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4Kkm. 0^8 i<fat 11 & v a p j) +
MON OF THE PRINTER'S DEVII..
- :»<■ :M ' Devil had taken his stanil,
i unntrnanre thooghtful nnd solemn,
mntltr distributing. flexv from his baud ;
[•her, from his uasnl column.
But time xxould fail tnc, gentlemen, should 111 answer—“Much every way.” It would setlh
attempt to poiut out ail the defects <>f our s\ 'tern the disputed constructions of our statutes. W hat.
Permit mo briefly to answer a few of the onjec-
tion* to the proposed amendment, mid to state a
few of ts advantages.
i The most popular objections are delay and
m’d eclips’d in the lamp's pale light, j espouse. They are both founded in error. In
• And wildly look’d out from their cells;
vhd a sepulchral voice from the vaults of night
I'In.*, burst from his box of i’s!
‘Ah! strangely giv’u tip i« the world to abuse.
In this reign of corruption nmt evil;
We first began /ifo in a virtuous use;
But, wc end it, at last, wifn the devif.
In the b/ue liquid hike we are here doom’d to lie,
Into which wo with Lucifer fell,
And bv chance into h/iss, if one happen to fly.
There arc two of us thrust into he//.
From heaven," said then’s, "let no blessings
descend
On that dnv: nor light from the sun:
When the long cherished Union wo brought to au
cud,
And nullification beguu.
"All Actions once proudly Acknowledg'd us first;
But the day of our greatness is past;
We are now stink to nothing forever accurst.
And in even da notation the last.
"Al is!" said the A "that I turn’d into w/tijg*
So,sndd*n and strangely times alter;
Rut sooner than catch me again in a w-ig,
You’ll see me caught first in a Anller.’’
The o’s seem’d to labour with an opposition;
But no sooner was it brought to the light.
Than it evaporated like an nnpnrition
And vanish'd away out of sight!
Tl. streaming /dond. faintly spoke from his />ox,
When !o! in* a Arcnth he was gone;
And the Devil quak’d and rent his locks
At tbestrangephencmaenor^^^^^^^^^
Extract from the chance of John G. Polhi/l-
Judge of the Ocmulgee circuit, to the Grand Ju
ry, at the laic stamen of the Baldicin Superior
Court.
"The Court disapproves of the practice, (as
a general tulc) of Grand Juries wandering be
yond the limits of their oflHnl duty, in senrrlt of
subjects of presentment. When we enter these
sacred walls, we should, gentlemen, to the most
of our moral powers, divest ourselves of all those
prepossessions and prejudices, those predilec’ions
for creeds and opinions, which may tend lo ex-
ciie the passions, warp the feelings, and becloud
the judgment. Justice, clothed in her unsullied
. ermine', nud holding her golden scales with un
varying equipoise, is represented as blind. And
though she should not he deaf, yet her ears, ns
well as i*er eyes, should be closed to every thing
tint may tend to disturb that mirufiied equanim
ity. whieh alone can enable her to dispense equal
blessings to all her petitioners. It is to bring our
minds Into a similar condition, that the solemn
obligations of an oath are imposed upon you,
gentlemen, and upon the Court. Still there are
nt-mr subjects, unconnected with the political
struggle*! and agitating topirs of the day—sub
jects of general interest to the community in its
diversified social relations, which may, without
impropriety, and often v»ry beneficially, claim
vour intention and your action. And though the
expression of youi opinions may not carry with
i' any legal or binding obligation, it may still be
of salutary consequence, iu directing the minds
of vonr legislators to the enactment of laws im
portant to the great interests of the State.
As one of this character, and ono too most in
timately connected with the objects for which
no nee assembled, permit me to direct vonr at-
t-ntion to a subject of paramount importance to
•be people-of Georgia—I mean, the reform of
n»nr judicial system. By your judicial system.
T ’ • t.n mean, gentlemen, your judiciary act of
v excellent and so wise in all its features.
■ :h ■ great desideratum in our otherwise
- -ritntion—a Court for the correction
1 r «' tv thing else, the constitution.
i’ii’ions of Georgia, arc highly de-
• in the organization of her highest
. her Superior Courts, there is
• nt in narchy. True, it is elective,’ but
r-oiiiirrhy. F.very thing depends upon
•"t i*. a ml discretion of one man. Wheth-
>f enlightened or ignorant—whether he
o’. ht, or corrupt—-just, or unjust—whether
. r ":n. attentive and reflecting—ot* impa-
sb. nr ’ precipitate—your liberties, your
- lion. •• our lives, your property- in a word.
\ ■ ■ K tire at his tnerev, without .the
p •.'‘in appeal from tho most flagrant
v Tori'". ■! iatvs—or of redress from th most
•S Imc "• ) acts of oppression and injustice.—
AJu po'iticmen. the construction of that sacred
In-trl*.trial wh>ch is the immediate guarantee of
.11 m i:r 1*.• -Tie?—your constitution—and by con-
.’Tir. a. id vonr <*on*'itutional rights, are iu
th•• bands of n single man. He is to determine,
iat too. iu the last resort, not only the ten-
m- ’ i iv.'iich you hold your estates—ho alone
r*.:> t ot o”!y break up the great "fountains of
•Tv .1 deep,” on which arc based your rights of
to , life nml reputation—hut he alone is to
» mo. in the last resort, the rights of the e-
' t - mrliise—the obligations you owe to the
g-'v- ->meiit—the protection which the govem-
<r nt ws io vou, as Georgians and as Americans.
