Mr. BUTLER. The gentleman, then, is imitating Lycurgus. He does not wish these laws to be changed until he does come back; and he says that he is coming back.

Mr. FOOTE. The difference is that Lycurgus went away with the intention never to return, whereas I go animo revertendo, for 1 design returning in little more than a year from this time. Mr. BUTLER. Then the gentleman intends to be superior to Lycurgus. He is going to come back when he pleases. Nothing can prevent him; not even death itself. I understood that Lycur gus went away expecting to die. I would not wish any such fate to befall the gentleman; but it is sot for him to control his fate and to come back whenever he pleases.

Mr. FOOTE. My Union-loving Legislature

vill send me back

Mr. BUTLER. That is relying upon the fidely of your "faithful commoners.

Mr. FOOTE. I do rely upon them.

Mr. BUTLER. I do not wish to protract my remarks. I may have occasion when I have deliberated more upon the subject to say something ee. I would wish to say nothing now inconsistent with the gravity of the subject and what should become the deliberations of this body. If the debate shall be continued hereafter, I may take occasion to go into it fully.

Mr. FOOTE, of Mississippi. I shall claim the attention of the Senate, Mr. President, for a short period only, in responding to the very extraordinary harangue with which the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. BUTLER] has favored us this morning. The exhibition which has just drawn to a close, sir, must have surprised every member of this body, as assuredly it has astounded myself; though there seems to be more or less reason to suppose that the honorable gentleman did not come to the conclusion to entertain us in a manner Bo striking and peculiar without considerable previous deliberation. Indeed, I should conjecture, from something in the honorable gentleman's manmer and certain attendant circumstances, that the part which he has deemed it becoming to enact this morning, was devolved upon him, to some extant, as the result of previous concert and consultation. At any rate, it would be wronging the gentleman, I imagine, very greatly not to suppose that the speech which he has just delivered was the fruit of much meditation, as surely it ought to have been. Well, sir, I will accord to the gentleman all the credit to which he may be intrinsically entitled for having made just such a temperate, dignified, and statesman-like speech, as might have been expected from a Senator of his high reputation after the fullest deliberation and the amplest consultation.

Mr. BUTLER. I have had concert with no human being, and very little deliberation upon this resolution, for I only heard of it a short time

ago.

Mr. FOOTE. Then the gentleman has had the misfortune to have been inops concilii. It would seem that he has neither consulted his friends nor his own sound understanding, as in justice to himself and the grave subject under consideration, he should have done before he ventured upon that stormy sea of controversy, amid whose swelling waves he has been essaying to navigate. What the honorable gentleman can see in this poor resolation of mine to justify him in that fierce revolutionary harangue, to which he has just given utterance, is entirely beyond my powers of discernment. Is there anything in the resolution personally insulting to that gentleman, or his sensibilities? Is there anything in it insulting to any of the sovereign States of this Confederacy? Was there anything in the few remarks which I offered to the Senate in support of the resolution, breathing the least discourtesy or suggestive of the least disrespect to any human being in the world? The Senate will bear me witness that I am innocent in all these respects; and yet the gentleman says that this is a very offensive resolution; and he rather intimates that it is intended to have a special effect in some vicinage of the South, where deliberations are now in progress which the honorable gentleman fears may be more or less disturbed by the adoption of such a resolution as the one before Sir, I confess that I do not exactly understand the honorable gentleman upon this point. Certainly the resolution was introduced for no sinister or concealed purpose, nor for any purpose

single sentence that approximated to the dignity of argument.

To begin with the California question. Sir, it is perfectly well known here that I did not vote for the admission of California. It was not in my power to do so, without violating public sentiment among my own particular constituents, unless indeed that act should be made to form part of a general scheme of settlement; and I decidedly preferred, at any rate, voting for the retention of California in the territorial condition for a year or two. My reasons for desiring that this should be the condition of California for a short period, were stated very frankly and fully at the time, in hearing of this body, and I shall not now recite them. But I wish it to be understood, sir, that I never regarded such act of admission as at all violative of the Constitution. On the contrary, I have con

But the gentleman says, and certainly not with his accustomed courtesy, that, in his judgment, this resolution is unwise and unnecessary. That is the gentleman's opinion. Well, sir, in my judgment, I will not say the resolution is a wise one, as this might look a little egotistical, but I will aver that I consider it quite a judicious one, and, under all the circumstances which surround us, almost indispensably necessary to the public repose and safety. I wish to make known to the honorable gentleman, also, that, (varying very decidedly from his own example on this occasion,) I did not introduce the resolution until I had made the movement which it proposes the subject of much calm and dispassionate examination, nor until I had consulted, as to the expediency of offering it, many gentlemen of acknowledged wisdom and of tried patriotism; and its introduction was therefore not determined upon by me until men far sager than myself had thus aided me with their valuable counsels. I regret that I have pot had the good fortune to secure the honorable gentleman's coöperative aid in support of my resolution; and he will allow me to express the regret, which I should certainly feel, should I find out, or have reason to believe hereafter, that he would have been somewhat more inclined to have been a co-laborer with me on this occasion had the State of Mississippi not refused so signally in September last to cooperate with certain persons in South Carolina in breaking up the Union. I protest most seriously against such a perversion of the lex talionis prínciple on the part of the honorable gentleman."

