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LETTER 
 
 GEORGE W. HOPKINS, 
 
 COL. JAMES H. PIPER, 
 
 OF 
 
 TAW 1ST '^MrXtJBLBBZm 
 
 City ok- Washington, March 16, 1640. 
 Col. 5 as. H. Piper: 
 
 My Dear Sir — Your letter, which solicits the expression of 
 my opinions about the great political parties that agitate the country, 
 was lately received. 
 
 Our private and political relations ; my respect for your charac- 
 ter and honorable intentions ; and my aversion to conceal any opin- 
 ions that my constituents may desire to know, all induce me, with 
 fromptitude and frankness, to satisfy your desire, and to assign, as 
 shall now proceed to do, some of the prominent reasons which 
 persuade me to support the present administration of the General 
 Government. 
 
 Since I had the honor to serve in the Congress of the United 
 States I have honestly endeavored to sustain those great public 
 principles only, which the Constitution sanctions, and which Jeffer- 
 son and his coadjutors in politics made practically prevalent among 
 us. And while every day's experience confirms the wisdom and 
 utility of those opinions, I am not aware that there is any public ac- 
 tion of my life which indicates a departure from them. 
 
 If, on any of the memorable measures of public policy which 
 vexed the public mind, I have differed from my political brethren, 
 it was from a dutiful solicitude to preserve unimpaired that proud 
 fabric of civil liberty which was reared and consecrated by the un- 
 shaken constancy of our greatest and purest men. 
 
 The Conservative party, in the United States, was avowedly 
 formed for the maintenance of our constitutional principles. And 
 in the hope and expectation • to preserve, not to defeat these princi- 
 ples, I became a member of it. But, since the prominent men who 
 reared that party, and gave the greatest force and direction to it, 
 have plunged into dangerous extremes, and now openly countenance 
 and support the public men and public measures they lately opposed 
 and reprobated, I feel constrained by my pride — by the love of con- 
 sistency and public, principle — to return to my old political associ- 
 ates of the Democratic party, and to co-operate with them in the 
 public cause. 
 
 The Independent Treasury measure, for the collection, safe keep- 
 ing, and disbursement of the public revenue, which Mr. Van Bu- 
 

 ren recommended at the called session of Congress, in 1837, is the 
 only prominent measure of the President that I have hitherto fail'. J 
 to support. I never did consider that measure as obnoxious t<j any 
 constitutional objection whatever. But the thing was new and un- 
 tried ; without the experience and example of our ancestors, de- 
 nounced by a large portion of my fellow-citizens, and so concertedly 
 and violently opposed by the whole dynasty of associated wealth, 
 and by the banks especially, that 1 was constrained to look upon it 
 with distrust and fear. But candor compels me to acknowledge 
 that the reasons for a Pre idential recommendation of the measure 
 are, in my judgment, more apparent and persuasive since the re- 
 peated failure of the Banks to fulfil their fiscal engagements to the 
 Government. 
 
 In 1831, General Gordon, of Virginia, a Whig of rank, character, 
 and abilities, introduced into the Congress of the United States this 
 celebrated measure. And then the great body of General Gordon's 
 political coadjutors joined him in denouncing the State Banks as 
 improper depositories of the public funds, and predicted that a reli- 
 ance of the Government upon them would be disastrous to the na- 
 tional credit. The friendly and liberal disposition which President 
 Jackson and Mr. Van Buren both manifested towards the State 
 Banks met my cordial approbation at the time, and, owing to the 
 circumstances of the country, 1 was disposed, under certain limita- 
 tions and restrictions, to continue my support of the Stale Banks as 
 fiscal agents of the Government, longer than many of my political 
 friends would agree to do. I did not credit the preliction nf the 
 Whigs in relation to the Banks. And, even after the wisdom of the 
 prediction had been confirmed by the memorable and disastrous ex- 
 perience of every Suite in the Union. I was still loath to abandon 
 the Banks; lest in so doing, I might augment, rather than alleviate, 
 the general distresses of the country. My support of those institu- 
 tions was real an.! honest — not factious nor political. Bui many of 
 the politicians who had condemned those Slate institutions in ad- 
 vance sudde ily dispell;'! their fears, the very moment the Banks 
 failed to pay their d cie ; and tl for the first nine, sup- 
 
 ported the Banks as the proper depositories of the public funds; or, 
 rather, as con et ugin ubs rvient to their will, and necessary 
 
 to hoisl then patrons into power and place. Mr Ulaj himself, if I 
 mistake not, op lared in the Senate thai support "of them 
 
 was rath r osi ,; a en in the hope and expecta- 
 
 tion that the continued and manifest incompetency of these State in- 
 stitutions to fulfil their engagements to the public would produce the 
 incorporation of a National Bank. 
 
 The fourth seei ion ol the act of Congress of the 2d September 
 1789, declares, "the Treasurer shall receive and keep the public 
 
 leys of the United States, and disburse the same on warrants 
 
 drawn by the Secretary of the Treasury, countersigned by the pro- 
 per officer, and recorded according to law." The only kind of 
 mom j which this law allowed the Treasurer to receive and keep 
 was money of the legal currency of the United States. The United 
 Status Bank was not then ito existence, and no bank-notes of any 
 
kind were considered as legal currency of the United States. 
 Neither the constitution, nor any law or resolution of Congress, had 
 made them such. And yet, in one month after the passage of the 
 act of 1789, to which L have referred, Alexander Hamilton, then 
 Secretary of the Treasury, issued a Treasury order, authorizing 
 bank-notes to be received into the Treasury, in payment of the pub- 
 lic dues. This arbitrary order, issued, as I think, without authority 
 of law, opened the way for a gradual admission into the Treasury, 
 of a variety of moneys, all tending to confuse and to depreciate the 
 legal currency of the United States. 
 
 The currency ultimately became so bad, that on the 30th of April 
 1816, Congress resolved that '-no duties, debts, or sums of money 
 payable to the United States, ought to be collected or received other- 
 wise than in the legal currency of the United States, or in Treasury 
 Notes, or in the Notes of banks which pay their Notes in the legal 
 currency of the United States." 
 
 Tlie deposite act of the 23d of June 1838, authorised the Secre- 
 tary of the Treasury to select, as depositories of public moneys, 
 Banks convenient to the places where the revenue was payable and 
 disbursable. The deposite Banks were accordingly selected; and 
 required "to credit as specie, all sums deposited therein, to the credit 
 of the Treasurer of the United States, and to pay all checks, war- 
 rants or drafts, drawn on such deposites, in specie, if required by 
 the holder thereof. " Such Banks were to be discontinued as depo- 
 sitories of the revenue of the Government, on failing to redeem their 
 notes in specie. 
 
 And it must be admitted that, in a state of profound peace with 
 all the nations of the earth, the state Banks did, in May 1837, 
 simultaneously and eoncerledly proclaim to the world that they 
 could no longer discharge their debts or fulfil their engagements to 
 the Government; and that President Van Buren, representing (as 
 his high office and his oath required him to do, the credit, the dig- 
 nity '■anil safety of the nation, was forced to convene Congress, and 
 disclose that important fact to the representatives of the people, and 
 to remind them of the precarious condition of our monetary af- 
 fairs, and the necessity of providing efficient means for the future 
 preservation of them. 
 
 In such a crisis of the national credit, as was produced by the 
 suspension of the Banks in 1837, all must concede that the Presi- 
 dent could only recommend to Congress a continuation of the State 
 Banks as fiscal agents of the General Government, or the establish- 
 ment of a National Bank, for that purpose, or the adoption of legal 
 provisions for the future collection, preservation and disbursement 
 of the national funds, -through the medium of a National Treasury, 
 independent of the Banks. 
 
 Tue President deemed it unwise and dangerous to re-adopt the 
 State Bank Deposite System, directly after the notorious failure of 
 the Banks to perform for the Government, obligations which were 
 indispensable to the credit and security of the nation. I was dis- 
 posed, under such regulations as past experience was calculated to 
 suggest, to try them again, under the hope that their obligations 
 
might be made effective by severe penal provisions. Yet, I can- 
 not now deny that great allowance is, in fairness, to be made for 
 the refusal of the President to recommend them. His opponents, 
 and the federal portion of them especially, had denounced the 
 State Banks before they were tried as fiscal agents of the Govern- 
 ment. And the impartial judgment of the whole country is, that 
 the Banks have been fairly and fully tried ; and that they have sig- 
 nally failed more than once. All the politicians, therefore, who de- 
 light to augur misgovernment in the democratic party, and who can 
 never perceive any merit in the action of the President, would have 
 seized the occasion to rouse the public indignation against him, had 
 he again recommended institutions against which the opposition 
 soleinnly warned him ; and which had so lately violated their most 
 important engagements to the nation. 
 
 Honesty forbade the President from recommending to Congress, 
 the establishment of a National Bank. Because, before his elec- 
 tion to the presidential office, he had declared to the whole nation 
 the solemn, deliberate conviction of his judgment, that a National 
 Bank was not compatible with our fundamental laws, nor with the 
 public policy and welfare. And on the wisdom of that declaration 
 placed the issue of the Presidential election in 1836. Besides, the 
 public voice, proclaimed at the polls, and echoed in the halls of leg- 
 islation in an unambiguous and decisive manner, decreed the sleep of 
 death to the National Bank, — that bloated, reckless, avaricious hari- 
 dan which the genius of corruption had employed in the seduction 
 of the national morals, till the virtue of the republic seemed to 
 sicken into pestilence and desolation. 
 
 Mr. Van Buren, therefore, refused to recommend either th States 
 Banks or a National Bank; but as a substitute, recommended, as 
 the safest depository of the public funds, a National Treasury, in- 
 dependent of all Banks, whether National or State; — and the offi- 
 ers of which should be created by the nation, compensated by the 
 nation, responsible to the nation, and punishable by the nation for 
 every abuse of trust and authority. 
 
 The public attention has been freey invoked to examine this 
 memorable measure ever since the President recommended it at 
 the called session of September, 1837. Meanwhile, in October 
 last, the State Banks, including the boastful regulator, the Unit- 
 ed States Bank of Pennsylvania, once more suspended specie 
 payments, when we had no foreign war, nor domestic calamity to 
 disconcert our foreign commerce or internal trade. 
 
 We owe it to the bounty of Providence, and to the wisdom, 
 moderation, and decision of the President, that the sore calamity 
 of foreign war did not fall upon the nation at either period of the 
 suspensions to which I have referred. The cloud of war, foreign 
 and domestic — savage and civilized, still impends over the political 
 horizon of our beloved country. And the wisdom of the wisest 
 man cannot venture to prognosticate how long the blessings of na- 
 tion::! peace will abide among us. If, in the hour of peace and 
 prosperity, the nation has more than once, within a very short pe- 
 riod of time, been unjustly deprived by the Banks of her indispen- 
 
jiible resources, war would afford those institutions additional pro- 
 texts, if not adequate excuse, to lock up from the national defence 
 all the specie of the government ; that specie which is the necessa- 
 ry support of the nation, — our life blood in peace, and our sinews 
 in war. In short, the Banks might, either from necessity, avarice 
 or the love of power, dictate to the nation the terms of an igno- 
 minious peace, and the surrender of our national honor and inde- 
 pendence. 
 
 I unhesitatingly avow therefore, that my opposition to the Inde- 
 pendent. Treasury measure has so far yielded to the convictions of 
 reason and truth, that I am not only willing, but anxious, to give to 
 the measure a fair and candid experiment. And I shall derive the 
 highest satisfaction if the practical operation of the system shall 
 illustrate the fallacy of my former opposition, and fulfil the expec- 
 tations of its wannest f iends. 
 
