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SENATE.]

Surplus Revenue.

and regulated by a known law, at the mere mercy and good pleasure of the banks or the Secretary. But if he will insert in his amendment a clause making the place of payment the test of the notes, we shall then have some rule which all can understand. All parties concerned will know whether the notes offered are at par at the place where payment is made. But, otherwise, no one can know but the Secretary, or the banks may put down to-morrow the notes which, under their auspices, he has received to-day.

I fear, Mr. President, I have forfeited the good opinion I endeavored to conciliate when 1 began; but I have now done. All we desire is, that something efficacious shall be done; that the session shall not be suffered to pass without the Treasury order being rescinded, either expressly or by implication; and I will now conclude by expressing my hope that, in every portion of the Senate, there will be found a disposition to extend equal and impartial justice to all parts of the country, without any degrading discriminations between one part and another, or one class of citizens and another.

Mr. RUGGLES rose only to correct an error into which the honorable Senator from Kentucky had fallen, no doubt inadvertently. He had mentioned the circumstance of Maine's having imposed restrictions upon the circulation of small notes, and remarked that, if he had not been misinformed, she immediately after sent to Massachusetts to obtain a supply of small notes, to put in circulation in room of those prohibited. He begged leave to assure the Senator that he had been greatly misinformed. He had been led into a great mistake in this matter. Maine had, it is true, passed a law prohibiting the circulation of small bills, but it is not true that she had sought a supply of them afterwards from Massachusetts or elsewhere. The political friends of the Senator from Kentucky in Maine very warmly opposed the measure in the Legislature, and it may be that they carried their opposition beyond the passage of the law, and sent to their friends in Massachusetts for a supply of those small bills to which they were so much attached. But he repeated that it was a mistake that such a course could be justly chargeable to the Government of the State.

Mr. CLAY explained. He did not mean to be understood as charging the Government of Maine, nor any political party there, with having sent out of the State for small notes. It might have been the act of individuals. He only mentioned the circumstance, as showing that the law could not be executed, &c.

Mr. RUGGLES replied that he had no objection to make to the remark, if the Senator would confine it to his own political friends. But he did object to the imputation of such inconsistency upon the Government of the State, or upon the friends of the administration, who participated in the action of the Government on that subject.

[JAN. 12, 1837.

ensuing year, as well as the past, which had been used as a pretext for the Treasury order. That state of things, he urged, depended entirely on an accumulation of the surplus in the deposite banks, where it would not remair for nothing, but would be employed, as it had been, in speculating on the public lands. To the Committee on Finance he also looked for a reduction of duties, if that should be adopted as a preventive. The whole subject properly belonged to that committee, to which Mr. C. would move to refer it, if the motion of Mr. NILES Should fail.

Mr. BLACK opposed the reference. Much time had already been consumed in debating all the questions immediately involved, and all having any relation to it. It was time for action. He was prepared to vote. He had no hesitation in saying that he considered the Treasury order illegal and highly impolitic. It was a question in which his constituents were deeply interested, laboring, as they were, under the embarrassments arising from this executive law or order. It had been intimated by the Senator from Connecticut [Mr. NILES] that this measure was to be delayed by the committee, to see the result of other measures. Deeming, therefore, prompt action necessary to relieve the people of the State he in part represented, and considering this motion for reference one of delay, he asked the privilege of recording his vote against it, and asked the yeas and nays. was for action.

He

Mr. CLAY said he concurred entirely with the Senator from Mississippi. All the propositions before the Senate were simple, and easily understood. He hoped the subject would not be referred at all.

Mr. TIPTON also opposed any reference. Half the session was now nearly gone, and the subject had been well debated. He deemed it very important to his constituents and the community that all doubt on this subject should be removed as soon as possible.

Mr. WEBSTER briefly urged that, if a reference should be made at all, it ought to be made to the Committee on Finance.

The question was then taken on Mr. NILES's motion, and decided as follows:

YEAS-Messrs. Benton, Brown, Buchanan, Dana, Ewing of Illinois, Fulton, Grundy, Hubbard, King of Alabama, King of Georgia, Linn, Niles, Page, Rives, Robinson, Ruggles, Strange, Tallmadge, Walker, Wall, White, Wright-22.

