmost heart is bowed down at the
thought with sorrow and shame.
But the deed is to be done. States have
spoken. Whether the People of the United
States have spoken might bear a question.
Certainly many States have uttered their voice,
whose right to speak I should be the last to
question. That they have acted under mista
ken views, I have not a doubt. The act is
fraught with most dangerous consequences.
It inflicts deep wounds on the dignity and the
potency of tnis body; for I see iu the counten
ances of many honorable gentlemen that they
would gladly avoid this thinsr, and would, it’
ihey could, avoid the deed. Ido believe that,
in the very moment of inflicting the blow, their
hearts will be haunted by the same emotions
which fill and oppress my own. And while
under the pressure of dire necessity, they
raise the axe, they feel prepared, like other
executioners, first to ask pardon of the victim.
Ay, sir, 1 believe that when it comes to the ac
tual performance of the tragedy, there will be
a secret whisper in their ear that will say to
them, Perhaps in this case our parly feelings
have pressed us a little too far. And when,
after a solemn and mournful pause, the Secre
tary has performed his detested office, and has
mangled the iecord of the Senate, will any
here rise in his place and cry aloud—thus
perish all traitors? Or will they not rath t
hang their heads, and, smiting on their breast,
heave mournful sighs over so h i rd a necessity?
I shall wiaiess it, and whatever! may feel. I
shall feel nothing personally. So far as lam
personally concerned, I can fold my arms in
perfect coolness, and witness the deed without
shrinking. All I feel now is for the Senate-^—
is tor the Constitution—is for the country. I
may cry, wo, wo to England, but not to me. (
In a moment I shall recover my self-posses- ■
si on, shall rise, shall rejoice, that it was my i
good fortune to have my name entered on the j
same page where the rights of this bjdy were ‘
recorded, and that there, in company with the !
Senate’s honor, it sh di safely abide forever,
in spite of your black lines.
* Mr. Buchanan sat opposite the picture of
Washington.
Speech ot’ Mr. Pickens,
(Os South Carolina,)
On the resolution proposing an inquiry into the
condition of the Executive Departments.—
Delivered in the House of Representatives,
Tuesday. January 3, 1837.
Mr. PICKENS observed that it had not
been originally his intention when this resolu
tion was first brought before the House, by his
friend from Virginia, (Mr. Wise,) to have ta
ken any part in the debate ; but from wh it he
had heard in the Course of this important dis
mission—the strange, and he must say mon
strous doctrines which he had heard advanced
by the supporters of the Admi nstration, he
hud been led to change his original intention,
and would now, therefore, offar a few observa
tions on this subject.
In opposition to the resolution which calls
for a select committee with power to make a
thorough investigation into the conduct of the
Departments, we have b ‘en told that there are
already .landing committees in existence con
stituted by this House, will full powers to make
all the investigations which are proposed hy
this resolution. Let any gentleman (said Mr.
Vol. IV—Ao. AS.
P.) read the rules and the duties assigned W
those committees, and I pul it to this House if
such an asservation is any thing else but a that*
low and flimsy pretext brought forward with
the design of disguising and covering an Bn
worthy vote against the appointment ®f th®
select committee called for by the original re*
solution.
The duties of the standing committees of
the House are to investigate accsunts, to in
quire into the various expenditures of the diff
ferent departments, of the disbursements made,
and the vouchers of our public officers, dec.
They were never intended to embrace such ob
jects ns are contemplated in the resolution of
the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Wise.)
These standing committees never supposed it
to be withi i their range of duties to investigate
the transaetions of your officers withthe land
specnlatio is of the country, ar that stupendous
tissue of fraud, peculation, and villany, con
nected with your I idian agencies, Indian re
servations, their locations and transfers, which,
if ever fully revealed, will develop a system of
legalized crime and plunder utterly disgrace
ful to any civilized Government. Besides, all
those transactions connected with thedeposhe
banka an I their agents, so full of suspicion,
come peculiarly u iderihe cog lizanceof a ae.
lect committee, with the power to send for per
sona and papers, which power is not given to
the standi g committees of the House.
But, sir, cudo igst the various efforts and pre«
texts ingeniously raised to smother the inqui.
ry now called for, there was one argument, if
it can be called such, that fell from the gentle
man from New York, (Mr. Mann,) which ex
cited in me the profoundest astonishment and
surprise. That gentleman intimated that the
demand for a select committee to inquire into
the Departments, to send for persons and pa.
pers. and to probe into the dark deeds of un
faithful public agents, is unconstitutional I He
(Mr. Mino) s iys that this proceeding is t» bo
viewed in the light of a general search war
rant I and therefore argues that it is contrary
to the Constitution I!
