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PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS 
 
 FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF 
 
 MR. MONROE'S ADMINT^RATION, IN 1817, 
 
 ;ffi 
 
 TO THE CLOSE OF 
 
 MR. FILLMORE'S ADMINISTRATION, IN 1853. 
 
 BY 
 
 NATHAN SARGENT, 
 
 LATE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS (FORMERLY KNOWN AS A POLITICAL WRITER UNDER THE 
 NOM DB PLUME OF "OLIVER OLDSCHOOL"). 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 ILiCfCf^l'p- ! 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 1875. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 ^ 
 
 #■ 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Mr. Van Buren inaugurated, 4th of March, 1837. — Great Complaints of the 
 Specie Circular. — The Banks compelled to suspend Specie Payments. — 
 Great Commercial Distress.— The President calls an Extra Session of Con- 
 gress, to meet on the 4th of September. — Anecdote of-Mr. Clay. — Radical- 
 ism. — Loco-focos. — First Session (called) of the Twenty-Fifth Congress. — 
 Mr. Van Buren socially.— Trouble on the Northern Frontier. — The Steam- 
 boat Caroline seized and sent over Niagara Falls. — General Scott sent to the 
 Frontier. — Debate in the Senate on the Sub-Treasury Bill. — A Passage at 
 Arms between Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun. — Another between Mr. Webster 
 and Mr. Calhoun.— Nicholas Biddle.— The Debate on the Sub-Treasuiy 
 Bill continued. — Mr. Wright advocates it. — Further Conflicts between Mr. 
 Webster and Mr. Calhoun, and Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun. — Abolition 
 Petitions in the Senate. — Another Exciting Scene in the House. — Meeting 
 of Southern Members on the Subject of Abolition Petitions. — The Patton 
 Resolutions adopted by the House. — Mr. Adams denounces them as Uncon- 
 stitutional. — Duel between Mr. Graves and Mr. Cilley. — Arrival at New 
 York of two Steamships from Liverpool, the Sirius and the Great Western. 
 — The Burning of Pennsylvania Hall by a Mob. — Texas: Proposition to 
 annex her to the United States. — Mississippi Contested Election. — S. S. 
 Prentiss. — His Splendid Address to the House. — Refused his Seat by the 
 House. — He is feted by the Whigs. — A Splendid Speech from Mr. Webster. 
 — Report of the Committee (Wise's) on Defalcations. — Prentiss and Ward 
 again elected to Congress, and take their Seats. — Mr. Clay's Speech on 
 Slavery. — Mr. Preston's Speech in Philadelphia. — Organization of the Whig 
 Party in Pennsylvania. — Second Suspension of Specie Payments. — Rates of 
 Exchange between the Commercial Cities of the United States. — Move- 
 ments to prevent Mr. Clay's Nomination for President. — The Triangular Cor- 
 respondence. — Hugh Lavvson White. — Whig Reverses. — Letter from Mr. 
 Clay to N. Sargent. — The "Conservatives." — Hugh S. Legare. — Anecdote 
 of him. — Nomination for President and Vice-President by the Harrisburg 
 Convention. — Harrison and Tyler nominated. — The New Jersey "Broad 
 Seal" Contest in the House. — Another Sharp Passage at Arms between Mr. 
 Clay and Mr. Calhoun. — Corwin's Speech in reply to General Crary. — The 
 Great Baltimore Convention.— How the Campaign of 1840 was carried on. 
 — Log-Cabins, Hard Cider, Songs, etc. — Monster Meetings at the West. — 
 A Universal Holiday .......... 9 
 
 ^ 3 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 General Harrison inaugurated. — His Cabinet. — He issues a Proclamation call- 
 ing an Extra Session of Gjngress on the 31st of May. — Is taken ill. — Dies. 
 — His Funeral. — John Tyler assumes the Duties and Title of President. — 
 Issues an Address to the People. — Retains the Harrison Cabinet. — The 
 Extra Session of Congress held. — Civil Service Reform. — Mr. Webster's 
 Letter. — Measures proposed at the Extra Session. — Mr. Ewing's Report 
 strongly recommends a United States Bank. — A Bill to establish a Fiscal 
 Bank passed. — Vetoed by the President. — The Democrats visit the Presi- 
 dent in a Body and congratulate him. — Mr. Clay ludicrously depicts the 
 Scene at the White House. — A Second Fiscal Corporation Bill brought 
 forward. — Second Veto. — Resignation of the Cabinet. — Mr. Webster re- 
 mains. — He negotiates with Lord Ashburton. — The Webster-Ashburton 
 Treaty. — New Cabinet appointed. — Rupture of the Whigs with John Tyler. 
 — First Regular Session of the Twenty-Seventh Congress. — A Prolonged 
 Contest in the House on the Right of Petition. — Gilmer, Rhett, and Proffit 
 ask to be excused from serving on the Committee of Foreign Relations 
 with Mr. Adams. — They are excused. — Lord Morpeth and Mr. Dickens. — 
 Mr. Clay resigns his Seat, and takes leave of the Senate. — Parting between 
 him and Mr. Calhoun. — Speech of Mr. Clay at Lexington, 1843. — Almost 
 a Duel between Mr. Stanley and Mr. Wise. — Reverdy Johnson, Francis 
 Granger, Mr. Saltonstall, A. H. H. Stuart, Mr. Lane, Caleb Gushing. — The 
 Revenue Bill passed, and vetoed. — A Bill passed requiring Members of 
 Congress to be elected uniformly by Districts. — Revenue Bill. — Mr. Adams's 
 Report; severely censures the President for his Vetoes. — The President's 
 Protest. — Another Revenue Bill: Tariff Act of 1842. — Earnest Debate in 
 the Senate on this Bill ; it is passed. — Congress adjourns 13th September, 
 1842. — Millard Fillmore. — Mr. Tyler changes his Policy in regard to Re- 
 movals and Appointments. — Jonathan Roberts, Collector at Philadelphia, 
 and General Solomon Van Rensselaer, Postmaster at Albany, removed. — 
 Mr. Webster still in the Cabinet. — His Speech in Faneuil Hall : inquires, 
 "Where shall I go?^' — Morse's Telegraph. — A Pleasing Episode in the 
 House of Representatives: the Presentation of the Sword and Staff of 
 Washington. — Winding up of the Twenty-Seventh Congress. — Last Night 
 of the Session. — Nominations of Mr. Wise and Mr. Gushing rejected by 
 the Senate. — Samuel F. Vinton. — Mr. Gushing sent to China. — Mr. Web- 
 ster leaves the Cabinet.— Mr. Tyler visits the North and East. — Death of 
 Mr. Legar6. — Mr. Upshur appointed Secretary of State. — Mr. Proffit sent 
 Minister to Brazil. — Gilmer's Intrigue for Texas. — Meeting of the Twenty- 
 Eighth Congress : New Members, Solomon Foot, Jacob Collamer, Hamil- 
 ton Fish, Hannibal Hamlin, E. Joy Morris, Alexander Ramsey, Washington 
 Hunt, Alexander H. Stephens, Robert Toombs, Robert C. Schenck, James 
 Pollock, Stephen A. Douglas, Howell Cobb, J. J. Hardin, John Wentworth, 
 John P. Hale.— Notice of Mr. Hale.— Mr. Webster's Readmission into the 
 Whig Party : how it was done.— Judge Willie P, Mangum.— The Girard 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 5 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Will Case before the Supreme Court. — John Sergeant. — Cabinet Changes. 
 — Terrible Catastrophe: Bursting of a Gun on the Princeton. — Further 
 Organization of the Cabinet. — Mr. Calhoun Secretary of State. — Move- 
 ments of Aspirants to the Presidency. — Mr. Clay's Southern Tour. — Treaty 
 of Annexation of Texas. — Whig National Convention at Baltimore. — Mr, 
 Clay nominated for President. — Democratic National Convention. — Mr. 
 Folk nominated for President. — Terrible Riots in Philadelphia. — First 
 Public Working of Morse's Telegraph. — Further Changes in the Cabinet. 
 — John C. Spencer. — Progress of the Presidential Campaign. — The Kane 
 Letter. — The Campaign in Pennsylvania. — The Campaign in New York. — 
 Clay's Alabama Letter. — The Plaquemine Frauds. — Second Session of the 
 Twenty-Eighth Congress. — Abrogation of the Twenty-First Rule. — Mr. 
 Hoar's Expulsion from South Carolina. — Duel between Mr. Clingman and 
 Mr. Yancey. — Acquisition of Texas. — The End of Mr. Tyler's Adminis- 
 tration "2 
 
 CHAPTER VI I. 
 
 Mr. Polk inaugurated. — His Inaugural Address. — His Cabinet. — Discards the 
 Globe. — Ritchie brought to Washington and establishes the Union. — Our 
 Relations with Mexico and England. — General Cass declares that " War 
 (with England) is inevitable." — The President declares our Title to the 
 whole of Oregon clear and indisputable. — Mr. Haywood's Speech. — Ex- 
 citing Scene in the Senate. — Mr. Hannegan anathematizes the President. — 
 Fierce and Angry Discussion, — Mr. Crittenden and Mr. Allen, of Ohio. — 
 Debate on Oregon. — The "Fifty-four Forties." — The President relies oa 
 the Whigs to support him in making a Treaty fixing the Boundary of Oregon 
 at Forty-nine Degrees. — A Treaty entered into and ratified, and the Oregoi* 
 Controversy settled. — Mr. Adams and Mr. Rhett. — Interesting Unwritten 
 History from Mr. Adams. — Debate upon, and Passage of, the Tariff of 1846. 
 — Mr. Dallas votes for the Tariff of '46, and the consequent Repeal of the 
 Tariff of '42. — Senator Haywood resigns, and issues an Address to the People 
 of North Carolina. — Mr. Sawyer's Lunch. — Mr. Robinson. — A Speech from 
 Mr. Sawyer produces Great Merriment in the House. — War with Mexico. 
 —The False Preamble.— General Scott's " Hasty Plate of Soup" Letter.— 
 Acquisition of New Mexico and California. — Campaign on the Rio Grande. 
 — Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca. — Monterey taken. — Second Session of 
 the Twenty-Ninth Congress, — The Lie, and a Challenge given. — Davis and 
 Bailey. — A Duel expected. — Death of General Barrow. — Scene in the Senate. 
 —The Davis and Bailey Difficulty settled.— The Three-Million Bill.— A 
 Beautiful Incident: Respect for Mr. Adams. — The Public Printer excluded 
 from the Senate.— Debate on the Three-Million Bill.— Mr. Corwin's Speech. 
 — "Tom Corwin." — Debate on the Three-Million Bill in the House. — 
 James F. Simmons. — Mr. Calhoun's Slavery Resolutions. — Notice of Out- 
 going Senators. — Battle of Buena Vista. — General Scott's Career in Mexico. 
 —The Whig National Convention of 1848.— General Taylor and Millard 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fillmore nominated for President and Vice-President. — Death of John 
 Quincy Adams. — Democratic National Convention. — General Cass and 
 General Butler nominated for President and Vice-President. — Free-Soil 
 Buffalo Convention nominates Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams 
 for President and Vice-President. — The Presidential Election. — Taylor and 
 Fillmore elected. — Proposition to extend the Constitution over California. — 
 Earnest Debate in the Senate.— Last Night of the Thirtieth Congress.— 
 Scenes in the House. — Close of Mr. Polk's Administration. — His Death . 264 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 General Taylor inaugurated President. — Appoints his Cabinet. — New Depart- 
 ment, that of the Interior, established. — Combined Southern Movement on 
 the Subject of Slaveiy. — FirstSessionof the Thirty-First Congress. — Increas- 
 ing Antagonism between the North and the South on the Slavery Question. 
 — Difficulty in electing a Speaker of the House. — Southern Whigs refuse to 
 vote for Mr. Winthrop. — William J. Brown intrigues with the Free-soilers ; 
 is detected. — Mr. Toombs threatens Disunion. — Other Southern Members 
 equally imbued with Disunion Feelings. — Stirring Scene between Mr. Duer, 
 of New York, and Mr. Meade, of Virginia. — Duel prevented. — Mr. Cobb 
 elected Speaker. — General Taylor's First and only Annual Message. — Policy 
 of the Administration. — Collector of Customs, Postmaster, etc., appointed 
 for San Francisco. — The South violently opposed to the Policy of General 
 Taylor, to leave the People of California free to form a Constitution, leaving 
 Slaveiy to take care of itself. — Mr. Clay again returns to the Senate. — Sub- 
 mits Resolutions declaratory of what he considers it necessary Congress 
 should do in regard to California, Utah, and New Mexico. — His Resolu- 
 tions referred to a Select Committee. — They report Compromise Measures. 
 — Debate upon them prolonged. — Mr. Benton violently opposes Compro- 
 mise Measures. — Scene between Colonel Benton and Mr. Foote. — Mr. 
 Calhoun's Last Speech. — His Death. — Defeat of the Compromise Bill. — 
 Admission of California. — Dealh of General Taylor .... 342 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Mr. Fillmore takes the Oath of Office and enters upon the Duties of Presi- 
 dent. — His Cabinet. — The Free-Soil Party increases at the North and 
 coalesces \\ilh the Democrats. — They elect S. P. Chase Senator from Ohio. 
 — Mr. Boutwell, Govenior, and Charles Sumner, United States Senator, in 
 Massachusetts. — More Disunionism in South Carolina. — The Second Ses- 
 sion of the Thirty-First Congress. — President's Message. — Increasing Oppo- 
 sition at the North to the Fugitive Slave Law and its Execution. — A Calm 
 Session of Congress. — Filibustering Expedition of Lopez against Cuba. — 
 Kossuth. — Feted in New York. — Disgraceful Doings there. — Judge Duer 
 not allowed to reply to Kossuth. — Publicly received by both Houses of 
 
CONTENTS. y 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Congress. — The leading Public Men at Washington celebrate the Birthday 
 of Washington. — Mr. Crittenden selected to address them on the Occasion, 
 in Rebuke of the Assumptions of Kossuth, adverse to the Principles of 
 Washington. — Mr. Clay's 111 Health. — Great Union Movement in New 
 York. — Whig National Convention, held at Baltimore, on the Fifty-third 
 Ballot nominates General Scott for President, and William A. Graham, of 
 North Carolina, for Vice-President. — The Democratic National Convention 
 nominates Franklin Pierce for President, and William R. King for Vice- 
 President. — Free-Soil National Convention, held at Pittsburg, nominates 
 John P. Hale for President, and George W. Julian for Vice-President. — 
 Death of Mr. Clay. — Presidential Canvass of 1852. — Mr. Webster's Death. 
 — General Pierce elected President. — Brutal Assault of Brooks, of South 
 Carolina, on Mr. Sumner. — Close of Fillmore's Administration . . 371 
 
\ 
 
PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Mr. Van Biiren inaugurated, 4th of March, 1837. — Great Complaints of the Specie 
 Circular. — The Banks compelled to suspend Specie Payments. — Great Com- 
 mercial Distress. — The President calls an Extra Session of Congress, to meet 
 on the 4th of September. — Anecdote of Mr. Clay. — Radicalism. — Loco-focos. — 
 First Session (called) of the Twenty-fifth Congress. — Mr. Van Buren socially. — 
 Trouble on the Northern Frontier. — The Steamboat Caroline seized and sent 
 over Niagara Falls. — General Scott sent to the Frontier. — Debate in the 
 Senate on the Sub-Treasury Bill. — A Passage at Arms between Mr. Clay and 
 Mr. Calhoun. — Another between Mr. Webster and Mr. Calhoun. — Nicholas 
 Biddle. — The Debate on the Sub-Treasuiy Bill continued. — Mr. Wright advo- 
 cates it. — Further Conflicts between Mr. Webster and j\Ir. Calhoun, and Mr. 
 Clay and Mr. Calhoun. — Abolition Petitions in the Senate. — Another Exciting 
 Scene in the House. — Meeting of Southern Members on the Subject of Abolition 
 Petitions. — The Patton Resolutions adopted by the House. — i\Ir. Adams de- 
 nounces them as Unconstitutional. — Duel between Mr. Graves and Mr. Cilley. — 
 Arrival at New York of two Steamships from Liverpool, the Sirius and the 
 Great Western. — The Burning of Pennsylvania Hall by a Mob. — Texas: Propo- 
 sition to annex her to the United States. — Mississippi Contested Election. — S. S. 
 Prentiss. — His Splendid Address to the House. — Refused his Seat by the House. 
 — He is feted by the Whigs. — A Splendid Speech from Mr. Webster. — Report 
 of the Committee (Wise's) on Defalcations. — Prentiss and Ward again elected 
 to Congi-ess, and take their Seats. — Prentiss's Remarks on the Defaulters. — 
 Mr. Clay's Speech on Slavery. — Mr. Preston's Speech in Philadelphia. — Or- 
 ganization of the Whig Party in Pennsylvania. — Second Suspension of Specie 
 Payments. — Rates of Exchange between the Commercial Cities of the United 
 States. — Movements to prevent Mr. Clay's Nomination for President. — The 
 Triangular Correspondence. — Hugh Lawson White. — Whig Reverses. — Letter 
 from Mr. Clay to N. Sargent. — The " Conservatives." — Hugh S. Legare. — Anec- 
 dote of him. — Nomination for President and Vice-President by the Harrisljurg 
 Convention. — Harrison and Tyler nominated. — The New Jersey " Broad Seal" 
 Contest in the House. — Another Sharp Passage at Arms between Mr. Clay and 
 Mr. Calhoun. — Corwin's Speech in reply to General Crary. — The Great Baltimore 
 Convention. — How the Campaign of 1840 was carried on. — Log-Cabins, Hard 
 Cider, Songs, etc. — Monster Meetings at the West. — A Universal Holiday. 
 Vol. II. 2 9 
 
lO PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 MR. VAX BUREn's ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Mr. Van Buren was duly inaugurated President on the 4th 
 of March, 1837, General Jackson being present to witness the 
 ceremony. 
 
 The njw President retained all the members of General Jack- 
 son's cabinet, and appointed Joel R. Poinsett Secretary of War, 
 to fill the vacancy made by the appointment of General Cass 
 as minister to France. 
 
 But anxious as he had been to reach the Presidential seat, he 
 now found it no bed of roses. Nemesis, as if only waiting for 
 the departure of " the old Hero," now rapped at the door of the 
 White House with importunate earnestness and perseverance. 
 
 With modest self-laudation General Jackson said, in his fare- 
 well address to the people of the United States, " My public 
 life has been a long one, and I cannot hope that it has at all 
 times been free from errors. But I have the consolation of 
 knowing that if mistakes have been committed they have not 
 seriously injured the country I so anxiously endeavored to 
 serve ; and at this moment, when I surrender my last public 
 
 trust, I LEAVE THIS GREAT PEOPLE PROSPEROUS AND HAPPY. 
 
 " My humble efforts have not been spared, during my admin- 
 istration of the government, to restore the constitutional cur- 
 rency of gold and silver, and something, I trust, has been done 
 towards the accomplishment of this most desirable object." 
 
 In his inaugural address, Mr. Van Buren gave the countiy to 
 understand that he should " tread in the footsteps of his illus- 
 trious predecessor;" thereby promising to pursue the line of 
 policy which had marked General Jackson's administration ; 
 proclaiming to the country and to the world that " we present 
 an aggregate of human prosperity surely not elsewhere to be 
 found," — the result, it was to be inferred, of the wisdom of the 
 administration of " his illustrious predecessor." 
 
 But scarcely had he donned the robes of office ere the press 
 of the country rang with continued complaints of the derange- 
 ment of the currency, of distress among the poor, of commercial 
 embarrassments, of numerous failures of the largest commercial 
 
MR. VAN BUREN'S ADMINISTRATION. jj 
 
 houses, of the scarcity of money, of the general want of confi- 
 dence, of the consequent stagnation of business of every kind, 
 and, in fact, of all the evils attending an excessive and general 
 derangement of the currency. The following editorial from a 
 leading New York paper is but a sample of hundreds of others: 
 
 " Better Currency. — Money four per cent, per month. 
 Domestic exchange broken up. Banks in the country as thick 
 as grasshoppers. Extension of bank loans from two hundred 
 million four hundred and fifty-one thousand two hundred and 
 fourteen dollars to five hundred and ninety million eight hun- 
 dred and ninety-two thousand six hundred and sixty-one 
 dollars. Mississippi people appealing for relief laws. Gov- 
 ernment alarmed for the safety of the deposits." 
 
 The whole American press, with the exception of the ultra 
 party papers, continued to give utterance to the universal feel- 
 ing of the business interests of the nation, to chronicle daily 
 the scores of failures of great mercantile houses, which were 
 going by the board in every great commercial city, until, on 
 
 THE ELEVENTH OF MaY, THE BANKS ALL STOPPED SPECIE PAY- 
 MENT ; the legitimate result of the continued tampering with, 
 and trying " experiments" upon, the currency by the govern- 
 ment for a series of years. 
 
 Such was the winding up of General Jackson's " humble 
 efforts to restore to the country a constitutional currency." 
 
 Nothing but this action of the banks could save the mercan- 
 tile and business communities from universal bankruptcy. As 
 a remedial measure it was effective, so far as to enable the 
 banks to extend their line of discounts and increase their 
 circulation ; in other words, to make money easier. 
 
 But bankruptcy and commercial distress had spread far and 
 wide. A financial tornado had swept, and was sweeping, over 
 the whole country, — a tornado long to be remembered. States, 
 as well as individuals, became bankrupt. The bonds issued by 
 the great State of Pennsylvania, many millions of which were 
 owned by the United States Bank of Pennsylvania, — the suc- 
 cessor to the Bank of the United States, — went down to less 
 than half their nominal value, and the State, to her great dis- 
 grace, refused to pay the interest on them for several years, by 
 
12 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 which repudiation thousands of families in this country and in 
 Europe were deprived of their principal or entire means of 
 support, and the bank lost millions of dollars. Mississippi and 
 Arkansas wholly repudiated, and have never paid, I believe, to 
 this day. The bonds of other States also ran down forty, fifty, 
 or sixty per cent, below par, large amounts of these bonds 
 being held by the United States Bank. Distress and appre- 
 hension pervaded the country. It was the very condition of 
 things so truthfully foretold by Whig Senators years before, 
 Mr. Clayton, of Delaware, in a debate in the Senate, some 
 years anterior to this time, said, — 
 
 " In less than four years the pecuniary distress, the com- 
 mercial embarrassments, consequent upon the destruction of 
 the United States Bank, must exceed anything which has ever 
 been known in our history. . . . The depreciation of paper 
 operates as a tax on the farmer, the mechanic, and all the con- 
 sumers of merchandise to its whole amount. The loss of con- 
 fidence among men ; the total derangement of that admirable 
 system of exchanges which is now acknowledged to be better 
 than exists in any other country on the globe ; overtrading and 
 speculation on false capital in every part of the country ; that 
 rapid fluctuation in the standard of value for money, which, like 
 the unseen pestilence, withers all the efforts of industry, while 
 the sufferer is in utter ignorance of the cause of his destruc- 
 tion ; bankruptcies and ruin, at the anticipation of which the 
 heart sickens, — must follow in the long train of evils which are 
 assuredly before us." 
 
 Assuredly they came, and were now upon the country. 
 Prophecy was in the course of fulfillment; prediction had 
 become fact ; anticipation, history ; foreboding, reality. The 
 "gold humbug" was exploded; the "better currency" was the 
 bills of banks which did not, and could not, redeem them with 
 specie, and not a metallic dollar was to be seen. The " long 
 silken purses, with fine, open net-work," the " glistening gold," 
 the "tinkling silver," but not "the great 'Globe' itself," had 
 " melted into air," 
 
 " And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, 
 Left not a rack behind." 
 
MR. VAN BUR EN'S ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 13 
 
 Meetincfs of merchants had been held in New York, and a 
 committee sent to Washington to beseech President Van Buren 
 to rescind the Specie Circular ; but their efforts were unavailing: 
 it was not his purpose to retrace the steps of " his illustrious 
 predecessor," and he seemed incredulous of the distress of the 
 country as represented to him. 
 
 But the stoppage of specie payments by the banks was a 
 tocsin to which he could not turn a deaf ear, and which could 
 not be heard but with fear and apprehension. The financial 
 embarrassments which were so severely felt by the people now 
 reached the government itself, heretofore incredulous and cal- 
 lous. The "pet banks," or State banks selected as depositories 
 of the public moneys, of which there were about eighty, went 
 by the board as well as the others. The crash was nearly uni- 
 versal. But, while specie was withdrawn from circulation, large 
 amounts were constantly being shipped to Europe to pay for 
 the immense importations which our "flush times" and conse- 
 quent extravagance had superinduced. 
 
 In a reply by Mr. J. Q. Adams to a committee of his con- 
 stituents, who had taken advantage of the occasion of present- 
 ing him a cane made of a piece of live-oak from the "Old 
 Constitution" to present him also with an address, he thus 
 briefly but graphically depicted the condition of the country: 
 
 " We present, at the present moment, a most astonishing and 
 portentous spectacle to the world. Without a dollar of national 
 debt, we are in the midst of national bankruptcy. From a 
 treasury overflowing with fifty millions of dollars our govern- 
 ment pays in paper trash the wages of the clerks in the public 
 offices. The nation is insolvent, — the whole people is insolvent. 
 You inquire if this is owing to the conduct of the late admin- 
 istration. I believe it is attributable to various causes, among 
 which the grant of the use of the money in the Treasury to 
 numerous State corporations, by order of the late President 
 of the United States, without authority of law, was the most 
 pernicious, . . . 
 
 " It was precisely at the moment when the whole debt was 
 paid off, and when the revenue was doubled by the sudden and 
 enormous increase of the proceeds of the public lands, that the 
 
14 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 use of the moneys in the Treasury was taken from the Bank of 
 the United States, chartered by and under the control of Con- 
 gress, and dribbled out, in parcels to suit favorite purchasers, 
 to a multitude of State banks without responsible capitals and 
 wholly beyond the control of Congress or the Executive of the 
 government of the United States." 
 
 The deposit banks being now unable to comply with the 
 requirements of the Specie Circular, it became an imperative 
 necessity for the President to call Congress together, and a 
 proclamation to that effect was issued on the 15th of May, 
 convening Congress on the 4th of September. 
 
 Meantime, the country was in a continued state of financial 
 anxiety and commotion, while the press teemed with severe 
 comments upon the acts of the late and of the present ad- 
 ministration. Silver change had become so scarce that hotels, 
 restaurants, and all sorts of corporations resorted to the expe- 
 dient of issuing tickets and small bills, of denominations as low 
 as twelve and a half cents. The City Councils of Philadelphia, 
 on the 15th of May (1837), authorized the issuing of ^130,000 
 in bills of twenty-five, fifty, and seventy-five cents. Other cities 
 and towns followed this example. 
 
 At this time the number of banks in the United States was 
 eight hundred and twenty-three, with a capital of ^378,421,168. 
 In 1830 the number was three hundred and twenty-nine, with 
 a capital of ^111,192,258. Increase of banks in seven years, 
 four hundred and ninety-four; of capital, ;$267, 228,910. In- 
 crease in number, one hundred and fifty per cent.; in capital, 
 a little less than two hundred and fifty per cent. 
 
 Under the judicious administration of the United States 
 Bank, this great power for good or evil was, like a great body 
 of running water, kept within prescribed channels, and thus 
 made useful ; but when the controlling power was withdrawn, 
 these waters rushed madly, unrestrained, hither and thither, 
 spreading disaster over the land instead of fructification and 
 increase, and resulted in sweeping off crops, fences, barns, 
 horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, and even houses. 
 
 It seemed to be the misfortune of Mr. Van Buren that all 
 the evil consequences flowing from the ill-judged measures of 
 
ANECDOTE OF MR. CLAY. I- 
 
 " his illustrious predecessor" should burst upon his devoted 
 head, and that he should be left to stem the torrent of public 
 discontent and odium alone, unaided by the " old Hero," upon 
 whom- he had heretofore leaned. 
 
 ANECDOTE OF MR. CLAY. 
 
 Mr. Clay owned wild lands in Illinois, which, as he was a 
 man who looked well after his own affairs, he sometimes 
 visited. In doing so he had to adopt the mode of traveling 
 usual, from necessity, in all new countries, — riding on horse- 
 back : indeed, this was the way in which he and other Western 
 members of Congress traveled to and from Washington sixty 
 years asfo. 
 
 Coming to a farm-house on his road, near the close of the 
 day, he courteously inquired of the owner, who happened to be 
 at home and in sight, if he could be permitted to stop there 
 overnight, and was answered in the affirmative. Alighting, and 
 relieving his horse of his saddle-bags, — an invariable accom- 
 paniment of that " single horseman who might have been seen 
 riding slowly up or down a hill," — the animal was taken to the 
 stable and suitably cared for. 
 
 It happened that the farmer had some fine stock, of which 
 he was very proud. These cattle attracted the attention of Mr. 
 Clay, who possessed the finest stock in Kentucky and was a 
 connoisseur and amateur of blooded animals. He spoke of 
 them, went among the herd, was greatly pleased, and criticised 
 their various points in a manner that showed he was no " 'pren- 
 tice han' " in that business. 
 
 Of course the farmer was delighted with his guest. But 
 another subject came up just before Mr. Clay retired to rest, 
 upon which they did not agree so well, — to wit, politics. The 
 farmer proved to be a Jackson man, — red-hot, — and in the 
 course of conversation spoke of " that fellow Henry Clay," and 
 of his bargain and corruption. Mr. Clay said it was possible 
 he might be mistaken; that there might not have been any such 
 corrupt bargaining as he had spoken of, and that possibly Mr. 
 Clay was not exactly the man he seemed to think him. The 
 farmer, however, was positive, — could not be mistaken ; Mr. 
 
J 5 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Clay was a very dangerous man ; whereupon Mr. Clay dropped 
 the subject and retired to bed. 
 
 By some means or other, before morning the farmer learned, 
 to his astonishment, that his guest was the veritable Henry 
 Clay himself! What could he say to him? What apology- 
 could he make ? Mr. Clay rose early, as was his custom, and 
 went out to look at the fine cattle again. There he found the 
 farmer, who, in a confused, embarrassed manner, addressing 
 Mr. Clay by name, began an excuse for his rudeness, which Mr. 
 Clay at once cut off, assuring him that he had committed no 
 offense, and therefore no apology was needed. " You spoke," 
 said Mr. Clay, " your honest opinion, which I hope you will 
 find reason to change ; but so long as it shall be your honest 
 conviction I cannot object to your expressing it." 
 
 It is hardly necessary to add that from that day the farmer 
 was one of the most devoted friends Mr. Clay had in the State 
 of Illinois. 
 
 RADICALISM. LOCO-FOCOS. 
 
 For some ten years previous to this time — 1837 — there had 
 been residing in the city of New York an Englishwoman, of 
 masculine person and mind, who entertained peculiar views 
 in regard to marriage relations, as well as to religious and 
 political doctrines, and who, by that force by which a superior 
 and more vigorous intellect draws others within its controlling 
 influence, had gathered numerous disciples around her. This 
 woman was no other than Miss Fanny Wright : her peculiar 
 radical notions in regard to the social relations and intercourse 
 of the sexes, and her avowed disbelief in the Christian religion, 
 became known as " Fanny Wrightism." The New York "New 
 Era" was established and carried on for many years as the 
 organ of this class of religio-politicians, whose numbers were 
 comparatively small, but embraced a good deal of talent. They 
 formed a party, or faction, calling themselves the " Equal Rights 
 Party," — Democrats, but the most radical of radicals. 
 
 Holding extreme Democratic doctrines, and belonging to that 
 party, they gave it no little trouble. Opposed to all banks and 
 monopolies of every kind, they recognized no' other legitimate 
 currency than gold and silver, in this agreeing with Jackson 
 
LOCO-FOCOS. 
 
 17 
 
 and Benton, while the leaders of the Jackson, now called the 
 Democratic, party, in New York, repudiated these radical, im- 
 practicable notions. This difference in views soon brought 
 about a conflict of action. Being opposed to the nominations 
 made by the party for members of Congress and the State 
 Assembly, they gathered in great force at a meeting held at 
 Tammany Hall in 1835 for the purpose of acting on these 
 nominations. Here the two factions became distinct, a clear 
 line being drawn between them, and a scene of contest and 
 confusion — not unfamiliar to Tammany Hall — ensued, in the 
 midst of which the gas was shut off and the hall and crowd 
 were involved in darkness. But the Equal Rights men had 
 anticipated this, and provided against it. Each man had 
 brought with him a box of loco-foco matches and a candle, 
 and instantly every man held a lighted candle in his hand. 
 
 In giving an account of this meeting, the row, and the light- 
 ing of the candles by loco-foco matches, the next day, the 
 facetious Major Noah called the Equal Rights men Loco-focos, 
 a name which was very soon applied to the whole Democratic 
 party, though much the larger portion of that party in the 
 State denounced that faction in the most bitter terms. Such 
 was the origin of the term " Loco-focos," applied to them by 
 their opponents the Whigs. 
 
 MR. VAN BUREN AS PRESIDENT. 
 
 Mr. Van Buren now occupied the elevated seat to which he 
 had long aspired. Few men had ever reached a high official 
 position with so much ease and so little labor or trouble. All 
 the skill required of him was, in the first place to remove the 
 strong prejudice which General Jackson entertained against 
 him, and then to win and preserve his favor. This he succeeded 
 effectually in doing, and was borne into the seat upon the wave 
 of the old Hero's popularity, shielded by his protecting wing. 
 Thus protected, petted, and carried along, he was scarcely 
 required to think for himself, much less to rely on himself 
 to manage the affairs of the party, or even to look after his 
 own political interests outside of the White House. He was 
 but a cabin-passenger, though destined to take the command ; 
 
1 8 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 for while " Old Hickory" stood upon the quarter-deck, or at 
 the helm, no one must presume to give an order or advice, or 
 do aught but obey. 
 
 But Mr. Van Buren was now in command ; and he soon dis- 
 covered — not sooner, however, than the deck-hands did — that 
 he was not " born to command." It was soon perceived that he 
 lacked that supreme confidence in himself which is the parent of 
 prompt decision and energy of action, and which was the secret 
 of his predecessor's power over men and his party. He who 
 distrusts his own judgment, who hesitates, wavers, and vacillates, 
 inspires distrust, hesitation, and want of confidence in those he 
 would lead. It is the firm, unhesitating leader, as quick to de- 
 cide as he is prompt to execute, whom men involuntarily follow 
 and cheerfully obey. 
 
 Entering upon the duties of his high office, he found himself 
 almost immediately beset with formidable embarrassments. To 
 continue the nautical illustration, — the ship U. S. A. had been 
 going lately under easy sail, under Captain Jackson, with a 
 steady breeze that boded a pleasant voyage. If at any time 
 squalls had arisen and struck her, her indomitable commander, 
 who never left the helm, knew how to prevent any serious 
 damage being done. He had set her on a course he deemed 
 best, and when he surrendered the helm to his petted successor 
 it was with an imperative injunction not to change that course, 
 but to steer by the chart he had laid down, called " The Specie 
 Circular." But no sooner had the old Mariner left the deck 
 than mutterings of a storm were heard, and the dashing of 
 breakers was seen ahead. The captain endeavored to keep 
 the ship on the " Treasury Circular" tack, though at the same 
 time manifesting doubts of its wisdom, while others saw clearly 
 that this would lead to disaster, if not destruction. The storm 
 at length came ; the thunders of complaint roared, the winds 
 of popular clamor blew, and the waves of discontent and com- 
 mercial failures beat with such irresistible force upon the good 
 old ship that the unskillful commander, not knowing what to 
 do, called upon Congress, " Help, or I sink !" And in due time 
 Congress came together to save the ship. 
 
 Whatever inclination Mr. Van Buren may have had, if he had 
 
FIRS7' SESSION OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. 
 
 19 
 
 any, to change the policy of the government in regard to the 
 currency, the appearance of two letters in the " Globe," addressed 
 by General Jackson to his special friend Mr. Blair, furnished 
 convincing proof that he — the President — was acting under 
 a restraint he had' not power or self-will enough to free him- 
 self from. 
 
 That the message sent to Congress at the called session 
 which commenced on the 4th of September was written under 
 the influence of these letters, hardly admitted of a doubt ; and 
 the humiliating attitude Mr. Van Buren was thus made to 
 occupy was a source of mortification not to his friends alone. 
 But, pledged to " tread in the footsteps of his illustrious prede- 
 cessor," and with the shadowy presence of that " predecessor" 
 still before him, his bony finger pointing to those " footsteps," 
 what could he do but follow the path pointed out ? 
 
 FIRST SESSION (cALLEd) OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. 
 
 In obedience to the President's proclamation, Congress met 
 on the 4th day of September, and the President's message was 
 sent in the same day. 
 
 There was an administration majority in both the Senate and 
 the House of Representatives, as was shown in the latter body 
 by the re-election of Mr. Polk as Speaker, over John Bell, by 
 a vote of 1 16 to 103. 
 
 The message went into a long recital of the sad condition 
 into which the currency had fallen, and the consequent embar- 
 rassments of the government. It proposed no measure of relief 
 to the country, except a divorce of the government from all 
 banks, the adoption of what was known as the " Sub-Treasury 
 Scheme," and the issuing of treasury notes. Mr. Van Buren 
 very plainly told the people that they must not look to the 
 government for relief; that the government would take care of 
 itself, and they must take care of themselves. 
 
 "Those who look to the action of this government," said the 
 message, " for specific aid to citizens to relieve them from em- 
 barrassments arising from, losses by revulsions in commerce 
 and credit, lose sight of the ends for which it was created and 
 the powers with which it is clothed. . . . 
 
20 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 "All communities are apt to look to government for too 
 much. Even in our own country, where its powers and duties 
 are so strictly limited, we are prone to do so, especially at 
 periods of sudden embarrassment and distress. But this ought 
 not to be." 
 
 The message did not escape severe animadversion, though, 
 strange to say, and to the astonishment of all, Mr. Calhoun was 
 now arrayed on the side of Mr. Van Buren, and sustained all 
 the measures proposed by him. 
 
 In commenting on the message, Mr. Clay said, " The Presi- 
 dent asserts that suspension proceeded from overtrading, the 
 indulgence of a spirit of speculation produced by bank and other 
 facilities. It would be quite as correct and just, in the instance 
 of a homicide perpetrated by the discharge of a gun, to allege 
 that the leaden ball, and not the man who leveled the piece, 
 was responsible for the murder. The true inquiry is, how came 
 that excessive overtrading and those extensive bank facilities 
 which the message describes ? Were they not the necessary 
 and immediate consequences of the overthrow of the bank and 
 the removal of the deposits ? 
 
 " We are told that it is necessary to separate, divorce the 
 government from the banks. We might as well talk of sepa- 
 rating the government from the States or the people, or from 
 the country. We are all — people. States, Union, banks — bound 
 up and interwoven together, united in fortune and destiny, 
 and all entitled to the protecting care of a parental govern- 
 ment. You might as well attempt to make the government 
 breathe a different air, drink a different water, be lit and warmed 
 by a different sun from the people ! A hard-money govern- 
 ment, an official corps — the servants of the people — glittering 
 in gold, and the people themselves, their masters, buried in 
 ruin and surrounded with rags !" 
 
 The session, though short, was very animated, and the de- 
 bates in both branches were spirited : the administration and its 
 measures had to pass through the crucible of Mr. Clay's, Mr. 
 Webster's, Mr. King's (of Georgia), Mr. Preston's, and Mr. 
 Tallmadge's powers of analysis and cauterization, and received 
 
MR. VAN BUREN SOCIALLY. 21 
 
 some side-blows from Mr. Rives in the Senate, where it was 
 defended by Mr. Wright, its special champion. 
 
 In the House, as in the Senate, the Whigs seized the occa- 
 sion of the present crisis, and the appeal of the President to 
 Congress, to review the past, to compare the present distracted 
 condition of the country with the prosperous times previous to 
 the commencement of the charlatanic " Experiments" upon the 
 currency by General Jackson ; and to recall the predictions 
 they had made of the very results now experienced. 
 
 Among the acts passed at this session were an act to post- 
 pone the fourth installment of deposit with the States, an act 
 to authorize the issue of ten millions of dollars in treasury 
 notes, and a resolution directing postage to be paid in advance. 
 
 The principal measure recommended by the President, namely, 
 the Divorce or Sub-Treasury bill, failed, it being laid on the table 
 in the House by a vote of I20 to 107; the "Conservatives" 
 voting with the Whigs. Thus ended the called session. The 
 government was relieved by not having to deposit with the 
 States the fourth installment of surplus revenue, nine millions 
 of dollars, and by having the privilege of issuing ten millions of 
 treasury notes, — paper money ! 
 
 MR. VAN BUREN SOCIALLY. 
 
 Great as was the change throughout the country, politically, 
 from General Jackson to Mr. Van Buren, nowhere was this 
 change seen and felt more than it was, socially, at the White 
 House. General Jackson had become too old and subject to 
 ill-turns to enjoy or entertain company cordially; besides, his 
 manner and temper had become austere, arrogant, and dicta- 
 torial. Pleasant conversation can take place only between 
 those recognized, at least for the moment, as equals, and where 
 respect is mutuat. But, though he might condescend to listen 
 to another, he tolerated no difference of opinion, and laid down 
 the law and the gospel to all " as one having authority." 
 Under these circumstances, the White House had few social 
 attractions. Its air was cold and depressing. 
 
 The present occupant, on the contrary, was genial and social 
 even with his most decided opponents, — Mr. Clay, for instance, 
 
22 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 — between whom and " the Little Magician" there had always 
 existed very pleasant and even cordial personal relations. The 
 President's great social tact and genial manners soon dispelled 
 the cold gloom of the Executive mansion, and attracted crowds 
 to his levees and receptions. 
 
 If General Jackson was intolerant and dogmatic in his polit- 
 ical views, Mr. Van Buren was not less his antipode in this than 
 he was in almost everything else. He engaged in politics as 
 he engaged in a cause as a lawyer, — to win profit and reputa- 
 tion. We have seen that he was ready to join and support Mr. 
 Adams in 1825-26 had there been sufficient inducement held 
 out to him to do so. But, Mr. Adams underrating him and 
 failing to secure him, — as Mr. Clay failed to secure Mr. Kendall, 
 — like a soldier of fortune of the Middle Ages, he tendered his 
 services to the other side, and they were accepted. Indulging 
 in no acrimonious or harsh language towards his opponents, 
 the two parties gradually relaxed their bitter feelings towards 
 each other. During his four years, Washington social life was 
 pleasant and attractive. 
 
 At that time the elements which made up social life in the 
 capital were very different from what they are at present ; but 
 the change from the old to the new had commenced. Wash- 
 ington was then a straggling kind of provincial town, containing 
 few houses commodious enough to accommodate a large party, 
 and these few dropped, as it were, here and there, at wide dis- 
 tances from one another : indeed, there was not then in the city 
 what would now be called even a third-class house. But if the 
 hotels and dwellings were small, so was the company. Very 
 few Senators or members of the House brought their wives, 
 and fewer their daughters, with them to spend the winter here ; 
 and the female portion of society, its ornament, and all that 
 gave it grace, spirit, and attraction, was chiefly made up of the 
 old residents of Washington and Georgetown, the wives and 
 daughters of the civil officers of the government, and of officers 
 of the army and navy stationed or temporarily resident here, 
 and the families of foreign ministers. Added to these were a 
 few of the wives and daughters of members of Congress, — in the 
 aggregate comparatively (cw, but highly refined and intellectual. 
 
WASHINGTON LIFE FORTY YEARS AGO. 23 
 
 Hotel accommodations were very limited, and in no way 
 comparable to what they are now. The custom was for Senators 
 and members of the House to form what were termed " messes" 
 at private boarding-houses, larger or smaller according to the 
 size and accommodations of the house ; generally they con- 
 sisted of from eight to twelve members : sometimes of more. 
 These were formed of members of congenial political opinions, 
 — Democrats messing together, and National Republicans or 
 Whigs by themselves. From these all others were excluded, 
 unless some one of the " mess" had a friend whom he desired 
 should be admitted, and for whom, of course, he could vouch; 
 but no one could be admitted without the consent of the 
 mess. 
 
 In these clubs, or " messes," members lived an unsocial, 
 bachelor sort of life, and a life of drudgery as well ; since it had 
 not become customary then for every committee to have a clerk 
 to do its work ; every member of a committee took his share 
 of the labor to be done, the chairman usually assigning himself 
 the heaviest portion. There was a common parlor for the gen- 
 tlemen of the mess, but rarely did any member enjoy the luxury 
 of a private parlor, even though he had his wife with him. 
 Occasionally, though not often, a mess was adorned by the 
 presence of a lady or ladies, the wife or wives of a member or 
 members, in which case it received more special attention from 
 the high dignitaries of the government, foreign ministers, and 
 others. 
 
 As gentlemen of the same political affinities preferred to 
 mess together, so Southern and Northern gentlemen holding 
 the same political opinions preferred, as a general rule, to 
 associate with others from their own section. Dawson's, No. 
 I, 2, 3, on North A Street, Capitol Hill, opposite the Capitol 
 grounds, was in by-gone days famous for its Southern messes. 
 Here congregated those congenial spirits, John Randolph of 
 Roanoke, Nat. Mason, of North Carolina, Mr. Newton, of 
 Virginia, William R. King, of Alabama, Willie P. Mangum, 
 of North Carolina, and others not now remembered. Subse- 
 quently the head-quarters of the South were transferred to 
 Hill's boarding-house, known as " the Old Capitol" and " the 
 
2A PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Old Capitol Prison" during the Rebellion. Here boarded Mr. 
 Calhoun, around whom gathered many of "the chivalry" of the 
 South, and here he died in 185 i. A favorite boarding-house, 
 in subsequent years, at which Whigs did most congregate, was 
 Mrs. Carter's (Dawson's, No. 2), which is still as select and de- 
 sirable for those who prefer the quietude of a private house to 
 the noise and eclat of a large hotel as in years past.* 
 
 This sort of bachelor-life was not conducive to moral 
 restraint, but was the cause of much of that profligacy which 
 formerly prevailed in Washington. 
 
 The more general custom of wives and daughters accom- 
 panying husbands and fathers to Washington and spending the 
 session with them, and even keeping house, entertaining com- 
 pany, and thus becoming an important part of the refined 
 society of the national metropolis, is of a late growth, the 
 result of railways. Men who are expected to accompany their 
 wives and daughters to receptions, and to dinner and other 
 parties, will not often be found at a gambling " hell." 
 
 Many Senators and members of the House now own elegant 
 houses, almost palaces, in Washington, which they occupy with 
 their families during the sessions of Congress, thus transferring 
 their homes, for the time being, to the capital, with no inter- 
 regnum of their domestic life. Quite different is this from 
 what was seen thirty, forty, or fifty years ago. But members 
 could not then enjoy the luxury of having their families with 
 them during the sessions ; their pay was quite inadequate to 
 the expense. Tout cela est change. 
 
 But to return to the President. He had the high art of 
 blending dignity with ease and suavity. He could make 
 the Executive mansion pleasant and attractive to all without 
 compromising the dignity of his high office, receiving and enter- 
 taining guests, but strictly preserving the etiquette, established 
 by Washington and observed by every President down to Mr. 
 Johnson, of never being the guest of others. This also has 
 been changed ; I sit not in judgment to decide whether rightly 
 or wrongly. 
 
 * Since this was written, all the houses on North A Street and South A Street 
 have been removed, to make room for the extension of the Capitol grounds. 
 
NICHOLAS BIDDLE. 
 
 NICHOLAS BIDDLE. 
 
 25 
 
 For a period of more than eight years, Nicholas Biddle, as 
 the representative of the United States Bank, had been one of 
 the very prominent characters in the political and financial 
 drama that had been enacted during General Jackson's Presi- 
 dential term, — General Jackson himself being to that drama 
 what Hamlet is to the play of that name. One of these char- 
 acters had already strutted his hour upon the stage, and made 
 his exit ; the other was about to retire also ; both soon to 
 appear and be judged at that Bar where the ''vox Dci" is 
 unswayed by the " vox popidi," and the secrets of the heart are 
 known. Both were extraordinary men. Mr. Biddle was en- 
 dowed with rare qualities both of head and heart. " He was 
 a scholar, and a ripe and good one." Possessing an intellect 
 that seemed able to master any subject, great or small, a mind 
 stored with ancient and modern lore, a taste naturally refined, 
 but improved by the highest cultivation, he had the simplicity, 
 unostentation, and playful humor of a child. 
 
 While the position he occupied, and the implacable war 
 made upon him and the finances of the country by the Presi- 
 dent for a series of years, called forth the exercise and display 
 of character and abilities on his part which gave him a world- 
 wide renown as the most eminent financier of the age, he also 
 seemed to possess that grasp of mind, that solid judgment, that 
 extensive acquaintance with public affairs, that ardent love of 
 his country and pride in her greatness, present and prospective, 
 that self-control, and that prophetic sagacity which foresees the 
 tendency of present measures to affect favorably or unfavorably 
 the future interests of the nation, which, combined in the same 
 individual, constitute a great statesman. In the truthful lan- 
 guage of another, " so versatile was his genius that he seemed 
 equally fitted as a Palinurus to guide the vessel of state in the 
 stormiest times, to have gained an exalted fame in the senate 
 or forum, or to have adorned the literature of his country and 
 age with the choicest garlands of genius and intellect." 
 
 Happy in a temper whose calmness and placidity were per- 
 fectly imperturbable amid the storms that raged around him. 
 Vol. II. 3 
 
26 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 the torrents of bitter and malignant calumny heaped upon him, 
 even by those he was conferring favors upon, he was ever 
 cheerful, " calm as a summer's morn," and pleasant as a new- 
 made bride. No harsh or acrimonious word ever escaped his 
 lips ; no provocation could draw from him a hasty or an angry 
 expression. Ever self-poised and genial, ever disposed to judge 
 even his enemies with that charity which " thinketh no evil," 
 threatening financial storms, or present disasters, were seen and 
 met with that cool, unruffled self-reliance which is the surest 
 indication of a serene mind, and a power to grapple with and 
 overcome whatever impediments or difficulties are thrown or 
 come in the way. Meet him in his room, in the bank, or on 
 the street, walking home about four o'clock, as was his habit, 
 and no one could judge from his countenance or manner 
 whether there was a financial tornado raging or the atmos- 
 phere was as calm as an Indian summer's day. Go to a 
 Wi star-party, on Saturday evening, and you would find him 
 in a circle of " laughing philosophers," bandying witticisms 
 with Dr. Chapman, joking with Judge Hopkinson, listening to 
 a pleasant anecdote from Dr. Dunglison, Dr. Mitchell, or John 
 Price Wetherill, told with zest, and calling forth, side-shaking 
 laughter, — the great financier the most hilarious of the circle. 
 
 A single glance at Mr. Biddle told the observer that he was 
 no ordinary man. Of medium height, he was stout, well made, 
 firm set ; his head large, forehead broad and high, his eye dark, 
 clear, and penetrating, his face full, square, and florid; his 
 mouth and lips expressive of delicacy, while his chin and the 
 lower part of his face indicated great firmness. Altogether, 
 his features combined beauty of outline with a refined intel- 
 lectual expression in a remarkable degree. 
 
 Probably no man in the nation labored more hours, or with 
 more zeal for the public good, during the eight years of General 
 Jackson's administration and the first year of Mr. Van Buren's, 
 than Mr. Biddle. Yet during all that time calumny pursued 
 him like a fiend, striving to thwart his best efforts, to create 
 distrust of his motives, and to blacken his character. While 
 General Jackson was trying his disastrous " experiments" upon 
 the currency, and thereby throwing it into confusion and break- 
 
NICHOLAS BIDDLE. 
 
 27 
 
 ing up the best currency and system of exchanges this country 
 or any other had ever seen, Mr. Biddle, with what power and 
 means were left him after the removal of the deposits, was 
 constantly striving to counteract the evils growing out of this 
 war upon the banks, the currency, and the merchants ; and it 
 cannot be doubted that he was enabled to stave off the grand 
 catastrophe till General Jackson left the Presidential chair, 
 when the storm broke with all its fury upon Mr. Van Buren's 
 devoted head. 
 
 But the time came when he deemed himself at liberty to 
 give up his herculean labors and retire to his own delightful 
 Andalusia, on the banks of the Delaware, and enjoy that repose 
 he had so well earned. The directors of the bank, as a small 
 token of their appreciation of his long, arduous, and useful 
 labors, presented him with a splendid service — a complete 
 dinner-set — of solid silver, with a proper inscription engraved 
 on each piece. 
 
 He had, however, scarcely sought the quietness of private 
 life, and begun to revel among his plants and flowers, of which 
 he was very fond, when the effects of the war waged upon the 
 bank, and the various " experiments" tried upon the currency, 
 became visible. It had been injured past help. It resumed 
 specie payments, as did the New York banks, on the loth day 
 of May, but only to stop again soon and forever. Many were 
 the sufferers by its fall, and terrible the havoc it made among 
 families apparently wealthy ; many of them his own personal 
 friends. 
 
 He was not then administering its affairs, and advised against 
 the policy being pursued, as likely to result in ruin. It was but 
 poor consolation to know that he had foreseen and predicted 
 the disastrous result, which, had he been then at the head of 
 the institution, would probably have been avoided or greatly 
 mitigated. 
 
 Again he became a target for every species of offensive mis- 
 sile, and the scape-goat for the sins of others. Upon his de- 
 voted head was poured all the ill feeling engendered by mis- 
 fortune. He was held responsible for that which no human 
 power could avert, as "the medicine-man" is held responsible 
 
28 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 by the Indians for too much or too little rain. His name be- 
 came a term of obloquy ; the old Jackson men now indulged 
 their hatred in maligning him to their hearts' content. He was 
 the very spirit of evil, the companion of " Old Nick," and the 
 author of all the distress the country was suffering, — the logical 
 results of Jackson's war upon the currency, long ago foretold. 
 Did he hear all this ? Did he know that thousands upon 
 thousands were daily pouring their bitterest maledictions upon 
 him, and those, too, whom he had befriended ? Surely he did ; 
 and he knew and felt keenly the great suffering of the country 
 which he was powerless to relieve. The iron entered his soul; 
 but 
 
 " He never told his grief, 
 But let concealment, like a worm in the bud, 
 Feed on his aching heart : he bore it all : 
 And with a conscious rectitude of soul. 
 He sat, like patience on a monument. 
 Smiling at grief." 
 
 If he did not die of a broken heart, the calumny heaped 
 upon him, which it was vain to resist, undoubtedly shortened 
 his days. 
 
 I have spoken of Mr. Biddle from my own personal knowl- 
 edge of him, and it is a pleasure to me to lay even the smallest 
 garland upon his tomb, — to do what little is in my power to 
 present him as I saw and knew him. I can truthfully say that 
 if ever there was a man of high, chivalric, sensitive honor, 
 honesty, and integrity, who valued these more than life, and 
 whose patriotism was most lofty and earnest, but from whom 
 justice has been most signally withheld, that man was Nicholas 
 Biddle. 
 
 The question as to the security of the public deposits in the 
 United States Bank being before the House of Representatives, 
 April 13, 1833, Mr. McDuffie, one of the late committee to ex- 
 amine into the affairs of the bank, in speaking of Mr. Biddle, 
 said " he knew him well ; and he conscientiously believed that 
 there did not live a more honest or a more honorable man on 
 the face of the earth." 
 
 Mr. McDuffie further said that " no man in the United States 
 possessed a more thorough knowledge of banking in all its 
 
FIRST REGULAR SESSION, TWENTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. 29 
 
 operations. And never had an institution been managed with 
 more perfect judgment or more consummate ability than this 
 had been by him." 
 
 FIRST REGULAR SESSION OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. 
 
 Congress met on the first Monday of December, and the 
 President's message was promptly sent in. 
 
 No relief had been given to the country financially, for 
 which it cried aloud to the government, nor did the Presi- 
 dent now propose any relieving measure, save that which he 
 had urged upon Congress at the extra session, and that was 
 only for the relief of the government itself; namely, the Sub- 
 Treasury scheme. This was the measure of the session, — its 
 support or opposition to it the test of fidelity and loyalty to 
 the administration. By this test, strangest among strange 
 things, Mr. Calhoun was now an administration man ! a Van 
 BuREN man ! and so were his followers, Pickens, of South 
 Carolina, and others. Mr. Calhoun a Van Buren man ! Mr. 
 Calhoun patted on the back and called a good boy by Mr. 
 Blair, who had applied to him all sorts of vile names, and said 
 he would lie when truth would answer his purpose just as well ! 
 Mr. Calhoun had become an advocate of the Sub-Treasury, 
 — a supporter of the administration ; and this brought him in 
 collision with Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, and other Senators with 
 whom he was but the year before zealously co-operating in 
 opposition to General Jackson and his destructive measures ! 
 
 Mr. King, Senator from Georgia, in a letter to a friend, re- 
 viewing the political field and the aspects of the Democratic 
 party, which letter found its way into the " National Intelli- 
 gencer," said, " We [the Democrats] have lostTallmadge, Rives, 
 Clarke [and others named by him], and what have we gained ? 
 Mr. Calhoun, who but lately declared that our party was kept 
 together 'by the cohesive power of public plunder' ! " 
 
 What new light Saul had seen on his way to Damascus 
 (Washington) has never been authentically related. But that 
 Mr. Calhoun was as full of zeal against the Democrats on his 
 way from Fort Hill, his residence, to Washington to attend the 
 called session as Saul was against the prophets, at least till he 
 
30 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 arrived at Richmond, Va., was stated by a member of Congress 
 from his own State who rode in the stage with him to the latter 
 place, where Mr, Calhoun stopped a day or two. 
 
 Did any one of Mr. Calhoun's friends at Richmond intimate 
 to him that it would be wasting ammunition to fight Mr. Van 
 Buren, as he was a " fixed fact" for four years, and would then 
 go out anyhow, not having strength enough to be re-elected ? 
 Did any one at the same time happen to say that, as Mr. Van 
 Buren was from the North, the South would be entitled to the 
 next Democratic candidate, but, unfortunately, the most promi- 
 nent Southern man was now in opposition to that party ? Was 
 this the great light which Saul saw, and which had such a 
 miraculous effect upon him ? 
 
 All this is mere hypothesis, — a mere suggestion of a possible 
 reason for that which seemed to every one unaccountable. 
 
 Colonel Benton has stated, in his " Thirty Years' View," 
 " that no promise, pledge, or condition of any kind took place 
 between Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Van Buren in coming together 
 as they did at this juncture;" and I can say that I never heard 
 it charged that there was : and there was no occasion for any. 
 But Colonel Benton also says, " How far Mr. Calhoun might 
 have looked to his own chance of succeeding Mr. Van Buren 
 is another question, atid a fair one. The succession was cer- 
 tainly open in the Democratic line. Those who stood nearest 
 the head of the party [Mr. Benton] had no desire for the 
 Presidency, but the contrary, and only wished a suitable chief 
 magistrate at the head of the government. . . . Under such 
 circumstances, Mr. Calhoun might have indulged in a vision 
 of the Democratic succession. . . . There zvas certainly a talk 
 about it, and a somiding of public moi!' Mr. Benton states that 
 he himself was sounded on the subject at two different times 
 by two friends of Mr. Calhoun, — one of Virginia, the other of 
 Missouri. Upon the supposition I have suggested, Mr. Cal- 
 houn's course is easily comprehended ; but upon no other. 
 
 TROUBLE ON THE NORTHERN FRONTIER. 
 
 An insurrection had broken out in Canada, and armed bodies 
 of men, calling themselves " Patriots," were in open rebellion 
 
TROUBLE ON THE NORTHERN FRONTIER. ^I 
 
 against the government. Of course there were many on our 
 side of the line who sympathized with the " Patriots," — other- 
 wise "insurgents," — and were anxious, and getting prepared, 
 to show their sympathy in a more substantial way than by 
 mere words. Men were enlisted or banded together under 
 officers, armed and drilled for war, and giving aid and comfort, 
 and even assistance, to the Canadian insurgents, some having 
 crossed over and joined them, while others were ready to do 
 so whenever they should deem it prudent or a fitting time. 
 
 Affairs had become so serious that General Scott was sent to 
 Buffalo, and United States troops ordered to the frontier, the 
 President issuing his proclamation on the 5th of January, 1838, 
 earnestly exhorting all citizens of the United States to return 
 to their respective homes, and stating that a military force 
 consisting, in part at least, of citizens of the United States, 
 had been actually organized at Navy Island and were still in 
 arms, and that arms and munitions of war had been procured 
 by the insurgents in the United States. 
 
 The President at the same time sent a message to Congress 
 on the subject. General Scott soon succeeded in breaking up 
 the military organization designed to aid the insurgents, and 
 several persons who had made themselves conspicuous in this 
 "Patriot war" on our side of the line were arrested by the 
 United States marshal, and a few by the Canadian government. 
 
 But a great outrage upon the United States was perpetrated 
 by order of the Canadian government or authorities. The 
 steamboat Caroline was lying at Schlosser, on the American 
 side of the Niagara River, a mile or two above the Falls, on 
 board of wliich were thirteen men. This steamer, it was 
 alleged by the Canadians, and probably with some truth, had 
 been engaged in taking over from the United States to the 
 Canada side men and munitions of war, and was also used by 
 the military force assembled on Navy Island to keep up their 
 communication with the mainland and bring supplies to them ; 
 and, furthermore, she was probably relied upon to transport 
 them from the island to the Canadian shore whenever they 
 should be ready to join " the Patriots." 
 
 Under these circumstances it was quite natural that "the loy- 
 
22 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 alists" should entertain very hostile feelings towards the little 
 steamer, and greatly desire her destruction ; and this they 
 determined should be effected. Accordingly, on the night of • 
 the 29th of December, Captain Drew, a British officer, in com- 
 mand of seventy or eighty men, crossed the river, boarded the 
 steamer, finding all on board asleep, except, perhaps, one care- 
 less, sleepy sentinel, or watchman, cut her out, set her on fire, 
 and took her into the stream, down which she soon went over 
 the Falls ; most of the crew, if not all, making their escape. 
 
 THE DEBATE IN THE SENATE ON THE SUB-TREASURY BILL. A 
 
 PASSAGE AT ARMS BETWEEN MR. CALHOUN AND MR. CLAY, AND 
 BETWEEN MR. CALHOUN AND MR. WEBSTER. 
 
 As Mr. Van Buren's lieutenant and mouth-piece in the 
 Senate, and general leader of the party in Congress, Mr. Wright 
 soon brought forward the Sub-Treasury bill, which had been 
 defeated at the extra session, and supported it in an elaborate 
 and able speech. Mr. Calhoun also came to its support, giving 
 the arguments which had induced him to desire its passage. It 
 was a novel sight, — Mr. Calhoun laboring shoulder to shoulder 
 with Silas Wright, Colonel Benton, and others against whom 
 he had so lately and for so many years been doing battle with 
 all the zeal of a Christian against a Turk, the last and most 
 memorable, and the most sad, being the expunging conflict. 
 
 At the time when General Jackson chose to quarrel with Mr. 
 Calhoun and thrust him off to make room for his new favorite, 
 Mr. Calhoun, having nowhere else to go, Coriolanus-like, en- 
 tered the camp of his former enemies, the Volcians, and, though 
 not calling himself a Volcian (National Republican), he drew 
 his sword and fought manfully, and with unusual zeal, side by 
 side .with his new associates. It mattered little what name he 
 might choose to bear, so long as he followed and sustained the 
 flag of his associates. 
 
 He had now placed hfmself in an attitude which naturally 
 excited surprise, especially of those with whom he had been of 
 late years acting, and which might subject his motives to severe 
 and damaging criticism, and he seemed to feel the necessity of 
 forestalling that criticism by a public explanation, by which 
 
THE SUB-TREASURY BILL. 23 
 
 he hoped to disarm censure. This was done in a letter which 
 he pubHshed, called the " Edgefield Letter," in which he says, — 
 
 " As soon as I saw this state of things, I clearly perceived 
 that a very important question was presented for our determi- 
 nation, which we were compelled to decide forthwith : Shall 
 we continue our joint attack with the Nationals [Whigs] on 
 those in power in the new position which they have been com- 
 pelled to occupy ? It was clear that, with our joint forces, we 
 could utterly overthrow and demolish them; but it was not less 
 clear that tlie victory luould inure, not to ns, but exclusively to the 
 benefit of 07ir allies and their cause. . . . To join them with their 
 avowed object in the attack to overthrow those in power, on 
 the ground they occupied against the bank, would of course 
 not only have placed the government and country in their 
 hands without opposition, but would have committed us, be- 
 yond the possibility of extrication, for a bank, and absorbed 
 our party in the ranks of the National Republicans. The first 
 fruits of the victory would have been an overshadowing national 
 bank, with an immense capital, not less than from fifty to a 
 hundred millions. . . . The next would be the indissoluble 
 union of the political opponents, whose principles and policy 
 are so opposite to ours, and so dangerous to our institutions, 
 as well as oppressive to us." 
 
 Seeing this publication after the extra session, showing that 
 Mr. Calhoun had deliberately, and upon calculation, parted 
 company with his " allies" and gone over to the enemy, is it 
 surprising that the former should look upon him with no very 
 pleasant feejings ? A passage at arms between him and Mr. 
 Clay, and between him and Mr. Webster, was inevitable, and it 
 came. But, memorable as it was, it is impossible to convey 
 any adequate idea of it. One may give the words of an orator, 
 but the tone and emphasis in which they are uttered, the 
 gestures, the look, the fiery expression of the eye, the scornful 
 curl of the lip, even the momentary silence of the speaker as 
 he prepares and gathers his force to utter some scathing sar- 
 casm or thundering philippic, — these no pen can describe ; they 
 must be seen, heard, and felt to be appreciated : and these go 
 to make up the great orator. 
 
24 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun, between whom the principal and 
 most skillful passages at arms took place, had long filled the 
 highest positions in the government and in Congress, — had won 
 the most enviable fame as statesmen and orators ; of both the 
 nation was, and had reason to be, proud ; both were governed 
 by the loftiest impulses of patriotism, and indignantly scorned 
 all base incentives ; and both were idolized by their followers. 
 But their manner and style of speaking were totally unlike, 
 though the powers of each were taxed to their utmost and 
 strikingly exemplified in this conflict. Mr, Calhoun sought 
 no adventitious aids of oratory ; his matter was sententious, 
 solid, compact, terse, clear, and direct. He went straight to 
 his object ; loitered not by the way to gather flowers or wreathe 
 garlands. He was too earnest for that. He selected his words 
 with great care, and chose those which were the most simple 
 and forcible, and they came from his lips with a force and dis- 
 tinctness as if shot from a rifle. He used no action ; he needed 
 none ; it would have been out of place. His sarcasms, or home 
 thrusts, when made, were minie-balls, penetrating wherever 
 aimed by his steady eye, followed by no indication of exulta- 
 tion that he had hit the mark. He knew he had, and that was 
 enough for him. In speaking, he stood firm, almost immova- 
 ble, seldom making a gesture, and usually looking steadily at 
 the presiding officer, though always addressing "Senators," 
 instead of " Mr. President," or " Sir." His voice was sharp, 
 his words and sentences quickly uttered, but with such a clear 
 enunciation that every word was distinctly heard. 
 
 Much of Mr. Clay's oratorical power consisted in that "action" 
 recommended by Demosthenes. His hands, his arms, his head, 
 and, above all, his eye, gave force to his words by their appro- 
 priate action, whether gentle, persuasive, humorous, earnest, 
 vehement, or denunciatory ; and his voice, soft as a lute or full 
 as a trumpet, responded to every feeling he desired to express. 
 It was of wonderful modulation, sweetness, and power. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun spoke on the 15th of February, 1838, in sup- 
 port of the Sub-Treasury bill before the Senate, and was fol- 
 lowed in a few days by Mr. Clay, who, in the first part of his 
 speech, opposed the bill; the latter part being devoted to 
 
THE SUB-TREASURY BILL. 
 
 35 
 
 Mr. Calhoun, upon whose course he animadverted with much 
 severity. 
 
 " The eloquent Senator from South Carolina," said Mr. 
 Clay, " has intimated that the course of my friends and my- 
 self, in opposing this bill, was unpatriotic, and that we ought 
 to have followed his lead ; and in a late letter of his he has 
 spoken of his alliance with us and of his motives for quitting 
 us. I cannot admit the justice of his reproach. We united, 
 if indeed there was any alliance in the case, to restrain the 
 enormous expansion of Executive power ; to arrest the progress 
 of corruption ; to rebuke usurpation ; and to drive the Goths 
 and Vandals from the capital. . . . And how often have we 
 witnessed the Senator from South Carolina, with woeful counte- 
 nance and in doleful strains, pouring forth touching and mourn- 
 ful eloquence on the degeneracy of the times and the downward 
 tendency of the republic ? Day after day in the Senate have 
 we seen the displays of his lofty and impassioned eloquence. 
 Although I shared largely with the Senator in his apprehension 
 for the purity of our institutions and the permanency of our 
 liberty, disposed always to look at the brighter side of human 
 affairs, I was sometimes inclined to hope that the vivid imagi- 
 nation of the Senator had depicted the dangers by which we 
 were encompassed in somewhat stronger colors than they 
 justified. 
 
 " The arduous contest in which we were so long engaged 
 was about to terminate in a glorious victory. The very object 
 for which the alliance was formed was about to be accom- 
 plished. At^this critical moment the Senator left us ; he left us 
 for the very purpose of preventing the success of the common 
 cause. He took up his musket, knapsack, and shot-pouch, and 
 joined the other party. He went, horse, foot, and dragoons ; 
 and he himself composed the whole corps. 
 
 *.* * * * * * * 
 
 " Whilst the Senator from South Carolina professes to be the 
 friend of the State banks, he has attacked the whole banking 
 system of the United States. He is their friend : he only 
 thinks they are all unconstitutional ! . . . The distinguished 
 Senator is no enemy to the banks: he merely thinks them inju- 
 
36 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 rious to the morals of the country. He likes them very Avell, 
 but he nevertheless believes that they levy a tax of twenty-five 
 millions annually on the industry of the country! . . . The 
 Senator tells us that it has been only within a few days that he 
 has discovered that it is illegal to receive bank-notes in pay- 
 ment of public dues. Does he think that the usage of the 
 government under all its administrations, and with every party 
 in power, which has prevailed for nigh fifty years, ought to be 
 set aside by a novel theory of his, just dreamed into existence, 
 even if it possess the merit of ingenuity ? , . . The Senator and 
 I began our public career nearly together; we remained to- 
 gether throughout the war [1812]. We agreed as to a Bank of 
 the United States, — as to a protective tariff, — as to internal 
 improvements, — and lately as to those arbitrary and violent 
 measures which characterized the administration of General 
 Jackson. No two men ever agreed better together in respect 
 to important measures of public policy. We concur in nothing 
 now." 
 
 At the close of Mr. Clay's speech, Mr. Calhoun rose and 
 merely said he should reply to the Senator from Kentucky at 
 his leisure. The nature of his reply required time : he took it, 
 and at the end of twenty days responded. 
 
 He said he rose to fulfill his promise to notice at his leisure 
 the reply of the Senator from Kentucky to the remarks he made 
 some time previous. 
 
 On comparing the reply with the remarks, he was at a loss 
 to determine whether it was most remarkable for its omissions 
 or for its misstatements. Not one of his arguments was fairly 
 stated or answered. . . . 
 
 " But the Senator did not restrict himself to a reply to my 
 arguments, but introduced personal remarks which I cannot 
 pass without notice, averse as I am to personal controver- 
 sies." Mr. Calhoun said that when last up he had scrupu- 
 lously avoided every remark which had the least personal or 
 party bearing. In proof of which he appealed to Senators. The 
 Senator, having no pretext to give a personal direction to the 
 discussion, had made a premeditated attack on him. What 
 could be his motive ? 
 
THE SUB-TREASURY BILL. 3- 
 
 Mr. Calhoun could see but one : failing to answer his argu- 
 ment,hQ had substituted personalities; his blows were aimed 
 at him, that through him he might reach the cause he advo- 
 cated. 
 
 " The leading charge of the Senator — that on which all the 
 others depend, and which being overthrown, they fall to the 
 ground — is that I," said Mr. Calhoun, "have gone over; have 
 left his side, and joined the other." By this, Mr. Calhoun sup- 
 posed, was meant that he had either changed his opinion, or 
 abandoned the principles he had advocated, or deserted his 
 'party. He met and repelled the charge. 
 
 He then gave an outline of the principal events in his public 
 life, to prove that he had been consistent, always entertaining 
 the same principles and supporting the same course of policy. 
 In his remarks he was exceedingly interesting, enlisting the 
 deepest attention of the crowded Senate and galleries. But, to 
 show his consistency with himself, he requested the Secretary 
 to read long extracts from former speeches, which, though 
 having an important bearing upon the present controversy, 
 tried the patience of Senators and spectators. 
 
 After the reading of these long passages from his former 
 speeches, he said, " Such, Senators, are my recorded sentiments. 
 They are full and explicit on all the questions involved in the 
 present issue, and prove, beyond a possibility of doubt, that I 
 have changed no opinion, abandoned no principle, nor deserted 
 any party. My relations to the two opposing parties are un- 
 changed." 
 
 Mr. Calhoun claimed that he stood on the same ground he 
 had stood upon all along ; and, of course, if his relations to the 
 two opposing parties were changed, — if he now acted with 
 those he had opposed, and opposed those with whom he had 
 acted, — the change was not in him. He at least had stood still. 
 This declaration was received by Senators and others with at 
 least a smile of doubt. But, Mr. Calhoun said, he had never 
 belonged to the party with which he had acted. That he acted 
 with the opposition was because he was opposed to the removal 
 of the deposits, and to the league of banks, — as he was now ; 
 and if he now acted with the administration and opposed the 
 
38 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 Nationals, it was because he was now, as then, opposed to either 
 a league of State banks or a national bank. 
 
 " Having now established by the record that I have changed 
 no opinion, abandoned no principle, nor deserted any party, I 
 proceed to another point. The Senator stated that in a certain 
 letter I had assigned as the reason why I could not join in the 
 attack on the administration, that the benefit of the victory 
 would not inure to myself, or would not place me and my 
 party in power. I suppose the Senator alluded to my Edge- 
 field letter." 
 
 Mr. Clay said he did. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun. — " I again take issue on the fact. I assigned 
 no such reason as the Senator attributes to me. My object 
 was not power or place, either for myself or party." He en- 
 deavored to show that if he and his party should unite with the 
 opposition in their attack on the administration, the victory over 
 them would be a victory over himself and his friends and their 
 principles. This was plain. The administration, as he had shown, 
 had taken the very ground he, Mr. Calhoun, occupied in 1834, 
 and on which the whole State-rights party stood at that time. 
 
 He had a portion of his Edgefield letter read, and asked if 
 there was anything in the extract which would warrant the con- 
 struction the Senator had attempted to force on it. " Is it not 
 manifest," said Mr. Calhoun, " that the expression on which he 
 fixes, that the victory would inure, not to us, but exclusively 
 to the benefit of the opposition, alludes not to power or place, 
 but to principle and policy? Can words be more plain? 
 
 " But in so premeditated and indiscriminate an attack it could 
 not be expected that my motives would entirely escape ; and 
 we accordingly find the Senator very charitably leaving it 
 to time to disclose my motives for going over. I, who have 
 changed no opinion, abandoned no principle, and deserted no 
 party, — I, who have stood still, and maintained my ground 
 against every difficulty, to be told that it is left to time to dis- 
 close my motives ! The imputation sinks to the earth with the 
 groundless charge on which it rests. I stamp it with scorn in 
 the dust. I pick up the dart which fell harmless at my feet 
 and hurl it back. What the Senator charges on me unjustly 
 
THE SUB -TREASURY BILL. -^o 
 
 he has actually done. He went over on a memorable occasion, 
 and did not leave it to time to disclose his motives." 
 
 This part of Mr. Calhoun's speech was delivered with great 
 emphasis. The speaker was wrought up to the highest pitch 
 of resentful indignation, and when he said he stamped the 
 charge with scorn in the dust, he suited the action to the word, 
 stamping with great force upon the floor; and when he said, "I 
 hurl it [the dart] back," he fixed his eye upon Mr. Clay with a 
 look of intensified scorn, defiance, and triumph, throwing then 
 his own dart at Mr. Clay in the broad allusion he made to the 
 election of Mr. Adams by Mr. Clay's influence. 
 
 The scene was dramatic, and the nerves of every one present 
 were drawn to their utmost tension. 
 
 Mr. Clay rose and replied that but for the present interesting 
 occasion he should not have been in the Senate, as he was 
 much indisposed; "but," said Mr. Clay, raising himself to his 
 full height, " as I am, I am self-poised and prepared. I ask not 
 two or three weeks [the time taken by Mr. Calhoun] to prepare 
 my speech in reply to the Senator from South Carolina." 
 
 After paying a due tribute to the great abilities of that Sen- 
 ator, he said, " The Senator complains that I accuse him of 
 inconsistency when he says that duties should be received in 
 gold and silver and nothing else, and yet consents to receive 
 bank paper for six years. A national bank is not unconsti- 
 tutional when you give it a charter for twelve years, but un- 
 constitutional if chartered for a longer period." Mr. Clay went 
 on, referring to Mr. Calhoun's various speeches and proposed 
 measures at different times, showing his numerous inconsist- 
 encies, and especially inconsistency with his present position. 
 
 He said the duty of animadverting upon the public course of 
 the Senator was an extremely painful one, but he felt it to be a 
 duty nev^ertheless. It was painful, because he had long served 
 in the public councils with the Senator, admired his genius, 
 and for a great while had been on terms of intimacy with him, 
 and had always endeavored to ascribe to him patriotic motives 
 and public virtues. On more than one occasion he had de- 
 fended him when assailed: he did so until he saw this most 
 exceptionable letter (holding up the Edgefield letter, dated Fort 
 
40 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Hill, November 3, 1837). "When I read in this letter the unjust 
 reproaches cast upon my friends and myself, I was most 
 reluctantly compelled to change my opinion of the honorable 
 Senator. One so distinguished as he is cannot expect to be 
 indulged in speaking as he pleases of others without a re- 
 ciprocal privilege. And after all he has said and published of 
 those he lately acted with, can he really persuade himself that 
 he occupies on this occasion a defensive attitude ? . . . 
 
 "State interposition!" exclaimed Mr. Clay. ''Nullification 
 overthrew the protective tariff and American system! Can the 
 Senator, knowing what he knows and I know, make such an 
 assertion ? No, sir ! the Compromise was not extorted by the 
 terror of nullification. It was a compassionate concession to 
 the imprudence and impotency of nullification." Mr. Clay 
 here gave the account I have heretofore given of the origin of 
 the Compromise act, for which look back to 1833. "So far 
 from nullification having overthrown the protective policy, in 
 assenting to the Compromise it expressly sanctioned the con- 
 stitutional power and perpetuated. protection; and the Senator 
 voted for the bill which continued it for nine years. In the 
 consultations between us in respect to the Compromise act, 
 every point was yielded by him. I insisted, and he yielded. 
 He opposed home valuation, but gave way finally." 
 
 Mr. Clay read another extract from the Edgefield letter, in 
 which Mr. Calhoun said, " The victory would not inure to us." 
 "In a common struggle, then, for the benefit of our whole 
 country, the Senator from South Carolina was calculating on 
 the party advantages which would result from success. He 
 quit because he feared he and his party would be absorbed by 
 us. Well, what is to be their fate in his new alliance? Does 
 he hope to absorb his new allies ? . . . He has left no party, 
 and joined no party ! No, none. He expects us to believe 
 this, though we see him in frequent consultations and inti- 
 mate association with the other party. Abandoned no party? 
 Why, his letter proclaims that he has, and gives his reasons 
 for quitting us : namely, that we favor a national bank, which 
 the Senator himself sustained twenty-four of the twenty-seven 
 years he has been in public life ! 
 
THE SUB -TREASURY BILL. .j 
 
 " The Senator has taken upon himself to impute to mc the 
 charge of going over on some occasion, in a manner which left 
 my motive no matter of conjecture. If he alludes to the stale 
 and refuted calumny of George Kremer, I assure him I can 
 hear it without the slightest emotion." 
 
 Mr. Clay here gave a relation of some of the events con- 
 nected with the election of Mr. Adams, stating that he commu- 
 nicated to his present colleague, Mr. Crittenden, before leaving 
 Kentucky, his intention to cast the vote he did cast. " Nor," 
 said Mr. Clay, " have I ever, for a single moment, regretted the 
 vote I then gave for the eminent gentleman who sits beside 
 me." (The venerable Mr. Adams sat in the seat next to Mr. 
 Clay, and Mr. Pope, the Representative from his district, imme- 
 diately before him.) " My immediate constituents approved my 
 action on that occasion, and it is their glory as well as my own 
 never to have concurred in the elevation of General Jackson. 
 
 " But," said Mr. Clay, " if my information is not wholly in- 
 correct, the Senator from South Carolina went over on that 
 occasion, if there was any going over in that Presidential elec- 
 tion." Mr. Clay here referred to the movement of Mr. Dallas, 
 in Philadelphia, withdrawing Mr. Calhoun's name as a can- 
 didate for the Presidency, — of which I have spoken, — up to 
 which time the Senator was known as the supporter of Mr. 
 Adams. What motives induced him, after that, to unite in the 
 election of General Jackson he did not know. 
 
 Mr. Clay referred to his having changed on the bank ques- 
 tion, and admitted that he had done so, in common with Mr. 
 Madison and the great body of the Republican party to which 
 he belonged. " But the Senator from South Carolina was con- 
 tinually changing. He was once gayly mounted on that hobby, 
 — internal improvements. We rode double : he before, and I 
 behind. But he quietly slipped off, leaving me to hold the 
 bridle." He then spoke of Mr. Calhoun's having introduced 
 and carried the bill in i8i6 setting apart the large bonus of the 
 bank for internal improvements, and of his brilliant report as 
 Secretary of War, sketching as magnificent a scheme of internal 
 improvements for the entire nation as ever was presented to 
 
 the admiration and wonder of mankind. 
 Vol. II. 4 
 
42 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 "As I have before said, we began our public career nearly 
 together; we remained together throughout the war and down 
 to the peace ; we agreed as to a Bank of the United States, as 
 to a protective tariff, as to internal improvements, and lately as 
 to those arbitrary and violent measures which characterized 
 the administration of General Jackson. No two prominent 
 public men ever agreed better together in respect to important 
 measures of national policy. We concur now in nothing. We 
 separate forever." 
 
 When Mr. Clay closed, Mr. Calhoun rose, and, referring to 
 Mr. Clay's remark in regard to the tariff of i8i6, said that 
 Mr. Lowndes, his colleague, took the lead in the tariff bill, and 
 not himself, though he made an off-hand speech in favor of it. 
 But he contended that the act was for revenue, with incidental 
 protection. The question of the constitutionality of protection 
 was not then, nor for some years after, raised. " As to the bonus 
 bill," said Mr. Calhoun, " it grew out of the recommendation of 
 Mr. Madison in his last message. The Senator refers to my 
 report on internal improvements when I was Secretary of War, 
 but, as usual with him, forgot to tell that I made it in obedience 
 to a resolution of the House ; I then expressly stated that I did 
 not involve the constitutional question." 
 
 In reference to this last subject, I beg to refer the reader 
 back to my account of my first interview, in June, 1824, with 
 Mr. Calhoun. I found him a perfect enthusiast on the subject of 
 internal improvements ; and he then undertook to demonstrate 
 to me that by his great system of canals and national roads — 
 railroads were then unheard of — he should make Washington 
 City the commercial emporium of the country, as well as its 
 national capital. 
 
 Mr. Clay responded, "The Senator says if I have not changed 
 vay principles I have my company. Really, Mr. President, the 
 gentleman has so recently changed his relations that he seems 
 not to know into what company he has fallen." 
 
 He quoted a passage from one of Mr. Calhoun's speeches in 
 1834, in which he took very strong ground against the measure 
 he was now advocating; "one objection then urged against it 
 being that it was far less safe, economical, and efficient than the 
 
THE SUB-TREASURY BILL. *-. 
 
 present: namely, banks of deposit. The Senator is now opposed 
 to all banks. In i8i6, as the head of the committee of ways 
 and means, where he, Mr. Clay, put him, he reported and sup- 
 ported the bank bill. In 1834, after the deposits were seized 
 and the currency turned upside down, he came forward with a 
 remedy: namely, a continuation of the Bank of the United 
 States for twelve years. In regard to the tariff of 18 16, the 
 only point in dispute was whether we had the right to protect 
 the cotton manufacture or not. The Senator supported the 
 measure on the ground that we had that power. In regard to 
 internal improvements, if he had any doubt about their consti- 
 tutionality, why tantalize us with such a gorgeous picture of 
 canals and roads ? Why did he not suggest to Congress his 
 constitutional doubts ? 
 
 " Can there be any other conclusion than that he had no 
 doubt about it? What an extraordinary thing would it be 
 should the head of a department, in his official capacity, present 
 a report to both Houses of Congress, proposing a most elaborate 
 plan for the internal improvement of the whole Union, accom- 
 panied by estimates and statistical tables, when he believed 
 there was no power in either House to adopt any part of it !" 
 
 The debate was continued by several brief and rapid rejoin- 
 ders to each other, diminishing in sharpness and asperity, and 
 ended in a semblance of good nature and suavity, soon, how- 
 ever, to be renewed with greatly increased acerbity. 
 
 The circumstances which occasioned this memorable gladia- 
 torial grapple were well calculated to excite provocation in 
 Mr. Clay. The two distinguished Senators and their respective 
 friends had for years made vigorous and powerful assaults upon 
 the administration of General Jackson, and by their "joint at- 
 tacks," as Mr. Calhoun said in his Edgefield letter, "had effect- 
 ually brought down the power of the Executive." . . . "And it 
 was clear that with our joint forces we could utterly overthrow 
 and demolish them ; but it was not less clear that the victory 
 would inure not to us, but exclusively to the benefit of our allies and 
 their cause." Suddenly, therefore, and without even a parting 
 good-by, he left his " allies," and went straightway to the camp 
 of their joint opponents, throwing a Parthian arrow back, as a 
 
44 PUBLIC AIEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 parting present, in the form of an imputation on their patriotism. 
 " I could not back and sustain those in whose zvisdo7ii, firm- 
 ness, and patriotism I had no reason to confide." It was not in 
 human nature, certainly not in Mr. Clay's nature, to bear this 
 patiently. He chose to consider this as an assault upon him 
 and his friends, as it really was, and therefore assumed that he 
 was acting on the defensive, while Mr. Calhoun also claimed 
 the same attitude. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun had possibly convinced himself, but failed to 
 convince his own colleague (Colonel Preston), much less the 
 country, that in changing the person of the chief magistrate 
 there had been any change of the principles or measures of 
 General Jackson's administration, or that there was any less 
 cause for opposing those principles and measures under Mr. 
 Van Buren than there had been under Andrew Jackson. It was 
 the boast of the former that he was "treading in the footsteps" 
 of the latter in every respect. That he and his party had left 
 General Jackson and gone over to Mr. Calhoun was an assump- 
 tion only provocative of laughter. But if Mr. Calhoun had sud- 
 denly discovered strong inducements for him to get back into 
 the Democratic party, and was resolved to place himself there, 
 what better reason could he give for so suddenly marching out 
 of the camp of his allies into that of his enemies than he did 
 give ? 
 
 But, able as Mr. Calhoun certainly was, he found an antago- 
 nist in Mr. Clay too adroit and ready for him. He required 
 time to prepare his matter and arrange his ideas, — even to select 
 his words. Mr. Clay did not ; at least in a personal controversy. 
 As he said, he was self-poised, ever ready ; he could fire off- 
 hand without rest. Mr. Calhoun, on the contrary, must have 
 time to load and take deliberate aim. In doing so he was sure 
 to hit and penetrate the most vulnerable part of his antagonist ; 
 but while he was doing this, his antagonist would have hit him 
 in half a dozen places. 
 
 Colonel Benton has given a very just and impartial account 
 of this passage at arms. 
 
 "This contest," he says, "between two eminent men, on a 
 theatre so elevated, in which the stake to each was so great, 
 
THE SUB -TREASURY BILL. .r 
 
 and in which each did his best, conscious that the eye of the 
 age and of posterity was upon him, was an event in itself, and 
 in their lives. It abounded with exemplifications of all the 
 different sorts of oratory of which each was master : on one 
 side, declamation, impassioned eloquence, vehement invective, 
 taunting sarcasm ; on the other, close reasoning, chaste narra- 
 tive, clear statement, keen retort." 
 
 The sympathy of much the greater portion of the audience, 
 and of the country, in this contest, was with Mr. Clay. Mr. 
 Calhoun could not but feel this, and the greater necessity it 
 imposed on him of putting forth his whole powers. He had to 
 place himself right before the country and posterity; he had 
 to justify his course, and repel the imputation of abandoning 
 patriotic and acting upon purely selfish motives. He stood 
 in and before the American Senate, where he had himself 
 presided for nearly eight years and been one of its most hon- 
 ored members. He appealed to Senators, long his associates, 
 as his judges, and to the American people, who were equally 
 his judges. 
 
 Mr. Clay, too, felt that he and his friends had been falsely 
 and needlessly accused of want oi patriotism, wisdom, and finn- 
 ness, and that his accuser had made a boast of dictating terms 
 to him, and of overthrowing his favorite " American system," 
 when in truth he was in the power and might have been the' 
 victim of the wrath of General Jackson, and was rescued by 
 Mr. Clay. This ungrateful return provoked resentment, and 
 justified retort ; and he allowed no account of that kind to stand 
 against him unsettled. 
 
 Mr. Clay had clearly the advantage of Mr. Calhoun in this 
 controversy, in this, that he was always ready, had all his re- 
 sources at command, and could marshal them at a moment's 
 warning against his antagonist. He was, especially when 
 roused, more powerful in retort, or reply, than in an attack. 
 The spur of provocation was to him what the spur of Purdy 
 was to Eclipse in his great contest with Henry : it brought out 
 powers which would otherwise not have been exerted. Mr. 
 Calhoun was not a ready debater, but required time to prepare 
 himself. 
 
46 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 The idea has been lately thrown out that all our great 
 speakers invariably prepared, by writing out and committing 
 to memory, their most elaborate and what seemed to be im- 
 promptu speeches; that their sudden bursts and flashing streams 
 of eloquence were all prepared with great labor beforehand, and 
 kept for a proper occasion. 
 
 This is true in part, but not wholly true. Undoubtedly our 
 most able and ready orators prepared themselves for the occa- 
 sion when they intended to address the body of which they 
 were members: it was due to that body that they should do 
 so. Such was the practice of Demosthenes, and of yEschines, 
 his rival ; of Cicero, of Burke, and perhaps of most great orators ; 
 but they did not read their speeches to those whom they ad- 
 dressed. But many of Mr. Clay's oratorical efforts were wholly 
 spontaneous, inspired by the occasion, and thrown off in the 
 heat of conflict. 
 
 The custom has prevailed in the Senate and House of Repre- 
 sentatives, for twenty-five years past, of members reading their 
 speeches, written out for the occasion. Such was not formerly 
 the usage ; and if a member had attempted it forty years ago 
 he would not only not have been listened to, but would prob- 
 ably have excited general laughter. Nothing has ever been 
 more attractive to the people of Washington and afforded them 
 higher or more rational enjoyment than to listen to a warm 
 debate upon some great and exciting question, carried on by 
 the able speakers of Congress ; or to some sharp and spicy 
 conflict in which each speaker, like the wrestlers of old, exerts 
 every nerve to get the better of his antagonist or antagonists. 
 In such conflicts, or in the discussion of great and complicated 
 questions, what part can he take whose powers, if he have any, 
 are not at his command, and who must first take time to write 
 out his thoughts, and then read them ? 
 
 But to be able to participate in discussions of this kind, the 
 member must have a thorough knowledge of the subject in all 
 its relations and bearings, and the principles and questions of 
 constitutional and statute law involved in it. Take, as an illus- 
 tration, the great debate between Mr. Webster and Mr. Hayne. 
 As the former had but a few hours to prepare, what would his 
 
THE SUB-TREASURY BILL. ^y 
 
 reply have amounted to had he not been already fully imbued 
 and conversant with the whole subject under debate ? 
 
 The ready debaters in the Senate during Mr, Adams's, Gen- 
 eral Jackson's, and Mr. Van Buren's administrations, besides 
 Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, and Mr. Calhoun (for I must rank him 
 as one, though not equal in this respect to many others), were 
 Mr. Crittenden, Mr. Choate, Mr. Chambers, of Maryland, Silas 
 Wright, John M. Clayton, Robert Y. Hayne, John Forsyth, 
 Mr. Ewing, Mr. Grundy, Mr. Mangum, Mr. Berrien, Mr. Rives, 
 of Virginia, Mr. Barton, of Missouri, Mr. Benton, Mr. John 
 Davis, Mr. Phelps, of Vermont, and perhaps one or two others. 
 Mr. Crittenden was always most happy in reply ; and I doubt 
 whether he ever wrote one of his speeches, before or after 
 delivery. No Senator ever knocked at his door and found him 
 unprepared : if sharply assailed, his opponent failed not to feel 
 the force of his logic, the aptitude of his illustration, and the 
 pungency of his sarcasm. Yet, with all his earnest and some- 
 times biting, sometimes playful eloquence, he never left a sting 
 behind or excited an unkind feeling. Nothing delighted him 
 more than a playful tilt with some member who could tilt back, 
 — a game of small sword, — and especially with Mr. Buchanan, 
 who, though he could handle the small sword, made few hits, 
 but got many from the adroit Kentucky Senator. 
 
 In the House, during the period I speak of, the most effective 
 and ready debaters were John Randolph, Henry R. Storrs, Mr. 
 McDuffie, Mr. Cambreling, Tristam Burgess, of Rhode Island, 
 John C. Wright, of Ohio, John Quincy Adams and Edward 
 Everett, of Massachusetts, George Evans, of Maine, Colonel 
 Hamilton, Mr. Mitchell, Warren R. Davis, and Colonel Dray- 
 ton, of South Carolina, Robert P. Letcher and Thomas Marshall, 
 of Kentucky, Philip Doddridge, Charles P'enton Mercer, John 
 M. Patton, and Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, Joseph Vance and 
 Samuel F. Vinton, of Ohio, Richard Henry Wilde, of Georgia, 
 Dixon H. Lewis, of Alabama, and Edward Stanley, of North 
 Carolina, 
 
 Not one of these ever read a speech in Congress, or conceived 
 that such a thing could be done ; and, of course, not one of 
 them ever asked to have a speech written out and partially 
 
48 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 delivered, or not delivered at all, published as if it had been ! 
 These men met one another face to face, and discussed the 
 subject under debate. 
 
 Such discussions are now seldom heard. Such oratorical 
 conflicts as frequently occurred between Mr. Adams and Mr. 
 Wise, Mr. Adams and Mr. Marshall, or Mr. Rhett, or Mr. 
 Gilmer, or between Mr. Randolph and Mr. Burgess, or Mr, 
 Clay and Mr. Calhoun, are almost as rare at this day as a real 
 tournament of mediaeval times.* 
 
 MR. WEBSTER AGAINST THE SUB-TREASURY BILL. 
 
 Mr. Webster discussed the Sub-Treasury bill with the ability 
 of a statesman and the candor and good temper of a judge. He 
 pointed out the evils the policy of the preceding administration 
 had brought upon the country, and reminded the authors of 
 this measure, who stood pledged to follow in the footsteps of 
 their predecessors, of the predictions which had foretold the 
 present condition of the country, made by himself and his 
 associates, proving that they foresaw what the result of those 
 ruinous " experiments" must be. 
 
 In addressing the Senate in opposition to this measure, Mr. 
 Webster came in conflict with Mr. Calhoun, between whom and 
 himself occurred a memorable passage at arms, provoked, as 
 that between Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun was, by the defection 
 of the latter, and growing legitimately out of the comments 
 which Mr. Webster felt called on to make upon some portion 
 of Mr. Calhoun's speech and Edgefield letter, 
 
 Mr. Calhoun having in his speech at the September called 
 session said that in 1824, the tariff system having triumphed 
 in Congress, he and his friends rallied on the Presidential elec- 
 tion to arrest it through the influence of the Executive depart- 
 ment of the government, but that they failed in that, and then 
 fell back upon the rights of the States, and through the potency 
 of State interposition brought the system to the ground, Mr. 
 Webster seized upon this for comment. Here was, he said, an 
 open and direct avowal that in rallying to elect General Jackson 
 
 * It is the rule of the British Parliament that no member shall read a speech. 
 It should be the rule of Congress, 
 
THE SUB-TREASURY BILL. 
 
 49 
 
 in 1824-25 the purpose was to overthrow the protective policy 
 of the country. Well, this was frank, and he was glad the 
 avowal had been made. But the Senator had allies : was the 
 object he had avowed as his motive common to all ? Did he 
 tell Pennsylvania — honest, straightforward Pennsylvania — that 
 such was his purpose ? Did he state his object to New York 
 and New Jersey ? Ye who supported Jackson in those States, 
 what say you ? was tliat your object, or did you know it was the 
 purpose, the main purpose, of this honorable Senator? Mr. 
 Webster then spoke of the "judicious tariff" General Jackson 
 was represented to be in favor of, as all were, though each had 
 the reserved right to define for himself what a "judicious tariff" 
 was. At any rate, it was a boat broad enough to carry the 
 whole crew ; and all rushed and scrambled into it. 
 
 These criticisms upon Mr. Calhoun's declarations and boast- 
 ings, though severe, were legitimate and just, and Mr. Calhoun 
 felt them all the more keenly for the good temper in which 
 they were made. Mr. Webster showed that he and his friends 
 had acted from motives which they dared not at the time avow 
 to their allies, — allies to whom they were hostile. 
 
 Mr. Webster compared the Edgefield letter to a military dis- 
 patch : it was full of attacks, assaults, repulses, movements 
 and counter-movements, of occupying positions, falling back. 
 The celerity of all these operations reminded one of the rapidity 
 of the movements of the King of Prussia in the Seven Years' 
 War ; though he did not anywhere read of Frederick's achieve- 
 ments in taking a position to cover an enemy or hold an ally 
 in check. These refined tactics are of more recent discovery. 
 
 These remarks of Mr. Webster, made in perfect good temper, 
 with the dry, sarcastic humor pervading them, were exceed- 
 ingly provocative of laughter, and even grave Senators, Mr. 
 Calhoun himself, could not restrain its indulgence. 
 
 Mr. Webster then spoke of the sudden movement of the 
 Senator which landed him in the camp of his former enemies. 
 This seemed very abrupt. Sudden movements of the affections, 
 whether personal or political, are out of nature. 
 
 He referred to a mock-play written in England by some wit 
 to ridicule the sentimentality of a certain German school of liter- 
 
50 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 ature. Two strangers meet at an inn: suddenly one springs up 
 and exclaims, " A sudden thought strikes me. Let us swear 
 eternal friendship!" The offer was instantly accepted. 
 
 Mr. Webster graphically described the contest in which he 
 and his friends and the Senator and his friends were and had 
 long been engaged, and when victory was at last apparently in 
 their grasp, the Senator cries out to his enemies, " Halloo ! a 
 sudden thought strikes me. I abandon my allies ! They have 
 always been my oppressors ! Let you and I swear eternal 
 friendship !" 
 
 The utterance of these humorous but cutting remarks was 
 inimitable, and, spite of the Vice-President's gavel, " brought 
 down the house." Coming from the grave and dignified Web- 
 ster, whose face was never guilty of anything more than a 
 smile, the very dignity of the speaker added to the pungency 
 of their sarcasm and drollery, and made laughter the more 
 irresistible and irrepressible. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun felt, but endeavored to "bear the brunt" of, this 
 refined ridicule and keen irony, with all becoming dignity, pre- 
 tending, as it were, not to feel the barbed shaft. 
 
 In his conflict with Calhoun, Mr. Webster exhibited powers 
 totally unlike those he usually displayed in his oratory, and for 
 which he had never before had credit. In this he showed that 
 his wit was as keen as his logic was conclusive ; that he could 
 see the ridiculous, and was as complete a master of refined and 
 cutting ridicule as he was of the ponderous weapons of argu- 
 ment and illustration, the force of which few could resist. His 
 wit, however, was a sub-acid : tart, but pleasant, and free from 
 that pungent bitterness which comes from an overflow of gall 
 and provokes revenge rather than pleasant laughter. 
 
 Unlike Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster, Mr. Calhoun was utterly 
 destitute both of wit and of humor, and was probably never, 
 in his whole life, guilty of perpetrating a joke or uttering a 
 pleasantry. He was too intensely in earnest in everything he 
 did to joke or trifle, or to indulge in the luxury of a laugh. 
 
 Considering the facts that he had long been estranged from 
 the Presidential mansion, that he had been an object of most 
 virulent abuse by the organ of the administration, and had been 
 
ABOLITION PETITIONS. 
 
 51 
 
 spoken of contemptuously and scurrilously by those most 
 intimate at the White House, it could not but excite surprise 
 when it was first whispered, and then known, that there had 
 been a kind of love-feast made by the President on his account, 
 a killing of the fatted calf, and great rejoicing at the return of 
 the prodigal son. On that occasion, rumor stated, there was 
 a general shaking of hands, smoking the calumet of peace, and 
 burying the tomahawk, which had been so freely and savagely 
 used during the past seven years. 
 
 Mr. Clay took what he thought a fit occasion to allude to 
 this rumored love-feast and peace-making, and intimated that 
 the country would be glad to know what the relationship of 
 the high contracting parties really was, and whether measures 
 proposed by the Senator from South Carolina were to be con- 
 sidered administration measures. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun was taunted into a somewhat tart reply, and Mr. 
 Clay drew from him the confession, or avowal, that he had 
 visited the President, and that personal friendly relations be- 
 tween them had been re-established. The colloquy, or debate, 
 became altogether personal, and very sharp ; but their personal 
 relations after this gradually became more agreeable, though 
 their former status was never fully restored. 
 
 The Sub-Treasury bill passed the Senate, after very elaborate 
 debate, by a vote of 27 to 25, but was laid on the table in the 
 House, by 106 to 98. This was followed, not long after, by 
 the passage — 34 to 10 — of a joint resolution, introduced by 
 Mr. Clay, but modified and amended, repealing the obnoxious 
 " Specie Circular," which was considered so prolific of mis- 
 chief to the whole country, as well as to the President and his 
 party politically. 
 
 Simultaneously with the repeal of the Specie Circular, the 
 banks in the Northern States resumed specie payments ; both 
 events creating great rejoicing and relief. 
 
 ABOLITION PETITIONS. 
 
 The question of the reception of Abolition petitions came up 
 in the Senate and in the House on the same day, December 
 20, 1837. In the former an animated debate arose, in which a 
 
52 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 large number of Senators took part. In the House one of those 
 scenes occurred which were not unfrequent in that body, — a 
 sort of gust, or whirlwind, that threatened more harm than was 
 done, and was productive of more noise, confusion, and dust 
 than good. 
 
 In the Senate, Mr. Wall, of New Jersey, having presented 
 petitions to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, Mr, 
 King, of Alabama, raised the question of reception. 
 
 Mr. Grundy then moved to lay that question on the table, 
 but withdrew it at the request of Mr. Clay, who desired to in- 
 quire whether the feeling on this exciting subject was not on 
 the increase in the non-slaveholding States, — whether many 
 persons at the North had not been prompted to sign these 
 petitions by the idea that the sacred right of petition had been 
 invaded by the course pursued by Congress at the last session 
 in relation to these petitions ? 
 
 Mr. Clay said his opinions were known and unchanged. He 
 thought Congress ought not to grant the prayer of the peti- 
 tioners ; but he was in favor of the proposition made on a 
 former occasion by Mr. Tyler, namely, to refer the petitions to 
 the committee on the District of Columbia, who should report 
 thereon. This, he thought, would calm the public mind, and 
 restore the tranquillity so much desired. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun was averse to this : the only way to stop them 
 was to meet them at the doors and keep them out. He was 
 opposed to compromise, and hoped gentlemen would yield 
 nothing. 
 
 Mr. Swift, of Vermont, reminded gentlemen that when these 
 memorials were received and referred there was little excite- 
 ment on the subject. The petitioners were not, as they had 
 been called, miserable fanatics, but included the most respecta- 
 ble and intelligent of the community. 
 
 Mr. Davis, of Massachusetts, repeated what he had said two 
 years ago : " If you want to make Abolitionists, continue the 
 course you have been pursuing." 
 
 Mr. King, of Alabama, denounced the petitioners with great 
 vehemence, as miserable fanatics and weak women, who could 
 be easily wrought upon. " If the North will persevere in this 
 
ANOTHER EXCITING SCENE IN THE HOUSE. r-i 
 
 hostile course, then," said Mr. King, " we will separate from 
 them." 
 
 The debate finally took the character of a personal encounter 
 between Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun. It was quite evident that 
 the latter was desirous to place the former in an antagonistic 
 position to the South, or at least to have it appear to the South 
 that Mr. Clay was more of a Northern than Southern man, 
 while he, Mr. Calhoun, was the special friend and advocate of 
 the South, as he really was. 
 
 He did not care how his course might affect the North. He 
 gave that section up, but was anxious to keep the keenest sen- 
 sibility of the South awakened to these attacks. While he 
 disclaimed acting on sectional grounds, he avowed his desire 
 to unite the South, to make her a unit, on this question. 
 
 Mr. Clay was also anxious to promote union, — not the union 
 of a section, but the union of all the States, that they might be 
 " now and forever indivisible." He did not look to the section 
 from which he came. He wished to tranquillize and harmonize 
 the whole country, not to create or foster heart-burnings and 
 jealousies between different portions of it. 
 
 Speaking of this debate, and of the sentiments expressed by 
 Mr. Clay therein, the New York " Evening Post," a very decided 
 Democratic paper, said, " In this debate Mr. Clay set an ex- 
 ample which we should rejoice to see imitated by his brethren 
 of the South, — an example not of morbid sensitiveness on a 
 painful subject, but a manly reliance on the good sense and 
 intelligence and justice of the people." 
 
 ANOTHER EXCITING SCENE IN THE HOUSE. 
 
 While the debate on Abolition was going on in the Senate, 
 the same subject occupied the House, where a scene character- 
 istic of that body when stirred by an Abolition gust occurred, 
 occupying nearly the whole day. 
 
