Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-08-21

nerable and patriotic" chairman? No. II was
a member Of the Committee, whose hatred OF
the President and the Secretary of State had
been avowed; whose abilities were, indeed, OF
high order, but for nothing more remarka-
bic than for the faculty of obscuring the dis
tincton between truth and error; whose moral
sense was so perverted as to estimate discus
sons on the weighticst national concerns, only
as combats of intellectual agility; and who was
therefore earnest in proportion as he was wrong.
| To man of these preludices and habltudes,
was committed the trust OF reporting on an
important recommendation, issuing from an
Executive who had come into office under cir
cums,ances emitting him to candid, If not libe-
raj, treatment, from his adyersares. What
was the RESULT measure, OF which sha!l
now say only, that it was mphatlcaly popular,
was subjected TO the operations OF pracdsed
sophist, who delighted as much in torturing
truth as an angler in impallng worm, and
then offered to the Senate under all the odiurn
with which ones sided ard ingenious analysis
could Cypress il. This result, you must, I'M
less wlfully blind, have foreseen; and therefore,
in so organizing the Committee as to produce
it, you intended, on every rule OF induction
with which | am acquainted, TO trammel uii-
fairly the Administration, and by rendering IT,
if possible, unpopular IN Hnai'ae, TO promote the
selfish designs which have aacribed TO you.
But. Sir. the Committee on Foreign Re.a-
tons is not the only one, though 1t has been
convenient for you so to represent the accusation
in appointing which, charged you with I'M
proprlety. To say nothing OF your omlttlns
Mr.. Lloyd, of Massachusetts, from the Naval
Committee, Of which he had, to the complete
satisfaction Of the public, been previously Chair
man; and Of the substitution for him OF Mr..
Hayne, Of South Carolina, a Jealous partisan
of the Opposition. You placed on The Com
mittee Of Finance, Messrs. Smith, Berrien,
Holiness Hayne, (again,) and Woodbury., OF
whom four were also Of that political descrip-
ton: On the Committee on Indian Affairs, to
which the delicate bect Of the Georgia trea-
ty would of course be REFERRED Messrs Ben
ton, White, King, Edwards and Cobb; Of whom
Mr.. Edwards only Was friendly to the Admin
stration; the remaining four we're its decided
adversaries, and of these one was the Chair
man, who had soemnly exchanged his hatred
Of General Jackson, for hatred of the Adj
minisiration equally deadly, but less venial, be
cause it sprung, not from a generous resent
ment, but from the calculating spirit OF party.
The Judiciary Committee was composed OF
and Mills, and contained only one Senator, a
gentleman, | admit with pleasure, Of eminent
abilities, who was not decided in oPposition.-
The Chairman might, you know, be safely re-
lied on, when a recommendation Of the Execu-
tive was intangible by argument, to assail it
with ali the subtIety and science Of an educat-
ed political juggler.
1t thus appears that on each Of four highly
important standing committees, namely, those
on Foreign Relations, Finance, Indian Affairs, and
the Judiciary, you placed only single Senator
who was not hostile to the Administrations
Could this have been chance, were call the
talents experience and virtue of the Senate
in the ranks of the amaIgamation party! The
latter supposlton is not more obviously against
fact, than the former is against probability If
any man then can, sincerely believe that with a
previous knowledge of the opinions and feel
lngs of the Senators, you placed these commit
tees in the hands of the Opposition, and yet
deserve the eulogy which you have pronounc
ed on yourself, such man is one who, in the
language Of the historian, 'must be considered
as beyond the reach Of argument or reason, and
be left to his 'prejudces.
believe, Sir, you will now incline to retract
your assertion, that | deal in "a profusion Of
vague charges "without single specihca-
ton" If, however, your appetite for speciica-
tons is still unsatisfed, | will, whenever it may
be agreeable to yoI, proceed to analyze some
other of the thirteen Standing Committees of
the Senate, appointed at its last session.
The frequency with which you have, direct
ly or indirectly, introduced inlo this controver-
sy,the present Secretary Of State, induces me
to remind you Of a passage Of his life, which
occurred while he presided over the House of
Representatives, and has, perhaps, faded from
your memory. 1t is a well known anecdote
of the Metropolis, that when the quarrel be-
tween Mr.. Grosvenor and yourself, in the
House of Representatives, had nearly resulted
in duel, the arrangements for it were com
muncated to the Speaker in his retirement,
by learned gentleman, indifferent TO both par
ties, who desired his official interference. Re-
fusipg, for obvious reasons, this species Of in
terposition, Mr.. Clay, however, volunteered
his friendly efforts at a paclfication, and sue
ceeded just in time to avert extremities. This
benevolent agency detained him from the Speak
er's chair for an hour or two after the House
had assembled; ain absence from duty which
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