YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

BIOGRAPHY
MARTIN VAN BUREN,
VICE PRESIDENT
OT THE
UNITED STATES.
WITH AU
APPENDIX,
CONTAINING SELECTIONS: FROM HIS WRITINGS, INCLUDING
HIS SPEECHES IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
ON THE CLAIMS OF THE SOLDIERS OF THE REVO
LUTION, AND IN FAVOR OF ABOLISHING IM
PRISONMENT FOR DEBT  WITH OTHER
VALUABLE DOCUMENTS, AMONG
WHICH WILL BE FOUND THE .
LATE LETTER OF
COLONEL THOS. H. BENTON,

CONVENTION OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI.

COMPILED AND EDITED
BY WILLIAM EMMONS.

WASHINGTON:
PRIHTED BI JACOB GIDEON, JR.
1835.

Entered according to Act of Cgngress, in the year 1835, hy
Wiliiam Emmoss, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of
the District of Columbia.

BIOGRAPHY or
MARTIN VAN BUREN,
OP NEW-YORK.

Martin Van Buren was born at Kinder-
hook, in the county of Columbia, and state of New-
York, on the 5th of December, 1782. He is the
eldest son of Abraham Van Buren, an upright and
intelligent man, whose virtuous conduct and amiable
temper enabled him to pass through a long life, not
only without an enemy, but without ever being in
volved in contention or controversy. His mother, a
woman of excellent sense and pleasing manners, was
twice married, Mr. Van Buren being her second
husband. Both parents were exclusively of Dutch
decent; their ancestors being among the most re
spectable of those emigrants from Holland, who esta
blished themselves, in the earliest period of our
colonial history, in the ancient settlement of Kin-
derhook. They died at advanced ages; the father in
1814, the mother in ISIS, but not until they had
witnessed, and, for a series of years, participated in,
the prosperity of their son.

2 BIOGRAPHY 0?
The subject of this memoir displayed, in early
boyhood, endowments so superior, that his family
resolved to educate him for the bar. He was accord
ingly placed, at the age of fourteen, in the office of
Francis Sylvester, Esq., then and still a much re
spected resident of Kinderhook, and at the time re
ferred to, a practitioner of the law. Prior to the
conclusion of his term of study, he spent abolit
twelve months in the office pf William P. Van Ness,'
theri a distinguished lavyyer and^oliticjan in the city
of New-York.* ,. His residence in that city afforded
Mr. Van Buren. opportunities of instruction, and im
provement, superior to any that he had before enjoy
ed; and as he was both eager in pursuing, and apt in
acquiring knowledge, he employed these advantages
wi};h diligence and profit.
In November, 1803, he was licensed as an attorney
of the Supreme Court, and . immediately thereafter
commenced professional business in his native village,
Jin connexion with a half brother, considerably his
senior.; At the next term of the county courts, he
*This gentleman having' afterwards held the office of District
J*jdjre of the United States for ttie southern district of New-York,
is,soine ttonete tconfouiided with. William W- Yan Ness, for many.
jfeaisua/ Judge, of ..the- S-jiypreme Cqujt ofthe, State — a mistate( ,
, which happens.' the more readily, ^frpm their being- both natives of s
. "Columbia county, and both greatly ffis'.inguished by their talents .
and'thteiriohriesion with political affairs, though they 'belonged,
the former to the republican, and. the latter to the federal -party.

MARTIN VAM BUREN. 3
was admitted as attorney and counsellor, and thus en
rolled in the Columbia bar, then numbering among
its members several of the first men in the state; but
the field was not fairly spread before him until his
admission as counsellor in the Supreme Court, which
took place in February, 1S07.
He had always aspired to distinction at the bar; but
though he had within him not only the desire, but
the elements of success, he was obliged to force his
way through an opposition at once powerful and pe
culiar. The political dissensions which then agita
ted the Union, were carried, in Columbia county, to
the greatest extremities. The title to a large portion
of the soil was vested in a few ancient families, the
founders of which had been endowed,- during the
colonial government, with a species of baronial pre
rogative. The members of these families were gen
erally federalists, and as they carried with them most
of the wealthy freeholders, and the great mass of
the merchants and professional men, they Were ena
bled to maintain, for many years, an uninterrupted
ascendency in the county. Their reign was not that
of toleration or liberality; on the contrary, the fed
eralists of Columbia, partly perhaps from the spirited
and inflexible character of their opponents, were
among the most decided and thorough going parti
zans in the state. Mr. Van Buren was an object,
with them, of peculiar hostility. He was a plebeian

4 BIOGRAPHY OF
and a democrat; he was destitute of fortune and in
need of patronage; and yet he would neither wor
ship at the shrine of wealth, nor court the favor of
:thfi ipawerful — worse than all — he possessed talents,
and was not afraid to exert them, in the face, and to
the prejudice, of his political enemies. It was there
fore thought: to be a matter of interest if not of duty,
to keep him in the shade; and nothing was omitted
hat seemed likely to produce such a result.
Undismayed by persecution, unruffled by the petty
arts of loquacity and slander, and overleaping the ob
stacles by which his progress was obstructed, Mr. Van
Buren pressed for ward, in the race before him. "He
that seeketh to be eminent amongst able men," says
liard Bacon "hath a hard task." That task, and more
than that Mr. Van Buren undertook, for he strove not
only for eminence, but mastery. There was a noble
daring in the very attempt to cope with these formida
ble adversaries, which would almost have compensa
ted iforihe want of success; but by unremitted atten
tion to business, by diligent preparation, and by the ut
most exertion of his powers, such an issue was pre
vented* His faculties, naturally acute, were not only
sharpened by these conflicts, but invigorated and
(rapidly ^enlarged; and it was not long before he was
-enabled to contend on thigh and equal .ground, with
the iablesskof the .group. This, after the promotion of
Judge W. W. Van Ness, was Elisha Williams, the

MARTIN VAN BUREN. 5
most celebrated jury lawyer in the state*" and* proba
bly in -the Union, then in the prime of manhood,
and nearly at the zenith 6f his fame.
In 1809, Mr. Van Buren removed to the city of
Hudson, which was also the residence of Mr. Wil
liams; and from that time they divided, and for many
years continued to divide, the professional business
of the county. They stood also at the head of the
political parties to which they were respectively at
tached. The writer has often witnessed, in other places,
displays of great forensic talent; but he has never
seen causes tried with any thing like the zeal, the
skill, or the effect, which were always exhibited at a
Columbia circuit, during the period referred to. A
trial there was an intellectual combat of the highest
order; the antagonists were stimulated, not only. by
professional duty and the love of fame, but by a ri
valry political and personal, which never suffered in
termission or decline. This rivalry to which we
have alluded, continued for more than ten years; and
if time and space permitted, il would be interesting,
at least to the professional reader, to develope more
fully .than we can now do, the characters of tho
parties and the history of their conflicts.
In the mean time, Mr. Van Buren had followed
his distinguished rival to the higher courts, and to
the tribunal of the last resort. He there encountered
1*

0 BIOGRAPHY OF
the first talents in the state, and with such success,
that on the republicans regaining their ascendency, he
<was appointed, in February, 1815, Attorney-Gener
al of the state, in the room of Abraham Van Vecbten,,
then equally eminent for political sagacity and pro
fessional reputation, but now reverenced and loved
as the fether pf the New-York bar. The duties of
this office, and the extension of hjs practice, induced
Mr. Van Buren, in the following year, to change '
1 his residence from Hudson to Albany. From tbis
time until his retirement, he was deservedly ranked
with those distinguished civilians, to whom, in con-
nexion with her judiciary, the State owes so large a
portion of her renown. Amongst such competitors,
it was impossible to acquire, still more to maintain, a
factitious reputation. Mr, Van Burcn's was based
on materials the most durable. Gifted with a large
share of good sense, with a quickness of apprehen
sion almost intuitive, with a nice discrimination, and
with great accuracy of judgment, and illustrating
these qualities by powers of reasoning and oratory
rarely surpassed, he was peculiarly qualified for the
• discussion of those var'ied and complicated questions
of law and of fact, which are so often presented for
decision in pur higher tribunals. It was accordingly
in the management of important cases in the superi
or courts, that his most successful efforts as an advo
cate were made,. His talents and reputation soon

MARTIN VAN BUREN. 7
secured to him an extensive and lucrative business,
which would doubtless have increased to the highest
amount known to the American bar, if his labors in
his profession had not been frequently interrupted,
and at length finally suspended, by his attention to
political concerns.
Whether before a jury, or bar, he particularly
excelled in the opening of his subject. The facts
out of which arose the questions for discussion, the
nature of those questions, and the mode in which he
intended to treat them, were always stated with great
clearness and address. In the exposition of his ar
gument, he was usually copious and diffusive, pre
senting his case in all its lights, and bringing to bear
upon it every consideration which could tend to elu
cidate its merits or to cover its defects. His style
and manner were judiciously adapted to the character
of his subject, and of his hearers; sometimes direct
and argumentative, and at others discursive and im
passioned; but even in the management of the most
abstruse legal topics, he was abre by the perspicuity
of his statements, the aptness of his illustrations, the
vivacity and force of his tone and gesture, and the
felicity of his whole manner, to excite and to retain
the undivided attention pf all classes of his auditors.
No one was better qualified to speak with ability
and effect, upon little, or without any preparation;
but no one could be more careful or laborious ia his

S . BIOGRAPHY OF
preparatory studies. We mention this for the pur
pose of reminding the junior members of the barr
that if they would emulate and equal the successful
career we have delineated, they must rely not on
genius alone, nor on general knowledge or a diversi
fied experience, but on the surer aids to be derived
from a perfect acquaintance with their subject, and
a careful premeditation of what they are to say;
The public life and services of Mr. Van Buren, to
which we shall now direct the attention of our read
ers, demand a fuller notice than that bestowed on his
professional career. It must, however, necessarily
be brief; for to bring them out, in their just propor
tions, would require a volume, and would lead to dis
cussions foreign to this place. His first connexion
with political affairs was in the great contest which
preceded the civil revolution of 1801. His father,
a whig in the revolution, and an anti-federalist of
1788, was among the earlist supporters of Mr. Jef
ferson. The son, then a law student at Kinderhook,
espoused with great* warmth the same principles; but
his course was emphatically his own. It was the re
sult of a decided conviction, that the conduct and doc
trines of the men in power, were not only repugnant
to the spirit of the constitution, but subversive of the
rights ofthe people, and calculated to lead to an aris-
ocratic government. The strength and integrity of
these convictions were severely tested. The gentle-

MARTIN VAN BUREN. $
man in whose office he was a student was a high toned
federalist; so was a near and much loved relative, his
earliest patron. A majority of the inhabitants, includ
ing nearly all the wealthy families, and most if not all
his youthful associates, belonged to the same party,
and that party then had the ascendency, not only in his
own town, but in the county, the state, and the Union.
Aware of his superior endowments, and anxious to
save him from what was deemed by many of his
friends a fatal, if not a criminal heresy, great ex
ertions were made to attach him to the dominant
party. Every motive which could operate on the
mind of an ardent and ambitious young man, was
held out to him but without success. -He persisted
in maintaining • the principles he had espoused, and
he spared no pains to inculcate them upon others, es
pecially by anirnated addresses at the meetings ofthe
people. His devotion, thus early, to the popular
cause, though it exposed him to the implacable hos
tility of the federalists, secured, for him the confi
dence and affections of the democracy of the town,
and soon made him. so conspicuous in his county,
that in the latter part of 1800 or beginning of 1801,
when only in his eighteenth or nineteenth year, he
was one of her representatives in a republican con
vention composed of delegates from the counties of
Rensselaer and Columbia, and held for the purpose of
nominating a candidate for the house of represents-

10 BIOGRAPHY OF
lives. On that occasion, he assisted the veteran po
liticians, with whom he was associated, in preparing
an address to the electors. During the residue of
his minority he was in the habit of representing the
republicans of his town in the county conventions,
and of taking as active and efficient a part in the po
litical contests of the day, as any of his seniors.
His first appearance as an elector, was in the
spring of 1804, when, in common with the great mass
of the party in which he had been bred, he supported
Morgan Lewis for governor of New York in opposi
tion to Aaron Burr. Here again his integrity and
independence were strikingly exemplified. Mr.
Van Ness, with whom he had recently bees a stu
dent, was the intimate friend of Col.- Burr ; and Mr.
Van Buren himself, whilst a resident in the city of
New York, had received many flattering attentions
from that gentleman. Several of the leading repub
licans of Columbia county, including some of Mr.
Van Buren's earliest friends, were among the warm
est supporters of Col. Burr. Yet Mr. Van Buren
took a decided stand against Col. Burr, on the ground
that he was the candidate of the party opposed to
Mr. Jefferson, and to the democracy of the state. —
His course on this occasion subjected him to some
temporary antipathies ; but its wisdom and propriety
were sanctioned by the judgment of the people, and
at the present day, will hardly be called in question.

MARTIN VAN BUREN. 11
In 1807 the democratic party was again- divided
between Lewis anid Tompkins, and Mr. Van Buren
again acting in unison with the majority* was among
the most decided supporters of the latter. In 180S,
he was appointed Surrogate of the county, an office
which he held until February, 1813, when the fede
ral party having acquired -the ascendency in that
branch of the legislature which controlled ther ap
pointing power, he was promptly removed.
From the moment when, in early youth,, he es
poused the democratic principle, he never wavered
in his course. Mr. Jefferson's administration receivj
ed his uniform support; though in the ardor of
youthful patriotism,- he sometimes wi$hed for a more
decided policy towards the invaders of our neutral
rights. During the whole period of the: British en
croachments, he was among those who labored to,
awaken, in our councils and people, a spirit of indig
nation and resistance. The embargo, and other re
strictive measur.es adopted by congress, met his de
cided approbation ; and were frequently vindicated
by hi in in popular- addresses,, and on- other occasions. '
In the dark days which folloyved these, measures, -he
neither apostatized,. nor flinched, nor doubted. His
s.uppor,t of., the 'government was not merely active^
but zealous; nor was his the , zeal of ordinary men. tt-
It absorbed his whole soul,;- it, led to,, untiring ,exer-,
tion ', 4t\\Yas exhibited on all occasions, and .under.

