»^ :^' J3> !:> ^T) y>:.^^^ ^^^^ -n?i>>?>.^ •^2 >'5^»»:>X> '!P*II> ^■-^' I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, #1 I - i — #, t UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, f horrence ot" the treacliery he meditated against his new associates. Thus a sense of honor, self-respect, family pride, and patriotism, made me, in 1823, a i)artizan of CrawJ'oviL And when, in 1821, it pleased the Al- mighty to touch him witli his linger, and rebuke the aspirations of genius and ambition, the same senti- ments, ratlier brightened than rusted by the previous struggle, made me a partizan of General Jackson.- And he never had one more devoted and enthusiastic. 1 further claim some consideration from the Jackson party, when they remember tliat in 182 1, and again in 1828, I published, under my own signature, tlie above facts in relation to Mr. Adams ; and tiiat my <• state- ment was thought to iiavc materially contributed to the victory of Jackson over his antagonist.-' Thf vengeance of the Opposition, wliich fell iii»on me, in consequence, cannot be forgotten. It began in 1S21, and never ceased till 1829. For five years, I was forced to figlit my way tlirough a host of atrocious libels, private slanders, loss of professional business, and, for a time, loss of reputation. J5ut I triumphed over ray political assailants, and beheld beneath the rainbow of our hopes, Jackson ascending the steps of the Capitol ! At that moment, I could with truth, have said to him, " the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." — For in the heat of the conflict, 1 had alienated my family and many of my friends, had expended all my limited means, neglected my professional duties, and, of course, lost my clients, and found myself ship- wrecked upon the very sands of the harbour, into which, 1 had aided the ship of State in entering, and riding therein in security, and glory. Nevertheless, I can recollect no moment of my life so full of keen delight, as that when the election of Jackson was ascertained. My readers, 1 humbly trust, will credit me when 1 aver, that up to this period I had never once thought of an office, nor of any other reward of my exertions but the approbation of my own conscience. It was not until some of the most lucrative appointments were conferred upon men who had comparatively done and suffered nothing, — mere followers of the camp, — that I ventured to present my claims before the President, in July 1829. And on this subject I have a story to tell, wherein the young men of the State and Nation may read a lesson full of instruction and warning. 1 received a subordinate office, (but not the one I had been promised.) and on the 20th April, 1830, re- paired to the Custom House, in Boston, as Deputy Surveyor. I soon found myself surrounded by men, claiming to lead the Jackson party of Massachusetts, who seemed to have no other object than their own emolument and advancement; — intriguing, greedy and intolerant: — and attempting to exercise the same des- potic control over the political opinions, as over the official conduct, of their dependants. In a short time, projects were advocated by them and afterwards carried into effect, tending to bring shame and con- tempt on a "''reform-^ Administration; — projects re- plete with extortion, corruption and baseness. With zeal and indignation I opposed them, and consequently, incurred their secret hut inveterate enmity. Although it was apparent that the President had been most grossly deceived in his appointments in this quarter, 1 still adhered to him with unshaken fidelity, defending his acts and lauding his virtues, in the newspapers open to such communications. And in Feb. 1831, when he was assailed by Mr. Calhoun in the famous << Correspondence," 1 wrote a review of that controversy hostile to the assailant and warmly advocating the President, which being refused publica- tion in the Boston Statesman, and the Gazette, ap- peared in the Washington Globe. At that time, there were not among the office holders in Boston half a dozen open friends of Jackson. The leaders of the party were mutely watching the cur- rent of public opinion, and nearly all their subordi- nates, of course, wagged their heads in silence. — When however it was ascertained that the President would triumph over liis great antagonist, they all join- ed in the general acclamation, and endeavoured to cover, by an inordinate zeal, their previous ingratitude to their benefactor. Were the few faithful, '< found among the faithless," sustained afterwards by the Government? No; — they were sacrificed to the su- perior political influence and wealth of the ingrates and traitors. They were sacrificed by the selfish and cold-blooded policy of Van Buren.* •Van Burea acknowledged afleQwordf, in Boston, that he was aaliBfied the Statesman party were, at this tiiiio, the friends ol Calhoun, but that they had rapenl«d, and wers necessary to future operations. 8 Could it liave reached me, I should have fallen with the rest; but 1 did not resist the impulse to tender, for the Jirst time, a resignation of my office. This most unjust and cruel transaction, did not de- tach me from the cause of the President, nor diminish my confidence in his honor and magnanimity. Pur- suaded that he was in utter ignorance of the facts, and that a few of his faithless advisers, (to whom they had been communicated,) were alone its authors, X still continued his firm and ardent friend. And such I remained, until a band of conspirators, seized upon the occasion of his visit to Boston and his temporary illness and imbecility, to persuade him to lay violent hands on the public treasure, and to trans- fer it, in this quarter, into the custody of government officers removable from office at his pleasure. A most impolitic, disastrous, and fatal proceeding ! Impolitic, because, it gave the U. States Eank a new and far stronger ground of contention ; and was calculated to bring about the very thing it was designed to prevent, viz : — the re-charter of the Bank. Disastrous, be- cause it shed dismay and ruin on the enterprising and industrious classes. Fatal, because it was the occa- sion of the subsequent "Protest" denouncing the Senate, (one of the three equal powers of the Govern- ment,) and asserting an authority in the President re- pugnant to the Constitution and dangerous to liberty. Fatal to the fame of Jackson as a champion of popular rights ; to the party that elected him, by converting all the advocates of such regal prerogative into Tories ; and, perhaps, to the great Charter of the Confederacy, by inflicting a wound that can never be healed. In the following pages, I shall give some facts and 9 suggestions that may possibly throw new liglit on this rash and alarming assumption of power. It may yet be discovered, tliat the whole was the work of a sinirle individual's malice and revenge. 1 have, for many years, been opposed to the re- charter of the U. S. 13ank, and subscribed the Boston Anti-liauk Memorial to Congress ; — but, because 1 would not add an approval of the seizure of the de- posites, some tory miscreant (tories are always ene- mies of freedom of opinioji,) erased my signature, and it was not printed in the Memorial. 1 was also against any U. S. Bank, but Mr. Benton's speeches and the late fatuity of the Globe on the subject of gold — which means only Dutch gilding — cured me of that egregious error. A gold currency is the currency of despotic governments with an impoverished and ignorant popu- lation. Wherever we find credit, and a paper curren- cy payable in the precious metals, there will be found also liberal institutions, an enterprising people, and a flourishing commerce. Napoleon, (says the Globe,) gave France a gold currency. If we are to be cursed with an American Napoleon, without doubt he will tread in the footsteps of his exemplar. To resume the thread of tiiis comjiendious narrative. During 1833, in consequence of tlie incessant and virulent attacks made upon a friend in a high station in the Custom House, by his official brethren, and for other causes to be named hereafter, I, a second time tendered a resignation of my office. I liad become disgusted with the intolerable duty required of me, with the ( ontinually increasing corruption, and with the heartless reception of tiie devotedness with which 1 sacrificed myself for other's advantage. So that in 10 April 1834, prostrated, by the invasion of an hereditary complaint of the heart, brought on by the excessive labour and confinement of the first years of my official duties ; — by the dissipation of the political illusion that had so long beguiled me ; by the ''^ serpent tooth"' of ingratitude; by the violation of all my feelings and principles, — I was forced to exchange the condition of a slave for that of a freeman, but with all my pros- pects in life blasted and apparently hopeless. In the following pages 1 shall not, of the numerous letters received from the leaders of the Jackson party, publish a single word. Private correspondence will be sacred in my hands, unless some mercenary or vin- dictive assailant compels me to expose his own, or that of his employers. Copies of my own letters, in ex- planation of facts, 1 shall take leave to use as I think proper. At an age, when I ought to have laid the founda- tions of future independence, I find myself depressed in spirit and impoverished in circumstances. Yet my example may be incalculably beneficial to the genera- tions who follow. Let the young men learn, that any useful occupation is infinitely better than the business of politics or official preferment ; — and that a reliance on men, in their political attachments, is but leaning upon a broken reed ; — vfhWe. principle s, both in poli- tics and morals, are unbending and eternal. This is the moral of my story. J. B. 1). Boston, Sept. 1834. CHAPTER I. Origin of the Statesman Party. " Go thou, and like an Executioner, " Cut oiT the heads of too fast-growing sprays, " That look too lofty in our commonwealth : " All must be even in our government." In 1824, there were four candidates for the Presidency, viz: — W. H. Crawlord nominated by a portion of the democraticmcm- bers of Congress, — J. Q. Adams by the New-England States, — General Jackson by Pennsylvania and part of the West, and Henry Clay by Kentucky and other Western States. In Massachusetts, a great majority of the moderate men of both the old federal and republican parties united in favor of Mr. Adams. But a considerable Crawford party soon appeared, formed by an amalgamation of high-toned federalists and radical democrats ; — the federalists actuated by personal aversion to Adams, and the democrats by an anxiety to sustain the precedent of Caucus nominations. Of this party I am inclined to believe that the federalists constituted the greater pari, but as Mr. Crawford was held up in Virginia and some other Southern States as the regular democratic candidate, it became politic for the party here to march under the same standard ; and thus was brought forward into the front rank a set of men who. but for this circumstance, would probably have never been heard of as leadin"- politicians. In proof of the extent of federal influence in the Crawford party of Massachusetts, read the following extracts from a circular letter distributed, in Oct. 1824, throughout the State. At a numerous and respectable meeting of Federal Republicans, nt the Supreme Court Room, Boston, convened l«y n notice in tliR news- Sapers, last evening, (18th Oct. inst.) the following Preamble and Resolutions were adopted unanimously: To the Federal Republicans of Massachusetts.'^ FEIjLQW-CITIZENH. — A number of your j)oli[ical friends as- sembled on a sudden call, mado throiii,'h the newspaperu this morning, of Federalists opposed to a pledged ticket of electors, beg leave to ex- 12 press to you their opinions on the subject of the approaching election of a President of the Union. The election of a chief magistrate is surely among the most important rights of freemen ; but for many years past we have had so little share in such elections, that we seem to have become indifferent to the subject. — There is certainly a division, however unequal, in the opinions of the Federal Republicans, as to the qualifications of the several Candidates, and probably for that reason they had declined to act on this occasion as a distinct body. — While we respect the principles which have induced this forbearance lest offence should be given to some of our friends, we cannot conceal the fact that there has appeared a general and decided hostility to the pledged ticket, and we believe that at the polls a very great majority of the Federalists will act with us. About five or six hundred voters are now present, and they form but a part of those in the city who feel, think and will act in union with us. And we declare that whenever we have witnessed an appeal on this subject to unbought and unpledged men, we have seen one general burst of indignation against the proceedings of the placemen who se- lected for public approbation a list of electors, who before they could be received as candidates, were obliged to surrender ttieir voices to the cabal who appointed them, and thus bind themselves slavishly to de- clare the will of others, instead of exercising the proud and honorable prerogative of free and independent electors. SAMUEL L. KNAPP, Chairman. GEORGE G. CHANNING, Secretary. The following were chosen a Committee of Correspondence, agree- ably to one of the above resolutions, viz: — Mden Bradford, Henry H. Fuller, Dr. Benjamin Shurtleff, James C. Merrill, Samuel Henshaw, Benjamin R. Nichols, Henry Williams, George Morey, Jr. Charles Barnard, and Ninian C. Betton, Esquires. The pledged Ticket was the Adams ticket, the unpledged the Crawford ticket. The Electoral Ticket supported by the Crawford party, was composed, with few exceptions, of old Federalists. The Hon. Jonatlian Russell was unquestionably the leading man of the Crawford party in this State, and conducted the contest with an ability deserving of a more happy result. But among the leading democratic members in Boston, were Uavid Henshaw, then a druggist and apothecary, now Collector ot" tlie Port, with a salary and perquisites of about S5000 per annum. Andrew Dunlap, a lawyer, in small business, now District Attorney, fees (supposed) from 2 to 3000 dollars a year. John K. Simpson, an upholsterer, now Pension Agent and Deputy Treasurer of the U. States, (as President of a Pet Bank;) — pay supposed from S to 6000 dollars. Daniel D. Brodhead, then a Merchant-Tailor, now Navy Agent, pay probably §4000. — Nathaniel Greene, then Printer of a weekly newspaper called 13 the Statesman, now Post Master of Boston, pay about 6000 dollars per year. C. G. Greene, was of so green an age that I cannot remember whether he had then been initiated into the mysteries of party, but if so, he was a printer; — now contractor for " twine, blanks, ike." at over 29,000 dollars per two years. The two first gentlemen were the principal writers for the newspaper printed by Greene, and his printing office was the scene of the political consultations of this august body; — hence they took the name of the ** Statesman party." Other gentlemen, of much superior talents, attainments and influence, were members of the party; — but the little faction above named, finally succeeded, by a combination among them- selves, in obtaining under Jackson, to tlie exclusion of the rest, every lucrative office in Boston in the gift of the President, and in distributing among their partisans, relatives, and debtors, in town and country, nearly all the other appointments of le.^s emoluments. Of tlie private characters of these men I have nothing to say, and shall confine myself to their public and political stations, characters, and conduct. At the period of whicii I have been speaking, Mr. David Henshaw was remarkable for nothing but an active and money- getting industry, a piofessedlv deep-rooted hostility to the aris- tocracy, (so called,) which usually means all who are richer than ourself, and an enthusiastic admiration of Napoleon Buoiia|)arte. He has since swelled to a tremendous greatness, of which 1 shall treat hereafter. Mr. Dunlap was noted for his immeasurable abhorrence of the Hartford Convention ; — it was his cloud by day and pillar of fire by night; — the beginning and end of all his public speeches and newspaper paragraphs. lie furnished most of the /(/<'«.< for the newspaper, which Henshaw reduced to form. In truth he was and is the most radical and intolerant democrat I ever encoun- tered. " Impiger, iracundus, inexorabili3,acer;" — rush, wrathful, vindictive, and daring, — as a politician. I shall allude to liim agait). Mr. John K. Simpson, — better known among the party as '' Johnny K" This personage is the miniature Van Buren of the associates, — soft, s«ly, and insinuating, — never losing sight of 14 his own interests and advancement; — intent upon the fees but careless of the honors of office ; — and accomplishing all his po- litical projects by some manoeuvre and intrigue. Indeed, so natural to him is this, that I doubt whether he can blow his nose without a stratagem. He however makes himself extremely useful as a member ; is peculiarly active and successful in col- lecting affidavits when it becomes necessary to trip up the heels of a refractory office-holder; in drilling the democratic members of the State Legislature; in preparing the "cut and dried" measures to be passed by all Caucuses and Conventions under the " Statesman" jurisdiction ; and in managing a change of front, if it becomes expedient to abandon a great Candidate for office when his prospects grow cloudy. His political conversation is in whispers and by the button, with an eye continually watchful of eaves-droppers and spies. And although he sometimes man- ages to dupe his associates and effect his own schemes while apparently promoting theirs, yet his peculiar qualities have ren- dered him a great favorite of the Statesman faction. By the sale of feathers he made himself rich, and as Deputy Treasurer of the U. States, beyond all question, he will thoroughly "-feather his nest." If Van Buren is elected President he should make him Grand Chamberlain of the household. Mr. Daniel D. Brodhead. Of this important personage I know but little. It is said, however, that having been a Clerk of the Navy Office under the late Amos Binney, Esq. (whom Amos Kendall hunted so unmercifully, in his '• black list;") he has a sharp look out to the main chance; and, also, that while a mer- chant tailor, he produced very tolerable "fits." This gentleman affects the profound politician, and reasons high in oracular lan- guage, but it is only " vox, et preterea nihil" — voice, and not much else. With all his close political calculations, he happened to be caught at the great " National Tariff Convention," not long before the last Presidential election, although I think that he toasted Mr. Calhoun, at a public dinner, a few years before, with great vehemence But perhaps, as the political atmosphere looked rather squally at that moment, a seat in that Convention was not a bad move, since in the event of Mr. Clay's success, it might just have been mentioned as a passport to his favour. He obtained the office of Navy Agent by a majority of one vote, 17 15 to IG, — niaiiv Seiuitors beii)g absent. Ami tliere are certain facts connected with his appointment, and certain other matters in which he has been concerned, tliat will oblige me to call him up again. Mr. Nathaniel Greene. I knew him in 1824 as merely of the firm of True Sc Gvcp.ne, printers of the Statesman, and from that time to 1829, never sus|)ected him of tvritiiig a single important article or even a paragraph, for the paper. The cause of his appointment as Post Master was. for a time, wholly unaccount- able, but it at last transpired. He has since figured in so many extraordinary transactions illustrative of political character, to be detailed in the following pages, that I will for the present snspend any further remarks, trusting to introduce him with greater effect hereafter. And as his brother, Mr. C. G. Greene, had not then attracted much notice, I shall leave him until the period, when he burst suddenly upon his astonished party, in the meridian splendor of Ciceronean glorv. Such was the origin and such were the leaders of the famous •* Statesman party" of Boston ; — a party that for a long period kept itself aloof and disconnected from every other pcirty ])ursu- ing tiie same political ends, repelling all interlopers and over- throwing all rivals; — maintaining no friendships except with each other, but eagerly accepting the fruits of other men's labours; — veering with every breeze apparently disastrous to their patrons and benefactors, — secret, persevering and indefatigable in the prosecution of their selfish objects, until they manaijed to share among themselves nearly every government appointment in Eos- ton connected with profits and patronage I And these are the men, who vow, fearing the loss of their enormous salaries by the defeat of Van Buren, arc struggling, with a hope of success, to get our State Government into their hands, so that Henshaw may be a Senator in Congress, J)unlap a Judge of our Supreme Court, Simpson Sheriff of Sutlolk, Brod- head Register of Probate, and the two Greene's Adjutant General and State Printer, leaving the minor offices of the Commonwealth to be scrambled for by the cuiinlnj members of the party. Some of my readers, knowing the men, may smile at this as- sertion : but I can tell them, that smile of incredulity may be 16 chanf-ecl to a o-roan. Thev who have obtained, in a manner unex- pected and incomprehensible to themselves, high, responsible, and most lucrative offices from the Government of the U. States, look upon the petty offices of the State as their proper and rightful possessions ; — fit asylums for veteran democratic Jacksonians. CHAPTER II. The Election of 1824. Under which King, Bezonian ?" Gentle Reader; — do not suppose that my knowledge of the political characters of the " Statesman" faction was intuitive ? — Alas! for many years, being at a distance from the "Literary Emporium,*' we had but little intercourse; — and as they thun- dered in the van of the Crawford party, and made up in clamor what they wanted in respectability, I recognized them as being what they seemed. It was a closer intimacy, a residence in Boston, and official connections, that proved them utterly un- worthy of respect and confidence. Previous to that time, (as will be shown in these pages,) I appeared as their zealous and disinterested friend in a crisis which threatened the entire pros- tration of their power, and the triumph of their rivals. All of 1823, and most of '24, I lived in one of the secluded but beautiful villages of Norfolk County, distinguished for the industry and intelligence of its inhabitants. Here a republican population of farmers and mechanics, met each night, after the labours of the day, for mutual instruction and enjoyment. Every man contributed his mite, or his talent, to the general information ; and by this free discussion, two-thirds of the votes declared for the Crawford ticket. Never shall I cease to remember the gen- erous spirit, the enlightened intelligence, the disinterested patron- 17 age, of the people of Mcdtield. " Sweet Auburn, loveliest vil- lage of the plain!" The vote in this town in Nnv. 1824, was for the Crawford Ticket 70, Adams 30. I believe that only three other towns in Massachusetts gave majorities against Adams. In the Summer of 1824, there appeared in the Boston States- man certain severe and eloquent writings, by " One of the Peo- ple^" stigmatizing the political course of Mr. Adams and ardently opposing his election. I soon ascertained that the Hon. Jonathan Russell was the writer. In an interview with that gentleman, he requested me not to expose any knowledge of the author ; ' and, faithful to my promise, I involved myself in a labyrinth of difficulties materially affecting my interests and future prospects. Since his decease, I have thought myself absolved from that promise. These writings have been attributed to me, and in consequence, I have been compelled to bear unmerited honors from one side, and the most vindictive persecution from the other. I communicated to Mr. Russell the facts in my possession rela- tive to Mr. Adams's apostacy, and his probable designs on the democratic party, and was somewhat surprised to find them in- corporated in the next number of " one of the people." And it is remarkable, that, to this very important charge against the political integrity of Mr. Adams, not a single newspaper in his interest, in this or any other State, uttered, at the time, a word of denial or defence. Some six months afterwards, when Mr. A. had been signally defeated by the votes of the people, and it was apparent that the election depended on Congress, the National Journal demanded of the Statesman proof of the charge. My name, without any previous consultation with me, was immedi- ately ushered before the public. In this situation, I drew up, in the form of an affidavit, all the facts within rnj knowledge ; — which was sustained by the certificate of a gentleman of high standing and respectability. It was published in the Statesman on 9th November. Although I had asserted in the affidavit that I was not the author of " One of the People," this availed me nothing witli the zealots of the Adams party, and a most furious personal attack appeared in one of their Boston newspapers. I should have prosecuted the writer, but was restrained by paren- tal advice and authority ; — so I contented myself with publishing »n answer in the Statesman The concluding passage of that 18 answer I must be permitted to insert here, because it goes to show that I was actuated by no interested views, and also, that even then, I had a foresight of the future success of Jackson. Let it be remembered, that Mr. Crawford's lamentable illness was notorious, and that his friends considered his prospects desperate. " I have nothing to gain, nothing to hope for, no interested " views, in opposing the election of John Q. Adams. But I have " done what I thought my duty with ardor, but not with intem- " perate zeal, and whether my conduct receives praise or con- " demnation, I care not. The time is at hand, even at the dooVy '' when the small minority in JIassuchusetts,most of whom I truly " believe acted from the most pure and conscientious motives, ivill " rank with the great majority of their countrymen. The hand " writing is upon the ivail — let the seers interpret." I have letters in my possession proving, that at this early pe- riod, my hopes reposed on Jackson. These things have only become matters of moment of late years when so much has been said about '• eleventh hour men," although now, both the '* eleventh hour" and the early dawn labourers have been discarded, and the fruits of their labours have been given to those who came into the vineyard just before sunset. Let us now look after the little Cabal in Boston, who have since had the impudence to style themselves the " earliest" friends of Jackson, and the "Spartan Band of Democracy, in Massachusetts." So far from being friends of Jackson, up to the final election of Adams they had not ceased to ridicule his pre- tensions, both in conversation and in their newspaper, " Hell is as fit for a powder house as Jackson for President," said one of the most refined and eminent of the confederates. Even the aid of '' poesy" was summoned to the purpose of pouring contempt on the " Hero of New-Orleans ;" — the loftiest strain of which, retained in remembrance, is the following from the Statesman :— " Quincy Adams who can slang, " Andrew Jackson who can hang." There are multitudes in Boston who recollect that the bitterness of the Statesman party against Jackson, at this time, was quite equal to that which tliey manifested against Adams. " Spartan Band of Democracy !" Never was a more false and 19 absurd claim set up by any party. For two years they had been amalgamated with federalists of the " straitest sect," and had cast their votes for an electoral ticket composed of high toned federalists, with merely a slight infusion of democracy. And I aided in mingling even this, by voting, (as a delegate to a Crawford Convention at Dedham on 19th Sept. 1824.) for Hon. Benj. Reynolds as the Norfolk Candidate for Elector. But the real principle of combination among the Statesman party soon became apparent ; — the " loaves and fishes" of office was their only bond of union. After the election of J. Q. Adams by the Representatives of the States, he immediately proceeded to strengthen his party by treaties witli his late opponents. The appointment of Secretary of State was supposed to have conciliated Mr. Clay and his friends. There was then a general impression that the Crawford party were next to be taken into favour, in order to array a com- manding force against the most formidable of his antagonists, — Gen. Jackson. Like a wary politician Mr. Adams left his inten- tions for a time doubtful, with the expectation, probably, of dis- tracting the mercenary adherents of both Crawford and Jackson, and attaching them to his Administration. This policy had the desired effect on the "Band" in Boston. The Statesman, soon after the election of Adams, instead of proving an opponent of the "corrupt bargain," and the "earliest" advocate of Jackson, was giving the leer of invitation for an alliance with the reigning power, mingled with menace in case of non-compliance; — it held in one hand a tomahawk, and in the other a treaty of peace with the usual "annuities." And so clearly was this amicable dispo- sition perceived by the Adams party in Boston, that Mr. David Henshaw was elected on a federal ticket, a State Senator, and Mr. John K. Simpson a Representative, by that very party, which they have since so constantly pretended to scorn and abominate ! Had Mr. Adams then turned the light of his countenance on these humble but earnest efforts for a share of his natronase. beyond a doubt the Statesman party would have been among his scattered host in 1828. But he could not overcome his antipathy to Massachusetts federalism, and in a hesitating attempt to ex- hibit a preference of Jacksonmen to Crawfordmen, he lost both parties, which immediately coalesced against him. This event 20 was a forerunner of his defeat, as every politician of common shrewdness instantly discovered. And tlien, for the first time, rose from the ranks of the democratic " Spartans" the ominous crv. " Huzzah for Jackson." But let us investigate their claim to democracy a little further. Every reader of the Statesman, for a few years past, has no- ticed the ecstacv of wrath which inflamed it, — the aangreHe that seized upon it, whenever it had occasion to mention Mr. Quincy's resolution in the Senate of Massachusetts during the last war, viz: — "that it was unbecoming a moral and religious people to rejoice in our victories over the public enemy." The resolution was indeed the extreme of political insanity. But what shall we think of men claiming to be the very "pinks" of democracy, — original, wool-dyed, inflexible, and immaculate, who, (ten years after the war, when the passions had cooled, and reason and prin- ciple ought to have resumed their control,) actually made a feast in Boston to celebrate the surrender, during the war, of a whole army, and a portion of the territory of the U. States, to an inferior force of the enemy ? After such a deed, what astounding impu- dence, for a man to claim to be a democrat ! And what mon- strous injustice, for such men to be continually vituperating the conscientious opponents of that war in New-England, when they themselves, assisted in conferring /lonoj's on one whom a Court martial and a democratic President considered deserving of death, for inflicting such disgrace on the country! Yet if my readers will consult the files of the Statesman, or the Centinel, of June 1825, they will find a particular account of a public festival in Boston, given to General Hull, who for the surrender of his army, at Detroit, and the territory of Michigan, to a small force of British and Indians, at the commencement of the war, was subsequently condemned by a Court martial to be shot; — which sentence President Madison approved, but remitted its execution. Among the Vice-Presidents of the day, at this glorious celebra- tion, they will find the names of Dtivid Henshaw and John K. Simpson — the Castor and Pollux of the Statesman parly. And we have their " sentiments" also, wherein we discover no mincing of matters, but open, palpable, and right-down, Hartford-Con- ventionism. 21 * " By David Henshaw, Ksq. The public voice — Americans are *' too honest to sacrifice the innocent to screen the guilty." Mr. Simpson was, as usual, a little less direct and plump to the purpose; — rather more flowery, — but equally conclusive. " By John K. Simpson. The survivivs: officers of the Conti- " nental war — Sub>cqucnt misfortunes have not withered the " laurels won by them in the Revolution, nor tarnished the cord " which binds them to their nei{>;hbours and fellow-citiy.ens !" No, my "/ca^/jcrcf/ Mercury," the "cord" still binds you to tory principles, and you will strive in vain to break it. Now, I apprehend, that my democratic readers require no further comment on this most extraordinary exhibition of " old, Spartan, radical, unwavering, and genuine democracy !" Disgusted with such shameless coniluct, — with the total aban- donment of political principle by the Statesman leaders, and their base hankering after office, I resumed my professional vocations with zeal and success. For several years, the party paper* was a wretched and feeble bantling, ready to be deposited on any wealthy statesman's door-stone who would yield it pro- tection and sustenance. But, to the honor of New-England, no one was found willing to assume its paternity. The friends of Jackson in my county scouted it as a '" cow-boy" of all parties, roaming over " neutral ground." With opinions unchanged, and our confidence of the ultimate triumph of our political leader unimpaired, we impatiently awaited the dawn of a brighter day. It came at last. The measures of Adams's Administration, by their temporising and imbecile character, invited opposition and gave a presage of future conquest. Clay was the only statesman in the Cabinet who united to great genius the boldness which could alone have saved a minority President. But he suffered his genius to be rebuked by Mr, Adams, and evinced such an inordinate anxiety to exonerate himself from the dis- honourable imputations of his adversaries, that many who were at first incredulous, begun at last to think "there must be some- thing in it." Experience seems to have proved in this country, that a distinguished statesman ought never to notice the accusa- tions of his political opponents, however false and atrocious. JSo • The Boilon StatcBinan. 22 loug as he is silent, the people consider such charges as only the usual lies of the newspapers ; — but the moment wounded honor, or self-respect, impels him to defy his accuser, then an impression is created that the arrow has hit him in a tender place. Who ever heard of Isaac Hill putting himself on his defence, or chal- lenging an investigation either popular or judicial, — unless, in- deed, some one had been whipping him, and then the "damages" make a very ditFerent case. No matter what accusation is level- led at his popularity, he has only quietly to say to his humble followers — "a federal lie," and there 's an end of it. And thus Hill has, for years, as despotically ruled in New-Hampshire as Dr. Francia ever did in Paraguay. Any man who is troubled with a nice sense of honor, and a keen sensibility to disgrace, should avoid public life as he would the cholera. It strikes me that the only way to rise in public station is this; — pay no regard to the clamours of your opponents, but bend all your energies to undermining every political friend who is either above you, or impedes your progress. The general acclamations always wait on him who clears the ring. How many friendly official heads have flown off, since Mr. Van Buren aimed at the Presidency ! He knows how such matters ought to be managed. But this is a digression. CHAPTER III. The Election of 1S28. " Now is the winter of our discontent " Made glorious summer. * » » *• Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths." — Shakspears " Oh ! blindness to tlie future !" — Pope. By the beginning of 1827, everything announced the impending downfall of the Adams Administration. In vain had the Presi- dent proposed magnificent schemes of internal improvement and national grandeur ; in vain had he projected a splendid alliance with the sister republics of South America, then struggling for freedom. Cupidit) could not be bribed, nor even the spirit of liberty flattered, to his purposes. He had no personal popularity ; that talisman — whose power we have recently felt, — which ren- ders the approach of despotism invisible, and extorts, from an infatuated people, triumphant acclamations at every blow which lops oft" a limb from tiie Constitution. Had Mr. Adams acted on the principles which he professed to believe, viz: — radical democracy ; had he waved the services of the statesmen who composed his Cabinet, (with the exception of Rush.) and called into his councils an inferior order of men "unknown to fame;" — had he driven out all the public officers as plunderers and aristocrats, and filled their places with a fresh, more hungry, and more incompetent band of retainers, — he would have served out his eight years, and have been followed to his retirement by the blessings of his party. For it is the naturul and inevitable consequence of universal suffrage, that, every few years, a ne\y party rises up, more radically democratic than its predecessors, to push them from their places. The republican principles of the revolution are not the republican principles of the present day, and those who achieved that revolution are now considered, by some, " little better than tories." It has been the fashion of late years to laud Mr. Jefferson as the "father of democracy ;" — 24 but in less than twenty years from this time, I apprehend, he will be numbered with the ignorant and aristocratic statesmen of an age of political darkness. We see the operation of an exten- sion of the right of suffrage in England ; — for no sooner had the "reform bill" passed, than William Cobbett walked into Par- liament, — a man whom " England had twice vomited out on the shores of America, and America had twice vomited back again." But it requires no spirit of prophecy to foretell, that if this wretch lives ten years longer, he may think himself fortunate if he does not lose his head as an aristocrat. And in this country, we have remarked, that President Jackson, beckoning for the popular applause, first expressed a gentle disapprobation of the present Bank of the U. States, but at the same time proposed another on dift'erent principles. In a short time after, driven beyond the bounds of rational opinion by the clamor of his par- tizans, he was forced to condemn all National Banks. The next step was, of necessity, the condemnation of all Banks, State and National, and all paper currency, and the substitution of gold and silver. And in all probability, he will finally be compelled to anathematize gold and silver, and reduce the country to the currency of the patriarchal age, when the husbandman exchanged his corn for the oil of his neighbour. This tendency to radicalism is so certain and immutable, that a defeated party has only to assume more agrarian sentiments than its victors, to regain its power and brand them as aristocrats. 