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BY JAMES W. JOAES. The Southern Whig, PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY MORNING. TERMS. Three dollars per annum, payable within six months after the receipt of the fit st number, or fur dollars if not paid within the year. .Sub scribers living out-of the State, will be expect ed in all cases, to pay in advance. No subscription received for less than one year, unless the money is paid in advance; and no paper will be discontinued until all arrear ages are paid, except at the option of the pub lisher. Persons requesting a discontinuance, •f their Papers, are requested to bear in mind, a setteuicnt of their accounts. Advertisements will be inserted at the usual rates; when the number of insertions is not specified, they will be continued until ordered out. 3: All Letters to the Editor or Proprietor, on matters connected with the establishment, must be post paid in. orderto secure attention Q$- Notice of the sale of Land and Negroes, by Administrators, Executors, or Guardians, must be published sixty days previous t» the day of sale. ! ’Th« sale of personal Property, in like manner, must be published forty days previous to the day of sale. Notice to debtors and creditors of an estate must ■ be published forty days. Notice that Application will be made to the Court of Ordinary for Leave to sell Land or Ne groes, must be published four months. Notice that Application will be made for Letters of administration, must be published thirty days and Letters of Dismission, six months. For Advertising—Letters of Citation. $ 2 <5 Notice to Debtors and Creditors, (40 days) 325 Four Months Notices, 4 00 Sales of Personal Property by Executors, Administrators, or Guardians, 3 25 Sales ofLand or Negroes by do. 4 75 Application for Letters of Dismission, 4 50 Other Advertisements will be charged 75 cents for every thirteen lines of small type, (or space equivalent,) first insertion,and 50 cents for each weekly continuance. If published every other week, 62 1-2 cents for each continuance. If published once a month, it will be charged each time as a now advertisement. For a single insertion, $1 00 per square. 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 of ail public officers; moderate, yet firm and decided in his censures, “nothing etfffinuate or setdown ought in malice,” —to expose prompt ly abuses and corruption wheu and whereevr discovered—such an one the undersigned pro poses to make the Whig; while it will contain the most authentic and important information connected with our foreign and domestic rela pons, the latest commercial intelligence, ori tiinal articles, and selections from the mos gopulur works of the day in the various departi merits of Agriculture. Li e attire at d the Arts. To Georgians the undersigned is.conscious Le appeals not in vain for an increase ol patron age—and he respectfully asks the friends ot constitutional liberty to make an effort, to ob tain subscribers. The Southern Whig is published weekly in Athens Georgia, at Three Dollars per annum pavable in advance, Three Dollars and fifty cents if not paid within six months, or Four if not paid until the end of the year. 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 of Literature in the State, and especially the 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»