The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1853-01-18

OF New YORK under our free laws mere ana unQer
the protection Of oar custom-hou clearance, to
take with him incendiary publications, neiting the
people to what he calls freedom, bat what you cal
murder arson, instruction, treason, and to spread
them before the negroes of the South upon the
Atlantic harbors of the South, or from the ports o
the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Pause, then, il
is well to pause and let us be nstrcted before we
take that leap, upon principle. into the dark.
Mr.. Polk. l will say to the gentleman, thai
they would undoubtedly be under the Jurisdiction
of the States which he has named. But is it mol
an established fact, as Purser Smith has himself
shown that the Cuban authorities were acting upon
mere suspicion, without any reasonable ground 70,
The suspicion, more for brapGdo than the realization
Of any established or national right? And the Gov.
ernment submitted to the ndgnity, and left I'll.
honor Of the nation in the hands of individual pat
riotism and individual energy and enterprise.
Mr.. Brooks. All! you will never convict any
Charleston, upon anything but suspicion. They
will spread their incendary publications at night
and not in the broad glare Of day. You will never
find anything against them but suspicion. The
honor Of nation, its true glory, is in doing just az
i would be done by, and in applying to the Pursel
Smith case, and to the port of Havana, the same
test of principle it would apply to Charleston OF
Savannah; no less, no more.
turn now, Mr.. Chairman, to the other count Of
the Indictment against the Administration, the las
Of the formidable counts, and that is the publica
ton Of the correspondence in reference to Cuba
Now, If there be any one principle of the Amer
can system of government which is the basis and
root Of all our institutions, it is the right of the
American people to know everything that has been
done by their servants; and if there be any one
thing more amazing or astounding than another in
the whole history of this country, it is that any
Administration should have dared, without the au.
thority of Congress, the discussing power of the
Government, TO promise to give to foreign nation
500, 600 GOO for the purchase Of an island on our
coast, and then the long concealment of that fact
from the American people. When first the fact
that such an offer had been made, came before the
public, it burst upon me, inspiring something like
indignation in my BOSOM felt for one. as a cili.
zen of the United States, that / had been deprived
OF highly important information which l had a
right to possess long ago, and as member of the
American Congress, felt that previous Executive
had been committing us all to a proposition for the
disbursement of $lOO,O00,0OO out ofthe Treasury,
without any authority, whatsoever, from the bod
to which belong. saw ahead treaty to be made,
winch the whole v. power of the party making it
would be rallied to ratfy, and before we know of
IT. make 1t matter of party-fealty to endorse, to
approve felt that serious injury had been
perpetrated upon American citizens and American
Congresses, 10 concealing from them all, informa-
uon OF such transcendent importance, wherein the
public servants of the country had tried to involve
them IN gigantic expenditures, and more gigantic
consequences, without their knowledge or consent.
But, sir, if it was wrong to publish the cores
Pondence, why not lay the charge in the Indictment
against the House of Representatives. Why not
N the body of which the gentleman from
Tennessee himself is an honorable member, Sir.
Tor thirty or sixty days cannot say precisely
how long, for have not the means of reference-
that very correspondence lay upon the Speakers
table OF this House, ready for the House Of Repre-
sentatlves 10 havesit read or not read, published
or not published, as it willed. The whole cores
pondence, upon the call Of the House, was subject
to our disposal and we are responsible for the con-
sequences-not the Executive, who obeyed our
call. l have no doubt that the President of the
United States, when he submitted that corresponds
ence at our call-for this House made the demand
for Thought it would be paid the respect, at
least, of being opened, and if not read, referred to
the Committee on Foreign Affairs for their exarn-
nation. But for the want of that proper respect
which is due to the Executive, whatsoever he NAV
be,i was taken from the table of the House only
IN the closing scenes of the session, and hurried,
without examination into the official printing house
Of Congress. Sir, ! do not regret its publication.
IT was wholly compatible with the public interests,
and Its publication will do great public good. 1t
opens 70 the world page of secret history that will
make 1t pause and think. sat
Now, MIR. Chairman, l think have thus briefly
and saa1marily, though too hastily, responded to
the Indictment which the honorable gentleman from
tennessee has prepared and laid before the country
against this retiring Administration. But must
say It was not generous, it was not right, would
almost say it was not manly, if that would be pro-
per language upon the floor of the House to use to-
wards an associate member, thus to triumph over
US who have been defeated, and are now going out
of power.l Sir, we challenge the coming genera
ton, we challenge posterity, we challenge all future
tlme-not the party fanaticism of the hour-for an
examination and atrial of the foreign policy Of this
Administration. 1t speaks now for ITSELF in letters
OF gold, in the universal peace and prosperity all
about us; and it will speak more and more, and
louder and louder, in painful contrasts fear here
after You who are coming into power; if you re-
verse the policy of this Administrations if YOU turn
the wheels of the Government bat kwards, if YOU
overthrow what has been done, and institute any
new schemes of propagandism and plumber, will lie
only preparing the way for our rapid return to DOW.
er, by inspiring the people with the confidence of
our conservative spirit the better to administer the
foreign affairs of the country. 81
will not believe, however, that the gentleman
from tennessee, (Mr. Polk or the gentleman
of the great party to which they belong. WHEELING
to the better belief, that there is large and con-
trolling section of that party who like the geptle-
man from North Carolina, (Mr. VENABLE,) think
That the policy OF this country is peace, ORDER con-
servatism, and the extension of our PRINCIPLES of
government by our example, and not by the Ter
ror of our arms. There are those among us who
have ever maintained that if we are to be a great
and good people, and to stand high on the records
OF the world. it must be by the magnifcence of our
growth in the arts of peace-in agriculture and.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. not by our achievements upon;
the bloody fields Of war. Why, sir, We NAV be
we may be propagundists, but we
must not be missionaries or propagandists of war
Fhe sword, the bayonet land the cannon ball are
not the missionaries that are exatine our people
among the nations Of the earth. Every ragged dir
ty letter from an Irishman or German, sent to the
banks of the Shannon, the Lifey, the Rhine, the
Danube, the Elbe, or the Weser, setting forth the
rates of wages. the demand for employment the
abundance of bread, the happiness of himself. his
wife, his children, or the general glory, peace, and
Of this our great country, is more of
propagandlst, more of missionary for converting
the other nations of the world, than an army of Eve
hundred thonsandmen, with great parks of artillery
If we are to convert other nations and lead them
to the adoption of orr institutions it will not be bv
war, by the ciangor of arms=--belIa horridg betlo
but it will be by the arts Of peace, by the force of
our example, by demonstrating to all mankind the
power of self government and Of seIfrestraint with
IN the laws of nations, and in obedience to the laws
Of our own creation. We are solving the problem
whether men can self.govern, selfrestran them.
selves; and il we continue for q century 10 be as
successful as we have been, the world will follow