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 SPEECH 
 
 
 liRICHARD YEADON, ESQ. 
 
 OF CHARLESTON, S. C, CHAIRMAN OF THE DELEGATION, FROM 
 THE CLAY CLUB OF CHARLESTON, 
 
 V V 
 
 ft 
 
 m 
 
 BEFORE THE LADIES, 
 
 I COURT-HOUSE, IN MADISON, GEORGIA, 
 
 BY APPOINTMENT OF THE MADISON CONVENTION. 
 
 ON THE 
 
 EVENING OF JULY 31st, 1844. 
 
 Published by request of the Clay Club of Charleston, S. C. 
 
 CHARLESTON 
 1844. 
 

 SPEECH OF RICHARD YEADON, Esq., 
 
 OF CHARLESTON, SOUTH-CAROLINA. 
 
 CHAIRMAN OF THE DELEGATION, FROM THE » l.AY CLUB OF CHARLESTON 
 
 BEFORE THE LADIES, 
 
 AT THE COURT-HOUSE, IN MADISON, GEORGIA, 
 
 BY APPOINTMENT OF THE MADISON CONVENTION, 
 
 ON THE EVENING OF JULY 31st, 1844. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE CLAY CLUB, OF CHARLESTON, S. C. 
 
 JL4DIES AND GENTLEMEN: AND YET FELLOW WHIGS ALL! 
 
 Never before has it been my lot to witness 
 such a grand, exciting and joyous spectacle as 
 I have beheld this day, — never before did my 
 eye embrace, at one glance, such a vast con- 
 course of human beings — all animated too by 
 impulses of the noblest and purest patriotism. 
 On an occasion so grateful and refreshing to 
 the patriot heart, I have but one regret — it is 
 that, at a period, when I especially desired, 
 with trumpel tongue and tones of thunder, to 
 reach every Whig ear and thrill every Whig 
 bosom in this vast assemblage, I should be al- 
 most speechless and voiceless, [Mr. Y. was so 
 hoarse, at first, as to speak and be heard with 
 difficulty,] but it is my consolation that if I 
 have lost my voice, it has been in the cause of 
 Clay and my country; and I trust and pray 
 that Providence will yet interpose and restore 
 me voice enough, this night, to do my duty to 
 the ladies, to our cause, and to our country. I 
 am about to do an act, which, in this land and 
 . chosen home of extemporaneous speaking and 
 stump oratory, may require an apology. I arn 
 about to deliver you a speech in part prepared 
 for another occasion. And, perhaps, alter the 
 scene of this day, where the accomplished Ber- 
 
 0^, rien poured forth a full tide of polished rheto- 
 ric, — where the gifted Preston, with a mind tri- 
 jk umphing over physical infirmity, and speaking 
 ■at the peril of his life, was never more trium- 
 
 Bjg|khant in the lightnin^ flash of genius and the 
 ■perfection of oratorical art,— where the able 
 
 I 
 
 and humorous Thompson took his audience 
 alike captive to reason, wit and feeling, and 
 iln' impetuous and caustic Stephens struck 
 home the victorious argument, and covered the 
 enemy with a meteoric shower of anecdote and 
 ridicule, it is but fitting that I should not at- 
 tempt the adventurous competition of a purely 
 extemporaneous effort. True, it is, I might 
 have committed my speech to memory, and 
 palmed it off on you, fair and unsuspecting 
 ladies, as the emanation of the occasion, flow- 
 ing from the inspiration of your constellated 
 beauty, where there are bright eyes to form the 
 poet's theme, and dark lashes' to plume the 
 muse's wing; but, being a Whig, a genuine 
 Whig, I scorn the tricks and arts of democra- 
 cy, and, without deception or disguise, feel 
 bound to confess the simple truth. Such, how- 
 ever, is the glad and buoyant inspiration of this 
 memorable day and this beaming presence, that 
 I cannot promise to confine myself to the re- 
 cord — my feelings naturally refuse to be "cab- 
 in'd, cribb'd confin'd" within the limits of pre- 
 paration, and I cannot but pour out the teeming- 
 thoughts yet pent up in my bosom. Indeed, 
 ever since I first touched the Whig soil, and 
 breathed the Whig atmosphere of Georgia 1 
 have felt as if I were inhaling nitrous oxyde, 
 and have been lifted up to the seventh heaven 
 of patriotic and joyous excitement — and, if there 
 be a yet higher heaven on earth, it is that of 
 this constellated throng of Georgia's daughters, 
 

 Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 assembled, in grace and loveliness, to lay the 
 votive offering on the altar of patriotism, and 
 cheer the sterner sex with "the smile from par- 
 tial beauty won," in their efforts to serve their 
 country, by elevating to her chief magistracy 
 an illustrious and patriot statesman, eminently 
 qualified and eminently worthy to guide the 
 helm of state. And, animated by the influ- 
 ences of this inspiring spectacle, I feel like a 
 prophet, standing on the tripod, and vaticinating, 
 in the spirit of truth, the entire success of our 
 cause and the triumphant election of our can- 
 didate. Having now, fair ladies, shown that I 
 can extemporize, if I will, and that to do other- 
 wise is my choice, not my necessity, without 
 farther preface, I proceed to speak from the 
 record, as far as the exigencies of the occasion 
 will permit. 
 
 Ladie.s and Gentlemen, and 
 
 Fellow Whigs op the State of Georgia: 
 On behalf of the Whigs of South-Carolina, 
 "few, but firm and faithful," I tender you the 
 right hand of fellowship, in the great and glo- 
 rious and righteous cause, which has convened 
 you, in immense and patriot throng, on this 
 spot, honored with and commemorating the 
 name of the sage of Montpelier. We cannot 
 bring you the electoral vote of a State, to swell 
 the triumph of your illustrious candidate,— but 
 we can, we do bring you our warm sympathy, 
 our ardent wishes, our earnest prayers, for the 
 success of your candidate, and the triumph of 
 your cause — the cause at once of principle and 
 of our country. The Savannah River is no 
 longer "the non-conductor," it was once said 
 to be, happily and with truth — i. e. when South 
 Carolina nullification, or State Rights run mad, 
 sought to cross your border, and poison your 
 people with its criminal heresies, disunion ten- 
 dencies and treasonable spirit — but it is now 
 the aorta, the great political artery, which ani- 
 mates the harmonious body of Southern Whigs, 
 who dwell on the opposite borders of its com- 
 mercial tide. We come among you to swell 
 the enthusiasm which has called such cheering 
 numbers — the bone and sinew — the patriotism 
 and intelligence — the grace and loveliness of 
 your gallant State— to this great, this trium- 
 phant Whig gathering and festival. We come 
 to unite with you in the promotion of the great 
 cause and the great principles, identified with 
 the best interests and highest glory of our land, 
 which have rallied you under the banner of a 
 renowned leader, destined, I firmly believe, not 
 only to win triumphantly and wear with grace 
 the highest honor of the republic, but also to 
 redeem and save our country from the baneful 
 consequences and disastrous influences of po- 
 litical treachery, and democratic misrule, — a 
 treachery unparalleled on the historic page, the 
 chosen, the elevated and the trusted, selfishly 
 and suicidally wresting power from his party, 
 in the hour of his and their common triumph, 
 and rendering victory barren and more galling 
 than defeat — a misrule, disseminating the most 
 mischievous and disorganizing principles in 
 politics, setting the constitution at defiance and 
 
 subjecting it to the Executive or the popular 
 will, refusing to elect Senators to the national 
 Senate, nullifying the law districting the States 
 for Congressional Elections, setting up the rev- 
 olutionary power of mere numbers, of brute 
 force, against organized authority, mowing 
 down the credit and prosperity of the country, 
 bankrupting its treasury, sapping the founda- 
 tions of public morals, and giving peculation 
 free pasturage from the national coffers, disre- 
 garding the obligation of contracts and treaties, 
 and tarnishing the faith and honor of the re- 
 public—yes, a leader, destined to crown and 
 bless that injured country with repose and pros- 
 perity, in the restoration of a republican and 
 constitutional administration of our national 
 government, modelled after the example and 
 imbued with the spirit and principles of Wash- 
 ington, and having for its object, not the mere 
 distribution of party spoils and perpetuation of 
 party ascendancy, but the welfare and glory of 
 our whole nation and our united people. We 
 come among you, also, to exchange congratu- 
 lations with you on the glad tidings, which have 
 been recently borne to us on the wings of the 
 mail, from the commercial emporium of the 
 West. The first gun from the Whig battery, 
 at the very commencement of the campaign, 
 has carried confusion and dismay into the ranks 
 of our opponents; and the Crescent City, and 
 the border State, already the proud monuments 
 of" triumph over the British invader, have been 
 signalized by a civil victory, scarcely less im- 
 portant and glorious than its war-laurelled 
 forerunner, in the battle which has been just 
 fought and won by patriot Whigs, over the 
 combined forces of Tylerism and Democracy. 
 But, in the midst of our rejoicings at this au- 
 spicious and cheering event, the signal, I trust, 
 of a succession of brilliant victories throughout 
 the length and breadth of our land, let us not 
 forget that this is but the inception of the con- 
 test — that the great battle is yet to be fought on 
 the national arena, and that we must remain 
 harnessed for the conflict, and not dream of 
 putting our armor off, until, after many a well 
 fought field in every particular State of our glo- 
 rious union, victory shall perch upon our na- 
 tional banner, and our illustrious chief, wafted 
 on the breath of millions into the Executive 
 haven, shall receive the civic wreath from the 
 hands of a grateful people, and enjoy the hom- 
 age of patriot intelligence and patriot beauty. 
 We have carried New-Orleans, the border city, 
 and we have carried Louisiana, the border State 
 of the South- West, the State most deeply in- 
 terested in the annexation of Texas, in the very 
 heat and tempest of the Texas excitement, and 
 our triumph there, with such fearful odds against 
 us, may well be regarded as a sure augury of 
 the final victory and glorious consummation 
 that awaits our arms. 
 
 It occurs to me, fellow Whigs and ladies fair, 
 that this is an apt and fitting occasion to com- 
 pare notes with our political opponents — and 
 that we cannot better perform this task than by 
 institutinga comparison between the candidates, 
 whom they and we have respectively presented 
 
Speech of Mr. Yeado?i, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 to the people for the highest office in their gift. 
 Nothing can he conceived more grating to the 
 feelings of patriotism, and mortifying to the 
 pride of true American Republicanism, using 
 the terms in their broad national and not in a 
 party sense, than the recent spontaneous and 
 unanimous nomination of Mr. Polk, of Ten- 
 , by the Democratic National Convention 
 at Baltimore, as a candidate lor tin' Presidency 
 of the United States. Hitheito, this proud of- 
 fice — the proudest on earth, because the free 
 and unbought gift of a nation of freemen — has 
 been held the legitimate prize and reward of 
 the most shining merit and illustrious public 
 service. To Washington alone, the venerated 
 and patriot father of our country, "first in war, 
 first in peace, lirst in the hearts of his country- 
 men," — to him alone, of all the illustrious citi- 
 zens on whom it has hitherto been conferred, 
 has it been tendered unsought. Adams, the elo- 
 quent advocate, and Jefferson, the illustrious 
 penman of independence, Madison, the patriot 
 sage, and Jackson, the patriot hero, to say no- 
 thing of their only less distinguished fellows in 
 that exalted station, had to compete for it, not 
 only on' the national arena, but even in their 
 party hustings. But, in the nomination of Mr. 
 Polk, we have the first instance, in all history, 
 ancient and modern, of the spontaneous prof- 
 fer of a chief magistracy, which monarchs may 
 envy, — and for which they would willingly 
 barter all the power of their sceptres and jew- 
 elry of their crowns — to a man comparatively 
 obscure and of inferior ability — forced on one 
 occasion, by the stringent agency of party 
 discipline, in obedience to presidential and iron 
 rule, and in downright party revenge, into the 
 Speakership of our National House of Repre- 
 sentatives, — but filling it with such subservien- 
 cy to his chief and his party, as not even to 
 earn the universally accorded courtesy of a full 
 or uncontested vote of thanks, at the end of his 
 term (See Appendix, A.)— not long after 
 ousted, by an overwhelming popular vole, 
 from the Executive Chair of his own State, 
 and again alike rejected when seeking a res- 
 toration to the same — rejected by the people, 
 after trial by the people — aye, weighed in the 
 popular balances and found wanting — undis- 
 tinguished by high public service, and des- 
 titute of the least shadow of claim on the 
 affections or the gratitude of the nation — 
 without national renown, either as an orator, a 
 statesman, a warrior, or a sage, — scarcely 
 known to the people of any other State than his 
 own, and awakening the almost universal in- 
 quiry "Who is hel What is hel"— in his wild- 
 est and most distempered dream of ambition, 
 without a hope or even an aspiration, because 
 without claim or pretension to so lofty or tow- 
 ering a distinction; — to such a man, sitting 
 quietly at home, a despairing candidate even 
 for a nomination for the Vice-Presidency, we 
 behold the so styled Democratic Convention 
 of the Union, rising up enmasse, and offering, 
 unsought, unhoped for and undesired, to his 
 own utter surprise and the universal astonish- 
 ment of the land, an homage, hitherto the pe- 
 
 culiar distinction, the exclusive glory of Wash- 
 ington alone. What a mortifying spectacle! 
 Shades of the illustrious dead, 1 invoke you to 
 aid us in avenging this insult to your memories, 
 this wrong to your country. Cincinnatus, an 
 illustrious warrior, as eminent in wisdom and 
 virtue, as in valor, was spontaneously called, 
 by the popular voice, from his lowly farm and 
 humble plough, to guide the helm of imperilled 
 Rome — Washington, the good and great, was 
 spontaneously called, by filial love, to preside 
 over the nation which owns him as its parent — 
 and Mr. James K. Polk, of Tennessee, emi- 
 nent in nothing, a national nobody, is to cap 
 the downward climax in the historic record. 
 Cincinnatus, Washington, James K.Polk!!! 
 anti-climax unparalleled in the annals of com- 
 position or the records of fact! Forbid it rea- 
 son, forbid it patriotism, forbid it honor ! Let 
 not our national escutcheon be tarnished by 
 such a degradation of the Presidential office. 
 It is a wretched sacrifice of the highest earthly 
 incentive to a nation's highest service, by a na- 
 tion's highest honor, to mere party availabili- 
 ty — the conversion of the chief magistracy of 
 the union into one of the spoils of party — no 
 longer the guerdon and the pledge of illustrious 
 merit, but a mere means and appliance of party 
 domination, without reference to individual fit- 
 ness or the nation's weal. It is carrying the 
 doctrine and the maxim of "Principles, not 
 men," to a most vicious extreme, never con- 
 templated by its authors, for while repudiating 
 man-worship, we should yet ever and only 
 personify principle in a man to be honored and 
 to be trusted. It is a mortifying abasement 
 of the Presidential dignity, painful to the heart 
 of the patriot, and the pride of the American — 
 a mark of political and popular degeneracy, 
 which it must be the part of patriot Whigs to 
 prevent from leaving its impress on the times. 
 But, fellow Whigs, and gentle ladies, I hold 
 it to be utterly impossible that a man Darned 
 James K. Polk can ever be President of the 
 United States. With such an unseemly name, 
 so full of odd and ludicrous associations, in- 
 vincibly tempting one to poke fun at its posses- 
 sor, he carries too much weight to compete 
 with that glorious old courser our "Harry of 
 the West." His unfortunate cognomen forci- 
 bly reminds me of the luckless wight and 
 wretched poetaster of Byron's time, with curi- 
 ous and laughter-provoking name, who madly 
 aspired to a place on the immortal roll of Brit- 
 ish bards, and whom the noble and caustic 
 poet thus embalmed in satiric verse for the de- 
 rision of posterity. 
 
 "Amos cotilc! Phoebna whal a name ! 
 
 To fill the speaking trump of future fame." 
 
 And how do the democracy hope to relieve 
 their name-killed candidate from a like disas- 
 trous and derisive destiny! They prate, in af- 
 fected scorn, of our log cabins and hard eider, 
 as a ridiculous mummery, and a resort to un- 
 worthy and unbecoming arts to catch the rab- 
 ble vote, unmindful that it was their own in- 
 sulting application of those intended terms of re- 
 proach to the lamented Harrison — they having 
 
Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 said, in unworthy disparagement of that illustri- 
 ous man, "Give him two thousand dollars a 
 year, and he will be content to live in a log cabin 
 and drink hard cider for the rest of his life" — 
 that gave them as watch-words to the Whigs, 
 and caused them to be rung in triumph through 
 the land. But they, who would thus upbraid us 
 with the recoil of their own gun, are now busy 
 in the novel and impossible effort of transform- 
 ing a Polk-stalk into a Hickory-stick — as impos- 
 sible as to convert a. poke-berry into a hickory nut, 
 or a poke blossom into the noble magnolia of 
 the Western forest. Yes ! they would fain have 
 us believe that a common Polk-stalk of Ten- 
 nessee is a Young Hickory, a strong and vigo- 
 rous shoot from the venerable parent trunk at 
 the Hermitage — and they stand ready to form 
 their Hickory Clubs, establish their Hickory 
 Newspapers, and nourish their Hickory poles 
 all over the land, as a set off against our log 
 cabins and homely beverage — but never, never 
 will they be able to achieve the vegetable met- 
 amorphosis, nor of a Polk-stalk to make a stick 
 of any kind, strong enough to break, or even to 
 bruise the head of the Whigs. It was a suffi- 
 cient departure from reason, principle and pro- 
 priety, when a Kinderhook cabbage was thrust 
 into the White House; it will be a still further 
 descent, nay, an immeasurable one, if Polk-salad 
 is to be introduced into the Presidential man- 
 sion. Democrats may have stomachs for such 
 a dish, but Whigs, we trust, have a relish for 
 better tilings. 
 
