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EDITED Bl TIIO.YIAS HAINES. VOL. VI. WO. 8. of §£nion, BY P. L. ROBINSON, State Printer. And Publisher (by authority) oflhe Laws of the United States. ISSUED EVERY TUESDAY MORNING. . (KF TERMS.—Three Doll.r. per annum. No ■ubm-ription taken for leas than a year, and no paper discontinued, but at the option of the publisher, until all arraar. ages are paid. .CHANGE OF DIRECTION.—We desire such of our subscriber! aa may at any time wish the direction of their papers changed from one Post Office to another, to inform us, in all cases, of the place to which they had been previously sent; as the mere order to forward them to a different office, places it almost out of our power to comply, because we have no means of ascertaining the office from which they are ordered to lie changed, but by a search through our whole subscription book, con taining several thousand names. AID ERTISEMENTS inserted at the usual rates. Sales of LAND, by Admi nistrators, Executors, or Guardians, are required by law to be held on the first Tues day in the month, between the hours of ten in the forenoon and three in the after noon, at the Court House in the county in which the property is situate. Notice of these sales must be given in a public gazette SIXTY DAY’S previous to th. day of sale. • Sales of NEGROES must be at public auction, on the first Tuesday of the month between the usual hours of sale, at the place of publie sales in the county where the letters tc-timentary,of Administration or Guardianship, may have been granted, first giving SIXTY DAY’S notice thereof, in one of the public gazettesof this State, and at th • door of the Court Hous, where such sales are to be held. Notice tor the sale of Personal Property must b. given in like manner, FORTY DAY'S pievious to the day of sale. Notice to the Debtors and Creditors of an Estate must be published FORTY DAYS. Notice that application will be made to th. Court of Ordinary for leave to sell LAND, must be published for FOUR MONTHS. Notice forleave to sell NEGROES, must be published for FOUR MONTHS before any order absolute shall be made by the Court thereon. Notice ot Application for Letters of Administration must be published THIRTY DAYS. Notice of Application for Letters of Dismission from the Administration of an Es tate, are required to be published monthly for SIX MONTHS. MISCELLANEOUS. THE POLAR STAR. e BY THE LATE MRS. MACLEAN. This liar sinks below the horizon in certain latitudes. I watched it sink lower and lower every night, till at last it disappeared. A star has left the kindling sky—- A lovely northern light— How many planets are on high, But that has left the night. I miss its bright familiar face, It was a friend to me, Associate with my native place, And those beyond the sea. It rose upon our English sky, Shone o’er our English land, And brought back many a loving eye, And many a gentle hand. It seemed to answer to my thought, It called the passed to inind, And with its welcome presence brought All I had left behind. The voyage it lights no longer ends Soon on a foreign shore. How can I but recall the friends Who I may see no more ! Fresh from the pain it was to part—- How could I bear the pain f Yet strong the omen in mv heart That says we meet again. Meet with a deeper, dearer love, For absence snows the worth Os all from which we then remove— Friends home and native earth. Thou lovely polar star, mine eyes Still turned the first cn thee, Till I have felt a sad surprise That none looked up with me. But thou hast sunk below the wave— . Thy radiant place unknown; I seem to stand beside a grave, And stand by it alone. Farewell!—Ah, would to me were given A power upon their light. What words upon our English heaven Thy loving rays should write. Kind messages of love and hope Upon thy rays should be ; Thy shining orbit would have scope Scarcely enough for me. Oh, fancy vain as it is fond, And little needed too, My friends! I need not look beyond My heart to look for you! EXTRAORmNARY~DUEL. The following account of a determined single combat is given in the “ Life of Thomae Reynolds," notorious in histo ry as a government informer in the Irish rebellion, just pub lished by his son: “The Count de Rochefort called on Fitzgerald on the part of Warren, and a meeting was arranged for eight o’clock in the morning of Sunday, the seventeenth, on the Plain of Gre nelle, each party to bring two friends, and the weapons to be pistols only. Fitzgerald, with Messrs, de Puibusque and de Germain, attended by M. du Hallay’s servant, was on the ground about a quarter of an hour when Warren arrived ac companied by Captain de Toqueville of the guards, the Count de Rochefort, and an Irishman, whose name we could never learn. Fitzgerald had a case of plain duelling pistols, made by Wogden, of London ; Warren had a French case, rifle bar rels, hair triggers, and detonating locks, which unquestionably was an aim of much more certain destruction, and in every re spect more formidable than the other, and one which would be incomparably more dangerous than if the barrel was not rifled. Fitzgerald, however, declared himself satisfied that each should use his own weapon, but the seconds would not permit it, their own honor being at stake in allowing such a disparity of wea pons; they therefore arranged that the combatants should toss up for choice of weapons, and that both partirs should use the same case. Warren