12 BIOGRAPHY OF
all circumstances. Neither the contumely of inflated
wealth, nor the opposition of invidious talenty nor
the weekly revilings of a licentious press, nor a suc
cession of defeats in his own county, could induce
him to conceal or to modify his political sentiments,
or to temporize in his policy or conduct. •
The influence of such principles, accompanied by
talents like those of Mr. Van Buren, was not to be-
circumscribed within the limits of a single county.
It accordingly extended in the same proportion with
his protessional reputation; and as early as 1811, we
find him taking the lead in a meeting held at the
seat of government, and composed chiefly of the de.
mocratic members of the legislature. In 1811, he
took great interest in the question of the renewal of
the United States Bank. In connexion with the ve
nerable George Clinton, and other leading members
ofthe party in his state, he strenuously opposed the
re-chartering of that institution. After congress
had decided this question, a powerful association
was formed, for the purpose of procuring from the
state legislature a charter for the Bank of America,
to be established in the city of New York, with a
capital (enormous for a local bank) of $6,000,000. —
As the democracy of the state, with but few excep
tions, considered this application a sorl; of substitute
for the renewal of the national bank, they took strong
ground against it. Mr. Van Buren was one of its most

MARTIN VAN BUREN. 13
prominent opponents. The- republicans of his coun
ty were convened on the subject. He delivered to
them a powerful speech against the proposed appli
cation, which was denounced in a series of resolu
tions prepared by him and adopted by the meeting,
as a most dangerous and anti-republican measure. —
His sentiments on the main question, and his belief
fhatimproper means had been resorted to by the
agents of the bank, conspired to recommend to his
approbation and support, the prorogation of the legis
lature by Governor Tompkins, in April, 1812; and
he accordingly sustained that energetic measure by
the active exertion of his influence and talents. At
this juncture he was, for the first time, put in nomi
nation for an elective office — that of state senator
for the then middle district. A more violent strug
gle was hardly ever known in the state ; Mr. Van
Buren succeeded, but by a majority of less than two
hundred out of twenty thousand votes.
He took his seat in the senate in November, 1812,
at the meeting held for the choice of presidential
electors. The republican members of the legisla
ture having, in the preceding summer, nominated
De Witt Clinton for president, in opposition to Mr.
Madison, then a candidate for re-election, and that
nomination having been tendered to, and. accepted
by Mr. Clinton, Mr. Van Buren thought it due to
consistency and good faith, to support electors friend-

14, BIOGRAPHY OF
ly to that gentleman. He was also prompted to this
course by an impression, that the character and mea
sures of the existing administration were not suffi
ciently decisive and energetic; and by a sincere and
confident belief that Mr. Clinton, though supported
by many opponents of thenar, would yet, ifelected,
prosecute that contest with more vigour and success
than his amiable and enlightened competitor. Be
sides — Mr. Van Buren had been bred in the political
sentiments of George Clinton, and on the dealhof that
illustrious patriot, had naturally transferred much of
his respect for the name, principles and character of
the uncle, to his distinguished nephew, who, up to
that period had been generally regarded as a pillar of
the democratic party. In these views a majority of
the republicans in each branch of the legislature con
curred; and Mr. Clinton accordingly received the
vote of New- York. Mr. Van Buren, however,
uniformly declared that he would abide by the de
cision of the majority; and that he would support to
the end, every measure of the government,by whom
soever it might be administered, which was calcula
ted to bring the war— a measure which he had advo-
cated in advance, and constantly defended — 4o a suc
cessful result. In conformity with these principles,
he took a leading part in the winter of 1813, in the
nomination of Gov. Tompkins, whose patriotism
had identified him with the history of the country,

MARTIN VAN BUREN. 15
and whose re-election seemed essential to the prose
cution of the war, if not to the existence of the gov
ernment. On this occasion -he wrote the address to
the electors of the state,- issued by the republican
members of the legislature — an elaborate aOd elo
quent production, in- which the duty of sustaining the
administration in the prosecution of the war, was
enforced by every motive that could reach the hearts,
or call out the energies of the people. The extracts
from this address which have recently been laid be
fore the public, will have enabled them to test the
justice of this remark. It was widely circulated,
and produced tne desired effect.
In the election of April, 1813, Mr. Clinton, and
many of his friends, supported the candidate of the
opposition ; and from this point a separation ensued
between that distinguished statesman and Mr. Van
Buren, which, as to all political matters, continued
ever after. ¦
The sessions of 1813 and 14, were peculiarly, try-
ing. The federalists then had the control in the
assembly, and were violent and uniform in their op
position to the war and to its supporters. , A majo
rity of the senators, with Mr. Van Buren and'his
able coadjutors, Nathan Sanford and Erastus Root, a£
their head, we,re equally inflexible in; their support
of the government. They passed many .bills of a
patriotic character, which were rejected by the other

16 BIOGRAPHY OF
branch. This led to several public conferences, in
which the points in controversy — involving not only
the particular measures in dispute, but the justice
and expediency of the war, and the conduct and me
rits of the national administration — -were debated at
large, in the presence of the two houses, by commit
tees chosen on the part of each, and with all the
energy and ardor which the spirit of the times was
calculated to inspire. These conferences, from the
nature of their subjects, the solemnity with which
they were conducted, and the crowded and excited
auditories that attended them, presented opportuni
ties for the display of popular eloquence, almost ri
valling in dignity and interest, the assemblies of
ancient Greece. In all of them Mr. Van Buren was
a principal speaker on the part of the senate, and by
his readiness and dexterity in debate, his powerful
reasoning, and his patriotic defence of the govern -
ment and its measures, commanded great applause.
On one occasion in particular, he delivered a speech
of such eloquence and power, that immediately after
the termination of the debate, a committee was ap
pointed by the republicans of Albany — who, in
great numbers, had attended in the galleries — to pre
sent him the thanks of their constituents, and to pro-
iure a copy of the speech for publication. This re
quest, however, could not be complied with, as the
speeeh had beew delivered without even the usual

MARTIN VAN BUREN. J7
preparative of short notes ; and Mr. Van Buren,
who was then in feeble health, had neither time nor
strength to write it out.
Iu September 1814, the legislature was convoked
by the Executive, to deliberate pn the alarming cri
sis then existing. The republicans had then regain
ed their control in both branches, and various mea
sures were adopted with the express view of aiding
the national administration, in the prosecution ofthe
war. Of these, in addition to acts making'appro-
priations of money, the most prominent were the
acts " to authorise the raising of troops for the de
fence of the stale," and to "encourage privateering
associations." These bills were each supported by
Mr. Van Buren ; but the first and most important—
which was known among its friends as the " classifi
cation," and among its enemies as the '' conscrip
tion" bill, and which very much resembled the clas
sification bill subsequently reported to congress by
Mr. Monroe — was peculiarly his measure, it having
been matured and introduced by him. They were
assailed by. the opposition, both in and out of the
legislature, with unwonted violence. In the coun
cil of revision, Chancellor Kent deliyered written
opinions, denouncing them as inconsistent with the
spirit of the constitution, and the public good.,—-
Those opinions, though overruled by the other mem
bers of the council, were published ia the newspa-

18 BIOGRAPHY OF
pers and extensively circulated ; and from the high"
reputation of their learned and estimable author,
they were eminently calculated to excite doubts as
to the validity ofthe laws, and to impair public con
fidence in those who enacted them.
In this state of things, Col. Young, then speaker
of the assembly, and the principal champion in that
house, of the measures thus impugned, undertook
their defence, and especially that of the Classification
law, in a series of letters, written with great ability,
and addressed to the chancellor, under the signature
of Juris Consultus. They were answered by Jl-
micus Curise, (supposed to be the chancellor himself,)
who was replied to by Mr. Van Buren, in four
numbers under the signature of Amicus Juris Con
sultus. In the first of these papers, he took a gene
ral view of the several topics connected with the
controversy ; the others were devoted to a minute
examination of the various objections made by the
Chancellor, and by Amicus Curias, for the act en
couraging privateering associations. This controver
sy, as conducted by all the parties, was one of the
ablest which grew out of the last war. Mr. Van
Buren's share of it, which was distinguished by great
ability and research, soon became known among his
political friends, and contributed in no small degree,
to his appointment as Attorney General, which took
place in the February following. He was soon after

MARTIN VAN BUREN. 19
appointed by the legislature, a Regent of the Uni
versity. In 1816, he was re-elected to the Senate, and re
mained in that body until 1820j when his term of
service expired. From the. commencement to the
close of his legislative career, he was found among
the supporters of every measure connected with the
great interests of the state. He was particularly
distinguished as a leading and most efficient advocate
of those great plans of public improvement'which
have since conferred, not alone on the state by which
they have been executed, but on the age in which we
live, such imperishable honor.
The next step in Mr. Van Buren's progress, places
him on, higher ground than any he has yet occupied.
We have seen him one of the most active and con
spicuous politicians in his native state ; we are now
to regard him as the acknowledged rival, in influ
ence and renown, of the most celebrated of her sons
— De Witt Clinton. In March, 1S17, that gentle
man was nominated by the republican convention as
a candidate to succeed Gov. Tompkins, who had
been chosen Vice president of the United States: —
Mr. Van Buren was one of the minority in this con
vention, though in accordance with the usages and
feelings appropriate tb such occasions, he acquiesced
in the result. Mr. Clinton was subsequently elected,
almost without opposition, but-- whether with, or

20 BIOGRAPHY OF
without cause, we stop not to inquire — gave little
satisfactian to the democracy of the state. A divi
sion of the party soon after took place ; the great
mass, with Mr. Van Buren in their number, opposed
his re-election, and from this time until the death of
Governor Clinton, these distinguished citizens stood
at the head of the great political parties of New
York. Mr. Van Buren at the commencement of
this era was Attorney General of the state, but the
council of appointment, at whose pleasure the office
was held, was devoted to Mr. Clinton. This, how
ever, did not prevent him from pursuing with frank
ness and decision, the course which his judgment had
prescribed ; though he was aware that the loss of
office would inevitably follow ; and he was accord
ingly removed in July, 1819. Opposition to Mr.
Clinton was the only cause assigned for this measure,
which was to Mr. Van Buren one of the most for
tunate events in his public life. It commended him
more than ever to the confidence and affections of
the firm party men, who remembered his uniform
adherence to the republican cause, and above»all, his
vigorous support of the government, at the most
gloomy period ofthe war. It also largely contribut
ed to the peculiar result of the election in- 1820.
when the opponents of Governor Clinton, though
they failed in preventing his re-election, carried both
branches of the legislature. A restoration to the

MARTIN VAN BUREN. 21
office of Attorney General was tendered to Mr. Van
Buren by his political friends, but being declined by
him, he was appointed in February 1S21, a senator
in the congress of the United States.
In the interval between that appointment and the
next congress, a convention was held to amend the
constitution of the state. Mr. Van Buren, who had
warmly advocated this measure, especially with a
view to the extension of the right of suffrage, was
unexpectedly returned to it, though a resident of Al
bany, by the republican electors of Otsego, as a
member from that county.
Many venerable and distinguished men, together
with most of the active talent of the state, were
found in this convention. It is, therefore, a high
compliment— -though it be only simple truth — to say,
that in all the deliberations of this enlightened as
sembly, Mr. Van Buren, if not first, was certainly
one of the foremost. His speeches on the various
questions submitted to the convention, are published
in the report of its proceedings, and are among the
ablest in the volume. They are particularly worthy
of note, for the clear and comprehensive manner in
which they discuss the great principles of govern
ment, and for their soundness, moderation and jus
tice. But it is not the mere display of talent or
wisdom, that 'illustrates this portion of Mr. Van
Buren's history. His conduct in the convention is

22 BIOGRAPHY OF
entitled to other, and we doubt not posterity will
deem it higher, praise — the praise which belongs to
independence, magnanimity and virtue. He entered
it under circumstances most flattering to his pride —
the acknowledged leader of a triumphant majority;
he was compelled before the termination of the ses
sion, either to assent to a course of proceeding in re
lation to the judiciary establishments, which he
deemed uncalled for and improper, or to separate
from some of -the oldest and most valued of his
friends. He chose, without hesitation or misgiving,
the latter alternative, and was placed, as he foresaw
would be the consequence, in the ranks of the mi
nority. His conduct, on this occasion, was so evi-.
dently the result of principle, that those of his party
who differed from him in opinion, honored him the
more for his firmness and integrity — the separation
it produced, was therefore confined to the questions
which occasioned it.*
* The following extract from a speech of Mr. Van Buren up
on one of the measures above referred to, will not only illus
trate this part of his public conduct, but give some idea of his
manner in debate.
— " The matter therefore being clear, that the only effect ofthe
amendment would be to turn cut of office the present incum
bents, [the Judges of the Supreme Court,] he submitted to the
convention whether it would be either just or wise to do so. —
He submitted it, he said, pai ticularly to that portion of the con
vention, who would be held responsible for its doings — and who

MAttTIN VAN BUREN «£3
He took 'his seat in the Senate of the United
States in December, 1S21. In 1827, he was re-
would in a political point of view, be the chief sufferers by a
failure of the ratification of their proceedings by the people.. —
He warned them to reflect seriously on this most interesting
matter. He directed their attention to the never ending feuds
and bitter controversies which would inevitably grow out of a
loss of the amendments adopted by the convention. He knew-
well, he said, how apt, men placed in their situation — heated by
discussions, and sometimes pressed by indiscreet friends — were
to suffer their feelings to be excited, and to lead them into mea
sures which their sober judgments would condemn. It was
their duty to rise superior to ail such feelings. He asked them
to reflect for a moment, and then answer him, whether, when
they left home, they had ever heard the least intimation from
their constituents, that instead of amending the constitution upon
general principles, they were to descend to pulling down ob
noxious officers through the medium of, the convention ; and he
asked them whether they were not sensible of the great danger
of surprising the public at this advanced stage of the session,
When' the greatest uneasiness already prevailed, by a measure so
Unexpected. There was, he said, no necessity for, or propriety
in, this measure. They had already thrown wide open the
doors of approach to unworthy incumbents. They had altered
the impeaching power, from two-thirds to a bare majority. —
They had provided also that tlie chancellor and judges should
be removable by the vote of two-thirds of one branch, and a bare
majority of the other. The judicial officer who could not be
reached in either of those ways, ought not to be touched.—
There were therefore no public reasons for the measure, and if
not, then why are we to adopt it ? Certainly not from personal
feelings. If personal feelings could or ought to influence us
»gainst the individual who would probably be most affeated by

24 BIOGRAPHY OF
elected to the same station. To describe the share
taken by him in the proceedings of the Senate,
would be to copy the journals of that body for the
seven years during which he was a member. , Before
the end of the first session, he had established, in an
assembly containing such men as Rufus King and
William Pinckney, a reputation of the highest grade,
which was successfully maintained in after years.
It has often been demonstrated, that the sarcastic
remark of Mr. Burke, " that lawyers are not at
the adoption of this amendment, [Judge W. W. Van Ness] Mr.
Van Buren supposed that he above all others, would be excused
for indulging them. He could with truth say, that he had
through his whole life been assailed from that quarter, with
hostility, political, professional and personal — hostility which had
been the most keen, active and unyielding. But sir, said he, am
I on that account, to avail myself of my situation as a representa
tive ofthe people, sent here to make a constitution for them and
their posterity, and to indulge my individual resentments in the
prostration of my private and political adversary ? He hoped it
was unnecessary for him to say, that he should forever despise
himself if he could be capable of sucli conduct. He also hoped
that that sentiment was not confined to himself alone, and that
the convention would not ruin its character and credit, by pro
ceeding to such extremities." — [Carter and Stone's Debates ofthe
Convention, p. 535.
The conduct of Mr. Van Buren on this occasion, and on the
nomination of Mr. Clay as Secretary of State, furnishes a con
clusive refutation to tlie charge of " proscription" recently made
by the latter, in the United States Senate, and is strikingly con
trasted with Ms course on the occasion referred to.

MARTIN VAN BUREN. 25
home in legislative assemblies,". has no application to
the American bar. Of this, Mr. Van Buren fur
nishes a new and signal proof. In the Senate of
New York, he showed himself an able and sagacious
legislator ; in the Senate of the United States, his
sphere of action was not only greatly extended, but
the subjects of deliberation proportionably difficult
and complicated ; yet here, also, he displayed a reach
and comprehension of intellect, and a degree of
practical wisdom and enlightened forecast which en
title him tp the appellation and the honors of a states
man. As a ready and successful debater, he had no
superior. Several of his speeches, particularly those
in favor ofthe bill abolishing imprisonment for debt,
and in support of the law making provision for the
officers and soldiers of the revolution, have been
ranked, among the finest specimens of eloquence ever
heard in the Senate. Those on the Panama mis
sion, on the organization of the judiciary, and on the
right of the Vice-President to control the freedom
of debate, were conspicuous for luminous discus
sion, and for sound views of constitutional policy. —
Reports of some j of them have been published, but
"though the massive trunk of sentiment remains,"
.the "blossoms of elocution," in each, case, and the
fruits of genius in most of them, " have dropped
away."* This must be said of every attempt to per-
* Johnson.

