In my former remarks I submitted to the House the data upon which I formed the conviction that the proposition of the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. BRIGGS] involved an extravagant expenditure of the public money. If any portion of these data is defective or erroneous, why has not some one of the gentlemen who advocate this expenditure pointed it out? By these data, I am persuaded that it will take from the treasury at least fifty thousand dollars to execute the work proposed. No gentleman has undertaken to controvert this estimate; or, if so, it has escaped my observation. I adhere to my first opinion, sir, that, if this proposition shall be adopted, the people of this country will pronounce it an extravagant expenditure of their money. [FEB. 14, 1835. are ordered to be printed by this House? I accord to the members of Congress a full share of industry. But I am persuaded, from observation, that not ten members of this House will pretend to say that they read any thing like the number of documents which are daily ordered by the House to the press. And if they will not go through the labor of so much detail, will others desire to do so, at so great cost to the country? But the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. BRIGGS] says he is grateful for the remark which I made, that abuses will be found to exist in all the Departments of Government, and that if the windows of either were thrown open to the public gaze, an excitement might be produced among the people like that to which he is The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. WHITTLESEY] thinks now so much disposed to administer. Sir, I believe I spoke without authority when I said that the increased what I said, and repeat it. Has not greater economy weight of the mails has affected the contracts of the and a correction of the abuses of Government been Post Office Department. He says nothing of the kind earnestly enjoined upon the gentleman from Massachuwas proved before the committee. He knows, sir, that❘ setts, as a member of this House, in every annual mesI then made no allusion to what had been proved before sage of the national Executive, since the commencehis committee. I knew nothing of the information ob- ment of the present administration? The gentleman tained by the committee on this or any other point. I entirely mistakes, or, if not, he entirely perverts my based my remark upon what is known to all. The ex- remarks, when he applies them to abuses attributable to traordinary number of ponderous documents which are the present administration. I referred, sir, to abuses published by Congress, at every session of Congress, which existed far behind the commencement of the and which are now ordered to be published on almost present administration, and which the present adminis every day of every session, cannot but load down the tration has labored, and still is laboring, to correct. mails in an extraordinary manner, and change entirely The people of this country understood the existence of the character of the contracts existing between the Post them when they brought the present administration Office Department and the mail carriers. It cannot be into power, and, in changing the administration, it was otherwise, sir. Gentlemen may say that the Postmaster a primary motive with the people to arrest and correct General has no legal right, nevertheless, to vary the the accumulation of extravagant expenditures then in terms of these contracts, and to add extra compensation. progress. I mean not to controvert this opinion at this time. But, sir, when such effects are produced, when the fact is made known to the Department, by the contractor, beyond dispute, that the mail upon a route has accumulated to five times the weight it made at the period of making the contract, and the contractor says to the Postmaster General, “I shall be made a bankrupt in the service of the Government by this great change in my relationship to the Department," it is not in the nature of an honest man, unless positively prohibited by law, to reply, "Sir, I cannot relieve you; I hold you to the contract; I know it is ruin to you, but I shall exact the pound of flesh." Such oppression would be unjust and cruel. I repeat, it is not in the nature of an honest man to practise it. Sir, that such effects are produced upon the mails is also known from the published statements of the Postmaster General. He has said that the loading of the mails with extraordinary packages has been one of the grievances of contractors; and it cannot but have involved the Department in additional expenditures. But, sir, in addition to this, I have it now from one of the Post Office Committee, that there was some proof before that committee of complaints from contractors, and that the Postmaster General had been influenced by them. As I before stated, I know nothing of what was proved there, otherwise than as I have had it from a member of the committee. The matter, therefore, lies now between the gentleman from Ohio and my informant. It is, perhaps, unimportant, since it must be apparent to all that the immense number of extra and voluminous documents, which go forth from members of Congress, does greatly affect the character of the mail contracts. I have a word to add upon the utility of publishing documents so voluminous as those now proposed, and in such numbers. Will they be read? I