Mr. COWAN. I have a single remark to make. I am opposed to preambles, particularly those which cannot be agreed upon by all parties who are in favor of the substance of the ill. I think the purpose of a preamble is entirely mistaken. The function of a preamble is not to state the reasons which influence men to vote, but it was aiieiently used in statutes (very much disused now) to describe the mischief which was intended to be remedied by the statute, and therefore usually could be agreed upon if the statute could be a reed upon. But I do not think that any legisative body ever 5 lit upon the preamble after they had passed toresolution or the enactment which fo lowed it, because to suppose that they could was to suppose that there was an irreconcilable difference ietwcen the two; and that is why the rule in legislative bodies has been to pass the cadetment 1st and then to adopt the preamble afterward, merely for the purpose of helping the {‘udieiary afterward in their construction of the aw. It sometimes happened that a law, from the general nature of its terms, would have been very much eiilargedifit had not been for the preamble which cseribed the exact mischief intended to be corrected by it. I have another objection to preambles, re ambles particularly which cite dubious acts and which attempt to compel people to vote for that which is asserted as a fact when they do not believe it. It is a very stale trick of the politician, andI think ought to be discour aged. I remember very well in old times, when I had the honor, and not only the honor, but the great pleasure, to be a member of the Whig party, during the time of the Mexican war, we thought our Democratic brethren were often times very unkind when the prefaced their bills and resolutions with “w ereas war exists by the act of Mexico.” or “whereas we are waging a just war with Mexico, ” and all that kind of thing; and if you did not swallow the preamble you could not vote for the bill. Now, as I do not conceive that any advan tage can be gotten from these things, I hope that these preambles will be dispensed with and let us get at the subject in hand, which I understand to be the admission of representatives from Tennessee. If we are agreed upon that point I cannot seeany reason in the world why we should differ about the ornamental arts of the bill, or about the phrase in which it is couched. The great matter is to get at the thing you desire to achieve.