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THE GREAT REVOLUTION OF 1840. 
 
 REMINISCENCES OF THE 
 
 LOG CABIN * HARD CIDER 
 
 CAMPAIGN 
 
 A. B. NORTON 
 
 ) r. h is trange ; 
 Stranger than fiction. 
 
 A. B. NORTON & CO. 
 MOLXT VERNON, O., AND DALLAS, TEXAS. 
 
 1888. 
 
Copyright, 1888, 
 BY A. B. 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 THE TlPPECANOE VETERANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS, 
 
 THESE REMINISCENCES OF THE GREAT REVOLUTION, 
 
 THE LOG CABIN AND HARD CIDER CAMPAIGN 
 
 OF 1840, ARE DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 269294 
 
U M 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The most remarkable political contest ever known 
 was that of 1840, when Gen. William Henry Har 
 rison was triumphantly elected to> the Presidency of 
 the United States over Martin Van Buren, the then 
 incumbent. Qjt was remarkable as the first campaign 
 in which the women generally engaged, and, by 
 their smiles^nd songs and encouragement, promoted 
 the election^ It was remarkable as the first campaign 
 in which the lines w_ej:e..._closely_drawn between, the 
 people and the office-holders. It waVremarkable as 
 the first campaign in which the candidate was em- *"O ^ 
 phatically one of the people arjoor and honorable 
 farmer. It was remarkable as tnecampaign in which 
 the most slander, vituperation an4_abuse were used. 
 IFwas remarkable from the fact that the great mass of 
 the people rallied to the defense of the candidate they 
 assailed. It was remarkable as being an uprising 
 of the people to right themselves and redress the 
 wrongs that had been done them, and to remove the 
 imputations that had been placed upon them. Under 
 the name of Democracy great outrages had been 
 practiced by those claiming to be leaders. For about 
 sixteen years power may be said to have been in 
 the hand s of one person. General Jackson, after hav 
 ing served two terms, designated his successor, whose 
 boast was, that he "walked in the footsteps of his 
 illustrious predecessor." General Jackson had been 
 elected as a one-term candidate. In his message to 
 Congress in 1829 he said, " It would seem advisable to 
 limit the services of the Chief Magistrate to a single 
 term of either four or six years" In his message to 
 Congress in 1830 he reiterated and more strongly ex 
 pressed this opinion in these words: 
 
 " It was a leading object with the framers of the 
 Constitution to keep as separate as possible the 
 
Reminiscences of the 
 
 action of the legislative and executive branches 
 of the Government. To secure this object nothing 
 is more essential than to preserve the former from the 
 temptations of private interest, and, therefore, so to, 
 direct the patronage of the latter as not to permit such 
 temptations to be offered. Experience abundantly 
 demonstrates that every precaution in this respect 
 is a valuable safeguard of liberty, and one which my 
 reflections upon the tendencies of our system incline 
 me to think should be still made stronger. It was 
 for this reason that, in connection with an amend 
 ment of the Constitution, removing all intermediate 
 agency in the choice of the President, I recommend 
 some restrictions upon the re-eligibility of that officer, 
 and upon the tenure of offices generally. The reason 
 still exists; and I renew the recommendation* with 
 an increased confidence that its adoption will strength 
 en those checks by which the Constitution designed 
 to secure the independence of each department of the 
 Government, and promote the healthful and equitable 
 administration of all the trusts which it has created. 
 
 " The agent most likely to contravene this design of 
 the Constitution is the CHIEF MAGISTRATE. In order 
 particularly that his appointment may as far as possible 
 be placed beyond the reach of improper influences ; 
 in order that he may approach the solemn responsi 
 bilities of the highest office in the gift of a free people, 
 uncommitted to any other course than the strict line of 
 constitutional duty, and that the securities for this inde 
 pendence may be rendered as strong as the nature of 
 power, and the weakness of its possessor, will admit, 
 / cannot too earnestly invite your attention to the 
 propriety of promoting such an amendment of the 
 Constitution as will render him ineligible after one 
 term of service" 
 
 Right in the face of these declarations he acted, and 
 he trampled upon his own sentiments; and after 
 having set at naught his own teachings and violated 
 his own promises, he forced upon the country as his 
 successor u The Little Magician" De Witt Clinton, 
 speaking of the " political Grimalkin," Martin Van 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 1 1 
 
 were built for places of meeting jmdtrrowds perambu- 
 hrted the country in log cabins on wheej^ 
 
 Daniel Webster^ in -his great speech at ^ 
 
 < Xew York, made the following patriotic allusforT to 
 his early life and to the manner in which log cabins had . 
 been assailed by the vile partisans of Martin Van 
 Buren: " I agree that to live in a log cabin is no recom- \ 
 mendation of a candidate for the Presidency, neither 
 is it any disqualification. It is, however, to be as- \ 
 sumed that a man who, by his capacity and industry, 
 has raised himself from a log cabin to eminent station 
 in the country, is of more than ordinary merit. I, sir, 
 have a feeling for log cabins and their inhabitants. I 
 was not myself born in one, but my elder brothers and 
 sisters were in the cabin in which, at the close of the > 
 Revolutionary war, in the perils and sufferings of 
 which he bore his part, my father erected on the ex 
 treme frontiers of New Hampshire, where, beyond 
 ..he smoke which curled from its chimney, not another 
 stood between it and the walls of Quebec. In this 
 humble cabin, amid the snow-drifts of New England, 
 that father strove, by honest labor, to acquire the 
 means of giving to his children a better education, and 
 elevating them to a higher condition than his own. 
 That cabin I honor, for the sake of the venerable man 
 who dwelt in it. [Here Mr. Webster s voice became 
 inarticulate from emotion.] That cabin I annually 
 visit, and thither I carry my children, that they may 
 learn to honor and to emulate the stern and simple 
 virtues that there found their abode; and when I or 
 they forget that cabin and what it teaches and recalls, 
 may my name and their names perish from among 
 men forever." 
 
 Harrison and Van Buren were the antipodes to each 
 other in everything. Van Buren had been brought up 
 in affluence and had lived in luxury, and had spent 
 his days, as a lawyer and politician, in the fashionable 
 circle, while Harrison had been from youth on the 
 frontiers, a soldier enduring hardship and privation 
 and baring his breast to the savage foe, a barrier to 
 their inroads upon the settlements, and when the war 
 
12 Reminiscences of the 
 
 ended he settled down as a plain farmer in what was 
 then the "wild west." He had met the enemy often 
 and never once had been vanquished. His heart was 
 full of generosity and love for his comrades, and when 
 taking leave of his soldiers he told them, " if they 
 ever came that way they would always find a plate 
 and a knife and fork at his table; " and I assure you," 
 he added, "you will never find the string to the latch 
 of my door pulled in." His name was u familiar as 
 a household word" throughout the great Western 
 country that he had rescued from the British and In 
 dians; and the stories of his patriotism in war and 
 generosity and kindness in peace had made the plain 
 people everywhere love him. Hence it is not to be 
 wondered that there ivas magic in the na?ne of Harri 
 son throughout the Union, and the people, with a 
 fervency and zeal unusual in politics, rally to the 
 standard of a Harrison. The name of the sturdy 
 Republican, Gen. Thomas Harrison, who had signed 
 the death warrant of the tyrant Charles I, the second 
 of the Stuart kings of England, and that in an after 
 revulsion he was himself subsequently hanged, drawn 
 and quartered at Charing Cross, and his descendants 
 emigrated to America and settled in Surry, Va., and 
 one of them became the stanch Whig of the Revolu 
 tion Ben. Harrison whose name stands among the 
 fifty-six signers of the immortal Declaration of our In 
 dependence, and who was one of the most active in 
 bringing about that great event. In fact, no man of 
 the "times that tried men s souls" possessed more 
 nerve and intrepidity, and he was an acknowledged 
 leader of the greatest men. At the session of the Con 
 gress of the Colonies at Philadelphia, in May, 1775, 
 when John Hancock had been elected President in 
 place of Peyton Randolph, who had to return to Vir 
 ginia to preside over the house of burgesses, and Mr. 
 Hancock, modest and diffident, hesitating, Benjamin 
 Harrison seized hold of and picked him up and carried 
 him in his strong arms and placed him in the executive 
 chair, then turned around to the members and boldly 
 said, " We will show mother Britain how little we 
 
Political Campaign of 1840, 13 
 
 care for her by making a Massachusetts man our Pres 
 ident, whom she has excluded from pardon by a public 
 proclamation!" 
 
 He was a man of more than ordinary height, stout 
 and muscular, and very heavy, and prided himself 
 upon the position he held as chairman of the board of 
 war having charge of the dispatches of General Wash 
 ington and the regulation of trade and commercial 
 affairs; and it was he who, on the loth of June, 1776, 
 brought up the resolution which declared the inde 
 pendence of the colonies, and on the 4th of July he 
 reported that sacred instrument as having received 
 the approbation of Congress, and with the other dele 
 gates of Virginia signed the same and, it is said, turned 
 around to Mr. Gerry, a Massachusetts delegate, who 
 was very spare and slender, and, as he raised his hand 
 from the paper, exclaimed, "When the hanging scene 
 comes to be exhibited I shall have all the advantage 
 over you. It will be over with me in a minute; but 
 you will be kicking in the air half an hour after I am 
 gone." 
 
 Of this bold and resolute spirit we have found in 
 our travels in Virginia many anecdotes, all character 
 istic of independence ; and the high estimate placed 
 upon his services and usefulness and ability is second 
 only to Washington. The many positions he filled 
 evidences this fact. 
 
 The moderate party, at the head of which was 
 Mr. Dickenson, succeeded in obtaining a vote for an 
 other petition to the King from the Congress of 1775. 
 " On the success of this vote, Mr. D." says Mr. Jeffer 
 son, "was so much pleased that he expressed his satis 
 faction by saying: There is but one word, Mr. Presi 
 dent, in the paper which I disapprove, and that 
 word is Congress? " Mr. Harrison immediately rose 
 and said: "There is but one word in the paper, Mr. 
 President, which I approve, and that word is Con- 
 gress" 
 
 This is the Harrison who, in the service of the 
 country, ^sent forward as a private soldier" into the 
 western wilderness to fight the British and Indians, 
 
14 Reminiscences of the 
 
 his son, with a letter dated October 10, 1793, addressed 
 to Major-General Charles Scott. In this he states 
 that, "Having received an appointment under General 
 Wayne, I had intended accompanying him in his ex 
 pedition against the Northwestern Indians, but I am 
 unable to do so from having three of my ribs broken 
 near the backbone; also loosened from my breast, and 
 one broke near the middle. As there is not the 
 smallest probability of my being serviceable on an 
 active campaign, and moving would put me in great 
 danger, it is prudent to stay at home." "Unwilling 
 that an opportunity for the Harrison family to render 
 some service to the country should pass, I determined 
 to send my son. And now before I take my leave, 
 permit me to tell you my son, a youth of nineteen 
 years of age, I have sent forward in the character of 
 a private soldier under Captain Rollins. His youth and 
 inexperience, I make no doubt, will stand in need of 
 your friendship; therefore, I pray you, teach him the 
 duties of his station, and if any accident should hap 
 pen him, pay some attention to him." 
 
 What a manly letter. How characteristic. There s 
 no holding back and no begging for a position of 
 light work for a youth of light weight as the paternal 
 mind often suggests. But its very ruggedness im 
 presses of nobility. "Teach him the duties of his 
 station." The boy goes in with "his youth and inex 
 perience," and by good work and square work wins 
 promotion from a private soldier to a major-general. 
 
 The name immortalized in prose arid verse in tra 
 dition and history the people could not but shout and 
 sing for Harrison, who so fitly represented them 
 selves. He accepted of their nomination and was will 
 ing to serve them to the best of his ability. At their 
 call he sprang from retiracy and the log cabin into a 
 full-fledged leader, only that he might bring back the 
 Government to its pristine purity, when the people 
 were recognized as the sovereigns. He was ready as 
 their representative to act for one term and one term 
 only, and if elected to let their chosen representatives 
 make the laws and he would execute their wishes. He 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 15 
 
 was opposed to the willful and flagitious use of the 
 veto to thwart the will of the people. He did not be 
 lieve that all the wisdom of the world was contained 
 in the head of one small person that might fill the Ex 
 ecutive chair. He was for building up American in 
 stitutions and American interests, and while welcom 
 ing all honest immigrants, he desired to have them at 
 once assimilate, become citizens, and own their own 
 homes, and he would throw the broad aegis of the Con 
 stitution and the protection of the flag over all and 
 make us an independent people. 
 
 The writer of these rough notes was, 
 
 " One of the boys who, in forty, was true 
 To the gallant old hero of Tippecanoe;" 
 
 and while an invalid, driven from his home in Texas 
 by poison oak, to the banks of the Kokosing, has in 
 dulged in compiling these reminiscences, believing 
 that they may be of interest to those who are at the 
 verge or have passed their three-score and ten, and 
 44 perchance it will delight even them to have remem 
 bered it," as well as be of benefit to those still younger, 
 who are now in the contest of young Tippecanoe, liv 
 ing over to some extent that of the old Tip of 1840. 
 There can never again be a campaign of such enthu 
 siasm and hurra as that of 40. The days of plain, 
 honest simplicity, when the necessity existed for rigid 
 economy, have passed and gone. The days of shin- 
 plasters and wild-cat paper money, when a silver dollar 
 was as large as a wagon-wheel, and harder to get 
 the days of substantial " home-spun and hodden- 
 gray" of wool hats and linsey-woolsey of innocence 
 and integrity, of virtue and morality, of frugality and 
 fidelity, and equality when there were no million 
 aires and no Standard Oil or other combines or trusts, 
 and when monopolies were unknown; 
 "When none were for a party, 
 And all were for the State; 
 When the rich helped the poor, 
 And the poor helped the great." 
 
 The times that created men like William Henry Har 
 rison are gone and will not come again to this people. 
 
1 6 Reminiscences of the 
 
 We have grouped together many of the incidents as 
 to meetings in various States, as to speakers and songs, 
 and have aimed to put in form for presentation the 
 speeches of some of the most prominent campaigners 
 the thrilling eloquence of Clay and Webster, and 
 Prentiss and Rives, and Preston and Corwin,and other 
 of the advocates of Harrison, Tyler and Reform, can 
 not be transferred to paper; but yet, the few ad 
 dresses given will convey some idea of their character. 
 As to their effect it cannot be portrayed to those who 
 did not hear them and witness the enthusiasm of the 
 masses. 
 
 yThe young men of the country can learn wisdom 
 from the speeches given. We are sure that many will 
 thank us for embodying in this work addresses that can 
 be found in no publication in any of the libraries of the 
 country. They are like " brands snatched from the 
 burning." There were no stenographers or reporters 
 a half century ago, as now, to catch down words as 
 they fell from the inspired speaker.^ 
 
 General Harrison s speeches are worthy of preser 
 vation. His letters and expressions are finished pro 
 ductions frank, outspoken, manly, as became an old 
 soldier. His victory was complete. His term was 
 short. A nation mourned the death of the honest 
 old soldier and farmer and patriotic citizen, who sin 
 cerely loved the United States, and whose last words 
 on earth were, "I wish you to understand the true 
 principles of the Government. I wish them carried 
 out." 
 
 A. B. NORTON. 
 
 Mt. Vernon, Ohio, October 10, 1888. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 17 
 
 HARRISON NOMINATED. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS OF THE WHIG NATIONAL CONVEN 
 TION, AT HARRISBURG, PENNA. 
 
 FIRST DAY. 
 
 Wednesday 9 Dec, 4, 1839. 
 
 At 12 o clock the convention assembled in the 
 Lutheran Church, and was called to order by Mr. 
 Williamson of Pennsylvania, who nominated Mr. 
 Bates of Massachusetts, as chairman pro tern, for the 
 purpose of organizing the convention. 
 
 On motion, Mr. Penrose and Mr. Swift of Penn 
 sylvania, were appointed secretaries pro tern, 
 
 On motion of Mr. Lee, of Virginia, the list of dele 
 gates was called over by the secretary. 
 
 The following delegates then presented their cre 
 dentials and took their seats. 
 
 Maine: Messrs. E. H. Allen, S. R. Lyman, S. Brad 
 ley, J. Neal, R. H. Vose, Z. Hyde, G. Pendleton. 
 
 New Hampshire: Messrs. Jas. Wilson, S. McNeil, 
 J. Eastman, G. Stevens. 
 
 Massachusetts: Messrs. J. C. Bates, B. Burnell, P. 
 Sprague, B. R. Hough, J. H. Duncan, S. Hoar, C. 
 Hudson, A. Lee, H. Shaw, G. Ashman, W. Levering, 
 J. Howard, H. G. O. Colby, N. M. Davis. 
 
 Rhode Island: Messrs. J. F. Simons, W. Anthony, 
 
 B. Diman, G. G. King. 
 
 Vermont: Messrs. W. Henry, S. H. Holley, A. B. 
 W. Tenny, W. P. Briggs, C. Paine. 
 
 Connecticut: Messrs. C. Davies, W. H. Boardman, 
 
 C. H. Phelps, C. Hawloy, Jos. S. Gladding, E. C. Bacon, 
 E.Jackson, J. S. Peters. 
 
 New York: Messrs. Chandler Starr, Robt. C. Nichols, 
 J. A. King, B. D. Silliman, Dudley Seldon, R. C. 
 Wetmore, J. Hammond, Robert Smith, James A. 
 Hamilton, P. R. Livingston, H. McFarland, E. Fay, 
 E.Jenkins, H. Hamilton, A. Briggs, S. Van Rennssa- 
 laer, J. Knickerbocker, B. Blair. H. H.Ross, S.Gil- 
 bert, H. P. Voorhees, D. Petrie, C. P. Kirkland, A. L. 
 
1 8 Reminiscences of the 
 
 McCarty, J. Bradley, J. Russel, V. Whitney, D. 
 White, J. Dunn, D. D. Spencer, A. P. Granger, J. D. 
 Ledyard, G. H. Wood, G. V. Sacket, H. W. Taylor, 
 Jno." N. Dox, I. Lacy, P. L. Tracy, C. Tucker, L. F. 
 Allen, J. Chatterton. 
 
 New Jersey: Messrs. Asa Whitehead, D. S. Gregory, 
 
 E. Marsh, Jno. D. Hagar, T. A. Hartwell, C. Moffit, 
 R. E. Horner. 
 
 Delaware: Messrs. Thos. Stockton, T. M. Rodney, 
 R. Mansfield, P. F. Causey, J. Ferries, E. Spruance, 
 T. Wainwright, W. D. Wapples, D. Hazzard. 
 
 Pennsylvania: Messrs. J. A. Shulze, Alex. Quinton, 
 
 F. Fraley, Jno Swift, B. Badger, W. Darlington, E. 
 Darlington, J. Roberts. E. T. McDowell, J. A. Fisher, 
 W. R. Morris, C. B. Penrose, Jno. Williamson, A. O. 
 Cahoon, Jas. Merrill, S. M. Barclay, C. P. Markle, |. 
 Gray, C. C. Reed,T. H. Patterson, David Leech, Jno. 
 Dickey, J. Lawrence. 
 
 From the Fourth Congressional district, composed 
 of the counties of Delaware, Chester and Lancaster, 
 E. C. Reigart appeared and claimed his seat, T. G. 
 Henderson also appeared and claimed the same seat. 
 
 From the Twelfth Congressional district, composed 
 of the counties of Adams and Franklin, James Cal- 
 houn appeared and claimed to represent said district. 
 George Chambers also appeared and claimed the 
 said seat. 
 
 From the Seventeenth Congressional district, com 
 posed of the counties of Susquehanna, Bradford, Pot 
 ter and McKean, Moses. J. Clark appeared and 
 claimed to represent said district. Edward Overton 
 also appeared and claimed to represent said district. 
 
 Whereupon, Mr. Roberts, of Pennsylvania, moved 
 that a committee of five delegates from other States 
 than Pennsylvania be appointed, to whom the cases of 
 the contested delegates from Pennsylvania be referred. 
 Mr. Williamson, of Pennsylvania, moved to amend 
 that motion bystriking out and inserting that the cases 
 of disputed seats in the delegation from Pennsylvania 
 be referred to said delegation. 
 
 Mr. Sprague, of Massachusetts, then moved that 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 19 
 
 the said motion, together with the amendment, be 
 laid on the table, and that the secretary proceed with 
 the call of the States. 
 
 Which motion prevailed, and the secretary pro 
 ceeded with the call. 
 
 Maryland: Messrs. R. Johnson, J. L. Kerr, J. M. 
 Goldsborough, R. W. Bowie, G. Howard, A. Alex 
 ander, Jas. Moore, R. J. Bowie. 
 
 Virginia: Messrs. B. W. Leigh, J. Barbour, J. W. 
 Pegran, W. S. Archer, E. Chambers, Jno. Tyler, W. 
 Newton, J. B. Harvey, I. A. Coles, J. Green, [no. 
 Janney, H. Berry, A. Waterman, B. G. Baldwin, J. 
 Edginton. 
 
 North Carolina : Messrs. Jno. Owen, C. R. Kin- 
 ney, W. W. Cherry, F. J. Hill. W. H. Battle, J. B. 
 Kelly, H. W. Miller, N. M. Roan, I. Burns, f . A. 
 Allison, B. S. Gaither, W. F. Davidson. 
 
 Kentucky: Messrs. Thos. Metcalf, L. Combs, M. 
 Key, W. Preston, J. Shelby, J. Price, D. Banks, F. 
 
 A. Andrews, C. M. Clay. 
 
 Ohio: Messrs. J. Burnett, N. G. Pendleton, J. John 
 ston, W. A. Rogers, W. S. Murphy, A. Toland,J. 
 M. Creed, I. Belknap, E. Cutter, B. S". Cowen, C. T. 
 Sherinan, C. Prentiss, T. Bronson, H. Green. J. S. Lacy, 
 
 B. Bentley 
 
 Indiana: Messrs. D. McGuire, J. R. Mendenhall, 
 
 A. Clarke, J. Perry, E. M. Huntington. 
 Louisiana: G. M. Graham. 
 
 Mississippi: Messrs. T. C. Tupper, A. S. Perkins. 
 Missouri: Messrs. W. H. Russel, Logan Hunton. 
 Illinois: Messrs. G. W. Ralph, W. S. Newberry. W. 
 
 B. Warren. 
 
 Alabama: Messrs. H. W. Hilliard, W. H. Fleming, 
 W. S. Smith. 
 
 Michigan: Messrs. G.C. Bates, T.J.Drake, D.S.Bacon. 
 
 Tennessee: South Carolina, Georgia, and Arkansas, 
 not represented. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Sprague, of Massachusetts, a 
 committee was appointed, consisting of one member 
 from each State, to nominate officers for the perma 
 nent organization of the convention. 
 
2O Reminiscences of the 
 
 Mr. Johnson, of Ohio, moved that the convention 
 be opened with prayer each morning, by the clergy 
 men of the different denominations, in the city of Har- 
 risburg. Laid on the table, till the convention be per 
 manently organized. 
 
 On motion, adjourned till 10 o clock to-morrow morn 
 ing. 
 
 SECOND DAY. 
 
 Thursday, Dec. 5. 
 
 Pursuant to adjournment, the convention met. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Sprecher, officiating clergyman of 
 the Lutheran Church, offered up to Almighty God a 
 most fervent prayer for His blessing on the convention, 
 our country and the world. 
 
 The following additional delegates appeared: 
 
 Ohio, Dr. Cyrus Faulconer; New York, Henry H. 
 Ross; Virginia, William C. Mosley, Festus Dickin 
 son; Mississippi, Anderson Miller; North Carolina, J. 
 C. Washington. 
 
 Col. Dickey, of Pennsylvania, announced that the 
 Pennsylvania delegation had agreed that all the claim 
 ants of seats from this State ought to be admitted, and 
 moved that the journal of yesterday be corrected ac 
 cordingly; which was agreed to. 
 
 Mr. Sprague, of Massachusetts, from the committee 
 to nominate officers, made the following report, which 
 was agreed to: 
 
 President: Gov. James Barbour, of Virginia. 
 
 Vice Presidents: Gov. Jno. S. Peters, of Connecti 
 cut; Gov. J. A. Shulze, of Pennsylvania; Gov. David 
 Hazzard, of Delaware; Gov. George Howard, of Mary 
 land; Gov. Jno. Tyler, of Virginia; Gov. Jno. Owen, 
 of North Carolina; Gov. Thomas Metcalf, of Kentucky; 
 P. R. Livingston, of New York; Jacob Burnett, of 
 Ohio; J. C. Bates, of Massachusetts; Jas. W T ilson, of 
 New Hampshire; E. M. Huntington, of Indiana; 
 E. Marsh, of New Jersey. 
 
 Secretaries: Charles B. Penrose, of Pennsylvania: G. 
 W. Ralph, of Illinois; S. R. Lyman, of Maine; C. 
 Paine, of Vermont. 
 
 On taking the chair, Governor Barbour made one 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 21 
 
 of the most eloquent addresses ever listened to. 
 
 Mr. Graham, of Louisiana, said that a letter from 
 t le State of Arkansas, authorizing and requesting the 
 delegates from Louisiana to cast the vote of Arkansas 
 for candidates for President and Vice-President had 
 been received, which he moved should be read. He 
 said he was glad to find by the letter that the State of 
 Arkansas was about moving forward in the cause of the 
 country, and breaking from the shackles of Benton & 
 Co., by whom it had been held in thraldrom. 
 
 The letter was from the chairman of the State Com 
 mittee, and stated that the delegates elected by that 
 State were in favor of Mr. Clay for President, and 
 Governor Tyler, of Virginia, for Vice-President. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Roberts, of Ohio, the resolution 
 offered by him yesterday instructing the president of 
 the convention to procure the reverend clergy of Har- 
 risburg to open the convention every morning with 
 prayer, was taken up and adopted. 
 
 The following proposition of Mr. Sprague, as 
 amended by Mr. Penrose, was unanimously agreed to: 
 
 Ordered, That the delegates from each State be re 
 quested to assemble as a delegation, and appoint a 
 committee not exceeding three in number, to receive 
 the views and opinions of such delegation, and com 
 municate the same to the assembled committees of 
 all the delegations, to be by them respectively re 
 ported to their principals; and that thereupon the 
 delegates from each State be requested to assemble as 
 a delegation, and ballot for candidates for the offices 
 of President and Vice-President, and having done so, 
 to commit the ballot designating the votes of each can 
 didate, and by whom given, to its committee; and 
 thereupon all the committees shall assemble and com 
 pare the several ballots, and report the result of the 
 same to their several delegations, together with such 
 facts as may bear upon the nomination; and such dele 
 gation shall forthwith reassemble and ballot again for 
 candidates for the above offices, and again commit the 
 result to the above committees, and if it shall appear 
 that a majority of the ballots are for any one man for 
 
22 Reminiscences of the 
 
 candidate for President, said committee shall report 
 the result to the convention for its consideration; but 
 if there shall be no such majority, then the delegation 
 shall repeat the balloting until such a majority shall 
 be obtained, and then report the same to the conven 
 tion for its consideration. 
 
 That the vote of a majority of each delegation shall 
 be reported as the vote of that State, and each State 
 represented here shall vote its full electoral vote by 
 such delegation in the committee. 
 
 THIRD DAY. 
 
 Friday, Dec. 6 , 1889. 
 
 Convention met pursuant to adjournment. 
 
 A letter from the Whig State convention of Ver 
 mont, addressed to the president of the conven 
 tion, was received and laid on the table. 
 
 Mr. A. P. McReynolds, of Michigan, and Mr. Pres 
 ton, of Maryland, appeared as delegates, and took their 
 seats in convention. 
 
 Mr. Cassius Clay, of Kentucky, offered a resolution 
 that the ayes and noes be called, and the delegates 
 declare viva voce their choice as a candidate for Pres 
 ident, and that where a delegation is not full, the 
 delegates present cast the votes of the absent members. 
 
 Mr. C. addressed the convention in favor of his 
 motion. He said he wished every portion of the peo 
 ple to be heard. He knew not that his own favorite 
 would be nominated he did not know even the result 
 of the balloting, but he wished a full, fair, and candid 
 expression of opinion. 
 
 Mr. Davies, of Connecticut, opposed the motion of 
 Mr. Clay, and moved that it be laid upon the table. 
 Agreed to. 
 
 Mr. Hornor, of New Jersey, offered a resolution to 
 procure a correct list of the delegates and their post 
 offices, to be published with the proceedings of the 
 convention. Agreed to. 
 
 Mr. McFarland, of New York, laid before the con 
 vention the proceedings of a meeting in Orange county 
 in that State. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 23 
 
 Mr. Williamson moved that a committee of finance 
 be appointed: Mr. Lee, of Massachusetts, to he ap 
 pointed chairman. 
 
 On motion the convention adjourned till 3 o clock. 
 
 SAME DAY AFTERNOON. 
 
 After prayer by the Rev. William Barnes, of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 Mr. Fisher, of Pennsylvania, from the committee, 
 made report relative to the expenses of the convention. 
 
 Adjourned till 7 o clock this evening. 
 
 SAME DAY EVENING. 
 
 Mr. Williamson, of Pennsylvania, moved that Thos. 
 E. Cochran, Esq., be admitted to a seat in the room of 
 Mr. Morris, of Pennsylvania, who had left town. 
 Agreed to. 
 
 Mr. Wetmore, of New York, offered several reso 
 lutions relative to the assembling of a national con 
 vention of young men to respond to the nomination 
 of this convention. 
 
 Mr. Wetmore stated that the resolutions proceeded 
 from a highly respectable body of Whigs in New York. 
 He did not, however, press the resolutions at this time. 
 
 Some discussion now took place on a motion to take 
 a recess till 9 o clock. The motion prevailed. 
 
 NINE O CLOCK P. M. 
 
 Mr. R.Johnson, of Maryland, said, that as no result 
 had been arrived at in balloting by delegations, he 
 would move that the committee on the subject be 
 instructed to report progress, and that it then be dis 
 charged, and that the convention then proceed to vote 
 for candidates for President and Vice President,/^ 
 capita. 
 
 Mr. Richard Haughton was announced as a dele 
 gate from Massachusetts, in the room of Mr. Colby, 
 who had gone home. 
 
 Mr. Harvie, of Virginia, moved to lay the resolution 
 of Mr. R. Johnson on the table. 
 
 Mr. Harvie said the committee was now in session 
 and could not report. 
 
24 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Mr. Williamson, of Pennsylvania, said the question 
 was not debatable. 
 
 The question was then put on the motion to lay 
 the resolution on the table; prevailed. 
 
 A motion was made that the convention do adjourn. 
 Lost. 
 
 Mr. Harvie then said he understood the committee 
 v. as in the house, and he therefore moved that the 
 resolution be reconsidered. 
 
 Mr. McDowell, of Pennsylvania, said the committee 
 would report in half an hour. [Applause.] 
 
 Mr. Harvie said he hoped that gentlemen would 
 exercise a little patience. 
 
 Mr. Taylor, of New York, said he thought the res 
 olution should not be acted on, as the convention 
 would thereby be undoing what had been done for the 
 last two days. 
 
 Mr. R. Johnson said he feared the committee would 
 not report so soon. 
 
 Mr. McDowell said the committee w r ould certainly 
 report in half an hour. 
 
 Mr. R. W. Bowie, of Maryland, said the committee 
 had adjourned, and no such order had been taken. 
 
 Mr. McDowell said he was assured by what might 
 be considered the majority, that the committee would 
 be able to report. 
 
 Mr. Hornor, of New Jersey, moved that the conven 
 tion proceed to other business until the committee be 
 able to report. 
 
 Mr. Harvie moved an adjournment. Lost. 
 
 Mr. Taylor, of New York, moved the convention 
 take a recess for half an hour, which was afterwards 
 altered to an hour, and agreed to. 
 
 HALF-PAST TEN P. M. 
 
 As soon as the convention was called to order, Gov 
 ernor Owen, of North Carolina, announced that the 
 committee had had the subject-matter under considera 
 tion, and had instructed the chairman to report progress 
 and ask leave to sit again; and that the following was 
 the result of the ballotings for President: 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 25 
 
 Two hundred and fifty-four ballots were cast, of 
 which Gen. Winfield Scott had 16, Hon. Henry Clay, 
 90; Gen. William Henry Harrison, 148. 
 
 One hundred and forty-eight ballots being a majority 
 of the whole number, Gen. William Henry Harrison, 
 of Ohio, was duly selected as the candidate for the 
 Presidency. 
 
 The report was received and the committee had 
 leave to sit again; whereupon the convention adjourned 
 till 10 o clock to-morrow. 
 
 FOURTH DAY. 
 
 Saturday, Dec. 7, 1839 
 Convention met persuant to adjournment. 
 A prayer was offered by the Rev. W. R. De Witt, 
 of Harrisburg, when Mr. Banks, of Kentucky, rose 
 and said, that as a delegate from Kentucky he had 
 come here to acquiesce in the decision of the con 
 vention ; he bowed before its determination, and he 
 could assure the convention that the nomination made 
 last evening would receive the hearty support of his 
 constituents at least it would not be his fault if it 
 did not. The situation of the Kentucky delegation 
 had, he said, been one of peculiar responsibility 
 they had their first choice, but they came here to 
 sustain the nomination when made, and on their part 
 he assured the convention they would do so. Among 
 his constituents, Mr. Banks said, the nomination would 
 be received as it deserved. They are uncompromising 
 in their determined hostility to the administration of 
 Martin Van Buren. Bv his own district he could 
 assure the convention Gen. William Henry Harrison 
 would receive as large a vote as Mr. Clay. My fellow- 
 citizens, said Mr. Banks, prefer Mr. Clay, but they 
 left me uninstructed, which I regarded as a liberal 
 spirit; and the cultivation of such a spirit in all our 
 relations cannot but have a salutary effect. 
 
 The Whigs of the State of Kentucky, said Mr. 
 Banks, are sincere in their devotion to Henry Clay 
 not on his own account alone, for the measure of 
 his fame is already full, but because they believe him 
 
26 Reminiscences of the 
 
 to be the man of his country. But Kentucky will 
 not prove unworthy of the man whose fame is but 
 another name for her glory. She loves the country 
 more than she loves Clay; and her delegates have met 
 here as her people will meet at the ballot-boxes on 
 the broad platform of determined hostility to Martin 
 Van Buren. Side by side with their brethren from 
 other States the Whigs of Kentucky will contend for 
 the reformation of those abuses which now threaten 
 the destruction of our beloved country, and strive to 
 make her what present rulers will not prosperous 
 and happy. 
 
 Mr. Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, said that Mary 
 land s choice was well known it was unnecessary 
 now to mention the individual. The delegation had 
 upheld that choice to the last. But satisfied, on 
 consultation with the delegates from other sections 
 of the Union, that the choice of Maryland would not 
 be the choice of this convention, and that in opinion 
 of a majority of the delegates there was another name 
 that could carry dismay into the ranks of the enemy 
 he proposed, on the part of the delegation from Mary 
 land, to offer a resolution that the result of the 
 ballotings be unanimously confirmed, and that Gen. 
 William Henry Harrison be presented to the American 
 people with the sanction of this convention. 
 
 Under this banner, said Mr. J., we can, we must 
 and we will triumph; and in order to afford time 
 for the report of the committee as to the candi 
 date for the Vice-Presidency, he proposed that the 
 convention take a recess for half an hour, and he felt 
 satisfied that a name would be presented in connec 
 tion with that office on which the friends of Harrison 
 and Scott could unite with the same unanimity that 
 prevails among the friends of Clay and Scott in re 
 gard to the nomination of Harrison. [Immense 
 applause.] 
 
 Mr. Cherry, of North Carolina, said that the State 
 he represented had remained comparatively quiet in 
 the selection of the nominee. She had her first choice 
 as well as other States, but she had too long fought 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 27 
 
 against the spoilers not to know her duty, and she 
 would stand by her sister States in the present con 
 test, by giving Gen. William Henry Harrison a de 
 termined support, and when the election returns come 
 in, said Mr. Cherry, they will show that "Old Rip is 
 wide awake again!" 
 
 Mr. Preston, of Kentucky, said the convention had 
 already been correctly assured that the delegation from 
 his State came here for conciliation and compromise 
 harmony and concession and he was certain that the 
 resolution he was about to propose was one that would 
 meet the approbation of the convention. It might 
 naturally be thought, said Mr. Preston, that Kentucky 
 stands here in the attitude of one disappointed of her 
 favorite choice. Her people it was true had their pref 
 erence; but they were Whigs and would sustain their 
 country; and to prove that their first choice will sustain 
 them in that course, said Mr. Preston, I will state that 
 there is now a letter in this convention from the Hon. 
 H. Clay, that if read will display the spirit that ani 
 mates him in regard to General Harrison. He moved 
 that Mr. Combs, of Kentucky, in whose possession 
 the letter was, be requested to read it. 
 
 Mr. Combs said that his colleagues had truly rep 
 resented their State. If, said he, the heart of Kentucky 
 is bruised, it is not broken; Kentucky was born a Whig 
 State, she has lived a Whig State, and I hope to God 
 she may die a Whig State! The life of her son, 
 Henry Clay, said Mr. C., is his eulogium, and the his 
 torian must do him justice. 
 
 Mr. Combs then read a letter from Mr. Clay, urging 
 upon the delegates from Kentucky the importance of 
 union among the elements of opposition to Van 
 Burenism, urging them to disregard his own position; 
 and paying a merited compliment to General Harrison, 
 whom he styled the distinguished citizen of Ohio. 
 
 On motion, the letter was ordered to be entered on 
 the journals. 
 
 Governor Barbour, of Virginia, president of the co 
 vention, said he rejoiced the letter from Mr. < 
 been read. For his own part, after the report of 
 
28 Reminiscences of the 
 
 committee last evening, from rumors which he heard 
 he had been inclined to think that other action might 
 be taken. As regards the disinterested subject of the 
 proposed action, said Governor Barbour, distinguished 
 by the great crisis when the Union seemed to be threat 
 ened. I would say a word or two, with your permis 
 sion. When danger portended it was his patrotism 
 and superior genius that weathered the storm. I 
 need not eulogize Mr. Clay. He will occupy through 
 all time one of the fairest pages of our country s his 
 tory. When danger has threatened, Henry Clay has 
 always been the foremost to avert it, and his patriotism 
 and firmness on all occasions, will embalm his memory 
 in the hearts of the American people. But beyond 
 the consideration with which I, as a citizen of the Re 
 public, regard Mr. Clay, said Governor Barbour, there 
 are other reasons for my ardent attachment to him. 
 I have known him from my infancy, and in the inter 
 course under the guard of honorable confidence and 
 private friendship, on no occasion have I ever heard 
 a sentiment from Henry Clay which was not that of an 
 ardent patriot and devoted friend of his country. 
 There is no selfishness about him no petty scheming 
 for his own advancement. And had it been your 
 pleasure, gentlemen, to nominate him to the Presidency, 
 his election would have opened a new epoch in the 
 history of our country. He would not have been the 
 little, dirty, petty tool of a party; but would have 
 cleansed the Augean stable, and made us a happy 
 people. 
 
 But notwithstanding my feelings for Mr. Clay, 
 said Governor Barbour, and the hope I entertained 
 that he would receive your nomination, I have come 
 to the conclusion that so far as my vote and influence 
 go, they shall sustain the harmony of this convention, 
 and I shall therefore vote for the unanimous nomina 
 tion of Gen. William Henry Harrison. 
 
 Mr. B. W. Leigh, of Virginia, said that he con 
 curred in the sentiments of his colleague, [Governor 
 Barbour] and would join him in his vote for the unani 
 mous entry of the nomination on the journal. The 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 29 
 
 letter of Mr. Clay was an evidence that in his heart 
 disinterested patriotism was superior to all other feel 
 ings. He [Mr. L.] could nut think that the ambition 
 of such a man as Henry Clay could be gratified by 
 being made President. He has already secured a 
 fame that will live as long as pure government a 
 renown that will survive the marble monument that 
 will cover his grave and a renown more valuable in 
 his [Mr. L. s opinion] than any station, however high 
 and exalted it may be. 
 
 Mr. Leigh said that one of the purposes for which 
 the convention had met had been accomplished, and 
 he for one would give his heart and hand to crown its 
 labors with success. 
 
 Mr. Leigh also said that he too had had correspond 
 ence correspondence with his intimate, old, personal 
 friend, Gen. Winfield Scott, and he could assure the 
 convention that he too would sanction their proceed 
 ing with his vote and influence. 
 
 Mr. J. A. King, of New York, said that as a repre 
 sentative of New York, he regretted that the choice 
 of his State had not prevailed in the nomination; but, 
 said Mr. King, we have surrendered him with manly 
 firmness because we knew that the choice could not 
 but fall upon an individual worthy of the support of 
 American freemen. Our votes have been cast in the 
 conviction that the candidate of this convention will 
 ultimately carry. We have presented to the people a 
 name unsullied by anv spot of civil or military de 
 linquency. We have given this distinguished indi 
 vidual our unhesitating support. We did not prefer 
 General Scott because we believed him to be of sounder 
 principles than him to whom we have thrown our 
 votes, but for local reasons. The choice of the con 
 vention shall receive equal honor at our hands. 
 
 Mr. King said he would not detain the convention 
 by a speech, but would merely remark that in the field 
 General Harrison has displayed equal valor with Gen 
 eral Scott and he was certain the latter would re 
 spond to the convention, "God prosper your decision 
 God bless you all!" 
 
30 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Mr. Dudley Selden, of New York, said he was one 
 of the minority who formed one-third of the dele 
 gation from that State, and went with the representa 
 tives of Kentucky and Virginia in the selection of a 
 candidate. They had pursued that object till success 
 became hopeless; but whatever may have been our 
 preferences, said Mr. Selden, we concur heartily in 
 carrying out the decision of the convention. 
 
 Mr. Jonathan Roberts, of Pennsylvania, addressed 
 the convention in favor of the nomination. He said 
 he had been in favor of the nomination of Mr. Clay: 
 but being out-voted would not only acquiesce, but 
 would unite heartily in the support of Gen. William 
 Henry Harrison, and would do all in his power to 
 further his election. 
 
 Mr. R. Johnson, of Maryland, then offered the fol 
 lowing resolution: 
 
 Resolved, That this convention unanimously recom 
 mend to the people of the United States Gen. William 
 Henry Harrison, of Ohio, as a candidate for Presi 
 dent, and John Tyler, of Virginia, as a candidate for 
 Vice-President. 
 
 Before the question was taken, Governor Owen, of 
 North Carolina, said the balloting committee were 
 ready to report on the subject of the Vice-Presidency; 
 that 231 votes had been cast for Vice-President 
 the vote of Virginia not having been cast, and that 
 the 231 votes had all been cast for John Tyler, of Vir 
 ginia, who was accordingly reported by the committee 
 as the candidate for the Vice-Presidency. 
 
 Mr. B. W. Leigh, of Virginia, then stated that the 
 vote of Virginia had not been cast, because it was un 
 derstood that Mr. Tyler, one of the delegation, would 
 in all probability receive the nomination, and delicacy 
 therefore forbade their participation. 
 
 Colonel Swift, of Pennsylvania, briefly expressed 
 his original preference for the distinguished states 
 man of Kentucky, Henry Clay, and concluded by de 
 claring his determination to yield his preference, and 
 heartily and cordially to give his support to the nom 
 ination of the convention, and return to his constit- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 31 
 
 uents and recommend to them to do so likewise. 
 
 Mr. Sprague, of Massachusetts, next rose, and con 
 gratulated the convention on the happy result which 
 was about to crown its labors. He referred to the 
 fact that the delegates came much divided in opin 
 ion, and to the hopes entertained by our enemies 
 that they would be divided in the selection of a can 
 didate. Happily they have been disappointed. He 
 alluded to the character and worth of Mr. Clay, his 
 distinguished services to the country, and his high 
 admiration of him. Massachusetts, he said, also had 
 her favorite son; but she had yielded up her prefer 
 ences and yielded them early for the sake of con 
 ciliation and success. She had made this sacrifice 
 freely cordially and she would now rally under the 
 banner of William Henry Harrison with the same zeal, 
 and the same certainty of success as with her own 
 favorite son. 
 
 Mr. Chambers, of Pennsylvania, was not only will 
 ing to support the resolution of the gentleman from 
 Maryland, but to do so cordially and with ah his heart. 
 He was ready to rally under the banner of William 
 Henry Harrison, and support that banner with all the 
 influence that God and nature had given him. 
 
 Mr. Simmons, of Rhode Island, said in behalf of 
 himself and his delegation, that though last to yield 
 their preferences, they would be among the first to 
 respond to the nomination. 
 
 Mr. Vose, of Maine, warmly responded to the nom 
 ination. 
 
 Judge Burnett, of Ohio, next addressed the con 
 vention at some length. After a brief eulogy of Mr. 
 Clay, he referred to the early history of General Har 
 rison, and his intimate acquaintance with him, and tes 
 tified to the high estimation in which he was held by 
 all who knew him. He concluded by recommending 
 the unfurling the Union flag, with the motto of Mr. 
 Wise of Virginia, " Union for the sake of the Union r 
 
 Do this, said he, and all will be well. 
 
 Mr. Livingston, of New York, rose next. He com 
 menced his remarks by asking the question, Where am 
 
32 Reminiscences of the 
 
 I? What has brought me here? and answered with 
 the emphatic response, Love of country! a wish to 
 see the powers that be effectually prostrated and the 
 country ledeemed from the hands of the spoilers. He 
 alluded to his old age and feebleness, stating that even 
 then he was scarcely able to proceed; he said he had 
 been a Democrat all his life, had never been out of the 
 harness. He ever had arid ever would adhere to 
 the principle that the majority govern. When that 
 principle was lost sight of there must be an end of the 
 Republic. 
 
 Mr. Livingston briefly eulogized the character of Mr. 
 Clay. The world, he said, would do him justice. His 
 fame would be admired by after generations. Next 
 he adverted to the character of General Harrison. He 
 said he liked his character. He knew him well, and 
 nothing had been said in his pra.se that was not 
 strictly true. Ohio, he said, would go for him by ac 
 clamation, and he was persuaded from what he had 
 learned that the Keystone would yet be the arch of 
 the Union. He then drew a vivid picture of Martin 
 Van Buren, and referred to the downward tendency of 
 the country under his administration, which, he said, 
 had put the Republic radically wrong; but he had 
 every confidence that we would soon get radically 
 right. When he had realized this belief he would de 
 scend to the tomb happy and contented. 
 
 Governor Metcalf, of Kentucky, was particularly- 
 happy in his remarks. Kentucky s favorite son, he 
 said, had lost the nomination, but had he himself been 
 here he would have done precisely what the delegation 
 from that State are prepared to do enter heartily into 
 the support of the nomination. Success is and" ever 
 has been his first object. The man who can best secure 
 that success to the party is the man he would rally 
 under so will his friends. As regarded himself, he 
 did not sacrifice so much as did many other of the 
 friends of Mr. Clay; he moved only from the side of 
 one noble friend to take his stand firmly by the side 
 of another and no less noble friend. The country 
 had not done General Harrison justice. He has done 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 33 
 
 more for his country and received less for his services 
 than any man living. He possessed both civil and 
 military capacities of the first order, which should en 
 title him to the admiration of the people. Governor 
 Metcalf said he came here in favor of Kentucky s favor 
 ite son, believing him to be the candidate most likely 
 to succeed. Since he had been here he had inter 
 changed sentiments with the delegates from the various 
 States and had come to the conclusion that he was 
 mistaken. He was now prepared to go for the strong 
 est man and overturn the powerful despotism under 
 which we were now suffering. Let not the song of 
 Democracy cheat the people. He had ev,er been a 
 Democrat not one of the Democrats of the present 
 day he was an old-fashioned Democrat. He verily 
 believed that the name of Democracy had cheated half 
 the people out of their senses. He here drew r a vivid 
 picture of the corruption of the present powers that 
 be and the enormities committed under the name of 
 Democracy. He regarded it as his duty, he said, to 
 warn the people against such Democracy. He hoped, 
 he said, in conclusion, for triumph. The "Hunters 
 of Kentucky" will be found true to the great Whig 
 party of the Union. 
 
 Mr. Boardman, of Connecticut, earnestly supported 
 the nomination. 
 
 General Wilson, of New Hampshire, was very 
 happy in his remarks. He expressed the belief that 
 his State, though her prospects had been dark and 
 gloomy, would respond to the nomination of Harrison 
 and Tyler in a spirit of enthusiasm which would 
 enable her to triumph over the present corrupt party 
 in power. He related several anecdotes, and applied 
 them very happily. 
 
 Mr. Hilliard, of Alabama, said that he rejoiced to 
 hear the voice of congratulation sounding all around 
 him, and that he entertained the same patriotic feelings 
 as the gentleman who had preceded him. His own 
 preferences, he said, had been ardent for Clay, but he 
 would stand or fall with the nominee of this conven 
 tion. He was resolved to sacrifice and risk everything 
 
34 Reminiscences of flic 
 
 for the good of the cause; and he felt assured that the 
 delegates would all go home with an account of their 
 proceedings that will impart a corresponding enthu 
 siasm in the bosoms of their constituents. 
 
 Mr. Merrill, of Pennsylvania, supported the resolu 
 tion in a few excellent remarks. 
 
 Mr. Tupper, of Mississippi, said that the Mississippi 
 delegation had cast the vote of that State for Henry 
 Clay, and perhaps the Whigs of the State will be 
 disappointed in the result of our deliberations; but they 
 will go for the nominee of this convention, and the 
 land of Poindexter and Prentiss, as she has done 
 before, will do her duty still; and from the harmony 
 of this convention, and the enthusiasm manifested by 
 the members, he felt satisfied she can be rescued from 
 the spoilers under the banner of the hero of Tippe- 
 canoe. 
 
 Mr. Whitehead, of New Jersey, said he too had 
 had his first choice. He had been overruled by the 
 majority, but he did not complain, and would cheer 
 fully abide by the decision of the convention. The 
 nominee had once before received the vote of New 
 Jersey, and was assured he would do so again. 
 
 Mr. Russel, of Missouri, commenced his remarks 
 by stating that he came from the State of the great 
 expunger. Dark clouds had long lowered over that 
 State, but light is now breaking through them. There 
 are still some green spots on which the eye loves to 
 rest. His first choice had not been selected, but we 
 leave him in the hands of his country, with the 
 wreath of fame covering his brow. 
 
 The Whigs of Missouri, said Mr. Russel, will sup 
 port the nominee of this convention, General Harri 
 son, and if their decision should fail in the latter, they 
 will hope to be rejoiced by the shout of victory from 
 their sister States. 
 
 There are considerations in Missouri that make the 
 name of General Harrison a tower of strength. He is 
 rich in the affections of his countrymen, and the 
 Whigs of Missouri will do their best will die in the 
 last ditch. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 35 
 
 Mr. Graham, of Louisiana, said that he and the 
 Whigs of the State he represented had their first 
 choice. But their prayer will be offered up for the 
 success of the ticket. 
 
 A gentleman from Vermont, whose name the re 
 porter could not learn, addressed the convention. He 
 said the Whigs of that State will never surrender till 
 the gates of the White House at Washington are de 
 manded and secured in the name of the people of this 
 great Republic. 
 
 . Mr. Newton, of Virginia, said that the State which 
 had the honor to be the birth-place of the first savior 
 of his country, will prove to be the birth-place of the 
 second savior of his country. He said the character 
 of General Harrison is now much misunderstood, and 
 when better understood will be better appreciated. ,- 
 
 Mr. Bates, of Michigan, said he liked the eccentric \ 
 Crockett s motto, " Be sure you re right, then go 
 ahead!" With General Harrison, said Mr. Bates, we 
 are rigrht, and I assure the convention we will "sro 
 ahead." 
 
 Judge Huntingdon, of Indiana, said that that State 
 has been Whig and is Whig to the core. He was 
 sure she would give General Harrison a large majority 
 in 1840. He himself resided at Fort Harrison, and he 
 knew there was no man there who supported the 
 General in 1836, when the State gave him eight thou 
 sand majority, who would not do so again. 
 
 The Judge referred to the course of General Har 
 rison in Congress in reference to the public lands and 
 the early settlers, who, instead of an enemy, as they 
 feared, found him their best friend. He also referred 
 to the declaration of Col. R. M. Johnson that General 
 Harrison had fought more battles than any man in the 
 country and "never lost a battle." 
 
 The Judge said he was sure he never will lose a 
 battle, and that his nomination will be received in the 
 West with a burst of enthusiasm never before known 
 in the country. 
 
 The question was then taken on the resolution of 
 Mr. Johnson, when it was unanimously adopted. 
 
36 Reminiscences of tlic 
 
 A resolution was then offered and adopted con 
 gratulating the constituents of the convention on 
 the result of its deliberations, and recommending the 
 same harmony and enthusiasm among them that 
 have characterized the proceedings of the delegates. 
 
 Mr. Preston, of Kentucky, offered a resolution rela 
 tive to the adoption of an address to the people of 
 the United States. 
 
 Mr. B. W. Leigh opposed the motion, believing no 
 address necessary. He said he should be in favor 
 of leaving the nomination to its own weight. He 
 was not for acting on the defensive, but on the offen 
 sive. He was for carrying the war into Africa; for 
 arraigning the spoilers before the bar of the Amer 
 ican people for high crimes and misdemeanors, when 
 they will receive the punishment due them, and the 
 only punishment they can receive under our institu 
 tions dismissal from office now and forever. 
 
 Mr. Pendleton, of Ohio, made some remarks which 
 we could not hear. 
 
 Mr. Burnell, of Massachusetts, said there was no 
 need of an address. If the voice of the West rolling 
 down from the mountains and along the valleys of 
 the Atlantic, be not better than all the addresses that 
 ever were issued, then indeed a miracle has been 
 wrought. 
 
 Mr. Preston s resolution was withdrawn. 
 
 Mr. Pendleton, of Ohio, stated that it was the wish 
 of General Harrison only to serve but one term, if 
 elected to the Presidency. 
 
 A resolution was then submitted by R. Johnson, of 
 Maryland, and agreed to, recommending the friends 
 of correct principles in the different States to hold 
 conventions on the 22d of February next, or such day 
 as may be agreed upon, for the purpose of nominat 
 ing electoral tickets and general organization. 
 
 On motion of Governor Ewen, of North Carolina, a 
 committee of one from each delegation was appointed 
 to inform the nominees of the convention of their nom 
 ination. 
 
 Mr. Hornor, of New Jersey, said that in conformity 
 
I^olitical Campaign of IS.^n. ^ 
 
 with the recommendation of the State convention of 
 that State he offered the following: 
 
 Resolved, That this convention recommend to the 
 Whig young men of the several States to assemble at 
 Washington City on the first Monday of May next, 
 for the purpose of advancing the cause of sound prin 
 ciples. 
 
 The resolution was agreed to after the substitution 
 of Baltimore for Washington. 
 
 A resolution Was passed tendering the thanks of the 
 convention to the trustees of the Lutheran church, and 
 to the reverend clergymen who attended the sessions. 
 
 Also a resolution tendering the thanks of the con 
 vention to the officers. 
 
 The president responded to the resolution in some 
 very appropriate remarks, when the convention ad 
 journed sine die. 
 
 ANECDOTE OF HARRISON. 
 
 The following circumstance was mentioned during 
 the session of the Harrisburg convention by Judge 
 Burner., of Ohio, a warm personal friend of General 
 Harrison. 
 
 Many years since, while the great tide of emigra 
 tion was flowing through the Western States, the 
 hero of the Thames having, for a while, exchanged 
 the arduous duties of a statesman and general for the 
 more peaceful pursuits of agriculture, was, on a hot 
 summer evening, at the porch of his humble "log 
 cabin," asked for shelter and a meal by a minister of 
 the Gospel of the Methodist Episcopal persuasion. 
 The jaded appearance of the steed and the soiled gar 
 ments of the rider proclaimed the fatigue of the day, 
 and with his usual courtesy the old General welcomed 
 the stranger. After a plain and substantial supper 
 the guest joined with his host in social conversation, 
 and the latter, laying aside the character of the sol- 
 
38 I\cw in Licences of the 
 
 dier and statesman, willingly listened to the pious 
 instruction of the traveler. They retired to rest, the 
 good old soldier thankful to a munificent Providence 
 that he was enabled to administer to the wants of a 
 fellow-creature and the worthy minister of Christ in 
 voking the blessing of heaven upon the head of his 
 kind benefactor. Morning came and the minister 
 prepared to depart. He was in the act of taking leave 
 when he was informed that his horse had died dur 
 ing the night. This loss, however severe, considering 
 that he had yet two hundred miles to travel, did not 
 discourage him in the exercise of his duty; but taking 
 his saddle-bags on his arm he rose to depart with 
 thanks for the kindness of his entertainer. The old 
 General did not attempt to prevent him, though he 
 offered his condolence upon his loss, but an observ 
 ing eye could have detected a smile of inward satis 
 faction which the conciousness of doing good alone 
 produces. The guest reached the door and to his 
 astonishment found one of the General s horses ac 
 coutred with his own saddle and bridle in waiting 
 for him. He returned and remonstrated, stating his 
 inability to pay for it, and that in all probability he 
 should never again visit that section of the country. 
 But the General was inexorable and reminded the aston 
 ished divine that "He who giveth to the poor lendeth 
 to the Lord," sent him on his way, his heart over 
 flowing with gratitude and his prayers directed to 
 heaven for blessings on the venerable hero. 
 
 HARRISON S LETTER. 
 
 Reader, compare the two letters which we place 
 before you, and if a Whig you will be proud of your 
 candidate. Indeed, we thank General Harrison, from 
 the bottom of our heart, for this, his best letter. It is 
 indeed one most important step in the great reform 
 which is to save our country which brings us back 
 to the fundamental principle in the Constitution, which 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 39 
 
 would establish the independence and purity of Con 
 gress. It is indeed a reform. 
 
 Albany, Feb. 28, 1840. 
 
 SIR: On behalf of the Whig members of the legisla 
 ture, being a majority of both the senate and the 
 house of assembly, the undersigned have the honor 
 to transmit to you the inclosed resolutions prepared 
 by us and passed with perfect unanimity and the most 
 enthusiastic feeling, by those members, at a meeting 
 held on Saturday last, being the anniversary of Wash 
 ington s birth-day. 
 
 We have also the honor to transmit to you a paper 
 containing a report in full of the speeches and proceed 
 ings at that meeting. 
 
 We have the fullest confidence, that in the views 
 there expressed as to the character and policy of the 
 present administration, as well as in the tributes paid 
 to your character and public services, and to those of 
 the distinguished citizen associated with you in the 
 Harrisburg nomination, we have given utterance not 
 only to our own feelings and convictions, but to those 
 of a large majority of the people of this -State 
 
 We are, with high respect, your friends and fellow - 
 citizens, G. C. VERPLANCK, ) 
 
 MARTIN LEE, > Of the senate. 
 
 JOHN MAYNARD, ) 
 
 C. E. CLARK, ) 
 WM. DUER, 
 
 PETER B. PORTER, } Of the assembly. 
 
 D. B. ST. JOHN, 
 J. HUBBARD, 
 
 GEN. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 
 
 North Bend, Ohio, May 23, 1840. 
 GENTLEMEN: I have the honor to acknowledge the 
 receipt of your letter of the 28th February, conveying 
 the proceedings of a meeting of the Whig members 
 of the legislature convened in the Capitol of the State 
 on the twenty-second of that month. 
 
 I beg you to believe, gentlemen, that I am deeply 
 impressed with the honor which has been conferred 
 
40 Reminiscences of the 
 
 upon me by the distinguished body whom on this 
 occasion you represent. The great object of both 
 my civil and military life has been to serve my country 
 to the utmost of my abilities and to obtain its appro 
 bation. The hope of this has often cheered me in cir 
 cumstances of great difficulty and embarrassment. 
 
 You will pardon me, I trust, if in this letter I go 
 somewhat beyond the mere purpose of acknowledging 
 the receipt of your communication and use the occasion 
 for making a few remarks which circumstances seem 
 to require from me in respect to a declaration of 
 opinions or pledges, as to my future conduct, required 
 of candidates for high offices. 
 
 My public life, not now a short one, is before the 
 country. My opinions on important subjects have 
 been expressed from time to time as those subjects 
 have arisen; and since my name has been mentioned 
 among those from whom a selection might be made 
 for the office of President, I have in several letters to 
 friends fully and frankly avowed my sentiments. 
 Further than this I cannot suppose intelligent persons 
 could desire me to go. The people of this country 
 do not rely on professions, promises and pledges. 
 They know that if a candidate is unprincipled he will 
 not scruple to give any pledge that may be required 
 of him, and as little will he hesitate to violate it. 
 
 I have already made public the principles by which 
 I should be governed if elected President, so far as re 
 lates to the proper executive duties of that office. But 
 almost innumerable applications have been made to me 
 for my opinions relative to matters of legislation, or 
 even to the proper mode of conducting business in 
 the two houses of Congress. 
 
 My published letters to Mr. Williams and Mr. Den 
 ny will show that I do not consider the President 
 a constituent branch of the legislature; yet it is imposs 
 ible to read the letters that have been addressed to 
 me without believing that many of the writers had 
 adopted the opinion that the Presidential office was the 
 proper source and origin of all the legislation of the 
 country; an opinion, in my judgment, at war with 
 
Political Campaign of IS. ^i. 41 
 
 every principle of the Constitution, and of deep and 
 dangerous consequence. The prevalence of such senti 
 ments, more than almost anything else, would tend 
 to consolidate the whole substantial power of the Gov 
 ernment in the hands of a single man, a tendency 
 which, whether in or out of office, I feel it my most 
 solemn duty to resist. 
 
 I have declined, therefore, to give any further pledge 
 or opinions on the subjects which belong to the future 
 legislation of Congress; because, 
 
 1. I conceive, for the reasons given in my letters 
 to Mr. Williams and Mr. Denny, that Congress 
 should be left as much as possible untrammeled by 
 Executive influence in the discharge of its legislative 
 functions; and that a better guarantee for the correct 
 conduct of a Chief Magistrate may be found in his 
 character the course of his former life, than in 
 pledges and opinions given during the pendency of a 
 doubtful contest; and that, although recognizing the 
 right of the people to be informed of the leading polit 
 ical opinions of the candidates for offices of trust, yet 
 as it regards the subjects upon which the legislature 
 may be called to act, the pledges and opinions should 
 be required, if required at all, of candidates for 
 Congress. 
 
 2. Because the habit of considering a single in 
 dividual as the source from which all the measures of 
 government should emanate, is degrading to a republic, 
 and of the most dangerous tendency. 
 
 3. Because upon all the questions in regard to which, 
 under any circumstances, it would be at all proper 
 for me to make answers, my sentiments have already 
 been fully and clearly given to the public, in a manner 
 to entitle them to credence, as I conceive that no 
 honest man would suffer his friends to publish docu 
 ments in his name w r hich were not genuine, or contain 
 ing opinions which he was not then willing to in 
 dorse. Accept, gentlemen, the assurance of my high 
 regard. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 
 
 Messrs. Verplanck, Lee, Maynard. Duer, Clark, 
 Porter, St. John and Hubbard. 
 
42 Reminiscences of tlic 
 
 In reply to a letter similar in substance to that of 
 General Harrison, Governor Tyler thus writes : 
 
 Williamsburg, Va., March 20, 
 GENTLEMEN : I owe you my acknowledgments for 
 your letter communicating to me the proceedings of 
 the Whig members of the legislature of New York, 
 and the paper containing the addresses made at their 
 late meeting. I have read them with deep interest, 
 not because of my present political relations to the 
 country, relations which you are well aware are not 
 in the slightest degree of my own seeking ; but 
 because whatever proceeds from the accredited repre 
 sentatives of a majority of the people of the great 
 State of New York, is entitled at all times, and more 
 especially at the present, to excite the highest degree 
 of attention. The influence and power which she 
 exerts over the affairs of the Union devolve upon 
 her a responsibility of the weightiest character, and 
 when she announces herself on the side of the 
 institutions of the country, the friends of civil liberty 
 have cause to feel assured that all is safe. Such are 
 the feelings which your late proceedings and addresses 
 are calculated to inspire, and such, I am sure, will 
 be the happy result. 
 
 For the complimentary notice which has been taken 
 of myself by the Whig members of the legislature, I 
 beg to be permitted to express my thanks, and to 
 tender each of you, gentlemen, wishes for your health, 
 happiness and prosperity. 
 
 I have the honor to be, yours, etc., 
 
 JOHN TYLER. 
 
 Committee of the senate : Hon. G. C. Verplanck, 
 ^ Hon. Gen. Martin Lee, Hon. John Maynard. 
 Committee of the assembly : Messrs. C. E. Clark, 
 
 Wm. Duer, Peter B. Porter, D. B. St. John, and J. 
 
 Hubbard. 
 
Political Campaign of 18JjO. 43 
 
 POLLOCK S DEFENSE. 
 
 THE BRAVE SOLDIER DEFENDS His OLD CHIEF. 
 
 Among the malicious inventions against General 
 Harrison s character was that of cowardice. And, 
 notwithstanding that in early youth he forsook the 
 luxurious life of an Atlantic city to enlist in a war 
 against the British and Indians among the primitive 
 forests and prairies of the West, there were at times 
 men so vile as to make such a charge. In the Ohio 
 legislature, aftev two Van Buren members had in 
 dulged in this accusation, Mr. Pollock, thus replied to 
 them: 
 
 MR. SPEAKER: I have listened to the debate with 
 much patience. I have heard abuse heaped upon 
 General Harrison by men who are comparatively 
 young, and although I am unaccustomed to speech- 
 making, I hope the house will bear with me for a few 
 moments, for I shall not trouble it long. I shall only 
 reply to some particular matters. I shall not deal in 
 generals; we have too many of them already. Sir, I 
 have heard members of this house charge General 
 Harrison with cowardice whom he defended and 
 protected from the war knife and tomahawk of the 
 Indian when they were sleeping in their mother s 
 arms. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I know something of General Har 
 rison; and something of his history; and something 
 of his deeds. I know individuals who were with him 
 during the last war; who were with him in the battles 
 of the Thames, Fort Meigs, and Fort Stephenson. 
 I know, sir, that cannon balls; and chain shot, and 
 bomb shells, flew thick around him in these battles. 
 The gentleman from Clermont (Mr. Buchanan) said 
 that General Harrison was not, during the battle of 
 Fort Meigs, near enough to have the scales knocked 
 off. He was near enough to have scales and dirt 
 
1 1 Reminiscences of the 
 
 knocked on him by cannon balls. [Who saw it? 
 asked some member.] I saw it, sir! I was in the 
 battle. I saw a cannon ball strike within two feet 
 of General Harrison during that fight. I was there. 
 I saw bomb shells and chain shot flying all around 
 him. I speak what I know, and what my eyes have 
 seen. General Harrison is not a coward; and those 
 who call him coward know nothing of him. He was 
 a brave, prudent, and fearless general. He took the 
 right course during the last war; he acted a noble 
 part, and his country has honored him for it. Ask the 
 soldiers who fought by his side; whose arms were 
 nerved by his presence; whose hearts were cheered 
 by his valor; and who were led to triumph and to 
 victory by his courage, and bravery, and skill, if Gen 
 eral Harrison was a coward; and they, sir, will tell 
 you no! 
 
 Sir, I have done; I only wished to give mv testi 
 mony in favor of General Harrison, and to state what I 
 have seen, in opposition to the statements of those who 
 are ignorant of his character, and who know nothing 
 of his bravery and skill. 
 
 OHIO STATE CONVENTION. 
 
 THE MONSTER GATHERING OK THE CLANS OF OHIO. 
 THE PEOPLE PARADE WITH LOG C A FUNS, HARD 
 CIDER AND COONS. 
 
 "The great twenty-second is coming. 
 
 And the Vanjacks begin to look blue, 
 They know there s no chance for poor Matty, 
 If we ll stick to Old Tippecanoe, 
 
 If we ll stick to Old Tippecanoe." 
 
 On Friday, the 2ist of February, 1840, the peo 
 ple of Ohio met in convention in the open air, at the 
 corner of High and Broad streets, in Columbus, and 
 James Wilson, the veteran editor, of Jefferson county, 
 called the vast concourse to order. The convention 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 45 
 
 was then and there fully organized by appointing the 
 following persons officers: 
 
 President: Gen. Reasin Beall, of Wayne county. 
 
 Vice-presidents: first district, Charles S. Clarkson, 
 of Hamilton county; second district, William Carr. 
 of Butler county; third district, Aurora Spofford, of 
 Wood county; fourth district, Isaiah Morris, of Clinton 
 county; fifth district, Thomas L. Shields, of Clermont 
 county; sixth district, John C. Bestow, of Meigs 
 county; seventh district, John Crouse, Sr., of Ross 
 county; eighth district, Porest Meeker, of Delaware 
 county; ninth district, George Sanderson, of Fairfield 
 county; tenth district, Charles Anthony, of Clark 
 county; eleventh district, Solomon Bentley, ofBelmont 
 county; twelfth district, DamdChambers, of Mus- 
 kingum county; thirteenth district, Daniel S. Norton, 
 of Knox county; fourteenth district, Elcntheros Cooke. 
 of Erie county; fifteenth district, Frederick Wads^vorth. 
 of Portage county; sixteenth district, Storm Rosa, of 
 Geauga county: seventeenth district, Joseph Mause, 
 of Columbiana county; eighteenth district, Solomon 
 Markham, of Stark county; nineteenth district, HugJi 
 Downing, of Jefferson county. 
 
 Secretaries: Chauncey Dewey, of Harrison; Robert 
 Buchanan, of Hamilton; Thomas M. Kelley of Cuya- 
 hoga; James Watson Riley, of Mercer; Smithson E. 
 Wright, of Franklin; William B. Thrall, of Pickaway; 
 William M. Neeley, of Belmont; James M. Mason, of 
 Monroe. 
 
 On taking the chair, General Beall delivered an ani 
 mating address referring to the services of General 
 Harrison and himself under Gen. Anthony Wayne, 
 and to the later events in the active, varied and useful 
 life of his old companion in arms. The assemblage 
 was_enthusiastic and uproarious in appTaiis e of the dk 1 
 soldier, whose seventv-oneyears had not impaired his 
 vigor" or patriortsfJT FTon. Richard Douglass, of Ross, 
 offered resolutions as to appointment of various com 
 mittees on business, which were adopted. Hon. 
 Thomas Ewing, of Fairfield, Gen. Win. S. Murphy, of 
 Ross, and others, ably addressed the people, and the 
 
46 Reminiscences of the 
 
 body then adjourned until Saturday morning at 10 
 o clock. The great 22d came, and the rain poured 
 down in torrents during the entire meeting and the 
 march of the procession. There was, in fact, no inter 
 mission. Gen. Charles Anthony, one of the vice-presi 
 dents, took the chair, and Nehemiah Allen, from a 
 committee of ten from each Congressional district, 
 presented a report recommending Hon. Thomas Cor- 
 \vin, of Warren county, for governor. General An 
 thony and others spoke in favor of the report, and 
 Thomas Corwin was unanimously nominated. 
 
 Gen. Allen Trimble presented from the committee 
 the names for an electoral ticket, and the following 
 were chosen by acclamation, viz: 
 
 Senatorial electors: William R. Putnam, of Wash 
 ington county; Reasin Beall, of Wayne county. 
 
 District electors: First district, Alexander Mahew, 
 of Hamilton county; second district, Henry Harter, 
 Preble county; third district, Aurora SpofTord, 
 Wood county; fourth district, Joshua Collett, Warren 
 county; fifth district, Abram Wiley, Clermont county; 
 sixth district, Samuel F. Vinton, Gallia county; seventh 
 district, John J. Van Meter, Pike county; eighth 
 district, Aquilla Toland, Madison county; ninth dis 
 trict, Perley B. Johnson, Morgan county; tenth dis 
 trict, John Dukes, Hancock county; eleventh dis 
 trict, Otho Brashear, Guernsey county; twelfth district, 
 James Raguet, Muskingum county; thirteenth district, 
 Christopher S. Miller, Coshocton county; fourteenth 
 district, David King, Medina county: fifteenth district, 
 Storm Rosa, Geauga county; sixteenth district, John 
 Batty, Carroll county; seventeenth district, John 
 Carey, Crawford county; eighteenth district, John 
 Augustine, Stark county; nineteenth district, John 
 Jamison, Harrison county. 
 
 Resolutions in favor of Harrison and Tyler and 
 retrenchments and reform were presented from the 
 committee by Judge John C. Wright, of Hamilton, 
 Hon. Alfred Kelley, of Franklin, and Hon. Hiram 
 Griswold, of Stark. They contained a terrible arraign 
 ment of the British party in power, the corruption 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 47 
 
 and profligacy of the office-holders, etc. Upon the 
 question of contributions they declared that, if it be 
 the interest of the office-holders to appropriate any 
 portion of their salaries to electioneering purposes, 
 with a view to sustaining those from whom they hold 
 appointments and themselves in office (as proved 
 to be the case with the custom-house officers in New 
 York), it is conclusive evidence that those salaries are 
 too high, and should be reduced. They declared in 
 favor of a change of the entire administration and of 
 governmental policv. They were opposed to the one- 
 man power and in favor of the people ruling. They 
 were for protecting the mechanical and manufacturing 
 and laboring interests of America, and the poor 
 people, wherever they might be, in the country. 
 Harrison, the log-cabin candidate, was the representa 
 tive of the hardv yeomanrv, and they would rally 
 around his standard. They declared for him as the 
 representative of the one-term principle, because no 
 one man should be elected President of the United 
 States for two terms in succession, and 3 far tin Van 
 Buren least of all! 
 
 Resolutions of this character were carried with 
 a whoop. 
 
 General Murphy offered a resolution, recommending 
 to the Whig young men of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana. 
 Illinois, Michigan, Western New York, Pennsylvania 
 an{l Virginia, to celebrate the next anniversary of the 
 raising of the siege of Fort Meigs, in June, 1813, on 
 the ground occupied by the fort. It was unanimously 
 adopted. 
 
 Charles Borland, of Fail-field, moved that it be rec 
 ommended to the voters to organize Harrison and* re 
 form clubs in each and every county of the State. 
 Carried by acclamation. 
 
 The following central committee was appointed, to- 
 wit: Alfred Kelley, Joseph Ridgeway, Sr., John \Y. 
 Andrews, Robert Neil, John L. Miner, Francis Stew 
 art, Lewis Heyl, Dr. Miller and Lyne Starling, Jr. 
 
 The condensation of the business of the convention 
 as relating to organization having been given, a brief 
 
48 Reminiscences of the 
 
 sketching of the incidents will enable the reader to judge 
 of the temper and spirit of the occasion. When, simul 
 taneously from all directions, on the 2ist, immense 
 delegations came together on High street, at the corner 
 of Broad, and the Newark band played the Marseillaise 
 hymn, and more than twenty bands in the long lines 
 joined in, the crowd became fairly wild with yells and 
 shouts. More than one thousand men came in pro 
 cession from Ross, Pike and Jackson counties. By 
 wagons and carriages, on canal boats, on horseback 
 and on foot, thousands upon thousands poured into the 
 streets, and thronged hotels and boarding-houses, and 
 filled the hundreds of dwellings whose "latch-strings 
 hung out." and over whose doors were the words, 
 Welcome to all." 
 
 The grand procession on the 22d surpassed in en 
 thusiasm anything ever before or since in the history 
 of Ohio. The people had been gathering from Thurs 
 day morning, and from all the counties of the State 
 they had come together. 
 
 And to think that then the only easy conveyance 
 was by canal. On the boats of the "raging canaul" 
 over seven hundred men came from Ross and 
 Pickaway. By the next best way, the National road, 
 came the hosts from Madison, Clark, Greene, Cham 
 pagne, Montgomery, Preble and the West, with their 
 log cabins and canoes on wheels; while from the East 
 came over that road the hardy men of Belmont, Jeffer 
 son, Guernsey, Muskingum and other counties with 
 cabins and canoes and banners flying with the names 
 of "Old Licking" and other coVnties emblazoned on 
 their folds. From the North the Western Reserve 
 sent a horde of live Yankees, who were joined upon 
 the way by hundreds from the counties they crossed, 
 and the whole country through which the Cuyahoga 
 brig passed resounded with the songs for Old Tippe- 
 canoe. And, ()! what a joyful scene it was when 
 they met their brethren from the Darby plains and 
 Highland .and Fayette and Brown and Clermont and 
 the southern counties! What a sight, when the farmers 
 and pioneers, the mechanics and laborers mingle to- 
 
Political Campaign of 18J+0. 49 
 
 gether in the streets of the State s Capitol. From the 
 banks of the Scioto and the Miami and Mad riv 
 ers, and Muskingum and Licking and Killbuck and 
 Jellovvay and Hockhocking and Kokosing and Mau- 
 niee and every river and creek between Lake Erie and 
 the Ohio, every log cabin seemed to have contributed 
 its stalwart Buckeye boys to make the great crowd to 
 set "the ball a rolling on for Tippecanoe and Tyler 
 too." They had come from the hill tops, and had 
 come from the valleys to this grandest of all grand 
 rallies, and the like of that enormous procession of the 
 people never had been seen in the hundred years 
 of Ohio s history or in all the nation s existence. 
 It was an army with banners moving through streets, 
 whose walls were hung with, flags, streamers and 
 decorations in honor of a brave old patriot and 
 pioneer, who had given the best strength and years 
 of his life to protecting the poor men, women and 
 children on the frontiers, and who had settled down 
 in a log cabin to spend his days as a humble farmer 
 at North Bend; and when the people had called upon 
 him in his retiracy to serve them, had been villified, 
 slandered and traduced by the office-holders and a 
 pensioned press. 
 
 Every banner and device and emblem spoke out in 
 rebuke and expressed the honest indignation of the 
 people of Ohio. The log cabins spoke in language 
 not to be misunderstood, and as the citizens marched 
 in the mud over shoe tops, and with clothes drenching 
 with rain, the people felt the loud beat of the pulse 
 of victory. To the music of the drum and fife, brave 
 Ohio soldiers, proud of the military services of Gen 
 eral Harrison, kept time, as they lead in the procession 
 with the stars and stripes unfurled. There were 
 the Zanesville Guards, commanded by Captain Dulty, 
 ^o rank and file; The Putnam Grays, Captain Hatch, 
 71 strong; The Warren Greens (Zanesville Rifles), 
 Captain Hazlett, in one battalion under Colonel Curtis, 
 accompanied by Brigadier General Watkins, of Zanes 
 ville, and his staff: The Jefferson Guards, Captain 
 Hare; Columbus Guards, Captain Mills: Buckeye 
 
cjo Reminiscences of the %. 
 
 Rangers, Captain Elaine; German Guards, Captain 
 Frankenberg, all under Colonel Sanderson, accom 
 panied by the field and staff officers of the Columbus 
 brigade. 
 
 Then comes Lewis Bowyer, of Miami county, over 
 eighty years of age, riding on a white horse with a 
 banner inscribed, "flie Last of the Life Guards of 
 General Washington," and leading another white 
 horse, on which was a standard to the saddle with the 
 inscription, "The Saddle on which the Illustrious 
 Father of his Country Rode when Leading his Coun 
 trymen to Battle;" and following them are a number 
 of old soldiers of the Revolution. What an inspira 
 tion! What a thrill pervades the bcholdevs! Then 
 follows in the procession an ensign with a beautiful 
 banner, on which is painted a life-like picture- of the 
 Farmer of North Bend, with his plow and team 
 halted midway in the furrow, regaling himself with a 
 cup of his favorite hard cider. Shouts upon shouts 
 go up as it passes through the crowd. 
 
 Then comes the Cuvahoga delegation of eighty men 
 with a full-sized brig on wheels, completely rigged 
 and manned, with colors flying and Harrison s por 
 trait at the masthead, with one hand holding a plow 
 and his hat in the other ; resting underneath the le 
 gend, "The Farmer of North Bend." In the brig 
 with the crew are William B. Lloyd, the bold and 
 fearless representative of old Cuyahoga, John A. 
 Briggs, the eloquent tariff advocate, and other as 
 gallant tars as ever walked a deck. In the log cabin 
 of the Mad river trappers behold Charley Anthony 
 and others of "Old Tip s boys," eating corn bread and 
 bacon, while coons run around the cabin roof and the 
 fox, wolf, bear and deer skins, guns and axes, and 
 barrels of hard cider are also visible. Shortly after 
 there comes in sight Colonel Icil s large canoe drawn 
 by eight beautiful gray horses, with a banner inscribed 
 "Old Tippecanoe Forever," which calls forth loud 
 cheers, while young Robert Neil beats the drum and 
 the band plays and sings a campaign song. Another 
 log cauin comes in for cheering, drawn by six bright 
 
. Political Campaign of 1840. 51 
 
 bay horses and having a large picture of General Har 
 rison drawing a gourd full of hard cider from a barrel 
 and handing it to an old soldier. 
 
 Upon other banners in the procession are the in 
 scriptions u The Log Cabin and Hard Cider Candidate" ; 
 "Hail Columbia and Harrison"; "lie Never Yet 
 Lost a Battle." The company with brooms on their 
 shoulders and the motto, "Well Cleanse the Augean 
 Stable," attracts much notice. And there, too, is the 
 old tin pan with the bottom knocked out, and in 
 mourning because its glory has departed. And how 
 the shouts go up at the long line of horsemen from 
 "Old Knox" with the Owl creek canoe, and the big 
 cavalcade from "Old Licking" and "Muskingum" and 
 "Coshocton," with a steamboat under full head of steam 
 and a "Harrison and Reform" banner flying. 
 
 Then comes the caricature exciting much laughter, 
 of "The Sam Medary and the Quasi Quires" gouged 
 out of the State s reams. The New York delega 
 tion, headed by Cols. E. A. Sevier and Babcock, 
 with its beautiful flag and its tall pole, on the top of 
 which is Jove s bird a live American eagle. The 
 ladies all along the line from windows and galleries 
 and house tops greeted the men who marched in the 
 mud and rain, with waving of handkerchiefs and 
 cheers, and the soldiers of Tippecanoe felt their smiles 
 and plaudits were a fitting recompense for what they 
 endured. In platoons of eight they braved the storm 
 and tempest regardless of health, and many of them 
 without overcoats or other sufficient covering. As an 
 illustration we may mention, that in the Knox delega 
 tion with G. B. Burr, G. A. Jones, Gen. William 
 Bevans, R. C. Hurd, the Curtises, Daniel S. Norton 
 and others, there was tramping in the mud and rain 
 the venerable Judge Jesse B. Thomas, the distin 
 guished ex-United States Senator from Illinois, who 
 was the author of the Missouri Compromise, and he 
 had raised his umbrella; when his attention was called 
 to the fact that there was no other to be seen, he 
 pitched it in the street and continued as a boy in the 
 line, notwithstanding he had risen from his bed, where 
 
52 Reminiscences of the 
 
 he had been confined for weeks with rheumatism. 
 So deeply enthused were all that they lost sight 
 of their ailments and became oblivious to ague, rheu 
 matism, gout, neuralgia and other ills in their zeal for 
 Harrison, while cheerily they rang out the song: 
 
 "The times are bad and want curing, 
 They are getting past all enduring; 
 So let s turn out Martin Van Buren 
 And put in Old Tippecanoe !" 
 
 Men sang whenever had been known to sing before, 
 and many became noted as vocalists and orators who 
 were surprised to know their own abilities. Grand 
 ^ as the pageant of the day parade the brilliancy of the 
 illumination and the grandeur of the scenes at night sur 
 passed it when the discharge of oratory by Douglass 
 and Cooke and Andrews and Norton and Allen and 
 Goddard and Lloyd and Murphy and Mathiot and 
 others, fired the hearts and aroused the enthusiasm of 
 the masses. The Buckeye Blacksmith and the poor 
 Welch laborer on the canal, Sam White, like meteors 
 shot athwart the sky, and astonished by their bright 
 ness themselves as well as the vast multitude. It was 
 a general ground -swell, an upheaval that carried 
 consternation into the ranks of the administration 
 forces. 
 
 The great 22d convention electrified the nation. It 
 started a new epoch, and began a revolution that no 
 human power could check, no combination of parties 
 could control. The people were in it; they made it 
 apparent to unbelievers, infidels and heathen through 
 out the world that "the voice of the people is the voice 
 of God." 
 
 Feeling the inability of our descriptive power to 
 convey sufficiently an idea of the opening of the cam 
 paign* by this convention, we avail ourselves of a 
 letter written at the time by a staid young gentleman 
 from New England, who came West to grow up with 
 Ohio, and has since become widely known as a lawyer 
 and statesman, the Hon. Aaron F. Perry, late member 
 of Congress from Cincinnati. He endeavors to give 
 
Campaign of I ti. /ft. ^ 
 
 to the Yankees through the columns of the Boston 
 Atlas, a knowledge of the way things were moving 
 in the land of old Tippecanoe: 
 
 Columbzis, Ohio, Feb. 24, 1840. 
 
 v The Ohio State convention of the friends of Har 
 rison and Tyler came off here on the twenty-first and 
 twenty-second. There was probably never before so 
 great a turn out, such unanimity of thought, such uni 
 versal enthusiasm at any political meeting in the 
 United States. In giving a description there is no 
 danger of exaggeration^ You must bear in mind that 
 Columbus is near the center of the State, from one 
 hundred to one hundred and seventy-five miles from 
 either boundary: that the weather was in transition 
 from winter to spring; that the roads were all mud, 
 deep mud, nothing but interminable unmitigated mud; 
 that money was hard to be got for any purpose; that 
 Harrison has been derided as the " log-cabin candi 
 date," fond of " hard cider," and so forth. On the 
 morning previous to the first day of the convention it 
 began steadily to rain, and the people began to come 
 in by delegations. The hotels were all filled by 10 
 o clock in the forenoon. Soon crowds collected along 
 the streets and about the public houses. You could 
 hear occasional exclamations, " Old Tip," "Whoop," 
 "Ho," "Harrison and Tyler," "For one term only!" 
 f As the delegates came in, soaked with rain and covered 
 ^with mud one after another, the city becomes noisy 
 and clamorous. They pass through High street in 
 procession each after its own band of music recog 
 nizing continual shouts of welcome by the waving of 
 hats, flags and handkerchiefs. Before night a con 
 course had collected larger than was ever before 
 assembled in Ohio; and yet the day for the convention 
 had not come, and many of the largest delegations 
 had not arrived. Still it rained. Still on came the 
 people with music, with banners and with shouting^ 
 
 A short time before sunset the clouds were sucU 
 denly broken up and rolled together in masses 
 and driven by a brisk wind out of sight. An advance 
 guard of the city rangers patrolled the streets with 
 
54 Reminiscences of the 
 
 martial music. Their rifle barrels glistened with 
 dazzling brightness as they were struck aslant by the 
 rays of the setting sun. The mind of the throng 
 seemed to revert all as one to the time when the bay 
 onets of the Northwestern army under Harrison 
 were seen to glitter along the defiles of the Ohio 
 forests. And such was the general enthusiasm that 
 this little incident, simple as it was, called forth from 
 one end of Columbus to the other, a long, loud and 
 deafening "Whoo-oo-oo-o-ra-aa-ah for old Tippeca- 
 noe!" At night the doors of the citizens were thrown 
 open, straw beds, mattresses and even naked floors 
 were put in requisition. Some slept, some told anec 
 dotes, some made speeches and some sung songs. 
 
 At break of day, on the morning of the twenty-first, 
 one of our best bands rode around the city, and filled 
 the air with animating music. During the night several 
 strips of canvas had been suspended from the house 
 tops across High street, on which were painted in 
 large letters "Harrison and Tyler 1 for one term only 
 "Union for the sake of the Union." Soon shouts 
 were heard again. Delegations pour in afresh from 
 two to three and even up to eight hundred persons at a 
 time. \TEvery neighborhood of farmers, every village 
 of mechanics seemed to have racked their ingenuity to 
 invent rare and expressive devices. 
 
 One delegation came armed with brooms, signifying 
 that the next election shall be made a sweeping 
 operation. Others bore full-length pictures of General 
 Harrison following his plow. One delegation bore 
 aloft upon a Buckeye pole a live eagle, that looked 
 around and received the plaudits of the multitude with 
 abundant camplacencyA Several counties brought in 
 each a log canoe, fixea upon wheels, to answ r er the 
 purposes of a wagon, with various mottoes upon the 
 sides, and upon their horses blinds were printed "Old 
 Tip." From one direction comes a steamboat, com 
 plete in all its parts, fixed upon wheels, loaded with 
 people and drawn by four horses tandem. The 
 paddles are made to revolve with a crank, the steam 
 rises in puffs from the pipe, each wheel-house bears 
 
Political Campaign of 
 
 the name of " Harrison and Tyler. 1 From another 
 direction comes a model of Fort Meigs, mounted 
 with small brass cannon, drawn by six horses and 
 large enough for twenty or thirty men to ride in. From 
 Cleveland, a distance of 145 miles, comes a brig, 
 mounted on wheels and drawn by six horses, manned 
 with delegates in sailor caps, with sails all set and 
 streamers flying, followed by half a mile of carriages 
 and curricles of all descriptions. The brig is called 
 "William Henry Harrison." Upon its sails is seen 
 in large characters, "Live Credit," "Flourish Com 
 merce," " Don t Give Up the Ship." Yonder comes a 
 real, 0s*a fide log cabin! See the raccoon-skins hanging 
 out upon its sides. Upon the door is written with 
 charcoal, in awkward characters, "Hard Cider." It is 
 filled with men in hunting shirts, eating corn-bread, 
 and as many of the same description as can sit on the 
 roof or hang upon it in any way, are singing rude 
 songs in praise of the " Log Cabin Candidate," "Old 
 Tippecanoe." It has been drawn on wheels through 
 the mud a distance of 40 or 50 miles, and now passes 
 through the throng in triumph, while shouts redouble 
 upon shouts and cheers upon cheers. There is still 
 another log cabin, brought from a different county, 
 and similar in appearance; also a board cabin purport 
 ing to be occupied by " Mad River Trappers." These 
 are only a few of the most curious and prominent 
 devices. Countless numbers of others might be men 
 tioned. Among the rest, an old "Tin Pan" stuck 
 upon a pole, with the bottom torn nearly out, the 
 seams ripped open and dressed in black crape, deserves 
 to be noticed. The Van Buren part of the Ohio legis 
 lature are in the habit of deliberating upon their 
 measures in secret ere theybring them before the pub 
 lic. This caucus operation has by some means come 
 to be known all over the .State as the "Tin Pan." 
 The tin pan upon the pole is intended to foretell the 
 fate of the legislative " Tin Pan." But you can no 
 longer think of particulars. All is one dense, enthu 
 siastic mass of human bodies. On either hand, so far 
 as the eye can extend, the streets are filled with 
 
56 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Hags, pictures and all sorts of signs and symbols. 
 Still they thicken, still on they come. Windows are all 
 thrown up and filled with ladies, who join in the excite 
 ment and wave their white handkerchiefs to the 
 crowd. The roofs of the public buildings are also 
 filled with spectators, who swing their hats and shout. 
 
 On the night of the zist it commenced raining, and 
 continued incessantly till the evening of the 22d. Yet 
 nobody seemed to heed it. A procession was formed 
 on the morning of the 22cl of all the delegations, and 
 marched through the principal streets of the city, ac 
 companied with the log cabins, brig, fort, steamboat, 
 canoes, bands of music and all the badges, banners, 
 insignia and paraphernalia that had been brought 
 together from all over the State. 
 
 It might be supposed that men who had come 
 through the mud from 100 to 150 miles, with forts, 
 log cabins, and the like, on wheels, and who had 
 been huzza d from one end of their journey to the 
 other, would, when they met so many others in the 
 same spirit and condition as themselves, huzza also. 
 But let me describe a different individual, and let him 
 represent a class. He is a business man, or a scholar, 
 a reader of ancient history, a gentleman a philoso 
 pher in fact, he is a Whig to be sure. But he says 
 to himself, shouts convince nobody, shouts are not 
 intellectual. He will do his business quietly, and go 
 home as he came, in some decent and comfortable 
 conveyance. You will not catch him in any sort of a 
 flare-up not he! But watch him as the delegates 
 pass by. mass after mass. All are drenched with 
 rain and covered with mud. Yet the white handker 
 chiefs of the ladies are seen waving from the windows. 
 Yet shouts come down from the house-tops to meet 
 the shouts that rise from below. Your philosopher 
 gets excited, talks louder than usual, runs to and fro 
 in the rain, and avers that mud is not a thing to be re 
 garded at such a time. Yonder goes a beautiful white 
 horse; on him are the empty military saddle and trap 
 pings of General Washington, which have been 
 sent to the convention by a niece of Washington, 
 
,,f 
 
 who resides at Marietta. The horse is led by an old 
 soldier of Washington s body guard, mounted upon 
 another horse, and followed by a number of old men 
 of the Revolution, who gaze upon the vacant saddle 
 of their dead Chief, and then turn to the picture of 
 Harrison, cast their eyes over the multitude and give 
 a shout for " Old Tippecanoe." Will not our philoso 
 pher join them? Look at him! There he stands over 
 shoes in mud. lie is no longer silent. His arms are 
 thrown back, his face upturned, his eyes shut, and he 
 strains every muscle in shouts, as if it were a perfect 
 business transaction. No one does it with such unction 
 as your philosopher, and being a man of moral cour 
 age, he not only shouts when the rest do, but breaks 
 forth occasionally alone, to show that he does it as a 
 matter of principle. 
 
 In short, all classes and conditions in life, learned 
 and unlearned, rich and poor, gentle and simple, 
 seemed to remember for once that their interests were 
 the same. All were covered with mud alike, all were 
 zealous, all shouted. Cast your eye along the street, 
 and you will see at one glance one hundred flags all 
 bearing for a motto "The People are Coming!" 
 Again you will see written upon wagon boxes, upon 
 kegs, upon squares of cloth fixed upon staves, " Hard 
 Cider." There is Harrison on his war-horse, Harrison 
 at his plow, Harrison in the Cabinet. You will see 
 floating over the multitude, in twenty different direc 
 tions, "The People Must Do Their Own Voting/ 
 vSeveral beautiful military companies are marching 
 and parading every way. Twenty bands of music are 
 emulating each other in the vivacity and stateliness 
 of their music. Still it rains. Still you see nothing 
 but smiles, you hear nothing but assurance of ap 
 proaching victory. 
 
 If anything can be judged from the appearance of 
 the convention and the universal opinion of delegates, 
 Harrison and Tyler will carry the State almost by 
 acclamation. The number assembled could not have 
 been far from 20,000 persons. The nominations, which 
 you will see in the newspapers, were made with the 
 
cjS Reminiscences of the 
 
 utmost unanimity, and all went away amid cheers 
 and shouts, joyful and enthusiastic as when they 
 came. 
 
 Columbus, Ohio, April 17. 
 
 CThe most sanguine friends of Harrison did not know 
 what a tower of strength his name would be. No one 
 who has not seen the ebullitions of popular enthu 
 siasm in this part of the country in his behalf, would 
 be likely to believe a tithe of what is really taking 
 place almost every day among us. I speak only of 
 what I see in and about this city^/or I do not take an 
 active part in the strife myself; but I am told and be 
 lieve that the same spirit prevails throughout the State 
 and countrv. The whole bosom of the mighty West 
 is literally heaving with emotions of gratitude and love 
 for the modest but gallant old farmer of North Bend. 
 It is not the temporary and evanescent glory of mili 
 tary achievements playing upon the passions of the 
 multitude and misleading the understanding of the 
 people. It is not merely the fellowship which the 
 laboring class feel for a man who has always been 
 more watchful of their interests than of his own, and 
 who from offices of honor and emolument has volun 
 tarily retired to take them by the hand and become 
 one among them. It is because they revere him as a 
 man and a patriot, because they do not doubt his fit 
 ness for the Presidency, and because they know him 
 / to be honest. Every slandeX-iijiQ^- his name has-been 
 / made to return and "plague the i n yen tpr,"_and_ ..every 
 / new attack serves to bring out the proof of some noble 
 and generous achievement, which from his long re- 
 l tirement had been partially forgotten. Add to these 
 \motives the general distress which some cause or other 
 has brought upon all classes and interests of the country, 
 and you can see why it is that here, at least, politics 
 have become the serious and absorbing business of all 
 classes of people. Last year the Whigs found diffi 
 culty to get men to serve upon committees and to as 
 semble for meetings. Now meetings spring up spon 
 taneously and continually, and almost every Whig con 
 siders himself a committee of vigilance to do anything 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 59 
 
 and everything that men may honorably do to dissemi 
 nate correct principles. Even the women and chil 
 dren have caught the spirit of revolution, and are 
 lending their influence to animate and quicken those 
 around them. Since the great convention I was con 
 versing with a young lady; who inquired if I joined the 
 procession and marched through the mud and rain 
 with the multitude on that occasion. I told her I con 
 sidered myself happy in being allowed to remain snugly 
 in my office. "Then you are not a good Whig!" said 
 a little girl of seven or eight years by her side with an 
 air of astonishment and rebuke. She was so much 
 abashed at her own boldness that she immediately hid 
 her face in her hands, thinking she had done some 
 thing wrong. I believe the children watch each other s 
 politics as closely as the elders. To-day the friends of 
 Harrison erected a log cabin in this city for political 
 meetings, and the national flag will henceforth be seen 
 flying over it in mid air during the campaign. The 
 labor was mostly done by farming people from the 
 country. For two weeks past they have been col 
 lecting and drawing logs for the cabin, appropriating 
 particular days for the purpose, when they would 
 form a procession with their teams, each bearing a flag 
 and all uniting in some of the numerous Harrison songs 
 with which the country is flooded. " It was Harrison 
 that fought for the cabins long ago," is a favorite line 
 with them, and they have sung it through the streets 
 till no one in Columbus will be likely to forget it. 
 
 During the past week one of the Van Buren State 
 central committee publicly announced his intention to 
 vote for Harrison. The same man was the last candi 
 date of the Van Buren party in this district for Con 
 gress. Indeed, there is every appearance of a radical 
 and thoroughgoing revolution of popular opinion. I 
 see many things to remind me of what I have been 
 told by old people was the state of public feeling in 
 Massachusetts at the opening of the "Revolutionary 
 war. The Whigs have adopted means in this county to 
 circulate their papers and other matters, independent 
 of the post-office, and it is proposed to organize in- 
 
6o * Reminiscences of the 
 
 dependent post routes through the State. Thus you 
 may see that the ball of the revolution, though it trun 
 dled slowly at first, has now acquired a velocity that 
 cannot be checked, and goes rolling, booming, thun 
 dering on. 
 
 Ohio expects a good deal from Massachusetts. We 
 remember that " the bones of her sons, falling in the 
 great struggle for independence, lie mouldering in 
 every soil from Maine to Georgia." We look with 
 reverence to the exalted patriotism of Davis, and we 
 acknowledge with feelings of national pride the un 
 rivaled genius of Webster. Massachusetts, with her 
 numbers of great and good men, with her common 
 schools and her churches and colleges, must give 
 something more than a mere majority for correct prin 
 ciples. Massachusetts yielded her pretensions to the 
 right of furnishing a commander-in-chief to the Amer 
 ican armies in the war of Independence, and her 
 complaisance was rewarded by the glorious career 
 of Washington: she has now also yielded her prefer 
 red, her favorite and well worthy candidate for 
 the Presidency. Should Harrison be elected, 1 firmly 
 believe the wisdom of his administration will as far 
 transcend the expectations of his friends at the North 
 ern and Eastern States as the success and greatness 
 of Washington transcended the expectations of his 
 friends. 
 
 I have mentioned a few of the signs of the times; 
 what the result may be you can judge as well as my 
 self. I may mention further. Grain sells for a very 
 low price; labor commands but little more than half 
 the wages it did a year ago. And the mass of the peo 
 ple who make up the bulk of the Van Buren party 
 begin seriously to think there is something wrong in 
 the administration of the Government; they are read 
 ing, inquiring and coming over to Harrison in great 
 numbers. I will not pretend to estimate the majority 
 Ohio will give, but from what I see daily I shall be 
 astonished at nothing. No Whig has any more doubt 
 of some majority than he has of any future event what 
 ever, and the feeling is that it must be a very large ma- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 61 
 
 jority. The powers of the Government are busy in 
 trying to check the progress of reform; but judging 
 from what I see, I should suppose they might as well 
 attempt to suppress an earthquake or stay the progress 
 of a deluge, as to turn back or stay the tide of opinion 
 which seems to have rent old party combinations 
 asunder, and to be rushing on with accumulated force 
 and sweeping everything away before it. 
 
 * * P. 
 
 JUDGE HANSON S SPEECH. 
 
 WORDS OF WELCOME TO THE WHIG YOUNG MEN 
 OF THE NATION AT THE CONVENTION IN BAL 
 TIMORE, APRIL 10, 1840. 
 
 It has become apparent to the great bulk of the 
 American people that the present administration of 
 their Government is not fitted to increase or preserve 
 the blessings and privileges of a free and intelligent 
 nation; to foster the pursuits of a laborious, inventive 
 and spirited population; that it is ^not in accord 
 ance with the genius, past history, or future desti 
 nies of a vast republican empire; that its principles 
 and measures are as ill-calculated to consolidate the 
 credit, strength and resources of State sovereignties 
 as they are to bind together and cement a confedera 
 tion; that it has failed to engender or keep alive a ven 
 eration for the Constitution, or to cherish an unalien- 
 able love for the Union; that it has, on the contrary, 
 by incessant and unrelenting assaults upon capital, 
 good faith and enterprise, disunited the interest, and 
 thereby torn asunder the good feelings which bind 
 men to each other; that it has destroyed that salutary 
 confidence which is essential to this commonwealth 
 and all the communities that compose it; that it 
 
62 Reminiscences of the 
 
 has, in tine, chilled the hearts and the hopes of the 
 poor and shut the hands of the rich. It is, there 
 fore, that we hail the approaching Whig national 
 convention, to be held in the city of Baltimore on 
 the 4th day of May next, as an unerring harbinger 
 to the coming of better things; that we greet the 
 numerical power (composed as it is of all classes) 
 and to which the intelligence from every quarter daily 
 adds rank to rank, and squadron to squadron as a per 
 fect manifestation of the thorough and sweeping 
 change in the conduct of public affairs resolved upon 
 by the people. We rejoice that our fellow-citizens 
 (since what is passed cannot be recalled) are so far 
 benefited by present suffering as to be awakened to a 
 sense of impending evils more serious and calamitous, 
 and of which few can fail to perceive " the inevitable 
 ruin." Surely, our administration presents us to the 
 whole world as a nation of contrarieties and contra 
 dictions; we are held up to other nations in every 
 fantastic and antagonistic position that a people can 
 be regarded; our principles and our practice are per 
 fect antipodes to each other; theories, abstractions, 
 solecisms and paradoxes, make up the sum of our 
 political economy; while political empirics have 
 driven from their moorings the once fast-anchored 
 axioms of the Constitution a Constitution to which 
 Washington had affixed his seal and given verity by 
 experience. 
 
 Our perversions and absurdities, indeed, almost afford 
 plausibility to the assertion of the ancient philosopher, 
 that there once existed a race of men of a conformation 
 entirely different from those of our generation; and 
 who shall undertake to deny the possibility that, at 
 some distant era, when history shall again be handed 
 down by allegory and tradition, a people who are per 
 petually moving one way and looking another shall 
 not be represented as a race of men who carried their 
 faces behind them and turned their backs upon them 
 selves ? So singular is the incongruity between our 
 words and our actions that no disinterested spectators, 
 even of the present age, can fail to be struck with 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 63 
 
 amazement by professions constantly at variance with 
 conduct; with results diametricall} opposite to those 
 professed to be intended; and of causes stimulating 
 effects, between the beginning and end of which no 
 connecting consequences ever existed. Vain, how 
 ever, would be the attempt to enumerate all the incon 
 sistency of those who deal with the obliquity of partisan 
 tacticians, instead of applying the established principles 
 of statesmen. 
 
 The poor man is to be enriched by reducing the 
 wages of labor; the rich are to be impoverished by 
 the hoarding of their gold; the products of the earth, 
 instead of being cultured by the sweat of the brow, 
 are to wither and die amidst idleness, hunger and des 
 olation; all surplus produce is to rot in the granary of 
 the farmer for the want of markets furnished by the 
 employments of artisans and laborers, fisheries, fac 
 tories, work-shops, roads and canals; the condition of 
 the country is to be improved by arresting all improve 
 ment; debts are to be paid by the annihilation of prop 
 erty. The interest on loans is to be discharged by 
 borrowing from the lenders of the capital; gold and 
 silver are to represent, instead of being represented, 
 by paper and credit; and whilst the precious metals 
 are promised in abundance they are again buried be- 
 neath the face of the earth in the vaults of banks the 
 strong-boxes of avaricious thrift, or melted down for the 
 gold services of plate which adorns the Presidential 
 dinner table of the very republican nabob in the palace 
 at Washington. 
 
 Domestic productions are to be encouraged by boun 
 ties upon foreign fabrics ; and whilst there is to be 
 abundance of poverty, to furnish plenty of rags, readily 
 converted into hieroglyphic shinplasters, and these are 
 to be the only manufactories, which are sure to flour 
 ish, with or without a tariff; with or without foreign 
 use or domestic consumption ; unless indeed the 
 treasury notes of the Government should enter the 
 list as a competitor and thus clearly demonstrate the 
 financial ability of the head of the treasury, and with 
 the aid of Mr. Buchanan (be a capital Old Federalist), 
 
64 Reminiscences of the 
 
 home markets are to be shut up, and all labor to be re- 
 Warded at a penny a day, as in China and in Cuba. 
 
 Amidst these anomalies, all banks are to be put 
 down by the destruction of one, whilst in the place 
 of that one, thousands are to be erected and fostered, 
 by way of proving that none ought ever to have ex 
 isted ; and whilst that one, consisting of three-fourths 
 of its capital of the hard earnings of husbands and 
 fathers, for the support of widows and children, is to 
 be crushed at all hazards, myriads are to start up with 
 no capital at all, for the benefit of speculators and ad 
 venturers, and thus the administration s sympathy for 
 the orphan and the aged soldier is to be illustrated, and 
 hard money only to be trusted in the hands of abscond 
 ing sub-treasurers ;-and if this war upon property, 
 upon the pursuits, business and enterprise of every 
 man and all classes of men, were not too much to be 
 endured, and too gross a fraud upon a sagacious and 
 thinking people, their morals, their religion, their ele 
 mentary political creeds, coeval with their declaration 
 of independence, are all to be desecrated by absurdi 
 ties, which have not even the "bad eminence of 
 being compatible with themselves. 
 
