n South Carolina. Mr. Adams, in
reply, exclaimed: "If this is true,--if a member is there made amenable
to the Grand Jury for words spoken in debate,--I thank God I am not a
citizen of South Carolina! Such a threat, when brought before the world,
would excite nothing but contempt and amazement. What! are we from the
Northern States to be indicted as felons and incendiaries, for
presenting petitions not exactly agreeable to some members from the
South, by a jury of twelve men, appointed by a marshal, his office at
the pleasure of the President! If the gentleman from South Carolina, by
bringing forward this resolution of censure, thinks to frighten me from
my purpose, he has mistaken his man. I am not to be intimidated by him,
nor by all the Grand Juries of the universe."

After a debate of excessive exacerbation, lasting for four days, only
twenty votes could be found indirectly and remotely to censure. In the
course of this discussion circumstances made it probable that the names
appended to the petition were not the signatures of slaves, and that
the whole was a forgery, and designed as a hoax upon him. On which
suggestion Mr. Adams stated to the house that he now believed the paper
to be a _forgery_, by a slaveholding master, for the purpose of daring
him to present a petition purporting to be from slaves; that, having
now reason to believe it a forgery, he should not present the petition,
whatever might be the decision of the house. If he should present it at
all, it would be to invoke the authority of the house to cause the
author of it to be prosecuted for the forgery, if there were competent
judicial tribunals, and he could obtain evidence to prove the fact. He
did not consider a forgery committed to deter a member of Congress from
the discharge of his duty as a _hoax_.[5]

[5] _Niles' Weekly Register_, N. S., vol. I., pp. 385--390,
et seq.

In March, 1837, Mr. Adams addressed a series of letters to his
constituents, transmitting his speech vindicating his course on the
right of petition, and his proceedings on the subject of the
presentation of a petition purporting to be from slaves. These letters
were published in a pamphlet, and were at the time justly characterized
as "a triumphant vindication of the right of petition, and a graphic
delineation of the slavery spirit in Congress;" and it was further said
of them, that, "apart from the interest excited by the subjects under
discussion, and viewed