The Senator said, I think, something about his not being willing to worship at the foot of a tree that bears poisonous fruit; and he says this in reference to the measures of compromise referred to in the resolution. I am not entirely certain that I duly comprehend this figurative language, which, to say the least of it, is as mystical in meaning as it is trite in allusion; but if I am

to understand the honorable Senator as comparing the whole series of measures embraced in the plan of adjustment to a tree bearing fruit destructive of human life, then I must tell him that no such death-producing fruit has yet fallen from the boughs of that goodly tree upon the sacred soil of Mississippi, and that I am of opinion that the honorable gentleman has been unfortunate enough wholly to have misconceived the true character and bearing of the measures in question.

Sir, what are those measures, that they should thus be denounced before the country? Have they so operated as to injure any State of the Confederacy in any substantial respect whatsoever? Have they not rescued the Republic from such dangers as never were known to menace it with destruction at any former period of our history? Is there a single one of them all that can be justly charged with violating the Constitution, or with threatening serious detriment, or any detriment whatever, to any section of the Union in all coming time? I shall not at present go into a minute examination of these measures; it is not necessary. But the Senate, I know, will bear with me whilst I offer a brief and running commentary upon them, in order to show how little they deserve the harsh crimination which they have this day received at the hands of the honorable Senator from South Carolina, in the progress of a speech which, I must say, has been declamatory from beginning to end, and in which I cannot now recollect a

for doubt upon this point; and I am happy to recollect that my own honored constituents have at all time, with singular unanimity, entertained the same opinion. Indeed, Mr. President, I think myself justified in believing that there were never, even in this body, any considerable number of gentlemen who were willing to risk their character as public men before the country, by the assertion that the act of Californian admission was unconstitutional in its character. I well recollect that the honorable gentleman from Virginia, who sits over the way, [Mr. HUNTER,] in his celebrated protest, cautiously declined the assumption of any such position, and if I do not err in memory, that gentleman intimated, at the time of its presentation here, an impression that the measure of admission was not fairly subject to objection upon mere constitutional grounds. If the honorable Senator from South Carolina, to whom I am at present responding, entertained the opinion upon this question which he now expresses, he certainly made nothing like a regular argument in support of this view of the subject, or if he did do so, it was not of a nature sufficiently striking to fix itself distinctly in my memory. Sir, California was admitted just in the mode adopted for the admission of every new State that has heretofore entered into the Confederacy. If she was unconstitutionally admitted, none of the new States heretofore admitted have ever yet found their way into the Confederacy in such manner as to entitle them to recognition, as legitimately appertaining to our Confederacy of sovereign States. Sir, I will not argue the question at length; it would be wholly profitless to do so. But let me ask the honorable Senator if it be in his power to show in what manner the admission of California has been at all detrimental to any of the older States of the Confederacy? In what respect is it possible that any such detriment could have been experienced? Have the people of California not been as good citizens since their admission as one of the sovereign States of this Union, as they were antecedent thereto? Have not the governmental proceedings of that new State been such as should command the respect of the nation? Is it not an ascertained fact, and does not the gentleman from South Carolina know, that the people of California have shown themselves as free from all sentiments of hostility to our peculiar institutions of the South as the citizens of any Southern State in the Union? If he is not aware of the fact, I beg leave to inform him, that the sentiment of fanatical opposition to the system of domestic slavery existing in the South, has never yet made itself manifest in the legislative councils of this new State. I say this in hearing of those altogether competent to correct me if I am in error upon the subject. Besides, the Senator from South Carolina should

recollect that California, from the moment of her admission, has been represented in this Chamber by a gentleman whom we all respect, and who on all occasions has shown himself, in reference to the delicate and distracting questions which have placed the Republic in so much jeopardy, a true patriot, a zealous supporter of the constitutional rights of the South, and an unswerving friend of the Union. The admission of California, then, I contend has done us no injury, and the particular section of which the honorable Senator from South Carolina is the faithful and efficient representative here, has had no reason, thus far, to complain of such admission.

Now, sir, let us turn our attention for a moment to what is called the territorial acts. These bills provide territorial governments for Utah and New

against the bringing of slaves into the District for sale here, or for deposit here and sale elsewhere, but having denounced the penalty of forfeiture, &c., of all slaves brought hither, for any purpose whatsoever.