 Mr. Slade, of Vermont, having presented memorials for the 
 abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, addressed 
 the House on the subject, and, in the course of his remarks, 
 animadverted on the course pursued by Southern members in 
 regard to memorials on this subject, it appearing to be the 
 
54 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 understanding that some one would invariably rise and move to 
 lay all motions for referring such memorials on the table. 
 
 Mr. Slade continued, commenting on the course pursued 
 towards these memorials, and attempting to discuss the subject 
 of slavery, but was frequently called to order. 
 
 Either from a desire to irritate Southern members, or from 
 the unfortunate talent he had of using, unconsciously, offen- 
 sive terms and making annoying and provoking remarks, he 
 succeeded in getting up great irritation and excitement, out 
 of which grew disorder and confusion, a dozen members at- 
 tempting to address the chair, and nearly all of them on their 
 feet. 
 
 At length Mr. Wise, greatly excited, hallooed to the Virginia 
 delegation to retire from the hall. Mr. Holsey, of Georgia, 
 made the same request to the Georgia delegation. 
 
 Mr. Rhett said that the South Carolina members had already 
 consulted together and had agreed to meet in the room of the 
 District committee. 
 
 Mr. Slade, being decided to be out of order, resumed his 
 seat, whereupon a motion was made and carried, it being late, 
 to adjourn. Most of the Southern members had already left 
 the hall. 
 
 MEETING OF SOUTHERN MEMBERS. 
 
 A meeting of Southern Senators and members of the House 
 was held in the evening. The attendance was large, all from 
 the slaveholding States being present except Mr. Clay and Mr. 
 Benton. Among those who spoke at the meeting were Mr. 
 Calhoun, Mr. Preston, Mr. Crittenden, and Mr. Rives, of the 
 Senate, and Messrs. Wise, Menifee, and others of the House. 
 All were in a high state of ebullition; members making in- 
 flammatory remarks, uttering denunciations of the North, and 
 threats of disunion. 
 
 The result of the meeting was a resolution, to be offered in 
 the House the next morning, which was afterwards known as 
 '" the Patton resolution," from its being offered by Mr. Patton, 
 of Virginia. 
 
 At the meeting of the House the next morning Mr. Patton 
 moved a suspension of the rules to enable him to offer the 
 
MEETING OF SOUTHERN MEMBERS. cc 
 
 resolution. They were suspended by a two-thirds vote, and 
 the resolution passed, as follows: 
 
 " Resolved, That all petitions, memorials, and papers touching 
 the abolition of slavery, or the buying, selling, or transferring 
 of slaves, in any district or territory of the United States, be 
 laid upon the table without being debated, printed, read, or 
 referred, and that no further action whatever shall be had 
 thereon." 
 
 When Mr. Adams's name was called, on the passage of the 
 resolution, he rose, and, amidst loud cries of " Order !" " order !" 
 "order!" said, " I hold the resolution to be a violation of the 
 Constitution of the United States" (" Order !" " order !" " order !"), 
 " of the right of petition" (" Order !"), " and of freedom of speech 
 to myself as a member of this House." Mr. Adams persisted 
 in uttering these words amidst a pandemonium of cries of 
 order. 
 
 Mr. Adams asked to have this declaration inserted on the 
 journal, which was refused ; but the next morning he moved 
 to amend the journal by inserting the words — repeated in his 
 resolution ; and this was effected by a vote of the House, on 
 motion of Mr. Bynum, of North Carolina, to lay it on the table, 
 — an effect the opposite of what he intended. 
 
 At the meeting of the Southern members which agreed to 
 the Patton resolution, another was also adopted, which Mr. 
 Calhoun very earnestly advocated ; namely, that the delegation 
 from each slaveholding State should appoint one member to 
 form a general committee, whose duty it should be to consider 
 and decide upon what ulterior steps should be taken to prevent 
 the infraction of the rights of the South. 
 
 This was one of the incipient movements which were fol- 
 lowed by various disunion State conventions, — conventions 
 that threatened the dissolution of the Union, and which finally 
 culminated in the Rebellion. 
 
 The debate on the slavery question was kept up for several 
 days by the introduction of a series of resolutions upon the 
 subject by Mr. Calhoun, and a counter-series by Mr, Morris, 
 of Ohio. But the debate had no special significance. 
 
56 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 THE CILLEY-GRAVES DUEL. 
 
 Since the lamentable and fatal duel between Barron and 
 Decatur, in March, 1820, no event had created such a sensa- 
 tion in Washington as the duel between Graves and Cilley, in 
 which the latter was killed. 
 
 It is not my purpose to give an account of that tragic affair: 
 that can be found authentically given by the seconds of the 
 two combatants in the papers of the day. 
 
 The duel was fought between two gentlemen whose personal 
 relations were altogether of a friendly character ; and this was 
 one of the strange things about this universally-condemned 
 conflict. The question naturally arises, If there was no enmity 
 between them, why did they fight ? Answer : they fought on 
 a point of honor ; both were desirous to avoid the conflict, 
 but neither was willing to say that which would meet the point 
 of honor tenaciously insisted on by the other, / . ' 
 
 Mr. Cilley, member of Congress from Neiv Hampshire, had 
 been challenged by Colonel J. Watson Webb, editor of the 
 New York " Courier and Enquirer," the challenge being borne 
 by Mr. Graves, member of Congress from Kentucky. Mr. 
 dc t>fvA.>AO Cilley refused to accept the challenge, alleging that Colonel 
 (^ij»f.- ' ■ , Webb was not a gentleman^ This, according to the dueling 
 code, or " code of honor," imposed upon Mr. Graves the neces- 
 sity of taking Colonel Webb's place and giving the challenge 
 himself. Had Mr. Cilley put his refusal on the ground that 
 he, as a member of Congress, was not answerable for words 
 spoken in debate, as Mr. Graves desired, it would have relieved 
 the latter from his unpleasant position ; but he persistently 
 refused to do this, and the challenge was sent, accepted, and 
 rifles chosen as the weapons. 
 
 The reason why Mr. Cilley chose the rifle was that he was 
 a practiced marksman with that weapon, being considered " a 
 dead shot." • Mr. Cilley had brought his own rifle with him 
 from New Hampshire, and report said that he rather desired 
 to meet one of " the Southern chivalry" on the field of honor ; 
 that he thought Northern members had been " backed down" 
 too often by the gasconaders of the South, who took advantage 
 
THE CILLEY-GRAVES DUEL. ry 
 
 of the fact that public opinion at the North so severely con- 
 demned dueling that the Northern man who fought a duel 
 committed political suicide, even should he escape death in 
 the conflict. 
 
 Mr. Graves, though a Kentuckian, had never fired a rifle, as 
 he assured me, up to the time of the acceptance of the chal- 
 lenge, and was, therefore, no marksman ; indeed, he was as 
 great a novice in the use of the weapon as one could be. 
 
 Thrpe shots were exchanged. Between the second and third, 
 efforts were made to settle the matter. Mr. Cilley was asked 
 to say, in writing, what he had said verbally to Mr. Graves ; 
 namely, "that he declined to receive the note of Colonel Webb 
 because he was not accountable for words spoken in debate," 
 or " that in declining to receive the note he did not do so upon 
 the ground of personal objection to Colonel Webb as a gentle- 
 man ;" but this was declined, and the third exchange of shots 
 followed, when Mr. Cilley fell, by what Mr. Graves always said 
 was a chance shot. 
 
 At the second exchange of shots, after Mr. Graves's rifle had 
 gone off accidentally, according to the statement made by Mr. 
 Wise to the committee of investigation, Mr. Cilley fired delib- 
 erately " at his life," and his second expected to see him fall. 
 Mr. Wise also charged that Mr. Cilley " precipitated the time 
 of meeting when the second of Mr. Graves was avowing a 
 want of preparation (not being able immediately to procure a 
 rifle) and a desire for delay." The meeting being thus hastened 
 and " precipitated," Mr. Graves had no time to practice or 
 become familiar with the weapon he had on the spur of the 
 occasion procured. 
 
 Had Mr. Cilley fired in the air instead of deliberately firing 
 at Mr. Graves, at the second exchange of shots, after Mr. 
 Graves's rifle had gone off accidentally, the duel would have 
 ended there. Not having done so, but seeming to desire to 
 take Mr. Graves's life, another exchange was demanded, which, 
 contrary to expectation, proved fatal to Mr. Cilley. 
 
 The news of the death of Cilley reached Washington early 
 
 in the morning, producing a great sensation, especially among 
 
 members of Congress. 
 
 Vol. II. 5 
 
58 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 The House was too much agitated on that day to transact 
 business, and little was done. Members were seen grouped to- 
 gether in different parts of the hall, discussing the melancholy- 
 event, the more lamented as Mr. Cilley and Mr. Graves were 
 both highly esteemed. 
 
 That two men between whom there existed no unkind feel- 
 ing should be drawn by untoward circumstances into deadly 
 conflict, one of them falling a victim to this " code of honor," 
 could not but produce a shock to the feelings of every one not 
 a professed duelist, and these feelings found free utterance, 
 though not in condemnation of Mr. Graves. Nor was the ex- 
 citement produced confined to Washington: it pervaded the 
 country. The press, not knowing whom especially to cast cen- 
 sure upon, condemned every one connected with the transaction. 
 
 All the actors in this affair have long since gone to their 
 rest, except the two seconds, Governor Wise, of Virginia, and 
 General Jones, of Iowa. 
 
 ARRIVAL EXTRAORDINARY. 
 
 Those of the present generation, who have not lived half the 
 allotted days of man, and who are as familiar with the arrival 
 and departure at our ports of ocean steamers — " leviathans of 
 the deep" — as with the rising and setting of the sun, can have 
 but a faint idea of the sensation created by the arrival of the 
 first two steamers at New York from Liverpool. The first 
 arrival was that of the Sirius, on the 22d of April, 1838, the 
 second, the Great Western, on the 23d. Though the latter 
 had been expected and was daily looked for, her arrival created 
 a tremendous furor in the city, and made a great sensation 
 throughout the country. A great problem had been solved, 
 a grand experiment successfully tried, at the very moment 
 when a celebrated philosopher (Dr. D. Lardner) was demon- 
 strating and thought he had demonstrated that the thing was 
 impossible. 
 
 No conquering hero was ever more demonstratively wel- 
 comed or lionized than the master of the Great Western. Why 
 lie should be more than the master of the Sirius, which came 
 first in the order of time, I am unable to say, but so it was. 
 
THE BURNING OF PENNSYLVANIA HALL. rg 
 
 The Great Western was the steamer, while the other was 
 scarcely heard of; indeed, few ever heard of her at all. 
 
 But ocean steam navigation was no longer a problem to be 
 solved. It was now " a fixed fact," nil fait accompli. The 
 rejoicing on this occasion was not excelled even by that 
 created by the reception of the first telegraphic dispatch by 
 the cable from England, that of Queen Victoria to the Presi- 
 dent of the United States. 
 
 Nor were the demonstrations made on her departure less 
 marked and enthusiastic than those on her arrival. A fleet 
 of steamers, decorated with flags, filled with passengers, and 
 each having a band of music on board, assembled around, and 
 accompanied her down the bay. The wharves were densely 
 crowded with spectators, and even the house-tops were covered. 
 On her leaving her wharf and heading down the bay, cheers 
 went up from tens of thousands of excited people as a parting 
 God-speed. 
 
 THE BURNING OF PENNSYLVANIA HALL. 
 
 Opposition to slavery, styled in common parlance " Abo- 
 litionism," which was a spectre of evil import to the South, and 
 was earnestly, and in many instances violently, opposed at the 
 North, continued to increase. Public sentiment was undoubt- 
 edly against the Abolitionists in all parts of the country, but 
 so strongly in the slave States that it was dangerous for one 
 known as such to appear there. Looked upon as they were 
 as disturbers of the peace and harmony of the country, as 
 interfering with that which did not belong to them and with 
 which they had no right to meddle, it is easy to infer that 
 no one joined and acted with them but such as were largely 
 endowed with moral courage, and governed by a full conviction 
 of what was rigJit and their duty, rather than by that prudence 
 which looks only to what is expedient or popular. They were 
 men and women of stern resolution and inflexible purpose. 
 Ridicule could not penetrate this moral armor, nor denuncia- 
 tion swerve them from their purpose. They feared neither the 
 condemnation of public opinion nor the threats of personal 
 violence. 
 
5o PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 A hall had been erected in Philadelphia by the Abolition 
 Society of Pennsylvania, intended for " free discussion;" which 
 had become a necessity to this class of people, since they could 
 find few places open to them for discussing the subject of 
 slavery. 
 
 This (" Pennsylvania Hall") was to be dedicated; and to take 
 part in the ceremonies a large number of Abolitionists, some of 
 the most prominent in the country, assembled from different 
 States. The address on the occasion was delivered by Mr. 
 Garrison, the well-known Abolition editor of Boston. Other 
 addresses were also made. 
 
 Meantime, a certain portion of the people of Philadelphia 
 became excited at the presence of so many Abolitionists in the 
 city ; but it is probable that this excitement would have found 
 relief in denunciatory expletives but for an exhibition on their 
 part which was then entirely novel and strongly repugnant to 
 the general sense of propriety of the community, and which 
 seemed to be done in utter disregard of that general feeling, 
 if not purposely to defy it : namely, the indiscriminate com- 
 mingling of the whites and blacks, — white men walking the 
 streets arm-in-arm with black women, and white women with 
 black men. This public demonstration by the Abolitionists 
 of their ideas of the equality of all men aroused deep-seated 
 prejudices, and greatly moved the more impulsive part of the 
 community. A large crowd of boys and " loafers" had hung 
 around the hall from the beginning; but at night on the i6th 
 of May an immense mob gathered and soon gave indications 
 of intended mischief Colored men were attacked wherever 
 found. The crowd became boisterous and threatening. Colonel 
 Swift, the mayor, appeared with a body of police and endeav- 
 ored to disperse the mob, but was unable to do so. Finally, 
 the doors of the hall were forced open, and many entered, but 
 at first contented themselves with tearing up the benches and 
 throwing them and the chairs out of the windows. But this 
 accomplished, fire was set to the building, which was soon 
 enveloped in flames. 
 
 Firemen, with their engines and hose, were soon on the spot 
 and " made believe" to play on the building. It was evident, 
 
THE BURNING OF PENNSYLVANIA HALL. 5i 
 
 however, that it was not their purpose to save it, and it was 
 entirely consumed. 
 
 The firemen showed a different feeling when the house of 
 a poor woman, near the hall, took fire, and played upon it 
 with such earnestness and vigor that it was saved. Moreover, 
 in order to cover the damage done to the poor woman's house, 
 the sum of fifty dollars was raised among them and paid over 
 to her. 
 
 The burning of Pennsylvania Hall was, like the destruction 
 of the press and type and the killing of Mr. Lovejoy, at Alton, 
 one of those violent outbreaks which almost invariably occur in 
 the progress of great reformations, or the abolishing of usages 
 to which a people have for generations been accustomed, even 
 though wrong and, to a portion of the community, oppressive. 
 All such outbreaks, however, do but promote the cause they 
 are intended to injure ; as the burning of religious martyrs only 
 tended to make converts, — Luther, Calvin, John Knox, and 
 other reformers. 
 
 Abolition publications were now scattered broadcast North 
 and South, and greatly excited the people of the latter section, 
 who sought through their representatives in Congress to pro- 
 hibit all "incendiary publications," as they styled them, from 
 being transpoi'ted in the United States mails. Mr. Calhoun 
 brought forward and earnestly advocated the passage of such a 
 bill, which was opposed by Mr. Webster and Mr. Clay, and 
 failed. But the Postmaster-General, Amos Kendall, signified 
 to a Southern postmaster that he might refuse to deliver such 
 "incendiary papers," he assuming the responsibility of so doing, 
 the Postmaster-General having no authority in the premises. 
 
 Men of very ordinary understanding could not fail to see 
 that if the officers of the government could, under any pre- 
 tense whatever, exercise such a power over the mails as to 
 withhold or deliver any publication sent therein at their option, 
 the freedom of the press would henceforth be nothing but a 
 name, a mere shadow without substance. Mr. Kendall's letter 
 struck the public mind at the North with a force that stirred 
 thousands to action who had never sympathized with the Abo- 
 litionists, and who were even opposed to their movements. 
 
52 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 TEXAS. 
 
 The independence of the republic of Texas was recognized 
 by Congress at the session of 1836-7, and a minister, Memucan 
 Hunt, was sent here. He soon, on behalf of Texas, proposed 
 annexation ; but public sentiment at the North was decidedly 
 averse to this. 
 
 In January, 1838, Mr. Preston, of South Carolina, presented 
 to the Senate a resolution, prefaced by a preamble setting forth 
 that the true boundary of the United States, under the treaty of 
 Louisiana, extended to the Rio del Norte, which river continued 
 to be the boundary-line until the territory west of the Sabine 
 was surrendered to Spain by the treaty of 18 19, and declaring 
 it, for many weighty reasons set forth, expedient to re-establish 
 the said true boundary, and to re-amiex to the United States the 
 territory occupied by the State of Texas, with the consent of 
 said State; '' tlierefore^' his resolution declared, "it is desirable 
 and expedient to re-annex the said territory to the United States." 
 
 At the same time the subject of annexation came up in the 
 House by the presentation of memorials against annexing Texas 
 to the United States. 
 
 As Mr. Preston had in his preamble cast severe reflection 
 upon the treaty with Spain of 18 19, commonly called "the 
 Florida Treaty," and as Mr. Adams was the negotiator on 
 behalf of the United States on that occasion, he could not be 
 indifferent to this movement to " re-annex" the country lost, or 
 given up, by that treaty, to the United States. When, therefore, 
 remonstrances were presented in the House against such re- 
 annexation, Mr. Adams moved to refer them to a special com- 
 mittee, and supported his motion in one of his characteristic, 
 able, historically interesting, and outspoken speeches. The 
 subject was disposed of, however, by a motion to lay it on the 
 table, which prevailed by a vote of 127 to 68. 
 
 Mr. Preston could not have been aware, when he made his 
 remarks upon the treaty of 18 19, that Mr. Adams, a North- 
 ern man, was the only one of Mr. Monroe's cabinet — which 
 included Mr. Crawford and Mr. Calhoun — who opposed the 
 giving up so large a portion of Texas to Spain ; which fact 
 
MISSISSIPPI CONTESTED ELECTION. 
 
 63 
 
 Mr. Adams, in self-defense, brought out, greatly to the aston- 
 ishment of Southern men. 
 
 As the South desired the annexation for the purpose of 
 extending the area of slavery, the agitation of this question 
 tended to aggravate the already highly feverish state of feeling 
 on the subject of slavery in both sections of the Union. But 
 the South was destined to triumph in the end, and in connection 
 with that triumph to defeat both Clay and Van Buren as candi- 
 dates for the Presidency. 
 
 MISSISSIPPI CONTESTED ELECTION. SARGENT S. PRENTISS. 
 
 Upon the issuing of a proclamation by President Van Buren, 
 calling an extra session of Congress in the fall of 1837, Mis- 
 sissippi being without members, the governor of that State, 
 Charles Lynch, issued writs to the sheriffs to hold an election 
 for representatives to fill the vacancy " until superseded by the 
 members to be elected at the next regular election, on the first 
 Monday and day following in November next." At this elec- 
 tion, in July, Messrs. Claiborne and Gholson were the successful 
 candidates. 
 
 At the regular State election in November, Sargent S. Pren- 
 tiss and Thomas J. Word were elected by large majorities. 
 Meantime, the House of Representatives assumed to itself the 
 extraordinary power to pass a resolution declaring Claiborne 
 and Gholson to be duly elected members for the whole term of 
 the Twenty-fifth Congress. Consequently, when Messrs. Pren- 
 tiss and Word presented themselves to the House and claimed 
 their seats, they were already occupied. The question then 
 arose as to whom the seats rightfully belonged ; and this ques- 
 tion was discussed with great vehemence for more than two 
 weeks. All the powers of eloquence, all the skill of party 
 tactics, and all the energies inspired by the hope of a political 
 victory and the fear of political defeat, were called into requisi- 
 tion on this occasion. As the question before the House was 
 to determine whether the State of Mississippi should be repre- 
 sented by two Whigs or two Democrats, and as the decision of 
 this might affect the decision of other questions, both parties 
 felt a deep interest in its result. It was treated as a strict party 
 
64 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 question, though after the lapse of thirty-four years, and the 
 clearing away of the fogs of passion and prejudice which then 
 obscured the vision of members, one can but wonder how it 
 could have been made a question at all, a bare statement of it 
 being equal to a demonstration. 
 
 Mr. Prentiss was one of those extraordinary men who ap- 
 pear upon earth at distant intervals, as if Nature, in creating 
 them, expended all her powers, and had, from necessity, to 
 content herself, for many years, with producing ordinary men. 
 A lawyer by profession, a scholar by study, an orator by nature ; 
 with a big, towering head, and a great, noble heart. 
 
 But these general terms, though they indicate a man of far 
 more than ordinary abilities, convey no definite idea of the 
 individual. 
 
 His first appearance in the House of Representatives was as 
 a claimant of a seat in that body as a representative of Missis- 
 sippi. A day was set for him to address the House in support 
 of his and his colleague's claim to seats in the place of Clai- 
 borne and Gholson. His fame as an orator had preceded him, 
 and on the day he was to address the House the galleries were 
 early filled, in great part by ladies. While he was speaking, 
 there gathered into the hall an audience such as Webster, 
 Clay, Calhoun, Preston, Pitt, or Fox might have been proud to 
 attract, — Senators, ex-members of Congress, foreign ministers, 
 eminent lawyers attending the session of the Supreme Court, 
 and distinguished citizens of Washington. 
 
 There was something at once so attractive and impressive 
 in his appearance, that on rising every eye was upon him, and 
 intense silence pervaded the hall. Yet, imposing as was the 
 assembly, and novel the scene before and around him, he was 
 perfectly self-possessed, calm, and collected, as if he were merely 
 performing his accustomed duties in a familiar court. 
 
 Mr. Wise, who was present and participated in this celebrated 
 debate, says, in his reminiscence of the subject of these remarks, 
 " He threw himself on the arena at a single bound, but not in 
 the least like a harlequin. He stepped, no stranger, on the 
 boards of high debate. ... I never shall forget the feelings he 
 inspired, and the triumph he won. . . . 
 
SARGENT S. PRENTISS. 
 
 65 
 
 " He at once, after this first effort, ascended to his pinnacle 
 of place in the House of Representatives." 
 
 Mr. Fillmore, who was a member of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, writes, in 1853, " I can never forget that speech. It 
 was, certainly, the most brilliant that I ever heard, and, as a 
 whole, I think it fully equaled, if it did not exceed, any 
 rhetorical effort to which it has been my good fortune to listen 
 in either House of Congress. It elevated him at once to the 
 first rank of Congressional orators, and stamped his short but 
 brilliant parliamentary career with the impression of undoubted 
 genius and the highest oratorical powers." 
 
 Mr. Calhoun, who occupied a seat near Mr. Prentiss, and 
 listened to him with the most intense interest, being three 
 times notified by a page that he was needed in the Senate, 
 ere he could forego the pleasure of listening, rose, and, as he 
 turned to go out, exclaimed, in an audible voice to some friends 
 whom he passed, "Splendid! splendid! splendid!" 
 
 ]Mr. Webster, who listened to Mr. Prentiss's whole speech, 
 replied, when asked his opinion of it, " Nobody can equal it." 
 
 Mr. Prentiss's speech ran into the third day ; but instead of 
 the interest he created flagging, it increased every day; the 
 desire to hear him became more and more intense, and the 
 galleries and hall more and more crowded. 
 
 The debate continued for a week or two after he spoke first ; 
 Mr. Legare, of South Carolina, closing the debate on the side 
 adverse to Prentiss and Word. Mr. Legare was one of the 
 brilliant stars of that Congress; a man of profound scholarship, 
 a most able jurist, and a chaste, beautiful speaker. He, too, 
 attracted crowds to the galleries and hall ; but he had a bad 
 cause, and did not come up to his own standard. 
 
 Mr. Prentiss was allowed to reply to Mr. Legare. He loved 
 a foeman worthy of his steel, and the reputation of Mr. Legare, 
 the high estimation in which he was justly held, were but stim- 
 ulants to him. " Nothing," says his brother and biographer, 
 " called out the whole of his intellectual resources like strong 
 opposition ; and he never used them with greater skill or effect 
 than at retort." 
 
 A vote was at length taken, and resulted in the House de- 
 
66 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 daring the July election, when Claiborne and Gholson were 
 returned, void, by a vote of 1 19 to 1 12. Claiborne and Gholson 
 were therefore unseated, and no one, apparently, doubted but 
 that Prentiss and Word, who were regularly elected at the 
 regular November State election, would now take their seats. 
 All waited in expectancy of a vote declaring them entitled to 
 their seats, when up sprang a Mr. Howard, of Maryland, im- 
 mortalized, if at all, by this single act, and implored the House 
 to pause. Some frivolous reason was given, but in such a 
 beseeching, nervous manner, that, coming from a well-known 
 friend of the administration, the party rallied to his support, 
 and the proposition to declare the claimants — the only claim- 
 ants — to the seats, not entitled to them, after some days of 
 vehement debate, was carried by the casting vote of Mr. Speaker 
 Polk. This result was accomplished by the most strenuous 
 efforts of the administration, and the use of every political 
 strategy known to politicians, called into use in desperate cases. 
 The vote of the House stood 117 to 117. 
 
 The excitement was intense ; the noise and confusion on the 
 taking and declaring the vote, and the indignation felt and 
 manifested upon Mr. Polk's giving the casting vote, were in- 
 describable. Polk himself was, apparently, so intimidated by 
 it that he could hardly speak audibly. 
 
 Thus was the long agony of three weeks ended. Mr. Wise 
 instantly rose and poured forth an indignant rebuke. Mr. 
 Prentiss followed, and, in a speech of five minutes, denounced 
 the decision of the House as an act of palpable and gross 
 " legislative usurpation." 
 
 But, though defeated, Messrs. Prentiss and Word were not 
 conquered. A new election in Mississippi was ordered, and, 
 before leaving Washington, Mr. Prentiss issued an address to 
 the people of that State, couched in terms calculated to stir 
 every heart in the State. 
 
 Proud of one whose fame for oratory had suddenly become 
 co-extensive with the bounds of the Union, the Whigs at Wash- 
 ington gave Mr. Prentiss a dinner soon after his case was 
 decided, which was chiefly remarkable for two things : first, 
 the great number of very eminent men who gathered around 
 
SARGENT S. PRENTISS. 
 
 ^7 
 
 the festive board ; and second, for a very extraordinary im- 
 promptu speech made by Mr. Webster, on being called upon 
 for a speech on the Union. 
 
 Judge Hugh L. White, very justly styled " the Cato of the 
 country," presided, and retired early. Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, 
 and others had spoken, " but no one," Mr. Wise says, " had 
 come up to their usual standard, and many were disappointed. 
 At length, one who was present relates, Mr. Webster was loudly 
 called upon to address them on the Union. ' Mr. Webster ! 
 Webster ! The Uniori ! the Union f The right chord had 
 been touched ; the rock had been struck, and out gushed an 
 overpowering stream of brilliant, soul-stirring thoughts, and as 
 he went on, inspired and warmed by his theme, and animated 
 by the enthusiasm he created, he rose," says Mr. Wise, " to 
 the empyrean. He brought forty men to their feet, their hands 
 resting on the table, their eyes gazing at him, and their lips 
 parted, as if they were panting for breath. By-and-by he came 
 to point the speech with its moral, and exclaimed, 'And you, 
 Southern brethren! shall my children be aliens to yoitr chil- 
 dren ? Shall your children be aliens to my children ?' This 
 was said so lovingly, and in such an appealing tone, that it 
 brought forth the wildest shouts, and manifestations of fervid 
 patriotism and devotion to the Union, while tears trickled down 
 the manly cheeks of many a one present. This outburst of 
 splendid yet chaste eloquence, it is much to be regretted, was 
 never reported; and to reproduce it was beyond even Mr. Web- 
 ster's power, unless he could be roused by the same inspiration 
 and stirred by the same attending circumstances."* 
 
 Before returning to Mississippi to resume the canvass of the 
 State, Mr. Prentiss visited his mother, sisters, and brothers at 
 Portland, his native place, but stopped a few days at Boston, to 
 be present at a dinner given to Mr. Webster by his fellow-citi- 
 zens, in Faneuil Hall, where he met Evans, Hoffman, Choate, 
 and other distinguished gentlemen, and, inspired by the genius 
 of the place, and the profound admiration he entertained for 
 " the great expounder of the Constitution," whom all met now 
 to honor, he repeatedly and almost continually " brought 
 
 * Wise's Seven Decades. 
 
68 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS, 
 
 down the house" with such enthusiastic and prolonged cheers 
 as made " the old cradle" rock. 
 
 He proceeded home by water, by the way of New Orleans, 
 entered upon a very exciting and laborious canvass, carried the 
 State, and reappeared in Washington near the last of May, 
 claimed his seat in the House, and was sworn in. 
 
 Mr. Prentiss had little taste for public life : it was too con- 
 fining and monotonous, and did not sufficiently tax the powers 
 of his mind to call them often into vigorous action. The bar 
 was the more congenial sphere for him ; but he spoke on sev- 
 eral occasions with great eloquence and effect, — once especially 
 in favor of the navy, making an impromptu speech which quite 
 electrified the House. He also addressed the House on the 
 subject of the defalcations of public officers, brought to light by 
 the investigations of a special committee of the House, known 
 as Wise's Committee. 
 
 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF INVESTIGATION OF DEFALCA- 
 TIONS. 
 
 The contest between the two political parties which divided 
 the country was at this time carried on with great spirit in 
 Congress and throughout the country. The Whigs were now 
 gaining, and the Democrats losing, ground. The tactics of the 
 former were, to assail their opponents and keep them on the 
 defensive ; and they had champions in the House, to say 
 nothing of the Senate, admirably qualified to plan and lead 
 these assaults. Rarely have there been in any one Congress 
 so many men of extraordinary talent and eloquence as were 
 now seen in the House of Representatives. 
 
 Among the most important doings of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives at this time was the raising of a committee on " the 
 defalcations of [the then] late collector of the port of New 
 York, Samuel Swartwout; and also any. defalcations among 
 the collectors, receivers, and disbursers of the public money, 
 which may now exist." 
 
 The committee was appointed by the House by ballot, and 
 consisted of Messrs. Harlan, of Kentucky, Curtis, of New 
 York, Wise, of Virginia, Dawson, of Georgia, Smith, of Maine, 
 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON DEFALCATIONS. 
 
 69 
 
 Hopkins, of Virginia, Owens, of Georgia, Foster, of New York, 
 and Wagener, of Pennsylvania. 
 
 It was raised principally for the investigation of the defalca- 
 tion of Mr. Swartwout, which was pretty thoroughly exposed, 
 and the means by which he had managed to embezzle so large 
 an amount of money — over twelve hundred thousand dollars — 
 were shown. 
 
 This done, the committee entered upon an examination of 
 the defalcations of William M. Price, late District Attorney for 
 the Southern District of New York, then just come to light, 
 which were fully reported by the committee. Swartwout and 
 Price, meantime, had found it convenient to pass over to Europe 
 and spend some time there. Mr. Price's defalcation proved, 
 eventually, to be about seventy-five thousand dollars. 
 
 The affairs of these prominent defaulters having been inves- 
 tigated, and their defalcations exposed, the committee took up 
 the reports of the Secretary of the Treasury made at the then 
 present and the past session of Congress, from which a tabular 
 statement was prepared, exhibiting the names of defalcating 
 receivers of public moneys arising from the sales of public 
 lands, with the nature and extent of their defalcations. The 
 committee, upon application, were furnished with the corre- 
 spondence which had taken place between these defaulting 
 receivers and the Secretary, which proved to be of a unique 
 and extraordinary character, exhibiting an unparalleled amount 
 of cool profligacy and unblushing official turpitude on the part 
 of the public robbers ; with such a degree of patience and for- 
 bearance, and such a forcible-feeble expostulation with those 
 naughty thieves, — alternately beseeching and threatening, — 
 on the part of Secretary Woodbury, as could only provoke 
 laughter and contempt. 
 
 This report. No. 313, third session, Twenty-Fifth Congress, 
 was the most powerful political document used by the Whigs 
 for the overthrow of the Van Buren administration, and prob- 
 ably did more to bring about the political revolution of 1840 — 
 at least the exposure of the extensive defalcations of office- 
 holders — than all other causes. It revealed a degree of 
 political depravity and an amount of public robbery quite 
 
70 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 astounding, which served to open the eyes of the people who 
 had been sleeping while this thieving had been going on ; the 
 total amount being between two and three millions of dollars, 
 — an enormous sum for those days. 
 
 It was a fruitful theme of declamation and onslaught by the 
 Whig Hotspurs of the House, who let fly their sharpest arrows 
 and charged with couched lances into the ranks of their oppo- 
 nents with galling effect. Among others, Mr. Prentiss, gallant 
 knight as he was, rode into the arena and challenged all comers. 
 
 To him these embezzlements, and especially the correspond- 
 ence spoken of, were provocative of ridicule, sarcasm, scorn, 
 and scathing denunciation. 
 
 There were seventy-five or eighty of these defaulters, several 
 of whom were in Mississippi, and had probably spent some 
 of Uncle Sam's money for which they were now in default 
 in opposing the election of Mr. Prentiss; and this may have 
 been an inducement for him to take part in the debate. The 
 correspondence produced was voluminous, running through a 
 period of time from 1833 to 1838, but all of a similar character, 
 complaining, threatening, beseeching, — beseeching and threat- 
 ening again and again, by the Secretary, and promises, excuses, 
 — excuses, subterfuges, and promises, reiterated, on the part of 
 the negligent, defaulting officers. 
 
 Addressing the committee of the whole, Mr. Prentiss said, 
 "Swartwout has been found out. This is the unpardonable sin. 
 [For which the President had in his message recommended an 
 investigation into his affairs.] Not the theft, but the discovery, 
 constitutes the crime. If every office-holder's mantle were 
 thrown aside, how many, think you, Mr. Chairman, would be 
 found without a stolen fox fastened to the girdle?" 
 
 He continued: "Sir, though little is to be expected from the 
 action of this House, I anticipate much good from the discus- 
 sion of this subject. This hall is the ear of the nation ; what 
 is said here touches the auditory nerve of the whole country. 
 Before this mighty audience do I impeach both the President 
 and Secretary Woodbury. I charge them with knowingly ap- 
 pointing and continuing in office public defaulters, — men who 
 had appropriated the public money to private uses ; who had 
 
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON DEFALCATIONS, yi 
 
 committed, in ofifice, acts of as great moral turpitude and de- 
 serving as much odium as attaches to the case of Swartwout; 
 acts which the President now professes to think deserving of 
 the penitentiary." 
 
 He charged the Secretary with willfully conniving at some of 
 the most important defalcations, — with repeated and continued 
 neglect of what he himself asserted to be a paramount duty, — 
 with having received and favorably considered correspondence 
 degrading to his high office, and of a corrupt and profligate 
 character. 
 
 He took up the cases of the several land-office defaulters, 
 and read and commented on their letters and those of the 
 Secretary, Mr. Woodbury, which, with his comments, excited 
 laughter, shame, and sadness. The bold effrontery and un- 
 blushing audacity manifested by the public thieves while carry- 
 ing on their system of robbery were strongly contrasted with 
 the humble, beseeching, imploring tone of the Secretary, begging 
 of them to be good, honest officers, to pay up what they owed, 
 and not to steal any more public money ; and threatening them 
 as gently as a sucking dove with removal, but never removing 
 a single one.* 
 
 * In speaking of the extraordinary forensic powers of Mr. Prentiss, one cannot 
 but be reminded of another gentleman who was gifted in this respect as few men 
 are gifted, and who was the only man in Mississippi considered able to cojie with 
 Mr. Prentiss before a court and jury. I allude to Mr. — now General — Joseph Holt. 
 
 The two men were unlike in every respect, except in their great oratorical powers. 
 The one was short in person, and lame; the other tall, large, and well proportioned. 
 The one was brilliant, coruscating; the other shone with an intense but steady 
 light. The one was all animation and action; the other had less action, spoke 
 in a more subdued voice, and to the judges and juiy as if his only purpose was 
 to impress and convince them, not the rapt audience listening to and devouring 
 his words. 
 
 In the most important causes before the courts of Mississippi, they were almost 
 invariably employed on opposite sides; and when it was known that they were to 
 address a court or jury, the court-house was invariably filled to its utmost capacity. 
 Men traveled hundreds of miles to witness the forensic encounters between these 
 distinguished orators, and considered themselves well paid if they could do so. 
 
 Mr. Holt was appointed Secretary of War by Mr. Buchanan, to succeed John 
 B. Floyd, who, after transferring a large amount of cannon and military stores and 
 a hundred and fifty thousand rifles from the arsenals of the North to those of the 
 South, had resigned or fled to join the Rebellion. On entering on his duties he 
 took energetic measures to gather together the little army of the United Stales, 
 
«2 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 I cannot refrain from mentioning here that the Secretary sent 
 a special agent down to Mississippi, a Mr. Gareche, to look 
 after these defaulters ; that he reported one defaulter, Gordon 
 D. Boyd, who had filled his pockets with over a hundred thou- 
 sand dollars ; but the said agent recommended that he should 
 not be removed from office, because, he said, he lias his pockets 
 full now and will not ivant to speculate any more ; whereas, if 
 he is removed and another appointed, the latter will then fill 
 his pockets ! And upon this advice the Secretary retained the || 
 thief in office till he voluntarily walked out ! This case may 
 very well serve as a sample of the whole. 
 
 This famous report, exposing the enormous and multitudi- 
 nous defalcations, embezzlements, and frauds of the Federal 
 officers, afforded many pegs to hang campaign or electioneer- 
 ing speeches upon, and all the notes of the diapason were 
 sounded upon them. The report itself and the speeches soon 
 filled the country, and no voter in the nation who could read 
 was kept long in ignorance of the facts thus disclosed. 
 
 MR. CLAY AND SLAVERY. 
 
 The persistent refusal of Congress to receive and refer peti- 
 tions for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, 
 
 which had been, as if by design, so scattered as to be for some time unavailable, 
 acting cordially in concert with the other new Union members of the cabinet, Gen- 
 eral Dix, Secretary of the Treasury, and Edwin M. Stanton, Attorney- General, 
 who found the government on the downward grade upon which it had been put by 
 the secession members of the cabinet who had now joined the Rebellion. These 
 three gentlemen, of equal ability and patriotism, though they could not induce Mr. 
 Buchanan to take any vigorous measure to put down secession as did General Jack- 
 son in 1833, succeeded at least in checking the tendency of the government in the 
 direction in which it had been moving under the imbecile and terribly frightened 
 Buchanan. 
 
 Mr. Holt was soon appointed Judge-Advocate-General, under President Lin- 
 coln, and still remains Chief of the Bureau of Military Justice. 
 
 Since then General Dix has filled a large space in the public eye as an officer in 
 the army and as a civilian. His patriotic order to Mr. Hemphill Jones, " If any 
 man attempts to pull down the flag of the United States, shoot him down in his 
 tracks," is an index of the decision of the man. Ordinarily of a mild disposition 
 and amiable deportment, and withal a sincere and humble Christian, he was a lion 
 when aroused ; and his official life, especially as Governor of New York, has 
 shown that, in doing right, he is inflexible. 
 
AIR. CLA Y AXD SLA VER Y. - , 
 
 virtually denying the right of petition, had, as Mr. Davis, of 
 Massachusetts, predicted in the Senate, tended to the rapid in- 
 crease of Abolitionists at the North, and a more intense feelin<T 
 on the subject generally. The anti-slavery party was becoming 
 stronger and stronger, and more and more active. At the same 
 time the people of the slave States were equally stirred against 
 Abolitionists and their doings. 
 
 In this condition of the two sections, it would naturally be 
 supposed that a statesman ambitious to fill the highest office 
 in the gift of the people would avoid, as much as possible, dis- 
 cussing the question of slavery, pro or con., since whatever 
 sentiments he might avow must displease one section just in 
 proportion as they might be acceptable to the other. It was a 
 two-edged sword. 
 
 Mr. Clay, however, felt it due to himself and the country 
 that his sentiments on this agitating subject should not be a 
 matter of conjecture ; and he therefore determined to address 
 the Senate, declaring his views in a frank and unreserved 
 manner. He did so on the 7th of February, 1839; but he did 
 no more than reiterate sentiments he had uniformly expressed 
 publicly and privately for more than thirty years, — from his 
 earliest youth. In the course of this speech he adverted to the 
 effort in which he was engaged in Kentucky, in 1798-99, to 
 effect gradual emancipation in that State. But this proposition, 
 he said, had failed, though it was sustained by a large and 
 respectable minority, which was steadily increasing until the 
 Abolitionists commenced their operations. The effect, he said, 
 had been to dissipate all prospects whatever, for the present, of 
 any scheme of gradual or other emancipation. 
 
 But, he declared, if he could be instrumental in eradicating 
 this deepest stain (slavery) from the character of the country', 
 and removing all cause of reproach on account of it, — if he 
 could only be instrumental in wiping this foul blot from that 
 revered State that gave him birth, and that not less beloved 
 State which kindly adopted him as her son, — he would not 
 exchange the proud satisfaction he should enjoy for the honor 
 of all the triumphs ever decreed to the most successful con- 
 queror. 
 
 Vol. II. 6 
 
J. PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 The speech was an elaborate one, and listened to by crowded 
 galleries. 
 
 Shortly after this speech was delivered, Colonel Preston, of 
 South Carolina, happening to be in Philadelphia, the Whigs 
 held an impromptu meeting in Independence Hall, presided 
 over by John Sergeant, which was addressed by the eloquent 
 Senator. Speaking of Mr. Clay, he said he was a very noble 
 man. He himself came into the Senate with strong prejudices 
 against him. He had warmly opposed him long before he 
 knew him. In the Senate he found himself by his side ; he 
 watched him with jealous eye, but his prejudices had gradu- 
 ally given way before the power of truth, and, from being a 
 suspicious opponent, he frankly confessed, he had become an 
 admirer of the man. No man ever looked danger in the eye 
 with a more determined countenance, when in the pursuit of 
 truth or the sustainment of right, than Henry Clay. 
 
 "On one occasion," Mr. Preston said, " Mr. Clay did me the 
 honor to consult with me in reference to a step he was about 
 to take, and which will, perhaps, occur to your minds without 
 a more direct allusion. After stating what he proposed, it was 
 remarked that such a course might be offensive to the ultras of 
 both parties, in the great excitement which then existed. To 
 this Mr. Clay replied, * I trust the sentiments and opinions are 
 correct : I had rather be right than be President.' " 
 
 Mr. Clay's speech, alluded to by Mr. Preston, had the effect 
 to greatly increase the hostility of the Abolitionists against him, 
 and probably to alienate from him many good people in the 
 free States, who, though acting with the Whigs and not calling 
 themselves Abolitionists, had strong prejudices against slavery. 
 Such was the extent of its unfavorable influence on this class 
 of people that a leading politician of the State of New York 
 addressed a letter to a friend, which was published, expressing 
 the opinion that it had ruined Mr. Clay's prospects for the 
 Presidency, by alienating from him a large mass of Whig voters 
 in that and other free States. The writer and the Whig leaders 
 who affiliated with him — mostly Anti-Masons — were from that 
 time active in their endeavors to defeat his nomination by the 
 Harrisburg Convention. 
 
THE WHIG PARTY IX PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 75 
 
 I sent Mr. Clay a copy of the letter, and in his reply, dated 
 Ashland, nth of July, 1839, he said, — 
 
 " I am obliged to you for the copy of Mr, 's letter. 
 
 I can bear unfavorable information, and should always regret 
 its being withheld from me. I esteem it the office of a friend 
 
 to communicate it. Mr. 's opinion and information do 
 
 not accord with the opinion and information of others which 
 have been communicated to me ; but he may be right. If the 
 result which he apprehends is to be produced by abolition, in 
 consequence of my speech, I cannot change it. That speech 
 expressed my true sentiments, and I must abide by whatever 
 consequences they may lead to. 
 
 " With great esteem and regard, I am yours faithfully, 
 
 " H. Clay." 
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE WHIG PARTY IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 The only organized opposition party in Pennsylvania, until 
 the summer of 1839, "^^^^ the Anti-Masonic ; the Whigs gen- 
 erally voting for their nominees for State offices. But, as the 
 Anti-Masons were generally opposed to Mr. Clay, whom the 
 Whigs decidedly preferred, it was resolved by the leading 
 Whigs of the State that a State organization of the party should 
 be effected. This task was assigned to me. 
 
 A W'hig convention was called, and met at Chambersburg 
 on the 13th of June, of which the Hon. George Chambers was 
 president, and which adopted a series of excellent resolutions, 
 and an address to the people of the State, the former prepared 
 by the Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll, the latter by myself. 
 
 To this movement the leading Anti-Masons were strongly 
 opposed, though some twenty-five or thirty of them appeared 
 in the convention, claiming to be Whigs. 
 
 One of the resolutions reported to the convention by Mr. 
 Joseph R. Ingersoll declared a preference for Mr. Clay as a 
 candidate for President, and, the convention refusing to strike 
 out the name of Henry Clay and insert that of William 
 Henry Harrison, on the motion of Charles B. Penrose the 
 
76 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Anti-Masons withdrew, thus removing all doubt, if any existed, 
 as to the purpose for which they put on a Whig garb to enter 
 the convention. 
 
 The convention, while avowing its preference for Mr. Clay 
 for President, declared the intention of supporting the nominee 
 of the Harrisburg National Convention, whether Mr. Clay, Mr. 
 Webster, or General Harrison. This we thought fair and just; 
 but the Harrison men who had surreptitiously got into our 
 convention would agree to nothing but the support of their 
 favorite ; they would support him, and him only ; and this 
 doggedness finally carried the day at Harrisburg, Mr. Penrose 
 being one of the leaders there, and chief engineer. 
 
 SECOND SUSPENSION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS. 
 
 On the loth of October, 1839, ^^ banks in Philadelphia again 
 suspended specie payments, and on the next day the banks of 
 Baltimore followed suit, as they did generally, South and West, 
 immediately after. 
 
 The financial crisis in the United States, of 1839, was fore- 
 seen and foretold by sagacious financiers months before it 
 occurred. They foresaw that a stoppage of specie payments 
 by the banks would be inevitable, though they were making 
 every possible effort to avoid it. 
 
 I have already spoken of the great number of banks that 
 were brought into existence immediately after the expiration of 
 the charter of the United States Bank, of the great increase of 
 paper currency, and of the almost universal disposition to em- 
 bark in trade and speculations, superinduced by the redundancy 
 of bank facilities. Money — or what was considered money at 
 the time — was abundant, and the appearance of prosperity 
 universal, though deceptive. " Such was the avidity with 
 which foreign goods were purchased in our cities, that the 
 manufacturers of England put into immediate operation the 
 necessary machinery to meet our increased demand. The 
 natural consequence followed : the raw material (cotton) be- 
 came an immediate object of speculation in England, and the 
 cotton-bearing lands in the United States were bought and sold 
 at exorbitant prices. This apparently high state of prosperity, 
 
SECOND SUSPENSION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS. -7 
 
 and the great facility of obtaining money at low rates of interest 
 in England, tempted our States to embark in great schemes of 
 internal improvement, which required large disbursements on 
 these works, an unprecedented demand for labor, and a cor- 
 responding increase in its value. The logical result was the 
 withdrawal of a very considerable percentage of labor from 
 agricultural pursuits, occasioning an immediate curtailment in 
 the productions of the soil, and a corresponding advance of 
 provisions of every description." 
 
 These causes were amply sufficient of themselves to create 
 a serious financial and commercial disturbance ; but now, super- 
 added to these, came an unusual and an extraordinary one. 
 " In ordinary times England received payment for her goods 
 sent to the United States, in our funds, and rarely required, 
 because she rarely needed, specie. But now, 1839, her crops 
 failed, and she was forced to purchase food to prevent famine ; 
 not from our country, but from her neighbors, who could fur- 
 nish it cheaper than we could, for the reason that labor in this 
 country was high, and drawn off, in a measure, from our farms. 
 Now, the countries where England could purchase most reason- 
 ably the food she needed were comparatively small consumers 
 of her products, and she must therefore, pay in specie. For 
 this purpose the Bank of England alone furnished over thirty- 
 five millions of dollars, — a drain which threatened that institu- 
 tion with suspension. 
 
 " The consequence of all this was that money rose to three 
 times its ordinary value ; that the staples of this country were 
 unsalable, except at ruinous prices ; that the stocks and bonds 
 sent by the States, by the banks, or by individuals, were uncon- 
 vertible, leaving as the only mode of payment the exportation 
 of specie. 
 
 "The great rise in the value of money, and its scarcity in 
 England, compelled merchants and manufacturers to seek for 
 it in this country, and they accomplished their ends by empty- 
 ing their warehouses into the packet-ships, selling their goods 
 here at a small or large sacrifice, as the case might be, for 
 notes which were discounted at a sacrifice, and the specie then 
 drawn from the banks and shipped to England, leaving this 
 
78 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 country flooded with goods, regardless of the real wants of the 
 people, or of the prospect of their being consumed." But cheap- 
 ness was a great temptation to most people to buy, though we 
 could as well do without, and a few months' credit added 
 greatly to this temptation. The result was that the coin of 
 this country — we did not then produce and export gold as an 
 article of merchandise — was drawn to England to enable her 
 to supply the irresistible demand of her people for food. It 
 was stated that the Pennsylvania Bank of the United States 
 had had eight million seven hundred and twelve thousand 
 dollars of specie drawn from her vaults from the date of the 
 resumption of specie payments, in August, 1838, up to the loth 
 of October, 1839, and that the demand for specie upon all the 
 banks was increasing, threatening the withdrawal of every 
 dollar if not stopped. 
 
 Such was the fiscal and commercial condition of this country 
 when the banks closed their vaults and held fast to the specie 
 they had left; and this step enabled them to extend their line of 
 discounts and thus relieve the community. 
 
 But, superadded to the causes which induced the banks, 
 generally, to suspend, there were special circumstances which 
 operated on the United States Bank of Pennsylvania. On a 
 former occasion, when the merchants and banks of New York 
 were suffering under an extraordinary financial pressure, Mr. 
 Biddle, at their urgent request, visited that city, cheered their 
 drooping spirits, infused into them some of his own courage 
 and resolution, and finally brought the United States Bank to 
 their aid, by issuing for their use and benefit about fourteen or 
 fifteen millions of post-notes, for which he took the personal 
 security of the merchants, or, in some instances, perhaps, addi- 
 tional real-estate security. 
 
 These post-notes were now maturing, and the bank was 
 draining her vaults in paying them, though the bulk of them 
 were not yet presented. But while she was called upon and 
 liable to be called upon to pay these post-notes, the notes for 
 which she had given them were unpaid and unavailable. In 
 the incipiency of the transaction, Mr. Biddle was lauded and 
 almost worshiped as a savior ; in the end, damned to everlast- 
 
MOVEMENTS TO PREVENT MR. CLAY'S NOMINATION, rg 
 
 ing fame. It was the old story: he lent his money to friends, 
 and by so doing made them enemies. Had Mr. Riddle's advice 
 been followed, the banks would not have resumed in 1838, to 
 stop again, as he foresaw they would be compelled to, in 1839 '. 
 but would have waited, strengthening themselves meantime, 
 until they could resume permanently. 
 
 The fiscal condition of the country, or rather, perhaps, the 
 condition of the currency, will appear from the rates of ex- 
 change at New York on other cities, which were as follows : 
 
 On Philadelphia ...... 12^ per cent. 
 
 " Baltimore 13^ '< " 
 
 " Baltimore bank-notes . . . . 14 to 15 per cent. 
 
 " Mobile 12 to 15 " " 
 
 " New Orleans 5 to 6 " " 
 
 " Cincinnati . . . . . . . 8 to 10 " " 
 
 " other parts of Ohio lOtol5 " " 
 
 " St. Louis 12 " " 
 
 " Natchez 20 to 25 " " 
 
 " Rhode Island 8 to 10 " « 
 
 MOVEMENTS TO PREVENT MR. CLAY's NOMINATION FOR THE 
 
 PRESIDENCY. 
 
 As the time was approaching when Presidential candidates 
 must be selected, and as Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, and General 
 Harrison each had their friends, it was deemed advisable that 
 a Whig national convention should be held at Harrisburg, in 
 December, 1839, ^*^'' ^'^^ purpose of nominating candidates for 
 the Presidency and Vice-Presidency. That Mr. Clay was the 
 choice of a very large majority of the Whigs of the country 
 there could not be a reasonable doubt. But there were many 
 men of influence, — some of whom were leading Whigs, and 
 some who were mere hangers upon the skirts of the party, 
 ready to joirv it or oppose it, according to circumstances, — 
 chiefly in New York and Pennsylvania, who were, more or 
 less, opposed to his nomination, and who, though too politic to 
 avow their real feelings, and even professing to be great admirers 
 of him, were secretly active during the summer of 1839 in laying 
 plans to insure his defeat at Harrisburg. 
 
 That some of the gentlemen who were thus endeavoring to 
 
8o PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 prevent Mr. Clay's nomination did so under an honest and firm 
 conviction that he could not be elected, and that General Har- 
 rison could, I have no doubt ; but they acted in concert with 
 others whose motives were of quite a different character. The 
 object to be gained by each was the same ; the anhnus towards 
 Mr. Clay, totally different. 
 
 Mr. Henry A. Wise has lately put forth a work entitled 
 "Seven Decades of the Union," in which he has stated how 
 the machinations of these opponents of Mr. Clay were carried 
 on, as they were first disclosed to him by the pure, the upright, 
 the universally esteemed Judge Hugh L. White, of Tennessee. 
 Without vouching for the truth of Judge White's statement to 
 Mr. Wise, but only saying that he must have fully believed 
 what he related or he never would have made the statement, 
 I deem it right to repeat its substance. 
 
 The purpose of those who were endeavoring to defeat Mr. 
 Clay was to elect in the State of New York, where nine-tenths 
 of the Whigs preferred him to all others, delegates either 
 opposed to him, or who could be operated on after they were 
 elected. General Harrison had no strength in that State ; but 
 General Scott was popular, though scarcely thought of as a 
 candidate for President. His name, however, was now used, 
 with no intent to benefit him, but to effect the defeat of Mr. 
 Clay and the nomination of General Harrison. 
 
 According to Judge White, an extensive correspondence, 
 denominated by him "the triangular correspondence," was 
 carried on, — letters being written by gentlemen in various parts 
 of the State to others in other parts, the writers professing to 
 be ardent friends of Mr. Clay and to desire his election, but, at 
 the same time, expressing regrets that he had no strength in 
 the writer's county or section of the State, and urging that 
 efforts be made for him by the person written to, who was also 
 one of these pretended friends. Upon the receipt of this letter, 
 and perhaps similar ones from others in other parts of the 
 State in the secret, the recipient did not fail to show them to 
 the true friends of Mr. Clay, at the same time expressing 
 regrets that he could not carry the State. He, the recipient, 
 was for Mr. Clay above all others ; but, if he could not get 
 
HUGH LAIVSON WHITE. 8 1 
 
 the vote of the State, why, then he was for nominating General 
 Scott. 
 
 Such is the substance or outline of the plan to defeat Mr. 
 Clay, as revealed to Mr. Wise. But Judge White remarked at 
 the time that it would do no good to let Mr. Clay know of it, 
 for he was so confiding in those he trusted that he would not 
 believe the existence of this scheme to defeat him, and would 
 not, therefore, take any §teps to counteract it. 
 
 The reasons urged by the leaders of the movement to the 
 real friends of Mr. Clay, whom they sought to influence, were 
 that he was a slaveholder and an advocate of slavery, or, at 
 least, opposed to abolition, as appeared by his late speech in 
 the Senate, and it was well known that the anti-slavery feeling 
 prevailed very extensively in New York ; and, moreover, he 
 was a Mason, and therefore obnoxious to a large body of the 
 Whigs who were opposed to Masonry. These reasons were 
 not, however, publicly avowed. 
 
 General Scott was set up as a kind of half-way house to 
 which the unwary, weak, or wavering might be enticed ; and 
 once there, the remainder of the way into the Harrison camp 
 was quite easy. General Scott was used simply as a decoy- 
 duck, — nothing more. But how could they play this game 
 upon Mr. Clay after he had been made aware of it? " Because," 
 says Judge White, in the language reported, "the arrange- 
 ments of Mr. Clay were already intrusted to parties who were 
 co-operating with his enemies, and of this he could not be 
 made to distrust his professed friends." 
 
 It was not in his nature to distrust a friend, or one who 
 professed to be, until his treachery became apparent. Frank, 
 candid, and open-hearted himself, he could not suspect treachery 
 in others except upon demonstrable proof Habitual suspicion 
 dwells not in a generous breast. 
 
 HUGH LAWSON WHITE. 
 
 The elections in many of the States this year, 1839, resulted 
 adversely to the Whigs. This was the case in Tennessee, 
 where the Democrats succeeded in electing a majority of the 
 Legislature, which, on assembling in the winter, passed such 
 
82 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 resolutions of instruction to the United States Senators from 
 that State, Hugh L. White and Ephraim Foster, as induced 
 them to resign, — the purpose intended by the resolutions. 
 
 I have spoken of Judge White in connection with the 
 machinations against Mr. Clay ; but he was a man of too 
 much note and character, of too eminent abilities, too long 
 known in public service as a jurist and statesman, too dearly 
 beloved by his brother Senators and all who knew him inti- 
 mately, to be suffered to flit across our vision without further 
 notice. 
 
 He was a gentleman of very marked personal appearance, — 
 tall, slender, pale, and emaciated, his snowy locks hanging 
 loosely upon his neck ; his face bespoke the benignity of his 
 heart and the serenity of his mind, giving dignity to his man- 
 ners and commanding the respect of all who saw him. He was 
 the very impersonation of probity and goodwill to all mankind. 
 At first sight a stranger would say, "There is an honest man, 
 the noblest work of God himself!" 
 
 It was deeply lamented that such a Senator, " the noblest 
 Roman of them all," should be forced to leave that august 
 body where he had so long honored his State and won uni- 
 versal regard. But political parties are inexorable : obedience 
 to their behests, however unreasonable, is their unalterable law, 
 without which no merit, no long public services, no inflexible 
 honesty, no patriotism, however devoted, will suffice. 
 
 Always accustomed to obey the expressed wishes of the 
 people of Tennessee, and holding the doctrine of " the right of 
 instruction," when the resolutions of the Legislature reached 
 him requiring the Senators of that State to vote for the Sub- 
 Treasury bill, to which he was opposed, no alternative was left 
 him, consistent with his self-respect and purity of character, 
 but to resign. 
 
 But it was not so much the desire to compel Judge White to 
 vote for the Sub-Treasury bill as the purpose to punish him for 
 having refused to support Mr. Van Buren for President, and 
 allowing himself to be a candidate in opposition to General Jack- 
 son's favorite, which moved the Legislature to pass the resolu- 
 tions of instruction. Judge White had been the life-long friend 
 
HUGH LAWSON WHITE. g 
 
 J 
 
 of the general, — supported him for President, and ably sustained 
 his administration ; but he had no confidence in Mr. Van Burcn, 
 and would not give him his support : he had, moreover, received 
 the electoral vote of Tennessee, despite Jackson's strenuous 
 efforts to secure it for his own candidate. This was mortifying, 
 and a mortal offense to " the old Hero," who never forgave any 
 one, not even so old and sincere a friend as Judge White, who 
 had crossed his path and thwarted, his purpose ; and from that 
 time the old friend was treated as an enemy. The instructions 
 were the inspiration of the general himself 
 
 It was not in the power of the Legislature of Tennessee to 
 dishonor a man so universally respected and beloved as Judge 
 White ; but it was in their power to dishonor themselves and 
 the State which they misrepresented, and they did it, bringing 
 forth the general cry of " Shame ! shame !" 
 
 Judge White resigned his seat in the Senate in January, 
 1840; but before doing so he addressed that body on the Sub- 
 Treasury bill, in a very able speech against it, — the last he ever 
 made in that body, — taking leave of it in a few touching remarks 
 which were deeply felt by those with whom he had been so 
 long and so agreeably associated. Probably no member of that 
 peerless body could have left it followed by a more general and 
 affectionate regret. Before leaving Washington, a large number 
 of Senators, members of the House, and private citizens gave 
 proof of their high esteem for his character and love for the 
 man by giving him a public dinner: honoring themselves in 
 honoring him. 
 
 On the 17th of August, 1840, addressing a monster meeting 
 of the people, at Nashville, Tennessee, Mr. Crittenden spoke 
 in the following most feeling and eloquent manner of this 
 venerable and revered man. Speaking of his bill to prevent 
 removals from office, he said, — 
 
 " Fellow-citizens, I wish I could stop here. I wish I could 
 say that no statesman but my honorable and esteemed friend 
 Mr. Foster had been sacrificed by means of that bill, and the 
 manner in which it was greatly perverted and misrepresented. 
 Some of your banners floating over me this day tell me, tell us 
 all, of his departed colleague, Hugh Lawson White. It was 
 
84 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 my good fortune to know that venerable patriot well, to pos- 
 sess his full confidence. He was a good, honest, upright, and 
 sincere man, — as sternly honest as Cato, as scrupulously just 
 as Aristides ! Full well do I remember the most solemn and 
 imposing scene in the Senate-chamber, on the instructing 
 resolutions, when he took his leave forever of that body, of 
 which he had been a bright ornament for many, many years. 
 Hugh Lawson White stood jerect, v/ith his gray locks floating 
 over his shoulders, and calmly but sternly performed his duty. 
 All was hushed and still as death ; it was a scene which filled 
 the beholder with awe and veneration. When on the point of 
 leaving Washington to return home, I strove to detain him. I 
 sought him for that purpose, and found him, not in his carriage, 
 but on his horse. I warned him that the winter was rude and 
 cold, the winds bleak, the snows deep and treacherous. I im- 
 plored him not to depart at such an inclement season. His 
 reply — so simple, so characteristic — I shall never, never forget : 
 'Tennessee needs me; I must go.' No human power would 
 have swayed him ; he loved and honored his State, and when 
 she spoke, he was ever ready to obey. He did return at her 
 call, and now lies buried beneath the green sod in her eastern 
 mountains. He died a martyr to that bill which the partisans 
 of the administration so loudly and vehemently condemned." 
 
 His departure from Washington closed the drama of Judge 
 White's public life. He returned home, and in a few months 
 ended his earthly career ; the event being hastened, probably, 
 by the keen sensibility with which he felt the treatment he had 
 received from the beloved State he had so long and so honor- 
 ably served, and upon which he had reflected so much honor. 
 
 His death occurred in May, about five months after he left 
 the Senate ; and although it had never been customary for the 
 Senate to take official notice of the death of any one not a 
 member at the time, yet on this occasion the same proceed- 
 ings were had as if he were still a Senator. His demise was 
 announced by Mr. Benton, who had known him in early life, 
 — even in boyhood, — with very impressive and appropriate 
 remarks. 
 
 Mr. Preston, of South Carolina, also spoke of him in eulo- 
 
WHIG REVERSES AGAIN. 
 
 S5 
 
 gistic, affectionate, and reverential terms, — the beauty of his 
 sentiments and language well befitting the beauty of Judge 
 White's character. 
 
 WHIG REVERSES AGAIN. 
 
 The reverses encountered by the Whigs in the elections in 
 various States in 1839 had a depressing effect upon them, and 
 were not without influence on the nomination by the Harris- 
 burg Convention. The following extracts from a letter ad- 
 dressed to me by Mr. Clay will show the despondency of his 
 
 feelings at the time : 
 
 " Ashland, 25th October, 1839. 
 
 " My dear Sir, — . . . The elections everywhere this year 
 indicate unprecedented success on the part of the administra- 
 tion. And if in and , as you seem to apprehend, the 
 
 same degree of success should be achieved, political prospects 
 will be sufficiently gloomy. 
 
 " I have long since made up my mind to do my duty and 
 leave the issue to the people and to Providence. I shall in 
 that way secure at least the approbation of my own conscience. 
 
 " I am grieved to witness the divisions among the Whigs. 
 Defeat and disaster do not, with them, seem to produce the 
 usual effect of more concord and harmony. If these divisions 
 unhappily continue, there will not even be hope left to us. And 
 I see no other chance of reconciling them than through the 
 agency of the Harrisburg Convention. God knows with what 
 alacrity I would consent to have my name withheld from the 
 convention, if it would have the effect of increasing our pros- 
 pects of success. 
 
 ******** 
 
 " It has been a source of great satisfaction to me heretofore, 
 as, in any event, it will be hereafter, to know that I enjoy the 
 confidence of yourself and other estimable friends. 
 " With great regard, 
 
 " I am yours faithfully, 
 
 " H. Clay. 
 " N. Sargent, Esq." 
 
 Does this look like overweening ambition to be President ? 
 
86 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Yet Mr. Clay was at this time thus charged by the wire-work- 
 ers of the Harrison men, and the New York cabal. Scarcely 
 were the supporters of the administration more earnest in 
 their hostility to him, or more abusive of his character, than the 
 friends of General Harrison in Pennsylvania and New York, 
 whose warfare was not so much against Mr. Van Buren and 
 his measures as against Mr. Clay. While he counseled con- 
 ciliation and harmony, and, with his friends, was ready to sup- 
 port General Harrison should he be the nominee, there was no 
 reciprocity of friendliness on their part. It was General Harri- 
 son or nobody with them. This was an unfair and unequal 
 game, and proved to be a losing one on the part of Mr. Clay, 
 and disastrous to the Whig party. 
 
 " CONSERVATIVES. " 
 
 I have before spoken of the class of public men calling them- 
 selves by the above name, the most prominent of whom were 
 Mr. Rives and Mr. Garland, of Virginia, Mr, Tallmadge and 
 John C. Clark, of New York, Mr. Legare, of South Carolina, 
 and F, O. J. Smith, of Maine. These were all in Congress ; but 
 they had numerous associates and followers in their respective 
 States. They had all been Republicans, or Democrats, and 
 professed to be so now, but were opposed to the Sub-Treasury 
 scheme and other measures of Mr, Van Buren. 
 
 A very large conservative meeting was held in October, 1839, 
 in the city of New York, which numbered among those gath- 
 ered together on the occasion, in the Park, many of the old 
 substantial leaders of the Democratic party. Many speakers 
 ably addressed the multitude, but the great speech of the day, 
 and a truly great speech it was, was delivered impromptu by 
 Hugh S. Legare, of South Carolina, It was argumentative, 
 philosophic, humorous, impassioned, elevated in sentiment, a 
 model of purity of language, pungency of sarcasm, and force 
 of reasoning. It riveted attention and carried conviction. 
 
 Great discontent existed among merchants, importers, bank- 
 ers, business men of every kind, and laborers. Money was 
 scarce, business stagnant, exchanges enormous, and specie, of 
 which there was but little, was flowing rapidly to Europe to 
 
HUGH S. LEGAR£.. ^-j 
 
 pay for our excessive importations under the low tariff then 
 existing. 
 
 This general depression and discontent were undoubtedly the 
 cause of the great assemblage of the substantial men of New 
 York addressed by Mr. Legare. He understood and appre- 
 ciated his audience, and was, in turn, inspired by their close 
 and intelligent attention and well-timed applause. He read 
 their thoughts ; he comprehended the cause of their complaints 
 of the government, and he pointed out the remedy, — a change 
 of rulers, a more enlightened government, abandonment of 
 the Sub-Treasury and all other " experiments" upon the cur- 
 rency and the business of the country ; the casting aside of all 
 those who cried, "Perish credit, perish commerce!" who de- 
 clared that " the government would take care of itself, and the 
 people must take care of themselves." 
 
 Speaking of the public offices of the government being 
 treated as "spoils" to be shared by the "victors," Mr. Legare 
 designated it as an "execrable system," and poured forth a 
 torrent of scornful invective upon a practice so corrupting to 
 the recipients of office and degrading to the government itself 
 To talk of merit, however extraordinary, as a reason for an 
 appointment, was, he said, considered mere raving; to recom- 
 mend a man for an appointment on account of his fitness for it, 
 however pre-eminent, was to make your simplicity a subject of 
 derision at court, 
 
 HUGH S. LEGARE. 
 
 Mr. Legare was, at the time I am speaking of, a young man, 
 but had already made his mark in Congress, and before the 
 Supreme Court of the United States, as a man of extraordinary 
 mental power, a very learned lawyer, a ripe and profound 
 scholar, and a brilliant orator. He was short in stature, thick 
 and firm set, had a large mouth, penetrating eyes overhung 
 by heavy eyebrows, and a colossal head. His memory was 
 wonderful. In arguing a cause before the Supreme Court, he 
 could refer from memory to the volume and page where any 
 case a judge might happen to inquire about was to be found, 
 and state the principle therein decided, even though he could 
 not have anticipated that the case would be referred to in the 
 
88 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 course of his argument, — thus showing his thorough reading 
 and extraordinary memory, 
 
 Mr. Legare was the descendant of a Huguenot, so many of 
 whom came to South Carolina after their expulsion from France 
 in consequence of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 
 1685. With his own ancestor came the Hugers (pronounced 
 Hujees), the Desaussures, the Gaillards, the Pettigrus, the 
 Memmingers, and hundreds of other families who have been 
 ■ distinguished for talent, enterprise, refinement, learning, wealth, 
 and lofty bearing. 
 
 Colonel Preston, of South Carolina, used to relate a very 
 amusing anecdote of Mr. Legare. They traveled in Europe 
 together when young men. Being in London, they were called 
 upon one evening by a gentleman who was a professor of Greek 
 in the University of Oxford. For some time the conversation 
 was almost exclusively between the professor and Mr, Preston, 
 Mr, Legare had made a remark or two, by way of taking part 
 in the conversation, but the professor did not notice or re- 
 spond to his remarks, seeming to consider him as merely the 
 traveling companion of Mr. Preston and not worth his notice. 
 This piqued Mr. Legare, who determined to take his revenge. 
 Assuming an air of ignorance, and professing a desire to obtain 
 some information in regard to some Greek verbs or the proper 
 construction of some Greek sentence, he plied the professor 
 with questions which would have put the most profound Greek 
 scholar to his trumps to answer, and thus kept him under the 
 harrow for a full hour, till, as Mr. Preston remarked, the per- 
 spiration fairly poured from him, and he was glad to escape by 
 taking his leave. Mr, Legare was, of course, a very learned 
 Greek scholar, as the professor soon found. As the latter 
 passed out of hearing, " There," said Mr. Legare, " I think he 
 will not take me for a noodle next time," Mr, Preston used to 
 laugh most heartily, in relating this anecdote, at the predica- 
 ment and tribulation of the Greek professor while undergoing 
 this chastisement at the hands of Mr, Legare, 
 
 Mr, Legare should have been simply a jurist, — not a poli- 
 tician. Could he have been placed upon the bench of the 
 Supreme Court, he would have adorned the seat, and proved 
 
NOMINATIONS BY THE IIARRISBURG CONVENTION. 
 
 89 
 
 one of the ablest judges that ever graced that high position. 
 Law was his delight. For politics — party politics — he had 
 little taste; for party management, discipline, and trickery, 
 utter disgust. 
 
 NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT BY THE HAR- 
 
 RISBURG CONVENTION. 
 
 The Whig National Convention met at Harrisburg on the 
 4th of December, 1839, and organized by electing Governor 
 James Barbour, of Virginia, as president, and sundry vice- 
 presidents and secretaries. 
 
 Efforts were made by the friends of Mr. Clay to have an open 
 vote taken, per capita ; but this was successfully resisted, a 
 friend of Mr. Webster, Mr. Sprague, submitting a resolution 
 which, on being amended upon the motion of Mr. Penrose, of 
 Pennsylvania, was adopted, which effectually changed the body 
 from a fair, open, honest convention into a closed-door con- 
 clave. 
 
 Mr. Penrose, I must remind the reader, was the leader of the 
 Harrison — anti-Masonic, anti-Clay — men who came into the 
 Chambersburg WJiig Convention, disguised as Whigs, direct 
 from an anti-Masonic convention, and seceded from the former 
 when the convention refused to strike out the name of Clay as 
 their choice for President and insert that of Harrison. Now 
 he is found in the lead in a national WJiig convention, and act- 
 ing with him, as delegates, were five or six other Chambersburg 
 seceders. 
 
 The cabalistic resolution was as follows : 
 
 " That the delegates from each State be requested to assem- 
 ble as a delegation, and appoint a committee, not exceeding 
 three in number, to receive the views and opinions of such 
 delegation, and communicate the same to the assembled com- 
 mittees of all the delegations, to be by them respectively re- 
 ported to their principals ; and that thereupon the delegates from 
 each State be requested to assemble as a delegation and ballot 
 for candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President,, 
 and, having done so, to commit the ballot designating the votes 
 
 of each candidate, and by whom given, to its committee ; and 
 Vol. II. 7 
 
90 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 thereupon all the committees shall assemble and compare the 
 several ballots, and report the result of the same to their 
 several delegations, together with such facts as may bear upon 
 the nomination ; and said delegation shall forthwith re-assemble 
 and ballot again for candidates for the above offices, and again 
 commit the result to the above committees, and if it shall appear 
 that a majority of the ballots are for any one man for candidate 
 for President, said committee shall report the result to the con- 
 vention for its consideration ; but if there shall be no such ma- 
 jority, then the delegations shall repeat the balloting until such 
 a majority shall be obtained, and then report the same to the 
 convention for its consideration. That the vote of the majority 
 of each delegation shall be reported as the vote of that State ; 
 and each State represented here shall vote its full electoral vote 
 by such delegation in the committee." 
 
 As an old friend of Mr. Clay, I fear I am unable, even after 
 the lapse of thirty-four years, to speak of this ingenious co7t- 
 trivance — unknown till then to the most skillful political engi- 
 neers, and never resorted to since — with becomine: moderation, 
 and I therefore borrow the language of Colonel Benton, whose 
 opinion of this device was not likely to be influenced by any 
 partiality towards Mr. Clay : 
 
 " The leading statesmen of the Whig party were again passed 
 by to make room for a candidate more sure of being elected. 
 The success of General Jackson had turned the attention of 
 those who managed the Presidential nominations to military 
 men, and 'an odor of gunpowder' was considered a sufficient 
 attraction to rally the masses, without the civil qualifications or 
 the actual military fame which General Jackson possessed. . . . 
 Mr. Clay, the prominent man, and the undisputed head of the 
 party, was not deemed available ; and it was determined to set 
 him aside. How to do it was the question. He was a man of 
 too much power and spirit to be rudely thrust aside. Gentle 
 and respectful means were necessary to get him out of the 
 way; and for that purpose he was concertedly importuned to 
 withdraw from the canvas. He would not do so, but wrote a 
 letter submitting himself to the will of the convention. When 
 he did so he certainly expected an open decision, — a vote in 
 
NOMINATIONS BY THE HARRISBURG CONVENTION, gi 
 
 open convention, — ever)^ delegate acting responsibly and ac- 
 cording to the will of his constituents. Not so the fact. He 
 submitted himself to the convention ; the convention delivered 
 him to a committee ; the committee disposed of him in a back 
 chamber. It devised a process for getting at a result which is 
 a curiosity in the chapter of ingenious inventions, — which is a 
 study for the complication of its machinery, — a model contri- 
 vance of the few to govern the many, — a secure way to produce 
 an intended result without showing the design, and without 
 leaving a trace behind to show what was done ; and of which 
 none but itself can be its own delineator." 
 
 After copying the sleight-of-hand contrivance to effect a result 
 the tricksters dared not openly avow, Colonel Benton continues : 
 
 " Here is a process through multiplied filtrations by which 
 the popular sentiment is to be deduced from the masses, col- 
 lected in little streams, then united in one swelling current and 
 poured into the hall of the convention, — no one seeing the 
 source or course of any one of the streams. Algebra and 
 alchemy must have been laid under contribution to work out 
 a quotient from such a combination of signs and symbols. 
 But it was done. Those who set the sum could work it; and 
 the quotient was political death to Mr. Clay." 
 
 The first ballot in the committee of States, the nearest ex- 
 pression of the true feeling of the convention obtained at any 
 time, though this was far from being a true one, was as follows: 
 
 Clay. — Rhode Island, 4 ; Connecticut, 8 ; Delaware, 3 ; Mary- 
 land, 10; Virginia, 23; North Carolina, 15; Kentucky, 14; 
 Illinois, 5; Alabama, 7; Louisiana, 5; Mississippi, 4; Mis- 
 souri, 4. Total, 102. 
 
 Harrison. — Maine, 10 ; New Hampshire, 7; Massachusetts, 
 14; Pennsylvania, 30; Ohio, 21 ; Indiana, 9. Total, 91. 
 
 Scott. — Vermont, 7 ; New York, 42 ; New Jersey, 8. Total, 57. 
 
 Not a vote cast by New York for Mr. Clay, but the whole 
 forty-two for General Scott, when it was notorious that nine- 
 tenths of the Whigs of that State were ardently for Mr. Clay ! 
 By what legerdemain was this effected ? ^ 
 
 The result of " the triangular correspondence," which Judge 
 White informed Mr. Wise was being carried on in New York 
 
92 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 with the intention of defeating Mr. Clay, is shown in this ballot ; 
 the whole vote of the State of New York being cast for General 
 Scott, with no purpose whatever of nominating him, but with 
 the view to turn the whole over to Harrison when, by proper 
 plots and intrigue, it could be done. Vermont and New Jersey 
 were also enticed into the Scott half-way house, to be presently 
 marched over to the Harrison camp ! 
 
 The influence of Mr. Webster, or of his wire-working friends, 
 was perceptible in the votes of Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, 
 and New Hampshire being cast for General Harrison ; and 
 this, when in 1836, both he and General Harrison being can- 
 didates, he did not disguise a feeling towards the latter pre- 
 cisely similar to that which he afterwards uttered so forcibly in 
 regard to the nomination of General Taylor, but much more 
 emphatic and derogatory. 
 
 It was. a well-known fact that the Whigs of Pennsylvania, 
 almost to. a man, preferred Mr. Clay to General Harrison, while 
 the Anti-Masons, who appeared in a Whig mask and thus got 
 into the convention, were extremely hostile to him. They 
 were adroit enough to get a majority of the Pennsylvania dele- 
 gation of the wolf-in-sheep's-clothing stripe, and thus cast the 
 vote of the State for Harrison ; the true Whigs being over- 
 slaughed and silenced. But the work was done ; double deal- 
 ing and treachery accomplished the result the intriguers had 
 been for months laying plans to effect. 
 
 For three or four days, whilst the conclave was at its work 
 " in a back chamber," and rumor gave out hints from time to 
 time of the seething of the political cauldron within, the most 
 intense excitement prevailed outside ; and at one time, shortly 
 before the final result was announced, many members had 
 resolved to abandon the convention and return home. 
 
 The announcement of the result, the nomination of General 
 Harrison, did not allay the feeling of Mr. Clay's friends. They 
 were disappointed, grieved even to tears ; while the friends of 
 Harrison exulted over their triumph. Such, however, was the 
 manifestation of disappointment and chagrin of the Clay men, 
 that those who had carried the day became alarmed lest theirs 
 should prove a barren victory for the want of the support of 
 
NOMINATIONS BY THE HARRISBURG CONVENTION. ^X 
 
 those over whom they had triumphed. And now, after havino- 
 contumaciously cast the great leader of the party aside, they 
 began lauding him with feigned sincerity and artful guile, ad 
 nauseam. As a mark of their sincerity, they were ready to 
 support, as the candidate for Vice-President, the most ardent, 
 unyielding friend of Mr, Clay, — any one whom his friends would 
 name. 
 
 Mr. Clay's magnanimous letter to the Kentucky delegation 
 was read in the convention, requesting them not to let his 
 name stand in the way of harmony, but to support cheerfully 
 whoever might be found to be the choice of the convention. 
 Actuated by this example and inculcation, his friends, though 
 deeply grieved, promptly acquiesced in the decision of the 
 convention, and took, without scorning it, the very generous 
 offer of their victors, of the Vice-Presidency. Mr, Benjamin 
 Watkins Leigh, of Virginia, a devoted friend of Mr. Clay, a 
 man of splendid abilities, universally beloved and admired, 
 whose principles were in all respects those of the Whig party, 
 was the choice of Mr. Clay's friends for this office, but he 
 positively declined it. He would not profit by his friend's 
 defeat; he would not be placed on a ticket with his friend's 
 successful rival. He was besought, but stood firm. He would 
 not become the associate of one whose nomination he had 
 opposed. Such a high-toned sense of honor did not fail to 
 command the admiration of the whole convention. Mr. Tall- 
 madge, of New York, and Mr. Southard, of New Jersey, were 
 both tendered the Vice-Presidency, but declined it, under the 
 circumstances. Finally, Mr. Tyler was named by some one, 
 and, as he had slied tears at Mr. Clay's defeat, had been Gov- 
 ernor of Virginia, and a Senator in Congress, the conv^ention 
 soon settled down on him, and he was nominated. And thus 
 were given to the Whig party as its candidates 
 
 "Tippecanoe, 
 And Tyler too." 
 
 Mr. Tyler had not long acted with the Whig party, though 
 he seemed to be in entire harmony with it. But, ignorant as 
 were nine-tenths of the members of the convention of his true 
 
94 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 character and political antecedents, there was neither time nor 
 disposition to inquire into them. He was there as a member 
 of a Whig convention; had shown himself a devoted friend of 
 Mr. Clay, or a grand hypocrite, by the grief he had manifested 
 at his defeat. The inference was that he was a Whig in principle 
 as well as profession. No one thought to ask if he held to the 
 Virginia resolutions of '98, or had crotchets or scruples peculiar 
 to himself, which would be likely to make trouble in the party. 
 Whig principles were as well known as the Ten Commandments 
 or the Apostles' Creed ; and he who openly avowed himself a 
 member of that party was supposed to hold to its cardinal doc- 
 trines. The assertion that he was selected and nominated 
 because he was a State-rights, anti-bank man had no founda- 
 tion whatever. His acceptance of the nomination bound him 
 in all honor to sustain the known principles of the party whose 
 candidate he was willing to be. If he did not hold to those 
 principles, he had no business in the convention ; and if he did 
 not mean to carry them out honestly in practice, his acceptance 
 was both a fraud and a treachery. 
 
 On the adjournment of the convention, many of the delegates 
 came to Washington, and a grand supper was gotten up for 
 them at Brown's, now the Metropolitan Hotel, to which Mr. 
 Clay was, of course, invited. The occasion was a very pleasant 
 one : good feeling prevailed, and if any one present felt regrets 
 at the doings of the convention, they were not manifested, 
 
 Mr. George Evans, of Maine, made a speech, welcoming the 
 delegates of the convention, and applauding their patriotic 
 labors ; to which Mr. Boardman, of Connecticut, on behalf of 
 himself and the other delegates present, replied. Mr. Tyler, 
 the nominee for Vice-President, was also a guest, and replied 
 briefly to a toast, but declared most positively that his nomi- 
 nation was a surprise to him, not having had the remotest 
 expectation of any such result. 
 
 But Mr. Clay's was the most important speech of the even- 
 ing, and to draw it forth was probably the very purpose of the 
 entertainment. 
 
 With his usual magnanimity and abnegation of self, he de- 
 clared his acquiescence in the nomination of General Harrison, 
 
NOMINATIONS BY THE HARRISBURG CONVENTION. 
 
 95 
 
 and exhorted his friends that, if disappointed at the result, they 
 should forget their disappointment and labor with all their zeal 
 to secure the election of the nominees, — to overturn this corrupt 
 administration and establish a purer one. 
 
 His speech had a soothing effect upon his disappointed 
 friends, who now resolved to follow his advice and example 
 and heartily support the nominees, though in doing so they 
 made a great sacrifice of feeling. They could not but ask 
 themselves whether it was wise to set aside the great leader 
 and almost the idol of the Whig party to gratify the malevo- 
 lence of Anti-Masons and others, who now accepted the name 
 of Whigs, but were really strangers and aliens in the party. 
 Was it right, was it just, that this leader should be sacrificed 
 because he preferred the triumph of principles, and of his party, 
 to his own? that honors which of right belonged to him 
 should be bestowed on one who had never earned them, and 
 whose chief merit was that, not having taken any part in the 
 great political conflict that had been going on for long years, 
 he had not done or said anything which made him obnoxious 
 to any portion of the opposition ? 
 
 Looking back to those times and events, and judging of 
 them by the light which subsequent years have thrown upon 
 them, the doings of the Harrisburg Convention must be pro- 
 nounced most extraordinary, unwise, and unfortunate for the 
 Whig party ; in fact, a gross blunder. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln used to say it was no time to swap horses while 
 you were crossing a deep, rapid stream with a rocky bottom. 
 Just as unwise would it be to set aside a successful general, 
 who had created, disciplined, and led an army through severe 
 campaigns, won its confidence and devoted attachment, on the 
 eve of a decisive battle, to be replaced by one unknown to the 
 army, and who had had no part or lot in its toils and trials. 
 
 But something like this had been done at Harrisburg. 
 Where had been General Harrison during the preceding twelve 
 years, the period of bitter warfare between the Jackson party, 
 headed by the obstinate, sagacious, indomitable old Hero, and 
 the opposition, led during the whole period by the eloquent, 
 the ever-vigilant, the faithful "Harry of the West"? Had 
 
96 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Harrison's voice ever been heard during all this dark and 
 trying period, when amidst the thickest gloom and smoke all 
 looked up to Mr. Clay, sure that he was at his post doing the 
 duty of a patriot, and, if perchance he could not be seen amid 
 the smoke and din, watching for his nodding plume ? 
 
 I call not in question General Harrison's patriotism ; but he 
 was no political leader, — never had been, and never could be, 
 not having the necessary elements for such a position. Besides, 
 he had been long out of public, I cannot say political, life, for 
 he never was in it ; was personally unacquainted with most of 
 the leading public men, and men of influence, of the Whig 
 party, to whom he was also personally unknown ; and age had 
 already impaired the energies he possessed in his meridian, 
 during the War of 1812, — twenty-seven years before. 
 
 Mr. Clay was, for a time, to stand aside ; his clarion voice, so 
 well known to the Whig host, was no longer to be heeded as 
 that of their great leader. He might continue to serve the 
 country, and even the party, as a great statesman, but another 
 was now the nominal leader. His was not a light, however, 
 which could be hid under a bushel, as events proved. 
 
 THE GREAT NEW JERSEY CONTEST IN THE HOUSE OF REPRE- 
 SENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 On the assembling of the House of Representatives of the 
 Twenty-sixth Congress, on Monday, December 2, 1839, there 
 commenced a very prolonged, embittered, exciting, and ex- 
 traordinary contest for the seats of claimants. 
 
 At twelve o'clock the Clerk of the House, Mr. Hugh A. 
 Garland, began calling the names of members by States, be- 
 ginning with Maine, and proceeded until he came to the State 
 of New Jersey. The members from this State having the cer- 
 tificate of the governor, under the great seal of the State, given 
 according to the law of that State, were the following : Joseph 
 B. Randolph, John B. Aycrigg, John B. Maxwell, William Hal- 
 sted, Charles C. Stratton, and Thomas Jones Yorke. 
 
 But though each of the above-named six gentlemen held the 
 commission of the governor, under the great seal of the State, 
 as provided by law, yet the seats of five of them, all but Ran- 
 
THE NEW JERSEY CONTEST FOR SEATS. 
 
 97 
 
 dolph, were claimed by Philemon Dickerson, Peter D. Vroom, 
 Daniel B. Ryall, William R. Cooper, and John Kille. The 
 gentlemen holding the commission of the governor were 
 Whigs ; the others Democrats. The House was so near a tie, 
 politically, that the admission of the first-named gentlemen 
 would give the Whigs the majority; while the admission of 
 the contestants, on the other hand, would give the Democrats 
 the preponderance. It is necessary to know this in order to 
 account for the extraordinary conduct of the Clerk, and the 
 fierce conflict which ensued. 
 
 The rule or practice of the House, from the beginning of the 
 government, had been to accept the usual certificate of election 
 presented by members as prima facie evidence of their right 
 to a seat, and if that right were contested, the case, after the 
 organization of the House by the election of Speaker, Clerk, etc., 
 was referred to the committee on elections for investigation. 
 This was, and now is, the invariable practice. 
 
 When the Clerk came to New Jersey, he called the first name, 
 Joseph B. Randolph, then stopped, and proposed to postpone 
 the calling of the other names, saying that a different return as 
 to the five members had been sent to him by the Secretary of 
 State of New Jersey. This State officer had certified to the 
 election of the five Democrats I have named. He was requested 
 to go on and read the names of the other gentlemen commis- 
 sioned by the governor, but refused ; and here commenced a 
 scene of disorder, noise, confusion, anarchy, and excitement 
 which lasted more than two weeks. The Clerk had no power 
 to control the House, and if he had, he was the cause of all 
 this Bedlam-like hubbub, and he finally refused to put any 
 proposition offered by any member to the House for a vote. 
 
 It would be useless to attempt to give even a faint idea of 
 the doings for three or four days. Suffice to say, the assembly, 
 for it was not yet a House, found itself at a stand-still, able to 
 do nothing, when, on the fourth day, the venerable John Quincy 
 Adams, the oldest, but not the oldest continuous, member of 
 the House, rose and addressed those present in language that 
 at once allayed the raging storm. He proceeded to state what 
 had occurred, and that the Clerk now refused to put any ques- 
 
98 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 tion to the House, and had, furthermore, positively refused to 
 proceed in the call of the House according to established usage. 
 " Fellow-citizens and members," said Mr, Adams, " in what 
 predicament are we thus placed ! We are fixed here by the 
 arbitrary assumption of power by the Clerk as firmly and im- 
 movably as the columns around this hall. I have waited four 
 days with a fixed determination not to say one word, and I 
 should have persisted in that determination if I had not seen 
 that under these two decisions of the Clerk it would be impos- 
 sible ; nay, the House might meet and stay here until dooms- 
 day and not be able to organize. Now, it seems to me a very 
 extraordinary state of things. Here is a body of men assem- 
 bled to represent the people, and a more full and complete 
 representation of the people of the United States never did 
 assemble within these walls. Here we are, under the injunction 
 of solemn duties. I appeal to a majority of the House to act." 
 
 Mr. Rhett now rose, and said he had a resolution to offer. 
 He desired first to put a question to the Clerk. 
 
 Mr. Rhett. — " Does the Clerk determine he will not put a 
 question ?" 
 
 The Clerk rising to reply, loud cries were raised in all parts 
 of the hall, " Answer, — yes or no." 
 
 The Clerk giving an evasive answer, Mr. Rhett offered a 
 resolution that Lewis Williams, of North Carolina, the oldest 
 continuous member of the body, be appointed chairman until 
 the House shall be organized. 
 
 Much confusion still prevailed. 
 
 The Clerk said he was willing to put that question. 
 
 Wm. Cost Johnson. — " I object to your putting any question." 
 
 Great uproar; many members attempting to speak at the 
 same time. 
 
 Mr. Williams declining to act as chairman, Mr. Rhett sub- 
 stituted the name of John Quincy Adams, and then put the 
 question himself, which was carried by a large majority. 
 
 But, though one step had been made towards organizing the 
 House, a complete organization seemed to be as far off as ever. 
 The same uproar and confusion prevailed ; many were on their 
 feet, endeavoring, by bawling, to make themselves heard, but 
 
ENCOUNTER BETWEEN CLAY AND CALHOUN. gg 
 
 no one listened. The chairman was not the man for the place. 
 Points of order were continually made, and, as he was not only- 
 slow in deciding them, but sliowed that he was no parliamen- 
 tarian, this boisterous, tumultuous, disgraceful state of things 
 continued for ten days. Finally the House passed a resolution 
 that it would proceed to call the names of gentlemen whose 
 rights to seats were not disputed or contested. The next step 
 was to refer the subject to a committee of nine, appointed by 
 ballot, which was carried, — 123 to 84. 
 
 This disposed of the question of contested seats, but in an 
 arbitrary manner, and contrary to the uniform usage of the 
 House. 
 
 And now came on the election of a Speaker. Mr. Bell, of 
 Tennessee, was the candidate of the Whigs, and George W. 
 Jones, of Virginia, of the Van Buren men. But it was soon 
 found that neither of these could get the whole strength of his 
 party, and Dixon H. Lewis, of Alabama, a partisan of Mr. Cal- 
 houn, was put in the place of Jones ; but, failing also to get all 
 the Democratic votes, he too was withdrawn. Colonel Benton 
 informs us, with some gusto, that he defeated him because he 
 did not mean that Mr. Calhoun, who had just come back into 
 the party, should have the Speakership. Finally, the Whigs 
 and Conservatives united on R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, and 
 elected him. 
 
 The five Democrats, Dickerson, Vroom, Ryall, Cooper, and 
 Kille, were admitted to the seats they claimed, to the exclusion 
 of those who bore the legal certificates of election. 
 
 But the party paid dearly for this act, for the hue and cry 
 raised against them for " trampling the great seal of the State 
 under foot," and treating her with scorn, was overwhelming, 
 
 ANOTHER KEEN ENCOUNTER BETWEEN MR, CLAY AND MR. CAL- 
 HOUN. 
 
 On the 3d of January, 1840, Mr. Calhoun introduced a bill 
 into the Senate to cede the public lands to the States in which 
 they are respectively situated. There was nothing in this which 
 seemed to call for any special notice, and it would have passed 
 unregarded, probably, but that Madam Rumor had taken great 
 
100 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 pains to bruit the fact that Mr. Calhoun, after having volun- 
 tarily exiled himself from the White House for many years, 
 had lately paid a visit to Mr. Van Buren and had been very 
 cordially received. Indeed, Madam insisted upon it that there 
 had been a great jollification on the occasion ; that Mr. Blair, 
 who had said so many pleasant things about " John Catiline 
 Calhoun" and his propensity to prefer falsehood to truth, was 
 present, as also the other distinguished gentlemen formerly 
 supposed to constitute the culinary cabinet of General Jackson. 
 
 An event so unusual could not but be heard of by Mr. Clay, 
 who could not refrain from alluding to it on the first proper 
 occasion, out of mere mischievous love to poke his quondam 
 friend under the rib. Mr. Clay now rose and demurely inti- 
 mated a wish to learn whether the administration was in favor 
 of or against this measure, — an inquiry he should not have 
 thought of making had the former personal relations between 
 the Senator and the head of the administration continued to 
 exist ; but rumors, of which the city and press were full, gave 
 out that there had been quite recently a great change. Whether 
 the bringing forward of this measure was superinduced by those 
 new relations was what he was desirous to know, and he sup- 
 posed the Senator from South Carolina or some other could 
 communicate the information. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun appealed to the Senate whether it was decorous 
 or proper for the Senator thus to refer to personal relations. 
 Whether he should or should not hold personal friendly 
 relations with the President, or with any one else, concerned 
 himself alone, in regard to which he should certainly not 
 consult the Senator. It was none of his concern, and he had 
 no right to question him in relation to it. "The Senator," Mr. 
 Calhoun said, "assumes that a change in my personal relations 
 involves a change of political principles. But what may have 
 been true in his own memorable case" (alluding to Mr. Clay's 
 joining Mr. Adams and voting for him for President) "is not 
 true in mine : I trust that I am governed by higher motives in 
 my political action than personal considerations." 
 
 The taunt thus thrown by Mr. Calhoun was retorted by Mr. 
 Clay, and reproaches were for some time thrown back and forth 
 
ENCOUNTER BETWEEN CLAY AND CALHOUN. iqi 
 
 with great asperity and sharpness of language. Something 
 had been said by Mr. Clay of pledges ; to which Mr. Calhoun 
 replied that if there were pledges in his, Mr. Clay's, case, there 
 were none in his own. He had resumed his long-suspended 
 personal intercourse with the President without the slightest 
 pledge, understanding, or compromise on either side ; and it 
 gave him pleasure to say that he had approved of all the 
 leading measures of the President since he assumed the duties 
 of Executive, simply because they accorded with the prin- 
 ciples and policy on which he had long acted. The change of 
 their personal relations, therefore, simply followed that of their 
 political. 
 
 Now, as Mr. Calhoun had for seven years past most earnestly, 
 not to say violently, condemned the measures of General Jack- 
 son, and as Mr. Van Buren professed to " follow in the foot- 
 steps of his illustrious predecessor," and was generally believed 
 to be carrying out his measures to the best of his ability, how, 
 and in what respect, could Mr. Calhoun perceive such a change 
 in his principal measures as to bring them into accord with 
 " the principles and policy on which he had long acted and 
 openly avowed"? If, as I have surmised in another place, 
 speaking of Mr. Calhoun's sudden change, he saw a way opening 
 for him to the Presidency as the successor of Mr. Van Buren 
 provided he should return to the Democratic fold, there was no 
 occasion for pledges or understandings between him and Mr. 
 Van Buren. It was not the latter with whom he was dealing 
 or whose favor he sought, but that of the Democratic party. 
 
 Mr. Clay replied to Mr. Calhoun, congratulating himself and 
 the Senate that the Senator from South Carolina had at last 
 defined his political position. As he had avowed that all the 
 leading measures of the administration met his approbation 
 and should receive his support, it turned out that the rumor 
 to which he, Mr. Clay, had alluded was true, and the Senator 
 from South Carolina was now to be regarded as identified with 
 the administration. Mr. Clay then referred and replied to Mr. 
 Calhoun's allusion to his support of Mr. Adams, and defended 
 his course on that memorable occasion. He furthermore said 
 that if there was any truth in history, the choice which he then 
 
102 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 made was precisely the choice which the Senator from South 
 Carolina had urged upon his friends. The Senator himself had 
 declared his preference of Mr. Adams over General Jackson. 
 He defied the Senator to make what he could out of that por- 
 tion of his (Mr. Clay's) career. 
 
 The Senator had alluded to his (Mr. Clay's) being the advo- 
 cate of compromise. He was, and no man ought to be more 
 grateful for it than the Senator from South Carolina. But for 
 that compromise he was not at all confident that he would have 
 now had the honor to meet the Senator from South Carolina 
 in the national Capitol. 
 
 The last remark of Mr. Clay reminded Mr. Calhoun of the 
 fact that at one time it was General Jackson's purpose to arrest 
 him for treason. 
 
 This provoked a further reply from Mr. Calhoun. He de- 
 clared, with great emphasis, that he felt no gratitude to Mr. 
 Clay for what he did on the occasion alluded to, — none what- 
 ever. The measure was necessary to save the Senator polit- 
 ically. Events had placed him (Mr. Clay) flat on his back, and 
 he had no way to recover himself but by the Compromise. " I 
 had the mastery over him," said Mr. Calhoun. 
 
 Mr. Clay. — "The Senator has said that I was flat on my 
 back and he was my master. Sir," he exclaimed, with a 
 look of scorn, "he my master! I would not have him for my 
 slave. He my master ! and I compelled by him ! And, as if 
 it were impossible to go far enough in one paragraph, he 
 refers to certain letters of his own to prove that I was not 
 only flat on my back, but that another Senator [Mr. Webster] 
 and the President had robbed me of my strength ! 
 
 " Why, sir," said Mr. Clay, " I gloried in my strength. Flat on 
 my back as the Senator says I was, he was indebted to me for 
 that measure which relieved him of the difficulties [Jackson's 
 threats to arrest and hang him] by which he was surrounded. 
 Flat as I was, I was able to carry that Compromise through the 
 Senate in opposition to the gentleman [Mr. Webster] who the 
 Senator from South Carolina said had supplanted me, and 
 against his opposition. There was," Mr. Clay said, "a sort of 
 necessity, not of a personal character, operating on me to in- 
 
ENCOUNTER BETWEEN CLAY AND CALHOUN. iq^ 
 
 troduce that measure. Considerations involving the interests, 
 the peace and harmony of the whole country, as well as of 
 the State of South Carolina, influenced me in my course. I 
 saw the condition of the Senator from South Carolina and his 
 friends. I saw the condition to which he had reduced the 
 gallant little State of South Carolina by his unwise and danger- 
 ous measures. I saw, too, that we were on the eve of a civil 
 war; and I wished to save the effusion of blood, — the blood of 
 our own fellow-citizens. That was one reason why I intro- 
 duced the Compromise bill. Another was to save the protect- 
 ive system, which was in danger of being swept away entirely, 
 probably at the next session of Congress, by the tremendous 
 power of the individual who then filled the Executive chair. 
 I felt that the greatest service I could render it would be to 
 obtain for it a ' lease for a term of years.' " 
 
 To Mr. Clay's reference to the fact that Mr. Calhoun pre- 
 ferred Mr. Adams for President to General Jackson, Mr. Cal- 
 ♦houn made no reply. The fact could not be denied. 
 
 Mr. Clay alluded in this debate to Mr. Webster's strong 
 opposition to his Compromise, and Mr. Calhoun to the same 
 opposition, and also to the fact, well known, that Mr. Webster 
 was sustaining General Jackson in his hostility to nullification. 
 There was good reason for Mr. Webster's support of General 
 Jackson's proclamation, since it embodied the doctrines con- 
 tained in his speech in reply to Mr. Hayne in their utmost 
 latitude and fullness, — the doctrines of those who advocated 
 national powers and rights in contradistinction to those who 
 were known as the advocates of " State rights." 
 
 Colonel Benton states that the course taken by Mr. Webster 
 on nullification, and his eloquent and able support of the proc- 
 lamation, touched Jackson, who " threw out the right hand of 
 fellowship to him, treated him with marked distinction, com- 
 mended him with public praise, and placed him on the roll of 
 patriots. The public mind," he says, "took the belief that they 
 were to act together in future, and that a cabinet appointment 
 or a high mission would be the reward of his patriotic services." 
 Colonel Benton throws out the idea that this was a crisis in 
 Mr. Webster's political life; that he and Jackson could have 
 
104 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 cordially united and acted together, both then being in opposi- 
 tion to Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun, but that Mr. Webster lacked 
 the ivill, not the intellect, to pursue the course so clearly open 
 to him. " The consequence was that he was soon seen co- 
 operating with them [Clay and Calhoun], Mr. Clay in the lead, 
 in the great measure condemning General Jackson." Colonel 
 Benton says that in a short space of time both Mr. Calhoun 
 and Mr. Webster were seen following the lead of Mr. Clay in 
 his great attack upon the President, in 1834-35. The great 
 abilities of both Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Webster are historic; 
 and if they followed Mr. Clay's lead, it only proves that he was 
 endowed in a far higher degree than they with those peculiar 
 abilities — temper, tact, eloquence, judgment, and will — which 
 are necessary to constitute a great leader in the field or in the 
 forum. It is not education, it is not learning, nor great abilities, 
 which enable a man to lead others; he may be eminent for all 
 these, and yet not able to lead any one, because unable to 
 inspire any one with confidence in his capacity or capability of 
 leading, and wanting the tact and personal influence to control 
 others. So it was especially with Mr. Webster: he lacked tact, 
 confidence in himself, and that audacity which enables one to 
 seize the helm and take command of the ship without even 
 saying to the crew, "By your leave," the stubbornness to hold 
 it against all rivals, and the zvill to direct its course according 
 to his own judgment. 
 
 Colonel Benton intimates that Mr. Webster missed his oppor- 
 tunityhy not joining General Jackson, who, he says, "threw out 
 the right hand of fellowship." But how could Mr. Webster 
 unite with one with whom he agreed upon only one subject? 
 They stood in opposition to each other on the bank and tariff 
 questions, on the currency question generally, and on the policy 
 of removals and appointments. General Jackson was a man 
 of strong will; Mr. Webster was not; and yet to give way 
 to the President on these great questions, and go with him, 
 would be to abandon, and be abandoned by, Massachusetts, 
 and even the whole of New England, and all his numerous 
 friends in New York. What could he gain by such a course ? 
 What could he be? No longer the great "godlike" Daniel 
 
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1840. IO5 
 
 Webster, the admired of the world, the pride of New England ! 
 The course he pursued was not only a choice, but a necessity : 
 he could not be false to his friends, false to his country, false to 
 himself: in short, he could not be other than Daniel Webster ! 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN OF 1 84O. 
 
 The Presidential campaign of 1840 was, on many accounts, 
 the most memorable that has ever taken place. It commenced 
 immediately after the nomination of Harrison and Tyler, and 
 was carried on with great and continually increasing spirit and 
 activity to the end. 
 
 Mr. Van Buren was renominated by the Democratic National 
 Convention at Baltimore, largely made up, as I have shown, 
 of Federal officers; but no nomination was made for Vice- 
 President. 
 
 Soon after the nomination of General Harrison, the Wash- 
 ington correspondent of the " Baltimore Republican," a Van 
 Buren paper, said, sneeringly, in one of his letters, in speaking 
 of him, " Give him a barrel of hard cider and settle a pension of 
 two thousand dollars a year on him, and he will sit the remainder 
 of his days contented in a log cabin." The Van Buren papers 
 throughout the country, following the lead of the administra- 
 tion organ at the seat of government, and the Congressional 
 orators of the dominant party, opened upon General Harrison 
 a tremendous fire of denunciation, contumely, scurrilous epi- 
 thets, and every species of annoyance, — charging him with 
 coAvardice, representing him as superannuated, imbecile, and an 
 old granny, ridiculing even his military services, and claiming 
 all his victories as won by Colonel Johnson and other officers 
 subordinate to him. 
 
 Among those who undertook to criticise and depreciate Gen- 
 eral Harrison's military services was Mr., or General, Crary, a 
 member of Congress from Michigan. In a speech made by him 
 in the House, General Crary proved to his own satisfaction, and 
 to the satisfaction of all having similar feelings, that the hero 
 of the Thames and of Tippecanoe was no Caesar, Alexander, 
 or Napoleon ; in short, that he was really no hero at all, and 
 knew nothing about military science. 
 Vol. II. 8 
 
I06 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Mr. Corwin was then a member of the House, and, being 
 from Ohio, the duty of replying to Mr. Crary fell upon him. 
 And such a reply! such a speech! such a flaying! such irre- 
 sistible ridicule ! Such a description of a militia colonel, or 
 general, and a country muster, — such a graphic view of the 
 men constituting the regiment or brigade, — their dress, arms, 
 demeanor, and marching, — Shakspeare never attempted ; and 
 his description of Falstaff 's men, of whom the pot-bellied lover 
 of sack was ashamed, was tame to this portraiture of General 
 Crary and his " riffraffs." 
 
