SENATE.] The Tariff. [FEB. 10, 1832. opposed the tendency to reduce prices to an extent equal propositions was inevitable. If your tariff reduces prices, to one-half of the redundancy of the circulating medium and its repeal increases them, then, sir, if you wish to forwhen that redundancy was withdrawn. It was thirty per ward the interest of the manufacturers, the most ready cent. opposed to sixty. Nothing of this sort occurred in mode of doing so is to annul the law. Competition does England, and, therefore, the withdrawal from circulation reduce prices unquestionably, but it is a free competition, of the excessive issues of bank paper was attended with not a competition founded on a monopoly. Let England a reduction of prices to the minimum point of fabrication. repeal her corn laws, and admit the American into free The restoration of specie payments in England was brought competition with the English farmer, and the price of about by slow degrees; and hence prices have been sink- corn will materially fall. But the effect of the monopoly to ing lower and lower, from the period at which the small the English corn grower is precisely of an opposite tennotes were redeemed, to a period subsequent to the ge-dency. Such is the result, also, of the monopoly to the neral resumption of specie payments, which was, com- protected manufactures in this country. paratively, of recent occurrence. The augmentation of Another formidable evil is predicted to arise from the the duties here in 1824, and subsequently in 1828, came abolition of high duties-we are to have ships without in aid of the law of 1816, and, as far as governmental cargoes. In order to refute this disastrous conjecture, agency can be employed, has accomplished the purpose we have but to take a survey of the past in our history; of perpetuating high prices on domestic fabrics to a it will teach us that the navigating and commercial interest period too distant for my vision to reach: other causes for the has increased with the increased productions of the soil: diminution of European prices exist in the circumstance that, in proportion as commerce has been unshackled, she of numerous armies having been disbanded, thereby mak- has spread her wings, visited the most distant regions, and ing numberless additions to the operatives of foreign coun- returned "with plenty to bless the land." Fear not, sir, tries, which necessarily produced a reduction in the wages that your exports will ever swell to a bulk too great for of labor; and, furthermore, by the extensive introduction the demand of the world. Natural causes, operating upon of improved machinery. These have been the great causes production, will cause demand to increase with the abunwhich have brought about reduced prices; but the most dance of supply. I cannot venture further to elucidate operative cause is to be found in the restoration of a sound this proposition before this audience; but honorable Senacirculating medium resting on gold and silver. This mat-tors will take up the proposition, and carry it out to its ter will be most satisfactorily illustrated by a reference to legitimate conclusion. Sir, if the honorable Senator had the times of the revolution. Then, the circulating me-indulged in predictions such as those, in 1790, when cot. dium, by reason of excessive issues of paper, depreciated ton was first raised in the United States, and had then at the rate of one thousand for one. Ten thousand dol- dwelt upon the enormous addition to our exports, made lars were given for a pair of boots, and thirty thousand by that article alone, and had then anticipated a failure of dollars for a coat; and the reduction in the price of a pair demand for cotton, he would not have been more misof boots to ten dollars, and of a coat to thirty, which occur- taken than time would prove him to be in relation to the red after the peace, might, with as much propriety, be as- future. The policy which he advocates, would, if carried cribed to the existing tariff as the present reduced prices. out, deprive you both of ships and cargoes. That policy The Senator has accomplished nothing by showing that is to make every thing at home--to become independent prices have undergone diminution, unless he could also of foreign nations. This leads to the destruction of all show that home prices have fallen to the same point of the exports as well as imports. And when we are asked to minimum price of production with produce of all sorts, point out the foreign markets for the productions of the the result of agricultural labor, and with foreign prices of soil, I ask, in return, that the foreign markets for our manufabricated articles. factured fabrics shall be pointed out. Look whithersoNor does the assertion, that every new tariff law has les-ever you may, and your great rival is already in possession sened prices, rest on any safer foundation. The fact of manufactured articles having sold cheaper for a short time after the enactment of the law of 1828, rests entirely upon the circumstance of the extravagant importations which were made in anticipation of that law; and the Senator may be entitled to the benefit arising to his argument from the merely fortuitous circumstance of the reduction in the [Mr. T. here read from Mr. Lee's exposition, No. viii, price of lead, if it can avail him any thing, provided he page 13: "Our tonnage in the foreign trade, at the comwill explain to the country the reason that the same arti-mencement of the existing system, in 1817, was eight huncle is, at this moment, commanding six cents per pound in dred and nine thousand seven