<-. '^-* ^^ 0^ c°"**. 'O O M ■ .■". - i ^-^ O « r*^ ^* 'K^ "-M^^° N^ ^- *< I • o '^^ ..V .>^^A,-o \^ y?.-^ .y • A ^ M PEOFZ.S OF BELAWABB, ON THE APFHOAClnxrO FHSSISEITTIAL ELECTIOSTs PREPARED iN OBEDIENCE TO A RESOLUTIOA ^ OF THE Convention of the Friends of the National Administration ASSEMBLED AT DOVERj ON THE FIFTEENTH DAT OF JULT, 1828. COVER, DEL. — J, ROBERTSON, PRINTER* .^ / ii 1 ADDRESS TO THE PDOPLE CS" r^LA77A^E. Fdloxv Citizens^ The convention of the friends of the Administration of the General Government, composed of one hundred and fiftv Dele- gates from the several counties, held at Dover on the 15th instant, appointed us to prepare and publish, in their name, an address to the people of this State. In the discharge of that important duty, we humbly implore that di\ ine Goodness, which has so often and so signally favoured this happv nation, to remove from us all bitterness towards our opponents, to give us to speak, fearlessly, but temperatly, the language of truth, that if we be right and they be wrong, our bretheren may be drawn from the error of their ways, and be persuaded to unite with us in efforts for the good of our connuon Country. Blind devotion to men in power has never characterised the People of the United States. They do not require to have in- culcated upon them die maxim that 'men feel power and forget right.' The history of the sad misrule which, happily for us — happily for the world, — separated this Country from Great Brit- ain, is too fresh in the recollection of Americans, for them ea- sily to err by confiding too much in their public functionaries. Salutary confidence and trust in future intelligence and up- rightness of purpose, which former good conduct invites and justifies, is all that can be claimed for men in their private or public lives. This is all that is asked of the people, by the friends of the present Administration of the General Govern- ment. But surely it cannot be proper, — every honest man, whe- ther of this or that party, must say it is unjustifiable, — to form combinations to oppose measures as they rise, be they right or wrong. An attempt lias been made to vindicate an indiscrim- inate opposition to the measures of the present Administration, upon the ground that Congress, when voting by States, did not choose the candidate who had the highest number of electoral votes. Congress elected the President in the manner the Con- stitution directs. It was their duty to choose, from the three highest in vote, that individual whom they thought the most suitable and best qua:lified to be President:— and this they were bound, this they were sworn to do, without having any *r€gar4 to the namWcv of votes by which they were respectively returned to the House. Can it be necessary to argue this mat" ter to shew that a combination for opposition, founded upon this ground, is every way reprehensible? In Dehiware, partic- ularly, the advocates of this Doctrine, can never find favour; because it lenders inoperative the very provision in the Con- stitution, which gives to the smaller States the only efficient influence they possess in the choice of a President. When the election, from a want of a majority for any one candidate for that high office, is brought to the House of Representatives, that body votes by States; and in settling this important question, the smallest State in the Union has as much weight as the largest. It was not surprising that a party formed, in the open and avowed spirit of hostility to the Constitution, should be found capable of unjustly imputing wicked and corrupt motives to their opponents, and that the cry of bargain and sale in the e- lection should have been sent through the land. That charge has been fully investigated, and has been proved, to the satis- faction of the people, to be entirely unfounded. The facts which are now established prove, most unhappily for the opposition, that all the attempts at corruption were made by the friends of General Jackson. ^Vhy was their candidate called upon to deny that he had determined, in the event of his election to the Presidency, to make Mr. Adams Secretary of State — why was he desired positively to declare that he would never appoint Mr. Adams to that office, if it were not intended by that decla- ration to win the support of the fricn'Is of Mr. Clay? The e- lection of Mr. Adams to the Presidency, vacated, of course, the office of Secretary of Stale. To put General Jackson upon an equal footing, in this respect, his friends avowed that they were desirous he should be brought to say lie would not continue Mr. Adams, as Secretary of State. What measures they a- dopted to accomplish this object, which, upon their own rea- soning, was a corrupt one, does not appear. It is only known, and it is known by their own avowal, that they formed the corrupt purpose; and we are left to conjecture how far they proceeded to carry it into execution. Having determined upon an unfair and improper course themselves, it is not wonderfid that they should have suspected others of being as easily led into an equal dere- liction of duty: or, without any belief whatever in its existence, that they should have been capable of knowingly calumniating their opponents. The Constitution permits the re-election of a President of the United States. Here, too, the opposition is wiser than the law. Our frame of Government has settled the principle, as well as the mode, of the choice by the Hotise of Representatives. Wheia the question of any pioposed alteration in the Constitu- tion is fairly before the States, for their adoption or rejection, (■n-ery thing which can be urged for or against the proposed al- leration, is a proper subject for consicUraUoiu But men who, for selfish purposes of their own, call upon the people to disr reeard their own form of Government, in any one ol its existing provisions, are utterly unworthy of trust. The rule of con- duct prescribed by the Constitution every good citizen is bound ^°ThTpeople of the United States will never give their confir dence to a party, or favour the pretensions of a Candidate, whose friends attempt to set up, for the rule of conduct, any o- ther than that of the Constitution— who, taking advantage ot the spirit of vigilance, which freemen ought to exercise over those in power, endeavour, for their own sinister purposes, U. alienate the fair confidence and regard which are due to taitn- ful public servants. The charge of ihe basest corruption has been laid before the people, and strictly examined,_and iound to- tally croundless: 1 he wildest and most profligate extrava- gance, in the expenditure of the public money, having been a. Sain and again "imputed to their opponents, a young and un- trained member of their party, led no doubt to beneve in the, truth of the charge, called for the institution ot a strict enquiry into this matter, Ihose who had spread the charge before the country, endeavoured to frown him into silence, i ae accu- sers shrunk from the maintenance of their own accusation, and the partv accused demanded that the investigation should go on. It did go on, and it resulted, after the closest and sever- est scrutiny, in proving the strictest order and economy in the public expenditure. The two leading narties which are nov/ formed m this coun^- trv, are at issue with each other, as to the expediency or inex- pediency of that great system of measures, which is emphatic c-iUv termed the 'American Svstem.'