NAYS--Messrs. Bayard, Black, Calhoun, Clay, Crittenden, Davis, Hendricks, Kent, Knight, Moore, Nicholas, Prentiss, Preston, Robbins, Sevier, Swift, Tipton, Tomlinson, Webster--19.

So the whole subject of the Treasury order of July, 1836, was referred to the Committee on Public Lands. After a short executive session, the Senate adjourned.

Mr. NILES moved to refer the whole subject to the Committee on Public Lands, and, in connexion with some desultory remarks, urged the great and growing importance of the subject, as demanding such a reference. Mr. CALHOUN briefly characterized the Treasury order as unconstitutional, without law, without prece-part the deposite bill of the last session. dent, without any authority whatever. Its temporary character, under which refuge had recently been taken, was nowhere to be seen; on the contrary, it still continued in force, when the Executive himself ought to have repealed it, if it had been temporary. If it should be now referred, he could see no reason for referring it to the Committee on Public Lands. It partook wholly of a financial character, and its proper reference was, therefore, to the Committee on Finance. Mr. C. said he depended on the action of that committee whether there should be a recurrence of that state of things in the

THURSDAY, JANUARY 12.

THE SURPLUS REVENUE.

After disposing of the usual morning business, Mr. CALHOUN moved to postpone the previous order, for the purpose of taking up the bill to renew in

Mr. GRUNDY observed that the special order of the day was the bill to regulate the sales of the public lands, and it seemed to him that that bill had better be dispo sed of first; for if it were passed in any shape there would be a great reduction of the public revenue, and no occasion for dividing a surplus. It seemed to him proper to take up and dispose of this bill, or indeed of any other which looked to a reduction of the revenue, and they could then see whether there would be a surplus in the way contemplated by the Senator from South Carolina.

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Mr. CALHOUN expressed his acquiescence in the course proposed by the Senator from Tennessee. He said that he should be much governed in the course he should pursue, not only by what was done in regard to the honorable Senator's bill, but also the action of the Committee on Finance. He (Mr. C.) was anxious to see what they intended to do in the way of a reduction. He wished to know from the chairman of that committee, whether they proposed making a report on that subject; and if so, at what time. He desired to make the action on his own bill subordinate to that on the land bill, and to the report of the Committee on Finance.

Mr. WRIGHT replied, that ever since the reference of this subject to the Committee on Finance, it had not, at any time, escaped their attention. The committee were proceeding with it as rapidly as they could obtain information to govern their action; but it was impossible for them to say at what time they would be able to come to a conclusion, or for him to say when they would make a report. This very day they had had the subject under consideration, and had obtained some information with regard to it. He could assure the Senate that every member of the committee was exceedingly anxious to make a speedy report.

Mr. CALHOUN observed that he would be willing that the subject should be postponed to this day week. He wished for all the information possible, and greatly preferred a reduction of the revenue to depositing the surplus with the States. All gentlemen should have a fair opportunity of examining the subject. He must say that, when he looked at the state of things here, he felt but very little faith that a reduction would be made this session, as the time had now so far advanced that there would scarcely be an opportunity of acting on the subject. He had made a call upon the Secretary of the Treasury some days since, by resolution, requesting him to furnish some valuable information which we wished to be in possession of before the committee reported; but that information had not yet been received by the Senate; he trusted it would be at an early day.

The consideration of the bill was postponed, by gene. ral consent, to this day week.

THE PUBLIC LANDS.

The bill to limit the sales of the public lands, except to actual settlers, and in limited quantities, having been announced as the order of the day-

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that there would be no want of opposition to the bill, notwithstanding the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. EWING] might be absent.

There were many gentlemen in that body and the House of Representatives, who were desirous that this subject should be disposed of as speedily as possible; and if the bill should be postponed to this day week, it could not, for want of time, be passed at the present session. He felt the deepest conviction that the subject should be acted upon without delay, and therefore he felt it his duty to oppose the motion of the gentleman from Kentucky. With regard to the melancholy event which had called away the Senator from Ohio, he would state that he had seen a paragraph in the National Intelligencer of yesterday, stating that that member of the Senator's family who was said to be dangerously ill had entirely recovered; and he (Mr. W.) considered that am. ple time had elapsed since the gentleman left the city for his return to it. Mr. W. concluded by expressing his hope that the motion of the Senator from Kentucky would not prevail.

