ft It2,,,1111.,•••••111 • VIMTY•fiIIIFIT . CONGRESSItt 3e ioh /49500 . 1'10'1 . 01 4 'MR IINI*-41EMARM OF MESS 32. CAB AIM 1 1 7BrISTER; • . , • ~.. , 1 ,Nit 33317.3. EarroZt3:—Oblig,6 a Stlostal-; ber. by publishing the' remarks of Messrs. ' Cass and Wnismnit, in .the U. S. Senate ' en the 11th instant, en the occasion of the presentation of u i'petition from citizens of belawaro and PCnOsYlvania, praying fo4. the dissolution of the Union." Is Mr. CASS rose and said : Mr. Presi. dente no man who attends the diecuseinns i in the Senate can fail to perceive the - pro- disposition „which prevails here lo plOl principles,to their extremes. 11 we do not find a massive wall where they Mint stop, eve n foiloW Thorn indefinitely wiry, as mesh rrietapliysical' zeal as any of the disciples attic ancient sahOols of l .bgic. The pro , yi,Sion respecting Or a right of petition is Contained in ono of the amended articles of the ,coristitution, which provides that Cengressshall pass no laWeto prevent the people froth assembling penbcably and pa. titioning for xi:dress of grievanene. Ido not deny that the right thus secured is an importanlone, but I do net rate it by any means as high as the honorable senator j from Ohio fMr. Chase] appears to do.— j Thanks to the wisdom of our forefathars,l and to the spirit of our institutions, the people of this country have a much mere , efficient remedy than the right Of petition' for any abuse by the government, wlietlid er apprehended or existing—the right off action s the right to send you home, and i all of us home, and to put other and better 1 menin.our places, that their wishes may be accomplished. The government is theirs, and the ballot-box is a far better security`l for its faithful administration than this; humble right of petition. In England,l whence the measure is derived, it is the, best means the people have for a redress of grievances ; and a poor one i. is, too, there, as the experience of every day de monstrates. Witha hereditary Executive, 1 a hereditary 1-louse of Lords, and a Ilousei of Commons originally elected for the life of the sovcreip, the right to petition is a bout all that is left to the people. Why, sir, if we were utterly to refuse to receive petitions in this country, it would produce no other effect than to rouse public indig nation and to hurl us from our places. No legislature in this broad e land will ever place any improper limitation upon the ex ercise of this right. But, sir, the rare lim itations which control it necessarily arise out of the nature of things. You would not receive a petition couched in insolent, or obscene, or blasphemous language.— Would you receive one asking Congress to.declare that there was no God, and to pass a law prohibiting the people of the United States from assembling for the pur poses of religious worship? Would you refer such a petition, as the senator from New York [Mr. Seward] proposes to refer this, With' grave instructions to report the ' proofs of the existence of a God, and to add their feeble evidence to the testimony upon that stabled, which is found equally in the Book of Nature and in ilic Beek of Revelation, and which is with us ile:i around us, from the cradle to the gravel Then, sir, if there are limitations to the' duty of receiving; if not to the right of pre• i seating petitions, what are they ? They I should be decent in their language, and' the action they ask for shouldie within' the sphere of our constitutional power.— This principle the senator from Massachu setts, [Mr. Davis,] in my opinion, laid down with equal truth and force. If I understnod his vote, however, it happened to him, as to . most of us too often !n life, that his doetrine . Was better than his prat-, tire. I think, on n testevote crl 'll• ' ,'..,%1• 1 sion, he was among those in fa; or of thej introduction of a pi_,;i•.ort ati!:irr, ..01at wej Could not grant. 'Plc cons:ittal , :.nal ()b..; ject of the right of eetitio, • declared to' c lo be the redress of grievan •; Instead of a valuable right, en appli ion to Con gress to do what it cannot do, reduces it to I,..farce, and is calculated to bring the right — slkinto contempt. If we have no pow ... OurItIO! the prayer of the petition, why 'deVotedA a petition be received ? and I tint not spe4'fitiesblYspent Might be . tion--of petition.e-q it d ,. national purposes. . ~.,. and about Validity, of a doubtful ques. ii'ltti , tres oraoubtlui ~' iieAffer and do differ. serittble. men, ft, But I apetly, l 4: received and coma should w oßplications for the eir - 6., iV4 y an d ti e clearly h °4! `'2 l "---1 ike this ro; "" / . ..nr the am sition is, sir, that we do not know how well we arc off. The sun never shone,, on so piosperous a country as this; and yet we reject almost contemptuously the blessings of God, and seem utterly insensible to the favors .he has showered upon us. Look over the pages of ancient history,'sir ; look rotitid the world as it is ; and ;where will: you find more freedom, more .happinese; less oppression, less misery, than iu this ecemeryl , And }yet we seem from lime to time ready to reject all these elements of: public and private prosperity, and to des.; trey tLis government, the world's Lest hope and our own. Instead of this eternal sys- tern of complainin g , we should bow our kn.cs in gratitude to him who gave us these blessings, and a ho, I sometimes fear, -will strike us with judicial blindness, as lie did His chosen people of old, That we have difficulties at times to en counter but the c minion lot of hdtreini individuel an well as national ; but when these come, let them he adjuritod in a proper spirit of compromise, and the fu ture may bring us a:1 that the fondest as- I pi ration can desire. This petition asks us to take men .sures to dissolve the Union peaceably. It ;professes to come from the followers of William Penn, the great apostle of peace; ;gem a portion of the most respectable So leiety of Friends, whose high moral quali 'ties no man appreciates better than I do. But what kind of a proposition is thisl— t this Union peaceably ! I say it with all proper deference to the petition ers, but I say it emphetically, that he who rexpecte such a res.ult is either already in i i n an insane hospital ef 011611 t to be placed there. He who believes that welt a goy i eminent as this, with its traditions, itss me stitutions, its promises of the past, its per-: formance of the present, and it:; hopes of •, the future, living in the heart's e .er most every American, can be breken up. without bloodshed, has read human nature; and human history to Mile purpose. No,' sir; the Gordian knot that binds us togeth- j February 12, ISSO. er will never be severed but by the sword. ; SENATE.