The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-03-26

way for motion to adjourn, of that practice
OF the House which accords US more of lei
sure on this day than is allowed us on any
other day Of the week The servants Of other
good masters are, believe, INDUCED in sort
OF saturnalium in the afternoon of Saturday,
and we have supposed that our kind masters,
the people, might be willing to grant US. their
most faithful slaves, similar respite from
toll. II is now past three O'clock in the az
ternoon, and should be very willing to
pause in the discussion, were | not urged by
those menacing cries Of "Go on. from va
rlous parts of the House. In this state of
things, cannot hope to summon to any thing
like attention the unquet minds Of many or
the jaded and worn down faculties Of still
larger portion Of the House. hope, how
ever, the House will not withhold from me
boon, which have often seen granted to
others, that is, the privilege Of speaking with
| out being oppressed by a crowded audience,
which is accompanied by this additional ad-
vantage, that the orator thus situated can at
least listen to and hear himself
II you, Mr.. Speaker, and the members Of
this House have given that attention TO the
speech of the gentleman from Michigan, Mr..
Crazy, made yesterday, which some Of US
here thought It our duty to bestow, am sure
the novelty OF the scene, TO say nothing more
OF it, must have arrested your curiosity, it, in
deed, 1t did not give rise TO profound reliec-
/ ton.
| need not remind the House that it is a
rule here las suppose it is every where else
where men dispute by any rule at al) that
what is said in debate should be relevant and
| pertinent to the subject under discussion
The question before us is proposition to in
struct the Committee of Ways and Means to
report bill granting four hundred and fifty
thousand dollars to continue the construction
Of the Cumberland road in the States Of Ohio
Indiana and Illinois, The objections to the
measure are, either that this Government is
in no sense bound by compact to make the
road, or that it is not work of any national
concern, but merely of local interest, or that
the present exhauted state of the Urea sury
will not warrant the appropriation, admitting
the object Of it to be fairly within the constu-
tonal province Of Congress.
Ii the gentleman from South Carolina Mr..
| PIcKENs) and the gentleman from Maine, (Mr
| PARRIs.) who consider the Cumberland road
a work Of mere sectional advantage to very
small portion Of the People, have attended to
the sage dispositions of the gentleman from
/
either come to the conclusion that almost the
whole of the gentleman's speech is what old
fashioned people would call g non sequiur,'
or else that this road connects itself with not
merely the military defenccs of the Union
but it is interviewer most intimately with the
progress of science, and especially that most
difficult of all sciences, the proper application
of strategy to the exigencies Of barbarian
warfare. 1t will be seen that the far-seeing
sagacity and long-reaching understanding OF
the gentleman from Michigan has discovered
that before we can vote with a clear con-
science on the instructions proposed, we must
be well informed as to the number OF Indians
who fought at the battle of Tippecanoe in
| 1911 how these savages were painted, whe-
Their red, black, or blue, or whether all were
blended on their barbarian faces. Further
according to his views of the subject, before
we vote money 10 make road, we must know
and approve of what Gen Harrison thought,
said and did at the battle Of Tppecanoe
Again, upon this process Of reasoning we
must inquire where general should be when
a battle begins, especially in the night, and
what his position during the fight, and where 1
he should be found when it is over and par
ticulary how kentuckian behaves himself
when he hears the Indian war whoop in day
or night. And, after settling all these puz-
zling propositions. still we must fully under
stand how and by whom the battle of the
Thames was fought, and in what manner it
then and there become our troops, regular and
militia TO conduct themselves. Sir, it must
be obvious thit if these topics are german TO
the subject, then does the Cumberland road
encompass all the interests and all the sub
jects that touch tho rights, duties, and desti-
MES of the civilized world and hope we
shall hear no more from Southern gentlemen
of the narrow, sectional, or unconstitutional
character of the proposed measure. That
branch of the subject is hope, forever quiet
ed, perhaps unintentlonallv, by the gentleman
from Michigan. His military criticism, if il
has not answered the purposes intended, has
at least, in this way, done some service to the
Cumberland road. And if my poor hating
comprehension has not blundered in pursuing
the soaring upward flight of my friend from
Michigan he has in this discussion written
new chapter in the reguIe philosophand,"
and made not ourselves only, but the whole
world his debtors in gratitude, by overiurning
the old worn out principles Of the inductive
system"
WI. A'pCdhCi, tilIlc iltsN0 both hiii
ponderous volumes written and various unc-
tuous discourses delivered, on the doctrine Of
" association Dugall Stewart, a Scotch
gentleman OF no mean pretensions in his day,
thought much and wrote much concerning that
principle IN mcnial philosophy; and Brown,
another Of the same school, but of later date,
has also written and said much on the same
subject. This latter gentleman, think, calls
II suggestion" but never, venture TO say
did any metaphysician, pushing his researches