— The inends ot the Administration, believing that the wealth and greatness oi thq United States, the happiness and prosperity oi the people, de- pend upon the establishment and maintenance oi that system, are its firm and zealous supporters. A very large proportion ofthe opposite part) indulge themselves in the deadliest enmi- tv to these measures. It is not our purpose to enter into an e- laborate examination or vindication of this system. All that can be urged for or against it, is already l^efore the people. 1 he northern, the middle and the western States have adopted it, with scarcely a dissenting voice among their citizens; and it- has already enlisted in its favour a good deal of the intelli- gence and "virtue of the southern portion of the Union. To the friends of that system, it stems a question whether landed pro- perty and the products of our soil shall undergo a still greater, depression, or be doubled, at least, in their present value-— whe- ther the people shall be ignorant and indigent- or mtelligeiU enterprising, prosperous and independent. If the ^ system, here referred to be as beneficent in its effects as is insisted up- JB 'ui-i by Its friends, a well deserves the great name it bears; and no good citizen ^vlll support a party whose efforts are directed agamst it. Independently, dien, of the respective characters or tnc two great candidates, who are before the people for the Presidency of the Union, it seems to us that the question would be settled in favour of Mr. Adams, by the single consideration, that ne belongs to the party whose measures are most likely to promote the public interest. There is too much intelligence a- mong the citizens of the United States, to give anv just cause to tear that a nyyority of them can be led off from a course their own prosperity requires them to pursue. There are, however, involved in the great question before the States, considerations, if possil^le, of graver and weightier import. A country may be n>istaken in the choice of its inter- nal policy, and yet be turned back, by the light of experience, irom the error of its measures, to the adoption of a wiser and more prudent course. But there are great leading principles of truth and virtue, which when a people venture to set at iiought, it is not often permitted to them, without extreme na- tional humiliation and suffering, to regain their former erectness of character. The lapse from virtue to vice ma\- happen to a people collectively, as to the separate individuals' that compose their community. Among the great obligations which freemen ^we to themselves, is to entrust with their power, and reward with the-ir favour, no individual whose private life has not given ilie strongest pledge of his being worthy of their confidence. When, in die selection of public functionaries, it shall be deem- *:d unnecessary to inquire how far a man's life has been virtu- ous, high minded and bonourabh-, the great securities for pri- vate \irtu£ and pu'jlic worth will be exposed to the highest pe- fil Dispense with this test of fitness for public emplovment, ^rlet the people be led to hold it in light estimation, and tiie wodes are innumerable, by which unprincipled and dangerous «-ien, will win their wa>' to the highest posts of honour. Smart- ness will claim the distinction which belongs to goodness; and brilliancy and not solidity of talent will only be in request.' The morals of the people will be corrupted, and the wisdom of the government will be as folly. When such a time shall ar- rive among us — which may God, in his mercy and kindness keep^ far from us! — his moral government of the Avorld can be vindicated only by our downfall. Let us then listen to the voice of all experience — let the pages of all history warn us let the sacred volumes of our religion teach us — how a people may be lost or preserved. If careless of private worth, we shall be regardless of public virtue. If the violation of the duties of private life, are no bar to our confidence and trust, we shall soon learn to look, with complacency and indulgence, upon outrages committed against the most sacred of our public in- stitTitions. If there be- any thing of truth and fitness in thes^ f^marks it cannot be wrong freely and closely to examine the pvaSnl of the two great candidates belore the people, for the hichest office within their gift. . The whole private life of John Quincy Adams is not only free from blemish, but stands conspicuous for so^^^-'^^)' ^^'^: mand of temper, republican simplicity of manners, unrelaxins d Lence, thJ most extended charity and uniform piety. H s p blic lie has given proof to the world of the most chstinguish- L ta ler^ s, and^the utmost devotedness to the cause of his coun- try Fom all those who have been highest in the confidence o? the citizens of the United Stajes-Washington Jefters^^^^ Madison and Monroe-vve have the most unqualified testimo- nv in his favour: and the age in which he has lived has here- tofore delighted, with one voice, to award him the meed of virtue and wisdom. Allow us here to incorporate into our address, onlv two sentences from the Newhampshrre patriot of 1820-- at present the leading Jackson paper in New England. 1 hf. MORE WE CONTEMPLATE THE CHARACTER OF THIS ABLE, AS- SIDUOUS AND EXCELLENT STATESMAN AND PATRIOT— THT. rURTHER WE WITNESS HIS PROGRESS, IN THE DIPLOMATIC HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY, THE MORE WE SEE TO ADMIRE AND ^PPL^UD. No MAN UNITES MORE OF THE QUALITIES OF THF HONEST, UPRIGHT AND ABLE STATESMAN, THAN JoHN QuiNCY * The same naoer. soeakingof General Jackson, four years af-^ terwarcis, tnatis on tne 31st of Mav, 1824, observed 'he (Gen- eral J acksonj is, IN NO RESPECT, QUALIFIED FOR THE OF- FICE OF THE President of the United States.' We might oo on and quote the former opinions of those who are now, in our own State, his leading and most influential advocates; all going to show him ''the most unsafe and unfitting man m the nation for public trust and confidence." We might follow up these quotations and produce evidence from the lips ot those who have since become his most strenuous advocates, in every part of the Union, to prove the same unfitness and incapacity. These have been laid before the people again and again. In- deed, if we were to permit ourselves to quote against General Jackson