hundred and twenty-four; the New York market, which is twice the price of the fo- to which add forty-two per cent. for the increase, and we reign article, thereby proving, beyond all question, that have one million one hundred and forty-nine thousand the lead master is benefited in his sales by the whole eight hundred and eight as the tonnage which would proamount of the duty now levied, viz. three cents per pound. bably have been returned on the 31st December, 1829, But, sir, is not the argument that the tariff reduces home had we continued to act on the free trade policy. The prices, altogether suicidal? [Mr. CLAY explained. He navigation we actually had in the foreign trade, according said that he had insisted that the tariff produced competi- to the return of 31st December, 1829, was only six huntion, and that competition brought about reduction of dred and fifty thousand one hundred and forty-two tons;" prices.] I am dealing with the reduction of prices, which thus exhibiting a falling off in the foreign tonnage of one I had understood to be asserted as immediately consequent hundred and fifty-nine thousand five hundred and eightyon the passage of every new tariff law; and I was about two tons. Sir, the advocates of this system are conto remark, that if such effects were produced, then, that stantly boasting of the addition made to our coasting tonthe high duty system was a curse to the manufacturer, nage, since its adoption. How stands the fact? We had, and not a blessing. A proposition, so perfectly plain, in 1817, of enrolled and licensed tonnage, five hundred needs nothing to sustain it. It proves itself as conclu- and ninety thousand one hundred and eighty-six; and, on sively as would be done by the most elaborate argument. the 31st December, 1820, six hundred and ten thousand In connexion with this, I was also struck with another re-six hundred and fifty-four tons. "Thus, with a popula mark of the honorable Senator, that a repeal of the tariff tion of less than nine millions, in 1817, we had twenty laws would be accompanied by a rise in the price of all thousand four hundred and sixty-eight tons less of coastarticles now protected. The conclusion from these two ing tonnage than we had in 1829, with a population of up of the market. Penetrate into the Northern ocean-go in search of new islands in the Pacific-fly to the uttermost regions of the earth, and English enterprise has been there before you; and the English manufacturer stands ready to underbid you. The injurious effects of this policy are already felt upon our marine. FEB. 10, 1832.] The Tariff. [SENATE. wards of twelve millions; thus exhibiting an increase of sisted in turning these beneficial advantages to their pro three and a half per cent. for thirteen years of the most per account; and now the fruits of our labor are to be bounteous harvests that a nation ever enjoyed. The re-wrested from us, to enrich a less favored region. Italy is turns for 1804, which was thirteen years prior to the again invaded, and Brennus stands once more in the capianti-commercial system, gave three hundred and sixty. tal, demanding for our ransom so many millions of dollars nine thousand eight hundred and seventy-three as the-tossing, not a sword, but an act of Congress into the quantity of enrolled and licensed tonnage, against five scale. I appeal to the colleague of the honorable Senahundred and seventy-one thousand four hundred and fifty- tor, to say if he will ratify this proceeding. To him I eight tons for 1816; thus exhibiting an increase, in thirteen would say-quoting for my authority the most excellent years, of two hundred and one thousand five hundred and of books, with which he is familiar--"thou shalt not covet eighty-six tons, equal to fifty-five per cent., as the result thy neighbor's goods." I appeal to the State of Rodney of the free trade policy upon this interesting branch of and of Bayard-to the land of Penn and of Franklin I would business, employing, as it does, directly and indirectly, ten also appeal, but I am silenced by a unanimous vote of her times as many persons as are benefited by the prohibitory Legislature. Will the States of Clinton and of Tompkins, and taxing system."] And yet, sir, we are to be alarmed of Hancock and of Adams--will New England ratify and at the idea of having ships without cargoes, and won to the confirm this sentence of condemnation which has gone support of this system by the prospects of home markets. forth against us? And if they do, will the West, deeply I, for one, regard this American system as the deadly involved, as I verily believe, in this common curse, keep upas, withering and blighting every thing that comes off from the rescue? within its influence. I have made good the proposition with which I set out, that, by reason of this policy, while we sell cheap, we are made to buy dear; that all classes of the community, except the favored class, are injuriously affected by it; that it is peculiarly destructive to the South, and is to it an unmixed pill of bitterness. After this, let not the name of Washington be invoked in support of this policy. A majority of the Senate have resolved upon removing his venerated remains from their resting place, to bury them in the midnight gloom of some subterranean vault of this huge edifice. Let us the rather manifest our veneration for his memory, by following his precepts. Attend to his last bequest made to his counSir, I might have saved myself the trouble of this in- trymen: "Harmony, and a liberal intercourse with all fovestigation, if respect for the honorable Senator from Ken- reign nations, are