Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1857-12-22

d. s. Senate, December 1851.
Thu question being upon confirming the list
of standing committees, as reported by Mr..
An-a-LAdmA-nf Rhode Island, Mr.. Hamlin
said:
Mr.. PRESIDENT propose to state briefly, the
reasons which will control the vote L shall give,
and why / shall not vote for the resolution
which has been submitted by the Senator from
Rhode Island. object to the cast of the COM
mittees because they are unjust, disproportion-
ate aud sectional; and | intend to show, as
briefly as L can, the. truth of each of these pro-
positions.
In a time like the present, when the slave
power has seized upon the judicial department
of the government, and when that branch has
already undertaken to decide political questions
upon a record which shows that a decision was
attempted on an issue not before them, and at n
period of time when the Executive of the coun-
try is tied up and bound down by that power,
and a great party, called democratic, has no
other standard by which to measure its men
no other alembic through which all its princi
pies are distilled-it is a time when every good
man should carefully examine the mode and
manner in which each branch of the government
is administered, and, in SO far us he may be
able, to aid in bringing it backto what our tath-
CTS tIIuc II urU4 tuEyIIIvd ~ slYvuid TO.
On the organization of the committees of the
Senate every Senator knows the form anddirec.
tion to the business of the Senate is mainly de-
pendent Il is through these committees, to
a very great extent-tO much the greatest ex-
tent-that the business of the Senate is prepar-
ed and presented to the Senate for its action
Now, sir, as one ola minority in this body, per
sonally l can say-and l think l may truly say
that l believe l represent the whole minority
personally-we might have no objection to any
cast that the majority of the SENATE might see
fit to impose upon us. We do not seek respon-
sibility personally. We do not ask for position
for the purpose of position. But as the repre-
sentatives of equal states, we have obligations
imposed upon US from which we cannot and
ought not to shrink. As the representatives Of
equal states, we are entitled to an equal repre-
Sentation in the organization ofthis body, and
are under obligations to our constituencies to
uisTfIHI 81 ~..>4-'-n- a~yh-Li-T tho dntieS
that are upon us here.
Ihave affirmed that these committees, rs cast
under this resolution, are unequal, unjust and
sectional. What are the factSF We have six
ty-two members of the Senate-thirty-two are
from the nOn-slayeholding state, thirty are from
the slayeholding states. The whole number Of
places upon committees is one hundred and
twenty-six. Numerically, upon an equal repre-
sentation, there should be assigned to Senators
from the slave states sixty-One places, and to
Senators ffom the free states sixty.five. The
cast, a~lthouShit has been Slightly modified this
morning, l think is not substantially changed.
As it was made and presented to the minority,
l suppose the changes will not exceed one. BY
that cast there were assigned to the slave states
SiXty-seven and to the free states fifty-nine,
showing a disproPortion of ten. The whole
number of committees there are from the slave
states to be found majorities on thirteen, and
majOrities Of but nine from the free states; and
ofthese nine where majoritieS are composed of
Senators from the free states, three are wholly.
unimportant-the Committees on Enrolled Bills,
EngrOssed Bills, and to Audit and Control the
Contingent Expenses of the Senatc-Ieaving,
therefore, in fact, the proportion of thirteen to
six.
Tracing the matter along still further, Lind
that the party with whom l act on this floor
consists of twenty, being within a fraction of
one-third Of the Senate. They are entitled, upo..
terms of equality, to ~thirty-nine places upon the
committees; they have tllirty-three assigned to
them. Seven of those thirty-three are on the
unimpOrtant committees to which | have allu-
ded, leaving them actually bnt twenty.six on
committees of any considerable importance. [
find that on sixteen committees of the Senate
the Ghairlnen- are selected from the slave States.
and on six from the free States. I find. to guard
the succession, (forI can come to no other con.
c~lusion,) precisely an equal number of men
from the slave states stand second upon the
committees to insure the succession, when, by
devlin"Ginn. resignation, or the expiration OF
their term, they shall witndraw rom the Sonato.
But numerically, though important, it is a
matter of much less importance than the partic-
ular manner in which the individual committees
are cast With only two exceptions, land com.
pared with the others they are somewhat unim-
portant,) the great, the principal committees,
that reflect the government, that establish its
policy abroad and at home, are all cast with ma
%jorities Of southern men. It is a significant
fact; it is a fact pregnant with mischief; it is a
fact. of which the country will not fail to take
notice. / say, sir, that the executive and Judi.
cial departments of the government are now all
the foot of the slave power. Hero we havessthe
Committee on Foreign Relations, that shapeS
and directs the foreign policy of the govern
ment; we have the Committee on Military Affairs
that looks to its army; We have the Committee
on Naval Affairs, that has charge of its navy;
we-haYe q Committee on the judiciary, which
gives construction to laws and shapes the poll
$50 Tar as the legislature may) Of the govern
find them all constituted of a major
ity of men who represent the slaveholdins
states l make no objection personally.
want these facts TO go to the country, that they
may know the mode and manner in which the
legislative business is prepared and shaped, and
how it is that it is perverted TO the behests, and
to snbserve the purpose Of the slave interest in
the country. Who cannot see the objects to be
accomplished plainly foreshadoweds The ma
of the Senate, it is frankly conceded, are
entitled to a ontrol in the organization of the
A-.-SgE-aa De- d..