The Crisis—lts Awes, and the Way to _Meet It. SPEECH` N, MORRIS, - W;LINOIS In the House of Representatives, JR , Jittery 10, . „ Mr. Meanie; of Illinois. Mr. Chairman: The Presidenttoid as, in his late special mane, that time 'wall ain't conservator; but he negleoted to tell us Giatit was also a great destroyer, and that delays dangerous. The discovery has at last beanin'ade; and apparently to the great sur prise of some, that oars is a Government of force as well as of consent ; that treason is an offence against the Constitution, and that the Government has the-elements of self preservation within it. Its power, horiever, has been sleeping like a thun der-belt in a summer cloud; but it now begins to display its red lines, and flashes and foreshadows the coming ,storm. Set upon as, in the Roman Senate, sae Ommr, whose legions, like our own, were victorious over every external foe, by noon whose ar ose are bathed' in its blood - up to the elbows, and who, lifting high their crimson deg. gore, shout with joy ad, exultation over the reel ing and sweltering victim, and glory in the deed, - it is oven no'w in the most imminent peril, if not hopelessly gone. By silent encouragement and sufferfinwtreason has grown to large proportions, and its dark footprints may be seen all around us. Indeed, the bravest and most hopeful begin to despair of the Republic. It is erivironed on all sides, and Its policy has been shaped and direoted by its enrollee. They have been devising schemes to render it peweriess ; manufacture pubilo senti moot against ; maturing their plane, and intend ing tononsummate. them before the day for Mr. Linatart'S IttatiOxation should arrive. - Instead •Of the Government being given over to him in all its integrity, it is to be given in broken and dishonored tragments. If the Governer of Maryland can -be induced to call the Legislature of that State,tegether—and the pressure they are bringing to hear upon him may force him to do it yet, though he has, so far, resolutely refused, and shown ha posaeased the patriotism of better days— that body is to be induced to pass an act extend. log the juriedlation of tbo State over this District, upon the ground that' the Government to whidli the territory was ceded being dissolved by the withdrawal of States therefrom, it reverts to the original grantor,. Maryland is then to be forced into the disunion lines. All this accomplished, the District will be -claimed as belonging to the South,' arid 'a Southern army will be encamped here before the 4th of Marsh, unless the counter noting:current jest now put in motion shalt Pre vent it. Northern men are engaged in the wham% to a limited number, and are patting the aeoeasion iste on the bank, and bidding them God speed The Northern mind, and' press too, have been schooled as far as possible by this olass to give up the Delon without a struggle, and the old bulk is to be towed ant into the stream, scuttled, and quietly' suns. as worthless. Thetis facts have filled my mind with apprehension and alarm,'-and I, therefore, under a deep and solemn conviction of duty to my country and God, propose to speak at this perilous 'time Never bolero have I been similarly impressed, or had such a task to per. A dribit is upon us, and how shall it be met? is the earneatlnquiry of all. Shall we lie down run ninety, and yield up the Government without a contest vet Shall we meet the question of secession boldly, and as becomes men and patriots? What shall we gain by silent aequieseence in the warmth of the Dieunionists, but additional contumely and contempt,' and the lore of all we hold dear? No thing will satiety them but the withdrawal from the Union ; and the gamer we make up our minds to the feet the better. They have not made, nor will they aceopt; any proposition for a compromise that atft(oonservative man can take. To pause, they believe, would demoralise their movement. and be destructive to them at home and abroad, as has been_ confessed to-day by the gentleman from Virginia: -We have got to meet them with the full knowledge that their purr** to overthrow this Government is settled; and let us preserve our self-respect and manhood, if we lose every thing else ,hly - own conviction is, we should move on with a Steady nerve and unfaltering step in the line of duty. Me who hesitates now is unworthy the name ot American patriot. There must be no halting, no -wavering in the lines of Union men He who is not for no is spinet us, and lot him go over to the enemy at once. Secession has got to be met, not by bended knee, simpering tears, and imp:orations, for the-question Is far beyond all that; but by the sturdy end heroic spirit of true patriotism. We have 'among us, Mr. Chairman, as I am but too fully'eh o rtible statesmen gifted and brilliant, who - deny the right of secession, yet are not in favor of she Union protecting itself or info-ohm the