Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1842-04-14
TwENTY-SEvENTE CONGRESS
SECOND ESSION.
TmuRsDAY, MARCH 81, 1912.
IN SENATE.

hi"r several reports from committees on mi
va;e ciains' and ordering two or three private bills
to be engrossed--~
MIR. CLAY said Gas impcrfec,ly heard in tn,
Reporters gallcrics) that, before proceeding I,
make the motion for which he had risen, he beg
grd leave 10 submit, on the only occasion afforded
him, an observation or two on different subject
1t would he remembered that he had offered, on 9
former day, some resolutions going to propose Ger
tain amendments in the Constitution of the Uni
:, Tod States they had undergone some discussion
aud he had been DESTROYS of obtaining an express
sion OF the sense Of the Senate upon their aLop
ton but owing to the infirm state Of his health
to the pressure of business in the Senate. and es
pecially tn the absence ut this moment Of several
OF his friends, he had concluded this to be unne.
cessary; nor should he deem himself called upon
10 reply to the arguments of such gentlemen as
mad considered II their duty to oppose the resou
lions. lie should commit the subject, lh;refo fore
TO the hands OF The Senate, to be disposed of as
! iheir Judgment should dictate: concluding what
he had TO say in relation to them with the remark
that the convictions he had before entertained ia
regard to the severa! amendments, he still de lib
erately held, after all that he had heard upon the
subjects of them.
| And now, said Mr.. c., allow me to announce.
formally and officially. my retirement from the
Senate of the United States, and to present the
last motion shall ever make In this body. But,
before make that motion, trust | shall be par
doned II l avail myself of the occasion to make a
lew observations which are suggested to my mind
! by the present occasion.
! entered the Senate Of the United States in
December, 1906. ] regarded that body then, and
Sill contemplate it, as body which may COM
| pare, without disadvantage, with any legislative
assembly. either of ancient or modern times,
whether look to It's dignity, the extent and inn
portance OF It's powers or the ability by which its
individual members have been distinguished. or
It's constitution. If compared in any OF these res
Pects with tn" Senaes either of France or of Enp-
land, that Of the United States ill sustain no de-
rosAton. With respect 10 The mode OF its consti-
tuition, OF those bodies may observe that in the
House OF Peers in England, with the exceptions
outoi Ireland and OF Scolland-and i'm that of
France, with no exception whatever--the men,
oers hold their places under delegated author
ity' but derive them from the grant of the Crown,
transmitted ny decent or expressed in patents
oil nobility while here we have the proud title
OF Representatives of sovereign States, of distinct
and Independent Commonwealth.
III we look again at the powers exercised by
the Senates OF France and England, and by the
Senate OF the United States. we shall find that the
o' rO..> ,,,0e,op
the members possess the Legislative power. In
me foreign Senates in this, the judicial power
Is Invested although there it exists In larger de-
gree Than here. But on the other hand, that vast
underlined, and undehnable power involved in the
right 10 cooperate with the Executive i'm the for
nation and ratification Of treaties is cnioyed in
all It's magnitude and weight by this body, while
II Is possessed by neither others: besides which
there Is another OF very great practical Importance
That OF sharing with the Executive branch i'm
distributing the vast patronage of this Government
In both these latter respects, we stand on grounds
different from the House Of Peers either of Eng
land or France. And then as to the dignity and
decorum OF its proceedings, and ordinarily as to
the ability OF It's members, can with great truth
declare that, during the whole long period Of my
knowledge of this Senate it can, without AFRO
gance or presumption, sustain no Instantaneous
comparison with any public body in ancient or
modern times.
Full of attraction, however, as seat in this
Senate is, sufficient as it is to fill the aspirations
OF the most ambitious heart. have long deter
mined TO !orego it, and to seek that repose which
can be enjoyed only in the shades If private life,
and amid The calm pleasures which belong TO that
beloved word, ''home."
1t was my purpose to terminate my connection
with this body in November, 1910. after the me-
morabe and glorious political struggle which
distinguished that year: but learned, soon after,
what indeed | had for some time anticipated from
the result of my reflections. that extra ses-
sion of Congress would be called and felt de-
slrous to cooperate with my political and person.
al friends in restoring, if it could be effect d. The
prosperity OF the country by the best measures
which their united counsels might be able to de-
wise and therefore attended the extra session.
IL was called, as all know, by the lanented Rar-
rison; but his death and the consequent Access
sion of his successor produced entirely new as
peci ofpubc affairs. Had he lived, have moi
one particle of doubt that every important measure
Tor which the country had hoped with conf
dent an expectation would have been consummated
by the cooperation of the Executive branch OF
t!te Government. And here allow me 10 say, on
ly, in regard to that so much-reproached extra
session OF Congress. that believe fany of those
who, through the influence Of party spirit or the
bias Of political prejudice. have loudly censured
the measures then adopted, will look at them in
spirit oil candor and OF j.siicP, their conclusion,
and that OF the country generally, will be that il
there exists any just ground If complaint. ii is 10
! be found not III what was done, but in what was
| left unfinished.
| Had President Harrison lived, and the mea-
sures devised at that session been fully carried out
1T was my intention then to have resigned my seat
But, hope q feared it might prove vain hope)
that at the regular session the measures which
we had left undone might even then be perfected,
or the same object attained in an equivalent form.
induced Inc 10 postpone the determination and
events which after the extra session. result
| ing from the failure Of those measures which had
been proposed at that session, and which appear
ed to throw cur political friends temporary
show OF defeat, confirmed me in the resolution 10
! attend The present session also, and. whether in
prosperity or adversely. to share the fortune of my
TRENDS. But resolved at the same time TO retire
as soon as could do so with propricty and de-
cency.
From 1906, the period Of my entry on this no
l BILE theatre, with short intervals to the present
time, have been engaged in the public counsils
at home abroad. OF the nature or the value OF
the services rendered during that long and arduous