the gross and vulgar, indecent and profane terras ap- plied to him four years back, by some of the most prominent in his party, we should offend against good manners. If we were disposed to surrender ourselves up to the utmost bitter- ness of vituperation, we could use no language which would not fall infinitely short of their then severe philippics against this their present '^second IVashhip07iV'— this their now **Iiere of tivo rmrsV . , r 1 1 If General Jackson's private life had been entirely faultless, and his public character free fro-Ti those blemishes which he, himself has brought upon it— if the laurels gathered bv him at New Orleans, had been fresh and untarnished, the citizens of 8 fhe United States would never have placed in the highest civil post in the Government, an illiterate man and an inexperien- ced statesman. They would never have ventured upon so hazardous an experiment to themselves, nor have set so dange- rous an example to posterity. The victory of New Orleans I was an important one. Its magnitude cannot be overrated. The nation has awarded to General Jackson, a full share of the glory it gained upon that occasion: and in its delight to honour him for that service, it has almost forgotten what was due to its other functionaries, and even to the citizens and soldiers, who, under him, achieved that victory. The friends of Gen- eral Jackson seem desirous of throwing into dark and distant perspective all the other illustrious instances of consummate skill and distinguished gallantry, by sea and by land, which gave, during the late war, so high a character to the national prow- ess. The triumph over the "invincibles of Wellington," in the 0]5cn field, with bayonet to bayonet — the naval victories on Lake Erie and Lake Champlam — and the immortal honour gained by our flag in every se;^ are all forgotten, that this ci- tizen soldier may wear a chaplet of unrivalled brightness. This the people of the United States will never endure — it would be to give up too large a portion of the national glory. They will cherish with even more distingu'shed notice, their other He- roes, because their private and their public lives have done 6qual honour to themselves and their country. Distinguished as was the victory of New Orleans — and we are willing to give it an importance which has scarcelv been claimed for it, as frustrating under Providence, a scheme of perfidy in the enemy which will ever be a blot on the character of Great Britain---the achievements of our Naval Heroes and our gal- lant tars, rescuing our flag from the humiliation it had un- dergone, in the uunappv affair of the Chesapeake, and giving to Our star-spangled banner to shine with unrivalled brilliancy and glory, on every sea and in every harbour, are more pre- cious in the estimation of every genuine American, and have Inore truly illustrated the character of out country, than a hun- dred such victories as that of New Orleans. The measure of our nation's honour was full and overflowing, when the battles of the lakes came, almost with the fasrin-ition of romance* gui- ded by the youthful heroes, whose namts will forever live in the story of our country, to give the proof that, ship to ship, or fleet to fleet, we need fear no enemy; and that the people of this broad spread and rising empire, while they are true to them- selves, and animated by the noble examples now set ihcrn, may go in safety and honour to every part of the world, or dwell at home in peace and independence. Our ocean shore of a thou- sand leagues is girt as with a wall — and our noble rivers and our inland seas, are alive with the song and the sail of the ma- riner. & Was it not ei^ough to satisfy General Jackson, that tlie coun- try assigned him his place among the heroes of the nation? Was it not sufficient that the people were willing that the man- tle of oblivion should be thrown over private errors and public transgressions, which no victory could redeem, which no tro- phy could hide? General Jackson should not have suffered others to thrust him forward into a situation, where sacred duty to the public rendered it imperiously necessary to strip from him this mantle. It was, indeed, a wretched miscalcula- tion upon the character of the people of this country, that they would be so dazzled by the splendour of a single victory, as to be incapable of examining closely and clearly into his preten- sions for trust in the highest civil employment in their gift. With a full and perfect knowledge of his unfitness for civil office, and of the multiplied transgressions of his private and public duty— proclaimed with their own lips, from the house-tops, to the people— they have committed a great crime against their country, and jusdy forfeited, themselves, all right to fair con- sideration, in dragging him forward as a candidate for its highest honours. ,v • The great security for the continuance of our republic is to be found in the frame of our government, and in the character of the citizens of the United States. The constitution was formed and adopted at a time peculiarly favourable to calm and careful deliberation. It was the work of the best and ablest men in our country; and came to us under the sanction, and with the earnest recommendation, of Washington, the most il- lustrious patriot the world has ever seen. It contains every provision necessary for the safeguard of our religious rights and civil liberties. The people have only to hold every public functionary to the strictest observance of its injunctions, and to trust no man who shall be hardy enough to commit upon it the slightest violation: and the great truth which has now gone forth to the world that "man is capable of governing himself,' will be sustained, to the total overthrow of the false and de- grading doctrine, which it has suited the lordlings of the earth to preadi up and inculcate, that man is too weak and impotent a creature to do without a master. Gracious God ! need we fear that the time has already come— at the end, too, of the first half centurv, during which so much has been done to illustrate and establish this great, this noble truth— that we are to give it up, as a splendid but hopeless illusion? The time has come— yes, it has alreadv arrived— if the citizens of the United States, recreants to the cause of liberty, can regard with base submis- sion and apathy the open ^ iolation of their sacred charter;— and, if, in the fair temple of their freedom, they can raise their voi- ces and sing Hosannas to the guilty violater, they have made it the great sepulchre of their country. Need we advance to the -proof that General Jackson is that guilty violater? We ask you 2 10 to spread before 3 ou the great charter of your liberties ahd to ph. u. th , '"'^"'^ P'^"" the sa... institution to\vhich^^'i:.l^^^^^^- -f - some o the portraits ot the father of his cotintry, is seen noint jng, and seems as d he wouhl say, ^preserve but this m^ybT loved countrymen, from unhallowed louch, and you libc^-tts are safe ' And yet Andrew Jacksonhas twice trampled lis ut de his feet; not merely refusing-which was never ventured n on before, either in Great Britain or this country_to 3 eld it the ^^t.t ..dience, but dragging to a prison the be^erf of ^ It is not our intention to jro into i de-iW,..! ^ Gener il Inr!