laws.' Such Men are feeding the publio mind on husks; with which it will not long be satisfied. Tao existence of a wrong 'without a remedyls not consistent with the genius of our institutions, and will not be suffered. Be who preaches against the wrong. and yet is not in favor of redressing it, is a worse enemy to the Government than the avowed Disunionist; because he betrays it with a kiss To-day the Union is paralyzed, and lies in the hands of its enemies, a poor, helpless, arid die honored -thing, scoffed and laughed at, with very little or no inclination on the part of the strong men d who ought to be the first to its rosette, to lift up its drooping head and bind up Its bleeding woands • The manly promptinge of patriotism seem to have been suppressed, and all is timidity, doubt, and hesitation- Treason's bold front has alarmed the timid, and they are flying. - Wait! wait! wait! is the word of others. A few states men only have stretched forth their hands to pluck the dagger from its heart and staunch its blood, though the death-rattle is in its throat, and the spasms of expiration are upon it. Per this, though they aro now bitterly mailed, they will be honored by the friends of liberty while living, and their memories will be canonized by posterity. The true moral hero is only discerned in the hour of danger. Demosthenes declaimed never so elo quently against Philip of Meoedon, but failed in the (mention of plans for the defence of his country. What we want now is mot the silvery tongued 'orator, who can enchant by his words, yet proposes to do ,nothing; but the man of will, who is Nonni° the emergency. Unless God, in His goodness-end wisdom, raises, up such sone for us, the iseptiblie is loot. The party that is flushed with victory, and pro poses to.eozne shortly into power,' instead of labor ing for the preservation of the Confederation, are engaged le •sehemes which will impoverish the nation.'- They ge on with their revel 'after the bendwriting is seen upon the wall. • The Pacific Railroad bill, just passed through this Home under the " gag," and in violation of the Constitution, will, If It posses the Senate and goes into effect, and the Government still exists, (which God grant,) involve-us in an increased public' debt of at least P 300,000,000. And this is proposed to be done at a time like the present, with a bankrupt Treasury staring us in the face, and while the whirlwind of emotional passion is lifting the Government from its ' embedment,, and hearing its fragments away in wild naktumnltuons eddies. It is one of the most magnifieeet devices for plundering. the people that have over been gotten up in the United States, and is only equalled in the world by John Law's cele brated Mitalseippi swindle. To me, sir, It is ut terly incomprehensible that rational men will so act, eapeoislly at a moment like this. Now, wo should Michaud our resoureies,and' every conside ration should be subordinate to the preservation of our national unity. A crisis is upon us, as I have said ; and • I propose, lone and humble se 1 am, to address the committee upon it, its causes, and the wayto meet it I have not ,vanity enough to suppose that my voice can stir the fountains of pnblio feeling. If I possessed a power equal to my inclination, I would arouse every man, woman, and child in the land to a sense of their danger, and cause this proud Capitol to rook and shake to its foundations beneath the storm of their just rage and indigoes. Mu. - The lest terrible Beene in Hie executive drama, Mr. Chairman. has been played out, That drama commenced, with " Leocaapton;" It ends with the overthrow.iii the Democratic party and the de struodon of the Government. Who would have -thought, when the old man now presiding at the White House was representing us, -during the Pierce Administration, at the , Court of 01. James, that he would, return to become the wicked in strument of our nation's ride When I compare our peaceful and happy condition at the time of his inauguration with what it now lei and will be at the expiration of his term of Moe, 1 earned find words to express toy abhorrence and indignation. Though he makes a faint attempt in his late mes sage to create the impression that the Government was torn. by-dissensions and infested by Intestine broils when be received it-from bit predeeiessoi, and thereby seeks to avoid the fall maimed' his responsibility; and to dash -the bitter and poi. sorted map 'from the tips; still he faunae ehaoge the truth of hittory, or blur its pages by Mine presentatiees. The mare lose? troubles ingenue bad not - broken the strength of the Democrats party, nor revered' the ties of the Union. They had nut - blighted the radon's young vigor; they had not shrouded the country In the foible dm. pery of mourning, No! He found us united sod Prosperous ; be leaves us divided anti ruined. The track of his