recommended by humanity, policy, and tucky had not impelled me to the undertaking. The interest--that even our commercial policy should hold an Senator from New Jersey had left us no room to doubt equal and impartial hand, neither seeking nor granting the end and object of this policy. His speech, delivered exclusive preferences and favors--consulting the natural in 1824, and quoted by him during this debate, has strip- course of things--diffusing and diversifying, by gentle ped the subject of all its disguises. He dwells on the means, the streams of commerce, and forcing nothing.' ruinous state of the foreign trade to the Northern States; Why force any thing in such a country? Consult the pages speaks of its unequal operation upon the Union; dwells, of history, and tell me if ever a nation had made such rapid with marked emphasis, on the prosperous condition of advances in refinement and wealth as this, before we rethe South; shows that while the Southern States export- sorted to political quackery, and administered sickening ed, in 1824, twenty-six million three hundred and twenty- nostrums to force every thing. A wilderness reclaimed seven thousand three hundred and seventy-eight dollars--a world filled and filling with inhabitants--the arts and worth of produce, the Eastern, Middle, and Western sciences keeping equal pace with our advance in wealth States exported but thirteen million five hundred and and prosperity, all going on happily and harmoniously, and forty-seven thousand dollars worth; and estimates their the country advancing, with rapid strides, to the consumconsumption beyond their imports at eleven million and mation of its high destinies. Why then, Mr. President, eighty-one thousand two hundred and sixty dollars; and force any thing? then proceeds: "So that, under the present system, the I shall not stop to pay any eulogium on Mr. Gallatin, grain-growing States, consisting of at least two-thirds of whom the Senator from Kentucky has seen fit to assail. the population of the Union, are compelled to take of Eu- His vindication has been sufficiently urged. I will conropean manufactures to the amount of twelve millions of tent myself with resting on the opinion expressed by Mr. dollars, that six or seven States may have the privilege of Jefferson, that the day on which he should quit the Treasending remittances to pay for those manufactures, and sury Department would be a day of gloom to Ameriselling their bills for the same at an extravagant advance, ca.' Of Mr. Sarchet, it is, in some measure, my duty to in consequence of which the wealth of the grain-growing speak. I was upon the committee to which was referred States is flowing, in a constant stream, to the States pro- the memorial of the blacksmiths during the last session; ducing rice, cotton, and tobacco." He then exclaims: and I say, unhesitatingly, that I have never seen a stran"How long are we to remain in this state of vassalage ger with whom I was more pleased. It is alleged that he How long can we remain so? How long will our patience is a Guernsey man--an island lying between France and endure? How long our means last? Till we understand our England, the inhabitants of which are famed for smugtrue interests, rally our numbers, and count our votes.' gling. And what charge is brought against him? Why, Can any man misunderstand this language? Here is a for- sir, the grievous one that he has imported goods at as low mal declaration of war against Southern agriculture. Our a duty as the law would allow, and that he has supported exports must be prohibited; the fertility of our soil and such construction of the law as would enable him to acour genial climate turned into a curse, with the view of complish this object. Now, sir, for the life of me, I canturning back the stream which flowed from the North, to not discover moral taint in this. Every importer seeks to fertilize and enrich the South; and twelve millions, the pay as little of duty as he honestly can; and in this they result of our industry, are clutched at and grasped by the are met by the manufacturer, who is always anxious that North. [Mr. DICKERSON rose to explain. He said he the highest possible duty shall be exacted on an article had complained of the system which prevailed, which en- coming into conflict with his own fabrics. This is not the riched the South and impoverished the North.] What sys-only charge which has, heretofore, been brought against tem' said Mr. T. Had we come here to invoke the Mr. Sarchet. He was charged, in reference to his trade, aid of Government? Had we, through it, levied exactions with having come before Congress with dirty hands. [Mr. upon any part of the Union? Sir, we lived under the sys- DICKERSON said that this allegation was made by Mr. tem of nature; the Creator had given us a warm sun, a Sarchet, in his memorial to Congress, and not by others. genial climate, and a productive soil; and our system con- Mr. HAYNE, by permission of Mr. T., said that the Senator SENATE.] Centennial Commemoration. [FEB. 13, 1832. from New Jersey was mistaken; the charge had been under consideration, and now beg leave to report to the made by others, and Mr. Sarchet introduced the expres- respective Houses: sion into the memorial by way of offset.] Sir, said Mr. 1. That the committee have directed their chairman to T., his hands may have been hardened and stained by his propose, at a proper time, by a joint resolution, an adtrade, but he brought along with him an honest heart and journment of the two Houses from the 21st to the 23d of a clear head; and the views which a blacksmith presented the current month, out of respect to the memory of have not been answered, and never can be answered, sa- George Washington, and in commemoration of the one tisfactorily. hundredth anniversary of his birthday. 