1 know I am digressing, — but 1 cannot refrain from suggesting these veracious and useful considerations to the young and as- piring politician. Let my youthful reader, intent on oflBcial pre- ferment, be advised, that his success depends entirely on the absurdity of his opinions. General Washington could not now compete with Amos Kendall ! Where will this regular declension end? Whenever a popular President, mistaking the roar of a few hair-brained fanatics for the voice of the people, surrenders himself to the guidance of radical and mercenary counsellors, and by his acts endangers the security of property, then, (if the country has been prosperous.) they who have something to lose will out-number and out-vote those who have nothing. I place no great stress on the love of liberty; it is quite a feeble passion in our times, and is nearly • 25 merged in a luve of gain. We have borne more from Jackson than our fathers did from George the third 1 If Van Buren does not become alarmed at the growing discontent of the people, and retrace his steps, we may look forward with some hope, that, in 1836, the Constitution will be rescued from beneath tlie feet of those wlio are now trampling upon it. But if, (which Heaven forbid !) he succeeds on llie principles now set up by his followers, then the dynastv will be continued in Amos Kendall ; — and Isaac Hill will be Minister to the Court of St. James, — no, I beg par- don, to the Lord Protector of England, — at present one of the " operatives" at Manchester. Mr. Adams attempted to revive the principles of his father's Administration, — to go back to old times, — regardless of the po- litical deterioration of the country. Of course, his doom was sealed. He never changed his politics notwithstanding his pro- fessions, and his administration was as federal as his father's. Yet he aft'ected the plain republican, but erroneously supposed, with the '• Statesman party," that republicanism consisted in de- nouncing *' ruffled shirts" and decent apparel. The '' labarum" of democracy, in their view, seems to have been the eel-skin cue, worn by the Cape-Cod-nien, about the period of the Revolution. But times have altered — and the editor of the Statesman who for- merly waged a terrible war against ruffled shirts, now, since the "twine, blanks, ike." contract, sports as magnificent a ruffle and as fashionable a coat as any of his neighbours. Mr. Adams, under this absurd impression, visited the paternal mansion in the summer of 1828, decorated with a jockey cap, a dimity short jacket, white overhauls and kid pumps. I never shall forget his appearance as he rode through the streets of Dedham, on horseback, — nor the mortification and scorn express- ed in the countenances of his friends. Hostile as I was to him in political matters, 1 must say that I truly pitied both him and them. There is an anecdote related of this " avatar" and the singular costume in which it was performed, that I believe to be authentic. Before arriving at one of the Taveins in Walpole, Mr. A. had mounted on horseback, and placed his groom in the carriage which followed in the rear. On drawing up before the portico, an oRtler, in a clean frock, wlio had been expecting the arrival of 26 • the President of the U. States, administered water to the horses of the carriage with profound respect, turning an eye of reveren- tial awe on the gentleman who was within. The real President, who sat on his blowed charger, finding himself likely to be ne- glected, says " water mij horse, Sir." To which Mr. ostler, with a look of indignant contempt at his dress and appearance, replied " d n you. water him yourself, — that's your business." Finding the battle going against him, and the odious stigma of federalism fixed on himself and his administration, Mr. Adams made a last desperate effort to retrieve his fortunes by leading to the charge his ''old guard," vix: — his false accusation, against the former federalists of Massachusetts, of treasonable designs against the U. States He probably supposed that as they had hitherto sufi'ered the charge in silence, the same passiveness would be continued. But unfortunately for him, the leading federalists of Massachusetts thought that a calumny uttered by a private citizen seeking for office, and by a President of the U. States, were very different matteis. They answered him in a solemn and affecting appeal to all the generous feelings of the heart, conjuring him to designate any one of their number who had been either principal or accessary in so base a design- As he could not do this without subjecting himself to a prosecution as a libeller, Mr. Adams shrunk from the challenge, and suff"ered the double misery of perceiving his poisoned arrow returned with fatal effect into his own bosom, and of dying a political death with "a lie in his mouth." But I know that many of these abused and illustrious citizens, with a magnanimity and virtue almost unknown in these degenerate days, believing that love of country ought to subdue every personal feeling, actually gave their votes for their calumniator ! We will now look in upon our friends of the Statesman party. While the chances were favourable to Mr. Adams' re-election, we have seen them mining for his favour. But when his star besran to wane and Jackson's to rise " lord of the ascendant," thev turned towards its cheering beams their servile homage. I well remember, that sometime in 1827, sitting in my office in conversation with my late lamented i'riend Ames, Mr. Nathaniel Greene, printer of the Statesman, made his appearance. His business was to extend the circulation of his paper. We entered 27 into his views, remarking, however, that h? must take more de- termined ground ; that Iti* paper had been loo tame and luke- warm, whereas the times required Ijoldness and energy. Ho replied, that " the party" intended to take fhat course in future, and I then promised to supply him with an occasional "article," and to solicit subscriptions. In a short time afterwards the paper was in full blast, but it manifested so rancorous and malignant a character as to disgust the respectable and sincere friends of Jackson. It appeared to be the object of its conductors, not to create and sustain a party favorable to Jackson, but to vilify and blackwash every distinguished man of the oppo-ing party, and every federalist who belonged to their own. Argument gave place to " blackguardism." There wan a time, when by conciliatory and gentlemanly con- duct on the part of the Boston Statesman, Massachusetts might have been gained for Jackson. But its conductors !iad no such intentions. Dreading all respectable competitors in the expected distribution of offices, they sought recruits only in the kennels and gutters. Proclaiming Jackson an Irishman, they planted their flag in the menage of Broad-street; and holding him up as the champion of the poor against the rich, they received, with "hugs fraternal,'' the tenants of poor-house> and penitentiaries. The Crawford party having generally declared for Jackson and being composed of men acting from nobler motives than a grov- elling desire of plunder, could not long endure tiiis reckle.^s sacrifice of their ho[)es, and desecration of their principles. They, therefore, in 1828, established a new paper in Boston called the ''Jackson Republican," by which (too late.) they attempted to retrieve the errors into which their associates had plunged. At this time a separation took place in Boston between those of the Jackson party who contended for principles, and those who merely fought, like Major Dalgetty, on their own honk, — for pav and rations, and the plunder of the enemies' camp. I wrote for both papers, the Statesman and Republican, — enough to make a considerable v(jlume. Never was any man inflamed with a more intense y.eal. and, (as I then thought.) a more sincere patriotism. I neglecterl all other business, anis accusations, and seal their own infamy. " Again, should it be asked, (admitting Mr. Adams's political " desertion to be feigned, Sec.) why I come not to his aid in his •' design of restoring the federal party to power by treacherously " aftccting the ruin of tlieir former adversaries? I should think " it foul scorn in any one to presume to suggest so base an ac- " tion, — and in the language of Evan Dhu should reply, *' that " he who could ask such a question kens little of the heart" of a federalist, " or the honor of a gentleman." "* Tlic next day after the " Statement" was published in the Boston Statesman, there appeared in one of the Adams news- papers of that City a most outrageous attack on my private character. It would be hardly possible to compress, into a. para- graph of about ten lines, more desperate malignity and ferocity. It declared me a most worthless, friendless, and infamous person, — without business, respect, or reputation ; — insane (if mind, and intemperate in my habits. Now, at that very moment, I enjoyed, — more than is common to a young man, the confidence (»f my fellow-citizens; my professional business was extensive and pro- ductive; my personal friends were more numerous and respect- able than at any former period of my life; my mind was pecu- liarly clear and active, and perfectly sane, except, (as it has since proved,) in politics; and I had not tasted a single drop of spirits, and but one glass of wine, for nearly five years. Of course, the attack, was undeserved, false, and inhuman. I therefore caused a civil suit to be brought against the Editor of tht- paper • Many good WhigB may indignantly enquire, why the writer, after Mr. A's noble support of llieir principles in the last Conj;resg, slill condemns and diitrvists him ^ Let them wait five years, and their question will ba answered by Mr. A. himself. 30 in which the libel appeared, tlelenniiung.at the time, that I never would consent to any other compromise than a recantation by himself in the same paper where the injustice was committed. My reason for this resolve was, that whereas the same editor had poured out the most gross abuse of Gen. Jackson and his wife, in his columns, I trusted, that the recantation, to which I should force him in my own case, would throw a libellous character on his accusations against those, for whom, J then thought it my duty to make any sacrifice. Just before the day of trial, a large sum of money was offered me, (whether with my antagonist's knowl- edge I cannot say,) to withdraw my action; but tens of thousands would have presented no temptation. He then threw himself on my generosity ; I never could resist this appeal,— and I wrote the recantation which he subscribed and published thrice in his newspaper, in a form intended to save his feelings, while it merely vindicated my character from his cruel aspersions. And, after- wards, when he engaged in a furious controversy with another editor, who improperly alluded to his affair with me, I wrote to that editor, expressing, in strong terms, my disapprobation of any reference to a matter which had been fairly adjusted. Neither before, nor since, this attack on my private character, had I, or have I had, any personal acquaintance with the author. But as I never entertained any personal animosity against him, I can now say with satisfaction, as well as truth, that he is a very active, respectable and talented member of the community. What a comment on the violence of party 1 I cannot refrain from seizing on this occasion to express my gratitude to the Bar of the County of Norfolk. The Court being in session, soon after the publication of the libel on myself, who was a member of the Bar, certain resolutions were introduced without my knowledge, and unanimously adopted, defending my reputation as a lawyer and a man. They were proposed by Joseph Harrington of Roxbury, and sustained by Horace Mann of Dedham. I owe a vast debt of grateful feeling to both gen- tlemen, who came as messengers of peace and restoration, when, after having surmounted many grievous trials, and attained to a promise of future rank and emolument, I thought myself utterly prostrated by the assaults of my political enemies. Mr. Harring- ton is the life of social enjoyment; and it is no small honor to 31 have been (he accnuiinlaiicc of Horace Mann, ihe founder of the Worcester Asvluin. Bostonians have appreciated his value as a public man ;— but few can know the generosity, the purity, the elevated principle, which distinguishes his private character. There are those who, " Ho good by stealth, and blush to find it fame." A few days before the Presidential election in Massachusetts^ 1 published, in the Statesman, the "Address to the people" of that State. And on Mr. Adams renewing his attack on the old federalists, as his last movement to secure the victory, I rode to Boston and proposed to the Statesman leaders the printing of a ticket of Electors composed of '• old federalists,"— to be dispersed throughout the Commonwealth, and, by this means, to distract and divide the Adams party. Messrs. Honshaw, Simpson and Dunlap objected most emphatically to the projeci, as being cal- culated to introduce into the party distinguished men, who would afterwards become competitors for the public oflices. Even at this early period of the struggle, they seemed to think, that the smaller the Jackson party was in Massachusetts, the better for their interests. I afterwards discovered that they had conspired to keep the Jackson party in lliis State conveniently small, and. especially, to repel every respectable gentleman who oiVered to join it. Thev were assiduous in procuring recruits from the lowest and most ignorant of the populace ; but whenever a man of talents and information claimed their fraternity, they chanted the •' trio" " Fee, favv, fum, " We smell the blood of an Englishman. " Be he live, or be he dead, " Off goes Ilia head." It was about this time that I saw, with indignation and disgust, caricatures of the Hon. Francis Baylies, (the only Representa- tive from New-England who, in 1824, voted for Gen. Jackson,) inscribed on the walls. of the Statesman office! He was pictured with a cigar in his mouth, and on his forehead was written, " an old Tory!" They knew, (i. e. the Statesman party,) that Mr. B. was the author of the most popular public appeals which had appeared in the Jackson papers. But altho' he was a Jacksonian, when they were intriguing to be the adherents of any party which 32 would accept them as partisans, tliey hated him for his integrity and abilities; — "aside the devils turned for envy." Jackson was elected ! We heard the glad tidings, (as we sup- posed,) from tlie West, which changed our hopes to certainty. In a " white heat" of political enthusiasm, I rushed into Boston. I sought the Statesman office, and found a part of the conclave in session. Gentlemen, I exclaimed, I congratulate you on our glorious victory ! Reform is established; — tiie Constitution is restored to its original purity ; — the People have triumphed !" I noticed, as I spoke, the gradual elongation of the corners of their mouths, and I had no sooner ceased, but they sent forth a peal of laughter such as I had never heard before. Peal upon peal, rang through the room, for several minutes. Amazed and confounded, I waited impatiently for a calm, when I could demand an ex- planation of such conduct. ^Vhy, — I exclaimed, on the first cessation of the uproar, — is not this a memorable triumph of the people ? Here, they went at it again, roar upon roar, with occa- sional screams of, — " what an innocent !" — " quite unsophisti- cated !" &c. &.C Any one of my readers, who has ever seen a drop of hot tallow cooling oft', can imagine, at that moment, my situation and appearance! After this tempest of laughter was over, I was quietly informed, that they had won the money of the Adamsmen in bets, and were certain to win their offices: — and that, as I had done and suffered much, I should be taken care of I My readers will make their own comments. Jackson was elected ! and I had been no inconsiderable instru- ment in bringing about this result. If I had a window in my breast, mv readers would now see how my heart is wrung with this reflection ; — how remorse, with its thousand snakes, is sting- in"- it to the core. And yet I thought I was doing a good deed, and continued in this dream, with occasional starts of returning consciousness, until the appalling seizure of the public money eR"ectually dispersed it. Had the visible heavens, over my head, been suddenly " rolled together as a scroll," I should not have been more instantly awakened to the peril which awaited all of us! It is however, most fortunate for the country, that our Julius has preceded our Augustus Csesar ;— that the first attack on the Constitution, and public liberty, was so audacious, and 33 tmdisguised ; — that tjranny marched his legions, in open day, to the Rubicon, and assailed freedom with the sword, and not with the stiletto. Julius Caesar overturned the Rnman Republic; (in which, be it remembered, the last rampart of patriotism was the Senate ;) but it was, for a time, restored by the steel ol Brutus. The cautious, subtile, and intriguing Augustus finally and hope- lessly, riveted the chains of the people. CHAPTER IV. Vie Scramble for Office. " So many new-born flies, (his light gave life to,) " Buzz in his beams,— fleshflies and butterflies, " Hornets and humming scarabs,— that not one honey-bee " That's lo»den with true labour, and brings home " Increase and credit, can 'scape rifling. In Massachusetts, in 1828, the number of votes, for Jackson, was about the same as Crawford received, four years before. In Boston, the two divisions of the Jackson party united, for the last time, and mustered 800 votes for Dr. Ingalls, as Representative to Congress. Such a man as the Doctor is an honor to any party : — " Sincere, plain-hearted, hospitable, kind." He is as distin- guished for active benevolence as for professional skill, and is as successful in trepanning hearts as heads. It is wonderful, that a gentleman of such universal popularity could obtain only eight hundred votes, in a City where thousands owed him vast debts of gratitude; and it satisfactorily proves the determined repug- nance of its enlightened citizei;s to the rule of Jacksonism. The "good Doctor" was, however, restored to political health in 1832; it required only " one course" of Jackson medicine for his recov- ery ; — while some of us were obliged to take half a dozen. 5 34 As I stated, in the former Chapter, early in '28 the Statesman party had driven away in disgust a large and respectable division of the friends of Jackson, whom they afterwards called the " Bulletin party." Just before the election in November, in_ order to keep up some show of strength they were obliged to solicit a reunion, which they intended should be only temporary. This was effected by the nomination of Dr. Ingalls. But the election was no sooner passed, than immediate measures were taken to compel another separation. As early as the 20ih Nov. the Statesman party proceeded to call a meeting of its adherents <' to reorg-flJHze the Jackson Republican party." The other di- vision of the friends of Jackson well knew the object of the call, and therefore stood aloof. At this meeting it was resolved, that, for the future, the party name should be ihe " Jackson Democratic party;" — And a County Committee and Ward Committees hav- in"- been chosen among themselves, they effectually excluded the " Jackson Republicans" from any further participation in their political transactions. Having thus shaken off" a formidable host of competitors for aopointments, and assumed to themselves, "par excellence," the exclusive mananagement of the Jackson party of the City, the Statesman leaders still found too many able and meritorious o-entlemen belongino; to their ozim faction, whose claims on gov- ernment patronage would come in conflict with their own long cherished design of engrossing the whole. It became necessary, therefore, to deceive these men, and the trick was adroitly man- aged. They had already obtained the entire control of the County Committee by their own votes, and those of their rela- tives and personal friends, of which it was composed. But this was not considered a sufficient security against accidents, and the possibility, that some might hereafter prove refractory. They therefore constituted themselves a grand Central, or State Com- jnittee, — the sun ot the system, around which all the inferior po- litical orbs must revolve. It was a beautiful system, for if suc- cessful, it grasped the power of the whole Jackson party of the State, as well as of the City. To make the usurpation of au- thority palatable to the members of the County Committee, it was declared, that all claims to appointments were to be settled by the vote of that Committee alone ; that they, (i. e. the States- 35 man leaders,) had no peculiar merits to oft'er on the altar of offi- cial homage ;— were rather indiftercnt about preferment ;— the reward of patriotism, the people's love, was enough for them ;— and, indeed, that their present occupations were much too lu- crative to make the toils of office desirable or even endurable. If however the party insisted on the sacrifice, why, there was none they would not make for the good of the country ; but should much prefer that other meritorious patriots would relieve them from the duty ! Such discourses glided like strains of soft music into delighted ears, and removed all feelings of remonstrance against their as- sumption of all the party influence. To keep up the delusion, meetings of the County Committee were actually held at which some of the members, not in the plot, and claiming to be " elder soldiers" tlian their managers, were nominated as Naval officers. Surveyors, Weighers, Guagers, &c. And they slept on these golden dreams, until they waked to find all these oftices in the possession of less confiding, and more wary politicians. Many poor fellows who had labored day and night for the " Hero," years before the Statesman leaders had concluded to embrace his cause, who had fi":ured as Chairmen of Committees, Moderators of Meetings, Secretaries of Conventions, orators, poets and news- paper statesmen, — who had, in anticipation of the coming official harvest, indulged in the most magnificent contemplations of tlie future, — who had said in their hearts, "I will pull down my barns, and build ereater'' — found themselves reduced to the ne- cessity of accepting soma petty appointment, mortifyitig to their hopes, and scarcely afi'ording them the means of subsistence! Some of them, however, on the explosion of the plot, indignantly refused the proffiiied compromise, and attempted to set up for themselves, and to resist the conspirators in finally clutching and securing their prey. In every instance such daring individuals were undermined, defeated, and, perhaps, ruined. No matter what services to the party he had rendered ; no matter what per- sonal friendships were broken up; no matter how much he had contributed to their own advancement; — the least resistance, or even murmuring at their authority, by any individual, was follow- ed by a secret but desolating vengeance. Most gentlemen in Boston will remember the fate of John Roberts, one of the 36 "original Jacksonmen," and a most devoted adherent of the Statesman party. There were many others who suffered like injustice. If the leaders of the Statesman party could deal thus deceit- fully and inhumanly with their own friends and partisans, we can readily iuuigine the plots, stratagems and falsehoods contrived against their opponents of the ' Jackson Republican, or Bulletin party," and against every distinguished Jacksonian in the State who would not succumb to their authority or whom they suspected of aspiring to office. As the mercenary and rapacious believe all men equally intent on spoil and rapine, that suspicion, of course, rested upon every man who possessed talents or influence, and who had voted for Jackson. And they had acquired the power of effecting incalculable mischief. For, calling themselves the State Jackson Democratic Committee, — with an impudence impervious to all sense of honor or decency, — and holding forth their newspaper as the sole defender of the cause, and themselves as the little Spartan band who wanned the Thermopylae of De- mocracy in Massachusetts, they did in fact persuade the great and leading men of the Jackson party in other States that they alone were deserving of honors, and that all, who were not their servants, were federalists and traitors. The rancour manifested in the Boston Statesman against the chiefs of the Bulletin party is inconceivable by any one who has not marked the influence of envy and cupidity on low minds. Every man of that party was denounced as a federalist; '"a Hessian.'^ " figliting for pay-'; "a spy in the democratic camp," — or as "soldiers enlisted after the victory was won." Now all this was utterly false, as they well knew. A great majority of the chiefs and the adherents of that party were " democrats of the old school," and many of them had been the ablest advocates of democracy in the Boston States- man. There were indeed some federalists among them, who relying on Gen. Jackson's advice to President Munroc, were con- fident that he would act upon sentiments so candid and mag- nanimous. Among these were to be found some of the most active and devoted of his friends. The opprobrious epithec of " Hessians," was wholly inapplicable to them, fur they were far above all mercenary considerations. The real Hessians were the Statesman leaders who fought for nothing but pay, who got^all the 37 pay, together with the plunder of their political enemies' posses- sions in this quarter. While many of the Bulletin party were amonu; the earliest to sustain the cause of Jackson, they had re- cruited a young and enterprising corps in the same cause. And acting openly, ingenuously and honestly, they neither feared spies or required their services. Nevertheless, the oft repeated and most impudent calumnies of their enemies tainted, at last, public opinion; — and altho' most of the injured trusted implicitly in the high feeling and justice of the President elect, it was but too evident, that he would be unable to resist the flood of prejudice incessantly rushing upon him. Living at a distance, I was a spectator, (altho' not a disinterested one,) of these ungenerous, fraudulent, and infamous transactions. Having thus separated themselves from the most respectable, and numerous, (and therefore, to them, the most dangerous por- tion,) of the Jackson party, of Boston, — having thoroughly de- luded and mystified their own party and usurped the control of all its power, — the Cabal prepared to proceed to Washington, to perpetrate the schemes so long in preparation. But some preliminary movements w^ere first necessary. They assiduously enlarged their correspondence with the leading Editors and principal men of the party in all the States, particularly with those known to be deuiocrats, which they were enabled to do by proclaiming themselves the representatives of the democracy of Massachusetts. Next, as it was doubted whether the President elect could be brought into their plans, which contemplated the removal from office of the public servants, not tmly in Boston, but throughout the State, and the United States. — whether faith- ful or unfaithful — with the exception only of the active partizaus of their factiin; it was deemed expedient to sound, before-haiul, the trumpet of woe and of warning;— of woe to the vanquished, and of warning to the President. 'The horrid peal rang from the brazen throats of tlie Statesman and its kindred prints. Hear, how it brayed from the Statesman. SCT^'A poor fellow, not a hundred miles off. says, certainly President Jackson is too gool a man to take my office from me; I have a family entirely dependent upon the income thereof for their support, and the brave Hero of New-Orleans is too gen-' erous, too magnanimous, aud too noble minded to deprive my 38 wife and little children of their bread. But hark ye, Sir; have you not neglected the duties of your ofBce to abuse the generous Jackson ; have you not laboured night and day in endeavoring to deceive your fellow-citizens into the belief that the now humane, generous, noble Andrew Jackson was an inhuman monster; a blood thirsty tyrant; a wilful murderer; a libertine of the black- est cast, ike. &LC." " Do such men deserve public confidence ? Is the people's money safe under the control of such men ? Cer- tainly not. Tlien the public good requires that they should be displaced." This Article, from the Statesman of Nov. 18th, 1828, is headed "The day of Reckoning." Similar sentiments were avoweJ. in the Albany Argus, the Portland Argus and indeed in a large number of the Democratic Jacksonian presses of the United States. And in some of them, it was afterwards threatened, that if any prominent statesman of the party should oppose this plan of indiscriminate proscription, he should forfeit the confidence of his political supporters. It is not at all astonishing, that such a generous invitation to pillage should have been hailed with avidity by all ignorant, greedy, and unprincipled demagogues. Notwithstanding it is apparent, to every common apprehension, not distorted by politi- cal insanity, that such a system must inevitably, in a short time, overthrow our Republican institutions, by corrupting all public virtue, and converting every important election into a mere scram- ble for office, yet there have been found able and dignified states- men, professing extraordinary attachment to liberty and the con- stitution, to give it their deliberate and commending sanction. Beyond a doubt, it was this invitation to a grand official massacre, a political St. Bartholemews, — which gathered together, at Washington, on the ensuing 4th of March, the host of ruffians who invaded the President's house, destroyed its rich furniture, and rioted on the dainties of his table;— and, afterwards, engen- dered that spirit of intolerance and proscription, which all his generosity, justice and magnanimity struggled in vain to resist. He undoubtedly possessed all these virtues, and I am unwilling to believe that, even now, they can be entirely cankered by the corrupting influence of authority. He has, let us hope, been *' more sinned against than sinning." 39 To return to tlie operations ot" tlie Boston Cabal. It is but fair that I bhould ''give tlie ilevil his due," and, therefore, I must confess, that no body of men, or conspirators, ever displayed more unceasing activity, industry, secrecy, and cunning, in con- ducting political machinations. They had prepared the way for their advancement with infinite diligence and ailroitness, and they now prepared to visit the field where the fruits of their la- bours were to be gatiiereil, leaving their infatuated followers at home meditating on vain hopes, — like parched travellers in a desert, on discovering the approach of a welcotne cloud, distend- ing tiieir grateful mouths to catch the exhilarating drops. Affidavits had been carefully collected touching the political character and deeds of all the public officers in Boston singled out for destruction. If any one of them had merely voted against the new powers, that was industriously marked, in solemn black, against him ; — or if he had signed any political paper favourable to the past Admini>trati()n, his signature was eagerly sought for; or the testimony of some person who had seen it, secretly pro- cured ; — or if he had expressed, in familiar conversation, his content with the masters he served, or his belief that a change would be injurious to the country, he was '•' written down" in numerous depositions, "a knave' — deserving of official death. Nor was any mercy designed to be shown to the public officers (who filled lucrative stations) of their own party. Against them the crime of age was alleged, — the long period they had held their offices — the importance of " rotation in office." Past faith- ful services were nothing; — poverty and misery to the hoarv head were nothing, even if it had been bleached in establishing, amidst the storms of the revolution, the very Government, which was thus called upon to decapitate it. Nor was even this all. Lest any of the Boston Bulletin party, or any distinguished man in the State, friendly to Jackson, should '• come between the wind and their nobility" and bar them from their object, every little and contemptible slander on the characters of such suspected persons was hunted up, and prepared, in rec|uisition against them. Thus armed and equipped, the Cabal proceeded to Washington, their motto being — perish all — hut ue iviii. I have, subsequently, been shown some of the affidavits before mentioned. One of them was levelled against a gallant Colonel 40 of the last war, who held an important office. The material fact was, his signature^ to a call for an Adams meeting in Boston. Mr. Simpson kindly favoured me with a partial view of this precious document, — but. at a distance of ten feet, with part of the name covered with his finger. He said, however, that the damning blot was there. Another, was a long string of certifi- cates intended to prostrate a Major of the late war, who had been maimed, for life, in the public service. Here is, substan- tially, a sample of the certificates. "I certify, that on &c. in a conversation with Major , he said, he thought Jackson un- fit to be President." Signed . "I certify, that I heard Major say that he believed Jackson to be a damned rascal" Signed . " I certify that many times, in conversation, Major said, that he was a public officer under Adams, and thought it his duty to stick by his superior officer, and believed he had more knowledge in his little finger, than old Jackson had in his whole body. Signed ." I think there were about a dozen of such frivolous charges ao-ainst this officer, who was acknowledged to be faithful in his duties, and who had received assurances that he should not be molested. But they " did his business.^' Mr. Nathaniel Greene confided this important paper to me, for the purpose of prevent- ing the unfortunate Major from receiving, after some years of distress, a neiv, but trivial appointment. I used it for a very dif- ferent purpose. And all such accusations, were gotten up se- cretly, without any knowledge thereof on the part of the destined victim. He was condemned, without being heard in his defence, or knowing his accusers. Tt was the " Lion's mouth" of Venice ! But more of this hereafter. It is probable, that nearly every zealous Jacksonman in New- Em^land who expected an office, (and most thought their chances fair,) and who had money enough to get there, was in Washing- ton on the 4th of March, 1829. The rush, the eager importunity, the furious competition for appointments, was a most mortifying and disgraceful trait in the National character. As the scene was described to me, I could think of nothing but Mr. of Roxbury, in his duck yard surrounded by its thousand quacking tenants, as T figured to mvself the President of the U. States, 41 beset by a throng of greedy, stirved, and clamorous partisans. This was the first evidence of the decline of our national spirit, dignity and independence. Itwas" assembly of about 500 gentlemen ; the most respectable company of young men I ever met; — enthusiastic in their rejoicings, and ardent in their hopes of the benign influence of the new President's Administration. As my eye glanced over the well filled tables, and among the numerous heads could detect only some half dozen touched with the frost of time, I felt proud that I was a Jacksonman. These were the men who confidently expected, that the country was to be blessed with an administra- tion, which would extinguish the smouldering ashes of party feuds ; — that, in the spirit of the letter to Monroe, Gen. Jackson was to be the President of the whole people, and not of a party. Not a man was there, who, had he been told, by some prophetic spirit, that within three years the Government would pass into the hands of the " scullion Cabinet," but would have chastised the supposed slanderer on the spot. The republican Address of Gen. Lyman, President of the day, and the toast of Mr. Otis, wherein he declared, that if the new President acted on the sentiments he had openly avowed, "New-England would meet him more than half way," were in the true spirit of the occasion. I carried to Boston, in ray pocket, the following Poem, which, 47 I wrote on a stormy day in February ; and as it may relieve my readers from the tedium of a dull narrative, 1 here insert it. It is better as a poem than a prophesy. ODE TO AN EX-PRESIDKNT. For the Uh March, 1829. " Sweet are the uses of adversity •" Aye, when it fastens on a noble mind, Itiifts to Heaven: — chilling penury, And the world's scorn, and hate, and malice blind. Arc as the idle wailing of the wind. To him who stands erect, in virtue bold: The living waters of the heart, confined By selfish cares, misfortune doth unfold; As by the prophet's wand the gushing rock of old. Not such thy fate ! thine eyes shall ne'er discern, Above the gath'ring night, one cheering star Beam on thy hopes: and vainly shalt thou turn, | To catch one sound of sympathy from far. Thou art alone! around thee is the jar "j Of baseless grandeur, into ruin cast, ' And crushed beneath thy conquering rival's car: I While all the thousand voices of the past, i lujplore of future time, that thy dishonor last. i i And it shall last! 'till Time's remorseless wave, ] Whelms in its surge all mem'ry of our clime; { Til! the accusing dead shall burst the grave; And slandered virtue wears in heaven subbme, A robe unspotted with thy pois'nous slime; j Till Hamilton shall raise thy suppliant knee; < And Ames's eloquence shall plead thy crime, ] When known, — forgiven : — trembling thou shalt see, ^ His madness,* but a brighter spark of Deity ! What dost thou there? — still ling'ring round the spot,t Where lie the broken relics of thy power? i Are not the sweets of empi^e yet forgot? Or wilt thou meanly near thy rival cower. Waiting the dawn of some propitious hour. To plead thy venal service to his fame, j When Senates, o'er him, saw pale envy lower ?