Mr. CALHOUN regretted to hear that the chairman of the committee intended to go on with the bill. He had not the slightest idea that it would be taken up so soon, and had not, therefore, given any examination to the subject of it; he had not even had time to read the bill itself. He deemed it to be one of the most important subjects that could engage the attention of Congress, not only as regarded the revenue, but as it regarded the future policy of the country; and he hoped the Senate would not go on with it until every member had had an opportunity of obtaining all the information necessary to a full understanding of the subject. He himself wished time for an examination, the better to enable him to understand the arguments that might be used either for or against the measure, and therefore proposed that the subject be postponed till Monday next.

Mr. BUCHANAN said: For one, I should be very unwilling to pursue any course which would prevent the Senator from Ohio from speaking on this subject; and so far as my vote is concerned, if he returns in any reasonable time, I shall bear him. But this is a very important subject indeed. I feel the importance of it as much as the gentleman from South Carolina. And it is for that very reason I wish to hear the views of the chairman of the Committee on Public Lands.

Let the honorable chairman proceed to-day, and give his views; and, so far as respects my individual vote, I will agree to postpone the consideration of the bill till Monday morning, and take such a course in regard to it as may be satisfactory to all parties.

Mr. BENTON wished to say to the Senate that there was now one half of a short session gone, and that it would be impossible for them, if they wished the business to progress, to go on as they had heretofore done; that is, to take up a subject, hear a speech on it, and adjourn at 3 o'clock, and so go on from day to day. He was fully aware of this at the commencement of the ses

Mr. CLAY expressed the hope that a bill of this importance would not be taken up at this time. The bill proposed an entire change in the whole land system of the country, and it so happened that, by the organization of the Committee on Public Lands, the only member opposed to the bill was absent. He did not think that the Senate ought to take up a bill of such importance in the absence of a member of the Land Committee who possessed so much valuable information, and was so intimately acquainted with the subject. He believed that the Senate would derive great aid in their deliberations on the subject from the experience of that gentleman;sion, and therefore, in his first speech, he refused to adand as other subjects of importance demanded the attention of the Senate, he hoped some one of them would be taken up, and the bill for the present postponed. Mr. C. alluded to the illness of the lady of the Senator from Ohio, as the cause of that gentleman's absence, and stated that, from information lately received by him, he had reason to believe that he would be in his seat in the course of a few days.

Mr. WALKER hoped the motion would not prevail. About half of the session had now passed away, and consequently there was no time to lose. This bill was one which would be debated, and opposed at every point; and, judging from the sentiments to which the honorable Senator [Mr. CLAY] had given utterance, he presumed

journ, and preferred rather to omit some things that he wished to say than to consume two days with one speech. The rule which he had thus laid down for himself he wished to see applied to all, and when a subject is taken up, he wished to go on with it like business men.

He would be willing to come early in the morning, and sit late in the evening; but he could not give his consent to the delay of business by taking up a subject, hearing one speech on it, and then laying it over. He would remind these gentlemen, who were the friends of the administration, that they not only had the numerical strength, but the organization of the committees in their favor, and therefore that it was incumbent on them to see that the business was carried on without delay. Last

SENATE.]

Expunging Resolution.

session, though they had the numerical strength in their favor, yet the organization of the committees was against them; and when the question was asked, why the business of the Senate did not go on, they could readily answer, that this organization of the committees deprived | them of the control of the business. But now, when the friends of the administration had every advantage in their favor, when the question should be asked, why the business of the Senate did not go on, the public might draw what inference it pleased.

Mr. CALHOUN remarked, that as one of the opposition, and being desirous of as little delay as possible, still he would tell gentlemen on the other side that he would afford them every opportunity of discussing the subject. But whilst he said this, he claimed from the majority that they should hear gentlemen of the opposition patiently, and give a reasonable time for discussion. He would not have asked the delay of one day, had it not been absolutely necessary; and he was not disposed to allow so important a subject as the present to be hur. ried through the Senate without bestowing on it all the attention it deserved.

