HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES-233 Members.

LINN BOYD, KY., Speaker.

1 Louis St. Martin, [SR] 1 John G. Floyd, 2 J. Aristide Landry, 2 Obadiah Boune,

JOHN W. FORNEY, PA., Clerk.
3 Emanuel B. Hart,

4 J. H. Hobart Haws,

5 George Briggs,
6 James Brooks,

12 Galusha A. Grow, Utah-John M.Bernhisel [Whigs in Italics, 88; Opposition in Roman, 140; Distinctive Free Soilers in SMALL CAPS, 5-Total, 233. There are also four Delegates from Territories, who can speak, but not vote. The figures prefixed to the names indicate the Congressional Districts. * Members of the XXXIst Congress. † Seats contested. Ú. Union. S. R. Southern Rights.

States. W.Op.

6 Maryland..... 4 2 New Jersey.......1 4 South Carolina.....

8 Massachusetts......9 1 New York........17 17 Tennessee.. 2 Michigan.. ..2 1 North Carolina...6 3 Texas.. Connecticut.. ..1 3 Kentucky.. ..5 5 Mississippi. 4 Ohio.... ..11 10 Vermont... Delaware 1 Louisiana.. 2 Pennsylvania......9 15 Virginia... Florida......... 1

5 New Hampshire..2 2 Rhode Island......1 Wisconsin. Georgia. .2 6 In the above classification, Messrs. Mann and Allen, of Massachusetts, Giddings, of Ohio, aud Tuck, of New Hampshire, are placed in the Whig column, and Durkee, of Wisconsin, in theOpposition. Union and Southern Rights members are classed according to former politics.

CONSTRUCTIVE MILEAGE.

Senators.

In 1841, a single Senator of the United States | Whereupon twenty-five Senators who had not was, for the first time, allowed Mileage for a traveled the journey for which this allowance was made, nevertheless took the money, viz. :journey he was known not to have made. George Evans had been a Member of the House for Miles. Mileage. David R. Atchison, Mo....... 4,240 several years preceding the 4th of March, 1841, Solon Borland, Ark. when he took his seat in the Senate then conJeremiah Clemens, Ala. James Cooper, Penn. vened to act on General Harrison's appointments on his inauguration, and was allowed Mileage as if he had come from Maine on purpose. The subject does not seem to have attracted any public attention. John Tyler was Vice-President, and probably certified that the accounts of the several Senators were correct.

In March, 1845, a new Senate was in like manner convened, on Mr. Polk's accession; and, for the first time, a general allowance of Constructive Mileage was made, G. M. Dallas being now VicePresident, and officially passing the accounts, which were made out by Mr. Dickens, the Secretary of the Senate. About half the Senators thus liberally compensated for a journey they had not performed refused their several quotas, though two or three of these afterward relented, and took the money. The amount of Mileage thus allowed for journeys never made was some Forty Thousand Dollars.

In March, 1849, there was another Called Session of the Senate, on the occasion of General Taylor's accession; and the accounts of Senators for their attendance on that Session were again made out as before. Mr. Fillmore had now become Vice-President, and his opinion as to the justice and legality of this 'Constructive' allowance was informally sought, and freely given. It was adverse to the whole job. In consequence of this, the accounts were not officially presented to him for approval, but held back until he had vacated the Chair of the Senate, to enable that body to choose a President pro tem, as is its uniform custom. Mr. Atchison, of Missouri, was thus chosen, and by him the accounts were passed as made up, Constructive Mileage included, Mr. Atchison's individual share thereof being $1,696.

At the close of the regular Session of 1850,-'1, another Extra Session of the Senate was found necessary and called, for the dispatch of Executive business, laid over at the regular Session for want of time. Meantime, a provision of law had been passed, cutting off Constructive Mileage in future; but so worded as not to prevent the allowance of such Mileage at this Session. The accounts were made up by Mr. Dickens, as before, Col. King, of Ala., being now President pro tem., and he, though he did not take the allowance himself, enabled others to do so by the following certificate:

"WASHINGTON, March 13, 1851.
"I certify that the compensation allowed by the
foregoing schedule, to Senators of the United
States, is according to law.