 But I now repeat, what I have often declared before my generous 
 and confiding constituents, that I cherish no hostile disposition to- 
 wards the State Banks. For whilst I have ever been emphatically 
 anti-bank in all my feelings and opinions, — have never owned one 
 dollar of Bank stock, nor borrowed one dollar from any institution 
 of that sort, I cannot but remember that the State Banks have been 
 created, in the process of society, by what has been regarded as 
 the necessities of mankind. And fostered, as they have been, by 
 the taste, policy and institutions of the country, I consider them to 
 be the useful handmaids of foreign commerce and internal trade, 
 which ought not, and cannot be rashly or suddenly abolished, 
 without shocking every interest in our common country. I would 
 willingly encourage and support the Banks in their proper and le- 
 gitimate vocations. I shall oppose them only when they madly 
 wander from their appropriate spheres; — when they claim as their 
 right, the custody of the public purse; — when, backed by the 
 whole dynasty of associated wealth, they aspire to become politi- 
 cians, and daringly contend for lead and authority in the Govern- 
 ment; — when they fain would become the vital arteries through 
 which the blood of the body politic must either circulate with 
 wholesome vigor and life, or soon stagnate into pestilence and 
 death. 
 
 The recommendation to Congress of the independent Treasury 
 system, and a divorce of the Government from Banks, roused 
 against the Administration the simultaneous and concerted hostility 
 of all the moneyed institutions which the President desired to see 
 divested of a legal control over the National Treasure. Yet the 
 President offered no wrong to any of those potent institutions. He 
 found by fruitful experience that the political connexion which 
 delegated that control to the Banks was injurious to the public in- 
 terest — and wished by a timely and amicable separation to leave 
 the Banks as they formerly were, in the complete exercise of all 
 the corporate rights and privileges to which they were entitled 
 under the provisions of their respective charters. The right and 
 duty of the Government to dissolve the connexion fully and legally 
 accrued on the admitted and notorious failure of the Banks to per- 
 
lorm for the Government the most important stipulated duties; 
 duties which the banks utterly failed to perform, and on a true 
 and proper performance of which alone, their connexion with the 
 Government expressly depended. 
 
 Still the banks solicit and expect the Government to renew and 
 invigorate the hitherto disastrous connexion. And to effectuate 
 their object have brought into operation all the fearful resources of 
 combined wealth. Failing to persuade the President into his offi- 
 cial approbation of their wishes, they have continually labored 
 through the agency of ambitious politicians and favored partizans 
 to delude the public mind, and to excite the most groundless pre- 
 judice against the Chief Magistrate, by the unjust and disingenuous 
 accusation that he wickedly endeavors to deprive the Banks of 
 their legal rights ; to destroy the whole credit system, and at once 
 to disconcert the order of private business and national trade. 
 
 The towns, that almost monopolize the immediate benefit of 
 Banks, have every where been stimulated by the natural spirit of 
 monopoly to countenance and propagate this idle and ungenerous 
 charge ; and have liberally encouraged the public press to denounce 
 the President for expressing ths opinion that the national treasure 
 should no longer be confided to the arbitrary pleasure, the precar- 
 ious credit, and ambitious designs of the Banks. 
 
 A vast number of the individuals indebted to the Banks are un- 
 prepared to settle their accounts, and upon whom even a curiail 
 would operate like a paralytic shock. A still greater number con- 
 tinually court precuniary favors from the Banks. While the Banks 
 themselves, always bent on an augmentation of their profits, naturally 
 solicit the custody of the public purse, and force their debtors to aid 
 the avaricious desire. 
 
 To withhold the use of the national Treasure from the Banks, 
 therefore, is to cross and frustrate the pecuniary necessities of a nu- 
 merous, active, and powerful combination of bodies, natural and 
 artificial. 
 
 The Banking authorities, with such countless, necessitous aux- 
 iliaries, combine against the Administration ; ami by a bold, simul- 
 taneous and persevering effort to control the revenue and finances 
 of the United Slates, aspire to the exercise of powers that are for- 
 midable in the extreme, and which threaten to overthrow the free- 
 dom of the only hopeful Republic in the world. 
 
 If this combined encroachment on the regular, constituiional pro- 
 vince of the nation to collect and disburse its own revenue cannot 
 be successfully resisted, the speedy consequence must be a total 
 change in the structure and purposes of the Government, And 
 those potent corporations, like the hundred Fathers of ancient Home, 
 may gradually organize themselves into the patrician orders of the 
 regal age, dictate the national measures, and regulate all foreign 
 commerce and internal trade. And even should the structure of the 
 Government remain the same, the Vital spirit of liberty, which has 
 animated ami adorned our Republic, will become extinct and still. 
 
 Incorporated wealth never cloys the appetite it feeds. Every 
 morsel of the stimulating aliment produces increase of hunger and 
 
thrist — until at last, the plethoric tendencies of the diet, swell the 
 bodv politic into a puffed and reckless libertine. 
 
 Mr. Rives himself declared in the. Senate of the United States 
 that to give the Banks the public deposites, without the privilege to 
 trade upon them, were a mockery and a humbug. And experience, 
 I think, demonstrates that the privilege to trade upon them is liable 
 to the most dangerous abuse. 
 
 The sentiment against the mismanagement of the Banks, and the 
 disorders in the currency which that has a tendency to produce, 
 have become so universal and notorious that no one can now be 
 found hardy enough to bring forward a proposition in Congress to 
 allow the Banks to trade on the name, credit and revenues of the 
 United States. 
 
 Yet, in taking leave of the Conservative party, I cast no impu- 
 tations upon it. The omnipotent Being, who alone is faultless and 
 pure, and who has nothing to pardon in himself, may reward each 
 one anions us by a severe scrupulous standard of his own. But a 
 fallible mortal like myself, whose very best actions must be charita- 
 bly considered, if they would hope to pass the ordeal of God, 
 cannot be too mild, tolerant and forgiving. 
 
 It has been definitively settled in a full and free convention of 
 the Whigs, and proclaimed to the world, that General William H. 
 Harrison, of the State of Ohio, is the only candidate they will 
 support in the approaching presidential contest. This is the very 
 same military chieftain whom the Whigs selected in 1830, and ac- 
 coutred with the dazzling helmet and nodding plume to decoy the 
 multitude from Mr. Van Buren and the democratic cause. 
 
 When the democratic party supported General Jackson, and 
 raised him to the Presidential offn-e, the opposition orators prognos- 
 ticated to the multitude the certain destruction to our liberty and 
 laws. And every effort of the tongue and pen was unscrupulously 
 made to impress that terrific belief on the public mind. Mr. Clay, 
 who was then the great leader and champion of the National Re- 
 publicans, since styled Whigs, in a public speech conjured the peo- 
 ple against the parricidal act; and preferred "war, pestilence and 
 famine," to a military chieftain at the head of the government. 
 And in a published letter which, in January 1825, he wrote to 
 the Honorable Francis T. Brooke, of Virginia, he gave a solemn 
 pledge that as "a friend of liberty and the permanence of our insti- 
 tutions, he could not consent, at that early stage of their existence, 
 by contributing to the election of a military chieftain, to give the 
 strongest guarantee that this republic will march in the fatal 
 road which has conducted every other republic to ruin.'''' 
 
 The presses and orators throughout the land every where at- 
 tested the general prevalence of this affected solicitude among the 
 Whigs to secure our liberties against the fatal example of a military 
 chieftain at the head of the government. Yet no sooner had Gen. 
 Jackson retired from the public stage, than the very politicians who 
 had boldly denounced all military chieftains as incompetent to civil 
 rule, and dangerous to the national repose, brought forward and 
 supported General Harrison for the presidential office. And sure- 
 
ly, no two rivals for the public approbation were ever better quali- 
 fied than General Haarison and Mr= Van Buren were, to represent 
 the great political parties to which they respectively belonged. 
 
 I mistake the character of General Harrison, if he be not a 
 genuine scholar of the old federal school ; that school where Hamil- 
 ton, and Pickering, and Marshall, and Ames graduated in the polit- 
 ical science of the day. In former times, General Harrison was a 
 member of Congress, and approved the objectionable measures that 
 dismissed the federal party from the public confidence. 
 
 In the Senate of the United S ates, John Randolph, of Roanoke, 
 thus addressed himself to General Harrison, then a member of the 
 same body: "The only difference between the gemleman from 
 Ohio, (General Harrison,) and myself is this — and it is vital : that 
 gentleman and myself differ fundamentally and totally, and did dif- 
 fer when we first took our seats in Congress — he, a delegate from 
 the territory North West of the river Ohio; I, as a member of the 
 other House from the State of Virginia. He was an open, zealous, 
 frank supporter of the black cockade sedition law administra- 
 tion. JVe differed fundamentally and totally — we never agreed 
 about measures or men. I do not mean to dictate to the gentleman 
 — let us agree to differ as gentlemen ought to do, especially natives 
 of the same State, who are antipodes to each other in politics. 
 He, I acknowledge, just now the zenith, and I the nadir; but un- 
 less there is something false in the philosophy of the schools, in 
 the course of time even those will change their places." 
 
 To this address, the General replied: "He (Mr. Randolph,) has 
 been pleased to say that under the administration of Mr. Adams, I 
 was a federalist ; and he comes to that conclusion from the course 
 pursued by me in the session of 1799 — 1800. The gentleman had 
 no means of knowing my political principles, unless he obtained 
 them in private conversation. As I was on terms of intimacy 
 with the gentleman, it is very probable that he might have heard 
 me express sentiments favorable to the then administration. I 
 certainly felt them." 
 
 Here then, is the direct testimony of a gentleman who lived on 
 terms of intimacy with General Harrison — who served with him 
 in both Houses of Congress ; and the explicit, unequivocal admis- 
 sion of the General himself, that the General's political sentiments 
 were favorable to the federal administration of the elder Adams. 
 
 And in a studied and elaborate speech, which he delivered at 
 Cheviot, in the State of Ohio, on the 4th of July, 1833, and which 
 was written, published, pamphletized and widely circulated, Gene- 
 ral Harrison re-asserted and promulgated the alarming canons of 
 his political church. He advocated the power of Congress to in- 
 corporate a National Bank; the control of the Federal Judiciary 
 over the other departments of the General Government; the pow- 
 er of the General Government to protect domestic manufactures by 
 the imposition of duties on the importation of foreign goods ; 
 warmly approved the federal doctrines of Mr. Webster, delivered 
 in the Senate in lN:t3, in defence of General Jackson's proclama- 
 tion against South Carolina; and placed that warlike manifesto 
 
against State Rights above Jackson's glory when England's arro- 
 gance was cloven down upon the plains of Orleans. And to round 
 into gr?ce and beauty a perfect federal creed, General Harrison ex- 
 pressed an earnest solicitude that the States should authorize Con- 
 gress to appropriate the whole surplus revenue of the Union to the 
 purchase and emancipation of every slave in North America. 
 
 Such were the political opinions of General Harrison in 1833: — 
 opinions freely and gratuitously proclaimed ; recorded in the histo- 
 ry of the times, and thoroughly considered by the people, long be- 
 fore the presidential contest which terminated in the election of 
 Mr. Van Buren. And in that animated contention the same prin- 
 ciples and designs were developed by the respective parties that 
 have marked the political annals of this country from the founda- 
 tion of the government to the present hour. 
 
