Congressional

The great question of supporiing the war continuos to be agitated in Congress. The Whigs are agita:ed, and losóme degreedivided on the propriety of votíne thenecessary suppliesof men and. moncy for i&prosccuiion : while t,hc Democrais are dividcd on the question of. making the conquered terrilory fvee. The Washington Union Mr. Polk's paper, apprchensit? ofmuch mischief to the administraron from the discussion of the sïnvery question, argües and pleads with the Democracy te dclay jt jt says: "Butt)ur Northern friends are sndly M'aken when they underrate the j eelings of iheir Southern brelhren on this delicate and davgerous question. The Union s safe ngaiust any other danger. Tlie ship of State will glide on securely, fearess of no o:her roirk in the wáy. But he South regarás this qttcstion as one in chich not only her propevty, but the safety f her peopie may bc concerned, Her rights, too, have been snrtciioned by the compromisos of the Constitution. Ifshe yields in one respect she inquires where s the stopping-point 1 How far will the pirit of fanatici-m, wielding the powers of the Federal governmont against the Southern parties in the Confederacy, go o trampling upon her instituí ons and disturbing her tranquility ? We speak t with all respect. Let qsbedone wiih his agitnting subject. Let us unite heart and hand in warring ngainstthc common enemy ; and let us drop this eternal feud which should never have been thrust at lii.-. time, above all otliers, inta the pubic council." The measures now beforo Congress "or increasing the army gives the President the appointment of fouror five hundred new officers, in addition to the immense appointing power already possessed by Kim. It is stated on what is aleged to bethe highest authority, that the President a few days since sent for Mr. Pixon II. Lew is, Chairman of the Committoe of Finance in tho Senate, to consult with him concVning the adoption of certain measures, in which he expressed deen interest, After reviewing the va rious diflïcullies which beset their passage, heconcluded tho interview by c re mark, reported to be substantially in these words :-" I shall rely upon the South to support me on Democratie principies alone, and I will bvy up the Norlh wilh my patrouagc." It is supposed that Mr. Preston King in his niovement to prevent theintroduction of Slavery into any new territory, acied under an expectation of support from the Silas Wright branch of the parly. An efibit lo back up Mr. King has been made by the introduclion of the following resolutioa into the New York Señale : Resolved, (if the Assembly concur) that our Senators in Congress be instructed, and our represenlatives requested, to insist, upon all proper occasions, and to vote for suitnbje provisions to be made by law, tlintthere shall be slavery nor involuntary servitude in any terrilory which shall hereafter be acquired by or annexed to the United States, oiherwise thnn in the punishinent of crimes when the parlies hall have been duly convicted. These demonstrations have thoroughly alarmed the South. In a speech delivered by Mr. Dargin, of Alabama, on Thursday of last week, he uses the following strong and e.xpressive languagri. " The day tbc North said to the South there shall be no slavery south of the line of 36-30, from that day we dated the down fa 1] of the Union. Give us in the iipw terrilory to le acquired slavery south of this compromise line, and Southern m-n would perteveringly rally a round the Union. ""The question," said Mr. D., " onght to be settled now. It was a vital one, nnd every dny growing in mngniiude. - Sny to the Souih ihat they were fighting to make free territory only ; that it was for this the brave men of Carolina, and Geogia and Alabama, were periling their lives, and they would demand the settlementofthis question now, preliminary to any further prosecuiion of the war." Mr. Siddon, of Virginia, reiterated the same thing. He "declared that the Union itself, ils hopes, prosperity, nay, ils very existence hung upon the willingness of the North to admit all new territory South of the line of 36 30 as slave temtory. The day you refuse to do this, that day you date the downjall of the American Union. The South will not fighf your battles if there is to be free territory alone in the provinces we are conquering. Give us our slaves accordingtothe Missouri compromise, and