Mexico, without the Wilmot proviso. Again, each of these acts provides, in the most emphatic and distinct manner, for the extension of the Constitution and laws of the Union to said Territories: thus securing, as I suppose all jurists worthy of the name would decide, the effectual abrogation of the Mexican laws abolishing slavery. These acts provide, as the Senator well knows, in addition, that the Territories to which they apply, when they shall become States, shall come into the Union with or without slavery, as the people thereof may, in their constitution, decide; and this provision is equally effectual in regard to all the States into which these Territories may be hereafter subdivided. Surely the Senator from South Carolina will rejoice with me that such are the terms on which territorial governments have been established in Utah and New Mexico, instead of extending to them what is known as the Missouri compromise line, as some ultraists in the South have contended should have been done. We all know that the Missouri compromise provides, in express terms, for the prohibition of slavery in all the territories of the Union north of 360 30' north latitude. Now the principle of this boasted compromise applied to Utah would have at once driven all the slave-by certain Southern Senators, who had special holders and their slaves now resident there, and enjoying the protection of law therein, beyond the confines of that Territory, and have closed the same forever to the reception of slavery; since all of Utah is known to be situated north of the line of 36° 30'. How this could at all benefit the South, remains yet for the learned doctors of the Secession school to show. To my simple apprehension it would be nothing more nor less than applying the hated Wilmot proviso to Utah. Sir, let me

remind the Senator from South Carolina of the fact, that every Southern Senator, save two, voted for the Utah bill. Especially do I wish to remind him that his close and intimate ally, the honorable Senator from Virginia, [Mr. HUNTER,] voted for the Utah bill, as he did also, according to his own declaration to me this morning, for the New Mexican territorial bill-which is in all material respects correspondent therewith. Surely the honorable gentleman from South Carolina will not think of seriously reprehending this portion of the measures of adjustment, since, in order to do so with effect, he will have to unite in censuring those with whom I know it has long been his highest pride to act here.

I can scarcely believe that the honorable gentleman can have intended to be understood on this occasion es murmuring over the passage of the fugitive slave law; though I believe I do not err in supposing the Senator from South Carolina not to have attached as much importance to this particular enactment as some other gentlemen are known to have done, who represented in Congress the border States of the Union. I recollect, too, quite vividly, various declarations, in this Chamber and elsewhere, at different times, made by certain Southern gentlemen of extreme opinions, that no great appreciation was due to this particular enactment, since it only carried out a plain provision of the Constitution. It is also not forgotten by me, and I hope that it is not forgotten by the Senate either, that this particular act would have been passed by the two Houses of Congress at a much earlier period of the session before the last than it was, but for the fact that it was not deemed politic charge of the subject, to report a bill for the recaption and restoration of fugitives from service until it should be ascertained that all the other questions connected with the subject of domestic slavery were likely to be satisfactorily disposed of in Congress. The Senate will remember my former exposition of this matter here, and cannot have forgotten my statement of an important matter of fact connected with this delicate point, when I declared, in hearing of honorable Senators from the South, who could not deny the truth of what I said, that the honorable Senator from Michigan, [Mr. CASS,] and other Senators from the States of the North, now present, and whom I could easily name, requested me to see the Senator from Virginia, [Mr. MASON,] and the Senator from South Carolina, to whom I am now replying, at a very early day of the session then in progress, and to urge upon them both the importance of their reporting a bill without delay which, when it should become a law, would secure full justice to the South in regard to fugitives from service, pledging themselves to vote for any bill which should be thus reported, which should be free from constitutional objections. The motives of honorable Senators in not reporting this bill earlier I have never arraigned, nor do I on the present occasion. They were doubtless conscientious in their action, though I thought them at the time injudicious in the course adopted by them, as I still do: the reason given me for delaying the reporting of this bill, that if the question involved therein should be satisfactorily adjusted at that time, it might prove impossible thereafter to rouse the border States to energetic action in co

Is it the Texas and New Mexican boundary act that the honorable gentleman supposes should awaken so much dissatisfaction to the South? As to this point I shall ask leave to turn him over to the honorable Senator from Georgia, [Mr. BERRIEN,] under whose monitions, and at the instigation of whose eloquent persuasions, the Senate is known to have given its sanction to this measure. By this act the disputed boundary line between Texas and New Mexico was definitively settled, and civil war, then seriously menaced, most happi-operation with the other Southern States, for the ly prevented. The territory purchased from Texas now placed under the authority of the Government of New Mexico, became part of the Union under the resolution of Texan annexation; which resolution provided expressly that all new States into which Texas might be subdivided at any future period, lying north of 360 30' north latitude, should be free States. It has been seen that the act estab-hibition of his powers of parliamentary objurgalishing a territorial government for New Mexico, brought into operation a principle far more favorable than this rule of 36° 30′ to our Southern institutions. Does the Senator from South Carolina object to this important emendation of the Texan resolution of annexation, when, as he must per ceive, by means of it, slave States are allowed to spring up hereafter, where before this plan of settlement was adopted it was impossible that any but free States could exist?