26 BIOGRAPHY OF
petuate his speeches, whether at the bar or in the
Senate. His utterance is so rapid, that no short
hand writer can follow him with accuracy ; and he
has rarely ever submitted" to the drudgery of writing
out a speech. Nor, indeed, is he capable, by any
after labor, of doing justice to his own efforts ; for
his brillia'nt passages are so entirely extemporaneous,
that they can neither be repeated by others hor re
called by himself.
The course pursued by Mr. Van Buren as a sena
tor, both in respect to the foreign policy of the na
tion, and to our domestic concerns, was in perfect
harmony with the doctrines he had previously main
tained. One of his first efforts was, to revive the dis
tinctive principles of the party in which he had been
bred, and from which, as he supposed, Mr. Monroe's
administration, especially during it's second term,
had considerably swerved. Although the exertions
made by him to effect this end, were not very suc
cessful, they attracted general attention, and were
decidedly approved by the democracy of the union.
He also took a leading part in the presidential elec
tion of 1824, and the canvass which preceded it.
Believing the election of Mr. Crawford more likely,
at that period, to bring batik the government to the
Jeffersonian policy, than that of any of his competi
tors, he gave to that gentleman his vigorous support.
His perseverance, under the most adverse circum-

MAKTIN VAN BUREN. 27
stances, in the support of that upright and persecu
ted citizen, is wellknown; as is also the overwhel
ming defeat, both in his own. state, and in the union,
which. terminated the contest ..\
In that catastrophe, his enemies, — ignorant or for
getful of the recuperative power of talents and, in
tegrity —vainly imagined, they saw the downfall, if
not the end, of his influence and success} but before
another year had elapsed, lie occupied a position more
elevated than ever. t. The, first step toward that posi
tion, was the wise determination to take< no part jn
the, decision by thes House of Representatives— a re
solution adopted by the^ friends of Mr. . Crawford,
with the double motive of retaining their usefulness
after the contest should be decided, and of preser
ving themselves from the charge of coalescing ^rith
theic opponents. ¦ After the election, Mr. Van Buren
advised his friends at home to, abstain from all acts
of hostility towards Mr. Adams; to give him a fair
trial, and to judge, of his administration by his acts.
His course in. the , Senate wag governed by the same
principles;, and it was pat until the great question of
the Panama mission that fee; found occasion tp depart
from it. His Opposition, to that .njeasure; the inte
resting 'considerations connected with; it; and the
judgment! which the -.peoplei;have prouoiineedjon the
conduct of those who supported audvlhose :w-hp op
posed! it ,., are well. known. It wag after taking, this

28 BIOGRAPHY OF
stand, an act which drew upon him the marked hos
tility of Mr. Adams's Cabinet, and the open denuncia
tions of their supporters, that he was re-elected to the
Senate, by the legislature of New-York. His con
nexion with the great contest of 1828^ and his effici
ent instrumentality in bringing about that triumph
ant result, which, to use his own language, "while
if infused fresh vigor into our political system, and
added new beauties to the republican cliaracter, once
more refuted the odious imputation that Republics
are ungrateful," need hot be rehearsed.
;With the electors of president and vice-president
for the state of New-York, a governor of the state
was also to be chosen, fo succeed the distinguished
and lamented Clinton. Yielding td the pressing de
mand of the republicans of New York, Mr. Van
Buren consented to become a candidate for the of
fice, and was subsequently elected.
This event made it necessary that he should retire
from the Senate of the United States, and he accord
ingly resigned his seat in that body in January, 1829.
Before we follow him to the chief magistracy of
his native state, it will be proper to notice two or
three points connected with his services in the Sen
ate, to which no reference has yet been made. Du
ring tlie whole period of those services, the nation
was agitated by discussions on bills for regulating the
tariff, and for constructing internal improvements.

MARTIN. VAN BUREN. 29
As a great majority of the r people of New-York,
were decidedly in favor of the protective system,
and of the bills imposing additional duties passed in
1824 and 1828, Mr. Van Buren's votes on these. bills
were governed by their wishes and instructions —
il being with him a cardinal maxim, that the repre
sentative is bound to express the sentiments of his
.constituents, whenever those sentiments can be clearly
ascertained. But whilst he was always ready to aid
in the protection of the manufacturing interest, by
advocating the adoption of all necessary and reason
able measures, he was not prepared to build up that
inteiest at the expense of others equally important to
the well-being of the nation. Deeply sensible that
the union of the states could only be kept up, by the
constant exercise of that spirit of concession and com
promise in which it was formed, he earnestly incul
cated upon the representatives of the manufacturing
states, the importance of limiting their demands to
the lowest practicable point; the mischiefs to be ap
prehended, both in a pecuniary and national point
of view, from extravagant and oppressive duties; and
the benefits to be derived from a reduction of the
revenue -to an amount barely sufficient to pay the na
tional debt, and carry on an economical government.
The wise and libera* sentiments entertained by him
in this respect, were made, not unfrequently, the to
pics of accusation in his own state. In 1S27, these
3*

30 BIOGRAPHY OF
accusations increased to such an extent, that he avail
ed himself of the opportunity affored him by a pub*
lie meeting held in Albany on the subject of the then
proposed Harrisburgh convention, to lay before that
meeting, in a speech of considerable length, his gen
eral views on the whqie subject, as well as an expla
nation of the course he pursued, whilst a member of
the senate, on the particular bills which had come
before that body. This speech, which was after
wards published, had not only the effect of satisfy
ing the people of New-York in regard to the course
of the senator who made it, but it had, also a ten
dency to moderate the high tariff sentiments of some
of his constituents. The recent history of the na
tion, and above all the bill just passed for the re
duction of the duties, have full}' vindicated the wis
dom, foresight and patriotism of Mr. Van Buren's
course in relation to this most important and difficult
subject. In regard to internal improvements, Mr. Van Bu
ren, had always but one opinion, viz: that it was
not intended by the framers of the constitution to
confer on Congress the power of constructing them;
and that the power, if exercised at all, ought to be
sacredly confined to objects of a strictly national cha
racter. " With perhaps a single'- exception, his votes
in the Senate, were in strict accordance with these
views. The case alluded to, as constituting a possi-

MARTIN VAN BUREN. 3 1
ble exception, is thus stated by himself. " Mr.
Van Buren js by no means certain, that in this re
spect he himself has been altogether without fault. —
At the very first session after he came into the Senate,
the knowledge of the perpetual drain that the Cum
berland road was destined to prove upon the public
treasury, unless some means were taken to prevent it,
and a sincere desire to go at all times, as far as he
could consistently with the constitution, to aid in the
improvement, and promote the prosperity, of the
western country, had induced him, without full exa
mination, to vote for a provision, authorizing the col
lection of toll on this road. The affair of the Cum
berland road, in respect to its reference to the
constitutional powers of this government, is a matter
entirely sui generis. It was authorized during the
administration of Mr* Jefferson, grew out of the dis
position of the territory of the United States, and
' nad the consent of the states through which it passed.
He has never heard an explanation of the subject,
(although it has been a matter of constant reference,)
that has been satisfactory to his mind. All he can
say, is, that if the question were again presented to
him he would vote against it ; and that his regret
for having done otherwise, would be greater, had not
Mr. Monroe, much to his_credit, put his veto upon
the bill; and were it not the only vote, in the course
of a seven years' service, which the most fastidious

32 BIOGRAPHY OF
critic can torture into an inconsistency with the
principles which Mr. V. B. professed to maintain,
and in the justice of which, he is every day more
and more confirmed."*
Mr. Van Buren entered upon the office of Gover
nor of New York, on the first of January, 1829, and
administered the government until the 12th of March
following, when he resigned in consequence of his
appointment as Secretary of State of the United
States. Of the ability and uprightness with which
he discharged the duties of the chief magistracy,
there is high and honorable proof. Resolutions ex
pressive of the " highest respect for his virtues and
talents," and tendering to him the congratulations of
the representatives of the people, with " their earnest
wish that he might enjoy a full measure of happi
ness and prosperity in the new sphere of public duty
to which he' was about to be removed," were unani
mously passed by both branches of the state legislature,
though a considerable portion of each house belonged
to the party opposed to his election. The like sen
timents were expressed in terms still more flattering
and affectionate, by the republican members, who
transmitted him a communication on the eve of his
departure for Washington, in which, after express
ing "their attachment to his person, their respect for
• Note C. to Mr. Van Buren's speech, in relation to the right
of the Vice-President to call to order, &c. delivered, in 1828.

MARTIN VAN BUREN. 33
his character, and their regret at the separation that
was about to take place," they tendered him their
acknowledgements, " for the numerous and impor
tant services which he had rendered to the state, par
ticularly in sustaining those political principles which
they believed to be most intimately blended with its
highest and dearest interests." These proceedings,
in connexion with those had since his rejection by
the Senate, may be taken as an index of the estimation
in which he is held by the people of his native state,
and of the character of their feelings towards him.
Immediately after his resignation as Governor of
New York, he repaired to the post assigned him by
the President.
The qualities of his mind, temper and manners,
were peculiarly adapted to the duties of a cabinet
minister, and more especially to those of the state
department. Whilst he occupied this station, he
showed himself a safe constitutional adviser, by re
commending on all occasions, a strict and scrupulous
adherence to the terms of the constitution — a liberal
regard to the interests of each portion of the union —
a sincere deference to the independence and sove-
reigntyof the states, wherever those attributes. re
mained lo them — an honest, vigilant and frugal ad
ministration at home — and a watchful and provident
attention to our concerns with foreign nations. The
management of those concerns, so far as it devolved

34 BIOGRAPHY OK
on him, was precisely what it should have been. —
His demeanor towards the agents of foreign powers,
was on all occasions frank, conciliatory, and digni
fied ; his despatches contained nothing rhetorical,
offensive or imprudent ; the affairs, to which they
related' were discussed in-a plain business-like man
ner; our own views and claims were clearly stated,
and when, founded on truth and justice, inflexibly
maintained ; the 'pretensions -of our opponents were
candidly' considered ; and in accordance; with the
character and policy of the President, every effort
was made to conduct our diplomatic arrangements in
the spirit of sincerity' and justice. The success
which attended his labors as Secretary of State, is too
well known to need to, be repeated.
Mr.- Van Buren held the office of Secretary of
State, until June 1831, when he retired from that
importantand honorable trust which he had volunta
rily resigned in the preceding April. The reasons
which induced him to take this step, were of the
¦purest and - most elevated character. He believed
that the bestinterestsof the republic were identified
with the fulh and successful development- of the
principles which led to the election of Gen. Jackson ;
he saw that the confidence ofthe President, though
indispensable to his usefulness in .the cabinet* was
yet made the ground of open accusation and insidious
attack ; he was aware that envy and ambition in their

MARTIN VA\' BUREN 35
efforts to injure him, were likely to embarrass, if not
to thwart the measures ofthe government ; and he
knew that so long as he maintained a position so pro
minent and commanding, the patriotic designs of the
Executive would be counteracted, not only by the
regular opposition, but by the more dangerous hosti
lity of some who pretended to behis friends. Under
these circumstances, he resolved to abandon the ad
vantages of that position; and by a voluntary sacri
fice of the influence and prospects which belonged (o
it, to relieve the administration from the difficulties
created by enmity towards him. When the mists of
prejudice which hang over the page of recent history,
shall have been cleared away, this act will stand out
in the lustre of personal magnanimity and public
virtue. The reluctant assent of Gen. Jackson to the resig
nation of Mr, Van- Buren, was accompanied by a
warm testimonial of unlimited confidence in his abili
ties and integrity. A further proof vvas soon after
given of this confidence, ia the appointment of Mr.
Van Buren as minister to Great Britain.. In makirig
this appointment, the President was mainly influ
enced by the belief that Mr. Van Buren would be
more likely than any. one hejeould select, to nego
tiate a satisfactory adjustment of the: delicate and
dangerous.questions concerning blockades, impress
ments andthe right of search, which occasioned the late

36 BIOGRAPHY OF
war with Great Britain, and which yet remain undis
posed of. The President justly lhought the amica
ble settlement of these questions an object of deep
interest, not only to the two nations, but to the
world ; and that it, therefore, demanded the best
talents of the country. He also supposed that Mr.
Van Buren from his intimate knowledge of our rela
tions with the several powers of Europe, would be
able to render essential aid to our ministers on that
continent ; and that he might, in various other ways,
promote the public interests, during his residence at
London; Jlr. Van Buren felt the whole force of
these considerations, and he was, moreover, very
willing to withdraw, for the usual period of a foreign
mission, from the turmoil of party. He therefore
readily complied with the wishes of the president,
by accepting the appointment — though most of his
political and personal friends were exceedingly a-
verse to it, on the ground that his absence from the
country would materially impair his political pros
pects at home. This being the principal motive of
their objections, he did not think them sufficiently
important to deter him from engaging in a service,
which promised, if successful, to be not less useful to
his country than honorable to himself. He landed
in England in September 1S31, and was soon after
received at court with distinguished favor. His ap
pointment, however, remained to be confirmed by

MARTIN VAN BUREN. 37
the senate. It was submitted to that body in De
cember following, arid after various postponements
was finally negatived, by the casting vote of the vice-
president, on the 26th of January, 1832. In conse
quence ot this event Mr. Van Buren was immediate
ly recalled, and has recently landed on his natal soil.
Of the reasons assigned for his rejection, it cannot,
in this place, be necessary to speak, farther than to
remark, that if any reliance can be placed on repeat
ed and spontaneous expressions of the public voice—
and in matters of 'this sort the people never err — ¦
then were those reasons utterly insufficient. The
popular feeling excited by the conduct of the Senate,
has been further exemplified in his recent nomination
for the Vice-Presidency — an event, which, when he
left the country, he neither looked for nor desired.
The heterogenous interests which were' combined to
accomplish his defeat in the Senatej are again united
in opposing his election ; but as the question now at
issue, is to be decided by the yeomanry of- the coun
try, we have no fears as to the result. 1'
We have thus presented a rapid sketch of the pro
fessional and public life of Martin Van Buren. —
It illustrates in a manner the most impressive, one of
the happiest principles of our excellent frame of gov
ernment — its tendency to draw out and foster talent
and integrity,1 and to secure to them, in spite of eve
ry thing by which their progress may be impeded,
4 .

38 BIOGRAPHY OF
the honors they deserve.- We have seen that he
owed nothing to birth or ancestry — nothing to pro
perty or patronage.-, And though like others of our
public men, he was greatly indebted to the press of
his own party, for occasional vindications of his cha
racter and conduct, he was not, like some of them,
helped along in his career, by a systematic course of
newswaper panegyric. On the other hand, he en
countered from opposing prints, an unusual degree of
obloquy and reproach. At an early age, they select
ed him as a subject of perpetual and virulent
abuse ; and for nearly twenty years, this abuse was
persisted in, to a degree rarely paralleled, and never
surpassed, in- the history of our politics. The dis
paragement of his abilities, and indeed the denial that
he possessed any just claim to talents of any sort, was
one of the most common, and perhaps the most pro
voking, of these libels. The slander was refuted by
the daily exhibition of great parts, and malignity it
self was obliged to admit, that he was always found
adequate to the particular duty, with which he had
been charged ; but this acknowledgement was uni
formly followed by the prediction, that he had reach
ed the " extremest verge" which destiny had as
signed him ; and that his next step would plunge
him beyond his depth, not in a " sea of glory,", but
in a "rude stream,'-' that, should sweep away the
past, and overwhelm him for the future. The story

MARTIN VAN BUREN. 39
of his advancement — at once, the most regular and
rapid with which we are acquainted — is the best
commentary on diatribes of this sort. We have
seen his sphere of action constantly enlarging — from
his native village to, the county capitol, from that to
the metropolis of the state, and from the latter to the
councils ofthe union — but we have found jfim equal,
and more than equal, to every emergency, never
falling short of his prior reputation, and never disap
pointing the hopes of his friends ; on the contrary,
each successive step in his career, whilst1 it has falsi
fied the predictions of his enemies, has. furnished
new proofs of his capacity, and new claims to the re
spect and confidence of his countrymen.
In person, Mr. Van Buren is neither above nor
below the middle height ; his- figure is erect and
graceful — his frame slender and apparently delicate,
but capable of sustaining severe and long continued
exertion — the general expression of his features, ani
mated and agreeable — his eye quick and piercing —
his head, (which is now quite bald;.) particularly his
forehead, of unusual size, and admirable formation.
The engraving by Hatch, which accompanies the
memoir in the Cabinet, from the fine portrait re
cently painted by Inman for the corporation of New
York,. is a spirited and accurate likeness.
The private character of Mr. Van Buren may be
commended without reserve. Enmity- itself has

