John Quincy Adams Digital Diary

313

14. III:30. Thursday

Feuchtwanger Lewis

Dr Feuchtwanger came again this morning. I told him that his memorial had been referred to the Committee of Ways and Means, and advised him to see and converse with the Chairman and members of the Committee concerning it. I called at the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury, and left with him the papers delivered to me for that purpose by Mr Russell Freeman— They were recommendations for 314for his restoration to the Office of Collector of the Port of New-Bedford, which he held in my time, but which President Jackson gave to Lemuel Williams— Mr Woodbury told me that Mr Williams had recently signified his wish to be re-appointed— As I came out from the Secretary’s chamber, I saw in the Anti-chamber Mr Charles J. Ingersoll, now a Sychophant of Van Buren, as he was late a sycophant of Jackson who turned him out of the Office of District Attorney at Philadelphia, and a demagogue of the school of Clodius and Vatinius— Those three brothers, sons of Jared Ingersoll are all men of fine talents, and of no moral principle— Edward has absconded from the eye of honest Society, for detected forgery— Joseph came into the last Congress as worthy of being the successor of Horace Binney, and went out of it the tool of Waddy Thompson, and the scorn of every freeman in the House— Charles has spent his life in hoarding riches screwed by extortion from the poor, and in boxing his political compass to every change of the wind— Federalist, Democrat, Tory, Jacobin, Tariffite, Bankite, Anti-tariff, Anti-Bank, black, white, gray, any colour any shape that the interest, and the popular breath of the moment required, but always under every shape and colour a rapacious extortioner, and an unblushing Sycophant. His talents, with his sycophancy keep him above water, in spite of an universal distrust of his integrity— Parties want him to do their dirty work, and they at once sustain and despise him. There are many such characters in this free republic. He is knight of the shire and represents them all— He was wanted by Van Buren, for his financier in the house, and there was a hard struggle to bring him in for the third District of Pennsylvania— Charles Naylor carried the election against him, and Ingersoll has trumped up a memorial from the district, to have the election set aside— But the Committee of Elections seem to think the chance of an election now would be worse than it was before, and they have not yet acted on the memorial.— H.R.U.S. I presented the Petition of Sherlock S. Gregory of Sandlake, Rensselaer County, New-York for an act of Congress declaring him an alien or stranger in the land, so long as Slavery exists, and the wrongs of the Indians are unrequited and unrepented of— The Petition lies on the table, but together with two or three remarks which I made on presenting it, it roused the wrath of Cushman of New-Hampshire, the man of previous questions, moved a resolution “that the operation of the 16th. rule of the House, in relation to the call of the States for presentation of Petitions be suspended during the present Session of Congress.” I saw his drift and immediately assailed his resolution as an attempt to abridge the right of petition. Tillinghast and Mercer came also to the rescue— Cushman was so confounded that he knew not what to say— Polk the Speaker, said he probably meant only to suspend the call of the States, and not the presentation of Petitions, and advised him to modify his Resolution accordingly. I objected to that—observing that it totally changed the character of the Resolution— I insisted upon the preservation of the form— The call of the States, and demanded the yeas and nays— Cushman was at his wits end— He said he was the last man in the world to abridge the right of petition—he was interrupted by calls from his own party to withdraw his Resolution, and awkwardly did withdraw it— Garland of Virginia, offered three Resolutions of Call upon the Secretary of the Treasury which were adopted; and the House 315House took up the Report of the Committee of revisal of the rules. All the amendments proposed by the select Committee of the last Congress were now again reported, excepting one; which was that the previous question shall be applicable to pending amendments as well as to the primitive proposition to which they are appended— I had not originally proposed this amendment; but it was perhaps the most important to the freedom of debate of any reported by the former Committee but Hamer of Ohio, sly as a quaker, and sour as a presbyterian had got upon the Committee of the present Session, and prevailed on a majority of them to strike it out. I moved to restore it as an amendment; upon which a warm debate of two hours terminated in a vote of 106 to 102 by yeas and nays upon my amendment.— This was a strict party vote, and may be considered as shewing the administration party majority—in the House— Hamer had also contrived to introduce two other amendments into the present report of the Committee—one that after the call for the previous question, all questions of order shall be decided without debate— The Speaker, contrary to all precedent had decided at the last Session, that this was already the rule and had been sustained by the party drill in the House; but Hamer to make assurance doubly sure now got this Committee to propose it as an amendment of the Rules; and carried it notwithstanding the vehement opposition of Patton—but Hamer lost in the House another of his proposed amendments; which was to revoke the 107th rule, which requires a day’s notice, and a vote of two thirds to revoke or alter any of the standing rules— Hamer and Smith of Maine laboured very hard to carry this point, though I warned them that their majority was slipping out of their hands, and that their new screws would be turned against themselves— The House adjourned without taking the question— Evening weary.