not ask if it be Whigs or Democrats, Protestants or Catholics, natives or foreigners, who join our efforts. to extinguish the flames; nor do we ask any such question in selecting our leader then. Men of all parties, Whigs and Democrats, or however named, let me call upon you to come forward and join in a common cause. Do not hesitate. When Freedom is in danger, all who are not for her are against her. The penalty of indifference, in such a cause, is akin to the penalty of opposition; as is well pictured by the great Italian poet, when, among the saddest on the banks of Acheron rending the air with outcries of torment, shrieks of anger and smiting of hands he finds the troop of dreary souls who had been ciphers only in the great conflicts of life:

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Mingled with whom, of their disgrace the proof,

Are the vile angels, who did not rebel,

Nor kept their faith to God, but stood aloof."

All

Come forth, then, from the old organizations; let us range together. Come forth, all who have stood aloof from parties; here is an opportunity for action. You who place principles above men! come forward. who feel in any way the wrong of Slavery, take your stand! Join us, ye lovers of Truth, of Justice, of Humanity! And let me call especially upon the young. You are the natural guardians of Liberty. In your firm resolves and generous souls she will find her surest protection. The young man who is not willing to serve in her cause to suffer, if need be, for her gives little promise of those qualities which secure an honorable age.

FELLOW-CITIZENS: We found now a new party.

Its corner-stone is Freedom. Its broad, all-sustaining arches are Truth, Justice, and Humanity. Like the ancient Roman Capitol, at once a Temple and a Citadel, it shall be the fit shrine for the genius of American Institutions.

ORIGINATION OF APPROPRIATION BILLS.

SPEECH IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 7TH FEBRUARY, 1856, ON THE USURPATIONS OF THE SENATE IN THE ORIGINATION OF APPROPRIATION BILLS.

On motion by Mr. HUNTER, the Senate proceeded to consider the following resolution, reported by him on the 4th instant, from the Committee on Finance.

Resolved, That the Committee on Finance be instructed to prepare and report such of the general appropriation bills as they may deem expedient.

In the course of the debate that ensued, Mr. SUMNER spoke as follows:

MR. PRESIDENT: Whatever the Senator from New York [Mr. Seward] touches, he handles with a completeness which is apt to render any thing superfluous from one who follows on the same side; but the opposition which his views have encountered from the Senator from Virginia, [Mr. Hunter,] and also from the Senator from Georgia, [Mr. Toombs,] and also the intrinsic importance of the question, may justify an effort to state anew the argument.

We are carried first to the words of the Constitution, which are as follows:

"All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as in other bills."

Under this provision, the annual appropriation bills for the Army, Navy, Post Office, and civil and diplomatic service, from the beginning of the Government, have originated in the House of Representatives; and this has always been done, I believe, without question. It is now proposed to reverse this standing policy, and to originate these bills in the Senate; and this proposition has the sanction of the Committee on Finance of this body.

The proposition is a clear departure from usage, and on this account must be regarded with suspicion. A slight examination will demonstrate that it tends to a subversion of well-established landmarks.

By looking at the debates in the Convention which framed the Federal Constitution, it will be found that this clause was not hastily or carelessly adopted; that it was the subject of much discussion, and that it was viewed as essentially important in establishing the system of checks and balances peculiar to our Republic. It was, indeed, a part of the compromise between the small States and the large States.

After much consideration, the equality of the States was recognized in the constitution of the Senate, and small States, like Delaware and Rhode Island, were allowed, in this body, equal power with large States, like Virginia and Massachusetts. But this great concession to the small States was coupled at the time with a condition that "money bills" should originate in the House of Representatives, where the people were represented according to numbers. The language final

ly employed was, "All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." And this was adopted, as a compensation to the large and populous States for their comparative weakness in the Senate.

That I do not go too far when I call it a part of the compromise between the great States and small States, let me show, from the authentic report, by Mr. Madison, of the debates in the Federal Convention, how it was regarded there. It owes its authoritative introduction to Dr. Franklin, who moved it in the committee which subsequently reported it. (Eliot's Debates, vol. v. p. 274.) Afterwards, in Convention, when the clause relating to equality of votes was under consideration, we have this report of what he said:

"Dr. FRANKLIN observed that this question could not be properly put by itself, the committee having reported several propositions as mutual conditions of each other. He could not vote for it if separately taken; but should vote for the whole together.". Ibid. p. 282.

Colonel Mason, of Virginia, was of the same opinion, and desired "that the whole might be brought into one view."

Mr. Gerry, of Massachusetts, followed up the idea of the mutual dependence of the two propositions, remarking

"He would not say that the concession was a sufficient one on the part of the small States; but he could not but regard it in the light of a concession. It would make it a constitutional principle, that the second branch were not possessed of the confidence of the people in money matters, [Please, sir, to mark the breadth of this expression,] which would lessen their weight and influence." Ibid. 283.