 Never has history recorded a departure of practice from profes- 
 sions that is more wide, memorable and direct, than that which the 
 Whigs manifested in their support of General Harrison for the 
 presidential office. That discordant party smothered their person- 
 al and public griefs in a mutual rivalry for power and place. And 
 ambitious aspirants who, in their notions about the public weal, 
 had stood as wide asunder as the poles of the earth; who never did 
 battle in a common cause ; nor marched to the same tune ; nor 
 stacked arms on the same ground ; then boldly covenanted to pour, 
 as they vainly did, their accumulated vengeance on the chosen 
 champion of the democratic cause. All the restless pageants of 
 departed sway mustered together in one common camp, under the 
 venerable and imposing title of Whigs. Under the auspices of 
 that deceptious name they constantly complained that exorbitant 
 and unconstitutional powers were claimed and exercised by the 
 administration party ; deprecated the popular partiality for military 
 service ; and seemed to consider that all the perils that encompassed 
 the public freedom and felicity were condensed and concentrated 
 in the danger to State rights, from a military chieftain at the head 
 of the government! Thus, with a perfect knowledge of the fede- 
 ral heresies of General Harrison, and that he too had followed the 
 war, the Whigs deliberately voted to raise that military chieftain 
 over all the worth and wisdom of the State Rights men. 
 
 Mr. Clay, in the teeth of his own opinions, deliberately and re- 
 peatedly proclaimed to his fellow men, has been lately stimulated 
 by an inordinate party zeal, or by the hope, the expectation and 
 promise of the succession to the Presidency, to quit his proper po- 
 sition in the national Senate — play the ambulant orator of his poli- 
 litical priesthood — rise at the festive board, at midnight dances, and 
 the public shows, and recommend this old military Chieftain — this 
 superannuated idol of Whiggery — as the President of the United 
 States. But the spirit of liberty which vanquished our oppressors 
 in 1776 — which produced the civil revolution in 1800, when the 
 federal sway of the elder Adams expired forever — which roused the 
 people to vindicate their rightful supremacy by the decisive rebuke 
 they gave General Harrison in 1836 — will continue to shine out 
 with renovated ardor ; and, heedless of the fogs which the Whigs 
 
10 
 
 throw up, animate to victory the unwavering champion of the De- 
 mocratic cause. 
 
 Whilst I shall hereafter oppose, as hitherto I have done, such 
 measures of Mr. Van Buren's administration as my judgment maj 
 condemn, I cannot withhold from him, or from you, the acknow- 
 ledgment that I have found enough, in the just appreciation of his 
 motives and measures, to forbid me to forsake him for one of Gene- 
 ral Harrison's pretensions and opinions. And in pursuing the dic- 
 tates of my own judgment in this respect. I shall but meet the ex- 
 pectations of a large majority of my constituents; for, in private con- 
 versations and public addresses, prior to my departure for this city 
 in November last, i constantly declared, that whilst it was my do- 
 termination to oppose such measures of the Administration as I 
 thought pernicious to the public interest, I should continue to sup- 
 port such as I might approve; and that between Mr. Van Buren and 
 Mr. Clay, or any°other member of the Federal party, I should not 
 hesitate to prefer the former. This was my position, then fully and 
 unequivocally defined, as many of my constituents can testily. 
 
 I profess no extraordinary solicitude for the public weal. And 
 will not attempt hypocritically to persuade my countrymen into a 
 disreputable fear of a Chieftain, even of the true martial order, much 
 less of a Chieftain who, if not always of the opposite sort, is now 
 old and feeble ; the superannuated and reluctant idol of a discordant 
 party, and almost a driveller and a show. 
 
 I readily acquit General Harrison of the potentiality of harm, 
 when I remember what history records, that in his sinewy days, 
 some seven and thirty years ago, when national gratitude awarded 
 the meed of voluntary" praise to every gallant man, he displayed no 
 heroic genius in the tented field, nor any disposition to continue 
 there; but, on the contrary, hobbled in the paths of martial glory, 
 and voluntarily retired from the troubles and dangers of war, at the 
 moment when his country was engaged in the thickest of a perilous 
 and doubtful fight lor national honor and independence. General 
 Harrison, without a pretence of sickness, or inability from any 
 cause that 1 am aware of, resigned his commission as Major Gene- 
 ral in the Army of the United Slates. And we have the fullest au- 
 thority to justify the assertion, that the Government never prevented 
 General Harrison from serving in the Army from which he volunta- 
 rily retired; hut that on the contrary, the Government assigned him 
 a service, which, had he performed it, would have placed a wreath 
 of laurel on his brow. 
 
 So late as February last, General Armstrong — now retired from 
 the bustle of the world— with no motive to disparage a fellow man, 
 and actuated* solely by a disposition to historic truth, stated in his 
 letter to the e litors of the .National Intelligencer— a letter founded 
 on documentar) evidence and published correspondence — 
 
 1st. That General Harrison, when arriving at Erie, wasnotfrom 
 enmity, or envy, ordered to repair to Ohio, or otherwise prevented 
 from giving his services to the Army then on the Niagara, as as- 
 serted bv his biographer. 
 
 Sdly.'ThH on the contrary, he was without delay put in eom- 
 
11 
 
 mam] of the Army, and assigned to a service, which, had it been 
 performed, would have justly entitled him to another wreath of lau- 
 rel. 
 
 3dly. That by a second order from the Secretary of War, he 
 brought down McArthur's brigade, to reinforce the garrison at 
 Sackett's Harbor; an order entirely approved and specially execu- 
 ted by the General. 
 
 4thly. That on the 11th May, 1813, six months after leaving 
 Sackett's Harbor, he resigned the command of the district, and quit- 
 ted the Army ; not, as his biographer asserts, because denied the 
 privilege of serving 1 the Government, and therefore ashamed to eat 
 its bread; but, as he himself says, "because he had some reason to 
 believe that malicious insinuations to his disadvantage had been 
 made at Washington." 
 
 Long after this peaceful General had allowed his valor to cool, 
 and his patriotism to flag, the true martial spirits of libertv bore up 
 the national renown. And the gallant men, so cruelly deserted by 
 the sunshine warrior of North Bend, dispelled their patriotic griefs, 
 under the victorious banners of General Jackson, that warlike and 
 patriotic man who faced with dauntless breast the tyrants of his 
 countrv, and raised a name to live "so long as the Mississippi shall 
 continue to pay her tribute to the flood." 
 
 In the Democratic Convention which assembled at Nashville, on 
 the 11th of February last, General Carroll, that gallant and accom- 
 plished officer who was second in command at the! battle of New 
 Orleans, and who was familiar with the events of the war, reviewed, 
 in a public speech, the military life and pretensions of General Har- 
 rison, and declared "that while wearing the epaulettes of a General in 
 seasons of actual service, General Harrison was time after time guil- 
 ty of conduct in his official capacity that ought to disgrace a subal- 
 tern." 
 
 General Carroll commenced with the Battle of Tippecanoe, and 
 proved, by Harrison's own official letters to the War Department, 
 that he encamped on ground selected for him by his enemy, and 
 which Harrison acknowledged was unsuitable, and around which he 
 neglected to throw up even a temporary retrenchment to protect his 
 men from the savage foe. That he bad no picket guard, and no 
 common camp ; and was literally surprised and circumvented by the 
 enemy, and cut off from the possibility of retreat. 
 
 That General Harrison commanded the forces that fought the 
 Battle of the Thames, is true. But no history records his achieve- 
 ments there. He sent his distinguished subaltern, Colonel Johnson, 
 to fight the battle for him. The scars of that gallant officer bear tes- 
 timony to the fidelity and*bravery with which he obeyed the order 
 of his commanding general. 
 
 When the pubic enemy appeared in the vicinity of Sandusky, 
 General Harrison ordered the lion-hearted Croghan to blow up Fort 
 Stephenson, and retire. The Colonel, at the hazard of his own 
 fame, disobeyed the order, repelled the enemy by one of the most 
 gallant struggles to be found in the history of American armies, cov- 
 ered the General with shame, and received the applauses of the 
 u-boV rpunrrw 
 
12 
 
 In 1816 a resolution was submitted to the Senate of the United 
 States, to vote a medal and thanks to Governor Shelby and General 
 Harrison, for their services in the war. On motion, the name of 
 General William Henry Harrison was stricken from the resolution 
 by the Senate. It is true, the Senate, that the name of General 
 Harrison might be retained, did afterwards, by a majority of one 
 vote, recommit the resolution to the committee which brought it for- 
 ward. But the yeas and nays, and proceedings of the day fully 
 show, that there were members enough absent from their seats, 
 when the resolution was recommitted, and who voted to strike out 
 the name of General Harrison, to have defeated this reluctant com- 
 pliment to the General. But even if it were not so, the resolution 
 thus recommitted was permitted to expire in the committee room, 
 and was never revived during that session of Congress. It is im- 
 possible to conclude, therefore, that any thing short of a conviction 
 that General Harrison's reputation, as a military commander, could 
 not receive the applause of that enlightened Senate, dispirited his 
 friends, aud prevented them from pursuing the application for a 
 medal and thanks. 
 
 The Journal shows that General Armistead T. Mason, a generous 
 spirit, the pride and bantling of his own native Virginia — who bore 
 a name that envy cannot but call fair — who lived and died a gallant 
 man, voted against all national honors to General Harrison. Gene- 
 ral Andrew Jackson, too, who succeeded Harrison in the command 
 of the army, and who still lives as the examplar of soldierly honor 
 and patriotic deeds, and who retains an intimate knowledge of every 
 character who figured on the theatre of war, never approved this 
 medalic glorification of General Harrison. 
 
 In a letter which General Harrison wrote on the lGth July, 1816, 
 he pathetically laments the remediless mischief to his name which 
 a failure to obtain the medal had produced. In that letter, he says, 
 "A vote of the Senate of the United States has attached to my name 
 a disgrace which, I am convinced no time or efforts of mine will 
 ever be able to efface. This censure is, indeed, negative, but is not, 
 on that account, the less severe." Yet, in 1818 General Harrison's 
 patrons, appealing to the public sympathy, coaxed from the credu- 
 lous generosity of the Senate that faint, reluctant, dubious honor, 
 then become necessary to save the General from disgrace and ruin. 
 The Journal of the Senate gives the following account of the Gene- 
 ral's persevering efforts to obtain the medal : 
 
 " In Senate U. S., Saturday, April 13, 1816. 
 
 Agreeably to the order of the day, the Senate resumed, as in 
 Committee of the Whole, the consideration of the joint resolution, 
 directing medals to be struck, and. together with the thanks of Con- 
 gress, presented to Major General Harrison and Governor Shelby, 
 and lor oilier purposes. 
 
 Mr. Varinun was requested to take the Chair. 
 On motion by .Mr. \. cock, 
 
 To amend the resolution bj striking out therefrom, " Major Gene- 
 ral Harrison," 
 
 It was determined in the affirmative — veas 13. nays 11. 
 
On motion, the yeas and nays being desired by one-fifth of the 
 members present, those who voted in the affirmative are, 
 
 Messrs. Dana, Gaillard, Gore, Hunter, King, Lacoek, Mason, 
 of N. H., Roberts, Tait, Thompson, Tickenor, Turner, Varnum. 
 
 Those who voted in the negative are, 
 
 Messrs. Barbour, Barry, Condit, Horsey, Macon, Morrow, Rug- 
 gles, Talbot, Wells, Williams, Wilson. 
 
 The resolution having been amended, 
 On motion by Mr. Roberts, 
 
 Ordered, That the further consideration thereof be postpenod 
 until Monday next. 
 
 Saturday, Jlpril 20th, 1816. 
 
 The Senate resumed, as in Committee of the Whole, the consi- 
 deration of the resolution directing medals to be struck, and, together 
 with the thanks of Congress, presented to Major General Harrison 
 and Governor Shelby, and for other purposes. 
 