Administration over the Government bus been like that of a destructive tornado; like that of a withering and blasting sirocco Of the desert. Be has buried honor and manhood, patriotism and hope, liberty ,and Pieties,- in one common grave, and now affects to mourn over their melan choly and untimely fall. He leaves us a national shrine shattered and despoiled. Standing at that altar where he has ministered with unholy hands, we, who are no longer the representatives of a united Confederation, can hear *obeli% through this hall and through the spacious passages of this temple consecrated to free government the mournful groans of a dying nationality ; yea, we may see the little groups, heafthe ominone whispers, and behold the measured step of those who have congregated here to perform Coolest melancholy rites Over the Union —not, 1 must - confers, with sorrow and contrition of spirit, but with joy and exultation. We see the old flag, whose Bads have spread out so widely over land and sea, rio longer the radiant ensign of the Repnblio; but a thing dithonored—its stripes riven, and its stars dtoured. But the other day, not a ship in the Charleston harbor had it flying' yet far down the bay it could still be discerned waving over Fort Moultrie in silent and solitary national grandeur. Even ithersi however, it is no longer to be seen; but; thank God, It still rustles in the breeze at Fort Sumpter, in defiance of a re bellious city, though it has been ruthlessly torn from the custom house; and post elle.. there, and the palmetto and reptile run up in its place. Thus seems to have been Orli:fleet down in its youth and vigor the best, Government the world has ever known. Yet, - sir, While in view of this great calamity a gloom settled ober all the land, from the lakes of the North to the Gulf of the South •, from ocean to ocean ; while despair oast its darkest shadow ou the retitle mind, and. we were drifting swiftly into the horrors of a civil war; the President, I am told, like a gay arid thoughtless votary of pleasure r bas eat in hisban quet room and looked not upon the troubles pre sent, nor asked, " watchman, what of the night?" Nero fiddled while Rome was burning; and Mr. Buchanan; who mash resembles, Nero as a ruler, rejoiced while the 'Republic was falling into ruin. With the eelteemplaceney of a cold, caloulating philosopher, litieoinea forward at this fearful and perilous orbit, 'and _coolly tells - tie, with speed siontidende;" I Minot responsible for it." I say —the whale Country lays—as Nathan said to Da vid, "Thos art the man;" and your so le Ai w a . Hone and - dentate are but the devises of guilt, I should eorcider .mYself Mr. Chairman, re • meant ta-every ,, Obligatien I owe to my unhappy and distnieted country,- to my children, and my God, if I filled' to step forward now tet) vindicate the tenth,:.,and :Timm- the -reeponstbility wisere it rightfully :belongs, Heretofore, at, each 60714 0 4 of Congrees; Sinee I biers had the honer ens, sea on this do rheve °spoiled , the' corruptions and vaaality 'of this Administration. I have warned my Demeenetiefriends of the danger, and called upon theta , *laid it: 'lleaitte 'thought at the last session that I wise going too Sex, weipp I applied the disseetioCketifer. - 0 o yelbilit WY, elegekded the prinolple of non-intervention, and rebuked the spirit of disunion. - Yet no one attacked my po- Miens or disputed my facts end arguments, ex cept a distinguished member from Georgia, who mime up to the rescue of the President and de fended his Leoomptim _polioy- I answered him at (Moe by producing the President's record; and thus the Matter ended. I stood, and now stand, by What I - then 'aaid; and my speeches. however humble, shall remain in the archives of the Go. verement as the promptings and convictions of a high publM duty. I have nothing,. sir, to take back. If 1 were to alter them at all, I would add to them. It is pow coneeded that, as plain as I talked, and as far as I went, I was not up to the requirement, though far ahead of everybody else. It seemed to me 'that the drifting of events could not ibe mistaken; and that, unless they were ar sesta, we would soon land just where we have landed; that the restate Would be precisely what we have before us. I hope the committee will pardon me while I refer briefly to the record in support of my declaration. On the 28th of Fe bruary, 1858, I said, in a speech I made in this Roan : 4 . The gentleman from Virginia. who ao eloquently add ragged the House the other day on this subject, ap pealsidwithgreat emphasis to the North to go over and help him. Help him to My what, sir t Help him to tram hle Own the public) will ; help him to cover up wrens; elp burn testate Justice ; help him to overturn the fun damental principle' ot self-government. on which our freelnititutione are based ; help him drag a State into the Union in violation of