DEC. 15, 1836.] The President's Message. [H. or R. more than the whole army of plunderers who have caused the mischief. And yet, sir, such men as these were shielded at the last session of Congress by the casting vote of the Speaker. And now, according to the argument of the gentleman from Rhode Island, the House has sanctioned all they did. I think, sir, it is time for this course of things to cease. It is time for the people to know something of the conduct of those in whose hands the public business is intrusted, and who really administer the Government. They have been behind General Jackson long enough. I was present when Mr. Van Buren took his position there. It was a striking display of that paternal care which the President has extended over Mr. Van Buren. In the spring of 1834, the President, Mr. Van Buren, and a few other gentlemen, I amongst the number, rode out to the Washington course to witness a trial of speed, (an amusement of which I am very fond, and for which the President had not altogether lost his taste at that day.) It was a trial run between the celebrated Busiris and Emily. The horses were brought on the course; all was calm and quiet until the rider of Busiris mounted, when the old courser began to rear and plunge; this seemed to stir the mettle of Old Hickory; he reared upon his stirrups and took command: "Hold him," (said he to the boy,)" don't let him run against the fence." "You must break him of that, sir," (to the trainer,) "I could do it in an hour." Turning to me, he said: "Take your stand there," (pointing to a position on the side of the course;) "there is but one place from which a horse can be correctly timed." I took my station with lever in hand. "Now," said he, "come up, and give them a fair start." At this moment he discovered the Vice President, who had come up and taken his position near me; he exclaimed with great emphasis and earnestness of manner, as he flashed his eye from the excited animals to the Vice President, "Mr. Van Buren, get behind me; they will run over you, sir." It would have done you good to see how natural and easy it was for Van to slope off behind the old chief. And, sir, there he has been ever since. Old Hickory would not get out of the way for us to run over him; if he had given us a fair chance, on any stretch or turn during the whole race, we would have run over him, or made him fly the track. But, sir, we have got him on the repeat; the General will be out of the way; he is no game-horse, and we will make a case of him on the repeat. I do not complain so much that the President has fallen in love with Mr. Van Buren, but I claim the privilege of falling in love with whom I please; and this, sir, is the last privilege which will ever be surrendered by man, or woman either. But, sir, Mr. Van Buren is in love with the President, too; and he accidentally found it out. The manner of this discovery is somewhat curious. I do not know this to be true, but it was much talked of and universally believed in this city. Mr. Van Buren was in conversation with a lady, an intimate friend of the President, amiable, interesting, and remarkable for communicating to him whatever she thought would be agreeable for him to tigation. But, sir, will the people of the United States be satisfied forever that they shall shrink from responsibility, hold up General Jackson's character as their shield, and thereby escape a scrutiny of their conduct? If they have acted honorably, we wish them to show it; if those suspicions, so common, so universal, are groundless, we wish the country to know it. Innocence never seeks for safety in flight, in concealment, but rather courts investigation and defies scrutiny. How can gentlemen reconcile innocence with this trembling and shrinking-this shielding themselves under the numerical strength of their friends in this House? This was their course at the last session of Congress. Remember, sir, what fatality attended every effort to obtain a committee of investigation then. Recollect the extraordinary and obstinate protection extended to that darling Treasury-pet, Reuben Whitney. Let it also be remembered that the Committee on Indian Affairs unanimously recommended an inquiry into the abuses of that bureau, which would have developed the causes of the late and present Indian wars in the South. That committee reported a resolution authorizing any two of its members to prosecute the inquiry by taking testimony for the information of the House at this session. But, sir, this resolution, reported by a committee a majority of whom were in favor of Mr. Van Buren, was rejected in the House. The citizens of Georgia and Alabama petitioned and implored the House to investigate that subject, alleging the most unheard-of frauds and abuses. Upon this application the vote stood: Ayes 77, noes 77-a tie; and the Speaker gave the casting vote against the investigation. Sir, men high in favor and high in office were suspected. The agent of the Government, John B. Hogan, gave the Department official information of the greatest outrages practised upon the Indians which were ever perpetrated upon any people, savage or civ. ilized. He was very soon removed, or rather promoted, from Indian agent to be collector at the port of Mobile. And yet, sir, we have no account of prosecutions, convictions, and punishments, which have followed his disclosures. Why, sir, those speculators, or rather Indian robbers, would find an old chief upon his patrimonial estate, where the chiefs and kings of his race had lived for centuries before him, with his slaves and his farm around him, smoking his pipe amidst his own