 Mr. Varnum was requested to take the Chair; and, the resolution 
 having been amended, the President resumed the Chair, and Mr. 
 Varnum reported accordingly. 
 
 On the question to concur in the amendment, agreed to as in Com- 
 mittee of the Whole, to strike out " Major General William Henry 
 Harrison," 
 
 It was determined in the negative — yeas 13, nays 14. 
 
 On motion by Mr. Varnum, the yeas and nays being desired 
 by one-fifth of the Senators present, those who voted in the affirma- 
 tive are, 
 
 Messrs. Campbell, Daggett, Gaillard, Gore, King, Lacoek, Ma- 
 son, of N. H., Mason, of Va., Roberts, Tait, Tickenor, Turner, 
 Varnum. 
 
 Those who voted in the negative are, 
 
 Messrs. Barbour, Barry, Chase, Condit, Harper, Horsey, Ma- 
 oon, Morrow, Ruggles, Sanford, Talbot, Wells, Williams, Wilson. 
 On motion of Mr. Horsey, 
 
 Ordered, That the resolution be recommitted to the Committee 
 on Military Affairs, further to consider and report thereon. 
 
 In Senate, March 24th, 1818. 
 
 Agreeably to notice given, Mr. Dickerson asked and obtained 
 leave to bring in a resolution directing medals to be struck, and, to- 
 gether with the thanks of Congress, presented to Major General 
 Harrison and Governor Shelby, and for other purposes ; and the 
 resolution was read. 
 
 Ordered, That it pass to a second reading. 
 
 In Senate U. S. Friday, March 27, 1818. 
 
 The Senate resumed, as in Committee of the Whole, the consi- 
 deration of the resolution directing medals to be struck, and, to- 
 gether with the thanks of Congress, presented to Major General 
 Harrison and Governor Shelby, and for other purposes ; and the 
 resolution having been amended, the President reported it to the 
 House accordingly ; and the amendment being concurred in on the 
 question, " Shall this resolution be engrossed, and read a third time ?" 
 
 It was determined in the affirmative. 
 
14 
 
 Monday, March 3), 1818. 
 
 The resolution directing medals to he struck, and, together with 
 the thanks of Congress, presented to Major General Harrison and 
 Governor Shelby, and for other purposes, having been reported by 
 the committee, correctly engrossed, was read a third time. 
 
 Resolve;!, That the resolution pass." 
 
 No sooner had General Harrison coaxed the Senate to save 
 him from disgrace and ruin, than he joined the Federalists in the 
 House of Representatives in their violent and gratuitous censure of 
 General Jackson's military conduct in the Seminole war, and voted 
 for the resolution disapproving the proceedings on the trial and 
 execution of Alexander Arbuthnot and Robert C. Ambristei ; and 
 declaring the seizure of the Spanish Ports of Pensacola and St. 
 Carlos de Barancos, by the American Army, to be contrary to the 
 •constitution of the United States. 
 
 The feelings which should always actuate a gallant man, who 
 had himself suffered under a supposed neglect of his military rep- 
 utation, are widely different from those which governed General 
 Harrison towards his successor in arms. The "baud ignarus mali, 
 miseris succurrere disco," was forgot in the unworthy recollection 
 of the "odium in longum jacens." 
 
 But Congress and the nation, and the British authorities re- 
 membered and approved the conduct of General Jackson, and 
 sheltered the fame of that gallant and patriotic man from the [iod- 
 ines of that pitiless storm which folly and injustice* hatred and 
 malignity had raised around him. 
 
 I will no! dwell upon the rebuke so justly bestowed upon Gen. 
 Harrison when, in open war, and under the expectation of a battle 
 at Tippecanoe, be encamped upon a ground which the public enemy 
 advised him to take ; and which enabled the savage lot 1 , at break of 
 morn, on the very next day. to surprise and slaughter our gallant 
 men; because it is unnecessary further to examine and expose 
 the unfounded and idle pretensions of Genera] Harrison to martial 
 renown. Partial biographers may manul materials for parti- 
 
 zan orators and mercenary scribblers to blazon his military career. 
 The living and recorded evidem - them all. 
 
 lint if bis warlike qualities can furnish the General no rational 
 passport to the Presidential office, what arc the civil pretensions 
 thai should carry him there.' 
 
 His warmest supporters dar rt for so impotent a charac- 
 
 ter any superiority of wisdom and abilities ; any tolerable qualifica- 
 tions lor siab an important public trust. He has long passed that 
 golden pe iod of human life which is Least effected with the follies 
 of youth, and tin- infirmities of ao-e. His mental horizon — never 
 spacious nor idcai — is now contracted to a melancholy span. And 
 for that poor remnant of mortality yet to come, he can only hope 
 toserveas a passive instrument with which the master spirits who 
 flatter and cajole him calcul ite to consummate and to aggravate all 
 the wild mischievious designs of the old federal party. 
 
 'I'hc hydra of th fe I in I dynasty, which has hitherto cowered 
 before the indignant frowns of the multitude, rises now with keener 
 
15 
 
 vengeance in his fang, and aims to strike contagious poison into 
 the vitals of the constitution. To cover this appalling purpose 
 from the public view, General Harrison lias been coaxed into the 
 expression of the most inconsistent and irreconcileable opinions. 
 
 In a letter which he wrote to the editor of the Cincinnati Inquisi- 
 tor, and which was published there in September 1822, he makes 
 professions of republican principles which are directly repugnant to 
 the acts, declarations and sentiments of the General on other occa- 
 sions, both before and since the letter was written. In that letter 
 he says, "I am myself a republican of what is called the old Jeffer- 
 sonian school." 
 
 In his reply to Mr. Randolph he admitted that he was the friend 
 of old John Adams, and other supporters of his administration. 
 In the letter he says, "I believe in the correctness of that interpre- 
 tation of the constitution which have been given by the writings 
 of that enlightened statesman, Mr. Jefferson, who was at the head 
 of the party, and others belonging to it, particularly the celebrated 
 resolutions of the Virginia Legislature during the presidency of 
 Mr. Adams." 
 
 In his Cheviot speech, to which I have referred, and in which 
 he cordially supports the principles of the Proclamation and Force 
 Bill, he says, "constituted as is the government of the Union, it 
 appears to me that, there is not the least danger of encroaching on 
 the rights of the States; that "the right of Slate interposition 
 strikes at the very foundation vf- the legislative powers of Con- 
 gress; and that "it is undeniably true, that the framers of the con- 
 stitution intended to create a national judicial power, which 
 should be paramount on national subjects." 
 
 These sentiments are directly against the celebrated resolutions 
 for which the General professed a regard. 
 
 In 1818 General Harrison, then a memher of the House of 
 Representatives, voted for resolutions claiming in various forms the 
 power for Congress to make roads and canals within the limits of 
 the respective States ; and especially for the resolution declaring 
 that "Congress has power under tiie constitution to appropriate 
 money for the construction of post roads, military and other roads, 
 and of canals, and for the improvement of water courses." 
 
 In 1826, as a Senator from Ohio, he voted for a survey between 
 the Apalachicola and Mississippi rivers, with a view to establish an 
 inland navigation. This appropriation was opposed by Messrs. 
 Macon, Randolph, Berrien, Hayne, Branch, Van Buren and White. 
 
 In March and April, 1826, he repeatedly voted for similar appro- 
 priations ; and I believe the assertion may be safely made, that no 
 proposition for internal improvement was ever presented to either 
 house of Congress, whilst General Harrison was a representative, 
 which did not receive his cordial approbation and support. 
 
 In 1827, while in the Senate of the United States, he voted 
 against the reduction of the duty on coffee, from five to three per 
 cent, and against the reduction of the duties on teas. And such was 
 his persevering determination to fasten on the country the policy of 
 a high tariff, for the encouragement of domestic manufactures, that 
 
16 
 
 in an address delivered before the agricultural society of Hamilton 
 county, in 1831, he said : 
 
 " It may be asked, whether under any circumstances I would be 
 willing to abandon the Tariff*. I answer without hesitation in the 
 affirmative. Whenever the streets of Norfolk and Charleston shull 
 be covered with grass, and our Southern friends find no market 
 for their produce — and this slate of things can be directly traced 
 to the Tariff' — I would then instantly give my voice for its modifi- 
 cation or entire repeal." 
 
 Here, then, is a venerable gentleman in decay, stimulated by the 
 hope of advancement to the Presidency, continually manifesting the 
 grossest departure of practice from profession — of admiration, first 
 for Mr. Adams and then lor Mr. Jefferson — of a preference for the 
 immortal resolutions of the Virginia Assembly, and a persevering 
 disposition to destroy every salutary principle which these resolu- 
 tions were plainly intended to assert and to preserve. 
 
 The opinions of General Harrison on the domestic relations of 
 master and slave, and the powers of the General Government in rela- 
 tion to that important subject are, in my opinion, equally confused, 
 inconsistent and unsatisfactory. 
 
 The various propositions made by General Harrison, both in 
 Congress and in the Senate of Ohio, in the year 1819 and 1820, 
 comprise and illustrate his opinions on the subject of slavery, in the 
 most solemn and authentic form. At each of those periods the 
 State of Missouri was part of the territories of the United States, 
 asking admission into the Union. The question of Federal power 
 over the subject was, in the judgment of the General, settled by an 
 amendment which he offered in Congress, on the 19th February 
 1819, after that question had been fully discussed on principle alone. 
 That amendment was offered to the amendment proposed by Mr. 
 Taylor of New York, to the Missouri Bill, then before the House of 
 Representatives, and reads — " All that part of the present Territory 
 of Missouri, lying north of a line to be run due west from the mouth 
 of the river De Moines, to the territorial boundary of the United 
 States, shall form a part of the Territory of Michigan ; and the laws 
 in force in the said Territory, as well as the ordinances of Congress, 
 prohibiting slavery or involuntary servitude in the said Territory of 
 Michigan, shall be in force in that part of the Missouri, lying north 
 of said east and west line." 
 
 This amendment conceded the whole question of constitutional 
 power. Mr. Philip P. Barbour opposed this amendment ol Gene- 
 ral Harrison, and argued against all amendments of a similar char- 
 acter, as partial, inexpedient, and unconstitutional ; that if the prin- 
 ciple was wrong in itself, it ought not to be withheld from one part 
 yf the Territory and applied to another ; and that if the rule was 
 wrong at the thirty-fifth degree of latitude, ii was equally so at the 
 fortieth. 
 
 Genera] Harrison's preamble and resolutions, olfered in the Se- 
 nate of Ohio on the 3d January, 1820, show the extent to which 
 he would have used the power of the Government, through his Se- 
 nators and Representatives in Congress, to repress, as he styled it, 
 
17 
 
 ** a oreat moral and political evil, which sullied our national char- 
 acter, and materially affected our national happiness." He assert- 
 ed "that the admission of slavery in the new State of Missouri, was 
 irauoht with the most fearful consequences to the permanency and 
 durability of our Republican institutions," and invoked " the ut- 
 most exertions and the use of every means to avert it." 
 
 The wild and furious tornado which this question engendered 
 pervaded the Union, and shook the empire State where in obedi- 
 ence to the public will, the most eminent men were forced to give it 
 smoothness, rather than open opposition. 
 
 Srill the debates in the New York Assembly will show that the 
 Administration party then endeavored to avoid that portentious storm 
 which, for political effect, was fed and invigorated by the WM.eral 
 party During that protracted excitement Mr. Van Buren, then in 
 (he "Senate of his native State, gave a silent vote for the Missouri 
 resolution, which passed that body on the 29th of January 1820 
 In doing this, I cannot doubt that he was governed by the settled 
 and general will of the people whose representative he was. It any 
 evidence exists that he supported the measure with activity, it has 
 never been produced to the public in any shape. 
 
