BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
REMARKS 
 
 HON. JOHN B. HASKIN, OF NEW YORK, 
 
 DEFENCE OF 
 
 COMMODORE HIRAM PAULDING. 
 
 DELIVERED 
 
 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 JANUARY 5, 1858. 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 POINTED BY LEMUEL TOWEES, 
 
 1858. 
 
REMARKS 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. JOHN B. HASKIN, OF NEW YORK, 
 
 IN DEFENCE OF 
 
 COMMODORE HIRAM PAULDING. 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 5, 1S5S. 
 
 The House having under consideration the reference of the President's Mes- 
 sage, in relation to N icaraguan affairs, and the recent capture of General Walker 
 by Commodore Paulding, Mr. HASKIX, said : 
 
 Mr. CHAIRMAN: From the latitude taken in debate upon 
 the resolution of the distinguished gentleman from Mississippi, 
 (Mr. QUITMAN,) from the discussive character of that debate, 
 and especially from the remarks which fell from the lips of 
 the distinguished gentleman from Georgia, (Mr. STEPHENS,) 
 attacking Commodore Paulding, who is my immediate con- 
 stituent, I feel it to be my duty, as his Congressional Repre- 
 sentative on this floor, to say something, feeble though it may 
 be, in vindication of his gallant conduct in arresting the ex- 
 pedition of Walker against Nicaragua. 
 
 I listened, Mr. Chairman, with attention and respect, to the 
 remarks submitted by the honorable gentleman from Missis- 
 sippi, (Mr. QUITMAN,) a gentleman whom, as a New Yorker 
 an able civilian as well as general I am proud that the State 
 of New York gave to the State of his adoption, Mississippi. 
 
 With many of the remarks which fell from that gentleman 
 respecting the repeal of the neutrality laws, I concur. But I 
 see nothing in the argument of the gentleman to induce me 
 to change my conviction of the impropriety of a present re- 
 peal of those laws, though at the "proper time, and under 
 more auspicious circumstances, I will perhaps be prepared to 
 go as far as any member of the responsible majority of this 
 House in , favor of a suspension of the neutrality laws, be- 
 lieving that circumstances may so shape themselves hereafter 
 as to render such suspension eminently expedient. He said, 
 in the course of his remarks, that it was not the duty of this 
 government to interfere in a fight between individuals, and 
 upon that he based his argument for the repeal of the neu- 
 

 trality laws. I concede bis proposition ; but when you apply 
 his doctrine to an illegal armed expedition fitted out and 
 manned from tins country to invade a nation with which we 
 are at peace, and a nation which, from its inherent weakness, 
 peculiarly called upon the magnanimity of this government 
 to protect it from armed marauders from our shores, who 
 bad sailed in open violation of those very neutrality laws, then 
 I will not and cannot go with him for such .repeal. It was in 
 a case of this kind, and to meet one of similar character, 
 that these identical neutrality laws of 1818 were passed. 
 From a critical examination of them, it appears to me that 
 they were prepared with a view to this very case of Walker 
 and his men. And it is a singular fact it is a remarkable 
 coincidence of time that in this very year 1818, Arbuthnot 
 and Ambrister were hung as high as Hainan, by the orders 
 of General Jackson, for doing against this government that, 
 which, in my judgment, was not more illegal and reprehen- 
 sible than what Walker has done, and was attempting to re- 
 peat again when stopped by the gallant and humane conduct 
 of Commodore Paulding, toward the unfortunate people of 
 Nicaragua. 
 
 From a close examination of the neutrality laws, I find the 
 jurisdiction of the United States specially referred to and 
 defined in them, in terms " within the United States," and 
 "in the limits of the United States," in the first six sections 
 of the law, and when you come down to section eight and 
 examine its peculiar phraseology, I am disposed to give to 
 that the interpretation given to it by the gentleman from 
 Virginia, (Mr. BOCOCK.) We discover in that section that 
 there is no express language restraining the jurisdiction within 
 the boundaries of the United States, but the President, in the 
 case of an armed invasion being contemplated in the event 
 of an expedition being fitted out is authorized to call upon 
 the army and navy to repress it,, to protect our treaty obliga- 
 tions, and to sustain the honor of our government. In this 
 section you will find other remarkable words, which* do not 
 appear in any of the other sections of the -law. In it authority 
 is given to capture a vessel within the "jurisdiction and pro- 
 tection" of the United States. 
 