 And, we are by no means singular in our 
 estimate of this obscure, this little, this homoe- 
 opathic democratic nominee. In his own Ten- 
 nessee, the Whigs received the news of his 
 nomination with unfeigned surprise, with bois- 
 terous joy, with "an unextinguishable laughter 
 that shook the skies." The Democrats, on the 
 other hand, heard it with incredulity and dis- 
 trust, — believing it a Whig hoax, nay, even 
 calling it a Whig lie; and, when confirmation, 
 strong as proof of holy writ, left them not a 
 loop to hang a doubt upon, their scepticism 
 gave place to dismay (See Appendix B). But 
 let us enter a little more into particulars as to 
 the merits of this infinitesimal pretender to 
 Presidential honors, — and we will find that he 
 has ever been a pliant and subservient tool of 
 his master and his party, changing his opinions 
 with a facility that denotes servility. He was 
 known, in former days, as a strenuous advo- 
 cate of internal improvements in the several 
 States with the funds of the general govern- 
 ment; but he has since conveniently adapted 
 his opinions on the subject to the democratic 
 standard (See Appendix C). He was once the 
 Congressional champion of the deposite or pet- 
 bank system (See Appendix D,) and made 
 elaborate arguments, comparative of the merits 
 of that scheme of finance and the sub-treasury 
 or hard money system, in vehement advocacy 
 of the former and denunciation of the latter, — 
 but here, too, having the fear of his party and 
 of the Old man at the Hermitage before his 
 eyes, he has since pliantly conformed his views 
 to the democratic taste. He was formerly a 
 
 bitter and ultra opponent of the tariff and pro- 
 tection to domestic manufactures, in any and 
 every shape, and boasted of his ultraism in 
 Congress and on the stump. Indeed, he car- 
 ried his opposition so far, that he was even for 
 repealing Mr. Clay's celebrated Compromise 
 Bill (See Appendix E,) — that halcyon measure 
 of peace and conciliation — as too favourable 
 to the manufacturers — as yielding too much 
 protection to domestic industry, — even at the 
 hazard of renewing the strife which had con- 
 vulsed the nation. But no sooner was he 
 nominated for the Presidency — no sooner was 
 the glittering bait of the chief Magistracy held 
 up to his dazzled vision — than he was se- 
 duced from his virtue, and his sturdy oppo- 
 sition to the tariff' system, like the courage of 
 Bob Acres, oozed out at his fingers' ends, and 
 melted into a warm and zealous advocacy 
 of incidental protection, coupled with a new- 
 born friendship for the Compromise; and, still 
 further, with a desire to advance the man- 
 ufacturing, along with other national interests, 
 npt only by revenue laws, but by all other 
 means within the power of the government. 
 He is said to have come, too, of Tory line- 
 age (See Appendix F), or at least, from one 
 who having first worn a Whig epaulette and 
 a Whig sword, then took British protection, and 
 was never afterwards seen in Whig service, and 
 that this, perhaps, explains his repeated votes 
 against paying pensions (See Appendix G,) 
 to the revolutionary soldiers (and their wid- 
 ows and orphans), who fought the battle of 
 our independence, and won us, by their toils, 
 their valour and their blood, the priceless 
 heritage of freedom and glory that still are 
 ours — and accounts for a like illiberality, dis- 
 played in relation to the claim of Mr. Monroe, 
 the patriot soldier, the distinguished diplomatist 
 and cabinet minister, the virtuous and honored 
 President of the republic — against the govern- 
 ment for his revolutionary services (See Ap- 
 pendix H), and actual sacrifices of his private 
 property for the defence of the country in the 
 war of the revolution. It is even said that he 
 dodged a draft, for service in the militia when his 
 country called him to do battle against the Brit- 
 ish in the second war of independence. (See 
 Appendix I,) — and the craven reason of this 
 may become more manifest in the sequel. — 
 Among other charges laid to his door are, that 
 he voted in Congress, with signal want of hu- 
 manity and charity, to refuse a small pittance 
 of surplus wood at the Capitol, to the freezing 
 poor of Washington, (See Appendix J) and al- 
 so against a day of humiliation and prayer, du- 
 ring the prevalence of the cholera, — that pesti- 
 lence that walked in darkness and wasted 
 at noon-day in our land — a measure which 
 had passed the Senate, on the motion of Mr. 
 Clay, and the joint and eloquent advocacy 
 of him and Mr. Frelinghuysen (See Appendix 
 K). As Speaker of the House of Represen- 
 tatives, he gave the casting vote which shut 
 out investigation into the abuses and outra- 
 ges which caused the Florida war, and screened 
 from exposure the monstrous peculation and 
 
Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 frauds of men of his party (See Appendix L). 
 In spite of his own quoted declaration, that the 
 people had a right to question fully and be fully 
 answered on all points, by candidates for public 
 office, he has refused to answer whether he is 
 for the annexation on the terms id' the treaty 
 (See Appendix M); and, while Governor of 
 Tennessee he was presented as a nuisance and 
 for neglect of duty by a grand jury of his own 
 State (See Appendix N). 
 
 Let us next suffer Mr. Polk to be weighed 
 in the balances, by those who now profess 
 to be his warm friends and admirers and ar- 
 dent supporters for the Presidency. Let us 
 exhibit hi in as painted by his present friends. 
 And first, we will put Gen. Crabb, of Alabama, 
 as a witness on the stand. The General, al- 
 though now a cordial supporter of Mr. Polk, 
 was one of the fifty-seven, who, in the House of 
 Representatives, refused him the usual cour- 
 tesy of a vote of thanks, (See Appendix O,) on 
 the expiration of his Speakership — a refusal, 
 based on and justified by the partisanship, dis- 
 played by Mr. Polk, in the packing of commit- 
 tees, the ruling of points of order, and various 
 other matters connected with his official station. 
 Gen. C. would not even thank him as Speaker, 
 and yet would make "the great un thanked" Pre- 
 sident of the United States! Next, let us call 
 Mr. Payne, of Alabama, into court — now ano- 
 ther oi Mr. Polk's zealous lieutenants in the 
 Presidential campaign. Mr. Payne being sworn 
 [to testify as to Mr. Polk's qualifications, not 
 tor the Presidency, but for the Vice Presidency,] 
 deposeth (See Appendix P), "that the political 
 capital of Gov. Polk is quite too limited to se- 
 cure a nomination for the Vice Presidency from 
 the republican party, unless he can pull down 
 the fame of others whose shadow has fallen 
 across the path of this posthumous bantling for 
 the Vice Presidency," that "there is a well- 
 founded suspicion — a reasonable doubt of his 
 personal courage," and "he is totally unfit for 
 the office of Vice President of the U. S.;" "that, 
 however honorable he may be, if he is a cow- 
 an!, he cannot maintain his honor, and hence is 
 disqualified for the office of Vice President," 
 "that he had been insulted day after day, and 
 was caughl roughly by the arm [by Mr. Wise,] 
 when escaping from the capitol, pulled round 
 and told that he was the "contemptible tool of a 
 petty tyrant," and "that he did not resent it;" 
 "that he had been twice repudiated in his own 
 State by large majorities— 'defeated by an inex- 
 perienced politician," "that his name would not 
 add one particle of strength to the ticket in any 
 State of the Union" — "that he had been run 
 twice for Governor of Tennessee lately, and 
 had been (wire defeated, both times most sig- 
 nallv," and "this was conclusive that Tennessee 
 could nut be carried if Gov. Polk was upon the 
 ticket," "that it is due to the principles demo- 
 crats profess, not to jeopard their success by 
 vain attempts to force upon the people of Tennes- 
 see a man whom they have twice refused to 
 honor," "that Gov. Polk has no greater claims 
 upon the people of this Union than any other 
 man of equal ability who has faithfully main- 
 
 tained the principles of his party"; "that there 
 are now at least one hundred men in the Union, 
 [he might have said safely one hundred thou- 
 sand,] who have served their party as long, as 
 ably and as faithfully as Gov. Polk, whose 
 claims are fully equal to his, but whose names 
 have never been mentioned in connexion with 
 the Vice Presidency and possibly never will be;" 
 and "that Tennessee democrats should aban- 
 don this system of puffing, blowing and swell- 
 ing, by which a toad may be magnified into 
 the dimensions of an ox." Yet Mr. Payne is 
 now desirous that the little rejected of Tennessee 
 should become the great accepted of the Union; 
 wishes to intrude this unfit man for the Vice 
 Presidency into the Presidency; to constitute this 
 "coward," who pocketed an insult, Comman- 
 der-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the Uni- 
 ted States, to inflate this "toad"intoan "ox," and 
 to entrust this King Log, nay this broken and 
 bruised reed, this worthless Polk-stalk, with the 
 destinies of our great republic. 
 
 Here, too, may be properly brought in the 
 testimony, not of one of Gov. Polk's new con- 
 verts, but of a genuine Tennessee Whig, the 
 high-mettled Peyton, who broke out on the 
 Tennessean candidate in a perfect storm of 
 scathing ridicule, representing his nomination 
 as the birth of a ridiculous mouse from the la- 
 boring mountain, and holding him up to deris- 
 ion as "a little beaten, broken-winded, foun- 
 dered, spring-halt, shuffling, spavined, bob-tail 
 nag of Tennessee, brought out, by the great 
 democratic party, for the four mile heat, at the 
 fall races, to be run against the great eclipse." 
 (See Appendix CI.) 
 
 The last witness is the Editor of the Charles- 
 ton Mercury, now a reluctant supporter of the 
 "sail trimming" candidate. We learn from his 
 paper of December 14, 1835, that "the Presi- 
 dent [Gen. Jackson], doubtless, has been not a 
 little gratified in the success of Mr. Polk [as 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives], 
 which, it is said, he regards and enjoys as a 
 severe 'punishment of and signal triumph over those 
 refractory subordinates, Messrs. White and Bell." 
 From the same paper of March 3, 1836, we 
 learn [through its copy from the U. S. Tele- 
 graph, Gen. Duff Green's paper,] that 
 
 "The House, yesterday, reversed the decis- 
 ion of the Speaker [Mr. Polk], relative to the 
 effect of Mr. Pinckney's [of S. C.,] resolution 
 on the abolition petitions to be presented here- 
 after. They reversed it by a vote of 147 to 50, 
 all his Van Buren friends, with few exceptions, 
 voting to reverse his decision. One would have 
 supposed that this would have mortified the 
 Hon. Speaker. His countenance shewed that he 
 was delighted at. it. It was an arranged affair. 
 In order to sustain Mr. Polk at home, he was 
 allowed to give a decision against the party, 
 which would be acceptable to his constituents, 
 and then the party reversed his decision to ad- 
 vance the ultimate objects of the party." — 
 (Washington Correspondence of the Mercury.) 
 Lastly, the Correspondence of the same paper, 
 on the 13th April, 183G, gives the following pic- 
 true of Mr. Polk's arbitra ry conduct to Mr. Wise, 
 
6 
 
 Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 and Mr. W.'s unresented insult to Mr. Polk. 
 Mr. Wise, having been speaking on Mr. Pinck- 
 ney's resolutions, Mr. Polk as Speaker said — 
 
 "Order! the gentleman from Virginia is ta- 
 king too wide a range — will the House permit 
 such disorder." At last, upon being ordered, in 
 a frowning, peremptory manner, not for per- 
 sonality to any one, but for not, in the opinion 
 of the chair, being at the point — for irrele- 
 vancy — he [Mr. W] took his seat, under a 
 high state oi excitement, and the Speaker then 
 so managed it, as to obtain a vote of the major- 
 ity that he [Mr. W.J should not proceed at all, 
 and that he should be silenced for irrelevancy. 
 He obtained this vote by an artifice, &c. &c.*** 
 Nothing of the kind has ever before occurred 
 since the origin of the government. To silence 
 a member for irrelevancy was wholly unprece- 
 dented in the American Congress, until the ad- 
 ministration of the prerogatives of the chair by 
 James K. Polk."****Mr. Wise, under the im- 
 pulse of the moment, chafed, irritated, brow- 
 beaten and trodden down, met Mr. Polk alone, 
 after the adjournment of the House, and told 
 him, with his finger almost pointing in his eye, 
 "that he was a petty tyrant — he meant it as a 
 personal insult and he might pocket it." Aye, 
 and he did pocket it, and it has remained in "his 
 pocket ever since ! 
 
 Hear too, what the hero of the Withlacnoo- 
 chee said on this subject: — "The gallant Clinch 
 alluding to his [Mr. P.'s] conduct under Wise's 
 insult, in a recent speech before the Savannah 
 Clay Club, emphatically asked whether the 
 American people would place at the head of 
 their affairs, as Commander-in-Chief of the Ar- 
 my and Navy, a man who had not the personal 
 courage to resent an insult to both himself, 
 and patron Gen. Jackson, though it had been 
 cast sneeringly and pointedly into his teeth. — 
 True, the General said, Mr. Polk had been 
 trained by the Old Lion at the Hermitage, but 
 the event proved that, although the Lion might 
 train a fox, he could neither impose the lion 
 heart, nor bestow the lion nerve." 
 
 From the contemplation of such a portrait, 
 well may the Whigs turn with pride and de- 
 light to the illustrious candidate, whom they 
 have offered to the nation for the highest office 
 in the popular gift. He may well be said to be 
 one, on whom every God doth seem to set his 
 seal to give the world assurance of a man, and 
 on whom the nation has long since set its mark 
 as the foremost citizen of the republic; one, 
 who, to borrow Mr. Peyton's, as well a.s Shaks- 
 peare's phrase, can no more be compared with 
 the democratic candidate, than Hyperion to 
 a Satyr. Born of a Baptist clergyman, killed 
 by the tories in his son's infancy, he was reared 
 in poverty, and, having passed through a boy- 
 hood and youth of privation, embarrassment 
 and obscurity, the Mill- boy of the Slashes, who 
 was wont to ride to mill, bare back and with 
 rope-bridle, the grocer's clerk, and attorney's or 
 chancellor's amanuensis of Richmond, removed 
 to the more congenial soil of Kentucky, and 
 emerged, in the very first stage or rather incep- 
 tion of manhood, from the cloud which over- 
 
 shadowed the morning of his life, and rose at 
 once, by the force of talent and merit, to the 
 meridian height of professional, oratorical and 
 intellectual eminence. Known and hailed, at 
 home, as "the great Commoner of Kentucky," 
 he soon earned a fame which transferred hi in 
 from a local field of action to the great theatre 
 of national renown, and gave to the Union and 
 the nation talents, and counsels and services, 
 too expansive and important to find a fitting em- 
 ployment within the confines of a single State — 
 and the genius, which had so soon reached the 
 zenith of Kentucky, now culminated on the 
 national meridian. From that period to the 
 present day, he has largely influenced the le- 
 gislation, the history and the destiny of the re- 
 public, by a long and eminent course of public 
 service, at home, abroad, in the Senate, in the 
 cabinet and in the diplomatic bureau. On his 
 first appearance, as a member of the national 
 House of Representatives [ha vingbeen twice be- 
 fore temporarily in the Senate of the Union,] he 
 received the unparallelled honor of being elected 
 to the Speaker's chair. With trumpet tongue 
 and clarion note, in honorable and patriotic 
 companionship with our own Lowndes, Cheves 
 and Calhoun, and other great compeers, he 
 roused the nation to the War of 1812, and ani- 
 mated the war-spirit of the people throughout 
 the entire contest, imtil the star-spangled ban- 
 ner was illuminated with the glory of numer- 
 ous victories, by land and sea, over our giant 
 enemy, and the insulted honor and multiplied 
 wrongs of the nation were amply avenged — 
 and, with statesmanlike sagacity and skill, he 
 closed a glorious war by the negotiation and 
 consummation of an honorable and a lasting 
 peace. On his return fiom the foreign service 
 of the republic, again we find him assuming 
 his high and wonted part in the hall of legisla- 
 tion, proposing or advocating useful and patri- 
 otic measures and laws for the nation's good — 
 and when dissension and discord invaded our 
 national legislature, and the Missouri question 
 sat like a brooding mischief on our counsels, 
 boding disruption to our blood-bought Union, 
 the same trumpet tongue, which anon had 
 sounded the alarum of war, inspiring the heart 
 and nerving the arm for battle, was mellowed 
 and softened into persuasion and pathos, and 
 his patriot wisdom and glorious eloquence 
 achieved a new and even more honorable tri- 
 umph, in the healing of fraternal dissension, 
 and the restoration of national concord. The 
 Union, which had rocked fearfully and been 
 swayed to and fro with earthquake commotion, 
 was again set firm on its base, the troubled wa- 
 ters subsided into auspicious rest, and all was 
 calm and peace. To an ardent and liberal pat- 
 riotism, ever mindful of the great concerns of 
 his own country, he added an expansive sym- 
 pathy which embraced the interests of other 
 lands; and classic Greece, in her struggle for 
 liberty and independence against the ruthless 
 and oppressive Turk, and the young republics 
 of Spanish America were themes on which 
 his mouth frequently spoke from the eloquent 
 abundance of his heart; and when, at the head 
 
Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 of the State Department, under the Presidency 
 of the younger Adams, while conducting the 
 foreign relations of the country with the ability 
 and virtue of a patriot statesman, and the skill 
 of a finished diplomatist, his eloquent and touch- 
 ing Inter of counsel and admonition to Bolivar, 
 to emulate the virtue and self-denial and patri- 
 otism of Washington, relieved and graced the 
 seriousness and gravity of his diplomatic cor- 
 respondence with the spirit of benevolence and 
 philanthropy (See Appendix R). Having won 
 fiesh laurels as a cabinet minister, he resumed 
 the pi irate station, but his own State soon sur- 
 rendered him again to the service of the nation, 
 and, leaving the rural shades and employments 
 of his own quiet and romantic Ashland, he 
 again stood "a Senator in the Senate House," 
 bserved of all observers," the leader in 
 debate, the source of delight to the ear, instruc- 
 tion to the mind and service to the country. — 
 Again, the cloud of evil portent, charged with 
 the elements of fraternal strife, darkens the na- 
 tional horizon — nullification threatens the hor- 
 ii 1 calamity of civil war or the fatal catastro- 
 phe of a dissolution of the Union. Once more 
 the persuasive pleadings of our illustrious can- 
 didate woo the halcyon to brood on the tempes- 
 tuous and wave-crested deep — and the spit it of 
 conciliation and compromise, in which our 
 Union and our Constitution had their birth, was 
 once more successfully invoked to preserve 
 them both. The throes of revolution were 
 hushed and stilled, as by the wand of the en- 
 chanter, and, at the voice and beck of patriot- 
 ism, peace and harmony again dwelt and reign- 
 ed in our land. He who has thus twice pre- 
 served the Union is thrice worthy to preside 
 over that Union — worthy in himself, and doubly 
 worthy in the work of salvation twice perform- 
 ed to the imperilled republic. Eminently de- 
 serving is he then, not only of Whig votes, but 
 of a grateful nation's universal choice. Let 
 North and South, East and West, — the rock-gin 
 strand of New-England, with her enterprizing 
 race ; the broad middle land with her numer- 
 ous and busy population; the sunny South with 
 her generous and chivalrous sons; the far and 
 fertile West with her manly and sturdy fores- 
 ters and hunters — rally with enthusiastic zeal 
 to his glorious standard and go for "Clay and 
 our country." 
 
 Having thus closed my own portraiture of 
 our illustrious candidate, and having previously 
 given the likeness of Mr. Polk, as drawn and 
 painted by his present friends, I proceed to ex- 
 hibit Mr. Clay as painted, in the glowing colors 
 of truth, by several of his recent and present 
 enemies and revilers, before the meretricious 
 charms of false democracy had seduced them 
 from their political virlue, and their loyalty to 
 the greatest statesman of our country. Before 
 commencing this curious exhibition, however, 
 permit me to show you in what estimation Mr. 
 Clay was held by Thos. Jefferson, the apostle of 
 state rights and father of democracy, of whom 
 modern democrats profess to be the peculiar 
 disciples. In a letter, dated Monticello, May 5, 
 1823, Mr. Jefferson thus wrote of Mr. Clay, and 
 
 shadowed forth his coming and elevated desti- 
 ny. — "You ask my opinion of the merits of 
 Henry Clay and his policy for the protection 
 of domestic industry and manufactures. These 
 are questions which I feel some delicacy about 
 answering, first because Mr. Clay is now a 
 candidate for the Presidency, and, secondly, 
 I never yet fully understood to what ends his 
 policy extends ; and, although I will advise you 
 of my opinions, relative to the questions you 
 put to me, I must beg that you will not, at this 
 juncture, give my words to the public through 
 the press. As for Mr. Clay, 1 consider him 
 
 TO BE ONE OF THE MOST TALENTED AND BRILLIANT 
 MEN AND STATESMEN THAT THE COUNTRY EVER 
 PRODUCED, AND SHOULD I LIVE MANY YEARS 
 LONGER, I HOPE TO SEE HIM HOLD THE PLACE OF 
 CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 
 
 His career thus jar has been a career of glory, and 
 he has achieve*' that for his country, whilst engaged 
 in his career, which, would ornament, the brightest 
 place in the escutcheon of the most favored statesman 
 of any age or nation." (See Appendix, S.) 
 
