The Whig standard. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1843-1844, 1844-02-05
TWENTY.EIGHTH CONGRESS,
S FIRST SESSION.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1874.
SENATE.
The Senate did not sit to-day.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FIRST SESSION.
The Senate did not sit to-day.
Is soon as the journal was read,

AS soon as the journal was read,
Mr.. BELSER, Of Ala, rose, with copy of the
Boston Atlas in his hand, and, having obtained
leave from the House, proceeded to read letter
in that paper written from here, ard giving an &C
count of the attack made by Mr.. Weller upon
Mr.. Shriver, in which he (Mr. Belser) was re-
presented as having, in company with other Lo-
cofocO members, been present aiding Mr.. Weller
in his assault upon man physically weaker than
himself The article in question was extremely
severe upon Mr.. Belser and Mr.. Payne. Mr. B.,
however, declared that he was entirely ignorant
of the atfray until it occurred--that he was not
within sixteen feet Of the parties, and had nothing
to do with the affair in any shape or manner. He
never had borne the character of bully any
where, and was not at all DESTROYS of such re-
putaton. He pronounced the article in the Atlas
slanderous and malicious. 1t was signed L. NJ
b., and he understood the writer had left the
city. The had not, Mr.. B. would have made an
example of him which he would have long re-
membered.
Mr. PAYNE said that he should be governed
by his own views Of what was his duty, regard
less OF yelpings and howlings within the bar Of this
House or beyond it. He was not in the habit Of
noticing these calumnies, but if one of their au-
thors was in his path, he would kick him out of
the way as he would any other puppy. He knew
nothing Of the assault Of Mr. Weller upon Mr.
Shrver until it took place. After he heard the
insulting language which was used towards his
friend he expected to see it resented, and he did
say that nobody should interfere. If this gave
him the character of bully, he was willing to
bear it, for he would act in the same way again.
After all, Mr.. Shrver's friends had reason to
thank him, for if he had not taken Mr.. Weller
off, he did not know what might have befaen
Mr. Shriver.
Mr.. HAMMETT, of Miss, made statement
confirmatory of what Mr. Belser had said but
spoke with his back towards us, SO that we could
not hear him.
AsHBURTON TREATY.
Mr.. LEVY, of Fla, moved suspension of the
rules that he might submit resolution that the
President be informed that in the opinion of this
House the 10th article of the treaty of Washing
ton ought to be revoked
The suspension was refused
Z Mr.. ADAMS called for the orders Of the day,
and
Mr.. HAMMETT, Of Miss, was entitled to the
floor; bnt this gentleman was not disposed to
proceed, and some one moved a postponement Of
the subject until Monday.
Mr. CLINGMAN, of N. c., would vote for
the pos,ponelnent, if the subject could be made
the special order Of that day. to be then finally
disposeaof This suggestion was not acceded
to. The subject of the rules and orders was then
postponed until Tuesday next by q vote Of 1872
to Az.
One or two private bills were passed
The SPEAKER laid before the House several
Executive communications, after which the
House resolved itself into Committee of the
W hole, Mr.. Gilmer, Of Virginia, in the Chair,
and took up the Private Calendar.
bill for the relief of the nearest relatives Of
those who were lost in the U. S. schr. Gram
pus was taken up, and gave rise to quite an ex-
tended debate, in which Messrs. Belser, Atkin-
son, Norris Hale, Hopkins, and Barnard, took
part. The bill was finally laid aside, to be IA
vorably reported 10 the House.
large number Of private bills were similarly
disposed of, after which
The House adjourned.