 The House and galleries were boisterous with laughter. 
 Poor Crary! Corwin had killed him, politically ; his ridicule 
 annihilated him. The places that knew him in Washington 
 and the Capitol knew him no more forever. He returned 
 home, and found himself, wherever he went, an object of curi- 
 osity and laughter. He not only woke up one morning and 
 found himself famous, but he found himself so every day, and 
 wherever he went. 
 
 Some ten years ago — twenty years or more after this incident 
 occurred — a gentleman who knew Mr. Corwin personally hap- 
 pened to fall in company with Mr. Crary, and in the course 
 of the conversation Corwin's name was mentioned, when Mr. 
 Crary said, without any apparent ill feeling, " I have good rea- 
 son to remember him, for he killed me dead politically." The 
 gentleman to whom this was said was in Washington soon after, 
 and repeated to Governor Corwin what Mr. Crary said, which 
 seemed to give the governor pain and remorse : he expressed 
 his sincere regret that his punishment had been so severe : he 
 had no intention, he said, to do him harm, and was sorry to 
 hear that he had done so. 
 
 THE GREAT BALTIMORE CONVENTION. 
 
 Before the Harrisburg Convention adjourned, a resolution 
 was adopted recommending the holding of a young men's rati- 
 fication convention at Baltimore on the first Monday of May. 
 This convention was now held; and such a gathering was never 
 before witnessed in this country. To estimate its numbers was 
 impossible. There were State delegations, county delegations. 
 
THE BALTIMORE CONVENTION. 10? 
 
 city delegations, village delegations, each consisting of from 
 twenty, to three, four, or five hundred ; each under i)ropcr 
 officers, with their music and various insignia, flags, banners, 
 mottoes, devices, emblems, cabins, 'coons, and cocks. The cit)' 
 was alive, yet everywhere " the latch-string hung out," and 
 everybody was welcome. Here came nearly all the prominent 
 Whigs of the country, and, one would almost think, the whole 
 Whig party. 
 
 The multitude were formed in line by States, and marched 
 from the city to the field, two or three miles out, near Canton, 
 selected for holding the convention ; and here various stands 
 had been erected from which to address the crowds, and upon 
 these were to be seen Clay, Webster, Crittenden, Choate, Pres- 
 ton, Clayton, Ewing, Evans, Wise, and fifty other distinguished 
 orators. Rolling along in the procession, into the great field 
 and around it, was a huge ball, made of canvas, ten or twelve 
 feet in diameter, which had rolled all the way from Ohio, in- 
 tended to symbolize the great revolutionary ball rolling on with 
 irresistible force over the land. 
 
 Mr. John V. L. McMahon, an eminent lawyer of Baltimore, 
 presided, assisted by numerous vice-presidents, and the speak- 
 ing went on from the different stands during the whole da}'. 
 At night Monument Square was filled by a dense mass, and the 
 speaking was continued there till a late hour, Mr. Reverdy 
 Johnson closing it in a most brilliant and eloquent speech. 
 The masses reluctantly retired, and began to disperse to their 
 various homes by the numerous railroad trains. 
 
 This was the first time the people of the United States had 
 met in a mass convention, and the effect was to light the flame 
 of enthusiasm in the breast of every one present, and thus with 
 a coal from off the altar each returned home, to light the fires 
 in the prairies, on the mountains, in the valleys, in cities, towns, 
 and neighborhoods, till the whole country was astir with polit- 
 ical excitement. 
 
 HOW THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1 84O WAS CARRIED ON. 
 
 If one could imagine a whole nation declaring a holiday or 
 season of rollicking for a period of six or eight months, and 
 
I08 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 giving themselves up during the whole time to the wildest 
 freaks of fun and frolic, caring nothing for business, singing, 
 dancing, and carousing night and day, he might have some 
 faint notion of the extraordinary scenes of 1840. 
 
 It would be difficult, if not impossible, otherwise to form even 
 a faint idea of the universal excitement, enthusiasm, activity, 
 turmoil, and restlessness which pervaded the country during the 
 spring, summer, and fall of that memorable year. Log cabins 
 large enough to hold crowds of people were built in many 
 places. Small ones, decorated with 'coon-skins, were mounted 
 on wheels and used in processions. The use of the 'coon-skins 
 soon led to the adoption of the 'coon (raccoon) itself as an 
 emblem and adjunct of the log cabin, and its "counterfeit 
 presentment" was hoisted in all the Whig papers. 
 
 Meetings were everywhere, and every day, held in neighbor- 
 hoods, school-houses, villages, towns, counties, cities. States, 
 varying in number from ten to one hundred thousand ; and 
 wherever there was a gathering there were also speaking and 
 singing. Ladies attended these meetings, or conventions, in 
 great numbers, and joined in the singing. Farmers, with big 
 teams and wagons, would leave their fields and travel ten, 
 twenty, or thirty miles, accompanied by their families and 
 neighbors, to attend a convention or a barbecue and listen to 
 distinguished orators. Crowds on the road, multitudes in big 
 wagons drawn by four, six, or eight horses, made the welkin 
 ring with their log-cabin songs. Nobody slept, nobody worked, 
 nobody rested ; at least so it seemed, for all were on the qui 
 vivc and in motion. The entire population seemed to be ab- 
 sorbed in the great duty of electing General Harrison and thus 
 changing the government. Clay, Webster, Crittenden, Clay- 
 ton, Choate, Everett, Preston, Corwin, Wise, Prentiss, Hoff- 
 man, Reverdy Johnson, Thompson, of Indiana, Thayer, of New 
 York, Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, and five thousand or 
 more other speakers, were " on the stump" from day to day, 
 from one end of the countr}^ to the other, their services every- 
 where and all the time in demand. All kinds of mottoes and 
 devices were invented and exhibited for sport and effect at these 
 great conventions an>d. barbecues: live eagles perched upon loco- 
 
I/O IV THE CAMPAIGN WAS CARRIED ON. 
 
 109 
 
 motive log cabins ; the 'coon, too, busy and playful ; beside the 
 cabin door rested barrels of hard cider, from which the bever- 
 age flowed freely to all comers. The string to lift the usual 
 wooden latch hung out, indicating that any one was welcome 
 to walk in and partake of the laboring man's hospitality. There 
 was a gush of good feeling, animation, hope, and confidence 
 everywhere pervading the people, which forbade inactivity or 
 despondency. 
 
 But the West, if possible, surpassed the East in its monster 
 assemblages. At Cincinnati, at Nashville, at Indianapolis, at 
 St. Louis, at the Tippecanoe battle-ground, at Cleveland, at 
 Fort Meigs, and at Dayton, the people assembled could only 
 be counted or estimated by the acre. The Dayton assemblage, 
 especially, was such a multitude that, "behold, no man could' 
 number them." Here were Mr. Clay, Mr. Crittenden, Governor 
 Vance, Mr. Graves, Governor Corwin, and many other celebri- 
 ties, whose eloquence was called into service. It was estimated 
 that from seventy-five to one hundred thousand people were 
 there assembled. 
 
 A marked feature of these assemblages was the great num- 
 ber of women mingling in them, — the wives, daughters, and 
 mothers of the hardy and well-to-do yeomen of the country, — 
 who took part in the singing. Among the devices displayed in 
 such abundance, the grotesque and comical were not unfrcquent. 
 Here met the eye a ludicrous representation of a fight between 
 the 'coon and the fox (the emblem of Van Buren), in which the 
 'coon was always uppermost and giving the fox a terrible 
 thrashing. Again might be seen a set-to between Harrison 
 and Van Buren ; "Old Hickory," the trainer and second of the 
 latter, showing evident concern that his " little pet" was weak, 
 dispirited, and getting worsted, while Harrison, backed and 
 cheered by thousands of people crying, " Hurrah for Old Tip !" 
 stood self-poised and confident, " rejoicing as a strong man 
 to run a race." These representations were infinitely varied, 
 sometimes irresistibly provocative of roars of merriment, all 
 of which served to keep up the fun, hilarity, and general 
 good feeling. 
 
 With the election in November — which resulted in Harrison's 
 
no PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 election by two hundred and thirty-four electoral votes of the 
 two hundred and ninety-four cast, and a Whig majority in the 
 House of Representatives of the United States — the national 
 carnival ceased, and the people returned once more to their 
 regular daily avocations, with cheerful hearts and hopeful 
 feelings, 
 
 " What has caused this great commotion, motion, motion, 
 Our country through ? 
 It is the ball a rolling on 
 
 For Tippecanoe and Tyler too, 
 
 For Tippecanoe and Tyler too." — Campaign Song. 
 
 The original or special friends of General Harrison very 
 naturally claimed that it was his popularity which produced 
 such an unprecedented "commotion" "our country through." 
 But in this they were mistaken. The popularity of no ©ne 
 man could have produced such a universal outpouring of the 
 people from day to day for weeks and months unceasingly, 
 abandoning everything else, and giving time and money un- 
 stintedly to carry the election. General Harrison was but the 
 figure-head, — the representative of the Whig party for the time 
 being. Few had ever heard of him. The people knew from 
 history and the campaign papers that he had been a general in 
 the then late war with England ; that he had won a victory at 
 the battle of Tippecanoe over the British and Indians, and also 
 at the battle of the Thames, in Canada, where Tecumseh, the 
 noted Indian warrior, was killed. This was enough to make a 
 hero of him by those who had a purpose to serve in doing so. 
 As to his fitness for the Presidency, the people knew nothing 
 and cared nothing. A change in the government was what they 
 desired and were determined to have. General Jackson had 
 played the mischief with the currency and the business of the 
 country generally by his obstinacy in trying " experiments," 
 his "pet banks," and his promises of gold and silver; in lieu 
 of which the people had treasury notes and a " shinplaster 
 currency." He had himself alone made Mr. Van Buren his suc- 
 cessor. Add to all this the exposure of the astounding defal- 
 cations of hosts of government officers, and we shall have no 
 difficulty in accounting for the great movement of the people. 
 
HO IV THE CAMPAIGN WAS CARRIED ON. m 
 
 Finding what headway the Whigs were making by their 
 songs and glee-clubs, the Democrats attempted to get up similar 
 performances, but they were only imitations, and very poor at 
 that : their songs were both spiritless and ridiculous, and their 
 singers, what few they could muster, no better than their songs, 
 and only made themselves laughing-stocks of the people. But 
 in the next Presidential campaign, that of 1844, tiie Demo- 
 crats showed that they had learned a lesson of the Whigs, and 
 profited by it, being nearly a match for their opponents in 
 rhyming and singing performances, — the songs of both during 
 that campaign being generally ridiculous doggerel. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 General Harrison inaugurated. — His Cabinet. — He issues a Proclamation calling 
 an Extra Session of Congress on the 31st of May. — Is taken ill. — Dies. — His 
 Funeral. — John Tyler assumes the Duties and Title of President. — Issues an 
 Address to the People. — Retains the Harrison Cabinet. — The Extra Session of 
 Congress held. — Civil Service Reform. — Mr. Webster's Letter. — Measures pro- 
 posed at the Extra Session. — Mr. Swing's Report strongly recommends a United 
 States Bank. — A Bill to establish a Fiscal Bank passed. — Vetoed by the Pres- 
 ident. — The Democrats visit the President in a Body and congratulate him. — 
 Mr. Clay ludicrously depicts the Scene at the White House. — A Second Fiscal 
 Corporation Bill brought forward. — Second Veto. — Resignation of the Cabinet. 
 — Mr. Webster remains. — He negotiates with Lord Ashburton. — The Webster- 
 Ashburton Treaty. — New Cabinet appointed. — Rupture of the Whigs with John 
 Tyler. — First Regular Session of the Twenty-Seventh Congress. — A Prolonged 
 Contest in the House on the Right of Petition. — Gilmer, Rhett, and Proffit ask to 
 be excused from serving on the Committee of Foreign Relations with Mr. Adams. 
 — They are excused. — Lord Morpeth and Mr. Dickens. — Mr. Clay resigns his Seat, 
 and takes leave of the Senate. — Parting between him and Mr. Calhoun. — Speech 
 of Mr. Clay at Lexington, 1843. — Almost a Duel between Mr. Stanley and Mr. 
 Wise. — Reverdy Johnson, Francis Granger, Mr. Saltonstall, A. H.H. Stuart, Mr. 
 Lane, Caleb Gushing. — The Revenue Bill passed, and vetoed. — A Bill passed 
 requiring Members of Congress to be elected uniformly by Districts. — Revenue 
 Bill. — Mr. Adams's Report; severely censures the President for his Vetoes. — 
 The President's Protest. — Another Revenue Bill: Tariff Act of 1842. — Earnest 
 Debate in the Senate on this Bill ; it is passed. — Congress adjourns 13th Sep- 
 tember, 1842. — Millard Fillmore. — Mr. Tyler changes his Policy in regard to 
 Removals and Appointments. — Jonathan Roberts, Collector at Philadelphia, and 
 General Solomon Van Rensselaer, Postmaster at Albany, removed. — Mr. Web- 
 ster still in the Cabinet. — His Speech in Faneuil Hall : inquires, " Where shall 
 I go?" — Morse's Telegraph. — A Pleasing Episode in the House of Representa- 
 tives: the Presentation of the Sword and Staff of Washington. — Winding up of 
 the Twenty-Seventh Congress. — Last Night of the Session. — Nominations of 
 Mr. Wise and Mr. Gushing rejected by the Senate. — Samuel F. Vinton. — Mr. 
 Gushing sent to China. — Mr. Webster leaves the Cabinet. — Mr. Tyler visits the 
 North and East. — Death of Mr. Legare. — Mr. Upshur appointed Secretary of 
 State. — Mr. Proffit sent Minister to Brazil. — Gilmer's Intrigue for Texas. — 
 Meeting of the Twenty-Eighth Congress : New Members, Solomon Foot, Jacob 
 Collamer, Hamilton Fish, Hannibal Hamlin, E. Joy Morris, Alexander Ramsey, 
 Washington Hunt, Alexander H. Stephens, Robert Toombs, Robert C. Schenck, 
 
 112 
 
INAUGURATION OF GENERAL HARRISON. 
 
 113 
 
 James Pollock, Stephen A. Douglas, Howell Cobb, J. J. Hardin, John Wtnt- 
 worth, John P. Hale. — Notice of Mr. Hale. — Mr. Webster's Readmission into 
 the Whig Party; how it was done. — Judge Willie P. Mangum. — The Girard 
 Will Case before the Supreme Court. — John Sergeant. — Cabinet Changes. — 
 Terrible Catastrophe : Bursting of a Gun on the Princeton. — Further Organiza- 
 tion of the Cabinet. — Mr. Calhoun Secretary of State. — Movements of Aspirants 
 to the Presidency. — Mr. Clay's Southern Tour. — Treaty of Annexation of Te.xas. 
 — Whig National Convention at Baltimore. — Mr. Clay nominated for President. 
 — Democratic National Convention. — Mr. Polk nominated for President. — Ter- 
 rible Riots in Philadelphia. — Plrst Public Working of Morse's Telegrajih. — 
 Further Changes in the Cabinet.^ John C. Spencer. — Progress of the Presidential 
 Campaign. — The Kane Letter. — The Campaign in Pennsylvania. — The Cam- 
 paign in New York. — Clay's Alabama Letter. — The Plaquemine Frauds. — Second 
 Session of the Twenty-Eighth Congress. — Abrogation of the Twenty-First Rule. 
 — Mr. Hoar's Expulsion from South Carolina. — Duel between Mr. Clingman and 
 Mr. Yancey. — Acquisition of Texas. — The End of Mr. Tyler's Administration. 
 
 MARCH 4, 1 841. GENERAL HARRISON INAUGURATED PRESIDENT. 
 
 Soon after it was known that General Harrison was elected 
 President, he took occasion to visit Mr. Clay at Ashland, where 
 he was received and treated as a distinguished guest. On the 
 day after his arrival, a free consultation was held by him with 
 Mr. Clay in regard to public affairs. General Harrison having 
 brought up the subject of his cabinet, Mr, Clay promptly and 
 explicitly informed him that he must not consider him within 
 the scope of selection for any position whatever, as he had fully 
 determined not to hold any under the new administration : at 
 the same time, however, he assured General Harrison that all 
 his measures should have his cordial support, unless he might 
 have reason to disapprove of any one or more of them ; and 
 should this be the case, he begged him to be assured that 
 whatever objection he might feel it his duty to make would be 
 first made known to him. General Harrison, and not to others. 
 "There will be those," said Mr. Clay, "who will endeavor to 
 sow tares between you and myself, — who have, indeed, already 
 attempted to do so, — to create distrust and jealousies and ill 
 feeling between us. I beg you, therefore, to listen to no reports 
 in regard to my opinions or intended course in regard to this 
 or that measure or act of yours : whatever my opinions or 
 course maybe, you shall be the first to hear of them from me." 
 
 General Harrison thanked him for his frankness and candor, 
 
114 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 expressed his regret that he would not accept the position of 
 Secretary of State, which he had come to tender him, and de- 
 nied that any attempt had been made to create any ill-feehng 
 on his part towards Mr. Clay. He further said that if Mr. Clay 
 had accepted the position of Secretary of State, it had been his 
 intention to offer the Treasury department to Mr. Webster; but 
 as Mr. Clay had declined a seat in the cabinet, he should not 
 offer one to Mr, Webster. 
 
 To this conclusion Mr. Clay objected, remarking that Mr. 
 Webster was not peculiarly fitted for the position of Secretary 
 of the Treasury, but was eminently so for that of Secretary 
 of State. Besides, the appointment of Mr. Webster to that 
 office would inspire confidence in the administration abroad, 
 which was highly important, considering our present relations 
 with England. Mr. Clay urged this appointment with such 
 force that General Harrison finally concurred in his views, and 
 agreed to tender the position to Mr. Webster. 
 
 On the day of his inauguration he was escorted to the Capitol 
 by a cavalcade of citizens and several military companies ; but, 
 instead of taking a carriage, he preferred riding on horseback, 
 and that, too, without an overcoat or gloves, although the 
 weather was excessively disagreeable, a sharp, cold northeast 
 wind prevailing the whole day. 
 
 Arrived at the Capitol, General Harrison repaired to the 
 Senate, then in session, and took the oath of office. From 
 thence he proceeded to the platform at the east front of the 
 Capitol, which had been fitted for the purpose, and delivered 
 his inaugural. In doing this he stood bareheaded, in a frock- 
 coat, without overcoat, with bare hands, facing the keen nor'- 
 easter, a full hour and a half, every one but himself suffering 
 from exposure to the piercing blast, though protected by thick 
 cloaks and overcoats. Of this I can speak feelingly, as I sat 
 within a few feet of him. 
 
 But there came an end to the inaugural, to the great relief of 
 Senators, judges of the Supreme Court, foreign ministers, and 
 others ; and then the President remounted his horse, and was 
 escorted by the military and the multitude to the White House. 
 That he was not prostrated the next day by pneumonia was a 
 
PRESIDENT HARRISON'S CABINET. 
 
 115 
 
 matter of wonder to many. But he had thus far successfully- 
 defied the elements, and showed that he had the vigor of a 
 young man, or, at least, that he could not be charged with the 
 feebleness of an old one. ^f-^^ 
 
 As usual, an extra session of the Senate had been called by 
 the retiring President to act upon such nominations as might 
 be made by the incoming President ; and General Harrison, 
 on the day after his inauguration, nominated the following 
 gentlemen as his cabinet : Daniel Webster, of Massachusetts, 
 Secretary of State ; Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, Secretary of the 
 Treasury; John Bell, of Tennessee, Secretary of War; George 
 E. Badger, of North Carolina, Secretary of the Navy ; Francis 
 Granger, of New York, Postmaster-General ; John J. Crittenden, 
 of Kentucky, Attorney-General. 
 
 Upon assuming their duties, the new administration found 
 the country in a most helpless condition, burdened with debt, 
 with an empty treasury, credit prostrate, post-notes falling due, 
 and large amounts already due, with no means provided to 
 meet them. Under the compromise tariff act of 1833 the rate 
 of duties on foreign importations had run down to the lowest 
 point, twenty-five per cent., which furnished a revenue entirely 
 inadequate to meet the necessary expenditures of the govern- 
 ment economically administered, far less the expenditures of a 
 reckless and wasteful administration and its large defalcations. 
 
 It was imperatively necessary that the tariff should be revised 
 with a view to an increase of revenue ; that the currency should 
 be improved ; that provision should be made to pay off or fund 
 the accumulated public debt ; and that life should be infused 
 into the general business of the country, now in a comatose 
 state. 
 
 In view of the condition of the country, and believing that 
 existing evils could be remedied only by national legislation, 
 the President called an extra session of Congress, to meet on 
 the 31st day of May. 
 
 But, as Mr. Clay had foreseen, and had foretold to General 
 Harrison, there were those who endeavored to sow tares be- 
 tween them ; and they succeeded. 
 
 Calling upon Mr. Clay one day after the close of the execu- 
 
Il6 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 tive session of the Senate, I found him alone, pacing his room 
 in great perturbation. He had just received a note from the 
 President, which he still held in his hand, the purport of which 
 was a suggestion from the President that whatever Mr. Clay 
 might wish to communicate, or whatever suggestions he might 
 think proper to make to him, the President, had better be com- 
 municated in writing, as frequent personal interviews between 
 them might give occasion for remark, or excite the jealousy of 
 others. 
 
 Crumpling the note in his hand with an energy that showed 
 the state of his feelings, he said, " And it has come to this ! I 
 am civilly but virtually requested not to visit ihe White House, 
 — not to see the President personally, but hereafter only com- 
 municate with him in writing! The prediction I made to him 
 at Ashland last fall has been verified. Here is my table loaded 
 with letters from my friends in every part of the Union [taking 
 up several large bundles], applying to me to obtain offices for 
 them, when I have not one to give, nor influence enough to pro- 
 cure the appointment of a friend to the most humble position !" 
 
 He continued to pace the room, greatly excited and chafed. 
 He was not to be crossed with impunity, nor did he bear con- 
 tumely with the meekness of a Quaker. With these feelings 
 he left Washington the next day for Kentucky, but, on reaching 
 Baltimore, was taken sick, and remained there a week or more, 
 unable to proceed. No interview ever took place between him 
 and General Harrison after the receipt of the note mentioned. 
 
 "civil service reform." 
 
 Although General Jackson had in his first inaugural falsely 
 charged Mr. Adams's administration with "bringing the patron- 
 age of the Federal government in conflict with the freedom of 
 elections," yet under his administration and that of Mr. Van 
 Buren the practice of government officers actively interfering 
 in and controlling elections was first witnessed, and was open, 
 undisguised, and shameless. 
 
 Coming into power as a reform party, it became the duty of 
 the Whigs to correct this — then considered — corrupting abuse. 
 So soon, therefore, as the attention of the new administration 
 
"CIVIL SERVICE reform:' 
 
 117 
 
 could be turned to it, the following circular, addressed to the 
 
 several heads of departments, was issued and published by the 
 
 Secretary of State : 
 
 "Department of State, March 20, 1S41. 
 
 " To THE Hon. , Secretary of : 
 
 " Sir, — The President is of opinion that it is a great abuse to 
 bring the patronage of the general government into conflict 
 with the freedom of elections ; and that this abuse ought to be 
 corrected wherever it may have been permitted to exist, and to 
 be prevented in future. 
 
 " He therefore directs that information be given that partisan 
 interference in popular elections, whether of State officers or 
 officers of this government, and for whomsoever or against 
 whomsoever it may be exercised, or the payment of any con- 
 tribution or assessment on salaries or official compensation for 
 party or election purposes, will be regarded by him as cause 
 of removal. 
 
 " It is not intended that any officer shall be restrained in the 
 free and proper expression and maintenance of his opinions 
 respecting public men or public measures, or in the exercise, to 
 the fullest degree, of the constitutional right of suffrage. But 
 persons employed under the government and paid for their 
 services out of the public treasury are not expected to take an 
 active or officious part in attempts to influence the minds or 
 votes of others ; such conduct being deemed inconsistent with 
 the spirit of the Constitution and the duties of public agents 
 acting under it; and the President is resolved, so far as depends 
 upon himself, that, while the exercise of the elective franchise 
 by the people shall be free from undue influence of official 
 station and authority, opinion shall also be free among the 
 officers and agents of the government. 
 
 "The President wishes it further to be announced, and dis- 
 tinctly understood, that from all collecting and disbursing 
 officers promptitude in rendering accounts and entire punc- 
 tuality in paying balances will be rigorously exacted. In his 
 opinion it is time to return, in this respect, to the early practice 
 of the government, and to hold any degree of delinquency on 
 the part of those intrusted with the public money just cause of 
 
Il8 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 immediate removal. He deems the severe observance of this 
 circular to be essential to the public service, as ever>^ dollar lost 
 to the treasury by unfaithfulness in office creates a necessity for 
 a new charge upon the people. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, etc., 
 " Signed, Daniel Webster, 
 
 " Secretary of State." 
 
 At a subsequent period, during Mr. Tyler's administration, 
 
 Mr. Crittenden introduced a bill in the Senate, conceived in the 
 
 spirit of Mr. Webster's circular, entitled " A bill to prevent the 
 
 interference of certain Federal officers in elections ;" for which 
 
 Mr, Rives, of Virginia, offered a substitute, declaring "that it is 
 
 highly improper for officers depending on the Executive of the 
 
 1 Union to attempt to control or influence the free exercise of 
 
 ^1 the elective right, and that measures ought to be adopted by 
 
 / Congress to restrain by law all interference of Federal officers 
 
 with elections otherwise than by giving their own votes." 
 
 No definite action ever took place on these ; but they show 
 what were then the ideas of eminent statesmen as to what 
 "civil service reform" ought to accomplish. 
 
 In accord with the above is a portion of the " Platform" of 
 the Republican National Convention of 1872, as follows: 
 
 " Any system of the civil service under which the subordi- 
 nate positions of the government are considered rewards for 
 mere party zeal is fatally demoralizing ; and we therefore favor 
 a reform of the system by laws which shall abolish the evils of 
 patronage, and make honesty, efficiency, and fidelity essential 
 qualifications for public positions, without practically creating a 
 life-tenure of office." 
 
 But has that party been guided by this portion of its plat- 
 form in its disposal of public patronage ? Does the honest, 
 capable, faithful clerk feel secure in his office ? Why, then, 
 so much uneasiness, anxiety, and apprehension from time to 
 time, and almost the whole time, among the clerks in the 
 departments and the subordinates in the customs ? Why so 
 many changes ? In his " Life of Marlborough" Alison has said, 
 " The theory of governing by the promotion of merit without 
 
''CIVIL SERVICE reform:' jjg 
 
 distinction of party, and of being regulated only by the public 
 good, sounds well, and has often captivated the most noble and 
 generous of men. But it has never yet succeeded in practice ; 
 and every government attempted on such a basis has speedily 
 gone to pieces on the first serious crisis. . . . Individual in- 
 terest is the ruling principle of the vast majority in every rank; 
 and, as no government can long exist without the support of 
 the majority, the foundations of power must always be laid in 
 the interests of some great class of society or party in the state. 
 ... A government based on the general good, irrespective of 
 factions, may be an object of admiration to posterity, which is 
 beyond the interests of the moment; but it is sure to lose the 
 confidence of the present, which is entirely governed by it; and, 
 in public lauded by all, it will be in reality supported by none." 
 
 The course pursued by President Adams, and that of An- 
 drew Jackson, form a striking contrast, and strongly illustrate 
 and confirm Mr. Alison's remarks. We may regret that an 
 administration cannot sustain itself in power by consulting only 
 the public good and by appointing the best men to office irre- 
 spective of their party predilections ; but so long as self-interest 
 has a more powerful influence upon men than the welfare of 
 the nation, so long will the multitude attach themselves to the 
 party which is most likely to gratify their ambitious but 
 selfish desires, even by the sacrifice of the public weal. 
 Selfish human nature says, " Let every man look out for himself, 
 and the public take care of itself;" and this motive of action 
 eventually produces dishonesty in office, peculation, bribery, 
 theft, and robbery, — a general degeneracy and demoralization 
 not only of those in public stations, but of the whole people of 
 the nation. Of this the events which have occurred since the 
 famous announcement of Marcy, that " to the victors belong the 
 spoils of ofifice," furnish abundant proof 
 
 Power is itself corrupting, and a party which has long 
 held it is but too apt to become profligate and heedless of 
 public censure, and consequently to incur defeat at the hands of 
 an incensed people. But in all such cases the hope of having 
 a new distribution of offices is the principal motive of the 
 leading outs, who desire to occupy the official seats of the ins. 
 
120 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 One of the greatest evils attending the distribution of patron- 
 age at the present time, as for some years past, is the power 
 given to Senators and members of the House, in a great de- 
 gree, not only to control appointments in their own States and 
 districts, but to interfere in the appointment of heads of bu- 
 reaus and clerks in the departments ; thereby exercising execu- 
 tive as well as legislative powers. I have seen the working 
 of this usurpation sufficiently to enable me to speak earnestly 
 and most decidedly in its condemnation. It is bad enough 
 when men are put into or kept in places by the sole influence 
 of a member of Congress, but it is much worse when the 
 appointee and favoiite is a female, especially if young and 
 handsome ; for in all such cases scandal is on the alert, and her 
 malignant tongue is never at rest. 
 
 The frequent changes of inspectors of customs, appraisers, 
 weighers and gangers, and other public officers have been 
 most impolitic and injudicious, and unquestionably tend to 
 make them dishonest. When the government shall treat its 
 employes as judicious men of business treat theirs, — paying 
 them a fair compensation, and leaving undisturbed those who 
 have proved competent, honest, and faithful, — it will be ably 
 and faithfully served: but never till this old Washington and 
 Adams policy shall be adopted. 
 
 PRESIDENT Harrison's sickness and death. 
 
 Against the urgent remonstrances of his friends, the Presi- 
 dent continued to rise at six o'clock in the morning, to go 
 out and walk, usually to the market on market-days, without 
 the protection of an overcoat, and to entertain visitors till one 
 o'clock at night. 
 
 Bearing in mind that he had, before he came to Washington, 
 been accustomed to live in a plain and simple way, — breakfast- 
 ing at seven or eight o'clock, dining on simple fare at one, and 
 retiring early, and that here he breakfasted at nine, dined at 
 six, retired at one, and rose at five, — can it be cause of wonder 
 that his system (he was sixty-nine years of age) gave way, 
 refusing to bear this heavy and unaccustomed tax? It was 
 alleged at the time by the Democratic press, and with such 
 
PRESIDENT HARRISON'S SICKNESS AND DEATH. ^21 
 
 emphasis and persistency as to create a general belief, that 
 General Harrison's death was caused by the host of applicants 
 for office who rushed to Washington, filled the White House, 
 beset the President, and worried his life out. 
 
 There was not a particle of truth in this assertion. His 
 death was the inevitable result of the causes I have mentioned, 
 — the overtaxing of his physical powers, and imprudent expo- 
 sure to the cold, piercing winds and storms which prevailed 
 that spring. He fell a victim to an over-estimate of the strength 
 of his constitution and physical powers, not unwarned by his 
 friends, whose kindly suggestions were not only unheeded, but 
 seemed to annoy him. 
 
 " Sit mihi fas audita loqui." 
 
 After an illness of a week or ten days. General Harrison 
 passed away. His death was an astounding shock to the 
 country. He was the first President who had died in office. 
 Fifty years had the government existed under thefConstitution, 
 and no shaft of the " grim conqueror" had ever penetrated the 
 Presidential mansion. It was an event that seemed impossible 
 to happen ; one never anticipated, or thought of, or properly 
 prepared for, by the American people or the politicians. True, 
 a Vice-President was always elected with the President, but 
 with no expectation that he would ever be called upon to 
 perform the functions of President, and so useless was he 
 considered that he had been wittily styled " his superfluous 
 Excellency." Now the people awoke to the fact that he whom 
 they had elected as Vice-President, and whom they only knew 
 as " Tyler too," was to become President. Now, for the first 
 time, the universal inquiry was anxiously made, Wlio is he ? 
 What sort of a man is he ? Is he a thorough Whig? 
 
 The death of Harrison was a terribly saddening blow to the 
 
 country, and shrouded it in the habiliments of a woe most 
 
 deeply and sincerely felt. Everywhere were seen the sable 
 
 demonstrations of the country's grief In Washington, the 
 
 Executive mansion, all the public buildings, and most of the 
 
 private dwellings, even the lowliest tenements, the abodes of 
 
 poverty, were draped in black, even were it but the smallest 
 Vol. II. 9 
 
122 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 scrap of dingy crape ; however small, it betokened the grief of 
 the lowly inmates. Business was suspended, and shops and 
 stores were closed, especially on the day of his funeral. 
 
 Immediately on his death, a messenger was dispatched with 
 an express steamer to Mr. Tyler, asking his presence at Wash- 
 ington. He arrived in time to attend the funeral. This was 
 conducted with appropriate pomp and solemnity. The United 
 States troops at and within reach of Washington, the volun- 
 teers of the District of Columbia, and several regiments from 
 Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other places formed a part of 
 the cavalcade. The body was borne to the Congressional 
 Cemetery on a splendid car, decorated with black plumes and 
 drawn by six white horses ; and the coffin was wrapped in a 
 large United States flag. Major-General Scott was in command, 
 assisted by his aids and numerous marshals on horseback. Be- 
 sides the military, many civic societies were in the procession, 
 which extended from the Executive mansion to the Capitol, 
 various bands pealing forth solemn, mournful strains. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's countenance at the funeral indicated intense 
 thought, " not," — as a shrewd, observant lady, who watched 
 him closely, remarked, — " as if he were thinking of what was 
 then and there passing, but as if he were laying deep plans for 
 the future." 
 
 JOHN TYLER ASSUMES THE DUTIES AND TITLE OF PRESIDENT. 
 
 The first question to be settled upon Mr. Tyler's entering 
 upon the discharge of the duties of chief magistrate of the 
 Union was the title he was to bear. The subject had been 
 considered by the cabinet of the late President, who arrived at 
 the conclusion that Mr. Tyler must, while performing the func- 
 tions of President, bear the title of " Vice-President acting Presi- 
 dent;" and it has been stated that this opinion of the cabinet 
 •was communicated to him before his arrival at Washington. 
 
 This did not accord with his views and ambition. Whether 
 any discussion of the subject took place between him and the 
 cabinet is not known; it is only known that he was by the Con- 
 stitution clothed with all the powers and required to perform all 
 the duties of President : he determined to be curtailed of none 
 
EXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS. 12^ 
 
 of the dignities and emoluments of the high office which had de- 
 volved upon him, and he therefore assumed the title of President. 
 
 On the morning after the publication of his address I called 
 upon the President at his rooms, then at the " Indian Queen" 
 (Brown's Hotel), now the Metropolitan. I found him affable, 
 pleasant, and disposed to talk. His address being mentioned, 
 I told him I was gratified, and I knew others were, that he had 
 come out so decided a Whig. After perhaps twenty minutes' 
 conversation, he said, " If the Democrats and myself ever come 
 together, tJiey must come to me." The remark struck me with 
 surprise, and drew from me some observation, to which he re- 
 plied, " I shall certainly never go to them." 
 
 How came this union in his head ? But time passed on, and 
 the remark was partially forgotten until subsequent events gave 
 it significance. 
 
 EXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS, 1 84 1. 
 
 Pursuant to the proclamation issued by President Harrison, 
 Congress convened on tlie 31st day of May. The House was 
 organized by the election of John White, of Kentucky, as 
 Speaker. There were several other aspirants for this position 
 in the party, whose disappointment probably had not a little to 
 do with their subsequent relations with the Whig party, and 
 with the course pursued by Mr. Tyler. 
 
 The message, as a whole, was a plain, creditable state paper, 
 commendably brief On the subject of a fiscal agent, or 
 national bank, the President spoke with all the caution and 
 ambiguity of a Talleyrand, If he had any definite ideas on the 
 subject, his language very effectually concealed them, and left 
 those before in doubt in regard to his views on that most im- 
 portant subject in as complete " obfuscation" as ever Delphic 
 response left a seeker after knowledge of future events. 
 
 The Whigs, however, like others, ready to believe what 
 they wished to be true, found comfort in some portions of his 
 message. The message shadowed forth a bank, or fiscal agent 
 of some kind, as necessary to the operations of the Treasury, 
 the collecting and disbursing of the revenues, the general pros- 
 perity of the country, and the improvement of the currency. 
 
124 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Mr. Ewing, Secretary of the Treasury, in his report to Con- 
 gress, strongly recommended the creation of a national bank, 
 or fiscal agent, and the President having signified a desire 
 that Congress should call upon the Secretary of the Treasury 
 for a plan of such an institution, a call was made by the Senate, 
 in response to which the Secretary sent his report on the sub- 
 ject, designating the institution "The Fiscal Bank of the United 
 States." It was to be incorporated in the District of Columbia, 
 thus avoiding supposed constitutional State-rights scruples. 
 And, further to avoid these, power was given to establish 
 branches only with the consent of the State in which the branch 
 was to be located. This report was referred to the committee 
 on finance, of which Mr. Clay was chairman. 
 
 It was known that Mr. Tyler had some Virginia State-rights 
 crotchets in his head about a national bank, and these it was 
 thus sought to avoid running foul of It was known, too, that 
 he had a great antipathy to the name of Bank, and, to avoid the 
 use of this odious term, had suggested calling whatever institu- 
 tion might be created, a " Fiscal Institute," or " Fiscal Agent," 
 or " Fiscal Corporation." There was something quite ludicrous 
 in these whims about a name, but, as he had the power to veto, 
 his whims, however absurd, were not to be lightly treated ; and 
 therefore, though there was something exceedingly outre and 
 revolting in the term Fiscal Bank, yet "what's in a name? A 
 rose by any other name may smell as sweet," and so Mr. Tyler's 
 notions were acceded to, and " Fiscal Bank" it was called. 
 
 Pending the passage of this bill through the two Houses of 
 Congress, it was whispered about, and rumors of the kind got 
 into distant papers, that Mr. Tyler would veto it, and that a 
 rupture between him and Mr. Clay was imminent. 
 
 What was the origin of these rumors? Whence came they? 
 Why should he veto a measure which either he matured him- 
 self, or was carefully drawn up to conform to his notions ? Mr. 
 Clay and the President had then had no personal falling out, 
 no disagreement in regard to the measure, and the former in 
 preparing his bill adhered mainly to the plan submitted by 
 Mr. Ewing, which, as Mr. Webster stated in his Fanueil Hall 
 speech, " received the approbation of every member of the cabi- 
 
EXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS. j2- 
 
 net, as the only plan which would be likely to succeed, con- 
 sidering the opinions of the individual whom we had all agreed 
 to put in the second place in the government." Nevertheless, 
 rumors of a division, or disagreement, between Mr. Tyler and 
 the party to whom he owed his election as Vice-President, 
 and consequently to whom he was indebted for his present 
 position, became more and more rife, and were spread abroad 
 with more and more confidence, especially by those who were 
 supposed to be intimate at the White House and to speak from 
 the inspiration of its oracle. 
 
 Meantime, the Whigs were not supine : one of their great 
 measures, namely, the bill for the distribution of the proceeds 
 of the sales of public lands, was passed on the 6th of July, and 
 became a law by the signature of the President. 
 
 The Fiscal Bank bill passed the Senate, July 28, by a vote 
 of 26 to 23 ; and the House, without amendment, August 6, 
 by 128 to 97. It then went to the President, and was by him 
 returned to the Senate, on the i6th of August, with his veto. 
 
 The commotion created by this act of the President was 
 very great, notwithstanding the constant reports and confident 
 assertions that had filled the ears of the Whigs for weeks — 
 almost months — previous. On the side of the Democrats, all 
 was elation and joy ; among the Whigs, deep chagrin, disap- 
 pointment, and bitterness. 
 
 Neither Whigs nor Democrats could speak calmly on the 
 subject, the former feeling that their party was betrayed, while 
 the latter saw that, though terribly defeated in the campaign of 
 " eighteen forty," they were now to enjoy the substantial fruits 
 of victory. 
 
 This feeling of gratulation among the Democrats was too 
 strong to be restrained; it must be manifested by some demon- 
 stration, must find expression in some fitting act : how better 
 could it be expressed than by going in a body to the White 
 House and pouring forth their thanks, laudations, and con- 
 gratulations to John Tyler? A happy idea! no sooner sug- 
 gested than adopted. Forthwith, on the memorable night of 
 the i6th of August, the day the veto had been sent in, a con- 
 siderable number of Senators took up the line of march to the 
 
126 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Executive mansion, which they entered, headed by Mr. Buch- 
 anan, who acted as master of ceremonies on the grand occa- 
 sion ; and hardly had they entered when a much larger body, 
 consisting of members of the House, and headed by Mr. Gilmer, 
 made its appearance. Every Senator and member was intro- 
 duced to President Tyler, and there were few who did not extol 
 his patriotism and congratulate him on his independence of 
 party trammels and dictatorship. They knew Mr. Tyler's 
 weak points, and how to tickle them. In their eyes, if he 
 was to believe their fulsome commendations, he was the savior 
 of his country, — a Washington in moral dignity and purity, a 
 Jackson in firmness of purpose and disregard of the howlings 
 of disappointed ambition : truly and nobly had he shown him- 
 self worthy the high office he held. Among those present on 
 that memorable evening were a large number of ladies, the 
 wives of Democratic Senators and members, whose presence 
 was animating, especially as they were in fine spirits and 
 willing to aid their husbands and party by exerting all their 
 wit, and their conversational and fascinating powers, not only 
 to please generally, but to win with their blandishments one 
 who already stood half-way between the camp of his own party 
 and that of their opponents. But such was the joyous feeling of 
 the Democrats that it required no effort on their part to make 
 the occasion a hilarious one, especially as champagne flowed 
 like water, and at every "pop" of a bottle off went a joke or 
 sarcasm at the expense of Mr. Clay personally, or of the Whig 
 party generally. 
 
 As rapidly flew champagne corks, " unheeded flew the hours" 
 in uproarious hilarity, " till the clock told twelve," and then 
 came the breaking up of this happy party. 
 
 The extraordinary gathering and manifestations of exulta- 
 tion which took place at the White House on the evening of 
 this memorable i6th of August soon were bruited abroad, and 
 were of too interesting a character to be overlooked by Mr. 
 Clay. Accordingly, in making some remarks on a resolution 
 of inquiry offered by Mr. Woodbury, Mr. Clay, a few days after, 
 seized the occasion to notice them in his own inimitable and play- 
 ful manner, creating quite a stir among some of the dramatis 
 
EXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS. 1 27 
 
 personam, and great amusement in the Senate and galleries. It 
 must be premised that it had been alleged that on the night of 
 the visit of the Democrats to the President, the White House 
 had been beset by persons entertaining very different feelings 
 from those exulting within, and that unseemly disturbances 
 had taken place on the part of those outside. Mr. Woodbury's 
 resolution of inquiry had reference to these disturbances, and 
 hence gave Mr. Clay an excellent opportunity to bring forth his 
 amusing drama. 
 
 Mr. Clay said, in a very pleasant manner, " An honorable 
 Senator from New Hampshire [Mr. Woodbury] proposed some 
 days ago a resolution of inquiry into certain disturbances which 
 are said to have occurred at the Presidential mansion on the night 
 of the memorable i6th of August. If any such proceedings did 
 occur, they were certainly very wrong and highly culpable. 
 The chief magistrate, whoever he may be, should be treated by 
 every good citizen with all becoming respect, if not for his 
 personal character, on account of the exalted office he holds 
 for and from the people. And I will here say that I read with 
 great pleasure the acts and resolutions of an early meeting, 
 promptly held by the orderly and respectable citizens of this 
 metropolis, in reference to, and in condemnation of, those dis- 
 turbances.* But, if the resolution had been adopted, I had 
 intended to move for the appointment of a select committee, 
 and that the honorable Senator from New Hampshire himself 
 should be placed at the head of it, with a majority of his friends. 
 And I will tell you why, Mr. President. I did hear that about 
 eight or nine o'clock on that same night of the famous i6th 
 instant there was an irruption into the President's house of 
 the whole Loco-foco party in Congress ; and I did not know 
 but that the alleged disorders might have grown out of or had 
 some connection with that fact. I understand that the whole 
 party were there. No spectacle, I am sure, could have been 
 more supremely amusing and ridiculous. If I could have been 
 
 * A meeting of the citizens of Washington was held, Colonel William Seaton, 
 mayor, presiding, which passed resolutions strongly condemning these disturbances 
 and expressing deep regret that any indignity should have been offered to the chief 
 magistrate of the nation. 
 
128 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 in a position in which, without being seen, I could have wit- 
 nessed that most extraordinary reunion, I should have had 
 an enjoyment which no dramatic performance could possibly 
 afford. I think I can now see the principal dramatis personcB 
 who figured in the scene. There stood the grave and distin- 
 guished Senator from South Carolina " 
 
 Mr. Calhoun here instantly rose, and earnestly insisted on 
 explaining ; but Mr. Clay refused to be interrupted or to yield 
 the floor, 
 
 "There, I say, I can imagine stood the Senator from South 
 Carolina, — tall, care-worn, with furrowed brow, haggard cheek 
 and eye, intensely gazing, looking as if he were dissecting the 
 last and newest abstraction which sprang from some meta- 
 physician's brain, and muttering to himself, in half-uttered 
 sounds, 'This is indeed a crisis !' Then there was the Senator 
 from Alabama [Mr. King], standing upright and gracefully, as 
 if he were ready to settle in the most authoritative manner any 
 question of order ox of etiquette that might possibly arise between 
 the high assembled parties on that new and unprecedented oc- 
 casion. Not far off stood the honorable Senators from Arkansas 
 and Missouri [Mr. Sevier and Mr. Benton], the latter looking 
 at the Senator from South Carolina with an indignant curl on his 
 lip and scorn in his eye, and pointing his finger with contempt 
 towards that Senator [Calhoun], whilst he said, or rather seemed 
 to say, ' He call himself a statesman ! why, he has never even 
 produced a decent humbug !' " 
 
 Mr. Benton. — " The Senator from Missouri was not there." 
 
 Mr. Clay. — "I stand corrected; I was only imagining what 
 he would have said if he had been there. Then there stood 
 the Senator from Georgia [Mr. Cuthbert], conning over in his 
 mind on what point he should make his next attack upon the 
 Senator from Kentucky. On yonder ottoman reclined the 
 other Senator from Missouri on my left [Mr. Linn], indulging, 
 with smiles on his face, in pleasing meditations on the rise, 
 growth, and future power of his new colony of Oregon. The 
 honorable Senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. Buchanan], I pre- 
 sume, stood forward as spokesman for his whole party; and, 
 although I cannot pretend to imitate his well-known eloquence 
 
EXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS. J2Q 
 
 and melodious voice,* I beg leave to make an humble essay 
 towards what I presume to have been the kind of speech de- 
 livered by him on that august occasion : 
 
 " ' May it please your Excellency : A number of your present 
 political friends, late your political opponents, in company with 
 myself, have come to deposit at your Excellency's feet the evi- 
 dences of our loyalty and devotion ; and they have done me 
 the honor to make me the organ of their sentiments and feelings. 
 We are here more particularly to present to your Excellency 
 our grateful and most cordial congratulations on your rescue 
 of the country from a flagrant and alarming violation of the 
 Constitution by the creation of a Bank of the United States ; 
 and also our profound acknowledgments for the veto by which 
 you have illustrated the wisdom of your administration and 
 so greatly honored yourself And we would dwell particularly 
 on the unanswerable reasons and cogent arguments with which 
 the notification of the act to the legislature had been accom- 
 panied. We had been, ourselves, struggling for days and weeks 
 to arrest the passage of the bill, and to prevent the creation of 
 the monster to which it gives birth. We had expended all our 
 logic, exerted all our ability, employed all our eloquence; but, 
 in spite of all our utmost efforts, the friends of your Excellency 
 in the Senate and House of Representatives proved too strong 
 for us. And we have now come most heartily to thank your 
 Excellency that you have accomplished for us that against 
 your friends which we, with our most strenuous exertions, 
 were unable to achieve.' 
 
 " I hope the Senator will view with indulgence this effort to 
 represent him, although I am but too sensible how far it falls 
 short of the merits of the original. At all events, he will feel 
 that there is not a greater error than was committed by the 
 stenographer of the ' Intelligencer' the other day, when he put 
 into my mouth a part of the honorable Senator's speech. I 
 hope the honorable Senators on the other side of the chamber 
 will pardon me for having conceived it possible that, amidst 
 the popping of champagne, the intoxication of their joy, the 
 
 * Mr. Buchanan had a peculiarly sharp, nasal voice, the very opposite of " melo- 
 dious." Mr. Clay, therefore, spoke ironically. 
 
130 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 ecstasy of their glorification, they might have been the parties 
 who created a disturbance of which they never could have 
 been guilty had they waited for their 'sober second thoughts.' 
 I have no doubt the very learned ex-Secretary of the Treasury 
 [Mr. Woodbury], who conducted that department with such 
 distinguished ability and such happy results to the country 
 [hundreds of defalcations — see S. S. Prentiss's speech], and who 
 now has such a profound abhorrence of all taxes on tea and 
 coffee, though in his own official reports he so distinctly recom- 
 mended them, would, if appointed chairman of the committee, 
 have conducted the investigation with that industry which so 
 eminently distinguishes him, and would have favored the Senate 
 with a report marked with all his accustomed precision and 
 ability, and with perfect clearness." 
 
 This playful and good-humored escapade was charged with 
 many keen shafts of irony that hit the mark, though they were 
 sent forth with so much humor that even those who were hit 
 were compelled to join in the general merriment which Mr. 
 Clay's inimitable manner, in his " taking off" the several char- 
 acters, created. It was a rare treat in the Senate. Mr. Calhoun 
 was admirably depicted; and the representing him as " looking 
 as if he were dissecting the last and newest abstraction',' and 
 uttering the words, " This is indeed a crisis !" was so well-aimed 
 a hit at Mr. Calhoun's well-known peculiarities, that laughter 
 was irresistible. And so of Colonel King, of Alabama, who 
 was a nice, precise, natty gentleman, very tenacious of the 
 observance of etiquette, who prided himself on a knowledge of 
 the rules of the Senate, and was ever " ready to settle in the 
 most authoritative manner any question of order or of etiquette 
 that might arise." He was so exactly limned by Mr. Clay in 
 the few words he devoted to him, that all who knew him per- 
 sonally could not but cry out, How life-like ! Still, there was 
 just enough of caricature in it to add greatly to the merriment, 
 much to the colonel's chagrin, who was always as serious as 
 an undertaker at a funeral, and deemed this sort of thing quite 
 " out of order," and derogatory to the dignity of the Senate. 
 In depicting Mr. Benton looking at Mr. Calhoun " with an 
 indignant curl on his lip and scorn in his eye, pointing his 
 
EXTRA SESSION OF CONGRESS. I^I 
 
 finger with contempt at the Senator, and seeming to say, ' He 
 call himself a statesman ! why, he has never even produced a 
 decent humbug !' " Mr. Clay depicted the true feeling of the 
 Missouri Senator towards Mr. Calhoun, and at the same time 
 hit the former, who was considered by the public rather famous 
 for producing humbugs. That shot carried two very keen 
 shafts, though Benton was rather gratified than displeased by 
 that part of the "fancy sketch" which characterized him. 
 
 But the principal figure of Mr. Clay's dramatis persona;, the 
 chief actor in the drama, was Mr. Buchanan, and, if rumor was 
 to be credited, Mr. Clay did not shoot wide of the mark in 
 assigning him his part at the memorable gathering; while his 
 own performance of it, as he imagined the Senator must have 
 acted it, his imitation of Mr. Buchanan's peculiar nasal voice, 
 pronunciation, and manner, were irresistibly laughable, and put 
 even those who had not escaped in the very best humor.* 
 
 Mr. Buchanan took it in very good part, and gave Mr. Clay 
 a Rowland for his Oliver, by describing another meeting on 
 that memorable i6th of August; namely, a meeting of the 
 sad, dispirited, chagrined Whigs in caucus, at which Mr. Clay 
 was present, not quite so hilarious and jubilant as the one Mr. 
 Clay had described ; representing that some of the Whigs were 
 for giving up, some deploring the hard fate of the Whig party, 
 
 * Mr. Buchanan having taken so prominent a part in the memorable White 
 House congratulatory scene, it may somewhat surprise the unsophisticated novice 
 in politics to read the follovv'ing extract from a letter addressed by him to R. P. 
 Letcher, dated April 17, 1841, just four months previous to this " scene," in which 
 he gives his real opinion of Mr. Tyler in no ambiguous or very comjilimentary 
 terms. He says, " Tyler and his cabinet are a poor concern [he was not speaking 
 of himself and his cabinet in 1861, though his language is more applicable to 
 that " concern" than to Tyler and his cabinet]; they live upon expedients from 
 day to day, and have no settled principles by which to guide their conduct. The 
 toadies flatter him with the belief that whilst the politicians are deadly hostile to 
 him from jealousy of his rising fortunes, the people are everywhere rising en 7)iasse 
 and coming to his rescue. . . . Unless I am greatly mistaken in the signs of the 
 times, an attempt will be made to head Mr. Clay on the subject of a national bank. 
 . , . Tyler and Webster then are to become the chiefs of the great Whig National 
 Bank party, and Clay to be denounced for having pi-evcnted the adojilion of his 
 own favorite measure. So we go ! For myself, I am a looker-on here in Vienna. 
 I have been here long enough to understand the game, though I never play myself." 
 
 But he did, four months later, as we have seen. — N. S. 
 
132 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 some declaring that " their voice was still for war" on "Captain 
 Tyler," while the elegant language of one was heard above all 
 the rest, declaring that he would " head him off or die." 
 
 The retort was a fair and good-humored one, and wound up 
 the drama in a pleasant manner, no Senator's dinner being 
 spoiled by rankling barbs left festering in the flesh. This im- 
 promptu dramatizing of events which had recently happened, 
 introducing the actors, assigning to each his part, and in its 
 performance exhibiting in a striking manner the peculiarities, 
 idiosyncrasies and traits of character by which each was dis- 
 tinguished, was "an instance of that versatility of genius and 
 presence of mind of which his [Mr. Clay's] parliamentary' life 
 was so full, and which generally gave him the advantage in 
 sharp encounters."* 
 
 THE SECOND FISCAL BILL. — ITS ORIGIN AND FATE. 
 
 Upon the reception of the veto, the questions naturally arose 
 among the Whigs, " What next? Is this the end ? or can any bill 
 be framed which will obtain the signature of the President ?" 
 While these questions were asked, Mr. Tyler himself apparently 
 answered them by intimating in a very decided manner to Mr, 
 Ewing, Secretary of the Treasury, not only his willingness but 
 also his anxious desire to have another bill prepared and pre- 
 sented to Congress which should avoid the objections he had 
 made to the one he vetoed. In his letter of resignation, dated 
 September ii, 1841, addressed to the President, Mr. Ewing thus 
 gives an account of the origin of this second bill : 
 
 "On the morning of the i6th of August I called at your 
 chamber, and found you preparing the first veto message, to be 
 dispatched to the Senate. The Secretary of War came in also, 
 and you read a portion of the message to us. He observed 
 that though the veto would create a great sensation in Con- 
 gress, yet he thought the minds of our friends better prepared 
 for it than they were some days ago, and he hoped it would be 
 calmly received, especially as it did not shut out all hope of a 
 bank. To this you replied that you really thought that there 
 ought to be no difficulty about it ; that you had sufficiently 
 * Mr. Benton's " Thirty Years' View." 
 
THE SECOND FISCAL BILL. 1^3 
 
 indicated the kind of a bank you would approve, and that Con- 
 gress might, if they saw fit, pass such a bill in three days." 
 
 Mr. Bell, in his letter of resignation, fully confirmed this state- 
 ment of Mr. Ewing, and added some further particulars. 
 
 Mr. A. H. H. Stuart, of Virginia, relates an interview he had 
 with Mr. Tyler on the i6th of August; that in that interview 
 the President defined distinctly what kind of a bill he would 
 sign, — precisely the bill called the Second Fiscal Agent bill, 
 which he afterwards vetoed; and in closing the conference, and 
 as Mr. Stuart was about to take his leave, the President said, 
 " Now, Stuart, if you will send me this bill, I will sign it in 
 twenty-four hours. . . . The President then told me," says 
 Mr. Stuart, " to go to Mr. Webster and have the bill prepared 
 at once. Holding me by his left hand and raising his right 
 hand upwards, he exclaimed, with much feeling, ' Stuart, if 
 you can be instrumental in passing this bill through Congress, 
 I shall esteem you the best friend I have on earth.' " 
 
 Mr. Stuart went to Mr. Webster; a bill was prepared and 
 submitted by Mr. Webster to the President, who approved it. 
 " This was the same bill," says Mr. Berrien, " which subse- 
 quently passed both Houses of Congress, and which was 
 returned by the President with his second veto." 
 
 On the 19th of August, the House being in committee of the 
 whole on the state of the Union, Mr, Sergeant moved to take 
 up House bill No. 14, being a bill reported some time previous 
 from the select committee appointed by the House on the sub- 
 ject of the currency, entitled " A bill to incorporate the sub- 
 scribers to the Fiscal Bank of the United States ;" and this he 
 moved to amend by striking out all after the enacting clause 
 and inserting the bill which had been so carefully prepared. 
 Not a word or a letter had been stricken out or added after 
 it left the hands of the President and he had declared he would 
 sign it. 
 
 Mr. Sergeant made some remarks explaining the bill, and 
 pointing out wherein it differed from the bill that had just bpen 
 vetoed. The name was new, but there were those, he said, who 
 entertained strong prejudices against the word bank, and there- 
 fore they had, in framing the bill, been careful not to use that 
 
134 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 word. If the word remained anywhere in the bill, " let it go, 
 let it go," said Mr. Sergeant. 
 
 Mr. Clay having addressed the Senate on the President's veto 
 of the Fiscal Bank bill, and commented thereon with some 
 causticity, and having spoken of a cabal which was said to 
 control Mr. Tyler, Mr. Rives, of Virginia, who seemed to be 
 the only friend Mr. Tyler had in the Senate, replied to him, 
 and a rather sharp encounter followed. 
 
 Mr, Rives was a gentleman of refined manners ; dignified and 
 courteous, with great self-command ; highly educated, not only 
 in the ordinary branches of a collegiate course, but also as a 
 lawyer and statesman. Possessed of an ample fortune, he read 
 law, not with the intention of practicing at the bar, but as a part 
 of the necessary studies of a statesman. Being the neighbor 
 of the venerable Mr. Madison, he enjoyed the rare opportunity 
 and felicity of growing up at the feet of the American Gamaliel 
 and imbibing republican principles at their fountain. 
 
 He was an agreeable speaker, — ready in debate, plausible 
 rather than profound, with more of the suavitcr in modo than 
 oi ih.Q fortiter in re. He could fence deftly with the small sword 
 of debate, but lacked the strength to wield the broadsword or 
 battle-axe. A close student, and making public affairs the 
 study of his life, he had a fund of political knowledge and 
 historic lore, the command of which availed him much, and 
 often gave him important advantages over others less accu- 
 fately informed. Though highly respected by his fellow-Sen- 
 ators, Mr. Clay included, he was no match for the latter in a 
 sharp encounter; indeed, no one in the Senate, composed as 
 that body was, and had been for many years, of able and bril- 
 liant statesmen and jurists, was his equal in an unpremeditated 
 discussion. As an illustration of Mr. Clay's power of speaking 
 extempore, I may here relate that at this time the nomination 
 of Edward Everett as minister to England was before the 
 Senate, and had been for some time, his confirmation being 
 strenuously opposed by Senators from the slave States for 
 reasons connected with " the peculiar institution." After a 
 laborious day, the Senate went into executive session, and took 
 up the question of confirming Mr. Everett. The debate was 
 
THE SECOND FISCAL BILL. t ■> c 
 
 protracted to a late hour, and, as it was not expected to be 
 closed and the vote taken before adjournment, Mr. Clay had left 
 his seat and taken his hat to leave the chamber. Some remarks 
 from a Southern Senator (said to be Mr. King, of Alabama) 
 attracted his attention, and he remained, walking up and down, 
 listening. The remarks became more and more objectionable 
 to him, and the reasons assigned for opposing Mr. Everett such 
 as he deemed highly unpatriotic, impolitic, and unjustifiable. 
 His feelings became excited, and when the Senator took his 
 seat he stepped into his own, and addressed the Vice-President 
 in reply to the Senator, pouring forth a torrent of impassioned 
 and overwhelming invective and argument such as my inform- 
 ants (Judge Mangum and Senator Simmons) stated they never 
 before heard or could have conceived of He seemed rapt, carried 
 away, as if unconscious of what he was saying. On closing, 
 the vote was taken, and Mr. Everett's nomination was con- 
 firmed by a large majority. 
 
 The " Fiscal Corporation" bill passed the House, and went 
 to the Senate on the 23d of August, was passed by the latter 
 without amendment on the 3d of September, and was sent to 
 the President next day. There was great anxiety among the 
 Whigs as to what the fate of the bill would be. Would it be 
 signed, or would it share the fate of the former and be returned 
 with a veto ? These questions were earnestly asked, but no one 
 could answer. 
 
 As the bill had been passed by both Houses of Congress just 
 as it left the hands of the President, it was not a little extraor- 
 dinary that there should be a doubt about its being signed ; but 
 while it had been passing through Congress there had been 
 certain signs and hints and innuendoes and givings-out at and 
 emanating from the White House which created apprehensions. 
 All eyes were turned to the " New York Herald," which for 
 some months had proved to be the indicator of what transpired 
 and would take place at the White House. Accordingly, on 
 the 7th September arrived here the " Herald" of the day pre- 
 ceding, containing a letter, dated on Saturday, the 4th, the day 
 on which the bill was presented to the President, which, with 
 remarkable accuracy, foreshadowed the objections which the 
 
136 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 President presented to the bill in his veto message, which was 
 sent to Congress on the 9th, five days after the letter was 
 -written, and which, the writer alleged, would be presented by 
 President Tyler ! 
 
 Were all, or was any one, of the cabinet consulted by the 
 President in regard to this veto message, or informed by him 
 what course he should pursue in regard to the bill ? Not one. 
 It was alleged that a certain " inner cabinet" were consulted by, 
 or dictated to, the President ; but no one of his constitutional 
 advisers knew what he intended to do until they learned, as the 
 rest of the world did, his determination from the correspondent 
 of the " New York Herald," and saw the message in print ! 
 
 Congress adjourned sine die on the 13th of September. 
 
 RESIGNATION OF THE CABINET. 
 
 On the nth of September all the members of the cabinet, 
 save Mr. Webster, sent their resignations to the President. 
 
 In tendering them, Messrs.~Ewing, Bell, and Badger accom- 
 panied them with, or afterwards published, statements setting 
 forth the causes which had induced them to take that step. 
 Mr. Ewing, in justification of himself and the course he had 
 taken, gave a narrative of the consultations and movements of 
 the President and others, acting at his instance, out of which 
 sprang the bill now vetoed. Speaking of the period during 
 which the bill was prepared and was going through Congress, 
 he said, " During this season of deep feeling and earnest exer- 
 tion upon our part, while we were zealously devoting our 
 talents and influence to serve and sustain you [the letter was 
 addressed to Mr. Tyler], the very secrets of your cabinet coun- 
 cils made their appearance in an infamous paper printed in a 
 neighboring city, the columns of which were daily charged 
 with flattery of yourself and foul abuse of your cabinet. All 
 this I bore ; for I felt that my services, so long as they could 
 avail, were due to the nation, — to that great and magnanimous 
 people whose suffrages elevated your predecessor to the station 
 which you now fill. 
 
 ******** 
 
 " This bill, framed and fashioned according to your own 
 
RESIGXATION OF THE CABINET. j^? 
 
 suggestions, was passed by large majorities through the two 
 Houses of Congress, and sent to you, and you rejected it. 
 Important as was the part which I had taken, at your request, 
 in the origination of the bill, and deeply as I was committed 
 for your action upon it, you nev^er consulted me on the subject 
 of the veto message. You did not even refer to it in conver- 
 sation, and the first notice I had of its contents was derived 
 from rumor. [The " New York Herald."] 
 
 " Strange as it may seem, the veto message attacks in an 
 especial manner the very provisions which were inserted at 
 your request; and even the name of the corporation, which 
 was not only agreed to by you, but especially changed to meet 
 your expressed wishes, is made the subject of your criticism. 
 . . . No doubt was thrown out on the subject by you until the 
 letter of Mr. Botts came to your hands. Soon after the reading 
 of that letter, you threw out intimations that you would veto 
 the bill if it were not postponed. That letter I did and do 
 most unequivocally condemn; but it did not affect the consti- 
 tutionality of the bill, or justify you in rejecting it on that 
 ground." 
 
 Mr. Bell and Mr. Badger followed with statements corrobo- 
 rating the allegations of Mr. Ewing. Mr. Crittenden simply 
 addressed a brief note to the President tendering his resigna- 
 tion, on the ground that circumstances had occurred in the 
 course of the President's administration, and chiefly by his 
 exercise of the veto power, which constrained him to believe 
 that his longer continuance in office as a member of his 
 cabinet would be neither agreeable to him (the President), 
 useful to the country, nor honorable to himself. 
 
 Mr. Granger simply resigned, making no public statement. 
 
 Mr. Webster, on the contrary, remained, addressing a note 
 to the editors of the " National Intelligencer," stating that he 
 remained in his place, first, because he had seen no sufficient 
 reason for the dissolution of the late cabinet by the voluntary 
 act of its own members ; secondly, he stated that if he had 
 seen reasons to resign he should not have done so without 
 giving the President reasonable notice and affording him time 
 Vol.. II. lo 
 
138 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 to select the hands t j which he should confide the delicate and 
 important affairs now pending in that department. 
 
 Mr. Webster winds up by throwing a dart at his late col- 
 leagues for resigning without giving the President reasonable 
 notice, etc. How much ground there was for this censure will 
 appear from the fact that, from the promptitude with which a 
 new cabinet was appointed, no doubt existed that the President 
 had already provided himself with new counselors, who were 
 appointed on the 13th, two days after the resignations; and 
 the conclusion is irresistible, from all the attending circum- 
 stances, that had the retiring members of the cabinet not 
 resigned they would have been dismissed in a very brief 
 period. They were, in truth, already virtually ignored, and 
 treated as if it were the intention of the President to compel 
 them to resign out of sheer self-respect. 
 
 Mr. Benton has stated that, notwithstanding the tone of Mr. 
 Webster's letter, he had agreed to go out with his colleagues, 
 and was expected to have done so at the time they sent in their 
 resignations ; but in the mean while means had been found to 
 effect a change in his determination, — probably by disavowing 
 the application of any part of the " New York Herald's" letter 
 to him. 
 
 And now, what was that letter, and by whom written? 
 
 Durins" the whole of the called session it was known that 
 the " New York Herald" had a correspondent at Washington 
 who had access to the President at all times, to whom matters 
 were revealed known only to the President and his cabinet, 
 and intentions as to the future confided of which the members 
 of the cabinet were profoundly ignorant. 
 
 As early as the 12th day of June, the Herald's correspondent 
 thus vaticinated : " If the influence of Mr. Clay shall carry 
 through Congress a bank charter conflicting at all with the 
 President's constitutional notions, it will be vetoed by John Tyler 
 beyond a doubt, . . . a7id probably cajry jfoJin Tyler into the next 
 Presidency^ " It will be vetoed," and it was vetoed. The 
 writer spoke " by authority." But the particular letter of 
 which Colonel Benton spoke, which was so offensive and in- 
 sulting to the members of the cabinet, and which undoubtedly 
 
RESIGNATIO^V OF THE CABINET. ^-.g 
 
 had much influence in determining them to resign, was dated 
 the 6th of September, and, among other things, contained what 
 follows : 
 
 " The cabinet, one and all, are hard at work to allay all 
 open evidences of a rupture, and counseling their friends to 
 go home and raise the standard of revolt there, while their 
 own efforts are directed to undermine and circumvent the 
 President here. This is their game. Who would have be- 
 lieved that high-minded and honorable men (for such members 
 of the cabinet ought to be) ivould thus concert a system of party 
 movement, by which to destroy the very man at whose will they 
 hold their offices, and %vho is constitutionally responsible for all 
 their official acts ? What treachery ! what ingratitude ! WJiy 
 do they not act like men, a?id at once give in their resignations, 
 and suffer the President to bring to his aid such men as he has 
 confidence in ?" 
 
 No doubt was entertained by the members of the cabinet 
 when this appeared that this language — and there was more of 
 it — was inspired, if not dictated, by Mr. Tyler, and that instead 
 of dealing frankly with the members of his cabinet, and telling 
 them that the time had come when, as they could no longer 
 act harmoniously together, they must separate, he took this 
 indirect course to compel them to resign. They did so, as the 
 only means of preserving their self-respect. 
 
 It was fortunate for the country that Mr. Webster remained 
 at his post, as there were serious matters of controversy between 
 us and England, which he had the high honor and merit of 
 settling by what is known as the Webster-Ashburton treaty. 
 No one, perhaps, was so well fitted to carry on the negotiation 
 with Lord Ashburton, and no one certainly could maintain the 
 principles to be settled with greater ability and success, as tlie 
 result proved. 
 
 The vacancies in the cabinet were filled with a celerity that 
 left no doubt that the President had already provided for the 
 occasion, anticipating its occurrence, or resolved that his cabi- 
 net should be re-organized. The following gentlemen were 
 appointed to the several places mentioned, viz.: Walter P'or- 
 ward, of Pennsylvania (appointed First Cornptrollcr under Gen- 
 
I40 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 eral Harrison), Secretary of the Treasury; John McLean, of 
 Ohio (one of the Justices of the Supreme Court), Secretary of 
 War; Abel P. Upshur, of Virginia, Secretary of the Navy; 
 Hugh S. Legare, of South CaroHna, Attorney-General ; Charles 
 A. Wickliffe, of Kentucky, Postmaster-General. Judge McLean 
 not accepting, John C. Spencer, of New York, was appointed 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 These were all men of distinguished ability, John C. Spencer 
 and Hugh S. Legare of eminent national reputation. Mr. Upshur 
 was a man of perhaps equal ability, but unknown out of Virginia. 
 
 RUPTURE BETWEEN THE WHIGS AND THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 After the veto of the "Fiscal Corporation" bill and the resig- 
 nation of the five members of the cabinet, all intercourse be- 
 tween the Whigs and Mr. Tyler ceased, and a complete aliena- 
 tion took place. True, the new cabinet was composed of quasi 
 Whigs, but this fact failed to inspire the party with confidence. 
 The Whigs in Congress took council together, and resolved to 
 separate themselves from a President in whom they could no 
 longer confide. 
 
 A committee, consisting of Senators Berrien, of Georgia, 
 Tallmadge, of New York, and Smith, of Indiana, and Repre- 
 sentatives Everett, of Vermont, Mason, of Ohio, Kennedy, of 
 Maryland, J. C. Clark, of New York, and Raynor, of North 
 Carolina, was appointed to prepare an address, denominated a 
 Manifesto^ to the Whigs of the whole country. It was drawn 
 up by Mr. Kennedy, reported to another meeting, adopted, and 
 extensively circulated. It very ably, yet temperately, set forth 
 the whole matter of difference between them and the President, 
 — his equivocations and tergiversations, — in short, the causes 
 which had brought about the rupture and alienation now exist- 
 ing between them. 
 
 The address counseled the Whigs to treat the President with 
 all the respect due to the high station he filled, and to give him 
 a fair, honest, and cordial support in all that was right, opposing, 
 not factiously, whatever of his measures were wrong ; but it 
 utterly repudiated all responsibility, on their part, for the meas- 
 ures of his administration. 
 
THE TWENTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. j^i 
 
 Colonel Benton has stated that, during the first week of the 
 extra session, Mr. Gilmer, of Virginia, held a conversation with 
 a Whig member of the House (was it Henry A. Wise ?), and 
 suggested to him that they might become important, leading 
 men, and get the control of the government, by withdrawing 
 Tyler from the Whig and making him the head of a third 
 party. The scheme was based upon a knowledge of Mr. Tyler's 
 character and antecedents, and upon a calculation that he would 
 be dazzled with the idea of being the head of a third party, and 
 let the government, through his own indolence and want of 
 business habits, fall into the hands of those who pleased him. 
 This was the scheme. The movement went on, and Mr. Tyler 
 fell into it. " The new party germinated, microscopically small, 
 but potent in the President's veto power." On the breach 
 occurring between the Whigs and Mr. Tyler, "The Democ- 
 racy," says Colonel Benton, "rejoiced, and patted Mr. Tyler 
 on the shoulder, — even those who despised the new party. Mr. 
 Tyler was greatly exalted." Yes, but, as we see, merely to 
 encourage him in setting himself up against the Whigs and in 
 maintaining the attitude which kept up the breach with them. 
 Their flatteries were sinister, their caresses treacherous ; but 
 his vanity so blinded him that he could not see their true char- 
 acter, and convinced him that he was really the great, morally 
 independent man they represented him to be. 
 
 FIRST REGULAR SESSION OF THE TWENTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. 
 
 Congress again met on the first Monday of December, and 
 the most noticeable part of President Tyler's message was the 
 recommendation of the establishment of a board of exchequer 
 at the seat of government, the plan of which was to be sub- 
 mitted to Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury, and 
 which, when submitted, was found to contain all the charac- 
 teristics of a bank, and a government bank at that, within the 
 control of the Executive, — a bank of discount and deposit, 
 which should supply a national currency of paper money. The 
 plan was modeled after the English Exchequer : it, however, 
 found no favor in either House of Congress, and was soon 
 rejected. 
 
142 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 The singular spectacle was now presented of an adminis- 
 tration without a party in Congress, and without friends, save 
 a squad numbering less than a corporal's guard. Both Whigs 
 and Democrats kept aloof from the President, and would be- 
 come in no way responsible for his measures ; yet the ma- 
 chinery of the government worked smoothly, — far more so 
 than at the called session. Never were the executive and legfis- 
 lative branches of the government more independent of each 
 other, 
 
 A GREAT CONTEST FOR THE RIGHT OF PETITION. MORE EX- 
 CITING SCENES IN THE HOUSE. — MR. ADAMS, THE CHAMPION 
 OF THE RIGHT OF PETITION, IS FIERCELY ASSAILED BY WISE, 
 GILMER, AND MARSHALL. 
 
 Commencing on the 14th of January, 1842, for two weeks 
 the House of Representatives was almost a continual scene, 
 from day to day, of excitement, disorder, heated and acrimo- 
 nious speeches, and confusion. 
 
 The scene began by Mr. Adams offering, in the morning, as 
 usual, a large number of petitions, some praying one thing and 
 some another, all of which were, of course, rejected. He then 
 offered what purported to be the proceedings of a meeting of 
 citizens of Habersham County, Georgia, representing to Con- 
 gress, as a great grievance, that Mr. Adams had been placed 
 at the head of the committee on foreign relations, and praying 
 his removal. They also expressed their opinion, in respectful 
 language, that he was suffering under monomania on every 
 subject in which a dark skin was involved. The memorial was 
 sent to Mr. Adams himself. 
 
 Mr. Adams wished it read, as it was couched in very respect- 
 ful language, and claimed the riglit, as a privilege, to be heard 
 in his own defense. The reception was objected to, and a 
 scene of confusion ensued. It was pretty clear that the pur- 
 ported proceedings were a hoax, — that no such meeting had 
 been held. The .whole day was spent in altercation, Mr. 
 Adams claiming the privilege, and being determined to address 
 the House in self-defense, and his opponents as resolved he 
 should not. The House adjourned amid this confusion, and of 
 
CONTEST FOR THE RIGHT OF PETITION. j^^ 
 
 course the unfinished business came up the next morning, Mr. 
 Adams finally obtaining leave to defend himself; but in doing 
 so he was more aggressive than defensive, and only increased 
 the already highly-irritated feelings of his antagonists. 
 
 In the course of his remarks he mentioned a striking and 
 significant fact, namely, that the United States was the only 
 nation that had refused to recognize the independence of 
 Hayti ; all the European nations, including France, from whom 
 she had rebelled, had recognized it. 
 
 Lord Morpeth, afterwards Earl of Carlisle, who was then 
 in this country, occupied, by courtesy, during this memorable 
 conflict, a seat on the floor of the House, next to that of Mr. 
 Adams, for whom he entertained a profound respect. 
 
 Another petition presented by Mr. Adams was one from 
 Haverhill, Massachusetts, praying for a dissolution of the 
 Union, which he moved to refer to a select committee with 
 instructions to report adversely to the prayer of the petition. 
 Mr. Wise raised the question of reception ; but Mr. Gilmer 
 moved a resolution which had precedence, — that the member 
 from Massachusetts be censured by the House for offering such 
 a paper. The House was at once in the greatest commotion. 
 Point after point of order was raised, and motion upon motion 
 made ; but Mr. Gilmer was declared to be in order. 
 
 Meantime, a caucus of Southern members was held, at which 
 certain proceedings to take place in the House the next day 
 were agreed upon. 
 
 On the meeting of the House the next morning, after some 
 other business was disposed of, the Speaker announced the first 
 business to be the motion to lay the resolution of Mr. Gilmer, 
 to censure Mr. Adams, on the table. On this the ayes and 
 noes were taken, and resulted, ayes 94, noes 112, — so it was 
 not laid on the table. 
 
 Mr. Marshall then rose (according to arrangement in caucus), 
 and asked Mr. Gilmer to accept for his resolution a substitute, 
 which, that the gentleman from Virginia might know what it 
 was, he would read in his place. He then read a preamble 
 setting forth the fact of Mr. Adams having offered such a peti- 
 tion, — that it struck at the very existence of the government 
 
144 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 and Constitution they had sworn to support, — that such an act 
 was in itself high treason, etc. The resolutions then followed, 
 in substance that Mr. Adams deserved, and should receive, the 
 censure of this House for what he had done. 
 
 Mr. Marshall said he knew full well the responsibility he in- 
 curred by offering his preamble and resolutions ; but he had 
 weighed the consequences. He disclaimed all personal hos- 
 tility to Mr. Adams. His whole course towards that distin- 
 guished man proved that he could be actuated by no unkind 
 feeling towards him. The name of that gentleman, and the 
 name of his family, had been connected with his name and the 
 name of his family in days long gone. He had supported him 
 when he first came upon the stage of action for the Presidency; 
 he had supported and defended his administration ; he had 
 ever respected him. He commented upon the value of the 
 Union, as the bond which bound us together and made us a 
 great and a powerful nation ; without it we should be broken 
 into fragments. He looked upon the proposition even to dis- 
 cuss this subject with horror. It was stupefying. This propo- 
 sition had come, too, from Massachusetts! that cradle of 
 liberty! He spoke very eloquently for about twenty minutes, 
 the House, in the mean time, being silent as death, and anxiety 
 and corrern being depicted upon every countenance. 
 
 The substitute was of course accepted, and Mr. Marshall 
 moved its adoption by the House. 
 
 When Mr. Marshall sat down, no one rose, and the House 
 continued for about a minute perfectly silent. The Chair then 
 said, " If the gentleman from Massachusetts wishes to say any- 
 thing, he will be heard." 
 
 Mr. Adams rose, and the members gathered round and near 
 him, anxious to catch every word he should utter. He did not 
 know that he had anything to say at this time, — not much, at 
 least. He wished to know the disposition of the House ; when 
 it called upon him to defend himself he should do so. 
 
 Mr. Adams spoke of the grievances which his constituents 
 and the people of the free States generally complained of, and 
 which he would show when the time comes for him to make 
 his defense. He replied to Mr. Marshall : that gentleman had 
 
CONTEST FOR THE RIGHT OF PETITION. 
 
 145 
 
 disclaimed all personal hostility to him, and yet he had poured 
 out the phials of his wrath upon his head ; he had denounced 
 him as guilty of treason. "Why, sir," said Mr. Adams, "does 
 the gentleman think his puny intellect can make treason? Sir, 
 the Constitution has defined what treason is." 
 
 Mr. Adams spoke of the feeling at the North, and of the op- 
 pressions of this government : these were oppressions which 
 the gentleman himself had been chiefly instrumental in im- 
 posing upon them ; and if there is no actual remedy for these 
 and others, the people at the North would dissolve the 
 Union. He called aloud for the reading of the two or three 
 first paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence. The 
 Clerk was some time in finding the volume, and Mr. Adams 
 continued to call several times to him to "read the first para- 
 graphs of the Declaration of Independence," — " Read them, 
 sir, and let the House listen." The Clerk read, and as he came 
 to a passage which Mr. Adams thought applied, he exclaimed, 
 " Read that again," " There, sir, read that again." The reading 
 concluded, Mr. Adams went on and showed that the people 
 have a right if oppressed — if the objects for which government 
 is established are not realized — to change or abolish their gov- 
 ernment, and they would do it. If the rule which excluded 
 people from the North from coming here with their oetitions 
 were continued, — if, when they come here with them, they were 
 continued to be thrown back in their faces, — they would resist ; 
 they would dissever the Union. 
 
 Being about to close, Mr. Cooper, of Pennsylvania, rose and 
 said he wished to intimate to Mr. Adams that it was intended 
 that the vote now about to be taken should be the final action 
 on the subject, and would, if decided in the affirmative, be the 
 censure intended. He wished his friend to understand that this 
 would be the only opportunity, perhaps, he would have of 
 making his defense. 
 
 Mr. Adams said if the House so determined, be it so, he 
 must submit ; but it was an unheard-of procedure thus to act, 
 to call upon a man without notice to defend himself against 
 such serious charges. 
 
 JNIr. Wise now, in a most solemn and lugubrious manner, said 
 
146 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 he wished the House to Hsten to a voice from the tomb. He sent 
 to the Clerk's table Washington's Farewell Address to be read, 
 and as the Clerk came to certain passages, he exclaimed, as 
 Mr. Adams had done before, " Read that again, sir," " Read that 
 again." The imitation was too palpable not to be observed, and 
 produced a ludicrous rather than a serious effect. The reading 
 being closed, Mr. Wise commenced a speech in which he in- 
 dulged in a tirade of the most acrimonious and insulting lan- 
 guage towards Mr. Adams, charging him with treading on the 
 graves of the old English party and of his father, and with 
 being a vampire, etc. ; asserting that both father and son were 
 prostrated by the Democracy; that this same English party 
 now existed and was in alliance with England against the 
 South. Without concluding his bitter and rambling harangue, 
 Mr. Wise had exhausted himself, and asked an adjournment 
 of the House, which was granted. 
 
 On the next day Mr. Wise resumed, and proceeded for two 
 hours and a half in a strain similar to that in which he indulged 
 the day before : the burden of his remarks being an English 
 party in the country; the Abolitionists; the arrogance and 
 insolence of England; her wish to separate the Union; her 
 naval power and her ambition; the Northern Democracy; 
 Southern slaves; de omnibus rebus ct qtnbusdam aliis, including 
 Mr. Adams, of whom he never lost sight, and who was the 
 wind-mill Mr. Wise took for an English party. 
 
 Mr. Wise having concluded, Mr. Adams claimed, and finally 
 obtained, the floor, upon a point of order; namely, that the 
 House could not entertain these resolutions, inasmuch as they 
 charged him [Mr. Adams] with two high crimes, — to wit, sub- 
 ornation of perjury, and high treason, which this House could 
 not try. 
 
 As he proceeded, he alluded to the case of Mr. Wise and the 
 Cilley duel, and the most profound silence reigned in the House. 
 " Four years ago," said Mr. Adams, "there came into the House 
 a man whose hands were dripping with the blood of a fellow- 
 member. He had desired to be excused from voting on this 
 case because I had then been instrumental in saving him from 
 expulsion. I then did express my opinion against the right of 
 
CONTEST FOR THE RIGHT OF PETITION. 
 
 147 
 
 the House to proceed in that manner, and it is likely that I 
 saved that blood-stained man from being expelled." 
 
 The House was thrilled by this terrible attack. ]\Tr. Adams 
 uttered this sentence, dwelling with emphasis upon "dripping" 
 and " blood," with powerful dramatic effect,. and it produced a 
 corresponding sensation in the House. 
 
 ]Mr. Adams turned upon Mr. Marshall, and spoke of the 
 spirit which the preamble and resolutions breathed towards 
 him. Mr. Marshall had alluded to the intercourse which had 
 existed between his uncle [Chief-Justice Marshall] and his 
 [Mr. Adams's] father. If he had thought of that when he 
 penned them, he should have supposed they would not have 
 breathed so much vindictiveness. 
 
 He said it was impossible that he could have an impartial 
 jury in that House ; he wished to know if the slaveholders in 
 that House were impartial jurors in the case? No: they had a 
 sordid personal interest in the affair, and could not be impartial. 
 
 But he was to be treated with mory ! He disdained and 
 cast away their grace and mercy ; he defied them ; he had con- 
 stituents to go to ; expel him from the House, and it would not 
 be long before they would see him again. 
 
 After Mr. Adams had concluded, Mr. Fillmore moved to lay 
 the whole subject on the table. This motion was negatived, 
 ayes 90, noes 100, — the Southern members generally, and the 
 Northern Democrats, voting in the negative. 
 
 The day being spent, the House adjourned. 
 
 On the succeeding day, the subject coming up, the House 
 came to a vote upon Mr. Adams's question of jurisdiction, upon 
 which the vote stood — in favor of its jurisdiction, 118; against it, 
 75. So the subject was still before that body. The House was 
 now more calm and disposed to listen to sober discussion. Mr. 
 Underwood, of Kentucky, a Whig, and a cool, dispassionate, 
 fair man, addressed it in a very sensible, judicious, feeling 
 speech on the subject of slavery. He condemned the twenty- 
 first rule, which excluded petitions from being read, and thought 
 it had been the prolific source of the disorder and bad feeling 
 that had long reigned in that body. He gave the members 
 from the slaveholding States a solemn warning that the course 
 
148 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 they were pursuing might bring about a dissolution of the 
 Union. "And let me tell gentlemen," said Mr. Underwood, 
 
 "that A DISSOLUTION OF THE UnION IS A DISSOLUTION OF SLA- 
 VERY." This was prophecy, now fulfilled. 
 
 Mr. Botts, of Virginia, and Mr. Arnold, of Tennessee, both 
 Whigs, spoke with equal boldness and candor. Mr. Botts 
 passed a high eulogium upon the venerable gentleman from 
 Massachusetts, — spoke of the manner in which he had been 
 irritated and chafed in that body by others, and asked what the 
 offense was that he had committed. He had presented a peti- 
 tion, and had asked to have it referred to a select committee, 
 of which he, of course, would be the chairman, which should 
 report adverse to the prayer, and set forth in shining light, and 
 with all the ability and wisdom of that gentleman, the evils that 
 would follow should the prayer of the petitioners be granted. 
 
 But, Mr. Botts said, the question of dissolution of the Union 
 did not sound now for the first time in his ears. He then 
 charged the Secretary of the Navy, Mr, Upshur, with being an 
 open and undisguised advocate of the immediate dissolution of 
 the Union, which Mr. Wise denied. 
 
 Mr. Saltonstall, Whig, of Massachusetts, followed in an ani- 
 mated speech in defense of Mr. Adams, and the day closed, the 
 subject being still undisposed of 
 
 Mr. Marshall took the floor the next morning — the House 
 having refused to lay the subject on the table — in support of his 
 preamble and resolutions, and, in reply to Mr. Wise, defended 
 the Federal party against his charge that they were an English 
 party : he entered his solemn and unqualified denial that the 
 Northern men, or that the Federal party, ever were traitors to 
 their country, or a banded faction conspiring to bring us back 
 under those very chains which they themselves had cut asunder ! 
 He spoke of General Hamilton, whom he eulogized as one of 
 the ablest and most patriotic men among all that splendid galaxy 
 which the Revolution made conspicuous. Mr. Marshall said 
 Mr. Wise's five-hour speech might be summed up in four reso- 
 lutions or propositions ; thus : 
 
 " I. The existence of slavery as an institution is essential to 
 the preservation of liberty and equality. 
 
CONTEST FOR THE RIGHT OF PETITION. 
 
 149 
 
 " 2. There has been from the foundation of the government 
 an English party, led and headed by the House of Braintree ; 
 its object being to bring this country back under the dominion 
 of England. 
 
 " 3. That this faction was once crushed by a slaveholder 
 (Mr. Jefferson), that it was again crushed by another slave- 
 holder (General Jackson), was now appearing again, headed by 
 the gentleman from Massachusetts, but would be again crushed 
 if the whole South would but unite with the Democracy of the 
 North to resist this attack on liberty and equality, under the 
 lead of another slaveholder, John Tyler. 
 
 "4. That one of the schemes of this English party to destroy 
 this confederacy is to establish a tariff by which the English 
 commerce shall be curtailed, a rival raised up to her in the 
 North, her manufacturing industry palsied, and the North put 
 in her place as the great manufacturer for the world ; for all 
 which England is to aid in dissolving the Union." 
 
 This rediictio ad absurdinn created a roar of laughter, in which 
 Mr. Wise himself heartily joined. The question recurring on 
 the adoption of Mr. Marshall's preamble and resolutions, Mr. 
 Adams rose and addressed the House : 
 
 " I have heard it said by a person acquainted with Warren 
 Hastings that when he was brought before the judicial tribunal 
 of his country (the House of Lords) for the commission of 
 high crimes, — the trial of whom lasted eleven years, — when 
 the thunders of the eloquence of Edmund Burke and Richard 
 Brinsley Sheridan were poured upon his head, he declared that 
 he almost thought he was guilty of the crimes charged upon 
 him, so powerful was the eloquence with which the charges 
 had been made and commented on. The eloquence with which 
 the gentleman from Kentucky had now assailed him, under the 
 profession of having no personal feeling, was equal to that of 
 Burke and Sheridan combined. But he (Mr. Adams) could 
 assure the gentleman and the House that not for a single 
 instant had the idea been impressed upon his mind that he was 
 guilty of any part of the charges brought against him. Not 
 for one moment had he been driven from that sense of con- 
 scious innocence with which he met the charge, coming, 
 
150 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 as it did, from the most extraordinary combination of parties 
 that had ever been formed in this House, being the exclusive 
 Tyler men, or Corporal's Guard, headed and led on by His 
 Excellency, Ex-Governor Gilmer. Then there were the Georgia 
 Whigs; then some Virginia Whigs who were not Tylerites; 
 and then the Democracy of the North, the auxiliaries of " the 
 peculiar institution." But the leaders themselves could not 
 agree : the commander-in-chief from Accomac, and the admiral 
 of the squadron from Kentucky, were as wide apart as the poles. 
 
 Mr. Adams presently turned upon Mr. Rhett, and noticed 
 the preamble and resolutions he had prepared and intended 
 to offer, declaring the necessity of dissolving the Union, and 
 thought it very strange that he should now vote Mr. Adams 
 guilty of treason and subornation of perjury for having pre- 
 sented a petition exactly agreeing with his own views. This 
 raised a hearty laugh at Mr. Rhett's expense. 
 
 Mr. Adams continued his remarks; but before he had con- 
 cluded, the House adjourned. 
 
 A week had been consumed in an attempt to censure and 
 expel Mr. Adams, — a week of the most intense excitement and 
 confusion. Sunday now intervened, a day of rest and reflection. 
 
 The death and funeral of Senator Nathan Dixon, of Rhode 
 Island, intervening, postponed the further action of the House 
 on the question of privilege for two or three days. When the 
 subject was resumed, Mr. Gilmer, one of the Tyler " corporal's 
 guard," addressed the House for two hours in support of the 
 proposition. 
 
 The latter then rose and spoke in his defense. As God was 
 his judge, he said, he had rather a man would stab him in his 
 seat than present such a proposition as the gentleman from 
 Kentucky and the gentleman from Virginia had made, invoking 
 the censure of the House upon the most conscientious of the 
 acts he had ever performed here. Among the greatest causes 
 of the pain he felt was that the name of Marshall should be 
 connected with such a proceeding as this ; a name which, up 
 to the present time, had been unsullied and synonymous with 
 pre-eminent abilities, and all that could dignify and adorn man. 
 He then turned upon the present possessor of that name, who. 
 
CONTEST FOR THE RIGHT OF PETITION. 
 
 151 
 
 if he has forgotten the terrible, the unmerciful, the excoriating 
 castigation he then received, is more callous than most men. 
 Certainly he remembered it for years afterwards, and spoke of 
 the part he had acted — drawn in by others — with extreme regret, 
 declaring, in his emphatic language, that " he suffered under 
 that castigation little less than the torments of the damned." 
 
 Mr. Gilmer's turn came next; and well might he tremble, 
 after the excruciating torture his friend and co-laborer in this 
 miserable plot had just undergone in his presence; and before 
 Mr. Adams let him go from his hands, he had abundant reason 
 to know he had not trembled without reason. Nor did the 
 gentleman from Accotnac, as Mr. Adams always designated 
 him, escape. 
 
 Mr. Adams then adverted to the fact that all these charges, 
 accusations, and invectives against him came from Virginia ; 
 for Mr. Marshall also was a Virginian by birth or descent. 
 This led him to speak of Virginia, of the feelings he had ever 
 entertained for that State, and the obligations he had been under 
 to her most distinguished men ; those men that had made her 
 distinguished, from Washington down to Mr. Monroe. In 
 enumerating these, he was necessarily led into a review of his 
 whole public life, from the time he was first appointed a foreign 
 minister, at the age of twenty-seven, by Washington, down to 
 the close of Mr. Monroe's administration, when he was elected 
 President to succeed him. This elicited the deepest attention 
 from members who had gathered around the "old man elo- 
 quent" at the commencement of his remarks. It was history, — 
 history of the most interesting character, unwritten history, or 
 memoirs, never before heard, and never again to be heard till 
 it shall appear in " The Life and Times of John Adams and 
 John Quincy Adams, written by J. Q. Adams." I could not 
 but think, while Mr. Adams was delivering his plain, modest, 
 interesting narrative before that audience, of Herodotus, the 
 Father of History, reciting his writings before assembled and 
 enchanted crowds of Greeks. His, however, were written, — 
 this was oral and extempore. The whole scene was impressive. 
 
 " Conticuere omnes ora tencbant." 
 
152 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Every eye was intent upon the time-honored speaker, in the 
 hall and in the crowded galleries ; all hung upon his words, 
 and drank them in as the words of a sage and philosopher about 
 to descend to the tomb. Mr. Adam's simply gave a plain, un- 
 ostentatious recital of the principal events of his public life, 
 the part he had acted under Washington, Jefferson, Madison, 
 and Monroe, together with the lofty character he gave these 
 Virginians of the oldeii time. Little did his assailants know 
 who John Quincy Adams was till they waked him up. They 
 had for ten years been accustomed to see before them — always 
 in his place — an old and infirm man, tottering with age and 
 trembling with palsy, whom they looked upon as a monomaniac, 
 or in his dotage. Of his former history, or of the eminent ser- 
 vices he had rendered his country in the highest stations at 
 home and abroad, they probably knew little. Was such a man 
 to be feared ? But in this palsied old man, bent with age and 
 tottering under bodily infirmities, they aroused a giant, in 
 whose grasp they were but as children, and before whose 
 terrible power they cowed and trembled. 
 
 Mr. Adams stated one historical fact of great importance, 
 which was before unknown ; namely, that while minister at the 
 Russian court, which was, at the time he went there, under 
 the control of Napoleon, whose minister at that court, Caulain- 
 court, was nearly as powerful as Alexander himself, twenty-five 
 American vessels with valuable cargoes were sequestered by 
 French influence, and that he succeeded in getting the seques- 
 tration removed and the vessels released, while not another 
 ambassador there dared to oppose the French minister or 
 French influence, and that the release of these twenty-five 
 American vessels was one of the causes which led to the inva- 
 sion of Russia by Napoleon, and consequently to his downfall. 
 
 Mr. Adams took occasion, in the course of his remarks, to 
 read a pamphlet against slavery. These, he said, were glow- 
 ing words : the writer had called the institution " the plague- 
 spot of the country," and in the most glowing language de- 
 picted its evils, and contrasted the free State of New York 
 with the slave State of Virginia. Mr. Adams asked who it 
 was supposed was the writer of this able production, which did 
 
CONTEST FOR THE RIGHT OF PETITION. 150 
 
 honor to the head and heart of the author. Could it possibly 
 be one who was now in conspiracy with others to destroy him 
 and had assailed him with the fury of a tiger? Could it be 
 one who was anxious by his labors now to atone for the offense 
 he had committed by writing this pamphlet ? Was the gentle- 
 man now desirous to'cover this "plague-spot"? 
 
 The pamphlet was written by Mr. Marshall. 
 
 Mr. Marshall, being out when Mr. Adams read from his pam- 
 phlet, made some inquiries of Mr. Adams what it was he had 
 been readhig. 
 
 Mr. Adams said, " From the pamphlet you gave me the other 
 day; I suppose it was not confidential?" 
 
 " No," Mr. Marshall said, " he knew his man." 
 
 Mr. Adams. — " I don't know what he means by saying 'He 
 knows his man.' " 
 
 Mr. Marshall. — "I knew you were not to be trusted." 
 
 Mr. Adams. — "Ah, the gentleman is touched! is he? he 
 makes a personality where I made none. I commended his 
 pamphlet, — its language, 'plague-spot,' and all: it is as true as 
 it is eloquent. The sentiments," said Mr. Adams, "expressed 
 are the sentiments of the patriots of the Revolution, — of 
 Washington, of Jefferson, of Madison, and of Monroe." 
 
 Mr. Adams referred, to the charge of Mr. Botts against a 
 high functionary of the government, the Secretary of the Navy, 
 of being in favor of a dissolution. " Did lie deny, as the 
 member from Accomac did for him, that he was not in favor of 
 dissolving the Union? Oh, no! his denial was upon condi- 
 tions! and what were they? He preferred ' a dissolution of 
 the Union over the systems of policy which he regarded as 
 fatal to all true liberty.' And so do the signers to the petition 
 I presented, and for the presentation of which I am charged 
 with high treason and subornation of perjury ! What were 
 these systems of policy to which the Secretary preferred a 
 dissolution of the Union ? The Secretary would sooner see- 
 the Union dissolved than witness the establishment of any 
 principles which defeat its true character and defeat its legiti- 
 mate objects. Its legitimate objects! what are they? Is a 
 
 protective tariff a legitimate object?" So help him God, he 
 Vol. II. II 
 
154 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 believed it to be one of the legitimate objects of this govern- 
 ment. He said the Secretary had evaded the subject, — he had 
 not come out with a prompt categorical negative to the charge of 
 the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Botts. He showed that those 
 who had signed the petition he had presented stood on precisely 
 the same ground that the Secretary of the Navy had taken. 
 
 The resolutions of Mr. Rhett, of South Carolina, to which 
 Mr. Adams made allusion, were drawn up to be presented to 
 the House, some years before, when the Southern members 
 retired in a body and held a caucus, the result of which was the 
 adoption ©f the famous twenty-first rule. These resolutions de- 
 clared that " the Constitution of the United States having proved 
 inadequate to protect the Southern States in the peaceable enjoy- 
 ment of their rights and property, it is expedient that the said 
 Constitution should be amended or the union of the States 
 DISSOLVED ;" and " that a committee of two members from each 
 State in the Union be appointed to report upon the expediency 
 and practicability of amending the Constitution, or the best 
 MEANS OF peaceably DISSOLVING THE Union." And yet Mr. 
 Rhett and his associates were now virtuously indignant at Mr. 
 Adams for offering a petition to dissolve the Union, accom- 
 panied by a motion to refer it to a select committee to report 
 against the prayer of the petitioners. 
 
 But all things must have an end, and so had this question 
 involving the right of petition, the whole subject being laid on 
 the table. 
 
 Upon announcing the vote to lay the whole subject on the 
 table, — ayes 144, noes 52, — the Speaker said the further recep- 
 tion of petitions was in order, whereupon Mr. Adams, having 
 had the floor to present petitions when this emeute of a fort- 
 night's duration began, proceeded to offer the one hundred and 
 .one petitions he then (two weeks previous) held in his hand. 
 The circumstance created much merriment in the House, — Mr. 
 Adams offering his petitions as demurely as if nothing had 
 occurred. 
 
 The Adams affair was followed next morning by an episode 
 which put the House in excellent humor. Upon the opening 
 of the House, Mr. Gilmer rose and desired permission to present 
 
CONTEST FOR THE RIGHT OF PETITION. j r r- 
 
 a paper, upon which he wished the action of that body. From 
 his very solemn manner, something very grave and serious was 
 apprehended. Leave being given, he sent the paper to the 
 Clerk, who read it in a clear, sonorous voice. It was signed by 
 Mr. Gilmer, Mr. Rhett, Mr. Hunter, and Mr. Proffit, asking to 
 be excused from further service on the committee of foreign 
 relations, alleging that after the course taken by Mr. Adams 
 and the action of the House, they could no longer serve on the 
 committee with him. Upon the question being put whether 
 the gentlemen should be excused, there was a tremendous 
 response of av ! The negative being called for, a single iio was 
 faintly uttered, followed by a most hearty and very general 
 laugh, from the fact that the gentlemen had kicked themselves, 
 when they had expected to kick Mr. Adams, out of the com- 
 mittee. Quite a difference ; and their surprised and disap- 
 pointed looks only made the laugh the more hearty. On the 
 whole, they found "the old man an ugly customer." 
 
 And so did ex-governor " Extra Billy Smith," of Virginia, as 
 he was and is still called. During the iiielcc, this gentleman 
 made some insidious proposition. Mr. Adams inquired its 
 intent. " I made it for your benefit," replied Mr. Smith. 
 Upon which Mr. Adams instantly exclaimed, '' NouTkiAauxilio 
 dcfenso7'ibns istis!' This produced a laugh among those who 
 understood Latin. But Mr. Smith, who understood it about 
 as perfectly as he did Choctaw, stood " dumfounded," not 
 knowing what the Latin meant, nor, of course, how the laugh 
 came in, but feeling that he was the butt. His comical and 
 perplexed look only increased the fun, in which members freely 
 indulged. 
 
 I have said that Mr. Adams had great dramatic power; he 
 could give terrible effect to a single word by his manner of 
 uttering it. In the above Latin quotation he dwelt upon and 
 gave great emphasis to the word tali. And in his conflict with 
 Mr. Gilmer, charging him with tampering with his colleague, 
 Mr. Gushing, to have him, Mr. Adams, removed from the 
 chairmanship of the committee on foreign relations, in uttering 
 the word " tampering," he gave a tremendous emphasis to the 
 first syllable, dwelling on it thus : " the gentleman from Vir- 
 
156 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 ginia has been t-a-mpering with my colleague," — repeating the 
 word with the same emphasis many times in the course of his 
 remarks, until he had " created a raw," as horsemen say. 
 
 This power oi driving a word, as it were, into his antagonist, 
 his apt use of pungent classical quotations, and his unbounded 
 knowledge, made him formidable. In such conflicts as I have 
 just described, he had no equal : he reveled in a storm, and, 
 however provoked, excited, or irascible he might be, he never 
 lost his self-possession. In this two weeks' hand-to-hand 
 battle with his fierce and eloquent assailants, they found him 
 more than the equal of their united strength.* He was their 
 unscathed victor, and when they had prudently retired, dis- 
 comfited, and the House had laid the subject on the table, he 
 resumed the presentation of the petitions he had in hand when 
 assailed with as much composure as if nothing had occurred, — 
 the whole affair seeming to have been but a parenthesis in the 
 proceedings of the House. 
 
 Mr. Adams was, indeed, a wonderful man, — wonderful for his 
 mental and physical vigor at the age of seventy-five to eighty, 
 and wonderful for a memory which was a storehouse of knowl- 
 edge, from which nothing once stored there was ever lost or 
 mislaid, so that whenever needed it was at hand. 
 
 TOM MARSHALL. 
 
 Mr. Marshall was a brilliant speaker, a man of fine talents, 
 and highly cultivated ; but he was erratic, and lacked solidity 
 of judgment, steadiness of purpose, and self-control. He had, 
 moreover, a very large share of self-appreciation, and was 
 exceedingly vain of his abilities ; at one time an eloquent tem- 
 perance advocate, at another the victim of intemperance, 
 
 * And yet Mr. Adams, when he was a member of the Senate of the United States 
 at the age of forty, complained, as appears Ijy an entry in his journal, that " his 
 defects of elocution were incurable;" that " the process of reasoning in his mind 
 was too slow for uninterrupted articulation ;" that " his thoughts arose at first con- 
 fused, and required time to shape them into a succession of sentences; that the 
 chain of his argument often escaped him." " But sometimes," he says, " in the 
 ardor of debate, when my feelings are wound up to a high tone, elocution pours 
 itself along with unusual rapidity, and I have passages which would not shame a 
 good speaker." The defects of which he speaks had now all been overcome. 
 
LORD MORPETH.— MR. DICKENS. jcy 
 
 Vanity undoubtedly induced him to join in the assault upon 
 Mr. Adams, and he was elated with the thought of grappling 
 personally with the Boanerges of the House. He was well paid 
 for his arrogance and presumption. In after-years he had the 
 magnanimity to express, before a large audience, great regret 
 in regard to the part he had taken in that combined assault 
 upon Mr. Adams, whom he eulogized in eloquent terms, when, 
 so far as Mr. Adams was concerned, his eulogistic words fell 
 upon "the dull, cold ear of death." But in doing this he acted 
 upon the generous impulses of his own excellent heart, and did 
 Jiiuisclf tardy justice. 
 
 Mr. Adams had no equal in the House in controversial de- 
 bate. The men who had now assailed him, and had for so long 
 a period kept up their fierce and vindictive assaults, determined 
 to drive him out of the House, though of most unquestioned 
 ability, were as pigmies in his hartds, and they were soon made 
 to feel that discretion would have been the better part of valor, 
 had they exercised it in letting "the old man eloquent" alone. 
 No man ever gained any advantage of him in a conflict of this 
 kind. He had, on a former occasion, in a fit of ill humor made 
 a mistake in assailing Mr. Webster, on which occasion he was 
 severely handled by Mr. Hardin, Mr. Read, his colleague, and 
 Mr. Evans ; but to neither of these gentlemen did he reply, con- 
 scious probably that he was justly rebuked by his friends. His 
 resources in debate were apparently unlimited, and his language 
 at times most scathing and withering. 
 
