The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-01-14

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around some of the scenes in this greatest
drama in Americas history. We can barely
| touch upon two or three, In passing.
| The right of petition was early put In issue
| By that persistent body of men, the radical
Abolitionists, whose convictions of duty no IRE
of persecution was hot enough to burn out of
them. 1t is a curious fact, that the first modern
memorial respecting Slavery. ever presented to
the House of Representatives, was the proceed
| logs of meeting in Utica, N. Y, deprecdting
the agitation of this subject! 1t was offered
by Judge Beardsley, then in Congress, in the
opening days of the session of l834-5 John
Dickson, of Ontario county, N. Y, in January,
1885, Gust after the reception of the Utica
memorial, presented petition for the abolition
of Slavery in the District of Columbia. he
advocated its prayer in an able speech. This
was the frat gentle zephyr of that approaching
s'orm which ultimately swelled into q tempest
that ragged in the House with undated fury for
many yours. The earliest defenders of the
right Of petition were Messrs. Dickson of New
York, Phillips and jackson of Massachusetts,,
| and Slade of Vermont Resort was soon had
to the gag rule, which, as the food of me-
MORALS began to increaee In volume, was finally
| incorporated among the standing rules of the
| House. These tyrannical measures aroused
the ire of John Qaincy Adams, who soon be-
came the leading champion of the right of Pc
tition. His great age, his eminent services, his
persistent courage, bis skill in debate, at once
elevated the controversy to a commanding po-
sltlon before the country. During the sessions
of ls36-'7-'S and -, his desk was loaded with
heaps of Anti Slavery memorials from all the
free States. Every petition-day witnessed o
graphic scene, as the Old man deliberately pre-
sented one memorial after another, taking most
provoking pains to make o brief statement of
| the contents of each, as he handed it over to
the little page, to be ultimately consigned by
the Clerk to some dark cell in the subterranean
vaults of the Capitol.
On the 18th of January, 1887, the House
adopted the usual rule to lay Anti-Slavery Pc
| titions on the table; this being denominated
| the Halves gag" to distinguish it from the
Patton gag" or the "Atherton gag" On
Monday, the 9th of FEBRUARY, 1887, Mr.. Adams
having occupied an hour or more in exhausting
his pile of Anti Slavery memorials paused, and
looking significantly at Mr.. Speaker Polk, said,
I" hold in my hand paper purporting to be
petition from certain slaves. If l should
present it to the Honse, would it go on the ta-
BILE under the order of the 18th january"
The Speaker seemed bewidered, and had Just
| time to stammer out something about the
gravity of the question, when the entire Pro-
| Slavery side of the chamber exploded with the
m ost intense wrath. Let him be expelled I"
screamed score of voices. "Expel the trail
tor shouted Dixon H. Lewis, whose huge
body, weighing 500 pounds avoirdupois, came
waddling and wheeling down the aisle towards
| the Clerks desk. The whole corps of oligarchs
were on their feet screaming, swearing gestic-
ulatipg, like demons. Polk piled his gavel
and called to order in vain, while the spectators
in the overhanging galleries caught the spirit
of the scene, and were going wild with excite
ment. Quick as thought, resolutions were pre-
pared for the expulsion of Mr.. Adams, based
on the assumption that he ha6 presented Pc
tltion from slaves for the abolition of Slavery.
Ere they were fairly before the House, they
were offered in a modified form by Mr.. Waddy
Thompson, now demanding the eeverest CEN
sure rather than expulsion. Thereupon the
debate began. 1t ragged violently three DAYS.
Thompson, Dromgoole, Wise, Underwood, lead
ing of for the slaveocracy while Lincoln, Cush-
ing, Phillips, Granger, and others, defended
Adams.
During the height of the tempest the rotun.
da, the galleries, the passages of the Capitol,
being hlled with an excited throng, the col
leagues and friends Of Mr.. Adams felt great
anxiety not only for his fate in the House. but
bat for his personal safety. Meantime the
resolutions were going through various mod
ihcations, ell tending to soften their terms and
mitigate their conclusions. All this time the
old Roman sat unmoved in his place, the calm
est man In the chamber, with the incendiary
petition safely locked up in his desk. Atlength
1t began to leak out that the paper was not
| exactly such document as the elavehoIders
in their hot haste had imagined il TO be.
Whereupon, Dromgoole, of Virginia. still fur
Their modified the resolutions by setting forth
thatthe member from Massachusetts had air.
en- color TO the idea that slaves had right to
petition" &c.-a phrase on which Adams after
wards roasted him alive. Finally, the Pro.
Slavery side of the House began to suspect
that they were pursuing the negro in the
wrong direction; that if there was a colored
individual in the case at ALL he ives more like.
y to be found in the paling than in the petition,
and go they stopped to take breath. Then Mr..
Adams rose TO address the House. With greet
dellberation, his voice pitched on shrill key
| that pierced the remotest corner of the gale
RES, and with trail bit Of paper rustling in his
aged hand, he called the Speakers attention
to the question he had put to him three DAYS
| ago, which still remained unanswered, viz
| whether paper purporting to be petition
from slaves would, ifhe acere TO present it, 90
on the table under the order of the 18th of Jan
uary Looking around him with a mingled
expression OF sarcastic cunning and lofty scorn
which Lord Chatham would have envied. he
cried IN voice, not of thunder, but in sharp.
Kissing tone, such as lightning might be sup.
posed 70 employ If 1t spoke at all, and am |
70 De expelled from this loquacious, babbiug
House, tor simply asking a question ?" For
the first time the thought flashed on friend and
foe, that Mr.. Adams had neither presented the
paper, nor proposed to present it il! Everybody
iels queer, while some grave men looked like
iank sheep suddenly denuded of their feeces.
IL mad now got wind that the paper was a for
gerry, the work OF some STUPID STAKEHOLDER in
ashington, and purported to be signed BY
oclplo, Sambo, and other bogus negroes, asking
the House to expel Mr.. Adams from their
body
And now the Old Man ELOQUENT took bis
turn In the debate. How he demolished one
opponent alter another, scourging, iaying,
scaplng, lmpallng, to his hearts content. How
rank upon rank OF the Chivalry went down in
heaps before his trenchant bladg-how he anti
ted poor Dromgoole, and roasted him before
SLOW hre OF sarcasm, when he told him that
giving color to an idea was not a Northern
but Southern practice, one Of the peculiar do
mestlc institutions of Virginia with which he had
no desire to lntertere-how the House scream.
ed with laughter, as Dromgoole essayed a grim
smile IN acknowledgment of this delicate al.
fusion to the bleaching chemistry EMPLOYED bv
the South to eradicate the dark tints in their
variegated population-how he wound up his
triumphant philippe by warning his young
adversaries " never again to run on an errand
till they know whittier they are going and
how the House firmly refused to lay the reso.
uions on the table, but brought their authors
to direct vote, and finally trampled them
down by decided majority: are not ali
these things written in the Chronicles of the
Old Hall ofthe House of Representatives