Mr. Cocke declared that the object which he had in view was nothing more nor less than to rid the House of the business altogether. He was not inclined to appoint any special time for the discussion, as the worthy gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Pinckney) had requested. He had no idea that it was supposed he had the saving or exoneration of any printer in view; he had no such thing; but he wished to save the reputation of this body, which he thought was placed in jeopardy by the Connecticut motion. Here it is proposed to inquire and examine of and into this, that, and the other—to bring one printer here, and generally all persons and papers, who and whatever, just as your committee may think fit. Suppose this power is doubted? Suppose the persons deny your power—how are your committee to enforce their mandates? Suppose your courts of law claim cognizance as a case of libel, are you to have two prosecutions and two trials for the same offence? Surely, surely, your committee will have to retire from the untenable ground, and the defeat will recoil with disgrace upon those of us who attempt to assume powers neither constitutional in themselves, nor just, even if they were constitutional. You can call upon somebody—but who?—to inquire who is the editor of the Aurora. You are to inquire how he became possessed of a certain bill which he published; what kind of an inquiry is this? How he procured the sight of a bill, while it was pending in Senate. Why, is there any crime in printing a minute of our transactions? Your bills are printed by your own order, for your use, and for the information of the other House; two hundred copies or more are circulated without any injunction of secrecy; they are sent off into every State of the Union; and are you going to make inquiry how the editor of the Aurora got to see one of them? Why, are not your gallery doors open, and cannot a bill which has been read in public be possibly remembered, at least, cannot it be taken down in short-hand? and will you punish every man who shall repeat, print, or publish what is made public on this floor? Suppose the editor of the Aurora declines to inform your committee of the mode through which he obtains his information; he says it is convenient and useful to him, but his prior engagements do not permit him to divulge it to you; will you punish him for contempt? But suppose you possessed of the physical power necessary to procure the information you require by an application of the torture; while you are straining his muscles and dislocating his joints, what becomes of the grand palladium of American freedom? Where is the liberty of the press, which is secured to the citizens of the Union against Federal usurpation? The constitution declares that you shall not infringe upon the liberty of the press; and a power expressly denied to the whole Government, a single branch may not assume.
Here Mr. C. was called to order by
Mr. Bingham, of Pennsylvania, who inquired what the liberty of the press had to do on a question of postponement? He believed, while the motion for postponement was under consideration, all debate on the merits of the main question to be out of order.
It was contended to be in order to object on a postponement generally to the original motion, for an argument tending to defeat the original motion is reason for a general postponement.
Mr. Cocke proceeded, and said he was glad to find that the freedom of debate in this House was not to be destroyed, though it might be interrupted; and he hoped that the freedom of the press would never be subverted while the Government of the country rested upon the Republican principle of representation. He admitted there were a great many ill-natured things said by many of our American presses, but that should never induce him to run the risk of destroying the most valuable and effectual bulwark for maintaining us free and independent, by using an instrument more fit to cut down the trunk of a tree, than to prune it of its tendril luxuriances. What was the engine now brought out against this freedom—an engine possessed of all the powers necessary to ensure its success? A printer is to be charged, is to be tried, judged of, and executed, by a body he has offended. Where will you find men of nerve that will risk certain ruin? Such may arise when the press is in danger. It was under these impressions that he wished to get rid of the business altogether.
