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Show 78 SJ::CONU DA\'-J:o;VBNING ::iESSJON. and ardent love of country, would proudly vindicate and maintain their own rights, even when others would be found ready with c raven spirits, tamely to surrender them up to the arrogant demands of those who are strangers alike to our wanls, our feelings, and our country. Very respectfully, yours, &c. G EOROt:: Fonn, Jr. SPEECH OF ALVAN STEWART, OF UTICA, N.Y. (oN A !tF.SOLUTION llt:LATIVI.: TO TilE RIGHT OJo' l' li:TI'I' ION.) The House of Representatives of the Congress of the United Stales, a body created by the breath of the nostrils of the freemen of this nation, by a palpable violation of the Constitution, has denied tht right of petition i and if there is merit in having been the tirst body of men clothed with high legi~lative power who in this world have exercised it by refusing to hear the petitions of their constituents, then the House of Representatives stands alone in its glory, pre-eminent, without rival-treading a path which Egyp· tian Pharaoh, and Hussian Nicholas, and the turbaned Sultan, have never ventured upon. \Vhat was the prayer of these dr.nicd petitioners ? They asked the abolition of slavery-Al'IIERICAN, R EI'UULICAN SLAVERY! "Hear, 0 Heavens! and be astonished, 0 Earth !"-the representative of yesterday denies the right of his constituent of to-day to ask him to give liberty to the bondmen, denies the constituent the right of having his petition so much as read in the presence of their high mightinesses ! The future historian of this land, when truth shall have triumphed over delusion, when the sober dictates of humanity shall have conquered the dark spirit of slave· holding fanaticism, when quadri-ennial President-making shall not be a draft on the heart's blood of our expiring libcrties,-astonishment shall make him drop his pen to weep over the degeneracy of his boasting ancestors, till the love of his country-'s fame shall make him doubt the.se dreadful scenes in the narrative of the 20th and 21st of December, 1837. Be will visit the city bearing the name honored by the father of his country, anJ turning over volume after volume of ancient Congressional records, shall sigh in the search of the liberty~murdering Congress of December, 1837; till at last he finds on that ill-fated 21st of December, 1837, that Mr. Patton of Virginia asked the previous question to be put for the adoption of a resolution by which "all petitions on the Rubject of slavery to that House should lie upon its table unread, unprinted, tmriferred, undebated, and uncon.Yiderecl;"-and thal it pas8ed one hundred and twenty for, and seventy-four against it. "Ah !" says the future T aci tus of this land, as he muses over these dark and man-dishonoring pages,-" What is here? The 'previous question,'-the tyrant's gag !-the petitions on slavery' unread, unprinted, unreferred, undebated, and unconsidered.' Oh! what a rent hath slavery made in the Constitution's robe! On the shortest day of the year-of least light-of most darkness-the deed has been done by slave· holders and their wretched apologists. Oh, the 21st of December, 1837! w'hy must that day rob my country of its glory, its good name-and steep it in infamy ? Let the 21 st of December, 1837, perish .from my country'_s calendar. Let that day be darkness, for ever after. Let not God regard 1t from above, neither let the light shine upon it. Let darkness 2nd the shadow of death stain it;-let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackn~ss of the day terrify it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year ; let 1\ not ~PEKC IJ OF ALVAN STEWART. 