forest trees, spurning any offer to purchase his home; and they would bribe some vagabond Indian to personate him in a trade to sell his land, forging his name; and the first intimation that he would have of the transaction would be his expulsion, by force, from his house! This was common; and not only so, but, under the pretext of reclaiming fugitive slaves, the wives and children (of mixed blood) of the Indians were seized and carried off in bondage. The famous Oceola himself had his wife taken from him, and that, too, it has been said, by a Government officer, and was chained by the same officer to a log. Sir, what else could be expected but that these scourged, plumdered, starving savages would glut their vengeance by the indiscriminate slaughter of the innocent and helpless families of the frontier, whose blood has cried to us in vain? This has caused the Florida war, which has produced such a waste of treasure, the loss of so much national and individual honor, and of so many valuable lives! This has called the gallant volunteers from my own State, and from my own district, who have traversed a thousand miles to fight the battle of strangers; to contend with a savage foe, while drinking those stagnant waters, whose malaria is death, many of whom are left in the wild woods of Florida, where "the foe and the stranger will tread o'er their heads," while their fellow-get it, and therefore thought it safest to jog her memory. soldiers are far away, happy at home with their friends But, sir, he might have saved himself that trouble, for and families. One--ah! sir, any one of those noble the excellent lady flew to the President, and told him youths, who now sleep under a foreign sod, was worth all that had passed. "Ah! madam," said he, with tears hear. Mr. Van Buren said to this lady "that he had been reading much, and thinking deeply, of late, upon the characters of great men, and had come to the conclusion that General Jackson was the greatest man that had ever lived in the tide of time; that he was the only man among them all who was without a fault." The fair friend of the President was delighted. "But," said he, "whatever you do, don't tell General Jackson what I have said. I would not have him to know it for the world." You see, sir, that he was afraid she might for in his eyes, "that man loves me; he tries to conceal it, bat there is always some way fixed by which I can tell my friends from my enemies." Now, sir, Van was like the Frenchman, (though I want it distinctly understood that I differ with him about this, as well as about many other things.) A Frenchman began to write his deed thus: "Know one woman by these presents." "Why," said the other party, "do you not put it, know all men by these presents?" "Vell," said he, "is it not de same ting? If vone woman know it, will not all de mens find it out?" When Mr. PEYTON had concluded, Mr. GLASCOCK said he should, in the first place, vote to sustain the resolution of the gentleman from Rhode Island; and, if the House should not adopt it, he would then vote for that of the gentleman from Virginia. It was, however, due to the administration, and due to those distinguished gentlemen who had filled the head executive offices in this Government, that the charges against them should be specifically made, and not on vague rumor. At the same time he was willing that both the gentlemen from Virginia and Tennessee should be named members of the committee, and have an opportunity of examining every document, and exploring all the archives, and ransacking every recess for information, if they had any suspicion of frauds. Mr. G. then went on at some length in reply to the remarks of the gentleman from Tennessee, which were uncalled for, especially at this time, so far as the President was concerned, from any thing contained in the brief passage quoted from the message. He said he knew that the President desired investigation. Mr. G. was authorized to say that it was the President's own desire that, before his term of service should expire, a strict investigation should take place into all the different departments, and that all matters therewith connected should be inquired into. Mr. RIPLEY addressed the Chair as follows: Mr. Speaker: Had this been a proposition to inquire into the condition of the Department of State, of the Treasury, of the Navy and War Departments, and the General Post Office, with a view to investigate abuses, if they exist, no person would be more willing to join in the inquiry than myself. No individual would be more anxious to enforce the responsibility of subordi nate officers. There are none who will go farther to ferret out any malepractices; and, if they really exist, to punish them with the high constitutional power of this House. Had the resolution for inquiry bad these objects solely and honestly in view, I should have been the last to oppose it. But, sir, the President is constitutionally responsible for the whole of the executive department; the various radii of its powers concentrate as well its responsibilities as its honors upon him; and when I take these circumstances into view, and consider also the spirit in which this debate has been conducted, the position of the President cannot be observed without exciting our share of sympathy. Shall we, at a moment .when his connexion with the people of the United States is about to terminate forever, and all the aspirations of ambition are to be dissolved by age, infirmities, and sickness; when the consciousness of his high and devoted services, which we all know he must possess, and the enthusiastic affection of the American