Mr. BENTON said that he would sit there early and late; and no gentleman should be deprived by his vote of proceeding in the transaction of the public business. He wished gentlemen to go on, keep moving.

Mr. BUCHANAN observed that he was a member of

the party friendly to the present administration, and that he felt the responsibility of his situation just as much as the honorable Senator from Missouri did; and, so far as regarded himself, he, for one, need not be reminded of his duty. He was responsible for it. In regard to this bill to regulate the sales of the public lands, he considered it a most important measure. He did not know how he should vote on it. He knew the evils of speculating in the public lands, and wished much to put them down, but he wished to put them down with care. There were interests of his constituents involved; farmers who go to the West to purchase lands to make a provision for their children, (and he considered this description of persons the most desirable settlers on the public lands;) and those interests he should take care to see attended to, so far as his vote was concerned.

He wished to hear the member from Mississippi, because he knew that he should derive much valuable information from him; and then he, for one of the friends of the administration, should take the responsibility of voting for such a reasonable postponement as would allow other gentlemen an opportunity of giving their views. He had no objection to a postponement till Monday

next.

Mr. KING, of Alabama, expressed the hope that the postponement might not be quite so long as the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. CLAY] wished. He was willing to give a reasonable time, in order that gentlemen might be prepared to express their opinions on this very im portant subject. This was confessedly known on all hands to be a most important bill-one that required to be examined with care, and amended in a way that would give every interest in the country its fair proportion of the public domain, as far as practicable. Now, he was one of the Committee on the Public Lands, and he had concurred in reporting this bill, but it had some defects, and it was brought forward with the hope that, by a full discussion in the Senate, sufficient light would be thrown on the subject to render it as perfect as the nature of it would permit. He was disposed to give the Senator from Ohio, [Mr. EWING,] who was known to be in opposition to the bill, and to all other gentlemen who were anxious to speak on it, a full opportunity of being heard; and he, for one, as a friend of the administration, thought that in all matters of legislation there should be a sufficient and a perfect understanding of the subject. This

[JAN. 12, 1837.

was necessary, if they wished the business to be well done. If the chairman of the committee wished to go on to-day, let him (said Mr. K.) go on, and then, by a postponement, give a reasonable time to other gentlemen who wished to be heard on the subject. This indulgence, though a member of the majority, he would never hesitate to give.

Mr. CLAY said, that although he should prefer that the Senator from Ohio had been present to hear the exposition of the Senator from Mississippi, [Mr. WALKER,] yet, after the manly and independent sentiments he (Mr. C.) had heard expressed by the Senator from Pennsylvania and the Senator from Alabama, he would not hesitate to withdraw his motion. Under all the circumstances, if the Senator did not see the propriety of a postponement till Monday, perhaps he would go on with his remarks.

Mr. WALKER, after some remarks, then submitted an amendment from the Committee on Public Lands, which was ordered to be printed with the bill; and the further consideration of the subject was postponed till

to-morrow.

EXPUNGING RESOLUTION.

The Senate proceeded to the consideration of the special order, the expunging resolution of Mr BENTON: Resolution to expunge from the journal the resolution of the Senate of March 28, 1834, in relation to President Jackson and the removal of the deposites.

Whereas on the 26th day of December, in the year 1833, the following resolve was moved in the Senate: "Resolved, That by dismissing the late Secretary of the Treasury, because he would not, contrary to his own sense of duty, remove the money of the United States in deposite with the Bank of the United States and its branches, in conformity with the President's opinion, and by appointing his successor to effect such removal, which has been done, the President has assumed the exercise of a power over the Treasury of the United States not granted him by the constitution and laws, and dangerous to the liberties of the people;"

Which proposed resolve was altered and changed by the mover thereof, on the 28th day of March, in the year 1834, so as to read as follows:

"Resolved, That, in taking upon himself the responsi bility of removing the deposite of the public money from the Bank of the United States, the President of the United States has assumed the exercise of a power over the Treasury of the United States not granted to him by the constitution and laws, and dangerous to the liberties of the people;"

Which resolve, so changed and modified by the mover thereof, on the same day and year last mentioned, was further altered, so as to read in these words:

