Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1832-02-02


mcnt divert me from the path to which duty
points. Ii would have afforded me great graft
6ca,ion to have listened TO some more able al
vocatc of the nations honor, aud to have been
able 10 repose my vote on the causes more sn-
tiSfactorily assigned by another But the qucsti-
on is about to be taken, and will not consent
to allow an occasion to pass, without raising my
feeble voice to redeem the tarnished reputation
of nv country. Ifo,hcr Senators accord with
my opinion II is essential, sir, that the vote o:
rejection shall 90 forth associated with the rea-
sons which influence 1t Yes, SIR, the honor and
the dignity of this nation has land / think 1t de-
mons rable)-the heretofore unsulicd diplomatic
character ofthe American Republic has been
stained It's lofty pride has been humEated-un-
II 'cessary wantonly humbcd-by the man who is
now proposed as its guardian and protector, and
advocate; and as an American Senator, am not
con,eD: barely TO put upon him the seal CT repro
baton in q secret session of this body. No. Sir,
let the American Covcrnment-let the Ameri-
can people, proud of their national honor, know
that no ruthless hand shall desecratc 1t with i'm
punity; and let foreign nations, end all the world
know, that even an American Secretary of State
dare not Po!lutr its ermine.
Mr. President, mean to resist the confirma-
ton Of Mr.. Van Buren's appointment exclusive
ly on the ground, that in his instructions to MIR
McLanc, on The sublec of the col ,nial trade, he
has violated the honor of the nation, has wound
cd lis high and elevated character, has cvinccd
q disregard to the interests of the American
peop!c-nay, has insu!ted that people in tho per.
of their government, has attempted to pro-
mote The objects OF a PARTY amongst us, and
has disclosed total ignorance of the proper
principles and feelings which should adorn the
dponiatist. For proof of these assertions
mean to rely exclusively on his own words.
deliberately embodied in n state paper, and on
those to which lie has himself alluded, and found
amorg ;t the archives ofthe Department ofwhch
he WAS then the head.
In directing the attention of the Senate to
particular PART ofthe letter of instructions from
MIR. Van Buren, TO the American Minister then
a. the British Court, disclam the inference,
that the residue of that letter, that other let
tcrs of instruction contain no eXceptonable mat
ter. There are many positions which, ano-
Their occasion, it would be proper to dispute, and
the whole temper and tone Of the dispatches
breath an air of humility and concession, and
conviction of error, and suppliant cn,reaty Of
favor and notice, which no American citizen
who thinks and feels as think an American
freeman should do, can regard as the appropri
ate language of his government, pledged as 1t is
'to ask nothing but what is right, and to submit
to nothing that is wrong
The portion of Mr. Van Buren's work, how
ever, to which will more particularly allude,
is part of his letter of instruction to Mr. nj c.
Lane, dated Goth July, 1929. He uses this Ian
guage:
"Thc opportunities which you have derived from
IA participation in public councils,
well other of information, will
"cnablc you to speak with confidence Gas
"iar as you may deem it proper and use.
u so to do Of the respective parts taken by those
'to whom the administration of this Government
sis now committed in relation to the course here
"totore pursued upon the subject of the colonial
trade. Their views upon that point have been
submitted TO the people of the United States;
land the counsels by which your conduct is now
ppIa
by the only earthly tribunal to which the late adj
administration amenable for its acts. 1t should be
sufficient that The claims set up by them, and
(Which caused the interruption of the trade in
question, have been explicitly abandoned by those
"who first asserted them, and not revived by
"thcir successors. IF Great Britain deems it adj
"verse to her interests to allow us to participate
Sin the trade with her colonies and finds nothing
'n the extension of it to others to induce her to
apply the same rule to us, she will, hope, be
sensible of the propriety of placing her refusal
son those grounds. To Get up the acts of the late
administration as the of forfeiture of pri-
'vlieges which weuld otherwise be extended to
'tho People of the United States, would, under ex
listing circumstances, be unjust in itself, and
could not fail to excite their deepest scnsbility
"Tho tone ofleeling which course SO unwse
land untenablc is calculated to produce, would
'doubtless he greatly aggravated by the conscious
"ness that Great Britain has, by order in council,
"opened her colonial ports to Russia and France
notwithstanding a similar omission on their part
"Io accept the terms offered by the act of July,
'1S25. You cannot press this view of the subject
"too earnestly upon the consideration of the
"British ministry. 1t has bearings and relations
chat reach beyond the immediate question under
''discussion."
Now. sir, when stripped Of its verbage and
reduced to lis plain import, what does the Sccre.
tary of State here PRESS SO EARNESTLY? That
mir. McLane, the Minister, who had been a
member of the political party of which the then
| president I'll hoe lam no
tary of Stale most conspicuous supporter,
with imputed anxiety to claim reversionorv in
terest in the chetta inship) that the Minister
who had been member of this Senate, ard in
that character informed of the conflicting views
OF the different political branches or subdivisions
| INTO which the great American family had been
arranged, should stoop to avail himself of this
personal intimacy with or family discussions, to
| PRESS EARNESTLY upon foreign government the
misconduct of one part of this family III the re-
iafloEs OF onr Government with that foreign
Power, and the more amiable and kind feelings
OF another division of it. But is THIS alR No,
SIR; 1t Is EARNESTLY PR EssED that the AMERICAN
GoYERNMENT-the concentrated will of the
whole American family, the only legitimate
source ct access to foreigners, the only uthori-
seq organ OF communion with other Nations
that This GOVERNMENT, i'll the person ofits "jate
Administration" should be bowed down in disho-
nor and In degradation at the feet OF Lord Aber-
VIC "eIeSateu out numDIe peTsoDatlon oil
the British Monarch. Yes. sir the unkeard Of
unparalleled, and most revolving experiment
was to be made, (otber supplicati>ns having fail
ed to move the royal sympatby,) how far an un-
sparlnE condemnation of ourselves would disarm
Britt. h throne of It's naughty supercilious dis
dam OF Just and an honest demand | say sir
IT was novel and unheard of repeat it. Let
the past history of this proud Republic be mi
nu'ely 'nterrogatcd-Ay, in the many political
changes of its agents, which by the terms of its
organization, 1t must witness, let it be sought;