the Constitution, and against the roost solemn protestations of its people ; help him destroy the principle up m which Mr. Buchanan was elected; help him stultify oureelves. brand with false hOod'and shame the expreginone of our pueblo meetings, and disgrace ourselves as the betrayers of our oonstitu entlif sir: we will never help him do that. Come what will, the Northern Democracy will stand by their integrity and the Union ; and if for this they are to fall under the executive guillotine. which is already reek ing with the blood of some of their noblest sons, let it be so. The base creatures who summed them will only liok the dust from the foot of power, to betray hut turn, when they are no longer fed et the nubile crib, But we ere told that this is a pet measure of Mr. Bu chanan. the only one on which he has staked the success of ht*Administration. I should regret to think that the admission of Kansas into the Union under the Lecomp ton fraud was to idled the only lustre on the official life of the kxeoutive. If he depend]. upon that, if the Le comptonites depend upon that, to hand his :name and fame down to posterity, they will find the blackness of darkness hanging over his memory. What a contrast, cur, does this day present to the one when millions of freemen went, with cheerful hearts audio, at voices. to the polls and voted for James Buchanan for President t Returning to their respective homely at night, they slept more soundly from having dieetrarged a patriotic duty They had unfurled their banner on the proud old Demooratie ship, and manned her 14ith officers who they supposed would keep her eleanof, breakers; but she is now driven upon them by Si furious storm ; her sails are rent and torn, her spend are, bending, her ribs are cracking, her dock is washed by high waves, and, it may bo, she will go down into the depths of the sea." SOch Is what I said ; and if truth has ever pone. traced the mist of falsehood and flattery whioh has enveloped the President, he has learned before this whether my words have proved to be prophe ay. !Perhaps be has changed his mind, and de. sires, some other epitaph than the simple record, Leoompton," to be written above his grave If ho liah,not, ,and wants no ether inseription, God have mercy on him ! Ott the 'lsth day of February, 1859, in another speech ich delivered here, I said, among other things, what I desire should be road by the Clerk, and which I send up to his desk for that Purpose. 'The Clerk road as follows, from page 11 of Mr. Morris' speech: " The Democratic party meat ant itself loose from his Administration. and let it float oft se drift wood. We cannot go into the canvass ante with any hope of nucl ease, with its fend and rotten carcass tied to the party it would he hanging to it m a dead weight We might as wellastreot to blow down the wails of this Capitol with our mere breath. It has even fallen se low that these, who bee upon its bounty do it an reverence. We May insane it; we mayralliate it; we MIT patch it ap as we please; but it w be to no purpose. it is folly—nay worse than oily. it is worse than madness, for veto stand with folded arm, and blinded to the con sequences which are inevitable if we adhere to t. A prudent ranforeseeth the evil and halm h himse lf; but the simple pass on, and are punished.' We cannot re trieve the fortunes of the party by any hesitating, sou tier 170110 y. Action, prompt and decisive, is re. crconed. Mr. Buchanan, who certainly let out • that op o f Demoorauo blood, if it was ever in his veins, is Boating the Government into the old moorings of Pede reborn, from whiettrds pow evident his affections have never departed. We have been deceived ; and the sooner • e miknowledge the foot the better. en open confes sion is preferable toe vain attempt at concealment If We 10 on and cry `Peace. Dame. when there ni no .Peace;defeat, certain and inevitable, will be our lot." Mr Mohan, of , Illinois. I also ask the Clerk to read what be will find marked on pages 13 and 14 The Clerk read, se follows : '• l'ilithing of importance he has recommended has sue welded and it is high time that the Demoomtio orgsm ration had italoulated its reckoning, and taken a new departure. -His Adminiatration is not the party. and the distinotion must be broadly marked and kept up. The old Democratic chip • Union,' the ark which has ro long borne up the ocivenant of these (fates is imperilled L and he all hands aboard: and we mar yet rescue her from} the breakers upon which she is beating. If wo stretch ourselvem out lazily upon the bank, and rnanifeat a pe rens indifference, or reokle, s disregard of consequenees, eh* will be dashed to pieties within eight of the shore. end for the want of the assistance we can render. If, however, we seleekthe right man for a commander, one who has great enmities; and not one for his supposed availability, ewe have had enough