3. The committee directed their chairman to request the chaplains of the two Houses of Congress to perform divine service in the capitol on the 22d instant; the application has been made; and the chaplains have accordingly engaged to comply with the request. We have also heard something said of the issues from 2. The committee were desirous that the day should be the Boston mint. Let those issues speak for themselves; celebrated by an oration suitable to the occasion. The they will pass current, because of their intrinsic value. Sir, distinguished citizen who presides in the Supreme Court these are not the only rescripts against oppression and in- of the United States appeared to the committee to be justice which have issued from the same mint. The time eminently qualified to pronounce such an oration, and to was, when those rescripts were hailed from one end of be peculiarly adapted to the service, from his known this continent to the other. And of late years, there was friendship and intimacy with George Washington. Acpresented to this House, from Boston, one of the ablest cordingly, a letter was addressed, by the direction of the arguments against this American system that this country committee, to the Chief Justice, requesting him to assist has yet seen. It came, sir, from Fanueil Hall, an edifice in the ceremonies of the day, by delivering an appropriate which should be preserved as a monument of by-gone oration; to that letter he returned an answer. From this times, and nothing selfish, or merely sectional, should ever correspondence (which accompanies the report) it will be enter there. In the names of the great actors of former seen that the Chief Justice, for reasons assigned by him, times, under the roof of that very edifice, I invoke honor- declined the task. able Senators to pause, long to pause ere they decide that this grinding system shall receive no abatement. Its oppression, if that were the only circumstance, would be as nothing in comparison with the alienation of feeling which it has produced. What can compensate for the loss of that affection on the part of even a single State in this Union? Flatter not yourselves that this is, exclusively, a South Carolina question. No, sir, it is a Southern question. Every State on the other side of the Potomac feels alike interested in it; nor labor under the morbid apprehension that to grant relief can produce the slightest tendency to disunion. Do seek to give perpetuity to the Union, you practise not injustice; for, as certain as fate itself, they who sow injustice will reap iniquity, I have been reared in a reverential affection for the Union. My imagination it into effect. has led me to look into the distant future, and there to contemplate the greatness of free America. I have beheld her walking on the waves of the mighty deep, carrying along with her tidings of great joy to distant nations. I have seen her overturning the strong places of despot- Chairman of the committee of the House of Representatives. ism, and restoring to man his long lost rights. Wo, wo betide that man who shall sow the seeds of disunion among us! Better for him had he never been born. If be call SIR: The Senate and House of Representatives of the upon the mountains to hide him-nay, if he bury himself United States having appointed a joint committee, for the in the very centre of the earth, the indignation of man- purpose of making arrangements for the celebration of kind will find him out, and blast him with its lightnings. the centennial birthday of George Washington, the unAgain I call upon gentlemen deeply to pause. For one, dersigned, chairmen of the commitees of the two Houses, I am ready to meet them on liberal terms; and, in my have been directed by the committees to request that you poor judgment, it is to the interest of the manufacturers will, on the 22d instant deliver an oration, in commemorathemselves that this question should now be settled. Let tion of the great event. 4, and lastly. The committee resolved to recommend to Congress to adopt the necessary measures to carry into effect the resolution which was passed by Congress on the 24th day of December, 1799, for the removal of the body of George Washington, and its interment in the capitol at the city of Washington; and that the ceremony be performed on the 22d instant. In pursuance of this recommendation of the committee, the chairman will respectively submit to the two Houses of Congress a resolution to carry All which is respectfully reported. H. CLAY, WASHINGTON, February 9, 1832. them remember the books of the sybil, and profit by the The considerations which have prompted the commitrecollection. The South seeks to lay no rude or violent tees to direct their attention to you, sir, thus to assist in hand on existing establishments, but it has a right to ex-honoring the memory of the father of his country, are obpect an amelioration of its burdens. The proposition of vious and peculiarly appropriate. And the undersigned the Senator from Kentucky yields nothing to her com-unite, to the general wish, an expression of theirs, that it plaints. The taxes which he proposes to repeal have may be agreeable to you to comply with the request which never been complained of, and have existed from the they now have the honor to communicate. foundation of the Government. I hope, most sincerely, Mr. President, that this question will be