won the toss, and chose his own pis tols one of which was given to Fitzgerald, who had never be fore handled or seen one of the kind. Forty paces were mea sured, and, in thg centre of this distance, an inner space of ten paces was measured, at each end of which a hat was pla ced. The parties were to be placed at the two extremities of the greater distance, and, on the word ‘ advance being given, they were at liberty to advance as they pleased, or to remain at the extremity, but in no case to pass the hats, so that each had fifteen paces on his side; but the combatants could never retreat a foot, each might fire when, where, or how he pleased ; whoever fired first should remain on the spot from which he fired, and there receive the fire of his adversary, who might still continue to advance up to the hat on his own side. Being placed, Warren ran forward up to the hat on his own side, pre sented at Fitzuerald, and remained in that altitude. Fitzger ald deliberately walked forward, and having advanced to with in five paces of his hat, he, for the first time, raised his pistol So take aim, as it wax evident Warren kept him covered in or der to fire the moment Fitzgerald should arrive at his hat, and jbeforehe cou.M have had time to raise bis arm; but, unacquaint ed with she nicety of Ihe Fitzgerald by some sneans touched it, and his pisi.?! wC” I whi,e l,e was raising st. Thus disarmed, at only fifteen pace* before his most invet eratewneniy, a noted and practised shot, he stood, )’ke a mark, while Warren several times corrected his aim during a spa<T of time greatly exceeding a minute, as marked by the watch of M. du Hallay’s man, until at length M. de Fuibusq'ie called out to him, ‘Fire, .Mr. Warren: act honorably.’ Warren di rectly lowered his aim, took off his hat, and replied-— ‘ Sir, 1 am at liberty to aim and fire w hen and how 1 please, and 1 will exercise my right.’ He then put on bis hat, and gradually raised his arm until he had adjusted his aim to his satisfaction : he fired, and missed. He looked for a few moments, as if in expectation of seeing the effect of his ball, and when convin ced that he had failed, he stamped, raged, swore, flung bis arms about, cursed bis pistol and acted, in fine, like a madman.” The following is genuine, no fabrication. At a crowded lecture, the other evening, a young lady standing at the door of the church was addressed by an honest Hibernian, who was jn attendance on the occasion, with “ Imlade Miss 1 should be glad to give you a sate, but the empty ones are full. Never trust a married man with a secret who loves his wife for he will tell her, and she will tell her sister—and her sister ■will tell any body and every body. of * Krom the Upton (Eng.) Journal. . VILLAINY END RETRIBUTION. In the spring of 1833, two young ladies, sisters, named Lou isa and Ellen Price, of Llangenoch Park, were placet! by their widowed mother at the boarding school of the celebrated Mrs. Sherwood, between Powick and Worcester, three miles from the latter place. Louisa was then about sixteen, and Ellen fourteen years of age. It appears that Mrs. S. was in the habit of assembling her pupils and friends of both sexes every o'ther week, for the purpose of performing concerts of sacred music. To these parties there came, among others, two young mer chants from Worcester, named Harris and Benson. We pass over the occurrences of three years, during which time these young creatures, naturally interesting, and gifted with superior abilities, were singled out by Harris and Benson for their marked and undivided attentions; these becoming ob vious, were communicated by Mrs. S. to the mother, between whom and the young men an explanation took place, and they were ultimately received at her house as the future husbands of her daughters. A brother of Mrs. Price dying in 1835, left them, it seems, a sum of money, on condition of their not mar rying until they attained, respectively, the age of twenty-five ; and as the mother refused her sanction to the marriage of her daughters until the arrival of that time, the circumstance was made a pretext by their professed lovers to induce them to con sent to an elopement and private marriage; and in an evil hour these two innocent girls, with all the fond affection of young and confiding hearts, embarked their future worldly hopes and happiness in one frail bark—the honor of their admirers—and eloped with them before daybreak from Mrs. Sherwood’s house. . They proceeded to a neighboring church, (Hallow,) a few miles off, the keys of which they had obtained by bribing the sexton, who asserts that he was totally ignorant of their in tentions.