-<;rn'<. ,.. ■ , ""^^'^''t^" enumeration of Oeneial Jackson s tiansgressions; but we ask you to select the next most prominent feature in your Government. You -ef r us to th arrangement to preserve the independence and ime; my of the States, within the spheres marked out foi them fo" occupy.. The Molence which Cromwell committed nnmtK^ Parliament ot England when, stampmg his H^^ 1^'C ^ ordered hem to depart- which the soldier Napoleon e^ceiched to.vard the council of five hundred, when he Z them out from tneir place of asseinbling. at the point of the^bayonet-r dent^stSi^:L:^.^^^5eo^^r2r:;;;^' t'-- ^-^^^r rij order whilst I am in the field " ^ '■^ i '^t- a nuiiia'- co„n,rs. an,! «I,ere tint now,',- U "^'STea est power it- difficuuy i„ s„,i,.g .ha; it ir.L; we rra i,, ."'p';"- , "" and Congress to raise armies and make wa, Ro h ,1 '"' ers this recUess soldier has ven„„''a to" IstHp" n 1 e^r^";'" He has raised an ar,ny, created ofiices and fill„| hem He 1,.; made war. not only upon Ins own autho.itv a, d in "ioluion of i-ssued throuch him Tl/ n • , ' "'^ «--overnmeni discharged! He rfosed o 0^""^"' ^•"^""^"^^ '^'^ ^"'"y '^ be in service, evcml.ev 1,^ 1 -■ 'l' ^'^^~^^ kept his men -and caused six no en ''""'^^^^^'^ 7^^^^^ they were drafted ,oftheir settee h::i'ex;:;rer"^"""^^^^'"r^^^^- ^^^ 11 When to this guUty catalogue of great sins against the con- sthutioa, we add the ruthless manner in which he waged a war of extermination against the poor, unhappy aborigines ot our country, putting to death, in cold blood, nien, women and chil- dren—and the stcrv of the dark and dismal despo'ism of his sad misrule in Floiida:— and when we remind you o{ his threat to the President, that he would burn up one of the officers of the Government, in the house belonging to the people of the Uni- ted States, we are lost in amazement to think that the author of those outrages is still before the States, and seriously sup- ported by a formidable party for the highest post in the Go- vernment. 'Ihe frenzied zeal of so many misguided citizens, in making an Idol of this man, who has committed so many fla- grant trespasses on the laws and constitution of his country— who, to use their own former language, has violated almost every law, human and divine— must be curbed by the united eiforts ot the good and sane portion of our country, or our liberties are gone. -Rather than that our civil liberties and religious right^s should perish, we would join in the prayer that if we have en- fended against God, he would send upon us for our chastise- ment, the pestilence and the famine: and agree that any alllic- tion will be light compared with the loss of our feeedom. The reiga of Jackson has been truly a reign of terror- ferocious, merciless and bloody. And is this man of violence, with a heart of stone, and a temper constantly working itself into fury, fitted to sit in the President's chair, and execute justice in mercy? I-f he is to be our President, let us blot out from our constitution the noblest feature of our own and e% e- py Government— the power to pardon— for he will find no oc- casion to exercise it. Let our laws, like those of Draco, be written in characters of blood; and the experiment be fully made, whether Americans, in an age more tender in the in- fliction of capital punishment, than any that has gone before rt, are willing to present themselves to the world, as pre eminent- ly regardless of human life. If the citizens of the United States can bear, themselves, such a reign as this— and all on account of the victory at New Orleans— it will be well for them to inquire, what security they will have for that respect to pub- lic law to which the present civilized world requires implirit obedience, v/ith a man at the head of their Government, who knows not the difference between a pirate and a prisoner at xvar —who knows how a pirate is to be punished, but knows not how he is to be tried. , In referring to the off"ences of General Jackson against the laws and constitution of his country, and the constituted au- thorities of our Government, we have omitted any notice of the violence that he threatened, and advanced to the Capitol to carry into execution, on the persons of memhers of Congress; tf which, while we write^ the evidence of Mr. Laceck is lai4 12 before us. That a man who can trample upon the constitution and violate its most sacred provisions, over and over asain, can coolly resolve to cut off the ears of members of Conm-ess, for venturing m discharge of their duty to investigate his conduct can be matter of no surprise. It is in strict keeping with his other misdeeds. What security has the country that he would not, It 1 resident, and made commander in chief of its armies follow out fully the example oi his great predecessors, Crom* well and Bonaparte— march his soldiers to the Capitol and ex- pel Congress at the point of the bayonet? If, fellow-citizens, with such earnest before your eyes of what we may expect, you elevate this man to the Presidency, you will be prepared to v'ote him first Consul for life and afterwards Emperor. One of the reasons, assigned by your convention, for depre- catmg the election of General Jackson to the Presidencv is, that as a public Ambassador, he caused to be appended to a pub- lic treaty a grant; of land for his own aggrandisement. That stipulation was m the following words. 'JFis/iinP- to icive a rwtional mark cf gratiWdc to Major General Andrew Jcfckson. Jor /us diHtingm.shed services rendered us, at the head of the ar- nnj from Tennessee, vce' {the said Indian nation) ^give and 'nant him, and his heirs jor ever, three miles square of land, «' such place as he may select out of the national lands.' This was equal to five thousand seven hundred and sixty acres, and,'if judiciously located, would have been worth, at this time five hundred thousand dollars. There have been instances in Eu^ rope, where prmces have conferred upon foreign ministers, on their taking leave, some small token of respect and courtesy. Upon one occasion— we think it was the case of Colonel Hum- phreys—a present, perhaps of a sword, was made to him. That gentleman subn.itted the matter to Congress, who directed it should be returned. We belie^ e we should be warranted in saying that, if an estimate could be made of the acgrecate of all the presents of this description, of all the Potentates of Eu- rope, horn the earliest age down to this day, the amount would Jail infinitely short, in value, of this Indian gift