 Now, sir, I contend on this floor, that under this law, and 
 in consonance with the law of nations, Commodore Paulding 
 had the right to go without and beyond the marine league ; 
 that he had the right to chase and overhaul this marauding 
 expedition upon the high seas ; had a right to capture these 
 men and bring them home. Many will doubt whether he 
 had the right to go on land in Nicaragua. I am not here to 
 say that he had the strict legal right to do that. But if a 
 
treaty an inchoate treaty, if you please existed between 
 this government and Nicaragua, by which we are to protect 
 the transit route, the instructions of the Secretary of the Navy 
 and the President of the United States, in view of carrying 
 out and enforcing the treaty, warranted Commodore Paulding 
 in going on land, and thus preventing perhaps serious diffi- 
 culty with England, who, by treaty, is bound equally with 
 ourselves to protect the transit route, and she having no na- 
 tional sympathy for "Walker and his unfortunate men, might 
 have hanged them to the yard arm if she had taken them in 
 lieu of Commodore Paulding. 
 
 The only party on the face of the globe that has any right 
 to object to this act of Commodore Paulding is the govern- 
 ment of Nicaragua, which commends the act ; and it certainly 
 does not behoove the American Congress, by any course of 
 theirs, to justify conduct which was against our treaty stipu- 
 lations, and against the law of nations. 
 
 Now, sir, the distinguished gentleman from Mississippi, 
 (Mr. QUITMAN,) yesterday, in the course of his remarks, referred 
 to the sympathy manifested in this country for Poland and 
 Hungary. Sir, that was a generous and noble sympathy. 
 It was the sympathy of the American people in favor of the 
 oppressed, striving to throw off the shackles by which they 
 were bound to the despotic governments of Austria and Rus- 
 sia. But, sir, I am not aware that there was any attempt, in 
 the American Congress, to legalize the fitting out and sending 
 off of an expedition from our shores to their assistance. There 
 was no attempt to recognize by act or deed any interference 
 upon the part of our people in behalf of the freedom of Poland 
 and Hungary ; and the gentleman might have more appro- 
 priately referred to the conduct of the American people to- 
 ward classic Greece, when, from our primary schools to the 
 Halls of National Legislation, vast contributions were made, 
 in clothing, provision, and amunition, for that suffering and 
 patriotic people. 
 
 The gentleman also referred to Lafayette. Sir, his was a 
 noble and gallant impulse ; it was the generous sympathy 
 of a noble-hearted and patriotic Frenchman, who imperiled 
 his titles, his fortune, and his life, for the success of those 
 principles of civil liberty which we are now enjoying. It 
 was the same sympathy, in our behalf, which was enlisted 
 here in behalf of the down-trodden people of Poland and 
 Hungary. Would either of these instances bear any parallel 
 with this outlawed marauding expedition of Gen. Walker ? 
 
 But, sir, the immediate cause of my rising to address the 
 House to-day, were the remarks of the gentleman from 
 Georgia, (Mr. STEPHENS,) against Commodore Paulding, whom 
 
6 
 
 it is my privilege to defend. He expressed an opinion, and I 
 concede to him the right to do it ; and I know he is liberal 
 enough to concede to me the same right of the expression of 
 my opinion in opposition to his. 
 
 The gentleman from Georgia said on this floor, yesterday, 
 that "Gen. Walker was a better man than Commodore Pauld- 
 ing." It is to that remark I take exceptions. 
 
 I deny that he is a better man than Commodore Paulding, 
 and appeal to the history of the two men to sustain me. Who 
 is this General Walker ? The first I ever heard of him was in 
 California, where, at the head of a few dozen adventurers, he 
 made a descent upon Sonora, and where he encountered a just 
 defeat. The next I heard of him he made a foray upon Ni- 
 caragua, where he met with temporary success, and became, 
 nominally, the head of the Government, in which position, to 
 show his entire inapitude and want of capacity as a statesman 
 and General, he did levy and take forcible possession of the 
 steamers belonging to the Transit Company, thus cutting off 
 all communication between his own followers and 'those who 
 might have afforded supplies of men and ammunition from the 
 States. Not satisfied with this grave error, he arrayed the 
 native population against him, by whose tacit acquiescence 
 he was present in their country, by shooting, in cold blood, 
 their favorite leader, Corral, and committing other acts of 
 petty tyranny and mal-administration towards those who were 
 unfortunately in his power, thus paving the way to his own 
 downfall, and the destruction of the men who were with him. 
 
