Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1841-10-02

| now lar ne meant 10 CONFORM, IN his new
station, to certain peculiar opinions which
were held in Virginia, he made this patriotic
and noble reply: 81 am Vice President of
the United States, and not of the State of
Virginia; and | shall be governed by the
wishes and opinions of my constituents"
When heard of this encouraging and sat
isfactory reply, believing, as most reli-
giously do, that a large majority of the
People of the United are in favor of Ma
tional Bank, land gentlemen may shut their
eyes to the fact, deny or dispute, or reason
it away as they please, but it is my con-
scientious conviction that two-thirds, if not
more, of the People of the United States
desire such an institution,) thought be-
held sure and certain guaranty for the
fulfilment of the wishes of the People of
the United States. | thought it impossible
that the wants and wishes of a great Peo-
pie who had bestowed such unbounded and
generous confidence, and conferred on him
such exalted honors, should be disregarded
and disappointed. 1t did not enter into
my Imagination to conceive that one, who
had shown so much Difference and respect
TO the presumed sentiments of single
State, should display less towards the scnt-
ments of the whole Nation.
hope, Mr.. President, that, in performing
the painful duty which had devolved on
me, | have not transcribed the limits of
legitimate debate. | repeat, in all truth
and sincerity, the assurance to the Senate
and to the country. that nothing but a
stern, reluctant, and indispensable sense of
honor and of duty could have forced from
me the response which have made to the
Presidents objections. But, instead of
yielding without restraint to the feelings
Of disappointment and modification excited
by the perusal of his message, have anx-
iously endeavored to temper the notice
of it, which have been compelled to take,
by the respect due to the office of Chief
Magistrate, and by the personal regard
and esteem which / have entertained for
its present incumbent.
Mr.. CLAY having concluded his second
speech on the Veto Message
MR.. R1VES rose, and said he must be
permitted to express his surprise at the ex-
traordinary exhibition of vehemence we
had Just witnessed from the honorable Sem
ator from Kentucky. He was only at a
loss to con lecture what there was in any
thing he had said, to provoke SO towering
an outbreak of wrath and eloquence. In
the remarks he had made in reply to the
honorable Senator, he had limited himself
strictly to defence of high public func-
tionary, who had felt himself called on by
the most solemn of all obligations to exert
a great power placed in his hands by the
Constitution of his country, against ami
madversions and reproaches which he be-
! lieved in his conscience were altogether I'M
merited. 1t was an act of Justice, which
l should have despised myself (said Mr.. r.
if | could have set still in my seat, with the
materials of justification so abundantly ex-
listing in in my own knowledge, and have
withheld from the humbest of my fellow
citizens when thus assailed.
The Senator from Kentucky may have
iealousies and suspicious in his mind as to
my course here; but if he has, permit me
say to him he does me great injustice.
concur, with great cheerfulness, in the self
approving sentiments he has pronounced,
with so much emphasis, in regard to his own
high character for courage and patriotism.
| am the last person, let him be assured,
that would impugn in any manner his just
claims upon the consideration and respect
of his country. But while admire. and
render the homage due to his corage and
patriotism, as well as his distinguished tai
ents. he will excuse me for saying cannot
agree to take my lessons in political ethics
| from one who, invoking the name of Deity
and pointing to heaven, boldly intimates
that he would win his way. even to that
holy place, by violation of the Constitu-
ton he had sworn to support, and who
holds it up as the highest act Of public vir-
tue to trample under foot that sacred in
strument, when it may be supposed to
stand in the way of some pecuniary inter-
ests of the country
The Senator shakes his head. But sir,
is this not fair and uneIaggerated state
ments of the case? The bill which the
Senator from Kentucky would have had
the President to sign, his convictions to the
contrary Notwithstanding, is one which
the President most deliberately believes is
a violation of that Constitution, which,
when entering upon his office, he took
solemn oath to "preserye, protect, and de-
fend." Yet the Senator from Kentucky,
assuming (gratuitously, as humbly think,)
that majority of the people are in favor
of this measure, (Which, as | showed when
| addressed the Senate before, had not even
been approved by majority of their rep
resentatives) insists that the President
ought to have carried out this imaginary
will of the majority, in despite of his own
deep-rooted convictions of the unconstitu-
tionalty of the act, and in disregard of
the solemn sanction of his official oath !