Speech Of Mr. Palfrey

A very interestmg debate took place on motion of Mr. Paliu'.y to reconsider the resolution cor.ccrning the French Revolution, 111 which Mr. P. aLly defended the doctrine of equal rights. Wo think bis constituent must be liighly gratifiud with the courteous, hut independen: and manly conrse he takes, in liis unsvverving adherence to the principies of liberty. The oíd Bay State may well be proud of those sons who represent and so nobly advócate tho advantagea of her wcll susüiined and liberal institutions. Tuesday, April 11, 1818. Mr. Palfrey rose as soon as tiie Journal had boen read, and moved a reconsideration of the vnte by which the juint resolution fraca the Senate, tendoring the congratulations ol' tho American to tho French people, on thi: consolidation of a French Republic and the principies of liberty, was passed yesterday, Mr. Palfret said he was desirous yeíterday to oífer an amenjment to the resoluiions vvlien ihey were pending, but he was pie ei.t - ed l.y the molion of'the gentleman ÍVüín ('f orgia ÍMr. Stephens] for the previous queslion. If he liad had an opportunity, lie should hino otTered the following resolulion as an amorulment, to be prefixed to the series of resolutions that were introduced : Resolved, That no despotisrn is more effective than that which exists under the serablance of popular institutions ; and tliat a great natinn, emancipated from the control of an oligarchy of two hundred thonsanil voling citizens, is cutitlcd to tbe congratul;itiori3 vf every íricnd of freedom. The French Government latei y overthrown was said, at the time of 119 institution, lo be aihrone surroundeil by popular mstii ntmris - by nstitutions of a repubiican chaiacter - and yet it carne to this, tl) at abont two hundrcd thouaand voting citizens wielded ihe power of that Republic, and governed some thirty-five millions of men. They did it in tho way in which oiher oligarchies, cilhor monarchie, have done it in other days, without dlslurbing the forrasof republicnnisra, acling througfa the channcls of repubiican governnient, vet wieldingan arbitrarv and tyrunical power by means of influente, oí bribery, of intiinuiation, and in other Nvavs. ïhc time, hnwcvci', had gnne by, and tie should not now otf'cr his amendment. But ho would take occasion, which lie could ]ave desired to have had yesterday, to make a remark or two callod fortli by some nhservations of the gentlemun frotn Virpuiin, [Mr. Bayly,]i whom he saw near him. ITu did not liear the gentleman from Virginia distinctly, though he sat near that gentleman. The observations of' the gentleman from Virginia, as the gentleman had himeslf very properly said, wcre very discursive, though certaioly interesting, ns far as he (Mr. P.) conld hear them. He lid not hear them distinctly, beeause his hearing', never the quickest, was afTected by mdisposuionunder wliich he labored. He was not now proposing to foliow tha gentleman from Virginia in tho general colime of his remarks. He baj no means of doing it. He sought the means in tho newspapers - or rather in the newgpapcr, the National lrtelligencer - this mornmg, that lie migtt sce thoromarks of the gentleman from Virginia, and revive his own ttnpressions, and correct unv errors into which he might have fallen. T'here was no report, ho wever, thero; so that he was thrown entirely on hi Qwri imperfect recollection; He was, nevertheless, ohliged io nddress the House to-uay, f at all ; fnr the pi ivilege of moving a reconsideration, which g:Uehim the right to address tho House, wouUl bo exhausted to-morrow. As lic had s;iid, he di! not pi-opose to fuitow the gentleman from Virginia in ihc whb! range of his remarks ; it was onlv on onc or two of the most important topics wtiich ïlmt gentleman had bruuglil forwurd l'hat lic ahould touch ; and particularly he wished to con eet the gentleman's improssion - for lie Slipposed the gentleman from Virginia (id not wisli lo rest under nny amnpprelicnsion, or mislcaií any of those wheit-r'rpose conffiieiice in liïrn - respecting a cortairi sialc of sentiment nml lav in Matsacnusetts, tn wfiioh tne gt-ntlf-niVn had alluded. He niight, lo he Ei:rr. have intrrrupied the gentleman from Virginia, when howas treatiny oi tïjis topic jestcrdaj', b'u! hi8aw the gentleman from Virginia was in nuioii. better hands tlian liis own - he alluded to his colleague, [Mr. Ashmun.] He was far from. saying that Massachusetts, in this or anv particular, entirely conformed to the idea ot'a perfect Commonwealth. He knew there was nothing perfect here below, in either the individual or the social state. He was far from n.nintaining that the practices of Massachut-r tta conformed tn her theoriea. Bnt one tliing !.o u'd teil the gentleman from