H. OF R.] Slavery in the District of Columbia. [FEB. 1, 1836. result is as obvious as if it were written on the wall. not on the face of the earth, but in the history of civilized man-than has taken place before perhaps since the reign of Charlemagne. The progress and the philosophy of the events which have brought us to this state may be readily perceived and stated. Formerly all learning was confined to the clergy--all political power to the hereditary rulers of the people. The invention of printing dispensed knowledge among the middle classes. The clergy could no longer absorb it all. The first effect of this was the destruction of ecclesiastical despotism, which was consummated by the reformation. The next, a war of intelligence against political oppression; but the glittering temptations of power seduced it from its purposes, allured it to its assistance, and used its energies to rivet more closely their chains upon the people. At length, Government could no longer absorb all the tal-levellers here have not yet felt the heavy pressure of ents and acquirements and ambition of the world. Then the effects of the contest began to show themselves. The tremendous conflicts for political ascendancy which took place in the British Parliament during the reign of George the Second were followed by the American Revolution, which was produced by the great intellects of this country, whom Government could neither conciliate to its abuses, nor purchase, nor intimidate. Next came that terrible tragedy, the French Revolution, which was confessedly brought about by the writings of the great philosophers of France. Since that period, man appears no longer to be the being that he was. His moral nature seems to have been changed, as by some sudden revelation from the lips of the Almighty, although the close observer sees that the great cause which had been so long and so silently, but surely working to effect this purpose, was the wide increase of knowledge. Bursting from the trammels of centuries of ignorance, he has been pressing onward, for good and for evil, with an energy tremendous and terrific. All nature has felt the impulse. The thin air has been converted into a resistless power. Steam, whose every definition was a useless vapor, has been made the most tremendous engine which has ever yet been placed in human hands--overcoming, in its infancy, time, space, and resistance, with a celerity and ease just not supernatural. Railroads have been thrown over swamps, rivers, lakes, and mountains, which, connecting new and distant points, open vast channels for intercourse and commerce. Labor-saving machinery of every kind has been incalculably improved: much of it perfected. In one word, we have reached a period when physical impossibilities are no longer spoken of. What was visionary yesterday, is planned, estimated, and resolved upon, to-day; to-morrow it is put in execution, and the third day superseded by something more wonderful and more important still. During the period of this mighty change, the great struggle between the rulers and the ruled has been carried on with corresponding vigor: through the thousand channels which genius has opened, wealth has flown in to aid it in its contest with the strong arm of power. The two combined, finding themselves still unable to cope with the time-hardened strength of hereditary government, and eager, impatient, almost frenzied, to achieve its conquest, have called in to their assistance another ally-the people: not the "people," as we have hitherto been accustomed in this country to define that term, but the mob-the sans-culottes. Proclaiming as their watchword that immortal but now prostituted sentiment, "that all men are born free and equal," they have rallied to their standard the ignorant, uneducated, semi-barbarous mass which swarms and starves upon the face of Europe! Unnatural and debasing union! Hereditary institutions are gone. Already have the nobility of France been overthrown. Their days are numbered in the British empire. Let them go. I am not their advocate. What next? Confiscation has begun! The In a Against this institution war has been commenced. A crusade is proclaimed. The banner has been hoisted, and on it is inscribed that visionary and disastrous sentiment, “Equality to all mankind;" although there is no analogous equality in the moral or physical creation, in earth, air, or water-in this world, or in the world to comc-if our religion be not altogether wrong! The sans-culottes are moving. On the banks of the Hudson, the Ohio, and the Susquehanna--on the hills, and in the vales, and along the iron-bound coast" of immaculate New England-they are mustering their host and preparing for their ravages. Let them come! We will be ready. Standing on our institutions, which of themselves give us a strength almost impregnable, and rallying around them as one man, with the help of God I believe we shall be able to roll back the frantic tide to