 The next witness is one, who went as a dele- 
 gate from Virginia to the Harrisburgh Conven- 
 tion, and who, with all his Virginia co-dele- 
 gates, and the entire Southern delegation, voted 
 lor Henry Clay as the Whig nominee for the 
 Presidency, in 1840, and who, on the defeat of 
 Mr. Clay and the success of General Hatrison, 
 actually shed tears at the unexpected result, and 
 by those tears doubtless won his own nomination 
 for the Vice-Presidency, and his ultimate eleva- 
 tion, by the lamented death of his chief and su- 
 perior, to the Executive chair — which he soon 
 disgraced by a treachery to his party and to the 
 true interests of his country, unparalleled in 
 the history of political turpitude. We take his 
 evidence as a Court of Justice would that of a 
 witness to a will, who had become disqualified, 
 since his attestation of the instrument — i. e. on 
 proof of his handwriting. In a letter, dated 
 June 20, 1810, to a Committee of Invitation to 
 a dinner, to be given to Mr. Clay, by the people 
 of his own native Hanover, Mr. Tyler wrote 
 thus : — 
 
 "Williamseurg, June 20, 1840. 
 
 "Gentlemen — It would afford me no ordinary 
 gratification to be present, in pursuance of your 
 invitation, at Taylorsville, on the 27th instant, 
 to partake of the dinner to be given to Mr. Clay 
 by the citizens of his native county; but this is 
 forbidden me, by considerations which I am 
 not at liberty to disregard. Towards that dis- 
 tinguished citizen I need scarcely say, that I 
 entertain feelings of the highest admiration and 
 regard. When the work of detraction was at its 
 highest point, J lost unsuitable occasion to give cz- 
 prt ssion to my » aliments concerning him, and hare. 
 m ver failed to vindicate him, as far as vas in my 
 power, against the malice oj his < m mies; awl nan;, 
 when all men, seemingly of all parties, vnile in 
 bearing testimony to his high, and exalted worth : 
 and when recent, events have furnished him a new 
 opportunity for the display of that nolle disi n> cr- 
 est cdness for which he has through life been distin- 
 guished, judge ye with what, pleasure I should, meet 
 him on the soil of my old district, and in the midst of 
 
Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 my old constituents. As, however, this is denied 
 me, nothing more remains to me than to wish 
 you a most joyous and happy meeting. 
 
 "I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your 
 friend and servant, JOHN TYLER." 
 
 Yet this man has become one of the chief 
 revilers and traducers of Mr. Clay, merely be- 
 cause he was overshadowed by a greatness 
 which eclipsed his own, even in the Presiden- 
 tial chair, and which stood as an obstacle, in 
 the path of his selfish ambition. 
 
 Next, the unfortunate Gilmer, victim of the 
 shocking explosion of the trial gun on board of 
 the Princeton — he who, but a little month or 
 two before he turned democrat and foe to Mr. 
 Clay, had boasted that "he was every inch a 
 Whig" ! Here is his testimony to Mr. Clay's 
 eminence and virtue, as "one of those great 
 men whom Hanover had given to Virginia 
 and Virginia to the World." 
 
 "Charlottesville, June 20, 1840. 
 
 "Gentlemen — On the eve of my departure 
 from Richmond, I received your very cordial 
 invitation to attend a Public Dinner, on the 27th 
 inst., given by the citizens of Hanover, in honor 
 of our distinguished countryman, Henry Clay. 
 If I can complete some private business, which 
 induced my absence from Richmond for a short 
 time, it will afford me pleasure to be with you. 
 
 "The occasion of Mr. Clay's visit to the 
 scenes of his nativity, is not one for mere exul- 
 tation. His fame, like his genius, belongs now 
 to his country — his whole country, and nothing 
 but his country ; and while every Virginian 
 hails him as a native of our soil, the people of 
 Hanover, without reference to parties, cannot 
 fail to extend to him a welcome corresponding 
 with their generous hospitality and his distinc- 
 tion. There is something peculiarly touching 
 in the intercourse which is about to be renewed 
 between Mr. Clay and the people of Hanover. 
 It carries us back through many an interesting 
 epoch of our public history, to the time when a 
 poor boy, from the Slashes, which have since 
 teen distinguished as his birth-place, he entered 
 the perilous career of life under the friendly 
 auspices of that great and good man, George 
 Wythe. The high stations which he has since 
 filled, the important public services he has ren- 
 dered, the distinguished consideration he has 
 attained at home and abroad, the circumstances 
 under which, after contributing so much for 
 history, he returns to the spot consecrated to 
 him by the recollections of childhood, — all 
 serve to invest the occasion with sympathies 
 and reflections, such as are not often suggested 
 in the life of the statesman. 
 
 "Mr. Clay stands, at this moment, on an em- 
 inence where few ever stood before. After 
 serving his country, in almost every capacity 
 in which service can be required, he asks no- 
 thing of his countrymen but a just and impartial 
 judgment on the motives and the abilities which 
 he has employed. If he were dead, and you 
 designed to commemorate those ties [which 
 death alone can sever] that bind the Virginian 
 to his State, the people and the politicians, who 
 have most strenuously opposed some of his 
 
 views of policy, would be content to leave the 
 past to history, while they would remember 
 only that he was one of those great men whom Han- 
 over had given to Virginia and Virginia to the 
 world. And shall he be greeted with less en- 
 thusiasm, because he yet lives, to look back 
 from his present vantage ground, and feview 
 the long course of his own experience, to revive 
 with ancient recollections his fealty to the old 
 principles of old Virginia, and to gain fresh 
 vigor in her cause, from touching his mother's 
 soil 1 Mr. Clay's history is full of examples 
 of manly disinterestedness — and his present 
 position enables him, more than any other man, 
 to aid in giving to his country what he does not 
 seek for himself- — to dedicate to public and 
 patriotic ends what never should belong to 
 party. 
 
 "It is time, gentlemen, that (hose who arc entitled 
 to the respect and gratitude oj their countrymen, 
 should cease to be the objects of personal obloquy and 
 'vituperation. Our national character has suf- 
 fered too much and too long to appease the 
 venom of party rancour. Our national pride 
 should rejoice in the belief that there is much 
 of private and public worth, which can and 
 ought to survive our frequent political conflicts, 
 and that a party triumph costs too dearly, when 
 it attempts to dishonor names that must go 
 down as our witnesses to posterity. 
 
 "With assurances of my esteem and consid- 
 eration, gentlemen, I remain, your obedient 
 servant, THOS. W.GILMER." 
 
 Mr. Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, comes 
 next in order — the gentleman who inveighea 
 vehemently, in speech and by letter, against 
 members of Congress accepting appointments 
 to office from the Federal Executive, and yet 
 tried to bully himself into the French mission, 
 and was finally glad to put up with an inferior 
 appointment to the Brazilian Court! Thus did 
 he — now one of the most scorpion-tongued of 
 Mr. Clay's revilers — laud him as one "who had 
 
 REFLECTED HONOR ON THE PLACE OF HIS BIRTH," 
 
 although "a Henry was born there before 
 him," and who had "maintained the reputa- 
 tion of Virginia's sons," although "Virginia 
 is the mother of heroes, statesmen and sa- 
 ges" — as "an experienced teacher of eter- 
 nal political truths and a witness of facts 
 for freedom against freedom's foes." 
 
 "Washington City, June 18, 1840. 
 
 "Gentlemen — I have delayed answering 
 yours of the 10th instant, in order to make ar- 
 rangements, if possible, to accept its kind in- 
 vitation to attend the dinner, in honor of Mr. 
 Clay, by the citizens of his native county, at 
 Taylorsville, on the 27th instant. 
 
 "I need not tell you what I think of that man, 
 Henry Clay, of Hanover. He has done for 
 himself what friends and fortune can do for no 
 man, and has acquired what neither friends 
 nor foes can take from him — "a fame tor which 
 himself has fought," and to which no man's 
 praise can add, and from which no man's cen- 
 sure can detract. And that fame is his reward. 
 Office could not add a cubit to his stature. He 
 has rrfacted honor on the place of his birth, and a 
 
Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 9 
 
 Henry was barn, there before him; h has maintain- 
 ed ike reputation oj Virginia's sons, and Virginia 
 
 is the iiinih. r oj " •■' . , statesmi n and sages.' That 
 is enough for any one man, and it is enough 
 for you to claim him as your own — you honor 
 yourselves in honoring Henry Clay- None 
 can impeach his disinterestedness now, and I 
 wish that all Virginia, all America could see 
 him, as you \\ ill see him, and hear him as you 
 will hear him — a teacher, an experienced tea- 
 cher of eternal political trutlis, ami a witness 
 of facts tin- freedom against freedom's foes. 
 Heed him, 1 beseech u>n — heed him whilst you 
 may. EL A. WISE*' 
 
 The last witness, whom I shall put on the 
 stand, is that accomplished artist, that finished 
 limner, the editor of the Charleston Mercury — 
 nut the locum tin, us, Imi the r ritable amphilryon, 
 John A. Stuart, when he and Ids leader Mr. 
 Calhoun and their whole party were Whigs, 
 fighting under the same banner with Clay and 
 Webster against the Jackson and Van Buren 
 dynasty, and their hard money and other mea- 
 sures of financial mischief and democratic 
 misrule. Thus, on the 8th July, 1837, did liis 
 glowing and tasteful pencil make the canvass 
 speak eloquently the merits and virtues of our 
 glorious < 'lay. 
 
 "The partizans of Mr. Webster are still ob- 
 truding him upon the opposition. Mr. W. will 
 not do. The Northern Whigs may kick as 
 they please, and talk of not submitting to South- 
 ern dictation, &c, hut we tel! them plainly they 
 cannot and shall not impose a candidate upon 
 the opposition of the South. We have no con- 
 fidence in Daniel Webster, and will not have 
 him. * * * If we cannot have a 
 Southern State Rights' man — if John C. Cal- 
 houn, by going upon the forlorn hope of truth, 
 is (politically) dead upon the ramparts — like a 
 gallant steed fallen in front rank — borne down 
 and trampled upon by the base rear — and can 
 only hope for justice from those who shall look 
 upon these disjointed times with the eyes of 
 posterity. If /or a disvrvU restedn ss asove and u 
 age, he is in b ■ sacri- 
 ficed a martyr to principle, at least* < wn us to 
 support iporthy of i enlhusia tic trust. 
 
 GIVE US A MAN OF SOME NOBLE 
 TRAITS, A BOLD, BRAVE, GALLANT, 
 HIGH-MINDED MAN OF GENIUS,WHO, 
 THOUGH WE SEE HIS POLITICAL 
 ERRORS, WE CAN YET ASSURE OUR- 
 SELVES CAN DO NOTHING MEAN. 
 GIVE US SUCH A MAN FOR INSTANCE, 
 AS HENRY CLAY. He would have our 
 respect, our admiration — and we would be sure 
 that his government would always be dignified 
 and respectable. There is something heroic in 
 Mm. Not solitary chieftain heroism] — oh! no 1 
 but of a kind nut at all related to the humbug 
 family. We would not throw ourselves into 
 the arena for his support, but we would nol 
 quarrel with the Northern Whigs for offering 
 such a man for the suffrages of the opposition. 
 We tell the Northern Whigs he is the only man on 
 whom Ho n ni a, rn/hi '/ conquering party, unless 
 the people come more suddenly to their senses 
 
 than we have a right to expect, and at once do 
 themselves the honor of rendering justice to the 
 first man in the country." 
 
 Yet lids editor, too, is now a reviling enemy 
 of the subject of this lolly eulogy — but he can- 
 not, if he would, undo his own immortal work — 
 it will stand out in bold relief on the canvass 
 b lere he painted it. in unfading and undying 
 testimony at once of the artist's power and the 
 glory. Yes, our noble "Harry of the 
 West" is indeed "a bold, brave, gallant, high- 
 minded man of genius," "worthy of an enthu- 
 siastic trust and confidence," and both Southern 
 and "Northern Whigs" will "rally", and have 
 "rallied" on him, "a conquering party," and Will 
 bi ;i him in triumph to the Presidential chair, 
 there to confer honor and blessings on his 
 country 
 
 Such then is a faithful portraiture of the 
 Whig candidate for the Presidency, as reflected 
 from the mirror of his past history, and deline- 
 ated with the pencil of truth, the artist aiming 
 at the closest imitation of nature and adherence 
 to the original as the very triumph and perfec- 
 tion of art — and, gifted and adorned, as he is, 
 with eloquence to move the popular assembly, 
 or sway the Senate for the public good ; with a 
 statesmanship of the highest administrative 
 and intellectual order; with a wise moderation 
 and a conservative spirit; with a patriotism, 
 pure and expansive, national and not sectional; 
 with qualities as a man to attach the hearts of 
 friends and command the respect and admira- 
 tion of foes ; with a renown, not only co-ex- 
 tensive with our wide-spread union of States 
 and Territories, but with our entire continent, 
 and reflected back from enlightened Europe — 
 we may confidently look to his coming and now 
 certain elevation to the Presidency, for an ad- 
 ministration of our national government, at 
 once wise, patriotic and constitutional, and 
 conducted in a spirit of compromise and con- 
 ciliation — consulting all the great interests of 
 the country and harmonizing them all — 
 peaceful and useful at home, and respected 
 in the great family of co-equal nations — 
 dispensing public office, not as spoils among 
 victors, not as plunder wrested from the 
 vanquished, and surrendered to the merce- 
 nary followers of the camp, but as national 
 trusts, and as rewards to the "worthy and 
 well qualified and properly vouched for," 
 and introducing a wise and enlightened econo- 
 my into government disbursements, wasting 
 nothing in extravagance, yet liberal in useful 
 expenditure — securing to the country a healthy 
 system of finance, a sound national currency 
 and a salutary equalization of exchanges, dif- 
 fusing life and health through every vein and 
 artery of national industry, and giving vigor 
 and prosperity to agriculture, manufactures 
 and commerce — fostering domestic industry, in 
 all its various and varied branches, by a tariff 
 of incidental protection, (within the revenue 
 limit of an honestly and economically admin- 
 istered government,) at once moderate, (See 
 Appendix, T.) certain and durable, and substi- 
 tuting permanency and stability for fluctuation 
 
10 
 
 Appendix to the Speech of Mr. Yeadvn, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 and change in our national policy — acquiring 
 Texas, (if desirable) by negotiation, not by 
 war, and consistently with national faith 
 and national honor — (See Appendix, U.) — 
 guarding the reserved rights of the States with 
 a wholesome vigilance, and covering the pecu- 
 liar rights of the South with the shield, and, if 
 necessary, defending them with the sword of 
 the Constitution — isolating the abolitionists for 
 the scorn and detestation of the Union and the 
 world, and causing even those criminal fanatics 
 and traitors to the Constitution, "to pause in 
 their mad and fatal course" (See Appendix, 
 V.) ; and preserving our political Union, in its 
 beautiful and happy combination of the nation 
 
 with the confederacy, in its whole constitu- 
 tional vigor, "as the sheet anchor of our safety 
 at home, and the source of our strength and 
 consideration abroad." 
 
 And now, fellow Whigs, sons and daughters 
 of generous and hospitable Georgia, let me give 
 you, in conclusion, a watch-word and war-cry 
 for our party, to be echoed and re-echoed, from 
 sea-board to mountain and mountain to sea- 
 board, until it forms the national chorus, on the 
 success of our candidate — 
 
 "Clay and our Country" — The man who has 
 twice preserved the Union is thrice worthy to 
 preside over its destinies. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 (A.) Such was the partisanship carried by Mr. 
 Polk into the office of Speaker, and displayed in 
 packing committees, ruling points of order, and 
 awarding the floor, that, at the expiration of his 
 term of office, the usual courtesy of a vote of 
 thanks, hithertounanimouslyawarded to the Speak- 
 er, at the expiration of his official term, was, 
 when moved by Mr. Elmore, of South-Carolina, 
 warmly contested, and carried by almost a strictly 
 party vote of Yeas, 94 — Nays, 57 — a thing un- 
 paralleled in Congressional history. 
 
 (B.) A Tennessee paper, in announcing the nom- 
 ination of Mr. Polk, said — "First it was received 
 with utter incredulity — the whole thing seemed 
 improbable — impossible. Next doubt gave way 
 to wonder and astonishment, and when this sub- 
 sided, uncontrollable and boisterous laughter fol- 
 lowed, as a matter of course." The Columbia 
 (Tenn.) Observer, (Whig) said, "This news taxes 
 our credulity, but pleases our fancy." And the 
 paper, first above-named, adopted, from the Balti- 
 more Patriot, the following clue to this mouse-like 
 birth of the laboring mountain. "The nomination 
 of Mr. Polk is the defeat, of Mr. Van Euren," 
 but "is at the same time the work and triumph of 
 Mr. Van Buren's friends. * * * * They (the 
 friends of the other candidates) made Mr. V. B. 
 the victim of contemptible intrigue, and it was but 
 a fair return that he should hoist them with their 
 own petard. They have, it is true, killed him with 
 Texas and the two-thirds rule; but he is not with- 
 out his own revenge. He has made a ghost of Mr. 
 Calhoun. He has annihilated Cass. He has dis- 
 tanced Buchanan — and he has, without the slight- 
 est remorse, set up James K. Polk, to be shot at, 
 for the amusement of all parties, during the ensu- 
 .ng campaign." 
 
 (C.) In a speech, delivered at the last session 
 of Congress, Mr. Peyton, of Tenn., said — "He 
 (Mr. P. ) had within his reach, though not here, a 
 very precious document concerning this same Jas. 
 K. Polk — an extract from a letter (as the Reporter 
 understood, perhaps speech), in which he came out 
 in favor of works of internal improvement, by the 
 General Government, within the States." 
 
 (D.) Mr. Polk, as Chairman of the Committee 
 of Ways and Means, of the National House of 
 Representatives, was the father of the pet-bank 
 system, and an opponent of the sub-treasury scheme, 
 by elaborate speech, as well as elaborate report. 
 In his report on the pet-bank system, he first threw 
 out the suggestion that the deposite banks should 
 be encouraged to extend their loans, based on the 
 public deposites, an intimation which was after- 
 wards embodied in an official circular and recom- 
 mendation of Mr. Taney, then Secretary of the 
 Treasury, a recommendation, which, coupled with 
 the exaction of interest by the government for the 
 use of the public monies, led to the expansion of 
 bank issues and consequent explosion of the bank- 
 ing, system, to the immense loss of the government 
 and the bankruptcy and ruin of many worthy and 
 enterprising citizens. On the 15th May, 1843, 
 Mr. Polk, while a candidate for Governer of Ten- 
 nessee, on being interrogated by certain citizens 
 of Shelby County, answered, that he was "in favor 
 of the sub-treasury system, passed by Congress in 
 1840 and repealed in 1841," and referred to his 
 published addresses to the people of Tennessee, 3d 
 April, 1839, and 28th March, 1841, in proof of the 
 fact. Mr. Peyton, of Tennessee, thus rated him 
 for his course — "He had been strongly opposed to 
 the sub-treasury, and preferred State banks as 
 places of deposite for public money. He consid- 
 
Appendix to the Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 II 
 
 ercd them safer and in all respects to be preferred. 
 Where did he stand now 1 Oh, now a sub-treasu- 
 ry was the only safe place, 'Motley's your only 
 wear.' " This is the only great public measure, 
 with which Mr. Polk stands identified, and it 
 resulted in disaster and bankruptcy to the go- 
 vernment and the people! 
 
