Other scenes of a still more exciting character soon occurred.

On the 7th of February, 1837, after Mr. Adams had offered some two hundred or more abolition petitions, he came to a halt; and, without yielding the floor, employed himself in packing up his budget.  He was about resuming his seat, when he took up a paper, and hastily glancing at it, exclaimed, in a shrill tone—­

“Mr. Speaker, I have in my possession a petition of a somewhat extraordinary character; and I wish to inquire of the chair if it be in order to present it.”

“If the gentleman from Massachusetts,” said the Speaker, “will inform the chair what the character of the petition is, it will probably be able to decide on the subject.”

“Sir,” ejaculated Mr. Adams, “the petition is signed by eleven slaves of the town of Fredericksburgh, in the county of Culpepper, in the state of Virginia.  It is one of those petitions which, it has occurred to my mind, are not what they purport to be.  It is signed partly by persons who cannot write, by making their marks, and partly by persons whose handwriting would manifest that they have received the education of slaves.  The petition declares itself to be from slaves, and I am requested to present it.  I will send it to the chair.”

The Speaker (Mr. Polk,) who habitually extended to Mr. Adams every courtesy and kindness imaginable, was taken by surprise, and found himself involved in a dilemma.  Giving his chair one of those hitches which ever denoted his excitement, he said that a petition from slaves was a novelty, and involved a question that he did not feel called upon to decide.  He would like to take time to consider it; and, in the meantime, would refer it to the House.

The House was very thin at the time, and little attention was paid to what was going on, till the excitement of the Speaker attracted the attention of Mr. Dixon H. Lewis, of Alabama, who impatiently, and under great excitement, rose and inquired what the petition was.

Mr. Speaker afforded the required information.  Mr. Lewis, forgetting all discretion, whilst he frothed at the mouth, turned towards Mr. Adams, and ejaculated at the top of his voice, “By G-d, sir, this is not to be endured any longer!”

“Treason! treason!” screamed a half dozen other members.  “Expel the old scoundrel; put him out; do not let him disgrace the House any longer!”

“Get up a resolution to meet the case,” exclaimed a member from North Carolina.

Mr. George C. Dromgoole, who had acquired a very favorable reputation as a parliamentarian, was selected as the very man who, of all others, was most capable of drawing up a resolution that would meet and cover the emergency.  He produced a resolution with a preamble, in which it was stated, substantially, that, whereas the Hon. John Quincy Adams, a representative from Massachusetts, had presented to the House of Representatives a petition signed by negro slaves, thus “giving color to an idea” that bondmen were capable of exercising the right of petition, it was “Resolved, That he be taken to the bar of the House, and be censured by the Speaker thereof.”