*• i- true gentlemen, that these vast powers
;i ' t ” •’•lewhore. They must rest too upon
• w • i i imperfections of human integrity
c. intellect. But are they not top tre-
• in the hands of one inhu ? "Tit the midst
.-• . t ni'ors there is snfptv”—and would it not
» i —would it not he more satisfactory—
• •• •• not be mere favnrahle to. the attain-
o’ truth—that there should be a concurrence
.i 1 fhree .if more enlightened and upright minds,
t establish and settle these high and important
is of the people? And is not this argument
rc imperative, from the consideration, that, in
*i rost every instance, the decisions of your Jttd
are delivered in tho hurry of a week’s session,
tn jhe most important cases, involving the most
>oitj * nd momentous questions, often without
tb .• t ■-■.ib'lity of access to books, and generally
witihis: time for reflection end research ?
But these are not ike only evils to which we
ar*. -objected, for ihe want of n correcting trilm-
-. i . _ iVe hive tcu judicial circuits: and there
v to two of xhetn, in which tho laws are tint
•ore or fewer ca‘es, differently construed, and
■ r u^ly adiniuistered- Tho lawyer of one cir-
; not tell you Ivhr.t is the law in another 1
* .«■ lie.may. after patient and learned re-
• vnu his opinion of what the law is,
" .re. however good may lead to expense
r.*u> note, that i* recovered in this
r rot be suffered to go tc the jury in
d. which may secure to your wife
•i competency and a comfortable firc-
■ . itir, may be treat.-1 :is a mere
another. Inn word, gentlemen.
. v nut of conformity among tho vn-
■•! your Judges. The opinions of
- >• not binding upon another: nor
'*lion" of u predecessor binding up-
t -so • 1.. t nfirreveiy new election
.- :.,.i!i ... i* changed, counsel fn 1
• • u .y fed bound for the pro-
i fi. ir.t’Iient, to argue every liti-
::on anew
reg *rd to delay our present system is full of it.
Witness the various qticsiions reserved at almost
every term, for consideration and decision at
some future period. \\ ituess the questions, set
tled by preceding Judges, constantly renewed and
argued at length, before their successors. This
must occur, or the Judge subject himself to cen
sure, or fall perhaps into error, for the want of
proper investigation and reflection on important
principles. And when afterwards, lie may dis
cover bis error, the corrective can only be applied
to new cases that may arise unou the same ques
tion. And though lie may regret it more deeply
limn any other, but the unfortunate sufferer under
bis error, lie may behold that sufferer reduced to
poverty, incarcerated in your penitentiary, or
robbed of bis reputation, without the power of re
dressing the wrong, which one mistaken principle
may havo brought upon him. Tins delay often
occuis too. at the request of parties themselves,
through their counsel—when counsel express a
confident belief that they can remove the present
imnrcssions of the bench. Io such cases, the
courts feci that it is better to graut the indulgence
than to commit an error that cau never be reme
died. Ours is in fact, gentlemen, a system of de
lays—and delays too. which rarely result in much
good: tor the attorney, in his various and impor
tant investigations of curtent business, forgets tho
past—furnishes no brief to the Judge, and the
Judge, not charged with the particular investiga
tion. forgets the points of litigation—and the case
is called up again, finding both the bar and the
court as little prepared to meet the question as
when it first catuc up.
I am happy to perceive, however, from the
various questions so willingly referred hy parties
litigant to the contention of Judges, proves that
the tuittds of the people are prepared for ail the
delay that may he incident to a Court of Errors.
And here, gentlemen, permit ine to ask you. if it
would not he better for the people of Georgia, to
have a Couit regularly organized for this purpose,
than to submit to the mockery of an appellate
tribunal, such as the convention of Judges? And
though tmsolf a member of that body, and asso
ciated with minds of the first order of legal ac
quirement in the State, let me require, if you
have observed the loose manuer iu which their
decisions are declared? Without any solemnity
of argument, or patieuco of research, the most
momentous questions are settled, ai.d the most
important rights adjudicated. Would it not be
better, to have a court constitutionally organized,
whose duty it should be to settle the vase, after
learn-'d argument and patient investigation ?—
V hose office should carry with it responsibility,
and whose decisions, authority ?
On the subject of expense, a most egregious er
ror generally prevails. It is supposed by a very
large portion of the community, that in a Court
for the correction of errors, there arc jurors, wit
nesses, and all the apparatus of a Superior Court.