"WILLIAM R. KING,
"President of the Senate, pro tempore."

$1,696.00

4,520

1,868.00

2,600

1,040.00

460

184.00

Augustus C. Dodge, Iowa

3,600

1.410.00

Henry Dodge, Wisc.

3,960

1,584.00

Stephen A. Douglas, Ill.

2,710

1.084.00

Solomon W. Downs, Lou.... 5,600

2.240.00

Alpheus Felch, Mich.

Henry S. Foote, Miss..

William M. Gwin, Cal.......10.020

4,008.00

JOHN P. HALE, N.H...

Hannibal Hamlin, Me...... 1,476

590.40

Whigs, in Italics, three; Free Soil Independent (Hale), one. Total received by all these, $2,493.60. The twenty-one remaining are called Democrats, though between R. Barnwell Rhett and Pierre Soulé on the one hand, and Hannibal Hamlin and Isaac P. Walker on the other, there can not be any very thorough coincidence of opinion. The aggregate amount received by these twenty-one is $33,226.20.

Twenty-four Senators, who also held over, did and we trust have for ever rejected it. not accept this Constructive Mileage at the time Their names and the amounts offered them are as

WHY I AM A WHIG.

REPLY TO AN INQUIRING FRIEND.

MY DEAR P—, of Order, and reäffirm the sacred majesty of You have been pleased to express your Law. Anarchy or mob-rule is the worst of surprise that I, whom you consider in other despotisms,-it is the rule of thousands of respects Liberal and Progressive, should yet savage tyrants instead of one-it is the carsympathize and act with the American Whig nival of unbridled lust, brutality, and ruffianparty rather than its great antagonist. The ism. As an escape from this, the governtime and place chosen for this expression ments even of Egypt or Naples would be precluded an immediate and circumstantial joyfully accepted by all who prefer to walk reply; you will excuse, therefore, the medium in the quiet paths of industry and virtue. and method of my answer. I hope to be able to present to your mind, or at least to the minds of others less prejudiced against my conclusions, some considerations hitherto overlooked, or inadequately weighed and regarded. May I not fairly claim of you a patient and, if possible, a candid hearing?

the Macedonian's admonition-' Remember, Philip, thou art mortal!' They, too, are subject to the illusion of false glory. They are often impelled to kill or to enslave their neighbors under the pretense of liberating them; they are in danger of mistaking the promptings of ambition or covetousness for those of philanthropy or destiny. Nowhere is there greater need of Conservatism than in a young, powerful, and martial Republic.

Now republics have their peculiar perils no less than monarchies, and they, though diverse, are not unrelated. What the sycophant, the courtier, is to the Sovereign Prince, the demagogue is to the Sovereign People. The maxim that 'The King can do no wrong' is as mischievous in a free state as in any Two grand and fruitful ideas attract and other. Nations, as well as kings, have their divide the political world. On the one hand weaknesses, their vices, their temptations; Liberty, on the other Order, is the watchword they, too, need to be frequently reminded of of a mighty host, impatient of resistance and eager for universal dominion. Each has had its reign-nay, its reigns-of terror; and the butcheries of Catiline and Marius, of Marat and Robespierre, have been fully paralleled by those of Alva and Claverhouse, of Suwar row and Haynau. An infinity of cruelty and crime has been perpetrated in the abused name of Order, and hardly less in that equally abused of Liberty. But neither of these suffices without the other. Each is indis- It was by no accident, or fortuitous concurpensable to general contentment, prosperity, rence of events, therefore, that Washington, and happiness. No good is secure in the Knox, Hamilton, and the great majority of absence of either. If without Liberty human those who had battled bravely and persever existence is bitter and irksome, without ingly for American Independence during the Order it is precarious and beset with con- Revolution, became afterward the founders stant perils. Few men will clear, and plant, and champions of the more conservative and and build, without a reasonable assurance less popular party under the Federal Constithat they shall likewise reap, and inhabit, tution. When the country needed defense and enjoy. For Liberty, a nation wisely against foreign tyranny, and again when it and nobly discards present tranquillity, thrift, required guidance through the perils of doand peace, just as it welcomes the tempest mestic anarchy, they were found at the post and the thunderbolt rather than endure eter- of danger and of duty. That they committed nal drouth and consequent sterility, but, errors in either case is quite probable; but having achieved Freedom, it finds itself the patriotic instinct which summoned them to compelled to rebuild the shattered bulwarks the defense of enfeebled Order was identical