 The next you hear of General Walker is in the report of 
 the Secretary of the Navy, and I desire to call the attention 
 of the House to the language there used in relation to him, 
 for the purpose of proving that the doctrine of reparation, 
 claimed by the gentleman from Georgia, cannot apply, in 
 justice and equity, to an outlaw and fugitive in the position 
 of General Walker. Of him, the Secretary of the Navy says : 
 
 "The unsatisfactory state of affairs in New Granada and portions of Central 
 America required the increase of this squadron, and the almost constant pres- 
 ence of a considrrable force in the neighborhood, both on the Atlantic and the 
 Pacific. ******* 
 
 " All these men were brought home without previous orders ; but such was 
 their deplorable condition, that it was an act of humanity which could not and 
 ought not to be dispensed with ; and the Department approved it. The ex- 
 pense of providing for them necessary food, clothing, and medicine, while on 
 shipboard, amounted to $7,376 16, for which an appropriation is recommended. 
 
 " It was deemed necessary, as a measure of humanity and policy, to direct 
 Commodore Mervine to give General Walker and such of his men, citizens of 
 the United States, as were willing to embrace it, an opportunity to retreat from 
 Nicaragua. Before these instructions were received. Commodore Mervine 'had 
 sent Commander Davis, with the St. Mary's, to San Juan del Sur, with instruc- 
 tions to protect the persons and property of American citizens. With this 
 
authority only, Commander Davis negotiated with General Walker terms of 
 capitulation, under which he surrendered with his men, and was conveyed to 
 Panama, whence he proceeded to the United States. Commander Davis also 
 received from General Walker the surrender of a small schooner which he had 
 detained, called the Granada, and delivered her to the Nicaraguan authori- 
 ties. The action of Commander Davis, so far as he aided General Walker and 
 his men, by the use of the St. Mary's, to retreat from Nicaragua and return 
 to the United States, was approved by the Department ; but his interference 
 with the Granada, and her transfer to the Nicaraguan authorities, by his inter- 
 vention, was not approved. The whole number of men surrendered and carried 
 to Panama was about three hundred and sixty-four. Commodore Mervine, find- 
 ing his squadron suddenly encumbered with these men, in the most wretched 
 condition, suffering for the want of everything, and endangering the health of 
 those under his command, had no mode of relief except by turning them adrift, 
 which was impossible, or sending them by the railway to Aspinwall. Adopting 
 the latter alternative, he was under the necessity of drawing on the Department, 
 in favor of the Railway Company, for $7,475, being the amount which would 
 be due for tranporting them across the Isthmus at the" usual rate of charge. 
 This bill has neither been paid, accepted, nor protested. The Company volun- 
 tarily relinquished the personal responsibility of Commodore Mervine, and put 
 the bill at the disposal of the Government. I submit it, with an expression of 
 my conviction that Congress should make reasonable provision for it ; and also 
 for the expenses of providing these men while on shipboard with necessary 
 food, clothing, and medicine, of which an estimate will hereafter be furnished." 
 
 Sir, I saw the remnant of "Walker's deluded followers, who 
 were landed at the port of New York, in the Park, there 
 sleeping under the broad canopy of heaven, dependent upon 
 passing charity, to save tnern from absolute starvation, and a 
 more abject and pitiable sight I never before beheld. These 
 poor fellows were without shoes or stockings, without any clo- 
 thing indeed, other than their shirts and pantaloons, and cov- 
 ered with lice and the scurvy. Since then many, very many 
 of them, have been delivered from their sufferings, and have 
 gone to 
 
 "The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn 
 No traveller returns." 
 
 General Walker cannot say of these men, like Macbeth 
 
 " Thou canst not say, I did it : Never shake 
 Thy gory locks at me." 
 