people, were about to cheer the evening of his life, and to gild his expiring Jamp, is it right or proper for the representatives of the people whom he has succored and saved to cut off this departing solace, and to imbitter his last days, by adopt ng a resolution which, if adopted, will sanction an opinion of this House, that corruption and Andrew Jackson have been coupled together? Will they do this without some specific charge, without some definite allegation, sustained at least by the endorsement of one individual | [DEC. 15, 1836. in the House, who will be willing to give his name to posterity as the author of the allegation. In the speech of the honorable member from Tennessee, marked with so much wit and pungency of satire, the allegations are made against Andrew Jackson, as the object who is to be convicted of the corruption which is so broadly insinua. ted in the resolution to exist in the executive department. I am not willing to exercise the high constitutional powers of this House, in the least degree, in sanctioning such an allegation. General Jackson, after a life spent in the service of his country, is about retiring from the elevated position be holds as presiding executive officer of these States, at an advanced age, and worn down by the labors spent in that service. He is now, sir, on the bed of sickness, which may prove his bed of death. God grant that it may not, but that he may live many, many years amongst that people whose rights he has so bravely and honestly defended, and whose prosperity under his successful administration has excited the astonishment of the whole civilized world. What, sir, is the relation that Andrew Jackson bears to the representatives of the people of the United States? From the period of your revolutionary war to the pres ent moment, he has been the lofty, indefatigable defender of his country. In war and in peace, on the battle field and in your councils, his exertions, his toils, and unceas ing energy and integrity, have done as much as any other man, not excepting your Washington in the field, and your Jefferson and Madison in the cabinet, to elevate the character of this republic, to advance its prosperity, and to preserve its peace. His name has been a tower of strength, and under his administration the character of an American citizen, as was that formerly of a Roman citizen, is a passport throughout the world. Ay, sir, in foreign lands, wherever your star-spangled banner dis plays, from the high and giddy mast, the character of our republic, under the agis of the lofty virtues of the Presi dent, has that wall of strength that feels ever conscious of the protection of a great and powerful nation. And would you, sir, would this House, after a life thus spent, and which impartial history is about to take charge of for the benefit of his country; would they at the eve of his long life, so worthily spent in all that is patriotic and virtuous in the public service; would they pursue him with insinuations that corruption, with its blighting mildew, had found entrance into the bosom of Jackson's more than Roman virtue? If this House institutes the inquiry, it sanctions the charge; and will they, without any specific allegations, just at the close of General Jackson's career, hold the fatal chalice to his lips, which should poison and imbitter with the stings of ingratitude the evening of his life? We have had no precedent to justify such a measure. Party spirit has raged and misrep resented all your Presidents during their term of office; but they have passed and are passing off the stage, all with the award of official and personal integrity. Some have not been re-elected by the people, but against them no charge of corruption is found imbodied in the annals of the country. Nor does any American citizen, at even this lapse of time, impeach their integrity; no one charges them with wilful or wanton corruption, while administering the affairs of the Commonwealth. The only allegations made against them, as they quit the scene of their labors, of their glories, and their services, were, that a distinguished member, formerly from Virginia, accused Mr. Jefferson of retiring with a po litical falsehood in his mouth; and an equally distinguished member from Massachusetts moved his solitary vote to impeach Mr. Madison. I have no doubt, sir, after the excitement of party was over, both of these gentlemen regretted these allegations. The charges and never will affect the great patriarch of liberty, the never have author of the declaration of independence, or his equally illustrious friend, the founder and champion of our constitution. The one unfurled to the world the principles of popular government; the other, more than any man, connected liberty with law-secured an equality of political rights, by securing to society the fruits of labor. Wherever oppressed man rises to resist the oppressor, the declaration drawn up by Thomas Jefferson is invoked. Wherever constitutional law is appealed to, to secure those rights, the political writings of James Madison form the pure fountains of living water which diffuse liberty and tranquillity amongst the nations. Together, locked hand in hand, they are working their silent way, and they have planted that school of political liberty, of which this republic may arrogate to itself, through their exertions, the being the founder. [H. OF R. legations, either personal or as the constitutional head of the Government, against their veteran chief. Those brave men who followed his banner through the Creek nation, and on the plains of New Orleans, with the citizen soldiers of Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana, are not to prove so recreant to Andrew Jackson, and so un. faithful to themselves, as to imbitter the remnant of his days with so unjust an accusation. And what are all the allegations that the honorable member adduces to justify the exercise of the high constitutional power of this House? That the President, in a conversation with a friend, had remarked that Mr. Bell, another member from Tennessee, had stated lies about him, and that "Peyton could tell twenty lies to Bell's one.' Now, sir, what were the facts in the case? The honorable members from Tennessee at the last session had indulged in pretty severe censures upon the President's administration. In conversation with his neighbors, according to this statement, in naturally vindicating himself, he had pretty warmly recriminated. I think the language that he made use of, as is usual on such occasions, must have undergone, in the course of its gossip, some version before it reached ears of the honorable member; for it is not the language of that delicate and manly bearing which all know mark the character of Andrew Jackson. At any rate, is a mere controversy in an election, where the President and the honorable members from Tennes→ see, in the exercise of their constitutional rights, supported different candidates, to be the basis of an inquisitorial examination, on the part of this House, into the corduct of the executive departments? Republics have been accused of being ungrateful. Aristides was ostracised for being called the Just, and Themistocles banished, after saving his country from desolation. The authors of these acts have not transmitted their names to posterity. How keen would be the reproaches of the history of the last two thousand years, how withering their infamy, if they had not escaped by this silence of history. General Jackson has been doomed to meet the same ingratitude, after preventing the dismemberment of our republic, after rescuing the fair and fertile fields of the State which I have the honor to represent. There, sir, helpless age and tender youth, and all the charms of refinement and beauty, were protected by his hand. There, sir, was effected one of those signal deliverances of a people which has already caused the plains of New Orleans to rank with Marathon Again: the honorable member alleges that this House and Platea, reflecting all its bright lustre upon the army refused to institute an inquiry into frauds that were perof liberty that fought under him, and sending all its petrated upon the Indians of Alabama, by the citizens of glowing light throughout the world, to elevate the char- that State, in the sales of their lands to individuals. When acter of this republic. Sir, almost at the moment this that resolution was introduced into the House, I had the was effecting, and while painting, history, poetry, music, honor of proposing an amendment to it, referring the and sculpture, were giving greenness to his immortality, subject to the President of the United States. The mothe Senate of the United States were denouncing him in tive for this amendment was, that this House had no conthe Seminole war. Sickening with the same feelings stitutional power to order the investigation by their authat were pained at hearing Aristides called the Just, thority; and, if it had been done, it would have been one the detractors of Andrew Jackson loathed the beau of the most fatal precedents to the rights of the States. ideal of his character. Again, during the panic, that It was alleged that the Indians had been swindled out of same body have impeached and condemned him, without their reserved lands, in many cases, by residents of Geora trial, for an alleged violation of the constitution of the gia and Alabama. Of course, if offences had been United States. How, sir, have the people met these committed, as I know of no law of the United States charges? They have almost by acclamation elected him providing for such cases, they were common law or President on each occasion. They have rallied to de- statute law offences against those States, not cognizafend him. Where, sir, are his accusers? I ask again, ble by the United States tribunal. In a case where the where are they? And, sir, permit me to predict that if State of Alabama secures a speedy trial by jury, and a the present resolution passes, it will only reflect disgrace cross-examination of witnesses, would any person arroupon the present House of Representatives. The peo- gate to this House the power to send its committee to ple will come to the rescue, and expunge the resolution make an ex parte investigation, to hold up its citizens as from this House, as I trust they are about expunging a malefactors, without being heard, without the privilege former one from the Senate. The whole future history of counsel, and the cross-examining of witnesses? Supof the country will hold up in proud relief their old chief, pose, sir, that, in obtaining the charter of a bank in a sans peur and sans reproche, and the ingratitude of this neighboring State, respectable citizens should be acHouse in pursuing him with the odious charge of corrup-cused of fraud and bribery, an offence that is punishable tion, even upon the bed of sickness and of death, when I do not believe there can be a member here who conscientiously believes that Andrew Jackson ever was, in thought, word, or deed, unfaithful or inimical to the interests of this country. I regret that the honorable member from Tennessee should have been so excited by a warm election contest as to urge, upon such trivial grounds as he has