put it home to gentlemen, now present, whether they themselves will read through such masses of detail? Do gentlemen pretend to read all the documents and reports which Bur, sir, so deep-rooted and extended had the evils of extravagance and unfaithful officers become at that period, a long time has been required to accomplish the desired reform. Six years of the new administration has not been equal to it; and I fear that eight years will not ferret out and correct much that exists, and that is calculated to excite the people, could it be laid bare to their view. Sir, the work of reform has gone on, and nobly too, under the present national administration; but, sir, it is not finished, and the people are not yet satisfied. It is not in the Post Office Department, upon which gentlemen would now concentrate the whole weight of popular excitement, that all the enormities of Government extravagance exist. Let any contract of Government be pointed out, and nearly double the amount will be found to be paid under it for services that a private individual would pay for like services, if necessary to his own business. The extravagance of Government is proverbial. But it is not proverbial that this extravagance has originated under this administration; on the contrary, it has been stayed wherever and as far forth as it has been practicable. The gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. JOHNSON] says the present administration has refused to turn out un. faithful and incompetent officers. Sir, I am happy to agree with the gentleman in one view of his remark. If there is one fault of this administration more prominent than all the rest, it is to be found in this particular. I agree fully with the gentleman, that the administration has been backward in turning unfaithful and useless of ficers from the places of Government. It has omitted to remove, in many of the instances where it might have removed, men whose only aim has been to fill their own pockets at the expense of the people, and at the same time to abuse the Government that feeds them. I believe there are men of this description still in the offices of Government, who are not worth to the public service the salt which they consume. Sir, I say, let the work of reform go on; let the Postmaster General remove the unfaithful and undeserving from the offices they hold under him, and let public expectation in this particular be realized. But, sir, where has he attempted to do this without exciting the fervid execrations of those who are associated with the very same gentleman now opposed to me upon the proposition before the House? Neither the Postmaster General, nor the administration, in any department of the Government, have been permitted to remove any man from office, no matter whether from an important or an unimportant office, without exciting the lamentations of individuals from one end of the Union to the other; and the loud and continued execrations of the same gentlemen who advocate this extraordinary expenditure of the public money. I repeat, sir, let the Postmaster General and administration do justice to themselves, and consummate the work of reform in the public offices, which the people themselves demand. Mr. Speaker, I have but a single remark to add. If either of the two gentlemen from Massachusetts, or of the two from Rhode Island, or the gentleman from Virginia, or Louisiana, will point out wherein my estimate of the proposed expenditure, which I put at $50,000, is wrong, I will become a convert to his proposition, unless it shall be still clearly extravagant. Unless this shall be done, I cannot but entertain the opinion that the people of this country will justly regard such disposition of their money as extravagant and unjustifiable. Mr. E. WHITTLESEY said the gentleman from Maine [Mr. SMITH] had supposed the expense of transporting the mail had been increased by the distribution of the public documents printed by the order of Congress. He did not know the source of the gentleman's information. There was an allowance of 10,000 dollars on the route from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, granted on the representation of the contractor himself, that the weight of the mail had so increased as to require that an extra allowance in justice be made. There had been no testimony taken, to his knowledge, that this increase was attributable to the distribution of the public documents, and it was not probable that such was the fact; for the increase was said to have been on the route from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, on which but a small proportion of the public documents would be transported. The Postmaster General reported this allowance to the Senate, at the last session; but he did not pretend that the public documents added to the weight of the mail, but that the weight was increased from Philadelphia. He reported, the passengers were generally excluded from the mail-coach every day in the week, when the contractors did not pretend they were thus excluded more than half the time; and the testimony before the committee was, that the passengers were not generally excluded on any other day than Monday, and then only from January to May. During that period the mails did increase on that route in a manner wholly unaccountable, except that they were sent upon it, when a different direction should have been given to them at Philadelphia. He