to General Tack- son. What citizen is there, of either party, who can look at this transaction without the most marked indignation? A pubxic Minister, sent to transact the public business— well paid for his ser^-Ices by his own Government-and transmitting, with the treaty he negotiated, a stipulation for his own agj^rait- d.sement! It has no parrallel in the annals of the civHized %vorId. A free gift of a nation of wretched, half starved In- dians, brought to his feet in unconditional submission! Were they prompted directly or indirectly, by General Jackson, to make hnn this grant? Was it a reward to him for the seJvi- ces he had rendered them, in bringing into their country the ftre, the famine and the sword? Or was it an offering from the ♦gnorance and superstition of the poor children of thS forest, t« 13 propitiate him as their evil genius — to soften his heart and avert his wrath? What terms of reprobation are strong enough to express the abhorrence of every honest man at such a transac- tion ! This is a specimen of his fitnes and talents for civil emplovment. As a soldier, ws see him deliver himself up to his fiery passions, and his sword thirsting for the blood of friend and foe. As a civilian, the gross and grovelling spirit of cupidity takes hold of him. In the one situation, no feeling of mercy enters his heart: — and, in the other, no moral sense of decency and honour can curb his rapacity. Our State has been flooded with handbills entitled ^General Jackson's land speculations'^^ in which an attempt is made to ex- plain and gloss over a series of circumstances, any one of which, in a citizen of this state, would have wrecked his character for- ever. We would have thrown this into the mass of offences, which we have passed over, had not the plastic hands of his a- pologists endeavoured to convert a most reprehensible transac- tion, into a pattern of generous liberality. A candidate for the Presidency obliged to have a white-washing committee, whose composition peels off almost as fast as it is put on! A judge of a court — for such was General Jackson, at the time — to take a fee of ten diousand acres of land to ^have' so simple a matter accomplished, as the foreclosure of a mortgage! This suit, he in- stituted in the court of the United States of that district; which court had no jurisdiction of the cause. A decree of foreclosure is obtained — the eighty five thousand acres of land sold, and purcha- sed for less than two thousand dollars, by General Jackson and company. Sales are afterwards made to settlers, by the pur- chasers, on general warranty deeds, which, in Tennessee, at, that time, rendered the grantors liable for the improved value. When it was discovered that the court of the United States had no jurisdiction of the case, and that the decree there rendered was erroneous, the General and his partners became alarmed for the probable consequences of their covenants of warranty. At this moment it occurred to General Jackson that he had au old debt, of about $wenty thousand dollars, due him from the estate of the morfg aafilg "^^^^^ ^"^^ died insolvent, in Georgia, where his heirs re'^ffft To that state he proceeded forthwith, to purchase the equity of redemption of those heirs, for this old debt barred by the statute of limitations. He accomplished this without:l:onsideri^g that the estate of the insolvent mort- gagor was-bound, beyonc\ its utmost value, for unbarred debts — and without Reflecting that the time for prosecuting a writ of error, to reverse the decree of foreclosure, having elapsed, the sale under the moi-tgage, altho' originally erroneous, had now become valid, by l^pse of time. His purchase of the heirs could have availed not a cent, if the time for prosecuting the writ of error had not passed by. It would have been only a fund in his hands for the payment of good and subsisting 4ebts. Hf 14 has thus coTnniitted tuo blunders — one in having the suit brought in the wrong court — the other in bu\ing from the heir* tvliat they had no right to sell, and what, of course, was of no value. But he resolves to make 'the thorn bring forth figs.' He turns upon his partners and bis employers — claims, first, to stand in the place of the mortgagor, and tenders the payment of the mortgage money. He can now save himself from liability, under his own covenants ef wanantv — and the rest of the land, with all the improvements upon it, is to be his — and he is per- fectly reckless of die ruin of his partners and employers He eomes, however, afterwards, to the determinatioH to be content- ed with the payment of his debt of twenty thousand dollars, barred by the statute of limitations. He finds, in a Mr Erwin^ the representative of his original employer, a man more know- ing and as unyieiding as himself. He contends in vain, with this gentleman for years. To protract the controversy with him. is to jeopardise his claim on the settlers. He had better take half than lose all, Erwin shaken oft" from his skirts, he finds no difRcultv in o'otaining from the settlers, ten thousand dollars for this idle and unfounded claim — not for himself, but for his near relative James Jackson. He has, for this free and unpurchased relinquishment to Erwin, not only the induce- ment of getting one half of his unjust claim, when he was in peril of losing all — but die time, 18:23, had arrived, when his evil star had brought him before tlie people, as a Candidate for the Presidency. The sorry story of this land speculation might take wind — and Erwin held the fatal scissors to clip the ^V"ings of his soaring ambition. Neither Erwin nor wife will come to him, and be must go to them, — that his friends here- after might white-wash this transaction, by holding up to the people his gratuitous renunciation, to shew that 'the gallant de- fender of New Orleans, was not proof to a woman's tears and distress; when, in fact there was not a sigh heaved, nor a tear 'jh^^d; for Mrs. Erwin, could have had no inducement for at- tem-jjting to excite hi« commisseration. It is true there were, under the roof of each settler, upon these lands, women who ■could implore and shed tears, as eloquently as Mrs. Erwin. To them it was evident he exhibited no compassion, and it is equally clear that 1^ could not have been a stranger to their dis- tresses. It is bad enough to see bold and flagrant transgres- sions — but to be called upon to laud them to the skies, as instances of God-1-ikc virtue, is beyond human patience to euf dure. There is another great land concern of the General which our duty to the Con\ ention will not permit us to pass over xvithout notice. The aifair of the mortgage already discussed, was a private land speculation, and serves to show the princi- ples which have guided him, in his traiisactlons as a citizen. U does, indeed, go fuidier, and establishes great official mis- 13 eonduct, in having — he being a judge at the time — any thing to do, for fee or reward, with the carrying on of a suit, in a State where he held that situation. 