Mr. Tracy, of Connecticut, did not wish to press the business; indeed his conduct had manifested this intention, for the original motion had been suffered to lie on the table a longer term than usual before it was called up, but even now when it was called up he did not wish to hurry it through. He should not refuse a moderate delay, but he hoped the motion from Tennessee would not prevail, as it went to destroy the object without any further consideration. In answer to what fell from the gentleman from Tennessee, he would say, that the objections he had made did not all of them apply, and if there was any which did apply, amendments could be made so as to conform them to the sense of the Senate. He wished gentlemen would attend to the words of the resolution, and they would find that they did not carry them beyond what was prudent, mild, and proper. The committee are desired to inquire who is the editor of the Aurora; this will appear to be a proper inquiry, for the person is not publicly known; the imprint declares the paper to be published for the heirs of Benjamin Franklin Bache, but we do not know who are the heirs. The gentleman has told us it is no crime to publish the doings of this body; agreed, but is it nothing to publish untruths respecting the official conduct of the members of this body? is it no crime to publish a bill while before this House? But are printers at liberty to tell lies about our transactions? The Aurora says, that the bill which it published had passed the Senate; this every member knows to be contrary to the fact. The bill has not even to the present moment passed this body, it is still on your table liable to recommitment, amendment, or rejection. Asking the editor how he came to print this falsehood, does not go to examine into the private mode by which conveyance of intelligence is made to that office; there can be no real intelligence, it being a falsehood. But suppose we have no power over this editor, because the press is free; suppose we cannot punish him for his slander, calumny, and falsehood, perhaps the inquiry may lead us to discover some persons whom we can punish; will it be said that the constitution is an impediment in our way to punish one of our own members, if he should be found guilty of abusing the confidence of his situation? At least we can exercise the power of removing one of our officers, if we should convict him of a secret league to transmit intelligence which is confidentially intrusted to his care.
He did not mean to insinuate that any improper mode was used in conveying this intelligence; it might appear that the whole circumstance was a mere unintentional error; if so he should not go farther; but yet the printer could hardly have made the subsequent mistake in relation to the gentleman from South Carolina, in declaring that he had never been consulted by the committee on Mr. Ross's bill; there was something in this calculated to produce an effect upon the public mind. He insinuates that the business of the Senate is done in caucuses, into which the gentleman was not permitted to enter; for if he had, it is supposed he might have detected and defeated the mischiefs which are working against the public welfare. This is an abandoned slander, as is well known to every member of the House, for Mr. Pinckney did attend not one meeting only, as the editor of the Aurora squeezed out some days subsequent to his first licentious publication, but he did attend every meeting, as he has candidly and honorably avowed in his place.
The gentlemen had declared themselves the champions of the press; but surely gentlemen will not advocate such liberty as this—the liberty of publishing nothing but lies and falsehood. If by the liberty of the press is meant the publication of truth and just political information, it was proper to be supported; but he was desirous of maintaining, along with the liberty of the press, the liberty of the citizens, and the security of the Government; he was not for sacrificing these latter objects to the licentiousness of the press. He was not inclined to enter into a newspaper controversy to maintain the dignity and reputation of the Senate, nor did he think that gentlemen appreciated their own standing in society when they referred the individual members of this body to such a mode of defence against the shafts of calumny which a daring editor might hurl against them individually.
Mr. Bloodworth, of North Carolina, doubted the power of the Senate to take cognizance of the conduct of members in communicating with their constituents, much less to punish them for publishing circumstances respecting which no injunction of secrecy had been imposed. He, however, assured the Senate that he had not given the editor of the Aurora any information on the subject before them, or indeed on any other, for the editor was a stranger to him; nor did he know that he ever called, at that printing office more than once or twice in his life. He hoped that the business would be postponed for the present, and he should have no objection to its being taken up at a future day, when gentlemen might be better prepared to meet it.
Mr. Paine, of Vermont, declared himself against the postponement, nor did he think that the motion of Mr. Pinckney was so inconsistent with the motion before the House as to render a postponement necessary; he thought the committee might inquire, and although the gentleman would stop, by his proposition, from proceeding in case it turned out to be a fabrication of the editor of the Aurora, yet if it should be found not a fabrication of his, but that of a member or an officer of the House, it was admitted they might progress, without infringing the sacred liberty of the press. Suppose that some person in the gallery should have furnished the spurious matter—and that may possibly be the case—will the sacred liberty of the press be violated if we order the doorkeeper to turn him out, and refuse him access in future? He thought the resolutions might be amended so as to give greater satisfaction than they do at present; for his own part he was not willing to declare all at present which they contained. He thought the business would be simplified if the committee were directed to consider and report what measures would be proper to adopt in respect to a publication containing various untruths of the proceedings of the Senate, and if the question of postponement was lost he meant to move several amendments for that purpose.