 Now, sir, who is Commodore Paulding, a constituent of 
 mine of whom I am justly proud ? He is the son of that John 
 Paulding, of Revolutionary memory, who, with Williams and 
 Yan Wart, captured Major Andre, at Andre's Brook, near 
 Sleepy Hollow, Westchester county a spot with which I am 
 as familiar as with this Hall. These men were penniless sol- 
 diers attached to the Continental army. It is said that they 
 were playing a friendly game of " old sledge," when they es- 
 pied Andre upon horseback, who, though a brave and a cour- 
 teous gentleman, was nevertheless a British spy. They stop- 
 ped his horse, compelled him to dismount, and after thoroughly 
 searching his person arrested him. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, John f aulding, the father of Commodore 
 
8 
 
 Paulding, had no search warrant no special directions from 
 the Government to do what he did. He had no orders from 
 the Continental Congress directing him to search and arrest 
 Andre. Maj or Andre offered these three honest patriots gold 
 sufficient to make them and theirs independent for life, and 
 himself a hostage for the ransom, to let him pass, but they 
 spurned the bribe. These three Westchester yeoman, with 
 true patriotism, conveyed him to the American army, where 
 he was tried; convicted, and hung. 
 
 Mr. JNO. COCKRANE, of New York. "Will my colleague al- 
 low me to ask him a question ? I ask whether this spirit of 
 committing offences against the law of nations, runs in the 
 family ? 
 
 Mr. HASKIN. If my colleague considered such an offence 
 against the law of nations, then I admit it runs in the blood. 
 I was, Mr, Chairman, merely giving the history of Paulding, 
 the captor of Andre, to prove that Commodore Paulding was 
 the worthy son of a patriotic sire, and I insist that he has 
 better reason to be proud of his ancestor, than any monarch 
 seated on any of the thrones of Europe. He has been in the 
 naval service of the United States for forty years, and during 
 that time has worked his way, by gallantry and official ser- 
 vice, to the highest position in it. There is neither blot or 
 bar upon his escutcheon. It is therefore unfair and ungenerous 
 upon the records, to place the notorious violator of the laws 
 of his own country and the world, upon an equality, much 
 less of superiority, with a gallant officer who has faithfully 
 performed his duty to humanity and his government, by pro- 
 claiming the marauder "a better man." In reference to 
 this act of Commodore Paulding, in arresting Walker, I be- 
 lieve that no other act since the inauguration of the existing 
 administration has reflected more honor and credit upon the 
 country, and I sincerely trust that the responsible majority of 
 this House will not fritter away that honor and credit by any 
 resolution of censure against Commodore Paulding. The act 
 meets with the hearty approval, I am sure, of the'eonserva- 
 tive men of the country,- and the fair and just men all over 
 the civilized world. T&Sty] sir, in my appreciation of the con- 
 duct of Paulding, I would go farther than many Democrats 
 in the north on this subject. I recollect that Congress, in 
 1854, gave its thanks and a medal to Captain Ingraham for 
 what he did protecting an inchoate American citizen, 
 " Koszta," in foreign waters and in a foreign land. While I 
 believe in the justice of the approbation by the government, 
 of the conduct of Captain Ingraham, I must claim that an 
 equal ineed of praise and substantial recognition is equally 
 
due to Commodore Paulding, and I am willing now that we 
 should vote our thanks and a medal to him. 
 
 I beg the gentleman of the south not to believe that I am 
 in the least tinctured with any sickly sentimentality on the 
 subject of fillibusterism ; I am, when the exigency arrives, a 
 national fillibuster, but I am against individual fillibusterism, 
 which in my opinion retards the coiisumation of our acquisi- 
 tion of Central America and other territories, which we ought 
 and in time will have. I believe the time has nearly arrived, 
 when the application of the doctrines promulgated by the 
 Ostend manifesto, is necessary for the protection and preser- 
 vation of our possessions on the Pacific, and the continuance 
 and success of our commercial relations in that and other 
 quarters. 
 
 Mr. KIETT. If the gentleman will allow me. He says he 
 is a national fillibuster, but against individual ones. I wish to 
 know whether he is for nations breaking faith, and against 
 individuals so doing ? 
 
