cility of acting each en masse, and making themselves felt and heard. Besides the efficacy of standing committees, and of incessant clamor and innumerable written appeals under every guise -patriotism, distress, national pride, &c.there is a peculiar danger for the agricultural interest, in the circumstance that the very members of congress who would seem especially to represent it, are for the most part, deeply engaged in manufactures, banks, &c., and may not always, therefore, be able to distinguish the object of favor primarily important for themselves and for the country.

The debate on the "Compensation law," was in every sense more in the nature of a chorus, than of the usual recitative of deliberative assemblies. There would be difficulty in assigning the ratio between the time which it consumed, and the intrinsic importance of the subject. This importance was not however inconsiderable, after the question had become, in fact, a formal issue between the people and the legislature. I do not proposet sift its merits, but merely to hazard some free remarks, in a spirit of perfect independence and disinterestedness. It is not easy to escape uncharitable imputations, whatever side you embrace of a question in relation to which there prevails an acute personal sensibility. Incedis per ignes, &c.-One who revolts at the idea of chiming with any popular clamor, as such, shrinks in this case from the expression of a concurrence in the popular feeling, lest he should be not merely accused—which is inevitable, but really suspected, of playing "the prostitute to common fame and the people."*

In the first place, though we may have to regret an exorbitant consumption of time, and a great redundance of oratory, on this occasion, we are enriched with some fine morsels of eloquence, and important views of the constitutional character of the legislature, and of the relations between it and the people. The observations, for instance, of Mr. Hopkinson, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Grosvenor and Mr. Mills, respecting "the right of instructions," have in a degree the merit of novelty, besides that of the most cogent reasoning. The rare, versatile eloquence of Mr. Randolph, "not united, not embodied, but broken into fragments," gleams through, and vivifies the debate. His panegyric upon Edmund Burke may be cited as one of his happiest effusions; in which he threw out, as he has so often done, not only classical images and brilliant periods, but luminous maxims of political wisdom.

For my own part, I find more force and justness in the discourses of Mr. Huger, Mr. Forsyth, and Mr. P. Barbour,

* A popular man is in truth, no better than a prostitute to common fame and to the people.-Dryden.

+ Dryden.

against the law, than in all that was said in its recommendation or defence. Yet I would readily acknowledge the ingenuity, strength, and good faith characteristic of the efforts of the venerable Mr. Findley, Mr. Pickering, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, Mr. Hulbert, Mr. Grosvenor, &c. Without approving of the final vote of either session, I can discover in the conduct and language of many members of both Houses, at the second, a manliness and erectness of spirit which would compensate any error of decision. There was no truckling to the popular sentiment on the part of either House as a body-nor was there that unseemly precipitation in undoing their act, which some apprehended and predicted. Only a few days after the commencement of the session, a motion was made in the senate, by a member from Massachusetts, to repeal the law: this proposition was rejected by a large majority, and a resolution substituted merely to enquire into the expediency of repealing or modifying it; and the mover of the first resolution was, contrary to the usual practice, excluded from the committee appointed for this purpose.

The more I consider the history and character of the law for "changing the mode of compensation, &c." the more I see in it to justify the discontent of the people. The very title had an air of deception, because there was, indisputably, an increase of amount, as well as a change of mode.*.--The measure was introduced on the ground of a delinquency in congress, arising from mercenary dispositions, which could be remedied only by satisfying those dispositions in another way.f--It was hurried through with the most eager precipitation, and a seeming de

"By changing the per diem or daily allowance, into a salary or gross sum, a concealment of the increase of pay was, he would not say, sought or intended, yet it certainly was effected. What number of persons abroad could comprehend the full effect of the change," &c. Speech of Mr. Huger.

"A gross sum of money by which members will be made attentive to business, and not adjourn any day at 4 o'clock, when such a course of conduct would be to deprive them of an adequate compensation."-Speech of colonel Johnson, the mover.

"Without this remedy, congress would, after a while, sit all the year."-Ibid.

"A long session was spun out, the six dollars pocketed, and little or nothing done to relieve the national distresses. He would not vote for one cent in addition to the per diem. It would be an inducement to protract the sessions, till they would become perpetual," &c.— Ibid.

"The compensation bill was the only bill of any interest pushed through the committee of the whole house, and ordered to a third reading, in a single day: all motions to amend were rejected. The house refused repeated propositions to adjourn," &c.-Speech of Mr. Forsyth, (Feb. 1817.)

termination to tolerate no dissent.*-One of the considerations generally adduced in its defence, was the variation in the rates of prices and the value of money; yet this consideration was not allowed full weight or efficacy, when propositions were made to increase the salaries of public officers, who, unlike, in this respect, the great plurality of congress, have no other means of livelihood; and who, moreover, are devoted throughout the year to their official functions. The guardians of the public purse were seen to open it wider for themselves, with every indication of headlong avidity, while they refused to relax the strings in favour of other public servants who seemed to have stronger claims in equity. If decorum did not call for an examination and gratification of these claims in the first instance, it seemed to require at least that the congress which augmented the allowance of the legislature alone, should exclude itself from the benefit of the change.t

It is natural to view the act, in connection with these points, and with such a resolution as that which also passed the House of Representatives, but was rejected by the Senate-for allowing the members of congress the privilege of franking during the whole recess.

I think there is something in the idea of such an extension of this privilege, and of a fixed salary, which affects the fundamental, constitutional character of the legislature. They give it an executive air, and imply a sort of continuous activity of existence; whereas it is recognized by the constitution during the recess, merely, if I may be allowed the phrase, as in a state of suspended animation.