of that in all con mime./ ineoribe our old principles upon our flag, and turn away from this Administration. as we would from the Angel of Leath. she will ride safely into port, a little strained, it may be, by the tempeat, but well fitted to perform many other voyages. But if we make t o mis step. we may proc,aim as much an we please the troubled waters. ' peace. be still,' and they will rage and roar on, and soon close over the vessel ; then we shall be adrift upon the boundless ocean of uncertainty, with not a plank or eplinter to hold flu above the gorging billows." • a • • * • Mit. Mr. Chairman, I have already trespassed too long upon your patience and that of the committee. I have raid what I have upon my Own` reepqambility, more in sorrow than in anger, and from a daim Deny° of public duty and obligation to the Democracy Of Illinois I might say much in. addition, but will refrain. Ver bena. after all, the Administration is to be pitied for its weakness rather than censured for its crime. One thing is certain : it has but the respect and confidence of Congress and the country, ann will expire ' Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.' I expect. however, to see the Democratic party spring, plateoiX-like, from its ashes. That party, sir, has been the hove of the Republic ; and if it will only be true to itself, true to its integrity and its principles, this Union will - continue. in a political sense, the star of Ritchie hem to the down-trodden nations of the world ; but, if it should attempt ajustification of this winked and im becile - Stinaltnetralion, to thing I do not anticip ate,) I should fear the most disastrous result. Nothing is mole common than for thetie n orile to yeßtidinto public ser vants who have dleappo oh mi m their t expectations ; and the President is not vested Wth that regal power which should Wage him an except i on to the rule . , The beauty aud glory of oar Government consists in the ac countability of officers. high and low, to a cionatitu snot,. l'he President, sir,' has been weighed in the be laves. and found wanting;'and no flower of gratitude wilt ever bloom upon. his grave. if ' the evil men do live slier them,' and • the good is oft interred with their bones,' how unfortunate for him. In his efforts to read others out of the Democratic party, he has not exactly gotten out himself. for he was never really in it ; but he has been the means of the forfeiture of that conk - donee it' might otherwise have continued to bestow upon him. In other words, he has committed political suicide. In his vain endeavors to insertbe Ins name high upon the roll of fame, he has written it in sand, and the Opening winds will soon obliterate every ves tige of it, except the evil deeds connected with it." Mr. Mortars, of Illinois. Mr. Chairman, all I said of Mr. Dahlman has proved true, and my predictions, have been more than realized. In every State in whioh the Demooratio party under took to sustain the Administration and popular sovereignty at the State election, they wero de. hated; and although the Oharleston-Baltimore Convention did not pass a resoltition approving the President's policy, such was Its effect ; and co odious had it become, that we were borne down on the dark and disastrous field of November. I expected nothing - else. Indeed, I am surpriaed thetwe accomplished as much as we did. It would have been a miracle, sir, had we summeded. Only the lattice of our pause, and the truth of Demoorn tic doctrinee, saved as from utter annihilation. We bad an enemy of itself powerful and wily to contend with; but whim rporuited by the Adminis tration forces by addition in the free and division in the slave States, he must have been blind in deed who could not foresee the result. Every. where, all over the country, the friends of the Constitution and the Union pressed on against an nual numbers and , insurmountable difficulties, hoping for the beat, but expecting the , worst. Mr. Buohanan could not brook the idea of Judge Douglas' success, and be brought the whole power of the Government to boar to defeat his nomina tion. When foiled in that, ho brought that sumo power and patronage into the field against the party itself, preferring rather to revenge himself and to gratify his malignant passions, than pro mote the beat interests of his country. Ile is the first President who has descended from his high pot/Alen into the nest-pool of party polities; the only tine who has appeared upon the stump and made a political imseoh during his term of office. And he did this against the party who elevated him to power, and made him all ,Ite is, except the stains of dishonor and shame Which rest upon him— they Are his own. The friends of Judge Douglas expecteti him to carry on his proscription against them ; they kill already felt the keen edge of the ExeoutiV9 - 0 1 ( 0 , which 11.11whiii.ti"arrridhukil and blast atona-ha!d heart;" and knew they *ere to be pursued to the bitter end.