the matter? Are our understandings (however low mine may be rated, much sounder than mine are engaged in this resistance), to be rated so low, as that we are to be made to believe that we are children affrighted by a bugbear? We are asked, however, why do you cry out? it is all for your good. Sir, this reminds me of the mistresses of George II., who, when they were insulted by the populace on arriving in London (as all such creatures deserve to be, by every mob), put their heads out of the window, and said to them in their broken English, "Goot people, we be come for your goots;" to which one of the mob rejoined-" Yes, and for our chattels too, I fancy." Just so it is with the oppressive exactions proposed and advocated by the supporters of this bill, on the plea of the good of those who are its victims.

There is not a member in this house, sir, more deeply penetrated than the one who is endeavoring to address you, with the inadequate manner in which he has discharged the task imposed upon him; in this instance, he will say, on his part, most reluctantly. But, as I have been all my life a smatterer in history, I cannot fail to be struck with the fitness of the comparison instituted by a historian of this country with the Roman republic, just as it was in a state of preparation for a master.

"Sed, postquam luxu, atque desidia civitas corrupta est; rursus respublica, magnitudine sua, imperatorum atque magistratuum vitia sustentabat; ac veluti effeta parentum, multis tempestatibus, haud sane quisquam Romæ virtute magnus fuit."

Of this quotation, I will, as they sometimes say in the parliament, for the benefit of the country-gentlemen, attempt a translation. "But, after the state had become corrupted by luxury and sloth". in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, we are told of one who laid by his sequins in good money, and when he afterwards came to use them, he found them to be bits of paper, not worth more than old continental (or Kentucky) money by luxury and sloth, again the republic," and here I press the comparison-" by dint of its own magnitude, its own greatness, its own vastness, bore up under the faults, the vices of its generals, magistrates, and that, too, as if effete (past bearing) since for a long while"-I hope the comparison will not hold here-" for a long time scarcely any man had become great at Rome by his merit." So, sir, it is with this republic. It does sustain, by its greatness and growing magnitude, the follies and vices of its magistracy. Had this government been stationary like any of the old governments of Europe, of the second class, Prussia for instance, or Holland, by the political evolutions of the last thirty years, I might say the last twelve years, it would have sunk into insignificance and debility; and it is only upon this resource, the increasing greatness of this republic, that the blunderers who plunge blindfold into schemes like this, can rely for

any possibility of salvation from the effect of their own rash, undigested measures. It is true, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; and elsewhere than in the republic of Rome, and of other times than the days of Catiline, it may be said, "Haud sane quisque virtute magnus est."

""Tis not in mortals to command success!—

But do you more, Sempronius!-don't deserve it,
And take my word you won't have any less;
Be wary, watch the time, and always serve it:
Give gentle way when there's too great a press;
And for your conscience, only learn to nerve it,—
For, like a racer, or a boxer, training,

"Twill make, if proved, vast efforts without paining."

I had more to say, Mr. Speaker, could I have said it, on this subject. But I cannot sit down without asking those, who were once my brethren of the church, the elders of the young family of this good old republic of the thirteen states, if they can consent to rivet upon us this system, from which no benefit can possibly result to themselves. I put it to them as descendants of the renowned colony of Virginia; as children sprung from her loins; if for the sake of all the benefits, with which this bill is pretended to be freighted to them, granting such to be the fact for argument's sake, they could consent to do such an act of violence to the unanimous opinion, feelings, prejudices, if you will, of the whole Southern States, as to pass it? I go farther. I ask of them what is there in the condition of the nation, at this time, that calls for the immediate adoption of this measure? Are the Gauls at the gate of the capitol? If they are, the cacklings of the Capitoline geese will hardly save it. What is there to induce us to plunge into the vortex of those evils so severely felt in Europe from this very manufacturing and paper policy? For it is evident that, if we go into this system of policy, we must adopt the European institutions also. We have very good materials to work with; we have only to make our elective king president for life, in the first place, and then to make the succession hereditary in the family of the first that shall happen to have a promising son. For a king we can be at no loss--ex quovis ligno-any block will do for him. Te senate may, perhaps, be transmuted into a house of peers, although we should meet with more difficulty than in the other case; for Bonaparte himself was not more hardly put to it, to recruit the ranks of his mushroom nobility, than we should be to furnish a house of peers. As for us, we are the faithful commons, ready made to hand; but with all our loyalty, I congratulate the house-I congratulate the nation-that, although this body is da ly degraded by the sight of members of congress manufactured into placemen, we have not yet reached such a point of degradation as to suffer executive minions to be manufactured into members of