whence it came. But wo unto the men of substance in the North whose infatuation may impel them to join this fatal crusade. The blood-hounds they are setting upon us, successful or unsuccessful, will in due time come back from the chase; and come back to seize upon the accumulations of their industry, to overturn their altars, and desolate their households. Such, sir, is, in a few words, the true history, and such, I believe and trust, will be the issues of this extraordinary move ment. Mr. Speaker, I have touched on topics to-day which have not heretofore been broached within these walls. In thus departing from the usual silence of the South upon this subject, it may be thought that I have gone too far. But times have changed. They change before our eyes with the rapidity of thought. Painful as it is, the truth should now be told; for shortly it will speak itself, and in a voice of thunder. We cannot, in my judgment, avoid this danger longer, by closing our eyes upon it, and lulling our people into a false security. Nor can we justify ourselves before the world for the course which we may be compelled to take in order to maintain our rights, without boldly declaring what those rights are, defining them, and showing that they are inestimable. All minor considerations must give way to effect those all-important objects. These have been my motives for the course I have taken here. I leave it to the rapidly approaching crisis to determine whether I am right or wrong. [H. OF R. What, sir, does the South ask next? She asks-and this at least she has a right to demand-that these petitions be not received here and recorded on your journals. This House at least ought to be a sanctuary, into which no such topic should be allowed to enter. Representatives from every section of the republic ought to be permitted to come here faithfully to perform their duties to their constituents and their country, without being subjected to these incendiary attacks-their feelumnies of themselves and those they represent thrown on them daily, and perpetuated to their posterity, and all the world, among the archives of the Union. Is this demanding any thing unreasonable, unjust, or unkind? Sir, we cannot endure it. If these things are to be permitted here, you drive us from your councils. Let the consequences rest on you. Sir, if I were asked what it is, under existing circum-ings insulted, their rights assaulted, and the falsest calstances, the South desire the North to do, I should say, "Pass laws in your different States, forbidding, by the severest penalties, the publication or circulation of such incendiary pamphlets as I have exhibited here to-day." This your Legislatures are fully competent to do, without infringing on freedom of speech, or freedom of the press. That freedom means well-regulated, legal freedom, and not unrestrained licentiousness. Have you not laws to punish libel and slander? If a citizen of the State of New York were to say of another citizen that he was a "land pirate," "a murderer," and a "manstealer," would he not be liable to an action of slander? If he were to write these things of him, or caricature_him by infamous and disgusting pictorial representations, would he not be indictable for libel? What violation, then, of social or constitutional right would it be to extend the benefit of these same laws to us? We ask nothing more than the recognition of a wellknown principle of international law, a striking illustra tion of which has happened within the memory of many who now hear me. It will be recollected that, just before the war between France and England, which broke out in 1803, the English presses teemed with abuse of the First Consul. Bonaparte complained to the English ministers: they indicted Peltier, tried, and convicted him. The declaration of war only prevented him from receiving his punishment. If England, where there have been more battles fought for the liberty of speech and of the press than in any portion of the world, felt herself bound to indict a journalist for libelling her greatest enemy, the enemy of the whole human race, on the very eve of war with him, is it unreasonable to require you to extend the same justice to the grossly slandered and deeply injured people of the South; brethren as you call us of one great confederacy, devoted to the same great principles of constitutional liberty, and who have so often mingled our blood with yours on the same glorious battle field? Sir, I cannot believe gentlemen are sincere when they urge here this slang about the right of petition, and the freedom of speech and of the press, as though any one here had the remotest desire to curtail them. When Tappan, and Garrison, and Gerrit Smith, and such as they are, use this cant, I understand them; they wish to inflame the popular passions by false appeals to popular rights. But when such men as the gentlemen from Massachusetts, [Messrs. ADAMS and CUSHING,] and the gentleman from New