'I he grant of a tract of land three miles square, which General Jackson managed to extort from the Creek Ind'a s, was an enormous offence a- gainst his country and the honour and purity of an ambassador; one, certainly, without a parallel in the history of diplomacy, except in the fresh instance to which we now refer. He was sent by the President, with Governour Shelby, of Kentucky, to negotiate a treaty of cession, with the Chickasaw nation of In- dians. Here he accomplished an arrangement by which — but for the prudence and virtuous firmness of his colleague — his near relative, the same James Jackson, woidd have been made worth, at least, half a million of dollars. The old Gover" nour, unmoved by the hectoring violence of the (General, per- tinaciously insisted that a stipulation in behalf of the United States should be incoip-orated with the arrangement, by which they became entitled to take the purchased pro])erty at the same price — twenty thousand dollars — which James Jackson was to pay for it. The Government, without hesitation, took it at this price: and, of course, what was intended for private emolu- ment, became public property. Governour Shelby always be- lieved, and so said, that General Jackson's corruption, in that negociation, had cost the United. States from one to two hundred thousand dollars,* Thus we find that General Jackson, yield- *Thefollowvig' is an extract of a letter from the son of Gover- nour Shelby, dated G/assland, April tiSt/i^ 1828. *'IVIy father set out on the 10th September, 1818, and ari- red at General Jackson's on the 15th, where he remained a few days, and, in company with his colleague, proceded to Nashville. In a day or two we set out for the treaty ground^, accompanied by eight or ten gentlemen, friends of General Jackson, with all of whom, (excepting Col, Butler,) my father was unacquainted. During the journey, little was said on the subi,ect of the treaty, I heard the general, on one occasion, ask my father how high he was willing to go for the Indian boun- dary. My father replied, that he was prepared to go as high as S300,000, rather than not effect the purchase — but, said be, 'General Jackson, I have not the least idea that we shall find it- necessary to give half that sum.* After this conversation, a profound silence was observed by General Jackson and the friends who accompanied him, on the subject of the treaty, in my father's presence. At length, we arrived at the treaty ground. — the Indians assembled. My father soon observed great inter- course between the General's friends and the Indians, of which he spoke frequently to me. On one occasion, the General and a part of his suite were absent from camp all night — the Gefieral withheld the motive of his nocturnal visit from hi? 1(3 Ing to the utmost rapaclousness, has, in the inorduiate pursuit of his land speculations — in one instance, violated his duty as colleague, by studied silence on the subject. I did understand, by some means, that the General passed the night with Col- bert, one of the principal Chiefs, My father expressed to mc his suspicions 'that there was something not right going on.' Before any Council had convened, the General informed hie colleague, 'that some of the principal Chiefs were violently opposed to selling land, and that those fellows would have to be bought over.' At length, a council was called. Among other objections made by the Indians to the selling of their land, it was urged by them 'that the United States was largely in arrears to them, and until old debts were paid, they would not contract new ones.' The Commissioners found it necessary^ to send to Nashville for money to pay those claims, and thus remove the main difficulty. In about a week, the messenger to Nashville arrives — the money is distributed agreeably to the census of the nation taken during his absence. A second council is convened. General Jackson inquires of the Chiefs, *What do you ask for this land?' Interpreter — ^We don't know — what will you give?' General Jackson — 'We will give you Sl50,000.' Interpreter — *Wc can't take it.' General Jackson — 'We will give you S200,000.' Interpreter — 'No, we cannot take it.' General Jackson — 'We will give you S250,000.'' Interpreter — 'No, no.' 'S300,000,' says the General. M)^ father left the table, and the council broke up. The General observed to my father, in conversation, that the Chiefs contended for the privilege of selling a large reservation of land to whom they might think proper. My father objected to this proposition: he said, 'they might sell to the King ot England.' The General observed, 'that there was then a com- pany of gentlemen on the ground that would pay them down their price, 'S20,000.' My father refused positively to permit the Indians to sell land to private individuals. He contended that the Government should have the option of taking the reser- vation at the price stipulated, and the General and the Chiefs were, in the end, obliged to consent to it- My father told the General that he had made the Indians of- fers that he could not sanction. 'Why, Governour, Goddamn it, did you not say that you would give 8300,000?' 'No; sir; I gave ) ou no authority to speak for me, I am hear to speak for •myself,' 'Why, Governour, God damn my soul, if you did not say so.* 'I did not authorize you to make any such proposi- tion.' The parties seemed on the very point of coming to blows, when I stepped between them, laying a hand on each, and entreated them to talk the matter over more dispassionately- a Judge and a citizen — and in two other instances, pfoStituted the sacred character of an ambassador. We sicken at the re- cital of such flagrant offences, and loath all further comment on them. There has been, heretofore, but one sentiment in this coun- try, as to Colonel Burr's expedition — and that feeling has con- signed, unhesitatingly, to lasting infamy, every citizen that had the slightest participation in it. The proof that implicates General Jackson in that conspiracy, is thickening against him every moment; and has, perhaps, become irrefutable. The e- vidence, so far as it has yet been developed, establishes a dou- ble treachery — treachery to his country — treachery to his co- conspirators. That a man of General Jackson's temperament and reckless- ness of character should make a successful appeal to a certain class of society, is not extraordinary. There have been in ev- ery age, and among every people, enough of turbulence and vi- olence to render such an appeal formidable. But when the restless and dangerovis agencies of this description are invoked and accredited, by any considerable body of respectable citizens, the crisis becomes truly alarming. That those, from whom their country had a right to expect better things, should, in the selection of their candidate and in the concoction of their party, have based themselves upon this calculation, and the prone- My father told me afterwards, that it was well for the old rascal that I interfered, that he should have knocked him twenty feet. Not a word passed between the commissioners until next day, when the General broke out on his colleague in a strain, if possible, more rough and boisterous than be- fore. I again stept between them, and called on the friends of the General to interfere. Old Major Smith stept up and observed, 'Gentlemen, I am no dictator, but I will be mode- rator,' and we kept them apart. My father told the General he should leave him and go home.' *Go, Governour,' replied the General, '^by God I will make the treaty without you.