 LORD MORPETH. — MR. DICKENS. 
 
 I have or should have mentioned that Lord Morpeth, after- 
 wards Earl of Carlisle, was spending the winter in Washington, 
 and was a frequent visitor to the House of Representativ^es, and 
 of course a listener to the debates and a witness of the stormy 
 scenes. Having been invited to occupy a seat within the bar 
 of the House, he usually sat near Mr. Adams, for whom he 
 appeared to have a great admiration. 
 
 He was unassuming in his deportment, and had little of the 
 "John Bull" in his appearance. Not so another Englishman, 
 who now made his appearance and attracted great attention. 
 
158 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 This was no other than " Boz," or Dickens, whose coming had 
 been for some time heralded with a great blare of trumpets. 
 Mr. Dickens was accompanied by his wife, and took lodgings 
 at the house now known as Willard's Hotel. 
 
 A few evenings after his arrival, he, with his wife, attended 
 the President's levee. When they entered, all eyes were turned 
 to them, or him. Having paid their respects to the President 
 and his lady, they proceeded to the East Room, followed by a 
 rushing crowd, which surged after them, as if he were some 
 Hindoo Maharajah, covered with diamonds, pearls, and rubies. 
 Mr. Dickens moved around the great room fully conscious of 
 the sensation he was making, and with an air which, had he 
 been the great officer mentioned, would have well fitted the 
 character. 
 
 While Mr. Dickens was thus promenading the East Room, 
 Lord Morpeth was quietly standing near the fire, looking on un- 
 noticed, with his chapeau under his arm, presenting a striking 
 contrast in dress and deportment to his countryman, — the one 
 the personification of simplicity in dress and manners, the other 
 manifesting a consciousness that he was the observed of all 
 observers. 
 
 On Mr. Dickens's return to England, it will be remembered, 
 he paid the Americans for their great attentions to him by 
 writing " American Notes" and " Martin Chuzzlewit." 
 
 IMPORTANT BUSINESS DEMANDING THE ACTION OF CONGRESS. 
 
 There was a large amount of important business to be dis- 
 posed of by Congress at this session. The treasury was empty, 
 — a loan bill to supply it temporarily was before the House, and 
 in connection with this a proposition to repeal or suspend the 
 Distribution act. The term of the Compromise act of 1833 
 expired during this session ; the duties imposed by that act had 
 run down, by its terms, to twenty per cent, during the last year, 
 which did not supply a revenue adequate to the demands of 
 the treasury. The country was consequently in debt, and our 
 credit at home and abroad at a very low ebb. No loan could 
 be negotiated until a tariff bill should be passed and moneyed 
 men could see that an adequate revenue was to be raised. 
 
MR. CLAY TAKES LEAVE OF THE SENATE. 
 
 159 
 
 The subject of the tariff was therefore the most important, as it 
 was the most perplexing one before the House. The same 
 subject was undergoing a very thorough discussion in the 
 Senate on Mr. Clay's resolutions, by the mover himself, Mr. 
 Evans, of Maine, Mr. Simmons, of Rhode Island, Mr. Hun- 
 tington, of Connecticut, and others. 
 
 But there was at this time a most singular state of things in 
 the House. There were "the peculiar friends" of Mr. Tyler, — 
 the "corporal's guard," who were, singularly enough, in oppo- 
 sition to the majority of the House, who were doing all in their 
 power to pass a loan bill, a tariff bill, and other measures for the 
 relief and support of the government, and yet were thwarted 
 and their efforts counteracted daily by the administration and 
 these "peculiar friends." 
 
 The Loan bill beincr under consideration in committee of the 
 whole, Mr. Wise offered an amendment requiring the Secretary 
 of the Treasury, whenever the stock to be created by this loan 
 should be below par, to go into the market and buy it up ! 
 With what ? There was not a dollar in the treasury. A wise 
 proposition, truly ! 
 
 MR. CLAY TAKES LEAVE OF THE SENATE. 
 
 It being known that Mr. Clay was to take final leave (as he 
 then supposed) of the Senate, the galleries were, as usual, 
 crowded at an early hour. At one o'clock he rose and ad- 
 dressed the Senate. The scene was impressive. Every Sen- 
 ator save Mr. Woodbury laid aside all business and listened. 
 He spoke of the long period he had been in public life, and 
 alluded, modestly, to his public services. Such as they were, it 
 was not for him to speak of them; he left them to be judged 
 of by those who should come after him, and history, if history 
 • should deign to notice anything he had done. But of his 
 private motives he had a right to speak ; these could only be 
 known. to himself and the Great Searcher of all hearts, and he 
 most solemnly averred that whatever he had done had been 
 done with a single eye and a single heart for the good of the 
 country. 
 
 He alluded with much feeling and dignity to his having been 
 
l6o PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 for years the object of misrepresentation and calumny, which 
 he had borne with unshaken confidence that his fellow-citizens 
 would eventually do him justice. But if he had malignant 
 enemies, he had warm and devoted friends in every part of this 
 broad land. He spoke of his having emigrated to Kentucky, an 
 orphan, poor and penniless, — without the favor of the great — 
 with an imperfect education — and with no father to look to for 
 counsel and assistance. Such as he was, penniless, obscure, 
 and unknown, his adopted State at once embraced and caressed 
 him like a native child. From that day to this her choicest 
 honors had been showered upon him. 
 
 After speaking of his long, pleasant associations in Congress 
 and in public life, some of his early associates being still 
 present, Mr. Adams, Mr. Calhoun, and Mr. Webster, he closed 
 with an affecting farewell to the Senate and to the Senators, one 
 and all, on whom he invoked the blessings of Heaven, and 
 whose labors he ardently hoped would be such that when they 
 retired to the quiet of private life, as he was now about to do, 
 they might receive from their constituents and the whole 
 country that most valuable of all earthly benedictions, " Well 
 done, thou good and faithful servant." Having closed by offer- 
 ing the credentials of his successor, and moving that he be now 
 sworn as a Senator, Mr. Clay retired. 
 
 As soon as Mr. Crittenden was sworn in, Mr. Preston moved 
 an adjournment, saying that from the deep sensation which had 
 been sympathetically manifested, there could be little inclina- 
 tion to go on with business, and that he could not help partici- 
 pating in the feeling which he was sure universally prevailed. 
 The adjournment was carried. 
 
 Members of the Senate, all save one, then gathered around the 
 retiring Senator, and took leave individually of him, — all, save 
 Mr. Woodbury, who was not to be moved by such a scene. 
 
 As Mr. Clay became somewhat free from the crowd of 
 friends, he noticed Mr. Calhoun standing at a little distance: 
 they met and embraced in silence. 
 
 The two distinguished statesmen had held no social inter- 
 course with each other for nearly five years ; yet as they were 
 about to be separated the past rushed to their memory, and the 
 
MR. CLAY DEFENDS HIMSELF. l5l 
 
 real admiration they entertained for each other overrode every 
 less noble feeling. They had almost spent their lives together 
 in Congress, and at various times stood side by side, animated 
 by patriotism and emulous only of serving the country. Time 
 had passed over both, and the young had become old. Few 
 of their early associates remained. One was about to retire, and 
 both must ere long " sleep the sleep that knows no waking." 
 The retirement of the one would leav'e the other with no com- 
 panion or rival of his younger da}'s, and it told him emphatically 
 that he too must soon follow. Thoughts like these soften the 
 heart not wholly indurated, and cause the fountain of generous 
 feeling to gush forth ; it came, and the two eminent rivals, 
 under the influence of these sympathies, were drawn together. 
 Well would it have been for the country that they had never 
 been separated. 
 
 MR. CLAY DEFENDS HIMSELF AND DEFIES HIS ENEMIES. 
 
 Mr. Clay spent the winter of 1842-43 in New Orleans, and 
 on returning home in the spring of 1843 found that some 
 of his old enemies — the wealthy family of Wickliffes among 
 others — had been busy in endeavoring to defame him. They 
 had joined Tyler, and of course were more than ever hostile to 
 Mr. Clay. The Hon. Tom Marshall too, representing the Ash- 
 land district, feeling the restraint of Mr. Clay's presence while 
 the latter was at Washington, became morose and inimical to 
 him, and compromised himself with Tylerism. He returned 
 from Washington dissatisfied with himself, and consequently 
 bitter towards everybody, and in this mood traversed the dis- 
 trict making speeches which, though not openly hostile to the 
 great statesman, whom he feared, were filled with ill-concealed 
 but malicious innuendo. 
 
 Finding, on his return home, that his enemies had taken 
 advantage of his absence to defame him, ]\Ir. Clay posted a 
 notice on the court-house door, that he would address his 
 fellow-citizens of Fayette County on the first day of the 
 ensuing court. This was enough to create a lively interest 
 throughout the county, and to call together a large assem- 
 blage on the court-house green on the day mentioned. 
 
1 52 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Mr. Clay appeared, and was greeted by the multitude with 
 enthusiastic cheers. He mounted the rostrum and stood for 
 a moment surveying the crowd before him. Again loud and 
 hearty cheers went forth, and he knew that he still had a 
 strong hold on the affections of the people of Kentucky. He 
 then proceeded to address the multitude in one of his most 
 stirring efforts. His voice had the old ring that had so often, 
 and for many years, moved the hearts of "the hunters of 
 Kentucky," whose hearts he so well knew how to reach. He 
 spoke for nearly two hours ; but unfortunately there was no 
 stenographic reporter present, and fragments of the speech only 
 appeared in the papers. The following was the closing passage, 
 as reported by one who was present : 
 
 " It is now more than forty years since I came here, a poor 
 and friendless youth. I was taken by the hand by your fathers, 
 and led to fame and fortune. All that I am and have been I 
 owe to their generous kindness and steady confidence. And 
 now I have come to spend the evening of my days among their 
 children. I feel like the stag who has been long hunted, and 
 who returns at last to die on the spot whence he started in 
 vigor and hope. The curs of party have been long barking 
 at my heels, and the bloodhounds of personal malignity are 
 springing at my throat, but" (rising to his full height, and 
 looking round with flashing eyes on his defamers who had 
 mingled with the crowd of hearers) " I scorn and defy them 
 
 NOW, AS I EVER DID !" 
 
 In giving me an account of this speech and the attending 
 circumstances, General Leslie Coombs — God bless him ! may 
 his shadow never be less ; he has outlived all his cotempora- 
 ries, and is still young ! — said, in the most enthusiastic manner, 
 " When Mr. Clay thundered forth these words he raised him- 
 self to his utmost height, and his flashing eye looked defiance 
 to all within its reach. He was at that moment just eleven feet 
 and a half high. I measured him accurately with my eye." 
 
 Mr. Marshall had given out that he should reply to " Prince 
 Hal ;" consequently sport was expected, and the crowd waited 
 for twenty minutes or more after Mr. Clay left, expecting the 
 appearance of Marshall, and clamorously calling for him ; but 
 
LORD ASHBURTON ARRIVES. 
 
 163 
 
 no Tom Marshall appeared, and so they dispersed. But where 
 was the bold antagonist who was to hav^e entered the field 
 against the gallant " Harry of the West" ? He had secured a 
 seat at the window of a neighboring house, where he could 
 see and hear Mr. Clay without being seen. But, stirred by 
 one of Mr. Clay's indignant outbursts, he unconsciously leaned 
 forward so far as to bring himself to the speaker's view, when 
 a shot from the latter, of scorn and derision, sent him instantly 
 under cover. 
 
 "And so," said Mr. Marshall next day to a friend of Mr. 
 Clay, "you think Old Hal made a great speech yesterday?" 
 "Yes," was the reply; " did not you?" "Not half as great," 
 replied Marshall, " as you would have heard if I had replied to 
 him ; for if I had, the old lion would have been aroused, and 
 such a speech he would have poured out as only he can make 
 when thoroughly stirred up by opposition. I should have 
 made a rousing speech, but it would only have brought down 
 upon myself a more overwhelming blast." 
 
 " But why didn't you reply to him ?" " Because I w^as a 
 coward ; I did not dare attack the roused lion, and I thought 
 prudence, in this case, the better part of valor ; and I reckon 
 it was. But I shall take care how I ' beard the lion in his lair' 
 hereafter." 
 
 LORD ASHBURTON ARRIVES. 
 
 Difficulties and irritating questions had been for some years 
 arising and increasing in intensity between this country and 
 Great Britain, until they had become so serious as to endanger 
 our peaceful relations. These questions, or matters of mis- 
 understanding, Avere, first, the northeast boundary question ; 
 second, the right of search ; third, the Caroline affair ; fourth, the 
 Creole case ; and fifth, the Oregon boundary question. Some of 
 these had long been subjects of irritating correspondence. 
 
 Mr. Fox was British minister here, but it was deemed neces- 
 sary by the British government to send a special ambassador 
 and minister extraordinary to settle these points of difference, 
 and endeavor to bring about harmony and a good under- 
 standing between the two governments. With this view Lord 
 Ashburton, who, being the son of an American lady, — Miss 
 
164 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Bingham, of Philadelphia, who married Mr. Baring, of London, 
 — was selected to come to the United States on this mission of 
 peace, and was brought over in the ship of war " Warspite." 
 A more judicious selection, or one more acceptable to the 
 people of this country, could not have been made. Happily, 
 his mission proved fortunate for both countries, resulting in 
 the Washington Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. This 
 mission bore something of the character of the late " High 
 Joint," and was equally successful in its results. 
 
 Mr. Webster and Lord Ashburton went to work like two 
 men of business and common sense : there was little diplomacy 
 between them, but plain, sensible talk, and a real desire to effect 
 a good understanding, and it was done. 
 
 We gave up a portion of the territory on our northeastern 
 boundary, which the treaty of 1783 unquestionably gave us, 
 and to which England had not a shadow of right ; but we 
 obtained equivalents, and averted a war. The right of search, 
 which had been the cause of the War of 18 12, but which was not 
 settled by the treaty of Ghent, was now given up by England. 
 The treaty did not settle the Oregon boundary, nor was there 
 anything in it relating to "the Caroline" affair or "the Creole" 
 question. 
 
 UNWRITTEN HISTORY, BY MR. ADAMS. 
 
 There arose in the House, a ^q.\n days after the arrival of 
 Lord Ashburton, a debate in which Mr. Wise, Mr. C. J. Inger- 
 soll, and Mr. Adams were the principal participants, during 
 which the latter, " the old man eloquent," again became the 
 interesting instructor of the House. The speeches of Mr. 
 Wise and Mr. Ingersoll were of no importance, except that, like 
 the bucket of water poured into a dry pump, they served the 
 purpose of drawing from a hidden fountain the pure and spark- 
 ling streams of historic lore. 
 
 Mr. Wise made one of his wild, rambling, extravagant war 
 speeches, which, but for the relation in which he stood to Mr. 
 Tyler and the cabinet, would have passed as the idle wind, but, 
 being considered as indicative of the feeling at the Executive 
 mansion, it was looked upon as an attempt to excite a war 
 feeling among the people. 
 
UNWRITTEN HISTORY, BY MR. ADAMS. 165 
 
 ]\Ir. Charles J. Ingersoll followed next day with what Mr. 
 Adams wittily and aptly termed "a pacific "Wdir speech." In 
 the course of his remarks Mr. Ingersoll said that in case of a 
 war with England — and he did not think war such an evil as 
 most people did — the British might burn New York, but then 
 it would be easy for us to burn London. 
 
 Mr. Adams replied chiefly to this speech, but incidentally to 
 Mr. Wise, torturing and scorching Mr. Ingersoll by scathing 
 irony and ridicule. He said that Mr. Ingersoll had spoken 
 with cold indifference of the burning of New York, which he 
 seemed to admit would be a very probable thing in case of a 
 war ; he was quite reconciled to this event by the supposition 
 that if New York was burned we could burn London, a city 
 four or five times as large, and thereby settle the account with 
 a large balance in our favor. "Sir," said Mr. Adams, "if there 
 is a man in this House who heard the gentleman from Penn- 
 sylvania speaking of burning cities, in the manner he did, with- 
 out a feeling of indignation and shame, I want no intercourse 
 with him." 
 
 Mr. Adams said he attributed some importance to the re- 
 marks of the gentleman from Pennsylvania in connection with 
 the speech from the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Wise; but 
 he hoped {ironically) Lord Ashburton would not; that he would 
 consider them made for a little display in this House, for home 
 consumption, and that he would not go home in consequence 
 of them, but go on with his negotiations with this government, 
 just as if they had never been made. 
 
 In the course of his remarks, Mr. Adams gave a very inter- 
 esting history of the negotiation between this government and 
 Great Britain, in regard to a mutual concession of search, which 
 took place in 1818-19-20. Before he left England to assume 
 the duties of Secretary of State under Mr. Monroe, Mr. Wil- 
 berforce, he said, sought an interview with him, his object being 
 to inquire whether this government would be willing to enter 
 into an arrangement for a mutual right of search on the coast 
 of Africa, for the purpose of putting a stop to the slave-trade. 
 Mr. Adams told him that such had been the manner in which 
 the government of England had exercised that right, which they 
 
1 55 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 had claimed and we had denied, that he did not think his 
 countrymen would ever agree to any such arrangement ; but if 
 they chose they could make the proposition. The proposition 
 was afterwards made while he was Secretary of State. He op- 
 posed it vigorously, and almost alone, in Mr. Monroe's cabinet, 
 — the members of the cabinet who were slaveholders, and Mr. 
 Monroe himself, favoring it. Both Houses of Congress, too, 
 favored it, and passed resolutions recommending the President 
 to enter into the negotiation. He had a conversation with Mr. 
 C. F. Mercer on this subject, and so widely did they differ that 
 they had warm words about it ; and another member from Vir- 
 ginia, General Alexander Smyth, afterwards, in a letter to his 
 constituents, used as an argument against his election to the 
 Presidency the fact that he was opposed to abolishing the 
 slave-trade ! He wanted to state the conversation he (Mr. 
 Adams) had had with General Mercer, but General Mercer posi- 
 tively forbade him to do so, as it was a private conversation. 
 The resolutions recommending the President to enter into the 
 negotiation for the mutual right of search passed this House 
 with but NINE negative votes! Such was the feeling tlien on 
 this right of search among slaveholders, — a right about which 
 we hear so much now. 
 
 The negotiation was entered upon ; as Secretary of State, he 
 was the organ, and the very reluctant organ, of the govern- 
 ment in directing our minister, Mr. Rush, to enter upon it, 
 Mr. Rush opened the subject to Mr. George Canning, who at 
 once told him to draw up the convention in his own way, and 
 he would sign it. Mr. Rush did draw it up, and Mr. Canning 
 signed it without dotting an i or crossing a t. It came here, 
 and was submitted to the Senate ; in the mean time, a party 
 hostile to Mr. Monroe had sprung up and there was not the 
 same disposition to support or go with the administration. 
 Some few alterations were made in the treaty by the Senate, 
 and it was sent back to England for ratification ; but Mr. 
 Canning took umbrage at the alterations after the treaty had 
 been drawn up by the American minister himself, and would 
 not ratify it as altered, and thus it fell through. 
 
 During this recital Mr. Adams was listened to with breath- 
 
UXWRITTEN HISTORY, BY MR. ADAMS. 167 
 
 less attention, especially by the Southern men, into whose 
 minds new light seemed to break, — many of whom were en- 
 tirely ignorant that any such negotiation had ever taken place. 
 But that Mr. Adams should then have been so opposed to this 
 search, and the slaveholders in Mr. Monroe's cabinet should 
 have been its advocates, was an entirely new phase of the 
 subject. It will be recollected that Mr. Calhoun was one of 
 the members of that cabinet. 
 
 Mr, Adams was personally severe upon Mr. IngersoU in 
 reviewing his political zigzag course, — referred to the declara- 
 tion he had made, that, had he lived during the Revolution, he 
 should have been a tory ; that, having belonged to the Federal 
 party, he was now one of that " democracy which Clement C. 
 Clay declared were " the natural allies of the South." He 
 also stated, that having written the most ultra protective tariff 
 memorial ever presented to that House, he was now opposed 
 to the protective policy ; that having been turned neck and 
 heels out of the District Attorney's office (to which he was 
 appointed by Mr. Adams) by General Jackson, he immediately 
 wheeled about and became an ultra Jackson man ! Many other 
 of his eccentricities were noticed, all of which the House en- 
 joyed with great zest. 
 
 Mr. Adams then proceeded to comment on the speech of 
 Mr. Wise, who was for war with Mexico, — reviewed every cause 
 alleged by him, and showed that not one of them constituted 
 the least cause for war. 
 
 Mr. Adams gave an interesting relation of the circumstances 
 of the negotiation between himself as the organ of this govern- 
 ment and the Spanish minister, relative to the boundary be- 
 tween the United States and Mexico. Rich in history, and 
 especially that history of which he himself had been the promi- 
 nent actor, he never opened the fount of reminiscence without 
 pouring therefrom a copious stream of intellectual instruction, 
 which was sought with avidity by all who had the good fortune 
 to be within its reach. 
 
 He had been charged with having, as an enemy of the South, 
 surrendered Texas to the Spanish government, and accepted 
 the Sabine, instead of the Rio del Norte, as the boundary be- 
 
1 68 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 tween tlie two countries. On this occasion he stated what he 
 had asserted on some former occasion, that he, and he alone, of 
 all Mr. Monroe's cabinet, had contended to the last for the Rio 
 del Norte as the boundary between this country and Mexico; 
 that he had adhered to that river as the boundary till over- 
 ruled by Mr. Monroe and every member of liis cabinet; thus 
 showing that if the yielding this claim was an act of hostility to 
 the South, Southern men, and not himself, had been guilty of 
 the act charged against him as an evidence of his unfriendliness 
 to the South. 
 
 Told as they were with all the attending circumstances, and 
 as personal history, these historical reminiscences possessed a 
 charm that riveted every ear, and a value few were so stupid 
 as not to appreciate. When in the communicative mood, Mr. 
 Adams always enchained the House, and members listened with 
 deep interest and unwearied attention. 
 
 THE ONE-HOUR RULE. 
 
 The " one-hour rule" had not been adopted when this speech 
 of Mr. Adams was made, but was soon after, and has never been 
 repealed or rescinded. In a body so affected with the cacoethes 
 loqiiendi as the House of Representatives, it becomes necessary 
 to assume the power to stop the expenditure of too much wind. 
 John C. Clark, of New York, was the first to propose this rule. 
 
 ALMOST A DUEL. 
 
 An affair occurred at this time. May 7, which Mr. Reverdy 
 Johnson will have occasion to remember as long as- he lives, 
 and which came near resulting in a duel. 
 
 A great crowd attended the races, which took place at the 
 race-course situated just back of Columbia College, now in 
 part covered with fine dwellings. As Mr. Stanley and Mr. 
 Wise were coming from the race-course, it unluckily happened 
 that they rode out of the yard in which their horses had been 
 tied nearly abreast of each other. A collision soon occurred, 
 in which Mr. Stanley received a blow, given by Mr. Wise with 
 a cane. It was soon bruited through the city that a duel was 
 to be the result. Mr. Stanley invited Mr. Wise to meet him at 
 
REVERDY JOHNSON. l6g 
 
 Baltimore, whither he should immediately proceed, with a view 
 to settle the matters between them. Warrants were issued for 
 both, that they might be put under bonds to keep the peace, 
 and not to leave the District for the purpose of fighting a duel. 
 
 Mr. Stanley eluded the officer in search of him, and went 
 to Baltimore. Mr. Wise made no attempt to avoid the officer, 
 and was arrested and placed under bonds. 
 
 Mr. Stanley was the guest of Mr. Reverdy Johnson for several 
 days, while expecting Mr. Wise, and during this time practiced 
 shooting with a dueling-pistol, in which sport Mr. Johnson 
 joined. The latter fired a ball at the mark, which, hitting it, 
 rebounded and struck his left eye, so injuring it that he soon 
 lost the sight of it. 
 
 Hearing of the arrest of INIr. Wise, and of his being put 
 under bonds, Mr. Stanley returned to Washington, and the 
 affair was left to friends of both parties, whose award ended it. 
 
 REVERDY JOHNSON, 
 
 One of the very few actors in the scenes I have treated of in 
 these pages, now living, is Mr. Reverdy Johnson, of Baltimore, 
 — a name familiar to every man of intelligence in the United 
 States, and designating one not less universally respected than 
 known. Mr. Johnson has in his day filled a large space in public 
 life, as a member of the United States Senate, as Attorney- 
 General, and lastly as Minister Plenipotentiary to England, his 
 special mission having been to settle the complications between 
 the two governments arising out of the course pursued towards 
 us by the British government during the war of the Rebellion. 
 
 But it is as a lawyer and advocate that he is best and most 
 widely known. It is upon that pedestal that he stands a 
 colossal and familiar figure before the nation. He has long 
 occupied the position assigned him by his legal associates, as 
 the head of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
 than which there is no higher. 
 
 It is not my purpose, however, to speak of him as a jurist. 
 
 That will be a task hereafter — and may it be long hereafter ! — 
 
 to be performed by some associate before the tribunal which 
 
 best knows his worth, when he shall have passed away. 
 Vol. II. 12 
 
I/O 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Although several times elected to the United States Senate 
 as a Whig, and though he formed a part of General Taylor's 
 cabinet, Mr. Johnson could scarcely be called a politician. He 
 had little taste for mere party politics, and never partook of the 
 warmth and asperity which animated both parties. However 
 earnestly and ably he supported a Whig measure or opposed a 
 Democratic one, no sharp or acrimonious word ever passed his 
 lips. With the fortiter in re there was always mingled the 
 suavitcr hi modo. He could use argument and illustration, but 
 denunciation or harsh charges were foreign to him. Trained 
 from youth in those schools of high-toned courtesy and refined 
 manners, the Annapolis and Baltimore bars, he was such as his 
 education and associations had made him. 
 
 Faithful always in the support of the principles and measures 
 of his party, he was never its slave, but governed more by the 
 dictates of his own judgment than by party rule. As there 
 was no asperity in him, he excited none in his opponents. He 
 was for many years one of a number of able men in Maryland 
 who led the Whig party in its palmy days in that State, and 
 was looked to as the head of the party. 
 
 As the representative of this country in England, no man was 
 ever more cordially received, more generally feted, or more 
 effectually won the hearts of the British people. Mr. Johnson's 
 ready and most felicitous oratorical powers, his happy tact in 
 after-dinner speeches, in reply to the compliments of his hosts, of 
 saying all that the occasion required, and no more, and saying 
 this in the most acceptable manner, gratifying to the amour- 
 propre of those he addressed, won for him the good feeling of 
 the whole British nation, from the Queen down to the day- 
 laborer, though in doing this he did not in the least compromit 
 the dignity or interests of his own nation. 
 
 He is now one of the relics of the past, which time has 
 kindly spared. Though the frosts of fourscore winters have 
 whitened his head, they have never reached his heart, and he 
 is still as bland and genial as an Indian summer's day. 
 
THE PROVISIONAL TARIFF BILL VETOED. ill 
 
 THE PROVISIONAL TARIFF BILL VETOED. 
 
 The financial condition of the country at this time, the sum- 
 mer of 1842, as I have already said, was exceedingly bad. The 
 pecuniary distress of the people, especially in all the Western 
 and Southwestern States, was represented as unprecedented ; 
 the credit of the government was at a low ebb, and the treasury 
 literally empty. The compromise tariff act of 1833 expired 
 by its own limitation on the ist of July, 1842, and no perma- 
 nent tariff bill had yet been matured, or could be, so as to 
 become a law by that time. In this emergency a " Provisional 
 Tariff bill" was brought into the House by the chairman of 
 the committee of ways and means, to prolong the existing 
 tariff for one month, so as to gain time to pass a permanent 
 bill. It passed the House and the Senate after considerable 
 debate, but was returned with the veto of the President, the 
 third he had applied to bills. 
 
 This veto produced an outburst in the House, and called 
 forth severe comments. The measure was a necessity for the 
 government itself, as well as for maintaining the credit of the 
 country, and the veto was therefore considered by the Whigs 
 as wantonly trifling with the great interests of the nation, as 
 well as an unwarrantable exercise of power. Their indignation 
 was at the boiling-point when Mr. Holmes, of South Carolina, 
 instead of the chairman of the committee of ways and means, 
 Mr. Fillmore, obtained the floor, and congratulated the country 
 on this veto, declaring it a cause of thanksgiving, going on in 
 a high strain of glorification of John Tyler for half an hour. 
 This still further provoked and excited the indignation of the 
 Whigs, several of whom — Mr. Granger, Mr. Saltonstall, Mr. 
 Fillmore, and Mr. Lane, of Indiana — followed, pouring out 
 torrents of invective upon Mr. Tyler's head. The debate 
 lasted for several days, — " the peculiar friends of Mr. Tyler," 
 and several of the Democratic members, especially from the 
 South, defending him against the fierce denunciations of the 
 Whigs. But the latter failed to pass the bill by a two-thirds 
 vote, which stood, — ayes 1 14, noes 97. 
 
1^2 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 FRANCIS GRANGER, MR. SALTONSTALL, A. H. H. STUART, MR. LANE, 
 
 AND CALEB GUSHING. 
 
 Mr. Granger, Postmaster-General under General Harrison, 
 was a man of large stature, finely proportioned, and of rare 
 manly beauty. An impressive, not impulsive speaker, keen in 
 repartee, always self-possessed, yet sometimes very earnest, and 
 even eloquent, he never failed to win the attention of the House 
 and enlist its sympathies. His high social position, the eminent 
 name he bore, — being the son of Gideon Granger, Postmaster- 
 General under Mr. Jefferson, — and, above all, his genial dis- 
 position and refined manners, made him a favorite with all. 
 
 Those who undertook to play a game of badinage, or retort 
 courteous, with Mr. Granger, never failed to find him at home 
 and ever ready with a Rowland for an Oliver. As an instance : 
 Mr. Granger had occasion to comment rather sharply on Mr. 
 Pickens's famous war report, in Februaiy, 1841, and in doing so 
 got into a sort of sing-song way of speaking. When he had 
 closed, Mr. Pickens rose and said the gentleman had enter- 
 tained the House with a speech as musical as a bagpipe, and in 
 a tone as subdued as a cabinet minister's. [Mr. Granger was 
 then known to have been designated as Postmaster-General.] 
 
 This was a fair hit, and produced a general laugh at Mr, 
 Granger's expense; in the midst of which he rose and, in the 
 most good-natured, pleasant manner, said, " Mr, Speaker, the 
 gentleman from South Carolina has compared my notes to the 
 music of the bagpipe. True, sir, they are not of so warlike a 
 character as those of the gentleman, but I imagine he will find 
 the difference between the sound of our pipes to arise from the 
 fact that my bag is not quite so full of zvind as his." The 
 retort had been provoked, the hit was palpable, the effect irre- 
 sistible, and the House enjoyed a hearty laugh, in which Mr. 
 Pickens had the grace to join, Mr, Granger's best shots were 
 always off-hand, at game on the wing, and he never failed to 
 hit. But his arrows were never barbed nor tipped with any 
 venomous matter. He bore malice to no one, but a heart over- 
 flowing with generous feelings. 
 
 I have mentioned Mr. Saltonstall as one of those who spoke 
 
A. H. H. STUART AND HENRY S. LANE. ^n-^ 
 
 upon the President's veto in words of burning eloquence. I 
 will not let the occasion pass without speaking of him as I 
 knew him. 
 
 Leverett Saltonstall, of Salem, Massachusetts, was one of 
 nature's noblemen. His high ancestral blood was ennobled 
 by the generous, manly, estimable qualities of his heart and his 
 superior mental powers. Of a nervo-sanguine temperament, he 
 had the delicacy and sentiment of a woman combined-with the 
 intellectual vigor of a man. The soul of honor, he scorned 
 and despised everything low, mean, hypocritical, and false. He 
 loved his friends with unusual warmth ; respected an open, 
 manly opponent, but loathed a treacherous friend or a cowardly 
 enemy. When excited by any of these feelings, as he was 
 greatly by Mr. Tyler's third veto, he carried the House by his 
 impassioned and scorching eloquence. Mr. Saltonstall was as 
 refined in his manners as in his feelings and sentiments ; a 
 warmer heart than his never beat in human bosom ; no wonder, 
 then, that he was a universal favorite. 
 
 In this debate two young men distinguished themselves by 
 their ability, who have since filled important stations in the 
 government, and justified the high expectations their efforts 
 then inspired. I allude to Alexander H. H. Stuart, of Virginia, 
 and Henry S. Lane, of Indiana; the first having filled the office 
 of Secretary of the Interior, under Mr. Fillmore, and the other 
 a seat in the United States Senate for six years. 
 
 Mr. Lane's speech was brilliant, impassioned, — flowing and 
 rushing like a mountain stream. But it was too sparkling to 
 make a deep impression. 
 
 Mr. Stuart spoke with the coolness of an experienced states- 
 man. He took issue with Mr. Tyler upon some points of his 
 message, and with much dignity, courtesy of manner, and fair- 
 ness of argument overthrew the positions assumed by the mes- 
 sage. He occasionally indulged in a strain of scornful reproach ; 
 but these indulgences were only used as a condiment to give 
 zest to his general remarks. He elicited most respectful atten- 
 tion from both sides of the House. 
 
 It is to be lamented that the late Rebellion should still exclude 
 a man like IMr. Stuart from the national councils, — a thorough 
 
174 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Union man, who made every effort in his power to prevent his 
 State from joining the Rebellion, but was at last swept into it 
 by an overwhelming and irresistible torrent. He- was ever a 
 true Whig of the Henry Clay school. He is, moreover, a true 
 Virginia gentleman, " all of the olden time." 
 
 Another person took part in this debate who is at this time 
 (1872) filling a most important position under the government, 
 and performing duties which demand the very highest abilities 
 of a jurist and statesman. I refer to Mr. Caleb Cushing, then 
 the champion of Mr. Tyler and his vetoes. Up to the time 
 when Mr. Tyler vetoed his own bank bill, as heretofore related, 
 Mr. Cushing had been one of the most ultra of Whigs, but 
 from that time he separated from them, and finally went over 
 with his friend Wise to the Democrats, Avas appointed a brig- 
 adier-general by Mr. Polk in the Mexican war, and Attorney- 
 General by President Franklin Pierce. But he no longer " gives 
 to party what was meant for mankind," — his own great mental 
 powers and acquirements. 
 
 Mr. Cushing was a man whom the Whigs would have de- 
 lighted to honor had he not, for causes known only to himself, 
 turned his back upon them, joined " the Tyler squad," or " cor- 
 poral's guard," and become estranged from and embittered 
 against his old political friends. He won little fame in that 
 role, and his mission to China — the political reward he had for 
 the abandonment of the Whigs — added nothing to his stature 
 as a statesman. 
 
 But, wisely leaving the field of politics, where his harvests 
 had been greatly disproportioned to his industry and mental 
 powers, he devoted himself to the more genial and remunerative 
 labors of the legal profession, in which his great intellectual 
 resources found "ample room and verge enough" even for their 
 continued expansion, until he is admitted to be a profound 
 scholar and most learned jurist and statesman, no less able with 
 his pen than cogent and powerful in oral argument. 
 
 As one of the counsel of the United States before the Geneva 
 Board of Arbitration to settle the controversy between the 
 United States and Great Britain, he unquestionably stoodprimiis 
 inter pares in that assembly of men pre-eminent as statesmen 
 
 i 
 
CALEB GUSHING. I^r 
 
 and jurists. The threescore and ten winters which have passed 
 over his head have not visibly impaired his physical powers, 
 while they have added largely to his mental stores. " His 
 strength hath not failed, neither is his eye dimmed." 
 
 It may be said of Mr. Gushing, as it has been said of Chief- 
 Justice Parsons, who was a native of the same place from which 
 Mr. Gushing came, — Newburyport, Mass., — that " he was one of 
 the most unremitting and incessant students that ever lived ;" 
 that " when not called off by business, his daily habit was to 
 sit and study from twelve to fifteen hours a day all his life, and 
 this without exercise or relaxation." As it was said of Samuel 
 Dexter, so it may be of Mr. Gushing, " He is not of that class 
 of men who need or who desire intimacies, but is of the privi- 
 leged few who can always be companions to themselves." 
 
 Seldom met in the salons of fashion, if sought, he may be 
 found at his rooms investigating some abstruse question of 
 science or knotty point of law, or threading the devious paths 
 of modern philosophers to master their ideas and detect their 
 fallacies.* As a linguist, it is reported that, when a member 
 of General Pierce's cabinet, at state dinners he could converse 
 with all the foreign ministers present in their respective lan- 
 guages ; and it has also been stated that he made his oral argu- 
 ment before the Geneva tribunal of arbitration in French, as 
 two or three of the arbitrators did not understand English. 
 
 No important subject ever came up for discussion in Con- 
 gress while he was a member that did not find him well posted 
 in regard to it by previous study, or prepared with a speech 
 upon it having a strong odor of the midnight lamp. 
 
 Yet he could, when the occasion required, and he was roused 
 into excitement, speak most forcibly and fluently off-hand, with- 
 out premeditation, prompted'only by his feelings ; and on such 
 occasions his language was more terse, sharp, and effective than 
 in his studied speeches. Witness, as one instance of this, his 
 dignified yet incisive and biting reply to Mr. Waddy Thompson's 
 attack upon Mr. Adams -and the North, when Mr. Thompson 
 found Mr. Gushing's blade as keen as it was brilliant. 
 
 Another instance of Mr. Gushing's power of extempore 
 
 * Mr, Gushing is now (1S74) minister to Spain. 
 
176 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 speaking has been pleasantly related in " Harper's Magazine," 
 by "An Old Stager." The circumstances related are within 
 my own recollection. " An Old Stager" says, — 
 
 " Early in his first session Mr. Gushing read a carefully- 
 written argument on a subject of more than ordinary interest. 
 The great ability displayed, and his appearance of extreme 
 youth, attracted general interest. It so happened that his 
 views ran counter to those of most of the Western members, 
 and old Ben Hardin, of Kentucky, a coarse, rude man, of great 
 intellectual vigor, likened by John Randolph to a 'kitchen knife 
 sharpened on a brickbat,' replied to him in a strain in which 
 invective was mingled with argument, and which was inten- 
 tionally cutting and offensive. He evidently supposed Gushing 
 to be a mere bookworm, — a man of the closet, — whom he could 
 silence by a sarcasm. He knew Cushing's speech had been 
 written out, and thought a harsh impromptu reply would crush 
 the young man. But, to his astonishment, the rejoinder, made 
 on the spur of the moment, turned the tables, and the House, 
 which had heartily enjoyed the vituperative eloquence of Har- 
 din, relished still more Cushing's tart and effective answer." 
 
 On this occasion Mr. Hardin imprudently made some quota- 
 tion from Homer. This was playing into Mr. Gushing's strong 
 suit, as he was quite an fait with Homer, and thereupon he 
 ran a parallel between the snarling Thersites of the Greek bard 
 and the member from Kentucky, fixing upon him the additional 
 sobriquet of " Snarling Thersites." 
 
 THE PASSAGE OF A REVENUE BILL. — IT IS VETOED. 
 
 The labors of Gongress during the months of July and 
 August, 1842, were very onerous. The compromise revenue 
 act of 1833 expiring on the ist of July, it was supposed that 
 no revenue from duties on foreign merchandise could after 
 that date be legally collected: hence the importance of passing 
 a revenue bill before that date. The provisional bill having 
 been vetoed, the committee of ways and means set diligently 
 to work to prepare another. But the bill they now brought in 
 provided for the continuation of the act for the distribution of 
 the proceeds of the sales of public lands among the States, and 
 
PASSAGE OF A REVENUE BILL. lyy 
 
 met with the same fate as the provisional bill, " Veto, ditto," 
 as Mr. Adams said. 
 
 The bill underwent sharp debate both in the House and 
 Senate. Mr. Calhoun assailed it with great vehemence. His 
 speech on this occasion was what might be termed his " plat- 
 form" for the Presidency, he then being understood to be a 
 candidate. He maintained with his usual ability and subtlety 
 his peculiar notions of political economy, that is to say, free 
 trade, hard money, and lozv prices. He put forth some very 
 extraordinary propositions, among which was this: that high 
 duties would lead to high prices, and that high prices would 
 ruin the manufacturers! Another was that high prices and 
 low wages went hand in hand, and that low prices and high 
 wages always were inseparable! Another, that high prices 
 would inevitably result in large importations of gold and silver, 
 which would produce a redundant currency, greatly to be 
 deprecated ! 
 
 In his peroration, he distinctly announced the inscription he 
 placed upon his flag, which was, " Free trade, low duties, 
 
 SEPARATION FROM ALL BANKS, AND A STRICT ADHERENCE TO 
 
 THE Constitution." 
 
 Mr. Evans, in reply to Mr. Calhoun, and some others who 
 had taken part against the bill in the course of its debate in 
 the Senate, and particularly Mr. Woodbury, noticed the oft- 
 repeated objection that this bill gave too much revenue. "All 
 we ask," said Mr. Evans, "is the revenue which you had, and we 
 will support the government, pay your debts, and distribute 
 among the States the proceeds of the sales of public lands. 
 The amount of revenue which you had was more than this 
 bill will yield, and yet it is notorious, indisputable, and unde- 
 nied, that you spent eight millions a year for several of the last 
 years you were in power, over and above the receipts from the 
 customs and the public lands ! You left the country in debt 
 and without a revenue to meet its current expenses : at the 
 extra session we passed laws which put a stop to frauds upon 
 the revenue to the amount of five millions a year, which you 
 winked at and laermitted. The extra session, therefore, of which 
 you complain, saved its own expenses more than ten times told." 
 
178 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 The Senator from South Carolina had spoken of the tariff of 
 1828 as "a bill of abominations," and had applied other harsh 
 epithets to it. Mr. Evans asked, Who made it a bill of abom- 
 inations? "Not its friends: its enemies undertook to make the 
 bill as onerous as they could, in order to defeat it, but they were 
 caught in their own trap. Instead of its friends voting against 
 it on account of the amendments inserted in it by its opponents, 
 they took its enemies at their word, and voted for it. It was a 
 dangerous game to play. But who voted for it ? Mr. Benton, 
 Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Wright, and Mr. Woodbury voted for some 
 of the most objectionable features of it. Nay, more, Mr. Van 
 Buren himself supported the bill." This allusion to so many 
 Senators present who voted for the bill of 1828 created consid- 
 erable merriment, and a fluttering among the wounded pigeons. 
 
 Mr. Evans went on to notice and refute Mr. Calhoun's extraor- 
 dinary positions, referred to above. He said it was the first 
 time he ever heard that by getting high prices abroad for their 
 products, manufacturers, or any other class of men, would be 
 ruined and broken up, or that a balance of trade in favor of a 
 country which balance was paid in gold and silver was ruinous 
 and to be guarded against. He certainly had never seen the 
 proposition laid down in any work on political economy he had 
 ever read, and should have to turn to his books and to the sub- 
 ject and commence his studies anew. And, further, it was cer- 
 tainly a new doctrine to him that when prices were high wages 
 must be low, and vice versa. It was certainly very extraordinary 
 that articles the chief value of which was made by labor, that is 
 to say, articles of which labor constituted the chief cost, should 
 sell high when labor was low, and low when labor was high ! 
 
 Mr. Woodbury contended that a twenty per cent, ad valorem 
 duty was the "natural" duty; that it would give a revenue of 
 twenty-two millions per annum, which was ample. 
 
 To this Mr. Simmons replied that when he (Mr. Woodbury) 
 and his friends were in power they had a revenue far exceed- 
 ing this, and yet accumulated a debt of eight millions a }'ear, 
 which they left the Whigs to pay, with a decreasing tariff and 
 a diminishing revenue. 
 
 At length the bill passed the Senate, — 25 to 23, — went to the 
 
VETO OF THE REVENUE BILL. 
 
 179 
 
 President, and was by him returned to the House with his 
 v^eto, — veto No. 4 : vetoed, mainly, because it provided for the 
 continuance of the distribution of the proceeds of the sales 
 of public lands. 
 
 The Whigs thought, at this time, that the public lands should 
 not be viewed as a source of revenue ; that these lands belonged 
 to the States, and when sold the proceeds should go to the States. 
 The Democrats and Tyler men contended that the proceeds of 
 these lands should go into the treasury and constitute a portion 
 of the national revenue. 
 
 The \'eto message, which added fuel to the flame already 
 blazing between Mr. Tyler and the Whigs, was, on motion of 
 Mr. Adams, referred to a select committee of thirteen, of which 
 he was, of course, the chairman. 
 
 Meantime, a bill to apportion the representatives among the 
 States, and to fix the ratio of representation, was passed by 
 Congress and sent to the President, which required that mem- 
 bers of Congress should be elected by districts, each district to 
 elect a single member. The bill had met with violent oppo- 
 sition in both branches of Congress, but passed by decided 
 majorities. It was signed by the President, who, however, filed 
 a paper in the Secretary of State's office giving his reasons for 
 entertaining deep and strong doubts of the constitutionality of 
 the law, in that it purports to be mandator^' on the States to 
 form districts for the choice of Representatives. 
 
 A resolution was adopted by the House calling upon the Sec- 
 retary of State for a copy of this paper, which was sent to the 
 House. It caused much feeling in that body, and was referred 
 to a committee, of which Mr. Adams was chairman ; who, as 
 usual, made a report condemning the act of the President as 
 unwarranted, wholly unprecedented, of evil example for the 
 future, and declaring that this House solemnly protests against 
 its ever being repeated or adduced as a precedent. 
 
 The committee stated that they considered the mandate to 
 the States to provide for electing representatives to Congress 
 by single districts as the most important and useful feature 
 of the act. Mr. Tyler, they said, was, by the course he had 
 taken, only inviting such States as preferred to elect their 
 
l8o PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 members by general ticket to violate or refuse to comply with 
 
 the law. 
 
 This excellent act is still the law of the land, and ever likely 
 
 to be. New Hampshire, Georgia, and Missouri refused for a 
 
 short time to comply with it, but finally became ashamed of 
 
 their obstinacy and harmonized with the other States. Mr. 
 
 Adams treated the subject with his characteristic power and 
 
 causticity, 
 
 MR. Adams's report. 
 
 On the motion of Mr. Adams, the President's veto message 
 accompanying the revenue bill which he returned to the House 
 was referred to a select committee of thirteen, of which he was 
 chairman. In a few days he prepared and presented his report 
 to the House, signed by all the committee except Mr. Gilmer 
 and Mr. C. J. Ingersoll, who each made a separate report. 
 
 Mr. Adams's report bore the stamp of the mint whence 
 it emanated. "The message," Mr. Adams said, "is the last of 
 a series of Executive measures the result of which has been 
 to defeat and nullify the whole action of the legislative au- 
 thority of this Union upon the most important interests of the 
 nation. . . . The first development of the dangerous exercise 
 of this constitutional power was by its being used to defeat the 
 chartering of a United States Bank under General Jackson." 
 He then spoke of Mr. Tyler's using it for the same purpose on 
 two or three occasions, even to defeat his own bill. Speaking 
 of the bill which Messrs. Sergeant and Berrien received from 
 Mr. Tyler, and which passed both branches of Congress pre- 
 cisely as it left Mr. Tyler's hands, the report said, "This bill 
 was presented to him [for his signature] in the very terms 
 which he had prescribed as necessary to obtain his sanction, 
 and met the same fate with its predecessor ; and it is remark- 
 able that the reasons assigned for the refusal to approve the 
 second bill are in direct and immediate conflict with those 
 which had been assigned for the refusal to sign the first. 
 
 " Thus the measure first among those deemed by the legis- 
 lature of the Union indispensably necessary for the salvation 
 of its highest interests and for the restoration of its credit, its 
 honor, its prosperity, was prostrated, defeated, annulled, by a 
 
MR. ADAMS'S REPORT. l3l 
 
 weak and wavering obstinacy of one man, accidentally, and not 
 by the voice of the people, invested with that terrible power, as 
 if prophetically described by one who is one of his own chosen 
 ministers at this day,* as the ' right to deprive the people of 
 self-government.' 
 
 " And now, to crown this system of continual and unrelent- 
 ing exercise of Executive legislation by the alternate gross 
 abuse of constitutional power and bold assumption of powers 
 never vested in him by any law, we come to the veto message 
 referred by the House to this committee." 
 
 The report proceeds to review the reasons assigned by John 
 Tyler for vetoing the revenue bill, and Mr. Adams then says, — 
 
 " They [the committee] perceive that the whole legislative 
 power of the Union has been for the last fifteen months, with 
 regard to the authority of Congress upon measures of vital im- 
 portance, in a state of suspended animation, strangled by the five 
 times repeated stricture of the Executive cord. They observe 
 that under these unexampled obstructions to the exercise of their 
 high and legitimate duties, they have hitherto preserved the most 
 respectful forbearance towards the Executive chief; that while 
 he has, time after time, annulled by the mere act of his will their 
 commission from the people to enact laws for the common wel- 
 fare, they have forborne even the expression of their resentment 
 for these multiplied insults and injuries; they believed they had 
 a high destiny to fulfill by administering to the people in the form 
 of law remedies for the sufferings which they had too long en- 
 dured. The will of one man has frustrated all their labors and 
 prostrated all their powers. The majority of the committee 
 believe that the case has occurred in the annals of our Union 
 contemplated by the founders of the Constitution, by the grant 
 to the House of Representatives of the power to impeach the 
 President of the United States ; but they are aware that the re- 
 sort to that expedient might, in the present condition of public 
 affairs, prove abortive. They see that the irreconcilable differ- 
 ence of opinion and action between the Legislative and Execu- 
 tive departments of the government is but sympathetic with 
 
 * John C. Spencer, who had denounced Tyler in severe terms six months before. 
 
J 82 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 the same discordant views and feelings among the people. To 
 them alone the final issue of the struggle must be left." 
 
 The report closed with a resolution to amend the Constitu- 
 tion, so that instead of the words "two-thirds," twice repeated 
 in the second paragraph of the seventh section, first article, of 
 the Constitution, the words "a majority of the whole number" 
 shall be substituted in both cases. 
 
 The report itself was agreed to by the House by a large 
 majority; but the accompanying resolution caused debate, and 
 was not adopted. 
 
 That Mr. Adams could perform so much mental and physical 
 labor as his numerous reports and speeches implied, especially 
 as he wrote with a trembling hand, at the age of seventy-one, 
 was a wonder to all ; yet he never absented himself from his 
 seat in the House to perform this labor. 
 
 MR, Tyler's protest. 
 
 Mri Tyler felt the severe animadversions and dignified rebuke 
 of the committee and the House. His friend Gilmer, being one 
 of the committee, endeavored to ward off the blow by a minority 
 report, his alone ; but it was like the attempt of a child to turn 
 the blow from the battle-axe of Richard Coeur de Lion. Mr. 
 Ingersoll, too, came to the rescue, but with no better effect ; 
 and Mr. Tyler, therefore, in further imitation of General Jack- 
 son, issued ^protest, though he had himself condemned General 
 Jackson for the act he now imitated. The protest was sent to 
 the House, where it was read, and only served to intensify the 
 feeling of exasperation which there existed towards him, and 
 his votes in the Senate condemnatory of General Jackson were 
 now brought to bear with great force against himself 
 
 Upon the reading of the protest, all eyes were turned towards 
 Mr. Adams, who did not immediately rise; but no one else 
 rising, and members looking to him as if expecting him to 
 respond, he rose, and said that there seemed to be an expecta- 
 tion on the part of some gentlemen that he should propose to 
 the House some measure suitable to be adopted on the present 
 occasion. He knew of no reason for such an expectation, but 
 the fact that he had been the mover of the resolution for the 
 
MR. TYLER'S PROTEST. 
 
 183 
 
 appointment of the committee which had made the report re- 
 ferred to in the message, had been appointed by the Speaker 
 chairman of the committee, and that the report against which 
 the President of the United States had sent to the House such 
 a, multitude of protests was written by him. So far as it had 
 been so written, Mr. Adams held himself responsible to the 
 House, to the country, to the world, and to posterity ; and so 
 far as he was the author of the report he held himself respon- 
 sible to the President also. The President should hear from 
 him elsewhere than here on that subject. [I am not aware that 
 Mr. Adams ever followed up this subject, according to the in- 
 timation here given.] Mr. Adams said it was because the 
 report had been adopted by the House that the President had 
 sent such a bundle of protests ; and therefore he felt no neces- 
 sity or obligation to suggest what measures the House ought 
 to adopt for the vindication of its own dignity and honor ; and 
 perhaps, from considerations of delicacy, he was, indeed, the 
 very last man in the' House to propose any measure under the 
 circumstances." 
 
 Mr. Botts, who was a member of the committee, stated that 
 in 1834 the Senate adopted certain resolutions condemning 
 the course of General Jackson in removing the deposits from 
 the Bank of the United States ; that, in consequence of this 
 act of the Senate, President Jackson sent to that body 2. protest 
 against the right of the Senate to express any opinion concern- 
 ing his public course; that the Senate, after a long, elaborate 
 discussion of the whole matter, and the most eloquent and over- 
 powering torrent of debate ever listened to in this country, 
 adopted three resolutions, — the first being, in substance, that 
 while the Senate is, and ever will be, ready to receive such 
 messages from the President as the Constitution and laws and 
 the usual course of business authorized him to transmit to it, 
 they could not recognize the right in him to make a formal 
 protest against any of its proceedings. 
 
 On this resolution, Mr. Botts said, the yeas and nays were 
 taken, and stood — yeas 17, nays 16, Mr. Tyler voting in the 
 affirmative. 
 
 The second resolution was as follows : 
 
1 84 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 " Resohcd, That the aforesaid protest is a breach of the privi- 
 leges of the Senate, and that it be not entered on the journal." 
 
 This was adopted by the same vote, John Tyler, now acting 
 President of the United States, voting in the affirmative. 
 
 The third resolution was in these words : 
 
 " Resolved, That the President of the United States has no right 
 to send a protest to the Senate against any of its proceedings." 
 
 For this resolution the record shows that the same John 
 Tyler voted. Mr. Botts also stated that Mr. Daniel Webster, 
 now Secretary of State, voted for each of these resolutions. 
 
 Mr. Botts declined making any remarks of his own upon the 
 extraordinary proceeding of Mr. Tyler, but would read, for the 
 edification of the House, a portion of the remarks made by Mr. 
 Webster in the Senate on the occasion alluded to. Having 
 done this, he proposed the passage of the same resolutions by 
 the House, and called for the yeas and nays on each, which 
 were ordered, and stood — ayes 87, noes 46. 
 
 And so Mr. Tyler got another rebuke from the House, which 
 he fully deserved. 
 
 ANOTHER REVENUE BILL. THE TARIFF ACT OF 1 842. 
 
 The country was now in an anomalous condition. It was a 
 matter of grave doubt whether the government could legally 
 collect any duties on foreign merchandise, and such duties were 
 paid by importers under protest. The government was deeply 
 in debt, and unable to borrow a few millions. Congress had 
 been in session nearly nine months, — it was now the last of 
 August, — and had been so paralyzed by Mr. Tyler's vetoes 
 that they had not as yet been able to pass a revenue bill to 
 relieve the country : yet, with a bankrupt treasury, protested 
 bills lying over to the amount of a million and a half of dollars, 
 and unable to raise anything by loan, John Tyler had the pig- 
 headedness to veto the only revenue bill he had any reason 
 to suppose Congress would pass. All, however, were not so 
 obstinate and stubborn as he. 
 
 Mr, Tyler's alleged principal objection to the two tariff bills 
 he had vetoed within a month was, that they provided for the 
 continuance of the distribution of the proceeds of the sales of 
 
THE TARIFF ACT OF 1S42. jg- 
 
 public lands, to which he was now opposed, though it was 
 shown that he was formerly in favor of that distribution. In 
 this debate, Mr. Alexander H. H. Stuart, of Virginia, fairly- 
 stated the issue between the Whigs and Mr, Tyler in regard 
 to the revenue bills. He said, — 
 
 " The President has rested his veto upon the grounds of 
 expediency alone, and not upon any conscientious or constitu- 
 tional scruples. He withholds his assent because of its sup- 
 posed conflict with the Compromise act of 1833. I take issue 
 with the President in regard to this matter of fact, and ma'intain 
 that there is no such conflict. The President's particular point 
 of objection to the temporary tariff bill is, that it contemplates 
 a prospective distribution of the land proceeds. Now, con- 
 ceding that the President has put a correct construction on 
 our bill, I aver that it is no violation of the Compromise act to 
 withdraw the land proceeds from the ordinary purposes of the 
 government and distribute them among the States. On the 
 contrary, I maintain that the act distinctly contemplates the 
 distribution of the land proceeds, that the distribution was one 
 of the essential elements of the Compromise, 2in^ that 'Ca^ failure to 
 distribute the land fund wojdd of itself be a violation of the true 
 understanding of those who adopted the Compromise, and a 
 palpable fraud upon the rights of one of the parties to it." 
 
 Several attempts were now made to have a bill brought in 
 similar in all respects to the one vetoed, except the distribution 
 section ; but these attempts failed for several days, even the 
 Democrats of Pennsylvania voting no, although all protection 
 to home industry was gone, even if any duties at all could be 
 legally collected, and the vetoed bill was highly protective. 
 
 In these attempts, the vote required to succeed was a two- 
 thirds vote, which could not be obtained. At length, on the 
 22d day of August, the House, going into committee of the 
 whole, took up a bill from the committee on the judiciary, 
 called Barnard's bill, to supply a temporary defect or failure in 
 the law relating to the collection of duties on imports. Mr. 
 McKennan, of Pennsylvania, moved to strike out all of this 
 bill after the enacting clause and insert the vetoed bill, minus 
 
 the twenty-seventh section, which related to distribution. This 
 Vol. II. i^ 
 
1 36 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 threw the House into a delectable commotion and war of tactics ; 
 but a vote was at length taken, and the motion of Mr. McKennan 
 agreed to, — 99 to ^J. 
 
 The bill was passed, and immediately sent to the Senate, 
 where it caused a most spirited and earnest debate, in which 
 Mr. Choate, Mr. Woodbury, Mr. Crittenden, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. 
 Morehead, and others participated. Many of the Whigs in the 
 Senate had been, and were, up to the last hour, opposed to any 
 apparent yielding to the mulish stubbornness of the President, 
 by passing a revenue bill minus the distribution of the land 
 fund ; and among these were the Kentucky Senators, Messrs. 
 Crittenden and Morehead. Knowing this, Mr. Choate took the 
 floor and made a pathetic and eloquent appeal to those Whigs 
 upon whose votes the success or defeat of the bill was supposed 
 to depend, and especially to the Kentucky Senators ; depicted 
 the present state of the country, and what its condition must 
 and would be should this measure fail. Mr. Woodbury opposed 
 the bill. Mr. Crittenden took the floor. He stated the ground 
 they occupied ; for what the Whigs had contended ; what the 
 people decided by the campaign of 1840; how they had been 
 defrauded out of the fruits of that victory, and what they had 
 now to do to save the country from utter ruin. Till within a 
 few hours he had been unable to make up his mind to support 
 this measure ; but he had looked at the subject calmly and 
 deliberately. It was mortifying to be compelled in some 
 measure to yield to Executive obstinacy, and galling to be 
 taunted with thus submitting; but he yielded to a provision of 
 the Constitution, which, however odious its abuse has made it, 
 is nevertheless a provision of the Constitution. He yielded to 
 the urgent wants of the people and their pressing appeals. He 
 yielded in deference to the Whig House of Representatives, in 
 whose patriotism he had unbounded confidence. Was he told, 
 with a taunt, that he surrendered the public lands ? He replied 
 that he surrendered them as he surrendered his purse to the 
 robber; he gave up no tittle of the property which had been 
 wrested from him, and he now gave notice that he would pursue 
 the subject till he again recovered the stolen property. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun declared this bill to be more deeply stamped 
 
THE TARIFF ACT OF iZ\2. j87 
 
 with protection than any one that had ever been passed by Con- 
 gress. He said it was utterly impossible that such a bill should 
 long remain in existence : it would be repealed, probably within 
 two years. He gave the North clearly to understand that he 
 would make war upon it, and that the " Democracy" of the 
 South would not give up till they had procured its repeal. 
 
 The vote being taken, Mr. Wright, of New York, and Mr. 
 Williams, of Maine, not having answered at the first call, the 
 vote stood 22 affirmative and 23 negative ; but before it was 
 announced these two Senators came in and voted in the affirm- 
 ative. 
 
 Two or three Whigs voted in the negative, who, had their 
 votes been necessary to carry the bill, would have voted in the 
 affirmative : these were Messrs. Mangum, Graham, and Berrien. 
 And so passed through Congress the long-to-be-remembered 
 tariff act of 1842. It went to the President, and received his 
 signature on the 30th of August. 
 
 No measure ever had a more vivifying influence upon a 
 country than this tariff act of 1842. Its effect was like magic. 
 The furnaces and forges of Pennsylvania, which had been 
 abandoned for a long time, and stood solitary monuments of 
 the ignorance, stupidity, and political prejudices of members of 
 Congress, now blazed up on every hill, and gave token of re- 
 stored life and prosperity. The cotton-mills of New England, 
 and, indeed, every branch of domestic manufacture, awoke as 
 from a long, lethargic sleep, and life, cheerfulness, and confi- 
 dence pervaded the whole country. Never had business of all 
 kinds been more brisk and remunerative. From a state of 
 extraordinary depression, stagnancy, and suffering, the whole 
 country sprang at once into an extraordinary condition of ani- 
 mation and prosperity, which lasted till the repeal of this act in 
 1846, when the threats now made by Mr. Calhoun, and the 
 Democrats generally, that it should be repealed, were con- 
 summated by a President elected by the vote of Pennsylvania 
 on the ground that his election over Henry Clay was neces- 
 sary to SAVE " the Democratic tariff act of 1842" ! 
 
 Congress adjourned on the 13th day of September, after an 
 unusually laborious and exciting session of over nine months ; 
 
1 88 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 and Sflad were members to return once more to their families 
 and constituents. 
 
 MILLARD FILLMORE. 
 
 As chairman of the committee of ways and means, Mr. 
 Filhnore was the leader of the House, and upon him much 
 of the responsibility of its doings rested. He devoted himself 
 with unremitting assiduity to the duties of his station, laboring 
 night and day to prepare those complicated revenue bills in 
 which the interests of every species of industry were intricately 
 involved : never discouraged by his frequent defeats and the 
 blocking vetoes, but renewing his efforts at every set-back, 
 until finally the revenue act of 1842 crowned his efforts and 
 gave renewed life to the country. 
 
 It was the part Mr. Fillmore had performed in this Con- 
 gress that commended him to the Whigs, some years later, for 
 the second office of the government. 
 
 Though not an eloquent man or an attractive speaker, he 
 was always well supplied with facts, which he could give to 
 the House in a plain, clear, business-like manner, such as that 
 body always listens to, when the subject is one that inter- 
 ests it, with unwearied attention. His voice was remarkably 
 strong, full, and clear; he spoke with deliberation, and his enun- 
 ciation of every word was so distinct that it could be heard in 
 every part of the House. But, while he always commanded the 
 strictest attention of members, he could seldom interest a popular 
 crowd. He lacked imagination, and knew nothing of clap-trap. 
 His figures belonged to arithmetic, not to rhetoric. As a lawyer, 
 his place was in the office or before a bench of judges; not 
 before a jury. 
 
 MR. TYLER CHANGES HIS POLICY IN REGARD TO REMOVALS AND 
 
 APPOINTMENTS. 
 
 By referring to the address to the public, which Mr. Tyler 
 put forth on assuming the duties of President, it will be seen 
 that he then declared that he " would remove no incumbent 
 from office who has faithfully and honestly acquitted himself 
 of the duties of his office, except in case where such officer 
 has been guilty of an active partisanship, or by secret means 
 
 \ 
 
MR. TYLER CHANGES HIS POLICY. 
 
 189 
 
 has given his official influence to the purpose of party, thereby- 
 bringing the patronage of the government in conflict with the 
 freedom of elections. Nor shall I neglect to apply the same 
 unbending rule to those of my own appointment." 
 
 This was good Whig doctrine, and very plain. It, moreover, 
 bore the stamp of sincerity. 
 
 In his annual message, in December, 1841, he made an 
 ostentatious display of his hostility to the corrupt use of 
 Executive patronage ; at any rate, he spoke most emphatically 
 against it, deeming it his duty to bring the subject to the con- 
 sideration of Congress. " I allude," he says, " to the exercise . 
 of the power which usage, rather than reason, has invested in 1 
 the President, of removing incumbents from office in order to / 
 substitute others more in favor with the dominant party. Myj 
 own conduct in this respect has been governed by a conscien- 
 tious purpose to exercise the removing power only in cases of /' 
 unfaithfulness, or inability, or in those in which its exercise I 
 appeared necessary in order to discountenance and suppress ' 
 that spirit of active partisanship on the part of holders of office 
 which not only withdraws them from the steady and impartial 
 discharge of their official duties, but exerts an undue and in- \ 
 
 jurious influence over elections, and degrades the character of \ 
 
 the government itself, inasmuch as it exhibits the chief magis- 
 trate as using a party, through his agents, to the secret plots / 
 and open workings of political parties." 
 
 He who was about to " remove honest, faithful, and compe- 
 tent incumbents from office in order to substitute others more 
 in favor with the dominant party" invoked Congress to take 
 this abuse of Executive power in hand and put some check 
 upon it; to tie the hands of the Executive! 
 
 But " a change came o'er the spirit of his dream." He had 
 begun to dream of being President by election of the people. 
 But how could he effect this ? One means was to freely use 
 the patronage of the government, and thereby purchase parti- 
 sans. His course soon showed that he had cast to the winds 
 all his virtuous notions about not removing honest incumbents 
 from office, and had concluded to use any means to attain his 
 object. He wanted partisans and supporters, and if offices 
 
 \ 
 
1 90 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 could buy them, offices they should have. Every one but him- 
 self saw the futility of his new policy to accomplish his pur- 
 pose ; every one saw he was deceiving himself; that he took 
 counsel of his own vanity, and was carried away by flattering 
 notions that he could beat Mr. Clay, and become President of 
 the United States by the voice of the people in spite of him. 
 
 Surrounded by flatterers and sycophants, who had their own 
 selfish ends to serve, how was he to know the truth, — that 
 he had no followers save those in office, or who were seeking 
 office at his hands ? 
 
 But the experiment of the " spoils system" was now entered 
 upon. Mr. Jonathan Roberts, collector of customs at Phila- 
 delphia, formerly a Senator in Congress, and a man of rare 
 honesty and unbending principles, was required to remove 
 certain designated men from the custom-house, and appoint 
 others, also designated, for no other cause than that those to 
 be removed were not, and those to be appointed professed to 
 be, Tyler men. 
 
 Mr. Roberts was a Republican of the Jeffersonian school ; 
 not " a man of principle according to his interest," but accord- 
 ing to the dictates of his honest judgment and conscience; 
 nor would he swerve one hair from those principles to hold 
 any office in the gift of the government. Refusing to obey the 
 Executive mandate, he came to Washington to remonstrate 
 with Mr. Tyler. He reminded him of the letter addressed by 
 Mr. Webster, as Secretary of State under General Harrison, to 
 the other heads of Departments, in regard to appointments 
 and removals, — also to his, Mr. Tyler's, own address, and his 
 message of December, 1841, — and desired to know if this wise, 
 Washingtonian policy was to be set aside, and the "spoils 
 system," which had done so much to corrupt the country, to 
 be again carried into effect. His only answer was a positive 
 order to obey the mandate or resign; but he peremptorily 
 refused to do either, and was removed. 
 
 The policy now adopted was to use the patronage of the 
 government to build up a Tyler party and secure the election 
 of John Tyler as President. One of the most distinguished 
 victims of this insane ambition was the gallant General Solo- 
 
MR. WEBSTER REMAINS IN THE CABINET. igi 
 
 mon Van Rensselaer, the hero of Queenstown Heights, who 
 was appointed postmaster at Albany by General Harrison. 
 But the Tyler organ declared that " all who are not for us 
 are against us;" and, "It is not enough that the office-holders 
 do not oppose the administration. We want vigorous and bold 
 men. We want men who are ready to put their shoulders 
 to the wheel and drive along the car of the administration 
 through every obstacle and every opposition." Men like Mr. 
 Roberts and General Van Rensselaer were not such as were 
 needed, and were therefore summarily dismissed. 
 
 MR. WEBSTER STILL REMAINS IN THE CABINET. 
 
 Mr. Webster's avowed reason for remaining in Mr. Tyler's 
 cabinet when his colleagues, appointed by General Harrison, 
 resigned, was, that an important negotiation was pending with 
 England, and it was necessary that he should remain long 
 enough to negotiate a treaty with Lord Ashburton. 
 
 The treaty was now negotiated, but he manifested no in- 
 tention to resign, notwithstanding the extraordinary change of 
 policy in regard to removals and appointments, so utterly at 
 variance with that which he had promulged as the organ of 
 General Harrison's administration. He thus subjected himself 
 to the severe criticism of Whigs and the Whig press. Mr. 
 Tyler's administration was fast sliding over towards the Demo- 
 cratic party, which, however, turned a cold shoulder to him, 
 and repelled, as a party, his blandishments and dalliances. 
 
 In the month of September, soon after the adjournment of 
 Congress, Mr. Webster visited Boston, and took the relief his 
 long and severe labors during the session rendered neces- 
 saiy. While there, desiring to address the Whigs of Boston, a 
 meeting was called at Faneuil Hall for that purpose, where 
 assembled the first men of the city and vicinity, and a large 
 concourse of people. Mr. Webster's was the only speech de- 
 livered : and such a speech ! It was stamped with Websterian 
 power, and commanded the deepest attention, often eliciting 
 great applause; but it was a manifestation of ill temper from 
 beginning to end, and he laid about him as if determined that 
 his blows should be felt. Little did the prominent Whigs of 
 
'"» 
 
 192 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Boston anticipate the particular kind of feast to which they had 
 been invited. The whole purpose and scope of the speech 
 seemed to be to call the Whigs to a reckoning, and to read 
 them a severe lecture for having separated themselves from 
 John Tyler. A State convention had lately been held in 
 Massachusetts to nominate a candidate for governor and other 
 State officers, which convention had also nominated Henry 
 Clay for President and John Davis for Vice-President ; and it 
 had also adopted a resolution separating the Whig party from 
 John Tyler. These acts of the convention excited his special 
 animosity, and he poured upon that respectable body a perfect 
 tempest of sneers, taxing them with presumption in under- 
 taking to read Mr. Tyler out of the Whig church. Presently, 
 suspecting they might think of doing the same good ofiice even 
 to himself, he declared, " I am a Whig, a Faneuil Hall Whig ! 
 I always have been one, and I always shall be one ; and if 
 anybody undertakes to turn me out of the pale of that com- 
 munion, let him see to it who gets out first. The individual 
 who addresses you — where do his brother Whigs intend to 
 place him? Generally, when a divorce takes place, the 
 parents divide the children. I should be glad to know where 
 I am to go." 
 
 This speech called forth severe remarks, and from none 
 more caustic than from the press of his own State. 
 
 morse's telegraph. 
 
 On the opening of the third session of the Twenty-seventh 
 Congress, Mr, Morse, of telegraphic celebrity, obtained leave 
 to set up his telegraph in the lower rooms of the Capitol, in 
 order to exhibit to Senators and members its operation, he 
 being an applicant for an appropriation of thirty thousand 
 dollars with which to establish an experimental line from 
 Washington to Baltimore. 
 
 No one dreamed then that continents, separated by oceans, 
 could be connected by telegraphic wires, and messages trans- 
 mitted, almost instantaneously, between the most distant parts 
 of the earth, crossing rivers, bays, lakes, and oceans. 
 
 The rooms in which were the termini of this temporary 
 
MORSE'S TELEGRAPH. ig^ 
 
 illustrative telegraph were almost constantly filled by Senators, 
 members of the House, and others, and the two operators were 
 often kept busy {q\ hours transmitting messages to and from 
 those in the different rooms, to the great wonder of those who 
 sent and those who received them. They could hardly credit 
 their senses. Members in the different rooms would carry on 
 for some time a jocose conversation, full of wit, point, and 
 repartee, to the great amusement of others in the rooms, appar- 
 ently with as much ease as if they stood face to face. Still, it 
 was no easy matter to convince many that this telegraph could 
 be made practically useful to the world. It was considered by 
 some as a sort of Redheffer's perpetual-motion machine, — 
 might do for short distances, but impracticable for long ones. 
 However, there were others who, if they did not foresee all the 
 great results to be wrought by this invention, or discovery, — 
 and who could at that time? — were satisfied that it was destined 
 to effect great results. 
 
 Mr. Morse asked for an appropriation of thirty thousand 
 dollars ; and a bill was introduced authorizing the Secretary 
 of the Treasury to make "an experiment, by erecting a line of 
 telegraph — of a single wire — from Washington to Baltimore, 
 and making an appropriation for that purpose. 
 
 The bill came up, and was considered in committee of the 
 whole on the 21st of February. ■ It met with most decided 
 opposition, its opponents, not numerous, endeavoring to kill 
 it by ridicule. Mr. Cave Johnson, who, a little more than a 
 year after this, was Postmaster-General, moved that one-half 
 of the appropriation be expended in making experiments in 
 mesmerism, which was sustained by twenty votes. Another 
 member moved that the Secretary use the appropriation in 
 trying an experiment to construct a railroad to the moon. 
 Other ridiculous propositions were made, some of them 
 creating much merriment and pleasant badinage among mem- 
 bers. Prominent among the opponents of the bill were Cave 
 Johnson and George W. Jones, of Tennessee; Edmund Burke, 
 of New Hampshire, Commissioner of Patents under Mr. Polk ; 
 George S. Houston and William W. Payne, of Alabama ; Wil- 
 liam Pettit and Andrew Kennedy, of Indiana; and Samuel 
 
IQ. PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Gordon, of New York. Mr. Pettit, of Indiana, afterwards a 
 Democratic Senator, opposed it, and looked upon all niag-netic 
 telegraphs as miserable chimeras, fit for notJiing. Nobody tvho 
 did not understand the Pottaivattomie or some other outlandish 
 jargon could knozv what the telegraph reported. 
 
 Governor Wallace, of Indiana, who voted for the appropria- 
 tion, was superseded by William J. Brown, one of the leaders 
 of the Democratic party, who made the vote of Governor 
 Wallace the great theme in his electioneering canvass. 
 
 But, finally, the opposition gave up, and the bill was reported 
 to the House, and passed by a small majority. 
 
 While the bill was undergoing the ordeal of ridicule in the 
 committee of the whole, Mr. Morse stood leaning on the bar 
 of the House, or railing, in a state of intense excitement 
 and anxiety. Seeing him thus, I went to him, remarking 
 that he appeared to be much excited. He turned and said, 
 " I have an awful headache," putting his hand to his forehead. 
 I said, " You are anxious." " I have reason to be," he replied; 
 " and if you knew how important this is to me, you would 
 not wonder. I have spent seven years in perfecting this inven- 
 tion, and all that I had: if it succeeds, I am a made man; if it 
 fails, I am ruined. I have a large family, and not money enough 
 to pay my board bill when I leave the city." I assured him he 
 need not feel so anxious, as the bill would pass. " Are you 
 sure of it?" he asked. "Yes, perfectly; all this ridicule goes 
 for nothing." He was soon relieved by the vote, first in the 
 committee, and then in the House. I seldom met him in after- 
 years that he did not recall the conversation between us, and 
 remark how much relief my assurance gave him. The ridicule 
 cast upon his great invention, or discovery, whichever it may 
 be, mortified him, and led him to fear the defeat of the bill. 
 By its passage he was, as he said, " a made man :" one of the 
 celebrities of the world, whose fame can never die so long as 
 man can flash words over continents and under oceans with a 
 speed that utterly annihilates time and space. The name of 
 Morse and the electro-magnetic telegraph are forever 
 inseparable. 
 
THE SWORD AND STAFF OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 THE SWORD AND STAFF OF WASHINGTON. 
 
 195. 
 
 For many years those who visited the Patent Office were 
 shown, among other interesting relics of Washington, the sword 
 he usually wore in battle, during the Revolution, and the cane 
 which had been left to him by the venerable Franklin ; both of 
 which sacred relics had been presented to the United States 
 by Samuel T. Washington, to whom they had descended from 
 his illustrious relative. These articles are now, and it is to be 
 hoped ever will be, sacredly preserved by our government. 
 
 At twelve o'clock, Mr. Somers, of Virginia, arose and ad- 
 dressed the Speaker, amid perfect silence, in language at once 
 simple, full of feeling, and adapted to the occasion. 
 
 He gave a brief history of the sword he was about to present 
 to the nation through its representative body. In giving an 
 account of the sword, he stated that, although he who had been 
 the instrument of Divine Providence to achieve our independ- 
 ence had others of more intrinsic value, and of far more beauty, 
 which he wore on occasions of ceremony and parade, yet this, 
 — holding it up to the view of the House, — this was his battle- 
 sword, — it was the " sword of the Lord and of Gideon." 
 
 The staff of Franklin, bequeathed to Washington, was next 
 the subject of brief remark, and its possession by the person 
 at whose request he now presented it to the nation as a proper 
 companion of the sword of the father of his country, accounted 
 for. The closing remarks of Mr. Somers were as eloquent as 
 they were chaste and appropriate. 
 
 Having concluded, and placed the sacred relics in the hands 
 of the Sergeant-at-arms, who conveyed them to the Speaker, 
 Mr. Adams rose and prefaced the resolution he was about to 
 offer, and which was called for by the occasion, with some 
 remarks, and concluded by offering a resolution, which was 
 adopted unanimously: 
 
 " That the thanks of this Congress be presented to Samuel 
 T. Washington, of Kanawha County, Virginia, for the present 
 of the sword used by his illustrious relative, George Wash- 
 ington, in the military career of his early youth in the Seven 
 Years' War, and throughout the war of the National Inde- 
 
196 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 pendence, and of the staff bequeathed by the patriot, states- 
 man, and sage, Benjamin Franklin, to the same leader of the 
 armies of freedom in the Revolutionary war, George Wash- 
 ington ; that these precious relics are hereby accepted in the 
 name of the nation ; that they be deposited for safe-keeping in 
 the Department of State of the United States, and that a copy 
 of this resolution, signed by the President of the Senate and 
 the Speaker of the House of Representatives, be transmitted 
 to the said Samuel T. Washington," 
 
 THE WINDING UP OF THE TWENTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. 
 
 As the period approached when the Twenty-seventh Con- 
 gress must cease to exist, rumors of changes in the cabinet 
 became more and more rife, and crowds of office-seekers, ready 
 to swear allegiance to Mr. Tyler, gathered at Washington and 
 beset the Departments. Many changes were made, and more 
 promised. At length it was announced that Mr. Forward, 
 Secretary of the Treasury, had sent in his resignation, to take 
 effect on the ist of March. 
 
 Mr. Wise was, in the mean time, nominated as minister to 
 France, and Mr. Irwin, one of "the guard," as charge to Den- 
 mark. It had been intended that Mr. Forward should vacate 
 the Treasury Department after the 4th of March, when he 
 would be succeeded by Mr. Spencer. But, as the latter did 
 not wish to place himself in the power of the Senate at this 
 time, Mr. Forward's resignation was a perplexing circumstance. 
 Finally, however, Mr. Gushing was nominated as Secretary 
 of the Treasury, — a broad hint to Mr. Webster to make his 
 conge ; not the only one that had lately been given him. 
 
 Mr. Everett was minister to England, but had been nomi- 
 nated minister to Ghina, and was now confirmed. Had he 
 accepted the new appointment, it would have left our mission 
 to England vacant, which it was well understood Mr. Webster 
 was willing to fill, and Mr. Tyler more than willing he should, 
 since by that arrangement he could be relieved of the presence 
 of one who was now in the way. But Mr. Everett saw no ad- 
 vantage in the change proposed to him, and therefore wisely 
 preferred to remain where he was. 
 
SAMUEL T. VINTON. jq^ 
 
 THE LAST NIGHT OF THE SESSION. 
 
 Matters of great moment were culminating, and curiosity, as 
 well as expectation, was on tiptoe. Many anxious hearts were 
 throbbing with hope or sinking with fear. The Senate was 
 " master of the situation." It was in executive session most of 
 the time from six o'clock p.m. till twelve midnight. 
 
 At length it was announced that the nomination of Mr. Wise 
 had been rejected. There were those who exulted over this, 
 and those whose hearts it made heavy, — some, excited to anger. 
 Anon came word that the nomination of Mr. Irwin, one of " the 
 pfuard," was confirmed. As no one entertained other than 
 friendly feelings to him, his confirmation was generally gratify- 
 ing. Then, after a period of suspense, word came from the 
 Senate that Mr. Cushing's nomination was rejected. But im- 
 mediately it was whispered that both Mr. Wise and Mr. Gush- 
 ing had been renominated; that the President was determined 
 not to abandon them, but to force them upon the Senate. 
 
 All these things, together with a crowd of women who had, 
 as usual, on the last night of the session, been let into the hall 
 (the most improper time of all others), produced a very lively 
 excitement among members and others. Three times were 
 these gentlemen nominated, and three times were they rejected, 
 — the last time by such a vote as told the President that the 
 Senate was not to be coerced into a compliance with his 
 wishes. 
 
 On the first nomination, the vote of the Senate stood, for 
 confirming Mr. Wise, 12 ; against it, 24. On the second nomi- 
 nation, it stood 8 to 26; on the third, 2 to 29. On the first 
 nomination of Mr. Gushing the vote was 19 to 27; on the 
 second nomination, 10 to 27; on the third, 2 to 29. It was 
 therefore useless to press them further upon the Senate. 
 
 The two Houses adjourned about half-past two o'clock on 
 the morning of the 4th of March. 
 
 SAMUEL T. VINTON. 
 
 It would be doing injustice to let the Twenty-seventh Gon- 
 gress pass out of sight and out of mind without noticing one 
 
198 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 of its most estimable and useful members, — the gentleman 
 named above. Mr. Vinton was a man of slight frame; wore 
 spectacles from near-sightedness; very reserved and unassum- 
 ing, and with a weak voice; no way fitted to contend for the 
 floor among ten or twenty members bawling, " Mr. Speaker !" 
 with stentorian lungs. But he was possessed of that remark- 
 able good sense and sound judgment which invariably arrested 
 and held the attention of the House. As he never spoke " for 
 Buncombe," never addressed the House without having some- 
 thing to the purpose to say, — something worth listening to, — 
 as he never indulged in sharp criticisms or personal remarks, 
 harbored no enmities, and had therefore no enemies, it was 
 seldom that he addressed the Speaker or chairman of the com- 
 mittee of the whole without being promptly recognized. 
 
 Mr. Vinton was emphatically a useful member, seeming 
 always to have a single eye to accomplishing that which the 
 great interests of the country required at the hands of Congress, 
 and always most industrious in maturing important measures 
 and pushing them through Congress.* Very sedate and taci- 
 turn, he was, nevertheless, of bland and amiable deportment, 
 and pleasant in conversation, though probably never guilty of 
 a witty remark, or the perpetration of a joke, in his life. Ear- 
 nest, sincere, and free from all asperity, even under the most 
 trying circumstances, he was a general favorite, esteemed by 
 political opponents as well as political friends ; and, to sum up 
 his character in a single word, he was eminently a zvisc man. 
 His constituents honored themselves in electing him as their 
 representative for many, many years,-r-till he voluntarily retired 
 from public life, at the close of the Thirty-first Congress. 
 
 MR. GUSHING GOES TO CHINA. MR. WEBSTER RETIRES FROM 
 
 THE CABINET. 
 
 Had Mr. Everett accepted the mission to China, — a kind of 
 nondescript, created by the act of 3d of March, 1843, — and va- 
 cated his mission to England, it is probable Mr. Webster would 
 have been his successor. Not accepting, however, Mr. Cush- 
 
 * Mr. Vinton was the author of the law requiring members of Congress to be 
 elected by districts. 
 
MR. WEBSTER RETIRES FROM THE CABINET. 
 
 199 
 
 ing was appointed, and took his departure in May, on board the 
 war-steamer Missouri, at Washington, where she was brought to 
 receive him. Threading her way down the crooked channel of 
 the Potomac, she ran upon an oyster-bank, and fifteen of her 
 crew, with a promising young officer, were drowned in getting 
 her off. The ship was ordered to proceed to the Mediterranean, 
 but, on arriving at Gibraltar, took fire and was consumed. 
 
 Mr. Gushing proceeded on his journey by way of the Red 
 Sea and a steamer through the Indian Ocean to his destination, 
 where he had his own troubles in getting a treaty out of the 
 Celestials. 
 
 Mr. Webster's position in the cabinet had become uncomfort- 
 able. There was little in common between him and his col- 
 leagues, who had views they well knew he never would concur 
 in, much less promote, and he therefore became isolated, in 
 fact, in the way, and was made to feel that he was unwelcome 
 at the council-board, — he was neither consulted nor regarded, 
 Texas now loomed up at the South and filled the eye and fired 
 the ambition of Mr. Tyler. What a glory to his administration 
 the ;r-annexation of Texas would be ! Tyler, Upshur, Wise, 
 and Gilmer were all full of it. The scheme of annexation was 
 privately and clandestinely carried on, and it must er^ long 
 become the subject of open official action; and as Mr. Webster 
 could not be trusted, he must be got rid of. How ? there was 
 no mission to England to offer him, — nothing that he could hon- 
 orably accept; and it would not do to dismiss him abruptly. 
 What then? Why, compel him to resign out of sheer self- 
 respect ; make him feel that he was in the way; treat him coldly; 
 never consult him, and pay little or no attention to what at any 
 time he might propose or bring before the council-board ; give 
 him a cold shoulder and averted looks. This was the plan, and 
 it proved effectual. He went at last, and was immediately suc- 
 ceeded, ad interim^ by Mr. Legare, of South Carolina, Attorney- 
 General. 
 
 And so Mr. Webster finally, May, 1843, separated from John 
 Tyler. But the Whigs were not disposed to open their doors to 
 him : the latch-string was no longer out. He whom they and the 
 whole country had admired now inspired them with a different 
 
200 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 feeling; and he inquired, with real solicitude, "Where am I to 
 go?" 
 
 The Fanueil Hall speech, and, above all, Mr. Webster's adhe- 
 sion to Mr. Tyler long after the signing and ratification of the 
 Webster-Ashburton treaty, were not forgotten, and the discarded 
 Secretary met cold, if not averted, faces on his return home 
 among his old enthusiastic friends. Still, there was at the bottom 
 of the great Whig heart a kindly feeling for Daniel Webster. 
 He had for years been one of the great champions of their 
 cause, and, more than any other, the great expounder of con- 
 stitutional doctrines held by them. They could not forget the 
 conflict between him and Hayne in the Senate twelve years 
 before ; they could not forget his masterly speeches on the 
 bank, on the removal of the deposits, on Executive usurpation, 
 on the " spoils" doctrine, on the various vetoes of General Jack- 
 son, and on the Sub-treasury. 
 
 In turning his back upon them he had turned upon himself, 
 and it required only time and reflection for him to see that he 
 had veered from the straight path and gone astray ; and when 
 this was fully realized by him, he would not be long in finding 
 his way back to the camp of his old friends. It was a favorable 
 circumstance that he came back from Washington with a sub- 
 dued spirit. No imperiousness marked his bearing, but rather 
 the humility of the prodigal son. Still, no fatted calf was killed, 
 nor did the Whigs espy him afar off and go out to meet him. 
 He was given ample time for reflection. They could not forget 
 that the party had been bereft of the fruits of that great victory 
 won in 1840 by the death of Harrison and the treachery of 
 John Tyler, sustained and countenanced by Daniel Webster. 
 
 MR. Tyler's visit to the north and east. — mr. legare's 
 
 DEATH. MR. UPSHUR APPOINTED SECRETARY OF STATE. — IN- 
 TRIGUE FOR TEXAS. 
 
 On the compulsory retirement of Mr. Webster, Mr. Legare 
 was appointed to discharge the duties of Secretary of State ad 
 interim; and Mr. James M. Porter, of Pennsylvania, was ap- 
 pointed to the Secretaryship of War, made vacant by the ap- 
 pointment of Mr. Spencer as Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
MR. TYLER'S VISIT TO THE NORTH AND EAST. 2OI 
 
 The President, accompanied by Mr. Legare, proceeded on a 
 tour North and East, as far as Boston, in June, 1843. reccixing 
 such demonstrations of respect as his few " pecuHar friends" 
 and the pubHc at large thought proper to display, which in 
 no place were highly flattering, and the absence of which in 
 Baltimore and Philadelphia was, to him, painfully expressive. 
 
 He had hardly arrived at Boston when Mr. Legare was taken 
 ill, and died in a very short time. The President thereupon 
 returned with all possible haste to Washington, and appointed 
 Mr. Upshur, of Virginia, Secretary of State, and David Hen- 
 shaw, of Massachusetts, a Democrat, Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 Meantime, Mr. Proffit was appointed and sent minister to 
 Brazil ; and thus all those who constituted " the corporal's 
 guard," except Mr, Wise, had been provided for. 
 
 The great purpose of the administration was now the acqui- 
 sition of Texas. 
 
 The South generally were not unfavorable to this, as it would 
 give strength to the slave States as against the free States. Mr. 
 Calhoun and his friends very ardently desired it. 
 
 An intrigue had been set on foot to operate on the people of 
 the United States. A letter was published by Mr. Gilmer in a 
 Baltimore paper warning the people against the machinations 
 and designs of England, which were represented to be the gain- 
 ing possession and ownership of this extensive territory for 
 the purpose of supplying herself with cotton, and also with a 
 view to the abolishing of slavery in the United States. 
 
 General Jackson was drawn into the writing of a letter in 
 favor of immediately acquiring Texas. Colonel Benton says 
 he was drawn into the intrigue, not knowing that Mr. Calhoun 
 was its prime mover. It was believed by those engaged in 
 this scheme that both Mr. Clay and Mr. Van Buren would 
 oppose annexation, and that it could be made an issue in the 
 approaching Presidential contest fatal to both these aspirants. 
 The result proved their sagacity. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun was at one time considered as a rival of Mr. 
 Van Buren for the Democratic nomination, but he never suf- 
 fered himself to be announced as a candidate, and it had become 
 
 apparent that he could not obtain the nomination. 
 Vol. II. 14 
 
202 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 MEETING OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. — SOLOMON FOOT, 
 JACOB COLLAMER, HAMILTON FISH, E. JOY MORRIS, ALEXANDER 
 RAMSEY, WASHINGTON HUNT, HANNIBAL HAMLIN, ALEXANDER 
 H. STEPHENS, ROBERT TOOMBS, JOHN P. HALE, ROBERT C.SCHENCK, 
 J. J. HARDIN, STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, HOWELL COBB, JOHN WENT- 
 WORTH, JAMES POLLOCK. 
 
 The Twenty-eighth Congress met, as customary, on the first 
 Monday of December, and, as it was largely Democratic, there 
 were many new as well as young members. It is a notable 
 circumstance that many who have since played important parts 
 in public life first became known to, or were heard of, by the 
 nation as members of this Congress. Among these were 
 Messrs. Foot and Collamer, of Vermont, for many years the 
 very able representatives of that State in the Senate. Hamilton 
 Fish, of New York, subsequently governor of that State, Senator 
 in Congress, and now Secretary of State; Washington Hunt, 
 afterwards governor of New York ; E. Joy Morris and Alex- 
 ander Ramsey, of Pennsylvania, — the former minister to Naples 
 and Constantinople, and the latter governor of Minnesota and 
 United States Senator; Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, Vice- 
 President from March 4, 1861, to March 4, 1865, and now 
 United States Senator ; Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, a man 
 of marked ability, who sought the Presidential chair with ex- 
 traordinary avidity and perseverance, but sought it only to go 
 down to the grave, like many other aspirants, without reaching 
 the object of his high ambition. Tennessee sent another new 
 member, who has since filled a large space in the public eye, — 
 Andrew Johnson, afterwards United States Senator, elected in 
 1864 Vice-President on the ticket with Mr. Lincoln, and, by 
 the assassination of the latter. President of the United States. 
 
 From Georgia came A. H. Stephens, whose great power as 
 a popular speaker had been heralded in advance of his entrance 
 into Congress, whose presence there was warmly welcomed by 
 the Whigs, and whose personal appearance strongly reminded 
 one of John Randolph of Roanoke. Like Randolph, his body 
 was so attenuated that it seemed scarcely able to support his 
 massive head. Though then thirty-one years of age, he scarcely 
 looked to be over twenty, and his voice was that of one in 
 
MEETING OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. 20^ 
 
 his teens. But if he lacked physical he was richly endowed 
 with mental ability, and this at once placed him among, and 
 made him the peer of, the most prominent members of the 
 House. 
 
 Though an invalid all his life, and on his first entrance into 
 Congress his life seemed to be held by a frail tenure, he " still 
 lives," his body a mere wreck, but his mind clear and vigorous. 
 
 Since the breaking out of the Rebellion, Mr. Stephens has 
 acted a prominent part, and attracted much attention from the 
 public ; but, though he held the second office under the Con- 
 federacy, the people of the North entertained, and still enter- 
 tain, for him both respect and kindly feelings, — very different 
 from those inspired by Jefferson Davis and thousands of the 
 leading spirits of the Rebellion. His re-entrance into the House 
 of Representatives at the commencement of the Forty-second 
 Congress was a most striking incident, and it was gratifying 
 to his old personal and political friends, among whom I count 
 myself, to witness the universal respect paid to him by the 
 members. 
 
 Mr. Stephens was in Congress for a long period, and his 
 name always suggests that of another, who was on such terms 
 of intimacy with him that they seemed to be the "Siamese 
 twins," though his alter ego, Robert Toombs, did not enter 
 Congress till two years after. 
 
 Howell Cobb, also from Georgia, now first entered upon his 
 Congressional life, became Speaker of the Thirty-first Congress, 
 and Secretary of the Treasury under Mr. Buchanan. John J. 
 Hardin, of Illinois, who fell in the battle of Buena Vista, fighting 
 desperately at the head of his regiment, also first entered the 
 Twenty-eighth Congress, as did another from that State, remark- 
 able, at least, for his great height, John Wentworth, usually 
 called " Long John," — a man of vigorous intellect, great energy, 
 and a shrewd but independent politician. Robert C. Schcnck, 
 a new member in this Congress, from Ohio, has served many 
 terms, but not continuously. During the Rebellion he held the 
 office of major-general, and is now our able minister to Eng- 
 land. He was distinguished in Congress by the keenness of 
 his assaults upon his opponents, his sharp satire, and his quick. 
 
204 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 and telling retorts when he was himself assailed. He could 
 fire off-hand at game upon the wing, and never failed to fix his 
 dart in the object aimed at, where it rankled and festered : he 
 was a most effectual skirmisher in a running and somewhat 
 excited debate. 
 
 Governor James Pollock, of Pennsylvania, also entered the 
 Twenty-eighth Congress as a new member, and, like those I 
 have mentioned, has filled high positions since, having been 
 governor of the State, — after having served two terms in Con- 
 gress, — and has for several years past been at the head of the 
 mint in Philadelphia. 
 
 Edward Joy Morris, of Philadelphia, who first entered the 
 Twenty-eighth Congress, was also a member of the Thirty-fifth, 
 having in the mean time been minister to Naples during the 
 Taylor-Fillmore administration ; and during the administrations 
 of Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Johnson he was minister to Constanti- 
 nople, discharging his diplomatic duties with high credit to 
 himself and to the United States. 
 
 Nor should another gentleman, who first entered upon his 
 Congressional career in 1843, be forgotten. Caleb B. Smith, 
 of Indiana, was a very able debater and popular orator, — ex- 
 celled by few, either in ability or in fluency or force of lan- 
 guage. He soon took rank among the leaders of his party 
 (Whig), and performed a great amount of labor upon " the 
 stump" in every part of the United States. He became Secre- 
 tary of the Interior under Mr. Lincoln, and died while holding 
 that office. 
 
 John P. Hale, who has lately passed away, now first appeared 
 in Congress as a Democrat ; after which time his life was an 
 eventful one. He was a fluent speaker; his remarks, never 
 caustic, were usually well seasoned with wit and pleasantry, 
 always leaving a favorable impression upon his audience. He 
 was gifted with a remarkably fine, powerful voice, and could 
 be distinctly heard, even in his ordinary tone, in every part of 
 the old hall of the House, so difficult to speak in. It used to 
 be said of him, jocosely, that it was his custom to stand upon 
 the top of Mount Washington and address the whole State 
 of New Hampshire at the same time, only those within a few 
 
MEETING OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. 
 
 205 
 
 miles of him suffering inconvenience from the extraordinary 
 strength of his lungs. 
 
 Mr. Hale went with his party until required to vote for the 
 annexation of Texas. There were some dozen or more Demo- 
 crats in the House who had declared that nothing should 
 tempt or force them to vote for annexation; but when the 
 time and the vote came, every man of them save two — John P. 
 Hale, of New Hampshire, and Richard Davis, of New York — 
 succumbed to the power and mandate of the party, and voted 
 with it. Not so the two members mentioned, who became con- 
 tumacious and rebellious, voting in the negative with the 
 Whigs, and were consequently excommunicated and anathema- 
 tized. It was the end of Mr. Davis's career in Congress ; but 
 Mr. Hale went home, took " the stump," addressed the people 
 of the State, and was sustained, — from that time not joining 
 the Whigs, but calling himself a free-soiler, and being called 
 an "Abolitionist." He was not re-elected to the Twenty-ninth 
 Congress, but took his seat as a United States Senator in the 
 Thirtieth, where he served for many years, — until he was ap- 
 pointed, by Mr. Lincoln, minister to Spain. During the Thir- 
 tieth Congress he was the only open, avowed Abolitionist in 
 the Senate, and was consequently the target at which many a 
 shaft was hurled, sometimes dipped in venom ; yet his extreme 
 good nature and amiable disposition were never disturbed ; no 
 harsh word ever escaped him, no anger ever excited ; and for 
 those who thus assailed him he was as ready to do an act of 
 kindness as if they had never hurled their barbed shafts at him, 
 Ex-Governor and ex-Senator Henry S. Foote has, in his 
 "Reminiscences of the Past," related a pleasant anecdote which 
 does honor to both himself and Mr. Hale, and so illustrates 
 the latter's kindness of heart that I take pleasure in copying it. 
 Governor Foote relates that early in the summer of 1848 a 
 number of slaves, some of them belonging to members of 
 Congress, escaped, and were supposed to have gone north into 
 the free States ; that this produced great excitement among 
 Southern members, and on entering the Senate the morning 
 after, he found Mr. Calhoun upon the floor, denouncing with 
 fervid vehemence of tone and manner, very unusual to him, 
 
2o6 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 what he depicted as a fearful outrage upon the whole body of 
 Southern slaveholders. On closing his remarks, Mr. Foote 
 says he came to his seat and made a strong appeal to him to 
 come forward in this matter in sustainment of the South, and 
 to his, Mr. Calhoun's, relief Governor Foote goes on to say, 
 in a very candid manner, that "this was an appeal which I 
 found it almost impossible to resist. . . . 
 
 "Waiting a few minutes for that Boanerges of debate, John 
 P. Hale, of New Hampshire, to close a most stormy and in- 
 dignant harangue, in which his facility in the application of 
 potential and striking epithets had been fully displayed, I 
 leaped to my feet and made, as I must frankly confess, under 
 the overwhelming excitement of the moment, one of the most 
 fumy, rabid, and insulting speeches that has ever dishonored a 
 grave and dignified parliamentary body ; in which I told Mr. 
 Hale, in plain terms, that were he to visit any thickly-settled 
 vicinage in Mississippi, and there use such language as that 
 which he had just uttered, I did not at all doubt that he would 
 incur the hazard of being strung up on one of the loftiest trees 
 of the forest ; and that in such case, should there be any want 
 of a willing executioner, I would myself turn hangman for his 
 benefit. These frantic and indecent words had scarcely been 
 enunciated ere I became painfully sensible of the stupid and 
 unbecoming nature of my conduct, and I would have really 
 given worlds to recall all the nousense I had uttered. 
 
 " In less than forty-eight hours I received hundreds of anony- 
 mous letters, filled with the most caustic revilement, and others 
 inclosing the most hideous caricatures of a person whom these 
 same caricatures denominated ' Hangman Foote.' I positively 
 writhed in agony. Never had my self-respect suffered such 
 humiliation. I felt that the fabled shirt of Nessus was actually 
 enveloping my limbs. Meanwhile, the jolly and kind-hearted 
 Senator from New Hampshire and myself had long since 
 gotten on good terms, and I had even taken a decided liking 
 for him on account of his genial disposition, his natural 
 amiableness of temper, and his sparkling vivacity, either in 
 debate or in conversation. One morning, a month or two 
 after the scene which has been just narrated, Mr. Hale came 
 
MEETING OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS. 207 
 
 to my seat and told me he had a favor to ask of me, which he 
 could not doubt that I would grant: That there was a young 
 man of his acquaintance, a native of New Hampshire, who had 
 been prosecuted for forgery, or some kindred offense, who, 
 having been convicted, was then in jail. He said that the 
 prosecution had taken place under Federal jurisdiction, and 
 that the culprit would have to depend upon the clemency of 
 the President of the United States for pardon. ' Now,' said 
 he, ' you are, I know, on most intimate terms with the Secre- 
 tary of the Treasury, Robert J. Walker, who will, I am sure, 
 recommend this young man for pardon on your request.' He 
 added, that though he could not doubt that the young man 
 referred to was guilty as charged, yet he was satisfied that 
 there were extenuating circumstances in the case ; that the 
 offender was of very tender years and of a highly-respectable 
 connection ; and he then closed by informing me that his 
 sister, a young, pure-minded, and affectionate girl, had come 
 all the way from New England, hoping to carry back with 
 her to the bosom of his family her erring but much-loved 
 brother. ... I promptly undertook the mission suggested. 
 Proceeding at once to Mr. Walker and the President, I found 
 no difficulty in obtaining the pardon asked for, and returned 
 to the Capitol in less than two hours from the time I had set 
 out on this errand of mercy. On placing the pardon in the 
 hands of Mr. Hale, he introduced me to the young lady, who 
 was indeed overpowered with the good tidings which I had 
 brought. He then turned to her and said, in his own charac- 
 teristic way, 'Young lady, this is a gentleman of whom you 
 have often heard in New England. He is one of the Senators 
 from Mississippi. To him alone are you indebted for the 
 liberation of your brother. When you get home again, be 
 sure to tell your friends and neighbors there never again to 
 call him " Hangman Foote." * However generous may have 
 been Mr. Hale's intentions in this regard, I am constrained to 
 acknowledge that I have often since had proof that this eupho- 
 nious and impressive sobriquet has not yet ceased to vibrate 
 upon the lips of many among the excellent descendants of the 
 time-honored Pilgrims." 
 
2o8 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 At the time Mr. Hale voted against annexation it had be- 
 come a party measure. Before the meeting of the Baltimore 
 Convention, which threw Mr. Van Buren overboard and nomi- 
 nated Mr. Polk, the reverse was the party doctrine at the 
 North. The Northern Democrats then declared that there 
 were not two sides to that question ; that they were as much 
 opposed to annexation as the Whigs, who need not think to 
 make capital by opposing that measure. But after the nomi- 
 nation of Mr. Polk the tune was changed, and those who 
 had so vehemently opposed it were — all but a (qw — com- 
 pelled to go for it. In New York, some of the special friends 
 of Mr. Van Buren resorted to the plan of issuing a secret 
 circular, which was sent to some hundred leading Democrats 
 of that State, of the " Barnburner" wing, the purport of which 
 was that, while ihc party must strenuously oppose annexation, 
 there must be no division in the ranks ; but in all cases efforts 
 must be made in primary conventions to select candidates 
 eminent for ability and known hostility to the acquisition of 
 Texas. Though secretly issued, it was ere long made public. 
 It was signed by George P. Barker, of Buffalo, William Cullen 
 Bryant and John A. Dix, of New York City, Azariah C. Flagg, 
 of Albany, and several other leading Democrats of that State, 
 called " Barnburners." This adroit manoeuvre was one of the 
 principal causes of the election of Silas Wright as governor, 
 and the carrying the State for Polk. I have, in another place, 
 shown how a majority was obtained in the Senate in favor of 
 annexation, and how Mr. Dix, Mr. Tappan, Colonel Benton, 
 Mr. Fairfield, and one other Senator, were entrapped into 
 voting as they did. I return to Mr. Hale. 
 
 I have often seen him assailed in the Senate, somewhat in 
 the style in which Governor Foote acknowledges he assailed 
 him, and heard his replies, which were always calm, temperate, 
 and entirely free from asperity. When reviled, he reviled not 
 again, and showed how true it is that " a soft answer turneth 
 away wrath." He disarmed his assailants by his imperturb- 
 able good nature and wise forbearance. I say forbearance, for 
 it was in his power to say as sharp and irritating things as 
 those he replied to : these assailants, in the end, probably 
 
WEBSTER'S READMISSION INTO THE WHIG CHURCH. oQg 
 
 became ashamed of hurling missiles at one who never cast any- 
 back. ]\Ir. Hale was ably supported after the close of the 
 Thirty-first Congress by Senators Chase, Sumner, Seward, and 
 Wade, — Mr. Seward entering the Thirty-first Congress, and 
 Messrs Chase, Sumner, and Wade the Thirty-second. Of 
 these only ]\Ir. Wade survives. 
 
 MR. Webster's readmission into the whig church : how it 
 
 WAS DONE, 
 
 On the 9th of January, 1844, late at night, I closed one of 
 my letters by saying, " Mr. Webster, I am glad to know, is 
 renewing his friendly relations with his old associates, and is 
 ]Mr. Webster of old again. He will understand me when I say 
 this has been a white-pebble evening to him." This requires 
 explanation. 
 
