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[66] of my political antecedents. That fact cannot be disguised. I make no complaint. I do not feel that my personal rights are involved in this controversy, and when this blow comes, as the honorable Senator from New-York has announced it will come, I, sir, shall wrap my robes about me and take it. Let it come. I may fall as the gallant — the brave — the chivalric — the classic — the learned Senator from Massachusetts said I might fall — into the bastile. That is a matter I cannot control. That is in the hands of those who have the power, if it is their pleasure, in connection with this wrong, to inflict still another. Let the blow come; but, if my own volition continues, I will fall back into the arms of the people — the ever just people of the State of Indiana. I will ask them, sir, to vindicate the truth of history, by showing to the world that this partisan blow, levelled at my head, is not merited. I regret that I should have been betrayed into a word on this occasion. It has not been done in the belief of controlling or influencing a vote, but to give a plain narrative of facts, that the unprejudiced masses may have the true facts of the case, and on them base their judgment.

rebel opinions of the expulsion.

The expulsion of Mr. Bright from the Federal Senate, is another insult put upon the Northwest by rabid and fanatical New-England. The pretext on which this expulsion was based is the shallowest that could have been conceived. It is puerile, and unworthy even of the contemptible cabal which employed it for their purposes. Mr. Bright is the representative of the conservative feeling of the Northwest. His presence in the Senate was a standing rebuke of the excesses of the times; was a continual protest against the violence perpetrated on Northwestern interests by the domineering and destructive fanaticism of New-England. His expulsion is another wrench of the Puritan screw upon his subjugated and persecuted section. New-England declares to the Northwest, by this vote, that she shall not think in conflict with herself; that she will delve into the private correspondence of her leading citizens in pursuit of her determination to crush out independent Western thought.

Representatives from the Northwest voted for the expulsion; but in every case they were Puritan emissaries from New-England, sent forth into that country as the instruments of its enthralment. The Northwest, it seems, is not to have a thought or a policy of her own. In all respects and in all measures is she to show herself the convenient tool of New-England. She is to go into a war ruinous to her special interests, in support of the dogmas of her superior. She is to furnish the troops for the armies, and to pay the burden of the taxes necessary to support the war. She is by her own troops to blockade her own intercourse with the South, her best customer, and her nearest neighbor and friend. She is to do all without a murmur or a protest. Her citizens are not to speak a word or write a line in public or private correspondence, even in indirect collision with the measures of the ruling section. If they do, though they be representatives of sovereign States, and sit as ambassadors in the Federal Capitol, they are to be expelled ignominiously and sent home as traitors to the Union--that is to say, to the truculent policy of New-England.

It remains to be seen whether the Northwest will submit to this last indignity. The chances are that she will. The spell by which New-England seems to have subdued her, apparently grows more potential every day. It was the appropriate duty of the Northwest-and it was within her power to preserve the Union--but she yielded to New-England, and the Union was lost. It was then her duty to mitigate the evils of war, and to assume the part of peace-maker between the sections. That honorable office she declined; and she furnishes all the fighting regiments for the war. For her pains, she is now rewarded with indignity. A large proportion of her population entertain conservative opinions with regard to the present troubles, and condemn the madness which rules the hour. Mr. Bright was the exponent of this phase of Northwestern sentiment in the Federal Senate; and he is expelled as a traitor. The indignity is great, and the insult most gross; but the chances are that the Northwest will submit.

Richmond Examiner, February 11.

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