—Here a mock ceremony of marriage was performed by an accomplice, who was dressed in the habiliments of a clergyman. They resided for some months after this in a cot tage ornee in the suburbs of Worcester, and here, in April, 1837, Louisa, the eldest, gave birth to a daughter, the child of Mr. Benson, to whom she thought herself married. In June, ol the same year, Harris proceeded to Lisbon on business con nected with the firm, where, as it subsequently turned out, he married a daughter ofMr. Kent, a wine merchant, of the firm of Kent and Brothers. He returned to England in February, bringing his real wife with him, and purchased a house at Kenipsey, on the banks ot the Severn. Soon after Harris’ re turn, Benson left Louisa, then the mother of two children, with whom and her sister he had been constantly living up to that lime, and took up his residence in Harris’ house, from whence he sent the unfortunate victims a letter, stating the facts in re lation to the villainy practised upon them, and offering, in the name of himself and partner, to make a settlement upon them them byway of reparation. Words would fail describing the shock produced by thecom munication of this totally unexpected blow, which robbed them of all that rendered life, in their estimation, worth preserving. Ellen died a fortnight after in the lunatic asylum, nearDroit wich, in the arms of her sister, whose mind it seems was sus tained by her determination to execute a fearful vengeance on the guilty causers of their bitter sufferings, which she too faith fully performed. Learning that her pretended husband was to be married on the 19th of March, and that he was loreturn from Worcester to Kempsey on the preceding evening in a gig with Harris, to the latter, she planned and put in operation the following fright ful mode of retribution : After strangling her two infants, and leaving a letter on the table, slating that she would not let them live to hear of their mothor’s disgrace, she dressed in men’s clothe*. .rmcJ herself with ttbrnree of pistols, and knowing the probable time of their approach, took her station in a small shrubbery up a steep as cent, where the road overhangs the river. On the approach of the gig, it appears she discharged both the pistols, one of which took effect in the brain ofMr. Benson, who was driving, and who fell from his seat: the horse taking fright, started off, and before Mr. Harris could seize the reins to arrest him, plunged over the cliff into the river, where both horse and rider were drowned. The poor girl was found dead, weltering in her blood (having stabbed herself,) across the lifeless body of Ben son. The horse and gig floated on to Gloucester bridge, where they were taken out of the water. Harris’ body was picked up near Tewksbury ; his young widow, we regret to say, is likely soon to become a mother. Mrs. Price fortunate ly died within a month after the elopement. Thus have the earthly hopes of five families been blasted prematurely, and two innocent and lovely women, who under bright auspices might have been the ornament and delight of society, gone down to the grave in sorrow. THE BEST NATURED MAN IN THE WORLD. The following amusing soliloquy of Mr. Lentner Salix, is from that inimitable work, “ Charcoal Sketches,” by Joseph C. Neal : The last time Salix W’as seen in the busy haunts of men, he looked the very incarnation of gloom and despair. His very coat bad gone to retrieve his necessities, and lie wandered slow ly and abjectly about, relieving the workings of his perturbed spirit by kicking whatever fell in his way. “ I’in done,” soliloquized he ; “partnership between good nature and me is this day dissolved, and all persons indebted w ill please settle with the undersigned, whois alone authorised. Yes, there’s a good many indebted, and it’s high time to dis solve, when your partner has all the goods, and spent all the money. Once I had a little shop ;ah ! wasn’t it nice!—Plen ty of goods and plenty of business. But then comes one troop of fellows, and they wanted ticK—l’m so good natured ; then comes another set of chaps, who didn’t let bashfuhiess stand in their way a minute ; they sailed a good deal nearer the wind, and wanted to borrow money ; I’m so good natured ; and more asked me to go their security. These fellows were always ve ry particular friends of mine, and got what they asked for; — but I was a very particular friend of theirs, and couldn’t get it back. Il was one of the good rules that wont work both ways; and I some how or other was at the wrong end of it—it wouldn’t work my way at all. There’s few rules that will, barring sub traction and division, andalligation : ourfolksalligated against me that I wouldn’t come to no good. All the cypherin’ I ever could do, made more come to little, and little come to less:— and yet as 1 said afore, had a good many assistants too. “ Business kept pretty fair ; but I wasn’t cured. Because I was good natured 1 bad to go with ’em frolicking, tea partying, excursioning, and for the same reason, I was always appointed treasurer to make the distribution, when there w asn’t a cent of surplus revenue in the treasury, but my own, it was my job to pay all the bills. Yes, it was always ‘ Salix, you know me’— * Salix, pony up at the bar, and lend us a levy;’ ‘ Salix always shells out like a gentleman.’ Oh ! to he sure, and why not? now I’m shelled out myself: first out of my shop by old vendi tioni exponas, at the State House—old fierifash'us to me di rected. But they didn’t direct him soon enough, for he only got the fixtures. The goods had gone out on a burst long be fore I bursted. Next, I was shelled out of my boarding house; and now,” (with a lugubrious glance at bis shirt and panta loons) “ J’m nearly shelled out of my clothes. It’s a good thing they can’t easy she!! tneoiit of my skin, or they would, and let me catch my death of cold, I’m a mere shell fish—an oyster with the kivers off. “ But it’s always so—when I was a little boy they coaxed all of my little pennies out of me; coaxed me to take all the jaw ing*, and all the bidings, and to go into all sorts of scrapes, and precious scrapes they used to be. I wonder if there isn’t two kindsof people—one kind that’s made to chaw up t’other kind, and t’other kind that’s made to be chawed up by one kind ?