Mr. P. then read the clause in the amend,
ments to the Constitution on that point, as fol
lows : “ The right of the People to be secure
in their persons, houses, papers, and effects,
against unreasonable searches and seizutes,
shall not be violated ; and no warrant shall
issue, but upon probable cause, supported by
oath or affirmalio i, and particularly describing
the place to be searched, and the person or
thing to be seized.” Now, sir, (said Mr. P )
since the time when Algernon Sidnev’ had his
private papers in his private apartments search
ed because they were supposed to contain trea
son against a suspicious and arbitrary Govern
ment, such an idea as is now attempted to be
extorted from this clause in the Constitution,
he would venture to say, had never entered in
to the mind of any. So, then, according to
this perverted and strange interpretation, that
great principle, incorporated into the system of
E iglish liberiy, and transferred to our Consti
tution, which was intended to raise a shield
over the rights of private citizens against the
lawless search of an usurping and despotic
Government, is now to be understood aainten
ded and d< signed t<- protect and screen a bad
Government and its evil agents in deeds of
fraud, corruption, and malversation. Yes, sir,
this clause in your Constitution, according to
learned commentators of these profligate times,
is not intended to protect the People against
encroachments of a harmssing Government,
but to cover Government from the scrutinizing
inquiries of a free People ! It is a clause in
tended to shield the officers of a corrupt dy
nasty in their abandoned career of fraud and
peculation, hut not designed to protect privata
citizens against capricious and unwarrantable
search into their private dwellings and privata
papers ! Surely such a:i idea as this could ne
ver enter the mind of any man, except one
who had bowed the knee of syc iphancy so
long before the throne of power, that his heart
was prepared to worship at the shrine of any
image which his master might hold up as tha
popul :r idol of the day.
Sir. it is the first time in my life that I ever
heard that the papers, records, and documents
of ] üblic offices, and of the officers, were to
be viewed as private property, belonging to
private individuals, and, as such, to be exemp
ted from inquiry and investigation, Such a
doctrine I confess is new to me; it is <t doc
trine directly at war with liberty; it is a doc
trine calculated to lead to the most monstrous
and fatal results. And if this is to be the doc
[ trine practised upon by the coining Adminis-
I tration, it is full time tint a deceived country
should know it. No, sir, all the papers and
! documents, all the offices of this Government,
are not private; they belong not to private
' gentlemen, they are not sheltered by the Con
stitution from investigation, they are the pro
pertv of the Confederacy, and the right over
them, the right of search, the nghtof thorough
investigation, belongs to this House; belongs
to us, the representatives of a free People.—•
We stand here as the guardians of popular
rights; hs a co-ordinate and independent
branch of this Government; and we are base
traitors to our country if we diminish or wea
ken our rights, if we abandon the proud pre
rogatives guarantied to ua under the Constitu
tion we nave sworn to defend.
Again, sir; the amendment to this resohi
i tion, which has been proposed by the gentle,
mini from Rhode island, (Mr. Pearce,) has not
excited less surprise and astonishment in my
mind, than the doctrine I have just adverted to.
M' - Pickens said he could view that amend
ment as nothing more than a pretext to shield
the perpetrators of fraud agai 'st all iaqai.-y
and discovery by the People. If, said Mr. P.
I was not mistaken in what that gentleman
maintained, I understood him to say that tho
officeis of the Government are agents of the
Executive; that they are responsible alone to
the Executive; and that he, the Executive, is:
responsible to the American People, and may
be impeached before the Senate by the vote of
this House. Such, in substance, was the ar.
gument of the gentleman. According to this
doctrine, the People, by their representatives,
have no control whatever over the officers of
the Government; they are independent of the
People; distinct from the eopl« ; and rumo.
ved out of our reach, and out of our power.
But I would have that gentleman to know that
we, as well as the officers of the Government,
constitute a part of iha Government; we, the
representatives of the people, create bv sta.
tines these offices, and d fine the duties ofthe
officers; we fix and pay their salaries; they
are officers of this House as well as of the
Executive himself, created by our authority,
and amenable to us for all their conduct. 1
know that, for the last six or eigh. years, the
contrary doctrine has been inculcated and en
forcid; this Hons > has only been considered
as a part of the Executive, whose only duty
was to record the edicts of royalty, or give
san-, tion to its wuhas. There can be no mor»