York, [Mr. GRANGER,] who favored us the other day with eulogiums on certain abolitionists, introduce it on this floor, I do not--yes, I do-understand them. But I will not press that point, for I wish to connect this question with no political intrigues or discussions. I will say frankly that I do not believe we shall be able to obtain the passage of such laws as I have alluded to in any non-slaveholding States. Sir, there is not a man of any note, or at least of any political aspiration, who will dare to make such a proposition. He would be prostrated, and forever. He would be covered with a mountain of public odium, under which he could never rise again. And I want no stronger evidence of the true state of public sentiment in those States than this single fact. But, Mr. Speaker, even if this House should refuse to receive these petitions, I am not one of those who permits himself to trust that the conflict will be at an end. No, sir, we shall still have to meet it elsewhere. We will meet it. It is our inevitable destiny to meet it, in whatever shape it comes, or to whatever extremity it may go. Our State Legislatures will have to pass laws regulating our police with a stricter hand. They will have to pass and to enforce laws prohibiting the circulation of incendiary pamphlets through the mail within their limits. We may have to adopt an entire non-intercourse with the free States; and finally, sir, we may have to dissolve this Union. From none of these measures can we shrink, as circumstances may make them necessary. Our last thought will be to give up our institutions. We were born and bred under them, and will maintain them or die in their defence. And I warn the abolitionists, ignorant, infatuated, barbarians as they are, that if chance shall throw any of them into our hands he may expect a felon's death. No human law, no human influence, can arrest his fate. The superhuman instinct of self-preservation, the indignant feelings of an outraged people, to whose hearth-stones he is seeking to carry death and desolation, pronounce his doom; and if we failed to accord it to him we should be unworthy of the forms we wear, unworthy of the beings whom it is our duty to protect, and we should merit and expect the indignation of offended Heaven. NOTES. (a) Address to the Auxiliaries and Friends of the American Anti-slavery Society. Dear brethren: At the last annual meeting of the American Anti-slavery Society, it was "Resolved, That an effort be made to raise $30,000 for the use of the society the present year, and that the abolitionists present pledge themselves to raise such sums as they may respectively offer." Donations and pledges were immediately obtained, amounting to $14,500. Additional pledges have since been obtained in Boston to the amount of $4,000. The sum of $11,500 remains to be raised. As there are known to be more than two hundred anti-slavery societies, on kindred principles with the American, we have no doubt that this sum can speedily be made up. Each society has only to raise $150, and the work is done. We believe that those societies which remain unpledged will joyfully come forward to do their proportion as soon as called on. The plan proposed at the annual meeting, and now adopted by the executive committee, in the confident belief that the means will be furnished, is this: 1. To increase the number of agents, by appointing as many able, efficient, and thoroughgoing men as can be obtained. 2. To commence the distribution of publications on a new and extended scale. The following publications will be issued monthly, viz: 1. On the first week of each month, a small folio paper, entitled Human Rights, to be filled with facts and arguments on the subject of slavery and its remedy, written in a plain and familiar style. Of this twenty thousand copies will be printed, to be increased to fifty thousand or more, as soon as arrangements can be made to have them promptly and judiciously distributed among the reading population. 2. On the second week, the Anti-slavery Record, a small magazine, with cuts, will be printed, to the number of 25,000 copies. 3. On the third week, the Emancipator will be printed, on a large imperial sheet, of the size of the New York Observer, or the New York Evangelist. This will contain more extended essays and descriptions, on points connected with the cause. It is expected that from 15 to 25,000 copies will be printed monthly this year. 4. On the fourth week will be issued 25,000 copies of the Slave's Friend, a juvenile magazine, with cuts, adapted especially for circulation among children and youth. [FEB. 1, 1836. upwards of two millions; and their landed estates are of vast extent; they have entire control over eleven States. The poorer classes of the white people are well trained to subjection, and occupy a grade a little above that of the slaves. Few nobles in Europe can command so great a retinue of servants; and no King on earth possesses more