The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 1: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session Page: 224
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CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE
the Roman, French, and Spanish law, arid recur-
red with familiarity to the original sourees of infor-
mation in those languages. He resigned his judge-
ship about the year 1830, and was soon after elected
to the Senate of the United States. His career
while there is familiar to all who hear me. His
health became so feeble as to induce him for several
years to withdraw from public life, but he was again
elected to the national Senate at the last session of
the legislature of Louisiana. The disease which had
long been preying upon his body, without impair-
ing the energy of his mind, assuming greater in-
tensity, he was unable to take his seat; and he died
on the 13th ultimo, at his plantation, after a protract-
ed and painful illness. Alexander Porter was^a
learned lawyer, an eloquent advocate, and an up-
right judge. His extensive and varied reading, his
great colloquial powers, ready wit, and social dis-
position, fitted him to appear to advantage in the
most brilliant and refined society. His tempera-
ment was ardent; and he was zealous in liis politi-
cal creed; but he did not permit political differences
to affect his relations in private life. Widely dif-
fering from him on all great party questions, I have
been for many years honored by his intimacy; and
knowing him as I did, I can with confidence assert,
that the manifestations of respect which I am now
about to propose, could not be bestowed more fitly.
Mr. YANCE seconded the resolutions, in some
pertinent remarks.
The resolutions, in the usual terms, were then
agreed to; and
The House adjourned.
The following petitions, presented to-day, were
handed to the reporters by the members presenting
them:
By Mr. WHEATON: The petition and papers
relating to the claim of Dearin Farren, for relief.
By Mr. RAMSEY: The petition of citizens of
Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, asking that such an
alteration may be made in the law requiring coasting
licenses, as may exempt from its operation all canal
boats employed in the domestic coal trade, which
are dependeut upon the application of the external
power of animals or steam to propel them. The pe-
tition of Joseph Potter, of Schuylkill county, Penn-
sylvania, asking compensation for losses sustained
in the late war.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Saturday, February 3, 1844.
The minutes of yesterday were read and approved.
SLANDEROUS ATTACK ON MEMBERS OF
CONGRESS BY NEWSPAPER CORRESPOND-
ENTS.
Mr. BELSER rose and asked the indulgence of
the House while he called its attention to a letter
which has appeared in the Boston Jltlas, which he
pronounced to be false, scandulous, and malacions.
The SPEAKER said it could only be done by
general consent. [Cries of "Leave, leave."]
Mr. BELSER having obtained the consent of the
House to proceed, first read the letter of which he
complained to the House. [The letter professed to
give an account of the late collision between Mr.
Wiktfr and Mr. Shriver, with which Mr. Bel-
si: r was mixed up. He was accused of a partici-
paney m the affray; and both he and Mr. Patke
were termed "bullies," and otherwise designated m
^ery offensive terms. The affray, too, was charged
as premeditated by .several members of the House.]
He then said his object in bringing this communi-
c\tion before the House was not to axle for
anv protection for his person, but that he might
have the opportunity of pronouncing, in the pre-
sence of the representatives of the people here as-
sembled, that this publication is wilfully ncandalrms
and malicious. He never had borne the character
of u '"bully" anywhere, and he did not wish such
a character to be stamped upon hnn here, or that
his constituents should believe he had given any
reason to justify the application of such a term to
him. But he would furthei state, m the presence of
the representatives of the people, that he had no
part nor participuney in the matter therein alluded
to, (the affray,) nor did he know what was going to
take place before the occurrence. Mr. Shriver was
a perfect stranger to him, and the only agency
he had in the transaction was to ask that the par-
ties might be separated when they were engaged
in the contest.
Ha (Mr. Belser) took no part in th« transaction
in any manner, shape, or form, and he called upon
the honorable gentleman frojn -Mississippi [Mr.
Hammett] to bear witness to the truth of the state-
ment which he had now made on'this floor.
The writer of this letter signed himself T. M. B.,
and the letter appeared as the correspondence of the
Boston Atlas. He (Mr. Belser) understood that
that correspondent had left this city; if he had not,
he (Mr. B.) would have made an example of him
which he would long have remembered.
Mr. PAYNE rose to make some observations.
The SPEAKER said he could only proceed with
general consent.
Mr GIDDINGS hoped the gentleman would be
allowed to proceed.
