The Congressional Globe, Volume 14: Twenty-Eighth Congress, Second Session Page: 73

CONGRESSIONAL 0LOBE.
W.-
Mr. TAPPA N presented the petition of Alva
Day and others, members of a company of Ohio
volunteers, praying compensation for their services
in the last war with Great Britain; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
Mr. STURGEON presented a petition from In-
diana and Westmoreland counties, Pennsylvania,
praying that pensions may be granted to the sur-
vivors of those who were engaged in the wars with
the Indians prior to 1794, under Generals St. Clair
and Wayne.
Mr. S. expressed the hope that the committee
would'see the propriety of granting the prayer of
the petitioners. He saw no reason why pensions'
should not be extended to those who fought prior
to 1794, as subsequent to that period: referred to
the Committee on Pensions.
Also presented a memorial from a number of the
citizens of Pennsylvania, remonstrating against the
annexation of Texas to the United States: referred
to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Mr. ARCHER presented the petition of Robert
Mayo, the legal representative of George Mayo,
deceased, praying compensation for his services as
a clerk in the Post Office Department: referred to
the Committee on the Post Office and Post Roads.
Mr. BREESE presented a petition from Thomas
Bassett, proposing to sell to the government his dis-
covery of a theory by which changes in the weather
may be predicted: referred, with the papers on the
files upon the subject, to the Committee on Agricul-
ture.
Mr. BUCHANAN presented a memorial from a
number of citizens of Wayne county, Pa., setting
forth that they are satisfied that the present natural-
ization laws should remain as they are—five years'
probation—but that two years should be extended,
after naturalization, in order to enable those natu-
ralized to enjoy the right of suffrage and of hold-
ing office. Also, requesting that Texas be admitted
into the Union; that the tariff of 1842 be permitted
to remain as at present, except some of its details,
which should be modified so as to make it more
just and equal. They recommend that it remain
for four years, to try its effect. The several sub-
jects embraced in the petition were referred to the
respective appropriate committees.
Also presented two memorials from citizens of
Pennsylvania, asking Congress to pass the act
which passed the Senate last session, making pro-
vision for the construction of a canal around the
falls of St. Mary, thus to connect Lakes Superior
and Huron: referred to the Committee on Roads
and Canals.
Also presented a memorial from citizens of Penn-
sylvania, asking Congress to take measures to
amend the constitution of the United States, so as
expressly to restrain the general government from
interfering, or requiring any portion of the people of
the United States to interfere, in the internal con-
cerns of any State, for the purpose of aiding any
portion of its inhabitants to hold any other portion
in a state of slavery or oppression: ordered to lie
on the table.
Mr. PORTER presented a petition from Julius
Eldred, praying remuneration for his services and
the reimbursement of his expenses in removing the
copper rock from Lake Superior to Washington
city: referred to the Committee on Public Lands.
Mr. ATHERTON presented a petition from the
heirs of Moses White, praying for arrears of pen-
sion: referred to the Committee on Pensions.
Mr. BREESE presented a memorial from the
mayor and common council of the city of Chicago,
praying for a grant of land: referred to the Commit-
tee on PublicLands.
Mr. BERRIEN presented a petition from certain
merchants, traders, and dealers of the-* city of
Darien, in the State of Georgia, asking for the
re-establishment of a collection district in that
place: referred to the Committee on Commerce.
Mr. WOODBURY presented a petition from Gen.
John Stockton, praying remuneration for loss of
baggage in Canada during the late war, in consequence
of an order given by the commanding officer to aban-
don the baggage: referred to tha Committee on Mil-
itary Affairs.
On motion by Mr. WHITE, it was ordered that
the petition of William Marshall be taken from the
files," and referred to. the Committee on Indian Af-
fairs.
Mr. FAIRFIELD presented a petition from Sam-
uel Merrill, and twenty-one others of the State of
Maine, prayinf that every proposition for the.mi-
nexation of Texas may he defeated: referred to the
Committee on Foreign Relations.
Mr. WALKER presented a memorial from the
Chickasaw nation of Indians, praying that their
claims under the treaty ceding their lands to the
United States, may be referred for examination to
thejudiciary tribunals: referred to the Judiciary Com-
mittee.
On motion by Mr. BARROW, the petitions of
George De Passau and Benjamin Ballard, of Lou-
isiana, praying for the confirmation of title to cer-
tain lands, be taken from the files, and referred to the
Committee on Private Land Claims.
Mr. B. gave notice that he would to-morrow ask
leave to introduce a bill to confirm certain land claims
in the Greensburg land district in Louisiana.
_ Mr. NILES presented a petition from John Mar-
tin and others, praying for the establishment of cer-
tain post routes in Wisconsin Territory: referred to
the Committee on the Post Offiice and Post Roads.
Mr. SEVIER then addressed the Senate in the
following words:
Mr. President: Indispensable public and private
engagements in my own section of the Union have
kept me from my seat in the Senate until a few
day since. And now that I am here, I regret that
the first duty which I have to perform is one calcu-
lated to give pain to the heart of every senator. My
late friend and colleague, William S. Fulton, one
of the senators from the State of Arkansas, is no
more! He died, in the fiftieth year of his age, on
the morning of the 15th August last, at his resi-
denc at Rosewood, in the vicinity of Little Rock.