absolute authority. Indeed, such is their dignity, wealth, and influence, that, although but a half a million, they are able to control twelve and a half millions, and do in fact govern the Union; and the plan is now laid to keep up and increase their dignity, wealth, and power, to future generations. They have managed so wisely as to get the whole Union bound by the constitution to keep their slaves in subjection, and allow them a representation in the General Government in proportion to the number of their slaves. The increase of these, already 54,000 a year, will soon give the increase to one Representative every year. By the aid of the rest of the Union, the slaves can be kept in subjection until they shall have become much more numerous than the white people, provided they are prevented from learning to read, and thus kept in total ignorance. And, for this purpose, laws are passed, with heavy penalties, against teaching slaves to read. Now, it is obvious that, by those means, slavery might be extended to remote posterity, especially with what assistance the Colonization Society might be able to give them, by carrying off oc All these publications will be distributed gratuitous-casionally a little of the surplusage. Every one can ly, by the aid of the auxiliaries, to those who are not abolitionists, or will be sold at the office, to friends of the cause, at a very low rate. * * The present is the time for action. Let female societies be formed. Female societies probably did more for the abolition of slavery in Great Britain than those of the other sex. They scattered anti-slavery tracts, hand-bills, pamphlets, and books, every where. they circulated petitions; they covered articles of furniture or apparel, such as pincushions, work-boxes, handkerchiefs, boxes, baskets, purses, portfolios, &c., with devices and mottoes reminding the users of the poor slaves. They made the matter a topic of conversation on almost all occasions. Several societies of ladies, in this country, have already commenced the same course with good success. Let the female sex, then, throughout the land, emulate the efforts made by their sisters over the ocean, in this work of benevolence. Juvenile societies, too, may be engaged in the same work. Children are all abolitionists. * * We hope abolitionists will every where make it a personal business to distribute the publications; that they will not let them be thrown away, but put them in the hands only of those who will read and think. Let no abolitionist, at home or abroad, ever be without a supply, and be ready to embrace every favorable opportunity. Petitions to Congress for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia should be put in circulation immediately. The minds of the members of Congress should, if possible, be enlightened as to the real design of the American Anti-slavery Society; and their prejudices should be removed, as in many it may easily be, by personal interviews with abolitionists. may thus be prepared for a more favorable hearing before the representatives of the people. (Signed) Arther Tappan, John Rankin, Lewis Tappan, Joshua Leavitt, The way William Goodell, Abraham L. Cox, Theodore S. Wright, Simeon S. Jocelyn, Samuel E. Cornish, Elizar Wright, Jun., Executive Committee of the American Anti-slavery Society. (b) There are now about half a million that still have the liberty of holding slaves; their slaves now amount to easily see that these southern gentlemen have before them a magnificent prospect of wealth and power, provided the rest of the Union will continue to be their humble servants in enabling them to keep their slaves in subjection. Now, the avowed design of the abolitionists is to abolish slavery, not, indeed, by force of arms, but by forming against it public opinion, which will be even more powerful. They have combined together to propagate the doctrine, that "all men are made of one blood;" and of course are "created equal." Vast sums of money are now pledged to propagate the sentiment throughout the whole land. Agents are lecturing, papers are circulating, societies are forming, and thousands continually joining them. It seems as if the world will soon be on fire. What is to be done? Argument has been tried and exhausted in vain! Mobs have been tried with little effect! The heresy spreads like fire in the whirlwind. The last remedy is now demanded—extermination entire--nothing less will do! If matters go on as they are, the result is obvious. Every man who does not hold slaves will set his face against slavery; and then, how will half a million of men continue to hold more than two millions in bondage? Mark the design! All force is disavowed; but then the slaveholder must, so soon as the tide of public opinion rolls against him, yield up his slaves. He cannot hold them without aid; much less can he bear the reproach that will be heaped upon him. It is not to be disguised, sir, that war has broken out between the