Mr. PAYNE then proceeded; but for some time
he was imperfectly heard. He was understood to
say, that, ever through life, it had been his desire to
do what was right; and, since he had been here, the
same desire had governed his actions, whether with-
in or without the bar of this House. But when he
was assailed, as he had been in this instance, by an
unprincipled writer, the only notice of which his
feelings would permit him to take of such a person,
was to kick him out of his path as he would any
other loathsome thing. But, inasmuch as this mat-
ter had been brought to the notice of the House,
that there might be no mistake in relation to his
conduct he begged leave to say that he knew noth-
ing whatever of the affair until after the conversa-
tion began between Mr. Weller and Mr. Shriver.
He did not know that any unpleasant feeling exist-
ed there until the fight began. It was true, he oc-
casionally heard a word between them; and it was
also true that he expected, from the language used
by Mr. Shriver, that Mr. Weller would resent it;
but he was sitting at his seat, fifteen feet from the
parties, until the first blow was struck. This was
enough to exonerate him from any agency in the
matter. The language which he heard used by Mr.
Shriver was of an insulting character; and when the
fight commenced, lie took the liberty to say that no-
body should interfere until it was ended; and he
would do it again, when a fiiend was assailed. He,
however, would say further, that the friends of Mr.
Shriver were under some obligation to him, for he
it was that pulled Mr. Weller off him. In con-
clusion, as his colleague had done, he pronounced
this letter an unprincipled calumny, fabricated by
an unprincipled wretch, and he so characterized it
before the American people.
Mr. BLACK of Georgia rose to corroborate the
statement of the gentleman from Alabama; but he
gave way to
Mr. HAMMETT, who had been appealed to by
Mr. Belser. He said he was one of two or three
persons, who happened to be present at the unfor-
tunate occurrence which had been alluded to. The
gentleman from Alabama [Mr. Belser] and himself
were sitting behind the Speaker's chair at the time
of the occurrence; they were in conversation on a
subject in which he was interested, when a conver-
sation commenced between Mr. Weller and Mr.
Shriver. He (Mr. Hammett) knew nothing of it, un-
til it had commenced: he had no previous intimation
of it from any person whatever; and when the first
harsh word was uttered, he was much surprised,
and was struck with deep regret. The gentleman
from Alabama had given a true statement of what
occurred, and had properly characterized that pub-
lication as a tissue of unprincipled, unprovoked
falsehoods. There was scarcely a line of truth in
the whole publication. It did the Greatest injustice
to the gentlemen from Alabama [Air. Belser and
Mr. P.u \Ti;,] \\ ho took no other part in the affair
than that wfii< I) they had explained to thelior.se.
He (Mr. T*T-ymmett) regretted this unpleasant affair
very deeply; but, if it were necessary, he would
bear the same testimony on oath elsewhere that he
had borne hcie.
WASHINGTON TREATY" EXTRADITION FU-
GITIVES FROM FLORIDA.
Mr. LEVY moved a suspension of the rule*, to
enable him to present a resolution having reference,
as he considered, to a subjcct of great national in-
terest. A case had occurred of gross violation, by
the British government, of an important clause of
the treaty of Washington. The circumstances were
of a nature demanding the prompt and very decided
action of this government; and ne was desirous, in
his place, as the representative of the people of
Florida, to bring the matter before the House and
the nation. The particulars of the transaction would
show it was specially Ms duty, of all others, to
move in this subject. He had been waiting for the
reception* of the necessary official intelligence to put
him in possession of the precise facts. Having re-
ceived these facts by the mail of yesterday, he
wished to lose no time in bringing forward the mat-
ter. He should, as a basis for the subject, present
a resolution, which he asked might be read:
Resolved, That the Committee on Foreign Rela-
tions be directed to inquire into the expediency of
a recommendation by this House to the President of
this Union, to signify to the government of Great
Britain the wish of this government that the tenth
article of the treaty of Washington be terminated.
The motion was not agreed to.
Mr STILES offered resolutions of the general
assembly of the State of Georgia, in support of the
claims for losses sustained by James L. Daniel and
others, by occasion of the-late Creek war, and
which have been paid by the State.
Tl)e SPEAKER announced the business in order
to be the report of the Committee on Rules, on
which Mr. Hammett had the floor.
Mr. CHAPMAN moved the postponement of
that order of business to Monday next.