Virginia, that Massachusetts was not too cid to giow wiscr ; and she was growing wiscr day by day, thaük I Massachusetts was a little younger than 'irginia; and if he might draw an inferenco from what had fallen from the gentleman from rginia, he feared that Virginia was too oíd lo grow wiser. The gentleman from Virginia liad adverteJ to the niarriage laws of Massachusetls - and hc beggfid, if h3 recollecction of whut the gcntle-. man from Virginia liad said was not correct, that the gentleman vvould correct him. Massachusetts saw that thero were peoplo within her borders of mingled blooc!. Mulaltocs were born in Massachusetts. He presmned mulattoes were born in Virginia. There were mulattoes there in 1S36, 1843, 1844. He stated that fact from bis mvn observation. Wt-ll, Massachusetts thought - her Legislativo will was- that if there rere to le "persona born there of mingled blood, there shoulj be no legal obstacle to their being honestly born ; and so she declarod by her laws somo'five op six years ago. The gentleman from Virginia, in speaking of the social positie n of the colored race in Massachusetts, asked if it had been known that a colored man had servcd on a jurv. Ho (Mr. P.) could not answer that questiJn ; but ho could teil the gentleman from Virginia how the laws of Massauhusetts stood on that subject to the best of bis knowledge and belief. The laws of Massacliusetts specified no distinclion of color among the qualifications of jurymen, and a colored man was as Hable to be draughted to sit in the jury box as a white man. Mr. Bayly asked the gentleman from Massachusetts to yield the floor for explanation. Mr. Pai.pukv assented. Mr. Bayí.v said he had referred to nuance of a universal feeling repealing the laws of the State. Mr. Brow.v, of Misssippi, imjifired what tho que.ition was that was boforc tlio Housc. The SPKAKBR replied, that t was on a raotion of tho gentleman from Massacli FalfreyJ t féconsidor tho vote oc - yestcniay, adoptmg thu resolution 'S lating the French on (lio establiihment of a llepublican Government. Mr. Iïrown nquired ÍT tliose rosohitions were now beibro tlie House, and if they bad nol been returned to the SeMtei And ii' ihey hnd been roturned to the Senato, if this motion was now in order ? The Speaker explaii.cd that the rules of the House gave the privilege to move a reconsideratiou on the day on which a vote was taken, or on the day saccoeding; and such p ti ■ viiego was not supwrscdcd by tlie return of ike resolutions to tho Sonate. That pointhad been frequeñlly settlcd in thii House. Ho would, however, state, as ■ matter of fact, that lic understood that the papers were still in the hand of tlie Olerk. Mr. Palfrey then resumed. He said ho was the most helpless man in this House in the hands of a tactician - the rules miglit. choke hun oft from a!l participation in debate, and he should not know liow to help himself. He once tliought he knew something of Parliamentary Jaw, but the Rules and Orders of this House were an unfalhomable mystery to liim. He believed, however, t'iat the rules had been applied by the Cliair honestly and jnstly. He was sometimos fait merely to rise m his place, as he and the Speaker had been taught to do, when boys at school in New England, to say, " i-ir, tnay I speak ?" The gentleman from Virginia liad suggested a case ib which he supposed tlio laws to be overridden by public seiiiimcnt. Now, hedid not know but that the gentleman from Virginia was right. He (Mr. P.) had never sat on a jury ; ie had never beeu tned bv a jury. - He knew not, then, row that might be ; but this he knew, that the selcctmen of the town ■placed in a box the ñames of those citizens who werc eligible to serve on juries. The law gave tliem a discretion as to the ñames they should place there, and they were authorir.ed 'o deposite tho ñames of those that they thought suital)!(". He supposed that tho actual practico would be found to conform to tho views of town officers. But tho gentleman fmm Virginia looked a litllo htgher, and he as!;ed il' a colored man had boen evor lieard of ór tlie bench? Now, liad a jiistice's court a bench ? [Mr. Bayly assonted.] A justice's court bad a Lenen ; and iiot many tnontbs had passed smee, in bis bumblc capacity of Secretury of State of the Coranionwealtb of Massacliusclts, he set tbe great seal of tbat Coinmonweakh to the commission of a gentleman learned in the law, who, he belicved, was nearly as black as his (Mr. P.'s) coat. And if tho gentleman f rom Virginia sliould go to Massacbnsetts, as be (Mr. P.) hnped bc would, anti if bc got into trouble there, whicb bc (Mr. P.) hóped he would not, he was as likely to bavp justice, tempered witb ■ morcy, meted out to bun by that respectable magistrate as bv any other