South and the North, not easily to be terminated. Political and commercial men, for their own purposes, are industriously striving to restore peace. But the peace which they may accomplish will be superficial and hollow. True and permanent peace can only be restored by removing the cause of the war--that is, slavery. It can never be established on any other terms. The sword now drawn will not be sheathed till victory, entire victory, is ours or theirs; not until that deep and damning stain is washed out from our nation, or the chains of slavery are riveted afresh where they now are, and on our necks also. It is idle, criminal, to speak of peace on any other terms. (c) PREAMBLE. Whereas, unconditional slavery exists to a fearful ex tent amongst us as a nation, in violation of those principles that moved our fathers to the dreadful struggle of the Revolution, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Whereas the aristocracy of the South are determined to perpetuate it by means scarcely less dreadful than the tortures of the inquisition, and the bastard aristocracy of the North are aiding their "chivalrous" compeers of the South in their inhuman endeavors, by misrepresenting, slandering, threatening, and imprisoning, those who boldly espouse the cause of universal freedom, and further by circulating publications and making speeches so highly incendiary as to excite mobs, and impel them to their ruthless work of terror and destruction. Whereas the crisis has arrived at which the descendants of the Pilgrims must determine whether they will establish the shameful and cowardly precedent of surrendering their most sacred rights at the nod of an arrogant, domineering, and 'self-constituted aristocracy, or, in the spirit of their fathers, manfully maintain them. And whereas, if we remain silent and inactive, we effectually surrender those rights, and, with them, the hopes of the slave, till the prediction of Jefferson shall be realized, and the slave, fearless and free, shall till the land of his thraldom, enriched with the blood of his master. Therefore, resolved, Under a deep sense of duty to ourselves, to the slave, to our country, and to God, that, "sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish," we will exercise the right of discussing the subject of slavery; that we will use all constitutional and peaceful means for its speedy termination; and, to act the more efficiently, form ourselves into a society, and adopt the following, &c. (d) ABOLITION. From the Cincinnati Gazette. Some forty miles from Cincinnati, to the east, are two settlements of free negroes--probably near a thousandmen, women, and children, of the true ebony color, with a very little mixture of the mahogany or lighter shades. The negroes own the land occupied by them, but without the power to sell. Each family has a small farm. They are emancipated slaves, and these lands were purchased expressly for them, and parceled out among them about fifteen years ago. Their lands are not of the best quality of Ohio lands; but, by good management, could be made very good; they are particularly well adapted to grass, either medow or pasture. Having been formerly slaves, and compelled to work, one would suppose they ought to have industrious habits. They have had every inducement to industry and good conduct held out to them. The experiment was to test the merits of the negro race, under the most favorable circumstances for success. Has this experiment succeeded? No, it has not. In all Ohio, can any white settlement be found equally wretched, equally unproductive? Farms given to them fifteen years ago, instead of being well improved, and the timber preserved for farming, have been sadly managed; small awkward clearings, and those not in grass, but exhausted and worn out in corn crops; the timber greatly destroyed; wretched log houses, with mud floors, with chimneys of mud and wood; with little timber for further farming. They are so excessively lazy and stupid that the pecple of Georgetown, (near by their camps,) and the neighboring farmers, will not employ them as work hands to any extent. They do not raise produce enough on their own lands to feed their families, much less do they VOL. XII.