Constitutional Whig

CONGRESS.

WASHINGTON, January 28, 1831.

IN SENATE.

A message in writing was received from the President of the United States, by A. J. Donelson, Esq. his Secretary.

The resolution submitted by Mr. Clayton, to authorize the committee appointed to examine the present condition of the Post Office Department, to send for persons and papers, was considered and adopted.

The bills to authorize the President to build three additional schooners for the naval service; to amend the act for encouraging the cultivation of the vine and the olive; and for the relief of James Sprague; were severally read a third time and passed.

The bill to amend the several acts respecting copyrights; the bill for the relief of Major Riley, Lieutenants Brook and Scrawright; the bill to extend the time for completing the fifth census; and the bill for issuing letters patent to John Powell, were ordered to be engrossed for a third reading.

TRIAL OF JUDGE PECK.

On motion of Mr. Foot, the Senate again resolved itself into a High Court of Impeachment.

Mr. Wirt, with permission, explained a remark which he was understood to have made towards the conclusion of his argument in favor of the respondent.

Mr. Buchanan then rose, and addressed the Court in a very able and eloquent argument in support of the impeachment. He declared, that the usurpation of an authority not legally possessed by a Judge; the manifest abuse of a power really given, was misbehavior in the sense of the Constitution, for which he should be dismissed from office. He contended, that the conduct of Judge Peck, in the case of Mr. Lawless, was in express violation of the constitution and laws of the land; that the circumstances of that case were amply sufficient to show a criminal intention on his part in the summary punishment of Mr. Lawless; that, in order to prove the criminality of his intention, it was not necessary to demonstrate an actually malicious action, or a lurking revenge, that the infliction upon Mr. Lawless of a summary and cruel punishment, for having written an article decorous in its language, was itself sufficient to prove the badness of the motive; that the consequences of the Judge's actions were indicative of his intentions; that our Courts had no right to punish, as for contempt, in a summary mode, libels, even in pending causes; and that, if he succeeded, as he believed he should, in establishing these positions, he should consider that he had a right to demand the judgment of the Court against the respondent. The honorable manager continued to address the Court for three hours and a quarter; and finding that he could not conclude his argument at this sitting, the Court adjourned till to-morrow.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT.

Mr. Verplanck, from the Committee of Ways and Means, reported a bill "making appropriations for carrying on certain roads and works of Internal Improvements, and for surveys;" which was twice read and committed.

SURPLUS REVENUE.

Mr. Polk, from the Select Committee, to which was referred so much of the Message of the President of the United States, at the commencement of the Session, as relates to the distribution of the surplus revenue, made a report; which was ordered to lie on the table.

A motion was made to print 6,000 copies of the report: which motion lies one day on the table.

Mr. White, of New York, moved for the printing of 3,000 copies of the reports of the majority and minority, of the Committee on the Judiciary, relative to repealing the twenty-fifth section of the Judiciary law of 1789; which motion lies one day.

The Judiciary.

Mr. Lecompte submitted the following:

Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be instructed to inquire into the expediency of amending the Constitution of the United States, so that the Judges of the Supreme Court and of the inferior Courts shall hold their respective offices for a term of years.

Mr. Whittlesey demanded the question of consideration, and

Mr. Vance called for the Yeas and Nays on the question.

They were ordered by the House, and being taken, stood as follows:

YEAS—Messrs. Alexander, Allen, Alston, Angel, Baylor, Bell, James Blair, John Blair, Boon, Cambreleng, Carson, Chandler, Chilton, Claiborne, Conner, Crocheron, Warren R. Davis, Desha, De Witt, Earll, Findlay, Foster, Fry, Gordon, Hall, Halsey, Harvey, Haynes, Hinds, Thomas Irwin, Jarvis, Cave Johnson, Perkins King, Adam King, Lamar, Lea, Leavitt, Lecompte, Lewis, Lumpkin, McCreery, McCoy, Miller, Nuckolls, Pettis, Potter, Richardson, Roane, Scott, Shields, Standafer, Sterigere, Wiley Thompson, John Thomson, Tucker, Wayne, Weeks, Wickliffe, Yancey—61.