 Truly the measures and the doctrines of this North 
 ern man with Southern principles are sufficiently party 
 colored to denote that equivocation and paltering in a 
 double sense which none but a proficient in the black 
 arts of a magician in this age of reform could have the 
 temerity to practice. At one moment this Northern 
 man with southern principles, this harlequin, Proteus- 
 like diplomatist, holds out to the North General 
 [ackson s great proclamation, the force act, and the 
 second article of war, to-wit: that article, under which 
 the Prince of Nullifiers (now a repentant and par 
 doned sinner) was to be hung up, drawn and quartered. 
 In the next, whilst in one breath he eulogizes in a 
 lovely song the Palmetto he declares to the Unionist 
 of the South, that no colors are to be unfurled but the 
 colors of the Union; in another, he whispers to the 
 fanatic of amalgamation, with a word for Colonel 
 Dick, that all colors are alike, and that liberty knows 
 
Political Campaign o f 1840. 65 
 
 no distinction. Butloland behold, in one month, nav 
 not one month, we see him (or rather hear him) ready 
 to shed the last drop of his Northern blood in the sup 
 port of southern principles, and in defense of the rights 
 of the slaveholder; of rights to which the Abolitionist 
 contends Christianity affords not the least shadow or 
 pretense of existence. Christianity! yes, these admin 
 istration tergiversatorshave Christianity in their mouth; 
 that sort of Christianity which would expel from the 
 national councils the ministers of God; that Christianitv 
 which would extend to the poor Indian its blessings 
 of civilization, by extermination and indiscriminate 
 murder; yes, the Christianity of those, who would, as 
 if there were not already more than enough of yelpers 
 at the Capital, augment the pack by the importation 
 of bloodhounds from Cuba; of bloodhounds to act the 
 part of a Christian army; of bloodhounds in the place 
 of holy missionaries; of bloodhounds, curs and mon 
 grels, pampered upon the bread and substance of the 
 land, whilst the poor Revolutionary pensioner, with 
 out whose heroic achievements (with Lafayette, not 
 bloodhounds, for an ally) this land would never have 
 been a land of liberty, are naked and starving for the 
 want of the miserable pittance, which is, at this mo 
 ment, withheld from them; not in order that a "better 
 currency than rags should cover their nakedness and 
 stay their hunger, but that a better currency 1 should 
 line the pockets of minions and favorites, who would 
 never have earned it by honest industry. It seems, 
 however, that this importation of bloodhounds; this 
 stain upon the escutcheon of the nation is to be forever 
 obliterated; and how do you think, Mr. President and 
 gentlemen? Why, forsooth, lam told that it is asserted 
 (I know not upon what authority it is avouched) that 
 when an Indian shook his blanket at one of these 
 bloodhounds, he put his tail between his legs and ran 
 like a sub-treasurer. But we forbear; let there be i\o 
 acrimonious feelings, bitterness or wrath in the midst 
 of the cheers and hopes that surround us. We are all 
 one people, and we trust that there is more of error 
 than of vice among us. We are ready to open our 
 
66 Reminiscences of the 
 
 arms, and take to our bosoms every deluded son of our 
 country, and go hand in hand to the rescue. We see 
 the day not far distant, when those who infest the 
 palace, block up the avenues of the Senate, forestall 
 public opinion, waste their time and compromit their 
 honor and independence, in pursuit of office and emolu 
 ment, may be reformed into better citizens and more 
 useful men. 
 
 The day of deliverance is approaching. The day 
 of our travail is come; the day wncn we may all rejoice 
 that the old petticoat granny, William Henry Harrison, 
 is at hand. We do, therefore, hail him as our deliverer; 
 we are not ashamed in our agony and dismay, to cry 
 out for his help; yes, the old petticoat General, Wil 
 liam Henry Harrison, comes to our rescue. He comes, 
 the coward ! who in every battle was victorious; the 
 coward/ who never turned his back upon the enemy 
 of his country; the coward! who in every conflict, 
 from Tippecanoe to the Thames, was seen " with 
 his beaver up, to course along the lists scattering his 
 lightnings around ;"and whilst, in the hottest of the fight, 
 and in every post of danger, the fire of his eye gleamed 
 like a sword, and his own peculiar voice was heard 
 ringing in the ears of every soldier, those memorable 
 words, "Stand to your guns, my boys; never surren 
 der/ till not a foe was left upon the field. Tis he we 
 claim as our deliverer; the defaulter. We look to him: 
 yes, to him, William Henry Harrison, to restore the 
 perished credit and fill the exhausted and pillaged cof 
 fers of the country. We look to him, William Henry 
 Harrison, the public robber, who retired from the office 
 poor and in debt, whilst he replenished and filled the 
 national treasury with millions of dollars, not one of 
 whichever stuck in his palm in passing through his 
 hands. It is to him, William Henry Harrison, the 
 oppressor of the poor, we turn, who was the ad 
 viser, the friend, the father to every poor emigrant 
 who settled beyond the mountains; who was always 
 ready to take by the hand the poorest settler of the 
 meanest log cabin in the wilderness; it is to him that 
 we look once more for peace and plenty, for private 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 67 
 
 and national prosperity, for a restoration of all the 
 privileges and blessings of freemen ; in a word, we 
 look to him under the blessings of Providence for 
 the great consummation of public and private faith. 
 Tis to such a deliverer we look; to our old, well- 
 tried, weather-beaten, hard-cider, log-cabin, Tippeca- 
 noe." Not to such a deliverer as the Emperor Alexan 
 der, of Russia; he the deliverer, who delivered kings, 
 emperors, and the whole continent of nations, into 
 the hands of the Holy Alliance; but we seek to be 
 delivered from an alliance, than which none was ever 
 more unholy, and from under the pressure of which no 
 people ever groaned more than we, the people of the 
 United States; tis to such a deliverer we look. And 
 if, in as mongrel a pack as was ever littered in a 
 kennel, there be not included in the deliverance a 
 pair of as notable twins as was ever engendered in the 
 cabinet of the kitchen, then, in the language of 
 the facetious old knight, "there is no skill in sur 
 gery." 
 
 But let us no longer linger with the past, for the 
 time has come to give thanks and rejoice .Those 
 upon the lookout are proclaiming joyful tidings from 
 all around us. . Land is once more in sight, and our 
 perils at an end. Too long have we been at sea, 
 without chart or compass. " tossed about by every 
 wind of doctrine ;" but the great swell of public 
 opinion is resetting ; the undertow of intrigue and 
 corruption is running out, sweeping along with it the 
 turbid feculence that polluted the land we trust to be 
 forever "in the dark ocean of oblivion buried"; the 
 rainbow of promise is again to be seen ; distempered 
 elements are everywhere dispersing, and the prow 
 of our bark once more points to the haven of safety. 
 
 With the memorable words of Harrison for our 
 motto, if we unfurl upon our banners, "Stand to your 
 guns, my boys, and never surrender," and inscribe upon 
 our ballots "The people must do their own voting 
 and their own righting," then we hazard nothing in 
 the prediction that they will fill three-fourths of the 
 ballot-boxes in thecountry. Animated, then, by these 
 
68 Reminiscences of the 
 
 hopes, and toiling in one cause, there is every incen 
 tive to greet our coming friends, to Maryland, at the 
 approaching national convention. We therefore hope 
 that our Whig fellow-citizens need only to be reminded 
 of the duty to extend the hand of good fellowship, 
 and open wide the door of hospitality throughout the 
 State, to the friends of him, the string of whose latch 
 was never pulled in when the stranger needed shelter; 
 and as it is expected that at the approaching celebra 
 tion, the public houses of accommodation may not 
 be sufficient for the reception of all our numerous 
 visitors, we undertake to assure all those who may 
 honor us with their company of the shelter and com 
 fort of at least our own roof-trees, and with as good 
 entertainment as ever log cabin and hard cider 
 afforded. 
 
 CHARLES OGLE S SPEECH. 
 
 REMARKS OF MR. OGLE, OF PENNSYLVANIA, BE 
 FORE THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, APRIL 
 1 6, 1840, ON THE ClVIL AND DIPLOMATIC AP 
 PROPRIATION BILL. 
 
 I am glad to see the committee becoming a little 
 patient; we were somewhat otherwise a few days ago. 
 This bill appropriates nine millions of the people s 
 money, and I have regretted to witness such exhibitions 
 of hot haste in many of the representatives of the peo 
 ple, day in and day out, to force us to vote away mil 
 lions without due examination. To my knowledge, 
 there never has been a bill before Congress which in 
 volved so large an amount of money, except the ten 
 millions "Maine War" bill of the last session; and 
 we all knew that that money would never be spent. 
 But here is a bill appropriating nine millions of the 
 hard cash of my constituents rind yours, and vet in such 
 
Political Campaign of IS. j f. 69 
 
 violent haste are some gentlemen to pass it, that we 
 must stay here all night for the purpose. For my part, 
 I tell gentlemen that I will stand out, night and day, 
 until I see the bottom of every dollar, before I will 
 permit the question to be taken. And if Representa 
 tives go before their constituents with a different prin 
 ciple, they will find they have got the wrong side of 
 the argument. The people will tell them, We love the 
 Representative who looks to our money, and sees that 
 it is expended on proper objects. 
 
 Have gentlemen ever tried the rule of division to as 
 certain what the President has spent yearly, monthly, 
 weekly, daily, hourly, ay, sir, for each and every 
 minute since Martin Van Buren s inauguration on the 
 4th day of March, 1837. The actual expenditures, dur 
 ing the first three years of his administration, have 
 reached the enormous sum of one hundred and eleven 
 million four hundred and six thousand nine hundred 
 and sixty -three dollars. 
 
 Average per year $37>!35 6 54 33 
 
 Average per month 3?94>637 86 
 
 Average per week 7H T 47 r 7 
 
 Average per day 102,021 07 
 
 Average per hour 4*250 87 
 
 Average per minute 70 84 
 
 Let us compare and contrast these prodigious ex 
 penditures with the disbursements made by all the 
 former Presidents since the adoption of the Constitu 
 tion in 1789. 
 
 You will observe, sir, by the statement which I 
 here present, and which has been prepared with 
 great care, that the annual expenses of Martin Van 
 Buren s administration are greater by $6,538,325.66 than 
 the entire yearly disbursements of Presidents Washing 
 ton, Adams, Jefferson and Madison, altogether. You 
 will also see that the yearly expenses of Martin Van 
 Buren s government have been more than one hundred 
 per cent, larger than Mr. Madison s, notwithstanding 
 the latter had been engaged in a most expensive war 
 of three years with the most powerful nation of the 
 world. 
 
7 
 
 Reminiscences of the 
 
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Political Campaign of AV.^y. 71 
 
 Yes, sir, Martin Van Buren has spent more than 
 seventy dollars for each and every minute since 
 he was sworn into the Presidential office. How often 
 has the clock ticked since that fatal hour? During 
 the four months of last year that he passed on his 
 electioneering tour in the State of New York, how 
 many times did the clock tick then ? The people s 
 hard dollars were going at the rate of $70 a minute, 
 while he was dancing with the Countess of Westmore 
 land at Saratoga. That was "dancing to a pretty dear 
 tune, but the people paid the piper. 
 
 Now the very best remedy which I can suggest 
 to prevent this profligate waste of the public money 
 will be to displace that lavish spendthrift, Martin Van 
 Buren, and to substitute in his stead, at the head of the 
 Government, that plain, frugal, economical, and well- 
 tried citizen, William Henry Harrison. I shall, there 
 fore, proceed to make such further remarks in relation 
 to the conduct, principles, and public services of the 
 latter, and in regard to the conduct and principles of 
 the former, as may, in some degree, assist the people in 
 arriving at proper conclusions in the premises. I 
 will first turn to some of the evidences which exist 
 as to the favor in which Harrison has been held by the 
 country, both for his military and civil services. And 
 I will say in the outset, that there has no man lived, 
 since the days of Washington, who has drawn out 
 from his political enemies so strong a certificate of 
 character, as he has done. Could Jefferson, if he were 
 now alive, and a candidate for the Presidency, pro 
 duce such testimony ? You could call the Hon. James 
 Buchanan, who might tell you, what he had many 
 years ago declared, that during the administration of 
 that President, "our ships were laid up to rot, as mel 
 ancholy monuments of the weak and wicked policy of 
 our Government" and who could not find time in a 
 4th of July oration even "to enumerate all the other 
 wild and wicked projects of the Democratic admin 
 istrations !" Could James Madison, if he were a can 
 didate, produce such testimony ? You might call up 
 that plain, economical, hard-handed Democrat, Martin 
 
72 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Van Buren, who would, without hesitation, testify 
 that, "according to the best of his knowledge and 
 belief, James Madison was either too imbecile in mind, 
 or too dishonest in principle, to be re-elected President 
 of the United States in 1812;" and that with the design 
 and settled purpose to prevent and defeat that re-elec 
 tion, he (Martin Van Buren) had patriotically con 
 spired and associated with the Essex Junto federalists, 
 and the men who subsequently devised and organi/ed 
 the Hartford convention. 
 
 But what testimony has General Harrison in his 
 favor ? The first is the commission of George Wash 
 ington. Brought up in revolutionary times "in the 
 days that tried men s souls" his sire, one of the noble 
 signers of the Declaration of Independence his guar 
 dian, the able financier of the Continental Congress 
 his friend and patron, the glorious chief who led the 
 armies of liberty to battle and to victory George 
 Washington, Robert Morris, Benjamin Harrison 
 what a brilliant association! It was among such men 
 that William Henry Harrison learnt his principles, 
 and it was under the command of the gallant and 
 impetuous General Anthony Wayne that he first put 
 those principles into practice. Let me read you, sir, a 
 short extract from the official account of the battle 
 on the banks of the Miami, on the 2oth of August, 
 1794: 
 
 "The bravery and conduct of every officer belong 
 ing to the army, from the General down to the En 
 signs, merit my highest approbation. There were, 
 however, some whose rank and situation placed their 
 conduct in a very conspicuous point of view, and 
 which I observed w r ith pleasure and the most lively 
 gratitude; among whom I beg leave to mention Brig 
 adier General Wilkinson and Colonel Hamtranck, the 
 commandants of the right and left wings of the 
 legion, whose brave example inspired the troops; 
 and to these I would add the names of my faithful and 
 gallant aides-de-camp, Captain DeButts, and T. Lewis, 
 and Lieutenant Harrison, who with the Adjutant Gen 
 eral, Major Mill, rendered the most essential services 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 7-} 
 
 by communicating my orders in every direction, and 
 by their conduct and bravery exciting the troops to 
 press for victory. 1 
 
 This battle of the Miami Rapids was fought with 
 the utmost desperation by the combined Indian and 
 British forces, which amounted to 2,000 combatants, 
 while the troops actually engaged against them "were 
 short of nine hundred." You have seen, sir, that 
 the commanding General, in an official dispatch, ex 
 pressed his gratitude to Lieutenant Harrison for "ren 
 dering the most essential services" during the engage 
 ment. " Mad Anthony," as he was familiarly called 
 by Whigs of that day, was too bold and too brave a 
 soldier to award the meed of praise to a coward, and 
 possessed a soul too generous to withhold the tribute of 
 justice for deeds of valor done by his young hero and 
 aid-de-camp. By the way, as to General Wayne, let 
 me remark that he, like Harrison, was called "Granny" 
 by the British red-coats and their tory allies, during 
 the Revolution. At the battle of Stony Point, on the 
 night of the i5th of July, 1779, the bayonet was the 
 only weapon relied upon. The assailants, by the 
 order of Wayne, silently advanced with unloaded 
 muskets. Mad Anthony was the first to mount the 
 ramparts of the enemy. The captain of the British 
 guard inquired what that meant? It means " Granny 
 Wayne," said he, as he severed his head from his 
 shoulders. When did Martin Van Buren, who has 
 the audacity and meanness to call Harrison, through 
 his official organ a granny, receive the thanks of his 
 commanding general for "rendering essential services" 
 on the battle-field? Under what chieftain did Martin 
 Van Buren win his military trophies? I well remem 
 ber that, in the letter of this redoutable champion 
 of the toilet, dated at London, February 24, 1832, he 
 assumed the air of a knight-errant, mounted his gold 
 epaulets, and blue and buff, and strutted the hero, 
 while he recounted his valiant services in the army of 
 "Old Hickory." "To have served," said he, "under 
 such a chief, at such a time, and to have won his 
 confidence and esteem, is a sufficient glory; and of that, 
 
74 Reminiscences of the 
 
 thank God, my enemies cannot deprive me." I would 
 inquire, sir, whether it was on the plains of New 
 Orleans, that Martin Van Buren performed those self- 
 glorifying, self-satisfying services? Was he an aid-de 
 camp of " Old Hickory" at Talladega, or the Horse 
 Shoe? Why does he, as arrant a coward as was ever 
 cast in " Nature s mold," thus gasconade like another 
 Bobadil? Does this braggart plume himself for pro 
 curing the dissolution of Old Hickory s first Cabinet, 
 through the influence of a female court favorite? Or 
 does he take credit to himself for the instructions he 
 gave as Secretary of State to Mr. McLane, our Minis 
 ter at the Court of St. James, and on account of 
 which his own nomination to that court was subse 
 quently rejected by the casting vote of the then Vice- 
 President, John C. Calhoun? I cannot forbear, on 
 this subject, to read three or four lines from the 
 Richmond Enquirer in relation to that rejection: 
 
 44 Mr. Clay was aware of the keen and canine appe 
 tite with which Mr. Calhoun was prepared to devour 
 his victim, and therefore insidiously continued to place 
 the banquet before him. With what eager delight he 
 seized upon it we have already seen." 
 
 Old Father Time, Mr. Chairman, make.s sad havoc 
 of the consistency of poor mortals. Where is the "keen 
 and canine appetite" of Mr. Calhoun now? Surfeited, 
 satiated. Who is the "victim" now? 1 have known 
 men who, if they could not get the lion, would be well 
 content to take the skin. But let us return to the ex 
 amination of the testimony to establish the distinguished 
 services which General Harrison has rendered the na 
 tion. The legislature of Kentucky, on the yth of Jan 
 uary, 1812, 
 
 Resolved, That in the late campaign against the In 
 dians upon the Wabash, Gen. William Henry Harrison 
 has behaved like a hero, a patriot and a general; and 
 that for his cool, deliberate, skillful and gallant con 
 duct in the battle of Tippecanoe, he well deserves the 
 warmest thanks of his country and the nation." 
 
 Pray, sir, on what occasion did Martin Van Buren, 
 whose "official organ" calls General Harrison a 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 75 
 
 "coward" and a "granny," ever behave like a "hero" 
 and a "patriot?" On what field of honor and carnage did 
 he exhibit "cool," "deliberate," "skillful" and "gallant" 
 conduct? Why, sir, I have been told that on the very 
 same night on which Harrison and his brave com 
 panions were engaged in deadly strife with the merci 
 less savages at Tippecanoe, Martin Van Buren, per 
 fumed like a milliner, and spruce as a popinjay, was 
 manifesting his gallantry and heroism by tripping "on 
 the light fantastic toe" through mazy French cotillions 
 in a ball-room. For the truth of this fact, however, I 
 do not vouch, but I have heard it from a most respect 
 able quarter, and place full reliance upon it myself. 
 
 In the legislature of Indiana, on the I9th of Novem 
 ber, 1811, Gen. William Johnson, the speaker of the 
 house of representatives, thus addressed General Har 
 rison: 
 
 "SiR: The house of representatives of the Indiana 
 Territory, in their own name, and in behalf of their 
 constituents, most cordially reciprocate the congratu 
 lations of your excellency on the glorious result of the 
 late sanguinary conflict with the Shawnee Prophet 
 and the tribes of Indians confederated with him. 
 When we see displayed in behalf of our country, not 
 only the consummate abilities of the general, but the 
 heroism of the man, and when we take into view the 
 benefits which must result to that country from those 
 exertions, we cannot, for a moment, withhold our meed 
 of applause." 
 
 And yet Martin Van Buren s "official organ" has 
 the unblushing impudence to call the old veteran, who 
 has displayed the "consummate abilities of the gen 
 eral" and "the heroism of the man," a "coward," a 
 "granny." and a "petticoat hero." 
 
 On the 4th of April, 1818, James Monroe, President 
 of the United States, approved a resolution, passed by 
 Congress, directing two gold medals to be struck and 
 presented to Maj. Gen. William Henry Harrison and 
 Gov. Isaac Shelby, "for their gallantry and good con 
 duct in defeating the combined British and Indian 
 forces under Major-General Proctor, on the Thames 
 
76 Reminiscences of the 
 
 in Upper Canada, on the 5th of October, 1813, captur 
 ing the British army, with their baggage and artillery/ 
 
 Still Martin Van Buren s "official organ" continues 
 to reiterate "coward" and "granny" and "petticoat 
 hero." 
 
 On the iSth of December, 1811, President Madison, 
 in a special message to Congress, said: 
 
 " While it is deeply lamented that so many valuable 
 lives have been lost in the action which took place on 
 the 7th ultimo, Congress will see with satisfaction the 
 dauntless spirit of fortitude victoriously displayed by 
 every description of troops engaged, as well as the 
 collected firmness which distinguished their com 
 mander on an occasion requiring the utmost exertions 
 of valor and discipline." 
 
 And again, in his message to Congress in Decem 
 ber, 1813, Mr. Madison said: 
 
 "The success on t Lake Eriehaving opened a passage 
 to the territory of the enemy, the officer commanding 
 the Northwestern army transferred the war thither, 
 and, rapidly pursuing the hostile troops, fleeing with 
 their savage associates, forced a general action, which 
 quickly terminated in the capture of the British and 
 dispersion of the savage force. 
 
 " This result is signally honorable to Major-General 
 Harrison, by whose military talents it was prepared." 
 
 And still Mr. Van Buren s "official organ" cries 
 "coward," "granny," "petticoat hero." 
 
 Simon Snyder, the pure, honest, Democratic gover 
 nor of Pennsylvania, during the war, in his message 
 to the legislature of that State, on December 10, 1813, 
 said: 
 
 "The blessings of thousands of women and chil 
 dren, rescued from the scalping knife of the ruth 
 less savage of the wilderness, and from the still 
 more ruthless Proctor, rest on Harrison and his gallant 
 army." 
 
 "The old hero has, by his valor secured, "the bless 
 ings of thousands of women and children," but he has 
 also secured the curses of British Tories and Martin 
 Van Buren s official organ. By the latter he is still 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 77 
 
 denounced as a "coward," "granny," and "petticoat 
 hero." 
 
 Governor Shelby to Mr. Madison, May 18, 1814, says: 
 
 "I feel no hesitation to declare to you that I believe 
 General Harrison to be one of the first military charac 
 ters I ever knew." 
 
 But Martin Van Buren s "official organ" says that 
 General Harrison is a "coward," a "granny," and a "pet 
 ticoat hero." 
 
 Col. Richard M.Johnson, to General Harrison, July 4, 
 1813, says: 
 
 " We did not want to serve under cowards or traitors 
 but under Harrison who had proved himself to be 
 wise, prudent and brave." 
 
 But Martin Van Buren s official organ calls Harri 
 son a "coward," a "granny," and a "petticoat hero." 
 
 The honorable Langdon Cheves, speaking on the 
 battle of the Thames, said: 
 
 "The victory of Harrison, was such as would have 
 secured to a Roman general, in the best days of the 
 Republic, the honors of a triumph! He put an end to 
 the war in the Upper Canada." 
 
 And yet Martin Van Buren s "official organ" calls 
 Harrison a "coward," a "granny," and a "petticoat 
 hero." 
 
 Commodore Perry to General Harrison, August 18, 
 1817, says: 
 
 "The prompt change made by you in the order of 
 battle on discovering the position of the enemy, has 
 always appeared to me to have evinced a high degree 
 of military talent. I concur with the venerable Shelby 
 in his general approbation of your conduct in that cam 
 paign." 
 
 Still Martin Van Buren s "official organ" insists that 
 Harrison is a "coward," a "granny," and a "petticoat 
 hero." 
 
 Eleven of the officers who fought under General Har 
 rison, at the battle of Tippecanoe, paid him the follow 
 ing tribute of justice and praise soon after the engage 
 ment: 
 
 " Should our country again require our services to 
 
78 Reminiscences of the 
 
 oppose a civilized or a savage foe, we should march 
 under General Harrison with the most perfect confi 
 dence of victory and fame." 
 
 "JoEL COOK, JOSIAH SNELLING, 
 
 " R. B. BURTON, O. G. BURTON, 
 
 " N. ADAMS, C. FULLER, 
 
 41 A. HAWKINS, G. GOODING, 
 
 " H. BURCHSTEAD, J. D. FOSTER, 
 
 " HOSEA BLOOD." 
 
 But still Martin Van Buren s "official organ" con 
 tends that General Harrison is a "coward," a "granny," 
 and a "petticoat hero." 
 
 The following is an extract of a letter from Colonel 
 Davies, who was killed at the battle of Tippecanoe, 
 August 24, 181 1 : 
 
 "I make free to declare that I have imagined there 
 were two military men in the West, and General Har 
 rison is the first of the two." 
 
 But Martin Van Buren s "official organ" calls Gen 
 eral Harrison a " coward," a "granny," and a "petti 
 coat hero." 
 
 The Richmond Enquirer of January 9, 1813, speaks 
 of General Harrison in the following manner: 
 
 " General Harrison, in spite of the difficulties which 
 surround him, seems determined to press on to Detroit. 
 Neither the cold nor the badness of the roads can deter 
 him from his enterprise. If he fails, the world will ex 
 cuse him on account of the difficulties which encom 
 pass his path. If he succeeds, these very difficulties 
 will enhance the luster of his success. 
 
 "If he has been reported rightly, Harrison is a man 
 of no ordinary promise. War has been his favorite 
 study. At a very early age he was with Wayne in his 
 famous campaign against the Indians. A gentleman 
 of verv high standing, who had an important post 
 under him during last fall, compares him to Washing 
 ton. He is as circumspect as he is enterprising; as 
 prudent in collecting the means of an attack as he is 
 vigorous in striking the blow." 
 
 Again the Richmond Enquirer of the I9th of Oc 
 tober, 1813, referring to the battle of the Thames, says: 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 79 
 
 "We have not words to express the joy we feel for 
 the victory of Harrison. Never have we seen the pub 
 lic pulse beat so high. And well may we rejoice. We 
 rejoice not so much for the splendor of this achieve 
 ment as for the solid benefits which it will produce. 
 Yet, in point of splendor, we have no reason to believe 
 that when we shall receive the official accounts we 
 shall sustain any disappointment," etc. 
 
 "But its solid benefits require no official accounts to 
 emblazon them; almost every eye sees them, and almost 
 every tongue can tell them. It gives security to the 
 frontier. Ohio may now sleep in security. The 
 trembling mother that nightly used to clasp her infant 
 to her breast may rock its cradle in peace. The chain 
 which bound the red man to the English white man is 
 broken," etc. 
 
 "These benefits we owe to the intrepidity of Perry, 
 who paved the way, and to Harrison, whose skill, 
 prudence and zeal have at length reaped their just re 
 ward. This general has now put all his enemies to 
 shame. After struggling with difficulties under which 
 an ordinary man would have sunk ; after passing 
 through a wilderness of morass and mud, so difficult 
 of access that the wagon-horses could not carry prov 
 ender enough to support them during the journey, 
 he reached the consummation of all his labors; repairs 
 the vices of Hull; wipes off the stain which he had 
 cast upon our arms; stands on the ruins of Maiden; 
 muzzles the Indian war dog, and proves to the world 
 that Americans want only an opportunity to display 
 the same gallantry on the shore which they have done 
 upon the wave." 
 
 But again: In the spring of 1814 a proposition was 
 made in Congress to create the office of lieutenant- 
 general. The Richmond Enquirer named General 
 Harrison for the elevated station in the following 
 eloquent and patriotic language: 
 
 If any one should ask where such a man is to be 
 met with, we answer to the best of our abilities, in the 
 man who has washed away the disasters of Detroit; 
 who ha d everything to collect for a new campaign, 
 
So Reminiscences of the 
 
 and who got everything together; who waded through 
 morasses and snows, and surmounted the most fright 
 ful climate in the Union; the man who was neither to 
 be daunted by disaster nor difficulties under any shape 
 by the skill of the civilized or the barbarity of a savage 
 foe; the man who won the hearts of the people by 
 his spirit, the respect of his officers by his zeal, the 
 love of his army by a participation of their hardships: 
 the man who has finally triumphed over his enemv. 
 Such a man is William Henry Harrison." 
 
 And after all this testimony given by the editor of 
 
 the Richmond Enquirer in regard to the courage, 
 
 skill, capacity, patriotism and services of General Har- 
 
 son, Martin Van Buren s official organ presumes to call 
 
 him "coward," "granny" and a "petticoat hero. 
 
 John M. Niles, in his life of Perry, published in 1821, 
 after giving a general biography of General Harrison, 
 said: 
 
 "The defense of Fort Meigs and the subsequent 
 capture of the British army may be fairly considered 
 the most brilliant and extraordinary events of the late 
 war." 
 
 In alluding to the battle of the Thames he said: 
 
 " It must be conceded that this victory reflected 
 great honor upon the national arms, and upon the 
 troops by whom it was achieved." 
 
 " The action and the movements which preceded it 
 afford ample testimony of the judgment and cool 
 intrepidity of General Harrison ; and, indeed, all the 
 events of the campaign support the>e characteristics; 
 the disasters attending it having in no instance been 
 imputable to him.* 
 
 And yet Martin Van Buren s "official organ" still 
 dares to call General Harrison a "coward," "granny," 
 and a "petticoat hero." 
 
 Ex-Governor Isaac Hill, Nov. 23, 1813, in the New 
 Hampshire Patriot, said: 
 
 " What man lives whose whole heart and soul is not 
 British that cannot sincerely rejoice in the late vic 
 tories of Perry and Harrison; that does not feel a 
 pride in the valor and patriotism of the heroes of the 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 81 
 
 West, who have freed a country large as the Empire 
 of Alexander the Great from the Indian tomahawk and 
 scalping-knife. If there be such a one he is a traitor 
 to his country; he possesses the spirit of a murderer. 
 
 Still Martin Van Buren s "official organ" continues 
 to call Harrison a "coward," a "granny," and a 
 "petticoat hero." 
 
 I will in the next place, Mr. Chairman, claim the at 
 tention of the committee to the testimony given by a 
 portion of the surviving members of the Petersburg, 
 Virginia, volunteers, who had served under Gen 
 eral Harrison. Before, however, I introduce this testi 
 mony, I will furnish some evidence of its high worth 
 and character by reading the discharge given to that 
 "patriotic and gallant corps" of citizen soldiers by 
 Brigadier General Cass. He says: 
 
 " In granting a discharge to this patriotic and gal 
 lant corps, the general feels at a loss for words ade 
 quately to convey his sense of their exalted merits. 
 Almost exclusively composed of individuals who had 
 been nursed in the lap of ease, they have, for twelve 
 months, borne the hardships and privations of a mili 
 tary life, in the midst of an inhospitable wilderness, 
 with a cheerfulness and alacrity which has never been 
 surpassed; their conduct in the field has been excelled 
 by no other corps." 
 
 Let us now see what the brave and gallant men say: 
 
 " We, the undersigned, a portion of the surviving 
 members of the Petersburg, Virginia, Volunteers, 
 now residing in Petersburg, have seen in some public 
 prints, with much surprise, the imputation of coward 
 ice attempted to be cast upon our old commander, Gen. 
 William Henry Harrison. We, as an act of sheer jus 
 tice to that individual, deem it a duty to state that dur 
 ing the siege of Fort Meigs in the spring of 1813, we 
 frequently saw General Harrison placed in dangerous 
 and perilous situations; and one day of the several 
 sorties, 5th of May, 1813, we as frequently saw him 
 coolly and deliberately encouraging his officers and men 
 to do their duty. No coward, we think could act with 
 coolness and deliberation on such occasions. 
 
82 Reminiscences of the 
 
 " In September following, we crossed the lake and 
 landed on the Canada shore a few miles below Maiden, 
 in which neighborhood we expected to meet the ene 
 my. At and after the landing, on our march towards 
 Maiden, Harrison and Shelby were seen at the heads 
 of their respective commands, in the active discharge 
 of their duties. And at the Thames, in October, it was 
 conceded by all that General Harrison s conduct was 
 brave and meritorious. 
 
 " In February or March of the same year, the time of 
 service of the militia was about to expire, and, had 
 they left the army, we should have been left with but 
 a few volunteers and regulars exposed to the combined 
 enemy. At that time Meigs was not fortified. In 
 this situation, the general rallied the troops together 
 and addressed them in a feeling and patriotic manner, 
 impressing upon them the necessity of remaining only a 
 few days longer, at the same time pledging himself to see 
 them paid from his ow r n private resources, should the 
 Government refuse to do it, for the time they might 
 serve after their legal time of service had expired. 
 
 " We cannot forbear acknowledging a debt of grati 
 tude of long standing, and yet due to General Harri 
 son, for his kind and personal attention to those of our 
 company who were wounded in the engagement on 
 the 5th of May, at Fort Meigs, and for his general de 
 portment towards our corps during our term of serv 
 ice. "JOSEPH SCOTT, 
 
 44 JOHN H. SMITH, 
 "JOSEPH MASON, 
 " WM. R. CHIEVES, 
 " JAMES PAGE, 
 " WM. P. BURTON, 
 " R. CLEMENTS." 
 
 Notwithstanding the foregoing conclusive testimony 
 to the contrary, Martin Van Buren s "official organ" 
 alleges that General Harrison is a "coward," a 
 "granny" and a "petticoat hero." 
 
 In addition to all the testimonials I have here enum 
 erated testimonials from friends and from foes, some 
 of whom have since gone to their rest I will now pre- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 83 
 
 sent the committee a few others, some of whom have 
 never been extensively before the public. In Septem 
 ber, 1836, there was a convention of the citizens of 
 Western Pennsylvania held at Pittsburgh. A com 
 mittee, consisting of officers who had served nearest 
 the person of General Harrison in the Northwestern 
 army, during the late war, was appointed to "report 
 to the convention their personal knowledge of his 
 courage and ability as a commander." At the head of 
 that committee stood Col. John B. Alexander, a brave 
 and gallant officer, who was equally distinguished 
 for his legal and scientific attainments as for his ac 
 curate and intimate acquaintance with military science 
 and the art of war. With him were associated Gen. 
 Joseph Markle, Major Reeves, Colonel Daily and Dr. 
 McGheehan, all gentlemen of admitted gallantry, intel 
 ligence and high character. And now, sir, let me read 
 you a short extract from the report of that com 
 mittee : 
 
 " That they served as officers in the Northwestern 
 army, under the command of General Harrison, in the 
 campaign of 1812-13. They have had many oppor 
 tunities to observe the character and tendency of his 
 orders and arrangements, and were witnesses of the 
 obstacles presented by an extensive wilderness and 
 dreary swamps to the transportation of the material of 
 the army and the accomplishment of his views. Yet 
 his industry and perseverance overcame these diffi 
 culties. 
 
 "The members of the committee have also seen him 
 in battle and noticed his conduct. In command, he 
 was composed, yet vigorous. Under the fire of the 
 enemy, he was tranquil, calm and deliberate. During 
 the protracted siege of Fort Meigs, and amid the 
 shower of shot and shells which poured into the works 
 without intermission, no one saw the eye of the Gen 
 eral to falter or a nerve to quiver. In his purposes he 
 was steady; in his manners kind and urbane, yet dig 
 nified and commanding." 
 
 And now, sir, if there were no other testimonials to 
 establish the courage, ability, and services of General 
 
84 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Harrison than the one to which I have last referred, that 
 alone would be entirely satisfactory to my mind, emi- 
 nating, as I know it did, from gentlemen who have 
 manifested their patriotism, not by merely calling 
 themselves Democrats, and talking about Democracy, 
 but by deeds of heroism at Massassinewa and other 
 bloody fields in the Northwest. 
 
 Still Martin Van Buren s "official organ" calls General 
 Harrison a "coward," a "granny," and a "petticoat 
 hero." 
 
 But, sir, here is another testimonial from some of the 
 brave men of Western Pennsylvania, who served an 
 arduous campaign under the command of General Har 
 rison in the Northwestern army: 
 
 "To his Excellency Major General William Henry Har 
 rison, Commander-in-Chief of the Northwestern 
 army. 
 
 "Fort Meigs, April 16, 1813. 
 
 "SiR: We feel it a particular duty and pleasure to 
 acknowledge to you and our countrymen the confi 
 dence we have entertained of your excellency as our 
 general and commander-in-chief of the Northwestern 
 army. Fifteen days since we were prepared to return 
 home, our six months tour of duty expired; but, by 
 your solicitations in a letter addressed to General 
 Crooks, and that of the State government of which we 
 are citizens together with the impending dangers that 
 threatened all around by our hostile foes, we again 
 engaged ourselves in the service of the United States 
 for the fifteen days past, and to-morrow we expect 
 again to be discharged from the service, the danger 
 threatened appearing principally to have abated. 
 Reinforcements having arrived, and the preparations 
 much increased, we shall retire from the field 
 with peculiar satisfaction, asking of Heaven its protec 
 tion for you, your army, fend our country; trusting that 
 our Western enemies will be taught a lesson of submis 
 sion not to be forgotten, and that the inhabitants of our 
 Western frontier will again enjoy the peaceful pleas 
 ures of their homes. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 85 
 
 " Most respectfully, your excellency s humble serv 
 ants, " DAVID NELSON, Major. 
 
 " THOMAS LINGHAM, Major. 
 "ROBERT ORR, Major. 
 " E. CASSETTS, Surgeon. 
 
 "JOHN JUNKINS, 
 
 " J. BARACMAN, 
 
 " WM. HARPER, 
 
 " JAMES BONNER, 
 
 " WM. JOHNSON, 
 
 " THOMAS JACK. 
 
 " JOSHUA LOGAN, Adjutant/ 
 
 These gentlemen were alike distinguished for brav 
 ery, heroism, and all the sterling virtues. One of them, 
 Major Orr, some years after the termination of the 
 war, had the honor of a seat on this floor. 
 
 But Martin Van Buren s official organ still vouches 
 that General Harrison is a "coward, a "granny," and 
 a " petticoat hero." 
 
 Major Willock, of Pittsburgh, has borne witness to 
 the bravery and courage of General Harrison. "He 
 had been present on the field of battle when British 
 balls were flying thick around the head of Harrison, 
 and the old hero never blanched or quailed in that hour 
 of peril/ 
 
 John D. Davis, Esq., of Pittsburgh, testifies that he 
 was an "eyewitness to the services of General Harri 
 son on the field of battle; to his courage, humanity, 
 and devotion to the interests of the troops during some 
 of the most trying scenes of the last war, and that his 
 conduct towards his suffering soldiers was that of a 
 father in his family/ 
 
 Mr. John W. Lynch, of Pittsburgh, testifies "that 
 on the field of battle and in the army, no man ever 
 questioned the courage and benevolence of General 
 Harrison." 
 
 Major Willock, John D. Davis, Esq., and Mr. Lynch 
 are brave and patriotic citizens, and had served in the 
 Northwestern army under General Harrison. 
 
 Yet Martin Van Buren s "official organ" denounces 
 
86 Reminiscences of the 
 
 General Harrison as a "coward," a "granny," and a 
 "petticoat hero." 
 
 Mr. Pollock, of Muskingum county, Ohio, in a re 
 cent debate in the house of representatives of that 
 State, speaking relative to the battle of Fort Meigs, 
 said: 
 
 " I was in the battle. I saw a cannon ball strike 
 within two feet of General Harrison during that fight. 
 I was there. I saw bomb shells and chain shot flying 
 thick around him. Horses were shot down under 
 him. I saw General Harrison there, and he was in 
 the hottest of the fight; and where balls flew the 
 thickest, and where steel met steel the fiercest, there 
 you would find General Harrison. I speak what I 
 know my eyes have seen. General Harrison is no.t a 
 coward; and those who call him a coward know noth 
 ing of him. He was a brave, prudent and fearless gen 
 eral. He took the right course during the last war; he 
 acted a noble part, and his country has honored him 
 for it. Ask the soldiers who fought by his side, whose 
 hearts were cheered by his valor, and who were led to 
 triumph and to victory by his courage, and bravery and 
 skill, if General Harrison was a coward; and they, sir, 
 will tell you no!" 
 
 But Martin Van Buren s "official organ" still hesi 
 tates not to proclaim General Harrison a "coward," a 
 a "granny," and a "petticoat hero." 
 
 General Tipton, late of the United States Senate 
 from the State of Indiana, who had served as an ensign 
 in the battle of Tippecanoe, testifies in regard to Gen 
 eral Harrison s courage and behavior in that engage 
 ment in the following manner: 
 
 " I think him as brave a man as ever lived; no man 
 could have behaved with more true courage than he 
 did. While the engagement was hottest and when 
 bullets flew thickest he was to be seen speaking in his 
 ordinary tone and giving commands with the greatest 
 precision. "The company to which I belonged," said 
 General Tipton, "went into action eighty strong and 
 only twenty survived. The firing upon us was most 
 tremendous. After the general had made his arrange- 
 
Political Campaign- of 1840. 
 
 ments for repelling the attack of the Indians at eitfier 
 point, he rode up to where I was, and made the fol 
 lowing inquiries: Where s your captain? He is 
 dead, sir. Where is the first or second lieutenant? 
 They are both dead, was the reply. Well, where is 
 the ensign? He stands before you, general. Well, 
 my brave fellow, said Harrison, hold your ground 
 for five minutes longer and all will be safe. " In fif 
 teen minutes the enemy was repulsed on all sides; 
 Tipton gallantly led on his few remaining comrades to 
 the charge, and victory perched upon the American 
 banner. 
 
 "As an evidence of Harrison s coolness in the midst 
 of danger, General Tipton stated that, at the moment 
 the conversation ended between himself and General 
 Harrison, and as the horse on which was mounted his 
 aide, the late General Taylor, of Indiana, was in the 
 act of turning, a rifle ball pierced him through the 
 body and brought him to the ground, catching his 
 rider s leg under him. It was a favorite black horse 
 of the general s, and he exclaimed, Ah! is my gallant 
 old black gone? Well, rise and mount again, for we 
 have no time to mourn the loss of a horse when so 
 many brave ones are exposed to a similar fate, and, 
 having remounted his aide, he dashed into the midst of 
 the danger. In a few minutes the battle was over." 
 
 Notwithstanding the statement of General Tipton, 
 Martin Van Buren s official organ" continues to con 
 nect the name of General Harrison with "coward," 
 "granny" and "petticoat hero." 
 
 Mr. Will, of Ross county, Ohio, in relation to the 
 battle of the Miami rapids, states as follows: 
 
 "That he had been a soldier under Wayne; that he 
 had risen from the post of a private to that of a cap 
 tain in the regular service. It was at the battle of 
 the Miami rapids that he first saw General Harrison. 
 He was then the aide of General Wayne. He saw the 
 youthful Harrison in the hardest, the hottest and the 
 thickest of the fight. I was shot through the body, 
 fell and was for some time unable to get up. I suc 
 ceeded, however, after great difficulty, in struggling to 
 
88 Reminiscences of the 
 
 my feet. Just at this moment Harrison came up to me 
 and exclaimed, Soldier, why are you not fighting with 
 your company? The blood was then gushing out of 
 my shoes. I informed him of my situation, and he 
 rushed on into the worst dangers of the fight. Some 
 denounce him as a coward. It is a base slander upon 
 a good and a brave man. I know and feel what I am 
 saying. He was a brave man, and a better officer I 
 never saw." 
 
 Still Martin Van Buren s "official organ" cries aloud 
 "coward," "granny" "petticoat hero." 
 
 Joseph Loranger, a respectable citizen of Monroe, 
 Michigan, gives his testimony in favor as follows: 
 
 " I was with General Harrison at Fort Meigs, and 
 when I hear those who were in their cradles at the 
 time or fleeing from danger stigmatize him as a cow 
 ard, I feel bound no longer to remain silent, but to tell 
 my fellow-citizens what 1 know. I was near him 
 when General Proctor demanded the surrender of the 
 fort, and I heard General Harrison say that he would 
 never surrender ; he would die in its defense rather 
 than give up the fort ; and he called upon all his 
 subordinate officers to join in his resolution; and that, 
 if he did fall, to never give up the conflict. Stimulated 
 by the firmness of their general, whom every officer 
 and soldier in the fort loved for his amiable qualities 
 and unflinching bravery, all resolved to die rather than 
 to dishonor their country by a surrender. You know, 
 fellow-citizens, the result. By his untiring perserver- 
 ance, by his late and early attention to duty, by his 
 constant encouragement of the private soldier by his 
 own example, and by his extraordinary skill, prudence 
 and bravery as a commander, the enemy were repulsed, 
 and the flag of their beloved country waved in triumph 
 over the fort which General Harrison and his brave 
 companions so gallantly defended." 
 
 But Martin Van Buren s "official organ" proclaims 
 General Harrison a "coward," a "granny," and a 
 "petticoat hero." 
 
 The following extracts of a letter from the hero of 
 Brownstown, Gen. James Miller, aftbrd additional 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 89 
 
 evidence of the "bravery, skill and judgment" of 
 General Harrison. At the time of the battle of Tip- 
 pecanoe General Miller was at Fort Harrison, about 
 seventy miles up the Wabash. He says : 
 
 "Although I was not in the battle still I took great 
 interest in it, had much conversation with all the 
 officers on their return and made every inquiry I could 
 think of respecting their movement and encampments, 
 the attack and defense, and the operations of the 
 battle throughout; and I made up my mind unhesitat 
 ingly that the campaign had been conducted with great 
 bravery, skill and judgment, and that nothing was left 
 undone that could be done consistently with the gen 
 eral s express orders from the War Department, which 
 I saw and read. Nor have I ever known or heard of 
 any act of his which has in the least degree altered 
 the opinion I then formed of him. I will add that if 
 I ever had any military skill I am more indebted for it 
 to General Harrison than to any other man. 
 
 " In those days I never heard that General Harrison 
 was a coward or wore petticoats. 
 
 "To conclude, I freely express my opinion, after 
 following him through all his civil and military career, 
 after living with him in his family more than six 
 months, that Gen. William Henry Harrison is as free 
 from stain or blemish as it falls to the lot of man to 
 be." 
 
 This is the testimony of as brave an officer as ever 
 wielded a sword; of the officer who, at the battle of 
 Lundy s Lane, gave the memorable reply, " I ll try," to 
 General Brown, when the latter inquired, if Miller 
 could dislodge the British artillery from their command 
 ing position, and forthwith accomplished his purpose by 
 the aid of his favorite weapon, the bayonet. 
 
 And yet Martin Van Buren s "official organ" calls 
 Harrison a "coward," a "granny" and a "petticoat 
 hero." 
 
 The following general, field and staff officers of the 
 Northwestern army gave to the world their testimonial 
 in writing, in which they express their surprise and re 
 gret "that charges as improper in form as in sub- 
 
(jo Reminiscences of the 
 
 stance" have been made against General Harrison. 
 And they conclude by stating, that, " With a ready 
 acquiescence, beyond the mere claim of military duty, 
 we are prepared to obey a general whose measures 
 meet our most deliberate approbation and merit that 
 of his country." 
 
 Lewis Cass, brigadier general United States Army. 
 
 Samuel Wells, colonel Seventeenth regiment United 
 States Infantry. 
 
 Thomas D. O wings, colonel Twenty-eighth regi 
 ment United States Infantry. 
 
 George Paull, colonel Seventeenth regiment United 
 States Infantry. 
 
 J. C. Bartlett, colonel quartermaster-general. 
 
 James V: Ball, lieutenant-colonel. 
 
 Robert Morrison, lieutenant-colonel. 
 
 George Todd, major Nineteenth regiment United 
 States Infantry. 
 
 William Trigg, major Twenty-eighth regiment Uni 
 ted States Infantry. 
 
 James Smiley, major Twenty-eighth regiment United 
 States Infantry. 
 
 Rd. Graham, major Seventeenth regiment United 
 States Infantry. 
 
 Geo. Croghan, major Seventeenth regiment United 
 States Infantry. 
 
 L. Hukill, major and assistant inspector-general. 
 
 Ed. Wood, major engineers. 
 
 But still Martin Van Buren s "official organ" reiter 
 ates "coward," "granny" and "petticoat hero." 
 
 After their term of service in the Northwestern 
 army had expired, the following officers addressed 
 General Harrison in this manner: 
 
 "On retiring from service, sir, we are happy in as 
 suring you of our fullest confidence and that of our re 
 spective commands in the measures you have taken; 
 they have been cautious and guarded, such as would 
 at this time have carried our arms to the walls of 
 Maiden had not the unhappy occurrences at the river 
 Raisin checked your progress, and for a short time 
 thwarted your plans of operation. That you may soon 
 
Politttal Campaign of 1840. 91 
 
 teach the enemy the distinction between an honorable 
 and savage warfare by planting our standard in the 
 heart of their country and regain the honor and ter 
 ritory we have lost, and, as a just tribute to valor, toils 
 and suffering, receive the grateful thanks of a gen 
 erous and free people, is among the first, the warmest 
 wishes of our hearts. 
 
 "EDWARD W. TUPPER, Brigadier-General. 
 
 " SIMON PERKINS, Brigadier-General. 
 
 "CHARLES MILLER, Colonel. 
 
 "JOHN ANDREWS, Lieutenant-Colonel. 
 
 vt WILLIAM RAYAN, Colonel. 
 
 " R. SPAFFORD, Lt. Col. 2d Regt. Ohio quota. 
 
 " N. BEASLEY, Major. 
 
 4 JAMES GALLOWAY, Major. 
 
 " SOLOMON BENTLEY, Major. 
 
 "GEORGE D ARROW, Major 
 
 " W. W. COTGREAVE, Major. 
 
 "JACOB FREDERICK, Major. 
 
 "His Excellency, WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, com- 
 mander-in-chief of the Northwestern Army. 1 
 
 Still, Martin Van Buren s "official organ" persists in 
 calling General Harrison a "coward," a "granny," and 
 a "petticoat hero." 
 
 I have it in my power, sir, to adduce many other valua 
 ble testimonials in relation to the courage, skill, ability 
 and conduct of Gen. William Henry Harrison, and par 
 ticularly the statements of Gen. John O Fallon, of St. 
 Louis, Colonel Chambers, of Kentucky, and Majors 
 Todd and Smith; but I will no longer test the patience 
 of the committee by heaping certificate upon certifi 
 cate, and testimony upon testimony. I might also call 
 upon at least four honorable gentlemen on this floor, 
 who gallantly fought at the side of the hero of North 
 Bend, to bear their testimony in favor of that brave 
 veteran and the cause of truth. But, sir, I forbear; for 
 if men will not be convinced with the ample evidence 
 which has been produced, neither would they be con 
 vinced "though one rose from the dead." General 
 Harrison had in his army several thousand men from 
 
92 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Western Pennsylvania. Many of them are now resid 
 ing in my district ; men as bold and brave as ever 
 breathed the "breath of life," and if the gentleman dared 
 to tell them that William Henry Harrison was a "petti 
 coat hero/ 1 he would very quickly have his mouth 
 stopped. Indeed, I never in my life saw a man who 
 had fought under Harrison that was not his warm 
 friend. But stay, I almost take that back; I did hear 
 once of six men in the county of Fayette, in Pennsyl 
 vania, who had been in his army, and yet were vio 
 lently opposed to his election; but, on inquiry, it turned 
 out that the whole six had been deserters and noto 
 rious scamps, insomuch that the General had printed a 
 hand-bill offering a reward for the apprehension of 
 every one of them. These men who deserted the 
 stars and stripes of their country are the only political 
 deserters I ever heard of from the Harrison standard. 
 
 But now let us look a little at the civil qualifications 
 and services of General Harrison, for he is still more 
 distinguished for his capacity and conduct in the civil 
 offices he has filled than for his qualifications as a mil 
 itary chieftain. As the governor of the Northwestern 
 Territory, which then embraced a region of the coun 
 try that lias since formed five States of this Union, and 
 afterwards as governor of the State of Indiana, he won 
 for himself the illustrious title of the " Father of the 
 Western Country." As a member, both of this House 
 and the Senate, and not less when Minister to the Re 
 public of Colombia, he conducted himself in a manner 
 to secure his own reputation, and to reflect honor upon 
 his country. 
 
 In every situation the polar star that governed all 
 his actions was the love of justice. When he was a 
 member of Congress, and a bill was up to increase the 
 pay of its members, he refused his vote to take up this 
 bill until justice had been done to the men -who had 
 been his companions in arms, by passing that pension 
 bill of which he was the earnest, ardent, inflexible, per 
 severing advocate. He refused to do justice to himself 
 till he had seen justice done to the old heroes who had 
 fought for the national liberty. Whoever wishes to 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 93 
 
 form a correct opinion in regard to this portion of the 
 life of General Harrison, and to peruse a compendium 
 of the speeches he delivered, and the principles he ad 
 vocated in this and in the other house, has only to con 
 sult a series of editorial articles, which were prepared 
 by Mr. Gales, the editor of the Intelligencer, where 
 they will see, as in a picture, the honest, manly, patri 
 otic, feeling character of the venerated hero whom the 
 people of the West so enthusiastically admire. Let 
 any man consider what was the weight of responsi 
 bility imposed on General Harrison when he was ap 
 pointed commander-in-chief over the whole North 
 western Territory by President Madison, whose elec 
 tion Mr. Van Buren so zealously opposed. Hear what 
 the Secretary of War, by direction of the President, 
 wrote to him on that occasion: " You will command 
 such means as may be practicable, exercise your own 
 discretion, and act in all cases according to your own 
 judgment." 
 
 Here is carte blanche unlimited discretionary power 
 over the whole West; the country and its interests 
 were placed at his disposal. Such was the confidence 
 reposed in him by James Madison. Subsequently Mr. 
 Monroe, acting Secretary of War, wrote General Har 
 rison in relation to the invasion of Upper Canada as 
 follows: 
 
 " No person can be so competent to that decision as 
 yourself, and the President has great confidence in the 
 solidity of the opinion you may form. He wishes you to 
 weigh maturely this impoitant subject, and take that 
 part which your judgment may dictate." 
 
 Such an amount of power was never intrusted to 
 any other officer of this Government. And did Harri 
 son betray the trust? Did he basely violate this confi 
 dence of the Chief Magistrate? No. Never; never 
 in a single instance. 
 
 Do you know r how it was that this same man 
 acquired, in so eminent a degree, the affections and 
 love of the officers and soldiers in the army? He, him 
 self, has disclosed the secret in four lines: 
 
 " By treating them with affection and kindness, by 
 
94 Reminiscences of the 
 
 always recollecting that they were fellow-citizens,whose 
 feelings I was bound to respect, and by sharing, on 
 every occasion, the hardships which they were obliged 
 to undergo." 
 
 General Harrison possessed the confidence and 
 approbation of every President of the United States, 
 from George Washington down to the election of 
 General Jackson. 
 
 In 1791, when nineteen years of age, he was ap 
 pointed by Washington an ensign in our army. 
 
 In 1792 was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. 
 
 In 1795 he was made a captain and placed in com 
 mand of Fort Washington. 
 
 in 1797 he was appointed by President Adams sec 
 retary of the Northwestern Territory, and ex-offico 
 lieutenant-governor. 
 
 In 1798 he was chosen a Delegate to Congress. 
 
 In 1801 he was appointed governor of Indiana, and 
 in the same year President Jefferson appointed him 
 sole commissioner for treating with the Indians. 
 
 In 1803 and 1806 he was reappointed governor by 
 President Jefferson. 
 
 In 1809 he was appointed by President Madison 
 governor of Indiana. 
 
 In 1814 he was appointed by Madison one of the 
 commissioners to treat with the Indians, and in the 
 same year, with his colleagues. Governor Shelby and 
 General Cass, concluded the celebrated treaty of 
 Greenville. 
 
 In 1815 he was again appointed such commissioner, 
 with General McArthur and Mr. Graham, and nego 
 tiated a treaty at Detroit. 
 
 In 1816 he was elected a member of Congress. 
 
 In January, 1818, he introduced a resolution in 
 honor of Kosciusko and supported it in one of the 
 most feeling and classical and eloquent speeches ever 
 delivered in the House of Representatives. 
 
 In 1819 he was elected a member of the Ohio senate. 
 
 In 1824 he was elected Senator in Congress, and 
 was apointed in 1825 chairman of the military com 
 mittee in place of General Jackson, who had resigned. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 95 
 
 In 1827 he was appointed minister to Colombia, and 
 in 1829 wrote his immortal letter to Bolivar, the deliv 
 erer of South America. 
 
 These, sir, are some of the public stations which 
 General Harrison has filled with so much honor to his 
 own character and with so great advantage to his 
 country. 
 
 RATIFICATION CONVENTION. 
 
 THE YOUNG MEN S WHIG NATIONAL CONVENTION 
 AT BALTIMORE MAY 4 ORDER OF THE PROCES 
 SION, BANNERS, ETC. 
 
 Sunday evening it rained, and the appearance of the 
 clouds foretokened an unpleasant Monday; but He, 
 who "tempers the wind" dispersed the lowering clouds. 
 The day was auspicious, sufficiently cool to prevent 
 exhaustion, and sufficiently warm for comfort. The 
 streets were filled at an early hour in the morning with 
 notes of preparation delegations assembling in private 
 meetings, delegates hurrying to and fro in search of 
 friends or badges, and the arrival of delegations from 
 the country, inspired an expectation of an uncommonly 
 interesting day. Before 8 o clock the marshals began 
 to ride through the streets to their various appoint 
 ments; and then commenced the rush of thousands; 
 the sidewalks of Baltimore street for two miles pre 
 sented an almost unbroken mass of eager expectants 
 waiting for the march of the procession. As the hour 
 advanced the roofs of the houses were scaled, and hun 
 dreds from their lofty perches looked for the Whig 
 array. The ladies, the bright-eyed beautiful ladies of 
 Baltimore, filled the windows. 
 
 At half past nine the firing of the national salute, 
 the signal for the march of the procession, began. Be 
 fore it was concluded the delegation from Philadelphia 
 
96 Reminiscences of the 
 
 City and county arrived, and, with their baggage in 
 their hands, hastened to their position in Cove street. 
 The front of the procession, led by the chief marshal, 
 accompanied by two aids, commenced its march. 
 
 THE PROCESSION. 
 
 The procession was led by Capt. James O. Law, 
 chief marshal of the day, and an aid on each side on 
 horseback. He had appointed rive assistants ; they 
 were Messrs. James H. Milliken, Washington Booth, 
 Charles H. Wilder, Levi Fahnestock and J. W. Os- 
 borne. A fine band of music immediately followed 
 the marshal, playing " Harrison s March," as composed 
 by Professor Deilman. Then came the president and 
 officers of the Baltimore city delegation, bearing a 
 large white banner on a frame, with the following ap 
 propriate inscription from a new and popular song: 
 
 The people are coming from plain and from mountain, 
 
 To join the brave band of the honest and free, 
 Which grows as the stream from the leaf- sheltered fountain, 
 
 Spreads broad and more broad till it reaches the sea; 
 No strength can restrain it, no force can retain it, 
 Whate er may resist, it breaks gallantly through, 
 And borne by its motion as a ship on the ocean 
 Speeds on in his glory 
 Old Tippecanoe! 
 
 The iron-arm d soldier, the true hearted soldier, 
 The gallant old soldier 
 
 Of Tippecanoe!" 
 
 An eagle was represented at the head of the inscrip 
 tion, and beneath it was a barrel of * k hard cider." 
 
 INVITED GUESTS. 
 
 A number of barouches followed, containing the in 
 vited guests of the convention, in the first of which we 
 observed the Hon. Daniel Webster, of the United States 
 Senate, and his honor, Sheppard C. Leakin, mayor of 
 the city of Baltimore. 
 
 Next to the carriages, and on foot, came the sub 
 committee of arrangements, the Harrison convention, 
 and the central committee, distinguished by sashes and 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 97 
 
 appropriate badges, expressive of their official position 
 in the duties of the convention. 
 
 The above composed that portion of the line resting 
 on Baltimore street, which, as it passed down, was 
 joined by the delegation from 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 It was preceded by the State banner, with the 
 motto, "Crescit Sub Pondere Virtus." The delegation 
 was larger than was anticipated, and admirably did 
 the tine body of men which represented the " Granite 
 State" sustain their distinctive appellation. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 The delegation from the Old Bay State was alike 
 imposing for the strength of its numbers and the high 
 respectability of those arrayed under its numerous and 
 significant banners. It comprised about a thousand 
 delegates. It was preceded by an elegant banner 
 borne by the Boston members, having a view of the 
 city of Boston with the motto, "We are Where We 
 Have Been, and Ever Mean to Be." On the reverse of 
 the banner, "Sicut Patribus sit Deus Nobis. Bostonia 
 Condita, Civitatis Regime Donata, A. D. 1822." 
 
 The various sections of this delegation were distin 
 guished by banners with appropriate devices and 
 inscriptions. On the first of these was the figure of 
 "Fame," and inscribed on the reverse, "Harrison and 
 Tyler. 1 This was followed by one representing "The 
 Book of Laws/ and on the reverse, " Honor to the 
 Majesty of Law." Two richly finished silk scrolls, one 
 representing the " Constitution of the United States," 
 and having therefrom a sentence in letters of gold: the 
 other the ; Constitution of Massachusetts," with a sen 
 tence therefrom in the same letters. A silk banner 
 encircled with pictorial illustrations of General Harri 
 son s career, closing with the Presidency, and bearing 
 the words, "The Rising of Harrison." 
 
 The members from Bunker Hill with a banner bear 
 ing those tw r o words only, were very numerous, and 
 were cheered with the deepest enthusiasm. Succeed- 
 
98 . Reminiscences of the 
 
 ing them was a banner with a device of a golden goblet 
 overflowing with gold pieces; on the reverse the 
 words, " The Golden Humbug." On the next was 
 represented a quantity of mechanics implements of 
 labor, and on the other side the pithy expression, 
 "Buchanan; Beware of Edge Tools." It will be re 
 membered that Mr. Buchanan, in the course of a speech 
 some time since, exclaimed: " I would that the whole 
 of New England might hear my voice." They appear 
 to have heard it, and Mr. Buchanan is thus honored with 
 their reply. New England, like all other sections of 
 the Union, is not well pleased with that political 
 theory which would begin its practice by a reduction 
 of the price of labor. A banner followed with the de 
 vice of the sword and balance, bearing the motto, 
 " Equal Rights and Equal Justice." Amongst others 
 we noticed banners with the following inscriptions: 
 " Glad Tidings for the People;" " Union for the Sake of 
 Union;" " Success to our Cause." The device of an 
 arm and hammer with the motto, " Strong Arms and 
 Stout Hearts." 
 
 The Cape Cod delegation were distinguished by 
 banners with the following inscriptions: "The Fish 
 eries By These We Thrive." " Bounty and Prosperity 
 to the Fishermen." 
 
 The banner of the arms of the State was borne in the 
 rear of this long line of the young Whigs of Massa 
 chusetts, and it was encircled by the motto, " There is 
 Lexington, and Concord and Bunker Hill, and There 
 They will be Forever." 
 
 The Massachusetts delegation was accompanied 
 with a remarkably fine band of music which came on 
 with them, and whose performances excited much ad 
 miration. 
 
 RHODE ISLAND. 
 
 This gallant little State, which came with "victory 
 yet green upon her brow," was well represented. Her 
 sons moved on with an elastic step under the folds of 
 her State banner, representing an anchor hove, with 
 the appropriate motto, "Fast Anchored to Her An- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 99 
 
 cient Principles." Her representation was very large 
 for her population. 
 
 CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Connecticut, too, has but recently added a new leaf 
 to her laurels, and on the present occasion was repre 
 sented by a goodly number of her sons, who had just 
 reason to be proud of the station which she has per 
 manently assumed among her Whig sisters of the na 
 tional confederacy. She followed her State banner, 
 inscribed with the motto, "Connecticut Has Said, and 
 Connecticut Has Done It." 
 
 A fine band of music occupied the interval in the 
 line, and was followed by the delegation from 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 The proud " Excelsior" of the Empire State met the 
 eye in the van of the long line of intelligent, enterpris 
 ing and patriotic citizens who composed her numer 
 ous delegation. Almost every one of her many counties 
 was represented, and at the head of the delegation we 
 recognized its chairman, J. X. Reynolds, Esq. The 
 eyes of the spectators appeared to sparkle with new 
 interest and pleasure as the long line passed before 
 them, "the observed of all observers." The cry of 
 "Rescue" is in the shout of her sons ; we know "she 
 can;" we hope "she will;" may we live to write "she 
 has!" The motto on the armorial banner consisted of 
 the words, " New York, the Ebbs and Flows of Whose 
 Single Soul are Tides tp the Rest of Mankind." 
 
 NEW JERSEY. 
 
 The wronged New Jersey next appeared, and with 
 the free air and fearless port of men who know their 
 rights and dare maintain them, followed that banner 
 which they have preserved in the hands of the undis 
 mayed defender of their rights, their worthy gover 
 nor. The State banner bore the significant inscrip 
 tion, "The Next Impression of Her Broad Seal Will 
 Be Respected." A very elegant banner represented a 
 fac-simile of the seal of the State over which were 
 the words, " Our State Sovereignty Shall Not Be 
 
ioo Reminiscences of tJie 
 
 Violated." Around it, " The Great Seal of the State 
 of New Jersey." We cannot doubt but that it will 
 make a due impression in the fall. 
 
 The Nottingham delegation displayed a rich silk 
 banner inscribed, "Our Cause is Our Country, Our 
 Candidate Its Gallant Defender; Presented by the 
 Young Ladies at Mill Hill, April 8, 1840." Each 
 corner was beautifully embroidered with roses. 
 
 A banner in the West Jersey delegation contained 
 the motto, "Jerseymen Choose Their Own Represent 
 atives." 
 
 The members from Princeton, whose ranks were 
 well filled, were distinguished by a rich silk banner 
 representing the American eagle, with the words, 
 " Princeton Whig Association," and on the reverse, 
 " Harrison and Tyler." 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 The delegation from the Keystone State was im 
 mense, and presented a scene that in itself would 
 dignify the name of a procession. Its approach was 
 indicated by a large white banner, on which was 
 inscribed, "Keystone State. It is Coming." Then 
 followed the "Philadelphia City and County Delega 
 tion," with a banner signifying the same, and another 
 rich one bearing the arms of the State. 
 
 Another banner had on it a ship with the sentence 
 above, " Labor is Wealth," and below, " Don t Give 
 Up the Ship." In the rear of the Philadelphia mem 
 bers was carried a transparency, being a full-length 
 portrait of General Harrison, encircled by the words, 
 "Honor Be to Him Who Defends Our Homes and 
 Friends." On the reverse it stated that, "This trans 
 parency was displayed in Philadelphia in 1813, by ^ e 
 people, after the defeat of Proctor by the gallant Har 
 rison." A relic of the time when people en masse 
 offered honor to the victorious soldier. 
 
 York county was represented by about 150 "good 
 men and true" with their six marshals. In front of 
 the delegation from Democratic York was borne a 
 beautiful banner, on which was tastefully displayed a 
 
Political Campaign of ISJjO. 101 
 
 white rose with the motto, "The White Rose of 
 Pennsylvania Defends the Fair Fame of Harrison." 
 On the reverse was inscribed the " York County Dele 
 gation. 
 
 Cumberland county was also strongly represented. 
 Among her highly respectable delegation we noticed 
 the Hon. Charles B. Penrose, late Speaker of the 
 Senate, who afterwards addressed the convention with 
 great effect, at Monument Square. On the banner in 
 front of the delegation was inscribed these expressive 
 words: "Old Mother Cumberland She ll bag the 
 Fox." 
 
 From Schuylkill county a large number were pres 
 ent; their banner, " W. H. H. In peace the Farmer 
 and His Plowshare: in War the Soldier and his Sword." 
 On the reverse, "Harrison and Tyler." 
 
 The Dauphin county delegation exhibited an elegant 
 banner, on one side of which she announced her prin 
 ciples as " First for Jackson; First for Harrison. 
 Always Honest She Gave Up Cassar for Rome, and 
 Now to the Aid of Rome She Calls the Cincinnatus of 
 the West." On the other side was, " Pro Patria 
 Harrison and Tyler." 
 
 In the same delegation there was also a beautiful 
 banner, which attracted particular notice. This ban 
 ner was got up by two members of the Harris- 
 burg Tippecanoe Club, Messrs. A.Jones, and T. 
 Fenn. On one side of the banner, the body of which 
 was black satin, was a log cabin, in gilt, surrounded 
 with thirteen stars, indicative of the thirteen original 
 Stakes; and attached to the cabin was a barrel of hard 
 cider, also in gilt. The string of the door of the cabin 
 was not drawn in. On the same side was " Harrison, 
 Tyler and True Democracy," and " The Ball is Roll 
 ing," all also in gilt. On the other side was the Penn 
 sylvania coat of arms, and the inscription, "To Preserve 
 Their Liberties the People Must Do Their Own Fight 
 ing and Voting." all also in gilt. The banner was 
 splendidly decorated and trimmed. 
 
 The delegation from Fayette county conveyed a por 
 tion of its members in a complete log cabin, built 
 
IO2 Reminiscences of the 
 
 upon wheels and drawn by six horses. Upon the roof 
 a banner was displayed, inscribed "Laurel Mountain 
 Boys, from Fayette County, Pennsylvania, Head of the 
 Mississippi Valley." , Deer and fox skins, buck-horns, 
 with sundry implements of husbandry, adorned the 
 sides and roof of the cabin, and boughs of green trees 
 decorated the top. The appearance of such a thing in 
 our streets was not a little interesting to many as a 
 curiosity in the way of architecture, and of novelty to 
 all. A barrel of hard cider was placed in the- rear 
 of the cabin, and a gourd was suspended by it. A flag 
 in front announced whence it came, "From Fort 
 Necessity, Washington s First Battle Ground." 
 
 The Bucks county delegation followed it with the 
 banner, brief but expressive, "Huzza for Old Tippe- 
 canoe." 
 
 Lancaster county was preceded by a banner that 
 announced herself as "The Gibraltar of the Keystone 
 State, Good for 4,000 Majority for Old Tip/ 1 A club 
 from Lancaster city had a beautiful flag bearing the 
 words of General Harrison to his soldiers at parting 
 with them. 
 
 Mifflin county with an appropriate flag followed, 
 and 
 
 Adams county was largely represented, her banners 
 having a variety of devices. On the first banner was 
 "Adams County, Pennsylvania, Opposed to Reducing 
 the Wages of the Laborer and Mechanics." On 
 another, " Harrison the Conqueror of Proctor Shall 
 Lead Us to Victory." 
 
 The Delaware county delegation carried a banner 
 bearing the motto, "Tippecanoe; No Reduction of 
 Wages." 
 
 From Pittsburgh the delegation, was large and con 
 sisted of substantial looking men, the iron of Pennsyl 
 vania. They carried a banner consisting of a painting 
 representing Harrison and his staff, and on the reverse 
 a log cabin with Harrison at the plow in the fore 
 ground. 
 
 Mercer county was well represented. The banner 
 of the delegation presented a likeness of Harrison and 
 
Political Campaign of 1840.. 103 
 
 around it, "Our Candidate, Fort Meigs, The Thames, 
 Tippecanoe, William Henry Harrison, the Poor Man s 
 Friend/" On the reverse, "Our Candidates, Harrison 
 and Tyler." 
 
 DELAWARE. 
 
 The delegation of this gallant little State reached the 
 citv at an early hour yesterday morning. It comprised 
 representatives from all the counties. The banner 
 borne in front had on it the arms of the State, and on 
 the reverse the motto, " The First to Adopt the Last 
 to Abandon the Constitution." On another banner 
 was the motto, " Our Country Our Rights." The 
 New Castle Tippecanoe Club had its appropriate ban 
 ner, as had also the Sussex and Kent members. 
 
 The banners of the Kent county delegation had on 
 them the "Blue Hen s Chickens;" a name given to the 
 Delaware line in the glorious war of the Revolution. 
 As the worthy sons of worthy sires have arrayed 
 themselves under this banner, its appropriateness will 
 be seen from the following explanation, furnished by 
 one who took part in the struggle fior our National In 
 dependence: 
 
 " In the Revolutionary war Delaware was among 
 the most densely populated portions of our country, 
 and is said to have furnished five thousand fighting 
 men to the Revolutionary army. The regiment of 
 Delaware Blues was so called from their blue uni 
 forms. When they marched from Wilmington, in 1776, 
 they were indeed a gallant sight. Eight hundred men, 
 with such perfect discipline in their march that when 
 advancing in line, it was said a bullet might have passed 
 from one end of the regiment to the other between the 
 ankles of every soldier without touching a man, ex 
 hibited a spectacle such as has not been exceeded since 
 that day. 
 
 "They were exposed in every action from Long 
 Island to Charleston, and as fast as they fell in battle 
 their ranks were recruited from Delaware alone. Ja- 
 quett, who was one of their officers, used to say that 
 he could march all day with them, from sunrise to sun- 
 
io| . Reminiscences of the 
 
 set, and when, on Green s retreat, everybody else was 
 tired and asleep, his Sussex soldiers alone would get a 
 fiddle and dance around their watch fires. They were 
 engaged in thirty -two pitched battles, and were al 
 ways the last to retreat. It was natural that they 
 should have been then the pride and boast of the State 
 in which scarcely a man was left who had not a re 
 lation or friend in the regiment. 
 
 "Captain Caldwell had a company recruited from 
 Kent and Sussex called * Cald well s Game Cocks, and 
 the regiment after a time in Carolina was nicknamed 
 from Uiis The Blue Hen s Chickens," and The 
 Blue Chickens, as the fun and fancy of their comrades 
 preferred the phrase. But after they had been dis 
 tinguished in the South the name of the Blue Hen was 
 applied to the State whenever aft^r a battle the re 
 cruiting officers were sent home to get more chickens 
 of her raising, and those who came from Kent were 
 chiefly taken from her forests of white oak. The poor 
 fellows for the most part died in the battles of the Rev 
 olution, and but a very few of those w r ho returned ever 
 received any reward for their services, being paid off 
 in Continental money. But the Whigs of the Revolu 
 tion never ceased to boast of the Blue Hen and her 
 chickens, and to this day their descendants will often 
 boast in Kent that they are the cocks of that brood, 
 and were taken from the stooping white oak." 
 
 At this point of the procession was another log 
 cabin, with its appendages of dried skins and emblems 
 of the agricultural life, and, as an indispensable accom 
 paniment, a barrel of hard cider with its pendent gourd. 
 
 An elegant full-length portrait of General Harrison, 
 by Otis, was borne in front of the cabin. 
 
 Maryland occupied, of course, a large portion of the 
 line, and was rich in devices and decorations. The 
 Baltimore city delegation, under the banner of the 
 State, with the motto, "Religious Toleration and Pub 
 lic Liberty," was in the van; they also carried an ele 
 gant banner representing the "Battle Monument." 
 
 The delegation from St. Mary s, which followed, 
 was distinguished by a large banner inscribed, " Old 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 105 
 
 St. Mary s, the Adopted Land of Lord Baltimore, and 
 Now the Advocate of Old Tippecanoe." They were 
 accompanied by a very neatly finished log cabin, 
 drawn by eight gray horses, and having a variety of 
 tasteful decorations in character. It was the favorite 
 establishment of the kind with the ladies, and was 
 particularly honored with their attention. A banner 
 in the rear of the delegation exhibited the words, "Tip, 
 Tyler and the Tariff." 
 
 Worcester countv followed with a banner represent 
 ing a log cabin and having the inscription, "Harrison 
 and Tyler; Worcester County is Pledged to Support 
 Maryland." 
 
 A portion of the Frederick City delegation occupied 
 a well-built log cabin drawn by six horses; on the side 
 a placard was suspended with the words, "The Cabin 
 in Which This Morus Multicaulis Administration May- 
 Winter," on another, "Sweep the Augean Stable," for 
 which purpose a most ominous broom discovered itself 
 at the chimney top. On the branch of a tree on the 
 roof of the cabin was perched a mountain eagle, which 
 produced an excellent effect. 
 
 The- new made Howard district, victorious in their 
 first election, carried a banner inscribed "The Young 
 Whigs of Young Howard District, the True Blood of 
 the Old Maryland Line." On the other side was " No 
 Reduction of Wages." 
 
 A large log cabin from Sharpsburg here diversi 
 fied the line; it was a most substantial one, built on a 
 frame fixed on six wheels and drawn by eight beauti 
 ful horses, each wearing a set of bells. In this cabin a 
 delegation of forty came down from Washington 
 county, and from a peep into the interior their quarters 
 were quite comfortable. 
 
 A man was seated on a barrel of hard cider be 
 hind; on the sides were a number of skins of various 
 animals; in one of the windows a hat without a crown 
 was thrust; cooking utensils and farming^ implements, 
 with tools peculiar to the labor of the log-cabin occu 
 pants abounded about it, and upon the roof an opossum 
 was seen clinging to a branch of a gum tree. This 
 
io6 Reminiscences of tlic 
 
 was the favorite of the men, and a capital specimen it 
 was. 
 
 Carroll county also came in with a log cabin 
 similar to those we have described. 
 
 Talbot county delegation was distinguished by an 
 appropriate flag. 
 
 The delegates from Queen Anne s carried a hand 
 some flag, bearing the motto, "When Our Country 
 Calls, Obey Cincinnatus." 
 
 A large delegation from the Laurel Factory followed 
 with a magnificent and very costly banner. This 
 splendid ornament of the procession contains forty 
 yards of silk; its principal picture represents the Fac 
 tory village, including the river and all the prominent 
 buildings connected with it. Its motto above was, 
 "Protect American Industry," below the words 
 " Laurel Factory, Prince George s County, Maryland, 
 May 4th, 1840." On the reverse, a screw-and-lever 
 press, under which is a figure intended to represent the 
 President, and a laboring man at the lever; above is 
 the quotation, "A pressure which no honest man need 
 regret." The banner, trimmed in superb style by Sisco, 
 is suspended from a gilt spear across the top, the 
 feather projecting at one end and the point at the 
 other; this supported by gold cord attached to gilt- 
 banner poles. It was borne in the procession by six 
 persons. Mr. A. C Smith, was the painter. A large 
 gilt eagle is at the cap of the banner. 
 
 A delegation followed bearing the motto, " Old 
 Kent Co.; Union for the Sake of the Union." 
 
 The next made the candid acknowledgment, " The 
 Whigs of Cecil Often Beaten, Never Conquered." 
 Another banner was inscribed, "Hard Cider Harrison 
 and Refor m;" and on the other side, " Retrenchment 
 and Reform No Standing Army of 200,000 Men." 
 
 A curious affair followed here, which was immedi 
 ately preceded by a flag announcing that "Alleghany 
 is Coming." It was a huge ball, about ten feet in di 
 ameter, which was rolled along by a number of the 
 members of this delegation; the ball was apparently a 
 wooden frame covered with linen painted divers col- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 107 
 
 ors, and bearing a multitude of inscriptions, apt quota 
 tions, original stanzas and pithy sentences, which it was 
 impossible to collect in consequence of the motion of 
 the ball. We think there was other evidence yester 
 day that "the ball is in motion." 
 
 The Cumberland delegation was preceded by an ele 
 gant satin flag, worked by the ladies of that town. On 
 another flag of the same delegation was the motto: 
 " Buff and Bltfe Good and True For Tippecanoe." 
 
 Hartford, Cecil, Kent and other counties were desig 
 nated by their appropriate banners. 
 
 The Go vans town district displayed a banner repre 
 senting a log cabin, with the inscription " General Har 
 rison Elected to the Presidency by the Hard-Handed 
 Yeomanry." 
 
 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 The delegation from the "Ten-Mile Square" was 
 numerous. The members from Washington headed 
 the delegation with a banner representing the Capitol, 
 and a motto, " Insensible Alike to Blandishments or 
 Threats." A very beautiful banner, having a painting 
 of the genius of Columbia, and the inscription, " Co 
 lumbia the Sentinel of the Republic," was second in 
 order. This was followed by a flag with the signifi 
 cant motto, "The Liberty of Speech, if Not the Right 
 of Suffrage. " 
 
 Georgetown came next, and exhibited a banner, hav 
 ing thereon the appropriate sentences, "As Sentinels 
 on the Tower of Liberty We Sound the Alarm. Young 
 Whigs to the Rescue, " and on the reverse, " Under the 
 Shadow of the Throne, the Throb of Liberty Still 
 Beats On." 
 
 From Alexandria the delegation was large. Their 
 banner, which was very beautiful, represented a figure 
 on a pedestal, and bore the motto, " Public Good Our 
 Only Aim." 
 
 VIRGINIA. 
 
 Virginia just fresh from the encounter in which 
 she has added to her renown and given a new zest to 
 the hopes of the American people, and to their confi- 
 
io8 Reminiscences of the 
 
 dence In her strength and ability brought her own 
 good welcome with her welcome news. The delega 
 tion was very large. In every respect the flag of the 
 14 Old Dominion " and its followers did justice to the 
 place of the nativity of the gallant Harrison. 
 
 The Norfolk borough delegation bore a large ban 
 ner with the picture of the balance, over which were 
 the words of warning first given to Belshazzar, " Mene, 
 inene, Tekel Upharsin Thou Art Weighed in the 
 Balance and Found Wanting." On the opposite side 
 the significant expression, " Treasury Pap Inopera 
 tive." 
 
 From Hampshire county there was a considerable 
 delegation with an appropriate banner, and lively 
 green badges. 
 
 There was a delegation quite numerous bearing a 
 banner whose familiar motto especially belonged to 
 them. On the front an eagle was painted among the 
 clouds and lettered above, " Wise s District;" on the 
 reverse the hand-in-hand, with the well-known ex 
 pression which originated with Mr. Wise, and was so 
 interestingly exemplified yesterday, " The Union of 
 the Whigs for the Sake of the Union." 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 This delegation was comprised in one body under 
 the banner of the arms of the State, the motto upon 
 which was, "On, Stanly! On!" 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 A similar deputation from this State took its place 
 in the line, and hoisted the State banner in the cause. 
 It bore the motto, "The Palmetto Resists Oppression." 
 
 GEORGIA. 
 
 The enthusiasm which has circulated like electricity 
 throughout so large a portion of the Union, has not 
 been more thoroughly felt than among the warm tem 
 peraments of the sons of the South. Georgia, but a 
 short time since avowing her apathy in the Presiden 
 tial campaign, has felt the kindly influences of a re 
 newed hope, and sends forth her representatives to 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 109 
 
 the convention; while at home the name of Harrison 
 is cherished as the talisman that is to protect the Union. 
 Her banner bore the motto, " She Has Aroused From 
 Her Lethargy." 
 
 VERMONT 
 
 Came next, preceded by her armorial standard, and 
 presented a goodly array both in numbers and appear 
 ance. The Green Mountain boys who have ever 
 proved the inflexible supporters of the doctrine of 
 equal rights, received a hearty welcome. We. know 
 Vermont and can rely on her, and in the language 
 they have adopted on their flag, we feel assured that 
 "The Green Mountain Boys Will Do Their Own 
 Voting and Their Own Fighting." 
 
 TENNESSEE 
 
 Came with the sable weeds of solemn mourning on 
 her flag for one of her great and good men who had 
 just passed away. This token of respect to the mem 
 ory of the talented and virtuous Hugh L. White, 
 produced a deep sympathy of feeling on the beholder. 
 The motto of the standard was, "Not that She Loved 
 Caesar Less, but Rome More." 
 
 KENTUCKY. 
 
 There was a full delegation from this State, and 
 larger than was expected. The standard bore the 
 name of " Henry Clay and the Latin" passage " Tanto 
 Nomine Nullem per Eulogium." It was no doubt a 
 great gratification to the gentlemen from Kentucky to 
 have the pleasure of meeting their distinguished repre 
 sentative in the Senate, Mr. Clay, at the convention, 
 as it was to many others. 
 
 A band of music, as in the order of the procession, 
 followed Kentucky, and preceded a large delegation 
 from 
 
 OHIO. 
 
 The banner of the State with the well-selected 
 motto. "She Offers Her Cincinnatus to Redeem the 
 Republic, 1 led the procession from Ohio. 
 
 A large body of men from Hamilton county, in 
 
1 10 Reminiscences of the 
 
 which General Harrison resides, followed, bearing a 
 beautiful banner representing Harrison at the plow: 
 on the reverse a view of Cincinnati, the Ohio river 
 and the landing. They also brought on with them a 
 miniature log cabin, built of the buckeye, grown 
 on the farm at North Bend. 
 
 Next, a miniature log cabin, built of buckeye timber, 
 taken from North Bend, and brought here by the 
 Cincinnati boys. 
 
 Next, flag, an eagle; above, "Franklin County, 
 Ohio," under, " Harrison, Tyler and Reform One 
 Term;" on the reverse, above the eagle, " Our Country s 
 Good is all Our Aim," and under, "The Buckeyes of 
 Columbus, Ohio." 
 
 Next, a small flag, representing a barrel of hard 
 cider with the name of the Franklin County Reform 
 Club, " Straight Outs." 
 
 And last, a large painting from Muskingum county 
 representing the demand made by the British general 
 Proctor, upon General Harrison for the surrender of 
 Fort Meigs. Above, " General Proctor Demands the 
 Surrender of This Post," underneath, " Tell Your 
 General Its Capture Will Do Him More Honor Than 
 a Thousand Surrenders." On the reverse, " William 
 Henry Harrison Has Done More for His Country, and 
 Received Less, Than any Man Now Living." Met- 
 calf, of Kentucky. "The People of the United States 
 May They Ever Remember, that to Preserve Their 
 Liberties, They Must Do Their Own Voting and 
 Their Own Fighting." Harrison. 
 
 LOUISIANA. 
 
 The convention received some addition to its mem 
 bers from this State under their coat of arms, and the 
 motto " Sans Peur et Sans Reproche," upon a banner 
 with a pelican feeding her young. 
 
 INDIANA. 
 
 A very fine delegation was in attendance from the 
 " Buffalo" State, whose sons have cause to be known 
 and to appreciate the gallantry of the man they have 
 thus publicly honored. The flag was inscribed, " She 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 1 1 1 
 
 Will Cherish in Her Manhood the Defender of Her 
 Infancy/ 
 
 MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 The banner of Mississippi, which preceded a liberal 
 delegation, bore the motto, " Once More To the Rescue 
 We Honor Him Who Gave up Office for Our Sake." 
 
 A band of music here varied the procession; and it 
 was followed by the delegation from 
 
 ILLINOIS. 
 
 The banner was inscribed, " She will Teach Palace 
 Slaves to Respect the Log Cabin;" at the base, " The 
 Prairies Are on Fire! " 
 
 ALABAMA. 
 
 This delegation followed under the banner of their 
 vState with the pithy motto, " She will Soon Renounce 
 Allegiance to a King/ 
 
 MAINE. 
 
 The delegation from Maine was very full. A fine 
 body of men supported the banner which bore the apt 
 sentences, " Her Honor is Our Honor Pier Quarrel 
 Shall be Our Quarrel." 
 
 MISSOURI. 
 
 From this State the delegates followed their banner, 
 which was inscribed, a Missouri Remembers her Earl v 
 Friend." 
 
 MICHIGAN. 
 
 The delegation was limited in number, but not the 
 less welcome on that account. The banner had the 
 motto, "Oh May st Thou Ever Be what Thou Now 
 Art," a sentence to which we all respond, amen. 
 
 ARKANSAS. 
 
 From this State there was a small delegation to 
 unite with their brethren in the distinguished honors 
 of a day that will ever be brilliant in the civil annals of 
 American history. Under a banner with the words, 
 "We Remember Him Who Gave Up Office for Our 
 Sake." 
 
112 Reminiscences of the 
 
 BALTIMORE CITY TIPPECANOE CLUBS, 
 
 Came next, from the First to the Twelfth ward, in 
 clusive. 
 
 The club of each ward had an appropriate banner. 
 
 As the procession moved on through the city and 
 stretched out a lengthened line, the array was most 
 imposing. Such an immense concourse moving like 
 an "army with banners," never before on such an occa 
 sion thronged the avenues; while from one end of the 
 mighty column to the other loud acclamations ran, re 
 newed from rank to rank, and bespeaking the strong 
 enthusiasm which prevailed in every heart. Balti 
 more street was one long gallery of beauty. Innu 
 merable white handkerchiefs waved by fair hands 
 greeted each advancing pennon, and to the waving of 
 handkerchiefs and to smiles, and bright glances from 
 the windows, the young Whigs returned loud cheers 
 with uplifted hats. It may be safely calculated that 
 for every three rounds given for the Whig cause gen 
 erally, one was especially devoted to the ladies of 
 Baltimore. From Baltimore street bridge the view of 
 the coming procession was in the highest degree strik 
 ing, and gave a very comprehensive sight of the multi 
 tude, inasmuch as from Cove street to this point the 
 avenue is perfectly straight, while a slight elevation at 
 the bridge afforded a commanding view of the whole 
 distance westward. The wide thoroughfare of Balti 
 more street, viewed from that point, seemed wedged 
 by a solid mass of men, and no end could be seen to 
 the lengthened column. The extent of the procession 
 could not have been less than two miles, marching in 
 platoons six to ten abreast. 
 
 Throughout the whole course of the procession as 
 far as the extremity of the city, the most cheering 
 demonstrations were given from windows, doors, and 
 crowded balconies. In several of the streets flags and 
 mottoes were suspended across, and on one house in 
 Market street F. P. a splendid oil painting of General 
 Harrison was suspended amidst patriotic decorations. 
 The procession loudly cheered it as it passed. 
 
 In entering the inclosed ground appropriated for 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 113 
 
 the meeting of the convention, the procession passed 
 through a triumphal arch decorated with flags. This 
 spot, known as the Canton race-course, is even and 
 smooth and covered with a rich grassy sward. On 
 the right of the entrance stood a log cabin, constructed 
 in the backwoods style, the crevices between the logs 
 being well plastered with clay, a stick chimney at each 
 extremity, and a door well provided with a latch, and 
 the string outside. Across the lawn at some distance 
 a representation of Fort Meigs appeared in the shape 
 of a fortress, with port-holes and guns and surmounted 
 by the national flag waving gallantly in the breeze, a 
 sight which required no great stretch of fancy to bring 
 to mind the thought of the memorable day when the 
 stars and stripes floated over no emblematical struct 
 ure amid the smoke and roar of artillery, and the shouts 
 of brave men fighting valiantly. Towards the western 
 end of the ground a pavilion rose, inclosing the trunk 
 of a large tree, above the top of which ascended a flag 
 staff bearing the broad banner of the Union. 
 
 The invited guests, distinguished strangers, clergv- 
 men, members of Congress, several Revolutionary sol 
 diers, and others, were conducted to one of the plat 
 forms, over which floated the "stars and stripes of 
 liberty/ The other was reserved for the president 
 and officers of the convention. The various delega 
 tions, with banners flying and bands playing, ranged 
 themselves around, amidst a salute of twenty-six guns 
 from Fort Meigs. While the extreme of the proces 
 sion was drawing near the distinguished strangers on 
 the platform were severally introduced to the assembled 
 multitude, and greeted with long and deafening 
 cheers. 
 
 Among those who were thus particularly distin 
 guished, were Mr. Henry Clay, Mr. Webster, Mr. 
 Preston and Mr. Crittenden, of the United States Sen 
 ate; Mr. Montgomery, of Pennsylvania; Mr. Graves, 
 of Kentucky ; Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts: Mr. 
 Grinnell, of New York; Mr. Bond, of Ohio; Mr. Pen- 
 rose, of Pennsylvania; Mr. Crary, of Michigan; Mr. 
 Monroe, Mr. Ogden Hoffman, Mr. Carter, Mr. Granger 
 
1 14 Reminiscences of the 
 
 and Mr. Fillmore, of New York; Mr. CM wv.. 
 
 Mr. Jenifer, of Maryland; Ex-Governrr 1! v. urd, Col. 
 
 G. C. Washington, and some others. 
 
 Not the least interesting part of lr.. s ceremony was 
 the introduction to the convention from the rostrum 
 of Mr. Ely, of Philadelphia, a soldie. f the Revolution, 
 now in the eighty-fourth year of 1 <7e. As this 
 venerable man, with an energy arisi. ,*; of the en 
 thusiasm of the occasion, bared his wl. < icd head to 
 the multitude in approval of the cause wr.ich they had 
 assembled to promote, a triumphant sL i V. applause 
 showed how much they valued the presence and 
 approbation of their hoary-headed fellow-citizen. 
 
 The Reverend Henry B. Bascom, of Kentucky, then 
 fervently and eloquently addressed the Throne of 
 Divine Grace, after which the Hon. Henry A. Wise, 
 , of Virginia, introduced John B. Thompson, Esq., of 
 Kentucky, the chairman of the committee of chairmen 
 of the several delegations represented, by whom the 
 convention was called to order. Mr. Thompson, on 
 behalf of the same committee, then announced the fol 
 lowing nominations for president, vice-presidents and 
 secretaries, which nominations were agreed to by 
 acclamation. 
 
 President: John V. L. McMahon, of Maryland. 
 
 Vice-Presidents: W. Willis, of Maine; J. W.Emory, 
 of New Hampshire; R. Babcock, Jr., of Rhode Island; 
 J. B. Eldridge, of Connecticut: Charles Hopkins, of 
 Vermont; Thomas E. Sawyer, of New Hampshire; 
 D. P. King, of Massachusetts; J. N. Reynolds, of 
 New York; J. M. Keim, of Pennsylvania; Charles H. 
 Black, of Delaware; William Irick, of New Jersey; 
 A. Wilson, of Virginia; T. O. Edwards, of Ohio; J. 
 H. Crozier, of Tennessee; G. R. Clark, of Missouri; 
 J. Dillet, of Alabama; G. Mason Graham, of Louisana; 
 J. H. Wright, of Indiana; J. Constable, of Illinois; J. 
 R. Gilliam, of North Carolina; Thomas Allen, of Dis 
 trict of Columbia; F. M. Robertson, of Georgia; R. 
 Wickliffe, Jr., of Kentucky; M. Gooding, of Michigan; 
 Henry Page, of Maryland; Edward Gamage, of South 
 Carolina. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840, nc 
 
 SECRETARIES. 
 
 M. S. Appleton, of Maine; S. E. Garfield, Jr., of New 
 Hampshire; B. C. Hill, of Rhode Island; Austin 
 Baldwin, of Connecticut; E. P. Walton, Jr., of Ver 
 mont; E. G. Austin, of Massachusetts; Alexander 
 Kelsey, of New York; J. Wash. Tyson, of Pennsyl 
 vania; J. Burton, of Delaware; Jos. H. Nicholson, of 
 Maryland; N.J. Winder of Virginia; J. A. Corwin, 
 of Ohio; C. C. Norvell, of Tennessee; J. White, of 
 Missouri; W. S. Oliver, of Alabama; J. Warfield, of 
 Louisiana; John Hutton. of Indiana; C. J. Randall, 
 of Illinois; W. M Phitees, of North Carolina; A. C. 
 M. Pennington, of New Jersey; George Dawson, of 
 Michigan; R. L. Brent, "of District of Columbia; F. 
 Cooper, of Kentucky; J. E. Harvey, of South Caro 
 lina; R.Clarke, of Georgia. 
 
 The following resolutions, recommended to the 
 adoption of the convention by the committee of 
 chairmen, were then read by Mr. Thompson of the 
 committee, and unanimously adopted: 
 
 Resolved, By the Convention of the Whig Young 
 Men assembled at Baltimore, the fourth day of May, 
 1840, that the nomination of William Henry Harrison, 
 of Ohio, for the office of President of the United States, 
 and of John Tyler, of Virginia, for the office of Vice- 
 President of the United States, by the late Whig con 
 vention at Harrisburg, is hereby cordially approved 
 and ratified, and earnestly recommended to the sup 
 port of the people of the United States. 
 
 Resolved, That to sustain the said nomination, the 
 young men of the Union should unite their zeal, enthu 
 siasm, and vigor, to the wisdom, experience and judg 
 ment of their seniors; and to insure its triumph and 
 success, they should immediately adopt thorough and 
 efficient organization. 
 
 Resolved, That for that purpose it be recommended 
 to Democratic Whigs everywhere to form Democratic 
 Tippecanoe clubs, or Harrison associations, in the re 
 spective towns, counties and cities of the States 
 which shall establish and maintain an active political 
 
ii6 Reminiscences of the 
 
 correspondence, and procure and circulate political 
 information. 
 
 Resolved, That these clubs and associations, when 
 formed, shall select and appoint the ablest and most 
 efficient orators to address the people on all proper oc 
 casions, as may be deemed advisable, to proclaim the 
 truths of Republican liberty, and to expose the abuses 
 and corruptions of a spoils party which would enslave 
 the people by an odious and insufferable Federal des 
 potism in the form of an unchecked and unbalanced 
 executive, arrogantly assuming the purse, dictating laws 
 of revenue and finance, recommending standing armies 
 in time of peace, demolishing the co-ordinate depart 
 ments of the Federal Government, proscribing individ 
 ual citizens, and daringly attacking the rights and 
 sovereignty of the States. 
 
 Resolved, That we will not yield or relax until the 
 great work of reform and of redress of grievances be 
 finished; and to insure perseverance to the end of this 
 noble but arduous struggle for civil and political lib 
 erty, we will meet in our clubs at stated times, regu 
 larly; we will print and publish useful matter; we will 
 address ourselves in every reasonable and respectful 
 form to our fellow-countrymen; and, finally, we will 
 immediately preceding the Presidential election in the 
 fall, at such times as the central clubs of the respective 
 States may appoint, assemble in State conventions 
 throughout the Union to consider of preparations for 
 the coming contest. 
 
 Resolved, That to carry out these resolutions the 
 "Republican Committee of Seventy-six," appointed by 
 apponents of the present administration, at public 
 meetings in the city of Washington, February i5th and 
 1 8th, 1840, and the " Young Men s Committee of Forty - 
 one" be, and the same are hereby, constituted the cent 
 ral Democratic Tippecanoe club of the Union; and the 
 central Whig committee of the States, respectively, be, 
 and they are hereby, constituted the Democratic Tip 
 pecanoe clubs or Harrison associations, whose duty it 
 shall be to correspond immediately for the formation 
 of city, town and county clubs, and to superintend all 
 
Political Campaign of 181+0. 117 
 
 the other interests of the great and glorious cause, to 
 which we here pledge our dearest devotion and most 
 patriotic exertions. 
 
 Resolved, That it be recommended to each delega 
 tion to raise a free contribution of one dollar from each 
 of its members to support the opposition press at the 
 city of Washington, and generally to oppose the tyran 
 nical tax upon the office-holders of the Presidential 
 party. 
 
 Resolved, That the tund thus raised shall be placed 
 in the hands of the executive committee of Seventy- 
 six at Washington. 
 
 These resolutions were unanimously adopted by the 
 convention, and the following was then offered and 
 adopted also: 
 
 Resolved, That the president of this convention be 
 requested to call on the several States, through their 
 vice-presidents, for brief statements of their present 
 political condition and prospects. 
 
 In pursuance of this resolution, the president of the 
 convention severally called on the following gentlemen, 
 who addressed the convention in regard to the current 
 of popular opinion in their several States, the ruin of 
 business and destruction of trade growing out of the 
 measures of the administration, the necessity that was 
 felt for a change, and the conviction experienced that 
 nothing but the election of General Harrison could 
 arrest the disasters that threatened to overwhelm them. 
 The names of the speakers were: 
 
 Mr. Babcock, of Rhode Island. 
 
 Mr. Eldridge, of Connecticut. 
 
 Mr. Clarke, of Missouri. 
 
 Governor Duncan, of Illinois. 
 
 Mr. Emory, of New Hampshire. 
 
 The Hon. Henry A. Wise was called for, and ap 
 pearing at the front of the stand, thanked the conven 
 tion for the honor they had done him, and assured 
 them that it would afford him great pleasure to address 
 them on an occasion so deeply interesting to his feel 
 ings. He was sorry to say that the state of his health 
 would not permit such an effort. On Saturday last he 
 
1 1 8 Re ni in iscences of the 
 
 had almost worn himself down in addressing twenty- 
 five hundred of his fellow-citizens of Delaware, and he 
 now found himself totally inadequate to the task of ad 
 dressing twenty-five thousand. He hoped, however, 
 that his health would improve, and that he should yet 
 be able successfully to war against that system of gov 
 ernment which had entailed on us so many evils. 
 
 The following gentlemen were, by the committee 
 appointed for the purpose, introduced to the thousands 
 who were present. They appeared on the stand in 
 the order in which their names follow: 
 
 Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Messrs. Wise, Hoff 
 man, Preston, Graves, Curtis, Wm. Cost Johnson, 
 Williams, North Carolinia. Fillmore, Saltonstall, Jeni 
 fer and Kennedy. Another shout for Clay and Web 
 ster brought both of these gentlemen, arm-in-arm, to 
 meet the salutations of the people. Nine cheers greeted 
 them. Then followed Crittenden, of Kentucky; Hall, 
 of Vermont; Colonel Ely, of Philadelphia (who was at 
 the battles of Bunker Hill and Lexington); ex-Gover 
 nor Thomas and Colonel Washington, of Maryland, 
 and numerous other distinguished gentlemen, all of 
 whom were recognized and welcomed by the thou- 
 saiids of men determined to be free, assembled from 
 the sea-shore and the mountain-top. 
 
 " OLD MASSACHUSETTS/ 
 
 Daniel B. King spoke for the " Old Bay vState. 1 
 Twelve hundred men had come 500 miles to represent 
 her. He told the people that her present governor 
 had been elected by onlv one majority, but that he 
 should go out by a vote of ten thousand majority 
 against him. 
 
 NEW YORK, 
 
 The Empire State. Mr. Reynolds, of her delega 
 tion, said that all who knew her history for three years 
 past required no pledge of her devotion to the cause 
 of " Harrison and reform." " Wake her up at two 
 o clock in the morning, and she can, whilst rubbing 
 her eyes, vote down Martin Van Buren." 
 
Political Campaign of IX. jO. . \\<j 
 
 VERMONT. 
 
 Mr. Hopkins said the "Green Mountain boys" had 
 a thousand majority for Harrison, and that they could 
 "do their own voting and fighting." 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA, 
 
 The Keystone State. Mr. Brady proclaimed that 
 next fall Pennsylvania should be found "right side 
 up," that "she never was a Van Buren State." That 
 "when Van Buren was a candidate for the Vice-Presi 
 dency, she threw away her vote rather* than to vote 
 for him." He pledged that she would give 20,000 
 majority for old Tippecanoe at the next Presidential 
 election. 
 
 Mr. Southard, for the "Jersey Blues," said they 
 were not yet subdued. " She was not depressed in 
 the Revolution, she was not depressed now. When 
 she speaks again it will be in no small voice, and she 
 will teach a lesson to the wretched men who have 
 dared to insult her they will never forget. 
 
 "Corruption," said Mr. Southard, "has made the party 
 in power deaf, but the noise from Fort Meigs will 
 open their ears." 
 
 VIRGINIA. 
 
 Mr. Wilson of the " Old Dominion," appeared for 
 her. He said she had just spoken for herself. A 
 shout for Wise brought him out again. Though he 
 was evidently in ill-health, the people were almost 
 crazy to see and hear him. " I have," said Mr. Wise, 
 "been speaking so long against this wicked and corrupt 
 administration, that I have worn out the best pair of 
 lungs ever given to man." 
 
 Mr. Edwards from Ohio, the Buckeye State, re 
 marked that as speeches were all the go, he would give 
 a song. And he did so, and a good speech also. He 
 said they had a barrel of hard cider to bet that Ohio 
 would give the largest majority for Harrison of any 
 State in the Union. Who ll take that bet? 
 
 Mr. Humes, of Tennessee, was in mourning for 
 Hugh Lawson White. He commenced by remarking 
 
12O Reminiscences of the 
 
 that u On the mountains of Tennessee, the Whig fires 
 were blazing." When he spoke in memory of Judge 
 White, who, he stated had "died a martyr to free 
 dom," the convention felt the justness and propriety 
 of the remark. 
 
 Ex-Governor Duncan, from Illinois, appeared for 
 that noble State. When he said the "Prairies were on 
 tire "and that the alarm was sounded, the shout of 
 the multitude responded to the declaration that Van 
 Burenism was extinguished in that "Jackson State." 
 Said Governor Duncan, she was formerly Jackson and 
 Van Buren, the latter of whom is now entirely repu 
 diated, so ruinous are the measures of his administra 
 tion. 
 
 While the gentlemen mentioned above were ad 
 dressing the convention, a portion of the delegations 
 withdrew to the side of the second rostrum, and called 
 upon several of the gentlemen upon it, who succes 
 sively addressed them. 
 
 The first speaker was. Mr. Clay, a sketch of whose 
 address we subjoin. 
 
 MR. CLAY S ADDRESS. 
 
 Mr. Clay commenced by reference to the northwest 
 wind, which blew almost a gale, and compared it hap 
 pily to the popular voice of the immense multitude 
 who were present. Difficult as it w r as to be heard by 
 such a throng, he said he could not refrain from obey 
 ing the general summons and responding to the call.. 
 He was truly grateful for the honor conferred upon 
 him. "This," said he, "is no time to argue; the time 
 for discussion has passed; the nation has already pro 
 nounced its sentence. I behold here the advance 
 guard. A revolution by the grace of God and the will 
 of the people will be achieved. William Henry 
 Harrison will be elected President of the United 
 States. 
 
 "We behold," continued Mr. Clay, in his emphatic 
 and eloquent manner, "the ravages brought upon our 
 country under the revolutionary administrations of the 
 present and the past. We see them in a disturbed 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 121 
 
 country, in broken hopes, in deranged exchanges, in 
 the mutilation of the highest Constitutional records of 
 the country. All these are the fi nits of the party in 
 power, and a part of that revolution which has been 
 in progress for the last ten years. But this party, 1 Mr. 
 Clay thought he could say, "had been or was demolished. 
 As it had demolished the institutions of the country, so it 
 had fallen itself. As institution after institution had 
 fallen by it; and with them interest after interest, until 
 a general and wide-spread ruin had come upon the 
 country, so now the revolution was to end in the 
 destruction of the party and the principles which had 
 been instrumental in our national sufferings. 
 
 "This," said Mr. Clay, "is a proud day for the patriot. 
 It animated his own bosom with hope, and I," he 
 added, "am here to mingle my hopes with yours, my 
 heart with yours, and my exertions with your exertions. 
 Our enemies hope to conquer us, but they are deluded 
 and doomed to disappointment." 
 
 Mr. Clay then alluded most happily, and amid the 
 cheers of all around him, to the union of the Whigs. 
 "We are," said he, "all Whigs; we are all Harrison 
 men. We are united. We must triumph. 
 
 "One word of myself," he said, referring to the na 
 tional convention which met at Harrisburg in Decem 
 ber last. "That convention was composed of as en 
 lightened and as respectable a body of men as were 
 ever assembled in the country. The} met, deliberated, 
 and after a full and impartial deliberation, decided that 
 William Henry Harrison was the man best calculated 
 to unite the Whigs of the Union against the present 
 executive. General Harrison was nominated, and 
 cheerfully and without a moment s hesitation I gave my 
 hearty concurrence in that nomination. From, that 
 moment to the present, I have had but one wish, one 
 object, one desire, and that to secure the election of the 
 distinguished citizen who received the suffrages of the 
 convention. 
 
 "Allow me here to say," continued Mr. Clay, "that 
 his election is certain. This I say, not in any boasting 
 or over-confident sense; far from it. But I feel sure 
 
122 Reminiscences of the 
 
 that there are twenty States who will give their votes 
 for Harrison. Do not the glories of this day authorize 
 the anticipation of such a victory? I behold before 
 me more than twenty thousand freemen, and is it an 
 ticipating too much to say that such an assembly as this 
 is a sign ominous of triumph?" 
 