with that which had previously called them affixed to the other. This vast dead-weight to battle under the flag of Liberty.

fastened in one scale naturally attracts thither And while it is quite possible to err on the a large class of young lawyers and other asside of Order as well as that of Liberty, the pirants who are more anxious to be on the tendency, the temptation, in a Democracy winning than on the right side, and whose like ours, is almost wholly on the side of the gaze is fascinated and fixed by the prospect latter. Where the king is 'the fountain of of judgeships, seats in the legislature, &c., honor,' the self-seeker flatters and panders to &c. Thus the party termed Democratic the monarch; where the People are the commences a struggle for ascendency with source of power, the courtier becomes a dem- nearly or quite one-third of the votes attached agogue, and labors to ingratiate himself to its standard, not by any enlightened, unprewith that active, daring, reckless minority. judiced judgment that the Country will be who habitually attend political gatherings, benefited by its success, but by considerations give tone to the public sentiment of bar-rooms, quite foreign to this; whilst its antagonist always vote and solicit votes at elections, obtains few or no votes but those of reading direct the most efficient party machinery, and or thinking men, who, judging from exthus virtually stand for what they assume to be perience, and the doctrines propounded and -the People. The danger of erring lies inev-measures promoted on either side, earitably on the same side with the temptation. nestly believe the ascendency of that selfStrictly speaking, there is but one organized, styled Democratic party fraught with evil disciplined party in our country-that which to the nation. And yet, in spite of its imassumes to be the champion and embodiment mense advantages aside from the merits of of Democracy. This party enjoys certain the case, in spite also of the prestige of forvast advantages in a contest over any which mer triumphs, almost unbroken, that Democan be mustered against it. In the first place, cratic party has been beaten in two of the it has the more popular name-one which the three last Presidential elections, and barely most ignorant comprehends, in which the succeeded in the other. Could such have most depressed finds promise of hope and been the fact, if its distinctive principles and sympathy, and which the humble and lowly practices had not been decidedly adverse to immigrant, just landed from his Atlantic the plain requirements of the public weal? voyage, recognises as the watchword of Let me here briefly indicate, according to

liberty in the beloved land whence he is for my understanding of the facts, what those liberty's sake, an exile. Of course he rallies distinctive characteristics are :— under the flag so invitingly inscribed, and 1. The party styling itself Democratic is, suffers his prejudices to be enlisted on behalf as regards Foreign Powers, the more belligeof one party before he knows wherein and rent and aggressive party. It takes delight why it differs from the other. Not one- in shaking its fists in the face of mankind fourth of our voters of European birth ever in general. It made all the foreign wars in primarily considered the claims of the two which our country has been involved since parties respectively to their support, and her independence was acknowledged. In its gave an impartial judgment between them. secret councils the wresting of Texas from They were never fairly in a position to do so. Mexico, and her annexation to this country, Here are half a million votes to begin with were plotted. There the Mexican war was secured to the self-styled Democracy by precipitated by the absurd claim that Texas their name, and there are at least as many extended to the Rio Grande del Norte, and natives of our soil who vote 'the regular by sending General Taylor down to take ticket' because of its name, and would at post in the very heart of a Mexican departleast as heartily support Protection to Home ment, under the guns of its capital. In those Labor, River and Harbor Improvements, &c., councils peace was refused to Mexico after as they now oppose them, if the democratic she had been beaten into a concession of the label were taken from the one side, and Rio Grande boundary, unless she would

