Mr. Pinckney rose to a question of order. Had the gentleman from
Massachusetts a right, under the rule, to read the petition?
The Speaker said, the gentleman from Massachusetts had a right to make a statement of the contents of the petition.
Mr. Pinckney desired the decision of the Speaker as to whether a gentleman had a right to read a petition.
Mr. Adams said he was reading the petition as a part of his speech, and he took this to be one of the privileges of a member of the House. It was a privilege he would exercise till he should be deprived of it by some positive act.
The Speaker repeated that the gentleman from Massachusetts had a right to make a brief statement of the contents of the petition. It was not for the Speaker to decide whether that brief statement should be made in the gentleman's own language, or whether he should look over the petition, and take his statement from that.
Mr. Adams.—At the time my friend from South Carolina—
The Speaker said the gentleman must proceed to state the contents of the petition.
Mr. Adams.-I am doing so, sir.
The Speaker.—Not in the opinion of the chair.
Mr. Adams.—I was at this point of the petition—"Keenly aggrieved by its existence in a part of our country over which Congress possesses exclusive jurisdiction in all cases whatsoever—"