congress. We have shut that door; I wish we could shut the other also. I wish we could have a perpetual call of the house in this view, and suffer no one to get out from its closed doors. The time is peculiarly inauspicious for the change in our policy which is proposed by this bill. We are on the eve of an election that promises to be the most distracted that this nation has ever yet undergone. It may turn out to be a Polish election. At such time, ought any measure to be brought forward which is supposed to be capable of being demonstrated to be extremely injurious to one great portion of this country, and beneficial in proportion to another? Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof. There are firebrands enough in the land, without this apple of discord being cast into this assembly. Suppose this measure is not what it is represented to be; that the fears of the south are altogether illusory and visionary; that it will produce all the good predicted of it-an honorable gentleman from Kentucky said yesterday and I was sorry to hear it, for I have great respect for that gentleman, and for other gentlemen from that state-that the question was not whether a bare majority should pass the bill, but whether the majority or the minority should rule. The gentleman is wrong, and, if he will consider the matter rightly, he will see it. Is there no difference between the patient and the actor? We are passive: we do not call them to act or to suffer, but we call upon them not so to act as that we must necessarily suffer; and I venture to say, that in any government, properly constituted, this very consideration would operate conclusively, that if the burden is to be laid on 102, it ought not to be laid by 105. We are the eel that is being flayed, while the cook-maid pats us on the head, and cries, with the clown in King Lear, "Down, wantons, down." There is but one portion of the country which can profit by this bill, and from that portion of the country comes this bare majority in favor of it. I bless God that Massachusetts and old Virginia are once again rallying under the same banner, against oppressive and unconstitutional taxation; for, if all the blood be drawn from out the body, I care not whether it be by the British parliament or the American congress; by an emperor or a king abroad, or by a president at home.

Under these views, and with feelings of mortification and shame at the very weak opposition I have been able to make to this bill, I entreat gentlemen to consent that it may lie over, at least, until the next session of congress. We have other business to attend to, and our families and affairs need our attention at home; and · indeed I, sir, would not give one farthing for any man who prefers being here to being at home; who is a good public man and a bad private one. With these views and feelings, I move you, sir, that the bill be indefinitely postponed.

376

SPEECH OF DANIEL WEBSTER

ON

THE PANAMA MISSION,

DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED

STATES, APRIL 14, 1826.

The following resolution being under consideration, in committee of the whole house upon the state of the Union, viz.,

"Resolved, That, in the opinion of the house, it is expedient to appropri
ate the funds necessary to enable the president of the United States to
send ministers to the congress of Panama;"

Mr. M'Lane, of Delaware, submitted the following amendment thereto:
"It being understood as the opinion of this house, that, as it has always
been the settled policy of this government, in extending our commercial
relations with foreign nations, to have with them as little political connec-
tion as possible, to preserve peace, commerce, and friendship with all ne-
tions, and to form entangling alliances with none; the ministers who may
be sent shall attend at the said congress in a diplomatic character mere-
ly, and ought not to be authorized to discuss, consider, or consult, upon
any proposition of alliance, offensive or defensive, between this country
and any of the Spanish American governments, or any stipulation, com-
pact, or declaration, binding the United States in any way, or to any ex-
tent, to resist interference from abroad, with the domestic concerns of
the aforesaid governments; or any measure which shall commit the pres-
ent or future neutral rights or duties of these United States, either as may
regard European nations, or between the several states of Mexico and
South America; leaving the United States free to adopt, in any event
which may happen, affecting the relations of the South American gov
ernments, with each other, or with foreign nations, such measures as the
friendly disposition cherished by the American people towards the people
of those states, and the honor and interest of this nation may require."
To which Mr. Rives proposed to add, after the words, "aforesaid govern-
ments," in the 12th line, the following:

'Or any compact or engagement by which the United States shall be
pledged to the Spanish American states, to maintain, by force, the princi-
ple that no part of the American continent is henceforward subject to
colonization by any European power."

The preceding motions to amend being under consideration, Mr. Webster delivered the following speech:

MR. CHAIRMAN,

I am not ambitious of amplifying this discussion. On the contrary, it is my anxious wish to confine the debate, so far as I partake in it, to the real and material questions before us.

Our judgment of things is liable, doubtless, to be affected by our opinions of men. It would be affectation in me, or in any one, to claim an exemption from this possibility of bias. I can say, however, that it has been my sincere purpose to consider and discuss the present subject, with the single view of finding out what duty it devolves upon me, as a member of the house of representatives. If any thing has diverted me from that sole aim, it has been against my intention.

I think, sir, that there are two questions, and two only for our decision. The first is, whether the house of representatives will assume the responsibility of withholding the ordinary appropriation for carrying into effect an executive measure, which the executive department has constitutionally instituted; the second, whether, if it will not withhold the appropriation, it will yet take the responsibility of interposing, with its own opinions, directions or instructions, as to the manner in which this particular executive measure shall be conducted.

I am, certainly, in the negative, on both these propositions. I am neither willing to refuse the appropriation, nor am I willing to limit or restrain the discretion of the executive, beforehand, as to the manner in which it shall perform its own appropriate constitutional duties. And, sir, those of us who hold these opinions have the advantage of being on the common highway of national politics. We propose nothing new; we suggest no change; we adhere to the uniform practice of the government, as I understood it, from its origin. It is for those, on the other hand, who are in favor of either, or both of the propositions, to show us the cogent reasons which recommend their adoption. The duty is on them, to satisfy the house and the country that there is something in the present occasion which calls for such an extraordinary and unprecedented interference.

The president and senate have instituted a public mission, for the purpose of treating with foreign states. The constitution gives to the president the power of appointing, with the consent of the senate, ambassadors, and other public ministers. Such appointment is, therefore, a clear and unquestionable exercise of executive power. It is, indeed, less connected with the appropriate duties of this house, than almost any other executive act; because the office of a public minister is not created by any statute or law of our own government. It exists under the law of nations, and is recognized as existing by our constitution. The acts of congress, indeed, limit the salaries of public ministers; but they do no more. Every thing else, in regard to the appointment of public ministers, their numbers, the time of their appointment, and the negotiations contemplated in such appointments, is matter for executive discretion. Every new appointment to supply vacancies in existing 32* BBB