 His support of the election of Rufus King to the Senate has been 
 often referred to, and relied on by his enemies to prove that Mr. 
 Van Buren was a Missouri restrictionist of the most decided and 
 dangerous character. 
 
 But his support of Mr. King had no connexion with the question 
 of slavery. It was given from necessity, approved by the Administra- 
 tion party, whose leading organ in Washington advised it, and was in- 
 tended to defeat the election of J. D. Spencer, who had been the Speak- 
 er of the Assembly, and was the candidate of the Clmtonian party. 
 Let the New York resolution of the 29th January 1820, for 
 which Mr. Van Buren silently voted, be compared with the one 
 which, on the 3d day of the same month and year, General Ham- 
 son penned and offered to the Senate of Ohio, and supported with 
 all his energies ; let the conduct of these two public characters, m 
 relation to slavery, be weighed in impartial scales, and the award of 
 truth and justice be fairly made. •. _ 
 
 The Abolitionists and their coadjutors oppose the President, be- 
 cause they can neither seduce nor drive him into their wild, unnal- 
 lowed schemes against the peace of the Union. He has declared it 
 to be his clear and settled opinion, that it is the sacred duty of those 
 who are intrusted with the action of the General Government to use 
 their constitutional powers to prevent any interference by Congress 
 with the exciting relations of master and slave. No language can 
 be more explicit than Ids. He stands pledged as the inflexible, 
 uncompromising opponent of any attempt on the part of Congress 
 to abolish slavery. He denies that Congress has the shadow of 
 such a power over the States ; and so solemn is his conviction o du- 
 ty, so deep his sense of the injustice that would be done to the slave- 
 holding States, so fully satisfied is he that "it would inevitably 
 occasion the dissolution of our happy Union," that, he declares the 
 exercise of such a power, even in the District of Columbia, forbid- 
 den by " objections, imperative in their nature and obligations as 
 2 
 
18 
 
 any which the Constitution contains. None can doubt, then, that it 
 if the fixed, deliberate purpose of the President to use the constitu- 
 tional powers of his high-ofhce to discourage the slightest action of 
 Uongress on this delicate subject; and, if the occasion should arise, 
 to put his veto upon it. 
 
 If in the public service General Harrison sacrificed his personal 
 and political interests, there is an obligation on the country to remu- 
 nerate him But Presidential honors would, under any circum- 
 stances, be beyond his deserts. Let however, recorded and un- 
 questioned facts settle his pretensions to the gratitude of his country- 
 men, tor his alleged care of those principles which protect the South 
 in the enjoyment of her constitutional rights. 
 
 I have stated the agency he had, and the part that he acted in 
 Congress and in the Senate of Ohio. He exchanged a service in 
 the Federal, for one m the Stat, Legislature. And from the latter 
 he went again into the former, after the Missouri excitement had 
 subsided under the Compromise Act. 
 
 On the great question of Slavery, which has agitated the southern 
 mind, the sentimentsof Ohio were almost unanimous. And her final 
 vote in Congress on the Missouri Bill, was marked with unanimity. 
 When General Harrison became a candidate for Congress, and 
 was defeated by Mr. Gazley, new questions vexed the public mind 
 lhe Legislature ol Tennessee had nominated the Hero of New Or- 
 leans lor the Presidency. General Harrison warmly opposed that 
 nomination, and Mr. Gazley as warmly supported it. Ami then, as 
 now, the 1 residential question absorbed all minor ones 
 
 That the Presidential contest defeated General Harrison, and not 
 a pretended sacrifice of himself for Southern rights, is manifested by 
 !! le 7* * a « " ll / ied his Popularity, and speedily returned to the 
 
 Senate of the ; ,d States where, by his open action and recorded 
 votes, he steadily mvaded all Southern rights, until he voluntarily 
 qmttcd the Senate in 1828, for the lucrative mission to Bogota 
 which he received from President J. Q. Adams, his generous, |oU- 
 tical, and private friend. In 1800, the elder Adams appointed 
 General Harrison Governor of Indiana. 
 
 The coalition has been solemnly formed against Southern riffhts 
 And Gen. Harrison d as the fittest Chief to lead on the 
 
 battled hosts. No candid, well-infor, ' on can deny that it is the 
 settled expectation ami desire of the General to attract to his political 
 support the fanatics and Abolitionists, ^ndh, practices the cunning 
 diplomacy oi his supporters, and relies on the dubious character of his 
 former opinions to obtain then- aid without offence to the South 
 
 Why the studied reserve thai governs the General now?— this 
 unwo . nted > ' stated concealment of his present opinions on a 
 question oi sue!, vital importance to the national r h it the 
 
 i' ar oi ofli ace to the Abolitionists who surround him, and who now 
 openly oppose the Administration party I 1 am constrained to be- 
 iliat it is. 
 
 The late „! hi, unsuccessful rival, Air. Clay, plainly informed the 
 General that a majority of tho ie who oppose lhe Administration will 
 BU PPPrt no man tor the Presidency who discountenances the de- 
 el the Abolitionists. 
 
19 
 
 No sooner had Mr. Clay, in the winter of 1839, delivered in the 
 Senate his speech against that fanatical clique, than this ominous 
 revelation was promulgated to the world ; " the efforts of Mr. Van 
 Bnren to conciliate, by bowing to the spirit of Slavery, the vote of 
 the South, has been met by the speech of Mr. Clay, delivered in the 
 United States Senate since the presentation of the Abolition report. 
 In this speech, Mr. Clay denounces the Abolitionists in severe terms ; 
 brings forward, in his peculiar and forcible language, the stereotyped 
 objections against the Anti-Slavery movement; lays down the mon- 
 strous principle, that " That is property which the law makes pro- 
 perty ;" and, upon the ground of necessity, the tyrant's plea, de- 
 fends the eternal enslavement of the colored race in our land. On 
 sitting down, after this effort for the perpetration of a system of out- 
 rage and wrong, the most inexcusable, as well as most detestable that 
 the sun has yet shone upon, Mr. Clay received the congratulations 
 of the arch-nullifiei of the " most glorious institution," John C. 
 Calhoun, for having given the death-blow to Abolition. If judgment 
 is not turned backward, the blow will be death to his own prospects 
 of winning the splendid prize at which he is aiming ; and to 
 secure which, he has, in his pro-slavery effort, iixed an indellible 
 stijjma on his own reputation." 
 
 The late results at Harrisburg show how solemn, persevering, and 
 successful were the efforts to make this prophecy true. The pride 
 and bantling of the great National Whig party — the indefatigable 
 Champion of the* " American System" — the celebrated Chieftain 
 who had given the greatest concentrated force and direction to the 
 discordant elements which compose the army of modern Whigs, is 
 now unceremoniously superseded by a superannuated idol — a mere 
 subaltern in every qualification to command the public admiration. 
 
 In " The Philanthropist," an Abolition paper published in Cin- 
 cinnati, on the 14th of February last, there is this significant Ad- 
 dress : 
 
 " To the Public. 
 
 " Fellow-Citizens : Being suddenly called home to attend to 
 my sick family, I have but a moment to answer a few of the calum- 
 nies which are in circulation concerning me. 
 
 " I am accused of being friendly to Slavery. From my earliest 
 youth to the present moment, I have been the ardent friend of hu- 
 man liberty. * At the age of eighteen, / became a member of an 
 Abolition Society, established at Richmond, the object of which 
 was to ameliorate the condition of Slavery, and procure their free- 
 dom by every legal means. My venerable friend, Judge Gatch, of 
 Clermont county, was also a member of this Society, and has lately 
 given me a certificate that I was one. The obligations I then came 
 under, 1 have faithfully performed. 
 
 -WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON." 
 
 The " Philanthropist" is a paper in the interest of General Har- 
 rison. And shortly after the appearance of the General's address, 
 the Editor penned an elaborate article upon it, summed up all that 
 the General had expressed on the subject of Slavery, and denied, as 
 if by authority, that Harrison hud ever labored to introduce Slavery 
 
20 
 
 into Indiana, while Governor of that Territory. And while the 
 Editor relies on the Address as a favorable exposition of the Gene- 
 ral's decisive opinions on the subject of Slavery, he boldly denounces 
 President Van Buren for the repeated expression of opinions which 
 make him wholly unworthy of any support from the Abolition party. 
 In a subsequent expose, to be found in the Philanthropist of the 
 3d instant, the Editor asserts that " the Administration party in the 
 West has racked its ingenuity to discover new modes of manifest- 
 ing its subjection to the South, and hatred of Abolition. The pre- 
 sent Legislature of Ohio (now democratic) has outstript all its pre- 
 decessors in this disgraceful policy. Every thing which envenomed 
 malice could suggest, or limited capacity compass, has been done to 
 convince Abolitionists that they have no longer any thing to hope 
 frem the Democratic party." 
 
 This Abolition hatred of the Democratic party equally pervades 
 the North. In the fourteenth number of the " Examiner," an Abo- 
 lition periodical, published in New York on the 13th of last month, 
 by the Anti-Slavery Society, of which Arthur Tappan is the head, 
 you will find, in large prominent letters, the names of the twenty- 
 eight members of the House of Representatives, who voted for the 
 following resolution, lately offered to the House by Mr. Win. C. 
 Johnson, of Md. and which was adopted by a majority of only six. 
 
 " Resolved, That the following be added to the standing rules of 
 this House : 
 
 " No petition, memorial, or resolution, or other paper, praying 
 the abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia, or any State or 
 Territory, or the Slave Trade between the States or Territories of 
 the United States, in which it now exists, shall be received by the 
 House, or entertained in any manner whatever." 
 
 Those were the only members from the free States who voted 
 for the resolution ; and out of the 28, Mr. Proffit, of Indiana, was 
 the only Wins;. Every Northern Whig, with the exception of 
 one, voted against it. The Examiner, after a shower of malignant 
 invectives on the resolution, hearty congratulations on the progress 
 which abolitionism has made, and the glorious prospect of emanci- 
 pating the slaves, urges the people to dismiss from their service 
 those 28 northern auxiliaries to Southern slave holders. 
 
 Under the terrors of this ominous threat, notice, that a motion 
 will be made to rescind this rule, has already been given in the 
 House' by the Hon. Francis Granger, of New York, — the same 
 worthy gentleman whom the National Whig party so lately and 
 cordially supported as Vice President of the United States, and 
 whom they placed on the same ticket with Gen. Win. H. Harrison. 
 
 I would impress on the attention of my fellow citizens the un- 
 answerable speech which Mr. Bynum delivered in the House of 
 Representatives in January last, on the subject of abolition. He 
 proves by the votes, by the records and proceedings of Congress, 
 and the various State Legislatures, by evidence which he produced, 
 and which could not deceive, that, the countenance which abolition- 
 ists and emancipationists have received from the representatives of 
 the people in the Congress of the United States and elsewhere, 
 has been afforded by the Whigs. He proves, too, by the publish- 
 
21 
 
 ed proceedings and resolutions of the people in the North, East 
 and West, that the abolitionists are ceaseless and persevering, and 
 have determined to oppose the steady and consistent friends of our 
 republican administration. 
 
 "Wherever in the West, the East, or the North, the democrats 
 have had the direction of public affairs, they have expressed public 
 and decided opinions against the right of the General Government 
 to interfere in the domestic relations of master and slave. 
 
