New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-05-27

oscec. License aud latitude ~ss Introduce. ,ntc
that body which, 90 the part Of the Southern s"e
ton. slone allowed to participate in 1t, has g 'ne
on increasing ever since. The object of Cal
houn at that time was to play into the hands
Of the combination which had been formed. aud
Of which he was main pillar, to break down
the administration OF John Q. Adams. One instru-
men. eagerly avsiled of for that purpose was the
sarcastic. irritating. ard often highly personal rhet'
oiic Of John Randolph, then member OF the Sen
afe To this end Randolph was suffered to deliver
in the Senate of the United States then first dis
grace6 By such nes, long succession of Trades
during which he occasionally stopped for breath
and to call upon Timms for more pOrter-dis-
connected and Eighty harangues, the object Of
which was not argument but merely to stir
up, BY the employment of al the aggravating arta
of which he was such master, sectional prejudice,
hatred and hostility against New-England and
against Mr.. Clay for having aided to give the Pres
de1cy to John Q. Adams.
Mr.. Calhoun set up that he, as presiding officer
of the Senate. was neither bound nor had he any
power TO call Senators TO order or to preserve the
decorum of debate. That power, according to
him. belonged wholly TO the Senate itself-thus
delivering over the minority of that body to the
discretion of majority always ready to commit
acts Of Partially and injustice, of which any stu
ole presiding officer, however INSCRIPTIONS, might
hesitate to assume the responsibility. In the
exercise of the license thus granted to Kan
dolphs tongue, he referred among other things
10 the sllisnce between the Puritan q. O. Adams
and the blackleg CClay); and, as one disregard of
law and decorum necessarily leads to others, Cal
houns refusal to enforce order in the Senate led to
a challenge from Clay to Randolph, which under
the circumstances, Randolph did not venture to
decline, though usually in similar cases he shell.
tered himself under his constitutional privilege OF
freedom from question for anything said in debate.
From that time forward the license taken BY
Southern Senators to abuse and blackguard the
North in general the Abolitionsts as supposed
inctndiary and vilanous faction, and any State or
individual Which or whom they might Plesse to ac-
cuse of being under Abolition influence has been
totally Unlimited. Senator Morris of Ohio was, IN
tie years 1887 aud 1888 the only Northern man IN
that body who dared open his mouth in reply to
these perpetual taunts and he whenever he did so,
was overwhelmed with Interruptions calls to order
and all sorts of insults. After his term expired,
the Northern Senators were, by the help OF the gag
rule for a time reduced to complete silence upon
all Irritating topics. Until Mr.. Hale entered
the Senate the North for several years had no re-
preventative there. Messrs Choate and Everett,
Of Msssachusetts-bo.h of whom, though specially
invited TO attend the Sumner demonstration at
Faneuil Hall, declined to do so-may be taken as
pretty fair specimens of the Northern pluck q
those. and indeed, in Mr.. Eyerett's case OF still
more recent times. Both these sentlemen-ought
we not to say gentewOmen were seriously DIS
turbed by interpretations from Southern Senator'S
speedily and very judiciously followed, in both
cases, by resignation of their seats.
Thus matters have gOne-Southern lnsolence
keeping pace with Northern pusillanmity; ard
now that Northern Senators have at last been
stimulated and provoked into replisas, it is pro-
posed under pretense of additional provisions for
the preservation Of order, to introduce some new
gag rule. That game Senate which endured FOote
and endures Douglas, is alarmed and stirred up to
the enactment of new rules by the severe retorts
of Senator Sumner Where can be found
stronger instance of swallowing camel and strain.
irg at gnat
What is wanted inside of the Senate Chamber
is. as we have said, not new rules, but DISPOSE
ton on the part of the controlling majority strictly
and impartialy to enforce those which already
exist. AS TO outside rlffians like Brooks aud his
fellow cOnsprators-sncea at length things have
come to such pass that the constitutional inyios-
biity of Members Of Congress is no longer re-
spected, it we're by force of an all pervading
instinct-laws must now be enacted for the prOtec-
ton of this essential right. 1t 10 in vain to ex-
pect this or any other good deed from the existing
Congress-; but one Of the first acts OF the new
regime, We hope, will be to subject to ten years
Imprisonment: in the Pententiary any assault made
upon Member of Congress while at Washington,
or going to or returning from it; if, indeed,
the protection should not be extended to the whole
term of mt mbershp. Our Members OF Congress
stand TO us much in the same relation that their
Tribunes OF the People did to the Romans, and it
is equally essential that they should be clothed
with an absolute personal inviolability.
-
Some curiosity may naturally be felt at the
present moment as to the biography OF Chief
Justice LecOmpte, the active instrument IN giving