Perhaps the gentleman mainly objects to the District of Columbia bill, as it is called. Well, sir, if he does, I have to say to him that he objects to what has been the law of this District during the whole of the present century. The act of Congress of 1801, to which the signature of Thomas Jefferson was attached, which adopted the old Maryland law on this subject and gave full validity and binding effect to the same in the part of the District not retroceded at the period of this enactment to the State of Virginia, having been far more stringent in its terms than the act of 1850; the former having provided, under the precise penalties of the present law, too, not only

vindication of their essential rights, never having been considered by me to be of a character sufficiently solid to entitle it to operate potentially upon the deliberations of Congress. I repeat, Mr. President, that I cannot suppose that the honorable Senator from South Carolina could have seen anything in this particular law to demand that ex

tion which we have witnessed this morning. To be sure, I was aware that when the President of the United States, in the course of the last winter, called our attention to the riotous proceedings in Boston, in opposition to this law-a painful remembrance of which I suppose all now present to bear in mind-there were Southern Senators present, yea, sir, Southern Senators, too, who assume to be the peculiar and exclusive guardians of the South-who did not hesitate to avow the opinion that any attempt on the part of the Executive to put down, by military force, such an armed opposition to the law as was known to have been set on foot, would be a most outrageous usurpation of authority, and a serious violation of the rights of the sovereign State of Massachusetts. Mr. President, this doctrine was at the time most justly denounced in this body, and its upholders most deservedly chastised; and the same doctrine has been regularly adjudged, by all intelligent men in the South, to have been in its inception little better than sheer nonsense.

Now, sir, I shall state a proposition to the honhonorable Senator from South Carolina, to which

I invoke his special attention. There is no part of the plan of compromise that is repealable in its character except the fugitive slave bill and the District of Columbia bill. The latter I have shown to be unworthy of a moment's consideration. California is already in the Union, and there is no remedy known to the Constitution by means of which she can be expelled therefrom and restored to the territorial state. The territorial governments are established, and on such principles as Southern men have always advocated; and I suppose that the honorable Senator would hardly contend that Congress could, otherwise than by a palpable usurpation of power, and a most shameless violation of vested rights, deprive the people of Utah and New Mexico, so long cut off from the blessings of regular government, of the protection now afforded to them by the Governmenta under which they live. Texas has received her ten millions of dollars, or a large portion thereof, and all sensible men know that there are no constitutional means of getting it back without her consent; whilst no one possessed of a particle of sanity would conjecture that she would ever willingly restore the benefits of a contract so manifestly advantageous to her. The great practical question at last upon my resolution is, Shall the fugitive slave law be faithfully enforced? In other words, Will our brethren of the North, through their representatives in the two Houses of Congress, now declare, in some formal legislative mode, that they will hereafter exert themselves faithfully and energetically to give full effect to this law, and thus evince their determination to see perfect justice done to their fellow-citizens of the South? I repeat, this is the only important question now before the Senate; and I must be permitted to declare my profound regret at finding that every Senator from the South is not found willing to coöperate in a movement upon the success of which the security and repose of that section of the Union are undeniably staked.

The honorable gentleman from South Carolina has been pleased to complain specially, and with an emphasis not a little imposing, that the time seems to have gone by for amendments of the Constitution of the United States, without which, I suppose, the honorable gentleman would have us to understand the Southern States of the Union cannot remain safely in the Confederacy. This is not the first time that I have heard this proposition stated in this Chamber. When I heard it first, I was not a little startled by its enunciation. I protested against it the next day as of a character highly dangerous to the peace of the country. I meet it again now in the same spirit, for I consider the honorable Senator from South Carolina as clearly intimating that some constitutional amendment is at this moment indispensable to the peace and happiness of the Union. Sir, the only constitutional amendment that I have heard of lately, is that extraordinary one recommended in a certain posthumous political volume with which I hope every man in America will shortly make himself acquainted. The amendment suggested in this volume proposes, that instead of choosing one President of the United States, we should hereafter have two elected-one from the North, by Northern votes-one from the South, by Southern votes. Each of these Presidents is, I believe, to have the command of the Army and Navy of the Union, and a double veto power is to be exercised by them. Such an amendment would, as every man of prac tical good sense in the world will readily decide, break up the Union in about four or five weeks. Now, if it is such a fantastical amendment as this, or anything like it, that the honorable gentleman from South Carolina wishes incorporated into that sacred instrument, I would counsel him most seriously to let the Constitution of our fathers alone for the present, or at least to be certain that he has some scheme of emendation already matured more worthy of approval than the one just specified, before he ventures either to obtrude it on the attention of his countrymen, or to complain that this noblest production of the human understanding has lost all those high capacities which the wise men of the land once supposed it to possess, of securing the freedom and happiness of the millions living under its protection, as long as civili

zation and social virtue should continue to dwell in this favored hemisphere.

The honorable gentleman complains somewhat vehemently of the want of union in the South, and

sas, praying additional compensation for services in locating military bounty land warrants; and stated that a bill answering the prayer of the petitioners had three times passed the Senate and failed in the House for various reasons. It was referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

Mr. SEWARD presented the petition of George C. Paine and Polly Teall, heirs of Brinton Paine, deceased, an officer in the revolutionary war, praying to be allowed back pay and a pension; which was referred to the Committee on Pensions.

Also, a memorial of the committee of the Industrial Congress of New York, praying that no change may be made in the existing bounty land laws tending to increase speculation in the public lands; which was referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

Mr. BRIGHT presented the petition of Adam Hays, a pensioner of the United States, praying to be allowed arrears of pension; which was referred to the Committee on Pensions.