adjusted, and, through that adjustment, peace and harmony be restored to the Union: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13. CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION. Mr. CLAY, from the joint committee appointed on the subject, made the following report: We have the honor to be, with great respect, Chairman of the committee of the Senate. Chairman of the committee of the House of Representatives. The Hon. JoHN MARSHALL, Chief Justice of the United States. WASHINGTON, February 10, 1832. The joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives appointed to make arrangements for the GENTLEMEN: I have received your letter expressing purpose of celebrating the centennial birthday of George your wish, and that of the joint committee of the Senate Washington, have, according to order, had the subject and House of Representatives, that I would, on the 22d FEB. 13, 1832.] Centennial Commemoration. [SENATE. instant, the centennial birthday of George Washington, few words in relation to this subject. The situation in deliver an oration in commemoration of that great event. which he found himself placed in relation to this subject, I will not attempt to describe the impressions made on was not one of his own seeking, and was one which he me by this flattering request, and the favorable opinion it was not desirous to occupy. Yet he did not feel at libimplies. The addition of my exertions, feeble as they erty, when he found his name placed on the committee, might be, to those of Congress, "in honoring the memory to decline the service assigned to him. The fact would of the father of his country"-of the man whom language be recollected by the Senate, that there were other Senacannot exalt, would be an act on which I should long re-tors who had been placed on the committee and declined flect with just pride. Could I undertake to deliver a pub-serving, amongst them an honorable gentleman from Virlic address on any subject, all my feelings would impel me ginia, who had been placed at the head of the committee. to comply with a request which does me so much honor, Their resignation had left him [Mr. C.] in his present and is so grateful to my heart. But, in addition to the position. He went on to say, that, as far back as the pressure of official duties, which occupy me entirely, and year 1799, there had been an application from Congress, render it impracticable for me to devote so much time to made in the most deliberate and solemn manner, to the the subject as its intrinsic importance and great interest widow of General Washington, requesting permission to in the estimation of all would require, I am physically un- dispose of the remains of her revered husband in a public able to perform the task I should assume. My voice has manner. She returned an answer giving consent that become so weak as to be almost inaudible, even in a room they should be disposed of as Congress might think pronot unusually large. In the open air it could not be heard per. So the subject was left, and has so remained until by those nearest me: I must, therefore, decline the honor this day. Unsuccessful efforts, it is true, had since proposed. been made, chiefly, if not altogether, in the other House, to carry into effect the resolution of 1799; and it was his opinion that the unredeemed pledge of Congress should be fulfilled; and no time could ever occur, at least during the present generation, more proper than the present to redeem that pledge. The committee, said Mr. C.; do not and cannot doubt that the family of General Washington My profound acknowledgments are due to you, gentlemen, and to the joint committee, for the selection you have made of the person to perform this interesting service, and I pray you to receive my warm and sincere thanks for the flattering, may I add friendly, terms in which that selection is communicated. With very great respect, I have the honor to be, gen-at Mount Vernon will be willing to yield their consent to tlemen, your obedient servant, The Hon. HENRY CLAY, and J. MARSHALL. the object of the resolution. He would beg leave to state, in addition, that those who were entrusted with the erection of the capitol had already provided a vault, under the centre of the rotundo, for this express purposes; not by authority, he believed, but upon their own suggestion and sense of propriety; and, if there was no objection in this or the other House, the committee would proceed to make, so far as devolved on them, the arrangements for the cere mony. These, Mr. C. said, were all the remarks that the occasion seemed to require from him, and he would conclude with expressing the hope that the Senate would adopt the resolution. The report having been read, Mr. CLAY moved that it be printed for the use of the Senate; which was agreed to. Mr. CLAY then said that it would be perceived that the committee had directed their chairman to submit a proposition for carrying into effect one object of the report; in pursuance of which, he now submitted a joint resolution for that purpose. He was aware that it could not, by the rules, be acted upon to-day without the unanimous consent of Mr. FORSYTH said he should be compelled, by a sense the Senate. But as it was one that it was important to be of duty, and sacred respect for the memory of the illustricarried into effect immediately, he hoped there would be ous man who was the subject of the resolution, to oppose no objection on the part of any who might dissent from its adoption. If there was any one subject in the world it to acting upon it at once, as, in case it should pass, there over which