—cat kind of people and mouse kind of people ? I guess there is—l’m very much mouse myself. “ What I want to know is, what’s to become of me—l’ve spent all I had in getting my eddication. Learnin’ they say, ir better than houses and lands. 1 wonder if any body would swap some houses and lands w ith me for mine ? I’d go it even, and ask no boot. They should have it nt prime cost; but they won’t; and I begin to be afraid I’ll have to get martied, or list in the mariners. That’s what most of people do when they have nothing else to do.” MILLKDOEVnXK, GEORGIA, TUESDAY MORNING, MARCH 19, 1839. Our Cott science-—Ottr Country,..Our Party. Affecting Incident. —The consciousness of being belo ved softens our character, and enables the greatest part of mankind to support the miseries of existence ; the affections most be exercised upon something, for not to love is to be mis erable. ‘ Were lin a desert,’ said Sterne, ‘I would find out wherewith to call forth my affections. If I could not do better, I would fix them on some sweet myrtle, or seek some melan choly cypress, to connect myself to. I would court their shade and cherish them kindly for their protection. I would cut my name on them, and swear they were the loveliest trees through out the desert. If their leaves withered I would teach them to mourn, and when they rejoiced I would rejoice with them.”— A fact connected with the misery of out door relief under the poor law amendment bill, will illustrate this reasoning better than the most beautiful reflections. A respectable, but decay ed tradesman, after, having long contributed his mite to the revenue in the way of taxation, was at length compelled to live in an obscure part of the metropolis, the victim of severe and unforeseen misfortunes. He was so indigent, that he subsisted only on an allowance from the parish every week; and con trary to tbe written instructions, a quantity of bread was sent to him by the guardians, sufficient as they thought for his sup port, but one day last week he humbly demanded more. On this the chairman of the board of guardians, sent for him. He went. ‘Do you live alone?’ said one of the board. ‘With whom, sir,’ answered the unfortunate man, ‘is it possible I should live? lam wretched, you see that I am, since I am reduced to the painful necessity of thus soliciting charity. I have no relations alive, and I am, God help me, abandoned by all the world.’ ‘ But Mr. M.’ continued the gentleman who made the interrogatory, “ If you live alone, why do you ask for more bread than is sufficient for yourself?’ The mendicant was dis concerted, the colour forsook his cheek, and at last with great reluctence, he confessed that he had a dog. The chairman of the board here took up the subject, and with great warmth contended that the guardians were only the distributers of the bread that belonged to the poor, and that if he ever expected to receive relief again at their hands he must dispose of his dog. ‘Ah! gentlemen,’ exclaimed the poor fellow, weeping, ‘ and if I dispose of my dog, who is there alive on earth that will love me?’ The person who addressed him in the first in stance, here rose, took out his purse and giving him a sovereign, said ‘M. take this. This is mine, and the commissioners have no power to prevent my bestowing that upon your dog, while you are at perfect liberty to carry away the bread for yourself.’ This incident is true, and occurred in a board room, not far from Saint Clement Danes, last week.— Foreign paper. Tea. — A correspondent of the New York Transcript dep recates the excessive use of tea, as calculated to prove greatly injurious to the nervous system. He slates that he is a dentist, and that in the course of his practice, he has invariably found that tea-drinkers have the weakest, most irritable and sensitive nerves. He says: “ In many cases, I have been obliged to discontinue my op erations, owing to the extreme delicacy and irritability of the nervous system. This led me to make some experiments, the result of which I now present to the public: I took a pound of young hyson tea, and after steeping it in soft water, boiled it down to half a pint; this I applied to such nerves in the teeth as required to be destroyed, in order to pre vent sensibility in that part, and thus enable me to operate on the tooth without pain to the patient. The experiment was completely successful, proving clearly to my mind the poisonous qualities of tea; as heretofore many dentists have been in the practice of using arsenic for the same purpose, which determined me to try its effects on animal life. I then procured a rabbit, of about three months old, and kept it without food a sufficient length of time to leave"lhe"sT6mach empty, then gave it ten drops of the decoction, holding its bead in a position to cause the fluid to enter the stomach. The ani mal appeared to be somewhat exhilerated for the space of three or four minutes, then laid down on its side and began moaning as if in great distress, and in about ten minutes from the time of my administering the dose its struggles ended in death, the limbs being distorted and very stiff. I also tried the effects of this poison on a young cat, of the same age, after making another decoction similar to the first, but rather more powerful, ns I boiled it down to a gill, which re sulted in the same way, but in a shorter time, as the animal ceased to breathe in less than three