 I have before said that the Whig doors were closed to Mr. 
 Webster, and the latch-string drawn in. He came to Washing- 
 ton early in the season, having important cases to argue before • 
 the Supreme Court, the most important being the Girard Will 
 Case. Few or none of the prominent Whigs called on him. 
 He felt the neglect: he was uncomfortably isolated. His 
 faithful and devoted friend, Mr. Choate, saw this, and felt it as 
 much, perhaps, as Mr. Webster himself What could be done? 
 He took occasion to see Judge Mangum, Mr. Simmons, of 
 Rhode Island, Mr. Morehead, of Kentucky, and others, and 
 urged a reconciliation, which was finally agreed to. But how 
 was it to be done? On an occasion of that kind — the return 
 of the prodigal son — there must be feasting. Who should 
 make the feast ? Not Mr. Webster, for the Whigs would not 
 attend. 
 
 It so happened that Mr. Botts had presented Judge Mangum 
 with a very superior saddle of Southdown mutton, of his own 
 raising, and Judge Mangum had proposed to give a dinner, that 
 friends might partake of the mutton. Upon consulting Mr. 
 Botts and others who were to be the invited guests, it was 
 arranged that Mr. Webster should be invited, and that there 
 the reconciliation should be consummated over a feast. 
 
 The dinner took place on the evening of the 9th of January, 
 
2IO PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS, 
 
 and a pleasant one it was. The guests were Mr. Webster, Mr. 
 Botts, Mr. Barrow, Mr. Simmons, Mr. Archer, Mr. Morehead, 
 Mr. Choate, Colonel Seaton, and the writer hereof, making, 
 including the host, nine persons. 
 
 The intercourse between Mr. Webster and the other guests, 
 except Mr. Choate and Colonel Seaton, was at first by no means 
 cordial ; but Mr. Webster made himself as agreeable as possible, 
 seemed to take pains to conciliate his old friends and restore 
 old feelings, drank wine with each, and, finally, as the night 
 wore away and the bottle circulated, cold obstructions wore 
 away, and hearts were warmed into genial conviviality. The 
 saddle of mutton was fit for a company of emperors, and 
 received fitting praise from every one ; two better judges of the 
 article than Mr. Webster and Colonel Seaton probably could 
 not be found on the continent. And so Mr. Webster became 
 once more a Whig in full communion with, and good standing 
 in, the party. 
 
 Sad reflection ! of that distinguished party not one survives 
 except myself. I am the only living individual who knows 
 how Mr. Webster was feasted — not upon a fatted calf, but upon 
 the fattest of mutton — on the occasion of his return to his old 
 associates. 
 
 JUDGE WILLIE P. MANGUM. 
 
 Judge Mangum was at this time President of the Senate, — 
 a position he had occupied since the death of Mr. Southard ; a 
 position of more importance than usual now, as in case of the 
 death of the President — an event which came near happening 
 when Upshur, Gilmer, and others were killed on the Princeton 
 — he would succeed to the Presidency. He had had a long 
 Congressional career, having entered the House of Representa- 
 tives when barely eligible, and coming from a State — North 
 Carolina — which did not, without a good reason, change her 
 delegation in Congress. He had a high sense of what the 
 Senate of the United States should be, his model being " the 
 Senate" as he saw it when he first came to Congress, and he 
 strove hard to keep up its dignity and the gentlemanly courte- 
 ousness of its members. There was then no previous question 
 known in that body, by which debate could be arrested and 
 
JUDGE WILLIE P. MANGUM. 211 
 
 cut short ; no one-hour rule to restrain long speeches ; all was 
 left to the sense of propriety of Senators, — a privilege rarely, 
 either then or now, abused. Mr. Mangum was a believer in 
 the effect of dress upon the dignity of the Senate, and insisted 
 upon every Senator appearing in what was styled a Senatorial 
 costume. There is no " Senatorial costume" now. 
 
 He had so long been a part of the national government that 
 he had become a thoroughly national man. He entertained 
 broad and liberal views ; was governed by no narrow sectional 
 feelings in making appropriations for national purposes, such 
 as the improvement of rivers and harbors, the improvement 
 of the national capital, the increase of the navy, for West 
 Point, and the like. His great desire was to see the United 
 States become a great and powerful natioji, respected at home 
 and commanding the respect of foreign powers ; and as one of 
 the means to this end he wished that the first office of the gov- 
 ernment should be filled by no second- or third-rate statesman ; 
 and when it was so filled, he looked upon the event as indicating 
 that no man not possessed of other qualifications for the office 
 than statesmanship, and who had not the " hurrah popularity," 
 could ever again be elected President. He was a warm friend 
 of ]\Ir. Clay, by whom he was much esteemed and frequently 
 consulted. Eminently social, he enjoyed the company of friends, 
 and by his pleasant humor attracted them around him. Unfor- 
 tunately, his genial conviviality was too frequently indulged, 
 and led to what his friends deeply deplored. He could counsel 
 others against a too free indulgence of the Circean cup, but 
 could not restrain himself He was at one time looked upon 
 as a probable candidate of the Whig party, after Mr. Clay, for 
 President, and few men could fill that high office with more 
 dignity and ability before he became a slave to the tempting 
 cup. In his early Congressional career he "messed" at " Daw- 
 son's No. 2," Capitol Hill, several sessions, with John Randolph, 
 Nathaniel Ma^on, Mr. Newton, of Virginia, and others of that 
 stamp, and learned much from their conversation of the "public 
 men and events" of the earlier days of the republic ; and, as I 
 " messed" with him one long session, I learned much of those 
 early times from him, — interesting unwritten history. He lived 
 
212 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. " 
 
 to see the commencement of the Rebellion which he so much 
 deprecated, but not its terrible devastations and close. 
 
 THE GIRARD WILL CASE. 
 
 One of the most important cases that ever came before the 
 Supreme Court at Washington, and in which a more imposing 
 array of counsel never appeared, was now to be argued. The 
 case involved the legality of Stephen Girard's will, and especi- 
 ally his bequest of funds to establish and carry on the Girard 
 College for orphan boys. The heirs sought to abrogate the 
 will and obtain the funds set apart for the college. If they 
 could succeed, the excellent and benevolent institution in which 
 so many orphans were to find a home and be fitted for the 
 active duties of life would be broken up, the humane inten- 
 tions of the donor frustrated, and the beautiful marble build- 
 ing or buildings left to stand as monuments of the cupidity and 
 heartlessness of the heirs of him for whose wishes they had 
 no sort of regard. The ground taken by Mr. Webster for them 
 was, that no school which excludes the teaching of religion 
 could be a cliarity. 
 
 The counsel for the heirs were Mr. Schley, Mr. Walter Jones, 
 and Mr. Webster; the opposing counsel, Mr. Sergeant and 
 Mr. Binney: all men of the highest national reputation as 
 jurists, and of transcendent abilities. The importance of the 
 case, and the fame of the counsel engaged, packed the court- 
 room daily. 
 
 Each of these five great lawyers had had ample time to pre- 
 pare himself for the contest now on hand. Mr. Sergeant was 
 the original counsel of the city of Philadelphia, defendant in 
 the case, and had gained it before the court below. But when 
 it was carried up to the Supreme Court, Mr. Binney was joined 
 with him at his request, and went to England to make himself 
 more familiar with the law of charitable uses. Mr. Binney 
 never did his work by halves, and he well availed himself of 
 all the facilities cheerfully accorded him by the high legal dig- 
 nitaries of that country. He returned fully prepared for the 
 encounter. 
 
 Mr. Binney was tall, large, well formed, always well dressed, 
 
THE GIRARD WILL CASE. 
 
 213 
 
 and an Apollo in manly beauty. He spoke slowly and distinctly; 
 his voice was full, musical, and well modulated; his manners a 
 blending of dignity, ease, suavity, and high refinement. As he 
 stood before the court he was a very model of a lawyer and 
 gentleman. He was a graceful, easy, interesting speaker, ear- 
 nest at times, but never boisterous or vehement, and his language 
 the purest classic Anglo-Saxon. No slang, or low phrases, or 
 expressions not conformable to a refined taste, ever passed his 
 lips. He spoke three days, during which the court-room was 
 filled to its utmost capacity by beauty, talent, and eminence. 
 It was the point of attraction not only of the Capitol, but of 
 the city; and lawyers of eminent abilities were drawn to it from 
 Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, to listen to 
 the great law arguments of the learned counsel. Mr. Binney 
 came here with a reputation which any man might envy ; he 
 returned with increased fame. 
 
 Mr. Sergeant made the closing argument for the defendants. 
 He was a lawyer of no less ability, learning, and eminence than 
 Mr. Binney; but he had not his fine voice or imposing ap- 
 pearance. His voice was weak, his stature and body small, 
 but his head large, — almost out of proportion to his body. He 
 spoke two days, and, notwithstanding his natural defects as an 
 orator, fully kept up the interest in the case, and more than 
 maintained his reputation as a lawyer. Able as Mr. Webster 
 was as a jurist, like Mr. Clay, he was more of a statesman than/ 
 a jurist. The Senate was the great theatre of his glory; Mr. 
 Binney, Mr. Sergeant, and Mr. Jones were each his superior in 
 legal knov/ledge and acumen. \ 
 
 Mr. Webster, who made the closing argument in the case, \ 
 had a Herculean task to perform to answer the legal argu- 
 ments of the opposing counsel, and, furthermore, to convince \ 
 the court that " the plan of education for the Girard school of 
 orphans was derogatory to the Christian religion, contrary to 
 sound morals, and subversive of law." It was in the hands 
 of a Hercules, and if any one could do it he could; but it was 
 beyond his power. He occupied the court for three days, the 
 room the whole time being densely crowded. A portion of his 
 address partook more of the character of a discourse upon 
 
214 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 religion and charity than of a legal argument ; it was an episode 
 entirely distinct from law or argument : it was a beautiful and 
 impressive dissertation, but very little applicable to the case 
 before the court. 
 
 The Supreme Court affirmed the decree of the Circuit Court 
 of Pennsylvania, dismissing the bill of the plaintiffs. The 
 opinion, which was an elaborate one, was delivered by Mr. 
 Justice Story, who spoke of the cause as having been " argued 
 with great learning and ability." 
 
 Mr. Sergeant and Mr. Binney, — Mr. Binney and Mr. Ser- 
 geant, — these names were inseparably connected in the mind of 
 every Philadelphian. The mention of one suggested the name 
 of the other. They commenced life together ; were students of 
 law in the office of Mr. Jared Ingersoll, a very distinguished 
 lawyer in Philadelphia ; began their professional life at the same 
 time ; and both took up their residences adjoining each other 
 . in South Fourth Street, where they continued to live during 
 their joint lives, and where the survivor, Mr. Binney, still lives, 
 at a very advanced age, having outlived all his cotemporaries, 
 an object always of the highest respect, and now of profound 
 veneration. Both had offices adjoining their houses. Between 
 them a warm and uninterrupted friendship existed so long as 
 they both lived, and when Mr. Sergeant was removed by death, 
 breaking the sacred tie which had so long and so closely bound 
 them together, the survivor pronounced a eulogy over his de- 
 ceased brother, dictated by affectionate friendship and heartfelt 
 grief, justly pronounced "a gem of eulogistic composition." 
 It far surpasses, in truthful simplicity, depth of feeling, beauty 
 of language, glowing warmth of the heart which comes v/elling 
 up with the words, and in the sincerity of the sadness ex- 
 pressed, the celebrated eulogy of Tacitus on his father-in-law, 
 Agricola. Mr. Binney paid this tribute to his departed friend 
 before the Association of the Bar of Philadelphia, many of the 
 members of which had been associated with Mr. Sergeant, as 
 brethren of the same bar, nearly all his professional life, and 
 whose hearts now beat responsive to the sad words of the 
 eulogist. 
 
 Upon closing his remarks, Mr. Binney took a mournful leave 
 
CABINET CHANGES. 21 5 
 
 of his brethren of the bar, it being the last time he should ever 
 appear before them on a similar or any other occasion. He 
 had some time previously addressed them, on the occasion of 
 the death of that pure, upright, model gentleman and lawyer, 
 Charles Chauncey, who, like Mr. Sergeant, was his cotempo- 
 rary ; no other was now left to whose memory he could be 
 called upon to pay a similar tribute of affection and respect. 
 All his cotemporaries had gone to their rest, and he might 
 reasonably expect that he should very soon follow his life-long 
 friend. The occasion was a mournful one to him. Announcing 
 to the bar that this was his last appearance before them, and 
 bidding them an affectionate farewell, he departed, leaving his 
 audience saddened even to tears. Many then present have 
 since passed away, — Dallas, Scott, Ingersoll, Meredith, and 
 others, who will long be remembered. 
 
 CABINET CHANGES. 
 
 The Senate having almost unanimously rejected the nomina- 
 tions of James M. Porter as Secretary of War, and of David 
 Henshaw as Secretary of the Navy, the President now nomi- 
 nated William Wilkins, of Pennsylvania, as Secretary of War, 
 and Thomas W. Gilmer, of Virginia, as Secretary of the Navy. 
 Both nominations were immediately confirmed. 
 
 John Nelson, of Maryland, was also nominated and confirmed 
 as Attorney-General. 
 
 Isaac Hill, of New Hampshire, nominated as head of the 
 Bureau of Clothing and Provisions, was rejected by the Senate. 
 
 A vacancy on the bench of the Supreme Court, occasioned 
 by the death of Mr. Justice Baldwin, Mr. Tyler proposed to 
 fill, first by nominating Mr. Sergeant; but the nomination 
 being declined by him was next offered to Mr. Binney, who 
 also declined it : so states Mr. Wise, who acted for the Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 A TERRIBLE CATASTROPHE. — BURSTING OF A GUN ON THE WAR- 
 STEAMER PRINCETON. 
 
 Near the close of Congress, February 28, 1844, a large and 
 distinguished party, including the President, Cabinet ministers, 
 
2l6 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Senators, Representatives in Congress, and strangers of distinc- 
 tion, about a hundred persons, including many ladies, among 
 whom was Mrs. Madison, was invited by Captain Stockton, of 
 the navy, and commander of the United States war-steamer 
 Princeton, then lying in the Potomac, to witness the working 
 of her screw-propeller, and the firing of her big gun, " Peace- 
 maker," made of wrought iron, — a conception of Captain 
 Stockton's, of which he was very proud. 
 
 The vessel had been built under Captain Stockton's own eye, 
 and the enormous gun, — enormous for those days, — which 
 carried a ball weighing two hundred and twenty-five pounds, 
 was an invention of his own, and constructed also under his 
 supervision. 
 
 Captain Stockton, proud of his vessel and her great screw- 
 propeller, and especially proud of his mammoth wrought-iron 
 gun, had brought her to Washington to show what he had 
 accomplished. There was no better mode of doing this than 
 to invite a party of distinguished men, — the President and the 
 chief officers of the government, and their families, to make an 
 excursion upon her down the Potomac. The day fixed proved 
 to be pleasant ; the company assembled, very distinguished, in 
 fine humor, gay, and hilarious, and the master-spirit of the 
 occasion. Commodore Stockton, was in most exuberant spirits. 
 Miss Gardner, whom the President a few months after married, 
 was by no means the least happy and agreeable person of the 
 company. 
 
 The Princeton steamed down the river, below Mount Vernon, 
 and then put about. Her machinery worked admirably, the 
 Marine Band on board discoursed sweet music, and the smaller 
 guns were frequently fired, disturbing the tritons, if any there 
 were, and keeping up a joyous roar, which was re-echoed from 
 the distant hills. 
 
 A sumptuous collation had been set out and partaken of, 
 when, about four o'clock, word was passed down to the com- 
 pany that the great gun was to be fired, and those who wished 
 to witness it must come on deck. Immediately the gentlemen 
 hurried up; but Mr. Tyler was called back while ascending 
 the steps, for some playful purpose, by his lady-love, and Mr. 
 
A TERRIBLE CATASTROPHE. 217 
 
 Seaton, who, with his charming wife, was among the guests, 
 was detained by not finding his hat, and before the two gentle- 
 men could get on deck, the gun was fired and exploded. The 
 report of the explosion was deafening, and created great alarm 
 among the ladies below. 
 
 Commodore Stockton, Thomas W. Gilmer, Secretary of the 
 Navy, and Commodore Kennon had stationed themselves on 
 the side of and near the gun ; Mr. Virgil H. Maxcy and Mr. 
 Gardner, the father of the subsequent Mrs. Tyler, stood upon 
 the other side of the gun ; Colonel Benton in the rear, where he 
 could watch the course of the ball ; and Secretary Upshur, who 
 seemed to be the only one who apprehended danger, took a 
 position behind the mast. Mr. Senator Phelps stood near, but 
 in the rear of the gun. As the smoke blew away, a shocking 
 spectacle p'resented itself Mr. Gilmer and Mr, Upshur were 
 killed by being struck by fragments of the gun ; Commodore 
 Kennon, Mr. Maxcy, and Mr. Gardner, by the concussion of 
 the explosion ; and Commodore Stockton, Colonel Benton, and 
 Senator Phelps were all laid prostrate upon the deck, and, for 
 a time, deprived of consciousness. 
 
 Mrs. Gilmer, and the wives and daughters of some of the 
 other victims, were on board, and their feelings can more easily 
 be imagined than described. The brilliant company, but a few 
 minutes before so hilarious and happy, now grief-stricken and 
 benumbed by the terrible catastrophe, mournfully returned, with 
 the bodies of their dead companions, friends, and relatives, to 
 the city they had left a few hours before in such exhilarating 
 spirits. The news flew apace over the city, and created the 
 most intense sensation. The catastrophe was so sudden, so 
 appalling, so many had been stricken instantly down, that it 
 seemed almost impossible to realize the awful facts. 
 
 It was the fourth time the gun had been fired; the company, 
 
 not knowing it was to be fired, were nearly all below, taking 
 
 refreshments. This was most providential, for otherwise the 
 
 crowd on deck would have been very great, and the loss of life 
 
 must have been proportionate. Some of the persons killed 
 
 were much mutilated, especially Commodore Kennon, who was 
 
 struck in the head, face, and breast by pieces of the gun. Mr. 
 Vol. II. 15 
 
2i8 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Upshur was struck in the head and breast, and Mr. Gilmer in 
 the head. Colonel Gardner had both legs torn off, and Mr. 
 Maxcy an arm. Mr, Pleasanton lost a piece of his ear by a 
 piece of the gun striking it, — a narrow escape from, death. 
 
 The President announced to Congress the next day the 
 death of Mr. Upshur and of Mr. Gilmer in suitable terms, and 
 the two Houses, adopting appropriate resolutions, adjourned. 
 One of the resolutions provided for the appointment of a com- 
 mittee of five on the part of the House, and an equal number 
 by the Senate, to make arrangements for the funeral of Mr. 
 Upshur and Mr. Gilmer, which took place from the President's 
 mansion. 
 
 But the shocking tragedy spread a gloom over the city which 
 could not be immediately dispelled. The novel gun which was 
 brought here to show that wrought-iron guns of great calibre 
 could be successfully constructed and used in the navy was 
 never heard of more. The experiment proved that such ord- 
 nance was more destructive to those who used it than to an 
 enemy. 
 
 FURTHER ORGANIZATION OF THE CABINET. — MR. CALHOUN SECRE- 
 TARY OF STATE. TEXAS MOVEMENTS. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun was nominated and confirmed as Secretary of 
 State, in the place of Mr. Upshur, killed, and Mr. Wise, in his 
 " Seven Decades of the Union," has given an account of how 
 it was accomplished. He did it himself, and in a way pecu- 
 liarly his own. He says, " Mr. Webster remained in the cabinet 
 until the Northeastern question was settled, and as long as 
 Upshur or Legare was alive, the Southwestern question was 
 in safe Southern hands; but now that they were both taken' 
 away, there was one man left who was necessary above all 
 others to the South in settling and obtaining the annexation 
 of Texas. We need not say that man was John C. Calhoun, of 
 South Carolina." 
 
 Mr. Wise relates how he induced Mr. Tyler, against his own 
 feelings, to nominate Mr. Calhoun ; but it is of little moment 
 how it was done, since it was done ; and Mr. Calhoun proved 
 true to the purpose for which he was selected. We must now 
 
FURTHER ORGANIZATION OF THE CABINET. 
 
 219 
 
 say that it was well for the countr}'- that the purpose was ac- 
 complished, though at that time a large portion of the people 
 were most decidedly opposed to it. 
 
 The cabinet was further reorganized by the appointment of 
 John Y. Mason, of Virginia, Secretary of the Navy, in the 
 place of Mr. Gilmer, killed on the Princeton, and Charles A. 
 Wickliffe, of Kentucky, Postmaster-General. 
 
 The nomination of Mr. Calhoun as Secretary of State, and 
 his acceptance of the position, left the field apparently clear 
 for Mr. Van Buren, and his friends did not entertain a 
 shadow of a doubt that he would be nominated as the Demo- 
 cratic candidate for President. 
 
 Incipient steps had been taken by Mr. Upshur, before his 
 death, to acquire Texas by negotiation and treaty; and Mr. 
 Gilmer had been appointed Secretary of the Navy to promote 
 this object. How Mr. Van Buren was approached on the 
 subject of annexation I shall leave Colonel Benton, his confi- 
 dential friend, to relate. 
 
 "The time had now come," says Colonel Benton, "for the 
 interrogation of the candidates, and it was done with all the 
 tact which the delicate function required. The choice of the 
 interrogator was the first point. He must be a friend, osten- 
 sible, if not real, to the party interrogated. If real, he must 
 himself be deceived, and made to believe that he was perform- 
 ing a friendly service; if not, he must still have the appearance. 
 And for Mr. Van Buren's benefit a suitable performer was 
 found in the person of Mr. Hamett, a representative in Con- 
 gress from Mississippi, whose letter was a model for the oc- 
 casion. It abounded in professions of friendship to Mr. Van 
 Buren, — approached him for his own good, sought his opinion 
 from the best motives, and urged a categorical reply for or 
 against immediate annexation. The sagacious Mr. Van Buren 
 was no dupe to this contrivance, but took counsel from what 
 was due to himself, and answered with candor, decorum, and 
 dignity. He was against immediate annexation, because it was 
 war with Mexico, but for it when it could be done peaceably 
 and honorably." 
 
 Mr. Calhoun, now so earnest for obtaining Texas, as one of 
 
220 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Mr. IMonroe's cabinet, in 1819, voted to give it away, while 
 Mr. Adams strenuously advocated retaining it, and Mr. Clay, 
 who was opposed to the loss of this province at that time, 
 offered resolutions in the House of Representatives, and sup- 
 ported them in an ardent speech, in which he condemned that 
 part of the treaty of 18 19 which surrendered it. As Secretary 
 of State, under Mr. Adams, he had advised the recovery of 
 the province, and opened negotiations with Mexico to that 
 effect. He was also interrogated in regard to the acquisition 
 of Texas, and answered that, although an ancient friend to 
 the recovery of the country, he was opposed to its immediate 
 annexation, which was war with Mexico. In his reply he 
 stated that it had already been his duty to act officially on two 
 several occasions, but in different forms, upon the subject of 
 Texas, — alluding to his action in the House of Representatives 
 in 1 8 19, and his opening negotiations with Mexico, as above 
 stated. 
 
 There were other aspirants for the Presidency and Vice- 
 Presidency, who were interrogated in regard to annexation, 
 but, Colonel Benton says, " Mr. Clay and Mr. Van Buren were 
 the only candidates who answered like statesmen, and they 
 were both distanced." 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATIONS AND CAM- 
 PAIGN, 
 
 Mr. Clay started from his residence in Kentucky, in Feb- 
 ruary, on a Southern tour; properly an electioneering tour. 
 Passing down the river to Mississippi, he went through that 
 State, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and 
 Virginia, arriving in Washington the latter part of April. 
 
 An amusing circumstance occurred while Mr. Clay was 
 passing from Vicksburg to Jackson, Mississippi. He was in 
 a railroad-car, with many friends around him, all in high glee, 
 full of life, hope, and spirits. On another car of the same train 
 was a Democrat, Avhom a friend accosted and invited to go 
 into the next car and see Mr. Clay. No, he would do no such 
 
 thing : he did not want to see such a Bank Whig as 
 
 Henry Clay. "But," said his friend, "you will find him a 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CAMPAIGN. 221 
 
 first-rate, pleasant man." No : he would not be seen shaking 
 hands with Henry Clay. 
 
 " Well," said his friend, " your favorite, Mr. Van Buren, has 
 shaken hands with him very often, and, more than that, visited 
 him at his house." 
 
 "Never!" replied the Democrat, earnestly. "He never would 
 do such a mean thing." 
 
 "But he did," replied his friend; "visited him at Ashland." 
 
 The Democrat could not believe it, but finally, after making 
 a bet that Mr. Van Buren did not visit Mr. Clay, he agreed to 
 leave it to Mr. Clay himself to decide the bet, as he said he did 
 not think he would lie about it. 
 
 Accordingly, they entered the car where Mr. Clay was, and 
 stated the case to him. " Oh, yes," said Mr. Clay ; " I had a 
 very pleasant visit from Mr. Van Buren, who spent two days 
 with me at my house, and I should be very glad to return 
 his visit if it were in my power, for, setting his bad politics 
 aside, he is a very agreeable gentleman and right clever little 
 fellow." 
 
 The Democrat looked confounded, but paid the bet, saying, 
 at the same time, that if that was the way the great men 
 they were battling for carried on the war with one another, 
 they might do their own fighting hereafter, for he would not 
 do it for them. He didn't believe they were in earnest anyhow, 
 — only pretended to be, so as to set others by the ears. He 
 had got one lesson, he said, that he should remember. As to 
 Mr. Clay, towards whom he had always entertained such hostile 
 
 feelings, he admitted that he was a clever gentleman, with 
 
 neither horns nor hoofs, as he had been represented. 
 
 Mr. Clay used to tell this anecdote with much humor and 
 evident gratification. He was fond of relating such incidents 
 in his life, and had a store of them in the chambers of his 
 memory. 
 
 No important measures were matured in Congress during the 
 session, though there were debates in the Senate on the Texas 
 and Oregon question and on the tariff question. In the House, 
 the speeches were mostly of a violent partisan character, made 
 for home consumption and campaign documents. There was a 
 
222 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 superabundance of party animosity manifested, yet occasionally 
 a little waggery was played off, to the amusement of the House. 
 Members were sometimes made to laugh even at themselves. 
 As an instance: General Jackson's letter to Dr. Coleman, in 
 which he expressed the strongest kind of protection sentiments, 
 must be well remembered, as also the use made of it at the 
 North in 1828. Now, Mr. J. P. Kennedy, of Baltimore, had not 
 forgotten this letter, and, bent on having a little fun, embodied 
 it in a resolution which he presented to the House. The Demo- 
 crats were taken aback. To vote down General Jackson's sen- 
 timents so deliberately expressed would never do; and to pass 
 the resolution would be stultifying themselves. And so they 
 squirmed and tried various expedients to dodge it; but all in 
 vain. The Whigs enjoyed their dilemma, and had their laugh. 
 
 TREATY OF ANNEXATION. 
 
 A treaty of annexation had been negotiated between the 
 government of the United States and that of Texas, by which 
 that republic was to be annexed to, and become a part of, the 
 United States. The treaty was sent to the Senate, where it 
 met with powerful opposition and underwent thorough debate. 
 Among the most determined of its opponents, and the most 
 industrious in gathering up material to fortify his arguments, 
 was Colonel Benton. He looked upon this Texas movement 
 as an intrigue gotten up for the purpose of defeating his friend 
 Mr. Van Buren and at the same time to benefit Mr. Calhoun. 
 The treaty was rejected by the Senate. 
 
 THE WHIG NATIONAL CONVENTION AT BALTIMORE, MAY, 1 844. 
 
 The National Whig Convention of 1844,— what a flood of 
 memories that name calls up ! What a host of noble spirits 
 then and there present — active participants — have passed away ! 
 Sadly pleasant are the memories that cluster around their names 
 and doings. How few of those who then met, joined hands, 
 and mingled hearts, are now left! Webster, Judge Spencer, 
 Clayton, Berrien, Leigh, Ewing, Burnett, Granger, Lawrence, 
 Crittenden, Saltonstall, Evans, Governor Metcalf, Botts, Hardin, 
 Erastus Root, Dawson, Morehead, McKennan, Lumpkin, and 
 
WHIG NA TIONAL CONVENTION A T BAL TIMORE. 
 
 223 
 
 many other leading spirits, — where are they? The places which 
 knew them once know them no more. They have gone with 
 the great leader whom they were proud to follow. Of that 
 splendid galaxy of eminent men who figured prominently on 
 that occasion — twenty-eight years ago — I know of but seven 
 now living : Reverdy Johnson, of Baltimore, W. H. Seward,* 
 of New York, A. H. H. Stuart, of Virginia, Richard W. Thomp- 
 son, of Indiana, Millard Fillmore,* of New York, James Lyons, 
 of Richmond, and Robert C. Schenck, of Ohio. There may 
 be others; but, if so, I do not know the fact. 
 
 There were two conventions : the nominating convention, 
 which met on the first day of May, and the ratifying convention, 
 which met the next day. 
 
 The nominating convention met and unanimously elected the 
 venerable Chief-Justice Spencer, of New York,- father of John 
 C, its president, and a vice-president from each State in the 
 Union. There was no necessity to ballot for a candidate for 
 President. As soon as the convention was organized, Benjamin 
 Watkins Leigh, of Virginia, rose and offered a resolution de- 
 claring Henry Clay to be the candidate of the Whigs of the 
 United States. No vote on this was necessary ; the whole 
 assembly rose and rent the air with reiterated shouts. 
 
 At an early hour the various delegations were forming, pre- 
 paratory to marching to the field at Canton, where the conven- 
 tion of 1840 was held, and at ten o'clock the grand procession 
 began to move. 
 
 The appearance of the immense line was grand and imposing. 
 Stretching away in each direction as far as the eye could reach 
 was a dense mass of men, with banners and flags at short inter- 
 vals, waving and moving, giving life and animation to the scene ; 
 and, to add still more to the life and animation of this portion 
 of the scene, bands of music, at short intervals, poured forth 
 enlivening strains. 
 
 The convention was organized by appointing the Honorable 
 John M. Clayton president, and a large number of vice-presi- 
 dents and secretaries. Judge Spencer, the president of the 
 nominating convention, then came forward, and, with a few 
 
 * Since dead. 
 
224 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 appropriate remarks, reported the action of the body over which 
 he had presided. 
 
 It was not known up to this time whether Mr. Webster 
 would attend this convention and unite cordially with the 
 Whigs or not ; but he had arrived in the city the night before, 
 and now appeared, and was conducted to the stand amid great 
 cheering. Upon being loudly called for, he came forward and 
 addressed the multitude below — who formed a sea of heads, 
 standing as they did, as close as it was possible to pack them, 
 for a great distance back, and on each side — in a full clear tone, 
 and in a true Whig speech ; one that went home to the heart 
 of every Whig who heard it. It came up to the mark ; there 
 was nothing kept back; no qualifying, no halting, no hesitancy. 
 He spoke of Mr. Clay as he spoke of him in 1832, and as one 
 great American statesman should speak of another with whom 
 he had been so long a co-laborer. 
 
 Mr. Webster spoke of the service of Mr. Clay in the cause 
 of his country : he had served his country, he said, more than 
 thirty years, faithfully, honorably, and usefully, at home and 
 abroad, and he rejoiced that in presenting his name to the coun- 
 try as a candidate for the Presidency there had been such clear 
 indications of unanimity that there had not been a single voice 
 raised in the negative, nor a doubtful response. 
 
 This brought forth the most enthusiastic cheers. Mr. Web- 
 ster said that on various questions he and Mr. Clay had differed, 
 both with equal honesty maintaining his own opinion ; but there 
 was no question noiv before the coinitry of public policy upon zvliich 
 there was any difference between himself and that great 
 LEADER OF THE Whig PARTY. (Tremeudous cheering.) Mr. 
 Webster again emphatically declared himself a Whig, and that 
 there was no more doubt of his disposition to sustain those 
 great measures which promote the interests of the counti'y than 
 there was of his duty. This was understood as a farewell shot 
 at Mr. Tyler, — a Parthian arrow. 
 
 As Mr. Webster closed, he was greeted with frequent rounds 
 of applause, and, on coming from the stand, was met and shaken 
 by the hand by many of the prominent men on the platform. 
 
 So ended the memorable day. And to that day and its scenes. 
 
THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION. 
 
 225 
 
 and the eminent men congregated there, my memory dchghts to 
 revert, to enjoy them all again and again. Sad pleasure; for 
 
 " These our actors 
 ******** 
 Are melted into air, into thin air ; 
 The mighty hosts, the gorgeous banners, 
 The waving flags, the rolling drums, the blaring trumpets, 
 Yea, all the pomp and circumstance of this substantial pageant, 
 Hath dissolved, leaving not a rack behind." 
 
 The multitude separated, few of them, comparatively, ever to 
 meet or see one another again. 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION. 
 
 As the day for holding the Democratic convention for nomi- 
 nating a candidate for President, the 27th of May, approached, 
 the conflict between the Van Buren and the Calhoun sections 
 became more and more sharp and bitter. Mr, Van Buren and 
 his friends were not blind to the efforts made by Mr. Calhoun's 
 friends to defeat his nomination, on the ground that he had 
 declared himself opposed to the immediate annexation of Texas. 
 Hostilities were carried on through the " Globe" on the one 
 side, and the " Richmond Enquirer" and " Washington Spec- 
 tator" on the other. Mr. Calhoun's friends in Virginia issued 
 an address, in which they charged the " Globe" with making a 
 wanton and unjust assault upon Mr. Calhoun, and with resorting 
 to degrading means to injure him; and they declared their- 
 bitter scorn and contempt for Mr. Blair. " The ' Globe,' " they 
 said, " is yet to learn that coarse reproach or bitter invective 
 gives no more evidence of good taste than of good sense, 
 whether it comes from the editorial chair or from the invisible 
 dictator [Mr. Benton] who writes from behind the curtain." 
 
 That convention met, — " a motley assemblage," says Colonel 
 Benton, " called Democratic, — many self-appointed, or appointed 
 upon management or solicitation, — many alternate substitutes, 
 — many members of Congress, in violation of the principle which 
 condemned the Congress Presidential caucuses in 1824, — some 
 Nullifiers, and an immense outside concourse. Texas land and 
 scrip speculators were largely in it, and more largely on the 
 
226 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 outside. . . . Two hundred and sixty-six delegates were 
 present, South Carolina absent; and it was immediately seen 
 that, after all the packing and intriguing, there was still a ma- 
 jority of thirty for Mr. Van Buren. It was seen that he would 
 be nominated on the first ballot, if the majority was to govern. 
 To prevent that, a movement was necessary, and it was made. 
 
 " In the morning of the first day, before the verification of 
 the authority of the delegates, before organization, before 
 prayers, and with only a temporary chairman, a motion was 
 made to adopt the two-thirds rule, that is to say, the rule which 
 required a concurrence of two-thirds to effect a nomination. 
 ... A strenuous contest took place over the adoption of this 
 rule, — all seeing that the fate of the nomination depended upon 
 it. Romulus M. Saunders, of North Carolina, was its mover." 
 
 Mr. Benton gives us portions of the heated debate which 
 took place over this proposition. But " the rule was adopted, 
 and by the help of delegates instructed to vote for Mr. Van 
 Buren, and who took that method of betraying their trust while 
 affecting to fulfill it." 
 
 Colonel J. W. Forney, who was present at this convention, 
 has in his " Anecdotes of Public Men," which are of a highly 
 interesting character, given us a slight inside glimpse of some 
 of the men present, and their doings, of which I avail myself. 
 He says, — 
 
 " Never shall I forget the debate between Benjamin F. Butler, 
 Mr. Van Buren's ex- Attorney-General, and Robert J. Walker, 
 Senator in Congress from Mississippi, in the convention of 
 1844, on the two-thirds rule. Van Buren, defeated in 1840 by 
 Harrison, was again a candidate for the nomination, but he had 
 faltered on the annexation of Texas, and, though he had a clear 
 majority of the delegates, the adoption of the two-thirds rule 
 ruined his prospects. Butler was no match for the keen little 
 Senatorial Saladin ; and when he rose to reply, the House had 
 already been conquered by the logic of his adversary. That 
 convention was James Buchanan's first appearance as an aspirant 
 for President, and had he remained in the field he would as- 
 suredly have been the candidate against Mr. Clay. Polk was 
 an accidental selection, and was never dreamed of till the con- 
 
THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION. 
 
 227 
 
 flict made a compromise necessary. In 1848, Van Buren's men 
 took ample revenge by running him as a volunteer candidate 
 for President, and so defeating Cass and electing Taylor. Buch- 
 anan's adherents were on the ground, but he had contrived 
 to lose the friendship of many of the leading men of Pennsyl- 
 vania, and was coldly jostled off the track. In that convention 
 Preston King was the Van Buren leader, backed by David 
 Wilmot, and when New York seceded the doom of the party 
 was sounded. Daniel S. Dickinson headed the New York 
 Hunkers, and took strong ground against the Little Magician, 
 as Van Buren was called. King was cool, calm, and resolved, 
 Dickinson witty and sarcastic, Wilmot aggressive and defiant." 
 
 If Colonel Forney will look at the " Nashville Union," the 
 organ of the Democracy of Tennessee at that time, he will find 
 that that paper predicted some months previous the precise 
 state of things which took place at Baltimore, and that Mr. Polk 
 would, in consequence, be the nominee of the convention. 
 
 The result was, that the friends of Mr. Van Buren withdrew 
 his name after several ballotings, and James K. Polk, of Ten- 
 nessee, was nominated. Colonel Benton says truly, " The 
 nomination was a surprise and a marvel to the country." 
 
 A Tyler convention, called " national" composed exclusively 
 of office-holders and office-seekers, was held in Baltimore simul- 
 taneously with the Democratic convention, as if to act in concert 
 with it ; but it was wholly ignored, except as an object of ridi- 
 cule. Nevertheless, they went there, per order, to nominate 
 John Tyler, and they did so, going through the forms, the same 
 as if they did not know they were performing a farce and making 
 themselves the laughing-stocks of the whole country. Mr. Tyler 
 took the nomination quite seriously, wrote an elaborate reply 
 of acceptance, "and two months afterwards joined the Democ- 
 racy for Polk and Dallas, against Clay and Frelinghuysen, his 
 old Whig friends. . . . But all the sound heart of the Democ- 
 racy recoiled from the idea of touching a man who, after having 
 been raised high by the Democracy, had gone over to the Whigs 
 to be raised still higher, and now came back to the Democracy 
 to obtain the highest office they could give."* 
 
 * Colonel Benton. 
 
228 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 The intrigue, started two years before, to defeat Mr. Van 
 Buren, now accomplished its purpose. But the end was not yet : 
 though defeated, he was not slain, and had ample revenge four 
 years after, in prostrating those who had prostrated him. 
 
 TERRIBLE RIOTS IN PHILADELPHIA. ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN, 
 
 OR " know-nothing" party. 
 
 Within a week after the holding of the great Baltimore Con- 
 vention, a bloody and lamentable riot occurred in the upper 
 part of Philadelphia, called Kensington. It grew out of a 
 feeling of antagonism between native Americans and foreigners, 
 principally, if not exclusively, those of Irish birth. The con- 
 stant interference of this class in our elections, their readiness 
 to be used for the purpose of double or repeated voting, — 
 voting on false naturalization papers, — swearing falsely to pro- 
 cure naturalization papers for those not entitled to them, and 
 habitually creating disturbance at the election-polls, had given 
 rise to an American party, against which that class were bitterly 
 hostile and revengeful. 
 
 A meeting of Americans was held at a place in Kensington, 
 near the Hibernia Hose Company's house, for the purpose of 
 considering the expediency of amending the naturalization laws. 
 It was assailed with sticks and stones by a gang of the class 
 mentioned, and broken up. 
 
 On the 6th of May, the Americans, undeterred by declara- 
 tions that they should not hold a meeting there, assembled at 
 the same place in larger numbers than before. They were fired 
 upon with fowling-pieces, rifles, and muskets, from windows, 
 roofs of houses, loop-holes, yards, and alleys, and were finally 
 compelled to disperse. One person, a young man, George 
 Shiffler, who was holding the American flag, was shot through 
 the heart, and many were wounded. The American flag borne 
 by Shiffler was seized by the Irish, torn in tatters, and dragged, 
 amid exulting yells, through the streets and gutters, stamped 
 on, and every indignity put upon it. 
 
 This outrage fired the hearts of Americans. To be told by 
 foreigners that they should not meet and discuss matters of 
 general interest, and when doing so to be fired upon, one of 
 
TERRIBLE RIOTS IN PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 229 
 
 their number killed and many wounded, and their flag grossly- 
 insulted, was more than the American spirit could tamely bear. 
 A laree meeting of citizens was held at the State House, 
 and spirited resolutions were passed. It was then determined 
 to adjourn to Kensington, with a view to reassert their rights 
 as American citizens. On assembling there, the scene of the 
 former outrage, they were again fired on, and immediately 
 rushed in the direction of the discharge, when they received 
 a destructive fire from persons concealed, and some six or eight 
 Americans were killed and others wounded. 
 
 The spirit of revenge was now aroused ; thousands of Ameri- 
 cans spontaneously gathered that night, attacked the Irish, set 
 fire to such of their houses as had been fired from, and a terrific 
 scene followed. A rumor got abroad that arms and ammunition 
 were stored in St. Augustine's Church, Fourth Street, opposite 
 New. A committee was appointed to examine it and ascertain 
 the fact ; it was found to be true, and this brought vengeance 
 upon that beautiful edifice. Fire was set to it, and it was con- 
 sumed amid the shouts of an infuriated populace. 
 
 Another Roman Catholic church — St. Michael's — shared the 
 same fate, provoked by the same cause. The priests' houses 
 adjoining these churches were also fired and consumed, on the 
 allegation that they also contained arms and ammunition. 
 
 The rioters had now, unchecked by any military power, 
 spread terror and apprehension around them. Other Catholic 
 churches were surrounded by crowds of excited men, more like 
 demons than human beings, which were protected by armed 
 men within. Fear reigned in every part of the city, which was 
 illuminated by burning churches and dwellings. The mob filled 
 the streets, and made night hideous by their howls of exultation 
 and blasphemy. The citizens dared not retire to rest, and if 
 they had, there could be no sleep amidst such yellings and the 
 lurid glare of burning churches. 
 
 The mayor, John M. Scott, issued his proclamation, calling 
 a meeting of the citizens next day at Independence Square, 
 and the City Councils met at midnight. Effective measures 
 were promptly taken to quell the riot ; troops were called out, 
 and the rioters dispersed. 
 
230 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 Great provocation had been given to the Americans, it is 
 true,* but no provocation could justify such savage and brutal 
 proceedings. 
 
 But, though order was temporarily restored, the feud still 
 existed, and only needed a slight cause to make it break out 
 again, and this soon occurred. The native Americans cele- 
 brated the Fourth of July in Fisher's Woods, and left their tents, 
 used on the occasion, standing, which were next day destroyed 
 by the Irish. The riots were again renewed, and raged as 
 fiercely as before. Churches were threatened and attacked, on 
 the supposition that arms were stored in them ; but none were 
 burnt. A large military force was called out, and prevented 
 further mischief 
 
 The Quaker City was like a beleaguered town, full of troops: 
 cavalry dashing and clattering over the paved streets, infantry 
 moving in various directions, and the artillery occasionally 
 
 * A large number of Irishmen were arrested, tried, and convicted as rioters, 
 fined and imprisoned. In passing sentence upon John Daly, September i8, 1844, 
 convicted of riot and murder. Judge King, President Judge of the court, said, — 
 
 "The meeting of the 3d of May, 1S44, was called for the pui-pose of consider- 
 ing the expediency of a proposed alteration of the laws of the United States in 
 reference to the naturalization of foreigners, and promoting the ends and objects 
 of the association known as the Native American party. The meeting was organ- 
 ized, and, the officers being placed on a platform erected for the purpose, Mr. 
 S. R. Kramer commenced an address, but was interrupted by a large number of 
 persons opposed to the objects of the meeting, among whom this defendant was 
 particularly prominent. A scene of confusion arose, and shortly after, the oppo- 
 nents of this meeting rushed forward, pulled down the platform, and dispersed 
 the meeting. To this violence the meeting offered no resistance, preferring to 
 sicbmit to the aggression rather than resort to a forcible tnaiiitcnance of their rights. 
 It was, however, agreed to by some that an adjourned meeting for the same pur- 
 pose should be held on Monday, the 6th of May, at four o'clock in the afternoon, 
 at the same place. 
 
 " If the call of the meeting of the 3d of May was addressed exclusively to per- 
 sons favorable to its objects, the interference of individuals hostile to its proceed- 
 ings, and the breaking up and dispersion of the meeting by them, was a gross 
 outrage on the rights of those who ca^ed it. It was a riot of a flagrant kind. 
 Any body of citizens having in view a constitntional and legal pti7-pose have the 
 right peaceably and quietly to assemble together for its consideration and discus- 
 sion. Any attempt by another body of citizens opposed to the objects of the 
 assembly to interrupt and disperse it, is not to be tolerated. In this instance it 
 has led to the long train of riots, murders, and arsons which have disgraced our 
 city and shaken the foundations of social order." 
 
 I 
 
FIRST PUBLIC WORKING OF THE TELEGRAPH 23 1 
 
 thundering along as if rushing to battle. General Robert 
 Patterson was in command, with head-quarters at the Girard 
 Bank building. General Cadwallader commanded a portion of 
 the troops, which occupied the city for some weeks. A portion 
 of them were then discharged and returned home, many, if not 
 most of them, being from the interior of the State ; another 
 portion remained, and were quartered at the Arsenal, 
 
 THE FIRST PUBLIC WORKING OF THE TELEGRAPH. TALK BE- 
 TWEEN WASHINGTON AND BALTIMORE. 
 
 Mr. Morse had completed his telegraph line from Wash- 
 ington to Baltimore just previous to the sitting of the Demo- 
 cratic convention, and was ready to report its proceedings 
 every fifteen minutes. The terminus of the line in Washington 
 was in a room adjoining the Supreme Court room, under the 
 Senate-chamber, now the Supreme Court room. Here he re- 
 ceived and communicated dispatches during the sitting of the 
 convention, and read them to the large crowd assembled 
 around the window, manifesting the most intense interest in 
 the proceedings at Baltimore, as they were from time to time 
 received and read aloud. 
 
 It was a novelty. Every few minutes it would be reported 
 that Mr. So-and-so had made such a motion, and in a minute 
 or two, " the motion has failed," or, " has carried," as the case 
 might be. Again, " A ballot is being taken," etc. " Mr. Polk 
 has been proposed, and a vote is being taken ; such a State 
 has voted for Mr. Polk, — such and such and such States have 
 voted for him ; he has received two-thirds, and is nominated." 
 
 This talking with Baltimore was something so novel, so 
 strange, so extraordinary, and upon a matter of such intense 
 interest, that we could hardly realize the fact. It seemed like 
 enchantment, or a delusion, or a dream. 
 
 When the telegraph announced that a vote was being taken 
 for James K. Polk for President, and he had been nominated, 
 the Democrats received the intelligence in silence, not knowing 
 what to make of it. 
 
 The next important dispatch sent over the wire was, that 
 the convention had nominated Silas Wright as Vice-President; 
 
232 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 and in a few minutes a dispatch was sent to him, informing 
 him of his nomination. Mr. Wright was then in the Senate- 
 chamber just above, and telegraphed back that he respect- 
 fully declined the nomination. Another dispatch was imme- 
 diately received asking him to reconsider the matter, — that a 
 committee had just started in the cars to wait on him, and 
 would call upon him that evening. The committee came, but 
 he persisted in declining the nomination. His friend Van 
 Buren had been slaughtered, and he was not the man to rise 
 on the downfall of his friend. Besides, he remarked, privately, 
 he did not choose to ride behind on the black [slavery] pony. 
 The next day Mr. Dallas was nominated. 
 
 FURTHER CHANGES IN THE CABINET. JOHN C. SPENCER. 
 
 A vacancy having occurred on the bench of the Supreme 
 Court of the United States by the death of Mr. Justice Thomp- 
 son, of New York, John C. Spencer, Secretary of the Treasury, 
 was nominated to that position. But the nomination was re- 
 jected, and, his relations with Mr. Tyler not being very pleas- 
 ant, he resigned his office as Secretary of the Treasury, and 
 was succeeded by Judge Bibb, of Kentucky, 
 
 Mr. Spencer was a man of great abilities, industry, and en- 
 durance, curt manners, and irascible temper. Before being 
 tendered a position in Mr. Tyler's cabinet, he had written an 
 address upon his treachery to the Whig party, more severe 
 than anything that appeared from any other quarter. He fairly 
 flayed the President, lashing him as with a whip of scorpions. 
 Yet, after this, Mr. Tyler could offer him, and he could accept, 
 first, the place of Secretary of War, and second, that of Secre- 
 tary of the Treasury. It is but just to say of him that he ren- 
 dered the country important service in the Treasury Department, 
 which he administered with an ability, assiduity, integrity, and 
 faithfulness seldom equaled since the days of Hamilton. 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. THE ISSUES. — MR. 
 
 POLK's KANE LETTER ; HOW PRODUCED. MR. WEBSTER's 
 
 SPEECHES. 
 
 The principal, if not the only, issues between the two parties 
 were the acquisition of Texas, a protective or non-protective 
 
MR. POLK'S KANE LETTER. 2^ 
 
 tariff, and the course to be pursued in regard to Oregon. As 
 to the latter, the Democratic party claimed "the whole or none," 
 and declared our title to the country up to 54° 40' "clear and 
 indisputable." This, however, was secondary to Texas and the 
 tariff 
 
 The tariff of 1842 had vitalized the country; and so great 
 had been the change in Pennsylvania, under and by means 
 of that act, it was believed by both parties that no man could 
 get the vote of that important State who was hostile to it, 
 or to protection to home industry generally. Other States 
 north of the Potomac, and even south of it, as Kentucky and 
 Louisiana, were as strongly in favor of the protective policy, 
 and opposed to any modification of the act of 1842, as Penn- 
 sylvania. Hence it became necessary for the Democrats to 
 represent Mr. Polk, at the North, as not opposed to, but in 
 favor of, at least moderate protection. But in doing this they 
 must take care not so to represent him at the South, where 
 there was the bitterest hostility to protection generally, and the 
 act of 1842 especially. This was a manoeuvre which required a 
 degree of cunning, adroitness, and unscrupulousness not easily 
 found. But he who, according to Colonel Benton, could draw 
 Mr. Van Buren into a trap, designedly, under pretense of 
 serving him as a friend, was equal to the undertaking, and 
 accomplished it ; and for this and other services he received 
 from Mr. Polk the high position of Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 The manoeuvre was the celebrated " Kane letter," signed 
 and purporting to have been written by Mr. Polk, which ap- 
 peared in the Philadelphia " Pennsylvanian" soon after its date, 
 and was republished by all the Democratic papers of the 
 United States, and most of the Whig papers. Here it is : 
 
 " Columbia, Tennessee, June 19, 1S44, 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I have received recently several letters in refer- 
 ence to my opinions on the subject of the tariff, and among 
 others yours of the 30th ultimo. ]\Iy opinions on this sub- 
 ject have often been given to the public. They are to be found 
 in my public acts, and in the public discussions in which I 
 
 have participated. 
 
 Vol. II. 16 
 
234 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 " I am in favor of a tariff for revenue, such a one as will yield 
 a sufficient amount to the treasury to defray the expenses of 
 the government, economically administered. In adjusting the 
 details of a revenue tariff, I have heretofore sanctioned such 
 moderate discriminating duties as would produce the amount 
 of revenue needed, and at the same time afford reasonable 
 incidental protection to our home industry. I am opposed to 
 a tariff for protection merely, and not for revenue. 
 
 " Acting upon these general principles, it is well known that 
 I gave my support to the policy of General Jackson's adminis- 
 tration on the subject. I voted against the tariff act of 1828. I 
 voted for the act of 1 832, which contained modifications of some 
 of the objectionable provisions of the act of 1828. As a member 
 of the committee of ways and means of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, I gave my assent to a bill reported by that com- 
 mittee in December, 1832, making further modifications of the 
 act of 1828, and making also discriminations in the imposition 
 of the duties which it proposed. That bill did not pass, but 
 was superseded by the bill commonly called the Compromise 
 bill, for which I voted. 
 
 " In my judgment, it is the duty of the government to extend, 
 as far as it may be practicable to do so, by its revenue laws 
 and all other means within its power, fair and just protection 
 to all the great interests of the whole Union, embracing agri- 
 culture, manufactures, the mechanic arts, commerce, and navi- 
 gation. I heartily approve the resolutions upon this subject, 
 passed by the Democratic National Convention, lately assem- 
 bled at Baltimore. 
 
 " I am, with great respect, 
 
 " Dear sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 "James K. Polk. 
 
 "J. K. Kane, Esq., Philadelphia." 
 
 Rumor gave Robert J. Walker the credit of this letter. It 
 was artfully and cunningly prepared, so that Mr. Polk could, 
 upon his own showing, be supported at the South as opposed 
 to protection, and at the North in favor of it; and such was 
 the use made of it, — Mr. Walker himself proving by it to the 
 
THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA. 2-'5 
 
 people of Mississippi that Mr. Polk was a free -trade man, while 
 Mr. Buchanan and others were proving by the same document 
 to the people of Pennsylvania, and other Northern States, that 
 he was "a better tariff man," that is, more in favor oi protec- 
 tion, than Mr. Clay ! But no people at the North, except those 
 of Pennsylvania, were deceived by it. Mr. Buchanan and other 
 leading Democrats in Pennsylv'ania knew that the letter was 
 intended to deceive the people of that State. Every intelli- 
 gent man in the United States knew that Mr. Clay was, and 
 had been all his life, the great champion of the protective 
 policy, — the earnest, eloquent advocate of what was termed 
 " THE American system ;" that is, protection to American 
 labor and American manufactures, — and that Mr. Polk was 
 strongly opposed to this policy. The whole scheme, therefore, 
 of representing Mr. Polk to the people of Pennsylvania as in 
 favor of their cherished policy, and Mr. Clay as opposed to it, 
 was a gross misrei^resentation and imposition. If, however, 
 " all is fair in politics," this piece of artful deception must be so 
 considered. 
 
 THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 As the Presidential election was to be determined by the 
 electoral votes of New York and Pennsylvania, and especially 
 the latter, the canvass was carried on there in the most deter- 
 mined manner. 
 
 The tariff of 1842 was the favorite measure of Pennsyh^ania, 
 as it had revived the iron manufactures, lighting up her moun- 
 tains with forge-fires ; her forges having long stood darkened 
 and silent monuments of the ruinous policy of the free-traders, 
 and which now illumined the whole State by rekindled and 
 animating fires; at the same time business of every kind sprang 
 into activity under the stimulating protection afforded by this 
 tariff With extraordinary audacity, therefore, the Democrats 
 of that State claimed that tariff as their own measure, and 
 swore by it with a pertinacity truly astonishing. T'lags borne 
 in their processions, streamers floating from their flag-staffs, 
 cloth stretched across the streets of every city, town, and 
 hamlet in the State, and across the principal highways in the 
 
236 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 country, especially at cross-roads, bore the inscription, in large, 
 bold letters, 
 
 "Polk, Dallas, Shunk, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 Democratic Tariff of 1842." 
 
 And, as if it were determined to show how far impudence and 
 audacity could go, in some instances to the above inscription 
 was added, 
 
 "We dare the Whigs to repeal it," 
 
 Dare the Whigs to repeal their own favorite measure ! Dare 
 those to repeal who were bravely fighting against repeal ! Why, 
 at the moment it was passed, the Democrats of the South 
 announced that it should be repealed, and were, during the 
 whole campaign, violently denouncing it and threatening repeal ! 
 
 It was represented by the Democratic papers and orators 
 that Mr. Clay was opposed to protection and the tariff of 1842. 
 To counteract this falsehood, Mr, Frederick J. Cope, of Pitts- 
 burg, addressed a letter to him stating this fact, to which he 
 replied that he was in favor of protection and opposed to the 
 repeal of the tariff of 1842, it having been asserted that he was 
 in favor of such repeal. Mr, Polk was addressed with a view 
 to know how he stood in regard to that tariff, but refused to 
 answer.* 
 
 Meantime, Mr. Wilson McCandless, of Pittsburg, then a candi- 
 
 * "Refused to answer." And why did he refuse to answer? In a letter 
 addressed to Daniel Ullman, dated White Sulphur Springs, August 4, 1847, Mr. Clay 
 gives the reason. Speaking of " the fraud practiced on Pennsylvania by the Kane 
 letter," he says, " In further support of this fraud, I learned yesterday, from the 
 Honorable Reverdy Johnson, that during the canvass of 1844, when some inter- 
 rogatories were addressed from your State [Pennsylvania] to Polk, requesting a 
 more explicit avowal of his opinion in regard to the tariff of 1842, Mr. Buchanan 
 wrote to Tennessee that the Kane letter was working well, and beeorincr that those 
 interrogatories might not be answered, and Mr. Polk accordingly remained silent." 
 " Working well !" That is, doing its work of deception. 
 
 So Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Kane, and Mr. McCandless were knowingly practicing a 
 fraud on the people of Pennsylvania for the purpose of electing Mr. Polk and 
 defeating Mr. Clay ; for which each got his reward : Mr. Buchanan being ap- 
 pointed Secretary of State, Mr. Kane Judge of the United States Court at Phila- 
 delphia, and Mr. McCandless to the same office at Pittsburg. Honest politicians ! 
 disiftferesied Tp^.\.no\.?,\ virtuozts dQctivtxsl 
 
THE PRESIDENTIAL CAAIPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA. 2^7 
 
 date for Presidential elector, now Judge of the United States 
 District Court, being invited to address the people of Clarion 
 County, wrote a letter to them, virtually telling them that Mr. 
 Clay had abandoned the principle of protection, and, if elected, 
 would give them a horizontal duty to enable them to contend 
 with the pauper labor of Sweden and Russia (in making iron), 
 and in doing so would give them and the tariff the same sup- 
 port that the rope does the hanging man, — instant death ! 
 " Support him if you can : for my part I shall go for Polk and 
 Dallas, who have at heart the true interests of Pennsylvania." 
 Was he honest? did he believe what he said?. 
 
 Judge McCandless was present in the Senate when, in 1846, 
 Dallas gave the casting vote of the Senate against the tariff of 
 1842, and killed it. 
 
 Of a similar character to this Clarion letter was the address 
 of the Democratic committee of Philadelphia, issued on the 
 evening previous to the Presidential election, inclosing a ticket, 
 and placed under the doors of every citizen, as was then cus- 
 tomary, as a last appeal to voters, of which address the following 
 is a part, — capitals and italics as therein : 
 
 " Fellow-Citizens : The Democratic Committee of Superin- 
 tendence for the city of Philadelphia inclose you a ticket for 
 the election on Friday, the 1st of November. 
 
 ''Arc you friendly to the Protection of American Industry ? Re- 
 member — the Records of Congress prove that it is to the 
 votes of DEMOCRATS tliat the maintenance of that policy is 
 due. The records of Congress prove that Henry Clay did not vote 
 for the Tariff of 1816 — nor of 1824 — nor of 1828. In 1831 he 
 directed all his efforts to reduce the Tariff of 1828. He voted 
 for the Tariff of 1832, which LOWERED the PREVIOUS 
 PROTECTION. In 1833 he advocated and voted for the 
 Compromise Act, which CUT UP the whole POLICY of 
 PROTECTION. If you are FRIENDLY to AMERICAN 
 Industry, in reality not in name, vote then against Clay, and 
 for POLK and DALLAS. 
 
 " By order of the Democratic Committee of Superintendence. 
 
 "October 31, 1S44." 
 
^38 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 When the tariff bill of 1846 was before the Senate, a great 
 number of remonstrances were presented, especially from Penn- 
 sylvania, against its passage, and thereby the repeal of the tariff 
 of 1842. Mr. Sevier, of Arkansas, noticing this, said, " Every 
 morning, immediately after prayers, they had a dose of these 
 petitions from Pennsylvania, generally accompanied by some 
 doleful remarks. We had heard a good deal about Pennsyl- 
 vania having been deceived, cheated, humbugged into the 
 belief that Mr. Polk was a tariff man. Every man who could 
 read must have known that he was no tariff man, but a good 
 free-trade man." 
 
 Mr. Sevier spoke the truth ; but it was severe on Mr. 
 Buchanan, General Cameron, Judge McCandless, and all the 
 leaders of the Democracy of Pennsylvania. 
 
 On presenting sundry petitions or remonstrances of this kind 
 from different counties of Pennsylvania against the passage of 
 the bill then before the Senate, — the bill of 1846, — General 
 Cameron spoke earnestly against its passage and disturbing the 
 tariff of 1842, and raised frequent smiles upon the countenances 
 of Senators, by the very plain manner in which he talked to 
 Mr. Dallas about the manner in which they carried on the 
 campaign in Pennsylvania in 1844, pressing Mr. Polk upon 
 the people as a tariff man. " You and I, Mr. President," said 
 Mr. Cameron, " remember the scenes of 1844 in our State ; the 
 anxiety that pervaded the Democratic party until the Kane 
 letter made its appearance. That letter was seized upon by the 
 political leaders, was used upon the stump, was translated into 
 German, and published in all our party papers, English and Ger- 
 man. It is not too much to say," continued Mr. Cameron, "that 
 that letter turned the scale and decided the Presidential election. 
 But for it you would not now be sitting where you are, nor 
 would Mr. Polk be occupying the Presidential chair." There 
 was a general smile upon the faces of the Whigs in the Senate, 
 and also upon those of the spectators in the gallery and the 
 lobby. 
 
 As General Cameron took his seat, Mr. Webster rose, and, 
 after some preliminary remarks, said, — 
 
 " Sir, — I propose, before I sit down, to ask the honorable 
 
THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 239 
 
 member from Pennsylvania, with great respect, a question or two, 
 I happened to be in Pennsylvania in October, 1844, in divers 
 villages and counties. I saw the preparations that were going 
 on for the then approaching elections ; and it appeared to me 
 that the Democratic party in Pennsylvania had three prominent, 
 eminent, distinct favorites. These three favorites were often 
 borne on their flags and banners. I saw them emblazoned in 
 Chester County, and in Schuylkill County, and in other places. 
 The three favorites borne on these banners were, ' Polk,' ' Dal- 
 las,' and 'The Tariff of 1842.' I am rather inclined to think 
 that of these favorites the last mentioned is at this present 
 moment most in favor. I would ask the honorable member 
 from Pennsylvania himself whether he has not seen these same 
 banners floating in various places?" 
 
 Mr. Cameron. — " I answer the Senator with great pleasure. 
 I attended, perhaps, every Democratic meeting within my reach 
 in that State — and some of them were at places one hundred 
 and fifty miles distant from my home — in order to support the 
 great cause of Democracy; and at all these meetings the watch- 
 words and the mottoes were, * Polk,' ' Dallas,' and (before his 
 lamented death) ' Muhlenberg,' and ' The Tariff of 1 842.' And 
 after the death of our candidate for the gubernatorial chair, 
 they were, ' Polk,' ' Dallas,' ' Shunk,' and ' The Tariff of 1842.' 
 Neither of the three, sir, would have got the vote of Penn- 
 sylvania without the last, — the tariff of 1842. Much as we 
 disliked Mr. Clay, and sincerely attached as we were to the 
 Democratic party, all would have gone before we would 
 have relinquished the tariff of 1842." 
 
 On the 27th of July, Mr. Cameron presented the proceedings 
 of a meeting of Democratic citizens residing in the valley of 
 Wyoming, expressing their opposition to the proposed change 
 in the tariff 
 
 "The president of the meeting, Mr. Hollenback," he said, 
 " was the son of one of the early settlers of the valley. He 
 was a Democrat, honored and respected by all around him. 
 
 " Hendricks B. Wright, the President of the Baltimore Con- 
 vention, of which so much has been said here in connection 
 with tlje passage of this bill, took part in the meeting, made a 
 
240 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 speech, and united fully in the proceedings. Tliese proceedings 
 tell yo7i plainly that the nominees of the party could not have suc- 
 ceeded in 1 844 if it had not been believed they would be friendly 
 to the labor and industry of the country." 
 
 Confirmatory of what General Cameron has here said, in reply 
 to Mr. Webster, is the declaration of David R. Porter, Governor 
 of Pennsylvania in 1844, in his first annual message after the 
 Presidential election : " Neither of the Presidential candidates 
 could have hoped to get a majority of the votes of Pennsylvania 
 had not his claims been based upon the assurance that he was 
 friendly to the continuance of the tariff laws substantially as 
 they stood." Governor Porter, ft must be remembered, was a 
 Democrat. 
 
 Can it be believed that Mr. Buchanan and the leaders of the 
 Democracy were deceived ? " It was impossible that Pennsyl- 
 vanians could have been misled," exclaimed Mr. Sevier; "it was 
 NOTORIOUS to the world that Mr. Polk was a free-trade man, and 
 opposed to the whole doctrine of protection." Now, as Mr. 
 Buchanan himself " took the stump," and assured the people of 
 Pennsylvania, in the most positive manner, that Mr. Polk zuas 
 a tariff man, and a better one than Mr. Clay, that he, Mr. Clay, 
 had done more injuiy to the principles of protection during 
 his political life than he could do good for it if he lived to the 
 age of Methuselah, and that the good people of Berks must vote 
 for the Democratic candidates, James K. Polk and George M. 
 Dallas, if they desired to preserve the present tariff of pro- 
 tection,* what conclusion must we come to in regard to his 
 honesty and truthfulness? Mr. Buchanan knew as well as Mr. 
 Sevier that Mr. Polk was a free-trade man, "and opposed to 
 the whole doctrine of protection." Did he not, therefore, inten- 
 tionally deceive the people of Pennsylvania ? 
 
 Such were the means by which Mr. Clay was defeated, Mr. 
 Polk elected, and Mr. Buchanan secured for himself the office 
 of Secretary of State under Mr. Polk. 
 
 Had the people of Pennsylvania really known the views of 
 each of the candidates in regard to the tariff of 1842, and the 
 protective policy ; had they not been intentionally deceived in 
 
 * His speech at Reading. 
 
CAMPAIGN IN NEW YORK. 24 1 
 
 this respect ; could they have foreseen what consequences would 
 follow the election of Mr. Polk : can there be a doubt that Mr. 
 Clay would have received the electoral vote of the State, and 
 in that case been elected ? No one can, no one will, assert the 
 contrary. But history is made ; it is recorded, and there it 
 must stand. There can be no expunging of this record. 
 
 CAMPAIGN IN NEW YORK. 
 
 If the immense meetings which were held in every State, 
 county, city, village, and hamlet, the great zeal and enthusiasm 
 which everywhere prevailed, the pride felt for their candidates 
 by the Whigs, and the comparative obscurity of the Demo- 
 cratic candidate for President, were to be considered evidences 
 of the popular feeling, one could scarcely doubt that Mr. Clay 
 would be elected by a triumphant majority. It was, perhaps, 
 the strong prospect that he would be, and the fear, both of the 
 Democrats and Free-soilers, of such a result, that defeated 
 him. 
 
 Indignant as Silas Wright and other friends of Mr. Van 
 Buren were at his defeat at the national convention, they were 
 too faithful as party men not to do all in their power to defeat 
 Mr. Clay and insure the success of their own party. New York 
 having thirty-six electoral votes, it was a matter of vast im- 
 portance whether they should be given to the Democratic or 
 the Whig candidate. Upon this vote the election would de- 
 pend. If given to Mr. Clay, he would be elected ; and it was 
 known that he had great popularity in the western and north- 
 eastern counties especially, as well as in the city of New York 
 and other parts of the State. It was necessary, therefore, that 
 the Democrats should make extraordinary efforts to prevent his 
 getting the electoral vote of the State. 
 
 Mr. Wright was a strong man with his party, and his popu- 
 larity had been greatly increased by his refusal to accept the 
 nomination for Vice-President, tendered to him by the Balti- 
 more Convention after the defeat of his friend Van Buren. 
 Could he be persuaded to accept the nomination for governor 
 of the State, his strength with the people might possibly carry 
 the State for Polk, Morose as he was at the throwing over- 
 
242 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 board of his friend at Baltimore, he finally, but reluctantly, 
 consented to become the gubernatorial candidate. 
 
 About the same time, or perhaps a little before, certain lead- 
 ing and influential politicians of the State, of the " Barnburner" 
 wing of the Democratic party, friends of Van Buren and Wright, 
 who were opposed to the annexation of Texas, and indignant 
 that Mr. Van Buren had been sacrificed by the South because 
 he opposed annexation, issued a " secret circular," the purport 
 of which was, that while the party must zealously oppose 
 annexation, there must be no division in the ranks ; but in all 
 cases efforts must be made in primary conventions to select 
 candidates eminent for ability and of known hostility to the 
 acquisition of Texas. 
 
 But all this was not considered certain of preventing Mr. 
 Clay from carrying the State. There were many Free-soilers, 
 or Abolitionists, in the State, who were opposed to the annexa- 
 tion of Texas, on the ground that slavery would thereby be 
 extended. Mr. Polk was the candidate of the friends of an- 
 nexation. Little was known of him, but thus much was. Mr. 
 Clay had, in his Raleigh letter, declared emphatically against 
 annexation, asserting that annexation would be inevitable war 
 with Mexico. If the Free-soilers were honest, therefore, in 
 the wish they professed, they could support no other candidate 
 than Mr. Clay. But instead of this they did all in their power 
 to defeat him, elect his opponent, and thus bring about the 
 annexation of Texas. They put a candidate of their own in 
 the field, Mr. Birney, who, I am convinced, ran for no other 
 purpose than to defeat Mr. Clay, of whom he was a personal 
 enemy. He took a tour through the State of New York, where 
 he could do the Whigs most harm by drawing votes from them, 
 and thus aided largely to effect the object he desired. 
 
 The Free-soil or Abolition papers were scarcely behind the 
 Democratic in their personal vituperation of Mr. Clay. It was 
 a heinous crime for him to be a slaveholder ; it was not even 
 a fault in Mr. Polk. The " Chronicle," an Abolition organ pub- 
 lished in Boston and edited by the Rev. Joshua Leavitt, charged 
 Mr. Frelinghuysen with being a slaveholder ; and the charge 
 was made out something after this manner. Slavery once, and 
 
CAMPAIGN IN NEW YORK. 
 
 243 
 
 not very long since, existed in New Jersey ; and when it was 
 abolished, there was an old colored woman who had been a 
 slave in the Frelinghuysen family, who, as she was now old, 
 preferred to remain in a good home, with the family she had 
 been with all her life, to seeking another; and surely she was 
 wise, and the family were kind. But thereby, in Mr. Leavitt's 
 eye, the amiable, exemplary, and Christian-like Mr. Freling- 
 huysen was a slavcJwldcr. 
 
 The course pursued by the Free-soilers in New York was 
 one of the causes of Mr. Polk's obtaining the vote of that 
 State. There was one other which I cannot forget : the frauds 
 perpetrated by the Empire Club, headed and managed by one 
 not less celebrated in his day than William M. Tweed has 
 been since, — the notorious Isaiah Rhynders. That these 
 frauds were stupendous is now as well known as it is that this 
 Rhynders was a fit instrument with which to perpetrate them, 
 and that he was paid therefor by being appointed to an im- 
 portant office in the custom-house. 
 
 But while we were lecturing the Free-soilers for pursuing a 
 course the effect of which would be the election of Mr. Polk 
 and the acquisition of more slave territory, Mr. Clay most 
 unadvisedly came to their aid by doing that which furnished 
 them with something like an excuse, if not a justification. 
 Mr. Polk had written one, the famous Kane, letter, and was 
 from that moment silent ; not a word could be drawn from 
 him. But Mr. Clay would not throw away his pen, as his 
 friends most ardently desired, and now he must write to his 
 friend Stephen Miller, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a letter in 
 regard to Texas, commonly known as " TJie Alabama Letter^' 
 which expressed a feeling so contrary to that which his friends 
 at the North entertained, and honestly represented him as en- 
 tertaining, that its publication came upon them with all the 
 chilling effects of a wet blanket. It was of so entirely dif- 
 ferent a tone from the feeling then existing at the North, 
 and from his Raleigh letter, — so different in temperature, — 
 that it fairly chilled his friends, and gave the Free-soilers what 
 they had not before, — a shadow of an excuse for supporting a 
 third candidate. It could do him no good anywhere, certainly 
 
244 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 not in Alabama, or any other Southern State ; and he should 
 have known that it would do him harm at the North. 
 
 At a Fourth of July dinner in Boston, in 1828, some one 
 gave as a toast, " jfohn Quincy Adams — may he confound his 
 enemies !" to which Mr. Webster, who was present, imme- 
 diately added, "As he has h.[s friends." Certainly Mr. Clay 
 did now confound his friends. But the letter, — the following is 
 all that was important of it: 
 
 " Ashland, July i, 1844. 
 .... "As to the idea of my courting the Abolitionists, it is 
 perfectly absurd. No man in the United States has been half 
 so much abused by them as I have." [Was it wise and dis- 
 creet to say this, even if true?] 
 
 " I consider the Union a great political partnership, and that 
 new members ought not to be admitted into the concern at 
 the imminent hazard of its dissolution. Far from having any 
 personal objection to the annexation of Texas, I should be 
 glad to see it annexed without dishonor, without war, with the 
 common consent of the Union, and upon just and fair terms. 
 
 " H. Clay. 
 
 "Stephen Miller, Esq., Tuscaloosa, Alabama." 
 
 This was Mr. Clay's political death-warrant. It took every- 
 body at the North and East, as well as at the West, by sur- 
 prise ; Whig editors knew not what to say of it, and perhaps 
 made matters worse by saying anything about it. Up to the 
 time when this appeared, the Whigs were successfully assailing 
 the Democrats ; but this reversed the position of the two par- 
 ties, — the Democrats now becoming the assailants, and the 
 Whigs put upon the defensive, to the end of the campaign. 
 Mr. Greeley was right in saying that " it weakened the .pre- 
 vious hold of his advocates on the moral convictions of the 
 more considerate and conscientious voters of the free States." 
 
 Mr. Clay endeavored to repair the mistake, or blunder, he 
 had made by writing another letter, affirming that there was 
 not a sentiment or opinion expressed in his Raleigh letter to 
 which he did not adhere ; that he was opposed to immediate 
 annexation, as it would involve us in a war with Mexico, etc. 
 
CAMPAIGN IN NEW YORK. 
 
 245 
 
 But he had done the mischief. He had confounded his friends 
 and gratified his enemies. 
 
 From this time his prospects of being elected were less and 
 less encouraging, though the zeal of the Whigs in his support 
 abated not a jot, nor were Whig meetings less numerous and 
 enthusiastic. 
 
 Mr. Crittenden, the devoted friend from youth of Mr. Clay, 
 the eloquent, chivalrous, noble-hearted Kentuckian ; Mr. Cor- 
 win, of Ohio, who could, with his wonderful powers of wit, 
 ridicule, pathos, drollery, and comical contortions of face, 
 draw alternate tears and laughter, shouts of derision, or bitter 
 words of anger from the multitude ; Robert C. Schenck, of 
 Ohio, who could sting with wit and scathe with sarcasm ; 
 Richard W. Thompson, Oliver H. Smith, and Caleb B. Smith, 
 of Indiana ; Governor Morehead, Garrett Davis, and John B, 
 Thompson, of Kentucky; Governor Jones, John Bell, M. P. 
 Gentry, and Mr. Henry, of Tennessee, — these and many others 
 at the W^est addressed the people at Nashville, Louisville, Cin- 
 cinnati, Indianapolis, Columbus, Dayton, and other places, 
 creating immense ardor among Whigs throughout the West, 
 this ardor manifesting itself especially among the women, who 
 were all " Clay men ;" and could they have voted, he would 
 have been elected by a most triumphant majority; but, deprived 
 of this privilege, they could only manifest their zeal by attend- 
 ing in large numbers, as they did everywhere. Whig meetings 
 and conventions, inspiring the speakers by their presence, 
 rewarding their efforts with approving smiles, and taking a 
 principal part in the song-singing, which was a prominent 
 feature in all these enthusiastic gatherings, 
 
 " The Clay campaign," as it is called, was, like "the Harrison 
 campaign" (minus the log cabin and hard cider), a grand gala- 
 season ; almost the only zvork thought of was political work, — 
 promoting the election of Henry Clay ; and no labor could be 
 more agreeable; it was, in truth, recreation, hilarity, and the 
 constant meeting of friends, — all Whigs were then friends, and 
 warm ones, too, — in the finest of spirits, and exchanging cordial 
 greetings. 
 
 I have said that the ladies were all " Clay meny Yes, even 
 
246 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 though their husbands, fathers, and brothers opposed him. 
 Figuratively, this is true ; but not quite true to the letter. A 
 pleasant anecdote will illustrate this. The Locos, as the Polk 
 party were called, held a large popular convention at Wilkes- 
 barre, Pennsylvania, which John K. Kane, of Philadelphia, — 
 famous as giving name to the more famous "Kane Letter," — 
 was invited to address. He attended and addressed the meet- 
 ing, which was presided over by Hendricks B. Wright, presi- 
 dent of the national convention that nominated Polk. Next 
 day Mr. Kane called at Mr. Wright's house to pay a visit of 
 respect, and, on being ushered into the parlor, found himself 
 amidst a dozen ladies very busily engaged in preparing Clay 
 badges, flags, and banners, many of which strewed the room. 
 He stopped, looked surprised and puzzled, and, as he himself 
 said, thought he had entered the wrong house, as this was 
 evidently Clay head-quarters. 
 
 Mrs. Wright rose, and, seeing his embarrassment, said, " Don't 
 be alarmed, Mr. Kane ; you are right this time, and just where 
 you ought to be, among Clay people. Though my husband is 
 a Polk man, I am a Clay man ; in fact, the ladies are all Clay 
 men. The Whigs are to have a great gathering, as you prob- 
 ably know, day after to-morrow, and we ladies, several of us 
 the wives of Polk men, are preparing banners and badges for 
 the occasion. I regret that your stay among us is to be tem- 
 porary; we should be happy, if you will wear it, to present 
 you with one of our most beautiful Clay rosettes or badges ; 
 you ought to delight to follow so noble a chief as Henry 
 Clay." 
 
 Mr. Kane managed his case as best he could with the 
 ready-witted, accomplished, independent Mrs. Wright. Though 
 greatly pleased with his visit, Mr. Wright not being at home, 
 he soon made good his retreat ; but the circumstances of the 
 visit were quickly known to every one in the village, and 
 caused much amusement. 
 
 With General Schouler I can say, " we linger with fond affec- 
 tion over the old Whig campaign of 1844." It has pleasant 
 memories; it calls up, and I see before me in full life, health, 
 and activity, many a warmly-cherished friend, and a host of 
 
CAMPAIGN IN NEW YORK. 247 
 
 noble, high-soulcd, eloquent Whigs, who did yeoman service 
 in that never-to-be-forgotten campaign. 
 
 One of its pleasant memories, too, is the farce of Tylerism, 
 and the impotent malice of the Tyler organ, " The Madisonian." 
 I have mentioned that a Tyler convention was called and held 
 at Baltimore at the same time that the Democratic convention 
 sat there ; that an affiliation was sought and treated with 
 scorn, and that a formal nomination of John Tyler as President 
 of the United States was made and accepted with as much 
 gravity as if the whole affair had not been an uproarious farce 
 or burlesque. 
 
 John Jones, of " The Madisonian," the simple-minded John, 
 who took everything in sober earnest, and really looked upon 
 John Tyler as the greatest man living on earth, advocated the 
 election of Mr. Tyler with all the zeal of an honest conviction, 
 at the same time firing poisoned arrows at Henry Clay in abso- 
 lute showers. But " honest John," though the nominal, was 
 not the real writer of the ill-tempered articles with which the 
 paper teemed. Able, but venomous, pens were to be found 
 among the Tyler office-holders, and they were called into ser- 
 vice, — the service for which the office was given. As bitter 
 invectives and sharp assaults upon private character, some of 
 them will bear comparison with those of Junius ; and he who 
 wishes to fill his quiver with arrows of that character will find 
 as good models in " The Madisonian" of that day, perhaps, as 
 in Junius's letters. 
 
 John Jones's Methodistical appearance, long hair, solemn 
 visage, simple-mindedness, and admiration for John Tyler, made 
 him a standing target for all the barbed shafts of the wits of 
 the press, and the laughing-stock of all others. The with- 
 drawal of his name as a candidate by Mr. Tyler, and giving his 
 support to Mr. Polk, itiust have sadly broken up and scattered 
 the delusions in which John lived, as in a rainbow. Nor was 
 his delusion greater than that of his master, who really believed 
 that the Tyler convention at Baltimore was a fair representation 
 of the people^ and that he could be elected, as he afterwards 
 acknowledged, declaring at the same time that he had been 
 shamefully deceived by pretended friends in whom he confided 
 
248 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 at the time. He found, however, after two months' candidacy, 
 that himself and his faithful friend of " The Madisonian" were 
 the only persons in earnest in regard to his nomination, and he 
 therefore withdrew. 
 
 The first State election which took place, and tested the 
 strength of parties therein, was that of Louisiana. The contest 
 was carried on with all the energy of hope and desperation. 
 Force and fraud were freely resorted to, but in spite of these 
 the Whigs carried the State. At the Presidential election, how- 
 ever, the famous, or vifainoiis, "Plaquemine frauds" gave the 
 electoral vote to Mr. Polk. These frauds were the work of the 
 afterwards distinguished rebel, John Slidell. He had made a 
 bet with General Barrow upon the result of the Presidential 
 election in that State, which, if the election was not fraudulent, 
 he had fairly won ; but he never claimed the bet. " If he had," 
 said General Barrow to me, "I should have held him to a per- 
 sonal responsibility as the author of these frauds ; and this he 
 well knew was my intention." 
 
 The fraud simply consisted in taking down to Plaquemine, 
 from New Orleans, two steamboats loaded with as rough and 
 villainous a crowd of rascals as could be picked up in and 
 about the wharves and purlieus of the city, to vote " early and 
 oftejty All votes were required to be handed in unfolded, and 
 if any one was for the Whig candidates for electors, it was, if 
 possible, rejected. It was dangerous for a Whig to be on the 
 ground. The vote at this parish had been as follows : 
 
 1840. 
 
 Whig . . . . . .■ . . . .40 
 
 Democratic ..,....,. 250 
 
 Never so high as three hundred and fifty. But at this elec- 
 tion — 1844 — Polk had a majority of nine hundred and seventy! 
 Many, if not most, of those who voted at Plaquemine on Wednes- 
 day had voted in New Orleans on Monday ; those who had not 
 were foreigners, non-residents, etc., not having a right to vote. 
 Now, as Polk carried the State by a majority of six hundred 
 and ninety only, it is very easy to see where it came from and 
 how it was obtained. 
 
 But, famous as the " Plaquemine frauds" became, they sank 
 
 1842. 
 
 1843 
 
 93 
 
 34 
 
 179 
 
 306 
 
THE "PLAQUEMINE FRAUDS." 
 
 249 
 
 into insignificance when compared with those perpetrated in 
 the city of New York, of which I have spoken. In his grand 
 and stirring speech at FaneUil Hall, a few days after the result 
 of the election was fully known, Mr. Webster said, " But why 
 should two free States — New York and Pennsylvania — go 
 against us ? I approach the subject at once, for 'tis useless to 
 keep it back ; and I say that in my mind there is a great neces- 
 sity for a thorough reformation of the naturalization laws." 
 
 Mr. Webster's allusion to the fraudulent votes given in the 
 city of New York by foreigners — immense numbers of whom 
 had received, dishonestly, naturalization papers just previous 
 to the election, and most, if not all, of whom had voted " early 
 and often" — was fully understood, and in unison with the feel- 
 ings of resentment which the atrocious violations of the law 
 and violence at the polls could not fail to excite. 
 
 But other causes were also instrumental in defeating Mr. 
 Clay ; and of these the first was a concentration of the natu- 
 ralized foreign Catholic citizens to resist Native-American- 
 ism. The Native-American movement, though of Democratic 
 origin, received more countenance and sympathy from the 
 Whigs than from their opponents. This fact was artfully ex- 
 aggerated and distorted, and in consequence nearly the whole 
 foreign and Catholic vote was cast against Mr. Clay. Another 
 cause why the Catholics opposed the ticket was, that Mr. Fre- 
 linghuysen was President of the American Bible Society, and 
 the Catholics, being opposed to him on that account, could 
 not vote for Mr. Clay without voting for him. The late Arch- 
 bishop Spalding, a Kentuckian. by birth, was an admirer of 
 Mr. Clay, and declared his purpose in my presence to vote for 
 him, but not for Mr. Frelinghuysen, for the reason just stated; 
 but when informed that he could not vote for one without 
 voting for the other, he replied, " Then I shall not vote for Mr. 
 Clay." 
 
 The majority of Mr. Polk over Mr. Clay in the State of New 
 
 York was five thousand and eighty. Mr. Birney, the Abolition 
 
 candidate, obtained fifteen thousand eight hundred and twelve 
 
 votes in the State, three-fourths of which were taken from the 
 
 Whig party, which would have given the State to the Whigs 
 Vol. II. 17 
 
250 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 by a majority of four or five thousand votes. It was with 
 some reason, therefore, that the whole Whig press of that and 
 other States asserted that the " Liberty party" had themselves 
 caused the election of an annexation President, and therefore 
 had effected what they professed strongly to deprecate. 
 
 For some days the result of the election was doubtful, and the 
 people were kept in a state of extreme anxiety. It was hoped 
 that that portion of New York west of Cayuga Bridge would 
 give Mr. Clay votes enough to overcome Mr. Polk's majority 
 in the eastern and southern counties, including his fraudulent 
 majority in the city of New York ; but this hope proved falla- 
 cious, and the news finally came of the majority of the State 
 being cast for Mr. Polk. It was a severe shock to the Whigs. 
 It is hardly possible, at this da}-, to conceive the distress which 
 pervaded the city of Philadelphia the night following this news, 
 and for many days after. It was as if the first-born of every 
 family had been stricken down. The city next day was clothed 
 in gloom; thousands of women were weeping, but none exult- 
 ing. Even the leading Democrats looked sober, and manifested 
 no disposition to rejoice. Business was nearly suspended on 
 Saturday, no one feeling any heart to attend to it. That day, 
 Sunday, and for several days afterwards, the banners and flags 
 of the two parties, which floated everywhere, but especially in 
 Market Street, were left to dally mournfully with the wind. 
 Had a pestilence suddenly fallen upon the city, it could not 
 have presented a more gloomy aspect, or created more grief. 
 
 Nor was Philadelphia an exception in this manifestation of 
 feeling on this occasion : throughout the West and North, in 
 towns, villages, hamlets, and country, it was the same. Any 
 language which would truly represent the feeling generally 
 manifested would at this day appear extravagant and hyper- 
 bolical, and therefore mine may appear to some as exaggerated ; 
 but those now living who were old enough to remember the 
 events of that day will bear witness that I speak the words of 
 soberness and truth. 
 
 The entire vote for Presidential electors in the United States, 
 in 1844, excluding South Carolina, which elected by her Legis- 
 lature, was, — 
 
ELECTION OF MR. POLK, 25 I 
 
 Popular vote. Electoral vote. 
 
 For Polk, 1,327,323. For Polk, 170. 
 
 " Clay, 1,288,533. ' " Clay, 105. 
 " Bimey, 62,263. 
 
 For Mr. Polk. — Maine, 9; New Hampshire, 6; New York, 
 36; Pennsylvania, 26 ; Virginia, 17; South Carolina, 9; Georgia, 
 10; Louisiana, 6; Mississippi, 6; Indiana, 12; Illinois, 9; Ala- 
 bama, 9; Missouri, 7; Arkansas, 3; Michigan, 5. 
 
 For Mr. Clay. — Massachusetts, 12; Rhode Island, 4; Con- 
 necticut, 6 ; Vermont, 6 ; New Jersey, 7 ; Delaware, 3 ; Mary- 
 land, 8 ; North Carolina, il; Kentucky, 12; Tennessee, 13; 
 Ohio, 23. 
 
 Statesmen, editors, and men of intelligence in Europe were 
 utterly confounded : they could not comprehend how it was 
 possible that Mr. Clay, whom they knew by reputation as not 
 only one of the ablest men in America, but also one of the 
 first statesmen of the world, could be defeated by a man of 
 whose name neither they nor one out of a hundred who voted 
 for him had heard until he was nominated. The theory of our 
 government, they said, was that in choosing their rulers the 
 people would make choice of the ablest, most experienced, and 
 most distinguished citizens to fill the highest offices ; practi- 
 cally, however, it seemed as if the most obscure and insig- 
 nificant were chosen. If such were the fruits of republican 
 government, they wanted none of it ; better, far better, they 
 insisted, to take the man born and educated to rule. 
 
 To the most sagacious observer of political events, the elec- 
 tion of Mr. Clay must have appeared, at the opening of the 
 Presidential campaign, a foregone conclusion, an inevitable fact, 
 which could be prevented only by a power more than human. 
 But the womb of the future teemed with great events, to bring 
 forth which required a different result ; and we can now look 
 back, and in the light of the past perceive that 
 
 " There's a divinity that shapes our ends, 
 Rough-hew them how we will ;" 
 
 that the defeat of Mr. Clay and the election of Mr. Polk were 
 for a great, wise, and benevolent purpose. This could not 
 then be seen by Mr. Clay's devoted friends, and hence their 
 
252 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 unmitigated sorrow at his defeat, and deep mortification that so 
 brilhant and patriotic a statesman and orator, who had for so 
 many long years served his country in various high positions, 
 and had won not only a national but a world-wide reputation, 
 should be defeated as a candidate for the chief magistracy by 
 one scarcely known beyond the bounds of his own State.* 
 
 * The venerable Ambrose Spencer, late Chief Justice of New York, in a letter 
 to Mr. Clay, dated Albany, November 21, 1844, in the fullness of his heart said, 
 " I can no longer resist the inclination which impels me to commune with you on 
 the disastrous results [of the election]. The result of our canvass shows what 
 mighty efforts have been made. You received 232,411 votes; Polk, 237,432; 
 Birney, 15,875. What a monstrous poll! Your vote is 6594 more than Harri- 
 son's in 1840, when his majority exceeded 13,000. The Abolition vote lost you the 
 election, as three-fourths of them were firm Whigs converted into Abolitionists. 
 The foreign vote also destroyed your election ; another cause was the utter men- 
 dacity, frauds, and villainies of Loco-focoism. This untoward event has produced 
 universal gloom, and has shaken public confidence. Even many who voted for 
 Polk now deeply regret the result." 
 
 John H. Westwood to 3Ir. Clay. 
 
 " Baltimore, November 28, 1844. 
 
 " It was the Irish and Dutch vote that caused our defeat. ... In my native 
 city alone, in the short space of two months, there were over one thousand natu- 
 ralized. Of these, nine-tenths voted the Loco-foco ticket." 
 
 William D. Lezvis to Jl/r. Clay. 
 
 " Philadelphia, November 30, 1844. 
 ********** 
 "The glorious and beneficial result has been prevented through wicked, un- 
 principled men, by frauds upon the elective franchise, as monstrous as they are 
 unprecedented; by fanaticism, both religious and political, without a parallel in 
 history." 
 
 Benjamin I. Leedom to Mr. Clay. 
 
 " New York, December 29, 1844. 
 ********** 
 " Happy is he who carries into retirement the prayers of the patriotic and intel- 
 ligent of his country. This thou hast." 
 
 Dr. Mercer to Mr. Clay. 
 
 " New Orleans, December 7, 1844. 
 ********** 
 " I have never before witnessed such disappointment, distress, and disgust. The 
 feeling seemed to pervade all classes. I have heard men of the opposite faction 
 express their regret at the success of their party." 
 
ELECTION OF MR. POLK. 
 
 253 
 
 What the history of the United States would have been had 
 Mr. Clay been elected we can in part state very confidently, 
 but beyond that can only conjecture. We know from his 
 Raleigh letter that Texas would not have been acquired, except 
 by a friendly arrangement with Mexico; consequently, there 
 would have been no war with her. There would then have 
 been no reason for our demanding, by purchase or other- 
 wise, any more territory, and California, New Mexico, and 
 Arizona might have remained tena incognita, with their bowels 
 full of gold and silver, for long, long years to come. Out of 
 the election of Mr. Polk came the war with Mexico, the acqui- 
 sition of Texas, and the extension of the boundaries of the 
 United States to the Pacific Ocean, south of latitude forty-two 
 degrees north, the growth of a great commercial city on the 
 Pacific, the mining of thousands of millions of gold, and the 
 spanning of the continent from ocean to ocean by railroads and 
 telegraphic wires. 
 
 Looking, then, at the results which followed the election of 
 
 yohn Quincy Adams to Mr. Clay. 
 
 "Washington, January 4, 1845. 
 ********** 
 " The unexpected and ' inauspicious issue of the recent Presidential election 
 has been on many accounts painful to me ; but on none more or so much so as on 
 the dark shade which it has cast upon our prospects of futurity. . . . But the 
 glaring frauds by which the election was consummated afford a sad presentiment 
 of what must be expected hereafter. 
 
 «' We hope that a merciful Providence will yet preside over the destinies of our 
 countiy, and avert the calamities with which she is threatened." 
 
 Jolui R. Thompson to Mr. Clay. 
 
 " University of Virginia, April 8, 1845. 
 ********** 
 " I cannot tell you, sir, the sense of desolation and crushed hopes with which 
 the painful intelligence of your defeat was received. Frauds, the most infamous 
 in the annals of the elective franchise, stifled the voice of the people, and 
 national disgrace was effected by a motley party of Doverites and Agrarians, 
 Mormons and Repudiators, the voters of Plaquemine and the outlaws of the 
 Empire Club." 
 
 All the writers above quoted, from different sections of the countiy, were men 
 of prominence ; some of them of the very highest. From them it can be seen what 
 the public feeling was on the defeat of Mr. Clay and the means by which it was 
 effected. 
 
254 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 Mr. Polk, and which would not have followed the election of 
 Mr. Clay, we can hardly over-estimate their magnitude or 
 influence upon the nation and upon the world. 
 
 SECOND SESSION OF THE TWENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, DECEM- 
 BER, 1844. 
 
 Congress met at the usual time. Under what a different 
 state of feelings did both parties reassemble from those which 
 both entertained when they separated ! The Whigs were then 
 confident of carrying the election ; not a doubt was entertained 
 that Mr. Clay would be triumphantly elected. On the other 
 hand, their opponents had little hope of success, and were 
 prepared for defeat. The Whigs met one another with heavy 
 hearts. It might have been expected that the Democrats 
 would, after their triumph, show something like joy and 
 exultation ; but they were as lugubrious and melancholic as 
 if they had been the vanquished instead of the victors. 
 
 THE TWENTY-FIRST RULE RESCINDED. 
 
 I have given an account of various highly-exciting scenes in 
 the House, in which Mr. Adams played a principal part, growing 
 out of his offering petitions on the subject of slavery, which 
 petitions were, by what was known as the twenty-first rule, laid 
 on the table without being read. Mr. Adams and the Northern 
 Whigs considered this rule as an infringement of the natural 
 right of petition, and resisted it for long years, the Northern 
 Democrats siding with the representatives from the slave States, 
 first in adopting and then in sustaining it. He invariably, every 
 session, made an effort to effect its repeal, but without success 
 until the present. On the third day of December, and third of 
 the session, in pursuance of notice given the previous day, he 
 submitted a resolution to rescind this rule, now the twenty-fifth, 
 upon which he demanded the ayes and noes. Mr. Thompson, of 
 Mississippi, moved to lay the resolution on the table ; lost, yeas 
 81, nays 104. 
 
 The resolution was then adopted, ayes 108, noes 80. And 
 so the famous twenty-first rule, which had been the cause of so 
 much bad blood between the North and the South, of so many 
 
THE TWENTY-FIRST RULE RESCINDED. 
 
 !55 
 
 angry discussions and disgraceful scenes in the House, was 
 rescinded, with no debate, no struggle, no noise and clamor, as 
 heretofore, — Northern Democrats now voting for it. Even 
 South Carolina was dumb; not a word of opposition from those 
 fierce champions of slavery, Rhett and Holmes of that State, 
 nor from Wise and Drumgoole, of Virginia. The whole 
 "chivalrous South," heretofore so sensitive on this subject, was 
 silent and submissive, with the exception of moving and voting 
 to lay the resolution on the table. What had wrought this 
 great change ? Was it a tribute or payment to the " Liberty 
 party for the essential aid they had given the Democrats in 
 the late election by running a third candidate and thus defeat- 
 ing Mr. Clay ? Northern Whigs were glad to obtain the abro- 
 gation of so obnoxious a rule, though they could not but feel 
 sore as to the means by which it was effected. The ultra Aboli- 
 tionists and extreme advocates of slavery, who had for years 
 berated and fought one another so determinedly, now presented 
 the interesting tableau of the lion and the lamb in peaceful 
 juxtaposition, — rendering one another mutual service. 
 
 Shortly after the rescinding of the twenty-first rule, Mr. 
 Adams presented a petition for the abolition of slavery in the 
 District of Columbia. The question of reception was raised, 
 and a motion made to lay it on the table failed ; and on the 
 question, "Shall this petition be received?" the ayes and noes 
 being demanded thereon were — ayes 107, noes 81. 
 
 In the House, Mr. Clingman, of North Carolina, took occa- 
 sion to expose the frauds and outrages perpetrated at the elec- 
 tion in New York and elsewhere, in a speech in which he 
 demonstrated that but for these and the illegal votes cast in 
 Georgia and Louisiana, and the deceptions practiced upon the 
 people of Pennsylvania, Mr. Clay would have received the elec- 
 toral votes of those four States, eighty-eight in all, giving him 
 one hundred and ninety-three to Mr. Polk's eighty-seven. He 
 especially exposed the doings of the famous Empire Club m 
 the city of New York, headed by Isaiah Rhynders, and stated 
 that in St. Lawrence County, bordering on Canada, sixteen hun- 
 dred and twenty-seven votes were given more than were ever 
 given before ; and in Georgia fifteen thousand nine hundred and 
 
256 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 forty-four votes were cast more than there were voters in the 
 State. He also exposed and commented on the Plaquemine 
 frauds, and the deceptions practiced upon the people of Penn- 
 sylvania. 
 
 Mr. Clingman commented severely on the spectacle presented 
 in the House on the occasion of the rescinding of the twenty- 
 first rule. It was but the year before, he said, that Mr. Rhett, 
 the Hotspur of the South, declared that the rescinding of that 
 rule would be a virtual dissolution of the Union ; yet on that 
 occasion there was no burst of indignation, no clamorous 
 opposition, no fierce denunciation of those who voted for its 
 abrogation, no threats of dissolution of the Union. On the 
 contrary, all were silent and submissive. He himself had, the 
 session before, voted to rescind this rule, and for so doing had 
 been denounced as a renegade and traitor; and it had been de- 
 clared that any man who did not sustain this rule was a traitor 
 to the South. Now, as these Southern gentlemen, heretofore 
 so fiery on this subject, sat silently by when the rule was re- 
 scinded, and did not sustain it, according to their own logic, 
 they were "traitors to the South." 
 
 This unlooked-for exposure of the conduct of the Southern 
 " fire-eaters," who had at all times before been so valorous 
 whenever it was sought to rescind that rule, created a marked 
 sensation among them, rousing the spirit of " chivalry," and it 
 became evident that they meant mischief to one who had dared 
 thus to charge them as guilty — according to their own denun- 
 ciations of him — of " treason to the South. 
 
 Mr. Yancey, of Alabama, a man about Mr. Clingman's age, 
 both being under thirty, was selected to reply to Mr. Clingman. 
 He did so, and in such a manner as to provoke, a challenge. 
 Mr. Yancey was a new member, elected to fill the vacancy 
 occasioned by the transfer of Mr. Dixon H. Lewis to the Senate. 
 He came heralded as a young man of brilliant parts, eloquent, 
 well educated, daring, and the hottest of Hotspurs, to whom a 
 duel was only a pleasant morning recreation. Clingman was 
 no coward, not one to be bluffed down, even by such a dare- 
 devil as Yancey. A challenge and an exchange of shots, one 
 morning before breakfast, resulted ; but no life was lost, no 
 
Mli. HOAR'S MISSION TO SOUTH CAROLINA. 257 
 
 blood drawn. After this exhibition of pluck, the affair came 
 to an end in some way, — how, I do not remember. 
 
 Mr. Yancey's speech was grossly insulting to the whole 
 North, charging that portion of the Union with lack of patriot- 
 ism and courage, and assuming that these were only to be 
 found at the South. No one thought it worth while to chal- 
 lenge him for these taunts ; but Mr. Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, 
 gave him his change in sarcasm and irony, — weapons he could 
 use with stinging effect. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS AND SOUTH CAROLIl^A. THE ONE DESIRES, THE 
 
 OTHER REFUSES, TO PERMIT A SUIT TO BE INSTITUTED TO TEST 
 THEIR SEVERAL RIGHTS, AND THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF CER- 
 TAIN STATE LAWS. MR. HOAR SENT ON A MISSION TO SOUTH 
 
 CAROLINA. — IS IN DANGER OF BEING MOBBED AND MURDERED. 
 
 IS OBLIGED TO LEAVE THE STATE TO SAVE HIS LIFE. 
 
 During the winter of 1844-45 appeared at Washington, and 
 in the House of Representatives, a man venerable in years, with 
 a white head, mild, pleasing countenance, a tall, slender figure, 
 reserved, but bland and dignified in deportment, who attracted 
 much attention. It was Mr. Samuel Hoar, of Massachusetts, — 
 father of the brothers of that name who sat in the Forty-third 
 Congress, and formerly a member himself, — who was on his way 
 from Charleston, South Carolina, to his residence at Concord, 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 What gave interest to Mr. Hoar's presence at the seat of 
 government was the fact that he had been sent by Governor 
 Briggs, of Massachusetts, under the authority of the Legisla- 
 ture, as an agent of the State, to reside for a time at Charleston, 
 South Carolina, " to collect and transmit accurate information 
 respecting the imprisonment of citizens of Massachusetts (in 
 South Carolina), and to bring suits in their behalf" 
 
 One of the grievances of which the North had to complain of 
 the South, and for which they could obtain no redress, was the 
 arbitrary imprisonment, and sometimes the selling into slavery 
 for jail-fees, of colored seamen on board of Northern vessels 
 which entered any Southern port. Under the law of the State 
 of South Carolina, especially, persons of color entering her 
 harbors on board of Northern vessels were immediately seized, 
 
258 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 taken out of their vessels, and thrust into jail ; and for this there 
 was no redress. It had been sought of Congress, but Congress 
 was too largely made up of Southern men to do anything in the 
 premises, and so these outrages went on with impunity. 
 
 English sailors of color were treated in the same manner, and 
 the British government made formal complaint against such 
 treatment of her sailors, and remonstrated with the general 
 government, demanding its stoppage. The matt;er was referred 
 to the Attorney-General, William Wirt, who reported that the 
 State law under which such outrages were perpetrated was 
 contrary to "the Constitution, treaties, and laws of the United 
 States, and incompatible with the rights of all nations in amity 
 with the United States." 
 
 Under this decision South Carolina forbore to apply her 
 unconstitutional laws to the citizens of foreign nations, but still 
 enforced them against colored citizens of other States, though 
 her own eminent jurist, William Johnson, a Justice of the Su- 
 preme Court of the United States, declared that these laws 
 "trampled on the Constitution," "implied a direct attack upon 
 the sovereignty of the United States," "and were unconstitu- 
 tional and void." 
 
 The purpose of Mr. Hoar's mission was to bring suits in 
 the United States District Court to test the constitutionality of 
 these Draconian laws. But this the South Carolina authori- 
 ties and the mob resolved should not be done. 
 
 Mr. Hoar, on arriving at Charleston, accompanied by his 
 daughter, informed the governor of the State, — Mr. Hammond, 
 — by letter, of his arrival, and the purpose of his mission. The 
 letter was immediately sent to the Legislature, where it stirred 
 up the wrath of " the chivalry" to such a degree that the gov- 
 ernor was requested to " expel the emissary sent by Massachu- 
 setts to South Carolina." 
 
 In addition to this, the Legislature passed an act prohibiting 
 any person from coming into the State to disturb or hinder 
 the execution of laws relating to slaves and free persons of 
 color, under penalty of fine and imprisonment. 
 
 The people of Charleston became intensely excited, and this 
 excitement soon spread to other parts of the State. The sheriff 
 
ACQUISITION OF TEXAS. 
 
 259 
 
 of Charleston called on Mr. Hoar, and informed him that the 
 people were highly incensed ; that " it was considered a great 
 insult to South Carolina that Massachusetts should send an 
 agent there on such business." The sheriff told him he was in 
 great danger, and had better leave the city as soon as possible. 
 Others, personal friends, gentlemen of character, called upon 
 him to apprise him that he was in personal danger. These 
 warnings came from many, and were earnest and urgent. He 
 was assured that it was impossible for him to remain longer in 
 the city ; and in his report to the governor he states " that 
 there was but one question for me to settle ; which was, whether 
 I should walk to a carriage or be dragged to it." In this exi- 
 gency, he consented to leave the city, and was driven to the boat 
 in which he left the State, accompanied by his daughter, whose 
 presence had probably prevented his being mobbed and lynched. 
 
 These circumstances, which soon became generally known 
 to members of Congress, made him an object of unusual in- 
 terest to the members from the free States, except those who 
 at all times and on all occasions sympathized with the slave- 
 owners, — those whom John Randolph dubbed as "dough-faces." 
 
 The offensive laws were wiped out only by the blood of the 
 Rebellion. And the free negro who was then imprisoned for 
 entering a harbor in the State now appears in Congress, occu- 
 pying seats once occupied by a Calhoun, a Hammond, and a 
 McDuffie! 
 
 ACQUISITION OF TEXAS. 
 
 The greater part of the time was taken up during the second 
 session of the Twenty-eighth Congress by debates upon the 
 acquisition of Texas ; while Oregon also came in for a share. 
 These were now the two great questions before the country. 
 The convention which nominated Polk and Dallas had discarded 
 Van Buren because he was not in favor of the immediate annex- 
 ation of Texas, and at the same time declared our title to the 
 whole of Oregon — up to 54° 40' — to be " clear and indisputable." 
 