-155 [H. OF R. have a surplus for sale abroad. They pass most of their time in their little sorry cabins; too listless even to fiddle and dance. One may ride through the "negro camps," as they are called, passing a dozen straggling cabins with smoke issuing out of their ends, in the middle of clearings, without seeing a soul either at work or play. The fear of starvation makes them work the least possible quantity, while they are much too lazy to play. Why do not the zealous abolitionists go there and see the experiment in all its beauty--the slave changed into a free, but wretched, savage! Why not make something of these thousand negroes? There are not more than two or three families, out of the whole, who are improv. ed by the change from slavery to freedom. The negro settlements are a dead weight upon Brown county, as to any productive benefit from the negro lands, or from negro labor; and that space of country might as well to this day have remained in possession of the Indians. If southern wealth can be applied to buy and colonize among us such a worthless population, what farmer in Ohio is safe? Has he any guarantee that a black colony will not be established in his neighborhood? Let any one who wishes to learn the operation of emancipated negroes, visit the Brown county camps. As they sink in laziness, poverty, and filth, they increase in numbers--their only produce is children. They want nothing but cowries to make them equal to the negroes of the Niger. When Mr. HAMMOND Concluded Mr. HOLSEY inquired what was the question before the House. The CHAIR said it was the motion that the petition be received. Mr. HOLSEY moved to lay that motion on the table, and it was agreed to. Mr. WILLIAMS, of Kentucky, said, as the business of the House would be interrupted by the presentation of abolition petitions from the East, and the South and West be deprived of an opportunity of presenting their petitions, he moved to suspend the rules for this day, for the purpose of moving that the order of presentation be reversed, and the call of the States commenced with Missouri, instead of Maine. Mr. JONES, of Michigan, requested the gentleman to alter the motion so as to begin with the Territories, which were at the end of the list. Mr. WILLIAMS modified his motion accordingly. The question being taken, the rules were suspended: Yeas 115, nays 50. Mr. WILLIAMS then made the motion indicated by him, and it was agreed to. The CHAIR then called the States and Territories for petitions, commencing with Arkansas. Mr. STORER presented the proceedings of a public meeting in Cincinnati, deprecating the course of the abolitionists; which he moved be received and read. Mr. HAMMOND opposed the reception of the proceedings. He should object to any interference on this subject, whether in favor of or in opposition to the abolition of slavery. Mr. WILLIAMS, of Kentucky, moved to lay the preliminary question of reception on the table; which was agreed to. TREATY OF DANCING RABBIT CREEK. Mr. CLAIBORNE, of Mississippi, said that he held in his hand two papers of some importance to the country generally. One was a memorial from certain Mingoes of the Choctaw nation, remaining in the limits of the State of Mississippi, praying a grant of unappropriated lands in lieu of those to which they say they were entitled under the 14th article of the treaty of Dancing Rabbit creek, and of which they declare that they have been unjustly deprived. The other was a memorial or remonstrance of a numerous and respectable portion of his constituents against the validity of these claims, denouncing the whole proceeding as fraudulent, and calling on Congress to protect them in their settlement and rights, and the country against the most stupendous fraud that was ever set on foot. I will not now, sir, said he, pronounce any opinion on the validity of these claims. At a proper time, I shall consider it my duty and my privilege to do so. I understand that additional memorials and statements of facts are now being prepared on both sides, and will shortly be submitted. I wish the whole subject to go before the appropriate committee, and must respectfully ask the House not to prejudge the case. Let there be no ex parle statements, no wholesale denunciations of fraud. Let justice be done to all parties. It is a matter in which we feel a common interest. Whether we consider the magnitude of the claim, the respectability of the parties, or the deep absorbing interest felt in the State of Mississippi, the subject is alike worthy of a full and fair investigation. On one side are these Choctaw claimants, their agents, and assignees, citizens of different States, of every political party, and many of them gentlemen of the highest respectability, upon whose integrity heretofore not one shadow of suspicion has ever rested, and who come here, not shrinking from, but, as they say, seeking investigation. On the other side are many of the settlers of the State of Mississippi--a valuable class of men-entitled to the highest credit, and claiming justice at your hands. I acknowledge, sir, that I have but a limited acquaintance with the subject. I candidly confess, however, to the House that, if I have any prepos session, any prejudice, any conviction on the matter, it is against these claims. Whether just or unjust, if they be confirmed, the fairest portion of Mississippi will be desolated; the stability of property will be shaken; the tide of prosperity will be rolled back, and hundreds of my best constituents, the men who support their Government in peace, and fight its battles in war, will be driven from their homes to other and distant lands. Mr. C. said he could not contemplate such