I would refer to the speech of Mr. P. Barbour, sketched in the National Intelligencer of the 21st January, 1817, for what I conceive to be the true character and ends of the compensation of an American legislature. There was something exceedingly unpalatable in the suggestion of Mr. Randolph,-that congress should receive no pay at all; but paradoxical as this may now appear, it will probably attract serious attention hereafter. At present it may be deposited on the same shelf with the recommendation con

* "The pointed and severe sarcasms and ridicule attempted to be attached to all those who were opposed to the compensation bill, and particularly to those who got an opportunity of speaking against the measure," &c.-Speech of Mr. Desha.

In the general appropriation bill, it was proposed to add 25 per cent. to the salaries of clerks of departments, &c. The clause was stricken out nem. con. On the 21st March, 1816, Mr. Forsyth made an unsuccessful motion for the appointment of a committee to enquire into the expediency of increasing the annual allowance of the ministers of the United States abroad, and of allowing annual salaries to consuls.

Sce on this head the speech of Mr. Mason of the senate.

cerning the national university, &c. In respect to such ungrateful topics, the wise statesman will, perhaps, imitate the judicious poet of Horace.

quæ

Desperat tractata nitescere posse, relinquit.

Were the Compensation-law revived, or the per diem to be considerably increased, I should fear that the contest for a seat in the national legislature would really degenerate-to employ the illustration of a member-into a scrub-race. Lured by the strong temptation of a round sum, or a lucrative job,* the tribe of needy village place-hunters, and city-ward politicians, would start up into candidates for congress, and possessing many obvious advantages in the canvass, would be able to supplant the better order of legislators. I deplored the Compensation-law, from its tendency to produce this effect. The more or the less, as to the national treasury, is of little consequence, in this

case.

Whatever credit we may allow to individuals in congress, for the port which they maintained on the question of the repeal of the law, it is impossible to be satisfied with the proceedings of the body on this point, or with the result of its deliberations.

"I do not wish," said the ingenuous member from Louisiana, Mr. Robertson, "to go before the people higgling and disputing between six, seven, eight or nine dollars a day." Yet such, it cannot be concealed, was the spectacle exhibited by the House of Representatives, and which its decision has exposed us to the mortification of seeing rehearsed. The repeal of all existing laws in relation to the compensation of members, to date from the end of the 14th congress, was a catastrophe but little to be expected. The particular law changing the mode could, methinks, be abrogated, with consistency or dignity, only on the principle of a compliance with the will of the people. Now this will, if it had any definite sense, called unequivocally for its immediate repeal, and the revival of the old per diem. It would have denied congress the 1500 dollars for the last session. Better there had been no retractation than one which did not go all the lengths of the sole defensible motive.

This Compensation-law, and the refusal of the House of Repre sentatives, (April 11, 1816,) to take up the report of the joint

In the course of the debate on this unhappy subject, much was said as if to suit the word to the deed of paying by the job, of the wages of congressmen, &c. There is no one of the higher professions in society, which will tolerate the application of such language to its gains. Terms have a conventional propriety, which we cannot always violate with impunity. The Roman lawyer had his honorarium; the French has his honoraires; the English his fee; &c. I know of no dictionary of synonymes which couples wages with legislative bodies.

committee concerning the remains of General Washington-the standing opprobrium of the nation—are almost the only exceptionable traits in the history of the 14th congress. These are more than effaced, as respects the national interests, by the public laws of which I have caused an abstract to be attached to the present volume. Many of the money bills and land-donatives savour of an elevated and enlightened generosity: witness-the provision made for services performed and losses incurred during the last war;-for the indemnity of certain Indian tribes;for the orphans and widows of seamen;-for the remuneration of the Canadian volunteers, an act of doubtful morality, however, and which was signalized in its passage by a very interesting debate. The bonus-bill, so called, which passed both Houses, but failed unluckily with the Executive, is scarcely surpassed in magnificence and comprehensive utility of purpose, by any legislative measure projected since the birth of our government.

The grant of a tract of land, (it must be viewed in the light of a grant,) to the French Colonial Society, for the cultivation of the olive and the vine, which met with no opposition, entitles us to the esteem even of those abroad who are contradistinguished in their political creed from the objects of our bounty. The patronage extended to the pencil of colonel Trumbull, was due to the ripening taste of the nation, and to those admirable drafts which were suspended by this eminent artist for critical inspection, in the hall of the House of Representatives. It is not the corporeal image alone of Washington, but also the very soul of that great man, which will be handed down to posterity, as he is delineated in the picture of the Surrender of Cornwallis: And there is no estimating the price which our descendants will set upon the graphical representation of the "Declaration of Independence," where the unrivalled interest of the scene itself is heightened by the truth of the details, even to the physiognomy and costume of each of the assistants.

I need not dwell upon such measures as the Navigation act, and those for the redemption of the public debt-the increase and perfection of the navy-the integrity of our neutral relations, &c., which are all of a high order of legislation in seasonableness, and influence both present and remote. The 14th congress must form an epoch as to one point, if no other, by the admission of the two States of Indiana and Missisippi into the Union. It could not now receive its due share of credit for refusing to include the whole of the former Missisippi territory within the limits of the state of that name, unless it were possible to unveil to the public the incredible activity and management exerted against this determination; and to anticipate the statistics of the whole territory, such as they will be a few generations hence. Among the proceedings of this congress the least likely to be remarked, but by no means the