+ I Died with thy ibrtnnes all of gen'rous shame? I Where is thy Sire's proud heart, — the spirit of thy nam«f ^ I • Mr. Adamn mistook Mr. Ami •«'« geniuH for iiiHaiiity. Vide jiin Review of Mr. Ame»'s Book. | tThe Ex-Prealdent remained at WaBhingtoii to witness the inauguration ef the illus- ; trious JarkRon. J { Mr. A. defended Gen. Jackson ogRinit the attempt of certain Senator* to impeach him j for violating the SpanUh territory. J 48 Go! — if thy craven mind hath lost, indeed, Of worth, the conscious glow! — and lowly hear. Justice, as Marshall, give bright honors meed, A nation's ofPring, to a Patriot dear; — Go! — and with servile bend, thy Chief revere; Let cringing subtlety do all it can; — But may such scornful greeting blast thine ear. As once pronounced presumptuous folly's ban, — " My Lord Chief Justice, speak to that vain man!" Return, — and fly the scoffing of thy foes; Come to the thickest shades of father-land! The pyre of libelled character yet glows, Still, round its embers yells thy ghastly band. Come,— lead their revels with paternal hand; (For such the offspring of thy ranc'rous heart,) Lo ! Slander hails thee from thy native strand ' Honor, and worth, from thy contagion start. And Glory, in thy halls, exclaims, "let us depart!" Enter, — and weep the downfall of thy line! Thy once thronged courts, — how desolate and lone; No living sages round thy hearth recline. But from thy walls, thine ancestry doth moan, — And Roman virtue frowns in sculptured stone: And all thy early friends, who made thee great, Stand afar off; — and list thy frequent groan. As conscience, the avenger of their hate. Preys on thy stubborn soul, still struggling with its fate. At the Washington Garden, the Statesman party mustered about 800 persons; of whom, at least 300 were Irishmen. At this dinner, as at all others since that day, the zealous but ig- norant members of the party were furnished with toasts by the leading members, which, when published, presented a very for- midable array of " public sentiment." A most ludicrous scheme ! since most of those, by whom such sentiments were uttered, never hail a sentiment in their lives. They were honest men, who meant well, but were wholly incapable of discharging their political inclinations in polished or even grammatical language. These toasts were always highly complimentary to the leading men of the Statesman faction, and, frequently, were designed to point out to the President and his Counsellors, what was expected by the Ajaxes of his party in Massachusetts. In another chapter I will present my readers with some amusing specimens. We left our friends at Washington : — Greene and Brodhead chuckling at their good fortune — Henshaw sullenly recoiling on his " reserved rights," and Simpson petrified with amazement that 49 among all the good things he could get nothing- But " the course" of office-seeking, like that of "true love, — never did run smoothe." Greene's mirth was soon changed to wailing, by the refusal of the Postmaster General, the lion. John McLean, to remove the old Postmaster of Boston, or to be the agent of the general proscription which was meditated in his Department. This startling fact being ascertained, all the thousands of pe- titioners for Post Office appointments, present at AVashington, immediately leagued together, with the intent of relieving the General Post Office from the superintendence of Mr. McLean. Their influence and importunities were too powerful for the President to withstand, and Mr. McLean was made a Judge of the Supreme Court. Greene has been heard to say in Boston, that "he turned out the Postmaster General !" Brother Brodhead, also, was in trouble. For the peculations of Watkins having been discovered, it became necessary that Mr. Harris, the Navy Agent at Boston, should appear at the ex- pected trial of the offender, as a witness for the Government. It was therefore considered by Mr. Kendall very bad policy to remove Mr. Harris until after the condemnation of the accused. Mr. Brodhead then had to endure the torment of beholding, for more than a year, tiie golden-pippin t)f office suspended before his " mind's eye," and bobbing against his nose, without the lib- erty of touching it. He retired, ''a melancholy man, sore strick- en," to Boston, and resumed his tailoring. "Misfortunes never come singly," it is said; and it was about this time the inquisitive Simpson discovered, that his dignified friend, Henshaw, in leaning too hard upon the staff of his " re- served riglits," was in imminent danger of pitching over back- wards, and losing both his staff and office. In other *Vords, he discovered that the President had concluded, (as Henshaw de- clined the appointment,) to make the Hon. Francis Baylies Collector of Boston, and that his nomination would be sent to the Senate the next morning! " All I llien and tliere was hurryinp; to and fro, And rnountinrj in hot liaste ;" The confederates immediately assembled in consternation and dismay, and prepared for an instant interview with the President. As they rushed up Pennsylvania Avenue, the devil, out of sheer 50 malice, launched an arrow at their rear which wonderfully quick- ened their movements, viz : — they were informed that General Boyd, a member of the Bulletin party, had been appointed Naval officer of Boston. Now this was a snug berth, which, for the want of a better, our sagacious friend Simpson was beginning to entertain the notion of occupying himself Breathless with haste and anxiety, they came before the President, and in panting ac- cents informed him, that Mr. Henshaw had relented, and would, for the good of the party, condescend to accept the Collectorship of Boston. Well, — replied the President, — I have offered it to him, I never change my intentions — he shall have it. And so Henshaw's nomination was sent to the Senate in the morning in- stead of Mr. Baylies's. It remained there, nearly a year, before it was confirmed. My readers will permit me to remark, that the division which existed in the Jackson party at Boston, extended throughout the whole Jackson party, in every section of the Union. The friends of the President in the U. States were separated into two distinct parties. One of them, (perhaps the least numerous, but most respectable,) being composed of moderate men, republicans in principle, — firmly attached to the Constitution, and devoted lov- ers of liberty based upon order and law, looked to the Adminis- tration of Jackson as destined to harmonize the various contend- ing interests of the country; to carry on, steadily but cautiously, the work of reforming the abuses which have crept into our sys- tem of government, and having for its chief a gallant soldier, of a generous and elevated character, it was confidently trusted that the low, and time-serving, and mercenary spirit which had been gradually corrupting the national character, would be supplanted by the more liberal, lofty, and independent spirit which distin- guished the first years of the Confederacy. The other faction, being composed of radicals and office-seekers, hoped for no such blessings. They cared nothing for the Constitution, or the pres- ervation of our ancient institutions ; — law and order were their abhorrence, and public harmony was the most unhealthy atmos- phere in which they could e.'cist; — reform, unless it meant proscrip- tion, was of no consequence ; and a spirit of united forbearance, magnanimity and devotedness to the general welfare, was certain to be fata! to their influence in the nation. Their design was, to use 51 Jackson as the dispenser o( the ' loaves and fishes" of office mere- ly ; and make him tl\eir tool, for elevating to distinction, low and base, but <;rcodv partisans, who were conscious that they |)ossess- ed neither talent or tiesert to acquire distinction in any other way. Most unhappily, the President, in the very first days of his official career, fell into the hands of this latter party, the leadir of which was Van Buren, and its lieutenant Amos Kendall. And notwithstanding his messages have breathed the genuine sentiments common to his character, these malign advisers have never suft'ered him to carry one of them into effect ; but on the contrary, he has been so counselled, that the Constitution has been violated, law and order contemned, public liberty put at hazard, — the country driven to the highest pitch of excitement, reform made a curse, and a spirit of rancorous hate, and grovelling Cupidity, created anj dispersed into erery little hamlet of our once happy and inde- pendent land. Now, if any reflecting man supposes, that these tilings can be, without overturning our republican institutions, or exciting a rev- olution to reinstate them, let him 'Hay that flattering unction to his soul ;" — he will be roused in time! Mark what the Rev. Rob- ert Hall, one of the wisest and worthiest writers of the present century, says of the French Revolution. One would imaii^ine it a description of the present times. "Among the various passions, which that Revolution h:ts so stri- kingly displayed, none is more conspicuous than vanity — vanity, both in those whose business it was to lead, and in those whose lot it was to follow — infusing into the former — into those entrusted with the enac- tion of laws — a spirit of rash innovation and daring empiricism — a disdain of tho established usages of mankind — a foolish desire to daz- zle the world with new and untried systems of policy, in which the precedents of antiquity and the experience of ages were only consulted to be trodden under foot: vanity, predominating among tho latter, the million, by reason of — political power, tho most seducing o!)ject of ambition, never before circulating through so many hands; the pros- pect of possessing it never before presented to so many minds — mul- titudes who, by their birth and education, and not unfrcquentiy by their talents, seemed destined to perpetual obscurity, being, l»y the al- ternate rise and fall of parties, elevated into distinction, and sharing in the functions of government; the short-lived forms of power and otlice gliding with such rapidity through successive ranks of degradation, from the court to the very dregs of the people, that they seemed rath- er to solicit acceptance than to be a prize contending for. Vet, as it was still impossible for nil to possess authority, thougii none were wil- ling to obey, a general impalienco to break tho ranks, and rush into the foremost ground, madden-'d and infuriated the nation, and over- whelmed law, order, and civilization with the violence of a torrent." CHAPTER V. w3 Visit to Washington. " Oh ! how wretched la that poor man, that hangs on princes' favours! There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to, That sweet aspect of princes, and our ruin. More pangs and fears than wars or women have." By the advice of numerous friends, I prepared, on the last of June, '29, to visit Washington ; having some commissions to exe- cute for the people of several towns in my county. And here, like an honest man, I will confess, my political delusion was so complete, that I favoured the work of proscription, and carried with me, to Washington, petitions for the removal of Jive ob- noxious Postmasters, in Norfolk County; — all of whom were removed. I went first to Boston, for the purpose of obtaining letters of introduction to the leading men at Washington, from the chiefs of the two factions of tlie Jackson party in Boston. Never hav- ing taken an active part as a partisan of either faction, I appre- hended no difficulty in readily securing the recommendations of both. The leading men of the Bulletin party gave them, at once, in the most generous and gentlemanly manner. I then went to the Statesman office, and finding Dunlap and N. Greene pres- ent, announced my intention. Dunlap. You had better not go; — it will cost you a great sum. Ans. True, — but I am paid for going. D. Why not do the business by letter; — it can be done just as well. Ans. I wish to see the President and the business can best be performed on the spot. I shall go at all events. D. Greene, give him a letter to Duff" Green ; but it is d — d nonsense to be going to Washington at this time. Greene busied himself in inditing a letter to General Duff'. •' How long are you to remain in town, and when do you start on your journey," he enquired. Ans. I remain to-night, and start in the morning's 53 stage. Greene. Will you remain /jere, twenty minutes.^ Ans. Certainly. U. Well, I will see Henshaw withiif that time, and you shall have a decisive answer. He rushed IVoin the office for this purpose. After Mr. Hensliaw had obtained, from the President, the ap- pointment of Collector of Boston, I wrote to hiiu soliciting a station in his Department. His answers announced the annoy- ance of numerous applications, and his disposition to do me the justice which he confessed I deserved ; — but there was nothin" detinite to be gathered from his declarations. In less than 20 minutes Greene returned, and informed me that he had had an interview with Mr. Henshaw, who had solemnly promised to appoint mo an Inspector of the Customs, within a week. •• It is very well," I replied, '-but I shal^ go, notwith- standing:." Mr. H. was as good as his word, for my appointment, as an Inspector, was anuuunced in the *' official" paper, the Statesman, while I was at Washington. The object of this movement is too manifest to require any comment. I declined the appointment on my return. Early in the morning of a tempestuous day in June, '29 — I took stage for Providence, well furnished v^ith documents, letters, certificates and other political credentials; and commenced the business of an office-seeker. It is in vain to deny that I felt ashamed of it, but I had involved myself hi necessity by my reckless labours in the recent contest. And, what is more worthy of reflection, I had lost, in a great degree, the inclination and taste for regular occupation, and, when contemplating an easy station under government, considered my profession '"■ quite a bore." I have since remarked the same melancholy efVocts in a great many young men who had been dabbling in politics; — and have had the grief to witness every one of them writhing uniler a sense of the degradation to which they had been reduced. In the stage, we had a gentleman and lady, beioni:;in;; to New- York, who were of the Fanny Wright School, and who scolVed at the Deity and religion in language absolutely shocking to my ears, which were not peculiarly setisitiveon such subjects. I saw them the same night, on the deck of the Steamer Benj. Franklin, as she struggled through a tremendous tempest of wind, rain and 54 lightning, pale with dread and trembling with emotion, and thousht I never beheld two more desolate and hopeless beings. I never expected to see the light of another day ; but seating my- self amidst some bales of cotton on the middle deck, I waited the result with tolerable composure, resolving, that when the boat foundered, (which was not thought improbable) my last cry should be " huzza for Jackson." For, at this time, my political enthusiasm was at its height;— and as I was now approaching the sun of my system, and being nearly at my perihelium, my loyalty burned with astonishing fervour. We had a horse-jockey, from the country, on board, who had never before seen a steam-boat, or encountered the perils of the sea. He was driven from his berth below at midnight, when the storm was at the worst. He stood near me, horror-struck, as the foaming surges came rushing upon us, and, observing the convul- sive pitching of the boat as she rose upon the opposing wave and then descended into the abyss, he exclaimed, "my gorry ! how .she rares !" (rears.) Morning dawned only to give us a taste of another danger. The Captain of the Franklin attempted to rush up the torrent at Hurl-gate, with a furious wind driving down stream, and the tide in the worst possible state for his purpose. The Steamer moved •slowly among tlie rocks and foaming waters, until she came nearly opposite the point, on the left hand, when she stopped, struggled for a moment, and was then borne down by the current. By the •skill of the helms-man. she was backed into smooth water, pro- tected by the point of land before mentioned. The steam was raised higher, and another attempt made, with the same result. As the preparations were making for a third trial, and the volumes of dense black smoke rolled over our heads, I remarked, that the passengers who had wives on board grasped them more closely by the arm, — or took their children into a warmer embrace. But there was no explosion;— -the boat, being strained to her utmost tension, darted up the stream, like a pickerel whose tail had been rudely plucked, and we were in New-York. I saw this great City for the first time. The first view was not impressive, — by no means so much so as Boston from the Roxbury or Charlestown avenues. The surface, on which it is built, is too low and level. It was Sunday, and I noticed, instantly, a diiFer- 55 ence in the population of the two cities. The majority of the people in the streets of New-York seemed to me to be Irishmen and Negroes. I sat in a window opposite a magnificent Churcli, and counted the passengers on the side-walk. The proportion was, one black to three white men. This may have been acci- dental, but it struck me, at oiice, as a peculiarity. But little time was allowed for observation, — the boat was waiting and we were hurried on through New-Jersey. We have no population in New. England at all like that of New-Jersey; — nor have we any forests through which a man might ride on horse-back without en- dangering his head. The "Jerseys" beat us in woods and pas- turage, but cannot hold a candle to us in the industry, neatness, and intelligence of the people. The Delaware is a beautiful river; — with delicious rural retreats on its banks, — where one would desire to live and die. which last, he probably would soon do, of the fever and ague. There was a French traveller in the boat, who after dinner sat at table gazing through the open port- holes at the moving prospect on shore, — tapping the point of his knife on a plate, and smiling to himself in delighted complacency. Monsieur, asked a passenger, what amuses you so much.' Ah! Mons. replied, — dis isii von vonderful contrie — tis all de same, — de same riviere, de same pretty place — me see all dat this morn- ing; — vonderful! — vonilerful ! He had gone from Philadelphia to Trenton in the Steamer in the morning, and, by mistake, wa& now going back again, while supposing himself on the way to New-York ! Philadelphia — the Genoa of the U. States, — a city of palaces. \Ve stayed but a moment, and I had merely time to notice a pe- culiar silence and order that seemed to reign throughout its clean and spacious streets. Baltimore, — the metropolis of fun and jollity, — where I saw, in one hour, more lovely women walking the fashionable promenade, than I ever saw before in my life. Pale, but of destructive grace and fascination ; — I did not sleep for twenty-four hours afterwards. Washington, — an apology for a City; — Gadsby's — we are arrived. In passing through Bladensburgh, famous as the scene of the *• Bladensburgh races," I could not avoid reflecting, "what great events from little causes spring;'' — and I have ever since held military science in great contempt. Here is a paltry stream 56 spanned by a long and narrow wooden bridge. In the spring of the year, no doubt, it is at times a torrent; but in June, when I crossed it, (and certainly in August,) it could not have been knee deep. The British columns marched towards this bridge in their advance on Washington. On the opposite side, the American army was posted, "in position, " as it is called, which was no position at all, — no heights, no forests, no impassable low lands in front, — but just as if it had been [)osted on Boston Common; — and the frog-pond there is a much more formidable obstacle to an advancing enemy, than the brook at Bladonsburgh. Four miles in the rear of the American position, was a range of heights, rising abruptly from the road, with marshy and forest land in front, where, had our army been stationed, and showed only a determination of contesting the pass, the British must have come to a stand, and a retreat would have been tatal. If there was a want of judgmtnt in selecting the position of the Americans, the stupidity of the British General was not less wonderful. He marched his columns to the bridge, and instead of directing them to deploy, and cross the stream in line, which could have been done for miles above and below the American army, he ordered the leading column to advance over the bridge, in close order, under a murderous fire from Com. Barney's artillery. He seem- ed to think, that because he had a rivulet in his front, it was as impassable as the ocean. All the loss the British army suffered, except from the intense heat of the day, was in passing the bridge. Once across, and their enemies " fled from them like quicksilver." And yet this British commander was General Ross, so distin- guished in the war of the Peninsula. The secret for gaining a great military reputation, I believe to consist, in the General's inspiring his troops with the conviction, that he is invincible, and an " exceeding shrewd fellow." This effected, they are inacces- sible to a panic, and unmoved by the most palpable blunders. On the morning of my arrival at Washington, I presented my letter of introduction to Gen. Green, the McDuft'ot the Jackson party. I was quite surprised to find the General so good looking and gentlemanly a personage. Having supposed that the exag- gerated statements of his political opponents could not be entirely false, I expected to meet a meager, and bilious political writer, with a tomahawk on his table, and the stuffed skin of some anni- 57 liilated enemy ilepentlitig from tin* ceiliiij;; — as apothecaries liang up alli<;ators io tlieir shops. On the contrary, I was introduced to a gentleman of a commanding ti^uro, a quick and penetrating eye, and a remarkable volubility and eloquence ot" tongue, lie immediately oftVred to be my usher into the presence of the Pre- sident, at the palace. Accordingly at about 11 o'clock, I march- ed thither, with some half dozen other political neophytes, under the escort of General Green. We were immediately admitted by the porter, and found ourselves before the President of the United States. He was a tall and emaciated gentleman, with an impressive countenance indicating decision and obstinacy, and his head was covered with an abundance of hair, as white as snow. He had a trick of drawing down the left corner of his mouth, when he formed a resolve, which was un|)leasing, and gave to his aspect at such moments, a peculiar " G — d damn me" expression. He was dressed in black throughout; even his neckerchief was of black silk, and he wore no shirt collar. He was smokin"- his short pipe when we entered, but instantly laid it down, and re- ceived U3 with a grace and courtesy only tt) be acquired iri the camp. My brethren in afHictioM, (i.e. the office-seekers,) were in- troduced before me, and when it came to my turn, General Green forgot my name, and I was compelled to introduce myself. We all sat down, and the President recollecting that one of our num- ber was presented as an Editor, of his party, from Western New York, turned towards him and enquired the state of Ariti-masonrv in that section of the country. The Editor replied that " public opinion, in that quarter, prevented the administration of justice ill their courts." The President instantly fiied. — and exclaimed with much excitement, " it must be false; I never will believe that of my fellow-citizens ; — it is impossible tliat the intelligent people who inhabit Western New York, can be so deplorably corrupt, as to set aside Law and Justice, in the vain attempt to vindicate a questionable opinion." 1 came witliiii half an inch of starting from my chair, and clasping the speaker by the hand. Such a noble ilisdain of any impeachment of the characttfr of his countrymen ; — such an implicit confidence in the purity of the people, touched me, as being the very sentiments which a Presi- dent (if the United States always ought to entertain. I left hi.'i 8 58 presence with a stronger regard for the Chief Magistrate, than at my presentation. The next day, I was introduced to the Secretary of the Treasu- ry, Hon. S. D. Ingham, by the following note from General Green. Washington, 28th June, 1829. Dear Sir, — Permit me to introduce to you John B. Derby, Esq. of Dedham, Mass. To this gentleman we are indebted for the expo- sure of the motives which led to ihe conversion of John Quincy Adams. He has at all times been a firm and consistent Republican and brings with him the confidence of our political friends in Boston. Yours, sincerely, D. GREEN. Hon. S. D. Ingham, Secretary of Treasury. I was extremely pleased with the manners and conversation of Mr. Ingham. It was impossible to be five minutes in his com- pany without the conviction that he was an honest man. His re- markably clear and intelligent eye showed the unimpassioned and keen-sighted statesman. He enquired very particularly about the divisions among the Jackson party at Boston. Although I regretted that the President had been so completely deceived by the Statesman leaders, yet I reflected, that, the appointments having been made, if they should be revoked, the President would subject himself to the taunts of the opposition, for having decided in haste, or for lacking judgment in his decision. I therefore told Mr. Ii\gham. that the deed having been done, could not be recalled ;— -and that, on the whole, it might prove most advanta- geous for the republican party, to continue the Statesman party as the especial favorites of the Administration. This declaration went amazingly " against the grain," but I thought it my duty to make it. He then desired to know, if there was any probability that the dissensions could be healed. I replied, that I thought a plan could be devised, which would satisfy both parties; and that I would communicate it to the President's private Secretaries. At this moment, the door opened, and a " spirit of a different aspect'* entered; — "■ and where lie gazed a gloom pervaded space." It was an exceedingly warm day, but the intruder was buttoned up to the throat in a white broadcloth great-coat,— a white linen handkerchief was bound close about his head, and his countenance was pale and cadaverous. I never remember of recoiling from any human spectacle, with such instinctive antipathy and disgust. 59 Mr. Derby, said tlie Secretary of the Treasury, "allow ine to in- troduce you to Mr. Ainus Kendall." We clasped hands, and I felt a thrill of cholera stealing over my frame. " What,'' I ex- claimed. *• Mr. Kendall, — has the political enemy been using his physical power on your devoted head.'" "No." he mildly an- swered, " I am suffering with the sick head-ache." He whispered, a moment, in the ear of the Secretary, and then vanished. I breathed more freely after he was gone. The same day, I was introduced to the Secretary of State, — Mr. Van Buren. I found myself before a bald-headed, but whis- kered little gentleman, dressed in the extreme of fashion, full of smirks and smiles, soft as the "sweet South, breathing o'er violets," — but penetiating as a mercurial bath, or the poison of the Upas. He enquiied, particularly, about the contending fac- tions of the party in Boston, and I gave similar answers, as to the same questions by Mr. Ingham. We were interrupted by another office-seeker, and he bowed me out of his office, with a grace worthy of "Beau Nash."* I next called at the General Post Office, and was presented to the Postmaster General, Mr. Barry. A very easy and liberal- minded public officer, rather repulsive in his personal appearance, but remarkably attractive by his manners and conversation ;— the most eloquent man, I suspect, of any member of the Cabinet. We killed otC five Postmasters of Massachusetts, in five minutes, (a)! with a smoothne.ss and gentility which only the guillotine could equal. In the office of the Clerk of Appointments, I met with Mrs. Royall, "in a fine frenzy rolling ;"--who told a foreigner— a Clerk in the General Post Office.— that " she had seen bears, rac- koons, and alligators, — but never had the pleasure to encounter a monkey, before she met with him." To which he answered, "go away — you dam voman of de bad tongue, — you no good for not- ting." I had the honor to attract her fancy, and she pronounced me "a gentleman and a scholar," before I had spoken a single word, — and on the riext day called at my rooms. The following day I was invited to eat a family dinner with " In July '29, tbe "Kitchen Cabinet" was not rBlablished ; and it was manifest lliat Mr. Calhoun was more the favorite than Van Buren. Mr. C. had left Washington. I See Appendix. 60 tbe President. I went to the palace, and found myself the only invited guest. I should have <^azed on the President alone, had not the wife of one of his Secretaries been so transcendently lovely, that I could not help saying to myself "Oh, that for me, some" fair, '• like this, had smiled." There is, in the Southern ladies, a grace, softness and refinement, which completely dis- tances the f;icina(ions of our ruddy, vigorous, and active damsels of New-England. They do not make such useful wives, but they are the enchanting beings, from whom Byron drew his portraits of — Zuleika, Medora, Gulnare, and Haidee. If one was ambitious of public distinction and elevated station, give him a South- Carolina wife, and she v/ould enable him to win everything. The dinner was remarkably plain and republican; such a din- ner as A Yankee farmer would have on his table any day in June, viz: — a roast shoulder of lamb, green peas, and a leg of bacon. The President ate nothing but peas, and drank but two glasses of wine. Tlie only observation he made which impressed my recol- lection, was, " that, if a General presumed to consider the enemy, in his front, as contemptible, he was certain to be beaten. He always planned his arrangements, as if the enemy was vastly stronger than himself; — holding in doubt the reports of his spies and informers.'' The dinner being ended, the President calleil for his pipe, and, seating himself in a recess at the window, drew a chair near his own, and beckoned me to occupy it. The members of his family retired, and I was left alone with the great man. He said, "he had known something of me before, through the newspapers, and of the trials I had sustained during the late political contest." I told him that I had no claims on his approbation for any thing I had suffered ; — that I had only done my duty as a faithful citizen, and the consciousness of that was reward enough. That I was a federalist, — and all the members of the family to which I belonged, were federalists ; — but, as I had maintained my attachment to a party, for many years, against all hope of its future restoration to power, I had, like the other young federalists of New England, acquired the principle of fidelity, and proved the sincerity of my opinions. That a large proportion of his adherents in New- England, and particularly in Massachusetts, were federalists, or the sons of federalists, and they would be the last to desert 61 him, if he "ruled righteously," or to annoy liim uifh mercenary importunities. Jle snatched his pipe from his mouth, and said, with great vehemence. '• I believe it, every word of it; — I sliail know nothing in my Administration, of tlie ohl party ilistinctions ; all I require in the public servants is capacity, honesty, and fidel- ity to the Constitution. You have done much. — and tell me, what station would you desire to fdl under my government?" I replied, it was reported in Boston that Mr. Gerry, the Surveyor of the District, would be removed, and I believed that if I was appointed in his place, it would be in my power to render essen- tial services to the republican party in Massachusetts, by contri- butions to the party newspapers, and more especially, bv pre- senting in myself the evidence that the young men who had tho misfortune to be the descendants of old feileralists, were not pro- scribed by his administration. He answered. •' I have promised not (o remove Mr. Gerry, but [ have not promised to re-appoint him, anil his commission does not expire until next January. Perhaps you cannot wait so long.'" Oh yes, I replied, it will take me quite as long to bring my professional business to a close, and to prepare to enter on my new duties. The President re- flected a moment ami then said, "had you any other appointment in contemplation r" Yes Sir, I answered, I hail thought that if I failed in the more desirable object, I would propose the Consu- late at Naples, with ati a;;ency for the American claims on that Government. '• Hut there is no appropriation for such an ofTue," the Presiilent exclaimed, " we want young men to be educated as diplomatists, our country is deplorably deficient in such men, we have no corps of diplomatic agents, there are no schools for the instruction of such a corps. Thi-; project of voiii s will ndt answer ; there are no funds to send you fortii. I will consult my Secretaries, and you may, 1 think, consider the Surveyorship, at Boston, as your own." I clasped the hand of the Piesident, with affection and reverence, and retired to Gadsby's ; with(>ut feel- ing that my feet touched the earth, I seemed to tread on air. The next morning I called at the •' white house." and was in- formed, by the Secretaries, that it had been delermined to appoint me Surveyor of Boston, and that if I had no other business at "Washington, I might consider my business as completed, and my hopes attained. 62 It was amusing to witness, at Gadsby's, how the report of my dining with the Presiilent, and of my destination to high honors, elevated me in the estimation of the office-hunters who were then inmates of the house. On that day, I was invited to take wine, by half a dozen gentlemen I had never before heard of. The very slaves of the house passed me with an awe-stricken and reveren- tial humility ! Now, if my readers suppose that I did not mark these manifestations of low-minded cupidity with contempt and ridicule, they have mistaken my character. There was nothing which filled me with such disgust, and so complete a sense of the disgraceful business in which I was engaged. In another interview with the President's private advisers, I had the satisfaction to aid in arresting the blow which was aiming at the gallant U. S. Marshal at Boston, and I tlien handed to them a written plan for the ciuiciliation of the parties in that City. It proposed the appointment of Col. Orne to a lucrative office, and the sending abroad, as a national minister, another more distin- guished member of the Bulletin party. In these, and other con- versations, I thought I discerned that the President considered himself as having been deceived by the Statesman party, and that no great efforts were required to deprive them of their appoint- ments. But I stood their friend at this crisis of their fate, and on my return received the natural reward of such conduct, viz: the curses of both parties. The following paper was presented by me to Maj. Efonelson, a private Secretary of the President as a brief statement of my own claims to the patronage of the Government. I like to mention these matters, because they will instruct the young office-seekers how such things are managed at head quarters. Statement, presented to Major Donelson, the President's private Secretary, at Washington, 1st July, 1829. In 1823, 1 was opposed to J. Q,. Adams ; because I believed the story relative to his design in embracing democracy. It was proof of a corrupt politician, ready to do any dishonorable act to effect his pur- poses. Power ought not to be entrusted to such a man ; the Consti- tution would not be safe under his government. The event proved that this reasoning was just. For during Adams' and Clay's administration, inroads were made on the Consti- tution, which nothing but their expulsion from office could have remedied. 