minutes, although the dose was not as large as I gave the rabbit, being but eight drops. “ Liberty w ill not descend to a people, a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed. That nation cannot be free where reform is a common hack, that is dismissed with a kick the moment it has brought the rider te his place. The nation cannot be free, w here parlies are but different roads, leading to one common destination, plunder. That nation cannot be free, where the riders will not feel for the people, until they are obliged to feel with the people, and then it is too late. That nation cannot be free, that is bought by its own consent ; and sold against it; where the rogue that is in rags is kept in countenance by the rogue that is in ruffles, and where, fiom high to low, from the lord to the lackey, there is nothing radical but corruption, and nothing contemptible but poverty ; where both patriot and placeman, perceiving that money-can do every thing, are pre pared to do every thing for money. That nation cannot be free, where the leprosy of selfishness sticks to it as close as the curse of Elisha to his servant Gehazi; where rulers ask not what recommends a man, but who ; and where those who want a rogue, have no occasion to make, but to choose. 1 hope there is no nation like this under heaven; but if there were, these are the things that however great she might be, would keep such a nation from liberty, and liberty from her. These are the things that would force upon such a nation—first, a government of expedients; secondly, of difficulties; and lastly, of danger. Such a nation could begin to feel only by fearing all that she deserved, and finish by suffering all that she fear ed.” The poor pittance of seventy years is not worth being a villain for. What matter is it if your nei hbor lies in a splen did tomb? Sleep you with innocence. Look behind you through the track of time! a vast desert lies open in retrosppet; through this desert have your fathers journeyed; wearied with tears and sorrows they sink from the walks of man. You must leave them where they fall; and you are to go a little fur ther, where you find eternal rest. Whatever you may have to encounter between the cradle and the grave, every moment is big with innumerable events which come not in succession, but bursting forcibly from a revolving and unknown cause, fly over the orb with diversified influence.—[Blair. A Mistake Corrected.—An orator holding forth in fa vor of “woman, dear, divine woman,” concluded thus :—“Oh my dear hearers, depend upon it nothing beats a good wife.”— “1 beg your pardon,” replied one of the auditors, “a bad husband does.” Imaginary Evils.—ls we except the blessings of strength, health, and the testimony of a good conscience, all the other conveniences and pleasures of life depend on opinion. Except pain of body and remorse of conscience, all our evils are imag inary. A pert young lady was walking one morning on the Steyne, at Brighton, when she encountered the celebrated Wilkes.— “You see,” observed the lady, “I have come out for a little sun and air." “ You had belter, madam, get a little husband first.” There is but one way of fortifying the soul against all gloomy presages and terrors of mind; and that is, by securing to our selves the friendship and protection of that Being who dispo ses of events, and governs futurity. Good Doctrine.—Oo the last Sabbath of the year in 183—, an eloquent Boston clergyman told his hearers to pay up their bilk for the year just closing— particularly their newspaper bills'. The rarest men in the world are rich printers; and ihe brav est those who are not afraid of a dun. _ . POLITIC AL. SPEECH OF MR. ROANE, — Of Virginia. IN SENATE. Friday, February 15, 1839. On the bill to prevent the interference of certain Federal officers with elections, Mr. Roane rose and said: I desire Mr. President, to address the Senate this evening. I have purposely left my own seat, come round to this side of the chamber and occupied the vacant chair of tlie Senator from Mississippi, [Mr. Walker.] now absent, in order to be near my friend from Michigan, [Mr. Norvell,] whom I wished to per suade to yield to me his just title to the floor. He had, on one or two previous occasions, yielded it to others; and but for pe culiar circumstances, I would not have now appealed to his lib eralily. I most sincerely thank him for generously yielding to the peculiar considerations I hate presented to him. lam aware, sir, that at this late hour of the evening— [Here pro positions were made to adjourn, if Mr. Roane desired it.] He said no ; be hoped that the Senate would not adjourn, but would permit him to proceed this evening. Yes, sir, this 15/Z* day of February, of all the days in the year, is that on which I desire to be heard. This day emancipates me from those considera tions of delicacy which, for some time past, have restrained me from saying what 1 now consider myself free to say, however painful it may be to say it. Mr. President a stern sense of that duty which I owe to mv* self, to those who sent me here, and to those with whom I am here associated in political feelings and principles so congenial to my own, will not permit me longer to maintain that silence which, at all times, I so anxiously desire to observe in this au gust assembly. My situation here has been, for a long time past, one of pain and delicacy'; of pain, because on the great momentous questions of national policy