Mr. ADAMS called for some reason for the post-
ponement.
Mr. CHAPMAN replied that it was in conse-
quence of the indisposition of the gentleman who
was entitled to the floor. This courtesy had been
extended to other gentlemen, and he now asked for
nothing more than the usual courtesy.
Some conversation ensued between Mr. CHAP-
MAN, Mr. ADAMS, Mr. DROMGOOLE, and
others.
' Mr. CLINGMAN said he was in favor of ex-
tending to the gentleman the courtesy of postpone-
ment, although he certainly thought it was high time
that this question should be decided. He would
move, if it were in order, to amend the motion for
postponement so as to make it the special order for
Monday.
The SPEAKER said he did not think the amend-
ment would be in order, inasmuch as a motion for
postponement required only a majority, while that
making the subject a special order required two-
thirds.
Mr. THOMPSON inquired whether it would be
in order to submit a motion for suspending the rules,
in order to go into Committee of the Whole on pri-
vate bills.
The SPEAKER said it would not be in order.
Mr. WILKINS said he had been very anxious
for some days past to catch the Speaker's eye, that
he might get possession of the floor; for he was so
situated that he would be obliged to deliver his sen-
timents upon this interesting question on some occa-
sion or other. If he had supposed the gentleman
from Mississippi would not go on to-day, he would
himself have been glad to occupy the floor, though
not so well prepared as he could wish.
Mr. PATTERSON inquired whether it would-be
in order to move that the subject go over until Mon-
day.
Mr. ADAMS observed that Monday was the day
fixed by the rule for the reception of petitions.
Mr PATTERSON moved that the further consid-
eration of the subject be postponed until Tuesday
next; and made the special order for that day.
Upon this question the yeas and nays were or-
dered; and being taken, resulted—yeas 132, nays
4U, as follows:
YEAS — Messrs. Anderson, Ashe, Atkinson, Barrlnger
Beankley, Uelser, Benton, Bidlack, Edward J. Black,
James jilc>ck, Biackwell. Bonier, Bower, Bow hn
B.ij'h —ooli Jhuikovboit, Aaron V. Brown, Milton Prow n
"William J. Blown, Buike, Burt, Campl ell, ( n.rv, ratlin,
Reuben c liaprnan, Autju«tus A. Clnpman, Chilton. Clin-
ton. Cobb, < oles Dena, Daniel, Richard D Pa"u«, John W
Uavis, Dtberry, Delict, l;ickm?on, Dillingham, Douglas,
Di'omguole, Duncan, Dunlap. Kimcr, "thrice, Ficklm, Fos-
ter, l-rencli, (riimtr, Lyram Gicvn, (nmnell GrUn\ Hale.
Hamlin, JJa.-ismott, IlaroKon, Hardin, Henlev, Ilernck,
liopkms, lion-ton. Huburd, ilubbell, ilu^hi Jnmos B
Hunt, C'hrulos J. Ingcrsoll, Jamison, Cave Johnson. An-
drew John-on. Gcoiyc, W Jones, Kennedy Preston King,
Kirkpatriek, Labraneh<\ T^onard, Lewi?, Lucas krmpkm,
L} on, \IacL-y, iMcClelUnd, McConnell, McDowell, \3e
Kay, Edward J. Morris, Murphy, Newton. NorrK Owen,
Paxmcnter, Payne. Peyton, Pratt. Purdy, Ramse) , Rathbun.
Almon fi Read David S Reid, Relfe Ritter Robinson,
Russell, Sample, Saunders, Senter, Thomas H Sevmour
David L Seymoui, Simons, Slidell, Albert Smith, John T.
Smith, Thorias Smith, "Robeit Smith. Steenrod, John
Stewart, Stiles Stone, Strong, Summers, Thomasson.
Thompson. '! jbbats. Tucker, Vinton. Weller. Wentworth"
Wheaton, V.'bite, Williams, Wilkins, William Wright'
Joseph A. Wright, and Yost—13:2 ° '
NAVSapVessrs. Adams. Baker, Barnard, Brodhead, Biif-
fington, Clingman, Cranston, Cullom, Garrett Davis, Dickey
Fish, Florence, Friek, Giddings, Willis Green, Harperj
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United States. Congress. The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 1: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session, book, 1844; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2367/m1/248/: accessed May 14, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.