Mr. UNDERWOOD presented two petitions of citizens of Virginia, and a petition of citizens of Mississippi, praying that the office of Chaplain in the public service may be abolished; which were referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. FELCH presented the petition of Hiram Moore and John Hascall, praying an extension of their patent for a harvesting machine; which was referred to the Committee on Patents and the Patent Office.

Also, the petition of the register and receiver of the land office at Sault St. Marie, praying compensation for services in the entry of lands on military bounty land warrants; which was referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

Also, a memorial of citizens of Monroe county, Michigan, praying certain amendments to the law of July 7, 1838, for the better security of the lives of passengers on board of vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce.

Mr. GWIN presented a memorial of members of the bar and citizens of California, praying that the salary of the district judge for the northern district of California may be increased, and said: Since that court has been organized it has been ascertained that the business is of the highest importance, and that the labor is very great. The judge has discharged his duties with great ability and to the satisfaction of the whole country, and it is the unanimous wish of the people of California that he should have his compensation increased. The memorial is drawn up with great ability, and

covers the case.

It was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and ordered to be printed.

Mr. CHASE presented the memorial of James B. Moore, Josiah Lawrence, and Henry H. Goodmen, of Ohio, and John H. Deihl, of Pennsylvania, and their associates, proposing, with the aid of Government, to establish a regular line of mail steamers from California or Oregon to China; which was referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs.

Mr. GWIN presented the memorial of H. P. Dorsey, a citizen of California, praying indemnity for loss by Indian depredations, in consequence of the want of adequate protection from the Government of the United States; which was referred to the Committee of Claims.

Mr. BUTLER presented the petition of Frances Moore, legal representative of John Moore, deceased, praying the payment of certain indents issued by the State of South Carolina, in the revolutionary war; which was referred to the Committee on Revolutionary Claims.

CASE OF MR. THRASHER IN CUBA.

Mr. STOCKTON. I desire to present a petition from many respectable citizens of New Jersey in behalf of Mr. John S. Thrasher. It is a matter of some consequence, and I therefore ask that it may be read.

The petition was read, as follows:

To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled:

Your petitioners, inhabitants of the city of Newark, in the State of New Jersey, respectfully beg leave to represent: That many of us are personally acquainted with Mr. John S. Thrasher, an American citizen, now a prisoner in the dungeons of the Punta Castle, in the city of Havana, and Island of Cuba, under Spanish rule.

They beg leave to state that said Thrasher has uniformly been found a gentleman of the strictest honor and integrity, a warm-hearted friend of Americans sojourning in the

Island of Cuba, and always ready to extend to his countrymen, when requiring it, his aid, advice, and protection, without fee or reward.

Your petitioners now learn, with pain and surprise, that Mr. Thrasher complains that he has been accused of treason to the Spanish Government, his papers seized, and he thrown into a dungeon, and all communication with his friends strictly prohibited; that he has been denied proper counsel to assist him at his trial; that the representations of our Consul in his behalf have been utterly disregarded; that instead of an open and fair trial, (which he, as an American citizen, was fully entitled to) he was compelled to be tried by a COURT-MARTIAL, in time of peace, without being furnished with copies of the charges against him; and that he had no access to the proceedings or testimony, and knew not of what erime he was accused.

To all these proceedings he made his solemn protest, as against treaty stipulations with his Government, the law of civilized nations, and his rights as an American citizen. Notwithstanding, he was sent back to his dungeon, and, after some days, informed that he had been sentenced to eight years confinement at hard labor, in chains, on the coast of Africa, and to pay costs,-a sentence which, if carried out, would be more dreadful by far than death.

Your petitioners, and the public generally, view this mock trial as a gross violation of our national rights; the more especially as it has not been attempted to be proved that Mr. Thrasher was, in anywise, implicated with the Lopez expedition, further than to do all in his power to give that comfort which common humanity demanded to those suffering in captivity. That he has never expatriated himself, though urged by the Spanish Cuban Government to do so, but still claims to be an American citizen, and entitled to a full and fair protection from the, American Government, and that he at least have a fair trial, and be furnished with proper counsel of his own or his Government's selection.

Your petitioners, therefore, pray that the Congress of the United States will take such measures in this pressing case as will prevent an American citizen of the highest respectability of character, and universally esteemed for his kindness and attention to our fellow-countrymen at Havana, from being sent in chains to serve out a long and horrible confinement as a galley slave, without a fair and full hearing in a proper court of justice, and where he may have proper counsel and full liberty to rebut the charges that may be brought against him.