was unwilling the remarks of the gentleman from Maine, [Mr. SMITH,] as to the extra allowances for the increased weight of the mail in the instance referred to, should go abroad to the country without a denial of their correctness, as an erroneous impression would be made by them. There was an allowance for postillions in ascending the mountains, which was not particularly investigated. He renewed the hope he had expressed before, that a general discussion of the reports would not take place on a motion to print. Mr. BEARDSLEY, of New York, said he wished to make one remark in consequence of what had fallen from the gentleman from Maine [Mr. SMITH] and the gentleman from Ohio, [Mr. WHITTLESEY.] The latter gentleman and himself should not, he was sure, differ to. [H. OF R. as to matters of fact. The proof that the increased cost of transportation was from an increased amount of Government documents, did certainly fail in the case alluded The extra allowance of $10,000 was on the route from Philadelphia to Pittsburg; and it rested on the evidence of the carrier of the mail alone. There was no other evidence before the committee, and the evidence subsequently obtained did not go to show that the increase was at all owing to public documents. There was another case of extra allowance on the route from Baltimore to Wheeling. This, also, had been made on the evidence of the contractor alone. The allowance had been made on several different grounds, one of which was the increased weight of the mails; but it was not said that this had been occasioned by public documents. There was some evidence of increased weight on both these routes; but he was bound to say that the committee considered it as immaterial in respect to the allowances which had been made. And they had, in their report, taken the express ground that the Postmaster General was not authorized to allow a single cent to any contractor on any such ground. Mr. B. had paid little attention to such evidence as was adduced; because, if the weight could have been proved to have been increased by five tons, it would not authorize any allowance by the Postmaster General. He had no such power. The gentleman from Louisiana, before him, [Mr. JOHNSON,] had said that the abuses in the Post Office Department were chargeable solely on the present head of the administration of that Department. But it was no more than justice to that officer, and it was due to him, to the committee, and to the public, that, although the committee did conclude that he had transcended his power, the declaration of the gentleman from Louisiana should not go abroad without explanation. The papers which had been exhibited to the committee had shown that nearly every abuse, and nearly every irregularity which had been now discovered to exist in the Department, had prevailed also, to a certain extent, under preceding administrations of its affairs. They had nearly all prevailed under that immediately preceding. Mr. B. wished to be understood. He did not assert that these abuses had prevailed to the same extent; but decided irregularities of the same kind had existed previously; and the course then commenced had been followed by the present incumbent. It was, Mr. B. admitted, decidedly irregular, and it had certainly led to a very considerable expenditure of the public money; but not to so large an extent as had been supposed. The practice of amalgamated bids, of extra allowances, and of permitting contractors to contract for many routes in a mass, without going into separate contracts for each route, had all prevailed, to some extent, under the former administration of the Post Office Department. did not say to the same extent; but they had been nearly as general then as now. Whether there had existed the same confiding faith in the representations of contractors as had prevailed under the present head of the Department, he would not say; but the root and origin of all the present irregularities were to be found there: the difference was only in degree. Mr. B. did not mean to impute the slightest want of personal integrity, either to the former or the present Postmaster General; he spoke only of the illegality of their acts. So far as principle was concerned, he knew of no difference in the practice of the two. That more money had been illegally applied under the present administration was probably true, and the evil might probably have been aggravated of late years. He Mr. LYTLE said that he objected to the course that the debate had taken. If he understood the question properly, it had reference merely to the number of copies which should be printed of this report; and yet it had taken a wide, and, in his judgment, an unwarrantable range. Gentlemen had been discussing the merits of the report, before that report was fairly before them. He should like to see it on the tables, and have time to read it, before he passed judgment on its contents, or expressed an opinion on the subject-matter to which it had reference. Upon the question, then, of printing an unusual number of extra copies, Mr. L. said he considered any debate unnecessary, if the declarations of the honorable gentleman from Louisiana were to be taken for granted, who, without any report before him, had undertaken to pass sentence of death on the Department and its head; if they were really already convicted, he thought the time of the House would be misspent in