alleged, so grave an inquiry into the corrupt conduct of the executive departments. The State of Tennessee has been reared under the fostering and paternal care of Andrew Jackson. He has done more than any other man to elevate and form its character. Intelligent, chivalric, patriotic, and virtuous, they will be the last portion of the people of the United States to sanction al by the common law of that State, does this House, sir, possess the power to trample upon State rights, and send its committee of inquisition into the halls of the State Legislature, to hunt up ex parte testimony as its basis, and to hunt down all that is respectable and venerable in the character of its citizens, to condemn them unheard, without grand juries or petit juries, and draw up a withering report, that would blast them as far as our language extended, before they had an opportunity of defending themselves? If this power had been exercised by the original resolutions of last session, like the Council of Ten at Venice, or the Holy Inquisition of Spain, it would have sung the requiem of public liberty, and broken down the whole penal jurisdiction of the independent States. And I feel peculiar personal con II. OF R.] The President's Message. [DEC. 15, 1836. solation in being the means of arresting the progress of dren. Often are time and space annihilated, and the a measure so fraught with disastrous consequences. years of his pilgrimage recalled to the desperate conThe subject was referred to the President, who was di- flict; and in those rural fetes, which none knows better rected to investigate into the cases of fraud. From the how to grace with refinement and beauty than the gal character of the agent employed by the President, (Gen-lant Frank of our sunny clime, the revered name of An eral Hogan,) I feel confident, from my knowledge of the man, that the duty has been faithfully attended to; and if, as the honorable member suggests, he has received the collectorship of Mobile, it cannot have been conferred upon a more deserving or more intelligent citizen, or one who has more gallantly defended his country during the gloomiest period of the late war.* drew Jackson is never forgotten, and the choicest of Heaven's blessings are invoked upon the patriot's head. Mr. PEYTON rose and said: Mr. Speaker: The gentleman from Louisiana has charged me with assailing the President's measures, and to that cause he ascribes the excited state of feeling under which he spoke while in Tennessee. My opposition to the measures of the President! I defy that gentleman to point to one of the great measures of General Jackson's administration which I had not supported, unless he claims the election of Mr. Van Buren as one of those measures. If so, I did oppose that measure, and will ever be found in opposition to such an executive meas ure. But, sir, has any man the boldness, the hardihood, whatever may have been his motives of action, to avow such a doctrine upon this floor? The gentleman speaks of Tennessee in connexion with the ingratitude of republics," and expresses a "hope that the people of that State will yet learn to appreciate the character and ser vices of General Jackson." This charge against Tennessee, of ingratitude to the President, is not original The honorable member has also referred to the Secretary of the Treasury as being embraced in the general allegation of corruption. Sir, the lofty character of Levi Woodbury is too well known to this House and to this nation to require any comment from me. Born, reared, and educated, amidst the granite mountains of my native State, his stern and sterling virtues had already carried him to the highest honors of New Hampshire, when, in the midst of the panic battle, he was called to the arduous duties of the Treasury of the United States. New England may justly feel proud of the high character which he has reflected back upon his native land. And let me ask, what inducement to corruption can there be on the part of Levi Woodbury? There has been no specific charge against him; not a whis-with the gentleman, [General RIPLEY.] It has been per of prejudice that he has done any thing to forfeit his exalted character. He is affluent in his personal situation, with every thing to make him happy in domestic life; and, above all, principles of the most stern and unbending integrity are interwoven with his nature. The only allegation insinuated against him is, that in the exercise of his duty, imposed by a law passed by this House, he is compelled to transact official business with the agent of the deposite banks. That agent is no officer of this Government; we have no constitutional power over him. He has been assailed by the severest epithets of party. He has been employed by the deposite banks, many of them in opposition to the administration, to attend to their business with the Treasury. For my own part, I do not learn any specific charges with which he is accused. And I have no doubt that the President, when he gave him the character which the honorable member states that he did at Jonesborough, came to the honest and conscientious conviction that such a torrent of anathemas from the opposition in this House, assailing the character of this man for more than four years, would have annihilated him had not his reputation been founded upon the rock of integrity. High-sounding epithets and bold denunciations cannot, thank God, blast the character of any American citizen, unless they are accompanied with specific allegations and specific proofs. On the contrary, they raise in the generous minds of the American people that spirit of sympathy for