63 Although in 1823 — 4, 1 was a federalist and my relatives were all federalists, yet because 1 disdained treachery and loved my country better than my party, I voted against J. Q,. Adams. In Medfield, Mass. (where I then lived,) the ticket in oppositionto Adams received 2-3d9 ot' the votes. My affidavit relative to Mr, Adams' avowed motives for joining the democratic party, viz: — to effect its destruction, was Jirst published in Nov. 18-24; in consc(iuence of a call from the National Journal on the Boston Statesman, to produce a witness to that charge. The Statesman called on me as a witness, and although I foresaw years of persecution, desertion of friends and loss of business as the conse- quence, yet I instantly came forth at the summons. There could have been no interested motive in the case ; for the election by the people had passed, and as Mr. Crawford was then my favorite candidate and his prospects in the National Legislature but gloomy, I could have had no ho[)e of personal benefit. Witli the election of Adams by the Legislature, commenced my political attachment to Gen. Jackson. And it has never, for one moment, wavered ; — on the contrary, all my fears were dissi|)nted on an examination of his character, and I saw in him the man alone qual- ified to redress the injuries which the Constitution had suH'ered by the election of Adams ; — the man, to institute and perfect the great work of "reform" and restore the ancient simplicity and purity of the gov- ernment. What was first a political, soon became by the persecutions of the enemy, a personal attachment to the General. By his election, I felt assured, that a great political lesson would be taught, in all fu- ture time, to our statesmen, viz — that honesty is the best policy, in politics as well as morals. Therefore, during the years 1825 — 6 — 7, and 8, I advocated, every where, the cause of Jackson, in all honorable ways I could discover. My time, my resources, (trifling indeed, but all I had) my reputation were all devoted and periled in the holy cause. Jn Sept. 1828, I re-published my affidavit with additional evidence and an ardent ap- Eeal to the patriotism and honorable feelings of the yeomanry of the Tnion. I also wrote the address to the peo[)le of Massachusetts pub- lished in the Statesman on the eve of the election in Nov. • • Heaven has rewarded all our efforts and indicated its favour to this happy land, by the election of Jackson. If my statements and writings from 1824 to 1829, have at all aided in producing this glorious triumph, — God be praised for making me an instrument, however un- worthy and humble, in eflfecting his great and benevolent purposes ! Although I have lost, by my political opinions and ex«rtions, the favour of relatives, who have looked cold upon me, and remonstrated with me in vain ; — although I have excited the hatred of mv former political friends, and the hostility of the Adams party in Ma.ssachu- setts, whose persecutions 1 have still to eniiure ; yet my fervor and devotion to the cause have lost none of their energy ; and never will, till all that the cause requires to be done, shall be fully accomplished. On the evenin;^ before my return to Massachusetts, I called to take leave ol" the President. Havin;; purchased a small framed portrait of the " Father of hio country, the immortal Washington," 64 I pasted on tlie back of it the foliowir.g words,—" the portrait of General fFashitigton, Isi President, for General Jackson, 7th President of the United States. Similis simili gaudet, — present- ed bii," <^'c. I gave it (o the President, and requested that he would hang it yp in his sleeping apartment, so that his last and earliest meditations might be, on the glorious example, and character, of the purest patriot, and greatest man, the world had ever known. He read it wilh emoticm, and promised to grant my request And I then lianded him the following note. Washington City, 2d July, 1829. To General Andrew Jackson, } President of the United States. J Sir, — I cannot return to Massachusetts without attempting to ex- press my sincere gratitude for the many evidences of your favour which I have received since my arrival. Nothing however was re- quired to increase my zeal in your service, and my devotion to the cause, of which you are the illustrious head. Hereafter, should you think my poor abilides, united to an ardent desire for your happiness and glory, could be advantageously exerted in your service in any part of the world, let me assure you that I dedicate myself to any object, (for it cannot but be g-ooc? and honorable if you arc its patron,) without the least regard to consequences or to any mercenary considerations. May Almighty God have you in his holy keeping, and make your civil govern tnent as glorious and as happy for our beloved Country, as has been your military command. With j)rofound respect, I have the honor ever to remain, your devoted servant. On returning to Dedham, I determined to evince my zeal and gratitude, by establishing a Jackson newspaper in the County of Norlolk. I patroled the county, visiting every town, and nearly every ut in 68 jeopardy my reputation. Injuries received in his cause, have convert- ed my pohtical into a personal regard. I recognize as of the party to which I belong, every man who is anxious for the glory and happiness of Jackson and the prosperity of his Administration. And my heart tells me, that those who publicly utter dissatisfaction, and think more of their own than of his interest, cannot long maintain their attach- ment to his service. I know you to be heart and soul a Jacksonian, and while I admire your devotedness to your friends, lament that it may compromise your higher affection. Yours truly, &c. T have in my possession copies of a great number of my letters, addressed to others of the Bulletin party, and to influential j^en- tlemen at Washino;ton, breathing the same spirit; and 1 continu- ed to entertain the same opinions of the " Statesman leaders," until I became a public officer with them at Boston, when I '^ found them out." I mean to say, that although I never thought them deserving, (when compared to many other members of the Jackson party in Boston and the State,) of liie appointments which they obtained, yet, having' been appointed, respect for the President required the submission of the party ; but I did not know till afterwards, the intolerance, cupidity and arrogance of which they were capable. One morning in April, 1830, when sitting disconsolate in my editorial chair and gloomily meditating on my scattered hopes, Mr. Charles G. Greene entered, and said that General McNeil the new Surveyor, iiad arrived in Boston, and desired to see me. I rode to the City Avith Mr. Greene. Gen. McNeil met me at the Statesman office ; a vast gentleman, but of remarkable sym- metry of person, nearly seven feet in height, and looking like one of the sons of Anak. 1 passed before his spacious penum- bra, and attracted his approbation. He determined to appoint me his Deputy, for which I thanked him, and I was made a Deputy Surveyor on the spot. I had put myself in such a position that I could refuse nothing, adequate to my maintenance. The General was '' a clever fellow," in the A'eiv-England sense, and an honorable man, distinguished for better services than those of party. I respected him, therefore, and determined to act as his disinterested counsellor and sincere friend. Let m}' youthful reader reflect on the case I have been describ- in"". Here was a young man, engaged in an honorable profes- sion, (which already yielded him a sufficient income, and prom- 69 ised future independeiice as well as disliiitlioii,) led away by that jack-o'lanteni, (a baletul meteor,) the desire of office, to tlie gradual desertion uf all his better hopes and prospects ; madly plunging into the arena of party with "a zeal without knowledge;" deceived by false expectations, and selling oil" his library and his business; binding liimself hand and foot, and througli sheer ne- cessity, putting himself at the mercy of any ordinary patron ; obtaining an inferior appointment, and subjecting himself to all kinds of exti rlion, as all public oflicers inevitably do; sinking under the intolerable fati;;ue and confinement of labours as se- vere and as unintellectual as those of a horse in a bark -mill ; observing his mind and body gradually decaying; conipelled to endure in silence, the '• insolence of authority ;" receiving his wages of slavery monthly, and feeling that one dollar, fairly won in lionorable competition by superior talent and industry, was uorlh a hundred, dealt out as they deal out, "at feeding time," food to the animals in a menagerie; conscious of the contempt of the free jjeople by whom he was surrounded ; and at last losing the only consolation which could have sustained him under such manifold hunuliations, in the conviction that he had aided in brin skill and des- patch their commercial transactions with the office,) raised a great excitement; that then, the Collector endeavoured to show other than political delinquency, to excuse his despotic exercise of temporary authority. But this icns nit false. The officers he turn- ed out, were quite equal in morals and ability, to those he put in. General Dearborn the Ex-Cullector was, by general consent, an admirable officer, attentive to his duty, — gentlemanly in his man- ners, peculiarly urbane and conciliatory to the mercantile interest, mild and affisctionate to the inferior officers, gaining their attach- ment and, therefore, necessarily, their best services, — and conduct- ing as the chief of the department in a manner to attract the respect, confidence and regard of all who had intercourse with him as a public officer. And as to his judgment, and fidelity to his trust, it is in my power to raise a monument to his honor, which I do with great satisfaction, although in the political contest of 1828 — 9, I was his determined opponent, and " did him some harm," in my newspaper, in his county. His officers in the Boston Custom House, who were spared by Henshaw, were, when I became acquainted with them, in 1830, beyond all dispute, the most intelligent, indus- trious, faithful, and moral, of all the inmates of the department. It struck me, as singular and deserving of enquiry, why all the Adams officers who handled the public money, were retained, while the out door officers, were unceremoniously dismissed ? The ques- tion was in a short time solved. In conversation with one "of the party," he stated, that on the whole, he did not regret that Marshal Harris was continued in office : — that great sums of money passed through his hands; — and that if a Jacksonman held the office, and ran off with the cash, it would bring indelible disgrace on '^he party^^ ', whereas if Marshal Harris happened to " clear out" the party would be exonerated, and could bear down, in overwhelming terms, on their political adversaries ! It is worthy of remark, that in the Custom House, there were spared from the axe of proscrip- tion, the Bond Clerk, the Cash Clerk, the Permit Clerk, the Clear- ance Clerk, and one or two moro Clerks, all receivers of the pub- lic monies, while nearly every officer who received his pay from the publicchest, but touched none of the public revenue, was discharged! It looked very much as if the Collector dared not trust his own party ! And he knew them ! 10 74 While I was aa inmate of the Custom House one of the money Clerks resigned. Of course there were hundreds of applications for his place. As one evening I walked up High street with two of the members of the Statesman party, one of them said, " we have a notion of appointing Mr. Parker, a son of Chief Justice Parker, in the place of Mr. . The fact is the Commonwealth Insurance Company," (composed of the Statesman party) " has a case coming before the Supreme Court, involving the sum of 13,000 dollars. Now, we have no influence with the Supreme Court, who are nearly all federalists : and it is good policy to interest the Chief Justice's feelings, by patronizing his family." Fudge, I exclaim- ed, you might as well turn the sun from its course, as the pure and incorruptible mind of Judge Parker from the course of justice. " Oh, you don't know how such matters operate on all men's minds ; no man is insensible to his interest." Why, said I, the Judge would not flatter Neptune for his trident, nor Jupiter for his power to thunder." " You don't know how these matters are managed, nor their eftects," was the reply. Mr. Parker (an excellent officer,) was accordingly appointed, but the Commonwealth Insurance Com- pany lost their case. Mr. Parker is now the Cash Clerk of the Custom House. The Collector probably thought of those distinguished Massachusetts democrats, Skinner and Bidwell, when he determined to select the son of an old federalist for his cash keeper. In speaking of this good and great man, (the late Chief Jus- tice,) " my heart grows liquid as I write, and I could pour it out like water." Massachusetts never had a Judge of a more pure, just, and benevolent mind. He engrossed the confidence of all parties, — won the love of all classes of people ; — was the kind patron of all the younger members of the bar, and enforced his decisions, as much by the elevation of his character, as by the soundness of his legal knowledge. My gratitude for his paternal encouragement, when I made my first argument before his Court, will glow in my bosom as long as life throbs there. Collector Henshavv, finding himself unable to quell the excite- ment of the mercantile community, caused by his intolerant per- secution of the under officers of his department, — in the peculiar spirit of his character turned about, and denounced the merchants of Boston, to the President, as a gang of bankrupts and swindlers. 75 Every merchant in Boston will remember his '* letter" to the President, and has probably recognised, in various subsequent writings in the Boston Statesman and Post, similar efforts to stig- matize this class of citizens. The same pen which wrote the "iiifammis letter,^' wrote also the communication to the Washing- ton Globe, at the recent period of commercial distress, stating that aristocrats ought to fail, — that when reduced to poverty, they be- came democrats, and aided the party ; — and that the greater the number so stricken down, by the measures of the Government, the greater would be the force of democracy in Massachusetts. I am certain, that this shameful communication was from the Collector's pen. I can detect his style in a hundred papers, from all parts of the Union, which may contain a single article, written by himself. It is a compound, of one part of James 1st, to two of Jack Cade. I firmly believe, that the unnatural hatred and contempt which the President seems to entertain for the merchants, is in a great degree owing to these, and other similar communications, from the Collector; and he probably considers that one of the public bene- fits likely to accrue from a war with France, would be the certain ruin of the whole class. On their ruin, would follow the headlong destruction of all enterprise, public spirit, and national liberty. There is not in New-England a single great literary, benevolent, or charitable institution, that was not founded by a merchant, and has not been, and is not now in a great measure, sustained by merchants. In all ages, they have been the first, most active, and most determined assertors of liberty. It cost Alexander a greater sacrifice of time, money, labour, and human life, to conquer the little City of Tyre, than to overturn the Persian Empire. Com- mercial Carthage, was the most formidable enemy of Rome. Spain, in the height of her glory, could not subdue the merchants of the United Provinces. And Bonaparte, with all Europe at his feet, and millions of men and money at his command, was conquered, deposed, and committed to prison by the merchants of the little Island of Britain. Whenever an American President resolves on the overthrow of the liberties of the country, his first measures will bo directed against the merchants, as the most wealthy, most (|uick-sigiiied, most enterprising, and most resolute of all the ene- mies of despotism. It has been asserted and rc-assortcd in the Statesman and Post, 76 that the U. States officers in Boston, opposed to the present Ad- ministration, are more numerous than its partisans. This was intended for effect abroad, for there is no person of intelligence and observation at home, who does not know its utteV falsity. In- deed there is not another paper in the country, which would dare, with so full a knowledge of the facts, to publish so palpable and gross a falsehood, with such shameless effrontery. While I was one of the initiated of the party, we every few days were com- pelled to " crack our sides" over statements in the Post and States- man, so notoriously false, that the very audacity with which they were published was supremely ridiculous. Now the fact is, that excepting the money-clerks before mentioned, and the Jackson officers of the Custom House, not a man was spared, unless from political or interested motives. Not a single monument of mag- nanimity was suffered to stand, when the hurricane of proscription swept through its halls. Of the score of Inspectors, two were saved ; one of them the brother of a leading Jacksonman in a neighboring County, the other (an excellent officer and most wor- thy man,) a distinguished and influential member of the Baptist Church; and as Mr. Simpson was a Baptist, he was rescued from the general destruction. It was the same in all the other corps of officers; none have been spared but for similar reasons. And at this moment, of the seventy officers attached to the Custom House, I know not one, (with the exception of the money clerks,) who openly opposes the Administration ; I do not believe there is one who does not profess a preference for Martin Van Buren as the successor of Jackson. It was the case when I retired in April last, and I feel confident when I solemnly declare, that I left not a single open opponent of Van Buren behind me. My readers may be assured, that if Van Buren is the party candidate, every Gov- ernment officer in Boston will not only vote for him, but spend months of his time, which he has sold to the people for his wages, in electioneering for his success. I have no doubt that the same state of things now exists in every Custom House in the United States! The Post Offices are not yet alt secured, but I learn that they will be, before the period of united action arrives. Then the 40,000 United States officers, scattered over the States, will act together as one man; — they will compose the majority of the grand A'tttional Convention, which is to nominate the democratic candi- 77 date ; that candidate is already agreed upon, and on his nomina- tion, this wliole army of mercenaries, " tlie abomination of deso- lation standing in the most holy place" — will simultaneously fling out the standards of Van Burcn to the winds, and march onward to victory and to pillage. They even now feel certain of success, and prepare for the approaching conflict and conquest over the people, with the same calmness and confidence, and contempt for their enemy, as the 40,000 Swedes under Charles Xllth invaded the Russian Empire. May they find a Pultowal We have seen the operation of "Reform," in driving out the old servants of the people ; let us now enquire what sort of men succeeded to their places. I solemnly aver, and I challenge in- vestigation into the fact, that the whole " pulk of Cossacks," which dashed with wild "hurras" upon the spoils of office in Boston, was composed either of active political writers and laborers in the pre- ceding election, or of family connexions of some of the Cabal, or of their debtors who were unable to discharge their debts, but as public stipendiaries! With the two latter classes, it was a matter of no consequence whether they had been Jacksonmen or not, future conformity was all that was required. Nor was the taint of federalism always an objection ; nor even the horrible enormity of being British born. I readily admit that the old officers who in the conflict of 1828, (although serving under Mr. Adams, and a Collector zealously attached to his interest,) with a noble indepen- dence openly avowed their preference for Gen. Jackson, arc gen- tlemen deserving of high respect and commendation. And, further, that many of the "new comers" are respectable men, and dili- gent and faithful officers. Many of them I most sincerely regard. But all this is nothing to the purpose; the merits of individuals, are no excuse for the madness and wickedness of party. The people ought to be informed in what manner their servants con- • strue the great principles of their Government, — and should un- derstand the motives and reasons of their acts, — and whether the power entrusted to them has been generously and justly used, or cruelly and basely abused. And when the people discover, that the exposition I have been making, and other expositions of illus- trious statesmen, to whom I am as nothing, are true, I am confident that the political illusion, under which they have so long labored, will soon be dissipated, and they will awake to a sense of the im- 78 minent perils which threaten their liberties, "as a lion rouses him- self and shakes the dew-drops from his mane." For, (recently said a great statesman and patriot,) "when I distrust the intelli- gence and virtue of the people, I must distrust every thing, the very possibility of a popular government, or of the existence of liberty." The scene I have been describing, was not a salutary " Reform" of the abuses, which in the progress of time, had crept into our institutions, but a most daring and dangerous attack on the very foundations of those institutions; not the genial warmth of the sun bringing forth fresh verdure, flowers and fruits, but a tornado, "instinct with fire and nitre," rushing over the land, and marking its course with ruin and desolation. CHAPTER VII. Party Organization. " 'Tia the times' plague, when madmen lead the blind." The " Headsman" of the Jackson party in Boston, having pur- ged the Custom House, and filled it with his retainers, he and his confederates next turned their attention to confirming their domin- ion over the Jackson party of the State, and to holding in check every ambitious or refractory country member, who might, at some future time, defy their authority, and in the exuberance of his pa- triotism, — like Jeshurun, — " wax fat and kick." Having constituted themselves a Central power, and being armed with the influenceof the Government, by the possession of the most valuable offices in its gift, they prepared to put a bridle into the mouth of the de- mocracy of Massachusetts, so that thereafter, they could mount 79 and ride it, either at a canter, trot, pace, or iralk-, as best suited their policy and interests. Knowing it was impossible that Judge Morton could ever be elected Governor of the State, because all who regarded him as an unrijiht mafjistrate would not consent to o loo dispense with his valuable yervices on the Bench, and because the genuine democrats never would yield to the violation of their prin- ciples by voting for a judicial olficer while he continued to act as such ; — they, (as their first movement,) determined that the Judge should be the perpetual candidate of their party. It was apparent, that while the Jackson party in Massachusetts was feeble and con- temptible in strength and numbers, they had a fair chance of keep- ing at its head. And therefore, it was represented at Washington, and to the great leaders of the party in the Stales, that it would be of peculiar benefit to the cause, if old " Hartford Convention," "old federal" Massachusetts, was suffered to remain in opposition to Jackson's Administration. She had been opposed to Jefferson and Madison, and by being kept in opposition to Jackson, it would prove that his Administration was decidedly democratic .' It is lamentable, that so excellent a man, and so popular a magis- trate as Judcre Morton, should have suffered himself to be made the dupe of this miserable conspiracy. I declare my belief, with a firm conviction of its truth, that the Statesman party never inten- ded he should be the Governor of this Commonwealth; and that if at any time they had suspected his chance was looking too favourable, they would, if possible, have defeated him by their own votes! As an evidence of this fact, and of their determination to keep the party "conveniently small," let me state that in February 1830, I was a guest at the supper of the Washington Society, at the Exchange Coffee House. I arrived late in the eveiiiiig, and was conducted to the table by a member of the "Cabal." 'J'iiere were about 70 persons at the feast, and my conductor on entering the hall took occasion to say, "here you sec a small but faithful body of our troops in Boston ; they are all mechanics and laborers except zee few who lead ihein. The Jackson party is lur^^e enougk in Boston; — " the fewer men, the greater share of honors." We do not wish a larger party in lhi« City ; every addition brings with it some damned curse, who immediately enters into competition with us for the "loaves and fishes;" low, we consider as one of us, and don't be concerned, you will get something bye and bye. 80 Let us have as many of the countrymen to join us as we can ; — we can manage them, but damn the Boston auxiliaries.'" I can prove, that the same sentiments were expressed, to at least jive different gentlemen, by the same Boston Jacksonian, at about this same period ! And further ; when some time afterwards, (while I was a mem- ber of the Custom House,) Henry Lee, Esq. then supposed to be friendly to Jackson, was nominated as Representative to Congress, and I engaged with great zeal in his cause, by my pen and by personal exertions, I was informed by the Collector, that 1 was doing a most mischievous act; — "that ive did not want a great Jackson party in Boston, nor the introduction of federalists into the party ; they would only overrun us, and take the control of the party into their hands !" Let any Jacksonman who is at all sceptical on this subject, read the Statesman from 1S29 to 1834, and mark the course of the party and its votes in Boston during that period. The determina- tion to have only a small Jackson party in the City, was so suc- cessfully pursued, that in 1832, the Jackson ticket for !*enators for Suffolk, received only 300 votes, notwithstanding the sagacious and managing Mr. Simpson had consented to blazon it with his name. Yet there has been no time since Jackson^s election, when 1500 Jackson votes might not have been polled in Boston, if it had been the object of the party managers, and proper and efficient measures had been adopted. This is manifest from several facts, fresh in the recollection of the citizens. Henry Lee in 1830, re- ceived (I think) 2500 votes for Representative to Congress. Gen. Lyman, in 1830, for the same office, on the fiist trial 700, when C. G. Greene the other Jackson candidate, at the same time, receiv- ed 740 more ; — both, about 1500. On the next trial. Gen. Lyman received over 1200, although the Statesman party stationed Ctjs- tom House officers at the polls to instruct their own faction not to vote at all, or to vote for Mr. Gorham, the " opposition" candidate. General Lyman would have been elected, had not the Statesman party withheld their votes or voted for his opponent — ''the fede' ral candidate." Now this was done, because they perceived, that if General Lyman succeeded, he would immediately become the chief of the Jackson party in Boston, and, consequently, that Meir " occupation" would be "gone"; they would lose the com- 81 mand, and be merged in the general mass. The very nomination, at this time, of Mr. Charles G. Greene, the printer and ostensible editor of the Post atid Statesman, was intended to prevent the election of a Jackson Representative. He is a pleasant fellow, always very neatly dressed, and gentlemanly in his manners; and in intelligence, information and learning, is as well qualified to represent the City of Boston in Congress, as about 4000 out of the 8000 voters, who have recently assembled there at the polls. More polished than "Pop Emmons," (a former candidate for City Rep- resentative to the State Legislature,) but less impressive in his appearance ; more methodical in his eloquence, but less impetuous and soul-stirring; more oracular in his manner, but less imagina- tive and poignant. Pop moved the risibles, Charles the auricles; Pop disturbed the epigastrium, Charles the sensorium ; Pop forced tears, (of laughter,) Charles, yawns!* The nomination of Mr. Greene was, I have no doubt, intended as an insult on the Jackson party of the City, and to keep them from the polls; and they felt it as such, every man of them, save the Custom House party and its retainers. To return to the plan of operation, by which the Statesman leaders succeeded in manacling the democracy of Massachusetts, Their next movement was to appoint, by their own authority, some gentleman supposed to be devoted to their interests, in every County of the State, as Chairman of a County Committee to be appointed by himself in that County. After he had thus selected his Committee, theij were to appoint some person in every town of the County, as a Chairman of a Town Committee, and he selected his associates. I had the honor to be commissioned as the Chair- man of the County Committee for Norfolk, and I performed my duties thoroughly in selecting my associates, and appointing Chair- men of Town Committees in every town in that County. My in- structions declare that " in case of the appointment of Postmasters^ or other officers, in which a town is immediately interested, the • The Oration delivered by this ire^tlcman in 1829 or '30, and published in the Stalesman oi/ii* own, icas not icritlen by himself, but by a genlleman vastly superior to any one of " tke parly," now in office in Boston,— in tal- entu, learninrr and eloquence, but whose merits they have hilht-rlo contrived to keep in the back-gronnd. 11 82 Town Committee ought to express its views to the County Com- mittee, who, if they approve, may sanction it and send it to the Central State Committee, who will transmit the recommendations to Washington." Now, David Henshaw was the Chairman of this Central State Committee, and John K. Simpson, Andrew Dunlap and Nathaniel Greene, &c. his associates. Of course not a single appointment could be made in Massachusetts, without their sanction! They were the Government .' They g^ye away offices or withheld them, at their sovereign will and pleasure ! Fouche himself, could not have devised a more beautiful scheme of inter- nal police! It completely excluded the influence of every dis- tinguished Jacksonman in the State, and placed the whole power and influence of the party, in the hands of David Henshaw, the Collector of the Customs! If Martin Van Buren did not originate the plan, (and it bears the impress of his genius,) it is certain that he recognized and as- sented to it. I have before me a letter dated Sept. '29, from the Central State Committee to me as Chairman of the Norfolk Com- mittee, stating, that they had "addressed a letter to Mr. Van Buren recommending him to select for publishing the laws of the U. States, the Boston Statesman, the Worcester Republican, and the Pittsfield Sun." And requesting me, " forthwith to get my Committee to address Mr. Van Buren recommending this selec- tion." We "did this job" for them, and the above newspapers were selected. I remember that about this time, in conversation with a very distinguished democratic Jacksonian of Massachusetts, he told me that " he could not conjecture what the matter was at Washington; he thought he had, or ought to have some influence there; but nothing which he requested or recommended was granted. He believed he had lost all influence in that quarter." He had indeed ; it was all engrossed by Henshaw &, Co. ! Let us proceed to the next movement. Having determined to reduce the Boston Jackson party to nothing but a Custom House party, of a few hundreds, who vvoujd submit to their dictation in "passive obedience," the Statesman Cabal perceived the necessity of having a Jackson party somewhere in the State; because leaders without a party, Generals, Colonels and Majors thundering in the field without troops, would look very ridiculous. Accord- 83 « ingly, after a midnight conclave, they spawned a batch of news- papers, to enlighten the interior counties of the Stale. Case, of the Mercury, at Lowell, had the honor of being first ushered into editorial life. " Deformed, unfinish'd, sent before his time Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, And that so lamely and unfashionable, That the dogs bark'd at him." Worcester was gratified with the maintenance of another of the bantlings, and a very " sprightly child" he has proved. Another was sent to Lynn, but it was a feeble creature, and died in about two years afterwards. The fourth, which was deposited at Cape Ann, by feeding on clams and cod-fish, grew so froward a youth, that within a few months past he run away from his parents, and appointed the Whigs his guardians. Thus the Statesman Cabal held in its hands the reins of the party organization, and were the owners of its presses. All the ramifications of the party, centred in them ; all its numerous rays converged to a single focus of light and heat, — the Collector, who dispensed the genial influence to the benighted yeomanry of the State, through the newspapers under his control ! Armed with this power, the Cabal assumed the right of dictating to the democratic representatives of the people in the State Legis- lature, the course they were to pursue in their deliberations, and the candidates to be supported in the elections of their presiding oflicers. Any one, who will examine the Statesman and Post, for the past four years, will read certain advertisements, published usually three or four days before the meeting of the Legislature, like the following : — " Notice. The Democratic members of the Legisla- ture are requested to meet at the Statesman Office," (or "the De- t mocratic Reading Room,") "on the evening before the meeting of the Legislature, on business of importance." At this meeting, such members as are debased enough to attend, are required to re-ap- point the Cabal as the Central State Committee for the year ensu- ing ; and are then instructed in the duties expected of them during the session ; and if an appointment is in gestation they are made to subscribe the candidate's recommendations. They are then in- formed whom the Cabal have selected as the democratic candidates for the speaker of the House, Clerk, «Sic. &i.c. and these candidates 84 are always selected, not with the most remote possibility of their election, nor are they the most popular candidates, but with the design of acquiring for them reputation and influence at Washing- ton. In this way, three years ago, the democratic candidate for speaker of the House received only 29 votes, when, as it afterwards appeared, there were actually 88 Jackson members present 1 And such are the democratic ''friends of the people .'" the especial patrons of their rights ! — " independent republicans I the revilers of federalism ! the boasted guardians of popular liberty ! — There never lived a federalist, who would have submitted, for a moment, to such degrading servility ; — as to be mingled with a herd, and driven with goads, wherever its conductor listed. Shame on such Representatives of the People J'^ A representative of a town con- taining a thousand of intelligent freemen, stealing to the States- man office, in the night time, to receive his political instructions, and consenting to be a pander of political cupidity and intoler- ance ! Let the people enquire into this matter, and brand the cul- prits with the infamy they deserve. But the work was not yet complete. The little political corps, which the Statesman leaders determined to keep up in Boston, was divided as it were, into platoons, and Custom House officers ap- pointed its sergeants and corporals. Thus the Collector was not only Commander in Chief of the whole political army of the State, but likewise Colonel of the household troops. This corps was admirably disciplined, and its common soldiers had no more to do with political affairs, except to discharge their votes when ordered, than had the Hessians, who fought against the Revolution in the question they were contesting. Every thing was managed by the "Leaders," by their staff, the Ward Committees, all picked men, and by the Custom House officers. Here is the usual mode of pro- ceedino-. Suppose that it is intended to nominate a Jackson can- didate to represent the City in Congress, and that the leaders dis- cover in the Boston party a preference for a gentleman not their own candidate, and of whom they do not approve. " A Notice" appears in the Post calling a meeting of " the Democratic Repub- licans of Boston at Democratic Hall on evening next, to fill vacancies in the Ward Committee." As this is an object of no importance, none but they who are let into the real object of the meeting attend ; and these are usually the Ward Committees and 85 the Custom House officers. When the assembly has convened, a Leader calls to order, and immediately nominates another Leader as Moderator and declares him elected. This is done, lest a motion should be made to choose a Moderator by ballot, and they abhor the "secret ballot." The Moderator then declares that the object of the meeting is to nominate a candidate for Representative to Congress, and presumes it will be done in the usual way, that is, by laying a sheet of paper on the tabl^ , on which the names of the candidates, and the number of marks each receives, are to be en- tered. The paper is spread out, and then Mr. Simpson rushes for- ward, and writes down the names of some half dozen members of the party, and puts his mark against the name of the selected and favorite candidate. And after that, let any man present dare mark against any other name. If he should presume to exhibit so high handed a contempt for authority, he is from thenceforth, " a.mark- ed man." The nominations conducted in this mode are generally unanimous. But if by some inadvertence, or in consequence of the unexpected presence of members of the Jackson party not dis- posed to submit to despotic power, it is carried to nominate the can- didate by ballot, then, after the votes are taken, a Leader moves that the Moderator appoint a committee, to retire, and count the votes, and tiien report the name of the successful candidate. The Moderator declares the motion accepted, and appoints a committee of trusty servants, who retire with the votes, and in due time report " under a just sense of the important duties imposed upon them." The selected candidate is always successful ! No one but the Committees knows any thing about the votes, the business is done in secret — and the subject is settled by their re- port. I have been present at a meeting; where this last proceeding was adopted, and for the first time in my life, saw the votes of the people taken away from their presence, to be counted in stcret by a committee whom they did not appoint, and in whom they had no confidence ! And this is democracy ! Tiberius would not have dared to treat his own servile Senate with such imperial contempt! Never shall I forget how my blood boiled with indignation the first time I was compelled to submit with many others, (I believe a majority of the legal voters present,) to such shameless management and intolera- ble arrogance. 86 From the facts I have in this chapter staled, it is apparent, that no designation of the Jackson party of Massachusetts could be more pertinent and des(>riptive than the " Custom House Party" Its acknowledged head is the Collector of the Customs ; the officers of the elite corps in Boston are Custom House Officers; and all the Lieutenants of the- several Counties are the creatures of their for- mation. If a member of a town Committee becomes suspected, he is expelled by his Chairman ; if the Chairman is refractory, he is deposed by the County Committee, and if any of these last disobey orders, they are instantly dismissed the service by the Central Power in Boston, viz : the Government Officers. All recommen- dations for appointments under the Government must be transmit- ted to them ; and whether they ever forward them to Washington or not, the applicant never knows. If they reject him, his case is desperate. The Collector of the Customs is, therefore, Jackson's Viceroy in Massachusetts. CHAPTER VIII. Official Life. «< Eternal spirit of the chainless mind ! Brightest in dungeons, Liberty !" — Byron. On the morning of the 20th April, 1630, in company with Mr. Jameson, (a brother-in-law of Gen. McNiel, whom he had appoint- ed his " Marker and Prover" of Spirits, Teas, &c.) I attended the General to the Custom House in Boston. We found the ex- Surveyor and his Deputy quite resigned to their fate, polite and disposed to give every information relative to the routine of the office. Indeed Mr. Gerry wa.s particularly kind in pointing out to me the course of daily busiiiess ; which could not stop, because new 87 officers superintended it, but required immediate and constant ac- tion. And his Deputy was equally complaisant. They then re- tired and left us in undisputed possession. I had devoted some three or four days and nightit to reading the U. States Laws applicable to my new duties, but might as well have slept during the same time, as to any benefit I derived from the effort. I will venture to assert, that no man can gather any knowl- edge of the practical duties of a United States Officer, by studying the Laws regulating those duties.* There is always, a law of ihe q^cp very different from the law of the land, the law of precedent, which says "^ thus has the business been done, and must continue to be done." There is scarcely a transaction of the Custom House performed exacthj according to law ; I do not mean to say that the spirit of the law is, in all cases, violated, but that some particular and perhaps unimportant form is omitted. As, frequently, great despatch is required, it is vefy natural that the officers should take the shortest cut to arrive at the desired object. And in a little time, this " short cut" becomes the travelled road. After about a week of close observation and painful anxiety, I got into the common path, and drew my load like a practiced dray- horse. I soon however discovered that my office was no sinecure, and that I was doomed to eat my bread by the sweat of my brow. The arduous business of the Surveyor's Department had been hith- erto performed by the united labours of the Surveyor, his Deputy, and an active and intelligent Clerk, occasionally assisted by an ex- tra Clerk. It required their joint labours to accomplish it. But Gen. McNiel had no Clerk, and being disabled by an honorable wound in the right arm, received at Chippewa, he was no penman. Consequently the labour which had, previous to our entrance, been divided among three, and sometimes four expert and active wri- ters, was to be executed by me alotte, without any material assis- tance. Nevertheless, being full of zeal for the cause, of gratitude to my patron, and of ambition, to prove to the merchants that they had suffered no injury by the change of officers, I continued for nearly a year to perform, (I may say,) the whole duties of the office. After the exhaustion of the d?.y, night after night found • The Comptroller of the Treasury ihould alwayi be an experienced Cus- tom House Officer. 