the wishes of the deceased should regulate would be no time to be lost in making the requisite pre- the actions of the living, it was that which related to the parations for effecting the object; and even if the decision disposition of their own remains. He had before him an of the Senate should be adverse to it, it would be better for expression of the last wishes of General Washington on that decision to be made without delay. He then offered the subject; and, notwithstanding what had been done by the following resolutions: Congress, those wishes were, with him, sacred. [Here Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of Mr. F. read the clause in the will of General Washthe United States of America in Congress assembled, That ington, in which he gives directions respecting the place the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of and manner of his interment.] The will directed that, Representatives be hereby authorized to make application as the old vault was out of repair, a new one should be to John A. Washington, of Mount Vernon, for the body of George Washington, to be removed and deposited in the capitol, at Washington city, in conformity with the resolution of Congress of the 24th December, 1799; and that, if they obtain the requisite consent to the removal thereof, they be further authorized to cause it to be removed and deposited in the capitol on the 22d day of February, 1832. built, in which his remains, with those of his deceased relatives, then in the old vault, should be deposited; and gave it as his express desire, that his body might be interred without pomp or parade of any kind, and that no funeral oration should be pronounced over it. Mr. WEBSTER said, if he made the same interpretation of the clause of the will of General Washington, just read by the gentleman from Georgia, [Mr. FORSYTH,] as was given to it by that gentleman, he might concur with him in the conclusion that the wishes of the illustrious deceased were adverse to the proceedings contemplated by the resolution; but he did not see that any such inference could be drawn from the clause quoted; it was but a common case to find such directions in the wills of distinguished persons for the disposition of their remains. If the will contained a provision that the remains should continue in the vault at Mount Vernon, the case Mr. CLAY then said that it would seem proper, and would be altered; but, as the clause quoted only expressed the Senate would probably expect, that he should say a the desire that the funeral should be without pomp or pa Resolved, That the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives be also authorized to prescribe the order of such ceremonies as they may deem suitable to the occasion of the interment of the body of George Washington, in the capitol, on the day above mentioned, and that the two Houses of Congress will attend and assist in the performance of those ceremonies. The resolutions were read the first time, and, no objection being made thereto, they were read a second time. VOL. VIII.-24 SENATE.] Centennial Commemoration. [FEB. 13, 1832. rade, he, [Mr. W.] did not view the subject in the light sentiments of his countrymen in relation to his obsequies presented by the gentleman from Georgia. On the general that must soon be performed. What then were his direcquestion, as to the propriety of a removal of the body, every tions? "The old vault which contains the bones of my near one had some opinion, not likely to be disturbed by that and dear relatives is no longer fit for the purpose. It is my of others. Since, however, said Mr. W., the subject has will that a new one be erected; and, when it is erected, it is been brought before us, and we are called upon to de- my will not only that my remains, but those of my deceased cide upon carrying into effect the resolution of 1799, it relatives, in the old vault, shall be there deposited; that, as seemed to him that this was the most proper time to re- we have lived happily together in this life, we may remain deem the pledge then given. It is a century since the together in the tomb; and from whence my spirit may birth of General Washington, and we shall have no op-ascend to that heaven where I hope theirs have preceded portunity so appropriate as the present, of giving a de- me." Can any man doubt that this was the proper congree of imposing solemnity to the proceedings. There was struction of the clause quoted by the gentleman from something also appropriate in this case, in executing the Georgia? We have been told of the pledge given by designs of the old Congress in the mode proposed, with- Congress, which we are now called upon to redeem. Sir, out form or parade, and in accordance with the wishes of the deceased, which met with his hearty concurrence. The religious services, also proposed, appeared peculiarly suited to the solemnity of the occasion. there are many pledges that we are equally called upon to redeem. The old Congress decreed that an equestrian statue should be placed in the capitol; and when, in 1801, the resolution was called up, Congress refused to redeem Mr. CLAY called for the reading of the letter of the that pledge, and for this reason-the memory of Washinglate Mrs. Washington to Congress, which, he said, ton occupied a space not only in this country, but in the would obviate the objections of the gentleman from Geor-world, which could not be perpetuated by the tricks that gia; and the Secretary having read the letter, belonged only to objects of earthly pride. In the days of Mr. SPRAGUE said he was of opinion that the objection barbarism