These appendages cannot he separatcil ill our
minds from the idea of a court, because they have
become so common iu Georgia to the observation
of the people. But these things have nothing
to do with such a Court. The error is a most
unfortunate one. Cases are carried up to a Court
for the cor rection of errors, only by writ of Error,
or exceptions. These carry up the question of
law oulv, like our Ccrtiornrios—the facts and the
disputed points ate all agreed upon, nud argued
by counsel in the court above, as you see motions
argued in this court, before the jury hour arrives
in the morning. It being a court merely for the
settlement of law questions, there ueed be none,
or very triflingcosts such as any party would be
williug to pay to have his rights ascertained—
much less than our people now pay for their In
estimable right of appeal.
Another objection is, that such a. court is new
und untried. But it has been tried iu almost ev
ery State of the Uuion, but our own—and the
people of those States would be as unwilling to
-I.,.. .... .1.Cnnooma rfnltPfc O C Wfllll/] tllA 11(10*
are our own statutes tho subjects of construction?
Yes, gentlemen, the verv simplest of them. Iu
England, the constructions of one single statute
have given rise to one entire volttniu, and with
out condensation, would fill several mote—I re
fer to the statute of frauds, thought to be so carc-
fullv and so exactly penned, ns to avoid ihe
possib'lityof misconstruction or evasion. I might
refer yon to others, and to some of our own,
particularly those regulating the estates of orph
ans, legatees and distributees, which!are the sub
jects of the mo9t discordant constructions. But
to proceed.—the other courts would he bound
by tbe derisions of the Court of Errors. It would
fix tho standard of the common law. as innova
ted on hy our change of social and political reja-
tions. and make more uniform the whole admin-,
istrntion of justice. It would destroy delay hy
settling important questions—diminish lawsuits
by determining rights of property and other rights
under similar circumstances. AVhat would he
law and practice in Habersham and Rabun,
would he law and practice in Baldwin, Chatham
and Thomas. It would impart the knowledge
of theiir rights to tho people—improvo the lear
ning of the Bar—elevate tho character of the
Bench—anil reflect hack its light upon our intel
ligent legislators It would place Geoigia in a
more dignified and enviable position among Iter
sister States. In a word, gentlemen, it would
boa "consummation most devoutly to be wished."
CONGRESS.
give up their Supreme Courts, as would the peo
pie of Georgia to abolish their right of appeals—
one of the brightest features of our Judiciary sys
tem. In this matter wc seem to lie actuated by
that well known principle of human actiou, sug
gested in our Declaration of Independence: that
mankind had rather bear with evils so loug as
they are tolerable than to attempt any important
change of their institutions. This repugnance
to reform, however salutary, had well nigh lost
us the glories and glorious cousequences of our
revolution. On this subject, gentlemen, Georgia
should have some pride; some laudable ambi
tion. From the days almost of Oglethorp to the
present time, she has presented an array of learn
ing and talents, that would do honor to auy of
her sister States. In the General Government,
she has furnished her Secretary of the Treasury,
and her Attorney General; and at the moment
that I address you, ono of her sons is at tbe head
of the Department of Mate. and another an As
sociate Justice of the Supreme Court of the U-
nion. She has produced statesmen, orators,
lawyers and Judges, who would have done hon
or to any age or untion. But while your bar is
loaded with learned reports of almost every state
from Mniuc to Louisiana—w hile our own child,
the young Alabama, yields instruction in the im
portant science of the laws to her mother, Gcor
gia. what citizen of Georgia derives the proud
satisfaction of hearing, and what lawyer in other
states, reads the reports of Georgia, to cnligli'en
the minds of their Judiciary ? This, our shame,
should bo putawny from us.
• But it is asked, have we not law books c-
nough from beyond the waters, nud from the
other States? Do^otllie English hooks and the
State reports supply us with all the neeessaty
treasures of legal lore? They do not. After our
glorious disruption from tho British Empire, wc
set up a new government for ourselves. Not
only our internal political relations and our con
stitutional rights became different, but the tenures
of property were changed, not only in personal,
hut in real estates; and our most valuable species
of personal property is not known in Great Brit
ain. nud many of our own states. In addition
iothis, wc have our own statutes and institutions,
of structures peculiar to themselves, that can on
ly he construed nt home. Hence the necessity
of settling these tenures and rights by a system
of adjudications suited to on.* peculiar political
and social relations, so widely different from
those of our mother country, and so essentially
variant, in many features, from those of onr sis
ter States. It is on this account that our law
yers and judges look so eagerly to the reports of
the other States for thcnblo exposition of Amer
ican principles, which Georgia herself docs not
fnrni'h, and which are all important in many
cases, not to he found, because they do not ex
ist iu English books. Further, gentlemen, the
derisions oven of tho English judges, and partic
ulnrly of tho judges of tlto several. States, arc
not considered of very high authority, unless they
emenato from a full bench of supreme judges.
And the people of Georgia, the lawyers of Geor
gia. and the judges of Georgia are continually
referring for light and knowledge to a source of
judicial .exposition, which our people have thus
far repudiated, as umftscessnry and dangerous—
nn inconsistency which cauAot be explained.
Gentlemen, i shall not attempt to exhaust this
fruitful subject, hut will briefly answer tbe ques
tion—'wbtrtss the great benefit of such a court ? 1
From the Charleston Courier.