 Mr. Clay then warned his friends of two great errors 
 in political warfare too much confidence and too 
 much despondency. Both were to be feared. There 
 should be no relaxation. The enemv were yet power 
 ful in numbers and strong in organization. It became 
 the Whigs, therefore, to abstain from no laudable ex 
 ertion necessary to success. Should we fail, he added, 
 should Mr. Van. Buren oe re-elected, which calamity 
 God avert, though he would be the last man to despair 
 of the Republic, he believed the struggle of restoring 
 the country to its former glory would be almost a hope 
 less one. That calamity, however, or the alternative, 
 was left with the twenty thousand Whigs here assem 
 bled. 
 
 " We received our liberty." said Mr. Clay in con 
 clusion, "from our Revolutionary ancestors, and we are 
 bound in all honor to transfer it unimpaired to our 
 posterity. The breeze which this day blows from the 
 right quarter is the promise of that popular breeze 
 which will defeat our adversaries and make William 
 Henry Harrison the President of the United States." 
 
 MR. WEBSTER S ADDRESS. 
 
 Mr. Webster was now loudly called for, and ad 
 dressed the multitude from another quarter of the 
 stage to the following effect: 
 
 Mr. Webster said that he "-feared the attempt to make 
 himself heard would be a vain one. Never before 
 had the land in which we lived seen a spectacle like 
 the present. We count men by the thousands, and 
 they are here from the borders of Canada and the 
 rivers of Georgia. They are here from the sea-coast 
 and the heart of the country. The States are here 
 every one of them through their representatives. The 
 Old Thirteen of the Republic are here from every 
 
Campaign of 1840. 123 
 
 city and every county, between the hills of Vermont 
 and the rivers of the South. The new thirteen, too, 
 are here, without a blot or stain upon them. The 
 twenty-six States are here. No local or limited feeling 
 has brought them here no feeling but an American 
 one a hearty attachment to the country. We are 
 here with the common sentiment and the common 
 feeling that we are one people. We may assure 
 ourselves that we belong to a country where one part 
 has a common feeling and a common interest with the 
 other. 
 
 " The time has come," continued Mr. Webster, "when 
 the cry is change. Every breeze says change. Every 
 interest of the country demands it. The watchword 
 and the hope of the people is that William Henry 
 Harrison should be placed at the head of affairs. We 
 may assure ourselves," said Mr. Webster, "that this 
 change will come come to give joy to the many, and 
 sorrow only to the few. Mr. Van Buren s administra 
 tion is to be of one term and of one project, and that 
 project, new to us, not yet consummated. It is new to 
 our country, and so novel that those with whom it 
 originated, after hammering it for years, have not been 
 able to give form or shape to the substance. 
 
 "All agree, "continued Mr.Websteiy that we have hard 
 times, and many," he amusingly remarked, "supposed 
 the remedy to be hard cider." Changing his subject and 
 his manner, he exhorted in a strong and stentorian 
 voice the members of the convention to go hence fully 
 impressed with a solemn sense of the obligations they 
 owed to the country. "We were called upon to accom 
 plish not a momentary victory, but one which should 
 last at least half a century. It was not to be expected 
 that every year, or every four years, would bring 
 together such an assemblage as we have now before us. 
 The revolution should be one which should last for 
 years, and the benefits of which should be felt forever. 
 Let us, then, act with firmness. Let us give up our 
 selves entirely to this new revolution. When we see 
 the morning light grow bright, it is the sign of the 
 noon-day sun. This sign around me is no less lumin- 
 
124 Reminiscences of the 
 
 ousofthe brightness which is to succeed the present 
 rays of light. 
 
 "Go to your work, then," said Mr. Webster, in con 
 clusion ;" "I will return to mine. When next we meet, 
 and wherever we meet, I hope to say that this Conven 
 tion has been the means of good to you and to me and to 
 all. I go to my appropriate sphere and you to yours 
 each to act, I trust, for the good of the country in the 
 advancement of the cause we all have so much at 
 heart." 
 
 Mr. Webster retired, as Mr. Clay did, amidst the 
 plaudits of the thousands in hearing. 
 
 Mr. John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, succeeded Mr. 
 Webster upon the rostrum. " What have you come here 
 for?* said Mr. Sergeant. "I will answer. To bring back 
 to the people, and through the log cabins of the coun 
 try the neglected and lost Constitution. In the man 
 you have selected for your suffrages, you have one pos 
 sessing those qualifications in which the head of this 
 administration is most deficient political integrity. 
 He is the disciple of Washington of his school and of 
 his instruction. In his hands the country will be safe, 
 that which has been lost, in him will be found again. 
 The unjust and unskillful men in power have run our 
 national engine from the track made by George Wash 
 ington. He, the father of the Republic, left good ad 
 vice to his successors, but some of them, alas! have dis 
 regarded it, and driven this engine from the track. 
 
 " It is for the disciple of Washington to place it on 
 again. As Harrison received from Washington les 
 sons of wisdom which he regarded when young, so he 
 will maintain them when called, like Washington, to 
 maintain the honor of the country. No change," said 
 Mr. Sergeant, "can be for the worse. Through Har 
 rison we shall be brought to safety. In the history of 
 the world there is hardly a calamity recorded greater 
 than our own in the mal-administration of public offi 
 cers. In war there has been no greater calamity. 
 
 " Let us, then, go back as near as we can to the times of 
 that illustrious man, George Washington, whom Gen 
 eral Harrison, both in his private and public life, so 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 125 
 
 much resembles. Washington when a young man was 
 a surveyor. Harrison when quite a youth was a pio 
 neer in the wilderness and a companion of the brave 
 General Wayne. It was the name of Harrison which 
 had brought more than twenty thousand people here; 
 of Harrison who had fought and gained the battle of 
 the country. The people will elect him, for he is the 
 candidate of the people." 
 
 The Hon. William C. Preston, the eloquent and dis 
 tinguished senator from South Carolina, next re 
 sponded to the call of the convention. This, 1 said 
 he, "is the happiest day of my life. I see here the con 
 summation of almost all that I had hoped for from the 
 earliest day I entered public life. I hate tyranny, and 
 from my infancy was taught to despise a Tory. I was 
 born a Whig, and am yet a Whig. The Whigs have 
 met here," continued Mr. Preston, "to bring peace and 
 prosperity to the land, and I take pleasure in express 
 ing the belief that the man of their choice will main 
 tain and strengthen and consolidate the great national 
 institutions and enterprises of the country." 
 
 Continuing his remarks. Mr. Preston alluded to the 
 self-denying, magnanimous and patriotic conduct of 
 Henry Clay. The eulogium was the most eloquent we 
 have heard, and the audience heard it with interest and 
 delight. Returning to General Harrison, he said, " I 
 will devote to him my labor, my thoughts, my person 
 and my purse. I regard the Ohio farmer as a true and 
 devoted patriot, and I would the news of this day s 
 meeting could be borne to him upon the wings of the 
 wind." 
 
 Mr. Preston, in concluding his remaks, said he was a 
 Southern man, and happily, in connection with this 
 subject, did he allude to the recent demonstration of 
 opinion from the " Old Dominion." "Harrison, too," he 
 was proud to say, "was a Virginian born and a son of a 
 signer of the Declaration of Independence. He sprung, 
 too, from the best of the Anglo Saxon blood. He was 
 a descendant of that Harrison who, in the reign of the 
 tyrant Charles, said that as he was a tyrant I slew 
 him." Who," said Mr. Preston, "can boast of better 
 
126 Reminiscences of the 
 
 blood in his veins than this descendant of the king-de 
 stroying, despot-killing, tyrant-hating Harrison?" 
 
 Mr. Preston, in a manner peculiar to himself, after 
 exhorting the Whigs to use their anticipated triumph 
 as not abusing it, left the grave for a moment for the 
 gay. "Alas, poor Democrats! farewell, dear Loco 
 Focos! you have had your day. Every dog has his 
 clay! It is necessary, Mr. Van Buren, that you should 
 go for diminished .wages, and the country says you shall 
 go for diminished wages ! " Again, Mr. Preston drew a 
 happy picture of the 4th of March, 1841. He supposed 
 that Prince of Democrats, Martin Van Buren, to be 
 here in his coach and four horses. Following him 
 comes Amos Kendall, arid succeeding him Levi Wood- 
 bury with his empty bags, and still behind these worth 
 ies, the head of the War Department, Mr. Poinsett, the 
 author of the system for two hundred thousand militia 
 and thirty-four bloodhounds. "I see them now, 1 said 
 Mr. Preston, "in my mind s eye. They come from 
 Washington, are seen at Fell s Point, now at Canton, 
 and some one says to the party, there is the race-course 
 where met the national convention in May last." 
 
 Again Mr. Preston changed his manner and in a 
 burst of eloquence which electrified his hearers, ex 
 horted them to go into the possession of the adminis 
 tration of public affairs with clean hands and honest 
 hearts; and first of all to proscribe that system of pro 
 scription which had dishonored the country. "Let us 
 wash the ermine and purify the seats of government." 
 Mr. Preston also made a happy allusion to Cincinnatus 
 the plowman, citizen and general. In many respects 
 Harrison was like him, but the spectacle of selecting 
 the humble American, citizen to rule over the nation 
 was of the moral sublime, and far eclipsed anything in 
 Grecian or Roman history. 
 
 " In General Harrison," said Mr. Preston, in conclu 
 sion, "I believe in after time we may be able to say 
 that the country has a second Washington in the sec 
 ond Harrison. When this day comes, and God speed 
 the time, for one, I will be content, rest satisfied, leave 
 the field of labor and say, like one of old, Now, Lord, 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 127 
 
 lettest Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have 
 seen Thy glory. " 
 
 Mr. Preston was followed by Hon. S. Southard, of 
 New Jersey, who made a brief and eloquent address. 
 His allusions to New Jersey were very happy, and we 
 regret that we are without room to publish them. 
 
 Mr. Graves, of Kentucky, followed with a forcible 
 and stirring appeal. Others would have spoken, but 
 the hour admonished an adjournment. 
 
 The president then announced that the lateness of 
 the hour and the fatigue which they had undergone 
 rendered it necessary to suspend further proceedings 
 for the day, and he submitted a motion that the con 
 vention adjourn to meet on Tuesday morning, 5th inst., 
 in Monument Square, at nine o clock. 
 
 The convention adjourned accordingly, at 4 o clock. 
 
 MEETING IN MONUMENT SQUARE TUESDAY, MAY 5, 1840. 
 
 Monument square was thronged through the morn 
 ing and the day. The president of the convention, 
 John V. L. McMahon, Esq., presided with great dig 
 nity, and perfect order prevailed among the mass. 
 
 Pursuant to the adjournment of yesterday, thousands 
 assembled to hear the further deliberations of the con 
 vention. 
 
 The crowd was so great that it was impossible for 
 those on the outskirts to hear the speakers from the 
 rostrum elevated in frontof the court-house, and a sepa 
 rate rostrum being erected, several distinguished Whigs 
 came forward at the call of the people and addressed 
 them from it. 
 
 Mr. McMahon, the president of the convention, an 
 nounced that in furtherance of the resolution adopted 
 yesterday, the several vice-presidents or other persons 
 representing them from the several States, would in 
 form them of the prospects of the Whig party in the 
 State from whence they came, and be accordingly in 
 troduced: 
 
 Mr. Dillett, Alabama ; Mr. Thompson, Delaware ; 
 Mr. Stanley, North Carolina; Mr. W illis, Maine; Mr. 
 Graham, Louisiana ; Mr. WicklifTe, Kentucky; Mr. 
 
128 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Allen, District of Columbia; Mr. Robertson, Georgia; 
 Mr. Emory, New Hampshire; Mr. Proffit, Indiana; 
 Mr. Dawson, Micnigan; Mr. Bryan. South Carolina; 
 Mr. Tyler (a grand-son of General Putnam), Con 
 necticut; , Rhode Island; Mr. Wise, Virginia; 
 
 Mr. Stannard, Virginia, who addressed the convention 
 with great power and effect. Their speeches were re 
 sponded to by repeated cheers from the assembled 
 multitude, who presented a living mass covering a 
 large space of ground as far as the voice could reach, 
 and who remained upon the ground from early in the 
 morning until the convention adjourned for dinner. 
 
 INDIANA. 
 
 Mr. Profrit spoke eloquently and effectively for this 
 State. He called upon the Whigs of the Union to 
 reason mildly and kindly with their political oppo 
 nents. He said the patriotism of the American people 
 was sound to the core, and he earnestly hoped every 
 delegate to this convention would go to his home and 
 endeavor to reason with and conciliate his neighbor. 
 Such a course, and such a course only, was the proper 
 one. Whilst he lived he was for the Whigs. 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 Mr. King spoke eloquently this morning for those 
 he represented. "All the local differences of that State 
 were settled," said Mr. King, "and she would, on the 
 day of election, be foremost in the ranks." 
 
 OHIO. 
 
 Mr. Frazier said he was from North Bend, Harri 
 son s own log cabin, where the string of the latch was 
 never pulled in, and if he were Loco Foco to the core, 
 he would be compelled to hurrah for Harrison s mili 
 tary achievements, as he used, when a boy, to hurrah 
 for General Jackson. In his county, at the recent elec 
 tion, there were sixty-four Van Buren candidates, only 
 one of whom was elected, and he avowed afterwards 
 that he was elected by Whig votes. 
 
 KENTUCKY. 
 
 Governor Pope, of Kentucky, being called for, ad 
 dressed the assemblage for a considerable length of 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 129 
 
 time, in a peculiarly happy manner. He said he was 
 once a Jackson man, but that he "had now come to 
 atone for past mistakes." 
 
 The speaking went on during the day from several 
 stands. We can but briefly refer to the speakers. 
 
 Among the members of Congress were Henry Clay 
 and Wm. C. Preston, of the Senate 
 
 Both of these distinguished gentlemen spoke with 
 that feeling of popular enthusiasm to be expected from 
 the cheering signs and congratulations around them. 
 
 Mr. Clay was received with enthusiastic demonstra 
 tions of applause, and his stirring appeals and forcible 
 pictures of the sad experiments brought upon the coun 
 try, prompted a response in every bosom. 
 
 Mr. Preston, of South Carolina, was hardly less elo 
 quent than on Monday, and none the less interesting 
 to those who heard him, for many now heard him for 
 the first time. 
 
 Mr. Legare, of South Carolina, also made an elo 
 quent and spirited address. Few men in the country 
 have more power to interest, and no one has a more 
 brilliant imagination with which to illustrate the good 
 or bad principles of a government. 
 
 Mr. Stanley, of North Carolina, spoke eloquently 
 from the court-house rostrum, and after a stirring 
 address of an hour, the cry was, " On, Stanley, on! " 
 
 Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, was also called for, and 
 introduced to the convention by the president. The 
 appearance of the bold and talented Virginian was 
 responded to by the thousands present in loud and 
 repeated cheers. Mr. Wise, though much indisposed, 
 spoke with great energy and power, and especially in 
 reference to the many national peculiarities of his own 
 district, one of the most national of the Old Dominion. 
 "There Harrison and Tyler both were born. There, too, 
 old Ben. Harrison, the signer of the Declaration of 
 Independence, and Patrick Henry, the renowned cham 
 pion of our national independence, had their homes. 
 There also was fought the last naval battle of the Rev 
 olution, and there sprung up Bacon s rebellion. The 
 history of the district was eventful, and it was a Whig 
 
 9 
 
130 Reminiscences of the 
 
 district. The Old Dominion, God bless her! had now 
 joined his district, and Virginia was a Whig State, 
 ready to give her electoral vote to William Henry Har 
 rison and John Tyler." Mr. Wise spoke eloquently and 
 with great effect. Retiring, he was greeted with the 
 hearty and unanimous applause of the convention. 
 
 Mr. Willis, of Maine, was introduced to the assem 
 bled thousands by the president, and as one of the 
 vice-presidents, gave a good account of the Northeast 
 State. In the name of the Whigs of Maine he 
 promised ten electoral votes for Harrison and Tyler 
 upon the "ides of November." 
 
 No less interesting were the speech and pledge 
 given by Mr. Graham, another vice-president, from 
 the State of Louisiana. He, too, promised the electoral 
 vote of the Southwestern border State for Harrison 
 and Tyler. 
 
 Mr. Allen, of the District of Columbia, made a 
 report of the popular movements in the District, and 
 gave his reasons for the demonstration of public feel 
 ing among a people who are unjustly deprived of the 
 right of suffrage. 
 
 Mr. J. N. Emory spoke for New Hampshire. The 
 work in the Granite State, he said, was an up-hill 
 business, but the delegates here present would promise 
 at least a spirited contest. 
 
 Mr. E. S. Thomas from North Bend, Ohio, and 
 formerly of Baltimore, made a spirited address, and 
 many happy illustrations drawn from the history of 
 the Government and the times. 
 
 Mr. Reynolds, of New York city, delighted his 
 hearers with a sensible and practical address upon the 
 character and importance of the contest. 
 
 Mr. Robertson, of Georgia, a true Southron, spoke 
 eloquently of Georgia. His address was brief, and 
 one of the best made in the convention. " Georgia," 
 he said, "was awake to the importance of the coming 
 contest, and the fires kindled within her were of her 
 own irresistible and spontaneous lighting." 
 
 Mr. Wickliffe, of Kentucky; Mr. Bryan, of South 
 Carolina; Mr. Dawson, of Michigan; Mr. Tyler, of 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 131 
 
 Connecticut; Mr. Proffit, of Indiana, Mr. Thompson, 
 of Delaware; Mr. Stannard, of Virginia, and others 
 also spoke, but in the crowd it was impossible to hear 
 the names of half who spoke or of the thousandth of 
 what was said. 
 
 Mr. Penrose, of Pennsylvania, offered the following 
 resolutions, which were "seconded by Mr. Myers, of 
 the same State, and unanimously adopted: 
 
 Resolved,. That the delegates from each State repre 
 sented in this convention be, and they are hereby, re 
 quested to raise by contribution of not exceeding one 
 dollar for each person, a sum of money for the use of 
 the bereaved family of Thomas H. Laughlin, carpen 
 ter, of the Eighth ward of the city of Baltimore, and a 
 member of the convention, who was killed in the pro 
 cession of yesterday, while in the exercise of the un 
 doubted right of freemen peaceably to assemble and 
 deliberate upon the conduct of the officers of govern 
 ment," u a right inestimable to them and formidable to 
 tyrants only." 
 
 Resolved, That the sum so raised be paid to the pres 
 ident of the convention, to be by him applied for the 
 relief of the widow and children of our deceased fel 
 low member, to whom we hereby tender our condol 
 ence for his death in the glorious cause of his country. 
 
 At the close of the addresses the convention unani 
 mously resolved to attend the funeral of the lamented 
 Laughlin, at four o clock in the afternoon. 
 
 The convention then adjourned until 5 o clock p. M. 
 
 FUNERAL OF THOMAS H. LAUGHLIN. 
 
 The solemn duty of committing the remains of Mr. 
 Laughlin to the grave was performed by the delegates 
 to the convention in a body. The procession, accom 
 panied by a band of music playing a dead march, 
 moved from the late residence of the deceased, at the 
 corner of Light street and Guilford alley, between 4 
 and 5 o clock, p. M., to the burial ground of the 
 Methodist Episcopal congregation. The chief marshal 
 of the convention, Capt. James O. Law, supported the 
 weeping and bereaved widow of the deceased from 
 
132 Reminiscences of the 
 
 the carriage to the grave, where her condition was 
 most pitiable, as she stood convulsed with an agony of 
 grief at her sudden and irreparable loss. The ceremo 
 nies, by the officiating clergyman, Dr. Bake:, of New 
 York, were brief and impressive, at the close of which 
 the immense concourse returned to the city. 
 
 AFTERNOON. 
 
 At five o clock the convention reassembled. The 
 president having taken the chair, the committee of 
 chairmen of the State delegations reported the follow 
 ing resolution, which was seconded and advocated by 
 Mr. C. L. Talfourd, of Ohio, and unanimously agreed 
 to. The speech of Mr. Talfourd was one of great 
 beauty, exhibiting eloquence of the highest order, and 
 drew from the crowd loud, repeated and enthusiastic 
 cheers: 
 
 Resolved, That the president be directed to transmit 
 to Gen. William Henry Harrison and John Tyler, the 
 compliments of this convention, together with a copy 
 of its proceedings, signed by the president and secre 
 taries. 
 
 The people called for more speakers, and thereupon 
 the vast assemblage was severally addressed by dis 
 tinguished gentlemen from the different States. 
 
 Mr. Bradford, of Baltimore city, said it required 
 stronger nerves and cooler blood than his to withstand 
 the enthusiasm of the present occasion. As one of the 
 delegation from Baltimore, he had intended to remain 
 silent and listen to his brethren from abroad; but his 
 bosom was full of the inspiration which he had caught 
 from the scenes before him, and he could no longer 
 hold his peace. His speech throughout was full of 
 thrilling and patriotic sentiments, expressed with force 
 and listened to with attention. 
 
 Mr. S. T. Hurd, of Ohio, followed in an eloquent 
 and effective speech, some portions of which were 
 particularly sarcastic and amusing. 
 
 "After listening," said Mr. Hurd, " to the eloquent 
 speeches of the most talented men in the nation, he 
 had lost all confidence in his ability to entertain, for a 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 133 
 
 single moment, the vast assemblage before him. They 
 had been hearing big guns; he could not hope to enter 
 tain them with a mere pistol shot. But when called to 
 raise his voice on an occasion like this, he would not 
 shrink from a duty which he owed to those who had 
 sent him here, because he might not be able to perform 
 his duty so acceptably as others." 
 
 He "felt proud to stand there as the representative of 
 a portion of that State which would claim the distin 
 guished honor of offering her Cincinnatus to redeem 
 the Republic, and in and near which were laid the 
 scenes of many of his brilliant achievements. 
 
 His brother delegates from the Buckeye State had 
 given "eloquent and Stirring accounts of her southern 
 and central counties, audit devolved upon him to say a 
 word for old Cuyahoga, whenever slumbered at home; 
 and he would be sorry to find her napping here. She 
 and her sister counties, constituting the Western Re 
 serve, of which he could speak more definitely than 
 of other portions of the State, were under bonds 
 to give Old Tip a heavy majority in the coming con 
 test. No one could calculate on the number that might 
 slip the collar between this and November." 
 
 He knew of "many in his vicinity whose necks had be 
 come so sore from wearing the iron collar of the admin 
 istration that they found it extremely difficult to swal 
 low their accustomed doses of Loco Focoism. They 
 began to acknowledge that they felt also an extreme 
 pressure about the chest. The doctors had recom 
 mended Harrison plasters (not shin plasters) applied 
 to the parts affected, and think they will find perfect 
 relief by the fourth of March next. 
 
 Mr. Hurd retired from the stand amid the deafening 
 cheers of the immense multitude, and was succeeded 
 by Mr. Grund, of Philadelphia, who stated that "he was 
 a native German; that like others of his countrymen, 
 he had come here from his native land, with a bosom 
 swelling with the love of liberty. There was a charm 
 in the name of Democracy that name had long de 
 ceived his countrymen who had emigrated hither, but 
 thank God, the scales were falling from their eyes, 
 
134 Reminiscences of the 
 
 and they were beginning to distinguish between the 
 substance and the shadow. The Germans in his vicin 
 ity were coming over by hundreds to the Harrison 
 standard. He had been the political friend and the 
 biographer in German and English of Martin Van Bu- 
 ren. He was now the friend and biographer of Gen 
 eral Harrison". 
 
 Mr. English, of Philadelphia, next took the stand. 
 "He had," he said, "heretofore been a supporter of the 
 administration of General Jackson and Martin Van 
 Buren;" he had "listened to their promises of re 
 trenchment and reform;" he had "pondered upon the 
 seductive arguments which the party had put forth to 
 gull and deceive the people;" he had "witnessed the 
 manner in which those promises had been fulfilled, or 
 rather in which they had failed; and, as a true Ameri 
 can and friend of his country, he could no longer wink 
 at the corruptions of the present administration." 
 
 The committee of chairmen of the State delegations 
 also submitted the following resolutions, which were 
 seconded by Mr. McQuern, of North Carolina, and 
 unanimously adopted by the convention: 
 
 Resolved, That the members of this convention en 
 tertain a most grateful sense of the generous hospitality 
 of the citizens of Baltimore, who have, by receiving 
 us as guests, evinced their devotion to the cause in 
 which we are engaged, and given to the country an 
 other evidence of their enlightened and zealous pa 
 triotism; and that we shall return to our homes cheered 
 by their confidence and resolved individually to imi 
 tate their patriotic example. 
 
 Resolved, That the generous liberality, the untiring 
 devotion, and the judicious plans of the Baltimore com 
 mittee of arrangements demand their most hearty ac 
 knowledgments. 
 
 The president having temporarily retired from the 
 chair, Mr. Gill, of Ohio, on behalf of the committee of 
 chairmen, offered the following resolution; which was 
 adopted by acclamation: 
 
 Resolved, That the unanimous thanks of this con 
 vention be and they are hereby tendered to John V. L. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 135 
 
 McMahon, Esq., president of the convention, for the 
 prompt, dignified and successful manner in which he 
 has presided over its deliberations. 
 
 After the adoption of this resolution, Mr. McMahon 
 again appeared before the people, and expressed his 
 acknowledgments for the distinguished honor which 
 had been conferred upon him in elevating him to the 
 dignity of presiding over this convention of the elite of 
 the young men of our country, and for the additional 
 maik of kindness which rjad been shown in the 
 adoption of the last resolution. He then proceeded to 
 address the large assemblage before him with a fervor 
 and energy of eloquence, which, we believe, he never 
 surpassed; and which called forth, at every sentence, 
 the most rapturous and hearty applause. He closed 
 by saying that as the organ of the convention, he had 
 hitherto not felt at liberty to present any resolution or 
 proposition of his own, but now as they were about 
 to separate, after two days spent in such a manner 
 that would long make every member recall the recol 
 lections of this time with a glow of pleasure and 
 pride ; and as he sincerely wished that all those now 
 before him should meet together once more in this 
 world, he would submit for their adoption a resolution 
 that when this convention adjourns, it should adjourn 
 to meet in Washington on the 4th day of March, 1841, 
 to attend the inauguration of President William Henry 
 Harrison. This resolution, we need scarcely say, was 
 adopted unanimously, and amidst the most enthusiastic 
 cheering. The convention then adjourned. 
 
 OTHER MEETINGS AND INCIDENTS. 
 
 After the adjournment of the great meeting on 
 Monday at the Canton ground, a large number, con 
 sisting of portions of various delegations, guests at 
 the Eutaw House, spent the remainder of the after 
 noon in the social enjoyments of the table, rendered 
 doubly refreshing by the active exercise and excite 
 ment of the previous part of the day. After the cloth 
 was removed, General McDonald, of Virginia, was 
 called to the chair, and at his right was placed Mr. 
 
136 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Horner, of New Jersey, who was introduced to the 
 company as the gentleman who, at the Harrisburg 
 convention, last December, offered the resolution 
 which gave birth to the Young Men s Whig Conven 
 tion of the 4th of May in Baltimore. 
 
 Upon this announcement, the company all rose and 
 received Mr. Horner with cheers. The toasts, speeches, 
 and songs were all good, and were worthy of being 
 specially particularized, if the means were at hand 
 of preserving them. The Hon. C.B. Penrose, of Penn 
 sylvania, being present, a toast was offered allud 
 ing to him as a Pennsylvania senator, expelled by 
 lawless violence from the senate chamber. In reply 
 to this toast, Mr. Penrose spoke with great eloquence. 
 He referred to the incident alluded to in the toast, and 
 spoke of it as an act perpetrated by the same hand 
 which had recently obliterated New Jersey from the gal 
 axy of States, and which before had expunged the sacred 
 record of the Senate of the United States. He dwelt 
 upon the fearful prevalence of the spirit thus rife 
 throughout the land, and threatening destruction to all 
 principles of Constitutional liberty, dear to every true 
 American heart. Mr. Penrose spoke twice during the 
 festival, being called up by special allusions, and in both 
 addresses he gave an able exposition of the Demo 
 cratic-Whig principles which are the real basis of the 
 present organized opposition to the administration. 
 In reference to his own course during the Harrisburg 
 riots, he showed how his conduct had been in strict 
 accordance with the law of the Commonwealth. He 
 spoke of the state of feeling now prevailing in Penn 
 sylvania; of the great reaction which was going on 
 among the sensible yeomanry of that State. "Virginia 
 and Pennsylvania," said Mr. Penrose, "have always 
 gone together; and now that the Old Dominion has 
 thrown off the yoke, the hour of Pennsylvania s deliv 
 erance is at hand. 
 
 Speeches were made by gentlemen from Alabama, 
 Tennessee, New Jersey and other States, according as 
 delegates from abroad happened to be present, the 
 whole affair being without previous arrangement and 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 137 
 
 most of the company being strangers personally to one 
 another. Yet, as each knew his neighbors to be good 
 Whigs, it was not long before a cordial fellowship 
 united all in excellent concord and good humor, so that 
 everything passed off in a very spirited manner. There 
 were no doubt similar festivals in other parts of the 
 city, the particulars of which, if known, would tend 
 still further to give some adequate idea of the general 
 state of things existing in the city during the last few 
 days. 
 
 AND STILL THE PEOPLE CALL FOR MORE SPEECHES. 
 
 Tuesday evening about 7 o clock Monument Square 
 was again filled with an assemblage of five or .-six 
 thousand, consisting of large detachm ents from the 
 different delegations and citizens, all animated by the 
 same desire to hear the distinguished speakers whom the 
 occasion has brought here, which they had displayed 
 the foregoing day. 
 
 They were successively addressed by a number of 
 gentlemen. Among the speakers were Mr. Wickliffe, 
 Jr., of Kentucky; Mr. Patterson, of New York; Mr. 
 Crittenden, of Kentucky; Mr. Bell, of Tennessee: Mr. 
 A. W. Bradford, Mr. Charles H. Pitts, Mr. Wallis, Mr. 
 Jenifer and Mr. Pope, of Kentucky. Mr. Reverdy 
 Johnson closed the series of speeches with a most vig 
 orous and eloquent address, and the assemblage dis 
 persed to their several quarters about 1 1 o clock. 
 
 THE MURDER OF LAUGHLIN. 
 
 The circumstances connected with the killing of 
 Laughlin show the malicious and vicious opposition 
 to General Harrison, and hence we copy the following 
 from the Baltimore American of May 6, 1840: 
 
 "The shocking outrage which was perpetrated last 
 Monday on a respectable citizen of Baltimore, em 
 ployed in the lawful exercise of his rights as a free 
 man, will awaken a feeling of just and strong indigna 
 tion, if we mistake not, throughout the whole country. 
 The Sun of yesterday, whose account corresponds 
 with the facts of the case so far as we have been able 
 to ascertain them, says: 
 
138 Reminiscences of the 
 
 " The particulars of this melancholy and disgraceful 
 affair, are these: As the procession was proceeding 
 down Baltimore street, a gang of half-grown boys was 
 marching up, carrying on the top of a pole a stuffed 
 figure, representing General Harrison as a petticoat 
 hero, and when they arrived near Howard street they 
 attempted to form in with the procession; Mr. Laughlin 
 stepped out of the ranks with the view to stop them, 
 when he received the blow over the head from a stick, 
 which deprived him of life. An inquest was held over 
 the body by A. H. Greenfield, Esq., coroner, and the 
 jury returned as a verdict that "he came to his death by 
 a blow from a stick, in the hands of some persons un 
 known to the jurors." If these fellows came out for 
 the purpose of insulting and disturbing the procession, 
 they ought to have been arrested and severely punished 
 for their insolence and blackguardism. " 
 
 Mr. Laughlin has left a wife and four children, one 
 an infant. He was a respectable mechanic, a carpen 
 ter, residing on Federal Hill. The excitement in the 
 city is very great at this wanton and brutal murder. 
 We feel at present unprepared to comment upon it. 
 The act itself speaks in a language than which we can 
 add none stronger, nor is it easy to find any terms fit 
 to convey the feelings of indignation and horror which 
 such an outrage naturally inspires. 
 
 PETTICOAT ^SLANDER REBUKED. 
 
 The following letter from Gen. William S. Murphy, 
 in reply to a letter of inquiry, to the citizens of Erie, 
 Pennsylvania, sets at rest the vile slander put in circu 
 lation by Major Allen: 
 
 Chillicothe, May 2, 1840. 
 
 GENTLEMEN: The only candid and true statement 
 of the matter that can be made, is this: that the charge 
 which was thus first made by Major Allen, of the Sen 
 ate of the United States, whilst lie was a subordinate 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 139 
 
 officer of my brigade, is, and was, utterly and absolutely 
 false. It has no sort of foundation whatever. Such a 
 thing never was done, never was intended to be done, 
 and never entered into the heads or the hearts of the 
 fair, virtuous and patriotic ladies of Chillicothe to do. 
 It was a falsehood in the beginning. It was concocted 
 and conceived as a falsehood, told and uttered as a 
 falsehood, published as a falsehood, and republished 
 as a falsehood, known to be false, received as false, and 
 talked about as false, all over the Union, for years since 
 it was uttered. 
 
 In the convention of this State, held in Columbus, 
 not long after the publication of that falsehood, about 
 one hundred and fifty delegates (if my memory serves 
 me as to this number) from this county, branded the 
 charge as false, and their solemn attestation was re 
 ceived and made part of the proceedings of the con 
 vention; and the oldest and most respectable of our 
 citizens have done the same in their often-published 
 certificates. 
 
 With my best wishes for your welfare, I am, gentle 
 men, yours, very respectfully, 
 
 W. S. MURPHY. 
 
 THJt PETTICOAT HERO. 
 
 It is too true General Harrison, as will be seen by 
 the following letter, has had something to do with the 
 "petticoats:" 
 
 A CARD. 
 
 Headquarters St. Marys, Sept, 29, 1812. 
 General Harrison presents his compliments to the 
 ladies of Dayton and its vicinity, and solicits their 
 assistance in making shirts for their brave defenders 
 who compose his army, many of whom are almost 
 destitute of that article, so necessary to their health and 
 comfort. The materials will be furnished by the 
 quartermaster; and the general confidently expects 
 that the opportunity for the display of female patriot 
 ism and industry will be eagerly embraced by his fair 
 countrywomen. 
 
 WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 
 
140 Reminiscences of the 
 
 In consequence of this call, the ladies of Dayton and 
 its neighborhood, within ten days after it was received, 
 made up about eighteen hundred shirts for the use of 
 the army. They were made of calico furnished by the 
 Indian department, and from the annuities which had 
 been withheld from the tribes that had taken up arms 
 against the Americans. 
 
 A CURIOUS DOCUMENT. 
 
 A gentleman of the highest respectability, says the 
 editor of the Louisville Journal, has sent us the an 
 nexed document, which he vouches for as genuine. 
 It was handed to him by one of the signers of it, a 
 half-breed Indian and a relative of Tecumseh. 
 
 Council Bluffs, March 23, 1840. 
 
 To GENERAL HARRISON ** FRIENDS: The other day. 
 several newspapers were brought to us, and peeping 
 over them, to our astonishment we find the hero of 
 the late war called coward. This would have sur 
 prised the tall braves, Tecumseh of the Shawnees and 
 Round Head and Walk-in-the-Water of the Wyan- 
 dots. If the departed could rise again they would say 
 to the white man that General Harrison was the terror 
 of the late tomahawkers. The first time we got ac 
 quainted with General Harrison, it was at the council 
 fire of the late old Tempest (General Wayne), at 
 Greenville, on the headwaters of the Wabash, 1796. 
 From that period until 1811, we had many friendly 
 smokes with him, but from 1812 we changed our to 
 bacco smoke into powder smoke; then we found Gen 
 eral Harrison was a brave warrior and humane to his 
 prisoners, as reported to us by two of Tecumseh s 
 young men who were taken in the fleet with Captain 
 Barclay on the loth of September 1813; and on the 
 Thames, where he routed both the British and red men, 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 141 
 
 and where he showed his courage and his humanity to 
 his prisoners both white and red report of Adam 
 Brown and family taken the morning of the battle, 
 October 5, 1813. We are the only two surviving of 
 that day in this country. We hope the good white 
 men will protect the name of General Harrison. 
 We remain your friends forever, 
 
 CHAMBLEE, Aid to Tecumseh, 
 B. CALDWELL, Captain. 
 
 IN MISSOURI. 
 
 THE LOG CABIN RAISIN GLORIOUS DAY FOR ST. 
 
 LOUIS AND THE STATE THE PEOPLE HAVE 
 
 COME! 
 
 We recognize among those who bore a prominent 
 part the names of some who were the supporters of 
 Colonel Benton and original Jackson men. There 
 were signs of a breaking up of the old party lines, 
 and of a reorganization of the people to assert their 
 own power, and to enforce their authority that could 
 not be understood. The following report is from the 
 St. Louis New Era: 
 
 We cannot believe that any friend of Harrison 
 could, in his most sanguine moments, have anticipated 
 so glorious a day, such a turn-out of the people, as was 
 witnessed on Tuesday last in this city. Everything 
 was auspicious. The heavens, the air, the earth, all 
 seemed to have combined to assist in doing honor to 
 the services, the patriotism and the virtues of William 
 Henry Harrison. Never have we seen so much enthu 
 siasm, so much honest, impassioned and eloquent 
 feeling displayed in the countenances and bursting 
 from the lips of freemen.. It was a day of jubilee. 
 The people felt that the time had come when they 
 could breathe freely when they were about to cast 
 
142 Reminiscences of the 
 
 from them the incubus of a polluted and abandoned 
 party, and when they could look forward to better 
 and happier days in store for them and for the country. 
 The city itself bore, in some respects, the remarkable 
 character of a Sabbath day. By the Whigs, and even 
 among the Democrats, there was little work done. 
 The doors of all places of business were closed, and 
 nothing was thought of on this carnival dav but joy 
 and gratitude. We noticed upon the ground people 
 from all parts of the State and of the Union, and they 
 can give to their neighbors and friends a true descrip 
 tion of what they saw and heard. We shall, ourselves, 
 give such an account of the proceedings as our time 
 and opportunities permitted us to gather, leaving it 
 to the imagination to fill up the tout ensemble of the 
 picture. Any sketch of this kind must be necessarily 
 imperfect, for it is impossible for any one person to 
 see, hear, and describe everything that occurred. 
 
 Preparations had been made for the reception and 
 entertainment of the company, by the proper com 
 mittees, at Mrs. Ashley s residence. The extensive 
 park was so arranged as to accommodate the throng 
 of persons who were expected. Seats were erected 
 for the officers of the day, for the speakers and for the 
 ladies. At the hour appointed by the marshal of the 
 day, the people commenced to assemble at the court 
 house, and several associations and crafts were formed 
 in the procession as they advanced on the ground. 
 While this was going on, the steamboats bringing del 
 egations from St. Charles, Hannibal, Adams county, 
 111., and Alton, arrived at the wharf, with banners 
 unfurled to the breeze, and presenting a most cheering 
 sight. The order of procession, so far as we have been 
 able to obtain it, was as follows: 
 
 Music : Brass band. 
 
 1. Banner, borne by farmers from the northern part 
 of St. Louis township. This banner represented the 
 " Raising of the Siege of Fort Meigs " and bore as its 
 motto, "It Has Pleased Providence, We Are Victor 
 ious." (Harrison s dispatch.) 
 
 2. Officers and members of the Tippecanoe club, 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 143 
 
 preceded by the president, Col. John O Fallon, with a 
 splendid banner, representing a hemisphere surmounted 
 by an American eagle, strangling with his beak a ser 
 pent, its folds grasped within its talons, and its head 
 having the face of a fox in the throes of death. Above 
 was a rainbow, emblematic of hope, in which was the 
 name of the club. Below the hemisphere w r as the motto, 
 "The Victor in 1 1, Will be the Victor in 40." On the 
 reverse side, the letters " T. C." The members six 
 abreast. 
 
 3. Log cabin committee, six abreast. 
 
 4. The president and vice-presidents of the day. 
 
 5. Soldiers who served under Harrison in the late 
 war in a car, adorned with banners on each side 
 one, a view of a steamboat named Tippecanoe, with a 
 sign board, " For Washington City." On the other, a 
 view of the cabin at North Bend, the farmer at his 
 plow, with the inscription, " Harrison, the Old Sol 
 dier, Honest Man, and Pure Patriot." 
 
 6. Invited guests in carriages. 
 
 7. Citizens on foot, six abreast, bearing banners in 
 scribed, " Harrison, the Friend of Pre-emption Rights," 
 " One Term for the Presidency;" "Harrison, the Peo 
 ple s Candidate;" "Harrison, the People s Sober Sec 
 ond Thought;" "Harrison, He Never Lost a Battle;" 
 " Harrison, the Protector of the Pioneers of the West;" 
 "Harrison, Tyler and Reform;" "Harrison, the Poor 
 Man s Friend;" "Harrison, the Friend of Equal Laws 
 and Equal Rights." 
 
 8. Citizens on horseback, six abreast. 
 
 9. Delegation from Columbia Bottom. 
 
 10. Canoe, " North Bend." 
 
 11. Boys with banners, upon one of which was in 
 scribed, " Our Country s Hope," and on another, "Just 
 as the Twig is Bent, the Tree s Inclined." 
 
 These boys belonged to the several schools of the 
 city; were regularly marshaled, and presented, by the 
 regularity of their conduct, a most interesting spec 
 tacle. 
 
 12. Laborers, with their horses and carts, shovels, 
 picks, etc., with a banner bearing the inscription. 
 
144 Reminiscences of the 
 
 " Harrison, the Poor Man s Friend We Want Work." 
 
 13. A printing press on a platform with banners, and 
 the pressman striking off Tippecanoe songs, arid dis 
 tributing them to the throng of people as they passed 
 along, followed in order by the members of the craft. 
 
 14. Drays, with barrels of hard cider. 
 
 15. A log cabin mounted on wheels, and drawn by 
 six beautiful horses, followed by the craft of carpenters 
 in great numbers. Over the door of the cabin, the 
 words, "The String of the Latch Never Pulled In." 
 
 16. The blacksmiths, with forge, bellows, etc., 
 mounted on cars, the men at work. Banner, " We 
 Strike for Our Country s Good." 
 
 17. The joiners and cabinet-makers; a miniature shop 
 mounted on wheels; men at work; the craft following it. 
 
 17. A large canoe, drawn by six horses, and filled 
 with men. 
 
 19. Two canoes, mounted, and filled by sailors. 
 
 20. Fort Meigs, in miniature. 40 by 15 feet, drawn by 
 nine yoke of oxen. The interior filled with soldiers, 
 in the usual dress of that day, hunting shirts, leggins, 
 leather breeches, etc.; and one of the men a participant 
 in the defense of Fort Meigs. At every bastion of 
 the fort the muzzle of a piece of ordnance protruded 
 itself, and from another point a piece of artillery was 
 fired, at short intervals, during the day. The whole 
 was most admirably got up, and reflects much credit 
 upon the friends of" Old Tip," to be found at the " Float 
 ing Dock." 
 
 21. Delegation of brickmakers, with apparatus, clay, 
 etc., and men at work. 
 
 22. Delegation of bricklayers, with a beautiful ban 
 ner, representing a log cabin, brick house going up, 
 etc., and followed by the craft, six abreast. 
 
 Band of music. 
 
 23. Delegation from Carondelet. 
 
 24. Delegation from Belleville, 111., with banners. 
 
 25. Delegation from Alton, with canoe, drawn by 
 four horses, and banners representing the state of the 
 country, the peculiar notions of the Loco Foco party 
 about the reduction of the prices of labor to the stand- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 145 
 
 ard of the hard-money countries of Europe and of Cuba; 
 a sub-treasury box, with illustrations, etc. One of the 
 banners bore the inscription, "Connecticut Election, 
 4,600 Majority; Rhode Island, 1,500 Majority;" and a 
 cunning looking fellow, with his thumb on his nose, 
 and twisting his fingers in regular Samuel Weller 
 style, saying, "You Can t Come It, Matty." This dele 
 gation numbered about two hundred men. 
 
 26. Delegations from Hannibal and Pike counties 
 with banners, etc. 
 
 27. Delegation from Rockport with a log cabin, 
 canoe, banners, etc. 
 
 28. Delegation from St. Charles, with banners bear 
 ing the names of the twenty-six States, borne by as 
 many individuals, and having with them a handsome 
 canoe drawn by four horses. 
 
 Arrived at the southern extremity of the park, the 
 procession halted and formed in open order, the rear 
 passing to the front. The president of the day, John 
 F. Darbv, Esq., Mayor of St. Louis, soon afterwards 
 took his seat, assisted by J. R ussel, J. P. Gratiot, J. 
 Perry, William Tyler, Robert Walsh, Dr. James W. 
 Moss, Thomas Sappington, H. Von Paul, Edward 
 Tracy, L. J. Chauvin, James Clemens, Jr., John Porcelle, 
 John K. Walker, James McDonald, Samuel Mount, 
 John D. Daggett, James J. Wilkinson, William Carr 
 Lane, Frederick Hyatt, Thomas D. Yeats, John W. 
 Johnson, Stewart Matthews, John Bobb, William H. 
 Boyce, George Bushy, and Peter Lindell, as vice-presi 
 dents. Charles D. Drake, Esq., then arose and ad 
 dressed the assembled multitude. 
 
 The people were then successively addressed by Mr. 
 John Hogan, of Illinois, who, as was also Mr. Baker, 
 was called out several times during the (Jay: by L. V. 
 Bogy, Logan Hunton, Lewis F. Thomas, Wilson 
 Primm, Benj. Lawhead, Jas. Denny, J. J. Hardin, of 
 Jacksonville, and J. L. Dorsey. 
 
 Colonel John O Fallon was then called for, and 
 mounted on Fort Meigs, he thus addressed the people: 
 
 u Mv FELLOW CITIZENS: I feel deeply sensible of 
 the honor you confer upon me by calling me to ad- 
 
 10 
 
146 Reminiscences of the 
 
 dress this vast concourse of intelligent freemen. My 
 pursuits in life have led me into retirement; I am 
 wholly unused to speaking in public. This fact, al 
 though well known to many of you, I had reason to 
 believe, would not excuse me on the present occasion. 
 Aware that my known acquaintance with the eventful 
 scenes which we have this day assembled to commem 
 orate, is the only reason for this call, I shall, conse 
 quently) in responding to it, state something of what I 
 know in relation to them. 
 
 "It was on the first day of February, 1813, that the 
 army of General Harrison pitched their tents upon, 
 and adjacent to, the ground where Fort Meigs was 
 erected, and commenced the construction of a stock 
 ade, which was afterwards surrounded by a ditch and 
 embankments, embracing several acres of ground. 
 The snow was deep upon the ground, and the weather 
 extremely cold; and although the troops were raw and 
 greatly unaccustomed to such severe exposure, their 
 ardor never abated. Under many deprivations, they 
 performed their several duties with zeal and alacrity; 
 that zeal and alacrity which spring from the soldier s 
 deep confidence in the tried skill and courage of his 
 commander, and his warm attachment to his person. 
 Early in April, 1813, the garrison of Fort Meigs num 
 bered about 1,000 effective men; two brigades of 
 militia having been discharged in consequence of the 
 termination of their period of service. This fact being 
 early ascertained by the British general commanding 
 at Maiden, an expedition against Fort Meigs was im 
 mediately projected. His army of British and Indians 
 was near 4,000 strong, and he gave his Indian allies the 
 most confident assurances that he could carry the 
 fort by storm, should his invitation to General Harri 
 son to surrender with the honors of war be refused. 
 He had a heavy park of artillery, and this, with im 
 agined weakness of our defenses, he fancied would 
 give him a ready and easy conquest of the fort. And 
 it was even stipulated between the British general and 
 the celebrated Tecumseh, that, should the garrison be 
 taken and General Harrison remain alive, the Ameri- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 147 
 
 can commander was to be delivered to the Indian, who 
 designed to wreak upon him his savage vengeance for 
 the death of his many braves and warriors who fell at 
 the battle of Tippecanoe. Vain calculation! Vain, 
 this premediated purpose of base and barbarous 
 malice! The god of battes was with the brave 
 American general, and he was reserved by a wise and 
 far-seeing Providence, to be, in after times, the proud 
 hope, the high blessings, the bright prospects, the 
 noble deliverer of his country. 
 
 " Fort Meigs was invested and cannonaded with 
 bombs shells and red-hot balls for seven days, during 
 all which time General Harrison was ever at the point 
 of danger, planning and directing the defense, and by 
 his manner, his voice, his sagacious conduct, and his 
 undaunted courage, inspiring his officers and men with 
 an abiding confidence of ultimate victory. General 
 Proctor was at length driven to confess that he was 
 contending with a commander whose courage and 
 military talents were equal to any emergency; and 
 despairing of redeeming the pledge he had given to 
 his army, to make an easy conquest of the garrison, 
 and being informed by intercepted communication 
 that General Harrison was in daily expectation of 
 re-enforcements, he determined to effect that by strata 
 gem which he now despaired of accomplishing by 
 open warfare. He calculated by a timely and well 
 concerted deception to decoy into an ambuscade a 
 large detachment of our garrison then scarcely suffi 
 cient effectually to man the defenses. Should he 
 succeed in this the ready sacrifice of the fort would 
 inevitably follow. Suddenly a brisk and sharp firing 
 was heard in a thick wood near the fort, through 
 which passed the road to the interior. The alarm 
 strongly represented, as it was designed to do, an 
 Indian engagement. Shortly afterwards loud wailing 
 and groans were heard, as would naturally proceed 
 from wounded and dying men. The whole garrison, 
 at once concluded that an attack was made on our 
 brothers in arms on their way to our relief, and who 
 had the strongest claim to our assistance. Not so, 
 
148 Reminiscences of the 
 
 however, with General Harrison. He alone was 
 incredulous. Many of his officers waited upon him, 
 and almost demanded permission to fly to the rescue. 
 For a time the greatest excitement prevailed in the 
 garrison at the idea of the sacrifice of their gallant 
 comrades without an attempt to save them. General 
 Harrison s sagacity caught the design of the enemy in 
 a moment, and it required the exercise of all his pow 
 erful influence and authority to subdue the impetuosity 
 of his officers and men, and to convince them of this 
 cunning device of the enemy planned for their desruc- 
 tion. 
 
 "About 2 o clock on the morning of the 5th of May, 
 1813, two officers came, expresses from Gen. Green 
 Clay, who had passed the Indian lines, under cover of 
 the night, at the most imminent hazard of their lives. 
 They brought information that General Clay, with his 
 brigade of Kentucky militia, was encamped on the 
 river, a few miles above the fort, to which he would 
 proceed early that morning. This was most cheering 
 intelligence to General Harrison; and with this addi 
 tion to his force he determined at once to commence 
 offensive operations by attacking the enemy at every 
 assailable point, dislodge them from their position, 
 destroy their batteries, and thus terminate the siege of 
 Fort Meigs. With this view, two officers were 
 immediatety dispatched to General Clay with orders 
 to land about a mile above the fort, on the opposite 
 side of the river, a detachment of 800 men under one 
 of his most trustworthy officers to move upon the 
 British batteries, to carry them, spike the cannon, 
 destroy the ammunition with their carriages, and 
 immediately upon the accomplishment of this, to cross 
 the river to the fort under cover of our artillery. 
 
 "The brave Colonel Dudley did, in a most gallant 
 manner, take the British batteries and spiked some 
 pieces of their cannon; but. too confident of his own 
 strength, and ignorant of that of the enemy, to be soon 
 made available, he was induced, in violation of his in 
 structions, to occupy the ground taken until the enemy 
 had time to collect their forces in an adjacent wood, into 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 149 
 
 which he was Cunningly enticed by a partial firing of 
 a few Indians, where, after a bloody conflict, the larg 
 est of his command was taken. 
 
 " General Harrison displayed, in the judgment of all 
 his officers, the highest order of military talent during 
 the siege, for his efficient plans of defense, by traveses 
 through and across the encampment, as a cover for his, 
 the manner of protecting his magazine, the object of 
 constant attack, as well as for the plan, direction and 
 most opportune execution of the grand objects of the 
 two sorties, made by detachments from the garrison of 
 Fort Meigs on the 5th of May, 1813. 
 
 u The first sortie was directed against that portion of 
 the Indians and Canadian militia investing the south and 
 west end of the fort, for the purpose of drawing them 
 from the river, whilst General Clay s detachment was 
 effecting their entrance into the fort. 
 
 "The second sortie commenced its movement just at 
 the moment of their appearance, on the opposite side of 
 Dudley s detachment, advancing upon the British bat 
 teries, having the double effect of engaging the Indians 
 and preventing them from crossing the river to co-op 
 erate against Dudley, and accomplishing the destruc 
 tion of the enemy s batteries on the southeast side of 
 the river. 
 
 "On no occasion during the last war were greater 
 honors acquired than by General Harrison, who con 
 ceived and directed, and the gallent men who executed 
 his orders in these two brilliant sorties. 
 
 " In both engagements our troops, whilst utterly ex 
 posed, advanced upon and repulsed the enemy, shel 
 tered as he was by his position, and outnumbering our 
 men four to one. 
 
 " In the last sortie our men marched as firmly as vet 
 erans to the very mouths of the British cannon, receiv 
 ing, unmoved, their constant fire of grape shot, accom 
 panied by a most galling and destructive fire from 
 thousands of Indians and militia on our front and flanks. 
 Although a large number of our men fell and perished 
 upon the field of honor, their surviving comrades never 
 paused in their forward march until the batteries, with 
 
150 Reminiscences of the 
 
 a large portion of the British regulars in charge of 
 them, were captured, and the whole Indian and militia 
 force was dispersed and routed. Thus ended the 
 memorable siege of Fort Meigs. 
 
 "In conclusion, fellow-citizens, allow me to say that 
 I had the honor of serving under General Harrison at 
 the battle of Tippecanoe, during the siege of Fort Meigs, 
 and at the battle of the Thames. I can say that, from the 
 commencement to the termination of his military serv 
 ices in the last war, I was almost constantly by his side. 
 I was familiar with his conduct as governor and super 
 intendent of Indian affairs of the Territory of Indiana, 
 and after the return of peace, as commissioner to treat 
 with all the hostile Indians of the last war in the 
 Northwest, for the establishment of a permanent rec 
 onciliation and peace. I saw also much of General 
 Harrison whilst he was in the Congress of the United 
 States. 
 
 "Opportunities have thus been afforded me of know 
 ing him in all the relations of life, as an officer and as a 
 man, and of being enabled to form a pretty correct 
 estimate of his military and civil services, as well as his 
 qualifications and fitness for office. I know him to be 
 open and brave in his disposition, of active and indus 
 trious habits, uncompromizing in his principles, above 
 all guile and intrigue, and a pure, honest, noble-minded 
 man, with a heart ever overflowing with warm and 
 generous sympathies for his fellow-man. As a military 
 man, his daring, chivalrous courage inspired his men 
 with confidence and spread dismay and terror to his ene 
 mies. In all his plans he was successful. In all his 
 engagements he was victorious He has filled all the 
 various civil and military offices committed to him by 
 his country, with sound judgment and spotless fidelity. 
 In every situation he was cautious and prudent, firm 
 and energetic, and his decisions always judicious. His 
 acquirements as a scholar are varied and extensive, his 
 principles as a statesman sound, pure and republican. 
 
 " If chosen President he will be the President of the 
 people rather than of a party. The Government will 
 then be administered for the general good and welfare. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 151 
 
 His election will be the dawn of a new era! The 
 reform of the abuses of a most corrupt, prolifigate and 
 oppressive Government. Then will end the ten years 
 war upon the currency and institutions of the country. 
 The hard-money cry and hard times will disappear 
 together. Then will cease further attempts to increase 
 the wages of the office-holders and reduce the wages 
 of the people to the standard of European labor. 
 
 " Then shall we see restored the general prosperity 
 of the people, by giving them a sound local currency, 
 mixed with a currency of a uniform value throughout 
 the land. The revival of commerce, of trade, enterprise 
 and general confidence. Then the return of happier, 
 more peaceful and more prosperous days, when cheer 
 fulness and plenty will, once more, smile around the 
 poor man s table." 
 
 About sunset Fort Meigs was brought into the city 
 and stationed opposite the court-house, and an adjourn 
 ment took place until after supper. At that time a con 
 siderable portion of the toughest of the multitude re- 
 asaembled, and were addressed until eleven o clock by 
 Messrs. Geyer, Tunstall, Logan, John Bobb, Drake and 
 Captain Mallet in animated speeches, which were re 
 sponded to with undiminished enthusiasm. About the 
 close of the meeting the following resolutions were of 
 fered by Mr. Drake, and adopted with three cheers: 
 
 Resolved, That the Whig young men of St. Louis 
 county will respond to the call for a young men s con 
 vention at Rocheport on the 2oth of June, and that the 
 cause of old Tippecanoe shall not suffer because they 
 are not on the ground. 
 
 Resolved, That five hundred of the real "log cabin 
 and hard cider boys" of St. Louis county will stand at 
 a corner of the Rocheport cabin on the iSth, and join 
 in the convention of the 2Oth, when they hope to meet 
 ten thousand of their brethren and join with them in 
 doing honor to the farmer-statesman of the West. 
 
 Resolved, That a committee of twenty be appointed 
 to select the five hundred who shall go. 
 
 After the adoption of these resolutions, a song was 
 sung, and the company dispersed, 
 
152 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Thus ended this day s proceedings. Such a day of 
 political excitement never has been known in Missoun. 
 Such an assemblage of people has never taken place 
 within her borders. We do not wish to mislead by 
 exaggerating the number who were in the park, but 
 we are certain that we fall short of, rather than over 
 estimate it, when we put it at from eight to ten thou 
 sand. This glorious day cannot soon be forgotten by 
 those who were present. The young and the old will 
 speak of it with mingled delight and wonder; and we 
 hope and believe that it is but the precursor of many 
 such meetings in Missouri, by which she may yet be 
 saved from the reproach of being the last State to de 
 sert the fortunes of Mr. Van Buren. 
 
 TOM. CORWIN AT PORTSMOUTH. 
 
 The Hon. Thomas Cor win came down the river last 
 Wednesday in the steamer General Scott. So retired 
 and unassuming is he in his deportment, that the captain 
 and passengers were not aware who he was. But 
 scarce had the boat landed at our wharf before he was 
 recognized by some of our citizens. The word was 
 soon spread, and a crowd of our people gathered to 
 gether at the American House, anxious to shake the 
 hand of this distinguished and talented son of Ohio. 
 The number soon became too large to enter any room 
 of the hotel, and they took their position on the pave 
 ment in front of the hotel and called for "Tom Cor- 
 win." This call brought Mr. Corwin to the platform 
 in front of the house, from which, for an hour and a 
 half, he addressed the assemblage in that eloquent and 
 forcible style so peculiarly his own, upon the leading 
 political topics of the day. He most justly sustained 
 his high reputation as a stump speaker, and left the 
 Whigs of Portsmouth proud of their candidate for 
 governor. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 153 
 
 It is due to Captain Dustam, of the General Scott, 
 that it should be known, that as soon as he was in 
 formed who his passenger was he kindly lay at the 
 wharf long enough to enable Mr. Corwin to receive the 
 visits of our people and to address them. 
 
 On leaving the wharf the boat passed up the river 
 near the opposite shore until above, the upper part of our 
 town, when she turned round and passed down close 
 to the wharf. When opposite the hotel, her engine 
 was stopped for a few moments, and while floating in 
 the stream, the citizens along the street gave three 
 cheers for "Tom Corwin." 
 
 Mr. Corwin is on his way home to visit his family, 
 having obtained leave of absence for three weeks. He 
 has not yet resigned; and whether he resigns at all de 
 pends upon the action of his constituents. Portsmouth 
 Tribune. 
 
 WILLIAM C. RIVES, 
 
 A PATRIOTIC SON OF THE OLD DOMINION, COMES 
 STRAIGHT OUT. 
 
 Hon. William C. Rives, of Virginia, on the 22d of 
 February, ably addressed his fellow-citizens upon the 
 leading political topics of the day. having specially in 
 view the exhibition of Mr. Van Buren s unworthiness 
 for the executive office, and the propriety of sustaining 
 General Harrison in opposition to him. He sums up 
 his reasons for supporting Harrison in this manner: 
 
 " Regarding General Harrison, for reasons I have 
 mentioned, as the true Republican candidate for the 
 Presidency of the two now presented to the choice of 
 the country, I shall unhesitatingly give him my support. 
 I shall do so with the more cheerfulness because, while 
 best consulting thereby, as I honestly believe, those 
 great Republican principles which I have ever consid 
 ered to be inseparably united with the happiness of my 
 country, I shall assist to confer its highest meed on an 
 
154 Reminiscences of the 
 
 eminent citizen who has rendered it the most signal 
 and important services at a time, when, to serve meant 
 something far other than merely to receive the emolu 
 ments of office; on one who, having successively en 
 joyed the confidence of Washington, Jefferson and 
 Madison, would be naturally prompted to emulate their 
 high example, who, in all the various and delicate trusts 
 he has held, has ever shown that he preferred his 
 country to himself, and has retired from all, amid the 
 numerous and alluring temptations they presented to 
 private gain, with clean hands and unsuspected honor, 
 neither guilty of infidelity himself nor winking at it 
 in others: and who now in the honorable retirement 
 of private life, combining the ennobling pursuits of the 
 agriculturist, the scholar and the patriotic citizen, is 
 emphatically one of the people, knowing how to ap 
 preciate their interests, as well as to- maintain and 
 defend their rights. 
 
 MEETINGS IN MAY. 
 
 GREAT WHIG MEETINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS AND 
 
 VERMONT. 
 
 Thousands of people from Springfield, Amherst, 
 Northampton and the adjacent country met at Green 
 field on May 10. More than six thousand farmers 
 were there with their sunburnt faces and horny hands, 
 marching in procession that they might testify their 
 devotion to the cause of old Tippecanoe. The Deer- 
 field farmers wheeled into the procession with a team 
 of thirteen yoke of prime cattle, banners streaming from 
 the head of each. Bunches of ears of corn hung from 
 the sides of the huge car. But the most interesting 
 sight in the line was a company of five Revolution 
 ary soldiers from Coleraine their ages averaging 86 
 with these impressive words on their banner, "The 
 Last Blood of 76." There was an immense assemblage 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 155 
 
 of ladies and others on the brow of the hill, which 
 cheered each delegation as it passed. One of the ban 
 ners had a Florida blood-hound dressed in military. 
 A large company of Vermont mountaineers were pres 
 ent with a log cabin. 
 
 The convention was organized in a beautiful field in 
 the rear of the First Congregational church, Hon. 
 George Grinnell presiding. Patriotic speeches were 
 made by General Maltoon, a Revolutionary sage of 86 
 years, I. C. Bates, Myron Laurence, and General Wil 
 son, of New Hampshire. At the close of the services 
 the assembly partook of "the soldier s fare" for the 
 old soldier s friend, at the log cabin. The highest en 
 thusiasm prevails through the hills and valleys of New 
 England. 
 
 At old Feneuil Hall, Boston, there was a grand meet 
 ing on the izth of May to hear the report of the dele 
 gates to the young men s national convention at Balti 
 more. Speeches were made by Crozier and Hosmer, 
 of Tennessee, WicklifTe, of Kentucky, Governor Ever 
 ett, and others. Hon. Edward Everett presided. 
 
 At a Whig meeting at Bennington, Vermont, on the 
 nth, there was a procession several miles long. In it 
 a wagon drawn by twenty-five yoke of oxen, and a 
 wagon containing one hundred ladies and drawn by 
 twenty-five horses, with the banner flying, "Vermont, 
 the Star that Never Sets." 
 
 VARIOUS MEETINGS. 
 
 THE TIPPECANOE CLANS ARE R ALLYING FOR BATTLE 
 
 EVERYWHERE. 
 
 On the zd, 3d, and 4th of June, there was a big 
 camp meeting of the friends of Harrison and reform at 
 Springfield, Illinois. It was largely attended by the 
 people of Sangamon, and all the surrounding counties, 
 and also from Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois, and was 
 
156 Reminiscences of the 
 
 addressed by Edwards, Lincoln, Stewart, Linder, and 
 others. Upwards of 20,000 people were present, and 
 the zeal and enthusiasm kindled a flame that fairly set 
 the prairies on fire. 
 
 On the 1 5th there was a grand rally in Philadelphia. 
 The Pennsylvania Inquirer says: 
 
 " The meeting was one of the largest and most 
 enthusiastic ever held on any occasion in Philadelphia. 
 The hardy Democracy turned out in thousands, deter 
 mined to omit no opportunity for the expression of 
 their sentiments against the existing dynasty, with its 
 sub-treasury and standing army, and in favor of 
 the long tried and deeply cherished hero and civilian, 
 whom the people are about to elevate to the Chief 
 Magistracy of the nation. Citizens of every class and 
 rank in society mingled in the multitude, all devoted to 
 the same cause, all animated by the same feeling, all 
 looking forward to the results of the coming struggle, 
 as to the bright future which is to renerve the prostrate 
 arm of enterprise, and once more rouse the mechanic 
 and the manufacturer into activity and business. The 
 feeling throughout was of the right kind indeed earn 
 est and harmonious." 
 
 Among the banners were the following inscriptions: 
 "Third District We Set the Ball in Motion;" on an 
 other, "Kensington is Coming;" on a third, "This 
 Banner Was Displayed in 1813, by the People, After 
 the Defeat of Proctor, by General Harrison." 
 
 Spring Garden, Germantown. and Southwark, 
 turned out in great force; the Cohocksink boys were 
 also present with a neat banner; so also a deputation 
 from Delaware county, and from various parts of the 
 county of Philadelphia. When arrived at the square, 
 the scene was exciting, gratifying, and imposing in an 
 extraordinary degree. Even the most sanguine of 
 our friends, who expected a great meeting, "did not 
 venture to hope that a popular display, called at 
 a brief notice, would have surpassed anything of 
 the kind that had taken place in Pennsylvania since 
 the commencement of the present Presidential cam 
 paign." 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 157 
 
 The venerable John Ely, a soldier of the Revo 
 lution, presided, assisted by a number of vice-presi 
 dents. 
 
 A series of resolutions were offered by W. B. Reed, 
 Esq., and unanimously adopted. They went to ex 
 press the sentiments of those present, in reference to 
 the abuses of the administration; the prostration of 
 credit and confidence produced by the policy of the 
 executive; the necessity for a change of rulers before 
 the country can be again made prosperous and happy; 
 the confidence of the people in the wisdom, the sa 
 gacity, and patriotism of William Henry Harrison and 
 John Tyler, and the fixed resolve to use every honor 
 able effort to promote the elevation of those distin 
 guished citizens to the highest offices in the gift of a 
 free people. 
 
 After the adoption of the resolutions, the celebrated 
 "Ohio Blacksmith," Mr. Bear, made his appearance, 
 and was received with shouts of applause. He threw 
 off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and, for the space of 
 nearly two hours held the attention of the meeting in 
 a speech of great argumentative power and effect, en 
 livened and illustrated by choice and appropriate 
 anecdotes. 
 
 The meeting was further addressed by Major 
 Conover, of North Bend; the Hon. Waddy Thompson, 
 of South Carolina; Mr. Pope, of Tennessee; Mr. Jeni 
 fer, of Maryland; Mr. Grinnell, of New York, and sev 
 eral other gentlemen. 
 
 There was a grand rally at St. Louis, July 16, at 
 which Hon. S. S. Prentiss delivered one of the 
 most eloquent speeches that ever fell from the lips 
 of man. 
 
 The Whigs of Vermont met in a monster conven 
 tion on the 4th, and chose Hon. Solomon Foot presi 
 dent, and fourteen vice-presidents. Hon. Samuel C. 
 Craft and Hon. Ezra Meek were chosen electors for 
 the State-at-large. The old State officers were nomi 
 nated with entire unanimity. The Whitehall Chroni 
 cle says: 
 
 The assemblage was, by far, the largest ever known 
 
158 Reminiscences of the 
 
 in Vermont, and variously estimated at from 10,000 to 
 15,000. 
 
 This vast assemblage, from every county in the 
 State, was early erganized under the direction of Col. 
 H. Thomas, marshal of the day, in procession and 
 marched through the principal streets of the village, 
 then to College hill, thence north to Pearl street, down 
 which to the square, at which time the last of the pro 
 cession were just falling into line. It was more than 
 three miles long. 
 
 In the afternoon the people were addressed from a 
 platform in front of the court house by Messrs. Adams 
 and Upham, of Vermont; E. D. Culver, of New 
 York, and General Wilson of New Hampshire, with 
 their usual eloquence and ability, for more than six 
 hours. Acres of men were listening to them with an 
 intensity of interest commensurate with the great 
 objects for which they were assembled. 
 
 At Worcester, Massachusetts, there was a mighty 
 gathering of Whigs. The following electors were 
 chosen: Isaac M. Bates, Peleg Sprague, Robert G. 
 Shaw, Stephen C. Phillips, Rufus Longley, Sydney 
 Willard, Ira M. Benton, George Grennell, Thaddeus 
 Pomeroy, Samuel Mixter, Thomas, French, Wilks, 
 Wood, Joseph Tripp and John B. Thomas. 
 
 There was a large meeting at Westminster, Mary 
 land. Jacob Matthias was president; Thomas Hook 
 vice-president, and Elias Youghing, which was ad 
 dressed by William Pitts and others. 
 
 At Tuscaloosa, Alabama, June ist, over one thousand 
 Whigs met in convention, and were presided over by- 
 Judge Hunter, who had headed the Van Buren elec- 
 torial ticket in 1836, and had voted the party ticket 
 since. They nominated for Presidential electors Ar 
 thur F. Hopkins, James Abercrombie, John Gayle, 
 Henry W. Hilliard, Thomas Williams, Harry J. 
 Thornton and Nicholas Davis. The gathering was 
 eloquently addressed by Hon. H. W. Hilliard and 
 others. 
 
 The Whigs of Maryland met in State convention and 
 nominated for Harrison electors, David Hoffman, John 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 159 
 
 L. Kerr, Thomas A. Spencer, Theodore E. Lockerman, 
 George Howard, John T. Kennedy, Richard J. Bowie, 
 Jacob A. Preston, James M. Coole and Wm. T. 
 Cotton. Hon. Reverdy Johnson, Charles H. Pitts, 
 J. L. Ridgley, William Pitts, and others addressed 
 them. 
 
 The Whig convention of Maine, at Augusta, on the 
 iyth, had over two thousand present. Edward Kent 
 was nominated for Governor, and the State went "hell 
 bent" for him. Isaac Ilsley and Gen. Isaac Hodedon 
 were nominated for electors at large. There was 
 great enthusiasm. 
 
 The Whig State convention of New Hampshire met 
 at Concord and put a strong ticket in the field. The 
 electors chosen were as follows: Joseph Healey, 
 George W. Nesmith, Joseph Cilley, Andrew Pierce, 
 William Bixley, Thomas D. Edwards, and Amos A. 
 Brewster. Over five thousand were present. 
 
 Over twenty thousand people were at the great Fort 
 Meigs convention. The steamboat General Wayne 
 carried twelve hundred to the grand rally for the old 
 hero. Harrison. 
 
 On the i9th of June the largest meeting ever in Del 
 aware was held at Delaware city, to do honor to the 
 hero of Fort Meigs. 
 
 The Whigs of New Orleans had a tremendous meet 
 ing on the 24th, which was addressed by the gal 
 lant Prentiss, of Mississippi, who exhorted them to meet 
 the expectations of the country and to send up their 
 voice to the National Capital in a tone of thunder. A 
 correspondent says, " We did so, though we expect to 
 hear of the death of some of the young Kendalls. 
 Prentiss gave us the most brilliant speech we ever 
 heard. Wit, sarcasm, logic, declamation, humor all 
 were blended together in a style of magnificence never 
 surpassed. He says Van Buren is a little yawl at 
 tached to the great steamboat, General Jackson. That 
 it comes with ill-grace from him to denounce General 
 Harrison as an imbecile and no general, when he him 
 self is nothing more than a commander-in-chief of 
 Cuban blood-hounds. " 
 
160 Reminiscences of the 
 
 IN MARYLAND. 
 
 THE SHARPSHURG MEETING ITS PROCESSION, MOT 
 TOES AND ORATORS. 
 
 June 8, 1840. 
 
 DEAR GENERAL: More than six thousand persons 
 are assembled here to respond to the nomination of 
 Harrison and Tyler. This is a spontaneous burst of 
 enthusiasm. From mountain and valley, over rivers and 
 streamlets, they came to evince their hearty and en 
 thusiastic admiration of the pure hero of Tippecanoe, 
 and their disapprobation of the bloodhound, standing 
 army, sub-treasury administration of Martin Van Bu- 
 ren. Berkley and Jefferson counties, of Virginia, sent 
 fifteen hundred Whigs over the Potomac; Washington 
 and Frederick counties made up, with a little help from 
 Allegany, the balance. It is a miniature of the great 
 convention of the 4th of May. 
 
 After the people had assembled they were called 
 to order by a song, sung by an Ohioan. Mr. Weisel, of 
 Hagerstown, then addressed them from a stand erected 
 in the square, in a happy and animated speech. His 
 allusions to Virginia, her eminent statesmen, and her 
 late glorious conduct were peculiarly appropriate. 
 
 He was responded to by Dr. Quigley, of Virginia, 
 who addressed the assemblage in a short but spirited 
 speech. Dr. Quigley was followed by Capt. John 
 Snyder, of Harper s Ferry; he has been on the stump 
 before, or I am much mistaken; his speech was an 
 excellent one. Mr. Perry Orndorff, a soldeir under 
 Harrison at the siege of Fort Meigs, followed Captain 
 Snyder, and spoke nearly as follows: "I have heard 
 my general slandered and defamed; I have even heard 
 him represented as a coward. My fellow-citizens, it 
 makes my blood boil in my veins to hear the man who 
 was foremost when the battle was hardest, slandered 
 by men whose lives have been a reproach to those mas 
 culine exercises and virtues which have distinguished 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 161 
 
 his, and for which all men are formed. Yes, my fel 
 low-citizens, these men, whose infancy was cradled in 
 down, and whose riper years have been fed on treasury 
 pap from a golden spoon, without the slightest knowl 
 edge of hardship or a soldier s sufferings, stigmatize 
 my old commander as a coward. Fellow-citizens, it is 
 false. I know General Harrison is a brave and wise 
 man. I fought under him at Fort Meigs against the 
 British and Indians; and I cheerfully fight under him 
 now, against a standing army of 200,000 men. against 
 an army of defaulting office holders, and against the 
 human bloodhounds who remorselessly hunt down 
 and murder private reputation and martial fame. He 
 led me to victory in the first war, and he will lead me 
 and all of us to victory over his and our bloodhound 
 persecutors." As soon as the old soldier concluded, 
 the procession was formed by John Brinn, of Antietam 
 iron works, chief marshal, assisted by the district mar 
 shals, whose names will be given with their districts 
 in the following order: 
 
 The chief marshal and three aids led the procession; 
 then followed a band of music, next came the Clear 
 Spring delegation, bearing in advance a banner, hav 
 ing for a motto the candid confession and game 
 defiance: "Clear Spring District, No. 4; Often Beaten 
 But Never Conquered." Their second banner was a 
 portrait of Harrison, with the inscription, "Hero of 
 Tippecanoe;" their third banner was the national flag 
 with an eagle holding a scroll, on it was the national 
 motto, "E Pluribus Unum." The Sharpsburg district 
 came next, attended by its marshals, David Smith, 
 Samuel Mumma, David Hill, Thomas G. Harris, Jo 
 seph Porter, David R. Miller and Jonathan Hill; their 
 first banner in front represented a blacksmith at work; 
 above this picture was, "Antietam Iron Works," be 
 low, the motto. "Strike While the Iron Is Hot;" on the 
 reverse the motto, "By Industry We Thrive;" their 
 second banner bore the motto, " Harrison and Tyler, 
 Our Country s Hope," 
 
 "Martin Van Buren you won t do, 
 The people s choice is Tippecanoe." 
 
 11 
 
1 62 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Their third banner had, "The Voters of Antietam Iron 
 Works Know How to Appreciate the Worth of Gen. 
 William Henry Harrison. 1 The people from Middle- 
 town Valley, in Frederick county, followed next, their 
 marshals were the same as Boonsboro s; below their 
 banner was a starred blue satin flag, with blue stream 
 ers, on which were Harrison and Tyler; the motto on 
 the flag was, "From Mountain and Valley, We Rally. 
 We Rally." The gallant array of Tippecanoe boys 
 from Harpei s Ferry, preceded by martial music, came 
 next; their first banner was a likeness of General Har 
 rison, with the descriptive inscription, "Farmer of 
 North Bend and Hero of Tippecanoe; " their next or 
 namental display was the river Thames, with a canoe 
 named Tippecanoe in it, and in the canoe was a minia 
 ture Fort Meigs, and in the fort was John OrndorfF, 
 the old soldier who assisted in the defense of the real 
 Fort Meigs, the stars and stripes raised over every bas 
 tion; their third was a ship and plow with the motto, 
 "Commerce and Agriculture." The officers of this 
 delegation were, Captain J. Stryder, chief marshal, 
 John T. Hinkle, Lewis W. Washington, Thomas Boet- 
 ter, Collin Peter and Samuel Stryder, assistant mar 
 shals. The Shepherdstown district followed the Har 
 per s Ferry boys; they were led by Major Hamtranck, 
 their chief marshal, and his aide, Wm. Fouke, Esq., 
 assisted by Alexander R. Boteler, Dr. Thomas Ham 
 mond, Henry Boteler, B. T. Towner, James Chap- 
 lino, Wm. Lemmon, John Ernst and A. Cameron, 
 assistant marshals; their first banner was the Virginia 
 coat of arms (the goddess of liberty with one foot on 
 the neck of a satyr), on the reverse were the mottoes, 
 " Domestic Manufactures," and " No Reduction of 
 Wages," "No Standing Army in Time of Peace;" 
 their second banner bore the inscription, "Tip and 
 Tyler," and the motto, " Harrison, the Hero of Tippe 
 canoe." 
 
 Next came the Boonsboro Harrison men; their mar 
 shals were, Jos. Weast, chief marshal; Elias Davis, 
 Robert Fowler, Elias Snavely, Josiah Snavely and 
 Allen, assistant marshals. The Boonsboro and 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 163 
 
 Middletown delegations were consolidated. Their first 
 banner bore in front the motto, " Our Country s Good, 
 Our Only Aim;" on the reverse, "We Honor Virtue," 
 " We Reward the Brave." Their second banner bore 
 a pair of scales, with a sub-treasury and standing army 
 on one side, and a barrel of hard cider on the other; 
 the cider weighed them down. 
 
 Hagerstown, Beaver Creek, Cavetown and Lecters- 
 bury consolidated into one, and numbering more than 
 one thousand, came next; their marshals, Dr. J. JC. 
 Dorsey, chief marshal; Henry J. Bentz, Jno. Martenqy, 
 William Miller, Jno. Thruston, Samuel McCarty, Jap. 
 Gantz, Samuel Bloom, Jacob Windens, assistant mar 
 shals of Hagerstown. Peter Coblentz, chief marshal; 
 Samuel Keedy, chief marshal; Jos. Snavely, Samuel 
 Baker, John Kerr, assistant marshals, etc. The ban 
 ners of this party were sixteen in number. 
 
 1. American flag and gilt eagle. 
 
 2. "The Tip of All Tips is Tippecanoe." 
 
 3. Motto, " We Go for a Strong Team, and Old Tip 
 for the Driver." 
 
 The others, to the twelfth, were not different from 
 some we have given. 
 
 12. A large box of provisions behind a wagon, with 
 the label, " Farmers Fare and Some to Spare." 
 
 13. A wagon, with eight black horses, each horse 
 bearing a flag with the motto, "Tip s Coming." 
 
 14. Motto, "General Harrison s Beaver Creek 
 Friends." 
 
 The noble farmers, from Pleasant Valley, came next, 
 with the expressive motto on their banner, " Pleasant 
 Valley, a Terror to Loco Focoism." 
 
 Berkley county, Virginia, wound up the procession 
 with a splendid array of banners borne in wagons, log 
 cabins, etc. Their log cabin had a full-length portrait 
 of Harrison in front. 
 
 1. Banner, motto, " The Yeoman." 
 
 2. "Liberty and Union, Now and Forever, One and 
 Inseparable." "For President, William Henry Harri 
 son; for Vice-President, John Tyler." 
 
 3. Motto, " One Presidential Term." 
 
164 Reminiscences of the 
 
 4. " Safety of the Public Money." 
 
 5. "General Good of the People." 
 
 6. " Integrity of the Public Servants." 
 
 7. " We Have Flung the Broad Banner of Our 
 Country to the Breeze." "Union of the Whigs for 
 the Sake of the Union." 
 
 On a wagon were the following mottoes: 
 j"5o Cents." "i Cent." 
 
 ((Wild Cat.) (Red Dog.) 
 
 "The Hard Currency." 
 
 A painting of Van Buren running from Capitol Hill 
 and a big ball rolling down after him. 
 
 A painting of Benton rolling a ball, solitary and 
 alone. 
 
 A motto, " Down with Van Buren Principles, Sub- 
 Treasury and Standing Army." 
 
 A painting of Van Buren, sword in hand, re 
 viewing his regiment of bloodhounds. This was 
 one of the most laughable caricatures I have ever 
 seen. 
 
 After the procession had marched through the vil 
 lage and countermarched to the square, William 
 Price, Esq., was elected president. So enthusiastic 
 was the multitude that, without any further organiza 
 tion, Mr. Price was called out by acclamation. He 
 spoke about fifteen minutes, and was followed by Col. 
 James M. Coale, elector for this district. Colonel Coale 
 spoke about an hour. It is not sufficient to say Messrs. 
 Price and Coale spoke well; they both spoke with 
 eloquence; the latter, from the length of time he 
 occupied, had a better opportunity than the former of 
 indulging in that quaint humor which is suited to the 
 stump. Mr. J. P. Kennedy spoke in his best style; his 
 speech was an able one. Mr. David Hoffman spoke 
 but a short time, and concluded by introducing one of 
 nature s noblemen, Mr. Baer, the Ohio Blacksmith. 
 He made the best speech I have ever heard; not in 
 manner; but in matter. 
 
 The meeting dispersed before sundown to enable 
 the sturdv Whigs of Virginia and Maryland to return 
 home. 
 
j ^olitical Campaign of 1840. 165 
 
 I had forgotten to mention a beautiful evergreen 
 arch thrown across the principal street of Sharpsburg, 
 and surmounted by the star-spangled banner; and 
 also the Sharpsburg log cabin, the same you saw in 
 Baltimore on the 4th of last month. It was placed in 
 the square with a living bear chained on the roof, and 
 several living opossums, racoons, etc., perched among 
 the branches of a tree, which seemed to shoot from its 
 center. Yours, F. H. 
 
 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 GREAT HARRISON FESTIVAL AT ALEXANDRIA, Dis- 
 .TRICT OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 The Madisonian of June 19, contains a full account 
 of the proceedings of the meeting of the friends of 
 Harrison and reform, at Alexandria, from which we 
 are only enabled to give extracts. Washington and 
 Georgetown were fully and ably represented. 
 
 "Among the distinguished visitors from Washing 
 ton, we noticed Mr. Webster, Mr. Crittenden, Mr. 
 Preston, and Mr. Phelps, of the Senate; Messrs. King, 
 of Georgia, Jenifer, Graves, Waddy Thompson, Biddle, 
 Hill, Hoffman, Wise, Graham, James Garland, the 
 mayor of Washington, Colonel Washington, and sev 
 eral others. Upon landing from the boats, they were 
 received by the committee and welcomed in a very 
 beautiful and appropriate address by the mayor." 
 
 The honor of replying to this address, was. by the 
 spontaneous concurrence of all, conceded to Mr. Web 
 ster. His remarks were brief, but admirably appro 
 priate and imbued throughout with deep and genuine 
 emotion. 
 
 The ladies are represented as having taken, as they 
 always do, the most noticeable share in the proceed 
 ings of the day. 
 
1 66 Reminiscences of the 
 
 On arriving at the spot selected for the festival, ex 
 cellent arrangements were found to have been made 
 for the accommodation of those who wished to partici 
 pate. A number of patriotic toasts were drank, and 
 Mr. Webster again, in response to calls, made one of 
 his most eloquent responses, concluding thus: Can 
 we lose anything by a change? Let us, then, go for 
 ward together. We have made William Henry Harri 
 son the bearer of our standard, and while he holds it, 
 it shall not fall, unless we fall along with it." Mr. 
 Crittenden pronounced a glowing eulogium upon the 
 character and services of General Harrison, and re 
 lated many anecdotes illustrative of his courage, his 
 disinterestedness, his moderation and his humanity. 
 Messrs. Win. Preston. Ogden Hoffman, Biddle, of 
 Pennsylvania, Wise, King, Waddy Thompson, Phelps, 
 of Vermont; James Garland, Graves, Hill, of Virginia; 
 Graham, of North Carolina, and Mr. Janney, the Whig 
 elector for London county, Virginia-, severally ad 
 dressed the meeting. The proceedings closed by a 
 speech of uncommon force and spirit from Mr. Wise. 
 
 HARRISON AMONG THE PEOPLE. 
 
 His SPEECH AT COLUMBUS, OHIO, JUNE n, 1840. 
 
 General Harrison left his home to visit the site of 
 old Fort Meigs. He arrived at Columbus on the after 
 noon of Friday week, and left at 10 o clock next morn 
 ing. The short period he was present in that city was 
 remarkably interesting. At the moment he was about 
 to depart he was constrained to answer the calls of the 
 sovereign people, and he accordingly addressed them 
 nearly an hour in the frank and manly spirit of a sol 
 dier. We have read his remarks with unalloyed de 
 light. No man of any party who has a heart can pe 
 ruse them without an honest emotion of satisfaction. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 167 
 
 What a relief is such a speech from the bitter tirades of 
 party slang- whangers? The following we find in the 
 Ohio Confederate of the nth of June: 
 
 "General Harrison left Cincinnati on Thursday; he 
 arrived here, a distance of one hundred and twenty 
 miles, at 5 o clock p. M. on Friday. He was on his 
 feet receiving the calls and congratulations of our citi 
 zens for hours after his arrival. In the evening he re 
 paired, by invitation, to the log cabin, where additional 
 hundreds had congregated to meet this beloved and 
 venerated patriot. Here, with the frankness and un- 
 reservedness which have marked his character through 
 life, did he mingle for two hours with the log cabin 
 boys" of the capital. Long before the sun and before 
 our youth were astir, the general was; on the morning 
 of the morrow, up and about. Having breakfasted 
 with a friend at a remote part of the city, he was soon 
 again surrounded by the multitude of our people, who 
 refused to be satisfied without seeing and communing 
 with him. The period of his departure was at hand 
 the crowd increased; it was impossible that in the 
 brief interval every one could be presented individually 
 to the general, and all were anxious to see and hear 
 him. At the instance of a friend, who noticed the 
 popular solicitude, the general, from the platform of 
 the door of the National Hotel, addressed the people for 
 half an hour or more. We wish that every man in 
 America had heard that speech. How would the de- 
 famers of this great and good man have dwindled in 
 their estimation into merited insignificance. How 
 would the slanderers who impute to him motives which 
 never actuated him, and opinions which he never held, 
 and designs which he never entertained, and princi 
 ples which he never cherished, and who infamously 
 ascribe to him imbecility and decrepitude and cow 
 ardice how would these slanderers have been indig 
 nantly rebuked by the righteous judgment of an honest 
 and insulted people ? But as they did not and could 
 not hear it, we will endeavor to possess them of its 
 substance. We took no notes. Neither General Har 
 rison nor any other person thought of his making a 
 
1 68 Reminiscences of the 
 
 public address two minutes before he commenced it. 
 It arose out of the circumstances which surrounded him 
 at the moment, and signally illustrated a quality of his 
 character to which we have before alluded, the ability 
 always to say and to do exactly what is proper to be 
 said and done. The reader will bear in mind, there 
 fore, that we profess only to give him the subject-mat 
 ter, not the style and expression of 
 
 GENERAL HARRISON S REMARKS. 
 
 General Harrison said he was greatly indebted to 
 his fellow -citizens of Columbus and Franklin county; 
 the most cordial hospitality had at all times been 
 accorded to him by them. So long ago as the time 
 when he was honored with the command of the North 
 western army, and held his headquarters at Franklin- 
 ton, on the other side of the river, it was his fortune to 
 find in the people of Franklin county not only good 
 citizens, but patriots and soldiers. Their unvarying 
 kindness to him had laid him under many previous 
 obligations, and their generous attentions on the present 
 occasion he cheerfully and gratefully acknowledged. 
 
 He said he had no intention to detain his friends by 
 making a speech, and he did so in obedience to what 
 he understood to be the desire of those whom he 
 addressed. He was not surprised that public curiosity 
 was awakened in reference to some things which had 
 been lately published concerning him, nor was he 
 unwilling to satisfy the feelings of his fellow-citizens 
 by such proper explanations as became him in his 
 present position before the country. He confessed 
 that he had suffered deep mortification since he had 
 been placed before the people as a candidate for the 
 highest office in their gift nay, the most exalted 
 station in the world that any portion of his country 
 men should think it necessary or expedient to abuse, 
 slander or villify him. His sorrow arose not so much 
 from personal dear as was to him the humble reputa 
 tion he had earned as from public considerations. 
 He might draw consolation, under this species of 
 injury, from the revelations of history, which showed 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 169 
 
 that the best of men, who had devoted their lives 
 to the public service, had been the victims of tra- 
 duction. But virtue and truth are the foundations 
 of our republican system. When these are disregarded, 
 our free institutions must fall; he looked, therefore, at 
 symptoms of demoralization with sincere regret as 
 betokening danger to public liberty. A part of the 
 political press, supporting the existing administration, 
 and certain partizans of Mr. Van Buren, also a candi 
 date for that high office, to which some of those whom 
 he addressed desired to elevate him, had invented and 
 propagated many calumnies against him, but he pro 
 posed on the present occasion to speak of one onlv of 
 the numerous perversions and slanders which filled 
 the columns of the newspapers, and misrepresented 
 his character and conduct. He alluded to the story of 
 his famous "confidential committee," as they called it. 
 "The story goes," said General Harrison, u that I have 
 not only a committee of conscience-keepers, but that 
 they put me in a cage, fastened with iron bars, and 
 kept me in that." To one who looked at his bright 
 and sparkling eye, the light which beamed in its rich 
 expression, the smile which plaved upon his counte 
 nance, blending the lineaments of benevolence and 
 firmness; who remembered also that he was listening 
 to the voice of a son of old Governor Harrison, one of 
 "the signers," the pupil of old "Mad Anthony," the 
 hero of Tippecanoe, the defender of Fort Meigs, the 
 conqueror of Proctor the idea of William Henry- 
 Harrison in a cage was irresistibly ludicrous! 
 
 When the laughter had subsided, the General pro 
 ceeded; "I have no committee, fellow-citizens, confiden 
 tial or other. It is true that I employed my friend, Ma 
 jor Gwynn, to aid me in returning replies to some of the 
 numerous questions propounded to me by letters; but 
 to such only as any man could answer as well as another. 
 There is scarcely a question of a political nature now 
 agitating the public mind on which I have not long 
 since promulgated my opinions, by speeches, published 
 letters or official acts. A large majority of letters 
 addressed to me purported to seek my views of aboli- 
 
170 Reminiscences of the 
 
 tion, United States bank, and other matter, concerning 
 which my views are already in possession of the public. 
 The most suitable answers to these and to well-inten 
 tioned persons the most satisfactory, was a reference 
 to the documents in which my opinions already ex 
 pressed were to be found. Such answers I intrusted to 
 my well-tried and faithful friend, Major Gwynn. Let 
 ters requiring more particular attention I answered my 
 self. Everybody who knows Major Gwynn, knows that 
 he is not one whom I would employ to write a political 
 letter. He is a self-made man, a soldier and a gentle 
 man, but neither a politician nor a scholar. I asked the 
 service of him, because he was my friend, and I 
 confided in him, and it was plain and simple. My 
 habit is to receive, open and read my letters myself. 
 Such as require special attention I reply to myself. 
 Such as may be easily answered by another, I hand to 
 my friend, with an indorsation indicating where the 
 information sought may be found as thus Refer 
 the writer to speech at Vincennes or the answer is 
 seen in my letter to Mr. Denny, etc. But it seems that 
 Major Gwynn was chairman of a committee of the citi 
 zens of Cincinnati, or of Hamilton county. When the 
 famous Oswego letter was received, it was read, and, 
 as usual with such letters, I indorsed it and handed it 
 to Major Gwynn. But, it seems when the answer was 
 prepared, it was signed also by his colleagues of the 
 county or city committee. Of all this I knew nothing, 
 nor in their capacity of committee had they anything 
 to do with my letters. Yet, by a little mistake and 
 much perversion, these gentlemen have Deen erected 
 into a committee of my conscience-keepers, and made 
 to shut me up in a cage to prevent me from answering 
 interrogatories." General Harrison remarked that, had 
 he, indeed, called to his assistance the services of a 
 friend in conducting his correspondence, he would 
 have had high authority to justify him in the measure. 
 It had been said of General Washington, that many of 
 the papers which bear his signature were written by 
 others, and he believed it had never been contra 
 dicted; and General Breckenridge, aide to General Jack- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 171 
 
 son, in the late war, had represented himself to he tile 
 author of much of General Jackson s correspondence. 
 But he had not done so, to any extent, or in any sense, 
 than as he had now explained it in requesting Major 
 Gwynn to refer those addressing inquiries to him to 
 the public sources of information. And he would here 
 say, that in all his public life, civil and military, there 
 was no letter, report, speech or order, bearing his name, 
 which was not written wholly by his own hand. He 
 said, to open, read, and answer all the letters received 
 by him was physically impossible, though he should 
 do nothing else whatever. 
 
 To give his hearers an idea of the labor it would re 
 quire, he said, a gentleman then present was with him 
 the morning he left Cincinnati when he took from the 
 post-office sixteen letters there was usually half the 
 number at the post-office near his residence twenty- 
 four letters per day. " Could any man," he asked, 
 "give the requisite attention to such a daily correspond 
 ence, even to the neglect of every other engagement? " 
 True it was, that many communications were sent 
 which were not entitled to his notice, sent by persons 
 who had no other object but to draw from him some 
 thing which might be used to his injury, and the injury 
 of the cause with which he w r as identified; yet, there 
 were enough of those which claimed his respectful 
 consideration for the sources from which they came 
 and the subjects to which they referred, to occupy more 
 time and labor than any one man could bestow upon 
 them. 
 
 General Harrison said he had alluded particularly to 
 this action of the committee because it had so recently 
 been theoccasion of so much animadversion by his polit 
 ical adversaries. But it was one only of many misrep 
 resentations of him, his conduct, his principles and his 
 opinions, with which the party press was teeming. He 
 said it would occupy him many hours to discuss them, 
 if it were necessary or proper for him to do so. He re 
 ferred, however, to the Richmond Enquirer, and ex 
 pressed his surprise at the manner in which his name 
 and character had been treated by that paper. He did 
 
172 Reminiscences of the 
 
 so, as it afforded an example of the prostitution of the 
 press to party purposes. That paper which formerly 
 did him more than justice and paid him the highest 
 compliments as a soldier and civilian, whose editor at 
 one time could designate no other man whom he con 
 sidered so well qualified for the responsible place of 
 Secretary of War was now lending itself to the circu 
 lation of the most discreditable calumnies against him 
 and endeavoring to persuade his countrymen that he 
 was a coward and a Federalist. He alluded to the 
 evidence upon which the Enquirer sought to fasten 
 the accusation that he was a black cockade Federalist 
 i. e., the remarks of Mr. Randolph in the Senate of 
 the United States. He said that the attack of Mr. 
 Randolph was met at the moment it was made, and 
 effectually disproved. He passed high encomiums upon 
 the genius of that remarkable man, and said, that 
 those who knew Mr. Randolph knew that he never 
 gave up a point in debate, or receded from his ground 
 anywhere, until convicted of error. The fact that he 
 made no reply to his answer to the charge is proof to 
 any familiar with his character that he himself was satis 
 fied that he had erred. General Harrison explained 
 the foundation of Mr. Randolph s charge, made at a 
 moment of temporary irritation. He said that old Mr. 
 Adams refused to adopt against France the measures 
 which his party desired, and showed himself in that 
 respect, at least, more an American than a partisan. 
 It was that course of policy of Mr. Adams which com 
 manded his approbation and induced him so to express 
 himself at the time. Mr. Randolph remembered the 
 expression, but probably forgot the particular subject 
 of it, and thus the very fact which proved him to be 
 long to the Republican party of 1800, long years after 
 ward, is separated from its attendant circumstances 
 and used to prove him a Federalist. General Harrison 
 expressed himself with much earnestness on the in 
 justice which was thus attempted to be inflicted on his 
 character in his native State, in which, when truth and 
 virtue, and honor, had suffered violence everywhere 
 else, he had hoped they would survive. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 173 
 
 General Harrison alluded to several other instances 
 of gross misrepresentation or absolute falsehoods, in 
 dustriously and shamefully propagated by a party press. 
 
 "It seems almost incredible, fellow-citizens," said he, 
 "but it is true, that from a long speech, filling several 
 columns of a paper, two short sentences have been 
 taken from different parts of it, these two sentences, 
 separated from their context, are put together, my 
 name attached to them, and published throughout the 
 land as an authentic document." 
 
 He deplored that state of public sentiment which 
 could tolerate such a system of party action, and 
 trusted for the honor of his country and the hopes of 
 liberty, that the reformation of such abuses would soon 
 be wrought out by the force of a pure and healthy 
 public opinion. 
 
 " Why, fellow-citizens," said General Harrison, " I 
 have recently, in that house (pointing to the State 
 house) been charged with high offenses against my 
 country, which, if true, ought to cost me my life. 
 Yes," continued he, "accusations were there laid to 
 my charge which, being established, would subject 
 me, even now, to the severest penalties which military 
 law inflicts; for I have always held that an officer may 
 not escape the responsibilities of misconduct by re 
 signing his commission. 
 
 "These charges aie not made by my companions in 
 arms by the eye-witnesses of my actions by the 
 great and good and brave men who fought by my side 
 or under my command. They tell a different story. 
 But their evidence, clear, unequivocal and distinct: 
 the testimony of Governor Shelby, the venerable hero 
 of King s mountain, of the gallant Perry, and of many 
 brave and generous spirits who saw and knew and 
 participated in all the operations connected with the 
 battle of the Thames; the evidence of impartial and 
 honorable men, the concurrent records of history and 
 the authority of universal public opinion, are all cast 
 aside in deference to the reckless assertions of those 
 who were either not in being or dandled in the arms 
 of their nurses!" 
 
1 74 Reminiscences of the 
 
 General Harrison said he acknowledged that these 
 calumnies were disagreeable to him. His good name, 
 such as it was, was his most precious treasure and he 
 did not like to have it mangled by such calumnies. 
 Were it his land which they were seeking to destroy, 
 were it the title-deeds to his farm that they were en 
 deavoring to mutilate, he could bear their efforts with 
 patience, and smile even at their success. But he con 
 fessed, notwithstanding his perfect confidence in the 
 justice of his country, and the decision of an impartial 
 posterity, that these ruthless attacks upon his military 
 character affected him unpleasantly. This policy of 
 his adversaries constrained him to consider himself as 
 now on trial before his country. He was not reluctant 
 to be tried fairly the American people being his 
 court and jury. His adversaries held to those rules of 
 evidence established by common sense and common 
 right. He feared not the results of the strictest scru 
 tiny, and would cheerfully submit to the decision of a 
 virtuous and enlightened community. He asked but 
 fair dealing and final justice; no more. 
 
 General Harrison alluded to several other instances 
 of gratuitous and unfounded calumny, having no 
 shadow of apology in any fact for their invention and 
 publication. He spoke of the battle of Tippecanoe, of 
 the death of the brave and lamented Davies, whose 
 fall had been ascribed to him. He said the whole story 
 about the white horse was entirely false, and that the 
 fate of the gallant Kentuckian had no connection what 
 ever with his own white mare which, by accident, was 
 not rode on that occasion by any one. In remarking 
 upon the slanders connected with the battle of Tippe 
 canoe he said their refutation, one and all, was found 
 in the proceedings of the legislature of Kentucky, and 
 especially in the extraordinary confidence reposed in 
 him by the governor and people of that State, when 
 they subsequentlv honored him with the command 
 of their army, composed of the choice spirits of 
 the land, the best blood of Kentucky. General Harri 
 son spoke with deep emotion of the trust reposed in 
 him by Kentucky on the occasion alluded to, and said 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 175 
 
 that the commission which made him the commander 
 of that brave and patriotic army of Kentuckians he 
 had always held as the most honorable commission 
 which it had been the fortune of his life to have con 
 ferred upon him. 
 
 He referred to a very recent story got up in his own 
 neighborhood and sent forth to the world, corrobor 
 ated by the sanctity of an affidavit, which represented 
 him as confessing to a young man on a steamboat that 
 he was an Abolitionist, and that, although he voted 
 against restrictions on Missouri, he did so in opposition 
 to the suggestions of his conscience, etc. He said the 
 narrative bore on its face the proofs of its absolute 
 falsity, and when he pronounced it a fabrication with 
 out the semblance of a fact or a word for its basis, it 
 was not because he thought it required a contradic 
 tion, but to evince the recklessness and desperation of 
 his political enemies, who seemed to have given up 
 every ground of hope, save that which they found in 
 villifying his name. " It is a melancholy fact, fellow - 
 citizens," said General Harrison, "that the advocates of 
 Mr. Van Buren should so far forget what belongs to 
 the character of an American citizen, and do so much 
 violence to the nature of our free institutions as to 
 place the great political contest in which we are now 
 striving upon an issue such as this. I would not 
 accept the lofty station to which some of you are 
 proposing to elevate me, if it came to me by such 
 means. I would not, if I had the power to prevent it, 
 allow the fair fame of my competitor to be unjustly 
 assailed and wounded even for the attainment of that 
 lofty aim of a noble ambition. Na) , I have often 
 defended Mr. Van Buren against what I believed to 
 be the misrepresentations of my own mistaken friends 
 and others. Fellow-citizens, if Mr. Van Buren be the 
 better statesman, let us say so. I shall be the last man 
 to raise an objection against, or to desire to impose 
 restraints upon, the utmost independence of thought 
 and action, and the freest expression of feeling and 
 opinion. I love a frank and generous adversary; such 
 a man I delight to embrace, and will serve him ac- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 176 
 
 cording to my ability as cheerfully as my professed 
 friend. But that political warfare which seeks suc 
 cess by foul detraction, and strives for ascendency by 
 the ruin of personal character, merits the indignation 
 of honest men, is hateful to every generous mind, and 
 tends too surely to the destruction of public virtue, 
 and, as a consequence, to the downfall of public 
 liberty." 
 
 General Harrison apologized for occupying his fel 
 low-citizens so long. lie said he would but mention 
 one more of the latest slanders which had come to his 
 knowledge. A German paper, published in Cincin 
 nati, almost under his own eye, puts it forth with ap 
 parent sincerity, that " General Harrison, now a can 
 didate for the Presidency of the United States, was. 
 many years ago, when a young man, an aide to General 
 Wayne during his Indian wars, and that, whenever 
 young Harrison found that a battle was coming on, he 
 always ran off into the woods." [Again there was 
 loud and irrepressible laughter.] "The editor forgot," 
 said the General, "when he served up this little dish, 
 that the only possible security to young Harrison s 
 scalp, on the approach of a battle with the Indians, 
 was in keeping out of the woods. Such a story as this 
 can only excite a smile here, it is true," said General 
 Harrison; "but this paper circulates not alone in the 
 United States, copies of it are probably read in Europe, 
 where our history is less known, and where the con 
 tradiction of such silly falsehoods may possibly never 
 come. 
 
 ".It has long been proverbial of old soldiers, fellow - 
 citizens," continued General Harrison, "that they 
 delight to go back to other days and fight their battles 
 over again. When I began this address to you, I in 
 tended only to speak of my far-famed committee of 
 conscience keepers, and the iron cage in which they 
 confined me; but I have unwittingly taken advantage of 
 your kind disposition to listen to me and extended my 
 remarks to other though kindred topics. I will only 
 add that, although they have made a wide mistake 
 who make me dwell in an iron cage, the unlucky 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 177 
 
 wight who put me in a log cabin was a little nearer 
 the truth than he probably supposed himself to be. 
 It is true that a part of my dwelling-house is a log cabin, 
 
 but as to the hard cider [The laughter which 
 
 followed the allusion to the "hard-cider" branch of the 
 story, drowned the voice of the speaker.] 
 
 " But," said General Harrison, "admonished by the 
 proverb, that you may ascribe my long speech to the 
 common infirmity of an old soldier, and bring me under 
 the suspicion of the loquacity of age, I will conclude 
 these hasty and unpremeditated remarks, by thanking 
 my fellow-citizens of Columbus for their politeness on 
 the present occasion, as well as for the friendly feeling of 
 which they have uniformly and often heretofore given 
 me so many gratifying proofs." 
 
 The general retired, leaving the crowd which had 
 accumulated while he spoke delighted with the prompt 
 and satisfactory manner in which he had met the wishes 
 of the citizens. The uppermost idea in the mind of 
 every one with whom the writer interchanged a 
 thought, was the wish that every man in the Union had 
 heard this unpremeditated and extemporaneous address. 
 Upon every candid mind it impressed the conviction 
 that the opposition candidate for the Presidency was 
 the last man in the world to be made the instrument of 
 a committee of "conscience-keepers," or to conceal his 
 opinions of public measures from sinister motives, 
 when the disclosure of them was called for by the pro 
 priety and fitness of things. 
 
 The general left the city about 10 o clock, escorted 
 by a numerous cavalcade on horseback, and attended 
 by the mayor and the chairman of the State central 
 committee. The escort parted with their guest a mile 
 or so from the city on his journey northward. 
 
 The general was addressed, on parting, by the mayor 
 in a brief valedictory on behalf of the citizens of the 
 capital, to which he replied in his uniformly happy 
 manner. 
 
178 Reminiscences of the 
 
 HARRISON S FORT MEIGS SPEECH. 
 