"Resolved, That the President, in the late executive proceedings in relation to the revenue, has assumed up. on himself authority and power not conferred by the constitution and laws, but in derogation of both;"

In which last-mentioned form the said resolve, on the same day and year last mentioned, was adopted by the Senate, and became the act and judgment of that body, and, as such, now remains upon the journal thereof:

And whereas the said resolve was not warranted by the constitution, and was irregularly and illegally adopted by the Senate, in violation of the rights of defence which belong to every citizen, and in subversion of the fundamental principles of law and justice; because President Jackson was thereby adjudged and pronounced to be guilty of an impeachable offence, and a stigma placed upon him as a violator of his oath of office, and of the laws and constitution which he was sworn to preserve, protect, and defend, without going through the forms of

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an impeachment, and without allowing to him the benefits of a trial, or the means of defence:

And whereas the said resolve, in all its various shapes and forms, was unfounded and erroneous in point of fact, and therefore unjust and unrighteous, as well as irregular and unauthorized by the constitution; because the said President Jackson, neither in the act of dismissing Mr. Duane, nor in the appointment of Mr. Taney, as specified in the first form of the resolve; nor in taking upon himself the responsibility of removing the deposites, as specified in the second form of the same resolve; nor in any act which was then, or can now, be specified under the vague and ambiguous terms of the general denunciation contained in the third and last form of the resolve, did do or commit any act in violation or in deroga. tion of the laws and constitution, or dangerous to the liberties of the people:

And whereas the said resolve, as adopted, was uncertain and ambiguous, containing nothing but a loose and floating charge for derogating from the laws and constitution, and assuming ungranted power and authority in the late executive proceedings in relation to the public revenue; without specifying what part of the executive proceedings, or what part of the public revenue, was intended to be referred to; or what parts of the laws and constitution were supposed to have been infringed; or in what part of the Union, or at what period of his adminis tration, these late proceedings were supposed to have taken place; thereby putting each Senator at liberty to vote in favor of the resolve upon a separate and secret reason of his own, and leaving the ground of the Senate's judgment to be guessed at by the public, and to be differently and diversely interpreted by individual Senators, according to the private and particular understanding of each, contrary to all the ends of justice, and to all the forms of legal or judicial proceeding; to the great prejudice of the accused, who could not know against what to defend himself; and to the loss of senatorial responsibility, by shielding Senators from public accoun'. ability for making up a judgment upon grounds which the public cannot know, and which, if known, might prove to be insufficient in law, or unfounded in fact:

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[SENATE.

the aforesaid proceeding of the Senate was rejected and repulsed by that body, and was voted to be a breach of its privileges, and was not permitted to be entered on its journal or printed among its documents; while all memorials, petitions, resolves, and remonstrances against the President, however violent or unfounded, and calculated to inflame the people against him, were duly and honorably received, encomiastically commented upon in speeches, read at the table, ordered to be printed with the long list of names attached, referred to the Finance Committee for consideration, filed away among the pub. lic archives, and now constitute a part of the public documents of the Senate, to be handed down to the latest posterity:

And whereas the said resolve was introduced, debated, and adopted, at a time and under circumstances which had the effect of co-operating with the Bank of the United States in the parricidal attempt which that institution was then making to produce a panic and pressure in the country; to destroy the confidence of the people in President Jackson; to paralyze his administration; to govern the elections; to bankrupt the State banks; ruin their currency; fill the whole Union with terror and distress; and thereby to extort from the sufferings and the alarms of the people the restoration of the deposites and the renewal of its charter:

And whereas the said resolve is of evil example and dangerous precedent, and should never have been received, debated, or adopted, by the Senate, or admitted to entry upon its journal: Wherefore,

Resolved, That the said resolve be expunged from the journal; and, for that purpose, that the Secretary of the Senate, at such time as the Senate may appoint, shall bring the manuscript journal of the session 1833-'34 into the Senate, and, in the presence of the Senate, draw black lines round the said resolve, and write across the face thereof, in strong letters, the following words: "Expunged by order of the Senate, this day of

in the year of our Lord 1837."

