The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1829-02-25
Letter to the Editor.

| Inc CUMBERLAND Road BILL IS still before the
House, and there is no telling when it will be
finally disposed OF. 1t is pretty certain, h"wev-
er, that the session is so near a close that. il
it passes the House, there will not be time for
the Senate to act upon If, and it must conse.
quently be lost. Thus the opponents of the
bill will have accomplished their object by pro.
tracing the discussion, Just as eifectuaily as
they could have done il they had been a MAJOR
ity of the House. This might have been The
less regretted. had not the time, thus uselessly
spent been needed for the consideration and
disposal of more important business. Among
the subjects which must now inevitably Law
! over till another year, is the Massachusetts
! Claim. Alas, poor Massachusetts,. thy worst
enemies have been, and are, of thy own house.
hold. Had thou not been traduced and vilified
by thy own citizens, this claim would long,
long ago have been paid But such was the
madness of party, that, to effect political pur-
poses, the State, where the seeds of liberty were
first s0wn, and its earliest fruits gathered was
represented as under the direction and guild
ance of a band of traitors! That opprobrious
eplthet was applied to men, whose purity Of
heart, and devotion to the best interests of
their country. would have done honor to the
best days of Greece and Rome. Then the
farce was enacted of making formal renunca-
tion OF the acts and opinions of those men, when
IN power, thus virtually asking the allowance
OF the claim, as act of indulgence and favor,
rather than as one of right. This suicidal act
stands on record against US, and our enemies
do not fail, on every suitable occasion, to make
such use of it as it is natural to expect they
should. None but those who have ha6 the OPP
portunity of witnessing it, can be aware of the
deep rooted prejudice which these things have
excitee against in other sections of the
Union. AS it now stands, have no hopes of
IN
till she comes forward, as she ought to have
done long ago, and instead of trucking to the
powers that be, makes demand of her rights
! 1T voice that will shew that she knows what
they are, and is determined, by every fair and
constitutional mode, to enforce their allowance.
I 1t seems to be the fate of Gen. Smyth, in
whatever he engages, whether in writing proc
lamatlons explaining the apocalypse, giving
! law lectures, or attempting to amend the Con-
sthutlon, to make himself the butt of rdcue
His proposed amendment, for restricting the
Tune Tor which person may hold the office OF
| President to one term of service. is now before
the House. You must understand that the
first hour of every days session is devoted to
/ the Offering and disposlng of resolutions, and
/ hearing the reports of committees, and that
time has, for some some days past, been mostly
| appropriated to the discussion of the Generals
resolution. On the 9th, MIR. Sergeant conclud-
| ed an able argument in opposition to the reso-
luton. Mr.. Smyth attempted to reply, but
the House had become so weary, either of him
or of his subject. that they commenced such
coughing and conversation, that little moth
ing he said could be heard, and the Speakers
calls to order were all in vain. When he took
| his seat, Mr.. Wright of Ohio, rose and COM
menced speech in opposition To the resolu-
tions. He has since occupied the floor, during
the :ime allotted to this discussion, and has
showered his kesnest pointed arrows upon Gen.
Smyth without stint or mercy. | think the
| General must, some of the time, have felt great
er CONSERVATION, even, than the sound of the
I British buge sent to his heart, when heard
across the waters of Niagara, during the last
war. For pungent retort and biting sarcasm,
Mr.. Wright has not his equal on the floor of
Congress. On Friday he read the copy OF
confidential anonymous letter. which. he said,
was one out of about twenty which had been
received by different members of the House,
urging them. by appeals to their self interest,
to support Gen SIS amendment On Saturday
| he informed The House that he then had two of
the original letters. which might be seen by
any one DESTROYS of it. A great rush toward
MIR. Wrght's seat took place. when 10 it was
found that the chirography of the letters, which
was very peculiar. was that of Gen. Smyth.
! The following are copies of them:
! (Confidential)
| "Onght not every gentleman, who thinks
that he may one day have fair claim 10 the
Presidential chair, be on the alert to double his
chances?"
"Confdential
| Suppose that gentleman should conceive
that he will, at some future day say IS or 30
years, have a fair claim to the Presidential
chair, would he not do well to reflect that 6
| times makes AZ, and 6 times A only "a years,
so that. if six citizens stand before him. he has
no chance according to usage and the Consti
tuition as it stands at present, and that, if chang
ed according to the proposed amendment, he
will"
When Mr. Wright commenced reading the
letter, he was called to order by Mr.. Kremer,
but the Speaker permitted him to proceed
] Mr., Wright said he would not attempt to fix
the authorship on any individual, much less
would he undertake to say they were written
| by any member of the house. Yet there was
something in the style of them, which forcbly
| reminded him of certain proclamation, issued
during the last war, which he then held in his
hand At the sound of the word "procama-
tion,' Gen. Smyth sprung upon his feet, and,
interrnpting Mr.. Wright, asked if that was in
order. " Is what in order :" replied the Speak
er. ais it in order,'' said Gen Smyth "to
read that proclamation in the course of debate ~
The Speaker replied " | cannot tell till have
heard it." So Mr.. Wright proceeded, and read
Gen smyths famous war proclamation, paro-
| diving the same by paragraphs, as he went
along, so that, the proclamation called on
the militia to come to his assistance for the in
vasion of Canada, the parody called upon the
| members of the House to come to his assistance
for the passage of this amendment In the
course of his speech, Mr.. Wright said the cred
it of originating the proposed amendment did
not belong to the gentleman from Virginia; it
was one of those which were recommended by
the far-famed Hartford Convention Another
was also recommended by that body, which he
thought preferable to this, providing tina, two
Presidents should not be taken successfully
from the same State. Why the gentleman had
not also Incorporated that proposition into his