40 BIOGRAPHY OF
rarely ever ventured to reproach or to suspect it. —
In his intercourse with the world, the justice, pro
priety, and benevolence of his conduct, render him
a model for imitation ; whilst the ease and frank
ness of his manners, and his happy talent for conver
sation, make him the ornament of the social circle.
Blessed with a disposition at once firm, amiable, and
forbearing; and uniting with a just self-respect, ha
bitual self-control ; he has been able — amid the per
plexities of litigation, the cares of office, and the
contentions of party — to preserve the serenity of his
temper, and to blend with a vigilant attention to his
own character and rights, a constant observance of
the courtesies of life and a sedulous regard to the
feelings of others. No man ever numbered among
his personal friends, a greater proportion of his poli
tical opponents. Even in times of the greatest ex
citement, those of them who enjoyed his acquaint
ance, always accorded him their respect — usually
their confidence and esteem.
It is obvious that with such qualities and manners,
he could hardly fail to secure the affections of his
political associates. Such has accordingly been the
case in every stage of his progress ; and it is to this,
combined with his admirable knowledge of men, and
his practical good sense, that he is indebted for his
success as a political leader. To this also must be
ascribed the charge of intrigue and artifice, which

MARTIN VAN BUREN. 41
has so .often been preferred against him. If by, this,
it be intended, that he possesses in an eminent de
gree the talent of harmonizing; concentrating and
directing the feelings and exertions of those with
whom he acts— and that he. has often exerted .this
talent with sagacity and effect— his friends must
plead guilty to the charge.. It would be- as idle to
deny it in respect to him, as to Hamilton or Jeffer
son, to Chatham or to Fox. But if by the charge be
intended, the pursuit of those objects which are
held up by our. free institutions, as the incentive,
and the reward of honorable ambition, by trick, du
plicity, or cunning — we may indignantly repel it,
as alike unsupported by evidence and unfounded in
fact No man who was ever brought in contact with
him — who was able to speak to the point, from per
sonal knowledge of his conduct — ever ventured to
give to such an accusation the sanction of his name.
On the contrary, all such persons, will -acknowledge
— :they must acknowledge, if they speak the truth — ¦
that "his course as a politician, though decided and
unyielding, was always open, liberal and honest. —
This has been admitted by several of his opponents,
un<Jer circumstances peculiarly calculated to give
force. and solemnity to their statements. A single
instance will illustrate this remark. The most vio
lent warfare in which he was ever engaged, was that
with Governor Clinton, and with his leading sup-

42 BIOGRAPHY OF
porters, Chief Justice Spencer and the late William
W. Van Ness, two ofthe ablest men New York ever
produced. Indeed with the latter of these gentle
men, he had waged a severe contest from his first
connexion with political affairs. The character of'
these contests, the consequences that resulted from
them, and their tendency to excite the most impla
cable hostility, are well known to all who are fami
liar' with the history of New York. They may also
be guessed at by others, when we inform them that
ih the course of those conflicts, or some of them,
Governor Clinton was twice driven into retirement
— Chief Justice Spencer removed from office, and
for Some time kept from public employment — Judge
Van Ness compelled to retire from the bench, and
Mr. Van Buren twice removed from office, and for
years proscribed and pursued with unrelenting se
verity. Biit each of these great men has borne tes
timony to the liberality, fairness and honor with
which he had been treated by Mr. Van Buren, and
to the general uprightness of his conduct as a man
and a politician. Judge Van Ness did it on his
death-bed ; Governor Clinton almost in the last mo
ments of his life ; and as to Chief Justice Spencer 
with characteristic frankness; he often did it, even
in the midst of our most violent collisions.
On this point, the friends of Mr. Van Buren may
also triumphantly appeal to the whole American

MARTIN VAN BUItEN. 43
people. Within the last two years he has been ar
raigned before them, on the charge of having brought
about, by a malign and interested agency, that diffe
rence between the highest officers of the government,
and those dissentions in the cabinet, which' occupied
for a time, so large a share of the public attention.
These subjects have undergone, in the face of this
nation, a scrutiny, the most ample and unsparing ;
and this too, for the most part, during his absence
from the country. And yet the industry of his ene
mies has detected no single fact on which their ma
lice can repose ! On the other hand, we have the
testimony of a witness, who must'know, and who is
incapable of disguising or extenuating the truth — we
have the testimony of Andrew Jackson — to the
falsehood of the charge in all its parts and bearings.
This is sufficient to put to flight a whole legion of
inuendoes and suspicions.
Such is the man who is now before the nation for
the second office in their gift. We anticipate, with
pleasure, his elevation to that honorable post, not
from any personal interest in his success, or in that
of the candidate with whom he is associated, but be
cause we know him to be "honest, capable and
faithful to the constitution ;" — because we believe
that the best interests ofthe country, will be promo
ted by his election; — and above all, because that
election will furnish a new and most impressive il-

44 BIOGRAPHY.
lustration of the great moral and political truth, that
integrity, though it may sometimes be beaten down
by unnatural coalitions, will yet ultimately receive,
at the hands of a free, and intelligent community,, a
full and triumphant vindication. The influence of
such a vindication, will not, in the .present case,' be
confined to our own country, nor to the present
generation. It will attract the notice of other na
tions ; il will go down to remote posterity. With
the former, it will redeem us from the reproach in
curred by the wrong intended to be redressed ; with
the latter, it will form a page of authentic history,
from which envious and aspiring men may read tha
salutary lesson — one which from the days of Haman
to the present hour, they have been slow to learn —
that when truth and justice are violated to effect the
ruin of an adversary, the very contrivances adopted
to accomplish this end,, are likely to become the
means of his advancement; and that it is therefore
the part, not only of duty, but of interest, to treat
their opponents with justice and moderation, and
" to do unto others as they would have others do
unto them."

APPENDIX.

Extracts from the address of the Republican mem
bers of the legislature, to their constituents,
March 9, 1813, written by Me. Van Buren.
Fellow Citizens — It is not to the arbitrary man
dates of despotic power, that your submission is de
manded; it is riot to the seductive wiles and artful
blandishments ofthe corrupt minions of aristocracy,
that your attention is called— but to an expression
and discussion of the wishes and feelings of your
representatives. You are invited to listen with calmness and im
partiality, to the sentiments and opinions of men
who claim no right superior to yours, — who claim no
authority to address you save that of custom ; who
would scorn to obtain the coincidence of your opinion
by force or stratagem, and who seek no influence
with you, except that which arises from conscious
rectitude, from a community ofhop.es and of fears, of
right and of interests.
In making this appeal,- which is sanctioned by
usage, and the necessity of which is rendered, impe
rious by. the situation of our -common country, we
feel it to be our duty, as it is our wish, to speak to

46 APPENDIX.
you in the language which alone becomes freemen
to use — the language to which alone it becomes free
men to listen — the language of truth and sincerity ;
— to speak to you of things as they are, and as they
should be, — to speak to you with unrestrained free
dom, of your rights and your duties, — and if by so
doing we shall be so fortunate as to convince you of
the correctness ofthe opinions we hold ; to commu
nicate to you the anxious solicitude we feel for our
country and its rights, to turn your attention from
the minor considerations which have hitherto divid
ed, distracted, and disgraced the American people,
and to direct it exclusively to the contemplation and
support of your national honor and national interests,
our first and only object will be effected.
That tempest of passion and of lawless violence
which has hitherto almost- exclusively raged- in the*
countries of the old worldj which has ravaged the
fairest portions ofthe earth, and caused her sons to
drink deep of the cup of human misery — not satiated
by the myriads of victims which have been sacrific
ed at its shrine, has reached our hitherto peaceful
shores. After years of forbearance, in despite of
concessions without number, and we had almost said,
without limitation, that cruel and unrelenting spirit
of oppression and injustice which has for centuries
characterized the spirit of the. British cabinet, over
whelmed nation after nation, and caused huminity

APPENDIX. 4-J-
to shed tears of blood, has involved us in a war, —
on the termination of which are staked the present
honor, and the future Welfare of America.
While thus engaged in an arduous and interesting
struggle with the open enemies of our land from
without, the formation of your government requires
that you should exercise the elective franchise, — a
right which in every other country has been' destroy
ed by the ruthless hand of power, or blasted by the
unhallowed touch of corruption ; but which, by the
blessings of a munificent Providence, has as yet been
preserved to you in its purity.
The selection of your most important functiona
ries-is a.t hand. In a government like ours, where
all power and sovereignty rests with the people, the
exercise of this right, and the consequent expression
of public interest and public feeling, is on ordinary
occasions, a matter of deep concern, but at a period
like the present, of vital importance; — to satisfy you
of that importance, and to advise you in its exercise,
is the object of this address.
Fellow Citizens — Your country is at war, - and
Great Britain is her enemy. Indulge us in a brief
examination of the causes which have led to it ; and
brief as from the necessary limits of an address it
must be,-^we yet hope it will be found sufficient to
convince every honest man, of. the high justice
AND INDISPENSIBLE NECESSITY OF THE "ATTITUDE,

48 APPENDIX.
which our government has taken ! of the sa*
cred duty of every real American to support
it in that attitude, and of the parricidal
views of those who refuse to do so.
[Here follows an eloquent summary of the causes
which led to the war — ofthe preliminary efforts, the
embargo, non-intercourse, &c. to induce the bellige
rent nations to do us justice, without a resort to that
alternative — and of the series of aggressions on the
part of Great Britain, which rendered it, in the lan
guage ofthe address, a measure of " high justice and
indispensible necessity."] ;
By this last act [the disavowal of the British gov
ernment ofthe arrangement of Mr. Erskine, and the
-formal re-enactment, by that "government, of the or
ders in council, the doors of conciliation were effec
tually closed;] The American poople- — a people
rich in resources, possessed of a high sense of national
honor, the only free peopleon earth — had resolved
in the face of an observing world, that those orders
'were a direct attack upon their sovereignty ; that a
submission fo them involved a surrender of their
ifldependence-~a.ni a solemn determination to ad
here to them, was officially declared by the ruler of
the British nation. Thus situated, what was your
government to do ? Was there room for doubt or
hesitation as to the hostile views of England ? No.
JLest such doubts might prevent a rupture, to acts of

APPENDIX. 49
violent injustice, were continually added acts of the
most opprobrious insult. While the formal rela
tions of amity remained yet unbroken — while peace
was yet supposed to exist — in cool blood an unpro
voked attack is made upon one of your national ships,
and several American citizens basely and cowardly
murdered. At the moment your feelings were at
the highest pitch of irritation in consequence of the
perfidious disavowal of Erskine's agreement, a mi
nister is sent, not to minister to your rights — not to
extenuate the conduct of his predecessor — but to
beard your Executive — lo add insult to injury ;
and to fling contumely and reproach in the face of
the Executive of the American nation, in the pre
sence of the American people.
To cap the climax of her iniquity ; to fill up the
measure of our wrongs ; she resolved to persist in
another measure, surpassed by none in flagrant enor
mity — a measure, which of itself was adequate cause
of war — a measure which had excited the liveliest
solicitude, and received the unremitting attention
of every administration of our government, from the
time of Washington to the present day ; the wicked,
the odious and detestable practice of impressing A-
merican seamen into her service ; of entombingour sons
within the walls of her ships of war : compelling them
to waste their lives, and spill their blood in the ser
vice of a foreign government — a practice which sub-

5q APPENDIX.
jected every American tar, to the violence and petty
tyranny of a British midshipman, and many of them
to a life of the most galling servitude — a practice
which never can be submitted to by a nation profess
ing claims to freedom ; which never can be acquiesc
ed in by government without rescinding the great
article of our safety, the reciprocity of obedience and
protection between the rulers and the ruled.
Under such accumulated circumstances of insult
and of injury, we ask again, what was your govern
ment to do ? We put the question not " to that
faction which misrepresents the government to the
people, and the people to the government ; traduces
one-half of the nation to cajole the other — and by
keeping up distrust and division, wishes to become
the proud arbiter of the fortune and fate of America,"
— not to them, but to every sound head and honest
heart in the nation it is that we put the question, — -
What was your government to do ? Was she base
ly and ingloriously to abandon the rights for which
you and your fathers fought and bled ? Was she so
early to cower to the nation which had sought to stran
gle us in our infancy, and which has never ceased to
retard our approach to manhood ? No : we will not
for a moment doubt, that every man who is in truth and
fact an American, will say that WAR, AND WAR
ALONE, was our only refuge from national degra-
dalion,~-our only course to national prosperity.

APPENDIX. 51
Fellow Citizens — Throughout the whole period of
the political struggles, which if they have not abso
lutely disgraced, have certainly not exalted, our cha
racter ; no remark vyas more common — no "expecta
tion more cheerfully indulged in — than that those
severe and malevolent contentions would only be
sustained in time of peace ; that when the country
should be involved in war, every wish, and every
sentiment would be exclusively American. But
unfortunately for our country, those reasonable ex
pectations have not been realized, notwithstanding
every one knows, that the power of declaring war,
and the duty of supporting it, belong to the general
government ; notwithstanding that the constitutional
remedy for the removal of the men to whom th|s
power is thus delegated, has recently been afforded ;
notwithstanding the re-election of the same Presi
dent by whom this war was commenced, and a mar
jority of representatives, whose estimate of our rights,
and whose views are similar to those who first de
clared it ; men, who by the provisions ofthe consti-
tution, must retain their respective stations for a
period of such duration, as precludes a continued op^
position of their measures without a j complete de
struction of our national interest — an. opposition at
once unceasing and malignant, is still continued, to
every measure of the. administration.
Fellow citizens, these things will not do. They

52 APPENDIX.
are intrinsically wrong ; your country has engaged
in a war in the last degree unavoidable ; it is not
waged to the destruction of the rights of others ; -but
in defence of our own ; it is, therefore, your bounden
duty to support her. You should lay down the cha
racter of partizans, and become patriots ; for, in
every country, " war becomes an occasional duty,
though it ought never to be made an occupation. —
Every man should become a soldier in defence of his
rights ; no man ought to continue a soldier for of
fending the rights-others." In despite of truths so
self-evident, of incentives to a vigorous support of
government so pressing, we yet have to deplore the
existence of a faction in the bosom of Our land,
whose perseverance and industry are exceeded only
by their inveteracy ; who seek through every avenue
to mislead your judgment and to inflame your pas
sions. When your government pursues a pacific policy,
it becomes the object of their scorn and derision ; the
want of energy in your rulers is decried, as a matter
of alarming consideration ; the injuries of your coun
try are admitted, and the fact is triumphantly alleged
that "the administration cannot be kicked into a
war." When they are impelled to a forcible vindi
cation of our rights, the cry of enmity to peace, of
a wish to war with England to serve France, is im
mediately resounded through the land. When war

APPENDIX. 53
is declared, public opinion is sought to be prejudiced
against the measure, as evincing a disposition unne
cessarily to shed your blood, and waste your treasures.
When it is discovered,, that that declaration is accom
panied with a proposition, a just and equitable pro
position, to the enemy, on which hostilities may
cease and peace be restored, that proposition is de
rided as evidence of the most disgraceful pusillanimi
ty. No falsehood is considered too glaring, ho mis
representation too flagitious, to impose on your cre
dulity, and seduce your affections from your native
land. Lest general allegations might fail to effect their
unholy purposes, and consummate their dark designs,
specific charges are resorted to — calumnies which
have again and again met the detestation of an en
lightened public, are periodically brought forward,
new dressed, and with new authorities to give them
credence with you. Among the most prominent of
those charges, is that of enmity to commerce, on the
part of the republican administrations. Never was
there a calumny more wicked. Enmity to commerce!
We ask, and we ask emphatically, where is the evi
dence of it? What is the basis on which they rest
their claim to public confidence? It is that the ad
ministration is engaged in a war which they claim to
be unpopular. What are the causes for which this
war is waged, and which have hitherto embroiled us
5*