deliberating on the question now before them, viz: the printing of the testimony by which the guilt or innocence of the accused should be decided. Gentlemen assure us that the people are to be enlightened on this subject, and through the medium of this report, and yet they tell us, in the same breath, that the people understand the whole matter, and that Major Barry must be dismissed, and the Department reorganized. That the "whole country believes in his guilt," and the mismanagement of his Department. Why, sir, what stuff is this. The people already enlightened! The culprit already condemned! and yet the House called on to pay the enormous expense of printing fifty thousand extra copies, to show, I presume, that it was fairly done. Why, sir, for one, I enter my solemn protest against the whole procedure. This is, indeed, a new and most unrighteous mode of action in such cases-passing sentence of death upon a man and his whole Department by your speeches, and then printing fifty thousand extra copies of a report, by which it is hoped something may be gleaned out of which these charitable decrees or predictions may be justified. [FEB. 14, 1835. sion which may never be made by this body, when they have the time and means to investigate for themselves? These reports may be antagonist to each other; and yet, sir, you are called on to anticipate your future judgment, deliberately formed, by testimony you have not heard, and a system of conduct which may lead to the most unjust and vindictive crimination of those who may be (as I believe them) completely innocent. Tell me not that the head of this Department is not to be directly and immediately affected by this precipitate and ill-advised action of the House. I know better, sir. You cannot alienate his personal and political identity in this determination. The object is, his removal, his political demolition. It shall not happen, sir, with my consent, without a full and fair trial. No, sir, I want all the documents--1 demand all the proofs--show me official dereliction, and I will vote for its radical removal. Show me corruption, peculation, defalcation, or negligence, and, with all my heart, I will join in the application to remove it; but I must first see and know it, before I attempt a remedy.. There is one thing I must here add--that now, for the first time, the Postmaster General has been personally the subject of accusation. During the whole of the last session (elsewhere, as in this body,) he has escaped unscathed. His character has been held sacred. I avow openly, and with pride, my warm attachment to the head of this Department. I have known him long, and love, and esteem, and revere, his many estimable and exalted properties; and it was a matter of no ordinary compliment, that, through all the bitterness of party feeling, during the last session of Congress as well as the present, when the hail storms of party malevolence and persecution beat about his Department, and himself as its representative, that his person was held sacred; that no harm approached him; that the full tribute to his individual merits was exacted by a knowledge of his worth, from the bitterest of his opponents; and I now dare and defy any man, on or off this floor, to impeach the personal or political integrity of William T. Barry. Notwithstanding (continued Mr. L.) the long services, unquestioned ability and worth of my honorable colleague, [Mr. WHITTLESEY,] than to whom no one more readily than myself is willing to accord the merit of usefulness, and indefatigable zeal, honesty and energy of action as a representative of my State upon this floor; one who has justly earned its confidence and high regard, and made me ready, always ready, to acknowledge his ability, and claim him with pride and pleasure as a colleague, however widely we may differ in some things-to-day he has surprised me, by attempting to disprove the statements of the gentleman from Maine, [Mr. SMITH,] by showing, in his way, that there was no proof of the fact before the House that the burdens of the Department were increased by the increase of extra printing during the last session of Congress; and, therefore, that the statements are fallacious! Why, sir, it requires no proof, said Mr. L.; it is a matter that addresses itself at once to the common sense and understanding of every man upon this floor. Can there be an enormous increase of documents without the indispensable increase of cost for their circulation by the mail? It is a matter about which there can be no dispute. Add to the tonnage, and you must pay for the increased carriage. Multiply documents, and you must provide means for their transportation. And thus it has been, sir, among other means that the Department has reached the point of difficulty complained of. Why, sir, (said Mr. L.,) the ordinary mode in this, and in every Christian country, is to try first, and convict afterwards, if the testimony exacts or warrants it; but the rule is now to be reversed for the first time in this country. Sir, I undertake to say you are now called on to criminate, by speeches and the circulation of reports in unusual and extraordinary numbers, an individual, before the very testimony is examined by his triers, who are, by this motion, to be made the organs of its publication and distribution. Why, Mr. Speaker, the humblest culprit arraigned at the judicial bar of our country, for crimes the most foul