Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1837-01-26

whether one word or many words are written
on the face of the record; whether little ink
or much ink is shed on the paper; or whether
some part, or the whole, Of the original writ
ten jourIial may yet by possibility be traced.
Ii the act done be an act to eSpnnge. to blot
out, to obliterate, to erase the record, then
the record is expunged, blotted out, obltera-
ted, and erased. And mutilation and atcra-
tion violate the record as much as obilera-
ton or erasure. A record, subsequently, al
tered, is not the original record. IL no long
er gives just account of the proceedings Of
the Senate. 1t is no longer true. 1t is in
short, no journal of the real and actual pro-
ceedings of the Senate, such as the Consti-
tuition says each House shall keep.
The Constitution, therefore, is, in our de-
l;berate judgment,vio by the proceeding
in the most plain and open manner.
\ The Constitution, moreover, provides that
the yeas and nays on any question, SHALL at
the request Of one-ffth of the members pres
cnt be entered on The journal. This prov ison,
most mahfestly, gives personal right to
those members who may demand it, to the
entry and preservation of their votes on the
record of the proceedings OF the body, not for
There the yeas and The NAYS are 10 stand, for
manner in which members have voted on
great and important questions before them.
! But it is now insisted that the votes of
members, taken by yeas and nays, and thus
entered on the journals AS matter of right,ma
still be eXpnnged; that that, which il requires
more than four-fifths of the Senators to pre-
vent from being put OH the journal, may, new
crihelcss, be struck off, and erased the next
mn or Mt nl aft rIs hv no
will of mere majority, or if this be not ad-
mi,tcd, then the absurdity is adopted Of main
tanning, that this provision Of the Constitution
is fulfilled by merely preserving the yeas and
nays on the journal after having expunged and
oblterated the very resolution, or the very
question, on which they were given, and to
which alone they refer; leaving the yeas and
nays thus mere list Of names, connected
with no subject, no question, no vote. We
put it to the impartial judgment of mankind,
il this proceeding be not, in this respect ulso,
directly and palpably inconsistent with the
Constitution.
We protest, in the most solemn manner,
that other Senators havc no authority to de-
prve us of our personal rights, secured to us
by the Constitution, either by expunging, or
obliterating, or mutilating, or defacng, the
record Of our votes, duly entered by yeas and
nays, or by cxpungng and obltcrating the
ret olatons or question on which those votes
were given and recorded.
We have seen, with deep and sincere pain,
the Legislatures of respectable States In
slructing the Senators of those States to vote
for and support this violation of the journal
of the Senate; and this pain is infinitely in
creased by our full belief and entire convic
tion, that most, if not all these proceedings of
States had their origin in promptings from
Washington; that they have been urgently
requested and insisted on as being necessary
to the accomplishment Of the intended pur-
pose; and that it is nothing else hut the intlu-
ence and power Of the Executive branch of
this government which has brought the Leg
slatures of so many of the free States OF this
Union to quit the sphere Of their ordinary du- |
ties Tor the purpose Of CO operating to accom-
plish measure, in our judgment, 50 uBcon-
stitutional,so Gerogatory to the character and
dignity of the Senate, ard marked with 80
broad an impression of compliance with pow
or.
But this resolution il to pass. We expect
it. That cause. which .ias been powerful e.
nough to influence 30 many State Leglsla-
lures, will show itself powerful enough, es-
pecaly with such aids, to secure the passage
of the resolution here.
We make up our minds to behold the spec
tacle which is to cnsuc.
We collect ourselves to look on, in silence,
while a scene is exhibited which, if we did
not regard it us ruthless violation of sacred
instrument, would appear to us to be little
elevated above the character Of contempti-
BILE farce.
This scene we shall behold, and hundreds |
OF American citizens, as many as may crowd
into these lobbies and galleries, will behold it I
also: with what feelings ] do not undertake
TO say.
But VIC PRoTEsT, we most solemnly PRO-
TEST, against the substance and the manner
OF this proceeding, against its object, against
its form, and against its effect. We tell you
that you have no right TO ma: or mutilnte the
record of our votes given here, and recorded
according to the Constitution; we tell you
that you may as well erase the yeas and nays
on any other question or resolution, or on all
questions and resolutions, as on this; we tell
you that you have just as much right to falsi-
iy the record, by SO altering it as to make us
appear to have voted on any question, as we
did not vote, as you have to erase record,
and make that page blank, in which our
votes,as they were actually given and record
ed, now stand. The one proceeding, as it
appears to us, is rs much Justification of the
record as the other. /
Having made this PROTEST., our duty is
performed. We rescue our names, character,
and honor from all participation in this mat
ter; and whatever the wayward character OF
the times, the headlong and punging spirit Of
party devotion, or the fear or the love of pow
rr, may have been able to bring about else
where, we desire to thank God that they have
not, as yet, overcome the love Of Liberty, f.
deity to true republican principles, and a sa-
cred regard for the Constitution, in that State
W hose soil was drencbcd, to a mre, by the
first and best blood of the Revolution. Mas.