 (E.) In his address to the people of Tennessee, 
 3d April, 1839, Mr. Polk lauded Gen. Jackson for 
 recommending "modifications and reductions of the 
 tariff with a view to the final abandonment 
 OF THE odious and unjust system," and blam- 
 ed Mr. Clay, the "imputed father" of the tariff, 
 for seizing "on a favorable moment to save the 
 whole [system] from destruction, by a 
 TIMELY compromise." He also said, in the 
 same address, — "'One of General Jackson's prin- 
 nras opposition to the high tariff schemes 
 of Henry Clay, and in that also he was sup- 
 ported by all Tennessee. Now a portion of 
 your public men support this monstrous 
 SCHEME, by supporting Henry Clay." Nor is this 
 all — but, within one year after the passage of Mr. 
 Clay's Compromise Act of 1833, Mr. Polk voted 
 for the resolution of Mr. Hall, of North Caroli- 
 na, TO REPEAL THE COMPROMISE ACT, or to 
 
 refer the whole subject to the Committee of 
 Ways and Means, with a view to its repeal, 
 under the pretext of reducing the whole of the du- 
 ties down to what is 'ailed the necessary wants of 
 government — the vote on the resolution was Yeas, 
 69, (among them Mr. Polk,) Nays, 115. And yet 
 this same Mr. J. K. Polk, since his nomination for the 
 Presidency, has formally set about to eater for and 
 cajole the tariff vote of Pennsylvania, by his letter 
 to Mr.J.K. Kane, of Philadelphia, dated June 19th, 
 1844, in which lie claims the merit of having voted 
 for the Compromise Bill, and comes out in favor of 
 a "revenue sullieicnt to defray the expenses of the 
 government economically administered," 
 of "discriminating duties" "and reasonable 
 
 INCIDENTAL PROTECTION TO HOM F. INDUSTRY," 
 
 to be effected by means of "revenue laws," and "all 
 other means" within the power of the government. 
 He actually put himself on Mr. Clay's platform, 
 and almost copied his words, Mr. Clay having said, 
 in his letter, of September ISth, 1843, that he was 
 in favor of "whatever revenue is necessary to an 
 
 HONEST AND ECONOMICAL ADMINISTRATION OF 
 THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT", and of "SUCH 
 DISCRIMINATIONS as will INCIDENTALLY AF- 
 FORD REASONABLE PROTECTION TO OUR NA- 
 TIONAL i tep.ests." The result, of this new 
 stand on the part of Mr- Polk is, that, at the North 
 generally, and in Pennsylvania especially, he is 
 supported as a thorough-going tariff man and op- 
 ponent of free trade, the Harrisburg (Penn.) 
 ratic Union declaring, on the authority of 
 his friend and neighbor, a Tennessean, "that he 
 holds the doctrine of free trade in unqualified 
 ABHORRENCE": "never advocated it and never 
 will"; "is in favor of a judicious revenue tariff, 
 affording THE amplest protection to Amer- 
 ican industry"; "is the especial friend and 
 advocate of the coal and iron interests, 
 those two great objects of solicitude with Pennsyl- 
 
 vaniwns" and is opposed to the disturbance 
 
 OF THE EXISTING tariff." The Albany (N. Y.) 
 Argus, too, the organ of the celebrated \ an Buren 
 or Albany regency, insists "that he (Mr. Clay) and 
 Gov. Polk occupy the same ground on this subji ct 
 (the tariff)", and charges the Whigs with "garb- 
 ling and falsifying language," and practising "fraud 
 and imposition," to conceal the fact. It is curi- 
 ous, indeed, and it is disgraceful to Mr. Polk, that 
 he should have so paltered in a double sen; I in 
 this matter, that the North should thus believe him 
 the unqualified friend of tariff interests, on the faith 
 of his incidental protection litter and the represen- 
 tation of his Tennessee neighbor and friend, anil the 
 South should advocate him as a free trade man, on 
 the faith of his former bitter opposition to the tar- 
 iff system, and his recent declaration, at a public 
 discussion in Tennessee, as lute as April, 1843 — 
 
 "I AM IN FAVOR OF REPEALING THE ACT OF 
 THE LATE CONGRESS (the Act of 1S42) AND RE- 
 STORING the Compromise Tariff Act of 
 March 2d, 1833, which "will afford sufficient 
 protection to the 'manufacturers, and is all they 
 ought to desire, or to which they are 
 entitled." His purpose, therefore, must be, 
 either to betray the South, or cheat the North, 
 and either horn of the dilemma should be suffi- 
 cient to impale him, and lose him the support 
 of every right-minded and true-hearted man, 
 whether Democrat or Whig. 
 
 (F.) The most authentic account of Mr. Polk's 
 grandfather, Ezckicl Pclk is, that he was at first 
 on the side of the W'higs in the revolutionary 
 war, but afterwards took British protection, (even 
 the Democratic certificates prove this) and was 
 thenceforth as much despised and repudiated by the 
 W'higs of 1776, as his grandson is now by the 
 W'higs of 1844. The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, 
 says — "While Lord Cornwallis was encamped at 
 Charlotte, the said Ezekiel remained at the British 
 camp, during which time, as a mark of respect to 
 his country's invaders, he wore the insignia of roy- 
 alty a red coat. After the removal of Cornwallis, 
 Kzekiel returned to his home, situate on Sugar 
 Creek, about seven miles from Charlotte. The 
 W'higs, in that vicinity, unwilling to tolerate his 
 neighborhood, resolved upon his death- The fore- 
 most of the party, who had taken upon themselves 
 the summary execution of his sentence, was a Mr. 
 Taylor, who, upon finding the tory, levelled his gun 
 to kill him ; but Ezekiel fell upon his knees, im- 
 ploring his life; he was, after some consultation, 
 permitted to live, upon condition that he should 
 forthwith quit the county of Mecklenburg. This 
 condition was promptly complied with, and he did 
 not return until after peace had la en established." 
 lie never, like the martyr Hayne, encountered I he 
 peril of repudiating British protection and resum- 
 ing the defence of his country. He took good care 
 to interpose a red coai between himself and the 
 halter. The Madison (Ga.) Miscellany says — 
 "In addition to other positive testimony, which we 
 have already published, we annex the following cir- 
 cumstantial evidence, which has just been made 
 public — the testimony of an old Revolutionary sol- 
 dier, well known in Greene county, where he lived 
 
12 
 
 Appendix to the Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 forty years, and in Pike, where he has resided the 
 last twelve years, and whose character for truth 
 and veracity is unimpeachable — it is this, 
 
 Griffin, (Ga.) July 19, 1844. 
 
 "I was a volunteer from Virginia, under Capt. 
 . Jesse Heard, who commanded a company of Horse 
 Troops. We were at Charlotte and joined Col. 
 Davie, and remained in that county some time, 
 and there I understood that Ezekiel Polk was a 
 tory, and never heard, it contradicted or disputed. 
 There were some other of the Polks that were true 
 Whigs. I was also at the surrender of Lord Corn- 
 wall at Little York. JOHN JENKINS. 
 
 Sworn to and subscribed before me, this 22d day 
 of July, 1844. 
 
 JAMES J. ALEXANDER, J. P. 
 
 We now come to the evidence, says another 
 journal, we shall produce to sustain the charges. — 
 In the first place we shall give the affidavit of Maj. 
 Thomas Alexander. It would be useless for us to 
 say any thing relative to his character. He is well 
 known and his character above suspicion. He 
 testifies that Ezekiel Polk refused to go to South 
 Carolina to protect the Whites from the Negroes. 
 What do the People think of that 1 He also testi- 
 fies that he took protection- Read the affidavit . 
 Mecklenburg, N. C, June 19, 1841. 
 
 At the commencement of the War of the Revo- 
 lution, Ezekiel Polk, at that time a resident of 
 South-Carolina, received a Captain's Commission 
 in the Militia, and raised a company on the frontiers 
 of the State, against the Cherokee Indians. I was 
 one of that company. After this, Ezekiel Polk 
 was ordered to proceed with his company into 
 South-Carolina, to protect the Whites against the 
 Negroes — this he refused to do- 
 
 The winter following, he proceeded with his 
 company, on an expedition against the Tories, sta- 
 tioned not far from Ninety- Six, under the com- 
 mand of Cunningham. From this time, he did 
 nothing to favor the Whigs during the War. When 
 Lord Cornwallis marched his army into this county, 
 and erected his Head Quarters in Charlotte, Eze- 
 kiel Polk ivent in and took British Protection. 
 One Jack Burncttc, having learned that Polk had 
 gone to Charlotte, to avail himself of British Pro- 
 tection, determined to way-lay him as he returned, 
 and kill him. From this course he was deterred 
 by his friends. I was in the war, and personally 
 know these facts to be true. 
 
 THOS. ALEXANDER. 
 
 Subscribed and sworn to before me, one of the 
 acting Justices of the Peace, for said county of 
 Mecklenburg, and State of North-Carolina. 
 
 THOMAS M. KERNS, J. P. 
 
 June 9, 1841. 
 
 State of North-Carolina, > 
 Mecklenburg County. $ 
 
 I, Braley Oatcs, Clerk of the Court of Pleas and 
 Quarter Sessions, held for the county and State 
 aforesaid, do hereby certify that Thomas M. Kerns, 
 whose signature appears to the above affidavit, is 
 an acting Justice of the Peace in, and for said 
 county, and that full faith and credit should be 
 given to his official acts as such. I also further 
 certify that the affiant, Thomas Alexander, is re- 
 spected as a Revolutionary Soldier, and a man of 
 highly respectable standing. 
 
 In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my 
 name, and affixed my seal of office, at Charlotte, the 
 22d day of June, A. D. 1841. 
 
 B. OATES, Clerk. 
 
 Mr. Polk's father was a child in the revolution., 
 too young to lake any part in it. 
 
 (G.) Mr. Polk over and over again voted in Con- 
 gress, against paying pensions to the old patriots of 
 the revolution lor their military services. March 13, 
 1828, he voted against the Bill for the relief of sur- 
 viving officers of the revolutionary war; March 
 18, 1830, against the Revolutionary Pension Bill; 
 March 19, spoke and voted against the Bill; Dec. 
 17, 1831, voted against the Bill for the relief of rev- 
 olutionary soldiers ; May 2, 1832, voted against the 
 revolutionary Pension Bill. Certainly a very nat- 
 ural succession of votes for one with tory blood in 
 his veins ! — Congressional Debates, Vols. 4, p. 
 2070. 6, part 1, pp. 629,635. 7, p. 730. 8, p. 
 2713. 
 
 N. B. Since the above was written, Mr. 
 Polk's hostility to our gallant tars, as well as 
 our revolutionary soldiers, has been also made 
 to appear. The loss of the '-Hornet," in 1829, 
 was the cause of deep and prevailing gloom 
 throughout the United States. Many were the 
 brave officers and gallant seamen, who found 
 an untimely grave, when that ill fated vessel 
 was "in the deep tosom of the ocean buried." 
 Many were the surviving mothers, wives, and 
 children, who were left to the cold charities of 
 the unfeeling world, by the loss of those, around 
 whom their affections were entwined, and upon 
 whom they depended for support in sickness 
 and in sorrow. So general was the sympathy 
 felt by all classes of citizens, that the Congress 
 of the nation was called upon to grant some re-r 
 lief to the unfortunate survivors. A Bill was 
 introduced by Mr. Dorsey, of Maryland, to 
 grant six months jmy to the families of those 
 gallant men who had perished while in the ser- 
 vice of their country. By a reference to the 
 Journal of the House of Representatives, for 
 the session of 1829-30, the following proceed- 
 ings will be found : 
 
 Thursday, February, 1830 — An Act for the re- 
 lief of "the widows and, orphans of the officers, 
 seamen, and marines of the Sloop of War Hor- 
 net, "was read a third "time, and the question 
 being stated, "Shad! the bill pass?" 
 
 A motion was made, by Mr. Test, that the 
 said bill be recommitted to the Committee on 
 Naval Affairs, with instructions to amend the 
 same by striking out these words: "and, if 
 there be no parent, then the brothers and sis- 
 ters ;" so as to exclude brothers and sisters 
 from the benefits proposed to be granted to the 
 relatives of the officers, seamen, and ma- 
 rines, on board of the sloop of w r ar Hornet, at 
 the time of her loss. And on the question,, 
 Shall the said bill be recommitted with the in- 
 structions aforesaid '] it was decided in the neg- 
 ative — Mr. Polk voting in the affirmative. 
 See House Journal, 1st session, 2lst Congress 
 page 309. 
 
 The question was then put, Shall the bill 
 pass 1 Yeas 138, nays 42 — Mr. Poll,- voting in 
 the negative, and against granting any relief t" 
 
Appendix to the Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 13 
 
 the widmvs and orphans of the lost crew. See 
 ] [ouse Journal, 1st session, 2lsl < longress, page 
 309. 
 
 Thus the i the country establish, 
 
 that James K. Polk voted against granting to the 
 
 u brave tan s who were lust 
 
 in the Hornet—^ he slight relief op nix 
 
 months' pay — us a mark oj the sympathy < 
 
 I the nation. 
 
 (II.) It is well known that the venerable and il- 
 lustrious James Monroe made heavy and personal 
 sacrifices of his private property to aid in carrying 
 on the revolutionary war, and this was one of the 
 principal causes which led a grateful republic to ele- 
 vale him to its chief magistracy. Having spent his 
 life in the military, diplomatic and civil service of the 
 country, he left the Presidency, the goal of human 
 ambition in this free land, a poor and needy man. 
 The nation, however, owed him a debt of dollars 
 as well as gratitude, and paid it to him — the tory 
 blood of Mr. Polk inducing him to vote against 
 the measure of gratitude and justice, properly me- 
 ted out to the venerable patriot. 
 
 (I.) When Mr. Polk was a candidate for re-elec- 
 tion as Governor, Gov. Jones, who beat him all to 
 smash, knocked him into a cocked hat, by proving on 
 him that, in the last war with Great Britain, he re- 
 moved to Maury County, to avoid standing a draft, 
 when the militia, the citizen soldiers, were called out 
 to defend the soil of their country against the inva- 
 der. The Editor of the Jonesboro' (Tennessee) 
 Whig says — ''The locos must not talk of Polk's 
 services on the field of battle, or we will point 
 them to the day, on which the valiant Colonel fed 
 from Rutherford county to Maury, when a young 
 man, to avoid being drafted and called out into the 
 service of his country" 
 
 (J.) On the 1st February, 1831, Mr. Washing- 
 top, presented, in the House of Representatives, a 
 statement of the Mayor of Washington, relative to 
 the sufferings of the poor of that city, from the ex- 
 treme rigor of the winter. There was, at the time 
 more wood at the Capitol than would be needed for 
 the use of Congress. Mr. W. moved that thirty 
 cords be placed at the disposal of the Mayor, for 
 the benefit of the chilled and shivering sons and 
 daughters of poverty. The motion was carried by 
 a decisive and humane majority, Mr- Polk voting 
 in the negative — saying ''it was a bad example" 
 and "undignified, for legislators to become over- 
 seers of the poor, to hoard up wood and deal it out 
 to the paupers of the district." It. is clear, that 
 the grandson of a tory, the foe of revolutionary 
 pensioners, and the dodger of a militia draft, isnot 
 the poor mint's friend. It is said, that after this 
 charity had been granted by Congress, Mr. P. en- 
 deavored to escape the obloquy of bis opposition by 
 countenancing the proposition of some one that 
 each member should contribute a day's pay to the 
 same end, but, as far as is known and believed, the 
 measure was not executed by any one. 
 
 N. B. Since the foregoing note was written, 
 another instance of Mr. Polk's want of chari- 
 table feeling has come to light, In the m h 
 
 of January, 1827, a most destructive fire occur- 
 red in Alexandria, (D. C). For a considerable 
 period the devouring element raged unchecked, 
 and, when it was finally extinguished, upwards 
 of eighty houses had been consumed. It was 
 in the depth ol' winter, and the rigor of the cold 
 was excessive. Hundreds of the inhabitants 
 were turned into the streets, many with the loss 
 of all they possessed. The stoutest hearts were 
 appalled. On every side were to be seen ob- 
 jects for pity and commiseration. In this emer- 
 gency, the Mayor and Citizens of the town pe- 
 titioned Congress for aid to the houseless and 
 homeless population. The House of i 
 sentatives suspended all other business, to pass 
 an appropriation of a few thousands lor the re- 
 lief of their suffering fellow citizens. When 
 the final action on the question was had, James 
 K. Poll voted against it, and thus refused to sanc- 
 tion this generous exhibition of the national 
 charity. 
 
 (K.) On the 28th June, 1832, Mr. Clay offered 
 the following resolution : 
 
 "Resolved, by the Senate and House of Rep- 
 resentees of the United States of America, in 
 Congress assembled, that a joint committee of 
 both Houses wait on the President of the United 
 States of America, and request that he recommend 
 a day; to be designated by him, of public humilia- 
 tion, prayer and fasting, to be observed by the peo- 
 ple of the United States, with religious solemnity, 
 and with fervent supplication to Almighty God, 
 that He will be graciously pleased to continue his 
 blessings upon our country and that He will avert 
 from it the Asiatic scourge which has reached our 
 borders — or, if in the dispensation of his Provi- 
 dence, we are not to be exempted from the calam- 
 ity, that, through his bountiful mercy, its severity 
 may be mitigated, and its duration shortened." 
 
 Mr. Clay supported the resolution, in a brief but 
 beautiful and touching speech, in which he graphi- 
 cally and eloquently described the ravages of the 
 pestilential scourge, declared that he had "always 
 bad a profound respect, for Christianity, the reli- 
 gion of his fathers, and for its rites, usages and ob- 
 servances," and counselled the propriety, in times 
 of national or individual distress, of appealing to 
 that Being, who is alone able to afford adequate 
 relief. Mr. Frelinghuysen, the truly virtuous and 
 pious Frelinghuysen, eloquently seconded the reso- 
 lution, because "it was our duty devoutly, and in 
 the conviction of our entire dependence on God, to 
 ask for the interference of His mercy." — (Niles' 
 Register, Vol. 42. pp. 343, 344.) The resolution 
 was passed — Yeas 30, Nays 13. In the House of 
 Representatives, on the 5lh July following, Mr. 
 Polk, in a large minority voted to lay the resolu- 
 tion on the table — Yeas 46, Nays 91. On the 9th 
 July, he again voted to lay it on the table, and the 
 motion for that purpose having failed, on motion of 
 Mr. Bell, the resolution was referred to a Select 
 Committee.— (See Journ. II. of R. 1832, pp. 1U!)4, 
 1110. 
 
