The Proceedings Of This House In 1790,

The Right Of Petition Is An Old Undoubted Household Right Of The Blood Of England, Which Runs In Our Veins.

It Is Impossible, In My Mind, To Distinguish Between The Refusal To Receive A Petition, Or Its Summary Rejection By Some General Order, And The Denial Of The Right Of Petition.

Entertaining These Opinions Of The Course To Be Pursued, I Beg Of Gentlemen To Look At The Question, As I Have Done, In A Calm Review Of Facts And Of Principles.

Sir, I Am A Republican; And I Desire To See This House Observe The Principles Of That Democracy Which Is Ever On The Lips Of Its Members, And Which, I Hope, Is In Their Hearts, As I Know And Feel It Is In Mine, And Mean It Shall Be In My Conduct.

The Proceedings Of This House In 1790, In Reference To Petitions On The Matter Of The Slave Trade, And Of Slavery In The States, Have Been Cited. It Has Been Said That Those Petitions Were Not Received.