54 APPENDIX.
with the nations of Europe? They are the violation
of our commercial rights, and the impressment of
our seamen! The administration then, are jeopard
ising their interest with the people; they furnish wea
pons of offence to their adversaries; they brave all
dangers, for the maintenance and support of our cam-
mercial rights; and yet they are the enemies of com
merce! Can such base sophistry, such contemptible
nonsense, .impose on the credulity, or pervert the un
derstanding of a single honest man?
As auxiliary to this unfounded aspersion, the oft-
exploded, . the ten-thousand-times-refuted tale of
French influence, is ever and anon brought upon the
carpet. It would be insulting to your understand
ings to detain you by a discussion of this odious and
insulting insinuation. Was it evidence of French in
fluence on the adoption of every measure of commer
cial restriction, to place both France and England o.n
the same footing? Was it evidence of French influ
ence to cause it to be officially notified to the court of
St. James, on the adoption of each of those measures,
that in case they rescinded their orders in council,
the United States would assume a hostile attitude tew
wards France? Was it evidence of French influence
to embrace the earliest opportunity to conclude the
arrangement with Erskine— cleaving our affairs with
France in a hostile attitude? If not, where, then, is
the evidence to support this impudent censure? Is

APPENDIX. 55
it to be found in a similarity. of manners, of language,
or of feeling? When an Englishman visits your
country, is he not received with the familiarity, and
cherished with the hospitality of a friend? Is a
Frenchman ever treated by you otherwise than as a
stranger? Away, then, with those whining, canting
professions, of fears and apprehensions of the danger
of French influence. Intelligence must reject, and
integrity abhor them.
But to crown this picture of folly and of mischief,
they approach you under a garb which at once evin
ces their contempt for your understanding, and their
total want of confidence in your patriotism; under a
garb which should receive the most distinct marks of
your detestation; they are " the friends of peace!"
While our enemies are waging against us a cruel and
bloody war, they cry ." Peace." While our western
wilds are whitening with the bones of our murder
ed women and children — while their blood is ye.t
trickling down the walls of their former, habitations
— while the Indian war-whoop and the British drum,
are in unison saluting the ears, and the British dag
ger and the Indian tomahawk suspended over the
heads of our citizens,— at such a time, when the soul
of every man who has sensibility to feel his country's
wrongs, and spirit to defend her rights, should be in
arms-^t is that they cry peace! While the brave
American tar, the, intrepid defender of our rights,

56

APPENDIX.

and redeemer of our national character, the present
boast and future honor of our land — is impressed by
force into a service he detests, which compels a bro
ther to imbrue his hands in a brother's blood — while
he is yet "tossing upon the surface of the ocean, and
mingling his groans with those tempests less savage
than his persecutors, that waft him to a returnless
distance from his family and his home," — it is at
such a period, when there is no peace, when there
can be no peace, without sacrificing every thing va
luable — that dur feelings are insulted, the public
arm paralyzed, and the public ear stunned, by the
dastardly and incessant cry of PEACE! What,
fellow-citizens, must be the opinion which they en
tertain of you, who thus assail you?" Can any man
be so stupid as not to perceive that it is an appeal to
your fears, to your avarice, and to all the baser pas
sions which actuate the human heart? that it is ap
proaching you in the manner in which alone those
puny politicians who buz about you, and thicken the
political atmosphere, say you are accessible, through
your fears and your pockets? Can any American
citizen be so profligate as not to spurn indignantly the
base libel upon his character?
Suffer yourselves not to be deceived by the pre
tence/that because Great Britain has been forced by
her subjects to make a qualified repeal of her orders,
our government ought to abandon her ground. That

APPENDIX. 57
ground was taken to resist two great and crying
grievances, the destruction of our commerce, and
the impressment of our seamen. The latter is
the most important, in proportion as we prefer the
liberty and lives of our citizens to their property.
Distrust, therefore the man who could advise your
government at any time, and more especially, at this
time, — when your brave sailors are exciting the ad
miration, and forcing the respect of an astonished
world, when their deeds of heroic valor make old
Ocean smile at the humiliation of her ancient tyrant
- at such a time, we say again, mark the man who
would countenance government in COMMUTING
OUR SAILORS' RIGHTS FOR THE SAFETY
OF OUR MERCHANTS' GOODS.
Next to the cry for peace, the most potent spell
which has been resorted to, to alarm your fears and
pervert your understandings — is the alleged distres
ses of the country. Fellow-citizens, it has been our
object, it is our wish to treat you fairly, to appeal to
your judgments, not to your passions; and as we
hope our address to you hitherto has been marked by
that character — it is to your consciences then that
we appeal upon this subject. Is not this clamor most
unfounded, most ungrateful? If you doubt that it is
so, if you hesitate fo believe that it originates exclu
sively with the ambitious and designing — spend one

58 APPENDIX.
moment in comparing your situation with that of the
major part of the civilized world.
[Here follows a rapid and graphic sketch of the
condition of the several European nations; conclu
ding with the following interrogation, — " Look at the
whole map of Europe; contrast your own situation
with theirs;, and then answer us, is it not impious and
wicked to repine at our enviable lot?"]
Fellow- citizens — should those political witlings,
who are not dnly ignorant themselves of the leading
points of controversy in our disputes with the bellige
rents, but who are uniformly assailing you as men
destitute at once of spirit and of judgment— -should
they point to the wars which agitate and' have con
vulsed Europe, as arguments against the prosecution
of that just and necessary one which has been forced
upon us, we know that you will indignantly repel
the unfounded suggestion. The wars of Europe are
waged by monarchs, to gratify their individual ma
lice, their individual caprice, and to satiate their law
less ambition. Ours is in defence of rights which
must be defended, or our glory as a nation will be ex
tinguished — the sun of our greatness will set forever.
As wpll might it have been said during the revolu
tion, that war should not be waged, because wars had
.desolated Europe. The same rightsyou then fought
to obtain, you must now fight to preserve— the con*

APPENDIX. 50
test is the same now as it was then — and the feel
ings which then agitated the public mind, which on
the one hand supported, and on the other sought to
destroy, the liberties of the country, will be seen
and felt in the conduct of the men of this day.
Fellow-citizens — we are compelled to close this
appeal to you. The limits of an address will not per
mit us to do justice to the various subjects which
should occupy your attention. We are aware that
this has been already unreasonably extended; but the
period has arrived when mere words and idle decla
rations must be unavailing. We have, therefore, felt
it our duty to give you, as far as practicable, a clear
view of your true situation, of your legitimate duties.
Unfortunately for us, when we ought to be an uni
ted, we are a divided people. The divisions which
agitate us are not as to men only, but to principle. —
You will be called on at the next election, to choose
between different candidates, not only for the two
great offices of state, governor and lieutenant govern
or, but for every other elective office — to make a se
lection which the actual situation of your country
renders of infinite importance.
We are divided between the supporters and oppo-
sers of our government. We have witnessed the
distressing truth, that it is not in the power of cir
cumstances to destroy the virulence of party spirit.
The opposition offer for your support, men, who,

60

APPENDIX.

whatever their private wishes may be, are devoted to
the support of a party whose views and whose con
duct we have attempted to delineate. In opposition
to them, we respectfully solicit your support for the
men whose nomination accompanies this address, one
of whom [D'aniel D. Tompkins] has for six years
served you in the capacity which we now offer him;
the other [John Taiv.er] has for many years served
you in the most responsible situations. The notorie
ty of their merits supersedes the necessity of our eu-
logium — their lives are their best encomiums; they
are the true friends of commerce, their views are,
and their conduct will be, in unison with the mea
sures of the general government; they are the sin
cere friends of an honorable peace, the firm and ener
getic opposers of a base surrender of. our rights.
We respectfully solicit for them your undivided
support. We solemnly conjure every real friend to
his country, to reflect on the danger of abandoning
his government at a period so perilous; to reflect on
the impropriety of even indirectly aiding the views
of our enemies by continuing his opposition to go
vernment at a period so eventful.
[Alluding to the republicans who had advocated
Mr. Clinton's election to the presidency, the address
has the following appeal:] We solicit the honest men
of all parties — to remember that ours is the last re
public — that all the influence of the crowned heads of

APPENDIX. 61
Europe has been exerted to propagate the doctrine,
that a government like ours can never stand the rude
shock of war; to reflect that this is the first occasion
in which this government has been engaged in a war,
and that the great and interesting questions, whe
ther man is capable of self-govern men t, whether our
republic must go the way of its predecessors, or
whether, supported by the hearts and arms of her free
citizens, she shall deride the revilings, and defeat the
machinations of her enemies, are new to be. tried.
Fellow-citizens — In the result of our elections du-'
ring the continuance of this war, these important
considerations are involved, — the question of who is
FOR HIS COUNTRY OR AGAINST HIS COUNTRY, must
now be tried — -the eyes of Europe are directed to
wards us — the efficacy of your mild and wholesome
form of government is put to the test. To the polls,
then,, and by a united and vigorous support of the
candidates we submit to- you, discharge the great
duty you owe to your country, preserve for your
posterity the rich inheritance which has been left
you by your ancestors, — that, future ages may tri
umphantly point to the counee you pursued on this
interesting occasion, as evidence that time had not as
yet extinguished that spirit Which actuated the he
roes of Breedshill and of Yorktown; of those who
fell at Camden, and of those who conquered on the
plains of Saratoga.

02 APPENDIX,

PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTION
Prepared by Mr. Van Buren, for a meeting of the
Republican. Members ofthe Legislature of New-
York, and other Republicans of that State, held
at Albany on the 14M of April, 1814, andadop-
ted by that meeting.
At this interesting period of our national affairs,
when our government ia combatting with a wily, vin
dictive and sanguinary foe; when domestic disaffec
tion and foreign partialities present their fronts at eve
ry corner; and when the present hopes and future
prospects of the people of New-York are to be tested
by the exercise ofthe elective franchise, — at a period
of such anxiety and solicitude, this meeting, compo
sed of citizens from almost every section of the state,
take the liberty of publicly expressing their senti
ments on thesubject.
That "every difference of opinion is not a differ
ence of principle" — that on the various operations of
government with which the public welfare is connec
ted, an honest differenecof opinion may exist — that
when those differences are discussed and the princi
ples of contending parties are supported with candor,
fairness and moderation — the very discord which is
thus produced, may, in a government like ours, be con
ducive to the public good — we cheerfully admit.

APPENDIX. 63
But when, on the other hand, the' opposition
clearly evince that all their clamors are the result of
predetermined and immutable hostility — when, as be
tween their own government," and the open enemies
of the land, they dare, as circumstances may require,
unblushingly justify, excuse or palliate the conduct of
the latter, and falsify, calumniate and condemn that
of the former — when too in the means which are used
to effect such unhallowed purposes, they are .alike
indifferent to the salutary provisions of the constitu
tion, ta the requisitions of national interest and the
obvious dictates of national honor; — that at such a
time it is the duty of every sound patriot to do his
utihost to arreSt their guilty career, and to rescue from
their aspiring grasp his bleeding country, — no good
man will deny.
To prove that such has been the conduct and that
such are and have been the views of the party in this
country, which styles itself federal — that their "his
tory is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations,
all having for their object" either the subjection of
the rights and interests of their country, to her an-
eient and unceasing foe, or a base prostitution of its
fair fame for selfish and ambitious purposes, "let
facts be submitted to an intelligent, and patriotic peo
ple." Their opposition for the last IS years has been
universal, malignant and unceasing.

g^ APPENDIX,.
Their opposition was equally virulent when our
country was basking in the sunshine of unparalleled
prosperity-, as it has been, while her-politieal horizon
¦ has been obscured by the clouds of adversity.
They opposed the abolition of internal taxes, when
those taxes were rendered unnecessary by the general
prosperity of the country.
They opposed the imposition of the same taxes,
when the imposition became necessary to the main
tenance of our national honor.
They opposed the reduction of the national debt,
when the means of its reduction were in tbejbower
of government.
They opposed the increase of the national debt,
when its increase or an abandonment of every attri
bute of a free people had become'our only alterna
tive. They clamored much on account of the aggressions
on our commerce by the belligerents, and their mer
chants presented petition after petition and memorial
after memorial to Congress, that they should vindicate
our commercial rights.
They have uniformly calumniated and opposed
every measure of the government adopted for their
vindication or support.
They opposed all commercial restrictions on the
ground of their inefficacy, contended that war and war
alone was the proper course for government to pursue,

APPENDIX. g5
and on this subject they triumphantly declared "that
the administration could not be kicked into a war."
They opposed the war when it was declared, on
the ground that it was impolitic, unjust and unneces
sary. They have always claimed to be the friends of or
der and the constitution, and as such friends of order
and the constitution, their opposition to government
in the prosecution of the present just and necessary
war, has been characterized by acts of violence and
depravity without a parallel in the history of any ci
vilized government.
To enumerate the various acts by which the feel
ings of the American people have been wounded and
insulted, this occasion will not permit — let the most
prominent, therefore, be alone considered. While
the combined power of the enemy and his savage al
lies has been directed against us, and our frontiers
have been drenched with the blood of unoffending wo
men and children, the undivided powers of the oppo
sition have been exerted — -'; '
To destroy all confidence between the people and
their government —
To misrepresent the latter and to deceive, distract
and cajole the former — To deprive the government of
the two great sinews of war, men and money; pre
venting enlistments by discountenancing and calum
niating both officers and soldiers— defeating: the ne-
6* &

fig APPENDIX.
cessary loans by attempting to shake the confidence
ofthe people in the stability of their government —
To render the war odious and unpopular, by the
most flagrant perversions of the matter in controversy,
and of the pretensions of our government; by the
most criminal justification of the conduct of the ene
my; and by the vilest extenuation of all their enor
mities—- To paralyze the arm of government and frighten
the weak and timid from its support, by exciting in
surrection and rebellion in the east; by openly threat
ening a dissolution of the Union, and laboring inces
santly to sow the seeds of jealousy and disunion be
tween the Northern and Southern States; and by ex
ercising in each state the same unworthy means as
are practiced by them throughout the Union.
For while in this State they profess great solici
tude for the sufferings of our citizens on the frontiers'
they have invariably opposed the raising a volunteer
corps for their, defence, unless under the disgraceful
stipulation that they shall not annoy the enemy.
While also.they seek to hide the deformity df their
conduct in relation to our army, by professing attach
ment to the; naval service; we find them opposing
with disgusting violence a bill to encourage privateer
ing which, passed -the Senate of this State, but was ne
gatived by the Assembly, because ithad for its object
to harass the enemy. . ;¦ >,

APPENDIX. 6T
But we forbear the enumeration of acts evincing
such deplorable degeneracy in a great portion of the
American people; acts so well calculated to continue
the war into which our country has been driven— to
tarnish our national character— and unless successfully
resisted, to drive our government to an injurious and
disgraceful peace:
Therefore Resolved, That while we congratulate
our fellow citizens on the happy revival of the feel-
ingSj sentiments and spirit of the Revolution, which
is every where manifesting itself; and our republican
brethren in particular, on the heart-cheering zeal and
unanimity which pervade their ranks, which promise
the total overthrow of that anti-American spirit,
which," disguised under the specious garb of federal
ism, has too long preyed upon the vitals ofthe nation —
and which excite a lively hope that the councils of this
great and powerful state will speedily be wholly res
cued from the hands of those who have disgraced them
— We warmly and earnestly conjure our republican
brethren, by the regard they have for their own rights;
by the love they bear their country; and by the
manes of the departed worthies of the revolution, to
be up and doing, and so to act, that at the termination
of the contest, each of them may triumphantly ex
claim — " I have fought a good fight— I have finished
my course — I have kept the faith,"

68 APPENDIX.
Answer of the Senate of New York to the speech
of the Governor, at the extra session ofthe legis
lature held in September 1814, draughted by
Mr. Van Buren.
To his Excellency, D. D. Tompkins, Governor of New York.
Sir — The Senate, at the close of their last session,
indulged, in common with their fellow citizens, the
pleasing expectation, that before this period the
blessings of peace upon just and honorable terms
would have been restored to their country. They
have thus far been disappointed ; and although the
mission to which they looked for its accomplishment
has not yet terminated, the delay which has taken
place in the commencement of negociations, and the
spirit of increased hostility manifested by the enemy
in the prosecution of the war, combine to forbid any
confident reliance upon the disposition professed by
him in the communication which led to that mission.
If, in the result, it shall appear, that in these pro
fessions he was originally insincere ; or that, influ
enced by after circumstances, he delayed the nego
ciations proposed by himself, until he should have
exerted against us the additional means of annoyance
which recent occurrences in Europe had placed at
his disposal — the world will not hesitate, in either
case, to pronounce upon his conduct the sentence of
strong and indignant reprobation.