Mr. STOCKTON. I suppose there is hardly an individual in the Senate, or out of the Senate, that will not agree with me in regard to the importance of this petition. I have the most profound respect for that ancient monarchy, but I wish that it would either mend its laws or its manners. The process by which American citizens are tried there has become no joke. It seems to me to be a very summary process; and punishment follows instantly upon the judgment. I know nothing of the circumstances of this case; but I desire to

know something about them. And although I am not for intervention, yet, sir, I am not clear of the idea that American citizens cannot be justly punished in the way some of our citizens have been punished and with the summary process by which they have been adjudged. I hope that upon the investigation of this case, there may not appear to be so much offensive in it, as appears upon the face of that petition. If there is, I shall certainly be prepared to make some other motion-some motion that will testify the feelings of devotion of

the Senate to the character and lives of their fellowcitizens abroad. At present, however, I shall satisfy myself by offering the following resolution:

Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to lay before the Senate, if not incompatible with the public interests, all the information in his possession touching the imprisonment of Mr. John S. Thrasher, in the dungeon of the Punta Castle, in the city of Havana and Island of Cuba.

The petition was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations, and the resolution was adopted.

PAPERS WITHDRAWN AND REFERred. On motion by Mr. BERRIEN, it was Ordered, That the petition of members of the bar of Massachusetts, on the files of the Senate, relative to increasing the salary of the United States district judge for that State, be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

On motion by Mr. FELCH, it was Ordered, That the petition of Sydney A. Allcott, on the files of the Senate, be referred to the Committee on Public Lands.

On motion by Mr. HUNTER, it was

Ordered, That the memorial of the trustees of the Mercer Monument Association, on the files of the Senate, be referred to the Committee on the Library.

On motion by Mr. DOUGLAS, it was

Ordered, That the petition of the executors of Henry Eckford, deceased, on the files of the Senate, be referred to the Committee of Claims.

On motion by Mr. RUSK, it was

Ordered, That the petition of Robert Jemison and Benjamin Williamson, on the files of the Senate, be referred to the Committee on the Post Offices and Post Roads; that the petition of Emily C. B. Thompson, widow of Charles Thompson, deceased, on the files of the Senate, be referred to the Committee on Naval Affairs; that the memorial of

Henry Smith, on the files of the Senate, be referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs; that the petition of John C. Hays, and the memorial of Robert Piatt, on the files of the Senate, be referred to the Committee of Clainis; that the memorial of Mary W. Thompson, on the files of the Senate, be referred to the Committee on Pensions.

On motion by Mr. NORRIS, it was

Ordered, That the petition of Isaac Adam, on the files of the Senate, be referred to the Committee on Patents and the Patent Office.

On motion by Mr. MORTON, it was

Ordered, That the memorial of A. H. Cole, the memorial of Isaac Varnes, sen., and the petition of Allen G. Johnson, on the files of the Senate, be referred to the Committee of Claims; and that the documents on the files of the Senate, relating to the claim of Captain George E. McClelland's company of Florida volunteers, be referred to the Committes on Military Affairs.

On motion by Mr. DAVIS, it was

Ordered, That the bill of last session to amend the act entitled "An act to provide for the better security of the lives of passengers on board of vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam," be referred, together with the papers on the files of the Senate, and the report of the Committee, to the Committee on Commerce.

On motion by Mr. CLARKE, it was

Ordered, That the petition of Wm. Wilkinson, on the files of the Senate, be referred to the Committee on Revolutionary Claims; also, that the papers of Samuel Draper, on the files of the Senate, praying for compensation in consequence of wounds received in war, be referred to the Committee of Claims.

NOTICES OF BILLS.

Notices of bills to be hereafter introduced, were given by Mr. WHITCOMB, and Mr. JONES of Iowa.

BILLS INTRoduced.

Mr. HUNTER, agreeably to previous notice, asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill to change the time for holding the district courts of the United States in the western district of Virginia, and for other purposes; which was read a first and second time by its title, and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. MORTON, in pursuance of previous notice, asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill for the relief of Mrs. A. M. Dade, widow of the late

Major F. L. Dade, United States Army; which was read a first and second time by its title, and referred to the Committee on Pensions.

Mr. WALKER, in pursuance of previous notice, asked and obtained leave to bring in the fol lowing bills; which were read a fast and second time by their titles, and referred to the Committee on Public Lands:

A bill to extend the time for selecting lands granted to the State of Wisconsin for saline pur

poses; and

A bill granting the right of way and making a donation of land to the States of Wisconsin and Green Bay to Lake Superior. Michigan in aid of the construction of a road from

Mr. SEWARD, in pursuance of previous notice given by his colleague, [Mr. FISH,] asked and

obtained leave to introduce a bill to establish a Mint of the United States in the city of New York; which was read a first and second time by its title, and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Mr. RHETT, in pursuance of previous notice, asked and obtained leave to introduce a bill to indemnify the State of South Carolina for money expended for the United States in the war in Florida with the Seminole Indians; which was read a first and second time by its title, and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.

Mr. DOWNS, agreeably to previous notice, asked and obtained leave to introduce a bill to aid the State of Louisiana in reclaiming the overflowed lands therein, and for other purposes; which was read a first and second time and referred to the Committee on Public Lands,

Mr. BORLAND, in pursuance of previous notice, asked and obtained leave to introduce the following bills; which were read a first and second time:

A bill allowing exchanges of, and granting additional school lands to, the several States which contain public lands, and for other purposes; which was referred to the Committee on Public Lands; and

A bill to establish a port of entry and delivery at Little Rock, in Arkansas; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce.