further consent to sell us for money vast to last partisan 'Democracy' has steadily areas of territory which it was not even evinced a disposition to bully other nations for pretended that she owed us, which, by offer- the payment of doubtful debts, while refusing ing her fifteen millions therefor, our rulers on frivolous pretexts to pay indisputable debts plainly confessed that we had no just claim of our own. to. In those councils were plotted the several No reproach has been more commonly apinvasions of Cuba, under the pretense that plied to the Whig party by its enemies than her inhabitants pined for deliverance from that of being a 'peace party,' and of 'taking Spanish ascendency-a pretense thoroughly the side of the enemy,' and nothing could be exploded by the event. Thence originated said, which, rightly regarded, redounds more the mob-gatherings in our cities, to raise men to its praise. It is easy and popular, in case and money in aid of Lopez; thence also the of international disputes, to take extreme shameful riots in New Orleans, wherein the ground, to insist on all the points which favor property of peaceful and harmless Spanish our own country and slur over those which residents was destroyed, their safety en- make for its antagonist-easy to rouse the dangered, and their consul barely saved from dogs of war, and cry havoc amidst the shouts a violent death by taking refuge in a prison. of excited and admiring multitudes. But to For these shameful outrages Democracy had urge that there is another side to the picture, never a word of regret, though it was eager which also demands consideration-that men enough to drive our government into hostile are not necessarily demons because they demonstrations against Spain, because her live across a river, or speak a different lanwar-steamer had compelled our Falcon to guage from ourselves-that we have not only heave to and satisfy them that she was not endured wrong but done wrong, and that the engaged in landing invaders on the Cuban claims put forth on our behalf are beyond coast. This harmless act of maritime police, the measure of justice,-this is not the way to which no captain of a war-steamer, under win huzzas nor elections, yet it is the course like circumstances, would have been justified often dictated by duty and genuine patriotism. in omitting, and which none who carried the Honor, then, to that party which has repeatAmerican flag would ever have thought of edly dared to stem the mad torrent of reomitting, had Spaniards been the invaders venge and lust of conquest, and to receive and our coast the scene of action, has been into its own bosom the darts aimed at foreign trumpeted through the land as a wanton and Peoples, States, and Nations, and calculated lawless aggression, for which the fullest reparation should be exacted, and which our Whig Cabinet evinced great pusillanimity in not promptly resenting. This is a fair sample of the spirit by which that party is animated. Nearly twenty years ago, it threatened France with war, in case the money she owed our merchants for spoliations committed under her flag, since 1800, were not promptly paid; though an equal amount due our merchants for French spoliations before 1800, and which our government for a valuable consideration, by it received, had promised a half party which dares entrench itself across the century since to discharge, though often petitioned for, then remained unpaid, and still remains so, one bill providing for its payment having been vetoed by a 'Democratic' Pres ident, and another defeated in the House by a 'Democratic' opposition. And so from first

to stir up revengeful passions in their breasts in turn! Blessed are the peacemakers,' and blessed also are they who for half a century have stood forth the unshrinking antagonists of Aggression and War! 'We are a landstealing race!' was once exultingly propounded in Tammany Hall, by a chief actor in the theft of Texas, who is now a formidable aspirant for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency. With our covetous, aggressive propensities thus broadly proclaimed, who shall say that credit is not due to that

path of national rapacity, and receive the first charge of the headlong host upon its own thinned ranks, rather than permit it to pour itself unchecked across the inviting posses. sions of our neighbors ?

- Opposed to the instinct of boundless