and ignorance, when it was not possible to comwhich had been urged against the removal of the remains municate instruction to the heart of man, except through of General Washington, by the gentleman from Georgia, his eye, statues were erected to perpetuate the memory was entitled to consideration. The feelings of the relatives of those who were supposed to have been eminent for should undoubtedly be consulted, and the claims of Virginia their virtues or their achievements; but, since the invento the relics of her brighest ornament were also worthy tion of the art of printing has enabled us to carry to disof respect; but it should be remembered that he whose tant generations the lesson taught by the life of Washingremains were now requested by Congress, was his coun- ton, no statues are necessary to commemorate the virtues try's benefactor; and the question should be considered in that are recorded on more imperishable materials. Why, this light. The Senate should consider what would be then, reduce him to the level of ordinary men, by awardmost for the honor of the country and for their own ho-ing to him those honors which have been bestowed alike nor. It was not so much to honor the dead, as it was to on the worthy and unworthy? This was the reason which show the gratitude of the living, that the present ceremo-induced the Congress of 1801 to refuse to redeem the ny was proposed. Sir, said Mr. S., I never heard of the pledge given when the equestrian statue was decreed. construction which the gentleman has given to the last What is next to be considered? Washington died on the will of General Washington at the time. The opinion then 21st December, 1799, and in a very few days the resolu was that [the construction of General Washington's wish tion was introduced and adopted--that resolution which should extend only to what properly belonged to the fu- speaks of removing his remains from the tomb at Mount neral ceremony, and not to the honor that the country Vernon, and depositing them in the capitol of the United might afterwards deem proper to show his memory. States. Need I suggest to the Senate that it was impos Mr. TAZEWELL decidedly opposed the adoption of sible, in the nature of things, for the Congress who passed the resolution. He began by expressing his regret that resolution to be informed of the request contained in that the subject should have been brought before the Se- the will which had just been read. Those who adopted nate in the form in which it was then presented. It was the resolution, were even then aware of the impossibility of very obvious, he said, that whatsoever opinions were form-carrying it into effect without the consent of Mrs. Washed on that occasion, would be the result of feeling rather ington; and acting under the fervor of excited feelings, than of judgment; and he regretted that such a body as they did that which I hope never will again be done by a that should be called upon to act under such circumstances. Congress of the United States, made this application to He would, however, endeavor to express his opinions the afflicted widow, whose husband had died but the day without reference to any of those motives which the sub- before. He wished that this application had never been ject would naturally call into existence. He concurred made. The answer of Mrs. Washington did her great entirely with the gentleman from Georgia, [Mr. FOR- honor; but it was not likely that she was then acquainted SYTH,] in the opinion that, if there was one subject as to with the wishes of her husband; for the application was made which posterity was bound to respect the wishes of the in so short a time after his decease, that it was not likely dead, there was none more sacred than that of the dispo- that such a widow would have been prying into his will to sition of their mortal remains. The inquiry then became become acquainted with its contents. one of mere fact, with regard to the proper construction After some further remarks, Mr. T. said that, many to be given to the will of the great man who was the sub. years after this application of Congress, an application of ject of the resolution. The language quoted by the gen- the same nature had been made by the State of Virginia to tleman from Georgia was plain and distinct, and admitted the late Judge Washington, then the proprietor of Mount but of a literal construction. Shall we then, said he, per-Vernon; and what was his answer? "It was impossible plex ourselves in endeavoring to find out a meaning not for him to consent to the removal, unless the remains of plainly expressed? No, sir! Let us endeavor to assume, one of those dear relations accompanied the body!" Is it so far as is possible, the purity and simplicity that constituted possible, said Mr. T., that the committee could have known one of the most interesting traits in the character of the of this? Are the remains of the husband to be removed father of his country. The Senator from Maine tells us from the side of his wife? In their lives they lived happily that this great man never meant to prohibit his country together, and I never will consent to divide them in death. from doing honor to his memory. Sir, he judges of him as he would of ordinary men. Washington never did any act without weighing all its consequences. He knew he was about to die, and he had the best reasons to know the But let us, said Mr. T., look at this matter as statesmen, and see if it will be wise and prudent to carry into effect the plan recommended by the committee. As a matter of feeling, I will not adopt it; and as a matter of propriety, |