If all this be, as is now represented, he has acquired fame enough. It is enough for any man, thus to have connected himself with the greatest events of the age in which he lives, and to have been foremost in measures which reflect high honor on his country, in the judgment of mankind. Sir, it is always with great reluctance that I am drawn to speak, in my place here, of individuals; but I could not forbear what I have now said, when I hear, in the House of Representatives, and in this land of free spirits, that it is made matter of imputation and of reproach, to have been first to reach forth the hand of welcome and of succor to new-born nations, struggling to obtain, and to enjoy, the blessings of liberty. We are told that the country is deluded and deceived by caballistic words. Caballistic words! If we express an emotion of pleasure at the results of this great action of the spirit of political liberty; if we rejoice at the birth of new republican nations, and express our joy by the common terms of regard and sympathy; if we feel and signify high gratification that, throughout this whole continent, men are now likely to be blessed by free and popular institutions; and if, in the uttering of these sentiments, we happen to speak of sister republics; of the great American family of nations; or of the political system and forms of government of this hemisphere, then indeed, it seems, we deal in senseless jargon, or impose on the judgment and feeling of the community by caballistic words! Sir, what is meant by this? Is it intended that the people of the United States ought to be totally indifferent to the fortunes of these new neighbors? Is no change, in the lights in which we are to view them, to be wrought, by their having thrown off foreign dominion, established independence, and instituted, on our very borders, republican governments, essentially after our own example? Sir, I do not wish to overrate, I do not overrate, the progress of these new states in the great work of establishing a well-secured popular liberty. I know that to be a great attainment, and I know they are but pupils in the school. But, thank God, they are in the school. They are called to meet difficulties, such as neither we nor our fathers encountered. For these, we ought to make large allowances. What have we ever known like the colonial vassallage of these states? When did we or our ancestors, feel, like them, the weight of a political despotism that presses men to the earth, or of that religious intolerance which would shut up heaven to all but the bigoted? Sir, we sprung from another stock. We belong to another race. We have known nothing-we have felt nothing of the political despotism of Spain, nor of the heat of her fires of intolerance. No rational man expects that the south can run the same rapid career as the north; or that an insurgent province of Spain is in the same condition as the English colonies, when they first asserted their independence. There is, doubtless, much more to be done, in the first than in the last case. But on that account the honor of the attempt is not less; and if all difficulties shall be in time surmounted, it will be greater. The work may be more arduous-it is not less noble, because there may be more of ignorance to enlighten; more of bigotry to subdue; more of prejudice to eradicate. If it be a weakness to feel a strong interest in the success of these great revolutions, I confess myself guilty of that weakness. If it be weak to feel that I am an American, to think that recent events have. not only opened new modes of intercourse, but have created also new grounds of regard and sympathy between ourselves and our neighbors; if it be weak to feel that the south, in her present state, is somewhat more emphatically a part of America, than when she lay obscure, oppressed and unknown, under the grinding bondage of a foreign power; if it be weak to rejoice, when, even in any corner of the earth, human beings are able to get up from beneath oppression, to erect themselves, and to enjoy the proper happiness of their intelligent nature; if this be weak, it is a weakness from which I claim no exemption. A day of solemn retribution now visits the once proud monarchy of Spain. The prediction is fulfilled. The spirit of Montezuma and of the Incas might now well say, "Art thou, too, fallen, Iberia? Do we see Mr. Chairman, I will detain you only with one more reflection on this subject. We cannot be so blind-we cannot so shut up our senses, and smother our faculties, as not to see, that in the progress and the establishment of South American liberty, our own example has been among the most stimulating causes. That great light-a light which can never be hidthe light of our own glorious revolution, has shone on the path of the South American patriots, from the beginning of their course. In their emergencies, they have looked to our experience; in their political institutions, they have followed our models; in their deliberations, they have invoked the presiding spirit of our own liberty. They have looked steadily, in every adversity, to the great northern light. In the hour of bloody conflict, they have remembered the fields which have been consecrated by the blood of our own fathers; and when they have fallen, they have wished only to be remembered, with them, as men who had acted their parts bravely, for the cause of liberty in the western world. Sir, I have done. If it be weakness to feel the sympathy of one's nature excited for such men, in such a cause, I am guilty of that weakness. If it be prudence to meet their proffered civility, not with reciprocal kindness, but with coldness or with insult, I choose still to follow where natural impulse leads, and to give up that false and mistaken prudence, for the voluntary sentiments of my heart. SPEECH OF GEORGE M'DUFFIE, DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED On the following resolutions, "Resolved, That, for the purpose of electing the President and Vice President of the United States, the constitution ought to be so amended, that a uniform system of voting by districts, shall be established in all the states; and that the constitution ought to be further amended, in such manner as will prevent the election of the aforesaid officers from devolving upon the respective Houses of Congress. "Resolved, That a select committee be appointed, with instructions to prepare and report a joint resolution, embracing the aforesaid objects." MR. CHAIRMAN, THE resolution, which has been referred to the consideration of the committee, is resolvable into two distinct practical propositions, as plain and obvious in their import as they are unquestionably important in their tendency. The first contemplates the establishment of a uniform mode of voting, by districts, for the President and Vice President of the United States, instead of leaving it to the legislatures of the respective states, either to prescribe and vary the mode of voting, or to assume and exercise that important function themselves. The second proposes that, in the event of no person receiving a majority of all the electoral votes, at the first balloting, some provision shall be made for the final disposition of the contest, that will supersede the eventual interference of either branch of Congress in the election of the two chief executive magistrates of the republic. As the resolution does not declare whether it is expedient that the electors should be dispensed with or retained, nor indicate the substitute by which the final election shall be prevented from devolving upon Congress, I will very briefly state the details of the proposed amend epi, in reference to these particular objects. As the electors, if retained at all, would hold their first balloting immediately after they are chosen and under circumstances that would almost preclude the possibility of tampering or corruption, I am willing to acquiesce in any decision that a majority of the committee may make upon the question of retaining them in the first instance. For, although I do not believe the electors to be of any possible utility in the system, and can perceive considerable objections to retaining them even thus partially, yet, if a majority of the committee should think differently, I will cheerfully sacrifice this minor consideration, to ensure the accomplishment of the great object of the contemplated amendment. But, in case the primary vote of the electoral colleges shall fail to decide the election, I propose that the two highest candidates, respectively, shall be referred back to the people, voting directly for the President and Vice President by districts. For, when it is considered that at least three or four months must unavoidably elapse between the first and the second balloting, the argument against retaining a body of electors for so long a period exposed to temptation, becomes, in my judgment, irresistible. And, in addition to this view of the subject, when the contest is reduced to a simple issue between two competitors, there is an end of all the conceivable reasons for a discretionary agency, and the interposition of electors can only be regarded as at best a useless incumbrance. Such, Mr. Chairman, is the brief outline of an amendment, which so emphatically speaks its own importance, that I need scarcely invoke the patient and undivided attention of those, who, under the most solemn responsibility to the present and future generations, are to pronounce and record their judgments upon it. In bringing forward this plan of constitutional reform. I am not unaware of the obstacles, common to |