 (L.) On a motion, in the House of Representa- 
 tives, December l r >, 1836, to appoint a committei 
 
14 
 
 Appendix to the Speech of Mr. Yeaclon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 to investigate certain grave charges, against cer- 
 tain functionaries of the government, of outrage 
 and frauds practised upon the Seminole Indians, 
 which led to the Florida war, the Hon- Bailie Fey- 
 ton, of Tennessee, spoke as follows — "Let it also 
 be remembered that the Committee of Indian Af- 
 fairs unanimously recommended an inquiry into the 
 abuses of that bureau, which would have developed 
 the cause of the late and present Indian wars in 
 the South. The committee reported a resolution, 
 authorizing any two of its members to prosecute 
 the inquiry by taking testimony for the information 
 of the House, at this session. But, sir, this resolu- 
 tion, reported by a committee, a majority of whom 
 were in favor of Mr. Van Buren. was rejected in 
 the House. The citizens of Georgia and Alabama 
 petitioned and implored the House to investigate 
 that subject, alleging the most unheard-of frauds 
 and abuses. Upon this application the vote stood, 
 ayes 77, noes 77, a tie, and the Speaker £ James 
 K. Folk] gave the casting vote against the inves- 
 tigation. Sir, men high in favor and high in office 
 were suspected. The agent of the Government, 
 John B. Hogan, gave the Department official in- 
 formation of the greatest outrages, practised upon 
 the Indians, which were ever perpetrated upon any 
 people, savage or civilized. He was very soon 
 removed, or rather promoted, from Indian agent, to 
 be collector at the port of Mobile. And yet, sir, 
 we have no account of prosecutions, convictions 
 and punishments which have followed his disclo- 
 sures. Why, sir, those speculators, or rather In- 
 dian robbers, would find an old chief upon his pat- 
 rimonial estate, where the chiefs and kings of his 
 race had lived for centuries before him, with his 
 slaves and his farm around him, smoking his pipe 
 amidst his own forest trees, spurning any offer to 
 purchase his home, and they would bribe some 
 vagabond Indian to personate him in a trade to 
 sell his lands, forging his name, and the first inti- 
 mation that he would have of the transaction 
 would be his expulsion by force from his house ! 
 This was common, and not only so, but, under the 
 pretext of reclaiming fugitive slaves, the wives and 
 children (of mixed blood) of the Indians were 
 seized and carried oft" in bondage. The famous 
 Oceola himself had his wife taken from him, and 
 that, too, it has been said, by a Government officer, 
 and was chained by this same officer to a log: Sir, 
 what else could be expected but that these scourg- 
 ed, plundered, starving savages would glut their 
 vengeance by the indiscriminate slaughter of the 
 innocent and helpless families of the frontier, 
 whose blood has cried to us in vain 1 This has 
 caused the F lorida war, which has produced such 
 a waste of treasure, the loss of so much national 
 and individual honor, and of so many valuable 
 lives! This has called the gallant volunteers from 
 my own State, and from my own district, who have 
 traversed a thousand miles to fight the battle of 
 strangers — to contend with a savage foe, while 
 drinking those stagnant waters whose malaria is 
 death, many of whom are left in the wild woods of 
 Florida, "where the foe and the stranger will tread 
 o'er their heads," while their fellow-soldiers are 
 far away, happy at home with their friends and 
 families. One — ah ! sir, any one of those noble 
 
 youths who now sleep under a foreign sod — was 
 worth more than the whole army of plunderers 
 who have caused the mischief. And yet, sir, such 
 men as these were shielded, at the last session of 
 Congress, by the casting vote of the Speaker 
 [James K. Folk.]" — Whig Standard. 
 
 (M.) Mr. Polk, it is true, wrote a letter in favor 
 of annexation generally, but he equivocally kept 
 silent as to whether he was in favour of annex- 
 ation on the fraudulent and deceptive terms of 
 the infamous Tyler treaty. A Whig Commit- 
 tee accordingly questioned him on this point, and, 
 although they quoted upon him verbatim his 
 own repeated declarations that candidates for 
 public office ouglit to answer fuily, when ques- 
 tioned by voters, on matters of public concern, 
 he has obstinately or rather prudently stood mute, 
 lest he should lose Northern Anti-Texas votes. 
 
 The letter of the Committee bears date June 
 20, 1844, and simply inquires, "What we are 
 to understand by his declaring that he is in fa- 
 vor of the immediate annexation of Texas to 
 the United States ? Whether he is in favor of 
 the ratification of the treaty recently submitted 
 by the President to the Senate, and if not, upon 
 what principle he advocates such annexation?" 
 For thus standing mute, Mr. Polk stands thus 
 self-condemned — 
 
 Extract from Guv. Polk's answer to the Mem- 
 phis interrogatories, dated Columbia, May 15, lb!3. 
 
 "The chief, if not the only value of the right 
 of suffrage consists in the fact, that it may be 
 exercised understandingby by the constituent body. 
 It is so, whether the immediate constituency 
 consists of the Legislature, or of the people in 
 their primary capacity, in the election of their 
 executive or legislative agents. In citlu i 
 the constituent has A RIGHT to know tlve 
 opinions oj the candidate before he casts his 
 vote." 
 
 (N.) While Mr. Polk was Governor of Tennes- 
 see, that is before he was ejected by Gov. Jones 
 from that office, he was presented by a Grand 
 Jury of Sevier county, "as a nuisance for neg- 
 lect of his official duty as Governor, and for con- 
 duct derogatory to the dignity of the office and to 
 the character of a gentleman." 
 
 (0.) At the close of the session of Congress, 
 March 2, 1839, when Mr- Elmore, of S. C-, moved 
 a vote of thanks to Mr. Polk, for the "able, impar- 
 tial and dignified manner," in which he had presi- 
 ded, Gen. Crabb, of Alabama, then in Congress, 
 and who, by a recent summerset or harlequin frolic, 
 has jumped into the arms of Mr. Polk, was one of 
 the 57 who properly refused to the partisan, the 
 courtesy due to the patriot. 
 
 (P.) The following is a laughable extract from 
 Mr. Hardin's (of Illinois) speech in Congress, 
 showing up Mr. Payne, of Alabama, the former re- 
 viler, but present eulogist of Mr. Polk, in a most 
 felicitous style. 
 
 "Did gentlemen forget how, in 1841, they had 
 abused the Whigs for bringing forward Gen. Har- 
 
ippendix to the Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 15 
 
 rison, and how they had charged the party with 
 
 giving up their principles Cor the sake of an availa- 
 1 Wiiii had they brought up James K. 
 Polk lor ? Had any man here or in the nalion been 
 Cor him "? No ; hut because he was an available 
 candidate. But there were some documents upon 
 the subject of availability to which lie wished to 
 call the particular attention of gentlemen. Mr. H. 
 read tVoin an article in "the Globe," of January s, 
 1 84 1, contrasting the claims fur the Vice-Presidency 
 of James K. Polk and \\m. ft. King, (then' was 
 not a man in the United States; he said, who at that 
 time dreamed of Mr. Polk as a candidate for the 
 Presidency.) the following extract: 
 
 'Finally, the political condition of their respec- 
 tive States is another point of preference for Mr. 
 King. Alabama is Democratic; Tennessee is 
 Ft deral \\ hig. One is helping, the other is injur- 
 ing, the Democratic cause. The red-hot shot of 
 Tennessee are now fired into the Democratic ship. 
 [And 1 trust they will set her on fire and burn 
 her to the water's edge.] This may be a misfor- 
 tune, and not the fault of that former Democratic 
 State, and her present public men. Still, it is a 
 misfortune which entails a consequence, and which 
 involves a serious consideration in the selection of 
 a Vice-Presidential candidate.' 
 
 'In such a contest the Democracy has no compli- 
 ments to spare to unfortunate States, by carrying 
 the burden of the public men who cannot hnn" 
 their own Stale into the. Democratic line. They 
 wani strength, not weakness.' 
 
 They want strength, not weakness,' continued 
 Mr. II. Did not the gentleman from Alabama 
 write that sentence in that communication I If the 
 gentleman denies it not, I say he did. 
 
 Mr- Payne said no man was to infer any thing, 
 the one way or the other, from his silence. 
 
 .Mr. Hardin. If the gentleman says it is not true, 
 I will take it back. 
 
 Mr. Payne. I believe so. I do not know whe- 
 ther I wrote it or not- [Laughter]. 
 
 Mr. Hardin said he would read another article, 
 relative to the claims to the Vice-Presidency of 
 James K, Polk, and the gentleman might have his 
 choice of the two, as to which he had written. He 
 read from 'the tilobe' of Jan. 19, 1844, the follow- 
 ing * xtracts from a communication, in reply to a 
 previous one in that paper, with the signature of 
 'A Tennessee Democrat :' 
 
 'But why attack Col. King 1 Why advert to his 
 earliest legislative history ? Does he feel that the 
 political capital of Gov. Polk is quite too limited to 
 secure a nomination from the Republican party, 
 unless he can pull down the fame of others whose 
 shadow has fallen across the path of his posthu- 
 mous bantling for the Vice-Prnsidcncy 1 If so, let 
 me warn 'A Tennessee Democrat 9 that his dispar- 
 snt of Col. King will add nothing to the po- 
 litical capital of Gov. Polk. 
 
 'But if he will convince mc that there is a well 
 founded suspicion — a reasonable doubt — of the 
 personal courage of Col. King, I pronounce him, 
 tion, totally unfit for 
 the office of Vice-President of the United States. 
 I care not how honorable a man may be, if he is a 
 coward he cannot maintain his honor ; and hence 
 
 it is such a man is disqualified for the office of Vice 
 President 
 
 'Now, sir, Col. King has never been insulted, daj 
 after day; and, above all, hi' was never caught 
 roughly by the arm, whi n escaping from tin- Capi- 
 tol, pulled round, and told tiiat he u as the v, 
 Hble ton! of a petty tyrant!' I pledge my hi ad. if 
 \ r so treated, he will resent the insult in the 
 proper way. Will 'A Tennessee Democrat' do the 
 same in regard to Cov. Polk V 
 
 •What are the facts in regard to Gov. Polk ? He 
 has been twice repudiated in his own State by large 
 majorities — defeated by an inexperienced politician; 
 and it is not pretended that his name would add 
 ticle of strength to the ticket in any State 
 of this Union. Why, then, talk of his election 
 as the candidate of the party 1 
 
 'Again, we are. told, "if, on the contrary, you do 
 not run Gov. Polk, you may lose Tennessee.' Will 
 the selection of Gov. Polk prevent the result ? He 
 has been run twice for Governor of that State 
 lati ly, and has been defeated both times most sig- 
 nally. This would seem to be conclusive that Ten- 
 nessee cannot be carried by the Democracy if Gov. 
 Polk is upon the ticket. If this be a legitimate 
 conclusion, it is due to the principles we profess, 
 not to jeopard their success by vain attempts to 
 force, upon the people of Tennessee a man whom 
 they have twice refused to honor, notwithstanding 
 the supposed 'deep, bold and lasting impress, left by 
 Gov. Polk on our public affairs.' 
 
 'The truth is, it will not do, Gov. Polk has no 
 greater claims upon the people of this Union than 
 any other man of equal ability who has faithfully 
 maintained the principles of his party. There arc 
 now at least one hundred men in the Union who 
 have served their party as loner, as ably, and as 
 faithfully as Gov, Polk; whose claims are fully 
 equal in every respect, to his; but whose names 
 have never been mentioned in connexion with the 
 Vice-Presidency, and possibly never w ill be. 
 
 'I therefore respectfully suggest to 'A Tennessee 
 Democrat' to abandon that system of puffing, blow- 
 ins, and swelling, by which a toad may be magni- 
 fied into the dimensions of an ox; or, if he still 
 wishes to persevere, let him do so upon the merits 
 of his own subject, and not upon the demerits of 
 others.' 
 
 "Wont that show the gentleman in capitals," 
 continued Mr. II , that this "posthumous bantling 
 for the \ ice-Presid. •ncy"— is not 'AVAIL ABLK.' 
 And yet they talk of electing him President by a 
 triumphant majority ! It reminded him of what a 
 : to that Convention, in speaking of the 
 nomination, had said to him — 'It never did occur 
 to me that we would have to manufacture a can- 
 didate for the Presidency, and that out of so small 
 materials.' " 
 
 (Q.) The following is a spirited sketch of the 
 merited application of the scorpion lash of ridicule, 
 by Mr. Peyton, of Tennessee, at the last session 
 of Congress, to the old Federalists turned Demo- 
 and th it man of all work, their Caleb Quo- 
 tun, the Hon. .limes K. Polk. 
 
 •■ \s to the charge of Federalism, which had bo a 
 brought against the Whigs, who, he asked, were 
 
16 
 
 Appendix to the Speech of Mr. Ycadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 they who were in favor of giving to the President 
 the kingly power of destroying the legislation of 
 both Houses of Congress at his mere will and 
 pleasure 'J Was it the Whigs'? Mr, Ghiy was 
 against this power ; he held that that ought to be 
 the law of t lie laud, which the People's Representa- 
 tives in both branches of the Legislature declared 
 should be the law ; but the Democrats, par excel- 
 lence, were for vesting all power in one man, and 
 allowing him to cut the heads off' of as many legis- 
 lative acts as might suit his own notions or selfish 
 purposes. Of these tivo elassess of persons, which 
 were the Federalists and which the Republicans 1 
 
 "But to quit principles, and go a little into the 
 personelle of Federalism. Where were the Fede- 
 ralists actually found 1 he referred to the old anti- 
 war Federalists of '98'? In his own district, where 
 the Whigs had a majority of 1,000 votes, it had 
 been his lot to be elected over a gentleman of most 
 amiable and irreproachable character — a gentle- 
 man in the fullest sense of the term— who had been 
 brought out by the Democratic party, in the hope 
 of getting the influence of the Hero of the Hermi- 
 tage, because he was the nephew of his wife; but 
 he was a Federalist, and, even within pistol shot 
 of the den of the roaring lion, the Whigs got a 
 majority, and counted a majority of not less than 500 
 votes in the Hermitage district. But to the charge 
 that the Whigs were Federalists ! He would begin 
 with James Buchanan ; and what had formerly 
 been his sentiments 1 [Here Mr. P. read extracts, 
 which were certainly of a pretty high-toned Federal 
 character]. Then there was the Hon. Reuel Wil- 
 liams ; he, Mr. P. believed, was now held to be a 
 light of democracy in the State of Maine- This 
 gentleman had burnt James Madison in effigy, be- 
 cause he was in favor of war with Great Britain. 
 Then we had Gen'l Wall, of New Jersey, who had 
 declared that he would war under the Federal flag 
 so long as it continued to wave. Mr. Henry Hub- 
 bard was another Democrat and Dorrite of the very 
 first water ; yet he had voted to send delegates to 
 the Hartford Convention. Another very distin- 
 guished gentleman of the Democratic ranks, and 
 now, he believed, a prominent member of Con- 
 gress — one Charles Jared Ingersoll — had declared 
 that, had he been capable of reflection in the days 
 of the Revolution, he would have heen a Tory. 
 That gentleman was most courteous in his deport- 
 ment, and had always treated Mr. P. with the utmost 
 personal kindness. He meant him no offence or 
 injury ; and if the assertion he had now made as 
 his was incorrect, he [Mr. P.] would instantly take 
 it back- The gentleman was present, and could 
 deny it, if it was untrue. [Mr. I. retained his seat.] 
 Mr. P- next quoted a very fiery article indeed, from 
 the pen of J. H. Prentiss, a Van Buren member 
 of Congress. This gentleman declared it gave him 
 infinite pleasure to be able to announce (in his pa- 
 per) the triumph of Federalism. Was he a Demo- 
 crat 1 Then came William Cullen Bryant, the 
 author of a poetical eulogy [of no very flattering 
 kind, as it seemed] on Thomas Jefferson. [Mr. P. 
 quoted from this poem, a sort of mock heroic] 
 
 Now, then, he would again inquire, where was 
 Federalism to be found? He thought he had 
 placed it on the right side of the party-dividing line. 
 
 [Mr. Ingersoll here asking the loan of the bookj 
 from which the above quotations had been made, 
 Mr. P. replied. 'Take good care of it, and do not 
 derange the contents; it is an excellent magazine 
 of Whig ammunition, and I mean to draw on it for 
 some missiles, I hope, to hurl at the polk-stalks of 
 Tennessee.'] 
 
 And now as to this farce of a nomination, at Bal- 
 timore. A distinguished gentleman from N. York 
 so denominated it publicly, and without the slight- 
 est reserve ; declaring openly that it ought to meet 
 with no respect from the country, and that James 
 K. Polk could not get one electoral college, unless 
 that of South Carolina, and that would depend on 
 the mere whim and caprice of Mr. Calhoun. 
 
 [This annunciation produced very great sensation 
 in the House,] 
 
 Mr. Stetson, of New York, inquired of Mr. P. 
 ulii> the New York member referred to was? 
 
 Mr. Peyton replied, that, for the name of the 
 gentleman and all the circumstances, he would re- 
 ler the gentleman to the Hon. Mr. Black, of S. C. 
 He would tell him who he was. 
 
 Mr. Stetson repeated his inquiry, observing that 
 the statement had taken him completely by surprise. 
 
 Mr. Peyton replied, it was a member on this 
 floor, a distinguished member of the House, a great 
 friend of Mr. Van Buren, and, in fact, considered 
 as his right-hand man here. That gentleman had 
 declared that Mr. Polk could not get the vote of 
 one electoral college, unless in South Carolina, 
 and that depended on the whim and caprice of Mr. 
 Calhoun. If the gentleman would apply to the 
 honorable gentleman from South Carolina he would 
 get all the information he desired. 
 
 Mr. P. was about proceeding in his speech, when 
 
 Mr. Stetson again interposed, (Mr. P. not yield- 
 ing the floor;) and said, that as Mr. P. was the only 
 cue who had referred to the member from the New 
 York delegation, it was to him alone he ought to 
 apply for his name. 
 
 Mr. Peyton said he would not be thus interrupt- 
 ed ; there was a point where courtesy ceased to be 
 a virtue. 
 
 A majority of the members of the late Conven- 
 tion went to Baltimore instructed and pledged to 
 vote for Mr. Van Buren; and the Globe, before 
 the Convention assembled, charged whoever should 
 do otherwise with treachery. And what was the 
 result % A majority did vote for Mr. Van Buren; 
 but for this most democratic of Democracies a sim- 
 ple majority was not enough. True, Thomas Jef- 
 ferson thought it ought to rule, and held the maxim 
 true, vox populi, vox Dei, from which there was no 
 appeal but to arms, which he held to be the appeal 
 of tyrants. But these Democrats were not content 
 with Jeffersonian Democracy. A bare majority was 
 not enough for them : they must have two-thirds. A 
 gentleman here had said, that with the Texas feel- 
 ing in his favor their candidate would get the votes 
 of a majority of the people of the United States. 
 A majority ! Suppose he did, that would not 
 do. According to the Baltimore doctrine, he must 
 have two-thirds to elect him. He hoped gentlemen 
 would carry out their own principles. The nomi- 
 nation of James K. Folk would fall on the ears of 
 the people of this counlry, like a thunder clap in a 
 
Appendix to the Speech of Mr. Ycadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 17 
 
 very clear day. No ; that was too grand, too ter- 
 rific, a figure ; it would strike them tike the phe- 
 nomenon in the ancient proverb. Al'ter all the 
 mountains in the land had so long been in labor, 
 out slipped a ridiculous mouse. James K. Polk a 
 candidate for the Presidency ! A man never 
 dreamed of, and (if we were to believe the Globe) 
 a man not qualified for the place. There had been, 
 in that paper, a recent war between a Tennessee 
 Democrat and an Alabama Democrat, (tin: of 
 these excellent Democrats was opposed to Mr. King 
 as a candidate for the \ ice-Presidency, because he 
 had not signalized himself in the history of the 
 country, and had no memorials to distinguish his 
 name. The other tauntingly observed, that this 
 came with but a bad grace from one who advoca- 
 ted James K. Polk, whom he charged, in substance, 
 with being a coward, and unworthy of being Vice- 
 President on that ground, and, in support of the 
 charge, brought up a scene between Mr. Polk, when 
 Speaker, and Mr. Wise, of Virginia, who, as they 
 were retiring from this Hall, took him by the arm, 
 and said; 'You are the poor petty tool of a tyrant; 
 take that.' The question would then seem very 
 naturally to arise, if Mr. Polk was too much of a 
 coward to be Vice-President, how fit is he to be 
 commander-in-chief of the army and navy? He 
 proclaimed himself for annexation. Now, suppose 
 annexation should lead to war, would the Alabama 
 Democracy support such a candidate to be com- 
 mander of the army and navy ] These were Mr. 
 Polk's qualifications in a military point of view. 
 What were his political ones 1 Why, he had been 
 found, during his public career, on every side of every 
 important question. Had he originated or given a 
 prominent and leading support to any great mea- 
 sure, or any great and controlling system of policy'? 
 None. He had never risen higher than to be a 
 mere second rate man — a tool and follower of some 
 other man. This had been his character all his 
 life. He had been the instrument and subservient 
 tool of Andrew Jackson, to do his bidding, whatever 
 that might be. Never had he been found one thou- 
 sandth part of an inch from Jackson's track, wind 
 and turn as it might. However contradictory his 
 measures or opinions might be, those were the mea- 
 sures and those the opinions of the obedient Mr. 
 Polk. 
 
