- Beck Hannah
- Murdock James—
- Cushing Caleb—
Mrs.
Beck was here with a Petition for a Pension was a daughter
one of the Pensioners of the Revolutionary War— But no Petitions were
received by the House where immediately after the reading of the Journal
Tibbats of Kentucky moved the
suspension of the order of the day to introduce notices of Bills. Bills,
and Resolutions of Instructions to Committees on taking the Question
there was no quorum in the House to vote upon the motion. A Call of the
House was moved and refused the appointment of a Superintendant of the
Folding Room was resumed Preston
King had moved last Friday that the whole subject should
be referred to the Committee on Accounts with instructions to Report
what effect the proposed change would have on the expenses of the House
and the convenience of its Members— The Previous Question was moved and
refused Thomas Smith moved to
lay the whole subject on the Table rejected by yeas and nays, 68. to
76—the referrence to the Committee on Accounts, was rejected by Tellers
35759. to 82. McKay moved the referrence to a
select Committee and in the mean time to postpone the election of the
superintendant which after a long Debate and various instructions to the
Committee was carried— A message was received from the President relating to the expenditures of
the late mission to China—a joint Resolution respecting the preparation
of the by anr. James
H Murdock who some time since had requested my Autograph
for nine ladies of Connecticut and Georgia called and I delivered them
to him—these Ladies were.
- Miss Mary A Hanson— Md Miss Catharine Burbank Hartford Connecticut—
- M
rs.James A. Ayrault, Hartford Connecticut - Miss Julia Burbank Hartford Connecticut—
- Miss Jane Grey Burbank Georgia
- Miss Ellen Murdock— Maryland
- Miss Maria T Boardman Macon Georgia
- M
rs.James H. Murdock Washington City - Miss Mary Elizabeth Jones Chestertown Maryland—
Mr. Caleb
Cushing was also here—and had much conversation with me He
said he was here only for two or three days upon some business of his
own the nature of which he did not tell me— He said that we were coming
again to the times of the Panama Mission which I told him I did not
understand— He made inquires concerning the right of Intervention and
whether according to International Law Blockades could be instituted
unless between Parties are War— I supposed he had referrence to a
Blockade of the Platte river said to have been proclaimed jointly by a
French and British Squadron off Montevideo—and I conjectured that there
was some question in our present Executive Administration—depending at
the present time—and that Mr. Cushing was
under an expectation of a Diplomatic Mission connected therewith— We had
also some desultary conversation respecting his late Mission to China— I
mentioned the Lecture which I delivered in 1842. at Boston—358concerning the War then existing between Great Britain
and China in which I had avowed the opinion that in that War the right
was on the side of Great Britain— That after his return from China I had
heard that he in a Lecture delivered at Boston had expressed an opinion
adverse to mine but was afterwards told, that he had contradicted this
Statement—he said it was so that on reading my Lecture he had procured
the papers laid before the British Parliament upon which my opinion had
been formed and that he fully concurred with it— I asked him some
questions respecting the Religion of the Chineese and their system of
morals and whether among them there were any Mahometans he said there
were some Mahometans among the Tartars—but of the Chinees there was very
little religion excepting Confucianism. I observed that there were
differences of international Law between nations modified by their
systems of Religion that between Christian nations there was one system
founded upon the fundamental Moral Principle of Christianity brotherly
Love among men, there was another system between Christian and Mahometan
nations modified by the Mahometan Principle the Unity of God and the
creed that Mahomet is his Prophet with the further doctrine that this
Creed may be imposed upon the rest of mankind by force—that there was
still another system with the Chinees, and I asked what was the
fundamental principle of morals with them? he said it was the relation
of authority and obedience, between Parent and Child, he said also that
the words of Jesus upon the Cross “Father forgive them for they know not
what they do” were to the very letter in the Cyropædia of Zenophon and he intimated that the
Christian Doctrine was fully comprised in the discourses of Socrates—which I think is not quite
correct—