Mr. BERRIEN, agreeably to previous notice, asked and obtained leave to introduce the following bills; which were read a first and second time by their titles, and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary:

A bill to regulate the compensation of the district judge of the United States for the district of Massachusetts; and

A bill to be entitled "An act to amend an act titled An act to authorize notaries public to take and certify oaths, affirmations, and acknowledgments, in certain cases.""

Mr. GWIN, agreeably to previous notice, asked and obtained leave to introduce a bill to amend an act entitled "An act to provide for extending the laws and the judicial system of the United States the State of California," passed 28th September, 1850; which was read a first and second time and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. FELCH, agreeably to previous notice, asked and obtained leave to introduce the following bills; which were read a first and second time by their titles, and referred to the Committe on Public Lands:

A bill granting to the State of Michigan the right of way and a donation of public lands for the construction of a ship canal around the Falls of St. Mary's, in said State;

A bill granting to the State of Michigan the right of way and a donation of public lands for the purpose of constructing a railroad from Saginaw to Montreal river, with a branch from the Grand river into the same; and

A bill to extend the time for selecting lands granted to the State of Michigan for saline purposes.

Mr. BORLAND, in pursuance of previous noice, asked and obtained leave to introduce the following bills; which were read a first and second time by their titles:

A bill for the relief of Mark Bean and Richard H. Bean, of Arkansas; which was referred to the Committee on Public Lands; and

A bill for the relief of the widow of General Worth; which was referred to the Committee on Pensions.

Mr. NORRIS, agreeably to previous notice, asked and obtained leave to introduce a bill for the relief of Mrs. E. A. McNeil, widow of the late General John McNeil; which was read a first and second time by its title, and referred to the Com

Battee on Pensions.

Mr. DODGE, of Iowa, asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill to improve the navigation of the Upper Mississippi.

The bill was read a first and second time by unanimous consent, and was before the Senate as in Committee of the Whole.

Mr. DODGE moved that it be made the special order of the day for Wednesday, the 17th instant; which was agreed to.

RESOLUTIONS.

Mr. HALE, agreeably to previous notice, asked and obtained leave to introduce a joint resolution requesting the President of the United States to interpose the friendly offices of this Government with the President of the Republic of France, in behalf of the liberation of Abd el Kader; which was read a first time, and ordered to a second reading.

Mr. CASS submitted the following resolution for consideration:

Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to communicate to the Senate, if not inconsistent with the public interest, any information the Executive may have received, respecting the firing into, and seizure of, the American steamship Prometheus by a British vessel of war, in November last, near Grey Town, on the Mosquito Coast; and also, what measures have been taken by the Executive to ascertain the state of the facts, and to vindicate the honor of the country.

Mr BRIGHT, according to previous notice, introduced the following resolution: Resolved, That the following shall be one of the standing rules of the Senate, to wit:

52. The Secretary of the Senate, the Sergeant-at-Arms, and Doorkeeper, and the Assistant Doorkeeper, shall be the 31st) Congress, and on the second Monday of the first chosen on the third Monday of the present (first session of ssion of every succeeding Congress.

Its consideration at the present time was objected to; and therefore it lies over. Mr. DOWNS offered the following resolution;

which was adopted: Resolved, That the Secretary of the Department of War Communicate to the Senate any reports which have been received in reference to the inundations of the Mississippi, 10mplete the surveys and investigations heretofore dito state whether any further appropriation is required

special order will now be taken up. (The Compromise Resolution.)

The PRESIDENT. It will be taken up as soon as the morning business is through.

Mr. FOOTE. Is that the invariable order?
The PRESIDENT said it was.

Mr. FOOTE. Some honorable Senators around me seem to think that the special order should be taken up at the appointed hour, unless there should be an express order to the contrary. Mr. SEWARD. I ask the Senator from Mississippi to allow me to call up the resolution in regard to Kossuth.

The PRESIDENT. The hour having arrived for the special order, the Chair will call it. It is the resolution offered by the Senator from Mississippi, [Mr. FOOTE,] declaring the measures of the adjustment to be a definitive settlement of the difficulties growing out of the existence of domestic slavery.

Mr. SHIELDS. I will ask my honorable friend from Mississippi to permit that to lie over for a few minutes. I want to call up the resolution in regard to Kossuth.

Mr. FOOTE. If there was a prospect of passing it, I should hesitate to do anything to prevent it. But the Senator will see that I am placed in a very delicate situation-I have not the floor for the morning. I am here only as an auditor.

The PRESIDENT. The Chair having called for the special order, it can only be postponed by the action of the Senate.

Mr. SHIELDS. If the honorable Senator from Mississippi insists upon calling for the special order

Mr. FOOTE. . I have not insisted upon it. I have stated that another gentleman has the floor on that resolution. I merely suggested that it should be taken up.

Mr. SHIELDS. Then I move to postpone the special order for the present, in order to call up the Kossuth resolution. I think the subject of the measures of adjustment has been tolerably well considered in this body. I want to see this Kossuth resolution disposed of one way or the other. I move to postpone the special order until two o'clock. The motion was agreed to, there being, on a division, ayes 20, noes 13.