a result without the deepest regret, and he could not sanction any step going to produce it. But, sir, let the whole subject go to the Committee on Indian Affairs, a committee whose ability and experience, aided by its distinguished chairman, [Mr. JOHN BELL,] furnished a guarantee to the House that the subject-matter will be ably and impar tially investigated. Mr. C. hoped the memorials would be referred and printed. Mr. VINTON moved that these memorials be referred to the Committee on Private Land Claims. Mr. CLAIBORNE rejoined, and urged the propriety of the reference to the Committee on Indian Affairs. The question was put, and the House decided to refer them to the Committee on Indian Affairs. After the reception of a number of re solutions TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2. APPROPRIATION BILLS. In pursuance of the order adopted on Tuesday last, the House proceeded to the consideration of the appropriation bills. The CHAIR informed the House that all the above bills were before the Committee of the Whole, except the bill making appropriations, in part, for the support of Government for the year 1836, which was on the Speaker's table. [FEB. 2, 1836. The latter bill was taken up, the question still being on the motion to recommit the bill, with instructions to adopt some uniform regulation in regard to mileage of members of Congress. Mr. JOHNSON, of Tennessee, suggested that the bill had better be passed as it stood, and the regulation of the mileage made in a separate bill. Mr. UNDERWOOD made some statements, showing that members, under the present system, were unequally compensated; some receiving more for mileage than others, who travel a greater distance. Some gentlemen, by charging according to a particular rule, received three or four hundred dollars more than other gentlemen living in the same vicinity. A direct line measured on the map, would be a uniform rule; and, if it did not afford a sufficient sum, ten per cent.; or more, could be added to the sum. Mr. JOHNSON expressed some doubt whether a regulation concerning mileage could be properly introduced into an appropriation bill for the present year, as the mileage for the present year was actually due. After some explanations from Messrs. LANE and UNDERWOOD, Mr. MCKENNAN said he was glad that the gentleman from Kentucky had introduced this subject. If any abuses in the Government were to be corrected, this abuse of mileage charges ought to be corrected. There was no difficulty whatever of introducing a regulation on the subject in the appropriation bill, and he hoped the rule adopted would be that each member shall charge his mileage by the nearest mail route. Mr. WARD said he would go as far as any man in the correction of abuses, but he did not think this bill the proper one for regulating the subject of mileage. Mr. ADAMS made a few remarks, explanatory of the reasons which would induce him to vote for the motion. Mr. HARDIN opposed the motion, and insisted that no better rule than the present could be adopted. Something must be confided to the honor of gentlemen, and it was not to be presumed that any gentleman would charge too much. The rule was, that members should charge their mileage by the route which they usually travelled, and those who came by the river thought themselves, and doubtless were, entitled to charge by the river route. He hoped the bill would pass as it was. Mr. PEYTON remarked that he was in hopes that the motion of the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. UNDERWOOD] would prevail. It had always struck him with astonishment that members of Congress were the only public servants who had no restraint imposed by law, but could put their hands into the Treasury and pay themselves at pleasure for their services. It amounts to this. What restraint is imposed by law? Cannot any member of Congress fix the rate of his mileage at whatever sum he may in his discretion think fit? Why should members of Congress alone be trusted with this unlimited discre. tion? Gentlemen say their honor is sufficient to restrain them! They are like other men. Their virtue is best preserved when least tempted. But let us see if this honorary obligation is sufficient to guard the Treasury against abuse. Tennessee, sir, you know, affords a striking instance that it is not. A Senator, who we may suppose understands the law of Congress as well as any other gentleman here or elsewhere, conceives it to be his duty to charge the river route, giving him about 200 dollars more than a gentleman now a Representative on this floor, who lives in the same city with him, receives for his mileage per session. Now, sir, no one who knows that honorable Senator as well as you do, will suppose that money had the slightest influence over him in giving the act of Congress the construction which he does; which is, that he shall receive two hundred dollars more for mileage than either of his colleagues, according |