- Still they had made up their minds to on. dun it 'all: They did not °spot, however, that he would continue his war upon the party mat& adieu. That was something they had not looked for. gut failinte control that organization, he biome, if poss lbe, snore infuriated, and bore it down, and the Union with it. hits friends in the South say he will be the last of the corytitntional Presidents; they might, .with more propriety, say he le- the first of toe constitutional tyrants and usurpers lie sowe I the seeds of the whirlwind, and now finds himself unable to direct the storm. .The Secessionists, whe kayo hail his ear, to whom he yirtually surrendered the Government, sod with whom he has lovingly, travelled 'up to the very verie of dissolution, now that he stands shivering on -the brink, and refuses to take the last final leap, turn OmarYeen blades upon him, and he oriel to those he has Ahmed for help. Cardinal Woolsey said " Had f bat served my pod With half the zeal t carved 011 King, lle would not. in no age, Have left me nakod to mine enernhis." If Mr. Ituohanan bad served his country as faithfully as be served his passions and his hatreds, be would not now be an object of such universal disrespect and abhorrence. 13one are so oredulous as to confide in hint, for he has been false to every promise, and treacherous to every friend and trust— !, its some ill-guided bark well built and tall, Which angry tideseast out tin desert chore, And then retiring, lett it there to rot And moulder in the winds and ra ns of Heaven do he. out from tae srmvathtea ,f fife, And oast ashore from pleasure's boisterous surge. A wandering, rap, worn, !Ind helpless thing. illerat desolate and blasted scut, 'A gloomy wilderness o eying thought, Ripening, will grotp, as wither from the earth!' One thing, Mr. Miamian, I regret. Two years ago I proposed to bring hi articles of Impeachment against the President. My own 00121110tion prompted me to do so; but I allowed myself-to be persuaded to act otherwise. Consequently, many material and important feats which could have been placed in offiolal form have not been as fully established as they might have been. Yet enough is known, and far too much, for the honor and credit of our country. The fact, sir, is notorious that corruption has been rank in all the gnat:Lave Departments of the Government; that they lay around us • a mass of moral and politloal putrefaction; that from the highest to the lowest they have plundered the paella coffers, poisoned the ohoonels of national virtue, prostituted to unholy purposes the high est obligations of patriotism, tarnished the na tional honor, and destroyed the national credit. No man has, in speech, prated more loudly of virtue and morality than the President. No man, in his medico, has observed them loss. With the evidence furnished by the commit tees of this Hopi, and its deliberate verdict authoritatively expreoled, that his Administration has been guilty of the moot shooking venality in letting contracts to favorite parasites—l will not nay that there has been a drvisten of the spoils, although that is generally believed—and with his own. letter on record advising gush abuse of pa tronage for partisanpurposes, he speaks as though he cOademite ,anoli practices, and claims great ors,idlt andprajoa as due to himself for rebuking them! This is done,"howeyor, .after he has been eenvioted. Deceitful wan t, he pore your sins will find you oat."' As if to add to tlieahao end aggravation of hie pi% at the moment he was le vying contributions upon Wendell and other pub lic offloers for the basest partisan Purposes, he was writthg LO lachrymose Fort Du Queen° letter," deploring the %Wham of such iniquities, and pre. dietingtheir =Mae 40K,kuenoeaupon the al:ma tey ! While we (made= hiduplicity, we taustue knowledge he has proved, by his world the , toith of his propheoy. Ha preaches like a patriot, but practises like a traitor. The historian delights inia variety of characters, no less than the writer of tragedy or faroe, for they give interest to his work. No one, perhaps, attracts more attention than the self righteous ruler who sheds copious tears over the decay of public virtue. In the history of America, Mr. Buchanan will be presented as the proscriptive ty rant, the rewarder of perfidy, the squanderer of the publio treasure, and the destroyer of the pub lic peace. In whatever picture may be hereafter drawn of hie administration, ho will appear in the foreground, the anguish of guilt working in the hard lines of hie teoo, yet with his lips preaching to his countrymen of honesty, economy, Union, and brotherly love! If we had a Bhakepeare to write the play, the American people would mach prefer to see it enacted on the stage than to expe rience, as they have had to do, all the