150 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



resist the tornado which impels it. Had the 

 proud Roman been asked whether his coun- 

 try's liberties would not be thrown away, he 

 would have replied indignantly : ' No ; they 

 are to be perpetual.' Yet the pretorian guards, 

 standing upon the ramparts of 'the Eternal 

 City,' ' with a loud voice proclaimed that the 

 Roman world was to be disposed of to the 

 best bidder by public auction,' and it was 

 done. Didius Julianus became the purchaser, 

 and was thereby made emperor, and mankind 

 were shocked to see the ' mistress of the 

 world ' bought, paid for, and controlled by the 

 money of one selfish, scheming, ambitious 

 man. The Appian Way now no longer re- 

 sounds with the shouts of victorious Roman 

 freemen, and the soft-voiced Italian has sung 

 his sad song in misery and chains in the ' City 

 of the Caesars.' 



" Had the Greek been asked how long his 

 freedom would last, he would have replied 

 with the same infatuation which seems to have 

 seized us, ' For ever ! ' And yet the matrons 

 who raised up sons for the state, and sent 

 them forth commanding them to ' return bear- 

 ing their shields or borne on them,' have been 

 succeeded by the groveling tenants of the 

 harem, and slavish degenerate sons have suc- 

 ceeded free and noble sires all over the land of 

 Leonidas and Lycurgus. Let us take warning 

 by their sad fate, and not permit ourselves to 

 be drifted into this focus of centralized des- 

 potism and destruction either by Congressional 

 mal-legislation or by judicial construction. 



Mr. Robinson, of Massachusetts : " We have 

 considered this one point thus far, how the 

 business of the court will be diminished by the 

 removal of this one provision from the act. Is 

 there a demand we shall go further? Is there 

 a demand that we shall have no United States 

 courts that shall adjudicate upon the rights of 

 parties, citizens of different States? I think 

 not. Events are so fresh and so powerful in 

 their instruction that it will not be found in 

 this House that it has a standing here, that we 

 are to dismiss the national power dismiss the 

 national courts and ignore their usefulness. 

 We want to maintain them. We are here to- 

 day with a Union more strongly cemented than 

 ever before, aud destined to be perpetual. That 

 Union is not by the agreement of the States, 

 but by the decree of the people of this great 

 country, renewed, ratified, sanctified in the 

 blood of the war. That is accomplished, and 

 with the United States court everywhere in 

 this land I shall look in vain to find any gen- 

 tleman rise and say he would banish them or 

 shear them of their power. Nay, the lesson of 

 the legislation in the last Congress and in this 

 teaches us volumes as to the opinion of the 

 people and the legislators here assembled. 

 Why, in the Forty-fifth Congress we passed 

 bills securing joint action, giving additional 

 facilities in the United States courts, establish- 

 ing new courts, making new districts, and di- 

 risions of districts in how many States ? Why, 



in Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, 

 Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, 

 North Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia. 

 That in the Forty-fifth Congress. What is the 

 record in the Forty-sixth? Gentlemen have 

 only to consult the files of the House. Go to 

 the Committee on the Judiciary and you will 

 find there bills in the same direction for Ohio, 

 Indiana, Louisiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Tennes- 

 see, Illinois, South Carolina, Texas, Kentucky, 

 North Carolina, Missouri, New York, and 

 Kansas. Does that legislation show that the 

 people tire of the pressure of the national pow- 

 er and the authority of the Federal courts ? 

 While I would not divulge the secrets of the 

 consultation of the committee-room, yet I feel 

 that I may say to this House that, in the dis- 

 cussions and testimony before us in regard to 

 the establishment of a circuit court in a certain 

 State in this Union, it appeared that the people 

 wanted the United States court there because 

 they had more confidence in it than they had 

 in their State courts. And I say further, so 

 that the credit may go where it is due, that 

 this was in one of the Southern States of this 

 Union. 



" I like that evidence. That is very grati- 

 fying. With this legislation accomplished and 

 proposed and with that feeling prevailing I 

 receive any such expression as that with cordi- 

 ality. Let us have, then, this recognition of the 

 United States power, and let us see to it that 

 we do not here strive to strip it of its author- 

 ity." 



The amendment of Mr. Culberson was 

 agreed to. 



Some other less important amendments were 

 made, and the bill passed the House yeas 162, 

 nays 74, not voting 56. It made no progress 

 in the Senate. 



In the House, on February 4th, Mr. Morton, 

 of New York, called up the following joint 

 resolution from the Committee on Foreign Af- 

 fairs : 



" Whereas, all civilized nations take part in the in- 

 ternational fishery exhibition to be held in the city of 

 Berlin, Germany, in April, 1880, it is deemed both 

 right and expedient that the prominent and effective 

 action of the United States in the line of the artificial 

 propagation of fish and the stocking of depleted fish- 

 ing waters should be conspicuously and well exhibited 

 on the occasion : therefore, 



fiesolved, etc., That, to enable the United States 

 Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries to exhibit Amer- 

 ica in Berlin in April, 1880, a fair and full collection 

 of the different specimens of American food-fishes, 

 casts thereof, models of, and implements, etc., used in 

 the prosecution of American fisheries, the sum of 

 $20,000 is hereby appropriated, out of any moneys 

 not otherwise appropriated in the Treasury of the 

 United States, or so much thereof as may be necessary 

 for the purpose, to be immediately available on the 

 passage of this resolution. 



SECTION 2. That the United States Commissioner of 

 Fish and Fisheries be, and is hereby, authorized to 

 represent the United States, either in person or by a 

 deputy to be appointed by the President of the United 

 States ; and that, at his discretion, he may use any 

 portion of the collections at present forming part of 