 " Fellow-citizens, I am not, upon this occasion, 
 before you in accordance with my own individual 
 views or wishes. It has ever appeared to me that the 
 office of President of the United States should not be 
 sought after by any individual; but that the people 
 should spontaneously, and with their own free will, 
 accord th^ distinguished honor to the man whom they 
 believed would best perform its important duties. En 
 tertaining these views I should, fellow-citizens, have 
 remained at home but for the pressing and friendly 
 invitation which 1 have received from the citizens of 
 Perrysburg, and the earnestness with which its accepta 
 tion was urged upon me by friends in whom I trusted, 
 and whom I am now proud to see around me. If, 
 however, fellow-citizens, I had not complied with that 
 invitation If I had remained at home believe me, 
 my friends, that my spirit would have been with you; 
 for where, in this beautiful land, is there a place calcu 
 lated as this is to recall long past reminiscences, and 
 revive long-slumbering, but not wholly extinguished, 
 emotions in my bosom? 
 
 u In casting my eyes around, fellow-citizens, they 
 rest upon the spot where the gallant Wayne triumphed 
 so gloriously over his enemies, and carried out those 
 principles which it seemed his pleasure to impress 
 upon my mind, and in which it has ever been my 
 happiness humbly to attempt to imitate him. It was 
 there, fellow-citizens, I saw the banner of the United 
 States float in triumph over the flag of the enemy. 
 There it was where was first laid the foundation of the 
 prosperity of the now wide-spread and beautiful West. 
 It was there I beheld the indignant Eagle frown upon 
 the British Lion. It was there I saw the youth of our 
 land carry out the lesson they imbibed from the gallant 
 Wayne,, the noblest and best an American can acquire, 
 to die for his country when called to do so in its 
 defense. 
 
 [At this moment the speaker s eye fell upon General 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 179 
 
 Hedges, when he said: "General Hedges, will you 
 come up here? You have stood by my side in the hour 
 of battle, and I cannot bear to see you at so great a dis 
 tance now." Immense cheering followed this consid 
 erate recognition, and the cries of " Raise him up," 
 "Place him by the side of his old general," had scarcely 
 been uttered, when General Hedges was carried for 
 ward to the stand.] 
 
 The General continued: " It was there I saw interred 
 my beloved companions the companions of my youth. 
 It was not in accordance with the stern etiquet of 
 military life then to mourn their departure; but I may 
 now drop a tear over their graves at the recollections 
 of their virtues and worth. 
 
 "In 1793, fellow-citizens, I received my commission 
 to serve under General Wayne. In 1794 I was his aid 
 at the battle of Miami. Nineteen years afterwards I 
 had the honor of again being associated with manv of 
 those who were my companions in arms then. Nine 
 teen years afterwards I found myself commander-in- 
 chief of the Northwestern army, but I found no dimi 
 nution in the bravery of the American soldier. I found 
 the same spirit of valor in all not in the regular sol 
 dier only, but in the enrolled militia and volunteer also. 
 
 "What glorious reminiscences does the view of all 
 these scenes around me draw to my mind! When I 
 consented to visit this memorable spot, I expected that 
 a thousand pleasant associations (would to God there 
 were no painful associations mingled with them) would 
 be recalled that I should meet thousands of my fel 
 low-citizens here, and among them many of my old 
 companions, met here to rear a new altar to liberty in 
 the place of the one which bad men have prostrated. 
 
 [Here the general looked around as if for some 
 water, when the cry was raised, " Give the general 
 some hard cider." * This was done, much to the satis 
 faction of the multitude.] 
 
 "And fellow-citizens," continued the general, " I 
 will not attempt to conceal from you that, in coming 
 here, I expected that I should receive from you those 
 evidences of regard which a generous people are ever 
 
180 Reminiscences of the 
 
 willing to bestow upon those whom they believe to be 
 honest in their endeavors to serve their country. I re 
 ceive these evidences of regard and esteem as the only 
 reward at all adequate to compensate for the anxieties 
 and anguish which in the past I experienced upon this 
 spot. Is there any man of sensibility, or possessing a 
 feeling of self-respect, who asks what those feelings 
 were? Do you suppose that the commander-in-chief 
 finds his reward in the glitter and splendor of the 
 camp? or in the forced obedience of the camp around 
 him? These are not pleasures under all circumstances, 
 these are not the rewards which a soldier seeks. I 
 ask any man to place himself in my situation, and then 
 say whether the extreme pain and anguish which en 
 dured, and which every person similarly situated must 
 have endured, can meet with any adequate compensa 
 tion, except by such expressions of the confidence and 
 gratitude of the people, as that with which you, fellow- 
 citizens, have this day honored me? These feelings 
 are common to all commanders of sense and sensibility. 
 The commanders of Europe possess them, although 
 placed at the head of armies reared to war. How 
 much more naturally would those feelings attach to a 
 commander situated as I was? For of what materials 
 was the army composed which was placed under my 
 command? The soldiers who fought, and bled, and 
 triumphed here, were lawyers, who had thrown up 
 their briefs, physicians, who had laid aside their instru 
 ments; mechanics, who had put by their tools, and, in 
 far the largest proportions, agriculturists who had 
 their plows in the furrow, although their families de 
 pended for their bread upon their exertions, and who 
 hastened to the battle-field to give their life to their 
 country, if it were necessary to maintain her rights. I 
 could point from where I now stand to places where 
 I felt this anxiety pressing heavily upon me, as I 
 thought of the fearful consequences of a mistake on 
 my part, or the want of judgment on the part of others. 
 I knew there were wives who had given their hus 
 bands to the field, mothers who had clothed their sons 
 for battle; and I knew that these expecting wives and 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 181 
 
 mothers were looking for the safe return of their hus 
 bands and sons. When to this was added the recol 
 lection that the peace of the entire West would be 
 broken up, and the glory of my country tarnished if I 
 failed, you may possibly conceive the anguish which 
 my situation was calculated to produce. Feeling my 
 responsibility, I personally supervised and directed the 
 arrangement of the army under my command. I 
 trusted to no Colonel or other officer. No person had 
 any hand in any disposition of the army. Every step 
 of warfare, whether for good or ill, was taken under 
 my own direction, and of no other, as many who now 
 hear me know. Whether every movement would or 
 would not pass the criticism of Bonaparte or Welling 
 ton, I know not; but whether they would induce ap 
 plause or censure, upon myself it must fall." 
 
 u But, fellow-citizens, still another motive induced me 
 to accept the invitation which had been so kindly ex 
 tended to me. I knew that here I should meet with 
 many who had fought and bled under my command 
 that"! should have the pleasure of taking them by the 
 hand, and recurring, with them, to the scenes of the 
 past. I expected, too, to meet with a few of the great 
 and good men yet surviving, by whose efforts our free 
 dom was achieved. This pleasure alone would have 
 been sufficient to induce my visit to this interesting 
 spot upon this equally interesting occasion. I see my 
 old companions here, and I see not a few of the Rev 
 olutionary veterans around me. Would to God that it 
 had ever been in my power to have made them com 
 fortable and happy, that their sun might go down in 
 peace! But, fellow-citizens, they remain unprovided 
 for monuments of the ingratitude of my country. It 
 was with the greatest difficulty that the existing pen 
 sion act was passed through Congress. But why was 
 it restricted? Why were the brave soldiers who fought 
 under Wayne excluded? soldiers who suffered far more 
 than they who fought in the Revolution proper. The 
 Revolution, in fact, did not terminate until 1794 until 
 the battle was fought upon the battle ground upon 
 which my eye now rests. [Miami.] War continued 
 
1 82 Reminiscences of the 
 
 with them from the commencement of the Revolution 
 until the victory of Wayne, to which I have just al 
 luded. 
 
 " The great highway to the West was the scene of un 
 ceasing slaughter. ~Then why this unjust discrimina 
 tion? Why are the soldiers who terminated the war 
 of the Revolution, in fact, excluded, while those by 
 whom it was begun, or a portion of them, are rewarded ? 
 I will tell you why. The poor remnant of Wayne s 
 army had but few advocates, while those who had 
 served in the Revolution proper had plenty of friends. 
 Scattered, as they were, over all parts of the Union, 
 and in large numbers, they could exert an influence at 
 the ballot-box. They could whisper thus in the ears of 
 those who sought their influence at the polls. Take 
 care, for I have waited long enough for what has been 
 promised. The former plea of poverty can no longer 
 be made. The Treasury is now full. Take care, your 
 seat is in danger. Oh! yes, everything that has been 
 promised shall be attended to if you will give me your 
 votes." In this way, fellow-citizens, tardy, but partial, 
 justice was done to the soldiers of the Revolution. 
 They made friends by their influence at the ballot-box. 
 But it was different with General Wayne s soldiers. 
 They were but few in number, and they had but one 
 or two humble advocates to speak for them in 
 Congress. The result has been, justice has been 
 withheld. 
 
 " I have said that the soldiers under Wayne experi 
 enced greater hardships even than the soldiers of the 
 Revolution. This is so. Every one can appreciate the 
 difference between an Indian and a regular war. 
 When wounded in battle the soldier must have warmth 
 and shelter before he can recover. This could al 
 ways be secured by the soldier of the Revolution. In 
 those days the latch-string of no door was pulled in. 
 When wounded he was sure to find shelter and very 
 many of those comforts which are so essential to the 
 sick, but which the soldiers in an Indian war cannot 
 procure. Instead of shelter and warmth, he is exposed 
 to the thousand ills incident to Indian warfare. Yet 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 183 
 
 no relief was extended to those who had thus suf 
 fered ! 
 
 "After the war closed under Wayne, I retired; and 
 when I saw a man poorer than all others, wandering 
 about the land decrepid and decayed by intemperance, 
 it was unnecessary to inquire whether he had ever be 
 longed to Wayne s army. His condition was a guar 
 antee of that was a sufficient assurance that he had 
 wasted his energies among the unwholesome swamps 
 of the West, in the defense of the rights of his fellow- 
 citizens, and for the maintenance of the honor and 
 glory of his country. 
 
 " Well, fellow-citizens, I can only say, that if it should 
 ever be in my power to pay the debt which is due 
 these brave but neglected men, that debt shall first of 
 all be paid. And I am very well satisfied that the Gov 
 ernment can afford it, provided the latch-string of the 
 Treasury shall ever be more carefully pulled in. Per 
 haps you will ask me for some proof of my friendship 
 for old soldiers. If so, I can give it you from the rec 
 ords of Congress. When the fifteen-hundred-dollar law 
 was repealed, I opposed it, as I opposed changing the 
 pay of members of Congress from six to eight dollars, 
 until we had done justice to and provided for these sol 
 diers. You will find my votes upon this question upon 
 the records of Congress, and my speech upon it in the 
 public debates of the ^ame. 
 
 " I will now, my fellow-citizens, give you my reasons 
 for having refused to give pledges and opinions more 
 freely than I have done since my nomination to the 
 Presidency. Many of the statements published upon 
 the subject are by no means correct; but it is that it is 
 true my opinion that no pledge should be made by an 
 individual when in nomination for any office in the 
 gift of the people. And why? Once adopt it, and 
 the battle will no longer be to the strong, to the vir 
 tuous, or to the sincere lover of his country; but to 
 him who is prepared to tell the greatest number of lies, 
 and to proffer the largest number of pledges which he 
 never intends to carry out. I suppose that the best 
 guarantee which an American citizen could have of the 
 
184 Reminiscences of the 
 
 correctness of the conduct of an individual in the 
 future would be his conduct in the past when he had 
 no temptation before him to practice deceit. 
 
 "Now, fellow-citizens, I have not altogether grown 
 gray under the helmet of my country, although I have 
 worn it for some time. A large portion of my life has 
 been passed in the civil departments of government. 
 Examine my conduct there, and the most tenacious 
 Democrat I use the word in its proper sense; I mean 
 not to confine it to parties, for there are good injDoth 
 may doubtless discover faults, but he will find no sin 
 gle act calculated to derogate from the rights of the 
 people. 
 
 " However, to prove the reverse of this, I have been 
 called a Federalist. [Here was a loud cry of "The 
 charge is a lie a base lie. You are no Federalist."] 
 Well, what is a Federalist ? I recollect what the 
 word formerly signified, and there are many others 
 present who recollect its former signification also. 
 They know that the Federal party were accused 
 of a design to strengthen the hands of the General 
 Government at the expense of the separate States. 
 That accusation could not nor cannot apply to me. 
 I was brought up after the strictest manner of Virgin 
 ian anti-Federalism. St. Paul himself was not a greater 
 devotee to the doctrines of the Pharisees than was 
 I, by inclination and a father s precepts and example, 
 to anti-Federalism. I was taught to believe that 
 sooner or later that fatal catastrophe to human lib 
 erty would take place that the General Government 
 would swallow up all the State governments, and that 
 one department of the Government would swallow up 
 all the other departments. I do not know whether 
 my friend, Mr. Van Buren (and he is, and I hope will 
 ever be, my personal friend), has a gullet that can 
 swallow everything; but I do know but that if his 
 measures are all carried out, he will lay a foundation 
 for others to do so if he does not. 
 
 " What reflecting man, fellow-citizens, cannot see this? 
 The representatives of the people were once the source 
 of power, Is it so now? Nay. It is to the Executive 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 185 
 
 Mansion now that every eye is turned that every wish 
 is directed. The men of office and party, who are gov 
 erned by the principles of John Randolph, to wit: the 
 five loaves and two fishes, seem to have* their ears con 
 stantly directed to the bell at headquarters, to indicate 
 how the little ones shall ring. 
 
 " But to return: I have but to remark that my anti- 
 Federalism has been tempered by my long service in 
 the employ of my country, and my frequent oaths to 
 support her General Government; but I am as readv 
 to resist the encroachments on State rights as I am to 
 support the legitimate authority of the executive or 
 the General Government. 
 
 "Now, fellow-citizens, I have very little more to say, 
 except to exhort you to go on. peacefully if you can 
 and you can to effect that reform, upon which your 
 hearts are fixed. What calamitous consequences will 
 ensue to the world if you fail! If you should fail, 
 how the tryants of Europe will rejoice. If you fail, 
 how will the friends of freedom, scattered like the few 
 planets of heaven over the world, mourn, when they 
 see the beacon-light of liberty extinguished the light 
 whose rays they had hoped would yet penetrate 
 the whole benighted world. 
 
 " If you triumph, it will only be done with vigilance 
 and attention. Our personal friends, but political ene 
 mies, remind each other, that Eternal vigilance is the 
 price of liberty. While journeying thitherward lob- 
 served this motto waving at the head of a procession, 
 composed of the friends of the present administration. 
 From this I inferred that discrimination was necessary 
 in order to know who to watch. Under Jefferson, 
 Madison, and Monroe, the eye of the people was turned 
 to the right source to the administration. The admin 
 istration, however, now say to the people, fc You must; 
 not watch us, but you must watch the Whigs! Only 
 do that, and all is safe! But that, my friends, is not 
 the way. The old-fashioned Republican ruleis to watch 
 the Government. See that the Government does not 
 acquire too much power. Keep a check upon your 
 rulers. Do this, and liberty is safe. And if your efforts 
 
1 86 Reminiscences of the 
 
 should result successfully, and I should be placed in the 
 Presidential chair, I shall invite a recurrence to the old 
 Republican rule, to watch the administration, and to 
 condemn all its acts which are not in accordance with 
 the strictest mode of republicanism. Our rulers, fellow- 
 citizens, must be watched. Power is insinuating. Few 
 men are satisfied with less power than they are able to 
 procure. If the ladies, whom I see around me, were 
 near enough to hear me, and of sufficient age to give 
 an experimental answer, they would tell you that no 
 lover is ever satisfied with the first smile of his mis 
 tress. 
 
 "It is necessary, therefore, to watch, not the political 
 opponents of the administration, but the administra 
 tion itself, and to see that it keeps wnthin the bounds 
 of the Constitution and the laws of the land. The 
 executive of the Union has immense power to do 
 mischief if he sees fit to exercise that power. He may 
 prostrate the country. Indeed this country has been 
 already prostrated. It has already fallen from pure 
 republicanism to a monarchy in spirit if not in name. 
 A celebrated author defines monarchy to be that form 
 of government in which the executive has at once the 
 command of the army, the execution of the laws and 
 the control of the purse. Now how is it with our 
 present executive? The Constitution gives to him the 
 control of the army and the execution of the laws. 
 He now only awaits the possession of the purse to 
 make him a monarch. Not a monarch simply, with 
 the power of England, but a monarch with powers 
 of the autocrat of Russia. For Gibbon says that an 
 individual possessed of these powers will, unless 
 closely watched, make himself a despot. 
 
 " The passage of the sub-treasury bill will give to the 
 President an accumulation of power the single addi 
 tional power that the Constitution withholds from him, 
 and the possession of which will make him a monarch. 
 This catastrophe to freedom should be and can be pre 
 vented by vigilance, union and perseverance. 
 
 ["We will do it," resounded from twenty thousand 
 voices, "we will do it. ] 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 187" 
 
 " In conclusion, then, fellow -citizens, I would impress 
 it upon all, Democrats and Whigs, give up the idea of 
 watching each other, and direct your eye to the Govern 
 ment. Do that, and your children, and your children s 
 children, to the latest posterity, will be as happy and 
 as free as you and your fathers have been." 
 
 [At the close of this speech the vast multitude gave 
 "three times three," with an unanimity and heartiness 
 which spoke eloquently the unanimity of their senti 
 ments as to the force, truth and beauty of the speech, 
 and the worth, merit and virtue of the speaker.] 
 Detroit Advertiser. 
 
 SPEECH OF HENRY CLAY 
 
 AT TAYLORSVILLE, HANOVER COUNTY, VIRGINIA, 
 JUNE 27, 1840.* 
 
 After a longer delay than we expected, we have to 
 day the pleasure of presenting to our readers the speech 
 delivered by Mr. Clay at Tavlorsville, Hanover county, 
 on the 27th ult. It will be read with interest by his 
 friends and opponents. It is worthy of his high fame 
 as an orator and a statesman, and contains matter for the 
 serious reflection of every lover of his country. 
 
 The sentiment in compliment to Mr. Clay was re 
 ceived with long-continued applause. That gentle 
 man rose and addressed the company substantially as 
 follows: 
 
 " I think, friends and fellow-citizens, that, availing 
 myself of the privilege of my long service in the public 
 councils just adverted to, the resolution which I have 
 adopted is not unreasonable, of leaving to vounger 
 men, generally, the performance of the duty, and the 
 enjoyment of the pleasure of addressing the people in 
 their primary assemblies. After the event which 
 
 *From the Fredericksburg Arens, July 10, 1840. 
 
1 88 Reminiscences of tke 
 
 occurred last winter at the capitol of Pennsylvania, I 
 believe it due to myself, to the Whig cause and to the 
 country, to announce to the public, with perfect truth 
 and sincerity, and without any reserve, my fixed de 
 termination heartily to support the nomination of Wil 
 liam Henry Harrison there made. To put down all 
 misrepresentations, I have, on suitable occasions, re 
 peated this annunciation; and now declare my solemn 
 conviction that the purity and security of the prosperity 
 of the country imperatively demand the election of 
 that citizen to the office of Chief Magistrate of .the 
 United States. 
 
 " But this occasion forms an exception from the rule 
 which I have prescribed to myself. I have come here 
 to the county of my nativity, in the spirit of a pilgrim, 
 to meet, perhaps for the last time, the companions 
 and the descendants of the companions of my youth. 
 Wherever we roam, in whatever climate or land we 
 are cast by the accidents of human life, beyond the 
 mountains or beyond the ocean, in the legislative halls 
 of the Capitol, or in the retreats and shades of private 
 life, our hearts turn with an irresistible instinct to the 
 cherished spot which ushered us into existence. And 
 we dwell with delightful associations on the recollec 
 tion of the streams in which, during our boyish days 
 we bathed, the fountains at which we drunk, the piney 
 fields, the hills and the valleys where we sported, and 
 the friends who shared these enjoyments with us. Alas ! 
 too many of these friends of mine have gone whither 
 we must all shortly go, and the presence here of the 
 small remnant left behind attests both our loss and our 
 early attachment. I would greatly prefer, my friends, 
 to employ the time which this visit affords, in friendly 
 and familiar conversation on the virtues of our de 
 parted companions, and on the scenes and adventures 
 of our younger days; but the expectation which pre 
 vails, the awful state of our beloved country, and the 
 opportunities which I have enjoyed in its public coun 
 cils, impose on me the obligation of touching on topics 
 less congenial with the feelings of my heart, but pos 
 sessing higher public interest. I assure you, fellow- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 189 
 
 citizens, however, that I present myself before you for 
 no purpose of exciting prejudices or inflaming pas 
 sions, but to speak to you in all soberness and truth, 
 and to testify to the things which I know or the con 
 victions which I entertain, as an ancient friend, who 
 has lived long, and whose career is rapidly drawing to 
 a close. Throughout an arduous life I have endeav 
 ored to make truth and the good of our common coun 
 try the guides of my. public conduct; but in Han 
 over county, for which I cherish sentiments of respect, 
 fratitude and veneration above all other places, would 
 avoid saying anything that I did not sincerely and 
 truly believe. 
 
 u Why is the plow deserted, the tools of the me 
 chanic laid aside, and all are seen rushing to gather 
 ings of the people? What occasions those vast and 
 unusual assemblages which we behold in every State, 
 and in almost every neighborhood? Why those con 
 ventions of the people, at a common center, from all 
 extremities of this vast Union, to consult together upon 
 the sufferings of the community, and to deliberate on 
 the means of deliverance? Why this rabid appetite 
 for public discussions? What is the solution of the 
 phenomenon, which we observe, of a great nation 
 agitated upon its whole surface, and at its lowest 
 depths, like the ocean when convulsed by some terri 
 ble storm? There must be a cause, and no ordinary 
 cause. 
 
 " It has been truly said, in the most memorable docu 
 ment that ever issued from the pen of man, that all 
 experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed 
 to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right them 
 selves by abolishing the forms to which they are ac 
 customed. The recent history of our people furnishes 
 confirmation of that truth. They are active, enter 
 prising and intelligent, but are not prone to make 
 groundless complaints against public servants. If we 
 now everywhere behold them in motion, it is be 
 cause they feel that the grievances under which they 
 are writhing can be no longer tolerated. They feel 
 the absolute necessity of a change, that no change can 
 
1 90 Reminiscences of the 
 
 render their condition worse, and that any change 
 must better it. This is the judgment to which they 
 have come; this, the brief and compendious logic 
 which we daily hear. They know that, in all the dis 
 pensations of Providence, they have reason to be 
 thankful and grateful; and if they had not, they would 
 be borne with fortitude and resignation. But there is 
 a pervading conviction and persuasion that, in the ad 
 ministration of government, there has been something 
 wrong, radically wrong, and tnat the vessel of State 
 has been in the hands of selfish, faithless, and unskillful 
 pilots, who have conducted it amidst the breakers. 
 
 " In my deliberate opinion, the present distressed and 
 distracted state of the country may be traced to the 
 single cause of the action, the encroachments, and 
 the usurpations of the executive branch of the Govern 
 ment. I have not time here to exhibit and to dwell 
 upon all the instances of these, as they have occurred 
 in succession, during the last twelve years. They have 
 been again and again exposed on other more fit occa 
 sions. But I have thought this a proper opportunity 
 to point out the enormity of the pretensions, principles 
 and practices of that department, as they have been, 
 from time to time, disclosed in these late years, and to 
 \showtherapid progress which has been made in the 
 fulfillment of the remarkable language of our illustrious 
 countryman, that the Federal executive had an awful 
 squinting towards monarchy. Here in the county of 
 his birth, surrounded by sons, some of whose sires 
 with him were the first to raise their arms in defense of 
 American liberty against a foreign monarch, is an 
 appropriate place to expose the impending danger of 
 creating a domestic monarch. And may I not, with 
 out presumption, indulge the hope that the warning 
 voice of another, although far humbler son of Hanover, 
 may not pass unheeded? 
 
 " The President of the United States advanced certain 
 new and alarming pretensions for the executive de 
 partment of the Government, the effect of which, if es 
 tablished and recognized by the people, must inevitably 
 convert it into a monarchy. The first of these, and it 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 191 
 
 was a favorite principle with him, was, that the execu 
 tive department should be regarded as a unit. By this 
 principle of unity he meant and intended that all the 
 executive officers of Government should be bound to 
 obey the commands and execute the orders of- the Pres 
 ident of the United States, and that they should be 
 amenable to him, and be responsible for them. Prior to 
 his administration, it had been considered that they 
 were bound to obserye and obey the Constitution and 
 laws, subject to the general superintedence of the Pres 
 ident, and responsible by impeachment, and to the tri 
 bunals of justice, for injuries inflicted on private citizens. 
 
 " But the annunciation of this new and extraordinary 
 principle was not of itself sufficient for the purposes of 
 President Jackson; it was essential that the subjection 
 to his will, which was its object, should be secured by 
 some adequate sanction. That he sought to effect, by 
 an extension of another principle, that of dismission 
 from office, beyond all precedent, and in cases and un 
 der circumstances which would have furnished just 
 grounds of his impeachment, according to the solemn 
 opinion of Mr. Madison and other members of the first 
 Congress under the present Constitution. 
 
 "Now, if the whole official corps, subordinate to the 
 President of the United States, are made to know and 
 to feel that they hold their respective offices by the 
 tenure of conformity and obedience to his will, it is 
 manifest that they must look to that will, and not to 
 the Constitution and laws, as a guide of their official 
 conduct. The weakness of human nature, the love and 
 emoluments of office, perhaps the bread necessary to 
 the support of their families, would make this result 
 absolutely certain. 
 
 "The development of this new character to the 
 power of dismission would have fallen short of the 
 aims in view, without the exercise of it were held to be 
 a prerogative, for which the President was to be wholly 
 irresponsible. If he were compelled to expose the 
 grounds and reasons upon which he acted, in dismiss 
 als from office, the apprehension of public censure 
 would temper the arbitrary nature of the power and 
 
192 Reminiscences of the 
 
 throw some protection around the subordinate officer. 
 Hence the new and monstrous pretension has been ad 
 vanced, that although the concurrence of the Senate is 
 necessary by the Constitution to the confirmation of an 
 appointment, the President may, subsequently, dismiss 
 the person appointed, not only without communicating 
 the grounds on which he has acted to the Senate, but 
 without any such communication to the people them 
 selves, for whose benefit all offices are created. And 
 so bold and daring has the executive branch of the 
 Government become, that one of its Cabinet ministers, 
 himself a subordinate officer, has contemptuously re 
 fused to members of the House of Representatives to 
 disclose the grounds on which he has undertaken to 
 dismiss from office persons acting as deputy postmast 
 ers in his department. 
 
 "As to the gratuitous assumption by President Jack 
 son, of responsibility f r all the subordinate executive 
 officers, it i- the merest mockery ihat was ever put 
 forth. They will escape punishment by pleading his 
 orders, and he by alleging the hardship of being pun 
 ished, not for h?s own acts, but for theirs. We have a 
 practical exposition of this principle in the case of the 
 200,000 militia. The Secretary of War comes out to 
 screen the President, by testifying that he never saw 
 what he strongly recommended; and the President re 
 ciprocated that favor by retaining the Secretary in 
 place, notwithstanding he has proposed a plan for or 
 ganizing the militia, which is acknowledged to be un 
 constitutional. If the President is ;ot to be held re 
 sponsible for a Cabinet minister, in daily intercourse 
 with him, how is he to be rendered so for a receiver in 
 Wisconsin or Iowa? To concentrate all reponsibility 
 in the President is to annihilate all responsibility. For 
 who ever expects to see the day arrive when a Presi 
 dent of the United States will be impeached; or, if im 
 peached, when he cannot command more than one- 
 third of the Senate to defeat the impeachment? 
 
 " But to construct the scheme of practical despotism, 
 whilst all the forms of free government remained, it was 
 necessary to take one farther step. By the Constitu- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 193 
 
 tion the President is enjoined to take care that the laws 
 be executed. This injunction was merely intended to 
 impose on him the duty of a general superintendence; 
 to see that offices were filled, officers at their respective 
 posts in the discharge of their official functions, and all 
 obstructions to the enforcement of the laws were re 
 moved, and, when necessary for that purpose, to carry 
 out the militia. No one ever imagined, prior to the 
 administration of President Jackson, that a President 
 of the United States was to occupy himself with super 
 vising and attending to the execution of all the mi 
 nute details of every one of the host of offices in the 
 United States. 
 
 "Under the constitutional injunction just mentioned, 
 the late President put forward that most extraordinary 
 pretension that the Constitution and laws of the United 
 States were to be executed as he understood them; and 
 this pretension was attempted to be sustained by an 
 argument equally extraordinary, that the President, 
 being a sworn officer, must carry them into effect 
 according to his sense of their meaning. The Consti 
 tution and laws were to be executed, not according to 
 their import as handed down to us by our ancestors, as 
 interpreted by contemporaneous expositions, as ex 
 pounded by concurrent judicial decisions, as fixed by 
 an uninterrupted course of Congressional legislation, 
 but in that sense which a President of the United 
 States happened to understand them! 
 
 " To complete this executive usurpation one further 
 object remained. By the Constitution, the command 
 of the Army and the Navy is conferred on the Presi 
 dent. If he could unite the purse to the sword noth 
 ing would be left to gratify the insatiable thirst for 
 power. In 1833 the President seized the\Treasury of 
 the United States, and from that day to this it has con 
 tinued substantially under his control. This seizure was 
 effected by the removal of one Secretary of the Treas 
 ury understood to be opposed to the measure, and by 
 the dismissal of another, who refused to violate the 
 law of the land upon the orders of the President. 
 
 " It is, indeed, said that not a dollar in the Treasury 
 
 13 
 
194 Reminiscences of the 
 
 can be touched without a previous appropriation by 
 law, nor drawn out of the Treasury without the con 
 currence and signatures of the Secretary, the Treas 
 urer, the Register and the Comptroller. But are net all 
 these pretended securities idle and unavailing forms? 
 We have seen that, by the operation of the irresponsible 
 power of dismission, all those officers are reduced to 
 automata, absolutely subjected to the will of the Presi 
 dent. What resistance would any of them make, 
 with the penalty of dismission suspended over their 
 heads, to any order of the President to pour out the 
 treasure of the United States whether an act of ap 
 propriation existed or not? Do not mock us with the 
 vain assurance of the honor and probity of a Presi 
 dent, nor remind us of the confidence which we 
 ought to repose in his imagined virtues. The pervad 
 ing principle of our system of Government of all 
 free governments is not merely the possibility, but 
 the absolute certainty of infidelity and treacherv with 
 even the highest functionary of the State; and hence 
 all the restrictions, securities, and guarantees which 
 the wisdom of our ancestors or the sad experience of 
 history had inculcated have been devised and thrown 
 around the Chief Magistrate. 
 
 "Here, friends and fellow-citizens, let us pause and 
 contemplate this stupendous structure of executive ma 
 chinery and despotism which has been reared in our 
 young Republic. The executive branch of this gov 
 ernment is a unit; throughout all its arteries and veins 
 there is but one heart, one head, one will. The num 
 ber of the subordinate executive officers and depend 
 ents in the United States has been estimated, in an offi 
 cial report, founded on public documents, made by a 
 Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Calhoun), at one 
 hundred thousand. Whatever it may be, all of them, 
 wherever they are situated, are bound implicitly to 
 obey the orders of the President. And absolute obedi 
 ence to his will is secured and enforced by the power 
 of dismissing them, at his pleasure, from their respect 
 ive places. To make this terrible power of dismission 
 more certain and efficacious, its exercise is covered up 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 195 
 
 in mysterious secrecy, without exposure, without the 
 smallest responsibility. The Constitution and laws of 
 the United States are to be executed in the sense in 
 which the President understands them, although that 
 sense may be at variance with the understanding of 
 every other man in the United States. It follows, as a 
 necessary consequence from the principle deduced by 
 the President from the constitutional injunction as to 
 the execution of the laws, that, if an act of Congress be 
 passed, in his opinion, contrary to the Constitution, or 
 if a decision be pronounced by the courts in his 
 opinion contrary to the Constitution or the laws, that 
 act or that decision the President is not obliged to 
 enforce, and he could not cause it to be enforced 
 without a violation, as is pretended, of his official 
 oath. Candor requires the admission that the princi 
 ple has not yet been pushed in practice to these cases; 
 but it manifestly comprehends them, and who doubts 
 that, if the spirit of usurpation is not arrested and re 
 buked, they will be finally reached? The march of 
 po^uer is ever onward. As times and seasons admon 
 ish, it openly and boldly, in broad day. makes its pro 
 gress; or, if alarm be excited by the enormity of its 
 pretensions, it silently and y secretly, in the dark of the 
 night, steals its devious way. It now storms and 
 mounts the ramparts of the fortress of liberty; it now 
 saps and undermines its foundations. Finally, the com 
 mand of the Army and Navy being already in the Pres 
 ident, and having acquired a perfect cont r ol over the 
 Treasury of the United States, he has consummated that 
 frightful union of purse and sword, so long, so much 
 so earnestly deprecated by all true lovers of civil lib 
 erty. And our present Chief Magistrate stands sol 
 emnly and voluntarily pledged, in the face of the whole 
 world, to follow in the footsteps and carry out the 
 measures and the principles of his illustrious prede 
 cessor! 
 
 The sum of the whole is, that there is but one power, 
 one control, one w r ill in the State. All is concentrated 
 in the President. He directs, orders, commands the 
 whole machinery of the State. Through the official 
 
196 Reminiscences of the 
 
 agencies, scattered throughout the land, and absolutely 
 subjected to his will, he executes according to his pleas 
 ure or caprice, the whole power of the commonwealth, 
 which has been absorbed and engrossed by him. And 
 one sole will predominates in, and animates the whole 
 of this community. If this be not practical despotism 
 I am incapable of conceiving or defining it. Names 
 are nothing. The existence or non-existence of arbi 
 trary government does not depend upon the title or 
 denomination bestowed on the chief of the State, but 
 upon the quantum of power which he possesses and 
 wields. Autocrat, sultan, emperor, dictator, king, 
 doge, president, are all mere names, in which the power 
 respectively possessed by them is not to be found, but 
 is to be looked for in the Constitution, or the estab 
 lished usages and practices of the several States which 
 they govern and control. If the Autocrat of Russia 
 were called president of all the Russias, the actual power 
 remaining unchanged, his authority under his new de 
 nomination would continue undiminished; and if the 
 President of the United States were to receive the title 
 of Autocrat of the United States, the amount of his au 
 thority would not be increased without an alteration of 
 the Constitution. 
 
 " General Jackson was a bold and fearless reaper, 
 carrying a wide row, but he did not gather the whole 
 harvest; he left some gleanings to his faithful suc 
 cessor, and he seems resolved to sweep clean the field 
 of power. The duty of inculcating on the official corps 
 the active exertion of their personal and official influ 
 ence was left by him to be enforced by Mr. Van Bu- 
 ren, in all popular elections. It was not sufficient that 
 the official corps was bound implicitly to obey the will 
 of the President. It was not sufficient that this obedi 
 ence was coerced by the tremendous power of dis 
 mission. It soon became apparent that this corps 
 might be beneficially employed to promote in other 
 matters than the business of their offices, the views and 
 interests of the President and his party. They are far 
 more efficient than any standing army of equal num 
 bers. A standing army would be separated, and stand 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 197 
 
 out from the people; would be an object of jealousy and 
 suspicion; and being always in corps, or in detachments, 
 could exert no influence on popular elections. But the 
 official corps is dispersed throughout the country, in 
 every town, village and city, mixing with the people, 
 attending their meetings and conventions, becoming 
 chairmen and members of committees and urging and 
 stimulating partisans to active and vigorous exertion. 
 Acting in concert, and throughout the whole Union 
 obeying orders issued from the center, their influence, 
 aided by executive patronage, by the Post-Office De 
 partment, and all the vast other means of the executive, 
 is almost irresistible. 
 
 "To correct this procedure, and to restrain the sub 
 ordinates of the executive from all interference with 
 popular elections, my colleague (Mr. Crittenden) now 
 present, introduced a bill in the Senate. He had the 
 weight of Mr. Jefferson s opinion, who issued a circu 
 lar to restrain Federal officers from intermeddling in 
 popular elections. He had before him the British ex 
 ample, according to which, placemen and pensioners 
 were not only forbidden to interfere, but were not, 
 some of them, even allowed to vote at popular elections. 
 But this bill left them free to excercise the elective 
 franchise, prohibiting only the use of their official 
 influence. And how was this bill received in the Sen 
 ate? Passed by those who profess to admire the char 
 acter and to pursue the principles of Mr. Jefferson? 
 No such thing. It wa denounced as a sedition bill. 
 And the just odium of that sedition bill, which was 
 intended to protect office-holders against the people 
 was successfully used to defeat a measure of protection 
 of the people against the office-holders! Not only 
 were they left unrestrained, but they were urged and 
 stimulated by an official report to employ their influ 
 ence in behalf of the administration, at the elections of 
 the people. 
 
 Hitherto the Army and Navy have remained unaf 
 fected by the power of dismission, and they have not 
 been called into the political service of the executive. 
 But no attentive observer of the principles and pro- 
 
19$ Reminiscences of the 
 
 ceedings of the men in power could fail to see that the 
 day was not distant when they, too, would be required 
 to perform the partisan offices of the President. Ac 
 cordingly, the process of converting them into execu 
 tive instruments has commenced in a court-martial 
 assembled at Baltimore. Two officers of the Army of 
 the United States have been put upon their solemn 
 trial, on the charge of prejudicing the Democratic 
 party by making purchases for the supply of the Army 
 from members of the Whig party. It is not pretended 
 that the United States were prejudiced by those pur 
 chases; on the contrary, it was, I believe, established 
 that they were cheaper than could have been made 
 from the supporters of the administration. But the 
 charge was that to purchase at all from the opponents, 
 instead of friends of the administration, was an injury 
 to the Democratic party which required that the offend 
 ers should be put upon their trial before a court-mar 
 tial. And this trial was commenced at the instance of 
 a committee of a Democratic convention, and con 
 ducted and prosecuted by them. The scandalous spec 
 tacle is presented to an enlightened world of the Chief 
 Magistrate of a great people executing the orders of a 
 self-created power, organized within the bosom of the 
 State, and upon such an accusation, arraigning, before 
 a military tribunal, gallant men, who are charged with 
 the defense of the honor and interest of their country, 
 and with bearing its eagles in the presence of an 
 enemy. 
 
 " But the Army and Navy are too small, and in com 
 position are too patriotic to subserve all the purposes 
 of this administration. Hence the recent proposition 
 of the Secretary of War, strongly recommended by the 
 President, under color of a new organization of the 
 militia, to create a standing force of two hundred thou 
 sand men, an amount which no conceivable foreign 
 exigency can ever make necessary. It is not my pur 
 pose now to enter upon an examination of that alarm 
 ing and dangerous plan of the Executive Department 
 of the Federal Government. It has justly excited a 
 burst of general indignation; and nowhere has the dis- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 199 
 
 approbation of it been more emphatically expressed 
 than in this ancient and venerable commonwealth. 
 
 k *The monstrous project may be described in a few 
 words. It proposes to create the force by breaking 
 down Mason and Dixson s line, expunging the bound 
 aries of States, melting them up into a confluent mass, 
 to be subsequently cut up into ten military parts, alien 
 ates the militia from its natural association, withdraws 
 it from the authority and command and sympathy of 
 its constitutional officers, appointed by the States, puts 
 it under the command of the President, authorizes him 
 to cause it to be trained, in palpable violation of the 
 Constitution, and subjects it to be called out from re 
 mote and distant places, at his pleasure, and on oc 
 casions not warranted by the Constitution! 
 
 " Indefensible as this project is, fellow-citizens, do 
 not be deceived by supposing that it has been or will 
 be abandoned. It is a principle of those who are now 
 in power that an election or re-election of the Presi 
 dent implies the sanction of the people to all the meas 
 ures which he had proposed, and all the opinions which 
 he had expressed, on public affairs, prior to that event. 
 We have seen this principle applied on various occa 
 sions. Let Mr. Van Buren be re-elected in November 
 next, and it will be claimed that the people have thereby 
 approved of this plan of the Secretary of War. All 
 entertain the opinion that it is important to train the 
 milita and render it effective; and it will be insisted, in 
 the contingency mentioned, that the people have de 
 monstrated that they approve of that specific plan. 
 There is more reason to apprehend such consequence 
 from the fact that a committee of the Senate, to which 
 this subject was referred, instead of denouncing the 
 scheme as unconstitutional and dangerous to liberty, 
 presented a labored apologetic report, and the admin 
 istration majority in that body ordered twenty thou 
 sand copies of the apology to be printed for circulation 
 among the people. I take pleasure in testifying that 
 one administration Senator had the manly independ 
 ence to denounce, in his place, the project as un consti 
 tutional The Senator was from your own State. 
 
2oo Reminiscences of the 
 
 " I have thus, fellow-citizens, exhibited to you a true 
 and faithful picture of Executive power, as it has been 
 enlarged and expanded within the last few years, and 
 as it has been proposed further to extend it. It over 
 shadows every other branch of the Government. The 
 source of legislative power is no longer to be found in 
 the Capital but in the palace of the President. In as 
 suming to be a part of the legislative power, as the 
 President recently did contrary to the Constitution, he 
 would have been nearer the actual fact if he had alleged 
 that he was the sole legislative power of the Union. 
 How is it possible for public liberty to be preserved, 
 and the constitutional distributions of power, among 
 the departments of Government, to be maintained, un 
 less the executive career be checked and restrained? 
 
 " It may be urged that two securities exist: first, that 
 the Presidential term is of short duration; and secondly, 
 the elective franchise. But it has been already shown 
 that whether a depository power be arbitrary or com 
 patible with liberty, does not depend upon the dura 
 tion of the official term, but upon the amount of power 
 invested. The Dictatorship in Rome was an office of 
 brief existence, generally shorter than the Presidential 
 term. Whether the elective franchise be an adequate 
 security or not, is a probleYn to be solved next Novem 
 ber. I hope and believe it yet is. But if Mr. Van Bu- 
 ren shall be re-elected, the power already acquired by 
 the executive be retained, and that which is in pro 
 gress be added to that department, it is my deliberate 
 judgment that there will be no hope remaining for the 
 continuance of the liberties of the country. 
 
 " And yet the partisans of this tremendous executive 
 power arrogate to themselves the name of Democrats, 
 and bestow upon us who are opposed to it the denomi 
 nation of Federalists! In the Senate of the United 
 States there are five gentlemen who were members of 
 the Federal party, and four of them have been suddenly 
 transformed into Democrats; and are now warm sup 
 porters of this administration, whilst I, who had ex 
 erted the humblest of my humble abilities to arouse the 
 nation to a vindication of its insulted honor and its vi- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 201 
 
 olated rights, and to the vigorous prosecution of the 
 war against Great Britain, to which they were violently 
 opposed, find myself, by a sort of magical influence, 
 converted into a Federalist! The only American citi 
 zen that I ever met with, who was an avowed mon 
 archist, was a supporter of the administration of Gen 
 eral Jackson; and he acknowledged to me that his mo 
 tive was to bring about the system of monarchy which 
 his judgment preferred. 
 
 "There were other points of difference between the 
 Federalist and the Democratic or rather Republican 
 party of 1798; but the great, leading, prominent dis 
 crimination between them related to the constitution 
 of the executive department of the Government. The 
 Federalists believed that, in its structure, it was too 
 weak and was in danger of being crushed by the pre 
 ponderating weight of the legislative branch. Hence, 
 they rallied around the executive, and sought to give 
 to it strength and energy. A strong Government, an 
 energetic executive was among them the common 
 language and the great object of that day. The Re 
 publicans, on the contrary, believed that the real dan 
 ger lay on the side of the executive; that, having a 
 continuous and uninterrupted existence, it was always 
 on the alert, ready to defend the power it had, and 
 prompt in acquiring more; and that the experience of 
 history demonstrated that it was the encroaching and 
 usurping department. They therefore rallied around 
 the people and the legislature. 
 
 " What are the positions of the two great parties of 
 the present day? Modern Democracy has reduced the 
 Federal theory of a strong and energetic executive to 
 practical operation. It has turned from the people, 
 the natural ally of genuine Democracy, to the execu 
 tive, and, instead of vigilance, jealousy, and distrust, 
 has given to that department all its confidence, and 
 made to it a virtual surrender of all the powers of Gov 
 ernment. The recognized maxim of royal infallibility 
 is transplanted from the British monarchy into modern 
 American Democracy, and the President cando no 
 wrong. This new school adopts, modifies, changes, 
 
2O2 Reminiscences of the 
 
 renounces, renews opinions at the pleasure of the ex 
 ecutive. Is the bank of the United States a useful and 
 valuable institution? Yes, unanimously pronounces 
 the Democratic legislature of Pennsylvania. The 
 President vetoes it as a pernicious and dangerous es 
 tablishment. The Democratic majority in the same 
 legislature pronounce it to be pernicious and danger 
 ous. The Democratic majority of the House of Repre 
 sentatives of the United States declare the deposits of 
 the public money in the bank of the United States to 
 be safe. The President says they are unsafe, and re 
 moves them. The Democracy say they are unsafe, 
 and approve the removal. The President says that a 
 scheme of a sub-treasury is revolutionary and disorgan 
 izing. The Democracy say it is revolutionary and 
 disorganizing. The President says it is wise and salu 
 tary. The Democracy say it is wise and salutary. 
 
 " The Whigs of 1840 stand where the Republicans 
 of 1798 stood, and where the Whigs of the Revolution 
 were, battling for liberty, for the people, for free in 
 stitutions, against power, against corruption, against 
 executive encroachments, against monarchy, 
 
 " We are reproached with struggling for offices and 
 their emoluments. If we acted on the avowed and 
 acknowledged principle of our opponents, that the 
 spoils belong to the victors, 1 we should indeed be un 
 worthy of the support of the people. No, fellow-citi 
 zens, higher, nobler, more patriotic motives actuate the 
 Whig party. Their object is the restoration of the 
 Constitution, the preservation of liberty, the rescue of 
 the countrv. If they were governed by the sordid 
 and selfish motives acted upon by their opponents, and 
 unjustly imputed to them, to acquire office and emolu 
 ment, they have only to change their names, and enter 
 the Presidential palace. The gate is always wide open, 
 and the path is no narrow one which leads through it. 
 The last comer, too, often fares best. 
 
 "On a resurvey of the past few years we behold 
 enough to sicken and sadden the hearts of true patriots. 
 Executive encroachment has quickly followed upon 
 executive encroachment; persons honored by public 
 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 203 
 
 confidence, and from whom nothing but grateful and 
 parental measures should have flowed, have inflicted 
 stunning blow after blow in such rapid succession that 
 before the people could recover from the reeling effects 
 of one, another has fallen heavily upon them. Had either 
 of various instances of executive misrule stood out sep 
 arate and alone, so that its enormity might have been 
 seen and dw r elt upon with composure, the condemna 
 tion of the executive would have long since been pro 
 nounced; but it has hitherto found safety and impunity 
 in the bewildering effects of the multitude of its mis 
 deeds. The nation has been in the condition of a man 
 who, having gone to bed after his barn has been con 
 sumed by fire, is aroused in the morning to witness his 
 dwelling-house wrapt in flames. So bold and pre 
 sumptuous had the executive become that penetrating 
 in its influence the hall of a co-ordinate branch of the 
 Government by means of a submissive or instructed 
 majority of the Senate it has caused a record of the 
 country to be effaced and expunged, the inviolability of 
 ivhich was guaranteed by a solemn injunction of the 
 Constitution. And that memorable and scandalous 
 scene was enacted only because the offensive record 
 contained an expression of disapprobation of an exec 
 utive proceeding. 
 
 " If this state of things were to remain; if the pro 
 gress of executive usurpation were to continue un 
 checked, hopeless despair would seize the public mind, 
 or the people would be goaded to acts of open and 
 violent resistance. But, thank God, the power of the 
 President, fearful and rapid as its strides have been, is 
 not yet too great for the power of the elective fran 
 chise; and a bright and glorious prospect in the elec 
 tion of William Henry Harrison has opened upon the 
 country. The necessity of a change of rulers has 
 deeply penetrated the heart of the people, and we 
 every A here behold cheering manifestations of that 
 happy event. The fact of his election alone, without 
 reference to the measures of his administration, will 
 powerfully contribute to the security and happiness of 
 the people. It will bring assurance of the cessation of 
 
204 Reminiscences of the 
 
 that long series of disastrous experiments which have 
 so greatly afflicted the people. Confidence will im 
 mediately revive, credit be restored, active business 
 will return, prices of products will rise, and the peo 
 ple will feel and know that, instead of their servants 
 being occupied in devising measures for their ruin and 
 destruction, they will be assiduously employed in pro 
 moting their welfare and prosperity. 
 
 kk Whatever is the work of man, necessarily partakes 
 of his imperfections; and it was not to be expected 
 that, with all the acknowledged wish and virtues of 
 the framers of our Constitution they could have sent 
 forth a plan of Government so free from all defect, and 
 so full of guarantees, that it should not, in the conflict 
 of embittered parties and excited passions be perverted 
 and misinterpreted. Misconceptions or erroneous con 
 structions of the powers granted in the Constitution 
 would probably have occurred, after the lapse of many 
 years, in seasons of entire calm and with a regular and 
 temperate administration of the Government; but dur 
 ing the last twelve years the machine, driven by a 
 reckless charioteer with a frightful impetuosity, has been 
 greatly jarred and jolted, and it needs careful examina 
 tion and a thorough repair. 
 
 " With a view, therefore, to the fundamental charac 
 ter of the Government itself, and especially of the ex 
 ecutive branch, it seems to me that, either by amend 
 ments of the Constitution, when they are necessary, or 
 by remedial legislation, when the object falls within 
 the scope of the powers of Congress, there should be, 
 
 1. A provision to render a person ineligible to the 
 office of President of the United States after a serv 
 ice of one term, 
 
 "Much observation and deliberate reflection have 
 satisfied me that too much of the time, the thoughts, and 
 the exertions of the incumbent are occupied during his 
 lirst term, in securing his re-election. The public busi 
 ness, consequently, suffers; and measures are proposed 
 or executed with less regard to the general prosperity 
 than to their influence upon the approaching election. 
 If the limitation to one term existed, the President 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 205 
 
 would be exclusively devoted to the discharge of his 
 public duties; and he would endeavor to signalize his 
 administration by the beneficence and wisdom of its 
 measures. 
 
 " 2. That the veto power should be more precisely de 
 fined, and be subjected to further limitations and qual 
 ifications. Although a large, perhaps the largest, pro 
 portion of all the acts of Congress, since the com 
 mencement of the Government, were passed within 
 the three last days of the session, and when of course 
 the President for the time being had not the ten days 
 for consideration allowed by the Constitution, Presi 
 dent Jackson, availing himself of that allowance, has 
 failed to return important bills. When not returned 
 by the President within the ten days, it is questionable 
 whether they are laws or not. It is very certain that 
 the next Congress cannot act upon them by deciding 
 whether or not they shall become laws, the President s 
 objections notwithstanding. All this ought to be pro 
 vided for. 
 
 "At present, a bill returned by the President can only 
 become a law by the concurrence of two-thirds of the 
 members of each House. I think if Congress passes 
 a bill after discussion and consideration, and, after 
 weighing the objections of the President, still believes 
 it ought to pass, it should become a law, provided a 
 majority of all the members of each House concur in 
 its passage. If the weight of his argument and the 
 weight of his influence conjointly cannot prevail on a 
 majority, against their previous convictions, in my 
 opinion, the bill ought not to be arrested. Such is the 
 provision of the constitutions of several of the States, 
 and that of Kentucky among them. 
 
 " 3. The power of dismission from office should be re 
 stricted, and the exercise of it be rendered responsible. 
 
 "The constitutional concurrence of the Senate is 
 necessary to the confirmation of all important appoint 
 ments; but, without consulting the Senate, without 
 any other motive than resentment or caprice, the Pres 
 ident may dismiss, at his sole pleasure, an officer 
 created by the joint action of himself and the Senate. 
 
206 Reminiscences of the 
 
 The practical effect is to nullify the agency of the Sen 
 ate. There may be, occasionally, cases in which the 
 public interest requires an immediate dismission with 
 out waiting for the assembling of the Senate; but, in 
 all such cases the President should be bound to com 
 municate fully the grounds and motives of the dismis 
 sion. The power would be thus rendered responsible. 
 Without it, the exercise of the power is utterly repug 
 nant to free institutions, the basis of which is perfect 
 responsibility and dangerous to the public liberty, as 
 has been allready shown. 
 
 "4- That the control over the Treasury of the United 
 States should be conjided and confined exclusively to 
 Congress; and all authority of the President over it by 
 means of dismissing the Secretary of the 7 reasury, or 
 other persons having the immediate charge of it, be 
 rigorously precluded. 
 
 " You have heard much, fellow-citizens, of the divorce 
 of banks and government. After crippling them and 
 impairing their utility, the executive and its partisans 
 have systematically denounced them. The executive 
 and the country were warned again and again of the 
 fatal course that has been pursued; but the execctive 
 nevertheless persevered, commencing by praising and 
 ending by decrying the State banks. Under cover of 
 the smoke which has been raised, the real object all 
 along has been, and yet is to obtain the possession of 
 the money-power of the Union. That accomplished 
 and sanctioned by the people the union of the sword 
 and the purse in the hands of the President effectually 
 secured and farewell to American liberty. The sub- 
 treasury is the scheme for effecting that union; and, I 
 am told, that of all the days in the year, that which 
 gave birth to our national existence and freedom is the 
 selected day to be disgraced by ushering into existence 
 a measure imminently perilous to the liberty which, on 
 that anniversary, we commemorate in joyous festivals. 
 Thus, in the spirit of destruction which animates our 
 rulers, would they convert a day of gladness and of 
 glory into a day of sadness and mourning. Fellow- 
 citizens, there is one divorce urgently demanded by 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 207 
 
 the safety and highest interests of the country, a divorce 
 of the President from the treasury of the United States. 
 
 "And 5. That the appointment of members of Con 
 gress to any office, or any but a few specified offices, dur 
 ing their continuance in office, and for one year there 
 after be prohibited, 
 
 "This is a hackneved theme, but it is not less deserv 
 ing serious consideration. The Constitution now inter 
 dicts the appointment of a member of Congress to any 
 office created, or the emoluments of which had been in 
 creased whilst he was in office. In the purer days of 
 the Republic that restriction might have been sufficient, 
 but in these more degenerate times, it is necessary, by 
 an amendment of the Constitution to give the princi 
 ples greater extent. 
 
 "These are the subjects, in relation to the permanent 
 character of the Government itself, wh-ich, it seems to 
 me, are worthy of the serious attention of the people, 
 and of a new administration. There are others, of an 
 administrative nature, which require prompt and care 
 ful consideration. 
 
 "i. The currency of the country, its stability and 
 uniform value, and, as intimately and indissolubly con 
 nected with it, the insurance of the faithful perform 
 ance of the fiscal services necessary to the Government 
 should be maintained and secured by exercising all the 
 powers requisite to those objects with which Congress 
 is constitutionally invested. These are the great ends 
 to be aimed at, the means are of subordinate impor 
 tance. Whether these ends, indispensable to the well- 
 being of both the people and the Government, are to 
 be attained by sound and safe State banks, care 
 fully selected and properly distributed, or by a new 
 bank of the United States, with such limitations, con 
 ditions, and restrictions as have been indicated by ex 
 perience, should be left to the arbitrament of enlight 
 ened public opinion. 
 
 "Candor and truth require me to say that, in my 
 judgment, whilst banks continue to exist in the coun 
 try, the services of a bank of the United States cannot 
 be safely dispensed with. I think that the power to 
 
208 Reminiscences of the 
 
 establish such a bank is a settled question; settled by 
 Washington and by Madison, by forty years acquies 
 cence, by the judiciary, and by both of the great par 
 ties which so long held sway in this country. I know 
 and I respect the contrary opinion, which is enter 
 tained in this State. But, in my deliberate view of the 
 matter, the power to establish such a bank being set 
 tled, and being a necessary and proper power, the 
 only question is as to the expediency of its exercise. 
 And on questions of mere expediency, public opin 
 ion ought to have a controlling influence. With 
 out banks, I believe we cannot have a sufficient cur 
 rency; without a bank of the United States I fear we 
 cannot have a sound currency. But it is the end, that 
 of a sound and sufficient currency, and a faithful exe 
 cution of the fiscal duties of Government, that should 
 engage the dispassionate and candid consideration of 
 the whole community. There is nothing in the name 
 of a bank of the United States which has any mag 
 ical charm, or to which any one need be wedded. It is 
 to secure certain great objects, without which society 
 cannot prosper; and if, contrary to my apprehension, 
 these objects can be accomplished by dispensing with 
 the agency of a bank of the United States, and em 
 ploying that of State banks, all ought to rejoice and 
 heartily acquiesce, and none would more than I should. 
 
 "2. That the public lands, in conformity with the 
 trusts created expressly, or by just implication, on 
 their acquisition, be administered in a spirit of lib 
 erality towards the new States and Territories, and in 
 a spirit of justice towards all the States. 
 
 " The land bill, which was rejected by President Jack 
 son, and acts of occasional legislation-, will accomplish 
 both these objects. I regret that the time does not ad 
 mit of my exposing here the nefarious plans and pur 
 poses of the administration as to this vast natioual re 
 source. That, like every other great interest of the 
 countrv, is administered with the sole view of the ef 
 fect upon the interests of the party in power. A bill has 
 passed the Senate, and is now pending before the 
 House, according to which forty millions of dollars are 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 209 
 
 stricken from the real value of a certain portion of the 
 public lands by a short process; and a citizen of Virginia 
 residing on the southwest side of the Ohio is not al 
 lowed to purchase lands as cheap by half a dollar per 
 acre as a citizen living on the northwest side of that 
 river. I have no hesitation in expressing my convic 
 tion that the whole public domain is gone if Mr. Van 
 Buren be re-elected. 
 
 "3. THAT THE POLICY OF PROTECTING AND ENCOUR 
 AGING THE PRODUCTIONS OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY, EN 
 TERING INTO COMPETITION WITH THE RIVAL PRODUC 
 TIONS OF FOREIGN INDUSTRY, HE ADHERED TO AND 
 
 MAINTAINED ON THE BASIS OF THE PRINCIPLES AND 
 IN THE SPIRIT OF THE COMPROMISE OF MARCH, 1833. 
 
 " PROTECTION AND NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE ARE, 
 IN MY OPINON, IDENTICAL AND SYNONYMOUS. THE 
 PRINCIPLE OF ABANDONMENT OF THE ONE CANNOT BE 
 SURRENDERED WITHOUT A FORFEITURE OF THE OTHER. 
 Who, with just pride and national sensibility, can think 
 of subjecting the products of our industry to all the 
 taxation and restraints of foreign powers, without ef 
 fort on our part to counteract their prohibitions and 
 burdens by suitable countervailing legislation? These 
 questions cannot be, ought not to be, one of principle, 
 but of measure and degree. I adopt that of the com 
 promise act, not because that act is irrepealable, but be 
 cause it met with the sanction of the nation. Stability 
 with moderate and certain protection, is far more im 
 portant than instability, the necessary consequence of 
 high protection. But the protection of the compromise 
 act will be adequate, in most, if not as to all interests. 
 The twenty per cent, which it stipulates, cash duties, 
 home valuations, and the list of free articles inserted in 
 the act for the particular advantage of the manufacturer, 
 will insure, I trust, sufficient protection. All together, 
 they will amount probably to not less than thirty per 
 cent. a greater extent of protection than was secured 
 prior to the act of 1828, which no one stands up to 
 defend. Now, the valuation of foreign goods is not 
 made by the American authority, except in suspected 
 cases, but by foreigners and abroad. They assess the 
 
 14 
 
2io Reminiscences of the 
 
 value and we the duty; but, as the duty depends, in 
 most cases on the value, it is manifest that those who 
 assess the value fix the duty. The home valuation 
 will give our Government what it rightfully possesses, 
 both the power to ascertain the true valuation of the 
 thing which it taxes, as well as the amount of that tax. 
 
 "4- That a strict and "wise economy in the disburse 
 ment of the public money be steadily enforced; and that, 
 to that end, all useless establishments, all unnecessary 
 offices and places, foreign and domestic, and all extrav 
 agance, either in the collection or expenditure of the 
 public revenue be abolished and repressed. 
 
 " I have not time to dwell on details in the applica 
 tion of this principle. I will say that a pruning knife, 
 long, broad, and sharp, should be applied to every de 
 partment or the Government. There is abundant 
 scope for honest and skillful surgery. The annual ex 
 penditure may, in reasonable time, be brought down 
 from its present amount of about forty millions to near 
 one-third of that sum. 
 
 "5. That several States have made such great and 
 gratifying progress in their respective systems of in 
 ternal improvement, and have been so aided by the 
 distribution under the deposit act, that, in future, the 
 erection of new roads and canals should be left to them 
 with such further aid only from the General Govern 
 ment as they would derive from the payment of the 
 last installment under that act, from an absolute re- 
 linquishment of the right of Congress to call upon 
 them to refund the previous installments, and from that 
 equal and just quotas, to be received by the future dis 
 tribution of the net proceeds from the sales of public 
 lands. And 
 
 "6. That the right to slave property being guaranteed 
 by the Constitution and recognized as one of the com 
 promises incorporated in that instrument by our an 
 cestors, should be left where the Constitution has placed 
 it, undisturbed and unagitated by Congress. 
 
 "These, fellow-citizens, are views both of the struc 
 ture of the Government and its administration which 
 appear to me worthy of commanding the grave atten- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 2 rr 
 
 tion of the public and its new servants. Although, 
 I repeat, I have neither authority nor purpose to com 
 mit anybody else, I believe most, if not all of them are 
 entertained by the political friends with whom I have 
 acted. Whether the salutary reforms which they in 
 clude will be effected or considered, depends upon the 
 issue of that great struggle which is now going on 
 throughout all this country. This contest has had no 
 parallel since the period of the Revolution. In both in 
 stances there is a similarity of object. That was to 
 achieve, this is to preserve the liberties of the country. 
 Let us catch the spirit which animated and imitate the 
 virtues which adorned our noble ancestors. Their de 
 votion, their constancy, their untiring activity, their 
 perseverence, their indomitable resolution, their sacri 
 fices, their valor! If they fought for liberty or death, 
 in the memorable language of one of the most illustri 
 ous of them, let us never forget that the prize now at 
 hazard is liberty or slavery. We should be encouraged 
 by the fact that the contest, to the success of which 
 they solemnly pledged their fortunes, their lives, and 
 their sacred honor, was far more unequal than that in 
 which we are engaged. But, on the other hand, let us 
 cautiously guard against too much confidence. History 
 and experience prove that more has been lost by self- 
 confidence and contempt of enemies than won by skill 
 and courage. Our opponents are powerful in numbers 
 and in organization; active, insidious, possessed of 
 ample means, and wholly unscrupulous in the use of 
 them. They count upon success by the use of two 
 words, Democracy and Federalism Democracy, which, 
 in violation of all truth, they appropriate to themselves, 
 and Federalism, which, in violation of all justice, they 
 apply to us. And allow me to conjure } ou not to suffer 
 yourselves to be diverted, deceived, or discouraged by 
 the false rumors which will be industriously circulated 
 between the present time and the period of the elec 
 tion, by our opponents. They will put them forth in 
 every variety, and without number, in the most impos 
 ing forms, certified and sworn to by conspicuous names. 
 They will brag, they will boast, they will threaten. 
 
212 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Regardless of all their arts, let us keep steadily and 
 faithfully and fearlessly at work. 
 
 "But if the opposition perform its whole duty; if 
 every member of it act as in the celebrated battle of 
 Lord Nelson, as if the eyes of the whole nation were 
 fixed on him, and as if on his sole exertions depended 
 the issue of the day, I sincerely believe that at least 
 twenty of the States of the Union will unite in the glor 
 ious work of the salvation of the Constitution and the 
 redemption of the country. 
 
 " Friends and fellow-citizens, I have detained you 
 too long. Accept my cordial thanks and my profound 
 acknowledgments for the honors of this day, and for 
 all your feelings of attachment towards me; and allow 
 me, in conclusion, to propose a sentiment: 
 
 " Hanover county: It was the first, in the commence 
 ment of the Revolution, to raise its arms, under the lead 
 of Patrick Henry, in defense of American liberty; it 
 will be the last to prove false or recreant to the holy 
 cause." 
 
 LOG CABIN RAISING AT ALBANY. 
 
 THE PEOPLE ARE COMING, HA, HA! HA, HA! 
 
 The great log cabin raising at Albany, New York, 
 on July 10, brought in the old Dutch farmers from the 
 ancient settlements of the county, and the timbers 
 went up in quick time. Over 5,000 Whigs were 
 present. The ladies thronged Stanwise Hall and 
 buildings around, and the feasting on corn bread, 
 cheese and hard cider, together with speeches from 
 Mr. Edmonds and others went on to a late hour. 
 
 The Whigs of New York had a great celebration of 
 the ^th at the Tabernacle. The Declaration was read 
 by Samuel G. Raymond, Esq., and there was an elo 
 quent oration by John A. Sargeant, Esq. 
 
 At Poughkeepsie and Hudson there were also large 
 Whig gatherings. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 213 
 
 At Newcastle, Georgia, on the 4th, there was an im 
 mense Harrison meeting. 
 
 The Whigs of Philadelphia had a glorious celebra 
 tion on the island opposite that city on the 4th of July, 
 and were addressed by John M. Botts, of Virginia; 
 Alford, of Georgia; White, of Kentucky; R. Biddle 
 and John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, and others. 
 
 A large log cabin was raised at New Orleans on 
 the 1 3th of June for a place of meeting. 
 
 There was a great Whig meeting and log-cabin rais 
 ing at "North Bend," in Talbot county, Maryland, on the 
 i6th of June; open house was kept" in the peculiar 
 way of the Eastern Shore, and the invitation was gen 
 eral, "Won t you take pot luck with me ?" 
 
 At Easton, there was a mammoth meeting July 15, 
 whereat the Eastern Shore, with its 130 miles and ag 
 gregate population greater* than Delaware or Rhode 
 Island, turned out over 25,000 people to shout and 
 work for Harrison and Tyler. All the classes were 
 represented, and log cabins and canoes were numerous, 
 and hard cider as liberally dispensed in gourds, and 
 joy reigned supreme. 
 
 At Vienna, on Barren Creek, Maryland, Whig cele 
 bration, a splendid batteau labeled, "Tippecanoe" 
 decorated with banners and flags, placed on wheels 
 and drawn by four horses, commanded by F. Chelton. 
 Mr. Allison Parsons, of Salsbury, was there with 
 his fine canoe, "Tip," also on wheels and decorated 
 with flags. Mr. Isaac Leonard had another beautiful 
 canoe, and other devices were there. Speeches 
 were made by C. H. Pitts, Yates Walsh, John L. Kerr. 
 Much enthusiasm, and hospitality was unbounded. 
 
 Over one thousand sturdy Whigs of Arkansas met 
 at Little Rock, on the ijth and I4th, and were ad 
 dressed by Albert Pike, William Byers and others. 
 
 At Steubenville, Ohio, over ten thousand freemen 
 met in convention and were addressed by Gen. Sam. 
 Stokely, Colonel James Collier and others. 
 
 New Jersey met in convention at Trenton, and 
 chose as electors, Dr. Lewis Condict, Cornelius Lup- 
 ton, James Iliff, J. M. Ryerson, John Rank, Sam. 
 
214 Reminiscences of the 
 
 C. Wright, Thomas Newbold and Joshua Townsend. 
 
 At Cadiz, Ohio, on July 4. there was a strange and 
 exciting scene. There were two meetings held, and, as 
 the processions were passing, a "Harrison" banner was 
 unfurled in the Democratic line by one who spoke to 
 them and then marched out with sixty others into the 
 Republican crowd. On the banner were lettered the 
 noble words of Levi Mallonee, u Strike My Name 
 From the Nottingham List! I Can Do That Work 
 No More." 
 
 On the 3Oth of July there was an immense Republi 
 can meeting at Charlestown, Virginia. 
 
 The Whig State central committee, of New York, 
 from Albany, on the zoth, put out a rousing address to 
 the Whigs of the Union. 
 
 At Henderson, Kentucky, over three thousand peo 
 ple met July 20 and were addressed by Judge Under 
 wood and others. 
 
 The patriotic Whigs of Pittsylvania, Virginia, gave 
 a public dinner on the 25th to Hon. Waddy Thompson, 
 of South Carolina, who delivered to them an eloquent 
 address. 
 
 At Columbus, Georgia, more than three thousand 
 persons attended a Tippecanoe celebration. 
 
 At Tallahassee, Florida, a grand Harrison and reform 
 meeting was addressed by General Clinch and Gen 
 eral Flovd. 
 
 HILLSBOROUGH, OHIO, MEETING. 
 
 A SAMPLE OF OHIO GATHERINGS FOR HARRISON 
 AND REFORM. 
 
 Notice had been given a few weeks previously, and 
 arrangements made for a convention of the three coun 
 ties of Adams, Fayette, and Highland, to select and 
 nominate their candidates for the legislature and pre 
 pare for the coming contest in October. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 215 
 
 Our friends everywhere were invited to attend on 
 the 3Oth of July, and as it was designed to make this a 
 proud day for Harrison and reform, we specially ad 
 dressed Messrs. Corwin, Bond, and Governor Morrow, 
 of Ohio; and Hon. H. Clay, Southgate, and General 
 Collins, of Kentucky. Mr. Corwin (whom we de 
 light to honor as the late representative in Congress 
 from this district) was obliged to be at Steubenville to 
 meet Governor Shannon; and Mr. Clay, from pressing 
 private engagements, was prevented from being pres 
 ent. The other gentlemen named above were, with 
 R ichard Douglass, Esq., of Chillicothe, and other cham 
 pions, on the ground; Professor Galloway, of Indiana, 
 and young Buckeye Carson, of Ross county, also ad 
 dressed the meeting. But the people were here! The 
 hardy and industrious yeomany of the Buckeye soil 
 the laborer and the mechanic, the merchant and pro 
 fessional man, with their families, their wives, their 
 sons and daughters, all, all were with us, with ap 
 propriate badges and banners, with log cabins, Fort 
 Meigs, and balls rolling, with bands of music pealing 
 their martial notes, reverberating wildly through our 
 highland hills and valleys for many a mile. The dele 
 gates arriving from every point of the compass, in heavy 
 columns of thousands, and processions from three dif 
 ferent roads, extending upwards of a mile, presented 
 a scene the most thrilling and imposing. Here was 
 an army of peaceful and patriotic citizens, whose march 
 was that of firmness and devotion to the cause of their 
 country. The wide and ample streets of our handsome 
 village could not contain even the advance guard of the 
 swelling columns of freemen, and our marshals were 
 obliged to conduct the different divisions as they ar 
 rived to the extensive and beautiful grove adjacent, 
 which was prepared for the convention. There they 
 were all concentrated by n a. m., and during the day 
 from fifteen to twenty-thousand people listened attent 
 ively to the eloquent and forcible appeals of Bond, 
 Southgate, and that well-tried and veteran statesman, 
 Governor Morrow. Tables, upwards of twelve thou 
 sand feet in length, and provisions to cover them, were 
 
216 Reminiscences of the 
 
 at hand, where ladies and gentlemen (during a recess 
 of thirty minutes) partook of substantial log cabin 
 fare. 
 
 The speaker s stand was again occupied; Bond was 
 at home, with facts for the people, while Southgate s 
 fervid and impassioned eloquence sent them home to 
 the conviction of every honest and unprejudiced mind. 
 Governor Morrow s plain and practical speech, char 
 acterized by good sense and enforced by that sterling 
 integrity and political honesty, unimpeached and un 
 impeachable, was well adapted to the occasion, and 
 produced a strong and deep impression. In the ab 
 sence of General Collins at the moment, Mr. Gallr- 
 way followed Governor Morrow in an able speech, 
 and closed the discussion of the day. Hundreds, pei- 
 haps thousands, remained during the night, crowding 
 the private dwellings of our citizens. The public 
 square was splendidly illuminated, and our speakers 
 were again called to the stand. R. Douglass, Esq., of 
 Chillicothe, a well-tried soldier ^nd patriot of 1812, 
 was first called for, and he responded in an able 
 and effective speech. Next was presented a native 
 * Buckeye Boy," Mr. Carson, of Ross county, a tanner 
 and currier, who, amid the loud and repeated cheers 
 of ttie audience, occupied the stump for about three 
 hours, in which time he tanned and curried Kendall & 
 Co. with neatness and dispatch. Southgate gave the 
 valedictory the next morning, and left for a convention 
 next day in Warren. Revolutionary soldiers, soldiers 
 of Wayne and of Harrison s campaign of 1813, were 
 here, all joyously responding to the tribute paid to the 
 worth of Harrison, and repelling indignantly the in 
 sults offered to their gallant chief by Kendall and his 
 tribe of pensioned slanderers. 
 
 Hope and joy seemed to animate every breast, while 
 the smiles of the virtuous fair chastened and subdued 
 the strong and indignant feeling of freemen, aroused to a 
 sense of the wrongs and outrages which they have 
 suffered and borne with patience too long. 
 
 We are prepared to engage in the approaching con 
 test against a hitherto superior force, and we hope 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 217 
 
 not only to maintain our outposts, but to plant the 
 standard of Harrison and reform firmly upon the ram 
 parts of the enemy, and force him from his strongholds 
 in Adams, Highland and Fayette. 
 
 GEN. VAN RENSSELAER S SPEECH. 
 
 REMARKS OF GEN. STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAEK, AT 
 
 THE DINNER GIVEN TO HIM IN CINCINNATI, IN 
 
 JULY, 1840. 
 
 After the sixth toast was read, General Van Rens- 
 selaer returned his thanks for the compliment by the 
 following remarks, which were read by his friend, 
 Colonel Pendleton, in consequence of General Van 
 Rensselaer s voice having been impaired by the wound 
 in the lungs received at the battle of Maumee : 
 
 "GENTLEMEN: I am altogether unaccustomed to 
 public speaking; my life has been one of action rather 
 than words; my hand has been more conversant with 
 the sword than the pen. I cannot, however, suffer the 
 sentiment which you have just given to pass without 
 the expression of my most grateful acknowledgments. 
 While that sentiment, gentlemen, received with so 
 much cordiality, is justly flattering to the pride of an 
 old soldier, it recalls events and scenes productive of 
 other and better emotions. Your allusion to the 
 Maumee carries me back to the year 1792, when a 
 youth of eighteen years of age, with the commission of 
 General Washington in my pocket, and I trust, some 
 share of his principles in my bosom. I first landed in 
 Cincinnati. And what a mighty change has been 
 wrought in that short period ! What higher eulogy 
 can be passed upon the enlightened enterprise of your 
 people than the simple fact that the humble individual 
 who now addresses you saw the site of your noble 
 city when there were no houses but a few rudely con 
 structed log cabins along the bank of your river, and 
 
218 Reminiscences of the 
 
 the challenge of the sentinels on the parapet of old 
 Fort Washington alone interrupted the universal 
 silence. The line of the canal was then our Northern 
 frontier, beyond which the lurking Indian made it unsafe 
 to penetrate; and the pursuit of a stray horse among this 
 magnificent amphitheatre of hills surrounding your 
 city was conducted with little of the pomp, to be sure, 
 but much of the precaution of a military incursion. 
 With the exception of a few old settlements on the 
 Wabash and Mississippi, whose inhabitants had be 
 come incorporated with the surrounding Indian tribes, 
 there were no white men in the whole Northwest 
 Territory, comprising now your great State and the 
 States of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin 
 Territory. The roaming Indian alone possessed it. 
 Where are they now ? They are gone like the falling 
 leaves of their own boundless forests ; but unlike those 
 leaves, no reviving Spring shall witness their return. 
 Such was Cincinnati. What is it now after the lapse 
 of forty-eight years? I was indebted to the politeness 
 of the Mechanics Institute for an invitation to their 
 fair last evening, and had I a catalogue of the articles 
 there exhibited, I would produce it as the most elo 
 quent and comprehensive answer to the interesting 
 question, "What is Cincinnati now?" The exquis 
 ite symmetry and beauty of the various articles bore 
 ample testimony to the skill of your workers in wood, 
 and in brass and in iron, while nothing can exceed the 
 good taste exhibited in the many ornamental specimens 
 of the Institute. 
 
 " I cannot, however, omit to remark, and, if it will 
 not be considered invidious, commend the vast pro 
 portion in which the useful exceeds the merely orna 
 mental. The combined effect of the whole exhibition 
 forces upon the mind the reflection that he who would 
 discover the secret of the unparalleled growth of Cincin 
 nati, and its comparative exemption from the general 
 embarrassment of the times, must seek it in her work 
 shops and in her factories. 
 
 41 From this balcony, fellow-citizens, my eye rests 
 upon the ground where it was my daily duty to ma- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 219 
 
 neuver my troops; and when I recall the scene as it 
 then existed and compare it with what I now see, it 
 fills me with emotions which no language is adequate 
 to express. The thoughtless inconsidevation of youth 
 is proverbially short-sighted; but what imagination 
 could then have boded forth the grand realities which 
 now surround it? The inclosures of some dozen mis 
 erable huts, Fort Washington and the low ground on 
 what is now Columbia street, then called Hudson s 
 Choice, were the only points which had been cleared 
 of the Forest. Your handsome private buildings, your 
 noble public school-houses, your magnificent churches 
 have succeeded, and a log cabin is not to be found 
 within the bounds of your fair city, except as an ap 
 propriate emblem of the youthful ardor, the indomita 
 ble spirit, the pure and disinterested public virtue, 
 which, through years of toil and danger, such as they 
 only can conceive who have felt them, have watched 
 over the infant settlement of the great West, and pro 
 tected the log cabins and their hardy and adventurous 
 inmates from the tomahawk and scalping knife of the 
 relentless savage. 
 
 "At this period I first became acquainted with Har 
 rison, he nineteen years old, and I one year younger. 
 We were, for a long time, the youngest officers in the 
 army, and I am happy to say, at this distant period ) 
 that the friendship thus formed upon youthful sympa 
 thies and congenial dispositions proved too strong for 
 time and absence, and we met in New York in 1827, 
 after a separation of thirty years, the same warm friends 
 as we had parted on this spot in 97. This period re 
 calls to my mind the inauguration of the elder Adams, 
 and with it the charge against General Harrison of 
 "ancient Federalism." I am a living witness that, at 
 the period to which I refer, the charge was without 
 the slightest foundation. The republican principles of 
 Harrison were then as well known as his chivalric 
 spirit, and he had no superior in either. It has been 
 reserved for the politicians of the present day, even 
 while surrounded by the monuments of his civil and 
 military virtues, to question both. General Wayne was 
 
22O Reminiscences of the 
 
 a severe disciplinarian as well as an able general and a 
 gallant soldier. He exacted the most punctilious con 
 formity to all the rules of militaty life; particularly did 
 he exhibit himself and require his staff to exhibit a 
 constant example of the conduct he required of others. 
 Brave, temperate and laborious himself, he selected his 
 staff for qualities similar to his own. Of such a mili 
 tary family thus organized Harrison became a mem 
 ber in the confidential relation of aide-de-camp. The 
 delicate duties of that responsible station he performed, 
 not only with the entire approbation of Wayne, but the 
 satisfaction of every officer in the army with whom 
 his duties brought him into a most daily intercourse; 
 and such was his uniform urbanity and kindness to the 
 soldiers that their respect for him as an officer was 
 only equaled by their love for him as a man. 
 
 "The first Northwest army, while in winter quar 
 ters in the wilderness, had few amusements to vary the 
 dull routine of camp duty. The consequence was 
 that habits of dissipation were acquired by many of 
 the officers, whose rank and age made the habit con 
 tagious. Harrison, though of an age peculiarly weak 
 against such temptations, was strengthened to success 
 ful resistance by an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, 
 both general and professional. Temperate, active and 
 studious then, as now, he lost no time. Then, as 
 now, the sun never found him in bed; and the inter 
 vals of military duty were devoted to a course of ex 
 tensive historical reading. 
 
 "The battle of the Maumee, on 2oth August, 1794, 
 was fought by the Indians with the most desperate 
 courage. There was no point of the line at which the 
 danger was not imminent. As aide de-camp it was 
 Harrison s duty to carry the orders of the general to 
 any part of the army. Thes eorders, of course, were 
 most frequent where the fight was thickest, and in 
 those parts of the fight I generally saw him on that 
 eventful day. 
 
 " I can attest the truth of the remark said to be 
 made by General Wilkinson and Colonel Shambaugh, 
 that Harrison was in the front of the hottest battle; his 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 221 
 
 person was exposed from the commencement to the 
 close of the action; wherever duty called he hastened, 
 regardless of danger, and by his efforts and example 
 contributed as much to secure the fortunes of the dav 
 as any other subordinate to the commander-in-chief. 
 
 "General Wayne, in his official account of the bat 
 tle, after naming several officers who distinguished 
 themselves, says: I must add the names of my faith 
 ful and gallant aides-de-camp. Captains De Butts 
 and T. Lewis, and Lieutenant Harrison, who, with the 
 Adjutant-General Major Mills, rendered the most 
 essential service by communicating my orders in every 
 direction, and by their conduct and bravery exciting 
 the troops to press for victory. 
 
 " I was stationed with my troop on the extreme left, 
 and the order to me to charge was delivered by Harri 
 son. In that charge I was severely, it was thought, 
 mortally, wounded. Perhaps I owe my life to the prompt 
 attention of my young friend, who carried me to the 
 general s tent, and nursed and watched me with the 
 tenderness and affection of a brother. 
 
 " Of the officers of that army, so far as my knowl 
 edge extends, there were but four who survive, Gen 
 erals Harrison and Brady, and Major John Posey, of 
 Kentucky, who was a cornet in my troop, and myself. 
 General Wayne, whose best eulogy is the grateful and 
 affectionate remembrance of the people of the West, 
 was wholly unnoticed by Congress, and died at a mis 
 erable hovel in Pennsylvania; and there, without a 
 stone to mark the place, his body was deposited. And 
 now, when the people are calling their friend and 
 neighbor from his farm by acclamation, to redeem the 
 country from degradation to which it has been reduced 
 by a selfish and designing politician, the others have 
 gone forth to charge upon him, whom the people 
 assemble in unheard-of numbers to honor, the most 
 detestable crimes, civil and military, which the wildest 
 imagination, unrestrained by a single moral sense, can 
 conceive; military crimes which, if true, would long 
 since have consigned his body to a felon s tomb and his 
 memory to general execration; civil offenses and delin- 
 
222 Reminiscences of the 
 
 quencies, which, if true, think you he would now stand 
 first, as he does stand first, in the hearts of his country 
 men ? 
 
 " People of Ohio and Indiana ! You who have been 
 the objects of his civil administration, upon you, espe 
 cially, devolves the grateful task of asserting the civil 
 virtues of your old and best-tried friend to raise his 
 fair fame far out of the range of the puny shafts of low 
 ambition; and I hesitate not to believe it will be effi 
 ciently performed. You are now called upon in his 
 old age to repay that immense and accumulating debt 
 of gratitude which I, an eye witness, not from hear 
 say, now testify your fathers incurred in his early 
 youth. 
 
 "The inheritance has descended upon you, and I 
 will not do you the injustice to doubt, that in Novem 
 ber next, you will entitle yourselves to a receipt in full, 
 from my gallant old friend. Is this the language of 
 General Harrison? No! disinterested and generous 
 as brave, he advances no claim upon his country for 
 services he has rendered. It is the language of his 
 friend, and your friend of one removed by age far 
 from the temptation to flatter either friend or foe. 
 
 " What shall I say of charges against his military 
 character? Nothing. One old s6ldier cannot be 
 brought to vindicate the reputation of another old sol 
 dier from a charge of cowardice; indignation would 
 choke my utterance. I appeal from the living to the 
 dead; I appeal from Van Buren and Kendall to Shelby 
 and Perry. 
 
 " I thank you again, gentlemen, for the kind manner 
 in which you have been pleased to refer to my early 
 and humble services. 
 
 "Permit me to propose the following sentiment: 
 The City of Cincinnati The wonderful creation of 
 virtue, intelligence, and enterprise. Her name asso 
 ciates in our remembrance the patriotic farmers of old 
 Rome and young Ohio. 
 
 During the entertainment, a large concourse of per 
 sons had collected in the street opposite to the hotel, 
 and a solicitation being expressed to hear addresses 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 223 
 
 from the balcony, the company adjourned to that place, 
 when a call was made for the reading of General Van 
 Rensselaer s speech. When it was concluded, Gov 
 ernor Poindexter, an invited guest, was called for by 
 the crowd, and addressed them extensively upon the 
 subject of general politics. Animated addresses were 
 then made, by request, by Messrs. White, of Indiana, 
 Major Chambers and W. W. Southgate, Esq., of Ken 
 tucky, William Johnson, Esq., of Cincinnati, and Mr. 
 Turner, of Baltimore. This entertainment continued 
 until the approach of night, when the crowd dispersed 
 in great harmony. 
 
 INSULT TO MECHANICS. 
 
 The present party in power pretend to be the friends 
 of the poor man, and insist that they are for reducing 
 prices by way of aiding the laboring man and the me 
 chanic. It was but the other day that an esteemed 
 correspondent quoted the language of a distinguished 
 partisan of Mr. Van Buren, who boldly avowed that 
 they were for putting down the banks, because the use 
 of credit enabled the poor man to rise above - his con 
 dition in life, and to obtrude his sons into the learned 
 professions. His language, that if the banks were put 
 down they would not have the use of credit, and the 
 tinker s son must be a tinker like his father, and the 
 cobler s son must be a cobler too, but we did not ex 
 pect to see the Republican insulting the mechanics of 
 this city, by denouncing such men as the honest and 
 patriotic blacksmith of Ohio, and by proclaiming as 
 the creed of the party, that the blacksmith should stick 
 to his anvil and the shoemaker to his last. Yet here is 
 the language of the Republican itself. Mechanics, 
 read: 
 
224 Reminiscences of the 
 
 COLD IRON FOR THE BUCKEYE BLACKSMITH, OR AN IMPOS 
 TOR LAID BARE. 
 
 When this old hat was new, then I heard my mother say 
 Mechanics stuck close to their work, and seldom went astray, 
 No growling bears prowl d through the land loafers then 
 
 were few; 
 And everything went on so snug, when this old hat was new. 
 
 When this old hat was new, by hammer and by hand 
 Each blacksmith and mechanic lad. throughout our happy land, 
 Stuck to his anvil or his last, never hard times knew; 
 For banks were scarce as white black birds, when this old hat 
 was new! 
 
 It would seem that the infatuation of party spirit 
 would sacrifice every principle that is dear to us as a 
 people, that all the sources of prosperity are to be dried 
 up, and that all the avenues to honor and preferment 
 are to be closed, except it be to the servile instruments 
 of faction and misrule. Miles Hotchkiss can be re 
 warded by an office for playing the hypocrite and 
 writing an insolent letter to General Harrison. Negroes 
 can be admitted as witnesses against high-minded offi 
 cers of your Navy, but if a blacksmith or a shoemaker 
 dares to interfere in politics, he and all mechanics are 
 insulted by being told he should stick to his anvil or 
 his last! ! ! And this is done in this city of Baltimore, 
 and in the face of a population consisting so largely of 
 the mechanic classes! 
 
 It is in such things that the arrogance of the purse- 
 proud office-holder shows itself, and the hypocrisy of 
 those who would use the mechanics is manifested. 
 The Pilot. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 225 
 
 WEBSTER AT SARATOGA. 
 
 SPEECH OF DNNIEL WEBSTER, AT THE GREAT 
 
 MASS MEETING AT SARATOGA, ON THE 19 OF 
 
 AUGUST, 1840. 
 
 We are here, my friends, in the midst of a great 
 movement of the people. That a revolution in public 
 sentiment on some important questions of public policy 
 has begun, and is in prpgress, it is vain to attempt to 
 conceal, and folly to deny. What will be the extent of 
 this revolution, what its immediate effects upon po 
 litical men and political measures what ultimate 
 influence it may have on the integrity of the Constitu 
 tion, and the permanent prosperity of the country, re 
 mains to be seen. Meantime, no one can deny that an 
 extraordinary excitement exists in the country, such as 
 has not been witnessed for more than half a century 
 not local, not confined to any two. or three, or ten 
 States, but pervading the whole, from North to South, 
 and from East to West, with equal force and intensity. 
 For an effect so general, a cause of equal extent must 
 exist. No cause, local or partial, can produce conse 
 quences so general and universal. In some parts of 
 the country, indeed, local causes may in some degree 
 add to the flame; but no local cause, nor any number 
 of local causes, can account for the general excited 
 state of the public mind.- 
 
 In portions of the country devoted to agriculture 
 and manufactures, we hear complaints of want of 
 market and of low prices. Yet there are other por 
 tions of the country which are consumers, and not 
 producers of food and manufactures, and as purchasers, 
 they should, it would seem, be satisfied with the low 
 prices of which the sellers complain; but in these por 
 tions too of the country, there is dissatisfaction and 
 discontent. Everywhere there is complaining and a 
 desire for change. 
 
 There are those who think this excitement among the 
 people transitory and evanescent. I am not of that 
 
 15 
 
226 Reminiscences of the 
 
 opinion. So far as I can judge, attention to public af 
 fairs among the people of the United States has in 
 creased, is increasing, and is not likely to be diminished, 
 and this not in one part of the country, but all over. 
 This certainly is a fact, if we may judge from recent 
 information. The breeze of popular excitement is 
 blowing everywhere. It fans the air in Alabama, and 
 the Carolinas, and I am of the opinion that when it 
 shall cross the Potomac, and range along the northern 
 Alleghanies, it will grow stronger and stronger, until 
 mingling with the gales of the Empire State and the 
 mountain blasts of New England, it will blow a per 
 fect hurricane. 
 
 There are those, again, who think these vast public 
 meetings are got up by effort, but I say that no effort 
 can get them up and no effort can keep them down. 
 There must, then, be some general cause that animates 
 the whole country. What is that cause? It is upon 
 this point I propose to give my opinion to-day. I have 
 no design to offend any feeling, but in perfect plain 
 ness to express my views to the vast multitude as 
 sembled here. I know there are among them many 
 who from first to last supported General Jackson. I 
 know there are many who, if conscience and patriot 
 ism had permitted, would support his successor, and I 
 should ill repay the attention with which they may 
 honor me by any reviling or denunciation. Again, I 
 come to play no part of oratory before you. If there 
 have been times and occasions in my life when I might 
 be supposed anxious to exhibit myself in such a light, 
 that period has passed, and this is not one of the occa 
 sions. I come to dictate or prescribe to no man. If 
 my experience, not now short in the affairs of govern 
 ment, entitle my opinions to any respect, those opin 
 ions are at the service of my fellow citizens. What I 
 shall state as facts I shall hold myself and my character 
 responsible for; what I shall state as opinions, all are 
 alike at liberty to reject or receive; asking only such 
 fair interpretation of them as the fairness and sincerity 
 with which they are uttered may claim. 
 
 What, then, has excited the whole land from Maine 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 227 
 
 to Georgia, and that gives us assurance that while we 
 here are meeting in New York in such vast numbers, 
 other like meetings are holding throughout all the 
 States? That this cause must be general in its effect is 
 certain, for it agitates the whole country and not parts 
 only. 
 
 When that fluid in the human system indispensable to 
 life becomes disordered, corrupted, or obstructed in its 
 circulation, not the head or the heart alone suffers, but 
 the whole body, head, heart and hand, all the mem 
 bers and all the extremities are affected with deoility, 
 paralysis, numbness, and death. The analogy between 
 the human system and the social and political system 
 is complete, and what the life-blood is to the former 
 circulation, money, currency, is to the latter; and if that 
 be disordered or corrupted, paralysis must fall on the 
 system. 
 
 Mr. Webster went into the discussion of the sub- 
 treasury at great length, which for want of space is 
 omitted. 
 
 PROTECTION TO AMERICAN LABOR. 
 
 This leads me naturally to the great subject of 
 American labor, which has hardly been considered or 
 discussed as carefully as it deserves. What is Ameii- 
 can labor ? It is best described by saying, it is not 
 European labor. Nine-tenths of the whole labor of 
 this country is performed by those who cultivate the | 
 land they or their fathers own, or who in their work 
 shops employ some little capital of their own, and mix 
 it up with their labor. Where does this exist else 
 where ? Look at the different departments of in 
 dustry, whether agricultural, manufacturing or mechan 
 ical, and you will find that in all, the laborers mix up 
 some little capital with the work of their hands. The 
 laborer of the United States is the United States; 
 strike out the laborers of the United States, including 
 therein all who in some way belong to the industrious or 
 working classes, and you reduce the population of the 
 United States from sixteen millions to one million. 
 The American laborer is expected to have a comforta- 
 
228 Reminiscences of the 
 
 ble home, decent, though frugal living; to clothe and 
 educate his children, to qualify them to take part, as 
 we are called to do, in the political affairs and Govern 
 ment of their country. Can this be said of any Euro 
 pean laborer ? Does he take any share in the govern 
 ment of his country, or feel it an obligation to educate 
 his children? There, nine-tenths of the laborers have 
 no interest in the soil they cultivate, nor in the fabrics 
 they produce; no hope under any circumstances of rais 
 ing themselves, or raising their children above the con 
 dition of a day laborer at wages, and only know the 
 government under which they live by the sense of its 
 oppressions, which they have no voice in mitigating. 
 
 To compare such a state of labor with the labor of 
 this country, or to reason from that to ours, is prepost 
 erous. And yet, the doctrine now is, not of individ 
 uals only, but of the administration, that the wages of 
 American labor must be brought down to the level of 
 those of Europe. 
 
 I have said this is not the doctrine of a few indi 
 viduals, and on that head I think injustice has been 
 done to a Senator from Pennsylvania, who has been 
 made to bear a large share of the responsibility of sug 
 gesting such a policy. If I mistake not, the same idea 
 
 is thrown out in the President s message of , and 
 
 in the Treasury report. Hear what Mr. Woodbury 
 says: 
 
 ** Should the States not speedily suspend more of their 
 undertaking which are unproductive, but by new loans 
 or otherwise find means to employ armies of laborers, 
 in consuming, rather than raising crops, and should 
 prices thus continue in many cases to be unnaturally 
 inflated, as they have been of late years, in the face of 
 a contracting currency, the effect of it on our finances 
 would be still more to lessen exports, and consequently, 
 the prosperity and revenue of our foreign trade." 
 
 He is for turning off from the pub-lie works these 
 "armies of laborers" who consume without producing 
 crops, and thus bring down prices, both of crops and 
 labor. Diminish the mouths that consume, and multi 
 ply the arms that produce, and you have the Treasury 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 229 
 
 prescription for mitigating distress and raising prices ! 
 How would that operate in this great State. You have, 
 perhaps, some fifteen thousand men employed on your 
 public works works of the kind that the Secretary 
 calls "unproductive" and even with such a demand 
 as they must produce for provisions, prices are very 
 low. The Secretary s remedy is to set them to raise 
 provisions themselves, and thus augmet the supply 
 while they diminish the demand. In this way the 
 wages of labor are to be reduced, as well as the prices 
 of agricultural productions. But this is not all. I have 
 in mv hand an extract from a speech in the House of 
 Representatives, of a gentleman from New Hampshire, 
 Mr. Burke, a zealous supporter of the administration, 
 who maintains that, other things being reduced in pro 
 portion, you may reduce the wages of labor without 
 evil consequences. And where does he seek his ex 
 ample? In the Mediterranean. He fixed himself upon 
 Corsica and Sardinia. But what is the Corsican la 
 borer that he should be the model upon which Amer 
 ican labor is to be formed ? Does he know anvthing 
 himself ? Has he any education, or does he give any to 
 his children ? Has he a home, a freehold, and the com 
 forts of life around him ? No. With a crust of bread 
 and a handful of olives, his daily wants are satisfied. 
 And yet from such a state of society the laborer of New 
 England, the laborer of the United States, is to be 
 taught submission to low wages. The extract before 
 me states that the wages of Corsica are, for the male 
 laborer, 24 cents a day, and the female laborer, n 
 cents a day. And the honorable gentleman argues, 
 that owing to the greater cheapness of dther articles, 
 this is relatively as much as the American laborer gets, 
 and he illustrates the fact by this bill of clothing for a 
 Corsican laborer: Jacket, lasting 24 months, 8 francs; 
 cap, lasting 24 months, 2 francs; waistcoat lasting 36 
 months, 4 francs; pantaloons, lasting 1 8 months, 5 francs; 
 shirt, lasting 12 months, 3 francs; pair of shoes, lasting 
 6 monts, 6 francs; total, 28 francs. 
 
 Now what say you, my friends what will the farmer 
 of New York, of Pennsylvania, and New England say, 
 
230 Reminiscences of the 
 
 to the idea of walking on Sunday to church at the 
 head of his family, in his jacket two years old? What 
 will the young man say, when, his work ended, he de 
 sires to visit the families of his neighbors, to the one 
 pair of pantaloons, no r quite two years old indeed, but, 
 as the farmers say of a colt, coming two next grass, 
 and which for 18 months have done yeoman s service? 
 Away with it all away with this plan for humbling 
 and degrading the free, intelligent, well educated, and 
 well-paid labor of the United States to the level of the 
 almost brute labor of Europe. 
 
 There is not much danger that schemes and doctrines 
 such as these shall find favor wi*:h the people. They 
 understand their own interest too well for that. Gentle 
 men, I am a farmer, on the sea-shore, and have, of 
 course, occasion to employ some degree of agricultural 
 labor. I am sometimes also rowed out to sea, bei ig, 
 like other New England men fond of occasionally catch 
 ing a fish, and finding health and recreation in warm 
 weather from the air of the ocean. For the few months 
 during which I am able to enjoy this retreat from labor, 
 public or professional, I do not often trouble my neigh 
 bors, or they me, with conversation on politics. It 
 happened, however, about three weeks ago, that on 
 such an excursion as I have mentioned, with one man 
 only with me, I mentioned this doctrine of the reduc 
 tion of prices, and asked him his opinion of it. 
 
 He said he did not like it. I replied, the wages of 
 labor, it is true, are reduced; but then flour and beef, 
 and perhaps clothing, all of which you buy, are re 
 duced also. What, then, can be your objections ? 
 Why, said he, it is true that flour is now low; but then 
 it is an article that may rise suddenly, by means of a 
 scanty crop, in England, or at home; and if it should 
 rise from five dollars to ten, I do not know for certain 
 that it should fetch the price of my labor up with it. 
 But while wages are high, then I am safe, and if pro 
 duce chances to fall, so much the better for me. But 
 there is another thing. I have but one thing to sell, 
 that is my labor; but I must buy many things not 
 only flour, and meat and clothing, but also some arti- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 231 
 
 cles that come from, other countries; a little sugar, a 
 a little coffee, a little tea, a little of common spices, and 
 such like. 
 
 Now, I do not see how these foreign articles will be 
 brought down by reducing wages at home; and be 
 fore the price is brought down of the only thing I have 
 to sell, I want to be sure that the prices will fall, also, 
 not of a part, but of all the things which I must buy. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, though he will be astonished, or 
 amused, that I should tell the story before such a vast 
 and respectable assemblage as this, I will place this 
 argument of Seth Peterson, sometimes farmer and 
 sometimes fisherman on the coast of Massachusetts, 
 stated to me while pulling an oar with each hand, and 
 with the sleeves of his red shirt rolled up*above his el 
 bows, against the arguments, the theories, and the 
 speeches of the administration and all its friends, in or 
 out of Congress, and take the verdict of the country, 
 and of the civilized world, whether he has not the best 
 side of the question. 
 
 Since I have adverted to this conversation, gentle 
 men, allow me to say, that this neighbor of mine is a 
 man of fifty, one of several sons of a poor man; that by 
 his labor he has obtained some few acres, his own un- 
 incumbered freehold, has a comfortable dwelling, and 
 plenty of the poor man s blessings. Of these I have 
 known six, decently and cleanly clad, each with the 
 book, the slate and the map, proper to its age, all go 
 ing at the same time daily to enjoy the blessings of 
 that which is the great glory of New England, the 
 common free school. Who can contemplate this and 
 thousands of other cases like it, not as pictures but as 
 common facts, without feeling how much our free in 
 stitutions, and the policy hitherto pursued have done 
 for the comfort and happiness of the great mass of our 
 citizens! Where in Europe, where in any part of the 
 world out of our country, shall we find labor thus 
 rewarded, and the general condition of the people so 
 good? Nowhere! Away, then, with the injustice and the 
 folly of reducing the cost of productions with us to what 
 is called the common standard of the world. Away, 
 
232 Reminiscences of the 
 
 then, away at once and forever, with the miserable 
 policy which would bring the condition of a laborer in 
 the United States to that of a laborer in Russia or 
 Sweden, in France or Germany, in Italy or Corsica. 
 Instead of following these examples, let us hold up our 
 own which all nations may well envy, and which unhap 
 pily in most parts of the earth it is easier to envy than 
 to imitate. 
 
 But it is the cry and effort of the times to stimulate 
 those who are called poor against those who are called 
 rich; and yet among those who urge this cry and seek 
 to profit by it, there is betrayed sometimes an occa 
 sional sneer at whatever savors of humble life. Wit 
 ness the reproach against a candidate now before the 
 people for their highest honors, that a log cabin and 
 plenty of hard cider is good enough for him. 
 
 It appears to some persons that a great deal too 
 much use is made of the symbol of the log cabin. No 
 man of sense suppo-es, certainly, that the having lived 
 in a log cabin is any further proof of qualification for 
 the Presidency than as it creates a presumption that 
 any one who. from humble condition or under un 
 favorable circumstances, has been able to attract a con 
 siderable degree of public attention, is possessed of 
 reputable qualities, moral and intellectual. 
 
 But it is to be remembered that this matter of the 
 log cabin originated, not with the friends of the Whig 
 candidate, but with his enemies. Soon after his nom 
 ination at Harrisburg, a writer for one of the leading 
 administration papers spoke of this log cabin and his 
 use of hard cider by way of sneer and reproach. As 
 might have been expected, for pretenders are generally 
 false, his taunt at humble life proceeded from the party 
 which claims for itself the character of the purest De 
 mocracy. The whole party appeared to enjoy it, or at 
 least they countenanced it by silent acquiescence; for I 
 do not know that to this day any eminent individual 
 or any leading newspaper attached to the aministra- 
 tion, has rebuked this scornful jeering at the supposed 
 humble condition or circumstances in life, past or pres 
 ent, of a worthy man and a war-worn soldier. But it 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 233 
 
 touched a tender point in the public feeling. It natu 
 rally roused indignation. What was intended as re 
 proach was immediately seized on as merit. " Be it so. 
 be it so," was the instant burst of the public voice. 
 " Let him be the log-cabin candidate. What you say in 
 scorn we will shout with all our lungs; from this day, 
 we have our cry of rally, and we shall see whether he, 
 who has dwelt in one of the rude abodes of the West, 
 may not become the best housed in the country." 
 
 All this is natural, and springs from sources of just 
 feeling. Other things, gentlemen, have had a similar 
 origin. We all know that the term " Whig," was 
 bestowed in derision, two hundred years ago, on those 
 who were thought too fond of liberty; and our national 
 air of Yankee Doodle was composed by British offi 
 cers, in ridicule of the American troops. Yet, ere 
 long, the last of the British armies laid down its arms 
 at Yorktown, while this same air was playing in the 
 ears of officers and men. Gentlemen, it is only shal 
 low-minded pretenders, who either make distinguished 
 origin matter of personal merit, or obscure origin 
 matter of personal reproach. Taunt and scoffing at 
 the humble condition of early life affect nobody in 
 this country but those who are foolish enough to 
 indulge in them, and they are generally sufficiently 
 punished by public rebuke. A man who is not 
 ashamed of himself need not be ashamed of his early 
 condition. 
 
 Gentlemen, it did not happen to me to be born in a 
 log cabin; but my elder brothers and sisters were born in 
 a log-cabin, raised amid the snow-drifts of New Hamp 
 shire, at a period so early, as that when the smoke first 
 rose from its rude chimney, and curled over the frozen 
 hills, there was no similar evidence of a white man s 
 habitation between it and the settlements on the rivers 
 of Canada. Its remains still exist. I make to it an 
 annual visit. I carry my children to it, to inspire like 
 sentiments in them, and to teach them the hardships 
 endured by the generations which have gone before 
 them. I love to dwell on the tender recollections, the 
 kindred ties, the early affections, and the touching nar- 
 
234 Reminiscences of the 
 
 rativesand incidents, which mingle with all I know of 
 this humble primitive family abode. I weep to think 
 that none of those who inhabited it are now among 
 the living; and if ever I am ashamed of it, or if I ever 
 fail in affectionate veneration for HIM who reared it 
 and defended it against savage violence and destruction, 
 cherished all the domestic virtues beneath its roof, and 
 through the fire and blood of a seven-years Revolu 
 tionary War, shrunk from no danger, no toil, no sacri 
 fice, to serve his country, and to raise his children to a 
 condition better than his own, may my name, and the 
 name of my posterity, be blotted for ever from the 
 memory of mankind! 
 
 [Mr. Webster then reviewed the expenditures of the 
 Government, but just at the last moment, we find with 
 regret that the sheet containing this portion of the 
 speech has been mislaid or lost. We supply therefore 
 from memory a very brief, and we are aware, a very 
 inadequate outline of the argument.] 
 
 The expenditures of this administration have been 
 eminently wasteful and extravagant. Over and above 
 the ordinary revenue of the country, Mr. Van Buren 
 has spent more than twenty millions, that reached the 
 Treasury from other sources. I specify: 
 
 Reserved under the deposit act $6,000,000 
 
 Fourth installment of surplus kept back . 9,000,000 
 
 Payment by the Bank of United States on its bonds. 5,000,000 
 
 20,000,000 
 
 But even this has been found insufficient for the prod 
 igality of the administration, and we had not been long 
 assembled in Congress before a demand was made 
 upon it, notwithstanding the flattering representations of 
 the message and the Treasury report, for authority to 
 issue jive millions more of Treasury notes; and this, we 
 were assured, if Congress would only keep within the 
 estimates submitted by the departments, would be 
 ample. Congress did keep within the estimates; and 
 yet, before we broke up, intimations came from the 
 Treasury that they must have authority to borrow, or 
 issue Treasury notes for four and a half millions more. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 235 
 
 This time even the friends of the administration de 
 murred, and finally refused to grant this new aid; and 
 what then was the alternative ? Why, after having 
 voted appropriations for the various branches of the 
 public service, all within the estimates, and all of which 
 they were told were indispensable, they conferred on 
 the President, by a special section, authority to with 
 hold these appropriations from such objects as he 
 pleased, and to select at his discretion the objects upon 
 which money should be expended. Entire authority 
 was thus given to the President over all these expen 
 ditures, in direct contravention of that provision of 
 the Constitution forbidding all expenditure except by 
 virtue of appropriations, which if it mean anything, 
 must mean the specification of distinct sums for dis 
 tinct purposes. 
 
 In this way, then, it is proposed to keep back from 
 indispensable works four and a half millions, which are, 
 nevertheless, appropriated, and which, with the five 
 millions of Treasury notes already issued, will constitute 
 a debt of from nine to ten millions. 
 
 So, then, when General Harrison shall succeed in 
 March next to the Presidential chair, all that he will 
 inherit from his predecessors, besides their brilliant ex 
 ample, will be these Treasury vaults and safes, without 
 a dollar in them, and a debt of ten millions of dollars. 
 
 The whole revenue policy of this administration 
 has been founded in error. While duties are laid on 
 articles of daily use and necessity, articles of luxury are 
 admitted free of duty. Look at the custom-house re 
 turns, 20000,000 dollars worth of silks imported in one 
 year free of duty; and other articles of luxury in pro 
 portion, that should be made to contribute to the reve 
 nue. 
 