 This was what the great Democratic party had 
 brought out for the four-mile heat at the fall races ! 
 A little, beaten, broken-winded, foundered, spring- 
 halt, shuffling, spavined, bob-tail nag, of Tennessee, 
 to run against the great Eclipse ! [Much laughter, 
 and some punning among the Democratic mem- 
 bers.] There was a turning up of the nose, a 
 sense of the ridiculous, in the mere idea of the 
 parallel. One had been identified with all the great 
 events and measures in our political history for the 
 last forty years. A man — ay — every inch a man, 
 in heart and intellect, in firmness, grasp, and com- 
 prehension of mind — a whole head and shoulders 
 above any man that ever had set his foot-print on 
 this continent, save one only. When the tyrant 
 power of Great Britain was seizing our citizens, 
 and confining them in the loathsome dungeon of a 
 prison ship, whose voice was it that sounded in 
 3 
 
 thunder tones of indignation through the land, 
 loud and long and deep, till the injury Was rc- 
 dressed ? — Henry Clay. And when another crisis 
 arose in our affairs — a crisis, which shook the. 
 Government of the country to its centre, which 
 caused the good man and the patriot to turn pale, 
 and made Jefferson himself declare that it struck 
 upon his spirit like an alarm bell in the dread 
 hour of night, who was it that came to the 
 rescue, threw himself into the breach, and saved 
 his country 1 ? — Henry Clay. And then, in that 
 other critical and trying hour, when the flag of dis- 
 union was raised in Soulh-Carolina, and the laws 
 of the Union were resisted at the cannon's mouth, 
 while we hud in the chair of Stale a man of iron 
 nerve and lion heart, who swore by the Eternal 
 that the laws should be executed, and that if one 
 gun was fired by South-Carolina, "he would hang 
 Calhoun and McDufiie, and Hayne and Hamilton, 
 and the other leaders of the rebellion, as high as 
 Hainan," who was it that came again as our de- 
 liverer, with a heart deeply penetrated by the crisis 
 of his country's fate, and, casting on the issue all 
 he held dear in life, once more, by his prudence, 
 moderation and skill, assuaged the angry elements, 
 and rescued this fair land from the horrors of civil 
 discord'? It was Henry Clay. When the hour of 
 danger came, there was he : and wherever he came, 
 danger was quelled, disorder fled, and public pros- 
 perity smiled upon her restorer. Now, look on 
 this picture and on that — the counterfeit present- 
 ment of two candidates. "Tis Hyperion to a Satyr." 
 As well compare a mousing owl to the imperial 
 bird of Jove, that sprang aloft and soared into the 
 very sun. 
 
 Mr- P. wished to say a few more words on this 
 Gen. Polk — no, not general, he never rose quite as 
 high as that. 
 
 A voice. 'Colonel Polk.' 
 
 Another voice. 'Governor Polk.' 
 
 A third voice. 'President Polk.' 
 
 Well, Governor Polk, then. He had a document 
 in his hand, which would show what were General 
 Jackson's sentiments in relation to a protective ta- 
 riff, so vehemently opposed by Mr. Polk. He would 
 read them. 
 
 Mr. Hale suggested that, in his own case, the 
 doctrine had been insisted on that no paper could 
 be read by a member in his place, without leave of 
 the House. 
 
 Mr. Peyton bowed respectfully to the very or- 
 derly gentleman from New-Hampshire — the same, 
 he believed, who had voted "No" on a vote of ac- 
 ceptance and thanks, when the venerable and illus- 
 trious gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Adams] 
 had presented the memorial of Washington's labors 
 in the field — a scene that drew tears from many a 
 manly eye, which held this House in deep silence, 
 while the very air seemed sacred, and the place 
 hallowed by the memory of the Father of his coun- 
 try. At such a moment it was, that one solitary 
 member, with a voice as strong as the blast of a 
 blacksmith's bellows, had uttered that monosyllable 
 of his own renown. What ! would the gentleman 
 muzzle the press 1 Would not he let him read a 
 paper ? Might not the Clerk read it, then '. 
 
18 
 
 i 
 
 Appendix to the Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 [Mr. Hale said the gentleman entirely mistook 
 him, and wished to explain ; but Mr. P. would not 
 spare the time. 
 
 The Clerk then read a letter from Gen. Jackson 
 to Dr. Golding, in which reference is made to the 
 Tariff.]" 
 
 What letter of Gen. J. is here referred to is 
 not known, but the following extract from one 
 of his annual messages to Congress, shows his 
 real views on the constitutionality and expedi- 
 ency of a protective tariff— and if Young Hick- 
 ory be indeed a chip of the old block, what are 
 anti-tariffites to expect of him'i 
 
 "The power to impose duties on imports 
 originally belonged to the several States. The 
 right to adjust these duties, with a view to the en- 
 couragement of industry, is so completely incidental 
 to that power, that it is difficult to suppose the exist- 
 ence of one without the other. The States have 
 delegated their whole authority over imports to 
 the General Government, without limitation or 
 restriction, saving the very inconsiderable res- 
 ervation relating to their inspection laws. This 
 authority having thus entirely passed from the 
 States, the right to exercise it for the purpose of 
 protection, does not exist in them, and, conse- 
 quently, if it be not possessed by the General Gov- 
 ernment, it must be extinct. Our political sys- 
 tem WOULD THUS PRESENT THE ANOMALY OF A 
 PEOPLE STRIPPED OF THE RIGHT TO FOSTER THEIR 
 OWN INDUSTRY: AND TO COUNTERACT THE MOST 
 SELFISH AND DESTRUCTIVE POLICY WHICH MIGHT 
 BE ADOPTED BY FOREIGN NATIONS. This SUrely 
 
 cannot be the case ; this indispensable power, 
 thus surrendered by the States, must be within 
 the scope of the authority, on this subject, ex- 
 pressly delegated to Congress." Prcs. Jackson's 
 Message to Congress, Dec. 6, 1830. 
 
 (R.) Correspondence between Bolivar fy Mr. Clay. 
 Bolivar to Mr. Clay. 
 
 Bogota, November 21, 1827. 
 Sir, — I cannot omit availing myself of the op- 
 portunity afforded me by the departure of Colonel 
 Watts, Charge d'Affaires of the United States, of 
 taking the liberty to address your excellency. This 
 desire has long been entertained by me, for the pur- 
 pose of expressing my admiration of your excel- 
 lency's brilliant talents and ardent love of liberty. 
 All America, Colombia, and myself, owe your ex- 
 cellency our purest gratitude, for the incomparable 
 services you have rendered to us, by sustaining our 
 course with a sublime enthusiasm. Accept, there- 
 fore, this sincere and cordial testimony, which I 
 hasten to offer to your excellency and to the gov- 
 ernment of the United States, who have so greatly 
 contributed to the emancipation of your Southern 
 brethren. 
 
 I have the honor to offer to your excellency my 
 distinguished consideration. 
 
 Your excellency's obedient servant, 
 
 BOLIVAR. 
 Mr. Clay to Bolivar. 
 
 Washington, October 27, 1828. 
 Sir, — It is very gratifying to me, to be assured 
 directly by your excellency, that the course which 
 
 the government of the United States took on this 
 memorable occasion, and my humble efforts, have 
 excited the gratitude and commanded the approba- 
 tion of your excellency. I am persuaded that 1 do 
 not misinterpret the feelings of the people of the 
 United States, as I certainly express my own, in 
 saying that the interest which was inspired in this 
 country by the arduous struggles of South America, 
 arose principally from the hope that along with its 
 independence would be established free institutions, 
 insuring all the blessings of civil liberty. To the 
 accomplishing of that object we still anxiously 
 look. We are aware that great difficulties oppose 
 it, among which not the least is that which arises 
 out of the existence of a large military force, raised 
 for the purpose of resisting the power of Spain. — 
 Standing armies, organized with the most patriotic 
 intentions, are dangerous instruments. They de- 
 vour the substance, debauch the morals, and too 
 often destroy the liberties of a people. Nothing 
 can be more perilous or unwise, than to retain 
 them after the necessity has ceased which led to 
 their formation, especially if their numbers are dis- 
 proportioned to the revenues of the State. 
 
 But, notwithstanding all these difficulties, we 
 had fondly cherished and still indulge the hope that 
 South America would add a new triumph to the 
 cause of human liberty, and that Providence would 
 bless her, as He had her Northern sister, with the 
 genius of some great and virtuous man, to conduct 
 her securely through all her trials. We had even 
 flattered ourselves that we beheld that genius in 
 your excellency. But I should be unworthy the 
 consideration with which your excellency honors 
 me, and deviate from the frankness which I have 
 ever endeavored to practice, if I did not, on this oc- 
 casion state that ambitious designs have been at- 
 tributed by your enemies, to your excellency, which 
 have created in my mind great solicitude. They 
 have cited recent events in Colombia as proofs of 
 these designs. But slow, in the withdrawal of con- 
 fidence which I have once given, I have been most 
 unwilling to credit the unfavorable accounts which 
 have, from time to time, reached me. I cannot 
 allow myself to believe, that your excellency will 
 abandon the bright and glorious path which lies 
 plainly before you, for the bloody road passing over 
 the liberties of the human race, on which the vul- 
 gar crowd of tyrants and military despots have so 
 often trodden- I will not doubt that your excel- 
 lency will, in due time, render a satisfactory expla- 
 nation to Colombia, and to the world, of the parts 
 of your public conduct which have excited any dis- 
 trust, and that preferring the true glory of our im- 
 mortal Washington to the ignoble fame of the 
 destroyers of liberty, you have formed the patriotic 
 resolution of ultimately placing the freedom of 
 Colombia upon a firm and sure foundation. That 
 your efforts to that end may be crowned with com- 
 plete success, I most fervently pray. 
 
 I request that your excellency will accept assur- 
 ances of my sincere wishes for your happiness and 
 prosperity. H CLAY. 
 
 (S) Letter from Mr. Jefferson. 
 
 Monticello, May 25, 1823. 
 Dear Sir: — 1 have received your letter of the 
 
Appendix to the Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 19 
 
 14th of this month, and at the same time was 
 delivered me, by Captain Barlow, a piece of 
 domestic fabric called negro cloth, containing 
 twenty-four yards, for my acceptance and in- 
 spection. I thank you for the kind and very 
 flattering expressions contained in your letter 
 ami tor the handsome present of the cloth. I 
 should lie happy to return you something more 
 solid than empty thanks. 
 
 You ask my opinion of the American sys- 
 tem. Relative to that somewhat absorbing 
 question J should hope that the whole of my 
 past life and policy had given a satisfactory re- 
 ply. I have always been of opinion that the 
 people of this nation should manufacture all 
 the fabrics that their exigencies demand, if they 
 can do so — and that they can do so without ap- 
 plying to the workshops of England, France, 
 and German)', who will doubt 1 Cotton and 
 Woollen we make in rare abundance and of a 
 quality quite good enough to answer all our 
 wants and demands; why, then, should we 
 travel to Europe ibr our supplies'? For our 
 silks and fine Linen we must lor some time to 
 come go to the workshops of Europe ; but 1 
 apprehend that the day is not far distant when 
 even they will be manufactured by native in- 
 dustry. 
 
 You ask my opinion of the merits of Henry 
 Clay and his policy for the protection of do- 
 mestic industry and manufactures. These are 
 questions which I feel some delicacy about an- 
 swering, first because Mr. Clay is now a can- 
 didate ibr the Presidency, and secondly I never 
 yet fully understood to what ends his policy 
 extends; and although I will advise you of my 
 opinions relative to the questions you put to me, 
 I must beg that you will not at this juncture 
 give my words to the public through the press. 
 As for Mr. Clay, I consider him to be one of 
 the most talented and brilliant men and states- 
 men that the country ever produced, and should 
 I live many years longer, I hope to see him 
 
 HOLD THE PLACE OF CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE 
 
 American republic! His career thus far in 
 life has been a career of glory, and he has 
 achieved that for his country whilst engaged in 
 his career, which would ornament the brightest 
 place in the escutcheon of the most favored 
 statesman of any age or nation ! I say this 
 much in reply to your interrogatories, but, as I 
 said before, I do not wish to have my remarks 
 given to the press, for the simple reason that 
 this country is involved in a political excite- 
 ment in which I am not disposed to take part, 
 as I have long since resolved not to take part 
 in the politics of the times. 
 
 My wrist, which is quite lame, admonishes 
 me to discontinue this hasty note. With assu- 
 rances of the most perfect respect, I am your 
 obliged fellow citizen, 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON. 
 
 (T.) The Southern democrats endeavor to 
 hold Mr. Clay up as a high tariff man, but the 
 followingcxtract, from his great Raleigh speech, 
 will effectually silence the calumny. 
 
 "We must reject both tin doctrines of free trade 
 andoj a high and exorbitant tariff. The parti- 
 
 sans of each must make some sacrifices of 
 their peculiar opinions. They must find some 
 common ground, on which both can stand, and 
 reflect that, if neither has obtained all that it 
 desires, it has secured something, and what it 
 does not retain has been gotten by its friends 
 and countrymen. There are very few who dis- 
 sent from the opinion that, in time of peace, the 
 federal revenue ought to be drawn from foreign 
 imports, without resorting to internal taxation. 
 Here is a basis for accommodation, and mutual 
 satisfaction. Let the amount which is requisite 
 for an ECONOMICAL ADMINISTRATION 
 OF THE GOVERNMENT, when we are not 
 engaged in war, be raised exclusively on for- 
 eign imports, and in adjusting a tariff", for that 
 purpose, let SUCH DISCRIMINATIONS be 
 made as will foster, and encourage our own do- 
 mestic industry. All parties ought to be satis- 
 fied with a tariff" for revenue and discrimina- 
 tions for protection. In thus settling this great 
 and disturbing question, in a spirit of mutual 
 concession and of amicable compromise, we 
 do but follow the noble example of our illustri- 
 ous ancestors, in the formation and adoption of 
 our present happy constitution. It was that be- 
 nign spirit that presided over all their delibera- 
 tions, and it has been in the same spirit that all 
 the threatening crises, that have arisen during 
 the progress of the administration of the con- 
 stitution, have been happily quieted and accom- 
 modated." 
 
 Mr. Clay predicting the Manufacturing Pros- 
 pc/i'y of the South. — In Mr. Clay's great speech, 
 at Raleigh, N. C, he thus shadowed forth the 
 coming conversion of the Southern portion of 
 the Union into a manufacturing country:— 
 
 "The day will come, and is not distant, when 
 the South will feel an imperative necessity vol- 
 untarily to make such a diversion of a portion 
 of its labor. Considering the vast water pow- 
 er, and other facilities of manufacturing, now 
 wasting and unemployed at the South, and its 
 possession at home of the choice of the raw 
 material, 1 believe the day will come when the 
 Cotton region will be the greatest manufactur- 
 ing region in the world." 
 
 The Free Trade of Great Britain and France. 
 —Mr. Clay, in his Raleigh speech, thus hits off 
 the pretended devotion of these two great Eu- 
 ropean powers to the principle of free trade — 
 the one taxing our tobacco alone with a reve- 
 nue duty, equal to the whole amount of duly 
 on our entire importation from all foreign coun- 
 tries, and the other, in one breath, complaining 
 of our tariff of 1842, and declaring her own 
 steady adherence to the protection of French 
 industry ! 
 
 "We are invited, bj partizans of the doctrine 
 of free trade, to imitate the liberal example of 
 some of the great European powers. England , 
 we are told, is abandoning her restrictive poli- 
 cy, and adopting that of free trade. England 
 adopting the principles of free trade! Why, 
 where are her Corn laws'? Those laws, which 
 exclude an article of prime necessity — the mv 
 bread which sustains human life — in order to 
 afford protection to English agriculture. And, 
 on the single article oj American tobacco, England, 
 
20 
 
 Appejulix to the Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 levies annually an amount of revenue e<pial to the 
 whole amount of antics, h vied annually by the Uni- 
 ted States upon all the articles of import from all 
 the foreign nations of the world, including Eng- 
 land. That is her free trade! And as ior 
 France, we have lately seen a State paper, from 
 one of her high functionaries, complaining in 
 bitter terms of the American Tariff of 1842, 
 and ending with formally announcing to the 
 world that France steadily adhered to the sys- 
 tem of proteciing French industry !" 
 
 The free trade of Great Britain with this 
 country may be judged of by the following pas- 
 sage, from the speech of the Hon. Eugenius A. 
 Nesbit, of Georgia, in favor ol the Tariff of 
 1842, at the last session of Congress : 
 
 "She taxes our wheat 50 per cent. ; flour 50 
 percent.; beef 59 per cent. ; pitch 25 per cent. ; 
 rosin 75 per cent.; spirits of grain, 500 per cent; 
 rice 30 per cent. ; butter 70 per cent. ; spirits of 
 molasses 1,600 per cent, ; tobacco, unmanufac- 
 tured, 1,000 per cent.; tobacco, manufactured, 
 1,200 per cent. ; and yet she would induce us to 
 pursue the policy of fostering her manufactures, 
 artisans and mechanics, instead of lostering our 
 own. Sir, I don't subscribe to the doctrine; and 
 gentlemen must excuse me if I tell them that it 
 is, in my opinion, unpatriotic and anti-Ameri- 
 can." 
 
 Mr. Calhoun on the Tariff. — In 1816, John Ran- 
 dolph, of Va., moved to repeal the minimum, or 
 prohibitory duty, on low priced cottons, [which 
 Mr. M'Duffie now denounces as the most odious, 
 infamous and unconstitutional of all unconstitu- 
 tionalities,] as both unconstitutional and against 
 the principle of free trade — but Mr. Calhoun 
 rose in his place, and in the course of an able, 
 eloquent, convincing and triumphant argu- 
 ment, said — 
 
 "But it will no doubt be said, if they [the cot- 
 ton and woollen manufactures] are so well es- 
 tablished, and if the situation of the country is 
 so favorable to their growth, where is the ne- 
 cessity of affording them protection? IT IS 
 TO PUT THEM BEYOND THE REACH 
 OF CONTINGENCY. 
 
 "Besides, circumstances, if we act with wis- 
 dom, are favorable to attract to our country 
 much skill and industry. The country in Eu- 
 rope having the most skilful workmen is broken 
 up. It is to us, if wisely used, more valua- 
 ble THAN THE REPEAL OF THE EDICT OF NANTZ 
 
 was to England. She had the prudence to 
 profit by it — let us not discover less political sa- 
 gacity. Afford to ingenuity and industry 
 immediate and ample protection, and they 
 will not fail to give a preference to this free and 
 happy country. 
 