* While our horses were saddling, the friends of the General urged me to use my influence with m) father not to go. He at length agreed to remain. Another council was called. The Indians demanded the S300,000, and would treat for nothing less — finally, the treaty was made. My father thought that Gen. Jackson's corruption and folly had cost the Govern- ment from 100,000 to 200,000 dollars. His mind underwent ;no change on this subject to the dav of his death. II have thus given you a detail of facts, which came under my own observation: you are at liberty to make what use of it you may think proper. Your friend, THO. H. SHELBY. Colonel C. S. Todb. a iiess of the unenlightened to bedazzled by military glory, as the foundations of their strength, must be matter of deep and humbling concern to every upright and intelligent citizen. Notwithstan.ling the guilty ambition of these men, none know better than themselves that, v,'hen the united efforts of such an nssociation as this Ivave been crowned with success, and a party thus formed has mounted into power, there immediately etisues a struggle between those v/ho are prepared to go all lengths in the said misrule of aiTairs, and such as are disposed to a uiorvj orderly course; and that this struggle has never yet failed to terminate in the destruction of those who are desirous of maintaining the v/holesome restraints of society. These are, hov/ever, determined to assist in raising the whirlwind, and they must be the very iirst to perish in it. Enquire who are openly preaching up treason, and unfurling the banners of re- bellion — who are demanding a severance of the Union, — and you will learn that none but the friends of General Jackson are engaged in this goodly work. That the leaders of this band will turn back upon their steps, v/c have no hope. Our re- liance is upon the general intelhgence, good sense and virtue of the people: they will not follow in the train of such desperate politicians. We, perhapp, ouglit not to close this address Avithout noti cingthe attempt which is making, with so much industry, to per- suade the people that the Administration has lost the colonial trade, and that this has occasioned the fall in the price of grain. We will not occupy your time by a detailed history of the facts in relation to this subject — they arc contained in the able and luminous reports and Documents which have been from time to time laid before Congress by the Executive. They are now before the people and prove to the satisfaction of every intelligent citizen and sensible merchant, that the Adminis- tration has saved the country from an arrangement, by Vv'hich the most substantial commercial and agricultural inte- rests would have been jeopardised. If there be truth in the cus- tom house returns, our colonial trade has been increased since these gentlemen say it was 'lost.' V/e should trespass too much on your time, fellow-citizens, if v.'e were to attempt a detailed examination of the measures of the present Administration. You have seen a 'combination* entered into at the commencement of the Administration, to oppose its measures — and, we may say trulv, to oppose those measures, whether they were right or wrong. VVould such a combination have passed unnoticed a single false step in the Executive? And what has this sharp-sighted and vindictive inquest — determined to be s-itisfied with nothing — yet laid be- fore the public as the great sins of this Administration? Cor- vu])tion? The charge has recoiled upon themselves. For men to talk of corruption, who are so far gone in it themselves, as 19 to declare the)' would keep up and persist in their Oj^positionto the Government, if it were as *pure as the Angels that stand at the right hand of the throne of God!' — Extravagance in the ex- penditure of public money? Let their own waste and extrav- agance — their own improper conduct at the last session of Con- gress, in making the legislative halis a great electioneering are- na, where every public object was lost sight of but one — that of securing the election of their military chief — let tiiis be taken into view, and it would greatly exceed any thing which they might call the mis-expenditure of this and every preceding Administration. But what single mis-expenditure have they found out against the present government? They have, when called upon to make good their charges against it and when forced, against their will, into the examination, after i-ansack- ing every department, failed to establish the slightest instance of disregard to strict economy in the public expenditure. Flave they proved anv thing to be wrong ir. the appointments to office, or in the diplomacy of the Executive? 1 hey have set in coun- cil themselves upon all of the nominations, and have consented to and advised the greater part of the appointments. As to the mission to the southern republics, which has been the theme of such heated controversy, some of the leading members in the opposition declared at the 'time, in the course of good na- tured conversation with the friends of the Administration, 'had you taken the opposite course, and refused to respond to the call of your sister republicks, we would have put you with ease to the wall.' Has the arm of public defence been withered, or in any respect been enfeebled during this Administration? It is not pretended that it has. Have measures for future se- curity, by sea or by land, been relaxed? Nobody charges it. Where then are the great sins of this Administration? Its greatest fault is that it is faultless — that it wears an armour these gentlemen cannot pierce. Their great reliance is upon their arts of deception, by which they hope to blind and mislead the people — and the illusive hopes of better prices, with which they endeavour to amuse them. There is more intelligence in the country than these gentlemen calculate upon. A war in Eu- rope — the rest of the civilized world in strife, while we are at peace — is known to the least enlightened citizen among us, to give wider spread to the wings of our commerce, and to afford frgsh life and spirit to our