dreadful oonsequenoes resulting from its reality lam wil ling to concede, sir, that we were bad enough be• fore ; that extravagance, folly, and a disregard of those obligations necessary to be observed among men for the preservetton of society, had, to an nlarming extent, taken possession of the public mind; that we had become too much a nation of sordid and mercenary money-get ters, rather than a nation of Christian pa triots, and had forgotten the fearful lesson that hietory has taught ue in regard to the fate of other Republics. But under the reign of this Adminis tration, and stimulated by its perniolous example, matters have grown far worse. Well may one ex claim, in tones of Badness, "0 temportz 1 0 snores !" Dissipation and crime now revel in high places, and frauds end pooulations by public offi cers have become a matter of frequent occurrence, and, even when detected and exposed, they namely stir or shook the public feeling, so familiar have men become with the "hideous mien" of vice. In deed, we may think ourselves fortunate if, with the loss of the Government, we do not lose those atom and heroic virtues which can alone preserve the public liberty, and keep from our posterity the dark night of anarchy. He must be stone blind who cannot see a retrograde movement going on, which, if not quickly checked, will terminate our independence. In this experiment of government, we are not en far in advance of the nations of antiquity that we can boost of our security or refuee to profit by their examples. Bad rulers and unscrupulous demagogues corrupted the fountains of their virtue, and sowed in them the seeds of decay Their fate will ho our fate, unless we are protected by a more energetic and watchful guardianship. Had Toshiba officers in England, France, Germany, or Russia, dents a tithe of what has been done by our publio officers within the last four years, they would have for feited their lives, end their memories would be held in universal detestation. I am thankful, however, to know that there is one man who, though tampered with and tempted by this Ad min istration, could not be corrupted or bought by money. I allude, as all will readily see, to Co lonel John W. Forney, the distinguished Clerk of this Douse, and the fearless patriot, to whose me mory posterity will reor a monument of venera tion and gratitude, if they have respect for an incorruptible representative of the prose. But worse, far worse, remains to be told. Pub lic, functionaries have long been allowed to parade through the Departments wearing the cockade and palmetto leaf of South Carolina, deriding the Union, and insulting Northern Democrats, with out being oven rebuked Treason seems to have been a eure pacepost to Mr. Buohanan's laver. Instead of having these mess arrested and indicted as the enemies et the country, they wore allowed to its high places, and to live upon its money until they thought themselves ready to C01:01101- mato the final act 01 betrayment, and turn the Government over to l's enemies. It was an nounced in the pupora of this city that a member of the Cabinet had gone with the President's per mission as a commiseioner from his State to another State on the businesa of eecesaion. Yes, he ob tained leave of absence from his office fo go on a mission of destruction against the Government he was eerving as a public, funotionary I The bare foot is of itself 00 morodtbio, and the act eo monstrous, that it has not ehecked ns by its very enormity ! No similar act can be found recorded in the history of the world, and posterity, when they read it, will be slow to believe it. Bach con duct .duplicated a few times, and the people will drive us from the Capitol es Christ did the money changers from the Temple of Jerusalem, with a eoourge. and - they ought to do it. I know we did net aushorize the act, but we sit here quietly with out even rebuking it, when we ought td be arousing the nation to a proper Bonet, of danger. Wo shall not be held guil.leas when nailed to render cmeo counts. Clerks worn also allowed leave of absence, receiving their pay in the mean time, while they went about to stir up strife and disunion. Friend ship for Judge Douglas was made a party test by the President. Lecocupion was made a party test; bat it was as nothing in his eight that the stem and stripes should be sapereeded by , the palmetto; that the proud bird, emblematic of strength and free dom, should be strangled by the stealthy aerpont. It seems that a public officer can be hos tile to tho Government, and yet retain hie place. " Can these things be, And overcome us like a summer's aloud P' Can these things be, and yet we, who have been planed as Representatives upon the watchtower of liberty, remain silent, and sound no single note of alarm ? Lot others do as they may; as for myself I shall " cry aloud and spare not " My children shall not reproach my