 "It [the manufacturing interest] produced 
 an interest strictly American, as much 
 so as agriculture: in which it had the 
 decided advantage of commerce or naviga- 
 tion. The country will derive from this much ad- 
 vantage. Again, it is calculated to bind to- 
 gether more closely our widely spread 
 republic. It will increase our mutual depen- 
 dance and intercourse, and will, as a necessary 
 consequence, excite cm increased attention to in- 
 
 ternal improvement, a subject every u:ay so in- 
 timately connected with the ultimate attainment 
 of national strength and the perfection of our 
 political institutions. In his (mm opinion, the 
 liberty and the union of this country were 
 inseparably united — "disunion" — THIS SIM- 
 PLE WORD COMPREHENDED ALMOST THE SUM OF 
 OUR POLITICAL DANGERS AND AGAINST IT WE 
 OUGHT TO BE PERPETUALLY GUARDED." — Mr. 
 
 Calhoun's speech on the tariff of 1816. 
 
 "Mr. C. proceeded to another topic — the en- 
 couragement proposed to be afforded to the in- 
 dustry of the country. In regard to the ques- 
 tion how far manufactures ought to be fos- 
 tered, Mr. C. said it was the duty of this 
 country, as a means of defence, to encourage the 
 domestic industry of this country, more espe- 
 cially that part of it which provides the neces- 
 sary materials for clothing and defence. * * * 
 The question relating to manufactures must not 
 Jcji, ml on the abstract principle that industry, left 
 to pursue its men course, will find in its own interest 
 all encouragement that is necessary. I lay the 
 claim of the manufacturers entirely out of view, 
 said Mr. C, but on ceneral principles, with- 
 out regard to their interest, a certain encouragement 
 should be extended at least to our woollen and 
 cotton manufactures." — Mr. Calhoun's Speech 
 on Direct Taxation, 1816. 
 
 (U.) Annexation of Texas. — Extract from Mr. 
 Clay's letter dated 
 
 Ashland, July 27, 1844. 
 
 "But, gentlemen, you are anxious of know- 
 ing, by what policy I would be guided, in the 
 event of my election as Chief Magistrate of 
 the United States, in reference to the annexa- 
 tion of Texas. * * * I have no hesitation 
 in saying that, far from having any personal 
 objection to the annexation of Texas, I should 
 be glad to see it without dishonor — without 
 war — with the common consent of the Union, 
 and upon just and lair terms." 
 
 "In the contingency of my election, to which 
 you have adverted, if the affair of acquiring 
 Texas should become a subject of considera- 
 tion, I would be governed by the state of fact 
 and the state of public opinion existing at the 
 time I might be called upon to act. Above all, 
 I should be governed by the paramount duty of 
 preserving this Union entire, and in harmony, 
 regarding it as 1 do as the great guaranty of 
 every public and political blessing under Prov- 
 idence, which, as a free people, we are permit- 
 ted to enjoy." 
 
 (V.) In January, 1839, Mr. Clay made his 
 great anti-abolition speech in the Senate, be- 
 cause "he would rather be right than be Presi- 
 dent," from which the following is an extract: 
 
 "I am, Mr. President, (said Mr. Clay,) no 
 friend to slavery. The searcher of hearts knows 
 that every pulsation of mine beats high and 
 strong in the cause of civil liberty. "Whenever 
 it is safe and practicable, I desire to see every 
 portion of the human family in the enjoyment 
 of it. But I prefer the liberty of my own 
 , country to that of any other people, and 
 
Appendix, to the Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 21 
 
 THE LIBERTY OF MY OWN RACE TO THAT OF ANY 
 
 OTHER race. The liberty of the descend- 
 ants of Africa in the UnIted States ifl in- 
 compatible WITH THE SAFETY AND LIBERTY OF 
 the European descendants. Their slavery 
 forms an exception, resulting from a stern and 
 inexorable necessity to the general liberty in 
 the United States. We did not originate, nor 
 are we responsible for this necessity. Their 
 
 LIBERTY, IF IT WERE POSSIBLE, COULD ONLY BE 
 ESTABLISHED, BY VIOLATING THE INCONTESTABLE 
 POWERS OF THE STATES AND SUBVERTING THE 
 
 Union: and beneath the ruins of the Union would 
 
 be buried, sooner or later, Ike liberty of both races." 
 (See Speech of Mr. Clay, on a Petition to the 
 Senate, against the abolition of slavery in the 
 District of Columbia, Jan. 14, li)3 ( J.) 
 
 When Mr. Clay had closed this noble effort 
 in favor of Southern rights and national har- 
 mony, our great Southern statesman, Mr. Cal- 
 houn, the man who has recently declared him- 
 self without a rival, or perhaps without an equal 
 in devotion to the- Union — rose in the Senate 
 and thus publicly and nobly awarded the grate- 
 ful tribute to the illustrious Kentuckian. 
 
 "Sir," said Mr. Calhoun, "1 have heard the 
 Senator from Kentucky with pleasure. His 
 speech will have a happy effect, and will do 
 much to consummate what had been already so 
 happily begun, and successfully carried on to- 
 wards completion. 
 
 "This," continued he, "is a great epoch. Of 
 all the dangers to which we have ever been ex- 
 posed, this has been the greatest. We may now 
 consider it as passed. The resolutions to which 
 he referred, with the following movements, gave 
 the fatal blow, to winch the position now as- 
 sumed ey the Senator from Kentucky, has 
 civen the finishing stroke." 
 
 After this noble testimony of the great Caro- 
 linian, to the fidelity of the great Kentuckian 
 to Southern rights and Southern institutions, to 
 the Constitution and to the country, who will 
 dare to couple the name of the latter with the 
 foul calumny of abolition 1 
 
 On other occasions Mr. Clay made speeches, 
 from which we make the following extracts: 
 
 "I beseech the abolitionists themselves sol- 
 emnly to pause in their mad and fatal course. 
 The liberty of the descendants of Africa could 
 only be established by violating the incontesta- 
 ble powers of the States and subverting the 
 Union." 
 
 "If I had been, or were now, a citizen of any 
 of the planting States — the Southern or South- 
 Western States — I should have opposed, and 
 would continue to oppose, any scheme whatever 
 of emancipation, gradual or immediate. 
 
 "I know there is a visionary dogma which 
 holds that negro slaves cannot be the subjects of 
 property. I shall not dwell long upon the spec- 
 ulative abstraction. That is property which 
 the law declares to be property. Two hundred 
 years have sanctioned and sanctified negro 
 slaves as property. 
 
 "It is not tme, and I rejoice that it is not true, 
 that either of the two great parties of this coun- 
 try has any design or aim at abolition, I should 
 
 deeply lament if it were true." Clay's Speech 
 in the Senate, Feb. 7th, 1839, 
 
 "I will now make a single remark on an un- 
 fortunate and delicate subject, [that of slavery.] 
 At the commencement of the session that sub- 
 ject was before us, and I now repeat what 1 
 then declared, that if there should be an attar}; 
 from any quarter on that great domestic inslihUion 
 oj our section oj Ike country, ike Si nator from South. 
 'Carolina would never be found in trout of me in 
 defending our rights." 'Clay's Speech in the 
 Senate, Jan. 28, 1837. 
 
 "He urged the importance of keeping the ab- 
 olitionists separate and distinct from all other 
 classes, unmixed with the rest of the communi- 
 ty, without the general sympathy, and exposed 
 to the overwhelming power id' th'e united opini- 
 on of all who desire the peace, harmony and 
 union of our confederacy." Clay's Speech on 
 Calhoun's Resolutions, 1837. 
 
 "I WOULD SUFFER THE TORTURES OF AN INQUI- 
 SITION BEFORE I WOULD SIGN A BILL, having for 
 
 its object the abolition of slavery in the District of 
 Colombia; or in any manner give countenance 
 to the project." Clay's Speech in 1841. 
 
 In addressing a large assemblage of slave 
 holders, in Raleigh, North-Carolina, in April 
 last, Mr. Clay, after discussing other topics, 
 spoke as follows of abolition: 
 
 "On the subject of abolition, I am persuaded 
 it is not necessary to say one word to this en- 
 lightened assemblage. My opinion was fully 
 expresssed in the Senate of the United States, a 
 few years ago, and the expression of it was one 
 of the assigned causes of my not receiving the 
 nomination as a candidate ibr the Presidency in 
 December, 1839. But if there be any one who 
 doubts, or desires to obtain further information 
 about my views, in respect to that unfortunate 
 question, I refer him to Mr. Mendenhall, of 
 Richmond, Indiana." 
 
 It will be remembered, that, on the 1st Oct., 
 1841, at Richmond, Indiana, Mr. Mendenhall, a 
 prominent member of the abolition party, pre- 
 sented a petition to Mr. Clay to manumit his 
 slaves. After a brief appeal to his friends not 
 to mob Mr. Mendenhall, nor offer him any vio- 
 lence or indignity, Mr. Clay, addressing Mr. 
 M., said: 
 
 'Excuse me, Mr. Mendenhall, for saving, that 
 my slaves are as well fed and clad, look as 
 sleek and hearty, and are quite as civil and res- 
 pectful in their demeanor, and are as little dis- 
 posed to wound the feelings of any one, as you 
 are. * * * * Go home and mind 
 your own business, and leave other people to 
 take care of theirs. * * * * I own 
 about GO, (slaves) who are probably worth about 
 fifteen thousand dollars. To turn them loose 
 upon society, without any means of subsistence 
 or support, would be an act of cruelty. Are you 
 willing to raise and secure the payment of fif- 
 teen thousand dollars for their benefit if I should 
 free them 1 The security of the payment of that 
 sum would materially lessen the obstacles in the 
 way of their emancipation.' " 
 
 From the Lexington Inquirer, 
 
 Our readers will recollect our comments up- 
 
22 
 
 Addenda to the Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 on an article in the Gazette, making such ado 
 about "Whiggery courting Abolition." The 
 direct appeal of the Gazette to Mr. Clay's be- 
 nevolence, is met by him as such appeals always 
 have been and always will be. 
 
 We trust all fears and apprehensions will 
 now be quieted. 
 
 Ashland, Sept. 2d, 1844. 
 
 The editor of a neighboring print, (the Ken- 
 tucky Gazette, of Lexington,) calling my atten- 
 tion to a letter of C. M. Clay, Esq., under date 
 of the 10th July, 1844, and addressed to Col. J. 
 J. Speed, of Ithaca, has appealed to me, with 
 so much earnestness and with a purpose of such 
 unaffected sincerity, to say whether 1 approve or 
 disapprove of that letter, that I have not the 
 heart to deny to that editor the very great grati- 
 fication which he will derive from the perusal 
 of this note, especially when it gives me so 
 little trouble to write it. 
 
 Mr. C. M. Clay's letter was written without 
 my knowledge, without any consultation with 
 me, and without any authority from me. I 
 never saw it until I read it in the public prints. 
 That gentleman is an independent citizen, hav- 
 ing a perfect right to entertain and avow his 
 own opinions. I am not responsible for them, as 
 he is not for mine. So far as he ventures to 
 interpret my feelings he has entirely miscon- 
 ceived them. I believe him to be equally mis- 
 taken as to those in the circle of my personal 
 friends and neighbors generally. 
 
 In my speech, addressed to the fcenate of the 
 United States, and in resolutions which I offer- 
 ed to that body, in my address to Mr. Menden- 
 hall, about two years ago, and on various other 
 public occasions, I have fully, freely, and ex- 
 plicitly avowed my sentiments and opinions on 
 the Institution of Slavery and Abolition. I ad- 
 here to them, without any reservation. I have 
 neither entertained nor expressed, publicly or 
 privately, any others. And my friends and 
 neighbors generally, so far as I have inter- 
 changed sentiments with them, coincide with 
 me. 
 
 The sentiments and opinions so expressed by 
 me, may be briefly stated to be : 1st. That Con- 
 gress has no power or authority over the insti- 
 tution of Slavery. 2d. That the existence, 
 maintenance and continuance of that. Institu- 
 tion, depend, exclusively, upon the power and 
 authority of the respective States within which 
 it is situated. And, 3d. That Congress cannot 
 interfere with slavery in the District of Colum- 
 bia, without a violation of good faith to the 
 States of Maryland and Virginia, implied, if 
 not expressed, in the terms, objects and purpo- 
 ses of the grant of ten miles square to the Gen- 
 eral Government. 
 
 So far from the success of the "Whig cause 
 having any injurious tendency, as has been al- 
 leged, I believe it will have a powerful effect 
 in tranquilizing and harmonizing all parts of 
 the Union, and in giving confidence, strength 
 and security to all the great interests of our 
 country. 
 
 I hope that your editorial neighbor will be 
 now satisfied. And, as I trust that I do not ex- 
 
 aggerate the pleasure which this renewed ex- 
 pression of my views and opinions will give 
 him, is it too much to anticipale that he will 
 forthwith renounce the errors of his ways, and 
 come straight out a staunch and sterling Whig. 
 Yours, respectfully, 
 
 H. CLAY. 
 
 ADDENDA. 
 
 Mr. Clay's Private Character. — The ma- 
 ligners of Mr. Clay, having endeavored to stig- 
 matize him as a gambler and a profligate, it is 
 deemed proper to add to this speech the follow- 
 ing testimonials from the Rev. Dr. H. B. Bas- 
 com, the able and pious President of Transyl- 
 vania University, at Lexington, Kentucky, liv- 
 ing in the same city with Mr. Clay, and his in- 
 timate and familiar friend. 
 
 Letters from the Rev. H. B. Bascom, D. D., 
 President of the Transylvania University, and 
 one of the most eloquent and distinguished 
 preachers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 in reply to the Clay Club of Newark, N. J.: 
 
 Newark, July 9th, 1844. 
 Rev. Dr. Bascom, 
 
 President of Transylvania University. 
 
 Rev. and Dear Sir— You will, I trust, pardon 
 the liberty I take in writing to you, when I 
 state that my object is to ascertain from you 
 some testimony concerning the private charac- 
 ter of the Hon. Henry Clay. I do this at the 
 solicitation of many conscientious, upright men, 
 who appear to have been led to regard Mr. C. 
 as any thing but an honest and upright citizen — 
 a Sabbath breaker— gambler— profane swearer, 
 &c. I would respectfully ask if these things 
 be so. It is not my wish to draw from you a 
 letter for publication, and no public use will be 
 made of your answer, my object being to ascer- 
 tain how far these representations which are 
 constantly repeated by the Democratic papers 
 of the North are warranted by truth. 
 
 Your answer to the interrogatories will much 
 oblige, Yours, very respectfullv, 
 
 J. G. GOBLE, 
 Cor. Sec. Clay Club. 
 
 Transylvania University, ) 
 Lexington,, Ku., July 24th, 184-1. $ 
 My Dear Sir— In reply to your letter of the 
 9th inst., I owe it to truth, virtue and the claims 
 of society, without any reference to the political 
 strifes of the day, to say, I have been in inti- 
 mate and confidential intercourse with the Hon. 
 H. Clay, both in public and private life, for more 
 than twenty years, and know the charges enu- 
 merated in' your letter against the private char- 
 acter of Mr. Clay, to be utterly and basely false. 
 Mr. Clay, as is known to the whole nation, of- 
 fers no claim to Christian piety, in the parlance 
 of our churches, but in view of the ordinary ac- 
 credited principles of good moral character, no 
 charge can be brought against him, without vio- 
 lating the obligations of truth and sound justice. 
 To each interrogative charge, therefore, con- 
 
Addenda to the Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 23 
 
 tained in your letter, and reaching me in the 
 shape of a question, 1 return for answer, that I 
 regard one and all of them as shamefully unjust, 
 because not true, in whole or in part. 
 Very respectfully, 
 Your ob't serv't, 
 
 H. B.BASCOM. 
 Dr. J. G. Goble. 
 
 After this full, explicit, and unequivocal tes- 
 timony of one oi the most distinguished divines 
 of our country, we trust no reader can feel that 
 there can be any further necessity of pursuing 
 the reckless slanderers of Mr. Clay. It is due 
 to Mr. B., perhaps, that his reply to the letter, 
 asking permission to publish the above, should 
 be added, and so here it is. 
 
 Transylvania University, \ 
 Lexington, (Ku.) August 7th, 18-11. $ 
 My Dear Sir — In your letter of the 9th July, 
 you called upon me. for information respecting 
 the "private character" of my neighbor Mr. Clay, 
 assuring me that "many conscientious, upright 
 men," in your section, had been induced, by the 
 representations of his enemies, to regard Mr. 
 Clay as "any thing but an honest and upright > iti- 
 zen — a Sabbath breaker — profane — gambler, c\-c." 
 Your letter added, at the same time, that "no 
 public use" would be made of my reply, should 
 one be received from me. Thus appealed to, I 
 expressed to you freely, in relation to the pri- 
 vate character of Mr. Clay, what I regarded as 
 due to him, to myself, and the community in 
 which we live. I need scarcely add, that, 
 called upon under similar circumstances, I 
 should most cheerfully attest the good charac- 
 ter of any of my neighbors, without reference to 
 political relations or discussions, nor do I be- 
 lieve any of them would hesitate calling on 
 me, to this effect, should it be found necessary. 
 
 In a second letter, just received from you, 
 you ask permission to use my first at discretion, 
 and as no injustice has been done to any one, 
 by allowing you to do so, although my letter 
 was written as private, I know of no good rea- 
 son why I should withhold the permission you 
 ask, and therefore accord it. 
 
 Very respectfullv. 
 
 H.'B. BASCOM. 
 
 Dr. J. Goble. 
 
 Mr. Clay's Standing at Home. — The Lin- 
 coln Telegraph publishes the following extracts 
 from a letter, recently written by the Rev. Dr. 
 Nash, a distinguished divine of the Episcopal 
 Church, who has resided for ten years near Mr. 
 Clay, and who fully corroborates Dr. Bascom's 
 statement in reference to Mr. Clay's character. 
 The paragraphs quoted show conclusively how 
 the great statesman is regarded by the moral 
 and religious men of his own neighborhood 
 and State, who know him best. The letter is 
 dated 
 
 "St. Albans, (Vt.) Aug. 24, 1844. 
 
 "As a criterion of the estimation in which he 
 is held at home, it will not be out of place to 
 state here— which I do unhesitatingly, having 
 
 had ample opportunities for ascertaining the 
 truth — that Mr. Clay has the confidence and po- 
 litical support of a very lar.'e proportion of tin' 
 moral worth, and, I may add, of a very large 
 majorityof the members of the different denomi- 
 nations, residing in Lexington. All of these, I 
 believe, with one exception, are the friends of 
 Mr. Clay; and most of them are frequent visit- 
 ers at his house. There are about twenty Epi 3- 
 copal clergymen in Kentucky. All of these are 
 the friends of Mr. Clay. I >f the one hundred 
 and five or ten clergymen — I do not recollect 
 the exact number — composing the last confer- 
 ence of the Methodist Church of Kentucky, all 
 but three, as I was informed by a member of 
 the conference, are the political friends of Mr. 
 Clay. I am not so accurately informed res- 
 pecting the political opinions of the ministers of 
 other denominations, as 1 am respecting the 
 opinions of the ministers of the Episcopal 
 Church; I am confident, however, that there is 
 nearly, if not quite, as large a majority of these 
 friendly to the election of Mr. Clay, as of those 
 last mentioned. Out of the four or five hundred 
 clergymen, of different denominations, in Ken- 
 tucky, there are not, I am almost certain, fifty 
 political opposers of Mr. Clay. 
 
