by the
quashing of these petitions on their very introduction to this
House. With my whole heart I accord in the view of the subject taken
some time since by an honorable gentleman from New York, (Mr. HUNT,)
and which I know is taken by one of the wisest and most trusted of
the statesmen of Virginia, now a member of the other branch of
Congress. If there be any plausible reason for supposing that we
have the right to legislate on the slave interests of the District,
you cannot put down the investigation of the subject out of doors,
by refusing to receive petitions. On the contrary, you give the
petitioners new force and efficiency, by giving them a new cause of
complaint and of excitement. Nor do you attain any thing, so far as
this House is concerned; for, by shutting out petitions, you do not
shut out debate; any member of the House can bring on debate any
day, by moving some general resolution applicable to the subject. On
the other hand, if it be so certain that Congress have no power in
this matter, or having power, ought not to exercise it, then let the
House establish those points in the usual way, by a deliberate
report, elaborated in the closet, by a committee of the ablest men
upon this floor, and considerately adopted by the House. The
argument by which this course is withstood, goes upon a false
assumption. It assumes for granted, that the People of the United
States are not to be reasoned with; that their opinions can be put
down by bold and broad assertions at this or the other end of the
Capitol; and that they are not to be trusted with the facts and law
of the case. Here, again, as I conceive, gentlemen forget that this
government is a republican one, resting exclusively in the
intelligence and virtue of the People. I, for one, am willing they
should look into any of the clauses of the Constitution, and be
fully informed of the merits of every question arising under it,
never doubting that, in the end, their decision upon it will be
just, true, and patriotic. Or is it that gentlemen are afraid to
meet a proper scrutiny of the subject? Do they shrink from a fair
and full examination of its merits or demerits?

Sir, allusion has been made, in an early stage of this debate, to
the history of the excitement which once pervaded a considerable
part of the country, in reference to the transportation of the mails
on the Lord's day. It is undoubtedly a pregnant case, directly in
point. But I have another case,