we will be content. Refuse to do this, and the Union cannot last, and we do not desire that it should last !" Mr. Hilliard, from whose speech we quoted last week, is aWhig, anda minister of the M. E. Church. He made a most violent attack on King of New York for having introduced a bilí to confine slavery within its present li'nits. - He " asked in the name of Uberly and the constitution, that Slavery should not here be made a theme of angry disputation." Mr. Smith, a Wbig of Indiana, made a good speech on the war question. In exposing'its objocts, ho said, - A gonlleman from Tennessee, ('Mr. Stanton,) who seemed to be one of the spokesman of the President, had given the House his most solemn nssurance thathere bad been no design of conquest - none at all : it had only been undertaken to "carryout the great mensure of the age,," in the acquisition of California. - (A laugh.) Anothcr fn'end had given the. Ho.use. his word, as a Representative and a gentlomen, that no such designs were cherished by tho Administration. - Yet it washisovvn idea that we should finaily conclude to run a boundary up the Rio Grande to latitude 32 deg., and thehce carry it directly across to the Pacific, and tako all of Mexico north of that line. (A l.iiigh.) It was no war of conquest ; no such thing was thought of or intended ; but - as an incident of the war - it might probably happen that we should get one-thirdor one-half of Mexico ! (Langhter.) Of cour?e then, afler all these re-peated assurances from so many friends af Lhe President, Mr. S, was nftt io sa that this was a war of conquest : it was not cortainly : then he supposed it must be designated as a war of manifest desiny ;" which (though not so intended) ivas to plant tho glorious stars and stripes over one half of Mexico. It was a war af destiny - of manifest destiny ! (Mu.ch laughter._) The opinions expressed here by Northi 2rn men must satisfy every one .hat the feeling of the North was qtterly opposed to the admission of more slave territory. Where was the Northern man who dared stand up here and expiéis the opinión that we were ever to admit more slave territory into this Union 1 He would ask his Democratie friendo here present what were their opinipns ? Were they prepared to sanciiona greator extensión of slavery ? They would declare, tb a man, that they wens not, Mr, S. charged that it wás so ; if it. was not, let gentlemen rise up and deny it. If there was one man from the North pre-: pared to vote to sanction the extensión of slavery, let him come out and say so, that we might know where we stood. On the other side, southern gentlemen were, if possible, still more der ided than the men of the North. They nevei would consent that territory should ever beadmiited into the Union from which slavery wns excluded by law, What, then, was the true course for the patriot who desired above all things the perpetuity of this Union and the peace and happiness of the Amerioan people ' It was to take the middle ground : to stand out firmly and resolutely agains the iutr. cKiction oí any territory into thi Confederucy, the admission of which must be followed by consequeneos so fata 10 all an American held dear. It was to keep out every inch of territorv in re gard to which the question of slavery could possibly present itself. The ma who succeeded in bringing about auch result would confer upon his country th most precious of boons, and would hav done much towards giving security an perpetuity to the peace and happiness o these S:atcs." In the Senate, Jan. 21, 26 abolition memorials from Pennsylvania were pre sented by various senators. The motioi to receive them was laid on the table ac cording to a standing rule of the Sen ate for ten years past. Not a "YVhig or Democrat has had the courage even to queslion the propriety of this rule. - There is one Senator elected as a Liberty man. Will he, too, always acquiesc in this infamous regulation ? We sha see. A long debate ensued upon the amenc mentsofthe army bill relative to the ap pointmentofchaploins. The amendmen was modified so as to make the chaplain ofvolunteer regiments elective, and t .