The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-03-20

[From Benton's "Abridgment of the Debates of Con
gress,'' published by D. Appleton Co.
THE SIXTEENTH CONGRESS-, PAINTED BY
SENATOR BENTON

SicSs, puplsHeu ny ~ Appleton ~ 20.
THE SIXTEENTH CONGRESS-, PAINTED BY
SENATOR BENTON.
This act "a bill to authorize the President to take
possession of East and West Florida-March, 1921
now held by many to be unconstitutional and void,
was reported by a committee passed by n Conoress
and approved by an Administration, which were all
believed, in their day. to know something about the
Constitution, and also to for it. The committee
were :IMessrs. James Barbour, of Virginia; Ma
thaniel Macon, of North Carolina; James Brown, of
Louisiana; William Hunter, of Rhode Island: and
Rufus King, of New York-all of them familiar with
the formation and adoption of the Constitution and
one of them (Mr. Rufus King a member of the
Federal Convention which framed it.
The Congress was that of l820-'2l, the first under
the second administration of Mr.. Monroe himself
the last of the revolutionary Presidents, and in the
last term his public fe-both the Senate and the
House impressive and venerable from the presence
OF many survivors of the first generation and bril-
liant with the appariton of the young uminaries of
the second generation, then just appearing above
the political horizon, soon to light up the whole po
ltlcal armament with the splendors of their genius,
and to continue shining in it, like fixed stars until
gathered, in the fulness Of time, to rest with their
fathers To name some, would be to wrong others,
equally worthy, less brilliant. To name all who
shone in this armament would be to repeat, almost,
the whole list of the members of the two Houses,
Tor, either brilliant or useful talent pervaded the
whole lIst-even the plainest members being
spectacle for the honesty of their votes, and close
attention to the business of the House. | entered
the Senate at that time, and felt myself to be
among masters whose scholar must long remain
before | could become a teacher-whose example
must emulate without the hope of successful imi-
tatiOn.
There they were, day in and day out, at their
places, punctual to every duty, ripe in wisdom rich
in knowledge, modest virtuous, decOrous, deferen-
tial, and wholly intent upon the public good There
| made my first acquaintance with the federal gen
tlemen of the old school, and while differing from
them on systems of policy, came to appreciate
their high personal character, to admire their fin
ished manners to recognize their solid patriotism
according to their views of government), and to
feel grateful to them the principal founders of
our Government, and in all this only divided sem
timents with the old republicans all living on terms
OF personal kindness with their polieca adversares
and with perfect respect for each others motives
and opinions. They are all gone-their bodies bu-
ried in theearth, their works buried under rubbish
and their names beginning to fade from the memory
of man-and |, (whO stood so far behind them in
their great day that praise from me would have
seemed impertinence,) | have become in some sort
their historOgrapher) and introducer to the world
| abridge the debates of Congress-! those debates
in which their wisdom, virtue modestv, patriotism
lie buried | resurrect the whole! put them in
scene again the living stage, every one with the
best of his works in hand; labor of love and pride
to me, OF justice to them, and, hope, of utility to
many generations. Such were the two Houses of
Congress which re-enacted the Florida Territorial
bill, in ISL which had been first enacted (by pre-
decessors not less illusrious in the Orleans Terri
torial Dill OF 1874, and approved by Mr.. Monroe's
caolnet-a cabinet unsurpassed by any one before
1t or since: John Quincy Adams Secretary of State
William Il. Crawford, Secretary of the Treasury;
John e. Calhoun, Secretary of war; Smith Thomp-
son, Secretary of the Navy; Return Jonathan Meigs
stmaster-General; William Writ, Attorney Gen
eral, and which acts so made and so approved, are
now to be called unconstitutional and void. But
they had a further approval to undergo-one Of
practice! and received it! received it from both
Houses of Congress, and from the Monroe Admin
istration; and that after it was put into operation
by the first Governor of East and West Florida,
commissioned with the powers of Captain-General
and lntendant of Cuba, uniting in his own hands
the supreme military civil, and judicial functions,
and exercising them when he believed the public
good required it. But of this hereafter.