 Mr. HASKIN. I am for the nation keeping its faith. I am 
 for the nation doing as Great Britain has done. I am in favor 
 at the proper time, and under a commercial and national ne- 
 cessity which must sooner or later arise, of seizing Cuba, pro- 
 viding we cannot sooner obtain it in a manner in consonance 
 with our foreign polity; and for which purpose I would, at a 
 suitable time, favor the suspension of the neutrality laws. In 
 this sense I am a national fillibuster, and will go with, the 
 
 fentleman from South Carolina to that extent. And let me 
 ere say, that the sympathies and desires of northern Demo- 
 crats are right on this subject. They believe they have come 
 by this feeling, in favor of the acquisition of territory on this 
 continent, naturally from their mother country, England, 
 which gave to the South her cavaliers, and the Xorth a great 
 many of her puritans and round heads. We northern Demo- 
 crats believe that the government should, by conquest, do 
 certain things ; but that this business of Walker's was a petty 
 larceny affair. We northern Democrats, if this kind of thing 
 is to be indulged in under the recognition and auspices of the 
 government, are rather in favor of national grand larceny. 
 (Laughter.) Permit me to say that England has been the 
 greatest filibustering country upon the face of the earth. 
 Look at her recent conduct in China. Look at her conduct in 
 obtaining her East India possessions ; and more recently in 
 taking possession of the Island of Perim. England did not act 
 as Walker and his expedition did ; but the navy, the govern- 
 ment of England accomplished it. They wanted the island as a 
 national naval depot, and they took the responsibility of taking 
 
10 
 
 it. et our country take the responsibility of raising this 
 same standard, and you will find thousands of the national 
 Democrats of the North with it, because they believe it is the 
 manifest destiny of this Republic. They believe that 
 
 "No pent up Utica contracts our powers; 
 The whole unbounded continent is ours." 
 
 In the remarks I have made, I have simply designed to 
 define my position in the defence of my constituent, Commo- 
 dore Paulding. I have not desired to give offence to any 
 gentleman upon this floor. I desired to put myself upon the 
 record as a pure national Democrat, sustaining right and jus- 
 tice, which were eminently protected by Commodore Paulding 
 in his conduct towards Walker and his followers. 
 
 Mr. GILMEE obtained the floor. 
 
 Mr. STEPHENS, of Georgia. Will the gentleman from North 
 Carolina allow me a moment ? 
 
 Mr. GILMEE. Certainly. 
 
 Mr. STEPHENS, of Georgia. I merely wish to say, in reply 
 to the gentleman from New York, that in what I said in refer- 
 ence to Commodore Paulding yesterday, I meant no imputa- 
 tion upon his character, further than was warranted from the 
 arrest of Walker the transaction about which I was then 
 speaking. That act was certainly without law, and without 
 color of law, as I understand it. Upon that ground he is to 
 stanjl iii the public estimation. As to his ancestry, or his 
 honorable life past, I meant to cast no imputation whatever. 
 It may be that he comes from a grandfather who has had the 
 honor of having refused a bribe. Well, sir, if that goes to his 
 credit, let it. I cast no imputation upon Commodore IPaulding, 
 further than this act of his was concerned an act which, in 
 my opinion, was a great outrage. 
 
 The gentleman has alluded to the character of Walker and 
 his followers. He spoke of the condition in which he saw 
 some of those followers last spring, who were returned to this 
 country, when there had been an illegal interference upon the 
 part of Commander Davis. What put these men in mat un- 
 fortunate condition in which he saw them, I know not. Per- 
 haps they had been robbed. I have heard some say that 
 those now at Norfolk are poor and " lazy and lousy." I believe 
 they were last seen in the company of some of the officers of 
 the Navy. Whether they got me contagion, and got the 
 vermin from them, I do not know. I do not know whether 
 the officers looking upon them in that condition, and seeing 
 them in that way, could, like Macbeth, exclaim: "Thou canst 
 not say I did it!" I mean, then, no imputation upon the 
 
11 
 
 character of Commodore Paulding, farther than this act war- 
 ranted my judgment. It is past, and I stand upon what I 
 say that this was a great outrage on private rights ; and if it 
 appears that the arrest was illegal, as such it ought to be 
 redressed. 
 