88 me a watcher over unfinished records. All exercise was suspend- ed, recreation avoided, and repose interrupted. In less than ten months such severe labours broke me down, and I have never re- covered from their fatal consequences. At this time, I discovered what hundreds have before me, that the confinement and continuation of labour which is incompatible with intellectual excitement, is the most destructive to health of all other labour. For instance, the poor wretch who picks oakum in his cell can think, and therefore he, in some degree, preserves his health. The novelist, like Bulvver, can shut himself up for a fortnight, and produce a work which shall delight the world, and come forth afterwards sound in body and in mind. But he who posts Books or copies Records, which requires continual attention, without permitting any other intellectual effort, would be a dead vian at the expiration of that period. How often during those sleepless nights have I repeated the lines which are the motto of this chapter ! How often have I directed a glance of memory to 'my once free, happy, and life-stirring occupation in the country, and cursed the folly which made me a slave ! My very dreams, as I snatched a hurried repose, were coloured with this longing after freedom. I was mounted on the back of a fiery steed, spurning with his heels the pathless desert alone, with unmeasured space before me, and far beyond the restraints of civilization, and the power of man ; or standing on the highest Andes, and looking down in triumphant scorn, on the miserable struggles of the world beneath ; or a solitary, but free inhabitant of some island in the Pacific, walking thoughtful on the shore, and contemplating the Ocean, as it washed its murmuring sands; " Datk-heaving ; boundless, endless, and sublime, The image of eternity." When in April I left Dedham, (where I had resided many years among a generous, friendly and intelligent people,) I was hale and vigorous, able to confine myself to my desk without exercise, for five days in succession, and on the morning of the sixth to plunge into a trout stream, and trace its course till night, without suffering any inconvenience. In less than a year's residence in Boston, as a Custom House officer, I was an invalid, incapable of enduring manly exercise, and liable on any sudden exertion, or even on the receipt of agitating intelligence, to be attacked with violent palpi- 89 tations of the heart. And the constant dread of such paroxysms, left me few moments of enjoyment. For a time, the business throughout the Custom House was carriefl on smoothly and harmoniously. TI.e Collector felt and enjoyed his new power and dignity; and as Bonaparte declared that " He was the Slate," so he looked and acted as if he was tlie Custom House. I made occasional visits to the Statesman office, and whenever I could snatch a moment of leisure, wrote commu- nications for the papers. It was not long, however, before I dis- covered that General McNeil's appointment was not agreeable to '•the party," and that it had probably eclipsed the brilliant expec- tations of some member of their confederacy. And in a conver- sation at the Statesman office, I learnt with contempt and indigna- tion, that my allegiance was due to them, and not to my patron. I instantly remarked, that the General's interests would always claim my first care, and that 1 shoulcrmaintain them against every other interest. On now looking back to this period of my official life, I am convinced that I derived my apjioinlment, eiihf.'r through in- structions given to Gen. McNeil at Washington, (as some equiva- lent for broken promises.) or through the influence of the '• States- man leaders," exerted with the desijin that I should act as a spy on the General's movements, and keep him in subjection to their authority. They justly supposed, that the General was not the sort of man to serve under such officers, when he had been in the habit of leading in contests rather more perilous than party war- fare. Accordingly, he was never admitted into their political con- sultations, but pointedly excluded ; and on every inviting occasion was treated with neglect, and subjected to mortification. At tho 4th July dinner of the Washington Society, (in 1830,) at Concert Hall, the General was left to find a seat at the bottom of the table, while Henshaw, Simp-^on, Dunlap, Brodhcad, Greene, and even some petty Custom House officers, took possession of the " chief seats," — at the head. But these 7}ewspaper patriots did not per- ceive, that ihe place occupied by a gentleman, who had proved his patriotism by real services to his country, and carried abwit with him the evidence of it, and of his valour, viz : his wounds, was the actual head of the table. Ou this occasion, while we waited in the anti-roora the an- nouncement of dinner, I noticed a little vian, to whom the general 12 90 attention was directed. His countenance was peculiar. There was a strange attraction about it ; if I looked in another direction my eyes involuntarily turned to survey it again. It recalled to re- collection faces I had seen in dreams, (when suffering with indi- gestion,) which in spite of all my exertions kept close to mine, and were dreadful to look upon. I thought of Asmodeus, in " the devil on two sticks," and of Mephistopheles in Faustus. — " Who is that man," I exclaimed to a gentleman on my right hand. Why? he answered, dont you know him? That is Isaac Hill, of New Hampshire ! After the feast, Mr. Hil! favoured the company by reading a a written speech, wholly incomprehensible to every guest except the initiated, who sat near him. It intimated in dark and mysteri- ous terms, the existence of a plot at Washington, originating with certain great men ot the South, and having for its object the over- throw of the President, and Van Buren, and himself! To me, it was as an " an unknown tongue," but I observed that the "States- man leaders" smiled and nodded approbation and intelligence. A few months afterwards disclosed its meaning. At this dinner, I gave the following abominable toast. " Wash- ington and Jackson, the first and the last of our Revolutionary Presidents, — the founder, and the restorer of the Republic, — the Elijah and the Eiisha, of the same political faith." For two years past, I have never thought of this awful desecration of the memory of Washington, without an inclination to smite my breast like the publican, and cry, "■ God be merciful to me, a sinner." If the Washington Society will be merciful enough to expunge this sentiment from its records, I promise my lasting gratitude, and I trust future reward, by a gratuity of five dollars, — in Jackson Gold. Some months before this time, Collector Henshaw had been con- firmed by the Senate, in his honors and dignities ; and Mr, Brod- head, (by a majority of " o»e") had been permitted to exchange his shears, (one of the emblems of his crat^,) for the quill, as Navy Agent, The other emblem, the ^z^oos?, he carried with him, in his translation to a more elevated station, and probably will part with it only when life is extinct. About the time his success was announced, happening in at the Statesman office, one of the confederates told me that l:e was at 91 Washington while Brodhead's nomination lingered betbre the Senate. It seems that Mr. John Roberts had communicated to the Senate certain statements in relation to Brodhead, which threatened to defeat his hopes; and that Mr. Roberts had been assured, the next nominee in that event should be himself. " Well," said the confederate, " finding this to be the state of mat- ters, and that Brodhead was in trouble, what do you think I did? Why, I just stepped into a Justice's of the Peace office, and made an affidavit, that John Ituberts''s reputation fur trutli in Boston, was bad; which affidavit I handed in to the Senate." Was his reputation for truth bad, I enquiied. " Why," he replied, — '' I'ou know we don't stand fur the wear and tear of conscience on such occasions!'^ Poor John ! he is dead now ! He got an inkling of this attack on his reputation and came to me for information; but I refused to state any thing unless summoned before a tribunal of Justice, when I would declare all I knew. And this arrow was secretly thrust into his heart by one of his best friends, in honor of whom, at the 8th of January festival, a few months before, he had given the following toast. By John Roberts, Esq. , Esq. — The talented and fearless . Though violent partisans may vilify and worthless public officers cheat him, he has the confidence and sup- port of all his political friends. The " Cabal" had, therefore, in 1S30, succeeded in securing all the important offices to themselves. Henshaw's patronage, alone, was over 75,000 dollars per annum. And he and his associates lorded it over their dependants, with a despotism demanding the most lowly and debasing submission, such as no nobleman in Rus- sia exercises over his serfs. I have read that in Tartary, when the nobles assemble for a "general drunk," they occupy some hall, in the second story of the building which is the scene of their revels. That from this hall pipes descend on the outside ; and when the aristocracy are " full of the god," and part with the superfluous fluid through the pipes, the ignoble multitude, (the democracy,) on the out side, eagerly catch it, at second hand, and in lime become as ''magnificent" a? their masters! .Such was the operation of official power in Boston ! CHAPTER IX. The Tax. " In the corrupted currents of this world, Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice. The Statesman leaders being confirmed in their ofiicial posses- sions, next turned their power and avarice against their own hum- ble dependants. They had grasped all the lucrative offices in Boston in the gift of the Government, but were not satisfied. Alexander wept for new worlds to conquer j and while a single dollar was to be had the Statesman leaders thirsted to pocket it. There was in the project I am about to unfold a meanness and extortion wholly unexampled, and almost beyond belief, could it not be substantiated by many respectable witnesses before any tri- bunal jjossessing tiie power to compel their attendance. I know that the Post and Statesman in the most emphatic language have repeiitedly declared its falsity. Nevertheless, it is true. I know too that the I'ortland Argus and Augusta Age, both recently under the superintendence of F. 0. J. Smith, were summoned to the assistance of the Statesman leaders when the project leaked out, and reiterated the denial of its existence, in the coarse and un- mannerly terms for which those papers were distinguished. But it is true. F. 0. J. Smith! What an Iceland fog must have enveloped the minds of the enlightened people of Cumberland County, when such an excrescence of party was plucked out of the political cauldron, and made their Representative to Congress ! I claim an interest in Cumberland County, for I was graduated at Bowdoin under the paternal instructions of President Appleton, a pure and holy man, and of Professer Cleveland, the most eminent chemist and mineralogist in the country. We revered the Presi- dent, but all of us loved the Professor, the fascination of whose familiar conversation is irresistible. He is the lever which has up- held the Institution from its beginning ; the most splendid ofieis 9.3 of emolument in other quarters have not attracted him from the comparaTively humble but useful station he so eminently occupies. Incontrovertible evidence of a great and good man ! To return to the Tax. The first intimation I ever heard of it was from Natiianiel Greene, in his private room over the old Post Oflice, and but a short time after I became a public officer. Sup- posing that it was mere badinage, in which he habiiually indulged, I treated it accordingly. Bst in July 1830, I received an invita- tion in writing, to " attend a meeting of the Central Committee," (to which I did not belong,) "at the Navy Agent's office in State- street." 1 remarked, as singular Jit the time, that General McNeil did nut receive any invitation. I went there on the appointed evening, ignorant of the business which recpiired so formidable a sunmions. In a short time some ten or ticehe public officers made their appearance. I suppose ail who were invited ; lor the usual plan was to assemble those who could be relied upon to puss a measure, and then, afterwards to enforce it on the rest, as the fiat of the party, from which there was no appeal. Mr. John Crowu- inshield, an appraiser, was chosen Chairman, and Mr. J. P. Robin- son, (Public Store-keeper, formerly a Clerk in the House of Hcn- shaw it Co.) Secretary. Then uprose Mr. Simpson uith an as- pect of solemn and melancholy concern. He said, substantially, '' That it probably was known to every office-holder present that Mr. Nathaniel Greene, the Editor of the Boston Statesman had conducted the late political contest, in that paper, with singular zeal and ability. That he had contracted in these generous cffi)rls large debts, atnounting to over thirty thousand dollars — about $33,000;* that the officers of the government in Boston must be conscious that they obtained their offices through the distinguished exertions of the Statesman and the party which sustained it; that Mr. Greene, although he had obtained a valuable office, could not, out of the profits which remained after deducting liis necessary expenses, pay off much of the principal of the $33,000 delit. if at the same time he was obliged to keep lo and decline a re-election. Or, if our paper,) has left them powerles?, and their courage is the oftspring of despair. I likewise send you by mail, the published account of the Jackson celebration here on the Sth January. It appeared in the "■Statesman.^' This celebration was "got up" by General McNeil and myself, and all the toasts, (to which no name is prefixed,) were prepared by Mr. Little, Deputy Naval Officer, and myself. For the Editor of the Statesman, I also prepared the account of the proceedings, for publi- cation. He sent me the proof for correction, and in \.\\ Purchase-street. ^ Dear Sir, — You arc reminded that the Central Committee of w hich you are a nicMilior, will meet nt the Slnlcsman Office, ^Vater-strect, this eveiiinfr at 7 o'clock, by adjourunicnt. Yours truly, JOHN K. SI.MPSON. Meetings every Monday Evening nt 7. Please attend them all. Now it was impossible for IMr. Simpson to inform the General directli/ that he had been appointed a member of the Central Com- mittee ; he must take a round-about way, and use some stratagem to effect his purpose ! The General declined the appoinlment ; and his answer is so excellent, embodving the expressed sentiments of the President, that, (as I was permitted to take a copy,) I trust he will pardon me for publishing it. It was a bitter pill for the Statesman leaders to swallow, indeed they never fairly got it down ! Boston, February IGtIi, 1831. Dear Sir, — Your note of the 14th ult. informing me of the meeting • I know a gentleman wiio read this letter. 104 of the Central Committee at the Statesman OfRce, has been received. Presumin;:;; you are the Chairman of that Committee, — this is the first official notice I have had of my appointment. I wish you and the other gentlemen of the Committee, as well as the members of the Legislature, by whom, (I suppose,*) my appoint- ment was made, to be assured of my earnest desire to co-operate with them in the protnotion of the great objects of our party, viz: — the re- election of President Jackson, and the complete success of the politi- cal principles advocated in his Messages. But, (permit me to say,) in our republican government, every thing of a political character ought to be left to the free and unbiassed judgment of the people; and those who take the lead in political affairs, should never be liable to even a suspicion of acting under any influence distinct from the general im- pulse which actuates the whole mass of the people. Holding, as I do, a public office under government, and believing that it is bad policy i^oY public officers to be known as leaders in the political affairs of the State, to the exclusion of the citizens, (the more proper representa- tives of the people,) you must suffer me to decline serving on the Massachusetts Central Committee. Another reason for this deter- mination, is my recent removal to this State, and the imperfect knowl- edge I have of its inhabitants, and of the policy intended to be pursued by the political party to which I belong. You will, however, understand me to be at all times ready to devote my time, money and exertions, to the re-election of the President, and to the maintenance of the principles of his Administration. In this good work, you can ask nothing of me, wherein I am not prepared to make every sacrifice. Respectfully, Your obedient servant, J.. McNIEL. About the last of February 1831, the "explosion" took place, the match being applied by that political Guy Faux, Van Buren. The famous "^ Calhoun Correspondence'' arrived at Boston ! The Statesman Leaders were in ecstacies ; they said but little, but there was a triumphant glee in their looks and movements manifest to every observer. The few friends of the President assembled and resolved to defend his cause at all hazards. And there was some cliivalry and disinleresledness in this resolution, for at the time, the general opinion in Boston was, that Jackson would be annihilated in the controversy. On the afternoon of the 23d February, I called at the Statesman Office, and enquired of Mr. Charles G. Greene, then the ostensible editor uf the Statesman, whether he would on Saturday, publish a calm and temperate Review of the " Correspondence." He directly and positively refused, and de- clared " he would publish nothing in relation to the subject until he saw how matters were coming out." "Why, said I, General Jack- * He was mistaken ! 103 son is the boncfactor of your wliolc party ; a common fcelincr of pratitiuie oucht to induce vou to come fortli instantly in Ins defence. How sliameful to abatidon liiin in his first liour of need ! But my persuasions had no effect ; he was resohitc and determined on the *■ non-committal" poHcy. I wrote a Review of the Correspon- dence that night, and on the iJoth, presented it to the Editors of tlie Boston Gazette with an earnest request for its pubhcation. In a few days after they returned it wit!i a letter containing their re- fusal and stating that " if the communication appenred at nil, at present, it should be in some violetit opposition paper." I then offered it to ^Ir. Buckingham, the distinguished editor of the Courier, an opposition paper ; who read it, hesitated a moment and then declined publishing it. Finding all the newspapers of Boston closed against the defence of the President, I then sent my Re- view to the Editor of the Globe at "Washington, whore it was pul>- hslied over the signature of "A Boston Jacksonian"' sometime in Marcli '31. I would insert it here, did I not vow believe that my zeal was the eflect of a delusion, and that I did injustice, in many instances, to the President's great antagonist. That the Jackson party might not become extinct in Boston, a few of us at this time formed ourselves into a Hickory Club, to sustain by united action the cause of the President. The original members were, (I copy from the original signatures,) John JMcXiel, Samuel Dexter, John W. James, John B. Derby, James Gooch, William Little, Benjamin II. Norton. And we determined, if the course pursued by the Statesman party was persisted in, we would start a new Jackson paper in the City.* For nearly a year after the Correspondence they clung to Calhoun, believing the re- election of Jackson impossible. They have repeatedly charged me, (and otiiers,) with writing ^' injlammntorij letters" to my friends in Washington ; but at the sau^.e time, /a/sc/// (I have no doubt,) declared, that then "'^'"'^ "'' ""^"^ ^"'^^'■' ^^ Boston for their inspec- iionl Urodhead publicly stated this calumny, and Ilenshaw af- terwards in a public meeting, repeated it. I do not believe they ever saw one of my private letters, and as I have a disposition to gratify every'man if I can do it wiiliout great injury to myself, I here insert one of my letters as a sacrifice to their curiosity. The Boston Globe was got up afterwards under our auspicci. 14 To 106 Boston, May 6, 1831. Washin,'uished his for- mer regeneration ; that ho will kneel before his illustrious successor, and confes^inu: his sins, reveal another treasonable plot. That he will tell Lini all about the corrupt bargain in lb'i-4, &.c. The President's Cabinet at length blew up, with tremendous re- ports. Van Buren did not display his usual sagacity in ibia mancEUvre. He was too precipitate. Had he confnicd bis operations to undermining the Vice President alone, he would not only have Buccceded in elfectiug that object, but he might also have persuaded the President to retire, and leave tlie field for him to expatiate in. But he hurried on his operations with such indiscreet ardor, that the Legislatures of several States strongly attached to Jackson rushed to the rescue, and re-nominated him as their candidate for the Presidency. The "old gentleman" was gratified, and thank- fully consented to "stand." And thus Van saw his hopes kicked four years into futurity. Major Eaton was out but I\Ir. Collector Henshaw was not in I Nobody seemed to think at all about his extraordinary claims and qualification?. Such neglect and such sad disappointments af- fected his remarkable equanimity, and every day found him more melancholy and ferocious. On the 2d August, he summoned into his presence, a Weiglier of the Custom House, who had been one of the most determined and active of the little band which ad- hered unwaveringly to Jackson through the storm of the late controversy. He a|)peared, and was informed that ^'the Govern- ment had no further occasion for his serr/cfs .'" He enquired, with some astonishment, '• for what cause?" The Collector repli- ed, " that is of no conse(iueiice; it is sujj'icient that yuu do not suit mij purposes. You arc discharged, and will hand over your oflicial i)apcrs to the Surveyor!" Accordingly the Surveyor re- ceived a notice, stating that Mr. was discharged from office, and would surrender his papers to him furlhwilh ! Mr. was a good officer, and the ablest scholar and best writer of any man of the party. How admirably Bonaparlean ! There is noth- ing like admiring a character until we catch its peculiarities! I remember an old gentleman who once told me that he read law iu 108 the late Chief Justice Parsons' office, and that through life, he had made the Judge his model. And, he added, perhaps you may have perceived it? Yes, I answered, the Judge was remarkable for wearing a red bandanna handkerchief about his neck, and I notice that you do the same ! Mr. presented his case to the President, but is yet a pri- vate citizen ! We now come to the famous meeting at the Old Court House, in Boston, on the 15th August. On this subject I must be some- what minute, and humbly beg my readers to pardon me for intro- ducing matters which may be comparatively uninteresting, but which are important, as showing the mercenary character and corrupt motives of a particular section of the Jackson party. Be it borne in mind, that at this moment there were, again, two di- visions of the old Jackson party; one advocating the re-election of the President, the other, strongly believing that he yet would decline a re-election, and therefore, preparing to offend no candi- date who might offer, but to go for the strongest I In this state of things, it had been proposed by the country members of the Jack- son party in Masssachusetts, to assemble in Convention at Wor- cester. These gentlemen had watched with suspicious eyes the late movements of the " Statesman Leaders," and perceived but too clearly, that they were offering the whole party in market for sale, to the highest bidder. JFe in Boston Icneiv the fact. Our numbers had greatly increased, and we determined to give the in- grates and traitors an " I'll try," in electing a ticket of delegates to the Worcester Convention. I therefore wrote and published the following article in the Boston Workingman's Advocate. FOR THE workingman's ADVOCATE. On Monday evening next, (15th August,) at 7 o'clock, P. M. a caucus of the friends of the Administration in this City, will be held at the Old Court, for the purpose of choosing delegates to tlie Jackson State Convention at Worcester. The project of assembling a Convention at Worcester was formed by the Jackson members of the Legislature during the last session. They resolved that it was ^' expedient to organize the Republican party in this Copimonwealth." It is important that delegates of just political views, tried discretion, and of known devotedness to the cause and its illustrious head, Andrew Jackson, he sent from this City to the Worcester Convention. The members of the Legislature who called this Convention, it ap- pears by the above resolution, considered the Republican party of this Commonwealth either not organized at all, or that the present organ- 109 ization was bnd and Inefficient. Certain it is, that the Jackson party has not increased in Massachusetts to tlie dejrree which tlie soundness of its principles, the popularity ot' the President, and the successtul administration of the atl'uirs of' tlie Repuhlic, authorised us to hope. 'Last year the party sutlered a serious decline of coniparativi! streni^th; the nett gain of the opposilion being ahont 30(U. in this City, iVoni 1200 it has sunk to about tJOO voters. Now there are causes that have conduced to this rapid and lamentable decline, which are known amongst us ami whicii we conlidcnlly trust a new and thorough or- ganization of the party will remove. WhatcTcr of organization was made two years since was, we have reason to believe, based upon a platform that no longer exists. Sui)pose it to have been an Inghatn and Dull Green basis.^ If this is the fact, such an organization is clearly, at this time defective. As one of these gentlemen has been dis- missed from the Administration, and the other begins "to jiale his in- etiectual fires," and approaching a political death, remembers the green prarics of ISIissouri, one would think tl.at the drop sustaining such an organization, ought lo fall and leave it ''hanged by the neck." Indeed we all feel that the reign of illiberality, selfishness and "vaulting ambition" has ceased, and that the President has collected nround him a Cabinet of patriots of like spirit with himself, liberal ingenuous and magnaiiiiiious statesmen. Let tlien t!ie party be organ- ized on this new and honorable basis. Let the test be, "arc you in favour of the re-election of Jackson and opposed to re-election of his enemies." It is earnestly hoped that every Pooler in this City who answers affirmatively tu this (juestion, will attend the Meeting ut the Old Court House on Monday ne.\t. Let there be a ticket of delegates selected, that shall do honor lo the patriotism, liberality and talent of the Jack- eon [tarty of this City ; that shall favour measures calculated to \no- iiiote th'i re|)(jse of the country and relieve it from the harrassing con- flicts of sellish ambition, and that sliall consult the advancement of the republican party by removing all obstructions to the sound, judicious and prosperous Administration of the President. Let every true Jackson ujau attend this Meeting. j2 fVorking Man. N. B. — You will find by the Boston Statesman of July 30, that this Meeting is appointed on iV cdnesduy xXm 15ih August. If you wait till VVednesday, you will be two days too late ! J\lo7iday is the Iblh.* "Perpetual vigilance is required," Sec. You know the rest. '' The enemy" were extremely fearful of the result of the meet- ing, and consequently put in operation all the machinery of their tactics. And here we have another sample of the " beauties of democracy." Tlioy did not dare trust their own retainers in a public and iwctiirnaL meeting of the party ! Therefore, ijiey adopted the usual process, with their Committee. Here is a specimen. • Uao of the common tricks of •♦ the party." 110 Josiah Dunham, Jr. Esq. } South Boston. ^ Sir — You are hereby notified that a nieetincr of the Jackson Repub- lican County Committee will be held at the Jackson Reading Rooai, on Monday Evening, Ist August next, at 8 o'clock. Per order, CHARLES WATERMAN, Secretary. Boston, July 26, 1831. At the last meeting of the Committee it was Voted, " That the Committee prepare themselves with the names of suit- able pel sons to be put on the nomination list of Delegates to the State Convention, (at Worcester,) at their next meeting." Accordingly, on the evening of the meeting at the Old Court House, the Statesman party came there with printed votes for del- egates! Mr. Charles G. Greene entered the bar, with a package of printed votes weighing, 1 should think, two pounds. Tha leading men secured the upper end of the hall ; in the rear and in the darkness were posted the apprentices of Greene, (printer,) and Brodhead, (tailor,) and some Clerks of Nathaniel Greene the Postmaster, few of whom were voters. They were placed in this position to " hiss'^ every gentleman who should prove refractory to the mandates and views of the " Statesman leaders." The " real" Jacksonmen had prepared their votes for Moderator of the meeting. What was their astonishment to see a brother of the Collector suddenly rise, and exclaim "gentlemen, the meeting is opened; JVathaniel Greene is nominated for Moderator: if such is your minds please to signifij it : Mr. Greene is chosen!" Mr. Greene bustled into the Chair, and the meeting was opened ! Having been cheated in the beginning, we determined to be more rapid in our next movements, and while " the party" were chuckling over their trick, John W. James, Esq. rose and offered his Jackson Resolutions to the assembly of conspirators. They were '^ the very thing," Viud cnme upon them wholly unexpected, and we smiled with subdued glee to witness the gradual consternation and " paling" of their countenances. As James, in a voice elevated by a consciousness of honor and honesty, advocated his stirring appeal to the loyalty and patriotism of Jacksonmen, the Collector, Simpson, Brodhead and the rest, quailed beneath the force and energy of his language, and knowing nothing else to do to arrest the penetrating influence of truth, they winked at the corps of apprentices in the rear, who immediately responded by a general hiss ! He ceased ; tiiere was a moment's pause, when the Ill Collector started from the Sheriff's box. I never beheld a more ferocious and fiery aspect ! Had I Tacitus before me, I would quote his description of Domitian. I remembered, that once visiting a sliow of animals, there was a " ^reat ant eater," who, beyond ail comparison, was the fiercest of the menagerie. There was tho tiger, the black bear, the leopard,— all very pleasant fellows; but touch the tail of the '^;;reat ant eaier^^ and he seemed actually to spit fire. The Collector reminded me of this irascible picker up of little things. It was with extreme difficulty, so great was his wrath, that he could speak at all. And when he spoke, it was not in measured accents, but in convulsive puffs, like Vesuvius or Strombolo. The following letter to .Major Lewis at Washington, gives a more graphic and immediate description of this meeting. Boston, IGth Aurriist, 1331. Dear Sir, — "We held our meeting last ni<:jht. After tho Moderator and Secretary were chosen without op])osition, John W. Jamc.<, Esq. rose and proposed the resolutions, wliich I here enclose. They were opposed by the Collector and others, on the ground that tho meeting was not called for the purpose of passing resolutions, and that the resolutions themselves were a fiie-brand thrown into tho rPiiuhiican camp. He was exceedingly passionate and abusive, calling the friends of the resolutions "marked men," — "ready to join any party,"' "the Bulletin party revived," &c. &c. Mr. James, &c. replied and referred to the reeolutions themselves as the evidence of his political faith. The Collector introduced a couple of resolutions intended to .supercede Mr. James', which evaded the main points on which at this time the truth ought to he shown. After postponing Mr. J's resohitions till the close of the evening, they were finally passed. Wc consider this R great triumph, we having in fact forrod the Duff Groen party into the expression of sound Jackson doctrine. Another resolution was offered by Mr. Gooch, condemning the conduct of Gen. Green ; this, after another abusive speech by the Collector, was voted doini. — hini- Fclf, Brodhead, and all their dependents voting against the resolution. Here was evidence, that tiioy were indeed, as has been rrpresrntcd, a Duff Green party. I send you a cojiy of this resolution. I think you will be much pleased with Mr. James' resolutions. They are truly excellent, and I trust Mr. Blair will publish tlieni in his paper. The meeting last night was not numerous. A great majority of those present being the under officers of the Customs, the Clerks of the Post Office, Navy Agent, and the relatives and dependents of all these gentlemen. The ticket prepared l>y them for delegates (40) to the Worcester Convention received 03 votes ; a ticket constructed on a tnore liberal plan, 35.* But although this meeting was small, there has a spirit gone forth which will be felt, and will bring forth • Counted by C. Henshaw, Brodhead and Simpson, (I believe they com- posed the Committee nominated by Nalhaniel Greene,) not in open mceUng, but in a prizaU room.' 112 ^00(1 fruits hereafter. The indiscriminate condemnation, by the Col- lector in his speech, of all Workingmen, Federalists and Bulletin men, under which denominations he included all men who did not submit to his dictation, will tend more closely to unite the friends of the President in this City and give to their union strength and efficiency. Mr. Henshaw also stigmatized those gentlemen who were present (acting independently as the devoted friends of the government,) as " spies and pimps, writing letters to IVashington.'' An honest party ought to fear no spies, and if he who recoils from treachery and false- hood and is indignant at ingratitude may be stiled a pimp, tb© title ia honorable. P. S. — It was voted to publish Mr. James' resolution in the Globe. GoGch and Nortan, two of the Inspectors of the Custom House, and members of the Hickory Club, opposed the Collector's resolu- tions, and advocated Mr. James'. Within ten days afterwards, both were dismissed from office. And it is worthy of remark, that both of these gentlemen had previously refused to pay the "assessment,'" and were consequently '' marked men." The case was so flagrant- ly unjust, that even Amos Kendall enquired of me the particulars^ Here is my answer. Boston, 1st September, I8SL To Amos Kendall, Esq. } 4th Auditor. 5 Dear Sir, — Tour letter of the 27th August, was received this day, and I "thank you kindly" for it. By some negligence, the paper al- luded to was not sent you ; had it been received, you would only have seen that Mr. James did not even mention the late difficulties. We all are dij;posed to heal dissention rather than exasperate it. Major Norton on the morning of his resignation, entered the Sur- veyor's room, after having an interview with the Collector. He stat- ed, that he was about to surrender his commission; that he was called upon to sacrifice eitiier his independence or his interest, and that he could not hesitate on the alternative. Both the General and myself begged of him to delay his resignation, to reflect longer upon the sub- ject. He answered that he was convinced the Collector intended to dismiss him, and that he would not be disgraced in that way, but would voluntarily retire. It has been apparent, ever since Norton refused to pay the tax for the benefit ol Nathaniel Greene and his endorsers, that he has been a "marked man." He tells me this morning, that he is about addressing a letter to you explaining his motives. Two days after the meeting of the 15th August, the Collector summon- ed Mr. Gooch and another oilicer to his room, and read them a lecture on the political subserviency of inferior officers, objecting to their maintain- ing political opmions in public. As these two gentlemen voted for the Duff Green resolution, and possess independent republican minds they were somewhat indignant at this attempt to overawe their free- dom of action and opinion. They said little however, but undoubtedly a knowledge of this interview, had an influence on Norton's mind. 113 and his mercurial temperament nntl lii;iili sonse of lionor could tint sul)mit to any arbitrary restraint imposed by his superior, in mutters where itide])endeuce is the liirlii-rii'lit of evory American ritizm. Mr. (looch, on the ;50tli iii>t. torwartled a letter to Major Lewis giviiij; his own views on tiiis suliject. My dear Sir, we are all |)ri)ud of and <;"ratefui to noble Kentucky. Alas! that the chivalry and steady loyalty to principle which distin- guishes her peopk', abound not everywhi.'ie. She does honor to the cause, and to all who aru its votaries. Would that Massachusetts might i/idjibe some of the same enthusiasm and jjenerons devotion to the republican faith. Uut we havo here not only the old aristocracy to contend .ijjainst, but the madness of our own friends. We deeply regret the late division in Boston, but not on the fiiLiids of General Jackson lies the lilann". It was produced by the indiscreet violence of the Collector and his dependants, and by them was it made public. Jt'e intended no such thinj;-, but actuated by honest and just motives, we determined, that the Jackson party of this City and State, in sjiite of the stealthy movtsments of some who would have manaiied it for selfish purposes, should assume and maintain the ground of the Jack- son party of the Nation. Then-lore Mr. James introduced his reso- lutions, since jjublishcd in the Globe ; and if you will cast your eyes over them, you cannot fail to perceive, tiiat no other object could have been intended. Are resolutions, warndy expressive of Jackson re- l)ublican sentiments, to be stigmatized as "Jire bratids," (as they were by the Collector,) in a Jackson meeting, and the ?uj)porters of the resolutions as '"' federalists," '• Bulletin men," •• marked men," and with many other opprobrious epithets ? Had the resolutions been introduced at a Calhoun meeting, I think they probably would have kindled a flame. I was surprised, and truly regretted that so much intemperate language was used after the reading to the resolutions, but I assure you it came not from our side. Messrs. James, Adams, Dexter, Nor- ton and Gooch were our only speakers, and they merely defended themselves from a very gross personal attack. The article that ap- peared in the Statesman on the Saturday following, and which was unquestionably written by the Collector, was the lirst jjuhtic declara- tion of the existence of dissension among us. It was unjust and very abusive, but we were dumb ; our regard for our party and its illus- trious head absorbed all jiersonal considerations. I have not since the 15lh, published a single article in the newspapers of this City, and have earnestly enjoined upon our friends to abstain from defence or recrimination, Mr. James has observed an entire silence in the news- pajier now under his control. So much for our spirit of forbearance and conciliati(jn. That we have done ri-^hl, wc are confident. Not a doubt exists in our minds that our leading men were deeply imitlicated in the Calhoun conspiracy, detected at Washington, and u-c were not to be made the tools of that conspiracy in this quarter, \Ve were convinceii, that there was a concerted plan in case the Western elections had been adverse, to attempt the nomination of Mr. C. as President or as Vice President for the third time. Our resolutions were framed to meet this jdan, and by exposing, to defeat it. It has been done ; the j)arty in this State is now on Jackson ground ; the country is grateful to us for dis- persing the cloudy mysteries of our city politics; we are now confident and united. Have we not followed the example of the Globe in op- 1.3 114 posinsT the disorganizers at Washington and the opponents of the President? If the division made by the Globe be salutary, (as it surely has been,) can the same course here be baneful? But we have not divided. The only temporary division was occasioned by the plain and quiet course of setting on^ opponents a good example, and leaviiig them to follow it. What different mode could the friends of the President have adopted here, without imitating the time-serving conditional support, of the men we dare not trust with the character and policy of the .Jackson party in this State? But you have now nothing to a|)prehend. The elections in the Western States, and the complete prostration of Mr. Calhoun by his avowed nullifying senti- ments, in connection with "the still small voice" of faithful and ear- nest remonstrance uttered by the little band whom it is now proscrib- ing, have at last roused the Statesman from its long slumber, and it begins again to propound sound doctrine. Even that "great and good man," Duff Green, receives from his quondam worshippers an occasional "bullet in the thorax." Zeal may be had cheap, when it has no competitors for favour, and it is never more active than imme- diately after the explosion of a conspiracy. Suspected traitors, as well as new converts, are remarkable for its superabundance. You have therefore proof, that our efforts have not been injudicious or unavailing. The dumb have been made to speak, and the halt to march on vigorously to the battle of 1832. Our friends in the inte- rior of the State have been roused by the energy and fidelity we have dis()layed here, and the Convention at Worcester will be numerously attended and fired v/ith a renovated spirit in the great cause of the Constitution and its joreserver. If for doing as we have done, main- taining our truth when our superiors proved recreant ; never waver- ing a moment in our principles, waiting for no elections to determine our oscillating zeal, but in an apparently dark hour lifting up our voices to animate and encourage our drooping friends ; if for these things we are to be trodden down and cast out as unprofitable servants, to appease the jealousy and hatred of those whom we have shamed, we are of " all" political " men most miserable," and must seek in our devotion to principle the only consolation for our undeserved proscrip- tion. As to the reasons we have had to act as we have done, upon the basis of suspected treachery in our opponents, Mr. James' letter to the President, forwarded some days since, will give ample informa- tion. If you wislvany explanation from any of us, we shall be truly happy in obeying your commands. P. S. — We have just heard from the Convention. Our resolutions have had an excellent effect. The Resolutions of the Convention responded to ours, nominated the President for re-election, proposed a new candidate as Vice President, recommended the Globe to the patronage of the Republican Party, and preserved an ominous silence in regard to the Telegraph. When you know that here it was pro- posed to say nothing of the Presidential election, neither at the City Meeting nor at the Convention, you will perceive that "our good •works follow us." The Worcester Convention opened the eyes of the Statesman Leaders to the perils in which they had involved themselves. 