 "The opinion of a great majority of the reli- 
 gious people (ministers and others) living in the 
 neighborhood of, and immediately connected 
 with, Mr. Clay, I am confident is, that if he is 
 elected to the Presidency, there will be, while 
 he continues President, a far healthier, moral 
 influence around the Presidential chair, than 
 there has been since J. Q.. Adams' administra- 
 tion." 
 
 Bargain and Corruption. — The following 
 testimonials, from political friend and political 
 foe, will dispose of this stale slander: 
 
 "Testimony of Mr. Adams. — Upon him 
 (Mr. Clay) the foulest slanders have been show- 
 ered. Lon? known and appreciated, as suc- 
 cessively a member of both Houses of your 
 National Legislature, as the unrivalled speaker, 
 and at the same time most efficient leader of 
 debates in one of them ; as an able and suc- 
 cessful negotiator for your interests, in war and 
 in peace, with foreign powers, and as a power- 
 ful candidate for the highest of your trusts, — 
 the Department of State itself was a station 
 which, by its bestowal, could confer neither 
 profit nor honor upon him, but upon which he 
 lias shed unfading honor by the manner in which 
 he discharged its duties. Prejudice and pas- 
 sion have charged him with obtaining that office 
 by bargain and corruption. Before you, fellow 
 citizens, in the presence of our country am 1 of Hea- 
 ven, I PRONOUNCE THAT CHARGE TOTALLY UN- 
 FOUNDED. This tribute of justice is due from 
 me to him, and I seize with pleasure the oppor- 
 tunity afforded me, by your letter, of dischar- 
 ging the obligation." 
 
 "Again, Mr. Adams, in his address in the 
 Presbyterian Church at Maysville, in respond- 
 ing to the declaration of Gen. Collins, 'that he 
 [Mr. Adams] had placed Kentucky under deep 
 and lasting obligations to him, for his noble de- 
 
24 
 
 Addenda to the Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 fence of her great statesman, in his letter to the 
 Whigs of New- Jersey,' replied as follows : 
 
 'I thank you, sir, for the opportunity you have 
 given me of speaking of the great statesman 
 who was associated with me in the administra- 
 tion of the General Government, at my earnest 
 solicitation ; who belongs not to Kentucky alone 
 but to the whole Union ; and is not only an 
 honor to this State and this nation, but to man- 
 kind. The charges to which you refer, I have, 
 after my term of office had expired, and it was 
 proper forme to speak, denied before the whole 
 country; and I here reiterate and reaffirm that 
 denial; and as I expect shortly to appear before 
 my God, to answer ibr the conduct of my whole 
 life, should these charges have found their way to the 
 Throne of Eternal Justice, I WILL, IN 'THE 
 PRESENCE OF OMNIPOTENCE, PRO- 
 NOUNCE THEM FALSE,' " 
 
 Testimony of General James Hamilton, 
 Junr. — "It would, in my humble opinion, 
 have been an act of supererogation on the 
 part of Mr. Clay, to have made a bargain 
 for what, by the force and gravity of political 
 causes and geographical considerations, was 
 inevitably his, without either his crime or 
 his participation — an offer of a seat in Mr. 
 Adams' cabinet. In accepting it, I have 
 always understood he acted in conformity with 
 the advice of some of the most influential sup- 
 porters of Mr. Crawford, whose friends then 
 occupied a position of neutrality between the 
 two great parties of Gen. Jackson and Mr. 
 Adams, although they soon after, it is true, be- 
 came belligerents on our side. I sincerely be- 
 lieve that Mr. Clay's acceptance of the office 
 that subjected him to such obloquy, was the re- 
 sult of a sense of duty which he owed to the 
 country, to aid, by his counsels, him whom he 
 had assisted to place in power. He certainly 
 relinquished, in [accepting] the Department of 
 State, a position in the House of Representa- 
 tives, far more desirable, and of more influence 
 and authority, which was much better adapted 
 to the peculiar and transcendant vein of his 
 signal ability for distinction in a popular as- 
 sembly. 
 
 "I know that this view of the case runs coun- 
 ter to the opinions of my old chief, (who, if he 
 puts himself at the head of the annexation 
 movement will be my chief again,) and those of 
 many esteemed friends, with whom 1 was proud- 
 ly and victoriously associated in the struggle of 
 182S and '29. But they must pardon me for ad- 
 hering to an opinion, (however valueless) long 
 since entertained and frequently expressed. 
 And now, when I have no sort of connection 
 with any party in the country, (except on one 
 isolated question, associated, as I believe, with 
 the best interests of the whole Union, and the 
 vital security of the South,) I hope I may be 
 allowed, without any impeachment of my own 
 motives, and certainly with no adhesion, either 
 expressed or implied, to the politics of Mr. Clay, 
 to do justice, as far as my humble opinion can 
 afford it, to his public reputation and his unsul- 
 lied personal honor." 
 
 TESTIMONIAL OF JOHN RANDOLPH IN 
 FAVOR OF HENRY CLAY. 
 
 "An Interesting Incident. — Charles James 
 Faulkner, Esq., in his speech, at Gerardstown, 
 on the 3d ult., while commenting in eloquent 
 and indignant terms upon the movements of the 
 Disunionists at the South, related an incident in 
 the life of John Randolph, so creditable to the 
 magnanimity of that celebrated man, and so 
 just and honorable to the fame of Henry Clay, 
 that we have deemed it worthy of being pre- 
 served and placed before the public. It is 
 well known that the personal relations between 
 these two remarkable men were not of the 
 kindest character, but unfortunately the reverse. 
 It is equally well known, that as politicians 
 they were invariably arrayed against each 
 other — the opposition of Mr. Randolph at times 
 assuming the most virulent character, as in 
 1812-13 — previous to and during the war — and 
 whilst Mr. Clay was Secretary of State. And 
 yet, in the last public address ever made to the 
 people — in a speech in the County of Bucking- 
 ham — during the pendency of that fearful strug- 
 gle, between the State of South-Carolina and 
 the Federal Government, when one rash and 
 indiscreet act of violence might have involved 
 this country in the horrors of civil war, and led 
 to the dismemberment of the Confederacy — and 
 when every patriotic eye watched the progress 
 of events with the deepest solicitude — the op- 
 portunity occurred which that gentleman avail- 
 ed himself of to do justice to the character of 
 his great and distinguished opponent. In the 
 course of his speech he is reported to have said : 
 
 'Gentlemen, I am filled with the most gloomy 
 apprehensions for the fate of the Union. I can- 
 not express to you how deeply I am penetrated 
 with a sense of the danger which at this moment 
 threatens its existence. If Madison filled the 
 Executive chair he might be bullied into some 
 compromise. If Monroe was in power, he 
 might be coaxed into some adjustment of this 
 difficulty. But Jackson is obstinate, headstrong, 
 and fond of fight. I fear matters must come to 
 an open rupture. If so, this Union is gone.' 
 Then pausing for near a minute, raising his fin- 
 ger in that emphatic manner so peculiar to his 
 action as a speaker, and seeming, as it were, to 
 breathe more freely, he continued — 'There is 
 one man, and one man only, who can save this 
 Union. That man is Henry Clay. I know 
 
 HE HAS THE POWER — I BELIEVE HE WILL BE 
 FOUND TO HAVE THE PATRIOTISM AND FIRMNESS 
 EQUAL TO THE OCCASION.' 
 
 "Shortly after this, Mr. Randolph proceeded 
 on through Washington to Philadelphia, where 
 in the course of a few months he died. He ar- 
 rived in the former city after the Compromise 
 Bill had passed. Deeply impressed with the 
 great and valuable service, which Mr. Clay had 
 just rendered the country, he had himself con- 
 veyed to the Senate Chamber, then too plainly 
 exhibiting, in his face and appearance, the rav- 
 ages of that fatal disease to which he was so 
 soon to fall a victim, where these two brilliant 
 rival orators and prodigally gifted favorites of 
 
Addenda to the Speech of Mr. Yeadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 25 
 
 nature met for the last time. As Mr. Clay ap- 
 proached to salute him, Mr. Randolph said: 
 
 'Mr. Clay, you perceive I am dying. Yes, 
 sir, I am dying, but, thank God, I have strength 
 enough yet left to return you my poor acknow- 
 ledgments for having saved the Union.' 
 
 "This incident, we understood Mr. Faulkner 
 to say, he derived, during a recent visit to the 
 city of Richmond, from Thomas Miller, of 
 Powhatan, a gentleman of high character — 
 one who for many years enjoyed the intimacy 
 and friendship of Mr. Randolph, and upon 
 whose accuracy the utmost reliance could be 
 placed. 
 
 "The relation of this interesting incident, in 
 the life of Mr. Randolph, by Mr. Faulkner, pro- 
 duced a marked effect upon his audience, and 
 seemed to inspire the speaker himself with an 
 increased love for the Union, and its great de- 
 fender, Henry Clay." — Martinsbur g ( Va.) Gaz. 
 
 Democratic Abuse and Profanity. — The 
 following specimen will show the ruffian and 
 profane warfare, waged against the Whig can- 
 didates. 
 
 A Design, to illustrate the character of the Whig 
 
 Pari ii '. 
 
 At the top of the sheet, put the name 
 
 "WHIG PARTY." 
 
 Under this, place the figure of a double man, 
 with a face each way ; one side representing 
 Henry Clay, with a pistol in one hand and a 
 pack of cards in the other: and the other repre- 
 senting Theodore Frelinghuysen, with a Bible 
 in his hand. Below, put the words — 
 "We fight with both carnal and spirit alw 
 
 Under this, divide the sh set into two columns. 
 On the Left put a cut representing Henry Clay 
 shooting a fellow-man in a duel; on the right, 
 Frelinghuysen praying for sinners. 
 
 Below this, Clay at the card table, playing a 
 game of brag; and Frelin§ huysen at the Com- 
 munion Table, part; king of the Sacrament. 
 
 Then, Clay in a brothel, kissing the lewd wo- 
 men, and Frelinghuysen amid his pious sisters 
 in a prayer-meeting. 
 
 Clay looking on while his overseer whips a 
 negro man, and Frelinghuysen walking arm-in 
 arm with a black dandy. 
 
 The who! r persed with appropri- 
 
 ate sayings from the mouths of the two candi- 
 and concluded by a grand procession of 
 WHIG Clergymen who support the Ticket, 
 escorting their JUGGERNAUT, Henry Clay, 
 in the shape of Old Nick, to the Temple of 
 Civil Power; while Frelinghuysen, withangels' 
 wings on, sits beside him on the same car, v ith 
 this motto:— "OUR HEAVEN IS POWER, 
 THOUGH THE DEVIL BE ITS GOD."— 
 Ki ndaU's Expositor. 
 
 POLITICAL SUMMERSETS. 
 
 After Mr. Calhoun, his editor and his fol- 
 followers, had gone over "hoi e, fool and dra- 
 goons" to Mr. Van Buren and his party, which 
 Mr. C. had shortly before denounced as a sel 
 of "rogues and royalists, held together only by 
 the cohesive power of public plunder," and to 
 4 
 
 the Sub-Treasury policy, which his editor and 
 man Friday had, only "a little month" before, 
 denounced as "a humbug," and "a scheme to 
 put the money of the Government in the Presi- 
 dent's Breeches pocket," the '7ti Association 
 and Revolution Societies, (botli exclusively 
 composed of Nullifiers and Calhounites), which 
 had, in 1835 or I83ti, when Mr. C. was a Whig, 
 resolved themselves into one body, under the 
 name of "The Whig Association," followed 
 their file leader in his sub-Treasury <summerset, 
 doiied the Whig gait;, and relapsed into the '"7G 
 Association." 
 
 When, in his rabid mood of Whiggery, "the 
 Editor of the Mercury," now a patent democrat, 
 wrote thus of Mr. Van Buren: 
 
 " Martin Van Buren is the spawn of Jack- 
 sou's tyranny — the successor to Jackson's usur- 
 pation — the fabric of 'the simple machine' into 
 which the hero retrenched the government" — 
 "brought into power on the servile shoulders of 
 the subservient democracy, and unworthy the 
 support, therefore, of any freeman." ! ! ! 
 
 The following testimony shows also what Mr. 
 Calhoun and Mr. M'Dume once thought of the 
 party with whom they are now associated. 
 
 ' from a Speech delivered by Mr. Calhoun, 
 in Pendleton, S. C, in 1836. 
 "The foe is in the bosom of the country, and 
 in possession of the Government. Apow rful 
 faction, [party U cannot b \ called,] held together by 
 Ihi hopes of public pkimder, and marching under a 
 bannt r wh reon is writU n 'to the victors belong the 
 spoils,' has made successful war on our institutions, 
 <i>ul concerted, all the poioer and, mfiuence of the 
 Government into instruments of gain. Ampler 
 means for this purpose were scarcely ever pla- 
 ced in the hands of a dominant faction. With 
 available means five times greater than is re- 
 quired by the legitimate wants of the country; 
 with th,e administration of a boundless public 
 domain; with unlimited control, till the passage 
 of the deposite bill, over the public funds, and 
 through them over the currency and banking 
 institutions of the country; with one hundred 
 thousand dependants on the bounty of the Gov- 
 ernment ; and, finally, with an organized, rigid 
 and severe system of discipline, having its cen- 
 tre in Washington, and extending in every di- 
 rection over the wide circle of the country, a 
 scene of speculation and corruption has been 
 opened, reaching trom the Capitol to the ex- 
 tremities, embracing the high and the low, 
 those in and those out of office, the like of 
 which has scarcely ever existed under the most 
 despotic and profligate Governments. It is this 
 powerful and corrupt combination, in actual 
 possession of the Government, against which 
 the honest and patriotic have now to wage 
 war." 
 
 R ply of Mr. M'Dvffie toon invitation to a Fourth 
 
 of July Dinn r. 
 
 "Cherry Bill, July 4, 1837. 
 
 Gentlemen : — Being unexpectedly called off 
 
 this morning, it will be out of my power to unite 
 
 with you in commemorating the anniversary of 
 
 our independence. However gratifying it would 
 
 be to me to mingle with my friends and neigh- 
 
Addenda to the Speech of Mr. Ycadon, at Madison, Geo. 
 
 now, that if the Compromise had not passed, at the 
 next session of Congress all traces of that policy 
 would have been effaced from the statute booh. 
 
 You and I both maintained that the measure of 
 protection, preserved by the Compromise would be 
 sufficient, until about 1842. But we were taunted 
 by our opponents, to now what would be its con- 
 dition when the period arrived. We replied, there 
 were the home valuation, eash duties, a long list of 
 free articles, &c. But I said, also, let us take care 
 of ourselves now ; the people of 1842 may be trust- 
 ed to take care of themselves. Public opinion, in 
 the meantime, may become more enlightened, and 
 the wisdom of the protective policy may be demon- 
 strated. I have not been disappointed. My pre- 
 dictions have been fulfilled. 
 
 / thought we achieved a great triumphin placing 
 the Protective policy, by the Compromise act, with- 
 out the reach and beyond the term of Gen. Jack- 
 son's administration. And we availed ourselves 
 of the fact that the South- Carolina. Delegation 
 were much more anxious thai the difficulty should 
 be settled by us than by Gen. Jackson." 
 
 Now this is very nearly identical with what Mr. 
 Clay said, in his speech, contemporaneous with the 
 Compromise Bill, of which he was the father. 
 
 Mr. Webster and Mr. Dallas, having opposed 
 the Compromise, as too unfavorable to the manu- 
 facturers, and indeed abandoning the protective 
 principle, and being desirous to give us the Force 
 Bill without the Compromise, the thunder-bolt 
 without the olive-branch, Mr. Clay, in reply, said : 
 "The pledge, by which the Senator from Massa- 
 chusetts supposed the constitutional power of pro- 
 tection to be surrendered, he did not consider as 
 anything more than a suggestion of the wishes of 
 the parties to the compromise at this time. There 
 
 WAS NOTHING IN IT THAT WOULD BIND US OR 
 OUR SUCCESSORS, OR IN ANY WAY RESTRICT THE 
 CONSTITUTIONAL POWER OF DISCRIMINATION. 
 THE CONSTITUTION WAS OUT OF THE REACH 
 OF ALL SUCH ATTEMPTS. * * * * * 
 
 He was suprised at the suggestion of the Senator 
 that there was no occurrence within the las! six 
 months which shows that the protective system is in 
 danger. The issue of numerous elections, the 
 President's recommendations, the general tone of 
 public feeling, and the whole power and influence 
 of the dominant party, endanger the continuance 
 of the system. Tlie footing, on which the adminis- 
 tration would place the tariff, was infinitely less 
 favorable to the protective interests than this bill- 
 He saw a torch applied to the system, 
 and he had attempted to snatch it away. 
 * * * * He objected to the entire ar- 
 gument of the Senator that he proceeded forward 
 
 to the year 1842, and undertook to prophecy the 
 results of the bill in that distant year. * * * 
 
 He WOULD PREFER TO LEAVE THE MATTER TO 
 
 the Congress of 1842. * * * He 
 contended that the bill did not surren- 
 DER THE PRINCIPLE OF PROTECTION. It was 
 
 effectually secured for nine years, when it was 
 brought down to something like what the Southern 
 States demanded [i. e. a revenue adjusted to the 
 economical wants of the government]. * * * 
 The South had given up as much as the North in 
 the bill and a perfect eqiiality of concession had 
 been arrived at- * * * * The Senator 
 chooses to say that my proposition is seconded by 
 the Senator from South-Carolina, and that it is 
 supported by two opposite extremes. * * * 
 If he be not altogether opposed to an adjustment 
 of the question by Compromise — and he assures 
 us he is not — in what other manner would he effect 
 an adjustments He (Mr- C) had urged the pro- 
 position as a measure of mutual concession — o/"l 
 peace, of harmony. He wanted to see no 
 
 CIVIL WARS — NO SACKED CITIES — NO EMBAT- 
 TLED ARMIES — NO STREAMS OF AMERICAN 
 BLOOD, SHED BY AMERICAN ARMS." 
 
 That Mr. Clay had good ai;d substantial reason 
 fur taking this noble and patriot stand, in favor of 
 concession and peace, is fully established by the 
 information, for the first time made public, by the 
 Hon. James S. Rhett, of this .city, in his recent 
 democratic speech made at Savannah, little sus- 
 pecting that he was thereby magnifying the claims 
 of Mr. Clay to the gratitude and the honors of 
 South-Carolina, the South, and the whole nation, 
 by showing that he (Mr. C.) had indeed saved South- 
 Carolina from inglorious submission at the point of 
 the bayonet, to Gen. Coffee and 50,000 troops, or 
 her and the South and the Union from a horrible 
 and bloody civil and fratricidal war. 
 
 In looking at the alleged violation of the Com- 
 promise, due regard also should be had to the fact, 
 that it was accompanied by Mr. Clay's Land Bill, 
 which passed the Senate by a decisive vote, and the 
 House by Yeas 96, Nays 40, and was to have af- 
 forded some equivalent or compensation to the 
 tariff party for their concessions on that subject, 
 and which was pocketed and smothered by Presi- 
 dent Jackson (there not being ten days of the ses- 
 sion left to put an end to his constitutional delibe- 
 ration on the bill), with the full knowledge, that, if 
 returned with his veto, it would have been passed by 
 two-thirds of both branches of Congress. And 
 this Land Bill, thus smothered by Gen. Jackson, 
 has ever since been opposed by Mr. Calhoun and 
 his party. 
 
LE D '10