 Mr. Calhoun, as I have shown, was appointed Secretary of 
 State by Mr. Tyler almost solely for the purpose of acquiring 
 Texas at all hazards. Both Mr. Clay and Mr. Van Buren 
 publicly in their letters on this subject, called out by inter- 
 
26o PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 rogatories, declared that to annex Texas to the United States 
 without the consent of Mexico would be just cause of war to 
 the latter. "Annexation and war are identical," said Mr. Clay, 
 Nevertheless, during the Presidential campaign the politicians, 
 under the influence of Mr. Calhoun, indulged in their usual 
 mild and persuasive tone, declaring that if the Union would not 
 accept Texas, its annexation to tJie Soiithern States should be 
 taken into consideration. That final issue should be made up, 
 and the alternative distinctly presented to the free States, either 
 to admit Texas into the Union, or to proceed peaceably and 
 calmly to arrange the terms of a dissolution of the Union. " If 
 we are not permitted to bring Texas into our Union peacefully 
 and legitimately, as we now may, then we solemnly announce 
 to the world that we will dissolve this Union sooner than 
 abandon Texas." 
 
 Spurring on the people of the South, and being in turn 
 spurred on by them, Mr. Calhoun put forth all his powers and 
 used all his bewildering yet brilliant sophistry to effect the 
 object of his desire. He became the great champion of slavery, 
 as well as the advocate of the acquisition of Texas, defending 
 and justifying it in his voluminous diplomatic correspondence 
 with Mr. King, our minister at Paris, and expressing the highest 
 alarm and indignation that Lord Aberdeen should have said in 
 one of his letters, though disclaiming all intention, either openly 
 or secretly, to resort to any measures that could tend to disturb 
 our internal tranquillity or affect our prosperity, that they, the 
 British government, would not desist from those open and honest 
 efforts which they had constantly made for procuring the aboli- 
 tion of slavery throughout the world. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun had already entered into a treaty of annexation 
 with Texas when this very inoffensive sentence was penned by 
 Lord Aberdeen ; yet he at once seized upon it as a reason for 
 making the treaty ! Mr. Calhoun was greatly shocked that 
 the minister for foreign affairs of England should avow a desire 
 on the part of his government to procure the abolition of slavery 
 throughout the world; forgetting that in the Webster-Ashburton 
 Washington treaty, made only two years before, the United 
 States had entered into a stipulation to aid Great Britain to 
 
ACQUISITION OF TEXAS. 26 1 
 
 put a stop to the slave-trade, and for that purpose to keep war- 
 vessels on the coast of Africa. 
 
 The treaty negotiated had been rejected, and another mode 
 of acquiring Texas must be resorted to, of which I shall speak 
 directly. Colonel Benton, in a speech made in the Senate in 
 the presence of Mr. Calhoun, charged the latter with being 
 "the undisputed author and architect" of the war with Mexico. 
 He said that before Texas would yield to the solicitation of the 
 government of the United States, made by lyir. Upshur in 1844, 
 to be annexed to the United States, she demanded to know 
 whether we would, in the event of their acceding to our request, 
 step between them and Mexico, and take the war, which was 
 sure to follow, off their hands. This pledge was required be- 
 cause at the time Texas was applied to by our government to 
 enter into a treaty of annexation an armistice existed, and 
 peace negotiations were going on under the mediation of Eng- 
 land and France ; and if broken up, war would be the result. 
 To this demand Mr. Upshur, to whom it was addressed, made no 
 reply. Mr. Nelson, Attorney-General, who performed the duties 
 of Secretary of State, temporarily, after Mr. Upshur's death, 
 gave it an answer, positively refusing, in the name of the Pres- 
 ident of the United States, to take annexation on those terms. 
 "This answer," says Mr. Benton, "was sent to Texas, and put 
 an end to all negotiation for annexation. The Senator from 
 South Carolina (Mr. Calhoun) came into the Department of 
 State, procured the reversal of the President's decision, and 
 gave the pledge to the whole extent that Texas asked it. With- 
 out in the least denying the knowledge of the armistice and 
 the negotiations for peace, and all the terrible consequences 
 which were to result from their breach, he accepts the whole, 
 and gives the fatal pledge which his predecessors had refused ; 
 and follows it up by sending our troops and ships to fight a 
 people with whom we were at peace, — the whole veiled by the 
 mantle of secrecy, and pretexed by motives [that England was 
 seeking to abolish slavery in Texas] as unfounded as they were 
 absurd." 
 
 Mr. Benton says, "The Secretary knew that he had made 
 war with Mexico. ... I know it, and said it on this floor in 
 
262 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 secret session. Senators will recollect it." (Mr. Mangum nodded 
 assent.) 
 
 Early in the session a joint resolution was introduced in the 
 House, and there underwent long and able discussion, to admit 
 Texas as a State, as a legislative measure. This resolution was 
 passed, after undergoing amendment and modification. One 
 amendment, submitted by Milton Brown, of Tennessee, pro- 
 vided that the portion of Texas lying north of 36° 30' — the 
 Missouri Compromise line — might be formed into States to be 
 admitted into the Union, with or without slavery, as the people 
 of each State asking admission might desire ; the States to be 
 formed out of the other portion — south of 36° 30' — to be en- 
 titled to admission under the provisions of the federal Consti- 
 tution : in other words, as slave States. The ayes and noes on 
 the passage of this resolution in the House were 120 to 97. 
 Every Whig, except five, and these from the South, voted in 
 the negative, as did many Northern Democrats. 
 
 The resolution went to the Senate, and was there strenuously 
 opposed and ably discussed. It was understood that it would 
 share the same fate which the treaty had met in that body ; 
 and Colonel Benton has informed us that such would have 
 been the case had it not been coupled with a proposition of 
 his own, which was adopted by the Senate and agreed to by 
 the House, as an alternative mode of obtaining Texas. 
 
 Mr. Benton's amendment provided that " if the President 
 should deem it advisable, instead of proceeding to submit the 
 foregoing resolution [that of the House] to the republic of 
 Texas, as an overture on the part of the United States for ad- 
 mission, to negotiate with that republic, then," etc., — his plan 
 being to effect the object by negotiation and treaty, — the terms 
 of admission to be submitted to the Senate ; or by articles to 
 be submitted to the two Houses of Congress, as the President 
 might direct. Five members of the Senate, namely, himself, Mr. 
 Tappan, Mr. Fairfield, Mr. Dix, and Mr. Haywood, he states, 
 would not have voted for the House resolution had it not been 
 distinctly understood, first, that Mr. Tyler and his Secretary of 
 State would not take upon themselves to execute this, or these 
 resolutions; and, secondly, that the new President, Mr. Polk, 
 
END OF TYLER'S ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 263 
 
 would adopt Mr. Benton's plan in executing the will of Con- 
 gress. It was supposed that Mr. McDuffie could answer for 
 the administration, as he was the special friend of Mr. Calhoun ; 
 and he was therefore applied to. His answer was emphatic, — 
 that " they would not have the audacity to assume to carry 
 these resolutions, or either of them, into effect." The reso- 
 lution was approved on Saturday, the first day of March : 
 on IMonday, the five Senators who were opposed to annex- 
 ing Texas by the legislative mode learned, to their surprise, 
 that the President, whose term expired that day, had adopted 
 the legislative clause, and sent it off by special messenger 
 to Texas for her adoption. " It was then seen," says Mr. 
 Benton, " that some Senators had been cheated out of their 
 votes, and that the passage of the act through the Senate had 
 been procured by a fraud." As the joint resolution passed the 
 Senate by a very close vote, — 27 to 25, — the importance of the 
 five votes, or, indeed, of any one of them, may be seen. 
 
 Texas accepted the proposition made to her, and thus she 
 became a part of the United States, a war with Mexico, as had 
 been foreseen and foretold, following immediately. 
 
 END OF Tyler's administration. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's administration came to an end, to the regret of 
 no one, and he departed with his family for his home in Virginia. 
 Few friends were left of all those who fawned around and flat- 
 tered him when he had offices to bestow. As his power waned, 
 his friends (?) diminished, until he found himself enjoying com- 
 parative quiet, if not perfect solitude, in the Presidential mansion, 
 and had plenty of leisure to calculate how many real, sincere 
 friends he had made, or had attached themselves to him, during 
 his term of office. He had been beset by hundreds who professed 
 the most devoted attachment to him ; who poured out the incense 
 of flattery upon his head until its odors and perfumes intoxicated 
 his brain ; but the time came when, one by one, or score by 
 score, they disappeared and were heard of no more. Of these, 
 and their flatteries and artful deceptions, he spoke bitterly in 
 after-years, when he had come to his senses, and expressed 
 regret that he had ever listened to, or been influenced by, them. 
 
CHAPTER VI I. 
 
 Mr. Polk inaugurated. — His Inaugural Address. — His Cabinet. — Discards the 
 Globe. — Ritchie brought to Washington and establishes the Union. — Our Rela- 
 tions with Mexico and England. — General Cass declares that " War (with Eng- 
 land) is inevitable." — The President declares our Title to the whole of Oregon 
 clear and indisputable. — Mr. Haywood's Speech. — Exciting Scene in the Senate, 
 — Mr. Hannegan anathematizes the President. — Fierce and Angry Discussion. — 
 Mr. Crittenden and Mr. Allen, of Ohio. — Debate on Oregon. — The " Fifty-four 
 Forties." — The President relies on the Whigs to support him in making a Treaty 
 fixing the Boundary of Oregon at Forty-nine Degrees. — A Treaty entered into 
 and ratified, and the Oregon Controversy settled. — Mr. Adams and Mr. Rhett. — 
 Interesting Unwritten History from Mr. Adams.— Debate upon, and Passage of, 
 the Tariff of 1846. — Islr. Dallas votes for the Tariff of '46, and the consequent 
 Repeal of the Tariff of '42. — Senator Haywood resigns, and issues an Address to 
 the People of North Carolina. — Mr. Sawyer's Lunch. — Mr. Robinson. — A Speech 
 from Mr. Sawyer produces Great Merriment in the House. — War with Mexico. 
 — The False Preamble. — General Scott's " Hasty Plate of Soup" Letter. — Ac- 
 quisition of New Mexico and California. — Campaign on the Rio Grande. — Bat- 
 tles of Palo Alto and Resaca. — Monterey taken. — Second Session of the Twenty- 
 ninth Congress. — The Lie, and a Challenge given. — Davis and Bailey. — A Duel 
 expected. — Death of General Barrow. — Scene in the Senate. — The Davis and 
 Bailey Difficulty settled. — The Three-iVlillion Bill. — A Beautiful Incident: 
 Respect for Mr. Adams. — The Public Printer excluded from the Senate. — 
 — Debate on the Three-Million Bill. — Mr. Corwin's Speech. — "Tom Corwin." 
 — Debate on the Three-Million Bill in the House. — James F. Simmons. — Mr. 
 Calhoun's Slavery Resolutions. — Notice of Outgoing Senators. — Battle of Buena 
 Vista. — General Scott's Career in Mexico. — The Whig National Convention of 
 1848. — General Taylor and Millard Fillmore nominated for President and Vice- 
 President. — Death of John Quincy Adams. — Democratic National Convention. 
 — General Cass and General Butler nominated for President and Vice-President. 
 — Free-Soil Buffalo Convention nominates Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis 
 Adams for President and Vice-President. — The Presidential Election. — Taylor 
 and Fillmore elected. — Proposition to extend the Constitution over California. — 
 Earnest Debate in the Senate. — Last Night of the Thirtieth Congress. — Scenes 
 in the House. — Close of Mr. Polk's Administration. — His Death. 
 
 MR. POLK INAUGURATED. — HIS CABINET. 
 
 James K. Polk took the oath of office and delivered his 
 
 inaugural address on Tuesday, the 4th of March, 1845. If the 
 
 Constitution had provitled any mode by which to contest a 
 264 
 
MR. POLK'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 265 
 
 Presidential election, such was the firm conviction that this 
 had been effected by fraudulent votes, that it is probable this 
 election would have been contested. But no such mode has 
 been provided. No matter by what palpable frauds Presi- 
 dential electors are elected in any State, there is no way of 
 contesting their election, or of proving before a tribunal 
 competent to try the case the fact that they were not really 
 elected. 
 
 Mr. Polk's inaugural was of unusual length, as he took upon 
 himself to give his views, generally, upon the character and 
 the objects of our government, — to eulogize our s)'stem of 
 self-government, to extol the blessings of liberty, and to ex- 
 press his regret that sentiments should be entertained and 
 propagated in one part of the country hostile and injurious 
 to the domestic institutions of another part, thus threatening 
 the peace and harmony of all. He presented his views also, 
 briefly, on the subject of a tariff, giving clear indications that 
 he was opposed to protection. 
 
 Mr. Polk reiterated, in his inaugural address, the political 
 clap-trap declaration of the convention which nominated him; 
 namely, that " our title to the country of the Oregon is clear 
 and indisputable:" a great mistake; for, first, how could our 
 title to a country in the joint occupancy of England and the 
 United States, under solemn treaties, and, secondly, which was 
 disputed by England, be clear and indisputable ? Besides, as 
 clear and indisputable rights cannot be allowed to become the 
 subject of negotiation without dishonor to the nation having 
 such rights, and as Mr. Polk was compelled to negotiate with 
 England in regard to this very '^indisputable title," he tied his 
 own hands, or rather set his foot down on a line from which he 
 was compelled to recede, and no nation or potentate can do 
 that without more or less humiliation and dishonor. 
 
 But the declaration of the Baltimore Convention, and Mr. 
 Polk's injudicious re-utterance of it, gave rise to the party shib- 
 boleth, belched forth from every groggery in the North and 
 West, and placarded by striplings with chalk upon fences and 
 dead walls, " 54° 40' or fight !" — a cry more easily got up than 
 satisfied. 
 
 Vol. II. 18 ' 
 
266 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 THE NEW CABINET. 
 
 The following gentlemen constituted Mr. Polk's cabinet, 
 namely : 
 
 James Buchanan, Secretary of State ; Robert J. Walker, Sec- 
 retary of the Treasury; William L. Marcy, Secretary of War; 
 George Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy ; Cave Johnson, Post- 
 master-General ; John Y. Mason, Attorney-General. 
 
 Mr. Mason was the only member of Mr. Tyler's cabinet re- 
 tained. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun and his friends expected he would' be retained 
 as Secretary of State, and the " Charleston Mercury," under- 
 stood to speak his sentiments, accounted for his being left out 
 by the allegation of the New York politicians, that that State 
 could be carried only by sacrificing him, and he was sacrificed 
 accordingly. If this were true, it afforded another evidence of 
 the very sincevQ friendship which existed between Mr. Calhoun 
 and Mr. Van Buren. The latter was killed off at Baltimore by 
 the adoption of the two-thirds rule, moved by Mr. Romulus M. 
 Saunders, of North Carolina, a friend of Mr. Calhoun, and car- 
 ried by Mr. Calhoun's friends, — or, at any rate, by the Southern 
 delegates. Mr. Calhoun was now receiving his pay by install- 
 ments, indirectly from the hands of Mr. Van Buren. If such an 
 intimation as the " Charleston Mercury" speaks of were given 
 to Mr. Polk during the canvass, it is evident, from the subse- 
 quent throwing Mr. Calhoun overboard, that a sort of bargain 
 was entered into, to the effect that the vote of New York 
 should be given to Mr. Polk in consideration that he should 
 discard Mr. Calhoun. Hence we see why such stupendous 
 frauds were resorted to to carry the State, and Silas \\'right 
 consented to be the candidate for Governor. 
 
 But it seems that this was not the only bargain entered into 
 by Mr. Polk to secure his election : that while he bargained 
 with Mr. Van Buren and his friends to sacrifice Mr. Calhoun 
 to secure the vote of New York, he at the same time bargained 
 with a friend of Mr. Calhoun that, in consideration that the vote 
 of South Carolina should be cast for him, he would discard Mr. 
 Blair, the friend of Mr. Van Buren, and the able editor of the 
 
POLITICAL LEGERDEMAIN. 
 
 267 
 
 " Globe," who should no longer be the organ of the govern- 
 ment. This bargain, too, was faithfully adhered to, Mr. Ritchie, 
 of Richmond, being brought here as the editor of the "Union," 
 the new government paper ! It was the play of " Who's the 
 Dupe?" One thing was certain, the people of Pennsylv^ania 
 had been duped, and that, too, by Mr. Buchanan, who had now 
 got his reward, the office of Secretary of State. 
 
 Mr. Benton, the consistent friend of Mr. Van Buren, and the 
 warm personal friend of Mr. Blair, has given us a brief account 
 of the little piece of political legerdemain relating to Mr. Blair 
 and the "Globe." From him we learn that in the month of 
 August, 1844, a prominent citizen of South Carolina, and a fast 
 friend of Mr. Calhoun, visited Mr. Polk at his residence in Ten- 
 nessee. So much was known to the world at the time, and 
 that this friend of Mr. Calhoun was Mr. Pickens. The ostensi- 
 ble object of his visit was given out to be to ascertain Mr. Polk's 
 views in regard to the tariff policy ; and it was proclaimed that 
 they were perfectly satisfactory to this South Carolina gentle- 
 man. But Mr. Benton has given us the real object of this visit, 
 which was to make known to Mr. Polk the condition upon 
 which he could have the electoral vote of South Carolina ; 
 namely, that he should discontinue Mr. Blair as the organ 
 of the government in case of his election. Colonel Benton 
 says, " The electoral vote of the State, being in the hands of 
 the General Assembly, and not in the people, was disposable by 
 the politicians. Mr. Polk was certain of the vote of the State if 
 he agreed to the required condition ; and he did so. Mr. Blair 
 was agreed to be given up. That was propitiation to Mr. Cal- 
 houn, to whom Mr. Blair was obnoxious on account of his 
 inexorable opposition to nullification and its author." 
 
 And now we learn a little more, through Mr. Benton, of Mr. 
 Polk's bargains and management. He seems to have been a 
 skillful player of legerdemain. Mr. Tyler, being a candidate, 
 might take some votes from Mr. Polk, enough, where the two 
 parties were nearly balanced, to give the vote to Mr. Clay; and 
 it was important for him to get Mr. Tyler not only to with- 
 draw, but also to throw the weight of his official influence in 
 his. Mr. Polk's, favor. How was this to be done? Mr. Blair was 
 
258 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 as obnoxious to Mr. Tyler, on account of his determined hos- 
 tility to him and his administration, as he was to Mr. Calhoun. 
 Mr. Tyler would not withdraw so long as the " Globe" kept up its 
 warfare upon him. It became Mr. Polk's interest, therefore, to 
 silence the " Globe," and to effect this he wrote to General Jack- 
 son, who had unbounded influence over Mr. Blair. Very soon 
 after this Mr. Tyler publicly withdrew as a Presidential candi- 
 date, and " The Madisonian," the organ of his administration, 
 thenceforward supported Mr. Polk. Colonel Benton says, " The 
 inference is irresistible, that the consideration of receiving the 
 vote of South Carolina, and of getting Mr. Tyler out of the way 
 of Mr. Polk, was the agreement to displace Mr. Blair as govern- 
 ment editor if he should be elected." 
 
 As Colonel Benton was one of the most prominent men of 
 the Democratic party, a very close and shrewd observer of men 
 and their doings, could thread a labyrinth of politics and politi- 
 cal manoeuvres with great skill, we may rely on his representa- 
 tion of, and conclusions in regard to, these various bargains. 
 
 "The ' Globe,'" says Colonel Benton, "was sold and was paid 
 for : it was paid for out of public money, — the same fifty thou- 
 sand dollars which were removed to the village bank at Mid- 
 dletown, in the interior of Pennsylvania." He says, "Three 
 annual installments made the payment, and the Treasuiy did 
 not reclaim the money for three years." 
 
 There was much squabbling and bickering among the aspi- 
 rants for cabinet offices and their friends. Mr. Saunders, of 
 North Carolina, the friend of Calhoun, — he who managed to 
 make Hendricks B. Wright, of Pennsylvania, president of the 
 convention which nominated Mr. Polk, and thereby secured 
 the adoption of the two-thirds rule, which slaughtered Mr. Van 
 Buren, — was an aspirant for the office of Secretary of the Navy. 
 Failing to obtain that, he fell back upon the Postmaster-General- 
 ship. But here he was met and beaten by Mr. Cave Johnson, 
 of Tennessee, and finally got nothing but the consciousness 
 that he was the man that did it, — that Jlc defeated the nomi- 
 nation of Mr. Van Buren and secured that of Mr. Polk. So 
 fared it with Mr. Calhoun and his friends, " the chivalry of the 
 South," and not much better with Mr. Van Buren and his 
 
OUR RELATIONS WITH MEXICO AND ENGLAXD. 
 
 269 
 
 friends. True, New York had a seat in the cabinet in the 
 person of Mr. Marcy, but he belonged to the "Old Hunker" 
 wing of the party, while Mr. Van Buren and Silas Wright 
 belonged to the "Barnburners," and the "Barnburners" had 
 carried the State. 
 
 OUR RELATIONS WITH MEXICO AND ENGLAND. 
 
 In consequence of the passage by Congress of the resolu- 
 tions of annexation, and their acceptance by Texas, Mexico 
 withdrew her minister, General Almonte, from the United 
 States, and ceased to hold any diplomatic intercourse with 
 Mr. Shannon, the United States minister at Mexico, who 
 returned home. War, of course, must follow, and General 
 Taylor was ordered first to Corpus Christi, and then farther 
 west, to the Rio Grande, with what was termed an "army of 
 occupation." 
 
 Meantime, our relations with Great Britain were far from 
 being satisfactory. Mr. Calhoun had, under President Tyler, 
 entered upon negotiations with Mr. Packenham, the British 
 minister, with a view to settle our claims to the Oregon 
 country. Mr. Calhoun had offered the line of 49° as the 
 boundary between the two countries, which was declined, and 
 an offer made to refer the question of boundary to an arbi- 
 trator. This was peremptorily declined by Mr. Calhoun ; and 
 thus stood the case when Mr. Polk, with more party zeal than 
 wise statesmanship, declared in his inaugural that our title to 
 Oregon, understood to mean up to 54° 40', was " clear and 
 indisputable." This by no means tended to conciliate Eng- 
 land, or to smooth the way for a peaceable settlement of the 
 question ; and the party-cry of " Fifty-four Forty or Fight" 
 only tended to produce irritation in England and to nail Mr. 
 Polk's feet to that line. 
 
 Nevertheless, Mr. Buchanan, by Mr. Polk's orders, offered 
 the line of 49° ; but subsequently he withdrew that offer. Of 
 course the negotiation made no progress during the summer. 
 The country was much agitated by the apprehension of a war 
 with England, and mercantile affairs were greatly disturbed. 
 
 At the opening of Congress, the President, speaking of the 
 
270 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 acquisition of Texas, said, in his message, that " this accession 
 to our territory has been a bloodless achievement." It proved 
 to be otherwise. "Our army," he said, " was ordered to take 
 a position in the country between the Nueces and the Rio del 
 Norte, and to repel any invasion [!] of Texas which might be 
 attempted by Mexico ; our squadron in the Gulf was ordered 
 to co-operate with the army." 
 
 General Taylor, with about two thousand troops, landed at 
 Aransas Bay, July 26. The country west of Corpus Christi up 
 to that moment was in the quiet occupation of the Mexicans ; 
 not a single United States Texan was, or ever had been, in 
 that part of the country. The Mexicans fled before our army, 
 driving their flocks and herds before them, and leaving their 
 habitations behind them. An old fort, or stockade, occupied 
 by Mexican troops, was abandoned, and the latter crossed the 
 Rio del Norte. And this was the country our troops were 
 ordered to protect against any attempted ijivasion by Mexican 
 forces ! Instead of being an " army of observation," ours was 
 an "army of invasion." But we had Jiiiglit, and that makes 
 right. Had England or France owned that country, our army 
 would never have been ordered to take possession of it. We 
 might bluster about Oregon, and beat our gongs of " fifty-four 
 forty," but we took good care to send no army there to take 
 possession of the country in dispute. Mr. Polk, in his annual 
 message, reiterated the assertion that our title to the whole of 
 Oregon Territory could be maintained by irrefragable proofs ; 
 plunging himself deeper in the morass of diplomatic compli- 
 cations and inconsistencies at every step ; assuming a lofty 
 attitude, only to suffer the greater humiliation when he came 
 to back down, and to be taunted by his own political friends 
 when he was compelled to do so. 
 
 But England would not submit quietly to bluster and bully- 
 ing. Mr. Calhoun had in January proposed the line of 49° as 
 the dividing line ; but Mr. Polk's indiscreet declaration in his 
 inaugural put them upon their mettle and aroused their anger. 
 After waiting some time in expectation that the negotiation 
 would be renewed by the British minister, and finding this not 
 likely to take place, Mr. Buchanan took the initiative, and 
 
OUR RELATIONS WITH MEXICO AND ENGLAND. 
 
 271 
 
 commenced where Mr. Calhoun had left the negotiation, again 
 offering the line of 49°. This was again refused, and the fact 
 that that line had been offered getting wind, the Democracy 
 were in great commotion and highly exasperated. To quiet 
 the storm the offer was withdrawn, and Mr. Polk made the 
 declaration in his annual message I have stated. He was in a 
 dilemma. The rank and file had taken the business of managing 
 the affairs of the government into their own hands, and Mr. 
 Polk stood in fear of them. If our title to the whole of Oregon 
 was " clear and indisputable," why had he offered to accept 49° 
 as our line ? And why did he, after withdrawing this offer, 
 and again declaring our title clear and unquestionable, sign a 
 treaty giving Great Britain all that portion lying north of 49°, 
 — that is, five and a half degrees ? * 
 
 Early in the session Gejieral Cass introduced resolutions in 
 the Senate instructing the military and naval committees to 
 inquire into the condition of the army, militia, navy, fortifica- 
 tions, and means of offense and defense generally, of the coun- 
 try. He took the occasion to make some remarks in regard to 
 our foreign relations, and spoke in a tone calculated to ex- 
 cite alarm. " Under the circumstances in which the country 
 is placed," he said, " we may well ask. Watchman, what of 
 the night?" Being interrogated by Mr. Crittenden as to his 
 opinion of the probability of hostilities with England, he re- 
 plied, " My opinion, if the Senator desires to hear it, is that 
 we are almost on the verge of war ;" for he believed England 
 would persist in her claim to Oregon, and we could not sur- 
 render any portion of it. 
 
 Mr. Crittenden. — "This is a momentous announcement. The 
 conclusion the honorable Senator has come to is, that war 
 is inevitable." 
 
 This was the opening of an exciting and, at times, inflam- 
 matory debate on the Oregon question, which lasted, with 
 intervals, for months. 
 
 There were "the fifty-four forties" in the Senate and House, 
 or those who were rampant for the whole of Oregon or war, 
 headed by Mr. Allen, Mr. Hannegan, and Mr. Cass, in the 
 Senate ; and there were those who were for settling the ques- 
 
2-7 2 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 tion by adopting the line of the forty-ninth degree of north 
 latitude. Of these, among the Democrats, were Mr. Calhoun, 
 Mr. Benton, Mr. Haywood, Mr. McDuffie, Mr. Dix, and sev- 
 eral others. Mr. Allen and Mr. Hannegan were especially loud 
 and denunciatory in their speeches against all who were not 
 for insisting on " fifty-four forty." Mr. Allen, in his boisterous 
 discussion of the subject, declared that they must " prepare the 
 hearts of the people for war." Yet in the course of his remarks 
 he said Great Britain dared not go to war with the United States ; 
 thus doing all in his power to provoke her to hostilities. 
 
 General Cass spoke often upon this subject, and always in 
 the tone and with the look of an alarmist. He concurred with 
 his friend Allen, though the phrase used had excited much 
 unfavorable comment and even ridicule, that " they must pre- 
 pare the hearts of the people for ^yAR." General Cass had 
 frequently said that " war was inevitable," and was often rallied 
 by Senators on account of his "war's alarms" and his ''inevi- 
 table" war; for which he became as notorious as Mr. Allen had 
 made himself by " preparing the hearts of the people for war." 
 General Cass was ajDt to get quite earnest whenever he spoke 
 on the Oregon question, and almost invariably would use the 
 word " inevitable," creating a smile or laugh in the Senate. 
 On one of these occasions, on rising, he said he was not going 
 to make a war speech, nor use the word " inevitable," but soon 
 let fly the "inevitable war," and was reminded of his expression 
 by a general laugh ; joining in the laugh, he said, " Well, I will 
 not say * inevitable war,' but ' inevitable collision.' " 
 
 In some remarks which fell from Mr. Webster, he alluded 
 to the opinion of the Senator from Michigan, that " war was 
 inevitable." 
 
 General Cass, rising and explaining pleasantly. — "I never 
 said war was inevitable. What I did say, and what I now say, 
 is, that if we go on and give the notice to abrogate the treaty 
 of joint occupation and take armed occupation of the country, 
 and England does not yield, then war must follow." 
 
 Mr. Webster. — " Does the Senator believe that we shall give 
 the notice and take armed occupation of the country ?" 
 
 Mr. Cass.—" Most certainly." 
 
OUR RELATIONS WITH MEXICO AND ENGLAND. 273 
 
 Mr. Webster. — " Does the Senator believe that England will 
 yield ?" 
 
 Mr. Cass. — " By no means." 
 
 Mr. Webster. — " Does the Senator believe that England will 
 surrender the whole of Oregon under any circumstances ?" 
 
 Mr. Cass. — " No ; I am confident she will not." 
 
 Mr. Webster. — "Then, according to the Senator's views of the 
 subject, war is inevitable." But he himself took a more hopeful 
 view: he did not believe war was inevitable, or that it would 
 result from our controversy with England on this subject ; he 
 had too much confidence in the prudence and sound judgment 
 of both governments to suppose they were about to involve 
 the two nations in a war about a matter so easily to be settled 
 and of so little moment, 
 
 A few days after this, a very extraordinary debate and scene 
 took place in the Senate, which many remember to this day, 
 when all who took part in it, save one, — Mr. Allen, — have long 
 since " slept with their fathers." 
 
 Mr. Haywood, of North Carolina, who was the intimate 
 personal as well as the political friend of Mr. Polk, and was 
 supposed to speak his sentiments on the great question which 
 then occupied so much of the time of the Senate and House, 
 addressed the former body on it. 
 
 He rebuked Mr. Allen and others for charging those who 
 did not think proper blindly to follow certain self-constituted 
 leaders, with treason, and sticking " British" on their backs. 
 Such epithets had no terrors for him, 
 
 Mr. Haywood commented upon the declaration of Mr. Allen, 
 that Great Britain would not fight us single-handed for Oregon. 
 He said he should have a very different opinion of the Presi- 
 dent from what he now had, if the idle dream had ever entered 
 his head that Great Britain dared not fight for that portion north 
 
 of 49°- 
 
 Mr. Hannegan rose, laboring under excited feelings. Before 
 replying to some parts of the extraordinary speech of the Sen- 
 ator from North Carolina, — the most extraordinary he had ever 
 listened to, — he desired to put a question to him, which he had 
 in writing. He wished to know of the Senator whether he had 
 
274 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 authority from the President, direct or indirect, for placing the 
 construction upon his language which he had placed. 
 
 Mr. Haywood replied that he had said in his speech that the 
 President could not authorize any man to speak for him. 
 
 Mr. Hannegan. — " Sir, there is no truth in man nor meaning 
 in words if the President is not committed to 54° 40'. It is 
 as true as the Holy Book." 
 
 He quoted several of Mr. Polk's expressions, and read from 
 a letter of his, dated April 23, 1844, to a committee of the 
 citizens of Cincinnati, to prove that he was for the zvhole of 
 Oregon ; charged Mr. Haywood with attacking Senators here, 
 and with volunteering a defense against attacks never made. 
 If the President should surrender the banner which was put 
 into his hands by the Baltimore Convention, he would prove 
 himself recreant to his professions, recreant to the party, and 
 recreant to the country. But he denied for the President the 
 intentions which the Senator attributed to him. The Senator 
 had said he (the President) had stuck in, parenthetically, what 
 would tickle the ears of the people, but that it meant nothing. 
 If this were true, it must be brought to the light ; and if not 
 true, what had not the Senator to answer for! If it were true, 
 " the President would be doomed to an infamy so profound, a 
 damnation so deep, that the trumpet-call of the resurrec- 
 tion COULD never reach HIM !" 
 
 It may well be supposed that all this heated language — 
 these taunts and thrusts — could not be uttered without creating 
 much sensation in the Senate. It was an encounter between 
 members of the same political family, — but it was with keen 
 weapons wielded by strong arms, and the cuts and thrusts 
 were no child's play. 
 
 This debate, so fierce and angry, so inflammatory and denun- 
 ciatory, created a gulf between the " fifty-four forties" and the 
 President, and greatly excited " the whole-or-none" Oregon 
 men out of Congress. But at the same time it allayed appre- 
 hensions of a war, and thus had a salutary influence on trade 
 and commerce. 
 
 Mr. Reverdy Johnson followed Mr. Hannegan, with remarks 
 well calculated to allay public apprehension. 
 
OUR RELATIONS WITH MEXICO AND ENGLAND. 
 
 275 
 
 " We have all felt," said Mr. Johnson, " that at one time (I 
 trust that that time is now past) we were in imminent danger 
 of war. From the moment the President deemed it right and 
 becoming, in the outset of his official career, to announce to 
 the world that our title to Oregon was clear and unquestion- 
 able, down to the period of his message to Congress in Decem- 
 ber last, when he reiterated the declaration, I could not see 
 how it was possible that war could be averted. That appre- 
 hension was rendered much more intense from the character 
 of the debates elsewhere, as well as from the speeches of some 
 of the President's political friends within this chamber. I could 
 not but listen with alarm and dismay to what fell from the very- 
 distinguished and experienced Senator from Michigan [Mr. 
 Cass] at an early period of this debate ; to what I heard from 
 the Senator from Indiana [Mr. Hannegan] ; and, above all, to 
 what was said by the Senator from Ohio [Mr. Allen], the 
 chairman of the committee on foreign relations, who, in my 
 simplicity, I supposed must necessarily be apprised of the 
 views of the government in regard to the foreign concerns of 
 the country. Supposing the condition of the country to be 
 what it was represented to be by these three Senators, I could 
 not see how war was to be avoided, and I was accordingly pre- 
 pared to say, on the hypothesis of the fact assumed by the 
 Senator from Michigan, that ' war ivas inevitable.' 
 
 ^If ^f ^f ^£ ^tf ^tf ^If ^1^ 
 
 " I now rejoice in hoping and believing that the fears of the 
 Senate, as well as my own apprehensions, were, as I think, 
 unfounded." 
 
 In this debate, though on a previous day, in reference to 
 the declaration of Mr. Allen that Jic was committed by the 
 Baltimore Convention in regard to our title to the whole of 
 Oregon, Mr. J. M. Clayton commented with just severity upon 
 the idea that resolutions adopted by a political convention — 
 resolutions drawn up without thought, by persons wholly 
 ignorant of the subject, and mostly for " buncombe," adopted 
 without the least discussion, by acclamation, not one in fifty 
 knowing or caring what they were or really meant — could 
 be of binding force upon grave Senators sitting in judgment 
 
276 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 upon the great interests of the nation and deciding questions 
 of peace or war ! What did the members of the Baltimore 
 Convention know about our title to Oregon? What did they 
 know about the consequences that might result from our claim- 
 ing the whole of Oregon and persisting in our claim ? 
 
 Mr. Clayton felt it his duty to notice the extraordinary re- 
 marks indulged in by the Senator from Ohio, whose position 
 as chairman of the first committee in the first legislative body 
 in the world gave consequence to what he said. These remarks 
 would be spread upon the wings of the wind ; they would be 
 carried to England, and be translated and published in France 
 and other European countries. He had here in this grave and 
 dignified body indulged himself in the most violent denuncia- 
 tions of England, — had proclaimed that she was weak and 
 helpless, that she was about to fall to pieces for want of 
 strength to stand, and had used language calculated not only 
 to excite feelings of hostility among the American people 
 towards her, but to provoke the same kind of feelings in the 
 breasts of her people towards us. If they had any pride, as 
 we well know they have, what would be their feelings when 
 they hear that an American Senator rises in this body, and, 
 after using towards them the most irritating language, taunts 
 them with being weak and imbecile, and gravely declares that 
 they dare not go to war with us, because they are no match for 
 us ! This strain of remark was probably intended to " prepare 
 the hearts of the people for war," as the Senator some time ago 
 declared ought to be done ; but if it prepared the hearts of our 
 people for war, it was equally well calculated to prepare the 
 hearts of the people of England for war with us. 
 
 MR. CRITTENDEN AND MR. ALLEN. 
 
 A brief but pungent encounter, which can never be forgotten 
 by any one present, occurred in the Senate on the occasion of 
 the adoption by that body of resolutions, introduced by Mr. 
 Reverdy Johnson, giving notice to England of the abrogation 
 of the treaty of joint occupation of Oregon. 
 
 Mr. Allen was violently opposed to the terms of the reso- 
 lutions, pronouncing them tame, wanting in spirit, and un 
 
MR. CRITTENDEN AND MR. ALLEN. 
 
 277 
 
 worthy of an American Senate. He spoke often in opposition, ■ 
 and in a lofty, imperious, dogmatical, and blustering style, 
 excessively offensive to the body generally. He had for some 
 time past assumed a very arrogant manner, making himself 
 more and more offensive from day to day by his intolerable 
 assumption ; but on this occasion he had been more than 
 usually imperious and blustering, until Senators, thus hectored 
 and lectured, could stand it no longer. 
 
 Mr. Crittenden rose, while Mr. Clayton and one or two others 
 were preparing to do so, and spoke in terms of indignant and 
 caustic rebuke of Mr. Allen's arrogance and lofty assump- 
 tions. He desired to know who gave liini warrant to lecture 
 Senators and read lessons of duty and patriotism to them ? 
 Where did he find authority for questioning their honesty and 
 pronouncing their action unpatriotic, submissive to England, 
 and unworthy of American Senators ? " Does the little com- 
 mission of chairman of the committee on foreign relations raise 
 him so high above all others that he may thus hector them ? 
 'Upon what meat doth this our Cffisar feed, that he hath grown 
 so great ?' Who gave liivi commission to come here and take 
 us to task for the vote we have given ? He talks of our 
 resolution being paltry and servile." He would say to the 
 Senator that he neither knew the Senate nor did he seem to 
 know himself The Senator manifested a degree of arrogance 
 and superciliousness which, for one, he had long impatiently 
 borne, and which no one had a right to assume in that body. 
 For one, he would tell the Senator he would not sit here 
 and be hectored and lectured by him. He had taken upon 
 himself to become the champion of the Senate and of the 
 whole country ; but the country must' have sunk low indeed 
 when its honor had to be championed by the Senator from 
 Ohio. 
 
 I can give but a faint idea of Mr. Crittenden's rebuke. Every 
 word, uttered slowly and deliberately, hit the mark. It was 
 terrible. 
 
 Mr. Allen replied, and attempted to be severe and facetious 
 upon Mr. Crittenden, — to raise a laugh at his expense ; spoke 
 of his making faces, and of his hope of receiving a little re- 
 
2/8 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 fleeted honor by assailing him. This only aroused a feeling of 
 anger and scorn. Mr. Crittenden receive reflected honor by 
 rebuking Mr. Allen ! The remark only produced a scornful 
 smile and a settled, scowling brow. Mr. Allen said Mr. Crit- 
 tenden thought he was the Attorney- General of that body, and 
 therefore volunteered on all occasions for its defense, and inti- 
 mated that he would be none the worse if he were to improve 
 his manners as a Senator. 
 
 Mr. Crittenden rejoined, and said he was always ready to 
 improve his manners, and would do so when he could, even 
 if he had to learn from a blackguard. He proceeded, in a 
 subdued tone, with a series of most scathing remarks, which 
 told with terrible effect. Mr. Allen, for a few minutes, endeav- 
 ored to brave it out ; but his head soon sank upon his desk, 
 and he thus remained until several minutes after Mr. Crittenden 
 closed, — an object of commiseration by Senators and the gal- 
 lery, who, nevertheless, felt that no more than justice had been 
 done. 
 
 DEBATE ON OREGON. 
 
 The House had already adopted a resolution that notice of 
 the abrogation of the treaty of joint occupation be given to 
 England, accompanied with a resolution declaring that it was 
 not intended thereby to interfere with any negotiations between 
 the two governments, by a vote of 172 to 46, Mr. Adams not 
 exactly leading the fifty-four forties, but being foremost in zeal 
 and action for acquiring exclusive possession of all that part 
 of Oregon south of the forty-ninth degree of latitude. The 
 country, he insisted, belonged to the United States, and it was 
 time for us to take steps to possess it. He found authority for 
 our title in the first chapter of Genesis, 26th, 27th, and 28th 
 verses, and in the 8th verse of the second Psalm ; which, at his 
 request, were read by the Clerk. This reference to the Bible 
 to sustain our title to Oregon was something new, and both 
 surprised and amused members; but he made out a pretty 
 good case of it. After all, however, he thought, occupation gave 
 the best title to a new country, — occupation, not by nomadic 
 tribes, but by tillers of the earth, husbandmen, — and that was 
 what he wanted. He wished abrogation, so that our hardy go- 
 
DEBATE ON OREGON. 270 
 
 ahead pioneers of the West could go there and till the country, 
 — go and make the wilderness blossom as the rose. 
 
 The resolutions passed by the House went to the Senate, 
 underwent material alterations, and were then passed — 40 to 14. 
 The nays included the extreme 54° 40' men. The Senate's 
 amendment was concurred in by the House by an increased 
 vote. " Our hardy go-ahead pioneers of the West" were al- 
 ready emigrating to Oregon in large numbers. The way had 
 been opened, and the stream of emigration was setting rapidly 
 to the Pacific. 
 
 Mr. Allen desired to offer resolutions embodying and reiter- 
 ating the " Monroe doctrine" as applicable to Oregon. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun objected, and a discussion arose. Mr. Allen 
 said that, as far as he knew, this principle of non-intervention 
 had encountered no opposition from any American. 
 
 The debate, proceeding, became warm and earnest, Mr. Allen 
 manifesting much feeling, and speaking in a voice which, for 
 volume and strength, probably far surpassed Stentor's. He 
 spoke of the measure he had brought forward as a Demo- 
 cratic measure and Democratic doctrine. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun, on this occasion, gave a brief account of the 
 Monroe declaration of 1823, which had been greatly miscon- 
 ceived and misrepresented, — not going the length generally 
 now supposed. 
 
 Mr. John M. Clayton referred to the declaration made by 
 Mr. Allen, that the principle contained in his resolution Avas a 
 Democratic principle and was to be an article of the Democratic 
 creed. He desired to know when it had been adopted. He 
 would go back to the very origin of the present party, to 
 April, 1826. He found that at that time a resolution was pre- 
 sented in the other House by the member from Delaware, Mr. 
 McLane, which Mr. Clayton read, and which took decided 
 ground against the doctrine of Mr. Monroe, against sending 
 ministers to the Congress of Panama, and against the attempt 
 to interfere with the colonization of this continent by European 
 powers. The resolution took the ground of non-interference, 
 on our part, with the concerns of others. Mr. Clayton said 
 that those who voted for that resolution called themselves 
 
28o PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Democrats, and the founders of the modern Democratic party. 
 And who voted for it ? Among the yeas he found the names 
 of James Buchanan, now Secretary of State, and James K. Polk, 
 now President, by the grace of this same Democratic party. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that Mr. Adams's administration 
 was assailed by the Jackson men for attempting to carry out 
 the Monroe declaration through the Congress at Panama. Mr. 
 Calhoun said in this debate, in reply to General Cass, that if 
 the Monroe declaration was right, the sending of ministers to 
 the Panama Congress was right also, both being based on the 
 same principle. 
 
 But now, what was the President to do ? — stand upon fifty- 
 four forty and fight, or yield to sound discretion? Colonel 
 Benton says, truly, " The administration was in a quandary 
 (qu'en dirai-je? — what shall I say to it?) when the British 
 government, now directed by Sir Robert Peel instead of Lord 
 John Russell, gave notice that they would accept the line we 
 had offered: namely, 49°." He says, "They [our government] 
 felt that it was just and ought to be accepted. At the same time 
 they had stood upon the platform of the Baltimore Convention, 
 had helped to make it, and were loth to show themselves in- 
 consistent and ignorant ; besides, the ' fifty-four forties' were in 
 commotion against it. All the government newspapers, the 
 official organ at Washington City, and the five hundred Demo- 
 cratic papers throughout the Union which followed its lead, 
 were vehement against it. Underhandedly they did what they 
 could to allay the storm that was raging, encouraging Mr. 
 Haywood, Mr. Benton, and others to speak ; but the pride of 
 consistency and the fear of reproach kept them in the back- 
 ground, and even ostensibly in favor of fifty-four forty, while 
 encouraging the events that would enable them to settle on 
 forty-nine." What an exhibition of insincerity and equivoca- 
 tion on the part of a national government ! 
 
 " Mr. Packenham made his offer: it was not a case for delay. 
 It was accepted." But a device was resorted to, suggested by 
 Mr. Benton, to let the President easily down from 54° 40' to 
 49°. It was that the President should ask the advice of the 
 Senate upon the articles of a treaty before the negotiation. 
 
DEBATE ON OREGON. 28 1 
 
 " Could this be obtained ?" says Mr. Benton. " The chances 
 seemed to be against it. It was an up-hill business : it was a 
 submission to the Whigs with the risk of defeat ; for, unless they 
 stood by the President against the dominant division of his own 
 friends, the advice desired would not be given, and the embar- 
 rassment of the administration would be greater than ever." 
 
 Mr. Benton relates that he had many conferences with the 
 President, who was uneasy and anxious ; that he " saw and 
 talked with all the Whig Senators, and saw fully that they 
 intended to act for their country and not for their party, and 
 reported to the President that he would be safe in trusting 
 them ; that their united voice in favor of the advice, added to 
 that of the minority of the Democratic Senators, would make 
 the two-thirds which were requisite." 
 
 A projet of a treaty was therefore immediately sent in, with 
 a message from the President asking the advice he desired. 
 For the sake of appearing consistent, he faintly reaffirmed his 
 opinion before expressed about our title to Oregon, but stated 
 that should two-thirds of the Senate advise the acceptance of 
 the proposition to agree to the line of 49°, he should conform 
 his action to their advice. Should the Senate decline to give 
 such advice, he should consider it his duty to reject the offer. 
 The whole responsibility, of treaty or no treaty, therefore, was 
 thrown upon the Senate. The Senate cheerfully took this 
 responsibility, and, Mr. Benton says, " gave the President a 
 faithful support against himself, against his cabinet, and 
 against his peculiar friends." There was a hard struggle in 
 the Senate by these " friends," but at the end of two days the 
 vote was taken and the advice given, — 38 to 12. 
 
 Four days after, the treaty was sent to the Senate and ratified 
 
 by that body, — 41 to 14. During the period the treaty was 
 
 before the Senate the organ of the government at Washington 
 
 made incessant attacks upon those who favored it, and especially 
 
 upon Mr. Benton. " It was a new thing under the sun," he 
 
 says, " to see the Senator daily assailed in the government 
 
 papers for carrying into effect the wishes of the government, — 
 
 to see him attacked in the morning for what the President was 
 
 hurrying him to do the night before." Mr. Benton comments 
 Vol. II. 19 
 
282 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 upon the course of " the fifty-four forties" with great severity, 
 but says, " the conduct of the Whigs was patriotic in preferring 
 their country to their party, — in preventing a war with Great 
 Britain, — and in saving the administration from itself and its 
 friends." 
 
 But what a humiHating attitude the President, his cabinet, 
 and his " friends" stood in ! In what a morass of embarrassment 
 their ignorance and folly and demagogism had placed them, — 
 the declaration of the Baltimore Convention, and its re-assertion 
 by the President in his inaugural speech, and again in his first 
 .annual message ! And to what wriggling, what disingenuous, 
 insincere, and crooked expedients, the President was compelled 
 to resort to get out of the quagmire he had, like a simpleton 
 and tricky politician, run into ! But, thanks to the W/n'^s, to 
 whom Mr. Benton gives due credit, they saved him from himself 
 and his " peculiar friends," and the country from war. 
 
 MR. ADAMS AND MR. RHETT. 
 
 The zeal manifested by Mr. Adams in favor of Oregon 
 brought him in antagonism with the South Carolina members, 
 — as he usually was, however; and Mr. Rhett, not remembering 
 past conflicts with the "old man eloquent" which he and 
 others had had, wherein they had invariably come off second 
 best, thought proper to assail him as being and voting against 
 the War of 1812 ; and when accused of ignorance in not know- 
 ing that Mr. Adams was not at that time a member of Con- 
 gress, and not in this country at the time war was declared, 
 he replied that his course had at all times been such towards 
 the South that when his constituents saw that Mr. Adams had 
 votey one way, they expected to find his vote invariably on the 
 other side. Mr. Rhett endeavored to sustain his charge against 
 Mr. Adams by reading from C. J. Ingersoll's " History' of the 
 War," and a letter written by Mr, Adams in 18 14 to a Mr. 
 Harris, speaking of the unprepared condition of this country 
 to carry on the war with Great Britain. The extract from 
 Ingersoll's " History" purported to give conversations held by 
 Mr. Adams with the Russian minister, which Mr. Rhett con- 
 sidered conclusive proof of the charge he had made. 
 
MR. ADAMS AND MR. RHETT. 28'' 
 
 When Mr. Rhett had concluded, Mr. Adams rose and gave 
 a history of the conversation alluded to between himself and 
 the Russian minister. He, Mr. Adams, was then minister to 
 Russia ; the Emperor Alexander sent his minister to Mr. 
 Adams to say that, as he was then in alliance with England, he 
 greatly regretted the war between the United States and Great 
 Britain, and wished to know whether, if he offered to mediate 
 between them, he thought his mediation would be accepted. 
 Mr. Adams replied that he thought it would, and that he would 
 write to his government, urging its acceptance. In that con- 
 versation Mr. Adams spoke of the situation of the United States 
 as a reason why this mediation should be accepted. It was 
 offered, and recommended by Mr. Madison to Congress, and 
 Congress authorized its acceptance. If by recommending this 
 mediation he was to be considered opposed to the war, so, then, 
 were Mr. Madison and Congress ; but the gentleman from South 
 Carolina did not charge tlievi with being opposed to the war. 
 [Great sensation in the House, and laughter.] In consequence 
 of this mediation being accepted, and supposing Great Britain 
 would accept it, Mr. Madison appointed three commissioners to 
 repair to the court of St. Petersburg, — Mr. Adams (who was 
 there), Mr. Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, and Mr. Bayard, 
 of Delaware. But Great Britain declined the mediation. She, 
 however, offered to enter into negotiations for peace, which was 
 done, two more commissioners, Mr. Clay and Mr. Russell, 
 having been added to the others. "This is a matter," said Mr. 
 Adams, " which, ignorant as the gentleman from South Caro- 
 lina admits himself to be, he must know." 
 
 Had he (Mr. Adams) been very much opposed to the war, it 
 was not probable he would have been appointed as oiie of the 
 commissioners. For his services as such he was iv^iinated 
 by Mr. Madison, and confirmed by the Senate, as ifiinister to 
 England. 
 
 As to the letter, he did write it, and did speak of the unpre- 
 pared condition of this country to carry on the contest with 
 England ; but he said no more, nor as much as Mr. Monroe 
 had said as Secretary of War in his communications to Con- 
 gress ; and he had never heard that he (Mr. Monroe) had ever 
 
284 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 been charged with being opposed to the war. " But if the gentle- 
 man from South CaroHna had read the ivliole of the letter, he 
 would have found sentiments in it which he could not very well 
 find fault with. Probably he was ignorant of this part of the 
 letter. At any rate, he only wished to read that which in his 
 opinion would operate against me. Had he read the whole, 
 he would have seen that I said that, notwithstanding the con- 
 dition of the country, its honor must be maintained, at whatever 
 hazard, cost, or sacrifice. He did not choose to read this. He 
 makes a false charge against me, and then attempts to maintain 
 it by garbled extracts." 
 
 Mr. Adams said that in the treaty with England, negotiated at 
 Ghent, there was an article in regard to indemnification for the 
 slaves taken. It had been frequently the case that he had been 
 arraigned by Southern men as a sort of culprit and for being 
 hostile to their interests. The article he had alluded to he had 
 exerted himself to maintain. Afterwards Great Britain endeav- 
 ored to evade it, and as minister there it had been his duty to 
 defend and maintain it and protect the interests of the South. 
 Finally, a proposition was made through him to refer this to 
 arbitration, which was accepted, and Alexander agreed upon as 
 the arbitrator. He decreed in favor of the holders of the slaves. 
 The whole of the negotiation was conducted by him as min- 
 ister to Great Britain and as Secretary of State. Those who 
 chose to refer to it could see whether he had been hostile to 
 the South. The owners of the slaves had received indemnity 
 for them, and such was the feeling then at the South that he 
 was thanked by public meetings held to express their grati- 
 tude to him. [Much surprise manifested.] He spoke of a 
 charge of hostility to the South some years ago being made 
 against him by a distinguished member from South Carolina, 
 but that member afterwards came and begged his pardon and 
 acknowledged his error. Had the gentleman from South Caro- 
 lina (Mr. Rhett) acted the part of a Christian and a gentleman, 
 when he found he had made a false charge against him he 
 would have retracted it ; but instead of doing so he persisted 
 in it. 
 
 Mr. Adams was always, on occasions of this sort, extremely 
 
PASSAGE OF THE TARIFF OF 1846. 285 
 
 interesting, from the fact that his memor}^ seemed to retain 
 every past event of his life, and he would relate conversations 
 held with crowned heads and men of historic fame, which had 
 taken place long years before, and which were, with the events 
 he would speak of and describe, unwritten — sometimes per- 
 sonal — history. He was invariably, at such times, listened to 
 with the deepest attention by members, who gathered around 
 his seat in great numbers. 
 
 The feeling of the House was, on this occasion, strongly 
 in favor of Mr. Adams. 
 
 DISCUSSION AND PASSAGE OF THE TARIFF OF 1 846. 
 
 During the winter and spring of 1846 a number of gentle- 
 men were engaged at the National Hotel, in Washington, 
 where they had quarters provided for them, in preparing a 
 new tariff bill, under the direction of the Secretary of the 
 Treasury, to supersede the tariff of 1842. 
 
 The bill, prepared as I have said, was sent to Congress for 
 its action, and, the Oregon question being disposed of, occupied 
 both branches, the debates being very animated, and its passage 
 contested inch by inch by the Whigs and one or two Demo- 
 cratic Senators from the North. Mr. Niles, Democrat, from 
 Connecticut, spoke against it in the most earnest manner, and 
 with great force of argument, comparing it to the revocation of 
 the Edict of Nantes. " Should it become a law, it would de- 
 populate many towns and villages which had sprung up under 
 the operation of the protective policy, and the mechanics and 
 artisans who constitute the population would be driven to seek 
 employment elsewhere, as they were driven from France into 
 England, Holland, and the Low Countries by that revocation, 
 adding vastly to the population of those countries, and build- 
 ing up, or giving an extraordinary impetus to, their manufac- 
 turing establishments." 
 
 Mr. Niles said he knew that a large majority — nearly, or quite, 
 two-thirds — of the Senate was opposed to the bill, and yet it was 
 to be passed. Such was the party edict. 
 
 Mr. Simmons and Mr. Reverdy Johnson each opposed it 
 with more than their usual ability and earnestness ; and Mr. 
 
286 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Webster arrayed his great powers against it, and told some 
 plain truths as to the manner in which the bill originated and 
 was to be forced through. But while its opponents were using 
 arguments and eloquence enough to overwhelm it under ordi- 
 nary circumstances, those who supported it, many of them most 
 unwillingly, could not be drawn into an argument upon it; all 
 discussion on their part was forbidden ; the bill could be carried 
 only by party discipline, not by argument ; discussion would 
 only weaken the chances of its passage. 
 
 Mr. Webster said, "Every interest, the shipping, the mer- 
 cantile, the manufacturing, the agricultural, all, all, were 
 opposed to it. And who," he exclaimed, with emphasis, — 
 "who is it that call for this measure? Who has come here to 
 urge it? Where did it originate? With the people ? No. With 
 any great interest? No. With any class of people ? No. But 
 it originated with a few politicians ; it had been made the shib- 
 boleth of party. If there was any one out-of-doors in favor of it, 
 silence was contagious, for they were as silent as its friends are 
 here. 
 
 "But," he said, "the passage of this bill was 'a party shib- 
 boleth,' and demanded by king Party ; all argument against it 
 was therefore thrown away ; its supporters were deaf-mutes." 
 
 Mr. Crittenden called attention to the fact that not a Whig 
 Senator would vote for the bill except Mr. Jarnigan, of Ten- 
 nessee, who, though opposed to it, would vote for it under 
 instructions. 
 
 Mr. Jarnigan and others so arranged as to have a tie vote in 
 the Senate on a test-question, — so nearly equally was the Senate 
 divided, — to compel Mr. Dallas, the Vice-President, to give a 
 casting vote, which he did in favor of the bill, and, of course, 
 for the repeal of the tariff of 1842, with which his name had 
 been so closely associated during the canvass of 1844. The 
 bill then passed the Senate, — 28 to 27, — Mr. Jarnigan voting in 
 the affirmative, from which time he went out of existence, politi- 
 cally, getting no thanks from the Democrats, and convincing 
 the Whigs that he was not to be relied upon when boldness 
 and decision were demanded by the true interests of the 
 country. 
 
MR. SAWYER AND HIS LUNCH. 287 
 
 As to Mr. Dallas, what can be said of him ? Would he and 
 Mr. Polk have obtained the vote of Pennsylvania, and by that 
 been elected, had the people of that State believed that the 
 ''Democratic tariff of 1842" — as the Democrats chose to call it 
 — would be killed by his vote ? Governor Porter and General 
 Cameron have each answered this question emphatically in the 
 negative. 
 
 SENATOR HAYWOOD RESIGNS, AND ISSUES AN ADDRESS TO THE 
 PEOPLE OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Mr. Haywood, of North Carolina, Democrat, being opposed 
 to the repeal of the tariff act of 1842, and finding the passage 
 of the McKay bill, as it was called, was to be made a party 
 measure, resigned his seat, and issued an address to the 
 people of his State, in which he declared that while a majority 
 of the Senate were opposed to the bill, its passage was resolved 
 on, and was to be accomplished by a "party drill." 
 
 MR. sawyer and his LUNCH. 
 
 If there were frequent scenes in the House which called forth 
 angry words and stirred up evil passions, scenes which every 
 good man and patriot most deeply lamented, there were also 
 occasional scenes which put members in the best humor with 
 themselves and everybody else, and gave rise to general merri- 
 ment. Such a one happened in the House during the heated 
 debate on Oregon and Texas, and served, like a January thaw, 
 to break up the ice-bound outlets of the heart. 
 
 There was a member in the House, from some backwoods 
 benighted region in Ohio, by the name of Sawyer. Now, Mr. 
 Sawyer, — the Honorable Mr. Sawyer, — having lived all his life 
 in a plain, backwoods style, on "hog and hominy," or, for a 
 special luxury in the winter, on sausages and corn-bread, and 
 dining regularly at mid-day, found his stomach rebellious 
 against the ways of Washington, and especially the way of 
 dining at supper-time. When mid-day arrived, his appetite 
 gave him notice of the fact, and became clamorous — abso- 
 lutely unappeasable — for its usual supply. All he could do 
 was to enter into a "compromise" with it by agreeing to 
 
288 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 supply it with a sausage or two at one o'clock, instead of twelve. 
 And so, regularly at one o'clock p.m. it was his custom to step 
 out of his seat, go to a recess in a window, open a bundle done 
 up in a newspaper, and treat himself to a sausage-lunch, or 
 dinner, make use of a bandana pocket-handkerchief for a nap- 
 kin, and, after brushing away the cr.umbs, return to his seat. 
 
 Now, surely there was no harm, but much good sense and 
 comfort, in this operation. Still, it was not quite comme il faitt, 
 — not exactly the style in which Honorable gentlemen lived ; 
 and so a mischievous correspondent of the "New York Tri- 
 bune," — since an M.C. himself, — not having the fear of the 
 Honorable Mr. Sawyer before his eyes, but instigated by the love 
 of fun and by a keen perception of incongruities, incontinently 
 told the public how, when, where, and upon what Mr. Sawyer 
 dined. The many thousand readers of the "Tribune" laughed, 
 and, when the paper came to Washington, members of Con- 
 gress, all but one, laughed too; and that provoked the one, who 
 made complaint to the House that he was turned into ridicule 
 and made fun of, and he desired the naughty, malicious, fun- 
 loving correspondent, " Richelieu," — W. E. Robinson, — to be 
 deprived of the privilege of the hall as a reporter. And, to 
 soothe the wounded feelings of the young and tender member, 
 the correspondent was expelled from the floor to the gallery, 
 where he could make as much sport of members as he pleased, 
 and no thanks to any one. 
 
 Mr. Sawyer, shortly after this merry scene, figured promi- 
 nently in a lively debate in the House upon a bill to regulate 
 the appointments to certain offices in the several departments 
 of the United States government in the city of Washington, and 
 for the more general and equal distribution of such appointments 
 among the several States and Territories and in the District of 
 Columbia. The bill was taken up in committee of the whole, 
 and gave rise to some rich and amusing scenes. A portion of 
 the Democrats — the more moderate and rational portion — were 
 opposed to acting on the bill ; but the Whigs, anticipating a 
 clapperclawing among their opponents, willing to enjoy the fun, 
 and instigated by the spirit of mischief, voted with the ultras to 
 take up the bill. 
 
AN AMUSING SCENE. 
 
 289 
 
 Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, opposed the bill, and threw ridicule 
 and opprobrium upon it, — charging the House with acting a 
 solemn farce, inasmuch as the bill was a ridiculous absurdity 
 and could never be carried into effect. 
 
 This brought Mr. Rathbun, of New York, chairman of the 
 committee who reported the bill, to his feet, who freely spiced 
 his speech with personal allusions and charges, going on to de- 
 scribe the rush of multitudes to Washington, on the change of 
 every administration, seeking office, — miserable beggars, servile 
 and sycophantic, — as to a great poor-house or asylum for 
 paupers. 
 
 Mr. Sawyer resumed the floor, and all ears were open, mem- 
 bers predisposed and ready for fun, and expecting something 
 rich and racy. One of Mr. Sawyer's first remarks was that the 
 Old Dominion was all in commotion on account of this bill, 
 expecting, if it passed, as he hoped and expected it would, 
 armies of her lazy drones to be turned out of the warm places 
 they had rested and done nothing in for years, — he didn't 
 know but for generations. This was enough to set the House 
 in a roar, and to wake up the members from Virginia. Mr. 
 Sawyer said he held that " to the victors belong the spoils." 
 That was his doctrine, and the Democratic doctrine, too ; and 
 therefore they had a right to the offices, and meant to have 
 them. They had at great expense and trouble — very great 
 
 expense and trouble — [much laughter] Well, they might 
 
 laugh, but everybody knew that they had at very great expense 
 and trouble [renewed laughter] elected Mr. Polk. But now, 
 when they wanted the "spoils," how was it? Why, there were 
 seven hundred and thirty clerks in the offices here, and two 
 hundred and thirty-five of them were Whigs, — yes, sir, bold, 
 daring Whigs ! 
 
 A member. — " How do you know they are Whigs?" 
 
 Mr. Sawyer. — " Don't I know a Whig from a Democrat as far 
 as I can see him?" (The House in a roar.) 
 
 Member. — " How can you tell one from the other?" 
 
 Mr. Sawyer. — " Just as easy as you can tell one of your sheep 
 from the other; or just as well as you can tell a race-horse 
 from.a work-horse. [Renewed laughter.] A Whig always dresses 
 
2Q0 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 up fine, or better than Democrats do, and looks like he thought 
 he knew more and was a great deal better than a Democrat : 
 they ain't plain folks like we are." (Roars of laughter from all 
 sides, and the galleries.) 
 
 Besides, he said, he had a list of every one of them, — all 
 their names, — and had inquired at the departments, and of good 
 Democrats who knew them, and found out each one's politics. 
 There had been only one hundred and twenty-eight turned out; 
 but the rest has got to go, anyhow. They had to fight hard for 
 the offices, and they meant to have them. Many a field was 
 red with the blood of their opponents the Whigs, and now 
 when their friends came for their reward they could not get 
 anything, — were told there was no place vacant. There were 
 Whigs in office who had been there five, ten, fifteen, twenty, 
 and some as long as forty years. His constituents came here 
 and were told there was no place for them, — to wait and there 
 would be ; and after waiting several months their money was 
 all gone, and he had to pay their bills and lend them money 
 to get home again. (Loud and boisterous laughter.) He had 
 heard some of his Whig friends say they had to lend them 
 money. 
 
 A voice from the Whig side of the House. — " Because their 
 own Representative would not." 
 
 "Well, I can't lend everybody money," said Mr. Sawyer. 
 " Besides, they ought to be appointed. They worked hard and 
 spent their money to elect Mr. Polk, and what have they got 
 for it ?" He then went on to show that Virginia and Maryland, 
 and the District of Columbia, got nearly all the offices, and said 
 he would tell them how it was done, — the modes operanda, 
 as his Latin friend Holmes (of South Carolina) said ; and he 
 undertook to describe this " opermida',' to the great amusement 
 of members. He said the papers had made scurrilous attacks 
 on him since he undertook to expose the shameless abuses of 
 West Point Academy and the aristocratic inefficiency of the 
 whole concern. And the papers had attacked Mr. Bancroft, 
 too, because he wanted to get rid of the old drones in the navy 
 (such as Commodore Stewart, Commodore Biddle, Commodore 
 Perry, and others), servile sycophants of power. 
 
WAJ? WITH MEXICO. 
 
 291 
 
 Mr. Drumgoole said if the member would give way a moment 
 he would offer an amendment to the bill in accordance with his 
 notions, namely, that to the victors belong the spoils of office. 
 He proposed to amend the bill so as to divide the offices among 
 the States that voted for the successful candidate, in which case 
 Ohio would get none. This kej^t up the merriment of the 
 House, and Mr. Sawyer soon closed his rambling, disjointed, 
 incoherent talk, rather to the regret of members, who enjoyed 
 this novel kind of speaking, the laughter it provoked, and the 
 fun that grew out of it. 
 
 WAR WITH MEXICO. 
 
 I have already mentioned the entrance of General Taylor into 
 Texas, his advance from Corpus Christi to the Rio del Norte, or 
 Rio Grande, and the flight of the Mexicans with their herds of 
 cattle on the advance of our army, which did not sustain the 
 assertion of the administration, that Mexico had invade dT^yjaA. 
 
 One reason for the strong opposition to the annexation of 
 Texas at the North was, that it would bring on a war with 
 Mexico, — that it would be of itself cause of war. But Mr. 
 Polk, flattering himself that Mexico would not dare to enter 
 into a war with the United States, and because hostilities 
 had not been commenced when Congress met in December, 
 boasted in his annual message that " this accession to our 
 territory has been a bloodless achievement." Not so : " the 
 state of war had been produced between the United States and 
 Mexico," says Colonel Benton, "by the incorporation of Texas; 
 hostilities between the two countries were brought on by the 
 advance of the American troops to the left bank of the Rio 
 Grande." Collisions between the troops of the two countries 
 soon occurred, and the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la 
 Palma were fought. 
 
 The news of these battles, reaching Washington, created 
 great sensation. The President immediately sent a message 
 to Congress, informing them that " American blood had been 
 spilt upon American soil," and requesting Congress to provide 
 for prosecuting the war. A bill was immediately reported to 
 the House from the committee on military affairs, to authorize 
 
292 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 the President to accept the services of volunteers. Much as 
 the Whigs, and some Democrats in Congress, were opposed to 
 the course of the administration in involving the country in 
 hostilities, yet, as hostilities actually existed and battles had 
 been fought, the bill would probably have passed — virtually 
 declaring war — without a dissenting vote, but for an unwar- 
 rantable trick of which the Democrats were guilty. Not con- 
 tent with the passage of the bill, a preamble was moved that 
 " Whereas, by the act of Mexico, a state of war exists between 
 that government and the United States, therefore," etc. 
 
 The purpose of this was to compel the Whigs to vote 
 what everybody knew to be a brazen untruth, or else to vote 
 against the bill and thus incur the odium of refusing rein- 
 forcements and supplies for our army in its conflict with 
 Mexico. It is usual to take the vote on the preamble sepa- 
 rately from the bill to which it is explanatory, and to separate 
 the two is a parliamentary right; but, though the Whigs 
 claimed this right, it was obstinately refused, inasmuch as, if 
 allowed, the Democrats would thereby miss the object they 
 wished to accomplish, namely, to declare the existence of war 
 with Mexico. 
 
 This preamble elicited a very acrimonious and stormy dis- 
 cussion, or rather crimination and recrimination, between the 
 two parties, in which the whole subject of the annexation of 
 Texas, and the policy of Tyler and Polk in regard to it, were 
 discussed, and the administration roughly handled. The ma- 
 jority were distinctly charged with asserting a falsehood when 
 they declared that war existed by the act of Mexico. Mr. Benton, 
 one of the leaders of the administration party, had, months be- 
 fore, explicitly declared that the course the government had 
 pursued in acquiring Texas, under the administration of Mr. 
 Tyler, dictated by Mr. Calhoun, Secretary of State, brought 
 about a state of war between Mexico and the United States ; 
 " that he, Mr. Calhoun, was the author and architect of the 
 war, and that history would so write him down." How, then, 
 could war exist by the act of Mexico ? 
 
 All but a very few of the Whigs voted for the bill, with the 
 preamble, rather than appear on the record as having voted 
 
WAR WITH MEXICO. 
 
 293 
 
 against reinforcements and supplies needed by the army, 
 though at the same time protesting against the preamble. 
 
 The bill and preamble underwent the same sharp and acri- 
 monious discussion in the Senate as had occurred in the House, 
 the \Miig Senators taking the same ground that members of 
 the House had taken, the Vice-President, Mr. Dallas, deciding, 
 as the Speaker had done, that the bill and preamble should not 
 be voted upon separately. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun refused to vote at all on the bill, declaring that 
 war could not exist constitutionally, because Congress alone 
 could declare war, but had not. He could not, therefore, vote 
 for the preamble, which was not true, nor would he vote against 
 supplies for the army; he could not, therefore, vote at all. Mr, 
 Crittenden, when his name was called, said he voted ay to 
 all except the preamble, and on that, no. Only two Senators 
 voted in the negative, — John Davis, of Massachusetts, and 
 Thomas Clayton, of Delaware. Fourteen Whigs in the House 
 voted against the bill. 
 
 Upon the passage of the bill and preamble, the President 
 issued his proclamation, announcing that " by the act of 
 Mexico a state of war exists between that government and the 
 United States ;" and this was the only declaration of war made 
 by the United States. It was now seen why the President 
 insisted upon the passage of the preamble ; namely, that Con- 
 gress should, if it did not declare war, announce to the world its 
 existence, and thus legalize all warlike acts and measures on 
 our part. 
 
 But while the President desired this action by Congress, 
 neither he nor his cabinet believed there would be any serious 
 hostilities; and the former was not only disappointed in the 
 patriotic resistance of the Mexicans, but woefully perplexed 
 and worried by the unexpected continuance of the war. 
 
 It has been stated that Colonel Benton charged Mr. Calhoun 
 with producing the state of war ; but, though he makes this 
 charge, he says Mr. Calhoun was, nevertheless, " sincerely 
 opposed to it, — always deluding himself, even while creating 
 the status belli, with the belief that money, and her own weak- 
 ness, would induce Mexico to submit and yield to the incor- 
 
2^4 PUBLIC MEN- AND EVENTS. 
 
 poration of Texas without forcible resistance ; which Avould 
 certainly have been the case if the United States had pro- 
 ceeded gently by negotiation. He had dispatched a messenger 
 to offer a douceur often millions of dollars at the time of sign- 
 ing the treaty of annexation two years before, and he expected 
 the means repulsed then to be successful now, when the in- 
 corporation should be effected under an act of Congress. Had 
 he remained in the cabinet, as he desired, his labors would 
 have been earnestly directed to that end; but his associates 
 who co-operated with him in getting up the Texas question for 
 the Presidential election, and to defeat Mr. Van Buren and Mr. 
 Clay, had war in view from the beginning ; and as these asso- 
 ciates were now in the cabinet, and he was not, their power 
 increased ; his was gone. Claims upon Mexico, and specula- 
 tions in Texas land and scrip, were with them an additional 
 motive, and required a war, or a treaty under the menace of 
 war or at the end of a war, to make these claims and specula- 
 tions available. Mr. Robert J. Walker had the reputation of 
 being at the head of this class." 
 
 This last sentence of Colonel Benton's is a pregnant one, 
 freighted with meaning ; and I shall give it an interpretation 
 directly. 
 
 Mr. Benton says, " It is impossible to conceive of an admin- 
 istration less warlike or more intriguing than that of Mr. Polk. 
 They were men of peace, with objects to be accomplished by 
 means of ivar ; so that war was a necessity and indispensa- 
 ble to their purpose, but they wanted no more of it than would 
 answer their purpose. They wanted a small war, just large 
 enough to require a treaty of peace, and not large enough to 
 make military reputations dangerous for the Presidency. 
 Never w^ere men at the head of a government less imbued 
 with military spirit or more addicted to intrigue. , . . 
 
 " How to manage the war was a puzzle. Defeat would be 
 ruin : to conquer vicariously [that is, by Wliig generals] would 
 be dangerous. Another mode must be fallen upon, and that 
 seemed to have been devised before the declaration was re- 
 solved upon, and to have been relied upon for its immediate 
 termination, — for its conclusion within ninety or one hundred 
 
IFJJ? WITH MEXICO. 
 
 295 
 
 and twenty days, which had been so confidently fixed for its term. 
 This was nothing less than the restoration of the exiled Santa 
 Anna to power, and the purchase of a peace from him." 
 
 So that the return of Santa Anna, and his restoration to 
 power, and his expected friendship, were part of the means 
 relied on for obtaining peace from the beginning. This knowl- 
 edge, subsequently obtained, enabled Mr. Benton to compre- 
 hend the reliance which was placed on the termination of the 
 war in ninety or one hundred and twenty days. It was the 
 arrangement with Santa Anna ! we to put him back in Mexico, 
 and he to make peace with us, — of course an agreeable peace. 
 But Santa Anna Avas not a man to promise anything, whether 
 intending to fulfill it or not, without receiving a consideration ; 
 and in this case some millions of dollars were required. This 
 explains the application made to Congress by the President 
 before the end of its session for an appropriation of two millions 
 as a means of terminating the war. On the 4th of August a 
 confidential message was communicated to the Senate, informing 
 them that he had made fresh overtures to Mexico for negotiation 
 of a treaty of peace, and asking for an appropriation of two mil- 
 lions to enable him to treat with the better prospect of success, 
 and even to pay the money when the treaty should be ratified 
 in Mexico, without waiting for its ratification by our own Senate. 
 
 " A similar communication was made to the House on the 
 8th day of August. The dates are all in a cluster, — Santa Anna 
 landing at Vera Cruz on the 8th, arriving at the capital on the 
 15th, — the President's messages informing the Senate that he 
 had made overtures of peace, and asking the appropriations to 
 promote it, being dated the 4th and 8th of the same month. 
 The fact was, it was known at what time Santa Anna was to 
 leave Havana for Mexico, and the overture was made and the 
 appropriation asked for just at the proper time to meet him. 
 The appropriation was not voted by Congress, and at the next 
 session the application for it was renewed, increased to tliree 
 millions, — the same to which Mr. Wilmot offered that proviso 
 which took his name." 
 
 But let us hear further from Mr. Benton on this novel and 
 interesting subject. 
 
296 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 He says, " An intrigue for peace, through the restored Santa 
 Anna, was, then, a part of the zvar with Mexico from the be- 
 ginning. They were simultaneous concoctions. The war was 
 made to get the peace. Ninety to one hundred and twenty 
 da}'s was to be the hmit of the war, and that pacifically all the 
 while, and to be terminated by a good treaty of indemnities 
 and acquisitions. , . . 
 
 " It was certainly a most unmilitary conception ; and infinitely 
 silly, as the event proved. Santa Anna, restored by our means 
 and again in power, only thought of himself and how to make 
 Mexico his own after getting back. He took the high military 
 road. He roused the war spirit of the country, raised armies, 
 placed himself at their head, issued military proclamations, and 
 displayed the most exaggerated hatred to the United States, — 
 the more so, perhaps, to cover up the secret of his return. He 
 gave the United States a year of bloody and costly work ! many 
 thousands killed, many more dead of disease, many millions 
 of money expended. Buena Vista, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, 
 Churubusco, Chapultepec, were the fruits of his return ! honor- 
 able to the American arms, but costly in blood and money." 
 
 Mr. Benton indulges in some severe reflections, which arise 
 naturally out of the extraordinary transactions he relates. 
 
 I have chosen to copy his account of the declaration of the war 
 with Mexico, and the intrigue which, if he is to be relied upon, 
 was a part of it, because it casts severe censure upon an admin- 
 istration the head of which was elected by, or belonged to, the 
 party of which he (Mr. Benton) had for many years been a 
 prominent leader. It is a damaging record for Mr. Polk and 
 Mr. Walker. 
 
 The following is Santa Anna's pass : 
 
 "Navy Department, May 13, 1846. 
 " (Private and Confidential.) 
 
 " Commodore, — If Santa Anna endeavors to enter the Mexi- 
 can ports, you will allow him to pass freely. 
 
 " Respectfully yours, • 
 
 " George Banxroft. 
 
 "Commodore David Connor, Commanding Home Sqnadrony 
 
THE " HASTY PLATE OE SOUP." 207 
 
 Colonel Benton spoke of "claims upon Mexico, and specula- 
 tions in Texas land and scrip." 
 
 Great speculations were made in these; fortunes accumulated 
 by the knowing ones who had money to purchase, for a song, 
 what must rise several thousand per cent, by the acquisition of 
 Texas. ]\Ir. Walker, if living, could probably furnish a list of 
 many who realized large profits out of Texas scrip. 
 
 GENERAL SCOTT's HASTY-PLATE-OF-SOUP LETTER. — FIRE IN THE 
 
 REAR. 
 
 General Scott, as commander-in-chief of the army, claimed 
 the privilege, or right, of being ordered to the scene of war in 
 command of the armies in the field; but there seemed to be a 
 great reluctance on the part of the Secretary of War, Mr. Marcy, 
 or of the administration, to give him the orders he desired. Per- 
 haps, as Mr. Benton has said, they did not want a war that 
 would make military reputations ; or perhaps they were count- 
 ing on its being closed in " ninety or one hundred and twenty 
 days" through the intrigues of Santa Anna. However, a sharp 
 and rather angry correspondence took place between General 
 Scott and the Secretary of War. In replying to one of the 
 Secretary's letters, the general commenced thus : 
 
 " Sir, — Your letter of this date, received about six o'clock 
 P.M., as I sat down to take a hasty plate of soup, demands a 
 prompt reply," etc. 
 
 The "hasty plate of soup" expression struck the ear as some- 
 thing new, created much laughter, and sadly damaged the gal- 
 lant and patriotic general by the fun made of it. 
 
 In another letter addressed to the Secretary, he spoke of not 
 wishing to "have a fire in his rear [in Washington] while 
 he met a fire in front from the Mexicans." In other words, 
 while fighting the Mexicans in front, he did not wish to be 
 attacked in the rear by those whose duty it was to give him 
 all the support in their power. 
 
 After the war had fairly opened on the Rio Grande, General 
 Scott became urgent in his demands to be sent to Mexico, with 
 reinforcements to conduct it, claiming this as his right as com- 
 mander-in-chief But it was not the policy of the Secretary of 
 Vol. IL 20 
 
298 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 War or of the President to send another Whig general there, 
 who should cover himself with military laurels. 
 
 Eventually his presence in Mexico as commander-in-chief 
 became a necessity, and he was reluctantly ordered there with 
 a force wholly distinct from the army under General Taylor, 
 though composed in part of some of General Taylor's troops, 
 — the administration being compelled to "conquer vicariously," 
 as Colonel Benton expressed it, having no Democratic general 
 competent to take command and conduct the war. 
 
 ACQUISITION OF NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Colonel Kearney, an able officer of the United States army, 
 was directed to accept the services of volunteers in Missouri 
 and to lead an expedition to New Mexico to conquer it. He 
 did so, and obtained possession of it without firing a gun. 
 
 Dollars, not bullets, it was said, opened the way for Colonel 
 Kearney to Santa Fe, where the United States flag was hoisted, 
 the province taken possession of, and the authority of the 
 United States established. 
 
 This accomplished, Colonel Kearney pressed on, in fulfill- 
 ment of his orders, to California. 
 
 This portion of the Mexican nation was in a state of revolt. 
 There was a design, or it was so rumored, among the leading 
 Californians to surrender the country to the British. This did 
 not suit the views of the Americans (from the United States), 
 of whom a considerable number were settled there, and more 
 were expected, chiefly from Missouri. At their solicitation, 
 Captain Fremont, who was there in a scientific capacity and 
 as an explorer, placed himself at their head, and committed 
 acts of war, although the existence of war between the United 
 States and Mexico was not then known there. Hearing of 
 Captain Fremont's doings. Commodore Sloat, who had been 
 lying in the harbor of Monterey for several days, and supposed 
 Fremont was acting under orders from Washington, took the 
 town and fort of Monterey, and raised the American flag over 
 the fort. He then sent for Captain Fremont, who soon joined 
 him with his mounted force, all excellent marksmen and armed 
 with rifles. Commodore Sloat Avas much surprised to learn that 
 
ACQUISITION OF NEW MEXICO AND CALIFORNIA. 299 
 
 Fremont had no orders from the government, but had acted 
 on his own responsibihty. He had therefore taken Monterey 
 without authority, and might incur the censure of his govern- 
 ment for an act of hostility in time of peace. The commodore 
 resolved to return to the United States, and did so, leaving 
 Captain Stockton in command of the squadron. 
 
 Captain Stockton was a daring man, fearing no responsi- 
 bility, and just the one to act with Fremont in such a crisis. 
 By their united efforts California was secured to the United 
 States. In due time Colonel Kearney arrived with his com- 
 mand in California, and there was a contest for command 
 between him, Stockton, and Fremont. On the arrival of Col- 
 onel Kearney, a sharp conflict arose between these three am- 
 bitious officers as to their relative rank, not very creditable to 
 them or to the government. But Captain Stockton and Colonel 
 Kearney both left the country in a short time for other and 
 more legitimate spheres of action. 
 
 It would undoubtedly have been very gratifying to the 
 British government to acquire possession of California, with 
 the city of San Francisco and its splendid harbor ; but in this 
 instance she was a little, and but just a little, too late. The 
 prize escaped her grasp. The noble country fell to the United 
 States, and is now one of the brightest stars in the galaxy that 
 illumines our flag and shield. 
 
 Several important acts were passed at the first session of the 
 Twenty- ninth Congress; to wit: 
 
 An act reducing the duty on imports, and for other purposes; 
 repealing the tariff act of 1842. 
 
 An act to establish a warehousing system. Still in force. 
 
 An act to provide for the better organization of the treasury, 
 etc., commonly known as "the Sub-Treasury Act." Still in 
 force. 
 
 An act to establish the Smithsonian Institution. Still in force. 
 
 Two very important bills were vetoed ; namely, the River and 
 Harbor Appropriation bill, and the bill to pay the claims for 
 French spoliations prior to 1800. 
 
 The defeat of the former by the veto of the President pro- 
 duced great indignation at the North and West, especially in 
 
300 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 * 
 
 New York, Ohio, and the Northwestern States. It was asserted 
 by many Democrats that they had been induced to vote for the 
 new tariff bill, contrary to their judgment and wishes, upon the 
 understanding that by so doing they would prevent the veto of 
 the River and Harbor bill ; but, after having thus voted, they 
 were cheated out of their favorite measure. 
 
 The French spoliation claims had been before Congress for 
 forty years or more, and bills to pay these claims — as just as 
 any ever provided for by Congress — had been passed at various 
 times by the House and the Senate ; but no bill for that pur- 
 pose had ever before passed both branches at the same session, 
 so as to be sent to the President for his approval. 
 
 Both these bills having undergone elaborate debate, it was 
 to be presumed that members of the Senate and House knew 
 what they were voting for, and had good reasons for their 
 votes ; yet the President vetoed the latter upon the allegation 
 that they did not understand the subject and voted ignorantly! 
 
 Upon being congratulated at the end of the session upon 
 having carried all the administration measures and defeated 
 those to which he was opposed, Mr. Polk replied, " Yes ; that 
 has been done ; but I am satisfied I am weaker for every 
 one of them, — those that were carried as well as those that 
 were vetoed." He judged rightly: in the midst of success, he 
 had contrived to make enemies by his tortuous, insincere, and 
 deceptive course. He deceived his friends ; promised, but did 
 not fulfill. Pledged to 54° 40' publicly, and inducing his 
 friends to believe he would stand firmly upon that line, he left 
 them clandestinely, not having the moral courage to tell them 
 he was about to break camp and retreat to " forty-nine," and 
 leaving them in ignorance that he had deserted them. 
 
 Afraid to stand on " fifty-four forty," he dared not openly, 
 and like a man conscious of faithfully serving the country, 
 accept the proposition he had invited from the British govern- 
 ment, of making " forty-nine" the boundary-line. He had by 
 his tergiversations so entangled himself as to be helpless, and 
 rather an object of pity. In this quandary, he asked the 
 Senate, and especially the Whigs of that body, to advise him 
 to do what he must but was afraid to do of his own accord. 
 
CAMPAIGN ON THE RIO GRANDE. 
 
 301 
 
 Their patriotism proved to be superior to their desire to see 
 one who had involved and entangled himself in the meshes of 
 his own subterfuges writhing and struggling like a fly in a 
 spider's web. In this dilemma, he dodged tremblingly behind 
 even his opponents, frightened by the anathemas and scornful 
 looks of his political associates in the Senate. He had not 
 even the courage to stop the howling of his organ in Washing- 
 ton, which, as Mr. Benton has said, every morning made fierce 
 attacks upon him for doing what the President had, the night 
 before, besought him to accomplish ; thereby giving the world 
 and most of his party to understand that he was opposed to Mr. 
 Benton's course and was still with the " fifty-four forties !" How 
 could he expect to retain his friends ? They dropped like leaves 
 in autumn; and the succeeding fall elections went everywhere 
 so adverse to the administration that the next (Thirtieth) Con- 
 gress was decidedly Whig. But the weakest of all his acts was 
 purchasing a peace of Santa Anna and placing him at the head 
 of the Mexican nation, to become our most formidable and 
 bitter enemy ! 
 
 THE CAMPAIGN ON THE RIO GRANDE. 
 
 Whatever opinions the American people entertained in regard 
 to the origin and justness or unjustness of the war, all took a 
 deep and lively interest in the success of our arms, and rejoiced 
 at the glorious and unlooked-for victories heralded by the dis- 
 patches from General Taylor, in command of " the army of 
 occupation," so called, but of all arms amounting to only about 
 twenty-five hundred. 
 
 His march for Brownsville was opposed at Palo Alto by a 
 force of about six thousand. A severe battle ensued. May 8, 
 1846, and the Mexicans gave way before the obstinate valor of 
 General Taylor's little army. But the victory cost us the lives 
 of some gallant officers as well as brave men, the most distin- 
 guished of whom was Major Ringgold, of Ringgold's Battery. 
 
 Not satisfied with this attempt to arrest the march of General 
 Taylor, and being reinforced. General La Vega made another 
 stand the next day (9th) at Resaca de la Palma, three miles 
 from Matamoras, where another and far severer battle was 
 
302 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 fought, with desperate courage on both sides, but which re- 
 sulted in the utter defeat of the Mexicans, with heavy loss in 
 killed and wounded, — the battle being mostly a hand-to-hand 
 conflict, — General La Vega and many officers and privates 
 being taken prisoners, and eight pieces of artillery captured. 
 
 The news of these battles was received with great rejoicing 
 by the people of the United States, especially as serious appre- 
 hensions had been felt for General Taylor's safety on account 
 of the great disparity between his forces and those of the Mexi- 
 cans. The public mind was not only relieved, but was thrown 
 into a paroxysm of exultation over the achievements of our 
 indomitable little army under " Old Rough and Ready." 
 
 The Mexicans immediately retreated across the Rio Grande; 
 General Taylor occupied Matamoras and relieved Fort Brown. 
 
 The operations of our army in the valley of the Rio del Norte, 
 during the summer and ensuing autumn, kept the public mind 
 on the qui vive. General Taylor advanced his troops up the 
 river, from point to point, aiming for the stronghold of Monterey, 
 the key to Northern Mexico, which he invested on the 19th 
 of September. The houses of Monterey were built mostly of 
 stone, with parapets, so that each house was literally a castle ; 
 and upon and from these the Mexicans poured a galling fire 
 upon our soldiers wherever they appeared in the narrow streets. 
 This made it necessary that they should advance through the 
 houses, breaking down the walls separating them from one 
 another, and from inside of these picking off such Mexicans as 
 could be seen on the other side of the street. 
 
 On the 24th, after a three days' sanguinary conflict, General 
 Ampudia signified his desire for a personal interview with 
 General Taylor, which was immediately granted, and resulted 
 in a capitulation, placing the town and the material of war in 
 General Taylor's possession. 
 
 " Upon occupying the city," says General Taylor, " it was 
 discovered to be of great strength in itself, and to be very 
 strongly fortified, manned with a force of twelve thousand 
 troops, including three thousand irregulars. The force under 
 my orders was four hundred and twenty-five officers and six 
 thousand two hundred and twenty men." 
 
CAMPAIGN ON THE RIO GRANDE. 303 
 
 The news of the capture of Monterey filled the hearts of the 
 people with exultation, and " Old Rough and Ready" was at 
 once spoken of as the man to take command of the nation as 
 President. 
 
 Considering the disparity of numbers between the attacking 
 and defending forces, and the extraordinaiy strength of the 
 place, the taking of jMonterey was one of the most brilliant 
 feats of modern times. 
 
 With the desire to spare the effusion of blood, and the lives 
 of women and children, General Taylor granted more favorable 
 terms to General Ampudia than the President and Secretary of 
 War chose to approve, and for this ostensible reason he had 
 become, as he expressed it, a subject of Executive disapproba- 
 tion. He, however, put the case plainly to the Secretary : 
 "The apparent determination of the Department to place me 
 in an attitude antagonistical to the government has an apt 
 illustration in the w^ell-known fable of yEsop. / ask no favor, 
 and shrink from no responsibility, while intrusted with the com- 
 mand in this quarter." 
 
 It was not the terms of capitulation that the administration 
 were concerned about ; it was the fame and glory that embla- 
 zoned the name of Taylor, and his great popularity with the 
 people, which gave them such anxiety. He had served his 
 country too well ; he was becoming formidable as a possible 
 candidate for the Presidency. This was the trouble. 
 
 Soon after the capture of Monterey, the veteran troops of 
 Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and Monterey were taken 
 from General Taylor and sent to Vera Cruz, where General 
 Scott had been placed in command to pursue the only feasible 
 route to the city of Mexico, as General Taylor always said, 
 after first taking Vera Cruz. General Taylor was left with but 
 four thousand and seventy-three men, — one-tenth regulars, 
 artillery, and horse ; not a single company (regular) of infantry, 
 — to face and repel a Mexican army twenty thousand strong, 
 which Santa Anna had sent to San Luis Potosi, and soon 
 headed in person, w-ell armed and equipped, ready to fall upon 
 him in a sudden swoop and annihilate him and his handful of 
 men. 
 
OQ. PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Santa Anna ! Yes ; he whom Mr. Polk restored to Mexico, 
 from which he was an exile at the opening of the war, had 
 raised, organized, armed, and sent to San Luis Potosi, to an- 
 nihilate General Taylor, a well-appointed army of twenty thou- 
 sand men ! It was he with whom the administration expected 
 to enter into a treaty to close the war, and, for a consideration, 
 cede territory to the United States ! For this purpose permitted 
 to enter Mexico, he was now the most implacable and formi- 
 dable enemy we had ! 
 
 "uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." 
 
 By such means as have been shown, Mr. Polk had become 
 President. Did the office bring him happiness ? Undoubtedly 
 he was one of the most unhappy men in the nation. His days 
 were passed in weariness and anxiety, and his nights brought 
 no rest. He had settled the Oregon question with England 
 by giving up to her five degrees and forty minutes of territory 
 to which the Baltimore Convention had declared our title was 
 " clear and indisputable," which declaration he had echoed 
 in his inaugural message ; and for this he knew he had the 
 bitterest curses of a large portion of his party. He had " re- 
 annexed" Texas, by sending a small force down to the Rio 
 Grande and taking possession of a country of which Mexico 
 had always been in quiet possession up to that time. He had 
 involved the nation in a war which he never designed, believing 
 all the while that the Mexicans would immediately sue for 
 peace, not daring to resist the United States, — " a war to get 
 peace," — a war to be closed by a treaty with Santa Anna, whom 
 he sent from exile to Mexico to make peace, but who made 
 the war ten times more fierce than it would have been had he 
 remained in exile, — and last, but not least, a war that was making 
 military reputations for Whig generals ! 
 
 The people and the press would pertinaciously inquire, How 
 came Santa Anna at the head of the Mexican armies, when at 
 the commencement of the war he was an exile at Havana, and 
 had never been recalled ? How did he pass through our line 
 of blockade and enter Vera Cruz ? 
 
 But more : Mr. Polk was a politician, and knew the signifi- 
 
SECOND SESSION TWENTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 
 
 305 
 
 cance of State elections as indices of the feelings of the people 
 towards the administration. These were taking place, and 
 everywhere the administration was suffering defeat. 
 
 Those who saw the President noticed his care-worn, anxious, 
 haggard look. Happily for him, his wife was a woman of rare 
 excellence, discretion, and resolution ; a wise and affectionate 
 counselor, cheerful and agreeable, with the happy art of in- 
 fusing her cheerfulness into those around her. She was the 
 light of the White House, which but for her would have been 
 gloomy enough. 
 
 SECOND SESSION OF THE TWENTY-NINTH CONGRESS. 
 
 The President saluted Congress, on its annual assembling on 
 the first Monday of December, 1846, with an unusually long 
 message, a large portion of which was devoted to the origin 
 and causes, as explained by him, of the Mexican War; as if 
 intended as an apology to the American people, who did not 
 understand the subject and had wrongly condemned the Ex- 
 ecutive ; or as if he was desirous to justify his course to other 
 nations and to posterity. 
 
 Mr. Benton has informed us, from personal knowledge, that 
 it had been determined, before the meeting of Congress, that 
 there should be a pause in the war ; that, instead of pushing 
 it forward with vigor, the plan of " a masterly inactivity" 
 had been determined on, and was to be recommended to Con- 
 gress ; that such was the purport of the message already pre- 
 pared. He states that on arriving at Washington, a few days 
 before the meeting of Congress, he was requested to look over 
 the message, as prepared, and make remarks upon it ; that 
 he did so, and objected to this " masterly inactivity" policy, 
 a favorite one with, and recommended by, Mr. Calhoun. His 
 arguments, he says, convinced the President, who adopted the 
 opposite policy recommended by him, against the opinion and 
 advice of his cabinet. 
 
 The President deemed it necessary to give in his message a 
 long and apologetic account of the entrance of Santa Anna, by 
 permission of the administration, into Mexico; virtually admit- 
 ting that he had been overreached and outwitted by the wily 
 
3o6 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 and treacherous chief through whose influence he had expected 
 to secure a treaty of peace ! The reading of this portion of the 
 message provoked not only smiles, but many derisive jokes. 
 One of the President's political friends remarked that while he 
 (the President) was freely charging others with giving " aid 
 and comfort to the enemy," he thought the President himself 
 had given the Mexicans more aid than all others, by sending 
 them the ablest general they could have possibly obtained. 
 
 The feeling and temper of the two parties in Congress were 
 by no means tolerant and conciliatory. The President, in his 
 message, had said, "The war has been represented as unjust 
 and unnecessary, and one of aggression on our part upon a 
 weak and injured enemy. A more effective means could not 
 have been devised to encourage the enemy and protract the war 
 than to advocate and adhere to their course, and thus give them 
 ' aid and comfort.' " 
 
 This was an ill-tempered thrust at those who condemned the 
 administration for unnecessarily involving the country in a war. 
 This was irritating enough ; but the " Union," the acknowledged 
 organ of the President, constantly denounced all who criticised 
 the acts of the government as " guilty of moral treason." 
 
 Mr. Garrett Davis — now (1872) a Senator in Congress, and 
 one of the very few survivors of the Twenty-ninth Congress* — 
 submitted a resolution calling upon the President to inform that 
 body whether the extraordinary course pursued by General 
 Kearney, Commodore Sloat, and Captain Stockton, in establish- 
 ing civil governments in California and New Mexico, declaring 
 them to be a part of the United States, and requiring the in- 
 habitants to take the oath of allegiance to the United States, 
 had been pursued by order of the President, and if not, whether 
 it met his sanction. 
 
 This occasioned a keen debate of two or three days' duration. 
 Mr. Davis arraigned the administration for violating the laws 
 of nations and exercising powers not conferred by the Consti- 
 tution and laws of the United States. He wished to know by 
 what authority under our Constitution, or the laws of nations, 
 these public officers had undertaken to establish civil govern 
 
 * Died shortly after this was written. 
 
THE LIE, A. YD A CHALLENGE GIVEN. 30/ 
 
 ments in foreign and conquered territories, and to style them- 
 selves " Governors and Coniniandcrs-in-cJiief" and whether these 
 proceedings were sanctioned by the President. 
 
 It mattered not what subject came up for debate, the discus- 
 sion was the same, — attack 'and defense. The question was 
 frequently asked by the Whigs, " What is the object of this 
 war ? What is it to accomplish ? When and how is it to 
 end? The President had said it was not waged for conquest: 
 why, then, were our armies penetrating Mexico ? Two of her 
 provinces had already been conquered and civil governments 
 established." It was replied that our armies were sent to 
 Mexico " to conquer a peace." But how far were they to go 
 before peace could be conquered ? Was Santa Anna sent 
 there to help us conquer a peace ? 
 
 The Whigs, however, did not fail to vote for all the supplies 
 of men and money called for to carry on the war, though it was 
 alleged by them to be a notable fact that all the quartermasters, 
 surgeons, assistant surgeons, sutlers, contractors, — all the non- 
 combatants and money-making corps, — were of the opposite 
 politics. Every general of volunteers, without an exception, 
 appointed by the President was a Democrat. 
 
 In a debate which occurred in the House on the 23d of De- 
 cember, between Mr. Davis, of Kentucky, and Mr. Bailey, of 
 Virginia, the latter took occasion to refer to some remarks of 
 the former, and presented him in the attitude of a "moral 
 traitor," for having, by what he had said, given " aid and com- 
 fort" to the enemy, 
 
 THE LIE, AND A CHALLENGE GIVEN. 
 
 Mr. Davis rose to deny or explain, but Mr. Bailey refused to 
 yield the floor for that purpose, saying that he would hear ex- 
 planations out of the House. Mr. Bailey proceeded, but Mr. 
 Davis said he would not be misrepresented. Mr. Bailey re- 
 plied that he would not be interrupted. Mr. Davis rejoined 
 that if Mr. Bailey represented him as he had done, he repre- 
 sented him falsely. Mr. Bailey retorted the lie, which of course 
 closed the controversy in the Hoiise. 
 
 Mr, Davis immediately addressed a written invitation to 
 
308 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Mr. Bailey to meet him in Baltimore, for the purpose of settling 
 the matter in controversy between them ; the meaning of which 
 was well understood. Mr. Davis, accompanied by two or three 
 friends, among whom was Senator Barrow, left Washington by 
 the first train for the former city, to avoid arrest. 
 
 Mr. Bailey, however, did not apprehend an arrest, and did 
 not, therefore, leave Washington. But the conservators of the 
 peace were vigilant, and he was arrested and put under bonds 
 not to leave the city to engage in a duel. 
 
 Meantime, Mr. Davis and his friends were waiting at Bar- 
 num's Hotel to hear from Mr. Bailey. But while there, Gen- 
 eral Barrow, in the full gush of health, — a stout, well-formed 
 man, who had never known an hour's sickness in his life, — was 
 taken suddenly ill, even while standing erect thanking God for 
 this remarkable health, and remarking to those around him 
 that he scarcely knew the sensation of pain, and prostrated with 
 severe suffering. A physician and surgeon were called, and 
 finally Dr. McClellan, of Philadelphia, was sent for, and arrived ; 
 but no relief could be given, and death ensued after two days of 
 intense pain. General Barrow was sensible of his danger, and 
 assured his friends that he could not recover. He met death 
 with the calmness and composure of a Christian, a philosopher, 
 and a hero, — conscious to the last minute. 
 
 This sudden death of one who was universally esteemed and 
 beloved cast a deep gloom upon the Senate, and, indeed, upon 
 the House and community. Without his death being formally 
 announced, such were the mournful feelings of Senators that on 
 meeting they immediately adjourned. No individual in Con- 
 gress had won a larger share of kindly feeling and esteem from 
 his associates. He had a manly bearing, a lofty independence 
 and fearlessness, united with a vein of pleasantry and humor, 
 and a most noble nature, which won all hearts. A clearer head, 
 a kinder heart, an honor more unsullied, an integrity more un- 
 questionable, a disposition more equable and companionable, 
 are rarely united in the same individual. 
 
 His death was formally announced in the Senate the next day, 
 
 Mr. Johnson, of Louisiana, the colleague of the deceased, per- 
 formed this sad duty in a feeling manner. He was followed by 
 
THE THREE-MILLION BILL. 3O9 
 
 Mr. Benton, who paid a just tribute to the generous and esti- 
 mable quahties of him whose sudden exit had cast a deep gloom 
 over all. Other Democratic Senators also paid eloquent and 
 feeling tributes to the departed. 
 
 Mr. Crittenden rose, his eyes suffused with tears which would 
 not cease to flow, and several times essayed to speak, but was 
 overcome by deep emotion. Unable to utter a word, he sank 
 into his seat and indulged in " the luxury of grief." No words 
 could have equaled the eloquence of this silence, which touched 
 every heart and drew tears from every eye in the chamber. 
 
 As Mr. Crittenden sat down, overcome with grief, Mr. Han- 
 negan rose, impelled by the ardor of his feelings, and for ten or 
 fifteen minutes poured forth those feelings in gushing eloquence, 
 which, as they came from the heart, reached the heart of every 
 Senator present. They were the tribute of friendship, admira- 
 tion, love, and sorrow from a political opponent, but none the 
 less sincere and noble. 
 
 Mr. Mangum simply offered the usual resolutions. 
 
 There was no counterfeiting in this scene ; no labored ex- 
 pressions of grief which came from the head and not the heart. 
 Sadness sat upon the countenances of all present. 
 
 The funeral of Mr. Barrow took place next day, attended by 
 the President and his cabinet, the Judges of the Supreme Court, 
 foreign ministers, and both branches of Congress. 
 
 Mr. Davis returned from Baltimore ; friends interposed, and 
 proposed terms of settlement, which were accepted by both 
 parties ; and thus the affair was disposed of. 
 
 THE THREE-MILLION BILL. 
 
 It will be recollected that at the first session of the Twenty- 
 ninth Congress the President applied for an appropriation of 
 two millions of dollars to enable him to negotiate a treaty of 
 peace with Mexico and to obtain territory of her, which passed 
 the House with the " Wilmot Proviso" amendment; but the 
 bill was prevented from being brought up in the Senate by Mr. 
 Davis, of Massachusetts, speaking till the hour of adjournment. 
 The President now renewed the application, but asked for three 
 millions instead of two. The subject came up in both branches 
 
3IO 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 of Congress, and upon this measure the whole subject of the 
 war underwent a thorough, prolonged, and earnest discussion 
 on the part of the opposition, though such as favored the propo- 
 sition and sustained the administration meant to " give their 
 thoughts no tongue." 
 
 In the House, as usual, the speakers exhibited more ardor 
 in the debate and freedom of remark than in the Senate, where 
 senatorial propriety placed a judicious curb upon the members. 
 
 The anticipation of obtaining more southern territory brought 
 the slavery question prominently forward. Texas, under Mexico, 
 Avas free territory ; it was now a slave State. This fact had tended 
 greatly to increase the anti-slavery feeling at the North and 
 West, and these sections were now resolutely determined that 
 not a foot more of slave territory should be added to the Union : 
 and this resolution was adhered to in the creating of California 
 and New Mexico as Territories. The acquisition of Texas, 
 California, and New Mexico greatly increased and embittered 
 the slavery contest. 
 
 A BEAUTIFUL INCIDENT, 
 
 The venerable J. Q. Adams had been stricken down, at his 
 home in Quincy, Massachusetts, by paralysis, before the meet- 
 ing of Congress, on account of which he was unable to appear 
 and take his seat until the 13th day of February, On that day, 
 while Mr. Hunt, of New York, was addressing the committee of 
 the whole on the Three-Million bill, in support of the Wilmot 
 Proviso, which had been moved as an amendment to it, the 
 venerable figure of the ex-President presented itself at the 
 centre door of the hall, and at once attracted all eyes. Mr, 
 Hunt suspended his speech ; Mr. Mosely, of New York, and 
 Mr. Holmes, of South Carolina, advanced to Mr. Adams, and, 
 each taking him by an arm, conducted him to the seat he had 
 for many years occupied, and which had been taken at the 
 opening of the session by Mr. Andrew Johnson, who declared 
 at the time that he took it to surrender it to Mr. Adams if they 
 should again have the pleasure of his presence in that hall. 
 Mr. Johnson now gracefully surrendered it; members gathered 
 around the venerable man, with congratulations on his return; 
 
THE PUBLIC PRINTER EXCLUDED FROM THE SENATE. 
 
 311 
 
 and after two or three minutes' pause, much affected by the 
 tender cordiality of his reception by the House, he rose, and, 
 in a feeble voice, briefly tendered his heartfelt thanks. Mr. 
 Hunt then resumed his remarks. 
 