The resolution and preamble having been read, Mr. BENTON rose and said: Mr. President, it is now near three years since the resolve was adopted by the Senate, which it is my present motion to expunge from the journal. At the moment that this resolve was adopted, I gave notice of my intention to move to expunge it; and then expressed my confident belief that the motion would eventually prevail. That expression of confidence was not an ebullition of vanity, or a presumptuous calcu

And whereas the specification contained in the first and second forms of the resolve having been objected to in debate, and shown to be insufficient to sustain the charges they were adduced to support, and it being well believed that no majority could be obtained to vote for the said specifications, and the same having been actually withdrawn by the mover in the face of the whole Sen-lation, intended to accelerate the event it affected to ate, in consequence of such objection and belief, and before any vote taken thereupon; the said specifications could not afterwards be admitted by any rule of parliamentary practice, or by any principle of legal implication, secret intendment, or mental reservation, to remain and continue a part of the written and public resolve from which they were thus withdrawn; and, if they could be so admitted, they would not be sufficient to sustain the charges therein contained:

And whereas the Senate being the constitutional tribunal for the trial of the President, when charged by the House of Representatives with offences against the Jaws and the constitution, the adoption of the said resolve, before any impeachment preferred by the House, was a breach of the privileges of the House, not warranted by the constitution; a subversion of justice; a prejudication of a question which might legally come before the Senate; and a disqualification of that body to perform its constitutional duty with fairness and impar. tiality, if the President should thereafter be regularly impeached by the House of Representatives for the same offence:

And whereas the temperate, respectful, and argumentative defence and protest of the President against

foretell. It was not a vain boast, or an idle assumption, but was the result of a deep conviction of the injustice done President Jackson, and a thorough reliance upon the justice of the American people. I felt that the President had been wronged; and my heart told me that this wrong would be redressed. The event proves that I was not mistaken. The question of expunging this resolution has been carried to the people, and their de cision has been had upon it. They decide in favor of the expurgation; and their decision has been both made and manifested, and communicated to us in a great vari ety of ways. A great number of States have expressly instructed their Senators to vote for this expurgation. A very great majority of the States have elected Senators and Representatives to Congress, upon the express ground of favoring this expurgation. The Bank of the United States, which took the initiative in the accusation against the President, and furnished the material and worked the machinery which was used against him, and which was then so powerful on this floor, has become more and more odious to the public mind, and musters now but a slender phalanx of friends in the two Houses of Congress. The late presidential election furnishes additional evidence of public sentiment. The

SENATE.]

Expunging Resolution.

[JAN. 12, 1837.

candidate who was the friend of President Jackson, the also in conformity to the principles upon which the prosupporter of his administration, and the avowed advocate ceeding against President Jackson was conducted, when for the expurgation, has received a large majority of the the sentence against him was adopted. Then, every suffrages of the whole Union, and that after an express thing was done with especial reference to the will of the declaration of his sentiments on this precise point. The people. Their impulsion was assumed to be the sole evidence of the public will, exhibited in all these forms, motive to action, and to them the ultimate verdict was is too manifest to be mistaken, too explicit to require il expressly referred. The whole machinery of alarm and lustration, and too imperative to be disregarded." Omit- pressure, every engine of political and moneyed powting details and specific enumeration of proofs, I refer to er, was put in motion, and worked for many months, to our own files for the instructions to expunge-to the excite the people against the President, and to stir up complexion of the two Houses for the temper of the meetings, memorials, petitions, travelling committees, people-to the denationalized condition of the Bank of and distress deputations, against him; and each symptom the United States for the fate of the imperious accuser- of popular discontent was hailed as an evidence of puband to the issue of the presidential election for the an- lic will, and quoted here as proof that the people demande d swer of the Union. All these are pregnant proofs of the the condemnation of the President. Not only legislative public will; and the last pre-eminently so-because both assemblies, and memorials from large assemblies, were the question of the expurgation and the form of the pro- then produced here as evidence of public opinion, but cess were directly put in issue upon it. A representative the petitions of boys under age, the remonstrances of a of the people from the State of Kentucky formally in- few signers, and the results of the most inconsiderable terrogated a prominent candidate for the presidency on elections, were ostentatiously paraded and magnified as these points, and required from him a public answer, for the evidence of the sovereign will of our constituents. the information of the public mind. The answer was Thus, sir, the public voice was every thing, while that given, and published, and read by all the voters before voice, partially obtained through political and pecuniary the election; and I deem it right to refer to that answer machinations, was adverse to the President. Then, the in this place, not only as evidence of the points put in popular will was the shrine at which all worshipped. issue, but also for the purpose of doing more ample jus- Now, when that will is regularly, soberly, repeatedly, tice to President Jackson, by incorporating into the legis- and almost universally, expressed through the ballot-boxJative history of this case the high and honorable testi-es, at the various elections, and turns out to be in favor mony in his favor of the eminent citizen who has just of the President, certainly no one can disregard it, nor been exalted to the lofty honors of the American presi- otherwise look at it than as the solemn verdict of the dency: competent and ultimate tribunal, upon an issue fairly made up, fully argued, and duly submitted for decision. As such verdict, I receive it. As the deliberate verdict of the sovereign people, I bow to it. I am content. do not mean to reopen the case, nor to recommence the argument. I leave that work to others, if any others choose to perform it. For myself, I am content; and, dispensing with further argument, I shall call for judg. ment, and ask to have execution done upon that unhap py journal, which the verdict of millions of freemen finds guilty of bearing on its face an untrue, illegal, and unconstitutional sentence of condemnation against the approved President of the republic.

