Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1839-03-26
'gwentv.fisth Consress---3d sess.

REMARKS OF MR. BUCHANAN. OF PESssilTAH'A
In Senate Thursday February IA, le39-on he 0''t 70
yrerent tie interference Of eeTtn'H feaeTat cD'e'S "'
Mr.. BUCHANAN rose and said:
Mr. President: The question raised Tor discuSsi'" "
the bill now before the Senate, is very simPie IN '
racer This bill proposes to punish, by hne o. I'VE
hnndred doars-,he one moety payable to The ini"r
mer and the other to the United S'aesIena oy per-
petua disability to hold Office under the United states
apy officer of this Government below the rank OF o'
,r;ct aorney who 'shall By word, message, or viii
ing or in any other manner whatsoever, endeaVor 10
persuade any eecor to give, or d'ssuade any eeeo'
from giving his for the choice OF any person 10 os
eec,or Of President and Vice President OF the OUta
States or TO be Senator or Representative in Congress
or to be Governor Lieutenant Governor, or senator
or Representa- within any State OF the Union or
70. The choice Of any person to serve IN any puoc o.
fee established bv the law Of any OF the States ne
officers Of the United States against whom tne peha'.
ties Of this bill denounced consists ol narsals ana
their deputies posmasters and their deputies receivers
and registers Of land Offices, and their depu"es ana
clerks surveyors general Of the public lands, and their
DEPUTIES md ASSISTANTS collectors surveyors, naval OH
GERS weighers gauges, appraisers, or other oces or
persons concerned employed in charging, collecu"g
eryng or managing the customs, or any branch mere
Of and engineers officers, agents, employed or Con-
cerned in the execution or superintendent oi any e'
the public works
he commenced his remarks moved 10 amend The bl by
striking from the pecunary penalty and the perpetual;
disability against these officers aud substituting IN Their
stead the DE- nalty OF removal from nce by the rftsI
dent upon the production of evidence satisfactory 10
him tha, any of them had been guilty OF The offence
Now for myself sad Mr.. b y shall not vote for this
amendment, ! will not take advantage OF the aIniable
weakness of my friend from Kentucky IN yIeding t."
The solicitation OF others that which his own Judgment
approved. | will more especially not give such vote,
because the proposed amendment makes TO change III
the principle OF the bill There is beautiful harmony
and consistency It's provisicns as II came fresh iT"
it's author, which ought to be preserved shall mol as
Of ito Lett
in its perfect form AID let his friends upon this
floor up to the bapsai tont and act as It's sP9"'
sors and let avowed principles be recognised ss The s'
1abiished doctrines Of the political church 10 which they
are al, devoted No. Sir, no; If village postmaster
should dare to exercise the freedom OF speech gudran
tied to hm hy antiquaed instrument called The Con
slitution Of S, and have the audaciy 10 endea-
yor TO persuade elector 10 vote Tor Maftln van
Buren,, Q. what would be much more aggravated o..
fence, dissuade any good Wing from voting for the
other ds,ng dish1G Senator tIon Kentucky (Mr LAY
mere forfeiture of his office would bear 10 just pro
portion The euurmity oil The crime Let such ID;
ing criminal be fined tive hundred dollars; let him be
disqualified forever from holding any othce under the
Government; and let him be pointed at as Il man OF
blasted reputation all the days of his life. With honest
Dogberry N the play Of Much Ado about Nothing,
pronounce he offence to be flat burglary as ever was
committed
There is another reason why shall vote against the
amendment An issue has been fairy made between
the Senator from Kentucky aud my friend from New
Jersey, (Nir Wall) who, from what We have heard III
the Of this debate has but few shattered Pianks
left on which he can escape from total shIPWreck o
his fair fame In mercy to him would not remove any
of them Let him have a chance for his lite. tie has
dared make report against the bill IN Its Original
FORM as it was referred TO The committee of which he ls
the chairman; and for this has encountered all the
whitening denuncations OF The Senators from Kentucky
and Virginia, (Messrs Critiencen and Rves) In JUS
tce 10 him. the aspect of the question houd not nov be
changed Let then have the BILL tue whole bill, and
nothing but the bill, against which his report was direct
cd a.
question whether this bill be constitutional or not; as
the Senator from Kentucky throughout the whole course
of his argument once attempted TO point 10 any
clause of The Cons,uoEan which II could be support
ed IL is that he did cite some precedenis IN ou
legislation which he supposes to have bearing on the
subject, but which, shall undertake TO prove, hereafter
are wholly inapphcable. The Senator from Virgins
(sr Rve) has gone further into the argument, aud has
attempted 10 prove that this bill is constitutional. Al
the proper time shall endeavJr 10 furnish The proper
answer to his remarks By-lhe.by, this Constitution IL
terrible bug6ear. Whilst member ii The other Hous'
once heard an old gentleman exclaim, when it was
cited against of his iavo:lte measures, what vast
deal of good il prevents US from doing! After this
bill shall have passed it will be bugbear NO longer, SC
far the freedom Of speech the press concerned
il will not then alarm even political children
The gentlemen have q precedent for their bill. Yes
Sir, they have precedent IN the Seditun Law but II
does not 20 far enough for their purpose That law,
which is the only precedent which this bill can
be founded, and on which alone it can be sustained
permitted every TO write and 10 publish what he
pleased concerning public aud public measures, and
only held him responsible IN case his charges should
prove 10 be false Blu, this bill Gag Law IT goes
the fountain al once, and prohibits the officer only
from writing, but from speaking any lng good, bad Or
Indifferent: whe Their false, subj CT hat
which may affect any pending election, from that
Of president down TO a constable. II has much
broader sweep than the Seditlon Law, hch did not
,erfere with the liberty OF speech however much i, may
have abridged the freedom OF the press Indeed, among
the more enlightened deSpotsns OF Europe know not
which prohibits the freedom OF speech al public
subjects; it is only in free and enlightened America h6,
we propose actually TO insert the gag The Sedn"n
Law bad enough God knows; but it extended only
TO the Uf the pen not To that OF the tongue There
is, therefore, parallel between the two cases.
Had it mol been for the existence Of The Sedon Law
should have supposed be impossible that there
could have been two opinions regard TO the utter
constitutionnly OF this bill. The Constitution in Ian
guage so plain as to leave for mscons,rucon,
declares that "Congress shalt make law abdging the
freedom Of speech OF the press The rule is uu.ver
sal. There is no exception. This bill proposes not
only TO abrdge, oul utterly TO sroy the freedom of
Speech and of the press 10 nlerdc their alnge her
to the enumerated officers, all question touching
the election of any officer Of the Federal or Stale Go
vernmen,s. A plain man would naturally suppose that
barely to state the contradiction between the Con.
ct tuition and this bill, 10 decide the question
Not SO. An ingenious and asiuie lawyer, in favor
of liberal construction OF that instrument, can by
inference aud ingenuity, confer powers upon Con
press in direct violation both of its letter and its s2-
rit and Of which its trainers DIRE med
Such the power to pass The SeditiOn Law That law
enprafled Limitation upon the freedom OF the press
It, in effect changed he meaning Of the general terms
Congress shall make law abrdging the freedom of
speech or of the press and except from their operation
any law which might be passed to punish bels against
the President, the Government or either House of Con
gress The present BILL in principle at least proceeds
much further. 1t excerpts from the general prohibition