unmerited persecution which is sure to protect its intended victim, and roll back the current upon the author. I feel, sir, that I should have but unworthily discharged my duty as a Representative of Louisiana, had I not raised my voice in opposition to this resolution. Whatever may be the personal or political predilections of my constituents, gratitude to Andrew Jackson for the inestimable benefits he has conferred upon the citizens of our State is an almost pervading sentiment. It is, like the vestal flame, guarded with intense care, and faithfully transmitted from one generation to another. As the 8th of January revolves its annual rounds, so often does the hoary veteran who shared in the memorable campaign repair to the grass-grown hillock which marks the battle field, and recite the eventful story to his chil * General Hogan served with great distinction in the staff at Chippewa, Bridgewater, and Fort Erie. adopted by him from the lowest source-it issued from the dark caverns of the Globe. What, sir! the people of Tennessee learn to appreciate the character and ser vices of Andrew Jackson! Look at his history-when he first crossed the Alleghanies, a beardless stranger, with his knapsack upon his back, his rifle on his shoulder; no power, no patronage then, sir, with nothing to recommend him to our pioneer fathers but a congenial spirit. How did they receive him? With open arms they took him to their bosoms. They conferred upon him all the honors, all the offices known to their laws and constitution. And, sir, their sons have stood by him in every crisis, in every peril of his subsequent life. Look back, sir, upon the highway of his fame, and you will find the bones of a Tennesseean mouldering upon every field of his glory. And the gentleman hopes that Tennessee will learn to appreciate his character! It is true, sir, that in the late presidential election Tennessee early took her stand. She planted herself upon those principles for which she had battled by the side of Gen eral Jackson; and there she proudly stands yet, firm, fixed, and immoveable. She was not to be driven from the ballot-box. She could not, she dare not, yield her principles, and surrender up her liberty, at the command of any man. But, sir, I wish to set the gentleman right upon another point. He contends that the House, in adopting this resolution, will do General Jackson injus tice; that we who advocate it have already done him great injustice. Is it in this manner that every inquiry, every investigation, is to be strangled in its infancy, under the pretext of inflicting injury upon General Jackson! Why, sir, we have to legislate upon this subject under the terrors of "expunge." Yes, sir, the gentleman has announced to the House that if this resolution is passed it will be expunged. The Lord save me from an expunging House, as well as an expunging Senate. I have witnessed, with loathing and disgust, the operation of that process in the Senate. I have seen the great expunger, [Colonel BENTON,] in the grim majesty of his expunging power, lashing, with the whip of scorpions, abler and honester men than himself to the work; flog. ging them on to make war upon the constitution of their country and the journals of the Senate; and I have shuddered when I saw it. But I saw, sir, last winter, a dis position manifested by the party, I am sure I did by some of its leaders, to encourage him in his mad scheme of wasting the surplus revenue, that he might batter out his brains against the walls of his own fortification system, and thereby save them the trouble of knocking him on the head. Sir, he will never rise, under the weight of that stone and mortar, from the mud and quicksands into which they have plunged him. Sir, I hope never to see this House scourged by so rude and barbarous a despotism. I hope that Heaven has for us in store a better fate. "Expunge," sir! expunge what? We propose to look into the conduct of your "hirelings"--to examine the dark deeds of your Whitneys and your Kendalls, and have "expunge" flung in our faces. But are we, the representatives of the American people, to falter in our duty, and cower under the iron sceptre of some expunging hero who is to rise up amongst us? And, sir, if we but touch one little twig of this great Jackson tree, which overshadows the land, and stretches its branches throughout the continent, we are charged with an assault upon its trunk, and expunge is instantly proclaimed. No, sir; we wish to brush off these sap suckers, who have been drawing from that body its vitality. We have to approach them as boys kill woodcocks, by whipping round Old Hickory; and I have always advised the mildest measures, the use of limber switches, so as not to burt him. There was something in the gentleman's manner, and the tenor of his remarks, which seemed to appeal from me to the people of Tennessee, and to threaten me with their displeasure. Sir, the boldest representative upon this floor is far behind the spirit of that people in their unshaken purpose of asserting their rights and maintaining their freedom. A cruel war has been waged against Tennessee, but she has met the crisis as became her character; she has met the mercenary legions unawed; she may be crushed, but not conquered; she may fall, but if she does, it will be at the shrine of the constitution, in the grave of public liberty. And, sir, I will go down with her; I would not survive her fate. I am willing to go home and meet my people; I have nothing to fear from them; their kindness and partiality towards me have always been far beyond my merits. But, sir, the injustice done to General