 Mr. HASKIN. With the permission of the gentlemen from 
 North Carolina, (Mr. GILMEK,) I desire to say, in reply to the 
 gentleman from Georgia, that even though this act of Com- 
 modore Paulding may not have been strictly within the legal 
 purview of his authority, yet there are abundant precedents 
 where the American Congress and the American people^have 
 sustained an act which was right, morally, though technically 
 and legally wrong. General Jackson, when he declared mar- 
 tial law in New Orleans, was in the commission of, and did 
 commit, an illegal act. He was tried for it, and was fined ; 
 but he lived long enough afterwards to become President of 
 the United -States, and to have the fine repaid by order of the 
 American Congress. There are many cases where men in 
 our navy- have gone as far as Commodore Paulding did in 
 this case, and where the government have approved their 
 acts. On this head I will read an extract which I have be- 
 fore me : 
 
 "Commodore Paulding, if necessary, will find abundant authentic precedents 
 to sustain him. About the year 1826, Commodore David Porter was dispatched 
 to the Caribbean seas to suppress acts of piracy that were almost daily perpe- 
 trated on the commerce of the world in that quarter. He came across a band 
 of pirates, who, on hot pursuit, abandoned their schooners and shallops, and 
 took to the Island of Porto Rico an island within the jurisdiction of a State of 
 Europe, with which we held friendly relations and found safety and succor in 
 the town of Foxardo. 
 
 " Commodore Porter deeming himself in pursuit of common freebooters, pi- 
 rates, and outlaws, did not hesitate to land ,on the Island of Porto Rico, where 
 he pursued the delinquents, and extended to them the full measure of his indig- 
 nation. For this act he was called home, subjected to a court of inquiry, and 
 honorably acquitted, though warmly and strongly censured. The Administra- 
 tion of Mr. Adams was disposed to treat him with severity ; but public opinion, 
 the nation at large, and the subsequent Administration of General Jackson, ap- 
 plauded and rewarded him. 
 
 "The conduct of Commodore Paulding finds precedent in that of Commodore 
 Downes, at Qualla Battooj in that of Commodore Porter, at the Fejee Islands; 
 in that of the Commodore of the frigate Vincennes, in the Borco Tagus; and, 
 more recently, in that of Commodore Collins, at Greytown. 
 
 "The only difficulty connected with this matter consists in the undecided 
 fact of the real character of General Walker and his followers. If Walker is, 
 or ever was, Chief Executive of the Republic of Nicaragua, he holds a position 
 in the embryo State that absolves him from the odium of a pirate and an out- 
 law, though the fact does not hold him up to the world as a recognized chief- 
 tain, civil or military, de facto." 
 
 Mr. STEPHENS, of Georgia. In the very case cited by the 
 gentleman, the conduct of Commodore Porter, at Foxardo, 
 cost him his position. He was court-martialed and dismissed 
 from the Navy. 
 
12 
 
 Mr. HASKIN. That is true, under the Administration of Mr. 
 Adams ; but the admiration and approval of the nation was 
 so strong that, under the Administration of Jackson, the act 
 was applauded, and he was rewarded for it. 
 
 Mr. STEPHENS, of Georgia. He never was restored. Re- 
 peated applications were made for his restoration to the navy, 
 but he never was restored ; and that was a case where he pur- 
 sued pirates and robbers. 
 
 Mr. HASKIN. The only difference between the conservative 
 national Democrats of the North and the gentleman from 
 Georgia, is, that that gentleman views Walker as a General, 
 while we, in the country I come from, deem him a Quixotic 
 adventurer and marauder, which is the conservative sentiment 
 among the Democrats of the North. 
 
 Mr. THAYER, of Massachusetts, (opposition and Republican,) 
 on the day following the delivery of the remarks by Mr. HAS- 
 KIN, said, in the course of his speech : 
 
 " By the way, sir, I did agree with the gentleman from New 
 York, (Mr. HASKIN,) who told us yesterday that he was not in 
 favor of petty larceny ; but I did not agree with him when he 
 said that he was in favor of grand larceny. I regret that a 
 Representative of the people of the United States, in the Coun- 
 cil Hall of the nation, should say to his constituents, to the na- 
 tion, and the world, that he and the Democratic party were 
 " rather in favor of grand larceny." Larceny is larceny ; and 
 you cannot say a meaner thing about it than to call it by its 
 own name. I am pained that this report has gone forth that 
 any party, or that any individual in this House, or connected 
 with this Government, is in favor of grand larceny or petty 
 larceny. Larceny, grand or petty, is not only disgraceful, but 
 is absolutely and utterly contemptible. We do not go for the 
 acquisition or the Americanization of territory by larceny of 
 any kind whatever, but fairly, openly, and honorably." 
 