NAYS—Messrs. Anderson, Archer, Armstrong, Arnold, Noyes Barber, John S. Barbour, Barnwell, Barringer, Bartley, Beekman, Bouldin, Broadhead, Brown, Burges, Butman, Cahoon, Clay, Condict, Cooper, Coulter, Cowls, Craig, Crane, Crawford, Crockett, Creighton, Crowninshield, Davenport, John Davis, Denny, Doddridge, Dorsey, Draper, Dayton, Duncan, Dwight, Eager, Ellsworth, George Evans, Joshua Evans, Edward Everett, Horace Everett, Finch, Forward, Gilmore, Gorham, Green, Gronzell, Hemphill, Hodges, Holland, Hoffman, Howard, Hughes, Hunt, Huntington, Ihre, Ingersoll, Johns, Kendall, Kennon, Kincaid, Leiper, Lent, Loyall, Mallary, Martindale, Martin, Thomas Maxwell, Lewis Maxwell, McDuffie, McIntire, Mitchell, Monell, Muhlenberg, Norton, Patton, Pierce, Pierson, Polk, Ramsay, Reed, Rose, Russell, Sanford, Wm. B. Shepard, Aug. H. Sheppard, Sill, Smith, Speight, Ambrose Spencer, Richard Spencer, Stanberry, H. R. Storrs, Strong, Sutherland, Swann, Swift, Taylor, Test, Trezvant, Vance, Varnum, Verplanck, Vinton, Washington, Whittlesey, C. P. White, E. D. White, Wilde, Williams, Wilson, Wingate, Young—115.

Expenses of the Impeachment.

Mr. Ellsworth stated that the Witnesses attending on the trial of Judge Peck could not be discharged until they were paid. It was highly necessary, therefore, that the House should act upon the bill which he had reported this morning, and he moved to suspend the consideration of any other business on the table, for the purpose of taking up the bill to which he referred.

The motion was agreed to, and the House went into Committee of the Whole, Mr. Dwight in the Chair, and took up the bill "making provision for the compensation of the witnesses and other expenses attending the trial of Judge Peck," together with the amendments reported by the Committee on the Judiciary.

[The gross sum proposed to be appropriated by the Senate's bill, amounted to $12,000; by the proposed amendments that amount was increased to $13,500.]

Mr. Polk said, the bill provided for the compensation of the witnesses, both on the part of the United States and the respondent. In all State prosecutions the defendant always paid his own witnesses, and he thought the United States would do enough to compensate the witnesses on the part of the prosecution. He requested information as to what had been the usage in former cases of impeachment under this Government.

Mr. Ellsworth replied, that in the case of Judge Chase, the United States had paid the witnesses on both sides. He was not positive as to the other cases. He would presume that it would tend to the utter ruin of any individual brought before the Senate of the United States for trial, if he were to be compelled to compensate his own witnesses.
It was right and proper that the Government should pay all the witnesses attending trials of impeachments; and whether Judge Peck should or should not be cleared, it was obvious, that if he were to be compelled to pay his witnesses, he was a ruined man.
Mr. Carson was in favor of the bill as proposed to be amended. He remarked, that if a precedent was now established, that the United States were not to pay witnesses on behalf of the persons accused in trials of impeachment, no future prosecution would take place, however aggravated might be the offence committed. No man would undertake it. There was no analogy between the ordinary trials in the States and a trial in the Senate of the United States. In the latter, witnesses had generally to be brought from a distance, often very great, as in the present case, and their detention here was both long and expensive.
What possible chance was there, he would ask, that an individual could clear himself of an alleged crime, if he was obliged to pay his own witnesses? No man could clear himself for no man could afford the expense. In his opinion, for the United States to refuse to pay witnesses in trials of the kind referred to, would amount to a positive denial of justice, &c.
The question was now demanded; and, being put on the amendments offered by the Judiciary Committee, they were agreed to.
The Committee then rose, and reported the bill as amended; the amendments were agreed to; and the bill ordered to be read a third time to-morrow.
JUDGE PECK.
The hour of 12 having arrived, the House, on motion of Mr. Irwin, of Ohio, again resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole, Mr. Martin in the Chair, and proceeded to the Senate to attend, before the High Court of Impeachment, the trial of Judge Peck.
Having returned, and reported progress,
The Speaker laid before the House a communication from the Secretary of War, in pursuance of a recent resolution of Congress, relative to the military academy; which was laid on the table.
The Speaker also laid before the House a letter from the Secretary of War, transmitting 250 printed copies of the Army Register, which letter was laid on the table.
The House then adjourned till 11 o'clock to morrow.