Jackson by supporting this measure; what is it? We demand an investigation into the agency of Reuben Whitney; we ask for an inquiry into the condition of the Treasury. We require that there shall be a full investigation into all the departments, and into the conduct of the whole army of public officers, who have been engaged in this business of the succession--this trampling under foot of laws and constitutions. We wish to know from whence came this money. Where is the source of their corruption? Where is the mint from which they can send their hireling editors through the country, poisoning the fountains of intelligence amongst the people? How is it that our army in Florida has been neglected, and left to suffer for want of supplies, while it was within a few days' sail of New Orleans? Men starving, horses sinking under them in the swamps-all, all, sir, in consequence of gross and criminal neglect somewhere. Was it that our high functionaries were too busily engaged to think of the armytoo full of Mr. Van Buren to cast a thought on Oceola-too busily engaged in electioneering to think of the galJant men who were fighting the battles of their country? It is in behalf of men whose conduct has been such as this that the message volunteers a laudatory certificate. Sir, I deny the authenticity of this message. General Jackson never gave that certificate. They have written it themselves, and obtained the signature of his name. And yet, with such a testimonial in their favor, they shrink from the proof--they shrink from inquiry. Let us have the proof, sir, and then we will see whether they are honest or venal, corrupt or immaculate. Sir, I do not say they are corrupt; that is just what I wish to find out. I want a strict and impartial investigation. It [H. OF R. is lawful, it is usual, to make such inquiries. It is surely right to investigate our own affairs--to examine into the deeds of our own agents. This is our right, it is our duty, and cannot do "injustice" to any one. 1 protest against the issue which the gentleman from Louisiana has joined. It is not a question between General Jackson and this House; his person and conduct is one thing, and the persons and conduct of these officers is another. I hope that no attempt to crush this investigation on such an issue will succeed; and, sir, let us hope that no American Congress will ever be found ready to expunge an order directing an investigation into the departments. No, sir; this will never be the case, so long as a shadow of our liberties remains. Mr. A. MANN said that, of all the debates to which he had ever listened, this was the most useless. The cry of corruption had been raised against the heads of these departments for two or three years, without there ever having been any specific charge of corruption or maleadministration. He, for one, should be well pleased to see the accuser come face to face with the accused. If there was corruption any where, let it come out. But these general charges were made to extend to every nook and corner of our Government. Why was this? The cry of corruption was raised, but why did not the gentlemen show the act and point to the man who was guilty of it? Who was he in whom corruption had been found? He (Mr. M.) would assert, on behalf of the executive departments of this administration, that their officers courted investigation, and were desirous that your committees should be sent amongst them. He was in fovor of investigation, but the resolution of the gentleman from Virginia contained merely general charges of corruption. He was in favor of Mr. PEARCE's amendment, and would give power to a committee to investigate any specific charge which any member might make on this floor, or which any individual of a respectable character might make elsewhere. But let the investigation of the committee be confined to the particular charge which might be made. If there was corruption, let it be made known; if not, let not gentlemen be convicted upon mere general charges, having no proof to sustain them. In reply to a question from Mr. UNDERWOOD, Mr. MANN explained, that he did not say that he should vote against the original resolution, if the amendment be not adopted, but that he preferred the latter. Mr. UNDERWOOD said that the remarks first made by the gentleman from New York [Mr. MANN] had afforded him a great deal of pleasure, for it seemed from them that the gentleman was in favor of the fullest and most thorough examination of the departments which could be made; and it also seemed that the heads of the departments, conscious of having discharged their duty, courted investigation, because they knew it would result to their credit, and confirm their claim to public confidence. But, sir, (said Mr. U.,) the concluding remarks of the gentleman from New York, in which he preferred the amendment offered by the member from Rhode Island to the original resolution, appeared to me inconsistent with those declarations, favorable to that full and latitudinous investigation, which were made in the first part of his speech. What, I ask, is the difference between the original resolution, adopted by the Committee of the Whole, and the proposed amendment? The original allows an unrestricted examination; the amend. ment would confine it to specified charges, to be made before the examination is commenced. The committee will not be tied down to any particular charge, or to any narrow course of inquiry, by the original resolution. This would be to permit that full and untrammelled examination which could not fail to expose the hidden things of darkness and corruption, if the departments |