agriculture. When, however, angry nations have exhausted their fury towards each other — when the blessings of peace come to make up to them for the ravages of war; when the sword is exchanged for the sickle and the ploughshare, does it become us as a Christian people, to grieve that the further effusion of human blood is stayed, or to mur- mur that we have no longer hosts of fierce and hungry soldiers to feed? Instead of desiring, like vultures, to fatten on the dis- ^ tresses and calamities of others, ought we not rather to offer up 20 our fervent thanksgivings to God that he placed the lot of our forefathers, and our own, far remote from scenes of wild havoc, and to implore his goodness to prosper those efforts of our go- vernment which are directed to the developement of our own native sources of virtue, industry and enterprise? Our adver- saries may descant as wildly and fiercely as they please about what they call their rights, but when they unfurl the banners of rebellion — when thev call upon the citizens of the United States to rally around the standard of a military chief, who, upon all occasions, tramples under his feet the sacred charter of our liberties — when they oppose with headlong fury and vio- lence, every measure calculated to establish the firm and solid foundations of permanent comfort and prosperity for the people — there is too much good sense — too much virtue — in the coun- try, to heed their noisy and senseless clamour. Their 'tree will be judged by its fruit.' As yet every blossom it has borne is blighted, and its product, even if it could, in this soil, ripen into maturity, would be unseendy to the eye and bitter to the taste. We have now, fellow-citizens, nearly performed the task as- signed us. VVe ask leave only to remark on the inconsistency of our opponents; who, blowing hot and cold with the same breath, represent General Jackson as a candidate of the Fede- ralists or of the Democrats, as they address themselves to those •who were formerly of this or that party. It has suited these gentlemen in Delaware to ordain and publish to the world the downfall of the old parties. How many of the turbulent and violent of each party have enlisted under their banners, we leave it to others to say. We have the satisfaction to believe that the greater part of the moderate and relkcting. cool and dis- passionate members of the community are arrayed v.'ith the friends of the Administration: and we are firmly of opinion that the present organization of parties will be permanent We cannot take leave of this subject without remarking upon the entire indelicacy of General Jackson becoming the calum- niator of his rival candidate. For the first time, in the history of our country, has a candidate for the Presidency travelled through any portion of the Union, spreading charges far and wide against his competitor. What single letter has Mr. A- dams written, what syllable has he uttered to the prejudice of General Jackson? The friends of Mr. Adams have done what their duty to themselves and the government called upon them to do: they have met and repelled the charges of his great ac- cuser. Those charges have recoiled upon their author. They have examined with freedom into the pretensions of the gen* tleman who challenges so boldly for himself the highest ho- nours of the country. Much would have been spared to Gen. Jackson if, after cordially, to all appearances, felicitating Mr. •Adums on his election — instead of immediately becoming his 21 open and secret accuser, he had retired in peace and quietness to his Hermitage, bowed in submission to the public will, and acquiesced cheerfully in the supremacy of the law and constitu- tion of his country. He could, it is true, have had no exemption in any case from a full enquiry into his fitness for the highest of- fice to which his inordinate ambition had tempted him to aspire; and that enquiry could never have resulted favourably to his hopes. As matters now stand, he is doubly proved unworthy of tlie confidence of the people of the United States. In respect to Mr. Clay, we know not that we can add force to the sentiment expressed by your convention when they say *'that if there has been among us, since the days of the immor- tal Washington, an individual who deserved to be the first in the confidence and the affections of his countrymen, it is Hen- ry Clav: that able and upright statesman, to whom the Presi- dent, obeying the voice of the people, has assigned the most distinguished situation in his councils." Yet this is the man whom General Jackson singled out, to aim at his fair fame and reputation the most poisoned shafts — not putting him up as a target among his family and friends, at the Hermitage, around his ov;a fire side, as he would have us to believe; but indulg- ing himself in this cruel and w'anton sport, at every other fire side, in every Steam-boat and at every Inn. What are we to think, as has been justly observed, of the morals of him who holds not the reputation of others sacred, at home as well as abroad? And what are we to think of General Jackson, as a man, who urging this lame and impotent apology, stands proved to the world as the persevering and unwearied propaga- tor of the sam.e slander in every other situation? Mr. Clav came to the councils of the nation, with all that spirit of fresh- ness and freedom — with all that genius and talent — with all that openness and goodness of heart and frankness of manners which made him — if we mav say so — but the harbinger of still brighter times in the west — but the earnest as it were, of v/hat that noble portion of our country is destined to yield to the cominon stock of the moral worth and greatness of our empire. W^ho can believe that such a man as this has fallen, and fallen, too, where there was no temptation to betray? Fellow-citizens, we have done. We leave your own cause in 3'our own hands. We ask you to join with us, in humble sup- plications to the author of all goodness, to continue still to guide this young and rising nation — to give our citizens to know and perform their duty to their God and their country — that they may be an example worthy to be held up for virtue and piety, and true patriotism, to man in every clime and country — that he may purge them of all bitterness and uncharitableness to- wards each other; — to ordain that turbulence and violence shall not set up their misrule in our land — that the noble fabric pf 22 our Government shall be preserved— that the ark of our safety and glory shall float securely and ride triumphantly amid the fierce and threatening storms now gathering to overwhelm and sink with it the last hope of the friends of freedom. DAVID HAZZARD, MOSES BRADFORD, WILLIAM H. WELLS, ALEXANDER CRAWFORD, ISAAC DAVIS, CALEB S. LAYTON, GEORGE B. RODNEY, SAMUEL S. GRUBB, JOHN ROBERTSON. Aun'iist 1,1828. 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