115 They discovered to their utter consternation, that Mr. Cnlhoun was horn du comhnt, and that General Jackson would in very deed he a candidate for re-election without the fear of a compciitor. They therefore instantly recoiled from the hrinlc of the i)olitical ahvss to which they had inconsiderately wandered, and as an evidence t)f their conversion began to abuse Mr. Calhoun and his friends. All their zeal for State Rights evaporated in a monjcnt, and tlifv suddenly perceived that Southern doctrines w-ould be fatal to the Union. As they had abandoned General Jack.-^on when they sup- posed his patronage of no further benefit to themselves, so they abandoned Mr. Calhoun when his prospects became involved in clouds and darkness, and returned to tlnnr former prostrations and adorations before the golden calf of political authority. Feeling that their temporary deviation from the true (i. e. the successful) faith required an extraordinary expiation, their humility and rever- ence before the "General" was "pityful, — was wondrous pityful;" and like the reclaimed Catholic, they not only kissed the toe of their Pope with fervent devoledness, but would have gladly kissed anv other more ignominious portion of his body with a holy and humble enthusiasm. If my readers can sufficiently master their disgust at political treachery and servility as to look over the columns of " toasts" given by tlie Statesman party at their public festivals from 1828 to 1632, they will remark, that the favorite subject of the Leaders was State Rights, then denominated the badge of Democracy. And Calhoun, .McDuilie, Ilayne and Hamilton were the idols of tlieir worship. But when the " Correspondence" had proved that the President's popularity was proof against every assailant, and that the Southern Stales Rights party was in an hopeless minority, then the tone of their ^- sentiments" instantly changeil, and it sounded " Union of the States," — "Traitors and Conspirators," — '•Southern Heresy," &,c. &:,c. In pr(tof of this assertion I give some extracts from the Statesman and Post: — " Thf tarilThiil, wo know, was orininaliy passed in reference, more to the iiitrif'-ts of politicians, than of tin; jiiililir. The |rcscnt delny in its niodilicatioii arises tVoiii the lik'! inllueni-i". None Imt the sin- rero iVifMid-* of iho pri'sont adriiinistrntion, wi>li it tnodifinl .a tln> pres- ent time. The nuililii-rs have iiuirli rant, Imt little sincpiity on the jsubjprt. Thoy wniijil lament even more bitterly \hnn Mr. Clay''< par- tiznn.s, to >ee tlio '|U"stion nmioal>ly and eqnilnlily settled now. With 116 all their pretence to disiiUerested patriotism— to pure love for the con- stitution, and disdain of office and power, the latter is their niain ob- ject, and they even hope to reach it upon the whirlwind of civil com- motion. They may raise that whirlwind, but it will be to them, if it come, the Sirocco, bearing on its wings political pestilence and death. The manufacturers will never be able to make a tariff so favorable to their interests, as at the present time. They are losing ground in influence daily. Will they continue to sacrifice their interests to pro- mote the political elevation of Mr, Clay or Mr. Webster? They will be unwise if they do. Are the people generally willing to hazard a civil commotion, that the consistent, the disinterested, the patriotic Mr. McDuffie, may play the nabob, under the shade of his palmetto.'' Surely not. Then let them look to the subject before it is too late. Let them by moderation disarm treason before it lakes the field." — May 19, 1832, " What might have been expected.~The NuUies and the Clay men are in close embrace— the five striped flag and the palmetto are en- twined. And why should there not be an alliance between the dis- unionists of Hartford and those of Columbia 1 They having a common object naturally travel the same road— f Ae road to ruin."— May 26, 1S32. " In the Senate, in which body, from the basest treachery, faction commands a temporary majority, Mr. Webster brought forward the bill for an unequal and an unconstitutional representation— and which, as we have before stated, passed that body by the casting vote of the presiding o&cer."— May 26, 1832, " We like the rebuke to the disunionists of the South. But to those who recollect Mr. Chandler in the days of the Hartford Convention, when he added one to the number of the disunionists at the North, it seems very much like Satan rebuking sin."— June 2, 1832. " The NuUies on the wane. — Gov. Hamilton of South Carolina, the head of the Nullies, has recently been elected Brigadier General, by a majority of one vote, over his competitor, a friend of the Union, This is hard sledding for the Nullies, but they will soon find it hard- er,"— J«ne 9, 1832. "How much the Coalition resembles the courtezan! How 'unfor- tunately Unfortunate Coalition ! how many lovers has she strangled ; and how many fine things did they promise her. She conspired with her paramours to destroy the fjiithful servants of the venerable man whom the people delight to honor, that she might drive him forth mad from his household, like the King of Babylon, to herd among strange beasts. Alas! the luck was altogether against the conspirators — they were turned out to grass themselves, and the patriarch remained amidst the affections of his household. But they gave not over the •work of their iniquity ; they thrust his steward, called by interpreta- tion the ' auditor,' under the fifth rib, and lo! his spirit haunts them and confounds their counsels; they sent forth their arrows to wound the patriarch's nuncio, sent abroad to the monarch whose ships com- pass the sea, and behold he shall return quickly, and be the head of their counsels— and ' Tewcer,' the nullifier, shall pass away like an idle wind, Alas, how well may the coalition sympathise with the un- 117 happy Haman ! — She has, like him, only erected a gallows for herself: — peace be to her ghost! wliy shouM we torture the unhappy! why should we scourge the 'unfortunate!' " — June 2, lb32. How wretched the condition of tlicse gentlemen at this moment in the agony of deciding whether the chances are in favour of Van Btircn or Judge "White! I sincerely hope, that this time, no honorable party may whip them, nolens volens, into the traces; but that they may be sutlered to plunge into the gulf, which, in the end, always opens to receive the political trimmer and hypocrite! So thorough was the change of sentiment in the minds of these mercenary politicians, that about the time of the Proclamation, an editorial article appeared in the Morning Post wherein it was de- clared, that "the several States, bore the same relation to the United States, as the several coiinties of any State did to the State of ichich they icere component parts J" I never heard of a feder- alist so nltra as to maintain such a consolidating doctrine. In their apprehensions, from democracy to despotism was but one step ! And so I fear it will prove in the end. Mr. Kendall, who at this time was the "power behind the throne," disregarding my letter, and evidently cari\ig nothing for the sacrifice of the two Inspectors, Gooch and Norton, who had fallen in the cause of the President, I tendered the resignation of my office to General McNiel, and offered to proceed at my own expense to Washington and represent the facts to the President. Having acted with these gentlemen, and in some measure coun- selled their movements, I felt, that although the vindictiveness of the Collector could not immediately reach me, yet I was bound in honor to share tlieir fate. And I felt also a profound disgust at the heartless ingratitude of the Government, in witnessincj with the most apathetic composure the destruction of its most zealous and disinterested defenders. General McNiel declined to accept my resignation, and I remained to aid in defending him against the burning wrath of the Collector, who, from the time of the old Court House meeting, until I retired from oflice, concentrated all its energies on the head of the General. Discovering in the Laws relating to the Custom House, the following passage, "the Sur. veyor shall in all cases be subject to the orders of the Collector," (or something to that effect,) he gave orders, the execution of which was impossible, and then inundated the General with letters, 118 and a voluminous correspondence, — well knowing that the General would rather fight a battle than write a " lengthy" epistle. His own part of the correspondence was despatched to Washington, with the view of creating an impression that the Surveyor was negligent and refractory; and he had the address to deceive Louis McLane (a man whom, as an old federalist, he most cordially hated,) and to extort from him an undeserved and mortifying menace of the Surveyor. The order particularly referred to was, substantially, that the Surveyor should be on five different wharves in Boston at the same moment! "Slightly^' Bonapartean ? As to myself, if looks could have annihilated me, I should have been incorporated with the paving stones. He passed me in the streets with an expression of countenance, as if he was saying, " Turned up at thee, the nose of our contempt P' I felt this treatment severely, — in the region of cachinnation ! Unfortunately for the projects of the Collector, the official con- duct and character of the Surveyor was highly appreciated by the Merchants of the City, and on an hint being given that the Collec- tor intended to resign his office, one hundred and thirty-three firms petitioned the Government to appoint General McNiel his successor ! There is no doubt that the Collector did intend to re- tire, and transfer his office to the ambitious Mr. Simpson. But this petition was a " niillifier." I remember that some years since, boarding with an honest farmer, one of his boys (hating to go to school on a fine bright morning,) complained of a violent pain in his stomach. The father immediately scraped from the chimney back, a handful of soot into a pint mug, filled it up with warm water, caught die young truant by the nape of his neck, layed him on his back, and poured the whole dose down his throat. 1 boarded there two years afterwards, but never heard him complain of a pain in the stomach again ! Mr. Collector has said nothing more -ibout resifirning his office since the merchants' petition in favour o! Gen- eral McNiel. My youthful reader will extract from this chapter matter deserv- ing of solemn consideration. I have said the moral of my story was, that a reliance on men, was like trusting to the baseless fabric of a vision ; but that principles, founded in truth, were eternal. Observe now how the pretenders to peculiar and exclusive repub- licanism, cheat you with jjrofessions and act as aristocrats in practice. 119 Observe how modern democracy lias degenerated into a mean and beggarly hankering after oflice ; a passion which extinguisiies all generous and patriotic sentiment; — which contracts the very soul into a hard lump of selfishness and cupidity ; which lures from their hiding places the rapacious and execrable ruffians who infest the community, but whom a healthy state of public morals con- fines to their obscure dens of vice and infamy; — wliicii makes politics a trade, and patriotism the last refuge of the scoundrel ! Observe too how little dependence the most faithful devotedness can place on the men whom it struggles to sustain. If it is politic to patronise it in a great emergency, it has its labour for its pains; but when its services are no longer required, it is delivered over to destruction with as much indifiference as Napoleon sacrificed his bravest troops in battle. There is no faith, honor or honesty in the present political parties of the Country. Therefore, trust to principles and not to men. CHAPTER XL BeautiiS of Jacksonism. " When vice triumphant holds her sovereign sway, " And men, through life her willing slaves, — obey; " E'en then the boldest start from public sneers, " Afraid of shame, unknown to other fears, " More darkly sin, by Satire kept in awe, " And shrink from ridicule, though not from law."— B^ron. The Custom House. My young reader, let me take you by the arm and conduct you into the Boston Custom House. We enter the great door in front. On the left hand we notice the office of the Inspectors and Measurers ; on the right the office of the Weighers and Gaugers, the House of Lords; as, if we meet one of them, you will instantly perceive, by his lofty, repulsive, and aristocratic demeanor.* They have received for several years, something like 3000 dollars per annum, and can afford to look magnificent. We will pass their offices and ascend the stairs. In that little room (over which is suspended a clock that is never correct,) is seated the Collector, probably writing political letters to Washington, or an article for the Morning Post. We will not enter his den, because he enacts the " roaring lion" on any unnecessary intrusion. On the right of his room is the Deputy Collector's office ; we will venture to push the door and entering, to survey the scene. The first person whom you mark is the Deputy Collector ; and you are instantly convinced that he is an extremely ignorant and talkative public servant. He is surrounded by a cloud of merchants whose business requires immediate despatch, and yet you hear Mr. Deputy ejaculating political anathemas against the U. S. Bank, the federalists, &c. &c. and these anathemas are so inconsiderate, that you set them down *See Appendix, (c.) 121 merely as the " ropy drivel of romantic brains." But you see numerous Clerks alwut him intensely occupied. Well, this Deputy receives 1500 dollars a year, and these indefatigable Clerks about, on an average, 700 dollars! The Deputy retires at 2 o'clock, the Clerks work all the afternoon, and frequently much of the night. Let us cross to the Naval Officer's room. The Collector's door is open, and there he sits at 4400 dollars per annum, in conscious dignity, — fat, fiery, and ferocious, repelling a merchant who pre- sents a petition for his favourable consideration. Vou cannot doubt that he is a Jacksonman, and that he thinks himself a great man. See how he waves the hand of authority, — how stern and positive in his determination of the law, — how subduedly con- temptuous in listning to the representations of the importer. The sneer, the suppressed smile, the withering glance, all announce the candidate for higher honors, and the implacable enemy of the noble and generous merchants of Boston. But the spectacle is too revolting, so let us proceed to the Naval Officer's room. You see at that low desk, a gentleman in black, tall, graceful, and po- lite. You are impressed at once that he must be an amiable and honest man ; not bold to conceive, but likely to be rather in- domitable when he has made up his opinion. That is the Naval Officer. And a more honest man and liberal democrat you will not meet with, than L. M. Parker. They who dislike his politics, admire the man; and although he never gave me his confidence, I do but justice to my feelings when I say to you, that his talents are deserving of the patronage of the country, and his virtues of the estimation of all mankind. In the room of this gentleman, you find five Clerks, one of them a confidential Clerk of the Collector, all very diligent working- men. The Collector has a confidential officer in every room, so that every whisper against his authority is known to him and visited in due time on the head of the audacious offi.'nder. The Naval officer receives 3000 dollars per annum, the Clerks from GOO to 1200 dollars. We pass to the Surveyor's room ; and we sec at a desk a gi- gantic and bold looking officer. After a glance at his aspect you will not doubt me when I tell you, that at the battle of Bridge- water, being desperately wounded, he repeatedly thrust his dirk into J6 1 his thigh to prevent fainting, and falling from his horse. He looks much more like a soldier than a Custom House officer. He has a Deputy and sometimes a Clerk. The respectable elderly gentle- man with a queue, in the corner, is the keeper of wines and spirits in bond. A very worthy man, but awfully Jacksonian. The Surveyor receives 2500, the Deputy 1500, the Clerk 600 and the Wine and Spirit Keeper 1095 dollars per annum. This last officer, contrary to law, is appointed by the Collector. He is a depiitij of the Surveyor, but whom he is not suffered to appoint himself, but has imposed upon him by the chief of the Custom House. Although the law on this subject is as plain and clear as the deca- logue, yet the Collector has always had sufficient influence with the numerous Secretaries of the Treasury, who like Banquo and his progeny have passed in rapid and melancholy procession before the American people, to retain this illegal, oppressive, and usurped authority. We cross the entry again to the Clearance and Coastwise room. You are instantly struck with the gentlemanly and modest deport- ment, and the calm and noiseless assiduity of the principal Clerk. There is not an officer in the Custom House so thoroughly ac- quainted with the business and operations of every Department; or who enjoys more of the public confidence, which he richly de- serves. Here we have a throng of seamen, white and black. An Irishman is preparing to swear that he was born in the ^^ Stat of JVa Yorick/^ and his friend is behind him, evidently ten years his junior, ready to swear that he saw him come into the world. A real Jonathan Jack, with a quarter pound of tobacco in his cheek, is deluging the floor with his incessant discharges, and damning Uncle Sam for not taking his measure ; insisting that after eleven A. M. he always settles two inches. Pompey, the " Nig," is told to bring his heels close to the wall, preparatory to ascertaining his height. He gets his heels there, but not his body, which stands out in " bas relief;" he grins, and is cut down an inch less than his actual dimensions. The Clerks in this room receive from 700 to 1200 dollars, and every man of them performs double the duty of the Collector. We have noticed, my young friend, as we traversed the area of the Custom House, a very active and handsome man, diligently occupied in carrying out and bringing in papers, letters, and bank 123 bills. This is the Messenger, whose duties are particularly labo- rious. And yet his pay is only COO per annum. Well, you have now seen the interior of the Boston Custom House and many of its prominent officers. You have noticed, that the 700 dollar Clerks are a pale, lean, and Cassius-looking band : whereas, on the contrary, the 4 100, 3000, and 2500 dollar officers, are plump, ruddy, and contented. The inference is irresistible, that the Clerks do all the work, and their superiors luxuriate on their labours. And this is the fact. According to the present laws, compensation is graduated in the inverse ratio of the labour performed. The Collector merely sits in his " sanctum sanc- torum," like the grand Lama of Thibet, touching 4400 dollars a year and a third part of the forfeitures, amounting on an average to 500 dollars more. Ilis Deputy, the slave of his office, receives 1500 dollars. And the Permit Clerk, who nearly faints under the pressing, incessant, and numerous calls upon his attention, 700 or 800 dollars! This is not just, and therefore ought not to be suf- fered in a Government which ought to be founded on justice. And why should the Collector receive a greater compensation than the Naval officer? The duty of the last is to revise the calcula- tions of the other. Is not the labour equal 1 And why should either of these officers receive more than the Surveyor? His duties are more onerous than either of the others. And why should the truly plodding slaves be cut down to a beggarly remuneration, when they actually perform all the business of the Departments? The whole system is wrong, adopted from the English system, and entirely incompatible with republican institutions. But the ex- pectation of any beneficial change under the present Secretary of the Treasury, whom the Collector " holds in his fist," is perfectly futile. It is barely possible, that he might consent to increase the salaries of the Clerks G 1-4 cents per diem, deducting the same amount from the salaries of the over-paid officers ! For with Mr. Woodbury, a fourpenco-halfpenny is a great thing! "Put money in thy purse," is his rule of action. Let us, my young friend, step into this little room and sit down, while I relate to you some of the " secrets of this prison house." With the exception of the Naval officer and Surveyor and their Clerks, every other officer of the numerous corps attached to the Custom House is appointed by the Collector ; and is liable to be Removed without a moment's warning, for the slightest offence or for no offence, but merely at the whim and caprice of the Collector. You perceive what a fearful influence, therefore, he must exercise over their conduct and opinions. For the sudden dismission of an officer while in the faithful discharge of his duty, and '' when he thinks, good easy man, full surely his greatness is a ripening," and when his domestic arrangements for the year have been made in the confidence of a certain salary, — inevitably plunges him into extreme embarrassment and distress, if it does not drive him to desperation. There are 53 officers thus attached to the Custom House who hold their offices at the pleasure of the Collector. And what an enormous patronage is wielded by one man ! Here is, I believe, a correct statement of its amount. 23 Inspectors, - - - a 1095 each per ann. §25,185 7 Weighers and Gangers, a 3000 21,000 5 Measurers of Salt and Coal, a 2000 ' 10,000 1 Deputy Collector, a 1500 1,500 4 Clerks, .... a 1200 each 4,800 7 Clerks, .... a 800 5,600 2 Appraisers, . _ _ a 1500 3,000 1 Storekeeper, ^ . . a 1200 1,200 2 Clerks in Store, a 800 each 1,000 1 Messenger, pay, including rent and fuel. ,800 63 Oiiicers. Emoluments, §74,685 And this statement does not include the Keepers of the Light Houses, nor the Custom-House Printers, nor the Boatmen, nor the Truckmen, nor the temporary Clerks ! And it refers only to the direct patronage and influence of the Collector ; — his indirect influence I firmly believe controuls every other department in the District, and nearly every Custom-House appointment in the State of Massachusetts ! His entire patronage must be equal to one hundred thousand dollars a year J This thriving and well disciplined corps o^ fifty -three Custom- House dependants are distributed throughout the several Wards of the City ; and it has been to me matter of astonishment that with such tremendous power and such devoted partisans, the Collector 125 has never been able to raise a more forniidable Jackson party in the City and State. At the last election its relntive strenj,nli was less than at any time since the election of Jackson. A ntible evi- dence this, my dear Sir, of tlie stern patriotism and inllexiblc integrity of the New-Enirland character! Let us pass to another subject; — and I tiiink you will admit, after hearing my remarks, that no Merchant in active business ought ever to be appointed Collector of the Port where he resides. Mr. Ilenshaw, when he consented to forego his loftier expectations and accept the controul of a power equal to 100,000 dollars per annum, was the principal partner of a house extensively engaged in the importation of drugs and medicines. On his appointment he advertised tiiat " he had retired froui the firm," — as, by the law lie was compelled to do ; for no Custom-House Oflicer is permitted to engage in trade. But the house of Ilenshaw & Co. survived, and its business has ever since been conducted by two of his brothers. And now let us see how the house of Henshaw &/ Co. is represented in the Boston Custom House. By their brother, as Collector ; by a brother-in-law, as Weigher and Ganger, and by two of their former Clerks, as Public Store Keepers and Appraisers ! Now all this may be very fair, but certainly Henshaw & Co. have facil- ities in the transaction of their business infinitely superior to any other merchants in Boston, and all others engaged in the same trade contend against an unequal competition. Suppose they import 100 casks of wine ? Their brotlier-in-law gauges it: — it is found to be damaged — one of their former clerks, an appraiser, assesses the damages — and, finally, the amount of duty is determined by their brother the Collector, whose decision is irrevocable. Are you not convinced that this is not as it should be ? The mere advertising that a partner withdraws from a firm, where all are brethren, may exonerate him from legal liability, but is it con- clusive as to the fact? Is there not such a thing as a "sleeping partner?" Ought there not to be required ak oath that the con- nection has actually been dissolved ? These are considerations which every one jealous of the purity of our republican institu- tions has a right to indulge. Suppose, for instance, that a mer- chant tailor had been appointed a Navy Agent, and thereupon had given public notice that he had retired from the firm with which he had hitherto been actively engaged. Suppose his name oblit- erated from the sign board suspended over the shop door, leaving 126 only that of his former partner. And suppose, that there was a secret engagement, that ostensibly, there should be no connection in business, but that privately they preserved the original alliance. Well, the Navy Agent advertises to contract with the tailors to furnish 1700 suits for the marines. Is there not in the case above supposed, a most coaxing invitation, a subduing temptation to make the contract with himself? This is an imaginary case, in- troduced only to illustrate my ideas, but a case which every man perceives might very possibly occur. There should be required a solemn oath administered, quarterly, by the Judge of the District Court. I observed, my young friend, that when I named the enormous amount of emolument received by the Weighers and Gangers of the Custom House, your surprise, which was quite natural, after noticing the very easy life they lead. Some of the members of Congress who never saw salt water or a Custom House, have been made to believe, that out of the sums charged against them in the Blue Book, they are compelled to pay their workmen and assistants. This is an error; the annual amount of their fees recorded in the ^ook is clear profit, after deducting all expenses. And I was never satisfied that even this, great as it is, was all. The law re- quires that their accounts shall be examined and certified by the Surveyor. While General Dearborn was Collector, the Deputy Surveyor kept the Books of the Weighers and Gaugers. But when, under the Jackson "reform" dynasty,* I came in as his suc- cessor, they kept their Books among themselves, and the Surveyor, on information of certain proceedings, considered by him to be illegal and corrupt, refused to certify their accounts. But that made no difference with the pliant Secretaries of the Treasury, whose master " assumed all responsibilities." The accounts were passed just as well without the legal requirements as with them ! The transaction, of which almost daily complaint was made at the Survpvor's office, (while I was an inmate,) by the Inspectors, I must explain minutely. Because it is a most gross fraud on the Treasury, and discloses the source li.»m whence these wealthy Weighers and Gaugers have imbibed their undeserved riches. Suppose a cargo of St. Croix Rum, or several tons of Russia Cordage, is imported into Boston. The importers enter this *It will die nasty in 1836! 127 merchandise subject to debenture, that is, to be rc-shippcd after- wards, to a foreign port, wlien they would be entitled to a draw- back of the duties. The Rum is gauged and the Cordaire weighed, and both are then deposited in the Public Stores. Six months after, the importers take out papers from the Custom House to ship both these articles to a foreign market, and an order is is- sued to the Ganger and Weigher to gauge and weigh them, before going on board the vessel. Do they obey the order ? Never, where the whole quantity imported is to be re-shipped. The Gauger and the Weigher to whom the order is directed, goes to the Gauger and Weigher who took the guage and wciglit at their importation ; copies from his record the gauge and weight, and returns the same on the order, xvithout even sceiv^ the articles. He knows not but the casks are empty, nor that half the Cordage is re-shipped. But he charges his fees, as if he had actually per- formed th.p duty required. In this way they make each a thousand dollars a \ car, without moving from their chairs. Now the law declares, that if any Weigher or Gauger certifies to the weight or gauge of debenture goods, without actually weighing and gauging the same, he shall pay a Hne, and on the second offence be dis- missed from office. No fine was ever exacted in my day, and although the Collector knew of the fact, (for I and others informed him,) no one of them was ever dismissed from oilJce; but on the contrary, they have always been the pet corpy. You see, my friend, that in this mode seven thousand dollars a year has been, for five years past, plundered out of the money of the people. Put this among the other blessings of a refann Ad- ministration, which encourages its friends to grasp all they may, but denounces its opponents as prodigals and profligates. This disposition to make free with the public monies, which, beginning with the President, (who has seized tlie public Treasury,) extends downwards to the very meane.-t of his oflicers, has been manifested in another remarkable transaction of the Collector. His salary is paid out of certain fees established by law, and which are exacted from the merchants. He cannot exceed 44U() dollars per annum, but the fees usually are several thousands of dollars greater in amount, than the Collector's salary. The surplus is to be deposited in the Treasury of the United States. In 18.33, there was a large surplus, and the Collector calling his Clerks before 128 him, distributed it among them, to one a hundred dollars, to another a hundred and fifty, and to another two hundred dollars. By what other authority this was done I know not. By what law it could legally be done, I know not. But that it was done, I do know. This is another item of the precious benefits conferred on the country, by the man " who has filled the measure" of its degra- dation. What an uproar such a transaction would have excited in the '^ democratic'^ party, had it been committed under Adams' Administration, or by a federal Collector! But now, in this glo- rious reign of false democracy, peculation is not considered a very bad thing, but he who plunders the most, is the best fellow. Bid well and Skinner might now return to the United States and be honored for the deeds which some 20 years ago drove them from the country. Instead of finding themselves ousted from society, they would fraternise with the majority. A hundred thousand U. S. Officers would hail them as their precursors, the John Bap- tists of their political creed. For corruption, tolerated in high places, has infected all parts of the Union. Multitudes of good men who condemn the crime, and would sooner cut off their bands than commit it, have yet, in consequence of long witnessing its successful perpetration, lost in some measure their just sense of its enormity. This is one of the remarkable characteristics of the times. As another evidence of the disposition of many of the public officers to grasp every pecuniary advantage under this " Reform" Administration, let me tell you, that True & Greene, under the Collectorship of Mr. Henshaw, have executed the printing for the Custom House, which amounts to a very great annual sum. And they have been well paid for it too ! For the Blanks used in the Surveyor's office, they charged one dollar and fifty cents for each quire of M sheets .' I presume that all the other Custom House Blanks were paid for in the same proportion. Now it was notorious throughout the Custom House, (and indeed it has been asserted in the Boston newspapers,) that a respectable printer of the City had proposed in writing to the Surveyor, to print all the Blanks used in his office for one dollar a quire; and had also said, that he would execute the whole printing for the Custom House at 75 cents per quire, or at half the sum paid True & Greene ! And yet True & Greene have been continued by the Collector as printers for the 120 OlTice. receiving double the sum lor which ihd worlc might have been perforined. It was universally bslieveil that they oiucd ilw Collector. So here you see Mr. Nathaniel Greene receiving W)()«) dollars per annum as Post-master, attempting lo impose an as- sessment on the Custom House ollicers lijr 1"21K) <]oliars per amiuiu more, — and, with his partner True, pocketing douhle compensation as Custom House |)rinier, all for the purpose of paying his debts \(> his confederates ! If this was not a prettily devised scheme lor making money, there never was one! But this is not all. You notice that portly gentleman movinji stealthily up stairs. That is ]\Ir. Robinson, an Appraiser, ihe usual agent for spunging the inferior officers of puHlical cuutrilni- tions ; that dry-rot which is the cause of their cmbarrassmcnls, and the evidence of their servitude. If one of Benton's, or Hill's, or Shepley's speeches is publislied in pamphlet form, or a demo- cratic handbill is issued, or placards printed and posted at the corners of the streets previous to an election, or votes printed ami sent to the several counties of the State, True &, Greene are paid for their labours and expenses by the contriblitions of the public officers. It was customary to notify each of them of the amount which fell to his share. I find among my original minutes the following. "May 21, 1831. This day Mr. Robinson came into the office" [the Surveyor's] " to collect money for, as he said, True & Greene's bill for printing votes at the late Senatorial and Rep- resentative City election. Senatorial, '31 dollars — Representative, 31 dollars — G2 dollars. General McNiel not being present, I de- clined paying anything until his return, expressing however my dislike to the claim." Now at this very election, the greatest Jackson vote given in the City for any of their candidates for Senators or Rej)rescntativcs was less than 400 ! Nearly every one thought it extreme folly to run any ticket at all ; but True &l Greene could make money ont of the job, and therefore the tickets were prepared and printed ! On the 2:Jd of 3Iay, two days after, "Mr. Robinson calleil upon the General on the above business; but the character of the claim was changed. It was now said to be for distributrnz Ilcjiublicuii Mas^azines. The General declined paying, wi the ground, that he had distributed 10 iMagazines per month at his own expense. I have distributed the same number." 