A plan of reference has oceti agreed upon in t e-
spcct to the stock in the Morris Canal, viz. each
party concerned is to name fifteen gentlemen, out
of w hich they are to choose two each, who are
to choose a fifth, before whom the parties are to
appear and he examined under onth, and all con
cerned are to abide the award.
The merchants of Salem have dispatched a
memorial to congress to pass au act of non-iuter-
coursewith France until the treaty of 1834 bp
complied with, and not to resort to reprisals or
war.
Cnpt. Welsh, of the ship Jeannette, while en
tering the screw dock at N. York. 11th inst. fell
down the hatch, aud was so much injured that he
died iu au hour afterwards.
A letter from Marseilles, dated Dec. 25, says
“We have advices from Mahon to the 20th inst.—
The Cholera has disappeared, and the U. States
vessels had been admitted to pratique. Our
Board of Health have declared several cases here
aud so state on the hills of health.’’
The weather was more severe at Quebec, on
the 3d and 4th ins:s. than at any preceding peri
od liuring the winter—the mercury sinking from
20 to 28 degrees below the cypher.
The schr Creole. Capt. Page, arrived at New
York. Ilth inst., from Tampico, which place she
left ou the 24 r h of January. The only intelli
gence furtijshed is. that a report was rife, ol a
conflict between Gen. Santa Anna, and Gen.
Bustitmeutc. The party of tho former was be
lieved to be ou the decline.
Mr. Homer of Boston, who had been for seve
ral days under trial in that citv. on a charge of
poisoning a large number of stage horses, took
pcisou ou lhe t 1 Ith inst. and died in the course of
the day. Mr. Homer was a wealthy loan, alui
has hitherto sustained a good character-
Hostilities at Washington.—The correspoud-
cm of Mr. Hudson’s new Reading anti News
Rftom. New York, writes from Washington, on
Thursday, that Mr. Jarvis and Mr. .Smith, both
Jackson representatives from Maine, are in a
snarl. Mr. Jarvis challenged Mr. Smith, Mr.
Lytlleof Ohio hearing the challenge; .Mr. Smith
returned au abusive reply to Mr. Jarvis, refusing
to consider him as a gentleman ! therefore, ac
cording to Washington chivalry. Mr. Eyttle chal
lenged the man who did uot think his principal
a gentleman. Mr. Smith again demurred, on
the grouud that he had no quarrel with M*’.
Eyttle, aud so the matter rests ; meanwhile Mr.
Jarvis is prepariug the usual posting, history of
the quarrel, &c.
Au exebauge of hostile notes between two ci
ther members of Congress is also 3pokeu ol. No
names are given.
EXTENSIVE FIRE IN CHARLESTON.
A fire broke out in Charleston on Sunday
mortiiug the 15th,-which destroyed about sixty
buildings, likewise St. Philips, or as commonly
called the old Church, being the oldest *u the
city, having been built in the year 1723. It ori
ginated iu a wooden buildiug, at the North cor
ner of State aud Lingard-streets. and the wind
blowing freshly from the North East., swept the
flames with desolating fury over the majs of
wooden buildings to the South-West. The area
covered hy the fire is embraced by Market street
on the North, State street on the East, Church
street on the West, aud a line about mid-way
between Queen and Ancen sfee*s on the South.
The only houses reinainiug within this space are
a range of brick buildings at the nngle formed
bv Market and Church streets, seven on the for
mer, and two on the latter street, and three woo
den houses on the corner, and to tho South of
the corner of Liugard aud Church streets, which
were saved by the intervention of brick kitchens,
with dead walls between them and thej fire.—
The violence of the wind rendered it a work of
groat difficulty to arrest the progress ofthe flames,
and to prevent their extending across Church
street.
The amount of insurance on the property de
stroyed, is estimated at from ten to fifteen thou
sand dollars. The Church was not insured. The
remains of tho steeple, and the front of the por
tico fell into and (docked up the street, to the
West, about nine o’clock on Monday, and some
apprehensions were entertained that ono or moro
persons were buried utider it.-^Augusta Const.
In cpnseqticoce of the warlike character of the
debate in the House of Representatives on ihe7th
inst. wc tmdesiand that tho importers of French
goods in New York have instructed their agents
in this rity, to hold their goods at an advance.—
Phil. U.S. Gaz.
SENATE.
Tnur.SDAV, Feb. 12, J835
The Senate proceeded to the consideration of
the joint resolution reported hy the Library Com
mittee, authorising tho purchase of 500 copies of
Carey & Lea’s History of Cougress.
Mr. Hill asked the committee to give some
reason why this hill should pass.
• Mr. King, of Georgia, expressed a wish that
the bill might he permitted to lie ou tho table,
until the information called for from the Secre
tary of the Senate, relative to the amount of
printing authorised by Congress, could be had.
ft was csscutial. to enable us to act unilerstand-
ingly ou this subject, that the information called
for should ho obtained : it was indispensable.—
With regard to tho value of this work, Mr. K.
said it might be a good aud useful work, and it
might be. like many others we had purchased,
totally useless and worthless.