which have been agi tated in this chamber from the first moment I took my seat in it, I have been constrained, by every dictate of my judgment, every feeling of my heart, &, every consideration of patriotism to differ totally from my colleague, with whom I had so fondly and san guinely. and I think, justly expected to co-operate on all nation al, political party questions. Finding, to my pain and sorrow, that such co-operation has not existed, I have heretofore, for rea sons which will be obvious to the Senate, to the country, &tomy colleague, contented myself with giving a silentvote. Those rea sons no longer exist. That delicacy, growing out of the pe culiar relation which my colleague has for some time past borne towards our mutual constituents, has been this day removed by the action of the General Assembly of Virginia; and I feel that malignity itself cannot now charge me with an effort to in termeddle in that relation. Besides, sir, my colleague has but very recently fully ‘defined his position.’ The course which he has recently hastened to take, the time which he has selected, and the zeal, to say nothing of tbe temper, which he has mani fested in defining his position, would render a Iqpger silence on my part, obnoxious to the suspicion that I assented to his views, or was incompetent or afraid to utter a dissent. Sir, I differ from him as wide ns the poles; and, in expressing that dissent, I take leave, in his own strong language, to say that 1 Zoo am an “unterrified Senator of the unterrified Common wealth of Virginia,” and mean this evening with the blessing of God, to ‘ define my position’ in characters which ‘ he that runs may read.’ There shall be no doubt about it; no equivo cation, no mental reservation, no non-committalism, shall with my consent, obscure it. I define it, sir, not because I believe that a human being who knows me well can doubt it, but be cause those who never knew me, and those who are to come after me, when adverting to this memorable chapter in our na tional history, in which it_ha§_beep my.destiny 10 hear a part. might, ppraHv»nturp, draw improper inferences from my total silence? Ido not object, sir, to the time my colleague has selected to define his position. The General Assembly of Vir ginia, my immediate constituents, and whose servant I am, are now in session, and watching with a scrutinizing eye our deli berations in this chamber. To that Legislature—to a Whig Legislature, as it has been reputed to be—l boldly define my position. In these days, when novelty and change are all the rage, I can have no hope that the definition /shall give can carry with it the pleasure which that given by mv colleague will convey to those for whom it was intended. Os this lam certain, that it will lack one of the best ingredients of every pleasure—surprise! I dare say that my position will be found to be the same plain, old fashioned, and I would fain believe, straightforward one which I have held from the first moment that I entered into the service of the people, /have no high land fling to throw off, no ground and lofty tumbling with which to amuse, and no brilliant somerset with which todelight and astonish any person. Mr. President, if I should speak less of the bill which is the immediate subject of deliberation for the Senate, than of other matters, 1 find my apology and excuse in the many examples which have been set me in this chamber, and in the comity invariably extended by the Senate to its members. With this introduction, and with a view that I should not seem to have been inattentive to the important, the vital bill now on your table, I beg leave to make a few re marks in regard to it. Sir, I agree with my colleague in regard to that bill, only so far as he represents it to be one of great and of pervading im portance. None could be more s<». I might well leave the report of the Committee on the Judiciary, w hich has, in a mas terly manner, exposed the dangers of this bill, to the luminous speech of its author, the honorable Senator from New Jersey, (Mr. Wall,) in defence of its positions; and the bill itself, and the arguments in its favor, to the masterly, and, in my opinion, unanswerable speech of the honorable Senator from Pennsyl vania, (Mr. Buchanan.) Ant' thing from me now, would be but a vain attempt to ‘add a perfume to the violet.’ But, sir, 1 differ so totally and entirely from my colleague on this ques tion. that I cannot, and w ill not, forbear to notice some of his points. And, sir, first and foremost, I beg leave to say, that I utterly differ from him in the doctrine he urges in defence of this bill, and has often pressed on other occasions—of the ‘du ty of the Government to take care of the people.’ Sir, I re pudiate and utterly deny any such doctrine. It is at war with the genius of our institutions—it is at war with the spirit of the Constitution—it is at war with all my observation and under standing of the practical operation of our Government, from the year 1789, to the present moment. It was the intention of those who framed it, to make this, as nearly as possible, a Gov ernment of the people, identified with them, and finding its on ly support in their virtue, affections, intelligence, and wisdom. The doctrine, sir, that it is the duty of the Government to take care of the people, is a doctrine much better suited to that coun try which has a 'king that can do no wrong,' and a legislature that is ‘ omnipotent,' thjn to this country, where all the power of the Government is granted by the people; and that power not specifically granted, is specially reserved to them. Sir, England has been glorified in this chamber, and held up as the fountain of our liberty, and the proper model for our imitation. I will, by and by, touch upon that view taken by my colleague, for the pre sent 1 will only remark on this one great essential difference be tween the liberty of the people of England and this country. It is this: That all the liberty w hich the people of England enjoy, is by grants forced and extorted from their Government, whilst all the power possessed by the of America, has been cautiously and sparingly granted by the people, who retain to themselves all that is not plainly and clearly granted’. Sir, I ac knowledge not this doctrine of the Government to take care of the people. There is no knowing the dangers and excesses to which it might not lead. I adopt as my creed, precisely the reverse of such a doctrine, and say that it is the duty of the people to take care of their Government. The Govern ment belongs to them, and not they to the Government. So much, sir, hastily for this point. Sir, what is the bill on your table? It proposes to make it highly penal for certain persons holding offices under the Gen eral Government to give their opinion, except by a vote at the polls, about any public election whatever, whether for the Gen eral or State Governments!! And this bill is ndvocated by my colleague ! Sir, Ido most cordially agree with tny honor* Able friend from Pennsylvania, (Mr. Buchanan) when he calls it a gag law, and pronounces' it to be worse than the “sedition law.” That law went to abridge the freedom of the press, P. L. KO R INSON, PROPRIETOR. and permitted the truth to be given in evidence, and this goes directly and openly “to abridge the freedom and liberty of speech, which is so sacredly guarded by the Constitution.— “ None of these enumerated office holders,” says the bill, “ shall persuade or dissuade any elector to give, or not to give, a vote I” Persuade, sir, means to advise, and advice is most frequently the mere expression of opinion. And, sir, we are told that one hundred thousand freeman of America are to be put tinder the ban of this odious law, and subji cted to the surveillance of the million of base informers who, in t’Z.are to be rewaydeed with money for eavesdropping, and distorting and reporting the generous impulses of the freemen of your States, to whom alo l e is left the power to legislate on the great right of suffrage. There is not a State in this Union that has not legislated on it; that has not passed laws to protect its free dom, and to punish its abgs'. But, sir, why is it that this bill has not embraced all the offi cers of the General Government? Why has it omitted the highest, who, from their station, their talent, and frequently their wealth, might be supposed to have infiuence on their coun trymen? It has availed those who, its advocates say, owe their bread to the Government. Yes, sir, we have heard agreat deal about custom-house officers, about weighers and gusrgera and tidewaiters, as if their “persuasion” or “dissuasion” was to control the destinies of elections. Sir, when we see men fil ling the second most elevated station in vfee world interfering in elections nay, sir, in endeavoring promote their own, to the ' ery highest station, it is mockery indeed to pass a law to muzzle, to gag and silence weighers, guagers, tidewaiters, and quilldrivers! ! And at last, sir, what is. or has ever been, the power and influence of these “ legions,’* these “ Pretorian bands,” as my colleague calls them ? In the rilies, where Government officers are most numerous, the Administration has been defeated. Look at New York, Boston, PhiladeU phia, Baltimore, and Richmond. Indeed, sir, look through out every village even, where “two ar three are gathered to gether” in commerce, and you will see how impotent are allyour public officers against the all-corrupting power and influence of money; and yet, sir, we cannot prevail upon those gentle men who are willing to abridge the freedom of speech of these poor impotent public officers, to aid us in any efiSvrt to rescue the Government and the people of this country from the foul and cjtuel dominion of associated wealth—of monopolies, of banks. But what does the experience of by-gone times say about the dangerous and omnipotent influence of these public officers—these trainbands, these cohorts, and strehj names, with which they are designated ? Surely no one will say that it was by their mighty influence that Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe were kept in office for eight years ! And how was it, sir, that the elder and the junior Adams each went by the board, and were merged, and drowned, and sunk forev er in the ocean of popular indignation? Their legions of public officers were impotent to save them. AH their patron age was of no avail. But why, sir, should Ibe assailing this bill these drtaih, when it is to its principles I object ? Why should I attack it on the facts I have stated, when, if they were all untrue and un founded, 1 should be opposed to it. 1 am opposed to it, sir, because it is un> onstitutional. lam opposed to it because the Congress of the United States have no right to pass anv law “ abridging the freedom of speech.” Nay, Igo further, and say they have no right to pass any law abridging the