 In the State of Ohio, now truly democratic, and represented in 
 the national councils with decided ability, the great Democratic 
 Convention assembled in January last, from all quarters of the 
 Commonwealth, passed the following resolutions : 
 
 "Resolved, That slavery being a domestic institution, l^ecognised 
 by the constitution of the United States, we, as citizens of a free 
 State, have no right to interfere with it, and that the organizing of 
 societies and associations in free States, in opposition to the insti- 
 tutions of sister States, while productive of no good, may be the 
 cause of much mischief, and while such associations for political 
 purposes ought to be discountenanced by every lover of peace and 
 eoncord, no sound democrat will have part or lot with them. 
 
 "Resolved, That political Abolitionism is but ancient federalism 
 under a new guise, and that the political action of Anti-slavery So- 
 cieties is only a device for the overthrow of Democracy. 
 
 "Resolved, That should there be any members of this Conven- 
 tion who do not subscribe to the principles contained in those reso- 
 lutions relating to the subject of Abolition, they be hereby request- 
 ed to leave their names with the publishing committee, to be pub- 
 lished with the proceedings of this Convention." 
 
 On the subject of the above resolutions, the democrats were unani- 
 mous. And in their Legislature, a cordial response was given, as 
 the subjoined proceedings will show. 
 
 "OHIO LEGISLATURE. 
 
 [Reported for the Ohio Statesmen.~\ 
 
 House of Reps. Tuesday, Jan. 11, 1840. 
 
 "On motion of Mr. Flood, the House took up the resolutions re- 
 lative to the subject of slavery. 
 
 "Mr. Waddle called for the question to be taken on each resolu- 
 tion separately. 
 
 "The first resolution was then adopted — yeas 48, nays 2, which 
 reads as follows: 
 
 "Resolved by the Genercd Assembly of the State of Ohio, That 
 the subject of slavery, as it exists in particular portions of the 
 United States, was settled and adjusted at the formation of the Fed- 
 eral Constitution. 
 
 "The question then being on the adoption of the second resolu- 
 tion, which is as follows : 
 
 "Resolved. That, in the opinion of this General Assembly, the 
 interference of citizens of our State in the internal regulations of 
 another, is highly censurable and improper, and that we view the 
 unlawful, unwise and unconstitutional interference of the fanatical 
 Abolitionists of the North with the domestic institutions of the 
 Southern States, as highly criminal, and that it is the duty, obliga- 
 
22 
 
 tory on all good citizens, to discountenance tlie Abolitionists in 
 their mad, fanatical and revolutionary scheme." 
 
 The Democratic Legislature of New Hampshire did, as early as 
 13th January 1837, pass solemn resolutions declaring "that Con- 
 gress cannot, without a violation of the public faith, abolish slave- 
 ry in the District of Columbia, unless upon the request of the citi- 
 zens of that District, and by the States by whom that territory was 
 ceded to the General Government. And that the Union of the States 
 can only be maintained by abstaining from all interference with the 
 laws, domestic policy and peculiar institutions of every other State." 
 
 We have lately seen that in the lower House of Assembly in 
 New York, where the Whigs and Abolitionists had the control, they 
 passed violent denunciations against the resolution of Mr. Atherton, 
 Avhich was adopted by a large majority of the House of Represen- 
 tatives, and which resolution of Mr. Atherton was practically the 
 same as the one offered lately by Mr. Wm. Cost Johnson, to 
 which I have referred. 
 
 That in the Senate of New York, where the Democrats had the 
 control, the denunciatory resolutions of the lower House were re- 
 buked and voted down in the following manner: 
 
 "Resolved, That the preamble and resolutions of the Assembly, 
 be and are hereby rejected." And they were rejected entirely by 
 the democratic vote. 
 
 Every where the Abolitionists interrogate even their gubernato- 
 rial candidates for the popular favor; and demand their written 
 opinions on the subject of slavery. 
 
 In a late number of the "Liberator," written by Garrison, of 
 Massachusetts, he says, "Edward Everett, the Governor of the 
 Commonwealth, has answered unequivocally in the affirmative to 
 the question, whether he is in favor of the immediate abolition of 
 slavery in the District of Columbia, and the slave trade between 
 the several States. Edward Everett now speaks the Language of a 
 patriot, a republican and a christian. We believe it is the real 
 language of his soul. And in the same number of that paper, 
 there is an extract from a letter written by "a member of the Mas- 
 sachusetts Anti-slavery Board," in which the writer, alluding to his 
 Excellency's reply, says, "Governor Everett's letter is satisfactory." 
 
 In the Whig State of Vermont the Legislature did, on the 21st 
 of January, 1839, pass rirst, a resolution to instruct their Senators 
 and to request their Representatives, to use their utmost efforts to 
 procure the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in the District 
 of Columbia, and the slave trade between the several States, and 
 the territories of the Union? And 2dly, a resolution, condemning 
 in the most violent manner the course which the Administration 
 party pursued in the House of Representatives, upon the subject of 
 abolition petitions. 
 
 The Whigs and Abolitionists have lately united and elected as 
 Lieutenant Covernor of New York, Mr. Bradish, acelebrated and 
 notorious Abolitionist. 
 
 And the Abolitionists of New York have lately embodied as a 
 political party, and issued a "Circular to the Anti-slavery electors 
 ol the Stale of New York;" in which they embody bitter resolu- 
 
23 
 
 tious against the democratic party, assign the reasons for their de- 
 termination to oppose Marcy, and support Seward, as Governor of 
 the State. In their fifth resolution, they declare "that the re-elec-, 
 tion of Governor Marcy would go very far toward the re-election 
 of Martin Van Buren, whose measures and policy are hostile to 
 the cause of human liberty." 
 
 "We view the great question of Sub-Treasury, a National Bank, 
 or the currency, of minor importance, compared with the great 
 subject of human liberty ; and believing that the election of Mr. 
 Seward, and the defeat of Governor Marcy, will best promote the 
 great cause of universal emancipation, we shall vote for him 
 ourselves, and recommend our Abolition friends to do the same." 
 
 The people of Virginia, and the entire South, continually assert. 
 that the question of abolition is that which above all others, most 
 affects their vital rights and interests — their property, their honor, 
 and their lives. Ali other subjects are subordinate to this great per- 
 vading interest. The alliance of Federalism and Abolitionism is 
 now, I think, settled beyond all dispute or doubt. 
 
 These congenial spirits have boldly united in the nomination of 
 Harrison, and stand pledged to elevate him, if they can, to the Pre- 
 sidency of the United States. In this determination they are one, 
 identical and indivisible. They have proclaimed hostilities against 
 the democratic party, and hail with enthusiastic joy the anticipated 
 triumph of their superannuated Chief. 
 
 In his success, the Abolition augury will be sure, " that hereafter 
 no slave-holder, or inhabitant of a slave State, shall ever be Presi- 
 dent of the United States." 
 
 In this conjuncture of affairs, it is but an obvious dictate of pru- 
 dence and patriotism that the entire section of the country whose 
 vital interests are threatened and assailed, should rally in concerted 
 opposition to the union of factions so mischievous and wicked. And 
 it is hardly credible that any portion of the people, from the quarter 
 assailed, can longer contribute to support it. 
 
 Talk who will about Missouri restriction in former days, the fact 
 is notorious — no Abolitionist or Emancipationist supports the Presi- 
 dent of the United States. Every conductor of their papers, jour- 
 nals, periodicals and presses — every organ which communicates the 
 fanatical spirit of the age — is against him. And when the forest 
 trees stoop their fall and stubborn heads, the direction of the storm 
 must be obvious to all. 
 
 The charge against Mr. Van Buren, that he encourages extrava- 
 gant appropriations for internal improvements by the General Go- 
 vernment, is so wilfully disingenuous, deceitful and false, that no- 
 thing but the most impudent and conscious mendacity could parade 
 it before the public mind. 
 
 On the 19th of December, 1825, Mr. Van Buren offered a 
 resolution to the Senate of the United States, declaring " that 
 Congress does not possess the power to make roads and canals 
 within the respective States." And in the following May, he voted 
 against the Dismal Swamp Canal Bill, because "he did not believe 
 that the General Government possessed the constitutional power to 
 make such canals, or to grant money to make them." 
 
24 
 
 In his able and explicit letter of October, 1832, to the North Ca- 
 rolina Committee, at Shocco Springs, he expressed the opinion that 
 the general and true interests of the country would be best consulted 
 by withholding appropriations for internal improvements, until some 
 constitutional regulation upon the subject should be provided. 
 
 It is true, he once voted for a bill to authorize tolls on the Cum- 
 bevlaiKl road, a public work projected under the administration of 
 Mr. Jefferson But it is believed that the constitutional powers con- 
 nectea with that road were never discussed nor suggested, until 
 President Monroe vetoed the bill. And in the Senatorial debate on 
 J-oote s resolution to authorize the Vice President to call to order 
 for words spoken in the Senate, Mr. Van Buren alluded to his vote 
 on the Cumberland Road Bill, and declared that it was the only vote 
 he had ever given in the Senate, which could be tortured into a de- 
 par aire from the principles he professed to entertain ; that he deeply 
 regretted the vote ; that if such a question were presented to him 
 again, he should vote against it; and he applauded President Mon- 
 roe for putting h, s veto on that bill. His annual Message to the 
 present Congress may be regarded as proving the sincerity of these 
 views; the free expression of which, has subjected him to the violent 
 censure of the Whigs, who claim for Congress the constitutional 
 authority to appropriate the federal revenue to objects of this kind. 
 On the 14th of February last, Mr. Barnard, of New York, one of 
 the most talented and distinguished Whigs in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, declared that « the great interest of internal improvement 
 by the General Government, was placed in jeopardy by the attitude 
 the President had assumed towards it. Here, in my place, and on 
 my responsibility as a member of this House, I charge that the Pre- 
 sident of the United States has now assumed an attitude of dis- 
 tinct and avowed hostility to the policy of making further appro- 
 priations at least for the present, for infernal improvements, for 
 roads, harbors, and rivers, even in the case of works already un- 
 dertaken and only partly executed; and I shall shortly refer to the 
 proofs of the fact I make this charge not, certainly, in the way of 
 reproach since the President has acted in the matter in the dis- 
 charge of his constitutional duty as the official adviser of this House, 
 and, as 1 am bound to suppose, according to his conviction of right, 
 and duty ; but I speak of the matter of fact, as I understand it to be, 
 and as 1 shall now show it to be— a matter beyond doubt and con- 
 troversy Mr Barnard, Having exhibited his" evidence in support 
 of the charge, thus gravely made against the President, continued, 
 Gertamly n„body can doubt, who looks carefully into those pa- 
 pers, that it is the settled policy of the President, in which he is 
 supported by his two Seen lories, that no appropriation whatever 
 ought to he made the preset year at least. f or works of internal 
 improvement / /„ , ., •„ ,;„ strmgest /o , ;/ ^ on 
 
 tne duty of Congress to keep the appropriations within the esti- 
 mates presente I, and, of course, he insists that nothing .shall be 
 appropriated for works of internal improvement. He thinks that 
 both the Executive and the Legislature, should beheld ... a strict 
 accountability, <f any thing of the sort shall be permitted; and he 
 intimates, m case the attempt shall be made by Congress, that it 
 
25 
 
 ■will be mere forbearance on his part, if he do not interpose the au- 
 thority of his veto to prevent it." 
 
 And yet with all these wholesome opinions of Mr. Van Buren — 
 opinions recorded in history, and backed and fortified by the recent 
 declarations and testimony of eminent Whigs in the House of Re- 
 presentatives — the stale and senseless accusation is continually re- 
 peated, that the President countenances internal improvements in 
 the most unconstitutional and hateful forms. 
 