Mr. Poindexter enlarged upon the merits of
the work ; he said it could not progress without
the patronage of tho Government. 11 was of
great utility to every statesman, because it con
tained the whole history and proceedings of Con
gress and the Government in a condensed form,
and guttlemcD could not afford to pu.cbase it
for their private libraries.
Mr. Benton said, that about seven years ago.
the Senate purchased one of those works called
a Political Register, and he took occasion to
look into it to examine closely, and fouud it to
be a complete exemplification of the sugseestio
fnlti and supprrssio veri. Many things were
omitted which members said, and many things
were put into their mouths which they never did
say. Fo far as he himself was concerned. Mr.
B. said it contained a general libel on him. He
looked over the Register of the last session, ami
he believed that iu the matter that there appear
ed under his rnme. there was not one paragraph
which was not more or less a downright falsifi
cation of what he said, and there was hardly a
sentiment iu it, nr a fact stated in it, which he
actually said. There were two papers in this
city, the Telegraph and National Intelligencer,
both of which, three or four years ago. were very
obliging to him. They both uniformly published
his speeches, and whenever he desired altera
tions to be made in them, they did it very obli
gingly ; and whenever he wanted to improve
them, (aud be did not hesitate to say that he did
improve them.) they cheerfully consented to it.
But within the last three years, both papers had
entirely changed their conduct towards him.—
And one of them, the National Intelligencer, re
fused. out and out. to publish one of his speeches
against the Bank of the United States.. Yes,*
sir, Mr. B. said, theyrefused to publish his main
speech, on the ground that it was too long, and
when he afterwards offered to abridge it. they
totally refused to publish it, while they published
every thing that was said on the other side.—
The Telegraph did the same thing, and the gen
tlemen on the other side not only saw the notes,
but the proofs too. With respect to the propo
sition now before the Senate, to buy these books,
be perceived tho name of one of the employers of
the Bauk of the United States, and he had re
ceived information from Philadelphia that these
persons were busily engaged last winter in keep
ing and fomenting the panic which was in a course
of preparation and performance. He was oppo
sed to this proposition, because, among other
reasons, this history of the Congress of the Uui-
I ted States hy Carey So Lea, was a History of
are in ,t pr on j, rcss by the Bank^of the United States.—
This was all he had to say on the subject at this
time. But with regard to this husiuess of print
ing in the Senate, it exceeded all the other abu
ses of the government, includingthc Post Ofilc 0 ’
put together. In 1819 the expense for printiug
amounted to $15.000.—while last year, ho be
lieved, it amounted to $150,000 ! And propo
sitions for single jobs passed here, almost without
opposition, incurring "an expendilurc equal to
the whole sum paid in 7819. He took this op
portunity now to give notice that as often as pro
positions were introduced here for extra jobs, be
would he brought to his feet, and on the subject
of this great and crying abuse, he would show
them to the country in nil their enormity. And
also, show, that while we were seeking to re
move the mote from the eye of others, wc would
not oerceive the beam iirotirnwn.
Mr. King, of Georgia, said that where propo
sitions had been made to purchase works., in this
way, ho always purchased them with his own
money. But the value and usefulness of them
would vanish like a sprite, if a proposition should
he introduced to make the expenditure for them
out of onr own pockrts. He did not know the
value of this work, as he before remarked.. Bu'
he did know that it would be very expensive.—
Honorable gentlemen agreed that such works
were necessary to us in the discharge of onr le
gislative duties. If they were so. he would he
willing to vote money enough to purchase & suffi
cient number for our purposo. He would go as
Itiglt as 5fl copies to be placed in the library —
And surely this was a liberal number. If the
resolution was thus modified, ho would support
it. He was not in favor of purchasing them for
the members to be taken home and used for their
individual purposes. Wo had already engaged
in a work for which we were to pay $420,000 at
least, ami which, had it not been for the com
mendable zeal and care of the Committee last
year,"'would have cost the Government, at least,
threo millions."
Mr. Hill said he had made some calculation of
tho cost of books nnd maps and printing ordered
Tliis will add $145 75 for each member of the volumes of Documentary History of the R fv ,
Senate. lion. The restriction to $400,000 forseven h #
Still, further, $50,000 annually for Gales & dred and fifty copies virtually amounts to ^
Seaton’s State Papers, and $50,000 expenditure thing, if we do not put a stop to furt>i*hj n;r ^
on Clarke & Force’s Documentary History, bers of Congress with alh the books that ha
would average to tho 291 Senators, Representa- been furnished their predecessors. Ifthnt p
tives, and Delegates, for the year. $340 each; tire continues, there can be no limit either a 7
and would make in the whole,’ $2985 75 io each numbers or amount of expense. Gale's & s„' ai *
member of the Senate, as the expense for books , and Clarke & Force may just as we'I print-;,,
and printing for a single year. or .3000, as /50 copies: and both nre qnijn
Of tbe items I have called over, one or two safe iu estimating the amount- they will fiaak
are deserving comment. Oue of the Depart- take from the Treasury, in the one rostan?i
in cuts hail procured as a matter of favor to that a half, and in the other at a whole millirg’i
part of Rhode Island nud Providence plantations, dollars, as at two hundred and four hundrri
and at a great expense, the survey, engraving,’: thousand dollars each. .
and furnishing, a map ofNarraganset Bay, astif-; Mr. President, the gifi anddistributinn ofhod
ficient quantity to answer all ordinary purposes, to members of Congress, even of such boofa ,!