person hearing a judicial commission in the old Bay State. Tbe gentleman from Virginia said something too ahout tbe Legislature. Now he (Mr. P.) was in the Legislature of Massachusetts in the yenrs 1842 and in 1843; and in one of 'those years - 1S42 he believed - it was said in ■ the House that a colored man was chosen from one of the towns of Massachusetts to represent it in the Legislature. He believed the town to whicb be referréd was tbe town of Pepperell. [Some gentleman remarked tbat it 'as the town of Townsend.] He was mformed by a friend noar bim that it was the town of Townsend, which was next to Pepperell. Mr. Bayly. Did be takfi bis seut ] Mr. Palfiiey. That was a vory peninent uestion. He tlid not. If be bad, (Mr. P.) had nu doubt we would have been trealed with proper respect and courtcsy there ! and, for anything he knew, tbat colored repreienta'tive might have been chairraan of the commit te.e on the Latimer petition, which reponed a íftv making it liiglily penal for tho o'Kcers o( üic Coinmonwealth to employ themselves in arresling fiijttive negroos, and ijrbidding llie .ue of the jails for sucli a purposc. I3ut he .did not take his seat. Perhaps he had no podttical ambition. Ho (Mr. P.) dared say he was a modest rnan, and did notdesire a seat in tbe Legislature. Would not the gentleman from Virginia be modest about taking a seat in a Legislature where all its mombers were of a color dfferent from his own ? The gentleman from Vn-inia bad alladed to some other parliculars of the social position of those persons. He would say to taat gen tleman, that tliey associato with our chilJren in public schools - those institutions which make the g.-eat glory of our Commonweulth, and givo her, dircctly or indirectly, that standing which she bas in tbis Confederacy of Kepublics. Aftcr making a few remarks some weeks ago in tbis House, which wcra publis'd in the National Intelligencer, he received a letter from a gentleman who resides in the town of New Bedford, with w hom be was not ac-' quainted, but, on makïng nquiry from the gentleman who represented the tenth Congressional d'strict of Massachuser.s, who was now ab-ent, he had learned that the writer was a gentleman of wealth, and standing, and respectability, and philanthropy, and education. Tbe writer gave him some facts which he believed would bo interesting to the gentleman from Virginia, and to other members of this House. Amongst other things in that letter, he said : " Thore are in this city about twelve or thirteen hundred colored people, and of that immber betweèn three and four hundred are slaves, or rather were slaves, but have emancipated themsolves, as Frederick DouglaBS would say, by 'praying witli liis heels.' This class of people are beginning to improvo themselves. The signs aro already visáble. both as todeportrnent and mental improvemeiU - L,ast year, the first scholar in our high school (whic'h is amongat the first in the State) was a colored girl- one who was far above all others, (I think in all the branches, )and ono whose composition would have done no disorcdit toa grad nate of Harvard. In addition to this, there are two colored boys in our public schools, each of whom is as black as possible, and who stand at the vory head of their classes in mathematics. Moreover, there is a colored girl who, though not the first, was nmong the first of her class when she graduated in our high school about two years since, who has since established an infant school among the colored children, There is also a colored manhere who is worth twenty thousand dollars, who has, within a few years, twice visited France and travelled, who speaks French with accuracy, and is qirte a good Latin soholar, and, moreover, sornewhat of a poet, and of a good moral chiracter. Thcro are sorne otheri worth from two to ten thousand dollars." Mr Palfrey said hfi would add, that ho had lately known something of a charming boy, whom God iivHis mysterions Piovidence had seen fit totake away. [Voices : " Charming!" "Ar1 iiii'P'ii"-''"1 Yes (safd Mr '' .) I cause of tlie sneers of gentlemen. The expregsion was unTomodftated, but the reception it meets ónly atrfacts my attention to ils propriety. I do not know wliat tliere is that has a charm for rightly thinking men, if it be not moral and intellectual excellence, I repeat it --a charrtling and most ntBresting colored boy, wlio, as his instructor (au accomplished ana experienced teacher) infonned me, was the best echolur he had in all the departments of the institution ; a youth of ammble marmers and gentlemanly and correct deportment in all respecta - one wlninspired respect and regard amone; his white associates. He was fitled for the oldest nniversity in the country. But God took him away. Had