ñx the pay at $1000 per annum, andtw rations per day, and forage for a horse Adopted. Mr. Houston then oiFered an amenc ment changing the troops from regular to volunteers, making all oñicers electiv and rèquiring the President to commis sion them. VVith the view of having th floor to-morrotv, he moved an adjourn ment, which wascarried. In the House, a personal explanatio took place between Messrs. Sawyer anc Culver. The fermer pledged himselft prove that Mr. Culver endeavored to ob tain in a dishonorable manner, from eer tain lodges, secrets for pubücation. Mr C. pronounced the statement a falsehooc and said that if compelled to fight h should insist, as the challenged party, o the choice of weapons. The House went into committee of th w hol e, Mr. Tibbits in the chair, on th treasury note and land bilis. Mr. Crosie addressed the committee in opposition l the Administration and in defence of Gen Taylor. On motion of Mr. Rathbun, the com mittce rose and he ofiered a resolution t close the debate at 3 o'clock, which wa. adopted, 107 to 55. Again ihe House went into committe of the whole, and Mr. Giles spoke umi 3 o'clock. Sundry amendmenss unim portant in themselves, were adopted, anc several others were ofiered, viz: to pro hibil slavery in new territory ; to repca the tariffof '46 ; to impose an additiona dn!y on articles now taxed ; to levy duty on tea and coffee. The amendments were lost or dcclare out of order.The bill was then reponed lo the House, t the umendment concurrpd in and the bill t passed by yeas and. nayc 1GG to 22. c In f: e Senate, Mr. Nilcs from the c commiitee on post roadst $LC, repüieda f bil] to amend the net reducing ihe ates of r postngo, c. The bill provides that on r and after lstof July the postagc on all letters not weighrng more than one n third of one ounce, five cents 'x ing npore than on? tlyrd, and not c ing one halfof an, aunc ten cents, and j fivo cents for evjry additionaj half ounce r fraction ihereof ; hut it Jn do$ be t awful to deposit in any post office, to be g onveyed in the mail, two or more letters r irected to different persons and enclosed s n the same envelope under penalty of 10. All newspapers to bo subject to t )ostage but papers not 3ent from the office f publicaron are to. be subjected to a t ostage of thr-ce cents payablo in advance. d Any mail carrier may carry free of ge newspapers for sale or distribution to i ubsoribers. i The frnnking privilege in regnrd to q ie receipt of lttters by meuibers of e Oongress is tobe the same as in respeet e o letters written by them, and their right n o frank public documents is to continue a o long as they have the privilegio to frank, v etters. p The Buffalo Courier says j " On the 6th, the question of the limitation of lavery, arose in a new form. Mr. Burt, . of South Carolina, submitted a proposiion to modify the act organizing ihe ' Territory of Oregon, sq as to permit the . existenoe of slavery south of latitude 36 J, , he north line of the Missouri . ise. This was rejected by a decided voto of 113 to 82. In the afiirmative, thnre were only fivc votes from the non-slaveholding states - two from Illinois, two from Iowa, and one from Iowa, and one (ram Pennsylvania. The negative vote was all from the free states. The bill passej without the provisión by a more decisive vote - 138 to 35. An exciting debate preceded the set ilement of this qqestion, in which the respective, positions of the north and south were maintained. " This is but a part of the mavement of Mr, King, and the vote is an indica tion of the settlement of that proposition. Upon evory vote yet taken, the northern members have maintained the groynd ta ken on the VVilmot proviso." The Washington correspondent of the N. Y. Express wriies that Mr. Calhoun, with the snme forecast that induced him to oppose the recognition of the Mexican war, to avoid the ngitation of the slavery quostion, is now, to avade it, in favor oi withdrawingour forces back to the Rio Grande, and be content with that as a boundary on the Gulf-of Mexico, and wilh California north of 36 30, the Missour Comprornise line, on the Paoific, This view is confirmed by the intimations in ihe speech of Mr. Dargin, of Alabama, in rebly to Mr. King's argument. That argument was confessedly prepared anti written out beforo hand. The repjy to a proposition so grave and important to the South, as wascontained in Mr. King's speech, we mny feel assured was not less carefully considered, and the intimations in it are, therefore, worthy of more attenlion than they wou ld be, if they had been thrown out in the heat of a debate by a hot-heated nconsiderate member.