 This little incident showed that though members of Con- 
 gress, in the conflicts of opinion and party interests, may seem 
 to be devoid of those emotions of the heart and sympathies 
 with others which so ennoble human nature, yet, down, down 
 beneath the surface agitated by the storms of politics, these 
 emotions and sympathies remain undisturbed, only requiring 
 proper occasions to call them into action. 
 
 THE PUBLIC PRINTER EXCLUDED FROM THE SENATE. 
 
 The editor of the " Union," the organ of the administration, 
 Mr. Ritchie, had for some time been very free in his remarks 
 upon those who did not think proper to support all the meas- 
 ures of the administration and who advocated the Wilmot 
 Proviso, censuring them in very reprehensible terms, scolding 
 at Senators and members as if they were school-boys subject 
 to his ferule. 
 
 On the 9th of February appeared a communication in that 
 paper couched in very offensive and insulting language. To 
 this attention was called by the editor by saying, "A corre- 
 spondent in this evening's ' Union' has painted, with strong 
 and indignant feelings, the rejection of the army bill in the 
 Senate of the United States," etc. The correspondent said, 
 " The floor of Congress is another section of the field of con- 
 flict. There the cause of Mexico id maintained with zeal and 
 ability. 
 
 " In the Senate of the United States, on yesterday, the Mexi- 
 cans achieved another victory. ... If Santa Anna, Ampudia, 
 or any other Mexican general could snatch from our soldiers a 
 corresponding victory, we should place them upon the same 
 elevation where their compatriots, friends, and fellow-soldiers 
 in the Senate now stand." 
 
 This did not fail to attract the notice it was intended it should. 
 But what followed was not, probably, anticipated. 
 
312 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 The day after the publication of this grossly-insulting article, 
 Mr. Yulee, of Florida, Democrat, introduced resolutions in the 
 Senate referring to the communication in the " Union," and the 
 approving notice of it by the editor, who, as public printer, had, 
 by the courtesy of the Senate, the privilege of the floor, and 
 withdrawing that privilege, — directing the doorkeeper not to 
 permit him to enter. 
 
 After a very sharp debate, the resolutions were adopted, fol- 
 lowed on the part of the " Union" by showers of opprobrious 
 epithets hurled at the Senate, that " privileged body," "acting 
 in the dark," "combining, in their own body, accusers, judges, 
 jurors, and executors in cases where they are also parties" ! 
 
 Mr. Ritchie was in " a crisis," as he always appeared to 
 be ; alarmed at the extraordinary assumption of power by the 
 Senate, and the danger to " the liberty of the press" ! 
 
 Mr. Westcott, of Florida, sustained his colleague's resolu- 
 tions. In the course of his speech, he said there was one 
 subject in which he cordially agreed with the Senator from 
 South Carolina. It was in the reprobation of that system of 
 politics of which the primary principle is the mere possession 
 of power and office, — of that party organization which looks 
 to office of every character as the rightful spoils of victory. 
 The fearful degeneracy of parties in this respect, and the cor- 
 rupting practices of giving rewards by contracts, jobs, and 
 various employments to partisans and favorites which had pre- 
 vailed for some years past, were truly alarming. 
 
 Speaking of his being, and having always been, a Demo- 
 crat, and that an attempt might be made to read him out of 
 the party for his course here, he said, Very well, let it be 
 tried ; he was ready for the trial. And, going on while Mr. 
 Webster, who sat in front of and next to him, was looking at 
 and intently listening to him, he said, if the attempt should 
 succeed, he should be placed in the category in which his 
 honorable friend from Massachusetts was some years ago, 
 when he exclaimed, " Where shall I go ?" This created a 
 general laugh at Mr. Webster's expense, who, taken by 
 surprise, blushed, turned upon his seat, and finally joined in 
 the laugh with others. 
 
DEBATE ON THE THREE-MILLION BILL. 313 
 
 DEBATE ON THE THREE-MILLION BILL. 
 
 Mr. Corwin, — " Tom Corwin," — of Ohio, took part in the 
 debate on the Three-Million bill, and made a speech peculiarly 
 Corvvinian, — the most provocative of laughter of any ever 
 listened to in the Senate. It being known that he was to ad- 
 dress the Senate, long before the hour of meeting the galleries 
 were packed, not an inch of room being vacant ; the ladies, as 
 usual, outnumbering the gentlemen, and finally, by permission 
 of the Senate, rushing into the chamber and filling it to its 
 utmost capacity. Mr. Corwin, in his peculiar line, was cer- 
 tainly the most effective and attractive speaker it was ever my 
 good fortune to hear. He was wholly unlike any other, and 
 certainly inimitable. I have given an account of his speech 
 in reply to General Crary, in 1840, the most notable of its 
 character ever heard in the House. His speech in the Senate 
 on the Three-Million bill was equally notable, and brought 
 into action in a much greater degree his extraordinary powers 
 of description, pathos, irony, and sarcasm. It was reported and 
 printed in the " National Intelligencer" of February 23, 1847, — 
 that is to say, the words of the speech, but as unlike the speech 
 as it came from his lips, with his emphasis, expression, mobility 
 of face, and glance of eye, as the remainder of a bottle of 
 champagne after standing a week is unlike the sparkling bev- 
 erage when first uncorked. 
 
 Speaking of the allegation of the President, that the Mexi- 
 cans had invaded our country, and that " American blood had 
 been spilt upon American soil," Mr. Corwin said, — 
 
 " General Taylor was ordered to march down to the Rio 
 Grande. Obeying orders, he did so; and what did he find 
 in the country lying between the Nueces and that river? 
 What did he write home? Do you hear of 'trial by jury' 
 there? or Anglo-Saxons making cotton with negroes? No! 
 You hear of Mexicans there, but fleeing from their fields at the 
 approach of your army : no slaves. If there were a Texas 
 population on the right bank, why did they not hail with joy 
 the advancement of his army coming to protect them from the 
 ravages of the Mexicans ?" 
 
 Vol. II. 21 
 
214 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Mr. Corvvin continued: "The Senator from Michigan [Mr. 
 Cass] says we want Cah'fornia, and must have it. Why, my 
 Christian brother, on what principle ? ' ' We want room,' is the 
 reply. Sir, look at this pretense of the want of room ; with 
 twenty millions of people, you have one thousand millions of 
 acres of unappropriated land, upon which any one who wants 
 a farm can ' squat,' and secure a good one for one dollar and 
 twenty-five cents per acre. But the Senator from Michigan 
 says our population will in a few years be two hundred mil- 
 lions, and we want room for them, therefore we must have Cali- 
 fornia. If I were a Mexican I would ask, ' Have you not room 
 in your own country to bury your dead ? If you come to 
 mine, we will greet you with bloody hands and welcome you 
 to hospitable graves.' 
 
 " You want ' more room' ! This has been the plea of every 
 robber from Nimrod to the present day. I dare say when 
 Tamerlane descended from a throne built of seventy thousand 
 skulls, and led his blood-thirsty legions to further slaughter, 
 he wanted * more room! Bajazet was another of those fellows 
 who wanted ' more room f and Mister Alexander, the Mace- 
 donian madman, of kindred tastes with the Anglo-Saxon, went 
 to India with his army in search of ' more room^ and fought a 
 bloody battle on the very ground where recently England and 
 the Sikhs engaged in another, the contest being also, as for- 
 merly, for ' more room! " 
 
 The declaration of Mr. Corwin, that if he were a Mexican 
 he would greet us with bloody hands and welcome us to 
 hospitable graves, brought down the whole Democratic press 
 in a chorus of indignant denunciations, charging him with 
 treason, being an enemy to his country, etc. But was there 
 anything unpatriotic in this sentiment ? He was condemning 
 our seizing Mexican territory unjustifiably. Suppose any for- 
 eign nation had seized, in like manner, a portion of our terri- 
 tory, would not Americans greet their invaders with bloody 
 hands and welcome them to hospitable graves ? And would 
 it not be patriotic in them to do so ? Why, then, not patriotic 
 in Mexicans ? And if patriotic in them, why not in Mr, 
 Corwin, if lie were a Mexican ? Many a Northern-born man, 
 
TOM COKWI.Y. 
 
 315 
 
 settled at the South, greeted the Union soldiers with bloody 
 hands and welcomed them to hospitable graves during the 
 Rebellion, as we did Southern soldiers who invaded Pennsyl- 
 vania, particularly at Gettysburg. 
 
 "TOM CORWIN." 
 
 The name of no distinguished American is more familiar to 
 the American ear than that of " Tom Corwin :" not Thomas 
 Corwin, or Governor Corwin, or Senator Corwin, but plain, 
 familiar " Tom Corwin." 
 
 And why was Tom Corwin so universally known, admired, 
 and loved ? Because he was a man of extraordinary powers. 
 Endowed by nature with a deep substratum of solid common 
 sense and sound judgment, with an intuitive perception of the 
 inner workings of men's hearts and ruling passions, he had 
 a wonderfully quick perception of whatever was comic, absurd, 
 or ludicrous. His mind, like a mirror, received these im- 
 pressions, and reflected them to others through his thoughts 
 and words, which became humor, wit, or sarcasm, according 
 to circumstances, — sometimes of the most refined and delicate 
 character, more often of a coarser grain. It seemed as im- 
 possible for him to prevent his mind giving off in flashes the 
 images thus cast upon it, as for the mirror upon which falls 
 the sun's rays from flashing them off with blinding brilliance. 
 Hence it appeared as if he delighted and sought opportunities 
 to indulge in witty or scorching remarks to bring forth the 
 guffaws of a multitude or excite the genial mirth of .a select 
 social circle. And he thus became more noted for his wit and 
 happy repartees than for the more solid mental powers which 
 he largely possessed. 
 
 Gratif;fing as it was to him to set a crowd wild with laughter, 
 or to create merriment among a few friends, or throw so dig- 
 nified a body as the Senate of the United States into a fit of 
 laughter, it was mortifying to him to bear the character of a 
 wit, a joker, a teller of good stories, rather than that of a 
 statesman and a jurist. 
 
 His complexion was quite dark, resembling that of a Portu- 
 guese or a West Indian ; and he often related amusing anec- 
 
3i6 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 dotes of his being taken for a " cullud pusson" by both whites 
 and blacks, and by the former refused entrance into cars, 
 steamers, or pubh'c places, where colored people were not 
 allowed to go under the old state of things. 
 
 Mr. Simmons, of Rhode Island, took the ground that the wai' 
 might have been avoided, and referred to the President's mes- 
 sage of December 2, 1845, to show that he then considered the 
 Valley of the Nueces as the frontier of Mexico. In his mes- 
 sage he said he had stationed the army on the frojitier of 
 Mexico. Where were they stationed ? Why, at Corpus 
 Christi, — "on the frontier of Mexico." 
 
 It was most extraordinary, he thought, that a nation should 
 insist on indemnity for the expenses of the war she herself had 
 made, and yet be willing to pay the nation she claimed indem- 
 nity from the sum of three millions to make peace with her ! 
 He did not like the idea of buying Mexico ; there was some- 
 thing degrading in it to us. Neither did he wish to degrade 
 Mexico by buying her up, or despoiling her of her territory. 
 We should be just to her, and even liberal. We ought to 
 say candidly and frankly that we did not intend despoiling 
 her. Such a declaration would place us right before the 
 world, and go far towards inducing her to do right. He feared 
 that impartial men in all parts of the world would look at our 
 statement and at hers, and decide against us in this contest. 
 He feared that the aspirations of all good men, when they knelt 
 at the altar, would go up to the God of justice in behalf of the 
 weak and helpless nation upon which we had made war ! The 
 small calculation which counted out acres at a dollar and a 
 quarter was unworthy of a great nation. A hundred millions, 
 nay, untold hundreds of millions, were not to be weighed in 
 the balance against national honor and character, against the 
 opinion of the world : an untarnished national honor, a lofty 
 national character, the good opinion of mankind, were not to 
 be estimated by dollars : they were inappreciable ; and such he 
 desired his country to possess and cherish. 
 
JAMES F. SIMMONS. 3 i y 
 
 JAMES F. SIMMONS. 
 
 The Senator from Rhode Island, of whose manly, elevated, 
 and patriotic speech I have just given a brief account, was, 
 to use a common expression, "a self-made" statesman; that is 
 to say, he was neither born nor nurtured in the lap of luxury, 
 nor educated in any collegiate or academic institution. He 
 belonged to that class of public men who are the peculiar prod- 
 uct of our liberal institutions, which open the road for intellect, 
 merit, and energy to the highest positions in the government. 
 
 Indebted to the beneficent Creator for strong mental powers, 
 engaged from time to time in different branches of industry, — a 
 farmer, machinist, merchant, manufacturer, banker. State legis- 
 lator, United States Senator, — he had had great experience in 
 business affairs, and had accumulated a fund of information rela- 
 tive thereto. He was without a rival in all that regards the in- 
 dustrial condition and resources of our country, — information 
 invaluable to him in legislating for the public interests. Fre- 
 quently brought in contact, in debate, with Mr. Calhoun, Mr. 
 McDuffie, and other Southern Senators, their elaborate and 
 fine-spun theories were before his battery of facts as mere cob- 
 houses, and were scattered like thistle-down by the wind. 
 These Southern doctrinaire gentlemen found him the most 
 "troublesome customer" and dangerous antagonist they met 
 in the Senate, as his powers of discrimination could at once 
 detect any fallacy in their reasoning, and his own clear head 
 and practical knowledge enabled him to expose their errors 
 and sophistical arguments. 
 
 He had a remarkable memory for facts, which were not with 
 him mere dry, worthless chips, but matters of significance, from 
 which principles and future results were to be educed, and 
 the future judged of, — finger-boards to point the way to states- 
 men, but which many in public life have not the power or the 
 wish to read. 
 
 Though not an easy or fluent speaker, but, on the contrary, 
 often embarrassed and hesitating, through his great modesty 
 and diffidence, with a rather rustic manner while speaking, 
 few had his power of chaining the attention of Senators, or of 
 
3i8 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 enlightening them to the same extent upon subjects of finance, 
 the tariff, manufactures, and business affairs generally. With 
 all his hesitancy and ungainliness of manner, he sometimes 
 became extremely eloquent, as he did on the occasion I have 
 just mentioned, and more especially on a former occasion, when 
 depicting the effect of some unwise action of Congress in re- 
 gard to the tariff, which depopulated whole villages in Rhode 
 Island of their industrious population, — dozens of families, 
 grandparents, parents, children, and grandchildren, starting 
 together for the West ; reluctantly and mournfully leaving 
 their heretofore happy hearths and homes, where they could 
 no longer find employment; driven away by the action of an 
 unwise government, as were a large portion of the industrious 
 and skilled population of France by that most unwise act of a 
 bigoted king, the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Such was 
 the pathos of Mr. Simmons's description of the exodus from 
 Rhode Island of skilled laborers, witnessed personally by 
 himself, that an involuntary tear stood in the eyes of many 
 Senators, even Mr. Calhoun himself being deeply moved. He 
 was one of the few men whom Mr. Clay consulted in regard to 
 public afifairs, especially questions relating to finance, revenue, 
 the tariff, etc., and for whom I know he entertained a high re- 
 gard. Of a social, genial disposition, few were more sincerely 
 esteemed for their high qualities of both head and heart. 
 
 MR. Calhoun's slavery resolutions. — he denies the right 
 
 OF congress to prohibit slavery in a territory. A " NEW 
 
 DEPARTURE." 
 
 On the 19th of February, Mr. Calhoun submitted to the 
 Senate a series of resolutions, — four in number, — which must 
 be taken as a new manifesto of the South, and their ultimatum 
 to the North, — this, or disunion. 
 
 The first declared that the Territories of the United States 
 belong to the several States, and are their joint property. 
 
 The second, that Congress has no right to do any act that 
 shall make any discrimination between the States of this Union 
 in regard to their interests in any territory acquired or to be 
 acquired. 
 
CALHOUN'S SLAVERY RESOLUTIONS. 3x9 
 
 The third, that the enactment of any law which should 
 directly or indirectly deprive the citizens of any State from 
 emigrating zuitJi their property into any Territory will make 
 such discrimination, and would therefore be a violation of the 
 Constitution and the rights of the States. 
 
 The fourth, that no other restriction can be imposed upon a 
 Territory or the people thereof, as a condition of admission into 
 the Union as a State, than that its Constitution shall be repub- 
 lican. 
 
 I have not given the exact words, but the above is the pur- 
 port of these resolutions. Mr. Benton immediately pronounced 
 them " fire-brands." 
 
 Mr. Calhoun accompanied his resolutions by a well-prepared 
 speech, which was intended to be a trumpet-call to the South 
 to rally as a unit to the support of slavery, and resist any attempt 
 to put a stop to its extension into free territory to be acquired, 
 as California and New Mexico were free territory. He en- 
 deavored to touch the pride of Southern men by representing 
 that if they were denied the right to take their slaves with them 
 into any such territory, it would be treating them as inferiors. 
 " It was a great, a solemn question for their constituents to de- 
 cide. He would give no advice ; but, for one, he would rather 
 meet any extremity than give up one inch of what belonged to 
 them as members of this great republic. What! acknowl- 
 edged inferiority ! The surrender of life is nothing to sinking 
 down into acknowledged inferiority!" 
 
 These resolutions thus thrown into the seething cauldron of 
 debate did not go unnoticed. The latter part of the speech of 
 Mr. Simmons, on the Three-Million bill, which I have briefly 
 noticed, was an earnest and forcible reply to the charge made 
 by Mr. Calhoun that the non-slaveholding States were pursuing 
 an aggressive policy towards the slaveholding States. Mr. Sim- 
 mons expressed his surprise that the Senator from South Caro- 
 lina should have asserted that Congress has not a right to 
 exclude slavery from their own Territories. He stated a signifi- 
 cant fact which he thought important ; namely, that when the 
 Constitution was formed and adopted, the United States held 
 no territory into which a slaveholder had a right to go and hold 
 
320 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 his slaves. The framers of the Constitution did not then deem 
 it unjust to the South, nor unconstitutional, to exclude slaves 
 from the Territories belonging to the United States. To this he 
 called particular attention, and asked if it were not a fact. 
 
 Mr. Webster.—" Certainly." 
 
 Mr. Simmons desired to know of Mr. Calhoun if we had not 
 as much right to take cognizance of the subject of slavery in 
 our own Territories — to take means to prevent it — as we had to 
 adopt a course of policy as a nation to prevent the abolition of 
 slavery in a foreign state. He alluded to the exceptions taken 
 by Mr. Calhoun to Lord Aberdeen's letter, and the steps which 
 he, as part of the administration of Mr. Tyler, took to bring 
 about the annexation of Texas, in order to prevent the abo- 
 lition of slavery there. The Senator from South Carolina was 
 completely cornered. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun, unfortunately for himself, lacked consistency : 
 ever assuming new positions and proclaiming new dogmas to 
 fit new occasions, he sometimes found himself directly in con- 
 flict with himself, as Mr. Simmons showed him to be on this 
 occasion. 
 
 The resolutions were at once sent to all the slave States, and 
 adopted by most of them, virtually so by the whole; "and 
 then commenced," says Mr. Benton, " the great slavery agita- 
 tion, founded upon the dogma of no pozvcrin Congress to legis- 
 late upon slavery in tJie Territories', which has led to the abrogation 
 of the Missouri Compromise line, — which filled the Union with 
 distraction, — and which is threatening to bring all Federal legis- 
 lation and all Federal elections to a mere sectional struggle, in 
 which one half of the States is to be arrayed against the other." 
 This was Mr. Benton's utterance in 1856. He did not live to 
 see the final issue of this " struggle," a bloody conflict and the 
 abolition of slavery. 
 
 Mr. Benton replied to Mr. Calhoun in a spirit, tone, and 
 manner which accorded with his denunciations of the resolu- 
 tions as " fire-brands." 
 
 Mr. Webster addressed the Senate on the Three-Million bill, 
 and spoke with more than usual impressiveness. " In the 
 present posture of affairs and of parties," said Mr. Webster, " we 
 
WEBSTER'S FOREBODINGS. 
 
 321 
 
 may well look back upon the past. Within a year or two after 
 Texas had achieved its independence, there were those who 
 already spoke of its annexation to the United States. Against 
 that project I felt it to be my duty to take an early and decided 
 course. The prudence of Mr. Van Buren stifled the project for 
 a time ; but in the latter part of Mr. Tyler's administration it 
 was revived. Sir, the transactions and occurrences from that 
 time onward till the measure was finally consummated, in De- 
 cember, 1845, are matters of history and record. That history 
 and that record can neither be falsified nor erased. . . . 
 
 " The party in the North which calls itself, by way of dis- 
 tinction and eminence, the ' Liberty party,' opposed with all its 
 force the election of the Whig candidate in 1844, when it had 
 the power of assisting and securing the election of that candi- 
 date and of preventing Mr. Polk's election, and when it was as 
 clear and visible as the sun at noonday that Mr. Polk's election 
 would bring slaveholding Texas into the Union. No man can 
 deny this. 
 
 " Sir, I fear we are not yet arrived at the beginning of the 
 end. I pretend to see but little of the future, and that little 
 gives no gratification. All I can see is contention, strife, and 
 aeitation. . . . Sir, the future is full of difficulties and full of 
 dangers." 
 
 Mr. Webster's fears of the then future were no illusions. All 
 he could see in that future was contention, strife, and agitation. 
 They came ; but he did not live to witness or take part in that 
 strife, that bloody strife, into which the country was even then 
 fast drifting. 
 
 Mr. Evans, Mr. Badger, General Cass, and other Senators 
 took part in the discussion of the bill, which was finally passed 
 without the Wilmot Proviso. It then went back to the House, 
 where it was finally passed without the Proviso. 
 
 SENATORS WHO NOW LEFT THE SENATE. 
 
 Among the Senators who now left Congress, never again to 
 return, were Messrs. Archer, of Virginia; Thomas Clayton, of 
 DelaAvare ; Chester Ashley, of Arkansas; Lewis Cass and Wm. 
 Woodbridge, of Michigan ; George Evans, of Maine ; James S. 
 
 \ 
 
322 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Morehead, of Kentucky ; and Jesse B. Speight, of North Caro- 
 lina. The term of Mr. James F. Simmons, of Rhode Island, 
 also expired, but he was elected again United States Senator, 
 and entered the Thirty-Fifth Congress, after ten years' absence. 
 
 Of Mr. Evans and Mr. Simmons it was then said, " Possess- 
 ing minds of the first order, enlarged views, and clear under- 
 standings, — practical and industrious, — their absence from the 
 Senate will be seriously felt. Both are particularly able and 
 well informed in all matters relating to finance, commerce, trade, 
 and manufactures, — subjects which so few, so very few, public 
 men comprehend. Their places cannot be filled by their 
 respective States ; nor, indeed, by any other State or States. 
 The absence of such men from the Senate is a national loss." 
 
 There was a general feeling of regret in commercial and 
 manufacturing circles that services so honorable to the ex- 
 Senators and so beneficial to the country should be brought 
 to a close. 
 
 Mr. Wm. S. Archer, of Virginia, was a high-toned gentleman 
 bred and born, one of the true chivalry of the South and of the 
 " F. F. V.'s ;" much esteemed by Senators, and especially by 
 Mr. Clay. He associated freely, however, with but few, hold- 
 ing himself aloof — as Randolph did — from all save those who 
 were in some way distinguished. Coarseness of manners, the 
 absence of refinement, and inattention to or non-observance 
 of those courtesies of life which are its ornament, were to him 
 abominations to be avoided. He endeavored to be refined and 
 choice in his language, and in this endeavor habitually used 
 what some very expressively style " dictionary words," a habit 
 which made him appear pedantic and was the source of much 
 amusement to his friends. His ideas did not fiiow smoothly, 
 clothed as they were in "words of awful length and thundering 
 sound ;" and it was sometimes no easy matter to comprehend 
 his meaning. The following anecdote gives a better idea and 
 illustration of the man in this respect than any description pos- 
 sibly could. 
 
 " What sort of a fellow is this new Virginia Senator?" asked 
 Mr. Webster of Colonel Preston, of South Carolina, after dining 
 in company with Mr. Archer. " Do you know him ?" 
 
THOMAS CLAYTON. 
 
 323 
 
 " Yes," replied Colonel Preston, " very well ; and a very- 
 clever fellow he is. What do yoii think of him ?" 
 
 "Why," said Mr. Webster, "I dined with him to-day, and 
 think him a preposterous aggregation of heterogeneous para- 
 doxes and perdurable peremptorences." 
 
 A description so graphic in imitation of Mr. Archer's own 
 peculiar use of words, that Colonel Preston laughed till he 
 could hardly stand. 
 
 In his social intercourse Mr. Archer had the nicest sense of 
 propriety, and a just appreciation of what was due to others 
 as well as to himself Every law and usage of etiquette was 
 scrupulously observed, and thus his social accounts were kept 
 well balanced. 
 
 It seemed as if a considerable portion of the best men in the 
 Senate were now leaving it, never to return. As I have men- 
 tioned, Mr. Thomas Clayton was one of those who now took a 
 final leave of that body. He was one of the few Senators who 
 were rarely heard in debate ; but, though remarkably taciturn, 
 he exercised great influence on members. Urbane in his in- 
 tercourse with his brother Senators, his opinions were very 
 decidedly expressed and firmly maintained ; immovable as 
 Mont Blanc, no consideration of policy, no hope of gaining 
 any temporary political advantage, could induce him to swerve 
 the thousandth part of a hair from the path of rectitude, or 
 yield for an instant a fixed principle. To find himself alone 
 in his vote was the same to him as if the whole Senate voted 
 with him. No ambition affected, no interest could tempt him. 
 As he never spoke, the public knew little of him ; but he might 
 well be called, as he was, the Aristides of the Senate. He was 
 one of the three Senators who would not proclaim a lie to the 
 world by voting for the preamble declaring that ivar existed 
 by the act of Mexico, though they might be denounced as un- 
 patriotic for refusing to vote for supplies for the army. Such 
 denunciations had no terrors for him. 
 
 In Governor Woodbridge, another of the outgoing Senators, 
 were eminently combined the wisdom of the sage, the expe- 
 rience of age, the simplicity of a child, and the affection of a 
 woman. His mild and attractive countenance and pleasant 
 
324 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 voice at once gave assurance of a benevolent heart and a 
 kindly disposition. Purity and probity beamed in his coun- 
 tenance and inspired respect, which, in those who had much 
 social intercourse with him, soon ripened into warmer feelings. 
 With all these lovable qualities, united with a calm, modest 
 demeanor, he combined a solid judgment, clear views, and 
 tenacity of purpose. To know Governor Woodbridge was to 
 love him: he was so kind, so mild-spoken, so fatherly, so enter- 
 taining in his conversation, having had a varied experience 
 of Western life, — of life on the borders of civilization, — which 
 furnished him with stores of rich anecdotes, that one never 
 wearied of listening to his pleasant voice. It was with deep 
 regret that those with whom he had so long associated in the 
 Senate now took final leave of him ; even his political oppo- 
 nents felt sad at parting with one so gentle, so free from all 
 asperity, — one whom they no less respected than loved. Who 
 could see such men leave the councils of the nation without a 
 feeling of sadness ? 
 
 James S. Morehead, of Kentucky. Having belonged to the 
 same mess during the long session of 1844, — the mess consist- 
 ing of Judge Mangum, then President of the Senate, Governor 
 Morehead, James F. Simmons, Spencer Jarnigan, and myself, 
 all Senators but one, — I cannot permit one for whom I enter- 
 tain so high an esteem to pass away wholly unnoticed. Gov- 
 ernor Morehead won friends among all with whom he associated ; 
 while his efforts in the Senate on the questions of the bank, the 
 protective tariff, Oregon, the Compromise of 1850, the French 
 Spoliation bill, the veto power, the annexation of Texas, and 
 his elaborate and very able report on the Presidential power of 
 removal from office, — " civil service," — established his reputa- 
 tion for high abilities, unwearied industry, and sound judgment. 
 The Senatorial colleague first of Mr. Clay, and then of Mr. Crit- 
 tenden, young as he was in years and Senatorial life, he stood 
 by their side no unworthy associate of men of such eminence 
 and fame. The devoted friend of both, he modestly looked 
 up to them for counsel and advice, relying, however, upon his 
 own abilities to win for himself the character of a valuable 
 public servant. Both held him in high esteem as a man, and 
 
BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA. 
 
 325 
 
 as a co-representative of their gallant State ; and their manner 
 towards him was more than friendly, — it was affectionate. 
 
 BATTLE OF BUENA VISTA. 
 
 A large portion of General Taylor's troops having been 
 withdrawn from him after the capture of Monterey, including 
 all the regulars in his army, in order to form an army of in- 
 vasion under General Scott, to enter Mexico at Vera Cruz, 
 much anxiety was felt in regard to the safety of General Taylor 
 and his little army of volunteers, especially after it was known 
 that he had advanced to and taken Saltillo, and pushed forward 
 to Agua Nueva, in advance of Buena Vista, and that Santa Anna 
 was advancing against him at the head of an army of twenty 
 thousand well-appointed veteran troops. 
 
 As time wore on, this anxiety became intense, especially 
 among the friends and relatives of the volunteers, who were 
 nearly all from the Western and Southwestern States. At length 
 rumors of a great battle came floating on the breeze, which 
 tended to increase the anxiety, as no definite result was re- 
 ported. Soon, however, the public mind was relieved by the 
 arrival of a courier (young Crittenden) sent by General Taylor 
 to Washington with the cheering report of a great victory. 
 Though the victory had been won at the cost of an unusually 
 large number of killed and wounded, including among the 
 former many gallant officers of high esteem and influence at 
 home, whose loss the country could not but deplore, the victory 
 itself, dearly purchased as it was, spread universal joy over the 
 land. 
 
 The battle — of two days' duration, fought on the 2 2d and 
 23d of February, desperately contested, prolific of chivalric 
 incidents and gallant exploits — was a proud one for the nation, 
 and crowned the general and his brave little army with honor 
 and glory. Among those best known and most esteemed 
 whose lives purchased the glorious victory at Buena Vista 
 were Colonels Clay (Henry, Jr.), Hardin, and McKee, and 
 Lieutenant Lincoln, son of Governor Levi Lincoln, of Mas- 
 sachusetts. Colonel Jefferson Davis, who commanded a regi- 
 ment of Mississippi volunteers, and fought gallantly, was among 
 
326 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 the wounded. Had he been- among the slain, he would- have 
 dfed^-the death of a patriot, instead of filling, as he now wrl-1, 
 the grave of a rebel. The country was wild with delight, and 
 proud of the unyielding bravery of its volunteers. They had 
 for two days resisted, and finally repelled, the charges of four 
 times their numbers of veteran troops, under the ablest Mexi- 
 can general, Santa Anna himself, whose hasty retreat, bag and 
 baggage, on the night of the second day, leaving his dead and 
 wounded, in number nearly equal to our army, to the care of 
 those he came to conquer and whose surrender he demanded, 
 was an acknowledgment of defeat. 
 
 General Taylor had been ordered by the government to fall 
 back upon Monterey ; but, knowing that Buena Vista was his 
 true Thermopylae, — the strongest position on the line of the 
 enemy's advance, — he refused to abandon it for a less tenable 
 one, and wisely determined to check Santa Anna's advance at 
 that point. The result justified his decision, and proved his 
 skill as a general. 
 
 No important events occurred on this frontier after this 
 battle, the seat of war now being on the line from Vera Cruz 
 to Mexico, and around the latter city. 
 
 GENERAL SCOTT'S CAREER IN MEXICO. 
 
 Having secured himself, as he supposed, against " a fire in 
 the rear," General Scott was, at his own request, placed in 
 command of an army which was to be landed at Vera Cruz 
 and marched to the city of Mexico. To create this army a 
 large portion of the troops under General Taylor were with- 
 drawn from him, including all the regulars, and transported 
 to Vera Cruz, to join other troops raised for the invasion of 
 Mexico. 
 
 The landing of the army was gallantly accomplished, and the 
 city immediately invested, and in a short time taken. General 
 Scott then commenced his march, and was met by the Mexican 
 army, intrenched at Cerro Gordo. A severe battle ensued, a 
 glorious victory was won by the American troops, and the line 
 of march again resumed towards "the halls of the Montezumas," 
 between which and " the army of invasion" stood Contreras, 
 
GENERAL SCOTT S CAREER IN MEXICO. 
 
 327 
 
 Churubusco, Molino del Rey, and Chapultepec, each made 
 memorable by victories which crowned our arms, and won for 
 the commanding general the admiration not only of his coun- 
 trymen, but of all Europe, and the reputation of being the 
 most consummate commander of the age. Not a single repulse 
 checked his brilliant career: like Marlborough, all his battles 
 were victories, followed by an advance, until " the city of the 
 Montezumas," if not "the halls," was entered by the conqueror, 
 who from thence dictated laws to the conquered, which were 
 so rigidly enforced, and order so well preserved, that peace, 
 quiet, and protection pervaded the land, — blessings heretofore, 
 and since, almost unknown to the unfortunate Mexicans. 
 
 General Scott was delayed at Puebla for a considerable time, 
 waiting for reinforcements to enable him to advance, the army 
 and himself meantime impatient of delay and not in the best 
 humor towards the government, whose fault it was. But rein- 
 forcements at length arrived, and the advance was resumed. 
 
 Meantime, a clerk in the State Department, Mr. N. P. Trist, 
 was sent to Mexico to sound the government in regard to a 
 treaty of peace, and with an ultimatum from our government. 
 Arriving at the head-quarters of the army, without calling 
 on and paying his respects to the commander-in-chief, he 
 modestly requested the latter to forward from him to the 
 Mexican government sealed packages the contents or purport 
 of which were wholly unknown to the general ! This was, 
 of course, refused. It was virtually an attempt to supersede 
 General Scott ; to negotiate an armistice, or cessation of hos- 
 tilities, irrespective of the general in the field, — an unheard- 
 of transaction, and a gross insult to the general. Eventually, 
 however, Mr. Trist was permitted to hold communication with 
 the Mexican government, and to communicate the proposition 
 of our own for a treaty of peace. Three commissioners were 
 appointed, after the capture of the city of Mexico and the 
 downfall of Santa Anna, to meet and negotiate with him, — 
 not a minister, not an envoy, but a kind of commissioner, and 
 a shrewd man. After some months' delay, these negotiations 
 resulted in a treaty. By this Mexico ceded to the United 
 States New Mexico and California, and fixed the Rio Grande 
 
328 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 as the boundary of Texas, the United States agreeing to pay 
 Mexico fifteen millions of dollars. 
 
 " The claims of American citizens against Mexico," says 
 Colonel Benton, "were all assumed, limited to three and a 
 quarter millions of dollars, which, considering that the war 
 ostensibly originated in these claims, was a very small sum. 
 . . . The treaty was a singular conclusion of the war. Un- 
 dertaken to get indemnity for claims, the United States paid 
 those claims herself. Fifteen millions of dollars were the full 
 price of New Mexico and California, — the same that was paid 
 for all Louisiana; so that, with the claims assumed, the amount 
 paid for the Territories and the expenses of the war, the acqui- 
 sitions were made at a dear rate. The same amount paid to 
 Mexico without the war, and by treating her respectfully, in 
 treating for a boundary to Texas, might have obtained the 
 same cessions." 
 
 However dear the rate at which we obtained New Mexico 
 and California might be considered at that time, and by Colo- 
 nel Benton ten years after, no American now considers the 
 acquisition of those Territories a dear bargain. To us, as a 
 nation, they are of inestimable value, — a value not to be meas- 
 ured by any number of thousands of millions; though Colonel 
 Benton is probably right in saying that all we obtained from 
 Mexico might have been obtained for the same amount with- 
 out a war with her. 
 
 The war and its results had disappointed Mr. Polk and his 
 administration. It had been long, sanguinary, and costly, 
 instead of being brief and bloodless, as had been expected. 
 " Instead of getting a peace through the restoration of Santa 
 Anna," says Colonel Benton, " that formidable chieftain had to 
 be vanquished and expelled before negotiations could be com- 
 menced." It was making, and had made, great military repu- 
 tations for fW//^ generals, — the last thing in the world Mr. Polk 
 would have been instrumental in doing if he could have helped 
 it. It was making Whig candidates, and, worst of all, a suc- 
 cessful candidate, for the Presidency. Again I quote Colonel 
 Benton : 
 
 " Great discontent was breaking out at home. The Congress 
 
GENERAL SCOTT'S CAREER IN MEXICO. 320 
 
 elections were going against the administration, and the as- 
 pirants for the Presidency in the cabinet were struck with 
 terror at the view of the great military reputations which were 
 growing up. The very successes of the American arms were 
 becoming alarming to them : hence the anxious desire of 
 Mr. Polk now to close the war. It was done by the treaty 
 signed by Mr. Trist, on behalf of the United States, and three 
 INIexican plenipotentiaries, which stands thus signed on the 
 statute-book. But two ministers plenipotentiary and envoys 
 extraordinary, Senator Sevier and Mr. Clifford, of Maine, now 
 a Justice of the Supreme Court, were sent to Mexico to treat 
 for peace, and found the work already done. They had the 
 honor, however, of bringing home Mr. Trist's treaty, which was 
 ratified by the Senate : a treaty they had no hand in making." 
 And how was Mr. Trist treated? "Certainly," says Colonel 
 Benton, " those who served the government well in that war 
 with Mexico fared badly with the administration. Taylor, 
 who had vanquished at Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Mon- 
 terey, and Buena V^ista, was quarreled with ; Scott, who re- 
 moved the obstacles to peace, and subdued the Mexican mind 
 to peace, was superseded in the command of the army ; . . . 
 and Trist, who made the treaty which secured the objects of 
 the war, was recalled and dismissed." 
 
 The military reputation which General Scott so greatly in- 
 creased, and that which General Taylor won, were the fruits of 
 Presidential folly and blindness. The jealousy and cruel usage 
 of General Scott, had the government been a despotism, might 
 have made his fate that of the renowned warrior under Jus- 
 tinian, Belisarius. After winning, by his splendid achievements, 
 the highest reputation as a successful general, after carrying 
 our victorious arms to the gates of Mexico, taking and occu- 
 pying the city, — never in a single instance suffering a reverse, 
 — he was superseded in the command of the army, arrested 
 on the field of his glory, surrounded by officers devotedly at- 
 tached to him and an army that idolized him, ordered before 
 a court of inquiry, and finally home, to be tried on charges 
 as groundless as they were malicious. But, after a tedious 
 and perplexing trial, — himself prostrated and suffering severely 
 Vol. II. 22 
 
^^n PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 from a disease (camp dysentery) contracted in the performance 
 of his duty in camp life, — the charges were withdrawn and the 
 court dissolved, though he challenged a trial. If he was not 
 honorably acquitted of every charge by the court, he had been, 
 from the beginning, by the indignant and sympathizing Ameri- 
 can people. The important and stirring events I have alluded 
 to in Mexico — the advance of our army from Vera Cruz to the 
 city of Mexico, and the series of bloody conflicts and victories 
 marking its progress — kept the country in a state of great ex- 
 citement, though not in anxiety, as the eminent abilities of 
 Scott as a commander gave assurance that he would finally 
 " conquer a peace," and that no backward step would be taken 
 till " the city of the Montezumas" was won, and the war honor- 
 ably closed by a treaty dictated from its citadel ; all which was 
 done. 
 
 As some compensation to General Scott for what he had 
 been made to suffer. Congress, on the 9th of March, passed a 
 vote of thanks to him and the army he had commanded, and 
 awarded him a gold medal for his great services. 
 
 WHIG NATIONAL CONVENTION, 1 848. 
 
 The Whig National Convention was held at Philadelphia, 
 on the 7th day of June, 1848, where a warm contest ensued 
 between the friends of Mr. Clay and those of General Taylor, 
 which was, after a number of ballotings for them and other 
 candidates, decided in favor of General Taylor. Mr. Fillmore 
 was nominated as Vice-President. 
 
 MEETING OF THE THIRTIETH CONGRESS. 
 
 The Thirtieth Congress met on the first Monday of Decem- 
 ber, 1847, and, a majority of the House being Whig, was organ- 
 ized by the election of Robert C. Winthrop, of Massachusetts, 
 Speaker, Thomas Jefferson Campbell, of Tennessee, Clerk, 
 Nathan Sargent, of Pennsylvania, Sergeant-at-Arms, and Rob- 
 ert E. Horner, of New Jersey, Door-keeper. 
 
 A futiire President was a member of that House, yet no one 
 surmised the fact, and perhaps the last one to suspect such a 
 thing was the individual himself Mr. Lincoln was then more 
 
DEATH OP JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. -y^y^ 
 
 noted for telling stories, and for his hearty laugh at and keen 
 enjoyment of his own and others', than he was for his oratory, 
 or the part he took in the business of the House. He was fond 
 of fun and humor, was ever ready to match another's story by 
 one of his own, and if a heart}^ laugh draws a nail from one's 
 coffin, there could have been none left in his. He was genial 
 and liked ; but no one would have pointed him out as the future 
 President, if called upon to select the man who was to be from 
 among the members. Nor do I believe that he, if told to point 
 out the future President then in that body, would have thought 
 it possible that the lot was to fall to him. 
 
 And there was yet another in that body who was destined, by 
 a most shocking and lamentable tragedy, to occupy the Presi- 
 dential chair. Who could then have imagined the occurrence 
 of such a marvelous concatenation of circumstances as would 
 place Andrew Johnson, a most radical Democrat, on the ticket, 
 as Vice-President, with Abraham Lincoln, a staunch Whig, as 
 President ! Truly the whirligig of politics makes strange bed- 
 fellows. Johnson was the antipodes of Lincoln, not only in 
 politics, but in everything else. He was taciturn, ungenial, 
 utterly devoid of humor, had no relish for a story, and no 
 capacity to tell one ; was as grave as a tomb-stone, and as 
 guiltless of a loud, hearty laugh as an undertaker at a funeral. 
 And yet those two opposites were brought together, for a short 
 period, by the terrible events which could not then have been 
 dreamed of, as President and Vice-President of the United 
 States ! 
 
 DEATH OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 
 
 In the House of Representatives, on the 2 1st of February, 
 1848, while petitions were being presented, suddenly there was 
 a cry of "Mr. Adams! Mr. Adams!" and a rush of a number 
 of members to his seat. The House was in great commotion, 
 every eye being directed to his seat, and every countenance 
 expressing intense anxiety. 
 
 Mr. Adams had in his hand a number of petitions, which he 
 was about to present, and had begun to rise from his seat for 
 that purpose, when he was struck with apoplexy, and came 
 
332 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 near falling, catching hold of his desk to sustain himself, but 
 unable to do so. The member sitting next to him, across a 
 passage, seeing him falling, gave the alarm, and caught him 
 instantly. There was no mistaking his condition, and he was 
 immediately laid upon a sofa and first carried into the rotunda, 
 and then into the Speaker's room, where a bed was quickly im- 
 provised, on which he was placed, and physicians sent for ; but 
 he was already beyond their skill. 
 
 He was not, at first, entirely insensible, but seemed to have 
 a consciousness of his situation. He attempted to speak, but 
 his speech was so low and indistinct that it was almost impos- 
 sible to make out what he intended to say ; but his colleague, 
 Mr. Ashmun, who was assisting to place him on a sofa, 
 thought he said, "last of earth — content;" intending to say, 
 " This is the last of earth — I am content." But he almost imme- 
 diately became wholly unconscious, and so remained till the 
 vital breath left him. Members returned to the hall, only to 
 disperse immediately by an adjournment, the Senate having 
 also adjourned. The melancholy tidings spread with great 
 rapidity through the city, and were telegraphed to every part 
 of the Union. 
 
 The House met at the usual hour the next day, but only to 
 adjourn, as Mr. Adams still continued to breathe, and so con- 
 tinued until about ten o'clock p.m. on the 23d. Being Ser- 
 geant-at-arms of the House, I was in almost constant attend- 
 ance. About nine o'clock I was sent for by the Speaker, who 
 thought the moment of dissolution was near, and that it was 
 proper for the ofificers of the House to be present. I imme- 
 diately repaired to the Capitol, and was present when Mr. 
 Adams drew his last breath. 
 
 Having, as Sergeant-at-arms, the carrying out of the general 
 arrangements of the funeral, the Speaker (Mr. Winthrop) re- 
 marked to me that, Mr. Adams being an ex-President, as well 
 as a member of the House, and having filled many important 
 stations, those arrangements should be consistent with his long 
 and eminent public services and his reputation as a statesman. 
 The suggestion was regarded and carried out. The funeral- 
 car used on the occasion of General Harrison's obsequies was 
 
 \ 
 
DEATH OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 333 
 
 called into requisition, and was now, as then, drawn by six 
 white horses. 
 
 Mr. Adams's death was formally announced to the House 
 by the Speaker on the morning of the 24th, and consider- 
 ing the long period he had been in the public service, — full 
 sixty years, — and the various high stations he had filled, it was 
 thought proper to depart from the usual custom of confining 
 remarks upon the death of a member of the House to one or 
 two persons. It was therefore arranged that eulogistic remarks 
 should be made by some five or six gentlemen, representing 
 different sections and political parties of the country. 
 
 On the day of the funeral the hall was filled to its utmost 
 capacity, and the ceremonies were deeply impressive. 
 
 Mr. Adams's death at once removed all that feeling of as- 
 perity which had been created in the bosoms of some by the 
 frequent collisions between himself and them on the subject of 
 slavery, and by his consistent and persistent sustainment of the 
 right of petition. Upon calm reflection, every one had to admit 
 that the course of the venerable and illustrious statesman, 
 scholar, and patriot was governed by principle, and to that he 
 adhered with unyielding tenacity. Wherever that led he fol- 
 lowed, regardless of the opinions of others and of all obstacles 
 whatsoever: evidence of the highest degree of moral courage. 
 
 For many years, perhaps during the whole period that 
 he was a member of the House, he was the most attractive 
 and interesting object in the Representative hall, especially 
 to strangers who looked down upon members from the gal- 
 leries : he was the Mont Blanc of the whole group. With 
 little hair upon his head, and that little as white as new-fallen 
 snow, his bare head exhibited a polish as bright and reflective 
 of the rays of light which fell upon it as Parian marble. If 
 the stranger had never before seen Mr. Adams, his first, im- 
 mediate, and eager question invariably was, "Who is that?' 
 and when the answer was, " Mr. Adams," it was followed by a 
 long, scrutinizing look, as if to photograph his appearance on 
 the tablet of memory. 
 
 The remark of Governor McDowell, in his eulogistic speech, 
 that Mr. Adams "was a living band of connection between the 
 
334 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 present and the past," was strictly true ; and how often this was 
 made manifest, when, sometimes in self-defense against fierce 
 attacks by men young enough to be his grandsons, and 
 sometimes in sustaining a principle, he has, hour after hour, 
 instructed the present generation by relating the sayings, opin- 
 ions, and doings of the great lights of the past, with whom he 
 Avas intimately associated, all ears attentive on such occasions, 
 and every eye fixed upon "the old man eloquent"! It was on 
 such occasions that his vast stores of encyclopedic knowledge 
 were discovered and given out, and his infinite superiority to 
 \h<s: yoiitlis around him was felt. 
 
 Aged as Mr. Adams was, no member of the House was 
 absent from his seat less than he ; and even during protracted 
 sessions, when the sittings ran into late hours, sometimes into 
 the night, and even into "the small hours of the morning," 
 there in his seat, until the adjournment of the House, would 
 be seen Mr. Adams, who never deserted a post of duty or left 
 it on account of fatigue and exhaustion. And then, after these 
 long sessions, it was his invariable practice to walk home, a 
 distance of rather more than a mile. 
 
 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION. 
 
 The Democratic National Convention met at Baltimore in 
 the month of May, and nominated General Lewis Cass, of 
 Michigan, for President, and William O. Butler, of Kentucky, 
 for Vice-President. 
 
 Two delegations from New York presenting themselves, one 
 representing the " old Hunker" wing of the party, and the 
 other the "Barnburner" wing, both were excluded, so that the 
 State had no voice in the nomination. Out of this fact arose, 
 or it was made the pretense for, another convention and other 
 Democratic nominations; namely, the Buffalo "Free-soil Con- 
 vention," so called, which placed in nomination for President 
 and Vice-President Martin Van Buren, of New York, and 
 Charles Francis Adams, of Massachusetts. 
 
 The shibboleth of this party was "Free Soil, Free Speech, 
 Free Labor, and Free Men." It was, of course, anti-slavery, 
 but its adherents took the name of " Free-soilers." 
 
PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST OF 1S4S. 335 
 
 ]\Ir. Van Buren had been defeated in the Baltimore Conven- 
 tion four years before, when Mr. Polk was nominated by the 
 Southern members of the convention, — by the contrivance of 
 the two-thirds rule, — because he was opposed to the immediate 
 annexation of Texas. He therefore had an account to settle 
 with the Democratic party, and especially the Southern leaders 
 of it. The Free-soil or anti-slavery party had shown strength 
 enough in the State of New York in 1S44 to defeat Mr. Clay, 
 and it had increased in numbers considerably since then, not 
 only in New York, but also in all the free States. This afforded 
 him and his friends the " Barnburners" an opportunity so 
 to divide the Democratic party as to defeat the regular 
 candidates ; that is, to divert enough Democrats from Cass 
 and Butler to enable the Whigs to carry the State for Taylor 
 and Fillmore. New York, then considered Democratic, was 
 the battle-ground, and the loss of the State by the regular 
 nominees would leave them in a minority in the electoral 
 college. Such was the result. The Free-soilers elected Gen- 
 eral Taylor in 1848, as the Abolitionists elected Mr. Polk, a 
 slavery-extensionist, in 1844. And so Mr. Van Buren settled 
 his account with the Southern Democrats and closed his 
 books, having no further dealings with them. They had de- 
 feated him, and, in turn, he had now defeated them. 
 
 Taylor and Fillmore received the votes of Massachusetts, 12 ; 
 Rhode Island, 4 ; Connecticut, 6 ; Vermont, 6 ; New York, 1^6 ; 
 New Jersey, 7 ; Pennsylvania, 26 ; Delaware, 3 ; Maryland, 8 ; 
 North Carolina, 11 ; Georgia, 10; Kentucky, 12; Tennessee, 
 13; Louisiana, 6; Florida, 3. Total, 163. 
 
 Cass and Butler. — Maine, 9 ; New Hampshire, 6 ; Virginia, 
 17; South Carolina, 8; Ohio, 23; Mississippi, 6; Indiana, 12; 
 Illinois, 9 ; Alabama, 9 ; Missouri, 7 ; Arkansas, 3 ; Michigan, 
 5; Texas, 4; Iowa, 4; Wisconsin, 4. Total, 124. 
 
 Deducting the vote of New York (36) from the total vote for 
 Taylor and Fillmore would leave them but 127; and adding 
 it to the total for Cass and Butler would give them 160 : so 
 that New York turned the scale and decided the election. The 
 " Free-soil ticket" did not receive a single electoral vote. 
 
336 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 OREGON AND THE ORDINANCE OF 1 787. 
 
 The first session of the Thirtieth Congress was, Hke all others 
 immediately preceding a Presidential election, prolific in polit- 
 ical speeches, — the Whigs attacking and criminating the admin- 
 istration, and the fi-iends of those in power defending them as 
 best they could. Among the bills brought before Congress 
 of general importance was the bill establishing the Territory 
 of Oregon, which, having passed the House, came up in the 
 Senate, where it was amended by incorporating in it the 
 famous ordinance of 1787, which prohibited slavery in the 
 Northwest Territory. The amendment was strongly opposed 
 by Southern Senators, and especially by Mr. Calhoun, who, as 
 usual, sounded the tocsin of alarm to the South, and predicted 
 dire consequences "to the Union, declaring, indeed, after the 
 passage of the bill, that " the separation of the North and the 
 South is completed;" that "the great strife between the North 
 and the South is ended." He charged " that the North was 
 determined to exclude the property of the slaveholder, and of 
 course the slaveholder himself, from its territory." " It was a 
 question not involving territorial government, but the continu- 
 ance of the Union." Mr. Calhoun, with even more than his 
 usual warmth, earnestness, and emphasis, invoked the South to 
 maintain her rights, and denounced any Southern man who 
 would not stand by those rights. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun's doctrine now was, that Congress had no right 
 to legislate upon the subject of slavery in the Territories at all, 
 though he had at the same time voted for an amendment, 
 offered by Mr. Douglas, to extend the Missouri Compromise 
 line to the Pacific Ocean, thereby attempting to legislate on the 
 forbidden subject. 
 
 The slavery agitation was rapidly increasing, Mr. Calhoun 
 himself being the chief agitator, doing more than any other in- 
 dividual — as he had more influence — to stir the Southern mind 
 to discontent and animosity, and to bring about the disunion 
 conventions which followed his inflammatory harangues and 
 stirring appeals. The people of the South were made to be- 
 lieve that by the exclusion of slavery from a Territory the South 
 
DEBATE ON ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 337 
 
 was robbed of her share of the Territory, because her people 
 could not take their slaves into it; not remembering that 
 slaveiy existed only under local State laws, which deprived the 
 slave of his natural rights, to be resumed the moment he passed 
 out of their jurisdiction, as he did when he was taken by his 
 master beyond the bounds of the State in which they existed. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun was too sagacious not to see this, though he did 
 not choose to announce it. But when the Territories of New 
 Mexico and California were acquired and came to be the sub- 
 ject of Congressional legislation, — coming to us free, — how was 
 slavery to be got into them if Congress had no power to legis- 
 late on the subject of slavery in the Territories ? Here was a 
 new dilemma, a new obstacle to be overcome. But Mr. Cal- 
 houn's genius and invention were equal to the occasion. 
 
 Mr. Douglas, who in subsequent years figured so promi- 
 nently in national affairs, was now in the Senate. Inordinately 
 ambitious of attaining the Presidency, young as he was, and 
 sagacious enough to perceive that the road to that high station 
 was held in strict control by Southern politicians, who allowed 
 no one to pass the final barrier but such as yielded homage to 
 the South, he was early at work conciliating those whose favor 
 was necessary to the fruition of his ambitious aspirations, and the 
 proposition made by him to extend the Missouri Compromise 
 line to the Pacific was one of those concessions to the South 
 by which he endeavored to win her confidence and favor. Mr. 
 Van Buren had tried the policy of being " a Northern man with 
 Southern principles ;" and where was he now ? We shall see in 
 the sequel where this course stranded Mr. Douglas. 
 
 PROPOSITION TO EXTEND THE CONSTITUTION OVER CALIFORNIA, 
 EARNEST DEBATE THEREON. 
 
 At the very heel of the last session of the Thirtieth Con- 
 gress arose an important debate on the proposition to extend 
 the Constitution over California, in which Mr. Webster and Mr. 
 Calhoun were the principal speakers. It arose thus : The civil 
 and diplomatic appropriation bill, which had originated in and 
 passed the House, came up to the Senate, and was there dis- 
 posed of, so far as appropriations were concerned, and should 
 
338 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 have been immediately returned to the House. But Mr. Isaac 
 P. Walker, Senator from Wisconsin, representing, and elected 
 by, an anti-slavery State, moved an amendment to the bill, 
 wholly ungermane to it, providing for government in the ceded 
 Territories of California and New Mexico, and, finally, another 
 to extend the Constitution over those Territories, supporting 
 his amendments by an elaborately-prepared speech, which was 
 an appeal to the North to accept and sustain these amend- 
 ments for the purpose of peace and harmony with the South. 
 
 Mr. Walker's amendments were of so novel and extraor- 
 dinary a character, in Mr. Webster's view, as to bring him to 
 his feet, and, in reply, he first cleared away the mist that hung 
 around the proposition. " It was of importance," he said, " that 
 we should seek to have clear ideas and correct notions of the 
 question which this amendment presented, and especially that 
 we should seek to get some conception of what is meant by 
 the proposition, in a law, to extend the Constitution of the 
 United States to the Territories.'" 
 
 At first thought, what was there extraordinary or improper 
 in the proposition " to extend the Constitution of the United 
 States to the Territories" ? Why not? " Why, sir," replied Mr. 
 Webster, " the thing is utterly impossible. All the legislation 
 in the world, in this general form, could not accomplish it. 
 There is no cause for the operation of the legislative power in 
 such a manner as that. The Constitution — what is it? We 
 extend the Constitution by law to Territories ? What is the 
 Constitution of the United States? Is not its very first prin- 
 ciple that all within its influence and comprehension shall be 
 represented in the legislature which it establishes, with not 
 only a right of debate and a right to vote in both Houses of 
 Congress, but a right to partake in the choice of the President 
 and Vice-President ? And can we by law extend these rights, 
 or any of them, to a Territory of the United States ? It is 
 altogether impracticable. . . . There is no such thing as ex- 
 tendincr the Constitution. The Constitution is extended over 
 the United States, and nothing else. . . . There is a want of 
 accuracy of ideas in this respect that is quite remarkable 
 among eminent gentlemen. It seems to be taken for granted 
 
DEBATE ON ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. ^SQ 
 
 that the right of trial by jury, the habeas corpus, and every 
 principle designed to protect personal liberty, is extended by 
 force of the Constitution itself over every new Territory. But 
 that proposition cannot be maintained at all. 
 
 " Sir, if the hopes of some gentlemen were realized, and 
 Cuba were to become a possession of the United States by 
 cession, does anybody suppose that the habeas corpus and the 
 trial by jury would be established in it by the mere act of 
 cession ? Sir, the whole authority of Congress on this subject 
 is embraced in that very short provision, that Congress shall 
 have power to make all needful rules and regulations respecting 
 the Territories of the United States. The word is Territories ; 
 for it is quite evident that the compromises of the Constitution 
 looked to no new acquisitions to form new Territories. But 
 they have been acquired from time to time ; new Territories 
 have been regarded as coming under that general provision 
 for making rules for Territories. We have never had a Territory 
 governed as the United States are governed. The Legislature 
 and Judiciary of Territories have always been established by a 
 law of Congress. These principles do not proprie vigore apply 
 to any one of the Territories of the United States, because that 
 Territory, while a Territory, does not become a part, and is no 
 part, of the United States." 
 
 Conscious of his own inability to cope with Mr. Webster in 
 arguing a constitutional question, Mr. Walker prudently left 
 the further defense of the proposition he had fathered and 
 brought forward to him who was believed to be the real parent, 
 and who at once rose and replied to Mr. Webster. Mr. Cal- 
 houn said it had been said by several Senators that the Con- 
 stitution of the United States does not extend to the Territories. 
 " That is the point," said Mr. Calhoun ; " and I am happy to 
 hear this proposition thus asserted, as it will have the effect 
 to narrow very greatly the controversy between the North and 
 the South as it regards the slavery question in connection with 
 the Territories. It is an implied admission, on the part of 
 those gentlemen, that, if the Constitution does extend to the 
 Territories, the South will be protected in the enjoyment of its 
 property, — that it will be under the shield of the Constitution. 
 
340 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Then the simple question is, Does the Constitution extend 
 to the Territories, or does it not extend to them ? Why, the 
 Constitution interprets itself. It pronounces itself to.be the 
 supreme law of the land." 
 
 Mr. Webster, in his seat.—" What land ?" 
 
 Mr. Calhoun. — " The land, — the Territories of the United 
 States are a part of the land." . . . He contended that the Ter- 
 ritories belong to us ; that is, that they are the property of 
 the States of the Union, and that we, as the representatives 
 of these States, have the right to exercise all that authority 
 and jurisdiction which ownership carries with it. This was too 
 plain, he thought, for argument. It was self-demonstrating. 
 The mere statement of the fact was stronger than any argu- 
 ment; it was sufficient to carry conviction with it. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun's design — in which he was vigorously seconded 
 by the whole South — at this time was to make slavery national, 
 and not sectional. This design took possession of the Southern 
 mind immediately upon the acquisition of the new Territories, 
 where slavery did not exist. Mr. Calhoun's resolutions and 
 this attempt to extend the Constitution over those Territories 
 were parts of the same purpose. 
 
 These attempts to establish slavery upon free soil were re- 
 pugnant to the principles of portions of the Northern De- 
 mocracy, and tended to disintegrate the Democratic party as 
 a national party and to strengthen the fast-growing Free-soil 
 organization, which finally became the Republican party. 
 Democrats who opposed the propositions of their brethren 
 of the South did not join the Whigs, but the Free-soilers. 
 The slavery question was the only one before the country 
 sufficiently powerful to break long-existing party ties. Upon 
 it Southern Whigs also separated themselves from Northern, 
 and thus this question tended to sectionalize all parties. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun's proposition, through Mr. Walker, of Wis- 
 consin, to get Congress to declare the Constitution and certain 
 laws extended over the new Territories, with the view to carry 
 slavery there, was carried by a very small majority in the Sen- 
 ate, but coming to the House it met with opposition, though 
 it was near being concurred in, as an amendment to the civil 
 
MR. POLK'S BE AT/I. 34 1 
 
 and diplomatic appropriation bill, — before mentioned, — and 
 the pro-slavery men threatened to defeat it if the amendment 
 was not agreed to. Finally, in the midst of great excitement 
 and confusion, — it was the last night of the session of the 
 Thirtieth Congress, — a motion was made by some one on the 
 Whicf side of the House to concur with the Senate, with an 
 amendment, which was, tliat the existing lazvs of the Territories 
 should remain in force till changed by consent of Congress. This 
 proposition was carried by a very close vote. As the existing 
 laws prohibited slavery, this amendment completely destroyed 
 the Walker Senate amendment. 
 
 On its return to the Senate, after twelve o'clock at night, con- 
 siderable excitement prevailed, and, several Senators refusing to 
 vote, deeming the session closed, the bill came near being lost; 
 but Mr. Webster finally succeeded in getting a vote, whereby 
 the Senate receded from its (Walker's) amendment, and the 
 bill was passed. Colonel Benton charges Mr. Calhoun with 
 pushing this newly-invented slavery dogma to the very verge 
 of breaking up the government. 
 
 MR. folk's death. 
 
 Mr. Polk left the Presidential chair and the city of Wash- 
 ington an unhappy man, broken down in health by incessant 
 official labors, care, and anxiety. The events of his admin- 
 istration, and his own agency in bringing those events about, 
 were but poorly calculated to produce, upon a review of them 
 in the leisure of retirement, that serenity of mind and calm- 
 ness of self-approbation so essential to the overworked public 
 servant and indispensable to the recuperative powers of body 
 and mind. His health continued to fail till he fell a victim to 
 the insatiable destroyer, on the 15th day of June, a little more 
 than three months after leaving Washington. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 General Taylor inaugurated President. — Appoints his Cabinet. — New Department, 
 that of the Interior, established. — Combined Southern Movement on the Subject 
 of Slaveiy. — First Session of the Thirty-first Congress. — Increasing Antagonism 
 between the North and the South on the Slavery Question. — Difficulty in elect- 
 ing a Speaker of the House. — Southern Whigs refuse to vote for Mr. Winthrop. 
 — William J. Brown intrigues with the Free-soilers ; is detected. — Mr. Toombs 
 threatens Disunion. — Other Southern Members equally imbued with Disunion 
 Feelings. — Stirring Scene between Mr. Duer, of New York, and Mr. Meade, 
 of Virginia. — Duel prevented. — Mr. Cobb elected Speaker. — General Taylor's 
 First and only Annual Message. — Policy of the Administration. — Collector of 
 Customs, Postmaster, etc., appointed for San Francisco. — The South violently 
 opposed to the Policy of General Taylor, to leave the People of California free 
 to form a Constitution, leaving Slavery to take care of itself. — Mr. Clay again 
 returns to the Senate. — Submits Resolutions declaratory of what he considers it 
 necessary Congress should do in regard to California, Utah, and New Mexico. — 
 His Resolutions referred to a Select Committee. — They report Compromise 
 Measures. — Debate upon them prolonged. — Mr. Benton violently opposes 
 Compromise Measures. — Scene between Colonel Benton and Mr. Foote. — Mr. 
 Calhoun's Last .Speech.— His Death. — Defeat of the Compromise Bill. — Ad- 
 mission of California. — Death of General Taylor. 
 
 MARCH 5, 1849. GENERAL TAYLOR'S ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 General Taylor was sworn into office on the 5 th of March, 
 the 4th falling on Sunday, by Chief-Justice Taney, ex-President 
 Polk being present on the occasion. His inaugural address 
 was remarkable only for its brevity, simplicity, good idiomatic 
 English, and the absence of great promises in high-sounding 
 phrases. 
 
 During the preceding session of Congress a new depart- 
 ment, called the Department of the Interior, had been formed. 
 
 His cabinet was composed as follows: Secretary of State, 
 John M. Clayton, of Delaware ; Secretarj' of the Treasury, Wil- 
 liam M. Meredith, of Pennsylvania ; Secretary of the Interior, 
 Thomas Ewing, of Ohio; Secretary of War, George W. Craw- 
 342 
 
I 
 
 COMBINED SOUTHERN MOVEMENT ON SLAVERY. 
 
 )4:) 
 
 ford, of Georgia; Secretary of the Navy, William Ballard 
 Preston, of Virginia ; Postmaster-General, Jacob Collamer, of 
 Vermont ; Attorney-General, Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland. 
 
 However able and successful as a military commander, Gen- 
 eral Taylor having never been in civil life, but all the time 
 in the army, and much of it on the frontier, he had had no 
 opportunity of becoming acquainted with the public men of 
 the country. Of course, when elected, and under the neces- 
 sity of selecting his cabinet, he had to rely on the advice of 
 some friend. Fortunately, he had a judicious friend whose 
 counsel he could safely trust, — Mr. Crittenden, — a wise, dis- 
 interested, and patriotic counselor. 
 
 As I am writing this, the telegraph announces the death of 
 Mr. Meredith, of Philadelphia, whose departure leaves Mr. 
 Reverdy Johnson the sole surviving member of General Tay- 
 lor's cabinet. 
 
 Though an octogenarian, Mr. Johnson is fortunate in being 
 blessed with a rare degree of health and vigor of body, while 
 his intellect exhibits no sign of decay or impaired powers. 
 May he be long spared to enjoy the universal respect of 
 the American people, to whom his name is as a household 
 word. 
 
 A considerable number of removals and appointments were 
 made of heads of bureaus, marshals, district attorneys, customs- 
 officers, clerks, etc., though not so many as had been made 
 by General Jackson, General Harrison, or Mr. Polk, on their 
 several accessions to office. Mr. Polk had been exceedingly 
 proscriptive of Whigs, so that the administration of General 
 Taylor found few but bitter opponents in office. 
 
 COMBINED SOUTHERN MOVEMENT ON THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. 
 
 During the latter part of the second session of the Thirtieth 
 Congress, that is, early in 1849, frequent meetings of Southern 
 members, or members from slave States, were held at night, 
 -to consider the state of things between the North and the 
 South, to discuss what were termed the aggressions of the 
 former upon the rights of the latter, and to devise ways and 
 means of putting an effectual stop to these, or, if that were 
 
344 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 impracticable, to consider the other alternative, separation from 
 the North, — in other words, a dissolution of the Union. 
 
 As none but members from the slave States were admitted 
 into these meetings, and all reporters were strictly excluded, 
 for information as to what was proposed and what was done at 
 these meetings we are wholly dependent on Colonel Benton, 
 a Senator from a slave State, who has given the world some 
 account of them in his " Thirty Years' View." It was known 
 to Northern members that such meetings were held, and they 
 could be in no doubt as to the purposes for which they were 
 held, but they were unable to learn what had been proposed 
 in them, or what was or had been done, what conclusions come 
 to, etc. 
 
 Colonel Benton states that as many as seventy or eighty 
 members from slave States attended at first, about one-half to 
 prevent the others from doing mischief The numbers gradu- 
 ally decreased. Mr. Calhoun seems to have been the master- 
 spirit of the movement, as the whole South looked to him as 
 their great leader and champion of the cause of slavery. A 
 grand committee of fifteen was appointed, of which Mr. Cal- 
 houn was, of course, the chairman ; and out of this a sub-com- 
 mittee of five, Mr. Calhoun at the head of it, was appointed to 
 prepare a manifesto, which had already been prepared by the 
 head of the committee, and which was finally adopted. 
 
 This manifesto was an elaborate statement of the causes of 
 complaint which the South claimed to have against the North, 
 an enunciation of Southern doctrines, and a solemn appeal to 
 the South for union and concert among themselves in their 
 contest for their rights with the North. 
 
 A few only of the members from the slave States signed the 
 paper, — not more than one-third. It was not intended by these 
 .forty slaveholders that action should cease with the issuance 
 of this paper : on the contrary, this was but the incipient step 
 which was to lead to important measures, such as might pos- 
 sibly result in a dismemberment of the Union. It could hardly 
 be doubted that this was contemplated, if not desired, by some 
 of the signers, — those from South Carolina especially. The 
 words in the last sentence but one of the address, " and for 
 
FIRST SESSION OF THE THIRTY-FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 345 
 
 this purpose to adopt all necessary measures'^ intimated that 
 something more was to be done, — steps taken to carry out the 
 purposes of a united South. And the first step to that end was 
 a convention or congress of the whole South, which was soon 
 called by the Legislatures of South Carolina and Mississippi, to 
 meet at Nashville, Tennessee. Of that I shall give an account 
 in its proper place. 
 
 FIRST SESSION OF THE THIRTY-FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 The growing antagonism between the North and the South 
 on the subject of slavery, of which I have just spoken, was 
 painfully exemplified by the House of Representatives of the 
 Thirty-first Congress, in its attempt to organize by electing a 
 Speaker. There were in the House one hundred and five 
 Whigs and one hundred and twelve Democrats, who rallied 
 under their respective party banners and party designations. 
 Outside of these there were thirteen Free-soilers, of whom 
 nine had seceded from the Whig party and four had be- 
 longed to the Democratic party. But two Southern Whigs 
 — King, of Georgia, and Gentry, of Tennessee — and two 
 Northern Whigs — Palfrey, of Massachusetts, and Julian, of 
 Indiana — were absent. Besides these there were six Southern 
 Whigs who would not vote for Mr. Winthrop, the regular 
 Whig candidate, not considering him sufficiently hostile to the 
 Free-soilers. It was, therefore, found impossible to unite a 
 majority of the votes of the House upon either of the regu- 
 lar nominees for Speaker, of the two parties, — Mr. Cobb, of 
 Georgia, as the Democratic and Mr. Winthrop as the Whig 
 nominee. The Clerk of the last House of Representatives, — 
 Thirtieth Congress, — Mr. Thomas Jefferson Campbell, called 
 the House to order, and conducted its proceedings, as its pre- 
 siding officer, until a Speaker was elected, which was on the 
 22d day of December, and on the sixty-third ballot. 
 
 The first vote taken for Speaker disclosed the demoralization 
 
 of the old parties and the probable impossibility of uniting a 
 
 majority of the whole upon any one as Speaker. The first 
 
 vote stood, for Howell Cobb, of Georgia, 103 ; Robert C. 
 
 Winthrop, of Massachusetts, 96; David Wilmot, of Pennsyl- 
 VOL. II. 23 
 
346 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 vania, 8 ; Meredith P. Gentry, of Tennessee, 6 ; Horace Mann, 
 of Massachusetts, 2 ; James Thompson, of Pennsylvania, i ; 
 Chauncey Cleveland, of Connecticut, i ; James A. Seddon, of 
 Virginia, i ; James L. Orr, of South Carolina, i ; David T. 
 Disney, of Ohio, i ; James M. Root, of Ohio, i. 
 
 The voting went on from day to day, amid great and con- 
 stantly increasing excitement, alternated by boisterous, in- 
 flammatory, and denunciatory speeches, chiefly by Southern 
 members, against the hostile, anti-slavery feelings and doings 
 of the North, for their interference with the domestic affairs of 
 the South. It was quite apparent that the longer the balloting 
 continued, and the more freedom of speech was indulged, the 
 more irate the members became, and the less likely were they 
 to concentrate a majority of either side upon any member so as 
 to elect him Speaker. 
 
 Among the large number of Democrats for whom scattering 
 votes had been cast was Mr. Wm. J. Brown, of Indiana. As 
 the vote for Mr. Cobb, the regular Democratic candidate, had 
 greatly fallen off after the thirteenth ballot, and continued to 
 do so for some days, an ineffectual effort was made to con- 
 centrate the vote of the Democrats upon Mr. Potter, of Ohio, 
 whose highest vote was 88, Mr. Winthrop's standing for eight 
 or ten ballotings at lOi and I02. Mr. Potter, after the thirty- 
 first ballot, rose and declined being any longer a candidate or 
 being voted for; whereupon efforts were made on the next 
 ballot to concentrate the Democratic votes upon Mr. Brown. 
 On the thirty-second ballot he received 53 votes; on the thirty- 
 third, 80; on the thirty-fourth, 84; on the thirty-fifth, 88; on 
 the thirty-sixth, 97, while only four votes were cast for Mr. 
 Cobb. On the thirty-seventh ballot Mr. Brown received 107; 
 Mr. Winthrop, loi ; Mr. Cobb, o. On the thirty-eighth ballot 
 Mr. Brown received 109; Mr. Winthrop, 100; Mr. Cobb, o. 
 The next, the thirty-ninth, showed the same result ; which 
 being announced to the House, intense excitement prevailed. 
 
 It was quite evident that Mr. Brown was gaining rapidly, 
 and would, after a few more ballots, receive a majority of the 
 whole number of votes of the House unless something should 
 intervene to prevent such a result. But a suspicion prevailed 
 
FIJiST SESSION OF THE THIRTY-FIRST CONGRESS, -^aj 
 
 among some of his supporters that all was not right. Demo- 
 cratic Free-soilers, who had persistently refused to vote for 
 Mr. Cobb or Mr. Potter, were cheerfully voting for him. Why 
 was this? The question which was privately put by many no 
 one seemed able to answer; but it indicated an uneasy feeling. 
 
 Before the House proceeded to another vote, Mr. Winthrop 
 rose and said it was well known to many of his friends, and, he 
 believed, to most of those who had thus far honored him with 
 their support, that he should have withdrawn his name long 
 ago from this protracted contest if they had allowed him to do 
 so. His personal desire not to stand in the way of a satis- 
 factory organization of the House, or indeed any organization, 
 had been repeatedly expressed, as he believed the highest in- 
 terests of the country, the peace and safety of the Union, 
 demanded that an organization of some sort should be effected 
 without delay. But, as he had seen his friends continuing to 
 claim that his name was at their control and not his, he had 
 allowed the contest to go on until the present moment. He 
 now begged leave to say publicly, as he had often said privately, 
 that, while he thanked his friends for the devoted support they 
 had given him, it would afford him the utmost satisfaction if 
 they would concentrate their efforts upon some other candi- 
 date ; and he should most cordially unite with them on any 
 one they might adopt. 
 
 This was at the close of the 15th day of December, or the 
 twelfth day of the session, the House adjourning immediately 
 after Mr. Winthrop had thus spoken. The course taken by 
 Mr. Winthrop added to the existing complications and the 
 embarrassment of the Whigs. 
 
 Next morning another vote was taken, Mr. Brown having 
 112, — within two votes of a majority of the whole, — while no 
 other had over 26; Mr. Duer, Whig, having that number. 
 But what was significant in this vote was the fact that Mr. 
 Wilmot, Mr. Durkee, Mr. Giddings, and Mr. Preston King, 
 the most ultra Free-soilers, were found voting for Mr. Brown. 
 This increased the excitement already pervading the House, 
 which was now in a perfect ferment. 
 
 Mr. Stanley, of North Carolina, now rose and proceeded to 
 
348 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 make some remarks, charging that there was " something 
 rotten in Denmark." He intimated that there was trickery 
 going on, and he had too much regard for his pohtical 
 opponents to wish to see them involve themselves in a com- 
 plication they would afterwards be ashamed of 
 
 Mr. Brown, meantime, was in a most nervous state of ex- 
 citement. 
 
 Mr. Ashmun, of Massachusetts, now rose and said, " Will the 
 gentleman from Virginia [Mr, Baily] allow me to put a ques- 
 tion to him ?" 
 
 " Certainly," replied Mr. Baily. 
 
 Mr. Ashmun. — "Has not a correspondence taken place be- 
 tween the member from Indiana [Mr. Brown] and some mem- 
 ber of the Free-soil party, in which he has pledged himself to 
 construct the committees in a manner satisfactory to them ?" 
 
 Mr. Baily. — " I know of no such correspondence. Is the 
 gentleman authorized to say that there has been such a one ? 
 If so, what is his authority?" 
 
 Mr. Ashmun. — " Common rumor." 
 
 Mr. Baily, turning to Mr. Brown, who was now a pitiable 
 object to behold, inquired if any such correspondence had 
 taken place. Mr. Brown nervously shook his head. There- 
 upon Mr. Baily said, " I am authorized to say that no such 
 correspondence has taken place." 
 
 Mr. Root, of Ohio, one of the most earnest of Free-soilers, — 
 indeed, an ultra Abolitionist, — having obtained the floor, Mr. 
 Baily left the hall, but soon returned and obtained the floor from 
 Mr. Root, for a personal explanation. 
 
 Mr. Baily said he had had a conversation with Mr. Brown 
 since he last spoke, and it was due to himself and the House 
 to say that he was then mistaken in his reply to Mr. Ashmun ; 
 that a correspondence had taken place between the gentleman 
 from Indiana (Mr. Brown) and the Free-soilers ; but that Mr. 
 Brown had assured him he had refused to pledge himself But 
 the correspondence would be produced and speak for itself. 
 
 The House continued to be highly excited, and many 
 members spoke out their feelings. Mr. Wilmot explained the 
 understanding entered into between the Free-soilers, through 
 
FIRST SESSION OF THE THIRTY-FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 349 
 
 him, and Mr. Brown. He had not a copy of his letter to Mr. 
 Brown, but stated its substance, and read Mr. Brown's reply. 
 Mr. Wilmot's letter was subsequently produced and read. 
 
 Mr. Brown had fully pledged himself, in case he should be 
 elected Speaker, to constitute the committees named in accord- 
 ance with the wishes of Mr. Wilmot and his friends. 
 
 The explanations of Mr. Wilmot and Mr. Brown, and the read- 
 ing of the correspondence, kept the House in a high state of com- 
 motion. Mr. Baily confessed that he had felt highly indignant 
 when the gentlemen from North Carolina (Mr. Stanley) and from 
 Massachusetts (Mr. Ashmun) had made the remarks they had, 
 because he thought their insinuations unfounded and illiberal. 
 But he now rejoiced that they were made, and he thanked 
 them for doing what they did. It led to a disclosure to which 
 the country was entitled, and he thanked God that the disclosure 
 had been made in time to save them from a load of obloquy. 
 
 Mr. Brown was now " a dead cock in the pit." But both 
 voting and debating were resumed, and went on with renewed 
 spirit, and so did the'noise and confusion. 
 
 On the next day, 13th December, the storm raged with more 
 violence than ever, and threats of disunion were fiercely thrown 
 out by Southern members. The House was in an uproar, and 
 all was excitement and irritation. Among others, Mr. Toombs, 
 of Georgia, spoke. Usually loud and boisterous, he was now 
 excessively so, in pouring forth defiance and denunciation upon 
 "the enemies and aggressors of the South." 
 
 "The time has come," Mr. Toombs said, "when I shall not 
 only utter my opinions, but make them the basis of my polit- 
 ical action here. I do not, then, hesitate to avow before this 
 House and the country, and in presence of the living God, that 
 if by your legislation you seek to drive us from the Territo- 
 ries of California and New Mexico, purchased by the common 
 blood and treasure of the whole people, and to abolish slavery 
 in the District of Columbia, thereby attempting to fix a national 
 degradation upon half the States of this confederacy, I am for 
 DISUNION ; and if my physical courage be equal to the main- 
 tenance of my convictions of right and duty, I will devote all 
 I am and all I have on earth to its consummation." 
 
o-Q PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 On the same day, Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, said, " I tell this 
 House that when the Wilmot Proviso is consummated, in my 
 section of the country, from that day the Union is dissolved, 
 and, whether the North believes it or not, it will be found to be 
 true. I tell gentlemen, from whatever section they come, not to 
 be deceived on this subject. We will not submit to aggressions 
 on our rights. Every word said on this subject by my col- 
 league [Mr, Toombs] meets a response in my heart. If gen- 
 tlemen suppose that by singing hymns to the Union it can be 
 preserved, they deceive themselves." 
 
 Mr. Colcock, of South Carolina, following and replying to 
 Mr. Baker, of Illinois (who had spoken of the fervid denuncia- 
 tions of the North by the South, but expressed strong doubts 
 whether the South were really in earnest in their threats of dis- 
 union, or would ever attempt to secede), said that he desired 
 to regard the question in all its solemnity and importance, and 
 in full view of all the consequences that surround it. " In this 
 spirit I declare that I believe the South is prepared to teach the 
 North that she is in earnest ; and I here pledge myself that 
 if any bill should be passed at this session of Congress abol- 
 ishing slavery in the District of Columbia, or incorporating 
 the Wilmot Proviso in any form, I will introduce a resolution 
 in this House declaring, in terms, that this Union ought to 
 
 BE DISSOLVED." 
 
 Mr. Hilliard, of Alabama, declared that the gentleman from 
 Georgia (Mr. Stephens) had fully expressed his own views on 
 this most important subject. Other gentlemen from the South 
 delivered similar sentiments, showing great unanimity of opin- 
 ion. Mr. Hilliard, Messrs. Toombs and Stephens, of Georgia, 
 Mr. Morton, of Virginia, and Mr. Cabell, of Florida, were the 
 Whigs who refused to vote for Mr. Winthrop. 
 
 These inflammatory speeches had proceeded for some time, 
 when Mr. Duer, of Oswego, New York, rose and proceeded to 
 express his views. He was far from being ultra; was conserva- 
 tive, an able and self-possessed speaker, and had much influ- 
 ence with his brother Whigs. He desired to organize the 
 House; the people demanded it; every principle of liberty, 
 union, and good government demanded it ; it was due to their 
 
FIRST SESSION OF THE THIRTY-FIRST CONGRESS. 
 
 351 
 
 own dignity and due to their constituents that this should be 
 accomplished. But it could not be effected without a giving 
 way in some quarter, — some yielding. For his part, he was 
 ready to make any proper concession — was ready, if necessary, 
 to vote for a man of either party, Whig, Democrat, or Free- 
 soiler — to effect an organization. But there was one class of 
 men for whom he could not vote. He would never, under any 
 circumstances, vote to put a man in the Speaker's chair who 
 would in any event advocate or sanction a dissolution of the 
 Union. 
 
 At this point a scene occurred which baffles description. 
 
 Mr. Bayly, from his seat, said, "There are no disiinionistsr 
 
 Mr. Duer.—" There are." 
 
 Some one said, " Point out one." 
 
 At that moment Mr. Meade, of Virginia, happened to pass, 
 in front of Mr. Duer, who said, "There's one;" pointing to Mr. 
 Meade, who, in a loud and angry tone, exclaimed, " It is false !" 
 
 Mr. Duer instantly responded, in a clear, ringing voice, 
 
 " You L-I-E, SIR." 
 
 Had a bomb exploded in the hall, there could not have been 
 greater excitement. The members on the Democratic side 
 were in an instant on their feet, looking daggers, and as if 
 they intended to use them. I was sitting in the Sergeant-at- 
 arms' chair, on the right of the Speaker's, and, seeing the move- 
 ment on that side of the hall, went with rapid strides to Mr. 
 Duer's desk ; but the movements and the countenances of the 
 Southern members appeared so threatening that I hurried 
 back, unlocked the case in which the mace of the House was 
 kept, took it on my arm, bearing it erect, returned, and stood 
 by the side of Mr. Duer. 
 
 The mace being the symbol of the authority of the House, 
 and being thus placed in full view, seemed to recall the over- 
 excited members to their senses. Almost every man in the 
 hall was upon his feet, but the movement to leave their seats, 
 which had begun on the Democratic side, ceased, and in a few 
 minutes quiet was restored. 
 
 During the whole of this outburst and confusion, Mr. Duer 
 stood as unmoved as a marble statue. He was the only man 
 
352 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 in the hall not excited. When it was over, he apologized to 
 the House, saying that he had been suddenly provoked into 
 using the expression he did. 
 
 The occasion of his pointing to Mr. Meade, when asked to 
 indicate a disunionist, was the fact, in the first place, that he 
 happened to be passing in full view ; and in the next place, he 
 had, just previously, published and sent to members of Con- 
 gress a speech he had lately delivered, in which Northern men 
 saw disunion sentiments. Mr. Duer had, of course, read the 
 speech. 
 
 A challenge was very soon sent to Mr. Duer by Mr. Meade, 
 and as Mr. Duer came of a fighting stock, or ancestry, — Lord 
 Stirling, of Revolutionary memory, — it was expected that a 
 meeting would take place. 
 
 But friends interfered to effect an amicable settlement. This 
 they found not a very easy task. Mr. Duer was not so un- 
 willing to fight as some had supposed he would be. At last, 
 however, it was settled, Mr. Conrad, of Louisiana, acting as 
 the friend of Mr. Duer, and Mr, Bayly, of Virginia, as the 
 friend of Mr. Meade. 
 
 The balloting for Speaker went on until the 22d day of 
 December, and it had reached the sixty-second ballot, when 
 Mr. Cobb, of Georgia, was elected, but not by a majority of 
 the whole number of votes. The House had the day before 
 agreed to a proposition submitted by Mr. Stanton, of Ten- 
 nessee, namely, that the House would, the next day, take three 
 ballots, and if no one should have a majority of the whole 
 number on the first two ballots, then, on the third, the person 
 having the highest number of votes, provided such number 
 were a majority of a quorum, should be the Speaker. Mr. 
 Cobb did not receive a majority of the whole number, but a 
 plurality over others, and was declared the Speaker. And 
 thus, after a delay of three weeks of confusion and angry 
 display of passion and sectional hostility, the House was 
 organized. 
 
 The President's first and only annual message was trans- 
 mitted to Congress on Monday, the House being organized 
 on Saturday. 
 
POLICY OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 POLICY OF THE ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 ;53 
 
 The close of the Mexican war left upon our hands, by the 
 treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the extensive Territories of Cali- 
 fornia and New Mexico, in which civil governments were to 
 be instituted, they being now under military governments. As 
 slavery did not exist in these Territories under Mexican rule, — 
 it having been prohibited there, — it could not exist under our 
 jurisdiction, unless established by act of Congress, as, by the 
 law of nations, the local laws of a conquered country remain 
 in full force until changed by the conquering power. 
 
 But this well-established rule was now controverted by Mr. 
 Calhoun and the Hotspurs of the South, who, as I have stated, 
 first took the ground, directly in the teeth of their former posi- 
 tions, that Congress had the right to legislate on the subject of 
 slavery in the Territories, and consequently to legislate slavery 
 into a Territory. Finding, however, that Congress would not do 
 this, by extending the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific, 
 — making all south of that line slave territory, — they contended 
 that the Constitution of the United States at once, upon the 
 acquisition of any territory, extended itself over it, became 
 " the law of the land," and protected the master's right to his 
 property in his slaves. 
 
 The South were clamorous for what they claimed to be their 
 equal rights in the Territories, " the common property of all," 
 and were, as usual, making threats of disunion, as we have 
 seen, unless the North would concede to them their rights. 
 This was the state of the country when General Taylor en- 
 tered upon the duties of chief magistrate ; and one of the first 
 duties that devolved upon him was to adopt some policy in 
 regard to these acquired Territories, and especially in regard 
 to California, which was the principal point of attraction for 
 emigrants from the North and from the South. His course 
 was soon decided, and steps taken to carry out his policy. A 
 collector of customs and a postmaster at San Francisco, an 
 Indian agent, and some other Federal officers were appointed 
 to execute the United States laws, which had been extended 
 by Congress over the acquired Territories, and Mr. Thomas 
 
354 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Butler King, of Georgia, was also appointed a special agent of 
 the government, and instructed to traverse California and urge 
 the people to take the necessary steps to form a constitution 
 for themselves, and make an early application to Congress for 
 admission as a State into the Union. This was done. A 
 convention was held and a constitution formed, which was 
 transmitted to the President, and by him, early in the session 
 of Congress which ensued, was sent, with a special message, 
 recommending their application for admission to favorable 
 consideration. 
 
 In regard to New Mexico and Utah, the plan of the adminis- 
 tration was to give them Territorial governments, leaving them 
 to ripen into States in their own due time, abstaining from the 
 introduction of the question of slavery, to be settled by them- 
 selves whenever they should form constitutions and apply for 
 admission into the Union as States. 
 
 This policy was supported almost unanimously by the Whigs 
 and some of the Democrats of the North, but opposed by all 
 the Democrats and most of the Whigs of the South. It was 
 certainly conciliatory, and based upon the assumption, as ex- 
 pressed in Mr. Clayton's instructions to Mr. King, that " the 
 laws of California and New Mexico, as they existed at the 
 conclusion of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, regulating the 
 relations of the inhabitants with each other, will necessarily 
 remain in force in the Territories. Their relations with the 
 former governments have been dissolved, and new relations 
 created between them and the government of the United 
 States ; but the existing laws regulating the relations of the 
 people with each other [excluding slavery] will continue until 
 others shall supersede them." In other words, these Terri- 
 tories, being free, will remain so until a competent tribunal 
 shall introduce slavery into them. 
 
 But Southern men were violently opposed to anything which 
 should, as they expressed it, deprive them of the right of 
 emigrating to California with their " property." On this point 
 many of them were prepared for armed resistance. 
 
 The leading Southern Whigs, such as Goggin, Preston, and 
 Flournoy, of Virginia, Badger, Clingman, and Barringer, of 
 
MR. CLAY ONCE MORE IN THE SENATE. 35 r 
 
 North Carolina, Stephens and Toombs, of Georgia, had been 
 active in procuring General Taylor's nomination and election ; 
 and they now exerted all their influence with him to prevent 
 the adoption of the policy indicated. Messrs. Toombs and 
 Stephens, representing themselves and the Southern Whigs 
 generally, had a long interview with the President, but, finding 
 him inflexible, left the White House animated by a spirit of 
 determined hostility to him and most of his cabinet, Mr. 
 Clayton especially. 
 
 MR. CLAY ONCE MORE IN THE SENATE. 
 
 Although Mr. Clay had resigned his seat in the Senate in the 
 spring of 1842, and taken a formal leave of that body, not 
 expecting ever to return to it, yet he was again elected by the 
 Legislature of Kentucky, and took his seat at the opening of 
 the first session of the Thirty-first Congress. The ostensible 
 reason for his being again returned to that body was, that the 
 discontents and demonstrations of the South on the subject of 
 slavery, and the pertinacity with which Southern extremists 
 insisted on having their share of the Territories, with the right 
 to take their slaves with them and hold them in bondage, on 
 the one hand, and the increased agitation of the slavery ques- 
 tion at the North on the other, required the presence of such 
 men as himself in Congress to stem the current of disorgani- 
 zation and restore peace and quiet to the country. 
 
 This, if it were the sole motive of the election of Mr. Clay, is 
 not inconsistent with the supposition that he was desirous to 
 return once more to active public life, to take part again in the 
 debates of the Senate, place himself again prominently before 
 the nation, and perhaps render the nation great and important 
 services in quelling the agitation that was going on, and in 
 bringing the two sections once more into harmony and con- 
 cord. 
 
 Nor is it derogating from Mr. Clay's exalted patriotism and 
 desire to render further service to the country to suppose that, 
 accustomed as he had been nearly all his life to the excitement 
 of debate in public bodies, or other phases of public life no less 
 exciting, he found retirement irksome, and longed to be in the 
 
356 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 arena and cope with the ablest in debate upon great national 
 topics. If we come to this conclusion, we do so upon the 
 principles of human nature. Life-long habits are not easily- 
 changed, nor the desire to resume, when once forced to forego 
 them for a time, easily overcome. They become our masters, 
 and we cannot, without great effort, successfully resist them. 
 
 Mr. Clay had been thrust aside by the Whig party as too 
 old, and as unavailable as a candidate for President. Possibly 
 he might have entertained a desire to don again the Senatorial 
 robe, to show that party and the world that, though more than 
 threescore years and ten had passed over his head, his mind 
 was not impaired, neither was his eye dimmed ; that he was 
 still equal to great occasions and able to grapple with great 
 subjects. It might be uncharitable to suppose that he indulged 
 a slight pique towards General Taylor and his cabinet, and 
 came here with a resolve to show them that he owed not his 
 power to the office of President ; that, having ever been, he 
 would still be a leader zvi^ no follower ; that, whatever might be 
 the policy of the administration in regard to the settlement of 
 the questions that disturbed the country, he should have a 
 policy of his own, — one with which his name should be con- 
 nected, and the glory of which, if successful, should redound to 
 him. Yet not only was this supposition thrown out, but it 
 was distinctly and angrily charged by a portion of the press 
 at the North, as the antagonism which grew up between the 
 administration and Mr. Clay became more and more apparent. 
 
 At the opening of the session he respectfully requested that 
 he might not be placed on any of the standing committees of 
 the Senate, having in view probably the labors which he after- 
 wards assumed. His wish was complied with. Various bills 
 and resolutions had been introduced into the Senate to admit 
 California as a State, to settle the boundaries of Texas, and in 
 regard to the Territories, when Mr. Clay, on the 29th of Jan- 
 uary, 1850, submitted a series of resolutions, declaratory of 
 what he deemed it necessary that Congress should do with a 
 view to adjust the questions and topics agitated between the 
 North and the South. 
 
 In presenting these resolutions Mr. Clay delivered an elabo- 
 
jVr. clay once more in the senate. 
 
 357 
 
 rate and conciliatory speech, marked by his usual ability and 
 power, portraying the danger of the country arising out of con- 
 flicting views and interests of the two sections of the country, 
 and the persistent agitation of these matters with the use of 
 provoking language by each towards the other, and the neces- 
 sity of the adoption of some measures that should allay excite- 
 ment and restore peace and harmony, which measures must 
 grow out of mutual concessions for mutual equivalents. 
 
 The annunciation of the policy of the administration in 
 regard to California and the Territories of New Mexico and 
 Utah, and the speech and resolutions of Mr. Clay, had a sooth- 
 ing effect upon the country. The public mind was tranquillized, 
 and prepared to second any efforts to settle amicably the 
 various matters which had been irritating it. 
 
 His resolutions were referred to a select committee of thirteen, 
 of which he was chairman. They proposed: ist, the admis- 
 sion of California as a State ; 2d, Territorial governments for 
 New Mexico and Utah ; 3d, the settlement of the western 
 boundaries of Texas ; 4th, the abolition of the traffic in slaves 
 in the District of Columbia; 5th, some additional legislation in 
 regard to the rendition of fugitive slaves. 
 
 One of the resolutions submitted by him declared the non- 
 existence of slavery in the recently-acquired Territories, and, 
 therefore, the inexpediency of Congress providing by law either 
 for its introduction into or its exclusion from any part of said 
 Territory. 
 
 In reference to this resolution, Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, 
 declared that it was no compromise, as it gave nothing to the 
 South. He at the same time announced, and wished what he 
 said to go forth to the country, that he never would take less 
 than the Missouri Compromise line extended to the Pacific 
 Ocean, with the specific recognition of the right to hold slaves 
 in the territory below that line ; and that before such Terri- 
 tories are admitted into the Union as States slaves may be 
 taken there from any of the United States at the option of the 
 owners. 
 
 This was an explicit announcement of the position of 
 Southern extremists on this important subject of controversy. 
 
358 ■ PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Mr. Clay promptly met this declaration by another quite as 
 explicit, manly, and decisive. He said, " I am extremely sorry 
 to hear the Senator from Mississippi say that he requires, first, 
 the extension of the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific, 
 and also that he is not satisfied with that, but requires, if I 
 understand him correctly, a positive provision for the admission. 
 of slavery south of that line. And now, sir, coming from a 
 slave State, as I do, / owe it to myself, I ozve it to truth, I owe it 
 to the subject, to say that no earthly pozvcr could induce me to vote 
 for a specific measure for the introduction of slavery zuhere it had 
 not before existed, either north or south of that line. Coming 
 as I do from a slave State, it is my solemn, delibei'atc, and well- 
 matured determination that no pozuer, no earthly power, shall 
 compel me to vote for the positive introduction of slavery either 
 south or north of that line. Sir, while you reproach, and justly 
 TOO, our British ancestors for the introduction of this institution 
 upon the continent of America, / am for one umvilling that the 
 posterity of the present inhabitants of California and New Mexico 
 shall reproach us for doing just what zue reproach Great Britain 
 for doing to us!' 
 
 It will be seen from this declaration that he did not differ with 
 the administration as to the propriety of admitting California 
 as a free State, nor as to New Mexico and Utah being given 
 Territorial governments. But the difference was in this : the 
 administration proposed to have these several subjects dis- 
 posed of separately and apart from all others ; whereas Mr. 
 Clay chose to combine them all into one bill, and enact that 
 as a compromise or adjustment of all the differences between 
 the two sections. He had two subjects in his plan of adjust- 
 ment with which the administration did not propose to meddle : 
 namely, the rendition of fugitive slaves, and the traffic in slaves 
 in the District of Columbia. 
 
 The committee of thirteen consisted of Mr. Clay, chairman, 
 and Senators Cass, Webster, Dickinson, Bright, Phelps, Cooper, 
 King, Mason, Downes, Mangum, Bell, and Berrien, — six from 
 free States and seven from slave States, — seven Whigs and six 
 Democrats. The three Northern Whigs upon the committee 
 belonged to the anti-Free-soil wing of the party : such Sena- 
 
 I 
 
MR. CLAY ONCE MORE IN THE SENATE. 
 
 359 
 
 tors as John Davis, Roger S. Baldwin, Truman Smith, William 
 H. Seward, William L. Dayton, and Thomas Corwin, who 
 more truly represented the Northern sentiment, were passed 
 over. King, Mason, Downes, and Berrien were Southern 
 extremists, and Bright, though a Northern man, sympathized 
 with the South. 
 
 The select committee, by their chairman, in due time re- 
 ported a single bill, in which all the different measures men- 
 tioned were combined. It was called " Mr. Clay's Omnibus 
 Compromise bill," and, as a considerable portion of the Senate 
 were opposed to these measures, — some to one portion and 
 some to another, some for one reason and some for another, — 
 it became the great absorbing topic of discussion, not only in 
 the Senate but -in the public press, and by the people of the 
 whole country, for many months. It was the occasion of a 
 forensic conflict and display such as has not been witnessed in 
 the Senate since, and such as rarely occurs in any deliberative 
 body in the world. There were men then in that body eminent 
 for their public services, their legal attainments, their sound 
 scholarship, and their forensic powers ; and on this great sub- 
 ject all these delivered their views, and sustained each his 
 respective opinions. Here were Webster, Calhoun, Benton, 
 Cass, Davis (of Massachusetts), Ewing, Corwin,* Chase, Sew- 
 ard, Mangum, Berrien, Pearce, Dawson, Dayton, Bell, and 
 Soule. Others might be named, all men of acknowledged 
 abilities. Viut primus inter pares stood the acknowledged leader, 
 Henry Clay. 
 
 It would, probably, have been considered savoring of arro- 
 gance had any other Senator assumed the office of mediator 
 and pacificator between the North and the South, but no such 
 feeling was manifested in regard to him ; on the contrary, it was 
 considered peculiarly proper and patriotic in him, and the 
 nation applauded him for what he had undertaken. No other 
 man in Congress was so situated that he could act the part Mr. 
 Clay had undertaken, as all others of sufficient public reputa- 
 
 * On the accession of Mr. Fillmore to the office of President, after General Tay- 
 lor's death, Mr. Corwin became Secretaiy of the Treasury, and Mr. Ewing was 
 appointed, by the Governor of Ohio, to take his place in the United States Senate. 
 
36o 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 tion were more or less identified with the section to which 
 they belonged, — Mr. Webster with the North, Mr. Calhoun 
 with the South, etc. Mr, Clay had always been pre-eminently 
 national. He was now, moreover, no longer the leader of a 
 party, or an aspirant for Presidential honors ; indeed, he could 
 hardly now be said to belong to any party. 
 
 THE DEBATE. 
 
 Mr. Clay introduced his resolutions on the 29th of January, 
 and the bill afterwards reported was under consideration in the 
 Senate forseven months, most of the time the subject of debate, — 
 sustained and opposed with great power, vigor, fervor, and elo- 
 quence. Taking the lead in and managing the discussion, occa- 
 sionally delivering a long, elaborate, and exhaustive argument, 
 sometimes bursting out into impassioned eloquence, and reply- 
 ing frequently to the arguments of opponents, and thus keeping 
 up a running and almost daily discussion, the labor performed 
 by Mr. Clay in these seven months was truly herculean. Others 
 could intermit their labor and attention, be absent and take 
 recreation, or attend to other matters : not so Mr. Clay ; while 
 the subject was under consideration and debate was going on, 
 and especially if any Senator were speaking against the adjust- 
 ment measures, he was all attention, and not an argument 
 escaped him, as it was to be replied to either by himself or 
 some one whom he might request to perform this service. On 
 several occasions he spoke from two to four hours, and fre- 
 quently from half an hour to an hour. This was a mental and 
 physical labor which few men twenty years younger could 
 endure, and it probably shortened his life several years. Old 
 as he was, — seventy-three, — he spoke with all the eloquence and 
 power he exhibited in his palmy days. That he could speak 
 and steadily pour out torrents of argument and illustration for a 
 whole day, — on his feet four or five hours, — was indeed wonderful. 
 
 Among the most prominent opponents of Mr. Clay's adjust- 
 ment plan was Mr. Benton, whose hostility was intense. He 
 assailed it again and again, with argument, ridicule, contempt, 
 and every species of weapon he could bring to bear upon it. 
 Some scenes more exciting than creditable occurred between 
 
THE DEBATE ON THE COMPROMISE BILL. 361 
 
 them ; but the most amusing and ridiculous occurrence in 
 which Mr. Benton acted a part in this debate was a disturb- 
 ance between him and Mr. Foote. 
 
 Mr. Benton had, some days previous, severely handled the 
 address of the Southern members of Congress, the production 
 of Mr. Calhoun. Mr. Foote, while speaking in defense of this, 
 made sorrie sarcastic and provoking remarks, evidently in allu- 
 sion to Mr. Benton, and applied them to him by frequently 
 turning and looking towards him. 
 
 Mr. Benton at length rose, greatly excited, and, throwing 
 his chair from him with such violence as to attract attention, 
 stepped into the passage outside of the bar of the Senate, and 
 advanced hastily to the passage, or aisle, leading to Mr. Foote's 
 desk, where he was standing. The two Senators Dodge, of 
 Wisconsin and Iowa, father and son, endeavored to arrest his 
 progress, but he broke from them, exclaiming, "Stand out of 
 the way ! I have no pistols. Stand out of the way ! let me pass ! 
 — let the assassin fire !" advancing towards IMr. Foote in great 
 anger. There was much confusion, the Vice-President vainly 
 endeavoring to preserve order. Mr. Foote had retreated to the 
 desk of the Secretary, and drawn and cocked a pistol, which 
 he held menacingly. Several Senators gathered around him, 
 while others impeded Mr. Benton's farther advance, and took 
 him back to his seat, he continually exclaiming, in a heated 
 manner, "Let the assassin fire! I have no pistols;" "I scorn 
 to go armed ;" " Only cowards go armed." 
 
 Mr. Dickinson, of New York, took the pistol from Mr. Foote 
 and locked it in his desk ; and order was at length restored. 
 
 Mr. Dickinson, with a view to turn the minds of Senators 
 to other matters, inquired of the Vice-President what the ques- 
 tion was before the Senate. 
 
 Mr. Benton, in a boisterous tone. — "This is not going to pass 
 off in this way. I demand of the Senate to take immediate 
 action. A pistol has been drawn, sir. It has been pointed at 
 me, sir. I demand the immediate action of this body, sir." 
 
 Mr. Mangum submitted a resolution appointing a committee 
 
 of seven to investigate the matter; and here the affair virtually 
 
 ended. 
 
 Vol. II. 24 
 
362 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Of this long-protracted and very interesting debate, — lasting 
 for seven months,— which would fill many large volumes, it is 
 impossible, and would be unprofitable, to give even the briefest 
 abstract or synopsis : the times and the events which called it 
 forth, as well as nearly all who partook in it, have passed away, 
 and with them the interest felt in the questions which, at the 
 time, agitated the country. Mr. Clay's professed, and doubt- 
 less sincere, desire was to restore harmony to the country by 
 an equitable adjustment of these irritating questions, and he had 
 full faith in the accomplishment of this purpose by the adoption, 
 by Congress, of his plan. But events proved that there was 
 " an irrepressible conflict" between the North and the South, 
 which could not be reconciled by compromises or protocols : 
 there could be no harmony between freedom and slavery. The 
 culmination of this "conflict" might perhaps have been post- 
 poned for a time by the Compromise ; but come it must, and 
 come it did, ten years later, when Mr. Clay, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. 
 Webster, and Mr. Benton slept quietly in their graves, undis- 
 turbed by the roar of fratricidal cannon. 
 
 It was in the debate upon the Compromise measures that 
 Mr. Webster made his celebrated 7th of March speech, which 
 gave offense to a considerable portion of the people of Mas- 
 sachusetts and alienated from him many of his old friends. 
 In this speech he indulged in quite an unlooked-for strain of 
 censure of the course the Free-soilers had pursued in regard 
 to sectional questions, and especially in regard to the annexa- 
 tion of Texas, — clamorously agitating against it, yet bringing 
 it about by refusing to support Mr. Clay, thus electing Mr. 
 Polk. He spoke also slightingly, almost sneeringly, of " the 
 Wilmot," as he called the Proviso. These criticisms were never 
 forgiven. He was charged with attempting to win the favor of 
 the South by that speech : if that were his purpose, he utterly 
 failed to accomplish it, as was demonstrated two years after, 
 at the Baltimore Whig National Convention, when the South 
 refused to respond to the appeals of his friends to support 
 his nomination for President. No doubt he looked for support^ 
 , from the South on that occasion, and felt bitterly the disap" 
 pointment. //^^^x,,,^^,.^^^ t^r^ ^l^^^^^i.^^^ , ^ 
 
 
MR. CALHOUN'S LAST SPEECH. 
 
 MR. CALHOUN S LAST SPEECH. 
 
