From the “Speech on the Right of Petition.”

=_78._= THE RIGHT OF PETITION UNIVERSAL.

Sir, it is well known, that, from the time I entered this House, down to the present day, I have felt it a sacred duty to present any petition, couched in respectful language, from any citizen of the United States, be its object what it may; be the prayer of it that in which I could concur, or that to which I was utterly opposed.  It is for the sacred right of petition that I have adopted this course....  Where is your law which says that the mean, and the low, and the degraded, shall be deprived of the right of petition, if their moral character is not good?  Where, in the land of freemen, was the right of petition ever placed on the exclusive basis of morality and virtue?  Petition is supplication—­it is entreaty—­it is prayer! And where is the degree of vice or immorality which shall deprive the citizen of the right to supplicate for a boon, or to pray for mercy! Where is such a law to be found?...  And what does your law say?  Does it say that, before presenting a petition, you shall look into it, and see whether it comes from the virtuous, and the great, and the mighty.  No, sir; it says no such thing.  The right of petition belongs to all.  And so far from refusing to present a petition because it might come from those low in the estimation of the world, it, would be an additional incentive, if such incentive were wanting.

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From a “Discourse on the Jubilee of the Constitution.”

=_79._= THE ADMINISTRATION OF WASHINGTON.

When Solon, by the appointment of the people of Athens, had formed, and prevailed upon them to adopt a code of fundamental laws, the best that they would bear, he went into voluntary banishment for ten years, to save his system from the batteries of rival statesmen working upon popular passions and prejudices excited against his person.  In eight years of a turbulent and tempestuous administration, Washington had settled upon firm foundations the practical execution of the Constitution of the United States.  In the midst of the most appalling obstacles, through the bitterest internal dissensions, and the most formidable combinations of foreign antipathies and cavils, he had subdued all opposition to the Constitution itself; had averted all dangers of European war; had redeemed the captive children of his country from Algiers; had reduced by chastisement, and conciliated by kindness, the most hostile of the Indian tribes; had restored the credit of the nation, and redeemed their reputation of fidelity to the performance of their obligations; had provided for the total extinguishment of the public debt; had settled the union upon the immovable foundation of principle; and had drawn around his head, for the admiration and emulation of after times, a brighter blaze of glory than had ever encircled the brows of hero or statesman, patriot or sage.