On Wednesday there was a debate in the United States Senate, in the course of which a difference between Messrs. Douglas, of Illinois, and Butler, of South Carolina, elicited the following:—

  Mr. Butler, in the course of a speech, in which he expressed dissent from Mr. Douglass, said: "When we despise England, we must despise the tree on the fruit of which we have fed; we must despise Hampden, Sidney, Chatham, Shakspeare, and Burke.—There was no country on God Almighty's earth he loved so much as his own; but he loved England, because she was his mother, and he was proud of the tributary streams which she had poured out on America. The very common law of England made us. We have English laws and literature—and was he to be told we must despise England? He did not wish to court any occasion to become hostile to her. This debate was calculated to sow the seeds of bitterness.

  Mr. Douglas—The Senator says we ought to love England, because she is our mother. Now it is hard to tell who our mother was. We have a great many mothers—we have here English, Irish, Scotch, French, Norman, Spanish—every kind of descent; all we have found valuable in England we have adopted, and that which was injurious we have rejected. I did not speak in terms of unkindness of England; but, in speaking of monuments, the point which I made was this: that we should not shut our eyes to the fact that the policy which England is pursuing has its origin in hostility towards us, and is not to enhance our interests. While the Senator spoke of England pouring in her streams of intelligence, I thought that the stream of abolition, treason and insurrection, which she had poured into South Carolina and other slaveholding States of the Union, would at least excuse him from endorsing those streams of literature under the name of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and other works—(tremendous applause in the gallery, and cries of "Good, good") works libelling us and our institutions, and holding us up to the hate and prejudice of the world. While engaged in this, he was the last to compliment her for her refreshing literature. (Renewed applause.)

  The chair suppressed the disorder, and ordered the galleries to be cleared.

  Mr. Adams—I hope they will be cleared.

  Mr. Douglas—I hope they will.

  Mr. Butler—When I spoke of gratitude, I spoke of those things in which we have a common interest. I do not thank the Senator for going out of his way and indicating impure streams. I spoke of the streams which authors and orators have poured out upon us, which I hope have been refreshing to him, and the intelligence of the age. I did not expect a miserable allusion to "Uncle Tom's Cabin." It was ad captandum, and not manly made.

  Mr. Douglas—I spoke in terms of reverence and respect of the monuments of statesmen in England, of patriotism, legal learning, science, and literature—of all that was great, noble, and admirable. I did not expect statesmen to go back two or three centuries to justify the aggressions of the present age. And when I heard the plaudits relative to the past, I thought I had a right to allude to the present enormity of England.

  Mr. Butler—I should like to know how England is responsible for "Uncle Tom's Cabin"? If the Senator takes the sickly sentimentality of the day as an exponent of the English heart and literature, very well. I alluded to our commercial relations with England, and our connexion as a civilized nation, and would the Senate postpone her?

  Mr. Douglas—I would postpone her, or give her as greater preference than other nations, but treat her as duty required.

  Mr. Butler—We can find sickly sentimentality everywhere, such as the Maine law, and all that. (Laughter.)