This was not enough. Senators living iu distant appertain to our duties ns legislators, areofijJJ
States, who had as little to do with Nurragauset advantage to the public interests, i bavrb^J
Bay as they had with Wiuiiipisseogee lake and 0 f members of Congress offering their books"f
bay, or auy other distant water, must be furnish-, sale in this city, aud disposing of ibetn in ^
ed with additional copies of an unwieldy map; tenth or ono twentieth theircost. InmtoldtbB,
aud eight hundred dollars more are expended in j are hooks now on sale at one or more ^
printing aud furnishing an extra number of these the-city, furnished hy members of Congresjf',!
for tho forty-eight Senators. j that purpose. If the fnends’of this modeofrij*.
The thirteen copies or sets, eight volumes each, tribution doubt the fact, ihev have it in
of Gales & Seaton’s State Papers, also call for power to disprove it by appointing a commits
comment. ^ was surprised at the last session, ; to investigate the matter. But. sir. in thein^'.
when I was informed that the whole seven bun- j the hooks nre carried to the homes of the rcsw c .
dred and fifty copies of Gales & Seaton’s Stato time members, and never returned herr. [j JT
Papers, furnished for Congress, had already been jug occasion recently to look into the vo!bh h
disposed of, and that a purchase must be made , of State Papers on the subject of Forei-h R c ; 5 .
of additional numbers to supply new members.— : lions, and containing the several treaties
The eight volumes purchased cost only about the gotiations with France, it was more than
■ Whig candidates for tho Presidency aro sprin
ging up in fungus like profusion. As tho party
dislike military chieftains, they havo only two
generals on the lisj.
Gen. w, H. Harrison,
Gen. Winfield Scott,
John McLean,
Daniel Webster.
B. W. Leigh,
Willie P. M aft gum,
John Tjler,
John C..Calhoun—
Win many others, any of whom, according to
the Telegraph and the prints which claim alli-
anci with it. w ould support the unknown priitci-
dies of the universal whig party. Crocket de
clines. and Poindexter will remain quiet until ho
ascertains whether he is to he superseded by R. J.
Walker or not.—Pennsylvanian.
Thero is more trouble in having nothing to dn,
than having much to do.
To whom you betray your recrct. you give
youi liberty.
at a single session of Congress, leaving out seve
ral items of former uurchases, which have been
supplied to present members.
I am told the printiug alntte ordered to he exe
cuted by the priater of the Senate at the last ses
sion of Congress, amounts by computation to
tho enormous sum of $120,000.
This is more than ten times the amount of the
priuting ordinarily directed by this body in other
times, (when the Senate was not at war with the
Executive, and when the printer was friendly to
the administration and the voice of tiie people.)
I» amounts to an average of $2500 to each ofthe
48 members of tiio Senate.
Besides this, there were ordered nnd paid for.
according to the statement of the Clerk, printed
and laid upon our tables at the oommencemcnt of
the session, the following articles :
For newspapers, ... $832 IS
Geo. Wattcrston’s Statistical Tables, 20 00
Jonathan Elliot, for Dictionaries.
Wm. Cranclt, Index to District Report,
Thomson and Homans, Pensylvania
Register.
.T. Elliot, Debates on the Constitution,
Do Diplomatic Code,
Gales Si Seaton, Register'of Debates.
Paid for selecting and arranging papers
forjland documents and State pajicrs.
D A. Hall’s History of tbe Bank of the
United States.
To Ames & Sen, paper for
Map pf Narraganset Bay. $.‘>7G 20
William Stone, for printing do 320 00
E, Gilman, joining do - 100 00
790
J. Kennedy." District Laws.
38 02
500 00
13 25
175 00
. 99 .00
1940 00
1250 00
sum ofuiuety dollars for each set, and when the
twenty volumes come to bo completed, if the
publishers shall not see fit to raise the price,
which will depend on .circumstances, tbe added
expense for each new member, for this one ar
ticle, will bo two hundred aud twenty-five dol
lars.
This work of Gales & Seaton, it should be re
collected, originated in this manner : 'I hey at
first published iu their newspaper proposals for
printing a Compilation of Congressional Docu
ments. After several ineffectual attempts, at last
;i resolution passes, per fas et nefas, both houses
of Congress authoriziug a subscription of seven
hundred aud fifty copies, embracing a period of
time down to 1815. This subscription of Con
gress obtained, it is believed not a single addi
tional subscriber was sought for or procured.
Aftei wards an additional resolution is passed,
extending the time, and limiting the extension to
eight additional volumes.. The price paid ju each
instance is fixed to the price paid to the printers
of Congress for the ordinary printing of the. two
House*. This price is from twenty-five to fifty.
per cent higher than the same work would cost
in Philadelphia, in New York, in Boston, andiu
several other places. Aud the money thrown
away in price over-paid on this work of Gales &
Seaton, and that of Clark & Force, will amount
to between two and three hundred thousand dol
lars !
