them. The Secretary, he would neither excuse nor condemn at present, but he would desire that the record should stand complete, as, in one form or another, they would furnish proper ground for examination, if not for cen

sure.

Finally, by an affirmative vote of 102, the noes were not counted, the original papers were ordered to be returned to the President.

On May 30, S. S. Prentiss took his seat as a member of the 25th Congress.

June 11, being "resolution day," Menefee offered the following resolution: "Resolved, That the President be requested to communicate to this House such information as he may possess relating to the alleged attack on the American steamboat Telegraph, in the British waters, waters, and to the alleged destruction of the British steamboat Sir Robert Peel, in the American waters; what measures, if any, have been adopted in consequence thereof; and, if not incompatible with the public interest, such correspondence, if any, as may have occurred betwen this Government and the British minister or Canadian authorities in relation thereto; and any information possessed by him concerning the concentration and movements of foreign troops on the northern or northeastern frontiers of the United States."

On June 14 the "bill to grant pre-emption rights to settlers on the public lands" was then taken up. This bill had been introduced some days previous. At the evening session of this day Mr. Underwood of Kentucky introduced a resolution suggesting that this bill be recom

mitted with certain instructions.

His motion

was warmly attacked and Mr. Sanson Mason of Ohio asked Mr. Underwood to withdraw his motion, which he declined to do.

Menefee then went at length into an argument against a prospective system of pre-emption rights, which he called a system of plunder to the injury and wrong of the old States, unless it could be properly restricted and guarded. His argument was generally in favor of the principle of Henry Clay's land bill.

Ratliffe Boon, of Indiana, replied to Menefee and said that he was not aware that the subject before before the House was Menefee's speech, but Underwood's proposition. Mr. Boon stated that he had always been opposed to Clay's land bill, so he was, of course, opposed to Menefee's speech.

When the vote on Underwood's proposition was taken, it was defeated by the vote of 123 to 79. All of the Kentucky representatives except John Pope and Sherrod Williams voted for their colleague's proposition.

The original pre-emption bill was finally passed and the House adjourned at a quarter past nine o'clock.

At the evening session of Saturday, June 16, the bill for the better security of the lives of passengers on board vessels propelled in whole or in part by steam, was taken up. Several amendments were offered to this bill and some of the members were not sure that Congress had anything to do with this kind of navigation. Menefee cited the opinion of Chief Justice John Marshall in the celebrated case of

Ogden vs. Gibbons, in support of those general views of the power of Congress over navigation, as an incident to commerce,' in which Marshall asserted the great constitutional doctrine of the power of the General Government to regulate commerce, and held that the word "commerce" in the Constitution comprehends "navigation." He also defended and sustained the applicability of this opinion of Justice Marshall in this case, to the question under consideration. The young Kentuckian was quoting the foremost constitutional lawyer that America has produced and the bill was finally passed.

On June 25 Menefee offered the following resolution, which was read: "Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress Assembled, That in compliance with the joint resolutions of the legislature of Kentucky of February 16, 1838, the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, directed to cause proper examination to be made by competent officers, of the town of Greenupsburg, and of the most important locks and dams now being erected. on the Kentucky, Licking, and Green Rivers, with a view to the selection of a site for the contemplated national foundry on the western waters; the location of which is hereby postponed until said examinations shall have been made."

Mr. David Peterkin of Pennsylvania thought Menefee's motion was a good one and moved to amend the resolution by adding at the end of it, the following: "Also to examine the

'Wheaton's 6, I.

waters of the Susquehanna River for the same purpose. Menefee asked Peterkin to make his motion more definite, and to confine the survey to some particular point on the river. Peterkin replied that it was his purpose to have a general survey of that river, and he could not consent to modify his amendment to meet Menefee's wishes. The House then took its usual recess until half past three o'clock.

On July 3 the House resumed the consideration of the Senate bill "to modify the last clause of the 5th section of the deposit act of June 23, 1836, and for other purposes.' George N. Briggs of Massachusetts moved that it be read at large. After the reading C. C. Cumbreling of New York explained its provisions and the necessity of the measure, called for by the existing circumstances of the State banks conflicting with the imperative restrictions of the deposit act of 1836.

Menefee replied to Cumbreling and quoted Mr. Wright's report to prove that the Secretary of the Treasury had the power to designate other depositories than those which had already been employed, in which opinion Menefee expressed his own concurrence, and went on at length to oppose the bill; the effect of which, he insisted, was to put the whole finances of the country within the arbitrary control of the Executive. After many corrections the amendment passed.

The first regular session of the 25th Congress adjourned July 9, 1838. It was one of the longest sessions of Congress that has ever been held.

CHAPTER VI

WEBSTER AND MENEFEE

Although physically worn out by the long session, Menefee, with Wise and Prentiss, accepted an invitation to address a great gathering of people at Havre de Grace, Maryland, a few days after Congress had adjourned. Wise made the first speech and he was followed by Menefee with "a brilliant speech," and Prentiss made the closing address. Prentiss began his speech with the wonderful words: "Fellow citizens: By the Father of Waters, at New Orleans, I have said 'fellow citizens.' On the banks of the beautiful Ohio I have said 'fellow citizens.' Now I say 'fellow citizens,' and a thousand miles beyond this, north, I can say 'fellow citizens.""" It was an initial note in a universal song of American brotherhood.

From Maryland, Menefee, with Prentiss, went to Boston, Massachusetts, where on July 24 he made the principal address at the great Faneuil Hall banquet in honor of Daniel Webster. Edward Everett was chairman of the meeting, and five thousand persons were in attendance. Everett made the address of welcome and he was followed by the guest of the meeting, Webster. S. S. Prentiss followed Webster, and then Menefee arose. It was the only time that the eloquent Kentuckian was ever in Boston, and then he was heard in the famous Faneuil Hall-the "Cradle of Ameri

1 Shields's Life of Prentiss