Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1828-12-17

and maiienily." Such is the consistency o.
Mr.. Andrew Stevenson!
There is no man Of sensibility but regrets 70
speak Of himself, or the situations w",1. u"
voice Of his felow-Iitzeas has cahee III" ~
fill; and, in yielding to The necessity Of speakihs
Of myself, Imposed upon me BY 'ne r.irarsS ~ %
MIR. Stevenson, I hope to be excused rom ,"e
in, pu, alton Of every other motive than inat OF
desire Ia resist the idea Of OF my utter oo'curi'
w." SO much insisted upon by Mr.. o'esenSon'
and deemed by him so important IN ms defence.
"Obscnre" as I am, it has so happeheo' t"a'
there is no station which Mr.. stevenson mas
filled, previous 10 his present elevation ina,
have not occupied those which were equally
honorable. had the honor OF seat 10 eoh-
eress two years before Mr.. Stevenson oeca.ne
a member, and ever since. Inc als'tic' VIM"
for four years represented, containeo' a, 'na'
time, a greater number OF Tree white ihhaoi>
tanls than one finn part OF the whole whi'e
population Of the great State OF virginia '"en
represented by TWENTY FOUR members; ana
do not exaggerale when say, that, al one e'ec-
ton, my majority was greater than all the
votes Mr. Stevenson has received ior congress
in his whole life.
No,withs andpg my "obscurity," ] have
been Represented, BY Mr.. Stevenson, as one,
whose feelings towards Southern men, ana
Southern doctrines, he had long known 10 nave
been bitter, and unrelen,ing. iei,i ola SO
happen that Southern Speaker, gentleman,
however, vsv unlike Mr.. Ste'enson,i at the
CONNER cement of the l7lh Congress, unsoli-
cited. appointed me Chairman Of an important
Committee; to which place have been reap
pointed by every succeeding Spesker, inclu-
ding Mr.. Stevenson himself, until, al the pres
Quo cd
will not a,temp, to characterize, but which ev'
ery unbiased mind will understand and aPPre'
ciste, he has thought proper to show his mag
ncniurifv, BY excluding he from the situation
AS TO the mAnner in which / have performed
the duties Of that appointment, it does not be-
come me 10 speak. The reports which have
made remain Of re- ord, and will show Tor them
selves. The principles which have been SCI.
lied by them were deemed to be important; and
some Of them then, for the first time aglafed
in the Government: AID il may not be consid :
cred as de.racling from their merits, that they
all received the sanction of Vie House, and per-
ha2s the most important Of them all, the sane
ton Of Mr.. Stevenson.
And now let US inquire what has been done
by Mr.. Stevenson, daring his Congressional
career, to warrant the high opinion which he
publishes Of himself. lie has always enjoyed
the honor OF place upon an important Com
mittee; but if am not mistaken, he has new
er, in that capacity, favored the House or the
Nation with specimen Of what he is compe.
tent to perform; nor do believe that any
Chairman Of any Committee to which he has
belonged can be found willing to say, that he
Was essentially aided by the industry or coun-
sci Of Mr.. Stevenson 1t is true that Mr.. Ste
,enson has made two set speeches: one on the
"hll to establish uniform system Of Bank
rnptcy," aud III. o'h-. on a resolution propo-
sing an amendmen tn the Consti ution Of the
Uait d States. On The f.rmer occasion, he
,abored for hours, with his usual cogency, 10
prove, that, although, by the constitution, Con-
gress were specially authorized 10 pass a
Bankrupt law, yet, that what had for ages been
considered as comprehenaed within that term
would be unconstitutional ! !!
Great exec p,ions are taken BY Mr.. Stevenson
to the manner and time of my making The pub
lie disclosure Of his declaration 10 me. This
may require particular examination. The
office Of Speaker OF the House Of Representa-
lives Of the United States has heretofore been
filed by men, who, whatever their political pre-
dilec lions, were duly impressed with a sense Of
the dignity Of the station they occupied: so
much so as to forbid ,hem from entering into
any of the pallry gossiplrg of electinneerln,s
strife. In this respect, i. is well known, that
Mr.. Stevenson is the very reverse Of I'll his pre-
decessors. He, from being, in is24-5. the vio-
len, opponen, OF Gen. Jackson, aud publicly
known to be in favor of Mr.. Adams, next after
MIR. Crawford; the defender Of Messrs. Ad4ms
and Clay and their friends. agains, the charge
OF bargain and corruption, SC. suddenly became
IN 1926, and has continued, an equally violent
opponent Of those gentlemen, and Of the Adj
ministra,ion Of the Government. The leaders
and presses Of the party TO which he had thus
allied himself, were incessant and unremittiug
il, their rxertions to destroy the reputation OF
every man who had contributed 10 the election
Of Mr.. Adams, or the support Of his Admins
,raion; and myself, ho'wi hstanding my "ob-
scurily," mad been rendered somewhat eons2i-
cuous by the obloquy which, on that account,
had been heaped upon me. My situation ex-
cIuees the idea that could feel Indifferent to
the production of any new witness, TO sustain
The charge of misruIe which had been brought
forward and reiterated against the Adminislrs-
ton. considered myself as implicated in the