—Mr. Walker, from the Com- To talk, then, of dissolutien, is to talk on mittee en Executive Norniiertions, report war. Both are inseparably Connected, ed with a favorable recommendation, the and the evil day that brings th one will inomination of John Dick, to be Associate bring the other. And what kind of a ware Judge of the county of Crawford. will it be? Such a war, sir, ns this the' Mr. Stine (same) the nominatiou of Jelin world has never seen. The nearer we !Gralius, to be an Associate Judge of th e have been as friends, the more deadly !county of Clinton. will be our feelings as enemies. It will Mr. Ilugus (same) the nomination of have all the elements of civil war—of an George Bresler to he on Associate Judge intestine war. Wherever the border may !of the same county. be, - it will be marked by blood and confla• Mr. Fulton (same) the nomination of gration from one end of it to the.other.— 'Sherman D. Philips to be an Associate Far be it from me to weigh the injuries; Judge of the county of Wyoming. that each portion might inflict upon the , (hi diotion of Mr. Packer, the Senate other, and then strike the balance of evil resolved itself into Executive Session, and with mathematical precision. It is enough i proceeded to a consideration of the nork ee. tbr me to know that ruinous would be theintions just reported. hopes of both. And where is all this to The nominations of John Gra Cies, Cleo. end ? If jealousies and fancied rival in- Dick and Sherman D. Philips, were unan terests, or real grievances, are to divide l imously confirmed. us into two confederacies ; where is that That of George Bresler originated a division to stop? Similar causes will ex- discussion of some length, in which a ref ist ; they are inseparable from human na- erence was made by Mr. Packer, to the ture ; and we shall finally be reduced to' fact that the nominee had been acting in State sovereignties, and may read our latelthe capacity ofsuperintendent on the North in the fate of the Greek republics, so vivid- ; Brunch canal, during the fall of 1838, ly portrayed by the ancient historian ' when certain frauds were perpetrated. Why, sir, it is but a year or two since, After an ineffectual attempt to postpone! the nomination, it was at length confirm on the occasion of a war with Mexico,' ed by a vote of yeas 15, nays H. teat e distinguished senator from South •ft AFTERNOON SESSION. Carolina, Celhoun4 still unhappily , detained from his place by sickness, de-1 On motion of Mr. Packer, the bill to in picted in glowing colors the danger of vie- I corporate the Lock Haven Bridge compa torious generals returning from foreige ny, was taken up passed a second and conquest. I believed then, as !believe yet, ! finai evading. that he greatly overrated the danger, and I On motion of Mr. Drum, the bill to in that there was a preservative force in this 'corporate the trustees of the Montgomery' country which would laugh to scorn the' fund, and for other purposes, was taken up, efforts of military power. And it was but amended and passed a second and final a day or two since, that the other distin- reading. guished senator from South Carolina, [Mr. Horse.—A bill authorizing Jos. Boon Butler,' now in his seat, pronounced a I , to sell and convey certain real estate in : ,pleedki, eulogy upon General Scott foie Clearfield county, was read first time and I the moderation ;re ',Om] lie en- prepared for final pi es sege.) tered the capital of Mexice. The s , :tattor, -- I recollect right, thought he deserved some i Februery le, I H5O. distinguished mark of his counrty's nppro ,ENATE.—Mr. Ko7:izintic her, a petition butiun for remaining faithffil to her inter- praying for a change nr the preeent lecei•! ests and his own duties, and nut plreeng lion of t h e p ene s \ lyeller ,adread. himself at the head of a Mexican king- ! Streeter, ono pr:o, ing I;n" dom. Few men, sir, have a warmer per- e gu e e „ of the tel ofthe Susquehanna sonal regard for General Scott than 1 ' coul e e Bank. have, and perhaps still fewer place a high-' On metion of Mr. Beet, the bill erecting' er estimate upon his services than I do.— , the new county of Montour, (out of parts I He has won a high station among the great of Columbia and lezerne,) was taken up! captains of the age, and he has also won, on second reading, and the first section imperishable honor for himself and forpassed, passed, yeas 16, rue, s 12. his country. The campaign from Vera The remaining sections were then agreedi Cruz to Mexico is among the proudest but the Senate refused to suspend the l feats on military record. But, sir, with rule and read the bill a third time, and it all this, I have no thanks to render him li e, over for the present. for the moderation to which the senator! llousee—Mr. Meek, on leave given, ram South Carolina alludes. Ido not be in his place and presented to the that the thought of such treache.ry chdr, ever ee joint resolutions relative to the that, ic ge . d his mind; nor do I believe i! %Vi:lll44;ton Monument, which were read !