 The good we derive from the services of our fellow citizens is 
 not always remembered with becoming gratitude and wisdom; 
 while we often perceive, remember, and exaggerate, the errors and 
 imperfections inseparable from the frail nature of man. Hence the 
 disposition of many to listen to whomsoever will assert that our mis- 
 fortunes and embarrassments are not the casualties of our mortal 
 and imperfect lot, nor the necessary evils of our own procuring, 
 but that some grim idol of the popular choice; some sinister distur- 
 ber of the public repose ; some reckless and ferocious tyrant in the 
 trappings of Presidential authority, has poisoned the sources of our 
 national felicity, and dissipated our golden dreams. 
 
 How boldly this most convenient topic of political denunciation 
 has been handled against the President of the Union must be obvi- 
 ous to all who read the unmeasured vituperation that is continually 
 lavished on that mild, able, dignified, and upright man. Yet, to 
 calculate that the Government of the United States shall be able, at 
 all times, to preserve entire order in the Union ; to maintain our 
 peaceful relations throughout the world ; to anticipate and to prevent 
 every abuse of trust and authority among the public servants ; to 
 regulate foreign commerce and internal trade ; to avert that rebound 
 which is naturally calculated to crush the heedless adventurer of 
 cupidity and speculation ; to limit the national expenditures to a 
 sphere and magnitude which the immediate representatives of the 
 people may think proper to disregard ; and to minister to the pecu- 
 niary appetites of all who crave money, and urge the Government to 
 supply it, is to expect from a mere human institution what theocracy 
 itself might be puzzled to accomplish. 
 
 But I cherish the cordial hope and expectation that a fair, candid, 
 and dispassionate estimate of the Presidential services of Mr. Van 
 Buren will result in the general conviction that the wisdom of his ad- 
 ministration has fully vindicated the choice of the Nation who made 
 him what he is — the First Magistrate of a great and free people. 
 
 That modern Whigs should revile and depreciate the present 
 Chief Magistrate of their Country, was the natural, expected conse- 
 quence of the only obvious principle that holds together such an 
 anomalous mixture of public men — the principle of raising them- 
 selves into power and place. It is only on that potent and pervading 
 principle of political tactics, that we are enabled to account for the 
 alternate defamation and applause which the Whigs have continually 
 lavished on the various characters that have appeared above the po- 
 litical horizon of this Country, and on whom the public scrutiny has 
 been fixed intently, to detract or praise. The truth of this imputed 
 alternation from hatred to love — from obloquy to praise, a few me- 
 morable examples may suffice to show. 
 
2G 
 
 Just before Mr. Leigh was nominated for the Presidential office, 
 the eadmg organ of the Whigs pronounced him to be a century be- 
 hind the age Yet but a little while after, the very same organ sup- 
 ported Mr. Leigh for the Presidency of the United States' He 
 whose political opinions were publicly ridiculed for their antiquity 
 and inaptitude to modem times, was, by the mighty magic of Whig- 
 gery, suddenly endowed with all the fresh and wholesome lights m 
 the science and principles of political economy, and titted to grace 
 the first station m the councils of the Union. . 
 
 Judge White, of Tennessee, was also roundlv and heedlessly de- 
 nounced by the same party, as the degraded "vassal of President 
 Jackson the vile register of executive decrees. Yet, so soon as 
 Judge White aspired to the Presidency, in direct opposition to the 
 general wishes of the Administration party, and ruined his fortunes 
 as a public man, all the vassalage of the Judge quickly expired in 
 the prodigal admiration of innumerable Whigs. He became, indeed, 
 a hero then ! And every conceivable effort was freely made to raise 
 him to the Presidential trust. I pass over the cases of Floyd, Taze- 
 well, and many more around whom such shadows and lights have 
 capriciously played, to make way for the most memorable instance 
 that the history of politics discloses to the world. You perceive 
 that I am about to usher in the name of a man who gained my con- 
 fidence and admiration— I mean Mr. William C. Rives This dis- 
 tinguished favorite of fortune was reared in an atmosphere fragrant 
 with the glory of Jefferson. And social proximity to that aposle of 
 liberty enabled Mr. Rives to feed the taper of his aspiring mind 
 with the redundant and wholesome light of Monticello. The lustre 
 reflected upon him from an orb so brilliant and pure presaged his 
 future course, and made him conspicuous to the advocates of free- 
 dom. In his own native Virginia— a State not barren in wisdom 
 and worth—no man of the age has been more freely honored with 
 political preferment and applause. His seat in the House of Dele- 
 gates was quickly abandoned for a more distinguished one in the 
 House of Representatives. A mission abroad, and Senatorial hon- 
 ors at home, came thickening n him from the spontaneous gener- 
 osity oi his tnumphant party. Stimulated by the ties of latitude 
 and the conv.ctions of a considerate mind, he not only contributed 
 to overthrow the administration of John Q. Adams, but advocated, 
 wuh ability and zeal, the leading measures which brought down 
 upon I resident Jackson the rancorous hatred of the Whi^s The 
 memorable Expunge, intended, as was alleged by the Whigs' to fix 
 upon them that burning shame they had offered to the laurels of the 
 President, was assisted through the Senate by the parliamentary 
 abilities o Mr. Rives. The Whiggish denunciation against him, 
 which, before, had been continual and hitter, was as the cheerm* 
 joice oi praise when compared to the ferocity of its character then 
 Language is incompetenl to describe it. No violated confidence- 
 no betrayal oi trust— no measure oi ingratitude to the cordial friends 
 Mho reared the fortunes of Mr. Rives, could provoke from the de- 
 ;; |, "'[;" I " : P art y ,l "' ■•< morsele .; fury then manifested towards him by 
 
 I lie \\ tllffS. J 
 
27 
 
 Since then, the flushed and elated Whigs, backed and encouraged 
 by the mighty contrivances of incorporated wealth, have reunited 
 and embodied their hitherto discordant forces, and now constantly 
 proclaim their ability and determination to crush the President and 
 the Democratic party. To pamper this vain exultation, the Con- 
 servative leaders have made their appearance, and drawn their wea- 
 pons in the ranks of the opposition. They professed to have mus- 
 tered troops in defence of great constitutional principles ; and for a 
 season, stacked their arms upon neutral ground, and coldly eyed the 
 battle field. But the leader of the Northern Conservatives, to secure 
 a sway in his native land, soon went over to the enemy in bold and 
 free defiance ; and now, in the national Senate, wages a fierce, un- 
 natural, relentless war, upon the political party with which he so 
 lately and so cordially co-operated. 
 
 The commander of the Virginia Conservatives, more cool and 
 wary, calculated with a circumspect mind the hazards of the enter- 
 prise, and felt and measured the ground on which he has determi- 
 ned to move. But he, too, has lately doffed his neutrality — left 
 his former generous and confiding friends — and crossed the Rubicon 
 of party strife. 
 
 The exulting enemy applauded the act, received him with delight, 
 and freely forgave his previous sins. Nay, in the overflowings of 
 ecstatic joy, they have labored with the most persevering assiduity 
 to return him to the national Senate, where he plunged a dagger in 
 their precious fame ; and whose records, they assert, he had muti- 
 lated and defiled with the most cold, selfish, calculating, and delibe- 
 rate baseness. 
 
 For this sudden, extraordinary support of Mr. Rives, the great or- 
 gan of the Whig party in Viiginia had no justifiable pretext, that I 
 am aware of. The editor of the Whig, and the leader of the Con- 
 servatives, did not agree, even on the great financial question of the 
 day. For, while Mr. Rives considered and denounced that mea- 
 sure as a curse to the national prosperity, Mr. Pleasants considered 
 it the wisest and safest financial measure which Congress could then 
 adopt. I do not undertake to quote his language, but to state, in 
 substance, the views which he entertained upon that subject, and 
 which he published to the world. The opposition of Mr. Rives to 
 the Sub Treasury scheme, could not, therefore, have endeared him 
 to the editor of the Whig, It should, in the ordinary course of hu- 
 man reasoning, have widened the breach between them. No ; the 
 ground boldly and openly assumed by the editor, for the support of 
 Mr. Rives was, that with his assistance, the Whigs could carry the 
 elections and get command of the government. This was the doc- 
 trine promulgated by the press, and echoed in the halls of the Le- 
 gislature, by gentlemen of the Whig party, who claimed to repre- 
 sent the virtue, the principles and the patriotism of the Common- 
 wealth of Virginia. 
 
 If gratitude be among the number of a gentleman's virtues, and the 
 Greatest benefactors deserve the warmest I'eturns of gratitude, what 
 benefactors can Mr. Rives compare with the early and devoted patrons 
 who gave him whatever of power and distinction he has acquired. 
 
28 
 
 Our country, too, whose ever grateful eyes his ripening worth so 
 tenderly could see, that scarce she breathed an accent to the skies 
 but what was winged with benisons for him ! Yet, instead of gra- 
 titude for this rare, delicate and generous appreciation, I am sorry to 
 believe, one only feeling now pervades his heart — a feeling of un- 
 kindness, not to say hostility, towards the great body of his former 
 political friends ! the cordial and confiding friends who placed him 
 in the lead of his fellow men, cheered and sustained him in every 
 strife, and aimed to raise him to the Presidential heighth. 
 
 And who gets the benefit of this painful and unnatural abandon- 
 ment of his former friends ? Why, politicians who have covered 
 over Mr. Rives with every crime that can degrade humanity ; poli- 
 ticians who but lately declared that "he had made his infamy uni- 
 versal and eternal;" politicians who have recorded that "the fid- 
 dling of a Nero — the cruelty of a Caligula — the cold blooded ty- 
 ranny of a Tiberius, may be forgotten ; the long catalogue of crime, 
 which stands a memento of human depravity, may fade from the 
 page of history, and vanish from the memory of man ; but his bare 
 support of the Expunge, untouched by the finger of time, shall re- 
 main to shame our nature, to the latest age. The men who, in the 
 presence of an assembled nation, before their country and their God, 
 wilfully and deliberately perjured themselves, and placed the perju- 
 ry on record, need never expect to be forgiven. Charity may vain- 
 ly essay to mitigate the infamy of their deed, but their names will 
 never cease to be execrated, whilst virtue has a votary, or vice is to 
 be deprecated. 
 
 " We," (continues the same charitable organ of party strife) 
 "sincerely wish that it were not counter to the order of Providence, 
 that all the perpetrators of that dark tragedy on our country's honor, 
 might be cursed with an immortality here; that they might live on, 
 while time holds its course, to hear, in their proper persons, the un- 
 measured and bitter execrations of every honest man, and on each 
 returning day, be lashed naked through the world, with a whip of 
 scorpions, from the rising to the setting sun. 
 
 " It is proper to say, in good time, and emphatically, that the 
 Southern Whigs cannot, and will not support an Expungtr for 
 any office ibhatever" 
 
 It is utterly hopeless, therefore, to expect that any policy or sup- 
 porter of the Administration can satisfy a discordant, inconsistent 
 and voracious party, who labor under a political disability to be 
 pleased with any thing that the Government can do; who employ 
 in their service principles they condemn, and politicians they revile, 
 and who mean to continue discontente 1 \> ith every state nan. with 
 every man, anil every measure, which may operate against the in- 
 stallation of themselves into power and pi; 
 
 A lew words upon another subject, which has engaged the public 
 attention, and agitated the public mind during tin 1 present session of 
 Congress, and 1 will close my communication. 
 
 When ;ii. the commencement of the present session, the live Whig 
 members from the State of New Jersey presented to the House of 
 Representatives the credentials of their Governor, importing that 
 were duly fleeted, I supported the pretensions of thope mero 
 
29 
 
 bers to the seats they claimed; because, I was unwilling to believe 
 that the Chief Magistrate of a Sovereign State could so far forget his 
 dignity, his duty, and his place, as to grant credentials not warrant- 
 ed by the laws, and the evidence before him. 
 