1 will state the items of three contracts on
which from two to three hundred thousand dol
lars are absolutely thrown away, made by reso
lutions which have, in some way—those interes
ted cau tell how—been carried through Con
gress, when perhaps one member to feu did not
iiuderstand either their tendency or extent. They
are as follows:
Gales & Seaton’s American State Pa
pers, 20 volumes, 750 copies, probable
cost $10,000 each volume, $200,000
Clarke and Force’s Documentary His
tory, .’30 to 40 volumes, calculated to
be confined to the cost of . $400,000
Duff Green for printing Land Laws, in
dependent of other printing ordered
exclusively hy the Senate, lOvols., $60,000
$660,000
Two. if not three, ofthe last named volumes,
I am informed, will be a reprint of the very vo
lumes to ho executed hy Gales & Seaton.
The art of workiug through Congress, resolu
tions nr acts, favorable to those whom they are
intended to benefit, could not be better exempli
fied than in those directing the publication of
hooks hy the pet printers and publisher® for both
Houses of Cougress. Gales &. Seaton, it is un
derstood. printed for Cnngre*s 750 copied, and
received of Congress entire pay for preparation
and composition aud distribution of the types,
using the same types anti composition topriut for
themselves 750 other copies. The resolution re
quires that the members of the 21st and 22d Oon-
trress shall be supplied with the hooks ; the con-
sequenee is. before this work is halt way through
the press, the seven hundred and fifty copies are
all taken up ; the $200,000 appropriation is all
rttu through ; and at each successive session of
Congress, ti supply new members, the Secre
tary of the Senate or Clerk ofthe House is obli
ged to go to the publishers and pay them just
what price they ask for additional numbers.—
Thirteen sets of these additional numbers were
bought for the. Seuate last sessiou. and I am told
from 125 to 150 additional sets of the very same
work were required for tho House of Represen
tatives.
The resolutions require that the members of
the 21st and 22d Congress shall be supplied ;
with just as much propriety might the resolution
provide that members of the first Congress, or
members of 40" years ago. should be supplied . .
win Gales and Seaton’s State Papers, as that I form the Senate, that the volumes |.rn,
members ofthe twenty-first Congress, who were be purchased embrace no part of the
here four years ago. should bo supplied. And I sesstous of Congress. There might he* • ,
would not he at all surprised hereafter, to find
members of each and ev6ry Congress, or the
"heirs and legal representatives” of members of
Congress, coming in here and claiming for each.
and a
before I was able to procure the use ofthe tt»
volumes on those subjerts. If hooks are pro^.
red at all for tiie use of members, they mifht to
be retained in the library, to be used by the
cessors, ns well as by the present members «f
Congress. In such an event, a small niimta
would answer all onr purposes ; ami we <bmU
not have occasion to expend the millions which
hat e been, and are to he lavished on pet p r ^
ters, whose best recommendation to the favorof
Congress seems to have been their violence a
partisans and editors of newspapers onpnsed a
the grent body of freemen of the United State*,
and to that administration which that liodv jf
freemen have elected.
Sir, the money thrown away in extra patrr-
nage to printers nnd publishers within this <ft.
trict xvho are opposed to the administration-
the money paid them over and above what wi*M
have been the ac’ual cost ol printing in eth
places—would he sufficient to relieve the Post
Office Department.from all its crabarras-meai,
and to enable it to pay allies contractors promp.
ly. And such is the flourishing condition of this
Department even under all tiie endiarrassnimi
xvbich have been thrown upon it. that it won'd
be aide to repay any loau that might ho made it
a very few years. If I were to point to any a-
stance of squandering irrmey in this govermmt
that most deserved reprehension, f would «u
the public attention to these acts of the two Ilct-
ses of Congress which have thrown or will thn«
away more than a million of money on printm
and publishers within this district, clistlnpiidri
for no other merit than that of having viru’rm'y
opposed the repeated chftice and voice of tlep
pie of the Uuited States.
I hope this resolution will lie arrested hy a de
cided majority of the Senate, and that nooibe
resolution of a similar tenor will he permiltfilu
pass.
There xvas auother resolution laid on tbetxble
the other day, for furnishing Gales & Seawb
Debates to the new members.
On inquiry of tiie Secretary of the Senate.!
find the quantity of Register of Debates already
published is twelve volumes, nnd that the imtsfl
these twelve volumes is fifty six dollats. Tier
are, I believe, four new members ofthe Scsul
to he supplied, and the whole amount of cost e-1
der this resolution will be two hundred and twet-l
ty-four dollars. [
The argument Inretofore urged iu favor of si*
milar resolutions has been, that the old tMH;l
bers, having themselves been supplied, woriiB
discover, themselves to be both selfish andimp-Jj
ticrous now to vote against supplying the rrv|
members. As applied to myself. 1 nckunnW?
uo validity or propriety in that argument,
have invariably voted, whenever 1 had op;
Utility, against aoy aud every proposition for-.'
plying myself with books ; aud the accepts
of these books has in no instance bcegwilM
a voluntary act.