and atrocious, is indulged with the time and opportunity for a fair hearing, and a full and complete defence, an ample examination of all the testimony against him, before the sentence of condemation is passed upon him. And is a high officer of this Government to be debarred the privilege allowed the common malefactor? Say what you will, sir, the present proceedings against this Department have tended necessarily to produce the results have named. Whether by accident or design, he is to be the victim. Friend and foe seem ready for the sacrifice, and he gets it from them all, right and left. Why, sir, not wait for the printing and examination of the two reports of the Senate, which, before they were printed or read, (I mean by the Senators,) produced a bill from that body, a bill which has been sent down to us, for the reorganization of that Department? I stand here as a sworn juror between the country and the accused; and, for one, I will not act, by the God that made me, except on ample proof. Let us have it. Not The trouble exists mainly, in my opinion, in the inonly this report, but the two reports from the Senate. creased burdens imposed on the Department by the leWhy, sir, should we prejudge this case? Why act be- gislation of Congress, one way or another, and its wilfore the proof is before us? Why attempt to forestalllingness and anxiety to meet the demands thus made on or prejudice the public mind? Why anticipate a deci-it. Sir, I appeal in a spirit of frankness to this body, if they have not, by their system of legislation, contributed mainly to produce the state of things of which they now complain against the Post Office Department. By the application of what class of people have new mail routes been established; post offices created; contracts made; and extra allowances granted? My answer is, by mem bers of Congress. And I trust the catalogue will be forthcoming before long, exhibiting a list of all who have thus kindly added to the distress of the Department they are now so ready to condemn and execrate. Sir, by the proposition now before you, we are called on to aggravate the evil which the document complains of, that we send abroad. You start a diseased herald to report the malady of which the very messenger is the subject-one of a family of fifty thousand. I am opposed to any new panic, therefore I shall vote against the printing, now and hereafter, of a single extra sheet of any thing; especially where the design is to anticipate the action of the House, and forestall pub. lic judgment. Such printing as is indispensable to the purposes of legislation I am prepared to vote for, but no more. I have ever been opposed to this extravagant propensity of the House. Let any gentleman on this floor turn to the mass of well-bound printed trash of the last session, and say if the load of such matter under which his shelves now groan, of panic speeches, memorials, reports, resolutions, and even names, will not compel him honestly to admit that there is to be found the true secret of at least one difficulty under which the Department has had to labor; but there are others which in due time shall be noticed. Let the House, I say, however, pause first itself, before it arraigns any other department of the Government. Sir, the extra printing of this House would cover all the extra allowances (occasioned chiefly by the action of Congress) of the Post Office Department for the last two years. hazard the opinion. Look at the abuses, too, of the franking privilege. One main object avowed in defence of this proposition is to supply the districts of certain gentlemen; yes, sir, to make Uncle Sam pay for the privilege of getting ourselves re-elected, by franking home any quantity of documents. My day is over, sir, in that way, but I assure gentlemen that I never knew much good to come of it: you can't frank to every elector in the Union; one is as much entitled as another; and, so far as my experience goes, you make more enemies than friends by franking at all; for I never sent one doc. ument to a constituent that I did not receive, on an average, at least one letter from another, complaining that he had been neglected; so that but little good is done in that way. I But, sir, in conclusion, I desire nothing but what is fair and just in the decision of the House upon this matter. Let us have an opportunity before we condemn pure, and upright, and hitherto honorable men; let us compare with the increased business of this Department, under the present head, the expenses, the defalcations, the practices, the uses and abuses of those who preceded him. I wish, sir, and hope, that all these matters have come within the observance of the committee, and that, as they are greatly regulated by precedent and contrast, we may expect to find less guilt than has been anticipated or hoped for, and an equal amount of integrity, fidelity, and official usefulness, as will compare with any precedent administration of the Department. I have occupied the House longer than I wished or expected, and conclude by hoping that they will at least reduce the number proposed of extra copies. Mr. HUBBARD, of New Hampshire, inquired of the Chair, what would be the effect of the previous ques tion. The SPEAKER replied that, if the previous question were ordered, the main question would be on the print | [H. OF R. ing, and that the several motions for different numbers of copies