 We have, in my judgment, imported excessively, 
 and yet the President urges it as an objection to 
 works of public improvement, to railroads and canals, 
 that they diminish our importations, and thereby in 
 terfere with the comforts of the people! His message 
 says : 
 
 u Our people will not long be insensible to the ex- 
 
236 Reminiscences of the 
 
 tent of the burdens entailed upon them by the false 
 system that has been operating on their sanguine, 
 energetic, and industrious character; nor to the means 
 necessary to extricate themselves from these embar 
 rassments. The weight which presses upon a large 
 portion of the people, and the States, is an enormous 
 debt, foreign and domestic. The foreign debt of our 
 States, corporations, and men of business, can scarcely 
 be less than two hundred millions of dollars, requiring 
 more than ten millions of dollars a year to pay the in 
 terest. This sum has to be paid out of the exports of 
 the country, and must of necessity cut off imports to 
 that extent, or plunge the country more deeply in debt 
 from year to year. It is easy to see that the increase 
 of this foreign debt must augment the annual demand 
 on the exports to pay the interest, and to the same ex 
 tent diminish the imports; and in proportion to the en 
 largement of the foreign debt, and the consequent in 
 crease of interest must be the decrease of the import 
 trade. In lieu of the comforts which it now brings us, 
 we might have one gigantic banking institution, and 
 splendid, but in many instances profitless, railroads 
 and canals, absorbing to a great extent, in interest upon 
 the capital borrowed to construct them, the surplus 
 fruits of national industry for years to come, and secur 
 ing to posterity no adequate return for the comforts 
 which the labors of their hands might otherwise have 
 secured." 
 
 What are these comforts that we are to get so much 
 more of if we will only stop our railroads and canals ? 
 Foreign goods, loss of employment at home or Euro 
 pean wages, and lastly direct taxation. 
 
 One of the gentlemen of the South, of that nullify 
 ing State-Rights party that has absorbed the adminis 
 tration, or been absorbed by it, comes boldly out with 
 the declaration that the period is arrived for a direct 
 tax on land, and among the reasons assigned for this 
 project is this one, that it will bring the North to the 
 grindstone. We shall see, before this contest is over, 
 who will be the parties ground, and who the grinders. 
 It is, however, but just to add that thus far, this is only 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 237 
 
 an expression of individual opinion, and I do not charge 
 it to be otherwise. 
 
 I had proposed to say something of the militia bill, 
 but it is already so late that I must forego this topic. 
 [No, no; go on, go on; from the crowd.] 
 
 Mr. Webster resumed, and briefly analyzed the bill. 
 
 Owing, however, to the lateness of the hour he did 
 not go largely into the discussion. He did not, he 
 said, mean to charge Mr. Van Buren with any pur 
 pose to play the part of a Caesar or a Cromwell, but he 
 did say that in his judgment, the plan as recom 
 mended by the President in his message, and of which 
 the annual report of the Secretary of War accompany 
 ing the message developed the leading features would, 
 if carried into operation, be expensive, burdensome, in 
 derogation of the Constitution and dangerous to our 
 liberities. Mr. W. referred rapidly to the President s 
 recent letter to some gentleman in Virginia endeavor 
 ing to exculpate himself for the recommendation in the 
 message, by endeavoring to show a difference between 
 the plan then so strongly commended, and that sub 
 mitted in detail some months afterwards by the Secre 
 tary of War to Congress. Mr. W. pronounced this at 
 tempt wholly unsatisfactory. 
 
 Mr. Webster then went onto say: I have now frankly 
 stated my opinions as to the nature of the present 
 excitement, and have answered the question I pro 
 pounded as to the causes of the revolution in public 
 sentiment now in progress. Will this revolution suc 
 ceed? Does it move the masses, or is it an ebullition 
 merely on the surface? And who is it that opposes 
 the change which seems to be going forward? [Here 
 some one in the crowd cried out, "None hardly but the 
 office-holders oppose it."] Mr. Webster continued: 
 I hear one say that the office-holders oppose it, and 
 that is true. If they were quiet, in my opinion, a 
 change would take place almost by common consent. 
 I have heard of an anecdote, perhaps hardly suited to 
 the sobriety and dignity of this occasion, but which 
 confirms the answer which my friend in the crowd has 
 given to my question. It happened to a farmer s son; 
 
238 Reminiscences of the 
 
 that his load of hay was blown over by a sudden gust 
 on an exposed plain. Those near him seeing him mani 
 fest a degree of distress which such an accident would 
 not usually occasion, asked him the reason; he said he 
 should not take on so much about it, only father was 
 under the load. I think it very probable, gentlemen, 
 that there are many now very active and zealous 
 friends, who would not care much whether the wagon 
 of the administration were blown over or not, if it 
 were not for the fear that father, or son, or uncle, or 
 brother, might be found under the load. Indeed it is 
 remarkable how fervently the fire of patriotism glows 
 in the breasts of the holders of office. A thousand 
 favored contractors fear lest the proposed change 
 should put the interests of the public in great danger. 
 Ten thousand post-offices, moved by the same appre 
 hension, join in the cry of alarm, while a perfect 
 earthquake of disinterested remonstrances proceeds 
 from the custom-houses. Patronage and favoritism 
 tremble and quake, through every limb and every 
 nerve, lest the people should be found in favor of a 
 change which might endanger the liberties of the 
 country, or #t least break down its present eminent 
 and distinguished prosperity by abandoning the meas 
 ures, so wise, so beneficent, so successful, and so popu 
 lar, which the present administration has pursued! 
 
 Fellow-citizens, we have all sober and important 
 duties to perform. I have not addressed you today for 
 the purpose of joining in a premature note of triumph, 
 or raising a shout for anticipated victories. We are in 
 the controversy, not through it. It is our duty to spare 
 no pains to circulate information, and to spread the 
 truth far and wide. Let us persuade those who differ 
 from us, if we can, to hear both sides. Let us remind 
 them that we are all embarked together, with a com 
 mon interest and a common fate; and let us, without 
 rebuke or unkindness, beseech them to consider what 
 the good of the whole requires, what is best for them 
 and for us. There are two causes which keep back 
 thousands of honest men from joining those- who wish 
 for a change. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 239 
 
 The first of these is the fear of reproach from former 
 associates, and the pain which party denunciation is 
 capable of inflicting. But, surely, the manliness of the 
 American character is superior to this! Surely, no 
 American citizen will feel himself chained to the wheels 
 of any party, nor bound to follow it, against his con 
 science and his sense of the interest of the country. 
 Resolution and decision ought to dissipate such re 
 straints, and to leave men free at once to act upon their 
 own convictions. Unless this can be done, party has 
 entailed upon us a miserable slavery by compelling us 
 to act against our consciences on questions of the great 
 est importance. 
 
 The other cause is the constant cry that the party of 
 the administration is the true Democratic party, or the 
 more popular party in the Government and in the 
 country. The falsity of this claim has not been suffi 
 ciently exposed. It should have been met, and should 
 be now met, not only by denial, but by proof. If they 
 mean the new Democracy, the cry against credit, 
 against industry, against labor, against a man s right to 
 leave his own earnings to his own children why, then, 
 doubtless, they are right; all this sort of Democracy is 
 theirs. But if by Democracy they mean a conscien 
 tious and stern adherence to the true popular princi 
 ples of the Constitution and the Government, then I 
 think they have very little claim to it. Is the augment 
 ation of executive power a Democratic principle ? Is 
 the separation of the currency of Government from the 
 currency of the people a Democratic principle ? Is the 
 embodying of a large military force, in time of peace, 
 a Democratic principle ? 
 
 Let us entreat honest men not to take names for 
 things, nor pretences for proofs. If Democracy, in any 
 constitutional sense belongs to our adversaries, let 
 them show their title, and produce their evidence. 
 Let the question be examined, and let not inteilligent 
 and well-meaning citizens be kept to the support of 
 measures, which in their hearts and consciences they 
 disapprove, because their authors put forth such lout! 
 claims to the sole profession of regard for the people. 
 
240 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Fellow-citizens of the county of Saratoga, in tak 
 ing leave of you, I cannot but remind you how dis 
 tinguished a place your county occupies in the history 
 of the country. I cannot be ignorant that in the midst 
 of you are many, at this moment, who saw in this 
 neighborhood the triumph of Republican arms in the 
 surrender of General Burgoyne. I cannot doubt that 
 a fervent spirit of patriotism burns in their breasts and 
 in the breasts of their children. They helped to save 
 their country amidst the storms of war; they will help 
 to save it I am fully persuaded, in the present severe 
 civil crisis. Fellow-citizens, I verily believe it is true, 
 that of all that are left to us from the Revolution, nine- 
 tenths are with us in the existing contest. If there be 
 living a Revolutionary officer or soldier who has joined 
 in the attacks upon General Harrison s military char 
 acter, I have not met with him. It is not, therefore, in 
 the county of Saratoga that a cause sustained by such 
 means is likely to prevail. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, the great question is now before 
 the country. If with the experience of the past the 
 American people think proper to confirm power in the 
 hands which now hold it, and thereby sanction the 
 leading policy of the administration, it will be your 
 duty and mine to bow with submission to the public 
 will; but, for myself, I shall not believe it possible for 
 me to be of service to the country in any department 
 of public life. I shall look on, with no less love of 
 country than ever, but with fearful forebodings of what 
 may be near at hand. 
 
 But, fellow-citizens, I do not at all expect that 
 result. I fully believe that change is coming. If we 
 all do our duty, we shall restore the Government to its 
 former policy, and the country to its former prosperity. 
 And let us here, today, fellow-citizens, with full reso 
 lution and patriotic purpose of heart, give and take 
 pledges, that until this great controversy be ended, our 
 time, our talents, our efforts, are all due and shall all 
 be faithfully given, to OUR COUNTRY. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 241 
 
 PRENTISS SPEECH. 
 
 AN ELOQUENT EXTRACT FROM THE SPEECH OF 
 HON. S. S. PRENTISS, DELIVERED AT PORTLAND, 
 ME., AUGUST 21, 1840. 
 
 "Fellow-citizens," continued Mr. Prentiss, "victory 
 is before you; but. as good soldiers, every man must 
 gird on his armor for the fight. Although victory may 
 be certain, yet sharrie alone will keep every man from 
 being listless and inactive in the contest. Let every 
 man recollect his own strength and responsibility. The 
 mighty ocean is made up of drops; and were the drops 
 of water to say to the majestic rivers, I will not run 
 from this hill, or flow from this mountain, or pass along 
 this stream, you might pass along their extensive beds 
 dry-shod. It is your right and your duty, fellow-citi 
 zens, to act. At Bunker Hill nothing would have re 
 strained you from taking part in the battle. There is 
 as much at stake here as there was there. Your ballot 
 now is your bullet, and the one may do as much good here 
 as the other did there. Go forth then and rescue your 
 country from the hands of the spoilers from the bad 
 men in power. Behold your father looking down from 
 the bright skies above you. They appeal to you, as 
 posterity would, could they speak through the womb 
 of time. 
 
 " Be united, then, and let no local difficulties separate 
 you. It is not when the vessel is grating upon the 
 coral reefs that men quarrel. Then they fly to the 
 pumps and the ropes, and after the ship is safe and life 
 secure, they sit down and talk over their little diffi 
 culties. Many a battle has been lost because men have 
 not gone forth to battle with one heart and one mind, 
 and if the Whigs do not gain this battle, we shall lose 
 all and have no little differences to quarrel about. 
 There never was such a necessity for union as there is 
 now, and I am happy to believe there never was 
 such unanimity as there is now. I have traveled from 
 
 16 
 
242 Reminiscences of the 
 
 one end of the Union to the other, and everywhere I 
 have heard the Whigs using the same arguments and 
 governed by the same hopes. The meetings every 
 where are enthusiastic, and the enthusiasm is seen 
 everywhere where the people are seen. The peo 
 ple are resolved to raise themselves from the muddy 
 pools of Loco Focoism. I have seen enough in trav 
 eling through the country to make me believe that 
 the vestal flame of liberty will not be extinguished in 
 our land. If not for interest, for honor men will unite 
 to drive forth the usurpers from the places they have 
 usurped. If they do not fight the battle before them 
 for themselves, they will for their wives and children, 
 for their mothers, their sisters and their sweethearts. 
 
 " We are," continued Mr. Prentiss, " men, coarse, 
 hardy men, who can buffet the storms of life, but we 
 have kindred and friends to protect, who appeal to us 
 by the strongest of all human ties the ties of blood. If 
 ever there was a flower that needed protection from the 
 pestilential effluvia of Loco Focoism, that flower the 
 fairest and lovliest of creation is woman. If there 
 is any one thing in our free institutions which we 
 boast of over another, it is the respect they vouchsafe 
 to womankind. 
 
 " In this country we may thank God that female 
 beauty and female character has a greater value a 
 higher reward than in all the earth besides. But let 
 Loco Focoism prevail, and what will be the result? The 
 war which is going on against society destroys that 
 which protects and sustains female character. It is one 
 of the distinguishing features of a republican govern 
 ment that elevates female character to its own proper 
 and noble dignity. If not then for yourselves, for the 
 honor and protection and name of those so dear to you, 
 I call upon you, men, to shield the fairest flower that 
 blooms, by staying the hand and by resisting the blow 
 that would destroy its sweetness and its beauty. You 
 should feel every honorable sensation and if not as a 
 patriot aloud as a man as a Whig to exert your 
 selves in protecting all of womankind. 
 
 " Permit me," said Mr. Prentiss, in conclusion ad- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 243 
 
 dressing himself to the hundreds of mothers and 
 daughters scattered arouud him " permit me to thank 
 you, as most heartily I do in my own name, and in the 
 name of every Whig here, for your presence and for the 
 attention you have vouchsafed to-night. It is pleasant 
 thus to meet and hold communion together, and espec 
 ially here iri the delightful city of Portland. Amid all 
 my wanderings I have seen no city more beautiful. 
 The bay that lies at her feet, is the fairest dimple on 
 the cheek of the ocean, and the city that rises from its 
 waters is the brightest jewel that sparkles in the dia 
 dem that adorns old ocean s brows. 
 
 " When you, fair daughters, come forth to encourage 
 us by your smiles and your presence, we feel ourselves 
 doubly armed, and though it be out of the common 
 course for you to take part in the political strife which 
 engages the sterner sex, yet it is your right and vour 
 duty to come forward in a time like this, and say by the 
 interest your presence manifests, how much you have 
 at stake in a contest like that to come. This is the 
 time, and the occasion when we meet to discuss the 
 principles of our fathers of the Revolution yes, and of 
 the mothers of the Revolution, too for in our fiercest 
 struggles for independence it was the stronger and 
 more courageous heart of woman that gave to man 
 hope and sympathy, the promises of affection and of 
 love. 
 
 "Yes, our revered mothers and grandmothers were as 
 much engaged in olden time in the cause of liberty as 
 were their fathers, their husbands and their brothers. 
 I have read until my heart thrilled within me of the 
 generous sacrifices which woman has made in all ages, 
 in the Old World and the New, for the accomplisment 
 of every good and noble work. Our own mothers, 
 who, though poor in this world s goods, were not poor 
 in spirit, gave their little all for the cause of liberty. 
 They had no jewels to give, but what they had they 
 gave. Their pewter spoons were melted into bullets 
 by their own hands, and conveyed to the camp of the 
 army. As in Poland, the mothers and daughters gave 
 their caskets of jewels, their bracelets and their rings 
 
244 Reminiscences of the 
 
 into the common treasury, so in our land our mothers 
 added their mite in the cause of freedom. 
 
 " It is time that I should close," said Mr. Prentiss. 
 "This night I shall ever remember as one of the hap 
 piest of my life, not only for the privilege I have en 
 joyed of taking counsel with my old and new friends, 
 but for seeing in wreathed smiles and bright glances 
 the halo which has been spread around us by the ladies 
 of Portland. I wish you all that happiness which be 
 longs to morality, to virtue and intelligence. I trust 
 that we men shall not become so deteriorated as to be 
 unworthy sons of the fathers and mothers of the Revo 
 lution. I must apologize for having detained you so 
 long. 
 
 " I commenced by shaking hands with you all in my 
 heart, and trusting that we may often be permitted to 
 meet together, I close, by bidding you an affectionate 
 good night." 
 
 It was nearly 10 o clock when Mr. Prentiss closed. 
 The audience heard him for more than three hours and 
 without a single sign of impatience. All were de 
 lighted, and with one heart united at the close of his 
 eloquent address, in giving the distinguished speaker 
 twelve cheers. The welkin rung with applause, and 
 after a brief address from Mr. Kinsman, the chairman 
 of the meeting, three cheers for Mississippi, three cheers 
 for Maine and three others for Sargeant S. Prentiss, 
 the multitude separated. 
 
 HARRISON AT FORT GREENVILLE. 
 
 THE OLD PATRIOT SPEAKS TO THE PEOPLE ON OLD 
 
 TIMES AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 
 
 The celebration at Fort Greenville drew to that his 
 toric spot an immense concourse of Buckeyes and 
 Hoosiers who had gathered together expecting to 
 meet the brave defender of the log cabins in the war 
 of 1812. This gathering of people was the largest ever 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 245 
 
 seen In this locality and the speech of welcome and 
 the reply of General Harrison are given in the follow 
 ing words in the Eaton Register of August, 1840. 
 
 After Hiram Bell, Esq., had delivered an eloquent 
 address of welcome, General Harrison replied as fol 
 lows: 
 
 FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS: It is with no slight 
 emotion that I undertake to address you on this occa 
 sion. Nor am I a little embarrassed for words wherein 
 to express my deep sense of your kindness towards 
 me, manifested by the friendliness and magnanimity of 
 vour greeting. I must receive a different nature, be 
 coming more or less than what I am, than what any 
 man whlie living can be, before I can cease to remem 
 ber and appreciate the too favorable regard and the 
 kind demonstration of respect for me of my fellow- 
 citizens here present. My heart yields up to you the 
 homage of its deepest gratitude, though my tongue ex 
 presses it not. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, you are all aware of the position 
 that I occupy before the American people being a 
 candidate of a portion of them for the Presidency of 
 the United States. It will doubtless be said by some 
 that I am here for the purpose of electioneering for 
 myself; that I have come to solicit your votes; but be 
 lieve me gentlemen, this is not the case. I am present 
 on this occasion but as an invited guest of the citizens 
 of Darke. It is my deliberate opinion and sincere de 
 sire that the bestowment of office should be the free act 
 of the people, and I have no wish to bias their judg 
 ment unjustly in my favor. But, notwithstanding my 
 wish and determination not to engage as a politician 
 in the pending canvass for officers to administer the 
 General Government, although I would have preferred 
 to remain with my family in the peace and quiet of our 
 log cabin at the Bend, rather than become engaged in 
 political or other disputes as the advocate of my own 
 rectitude of conduct, yet, from the continued torrent of 
 calumny that has been poured upon me, from the 
 slanders, abuses, and obloquy which have been pro 
 mulgated and circulated to my discredit, designed to 
 
246 Reminiscences of the 
 
 asperse and blacken my character, and from the vil 
 lainous and false charges urged against me by the 
 pensioned presses of this administration, my attend 
 ance at this celebration appeared to have been made 
 an act of necessity, a step which I was compelled to 
 take for self-defense. Chiefly for this purpose have I 
 come among you, and trusting you will all perceive 
 the propriety of its course, it seems superfluous to add 
 any further reasons for its adoption. 
 
 Years ago, fellow-citizens, when I left this spot for 
 aught I knew, for the last time I had little idea of 
 the surprising change which would be wrought in its 
 appearance during the time which has supervened. 
 Never did I expect to stand here and behold such a 
 scene as this. It resembles somewhat the recent siege 
 of "Old Fort Meigs." I am now sixty-seven years of 
 age. I have therefore lived to behold much of the 
 glory of my country; I have seen the palmy, days of 
 this Republic; and especially have I witnessed many 
 of the brilliant events which have characterized the 
 growing greatness of the lovely West; but this very 
 day and its incidents mark an epoch in my own history 
 the like of which I have seldom experienced. It is 
 now twenty-five years since I was at Fort Greenville 
 then surrounded by a dense forest, dark and drear. 
 At that period there was scarce a log cabin between 
 Greenville and Cincinnati all between was one en 
 tire, unbroken wilderness. How wonderfully and how 
 speedily have the giant woods bowed their stately tops 
 to the industry and enterprise of Western pioneers, as 
 if some magic power had cleaved them from the earth ! 
 And now in their stead what do we behold ? Broad, 
 cultivated fields, flowery gardens, and happy homes. 
 Delightful picture gratifying change ! Proud reflec 
 tion ! that this transition of things is the result of the 
 handiwork of Westers people of American freemen. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, you have undoubtedly seen it often 
 times stated in a certain class of newspapers that I am 
 a very decrepit old man, obliged to hobble about on 
 crutches; that I was caged up, and that I could not 
 speak loud enough to be heard more than four or five feet 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 247 
 
 distant, in consequence of which last misfortune I am 
 stigmatized with the cognomen of "General Mum." 
 You now perceive, however, that these stories are false. 
 But there are some more serious matters charged against 
 me, which I shall take the liberty to prove untrue. You 
 know it has been said by some that I have no princi 
 ples; that I dare not avow any principles; and that I 
 am kept under the surveillance of a "committee." All 
 this is false unconditionally false. The charge of my 
 being in the keeping of a committee is the only one that 
 seems to merit a moment s consideration, and that barely 
 to indicate its origin. A few months past almost every 
 mail that has come to the post-offices at which I re 
 ceive my letters and papers has brought me a greater 
 or less number of letters, all of which I have opened and 
 exanrned. Some of them have proved abusive and con 
 temptible, designed especially to taunt and insult; and 
 such were, of course, consigned to the flames. But, on 
 the other hand, letters decorously written, for the pur 
 pose of eliciting information, have been uniformly re 
 plied to either by myself personally, or by some one 
 acting under my authority and obeying my instructions 
 communicating my opinions, and not his own. Is 
 there anything criminal or improper in this mode of 
 doing business ? Surely, my friends, I trow not. 
 
 Now, with regard to the political condition of our 
 common country, I trust there is no impropriety in my 
 addressing you upon subjects concerning the public 
 weal. What means this " great commotion" among 
 the people of this great nation? What are the insuffer 
 able grievances which have driven so many thousands, 
 nay, millions, of the American people into the council 
 for the purpose of devising measures for their mutual re 
 lief ? Wherefore do they cry aloud as with one voice, 
 Reform ! Our country is in peril ! The public morals are 
 corrupted. How has it been done? "To the victors 
 belong the spoils," say our rulers. W T hat are the con 
 sequences? Ask the hundred public defaulters through 
 out the land ! Ask the hirelings of corruption who 
 are proffering "power and place" as bribes to secure 
 votes! Ask the subsidized press what governs its op- 
 
248 Reminiscences of the 
 
 erations, and it will open its iron jaws and answer you 
 in a voice loud enough to shake the Pyramids Money ! 
 Money! I speak not at random facts bear me testi 
 mony. The principle is boldly avowed, as well as put 
 in practice by men in high places, that falsehood is 
 justifiable in order to accomplish their purposes. Why 
 this laxity in the morals of our rulers and their follow 
 ers? Did they inherit depravity from their ancestors ? 
 How does it come that such recklessness of truth and 
 justice is manifested of late by some individuals among 
 us? Why, some of the causes which produce these 
 evils I have already intimated? There are others. In 
 tense party spirit destroys patriotism. 
 
 A celebrated Grecian commander once said, and 
 said truly: " Where virtue is best rewarded, there will 
 virtue most prevail." It is even so, a wise and true say 
 ing. But how has the practice of your Government of 
 late accorded with this maxim? It is proverbial with 
 the advocates of monarchy in the Old World that repub 
 lics are ungrateful. How does your experience for 
 the last few years give the lie to this proposition? 
 Nay, fellow-citizens, I fear that this Government 
 affords many examples which tend but too strongly to 
 verify the proverb. Among other instances of mani 
 fest ingratitude, to only one will I here recur. I mean 
 the removal from office, without cause or provocation, 
 save a difference of opinion with the President, of Gen. 
 Solomon Van Rensselaer, of New York. He was a 
 noble friend of ours in the "winter of our discontent." I 
 became acquainted with him when, like myself, he was 
 a young officer in General Wayne s army. I found 
 him an agreeable, social companion, as well as a brave 
 and magnanimous soldier. He assisted in righting the 
 battles of his country; aye, for your behoof, my coun 
 trymen, his blood has been poured out upon the soil of 
 Ohio. The bullets of your enemies have pierced his 
 body while fighting in defense of your interests. And 
 not only on the plains of Ohio has he stood between 
 danger and his country, but in other places likewise. 
 In the sanguinary battle of Queenstown he received 
 six wounds from his country s foes. Well, what is 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 249 
 
 his reward ? After having spent the flower of his 
 youth and the vigor of his manly prime in the service 
 of his country as a soldier, he was called by the Amer 
 ican people to serve them in a civil capacity. He 
 obeyed the call with thankfulness of heart. But he 
 has been cruelly driven out of the service by the 
 administration, and why ? Because, fellow-citizens, 
 he was the friend of the companion of his youth; be 
 cause he would not forsake a fellow-soldier; because 
 he was my incorruptible friend; and because the emol 
 uments of his office were wanted to reward the par 
 tisan services of a supporter of my political competitor. 
 "Ah, there s the rub! r But you, my friends, I am con 
 fident, will not long permit such wrong to the men 
 who "righted your w r rongs" in olden times. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, you know that my opponents call 
 me a Federalist. But I deny the charge: I am not 
 I never was a Federalist. Federalists are in favor of 
 concentrating power in the hands of the executive; 
 Democrats are in favor of the retention of power by 
 the people. I am, and ever have been, a Democratic 
 Republican. My former practices will bear me out in 
 what I say. When I was governor of Indiana Terri 
 tory, I was vested with despotic power, and had I 
 chosen to exercise it, I might have governed that peo 
 ple with a rod of iron. But being a child of the Revo 
 lution, and bred to its principles, I believed in the right 
 and the ability of the people to govern themselves; 
 and they were always permitted to enjoy that high 
 privilege. I had the power to prorogue, adjourn and 
 dissolve the legislature, to lay off the new counties and 
 establish seats of justice; to appoint sheiifFs and other 
 officers. But never did I interpose my prerogative to 
 defeat the wishes of a majority of the people. The 
 people chose their own officers, and I invariably con 
 firmed their choice; where they preferred to have their 
 county seats, there I located them; they made their own 
 laws and I ratified them. / never vetoed a bill in my 
 life. 
 
 But I have been denounced as a bank man. Well, 
 let it go. I am so far a bank man as I believe every 
 
250 Reminiscences of the 
 
 rational Republican ought to be, and no further. The 
 Constitution of the United States makes it the duty of 
 the Government to provide ways and means for the 
 collection and disbursement of the public revenue. If 
 the people deem it necessary to the proper discharge 
 of the functions of their Government to create a national 
 bank, properly guarded and regulated, I shall be the 
 last man, if elected President, to set up my authority 
 against that of the millions of American freemen. It 
 is needful to have a larger money circulation in a land 
 of liberty than in an empire of despotism. Destroy the 
 poor man s credit and you destroy his capital. The 
 peasant who toils incessantly to maintain his famish 
 ing household, in the hard money countries of Europe, 
 rarely if ever becomes the noble lord who pastures his 
 " flocks upon a thousand hills." There are necessarily 
 difficulties connected with every form and system of 
 the Government, but it should be the aim and object of 
 the statesman to form the best institutions within his 
 power to make for the good of his country. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, I cannot forbear inviting your at 
 tention to the concerns of your Government, in the wel 
 fare of which all good citizens feel a deep interest. I 
 warn you to watch your rulers. Remember, * Eternal 
 vigilance is the price of liberty." When I looked 
 around upon the dangers which seem to be suspended 
 as by a hair over this people, I tremble for the safety of 
 this Republic. In an evil hour has the Chief Magistrate 
 of this nation been transformed into a monarch and 
 despot at pleasure ! To show that this is the case 1 
 need but refer you to the profound and plilosophical 
 historian, Gibbon, who says, " The obvious definition 
 of monarchy seems to be that of a State in which a 
 single person, by whatsoever name he may be dis 
 tinguished, is intrusted with the execution of the law, 
 the management of the revenue, and the command of the 
 army Is not Martin Van Buren intrusted with these 
 functions ? Most assuredly he is. Call him by what 
 soever title you choose, President, executive, chief 
 magistrate, consul, king, stadtholder, it does not alter 
 the nature of his power; that remains the same, un- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 251 
 
 changed, and the President, therefore, possesses all the 
 functions necessary to constitute a monarch. You 
 have often heard of the "moneyed influence of the 
 country denounced while it yet remained in the hands 
 of the people, as dangerous to public liberty. 
 
 Have you, then, no apprehension, no fear of a 
 moneyed influence, equal to that of half the nation, 
 concentrated in the hands of a single individual, at 
 the same time possessing two other of the most potent 
 powers that belong to our Government? The great 
 Julius Cassar the conquering Julius has said, * Give 
 me soldiers and I will get money; give me money and 
 I will get soldiers." The public purse is already con 
 fided to the hands of the President; a respectable army 
 is also under his control, and it is in contemplation by 
 the administration to add to the present military force 
 of the United States an army of 200,000 men. Amer 
 ican freemen, pause and reflect. Meditate before you 
 act. Matters of the highest moment depend upon 
 your action and await your decision. There may be 
 no ambitious Caesar among us who will dare to use the 
 ample means now combined in the hands of the Presi 
 dent for the subversion of our liberties, but the excep 
 tions to ambitious men so inclined are so few that they 
 but fortify the rule. Look around you, fellow- citizens. 
 Are you girt with your armor or have you surrendered 
 it to another? The "sentinels upon the w r atch tower 
 of freedom " have they been true to their trusts, or 
 have they slept? I warn you. my countrymen, against 
 the danger of neglecting your duty. Power is always 
 stealing from the many to the few. Beware how you 
 intrust your rights to" the keeping of any man. They 
 are never so secure as when protected by your own 
 shield and defended by yourselves with your own 
 weapons. 
 
 General Harrison adverted to the interference of 
 the officers of Government with elections, and pointed 
 out its impropriety in a clear manner. If (said he, 
 in conclusion upon that subject) I should be so fortu 
 nate as to be elected President, I would deem it my 
 duty to prevent, as far as possible, the practice of 
 
252 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Government officers using their official influence and 
 patronage for electioneering purposes, but, at the same 
 time, those officers should be allowed the freest exer 
 cise of the elective franchise at perfect liberty to vote 
 for and against whomsoever they pleased, without the 
 fear of being proscribed or removed from office on 
 account of their political preferences. 
 
 In conclusion fellow-citizens, indulge me in a few 
 remarks in regard to my old fellow-soldiers. A small 
 number of them are here by my side. They stood by 
 me in battle, firm and invincible, in by-gone days. 
 Some of them are remnants of the Revolution sol 
 diers with whom I served under the gallant Wayne. 
 Where, my brethren, are our companions in danger on 
 the field of strife ? Alas ! many of them are taking 
 their final repose in the calm and peace of death ! 
 
 " Let them sleep on, sleep on 
 
 In the grave to which kindred have borne them, 
 And blest be the braves who are gone, 
 And the friends who survive but to mourn them ! " 
 
 The old soldiers, one by one, are dwindling away- 
 gliding as it were down the river of time into the 
 haven of long-sought rest. But a few of them even 
 now are remaining to sorrow in gladness for the in 
 gratitude of their country. When this country was a 
 dismal howli.ig wild^ rness those warriors were expos 
 ing themselves to danger and disease in the unwhole 
 some swamps and morasses of the West, by guarding 
 and defending our frontiers. Many of them became 
 present victims to the malaria of the marshes and the in 
 salubrity of the climate, others returned to their houses 
 with disease engendered in their systems, but to linger 
 for a time, and perhaps waste away with consumption; 
 \\hJe yet smaller portions still remain among us, 
 though generally shattered in constitution and feeble 
 in health. Why is it, fellow-citizens, that these old 
 soldiers of General Wayne s army have never been re 
 paid for their services, or been allowed pensions by 
 our Government ? The nation is much indebted to 
 them, and justice requires that the debt should be paid, 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 253 
 
 and I could never die in peace, and feel no sting of re 
 morse, if I were to permit their claims to pass unno 
 ticed, and without making an effort, when opportunity 
 offered, to have them satisfied. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, my character has been most grossly 
 and wantonly assailed by the dangerous demagogues 
 of the administration party. They have falsely charged 
 me with the commission of almost every crime .which 
 is denominated such that man can be guilty of. My 
 character, which I had fondly hoped to preserve un 
 sullied as a boon and an example for my family, has been 
 much more traduced and belied within the few months 
 past, and, for this reason I have sometimes regretted 
 that your predilection had made me a candidate for 
 office; but, nevertheless, I claim no sympathy of the 
 public on that score. I only desire you to examine my 
 past conduct, to read the history of your country and 
 ascertain my political course heretofore, and the prin 
 ciples on which I have ever acted, and if you find that 
 my doctrines are unsound and unworthy of your sup 
 port, it is your sacred duty to reject them. I ask not 
 your sympathy or favor. I want but common justice. 
 Let me have a fair trial, and, whatever may be your 
 verdict, I shall be satisfied. Investigate matters fai ly 
 and honestly; compare the doctrines and practices t.f 
 mv adversaries with mine, and then decide as you 
 shall think right and proper. Cast aside your preju 
 dices and predilections, and vote only from principle. 
 It is your duty to do so. Heed not the censuie of 
 knavish politicians who reproach you with the name 
 of "turn coat," etc. It is not opprobrious to turn 
 from a party to your country. We should despite the 
 odium sought to be heaped upon us by designing men, 
 from their selfish motives, as they despise truth and 
 honesty. 
 
 Hoping that the right may prevail and make our 
 country prosperous, I will only add the wish that you 
 may long enjoy its blessings, maintain its free institu 
 tions, and rejoice in the independence of happy free 
 men. 
 
254 Reminiscences of the 
 
 NASHVILLE CONVENTION. 
 
 Nashville, August 15, 1840. 
 
 DEAR SIR : We reached here in safety, after a fa 
 tiguing journey over heavy roads, made so by 
 rains. From Louisville to Nashville everything is po 
 litical; theie is great enthusiasm along the whole road 
 in favor of Harrison. Even on " Salt River" we found 
 many hard-cider boys ready to transport the spoilers 
 to its head-waters. Kentucky is proud of her recent 
 victory, and well she may be. We saw a log cabin 
 built on the top .of a tree, with its cider barrels, latch 
 strings, etc., etc. Great changes are taking place; 
 even postmasters are coming over. One at whose 
 door the stage stopped, inquired if Mr. Clay would be 
 along saying, " I have done that man great injustice, 
 and wish to take him by the hand and tell him so." 
 
 This has been a proud day for Mr. Clay one of 
 the proudest of his life. His entry into the city this 
 afternoon was truly magnificent. Met a mile or more 
 from town by several military companies and citizens 
 on horseback and in carriages, in all about 1,500, he 
 entered amidst the sound of martial music, the roar of 
 cannon, the ringing of bells, and the shouts of many 
 thousands. 
 
 At the mayor s house this afternoon a most beautiful 
 flag, with a good likeness of General Harrison on one 
 side and a log cabin being built on the other, was pre 
 sented to the Harrison Guards of the city by a young 
 lady. She addressed the company in a manner highly 
 creditable to herself and the ladies she represented. 
 The ceremony was interesting. 
 
 About sunset, the great Ohio ball arrived in a 
 steamboat. An immense crowd flocked to the wharf 
 to receive the present. It is an object of great curi 
 osity and much anxiety had been expressed to see it. 
 
 The .city is already crowded with strangers. 
 Large delegations are here from Louisiana, Mississippi, 
 Alabama, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, East 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 255 
 
 Tennessee, etc. By Monday morning the adjoining 
 counties will pour in their thousands! What a change 
 is here ! Ten years ago it was hardly safe to name 
 Clay, Harrison or Webster, except in terms of abuse. 
 Now, at the hour of midnight, I hear the sound of the 
 drum, the cannon, and the loud and repeated hurrah for 
 Old Tip and for Clay, and nothing is thought of the 
 "second section." 
 
 Mr. Clay staid at the Springs last night. He in 
 quired of Dr. McNary what Felix Grundy was about. 
 ** Traveling through East Tennessee defending the Ad 
 ministration," was the reply. "Ah," says Mr. Clay, 
 " Felix is at his old business defending criminals. " 
 
 GREAT MEETING AT NASHVILLE. 
 
 We copy from the Nashville Whig , the following 
 notice of the meeting at Nashville. It acquires the 
 more importance from the letters of General Jackson 
 and Mr. Clay, in relation to it: 
 
 "At 10 o clock, the immense procession moved, 
 amidst the most deafening shouts of the multitude, 
 from the head of Broad street, through Union street 
 to Walnut Grove. The convention was temporarily 
 organized by Dr. Thomas R. Jenning, the chairman 
 of the nominating committee from the States, who 
 announced the following nominations for officers of 
 the convention: 
 
 For president, Hon. E. H. Foster, of Tennessee; 
 vice-presidents, W. McPherson, Esq., of Arkansas, 
 Hon. John Gayle, of Alabama, S. A. Bowen, Esq., of 
 Missouri, Garret Duncan, Esq., of Kentucky, Hon. 
 James Rucks, of Mississippi, John Hogan, of Illinois, 
 C. L. Ash, Esq., of Pennsylvania, P. P. Erkine, Esq., 
 of Maryland, Hon. B. Storer, of Ohio, A. C. Bullitt, 
 of Louisiana, J. White, of Indiana. 
 
 Secretaries, W. Snethen, of Louisiana, R. Scott, of 
 
256 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Pennsylvania, C. Scott, of Mississippi, C. C. Norvell, 
 of Tennessee, A. A. Hall, of Tennessee, C. G. Win- 
 tersmith, of Kentucky, W. W. Ferguson, of Arkansas, 
 S. S. L Hommedieu, of Ohio, J. R. Blocker, of 
 Alabama, J. H. Matheeyn, of Illinois. 
 
 After an invocation of the Divine blessing from the 
 Rev. J. W. Ogden, 
 
 Mr. Foster, the president of the day, rose and asked 
 why this vast and magnificent multitute? Why this 
 coming up from the valley and the rivers, from the 
 plains, from the hills and hollows, from the counties 
 near and the States far oft ? The people, the real ped- 
 ple, he said, were before and round about him. They 
 had come together, because the mechanic arts had re 
 ceived a severe blow, because commerce was prostrate, 
 because trade flourishes not, because industry has not 
 its reward ! They were the great grand jury of the 
 country, not a picked or packed grand jury, but an 
 honest one that would render a verdict the thunder 
 whereof would peal through the whole length and 
 breadth of the land and stop not until it reached the 
 White House at Washington, and cause its presiding 
 inmate to cry out even in his midnight dreams, like the 
 Roman chief, for the power which he has lost through 
 his presumptive and overleaping ambition until in 
 deed, it caused him to cry out to Chapman to crow with 
 more vehemence and terror than ever. 
 
 Mr. Foster said he had been an old Jackson man 
 but he had turned his coat inside out though not a 
 single principle had he abandoned no, not one. He 
 had no master but his God and the people. To the will 
 of the people he would bow in submission at all times, 
 but not to the dictation of the cohorts of modern Democ 
 racy, who pronounce every man a Federalist, no matter 
 how many battles he has fought in, who refuses to 
 support Martin Van Buren. Why, sir, said he, point 
 ing to an old soldier of the Revolution, on the speak 
 ing stand before him, you fought gallantly and glori 
 ously for your country vou were a Whig of 76, and 
 you are a Whig of 40 and yet they call you a Fed 
 eralist ! 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 257 
 
 Mr. Foster referred to the sacrifice of Judge White, 
 in compliance with the wish at headquarters. He 
 pointed to the full-length and very striking likeness of 
 that departed sage, which was borne aloft upon one of 
 the banners near the stand, and bore testimony to his 
 many sterling virtues, to his Roman firmness, to his 
 intelligence, to his stern honesty and goodness of 
 heart, and then called upon the vast multitude there 
 assembled to remember Hugh Lawson White, and 
 those through whose instrumentality Tennessee, aye, 
 the whole country, has been deprived of a continuation 
 of his most valuable services. Great, he proclaimed 
 him to have been ! Not great like Caesar, with his 
 hands drenched in blood but great in the councils of 
 the nation, great in his virtues, great in his honesty and 
 purity of heart. 
 
 Mr. Foster said, in his denunciations of Democracy, 
 he made no allusion to the rank and file of the party, 
 but to those demagogues who assume its lead. The 
 rank and file were part and parcel of that body of the 
 people, alike honest and sincere, and virtuous and up 
 right with the rank and file of the Whigs. But the 
 leaders of the Democracy were, generally speaking, 
 a vastly different set of persons. They claimed to be 
 Democrats. It was an old and true proverb that a 
 man was best known by the company he kept. He 
 asked who were the true Republicans, and who the 
 true Federalists ? He referred in glowing terms to the 
 many brilliant services rendered to the Republican cause, 
 when Republicanism, as well as Federalism, meant 
 something, by his distinguished friend then present, 
 [pointing to Henry Clay. The very allusion made the 
 air resound with the grateful shouts of ten thousand 
 freemen.] He asked if that great statesman was not 
 a true Republican. The multitude shouted, "Yes, he 
 is." He asked if that Republican s colleague, also 
 present [pointing to John J. Crittenden] was not a 
 true Republican. The hearty affirmative response rose 
 quickly upon the breeze. Well, then, said he, let us 
 look at the other side of the picture. Go with me to 
 the Senate Chamber in the Capitol, at Washington, 
 
 17 
 
258 Reminiscences of the 
 
 and behold Senator Buchanan, a fine looking gentle 
 man and a leading Democrat, so called. He opposed 
 the last war, and was a furious Federalist. To the 
 left of him behold Senator Wall, an old gentleman, 
 dressed in the very extreme fashion, en militaire. He is a 
 modern Democrat, but boasted in the Senate in 1836 
 that he was a Federalist so long as Federalism was 
 known by its proper name. Now turn your eyes still 
 further to the left and behold my cousin of Bucking 
 ham, Senator Hubbard, a modern Democrat, who was 
 so violent a Federalist during the last war that he got 
 up a meeting to send delegates from his section of 
 New Hampshire to the Hartford convention! Still 
 further on, you behold Senator Williams, of Maine, a 
 great Van Buren Democrat, but a notorious Federalist 
 during the whole of the last war. But Democracy of 
 the present day made all these men Democrats. He 
 was happy to say that he was no such Democrat him 
 self. 
 
 Mr. Foster referred to the great civil revolution go 
 ing on to the ball so gloriously put in motion in Con 
 necticut which was handsomely accelerated by gal 
 lant Rhode Island, and which Virginia received and 
 sent rolling on so nobly and with such power! Why, 
 he said, he was on the top of Cumberland Mountain 
 when the news reached him, and he opened his mouth 
 and shouted at the top of his voice, Old Virginia never 
 tire!" 
 
 Next, he said, Louisiana gave the ball a turn with 
 a force that sent it rolling into Kentucky and In 
 diana, where it seems to have nearly annihilated the 
 whole of the Loco Foco party. The cohorts of power 
 were putting their ears to the ground to catch the 
 sound of the hoofs of the express horses that were to 
 bring them glad tidings from Louisiana! But lo and 
 behold the result! See Kentucky, too, a gain from 
 13,000 to near 20,000 of a majority! And nearly 
 the same gain in Indiana! [Tennessee, he said, was 
 also coming. She would come with a power that 
 would make little Martin Van Buren wish himself out 
 of the White House as speedily as possible. This, he 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 259 
 
 said, was no vain boast, but sober reality. The work, 
 the good and glorious work, was going on. 
 
 Mr. Foster thanked the vast multitude for the atten 
 tion which had been paid him, and said he would give 
 place for others to address them. 
 
 Mr. Clay w r as called for with an enthusiasm which 
 seemed to contain no bounds, and when he came for 
 ward, with those characteristic smiles playing all over 
 his remarkable countenance, the air was rent with nine 
 such cheers as it has seldom fallen to the lot of any 
 man to receive. When these had subsided he com 
 menced. 
 
 THE UTICA CONVENTION. 
 
 [From the New York Star.] 
 
 We publish the following letter with great pleasure, 
 not only as it exhibits the entire harmony and unanim 
 ity of the Whig convention at Utica in the nomination 
 of State officers, but from finding the old and tried 
 friends of Harrison and Clay, Peter R. Livingston, 
 Judge Burt, of Orange, and P. B. Porter, of Erie, were 
 chosen as presiding officers and State electors: 
 
 August 12, 1840. 
 
 DEAR SIR: This has been a great day for Utica. The 
 convention met at the Mechanics Exchange; called 
 General Root pro tern, to the chair; appointed a com 
 mittee to select officers for the meeting. Peter R. Liv 
 ingston of Dutchess, was appointed, assisted by one 
 vice-president from each district, and the same number 
 of secretaries. Mr. Francis Hall was elected to till 
 the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr. 
 Ruggles. 
 
 The convention then went into an informal ballot; 
 115 delegates were present. Wm. H. Seward and 
 Luther Bradish icceived the vote of the whole delega- 
 
260 Reminiscences of the 
 
 tion without a single dissenting voice. We then ad 
 journed to meet at 12 o clock, in order to give the dele 
 gates an opportunity to look at one of the greatest as 
 semblages ever witnessed. 1 intend to give you a 
 sketch of it, and before I proceed, allow me to say, it 
 numbered, from what I could see and learn, at least 
 eighteen thousand persons. N. P. Talmadge, Stanley, 
 Ketchum, and others, are now addressing the multitude. 
 Perhaps it would be well to state that you would be 
 perfectly astonished at the ease a convert can be made. 
 The workingmen in opposition to us are ready and 
 almost anxious for some plea by which they could re-- 
 lease themselves from all further connection with the 
 Loco Foco party. They cannot bear the name. 
 
 If we could circulate ten thousand copies of Bu 
 chanan s speech in this neighborhood it would help us 
 at least a thousand votes. For example, I fell in with 
 three coopers. I opened my conversation with them 
 after this wise, " Well, friends, what procession have 
 you here ? " " Oh, nothing, sir, but a few Federalists 
 parading the streets." " But, see here, I am a Demo 
 crat; I am in favor of equal laws and protection for 
 the poor man s rights; I go for plenty of work and fair 
 prices; are these men opposed to these principles ? if 
 so, I say down with them. I go for the country, and 
 not for Van Buren or Harrison, but the man who will 
 carry out these views." " Well, now, friend," said 
 they, "you are a stranger to us; but we like these 
 opinions of yours." "Well, then, let us support men 
 of our cast, canvass their opinions carefully, look into 
 the sub-treasury bill see who are your friends mark 
 them, and remember when the election comes your 
 children will hold you responsible for the vote you 
 cast!" " But is not Mr. Van Buren the poor man s 
 friend ? " " Well, my friends, I will give you facts, ancj 
 you can mature them yourselves." I then handed them 
 a copy of Buchanan s speech which I found in the port 
 er s room at Baggs . I read a few extracts, told them 
 Van Buren believed it; the sub-treasury was passed 
 for the purpose of carrying out their views to reduce 
 labor to fifteen cents a day; that he, Buchanan, was a 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 261 
 
 bosom friend of Van Buren, and they acted together 
 in all things. They took me by the hand, thanked me, 
 and declared they would go home and use their in 
 fluence for General Harrison, and vote for him. 
 
 Now, for the procession; it was acknowledged by 
 all to be NINE MILES LONG it was headed by one hun 
 dred and ten horsemen, dressed as farmers, with a 
 hunting shirt and red sash round the middle then 
 music then four hundred and seventeen large double 
 wagons, drawn by horses and some by oxen. The 
 first I noticed, was drawn by six horses it was a car, 
 upon which was erected a magnificent throne, with all 
 the drapery, etc. Upon the throne was seated a boy, 
 bareheaded! with a crown by his side dressed like 
 King George, in purple velvet and fine linen; by his 
 side he had a splendid sword, the same as worn by one 
 of the knights of old and around his neck a diamond 
 chain, to which was connected a large gold key, one 
 hand strongly grasping and holding a key of the 
 treasury the other the sword; immediately behind 
 the throne came the contrast there sat old Tip, by the 
 side of his log cabin, with flail in hand, the very pict 
 ure of comfort and kindness, his right hand extended 
 to some wornout soldiers. The next drawn by horses, 
 with the motto, "One Fire More;" and "The Day is 
 Ours;" "New York State Redeemed;" "We Are 
 Young! But We Will Be Old;" "American Youth 
 None Have a Deeper Interest in the Country." A log 
 cabin drawn by four horses. Hung outside with coon 
 skins, etc., beneath was, "Trenton is Eager for the 
 Contest;" "When She Will Atone for Her past Fol 
 lies." The next was a very large wagon drawn by 
 twelve pair of oxen, with twenty-six farmers to repre 
 sent the various States. The next was a car drawn by 
 eight horses, with box sides, covered with American 
 carpet, with this motto: " Domestic Carpet is Good 
 Enough for the White House in 1841." 
 
 This letter is drawn up in a hurry, while hundreds 
 and thousands are passing the door; all kinds of music 
 and confusion, and a great haste to get back to the 
 convention, which meets at 12 o clock. 
 
262 Reminiscences of the 
 
 THE NASHVILLE CONVENTION. 
 
 In the Nashville Whig we find a sketch of the con 
 vention in that city. As the assembly was computed 
 on the best authority to have exceeded in numbers the 
 great Baltimore convention, we deem it of sufficient in 
 terest to warrant a further description of the delega 
 tions composing it, and of the proceedings. We trans 
 fer, therefore, the annexed matter from the Nashville 
 Whig, recalling the sentiments of Mr. Webster, in the 
 exordium of his speech at Saratoga: No one, said the 
 eminent orator, can deny that an extraordinary excite 
 ment exists in this country, such as has not been wit 
 nessed for more than half a century; not local, nor con 
 fined to two or three or ten States, but pervading the 
 whole from North to South, and from East to West, 
 with equal force and intensity. For an effect so gen 
 eral, a cause of equal extent must exist. No cause, 
 local or partial, can produce consequences so universal 
 The immense assemblage in Tennessee is another proof 
 of the justice of these remarks. At last the effects of 
 the Federal policy have attained to an insufferable pitch 
 of mischief. The people of every class assemble, not 
 by hundreds, but by tens of thousands: 
 
 THE GREAT SOUTHWESTERN CONVENTION. 
 
 We present to our distant friends some account of 
 this day s great work in Nashville, of the mighty in 
 gathering of the real people and of their boundless en 
 thusiasm in the cause of Constitutional liberty, on the 
 occasion of the great Southwestern convention. 
 
 On approaching this most interesting task, we feel 
 that our powers of description are wholly inadequate to 
 anything like an impression to the life, of the scenes 
 which have this day passed before our almost bewild 
 ered vision. The richness and grandeur of the pageant 
 and the variety of incidents to which it gave rise; 
 the fervid zeal of the people and the burning eloquence 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 263 
 
 of the champion of liberty, whose fortune it was to 
 occupy their attention; the meeting of the extremes of 
 the Union, and the commingling of hundreds of kin 
 dred spirits from distant portions of the great valley of 
 the Mississippi; the presence of the illustrious states 
 man of Kentucky and his distinguished colaborers in 
 the Whig cause, together with the almost cloudless 
 beauty of the day, all, all conspired to lend an interest 
 to the occasion, which it would be vain to attempt 
 to portray. 
 
 It would be equally futile to undertake a close esti 
 mate of the extent of this immense concourse. We 
 have no data upon which to base a calculation of num 
 bers, beyond- the long line of procession which ex 
 tended from the southern extremity of the city at the 
 intersection of Franklin road and Broad street, from 
 which point the line moved, to the western line of the 
 corporation on lower College street. This, it will at 
 once be seen, would be by no means a correct crite 
 rion, in view of the fact that countless thousands made 
 their way to the convention ground both in advance of 
 and subsequent to the entree of the procession. Mr. 
 Clay remarked, incidentally, in his speech this morning, 
 that the meeting of the iyth of August, 1840, might be 
 regarded, as par excellence, the memorable convention 
 of 1840, since it exceeded both in extent of numbers 
 and the magnificence of its procession, the great con 
 vention of the 4th of May at Baltimore. Our own 
 opinion is that considering the relative location and 
 population of the two cities, the crowd today deserved 
 to be held as a much more striking evidence of the ex 
 traordinary zeal that now pervades the friends of ex 
 ecutive reform throughout the country than the Balti 
 more meeting. It has been our good fortune to witness 
 both pageants, and we spea*k it with pride when we 
 say that the free valley of Mississippi has this day 
 followed in bold and generous rivalry the example of 
 her sister States on the seaboard. 
 
 The morning was ushered in by "a glorious sum 
 mer s sun," thus giving early promise of a day as bright 
 with the smiles of beneficent nature as it is destined to 
 
264 Reminiscences of tJie 
 
 be memorable for the scenes which have marked this 
 triumphal movement of a free people. 
 
 At daylight three guns were fired from an eminence 
 above the city, known, since the celebration of the tri 
 umph of the Whigs of New York in 1837,38 Whig hill. 
 At sunrise a gun was fired from the log cabin on lower 
 Market street, the signal for meeting of the different 
 delegations, clubs and military companies. At 10 
 o clock two guns were fired as the note for preparation 
 for the formation of the procession. The Straight Outs, 
 Capt. Tanneyhill, were then marched into Broad street, 
 in pursuance of the programme of the chief marshal, 
 and as the base of the line of the procession. Be 
 tween the hours of 7 and 9 o clock, the line was 
 formed, ready to move from the intersection of Broad 
 and Spruce streets. 
 
 On riding up Broad street just before the procession 
 moved out of that street, we discovered that as many 
 as 14 States were represented, some of them quite 
 largely, the delegation from each preceded by a general 
 State banner, besides the insignia of the various town 
 and county clubs and delegations, an infinite variety 
 of which decorated the line and imparted unspeakable 
 interest to the pageant. 
 
 The base of the line, as we before noticed, was the 
 Straight Outs, and a more appropriate band of pio 
 neers we dare venture could not have been selected. 
 The dress, discipline, and origin of the Straight Outs, 
 we have heretofore had occasion to describe. They 
 are the representatives of a hardy race of honest log- 
 cabin freemen, who, however ridiculed for their primi 
 tive manners by the advocates of power, never fail to 
 make their influence felt and appreciated at the ballot- 
 box. The banners borne by this corps were plain but 
 expressive the first, with a plain white ground, in 
 scribed, " One Presidential Term, and Fair Wages for 
 Labor." The second, a spread-eagle on white ground 
 bearing in its talons, "Harrison and Reform," and un 
 derneath the celebrated watchwords of the Emperor 
 Constantine, "In Hoc Signo Vinces" The third, a 
 game-looking chanticleer, on blue muslin ground, with 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 265 
 
 the inscription, "A Loud Crow Chapman 4th March, 
 1841." 
 
 The Straight Outs were followed by the general 
 committee of arrangements, with their invited guests, 
 on foot and in carriages. These were succeeded by a 
 division composed of the delegates from Arkansas, 
 Missouri and Alabama. The Arkansas banner was in 
 scribed with the motto of the lamented Crockett, "Be 
 Sure You re Right; Then Go Ahead !" with an eagle in 
 the center. The Missouri banner represented a buf 
 falo, with the inscription expressive of the part borne 
 bv the illustrious Harrison in the admission of that 
 State into the Union, " Roused to the Claims of an Early 
 Friend ! " 
 
 Our Alabama friends numbered three or four differ 
 ent delegations, headed by a general banner beat ing 
 the inscription, " Four Years Long Enough for a Good 
 President: Too Long for a Bad One." The Madison 
 county delegation displayed a beautiful fancy banner, 
 representing the goddess of liberty looking down on 
 old Tip s cabin, with the inscription (expressive of the 
 recent immense gain in our sister commonwealth), 
 "Day is Dawning " Our attention was especially at 
 tracted to the standard-bearer of this delegation, an 
 ingenious artisan, we are told, of Huntsville, who wore 
 in his bosom a log cabin breast-pin, representing by 
 means of miniature springs, both the interior and 
 exterior of a cabin, with the door, latch-strings, etc., 
 ail perfect, and a miniature canoe on the comb of the 
 roof. 
 
 Next followed a delegation from Illinois, with a 
 magnificent satin banner, representing the great seal 
 of the State. 
 
 The Mississippi delegation came next in order, with 
 the State banner, inscribed, " Tis Ours to Rectify: Not 
 to Overthrow." The delegation from Y allabusha county 
 carried a rich satin banner, wrought with fine taste 
 and inscribed, " Mississippi She Beat the Spoilers 
 Once and Can Do It Again." 
 
 Indiana followed our Southern sister. Her banner 
 represented a huge ball, inscribed," The Ball in Motion 
 
266 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Indiana 10,000 Majority." The New Albany delega 
 tion bore a handsome satin banner, representing a log 
 cabin "with the string of the latch hanging out." 
 
 Louisiana succeeded. Her State banner represented 
 the ballot-box "The Freemen s Sword and Shield- 
 Louisiana 25,000 Majority. " A separate banner was 
 borne by the Tippecanoe Club of New Orleans. 
 
 Ohio was represented by a spirited delegation, chiefly 
 from Cincinnati. Her banner represented a spread 
 eagle, bearing in its talons, "For President, the Farmer 
 of North Bend," with the inscription above "Ohio 
 Tip, Tom and Tyler." 
 
 Kentucky was strongly represented. Nearly all the 
 southern counties had their separate delegations, be 
 sides two handsomely equipped military companies 
 from Hopkinsville and Bowling Green. We noticed a 
 delegation from Mercer, one of the upper counties of 
 the btate, with a handsome satin banner, representing 
 among other things, " Little Matty " scampering out of 
 the White House. The State banner was inscribed in 
 just compliment to her recent signal triumph at the 
 ballot-box, " Kentucky, She Speaks Not by Thousands, 
 but by Tens of Thousands." The Louisville delegation 
 was headed by a beautiful silk banner, representing, 
 we believe, a scene at the battle of the Thames. 
 
 The Livingston county delegation (Smithland) dis 
 played two remarkably neat satin banners, one of which 
 represented a golden ball in motion. The Caldwell 
 bann< r bore the portrait, in military dress, of General 
 Harrison. 
 
 The banners of the District of Columbia, of Virginia, 
 of Delaware, of New Jersey, of New York and New 
 England were borne by small delegations from each 
 State. That of the District of Columbia was inscribed, 
 "Let His Days be Few and Let Anrther Take His 
 Place." That of Virginia, " The Blood of Our Fathers, 
 Let It Not Have Been Shed in Vain. Independence 
 Now and Independence Forever." That of Delaware, 
 " Our Cause It Is Just." That of New Jersey, " Her 
 Great Seat Shall Be Respected." That of New York 
 represented a pair of scales, with M. V. B." in one 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 267 
 
 end and " Old Tip " in the other, the former "kick 
 ing the beam," the inscription, u Weighed in the 
 Balance and Found Wanting." That of New Eng 
 land 
 
 "From hill and from valley, 
 
 From mountain and plain, 
 We come to the rescue 
 Of our country again." 
 
 The Pennsylvania delegation numbered t vo or three 
 sections, preceded by a banner representing a fox 
 trailing a lion, with the inscription, " This Won t Do, 
 Matty." 
 
 The Tennessee delegation formed, of course, much 
 the largest division of the procession. The county del 
 egations bore a large number of flags and banners, 
 some of which excelled in grandeur of design, rich 
 ness of material and beauty of execution anything of 
 the sort it has ever been our fortune to see displayed. 
 In this respect, indeed, we feel assured that the Co 
 lumbus. Baltimore and Fort Meigs conventions were 
 thrown completely in the background. We must 
 necessarily, for the want of time and space, reserve a 
 more particular description of the various county de 
 vices for our next paper. The front banner of the del 
 egation represented, on blue ground, a magnificent, 
 full-rigged seventy-four, her head pointed to the White 
 House and Capitol, which are seen in the distance. 
 The u Constitution" is the name of this truly national 
 vessel, and she bears on her topmast signal the initials, 
 " T. and T." The State banner bore a beautifully 
 wrought device (on satin, fringed with crape), repre 
 senting the tomb of the lamented White. 
 
 The great ball, from Zanesville, Ohio, which came 
 safe to hand on the steamer Rochester on Saturday 
 night, occupied a conspicuous place in the procession. 
 It was given in charge of the Kentucky delegation, and 
 was hauled on four wheels under the immediate care 
 of Porter, the Kentucky giant. The ball is in the form 
 of a hemisphere, moving upon its axis and represent 
 ing each of the individual States of the Union, with 
 the inscriptions, as heretofore copied from the Ohio 
 
268 Reminiscences of the 
 
 papers. Porter appeared as a delegate from Louis 
 ville, and it was really difficult to determine which of 
 the two lions attracted the most attention. 
 
 The military brought up the rear and made a rich 
 and beautiful display. This division of the line was 
 composed of the independent infantry companies from 
 Hopkinsville and Bowling Green, Ky., Franklin and 
 Clarksville, Tenn., and the Harrison Guards, Cadets 
 and Lancers, of this city. 
 
 At 10 o clock the immense procession moved amidst 
 the most deafening shouts of the multitude, from the 
 head of Broad street, through Spruce to Spring, down 
 Spring to Summer, down Summer to Cedar, down 
 Cedar to the Square, round the Square to West Col 
 lege street, and through that street to Walnut Grove, 
 the country seat of Dr. D. T. McGavock. The conven 
 tion was temporarily organized by Dr. Thomas R. 
 Jenning, the chairman of the nominating committee 
 from the States, who announced the following nom 
 inations for officers of the convention. 
 
 For president: Hon. E. H. Foster, of Tennessee. 
 
 Vice-presidents: W. M McPherson, of Arkansas; 
 Hon. John Gayle, of Alabama; S. A. Bowen, Esq., of 
 Missouri; Garnet Duncan, Esq., of Kentucky; Hon. 
 James Bucks, of Mississippi; John Hogan, of Illinois; 
 C. L. Ash, Esq., of Pennsylvania; J. P. Erskine, Esq., 
 of Maryland; Hon. B. Storer, of Ohio; A. C. Bullitt, of 
 Louisiana; J. White, of Indiana. 
 
 Secretaries: W. Sneethen, of Louisiana; R. Scott, of 
 Pennsylvania; C. Scott, of Mississippi; C. C. Norvell, 
 of Tennessee; A. A. Hall, Tennessee; C. G. Winter- 
 smith, of Kentucky; W. W, Ferguson, of Arkansas; S. 
 S. L Hommedieu-, of Ohio; J. R. Blocker, of Alabama; 
 J. H. Matheney, of Illinois. 
 
 After an invocation of the Divine blessing from the 
 Rev. J. W. Ogden, the assemblage was addressed by 
 Mr. Foster, the president of the day. 
 
 The foregoing sketch of the preliminary proceedings 
 is followed in the Nashville Whig by a brief outline of 
 Mr. Clay s speech. The Kentucky Senator was re 
 ceived by the audience with a whirlwind of affection- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 269 
 
 ate cheers. A friend has just handed us a letter written 
 in Nashville the day before the organization of the con 
 vention, in which we note this passage: 
 
 "Twelve years ago Henry Clay was burnt in effigy 
 in this place, and he had less than one hundred votes. 
 Now, he has been welcomed as a conqueror, and 
 receives as much homage as the most ambitious man 
 could desire. I feel it will be utterly impossible to 
 give anything like an adequate description of the glo 
 rious scene of tomorrow. The sights I have seen today 
 convince me how vain would be the attenipt. All is 
 excitement and the most ardent enthusiasm. I and 
 my companions each .have a badge on the left breast, 
 Pennsylvania, printed on white satin. We have ex 
 cited much curiosity; we are from so far off that the 
 people are surprised and delighted. A Tennesseean 
 seeing the badge, exclaimed, Pennsylvania! hurrah! 
 the Dutch have come! " One of us has an appropriate 
 banner which we shall carry in the procession " 
 
 More than one thousand ladies were seated in front 
 of the principal stand and gave inspiration to the 
 speakers. 
 
 The effect of Mr. Clay s speech was mighty among 
 his hearers and the great cause received an impetus in 
 Tennessee and the Mississippi valley which made the 
 partisans of the administration tremble. In the course 
 of the day addresses of power were delivered by 
 Messrs. .Hopkins and Underwood, of Kentucky, 
 White, of Indiana, Storer, of Ohio, Hogan, of Illi 
 nois, Judge Gayle, of Alabama, and others. There 
 was a grand barbecue for the delegates and other 
 strangers provided by the farmers of Davidson 
 county. 
 
 On the second day Hon. J. J. Crittenden, of Ken 
 tucky, Bailie Peyton, of Tennessee, and many other 
 eloquent speakers from various States addressed the 
 convention. Throughout the entire two days the great 
 attendance of ladies and gentlemen seemed unbroken. 
 They were loath to leave the place. 
 
270 Reminiscences of the 
 
 CLAY AT NASHVILLE. 
 
 SPEECH OF HENRY CLAY AT NASHVILLE, TENNES 
 SEE, AUG. 17, 1840. 
 
 Mr. President, delegates of the convention, ladies, 
 friends and fellow-citizens: 
 
 Our humble and profound thanks are due to the 
 goodness of Providence for the bright, glorious and 
 genial sun that now shines upon us. The firmament 
 above is not unlike the surface ofour country. Clouds 
 are flitting over it, but the sun of truth is struggling to 
 burst through them and dissipate the darkness which 
 hangs over us. Before the month of November shall 
 be numbered with the past, all the dark spots which 
 now obscure our political sky shall disappear forever. 
 [An old soldier on the stand here cried, amen!] 
 
 I congratulate you, friends and fellow-citizens, on 
 the glorious prospect which the cause of our country 
 presents, more glorious and more estimable because the 
 movements throughout the land are the movements of 
 the people enlisted in support of the Constitution and 
 devoted to constitutional liberty. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, may I not, without incurring the 
 imputation of egotism, advert to some of the circum 
 stances under which I appear before you? [Cries of 
 yes, yes, yes.] 
 
 During a long and arduous struggle in political life 
 for fifteen or twenty years, I would wrong myself if I 
 did not confess that there were moments of discour 
 agement; that there were periods in which my heart 
 sank within me; but armed by the consciousness of 
 the rectitude which governed my thoughts and actions, 
 knowing my devotion to constitutional liberty, a de 
 votion exceeded by that of no man living or dead, and 
 believing the principles which I had always avowed 
 and acted up to were founded on the rock of truth, I 
 bore up amidst the difficulties that surrounded me, I 
 stood dauntless and erect. [Shouts of applause.] 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 271 
 
 Had I come here some years ago, I should have 
 deemed it a duty to disabuse your minds of the calum 
 nies of which I was so unremittingly the object; but 
 that necessity has passed away. In 1825 it was con 
 sidered as a crime in me that I did not vote for your 
 favorite fellow-citizen for the high office to which he 
 aspired. If it was a crime I but obeyed the instruc 
 tions of my own constituents, and was I not justified 
 in obeying them ? [Cries of yes, yes.] It is true, I 
 was accused of violating the instructions of the Ken 
 tucky legislature, but I deny the right of that body to 
 instruct me. I represented the counties of Fayette, 
 Jessamine and Woodford. They approved of my con 
 duct in that matter, and in this approval do I justfy my 
 self as the responsible agent of the people. [Shouts of 
 applause.] 
 
 Of the motives which actuated me in voting as I did 
 I shall not descend here to make any defense. They 
 are known only to myself and to that God by whose 
 justice, tempered by his mercy, I am willing to be 
 tried. 
 
 Amidst all my trials, I have never doubted for a mo 
 ment, that a generous and a just people would approve 
 my course in this matter, if not during life, at least after 
 death. I have never doubted for a moment that just 
 and generous Tennesseeans would be the first to do me 
 honor for that vote. But I am precluded from refer 
 ring to myself, even had I a wish to do so. Last Sat 
 urday s procession, the roar of the cannon as I ap - 
 preached your city, the ringing of the bells, the glad 
 dened shout of freemen saluting me on every side, and 
 last though not least, the bright eyes of the ladies of 
 Nashville, speaking me welcome, and their fair hands 
 waving their handkerchiefs in token of their feelings, 
 are sure proof that the verdict has been rendered. 
 [Three cheers.] And yet, I made this visit with some 
 reluctance, I am free to confess. I had, I thought, re 
 sisted all the influence that could be brought to bear 
 upon me to make me leave my home, but there was an 
 influence to which I could not be insensible and to 
 which I yielded with more than ordinary pleasure that 
 
272 Reminiscences of the 
 
 was the influence of the ladies of Nashville. [Cheer 
 ing long and loud.] I said that I had made this visit 
 with some reluctance, a reluctance that grew out of the 
 relations which I bore to the illustrious captain, your 
 neighbor and your friend. I feared lest the idea might 
 be entertained that I came to this city in the spirit of 
 exultation and defiance to him you were wont to honor. 
 If any man thinks that such is my feeling he does me 
 great injustice. In all the various conditions in life I 
 have been governed, not by the principle of retaliation, 
 but by that of "what it is proper for one s-self to do." 
 Toward the illustrious individual in question, I feel no 
 resentment, no passion, and if he could see the bottom 
 of my heart, he would bear me this testimony. [Loud 
 cheering.] His signal military services to this country 
 deserve the gratitude of all men, and my prayer to 
 heaven is that his last days may be those of. peace and 
 tranquillity, and that when he leaves us forever, his 
 home may be that bright and happy one promised by 
 the Son of the Everlasting Father to him who shall 
 perform His will while on earth. [Great sensation 
 among his auditory.] 
 
 In addressing the primary assemblies of the people 
 so frequently as I have had occasion to do, I find, my 
 fellow-citizens, a great difficulty in the selection of 
 topics which have not been worn threadbare. In this 
 embarrassing position shall I speak to you of the 
 troubles without example, of ruined commerce, of par 
 alyzed industry, of the rapid accession of authority to 
 the executive, of the dangers which threaten our in 
 stitutions, of the wonderful expenditures of the Gov 
 ernment for the last few years! Since my arrival here 
 this paper has been put in my hands. I never saw it 
 till now. It is a chart of the expenditures and squander 
 ings of the public money. This little altitude of the 
 expenditures under the administration of Washington 
 is scarcely equal to the base of the column whose 
 height marks the extreme of the expenditure under 
 the administration of Mr. Van Buren. This humble 
 spot overshadowed by the surrounding shafts which 
 tower so loftily, exhibits the expenditures of John 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 273 
 
 Qiiincy Adams administration, which were so much 
 denounced at the time, and which called out in a 
 remarkable degree, the energy of the nation to correct 
 the seeming evil. But here are the figures. The eight 
 years of Washington s administration cost the nation 
 $15,000,000; while Mr. Adams the younger was in 
 power it cost us $50,000,000; in General Jackson s time 
 there were expended $145,000,000; and in the first three 
 years of Mr. Van Buren s administration the people s 
 money has been poured out to the sum of $i 1 1,500,000 
 dollars. [A voice in the crowd, "Take him from the 
 throne."] The cheap government, therefore, promised 
 by the present incumbent, has cost the nation, for three 
 years, within one third as much as the eight years ot 
 Gen. Jackson s administration ! The average daily ex 
 penditure of the Government under Washington was 
 $7,000 a day, that under Madison during a perilous 
 war $49,000, under Adams $37,000, while under Mr. 
 Van Buren it amounts to the enormous sum of $i 10, 
 ooo per diem ! 
 
 But passing this subject, there are two points on 
 which I would speak, especially, to that portion of the 
 audience composed of my old Democratic friends. 
 
 The dominant party p; ofess to be the friends of State 
 rights. How are they the friends of State rights? 
 WithoMt going far back for examples of their professed 
 friendship to the States, every year has of late furnished 
 just topics of complaint against those in power. The 
 last session of Congress is peculiarly rich in instances 
 of pretended friendship to the rights of the States from 
 these men. You have already heard of the measure 
 which has too little excited the just animadversion of 
 the people, introduced at the beginning of the session 
 by Senator Benton, and in which the extraordinary 
 proposition was made that the General Government 
 ought not to assume the payment of the debts contracted 
 by the States ! No mortal man in the Senate ever 
 dreamed of proposing such an assumption. That prop 
 osition was brought in by the Senator in the most un 
 provoked and wanton manner. The General Govern 
 ment ought not to assume the payment of these debts! 
 
 18 
 
274 Reminiscences of the 
 
 The very proposition carried ridicule on its face. There 
 was a bankrupt Government with a paper circulation, 
 busily engaged in denouncing that circulation and cry 
 ing out for specie, declaring that it ought not to pay 
 the State debts, and that too at a time when the State s 
 were ernbarrassed and trying to find out means to pay 
 the interest on their loans for works of internal improve 
 ment, works which General Jackson s administration 
 had promoted. The Government, in fact, proclaimed 
 to all Europe that these State debts were so bad that 
 it would be imprudent to meddle with them. Of the 
 report making this declaration there were 30,000 copies 
 printed, and all to prove the propriety of not doing 
 that which no one had ever proposed to do. 
 
 This report was prepared by a fellow-citizen of 
 yours. With him I have served a long time in public 
 life, and I had hoped to meet him on my arrival here, 
 but when I asked after Mr. Grundy,they told me he was 
 in Eastern Tennessee making speeches in support of 
 Mr. Van Buren. What! at his old vocation defend 
 ing criminals !" [Immense cheering and laughter.] 
 There is one difference, however, between his present 
 position and his accustomed practice. He is now de 
 fending State criminals before the grand inquest of the 
 country, and not before a packed jury, and my life on 
 it, he will hear such a verdict as he never heard before 
 in the tribunals of authority. [Shout of applause.] 
 
 But the party in power are friends of State rights! 
 are they? Does that odious, loathsome theme, the sub- 
 treasury project, prove it? You know the merits of 
 that measure I will not discuss it but I tell you. the 
 Presidential party stocked the cards twice upon us in 
 the Senate in the matter of this bill and once in the 
 House of Representatives. [Roars of laughter.] 
 Yes, they marked them before they dealt them. If 
 Senators had been faithful to the will of their constitu 
 ents and the Senate had been full, that bill never could 
 have passed. It was hastened through the Senate in 
 January last, despite of entreaties to wait till the 
 Chamber was full, to wait till the entry of the only 
 Senator from New York representing the constituency 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 275 
 
 of that State! But how was it carried in the lower 
 House? At the beginning of the session it was deter 
 mined to procure a majority to force it through. The 
 admission of the five New Jersey claimants to seats 
 on the floor of the House became necessary, and the 
 measure was resolved upon. Was there any love 
 of State rights displayed upon this occasion? The 
 rightful possessors of their places, the five Whig Rep 
 resentatives, appeared before the House with creden 
 tials of the highest known credit. No representa 
 tive either from Tennessee or Kentucky could appear 
 with higher claims, yet these five claimants were 
 rejected by the absence of one member, detained by 
 sickness. The subject was referred to a committee. 
 It would take a whole day to discuss the principles on 
 which that committee acted. If any Whig has looked 
 into the matter, he has doubtless found that alienage 
 has been no bar to the admission of administration 
 votes, while it was made to exclude Whig votes; that 
 minority does not disqualify an administration voter, 
 while it prevents a Whig from exercising the right of 
 suffrage. In truth there was no rule adopted by the 
 committee save that which went to secure to the five 
 administration claimants their seats. 
 
 These are not the only instances which prove the 
 insincerity of the professions made by the ruling 
 party in favor of State rights. There w T as an occasion 
 during the past session, on which they could have put 
 beyond doubt their devotion to State rights the pas 
 sage of the bankrupt bill. But while that measure 
 was before the Senate, they introduced into it a pro 
 vision to subject to its operation all the banks of the 
 States furnishing a paper circulation. The effect of 
 this proposition was to withdraw from the jurisdiction 
 of the States and consign to the General Government 
 the power over nine hundred State banks, over five 
 hundred millions of dollars of property, over several 
 of the great State works now in a state of prosecution 
 by means of charters or State credit. 
 
 I feel, fellow-citizens, that my strength will not 
 justify my going further into the description of the 
 
276 Reminiscences of the 
 
 professed friendship but real enmity to State rights on 
 the part of the Presi dentia-1 party ; so that with your 
 leave, I will hasten to another part of my subject. 
 
 The Executive party claims to be the exclusive Dem 
 ocrats of the country. All who do not belong to their 
 ranks are either Federalists or Tories. Of all their 
 usurpations there is none more flagrant than this usur 
 pation of the name of Democracy. Democracy, as I 
 understand it, and as I was taught it in the school of 
 98, is: respect of the people s representatives to the 
 people s wishes, the prosecution of measures which 
 secure the interests of the people, the promotion of a 
 nation s happiness and prosperity. Is this the Democ 
 racy of Mr. Van Buren ? Hear what he says. Read 
 it on your banners, "The people expect too much from 
 the Government. They must take care of themselves 
 and the Government must take care of itself." Is this 
 the dictate of Democracy, of the Democracy of the an 
 cient time ? No ! No ! Democracy demands the ac 
 quiescence of the representative in the will of the peo 
 ple, when that will is properly expressed, when that 
 will is known to be the deliberate resolve of the con 
 stituent. Not under the Czar, not under the Sultan, 
 are the people entirely without power. But in this 
 country, at the present moment, allegiance to the 
 powers that be is substituted for allegiance to the peo 
 ple. If a candidate for governorship of any of the 
 States be rejected by the people, he is sure of advance 
 ment at Washington. There is my old acquaintance, 
 the Senator from Tennessee, who was no sooner re 
 jected by the people than he went into the Cabinet of 
 Mr. Van Buren. Mr. Niles was defeated by a majority 
 of 4,500 votes, as a candidate for the governorship of 
 Connecticut. Did this defeat prevent his promotion? 
 No. It was a passport to office. In less than two 
 months thereafter he was advanced to the Cabinet of 
 the President. Bye the bye, the seat to which he was 
 lifted is the last in the gift of the Government to be 
 sought as a post of honor under the present adminis 
 tration, seeing that it had been occupied previously by 
 the greatest reptile that ever crept on the face of the 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 277 
 
 earth. It is seldom that I permit my lips to be pol 
 luted by the utterance of his name, or by reference to 
 him, but they who are from New England may easily 
 guess to whom I allude. [Shouts of applause.] 
 
 These instances show that power at Washington is 
 different from and superior and paramount to the will 
 of the people. It is not devoted to the country s happi 
 ness. Serious attention should, fellow citizens, be paid 
 to the basis of republicanism! Bad measures pass 
 away. A single false step in government, made unde- 
 signedly, may lead to no permanent mischief. War 
 itself is of transient duration. The calamities of disease 
 and pestilence which befall the human species, inflicting 
 extreme agony and pain, pass from the memory, and after 
 a lapse of time no traces are left of their ravages. But 
 there is one truth founded in human nature, verified by 
 the history of the past, strengthened by our own exper 
 ience as a people, and that truth is A REPUBLIC CAN 
 
 ONLY EXIST UPON THE FOUNDATION OF VIRTUE AND 
 
 GOOD MORALS. This great principle is eternal, is un 
 changeable. A corrupt people may have the forms of 
 a republic, but their government is dead to good works, 
 its vitality is gone. We need only go back to Rome, 
 to Greece, to republican France, for proof of this thing. 
 Nor can any power save us from the same fate, but the 
 ballot-box. That is the physician to heal us. We 
 have not only suffered from the sub-treasury policy, 
 the specie circular system, the destruction of the United 
 States bank, but far greater evils than these have be 
 fallen us. The attempt has been made to corrupt the 
 morals of the people, to corrupt the right of suffrage. 
 When before in private life have we ever witnessed 
 such a deplorable want of confidence? Go to desolate 
 Mississippi go wherever you please and you will find 
 that violation of solemn contracts characterizes every 
 part of our country. When before were sixty-three out 
 of sixty -seven receivers of public moneys defaulters? 
 There must be a cause for all this. The good old Jef- 
 fersonian interrogatories have not been put to those 
 seeking office. u ls he honest is he capable, is he 
 faithful to the Constitution" have not been asked, but 
 
378 Reminiscences of the 
 
 a new rule has been adopted. " Is he boisterous at the 
 polls is he devoted to my interest and party what 
 number of votes can he give?" These are the ques 
 tions now asked. It is this system which has disfigured 
 our country with a want of moral rectitude truly alarm 
 ing. 
 
 It was in the time of General Jackson s administra 
 tion that this policy was introduced into the Govern 
 ment. He appointed to the Department of State a man 
 who had been a defaulter for $100.000 I mean Ed 
 ward Livingston the ornament of the bar of this 
 country and a jurist for whose memory I have the 
 most profound respect. In this appointment the 
 President virtually and in effect proclaimed to the na 
 tion the fact that defalcation in the administration of 
 the public moneys constituted no barrier to office. 
 Perhaps the illustrious captain, then at the head of af 
 fairs, did not intend that such should be the construc 
 tion of his course of conduct, but every man who 
 knows the law of cause and effect must agree with 
 me that such an appointment tended to this result. 
 The elevation of Edward Livingston, the advance 
 ment to high office of Samuel Swartwout, a man 
 known to the whole country as having been con 
 cerned with Aaron Burr in treasonable designs 
 against these United States, are evidences enough that 
 honor, fidelity, and trustworthiness were not the only 
 passports to Presidential favor, even in those days, but 
 that other qualifications were requisite, qualifications 
 which tended to sap the foundations of our institu 
 tions. When before have been given so many fraudu 
 lent votes ? When before have we seen men regard 
 less of their oaths multiplying their votes and receiv 
 ing bribes equally disgraceful to the recipient and to 
 the instigator, equally disgraceful to the times 1 in 
 which we live and the country in which .such scenes 
 are enacted. Take the case of Letcher. It is a re 
 proach to the parties concerned, and they should be 
 marked as false to the country and the Constitution. 
 Yet Hocker, the sheriff, received for his conduct in 
 that affair the best office in this country in the gift of 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 279 
 
 the Postmaster General. I have heard, though I do 
 not state it as a fact known to me, that this man after 
 wards ran away, a defaulter to the Government. 
 Thus, when vice is rewarded, when corruption re 
 ceives reward instead of reproof, the example cannot 
 fail to exert a pernicious influence on the country. 
 The case of New Jersey Representatives proves be 
 yond a doubt that the party in power would disfran 
 chise the Union itself, if they dared do it, to secure to 
 themselves power. 
 
 I shall now proceed to address myself particularly to 
 my Democratic friends, to those, as I have said before, 
 who have worked and toiled in the old Democratic 
 army. Not as an enemy do I approach them, but as 
 their friend and countryman. You are equally honest 
 with me in your preferences. You have the same stake 
 with me in the prosperity of the Union. You are 
 equally devoted with me to the happiness and glory of 
 our common country. I believe that the mass of all 
 political parties are patriotic, honest and devoted to the 
 good of the nation, but it is natural that we should differ 
 about measures and men, though that difference of 
 opinion does not make us enemies. You elevated to 
 power the last and present administrations, hoping 
 therefrom the most glorious results. Have your hopes 
 been fulfilled? Have their pledges been redeemed? 
 Have their promises been kept? Have the expecta 
 tions excited by them been realized? Take the pledge 
 of one term, has it been redeemed? When the illustri 
 ous captain of Tennessee was elected to the Presidency, 
 he held out the idea of one term; did he carry it out? 
 Has the promise of economy been kept? [No, no, no.] 
 That lofty column on this chart [showing the chart of 
 public expenditures] will answer. Has the promise of 
 retrenchment and reform been in any way fulfilled? 
 [Loud cries of no, no, no.] Did he redeem his pledges 
 not to appoint members of Congress to office? [No.] 
 What pledge has he redeemed, what promise fulfilled? 
 [None, none, none.] What has ensued? Has har 
 mony among the different parts of the Union been 
 promoted? Has concord increased? Have the fra- 
 
280 Reminiscences of the 
 
 ternal relations which ought to exist in these United 
 States been advanced? Let this convention answer 
 this convention, far exceeding in point of numbers, in 
 banners and in display of every kind, the great Balti 
 more convention. [Shout* of applause.] What has 
 brought you here, my fellow-citizens? A deep and 
 profound feeling that the country has been wronged, a 
 lively sense of injury to the people, a full persuasion 
 that an immediate change is necessary in the General 
 Government. Do not be deceived, fellow-citizens, by a 
 name. A blue light has been held out. Go below the 
 surface of things. Wipe off the colors which assail 
 your eye with their glare. Look at things as they are, 
 and tell me whether true Democracy prevails in the 
 land. [Loud and long shouts of no.J My friend on 
 my left has said that he was no Democrat [alluding to 
 Mr. Foster]. I am a Democrat! [Immense cheering]; 
 was born a Democrat, have lived and shall die a Dem 
 ocrat, in the true and genuine sense of the term; but I 
 am not one of those selfish Democrats whose practice 
 is to disregard the true interests of the people, to seize 
 upon their offices as the spoils of victory. No, I am a 
 Democrat who looks to the interests of the whole peo 
 ple, and to the glory of his country [cheers], and I have 
 no doubt that my friend near me is a Democrat in this 
 its legitimate sense. 
 
 Mr. Foster here rose and said that he was a Demo 
 crat too in this sense of the word, but that he was not 
 a modern Democrat. 
 
 Mr. Clay proceeded: 
 
 Delegates of the convention, friends and fellow- 
 citizens, a great victory is at hand, a glorious victory; 
 but you should remember that as much judgment is 
 requisite in the use of triumph as there is still required 
 to achieve it. The day is near when you shall be 
 called on to decide how you will use your victory. 
 Suffer me to say to you, let there be no unkindness in 
 your course to our Democratic friends who may be 
 supporting the party in power to the mass on the 
 ether side. Who are to be the victors and who the 
 Vanquished in the approaching contest ? Do we con- 
 
Political Campaign of IS 40. 281 
 
 quer aliens, who have come among us with blood on 
 their feet ? No. We fight but against our brothers. 
 They are all part and parcel of the crew of the great 
 State ship, all our brethren. Never forget in the flush 
 of victory this sacred relation. Let us unite with 
 them in one harmonious union. They as well as we 
 are interested in a proper administration of public af 
 fairs. But there are some classes of the opposite party 
 to whom the same indulgence ought not to be extended. 
 There are leaders of the party in power who cannot 
 be hung too high ! [Tremendous cheering.] Drive 
 these leaders back to their den of demagogism 
 whence they have emerged but to deceive you. Let 
 the frown of votir indignation visit them, and refuse 
 to them any longer the opportunity of imposing on 
 your confidence. They are not a numerous class. 
 They preach Democracy with the lips , but in heart 
 their hatred of the people is only equaled by their 
 tyrannical disposition. They deserve any condemnation 
 that a generous people may see proper to pronounce 
 upon them. 
 
 There is yet another class, which, in the administra 
 tion of State justice, should not be unnoticed. I mean 
 the boisterous office-holders, the Praetorian guard, I 
 was going to say, of Mr. Van Buren. [Laughter. ] 
 Only imagine such a monarch over such a people, such 
 a king over such subjects ! [Great laughter.] Mr. 
 Van Buren a ruler of these brave Tennesseeans with 
 their brawny arms as free as air ! [Cries of derision.] 
 
 I trust I may be excused in making an appeal to you, 
 Tennesseeans ? [Yes, yes.] In former days the mili 
 tary of Kentucky and Tennessee fought side by side and 
 won a great and glorious battle. Tr/at occasion and 
 this present one exhibit many strong points of resem 
 blance. When Jackson led our brave troops against 
 the myrmidons of Great Britain, a glorious victory was 
 achieved by that gallant captain, the x r ictory of New 
 Orleans. Of that victory I shall always speak as my 
 heart prompts, for it was one which shed the brightest 
 luster on our arms. But what is the contest now? 
 Not between the hirelings of a foreign king and Amer- 
 
282 Reminiscences of the 
 
 ican troops, but between a miserable being engaged in 
 stealing power by encroachments of the executive on 
 the Constitution between an American king supported 
 by his janissaries [Down with him] and the people 
 commanded by a gallant and noble captain [cheers, 
 three times three.] They say that this captain is a 
 coward, an old woman, a caged animal, and yet he 
 fought more battles than any other general during the 
 late war, and won them, too. [Cheering for several 
 seconds.] No general? General Jackson rolled back 
 from the shores of the Mexican gulf the wave of for 
 eign invasion, and for flogging the British troops alone 
 received the highest honors a nation could bestow, yet 
 they call General Harrison no general, in the face of 
 the fact that he conquered in many battles the com 
 bined forces of Great Britain and the American sav 
 ages! As a statesman, he has served in more civil em 
 ployments than any man living, from the lowest office 
 in the land to the highest, in the great wigwam of the 
 people, the Senate of the United States. [Applause. 
 Some one here cried out, " Give us some of Van Buren s 
 fights."] Ah! fellow-citizens, some of Mr. Van Buren s 
 battles! [Great laughter.] 
 
 My colleague ( Mr. Crittenden) has just reminded 
 me of the heroism of the President. He, no hero ? 
 How ignorant you are of the history of your country, 
 says my colleague. He is the hero of three memorable 
 wars. There is his war against the commerce of the 
 country. He has triumphed, and the enemy lies at 
 his feet. [Applause]. There is his war against the 
 currency. In this too he has proved the conqueror, 
 and his opponent is destroyed. [Applause.] There 
 is his last war, though not least, his campaign against 
 the Seminoles, in* which he was aided by his allies and 
 auxiliaries from Cuba. [Great applause.] I am sorry 
 to say in this instance that the Seminoles have main 
 tained their ground. [Laughter.] But to return to 
 our captain. There is one qualification for public of 
 fice, fellow-citizens, which our candidate does not 
 possess, and for this reason he is condemned by the 
 office-holders he has no capacity for pocketing the 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 283 
 
 people s money and running away with it. [Cheer 
 ing.] He has handled millions of the public treasure, 
 and not a cent ever polluted his hands. Where is now 
 this honest public officer? He is poor and derided by 
 those who have rioted on the speculations of the peo 
 ple s money. 
 
 Fellow-citizens of Tennessee, I have said that the 
 present struggle for liberty is not unlike that of 1812. 
 Then it was a fight for liberty on the high seas now it 
 is a contest for freedom on trie land. At New Orleans, 
 you Tennesseeans had the advantage of us Kentuckians 
 a little, and that was on the right bank of the river, 
 where, being badly posted and badly armed, we did 
 not fully sustain the character of our State. It is true, 
 we fought with vou, side by side, on the left bank, and 
 there you found us ever at cur post. But do you intend 
 to repose on your laurels gained in that battle ? Do 
 you intend to let us beat you in November? [One 
 general shout, No, no.] Is it possible that brave, 
 gallant Tennessee, Tennessee devoted to constitutional 
 rights, will not be found abreast with Kentucky, 17,000 
 strong? You must be up and doing, for in November 
 our majority will reach 25,000. [Applause.] 
 
 A few words more and I have done. Our success 
 in this contest I have never doubted. In a spirit of 
 unbounded liberality, I gave, some time since, to Mr. 
 Van Buren, six out of the twenty-six States, but I 
 have had occasion to review that estimate, and the 
 result at which I have arrived is, that if the Whigs do 
 their duty, if they fight to conquer and save the coun 
 try, the President will not even get these six. Ala 
 bama I assigned to him, but she scorns such an 
 association. [Shouts of applause. ] Even of Missouri 
 I do not despair. Her gallant sons are in the field, 
 and if the} conquer, it will be indeed a victory. 
 Arkansas, too, if I know her, she will not abandon 
 the heath till the fight is over. She will do her duty. 
 South Carolina! [Here Mr. Clay bowed his head in 
 silence: great laughter.] I look back upon the gallant 
 stand she made in the Revolutionary struggle, with 
 feelings of the warmest admiration for her chivalry, 
 
284 Reminiscences of the 
 
 and it is with pain that I pass her by in this glorious 
 contest, but while I do so, it is with profound detesta 
 tion for her present leaders. She will probably throw 
 a blank vote or go with Isaac Hill s State. As for 
 Maine, whom I had put down for Mr. Van Buren, she 
 too is coming if not in November, she will soon after 
 be admitted into the great Whig family. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, the cause in which we are engaged 
 is the cause of the people. The people are moving to 
 victory, and treading upon the heels of the leaders in 
 power. We cannot fail. It is a contest between the 
 log cabin and the palace, between hard cider and 
 champagne, and the issue will be that the office-hold 
 ers will take to their heels with more rapidity than the 
 popping of the corks from the necks of their favorite 
 bottles. 
 
 In repeating to you my acknowledgments for the 
 kindness with which I have been received by my fel 
 low-citizens of Tennessee, and more especially by the 
 ladies of Nashville, I pray that the talismanic influ 
 ence of their power, which alone brought me here, 
 will contribute to rescue the country from the dangers 
 which now threaten it, and help to preserve and trans 
 mit to posterity the liberty won for us by our fore 
 fathers. [Nine cheers]. 
 
 THE PEOPLE AROUSED. 
 
 SOME OF THE HARRISON RALLIES IN GEORGIA, 
 VIRGINIA, PENNSYLVANIA, MARYLAND, OHIO, 
 VERMONT, NEW YORK, KENTUCKY AND LOUIS 
 IANA. 
 
 The Georgia convention was the grandest affair ever 
 known in the State. Twelve thousand eight hundred 
 and forty-eight delegates reported themselves at Macon 
 on the i^th of August, besides several thousands 
 of Whig and administration men were there. Every 
 county in Georgia was represented, and several in 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 285 
 
 Alabama. The convention organized by calling John 
 McPherson Berrila to the chair, and all the Revolution 
 ary patriots present, nine in number, were by motion 
 made vice-presidents, and five secretaries were ap 
 pointed. Hon. William C. Preston, of South Carolina, 
 delivered an indescribably eloquent and convincing 
 address. After his speech, the people, in procession, 
 proceeded through the principal streets to the barbecue 
 prepared in the immense cotton sheds. The tables 
 were filled many times and it seemed as though half of 
 Georgia was being fed. 
 
 The Whigs of Wheeling, Virginia, on the loth of 
 August erected a Harrison pole 230 feet high, and 
 threw an American flag to the breeze from its top. 
 
 At Washington, Pennsylvania, over six thousand 
 people with great enthusiasm held a grand Tippecanoe 
 rally on the 28th of August. 
 
 There was a grand gathering of the friends of Har 
 rison at Middletown, Frederick county, Maryland, 
 on the i4th of August, whereat thousands of people 
 partook of an old-fashioned barbecue*. 
 
 A large meeting at Warner s factory, in Cockey s 
 district, Baltimore county, Maryland, on October 10, 
 was addressed by S. H. Taggart, J. N. Steele and 
 others. 
 
 Tom Corwin, the wagon boy, began his canvass of 
 Ohio at Chillicothe on the I5th of August, and spoke 
 every other day till election to rousing crowds in 
 various counties of Ohio. 
 
 On the i4th of August, 15,000* of the Whigs of 
 Vermont assembled at Bennington and were addressed 
 by a Whig of the Revolution, General Wilson, of New 
 York ; Senator Tallmadge and Colonel Stone, of New 
 York, and others. 
 
 John W. Baer, the Buckeye blacksmith, on the I5th 
 of August, addressed the Whigs of the Ninth Ward of 
 New York, at the Whig rendezvous, and on the lyth 
 spoke at the central log cabin, on Broadway "The 
 star that never set shines with redoubled lustre and 
 brightness." 
 
 The Whig Harvest Home in Walton, Delaware 
 
286 Reminiscences of the 
 
 county, on the 22d, was attended by over three thou 
 sand people. The "old Delaware chief," General 
 Post introduced Hon. G. P. Tallmadge, who spoke 
 one of his clear and forcible speeches for more than 
 two hours. Hon. Geo. W. Bruen and Hon. Aaron 
 Clark, the late mayor of New York, followed. 
 
 The Whigs .of Louisville, Ky., had a grand revival 
 on the 9th of August, the services being led bv Messrs. 
 Clay and Crittenden. The Louisville Journal says: 
 Mr. Clay arose amid the hurrahs of the assembled 
 thousands and exhorted them to the further discharge 
 of their duty in a strain of eloquence that made the 
 blood of every person present rush in a warmer and 
 quickened current through their veins, etc. Mr. Crit 
 tenden came forth and spoke about half an hour in 
 that style of chaste, felicitous and powerful eloquence 
 for which he is so distinguished throughout the 
 nation. 
 
 The Whigs of Louisiana had a large meeting at 
 New Orleans on the 3d, which was addressed by 
 Prentiss, of Mississippi; Gen. G. Edward Sparrow, 
 Barrow, White and others. 
 
 The New York State convention at Utica on the 
 roth was addressed by General Van Rensselaer Stan 
 ley, of North Carolina; Alfred Kelley, of Ohio; H. 
 Ketcham, of New York ; Fletcher Webster, of 
 Illinois; South and others. James Burt and Peter B. 
 Porter were chosen senatorial electors, and J. P. 
 Phenix, B. Davis Noxon, Philo Orton and twenty-nine 
 others, district electors. It was a huge meeting. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 287 
 
 HARRISON S TASTE FOR HARD CI 
 DER. 
 
 [From the Pittsburgh Intelligencer.] 
 
 It appears that General Harrison s taste for "hard 
 cider" has not been imbibed since his residence in Ohio, 
 but originated in the family of his ancestors, who have 
 been famous for the excellent cider which they manu 
 factured. Some years ago John Randolph and Dr. 
 Parrish. of Philadelphia, were in conversation about 
 the relative amount of good things of this life which 
 were produced in the different States of the Union. Mr. 
 Randolph took the ground that his own State, Virginia, 
 produced more than any other. After enumerating a 
 good many excellent things for which Virginia was fa 
 mous, he was interrupted by Dr. Parrish, who said, 
 "Surely, Mr. Randolph, you will admit that you have 
 never seen any cider in Virginia equal to the Jersey 
 cider which you have just been drinking." " I beg 
 your pardon," replied Mr. Randolph, " I have drank ci 
 der at Berkeley, which was superior to any Jersey cider 
 I ever drank, and will procure some for you in order 
 that you may judge for yourself." Dr. Parrish accepted 
 the offer, and Mr. Randolph addressed the following 
 letter to Mr. Harrison, of Berkeley: 
 
 DEAR SIR: I take the liberty to remind you of a prom 
 ise which you were so good as to make me, to send a 
 few bottles (half a dozen) of your fine cider to my friend 
 " David Parrish, Esq., York buildings, Philadelphia." 
 Left with Messrs. Tompkins & Murray, Richmond, 
 and addressed to the care of Thomas P. Cope, Phila 
 delphia, it* will ( the dangers of the seas excepted ) go safe. 
 I am, sir, yours with great respect, 
 
 BENJAMIN HARRISON, Esq., Berkeley, Charles City. 
 March 22, 1816. J. R. 
 
288 Reminiscences of the 
 
 HARRISON AT DAYTON. 
 
 GENERAL HARRISON S SPEECH AT DAYTON, OHIO, 
 SEPT. 10, 1840. 
 
 One hundred thousand people had answered the call 
 of the log-cabin boys of the Miami Valley, and the as 
 semblage was one of the most magnificent ever held in 
 America. 
 
 The convention was organized by calling to the chair 
 "Old Stone Hammer," Ex-Governor Metcalf, of Ken 
 tucky, and appointing nineteen vice-presidents, among 
 whom were Preston W .Faner, of Louisiana; Major A. 
 Miller, of Mississippi; Governor Bigger, of Indiana; 
 Ex-Governor Vance, of Ohio, and others, and W. 
 Snethen, of Louisiana, secretary. 
 
 After a brief and happy address, welcoming the Old 
 Chief to Dayton, from Judge Crane, General Harrison 
 rose, and in a clear, sonorous voice that was heard by 
 every man of the immense multitude before him, ad 
 dressed the convention for nearly two hours. The ap 
 pearance of the old hero was hailed by the mighty 
 shouts of thousands for several minutes. He was in 
 excellent health and spoke with a fervor and animation 
 belonging rather to youth than to age. The fire of his 
 eye was undimmed by time, nor had the strength of his 
 manly intellect suffered in the least. The people were 
 impressed with the belief that he would go into the 
 Presidential chair a veteran in wisdom and experience, 
 and grasp the helm of state with a steady hand and 
 firm resolution, ready to administer the people s gov 
 ernment after the people s will. 
 
 The following verbatim report of his speech was 
 made by W. Snethen, Esq., secretary of the conven 
 tion: 
 
 I rise, fellow-citizens [the multitude was here agi 
 tated as the sea when the wild wind blows upon it, 
 and it was full five minutes before the tumult of joy at 
 seeing and hearing the next President of the United 
 States could be calmed] I rise, fellow-citizens, to ex- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 289 
 
 press to you from the bottom of a grateful heart my 
 warmest thanks for the kind and flattering manner in 
 which I have been received by the representatives of 
 the valley of Miami. I rise to say to you that how 
 ever magnificent my reception has been on this oc 
 casion, I am not so vain as to presume that it was in 
 tended for me, that this glorious triumphal entry was 
 designed for one individual. No, I know too well that 
 person s imperfections to believe that this vast assem 
 blage has come up here to do him honor. It is the 
 glorious cause of Democratic rights that brought them 
 here. [Immense cheering.] It is the proud anniver 
 sary of one of the brightest victories that glows on the 
 pages of our country s history, which hath summoned 
 this multitude together. [Tremendous cheering.] 
 
 Fellow-citizens, it was about this time of the day, 
 27 years ago, this very hour, this very minute, that 
 your speaker, as commander-in-chief of the North 
 western army, was plunged into an agony of feeling 
 when the cannonading from our gallant fleet announced 
 an action with the enemy. His hopes, his fears, were 
 destined to be soon quieted, for the tiding of victory- 
 were brought to him on the wings of the wind. With 
 the eagle of triumph perching upon our banners on the 
 lake, I moved on to complete the overthrow of the for 
 eign foe. The anniversary of that day can never be 
 forgotten, for every American has cause to rejoice at 
 the triumph of our arms on that momentous occasion; 
 but the brave and gallant hero of that victory is gone, 
 gone to that home whither we are all hurrying, and to 
 his memory let us do that reverence due to the deeds 
 of so illustrious a patriot. From Heaven does his 
 soul look down upon us and gladden at the virtues 
 which still animate his generous countrymen recur 
 ring to his noble and glorious career while on earth. 
 [Great sensation for several seconds.] 
 
 I am fully aware, my fellow-citizens, that you ex 
 pect from me some opinion upon the various questions 
 which now agitate our country, from center to circum 
 ference, with such fierce contention. Calumny, ever 
 seeking to destroy all that is good in this world, hath 
 
 19 
 
290 Reminiscences of the 
 
 proclaimed that I am averse to declaring my opin 
 ions on matters so interesting to you; but nothing can 
 be more false. [Cheers.] 
 
 Have I not declared over and often, that the Presi 
 dent of this Union does not constitute any part or por 
 tion of the legislative body ? [Cries from every quar 
 ter, You have, you have.] Have I not said over and 
 often, that the executive should not by any act of his 
 forestall the action of the National Legislature? [You 
 have, you have.] 
 
 Have I not time out of mind proclaimed my opposi 
 tion to a citizen s going forward among the people 
 and soliciting votes for the Presidency? Have I not 
 many a time and often said, that in my opinion no man 
 ought to aspire to the Presidency of the United States 
 unless he is designated as a candidate for that high of 
 fice by the unbought wishes of the people? [Cheering.] 
 If the candidate for so high an office be designated by 
 the will of a portion or majority of the people, they 
 will have come to the determination of sustaining such 
 a man, from a review of his past actions and life, and 
 they will not exact pledges from him of what he will 
 do or what he will not do, for their selection of him is 
 proof enough that he will carry out the doctrines of his 
 party. This plan of choosing a candidate for the Pres 
 idency is a much surer bar against corruption than the 
 system of requiring promises. If the pledging plan is 
 pursued the effect will be to offer the Presidential 
 chair to the man who will make the most promises. 
 [Laughter.] He who would pledge most, he who 
 would promise most, would be the man to be voted for; 
 and I have no hesitation in declaring my belief that he 
 who would subject his course to be thus tied up by 
 promises and pledges would not stop to break them 
 when once in office. [Cheering.] Are my views on 
 this topic correct or are they not? [With one voice 
 the multitude indicted they were.] 
 
 If, fellow-citizens, we examine the history of all 
 republics, we shall find as they receded from the purity 
 of representative government, the condition of obtain 
 ing office was the making promises. He who bid the 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 291 
 
 highest in promises was the favored candidate, and the 
 higher the bids, the more marked and certain the cor 
 ruption. Look at the progress of this thing in our own 
 Republic. Were any pledges required of your Wash 
 ington or your Adams? Adams was the candidate of 
 the Federal party, and as a statesman was bound to 
 carry out the principles of his party. Was his successor, 
 Thomas Jefferson, the high priest of Constitutional 
 Democracy, called on for pledges? No. His whole 
 life was a pledge of what he would do. And if we 
 go back to this old system of selecting men for the 
 Presidency whose past career shall be a guarantee of 
 their conduct when elected to the Chief Magistracy of 
 the Republic, the nation would advance safely, rapidly 
 and surely in the path of prosperity. But of late years 
 the corrupting system of requiring pledges hath been 
 adopted. The Presidency hath been put up to the 
 highest bidder in promises, and we see the result. It 
 remains for you, my fellow-citizens, to arrest this 
 course of things. [Cries of "We will, we will."] 
 
 While, then, fellow-citizens, I have never hesitated 
 to declare my opinions on proper occasions upon the 
 great questions before the nation, I cannot consent to 
 make mere promises the condition of obtaining the 
 office which you kindly wish to bestow upon me. My 
 opinions I am free to express, but you already have 
 them, sustained and supported bv the acts of a long 
 and arduous life. That life is a pledge of my future 
 course, if I am elevated by your suffrages to the high 
 est office in your gift. [Immense cheering for several 
 seconds.] 
 
 It has been charged against me, fellow-citizens, that 
 I am a Federalist. While I acknowledge that the origi 
 nal Federal party of this country was actuated in its 
 course by no improper motives, I deny that I ever be 
 longed to that class of politicians. [Tremendous cheer 
 ing.] How could I belong to that party? I was edu 
 cated in the school of anti-Federalism, and though too 
 young to take an active part in the politics of the coun 
 try when, at the erection of the Constitution, the nation 
 was divided into two great parties, my honored father 
 
292 Reminiscences of the 
 
 had inducted me into the principles of Constitutional 
 Democracy, and my teachers were the Henrys and the 
 Mason s of that period. He who declared that the seeds 
 of monarchy were sown in the soil of the Constitution 
 was a leader in my school of politics. He, who said 
 that "if this Government be not a monarchy, it has an 
 awful squinting towards a monarchy," was my mentor. 
 [Immense applause. Some time elapsed before order 
 could be restored, at hearing these emphatic declara 
 tions of the general.] If I know my own feelings, if 
 I know my own judgment, I believe now as I did 
 then, with the patriarchs of the JefFersonian school, that 
 the seeds of monarchy were indeed sown in the fertile 
 soil of our Federal Constitution; and that though for 
 nearly fifty years they lay dormant, they at last sprouted 
 and shot forth into strong and thriving plants, bear 
 ing blossoms and producing ripe fruit. This Govern 
 ment is now a practical monarchy ! [Loud and long cheer 
 ing, indicating that the people felt the full force of his 
 declaration.] Power is power, it matters not by what 
 name it is called. The head of the Government exer 
 cising monarchical power may be named king, em 
 peror, president, or Imaum [great laughter], still he is 
 a monarch. But this is not all. The President of these 
 United States exercises a power superior to that vested 
 in the hands of nearly all the European kings. It is a 
 power far greater than that ever dreamed of by the 
 old Federal party. 
 