memory, after I shall have passed away, with the reflection that I was too timid and servile to warn my countrymen of the dangers and corruptions surrounding them. Eng lish historians, biographers and statesmen, never disclose the real character of their kings until they bays been long dead. It h only in this latter day that Thaokerity is revealing the Insiness, extrava gance, and gluttony of George IV. The English historians, biographers, and statesmen are wrong. The evil that men do, especially the ovil deeds of high public functionaries, should be told while they live, that others may profit by their example, and not expect to escape. with impunity. God for. bid, sir, that, as a humble. Representative of the American people, I should be afraid to tell the truth. if truth is violent, then I am violent Look around you, upon every hind, and what do you see but the most fearful and alarming indica tions. And the central figure in this scene of gloorn, i7)th storm clouds lowering above it, is James Ruehrtican ; solely responsible for it all. Ilia arms are folded . , and he says, with the sem blance of complacency, • " Thou mast not say I did it And who elm did it? Was it tho people? Was it Congress? The President comes forward in his Into message with a review of hie whole honey, and files a tech nical plea in his own defence. Ile has opened afresh the old wounds, travelled over his beaten track, and repeated again his thrice-told tale. As long, sir, as he persists In placing others in the wrong when the sin is at his own door, so long will I meet and expose that wrong, and stamp his con duct with the die of reprobation. The literary character of his message is good. Its sentences aro flowing. Its periods are well rounded; but this is tho only compliment that can be justly paid to it As a Slate paper, its incongruities and contradictions haverarely been equalled, and cer tainly never excelled. Its premises are false ; its conclusions are impotent; its assumptions arro gant ; its history untrue,and its spirit ;stational. De sees nothing right in he North, nothing wrong in the South. Ile labors zealously to create the impression that the populartsovereignty Demo °racy are alone responsible for the defeat of the party, and the ills that have befallen us. E3pe• malty does he seek to wipe from his record his Le- Compton fraud and folly. I ask the Clerk-to read that part of the message pertaining to this subject, which I have marked. The Clerk rend the following "The Leoompten Constitution, which had been thus recognized at this State election by tho votes of both political parties in Kansas. was transmitted to mo, with the request that I should present it to Congress. This I could not have relused to do without molating my clearest and strongest convictions oi duty. The Con stitution, and all the proceedings which preceded and followed' its formation, were fair and regular on their face. I then believed. and experience hci proved. that the interests of the people of Kansas would have been best consulted by admission as a titate into the Union, especially as the majority. within a briefjperiod. - their have amended the Constitution acoorcling to their will and pleasure. If fraud existed in all or any of these proceedings. it was not for the President, but for Congress, to investigate and determine the question of fraud, and what ought to be its oonsequeno e. If. At the sirs' two eleotions, the major ty refused to vote, it oa,,not he pretended that this refusal to exercise the elective franchise, could invalidate an election fairly held under lawlut authority, even if they bed not sub sequently voted at tile third election. It is true that the whole Constitution had not been submitied to the people. as I always desired; but the precedents me nit. esons of the admission 01 States into the Union with out awl* submission." (Continued To-tnoreoto) IMPORTATIONS (deported for the Press.] I4fo p 1 JANEIRO Bark Floresta, Welsh-6000 bags aoffea 'rhos A Hawaii & Sono. LI ERPOOI.,-Dork Alex Marvin. Bomers-83 orates 1 cask ethw 8 Asbury & Co: 4 cis rode, A A Butler; 00 cache soda ash Bums & Halsted; 1876 racks malt 8 Bald win & co; 1131 bars Iron J Clarence Crosson; 480 bdlado J h tting & Bro; 61 cask. hdw 1 do he low ware A 11 Justice & ern_ 7 es rodeo Leonard & Baker; 2231 bare 307 hdls iron 111.13 Mahon? & Co; 279 do 70 no Middleton & Hamad; 3130 bd a steel 3 do wire 4 belle 3 eases Saylor & go; 3 outs how IN ew.in. Fernley & Co; 61 orates 8 casks mdse 8 11 I iered.Fon & 00; I ease hilw h. ()Pratt A Dro; 3313 bare and 24 - bils'lron W F Potts; 6 casks indite John Steinmetz; 76 es Stuart & Drot 18 no 0 11 Reepo. Sop A Co; 9 do J P Steiner & Co; 6 casks do Vance & Lanese; 72 MOB soda ash 63 bbls oaustio soda 8 & W Welsh; 2 as rodeo Armor Young & Co; 119 ohs .oda ash 60 do hleaoh ing powders Yarue.ll & Trimtue; 19 oases rndee Wray & tiiihlan; 120