would be presented in order, commencing with the largest number. Mr. HUBBARD thereupon moved the previous question. Mr. E. WHITTLESEY requested the gentleman from New Hampshire to waive his motion for a moment, for a few words in explanation. Mr. HUBBARD replied that he could not do so, unless the gentleman from Ohio would promise to renew it as soon as his explanation was made. Mr. WHITTLESEY, having given this pledge, proceeded to observe that he was unwilling to prolong the debate, but he felt himself called upon to dissent from the gentleman from New York [Mr. BEARDSLEY] as to the origin of the abuses in the Post Office Department, by which such wasteful expenditures of the public money had taken place. If the gentleman had confined his remarks to amalgamated or combined bids, and had merely stated they were received by the Department under its former administration, there would have been no ground for a disagreement between them. There were, formerly, several instances of amalgamated or combined bids; but he knew of no testimony tending to show that they were resorted to to favor a contractor. Extra allowances had also been granted under the former administration, but they were within the restrictions of the law, taking the contract as a data. There had been no abuse of this power by the former administration, that had been investigated by the committee, within his recollection or knowledge. Mr. W. then, according to promise, renewed the motion for the previous question. Mr. CONNOR requesting him to withdraw it, Mr. W. referred him to Mr. HUBBARD, to whom he was pledged. Mr. HUBBARD assenting, on condition that Mr. CONNOR would renew the motion, Mr. WHITTLESEY withdrew his call for the previous question. Mr. CONNOR expressed his deep regret at the course the debate had taken. He had feared such a result, when it commenced, and had, in consequence, restrained himself when last up, although prepared to say much more than he had said. The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. WHITTLESEY] was right in saying there was no evidence before the committee of allowances being made for an increased weight of the mail occasioned by documents sent from this House, on the route between Philadelphia and Pittsburg, although no one here could doubt but that the great number printed and sent out must greatly increase its weight; the gentleman seems to have selected that case for his own use; he should, sir, have gone further, and given the route from Baltimore to Wheeling. The committee differ in opinion with the Postmaster General as to the power to make an extra allowance for the increased weight of the mail, after a contract had been concluded. But did the gentleman forget that there had been presented to that officer many petitions, among them, five, if not seven, signed by members of Congress, asking that an additional allowance be made the contractors, both for expediting and increased weight of the mail, and his own name was to be found among them? Mr. C. was far from wishing to justify that Department, or any other in the Government, in any thing that was wrong; but let its course have been what it might, the practices which now prevail in it might all be traced, not only to the administration immediately preceding the present, but to former administrations preceding that; this was true with respect to gross bids, the admission of which was, in his opinion, objectionable; and the H. OF R.] Abolition of Slavery. same practices prevailed as to improved bids. The House would find, among the documents reported by the committee, large amounts, in other administrations, had been paid for improvements, over the bid made for the service as advertised, from nine to eleven thousand dollars; from five and six thousand to ten and fifteen thousand dollars; with very many others that he did not then recollect, the principle of which was the same with those now complained of. The latter was nothing more than an extension of the same principle and practices. Whether it had been abused was a question for the House to decide. The committee had openly expressed their opinion. Mr. C. would have desired to have seen the reports printed, and laid on the tables of members, before any opinion should have been expressed. The minority report he had not seen until it was presented to the House, the day before, and did not know what it contained. Mr. C. was sorry that the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. JOHNSON] had not waited for the printing of the reports, and examined for himself, before forming and expressing an opinion; he would then have had an opportunity of examining for himself the numerous documents accompanying the reports. Whatever might be charged against Major Barry, Mr. C. believed him to be an honest and upright man; and so the world would pronounce him. He may have erred, and his mode and manner of doing business may not have been the best; but he believed his intentions were good. He regretted the necessity for offering these remarks, and he owed the House an apology for detaining them at this late hour. The testimony which had been laid before the committee, and would accompany the report, traced back the practices of the Department, in some instances, as far as 1805. He need say nothing further, as the House would shortly have the whole before them. Mr. C., as he had promised to do, renewed the motion for the previous