 It is an ultra Federal power, it is despotism ! 
 [Cheering.] And I may here advert to an objection 
 that has been made against me. It has been said, that 
 if I ever should arrive at the dignified station occupied 
 by my opponent, I would be glad and eager to retain 
 the power enjoyed by the President of the United 
 States. Never, never. [Tremendous cheering.] 
 Though averse from pledges of every sort, I here 
 operily and before the world declare that I will use all 
 the power and influence vested in the office of Presi 
 dent of the Union to abridge the power and influence 
 of the National Executive ! [It is impossible to 
 describe the sensation produced by this declaration.] 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 293 
 
 Is this Federalism ? [Cries of no, no, for several 
 seconds.] In the Constitution, that glorious charter of 
 our liberties, there is a defect, and that defect is, the 
 term of service of the President was not limited. 
 This omission is the source of all the evil under which 
 the country is laboring. If the privilege of being 
 President of the United States had been limited to 
 one term the incumbent would devote all his time to 
 the public interest, and there would be no cause to 
 misrule the country. I shall not animadvert on the 
 present administration, lest you may in that case con 
 ceive that I am aiming for the Presidency, to use it for 
 selfish purposes. I should be an interested witness if 
 I entered into the subject. But I pledge myself before 
 Heaven and earth, if elected President of these United 
 States, to lay down at the end of the term faithfully 
 that high trust at the feet of the people ! [Here the 
 multitude was so excited as to defy description.] 
 
 I go farther. I here declare before this vast assem 
 bly of the Miami Tribe [great laughter] that if I am 
 elected, no human being shall ever know upon whom 
 I would prefer to see the people s mantle fall; but I 
 shall surrender this glorious badge of their authority 
 into their own hands to bestow it as they please! 
 [Nine cheers.] Is this Federalism? [No, no, no.] 
 Again, in relation to the charge of being a Federalist, 
 I can refer to the doings previous to, and during the 
 late war. The Federal party took ground against that 
 war, and as a party there never existed a purer band 
 of patriots, for when the note of strife was sounded, 
 they rallied under the banner of their country. But 
 patriots as they were, I do know that I was not one of 
 them! [Cheering.] I was denounced in unmeasured 
 terms as one of the authors of that war, and was held 
 up by the Federal papers of the day as the marked 
 object of the party. I could here name the man who 
 came to me, and a more worthy man never lived, to 
 say that he was mistaken in his views of my policy as 
 governor of Indiana, when I was charged by the Fed 
 eralists as uselessly involving the country in an Indian 
 war. He told me that I acted rightly in that matter, 
 
294 Reminiscences of the 
 
 and that the war was brought on by me as a matter of 
 necessity. [Cries of name him, name him. j It was 
 Mr. Gaston, of North Carolina. [Three cheers.] Is 
 this a proof that 1 was a Federalist? [No, no, no.] 
 
 I have now got rid, my fellow-citizens, of this base 
 less charge no, I have not. There are a few more 
 allegations to notice. I am not a professional speaker, 
 not a studied orator, but I am an old soldier and a 
 farmer, and as my sole object is to speak what I think, 
 you will excuse rne if I do it in my own way. [Shouts 
 of applause, and cries of " the old soldier and farmer 
 for us."] 
 
 I have said that there were other allegations to no 
 tice. To prove that I was a Federalist, they assert that 
 I supported the alien and sedition laws, and in doing 
 so, violated the principles and express words of the 
 Constitution. I did not, fellow-citizens, ever partici 
 pate in this measure. When those laws passed, I was 
 a soldier in the Army of the United States! [Applause.] 
 
 Again, they censure me for my course in Congress, 
 when I served you in that body as a Representative of 
 the Northwest Territory. And here I will advert to 
 the fact that I represented, at the time, a territory com 
 prising now the States of Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and 
 Michigan. I was the sole representative of that im 
 mense extent of country. [A voice here cried, "And 
 you are going to be again!" Tremendous cheering.] 
 As I understand Federalism to be in its origin, so I un- 
 stand it to be now. It was and is the accumulation of 
 power in the executive to be used and exercised for 
 its own benefit Was my conduct in Congress then 
 such as to entitle me to the appellation of Federalist? 
 [Cries of no, no, and cheering.] 
 
 I had the honor, as chairman of a committee in the 
 year 1800, to devise a bill which had for its object to 
 snatch from the grasp of speculators all this glorious 
 country which now teems with rich harvests under 
 the hands of the honest, industrious and virtuous hus 
 bandmen. [Immense cheering.] Was I a Federalist 
 then? [Cries of no, no, no.] When I was governor 
 of Indiana, ask how the unlimited power bestowed 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 295 
 
 upon me was exercised a power as high as that ex 
 ercised by the present President of the United States ! 
 I was the sole monarch of the Northwest Territory ! 
 [Laughter.] Did I discharge my duties as governor 
 of that vast territory in such a way as to show that I 
 was in love with the tremendous powers invested in 
 me ? [Here some 4,000 persons in one quarter of the 
 crowd raised their hats in the air and rent it with shouts 
 of No, no, no. They were the delegation from Indiana. 
 This prompt response from so many persons produced 
 great sensation.] There is an essential difference be 
 tween the President of the United States and me. 
 When he was in the convention which remodeled the 
 Constitution of New York he was for investing the 
 governor with the appointment of the sheriffs. When 
 I was governor of Indiana, and possessed the power of 
 appointing all officers, I gave it up to the people ! 
 [Intense excitement and great cheering.] I never ap 
 pointed any officer whatever while governor of In- 
 d.ana, whether sheriff, coroner, judge, justice of the 
 peace, or ought else, without first consulting and ob 
 taining the wishes of the people. [Shouts of applause.] 
 Was this an evidence that I was a Federalist ? [No, 
 no, no.] 
 
 I think I have now shown you, fellow-citizens, con 
 clusively that my actions do not constitute me a Fed 
 eralist, and it is to them I proudly point as the shield 
 against which the arrows of my calumniators will fall 
 in vain. [Immense cheering.] 
 
 Methinks I hear a soft voice asking: Are you in favor 
 of paper money? I am. [Shouts of applause.] If 
 you would know why I am in favor of the credit sys 
 tem, I can only say it is because I am a Democrat. 
 [Immense cheering.] The two systems are the only 
 means under heaven by which a poor, industrious man 
 may become a rich man without bowing to colossal 
 wealth. [Cheers.] But with all this I am not a bank 
 man. Once in my life I was, and then they cheated 
 me out of every dollar I placed in their hands. [Shouts 
 of laughter.] And I shall never indulge in this way 
 again, for it is more than probable that I shall never 
 
296 Reminiscences cf the 
 
 again have money beyond the day s wants. But I am 
 in favor of a correct banking system, for the simple 
 reason that the share of the precious metals which, in 
 the course of trade, falls to our lot, is much less than 
 the circulating medium which our internal and external 
 commerce demands, to raise our prices to a level with 
 the prices of Europe, where the credit system does 
 prevail. There must he some plan to multiply the gold 
 and silver which our industry commands; and there is 
 no other way to do this but by a safe banking system. 
 [Great applause.] I do not pretend to say that a per 
 fect system of banking can be devised. There is nothing 
 in the offspring of the human mind that does not savor 
 of imperfection. No plan of government or finance 
 can be devised free from defect. After long delibera 
 tion I have no hopes that this country can ever go on 
 to prosper under a pure specie currencv. Such a cur 
 rency but makes the poor poorer, and the rich richer. 
 A properly devised banking system alone possesses 
 the capability of bringing the poor to a level with the 
 rich. [Tremendous cheering.] 
 
 I have peculiar notions of government. Perhaps I 
 may err. I am no statesman by profession, but as I 
 have already said, I am a half soldier and a half farmer, 
 and it may be, that if I am elected to the first office in 
 your gift, my fellow-citizens will be deceived in me; 
 but I can assure them, that if in carrying out their 
 wishes, the head shall err, the heart is true. [Great 
 huzzaing.] 
 
 My opinion of the power of Congress to charter a 
 national bank remains unchanged. There is not in 
 the Constitution any express grant of power for such 
 purpose, and it could never be Constitutional to exer 
 cise that power, save in the event the powers granted 
 to Congress could not be carried into effect, without 
 resorting to such an institution. [Applause.] Mr. 
 Madison signed the law creating a national bank be 
 cause he thought that the revenue of the country could 
 not be collected or disbursed to the best advantage with 
 out the interposition of such an establishment. I said 
 in my letter to Sherrod Williams, that if it was plain 
 
Political Campaign of 1S40. 297 
 
 that if the revenues of the Union could only be col 
 lected and disbursed in the most effectual way by 
 means of a bank, and if I was clearly of opinion that 
 the majority of the people of the United States de 
 sired such an institution, then, and then only, would I 
 sign a bill going to charter a bank. [Shouts of ap 
 plause.] I have never regarded the office of Chief 
 Magistrate as conferring upon the incumbent the 
 power of mastery over the popular will, but as.grant- 
 ing him the power to execute the properly expressed 
 will of the people and not to resist it. With my 
 mother s milk did I suck in the. principles on which the 
 Declaration of Independence was founded. [Cheer 
 ing.] That declaration complained that the king 
 would not let the people make such laws as they 
 wished. Shall a president or an executive officer un 
 dertake, at this late time of day, to control the 
 people in the exercise of their supreme will ? No. 
 The people are the best guardians of their own rights 
 [applause], and it is the duty of their .executive to ab 
 stain from interfering in or thwarting the sacred ex 
 ercise of the law-making functions of their Govern 
 ment. 
 
 In this view of the matter, I defend my having 
 signed a well-known bill which passed the legislature 
 while I was governor of Indiana. It is true, my oppo 
 nents have attempted to cast odium upon me for hav 
 ing done so, but while they are engaged in such an 
 effort, they 7 impugn the honor and honesty of the 
 inmates of the log cabins, who demanded the passage 
 and signature of that bill. The men who now dare to 
 arraign the people of Indiana for having exercised 
 their rights as they pleased, were in their nurse s arms 
 when that bill passed the legislature. What do they 
 know of the pioneers of that vast wilderness ? I tell 
 them, that in the legislature which passed the bill 
 exciting so much their horror, there were men as pure 
 in heart and as distinguished for their common sense 
 and high integrity as any who set themselves up for 
 models in these days. [Immense cheering.] I glory 
 in carrying out their views, for in doing so, I submitted 
 
298 Reminiscences of the 
 
 to the law-making powers in accordance with the 
 Declaration of Independence; I did not prevent the 
 people from making what laws they pleased! [Cheer 
 ing-] 
 
 If the Augean stable is to be cleansed, it will be 
 necessary to go back to the principles of Jefferson. 
 [Cheers.] It has been said by the Henrys, the Madi- 
 sons, the Graysons, and others, that one of the great 
 dangers in our Government is, that the powers vested 
 in the General Government would overshadow the 
 government of the States. There is truth in this, and 
 long since and often have I expressed the opinion that 
 the interference of the General Government with the 
 elective franchise in the States would be the signal for 
 the downfall of liberty. That interference has taken 
 place, and while the mouths of professed Democrats 
 appeal to Jefferson, and declare they are governed by 
 his principles, they are urging at the same time 100,000 
 office-holders to meddle in the- State elections! And 
 if the rude hand, of power be not removed from the 
 elective franchise, there will soon be an end to the 
 Government of the Union. [Cries of assent.] It is a 
 truth in Government ethics, that when a larger power 
 comes in contact with a smaller power, the latter is 
 speedily destroyed or swallowed up by the former. So 
 in regard to the General Government and the State gov 
 ernments. Should I ever be placed in the Chief Mag 
 istrate s seat, I will carry out the principles of Jackson, 
 and never permit the interference of office-holders in 
 the elections. [Immense applause.] I will do no 
 more. While I will forbid their interference in elec 
 tions, I will never do aught to prevent their going 
 quietly to the polls and voting, even against me or my 
 measures. No American citizen should be deprived of 
 his power of voting as he pleases, 
 
 I have detained you, fellow-citizens, longer than I 
 intended, but you now see that I am not the old man 
 on crutches, nor the imbecile they say I am [cheer 
 ing] not the prev to disease [a voice cried here. Nor 
 the bear in a cage] nor the caged animal they wittily 
 described me to be [great laughter and cheering.] 
 
1 olitical Campaign of 1840. 299 
 
 But before I conclude, there are two or three other 
 topics I must touch upon. 
 
 The violence of party spirit, as of late exhibited, is a. 
 serious mischief to the political welfare of the country. 
 Partv feeling is necessary in a certain degree to the 
 health and stability of a republic, but when pushed to 
 too great an extent, it is detrimental to the body politic; 
 it is the rock upon which many a republic has been 
 dashed to pieces. An old farmer told me the other 
 day that he did not believe one of the stones circulated 
 against me, and he would support me if I were only a 
 Democrat. [Laughter.] But if I support and sustain 
 Democratic principles, what matters it how I m called? 
 It matters a good deal, said he; you don t belong to the 
 Democratic party! [Laughter.] Can anything be 
 more ruinous in its tendency to our institutions than 
 this high party spirit, which looks to the shadow and 
 not. to the substance of things? Nothing, nothing. 
 This running after names, after imaginings, is omnious 
 of dangerous results. In the blessed Book we are told 
 that the pretension of false Christs shall be in future 
 times so specious that even the elect will be deceived. 
 And is it not so now with Democracy? The name 
 does not constitute the Democrat. It is the 1 vilest im 
 posture ever attempted upon the credulity of the public 
 mind to array the poor of the country under the name 
 of Democrats, against the rich, and style them aristo 
 crats. This is dealing in fables. The natural antago 
 nist of Democracy is not aristocracy. It is monarchy. 
 There is no instance on record of a republic like ours 
 running into an aristocracy. It can hurry into a pure 
 Democracy, and the confidence of that Democracy be 
 ing once obtained by a Marius or a Caesar, by a Bolivar 
 or a Bonaparte,he strides rapidly from professions of love 
 for the people to usurpation of their rights, and steps 
 from that high eminence to a throne! [Cheering.] 
 And thus in the name of Democracy the boldest crimes 
 arc committed. Who forgets the square in Paris, 
 where ran rivers of the people s blood, shed in the name 
 of Democracy at the foot of the statue of liberty ! Cher 
 ish not the man, then, who under the guise and name of 
 
300 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Democracy, tries to overthrow the principles of Re 
 publicanism as professed and acted upon by Jefferson 
 and Madison. [Immense cheering.] 
 
 General Harrison here adverted to the calumnies put 
 forth against his military fame by that noble pair of 
 brothers, Allen and Duncan, and in severe but just 
 terms exposed the falsehoods of these vilifiers. He 
 proved thev were guiltv of falsifying the records of the 
 country, and in a brief and lucid manner vindicated 
 himself and the honor of the nation from the aspersions 
 of these and other reckless politicians. He showed that 
 the received history of his brilliant career in the North 
 west had been stamped by the -impress of truth, and he 
 will soon find that a generous and grateful people will 
 testify their admiration of his glorious services in their 
 cause by raising the brave old soldier to the highest of 
 fice in their gift. 
 
 A precious inheritance, continued the general, has 
 been handed down to you by your forefathers. In 
 Rome, the sacred fire of fabled gods was kept alive by 
 vestal virgins, and they watched over the gift with 
 eager eyes. In America, a glorious fire has been lighted 
 upon the altar of liberty, and to you, my fellow-citizens, 
 has it been intrusted in safe keeping to be nourished 
 with care and fostered forever. Keep it burning, and 
 let the sparks that continually go up from it fall on 
 other altars and light up in distant lands the fire of free 
 dom. TheTuik busies himself no longer with his harem 
 or his bow string. To licentiousness have succeeded 
 the rights of man, and constitutions are given to the 
 people by once despotic rulers. Whence the light that 
 now shines in that land of darkness? It was a brand 
 snatched from your own proud altar, and thrust into 
 the pyre of Turkish oppression. Shall then the far- 
 seen light upon the shrine of American liberty ever be 
 extinguished? [No, no, no.] It would not be your loss 
 only; it would be the loss of the whole world. The 
 enemies of freedom in Europe are watching you with 
 intense anxiety; and your friends, few as the planets of 
 heaven, are praying for your success. Deceive them 
 not, but keep the sacred fire burning steadily upon 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 301 
 
 your altars, and the Ohio farmer, whom you design to 
 make your Chief Magistrate, will, at the end of four 
 years, cheerfully lay down the authority which you may 
 intrust him with free from all ambition. It will be 
 glory enough for me to be honored as those pure and 
 honest Republicans, Washington, Jefferson and Madi 
 son, were honored with the high confidence of a great, 
 noble, just and generous people! [The excitement and 
 cheering continued for several minutes, and the multi 
 tude were swayed to and fro as the leaves of the forest 
 in a wind storm.] 
 
 While General Harrison was delivering this address 
 the mail arrived with a letter for a leading Whig in 
 the crowd, giving the particulars of the glorious victory 
 in Vermont. Old Tippecanoe paused in the midst of 
 his eloquence, and the letter was read in a loud tone 
 from one of the speakers stands. Mighty beyond de 
 scription was the shout that followed when one hundred 
 thousand voices mingled in one long and startling 
 thunder peal, as when the whirlwind rends the ash it 
 burst the years of the Loco Foco s and crushed their 
 hopes and bruised their hearts. 
 
 IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 THE BUNKER HILL CONVENTION AT BOSTON, THURS 
 DAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1840. 
 
 I arrived here yesterday morning at 8 o clock, and 
 found the city already full in anticipation of the great 
 Whig convention which is to take place on Bunker 
 Hill to-day. Although I had taken the precaution to 
 send for an. apartment at the Tremont House ten days 
 in advance I was not sufficiently early. Every hotel 
 and every boarding-house of which I could hear was 
 full, and, with thousands of others, I was thrown upon 
 the hospitality of the people, a hospitality always pro- 
 
302 Reminiscences of the 
 
 verbial, and certainly, on the present occasion, exercised 
 without stint. Even in the forenoon of yesterday the 
 city was so full of strangers, the streets of people from 
 abroad in motion, that the inhabitants were almost 
 puzzled to know whether they were themselves at 
 home or not. The mighty influx gathered strength 
 through the day, and what it will be at 10 o clock this 
 morning, I am utterly unable to form a conjecture. 
 
 The house of every Whig in the city, where there 
 was not sickness to prevent, was cheerfully thrown 
 open; every extra bed was taken, and nearly a thou 
 sand new beds were made by contracts, under the direc 
 tion of the committee, and before dark last evening all 
 were distributed in vacant rooms throughout the city 
 and made up for use; so that by n o clock last night, 
 as one of the committee, who has been charged spec 
 ially with this branch of the commissariat, informed me 
 on closing his day of arduous labor, it was believed that 
 every stranger who had reported himself to the central 
 committee at Fanueil Hall was comfortably housed. 
 
 The proceedings of the occasion were in fact com 
 menced yesterday, by various preliminary meetings. 
 The citizens of Roxbury took it upon themselves to 
 provide for the people gathering in from the adjacent 
 towns of the county of Suffolk; as did the inhabitants 
 of Charlestown for those from the country to which 
 it appertains. Large meetings were held in both places 
 yesterday afternoon. Who were the speakers at 
 Charlestown I have not learned. Those at Roxbury 
 were the Hon. Benjamin Watkins Leigh, of Virginia, 
 and the Hon. George Evans, of Maine. There were 
 several large meetings in different quarters of the city 
 last evening. The Marlborough Chapel was thronged 
 until ii o clock, to hear Reverdy Johnson, of Bal 
 timore, and a very able man from Ohio, whose name 
 I have not learned. At the log cabin, which is in the 
 Sixth ward, there was a large gathering in the street, 
 which was addressed by Colonel Kinsman, of Maine, 
 and Colonel Frank Johnson, of Kentucky, and by 
 your humble servant. 
 . Among the distinguished gentlemen from a distance, 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 303 
 
 who had arrived last evening, are Mr. Leigh, of Vir 
 ginia; Mr. Reverdy Johnson, of Baltimore; Governor 
 Penington, of New Jersey; Governor Ellsworth, of 
 Connecticut; Mr. Phelps, Senator in Congress from 
 Vermont; Mr. Huntington, Senator, and Mr. Williams, 
 Representative in Congress from Connecticut; Mr. 
 Evans, member of Congress from Maine; Mr. Chinn, 
 from Louisiana; Mr. Hoffman, member of Congress, 
 and Philip Hone, from New York, Mr. F. Johnson, 
 from Kentucky; Mr. Tillinghast, Senator Robbins, and 
 Mr. Whipple, Rhode Island; Mr. William King, from 
 Maine; General Kimberly, of New Haven, and many 
 others. Several members of Congress from Massa 
 chusetts are, or will be present, among whom are Gov 
 ernor Lincoln, Mr. Saltonstall, Caleb Cushing and 
 others. 
 
 The delegation from abroad will be very numerous. 
 It is believed that there will be ten thousand people 
 here from Essex county. Mr. Robbins assures me that 
 the delegation from Rhode Island will be fourteen 
 hundred. The delegations from New York, New 
 Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland have already ar 
 rived, but I have not yet had time to see them. 
 
 The proceedings of the day are to commence at 10 
 o clock, by the formation of the procession on the 
 mall. The executive committee with guests by 
 particular invitation, meet at the State House at nine 
 o clock. The line of march to Bunker Hill is about 
 five miles, and it will not probably reach the place be 
 fore 2 P. M. There is not to be any speaking there 
 save a few remarks by Mr. Webster, who is to preside, 
 introductory to a declaration from his pen, which will 
 be printed for the public by a printing press which is 
 to move in the procession. 
 
 There are to be five meetings at different places this 
 evening, viz: One at Faneuil Hall, over which Mr. 
 Webster is to preside; at the Odeon, where Franklin 
 Dexter is to preside; at the Marlborough Chapel, 
 where Mr. Winthrop will preside; at the City Hall, 
 under the direction of James T. Austin; and at the 
 Republican Whig Hall, under Stephen Fairbanks. 
 
304 Reminiscences of the 
 
 When all is over I will endeavor to give you as good 
 an account as I can, though from the scattering of the 
 meetings, the observations of any one spectator must 
 necessarily be very inadequate. 
 
 There was a great crowd on board the noble 
 steamer Massachusetts, from New York, on Tuesday 
 evening- five hundred at least. All were full of ardor 
 and enthusiasm, and such was the feeling that it could 
 only be expressed through a meeting and such speak 
 ing as was to be had on the occasion. 
 
 There is another great subject of attraction here in 
 Boston now the great fair for which the ladies have 
 been so long preparing, in order to raise funds for the 
 completion of the Bunker Hill Monument. The work 
 will be done. 
 
 HALF PAST THREE O CLOCK. 
 
 The great pageant of the day is over. Such a pa- 
 
 feant before I have never seen. Such a pageant again 
 never expect to see. The spectacle of the mighty 
 gathering upon the mall was animating beyond any 
 other movement of the people that I ever beheld. The 
 procession when formed, and the appearance of the 
 city along all the great streets through which it moved, 
 the thousand gay and streaming banners, the triumphal 
 arches, the decorations of public and private buildings, 
 the twice-ten-thousand ladies at their windows and 
 upon piazzas, balustrades and galleries, saluting the 
 immense procession with myriads of snow-white 
 handkerchiefs, and ten thousand children with their 
 gay little banners, all, all formed the most brilliant ex 
 hibition that can be imagined. And it must only be 
 pictured in the imagination, for it cannot be described. 
 It was a few minutes past one o clock before the 
 head of the procession reached the consecrated ground, 
 and a full hour elapsed before the whole of this mag 
 nificent procession came up. Indeed, it did not all 
 come upon the ground, for it could not. At 2 o clock 
 Mr. Webster took the chair, amid the loud acclama 
 tions of a greater assemblage of men than any of us had 
 ever gazed upon. His address on the occasion was 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 305 
 
 short and impressive, the hallowed cause which had 
 brought the mighty throng together, and the conse 
 crated spot on which he stood, gave solemnity to his 
 manner and inspiration to his thoughts. He spoke of 
 the declaration to which I referred as being in prep 
 aration in my first letter this morning; and, on con 
 cluding, he introduced Mr. Winthrop, speaker of the 
 House of Representatives, who read it. It was then 
 adopted by the unanimous shout of aye, which almost 
 shook the hill to its base; and no wonder, for the shout 
 was the united voice of severity-five thousand freemen, 
 and it sounded like what Byron calls " The earthquake 
 voice of victory." 
 
 After the adoption of the declaration, Mr. Webster 
 rose, and successively introduced to the multitudinous 
 assembly a number of the distinguished guests present 
 on the occasion, each of whom delivered a brief and 
 pertinent speech in response to the cheers with which 
 they were received. The first of them was Governor 
 Pennington, of New Jersey; the second, Governor 
 Ellsworth, of Connecticut; next, Mr. Senator Phelps, 
 of Vermont, was introduced; next General Kimberly, 
 late Senator from Connecticut, next was Benjamin 
 Watkins Leigh, of Virginia; next, George Kvans, of 
 Main. While the last was speaking I left the ground 
 for the purpose of preparing this brief dispatch, and 
 inclosing a copy of the noble declaration adopted as I 
 have already stated. 
 
 The morning opened upon us beautifully, and until 
 half-past three a finer day for the occasion could not 
 have been vouchsafed by Providence. About half- 
 past one o clock the clouds gathered blackness and 
 strength in the West, and one or two heavy showers 
 went round us to the North. At half-past three, how 
 ever, a gust of rain and wind suddenly broke over the 
 meeting, which caused a quick dispeision, though con 
 sidering the circumstances, and the masses collected, 
 the breaking up was not disorderly. While I am writ 
 ing it is clearing away, and the skies afford cheerful 
 promise for the evening. 
 
 20 
 
306 Reminiscences of the 
 
 THE PROCESSION. 
 
 The following was the order of the procession: 
 Cavalcade; music; chief marshals and aides; Whig 
 State central committee; soldiers of the Revolution, 
 and other invited guests; officers who served in the 
 last war; committee of reception and arrangement, for 
 Suffolk and Charlestown; delegates from States out of 
 New England, in the order of their adoption of the 
 Constitution and admission into the Union. Whigs 
 of New England, in the following order: Maine, 
 New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
 Massachusetts, by counties. 
 
 Among the banners were the following: 
 
 Ward i: Banner, The mechanic s arm, with a ham 
 mer in hand inscription over it, "In This Good Right 
 Arm We Place Our Trust." Underneath, "The First 
 Ward The Home of Paul Revere." On the reverse, 
 "The Laborer Is Worthy of his Hire" surrounding, 
 "Ward i." 
 
 Ward 5: An eagle with a scroll in its mouth, bear 
 ing the inscription, 
 
 "To save the ship of state from wreck, 
 We ll place a patriot on her deck." 
 
 Underneath is a vessel representing the ship of 
 state in distress and storm. Motto, " We Love Our 
 Liberties, we Venerate the Constitution; We Hold in 
 Grateful Remembrance its Founders; we will Honor 
 and Sustain Its Defenders." Reverse, A copy of 
 Stuart s Washington; motto, "The Rulers of a Repub 
 lic Elected to Serve the People, Not Tyrannize Over 
 Them." 
 
 Ward 6: A correct picture of the log cabin which 
 is the Whig headquarters of this ward, with the motto, 
 "Shall the People or the Office-holders Prevail?" 
 On the reverse, Ward 6 " Harrison and Tyler, the Men 
 of the People." 
 
 Ward 10: Steam engine. Over it, "The People s 
 Engine." Underneath. 1775 Our Whole Country 
 is our Track 1840." 
 
 East Boston: "The Log Cabin Which Sheltered Our 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 307 
 
 Fathers while Achieving Our Freedom, is Our Emblem 
 in Its Defense." Reverse. " We Come to Protect Our 
 Interests Commerce, Fisheries, Mechanic Arts, La 
 bor." A representation of the barracks that Washing 
 ton gave Williams, owner of East Boston. 
 
 Boston Harrison Club: The banner of the Harrison 
 Club represents Diogenes in search of an honest man. 
 He is represented as looking at a guide-board which 
 points in two directions, on one is inscribed the " W T hite 
 House," and the other, " North Bend." The old fellow, 
 of course, is about taking the North Bend road. On 
 one side is inscribed " Boston Harrison Club," and 
 " Diogenes in Search of an Honest Man." On the 
 other side is the motto from Pope, "An Honest Man s 
 the Noblest Work of God," and the painting repre 
 sents Diogenes giving " Old Tip" a hearty shake at the 
 door of a log cabin, and pouring the rays of his lamp 
 full upon his honest face. The inscription below is, 
 "Diogenes Successful in his Search." 
 
 Bristol county banner : A beautiful painting, rep 
 resenting the crew of a whale boat in the act of 
 harpooning a whale ship in the distance. Motto, 
 "Harrison and Tyler." Inscription, "Fortune Has 
 Buckled Honors on our Backs, which We Would Fain 
 Throw Off (referring to Governor Morton s residence 
 in that county.) On the reverse a painting repre 
 senting the different interests of the country, with the 
 inscription, " From Our Work Shops, Our Ships and 
 Our Farms, We Come to the Rescue." 
 
 Beverly : Upon one side a ship under full sail, but 
 apparently in great confusion, her top-gallant sheets 
 gone, and many of the crew leaving her in boats 
 Van Buren at the helm, and steering directly on the 
 rocks. In the foreground, Amos with his chin just 
 under water, hugging a life-buoy nearly sunk, labeled, 
 "Extra Globe," and crying "I "m Sick " On there- 
 verse, a ship in fine order, Harrison at the helm, and 
 going off with a flowing sheet. Motto " Beverly 
 Goes for Harrison and Davis. " 
 
 Dukes County : " No Duties at the Custom House 
 Full Duties at the Ballot Box. " 
 
308 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Taunton : " We Form to Reform." 
 
 Providence Tippecanoe Club : Arms of State, u In 
 God We Hope. " On the reverse, painting of Perry s 
 Victory on Lake Erie. " We have Met the Enemy 
 and They are Ours. " 
 
 Every county and every town in old Massachusetts, 
 was well represented on this occasion. Each town 
 had its banner and other emblems, generally inge 
 niously devised, and containing some local or political 
 allusion of an appropriate character. The Nantucket 
 and New Bedford delegations were accompanied oy 
 whale boats; elegantly built for the occasion, and 
 neatly trimmed, and manned by stout and stalwart, 
 thorough-going Whigs. The delegates from Lynn 
 brought with them the mammoth shoe, drawn by 
 white horses, and containing twenty-five or thirty 
 good Whigs real working men. Several log cabins 
 were also in the procession, and other emblems ex 
 pressive of simplicity, industry, honesty and patriotism, 
 
 The cavalcade was very numerous, and among them 
 was a large body of truckmen, who, with their white 
 frocks, and mounted on large and powerful horses, at 
 tracted great attention. Mr. Eastburn s printing press, 
 mounted on a car drawn by five horses, and appropri 
 ately embellished and in full operation, was also an ob 
 ject of great curiosity. 
 
 A band of noble-looking sailors also mingled in the 
 procession, preceded by Captain Hunt, of the ship 
 Switzerland, bearing a large American ensign. A ship, 
 full rigged, and attended by a band of gallant sailors, 
 from Essex county, was regarded with much interest. 
 Arches, beautifully decorated, were thrown across the 
 streets in this city in several places. And we must not 
 forget to mention the great Whig ball, covered with 
 inscriptions, rolled along by the Whigs of Concord, 
 which formed quite a conspicuous object. 
 
 In Charlestown, across the Warren avenue, a beau 
 tiful triumphal arch was erected, beneath which the 
 procession passed. 
 
 The delegation from Middlesex, consisting of some 
 thousands, assembled at 8 o clock in the public square 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 309 
 
 in Charlestown, and marched in procession over War 
 ren bridge to the common. They made a splendid ap 
 pearance. 
 
 The American ensign and pennants were seen flying 
 in every direction, extending across the streets of Bos 
 ton and Charlestown, waving from flag staffs erected 
 for the occasion, and in some cases from the tops of 
 trees. 
 
 SARGENT JOEL DOWNING TO GEN. 
 JACKSON. 
 
 Doiuningville, away down East, ) 
 in the State of Maine, July, 1840. \ 
 
 DEAR GINERAL: In respect of your letter, dated 
 at the Hermitage, 2^d of June, and sent to the editor 
 of the Nashville Union, I think down along here it s 
 all working tother way from what you meant it; and 
 it seems to me our cause and Mr. Van Buren s is get 
 ting along about as fast as a crab would run, and 
 pretty much the same way. 
 
 Go where you will it s all log cabin and hard cider 
 and there s no stopping on t. I found it so all the 
 way from the Hermitage here, and it s been so here 
 ever since I got here. It aint now as twas a few 
 years ago when I and my cousin, the Major, used to 
 be fighting for you. Then we could carry everything 
 jest as we d a mind to. All we had to do was to hur 
 rah for old Hickory, and folks would turn out and give 
 us a lift, and carry any election we wanted to all over 
 the country. But folks down this way say they ve got 
 tired of Mr. Van Buren. They don t think he s sich a 
 great President as you ve cracked him up to be. 
 Uncle Joshua says he don t come up to Mr. Jefferson 
 or Mr. Madison, no touch to it. 
 
 I had a serious talk with Uncle Joshua last night 
 about matters. You know he always went for you 
 through thick and thin, all weathers, and we had a 
 
310 Reminiscences of the 
 
 tight pull here in Maine, he was commonly the main 
 spoke in the wheel for us. So when I see him chair 
 man of the log cabin meeting the day I got here, and 
 see him swinging his hat with the rest of em, I began 
 to feel a little streaked, and was afraid we was a going 
 to lose him. So I got a chance to get him alone last 
 night, and had a long talk with him. I went right at 
 him in what I thought would be his sorest pint, in the 
 first place; and says I: 
 
 " Uncle, you ll lose the post-office as sure as your 
 name is Joshua Downing, if you go to wavering about 
 and giving up Mr. Van Buren, and taking sides with 
 old Tippecanoe." 
 
 At that he snapped his fingers at me, and, says he, 
 "Joel, you needn t think to come here to teach me pol 
 itics. I knew politics before you was born. I was a 
 Republican of the old stamp, and was the first one in 
 Dowingville that come out for Jefferson against old 
 John Adams. Then was the days, Joel, to larn poli 
 tics. We used to have it hot and heavy, up hill and 
 down. I went right into the front of the battle and fit 
 it out, till I brought over three-quarters of Downing- 
 ville to my side. So twas pretty much all over the 
 country. When we begun the battle, most everybody 
 was for Adams. He come in under Washington, you 
 know, and everybody thought of course he must 
 sarve eight vears jest as Washington did. But when 
 he begun to have his alien and sedition laws, and gag 
 laws, and I don t know what all, why, by jings, the 
 Democratic-Republican blood of the country was right 
 up. You could hear the rumbling of the young earth 
 quake clear from the District of Maine to Georgia; and, 
 after fighting like tigers, we brought Jefferson in." 
 
 " Well, now," says I, " Uncle Joshua, what does all 
 this rigmarole about Jefferson and Adams amount to? 
 I want you to stick to Mr. Van Buren, so as not to lose 
 your post-office." 
 
 At that he snapped his fingers in my face again, and 
 says he: 
 
 " I tell you, Joel, I don t care that for the post-office, 
 compared with the good of the country. We are fight- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 311 
 
 ing over almost jest sich a battle as we did in the days 
 of Jefferson and Adams. Here s Van Buren, you 
 know, come in under old Hickory, and in the first on t 
 he had most all the country in his favor, and if he had 
 done as he ought to, he might a stood his eight years. 
 But only see what a pickle he s got us into. He s turned 
 the whole country topsy-turvy, capsized everybody s 
 business, and made us all bankrupt. And I think its 
 high time to have a change. And I tell you what tis, 
 Joel, the Democratic-Republican blood of the country 
 has got roused, and if it don t put things straight again, 
 I m mistaken. There s been little kind of flustrations 
 in politics a good many times in this country since 
 we ve been a government; but there has nt been only 
 three times when the Republican blood fairly biled 
 over. The first time was when it turned out old John 
 Adams and put in Jefferson; and the second time was 
 when it turned out John Quincy Adams and put in old 
 Hickory; and tother time is now, when it is biling 
 over to turn out Van Buren and put in the old hero of 
 Tippecanoe. And it ll do it, Joel, and no mistake." 
 
 "Well, now, uncle," says I, "what fault do you find 
 with Mr. Van Buren ? It isn t he that s brought on 
 all these difficulties. Biddle s bank has done all the 
 mischief." 
 
 At that Uncle Joshua rolled up his eyes at me, and 
 puckered the corners of his mouth as if he was half 
 laughin, and says he, 
 
 "Joel, a man that s been about the country as much 
 as you have ought to have more sense than that. 
 Squire Biddle s bank has been out of the Government 
 this long time, but things has kept growing worse and 
 worse all the time, and it s quite too late now to 
 shoulder it off onto Biddle s bank." 
 
 " Well," says I, "uncle, after all your talk, you haven t 
 brought up a single thing yet against Mr. Van Buren 
 or his government, and until you can do that, I think 
 you ought to be in better business than to be coming 
 out against h ; m." 
 
 "There s one fact alone," says Uncle Joshua, "that s 
 enough to satisfy me that things ain t right at head- 
 
312 Reminiscences of the 
 
 quarters, and that is, the expenses of carrying on the 
 Government. About a dozen years ago, our Govern 
 ment expenses was only thirteen or fourteen millions 
 of dollars a year, and now they ve got up to between 
 thirty and forty millions a year. Now, Joel, you can t 
 make me believe that things is all right when money is 
 squandered away at that rate, and the people know 
 nothing about where it goes to." 
 
 Uncle Joshua run on in this way, and talked about 
 the Florida war and the sub-treasury, and sich like, 
 and said he thought it was time to try to have honest 
 men in the Government, till I begun to feel satisfied we 
 mustn t expect any more help from Uncle Joshua. 
 And, to be honest about it, Gineral, I m really afraid 
 the jig is up with us; for I find Uncle Joshua ain t 
 alone in turning against the Government and coming 
 out for old Tip. I find sich ones all around in every 
 quarter. I was out electioneering tother day, and 
 coming along through Baldwin, the 4th of July, I met 
 a great crowd of people out a celebratin . The road 
 was full of em, marching along with their banners 
 and their mottoes, and one of em was in large printed 
 letters, " Isaac Dyer and Forty-two Others." And I 
 asked a chap what that meant, and he said Isaac Dyer 
 and forty-two others there used to be Jackson and 
 Van Buren men, but now had come out for old Tip. 
 
 You may depend upon it, Gineral, Dowingville is 
 gone as slick as a whistle, and I m pesky afraid the 
 State of Maine is gone tou. I think I shall be off soon 
 in some of the other States, and try my luck at elec 
 tioneering there. I wish you would write to me and 
 let me know how you get along out West, and whether 
 the tide is going against us there too, but I wouldn t 
 send any more letters to the printers to publish, for I 
 don t think it helps us a long a mite. 
 I remain your old friend, 
 
 SARGENT JOEL DOWNING. 
 
 As showing how catching was the feeling to go for 
 Old Tippecanoe, it may be mentioned that three hun 
 dred original Jackson men signed their names to a call 
 for a public meeting of the Democratic" citizens of 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 313 
 
 Fairfield county, Ohio, which appeared in the Lancaster 
 Gazette of August 19, now before us, and at the great 
 gathering on the loth of September they marched under 
 a " Straight Out " banner, with many others of the same 
 sort. At Cleveland, one hundred and fifty-eight voters 
 in the Herald renounced Van Burenism between the 
 first and the fifteenth of the month, and thus "the ball 
 went rolling on for Tippecanoe and Tyler too," and 
 the influence of Jackson and all other men could not 
 stay the torrent of condemnation of the Loco Foco 
 party. 
 
 WHIG MEETING. 
 
 GOVERNOR CALL, OF FLORIDA, AND J. L. SMITH, OF 
 ILLINOIS, AT PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 A portion of the Whigs of the city and county of 
 Philadelphia, amounting to about two thousand, as 
 sembled at the Whig reading room, corner of Chest 
 nut and Fifth streets, to hear that distinguished advo 
 cate of our cause, General Call, ex-Governor of Florida. 
 
 Josiah Randall, Esq., was called to the chair. 
 
 It being expected that Captain Stockton would ad 
 dress the meeting, Mr. Randall read the following 
 letter: 
 To the Chairman of Executive Committee: 
 
 GENTLEMEN: I am flattered by your invitation to ad 
 dress the meeting to be held this evening, because there 
 is no portion of our fellow-citizens out of my own be 
 loved State that it would give me more pleasure to 
 speak to. 
 
 No one can be more desirous to lend his aid than I 
 am to bring back the Government to the pure princi 
 ples of Democracy, to regulate the banks, to restore a 
 sound mixed currency to the people as well as to the 
 Government, to protect our home industry, to give to 
 
314 Reminiscences of the 
 
 the poor man the power of supporting his family, and 
 to enforce that noble doctrine of Mr. Jefferson, that a 
 man s claim for office should rest entirely upon the 
 answers to these questions: "Is he fit? Is he faith 
 ful?" I must, however, he excused when I say that I 
 cannot attend your meeting. The unhappy condition 
 of New Jersey is such that I have no spirit to speak to 
 any other people but her own. or to do anything ex 
 cept within her territory. To speak to freemen, one 
 ought to be free himself and I will not rest either 
 tongue or pen, or the sole of my feet, till New Jersey 
 is redeemed and disenthralled and restored to her for 
 mer freedom. Your obedient servant, 
 
 R. F. STOCKTON. 
 
 Mr. Randall, in a brief speech, presented Governor 
 Call to the expectant crowd. The governor com 
 menced by referring to General Harrison s letter to 
 Vance, in which that hero and statesman avows the 
 principles by which, if elected, he will be governed ! 
 ist. That he will serve but one term. 2d. That he will 
 exercise no control over the public treasury, except to 
 apply the appropriations as directed by Congress. 3d. 
 That his rule of appointments to office shall be: "Is he 
 honest ? Is he capable!" 4th. That in his dismissals 
 from office, the reasons, in all cases, shall be assigned. 
 5th. That he will not use his office for party purposes, 
 and will consider the interference of officers in elec 
 tions sufficient ground for removal. 6th. That the ex 
 ercise of the veto power will be confined to three 
 classes of bills; those evidently unconstitutional, those 
 infringing the rights of citizens, and those doubtful 
 bills whose vast importance will render a reference to 
 the people necessaiy. 7^h and last, though not the 
 least, of these cardinal maxims, that he will not inter 
 fere in the deliberations of Congress. General Harri 
 son guarantees the faithful execution of these promises 
 by pointing to his past life. If, said General Call, there 
 be a man present (and I doubt not there are many Van 
 Buren men as well as Whigs) who can point to any un 
 constitutional act bv General Harrison during his long 
 public life, let that man step forward and proclaim it; 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 315 
 
 but if he is silent now, let him forever hold his peace. 
 Now, my countrymen, fellow-citizens, measure Mr. 
 Van Buren by the same rule. Is he not directly op 
 posed to every one of these glorious principles? Is he 
 not electioneering for a second term? Is he not grasp 
 ing the public purse and exercising his discretion in 
 applying the appropriations? Examine each of these 
 principles and see if Mr. Van Buren is not in direct 
 opposition to them. And yet General Harrison is de 
 nounced as a Federalist, and Mr. Van Buren applauded 
 as a Democrat. 
 
 When I charge the administration with interfering 
 in the elections, I am ready with the proof. During 
 the last summer the commanding general of the United 
 States Army was sent to Florida, not to make war upon 
 the savage foe, but to negotiate a peace. The treaty 
 was signed and a proclamation was issued that the war 
 was over, and that the inhabitants might return to their 
 desolate homes. The post-boy was yet bearing this 
 proclamation through the country, when the tomahawk 
 and scalping knife of the savages were employed in 
 butchering their unsuspecting enemies. Ten miles from 
 the Capital of the Territory the foe burnt the houses and 
 massacred the bodies of their defenseless victims. I 
 dispatched a committee of the most respectable citizens 
 to implore the President to give us his assistance, or at 
 least to allow me to lead an army against our enemies. 
 [Here the governor was interrupted with the most 
 deafening applause.] But the President and the Sec 
 retary were absent from Washington. They were in 
 New York attending to [to them] more important ene 
 mies. The committee pursued them, and at last caught 
 them [laughter and cheers] at Saratoga, amidst an ad 
 miring crowd. 
 
 The President said he had no time to talk about Flor 
 ida come to Whitehall. To Whitehall the committee 
 went come to Plattsburg. He was at last cornered, 
 and in reply to the entreaties of the committee, referred 
 them to the Secretary of War. That convenient refer 
 ence said no! they would carry on the war in their own 
 way. In what way, my countrymen, that war has been 
 
316 Reminiscences of the 
 
 carried on, let the wretched survivors of Indian Key 
 bear testimony. 
 
 It is impossible to give the language of the eloquent 
 orator, there being no regular reporter present, but the 
 effect was irresistible. The audience applauded, and 
 were silenced by an instant hush, so anxious were they 
 to catch every word. In conclusion, said Governor 
 Call, what is the great argument that Mr. Van Buren 
 addresses to the South? He is a Northern man with 
 Southern principles. The South needs no Northern 
 man to sustain her principles, and she disdains a Chief 
 Magistrate who avows himself to be governed by any 
 sectional principles. Her principles are Constitutional 
 principles. If ever that dread day should come, when 
 she will be called upon to sustain her rights, she will 
 yield her life with the Constitution in one hand and her 
 arms in the other. A Northern man with Southern 
 principles! Southern principles are American princi 
 ples. Who attacks the North attacks the South. 
 Should our country be called upon to sustain her rights 
 upon the Northwestern boundary question, the South 
 will battle for the Northern boundary beside the North. 
 Yes, if not as much soil is taken from our country as 
 will cover the bones of our dead, she will pour out her 
 clearest blood in its defense. If that territory be but 
 barren rocks, she will leave her bones to bleach upon 
 them rather than yield an inch to foreign aggression. 
 The governor continued in a most eloquent strain for 
 an hour and a half, frequently interrupted by the loud 
 est applause. After he was seated, Mr. Randall intro 
 duced Mr. J. L. Smith, of Illinois, formerly of Phila 
 delphia, who exhorted the Whigs to imitate the son of 
 Carthagenian Hamilcar, who swore on the altar of his 
 country to oppose the enemies of his country until he 
 or they should be no more. Mr. Naylor being called 
 upon, expressed his gratification at the proceedings, 
 and thanked Governor Call for the instruction imparted 
 in his eloquent speech. United States Gazette. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 317 
 
 NEW YORK MERCHANTS MEETING. 
 
 IMMENSE MEETING OF THE NEW YORK MERCHANTS, 
 IN FAVOR OF WHIG TICKETS AND PRINCIPLES. 
 
 One of the most important meetings of the cam 
 paign, that of the business men of the great metropolis, 
 is worthy of being remembered as well by reason of the 
 prominent names connected with it as of its size and 
 effect upon the popular mind. We condense from a 
 lengthy report in the New York Express: 
 
 The number of persons present was variously esti 
 mated, some going as high 3540,000, who took their ac 
 counts when Mr. Webster first opened his address. A 
 count was made from the portico of the Exchange at a 
 quarter before 4 o clock and 11,000 were counted. At 
 10 minutes before 3 o clock, and a quarter after, the 
 same person states three times as many were present. 
 
 We have never before seen Wall street quite as 
 much decorated with beauty as it was on this occasion. 
 The stage from which Mr. Webster spoke was placed 
 at the corner of Wall and William streets. The crowd 
 of men stood up and down William and Wall streets 
 in a dense throng, as far as Mr. Webster s voice could 
 be heard. Almost every window was crowded with 
 ladies waving their handkerchiefs. The tops of build 
 ing were full of spectators. 
 
 The shipping presented a beautiful appearance. 
 From the forest of masts for miles in extent flags of 
 every nation floated to the breeze. The day was de 
 lightful. 
 
 This was a merchants meeting, and what a contrast 
 in numbers, appearance, and every other thing of im 
 portance did it present, "when set off either with the 
 meager call of administration men, first published in 
 the yournal of Commerce, or when assembled on the 
 Exchange. 
 
 Mr. Webster spoke about two hours and a half. 
 Our readers will find a very full and accurate report of 
 
318 Reminiscences of the 
 
 his remarks. He was listened to with profound atten 
 tion throughout. 
 
 At a meeting of the merchants and traders of the 
 city of New York, disapproving the leading measures 
 of the administration, and opposed to the re-election 
 of Martin Van Buren, and in favor of the election of 
 Harrison and Tyler, held in pursuance of public no 
 tice, in front of the Merchants Exchange, on Monday, 
 the 28th of September, 
 
 W. W. Todd, Esq., called the meeting to order, and 
 on his motion, the following officers were chosen: 
 
 President: Jonathan Goodhue. 
 
 Vice-Presidents : Benjamin Strong, James Brown, 
 Edward G. Faile, David Lee, Jonathan Sturges, Stephen 
 Whitney, James G. King, John Haggerty, John Rath- 
 bone, Jr., G. P. Disosway, Charles H. Russell, John W. 
 Harris, John D. Wolfe, Abraham Fardon, William 
 Scott, Hugh Archineloss, James J. Van Alen, D. A. 
 Cushman, Thomas Brooks, D. W. C. Olyphant, John 
 P. Stagg, John A. Underwood, Henry A. Bogert, R. 
 H. Nevins, Peter I. Nevins, John Van Nostrand. 
 
 Secretaries: William H. Aspinwall, Augustin Aver- 
 ill, Thomas Williams, Jr., John Steward, Jr., E. P. 
 Heyer. 
 
 The Hon. Moses H. Grinnell then presented the fol 
 lowing resolutions, which he enforced in a brief ad 
 dress: 
 
 1. Resolved, That in the opinion of the merchants 
 and traders of New York here assembled, the existing 
 derangement in the financial and commercial affairs of 
 the country may be directly traced to the measure of 
 the National Government in its experiments, blindly 
 commenced and recklessly prosecuted, with the prom 
 ise of a better currency, to the lamentable failure of 
 those experiments; and to the catastrophe which com 
 pelled the repudiation of its legitimate powers, as the 
 only excuse to the people for the abandonment of its 
 Constitutional responsibilities. 
 
 2. Resolved, That a mixed currency, partly paper 
 and partly metallic, and the use of credit are essential to 
 the prosperity of all commercial nations; and that to 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 319 
 
 these causes are due, in no small degree, the rapid pro 
 gress which this country has made, altogether unex 
 ampled in the history of mankind. 
 
 3. Resolved, That the power to regulate the currency 
 is granted by the Constitution of the United States to the 
 General Government; and that this power havingbeen 
 recognized and exercised by successive administrations 
 from that of General Washington to that of General 
 Jackson, and confirmed by the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, its constitutionality cannot now be 
 questioned or denied. 
 
 4. Resolved, That the recommendation in Congress, 
 in a special message, by Mr. Van Buren, to subject all 
 banking incorporations to a national bankrupt law, 
 and thereby to regulate the currency, is an admission 
 of the constitutionality of the power and of the duty of 
 Government to exercise it 
 
 5. Resolved, That the use of the State deposit banks, 
 under a law passed during General Jackson s adminis 
 tration, with a professed view, among other things, of 
 regulating the currency of the country, is also a direct 
 admission of the duty of Government in this respect. 
 
 . 6. Resolved, That it is a most important duty imposed 
 upon the National Government, and a fundamental 
 principle derived from the Constitution in the use of 
 the necessary power, that it shall so regulate the cur 
 rency that it shall be safe, stable and uniform; not only 
 thereby to secure the collection, safekeeping and 
 convenient disbursement of the public revenues, but 
 from the vital necessity of such currency to the pros 
 perity of commerce, manufactures, agriculture, the 
 mechanic arts and the dailv transactions of life. 
 
 7. Resolved, That the sub-treasury scheme tends to 
 concentrate the whole money power in the hands of 
 the executive, and that it may be used, by a weak and 
 wicked executive, to break down all sound banking in 
 stitutions, and the commerce and trade of any and 
 every part of the country at its will. 
 
 13. Resolved, That the merchants and traders of New 
 York continue an unabated, hearty opposition to the 
 present administration, to its war upon State credit, to 
 
320 Reminiscences of the 
 
 its sub-treasury, to its financial schemes, to its conduct 
 of the Florida war, to its plan for an unconstitutional 
 standing army, to its increase of patronage, to its fear 
 ful proscription for opinions sake, to its squandering of 
 the public revenue, to its defaulting agents, to its 
 attempt to array the poor against the rich, to its en 
 couragement given to the avowers of agrarian and 
 other disorganizing doctrines, to its reduction of the 
 price of labor, to its neglect of the currency, and finally 
 to its general incompetency at home and abroad; and 
 we, therefore, pledge ourselves to use every honorable 
 exertion to secure the election of William Henry Har 
 rison and John Tyler, as President and Vice-President 
 of these United States. 
 
 14. Resolved, That we cordially respond to the 
 unanimous nomination of those tried servants of the 
 people, William H. Seward and Luther Bradish, and 
 that we will contribute by our strenuous efforts to their 
 re-election, and are confident of an overwhelming ma 
 jority, and, 
 
 15. Whereas, during the administration of Wash 
 ington, commerce was fostered and protected, the 
 rights of property carefully guarded, the currency 
 wisely regulated, and the foundations broadyl laid of 
 national prosperity; and, whereas the merchants and 
 traders of New York yield to none in admiration 
 of his character, therefore, 
 
 Resolved, That we look with indignation and scorn 
 on the late and present administration to disparage the 
 fame and dishonor the character, by questioning the 
 motives of the Father of his country. " His is that 
 name which an American may utter with pride in ev 
 ery part of the world; and which, wherever uttered, is 
 shouted to the skies by every true lover of liberty; and, 
 until time shall be no more, a test of progress, which 
 the human race has made in wisdom and virtue, will 
 be derived from the veneration paid to the immortal 
 name of Washington. " 
 
 Resolved, That the following persons, viz : Robert 
 B. Mintuin, Pelatiah Perit, Henry R. Bogart, George 
 S. Robbins and Daniel S. Miller be appointed a com- 
 
Political Campaign of 18 40. 321 
 
 mittee on behalf of this meeting to carry out the 
 foregoing resolutions, with power to add to their 
 number. 
 
 The resolutions being read, the Hon. Daniel Web 
 ster addressed the meeting. 
 
 The question being put on the resolutions, they were 
 unanimously adopted, and the proceedings, signed by 
 the president and secretary, were ordered to be 
 printed, and the meeting adjourned. 
 
 WEBSTER IN NEW YORK. 
 
 DANIEL WEBSTER REPELS SLANDER AT THE GREAT 
 MERCHANTS MEETING. 
 
 You ll be addressed to-morrow by a gentleman of 
 high talent, a distinguished supporter of the adminis 
 tration, one of the most distinguished, certainly, in that 
 portion of the councils of the nation to which I belong. 
 He ll not say, but others will say for him it will be 
 said. and all the papers, friendly to the administration, 
 will say, " Don t believe Webster, that old aristocrat; 
 you can t believe anything that he says." 
 
 Now, my friends, it would be very strange if I, who 
 have grown up among the people, and, as it were, of 
 the people, should at any time of life take a fancy to 
 aristocracy! I have plowed, and sowed, and reaped 
 the acres that were my father s, and that now are mine. 
 By the aid of those valuable institutions, public schools, 
 and the guidance and assistance of the best of parents, 
 I was enabled to get such an education as fitted me to 
 come to the bar; I have been some time in public life, 
 I never held an office in the course of that life, except 
 such an one as came directly from the bestowment 
 of the people; I have had no money out of the pub 
 lic Treasury, except the pay as a member of Con 
 gress; I have no family relations no one in any way 
 
 21 
 
322 Reminiscences of the 
 
 or shape nothing with blood of mine flowing in their 
 veins that ever held an office or touched a cent of the 
 public money. [Cheers.] 
 
 After all this I shall still be told that I am an aristo 
 crat. Very well. Prove it. If I am one I am quite 
 false to my origin and connections as well as to my 
 nature. But I ask for the proof. Look at my votes in 
 Congress. What right of the people have I voted 
 away ? By what vote of mine in the people s councils 
 of the country am "I to be proved an aristocrat ? 
 
 I do not come here, however, to speak of men, 
 (much less of myself), but of principles, and therefore 
 what such men as I am are is comparatively unimpor 
 tant. It has indeed happened to me to be in Congress 
 for many years. If in the course of that time I have 
 done anything that is worthy of approbation it was 
 done in the exigency of peculiar events, when 1 
 thought the Constitution was in danger, and when I 
 thought it was my duty to uphold it. 
 
 My prejudices for one set of men and another set 
 of men never made me cease to defend that glori 
 ous Constitution which our fathers obtained by a 
 miracle and which has flourished by a miracle ever 
 since. 
 
 And yet I shall go for a very bad aristocrat. And 
 echo will tell in a thousand ways, from Brooklyn to 
 Montauk Point, that Mr. Webster is a sad old aristo 
 crat and knows nothing of Democracy, and particu 
 larly of the Democracy of this country. 
 
 On the other hand, our opponents know Suffolk 
 well; they study it; they know that it was distinguished 
 in the Revolution for its stern Democracy, tried and 
 proved. They remember that it produced the L Hom- 
 medieus and the Floyds, and the Smiths and Joneses, 
 and they ll all come down here to-morrow as the Phar 
 isees came of old with their phylacteries, and the 
 garbs of Democracy, and the "word - Democracy," 
 " Democracy," " Democracy," which occurs as often 
 among them as " ditto," " ditto," " ditto," in a trades 
 man s bill. [Laughter and cheers.] 
 
 Now all I have to say to you, my friends, is, look at 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 323 
 
 facts! Words are cheap promises are easy and cost 
 nothing. But there is an old adage among the farmers 
 that " fine words butter no parsnips." [Laughter.] 
 
 I claim no more patriotism than others, but I claim 
 just as much. Have I no stake in this fair inheritance 
 of our common country? Don t I wish to go down to 
 my grave with my full share of its honors and its 
 glories? Have I no interest or desire to protect what 
 I have, that it may descend unblemished to my children 
 and to my children s children? [Here Mr. Webster s 
 voice changed very perceptibly, and he was much af 
 fected and labored with strong feelings.] The man 
 that says that I am an aristocrat, is a liar! [Tremen 
 dous cheering.] 
 
 I may be mistaken. I may err. I submit to the judg 
 ment of those who c,an see more clearly than myself 
 when I am at fault. But the man that will not meet 
 me fairly with argument, and uses idle and abusive 
 declamation instead, and then will not come wichin 
 the reach of my arm, is not only a liar but a coward ! 
 In common with many others, I think it necessary to 
 change the administration. I don t mean to call names. 
 It is not my habit to attack persons. I leave that to 
 those who feel ill-natured. I discuss principles; and 
 at this moment [alluding to the news from Maine] 
 I feel particularly good natured. 
 
 I have no galled withers. I have nothing to fear; 
 but, on the contrary, am hopeful of everything. 
 [Cheers.] I don t want to triumph in what is called 
 the prospects of our party in the coming election. 
 That election is settled already. 
 
 I desire to put it upon this issue that if the measures 
 of the present administration have been Democratic, 
 support them; if not, do not do so. But do not take 
 names for things, and professions for principles. By 
 Democratic measures, I mean such as the good old 
 Democrats of past times would have supported. Such 
 measures as Chancellor Livingston would have sup 
 ported; such as Mr. Jefferson would have supported; 
 such as Virginia, the old pure school of Democracy, 
 would have supported. Such measures I advise you 
 
324 Reminiscences of the 
 
 to support. But examine and inquire well for your 
 selves, and decide as you find. 
 
 The Democratic head of this Democratic Govern 
 ment passed the sub-treasury bill. Was this by a law 
 of Congress or a law of the executive ? In 1837 when 
 Mr. Van Buren proposed this measure, there was no 
 one in Congress in favor of it. It was not liked, and 
 got very little support. Well, he held out four suc 
 cessive sessions of Congress; his measure belongs to 
 the important question of how best to keep all the 
 public money; and yet with this important subject, 
 and executive influence, and the fatiguing drill of four 
 sessions, it only at last got into the House of Repre 
 sentatives. And what was done then ? It lay there 
 for three months; at last it passed; and out of 250 
 members (I believe that s the number) who voted for 
 it, they didn t alter a word or syllable they didn t, as 
 we say in common parlance, dot an i or cross a /. 
 
 Well, it was passed. And I ll venture to say that 
 even the Parliament of Paris, in the ten years that pre 
 ceded the Revolution, never passed an edict so com 
 pletely submissive to royal authority as did the House 
 of Representatives by passing the sub-treasury bill 
 conform to executive authority. 
 
 How very Democratic this conduct was! The peo- 
 .ple choose members of Congress to make laws; as 
 they pass just as the President wishes them to pass. 
 And I, who complain of this course of procedure, am 
 an aristocrat, and not to be believed! 
 
 Now, if the regular increase of executive influence 
 be Democratic, then by all means go for a renewal of 
 Mr. Van Buren s term. He ll give you enough of that, 
 [Laughter.] Why, as things are now, the office-hold 
 ers can t live or breathe but as they conform to the 
 desires of their superiors. And yet the Constitution 
 under which we live says that he has no superior. Is 
 not this, then, a gross attempt to fetter the free minds 
 of a free people ? They give a man an office and say 
 he is no longer a free agent. What shameful perver 
 sion of Democracy. 
 
 And now let us see how it is with respect to the 
 
l^olitical Campaign of 1840. 325 
 
 augmentation of the number of office-holders. Is it the 
 present administration that extends the number ? Take 
 the custom-house of the city of New York as a crite 
 rion. I won t go to Illinois or to Michigan to the land 
 offices there, because you can t easily see and examine 
 for yourselves. But take your own great city, and 
 take the published official documents and you ll see 
 that the custom-house officers are double in number to 
 what they used to be. Where there were 100, now 
 there are 200; for 200 there are 1,000. And what is all 
 this increase for? It can t be because they are wanted 
 to attend to the legitimate business of the custom-house; 
 because there were not half the number when the du 
 ties were much greater. Very well, then, they must 
 be wanted for an illegitimate purpose. [Laughter.] 
 
 Now, as to the expenses of the Government, we all 
 know that in Adams time $13,000,000 a year was the 
 most that was spent. The expenses then never aver 
 aged that sum. Now, at the close of 1837, they were 
 run up to $39,000,000! I don t say that this is conclu 
 sive that the Government has been wasteful and extrav 
 agant. There has been occasion this year for extraor 
 dinary expenditures. We have a Florida war which 
 Adams had not. And in my opinion, if he had been 
 in office, we never should have had it. 
 
 Here, then, are the facts. They complain that 
 Adams administration \vas wasteful and profligate, be 
 cause it spent nearly $13,000,000. Now, then, call on 
 them to say why they spend nearly $39,000,000. It s a 
 case that calls for an account a strict and correct one 
 and they ought to render it. 
 
 To recur a moment to the custom-house of New 
 York. The expenses now are three-fold more than 
 they were in Jonathan Thompson s time. Inquire how 
 this is, and obtain a full and satisfactory answer, and 
 then ponder over it. It does not appear like that truly 
 stern economy which should characterize a Democratic 
 Government. 
 
 A recent governor of this commonwealth, in his 
 place in the Senate, expressed the true feelings of his 
 heart and those of his party when, flushed with the tri- 
 
326 Reminiscences of tJie 
 
 umphs of victory, he was justifying the removal of 
 every one from office that was opposed to his party 
 and measures. He then made use of that remarkably 
 characteristic expression, Do not the spoils of victory 
 belong to the conqueror?" 
 
 This is applied to the party that seizes on all the of 
 fices and turns out all that differ from them when they 
 obtain the victory. Is that Democratic? Are the of 
 fices merely made to be sported with in this way? Are 
 offices made for mere adventurers? Is that the spirit 
 of the Constitution of this free country? 
 
 In a word, is that Democratic? Stick to the old text. 
 Is not the Government instituted for the good of the 
 people ? Should not a government be checked so as to 
 possess no more power than good people require ? 
 Should a government have any more money at com 
 mand than is absolutely necessary for its simplest 
 wants? All this used to be Democratic. 
 
 But take a view of what the present Government 
 calls Democracy. Why you may look for a descrip 
 tion of it in all ihe books from the primer to the En 
 glish reader, run the range of the whole vocabulary, 
 and you ll not find a word about it in all the good old 
 Democratic schools. 
 
 Then keep to this. Are the measures of the present 
 administration Democratic? Why, the leading meas 
 ure and the only measure is the sub-treasury. From 
 alpha to omega it s all " sub-treasury, u sub-treasury," 
 41 sub-treasury." And its echoes have not ceased and 
 will not cease till the administration go out of office. 
 It puts one in mind of Orpheus going to seek Eury- 
 dice, Eurydice the woods, Eurydice the floods, Eury- 
 dice, the rocks and hollow mountains rang." With our 
 Government it is, Sub-treasury the woods, sub-treas 
 ury the floods, sub-treasury the rocks and hollow moun 
 tains ring." [Immense cheering and tumultuous laugh- 
 ten] 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 327 
 
 MEETINGS IN SEPTEMBER. 
 
 FROM THE GRANITE MOUNTAINS TO THE GULF ALL 
 TIP S BOYS IN MOTION. 
 
 The battle of Lake Erie was celebrated in grand style 
 on the loth of September, at Erie, Pennsylvania, by 
 the Keystone Tippecanoes. September 6 there was 
 another grand rally at Monument Square, Baltimore, 
 Maryland. 
 
 The friends of Harrison and Tyler had a huge con 
 vention at Harrisburg, Pa., on the I3th of September. 
 Over seventy -five thousand freemen assembled at Syra 
 cuse, N. Y., on the i6th, who were addressed by Gen 
 eral Wilson, of New Hampshire, and Tallmadge and 
 Hoffman, of New York, greatly to the delight of the 
 people. 
 
 A State convention and festival of the friends of 
 Harrison and reform was held at Hagerstown, Md., on 
 the i6th, which was a regular love feast. 
 
 The three days meeting at Dayton, Ohio, commenc 
 ing on the loth of September, the anniversary of 
 Perry s victory, will long be remembered as one of the 
 grandest conventions ever assembled in Ohio. The 
 one hundred thousand people were addressed by Gen 
 eral Harrison, Henry Clay, Tom Corwin. " The Wagon 
 Boy," Harry Southgate, and many other distinguished 
 orators. 
 
 On the iSth of September, at Lancaster, Pa., was 
 the greatest gathering of people that had ever been 
 known in that hospitable city. Such processions, 
 with banners and streamers, and canoes, and log cab 
 ins and other devices, surpassed anything in this part 
 of the country. Charles Stephens, Penrose and Reed, 
 and many other eminent speakers addressed the vast 
 concourse. 
 
 At the great Harrison and reform convention at 
 Wheeling, W. Va., on the 3d of September, the extreme 
 right of the procession was occupied by over three 
 
328 Reminiscences of the 
 
 hundred who had denounced Van Burenand marched 
 under the banner u Straightouts ! " 
 
 At Staunton Va., on the ^oth, there was a grand con 
 vention, which was eloquently addressed by B. W. 
 Leigh, James Lyon, Bailee Peyton, John H. Pleasant^, 
 H. Rhodes, W. Robertson, J. M. Wickham, H. L. 
 Brook. S. S. Baxter, L. W. Chamberlayne, W. R. 
 Gratton. 
 
 At Salsbury, Somerset county, Md. , there was a 
 rousing Whig meeting on September 23. 
 
 The Whig State convention at Baton Rouge, Lou 
 isiana, on the 28th, was addressed by Hon. Sergeant S. 
 Prentiss and others. The Tippecanoe club of Missis 
 sippi was there in great numbers. The enthusiasm 
 was great. 
 
 WEBSTER IN VIRGINIA. 
 
 THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION AT RICHMOND, OCTOBER 
 5, 1840 MR. WEBSTER S SPEECH BEFORE THE 
 CONVENTION AND THE LADIES IN THE LOG CABIN. 
 
 The convention held at Richmond on Monday last, 
 -the never-to-be-forgotten fifth of October will 
 take a place in the foremost rank of those great gath 
 erings of the people which have distinguished the 
 present year 
 
 The day the memorable anniversary of the battle 
 of the Thames was ushered in by a national salute 
 from artillery in the Capitol square; and as early as 
 sunrise the stir and bustle of preparation began. The 
 different delegations with their flags, banners, and in 
 signia, marched to their respective places of rendez 
 vous, and, accompanied by fine bands playing martial 
 or patriotic airs, gave great animation to the streets. 
 The procession formed in Maine street and it extended 
 about a mile and a half. This wide and continuous 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 329 
 
 street was admirably fitted to show the procession to 
 advantage, and the houses consequently were filled 
 with those who were eager to enjoy the splendid 
 spectacle. Throughout the whole line of march the 
 procession was hailed with demonstrations of the 
 most fervent enthusiasm on all sides. All seemed to 
 enter into the spirit of the hour, and if there were 
 those who did not sympathize heartily with the scene 
 they kept their sentiments to their own bosoms, or 
 were carried beyond themselves and participated for 
 the time in the general feeling. Every window, every 
 doorway, every point that commanded a view of the 
 procession, was occupied by ladies, who showed by 
 their plaudits and waving of handkerchiefs, and mini 
 ature banners, that their whole souls too were in the 
 holy cause of the people against the opposers of the 
 people, and if they had suffrages they would be given 
 on the side of u Harrison and reform," and in opposi 
 tion to this corrupt, imbecile and blundering adminis 
 tration. A triumphal arch of shrubs and flowers had 
 been thrown quite across the street, having at each end 
 a pendent flag bearing some appropriate inscriptions; 
 and as the delegates passed under, the most rapturous 
 and inspiring cheers arose from bevies of beauties on 
 either side. 
 
 The spot selected for the meeting of the convention 
 was the noble and extensive area, on old Shockoe Hill, 
 in front of the Capitol; and no city in the world can 
 present a place better suited for such purposes. The 
 facade of the Capitol was tastefully adorned with 
 flowers and evergreens; elegant wreaths hung from 
 every pillar, and in the midst names of those glorious 
 fields in which Harrison had won so much renown 
 while his achievements shed so much luster on his coun 
 try s arms, shone out conspicuously "Tippecanoe," 
 "The Thames," etc. Over all the national ensign 
 floated to the breeze. The most excellent arrangements 
 had been made for the accommodation of the speakers, 
 the invited guests, the ladies and the public generally. 
 About 12 o clock the procession entered the square, 
 and the different delegations were conducted to the 
 
330 Reminiscences of the 
 
 places assigned to them with an order and harmony 
 which reflected the highest credit on the marshals, as it 
 called out the approbation of all who witnessed the ad 
 mirable results of their skill and efficiency. The ban 
 ners of the different counties and States were success 
 ively hoisted up to the colonnade of the Capitol, and 
 placed in full view of the assemblage, who hailed the 
 sight of them with loud cheering. When that of Maine 
 was recognized, the applause was peculiarly long and 
 loud, but it was nothing to the earnest enthusiasm with 
 which the old time-worn banner that had been borne 
 by Captain Spencer s company at the battle of the 
 Maumee, pierced with many a bullet, and slashed by 
 the tomahawk, was presented to the gaze of the meet 
 ing. Several other old banners and ensigns, associated 
 with the Revolutionary events, and with the triumphs 
 of our countrymen in the War of Independence, were 
 hoisted, and among them a banner of 1776, belonging 
 to the old Alexandria Rifle Corps. 
 
 The spectacle presented to us on the pavilion that 
 had been fitted up for the officers and speakers, was 
 one of the most magnificent that can be imagined. In 
 the area below there were at least ten thousand some 
 say fifteen thousand persons assembled. The dense 
 mass of good Whigs of our own sex in the center was 
 flanked by galleries of beauty, and of true, sincere, and 
 devoted Whigism, too, of the fairer portion of our 
 species. Then there was the town between us and the 
 shining river; and a lovelv, rich, undulating country 
 beyond, extending as far as the eye could reach bask 
 ing under bright skies and a clear and inspiring atmos 
 phere and over the whole thrown a halo of poetic, 
 historical and patriotic associations, with the glory and 
 freshness of the scenes, which were then to be enacted 
 before us. It is but feeble and halting praise that we 
 can, by any words of ours, bestow on our fair allies of 
 Richmond, but we are sure that the impression produced 
 by the lovely forms, the bright eyes, and charming 
 faces that gave such luster to the Capitol and its pre 
 cincts, will not soon pass away from the men of sense 
 and feeling, who composed the convention. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 331 
 
 The convention was organized by the appointment 
 of Ex-Governor James Barbour, of Orange, as presi 
 dent, the Whig electors who happend to be present, 
 as vice-presidents, and Beverly Tucker, Esq., and 
 James M. Garnett, Esq., as secietaries. Governor Bar 
 bour on taking the chair, addressed the convention in 
 the easy, flowing, and felicitous manner for which he 
 is distinguished. 
 
 I i compliance with the invitation of the committee 
 of arrangements, a meeting of the clergy of Rich 
 mond had been held in the Capitol, in the morning. 
 These reverend gentlemen had appointed two of their 
 number to perform their sacred offices, when required, 
 during the sitting of the convention. Accordingly, 
 after the president s address, the Rev. Mr. Palmer 
 came forward and offered a brief but earnest and ap 
 propriate prayer to the Divine Benignity. 
 
 Benjamin Watkins Leigh, E^q., then appeared, and, 
 after a few eloquent remarks, read an address to the 
 people of Virginia, which was unanimously adopted. 
 
 The cry now arose on all sides, " Webster, Webster! " 
 It had been the wish of Mr. W r ebster and his friends 
 that he should not be called on to speak until Tuesday. 
 He had undergone great exertion for weeks previous, 
 and was suffering from the effects of a severe cold. 
 But the impatience of the people to see and hear him 
 could not be controlled. The call was loud and universal. 
 He answered it with promptness, and with the spirit 
 and energy which he seems to have ever at command 
 to meet any emergency, however unexpected. 
 
 He appeared and was introduced by the president 
 amidst the loudest and most enthusiastic acclamations, 
 the buzzes being mingled with cries of "Welcome 
 welcome!" "Three cheers again for him!" "God 
 bless you!" etc. 
 
 When the applause subsided, Mr. Webster began a 
 speech, which, considering the time and circumstances, 
 will be regarded as one of the best judged and most 
 admirably conceived and most exquisitely finished pro 
 ductions of his great mind. It was characterized 
 throughout by a dignity of tone, a power of thought, and 
 
33 2 Reminiscences of the 
 
 beauty and force of diction, which won the reluctant ad 
 miration even of his political opponents, and more than 
 justified all that his most encomiastic friends had led 
 the public to expect. It was, from beginning to end, 
 the very opposite of rhetorical sophistry solid, sub 
 stantial and energetic; and even in those passages 
 where the high argumentation was enlivened and en 
 forced by passionate and overwhelming eloquence, a 
 manifest and profound feeling of truth, sincerity and 
 honesty, forked the fulminations of his oratory. If we 
 are to judge from the impressions made upon his au 
 dience, never was there a more successful speech. The 
 philosophic statesmen of Virginia, and the plainest and 
 most untutored denizens of that State, equally admitted 
 that they never were more instructed, delighted, or an 
 imated to patriotic, steady, and perserving exertion, 
 by any speech irom any public man. 
 
 We have not room for a full report. We cannot, 
 however, pass over some of the most striking passages. 
 His allusion to those amiable persons who are so very 
 considerate of their reputation and his reputation as to 
 think it a great breach of propriety in him to have gone 
 to Richmond, or to be invited there, was received with 
 loud laughter and cheering and cries of Welcome! 
 welcome!" "If," said he, "there be any question or 
 questions on which you and I differ in opinion, those 
 questions are not to be the topics of discussion to-day. 
 No! We are not quite soft enough for such an oper 
 ation as that. [Laughter.] We are battling together 
 in the face of a common enemy; we are armed to the 
 teeth, putting forth as many hands as Briareus, and 
 with each hand dealing him all the blows we can; and 
 does he imagine that at such a moment we shall be 
 carrying on our family controversies? That we are go 
 ing to give ourselves those blows which are due to him? 
 No; he is the enemy of our country; we mean to pur 
 sue him till we bring him to capitulation or to flight; 
 and when we have clone that, if there are any differ 
 ences of opinion among us, we will try to settle them 
 ourselves, without his advice or assistance [laughter], 
 and we will settle them in a spirit of conciliation and 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 333 
 
 mutual kindness. If we do differ in any of our views 
 we must settle that difference not in a spirit of exasper 
 ation, but with moderations, with forbearance, in a 
 spirit of amity and brotherhood." 
 
 The most striking passage in his speech, unquestion 
 ably, was that in which he referred to the subject 
 which so deeply interests the whole South. " There 
 is," said Mr. Webster, " one perpetual outcry in all 
 the administration papers from Baltimore south, ad 
 monishing the people of the South, that their own 
 State governments and the property they hold under 
 them, are not secure if they admit a Northern man to 
 any considerable share in the administration of the 
 Government. You all know that that is the general 
 cry. Now I have spoken my sentiments in the neigh- 
 boVhood of Virginia, though not actually within the 
 State, in June last, and again in the heart of Massa 
 chusetts in July, so that it is not now that I proclaim 
 them for the first time; but ten years ago, when obliged 
 to speak on the same subject, I uttered the same senti 
 ment in regard to slavery and to the absence of all 
 power in Congress to interfere, in any manner what 
 ever, with that subject. I delivered my sentiments 
 fully in Alexandria in the month of June, and in July 
 at Worcester, in Massachusetts. I shall ask some 
 friend connected with the press to circulate in Virginia 
 what I said on this subject in the Senate of the United 
 States on the 3Oth of January last. I have nothing to 
 add or subtract from what I then said. I commend it 
 to your attention, or rather I desire you to read 
 it. I hold that Congress is absolutely precluded 
 from interfering in any manner, direct or indirect, 
 with this, as with any other of the institutions of the 
 South." 
 
 Now the cheering was so loud and long continued 
 that Mr. Webster was interrupted for several minutes. 
 One sonorous voice was heard above the other expres 
 sions of approbation, exclaiming, " We are here from 
 Maryland to Louisiana; repeat that sentiment and we 
 will tell it to our neighbors at home ! Repeat! Re 
 peat!" 
 
334 Reminiscences of the 
 
 " WeII, TT exclaimed Mr. Webster, in trumpet note s 
 that seemed to be echoed back from the whole country 
 around, " I do repeat proclaim it on the wings of 
 the winds tell it to all your friends. [Cries of " We 
 will ! we will ! "] Tell it, I say, that, standing here in 
 the Capitol of Virginia, beneath an October sun, in the 
 midst of this assemblage, before the entire country and 
 upon all the responsibility which belongs to me, I say 
 that there is no power directly or indirectly in Congress 
 or the General Government to interfere in the slightest 
 degree with the institutions of the South." 
 
 The cheering was renewed, and several voices cried 
 and repeated, " That gives two thousands votes more for 
 Harrison." 
 
 " And now," added Mr. Webster, " I ask you to do 
 me only one favor. Carry that paper home. Read it; 
 read it to your neighbors, and when you hear the 
 question, " Shall Daniel Webster, the Abolitionist, pro 
 fane the soil of Virginia." Here the orator was inter 
 rupted by the most cordial shouts of applause that we 
 ever heard. Kvery hat and every handkerchief was 
 waved in the air- -the chorus of cheering being led by 
 the most distinguished men of Virginia, who seemed 
 to vie with each other in reprobating the foul and in 
 famous slander. "Welcome! welcome! Heaven bless 
 you, Webster! Huzza! We scorn their abuse of you! " 
 etc., etc., etc., burst from the thousands before him. A 
 more exciting scene was never presented; and his chok 
 ing voice, and burning tear drop that gathered in his 
 eye, and trickled slowly down his pale cheek, showed 
 how deeply the orator himself was moved. 
 
 We add two important passages as reported by the 
 Richmond Whig, to give our readers some notion of 
 this masterly speech. 
 
 After Mr. Webster finished, the convention took a 
 temporary adjournment for dinner. A bountiful lunch 
 had been prepared in the Capitol for those who did not 
 choose to retire, and all were made freely welcome. 
 Every house of every Whig was, besides, thrown 
 widely open, and all the luxuries of the season were 
 presented to the visitors in the greatest profusion. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 335 
 
 At 4 o clock the people emphatically, we say the 
 people assembled again after rational and moderate 
 enjoyment. A platform had been erected on the north 
 side of the Capitol; and there Mr. Archer and Mr. 
 John Campbell, late Treasurer of the United States, 
 addressed the people in speeches which engaged their 
 attention to the last. Some of the crowd, too, who had 
 not heard Mr. Webster in the morning, felt their disap 
 pointment so keenly that they could not rest till they 
 had him out again, and hearing he was within hail 
 they called for him. He obeyed the call, and ad 
 dressed them briefly with wonderful power and elo 
 quence. 
 
 In other parts of the square Mr. John Hill, a high- 
 spirited and talented representative of the old common 
 wealth, and other gentlemen, addressed the people in 
 the course of the afternoon. 
 
 When the shades of the evening fell, the Capitol 
 facade was illuminated, and the speaking was con 
 tinued. Mr. Botts made a most instructive and pow 
 erful speech, which was listened to with the closest at 
 tention. He was followed by several gentlemen; among 
 them Mr. Skinner, late postmaster at Baltimore; Mr. 
 Snowden, of Alexandria; and Mr. Duncan, of Louis 
 iana. 
 
 In the meantime meetings were held at other places. 
 The log cabin was filled to overflowing, and Mr. Leigh 
 made a speech of singular ability and eloquence. In 
 different parts of the city little squads were assembled 
 and if we could collect all the flowers of fancy and all 
 the corruscations of wit, and sallies of humor, which 
 were produced even in our presence, our paper would 
 indeed be to-day a most brilliant and valuable one. 
 
 On Tuesday, at 10 o clock, the convention reassem 
 bled in the area on the south side of the Capitol, and 
 Mr. Wm. C. Rives addressed the people in a speech of 
 more than three hours length, with all the eloquence 
 and spirit which make him so interesting and power 
 ful as a public speaker. After he had finished, there 
 was a short recess; and again the people met, and were 
 addressed by Governor Barbour. He was followed by 
 
336 Reminiscences of the 
 
 a number of other gentlemen, and the speaking was 
 continued until after midnight. 
 
 While these proceedings were going on in the Cap 
 itol square, some of the delegations that had been 
 detained on their way to the convention arrived; and 
 having been deprived of the opportunity of hearing 
 Mr. Webster, they waited on him at the house of a 
 distinguished gentleman, whose hospitality he was 
 enjoying. He promptly appeared, and responded to 
 their hearty greetings, in one of the most fervent, 
 impassioned, and effective speeches that ever fell from 
 human lips. He concluded with a promise that he 
 would meet them in the log cabin in the evening. He 
 did so; and there again he made a speech, which is 
 represented by many who heard it, in whose judgment 
 we confide, to have been fully equal to his speech at 
 the Capitol, for the intellectual power it displayed, 
 and peculiarly distinguished for that faculty of high, 
 earnest and pathetic eloquence which he can so read 
 ily command. 
 
 MR. WEBSTER S SPEECH TO THE LADIES IN THE 
 
 LOG CABIN. 
 
 LADIES: I am very sure I owe the pleasure I now 
 enjoy to your kind disposition, which has given me 
 the opportunity to present my thanks and my respects 
 to you thus collectively, since the shortness of my stay 
 in the city does not allow me the happiness of calling 
 upon you severally and individually. And, in the first 
 place, I wish to express to you my deep and hearty 
 thanks, as I have endeavored to do to your fathers, your 
 husbands, and your brothers, for the unbounded hospi 
 tality I have received ever since I came among you. 
 It is registered, I assure you, on a grateful heart in 
 chapters of an enduring nature. The rough contests 
 of the political world are not suited to the dignity and 
 to the delicacy of your sex; but you possess the intel 
 ligence to know how much of that happiness which 
 you are entitled to hope for, both for yourselves and 
 for your children, depends on the right administration 
 of good government, and a proper tone of public 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 337 
 
 morals. That is a subject on which the moral percep 
 tions of woman are both quicker and juster than those 
 of the other sex. I do not now speak of the adminis 
 tration of government whose object is merely the 
 protection of industry, the preservation of civil liberty 
 and the securing of enterprise its due reward. I speak 
 of government in a somewhat higher point of view. 
 We live in an age distinguished for great benevolent 
 exertion, in which the affluent are consecrating the 
 means they possess by endowing colleges and acad 
 emies, by uniting to build churches and support the 
 cause of religion, and by establishing athenaeums, ly- 
 ceums, and all other modes of popular instruction. 
 This is all well; it is admirable; it augurs well for the 
 prospect of ensuing generations. But I have some 
 times thought that there is a point of view in which gov 
 ernment is to be considered; I mean in its power and 
 its duty to augment the morals of the community and 
 to inspire it with just sentiments of religion, which is 
 too often overlooked. 
 
 A popular government is more powerful than any 
 other influence (and I have sometimes feared than all 
 other influences put together) in its action on the mor 
 als of the community for good or for evil. Its example, 
 its tone, whether of respect or of disrespect to moral ob 
 ligation, is most important to human happiness, because 
 it is among those things which most affect the political 
 morals of mankind, and hence their general morals 
 also. I advert to this, because there has been put forth 
 in modern times the false maxim that there is one mor 
 ality for politics and another morality for other things; 
 that in their political conduct to their opponents men 
 may say and do that which they would never think of 
 saying or doing in the personal relations of a private 
 life. There has been openly announced a maxim 
 which I consider as the very concrete of false morality, 
 which declares that "all is fair in politics." If a man 
 speaks falsely or calumniously of his neighbor and is 
 reproached for the offense, the ready excuse is this: It 
 was in relation to public and political matters; I cher 
 ished no personal ill-will whatever against that indi- 
 
33$ Reminiscences of the 
 
 vidual, but quite the contrary; 1 spoke of my adver 
 sary merely as a political man. In my opinion the day 
 is coming when falsehood will stand for falsehood and 
 calumny will be treated as a breach of the commandment, 
 whether it be committed politically or in the concerns 
 of private life. It is by the promulgation of sound 
 morals in the community, and more especially by the 
 training and instructions of the young that woman per 
 forms her part towards the preservation of a free gov 
 ernment. It is now generally admitted that public 
 liberty, the perpetuity of a free constitution, rests on 
 the virtue and intelligence of the community which en 
 joys it. How is that virtue to be inspired, and how is 
 that intelligence to be communicated? Bonaparte once 
 asked Madam De Stael in what manner he could most 
 promote the happiness of France. Her reply was full 
 of political wisdom. She said, * Instruct the mothers 
 of the French people." Because the mothers are 
 the affectionate and effective teachers of the human 
 race. 
 
 The mother begins this process of training with the 
 infant in her arms. It is she who directs, so to speak, 
 its first mental and spiritual pulsations. She conducts 
 it along the impressible years of childhood and of youth; 
 and hopes to deliver it to the rough contests and tumul 
 tuous scenes of life, armed by those good principles 
 which her child has first received from maternal care 
 and love. 
 
 If we draw within the circle of our contemplation 
 the mothers of a civilized nation, what do we see ? 
 We behold so many artificers working, not on frail and 
 perishable matter, but on the immortal mind, molding 
 and fashioning beings who are to exist forever. We 
 applaud the artist whose skill and genius present the 
 mimic man upon the canvas; we admire and celebrate 
 the sculptor who works out that same image in endur 
 ing marble; but how insignificant are these achieve 
 ments, though the highest and fairest in all the depart 
 ments of art, in comparison with the great vocation 
 of human mothers. They work not upon the canvas 
 that shall fail, or the marble that shall crumble into 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 339 
 
 dust; but upon mind, upon spirit which is to last 
 forever, and which is to bear, for good or for evil, 
 throughout its duration, the impress of a mother s plas 
 tic hand. 
 
 I have already expressed the opinion, which all 
 allow to be correct, that our security for the duration 
 of the free institutions which bless our country depends 
 upon the habits of virtue and the prevalence of knowl 
 edge and of education. The feelings are to be disci 
 plined, the passions are to be restrained, true and 
 worthy motives are to be inspired, a profound relig 
 ious feeling is to be instilled, and pure morality incul 
 cated under all circumstances. All this is comprised 
 in education. Mothers who are faithful to this great 
 duty will tell their children that neither in political nor 
 in any other concerns of life can man ever withdraw 
 himself from the perpetual obligations of conscience 
 and of duty; that in every act, whether public or private, 
 he incurs a just responsibility, and that in no condition 
 is he warranted in trifling with important rights and 
 obligations. They will impress upon their children 
 the truth, that the exercise of the elective franchise is 
 a social duty of as solemn a nature as man can be 
 called to perform; that a man may not innocently trifle 
 with his vote, that every true elector is a trustee as 
 well for others as himself, and that every man and 
 every measure he supports has an important bearing 
 on the interests of others as well as his own. It is in 
 the inculcation of high and pure morals such as these 
 that in a free republic woman performs her sacred 
 duty and fulfills her destiny The French, as you know, 
 are remarkable for their fondness of sententious 
 phrases, in which much meaning is condensed into a 
 small space. I noticed lately on the title page of one 
 of the books of popular instruction in France, this 
 motto: "Pour instruction on the heads of the people; 
 you owe them that baptism." And certainly, if there 
 be any duty which may be described by a reference to 
 that great institute of religion, a duty approaching it 
 in importance, perhaps next to it in obligation, it is 
 this. 
 
340 Reminiscences of the 
 
 I know you hardly expect me to address you on the 
 popular political topics of the day. You read enough 
 you hear quite enough on those subjects. You ex 
 pect me only to meet you and to tender my profound 
 thanks for this marked proof of your regard, and will 
 kindly receive the assurances with which I tender 
 to you, on parting, my affectionate respects and best 
 wishes. 
 
 MEETING AT AUBURN, N. Y. 
 
 HON. WILLIAM C. RIVES, OF VIRGINIA, AND HON. 
 HUGH S. LEGARE, OF SOUTH CAROLINA, ELO- 
 OJJENTLY ADDRESS THE PEOPLE OF NEW YORK, 
 AT AUBURN, ON THE 5 OF OCTOBER. 
 
 The following is the notice of the organization of the 
 convention: 
 
 At 1 1 o clock on Thursday morning, the convention 
 met at the Baptist chapel. General Tallmadge was 
 appointed president pro tern.; Mr. Romeyn, of Ulster 
 county, made a good and appropriate speech, pointing 
 out the propriety and beauty of the attendance of ladies 
 at these meetings. Gen. Pierre Van Cortlandt (one 
 of Jefferson s electors) was chosen president of the 
 convention, and the meeting adjourned to a good din 
 ner at the American hotel, which was washed down 
 with champagne, and the convention met again on the 
 green in front of the Theological Seminary, at half 
 past one. 
 
 This seminary is situated at one extremity of the vil 
 lage on a beautiful knoll of rising ground, with a very 
 large green before it. At the extremity of the green, 
 and facing the college, a large platform was erected 
 for the Revolutionary soldiers (many of whom were 
 there), the officers of the meeting, the speakers and the 
 reporters. About forty long benches were constructed 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 341 
 
 out of rough planks for the ladies, all of which were 
 filled with some of the most lovely women in the coun 
 try. All the trees around the green were filled, and in 
 every window of the college there were dozens of 
 young ladies, all anxious to see and to hear Mr. Rives 
 and Mr. Legare. There must have been, at half past 
 one o clock, not less than 5,000 persons present. 
 
 GEN. VAN CORTLANDT. 
 
 We have assembled to discuss those principles of 
 government principles which have been subverted to 
 the purposes of the present administration. We have 
 assembled as our Revolutionary fathers did, to discuss 
 the merits of the stamp act and tea tax; and have as 
 sembled to present these principles of our faith which 
 should be held sacred and I have risen here to present 
 to vou our distinguished fellow-citizens from another 
 State. 
 
 We have seen the effect of some of the measures of 
 the administration at Washington, and it is high time, 
 my fellow-citizens, that the Augean stable there was 
 cleansed. Augean, King of Elis, you know, kept a 
 large number of oxen for nine years in his stable with 
 out having it cleaned out; and it was one of the labors 
 of Hercules to cleanse it. The Augean stable at Wash 
 ington has had a number of animals in it for nearly 
 twelve years, without being cleaned out. [Laughter.] 
 Hercules performed his immense task by turning the 
 river Alpheus through it, and thus cleansed it through. 
 Now, we ll turn the great current of public opinion 
 (that is rushing all over the land) through the Augean 
 stable at Washington; and we ll not only clear out the 
 litter and filth, but we ll clear out the cattle along with 
 it. [Immense cheering and laughter.] 
 
 But I have not risen to speak, but to introduce to 
 you a man who stood up for the defense of his coun 
 try, in the very worst of times, in the times that tried 
 men s souls. [Loud cheering.] I have risen to intro 
 duce to you that noblest work of God, an honest man. 
 [Cheers.] One who stood up in his place on the floor 
 of the Senate and declared in the presence of the min- 
 
34 2 Reminiscences of the 
 
 ions of executive power, that he had a country to serve 
 as well as a party to obey ! [Immense cheering.] I 
 have the honor to introduce to you the Hon. William 
 C. Rives, of Virginia, 
 
 Here a voice in the crowd called out, "Nine cheers 
 for old Virginia, " and nine cheers were given. 
 
 The Hon. W. C. Rives then came forward and was 
 received with tumultuous shouts of welcome. 
 
 He spoke for two hours, and his remarks stirred the 
 hearts of the people to their inmost depths. Then 
 came Legare and others, thrilling the hearts of the 
 people by their eloquence. 
 
 HARRISON AT LANCASTER, OHIO. 
 
 General Harrison spoke at Lancaster, Ohio, on the 
 2 ist of October, to an immense concourse, large num 
 bers of whom were foreign born, and his attention being 
 called to a report extensively circulated by his enemies 
 that he was unfriendly to immigrants from the Old 
 World, and unwilling that they should enjoy the privi 
 leges of citizens, he replied to the charge in the follow 
 ing eloquent words: 
 
 " I am accused, fellow-citizens, of entertaining un 
 friendly feelings towards foreigners who emigrate to 
 this country with a view of becoming citizens, and of 
 a design to throw obstructions in the way of their 
 naturalization. Nothing can be more false than this 
 charge. Indeed, it has become the custom of my polit 
 ical opponents to ascribe to me opinions and feelings 
 the very reverse of those that I entertain, and, without 
 a shadow of proof, on their naked, unsupported asser 
 tion put me upon my defense. What, my fellow-citi 
 zens, can be more cruel and unjust than this? I have 
 been more than forty years before my country, most 
 of the time engaged in active public service; and my 
 votes, and my speeches which are upon record and be- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 343 
 
 fore the public, are a true index to my opinions on this 
 as well as other important subjects. And if those who 
 thus accuse me will point to a single vote, or any ex 
 pression of mine, which can in the least support their 
 assertion, then I will agree that I am bound to come 
 forward and explain or admit its truth. But they can 
 not do this. No such vote was ever given by me, and 
 no such opinion ever expressed. On the contrary,! have 
 ever felt the warmest sympathy for the victims of ty 
 ranny and oppression in the Old World who have fled 
 here for refuge, and I have, on all occasions, given my 
 support, whether in the national councils or as a private 
 citizen, to all the laws which have been passed to 
 render their condition better or their naturalization 
 more easy. Nay, more: I have, on several special oc 
 casions, lent my aid to bands of oppressed foreigners 
 exiled from their homes, when the general laws of our 
 country were not effectual for their relief. 
 
 "When Ireland was crushed in the attempt to throw 
 off the British yoke, and when her enthusiastic sons, 
 the united Irishmen, were defeated and driven into ex 
 ile, and as exiles sought our shore they came poor and 
 without a home I was one who sympathized in their 
 sufferings, and advocated a law for their relief a law 
 setting apart to them a tract of land sufficient for their 
 wants, to be given them on long credit and on most 
 moderate terms. I advocated, too, a like grant of land 
 to the French exiles, on which they proposed to culti 
 vate the vine and olive. In short, whether in or out 
 of public station, I have always done whatsoever was 
 in mv power to relieve the burdens and add to the 
 comforts of the foreign emigrant and where I could 
 not serve them more efficiently, I have given them my 
 counsel and my sympathy, and they have rewarded 
 me with the strongest marks of their gratitude and af 
 fection. 
 
 u ln the last struggle of Poland for liberty, and in the 
 last battle fought under the walls of Warsaw, in which 
 the fate of that gallant nation was sealed, there was an 
 eminence immediately under the walls, obstinately con 
 tested, and three times lost and won by the contend- 
 
3J4 Reminiscences of the 
 
 ing armies. The spot was overgrown with small alder 
 shrubs, and every bush was steeped in the blood of 
 the patriot Poles. When the contest was over, and 
 Poland had sunk into a Russian province, her people, 
 who mingle a stiong degree of religious devotion with 
 patriotic enthusiasm, flocked to the spot to cut and pre 
 serve as holy relics those shrubs stained with the 
 blood of their countrymen, who fell as martyrs in the 
 cause of liberty and their country. 
 
 "The Russian Government, fearing the effect of this 
 feeling, ordered the hill to be cleared and the bushes 
 burned, so that no more of these relics could be pro 
 cured; hence those already gathered became, in the 
 estimation of the Poles, a treasure above all price. 
 Only one of them, perhaps, has found its way to Amer 
 ica, and that was presented to me but three days ago 
 by a delegate of the exiled Poles, as a token of their 
 gratitude for some services which I was able to render 
 them, and for the kind feelings which they knew I en 
 tertained for them and their country. It is, as you see, 
 a cross made of small stems of the alder, and beauti 
 fully wrought with silver. These unfortunate men es 
 teemed it the most precious gift they could bestow on 
 one whom they knew to be their friend, and I prize it 
 as they prized it." 
 
 IN BOSTON. 
 
 GREAT GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE AT THE NORTH 
 END. 
 
 The meeting of the Whigs of the three northern 
 wards in the Bennett street school-house, on October 
 25, was throughout a most successful affair. Although 
 no attempts were made to get any numbers together, 
 the room was thronged at an early hour, and many, in 
 the early part of the evening went away unable to 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 345 
 
 obtain an entrance. We never witnessed any public 
 assemblage that was better conducted or where there 
 was a more universal satisfaction on the part of the 
 audience. There was no attempt to arouse the passions 
 on the part of the speakers. Everything was addressed 
 to the reason alone. There was no idle and ridiculous 
 declamation and naked assertion on their part about 
 British gold, nor any sneers against the laboring classes 
 who live in "log cabins" and drink "hard cider," 
 which mark all the harangues of the hirelings of the 
 custom-house. All was as it should be, plain, sober, 
 common sense, such as the intelligent and patriotic 
 mechanics and laborers of the North End can under 
 stand and appreciate; and we were glad to see that 
 not a few of those who last year were opponents of 
 the Whigs, because they had been led by the misrepre 
 sentations of the paid partisans of the administration 
 to believe the Whigs were inimical to the interests of 
 the people, and anti-Democratic in their principles, 
 were present on this occasion, and manifested by the in 
 terest they took in the proceedings, as well as by their 
 repeated expressions of applause, that they had at 
 length found out who were the real friends of the 
 people. 
 
 The meeting was called to order by Simon W. Rob 
 inson, Esq. Hon. Nathaniel Gurney, of Ward one, was 
 appointed president; Benson Leavitt, Esq., of Ward 
 two, and David Tillson, Esq., of Ward three, vice- 
 presidents; and Richard G. Wait, Esq., and Henry L. 
 Gurney, Esq., secretaries. After the organization of 
 the meeting. Dr. T. M. Brewer offered a preamble and 
 series of resolutions, which will be found below. They 
 were received with great applause, and at the close of 
 the meeting were adopted by acclamation. 
 
 The chairman then introduced to the meeting Hon. 
 Samuel G. Goodrich, of Roxbury, who was warmly 
 and enthusiastically received, and who addressed the 
 audience about an hour in his best and happiest style. 
 He exposed in a strong light the abuses of the admin 
 istration, and displayed in the clearest colors how in 
 imical it had shown itself by all its measures to the in- 
 
346 Reminiscences of the 
 
 terests of the laboring portion of the community. The 
 operation of the sub-treasury its effects in reducing 
 wages and in lessening the value of property, while the 
 debts of the poor man were not diminished, and while 
 at the same time the wages of Van Btiren, Bancroft, 
 and the whole tribe of office-holders, were increased in 
 proportion to the fall in the price of labor and produce 
 was shown in a masterly, forcible and most convincing 
 manner. Mr. Goodrich closed his remarks amidst the 
 most urgent calls to go on, and the most evident and 
 real reluctance on the part of the audience to have him 
 stop. His remarks were interspersed with a great 
 variety of anecdotes and interesting illustrations of his 
 topics, which rendered him even more than usually en 
 tertaining. 
 
 The general doctrine that he sought to establish and 
 enforce was that of American labor. American in 
 dustry being the great source of our wealth and hap 
 piness, demands encouragement at the hands of the 
 administration. Take care of the laborer, take care of 
 the poor, and the rich will take care of themselves. 
 This, said Mr. Goodrich, is sound policy and everybody 
 can see it. When the pockets of the mass of the peo 
 ple are well lined, the dependent classes as the lawyers, 
 doctors, ministers and merchants, will do well enough. 
 Take care of the people, then. This is a first duty of 
 government; yet it has been neglected by the present 
 administration. Their measures tend to clean out the 
 poor man s pocket and put the contents into the rich 
 man s purse. The sub-treasury is a measure of con 
 spiracy against the working-classes. It reduces wages; 
 it destroys the currency ; it annihilates credit; it takes 
 out of the poor man s hands the only means of placing 
 himself on a level with the rich man; it makes the peo 
 ple without cash necessarily the servants of the rich; 
 it sacrifices the poor debtor to the rich creditor. It 
 tends to run all the business of the country into the 
 control of mere capitalists; it is a measure imported 
 from Europe and tends to reduce us to the standard of 
 Europe; it would make our w r orkmen slaves, and our 
 women drudges in the field and in the street; it would 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 347 
 
 change the whole inducement to labor, substituting the 
 fear of poverty for the hope and expectation of success 
 in life. 
 
 We have not space to notice Mr. Goodrich s remarks 
 in detail; we can only offer a sketch of a story which 
 he introduced, and which was nearly as follows: 
 
 THE MORTGAGE AND THE SUB-TREASURY. 
 
 Let us suppose a case. Of a Saturday evening a 
 mechanic of one of our Norfolk towns sits down with 
 his wife for a comfortable chat The children are all 
 in bed, the week s work is done, its cares are laid aside. 
 The husband has just returned from the Springfield 
 convention; his heart is full of Democracy. He can 
 think of nothing else, he can speak of nothing else; in 
 the fullness of his heart he calls his youngest child De 
 mocracy, and as he kisses his wife on his return, he 
 calls her Democracy also. Everything he loves is De 
 mocracy, everything he hates is Hartford convention 
 Blue Lights Federalism. 
 
 The conversation of the mechanic and his wife on 
 the occasion supposed naturally turns upon politics, 
 and the following conversation ensues: 
 
 Wife. Well, husband, you talk a great deal about 
 Democracy; now I am a woman and know nothing 
 about politics, but pray tell me what Democracy is ? 
 
 Mechanic. Why, Democracy is Democracy! 
 
 W. Indeed! who told you so? 
 
 M. Bancroft told me so. I have heard him say so 
 more than fifty times, and Hallett says so, and Rantoul 
 and Everett; they all say so. 
 
 W. Well, if they say so, it must be true. But what 
 does Democracy mean? 
 
 M. Pshaw! You women can never understand 
 politics; you have no head for it. Now I ll read to you 
 out of the Boston Post what it means. Here are the 
 resolutions of the Democratic convention, prepared at 
 Boston last fall. They were written by Brownson, or 
 some of the great guns. Here it is. "Democracy is 
 the supremacy of man over his accidents." 
 
 W. Whew! Democracy is the supremacy of man 
 
348 Reminiscences of the 
 
 over his accidents! What a critter it must be. But to 
 tell the truth I don t understand any more about De 
 mocracy than I did before; I suppose it s because I m a 
 woman. But look, here husband I want to talk 
 to you about that mortgage of Squire Graball s 
 upon the house and land. He called here while you 
 were gone and he said a part of it must be paid or he d 
 sue for it, and then the house and land would all go. 
 
 M. Why did nt you tell me of this before ? 
 W. Because your head was so full of Democracy 
 and the Springfield convention that you would nt 
 listen to me. I ve mentioned it three times, and it 
 went in at one ear and out of the other. Now, hus 
 band, I ve been thinking about the mortgage, and it 
 worries me; your wages have fallen off of late, and 
 some of the time you have no employment. When 
 your wages were a dollar and a half a day, and you 
 had full work, you could support the family well, and 
 pay a hundred dollars a year towards clearing the 
 mortgage. It was a pleasant thing to work and be 
 economical and saving when we had the prospect of 
 having a house of our own, without Squire Graball s 
 clutches upon it. Now you can hardly support the fam 
 ily, and when I ask for money you say you are run 
 ning in debt. This is a bad prospect if we are to lose 
 the house and land after all. 
 
 M. Oh, never fear, wife; times will be better soon. 
 They ve got a sub-treasury now which is to make us 
 all rich except the aristocrats. 
 
 W. I don t know about that. The times have been 
 getting worse and worse. It s four or five years since 
 you talked of having better times, and now that they 
 have really got a sub-treasury they say it is going to 
 reduce wages to fifty cents a day. 
 
 M. Well, that s true, but everything we buy is to 
 come down at the same rate. 
 
 W. And what advantage is that? Beside, some 
 people say that sugar, and tea and coffee, and spices 
 and all foreign things will be as high as ever because 
 the sub-treasury don t work in those countries where 
 these things come from. But if wages are to come 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 349 
 
 down how are you to pay the mortgage of $600 to 
 Squire Graball ? 
 
 M. How am I going to pay the mortgage ? 
 W. Yes, if your wages go down to fifty cents a day 
 how can you ever pay it ? It will cost all that you can 
 earn to support the family. 
 
 M. Well, I must sell trie cow and the garden lot. 
 W. Yes, but these have gone down half price, and 
 they won t go far towaid reducing the mortgage. 
 M. Well, I must sell the house. 
 
 W. But that has gone down half price too! so that 
 all the property you have got won t pay Squire Grab- 
 all s mortgage. We must be turned out of house and 
 home, and still you are in debt. You are a ruined man 
 if the sub-treasury goes into full operation. 
 