APPENDIX. 69
The, world have already seen, and they cannot
but have seen with astonishment, that when ambas
sadors for peace, invited by himself, had already
crossed the ocean, he has given a new and peculiar
character to the contest — a character of violence and
outrage, not only incompatible with the feelings of
reconciliation, but, in the highest degree disgraceful
to civilized nations, and repugnant to the established
rules of legitimate warfare.
Wbether this conduct has proceeded from ancient
animosities now seeking their gratification, in the in
fliction of injuries upon those who once defied and
foiled his power — whether from a desire of finding
employment for troops whom it was not thought
prudent to disband at home — whether from hostility
to our civil institutions, and the vain hope of sub
verting the fair fabric which by the wisdom, the
virtue, and the valor of our fathers, has been reared
and secured to us — or from a calculation that by carry
ing his arms into the heart of the country, and mark
ing his course with desolation and ruin, he could
make an impression on the government which should
avail him in the proposed negociations, or on the
people which should be remembered to his advan
tage in any question which should hereafter arise be
tween the nations- — whatever may' have been his
motives, or whatever his expectations, the Senate
cannot but exult in common with your excellency

70 APPENDIX.
and the country, that thus far " we have sustained
the shock with firmness and gathered laurels from
the strife."
Although he has succeeded in penetrating to
the capitol, his momentary triumph, disgraced as it
was by the destruction of public edifices and the sub
sequent plunder of a defenceless city, has before this
time been imbittered by the reflection, that by the
conflagration of those monuments of art which pub
lic spirit and munificence had erected, and Which
were consecrated by the name of their illustrious
founder, he has kindled a flame of patriotism which
pervades every section of the union, which has al
ready lit the way to his severe discomfiture, -and
which threatens his complete annihilation, at every
assailable point ofthe union to which his ambition or
his resentment may lead him.
The Senate have witnessed with the same admi
ration, evinced by your excellency, the brilliant
achievements of our -army and navy during the pre
sent campaign — achievements, which, in their imme
diate effects, have been so highly and extensively
beneficial to our frontier citizens-1— achievements
which have pierced the gloom, that for a season ob
scured our political horizon and dispelled those fear
ful forebodings which past disasters had excited— ^ex
ploits which will not suffer in a comparison with the
most heroic efforts of the veterans of the old world,

APPENDIX. 7|
which have fully maintained if not enhanced the
proud and enviable fame of our gallant seamen — ex
ploits which have covered the actors in those bright
scenes with never fading laurels, and which will,
until public gratitude ceases .to.be a public virtue,
call for the highest testimonials which a free people
can yield to freemen — unceasing reverence for the me
mories of those who have died on thefieldof honor,and^
acts of unceasing gratitude to their heroic survivors.
The Senate have seen with great satisfaction, the
prompt and efficacious measures adopted by your ex
cellency to avert the dangers which threatened the
State ; and helieving as they do, that whatever exe
cutive authority may have been exercised, for which
no legislative provision existed, has not only been
intended for the promotion of the public good, but
was rendered indispensable by the pressure of exist
ing circumstances ; they cannot doubt that the mea
sures to which your excellency has referred, will be
found to deserve their approbation and Support.
The Senate cannot forego the opportunity afforded
them, of uniting with your excellency, in an expres
sion of the high satisfaction with which they have
witnessed the unanimity and patriotism displayed by
all classes of the community in the present crisis,
and the disposition which they have manifested to
combine their efforts for the maintenance of national
honor and common safety.

12

APPENDIX.

That on questions of general policy, or the fitness
of individuals for. particular stations, we should ever
be exempted from differences of opinion is not to be
expected. Divisions like those are inseparable
from the blessings of our free constitution ; and al
though sometimes carried to an excess which all good
men must deplore, they are, notwithstanding, gene
rally productive of much national good. But to sup?
pose that a people jealous of their rightsand proud of
their national character, would on a question of resist
ing the aggressions of an open enemy — aggressions
which have polluted our soil, and which threaten the
subversion of those inestimable political institutions
which have been consecrated to freedom by the blood
and sufferings of their fathers — that on a question of such
vital interest, so well calculated to excite all the pa
triotism, to arouse all the spirit, and to call into action
all the energies of the nation, they would waste their
strength in useless collision with each other — would
be a reflection upon their discernment and their cha
racter, which they can never merit.
The various other subjects submitted by your ex
cellency to the legislature, will receive from the Se
nate that prompt attention to which their importance
entitles them.
The important interest which the state of New-
York has in the successful termination of the contro
versy in which we are involved, and the high desti-

APPENDIX. 73
ny to which her local situation, the extent and variety
of her resources, and the valor and patriotism of her
citizens, aided by a just and liberal policy, may ad
vance her, have been duly appreciated by your ex
cellency. The Senate cheerfully pledge their best
exertions to realize those great and well founded ex
pectations ; and relying on the patriotism and good
sense of the American people, they confidently trust
that the rights and interests of the nation will be
maintained, and that at no distant period the mild reign
of peace will be restored to our bleeding country.

Resolutions expressive of the sentiments of the le
gislature of New York in relation to the victory
of the 8th of January, 1815, prepared by Mr.
Van Buren, February, 13th, 1815.
" Whereas, in all ages and in every clime, even
among the most uncivilized of mankind, the love of
country and the love of glory, the spirit of patriot
ism and of heroism, have never failed to excite ad
miration, to call forth applause, and to be crowned by
those grateful rewards which are ever dear to the
brave, the virtuous, and the wise :
"And whereas, the duty of cherishing senti
ments so intimately connected with the welfare, ho
nor and prosperity of nations, devolves in a peculiar

74 APPENDIX.
manner upon the rulers of a people whose freedom
and independence are the bright rewards of the pa
triotism and the valor of their ancestors, and can
only be preserved by the exercise of the same inesti
mable and exalted virtues :
" Therefore, Resolved unanimously, as the sense
of this legislature, that Major General Andrew
Jackson, and the gallant officers and soldiers' under
his command, for their noble defence of the city of
New Orleans, that important military post and grand
emporium of commerce, especially in the ever me
morable conflict of the 8th of January last, an event
surpassing the most heroic and ivonderful achiev-
ments which adorn the annals of mankind* do
eminently deserve the unanimous applause, and the
lasting gratitude of their country.
Resolved, unanimously, That the thanks of this
legislature be, and they are hereby presented to
Major General Jackson, and the officers and sol
diers under his command, for that heroic and glo-
rious achievment.
Resolved unanimously, That these resolutions
be signed by the president of the Senate and speaker
of the house of assembly, that his excellency the Go
vernor be, and he is hereby requested to transmit a
copy of the same to Major General Jackson, who is
* NOTE.— The words in Italic, were stricken out after the
resolutions were reported to the legislature.

APPENDIX. 75
requested to communicate to his, brave associates in
arms, the grateful sense which this legislature enter
tain of their signal services, in such manner as he
may deem consonant with the occasion.

Extracts from a report submitted to the Senate of
New York, on the 24th of February, 1815, by
Mr. Van Buren, recommending a loan to the
General Government for the payment of the mi
litia. " The committee further respectfully suggest that
the services proposed to be rewarded, have been ren
dered by persons who, generally speaking, are in
immediate want of the sums respectively due to
them, and to whom further delay would be injurious
and distressing — that in the opinion of the committee,
their claims to the friendly aid of this state,, are not
confined to their wants, but are infinitely enhanced
by the virtue and patriotism of the objects of that
aid — that the monies proposed to be loaned are prin
cipally due. to the militia of the northern and west
ern parts of this state, and such as were ordered
there from other sections of the state, — to the brave
men who met and successfully resisted the veterans
of the enemy on the banks of the Saranac, — to those
who performed tedious and laborious services at Sac-

70 APPENDIX.
kets Harbor, and at various other posts on the west
ern frontier,^— and to that distinguised band of volun
teers, who under the gallant, Porter, stamped an in
delible record of American valor on the shores of
the Niagara.
"The committee, therefore, recommend the pas
sage of the amended bill now reported by them, as a
measure, which, while it makes a beneficial provi
sion for a numerous and highly meritorious portion
of our fellow-citizens, without detriment to the state,
will at the same time, in no inconsiderable degree,
conduce to the general good, by a decisive expres
sion of our confidence in the credit of the nation ;
and will moreover furnish additional evidence of that
devotion to the interests of the union, which it has
been the ambition of this state to evince, whereby she
has acquired a rank among her sister states, to which
her exertions in the late contest richly entitle her,
and which it should be the pride and glory of her
sons to maintain."

Extract from the answer of the Senate to the speech
of Governor Tompkins in 1816, prepared by
Mr. Van Buren.
"While the Senate sympathize with those of their
fellow-citizens on whom the sufferings and depriva-

APPENDIX. 77
tions incident to a state of hostilities have fallen with
peculiar force, they cannot too strongly express the
proud satisfaction they derive from the reflection,
that the war in which the nation has been involved,
arduous and sanguinary as it has been, was not only
righteous in its origin, and successful in its prose
cution, but that our country has arisen from the
contest with renovated strength and increased
glory. "Among the advantages which have resulted to
our country from the late war, your excellency has
justly referred to the elevation of our national char
acter, and to our increased confidence in the efficacy
and stability of our political institutions. While the
former is to the nation wealth, strength, and the
source of happiness, the latter is the sheet anchor of
their hopes, and emphatically the palladium of their
liberties."

Speech of Mr. Van Buren, in the Senate of the
United States, January 28, 1828, on the bill for
granting Pensions to the surviving Officers of
the Revolutionary Army.
Mr. VAN BUREN said he approached the dis
cussion of the bill under consideration with a degree
of solicitude he had seldom experienced. Tt arose
from a deep consciousness of the importance and de-

78

APPENDIX.

licacy of the subject, and the difficulties which would
attend a satisfactory determination. He freely con
fessed that he did not remember a legislative question
in which his feelings had been more deeply engaged.
These feelings, sometimes too sanguine, and always
ardent, might now deceive him; but he could not
suppress the conviction, that,, upon the doubtful issue
of the present question, the character of our country
was, in no inconsiderable degree, suspended. It
would, indeed, have afforded him the highest grati
fication, could he anticipate with confidence a favor
able result. But when he beheld the formidable con
centration of talent and numbers arrayed against the
petitioners and their advocates, he was but too con
scious of the difficulties against which they had to
contend. Undeterred, however, by these circum
stances, he would proceed to discharge the duty
which seemed to be required by his connexion with
the committee by whom the bill had been reported.
His brethren of the committee, said Mr. V. B.,
had pronounced a merited eulogium upon the charac
ter and services of the petitioners. Considerations
which arose naturally from the subject, but upon
which, although far from being exhausted, he would
not attempt to dwell. Indeed, he was greatly de
ceived, if, on this point, there was any diversity of
opinion. Whatever expressions might escape from
gentlemen in the warmth of debate, he was sure that

APPENDIX. 79
the transcendent merits of the petitioners, after ha
ving received the attestation of impartial history,
were not now to be the subject of examination or of
doubt. Sir, if, in the mysterious dispensations of an
all-wise and over-ruling Providence, we, too, are
doomed to experience the common calamities of na
tions, it may become our duty to receive these dis
pensations with meekness, and bear them with for
titude. But if there be a stain from which he would
be most desirous of rescuing the American name, it
would be the stain of ingratitude to the surviving offi
cers of the Revolution. If there be a calamity which,
more than any other, he would pray to have averted,
it would be the calamity of witnessing, in an Ameri
can Senate, a cold insensibility to the services of those
whose devotion to their country in peace, and whose
constancy in war, had extorted the applause of an
admiring world.
If, sir, gallantry in the field, and devotion to coun
try, ever deserved the meed of grateful remembrance,
the encomiums bestowed by my colleagues upon the
Revolutionary officers will find their approval in
every patriot bosom. But their merits, greac as
they were, appear to be enhanced by the cause in
which they were engaged. Revolutions in Govern
ment had been witnessed before, and they have been
witnessed since. But if we consider the principles
involved, the means employed, and the results produ-

80 APPENDIX.
ced, may I not be indulged in expressing the convic
tion that they dwindle into insignificance with this
The Revolution in which they embarked, was not
only the most, important, in civil government, that
oppression has produced or patriotism accomplished,
but must, in the nature of things, for ever remain so.
The materials for another equally important, do not,
I fear, exist; and, perhaps, the progressive character
of man precludes a well-grounded hope that they will
ever again arise. Why, sir, said he, do I allude to
these high considerations? Not, I am sure, for the
purpose of display; and as little with a view to in
dulge in self adulation. It is because the unparallel
ed blessings, which, as a people,, we enjoy; the great
and successful example that has been given to the
world; and the perpetual influence which that exam
ple must exert on its future destinies — awaken in
every mind the most intense anxiety, lest the closing
scenes of that mighty conflict should be unworthy of
its own great character-— and that the page of history
which embalms the virtues and heroic deeds of our
fathers, may not at the same time record the too ear
ly degeneracy of their sons. The petitioners at your
bar are destined to be our witnesses with posterity.
It is in their persons that an opportunity is afforded,
either to repel, or in some degree, confirm the impu
tation east upon Republics by the enemies of freedom,
that ingratitude is their inherent and inextinguisha-

APPENDIX. SI
ble vice : and it was earnestly to be hoped that our
decision might be such as would be favorable to them,
to ourselves, and to the cause of liberty.
But, sir, said Mr. V. B., instead of pursuing these
general remarks, allow me to invite your attention
to the question immediately under consideration. —
In doing so, my first attempt will be to separate that
which is not a subject of disputation "from that which
is: for in this, as in other cases, time may be con
sumed, and arguments fruitlessly employed, in sup
porting positions which have never been questioned,
or enforcing opinions in which all are agreed'.
First, then, it will be admitted, on all sides, that
the promise made by the Congress of the Confedera
tion of half pay for life to the Revolutionary officers
serving to the end of the war, was made by compe
tent authority: that the condition upon which the
promise was founded has been fully performed: that
the obligation thereby created rests -upon the present
Government in its original force: and that if it has
not been fully, fairly, and justly performed, it ought
now to be discharged. The critical condition of the
country at the time the promise was made — the fact
that this inducement to remain in service had been
held up to the Army from the commencement of the
war, by various resolves of Congress — that this alone
prevented their abandonment of a service, in which
they were not bound to remain by any of those con-

g2 APPENDIX.
siderations which operate on the generality of man
kind- — that to their continuance in the Army, more
than to any other cause, under the blessings of Pro
vidence, the successful termination of the war was, in
the opinion of Gen. Washington, mainly attributable,
and that the sacrifices which they incurred, in conse
quence of their determination to remain, were almost
unparalleled — are points upon which there can be no
difference of opinion, and. requiring, after the able
comments of the Senators who had preceded him, no
additional illustration.
If this, sir, said Mr. V. B., has been the_ unques
tionable engagement of the Government, if the peti
tioners are thus entitled to its fulfilment by the per
formance of the sole condition on which it was made
to depend — the question will be asked, has that en
gagement been satisfied? And if satisfied, how has
it been done?
Those who maintain that the Government had ful
filled its engagement, rest their position on the ground
of the commutation of the five years' full pay, which
has been given in lieu of the promised half-pay for
life.- Whatever might be the diversity of sentiment
with respect to the legality or the fairness of that
commutation — the means by which it was effected —
and the manner of its execution — and on these points
he acknowledged there was room for an honest differ
ence of opinion: there was one position, he thought*

APPENDIX. 83
sufficiently plain to challenge the acquiescence of eve
ry reflecting mind. . It is, sir, that this commutation
tendered by the Government as a complete fulfilment
of its promise, has been any thing but a fair and just
equivalent. To demonstrate this, a few observations
only will be necessary.
The intelligent Chairman of the Committee, who
reported the bill, whose ability in the exhibition of
the claims of the petitioners would entitle him to
more than the humble tribute of respect, which it
was in his power to render, had submitted to the Se
nate statements and calculatious establishing the fol
lowing results:
I. That, according to authentic tables for the com
putation of annuities, the five years' half-pay, ought
to have been seven, at the time it was given, in order
to make it a fair equivalent, and that the reduction
of this just allowance was attributable to the necessi
ties of the Government, and not to a disposition to
elude the claims of the petitioners.
2. That, owing to the failure of the States to sup
ply tho funds necessary to the payment of the inter
est, and ultimate redemption of the principal, of the
"commutation certificates;" these commutation cer
tificates for five years' full pay, given as an equiva
lent for half-pay for life, rapidly depreciated. So
that, when compelled by necessity to dispose of them,

84 APPENDIX.
they in fact produced to the officers less than one
year's pay.
3. That when these commutation certificates were
funded in 1791, a deduction was made equal to one
third of their amount, by deferring the interest for
ten years, upon one-third of the principal, and allow
ing only three per cent, on the interest which had
accrued since 1783.
That this deduction was made by the Govern
ment, on the ground (and could be justified on no
other,) that these certificates were in the hands of
speculators, who had availed themselves of the neces
sities of the officers, brought upon them by their sti
pulated continuance in service, and thus were ena
bled to obtain them at a reduced and almost nominal
price. Mr. V. B. said he would refrain from attempting
to enforce the views, upon this branch of the subject,
presented by the Senators who had preceded him.
It would be time enough to do so, should these views
be ever contested. He candidly acknowledged,
however, that they did not constitute the material
arguments upon which he relied, for the purpose of
showing the gross inadequacy of the commutation
awarded to the petitioners: and he would therefore
proceed to state the grounds upon which he predica
ted his proposition, with all the brevity and perspi
cuity in his power.