79 ?01~e1 int~ the number of the months. Let the night be solitary and 110 ~~;dn 1VOI~~ come th7rein. J .. et them curse it, that curse the day, ~vho are d 1_Y ~ r,u~c up thc1r mourntng. I~et the stars of the tw iliaht thereof be O~rtl\. _1 .. et,!t look for light, but have none; neither let it sc~ the dawning 1e uay. Uut as he .tu rns with mournful steps from this painful solilo u r he oes to a ro1om thtrty by twenty, and twelve feet hitrh, and behold~ ~h'e might. m~oso eurn of the embalmcJ remains of the G~eat Unread the G . tgU y ~rmtc_d, ~he ~reat Unre~e.rred, t~e Great UnconsiUered,-t h~ dead ·c~ra se ~f C· n~t~~~ s ,n~?ht ~f petJ.uon, laid out in solemn stale in the wing ~f the 1 aplto · d f h?re IS a L1brary_of two millions of authors on one subject_ t 1e un.rea Library of a nation's humanity! Behold the manuscri 'ts :7ree lime~ the number of the Alexandrian Library. There lies the ~ol: ll~~ed ffi!lJ_esty of ~nto~nbed l~hilan thropy. Yes, to this pile of recorded g f i' _thJse who w_Jsh In commg_ generations to rank high for the nobility o tt1~1r e~cent, will send_l~le fallhful examiner to see if their ancestor did no s1gn t ,ese unread petitions to Congress, on their father's or mother'~ g_r~mdfa~heJ s. or grandmother's, or great grandfather's or great grandmother;~ 5 1 ~· n . 1f t~tey did, the man who searches for ancestral merit b ~vnhJc~h~o raJse IHs own, will. believe i~ a happy day for him when he shaft . name. ~f the progemtors of h1s race written on these unread and ~~iJ~.II13t~~h r;~ltt~ons ~0 a~~ngress for the. abolition of slavery in the 34th, T . ' ' a?. _t years of the mneteenth century. childh~on1::! of peutwn ~~as old as hum a~ want. It is the language of the parent by wa~a~~nt.etit~!'~~ ev~iis ':~nt, hi~ e_very nec~ssit.y, appeals to the :?,; 'e c~~~:~e~o ~~it~ ti~,:'peri·~:~: ~e~;~i ~ ~rr~~~~~~~~~~r;i~1:~·~:~~i[•r bi~lt ~~=, :.~~i ~e~~ the trustees of a school or the ins t f · te sc oo master, of schools,-the comJ~issioners o~e~i~~~\\?ay:cl~ono~s\tr the !commissioners their petitioners. The overseers oft! ' • te pat t-master, have house, have their petitioners. Th~e ~oor, _th~ keepers of t~e county poor~~ m~diplomas,-the supervisor, town~c~~tss~~~e~s o~ excJse, wh?. grant 1 o~vn meetings are petitioned. The boar'd of JUSllc~s are. petJtlOne~. the1r counties Jistenin O' to and d .d. . . supervisors Sit weeks 111 common pleas the suopreme couer~~ Jngd P~J twns. The j ustice courts, the tioners The ' ove f ' an c ancery, are thronged with petiovcrwhelmed, a~ th:no~~eo w~~~tes, ~~d the president of the United States, the subordinate bodi~:s re'ferred r:ti:IOJ;s, hav? _they ever dared, as well as lheir tables, unread and unconside 'edo '1 a~petlt~ns. presente_d to them on states, sitting, on an avera e thre r . ?· egJs\atures Ill twenty-aix of the time-the immediat~ ;e e e J~O~ths Ill the year, or about one-fourth purpose of deciding upon th/~ st~~ attves of the people sit for the express :Who ever heard of a Legislature eil~ tons ~refented to them by the people. m 1837, ever refusing to read ~ne o t lose _states, except New York, people? ' pnnt, or constder, the petition::~ of the Congress sits to hear the various ef . . affecting human liberty, more than on~-tl~~~~ns of thJs nati~n, except those ?four government, family, school, town of the year. f~le whole form Ill tl~e L_egislative, Judicial, or Executive,. county, state, nauon,-whether ceedmg ~~~ hu~an affairs, whether in chur~l~t ~very step and ~ngle of pro~ or ~~ve~sJty, stckness or health, moves forw~rd state, whether In prosperity P et.llJonmg or requesting. whether written on th~ wheel~ of petuions. whJ!e the other is to consider and wei h t or verb_al, ~s one Side of affairs, grant or refuse the petition asked. g he apphcatwn on its merits, and |