 M. I never thought of all this before. There s 
 something wrong somewhere. 
 
 W. There is, indeed, husband. When they made 
 the sub-treasury to reduce the poor man s wages and 
 the poor man s property, why didn t they make it re 
 duce the poor man s debt? Answer me that. When 
 they reduced a man s means of paying his debt, why 
 didn t they reduce the debt too ? 
 M. I can t say, upon my word. 
 
 W. Well, these men who made the sub-treasury, 
 pretend to be the poor man s friend; but it seems to me 
 that they are the rich man s friend, and the poor man s 
 enemy. You agree, to give Squire Graball $800 for 
 the house and land. Now you have paid $200, and 
 after you have paid $200 more he will get it back for 
 $400." So Squire Graball gets $400 out of you for 
 nothing, just because we must have a sub-treasury; 
 and you must be ruined to make him rich. Seems to 
 me, this is grinding the poor to fatten the rich. It 
 is making the poor man poorer and the rich man 
 richer. 
 
 M. Well, really, wife, all that sounds true; but Ban 
 croft and Brownson did not tell us that. 
 
 W. No, no; they didn t tell you, though they knew 
 it well. They filled your head with fantastic ideas of 
 Democracy and liberty. They blindfolded you with 
 
35 Reminiscences of the 
 
 names and words, and led you with prejudices and 
 passions. 
 
 M. But why should they deceive us ? 
 
 W. Why ? Does nt Bancroft get $6,000 a year so 
 long as Van Buren is in, and the sub-treasury sup 
 ported ? Does nt Brownson get $1,600 a year, so long 
 as his master, Van Buren, reigns ? Now, you have a 
 vote, and the voters can say who shall be President. 
 The way for Bancroft to keep his place, therefore, is to 
 throw dust in your eyes, and then he ll lead you up to 
 the ballot-box to vote for Van Buren, who supports 
 him, though he ruins you and your family. 
 
 M. Really, wife, you seem to be a politician after 
 all. 
 
 W. No, husband, I am no politician; but sometimes 
 a looker-on sees more of the game than they who play 
 it I judge of government by its effects on our home. 
 Formerly, before this cry of Democracy before these 
 Halletts, and Rantouls, and Bancrofts filled your head 
 with their humbugs, everything went well with us. 
 You were then a happy man, and I a happy wife. Our 
 children were then well fed and well clothed. Every 
 year we added a little to our furniture; if I wanted a new 
 gown you always gave it to me, and you paid $100 a 
 year to reduce the mortgage. You were industrious 
 and cheerful; your face was always pleasant to me; 
 your voice was always kind to the children. Those 
 days are gone. I mourn, husband, but I do not re 
 proach you. You have your cares and I know your 
 heart is right. But how has this change come about ? 
 M. I think I must ask you. 
 
 W. Well, then, I will tell you my opinion. I think 
 you, with too many others in the country, have been 
 grossly cheated and deceived. A set of men, who only 
 wished to enjoy power, and office, and spoils, have been 
 intrusted with the reigns of Government, and they have 
 driven us over a precipice. We only suffer with the 
 rest of the country thousands and thousands are as 
 bad off as we. 
 
 M. Well, wife, I am afraid you are right; but what 
 can I do? 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 351 
 
 W. You can do two things. The first is to forsake 
 those who have cheated you to withdraw your confi 
 dence from a set of false prophets and false guides 
 men who use you only to abuse you. 
 
 M. And what next shall I do? 
 W. First tell me whether you will do as I request? 
 
 M. I never buy a pig in a poke. Tell me what it 
 is you propose, and if it s reasonable, I ll do it. 
 W. Vote for old Tip! 
 
 M. I thought it was coming to that! Well, there s 
 no danger in trying the change. Here it goes: Hur 
 rah for Harrison and better times! 
 
 " Such, my friends," said $/Lr. Goodrich, u is my story, 
 and who will say it is not probable? Who will say 
 that the wife; whose happiness is directly and perhaps 
 fatally influenced by political measures, has no right to 
 use her influence in relation to this subject. The Bos 
 ton Post may indeed deny it, and, if wives reason it as 
 well as the heroine of our story, the Post may fear it. 
 We wonder not that men who fear the truth should 
 scoff at the influence of clear-headed and true-hearted 
 woman. You may beguile men with humbug names, 
 but woman brushes these cobwebs of delusion away 
 with common sense. She tests things by results; she 
 asks herself whether the reign of Loco Focoism makes 
 home happier; whether it brings peace to the pillow 
 and comfort to the fireside? The wives of the country 
 have been applying this test, and their decision is that 
 the humbug Democracy of your Bancrofts, and Bu 
 chanans, and Van Burens is an imposition of half- 
 wages to the working man and full salaries to the of 
 fice-holder. It is a reduction of all the wages and 
 property, and all the means of payment to the poor 
 debtor and no reduction of debts; it is a system of pre 
 tended benefit, but real ruin to the poor. It is a pre 
 tended war upon the rich, but an effective and power 
 ful promotion of their interests. It is a reverse of the 
 measures upon which our Government should be ad 
 ministered, to encourage the interests of the working 
 classes of the poor, and the rich will take care of 
 themselves. It is a system of fattening the rich at 
 
352 Reminiscences of the 
 
 the expense of ^he poor. It is not strange that such 
 injustice in the administration should make all good 
 wives good Whigs. It is not strange that Loco Foco 
 editors should try to ridicule woman out of the field 
 of political influence, where tnat influence tends to 
 substitute truth for falsehood, prosperity for ruin, the 
 reign of reason for the dominion of party, and the 
 adoption of sound and stable policy in place of juggling 
 tricks and fatal experiments. 
 
 A WET BLANKET. 
 
 Governor Lewis occasioned no little consternation 
 at the Loco Foco Poughkeepsie convention, of which 
 he was chairman, by denouncing the sub-treasury. 
 The following sketch from the Albany Evening Jour 
 nal, gives the details of the affair. The scene must 
 have been rich. 
 
 General Lewis began by saying that he felt grateful 
 for the compliment bestowed upon him; that he was an 
 old man of eighty-seven; that he had been all his life an 
 observer of public affairs and probably knew more of 
 the history of the sub-treasurers than most present; 
 that the first sub-treasurer with whose history he was 
 acquainted was Lord , under the Colonial Govern 
 ment, who turned out to be a large defaulter! [Here 
 there was much whispering on the stage, and Mr. Van- 
 derpool stepped behind] That the second was 
 [giving the name] who was also a defaulter! [Here the 
 confusion increased, and General Maison and Richard 
 D. Davis moved forward]; and that in fine, he had 
 never known but one man, and he lived next door, 
 who could settle his accounts with the Government as 
 a sub-treasurer, and he was enabled to do so only by 
 the charity of his neighbors, who brought him the gold 
 and silver in little bags as a loan, that he might seem to 
 have it to secure his reappointment, and the next day 
 it went back where it came from. That for these 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 353 
 
 reasons he had been opposed to the sub-treasury. 
 [Here the alarm and confusion on the stage became im 
 mense.] D n the old man, said D to M ; he 
 
 don t know when to stop! He ll talk all day, said 
 another; call for Wright. General Maison stepped up 
 to the speaker, and saying to the audience in an un 
 dertone (the General is very deaf) "Don t you want to 
 hear Wright?" and on their calling out forWright, he put 
 his hand on the speaker s shoulder and yelled in his 
 ear, "Don t you hear, General, they call for Wright!" 
 " I am just about giving my reasons why I think it 
 may do. If the bill makes it felony to abstract the 
 
 money," persevered the General . Mortification and 
 
 chagrin was now marked upon every countenance 
 upon the stage. " Choke him off," muttered one. " Let us 
 drown him with cheers," said Senator Maison, who 
 came to the front of the stage, and threw his cap three 
 times round his head, bawling hurrah at each swing. 
 The three cheers, however, were faint and forced; and 
 the deaf man did not hear them and was going on with 
 his reasons, etc., when Senator Maison gave the sig 
 nal for three more. These were gotten up in better 
 style, and the speaker was again reminded to give his 
 reasons. When Senator Maison gave the signal, the 
 band on the stage struck up Yankee Doodle, a grand 
 hubbub ensued, and in the midst of it Vanderpool 
 pulled the old veteran into the chair by his coat tail. 
 
 MEETINGS IN OCTOBER. 
 
 ONE FIRE MORE DEAR FRIENDS, ONCE MORE TO 
 THE BREACH. 
 
 The battle of the Thames was grandly celebrated at 
 Detroit on the 5th day of October, by the Wolverenes. 
 
 In Ohio at the county seat of each county, the Buck- 
 eves met and celebrated the battle of the Thames, on 
 the 5th, and was preparatory to two more signal vic 
 tories of old Tippecanoe. 
 
 23 
 
Reminiscences of the 
 
 On the cjthof October there were thirty-four acres of 
 people at a great Whig rally near Norris woods, about 
 three miles north of Philadelphia. They came together 
 in their strength to celebrate the anniversary of the 
 battle of the Thames, one of the most brilliant of Ameri 
 can engagements, in which the army, under Harrison s 
 command gave final peace to all the great Western ter 
 ritory which was for twenty years the field of his ardu 
 ous labor as soldier and civilian. About twenty thousand 
 people were said to have been under the management of 
 Col. C. G. Childs, chief marshal, and his numerous aides. 
 The city procession, augmented by the delegations 
 from Germantown, Frankford, Bristol, Oxford and 
 other places was huge in its proportions. Alexander 
 Ferguson presided, and gave an interesting account of 
 the fight, he having been a captain under Harrison. 
 From their stands, speaking was carried on by John 
 Sargeant, Morton McMichael, W. B. Reed and others. 
 As the crowd was in the procession returning to the 
 city the infuriated Loco Foco bullies assaulted it with 
 clubs, stones and missiles, but they were repulsed. 
 
 At Wilmington, Delaware, there was an enormous 
 crowd on the 5th of October. Doctor Naudain pre 
 sided, and the thousands were eloquently and ably ad 
 dressed by Daniel Webster, John M. Clayton and 
 Hiram Ketcham. Great was the enthusiasm created 
 by these grand orators. 
 
 The Loudon, Virginia, Whig festival on the 12th of 
 October was a splendid affair. The Leesburg Genius 
 of Liberty says the procession numbered 6,000 footmen, 
 and there was a brilliant assemblage of 1,000 ladies 
 adding life and animation to the scene. Eloquent 
 speeches were made by C. C. Washington, of Mary 
 land; L. Chillon, of Fauquier county; J. S. Pendleton 
 and others. 
 
 On the i8th of October, a great meeting was held at 
 Bridgetown, N. J., which was addressed by Senator 
 Southard, Governor Call, of Florida, and other distin 
 guished orators. 
 
 The glorious anniversary of the 9th of October was 
 grandly commemorated by noble Whigs from far and 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 355 
 
 near on the plains of Yorktown, Va., who were ad 
 dressed by electors from North Carolina, Maryland 
 and Virginia in inspiring speeches for Harrison and 
 Tvler. 
 
 COOLNESS ON THE FIELD OF BAT 
 TLE. 
 
 Connected with the movements of the Northwest 
 ern armies, in 1838 and previously, are many incidents 
 which, though too unimportant for the pages of gen 
 eral history, are nevertheless highly interesting and 
 well worthy of preservation. Some of these have 
 been related by General Tipton and other brave offi 
 cers; several are recorded in the narratives of Daw son 
 and Hall; a few may be found in the newspapers of 
 the times in which they occurred; but the greater 
 number of them dwell merely in the recollections of 
 the surviving soldiers who witnessed them. Some of 
 them display an intrepidity unsurpassed in the history 
 of warfare; others exhibit a coolness, in the moment 
 of imminent danger, indicative of the most determined 
 resolution and the most extraordinary nerve. Of this 
 latter character are the two incidents mentioned be 
 low. We find them related in a letter from Col. John 
 Speed Smith (a prominent friend of the administra 
 tion, in Kentucky) to a gentleman of this city. Colo 
 nel Smith, it will be recollected, was one of the aides 
 of General Harrison in the battle of the Thames: 
 
 The writer states that a moment before the battle 
 commenced, General Harrison rode up to a majestic 
 Seneca chief, and took his powder-horn to reprime his 
 pistols. Upon witnessing this, Lieutenant Smith asked 
 him if he expected to come in personal contact with 
 the enemy; to which the general replied that it was 
 proper to be prepared for any event; that he commanded 
 an army of better materials than Proctor s, and 
 
356 Reminiscences of the 
 
 that he was determined not to survive a defeat; add 
 ing with a smile, to Lieutenant Smith, "You had bet 
 ter fresh prime, too, as I shall expect my aides to die 
 around me!" 
 
 Whilst at the crochet, after the left wing had recov 
 ered from its momentary confusion, and was joining 
 the front, General Harrison ordered Lieutenant Smith to 
 bring down Chilles s command to support it. While 
 he was giving this order, the necks of the two horses 
 were interlocked; and some twigs of a tree above them, 
 which had gathered and retained a cluster of leaves, 
 and around which the aide had to look at his com 
 mander, were cut down by the enemy s balls. Near 
 the spot, at the same moment,- a soldier was shot 
 through the thigh, and seeing the commander-in-chief 
 as he swung arouud and fell, he cried out: " Did you 
 see that, General ? they have shot me again." 
 
 This man had been wounded the day before at the 
 bridge. General Harrison directed him to be taken 
 .back to have his wounds dressed, but finding that his 
 thigh was not broken, the brave fellow bandaged it 
 with his handkerchief to stop the bleeding, clutched up 
 his gun, swore he meant to have satisfaction, and con 
 tinued to fight. A few moments afterwards, a young 
 man dashed up to the commander, holding a scalp in 
 his hand, and sung out, "Look here, General, I ve got 
 it! My father was an old Kentucky Indian fighter, 
 and when I left home, he made me promise to bring 
 the scalp of a red skin killed by myself. And here it 
 is this is for the old man. Now I want one for my 
 self." And away he sprang in search of another 
 enemy. 
 
 These two anecdotes, Colonel Smith says, greatly 
 amused Commodore Perry, when he related them to 
 him at the close of the battle; and the gallant sailor 
 truly said that an army of such men could not be con 
 quered. And he frequently afterwards, on meeting 
 with the officers of the army, would repeat the brave 
 soldier s exclamation with great zeal, " Do you see that, 
 General? They have shot me again!" 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 357 
 
 THE LADIES IN THE CANVASS. 
 
 On the I4th of August the Whig ladies of Dover, 
 Delaware, presented the Dover Hundred Tippecanoe 
 Association a beautiful banner wrought by them. 
 Several young ladies in the West promised to marry 
 their lover provided Harrison was elected, and many 
 young men who had been Loco Focos took the stump 
 in earnest for "Tip and Ty." 
 
 The following, from the Providence Journal, is one 
 of the pleasing signs of the times. When the ladies are 
 for us, we are certain of two things, that our cause is 
 just and that it will prevail: 
 
 "The ladies of Maine are, almost without exception, 
 all Whigs. In the town of Bristol, a young girl who 
 was engaged to a young fisherman in the island of 
 Mowhegan, which is attached to that town, and who 
 was suspected of Loco Focoism, told him that she would 
 banish him from her favor unless he voted the Whig 
 ticket. The young man, who, by the way, was just 
 twenty-one, and had consequently never voted before, 
 demurred, but his lady-love was inexorable, and very 
 justly insisted that not to be a Whig in these times 
 argued either a lack of intelligence and discernment, or 
 a want of principle and true patriotism. Neither de 
 ficiency was to be overlooked by her, and he need 
 never come and see her again, therefore, if he did not 
 vote the Harrison ticket. Love and prejudice had a 
 hard contest, but the former triumphed. The young 
 man voted the entire Whig ticket, and Thorpes, the 
 Whig candidate, was chosen by one majority. The 
 damsel is surely deserving the thanks, not only of the 
 young man whom she thus saved from the sin of Loco 
 Focoism, but of every true Republican in the State." 
 From the Connecticut Courant, of August 13, i777 : 
 Williamsburg, Virginia, July 4. We hear that the 
 young ladies of Amelia county, considering the situa 
 tion of our country in particular and the United States 
 in general, have entered into a resolution not to permit 
 
358 Reminiscences of the 
 
 the addresses of any person, be his circumstances or 
 condition in life what they will, unless he has served in 
 the American Army long enough to prove by his valor 
 that he is deserving of their love." 
 
 Such were the daughters of America, when our sires 
 were struggling in the War of Independence against a 
 foreign foe*; and such the daughters of America are 
 still, and ever will be, admirers of bravery and honor, 
 and devoted to their country. We have before taken 
 notice of the enthusiasm of the fair children of our 
 land in the present contest between a people, zealous 
 of their liberty and royalty, with its stately palace, its 
 better currency, and its standing armies. We have 
 now another instance to give of their Roman virtue. 
 We learn that, at the Whig meeting in Alexandria, the 
 ladies were at the windows as the Whig procession 
 paraded the streets, encouraging them with their 
 sweet smiles, waving their handkerchiefs, and breath 
 ing the pure and grateful prayer of woman for their 
 success in the coming struggle. A few hours passed, 
 and the Loco Foco procession came in its turn. No 
 bright eye beamed upon their path; no sweet smile 
 shone upon them, but the closed blinds, and the black 
 flags, which hung from the windows where these fair 
 forms stood two hours before, showed how the good 
 and virtuous mourned o er the trampled liberties of 
 their country. 
 
 If ought on earth can toil beguile, 
 
 Tis lovely woman s cheering smile; 
 
 Its sweetest, meed, its best reward 
 
 Is smiling woman s kind regard. 
 
 EFFECT OF A NATIONAL SONG. 
 
 The last Nashville Whig contains a letter from Rog- 
 ersville, East Tennessee, which gives an account of a 
 promiscuous political meeting at Greenville, where Mr. 
 Grundy and Turney addressed the people in reply 
 to General Arnold. Grundy and Turney then ad- 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 359 
 
 journed over to this place, not expecting that Arnold 
 would be there but hear the writer in his own words: 
 
 " Well, when we arrived, say about 12 o clock, 
 Grundy was addressing some three hundred persons in 
 the large new court-house. They had no idea Arnold 
 would be here; and having invited Mr. Senter to at 
 tend and reply to them, who was sick and unable to 
 speak at all, as they well knew, just as Grundy was la 
 menting that there was no gentlemen of the opposite 
 party present to advocate the Whig cause, Arnold 
 stepped in, and making his bow to the old gentleman, 
 told him he had come in good time. Nothing was 
 more manifest than that Grundy and his whole party 
 were very much confused. On he went, however, mak 
 ing all manner of statements, for near five hours, evi 
 dently with a view to prevent a reply. He became angry 
 upon seeing Arnold enter the house, and denounced the 
 Whigs as a miserable pie-bald party, having no prin 
 ciples, but little honor, and a candidate destitute of 
 talent one, too, whom he declared they were trying 
 to elect by singing, and by the exhibition of log cabins 
 and coon-skins ! 
 
 " When he sat down, the redoubtable Colonel Mc 
 Clelland attempted to introduce Turney, but the crowd 
 called out for Arnold, long and loud, though they re 
 fused to let him speak at all. Arnold asked them for 
 one hour only for the hour they had offered his sick 
 colleague, Mr. Senter, but they refused to let him say 
 one word. The crowd then called to Arnold to go 
 with them into the street, and answer Grundy s speech, 
 which he did, and did, too, in a masterly manner leav 
 ing but sixty persons in the house, as I was told by 
 those who afterwards counted them! 
 
 u At the close of Arnold s speech, Turney having 
 been forced to close for the want of hearers, Senator 
 Anderson attempted to speak, but the Tippecanoe 
 ciub struck up a fine Harrison song, and took the 
 whole assembly from them. I never saw a set more com 
 pletely used up. Their countenances told the tale of 
 their souls, horror. I view it as the best day s work the 
 Whigs have ever done in Hawkins." 
 
360 Reminiscences of the 
 
 GOOD REASONS FOR TURNING ONE S 
 COAT. 
 
 The following dialogue from the Pilot is reproduced 
 as indicative of the feeling of the workingmen: 
 
 I was sitting at my window some evenings ago, 
 when two mechanics met each other and began to 
 talk just below me. Being pleased with the good 
 sense of their conversation, I took up my pen, and as 
 well as I can recollect, wrote it down; here it is: 
 
 "Good morning, John; have you found any work 
 yet? I have not." 
 
 "No," said John, "not one stroke; nobody s doing 
 anything." 
 
 " What," said his companion, "are things coming to, 
 if they keep on at this rate?" 
 
 " I don t know, indeed," said John, " I can t live on 
 one day s work in a week and support my family; Bill, 
 I hate to go home and see my poor children, for God 
 only knows how long it will be before they are crying 
 to me for bread; it s all owing to the currency, and our 
 rulers should better it; they have the power." 
 
 " They are going to, John." 
 
 " Yes," replied he, "and their attempts are like the 
 man who undertook to make his horse live on one 
 straw a day; his experiment went on bravely with this 
 exception, that before he had reduced him to the one 
 straw diet he was dead." 
 
 " Why, John, you talk like a Whig." 
 
 " So I am." 
 
 "You a Whig?" 
 
 "Yes, you need nt stare; the story is short; I had 
 nothing to do, so got the papers and read both sides, 
 and now I mean to go it strong for Tippecanoe." 
 
 Well ! " 
 
 "Yes, it s very well indeed." 
 
 " But, John, the boys will laugh at you and call you 
 turn-coat. " 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 361 
 
 "Let them; and those of them I can t thrash I ll try 
 to! I know my own business best, and I know who 
 is my friend; Old Tip is, and Martin Van Buren is not. 
 Tip s a brave old soldier, and AN HONEST MAN; and 
 what is still better, a working-man like myself. As 
 regards the coat, I ll tell you how it is: I got up in the 
 morning, half asleep, and put it on wrong side out, and 
 that was the Van Buren side, all threads, seams and 
 linings; when I awoke, well I, like a sensible fellow, 
 took it off, brushed it, and then put it on right. Now 
 the Tip side is out; and I consider that man a fool who 
 takes an exception at the change, but him a greater 
 fool who is ashamed to turn his coat right; but would, 
 because he put it on wrong in the morning, wear it so all 
 day." 
 
 " But, John, what s your reason ?" 
 
 "For these: Van Btiren s experiments have played 
 
 the d 1 with the currency, and I am consequently 
 
 out of work; he has, therefore, virtually taken my 
 wages from me, and I mean to charge him in my book 
 for every day I am out of work, and consider the sum 
 total so many good reasons for not voting for him. 
 When his party came into office, they found the best 
 of currencies, and I found work plenty; both are 
 gone to Davy Jones locker; he promised us a gold 
 and silver currency. Where st ? Why, here is one of 
 the ghosts of the humbug;" and he took out a shin- 
 plaster levy. 
 
 "But, John, twas the Whigs and the banks." 
 
 "Pshaw, nonsense! nobody in his senses believes 
 that. What have the Whigs to do with our financial 
 affairs? They are not at the head of the Government. 
 They were in the minority (but don t intend to be any 
 longer); but, admitting this falsehood, a party that 
 would permit a minority to do as they please with our 
 moneys, is not fit to pretend to rule, and should be 
 turned out. And, again, I should be a fool, indeed, to 
 vote for a party who goes the whole hog for reducing 
 my wages; and that, by-the-bye, I think is very useless, 
 for just let them tinker and cobble away as usual, and 
 the mechanic won t have any wages to be reduced at 
 
362 Reminiscences of the 
 
 all. And Mr. Van Buren is not the choice of the peo 
 ple; he was smuggled into the Presidential chair under 
 the old general s popularity. We want no such bastard 
 politicians foisted upon us. Let a man s own worth, 
 talents, merit and popularity, father him not another s. 
 And, again, this party has proposed and acted upon 
 this curious proposition, a small rogue s a big rogue, 
 and a big rogue is no rogue at all, he is only a de 
 faulter an absquatulator, but no rogue. Steal a five 
 dollar note and you will be sent to jail; steal (don t 
 steal, oh, no! only take) a million and a half, and you 
 are a fine fellow very much surprised you did nt take 
 more; and, in one case, they actually applied the old 
 fable of the fox and the flies to some rodguing, thiev 
 ing rascal out West." 
 
 "Well, John, I have no work to do; I will go and 
 read both sides. May be my old jacket is on wrong, 
 too; so good-bye." 
 
 "Good-bye, Bill; tell all your friends to read both 
 sides, too; " and they departed. 
 
 WILLIAM WILKINS AND THE MAN 
 UFACTURERS. 
 
 On Friday evening last, at the Porter meeting, at the 
 Exchange, William Wilkins contended that the sub- 
 treasury scheme, with cash duties on foreign products, 
 would be better for the manufacturers than the best 
 tariff. He then called by name on the Messrs. Bake- 
 wells, and other manufacturers, to express their opin 
 ions on the subject. The following is their response 
 to his call. We ask the attention of Mr. Wilkins, and 
 of our farmers, manufacturers and working men to it. 
 It gives an admirable summing up of the truth of the 
 whole matter in a very small compass. Pittsburgh 
 Gazette. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 363 
 
 To the Hon. Judge Wilkins: 
 
 SIR: Having heard that in your address from the 
 Exchange steps, on Friday evening last, you appealed 
 to our firm, amongst others, whether the sub-treasury 
 scheme, with cash payments of duties, would not be 
 better for the manufacturers than the tk best protective 
 tariff," and not doubting your desire to have every er 
 roneous impression corrected, we beg leave to observe 
 that, although the latter would, as far as it went, be 
 favorable, the operations of the former will be highly 
 injurious to them. 
 
 It will paralyze the enterprise of the manufacturer, 
 and the ingenuity of the mechanic by diminishing the 
 demand for their products. It will oppress the indus 
 trious farmer by greatly reducing the prices of his 
 produce, and it will bring down the wages of the la 
 boring man so low as to deprive him of the means of 
 obtaining many of the comforts he has been accus 
 tomed to enjoy. 
 
 Manufacturers flourish best when the farmer, the 
 mechanic and the working man are doing well! 
 
 In no country with which we are acquainted, possess 
 ing only a metallic currency, does labor meet its just 
 reward; and the inevitable tendency of the sub-treas 
 ury law is to bring into operation the anti-Democratic 
 principle of making the "poor poorer and the rich 
 richer;" and is totally opposed to that of "promoting 
 the greatest good to the greatest number." 
 
 We remain, sir, respectfully yours, 
 
 August 16, 1840. BAKEWELLS & Co. 
 
 INCIDENTS AND HUMOROUS FACTS 
 WORTH REMEMBERING. 
 
 Mr. Webster, at the great log-cabin gathering in Ver 
 mont, was introduced to a member of the Boston Tea 
 Party, an old veteran, 94 years of age, who pushed the 
 
364 Reminiscences of the 
 
 tea from the gunwale of the ship into the water. Mr. 
 Webster, on his return to Brattleboro, called on the 
 hero at his dwelling among the mountains in July, 1840, 
 and he avowed himself ready to push Matty Van Buren 
 from the gunwale of our national ship into the briny 
 deep. 
 
 NO CROWING. 
 
 We are sorry to hear that the very Chapman who re 
 ceived orders to crow is "cooped up," his comb cut 
 and his gaffs off, for the Indianapolis Journal, of July 
 4, said, " Chapman, the Loco Foco editor of the Wa- 
 bash Enquirer, stands indicted in the court of Vigo 
 county for perjury." 
 
 FEDERAL OUTRAGE. 
 
 Three students of Dartmouth college, New Hamp 
 shire, have been expelled from that institution, and 
 seventeen fined $3 each for attending a Harrison con 
 vention. 
 
 At Dayton, Ohio, at the great convention in a log 
 cabin, was a live wolf with a sheep-skin on him, labeled 
 u Van Buren." 
 
 Another picture, Van Buren running down hill, his 
 locks and coat-tail streaming in the wind and a barrel 
 of hard cider rolling after him; he was crying out, 
 "Stop that barrel." 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY ARMY. 
 
 We find the following in an old Vermont paper: 
 The number of regulars furnished to the Revolution 
 ary army were, by New England, 147,441; by the 
 Middle States, 56,571; by the Southern States, 56,997. 
 It appears by the above that New England, consisting 
 of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and 
 Connecticut, furnished more troops for the defense of 
 the country than the other nine States by 3,872. The 
 number of troops furnished by South Carolina was 
 6,448; Massachusetts, 67,907; Georgia, 2,697; Connecti 
 cut, 31,939. 
 
 Wm. L. Crandell, editor of the Onondaga, N. Y., 
 Standard, publicly asserted in a speech at Brockway s, 
 in the town of Camillus, that " with the sub-treasury 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 365 
 
 in full operation, the farmer could hire ten men to 
 labor for the sum that he now has to pay five." 
 
 FACTS TO BE REMEMBERED. 
 
 That four votes, given in the Fifth ward of New 
 York, made Thomas Jefferson President of the United 
 States. 
 
 That one vote made Marcus Morton Governor of 
 Massachusetts in 1839. 
 
 That six votes, given in the Fourteenth ward of 
 New York, in 1837, gave the Whig party the majority 
 in the common council. 
 
 That in 1839 a merchant from the Eighth Senatorial 
 district of New York, being in the city on business, 
 returned home to vote, by which the Whigs elected a 
 State senator. 
 
 At a loafers meeting on the island opposite Wheel 
 ing, Va., on the loth of August, Richard M. Johnson 
 was one of the speakers, and upon being asked 
 whether General Harrison was a coward, he replied: 
 "You might as well ask me whether I was a coward, 
 for in the battle of the Thames there were no cowards 
 every man did his duty from the general down. " He 
 also said he never heard his bravery questioned until 
 the present canvass. 
 
 An anecdote illustrating an important fact is the fol 
 lowing : Mr Williams, the State senator, was address 
 ing a meeting at Alexandria, Westmoreland county, 
 and remarked that on the administration side the con 
 test was maintained by office-holders, and that without 
 their opposition Harrison would be elected by uni 
 versal acclamation. Some one in the crowd ex 
 claimed : "That s not true !" Mr. Williams promptly 
 replied, "I know that voice; it is the voice of Mr. 
 Moorhead, our postmaster at Pittsburg, and this is an 
 other evidence of the truth of my remarks." 
 
 Log-cabin carpets were brought into use, and ink 
 stands, cane heads and quilts and various other em 
 blems and devices were to be met with in the homes of 
 Harrison men in all the States. 
 
 The Louisville Journal states that Capt. John Fow- 
 
366 Reminiscences of tfie 
 
 ler, who certifies that, in 1798-99, General Harrison 
 wore the black cockade, presided at a public dinner in 
 Lexington, in November, 1813, at which, among toasts 
 to Jefferson, Shelby, Colonel Johnson, etc, the follow 
 ing was drank to Harrison: 
 
 "The commander-in-chief of the Northwestern 
 Army; the favorite son of the Western country." 
 
 On one of the steamboats going from New York to 
 Albany, on July 3, a party of office-holders were 
 drinking toasts to Mr. Van Buren and the administra 
 tion, and called upon an Irishman who was present 
 for his toast with the promptness characteristic of his 
 native isle, he said: 
 
 " Here s to our fathers and mothers, 
 
 Likewise to ould Ireland too; 
 Down with Martin Van Buren, 
 And up with Old Tippecanoe." 
 
 GEN. HARRISON S REPLY TO POIN- 
 DEXTER. 
 
 ELOQUENCE OF THE OLD TIPPECANOE CHIEF -EX 
 TRACT FROM GENERAL HARRISON S REMARKS IN 
 THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON THE SEM- 
 INOLE WAR. 
 
 No public man seemed ever to have been so much 
 underestimated as General Harrison. At least no 
 one s abilities have been so assailed by his adversaries. 
 There never has been a candidate who was so often 
 called upon for expositions of his nerve. No one has 
 so frankly, freely and fully given his opinions in 
 letters and speeches, as these pages will bear witness. 
 His letters were plain and direct, his speeches practical 
 and to the point, and elicited unbounded applause. 
 Notwithstanding his life from boyhood had been upon 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 367 
 
 the frontier, and much of the time in the army, yet he 
 had read much and possessed a well cultivated mind 
 and retentive memory. He had read and thoroughly 
 studied ancient history, and seemed to have in great 
 part regulated his conduct by illustrious examples in 
 Grecian and Roman history. His allusions were ever 
 apt, and his sentiments appropriate. Where will any 
 thing more excellent be found than the following 
 extract from his reply to Governor Poindexter, on the 
 subject of General Jackson s invasion of Florida. It 
 is well worthy of preservation a mong the gems of 
 eloquence by Amercan statesmen: 
 
 "A Republican Government should make no dis 
 tinctions between men, and should never relax its 
 maxims of security for any individual, however dis 
 tinguished. No man should be allowed to say that he 
 could do that with impunity which another could not 
 do. If the father of his country were alive and in the 
 administration of the Government, and had authorized 
 the taking of the Spanish posts, I would declare my 
 disapprobation of it as readily as I do now. Nay, 
 more, because the more distinguished the individual, 
 the more salutary the example. No one can tell how 
 soon such an example would be beneficial. General 
 Jackson will be faithful to his country; but I recollect 
 that the virtues and patriotism of Fabio and Scipio 
 were soon followed by the crimes of Marius and the 
 usurpation of Sylla. I am sure, sir, that it is not the in 
 tention of any gentleman upon this floor to rob Gen 
 eral Jackson of a single ray of glory, much less to 
 wound his feelings or injure his reputation. And, 
 while I thank my friend from Mississippi (Mr. Poin 
 dexter), in the name of those who agree with me that 
 General Jackson has done wrong, I must be permitted 
 to decline the use of the address which he has so oblig 
 ingly prepared for us, and substitute the following as 
 more consonant to our views and opinions. If the res 
 olutions pass, I would address him thus: In the per 
 formance of a sacred duty imposed by their construc 
 tion of the Constitution, the representatives of the peo 
 ple have found it necessary to disapprove a single act 
 
368 Reminiscences of the 
 
 of your brilliant career; they have done it in the full 
 conviction that the hero who has guarded her rights in 
 the field will bow with reverence to the civil institu 
 tions of his country, that he has admitted as his 
 creed that the character of the soldier can never be 
 complete without eternal deference to the character of 
 the citizen. Your country has done for you all that a 
 republic can do for the most favored of her sons. The 
 age of deification is past; it was an age of tyranny and 
 barbarism; the adoration of man should be addressed 
 to his Creator alone. You have been feasted in the 
 pritanes of the cities. Your statue shall be placed in 
 the Capitol, and your name be found in the songs of the 
 virgins. Go, gallant chief, and bear with you the grat 
 itude of your country. Go, under the full conviction 
 that, as her glory is identified with yours, she has 
 nothing more dear to her but her laws, nothing more 
 sacred but her Constitution. Even an unintentional 
 error shall be sanctified to her service. It will teach 
 posterity that the Government which could disapprove 
 the conduct of a Marcellus, will have the fortitude to 
 crush the vices of a Marius. These sentiments, sir, 
 lead to results in which all must unite. General 
 Jackson will still live in the hearts of his fellow-citi 
 zens, and the Constitution of our country will be im 
 mortal." 
 
 PEACE HATH ITS VICTORIES AS 
 WELL AS WAR. 
 
 The great Revolution was not made in peace, but 
 through storm and bloodshed; the people favoring 
 Harrison had to walk in many localities. There were 
 deeds of violence such as no other political campaign 
 in the Union had known. From the time when 
 Thomas Laughlin, the honest carpenter, marching 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 369 
 
 with the procession of Whig young men at Baltimore, 
 the 5th of May, was killed, there were hundreds of 
 supporters of Tippecanoe assaulted, battered, bruised 
 beaten, and very many killed in various parts of the 
 country. These outrageous attacks were applauded 
 unblushingly by that class of papers that believed 
 with the Globe that " rivers of blood should flow before 
 Van Buren should be removed from the executive 
 office." Blair and Kendall, with brutal indecency, in 
 solent bluster and savage bullyism, did all in their 
 power to incite desporadoism and make violence. At 
 tacks by ruffians and bullies were made upon men go 
 ing to and returning from conventions, and upon pro 
 cessions and meetings in various parts of the country. 
 Public speakers like John W. Bear, the Buckeye black 
 smith, were pelted with eggs, brickbats and stones, 
 and the man of the people the bullies sought to mur 
 der at Huntington, Pennsylvania, and other places. 
 From many accounts of like character, the following 
 extract of a letter, dated Cincinnati, October i, 1840. 
 is taken as showing the malicious and vindictive spirit 
 of the times: 
 
 A tremendous excitement prevails in the city in re 
 gard to a disturbance which took place about an hour 
 ago (ten o clock at night). The Whigs seemingly of 
 all creation held a meeting here to-day. All places of 
 business were closed, and an immense procession, 
 which commenced in the morning at eight o clock, was 
 held. Old Tip, Governors Metcalf, Poindexter, Wick- 
 liffe, Moorehead, etc., were the speakers. This even 
 ing an. immense crowd of ladies and gentlemen assem 
 bled in front of the Huron House, where I stop. 
 While Mr. Graves, of Kentucky, was speaking from 
 the portico, the meeting was broken up by a num 
 ber of Loco Focos, and ended in a general fight. 
 Brickbats, clubs, sword-canes, bowie knives, pistols, 
 etc., were used. Several have been badly hurt, 
 some of whom have just been brought into the 
 house, and there are all sorts of reports flying. I 
 saw several pistols fired from my room window in the 
 third story. 
 
 24 
 
370 Reminiscences of the 
 
 Old Tip takes the stage for Pennsylvania to morrow 
 morning. So it is likely he will be with you before the 
 election. U. S. Gazette. 
 
 The Examiner thus describes a like outrageous 
 scene at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on the 5th of Octo 
 ber: 
 
 As usual with them for the past few weeks, the 
 Loco Focos issued a call for a meeting on Saturday even 
 ing last, knowing that we had called a meeting on the 
 same evening. Coming down East King, from the 
 place where we keep our big ball, we were met by the 
 Van Buren men; some of them threw stones and broke 
 several holes into the ball, and came near hitting the 
 boy inside! Our friends passed on, determined to suf 
 fer rather than resent the outrage. Returning from 
 the place of meeting, the same outrage was attempted 
 to be repeated; but was prevented by one of our 
 friends. After the ball was put away our procession 
 was dismissed in front of Levi Swope s (late Sharp s) 
 tavern; some few went into the tavern, but the greater 
 number returned to their homes. After this, a num 
 ber of Van Buren bullies, headed by John Boot, 
 George Huffnagle, Neal Donnelly, Cooney Plitt, Bill 
 
 Haines, Fraley and others, armed with clubs, 
 
 stones, pistols, etc., rushed into the house, and, before 
 our friends were aware of their object, beat and bruised 
 several of our most worthy citizens. Our friends ral 
 lied and put them out of the house, when they com 
 menced throwing stones through the door and win 
 dows, injuring several persons inside, and shattering 
 the door and windows to pieces! The sheriff inter 
 fered, but was also knocked down ! The mayor was 
 prevailed upon to restore order, but complied in such 
 a manner as to create dissatisfaction among some of 
 those who assisted him, time after time, into his pres 
 ent office ! It is said, he even declared on the ground 
 that the Whigs should never be suffered to obtain the 
 ascendency in this city ! If this be true, is it not sec 
 onding the declaration of Reah Frazer, that " the 
 Democrats should maintain their ascendency, even 
 if they had to do it at the point of a bayonet ! " 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 371 
 
 Order was at length restored, but several of our 
 friends were afterwards waylaid and beaten on their 
 return home ! 
 
 The National Gazette, of Philadelphia, speaking of 
 the attacks upon the procession of October 5, when 
 it was passing through the northern part of the city, and 
 was broken in upon by gangs of Van Buren roughs 
 and bullies, says: "They cannot see an assembly of 
 their political opponents without commencing an as 
 sault upon it. And their conduct, instigated by the 
 spirit of their journals, is then palliated or justified by 
 the same authorities. We speak of what we know. 
 We witnessed on Monday several unprovoked sallies 
 by Van Buren pugilists upon persons in the Whig 
 procession. We saw missiles thrown, and a banner 
 dragged from the hands of a bearer, which has simply 
 this inscription: One Presidential Term and No Sub- 
 Treasury, certainly nothing to give just offense. That 
 was just what they were mad at. They could not bare 
 the thought that their party should be routed from 
 power. The Democratic party are always opposed to 
 going out of office, while to get in they may profess to 
 be in favor of one term. No sooner does their 
 President become seated than he begins wise working 
 and manipulating for another term." 
 
 This book could be filled with accounts of mobocratic 
 acts of Loco Foco ruffians in Virginia, Kentucky, 
 Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana and other States, 
 where, by inaugurating a reign of terror, they tried to 
 intimidate men and prevent them from voting. The 
 old veterans in Ohio will remember the assaults upon 
 their processions and the meetings in Jefferson, Lick 
 ing, Fairfield, Knox, Richland, and other counties. 
 The writer of these reminiscences has been on the 
 speakers stand, with others, pelted with eggs, in pro 
 cession dragged from his horse, and has personally 
 witnessed wanton and unprovoked attacks upon car 
 riages and wagons filled with men, women and chil 
 dren, driving in processions or going home from con 
 ventions. Nearly every town of size had its bullies 
 and beastly ruffians, who, ready to do the bidding of ad- 
 
37 2 Reminiscences of the 
 
 ministration leaders, set upon and grievously hurt 
 their fellow -citizens, who dared to exercise the rights 
 of freemen. By domineering and brute force they en 
 deavored to maintain their ascendency. But, unfor 
 tunately for them, the followers of Harrison were of 
 sterner stuff than to yield. They remembered their 
 gallant leader s words: "The people can do their own 
 voting as well as their own fighting." They stood up 
 manfully for their rights and privileges as American 
 citizens, and another victory was scored for " Old Tip- 
 pecanoe." 
 
 THE GRAND TRIUMPH. 
 
 HARRISON S CREED APPROVED "BY THE PEOPLE 
 REFLECTIONS AND GENERAL SUMMING UP. 
 
 It will be seen from the foregoing that General Harri 
 son s canvass was hotly contested. He was the sub 
 ject of more misrepresentation than any candidate in 
 the history of the country. He was catechised from 
 all sections and by all manner of men. His answers 
 were plain and were models of epistolary correspond 
 ence. Plis views were presented upon slavery, duel 
 ing, immigration, treatment of the Indians, and other 
 questions of moral and political character. His letters 
 of acceptance and to Hon. John MacPherson Berrier, 
 of Georgia, Thomas Sloo, Jr., of Louisiana, Sherrod 
 Williams, Mr. Owen, Harmor Denny and various 
 others, were republished in all the papers of the United 
 States. 
 
 His creed, briefly summed up was as follows: 
 
 To serve one term and to be President of the United 
 States, and not of a party. 
 
 To communicate to Congress the affairs of the 
 nation truly. 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 373 
 
 That Congress shall make the laws, and not the 
 President. 
 
 To use the veto power but seldom, and then only for 
 the preservation of the Constitution. 
 
 That Congress had no right to interfere with slavery 
 in any way. 
 
 That right is reserved to the States where slavery 
 exists. 
 
 That no man shall be appointed to office but such as 
 is known to be capable and honest. 
 
 No man shall be dismissed from office without 
 proper reasons being given. 
 
 That office-holders shall not interfere in elections. 
 
 That the people s money shall be under the immedi 
 ate control of Congress, and not to be kept in boxes, 
 to be Swartwouted whenever the sub-treasury may 
 deem necessary. 
 
 The protection of American labor by the Clay tariff. 
 
 The rights of the people. 
 
 The freedom and purity of elections. 
 
 The people had faith in Harrison and believed in the 
 principles he avowed. They elected him by an over 
 whelming majority of the electoral and popular votes. 
 Scarcely a county in the United States increased its 
 Democratic majority. Van Buren Democracy was 
 routed "horse, foot and dragoons," and the people 
 were victorious. The result proving that 
 
 " Easier were it 
 
 To hurl the rooted mountain from its base, 
 Than to force the yoke of slavery upon men 
 Determined to be free." 
 
 This is the moral to be impressed upon the mind. 
 The many thousands of meetings throughout the Union 
 we could not mention, nor the names of all the gal 
 lant speakers and workers in the great campaign. 
 Those given are simply as samples illustrative of the 
 way the work was done. Every man did his duty, 
 and nobly, too. As to the effect of the cyclone upon 
 the opposition, we will let the oldest Democratic editor 
 of Ohio, Hon. Lecky Harper, of the Democratic Ban- 
 
374 Reminiscences of the 
 
 ner, tell how it struck him, by extracting from his 
 communication to the Graphic: 
 
 The campaign opened at Columbus on the 22d of 
 February, 1840, when the greatest mass-meeting ever 
 witnessed in this country took place, to which the 
 writer was an eye-witness. Being then engaged as a 
 legislative reporter on Medary s Statesman, I was de 
 tailed, with others, to write up the grand pageant. 
 But no imagination could paint and no pen could de 
 scribe it. The fifty thousand or more people who drop 
 ped into Columbus on that memorable morning, came 
 from every nook and corner in the State. They came in 
 log cabins, dressed as old pioneers; and coon-skins and 
 gourds, and barrels of good old hard cider, were con 
 spicuous objects inside and outside of every cabin. 
 Some of these cabins were fifty feet long, and were 
 fitted up like boarding-houses, with cooking and sleep 
 ing apartments, and were drawn by ten or twenty 
 horses, and each horse carried a rider, dressed to suit 
 the momentous occasion. There was no organization 
 and no speaking to amount to anything, the whole day 
 being taken up in marching, hurrahing and singing. 
 It was this singing that did the work. Some of the 
 songs I shall never forget. They rang in my ears 
 wherever I went, morning, noon and night, during the 
 whole of that campaign. Men, women and children 
 did nothing but sing. It worried, annoyed, dumb 
 founded, crushed the Democrats, but there was no use 
 trving to escape. It was a ceaseless torrent of music; 
 still beginning, never ending. If a Democrat tried to 
 speak, argue, or answer anything that was said or done, 
 he was only saluted with a fresh deluge of music. If a 
 Democrat would say that John Tyler was no Whig, 
 the Whigs would join in a derisive laugh and a song, 
 which ended with the chorus: 
 
 And we ll vote for Tyler, therefore, 
 Without a why or wherefore. 
 
 "When compelled to listen to such arguments, many 
 of the old hard-shell Democrats would become angry; 
 but this only pleased the Whigs, and they rubbed it 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 375 
 
 in the harder. The most popular song of the day 
 was one about Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, one verse 
 of which I shall quote from memory: 
 
 Oh, what has caused this great commotion, motion, mo 
 tion, the country through ? 
 It is the ball a rollin on 
 
 For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, 
 For Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, 
 And with them we ll beat little Van. 
 Van, Van, Van is a used up man, 
 And with them we ll beat little Van. 
 
 " Well, the bawl, that was thus started at Columbus, 
 kept rollin on all over the country. Van Buren 
 was badly beaten, and Harrison and Tyler were 
 elected by an overwhelming majority of the popular 
 as well as the electoral vote of the country." 
 
 Was it not burning as with a red hot iron when 
 Whig songs were so riveted upon the mind of hard 
 shell Democrats, that they can correctly " quote from 
 memory," that which was" so distasteful after a lapse of 
 forty-eight years ? When men, women, and children 
 did nothing but sing, our hoary-headed old friend, under 
 the inspiration, joined the choir. The writer can 
 remember of many wives and daughters of Demo 
 crats joining in the singing, and how mad the husbands 
 and fathers were, and what fantastic tricks some of 
 them cut in their rage, and all to no purpose; the sing 
 ing still went on. We know of daughters being locked 
 up to prevent their singing Whig songs, and of 
 their company being unceremoniously turned out of 
 houses to which they had been invited by irate parents. 
 And among those who flew into such passion were 
 many of the most prominent and respectable Demo 
 crats of the country. It has seemed strange to us 
 that nothing should in all these years have been written 
 to perpetuate the incidents of 1840, when the whole 
 people may be said to have gone wild for Tippecanoe. 
 We have collected by considerable effort many of the 
 best songs of the campaign. Some of them are of a 
 high order of merit, descriptive of the men and times. 
 In eloquence they have never been equaled in any 
 
Political Campaign of 1840. 
 
 subsequent campaign. Well might A. Fletcher say: 
 " G.ve me the making of the ballads of a nation, and 
 I care not who makes the laws." 
 
 This work is done. With all its imperfections, and 
 they are many, it goes forth to awaken old memories. 
 It has been prepared and compiled while in much suf 
 fering from " poison oak," and a virulent attack from 
 coming under the influence of the cursed ivy that is 
 foolishly let grow upon walls and in yards as an adorn 
 ment, has put us to bed and closed our eyes so that 
 we could give no attention to copy or reading proof. 
 Harrison and Tyler, Van Buren and Johnson, and 
 nearly all their supporters have been consigned to the 
 tomb, and over their ashes a new generation busily 
 moves on to other contests of rivals for popular honors. 
 
 "Now is the stately column broke, 
 The beacon light is quenched in smoke; 
 The trumpet s silver sound is still, 
 The warder silent on the hill." 
 
T1PPECANOE SONGS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LOG CABIN BOYS AND GIRLS 
 
 OF 1840. 
 
 KDITKD BV 
 
 A. B. NORTON, 
 
 A. B. NORTON & CO.: 
 MOUNT VERXON, O., AXD DALLAS, TEXAS. 
 
 1888. 
 
Copyright, 1888, 
 H v A. . B . NORTON, 
 
 All Rights Reserved. 
 
 it*ir Pig. \ Lilh 
 AKRON, O. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 songs waked the people up in 1840, and 
 played a very important part in the great 
 Revolution. In the cabins, upon the roads, in 
 the towns and cities, everywhere, sweet voices 
 were singing the songs for u Tippecanoe and 
 Tyler too." Those in this book have been col 
 lected from all portions of the Union, and were 
 the most popular in the days of log cabins, 
 hard cider and coons. The Whigs sang them 
 loudly. Every Harrison man loved a good sono\} 
 
 " The songs of old, they come to us, and take possession 
 
 of our heart; 
 The words are rude, the measure strange, devoid of orna 
 
 ment or art, 
 And yet they touch a deeper depth bring warmer tears 
 
 to fill the eves 
 And hold a sweeter, stronger charm than finer songs in 
 
 finer guise. 
 
 "These Old Tippecanoe songs were made by men who 
 
 knew the midnight foe; 
 Who caught the arrow on the shield, and swung the 
 
 sharp sword s fatal blow; 
 Who held the helm of rolling ship, and steered their 
 
 course by ice cliffs bare; 
 Who hunted wolves upon the hills or fronted lions in 
 
 their lair. 
 
4 Preface. 
 
 And some were writ by women whose white hands were 
 
 wet with salt tears rain, 
 Keeping a drear sad watch at home for those that never 
 
 came again; 
 Who broke their hearts in dungeons deep of gloomy 
 
 castles closely pent, 
 Or withered slow in foreign lands, doomed to a life-long 
 
 banishment. 
 
 " And those old songs have in them now the spirit of the 
 
 writers days: 
 Each word a well of their old life which rises as the tune 
 
 we raise; 
 And lo! there flows from them to us the feeling, be it stern 
 
 or sweet, 
 And with its added volume makes our smaller, shallower 
 
 lives complete." 
 
TIPPECANOE SONGS. 
 
 WHIG SONG. 
 TUNE, "Marseillaise Hymn" 
 
 Rise! rise! ye freemen! Once twas glory 
 
 For man t oppose a tyrant s power, 
 And who resisted lived in story. 
 
 Oh, seize, then, seize the present hour! 
 Say, shall we slumber, while around us 
 
 Oppression s galling chains are cast? 
 
 Say, will they lighter hang at last, 
 To call them gold when they have bound us? 
 
 No, no! no, no! Then rise 
 For our forefathers laws; 
 
 March on, march on! resolved to win 
 Our favorite hero s cause. 
 
 Will flatt ring tales of coming pleasures, 
 
 When plenteousness and peace shall reign, 
 And all be rich in glittering treasures, 
 
 The poor man s present wishes gain? 
 Will it stay the tide of desolation 
 
 That sweeps so strongly o er our land, 
 
 To gorge an office-holding band 
 And rob the pockets of the nation? 
 
 No, no, etc. 
 
 O, freemen, up! Let widely flowing 
 Your banners to the breeze be thrown, 
 
 Your love of worth and valor showing; 
 
 Your scorn for tyrant knaves make known! 
 
 Shall men believe the voices telling 
 In syren tones, your ship of state 
 Is safe, when all around dark fate 
 
 Frowns out in ev ry wave that s swelling? 
 No, no, etc. 
 
 That statesman-chief who led undaunted 
 And cheered in strife his warlike band; 
 
 Whose praise a grateful nation chaunted; 
 Who tills, a farmer bold, his land 
 
Tippechnoc Songs of 1840. 
 
 Shall we neglect for one, who scorning 
 
 Our rights, the people s cause; 
 
 Who dares to trample on our laws, 
 Nor list their prayers, their threats, nor warning? 
 
 No, no, etc. 
 
 DA CAPO CHORUS. 
 
 Then rise, rise all for one, 
 
 Who ev ry suffrage claims; 
 Huzza for him! a loud huzza! 
 
 Who conquered at the Thames. 
 
 SHOULD BRAVE SOLDIERS BE FORGOT. 
 AIR, "Auld Lang Syne" 
 
 Should brave old soldiers be forgot? 
 
 Should patriots fail to twine 
 Wreaths, glorious wreaths, for those who fought 
 
 In days of old lang syne? 
 No! long as life endures will we 
 
 Deep in our hearts enshrine 
 The names of those who made us free 
 
 In days of old lang syne. 
 
 Proud England, gloating o er her Crown, 
 
 And King, and " rights divine," 
 Sent forth her slaves to chain us down, 
 
 In days of old lang syne; 
 But Freedom s champions averr d 
 
 They d make her lion whine, 
 And nobly did they keep their word, 
 
 In days of old lang syne. 
 
 They drew a charter, strong and full, 
 
 Nor did they fear to sign 
 The bulletin that pricked John Bull 
 
 And cut in every line. 
 Among those hearts of flint, whose fire 
 
 Lit up the flame benign, 
 Was Harrison Tip s sainted sire 
 
 A Whig of old lang syne. 
 
 But not the father s fame alone 
 
 Exalts the soldier son 
 He has bright laurels of his own 
 
 In hard-fought battles won! 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 The W abash banks, Fort Meigs, the Thames; 
 
 Their tributes all combine 
 To rank him high with those whose names 
 
 Were dear in old lang syne. 
 
 And who s Van Buren? Where and when 
 
 Did he lead on the brave, 
 Or raise his voice or wield his pen 
 
 Or ope his purse to save? 
 While Tip gave fight he styled the war 
 
 " Disastrous and malign," 
 And richly earned a coat of tar, 
 
 As Tories did lang syne. 
 
 Let those who love sub-treasury charms, 
 
 Hard work and little pay, 
 Closed working shops and mortgaged farms, 
 
 Extol King Martin s sway.^ 
 But we have solemnly affirm d 
 
 We will not rest supine 
 Till Van shall squirm as Croswell squirm d 
 
 And wriggl d not lang syne. 
 
 The knapsack pillow d Harry s head, 
 
 The hard ground eas d his toils; 
 While Martin on his downy bed 
 
 Could dream of naught but spoils. 
 And shall the Blue-light rule the free? 
 
 Shall Freedom s star decline? 
 Forbid it, Heaven! Forbid it ye 
 
 Who bled in old lang syne. 
 
 Is Harrison one whit the worse 
 
 Because he d not secure, 
 As Martin did. a long full purse, 
 
 But went from office poor! 
 And does the low " log cabin hearth 
 
 Unfit Old Tip to shine? 
 Did no log house give nobles birth 
 
 In days of old lang syne? 
 
 What though the hero s hard " huge paws," 
 
 Were wont to plow and sow! 
 Does that disgrace our sacred cause. 
 
 Does that degrade him? No! 
 Whig farmers are our nation s nerve, 
 
 Its bone, its very spine! 
 They ll never swerve they did not swerve 
 
 In days of old lang syne. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 No ruffled shirt, no silken hose 
 
 No airs does Tip display; 
 But like " the pith of worth," he goes 
 
 In home-spun "hodden-gray." 
 Upon his board there ne er appear d 
 
 The costly sparkling wine, 
 But plain hard cider, such as cheer d 
 
 In days of old lang syne. 
 
 Connecticut has raised the heel 
 
 Tip s Tory foes to bruise; 
 And keenly do their vitals feel 
 
 The tread of Jersey Blues." 
 November s ides will* give the stroke 
 
 Hard, final and condign 
 A blow like that which snapped the yoke 
 
 In days of old lang syne. 
 
 Yes, Tip must grace the White House! 
 
 (Alas for groom and cook) 
 And Van on kabbitch-stocks must brouse, 
 
 At home, sweet home the hook! 
 Thrice hail, Old Tip! " Log Cabin " Tip! 
 
 " Hard-cider Tip ! " To you 
 The helm we give! Hail, noble ship! 
 
 Land, ho! The port s in view! 
 Huzza! huzza! Kind heaven be praised 
 
 The star, the star benign, 
 Shines bright! tis Freedom s star that blaz d 
 
 In days of old lang syne! 
 
 THE SOLDIER OF TIPPECANOE. 
 DIRGE, "Not a Drum Was Heard: 
 
 The stars are bright, and our steps are light 
 
 As we sweep to our camping ground, 
 And well we know, as we forward go, 
 
 That the foe fills the greenwood round; 
 But we know no fear, though the foe be near, 
 
 As we tramp the greenwood through, 
 For oh! have we not for our leader got 
 
 The soldier of Tippecanoe. 
 
 Now the deep green grass is our soft mattress 
 Till the beating of reveille; 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. < 
 
 No light s in our camp but the fire-fly lamp, 
 
 No roof but the greenwood tree. 
 Brief slumber we snatch, till the morning watch, 
 
 But one eye no slumber knew! 
 One eye was awake for his soldiers sake, 
 
 Twas the soldier of Tippecanoe! 
 
 The faint dawn is breaking, our bugles are speaking, 
 
 Quick rouses our lengthened line, 
 Sweet dreams are departing, the soldier is starting 
 
 And welcomes the morning shine. 
 But, hark! tis the drum! the foe is come 
 
 Their yells ring the dark wood through; 
 But see mounted, ready, brave, cautious, and steady. 
 
 The soldier of Tippecanoe! 
 
 
 
 Now nigher and nigher, tho hot in their fire, 
 
 And ceaseless the volleying sound, 
 We press down the hollow, and dauntlessly follow, 
 
 Then tramp up the rising ground. 
 With dealing ardor we press them yet harder, 
 
 And still as they come into view, 
 " Now steady, boys, steady; be quick and be ready!" 
 
 Cries the soldier of Tippecanoe! 
 
 Down, down drop the foe, and still on we go, 
 
 And each thicket and dingle explore; 
 Loud our shrill bugle sing, till the wild woods ring, 
 
 And their rifles are heard no more. 
 Now weave the green crown of undying renown 
 
 For the patriot hero s brow, 
 And write his name with the halo of fame, 
 
 The soldier of Tippecanoe! 
 
 THE HARRISON CAUSE. 
 AIR, "Bonnets o 1 Blue" 
 
 Here s a health to him that s just, 
 
 Here s a health to him that s true, 
 And who could not wish success to the man 
 
 Who conquered at Tippecanoe? 
 It is good to be noble and firm, 
 
 It is good to be honest and true, 
 It is good to support our Harrison s cause. 
 
 Who stuck to the " red, white and blue." 
 Huzza for the brave and the true 
 
io Tippccanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Who battled at Tippecanoe, 
 And the heroes whose names 
 On the bank of the Thames, 
 
 Were written in " red, white and blue " 
 
 Here s success to him that s firm, 
 
 Here s success to him that is wise, 
 And tho aged and poor, will give from his store, 
 
 When misery ever applies! 
 Here s a health to the sage of North Bend, 
 
 Here s success to the man of the plow, 
 Here s a health to the man who sticks to his friend, 
 And lives by the sweat of his brow! 
 Huzza for the just and the true, 
 And the hero of Tippecanoe, 
 And the star-spangled " red, white and blue." 
 
 A SONG OF AN OLD SOLDIER. 
 TUNE, "Old Oaken Bucket." 
 
 Oh, dear to my soul are the days of our glory, 
 
 The time-honored days of our national pride, 
 When heroes and statesmen enobled our story, 
 
 And boldly the foes of our country defied, 
 When victory hung o er our flag proudly waving 
 
 And the battle was fought by the valiant and true, 
 For our homes and our loved ones the enemy braving, 
 
 Oh, then stood the soldier of Tippecanoe. 
 
 The iron -armed soldier, the true-hearted soldier, 
 The gallant old soldier of Tippecanoe. 
 
 When dark was the tempest and hovering o er us, 
 
 The clouds of destruction seemed gathering fast, 
 Like a ray of bright sunshine he stood out before us, 
 
 And the clouds passed away with the hurrying blast, 
 When the Indian s loud yell and his tomahawk flashing, 
 
 Spread terror around us, and hope was with few. 
 Oh, then, through the ranks of the enemy dashing, 
 
 Sprang forth to the rescue old Tippecanoe. 
 
 The iron-armed soldier, the true-hearted soldier, 
 The gallant old soldier of Tippecanoe. 
 
 When cannons were pealing and brave men were reeling 
 In the cold arms of death from the fire of the foe, 
 
 Where balls flew the thickest and blows fell the quickest 
 In front of the battle bold Harry did go. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 1 1 
 
 The force of the enemy trembled before him, 
 
 And soon from the field of his glory withdrew, 
 And his warm-hearted comrades in triumph cried o er him, 
 God bless the bold soldier of Tippecanoe! 
 
 The iron-armed soldier, the true-hearted soldier, 
 The gallant old soldier of Tippecanoe. 
 
 And now since the men have so long held the nation 
 
 Who trampled our rights in their scorn to the ground, 
 We will fill their cold hearts with a new trepidation 
 
 And shout in their ears this most terrible sound: 
 The people are coming, resistless and fearless, 
 
 To sweep from the White House the reckless old crew; 
 For the woes of our land, since its rulers are tearless 
 
 We look for relief to old Tippecanoe. 
 
 The iron-armed soldier, the true-hearted soldier. 
 The gallant old soldier of Tippecanoe. 
 
 OLD TIPPECANOE. 
 
 Hurrah for the Father of all the green West! 
 
 For the Buckeye who follows the plow ! 
 The foeman in terror his valor confest, 
 
 And we ll honor the conqueror now. 
 
 His country assailed in the darkest of days, 
 
 To her rescue impatient he flew; 
 The war whoop s fell blast, and the rifle s red blaze, 
 
 But awakened old Tippecanoe! 
 
 On Maumee s dark waters, along with brave Wayne, 
 Green laurels he glean d with his sword, 
 
 But when peace on the country came smiling again, 
 His steel to the scabbard restored. 
 
 But wise in the council, as brave in the field, 
 
 His country still asked for his aid; 
 And the birth of young empires his wisdom revealed 
 
 The sage and the statesman displayed. 
 
 But the red torch of war, the tomahawk s gleam 
 
 To the battle again called the true; 
 And there where the stars and the stripes brightly stream, 
 
 Rushed the hero of Tippecanoe. 
 
 Now hark! from the far frozen winds of the North 
 What battle shouts burden the gale ? 
 
12 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 The hosts of Old England ride gallantly forth, 
 And the captive and conquered bewailt. 
 
 His country recalls the bold chieftain she loves, 
 The sword of Old Tip she reclaims; 
 
 And victory heralds wherever he moves 
 The path of the hero of Thames! 
 
 Hurrah for the hero of Tippecanoe 
 
 The farmer who plows at North Bend! 
 
 A soldier so brave, and a patriot so true, 
 Will find in each freeman a friend. 
 
 Hurrah for the log-cabin chief of our choice! 
 
 For the old Indian fighter hurrah! 
 Hurrah! and from mountain and valley the voice 
 
 Of the people re-echoes hurrah! 
 
 Then come to the ballot-box boys come along. 
 
 He never lost battle for you; 
 Let s down with oppression and tyranny s throng, 
 
 And up with Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 TO THE AMERICAN FLAG AND HARRISON. 
 AIR, "Sparkling and Bright" 
 
 See in the light of glory bright, 
 
 Each star and stripe proudly beaming, 
 
 Our flag once more unfurled to the war, 
 To the breeze of reform now streaming. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 Your goblets fill with a free good will, 
 
 To the chief renowned in story; 
 Pledge your faith to him on the beaker s brim 
 
 To speed him onward to glory. 
 
 Oh! that he might arrest the blight 
 
 Destroying our dominions, 
 Yet first awhile he must beguile 
 
 The spoiler of his minions. 
 
 Chorus Your goblets fill, etc. 
 
 Our hero bright will stop the wight, 
 And all his friends shall leave him, 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 And every one, for our Harrison, 
 With loud huzza s shall grieve him. 
 
 Chorus Your goblets fill, etc. 
 
 When high in state we ll place elate, 
 
 By his side our flag unwaved; 
 Loud be our cheers, when the hero for years, 
 
 Plants that flag o er a Union saved. 
 
 Chorus Your goblets fill, etc. 
 
 SONG FOR JIM CROW. 
 TUNE, " Tell Chapman He Must Crovs." 
 
 Let all de British Tory, 
 
 Who feel very low, 
 Keep stiff de upper lip, 
 And give a loud crow. 
 Brag about and bet about- - 
 
 And grin just so; 
 
 And every time you meet a Whig, 
 Give a loud crow. 
 
 Massa Kendall give de order, 
 
 " Charge on de foe! " 
 Se neber be down-hearted, 
 
 But give a loud crow ! 
 Brag about, etc. 
 
 Old Missus Grundy, 
 
 Who eberything do know, 
 
 He tell de loco, 
 
 "Give a loud crow! " 
 Brag, etc. 
 
 Old Massa Ritchie- 
 He say just so 
 
 Stick to de dunghill, 
 And give a loud crow! 
 Brag, etc. 
 
 Dere is Louisiana, 
 
 No matter how she go 
 Only claim the battle, 
 
 And give a loud crow! 
 Brag, etc. 
 
14 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Massa Van be frightened. 
 
 Everybody know, 
 Still he scold at Amos 
 Cause he doesn t crow! 
 
 Brag about and boast about- 
 
 And strut just so, 
 And never lose de spirits, 
 But give a loud crow ! 
 
 GENERAL HARRISON. 
 AIR, "Pizen Sarpient" 
 
 When the British foemen swarmed around, 
 And burnt our cabins to the ground, 
 
 Ri tu ral, etc. 
 
 A gallant boy, brave Harrison, 
 Bv noble deeds bright laurels won, 
 
 Ri tu ral, etc. 
 
 He fought by Wayne, where brave men bled, 
 And where the ground was strown with dead, 
 
 Ri tu ral, etc. 
 
 And where the battle fiercest seemed 
 His ready blade to combat gleamed, 
 
 Ri tu ral, etc. 
 
 He spent long years in hardy fight, 
 And always kept his laurels bright, 
 
 Ri tu ral, etc. 
 
 And when with peace our land was blest, 
 We find him on his farm at rest, 
 
 Ri tu ral, etc. 
 
 No prying demagogue was he, 
 But honest, noble, brave and free, 
 
 Ri tu ral, etc. 
 
 He would not barter truth for gold 
 His mind was never bought and sold, 
 
 Ri tu ral, etc. 
 
 To great men s skirts he never hung, 
 As Martin to brave Jackson s clung, 
 
 Ri tu ral, etc. 
 
Tippecanoc Songs of 1840. 
 
 But all alone he trod the way, 
 Where honors thick around him lay, 
 
 Ri tu ral, etc. 
 
 The White House will by him be filled, 
 For so the yeomanry have willed, 
 
 Ri tu ral, etc. 
 
 HURRAH FOR OLD TIP. 
 
 Old Tip s the boy to swing the flail, 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 
 And make the locos all turn pale, 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 
 He ll give them all a tarnal switchin , 
 
 When he begins to " clare de kitchen! " 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 
 
 Plowboys! though he leads in battle, 
 He s a team in raisin cattle, 
 And tho old Proctor at him kicked, 
 He is the chap that ne er was licked, 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 
 
 His latch-string hangs outside the door, 
 As it has always done before; 
 The people vow he shall be sent 
 To Washington as President, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 
 
 In all the States no door stands wider, 
 To ask you in to drink hard cider, ^ 
 But any man s given to grabbin ," 
 Ne er can enter his log cabin, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 
 
 For such as Swartwout, Price and Boyd, 
 His honest soul will e er avoid, 
 And poverty the thinks no crime, 
 But welcomes it at dinner time, 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 
 
 So here s three cheers for honest Tip, 
 We ve got the locos on the hip 
 We ll row them all far up Salt river, 
 There let them stand to shake and shiver, 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 
1 6 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 LOG CABIN LYRICS. 
 AIR, "There s Nae Luck About the Housed 
 
 Come let us join with heart and voice, 
 
 And hail the people s friend, 
 And send to Washington our choice 
 The hero of North Bend. 
 
 For there s no luck at the White House, 
 
 There will be none at a 
 Till Martin and his myrmidons, 
 Are driven far awa . 
 
 The cabinet assembled there, 
 
 While thousands in each State 
 Have not wherewith to purchase food,, 
 
 They dine off golden plate. 
 
 O! there s no luck at the White House. 
 
 Then let us vote for Harrison, 
 
 And turn out scheming Van; 
 Capsize his kitchen cabinet, 
 
 And rout the loco clan. 
 
 For there s no luck at the White House. 
 
 AN INVITATION TO THE LOG CABIN BOYS 
 
 TO OLD TIPPECANOE S RAISIN . 
 TUNE, " The Good Old Days of Adam and Eve." 
 
 Come all you log-cabin boys, we re going to have a raisin , 
 We ve got a job on hand that we think will pe pleasin , 
 We ll turn out and build Old Tip a new cabin, 
 And finish it off with chinkin and daubin . 
 We want all the log-cabin boys in the nation, 
 To be on the ground when we lay the foundation; 
 And we ll make all the office holders think its amazin 
 To see how we work at Old Tippecanoe s raisin . 
 
 On the thirtieth day of next October, 
 We ll take some hard cider, but we ll all keep sober; 
 We ll shoulder our axes and cut down the timber 
 And have our cabin done by the second of December, 
 We ll have it well chink d and we ll have on the cover, 
 Of good sound clapboards, with the weight poles over, 
 And a good wide chimney for the fire to blaze in, 
 So come on, boys, to Old Tippecanoe s raisin . 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 17 
 
 Ohio will find the house-log timber, 
 
 And old Virginia, as you ll remember, 
 
 Will find the timber for the clapboards and chinkin , 
 
 Twill all be first rate stuff, I m thinkin . 
 
 And when we want to daub it, it happens very lucky, 
 
 That we have got the best of clay in old Kentucky, 
 
 For there s no other State has such good clays in, 
 
 To make the mortar for Old Tippecanoe s raisin . 
 
 For the hauling of the logs we ll call on Pennsylvania, 
 
 For their Conestoga teams will pull as well as any, 
 
 And the Yankee States and York State and all of the 
 
 others, 
 
 Will come and help us lift like so many brothers. 
 The Hoosiers and the Suckers and the Wolverine Farmers, 
 They all know the right way to carry up the corners, 
 And every one s a good enough carpenter and mason, 
 To do a little work at Old Tippecanoe s raisin . 
 
 We ll cut out a window and have a wide door in, 
 We ll lay a good loft and a first rate floor in, 
 We ll fix it alt complete, for Old Tip to see his friends in, 
 And we know that the latch-string will never have its 
 
 end in. 
 
 On the fourth day of March Old Tip will move in it, 
 And then little Martin will have to shin it; 
 So hurrah boys, there s no two ways in 
 The fun we ll have at Old Tippecanoe s raisin . 
 
 YE SOLDIERS OF FREEDOM. 
 TUNE, "Bonaparte s Return from Russia." 
 
 Ye soldiers of freedom, pray stand to your arms, 
 Prepare for the battle, our freedom alarms: 
 The trumpets are sounding, come soldiers and see 
 The standard and colors of sweet liberty. 
 
 Though Van s black organ is sounding so near, 
 Take courage, brave soldiers, his powers don t fear; 
 In the strength of our freedom, we dare him to fight. 
 We ll put his black powers of aliens to flight. 
 
 As the great Alexander, Van Buren shall fall; 
 
 With the emblem of freedom we ll conquer them all; 
 
 We ll leave no oppressor alive on the field, 
 
 By the strength of the patriots we ll force them to yield. 
 
 2* 
 
1 8 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Through Harrison our leader we ll battle their rage; 
 My heart beats for freedom, come soldiers engage; 
 The drums are sounding, the armies appear, 
 We ll not leave one standing from front to rear. 
 
 Old Tip, he is riding, the fort on before, 
 With a keg of hard cider to treat us once more, 
 Some shouting, some singing, for Harrison they cry, 
 In the great cause of freedom all gags we defy. 
 
 WHAT HAS CAUSED THIS GREAT COM 
 MOTION ? 
 TUNE, "Little Pig s Tail: 
 
 What has caused the great commotion, motion, motion, 
 Our country through ? 
 It is the ball a roiling on, on. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 ForTippecanoe and Tyler too Tippecanoe and Tyler too, 
 And with them we ll beat little Van, Van, Van, 
 Van is a used up man, 
 And with them we ll beat little Van. 
 Like the rushing of mighty waters, waters, waters, 
 On it will go, 
 And in its course will clear the way 
 
 For Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
 See the loco standard tottering, tottering, tottering, 
 Down it must go, 
 And in it s place we ll rear the flag 
 
 Of Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
 Don t you hear from every quarter, quarter, quarter, 
 Good news and true, 
 That swift the ball is rolling on 
 
 For Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
 The Buckeye boys turned out in thousands, thousands, 
 Not long ago, 
 And at Columbus set their seals, 
 
 To Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
 Now you hear the Van Jacks talking, talking, talking, 
 Things look quite blue, 
 For all the world seems turning round, 
 
 For Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 19 
 
 Let them talk about hard cider, cider, cider, 
 And log cabins too, 
 Twill only help to speed the ball 
 
 For Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
 The latch-string hangs outside the door, door, door, 
 And is never pulled through, 
 For it never was the custom of 
 
 Old Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
 He always has his table set, set, set, 
 For all honest and true, 
 And invites them in to take a bite 
 
 With Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
 See the spoilsmen and leg treasurers, treas, treas, 
 All in a stew, 
 For well they know they stand no chance 
 
 With Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
 Little Matty s days are number d, number d, number d, 
 Out he must go, 
 And in the chair we ll place the good 
 
 Old Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
 Now who shall we have for our governor, governor, 
 
 Who, tell me who ? 
 
 Let s have Tom Corwin, for he s a team 
 For Tippecanoe and Tyler too Tippecanoe and Tyler too, 
 And with him we ll beat Wilson Shannon, Shannon, 
 Shannon is a used up man, 
 And with him we ll beat Wilson Shannon! 
 
 OLD TIP S BROOM. 
 TUNE, "Buy a Broom" 
 
 Come, patriots, come, and let s clare out the kitchen, 
 Let s sweep out the parlor and clean the east room, 
 Drive out the magrician, who long has been witching, 
 His schemes to dissolve, let us try a new broom: 
 Take a broom Old Tip s broom! 
 Come, every true Whig, and help handle the broom. 
 
 To nullify subs that so long have annoyed us 
 
 And have fattened themselves from the treasury spoils, 
 
2o Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Will be the best exercise that ever employed us, 
 
 And well will reward us for all of our toils: 
 
 Take a broom Old Tip s broom ? 
 
 Come, all ye true Democrats, take Old Tip s broom. 
 
 We all know our rights, let us dare to maintain them. 
 
 And sign the death warrant of Martin s downfall: 
 
 He reads not the signs, let our Daniel explain them, 
 
 Interpret the writing that s writ on the wall: 
 
 Take a broom Old Tip s broom ? 
 
 Come, lovers of freedom, come take Old Tip s broom. 
 
 When the contest shall come, let us all do our duty, 
 And make a clean sweep of our twenty-six rooms; 
 We ll send the experiments crew and their booty 
 To south seas exploring, with lots of old brooms: 
 Take a broom Old Tip s broom ? 
 Come, patriot sweepers, and use a new broom. 
 
 Reform the reformers and sweep out corruption, 
 
 Let tyrants and spoilsmen, with faces of gloom 
 
 Hear the rumbling and throes of the earthquake s eruption, 
 
 The voice of a nation deciding their doom: 
 
 Take a broom Old Tip s broom ? 
 
 To sweep out corruption, come take a new broom. 
 
 The new broom of him whom they call Old Granny, 
 
 Shall sweep out the suckers of treasury pap; 
 
 The vampires that lived on the blood of the many, 
 
 While we, the dear people, were taking a nap: 
 
 Take a broom Old Tip s broom ? 
 
 Wake, Democrats, wake! and let s try a new broom. 
 
 When we were deceived by a Hickory hero, 
 Our credit was wither d at his fatal touch; 
 Now we are insulted by this modern Nero, 
 Who says we are looking to him for too much: 
 Take a broom Old Tip s broom ? 
 No longer be slaves, come and try a new broom. 
 
 And when little Matty is out of employment, 
 
 With bloodhounds and broomstick, far south he might go ; 
 
 In the everglade wars, he might find some enjoyment, 
 
 And end a long contest by flogging the foe; 
 
 Take a broom take a broom ? 
 
 [Spoken. Take Tip s broom ?J 
 
 [Spoken. In the everglade swamps, among the frogs 
 
 with his dogs, don t you think he d find Sam Jones ?] 
 
 Come, patriots, come, let us try a new broom. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 21 
 
 To end all this warring, defaulting and scheming. 
 
 This war upon labor, and credit, and banks, 
 
 On commerce and trading, a new light is gleaming, 
 
 The people will soon put an end to their pranks, 
 
 With a broom Old Tip s broom, 
 
 They ll drive out the spoilers by using Tip s broom. 
 
 THE LOG CABIN AND HARD CIDER 
 CANDIDATE. 
 
 TUNE, "Auld Lang Syne." 
 
 Should good old cider be despised. 
 
 And ne er regarded more ? 
 Should plain log cabins be despised, 
 
 Our fathers built of yore ? 
 For the true old style, my boys! 
 
 For the true old style ? 
 Let s take a mug of cider, now, 
 
 For the true old style. 
 
 We ve tried experiments enough 
 
 Of fashions new and vain. 
 And now we long to settle down 
 
 To good old times again. 
 For the good old ways, my boys! 
 
 For the good old ways, 
 Let s take a mug of cider, now, 
 
 For the good old ways. 
 
 We ve tried your purse-proud lords, who love 
 
 In palaces to shine; 
 But we ll have a plowman President 
 
 Of the Cincinnatus line. 
 For old North Bend, my boys! 
 
 For old North Bend, 
 We ll take a mug of cider, yet, 
 
 For old North Bend. 
 
 We ve tried the "greatest and the best," 
 
 And found him bad enough; 
 And he who "in the footsteps treads" 
 
 Is yet more sorry stuff. 
 For the brave old Thames, my boys! 
 
 For the brave old Thames, 
 We ll take a mug of cider, yet, 
 
 For the brave old Thames. 
 
22 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Then give s a hand, my boys! 
 
 And here s a hand for you, 
 And we ll quaff the good old cider yet 
 
 For Old Tippecanoe. 
 For Old Tippecanoe, my boys! 
 
 For Old Tippecanoe, 
 We ll take a mug of cider, yet. 
 
 For Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 And surely you ll give your good vote, 
 
 And surely I will, too; 
 And we ll clear the way to the White House, yet, 
 
 For Old Tippecanoe. 
 For Tip-pe-canoe, my boys, 
 
 For Tip-pe-canoe, 
 * We ll take a mug of cider, yet, 
 
 For Tippecanoe. 
 
 "ANOTHER SONG." 
 
 The Whigs they are rising all over the land, 
 
 And resolving, as brethren should do, 
 To bury dissensions, and join hand in hand 
 
 In the cause of Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 The voice of their country now calls them, and they, 
 
 As patriots faithful and true, 
 Can never refuse her commands to obev, 
 
 While led by Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 Then rally, brave boys, with your banners on high, 
 
 And the motto unfolded to view, 
 "For our country to conquer, or in battle to die," 
 
 By the side of Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 The Tories full long have triumphant appeared, 
 
 But now they begin to feel blue, 
 For they know that a tyrant has never yet dared, 
 
 To stand before Tippecanoe. 
 
 His cabin is built up, of logs all unhewn, 
 
 (They say, and we grant it is true,) 
 But " another guess " house they ll discover full soon, 
 
 Is destined for Tippecanoe. 
 
 His "cider s too hard " for our stomachs, say they, 
 And admit it we readily do, 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 23 
 
 But harder, by far, on their shoulders will lay, 
 The lash of Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 " He is old," they exclaim, but for that we don t care, 
 
 For so was Old Hickory too, 
 The older, the tougher to them will appear 
 
 The arm of Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 But, besides, " he is poor," and can never withstand 
 
 The gold of Van Buren & Co.; 
 But poor as he is, all the wealth of the land, 
 
 Can t "buy up" Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 And tho the base minions of power may sneer, 
 
 As their master compels them to do, 
 They cannot regard without quaking and fear, 
 
 The march of Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 For the chaps that surround him are "just of the sort," 
 
 To " lick up " a Tory or two; 
 A keen set of fellows, so runs the report. 
 
 Are the soldiers of Tippecanoe. 
 
 Then rally, brave boys, with your banners on high. 
 
 And the motto unfolded to view, 
 For our country to conquer, or in battle to die, 
 
 By the side of "Old Tippecanoe." 
 
 YOU REMEMBER THE TIME. 
 TUNE, "Tou Remember It, Don t Ton" 
 
 You remember the time when our sires sought the West, 
 To find a safe home for the friends they loved best 
 How each hill and each valley a foeman concealed, 
 And each plain the red warrior in armor revealed ? 
 
 You remember it, don t you ? 
 
 Oh! think of it, won t you ? 
 Yes, yes, of all this the remembrance shall last 
 Long after the present fades into the past. 
 
 You remember the era, when Wayne with his legion, 
 Drove the merciless foe from this blood -sprinkled region, 
 The gallant young soldier the foremost in fight, 
 Who pursued the wild foe in his perilous flight ? 
 
 You remember it, don t you ? 
 
 Oh! think of it, won t you ? 
 
2 4 Tippccanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Yes, yes, of all this the remembrance shall last 
 Long after the present fades into the past. 
 
 You remember, years after, in the progress of time, 
 How this same gallant soldier, who was then in his prime, 
 Drove far from our border the wild savage foe, 
 And the Briton, at Thames, Meigs, and Tippecanoe ? 
 
 You remember it, don t you ? 
 
 Oh! think of it, won t you ? 
 Yes, yes, of all this the remembrance shallj;last 
 Long after the present fades into the past. 
 
 You remember the man who, when war s dread commotion, 
 Spread over the land, and the fathomless ocean 
 Or when peace cast her blessings our wide country o er, 
 Who was ever a father and a friend to the poor ? 
 
 You remember him, don t you ? 
 
 Oh! think of him, won t you ? 
 
 Yes, yes, of this man, the remembrance shall last 
 Long after the present fades into the past. 
 
 When tyrant oppression walks abroad in the land, 
 And spreads want and disaster with a merciless hand 
 Who boldly steps forward her hope to renew ? 
 "Pis the gallant old soldier of Tippecanoe! 
 
 You remember him, don t you ? 
 
 You will think of him, won t you ? 
 Oh, yes, of all this, the remembrance will last, 
 Long after the present fades into the past. 
 
 And when the oppressors are scattered afar, 
 Their forces all vanquished and sunken their star 
 The drama then ended, our hopes bright and true, 
 He will join in a concert to Tippecanoe. 
 
 And we ll remember each blunder, 
 
 While he s flying with plunder 
 Of the wily magician caught napping at last, 
 Long after the spoilers from pow r are cast. 
 
 THE TIMES ARE GROWING HOT. 
 TUNE, " Tankee Doodle." 
 
 The times are growing hot, they say, 
 
 Van Burenites are few, sir; 
 Old Tip and Tyler take the day, 
 
 As such good Whigs should do, sir. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 25 
 
 The people think of other days, 
 When Indian yells were loud, sir; 
 
 They call d the General far away, 
 From out the youthful crowd, sir. 
 
 Twas Washington, with soldier s eye, 
 
 Who saw the hero plain, sir, 
 And bade him march to do or die, 
 
 Triumphant o er the slain, sir. 
 
 He march d into the distant West, 
 With patriot heart and hand, sir; 
 
 1 Tis useless now to tell the rest, 
 He thrash d the Indian band, sir. 
 
 His country free, her warriors sav d, 
 He seeks his much lov d home, sir, 
 
 But soon he hears the cry again, 
 Our enemies are come, sir. 
 
 He seeks again the tented field, 
 
 And lands on British soil, sir; 
 Where Proctor went it with a rush, 
 
 And Thames records the toil, sir. 
 
 They could nt come it over Tip, 
 
 He s always wide awake, sir, 
 He only wanted half a chance, 
 
 His enemies to take, sir. 
 
 He ruled the land his valor won 
 With laws both good and right, sir, 
 
 And proved himself a glorious son 
 Of one who swore he d fight, sir. 
 
 In Congress next we see Old Tip, 
 
 The soldiers cause he plead, sir; 
 The living there a pension got, 
 
 And honor for the dead, sir. 
 
 The western lands he portion d out 
 
 In farms that all might buy, sir; 
 The honest poor their portion took, 
 
 And now they re mong the high, sir. 
 
 The ship of State s in trouble now, 
 
 There s war upon her border, 
 Old Tip, they say, must take the helm, 
 
 The people give the order. 
 
26 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Come swell the shout, ye noble hearts, 
 Like Tip, we fear no jell, sir; 
 
 Let all who hear me act their parts, 
 The locos to expel, sir. 
 
 The dandy Mat shall stand aside, 
 Perhaps in Eaton s room, sir; 
 
 Neath petticoats he there may hide, 
 Or act the part of groom, sir. 
 
 One shout for Tip. long, loud and high, 
 And then my song is o er, sirs; 
 
 Ye locos bid your spoils good-bye, 
 Ye ll get them now no more, sirs. 
 
 OLD TIPPECANOE. 
 TUNE, "jRosin the Botv.^ 
 
 A bumper around, now, my hearties, 
 I ll sing you a song that is new; 
 
 I ll please to the buttons, all parties, 
 And sing of old Tippecanoe. 
 
 When first near the Thames 1 gentle waters. 
 
 My sword for my country I drew, 
 1 fought for America s daughters, 
 
 Long side of Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 Ere this, too, when danger assailed us, 
 And Indians their dread missiles threw, 
 
 His counsel and courage availed us, 
 We conquered at Tippecanoe. 
 
 And when all the troubles were ended, 
 
 I flew to the girls that I knew, 
 They promptly declared they intended 
 
 To kiss me for Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 And now that the good of the nation 
 Requires that something we do, 
 
 We ll hurl little Van from his station, 
 And elevate Tippecanoe. 
 
 Again and again fill your glasses, 
 
 Bid Martin Van Buren adieu, 
 We ll please ourselves and the lasses, 
 
 And vote for Old Tippecanoe. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 27 
 
 OLD TIPPECANOE. 
 TUNE, "Rosin the Bovv" 
 
 Ye Vanites of wide Pennsylvania, 
 
 Of every old State and each new; 
 Take warning, come out with the many, 
 And vote for Old Tippecanoe! 
 And vote for Old Tippecanoe; 
 Take warning, come out with the many, 
 And vote for Old Tippecanoe! 
 
 We ve multiplied here past endurin , 
 Blair and Rives begin to look blue, 
 
 They see there s no chance for Van Buren, 
 In a fight with Old Tippecanoe. 
 In a fight with, etc. 
 
 The little Magician, he sickens 
 
 At the sight of Delaware, too; 
 When the blue hen calls her game chickens, 
 
 To fight for Old Tippecanoe! 
 To fight for, etc. 
 
 Both New York and New Jersey are ours, 
 
 Massachusetts, Connecticut, too; 
 And Vermont with her green mountain flow rs 
 
 Will flourish for Tippecanoe! 
 Will flourish, etc. 
 
 We d a brush in Rhode Island lately, 
 To show them what Yankees could do; 
 
 And we flog d em all most completely, 
 In the name of Old Tippecanoe! 
 In the name, etc. 
 
 And in old never tire Virginny, 
 
 They ve found of good Whigs, not a few; 
 
 A State, sirs! I ll hold you a guinea, 
 Goes hollow for Tippecanoe! 
 Goes hollow, etc. 
 
 Who flies to the rescue ? Kentucky, 
 With hearts, gallant, loyal and true; 
 
 We ll beat them with brave men and lucky 
 Harry Clay and Tippecanoe! 
 Harry Clay, etc. 
 
 Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, 
 
 Their towns and green prairies go thro , 
 
28 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 You ll hear from each nook of the trio, 
 Loud shouts for Old Tippecanoe. 
 Loud shouts, etc. 
 
 On Michigan s shores and Missouri, 
 The ball is in motion, tis true; 
 
 But Benton cries out in a fury, 
 Tis rolling tow rds Tippecanoe. 
 Tis rolling, etc. 
 
 Mississippi, Louisiana, 
 Tennessee, Al bama here view, 
 
 They send from each hill and savanna. 
 Their voices for Tippecanoe. 
 Their voices, etc. 
 
 Should I name all those who are for us, 
 Tis plain I should never get through; 
 
 Rejoice in the prospect before us, 
 Huzza! for Old Tippecanoe. 
 Huzza! for, etc. 
 
 But before I finish my ditty. 
 . I ll claim patriot Maryland, too; 
 And hail! noble monument city, 
 Where we gather for Tippecanoe! 
 Where we gather, etc. 
 
 THE ROUGH LOG CABIN. 
 
 I love the rough log cabin 
 
 It tells of olden time, 
 When a hardy and an honest class 
 
 Of freemen in their prime, 
 First left their fathers peaceful home 
 
 Where all was joy and rest 
 With their axes on their shoulders, 
 
 And sallied for the West 
 
 Of logs they built a sturdy pile, 
 
 With slabs they roofed it o er; 
 With wooden latch and hinges rude 
 
 They hung the clumsy door. 
 And for the little window lights, 
 
 In size two feet by two, 
 They used such sash as could be got 
 
 In regions that were new. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 29 
 
 The chimney was composed of slats 
 
 Well interlaid with clay, 
 Forming a sight we seldom see 
 
 In this a later day; 
 And here, on stones for fire-dogs, 
 
 A rousing fire was made; 
 While round it sat a hardy crew 
 
 " With none to make afraid." 
 
 I love the old log cabin 
 
 For here, in early days, 
 Long dwelt the honest Harrison, 
 
 As every loco says; 
 And when he is our President, 
 
 Which one year more will see, 
 In good hard cider we will toast 
 
 And cheer him three times three. 
 
 THE FARMER OF NORTH BEND. 
 TUNE, "Auld Lang Syne." 
 
 Can grateful freemen slight his claims 
 
 Who bravely did defend, 
 Their lives and fortunes on the Thames, 
 The farmer of North Bend ? 
 
 The farmer of North Bend, my boys, 
 The farmer of North Bend, 
 We ll give a right good hearty vote 
 To the farmer of North Bend. 
 
 The trump of fame in storied song 
 
 The patriot s deeds shall tell, 
 And freedom s voice the strain prolong, 
 The gladsome chorus swell. 
 
 The gladsome chorus swell, my boys, 
 The gladsome chorus swell, 
 We ll join to-night in merry song, 
 The gladsome chorus swell. 
 
 The chieftain heard the stirring drum, 
 
 And bent his soldier s bow, 
 But victor soon he hastened home, 
 His farming fields to mow, 
 
 His farming fields to mow, my boys, 
 His farming fields to mow, 
 Exchanged the saber for the scythe, 
 His farming fields to mow. 
 
30 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Though youthful valor bravely won 
 
 The laurel for his brow, 
 . Yet victory s own triumphant son 
 Now holds the yeoman s plow. 
 
 Now holds the yeoman s plow, my boys, 
 Now holds the yeoman s plow, 
 And soon we ll try his trusty hand 
 To hold the nation s plow. 
 
 Now hear the note, his country s call, 
 
 From the hill -tops and the shore, 
 It comes from camp, and cot, and hall, 
 And all the valleys o er. 
 
 And all the valleys o er, my boys, 
 And all the valleys o er, 
 It calls him to the rescue, boys, 
 From all the valleys o er. 
 
 The hero who, long years ago, 
 
 Once wore the warrior s mail, 
 Now comes to beat the yeoman s foe, 
 A farmer with his flail. 
 
 A farmer with his flail, my boys, 
 
 A farmer with his flail, 
 
 And they ll get a right gude threshing, yet, 
 
 From the farmer with his flail. 
 
 Then cheer we up, my boys, to-night, 
 
 A helping hand we lend, 
 And pledge the old Kevstone to-night, 
 To the farmer of North Bend. 
 
 To the farmer of North Bend, my boys, 
 To the farmer of North Bend, 
 We ll pledge the old Keystone to-night, 
 To the farmer of North Bend. 
 
 HARRISON SONG. 
 TUNE, "Star -Spangled Banner." 
 
 Oh say have you heard how in days that are past, 
 Bold sons of the West with brave Harrison leading, 
 At the bugle s shrill call and the trumpet s loud blast, 
 To the battle-field rush d where our frontiers lav bleeding; 
 
 Hark! with the loud acclaim, 
 
 How they shout at the name, 
 Of the hero predestin d to guide them to fame! 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 31 
 
 Oh! the name of our Harrison, long may it stand 
 The boast of our country, the pride of our land! 
 
 Hark! loud rings the war-whoop o er forest and plain, 
 And the savage and Briton in bloody alliance 
 Bringing havoc and death in their murderous train, 
 To the brave sons of Freedom are bidding defiance; 
 
 But when Harrison came, 
 
 At the sound of his name, 
 
 They trembled and fled in confusion and shame; 
 Oh! the name of brave Harrison, long may it stand 
 The boast of our country, the pride of our land! 
 
 Unmov d and serene the brave Harrison stood 
 
 Mid the din of the strife and the cannon s dead rattle, 
 
 And Tecumseh and Proctor, twin monsters of blood, 
 
 By their death or their flight prov d his prowess in battle, 
 
 And victory flew, 
 
 To his flag ever true, 
 
 At Fort Meigs and the Thames and at Tippecanoe! 
 Oh! the name of the brave Harrison, long may it stand 
 The boast of our country, the pride of our land! 
 
 Oh, long as the fame of our country endures 
 Be the names of her heroes embalmed in her story, 
 How her Jackson defended, her Washington saved, 
 And her Harrison fill d up her measured glory; 
 
 Then long may the men 
 
 Of the "Log Cabin" strain, 
 Stand true to the cause of the pupil of Wayne; 
 Oh! the name of Harrison, long may it stand 
 The boast of our country, the pride of our land! 
 
 THE UNITED STATES. 
 TUNE, "Bay of Biscay, O" 
 
 Van Buren on the weather tack, 
 Our gallant ship did sail, 
 When she was struck aback, 
 By a wild and sweeping gale. 
 
 For a long time drear and dark, 
 Was the Constitution bark, 
 Tossed by tides, 
 Till on the ides. 
 In Loco Foco Bay. 
 
3 2 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Her topsails in ribbons fly, 
 And her yards were blown away 
 As the waves roll d mountain high, 
 For many a stormy day. 
 No vessel can we spy, 
 And no harbor now is nigh, 
 Till on the ides, 
 Toss d by tides, 
 In Loco Foco Bay. 
 
 And the stormy petrels flew 
 Thro the feathery ocean s foam, 
 As the bark and her poor crew 
 On the raging seas do roam, 
 
 While the spirits of the clouds, 
 Peal d their war-notes on her shrouds, 
 Till on the ides, 
 Toss d by tides, 
 In Loco Foco Bay. 
 
 But a gallant boat s in view, 
 Dancing lightly o er the wave, 
 Tis pilot Tippecanoe, 
 Bearing down the ship to save. 
 
 Hurrah! give him three cheers, 
 As upon deck he appears: 
 
 For now we sail, 
 With the gale, 
 From Loco Foco Bay. 
 
 A SONG. 
 TUNE, "Hail Columbia." 
 
 Immortal patriot bright in arms, 
 Whose breast the fire of freedom warms, 
 Defender of our hearths and homes, 
 Defender of our hearths and homes, 
 The scalping knife fell from the hand, 
 That raised it o er our boasted land. 
 The savage yell d and conquered fled, 
 Britain lowered her plumed head; 
 Proctor yielded to thy skill 
 Victor then, victorious still. 
 
 Firmly to our standard flock, 
 Freemen stand like solid rock, 
 Tides of slander cannot shake, 
 Traitors hearts alone shall quake. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 33 
 
 Then rise above the servile dust, 
 
 To deeds of glory pure and just; 
 
 Our hero s fame still fadeless blooms, 
 Our hero s fame still fadeless blooms, 
 
 Let slander hide her dastard head, 
 
 The ground is safe on which we tread; 
 
 So rally to the standard on. 
 
 Sons of sires like Washington; 
 
 Let the battle well be fought, 
 
 Glory s best when dearest bought. 
 
 Firmly to our standard flock, 
 Freemen stand like solid rock, 
 Tides of slander cannot shake, 
 Traitors hearts alone shall quake. 
 
 Lo, now a grateful people rise, 
 With cheers exulting rend the skies, 
 
 Brave Harrison in loud huzzas, 
 
 Brave Harrison in loud huzzas, 
 From East to West the echo rings, 
 And Freedom flaps her airy wings. 
 Rejoiced to see her reign prolonged, 
 By millions round the hero throng d; 
 Hoist the banners high in air, 
 Grateful hearts are everywhere. 
 
 Firmly to our standard flock, 
 
 Freemen stand like solid rock, 
 
 Tides of slander cannot shake, 
 
 Traitors hearts alone shall quake. 
 
 HAVE YOU HEARD THE GOOD NEWS. 
 TUNE, "Rosin the ffovv." 
 
 Have you heard the good news from Virgin a, 
 That makes all the locos look blue? 
 
 She has hauled down the flag of Van Buren, 
 And hoisted Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 Old Ritchie & Co. told "the party* 
 
 That the State for Van Buren was true; 
 
 But the log-cabin boys gave them battle, 
 And conquered for Tippecanoe. 
 
 The locos they worked like all nature, 
 And told all their lies old and new; 
 
 But the cabin boys said you can t come it, 
 We are going for Tippecanoe. 
 
 3* 
 
34 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Rhode Island we ve got and Virginia, 
 And we ve taken Connecticut too; 
 
 In 36 each was for Martin, 
 
 But now they re for Tippecanoe. 
 
 Ten cheers for the ancient dominion; 
 
 Ten cheers for our triumph in view; 
 We will beat them as bad in October, 
 
 As Old Tip did at Tippecanoe. 
 
 Huzza for the rest of the Union; 
 
 1 lu //a for our cause good and true; 
 Huzza for John Tyler, Tom Corwin, 
 
 And huzza for Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 GENERAL HARRISON. 
 TUNE, "The Lament." 
 
 Hark! with shouts, the air is rending, 
 Of the white man s savage foe; 
 
 Now their cruel course is bending 
 To the work of death and woe. 
 
 Hear the cries of widows weeping 
 For a murdered husband, son; 
 
 Low in death forever sleeping, 
 
 Did they spare them? No, not one. 
 
 Now their savage bosoms swelling; 
 
 To destroy, their only aim; 
 See! they burn the lowly dwelling; 
 
 See destruction in their train. 
 
 They, with stealthy steps are treading, 
 To secure their feeble prey; 
 
 Now, in fear, the white man dreading, 
 Unpursued they flee away. 
 
 Hear! the trump of war is sounding; 
 
 See an injured people come; 
 See the red man s host surrounding; 
 
 See the gallant Harrison. 
 
 He, his country s rights defending, 
 Has no cause but that alone: 
 
 He, the foe s proud power rending, 
 Ranks on ranks, has overthrown. 
 
Tippecanoc Songs of 1840. 35 
 
 Now the cannon loudly roaring, 
 
 In destruction on the foe; 
 Now in vengeance death is pouring, 
 
 Lays the haughty chieftain low. 
 
 Now from battle he s returning 
 
 With the spoils his valor won; 
 See, with joy his bosom burning; 
 
 See our own, our Harrison. 
 
 Now in safety he s returning; 
 
 Joy to those who lived in dread; 
 They, in silence, now imploring 
 
 Choicest blessings on his head. 
 
 Now once more his way is wending 
 
 To his pleasant rural home; 
 Now his golden fields is tending, 
 
 In domestic pleasures roam. 
 
 Now in life he s fast declining, 
 
 Yet in wisdom holds his sway; 
 Round his head he s fast entwining 
 
 Sages counsel, brightest ray. 
 
 Now ye people now ye nation, 
 
 Ere life s feeble course is run, 
 To the high exalted station, 
 
 Raise your own, your Harrison. 
 
 HARK TO THE WARNING. 
 TUNE, "A lithe Blue Bonnets .^ 
 
 All praise to the hero, the statesman, the farmer, 
 As threefold his title, be threefold his fame; 
 The strong arm is stronger, the warm heart is warmer 
 When touched by the magic of Harrison s name. 
 
 Hark! to the warning a nation has spoken 
 It rolls from the mountain, it springs from the plain. 
 Down with the spoilers, their trust who have broken, 
 And up with the standard of freedom again! 
 
 He calls on the wealthy, whose store he protected, 
 The poor man whose pittance he labored to save; 
 
36 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 The patriot, who frowns not on merit neglected, 
 The soldier, who honors the noble and brave. 
 
 Hark! to the warning, etc. 
 
 By the toils and the dangers that sadden his story, 
 By the blood that he poured with the blood of the foe, 
 By the homes that he fought for, his triumphs his glorv 
 He calls us to aid him, to strike the last blow. 
 
 Hark! to the warning, etc. 
 
 Then up at his call speed the plow my good neighbors. 
 To the fields so long barren, all eagerly come; 
 Soon autumn shall yield the rewards of our labors, 
 And the land shall be glad with its new harvest-home. 
 Hark! to the warning, etc. 
 
 Then shout to the hero, and forth swell the chorus. 
 More loud than the war-whoop that died at his voice; 
 Will the agent of ruin fly trembling before us, 
 And the country, redeemed at their downfall, rejoice. 
 Hark! to the warning, etc. 
 
 NEW NATIONAL WHIG SONG. 
 AIR, "//// to the Clief Who in Triumph Advances." 
 
 Hail to the chief,-for whom triumph advances, 
 
 Honored and blest by the people anew, 
 Long may the Buckeye s green o erspreading branches 
 Shelter the hero of Tippecanoe! 
 
 North, send it happy dew, 
 South, send it sap anew; 
 Firmly to flourish as broadly it grew 
 Whilst every hill and plain 
 Echoes, in joyful strain, 
 Harrison! hero of Tippecanoe! 
 
 Our s is no dandy no poor man s oppressor, 
 
 Blooming in power next winter to fade, 
 When the people shall point out to Martin s successor 
 Oh! then shall our hero emerge from the shade. 
 First in the nation s choice; 
 Called by the people s voice; 
 Proudly they ll welcome the veteran anew, 
 Who at Fort Meigs and Thames 
 Was his country s and fame s 
 Harrison! hero ot Tippecanoe! 
 
Tippccanoe Songs of 18^0. 37 
 
 Loudlv our tocsin was thrilled through the nation, 
 
 With Harrison s banner unfurled o er the land, 
 The proud Old Dominion has taken her station, 
 The Empire and Keystone are taking their stand. 
 The Buckeye and the Bay States 
 We count on as first rates 
 To carry the gallant old veteran through; 
 For, tired of dallying 
 The people are rallying 
 For Harrison! hero of Tippecanoe! 
 
 Rise! freemen, rise! for the hope of the nation. 
 
 Vote for the hero and pride of the West, 
 Whose filness to fill so exalted a station 
 His virtues both private and public attest, 
 Firm to his country s cause; 
 True to her outraged laws, 
 Keeping her honor and glory in view. 
 Triumph will grace him 
 Wherever we place him - 
 Harrison! hero of Tippecanoe! 
 
 DYING GROANS OF THE TIN-PAN. 
 
 iSting at the great Ohio Convention, held at Columbus, February 22, 1840.] 
 
 We have had a hard time on account of the road, 
 
 But we looked not behind, for we knew our cause was 
 
 good, 
 
 The object of our journey was plain to discover, 
 "f is to row Mat Van Buren way up Salt River, 
 
 Ching ring a ching, O ching ring a ching. 
 
 When this grand delegation will arrive at the convention, 
 Then we ll learn more fully General Harrison s intention, 
 We ll compose such a body that the Locos will look sour, 
 For they well know we come for to witness their last hour. 
 
 O ching, etc., etc. 
 
 The brig General Harrison is just on before 
 With a band of Northern Whigs ten thousand or more, 
 Representing when this nation was as fair as any realm 
 Till little Mat Van Buren the magician took the helm. 
 
 O ching, etc., etc. 
 
 And broadside and broadside into him we send 
 Until he strikes his colors to the hero of North Bend, 
 
38 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 And yields up command to the people again, 
 And then success to commerce and fair prices for our 
 grain. 
 
 O ching, etc., etc. 
 
 The Vans of Mount Vernon thought the Whigs would 
 
 give o er 
 
 On account of the rain on the roads, but O never; 
 For we yield not the spirit which is roused all atound 
 Till the great hydra monster is driven from our land. 
 
 O ching, etc., etc. 
 
 The Loco Foco party at Mt. Vernon down did look 
 When they failed to steal the brig, and showed their 
 
 cloven foot, 
 
 When the Whig bugle sound and in triumph we set sail, 
 For a more honest party at Columbus to hail! 
 
 O ching, etc., etc. 
 
 He has taught to wean attention from the general theme, 
 That it s bad policy when our country s not serene; 
 So Medary was instructed to spread the reason far, 
 They never had settled the Northwestern boundary war. 
 
 O ching, etc., etc. 
 
 The spirit of our nation is now all on fire, 
 But they can pay their way without stealing (^uasi Quire; 
 We are coming from the South and the far distant Maine, 
 For to rally neath the banner of our Harrison again. 
 
 O ching, etc., etc. 
 
 The people now are coming, little Matty will be routed, 
 For their patience is exhausted and all Swartwouted, 
 Sam Medary typed a lie against Mr. Lloyd up, 
 But their testimony failed, and used Payne and Wilson up. 
 
 O ching, etc., etc. 
 
 Andrew Jackson recommended his dear little Van 
 For to follow in his footsteps and try to be a man; 
 But his administration has proved to his scorn, 
 That he is a barren stalk of great baden corn. 
 
 O ching, etc., etc. 
 
 When arriving, shouts came from the whole reform nation. 
 
 It roll d o er our land, then arose up to heaven; 
 
 But from a distant silent house, there came a sound of 
 
 booming, 
 
 And we soon learnt with joy twas the tin pan a groaning. 
 
 O ching, etc., etc. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 39 
 
 Now we join happy thousands at the close of our journey. 
 At our proud Capitol all is free as milk and honey; 
 Now we point up aloft, where our nation s banners flying, 
 And this shall be the requiem for the Vans while they re 
 dying. 
 