17 130 So the room rent, lights, and stationary, required for all political meetings, were paid for in the same convenient manner, and if, at the party festivals, (usually about four a year,) the expenditures exceeded the receipts, the excess was made up among the poor plucked bipeds of the Custom House. An ordinary officer found himself hardly more than merely a disbursing agent of his own salary, for the benefit of his party and its leaders. And let it be remembered, that a refusal to contribute to any of these political assessments, would have been considered treason against legitimate and arbitrary authority, and would probably have been visited by consequences, which few officers had the firmness to encounter. As money, like power, "is always stealing from the many to the few,'^ so, although subjected to such incessant and severe extortions, the inferior officers of the Customs were not suffered, in many in- stances, to reap even the legal rewards of their superior vigilance and fidelity. Many seizures were made by the Inspectors, while I was in office, by which they ought to have become the possessors of a considerable forfeiture. But after the property, (if of large amount,) say a vessel detected in smuggling, had been libelled and condemned, and the District Attorney and Marshal had secured a fair proportion of their legal perquisites, a petition was generally forwarded to the Secretary of the Treasury, signed by the Collec- tor and those officers for its liberation ; which petition was always granted, and in consequence, the seizing officer was left with com- paratively empty pockets. Individuals detected in smuggling are liable to a large fine, a proportion of which goes to the complainant. Executions have been obtained on such charges, but never levied, and thus nobody is benefited but the Attorney, who probably gets his costs from the Treasury. Now such things are destructive of all vigilance and zeal for the public service, in the out-door officers, and were always in my time, a subject of bitter complaint. I could go on and enumerate many other abuses of authority, but I loathe the subject, and have room for but one more. I feel a conviction, that under the present, and I fear under the succeed- ing Administration, if every thing I have stated, aye and much more, was proved beyond the possibility of a doubt, there would be no remedy. Public virtue is so nearly extinct, or rather lives in so few patriotic breasts, that some vast calamity, some fearful 131 judgment of Heaven, is necessary to revive it. And it is impend- ing ! " Like master like man," says an olJ proverb. The President liaving declared that lie alone is the Government, ail his under- strappers follow his example. The law provides that various ques- tions, of doubtful import, which may arise in the Custom House, shall be determined by the Collector, Naval Officer, and Surveyor, or by a majority of this board. Now, after the old Court House meeting before described, the Collector suspended all intercourse and consultation with the Surveyor. If one of the questions con- templated in the law came before him, he took the opinion of the Naval officer alone, — the Surveyor was never apprised that such a question was under consideration. He was as unceremoniously thrust out from executing a part of his duty, as the President would eject the Senate from all participation in the Government. The object was manifestly to degrade the Surveyor into a creature of his will, and to deprive him of all independent action and au- thority. And thus many decisions were made, wherein by the law the Surveyor should have been consulted, of which, probably to this day, he is wholly ignorant. It was the same in every transac- tion ; the same arbitrary and engrossing spirit, sat like an incubus, on all the movements in the Custom House. And I have no doubt that the recent removal of the Naval Officer, was in consequence of some conscientious resistance to the will of the Collector. Something must be allowed to the mer- cenary disposition of Mr. Woodbury, but much more to the intol- erant and domineering temper of his favourite Deputy, Mr. Henshaw. I have one point more in relation to the Custom House and then I shall dismiss the subject. From the day of my entering it till I bade a willing adieu to its walls, I could not but remark with some surpri.se, the decided hostility of the Collector to the Merchants of Boston. Whether the hostility was occa.sioncd by the fact that they are generally opposed to him in politics, or that they were opposed to his appointment originally, or that he is conscious of a kind of inferiority to most of them, and of indescrt in holding the post he does, I cannot say; but that he feels a peculiar degree of envy and hatred for the whole class, is certain. Now on this matter I would not say a word, had I not frequently noticed among 132 my country neijihbours and brethren an erroneous estimate of the character of the Boston Merchants. It is too frequently supposed, that possessing great wealth as many of them do, they are proud, aristocratic and overbearing; and the Jackson newspapers en- courage this false notion as much as possible. Now, they who are better acquainted with them know them to be the chief benefactors of the community, the founders of most of the liberal, literary and benevolent institutions of the State. I cannot go into an enumer- ation of the many instances of their bounty, but I will draw a brief sketch of a few individuals. A young man, of good habits and sound moral and religious principles, but poor, is sent from the counting-room of his employer to France, where temptations must inevitably assail him on every side, and of the most enticing and formidable description. He resides in Paris, "Vanity Fair," for many years, discharging all his arduous duties to his principal with diligence and fidelity. At length, he engages in business for him- self, and after some more years of industry and good management, he returns to the United States a man of great wealth, and with virtue unsullied. He retires to the paternal mansion in Worcester County, now become his own, and mingles in the society and pastimes of his neighbors. Does he attempt to increase his wealth by loans at exorbitant interest, or to grasp with a miser's hand, the farms surrounding his estate. Not at all ! He seeks occasion of dnins: good, and one of his first acts of public benevolence, is a donation of 20,000 dollars to the American Tract Society. Another Boston citizen, by careful diligence and shrewd calcu- lation, acquires, in process of time, a vast fortune. Does he hoard it, or seek advantages from the times, to increase its amount? No! His hand is "open as day to melting charity;" his house is the shrine of the poor and miserable, and when a whole class of the wretched can be relieved and made comparatively happy by new discoveries applicable to their situation, he gives an estate of 30 000 dollars to the Institution for the Blind. Struck with such noble generosity, his fellow-citizens propose him for their Repre- .-^pntative to Congress. He emphatically declines: — the heaven- l)f)rn spirit of benevolence could not be tarnished by even a sus« j icion of worldly motives. And yet he was undoubtedly the ablest jiian in the City for the station he was solicited to occupy. One more instance. One who began with nothing, by dint of 133 industry and economy, (mark that, in all tlie instances I have mentioned,) acquires a handsome competency, when in the order of Providence he is smitten with sore diseases, and doomed to the solitary and grievous life of a sick chamber. But his mind and its spirit of enterprise survive, altlioiigh his body is prostrated and racked with pains. He continues his mercantile speculations for some years, with ardor and success. For himself or his depen- dents? No! He was the founder of those noble institutions, the McLean Hospital, and Asylum for the Insane. I must stop here, because there rush upon my recollection so many instances of munificent benefactions to the public from the mercantile class of our fellow-citizens that a whole book would be required to record tiiem. And this is a sample of the class of men so peculiarly obnoxious to the President and his party ! Let us leave this place my young friend, let us quit this Avernus of corrupt and malign passions, and breathe once more the pure air of Heaven. Here we part; I pray you remember and con- sider the moral of my statements, and dedicate youi'self to restor- ing to your country the ancient purity of its institutions. Farewell ! Parly Fidelily. In former chapters I have shown, that the Leaders of the States- man Party would have abandoned Crawford for Adams, on proper encouragement; did abandon Jackson for Calhoun, when they supposed his prospects paramount ; and on the discovery of their error instantly, like rats from a sinking ship, fled to the refuge of Van Buren. And I hope in justice, that, for his encouragement of such mercenary desertion, he may hereafter sufier the pang, "sharper than serpent's tooth," of beholding these fostered reptiles rushing into the embraces of his ^Fesf^T/z rii-a/.' That they u-ili become the partizans of Judge White the moment they think his chances of success greater than the Dutchman's, is certain : with a bargain, if possible, — if not, without one: but they will trust to luck, and the magnanimity of the Judge. At all events, they will be on tiie strongest side. Already the Post and Statesman, advo- 134 cates Van Buren's cause with an " if" — *' if — he should be the candidate of the Convention" — of office-holders ! And these "cow-boys" of party, now assure the President, (as they have for Jive years to my knowledge,) that even Massachusetts is coming over, — revolutionizing, " marching up to the chalk !" And he be- lieves their assurances! The precise share of knavery and credu- lity it is difficult to distribute, among the dupers and the dupe! But 1 am confident, (for 1 know the characters of the men and their objects,) that if even Mr. Webster's chance, on deliberate and solemn consideration and calculation, was determined to be the most favourable, a tender of their services and their party would be proffered to him, on the condition (mark that,) that their oj^ces should be untouched. On the 2d April, 1832, Judge M'Lean of Ohio, being at Boston, was entertained at the hospitable mansion of Dr. Ingalls. It was at that time thought probable that the Judge would be a formidable if not a successful candidate for the next Presidency, after the " Old Hero." He therefore was an object of intense interest to all the office-holders and office-seekers. The "good Doctor" had waked from the efiects of his Jackson soporific, and was, and prob- ably now is, a disinterested and warm friend of the Judge. The Collector and his brothers were among the anxious and obsequious guests on that important evening. But their admiration immedi- ately ceased, when the Judge's star became dim, and he afterwards received divers unkind thrusts in the Statesman and Post. This was a matter of course. Judge M'Lean, like one of our summer thunder-storms coming from the West, looked very threatening for a time and discharged, at a distance, several powerful streams of electricity : but he never rose to the zenith, and after a little while was dispersed in flying and windy clouds. Such is the fate of numerous aspiring poli- ticians. We see a similar catastrophe happening to some of them every day. The fire of ambition being applied, they mount like rockets, but burst at a slight elevation, and fall extinguished me- teors to the earth, " never to rise again." There is my old fiivourite Col. Benton, who in former years ex- torted very sincere respect and admiration, but having since "given up to party what was meant for mankind," is now lying prone on earth a harmless and exploded "Congreve." 135 From the appearance of the Correspondence to the re-election of Jackson, it was most amusing to watch the devious course, the uncertain and hesilatiucr movements, and the occasional utter con- fusion of the Leaders of the Statesman party. Governed by one motive only, the love of money, tliey were always on the alert to trim their sails to meet the political gale, but that period was so tempestuous, that they were continually t.ikcu "all aback," and frequently were on their " beam ends." A few days before the explosion of the Consprracy, the Statesman in alluding to General D. Greene called him '^ that great and good man," and he had for years been their most valuable and steadfast friend. But no sooner did the Leaders discover that the General had got on the Josing side, then at him they went in their paper, and he was "great and good'' no longer. An article soon after appeared in the Statesman, lauding the virtues, abilities, faithfulness and genuine republicanism of the Hon. S. D. Ingham, Secretary of the Treasu- ry, and trusting that this main-stay of democracy would lon^ be continued in his ofiicial station. In about a week afterwards, Mr. Ingham was dismissed from office, when those consistent and generous gentlemen pounced upon the e;:-Secretary with a zeal and rancour surpassed only by the Globe. Mr. Duane's appointment was hailed as a triumph of democracy, and hints touching Mr. M'Lane were thrown out, that " there had been too much federal leaven in the Cabinet." But the talented and indexible son of old Bill Duane, old Aurora Duane, would soon restore harmony and confidence. Mr. Secretary Duane was compelled to " walk the plank," and he had no sooner sent up his last bubble from the " vasty deep" of politics, than they abused him like a pick-pocket, and this lofty champion of democracy dwindled away to a puny strippling, who was advised to '' as!c his Pa" as to his future course. When Isaac Hill's fortunes seemed at a low ebb and Woodbury began to sport, like a porpoise, in the ocean of royal favour, poor Isaac rarely could e.xtort a nod Irom his quondam friends, for Levi was the patron saint of New-England democracy — or rather the Mcmnon of the Granite State. But Isaac having wheedled him- self into the Senate of the U. State's, was instantly restored to im- portance and favour; and we then read in the Statesman eloquent paragraphs, following each other in regular succession, headed 136 " Hon. Levi Woodbury"—" Hon. Isaac Hill." The oil of flattery was equally distributed between them. When the nomination of Mr. Van Buren as Minister to England was rejected by the Senate, the principal Leader said " we ought not to be hasty in nominating a Vice-President. Mr. Van Buren cannot be Vice-President. The rejection may do something towards making him President hereafter, but not Vice-President now. King, Preble, and Ware of Maine have called the Argus to account and Maine will not be for it. I think the Baltimore Con- vention next May will not be able to agree on a candidate for Vice- President." And even when President Jackson issued his famous Proclama- tion, these timid and calculating friends held back, to watch its effect on the popular opinion, and took no part in the meeting at Faneuil Hall with the immense multitude of citizens who sustain- ed it so enthusiastically. They did not hold themselves aloof from principle; for when it was manifest that the Proclamation was popular, the Post came out with political doctrines as much more ultra federal than the President's, as were his to the doctrines of the Nullifiers. I will pursue this subject no further. If any of my readers would read a history of political treachery, faithlessness, and knavery, let them procure the files of the Statesman and Post for the period at which I have been merely glancing. The half is not told. It will be seen at once, that these men belong to no party but their own ; that they possess no settled po- litical principle, and that a statesman, ambitious of elevation, who depends upon their assistance, builds his house upon the sand. Post Office. There is a propensity to excuse political wickedness and corrup- tion, if the perpetrator happens to be a ''clever fellow," and he who openly plunders the public purse gains a host of friends, pro- vided he secures an ample "sufficiency." How many move in the first circles in consideration of their wealth, which is known to have been acquired by extortion and fraud ? Money is power, and 1.37 power always has its dependents and its parasites. These are general remarks, and not intended to be applicable to any particu- lar individual. It cannot be denied that the Post-master of Boston is a very social, liberal, and gowl-natured man. Nor can it be doubted that he obtained his lucrative post to enable him to discharge his debts to his confederates. Had he owed them nothing, it is possible he might have risen to the elevation of an Inspector, but no higher. Fortune has favoured him, and under her smiles he takes the world as it goes, with jollity and unconcern. Surrounded by e.vperienced and active Clerks, his office is a sinecure ; the honors and profits are his, the labours and watchings belong to his assistants. But he passes as a very civil and accommodating Post-master, and so he is. As I have before stated, there have at various times since his ap- pointment, particularly when disruptions appeared in the Boston Jackscu party, been bitter complaints publicly uttered, against the inanaaenient in his office. No direct charge of criminal inter- ference with its regular operation has been alleged, but facts have been stated of the extraordinary delay attending the transmission of some letters and documents, and the loss of others, which have excited suspicions of culpable negligence. I concern myself not with these, but shall refer to my own e.xperience along and that of recent date. When I left the Custom House and retired into the country, the whole Statesman faction were my enemies, personal as well as po- litical. I had no personal animositij against any of their number, but confess to a profound contempt and disgust at their mercenary and arbitrary proceedings. For more than a year before this event, I believe none of them had spoken to me, or even showed me the common civility of an acquaintance on the public promenades. They knew I had detected their duplicity and faithlessness, and therefore supposed, very justly, that I held them in scorn and beneath my notice. And they also knew that my neck could not be bent to the "collar." I was a zealous and active member of my party, but no partizan. And when the mad deeds of the Presi- dent threw the whole Union into tumult and dismay, they heard me openly denouncing the insidious advisers who had wrought him to such insane polijcy. And as with them "he who doubted 18 138 was damned," I was an outcast from iheir councils and con- federacy. In the country I hoped, with hook and line, tracing the clear streamlet " In those deep solitudes and awful cells Where heavenly, pensive, contemplation dwells," to renovate my health, and pluck up fresh energy for future use- fulness. And also to exchange the withering eastern winds of the sea-board, which always with me induce the " blue stage" of the cholera, for the invigorating breezes of the mountains. Notifying my friends of my intended place of retirement, and confiding in the regularity of the mails to prevent my affairs from falling into embarrassment for the want of information, I proceeded thirty miles from the City, and sat down on the high lands, with five trout streams, never violated by scientific sportsman, all within five miles of my residence. The season was unpropitious; incessant rains flooding the meadows, and destroying the trout fishery. I am somewhat of an enthusiast in this sport. It is impossible for any man to penetrate alone the solemn depths of frowning forests, without feeling the " organ of adoration" excited. He " sees God in clouds and hears him in the winds," and he finds " sermons in stones, and good in everything." I have felt infinitely more devout while treadir^g a trout stream than I ever did in a church. And the reflection, " These are thy glorious works, Parent of good," was, on such occasions, ever present to my mind. It is a most captivating, most purifying amusement; and one day of lonely •' trouting" makes a man a better citizen for six months afterwards. Try it, and be convinced. But to arrest this digression; how I sped in my correspondence with my friends in Boston, may be seen by the following letter to Nathaniel Greene, the Post-master, to which he never has returned an answer. To Nathaniel Greene, Esq. ? Post-master of Boston. ^ Sir, — Will you do me the favour to give some explanation of the following facts, relative to your official duties: — In May last, residing in the country, I received through the Post Office at Dunstable, New-Hampshire, a letter from a friend in Bos- ton, directed to me at "Dunstable, Massachusetts.^' Informing him 1.39 of tbis miscarriage, lie directed his second letter to riio as follows: — " Dunstnble, ICJ^Massachtisetts." This letter like the former, was pent to New-Hampshire. He wrote n third time, and endorsed on his letter — " Sot Ncic-Ifa7nps/iire. Please notice, as .limilar letters have been sent there." This letter also went to the New-Hampshire Office. Now yon are aware, that there is a reijular mail from Boston to Dim- stable, Mass. And it is worthy of remark, that my Boston news- papers, dnrinp tiie same time, were rejinlarly forwarded to the Massa- ehnsett? Office. As these letters related to some money transactions, which by the neglii^enee in your Office were thrown into confusion, I conceive I have a right to demand an explanation, if not a legal satis- faction. In August I removed to Bedford, Mass. and since my residence in this place, I have addressed Jh'c letters on business, to a gentleman in Boston, only one of which, as he states, has been received: — and that one, was deposited by a neighbour in the Boston Post Office. The other four, sent by mail, are all lost. The gentleman assures me that he has written tirice to me at Bedford, Mass. I have received no let- ter from him. He further states, that one of his two letters was, after a time, returned to him from your Office broken open, with an en- dorsement thereon, purporting to be by the Post-master of Bedford, Mass.. viz: — '^ there is no such person here; supposed to be intended for New- Bedford.'" Now the Post-master here solemnly declares, that he never made such an endorsement on any letter directed to me since my residence in thi^ place. As there is only a small mail bair, containing letters and papers, between this town and Boston, which is not opened on the route, the fate of the six letters above mentioned, is very mysterious. All this time my Boston newspapers have been regidarly received. This last correspondence, like the former, related to pecuniary transactions, which your negligence, or something worse, has involved in confusion and loss. As it seems to be impossible to secure the safe arrival of anv of my letters at 3'our Office, I am constrained to address you tlirungh tho |)ui)Iic press, and to solicit some explanation of such extraordinary and suspicious transactions. Yours, Rcspectfullv. Bedford, Mass. Nov. 4th, 1834. I (lid intend to publish this letter in tlie newspapers, but 1 pitied tlic poor fellow. He has quite cnou^^li now on his hands to contend witli, and is probably uitli Iiis patron in his last a;^onics. Let them die in peace, their political death I Nothing can save Mr. Barry but an attempt at assassination, and there are expert hands at Washington in loading pistols— ;2u//ciot/.s^/. Let Mr. Greene go to Washington and arrange the affair with the Post- Mastcr General. J*ec that the tubes of the pistols, for the prim- ing, are capacious. Then ram down the ball firstt., and the pon- der and wad over it. On with a cap. and hire some execrable limik-mnv Ut fire them off. " iVovidence will interpose," a!id Barry will be saved. 'I'hen to avuid di'tection, prick some mealed 140 powder into the priming tubes, — it requires but a little; put on another cap, and off it goes, by the "particular interposition of Providence!" And Mr. Barry is a martyr, "by Brevet!" And Greene his "bottle holder," amidst the fires of persecution. But I have done with the Post Ofilce. Scratching Backs. There is at Boston a certain Political Club called the Wash- ington Society, instituted I believe in 1812, by the democratic party, to which, in those tempestuous days, it proved a useful auxiliary. In 1827 or 1828, by some dexterous manoeuvre, and by the negligence of the " Adams democrats," who were the majority, the government of this Society passed into the hands of the Statesman party, who, immediately voting in a host of their friends, secured themselves from any future disturbance in their possessions. This Society for the last six years has embraced a large proportion of the public officers, and has been entirely under their controul. On the 22d February annually, they as- semble in the evening to choose officers, and eat a supper, the President of the past year presiding at table. And this dis- tinguished personage, and the standing committee, usually nomi- nate their successors, by which means the power is always con- tinued "in the family." I I'cmember one instance when Mr. Brodhead was presiding at the meeting for making the nomina- tion for the ensuing year, — when some one of the Standing Com- mittee nominated a gentleman as a member of the new Commit- tee; he was chosen, and his name written down by Mr. B. Sud- denly he enquired, who is this person ? Answer, a friend of Gen. McNiel. That is enough, exclaimed the alarmed Brodhead, and he immediately erased the name of the gentleman from the schedule. And all the others present, submitted to this impu- dent violation of their rights, as in duty bound. How beautifully democratic. By such management the Leaders appoint the offi- cers of the Society, and rein them afterwards at their pleasure. The 4th July is always celebrated under tlie auspices of the Washington Society; its President acting as President of the 141 day, and its Standing Committee as Vice-Presidents. And all of them are usually Custom House O^ficcra. Frequent attempts have been made to get up an independent celebration by the Jackson party, but have always failed. Now the object of all this management is, that tlie Statesman Leaders may have their backs scratched and their ribs tickled on these public occasions. And when an inilated account of the festival is published in the Statesman, they may loom up through this pestilent fog of "pub- lic sentiment" as great and important personages, the very " Dagons" of the party. The toasts given on such occasions by the Vice-Presidents and other Custom House Officers, especially those complimentary to the Leaders, are ivritten by them, and distributed among their retainers. Tiius, for instance, if a va- cancy in the President's Cabinet is expected to occur, and Mr, Henshaw is ambitious of filling the gap, some one of the "Vices'* will roar out somethins; like the following: — " Hon. David Hen- shaw, — "a nut of old Hickory;" — may he soon be elevated to a station adequate to his merits. The democracy of Nevv-England demand it." Now this is a fixir specimen, both of manner and form. The poor fellow who blows such a blast, don't perceive that a political adversary might pass his vinegar comments on his "sentiment,^' by saying that the nut was a niit-^«^/; that an " adequate elevation" wou\il be the <^a\\ows, and that if the de- mocracy of New-England knew what they were about, they would in very deed demand such an "elevation." Another instance. Mr. Simpson, conscious that he is acquiring a reputation abroad for political duplicity and intrigue, wishes to counteract the progress of such an opinion, and so he hands over to another "J'tcc" the following toast, or something very like it: — • "John K. Simpson, Esq. — The sterlin, Esq., U. S. Attorney — the learned jurist, the eloquent advocate, the faithful public officer, the consistent politician." [Mr. Stevens is fully competent to estimate "a learned jurist!" ] "By H. W. Ridj^cway. David Ilenshaw — an efficiont advocate of democracy, and a disiinijuislied statesman — worthy and ca[)able of any station within the gift of the executive." [Mr. ^^'oodbury was appointed Secretary of the Treasunj, in spite of Mr. Ridge way.] Messrs. Brodhead, Lincoln, Snow, and Stevens, were Custom House Officers. These toasts were given on one occasion only, and by mere accident I happened to have the Statesman account of this celebration in my possession. If I coulil procure the files of tiiat paper for the last five years, I could select thousands of the same character. But I have done with this dis;i;usting subject. The Union of the Statesman parly with the Infidel and ^Inti- masonic parlies. I assert, as a fact beyond contradiction, that nineteen-tweritieths of the followers of Abner Kneeland were and are now Jackson- men, in full communion with the Statesman Leaders, and mem- bers of their party. I venture to declare, that if any person will procure the Boston Anti-Bank Memorial, he shall tind amonw its subscribers nearly every man who attends the Infidel or;:ie3 at the Federal-street Theatre. I have no doubt that the Infidel party constitutes at least one-third of the Jackson party of the City at this moment. Kneeland is an avowed Jacksonman, — and advocated his re-election in his newspaper; the leading men of his society are avowed Jacksonmen, and many of tliem the mo>,t active and influential members of thf party. And I farther aver, that the Van Buren party throughout the Union, embraces in its ranks the Infidels and sceptics of all the States. A fact which will be proved, whenever the office-holders' Convention assemble to nominate candidates for President and Vice-President. If Col. Johnson, the favorite of the Iiifitlel party, is not nominated by that Convention for Vice-President, he will be brought forward by his friends as a competitor for the Presidency. Who does 144 not remember that he was lon<; ago nominated for the Presidency by the Fanny Wright party of the City of New-York ? Kneelant! advertises in his paper the portraits of Jackson and Johnson for sale at his office, and has published a letter, (with remarks appli- cable to no other person but Col. Johnson,) which contained money, as well as felicitations on the result of his trial. The right arm of the Statesman party is the faction of Abner Kneeland. And undoubtedly this is one cause why that party has always been so contemptible for numbers in the City of Bos- ton. The descendants of the pilgrims are not yet radically cor- rupted ; some sparks of the ancient fires yet live in their ashes ; and the spires of numerous churches dedicated to the Most High, yet ward oil' the wrath of Heaven. Rut my country readers can have no idea how great is the influence of this apostle of Satan, nor how numerous are his disciples. The Federal-street Theatre, where he holds his Sunday meetings to scoff at the Bible, — to ridicule everything we hold sacred, and to sneer at the Deity, is usually crowded from top to bottom. It is said that £000 have been present at once ! And, monstrous to relate, a considerable proportion of the assemblage were females, — not the abandoned and reckless, but r.>spectable and educated females ! Before the promulgation of the Gospel of Christ, woman was either the slave of man or his toy. She had no rights. Chris- ■J o tianity alone has elevated her to the station which she was created to fill, and which she so admirably adorns. And is it possible ^*«^ that she can league with ruthless and brutal men, "whose con- sciences are seared as with a hot iron," to destroy the great char- ter of her liberty, and her power? The newspaper issued weekly by Mr. Kneeland, called the Investigator, contains matter which would shock even Hume and Voltaire. The old arguments against the truth of Christianity, by Celsus, Hobbs, Spinola, Hume, Gibbon, and the recluse of Ferney, are new vamped, but divested of all the graces of style and diction which could ever have made them palatable. And mingled with these, is a lava stream of blasphemy and obscenity which blasts the vision and gangrenes the very soul of the uncor- rupted reader. There is no book ever published, however infa- mous, but I had rather it should fall into the hands of my family than the Investigator. 145 And now my readerg, 1 am goia:; to itata facts; jou must draw your own inferences; I shall draw none. There are only two Jackson newspapers in Boston, viz: — the Morning Post, and the Investijrator. I do not mention the Statesman, because it is nnlv a reprint of tlie Post. The Post is edited by Mr. Charles G. Greene, and the Invesli;:!;ator by Mr. Kneeland. Well, Mr. Kneeland having published in his paper a most obscene and blas- phemous article in relation to the Saviour of the World, is in- dicted by the Grand Jury of Boston and put on his trial. Most extraordinarily, it so happens, that the other Jackson editor is on the Jurv to try him ! The District Attorney of the U. States, a leading Jacksonian, is his counsel. After a long investigation, a laborious defence, not wanting in ability, the Jury retire to con- sult on their verdict. Hour after hour elapses, and they do not return. At length, after a seclusion of many hours, tliey appear in Court, and tiie Foreman declares that they have not agreed and probably never shall agree. Eleven of the twelve Jurymen, are of the same opinion, viz: — that the defendant is guilty; but one is on the other side, and is immoveable. AVho is he ? Mr. Charles G. Greene, the Editor of the Morning Post. These are facts ; but I do not impugn the motives of Mr. Greene. Undoubtedly he thought himself right and conscientious. I have another story to tell to show the connexion between the Boston Jackson and Infidel parties. Just before the last State elections in Mass. in November, I sent up to the tavern of the beautiful village where I was then residing, to borrow a newspa- per. The messenger returned with the Investigator^ which was directed to a citizen of Lexington ; but the stageman neglecting to leave it there, brought it on to the village and gave it to the landlord of the tavern. It was probably the first and only paper of the kind, ever seen in the town. I opened it, and the very first article on which I fixed, was one which sent through my heart a thrill of delight and gratitude; delight, that I had it in my power to exert a material influence on the approaching elec- tion, and gratitude to Heaven that I was the instrument of that influence. The Jackson papers, the Post and Investigator, had long been constantly railing against the Jiristocracy, a bug-bear, which frightened many, because they knew not what it meant, but imag- 19 146 ineci it some awful monster ! Tlie article alluded to explained the whole matter ; and I immediately sat down and wrote the foUowino; communication for the Boston Atlas, the effect of which throughout the State will not soon be forgotten. Never in my life, did I press my pillow with more soothing and grateful re- flections than on that night. God be praised ! that I have done something for the Whig cause, as an expiation of my former errors. TO ALL THINKING MEN! \x::j''Read — Reflect — and slay from the Polls if you dare .'.=£ni The WHIGS of Boston are perhaps not aware of all the questions to be determined by their votes on the 10th Nov. Within a few weeks past, a ncrt) position has been assumed by one branch of the JACKSON PARTY; and, it would seem, that the BELIEF AND WORSHIP OF THE DEITY is expected to be PUT DOWN bv the ultra radicals, as well as the other ancient in- stitutions of the Commonwealth. It is well known that there are only tn'o JACKSON EDITORS in Boston, viz: — he of the Post and Statesman and Mr. ABNER KNEELAND of the INVESTIGATOR. Both these gentlemen are inveterate opposers of the " ARISTOCRACY"— which includes all men richer than themselves. •' Blanks and Twine," however, seenii to be in a fair way to cast his democratic skin; for $24,000 in two years is a powerful solvent of stern republicanism. His worthy co- adjutor has been less fortunate in his political speculations. This reverend martyr in the cause of Satan was recently saved from conviction, on a charge of blasphemy, by the agency of his brother Jacksonian. They are the Pierre and Jaffier of the party. Both claim to be oriffinal, unaccommodating, wool-dved democracts, and both with equal rancor, denounce "THE ARISTOCRACY OF BOS- TON." Now the writer, with many other working men of the city, has been extremely puzzled in the attempt to discover what is meant by the " ARISTOCRACY" — that formidable and detested enemy of our re- publican institutions, — so strenuously oi)posed in the Post and the In- vestigator. The mystery has at last been solved, through the kindness Mr. Kneeland, who has lately condescended to give us a definition " of the terms" Aristocracy and Democracy. The following extracts are from the Investigator of Oct. 21th. IC?" " As every man is not acquainted with the definition of the terms ARISTOCRACY and DEMOCRACY, I take the liberty of giving such of your readers as are deficient in that knowledge a brief sketch of those terms in juxta-position." "ARISTOCRACY is a term which designates a party which up- holds the BELIEF OF A SPIRITUAL BEING WHOM THEY CALL GOD. The foundation of all this nonsense is written in a Book by supernatural inspiration, which they call a revelation from 117 this imaginary [.ersoiiaije. DEMOCRACY is n lerin wiiicli desiff- iiates a jiarty which upholds the belief of u JJATERIAL BEING whom they call GOD." " In order that your readers should keep their eyes on those two great orders of the moral world and be able to trace tiiese parties, in KF)ite of the names wliich thcv assume, thev will find that the term WHIGS is only another name"for the AIIISTOCIIACV; and that the term TORIES is another name for DEMOCRACY. To sum up tho sul)stance of both jiarties bv condensation in as few words as 1 can compress them, ARISTOCRACY, WHIGS and spiritual being are terms which are synonymous with FALSEHOOD. And DEMO- CRAC\, TORIES, and (as they use the term) material being, the ternis which are synonymous with" TRUTH." " There are many Marfvrs that are willing to fall in such a glorious cause WHO HAVE NEVER BENT THEIR KNEE TO AN IM- AGINARY SPIRITUAL BEING WHICH THE ARISTOCRACY SUPPORT, AND WHO NEVER WILL." Are the SONS OF THE PILGRIMS prepared to surrender the destmies of this glorious Commonwealth into the hands of INFIDELS and BLASPHEMERS.' Shall this hallowed soil be polluted by the Kway of ATHEISM.? Awake, CHRISTIANS OF ALL SECTS!