freedom of election, which great subject is left with the States ; and it is ot the very essence ofthat freedom, tbe “right of freely ex amining public characters and measures, aud of free tmaatunica tion among thepeople thereon.” But, sir, this truth is gotten . DYCr nn, ihe.prgsem Off cion by M view —wtriTT>7~;is Tar as my I memory serves me, was not presented bv anv of the sagacious and bold defenders of the “ sedition law.” That view is taken ■ by my colleague. It is, that the office holders are no portion . of the people, embraced by the provisions of the Constitution, or whose rights are defended by the celebrated report of Mr. Madison! He informs the Senator from New Jersey [Mr. Wall] that he does not understand that great work ; that he has read it to but little advantage if he does not see that public officers are no portion of the people, contemplated in that une qualled defence of constiiutional right! I, sir, like my Ifriul from New Jersey, have also read this glorious document, (hold ing Madison’s report in his hand,) —this little hook, which I once heard John Randolph call bis political Bible—to but little purpose, if one hundred thousand free citizens, (the num ber mentioned by my colleague,) who have rendered them selves respectable enough in their various callings of life, to • become public officers, are at that moment ent off from the great constitutional rights secured, without exception, to all the peo ple! Officers of the Government not a portion of the people!— The proposition is startling ; it is, to me, monstrous ! I haid ly know how to refute it. But, sir, I turn to this sacred pa| er, the Constitution. You will there find that the word people is mentioned six limes, and six times only. I will be as little te dious as possible; but let us look into it. The first time the word occurs, is in the preample: “ We, the people,” &c. “to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and posterity," &rc. Now, sir, it is evident that no office holders of the Government could be members of the convention that created it; yet, sir, if my colleague’s doctrine is correct, that the ojfice holders are’ not a portion of the people, it would inevitably follow that those men w ho now hold offices under the General Government, who are the “POSTERITY” of the then people of the United States, are not entitled to the “blessings of liberty," w hich that charter intended to secure to “ themselves and posterity." The se cond occurrence of the word is in the 2d section of the Ist arti cle: “ Members, &c. shall be chosen every second year, by the people of the several States, and the electors in each State,” etc. Now, sir, in this place the people are mentioned without restriction ; and such of them as are electors, by the State laws, are secured in all the qualifications granted by the laws of the Stale; and there is no law in any State, that I know of—certainly not in Virginia—that deprives Federal officers of any of the rights of other electors. The third‘instance oc curs in the first amendment to the Constitution: “Congress shall make no law abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble,” etc. Now, sir, if the officers ofthe Federal Gov ernment are not a portion of the people, they lose this inestima ble privilege. The fourth occurrence of this word people, in our charter, is in the second amendment: “A well regulated militia, etc. The right of the people to bear arms shall not be questioned.” Who does not perceive that, under this extraor dinary doctrine advanced by my colleague, no public officer embraced in this bill can keep a firelock 7 The fifth time this word people is written in the Constitution, is found in the fourth amendment: “ The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be questioned.” What security have the poor public officers against search and seizure, if this monstrous doctrine, that they form no portion of the people, is to prevail ? The sixth and last time in which the word people is to be found in the Constitution, is in the tenth amendment “The powers not delegated to the United States, etc. are reserv-- ed to the Svates respectively, or to the people." I am sorry,. Mr. President, to have been thus tedious. Who, sir, does note . see from this plain, simple reading ofthe Constitution, that an officer ofthis Government, who ought to feel at least that he is. a freeman, is cut off from every right which this Constitution, meant to secure to freemen, if this new and astounding doctrine rbe true ? But, Mr. President, 1 must pass to other points, as L s have much to say on other matters, besides this bill. My colleague says “he does not look upon the re -1" port against this bill as the work of an individual, - but as a concerted system to sustain the Executive by » THE PARTY!” Strange language this from that source. May I ask him what he means by “the party?” What l party, sir, does my colleague speak of? It is too early for lihr» - to be talking with emphasis about “the party.” Such lan ; gttage may evince his feeling towards the “Executive” he is - so distressed to see teceiving support, but I must be permitted i to say that it can have no further effect. It is “ad captan • dum," and can only be intended to aid in breaking down this s Administration.' My colleague asks the Senator from New t Jersey, [Mr. Wall,] with a flourish, if “we are to understand , that Democracy will bear an infusion of Federalism ?” J, sir, WIIOEE NO. 268.