 Ching a ring a ching. 
 
 VAN BUREN S LAMENT. 
 AIR. "0. No, F II Never Mention Her. r 
 
 Oh, no, I never mention d it, 
 
 I never said a word; 
 I lent Swartwout a lot of cash, 
 
 Of which I ve never heard. 
 He said he only borrow d it, 
 
 To pay another debt, 
 And since I ve never mention d it, 
 
 He thinks that I forget. 
 
 And Price, and others like himself, 
 
 Have borrow d money too, 
 And since I ve never mention d it, 
 
 They think it is not due. 
 I fear the money was not mine, 
 
 And I must pay the debt. 
 For though I ve never mention d it, 
 
 The people wont forget. 
 
 HARRISON SONG. 
 TUNE, "Gaily the Troubadour: 
 
 Truly did Harrison come from his home, 
 Whilst he was yet a youth not twenty-one, 
 He joined our gallant band on the frontiers, 
 Harrison, Harrison give him three cheers. 
 
 Hark, all ye gallant Whigs, firm, brave and true, 
 After he d joined the band what did he do ? 
 He led to victory, free from all fears 
 Harrison, Harrison give him three cheers. 
 
 Huzza for Harrison success to him. 
 
 He makes the Vanocrats look rather slim, 
 
Jlppccanoc Songs of 1840. 
 
 He is the people s man, away with our fears 
 Harrison, Harrison give him three cheers. 
 
 Then let us stick to him, young, old, and all, 
 And, like old Proctor s men, Matty must fall; 
 Turn, then, ye Vanocrats, fear not their sneers, 
 Harrison, Harrison give him three cheers. 
 
 OHIO WHIG CONVENTION, 1840. 
 TUNE, "The Son of Alknomook" 
 
 Twas on Washington s birthday, the Whigs of the State, 
 In Columbus assembled their numbers were great; 
 From the North, from the South, from the East and the 
 
 West, 
 By ten thousands they came, at their country s behest. 
 
 They were freemen assembled their rights to maintain 
 And to rescue their land from corruption s foul stain, 
 To consult on the means their lov d country to save, 
 And to drive from high places base traitors and knaves. 
 
 There was old Cuyahoga, the pride of the North, 
 By her sons, which the country in scores had sent forth, 
 With their brig newly rigged, and a fine hearty crew 
 All resolved to do battle for Tippecanoe. 
 
 There was Portage, Medina, Geauga, Lorain, 
 Ashtabula, and Trumbull, and western Champaign, 
 And Muskingum, and Guernsey, and Green, and Monroe, 
 And Franklin, and Licking, and old Scioto. 
 
 There was Richland, and Warren, and Union, and Stark, 
 There was Mercy and Franklin, Montgomery and Clark, 
 There was Erie, and Henry, and Paulding, and Wood, 
 All poured forth their thousands of Whigs stanch and 
 good. 
 
 There was Morgan, and Clermont, and Highland, and 
 
 Brown, 
 
 Swelled the ranks of the Whigs to put tyranny down, 
 While Belmont, and Hamilton, Preble, and Ross, 
 With their thousands on thousands made Locos look cross. 
 
 There were farmers, mechanics, and hunters, and tars, 
 Proudly o er their heads waved the stripes and the stars, 
 
Tippccanoc Songs of 184<). 41 
 
 While the soul-stirring music poured forth by the bands, 
 Cheered their hearts, while the Tories in grief wrung 
 their hands. 
 
 Yes. those plunder-stained hands, then in sorrow were 
 
 wrung. 
 
 While the Whigs the loud chorus ofliberty sung: 
 Twas the death knell of knavery, hearty and loud, 
 Twas the song of vvhich freemen shall ever be proud. 
 
 There was Washington s life-guard, a relic of times. 
 That tried brave men s souls in our own happy climes. 
 And he led a white charger along through the street, 
 On his back was the saddle great Washington s seat. 
 
 And next came the patriot of Tippecanoe, 
 The hero who fought for his country when new; 
 These banners were met with shouts of applause. 
 From the houses devoted to liberty s cause. 
 
 Assembled at length and in liberty s name. 
 For President Harrison loud they proclaim; 
 For Governor Corwin, a friend of the free, 
 Huzza, shout huzza, shout huzza, three times three. 
 
 The days of the spoilsmen are numbered and told; 
 In March. 41, shall the hero be rolled 
 In triumph to Washington, there to restore. 
 His country, now fallen, to glory once more. 
 
 THE SPOILSMEN. 
 
 The spoilsmen came down like the wolf on the fold. 
 And their train bands were rev ling in ill-gotten gold, 
 And Benton s hoarse howl on the gale did resound 
 Like the deep deadly yell of the blood-scenting-hound. 
 
 Like leaves of the forest when summer is green, 
 In the year 3q their bought banners were seen, 
 Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown 
 In March 41 they lay withered and strown. 
 
 For Freedom s proud bird spread his wings on the blast, 
 And the breath of his wrath laid them low as they passed, 
 And the eyes of the Vanites grew deadly and chill, 
 And Sub-Treasurers legs forever grew still. 
 
42 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 And there lay sad Amos distorted and pale, 
 With a curse on his lip and his grip on the mail. 
 And there lav Calhoun with his nostrils all wide, 
 And the "galvanized corpse lay dark by his side. 
 
 And there lay "poor Pickin" and Duncan hard bv, 
 With the Globe in his hand and a drop in his eve, 
 And the kitchen was silent, the Cabinet flown/ 
 The cravat of the humbugger hung there "alone." 
 
 And the wail of the scullions is loud in their woe, 
 The "footstep" is vanished, the "follower" laid low, 
 And the popular might hath the spoiler expunged, 
 The might of the freeman hath freemen avenged. 
 
 THE LAST CABINET COUNCIL. 
 AIR, "There s Nae Luck About the House." 
 
 Sly Matty s face was overcast, 
 
 His hopes began to lower, 
 
 His kitchen cabinet he called, 
 
 Besides the lawful four; 
 
 And bade them with a scolding tongue 
 
 That each should truly say, 
 
 If any chance remained for him 
 
 On next election day. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 For it s Boyd and Harris, Linn and Price, 
 And Swartwout they do say, 
 Have toted off the nation s cash, 
 As lawful Loco prey. 
 
 Then up steps Amos, grim and thin, 
 
 With sick and ghastly look, 
 
 You never would have thought that he 
 
 Was scullion and chief cook; 
 
 Now Matty dear, says he, I m sure, 
 
 The game is up with us, 
 
 Those cursed Whigs will beat us now, 
 
 They kick up such a fuss. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 About the outside quires and cash 
 You d think this nation s broke, 
 And Blair, and I, and Calhoun think, 
 This time they do not joke. 
 
Tip pc canoe Songs of 1840. 43 
 
 Savs Blair to M good President 
 
 1 think it is unlucky. 
 
 That I must streak it back again 
 
 To teach school in Kentucky; 
 
 But go I must, for I am sure. 
 
 Our battles all are fought, 
 
 And New York s favorite son is beat 
 
 Bv sober second thought. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 Now Matty don t get sick, I m sure 
 We may as well clear out, 
 And join the Loco Foco Price, 
 And honest Sam Swartwout. 
 
 And next, says Paulding, I do wish 
 
 To novels I had stuck, 
 
 For writing them would ne er have made 
 
 Of me so lame a duck; 
 
 Dear Matty we must soon go back 
 
 To quiet Kinderhook, 
 
 And in your garret I will write 
 
 Another shilling book. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 Oh, dear! the times are very hard 
 When wheat s but fifty cents, 
 But I m the man that s rich enough 
 If I collect my rents. 
 
 Come, Uncle Levi, tell us now 
 
 What think you of Whig votes ? 
 
 Oh, dear! I fear they can t be bought 
 
 With my sub-treasury notes : 
 
 I ve figured out my long reports 
 
 Arrayed in solid column, 
 
 But where s your cash, the Whigs cry out. 
 
 With faces long and solemn. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 The cash is gone and credit too 
 With our administration, 
 And we have ruined every man 
 Throughout the Yankee nation. 
 
 Now Poinsett can you cheer us up 
 With glad and cheerful sounds ? 
 Oh, no! I can t, those cursed Whigs 
 Have tree d me with bloodhounds; 
 
44 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 We ve got to quit the White House, now. 
 As fast as we can go; 
 I ll take my hat, and make my bow, 
 For I am D. I. O. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 The spoils are gone there s nothing left 
 Of paper, blanks, and twine, 
 And every man is fortunate 
 Who knows where he can dine. 
 
 Perdition catch you all, says Mat, 
 Conn-, Forsythe, you re true blue, 
 And are so versed in politics 
 Can tell me what to do. 
 I wish I could, for I am sure 
 You d hear it very soon; 
 Hut I will go and advise with 
 My friend J. C. Calhoun. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 For he s the man to jump Jim Crow, 
 And prove that black is white, 
 He will convince you its noonday, 
 When dark and pitchy night. 
 
 Now Harry Clay was passing by, 
 
 And hearing such a roar, 
 
 With hasty strides he mounted up 
 
 And opened wide the door 
 
 Hallo! says he, what means this noise 
 
 Within this garrison ? 
 
 You d better all make tracks here comes 
 
 The patriot Harrison. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 So off they ran with nimble legs, 
 As fast as they could lean; 
 As granny he took up the broom 
 And swept the White House clean. 
 
 WHIG ALARUM. 
 
 gs away, tis no time f 
 
 . s rude footsteps our tem^ica ucgitun 
 
 To the contest prepare, and by strong arm declare, 
 That no tyrant survives who our rights are invading. 
 
 Whigs away, Whigs away, tis no time for delay, 
 
 For the foeman s rude footsteps our temples degrading, 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 45 
 
 Fling the broad stripes on high, they shall float on the sky, 
 Ag the beacons on the towers of liberty gleaming, 
 
 Tis the banner of might, in the midst of the tight, 
 
 For victory shouts where its bright folds are streaming. 
 
 And our eagle is nigh, with his fierce lightning eye, 
 
 And his broad wings in the midst of the battle are 
 
 dashing; 
 He has heard from afar, the loud tumult of war, 
 
 Soon the Vanites shall quail where his wild glance is 
 flashing. 
 
 Long our breezes shall fan the ensign of a land, 
 
 Which ne er shall be crushed by a tyrant s stern heel; 
 
 Then warriors awake and your bright sabers take; 
 Let the foes of our freedom their keen edges feel. 
 
 Whigs away, Whigs away, tis no time for delay, 
 For a tyrant s in the temples of sweet liberty; 
 
 Strike for freedom and laws, for our dear country s cause, 
 From the wide western prairies to the shores of the sea. 
 
 THE VOICE OF COLUMBIA. 
 
 Lo! the seal of power is breaking, 
 Patriots, who have slept, are waking, 
 
 And a tyrant s fall declare; 
 Freemen, arouse! a voice is singing, 
 In mount and vale, the peal is ringing; 
 See, the stars and stripes are flinging, 
 
 Meteor-flashes on the sky. 
 
 Minstrelsy the land is filling, 
 
 In brave hearts its tones are thrilling, 
 
 Tis the harp of Liberty; 
 From her seraphic temple springing, 
 Swift on lightning pinions winging, 
 While her gallant sons are bringing. 
 
 Vengeance on her enemy. 
 
 Hosts to battle now are dashing, 
 In the sun their blades are flashing. 
 
 Hear ye not their battle cry? 
 Banners on the sky are gleaming, 
 And upon the breeze are streaming, 
 Leading, by their beacon beaming, 
 
 Men resolved to do or die. 
 
46 Tippecanoe Songs of 18 40. 
 
 Tyrant, our sacred rights invading, 
 With miscreant slaves our soil degrading, 
 
 In freedom s halls you dwell no more; 
 Tho now against her laws rebelling, 
 Soon you ll hear on wild winds swelling, 
 Mighty shouts thy downfall knelling. 
 
 Far along Atlantic s shore. 
 
 REPORT. 
 DIRC;E, " Burial of Sir John Moore."" 
 
 Not a sigh was heard not a farewell groan 
 
 Though he looked confoundedly flurried; 
 No patriots breast was heard to moan, 
 
 As from the White House he was hurried, 
 He streaked it out darkly, at dead of night, 
 
 The way with his grabbers feeling, 
 And he seemed, by the glare of lantern light, 
 
 Like a rogue just caught a sheep stealing. 
 
 No useless carriage encircled his breast, 
 
 Nor in ruffles, nor jewels we found him; 
 Yet he looked like a chap that had feathered his nest 
 
 With the people s earnings around him; 
 Nor few, nor short, the maledictions said. 
 
 And spoke more in anger than sorrow, 
 As the people they gritted their teeth in their head, 
 
 And cursed the magician all hollow. 
 
 Startled and wild was his cat-like tread, 
 
 (As Old Tip s name was rung o er each hill. Oh!) 
 Like a hyena scared from his feast of the dead, 
 
 As the red morning breaks over the billow; 
 Lightly they ll talk of the sprite that is gone, 
 
 And o er the sub-treasury upbraid him; 
 But little we ll reck, so we ll let him sneak on 
 
 To the grave where the people have laid him. 
 
 But half our grateful task was done, 
 
 When the clock toll d the hour so desiring; 
 And we knew by the boom of a Harrison gun 
 
 That the Whigs were merrily firing. 
 Down slowly and sadly the Locos come 
 
 From the east room, in uppermost story; 
 In Virginia fence-line, thev all reel d home, 
 
 And left Old Tip alone "in his glory. 
 
Ti-ppecanoe Songs of 1840. 47 
 
 LET FAME PUT HER TRUMP. 
 
 Let fame put her trump to the lip of the morn, 
 
 And rouse up the slumbering day; 
 On the wings of the wind be the blast onward borne, 
 
 Till it dies in the ether away; 
 But on the broad hills let it lay, 
 
 And echo the green valley o er, 
 That a chieftain exists, who, though aged and gray, 
 
 Shall this country s lost luster restore. 
 
 From the North to the South, from the East to the West, 
 
 From the center all round to the sea, 
 On the pinions of time, that are never at rest, 
 
 It is borne to the ears of the free: 
 Then tremble the tyrants that be, 
 
 For the moments of reckoning come, 
 More appalling than tempests that scourge the dark sea, 
 
 Or the war-notes of trumpet and drum. 
 
 From the long dreary night of misrule and dismay, 
 
 A whole people awake to the light, 
 While the dark clouds of error are breaking away, 
 
 And the morning of truth dawning bright: 
 Again in her splendor and might, 
 
 Fair Freedom unveils to the view, 
 And points to the chief, whose integrity s plight 
 
 Shall the stars of her glory renew. 
 
 Betrayed by false statements, the sons of the soil 
 
 Long in error and darkness did grope, 
 While the vampyres bore off" the reward of their toil, 
 
 And withered each promise of hope: 
 But a chieftain there is, who shall cope 
 
 With the spoilers with Hercules arm, 
 While the phalanx of freemen, unscathed and unbroke 
 
 The abuses of power shall disarm 
 
 He was tried in the battle, and ne er known to yield, 
 
 Lang syne, in the days of our pride; 
 A sage in the Senate, a chief in the field, 
 
 On whom sages and warriors relied: 
 They will rally again to his side, 
 
 As they did when the war-arrows flew; 
 And he ll lead them to conquest and glory beside, 
 
 As he led them at Tippecanoe. 
 
 At the sound of the blast cheering onward amain, 
 Prosperity lifts her pale head. 
 
4& Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 And looks, as her eye brightens up once again, 
 
 Like a vestal arose from the dead: 
 Toward the chieftain her arms are outspread, 
 
 Who her beauty and strength shall restore, 
 And robe her anew in the white blue and red, 
 
 That so gracefully veiled her before. 
 
 Then pour a libation, and bear it on high, 
 
 And let Fame give the word of command, 
 While the eagle of victory stoops from the skv, 
 
 And hovers above the green land: 
 Round the altar of Freedom we stand, 
 
 With the swords of our country in view. 
 And accoutred for battle, pledge heart and pledge hand, 
 
 For the hero of Tippecanoe. 
 
 IT OFTT1MKS HAS BEEN TOT. I). 
 TUNK, " The Constitution (in<t Gttrriere" 
 
 It ofttimes has been told, 
 
 That British sailors bold, 
 Could flog the tars of France so neat and handy, O; 
 
 But they never found their match, 
 
 Till the Yankees did them catch, 
 Oh, the Yankee boys fighting are the dandy, O. 
 
 The British now so bold, 
 
 Hired just to fight for gold, 
 Commanded by proud Proctor, the grandee, O; 
 
 With Indians by the score, 
 
 A thousand too, or more, 
 They swore they d flog the Yankees now so handv, O. 
 
 Then Proctor loudly cries, 
 
 Make this great field your prize, 
 You can in thirty minutes neat and handy, O; 
 
 Thirty five s enough I m sure, 
 
 And if you ll do it in a score, 
 I ll treat you to a double share of brandv, O. 
 
 The Indians with a yell, 
 
 As if they came from h 11, 
 Slashed round their tomahawks so neat and handv, O; 
 
 Now says Harrison to his braves, 
 
 Come on and whip these slaves, 
 If we take these savage boasters we re the dandy, O, 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 49 
 
 The first gun that was fired 
 
 Into their hearts inquired, 
 Which made the lofty Proctor look abandoned, O; 
 
 This Briton shook his head, 
 
 And to his officers said, 
 Lord, I didn t think old Harrison was so handy, O. 
 
 Our second told as well, 
 
 It made the Indians yell, 
 Which doused Tecumseh s hopes so very, handy, O. 
 
 By George, they cried, we ve done, 
 
 We d better cut and run, 
 While the Yankees struck up Yankee doodle dandy, O. 
 
 The Indians now unarmed, 
 
 Because they were alarmed, 
 And buried all their tomahawks so handy, O; 
 
 But Harrison did not rest, 
 
 And on the battle press d, 
 And tightly grasped his good old sword so handy, O. 
 
 Yet the brave old soldier said, 
 
 He wished not Proctor dead, 
 But meant to dress him in a petticoat so handy, O; 
 
 Then send him to the squaws, 
 
 The reason why, because 
 Among men he wasn t quite the dandy, O. 
 
 Now great success to him 
 
 Who does the work so trim, 
 As flog two great warriors so handy, O; 
 
 Our President he ll be, 
 
 Which you will shortly see, 
 And, fellow-citizens, wont that be the dandy, O! 
 
 THE PEOPLES SONG. 
 TUNE, "Gtlderoy." 
 
 We long to see the season come 
 When we can vote for Harrison, 
 For there is nothing can prevent 
 His being the next President; 
 For he s the man that risk d his life, 
 Against the savage scalping knife; 
 And Proctor thought he d better run 
 Than measure swords with Harrison. 
 
50 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 When some were in their cradles rock d 
 Their fathers round the hero flock d, 
 The fight was hard, but still they won, 
 Led on by General Harrison; 
 But now with double force they come. 
 The war-worn soldier, with his son, 
 They strike the time without the drum, 
 Both right and left, for Harrison. 
 
 Supporting General Harrison, 
 The people have no risk to run 
 For he can first adjust their laws, 
 Then with his sword maintain their cause. 
 Then raise the banner till it floats, 
 While men are handing in their votes; 
 And may their ballots tell as one, 
 Success to General Harrison. 
 
 Then let this song, for one, be sung, 
 As clear as Indian rifles rung, 
 By middle-aged, old and young, 
 Without one jar or faltering tongue; 
 And let the spangled banner wave, 
 High on the breeze, above the brave, 
 While they proclaim the work is done, 
 We ll join for General Harrison. 
 
 The eagle with bright plumage dressed, 
 Directs her flight towards the West, 
 Where oft she d heard the battle yell, 
 To drop a tear where Davies fell; 
 Now round the field her way she wings, 
 And with her notes the welkin rings, 
 She sings McArthur, Cass and Croghan, 
 Then tops her song with Harrison. 
 
 THE FLAG OF TIPPECANOE. 
 AIR, "A Health Let Us Drink to the Hero and Sage." 
 
 The "Spoilsmen" are fretful and gloomy as night, 
 Their " Denmark is rotten" about, 
 The party s perplexed, and in horrible plight, 
 For Matty they know must go out: 
 
 Our flag, like the sign to the Roman, I ween, 
 
 Will lead us to glory and who 
 
 Would nt stick to that flag while a star s to be seen 
 
 The flag of Old Tippecanoe. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 51 
 
 "The scepter and power from Judah must go;" 
 The days of Van Buren are told, 
 The people, refusing to take, as you know, 
 Shin -plasters, for promised gold: 
 
 Then on to the rescue my hearties we move, 
 
 Corruption must shrink if we do, 
 
 Let s stick to Old Buckeye, the statesman we love, 
 
 The Hero of Tippecanoe! 
 
 Our ship CONSTITUTION, though stanch in her hull, 
 
 Is marr d by the Partisan storm; 
 
 But we safely will moor her by united pull, 
 
 In the haven of real reform: 
 
 But the ship to be saved a new Master must own, 
 
 And a new set of Tars for the crew; 
 
 From the Ancient Domain the Lieutenant must come 
 
 The Captain from Tippecanoe! 
 
 When war s deadly summons had led us to blows, 
 Where was Kinderhook Van to be found? 
 In the rear of all dangers, with Bluelights and foes, 
 He hated the battle s dread sound. 
 
 Where was HARRISON then? on the field of his fame 
 
 There, prov d himself gallant and true, 
 
 The roar of the cannon was music to him 
 
 The Hero of Tippecanoe. 
 
 When peace by proud victories came again brief, 
 The Hero returned to his plow; 
 
 But the people are coming to make him their Chief, 
 With purpose inflexible now. 
 
 Then fill up your wine cups and pass them around, 
 
 Let s drink to the brave and the true, 
 
 And this be our toast, The Brave Hero of Thames, 
 
 The Hero of Tippecanoe! 
 
 THE HERO OF TIPPECANOE. 
 
 [The following song was sung at the convention held at Columbus, Feb 
 ruary 22, 23, 40.] 
 
 TUNE, "Rosin the Boiv." 
 
 Ye jolly young lads of Ohio, 
 
 And all ye sick Vanocrats too, 
 Come out from amongst the foul party, 
 
 And vote for old Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
 And vote for old Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
52 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 The great Twenty- Second is coming, 
 And the Vanjacks begin to look blue, 
 
 They know there s no chance for poor Matty, 
 If we ll stick to old Tippecanoe, 
 If we ll stick, etc. 
 
 I therefore will give you a warning, 
 
 Not that any good it will do, 
 For I m certain you all are a going, 
 
 To vote for old Tippecanoe, 
 To vote, etc. 
 
 Then let us be up and doing, 
 
 And cling to our cause brave and true, 
 
 I ll bet you a fortune we ll beat them, 
 With the hero of Tippecanoe. 
 
 With the hero, etc. 
 
 Good men from the Vanjacks arc flying, 
 Which makes them look kinder eskew, 
 
 For they see they are joining the standard, 
 With the hero of Tippecanoe. 
 
 With the hero, etc. 
 
 They say that he lived in a cabin, 
 And lived on old hard cider too, 
 
 Well, what if he did, I m certain, 
 He s the hero of Tippecanoe. 
 
 He s the hero, etc. 
 
 Then let us all go to Columbus, 
 < And form a procession or two, 
 And I tell you the Vanjacks will startle, 
 At the sound of old Tippecanoe. 
 
 At the sound, etc. 
 
 As for one I m fully determined, 
 To go, let it rain, hail or snow; 
 
 And do what we can in the battle, 
 For the hero of Tippecanoe. 
 
 For the hero, etc. 
 
 And if we get any ways thirsty, 
 I ll tell you what we can do, 
 
 We ll bring down a keg of hard cider, 
 And drink to old Tippecanoe. 
 
 And drink, etc. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 53 
 
 HURRAH SONG. 
 
 Old Tip s the boy to swing the flail, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrahl 
 And make the Locos all turn pale, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 He ll give them all a tarnal switching 
 When he begins to " Clare de Kitchen." 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 
 Plowboys! though he leads in battle, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 He s a team in raising cattle, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 And though old Proctor at him kicked, 
 He is the chap that never was licked, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, etc. 
 
 Hit latch-string hangs outside the door, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 As it has always done before, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 We vowed, by Whigs he should be sent 
 To Washington as President, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, Jiurrah, etc. 
 
 In all the States no door stands wider, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 To ask you in to drink hard cider, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 But any man that s fond of grabbin , 
 Ne er can enter his log cabin, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 
 For such as Swartwout, Price and Boyd, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 
 His honest soul will e er avoid, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 
 And poverty he thinks no crime, 
 
 But welcomes it at dinner time, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, etc. 
 
 So here s three cheers for honest Tip, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 We ve got the Locos on the hip, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah? 
 We ll row them all far up Salt River, 
 There let them stand to shake and shiver, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, etc. 
 
54 Ttppecanot Songs of 1840. 
 
 THE HERO PLOWMAN. 
 TUNE, "Tankee Doodle." 
 
 The hero plowman of North Bend, 
 
 According to my notion, 
 Who did our cabins long defend, 
 Is worthy of promotion. 
 
 Then for the plowman we ll array, 
 
 Our gallant Buckeye forces 
 Van Buren s collar men K K* 
 They soon will fly their courses. 
 
 Van cannot bribe us with his Price, 
 Nor will we be Swartwouted; 
 
 We ll stick to Tip like any vise, 
 Until the foe is routed. 
 
 Then for, etc. 
 
 Come one come all, the spoilsmen clan, 
 Who jump at Matty s orders; 
 
 We ll clear his kitchen to a man, 
 And boost them from our borders. 
 Then for, etc. 
 
 The false magician long has play d 
 
 His feats of hocus pocus; 
 Has congregated and array d, 
 
 His rabid Loco Focos. 
 
 But for, etc. 
 
 Leg-treas rers scent his old Dutch cheese, 
 
 The smell whereof so loud is; 
 It makes them jump and snuff and sneeze 
 The Loco Foco rowdies. 
 
 Then for, etc. 
 
 The treas ry-Kraut is wholly spoil d, 
 
 It never was half salted, 
 But spoilsmen gulp it down unboil d, 
 
 But just a little scalded. 
 
 Then for, etc. 
 
 Our Buckeye hero, true and tried, 
 Is rightly nam d old granny; 
 
 To deliver (is his pride) 
 The house of little Vanny. 
 
 Then for, etc. 
 
 *K K means can t come it 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 55 
 
 But granny never works by halves, 
 
 He s eke a famous doctor, 
 He ll ease the nation of her knaves, 
 
 As he did Gen ral Proctor. 
 
 Then for, etc. 
 
 The spoilsmen will be forc d to slope; 
 
 To take unto their scrapers; 
 Old Tip will grant them, soon I hope. 
 
 Authentic walking papers. 
 
 So for, etc. 
 
 And then the famous Kinderhook, 
 
 Sir Martin will reside in; 
 He ll find some cranny nook or crook. 
 
 His infamy to hide in. 
 
 Then for, etc. 
 
 Now here s a health to Harrison: 
 
 His fame keeps circling wider; 
 Ohio s boast Virginia s son 
 
 We ll toast him on hard cider. 
 
 Then for, etc. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF THE THAMES. 
 TUNE, " The Battle of the Nile: 
 
 Arise! arise! sons of the West arise, 
 
 And join in the shouts of the patriotic throng; 
 
 Arise! arise! sons of the West arise, 
 
 And let Freedom s walls re-echo with your song. 
 
 For he will lead us on 
 
 Who did lead us years ago, 
 
 When he trod a foreign soil, 
 
 Wreaking vengeance on the foe. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 And the battle of the Thames, as every tongue proclaims, 
 And the battle of the Thames, as every tongue proclaims, 
 Shall live in history, in poetry and song. 
 
 Huzza! huzza! huzza! huzza! huzza, boys, 
 
 For him who fought for us, and never yet was known to 
 yield, 
 
 Huzza! huzza! huzza! huzza! huzza, boys, 
 
 Our Harrison again will win the field. 
 
56 J^ippecanoe Song s of 1840. 
 
 Arise! arise! sons of the West arise, 
 
 Your brethren of the East are arousing in their might, 
 
 Arise! arise! sons of the West arise, 
 
 And be ready now to aid them in the fight. 
 For he will be our chief, 
 Who when danger was at hand, 
 To our frontier brought relief, 
 With his gallant western band. 
 And the battle of the Thames, etc. 
 
 Arise! arise! sons of the West arise, 
 
 Your liberties maintaining, your country now befriend, 
 
 Arise! arise! sons of the West arise, 
 
 And gather round the farmer of North Bend. 
 For he will bring us aid, 
 Who was aide to gallant Wayne, 
 When the Indian s yell was heard, 
 From every hill and plain. 
 And the battle of the Thames, etc. 
 
 LOG CABINS AND LOG CABIN BOYS. 
 
 [Sung at the Log Cabin " raisin " at Annapolis, on Thursday, asth ultimo.] 
 TUNE, "Hunters of Kentucky." 
 
 Log Cabins now are all the go, 
 
 My friends, suppose we rear one, 
 We re clumsy architects, I know, 
 Yet still we can prepare one. 
 Yankee Doodle keep it up, 
 
 Yankee Doodle dandy, 
 Old Tip s the chap to put things right, 
 In State affairs he s handy. 
 
 We owe it to each Hoosier friend; 
 
 Tis due to old Kentucky, 
 Who neath the Banner of North Bend, 
 In war or peace is lucky. 
 Yankee Doodle keep it up, 
 
 Yankee Doodle dandy; 
 In honor of the West we ll have 
 A Cabin neat and handy. 
 
 When Proctor and our savage foes, 
 
 With yells the West astounded, 
 Van Buren liv d in soft repose, 
 
 By luxury surrounded. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 57 
 
 Yankee Doodle keep it up, 
 
 Yankee Doodle dandy; 
 Twas then Old Tip that savage horde 
 
 Just beat and took so handy. 
 
 Log Cabin Boys are all the go, 
 
 The fool alone derides them, 
 
 Their hearts with manly feelings glow, 
 
 And honor ever guides them. 
 
 Yankee Doodle keep it up, 
 
 And bout the work be handy, 
 They ve order d Van to Kinderhook, 
 And that you know s the dandy. 
 
 Now, friends, a song I ve given you, 
 
 Let some one sing another 
 A courtesy that s always due 
 From one Whig to a brother. 
 Yankee Doodle keep it up, 
 
 Let s with our work be handy, 
 Old Tip will be the President, 
 And that will be the dandy. 
 
 THE "LOG CABIN" SONG. 
 
 [Composed and sung by the Clark county delegation at the great People s 
 Convention of Ohio, on the 22d of February, 1840.] 
 
 TUNE, "Highland Laddie." 
 
 Oh, where, tell me where, was your Buckeye Cabin made? 
 Oh, where, tell me where, was your Buckeye Cabin made? 
 Twas built among the merry boys that wield the plow 
 
 and spade, 
 Where the Log Cabins stand, in the bonnie Buckeye 
 
 shade! 
 
 Twas built, etc. 
 
 Oh, what, tell me what, is to be your Cabin s fate? 
 Oh, what, tell me what, is to be your Cabin s fate? 
 We ll wheel it to the Capital, and place it there elate, 
 For a token or sign of the bonnie Buckeye State! 
 
 We ll wheel, etc. 
 
 Oh, why, tell me why, does your Buckeye Cabin go? 
 Oh, why, tell me why, does your Buckeye Cabin go? 
 It goes against the spoilsmen, for well its builders know 
 It was Harrison that fought for the cabins long ago. 
 
 It goes, etc. 
 
58 J^ippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Oh, what, tell me what, then, will little Martin do? 
 Oh, what, tell me what, then, will little Martin do? 
 He ll "follow in the footsteps" of Price and Swartwout too, 
 While the log cabins ring again with old Tippecanoe. 
 
 He ll follow, etc. 
 
 Oh, who fell before him in battle, tell me who? 
 Oh, who fell before him in battle, tell me who? 
 He drove the savage legions, and British armies too 
 At the Rapids, and the Thames, and old Tippecanoe! 
 
 He drove, etc. 
 
 By whom, tell me whom, will the battle next be won? 
 By whom, tell me whom, will the battle next be won? 
 The spoilsmen and leg treasurers will soon begin to run! 
 And the Log Cabin Candidate will march to Washing 
 ton! 
 
 The spoilsmen, etc. 
 
 THE HERO STATESMAN. 
 TUNE, "The CampbelVs Are Coming." 
 
 He comes from the West, in the strength of his name, 
 
 The favored of song, and a hero in fame; 
 
 He s the People s own choice, and his resting shall be 
 
 At the side of the brave, in the hearts of the free, 
 
 No more in the shade of retirement he s laid, 
 
 Where the warrior s plume rests with his chivalrous blade; 
 
 For his country demands his true service again, 
 
 To protect with his sword, and defend with his pen. 
 
 He comes from the West in the strength of his name 
 
 The favored of song, and a hero in fame; 
 
 He s the people s own choice, and his resting shall be 
 
 At the side of the brave, in the hearts of the free. 
 
 Though gray be his locks, there s a fire in his eye, 
 
 That flashes in scorn when a foeman is nigh; 
 
 To the poor and oppressed who his kindness implore, 
 
 He never in scorn shuts his hand nor his door. 
 
 Then hail to the hero who merits our thanks, 
 
 To the statesman who lives on Ohio s green banks; 
 
 For the banner of freedom that floats to the breeze, 
 
 Shall ne er be dishonored on land nor on seas. 
 
 He comes from the West, etc. 
 
 When joined with the wise and engaged with the great 
 To act for his country in councils of state, 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 59 
 
 No traitor unscathed shall escape from his hand 
 The boldest he ll sweep from a place in the land. 
 Though dastards revile, and though cowards defame, 
 They dim not the glory of Harrison s name; 
 And" louder and broader our plaudits shall rise 
 For the hero so bold, for the statesman so wise. 
 
 He comes from the West, etc. 
 
 NEW COMIC SONG. 
 TUNE, "Hey, Come Along, Josey." 
 
 Come listen to me and I ll sing you a song, 
 
 Which I promise you shall not be long; 
 
 And I know you ll say it s a first-rate thing 
 
 And dis is de tune dat I will sing: 
 
 Hey, cum along, jim along, Josey, 
 Hey, cum along, jim along, Jo. 
 
 I spose you know de Whigs next fall 
 Are gwoing to stop the Loco ball; 
 Gin rawl Harr sin he too strong for Martin, 
 And at de lexshun will beat him sartin: 
 
 Hey, cum along, etc. 
 
 De spilers say dey will no hab him 
 Kase how he lib in a log cabin; 
 But de peeple say dey do not kere, 
 He shall hab de White House fore a year. 
 Hey, cum along, etc. 
 
 De Locos say he drink hard cider, 
 But dey only spread his fame de wider 
 And dey may ober dere shampane 
 Make fun of him but it s all in w r ane: 
 
 Hey, cum along, etc. 
 
 Yes, let um laf and call him granny, 
 But it s well for you my little Vanny, 
 Dat he draw de Injuns and British far 
 While you were talkin gainst de war: 
 
 Hey, cum along, etc. 
 
 And as de enemy den flew, 
 At Meigs, at Thames, at Tipp canoe, 
 So he will make de hirelings run 
 When he is sent to Washington: 
 
 Hey, cum along, etc. 
 
60 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 De fox will den wid a sheepish look 
 Sneak back to de hole in Kinderhook; 
 And de leg treasurers will make tracks 
 As if de debil was at dere backs: 
 
 Hey, cum along, etc. 
 
 And he who at Cumsey pull de trigger 
 Whose wife was cousin to dis niggur; 
 Eben dat wont save him, for de nashun 
 Say dey not for amalgamation: 
 
 Hey, cum along, etc. 
 
 "White man, white man, werry unsartin," 
 "How you off for soap," my darlin Martin; 
 Next March de log cabin boys will shout, 
 "Does your anxious mammy know you re out ? 
 Hey, cum along, etc. 
 
 I swow I pity your condition, 
 For you were for de bobbolishoun, 
 And voted for darkies cum ob age 
 To hab de right ob free sufferage: 
 
 Hey, cum along, etc. 
 
 And now, gentle folks, I bid you good bye, 
 Don t let de Locos fro chalk in your eye; 
 And when to de city de Gin rawl you bring, 
 Dis nigger will be dere all ready for to sing: 
 Hey, cum along, etc. 
 
 TIPPECANOE SONG. 
 AIR, "Bonnets of Blue" 
 
 The voice of the nation has spoken, 
 The tyrants all shake in their shoes- 
 
 The scepter of Martin is broken 
 He shrinks at the glorious news. 
 
 All hail to the glorious West, 
 Log cabins and yeomen to you; 
 The land of the brave and the blest, 
 And home of old Tippecanoe. 
 
 The political valley of Death. 
 
 Surround his vile minions of power, 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 61 
 
 Their slanderous, pestilent breath, 
 Is hushed like the storm of an hour. 
 
 All hail, etc. 
 
 The cooks of the kitchen aghast, 
 
 Hear their knell sound far from the West, 
 And fear that their dishes, at last, 
 
 Will poison the "greatest and best." 
 
 Then hail to the glorious West, 
 Log cabins and yeomen to you; 
 The land of the brave and the blest, 
 And the home of old Tippecanoe. 
 
 CLEARING THE KITCHEN AND WHITE HOUSE. 
 
 [A song for the fourth of March, 1841.] 
 TUNE, "Young Lochinvar" 
 
 Old Tippecanoe has come out of the West, 
 Through all the wide border his fame was best, 
 For save his log cabin, he station had none, 
 He came with his friends, with true hearts alone, 
 So dauntless in war, to his country so true, 
 Was ever there soul like Old Tippecanoe ? 
 
 He staid not for break, he stopped not for stone, 
 He swam the Ohio where ford there was none, 
 But ere he alighted at Washington gate 
 The spoilers were scampering before twas too late, 
 For, laggard in heart, to his country untrue, 
 Had kept this fair place from Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 So boldly he entered the President s hall, 
 
 Mong patriots and brothers and ladies and all. 
 
 That, to little Van, it politely occurred, 
 
 Unto the new-comers he must say a word. 
 
 "Oh, whence are you here? what came you to do? 
 
 Must you take this White House for Old Tippecanoe?" 
 
 "He long served his country," the lovers replied, 
 
 "She wooed him to come, when her suit you denied, 
 
 But now is he here with friends from afar, 
 
 To fill up the measure of glory and war, 
 
 There are men in this country more fitting than you, 
 
 To rule this fair land with Old Tippecanoe." 
 
 They sat down the mug when Old Tip took it up, 
 
62 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 And quaffed the hard cider, then proffered the cup, 
 Van looked down to blush, and then looked up to sigh 
 With a frown on his lip and a squint in his eye; 
 Then, bowing full low, says he, " Good-bye to you, 
 I surrender this house to Old Tippecanoe." 
 
 So good a form and so honest a face, 
 
 That never this hall such a farmer did grace; 
 
 While Kendall did fret and Levi did fuss, 
 
 And Benton stood dangling his yellow boy s purse, 
 
 And the ladies they whispered, " twere tis true, 
 
 The country were governed by Tippecanoe." 
 
 One touch to Blair s hand and one word in his ear, 
 As Van reached the door, and his carriage was near, 
 "We are gone, we are gone, by hook or by crook, 
 I must wend my way back to my own Kinderhook; 
 My light English coach, though often it flew, 
 Couldn t match the hard gray of Old Tippecanoe." 
 
 There was mounting and tramping of Cabinet clan, 
 And the kitchen concern, some rode and some ran; 
 There was racing and chasing o er Capital lea, 
 But the little Magician no more could th^y see! 
 So dauntless in war, to his country so true, 
 Who could clear the kitchen but Tippecanoe? 
 
 HARD CIDER. 
 
 [Composed by Dr. J. Kilbourne, and sung at the Log Cabin Raisin , 
 Columbus.J 
 
 TUNE. "O!d Rosin the Botv^ 
 
 Come ye who, whatever betide her, 
 To freedom have sworn to be true, 
 Prime up with a cup of hard cider, 
 And drink to old Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
 On top I ve a cask of as good, sir, 
 As man from the tap ever drew; 
 No poison to cut up your blood, sir, 
 But liquor as pure as the dew, etc. 
 
 No foreign potation we puff, sir, 
 In free-land the aple-tree grew; 
 Its juice is exactly the stuff, sir, 
 To quaff to brave Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 63 
 
 Ye log-cabin monarchs, who reign o er 
 The West, in jour hunting- shirts blue; 
 A brimmer you surely can drain to 
 Your neighbor of Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
 Ye yeomen, so hardy and noble, 
 Who ll sup on a mess of parch d corn, 
 And then make but light of the trouble 
 To fight the wild Indian till morn, etc. 
 
 One cup to the men who fell round you, 
 The gallant, the brave and the true; 
 Another, to him who inspir d you, 
 To conquer at Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
 At Thames, too, he spurn d ev ry danger 
 And planted the flag of the free, 
 The star-lighted flag of the ranger, 
 Where subjects had bended the knee, etc. 
 
 When war, with his battles was over, 
 With peace, he retir d to his farm, 
 Where the culture of wheat, corn and clover, 
 For the hero, had life-giving charm, etc. 
 
 And when with his toils growing weary, 
 He ll turn to his comrades and share 
 A cup of old cider, so cheery, 
 Dispelling both languor and care, etc. 
 
 Let Van sport his coach and outriders, 
 In liveries flaunting and gay, 
 And sneer at log cabins and cider, 
 But, woe, for the reckoning day! etc. 
 
 "Parch d corn" men can t stand it much longer; 
 Enough, is as much as we ll bear: 
 With Tip at our head, in October, 
 We ll tumble him out of the Chair. 
 
 Then ho! for March 4th, forty-one, boys, 
 We ll shout, till the heaven s arch blue 
 Shall echo, hard cider and fun, boys, 
 Drink, drink to old Tippecanoe. 
 
 We ll drink to old Tippecanoe, 
 We ll drink to brave Tippecanoe, 
 Shall echo Hard cider and fun, boys, 
 Drink drink, to Old Tippecanoe, 
 
64 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 THE HERO OF OHIO. 
 
 [ Written for the Log Cabin lads and ladies, by a Log Cabin poet] 
 TUNE, "The Hunter s of Kentucky." 
 
 Come listen, lads and ladies, now, 
 
 To my immortal story; 
 And, while you wreathe around his brow 
 
 The garland of his glory, 
 The troubadour will sound a name 
 
 That none will dare deny O, 
 Was first upon the field of fame, 
 
 The hero of Ohio. 
 
 Oh! Ohio, 
 
 The hero of Ohio. 
 
 Fair Freedom s Father, Washington, 
 
 Gave Harrison a station, 
 And said: "My boy, your father won 
 
 A name in this great nation; 
 Go, battle for the fair and free, 
 
 And on thy God rely, O; 
 And future fame shall welcome thee, 
 
 The hero of Ohio, 
 
 Oh! Ohio, etc. 
 
 Beloved by all his soldiers brave, 
 
 Nor terrified by trifles; 
 For glory or a hero s grave, 
 
 He met the Indian rifles; 
 Into the fight he fearless flew, 
 
 Resolv d the foe should fly, O; 
 And Congress crown d at Tippecanoe, 
 
 The Hero of Ohio, 
 
 Oh! Ohio, etc. 
 
 Mid British bayonets and flame, 
 
 And savage thrusts and thumps, he 
 Beside the foremost phalanx came, 
 
 The terror of Tecumseh; 
 And Proctor s life but seldom names, 
 
 Without a curse or cry, O, 
 The day he dared, upon the Thames, 
 
 The hero of Ohio, 
 
 Oh! Ohio, etc. 
 
 His country he has nobly served, 
 
 Both in the field and forum; 
 From truth or trust he never swerv d 
 
 Nor from a just decorum. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 65 
 
 Like Cincinnatus, to the plow 
 
 He keeps a steady eye, O; 
 And every one will hail him now, 
 
 The Farmer of Ohio. 
 
 Oh! Ohio, etc. 
 
 Bring laurels, lovely ladies, now, 
 
 For he will guide the nation; 
 Bring garlands for his glorious brow, 
 
 When he shall hold his station, 
 And let us hear the wild hurrah, 
 
 From all the Western sky, O; 
 Hail, boys, with manv a loud huzza, 
 
 The Farmer of Ohio, 
 
 Oh! Ohio, etc. 
 
 A TIP-TOP SONG ABOUT TIPPECANOE. 
 
 Tis the tip of the fashion for brave hearts and true 
 To join in the shout for brave Tippecanoe; 
 The soldier, the farmer, the statesman, the friend, 
 Who fought at the Thames, and who lives at North 
 
 Bend; 
 
 Who gathered his laurels where bravelv they grew, 
 Mid the slaughter and carnage of Tippecanoe, 
 
 Tippecanoe, Tippecanoe, 
 An honest old soldier is Tippecanoe. 
 
 No parasite he at the footstool of power, ^ 
 
 To flatter and fawn for the rule of an hour, 
 
 All honor and manliness basely to smother 
 
 And avow it his glory to follow another; 
 
 Oh, no, for our hero is honest and true, 
 
 And the tip-top of honor is Tippecanoe, 
 
 Tippecanoe, Tippecanoe, 
 The tip-top of honor is Tippecanoe. 
 
 Though the frosts of old age may have whitened his 
 
 brow, 
 
 Yet the light of his deeds round his temples will glow 
 Like the sun on a mountain, whose head in the sky 
 Receives the first snow on its summit so high, 
 But will show forth in majesty, beauty and light, 
 When the valleys below are all shrouded in night 
 Tippecanoe, Tippecanoe 
 And thus stands the soldier, bold Tippecanoe. 
 
 6* 
 
66 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Then join in the shout that has so loud gone forth, 
 From the East and the West, from the South and the 
 
 North, 
 
 From the prairies and lakes to the briny blue sea, 
 /The shout of the mighty, the bold and the free 
 From the cold Granite State to warm generous Lou 
 isiana, 
 The shout of Tippecanoe, 
 
 Tippecanoe, Tippecanoe, 
 The tip of all tips is brave Tippecanoe. 
 
 \ 
 
 THE BEST THING WE CAN DO. 
 TUNE, "Malbrouk." 
 
 The times are bad and want curing, 
 
 They are getting past all enduring; 
 
 Let us turn out Martin Van Buren, 
 
 And put in old Tippecanoe; 
 
 The best thing we can do, 
 
 Is to put in old Tippecanoe: 
 It s a business we all can take part in, 
 So let us give notice to Martin, 
 T^iat he must get ready for starting, 
 
 For we ll put in old Tippecanoe. 
 
 A change of the Administration 
 Will be for the good of the nation, 
 For it is now in a bad situation, 
 
 So we ll put in old Tippecanoe. 
 The best thing we can do, 
 Is to put in old Tippecanoe. 
 Arid send the whole posse a packing, 
 Van Buren and all of his backing; 
 For we ve tried them and found them all lacking, 
 And we ll put in old Tippecanoe. 
 
 We ve had of their humbugs a plenty, 
 For now all our pockets are empty; 
 We ve a dollar now, where we had twenty, 
 So we ll put in old Tippecanoe. 
 
 The best thing that we can do, 
 
 Is to put in old Tippecanoe; 
 For their roguery can t be defended, 
 And it s time that their reign should be ended, 
 We shall never see times mended, 
 
 Till we put in old Tippecanoe. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 67 
 
 Uncle Sam han t a cent in his purse now, 
 And matters are still growing worse now; 
 There s only one thing left for us now, 
 It s to put in old Tippecanoe.* 
 
 The best thing that we can do, 
 
 Is to put in old Tippecanoe. 
 For we are all of us going to ruin, 
 As long as we keep such a crew in, 
 So let us be up and a doing, 
 
 And put in old Tippecanoe. 
 
 A JACKSON MAN S SONG. 
 
 Come listen my trusty old cronies, 
 I ll sing you a short verse or two, 
 
 And I know you would not be offended, 
 Should I sing of Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 His enemies call him a coward, 
 And sneer at his poverty too, 
 
 But a true-hearted Jackson man, never 
 Will slander the brave and the true. 
 
 But a true-hearted Democrat, ever 
 Will honor the brave and the true, 
 
 And leave it to British and Tories 
 To slander old Tippecanoe. 
 
 And who, pray, is Martin Van Buren, 
 What wonders did he ever do? 
 
 Was he in the battle of Orleans, 
 Meigs, Thames or Old Tippecanoe? 
 
 Oh, no! he had no taste for fighting, 
 Such rough work he never could do; 
 
 He shirked it off on the brave Jackson, 
 And the hero of Tippecanoe. 
 
 This larkey we once have elected, 
 Not that any good he would do, 
 
 But because he had been recommended 
 By Jackson the brave and the true. 
 
 And since for one term we re in favor, 
 We think that this honor should do; 
 
 So good-bye to you, Mr. Van Burcn 
 Here goes for Old Tippecanoe. 
 
68 Tippecanoc Songs of 1840. 
 
 BUCKEYE BOYS. 
 TUNE, "Swiss Boy." 
 
 Come, arouse ye, arouse ye, my brave Buckeye boys, 
 
 Take the axe and to labor, away; 
 The sun is up with ruddy beam, 
 The Buckeye blooms beside the stream: 
 
 Come, arouse ye, etc. 
 
 Love ye not, love ye not, O, my brave Buckeye boys, 
 
 To the rally with Tippecanoe; 
 For the hero, patriot, brave and free, 
 Waits to assert your liberty. 
 
 Love ye not, etc. 
 
 To the polls, to the polls, then my brave Buckeye 
 
 boys, 
 
 To the rescue, then haste ye away. 
 The cup we fill the hard cider pass, 
 In friendship round, until the last; 
 With a shout, with a shout, go the brave Buckeye 
 
 boys, 
 With old Tip to the White House away. 
 
 SONG FOR THE BOYS. 
 TUNE, "7 Want To Be a Nun." 
 
 Now is it not a pity such a pretty lad as I, 
 Should be a Loco Foco to pine away and die? 
 
 But I won t be for Van, 
 
 No, I can t go for Van, 
 For I so love my country that I cannot go for Van. 
 
 I m sure I cannot see what is there in the man, 
 That my father often tells me I must be for Van, 
 
 But I can t go for Van, 
 
 No, I won t go for Van, 
 I dislike the Loco Focos, and I cannot go for Van. 
 
 With the Locos I can t stay, it will never do for me, 
 So I ll go among the Whigs just to see what I can see; 
 
 Now I will be a Whig, 
 
 Now I shall be a Whig, 
 They cheer so much for Harrison, I must be a Whig. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 69 
 
 I see among the Whigs the bone and sinew too, 
 They all are going to vote for Old Tippecanoe; 
 
 So I now go for Tip, 
 
 Yes I must go for Tip, 
 The things are in my heart and I will go for Tip. 
 
 They said the Loco Foco boys would make fun of me, 
 But they ve all turned to Harrison and none can I see; 
 
 Yes they all go for Tip, 
 
 And now I ll go for Tip, 
 For he s the Boys Candidate, and we all go for Tip. 
 
 My mother says she doesn t care if I am only true, 
 If I do leave the Vans, for Old Tippecanoe; 
 
 For I like a canoe, 
 
 And like a canoe, 
 And we ll sail it safe to Washington, you ll see what 
 
 we will do. 
 
 So father don t be angry, but let your sonny be, 
 For the Vanites would not like such a Loco as me; 
 
 For I don t go for Van, 
 
 No I shan t go for Van, 
 I shall go for Henry Harrison, so help it if you can. 
 
 OLD FORT MEIGS. 
 AIR, "Oh! Lonely is the Forest Shaded 
 
 Oh! lonely is our old green fort, 
 
 Where oft in days of old, 
 Our gallant soldiers bravely fought, 
 
 Gainst savage allies bold". 
 But with the change of years ha,ve past 
 
 That unrelenting foe. 
 Since we fought here with Harrison, 
 
 A long time ago. 
 
 It seems but yesterday I heard, 
 
 From yonder thicket nigh, 
 Th unerring rifle s sharp report, 
 
 The Indians startling cry. 
 Yon brooklet winding at our feet, 
 
 With crimson gore did flow, 
 When we fought here with Harrison, 
 
 A long time ago. 
 
70 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 The river rolls between its banks, 
 
 As when of old we came; 
 Each grassy path, each shady nook, 
 
 Seems to me still the same. 
 But we are scattered now, whose faith 
 
 Pledg d here through weal or woe, 
 With Harrison our soil to guard, 
 
 A long time ago. 
 
 But many a soldier s lip is mute, 
 
 And clouded many a brow, 
 And hearts that beat for honor then, 
 
 Have ceased their throbbing now. 
 We ne er shall meet again in life, 
 
 As then we met, I trow, 
 When we fought here with Harrison, 
 
 A long time ago. 
 
 PATRIOTIC SONG. 
 AIR, "Te Mariners of England" 
 
 Ye brave tars of Columbia, 
 Her glory and her pride, 
 Who bear the sacred flag of stars 
 
 Triumphant o er the tide, 
 A cheer for him, while you fought 
 
 Our bloody naval rights, 
 Took his stand on the land, 
 
 As defender of her rights. 
 On many a field the firm, the strong 
 
 Defender of her rights. 
 
 Old soldiers of Columbia, 
 Who lingering yet, may tell 
 The hprrors of a border war, 
 
 And how your brothers fell? 
 Come, rally round your leader now, 
 
 For justice now implores, 
 And proclaim to their shame, 
 
 That his enemies are yours, 
 And twill be echoed loud and long, 
 
 His enemies are yours. 
 
 Ye farmers of Columbia, 
 Who till this Western soil, 
 Your broad and goodly heritage, 
 
 Was gained through blood and toil. 
 
Tippecanoc Songs of 1840. 71 
 
 Will ye be backward to defend, 
 The name we have espoused? 
 No! At length, in their strength, 
 
 Like a lion when aroused, 
 They ll come. Awake the farmer s wrath 
 
 A lion is aroused. 
 
 Ye freemen of Columbia, 
 Who still in faith esteem 
 The charter of your fathers blood, 
 
 Would ye that faith redeem? 
 In Macedonian phalanx form, 
 
 In one unbroken band. 
 And they ll beat a retreat, 
 
 The despoilers of the land 
 Sub-treasurers, Levellers, and all 
 
 The spoilers of the land. 
 
 The true son of Columbia! 
 We bring him now before 
 The people, with his services 
 
 Of forty years or more; 
 Unstain d untouch d to his reward, 
 
 To save the country s fall. 
 Let us rise, for the prize 
 
 Is the dearest right of all 
 A free and healthy government, 
 
 The dearest right of all. 
 
 TIPPECANOE AND JACKETS OF BLUE. 
 TUNE, "Ye Sons of Columbia." 
 
 The good ship of State is driven ashore, 
 
 The thunder howls round us, and dark tempests low r; 
 
 The sea is fast rising and breaks in the bay, 
 
 And the hearts of the boldest are filled with dismay, 
 
 She will founder unless with true patriot zeal, 
 
 We get rid of the lubber who stands at the wheel! 
 
 And take a new pilot, whose heart is true blue 
 
 And such we shall find in old Tippecanpe. 
 
 Old "Tip" is a hero, brave, honest and true, 
 Who deserves the esteem of the jackets of Blue. 
 His bosom so free from intrigue, guile or art, 
 Is the shrine of that treasure, a patriot s heart. 
 Besides, if we turn over his log we shall find 
 A foe to oppression a friend to mankind. 
 
72 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 What say ye then sailors ye jackets of blue, 
 Shall we choose as our pilot, Old Tippecanoe? 
 
 He has fought for our rights, and in peace he has 
 
 shown 
 
 That in State navigation he s second to none, 
 His soul with true "live oak grit" is imbued, 
 He is worth to stand where a Washington stood. 
 Then give him the tiller when he steps on deck 
 His firmness and wisdom will save us from wreck. 
 Then summon him, tars! shout jackets of blue, 
 " Oh, haste to our rescue, Old Tippecanoe! " 
 
 Had he lived in a country where merit is known, 
 And rewarded by pensions and praise, or a throne, 
 Wealth, power and fame would have been his just 
 
 meed, 
 
 And an humble "log hut" would have ne er shel 
 tered his head. 
 
 But his nature is noble, his worth stands confessed, 
 The son of Virginia, the pride of the West. 
 Come on, then, my hearties, ye jackets of blue, 
 And salute with nine huzzas, Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 ON ! TO VICTORY ! ! 
 TUNE, "Scots We Wlia." 
 
 Whigs! whose sires for freedom bled, 
 Whigs! whom patriots oft have led, 
 Whigs! by the " treasury spoils" unfed, 
 On, to victory! 
 
 " Now s the day, and now s the hour," 
 See approach the tyrant s power! 
 Shall we to the tyrants cower? 
 Shall we turn and flee? 
 
 Hear the foe s insulting cry, 
 Hear him boast of triumph nigh; 
 Whigs! that boasting do defy, 
 We shall still be free. 
 
 What care we though others yield, 
 Here s our chosen battle field; 
 Grasp the sword and brace the shield, 
 On, to victory! 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 73 
 
 Rally. Whigs! in freedom s cause, 
 Fight for liberty and laws! 
 Falter not, nor turn, nor pause, 
 Till each State is free. 
 
 Gallant Harrison leads us on, 
 America s accepted son; 
 Think of former triumphs won 
 On, to victory! 
 
 GOLD SPOONS vs. HARD CIDER, 
 
 In a cabin made of logs, 
 
 By the river side, 
 There the Honest Farmer lives, 
 
 Free from sloth and pride, 
 To the gorgeous palace turn, 
 
 And his rival see, 
 In his robes of regal state 
 
 TinselPd finery. 
 
 At the early morning light, 
 
 Starting with the sun 
 See the farmer hold the plow 
 
 Till the day is done. 
 In his silken bed of down 
 
 Martin still must be; 
 Menial servants waiting round, 
 
 Dress d in livery, 
 
 See the farmer to his meal 
 
 Joyfully repair; 
 Crackers, cheese, and cider too, 
 
 A hard but homely fare. 
 Martin to his breakfast comes 
 
 At the hour of noon; 
 Sipping from a china cup, 
 
 With a golden spoon. 
 
 See the farmer pace his fields 
 
 Mark his lightsome foot; 
 Leaning now upon his staff 
 
 To catch a songster s note. 
 Martin s steeds impatient wait 
 
 At the palace door; 
 Outriders behind the coach 
 
 And lackies on before. 
 
74 7^ippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 OH, MATTY VAN, MY JO, MAT. 
 TUNE, " John Anderson," etc. 
 
 O, Matty Van, my Jo, Mat! I wonder what you mean, 
 By such a naughty act as that which lately has been seen? 
 What want you with an army, Mat? Ah, whv do you do 
 
 so? 
 Twill march you back to Kinderhook! Oh, Matty Van, 
 
 m J Jo. 
 
 Oh, Van Buren, my Jo, Van, you ve climb d the hill o 
 
 State, 
 And monie a cunnin trick, man, was fathered in your 
 
 pate; 
 
 But now your tottering down, Van; how rapidly you go, 
 You ll soon be sprawling at the fit; oh, Matty Van, my 
 
 Oh, Matty Van, my Jo, Mat, when first we were acquaint, 
 Tis true you were not slow, Mat, with sinner or with 
 
 saint; 
 But now you have grown ould, Mat, you never seem to 
 
 know 
 How fast you re goin "bock agen," Oh, Matty Van, my Jo. 
 
 Oh, Van Buren, my Jo, Van, when Jackson ruled the hour, 
 And took you up behind him, Van, and left you with his 
 
 power, 
 
 You promised us to follow in his footsteps, as you know, 
 And pit your fit in hero s tracks, Oh, Van Buren, my Jo. 
 
 Oh, Matty Van, my Jo, Mat, his faith you did abuse, 
 For it s not in your nature, Mat, to wear a hero s shoes; 
 So step you just aside, Mat, Old Tip is on your toe, 
 Old Tip, a hero ready made; Oh, Matty Van, my Jo. 
 
 YOUNG MEN S NATIONAL CONVENTION. 
 
 Lo! as the gathering throng appear, 
 How huge the volume opened here 
 
 Of human life! 
 
 Where er the various banners lead, 
 Around them every heart we read 
 
 With hope is rife. 
 
 All these of freemen s rights are proud, 
 And to redeem these rights this crowd 
 
 Is borne along. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 75 
 
 Oh, what shall stay them in their might, 
 When they do battle for the right, 
 Confiding, strong! 
 
 Gay music floats upon the air, 
 
 And scarf and sash are flaunting there, 
 
 And banners high; 
 Fair hands the snowy kerchief raise, 
 Bright eyes from hall and window gaze, 
 
 And balcony. 
 
 No idle pomp they came to fill, 
 No sycophantic throng to swell 
 
 Of pageantry; 
 
 Scepter and crown to none they yield, 
 For e en the humbled in the field 
 
 Was majesty. 
 
 The Monumental city led 
 
 Its honored guests, and next the head 
 
 Followed the State. 
 Where, let the storm of ill that blows 
 Prostrate all else, yet virtue grows 
 
 Beneath its weight;* 
 Now Bunker Hill, with fife and drum, 
 Moves on; yes, " Birnam wood has come 
 
 To Dunsinane." 
 
 Ill-used, ill-gotten power take heed! 
 For thus the augury we read, 
 
 Or read in vain. 
 
 Two victor States take up the word, 
 And then New York s deep voice is heard 
 
 In thund ring peal: 
 Mute in the ranks, but undismayed, 
 New Jersey sternly there displayed 
 
 Her own broad seal. 
 
 Room! for the Keystone State draws near 
 Room! for unconquered Delaware, 
 
 The Bayard s home. 
 Warm-hearted Maryland, we greet 
 Thee next and mayst thou ever meet 
 
 Thine own welcome! 
 
 Disfranchised, but not o erborne, 
 Nor wholly from the Union torn, 
 
 Triumvirate. 
 Though in no vote, thou can st rejoice, 
 
 Crescit sub pondere virtas," was the New Hampshire motto. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Yet, in the contest let thy voice 
 
 Still animate. 
 
 Birth-place of hero and of sage, 
 Which from the nation s earliest age 
 
 Has borne command, 
 In thee, unless bright omens fail, 
 Another President shall hail 
 
 His native land ! 
 
 Here Georgia and the Carolinas 
 
 Send forth from out their sterling mines, 
 
 A gallant band. 
 
 And mountaineers, a valiant train, 
 Follow their neighbors of the plain 
 
 With ready hand. 
 Undaunted Tennessee draws near 
 With sable badges of the- bier 
 
 And mournful tread; 
 For Cincinnatus now her voice, 
 The second Roman of her choice 
 
 The firgt is dead. 
 
 A standard bears a single name! 
 No eulogy can swell the fame 
 
 Of "Henry Clay"* 
 That name exerts a magic part, 
 And over many a noble heart 
 
 Holds silent sway. 
 
 No thought of self comes o er his mind, 
 His only effort is to bind 
 
 The broken laws. 
 
 And when at stake his country s weal, 
 He forwards with a gen rous zeal, 
 
 His rivals cause. 
 
 Still onward sweeps the vast array, 
 And onward holds its lengthened way, 
 
 The hero s State. 
 His banner waving at their head, 
 They follow on with lightsome tread 
 
 And hearts elate. 
 
 All, all are here the West and South, 
 The hardy East, and rugged North, 
 
 In numbers strong. 
 Nor will they lay in rest the spear 
 Until upon their lips we hear 
 
 The victor s song. 
 
 "Tanto nomine nullum par eulogium." 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 77 
 
 LONG LIVE THE KING. 
 
 Long live Van-Kinderhook! 
 Magician, wizard, witch, or spook! 
 
 Long live King Martin! 
 May he triumphantly 
 Reign o er such slaves as we, 
 The Tory s joy to be 
 
 Long live the King! 
 
 On! Kendall, Blair, arise! 
 Scatter his enemies, 
 
 Long live King Martin! 
 Confound Whig politics, 
 Frustrate their trait rous tricks, 
 On him our hopes we fix, 
 
 Long live the King! 
 
 UNION COUNTY CABIN SONG. 
 TUNE, "Pennsylvania Quick Step." 
 
 Our fathers in the days of yore 
 
 Were resting in their wildwood home 
 When the trumpet s clang and the cannon s roar 
 
 Came booming from the briny foam. 
 And many a stately bark and high, 
 
 And many a gallant legion came; 
 And every soldier s battle-cry 
 
 Was "Charge for glorious England s name." 
 
 But soon the seal of Freedom s trust, 
 
 Her starry flag began to shine; 
 And many a Britom bit the dust 
 
 At Bunker Hill and Brandywine; 
 And quickly passed the strife of death, 
 
 And soon was victory s garland won, 
 And Freedom bound the glorious wreath 
 
 Upon the brow of Washington. 
 
 Again they rested in their fame 
 
 Till many a new State round them rose; 
 Again the host of England came, 
 
 And the stormy sound of battle rose. 
 Again the wreath of victory 
 
 On many a battle-field was won, 
 And Freedom bound it gloriously 
 
 Upon the brow of Harrison. 
 
78 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 And now this green and glorious land 
 
 Is with distress and ruin fraught, 
 And desolation, by the hand 
 
 Of its despotic ruler wrought. 
 And Freedom, by her falling fame, 
 
 And by her scorned and broken laws, 
 Adjures her patriot sons again 
 
 To rally in her sacred cause. 
 
 They come, they come, they will not stay, 
 
 Their glorious march is fust begun; 
 Around their flag the sunbeams play, 
 
 And their leader s name is Harrison. 
 He calls his comrades true and tried, 
 
 He calls them from their wilwood home; 
 He calls, and instant to his side 
 
 The inmates of the cabins come. 
 
 And like the lawless king of old 
 
 Who feasted in his gorgeous- halls, 
 The oppressor s righteous doom is scrolled 
 
 And graven on the palace walls. 
 His hour is come; his trembling throng 
 
 Of paid and pensioned minions flee; 
 And many a wild wood cabin song 
 
 Shall his resounding requiem be. 
 
 GEN. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 
 
 Tis not for martial glory, 
 
 For battles bravely won, 
 Fit theme for song and story, 
 
 We laud his name alone; 
 But for the noble and the pure, 
 
 In every station tried, 
 And ever constant to endure 
 
 A guardian and a guide. 
 
 True, that we feel as proudly 
 
 Our soldier s honest fame, 
 True we dare speak as loudly, 
 
 All honor to the name. 
 But yet a closer tie must bind, 
 
 When peace proclaims her reign, 
 The will to aid and bless mankind 
 
 And this is his gain. 
 
Tippecanoc Songs of 1840. 79 
 
 What though with malice daring, 
 
 Detraction s darts are cast; 
 His calm, sublime forbearing, 
 
 Shall vindicate the past, 
 Those who d thus disgrace their land, 
 
 Are found in ev ry age, 
 Not e en our Washington, could stand 
 
 Untouched by party rage. 
 
 His country s voice hath spoken 
 
 Her gratitude and trust; 
 And his deeds have been a token 
 
 That the confidence was just. 
 And when that voice again is heard, 
 
 May its shouts of triumph be, 
 That the peoples friend hath been preferred, 
 
 And is first among the free. 
 
 WHEN BRITISH BANDS. 
 TUNE, " Who ll Be King but Charley -." 
 
 When British bands invade our land 
 
 And savage hosts so dreary, 
 
 Young Harrison, he was the man 
 
 To draw his sword so early. 
 
 Come hither, come hither, around him gather,- 
 Come Whig and Democrat all together, 
 Unite your bands and firmly stand 
 For him who fought bravely. 
 
 With brave Kentucky s gallant sons, 
 With Owen and brave Davies; 
 He led the van gainst savage bands 
 And routed them so clearly. 
 Come hither, etc. 
 
 And when proud Britain s cannon roar d 
 He never beat a parley, 
 His sword and shield made Proctor yield, 
 And whipped him out so fairly, 
 Come hither, etc. 
 
 There s Martin Van with all his clan 
 Of demagogues and knavery, 
 Old Tip can scan their secret plan 
 And ferret them out so clearly. 
 Come hither, etc. 
 
80 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 From sordid gold to him untold 
 
 He freed his hand so clearly, 
 
 His door-latch string he ne er pulled in 
 
 The poor he fed most freely. 
 
 Come hither, come hither, around him gather. 
 Come Whig and Democrat altogether, 
 Old Tip s the man who will defend 
 The rights we bought so dearly. 
 
 GRAND NATIONAL WHIG SONG. 
 
 " In the strength of your might from each mountain and 
 valley, " 
 
 Sons of Freedom, arise! the time is at hand 
 Around liberty s standard, we ll rally, we ll rally; 
 
 The star-spangled banner floats over the land. 
 
 Then let the proud eagle spread his wings wide asunder, 
 And burst from the trammels which strive to enchain 
 
 " If we rise in our strength, if we speak but in thunder" 
 The bit of "strip d bunting" will flourish again. 
 
 For our rights and our laws, we ll stand firm and united; 
 
 The blood of our father s shall ne er be forgot 
 The faith and the honor they sacredly plighted, 
 
 Shall never be tarnished by Anarchy s blot; 
 Around liberty s standard, we ll rally, we ll rally 
 
 Old Tippecanoe, boys, the watch-word shall be; 
 Its echo will thunder from each mountain and valley 
 
 Of the home of the brave the land of the free. 
 
 OLD TIP AND THE LOG-CABIN BOYS. 
 TUNE, "Low Down in Old Virginy^ Long Time Ago." 
 
 When the frontier was in danger, 
 
 Long time ago, 
 Young Harrison, to fear a stranger, 
 
 Long time ago, 
 Left the scenes of ease and splendor, 
 
 Long time ago, 
 To the log cabins aid to render, 
 
 Long time ago. 
 
 With his hunting shirt and rifle, 
 In his pocket but a trifle, 
 
Tippecanoc Songs of 1840. Si 
 
 With Old Wayne he marched to the forest 
 And shared his wallet with the poorest. 
 
 At the Rapids they fought the savage band, 
 And whipped them tomahawk in hand, 
 Mad Anthony praised the gallant hoy, 
 And the cabins rung with a shout of joy. 
 
 And when again the war-whoop rang 
 And the cabin boys to their rifles sprang, 
 They called again to lead them on 
 Their gallant leader Harrison. 
 
 They met the foe at Tippecanoe, 
 
 And again he made the savage rue. 
 
 Again with joy the cabins rung, 
 
 And his name with grateful praise thev sung. 
 
 Then Britain dared our flag to assail, 
 And again the Indian took the trail, 
 Again the cabins were in mourning 
 And every eye to him was turning. 
 
 He drew once more his faithful sword 
 And gave the cabin boys the word, 
 At Thames they laid Tecumseh low 
 And captured Proctor s army too. 
 
 Then Britain saw and felt twas vain, 
 Her gallant soldiers blood to drain; 
 Her treasures were in vain expended. 
 Whilst Old Tip the cabins defended. 
 
 Peace again its blessings spread 
 Beneath the humble cabins shed, 
 Danger no more its hopes alarm. 
 With gratitude all hearts were warm. 
 
 Old Tip shook hands with the boys once more, 
 And told them open stood his door, 
 That welcome they should alwavs be. 
 And the latch-string always outside see. 
 
 Long years rolled round and the cabins flour 
 ished. 
 
 Their liberties they dearly cherished, 
 No more alarmed by savage foes 
 The forest blossomed like the rose. 
 
 G* 
 
82 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 At length there rose up in the land 
 A numerous and thriving band, 
 They stole the fruits of honest toil, 
 And claimed them as their lawful spoil. 
 
 The office-holders stole the treasure, 
 And then absconded at their leisure, 
 The honest cabin boys they jeered at, 
 And their cabins and hard cider sneered at. 
 
 The cabins then became oppress d, 
 Hard times the boys opprest. 
 They sought relief as they had done 
 From Government, but they found none. 
 
 Van Buren led the spoilers on 
 
 Against the cabins old Tip had won, 
 
 He rolled by in his English coach, 
 
 And told the boys "they asked too much." 
 
 Then from every hill, and every valley, 
 The cabin boys began to rally, 
 They raised one everlasting shout, 
 And swore the spoilsmen should turn out. 
 
 They called again their brave old chief, 
 Who had always sprung to their relief; 
 With him in command they feared no dangers, 
 For he and defeat were total strangers. 
 
 They knew he had whipped the Indian foe, 
 And he had licked the British too, 
 He could nt be scared by the Treasury frogs, 
 And he d whip Van Buren and his dogs. 
 
 Old Tip s in the field, and the boys around him, 
 The office-holders try to confound him, 
 But the shout of the boys does thunder resemble, 
 And Martin and his hirelings tremble. 
 
 On the fourth of March little Van will run, 
 And the cabin boys will laugh at the fun, 
 They ll place old Tip at the head of the nation, 
 And have a thundering jollification. 
 
 Three cheers for the old log cabin s friend! 
 
 The cabin boys on him depend, 
 
 In English coaches he s no rider, 
 
 But he could fight and drink hard cider. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 83 
 
 HARK! THEY COME! 
 
 [Sung at the National Convention of Young Men in Baltimore.] 
 
 Hark! hark! from the west of the mountains, 
 
 A voice from the log cabin crew, 
 Who drink at the hard cider fountain, 
 And fought under Tippecanoe 
 And fought, etc. 
 
 Who cultivate orchards and cornfields, 
 Defended by Tippecanoe. 
 
 Heretofore, all the money we needed, 
 From pork, corn and flour we drew, 
 All raised from the soil we defended, 
 When under brave Tippecanoe 
 When under, etc. 
 
 From soil we ve subdu d by our labor, 
 Since led by Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 From this soil we ve fed the lov d Buckeye, 
 
 And Hoosier, and Sucker babes too; 
 Rejoicing twas parceled to suit us, 
 By schemes of Old Tippecanoe 
 By schemes, etc. 
 
 Parcel d out to suit log cabin farmers; 
 By the efforts of Tippecanoe. 
 But now at sub-treasury prices, 
 
 Our taxes we ll never get through 
 Till we call our friend to assist us, 
 That led us at Tippecanoe 
 That led us, etc. 
 
 With whom we beat British and Indians, 
 At Thames, Meigs, and Tippecanoe. 
 
 He s good in the field and the council, 
 
 The plow he wields skilfully too, 
 As well as to portion to farmers, 
 And conquer at Tippecanoe 
 And conquer, etc. 
 In whom may we be so confiding, 
 As our friend, Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 From Eastward, and Northward, and South 
 ward, 
 
 Come join us in what we will do; 
 We ll pull at the string of the cabin, 
 That s knotted, by Tippecanoe 
 That s knotted, etc. 
 Old soldiers will always be welcom d 
 By warm-hearted Tippecanoe. 
 
84 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Lo! Eastward, and Northward, and Southward, 
 
 In thunder they echo we, too, 
 Will call on the hard cider farmer, 
 
 That conquered at Tippecanoe 
 
 That conquer d, etc. 
 We ll greet the old log-cabin farmer, 
 And vote for brave Tippecanoe. 
 See! onward! en masse, they re moving 
 
 In earthquake voice uttering halloo! 
 For the White House exchange the log cabin, 
 Thou hero of Tippecanoe 
 Thou hero, etc 
 
 For thee the White House we ve determined 
 O hasten, Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 Hark! hark! how the American ladies, 
 
 In cabins and palaces too, 
 Are joining in song with their lovers, 
 Huzza for old Tippecanoe 
 Huzza for, etc. 
 
 They sing in sweet strains to their lovers, 
 Go vote for brave Tippecanoe. 
 
 From city, and forest, and mountain, 
 And likewise Western prairies too, 
 Each man will respond to his mistress, 
 And vote for old Tippecanoe 
 . And vote, etc. 
 
 Then send forth a tone like an earthquake. 
 Huzza for Old Tippecanoe ! 
 
 SONG. 
 
 TUNE, "Life Let Us Cherish" 
 
 For life let us cherish 
 The fame of honored Harrison, 
 And never perish 
 The laurels he won. 
 
 The spoils engrossing ravenous band 
 Have desolated all the land, 
 They glean their spoils from all its soils, 
 And honest labor foils. 
 
 So let us cherish 
 The fame of honored Harrison, 
 And never perish 
 The laurels he won. 
 
Tippccanoc Songs of 1840. 85 
 
 Though clouds obscure the atmosphere, 
 And ruin threatens everywhere. 
 
 Vet down the storm rides swift reform. 
 And honest hearts grow warm. 
 So let us cherish, etc. 
 
 New hopes inspire our hearts with glee, 
 Our offspring ever shall be free, 
 
 For dread alarm, like magic s charm, 
 Benumbs the spoiler s arm. 
 
 So let us cherish, etc. 
 
 To rescue, now comes Harrison, 
 His strength s a mighty garrison, 
 His growing weight in every State, 
 Predicts Van Buren s fate. 
 
 So let us cherish, etc. 
 
 WHEN THIS OLD HAT WAS NEW. 
 
 When this old hat was new, the people used to say, 
 The best among the Democrats were Harrison and Clay; 
 The Locos now assume the name, a title most untrue, 
 And most unlike their party name when my old hat was 
 new 
 
 When my old hat was new. Van Buren was a Fed, 
 An enemy to every man who labored for his bread; 
 And if the people of New York have kept their records 
 
 true, 
 He voted gainst the poor man s rights, when my old hat 
 
 was new. 
 
 When mv old hat was new, Buchanan was the man 
 
 Best fitted in the Keystone State to lead the Federal clan, 
 
 He swore "if Democratic blood should make his Veins look 
 
 blue, 
 He d cure them by phlebotomy/ when my old hat was 
 
 new. 
 
 When my old hat was new ( twas eighteen hundred eleven), 
 Charles Ingersoll did then declare by all his hopes of 
 
 Heaven, 
 
 " Had he been able to reflect, he d been a Tory true, 
 And ne er have thought it a reproach," when my old hat 
 
 was new. 
 
86 J^ippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 When my old hat was new, of Richard Rush twas said, 
 To figure well among the Feds he wore a black cockade; 
 Deny this Locos, if you please, for every word is true, 
 I knew full well old Dicky Rush, when my old hat was 
 
 When my old hat was new, the Senator from Maine, 
 Destroyed by fire an effigy, to immortalize his name. 
 The effigy was Madison s, if common fame be true, 
 So Reuel Williams was a Fed, when my old hat was new. 
 
 When my old hat was new, twas in the Granite State, 
 That Henry Hubbard asked each town to send a delegate 
 To meet in council at the time when Federalism blue 
 Made Hartford look like Indigo, when my old hat was new. 
 
 When my old hat was new, Sam Cushman did declare 
 "That should a soldier cross the lines he hoped he d perish 
 
 there, 
 
 And leave his bones in Canada for enemies to view," 
 So much for his Democracy, when my old hat was new. 
 
 When my old hat was new, old Governor Provost 
 
 The States invaded at the head of numerous British hosts, 
 
 Then mark, ye Locos, what did Martin Chittenden then 
 
 do? 
 Forbid Green Mountain boys to fight, when my old hat 
 
 was new. 
 
 When this old hat was new, Woodbury and Van Ness, 
 E. Allen Brown, and Stephen Haight, were of the Federal 
 
 mess, 
 
 A. H. Everett, Martin Field, and Sam C. Allen, too, 
 Now patent Democrats, were Feds, when my old hat was 
 
 When my old hat was new, these worthies did oppose 
 The cause, and friends of liberty, and stood among their 
 
 foes, 
 
 Not so with "Granny" Harrison, for at Tippecanoe, 
 He bravely fought the savage foe, when my old hat was 
 
 When my old hat was new, the friends of liberty 
 
 Knew well the merits of Old Tip, while fighting at Mau- 
 
 mee; 
 
 Come, now, huzza for Harrison, just as we used to do, 
 When first we heard of Proctor s fall, when my old hat 
 
 was new. 
 
7^ippecanoe Song s of 1840. 87 
 
 LIBERTY CABIN RAISING. 
 
 [Sung at the Log Cabin Raising, Annapolis.] 
 TUNE, "Rosin the Bow" 
 
 Come on, ye firm Whigs of old Crawford, 
 
 And all ye true Democrats too; 
 Come up, for old Liberty s raising 
 
 A cabin for Tippecanoe. 
 
 There you ll find many raisers from Whetstone 
 
 And a few from Sandusky, too, 
 For the people s determined on raising 
 
 A cabin for Tippecanoe. 
 
 Bucyrus will furnish her twenties, 
 
 And Chatfield her dozen or two. 
 And Cranberry 11 help at the raising, 
 
 A cabin for Tippecanoe. 
 
 Holmes claims a share in the building 
 
 Which she has a good right to do; 
 And she ll send up her hands to the raising 
 
 A cabin for Tippecanoe. 
 
 And when we have finish d the building 
 
 We ll call for one speech or two, 
 From those who have help d at the raising 
 
 A cabin for Tippecanoe. 
 
 A NEW SONG. 
 
 AIR, "Star Spangled Banner* 
 
 [Sung at the annual election for Charter Officers in the city of Pittsburgh.] 
 Oh! who does not see, in this heart-cheering ray, 
 
 That pierces the cloud of malign domination, 
 A sign, that foretells with precision, the day 
 
 When Columbia shall rise from her low degradation, 
 When the spoil-hunting race shall be foiled in the chase, 
 The Kinderhook quack hide his head in disgrace, 
 
 And the starry Whig banner triumphantly wave 
 
 " O er the land of the free and the home of the brave." 
 
 O er the city of Pitt, mid the eagle s own hills. 
 
 Where many a patriot bosom is burning, 
 What is that which gives Tories such horrible chills, 
 
 And to which all Whig-eyes are in "fine frenzy" turn 
 ing? 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Say, what is that sight which fills Van with affright, 
 And makes all his vassals the nether lip bite? 
 
 "Tis the Harrison banner! and soon twill be waved 
 O er a whole State redeem d, o er a great nation saved. 
 
 All hail the proud Keystone she fired the first gun 
 
 For the old " Declaration " blood seal d by the martyr; 
 
 And now she is first to declare for the son 
 
 Of the sire, whose own hand sign d that dear cherish d 
 charter. 
 
 Her first gun has roar d for the hero, whose sword 
 
 Sprang quick from the scabbard and ne er was restored 
 Till victory smiled for though brave men oft yield, 
 lie never surrender d, he ne er lost a field. 
 
 Let the Swartwouts and Prices, who, year after year, 
 Have fed on " the spoils " and wax d rich on our treas 
 ure, 
 
 At Harrison s "poverty" throw out the sneer, 
 And heap on the vet ran abuse without measure: 
 
 The wretch that defames, does but strengthen the claims 
 
 Of the hero of Tippecanoe and the Thames, 
 
 And freshen the laurels, which none sought to bruise, 
 Till twas found that their greenness gave Martin the 
 blues. 
 
 GRAND NATIONAL WHIG SONG. 
 
 [Written for Henry Russell, by Henry John Sharpe. Dedicated to the 
 Whigs of the whole Republic.] 
 
 " In the strength of your might, from each mountain and 
 
 valley," 
 
 Sons of freedom, arise! the time is at hand 
 Around liberty s standard, we ll rally, we ll rally, 
 The star-spangled banner floats over the land; 
 Then let the proud eagle spread his wings wide asunder, 
 And burst from the trammels which strive to enchain 
 " If we rise in our strengh, if we speak but in thunder," 
 The "bit of strip d bunting" will flourish again. 
 
 For our rights and our laws we ll stand firm and united, 
 The blood of our father s shall ne er be forgot 
 The faith and the honor which they sacredly plighted, 
 Shall never be tarnished by anarchy s blot; 
 Around liberty s standard let ev ry Whig rally. 
 " Old Tippecanoe" boys, the watchword shall be! 
 Its echo will thunder from each mountain and valley 
 Of the"home of the brave! the land of the free!" 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 89 
 
 OLD TIPPECANOE. 
 
 A IK. " H7/cn Britain s Oppression, Her I,aivs? etc. 
 
 Conic, rouse up! ye bold hearted Whigs of Kentucky, 
 And show the nation what deeds you can do: 
 
 The high-road to victory lies open before ye. 
 While led to the charge by old Tippecanoe. 
 
 When Indians were scalping our friends and our brothers, 
 
 To Ohio s frontier he gallantly new: 
 And thousands of innocent infants and mothers, 
 
 Were saved by the valor of Tippecanoe. 
 
 When savage Tecumseh was rallying his forces, 
 
 In innocents blood his hands to imbrue; 
 Our hero despis d all his bloody associates. 
 
 And won the proud name of "Old Tippecanoe." 
 
 And when this Tecumseh and his brother, Proctor, 
 To capture Fort Meigs their utmost did do; 
 
 Our gallant old hero again play d the doctor, 
 And gave them a dose like at Tippecanoe. 
 
 And then on the Thames, on the fifth of October, 
 Where musket balls whizz d as they flew; 
 
 He blasted their prospects, and rent them asunder, 
 Just like he had done on the Tippecanoe. 
 
 Let Greece praise the deeds of her great Alexander, 
 And Rome boast of Caesar and Scipio too; 
 
 Just like Cincinnatus, that noble commander, 
 Is our old hero of Tippecanoe. 
 
 For when the foes of his country no longer could harm 
 her, 
 
 To the shades of retirement he quickly withdrew; 
 And now at North Bend see the HONEST OLD FARMER, 
 
 Who won the green laurel at Tippecanoe. 
 
 And when to the national council elected, 
 
 The good of his country still see him pursue; 
 
 And every poor man by him thus protected, 
 Should ever remember "Old Tippecanoe." 
 
 Let knaves call him "coward." and fools call him "granny" 
 To answer their purpose this never will do; 
 
 When rallied around him, we ll route little Vanny, 
 And give him a Thames or a full Waterloo. 
 
90 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 The Republican banner of freedom is flying, 
 The eagle of liberty soars in your view; 
 - rally my hearties all slanders defying, 
 i thunder huzza! for "Old Tippecanoe;" 
 
 Then 
 And 
 
 Among the supporters of brave General Jackson, 
 There are many Republicans, honest and true; 
 
 To such we say "come out from among them," 
 And " go it for Tyler and Tippecanoe." 
 
 HARRISON AND LIBERTY. 
 TUNE, "Jefferson and Liberty." 
 
 From Mississippi s utmost shore, 
 
 To cold New Hampshire s piney hills; 
 
 From broad Atlantic s sullen roar, 
 To where the western ocean swells, 
 
 How loud the notes of joy arise 
 From every bosom warm and free! 
 
 How strains triumphant fill the skies. 
 
 Turn to the scroll, where patriot sires 
 
 Your Independence did declare, 
 Whose words still glow like living fires 
 
 His father s name is written there. 
 That father taught that son to swear 
 
 His country ne er enslaved should be; 
 Then lend your voices to the air 
 
 For Harrison and Liberty. 
 
 O er savage foes, who scourged our land, 
 
 When Wayne so wild and madly burst, 
 Among his brave and gallant band 
 
 The youthful Harrison was first. 
 And when on Wabash s leafy banks, 
 
 Tecumseh s warriors gathered free; 
 How swift they fled before the ranks 
 
 Of Harrison and Liberty! 
 
 When Meigs Heights, his army held, 
 
 And haughty Britons circled round, 
 His conquering legion s cleared the field, 
 
 While notes of triumph pealed around; 
 And though on Thames tide again 
 
 His progress Proctor sought to stay, 
 Dismayed he fled; and left the plain 
 
 To Harrison and Liberty! 
 
Tippecanoc Songs of 1840. 91 
 
 Now honored be his hoary age 
 
 Who glory for his country won: 
 Shout for the hero, patriot, sage, 
 
 For William Henry Harrison: 
 Of all our chiefs he oftenest fought. 
 
 But never lost a victory, 
 And peace was gain d and plenty brought 
 
 By Harrison and Liberty! 
 
 A HYMN. 
 TUXE, "New Durham" 
 
 Hark! through the land a doleful sound! 
 
 Our ears attend the cry; 
 Ye living Whigs come view the ground 
 
 Where your oppressors lie. 
 
 Great Van, with thousand twenty-five, 
 
 Rides in his English coach, 
 While all the menials in his hive 
 
 Still urge him to encroach. 
 
 Their numbers hungry legions are, 
 
 A hundred thousand told, 
 Whose daily cries assail our ear, 
 
 " Oh! give us, give us gold." 
 
 And yet amidst this golden shower, 
 
 All trades do prostrate fall; 
 The gold and silver, paper power, 
 
 Van keeps and uses all. 
 
 Our cotton sells for half its cost; 
 
 Our wheat lies up in store; 
 Our tools are all laid by to rust, 
 
 We cannot use them more. 
 
 The great ones, too, who rule our State, 
 
 (Obedient to Van s frown), 
 Have hurried on the pressing weight, 
 
 And crush d us fairly down! 
 
 And is there for these blighting ills, 
 
 No healing balm or cure ? 
 No remedy but quackery s pills ? 
 
 No physic which is pure ? 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of IS 40. 
 
 There is. Send men to legislate 
 
 Who are not demagogues, 
 Who work, and think, not those who prate, 
 
 Or howl, or croak like frogs. 
 
 Tom Corwin place in the first chair. 
 
 To guard and to advise; 
 And banish all who have a share, 
 
 In the foul frauds and lies. 
 
 Lo! see, near yon log-cabin pile, 
 
 Just weary from his plow, 
 (While his good dame, with placid smile, 
 
 Sits milking of her cow) : 
 
 There sits the man, upright and pure 
 
 Who will the laws rescue; 
 Will all our rights guard, and secure 
 
 The Hero of Tippecanoe. 
 
 Give him your votes, ye freemen all. 
 
 And stop Van Buren s games; 
 And run, ye spoilsmen, one and all, 
 
 Like Proctor at the Thames. 
 
 Then, when the busy hum, once more, 
 
 Shall make the welkin sound. 
 When Harrison and Tyler soar, 
 
 We ll pass hard cider round. 
 
 LOG CABIN DEDICATION. 
 
 Our cabin now we dedicate, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 To Harrison, the good and great, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! 
 We ve rolled the logs up straight and true 
 And columns made of buckeye, too, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah 
 
 For cabins erst our hero fought, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 
 And to their firesides safely brought, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah 
 Did freely every danger brave 
 Our own beloved West, to save, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 93 
 
 He beat our foes upon the Thames, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 
 Then settled on his farm again, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 
 There by his plow content he lives, 
 And to the needy freely gives, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 
 
 But hark! the cabins sound alarm, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 
 They groan beneath the oppressor s arm, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, 
 They call on Harrison the brave. 
 From tyrant power their rights to save, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, 
 Cabin boys, then onward stand, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, 
 Rescue your misgoverned land, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. 
 Come to the work, press bravely on, 
 And "shoulder arms" for Harrison, 
 
 Hurrah, hurrah. 
 
 THE WHIG BALL. 
 
 [ Annapolis Tippecanoe Club, Aug. 18, 1840.] 
 
 Hail to the ball which in grandeur advances, 
 
 Long life to the yeomen who urge it along; 
 The abuse of our hero his worth but enhances; 
 
 Then welcome his triumphs with shout and with song. 
 The Whig ball is moving! 
 The Whig ball is moving! 
 
 See that light in the South and the West that s dispelling 
 
 The dark cloud that hangs o er our once favored land, 
 Let us hail it with joy, while our ball we re propelling, 
 And firm in our purpose as honest Whigs stand. 
 The Whig ball is moving! 
 The Whig ball is moving! 
 
 Then let ev ry true Whig with shoulder to shoulder, 
 Give speed to the ball and that light wider spread. 
 Tis a dutv we owe to our father s who molder 
 Neaththe sod where they fought the sod 
 Where they bled. 
 
 The Whig ball is moving! 
 The Whig ball is moving! 
 
94 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 They were feeble in number, were weak in resources, 
 
 Yet they won and they left us the boon, liberty. 
 Let us vow to maintain it, in spite of Van s forces, 
 
 And teach panders and place-men that Whigs will be 
 free! 
 
 The Whig ball is moving! 
 The Whig ball is moving! 
 
 Yes, Whigs will be free, and the liberty dear, 
 
 Which their fathers bequeathed them they ll jealously 
 
 tend. 
 And the charm in the wand of the Kinderhook seer, 
 
 They ll dissolve by their shouts for the sage of North 
 Bend. 
 
 The Whig ball is moving! 
 The Whig ball is moving! 
 
 A SONG. 
 TUNE, "The Bonnets of Blue." 
 
 Here s a health to Tippecanoe! 
 
 Here s a shout for Tippecanoe! 
 And he that won t drink to the pride of North Bend, 
 
 Is neither a wise one nor true; 
 It s good for the people to rule; 
 
 It s base to be fed by the few; 
 It s good to stand for the popular choice; 
 
 Then shout for Old Tippecanoe! 
 
 Hurrah for old Tippecanoe! 
 
 Hurrah for old Tippecanoe! 
 It s good to cheer him who has often cheer d us; 
 
 Then shout for old Tippecanoe! 
 Here s a health to Tippecanoe! 
 
 Here s a shout for Tippecanoe! 
 Here s a health to the Chief who was never yet beat; 
 
 Three rounds for the honest and true! 
 
 Here s luck to the hand that will toil ! 
 
 Here s luck to the seed that is sown ! 
 Who s a poor man himself is a friend of the poof, 
 
 And values their rights as his own. 
 Then shout for old Tippecanoe ! 
 
 Hurrah for old Tippecanoe ! 
 It s time to turn out all the profligate herd, 
 
 And put in Old Tippecanoe! 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 95 
 
 THE GATHERING SONG. 
 
 They re rousing, they re rousing in valley and glen, 
 The noble in soul, and the fearless in heart; 
 
 At freedom s stern call, to the combat again 
 They rush with a zeal she alone can impart. 
 
 From wild Madawaska s dark forest of pine, 
 
 To the far fertile glades where the calm Wabash flows, 
 
 True sons of their fathers! The people combine 
 To shake off the chains of their tyrants and foes. 
 
 They re gath ring, they re gath ring, on hill side and plain, 
 They warm every vale and o ershadow each river, 
 
 Each hamlet and dale is made vocal again, 
 
 With the soul-thrilling cry of " Our Country Forever !" 
 
 The flag of the free to the breeze is unfurl d, 
 Around it they rally to guard its fair fame; 
 
 And well may the foes of corruption be bold, 
 
 In the glory and strength of their Harrison s name. 
 
 Where the noble Ohio in wild beauty sweeps; 
 
 Where the swift Susquehanna bears onward its waves, 
 And e en where the Hudson in calm grandeur sleeps, 
 
 There are thousands of freemen who scorn to be slaves. 
 
 Arouse then, true hearts! to the battle once more! 
 
 And the spoilers shall quail at your gallant array! 
 Despair fades behind us Hope s morn dawns before! 
 
 It will brighten full soon to a shadowless day. 
 
 A LOG CABIN LYRIC. 
 
 Sons of freedom, awake! your wild slogan is pealing, 
 
 And hark to the voice of prophetic revealing, 
 
 If ye sleep on in peace if ye rouse not the nation, 
 
 And fight as of yore for your country s salvation; 
 
 Then the lightnings of freedom forever are clouded, 
 
 And her war-shiverd fanes shall in darkness be shrouded. 
 
 Lo! the Genius of Union from her airy flight stooping; 
 Flings the mists of the clouds from her swift pinion swoop 
 ing ; 
 
 And the roll of her war cry our foes is appalling, 
 As her oft shielded sons to her rescue she s calling. 
 Rouse! lovers of law of your rights and of nation, 
 E er ye mourn in the dust of your own desolation. 
 
96 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Look! see ye not on your mountains now gleaming, 
 
 The watch-fires of liberty brightly there beaming? 
 
 Stay not to hail the first beams of to-morrow, 
 
 Ye may read by its light naught but trouble and sorrow, 
 
 For the fire-cross has sped over valley and plain, 
 
 And the clans of Columbia are summoned again. 
 
 And the king bird glares fierce through the dim. misty 
 
 morning, 
 
 As the flash of his keen arrowy glance is discovering, 
 Where creeps those vile vipers who his eyrie entwining. 
 Dared to blot with their slime a fair star-gem there shining. 
 And his crest glows more bright, as he proudly deriding, 
 The hiss of these reptiles on the tempest is riding. 
 
 See! the stars in our flag shed no longer a ray, 
 
 For they mourn their bright sister torn ruthless awav, 
 
 In honor no more shall they flout o er the main, 
 
 Till New Jersey s lost Pleiade shall be hailed there again. 
 
 Oh! why did they snatch her fair gem from its station, 
 
 And alone leave the stripe of her own degradation? 
 
 Then freemen, aw r ake, 
 
 And your fetters now break! 
 Down, down with the tyrant, and dare to be free. 
 
 NEW HARRISON SONG. 
 AIR, "^4 Life on the Ocean Wave" 
 
 Awake to the stirring sound! 
 
 Hark, hark, to the loud alarms! 
 A shout on the breeze is heard 
 
 Tis the people up in arms! 
 Then rouse to the rescue, rouse! 
 
 In a body, all as one 
 Let your watchword be, " Our Rights! 
 
 And your war-cry " Harrison! " 
 
 Awake, etc. 
 
 In vain did our father s toil 
 
 And fight for the rights of man, 
 If tyrants mav scorn us now, 
 
 And to take our freedom plan, 
 We ll let them know we ll fight 
 
 For the cause our sires have won, 
 And our shout shall go forth aloud, 
 
 "The people and Harrison!" 
 Awake, etc. 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 97 
 
 Let us teach those men in power 
 
 What they seem not now to know, 
 That they cannot stay an hour, 
 
 When the people utter, "Go!" 
 Then up and with the shout again, 
 
 Press the cry of victory on 
 * The rights which our fathers gave, 
 
 The people and Harrison!" 
 
 Awake, etc. 
 
 LINES TO NEW JERSEY. 
 
 BALTIMOSE, July 28, 1840. 
 GENERAL GREEN : 
 
 DEAR SIR: I am a Jerseyman. I have been absent from my native State 
 now for about two years, but had it been twenty instead of two, I could 
 not feel otherwise than anxious for her welfare. In looking over one of the 
 morning papers of to-day, I saw an account of the reception of the rejected 
 members of Congress at New Brunswick, some day last week. The writer, 
 speaking of the banners displayed upon that occasion, says, " There was 
 one of remarkable beauty and exquisite workmanship, worked by the ladies 
 of New Jersey, and presented by them to the Tippecanoe club of New 
 Brunswick." We had not time to inspect the banner, nor to copy the inscrip 
 tions, but as it spread its folds to the breeze, we could discover that the 
 battle of Princeton, and an obliterated star, formed a part of the emblems. 
 I cannot describe to you the feelings that rose in my breast at the time, nor 
 do I wish to trouble you with a recital of all that I felt ; suffice it to say that 
 I determined to make an effort in the cause of the soil on which I first drew 
 my breath, and the following lines were the result : 
 
 And is it so? has that bright star then faded? 
 
 Is Trenton, Monmouth, Princeton, all forgot? 
 The mangled victim of the field invaded; 
 
 And must it be that they have bled for naught? 
 
 The gore that dyed thy shores groans of the dying, 
 The widow s tears the orphan s helpless wail, 
 
 The anguished mother for her children crying 
 
 Thy wrongs were then revenged, though now ye fail. 
 
 Where now the spirit that thy son s once boasted? 
 
 Where now the sons of those who for thee bled? 
 Has all the valor of their sires departed? 
 
 And is thy glory buried with the dead? 
 
 Oh shame upon the recreant who would waver, 
 Or dare to falter in so just a cause; 
 
98 Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 The State disowns the sons who will not save her, 
 From foes alike to freedom and its laws. 
 
 E en now the gallant sons of sister States, 
 Are gazing on thee, anxious for thy good, 
 
 Gainst common enemies they ll join their fates, 
 But would not help thee now, e en if they could. 
 
 No! when thy sons have dastard like, allowed 
 Their chosen servants, by their laws elected, 
 
 Bearing thy seal (of which they once were proud), 
 To be gainst right and reason disrespected; 
 
 When this they ve done when freedom s fire has faded 
 When cowards tread the soil where heroes trod 
 
 When that is lost which now is but invaded 
 
 And they have recreant proved to man and God 
 
 Who then would aid thee? or thy sons in need? 
 
 Who d heal thy wrongs? or strive to hide thy shame? 
 None! noneT would own thee after such a deed; 
 
 And foul reproach would fasten on thy name. 
 
 But no! it cannot be land of my birth! 
 
 And thou my brothers say, shall this foul stain, 
 This incubus that bows thee to the earth, 
 
 Say? shall this damning blot of shame remain! 
 
 No! by thy blood -bought freedom I adjure thee, 
 By honor, fame, by hope of Heavens rest; 
 
 By those who bled and died but to secure thee, 
 The sacred rights that from thee now they d 
 
 wrest; 
 
 Arouse thee! to the strife! that banner waving, 
 
 Point to the space where once thy star shone bright, 
 
 Blanch not! but to the breach! all danger braving, 
 Show to the world ye dare maintain your right. 
 
 THE BOSTON TIPPECANOE CLUB SONG. 
 AIR, "O! Tis My Delight." 
 
 Did you ever see the paintings 
 
 Just front of Concert Hall? 
 There s something there of every kind 
 
 For Locos, Whigs and all 
 There s Harrison, the farmer brave, 
 
 Who beat his country s foe; 
 
Tippecanoe Songs of 1840. 99 
 
 O! we ll win beneath his banner 
 
 Who conquered long ago. 
 O! we ll win beneath his banner 
 
 Who conquered long ago. 
 
 There s all the story Johnson tells 
 
 About the brave old chief, 
 Who ever at his country s call 
 
 Came first to her relief 
 Who never left the battle-field, 
 
 But he might victory know. 
 O! we ll win beneath his banner 
 
 Who conquered long ago. 
 
 O ! we ll win, etc. 
 
 Who says that Gen ral Harrison 
 
 Was ever found behind, 
 "When rifle balls were whizzing past,"* 
 
 And death rode on the wind? 
 He always bravely led the van, 
 
 To deal the victor s blow; 
 O! we ll win beneath his banner 
 
 Who conquered long ago. 
 
 O ! we ll win, etc. 
 
 But soon another victory 
 
 The gallant chief will gain, 
 Though tis not o er the savage foe, 
 
 Or on the battle plain 
 For dread misrule, with fearful band, 
 
 He soon will overthrow; 
 O! we ll win beneath his banner 
 
 Who conquered long ago. 
 
 O ! we ll win, etc. 
 
 THE IRISHMAN S SONG. 
 AiR, " Sprig o* Shillelah and Shamrock so Green. 
 
 Success to the man at that place called North Bend, 
 Bad luck to the spalpeen who would not defend 
 The fame and the name of Old Tippecanoe. 
 His heart for his country has ever beat true, 
 Her interest and honor were ever his view, 
 Whether fighting her battles or guarding her pelt, 
 
 * Se Col. R. M. Johnson s speech. 
 
ioo 7^ippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 Sure its little he cared for his own noble self 
 And such is the hero of Tippecanoe. 
 
 Sure you ve heard of that little pond called St. Clair, 
 And that nate little river that empties in there; 
 To the banks of that river marched Tippecanoe, 
 Och! there he found Proctor with all his big troops, 
 With bastes of wild Indians, with screaming and whoops; 
 For the scalps of our bojs, Och! they sharpened their 
 
 knives, 
 
 In hopes to make widows of all their swate wives, 
 And take off the scalp of Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 But you should have been there, at that nate little place, 
 
 To have seen the red coats turn the "right-about face! " 
 
 From the brave Yankee boys, under Tippecanoe, 
 
 And very soon after they got on the trail, 
 
 (A devil a bit could you see but the tail!) 
 
 Those red looking blackguards, without any clothes, 
 
 Show d a set of clean heels, as you may suppose, 
 
 And got but few scalps from Old Tippecanoe. 
 
 Success to the hero! Och! sure would we sing, 
 Who trimm d the red coats of that foolish old king 
 Who sent Proctor to fight that same Tippecanoe. 
 Long life, too, to Johnson, who fought on that day, 
 And killed that big savage called Tecumseh; 
 May each true hearted boy, in this land of the free, 
 Whether Yankee or Irish, just sing out with me, 
 Hurrah! for the Hero of Tippecanoe. 
 
 SONG. 
 
 [Written for the Celebration of the $th of May, 1840, at St. Louis.] 
 AIR, "Rosin the Boiv." 
 
 Come all ye young men of Missouri, 
 And all ye gray headed ones too, 
 
 Turn out on this bright day of glory, 
 And shout for Old Tippecanoe, 
 
 And shout for Old Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
 When red foes our country invaded, 
 He boldly stepped forward for you, 
 
 And though red coats were boldly paraded, 
 They ran from Old Tippecanoe, 
 
 They ran from Old Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
Tippecanoc Songs of 1840. 101 
 
 And if ever again they attack us, 
 
 Which just now there s a chance they may do, 
 Let s have the, right spirit to back us, 
 
 The spirit of Tippecanoe, 
 
 The spirit of Tippecanoe, etc. 
 
 Van Buren may do to spend money, 
 
 Price or Swartwout would just as well do, 
 
 For like drones they eat up all the honey, 
 But there s work in Old Tippecanoe, 
 
 But there s work, etc. 
 
 Dark clouds are now gathering o er us, 
 There s nought but disaster in view, 
 
 But they ll fly at the loud echoed chorus, 
 Of hurrah for Old Tippecanoe! 
 
 Of hurrah, etc. 
 
 Then let all with new vigor inspired, 
 Stand firm to their posts and be true, 
 
 And the vessels by gold mint drops hired 
 Can ne er keep out Old Tippecanoe, 
 
 Can ne er keep out, etc. 
 
 Come along to this log-cabin raising, 
 
 The ladies will all be there too, 
 And bright eyes will sparkle in praising 
 
 Our choice of Old Tippecanoe, 
 
 Our choice, etc. 
 
 Van Buren may quaff his Madeira, 
 
 Hock, Sherry, and Burgundy too, 
 But hard cider to us is far dearer, 
 
 It reminds us of Tippecanoe, 
 
 It reminds us, etc. 
 
 And his health shall be pledged in full glasses, 
 Toasts will spring from each heart that is true, 
 
 Like nectar twill seem as it passes, 
 Tis the drink of Old Tippecanoe, 
 
 Tis the drink, etc. 
 
 When you come to this log-cabin raising, 
 Bring along honest Democrats too; 
 
 Tom Benton can t keep them from praising 
 The deeds of Old Tippecanoe, 
 
 The deeds, etc. 
 
IO2 7^ippecanoe Songs of 1840. 
 
 For those deeds are remembered in story, 
 Yet still there is much he will do, 
 
 And our country will add to her glory, 
 By electing Old Tippecanoe, 
 
 By electing, etc. 
 
 And when at our helm he is seated, 
 Sunshine will again be in view, 
 
 And Columbia with honor be greeted, 
 Commanded by Tippecanoe, 
 
 Commanded, etc. 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY, OHIO. 
 
 \ 
 
 ANNALS OF KENYON. 
 
 LIFE OF SAM HOUSTON. 
 
 HENRY CLAY AND HIS FRIENDS. 
 
 RHUS. 
 
 THE WHIG PARTY, 
 
 ITS LEADKKS AND PRINCIPLES. 
 
 NEMESIS OF THE REBELLION. 
 
 THE UNIONISTS OF THE SOUTH. 
 
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