 To which part of Mr. THAYER'S speech, Mr. HASKIN rejoined 
 and replied as follows : 
 
 Mr. MOORE obtained the floor. 
 
 Mr. HASKIN. I ask the gentleman from Alabama to yield 
 to me a moment for a brief personal explanation. 
 
 Mr. MOORE. I will yield if it is not taken out of my time. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. It will be taken out of the gentleman's 
 time. 
 
 MR. HASKIN. I will be brief. . 
 
 Mr. MOORE. I yield to the gentleman. 
 
13 
 
 Mr. HASKIN. Mr. Chairman, considering the perverted use 
 which was made on Thursday last by the gentleman from 
 Massachusetts, (Mr. THAYER,) and also by some of the news- 
 papers of the country, of the figurative expression indulged 
 in by me, in the course of some remarks in the defence of 
 Commodore Paulding, my constituent, that I was in favor of 
 " national grand larceny," I deem it proper that I should oc- 
 cupy the time of the House for a few minutes, in explanation 
 and reply to the gentleman from Massachusetts. 
 
 This expression was made in an argument to illustrate an 
 idea in reference to the "Walker expedition. It was an alter- 
 native proposition. If this government did (and I hoped and 
 argued they would not) justify Walker and his expedition, 
 which I characterized as " a petty larceny affair," then it 
 would be far beiter for the government to fillibuster on a large 
 and grand scale. 
 
 The President has ably and most justly elaborated in his 
 recent message to the Senate the idea which I intended to 
 convey. 
 
 "It would be far better, and more in accordance with the bold and manly 
 spirit of our countrymen, for the government itself to get up such expeditions, 
 than to allow them to proceed under the command of irresponsible adventurers. 
 We could then, at least, exercise some control over our own agents, and pre- 
 vent them from burning down cities, and committing other acts of enormity of 
 which we have read." 
 
 My jocose and figurative expression was in its fair applica- 
 tion understood 'by the House, when it was made, and it ex- 
 cited, as it was calculated to do, a laugh. 
 
 I did not at the time entertain the belief that any gentle- 
 man on this floor seriously thought that I proposed favoring 
 fraud larceny, in a literal sense. This supposition could not 
 ave been fairly entertained, because larceny is the stealing 
 of personal property it is a crime defined and punished by 
 the local laws of the States ; and it could not, legitimately, be 
 made referable to the national conquest of the Island of Cuba, 
 or Central America. 
 
 If any FELONIOUS HABITS can be fairly imputed to any politi- 
 cal party in this country, surely they may be attributed to 
 that one which has hitherto aided and abetted and gloried in 
 the appropriation of their neighbors' property, and out of 
 which it has made much of its ephemeral capital. They call 
 themselves the Republican party, of which the gentleman 
 from Massachusetts, who stands forth as my accuser, is a rep- 
 resentative and a shining light. 
 
 Sir, the records of this House, and especially the very able 
 report of the chairman of the corruption committee of the last 
 session our present impartial and distinguished Speaker 
 prove that the party of the gentleman from Massachusetts is 
 
14: 
 
 the "grand larceny" party of the country. I admit, Mr. 
 Chairman, with the gentleman from Massachusetts, that the 
 crime is a " mean one," that it is " contemptible," and I rep- 
 robate and condemn it. I hope that the members of the Re- 
 publican party in the present House will do as much to stop 
 plundering as some of their representative men in the last 
 House did to promote it. 
 
 I have thus briefly replied to the gentleman from Massa- 
 chusetts, and, in so doing, have sought to put myself " right 
 on the record " for the satisfaction of my friend from iNew 
 Jersey, (Mr. ADKAIN,) whose criticism iu his speech, on Thurs- 
 day last, upon my use of the words " national grand larceny," 
 I am glad to know was intended to aiford me the opportu- 
 nity to make this brief explanation. ISTo explanation would 
 have been necessary if my remark had not been perverted 
 from its jocular and figurative sense.