His sickness was of short duration, but of a most
painful and melancholy character. He died of a
disease contracted by imprudently sleeping in a
chamber but recently painted—a disease which baf-
fled the skill of the most eminent of our physicians.
He died suffering more than I, can describe.
Though absent in a distant part of the State during
his sickness, I rcached his residence about daylight
on tho morning of his death, and saw him die. It
was a scene, Mr. President, which I shall never
forget. The agony of his wife and relatives and
near personal friends, on that most melancholy oc-
casion, I shall not attempt to describe. Fully
aware of his approaching end, he met his death with
firmness and resignation, and conversed sensibly of
his affairs to the last.
His loss to his family is an irreparable one. Their
brightest hopes of life have been withered and an-
nihilated forever. He was the prop of his house;
a provident and devoted husband; a kind and affec-
tionate parent. The grief which they feel in conse-
quence of their loss, time and a merciful Providence
alone can mellow and ameliorate. He received in
his sickness every attention which love and pro-
fessional skill could render, but all in vain! It will
be gratifying to the Senate to learn that he left his
family, though not in affluent, yet in easy pecunia-
ry circumstances; and surrounded by those who
will befriend and protect his widow and be as fa-
thers to his minor children.
His loss to me, sir, is most sensibly felt. We
were intimately connected in the closest ties of per-
sonal and political friendship for more than fifteen
years; and during all of that time our friendship, in
every respect, was never interrupted for a single
moment. A truer friend, and one in every sense
more devoted, I never had or expect to have. But,
sir, my loss, as great as I regard it, is nothing com-
pared to his loss to his State and to the whole coun-
try. From early youth to the day of his death in
the fulness of manhood, he was actively engaged
in the service of his country: first in military and
then in civil capacities of high trust and responsi-
bility—often at the post of danger, and always at
that of duty; and wherever placed or however
tried, b? .proved himself equal to ft? occasion,
True to his country, he was always ready,
promptly atid efficiently, to render her 'any ser-
vice required at his hands. Possessing a
purity of principle and sternness of integrity which
"knew no change, nor the shadow of turning," hs
united with these sterling qualities a cordial warmth
of feeling, and winning amiability of manner, which
secured him alike the respect and affection of all.
Gov. Fblton was born in Cecil county, in tha
State of Maryland, on the 2d of June, 1795. H#
had not attained the age of manhood, when hi#
youthful patriotism would not permit him to be a
silent spectator of the last war. Following the ex-
ample of his gallant father, who commanded a vol-
unteer corps of artillery, he tendered his servicer to
his country, and was received as a volunteer aid to
Col. Armstead, in the memorable bombardment of
Fort McHenry—during which, from the necessary
activity of his services, he. was, exposed to great
danger.
Subsequently to which, he removed to the State
of Tennesse; and there acquiring the friendship of
General Jackson, he served with him as private sec-
retary during his Florida campaigns.
At the termination of the war, he studied law, at
Nashville, in the office of the late Felix Grundy;
and afterwards settled in Florence, in Alabama,
where he practised his profession as a lawyer.
Upon the accession of Gen. Jackson to the presi-
dency, in 1829, among the first appointments to of-
fice by Gen. Jackson was that of his friend Fultuh
to the office of secretary for the then Territory of
Arkansas, under Gov. Pope. This office he held,
and the duties of which he faithfully discharged,
until the expiration of Gov. Pope's term of service,
in 1835, when he was appointed to succeed him.
He continded in that office until it ceased, the next
year, by the admission of Arkansas into the Union,
as a State.
Upon the organization of the State government of
Arkansas, he was elected one of the two senators
to the Congress of the United States. He was
again elected to the same office in 1840, and had
three years of his term to serve when he died.
How he performed his various public trusts, let
his rapid advancement, from stations whicli were
humble to those of high trust and responsibility,
answer. The son of an Irishman, poor, and un-
known to fame—too young to be coerced to the per-
formance of military duty,—yet he and his father
were volunteers in the service of their country, in
the dark hour of their country's peril. His gal-
lantry at Fort McHenry gave him the friendship of
Gen. Jackson, who made him his private secretary
in his Florida campaigns. His fidelity to General
Jackson, and qualifications for the office, made him
secretary of Arkansas. His fidelity to the people of
Arkansas as governor and secretary made him one
of the senators from that State. And his fidelity
and efficiency while a member of the Senate—of
which I am sure you will all bear testimony—being
rarely ever absent, and always performing duty,
gave him his re-election to the Senate in 1840. Ia
his case, as strongly perhaps as in that of any other,
we have the exemplification that a public servant
that never trips nor falters in his duty to his con-
stituents, is rarely ever forgotten by a grateful peo*
pie. '
As a politician, Gov. Fulton was a member of
the democratic party; and -\yjiile none was more
conscientious and zealous in the support and advo-
cacy of his party, with a magnanimity and tolera-
tion which all might admire and usefully imitate,
he accorded honesty and patriotism of purpose to
these who differed with him, and in his personal in