 36: 
 
 INIr. Calhoun's health had been failing for a year or more, 
 and, though he continued to appear in his seat in the Senate 
 at intervals, he was so emaciated, pale, and cadaverous that he 
 looked more like a fugitive from a grave than a living being. 
 Yet his eye lost not its brilliancy, and his mind seemed as clear 
 and powerful as ever. Feeble as he was, he would sit upright 
 in his chair, only resting on its arms, but never leaning upon 
 his desk or reposing on a sofa. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1850, after having been absent from 
 the Senate many weeks, he appeared, entering the chamber 
 supported on the one side by his colleague, Mr. Butler, and 
 on the other by Senator Mason, of Virginia, who escorted him 
 to his seat. Here he was kindly greeted by the Senators 
 generally. It had been understood that the delivery of Mr. 
 Calhoun's speech would occupy the day. 
 
 After resting a short time, with the aid of others he rose, 
 and addressed the Senators, stating, in feeble tones, that he had 
 prepared and had printed the remarks he intended then to 
 offer, but, as he felt himself too feeble to perform the task of 
 delivering them, he asked the favor of them to allow his friend 
 Senator Mason to read them. The request was, of course, 
 granted. 
 
 As a whole, the speech was but a recapitulation of what had 
 been uttered at the South, and especially in South Carolina, for 
 years back, and was then the current language of Southern 
 Hotspurs : charges of aggression by the general government 
 and the North on the rights of the South, and the alternative 
 presented to the latter, unless something decisive was imme- 
 diately done to stop agitation, of secession by the South. He 
 declared that nearly every cord that held the' Union together 
 had already been snapped, " The strongest cord of a political 
 character," he said, " consists of the many and strong ties 
 that have held together the two great parties. This," he said, 
 " had resisted for a long time the explosive tendency of the 
 agitation, but has finally snapped under its force, — if not 
 entirely, in a great measure. If the agitation goes on, the 
 
3^4 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 same force, acting with increased intensity, will finally snap 
 every cord, when nothing will be left to hold the States to- 
 gether except force." 
 
 But California, — the admission of California into the Union 
 as a free State — excluding the property of Southern men, as 
 they chose to express themselves, — this was now the irritating 
 matter which inflamed the Southern mind and called forth 
 such fiery threats of disunion and secession. 
 
 The people of California, as I have stated, urged by Mr. 
 Thomas Butler King, the agent of the administration, had 
 called a convention, adopted a constitution, and transmitted 
 it to the President, who had laid it before Congress with his 
 special message. That constitution excluded slavery, or rather 
 it was already excluded ; consequently the Southern emigrant 
 could not take his slaves with him and hold them in bondage 
 there. ' But Congress had not yet admitted California. Al- 
 luding to this state of things, Mr. Calhoun said, — 
 
 " The Executive has laid the paper purporting to be the 
 Constitution of California before you, and asks you to admit 
 her into the Union as a State. Will you, or will you not, 
 admit her ? It is a grave question." Mr. Calhoun then pro- 
 ceeded to sound alarms and throw out warnings such as had 
 long been familiar to the ears of Senators. 
 
 To the question asked by himself, " How can the Union be 
 saved ?" he gave answer, " By providing for the insertion of 
 a provision in the Constitution, by an amendment, which will 
 restore to the South in substance the power she possessed of 
 protecting herself before the equilibrium between the sections 
 was destroyed by the action of this government." 
 
 This is a very shadowy proposition, as vague as language 
 could well make it. What it meant no one could fully under- 
 stand, until it was authentically explained, some time after, to 
 mean " the election of two Presidents, — one from the free 
 States and the other from the slave States, each clothed with 
 a positive" veto, — no act of Congress to become a law until 
 approved of both." 
 
 The reading of this speech by Mr. Mason — the Senate- 
 chamber and galleries filled to overflowing, — the appearance of 
 
MR. CALHOUN'S DEATH. 
 
 365 
 
 Mr. Calhoun, standing, as all knew he did, upon the brink of 
 the grave, wrapped in a cloak, his long, white, bushy hair 
 hanging wildly down the sides of his pale, emaciated face, his 
 countenance lighting up and his eye flashing out of its deep 
 socket as he cast it around on Senators when certain passages 
 were read, as if to arrest their attention and enforce his words 
 with its wonted fire — was a most unique, impressive, and dra- 
 matic scene. He was, by the voice of a friend, uttering his 
 last and most emphatic words in that illustrious body of which 
 he had long been one of the most distinguished members. It 
 was his last appearance in the Senate ; of this he and all others 
 were conscious. As he left his seat, supported by his venerable 
 colleague. Judge Butler, and by Mr. Mason, the Senators gath- 
 ered around him to express their sympathies and bid him an 
 affectionate and eternal adieu. Supported by his two friends, 
 he then passed slowly out. Impressive as were his last words, 
 his own appearance was incomparably more so. 
 
 It was clear that he labored under extraordinary hallucina- 
 tions. In the last years of his life his whole soul was absorbed 
 in the preservation and perpetuation of slavery, to accomplish 
 which he was ready to sacrifice the Union itself, and even 
 looked upon this as anything but a blessing to the South. The 
 South, — this, and this only, was Ids country ; the North was 
 foreign, ungenial soil to him, 
 
 MR. Calhoun's death. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun died on the 31st of March, 1850, at his board- 
 ing-house, — Mr. Hill's, in what was called " the Old Capitol," 
 used as a prison during the Rebellion, and since turned into 
 three large, elegant dwelling-houses. 
 
 His death was announced in the Senate the next day, by his 
 late colleague, Mr. Butler; on which occasion Mr. Clay and 
 Mr. Webster addressed some touching and eloquent remarks 
 to the Senate, which I am obliged to omit. 
 
 The triumvirate of American statesmen of the generation 
 following Mr. Randolph, Mr. Pinckncy, Mr. Otis, Mr. Quincy, 
 Mr. Monroe, Mr. J. Q. Adams, Mr. William H. Crawford, and 
 all those of middle age previous to the War of 18 12, — Clay, 
 
366 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Webster, and Calhoun, — were once more brought together, as 
 members of the Senate, from the commencement of the first 
 session of the Thirty-first Congress, until the death of the latter. 
 And now the melancholy duty fell upon two of them to pay 
 due honor to the third, and speak of him dead as they had for 
 nearly forty years known him living. All political feelings and 
 rivalries vanish at such a sad moment, and only the emotions 
 of the man, called forth by an event which is a solemn ad- 
 monition, find utterance from the hearts of the survivors. They 
 had entered Congress almost simultaneously ; had each, from 
 the first, been distinguished for eloquence and ability ; had 
 become veteran statesmen ; had each aspired to the highest 
 station attainable by any one in the country ; two of them had 
 been disappointed and given up all hope, while the third, still 
 an aspirant, was soon destined to experience the same disap- 
 pointment ; and the two survivors were to follow their early 
 companion in a little over two years. 
 
 DEFEAT OF THE COMPROMISE BILL. 
 
 The Compromise bill, as a whole, — a complex measure, — 
 was defeated by amendments, on the ist of August. How 
 this occurred it is not necessary to state minutely. But there 
 was a clashing of opinions and interests in regard to the claims 
 of Texas to all that portion of New Mexico lying east of the 
 Rio Grande up to, and including, Santa Fe. Upon this rock 
 the bill went to pieces. Texas was already preparing to main- 
 tain her claim by force, — raising troops to take possession of 
 the country. The friends of the bill disagreed on this subject, 
 and the result was its defeat. 
 
 Mr. Clay exerted all his powers to prevent this, — to induce 
 gentlemen to agree to some amendment which, if not entirely 
 satisfactory to all, or to neither, would enable them to com- 
 plete the structure they had, after so many months of hard toil, 
 nearly completed. Light was dawning on them, he said, after 
 groping so long in darkness, and would gentlemen for a slight 
 difference in opinion undo all they had so nobly done, and 
 leave the country to the mercy of agitators. North and South ? 
 He begged and pleaded that they would agree upon some- 
 
DEFEAT OF THE COMPROMISE BILL. 
 
 367 
 
 thing, — some compromise or adjustment of this particular 
 matter of difference. But his appeals were vain, and the struc- 
 ture fell, unfinished. 
 
 Mr. Clay, much moved, then rose, and said, " Mr. President, 
 I wish to say only a word. We have presented to the country 
 a measure of peace, a measure of tranquillity, — one which would 
 have harmonized, in my opinion, all the discordant feelings 
 which prevail. That measure, sir, has met with a fate not 
 altogether unexpected, I admit, on my part, but one which, 
 as it respects the country at large, I deplore exceedingly. For 
 myself, personally, I have no cause to complain. The majority 
 of the committee to which I belonged have done their duty, 
 their whole duty, faithfully and perseveringly. If the measure 
 has been defeated, it has been defeated by the extremists on 
 both sides of this chamber. 
 
 " Now, Mr. President, I stand here in my place meaning to 
 be unawed by any threats, whether they come from individuals 
 or States. I should deplore, as much as any man ever did or 
 can do, that arms should be raised against the general author- 
 ity of the Union, either by individuals or a State. But, after all 
 that has occurred, if any one State, or portion of a State, shall 
 choose to place itself in military array against the govern- 
 ment of the Union, I am for trying the strength of the gov- 
 ernment of the Union. I am for ascertaining whether we have 
 a government or not, — practically efficient, capable of main- 
 taining its authority and of upholding the powers and interests 
 which belong to a government. Nor, sir, am I to be alarmed 
 or dissuaded by any such cause as the intimations of spilling of 
 blood. If blood is to be spilled, by whose fault is it to be done ? 
 By those, sir, who have endeavored to raise the standard of 
 disunion and attempt to prostrate this government. And, sir, 
 when that is done, so long as it pleases God to give me a voice 
 to express my sentiments, or an arm to raise, weak and feeble 
 though it be, that voice and that arm shall be on the side of 
 the country, in the support of the authority and maintenance of 
 the powers of the general government." 
 
 The galleries here broke out in loud applause, carried away 
 
^68 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 as they were by Mr. Clay's patriotic fervor. The Vice-Presi- 
 dent requested him to suspend his remarks, and rebuked the 
 galleries. 
 
 Mr. Walker, of Wisconsin, rose, and said, " I cannot, Mr. 
 President, forbear thanking the venerable and eloquent Senator 
 for giving utterance to these patriotic remarks." 
 
 Mr. Clay's remarks were called forth not only by the exist- 
 ence of the " irrepressible conflict," but also and especially by 
 the fact that a Southern convention had been held at Nash- 
 ville and put forth a series of threatening resolutions, embody- 
 ing what had already been said in Congress; and by the fact 
 that Governor Townes, of Georgia, had issued a proclamation 
 calling a meeting of the State Legislature to take the necessary 
 steps to resist their oppressors, and to maintain their rights to 
 carry their property (slaves) with them into the Territories of 
 the United States, "the common property of all." The admis- 
 sion of California without recognizing this right of the South 
 he stigmatized as a gross insult to them, and the Legislature 
 was called upon to maintain the rights, the honor, and the dig- 
 nity of the State, thus trampled upon. 
 
 It was these demonstrations and threats which stirred Mr. 
 Clay's patriotic ire and caused him to hurl defiance back upon 
 them and all others who would rend the Union in twain. What- 
 ever else he might be, he was pre-eminently an ardent, devoted, 
 unswerving patriot. He was for the country, — the whole country, 
 sound and intact, " one and indivisible ;" not for any one por- 
 tion of it, large or small ; his patriotism embraced the whole 
 ocean-bound land which constituted the United StzX&s, — in a 
 word, the Union. 
 
 Worn out and exhausted by long months of ceaseless labor, 
 doomed to see the desired fruits of that labor all but within his 
 grasp and then apparently lost, he gave up the work, and sought 
 the repose his health and exhaustion demanded, expressing his 
 earnest hopes that the several measures which had been com- 
 bined in one bill and had come so near passing might be adopted 
 by Congress separately. 
 
DEATH OF GENERAL TAYLOR. 
 
 369 
 
 PASSAGE OF THE SEVERAL BILLS CONSTITUTING THE ADJUST- 
 MENT MEASURES. 
 
 Mr. Pearce, of Maryland, to whom Mr. Clay imputed the 
 defeat of the Omnibus bill, now took the lead in the Senate in 
 bringing forward in separate bills, each in relation to a single 
 subject, the measures which had been combined in that bill for 
 the action of the Senate. The first was a bill for the settle- 
 ment of the boundaries of Texas, which passed the Senate 
 on the 9th of August. As a separate measure this could be 
 carried in the shape Mr. Pearce desired to put it in the Omni- 
 bus bill, though it failed as one of the parts of that bill ; for 
 the reason that Senators could vote for it as a separate measure 
 who could not vote for the fugitive slave provision in the same 
 bill. 
 
 In like manner a bill for the admission of California as a 
 State passed the Senate on the 13th of August, by a vote of 
 33 to 16. 
 
 On the 15th a bill providing for a Territorial government for 
 New Mexico passed the Senate; on the 23d the Fugitive Slave 
 bill also passed, and shortly after, the bill to prohibit the traffic 
 in slaves in the District of Columbia. Thus each of the several 
 measures provided for and combined in the Omnibus bill had 
 now passed the Senate in separate and single bills. 
 
 These measures met with determined opposition in the 
 House, especially the Fugitive Slave bill from Northern, and 
 the California bill from Southern, members. But they were all 
 carried. The bill relating to the boundaries of Texas, and that 
 for establishing a Territorial government in New Mexico, were 
 combined, and became a law on the 9th of September, as did the 
 bill for the admission of California as a State into the Union. 
 The Fugitive Slave bill became a law on the i8th, and the bill 
 to suppress the slave-trade in the District of Columbia on the 
 20th of September. 
 
 DEATH OF GENERAL TAYLOR. 
 
 On the 4th of July, 1850, General Taylor attended the de- 
 livery of an oration at the Washington Monument, and after- 
 
370 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 wards witnessed the depositing in the monument of dust from 
 the tomb of Kosciusko, supposed to be that which had once 
 been a part of the body of the celebrated Polish patriot. 
 In attending this ceremony, which lasted an hour or two, he 
 was exposed to the burning rays of a July sun, without the 
 protection even of an umbrella. Much exhausted and over- 
 heated, he returned to the Executive mansion and imprudently 
 indulged in large draughts of ice-water, at the same time eat- 
 ing unripe fruit, against which his servant vainly cautioned him. 
 The result of this imprudence was an attack of disease which 
 almost immediately became serious and alarming, creating 
 great anxiety in the city and throughout the whole country, 
 evincing the deep and affectionate respect he had won of the 
 people by his military prowess, his modest and unassuming 
 bearing, his sound and excellent common sense, his desire to 
 allay party asperities and adopt measures to restore quiet to 
 the country and promote its prosperity. No one could — 
 no one did — doubt his stern honesty and integrity, or his 
 patriotic desire and efforts to do that which was best for the 
 country, irrespective of party feelings, especially in the estab- 
 lishment of Territorial governments over the newly-acquired 
 Territories of California, New Mexico, and Utah. His death 
 took place on the 9th of July. 
 
 The country was shocked by this sudden demise of another 
 President in the midst of life, health, and usefulness, and deeply 
 mourned his loss, justly believing him to be an honest, upright 
 man, an able soldier, and a pure patriot, who made up in good, 
 sound, practical common sense what he lacked of experience 
 in civil affairs. 
 
 It seemed singular that the only two Whig Presidents whom 
 the people had elected should both be cut off by death in the 
 early part of their respective terms. But there was consolation 
 to the party in power that there was no second John Tyler to 
 succeed to the Executive chair and betray those by whom he 
 had been elected. 
 
 Mr. Fillmore, the Vice-President, now to become President, 
 enjoyed the fullest confidence of the whole Whig party. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Mr. Fillmore takes the Oath of Office and enters upon the Duties of President. — 
 His Cabinet. — The Free-soil Party increases at the North and coalesces with 
 the Democrats. — Salmon P. Chase elected Senator from Ohio. — Mr. Boutwell 
 Governor, and Charles Sumner United States Senator, in Massachusetts. — More 
 Disunionism in South Carolina. — The Second Session of the Thirty-first Con- 
 gress. — President's Message. — Increasing Opposition at the North to the Fugi- 
 tive Slave Law and its Execution. — A Calm Session of Congress. — Filibustering 
 Expedition of Lopez against Cuba. — Kossuth. — Feted in New York. — Disgrace- 
 ful Doings there. — Judge Duer not allowed to reply to Kossuth. — Publicly re- 
 ceived by both Houses of Congress. — The leading Public Men at Washington 
 celebrate the Birthday of Washington. — Mr. Crittenden selected to address 
 them on the Occasion, in Rebuke of the Assumptions of Kossuth adverse to the 
 Principles of Washington. — Mr. Clay's 111 Health. — Great Union Movement in 
 New York. — Whig National Convention, held at Baltimore, on the Fifty-third 
 Ballot nominates General Scott for President, and William A. Graham for Vice- 
 President. — The Democratic National Convention nominates Franklin Pierce 
 for President, and William R. King for Vice-President. — Free-soil National Con- 
 vention, held at Pittsburg, nominates John P. Hale for President, and George 
 W. Julian for Vice-President. — Death of Mr. Clay. — Presidential Canvass of 
 1852. — Mr. Webster's Death. — General Pierce elected President. — Brutal Assault 
 of Preston S. Brooks, of South Carolina, on Mr. Sumner. — Close of Fillmore's 
 Administration. 
 
 JULY, 1850. — MR. FILLMORE ASSUMES THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT. 
 
 On the death of General Taylor, the several heads of Depart- 
 ment who constituted his cabinet addressed a joint letter to 
 Mr. Fillmore, Vice-President, officially informing him of the 
 death of the President, and on the morning of the next day he 
 communicated the intelligence to both Houses of Congress, at 
 the same time notifying them that he should on that day, at 
 twelve o'clock, take the oath of office in presence of the Senate 
 and House of Representatives. 
 
 At the designated time, the two Houses assembled in the 
 Representative hall. The venerable Chief-Justice Cranch was 
 conducted into the hall by a member of Congress, and imme- 
 
 371 
 
372 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 diately after Mr. Fillmore entered, supported by the Honor- 
 able Pierre Soule, Senator from Louisiana, and the Honorable 
 Robert C. Winthrop, Representative from Massachusetts, and 
 late Speaker of the House. With the President, Mr. Fillmore, 
 the late cabinet of General Taylor also entered and took seats 
 on the platform. The oath of office was then administered by 
 Judge Cranch. As Mr. Fillmore made no address on the 
 occasion, the administering of the oath concluded the cere- 
 monies, and he then retired, accompanied by the committee of 
 arrangements and the members of the late cabinet. 
 
 Seldom has the chief officer of a great nation been inaugu- 
 rated into office in a less ostentatious manner, — no procession, 
 no martial music, no military uniforms, no speeches. He took 
 the oath of office in the presence of the two Houses of Con- 
 gress, and that was all. All the members of the cabinet ten- 
 dered their resignations, but they were requested to withhold 
 them for a short time, until the President could find successors. 
 
 Called suddenly and unexpectedly to assume the duties of 
 President, Mr. Fillmore had a perplexing task to perform in 
 finding the proper men from different sections of the country to 
 fill the highest offices under him, — men who not only possessed 
 the necessary abilities to conduct the departments of the gov- 
 ernment, but who had also sufficient character and experience 
 in public affairs, and who would harmonize with him and with 
 one another. This required time, — some weeks at least. But 
 the members of the late cabinet were unwilling to remain. Two 
 or three did so, reluctantly, until the 22d of July : the others 
 left the city almost immediately. For some reason which I 
 could never divine, there had been exhibited on the part of 
 General Taylor's cabinet a very unfriendly disposition towards 
 the Vice-President. No favor he had asked had been granted. 
 He had recommended two gentlemen for collector of customs 
 and postmaster, at Buffalo, where he resided : neither was ap- 
 pointed, but in their stead men politically inimical to him ; 
 Whigs, but Seward, anti-Fillmore Whigs. There was cause, 
 therefore, for these gentlemen not wishing to remain and per- 
 form the duties of their respective departments under such 
 circumstances. Mr. Clayton, Secretary of State, left immedi- 
 
 k 
 
MR. FILLMORE ASSUMES TILE PRESIDENCY. 373 
 
 ately, transacting no business whatever with Mr. Fillmore, 
 and Mr. Webster was at once appointed in his place. The 
 position was tendered to him at the instance and upon the 
 urgent advice of Mr. Clay, sustained by Mr. Mangum. It was 
 understood that Mr. Fillmore had intended to offer it to Mr. 
 Winthrop ; but Mr. Clay urged that it ought to be in charge 
 of a statesman not only of acknowledged competence and 
 experience, but also of more than national reputation, — one in 
 whom European statesmen would have confidence, — who would 
 giv^e character to the administration. To these suggestions Mr. 
 Fillmore finally yielded.* 
 
 Mr. Corwin was nominated Secretary of the Treasury; Mr. 
 McKennan, of Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Interior; Edward 
 Bates, of Missouri, Secretary of War; William A. Graham, of 
 North Carolina, Secretary of the Navy; Nathan K. Hall, of 
 Buffalo, New York, Postmaster-General ; and John J. Crittenden, 
 of Kentucky, Attorney-General. 
 
 The Interior Department was first offered to James A. Pearce 
 (Senator), of Maryland, who declined it. Mr. McKennan ac- 
 cepted the office, came to Washington, entered upon its duties, 
 discharged them for about two weeks, and resigned, on account 
 of ill health. It was then tendered to and accepted by A. H. H. 
 Stuart, of Virginia. Mr. Bates declined the office of Secretary 
 of War, and Charles M. Conrad was appointed ; and thus, at 
 last, the cabinet was made up. As a whole, able as the late 
 cabinet was, this was in no respect inferior. 
 
 The first session of this Congress continued until the last 
 of September, — an unusually long, arduous, and exciting one. 
 The passage of the several bills heretofore mentioned had a 
 tranquillizing effect upon the country, except that the Fugitive 
 Slave Act met with determined hostility and resistance at the 
 North, where several futile attempts, and some successful ones, 
 were made to capture fugitive slaves under it, creating much 
 disturbance in some communities, and raising great clamor 
 against it. The people of the North loved liberty too well to 
 
 * I state this upon the authority of Judge Mangum, who, immediately after the 
 matter was settled, called upon Mr. Webster and informed him of the fact, and of 
 the advice of Mr. Clay. 
 
374 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 give any one aid in reducing or returning another human being 
 to bondage. The question arose at once in the mind of every 
 thinking man, " Why should one man own, or have a right to 
 the person of, another, and compel him to obey and labor for 
 him all his life ?" 
 
 The reply was, Because the laws of the Southern States so 
 declare, and the Constitution of the United States, although 
 the word slave is not in it, does, in fact, recognize slavery. 
 But, rejoined the Northern man, slavery is wrong, inhuman, 
 and contrary to the natural rights of man ; and, being so, I 
 will not aid in enforcing such a law, — a law so revolting to my 
 sense of justice. If the Southern planter has a right, by law, 
 to seize and carry away his slave, let him come here and do it 
 if he can : I will not be his slave-catcher. But when the planter 
 or his agent came, the fugitive, in most cases, had disappeared, 
 — gone to Canada by " the underground railroad," as it was 
 usually expressed, — and so the master or his agent returned to 
 complain of the non-execution and inefficiency of the law. 
 
 The extremists of the South were still as clamorous for 
 disunion as they ever had been, South Carolina leading. On 
 the passage, by the Senate, of the bill to admit California with- 
 out running the Missouri Compromise line through that Terri- 
 tory, a number of Southern Senators drew up, signed, and 
 asked to have entered on the journal, a protest against the bill. 
 This was rejected as not allowable ; but the passage of the bill 
 was made the occasion of fresh complaints against the "aggres- 
 sions" of the North, and a pretense for the cry of resistance and 
 disunion. The Nashville Convention reassembled, and though 
 the number of delegates had fallen off", and the intensity of the 
 feeling manifested some months previous had greatly abated, 
 yet it issued some incendiary resolutions, and recommended 
 the holding of another convention in Mississippi, to consider 
 what course the South should take to protect her rights. 
 
 THE FREE-SOIL PARTY INCREASES AT THE NORTH. COALESCES 
 
 WITH THE DEMOCRATS. 
 
 The effect of the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, and its 
 attempted execution at the North, was to increase greatly the 
 
THE FREE-SOIL PARTY INCREASES AT THE NORTH. 
 
 :)/5 
 
 Free-soil party at the expense of the Whig party. Democrats 
 became Free-soilers as well as the Whigs, but they did not, 
 except in a few instances, abandon their party organization on 
 that account, as did the Whigs. 
 
 In Ohio the Democrats and Free-soilers united in the State 
 Legislature, and elected Salmon P. Chase, a Democrat and 
 Free-soiler, United States Senator. In Massachusetts the two 
 parties coalesced in 1850, and elected Mr. Boutwell, Democrat, 
 Governor of the State, Robert Rantoul, Democratic Free-soiler, 
 and Charles Sumner, Whig Free-soiler, United States Senators, 
 the former for the short term, — remainder of Mr. Webster's, — 
 the latter for six years. Other elections of a similar character, 
 but of less importance, took place, Democrats and Free-soilers 
 dividing the honors among themselves. " By these movements 
 the strength and compactness of the Whig party were much 
 impaired, and from this time it may date its disintegration, — a 
 disintegration out of which arose the present Republican party. 
 Slavery broke the old Whig party, and in a few years after 
 shattered the old Democratic party, though the latter has 
 fought perseveringly to avoid annihilation. The bitter denun- 
 ciations of the Whigs by the Free-soil party, and its warm 
 embrace of the Democrats, manifestino- at the same time 
 the most irreconcilable hostility to the Fugitive Slave Act, 
 for which twenty-seven Northern Democrats, and but three 
 Northern Whigs, voted in Congress, constituted one of those 
 rare manifestations in political warfare which exhibit the perfect 
 honesty and purity of purpose of coalescing extremes. The 
 Whig party was declared to be a pro-slavery party, in the face 
 of the vote just stated, and Mr. Webster, Mr. Fillmore, and the 
 Whig administration were charged with being the authors and 
 supporters of the odious Fugitive Slave Act. Such was the 
 odium pertaining to that act, so hatefully was it viewed by the 
 Free-soilers, that at a large meeting held by them at Faneuil 
 Hall, Boston, a resolution was adopted that no fugitive slave 
 should be surrendered in Massachusetts. 
 
 But, though the feeling of the whole North was strongly 
 repugnant to this act, the greater portion sacrificed their feel- 
 ings to their sense of duty. However unpalatable, it was the 
 
376 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 law of the land, and must be enforced, or, at least, not resisted. 
 It was justly argued that if the North might resist this act 
 the South might with equal reason disregard the act abolish- 
 ing the traffic in slaves in the District of Columbia. 
 
 MEETING OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Members of the Thirty-first Congress came together at their 
 second session, after having had an opportunity to mingle with 
 their constituents and ascertain the feelings of the people in 
 regard to the passage of the so-called adjustment or compro- 
 mise bills ; and it was a marked circumstance that, upon reas- 
 sembling, there was a decidedly better feeling among them than 
 when they separated two months before, most of those who 
 had been violently arrayed against one another one year ago 
 becoming now very good friends. The President's message 
 was not only satisfactory to all save the few extremists, but 
 was highly acceptable, and called forth unqualified praise from 
 members and the public press. The public voice pronounced 
 it a model message. It was unpretentious, plain, clear, brief, 
 and business-like, the language pure idiomatic English, in 
 striking contrast, in these respects, to some of the inflated 
 messages of his predecessors, and also in regard to the avoid- 
 ance of theories and speculations touching political dogmas 
 and matters not likely to come before Congress for action. 
 Mr. Fillmore happily knew when he had said all he needed to 
 say. 
 
 No one ever supposed that had the Fugitive Slave Act been 
 passed before the death of General Taylor he would have 
 refused his signature to it; but the signing of it by Mr. 
 Fillmore brought down upon him the bitterest fulminations. 
 Had he withheld his signature, and returned the bill to the 
 Senate, where it originated, no one who knows anything of 
 the state of the public mind at that time, and especially of 
 the feeling of the South, ready to break out into open rebel- 
 lion, and only prevented by the passage of these bills, — and 
 this one especially, — can doubt that the country would have 
 been immediately involved in a civil war. 
 
 At the North the agitating question was. Shall the Fugitive 
 
A CALM SESSION OF CONGRESS. 
 
 \77 
 
 Slave Act of Congress be enforced, or shall its execution be 
 resisted ? At the South it was, Shall we submit to the ex- 
 clusion of our slaves from California, as they are excluded 
 by the admission of that Territory as a State by Congress, with 
 the constitution she has formed, or shall we secede from the 
 Union ? As a whole, however, the country enjoyed a large 
 degree of contentment and tranquillity, abundant harvests, and 
 general prosperity. People would be content and happy in 
 spite of the restless spirits who desired to make them otherwise, 
 and persisted in turning a deaf ear to croakers and prophets 
 of evil. 
 
 A CALM SESSION OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Some one has wisely said, " Happy is that nation whose 
 annals are uninteresting;" and happy was the nation now that 
 excitement in Congress had almost entirely ceased, and mem- 
 bers could give their undivided attention to proper subjects 
 of legislation. Agitations upon the slavery question, however, 
 still prevailed in some parts of the North and the South. 
 
 South Carolina, a perpetual threatening volcano, as usual, 
 was bent upon breaking up the Union. She was urging the 
 holding of a congress of slaveholding States for that avowed 
 purpose, though she found the other Southern States indisposed 
 to follow her lead. Mr. Cheves, in a State convention called 
 by the Legislature to carry out this treasonable design, appeal- 
 ing to the whole South, exclaimed, " Unite ! unite ! and you 
 shall form one of the most splendid empires on which the 
 sun has ever shone; of the most homogeneous population, 
 all of the same blood and lineage, a soil the most fruitful, 
 and a climate the most lovely. But — submit! submit! The 
 very sound curdles the blood in my veins. But oh, great 
 God, unite us [in a Southern congress], and a tale of sub- 
 mission shall never be told." 
 
 If such invocations could come from one whose head had 
 
 been whitened by the snows of threescore and ten winters, — 
 
 winters which had failed to cool the fires in his breast, — what 
 
 was to be expected from the young hot-bloods, such as Pickens, 
 
 Rhett, Keitt, Colcock, Miles, and others? 
 Vol. II. 2s 
 
3;8 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 Governor Floyd, of Virginia, gave expression to his feelings 
 towards the North, in his message to the Legislature, in the 
 following language : 
 
 " I earnestly recommend to your consideration the propriety 
 of laying a tax upon all the products of the non-slaveholding 
 States offered for sale within our territory. . . . Let a tax of 
 ten per cent, be imposed upon such articles as are found to be 
 manufactured or produced in the non-slaveholding States. . . . 
 I would also recommend that such a tax be imposed upon 
 foreign goods imported through non-slaveholding States as 
 will offer effectual encouragement to direct importation into 
 our own ports." 
 
 Most wise statesman ! most sagacious political economist ! 
 Tax all articles manufactured in non-slaveholding States, 
 brought into Virginia, when Virginia was dependent on them 
 for every article she used, — clothing, furniture, hats, shoes, 
 pots, kettles, brooms, combs, brushes, axes, shovels, hoes, 
 knives and forks, spoons, plows, harrows, harness, carriages, — 
 in short, everything; for which she paid in flour, wheat, corn, 
 and tobacco. 
 
 Nevertheless, the South was comparatively tranquil. 
 
 At the North, large Union meetings were held in various 
 cities and towns, New York, Philadelphia, Albany, etc., — east 
 and west of the Alleghanies, — in which the most prominent 
 men of all parties took part, and passed resolutions indorsing 
 the Compromise measures, pledging their exertions to enforce 
 them, approving the President's message, and denouncing all 
 agitation. 
 
 But the Fugitive Slave Law was still denounced by the Free- 
 soilers, and its execution resisted by force. In Boston, a 
 fugitive named Shadrach was arrested by the United States 
 Marshal, under a warrant from the United States Commissioner, 
 and was rescued by a mob of colored men, who entered the 
 court-room and took him from the officers. 
 
 The affair produced great excitement, not only in Boston, 
 but in other parts of the country, at the South especially. In 
 the Senate a resolution was adopted calling upon the President 
 for information in relation to this affair, to which the President 
 
A CALM SESSION OF CONGRESS. 
 
 379 
 
 responded, giving all the facts and circumstances as commu- 
 nicated by the United States ofificers. In closing his message 
 to the Senate, February 19, the President said, — 
 
 " I use this occasion to repeat the assurance that, so far as 
 depends on me, the law shall be faithfully executed, and all 
 forcible opposition to it suppressed ; and to this end I am 
 prepared to exercise, whenever it may become necessary, the 
 power constitutionally vested in me to the fullest extent. . . . 
 I doubt not that firmness, moderation, and freedom, strength- 
 ened and animated by the general opinion of the people, will 
 prevent the repetition of occurrences disturbing the public 
 peace and reprobated by all good men." 
 
 In a letter written in reply to an invitation to attend a Union 
 meeting at Tarrytown, New York, Mr. Webster took a general 
 view of the present condition of the country in regard to the 
 absorbing subject of slavery agitation : 
 
 " I hope," he said, " the spirit of disunion may be considered 
 now in some degree as checked ; but that it has existed, both 
 at the North and the South, and does still exist to a dangerous 
 extent, cannot, it seems to me, be denied by any honest man. 
 
 " In the South, the separation of the States is openly pro- 
 posed, discussed, and recommended, absolutely or condition- 
 ally, in legislative halls, and in conventions called together 
 by authority of law. 
 
 " In the North, the State governments have not run into 
 such excess, and the purpose of overturning the government 
 shows itself more clearly in resolutions agreed to in voluntary 
 assemblies of individuals, denouncing the laws of the land, and 
 declaring a fixed intent to disobey them." 
 
 Mr. Webster pronounces this opposition and resistance to 
 the laws of the country to be treason. He closes a long letter 
 thus : 
 
 " For myself, I confess that if I were to witness the breaking 
 up of the Union and the Constitution of the United States, I 
 should bow myself to the earth in confusion of face. I should 
 wish to hide myself from the observance of mankind unless 
 I could stand up and declare truly, before God and man, 
 that by the utmost exertion of my faculties with which my 
 
380 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 Creator has endowed me, I had labored to avert the catas- 
 trophe." 
 
 But the second session of the Thirty-first Congress passed 
 away quietly, without the usual heated debates, criminations 
 and recriminations, and disreputable scenes. The press in all 
 parts of the country noticed and commended this agreeable 
 change, and was loud in applauding the administration for its 
 firmness, moderation, prudence, and conciliatory course. 
 
 The Southern congress, which the disunionists of South 
 Carolina had labored so fervently to get up for the purpose of 
 forming a Southern Confederacy, came to naught. There were 
 w^ise men and reasonable men at the South, and even in South 
 Carolina, among them the able and venerable Poinsett, whose 
 patriotic appeals to the people and bold denunciations of the 
 designs of the disunionists were not without their proper effect 
 upon the Southern mind, — at least upon the less inflammable 
 portion of the people. 
 
 The most prominent feature of Mr. Fillmore's administration 
 thus far was a resolute purpose to enforce the laws wherever 
 attempts were made to set them at defiance, whether it were 
 resistance to the Fugitive Slave Law at the North, or the or- 
 ganization of expeditions gotten up at the South to invade the 
 territories of nations in amicable relations with our own. 
 
 This resolute purpose of the administration necessarily ar- 
 rayed the Free-soil party at the North against it. This party was 
 then comparatively weak, though rapidly increasing in strength. 
 Rumors of an expedition bein^^ about to be, or then being, 
 organized in the United States and fitted out for the purpose 
 of invading Cuba, instigated chiefly by Cubans and Spaniards, 
 the President issued his proclamation, exhorting all good citi- 
 zens to discountenance and prevent any such enterprise, and 
 calling upon every officer of the government, civil or military, 
 to use all efforts in his power to arrest, prosecute, and punish 
 every such offender. 
 
 His decisive action in this matter elicited universal com- 
 mendation. But this did not prevent the expedition from 
 being fitted out and leaving the shores of the United States, 
 under the command of one Lopez, whose name indicated his 
 
KOSSUTH. 
 
 381 
 
 nationality. With some two to four hundred men, he landed 
 at Bahia Honda on the 12th of August, 185 1. The expe- 
 dition was an entire failure. It had been represented to the 
 men that upon landing they would at once be joined by a large 
 number of patriots, and that the people were ready for a revolt. 
 So far from this, not a man joined them, and the people mani- 
 fested their hostility to them in every way. They were, of 
 course, defeated and taken prisoners, — a fate they well merited. 
 Some were killed in a conflict with the Spanish troops, some 
 executed, and some released upon the intervention of our 
 government. 
 
 The fate of these marauders, filibusters, and robbers created 
 much sensation at the South, where they had been recruited, 
 and no little elsewhere. That the expedition was encouraged 
 by Southern gentlemen, and even aided by funds contributed 
 by them, the evidence was too strong to be questioned ; it was 
 acknowledged to me by a leading public man of the South. 
 
 KOSSUTH. 
 
 But the public eye, ear, and attention were, ere long, drawn 
 in another direction. Congress having authorized the Presi- 
 dent to use any public vessel to bring Louis Kossuth, late 
 Governor of Hungary, and his suite to this country, he was 
 landed at New York, where his presence created a great furor. 
 He was received and feted by the city authorities, making a 
 speech in which he condemned our traditional Washington 
 policy of non-intervention in European affairs, and lectured able 
 jurists present in regard to their construction of our Constitu- 
 tion, which, he assumed, they did not rightly understand. It 
 was quite modest in a foreigner, just landed on our shores, 
 to take upon himself a task of this kind ; but he found an 
 audience who manifested no indignation at his presumption, and 
 who even silenced General Webb when he attempted to reply. 
 
 Shortly after this, the Bar of New York gave a dinner to 
 Kossuth, whose speech on the occasion was an explicit de- 
 mand for intervention to prevent intervention, with a frank 
 avowal that such a demonstration might lead to war, and in 
 that event we should be bound to accept war (with Russia)^ or 
 
382 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 be degraded before mankind from our present high national 
 standing. 
 
 Will it be believed that such sentiments could be loudly- 
 applauded by a respectable New York audience ? He called 
 upon the United States to declare that we would not permit any 
 foreign power to interfere with the sovereign right of nations 
 (Hungary, for instance) to dispose of their own domestic con- 
 cerns ; "that the United States consider themselves to have the 
 duty not to permit any revolution of the laws of nations, and 
 that they invite Great Britain to unite with them to safeguard 
 and to guarantee these laws." 
 
 The venerable and able jurist Judge Duer, in response to a 
 toast to the Bench, spoke in very complimentary terms of their 
 guest, Kossuth, and especially of his noble frankness. He felt 
 that the same frankness was due in return. Here he began to 
 be interrupted. He ventured to say that, if he could not be 
 heard, mischief had already been done, and Americans could 
 not be listened to. He wished to say that the sentiments of 
 their guest (cries of " Put that in the * Courier and Enquirer !' ") 
 were regarded by many as the most deeply interesting of any 
 that have been raised since the foundation of the government. 
 They involved a sudden and violent departure from the settled 
 policy of our government, established by its founders and cher- 
 ished by the people. 
 
 The shouts and hisses and cheers and general tumult utterly 
 drowned the voice of the judge, and he was, after several efforts 
 to speak, compelled to give up the attempt to address the 
 company. The scene was most disgraceful, most humiliating. 
 Here was an arrogant foreigner, almost deified, undertaking to 
 condemn our national policy of non-intervention, so wisely 
 established by Washington and strictly adhered to by all his 
 successors, audaciously insisting on a change of that policy by 
 our government, not only eagerly listened to, but cheered to 
 the very echo ; and when a man venerable for age, learning, 
 and wisdom attempts to reply, he is hissed and hooted and 
 shouted into humiliating silence ! And by whom ? By the 
 New York Bar, of which Judge Duer had been for half a 
 century one of the brightest ornaments. 
 
KOSSUTH. 
 
 383 
 
 It seemed as if the people of the United States had run mad 
 with Kossuth, and were ready to cast aside the maxims of 
 wisdom handed down to us from our prudent forefathers, and 
 accept in their stead the interested and arrogant teachings of 
 one whose ideas of repubHcanism were as crude as might be 
 expected from one who had all his life been accustomed to 
 despotism, and who walked our streets with a steel-scabbarded 
 sabre at his side, and a body-guard of half-civilized young 
 men accompanying him ! 
 
 Kossuth, and his suite of twenty-three persons, came to 
 Washington ; he was formally received by the President, who 
 was prudent enough not to give the least countenance to his 
 wild whims. He called on Mr. Clay, who, of course, received 
 him in a manner due to the part he had played in Hungary, 
 but who did not hesitate to express his strong disapproval of 
 his (Kossuth's) strange propositions and hopes of intervention 
 on our part. 
 
 He was publicly received by both Houses of Congress, and 
 appeared before them in military costume, — it was his every- 
 day wear, — with his sabre at his side, rattling on the stone 
 floors of the rotunda and anterooms. 
 
 Kossuth and his suite, a dissipated set of young men, were 
 quartered at the Indian Queen, now the Metropolitan, Hotel. 
 The doors of his and their apartments were guarded by sentries 
 with muskets, and a number of these had to be passed to reach 
 Kossuth's room. They were but a little more civilized than 
 Choctaws, — slept on the beds with their boots and spurs on, 
 and showed by their use and abuse of the furniture that they 
 had been, all their lives, accustomed only to a camp. Their 
 rooms were filthy with dirt and tobacco. 
 
 I m.ust confess, I was filled with mortification and disgust 
 at seeing crowds, even of respectable people, eagerly running 
 after this foreigner, patriot though he might be, conceited, 
 haughty, and aristocratic as he was ; and it was humili- 
 ating to read the severe comments of foreign papers when 
 speaking almost in contemptuous terms of "the extraordinary 
 manifestations and the public adoration shown by us to Kos- 
 suth, so little consistent with the dignity and sobriety which 
 
384 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 II 
 
 should distinguish the Anglo-Saxon race and a genuine re- 
 public." 
 
 The leading public men at Washington felt it to be a duty 
 incumbent on them to rebuke this assumption and arrogance 
 of a foreigner in denouncing the policy of Washington, and for 
 this purpose it was determined to celebrate with some eclat 
 the birthday of Washington by a supper. Mr. Crittenden was 
 selected to respond to a toast, and, in doing so, to spurn and re- 
 buke this attempted interference in our affairs. His speech was 
 worthy the occasion, — eloquent, spirited, patriotic. It was as 
 much a rebuke to the New York Bar, who had so humbled and 
 demeaned themselves by casting away all national pride, as it 
 was to Kossuth. "Beware," said Mr. Crittenden, in the words 
 of Washington, " of the introduction or exercise of a foreign 
 influence among you. [Loud and prolonged cheers.] We 
 are Americans : ' the Father of our Country' has taught us, and 
 we have learned, to govern ourselves. If the rest of the world 
 have not yet learned that lesson, how shall they teach us? 
 Shall tlicy undertake to expound to us the Farewell Address of 
 our Washington, or to influence us to depart from the wise 
 policy recommended by him ? We are the teachers, and they 
 have not or will not learn, and yet they come to teach us ! 
 [To this the assembly replied with hearty cheers.] 
 
 " I hope I may be excused for saying that I feel that my 
 country is safer while pursuing the policy of Washington than 
 in making any new experiments in politics, upon any new ex- 
 position of Washington's legacy. [Which Kossuth had had 
 the consummate arrogance to undertake at the meeting of the 
 New York Bar.] 
 
 " I want to stand super antiqiLas 7>ias, — upon the old road that 
 Washington traveled, and that every President, from Washing- 
 ton to Fillmore, has traveled." 
 
 Mr. Crittenden took his seat amid prolonged cheering. 
 
 MR. CLAY. 
 
 On account of failing health, and in the hope of deriving 
 benefit from a milder climate, Mr. Clay left Washington in the 
 
MR. CLAY. 385 
 
 spring of 185 1, went to New York, and took passage from there 
 to Havana. He remained at the latter place but a short time, 
 — deriving little benefit from the climate, — and then proceeded 
 home by way of New Orleans and the Mississippi. Though 
 afflicted with a distressing cough, he came to Washington at 
 the commencement of the first session of the Thirty-second 
 Congress ; but the fatigue of the journey so weakened him, and 
 his cough so increased, that he was not able to take his seat. 
 Previous to leaving Lexington, a letter was addressed to him by 
 a committee appointed for that purpose by a very large meeting 
 of the most prominent citizens of New York, convened for the 
 purpose of expressing approval of and adherence to the Com- 
 promise acts, condemning the hostility and resistance to one of 
 those acts at the North, and rebuking the disunion movements 
 at the South. To this he replied in an elaborate communica- 
 tion, reviewing the condition of the country at the North and 
 at the South, setting forth our perils, and our bright future if 
 these could be overcome, and pointing out the duty of all good 
 citizens who love their country and would promote her happi- 
 ness and prosperity. The whole communication was redolent 
 with a glowing patriotism, couched in earnest language, and 
 seemed to come from a heart conscious that it would soon 
 cease to throb. It was one of the ablest productions that ever 
 emanated from the great orator, statesman, and patriot, whose 
 strength was now fast waning and whose brilliant eye was be- 
 coming dim. It was as if he had roused himself to make a last 
 solemn appeal to a country he loved so dearly. It was the last 
 effort of the kind he made. He had done his duty ; he- had 
 done all in his power; he had so impaired his health in his 
 extraordinary labors in 1850, in originating and effecting the 
 adoption of the adjustment measures, that he was now hasten- 
 ing to that narrow house from which there is no returning step, 
 7iulla vestigia vctrorsum. 
 
 He was from his arrival here unable to leave his room, and 
 consequently unable to return to his own dear Ashland and 
 the bosom of his family; but sent for his son Thomas, who 
 remained with him to the end. 
 
386 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 IMPORTANT MOVEMENT IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK. THE UNION 
 
 PARTY. 
 
 The great mass of the people at the North, that is, in the 
 non-slaveholding States, had from the first warmly approved 
 Mr. Clay's adjustment measures and advocated their enforce- 
 ment, as a final settlement of the vexed controversy between 
 the two sections of the country. Especially was this the case 
 in the large cities and towns, among the thinking business-men 
 and capitalists, who deprecated sectional conflicts and constant 
 political agitation. In the city of New York a great movement 
 was made by this class of citizens, irrespective of former party 
 designations, the leading spirits of both the old parties uniting 
 cordially in it. 
 
 A committee of one hundred of the most respected and in- 
 fluential citizens was constituted, designated as the Committee 
 of Safety of New York, whose special duty it was to promote 
 union and harmony and the enforcement of the laws, — the 
 " Compromise" laws in particular. Those who thus acted took 
 the name of, and were styled, "Union men," in contradistinction 
 to the "Free-soilers," who were extremely hostile to the Com- 
 promise, and especially the Fugitive Slave Law. The motto of 
 the Union men was, " The Union, the Constitution, and the 
 Enforcement of the Laws." It is needless to say that the 
 "Union men" very decidedly approved of the measures of Mr. 
 Fillmore's administration. 
 
 Some of the leading Union men, Democrats and Whigs, had 
 conceived the plan of uniting the conservative portions of the 
 two parties by forming a Presidential ticket to be supported 
 by the new Union party at the Presidential election in 1852, 
 then approaching. It was believed that patriotism was strong 
 enough in the breasts of those who desired to see harmony 
 once more restored to the country and sectionalism forever put 
 down to induce them to abandon their old organizations. Whig 
 and Democrat, and rally together to effect the great patriotic 
 object. But in counting on the ready co-operation of the lead- 
 ing men of the two parties, and especially of those Democrats 
 who were confidently hoping to be nominated and elected 
 
NOMINATIONS FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 387 
 
 President and Vice-President by their own party, and others 
 who were in confident expectation of being the recipients of 
 high official honors, the Union men were sadly deceived; and 
 they had the mortification to find that these hopes exerted a far 
 more powerful influence upon those who entertained them than 
 any desire to banish sectionalism and restore peace and har- 
 mony to the country ; and for the want of the co-operation of 
 these political aspirants — who were in the end disappointed — 
 the plan of uniting the "Union men" of the two parties, and 
 casting away the old organizations as effete and unable to effect 
 any good for the country, fell through. 
 
 But the question may be properly asked, suppose the plan 
 had not failed, and the Union men of the two parties had formed 
 a new Union party and elected their Presidential candidates, — 
 say Mr. Clay, feeble as he was, and General Cass, who were 
 spoken of, — could the new party have insured tranquillity to 
 the country? It is not probable. The enforcement of the laws 
 w'as the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law, which was so 
 obnoxious to the " Free-soilers," by no means to be despised, 
 — either on account of numbers, perseverance, or energy, — that 
 they were determined to resist its enforcement at all hazards ; 
 and they would have kept up the agitation despite every effort 
 of any party to prevent it. The conflict was " irrepressible ;" 
 the crisis was to come, and come it did. 
 
 NOMINATIONS FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT. 
 
 The Democratic National Convention to nominate candi- 
 dates for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency was held at Balti- 
 more on the 1st of June, 1852. There was a severe and pro- 
 tracted contest for the nomination, chiefly between Mr. Cass, 
 Mr. Buchanan, and ]\Ir. Douglas, which ended by the nomina- 
 tion of Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, for President, and 
 Colonel William R. King, of Alabama, for Vice-President. 
 
 The Whig National Convention was soon after held, at the 
 same place, and the struggle was here equally severe and pro- 
 tracted, resulting in the nomination, on the fifty- third ballot, of 
 General Winfield Scott for President, and William A. Graham, 
 of North Carolina, for Vice-President. 
 
388 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 The two parties, as usual, put forth their platforms of prin- 
 ciples, and from these should appear the issues of the contest. 
 Setting aside generalities, in which the two parties mainly 
 agreed, and which were mere " buncombe," we come to the 
 second proposition of the Democratic platform, which de- 
 clares that "The Constitution does not confer upon the general 
 government the power to commence and carry on a general 
 system of internal improvements." 
 
 Opposed to this, the sixth proposition of the Whig platform 
 declares that " The Constitution vests in Congress the power 
 to open and repair harbors, and remove obstructions from 
 navigable rivers ; and it is expedient that Congress should 
 exercise the power where the improvements are national and 
 general in their character." 
 
 The Democratic convention declared that " The federal 
 government should not foster one branch of industry to the 
 detriment of any other." 
 
 The Whig, that " Revenue should be chiefly raised from 
 duties on imports ; and in levying these, sound policy requires 
 a just discrimination and protection from fraud, by specific 
 duties when practicable, whereby suitable encouragement may 
 be assured to American industry, equally to all classes and to 
 all parties." 
 
 The Democratic platform denounces in very severe terms 
 " the efforts of the Abolitionists, and all others, to induce 
 Congress to interfere with the question of slavery ;" but says 
 nothing of the adjustment measures. 
 
 • The Whig platform says nothing of slavery, but forcibly 
 urges the adoption of the Compromise acts as a final settlement, 
 in principle and substance, and insists on their strict enforce- 
 ment until time and experience shall demonstrate the necessity 
 of further legislation to guard against the evasion of the laws 
 on the one hand and the abuse of their powers on the other. 
 
 It will be seen that there was really very little difference in 
 the declared principles of the two parties, except in regard to 
 the protection of American industry and the powers of Con- 
 gress to improve rivers and harbors ; the latter more in theory 
 than in practice, since every Congress, from time immemorial, 
 
NOMINATIONS FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 389 
 
 Democratic and Whig, had exercised this power. The real 
 contest between them, as it has always been, was for the 
 possession of the government. 
 
 The persons voted for by the Whig convention for President 
 were General Scott, Mr. Fillmore, and Mr. Webster. Between 
 the two first named the votes cast for each, from the first to 
 the fifty-second ballot, were nearly equal, varying but little 
 from first to last. On the first ballot the vote was, Scott, 1 34 ; 
 Fillmore, 133; Webster, 29. The small vote of Mr. Webster 
 was mortifying to him. Not a single vote from the South was 
 cast for him. It was believed to be in his power at any time, 
 by withdrawing and requesting his friends to support Mr. Fill- 
 more, to have nominated the latter ; yet he persistently refused 
 to do this, or release his friends from their obligation to adhere 
 to him, hopeless as it was that he could be nominated. There 
 was something in this which had the appearance of ill-humored 
 obstinacy, — an unfriendliness not very consistent with the offi- 
 cial relations of himself and Mr. Fillmore. 
 
 At length, on the fifty-third ballot, and the fourth or fifth 
 day's session, to bring the matter to a close, Mr. Hazlehurst, a 
 friend of Mr, Fillmore, with twenty-seven others from Penn- 
 sylvania, voted for General Scott, and he was nominated. But 
 at once a number of members of Congress from the South 
 issued a card, declaring that they would not support the 
 nominee, for reasons stated. The nomination of Mr. Fill- 
 more, it was known, was the wish of Mr. Clay, as he had not 
 only administered the government acceptably to the country, 
 but was fully pledged to the sustainment of the Compromise 
 measures. General Scott, on the other hand, was supported 
 by that portion of the party who were opposed to those meas- 
 ures : not the Free-soilers as a party, but " free-soil Whigs," at 
 the head of whom was Mr. Seward. 
 
 Mr. Webster was not only exceedingly mortified at the 
 meagre vote cast for him in fifty-three ballotings, but he also 
 now saw the Presidency, to which he had long aspired, pass 
 forever beyond his reach. He, whose fame as a statesman, 
 orator, patriot, and jurist was co-extensive with the civilized 
 world ; he, whose intellect commanded universal homage ; he, 
 
3go PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 upon whom the office could confer no honor, and which would 
 have been honored by his possession, — why should he be cast 
 down, disappointed, unhappy, because it was not conferred 
 upon him? Was it because there is an innate love of power in 
 every human breast? "It is unpleasant," said Mr. Seward, as 
 he was retiring from the office of Secretary of State, — " it is 
 unpleasant to yield up power." The nation would have hon- 
 ored itself by placing Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster at its head as 
 chief magistrate ; but to do so would have added no honor to 
 them, or one cubit to the stature of their fame or eminence. 
 Not to do so has been a national reproach. More honorable 
 is it to them that we are asked why they were not, than to 
 others, why they were, clothed with the consular robes. 
 
 By his 7th of March speech, in support of the Compromise 
 measures, which was lauded to the very echo at the South, 
 Mr. Webster alienated hosts of friends at the North, and in- 
 curred their bitter hostility ; but now, when the Southern men 
 had an opportunity to prove the sincerity of their high profes- 
 sions of appreciation, not a man south of the Susquehanna cast 
 a vote for him. This cut him to the soul. 
 
 A portion of the Mississippi delegation called and paid their 
 respects to Mr. Webster on their return from Baltimore. Gen- 
 eral Starke, their spokesman, assured him of the unbounded 
 admiration and respect cherished by the Whigs generally at 
 the South for his exalted talents and eminent public services. 
 He tendered the great champion of the measures of pacifica- 
 tion, which had given peace and perpetuity to the Union, their 
 warm, earnest, and sincere thanks for the powerful aid he ren- 
 dered in establishing them as the settled policy of the country. 
 He gave some reasons why they had not cast their votes for 
 him, though the desire to do so was not wanting. 
 
 Mr. Webster thanked the delegation in a subdued and some- 
 what sad tone. He had no complaints to utter ; regretted that 
 it had been necessary to withhold their votes from him during 
 the whole canvass. By the record it appeared that in all the 
 numerous ballotings the Southern delegations had failed to 
 cast a single vote for him. To this he must of course submit; 
 it was not for him to complain. 
 
DEATH OF MR. CLAY. , 3qI 
 
 It was sad to see the depressing effect which the action of 
 the convention had on him. His disappointment could not be 
 concealed ; nor did he attempt to hide it. It was seen in his 
 countenance, in his tone of voice, and in his demeanor; it was 
 visible in the lessened interest he took in public affairs, and in 
 his general depression of spirits. His personal friends lamented 
 this ; but what consolation could they offer ? 
 
 Mr. Webster left Washington for his home at Marshfield not 
 long after, and, though he was Secretary of State, did not, I 
 believe, return to Washington again, and took no interest in 
 the business of the Department. 
 
 Mr. William A. Graham, of North Carolina, Secretary of the 
 Navy, being nominated as Vice-President, Mr. John P. Ken- 
 nedy, of Maryland, succeeded him as Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 A FREE-SOIL CONVENTION HELD AT PITTSBURG. NOMINATES CAN- 
 DIDATES FOR PRESIDENCY AND VICE-PRESIDENCY. 
 
 The Free-soilers also held a convention, at Pittsburg, Penn- 
 sylvania, in August, presided over by Henry Wilson, now Vice- 
 President of the United States, which adopted a thorough free- 
 speech, free-soil, free-men platform, and nominated John P. 
 Hale, of New Hampshire, for President, and George W. Julian, 
 of Indiana, for Vice-President. 
 
 This was then the rising party, and soon became the Republi- 
 can party, which has held possession of the government since 
 the 4th of March, 1861. The Free-soilers were then earnest, 
 sincere workers ; strong in the faith they professed, outspoken 
 in declaring that faith, and confident of eventual success, they 
 labored and spoke with a zeal that indicated their conviction 
 that their day of triumph was not distant. 
 
 DEATH OF MR. CLAY. 
 
 "A noble heart ceased to beat forever, a long life of brilliant 
 and self-devoted public service was closed," on the 29th day of 
 June, 1852. On that day, a few minutes past eleven o'clock 
 A.M., all that was mortal of Henry Clay ceased to exist. His 
 death was feelingly announced next day in both Houses of 
 Congress, and eloquent eulogies were pronounced upon him by 
 
392 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 
 
 several of his old associates, and by younger men who, whether 
 political friends or opponents, had learned to admire his genius, 
 to appreciate his long public services, and to reverence his 
 patriotic devotion to the interests and glory of his country. 
 
 Though not unlooked for, the death of Mr. Clay cast a 
 gloom over the city and Congress. The funeral solernnities 
 took place the second day after his death. The remains were 
 placed in the rotunda of the Capitol for some hours, and were 
 viewed by thousands. They were then sent to Ashland, his 
 own beloved home, in charge of a committee appointed for 
 that duty, where they now repose. 
 
 The body was taken by the way of Baltimore, Philadelphia, 
 New York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Louis- 
 ville, at each of which places, and along the whole route, it was 
 received with demonstrations of the most profound respect and 
 sorrow. Even those who had for long, long years poured out the 
 vials of calumny and detraction upon him, blasting, as far as 
 in them lay, his good name, and blackening his fame, now vied 
 with his life-long friends in offering the homage of respect to 
 his character, and in acknowledging the great services he had 
 rendered his country in her national councils. He had out- 
 lived their calumny, though it had deprived the nation of his 
 services in her highest office ; he was insensible to their post- 
 mortem adulation. 
 
 Thus another of that great triumvirate of American orators 
 and statesmen had passed from the theatre of his renown, full 
 of years and honors. The third still remained, but soon to 
 follow his great compeers. 
 
 THE PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS OF 1 85 2 
 
 Was conducted with the usual demonstrations and efforts 
 by the two opposing parties, and a third, which now entered 
 the field of Presidential conflict, as it were, to try its strength, 
 and to put itself in training for a future trial ; I refer to 
 the Free-soil, or, more properly. Abolition party, now repre- 
 sented in the contest by John P. Hale as their candidate for 
 President, But the canvass was not a spirited one. The 
 Whigs lacked confidence and fervor. They might admire Gen- 
 
MR. WEBSTER'S DEATH. 293 
 
 eral Scott as a general, and take just pride in his military re- 
 nown, but they had no personal attachment to him ; he had 
 never served his country in civil life, and they knew not what 
 kind of a statesman or President he would make, nor whom he 
 would be likely to call into his cabinet. As a general, they 
 knew him to possess a very large share of esprit dii corps, and 
 a high sense of what was due to a commander-in-chief, and that 
 his organ of self-esteem was of inordinate dimensions ; in short, 
 he might be admired simply as a successful general, but could 
 not be easily approached, freely consulted, or by any means 
 advised. He carried with him a chilly atmosphere, and even 
 when he seemed desirous to make himself agreeable, it was the 
 condescension of the conscious superior rather than the frank- 
 ness of a confiding friend. The result was, there was no fervor 
 or ela7i in the canvass, and his subordinate in the Mexican war 
 was elected, by a vote of 254 to Scott's 42 ! 
 
 General Scott obtained the electoral votes of but four States: 
 namely, Massachusetts, Vermont, Kentucky, and Tennessee. 
 This mortifying result was due, in part, to the fact that the 
 " Free-soilers," or anti-slavery men, in the Northern and West- 
 ern States, most of whom had heretofore belonged to the Whig 
 party, now voted for a third ticket, though unable to elect 
 "Free-soil" electors in a single State. This was the "begin- 
 ning of the end" of the old Whig party. 
 
 MR. Webster's death. 
 
 On a bright, serene October Sabbath (the 24th day), when all 
 nature seemed hushed in repose, and no sound was heard save 
 the deep, solemn moaning of the not far-distant ocean as its 
 waves beat upon the rock-bound shore of New England, lay / /^-g^^ 
 Mr. Webster, at his favorite home, Marshfield, surrounded by / / f 
 his family and a few devoted friends, awaiting the summons ii^V"^^ 
 which no one may disobey. Conscious of his situation, and of lA/yt,,^ -» 
 
 the great change that awaited him, he was calm and collected, ' _ 
 
 sustained in this trying hour by a Christian's faith and the hope ^ . - 
 of a glorious immortality. As the sun descended in the west, ' *'' ' ' '' 
 his golden beams poured gorgeously in upon the prostrate ' • •>■ » >', , ^ 
 
 statesman for the last time ; and as he slowly disappeared^ 
 Vol. II. 26 
 
 7Z 
 
 
 JL * 
 
 
394 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 beneath the horizon, Mr. Webster placidly sank into that sleep 
 which will end only with the final trumpet-call. 
 
 The third and last of that sreat triumvirate of American 
 orators and statesmen — in come " respects the greatest of the 
 three — had now passed away. He was succeeded as Secretary 
 of State by Mr. Everett. 
 
 CLOSE OF MR. FILLMORE's ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 The country, under the firm, steady hand of the President, 
 who resolutely, yet in the quietest manner possible, enforced 
 the laws, North, South, East, and West, now enjoyed an un- 
 usual degree of freedom from excitement. It seemed as if 
 the ship of state, so long tossed by the winds of passion and 
 folly upon the angry billows of agitation, had at length been 
 guided by a skillful helmsman into a land-locked, placid bay, 
 beyond the reach of storms and tempests, where all might 
 feel safe and enjoy themselves. And the people, in Washing- 
 ton at least, did enjoy themselves during the remainder of 
 Mr. Fillmore's administration ; that is, during the winter of 
 1852-53, when society here was never more gay, cheerful, and 
 attractive, and the two portions of the country, heretofore in- 
 censed against each other, never more cordially blended in 
 social life. These "halcyon days" closed on the 3d of March, 
 1853. Mr. Fillmore retired from the White House on that 
 day, and General Pierce entered it on the next. 
 
 However heretical it may now be considered to speak favor- 
 ably of Mr. Fillmore's administration, I owe it to truth to say 
 that few Presidents ever left their exalted office amid a more 
 general chorus of plaudits from the press and the people, 
 irrespective of party, than did Mr. Fillmore. There was at 
 that time but one voice heard from one end of the country to 
 the other, — that of" Well done, good and faithful servant." But 
 the time soon came when the voice of condemnation became 
 loud and overpowering ; especially when he accepted a nomi- 
 nation for the Presidency, in 1856, thereby endangering the 
 election of John C. Fremont, the Free-soil candidate, and 
 aiding the election of James Buchanan. 
 
 He was severely denounced at the North by the Free-soilers 
 
CLOSE OF FILLMORE'S ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 395 
 
 for having signed the odious Fugitive Slave Act, so obnoxious 
 to the North generally. This act was, as I have already shown, 
 one of the several acts denominated " the Compromise meas- 
 ures," — one of them providing for the admission of California 
 as a State with a constitution prohibiting slavery, and also for 
 organizing the Territories of Utah and New Mexico, with the 
 exclusion of slavery. 
 
 What would have followed had he signed all the bills 
 except the Fugitive Slavic bill, and vetoed that? Rebellion, 
 undoubtedly. And yet there were good men at the North who 
 would have had him veto that bill, and who severely denounced 
 him for signing it. It was asserted that had General Taylor 
 lived he would not have signed it, and therefore the death of the 
 late President was looked upon as a great calamity. General 
 Taylor could never have vetoed that bill. The different bills 
 constituting the Compromise measures were but parts of a whole, 
 and were each voted for in the Senate and House as such. To 
 have defeated one of them, the others becoming laws, would 
 have been an act of unpardonable bad faith, and would have 
 provoked the rebellion which broke out eight years after. 
 
 The close of Mr. Fillmore's administration was virtually the 
 close of the career of the Whig party. Its leader, Mr. Clay, 
 and some of its prominent men had finished their labors and 
 Gfone to their rest. Mr. Webster had been succeeded for a 
 short time by Mr. Winthrop, who was appointed by the Gov- 
 ernor of Massachusetts, then by Mr. Rantoul, a Democrat, for 
 the remainder of the term, and then by Mr. Sumner, who was 
 .sworn in on the 1st of December, 185 i. 
 
 The Free-soilers were fast superseding the Whigs. In the 
 Senate of the Thirty-second Congress, 1853-54, were Mr. 
 Seward, Mr. Hale, Mr. Chase, Mr. Wade, and Mr. Sumner, 
 Free-soilers, each a host in himself, who, no longer contented 
 to occupy a defensive position in regard to slavery, took the 
 offensive, especially Mr. Sumner, and made bold attacks upon 
 the institution and upon the Fugitive Slave Law, — that act so 
 obnoxious to the free States, and which was rapidly converting 
 Whigs, and even Democrats, into Free-soilers. Mr. Sumner's 
 bold and fierce denunciations astonished, confounded, and in- 
 
396 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 tensely incensed the Southern members, and finally brought 
 about a most brutal and cowardly attack upon him by Mr. 
 Brooks, a member of the House, and a nephew of Judge Butler, 
 of South Carolina, with whom Mr. Sumner had had some 
 pungent and irritating interchanges of sharp rhetoric. 
 
 The assault by Mr. Brooks, which nearly cost Mr. Sumner 
 his life, fired the heart of the North, while it called forth the 
 greatest exultation in every part of the South. In fact, this 
 was the first bloodshed in the conflict between the two sec- 
 tions, which ended in the utter extinction of slavery. 
 
 Although the Democratic convention which nominated Gen- 
 eral Pierce for President had declared in its platform that the 
 party would resist all attempts at renewing the agitation of the 
 slavery question, and the President had in his first message 
 assured the country that he would oppose all attempts to 
 disturb the repose which the adjustment measures had pro- 
 duced, yet, very soon, Mr. Douglas was persuaded, or driven 
 by threats, into a measure which reopened the slavery ques- 
 tion, and created an agitation far greater than any the country 
 had yet witnessed. The President and other leading Demo- 
 crats were also driven into the measure by Southern Demo- 
 crats, who had made themselves masters of the situation by 
 their more artful management and audacious tactics. This 
 measure was no other than the Nebraska bill, with the repeal 
 of the Missouri Compromise, or the declaration that it had 
 been repealed by the Compromise measures and was now in- 
 operative and void. 
 
 Mr. Douglas was then chairman of the Committee on Terri- 
 tories, and was the leader of the party in Congress, an undis- 
 guised candidate for the Presidency, which he knew he could 
 obtain only by the vote of the South. When, therefore, this 
 demand was made by resolute and determined Southern men, 
 representing and speaking for the whole South, how could he 
 resist, even though he well knew that the pretense of the Mis- 
 souri Compromise being repealed by the adjustment measures 
 was utterly false, and well known by them to be so ? But he, 
 the head of the party, being intimidated into compliance, how 
 could General Pierce hold out when coaxed and threatened ? 
 
CLOSE OF FILLMORE'S ADMINISTRATION. 3^7 
 
 And SO the South had their own way, and Kansas became 
 the battle-field of the North and South, the war resulting in the 
 formation of the Republican party, the election of Mr. Lincoln, 
 and the sfreat events which followed, and which have been 
 ably portrayed by others. 
 
 The giants who had so long stood in the front rank of 
 their several parties were now rapidly disappearing, removed 
 by death, or withdrawn after long years of strife and labor, 
 most of them having failed to win the great political prize 
 which had such dazzling attractiveness in their eyes. 
 
 Mr. Clay, the great leader of the Whig party, was no more. 
 Mr. Calhoun reposed under his own palmetto. Mr. Cass, 
 defeated for the Presidency by General Taylor, had retired to 
 the shades of private life, and his successful antagonist had 
 followed Mr. Clay to the silent tomb. Silas Wright had left 
 the Senate, and soon after passed from the stage of life, pre- 
 ceded, however, by Mr. Webster. Mr. Clayton soon retired, 
 and fell a victim to a disease that had long threatened his life. 
 Colonel Benton, who had been in the Senate for thirty years, 
 an indomitable and sternly honest man and Democrat, now 
 took his departure upon that last journey which all must 
 travel, leaving to the world his " Thirty Years' View" of Con- 
 gress, a most valuable work, and monument of his indefatigable 
 and unceasing labor. Mr. Ewing, still hale and hearty, soon 
 disappeared from public life, and grappled the law with his 
 herculean mental power. Mr. Marcy, one of the ablest leaders 
 of the Democratic party, who filled the office of Secretary of 
 War under Polk, and of State under General Pierce, made 
 his final exit from public life at the close of the administration 
 of which he was the ablest member. Of the old political war- 
 horses whose names had been familiar to the people of the 
 United States for two or more generations, but two were left, 
 Mr. Crittenden and Mr. Buchanan, — not counting General Scott, 
 who was at the head of the army, fortunately, when the Rebel- 
 lion broke out. Mr. Crittenden exerted himself with all the 
 ardor of a fervent patriot to heal sectional differences, even 
 consenting to become a member of the House of Representa- 
 tives, — not having been re-elected to the Senate, — striving to 
 
398 
 
 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 
 
 close the war without interfering with slavery. ,But no one 
 could check the tidal wave of rebellion ; and while it was at 
 its height he joined his co-patriots and life-long associates, in 
 1863. Ml. Douglas had preceded him two years before. Mr. 
 Buchanan, unfortunately for the country, and equally so for 
 his own reputation, reached the Presidential chair, and by his 
 pitiable imbecility became the pliant instrument of the seces- 
 sionists who formed his cabinet, permitting the country to drift 
 into rebellion, the end of which he did not live to see. 
 
 And so, very soon, disappeared in rapid succession nearly 
 all the old party leaders whose names and doings make up 
 the burden of these pages. A few, a very few, 
 
 " Rari nantes in gurgite vasto," 
 
 Still remain. 
 
 " Time rolls its ceaseless course. The race of yore, 
 That danced our infancy upon their knee, 
 ****** « 
 
 How are they blotted from the things that be '." 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abolition petitions, meeting of Southern 
 members on the subject of, ii. 54. 
 
 publications sent through the mails 
 North and South create much 
 excitement, ii. 61. 
 Adams and Jefferson, death of, on the 
 
 same day, i- 131. 
 Adams, John Quincy, Secretary of State 
 under President Monroe, i. 19. 
 
 elected President by the House of 
 Reiiresentatives, i. 77. 
 
 his cabinet, i. 84. 
 
 notice of him, i. 85. 
 
 his vindication of Mr. Clay, i. 144. 
 
 depicts the financial condition of 
 the country, ii. 13. 
 
 opposes the adoption of the " Patton 
 Resolution," ii. 55. 
 
 the only member of Monroe's cabi- 
 net opposed to surrendering Texas 
 to Spain in 1819, ii. 62. 
 
 offers Abolition petition, in conse- 
 quence of which an attempt is 
 made to expel him, ii. 142. 
 
 his masterly reply to his assailants, 
 
 ii. 149-154- 
 relates interesting unwritten history, 
 
 ii. 282. 
 death and funeral of, ii. 331. 
 Adams, Mrs. J. Q., her celebrated party 
 on the 8th of January, 1824, i. 48,49. 
 Administration party assumes tlie name 
 
 of National Republicans, i. 149. 
 Allen, Mr., of Ohio, rebukes Senators 
 for want of patriotism, and is replied 
 to by Mr. Crittenden, ii. 277. 
 Anti-Masonic jiarty, formation of, i. 140. 
 nominate William Wirt for Presi- 
 dent, i. 187. 
 Arbuthnot and Ambrister seized, tried 
 by court-martial, condemned, and 
 hung, i. 21. 
 Archer, William S., of Virginia, ii. 322. 
 
 Arnold, W. D., member of Congress 
 from Tennessee, fired at with a pistol 
 by Morgan A. Heard, i. 194. 
 
 Ashburton, Lord, special minister from 
 England, arrives in this counliy, ii. 
 163. 
 
 B. 
 
 Badger, George E., Secretary of the 
 
 Navy, ii. 115. 
 Bank of the United States applies for re- 
 charter, i. 213. 
 a special committee appointed to 
 
 examine its affairs, i. 215. 
 Mr. Adams makes an able report, 
 and exposes the New Hampshire 
 intrigue, i. 215. 
 a bill re-chartering the bank passed 
 
 by both Houses, i. 219. 
 vetoed by the President, i. 219. 
 debate on the veto message, i. 22t. 
 a State charter granted to, by Penn- 
 sylvania, i. 316. 
 " Banks, Pet," directed to discount free- 
 ly, i. 276. 
 Banks, United States, and all others, stop 
 specie payments, ii. 11. 
 number of, in the United States, ii. 
 
 Barrow, General, death of, ii. 308. 
 Bell, John, Secretary of War under 
 
 President Harrison, ii. 115. 
 Benton, Colonel Thomas H., makes an 
 elaborate report on " retrench- 
 ment and reform," i. 132. 
 gives notice of his intention to 
 move to expunge from the Sen- 
 ate journal Mr. Clay's resolution 
 censuring President Jackson, i. 
 268. 
 his denunciation of Calhoun's reso- 
 lutions, ii. 320. 
 a singular scene in the Senate lie- 
 tween Benton and Foote, ii. 361. 
 399 
 
400 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Beverly, Carter, his letter in the " Fay- 
 etteville Observer," making the charge 
 of bargain and corruption, i. 141. 
 Biddle, Nicholas, notice of, ii. 25. 
 Binney, Horace, ably defends the di- 
 rectors of the Bank of the United 
 States, i. 266. 
 sketch of, ii. 213. 
 his eulogy upon Mr. Sergeant, ii. 
 
 214. 
 takes leave of the Philadelphia bar, 
 ii. 214. 
 Binney, James G., Abolition candidate 
 for the Presidency, causes the loss of 
 New York to Mr. Clay, ii. 249. 
 Blair, Francis P., displaced as editor of 
 
 the " Globe," ii. 266. 
 Bruce, Eli, and John Whitney convicted 
 of kidnapping William Morgan, i. 167. 
 Buchanan, James, letter to the Lancaster 
 (Pa.) "Journal," in reply to the 
 reference to him by General Jack- 
 son as the gentleman who came 
 to him with corrupt propositions 
 from Mr. Clay, i. 143. 
 appointed Secretary of the Treasury, 
 
 i. 253. 
 nominated for the Presidency, ii. 
 
 387. 
 elected President, ii. 393. 
 Buena Vista, battle of, ii. 325. 
 Burgess, Tristam, of Rhode Island, i. 
 127. 
 
 Cabinet, President Jackson's, broken up, 
 i. 182. 
 the nomination of Mr. Taney re- 
 jected by the Senate, i. 276. 
 President Tyler's, except Mr. Web- 
 ster, resign, ii. 136. 
 a new one appointed, ii. 139. 
 changes in, ii. 215, 232. 
 Calhoun, John C, Secretary of War 
 under President Monroe, i. 19. 
 establishes military posts in the 
 
 Rocky Mountains, i. 24. 
 is in favor of opening and construct- 
 ing such roads and canals as may 
 deserve the aid of government, 
 
 his speech in favor of a judicious 
 system of internal improvements 
 and due protection of manufac- 
 tures, i. 27. 
 
 is nominated for the Vice-Presidency 
 by the Democratic State Conven- 
 tion of Pennsylvania, i, 42. 
 
 Calhoun, John C, in his interview with 
 Jos. Macllvain, of Philadelphia, 
 declares that the administration 
 must be defeated at all hazards, i. 
 108. 
 
 his rupture with General Jackson, i. 
 179. 
 
 compelled to vote for the Compro- 
 mise, i. 239. 
 
 speaks on the protest with more 
 than his usual earnestness and 
 power, i. 269. 
 
 refers to the resuscitation of the old 
 names of Whig and Tory as sig- 
 nificant of the times, i. 272. 
 
 his report on Executive patronage, 
 and the debate thereon, i. 282. 
 
 sharp interlude between him and 
 Mr. Benton, i. 282. 
 
 supports the administration of Presi- 
 dent Van Buren, ii. 29. 
 
 his " Edgefield letter," ii. 32. 
 
 supports the Sub-Treasury bill, ii. 
 
 34- 
 replies to Mr. Clay, ii. 37. 
 
 visits President Van Buren at the 
 White House, ii. 50. 
 
 is appointed by Van Buren Secre- 
 tary of State, ii. 218. 
 
 submits a series of resolutions on 
 the subject of slavery, ii. 318. 
 
 his last speech, ii. 363. 
 
 his death, ii. 363. 
 California and New Mexico acquired, ii. 
 29S. 
 
 forms a constitution and becomes a 
 State, ii. 354. 
 Campaign, Presidential, of 1840, descrip- 
 tion of, ii. 105-107. 
 
 Presidential, of 1844, in Pennsyl- 
 vania, ii. 235. 
 
 Presidential, of 1844, in New York, 
 ii. 241. 
 Candidates for the Presidency in 1824, 
 
 i- 35- 
 Caroline, an American steamboat, seized 
 
 by the Canadian authorities and sent 
 
 • over Niagara Falls, ii. 31. 
 
 Cass, Lewis, nominated for the Presi- 
 dency, i. 334. 
 
 Cherokees, the, by their counsel, Mr. 
 Sergeant and Mr. Wirt, bring their 
 case before the United States Supreme 
 Court, i. 210. 
 
 Civil Service Reform, Mr. Webster's 
 letter upon, ii. 1 16. 
 
 Clay, Henry, charged with bargain and 
 intrigue by George Kremer, i. 
 68. 
 
IXDEX. 
 
 401 
 
 Clay, Henry, appeals to the House, and 
 a committee is appointed to in- 
 vest'gale Kramer's charge, i. 71. 
 
 Secretary of State under President 
 J. Q. Adams, i. 84. 
 
 his duel with Raudoljih. i. 123. 
 
 his last interview with Randolph, i. 
 129. 
 
 why elected Sjjeaker of the House 
 of Representatives on the first day 
 he entered it as a member, i. 130. 
 
 upon the appearance of Jackson's 
 letter to Carter Beverly, he issues 
 an address to the people of the 
 United States, i. 149. 
 
 nominated for the Presidency by the 
 National Republicans, i. 187. 
 
 again in the Senate, i. 189. 
 
 brings forward his Compromise bill, 
 in which he is supported by Mr. 
 Calhoun and opposed by Mr. 
 Webster, i. 234. 
 
 brings forward resolutions in the 
 Senate condemnatory of the re- 
 moval of the deposits, i. 260. 
 
 badinage with Mr. Buchanan, i. 287. 
 
 and the Illinois farmer, ii. 15. 
 
 a sharp passage at arms between 
 him and Calhoun, ii. 34. 
 
 comments upon the reconciliation 
 of Calhoun with the Democratic 
 administration, ii. 51. 
 
 expresses his views upon slavery, ii. 
 
 74- 
 the " triangular correspondence," ii. 
 
 79- 
 another keen encounter between 
 
 him and Calhoun, ii. 99. 
 gives a ludicrous and dramatic ac- 
 count of the visit of the Demo- 
 crats to President Tyler, ii. 127. 
 takes, as he supposes, a final leave 
 
 of the Senate, ii. 159. 
 addresses the people of Fayette 
 
 County, Kentucky, ii. 161. 
 amusing anecdote of, ii. 220. 
 his Alaliama letter, ii. 244. 
 defeated in the Presidential contest 
 
 of 1844, ii. 250. 
 again in the Senate, ii. 356. 
 brings forward his Compromise 
 
 measures, ii. 360. 
 his death, ii. 391. 
 Clay, Henry, Jr., killed at Buena Vista, 
 
 ii'. 325. 
 Clayton, Thomas, ii. 323. 
 Clifford and Sevier sent as ministers to 
 
 Mexico, ii. 329. 
 Clinton, De Witt, death of, i. 100. 
 
 Cobb, Howell, elected Speaker of the 
 
 House, ii. 352. 
 "Coffin Handbdls," i. 114. 
 Compromise bill defeated, ii. 366. 
 
 the various bills constituting it pass 
 separately, ii. 369. 
 Congress, Twenty-eighth, distinguished 
 new members of, ii. 202. 
 Thirty-first, exciting scenes at organ- 
 ization of, ii. 345. 
 Conservative opposition to Jackson's ad- 
 ministration, ii. 86. 
 Constitution, efforts to extend it over the 
 
 new Territories, ii. 338. 
 Convention, national, of young men at 
 Washington, i. 195. 
 Jackson, renominates Jackson for 
 President and Van Buren for Vice- 
 President, i. 203. 
 National Democratic, nominates 
 
 Van Buren for President, i. 296. 
 Whig, held at Chambersburg, Penn- 
 sylvania, to organize the Whig 
 party of that State, ii. 75. 
 Whig National, at Harrisburg, 
 nominates General Harrison for 
 the Presidency and John Tyler 
 for the Vice-Presidency, ii. 89. 
 Whig ratification, at Baltimore, ii. 
 
 106. 
 Whig National, of 1844, at Balti- 
 more, nominates Henry Clay for 
 the Presidency and Theodore 
 Frelinghuysen for the Vice-Pres- 
 idency, ii. 223. 
 Democratic National, at Baltimore, 
 Mr. Van Buren defeated at, and 
 Mr. Polk nominated, ii. 225. 
 Whig National, of 1848, at Phila- 
 delphia, nominates Zachary Tay- 
 lor and Millard Fillmore for the 
 Presidency and Vice-Presidency, 
 
 ii. 330- 
 Corwin, Tom, his annihilation of Gen- 
 eral Crary in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, ii. 105. 
 his speech on the Mexican War, ii. 
 
 313- 
 
 notice of him, ii. 315. 
 
 Crawford, William II., notice of, i. 82. 
 Secretary of the Treasury under 
 
 President Monroe, i. 19. 
 addresses a letter to Jolin Forsyth 
 
 detailing Mr. Calhoun's acts in 
 
 Mr. Monroe's cabinet, i. 179. 
 Crittenden, John J., Attorney-General 
 
 under President Harrison, ii. 1 15. 
 rebukes Senator Allen, of Ohio, ii. 
 
 276. 
 
402 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Crittenden, John J., opposes Kossuth's 
 
 ideas of intervention, ii. 384. 
 Cuban filibusters, ii. 380. 
 Gushing, Caleb, ii. 174. 
 
 nominated as Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury by President Tyler, ii. 196. 
 is appointed commissioner to China, 
 ii. 199. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dallas, George M., President of the Sen- 
 ate, gives a casting vote against the 
 tariff of 1842, ii. 286. 
 Dearborne, General, amusing anecdote 
 
 of, related by Mr. Clay, i. 95. 
 Decatur, Commodore, killed in a duel, 
 
 i. 29. 
 Defalcations of public officers exposed 
 
 by a committee of the House, ii. 70. 
 Dickens, Charles, deportment of, at 
 
 Washington, ii. 158. 
 Duane, William J., refuses to remove 
 the deposits from the United States 
 Bank, and is himself removed from 
 the Treasury Department, i. 256. 
 Duel between Commodore Barron and 
 . Commodore Decatur, i. 28. 
 between Mr. Cilley, of New Hamp- 
 shire, and Mr. Graves, of Ken- 
 tucky, ii. 56. 
 between Messrs. Clingman and Yan- 
 cey, ii. 256. 
 between Mr. Randolph and Mr. 
 
 Clay, i. 123. 
 between Mr. Stanley and Mr. Wise, 
 avoided by the latter being ar- 
 rested and bound over, ii. 168. 
 Duer, Mr., of Oswego, New York, raises 
 a commotion in the House, ii. 348. 
 
 E. 
 
 East Room, how furnished in 1828-g, 
 
 i- 135- 
 Eaton, Mrs., i. 181. 
 
 Election of President by the House of 
 
 Representatives, i. 75. 
 Episode, an, — commotion caused by the 
 sawing off of the figure-head from 
 " Old Ironsides," i. 274. 
 in the Senate, — Mr. Webster and 
 Mr. Poindexter, i. 241. 
 Erie Canal, celebration of its completion, 
 
 i.97. 
 Ewing, Thomas, Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury under President Harrison, ii. 115. 
 
 Exchange, rates of, between New York 
 and other cities of the United States, 
 in 1839, ii. 79. 
 
 Expunging resolution, Mr. Benton's, 
 passed, i. 332. 
 
 F. 
 
 Fillmore, Millard, as a legislator, ii. 1S8. 
 elected Vice-President, ii. 335. 
 assumes the office of President, ii. 
 
 .371-. 
 his cabinet, ii. 371. 
 
 Fiscal Bank bill, the second, vetoed by 
 
 President Tyler, ii. 132. 
 Foote, Henry S., and John P. Hale, ii. 
 
 205. 
 France, unfriendly relations with, i. 280, 
 
 307- . 
 Free-soil party coalesces with the Demo 
 
 crats, ii. 375. 
 Fugitive Slave Law, opposition to, in the 
 
 North, ii. 379. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gallatin, Albert, i. no. 
 
 Georgia, arbitrary course of, towards the 
 
 Cherokee Indians, i. 178. 
 Girard will case before the United States 
 
 Supreme Court, ii. 212. 
 " Globe," the, established at Washington, 
 
 i. 186. 
 Gold promised as a circulating medium, 
 
 i. 277. 
 Graham, William A., nominated for the 
 
 Vice-Presidency, ii. 387. 
 Granger, Francis, Postmaster-General 
 under President Harrison, ii. 115. 
 notice of, ii. 172. 
 Great Western steamer, the, arrives at 
 
 New York from Liverpool, ii. 58. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hale, John P., ii. 204. 
 
 Hardin, Colonel J. J., killed at Buena 
 
 Vista, ii. 325. 
 Harrison, William Henry, elected Presi- 
 dent, ii. 113. 
 inaugurated, ii. 1 14. 
 appoints his cabinet, ii. 115. 
 his sickness and death, ii. 120. 
 Hayne, Colonel, his great contest with 
 Mr. Webster in the United States Sen- 
 ate, i. 172. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 403 
 
 Henshaw, David, Secretaiy of the Navy 
 
 under President Tyler, ii. 201. 
 Hoar, Samuel, of Massachusetts, visits 
 South Carolina as the agent of 
 his State, ii. 258. 
 is driven out of the State, ii. 259. 
 House of Representatives, debate upon 
 
 Al)olition petitions in, ii. 54. 
 Houston, General Sam, assaults Mr. 
 Stansberry for words spoken in 
 debate, i. 193. 
 is brought to the bar of the House 
 and reprimanded, i. 194. 
 Hunter, Rol)ert M. T., of Virginia, 
 elected Speaker of the House, ii. 99. 
 
 Intrigues to make General Jackson Presi- 
 dent, i. 56. 
 
 J. 
 
 Jackson, General, takes the field against 
 hostile Indians, Creeks and Semi- 
 noles, enters Florida, and takes 
 St. Mark's and Pensacola, i. 21. 
 
 his proceedings in Florida brought 
 up in Congress and approved, i. 
 22. 
 
 notice of, i. 35. 
 
 his letter to the committee of Dau- 
 phin County, Pennsylvania, i. 35. 
 
 elected to the Senate of the United 
 States, i. 40. 
 
 nominated by the Federal party in 
 Pennsylvania for the Presidency 
 of the United States, i. 41. 
 
 nominated for the Presidency by the 
 Democratic State Convention of 
 Pennsylvania, i. 42. 
 
 his Coleman letter, i. 62. 
 
 his Monroe letters, i. 64. 
 
 congratulates Mr. Adams on his 
 election as President, i. 83. 
 
 asserts that Mr. Adams's election 
 had been effected by a bargain, 
 i. 88. 
 
 resigns his seat in the United States 
 Senate, i. loi. 
 
 charges Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay 
 with bargain and corruption, i. 
 141. 
 
 addresses a letter to Mr. Beverly 
 reiterating the charge against Mr. 
 Adams, and giving the name of 
 James Buchanan as his authority, 
 i. 142. 
 
 Jackson, General, elected President of 
 the United States, i. 151. 
 sworn into office, i. 162. 
 his inaugural address, i. 162. 
 disgraceful scenes at the inaugu- 
 ration, i. 163. 
 his first cabinet, i. 164. 
 proscription for opinion's sake, i. 
 
 165. 
 " spoils" doctrine adopted by, i. 165. 
 his celebrated toast " Our Federal 
 Union : it must be preserved," i. 
 176. 
 rupture with Mr. Calhoun, i. 179. 
 a new cabinet appointed, i. 184. 
 issues a proclamation in rejily to the 
 
 South Carolina nullitiers, i. 230. 
 his tour to the East, i. 245. 
 removes the deposits from the United 
 
 States Bank, i. 256. 
 sends a protest to the Senate against 
 the resolutions of Mr. Clay, i. 268. 
 returns to the Hermitage, i. 345. 
 a sketch of him, i. 345-347. 
 his death, i. 348. 
 
 analysis of his character, by Parton, 
 i. 348. 
 Jefferson and Adams, death of, on the 
 
 same day, i. 131. 
 Johnson, Reverdy, notice of, ii. 169. 
 Johnson, Richard M., declares to Colonel 
 W. W. Seaton that " the adminis- 
 tration must be put down at all 
 hazards," i. 108. 
 Johnson, William Cost, challenges a 
 
 gasconader, i. 291. 
 Jones, John, of "The Madisonian," ii. 
 247. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kane, Judge, anecdote of, ii. 246. 
 King, Rufus, Federal candidate for the 
 
 Presidency, i. 19. 
 King, William R., nominated for the 
 Vice-Presidency on the ticket with 
 James Buchanan, ii. 307. 
 Kitchen cabinet, i. 185. 
 Kremer, George, charges Henry Clay 
 with bargain and corruption, i. 
 68. 
 refuses to appear before a committee 
 of the House to substantiate his 
 charge, i. 71. 
 Kossuth, Louis, arrives in this country, 
 ii. 381. 
 his presumption and arrogance, ii. 
 3S2. 
 
404 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 La Fayette, General, the " nation's 
 guest," arrives at New York, i. 
 
 his splendid reception, i. 90. 
 spends a year in traveling in the 
 
 United States, i. gi. 
 banquet given to him by Congress, 
 
 i. 92. 
 farewell address to him by President 
 
 Adams, i. 94. 
 departs on the frigate Brandywine, 
 
 i-95- 
 Lamar, Mirabeau B., the hero of San 
 
 Jacinto, i. 318. 
 Lane, Henry S., ii. 172. 
 Legare, Hugh S., his speech in New 
 York, ii. 87. 
 notice of him, ii. 87. 
 Attorney-General under President 
 
 Tyler, ii. 140. 
 his death at Boston, ii. 200. 
 Lewis, William B., engineers a move- 
 ment to bring out General Jackson for 
 a second term, i. 201. 
 Livingston, Edward, Secretary of State 
 
 under President Jackson, i. 185. 
 Locke, R. A., author of the " Moon 
 
 Hoax," i. 303. 
 Loco focos, origin of the term, ii. 16. 
 Lowndes, William, of South Carolina, 
 notice of, i. 31. 
 
 M. 
 
 Mangum, Willie P., notice of, ii. 210. 
 Marshall, Chief Justice, death of, i. 299. 
 
 his character, i. 299. 
 Marshall, Tom, offers resolutions to ex- 
 pel Mr. Adams, ii. 143. 
 and Henry Clay, ii. 162. 
 McDuffie, George, introduces resolutions 
 to amend the Constitution of the 
 United States, i. 117. 
 his fierce assault upon Adams's ad- 
 ministration, i. 118. 
 attempts to provoke General Vance, 
 of Ohio, into a duel, but fails, i. 
 120. 
 challenges Governor Metcalf, of 
 
 Kentucky, i. 138. 
 declines to fight with the rifle, i. 138. 
 McKee, Colonel, killed at Buena Vista, 
 
 ii- 325- 
 McLane, Louis, transferred from the 
 Treasury to the State Department, i. 
 253- 
 
 McLean, Judge, appointed a Justice of 
 the United States Supreme Court, i. 
 166. 
 Memorials and delegations to Congress 
 and the President against the removal 
 of the deposits from the United States 
 Bank, i. 261. 
 Metcalf, Governor, accepts a challenge 
 
 from Senator McDuffie, i. 13S. 
 Mexican War, General Taylor's battles 
 in, ii. 291. 
 closed by treaty, ii. 329. 
 Mississippi, contested Congressional elec- 
 tion, ii. 63. 
 Monroe, James, nominated for the Presi- 
 dency by a Congressional caucus, 
 i. 19. 
 elected President, i. 19. 
 takes a tour to the East, North, and 
 
 West, i. 20. 
 " era of good feeling" inaugurated 
 
 by, i. 20. 
 his levee on the 1st of January, 
 1824, and the celebrities present, 
 i. 48. 
 Monterey captured by General Taylor, 
 
 ii- 303- 
 Moon Hoax, the, i. 301. 
 Morehead, James S., of Kentucky, notice 
 
 of, ii. 324. 
 Morgan, William, proposes to publish a 
 book disclosing the secrets of Free 
 Masoniy, i. 139. 
 is seized, gagged and bound, thrust 
 into a carriage, and driven to Fort 
 Niagara, i. 139. 
 excitement on his disappearance, i. 
 
 139 
 Anti-Masonic party formed in con- 
 sequence of his supposed murder, 
 i. 140. 
 Morpeth, Lord, present in the House 
 during the assault upon John Quincy 
 Adams, ii. 157. 
 Morris, Edward Joy, ii. 204. 
 Morse's Telegraph, opposition to appro- 
 priation for, in Congress, ii. 193, 
 
 N. 
 
 National Republicans, name first as- 
 sumed, i. 149. 
 
 New Jersey, seats of members from, con- 
 tested in the House of Representatives, 
 ii. 96. 
 
 New Mexico, acquisition of, by the 
 United States, ii. 298. 
 
 Nullification in South Carolina, i. 229. 
 
IXDEX. 
 
 405 
 
 O. 
 
 " Old Ironsides,'' figure-head of, sawed 
 oft" by Samuel H. Dewey, i. 274. 
 
 Opposition party formed, and combine 
 against the administration of Presi- 
 dent Adams on the Panama mission, 
 i. 106. 
 
 Oregon, debate on, ii. 27S. 
 
 P. 
 
 Panama, mission to, recommended by 
 President Adams, i. 105. 
 question, prolonged debate upon, i. 
 115. 
 " Patton Resolution" in reference to the 
 Abolition petitions, adopted by the 
 House, ii. 54. 
 " Peacemaker," Commodore Stockton's, 
 
 explosion of, ii. 217. 
 Pennsylvania Hall, in Philadelphia, 
 
 burned by a mob, ii. 59. 
 Pinckney, William, notice of, i. ^iZ- 
 Plaquemine frauds, ii. 248. 
 Polk, James K., elected Speaker of the 
 House of Representatives, ii. 19. 
 his " Kane letter," ii, 233. 
 inaugurated President, ii. 264. 
 reiterates in his inaugural address 
 that our title to the Oregon country 
 is "clear and indisputable," ii. 
 265. 
 appoints his cabinet, ii. 266. 
 makes the " Union" the official or- 
 gan, ii. 267. 
 withdraws the offer made by Mr. 
 Calhoun to accept the line of 49° 
 as our northern boundary, ii. 271. 
 is fiercely denounced by Senator 
 
 Hannegan, ii. 274. 
 asks the aid of the Whigs to make 
 a treaty with England lor the line 
 of 49°, ii. 2S0. 
 his cares as President, ii. 304. 
 close of his administration, and 
 death, ii. 341. 
 " Polk, Dallas, and the Tariff of 1842," 
 
 ii- 235- 
 Pollock, James, ii. 204. 
 
 Porter, James M., Secretary of War under 
 
 President Tyler, ii. 200. 
 Porter, Mrs. General, notice of, i. 155. 
 Prentiss, Sargent S., claims his seat in 
 the House from Mississippi, ii. 64. 
 addresses the House in a speech of 
 extraordinary power and elo- 
 quence, i. 65. 
 
 Prentiss, Sargent S., loses his seat by the 
 
 casting vote of Speaker Pollv, ii.65. 
 
 feted by the Whigs at Boston, ii. 67. 
 
 re-elected, returns to Congress, and 
 
 takes his seat, ii. 68. 
 addresses the House on the subject 
 of the defalcations of public offi- 
 cers, ii. 70. 
 Presidential campaign of 1832, i. 248. 
 
 of 1840, ii. 105-107. 
 "Previous Question" Cushman, i. 126. 
 Princeton, war steamer, terrible catastro- 
 phe on board of, ii. 215. 
 many distinguished persons killed, 
 ii. 217. 
 Proffit, Mr., appointed Minister to Brazil, 
 
 ii. 201. 
 Protective policy, agitation of the sub- 
 ject North and South, i. 146. 
 convention at Harrisburg, i. 147. 
 nullification first heard of as an an- 
 tagonistic measure to, i. 147. 
 Public lands, subject of, referred to the 
 committee on manufactures in the 
 Senate, i. 205. 
 Mr. Clay rejiorts in favor of dis- 
 tributing the proceeds of, i. 206. 
 subject of, referred to the committee 
 on public lands, i. 206. 
 
 R. 
 
 Randolph, John, " of Roanoke," notice 
 
 of, i. 125. 
 Rhett, R. B., Mr. Adams's reply to, ii. 
 
 282. 
 Riots in Philadelphia between Ameri- 
 cans and Irish, ii. 228. 
 anti-Catholic, again break out in 
 Philadelphia, ii. 230. 
 Ritchie, T., editor of the " Union," ex- 
 cluded from the Senate, ii. 31 1. 
 Rives, William C, notice of, ii. 134. 
 Rush, Richard, Secretary of the Treasury 
 under President J. Q. Adams, i. 84. 
 
 Saltonstall, Leverett, ii. 173. 
 Santa Anna allowed to enter Mexico by 
 the connivance of the United States 
 government, ii. 295. 
 Sawyer, Mr , and his sausages, ii. 287. 
 how he knew a Whig from a Demo- 
 crat, ii. 289. 
 
4o6 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Scott, General, sent to the Canadian 
 frontier to preserve peace and pre- 
 vent our people from joining the 
 Canadian insurgents, ii. 31. 
 his "hasty plate of soup" letter, ii. 
 
 his career in Mexico, ii. 326. 
 
 is nominated for the Presidency, ii. 
 
 387. 
 Scene in the House of Representatives 
 
 following the motion to expel Mr. 
 Adams, i. 309-323. 
 in the Senate between Mr. Benton 
 and Mr. Clay, i. 224. 
 Schenck, Robert J., ii. 203. 
 Seminole War, i. 319. 
 Sergeant, John, nominated for the Vice- 
 Presidency by the National Republi- 
 cans, i. 187. 
 Simmons, James F., notice of, ii. 317. 
 Slade, William, presents Abolition me- 
 morials and addresses the House, ii. 
 
 53- 
 Slidell, John, and the Plaquemine frauds, 
 
 ii. 248. 
 Smith, Caleb B., ii. 204. 
 Smyth, " Braggadocio," is severely han- 
 dled by Mr. John C. Wright, of Ohio, 
 i. 159. 
 South Carolina assumes an attitude of 
 
 armed defiance, i. 230. 
 Specie circular, its effect upon the coun- 
 try, i. 321. 
 payments, second suspension of, by 
 the banks, ii. 76. 
 Spencer, J. C, Secretary of War under 
 President Tyler, ii. 140. 
 Secretary of the Treasury, ii. 200. 
 is nominated a Justice of the Su- 
 preme Court, ii. 232. 
 Stansberry, Mr., of Ohio, brutally as- 
 sailed in the street by General Sam 
 Houston for words spoken in the 
 House in debate, i. 192. 
 Stephens, A. H., ii. 202. 
 Storrs, Henry R., of New York, replies 
 
 to Senator McDuflie, i. 108. 
 Stuart, A. H. H., of Virginia, ii. 172. 
 
 T. 
 
 Taney, Roger C, appointed Secretary 
 of the Treasury in place of Mr. 
 Duane, i. 256. 
 
 appointed Chief Justice on the death 
 of Judge Marshall, i. 299. 
 
 Tariff Act of 1842, ii. 1S7. 
 
 Tariff Act of 1846, discussion on, ii. 
 
 Tariff bills vetoed by President Tyler, 
 
 ii. 171. 
 Taylor, General Zachary, elected Presi- 
 dent, ii. 335. 
 inauguration of, ii. 342. 
 his cabinet, ii. 342. 
 his death, ii. 369. 
 Telegraph, Morse's, an appropriation 
 granted to erect a line between 
 Washington and Baltimore, ii. 
 
 193- 
 first working of, between Baltimore 
 and Washington, ii. 231. 
 "Telegraph, United States," established, 
 i. 109. 
 attacks President Adams's adminis- 
 tration, i. III. 
 Texas, revolution in, i. 316. 
 massacre at Goliad, i. 317. 
 battle of San Jacinto, i. 317. 
 Mr. Preston presents a resolution to 
 re-annex it to the United States, 
 ii. 62. 
 acquired by treaty, ii. 263. 
 General Taylor is ordered to enter, 
 ii. 270. 
 Thompson, Smith, Secretaiy of the Navy 
 under President Monroe, i. 19. 
 nominated by the National Repub- 
 licans for governor of New York, 
 i. 150. 
 Tompkins, Daniel D., nominated for 
 
 the Vice-Presidency, i. 19. 
 Treasury building partially burnt, i. 245. 
 Trist, N. P., sent to Mexico to close the 
 
 war, ii. 329. 
 Troup, George M., of Georgia, blows 
 a war-blast in a message to the 
 Legislature, i. 96. 
 recommends the people of Georgia 
 
 to " stand by their arms," i. 97. 
 addresses extraordinary letters to 
 the President, i. 104. 
 "Twenty-first rule" rescinded, ii. 254. 
 Tyler, John, assumes the duties and title 
 of President, ii. 122. 
 vetoes the Fiscal Bank bill, ii. 125. 
 vetoes the Tariff bill, ii. 179. 
 sends a protest to the House, ii. 182. 
 adopts the "spoils" principle in 
 regard to removals and appoint- 
 ments, ii. 188. 
 removes Jonathan Roberts, Col- 
 lector of Customs at Philadelphia, 
 and General Solomon Van Rens- 
 selaer, Postmaster at Albany, i. 
 190. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 407 
 
 Tyler, John, visits the North and East, 
 accompanied by Mr. Legare, ii. 
 201. 
 
 reorganizes his cabinet, ii. 201. 
 
 his administration brought to a 
 close, ii. 263. 
 
 U. 
 
 United States Bank. See Bank. 
 Upshur, Abel P., Secretary of the Navy 
 under President Tyler, ii. 140. 
 Secretaiy of State, ii. 201. 
 killed by the explosion of a gun on 
 board the Princeton, ii. 217. 
 
 Van Buren, Martin, arranges with the 
 Crawford men in reference to 
 Mr. Adams and the Presidency, 
 i. 78. 
 
 elected by the Jackson party gov- 
 ernor of New York, i. 151. 
 
 is appointed minister to England, i. 
 184. 
 
 his nomination as minister to Eng- 
 land rejected, i. 199. 
 
 nominated for the Vice-Presidency, 
 i. 204. 
 
 inaugurated President, ii. 10. 
 
 calls an extra session of Congress, 
 ii. 14. 
 
 his social characteristics, ii. 21. 
 
 nominated for the Presidency by 
 the Buffalo Free-soil Convention, 
 
 ii- 334- 
 Vance, General, of Ohio, refuses to fight 
 a duel with Senator McDuffie, i. 120. 
 Vinton, Samuel T., ii. 197. 
 
 W. 
 
 Washington society from 1817 to 1S25, 
 
 i- 43- 
 a journey from New York to, in 
 1S24, i. 51. 
 
 Washington, a winter in, in olden times, 
 i. 152. 
 society of, greatly agitated by the 
 Eaton imbroglio, i. 153. 
 Washington's sword and cane presented 
 
 to the United States, ii. 195. 
 Watkins, Dr. Tobias, defalcation of, i. 
 
 167. 
 Webster, Daniel, his great debate with 
 Colonel Hayne, i. 169. 
 his speech on the veto message, i. 
 
 222. 
 opposes the Sub-Treasury bill, ii. 4S. 
 Secretary of State, ii. 1 15. 
 extraordinary speech of, in Faneuil 
 
 Hall, ii. 191. 
 resigns from Mr. Tyler's cabinet, ii. 
 
 199. 
 reconciliation with the Whig lead- 
 ers, ii. 209. 
 his speech on the Compromise meas- 
 ures, ii. 362. 
 his disappointment at not being 
 nominated for the Presidency, ii. 
 
 .391- 
 his death, ii. 393. 
 
 Whigs, the National Republicans assume 
 
 the name of, i. 261. 
 Wliite, Hugh Lawson, of Tennessee, 
 
 notice of, ii. 81. 
 Wickliffe, C. A., Postmaster-General 
 
 under President Tyler, ii. 140. 
 Winthrop, Robert C., Speaker of the 
 
 Thirtieth Congress, ii. 330. 
 Wirt, William, Attorney-General under 
 President Monroe, i. 19. 
 Attorney-General under President 
 
 Adams, i. 84. 
 nominated for the Presidency by 
 the Anti-Masonic party, i. 187. 
 Wise, Henry A., extraordinary speech 
 of, on the motion to expel John 
 Quincy Adams, i. 312. 
 thrice nominated minister to France 
 by President Tyler, and thrice 
 rejected by the Senate, ii. 196. 
 Woodbridge, Governor, notice of, ii. 324. 
 Wright, John C, ridicules " Bragga- 
 docio" Alexander Smyth, i. 159. 
 
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