Now. Mr. President, whether the propositi*
Ite to furnish a member with hooks costinf <
dollar or one hundred thousand dollars, If
tend against it here, and at all other timw-ri
far as it shall be prudent to contend. I
against tbe practice of voting books for
individual u>c—books which.are rogrnlarlyeatw I
away at the end of each sessiou of Congress.** a
which are never, or rarely ever used licit. *
any public purpose whatever.
I need not advert. Mr. President, to the''®
parative worthlessness of the volumes xvh.r.
resolution proposes to procure. They srt ®
so much old lumber—much less valu*hk
volumes of old newspapers that roake*®tr I
tensions at all to a fair and impartial ctOV I
events. The Senator from Missouri L
ton) has showed the great injustice xu---;
been done to the proceedings and speech'"’*’.
Senate in these volumes. I scarcely Dffl ;
ipOS* 1
pretence of their usefulness, iftheyem
proceedings and debates. But tltey do not i
xvithin about three years of the late pa*
of Cougress. To purchase them uoir,
commodate only the printers, whoarff
own price. They arc hardly worth
the price paid for them, and would sf-“ " jj
copies of these State Papers, or the value of suc h
Stato Papers, “xvitb interest” for ti e whole time
ofdelav.
It will he seen that the resolution despatches non scarcely above that price,
at once the seven hundred and fifty copies ; and ' If it lie proper, in any place, anti on .
the new Congresses of two terms more, will near- casion. to resist the purchase. forUtet-n
iy or quite consume the additional 750 copies, j of members of Congress, of books, oro .
for which Gales & Seaton get pay. as if printed | tides which may be convenient to them. ; j ,
at theirown expense, while the greatest naif of I and appropriating therefor the
the expense of printiug has been paid by Con- bhc treasury, it is proper, in this p|*»
] this occasion, to contend against it
It xvas admitted on all hands, at the last ses
sion, that Congress had been taken in by toe bar
gain which had been made xv it It (lark & force
for ihe Documentary History, audit was thought,
to be a momentous affair to procure the assent
of those gentlemen to such terms as xvould limit
ihe whole expense of this printing to four hun
dred thousand dollars ! 13tt' the gist of tlto mat
ter did not then appear. The act of Congress
which authorises the contract xvilh Clark A:
Force directs the distribution of these volumes
to the members of the twenty first nnd twenty-se
cond Congress, in the same manner as the State j
papers are distributed; and this too when not
even the first volume ofthe Documentary Histo
ry has yet-been printed. So that Claikc &
Force's first seven hundred and fifty ropiis have
all been disposed of to old members aud others,
i before the existence of tlto twenty-third or pre
150 00 ! sent Congress ; and if this-Congress or its sttcces-
Tbt-
at the next s!"--i p " 1
be the same reason
gross, and at all succeeding --ession*./ 0
these books, as there, is now:
les= invidious for old members tiu' u 10
than noxv.
I xvould consider it an net of ma
new members xvould step fortran
themselves xvillitj^ to exercise a fit 5 *
denial in this respect. u
concluded, t, e . .
arrived, on motion
as laid on '
-V
B d*f :
Bek
When Mr. Mill ha
special orders, having
Calhoun, t\je resolution w
The. lr.to.Cold Spell.—A letter 0°® *0
man residing in Habersham county. ® ,|>
vdic, (says the Constitutionalist.1 "j" 1 • .
tho (ith inst. the snow was 5 i"j'_ ,H ^for
that the thermometer stood the da ,
<ieg. beloxv zero ; on Sunday tin .
sunrise. 15 beloxv zero, ai d xv lien 1 ', r
sun at noun arose to 5 above z^i®^
ens were found frozen on their ret
Uncommon Cargo.—The hark Marblehead,
which sailed on the 31st tilt, from New York, for i
Havana, had on board among other goods, bet- f
xveen 700 and 800 bales of cottofl. >
I sors obtain any, it must be by purchase of th'j
! extra copies; and Clarke and Force, long before
I their work shall be completed, will have made .
j sale, at their own price, of double that number I . Augusta M 01 fUF
| which the act of Congress had provided for.— .Since our review of Thursday
i Tbe members of Congress xvlio xvere not here been a good demand for* qtton- ’’ .
G. Templeman, 4 copies Laws, 120 00 j when the act passed, who are no longer mem- doing is very limited, owing ,0 . ’ | jjjr
-Gales A- Seaton, for 13 copies, 8 vols. j bers. an I who have no stronger claim to tie m tity offering. The receipts contxnt
State Papers, $11 25 each, - 1,172 00 ( than any and every man, woman and child, continue our last quotations,
from snoivv xvhite to sooty,” in the country, are 15J : fair to very good tojj a tI( j.
3
rarid’ %
• ■■■ I IFtMIl kliutvj Dimi to nuuiVi III INC ctiuiili \« cti v if . iriir id ■* ,
$8,0912 25, to he supplied with their Vxventy, thirty, or forty; choice 16j a cents—iu good
l *