Mr. SEWARD. I move to postpone all other business and take up the resolution offered by myself concerning Kossuth.

The PRESIDENT. It is the first resolution on the calendar, which comes up for a second reading.

Mr. SEWARD. I ask that the resolution may be considered and finally disposed of now. And because I am sincerely desirous of its passage, I shall endeavor to promote that object by refraining from any great latitude of debate, at least at present. What I have to say upon the subject will relate simply to the circumstances under which I think the resolution comes before Congress, and the nature and character of the measure which I have submitted.

expected, and he recommended to Congress to take into consideration the proper manner and ceremonial of receiving the guest who had been brought here under their authority. This of itself was sufficient to engage the attention of the civilized world for the action of Congress in relation to the personage whose name and fame filled the eye and ear of the world. But the action of Government has not stopped here. In pursuance of this recommendation, and at the instance of the President and the administration, the subject has been opened in this Chamber-a debate has opened upon the question submitted by the President. Under such circumstances absolute silence would amount to nothing short of neglect, and neglect would be liable to be construed, in my poor judgment, into indignity. It is under these circumstances that this question comes before Congress, and I am sure it is not the intention of the Senate that their treatment of Kossuth should be that of either neglect or indignity. But if such would be the result, the consequence would be the inflicting of a wound upon the generous and noble heart of a friend of liberty, whose gratitude we have awakened and stimulated, and in whose bosom we have kindled the expectation of a warm, a generous, a cordial welcome. The effect would be this upon him. The effect upon his country would be to subdue the feelings of affection and gratitude which the expression of sympathy in their misfortunes heretofore has awakened. The effect of it would be to discourage the hopes and expectations of the friends of freedom throughout the world; and finally, it would have the effect to encourage the advocates of oppression throughout Europe in their efforts to prevent the transition of the nations of Europe from under the system of force to the voluntary system of government which we have established and commended to their adoption. Under such circumstances I was not at liberty to consent to be understood as being willing to allow the arrival of Kossuth in the United States to pass unnoticed. In order that I might put myself right, and give an opportunity to others who might agree with me in opinion to put themselves right, I have endeavored to submit a proposition which would avoid the consequences which have been deplored, and bring this question before Congress in a shape so unexceptionable that it seemed to me all might agree in adopting it.

I will say a word now upon the form of the reception, or welcome, which I propose. It is not in the form which I myself would originally have wished. I have no particular tenacity in regard to it. The proposition submitted by the honorable Senator from Mississippi [Mr. FoOTE] would have received my vote; it would have received it if it had said more, as was proposed by the honorable Senator from New Hampshire, [Mr. HALE.] It would have received it if it had said less. It would have received my support under any circumstances, if it had been pressed, and I should have endeavored to have coöperated with the honorable mover of it in avoiding any amendment which

The resolution was read accordingly.

Mr. SEWARD. Mr. President, I have said that I should abstain from discussing this question on its merits at the present time. I will advert first simply to the circumstances under which it comes before Congress.

If the distinguished personage whom it is the design of this resolution to honor, had floated upon our shores unbidden and unheralded, there would have been no great embarrassment in suffering his arrival to pass without notice by Congress; but the case is widely different. The Congress of the United States found him a prisoner in Asia Minoran exile from his native land, in an effort for the redemption of which he had fallen. They caused the President of the United States to express to

him the sympathy of Congress with him in his

exile and misfortunes, and to tender to him an

invitation to come to America as an asylum, in

one of the public vessels of the nation. The President executed these instructions, and in pursuance of them, it is known to all the world that Kossuth was liberated from his captivity, and he is now upon our shores. The President of the United States, in anticipation of his arrival, informed Congress on their assembling at the present session that he had executed their instructions, and Mr. FOOTE of Mississippi. I hope that the that the arrival of this illustrious man was hourly

rected.

RECEPTION OF KOSSUTH.

Senate. But that has passed; and in looking around for what might be substituted for it, it seemed to me that, if there was one sentiment more plainly and universally expressed by the American people than any other, in regard to the Hungarian revolution, and in regard to its hero, the champion of Hungary, it was that of WELCOME TO THE SHORES OF THE UNITED STATES. Taking that idea as my guide, I have submitted a resolu tion in which it is proposed that Congress shall declare that they give to Louis Kossuth, whom they have brought to our borders, a cordial wEL

COME.

Less than this, Mr. President, no man can propose who thinks it proper to make any expression, or take any action; and more than this, it seems to me, must be waived. It must be something like this, or nothing, and this is better than noth

ing. I would have the passage of this resolution communicated to Kossuth by the President, the Executive organ of the nation. My own feelings would exact more; but I am content to waive them under this consideration-that the simplicity of the act will give it a peculiar value. I know not, in the history of this nation-I know not, in the history of modern times, a more sublime spectacle than would be afforded by seeing the Congress of the United States, in the name and behalf of the American people, bidding Kossuth, the represent