his life been sparod, thsl youth would now havo been in '.he oldest of American universities. lle would tliere ) have been the equal associate, perlaps the successful competilor.of Mr. P.'s own son, nnd of a son of a gentleman from South Carolina, not now in his place. Mr. P. could say, for his own son, that had ho not treated this lad witli every demonstration of respect and good will, his father would not liave f'clt for him that csteem and confidencc which he now feit. Mr. P. went on to say, that he liad no wish to depart from the regular and orderly course of business in the House. He had been led into the course of remark in whicli he liad indulged by some of the remarks of the genlle man from Virginia, [Mr. Baily,] wlio did not, ho was very snre, desirc to rernain under a misapprehunsion of tlie true stale of facts in regard to which he was speaking. Before he resumed his seat, he would add one word in regard to the action of the Senate of Virginia respecling his lamented friend, Mr l Adams, Mr. P. supposed that his ooileague Mr Ashmun had not meant to expross displeasure at what had been done by that body. Cert.ifnly Mr P. feit none. Honesty was the first of all the virtues, and one which Mr P. ever desired to maintain, both in himself and others. - He would not piaise the dead because they were dead. Let this longue be palsed before it uttered commendalion of' some departed men prominent in American history, of' whom he had heard animated laudations in that flouse, He held that the Senate of Virginia bught in their course of public action, to be true to the opinions they held. The misfortuno was, not that they acted according to their opinions, bul that they held such opinions. They could not sympathize with that great life ; they were unable to nppreciate its noble airns, ano tliey were right in not saying that they did. But other times were coming fur Virginia. Tlie time was coming, perhaps was not very far off, that her sons, whon showing her public record to a stranger, would turn over that leaf haslily, as not liking to remember or to dweil upon il. The days were hastening on whon Virginia would again come to the van of public opinión. Slie had stood tliere once - she would stand tliere again. I f' tlie great State of Virginia, for a quarter of a century, had not exerted any apprcciahlc inHuence in the councils of this nation, it could never be forgotten thal her influence was once great and salutary, and it would be again. She possesses material which, under botter appliances than what now existed, would yet make its due contributioii to the glory of the Republic ; and when the bright day should come then, he repeated it, would this bc turned hastily over, as a defaceil leaf in her history. The gentleman rememberod the inscnption w ritten on the monument of Moliere, who had failed, by one or two voles, of admission into the Frenen Academy. On his dealh, the Academy decreed liirn a monument in th-'ir own hall, on which, bv their order, this was written : Ríen ne manquail a sa glorie ; il manquait a unotrie." - " Nothing was wanting to his glory; he was wanting to ours." S. i it might be said of this proceeding of the Senate of t ginia : her condolencc was not wanting to the glory of Mr. Adams; but a duc expression of rcrct at his loss was wanting to hers. Mr. P. would tiot; speak in a disrcspectfiil toni of ar.y gentleman in tiie House, nor du] hc know who it was that had drauglited tliis rcsolution ; hut, to spcak the realtnith, he did not kn nv what it mcant. If anybody knew what "consolidating the principies of liberty" meant and that the 'French had done it, he knew more than Mr. P., which, to be sure, was notsaying much. [A laugh.] Tho language was Prench, and sadly modern French, too. No such French oould be got out of the pages ofVokaire. It was the French of Cousin and ihat scliool. For aught he knew, the phrase in question might have been drawn from Borne of the speeches or papers of Lamortine.in wliosc proclamations and harangues, whilothere weremany very good things, there we re otliers, like those ofarnnch grealer character, "soir.e thinga hard to be understood." Tho French lovcd a brilliant sa'ing, as weil as anybody ; and they might be grutified by the enthusiastic sympathy which our resolutions were intended to express. But they were a people of tnste ; they broke a keen lash, and had as keen a sense of the ridicnlojs ; and Mr. P. confossed he should not like to be present when this resolution should be rea in the French Legislative Hal!, for ho verily believed it would excito such merriment as would be littla fiattering to our national vanity. Hu hoped, for the sake of our own good taste and exactness, that the resolutioi, would be reconsidered and amended.