The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-06-18
PERSONAL EXPLANATION.
In HOUSE, OF REPRESENTATIVES, JUNE Is, i

In HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JUNE Is, lS45.
Mr. LEVIN said he rose TO a question of priv
lege, and commenced by remarking that he was
compelled to notice a scurilous attack upon him
which he found in the columns Of the Washington
Union Of Saturday.
Mr.. HoPKIss here rose and said, he did not
think any question of privilege was involved, and
he objected to the gentleman proceeding.
After some conversation between the Chair,
Mr.. LEVIN, and Mr. HoPKNs-
Mr.. LEVIN was permitted to proceed. He said
that he regretted to find it necessary to notice the
scurrilous attack referred to-; for caumny take what
form shape il may, not only furnishes Its own
antidote, but, like empty sounds among barren hills,
receives its best answer from Its own dying echo.
Nor should he now take notice OF 1t, II he did not
know that SANDER never lacks external influence and
support, in that uncharitable spirit which is ever
ready to pronounce a summary verdict Of conyic-
tion, upon no other foundation than the mere fact
Of charge having been alleged. A confident air
and an unbrided tongue are all that are necessary
nowadays to constitute an accuser and he is IN
slanty transformed into the witness, the judge and
the executioner His ISLANDERS die not barren Of pro
geny; but, for generated and generating weave
the chain destined to bind their bleeding victim.
He had reason, however, to congratulate himself;
for, although he had become subject, he was not
yet, thank God, the victim Of the calumniator.
For upwards of six months he had toiled In be-
half of an improvement Of the Philadelphia navy
yard believing that in advancing the interests OF his
constituents he would at the same time advance the
interests of the country. We have reached an ex-
raordnary period in the history of American legis-
lation, when no representative dare to devote him
self to the interests of his constituents without being
denounced as ademagogue-when no representative
dare advocate an important Improvement without be-
ing denounced party interested. Is this Ameri-
freedom He had supposed that he lived in land
where the free interchange of thought and ndepen-
dent action formed the basis Of our political existence:
hah I'D ca1 lint ban npd in ba
it the high privilege all to UTTER to argue and
to act freely, without fear or favor of man. With
out this freedom, no tongue may divulge the deep
wants of its soul-no pen may portray the dimen-
sions of its wrongs-and no hand dare unveil that
benefcent charter which whispers in the freedom OF
our homage of life, liberty, and happiness. And yet
with these ineffaceable features stamped upon the
pages Of our rights, confirmed as they are, if con-
frmaton they can need, by the intellect and con.
science of every man living, those faithful deposio-
ries fthe primary impressions of the finger of God
there are those who would fasen the letters of
salage upos our limbs. Who are they' The puny
paid agents who, for contingent fee, are here ar
rayed against tho interests of the people of Philade
phia and the country at large. He had discovered
during the last two months, that the only dock tina
could by possibility pass the House was the i'm
proved stone dock known as the sectional dock,
not only because it combined all the advantages o.
the stone dock with the floating structure but also
because, connected with railways, It would relieve
the country from The burden of the peace establish
ment. ... .4. E. .a#
He knew many members of that House who
would sustain it, and no other, upon grounds OF ma
| tiona economy and he frankly confessed that h,
had devoted himself to the object with untiring zeal
When the enemies of Philadelphia discovered tina
| he had assumed his position after thorough in
vestigation of the comparative merits of this ant
other docks, and knowing, too, that stone docl
could not possibly be carried, they first ap
| preached him with appeals; but those appeal
left him strictly in the line OF his duty. They
| boosted of their power; they threatened, and h
despised them. During the last few days he hal
| seen them busy at work, endeayoring to diseas
the minds of members OF Congress by clrculatin
| among them two letters, not in a bold, decided
manly way, but creeping and cowardy. At las
they acquired boldness enough to publish their COZ
respondence; and he thanked them for it. This n,
ticle appears in the Washington Union in the forr
of a communication in order to give II the semblanc
of sanction on the part of the editors OF that ourna
| He had been informed by Major Heiss, One OF III
proprictors that had been paid for an advertise
| ment, and that he had given orders for it to appea
| as such. They had also adroitly introduced IN th
communication a certificate from his honor the may
or of Philadelphia, in order to throw hcthous ~
| huence around the names Of these parties, by cor
| Meeting themselves with name of so much respec
! abiity But this last prop he would strike from M
| der them He had addressed letter to Mr.. Swii
| pavoy of philadelphia and had received repl
Efrom him, in which he states that that certihca
Il was intended to apply only 10 those gentlemen VIII
| presided at public meeting in Philadelphia
| Thus il appears that that certificate has been PEE
verted from its original object to give fictitious r.
spectability to other parties. And who ls Woo
burn Potter, who signed the communication IN u
!, Union, and who has been levyng combinations "a
Il on the unsuspecting people of Philadelphia to pa
his expenses here, while he has been dong NIL IN
power, by circulating lalsehoods and misrePresent
| lions, to thwart the very object which the people
that city and county SO snxiousy desired He u
derook To say to the House and TO the country IN
he was altogether destitute Of character and oonsd
! ration Who is William J. Grams, whose name o
> peara in connection with the article, and who dar
10 asperse the characters Of the distinguished &c
! tIemen who presided a, the public meeting
J Southwark, composed, az It was, OF the best q