APPENDIX. 85
The certificates for commutation of half pay, were
issued under the resolution of March, 1783, and de
livered in November, 1783. They admitted upon
their face, that five years' full pay was due to their
holders, to be paid with interest at the rate of six per
centum per annum. These certificates were redeem
ed by the operation ofthe funding act in 1791. They
were, of course, for different amounts, according to
the respective ranks of the officers. The average pay
of the officers was $30 per month, and the amount
which would have been due to each officer for half
pay, allowing interest after the same was acknow
ledged to be due, would have amounted in 1791,
when the redemption took place, to $1,742 40. —
The average amount of five years' full pay for each
officer, amounted with interest, in 1791, to $2,664 00;
from this amount one third»was deducted in the re
demption, as he had before stated. The average
amount therefore received by each officer in 1791,
for his five years' full pay, assuming that these cer
tificates had been retained, would have been $1,77.6.
From this simple statement it results that, in con
sequence of the delay in discharging the commuta
tion, and the deduction which was forcibly made in
doing so, the Government paid no more than would
have been due to the officers for their half pay alone,
up to the period when the commutation was actually
made. To that period, therefore, the officers gained

80 APPENDIX.
nothing by that measure. Since that time years
have rolled away, during which they would have re
ceived the promised half pay, had it not been for the
commutation. The sum which would have been
payable to the officers since that period, is the sum
precisely which the officers have lost, and the Go
vernment has gained, by this variation by the Go
vernment from its original contract.
This subject, said Mr. V. B. is simple, founded
upon data which cannot deceive by their plausibility,
and is liable to no mistake, except the mere errors of
calculation. Those he had endeavored to avoid 
The average half pay of each of the petitioners from
the year 1791 to 1828, would have amounted to
$13,177 83. This sum, multiplied by 230, the num
ber of Revolutionary oflicers supposed to be yet in
existence, would amount to $3,030,710. The effect
of the commutation upon the Treasury, and upon the
interests of deceased officers, could not be, said he,
distinctly stated without a particular knowledge of
the time of their respective deaths. But from what
we know upon that subject, there was a moral cer
tainty that the gains of the Treasury from that source
had not been diminished, but on the contrary greatly
increased. It is, then, said he, an ascertained and incontesti
ble fact, that, in addition to all the injuries sustained
by depreciation, the officers have lost by the course

APPENDIX. 87
of events, and the Government has gained a sum not
less than $3,030,710, in consequence of that com
mutation which is now set up to bar the claims of
the petitioners — claims predicated upon a promise of
the Government, held out to the officers as an induce
ment to remain, and constituting the chief reward for
the most signal services ever performed by men in
the cause of freedom and their country.
Upon these facts, said Mr. V. B., a question arises
for our decision, no less important to the Govern
ment than to the petitioners; because, involving the
character of the one, and the interests of the other.
What is it? Is it confined to the legal rights and
obligations of the parties? No, sir, I shall never,
said he, bring my mind to consider the question of
strict legal right, when I look at the parties. Who
are they? On the one hand, the Government of the
United States, not liable to be impleaded, and inca
pable of being coerced against its will by any power
superior to its own — rich in resources, and overflow
ing with redundance; on the other a remnant of the
officers of the Revolutionary army, borne down by
the infirmities incident to age — with one foot in the
grave, and the other upon the threshold of your door,
supplicating the fulfilment of that promise which was
made them, in the vigor of their days. If even they
have legal rights, where is their remedy to enforce
them? They cannot iu the nature of things have

88 APPENDIX.
any. But candor constrained him to acknowledge,
that in strictness, they have not now,, whatever they
may once have had, any rights, except such as are
founded upon the immutable principles of justice.
As early as the year 1785, the Government found it
necessary to protect itself against dormant and un
founded claims, arising from the Revolutionary con
test, by a statute of limitations. Various acts and re
solutions were passed upon the subject before the
year 1793, more or less comprehensive in their terms;
and in that year an act was passed so comprehensive
in its provisions, as to embrace the claims of the pe
titioners, and barring them, unless presented by the
1st day of May, 1794. The officers did not present
this claim until 1810, and are therefore precluded
from urging their vested legal rights. Being thus
furnished with a general answer to all claims which
do not address both our consciences and judgments,
Congress have nevertheless relaxed, from time to
time, the rigor of their own act, when considering
claims founded on justice, and not opposed by policy.
But as none of these suspensions have embraced the
case of the petitioners, we have it in our power, if
we can have the heart to present this statute of limi
tations to the petitioners, and under its mantle, resist
the cry for justice, if not for bread. The question,
then, is not what we are bound to do by law, but
what we should do, What conduct on our part will

APPENDIX. 89
.bear the scrutiny and the judgments of impartial
men, when the opportunity to remedy the conse
quences of our decision shall have passed away?
. Let us look, for a moment, said Mr. V. B. at the
arguments advanced by the opponents of the bill. —
The meritorious services of the petitioners, the signal
advantages that have resulted from these services to
us, and to posterity; the losses sustained by the pe
titioners, and the consequent advantages derived by
the government from the act of commutation, are
unequivocally admitted. But, it is contended, we
have made a compromise legally binding on the par
ties, and exonerating the government, from further
liability, that in an evil and unguarded hour, they
have given us a release and we stand upon our bond.
Now the question which he wished to address to the
conscience, and the judgments of this honorable body,
was this — not vyhether this issue was well taken in
point of law— not whether we might not hope for a safe
deliverance under it — but whether the issue ought to
be taken^ at all- — whether it comports with' the honor
of the Government to plead a legal exemption. against
the claims of gratitude — whether, in other words, the
government be bound at all times to insist upon its
strict, legal rights. Has this been the practice of the
government on all former occasions? : Or, is this the
only question on which this principle should operate?
Nothing, said Mr. V. B. can be easier than tp show
8*

90 APPENDIX.
that the uniform practice of the Government has been
at war with the principle which is now opposed to
the claim of the petitioners. Not a session had Oc
curred since the commencement ofthis Government,
in which Congress had not relieved the citizens from
hardships resulting from unforeseen contingencies —
and foreborne an enforcement of law, when its en
forcement would work great and undeseryed injury.
He mightj if excusable on an occasion like this, turn
over the statute book, page by page, and give re
peated proofs of this assertion.- But it isunnecessary.
He would content himself with a reference to one or
at most two measures ofthe character described. In
the year 1812, between the months of June and Sep
tember, goods to an immense amount were shipped
from England to the United States; by American
merchants, in open violation of the acts prohibiting
their importation. They alleged in justification, ei
ther their anticipated repeal of these acts, in conse
quence of the measures of one of the belligerents; or
their apprehension that in the event of a declaration
of war by the United States, their property would be
seized and condemned in the British ports. The de
claration, in fact, took place; but the importers were
not the less liable to the fines and penalties imposed
by a violated law, and merchandise to the value of
more than- twenty millions of dollars was forfeited
to the United States. Upon the arrival of the goods,

APPENDIX. 91
the owners were permitted to retain and use thtem,
upon giving bonds to abide the decision of their Go
vernment. Application was made to Congress. for
relief: and although it was well known that immense
profits were made upon-their importation, and, not a
doubt existed of their liability to forfeiture; Congress,
by an act which fills but a single page upon that sta
tute book, cancelled the bonds and relinquished mer
chandise, which, if retained, would have been equal
in value to one-fourth of the whole expenses of the
war, and which would doubtless have been retained
had the Government insisted upon it3 legal rights,
and acted on the principle now contended for.
The system which has been pursued in relation to
the purchasers of public lands, is not a less memora
ble example of a departure from that rigorous policy
now recommended to our imitation.
By the act of 10th May, 1800, the minimum price
of the public lands was fixed at $2 the acre; one-
twentieth of the purchase money was required to be
paid at the time of the purchase, one-fourth in 40
days; the balance, with interest; was payable by in
stalments of 2, 3, and 4 years; and the forfeiture of
the land was the declared penalty of non-payment.
By the act of the 26th March, 1804, no interest
was to be charged upon instalments for future pur
chases, if punctually paid, and this provision, in fa
vor of the purchaser, was extended to those whose

92 APPENDIX.
instalments should become due before the following
October. Under this liberal system, yielding to the govern
ment but little more than the necessary expenses of
surveying the lands, supporting the various land of
fices, and providing for the holder a secure landed
title, a debt accumulated prior to the year 1820, from
-the purchasers to the United States, amounting to
twenty-two millions of dollars.
Before that lime repeated indulgences had been
granted, extending the times of payment, preventing
the forfeitures which would have accrued, and in nu
merous instances, allowing a re-entry, or a new pur
chase of lands, improved, and forfeited to the Go
vernment upon the terms of the original purchase.
No less than six acts were passed from the year 1813
to 1820, to suspend the forfeiture and sale of the
lands thus purchased. The evil, however, had swel
led beyond the reach of palliatives: A debt of 22
millions of dollars exceeded the ability, blighted the
prospects, and deadened the energies of the States by
whom it was due. Had the law been enforced and
payment inflexibly exacted, nearly the whole of the
lantjs.tbus purchased and improved, would have been
forfeited to the Union, and many an honest yeoman
would have been compelled to-relinquish to more for
tunate strangers those woods and lawns which he
yainly hoped would be the solace of his declining

APPENDIX. 93
years. . To prevent this calamity, the Government
interposed, and by an act of liberality having few pa
rallels in history, arrested the forfeitures; authorised
the relinquishment of lands for which the purchasers
were unable to pay; and the application of whatever
sums had been paid to the payment of so much only
as they thought proper to retain; cancelled the accu
mulated interest; extended the term of credit for that
portion of the lands retained; and by a subsequent
act passed in 1824, consented to receive as a. full pay
ment for these lands, less than two-thirds of the
amount actually due. Nor was this all: by the act of
1821, the price of the lands was reduced from two
dollars to one dollar and twenty-five cents; and he
who had surrendered lands purchased at the highest
sum was enabled to re-enter the same lands, if not
sold at. public sale, at the reduced price. Sir, said
Mr. V. B., by the best estimate that I am able to
make on referring to the only documents within my
reach, this donation to the purchasers of public lands
could not have been less than seven millions and a
half and probably has not been short of ten millions
of dollars. But the exact amount is not material to
the elucidation ofthe principle from which it flowed;
and in considering its value, who, that can cast his eyes
upon those extensive regions where tranquillity has
succeeded to disquietude, and prosperity to ruin, will
attempt to estimate it by the scale of dollars and cents?

94 APPENDIX.
It appears, then, said Mr. V. B. , that it has not
been the practice of the Government to act the part
of Shylock with its citizens; and God forbid that it
should make its debut, on the present occasion, not
so much in the character of a merciless creditor, as a
reluctant, though wealthy, debtor; withholding the
merited pittance from those to whose noble daring
and unrivalled fortitude, we-are indebted for the pri
vilege of sitting in judgment on their claims; and
manifesting more sensibility for the purchasers of our
lands than for those by whose bravery they were won;
and, but for whose achievements, these very purcha
sers, instead of being the proprietors of their soil,
and the citizens of free and sovereign States, might
now be the miserable vassals of some worthless favor
ite of arbitrary power.
If disposed to be less liberal to the Revolutionary
officers than to other classes of the community, let us
at least testify our gratitude by relieving their suffer
ings, and returning a portion of those immense gains
which have been the glorious fruits of their toil, and
of their blood.
Such, said Mr. V. B. would, in his judgment be a
correct view of the subject, had the Government re
lieved itself from all further liability by the most
ample and unexceptionable performance of its stipu
lations. How much stronger, then, will be their
appeal to your justice, if it can be shown that you

APPENDIX. 95
have no right to urge this act of commutation as a
complete fulfilment of your promise? The act of
commutation is impeached by the petitioners — first,
on account, of the means by which it was effected;
and, secondly, because the stipulations of that act have
never been fulfilled.
The petitioners with reason complained that with
out ever having consented to be bound by the acts
of their brother officers, their personal rights were
made to depend upon the decision of the lines, and
not upon their own individual assent. This is ad-
milted to have been the fact. Two months were al
lowed to the officers of the lines, under the immedi
ate command of Gen. Washington, and six months
to those of the Southern army, to give their assent
to the compromise. It does not appear that the lines
of the Southern army ever gave their assent. In
deed it is stated by a distinguished Revolutionary of
ficer on this floor, (Gen. S. Smith,) that they never
did. It does not appear that there ever was a meet
ing of the officers of the Northern army, for the pur
pose of deciding upon the question: and it is affirmed
that there was none. To assume, then, that the as
sent of each individual was given under circumstances
like these, appears to my mind harsh and unjust —
But it is alleged, in extenuation, that the compro
mise was made upon the petition of the officers them
selves. Let this be admitted: did the application

96 APPENDIX.
for a just equivalent for the promised half pay for
life, confer on Congress the right lo prescribe the
terms? Will it justify the allowance of less than
that to which they were entitled? Will not the cir
cumstances, under which this application was made,
present a still stronger appeal to your liberality, if
not your gratitude? Look, said Mr. V. B. at the
acts of these brave and high-minded men, in what
ever light you please; examine their conduct by the
strictest scrutiny, and you will always find them ex
hibiting the purest principles and the most elevated
patriotism. The half pay establishment for life, was,
at that time, considered by the ardent advocates for
liberty, as leading to the formation of an aristocratic
body, and therefore subversive of the principles of
the revolution. An intimation like this, in the infan
cy of our institutions, however groundless in itself,
was sufficient to excite alarm. The dangers of the
past were overlooked in the apprehension for the fu
ture; the measure was reprobated, and these merito
rious officers became the objects of unfounded jeal
ousy. To quiet these unreasonable fears, the petition
ers expressed their willingness to waive the literal
fulfilment of the promise which had been given: to
remove the cause which could have a tendency to de
prive them ofthe confidence of their fellow-citizens:
to surrender the boon they had so dearly purchased;
and, in addition to all that they had done, and to all