— AWAKE, AND TO THE POLLS, EVERY MAN WHO BE- LIEVES IN GOD— WHO HOPES FOR IMMORTALn%— WHO TRUSTS IN THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD. JUSTUS. I had previously written for tliat paper (the Atlas,) the article, published 27lh Oct. 1834, entitled " The next object of attack," fchowing, by extracts from the Globe, that the President meditat- ed an assault on the Judiciary of l)ie U. States. This communi- cation, althougli having a signature, the talented editor of that paper did me tlie honor to publish as an editorial. We will now look to tlie lelt arm of the Statesman party, viz : — tlie Anti-masonic paity in Boston. As early as 1833, I was satisfied that a conspiracy was on foot to sell tlie Anti-masonic party of tie State to the Statesman party. This conspiracy did not extend beyond the City until the last election, when the con- spirators. Anti-masons and Jacksonmen, invaded the several counties of the State, mustered Anti-masonic Conventions, and nominated Senatorial tickets of " half and half" of both parties. They expected to dupe the honest yeomanry of the coutitrv, who were opposed to Masonry from principle, but were genuine Whigs at heart; and to force or seduce them to support ./Vrtsoju'c Jacksonmen, by the proffer of half of a ticket containing their own friends. Tricks in politics may do in town, but they will not go in the country. Our farmers are ''sharp men,"' keen- 148 sighted, — exceedingly inquisitive and suspicious, and abhor anj at- tempt to manage them, or to interfere with their freedom of ac- tion and opinion. Masonic Case of Lowell, and Anti-masonic Atwill of Concord, could not therefore make up a pill which the farmers of Middlesex would swallow. And they were not only signally defeated in the election, but have called down upon their heads the execrations of all paties. This movement was only a ramification of the conspiracy to betray the Anti-masons to the Jackson party, which had long been concocting at Boston. While I was in the Custom House in 1833, some of the superior officers were in the daily habit of visiting the Advocate Office, and they were ^rch JIasons. It was the common talk among us, that the Advocate would eventually go for Van Buren, and that it was politic to encourage it. In the City elections, unless the Anti party had a ticket, many of them voted with the Statesman party. And when the Hon. Samuel Lathrop, the Anti-masonic candidate for Governor, published his letter to the Anti-masons, containing a "confession of faith," and also several severe cuts at General Jackson, Mr. C. G. Greene, although one of the President's pro- teges, printed at the request of the Advocate editor 10,000 copies of the said letter ! I state these facts that the people may know when and where the conspiracy against them com- menced / they have seen enough recently to be convinced that it actually existed. And they have most effectually arrested it. The Advocate will probably be bought up by the Statesman party within a few months, and go for Van Buren and Johnson, both I believe Freemasons. I learned the disposition of the Editor of that paper many years ago ; his destiny is, to " gnaiv a jile" through life. I shall dismiss this subject; for I believe my readers are satis- fied, that Infidelity and Anti-masonry are the two drudge horses, which draw the mud-cart of the Statesman party whenever they ride out on their political excursions. I could introduce many more striking illustrations of the " Beauties of Jacksonism," but my advisers admonish me that I am growing too voluminous, and therefore, kind reader, let ma introduce you to another chapter. CHAPTER XII. Removal of the Deposites. " Prince Henry. — I am good friends with my father. and may do anything." " Falstaff. — Rob me tiie exclieijuer the lirst thing tliou doest, and do it with unwashed hands too." — Sliakspcare. General Jackson laid violent hands on the people's money, and transferred it into the custody of his own officers, removable at his pleasure. By this act, he made ilie first breach in the Constitution, and forever forfeited his character as a republican and a patriot. All his previous splendid achivements, cannot save him from the execrations of posterity, when it dates the de- cline of the Confederacy, its dissolution, and the triumphs nf anarchy from this insane transaction. It drew after it all his other most ruinous and startling assaults on the regular action of the Government; his assault on the Senate, a power equal and co-ordinate with his own ; his assault on the Supreme Judiciary, a power superior, in some particulars, to any other under the Constitution. One false step led him onward in the downward path of personal degration and national ruin. The ne.xt election will determine whether the Constitution shall be restored, or whether the people consent to live under a despotism. A chief magistrate, no matter by what title he is called, who holds both the purse and the sword, is a despot, and his government is, or will be a despotism. Revolutions are not necessarily accom- plished by violence and carnage. A Pharsalia is not always to be fought to change a nation's Government. As complete a re- volution has been perfected by Louis Philip's sagacious admin- istration, as was conquered by the patriots in the "three days" conflict which raised him to the throne. He is as absolute a King as the miscreant who was expelled. Men are too prone to look at forms and not at facts. While the form of government i» preserved, they conclude that its essence is unchanged. But no 150 usurper of the liberties of the people ever yet was fojl enough to ehanee at once the forms of their government. Tiberius had his Senate and Napoleon his Senate and Legislative Assembly. We are not only " in the midst of a revolution," as Mr. Clay most justly declared, but it is nearly accomplished, by the consent of the people, who seem to be so indifterent to their liberties, or so corrupted, that they voluntarily submit themselves to slavery. And such has been the cause of the destruction of every free government that ever existed : the people have consented, and liave voluntarily " bowed their supple necks beneath the feet" of their oppressors. The flict, that the public treasure has been seized by the President without exciting any great and perma- nent commotion among the people, fills all reflecting minds with amazement and consternation. There is not a patriot in the U. States, whose soul does not wither at the thought. If there is any truth in Phrenology, the organ of " Destructiveness" in Gen. Jackson must be prodigiously developed. To destroy^ has been the constant labour of his life. Recollect his many private broils of the most sanguinary character. The Creek and Seminole war, so divested of ail humanity, and distinguished for massacres rather than battles. The crowning glories of New-Orleans, when the earth was saturated with human blood. And then consider his Administration of the Government. He has originated nothing ; he has neither proposed, nor established any new thing for the interest and happiness of the people. His business has been to destroy existing institutions, not to found new ones. He has destroyed the system of internal improvements, so beneficial to new States in the West ; — he has destroyed the United States Bank; — has attempted and is now striving to destroy the Senate; — has meditated the destruction of the Supreme Court, — and in his thirst for destruction is forcing the country into a war with our ancient ally and friend, the French nation. Now it is one of the easiest things in the world for a husbandman on entering upon a new farm, to overturn the stone walls, prostrate the fen- ces, cut down tiie forests, root up the fruit trees, and set fire^ to his barns and hay-stacks; but to repair, build up, restore and im- prove, is another and much more diflicult business. And the jirst is the only merit to which the President is entitled. He has repaired, built up, restored, improved, originated, nothing, — but 151 armed with the destructive itistruinents of power lie has ovim- tunied, cut down, and rooted up every tiling in the institulions of the country which fell in his way as he has hurried throuj^h his term of office. This distinction has never bcL'n suQiciently considered by those wlio have grown hoarst; in shouting his praises. General Jackson is not even entitled to the merit of havinir originated the project for seizing the public treasure. The glory of that achievement belongs to one of his humble officers^ who " on his own responsibilitif" laid hands on a great portion of the public money, and transferred it to the vaults of a Bank in which he was a large stock-holder, nearly two years before the Presi- dent made his general sweep of all the people's casii — "at one fell swoop." And I never had a doubt, but that this " oflicer" was the projector and adviser of that daring and despotic measure. Mr. Collector Henshaw was that "humble officer," — humble in station I mean, but a "Mount Athos carved to ti,e form of man" if one could only borrow his own optics through which to take a view of his dimensions. Have the merchants of Boston forgotten, tliat the Collector directed the Bond Clerk to deposit for collection, their Bonds (securing the payment of duties.) in the Commonwealth Bank, of which the wily Simpson was President, and not in the U. S. Branch Bank at Boston, where thev liait3 from the Branch Bank and transferred them to his own Bank, where they were kept at least three months, did Mr. Ingham, then Secretary of the Treas- ury, ever report the fact to Congress? I never heard of any report. And I have no doubt, that the moment he heard of the transaction he ordeied them instantly to be restored^ and that the removal was effected without any order from him, and without even his knowled^re. 152 The order to restore, was a most mortifying circumstance to Mr. Collector, who had been in the habit of saying " to one man go, and he goeth, and to another come, and he cometh." From that moment he vowed an implacable vengeance against the U. S. Bank. The order of the Secretary was not only humilia- ting to his pride, but extremely annoying and offensive in other particulars. It arrested a very pretty profit to the Common- wealth Bank, and a very advantageous influence which the pos- session of the Bonds secured. But the most baneful considera- tion was, that the act of removal not having been sanctioned by the Secretary of the Treasury, he became personally liable to the Bank of the U. States for the interest of the public money during the time he unlawfully sequestrated it, amounting proba- bly to 14,000 dollars ! Now these things were sufficient to stir up the wrath of the mildest of men, but on the inflamable tem- perament of the Collector they operated like sand paper on a Lucifer match. The first consequence of the fury of his indignation was the publication of a pamphlet against the U. States Bank. Col. Benton had, a short time before, delivered a speech against the Bank, in which he discharged all the venom he had been con- cocting through the previous summer. Every argument which could be raised against that institution was contained in the la- borious Colonel's oration. Mr. Henshaw entered this arsenal of anti-bank arguments, and selecting his weapons, he proceeded to polish a gun, grind a sword, and clean out a pistol, and in this wav got up a very creditable pamphlet. His next movement was a project for a new JVational Bank^ of 50 instead of 35 millions ; and as money was to be made by it, the capitalists of Boston eagerly subscribed his petition to Congress for its institution. Me was to have been its President. This petition was actually presented for the consideration of Congress. But by this time, the President, who, in the first instance, had proposed a National, or rather an Executive Bank, as a substitute for the present Bank, embracing all its defects and discarding all its benefits, had been driven by the clamors of the miserable horde which infested his councils, into the notion that all Banks ought to be :ji;est the antidotes. It is manifest to every reflecting and intelligent citizen, that the rt'cent acts of the President are rapidly changing, if they have not already changed the forms of our Government. If we are destined to "^o on from the position he has assumed, as to the President's prerogative, for another Presidential term, our Gov- ernment will be essentially a monarchy; stronger than that of France or England, and this original Confederacy will be a Con- solidated Government. The poweis claimed and exercised by Gen. Jackson are, the right to "vet(»" all laws which he does not like ; the power to remove from office every public officer in the U. States, from the Secretary of the Treasury to the humblest Post-master; the power to appoint a partisan to office after his nomination has been rejected by the Senate; the power to make neic offices in order to fill them bv his partisans ; the power to seize and keep in his own, or his officers' hands, (removeable at his pleasure,) all the public treasure of the U. States; the power to have the Senators instructed in their duties, by legislatures who did not choose them ; the power to select from Congress 160 pliant members, and, as a reward for their devotedness, to ap- point them to important offices ; the power to control the de- cisions of the Supreme Court of the U. States, and finally the power to construe the Constitution "as he understands it!" These are the powers of an absolute monarch. I have not enu- merated all of the President's claims, but enough, in all con- science ! The most dangerous of all these monstrous assump- tions of power, are the right to the custody of the public purse ; the right to have the Senators instructed, and the right to con- strue the Constitution as he, or Amos Kendall understands it. I have shown in another Chapter, that in Boston, the Presi- dent had transferred the public revenue into the keeping of his own '' understrappers," who would crawl on their hands and knees to obey him, rather than forfeit their appointments. In this case, therefore, he can at any moment command the millions in their custody! I presume that the same state of affairs exists in all the *' pet Banks." The whole public treasure is at his disposal. William 4th of Great Britain, nor Louis Phillipe, King of the French, possesses any such a power! But we republicans' consent to it! The right to have the Senators instructed I Why, the very election of the Senator for six years, was designed by the wise framers of the Government under which we have so wonderfully prospered, to lift the Senate beyond the reach of popular excite- ment, that in the very tumult of such an event, one branch of the Government misht be cool and deliberate in its decisions. Instruct a Senator! A State might with equal propriety instruct the Supreme Court in relation to a trial in which its interests were concerned ! The wisdom of our fathers has been tested in the events of the last two years. The Senate have " saved the State," if it is eventually saved. I deeply regret that one Whig ever was found who misconstrued the Great Charter of our liberties. The right to construe the Constitution as he understands it, is the most impudent proposition ever submitted to the American people. Does not the old man know that the decisions of the Supreme Court are the Constitution, and that he and all other citizens are bound by these decisions ? The Constitution would be made to mean anything and everything under the supervisions of Kendall, Hill, and their associates. 161 What is the aiitiiiote— the remeily, for these sudden and ruth- less encroachment:* uii the Constitution I 1 confess, I can see, and have never hearil of but uuc^ viz; — NuUilication. U the Chief of the Confederacy rushes headlong into consolidation and despotism, there is but one peaceful remedy, viz: — ihut the sev- eral States, formini; the Confederacy, should recoil on their own State Governments, for security, and the preservation of the peo- ple's liberties ; as Massachusetts did during the last war. 1 am not about to argue this question, — but confess n«yself a convert to the South-Carolina doctrines, in a modified sense. If any country ever produced great men and sincere patriots, Calhoun, Hayne, M'DuHie and Hamilton are entitled to that honor. These are the men whose statues will fill the niches of history. Ever since the nomination of Judge White, I have believed that the friends of Gen. Jackson intended to run him for a " third term,'' and that all the subsequent extraordinary measures and transactions emanated from that design. The War with France, the attempted assassination, and the conspiracy against an hon- orable Senator. There is something of impertinence in the State of Tennessee nominatio"; a second candidate for the Presidency ; and a gentleman, as I conceive, of so ordinary abilities that there is not a village in New-England which does not contain his equal. But this is a Van Buren trick, of which the Judge is wholly ig- norant. When the Convention of the 40,000 office-holders is assembled, then, if Van Buren considers his chance of succeed- ing hopeless, his creatures will begin to lament the divisions in the democratic party. The necessity of Union in the approach- ing election, will be exhibited in glowing colours; and the /;reat War Chief, will be again nominated, "-as the saviour of the democratic party" and last hope of the country. And as his ruje is •' never to solicit or decline office," of course he will, in defiance of all former precedent, gratefully accept the nomina- tion ! In which case, his old friend and " crony," the Judge, will instantly relinquish his claims, and Van Buren be again raised, the bob of the political kite, as Vice-President under the ''Old Hero." But supposing the war fever abates, and Jackson determines on retirement, I do not anticipate much of a " fight" between White and the Magician.' Admitting the Judge is seriously d«- 21 162 tennined to be a candidate, and that his friends in the South are resolute in his support, the Magician's chances are quadruple his own. If the election took place to-day, Van would carry New-Hampshire, Maine, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, North-Carolina, Georgia, Illinois and Louisiana certainly, antl probably several other States, but these are quite sufficient. It is both amusing and painful to witness the infatua- tion of some of tlie Whig editors, who like the Bourbons " forget nothing and learn nothing;" on whom woeful experience pro- duces no benefit; who, with the events of '28 and '32, fresh in their memories yet continue, like roasting oysters, to sing while their houses are burning. Because Judge White has been nomi- nated by the Legislature of Alabama, and by the Representatives of his own State, and Daniel Webster has been nominated bv Massachusetts, they flatter themselves that the Magician "is dis- jmsed of,^' and that his hopes are desperate ! He knows better, and laughs in his sleeve at such leaden-headed stupidity. What vast sums of money have been lost in bets, in 1828 — 1832, and on the recent Maine, New-York and New-Jersey elections, by the indulgence and the publication of the same insane folly and childish ignorance by leading Whig Editors ? The Magician is not so easily put down ! In the next Congress, at least 20 votes will be added to his present majority in the House of Rep- resentatives, and it is but too probable that he will secure a ma- jority in the Senate. And yet many of the Whig papers, are continually shouting " lo triumphe," and deceiving the people with the monstrous assertion, that Van Buren ^'cannot be Presi- dent P^ It would be well if they took lessons of their opponents in political wisdom. They are infinitely better acquainted with the state of public opinion than most of the pampered City Editors of the Whig newspapers. No man can feel a stronger admiration and reverence for the talents and virtue of Mr. Webster than the writer; not recently got up, but of long standing. WHille I was one of the President's most zealous partisans, I repeatedly showed, that the brighest spirit of the country, her greatest orator, soundest statesman, and most able defender of the Constitution, could not be assailed in our own journals without calling forth a rebuke from some of the party, who honored excellence, and were proud of the glory 163 of the State. In 1832, (I tliiiik.) I read in tlie Boston Statesman a para^rapli as lollows: — "jJtnouii; the cattle^ at the late show in Brighton, were the llun. Jhn'ul U'ehsti'r^ &c." And I instantly wrote a comniunicaliun fur the Cciitincl, in whicli I prayed the public not to believe, that every Jacksonnian consented to such low and dishonorable '' blackguardism," or did not acknowledge Mr. W's. illustrious public services, and distinguished ability. And at the Faneuil Hall dinner in 1833, I rose in the midst of Jacksonnien and made the following remarks and toast. It was soon after the appearance of the President's Proclamation, and Mr. Webster's noble and eloquent defence of it. 1 was wrong in most of my sentiments, — but no matter, the illusion is over! Mr. President, — I am a Custom House Officer, and therefore, nni li.ible to the siisiiicioii tiiat [ ilare not express an independent opinion. I know, Sir, tliiil tills idea is dilii;r!iitly propagated i)y certain persons, and that it is too ffenerally believed by our citizens. Events in this City, have tended lu confirm it ; fur we have seen those, who have manifested an independent sjiirit, suddenly driven from their employ- ments; not with disgrace, because it is iiripossiblc for any despotism to disgrace an upright man, but with insolent malevulence. Now, Sir, I maintain, that such proceedings are in direct opposition to the sentiments and to the practice of our illustrious President, who, above all men, nut only exercises the right of private judgment him- self, l)ut is the great p:itron of the same right in all other men. Be- cause, as a real republican, it is a vital principle of his political fiiith ; and he would be unwurthy to be named as the true successor of Washington, — an honur w hich our own limes and all j)osterity will award him, did lie deny this great and fundamental, repid)lican, trutli. Sir, I had rather be the most forlorn j)auper, than a very Cni'sus, and a slave ; not the slavery of the body do I mean Sir, that can be borne when the mind is free; but I mean the slavery of tlie mind ; a i)oor, cringing, trembling minion of man in "brief authority." Thank Heaven! such is not my fnto ; but on the contrary, I have been a.^so- ciatcd with a genlletnan whom it is my pride to honor, and my happi- ness to call my friend. As a Republican, from jirinciple and not for hire, I go with my jiarty on all occasions, where that party is honestly led ; reserving to myself, always, the right of requiring c.\planatiuns of any course which looks suspicious, or of any transactions wearing the appoarance of di.-hoiior. Above all, I will never sinrcnder the ri^'ht of tloing pistice to my politiciil adversaries; and, whenever they sink tin; poli- tician in the patriot, of boldly e.xjjrcssing my hearty applause. There- fore, Sir, allow me to give af a sentiment — The Hon. Daniel Webster:— Who, here, alihongh an opponent of the Administration, nobly anri eloqiiendy >u>tained ii.-> measures, when some of, its pretended friemls slunk auay l» watch the vano of popu- lar opinion. 164 If anything more was requisite to raise against me the wrath of the Collector and his confederates to " a white heat" I accom- plished it on this occasion. My object was, not only to do jus- tice to Mr. Webster, but to give an example to the other Custom House Officers of the maintenance of independent, opinion, on the day most appropriate for its assertion. I had long groaned under the " espionage" of party tyranny. At this time, I am with all my heart, in favour of Mr. Web- ster's election to the Presidency. I am prepared to go to any corner of the United States, where my services would be most useful, and there, for the mere necessaries of the humblest life, advocate his election in a public journal. I feel that I owe such a reparation to the country. But, at the same time, I must con- fess my conviction, that it is a hopeless, although an honorable and most praise-worthy object. There can be no question in the mind of every sincere patriot and good man, that no statesman is so clearly entitled to this distinguished station, or who wo'.ild do so much honor to the country as its Chief Magistrate, as Daniel Webster. But I repeat, to me his prospects seem hope- less. And I most solemnly declare my conviction, that the union of all the Whigs in favour of Judge White, is the only possible plan for defeating the election of Van Buren. The Judge is an honest man,— a sincere patriot, and a devout Christian. Not a great— but, I verily believe, a very good man. He is less rash but more inflexible than Jackson ; more enlighten- ed and refined, less accessible to flattery and importunity ;— and more inclined to decide upon the principles of justice, than of party. A safe President, who like Monroe, would let the Gov- ernment move along like an "Accommodation Stage" — lazily, but securely. " In medio tutissimus ibis." Webster, if we can, — the Judge, if we must! But they who conceive that the New-Yorker is not the j)vomi- nent candidate, reckon without their host. He will be, unques- tionably, nominated by the office-holders' Convention in May. Now, no statesman seems to have appreciated the vast power and influence of the immense corps of ofiice-holders, but Mr. Cal- houn. He declares they amount to 100,000! Is it not known to every reflecting man conversant with society, that each of these 100,000 public officers must have the power to influence the 165 votes of 3 or 4 of his relations. IVienils, or ilependenfs ? Then we have the formidable number of 500,000 voter-, sustainin*^ the candidate of tliat Convention. In 18-28, Gen. Jackson received 650,000 votes, and was elected by only 150.000 majority. There can be no mistake in the assertion, that all the Custom House officers, — the Land oflicers, and the Post-masters, will };o for Van Buren ; and probably most of the pensioners, and other pub- lic servants. He is, (I repeat.) and will be, the ojice-holders' man. For, let my reader reflect a moment, that if a single offi- cer should avow an opposition to the regularly nominated " dem- ocratic'- candidate, he and his family are immediately (in nine cases out of ten,) reduced to beggary by his dismission from office. His independence is completely destroyed, and whatever may be his private opinions, he must act with the party which supports him. The Bdl originated in the Senate, to rescue hinv from this debasins: servitude, was defeated bv the Van Buren party in the House. And it never will be suffered to pass, until after the election of 1836. I know many an officer in the Boston Custom House opposed to Van Buren who will vote for him, be- cause he cannot sacrifice his family. How shall we counteract this paralyzing influence ; what is the antidote to this bane of our national independence I My plan is as follows : — 1st. There shall be opened over the whole extent of the United States, a W hig subscription, the produce of which shall be con- secrated to indemnify every public officer, for the loss of the emoluments of which he may be deprived, before the 1st January, IBSr.for his conscientious resistance to the illegal action of power. 2d. This subscription shall be collected in all the cities, towns, and villages of the U. States, where three citizens at least, shall assemble in private Committee to direct the operations. 3d. Every public oflicer. who shall be dismissed from ofiice for political ottences, shall receive 500 dollars for otie year, so that he may be enabled to engage in some other business, without the dread of immediate suflering. 4tli. Each Committee, in every State, shall appoint C«)unty and Town Committees, who shall return the subscriptions in the County to the Treasurer of the State Committee, who will, by the vote of that Committee, disburse the money. 166 5th. The receipts shall be published in the Whig newspapers, with the names of all the County and iState Committees, and the subscribers. By such an arrangement as the above, the power and influence of Van Buren would be reduced to nothing within six months, among the office-holders. But this is not all that the crisis requires. The peculiar blessings which a republican form of Government have poured out from a full horn on this favoured country, originated in the principles and habits of the Plymouth Pilgrims. To restore them, we must return to the practice of their virtues, — their self- denial, prudence and economy, and deep dependence on and reverence of the Deity. Luxury must be abandoned, the vain "adorning of the body" despised; the feasts, and balls, and midnight revels, be held no more. The youth of Prussia, when that State was writhing under the grasp of Napoleon, entered into a combination to free their country, at all hazards. They restricted themselves to the meanest food ; they engaged in the most athletic exercises ; they denied themselves all enervating luxuries; they dressed in the plainest and cheapest clothing, and they encouraged manly and warlike contentions. AVe must do the same. We must form "■ Filgrim Societies^''' embracing the religion, the self-denial, the endurance, the hardihood, the temperance, and the warlike spirit of our ancestors. We shall have occasion for the exercise of all these virtues. For if despotism is ever established in this coun- try ; if ever a material change in our republican Constitution is submitted to, it will be by the consent of New-England. Without her consent, the spark kindled by the Pilgrims can never be extinguished ! Conclusion. " Hear me — for my Cause." My young reader, one word before we part. The generatiou to which yoii belong will witness the re-establishincnt of the Constitution or its final overthrow. It cannot be re-established without most arduous elVorts, nor will it be overthrown without a desperate struggle. Prepare yourself to act in cither event, " with all your soul, and with all your heart, and with all your mind." First, by understanding what the Constitution means, and next, by an unconquerable resolution that not " one jot or tittle" of it shall pass away. The united wisdom of the wisest men, of the wisest generation which this country ever knew, framed it; amidst infinite perils, and under a patriotic excite- ment which called into action the whole energy of the brightest minds. It has ever since been the admiration of the world, and the " ark of the covenant" to all the worshippers of freedom. It has made us a great people ; the peculiar favorites of Ili'aven; a name and a praise throughout the eartli. And its n);iiiitenaiire, in its original purity, and as its framers designed that it slu-uld be construed, will advance human happiness, liberty, and moral elevation, to a pitch not within the power of men to conceive But if a single article of that great charter of the world's eman- cipation is suffered to be violated, and tlie violation is submitted to, there is an end of popular sovereignty, of moral and intel- lectual advancement, of the world's l;.s liopi^ ! And you, my young reader, are one of those who must decide this momentous question. The votes you dejxisit in tlie ballot- box, within the next ten years, raise anew the standard of the revolution, or bring a night of despotism over coining ages. Let me pray you to procure as soon as posible, the most ap- proved commentaries on the Constitution of the U. States; such as the Federalist — Story's Commentary, and Mr. AVebster's Speeches. Study them diligently, and remember, that it requires study to understand the form and theory of our Governn>ent. 168 The simplest Government is a despotism, where all the powers are exercised by a sinj;Ie tvrant, who holds the purse and the sword, and gives the law from his own mouth.. The nearer the approximation to free Government, the more intricate become its forms. Ours is a *' system of checks and balances," complicated, but the more free on that account. Tories and demagogues, will tell you that it is all as '■ plain as a pikestaff;" but the design of the first is. that their President should expound it as he pleases; and of the other, ti)at it may be construed to favour their selfish projects. It must be studied, examined and re-examined, and the great political luminaries who have shed light upon it must be diligently consulted. Hear Mr. Webster, the apostle of tiie Constitution. " I confess, said Mr. W. that when I speak of the Constitution, I feel a burning zeal which prompts me to pour out my whole heart. What is the Constitution ? It is the band which binds together twelve million brothers? What is its history — who made it? Monarchs, crowned head;*, lords or emperors? No! it was none of these. The Constitution of the U. States, the nearest approach of mortal to Su- preme wisdom, was the work of men who purchased liberty with their blood, but who found, that without organization, freedom was not a blessing. They framed it, and the people in their intelligence adopted it. And what has been its history for forty years? Has it trodden down any man's rights? Has it circumscribed the liberty of the press ? Has it stopped the mouth of any man ? Has it held us up as objects of disgrace abroad? Quite the reverse. It has given us character abroad, and when with Washington at its head it went forth to the world, this young country at once became the most interesting and imposing in the circle of civilized nations. How is the Constitu- tion of the U. States regarded abroad? Why as the last hope of lib- erty among men. Wherever you go, you find the U. States held up as an example by the advocates of freedom. The mariner no more looks to his compass or takes his departure by the sun than does the lover of liberty think of taking his departure without reference to the Constitution of the U. States." Such expositions are drawn from the "fountain of living waters — "the sentiments of the patriots who framed this sacred instrument. Drink deeply at that fountain ; and when you have imbibed its spirit, resolve, that your country shall continue to be 169 governed by the original principles of the compact, or that you will not /ire under any other I Ilemenibcr the resolution of the old Plymouth Pilgrims, '^ Libertij, without a country, rather than a countri/ icithnut libertij.'" What! shall ancient Greece and Rome, before the free light of Christianity had dawned upon them, in the comparatively dark ages of the world, have produced "armies of martyrs*' in the cause of freedom ; and We, with the accumulated experience of nineteen centuries of political and christian knowledge, suffer ourselves to sink unresistingly into slavery, and the hope of the earth to be made a desert by the red hand of despotism ? No ! you indignantly exclaim, may Heaven's lightning blast me before I consent to such a sacrilege ! You say well. Feel so always, and act accordingly. Remember, that if the beacon fires of liberty, which our fathers kindled in this country, and which now enlighten all the seekers after freedom througliout the world, are once put out, and another dark age of despotism and ignorance descends upon the earth, centuries will not disperse the darkness. You, my young reader, may suppose that you act in this awful crisis merely for yourself. Dismiss the thought. The vote you hold in your hand goes to doom a hundred years ; and millions of your fellow-beings who shall come after you, to relentless slavery, or to usher them into the "glorious liberty of the cross;" of order, law, and national and individual happiness. If you thoughtlessly deposit that vote in favour of the powers who are now striving to overthrow the Constitution of our beloved coun- try, you figlit against God, and his beneficent designs for the hap- piness of his creatures. My young friends, I clasp you by the hands, and bid you— farewell I 22 APPENDIX. A friend has suggested the propriety of stating particulariy, the mode of "killing off" Postmasters, &c. I presume it has not changed since 1829, and therefore the following "Recipe" will be useful in every town of the United States, If you wish to be Postmaster of the town where you live, and it contains half a dozen Jacksonnien, (and if not, take some adjoining town which does,) they must subscribe a petition to the Postmaster General, setting forth that " the present Postmaster of the town of M , is now and always has been, opposed to the glorious Administration of the father of his country the immortal Jackson, that the petitioners are good and true Jacksonmen, and earnestly de- sire that the town of M may be exonerated of an opposition Post- master, and experience the salutary influence of " Refortn." And they beg leave to recommend Mr. A. B. an original Jacksonian, and a highly influential and respectable citizen, to fill the important station of Postmaster of the town of M in the place of the present Post- master." This Petition is taken to Washington by some noted Jack- sonian, who calls at the General Post Office, sees the Postmaster General, assures him the signatures are genuine, and the facts set forth therein true, and that a change in the Post office of the town of M would be beneficial to the '^ cause." Upon which the Post- master General writes with his pencil the word "change"'^ on the back of the Petition, sends it to the Cleik of Appointments — and, in a trice, the head of the Postmaster of the town of M flies from his shoulders. This is the mode where despatch is required, and was the way my five Postmasters were killed off". But, sometimes the doomed Post- master receives a letter from the Clerk of Appointments, containing the very reasonable request, that " he immediately show cause why he should not be dismissed from his said office." Now, as the aston- 171 ished Postmaster is informed of no charges against liim, and id con- scious of no fault, he is usually " most condemnedlij'" puzzled to an- swer this letter, He don't know how to " shoio cause'" why he should not be dismissed from office ; and the only answer he can think of, is " cause I did'' nt.''' He therefore " dies, and makes no sign." After pondering some ten days, on the strangeness of the request, secretly consulting his most judicious friends, losing his appetite and his sleep, and turning yellow with perplexity and dismay, he at last sees one of his neighbours approaching his office with a wheel-barrow, at a rapid march. He enters, produces an order from the General Post Office for the delivery of the property of the United States in his possession, seizes the mail bags, papers, &-c. chucks them into the wheel-burrow, pushes off with them to his own quarters, and the next morning the confounded inhal)itant3 of the town of M , rub their eyes at per- ceiving attached to the door of Mr. A. B's. shop, the impressive words— "Post Office!" The operation of a Post Office " Reform," in a small country vlllaijc, is one of the most amusing spectacles I ever witnessed. There is a kind of slight o'hand and mystery about it, which for months presses on the hearts of the villagers like an incubus. They go aljoutthe streets in a brown stud}', and seem to be saying to them- selves, "E'cod! — there is a United States Government, or I'm darned !" For so beautiful is the system of government continued by our wise forefathers, that while the General Government of the United States poises and holds together the whole, no man in the country ever feels its direct action, (when it is peacefully and constitutionally adminis- tered,) excepting in the appointment of a Postmaster of his village. And it is oidy by some irregularity in the system, that he becomes conscious of subjection to higher powers than his own paternal State Government. It is like the solar system, which is upheld by infinite wisdom, good- ness and [)ower. A moment's suspension in the action of either of these influences, and " Chaos would come again." B Many of the Temi)orance Societies require the members to pledge themselves to abstain from the use of Wine! Wine, — which Christ 172 twice consecrated, viz: — by his Jirst miracle, by which he changed water (the peculiar favorite of these fanatics,) into wine, and at the " last supper," where he made it the emblem of his blood shed for mankind ! c. I must make an exception in favour of my old and excellent friend, Col. Loring. A more active and zealous republican, and a more benevolent and accomplished gentleman, never lived. He is about the last of the " Old Romans." JxJ-J 1^'J0'%^ v^ '/2^/zy^/*^' "t?-^^ tJW.M1llI»»»l«—W POLITICAL REMINISCENCES, ISCLODINO A SKETCH OF THE ©si^aBi ^mm "mmwmwE OF THE ii STATESMAN PARTY" OF BOI^TOIV. b^ BY JOHN BARTON DERBY, LATE DEPUTY SURVEYOR OF THE CUSTOMS. "They (i. e. the office holders) love Gold."— f7/ofrf. " Their God is gold and their Religion pelf."— /i.'r. Painr. BOSTON: Printed for the Author, by Homer & Pahner, Congress Street. ■n '»« n » » , Y«» T i B ! Entered according to Aet of Congress in the year 1834, by J. B. DERBY, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts. [ICTTO BE CONTINUED] In consequence of the numerous subjects to be treated of, it has been found necessary to extend the limits of the work farther than was at first contemplated, and as consid- erable anxiety has been manifeste J to see it, it has been thought advisable to issue it in two parts. The second num- ber is now in press and will be published uilh all possible expedition. It will contain a continuation of The Tax — The Conspiracy — Beauties of Jacksonism — Removal of the De- positea — Antidotes — and Conclusion. i (r?-SECOr¥I> PART OF J. B. DERBY'S POLITICAL REMINISCENCES, IllCLDi>IKa A SKETCH or THI ©:Ei(^iir ^ar® mis«i^©si' or THB STATESMAN PARTY. IliiJ* The reader will recollect that the first part ended rather abruptly at page 96, iu the middle of a sentence of the chapter headed " A Tax." Those who have the first number can refer to it. For the information of those who have not read that number, it may be well to copy the last paragraph of page 96, which is subjoined : — An assessment on the public officers was therefore finally declared for the payment of 1230 dollars per year, the interest of twenty thousand, a debt due from the Postmaster to the Col- lector and his associates. It amounted to about 5 per cent, of their salaries; or rather I conelude so, because (he annual sum demanded of General M'Neil was in that ratio. The General was called upon by Mr. J. P. Eobinson, the Secretary of the first meetinii, and the agent for the collection, to pay 150 dollars per annum. He refused. In a week or two afterwards, Mr. RobinaOn called again, and stated that 125 dollars would be considered sufficient. The General declined paying any thing. I was invited, but peremtorily ex- pressed my disgust at the whole project. Two or three of the under officers refused. They were told by Eobinson that the Collector approved of the scheme and they would lose - — — (Cy SEE PAGE 97.) ICJ* The Author owes an apology to the PubUc for the delay which has attended the publication of the 2d Part of his Political Reminiscences. Much of the time which has elapsed since the appearance of Part 1st, he has been under the advice of his physician — too ill to engage in any kind of labour. And this fact must excuse the many faults of a literary character, which the reader will readily dis- cover in the book. He proposes to publish soon, at Boston, a political newspaper, entitled " The Plain Dealer," which will be for sale at the Book Stores. It will not contain any advertise- ments ; nor will subscriptions for it be received. Its motto will be " Ne'er doubt " T/iis— when I speak, I don't hint, b\it speak out." J. B. D. .ic)' jp. ,;>;-• > 's^:^^ >^-) >"> ^^"'-^ Vi> >1 .^jr>:::s> ^3>^£> _^ ^ wmrMm- y^WO ':^f^' 3.>^ m > >^ ONGRESS