The New era. [volume] ([Portsmouth, Va.]) 1845-1847, 1847-02-18
EDITORS CORRESPONDENCE.


'he pen. AT lelsnre moment, To commune with
our readers on subject that is creating grea,
excitement among all parties; we allnde. Of
course, 10 the withdrawal Of tue privilege here
tofore granted To Mr.. Richie as an officer of the
House Viewing it in every light. we consider j.,
as an III advised act. and unworthy of the Senate
which adopted il, We, We confess we do not see
10 II any attack upon the "freedom of The press :"
noi certainly, half s" henous as that which struck
down the 'Day Journal" Tor at,erinq the same
sentiments against he same body on the Oregon
AFFAIR. and which act. the part of that b,dy,
met the decided approval and support Of Mr..
Htrhe. 1.-The poisoned chslice is now returned
to his ow" lips" "r. to use phrase rendered le-
R'tima'e and proper by the veterans Of the "JJn-
ion" and the ''Inieiqencer." the doctor has
been pretty severely dosed" We are satisfied
that il can have i'll effect upon Mr. Richie;
while it must operate injuriously upon those tho
voted for il. Our establishment is that Mr.. CAL,
HoUN and NJ. BUTLER should have sustained
such resolution. coming from such man as
Yutee, or Iery, whose want of sense is only To
be measured by his presumption and vanity. We
have not time comment further upon this act
at present. than 10 denounce it as deroga,ory to
the character Of the Senate and to caution men
OF all parties not 10 be too has,y in forming and
expressing an opinion under excitement, upon alse
premises We approve of the following views
of the correspondent of the Baltimore Sun, and
submit them in preference to any remarks of our
own on the matter, taken from his letter. dated
February H.
'' So Mr. Richie is expelled from the 1oor of
the Senate. by vote nf27 to 2ll He is voted
down as bad company. as Sheridan was black
balled at Bodies notwithstanding the friendship
of the Regent. IL was rather small business far
the Senate to stoop to wreak its vengeance an
veteran editor, who had CHANGED to give il offence
IL was decidedly in bad taste for contrjbufor tn
the " Union" To call the Senator'S honestly differ
ing in opinion from the Executive g Mexicans ~
but was 1t worth while for the Senate to devote
to newspaper paragraph two whole days of its
short session. with such an overwhelming amount
of public business pressing on Them, and the conn.
try involved in WARP Mr.. Richie was To he
" punished" without even chance of explana
lion; but in order not tn excite the svmpathv of
the people, VINO are ever jealous of the liberty Of
the press, the Senata simply put its - mark Of
disapprobatlon" on him. and excluded him from
the floor. Were / Mr. Richie. | would rather
he pleased nv thus attention IN the part of the
Senate. and quietly take my seat. up in the gal
lery. among The reporters. To look do,rn on Mr.
Yulee who offered the resolution for exppIling me
Or if the Senate intended to drive me- nv way nf
" punishment" from their own society To the
canGilie in the galleries. | would take nv place
among the people, and look down upon them from
a still higher elevation
1.-The maturity of rhe Senate have an indspu.
table right 10 say with " HON they choose To keen
company; hnt they have rig mt la call tia
punishment" ,n he excluded from their respecta-
Ia IN
Mr.. Richie will he just much respected by his
friends as beiore; - lie jsu ne uam pas la chan.
dele -
" The Senate Is, no doubt. a mighiier body than
either the President or the Honse, mr. perhaps,
both of them put together. Ii is a body whose
members are elected for six years. and of W hum
only third leave every two years leaving suf-
hcen' remainder Ia preserve The esprit de corps.
The Senate represents state suvereigntirs and not
the immediate will of the aggregate people of the
United States. the House OF Representatives
does and psriskng Of the legislative and execu-
tive functions Of the government. II Is check on
both. the House Of Representatives and the PrPsi.
dent himself. Thus the Senate is pre- emnpnily
conservative body and liable naturally To fall in
20 conservative measures. which in their turn.
may become ultra. fear that was the case with
the resolution agreed To yesterday, and that the
country will view it in that light.
in the conrse If the debate. his character and re
potati"n. which are part and parcel of the nation
81 reputation OF the country, shonld have been at
tackled. MIR. Calhoun WAS forced 10 reply, and
to carry measures beyond What he probably origi-
nalIy Intended He labored evidently under
strong internal exciement. His counenance was
Iivldly Pale-but his large penetrating stern eyes
dashed streams Of fire. He never looked as he
did yesterday. except the day he gave his cast
mi cid N fho III.
lection Of Mr. Van Buren,
=" In pecuniary point nf view, this expulsion
Of Mr.. Richie will win for him goIden opinions
all over the country; which, as the public print
ing is taken away from him. may come quite op
perfume In this respect I am almost led to sus-
pect that The Senate moved by Mr.. Rtchie's par
ticnlar case, secretly intended to benefit him with
out---such 10 the extreme delicacy Of that body
laying him under particular obligations"
We have the high qualification Of informing
our readers generally, that the bill. Incorporating
the School Commissioners. will he laid on the
table. by no'ion from Capt Watts himself. the
prayer Of the Petitioners having had due weight
with him. II is hut Justice tn him. and in sccor
dance with the wishes of those who projected this
obnoxious measure, tina it did not originate with
Capt. Watts. hut was merely presented to the
Legislature by him as he would present any
other respectful paper coming from any of his
constituents
We think there is mo doubt Of the passage If
mr. Act. Incorporating the Town If Portsmouth.
anj thus freeing from the heavy burden of
sorpnr'ing the County. which is pressing us
d. w ~uh fearful weight. We have spoken
nany members NJ the Legislature. and all ex
press asfonshment that pur Town has so long
,",oatn"d in the leading strings Of The County
".g't.a''d nv her nsgistracy. wheo Winchester.