 But the Committee of Privileges and Elections have since pro- 
 duced to the House a Report which satisfies me, fully, that the five 
 Democratic members whom the Governor excluded, by the creden- 
 tials aforesaid, had received at the last Congressional elections in 
 that State a majority of the lawful votes of New Jersey; and 
 should have received the credentials which were given to their op- 
 ponents. And I have now the satisfaction to inform you that this 
 exciting question was settled on the 10th of this month, under the 
 judgment of the House of Representatives, that the five Democratic 
 members from that State were entitled to their seats. 
 
 All the pretexts under which the Chief Magistrate of New Jer- 
 sey, for political effect, affixed his great seal to what I am reluctant- 
 ly constrained to believe was a false record, have been fully refuted 
 and condemned in the House, by a majority of thirty-one. And his 
 Excellency stands convicted of what I must be permitted to believe 
 was a bold, audacious attempt to defeat the elective franchise of his 
 native State, and to paralyze the public will of the whole nation, by 
 returning to the House of Representatives a fraudulent majority 
 against the measures and policy of the Administration. 
 
 And it is worthy of remark, that when the House was brought to 
 vote upon the proposition to admit the five New Jersey members, 
 who had until then been excluded, one of the opposition asked to be 
 excused for not voting. Mr. Adams refused to vote, and several 
 others who followed his lead, stood mute. 
 
 What Alexander Hamilton said of the elder Adams, may be safe- 
 ly asserted of his wayward son, " that he has certain fixed points of 
 character, which tend naturally to the detriment of any cause of 
 which he is the chief, and of any Administration of which he is the 
 head ; and whose ill-humors and jealousies greatly distract the mea- 
 sures of the Government." 
 
 Mr. Van Buren, in a spirit of concession and compromise, fa- 
 vors, as you are aware, a judicious tariff; such a tariff' as shall re- 
 duce the public revenue to the just wants of the Government, and 
 which, by its justice and moderation, shall protect the interests of 
 the whole community. 
 
 I have already stated that he is against a United States Bank in 
 any form : And that he is of opinion, that the subject of slavery 
 is exclusively under the control of the State Governments : and 
 that neither the Government, nor the people of any other State, 
 than such as slavery exists in, can constitutionally disturb the rela- 
 tion of master and slave. 
 
 I deem it unnecessary to descant with a tedious prolixity on the 
 general principles which directed the public course of Mr. Van 
 Buren, previous to his election to the presidential office, because 
 those principles have been detailed in a variety of forms ; recorded 
 in the annals of the age ; and have been deliberately weighed and 
 sanctioned by an impartial public. 
 
30 
 
 As little effective will be the efforts of the opposition to convince 
 the community that the Administration party have lately trampled 
 on the sovereignty of the States, by expressing their opinion 
 against the profligate, unconstitutional design, fondly and stealthily 
 cherished, to induce Congress to assume and pay the enormous 
 debts of the several States. This design is rather magnificent than 
 novel. Alexander Hamilton tried it when he stood at the head of 
 the Treasury. And the atrocity of his Assumption Act has been 
 rendered immortal by the graphic exposure of it which Mr. Jef- 
 ferson has bequeathed to the world. 
 
 The present seductive design to bribe the States may be sup- 
 ported by desperate politicians, who appeal rather to the avarice, 
 than the virtue of their fellow men ; to the lust of power and the 
 aggrandizement of themselves, rather than the national felicity, and 
 the balance of the constitution; but until our reading, thoughtful, 
 inquisitive and virtuous people shall forget the patriotic and unan- 
 swerable arguments against it which have been lately delivered in 
 the National Senate, that mischievous design can never prevail. It 
 must perish, like the flame of a candle when lowered into the me- 
 phitis vapors of a well. 
 
 Obloquy has become a striking characteristic of the cloudless 
 glory of an eminent man. And the opposition party heaps it with 
 unmeasured profusion on a character, fertile, as I verily believe, 
 in every quality that adorns a patriotic statesmen. 
 
 Cool and cautious, assiduous and persevering, the admirable 
 temper, the indomitable courage, the virtuous fidelity and superior 
 wisdom of the President have greatly contributed to conduct hit, 
 country to her proud eminence among the nations of the earth. 
 
 When the pretensions of Mr. Van Buren were first brought be- 
 fore the people of the United States for the Presidential office, 
 every political opinion that he had ever expressed, and every topic 
 of objection that could possibly hinder his election to that high 
 station in the country, were freely disclosed to the public mind, 
 and canvassed with unscrupulous freedom and severity. This 
 eminent man was reared in the principles of the democratic school ; 
 and has avowed, illustrated and sustained those principles through- 
 out his long political career. While but a minor in years, he gave 
 to the republican administration of Mr. Jefferson, a zealous and 
 indefatigable support. And when the hostile encroachment of 
 Great Britain on our maritime rights had suspended the foreign 
 relations of this country, and roused the nation to a spirit of resist- 
 ance, the non-intercourse act, the embargo, and every efficient 
 measure calculated to uphold the hi nor and independence of his 
 country, r [r. Van Buren's cordial approbation and contin- 
 
 ued encouragement. And when die national renown could endure 
 no further wrongs ; when the folly and injustice of England had 
 driven the blessings of honorable peace from among us, Mr. Van 
 Buret) supported tie- war with zeal, wisdom and perseverance. 
 Soon after tic declaration of War, lie took his sent in the Senate of 
 
 Ids native State; and while hostile amies mustered on our soil, 
 ravaged our coast6, burnt our towns, and, in a spirit of savage bar- 
 barity, violated youth, beauty and innocence, — he advocated the 
 
31 
 
 belligerent measures of the nation with an energy which no disloy- 
 alty could check, no force resist, nor cowardice evade. 
 
 rJn» rfl B TT tler ' ! the late u P ri 2 ht and accomplished Attorney 
 General o the United States, resided with Mr. Van Buren at the 
 time, and has pubhcally declared that -there was no person in the 
 State of New York, of Mr. Van Buren's age, who had given a 
 more efficient aid than he did to the measures of the General Gov- 
 ernment, during the whole period of the restrictive system. His 
 cotemporanes of all parties might be appealed to, as witnesses, 
 on tins point. Pie was an open and decided advocate of all the 
 strong measures proposed against Great Britain, during the session 
 of Congress m 1811-12, the war included. Having been born 
 and reared m the same town with him; having been" from July, 
 1812, until alter the war, an inmate of his family, I am, says Mr. 
 butler, able to speak on this subject from personal knowledge. 
 
 The hostility ot the Federalists towards him, as a party°, in the 
 county in which ne then resided, was as decided and violent during 
 the year 1812, as it had been before, or was afterwards. Indeed it 
 has never been withdrawn nor suspended from the commencement 
 ot his political career, to the present day. 
 
 rfnno/!? 13, after th « Peace-loving Warrior of North Bend had aban- 
 H t vT ° f hlS - C0Untr y for the securer sce,ies of Private 
 S %■ ; ii UrGn contmued t0 TOU§ e and animate the heroic ardor 
 ^nd ?L V " Clt , 1ZenS ; and t0 im P ress u P° n thei r minds the hopes 
 and the g ones that were staked on the valor of their hearts, and the 
 
 Wbt°t th h e ! r . ams -. " The sa ™ rights," said he, "which you 
 ought to obtain in the revolution, you must now light to preserve ■ 
 the contest is the same now that it was then; and the feeling 
 which agitated the public mind-which, on the one hand, supported, 
 and on the other hand sought to destroy the liberties of the country 
 wil 1 be seen and felt in the contest of the present day. I solicit the 
 honest men of all parties, to remember that this is the last Repub- 
 lic ; that all the influence of the crowned heads in Europe, has been 
 exerted to propagate the doctrine that a Government like ours can 
 never stand the shock of war ; to reflect that this is the first occasion 
 in which this Government has been engaged in war ; and that the 
 great and interesting question, whether man is capable of self-o-ov- 
 ernment-whether our Republic is to go the way of its predeces- 
 sors >— or whether, supported by the hearts and arms of her free 
 citizens, she shall deride the revilings, and defeat the machinations 
 ot her enemies, are now to be tried." 
 
 An eminent public man, now high in the councils of this eoun- 
 tr\ , in speaking oi the services which Mr. Van Buren rendered the 
 nation during the war, says : « He was the man which the occasion 
 required— the ready writer, prompt debater, judicious counsellor ; 
 courteous in manners, firm in purpose. He contrived the mea- 
 sures brought forward the bills and reports, delivered the speeches, 
 and drew the State papers, which eventually vanquished the Fede- 
 ral party turned the doubtful scales, and gave the elections of April, 
 1814, to the friends and supporters of Madison and the war— an 
 event, the intelligence of which was received at Washington with 
 an exultation only inferior to that which was received on the news 
 
3*2 
 
 of the victory at New Orleans. The new Legislature, mnv demo- 
 cratic in both branches, was quickly convened by Governor Tomp- 
 kins ; and Mr. Van Bureh had the honor to bring forward, and carry 
 through, amidst the applauses of patriots, and the denunciations el 
 the Anti-war party, the most energetic war measure ever adopted in 
 America — the Classification Bill— to raise an army of twelve thou- 
 sand State troops, to serve for two years, and to be placed at the 
 disposal ol the General Government." 
 
 It will soon become our patriotic duty to determine at the polls, 
 whether Mr. Van Buren has deserved to forfeit the continued ap- 
 probation of his fellow-men— whether, in the administration of the 
 General Government, he has been unmindful of the national wel- 
 fare, or has departed from the great public principles on the credit 
 of which he received the crowning honors of the nation. 
 
 Could I believe that he has betrayed his sacred trust, or proved 
 himself inadequate to discharge the duties of it, in the voice.of a free- 
 man I would proclaim it to the world. But, as I can perceive 
 amidst the arduous, delicate, and responsible duties of his high posi- 
 tion in the Union, the same wise, upright, and laborious zeal for the 
 public weal that always characterized his previous career, the same 
 deferential obedience to the popular will— the same dutiful solicitude 
 to foster and perpetuate those great principles of constitutional lib- 
 erty which sprouted in the blood, and flourished in the wisdom of 
 the illustrious dead, I cannot wrong my country, and my constitu- 
 ents the renown of our ancestors, and the cause of tree government 
 so much, as to fasten, by my suffrage, a badge of disgrace on the 
 public character of such a man. 
 
 In a crisis like this, to dismiss that wise and faithful Magistrate 
 from the Government, would be to throw the pilot overboard, when 
 the fury of the wind and waves, and the still more destructive ele- 
 ments of human folly and injustice, are all in active combination to 
 propel the vessel on a d . It would manifest ingratitude 
 
 to the founder, of our republican institutions, and the grossest igno- 
 rance of our perilous condition. 
 
 [f we cannot appr scidte the blessings we enjoy, nor comprehend 
 the magnitude of the danger to which they arc exposed, the organs 
 of the heart and understanding must be barren ol praise to our 
 Creator, and unproductive to ourselves of that pleasure and utility 
 which a dutiful recollection of the works of infinite wisdom should 
 alwavs afford to a rational mind. . . 
 
 I mist in Providence that a gracious and enlightened spirit will 
 pervade the land, and rebuke that political extravagance which seeks 
 to fasten on the country those baneful principles which have no root 
 in the constitution— no sanction from the wisdom of our ancestors, 
 npr from the dictates of patriotism ; and which continually threaten 
 t he curity, and freedom of the. only powerful, rational Ke- 
 
 nnblic in the world. . 
 
 A( . rj kind consideration with wnicn 
 
 1 am. sir, with pect, 
 
 it servant, 
 
 G. W. HOPKINS. 
 
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