question. The call was seconded by the House: Ayes 140, noes not counted. The previous question was then put in the usual form, viz: "Shall the main question now be put?" and being carried without division, the yeas and nays were ordered. Mr. SPEIGHT now moved for a division of the question, so that it should be taken first upon the number of copies with documents appended, and then on the number of copies without documents. Mr. BRIGGS now modified his motion so as to propose that 3,000 copies of the reports of both the majority and minority of the Post Office Committee should be printed, having appended thereto the documents referred to in the reports, and 20,000 copies of the reports without the documents. The question being first put on the former branch of his motion, was decided, by yeas and nays, as follows: YEAS-Messrs. John Quincy Adams, Heman Allen, Chilton Allan, W. Allen, Archer, Ashley, Banks, Barnitz, Barringer, Bates, Baylies, Bean, Beaty, Bell, Blair, Boon, Bouldin, Briggs, Brown, Bunch, Burges, Burns, Bynum, Cage, Cambreleng, Campbell, Carmichael, Casey, Chambers, Chaney, Claiborne, William Clark, Clay, Clayton, Clowney, Connor, Corwin, Coulter, Crane, Crockett, Darlington, Davis, Day, Deberry, Denny, Dickson, Dickerson, Dunlap, Evans, Edward Everett, Horace Everett, Ewing, Ferris, Fillmore, Fowler, Philo C. Fuller, Fulton, Galbraith, Gamble, Garland, Gholson, Gilmer, Graham, Grayson, Grennell, Griffin, H. Hall, Thomas H. Hall, Hamer, Hannegan, Hardin, James Harper, Hawkins, Hawes, Hazeltine, Hiester, Howell, Huntington, Inge, William Jackson, Ebenezer Jackson, Janes, Jarvis, William C. Johnson, Richard M. Johnson, Noadiah Johnson, Cave Johnson, Henry Johnson, Benj. Jones, Kavanagh, Kilgore, King, Lane, Laporte, Lay, [FEB. 16, 1835. T. Lee, Letcher, Lewis, Lincoln, Love, Lyon, Manning, Martindale, Marshall, John Y. Mason, May, McCarty, McComas, McKay, McKennan, McKim, McVean, Mercer, Miller, Milligan, Miner, Henry Mitchell, Moore, Morgan, Murphy, Osgood, Parker, Patton, Patterson, Dutee J. Pearce, Phillips, Pickens, Pinckney, Plummer, Pope, Potts, Ramsay, Reed, Rencher, Reynolds, Robertson, Schenck, Augustine H. Shepperd, Shinn, Slade, Spangler, Steele, Stewart, Sutherland, William Taylor, William P. Taylor, Philemon Thomas, Thomson, Tompkins, Trumbull, Tweedy, Vance, Vinton, Wagener, White, E. Whittlesey, Wilde, Williams, Wilson, Wise, Young--161. NAYS-Messrs. John J. Allen, Barber, Beardsley, Beaumont, Carr, Samuel Clark, Coffee, Cramer, Dickinson, Felder, Forester, William K. Fuller, Gillet, Joseph Hall, Halsey, Joseph M. Harper, Harrison, Hathaway, Hubbard, S. Jones, Kinnard, Lansing, Luke Lea, Loyall, Lytle, Abijah Mann, Joel K. Mann, Moses Mason, McIntire, McKinley, McLene, Page, Parks, F. Pierce, Pierson, Polk, Smith, Speight, Standefer, Stoddert, F. Thomas, Turrill, Vanderpoel, Van Houten, Ward, Wardwell, Whallon--47. So the first part of the motion, to print 3,000 copies of the reports and documents together, was agreed to. The question being then put on printing the copies without documents, it was also carried: Yeas 101, nays 93. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16. ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. Mr. EVANS presented the petition of a large number of citizens of Waterville and Vassalborough, in the State of Maine, praying for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia; and stated, in brief terms, his ac. quiescence in the general sentiments and objects of the memorial, and his hope that, at no distant day, the attention of Congress would be given to the subject; and that, so far as he could tread on firm, constitutional ground, he should go promptly and unhesitatingly. The subject was not free from difficulties, but he trusted they would all be overcome by the wisdom, perseverance, patriotism, and philanthropy, which Congress might bring to its consideration. As other similar memorials had been already referred to the Committee on the District of Columbia, he moved the same reference of this, in the hope that the committee would, at some early period, present a report. Mr. PHILLIPS said he was about to present a memo. rial in favor of the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. It was signed by 1,249 male citizens, who are all represented to be legal voters, and also by 2,643 ladies, of the county of Essex, in the State of Massachusetts. These memorialists, said Mr. P., are many of them known to me to be of the most respectable character and standing. They respectfully and earnestly entreat the attention of Congress to the object to which their memorial is confined. The sentiments which they utter are just, humane, and patriotic; the motives by which they are evidently actuated are commendable; and the object which they seek may be accomplished, and can only be accomplished, by the action of Congress. Upon these grounds their memorial is entitled to consideration; and I owe it to them and to the House to declare that, while I am opposed, from my own conviction of what is constitutional, just, and expedient, to any interference on the part of the general Government, or of the free States, with the exclusive rights, interests, and duties, of the slave-holding States, I am equally convinced of the constitutionality, expediency, and justice, of a suitable provision by the general Government for the abolition of slavery within the District of Columbia. |