"Your last question seeks to know 'my' opinion as to the constitutional power of the Senate or House of Representatives to expunge or obliterate from the journals the proceedings of a previous session.

"You will, I am sure, be satisfied, upon further consideration, that there are but few questions of a political character less connected with the duties of the office of President of the United States, or that might not with equal propriety be put by an elector to a candidate for that station, than this. With the journals of neither House of Congress can he properly have any thing to do. But as your question has doubtless been induced by the pendency of Colonel Benton's resolutions to expunge from the journals of the Senate certain other resolutions touching the official conduct of President Jackson, I prefer to say that I regard the passage of Colonel Benton's preamble and resolutions to be an act of justice to a faithful and greatly injured public servant, not only con. stitutional in itself, but imperiously demanded by a proper respect for the well-known will of the people." I do not propuse, s'r, to draw violent, unwarranted, or strained inferences. I do not assume to say that the question of this expurgation was a leading or a controlling point in the issue of this election. I do not assume to say, or insinuate, that every individual, and every voter, delivered his suffrage with reference to this question. Doubtless there were many exceptions. Still, the triumphant election of the candidate who had expressed himself in the terms just quoted, and who was, besides, the personal and political friend of President Jackson, and the avowed approver of his administration, must be admitted to a place among the proofs in this case, and ranked among the high concurring evidences of the public sentiment in favor of the motion which I make.

Assuming, then, that we have ascertained the will of the people on this great question, the inquiry presents itself, how far the expression of that will ought to be conclusive of our action here. I hold that it ought to be binding and obligatory upon us; and that, not only upon the principles of representative government, which require obedience to the known will of the people, but

I

But, while declining to reopen the argument of this question, and refusing to tread over again the ground already traversed, there is another and a different task to perform; one which the approaching termination of President Jackson's administration makes peculiarly proper at this time, and which it is my privilege, and perhaps my duty, to execute, as being the suitable conclusion to the arduous contest in which we have been so long engaged: 1 allude to the general tenor of his administration, and to its effect, for good or for evil, upon the condition of his country. This is the proper time for such a view to be taken. The political existence of this great man now draws to a close. In little more than forty days he ceases to be a public character. In a few brief weeks he ceases to be an object of political hope to any, and should cease to be an object of political hate, or envy, to all. Whatever of motive the servile and time-serving might have found in his exalted station for raising the altar of adulation, and burning the incense of praise before him, that motive can no longer exist. The dispenser of the patronage of an empire-the chief of this great confederacy of States-is soon to be a private individual, stripped of all power to reward or to punish. his own thoughts, as he has shown us in the concluding paragraph of that message which is to be the last of its kind that we shall ever receive from him, are directed to that beloved retirement from which he was drawn by the voice of millions of freemen, and to which he now looks for that interval of repose which age and infirmities require. Under these circumstances, he ceases to

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