APPENDIX. 0t
that they had suffered, to offer up their future pros
pects upon the altar of their country. And could
any thing be more preposterous than to attempt to
found upon an act, originating in motives like these,
the right to prescribe the terms of commutation?
But it is alleged that the officers received the com
mutation certificates, and-, by doing so, must be pre
sumed to have assented to their being considered a
full satisfaction of their demands. This inference
was, in his opinion, removed by the peculiar circum
stances under which the certificates were given. —
These circumstances, said Mr. V. B. are hot unwor
thy of the deliberate attention of the Senate. Pre
vious to October, 17S3, and subsequent to the time
when the signature of the preliminary articles of
peace was known to the army, frequent- applications
had been made, in their behalf, to Congress, for an
adjustment of accounts, and payment ofthe large ar
rearages which were due. These applications were
fruitless. The failure of the States to comply with
the requisitions of Congress, deprived that body ofthe
means of discharging their engagements: and withafull
sense of the services and privations of the army, and
of the injustice they' were about to commit, Congress
were on the point of disbanding them, unpaid and
unrequited, and sending them penny less and almost
naked to their homes. The effect of this anticipated
measure upon minds sensibly alive to indignity and

98 APPENDIX.
injury may be easily imagined: — At. the moment
when passion might have triumphed over reason, the
army was addressed by an anonymous writer, on the
subject of their wrongs, with a degree of eloquence
calculated to, redeem, if any thing could redeem, the
vicious tendency of his principles. He admonished
them of the futility of their complaints, and urged
them, by every motive that could be addressed to
their hopes and to their, fears, to change the. suppli
catory ,style of. a memorial, to language more, becom
ing those who had the means of redress within their
hands. Al that perilous moment, on the events of
which were suspended the honor of the army and the
future welfare of the country, their commander-in-
chief appeared amongst them. He conjured them
to give one more distinguished proof of unexampled
patriotism, patience and virtue; to rise superior to
the most complicated sufferings, an,d by; the dignity
of their conduct, give posterity occasion to say, when
speaking of their .glorious example — " Had this day
been wanting, the world had never seen the last stage
of perfection, -which human nature is capable of at
taining." ,
They listened to the voice of their beloved com
mander,- followed his advice, surrendered their arms
-—and sunk, pennyless, into the ranks ;of private life.
In. the succeeding month, the certificaj.es of commu
tation were tendered, by the Pay-Master General,

APPENDIX. 99
who requested only an acknowledgment of their re
ceipt, while in relation to the final settlement certi
ficates for their pay, he required a full discharge of
their demands. The certificates thus tendered, were
accepted, and in almost every case, immediately sold,
for the purpose of satisfying the most urgent necessi
ties of nature. He asked the Senate whether it would
comport with the dignity and honor of a great and
magnanimous people to avail themselves of an accep
tance extorted by circumstances like these; and to
urge it as sufficient to bar the claims of justice, and
divest their protectors in the hour of danger,-of their
stipulated reward?
; But it lias been said, that this commutation excited
no dissatisfaction at the time; that the complaints up
on the subject, are of recent date, and now, for the
first time, thought of as a plausible support to an un
founded claim. The Senator from S. C. [Mr. Smith,]
who has been impelled, by a sense of duty, to assume
the unpleasant task of zealously opposing the bill up
on your table, has enquired with much apparent tri
umph, whether a single individual cpuld,;be pointed
out who had refused 'the commutation? He assured
the worthy Senator that he, had adopted an erroneous
impression. When tendered, it was received with uni
versal discontent, and by the junior officers, who Were
most likely to be injured, -with decided reprobation.
Had an opportunity for inquiry been allowed, he had

100 APPENDIX.
no doubt of being able to designate many who had re
fused. At the moment he could refer the Senator to
Major Gadsden of his own State, whose petition on
the subject had been presented to the Senate; and if
respect for the feelings of an honorable member be
fore him, did not render it improper to drag the name
of his venerable father into the debate, he could name
another veteran soldier of the Revolution," the con
fident of Washington and the companion of Lafayette,
who had served hi3 country bravely and efficiently
throughout the war, and who refused to receive the
commutation, because violating, in his opinion, the
leading principles of the Revolution, by subjecting
his property to the decision of men whom he had
never authorised to act in his name or stead. But,
Sir, said Mr. V. B., what effect did the supposed
injustice of his country have on this veteran soldier?
Did it in the least damp his ardor in her cause? By
no means. He belonged to a different school, and
he gave the most palpable proof of the enduring qual
ity of -the principle of that school during the late war.
On learning the approach of danger he repaired to
this City. On the disastrous day of Bladensburgh,
he was found, at the advanced age of seventy, on
horseback in the field, stimulating to exertions, by
his example and exhortation. When the danger
pressed the hardest he waited on the military com-
* Col. M'Lane, of Delaware.

APPENDIX. 101
mander of the day, and solicited (he responsibility
for the safety of the City, by being intrusted with the
possession ofthis capitol, with a reasonable force for
its defence. Denied in his application, mortified and
humiliated by the results of the day, he found his Way
back to his home and the home of his family, where
he still lives, blessed with the esteem of his friends,
and the respect of all who know him.
But assuming, said Mr. V. B., that the act of com
mutation was just, in its inception,' was it just in its
execution? On this point, -he thought there was no
room for contrariety of opinion. An essential differ
ence, he observed, existed between the claims for
pay and subsistence of the army, and those arising
from the stipulation of half-pay for life. The former
being payable during the war, when it was known
that the finances were embarrassed, were properly
subject to the depreciation of that period. But the
promised half-pay for lite was expected to survive the
period of embarrassment, and therefore to be payable
in the sound currency of the country. Some of the
reasons whieh inclined the officers to accept a com
mutation have already been noticed^ The necessity
of obtaining pecuniary means to enable them to em
bark in other pursuits, formed a no less prevalent in
ducement. To effect this object, it was obviously ne
cessary that the equivalent to be received should be
promptly paid or adequately secured. The act of

102 APPENDIX.
commutation did neither. It is surely not enough
to say that the resolution of Congress prescribed that
the commutation of five years full pay should be paid
in securities, unless it can be shown that paper, abso
lutely worthless, was the security intended. Can it
for a moment be supposed, that Congress meant to
deceive their brave defenders, by holding out a "pro.
mise to the ear," only " to break it to their hopes?"
No, Sir, they meant what they expressed, that the
securities should be real, and not nominal; their re
peated and earnest requisitions upon the States prove
their intention; and nothing but the inherent weak
ness of the government, and the failure of the States
to comply with the requisitions of Congress — an ex
cuse fortunately not in our power to plead — -prevent
ed that venerated body from redeeming their engage
ments. But though tbe depreciation which followed
was not attributable to Congress, its effect upon the
oflicers was not the less fatal. Necessity, that Waits
not for times or seasons, compelled too many to car
ry their certificates into market, aud the amount which
they produced served but to realize the destruction
of all their hopes. _ The few who retained them until
1791, experienced a loss not less severe than unex
pected. It has already been stated that, by the ope
rations of the funding system, one-third of the amount
which the commutation certificates declared to be due
was deducted by the government. The reason al-

APPENDED 103
leged for a measure apparently so destructive of pub
lic confidence and individual rights, was the well
known fact, that by far the greater part were held
by speculators who had purchased them at an incon
siderable price. Mr. Madison, it is true, endeavor
ed to exempt the certificates in the hands of the offi
cers from this deduction; but having failed in his at
tempt, the least necessitous of the officers were doom
ed to' experience a diminution of their already insuf
ficient commutation.
This acl of commutation, therefore, is clearly lia
ble to the objection:
1st. Of not being a just equivalent for the promised
half-pay for life.
2dly. Of having been effected under circumstances,
and by the operation of motives, which deprive it of
all obligatory force, and entitle the officers to liberal
ity instead of rigour.
3dly. Of partial and defective execution.
If, said Mr. V. JB., no other obstacle were inter
posed to the claims of the petitioners than those to
which he had alluded, fortified as they are^ by faets
not susceptible of misconstruction, and resting upon
the plain and immutable principles of justice, no doubt
could be entertained of your favorable decision. But
he was apprehensive that other considerations would
have their influence: thatthe claims of the: petition
ers would beclouded by dangers in prospective; and,

104 APPENDIX.
that the fear of establishing a precedent by which the
door of your Treasury would be unlocked lo.a crowd
of applicants pleading their poverty, and urging their
misfortunes, may induce you, in this case, to resist
the strongest impulses of your hearts, if not the dic
tates of your judgments. Among thedifferent grounds
upon which this apprehension is founded, a leading
one, he said, is, "That the bill did not embrace the
caseo of private soldiers, who might also have sus
tained injustice, and whose services were not less
meritorious -than those ofthe officers themselves."
Before I proceed, said Mr. V. B. to consider this ob-
ection, allow me to call your attention to one or two
incidental remarks. A variety of. persons, officers
of the Army, who had not served to the end ofthe war
- — private soldiers, militia officers, and citizens who
had borne the privations of that period, had been suc
cessively brought in review before the Senate; and
their losses and sufferings, after having been forcibly
depicted, were urged as a reason for the rejection of
the claim of the petitioners.
If, said Mr. V. B., any thing, could aggravate the
injustice already inflicted upon the petitioners, it
would be an objection like this. Had the claims of
the persons alluded to been similar to those of the pe
titioners, the argument derived from an equality of
right would be entitled to attention; but if dissimilar,
let them be disjoined. The allowance of the one

APPENDIX. 105
can constitute no ground for the admission of the
other; and by uniting them together, you throw up
on the petitioners the misfortunes of others, (misfor
tunes for which they are in no sense responsible,) in
addition to their own.
Now, Sir, said Mr. V. B., .it is easy to demon
strate that no similarity exists. What is the object
of this bill? To repair a wrong in not having given
a just equivalent in satisfaction of a promise of half-
pay for life. Do the claims of any others rest upon
a basis like this? Is it alleged that any such or sim
ilar engagement was made with the isoldier? Most
assuredly not. If, then, no similarity exist, an at
tempt lo connect them would be plainly unjust.
I am aware, said Mr. V. B., of the imposing cha
racter of the argument that has been urged in favor
of the claims of the common soldier. • -In a Govern
ment like ours, appeals in their favor cannot be made
without effect. , They derive their force from that
all pervading jealousy of power^ which is generally
supposed to be the concomitant of official station and
accidental elevation. Although not insensible to its
influence, he was not. disposed to complain of its ef
fect; and when, properly directed or controlled, he
considered it necessary to the successful operation of
our political system. ...
But, sir, said Mr.-V. B., instead of yielding our
judgments to favor on the one had, or improper pre-

106 APPENDIX.
judice on the other; it became our duty as public men,
to know no distinctions but those of merit, and norule
but that of justice. Was it true, then, he asked, that
the partiality of the Government had inclined to the
officer, in preference to the soldier? Is it not evident,
on the contrary, that in every case the former has
been treated with distrust, and the latter with indul
gence. Upon what can the soldiers predicate a claim
for additional compensation? Upon the ground of
the depreciation, and no other. The losses of the
officers, on this account, were as much greater than
those of the soldier, as the relative difference of their
pay; and yet this bill contains no provision in their
favor upon that subject. This, then, can form no ob
jection to the proposed allowance. But, sir, in re
lation to the relative condition of the officer and sol
dier when they entered the service, General Wash
ington informs us in his letters to the States, con
tained in the book which I hold in my hand, that the
private soldiers had this signal advantage over the
officers. They received at the time of enlistment,
from the States, by which they were -raised, a bounty
from two to three hundred dollars, in good money,
or provision for their families. No such, advances
were received by the officers. What, Sir, said Mr.
V. B., has been the subsequent conduct of the Go
vernment? The average pay of the officers, calcu
lating fiom a colonel downwards, .was forty dollars

APPENDIX. 107
per month. That of the soldier was six dollars and
a quarter. , ,..
Now, by the pension act of 1818, the allowance
to officers and soldiers, reduced to poverty, was, for
the officers, twenty dollars per month; and for the
soldiers eight dollars per month. Giving to the offi
cer less than half-pay, and to the soldier more than
full pay. So, said he, would it ever be. Whatever
might be the declamatory appeals'' upon this subject,
there was no danger that the partiality of Congress
would.ever be manifested for- the officer, to the exclu
sion of the fairfjaims of the; soldier. To prevent
misapprehension, said Mr. V. B. , I will proceed' fur
ther. "I have said, that I am not insensible to the
feeling which had been so strongly pressed into the
argument. As an evidence of the sincerity with
which he spoke, he expressed his willingness to
adopt any measure in favor of the soldier, that the
gentleman opposed to him, could reasonably desire.
Most of. the- soldiers, said Mr. V. B., had been pla
ced upon the pension list.: iThe. limited number
who had not, must average seventy years of age. —
Let, said he, a section be prepared, placing all who'
had enlisted for the- war, upon the Jpemsion list,, at
eight dollars per month, without requiring evidence
of poverty. For a measure like this,; he would rea
dily vote; if evenrmore were proposed* it should re
ceive his deliberate attention,, and. if possible, his

108 APPENDIX.
concurrence. Frauds might be practised; but they
would, of necessity, be of short duration. Even
now, the expense would not be felt; in a few years
it would -cease to be remembered; while the fame
that would attend it, would constitute one of the
most valuable legacies to posterity that can be left
behind us.
Instead, then, of opposing the bill because it con
tains no provision for the soldier, might he not with
some propriety ask of gentlemen to propose a reme
dy for this defect, and not condemn for omission —
whilst making no effort to have that omission sup
plied? s
Another cause of apprehension from this bill, as a
precedent, arises from the supposition that if it be
intended to provide for losses incurred by the de
preciation of commutation "certificates, the Govern
ment will be bound to compensate for similar losses,
whether incurred by the Army or the public credit
ors. These fears, said Mr. V. B. I consider vision
ary. The bill does not propose a compensation on
account of depreciation. This would be impractica
ble, because no data could be obtained by which an
estimate could be formed to justify a legislative act.
The depreciation of the commutation certificates has
been referred to solely for the purpose of enforcing
the equity of a claim originating in a contract, never
satisfied by the act of commutation, but from which

APPENDIX. 109
you. are legally absolved by the acts of limitation.—
Until the soldiers can plead a similar contract, and
the equitable considerations whieh the officers have
urged, they can have no right to place their claims
on an equal footing. Still less, sir, said Mr. V. B.
can it be said that this bill will afford a pretext for
reviving the dormant claims ofthe public creditors. —
Their case is widely different from that of either the
officers or the soldiers. While the pay ofthe army
was fixed and stationary, its actual value was re
duced by the depreciation of currency,. which they
were compelled to receive at par. But the suppliers
of the Army, the great mass of public creditors, re
gulated their contracts by the fluctuations in which
they expected to be paid, and the prices demanded
bore an exact proportion to its depreciation in mar
ket. It has been urged, loo, asan objection, that provi
sion had not been made for the officers who did not
serve to the close of the war, and for the militia. —
It was sufficient to say that with them the govern
ment had entered into no such engagement. The
surviving officers of the revolution, who had been
called from service before the-end of the war, gene
rally by public considerations, would not, he was
persuaded, repine at the success of their brethren in
arms, or make it the basis of unfounded complaint.
It has been stated by the venerable and worthy Sena-
10

HO APPENDIX.
tor before me, [Gen. S. Smith.] that this bill will
not embrace his case, for the reasons he has given.
Who would have more cause to eomplain'than he, if
indeed, any cause could be found in the measure pro
posed? Of his conduct and services in two wars, it
would be superfluous to speak.. ¦ They are familiar
to us all ; and he wished he could add, had been as
well appreciated by .the 'Union as by the State whose
interests he had promoted in peace, and whose safety
he had defended in war. The solicitude which he
had manifested for the friends, of his youth, and his
companions in danger, must have awakened the sen
sibilities of those who witnessed it ; while his. zealous
though disinterested support of the bill upon your
table, constituted a convincing proof that it would be
viewed by others, who might be excluded from its
provisions, with equal satisfaction.
Tho last i, and to his mind, the strongest objection
against the passage of this bill, was its making no
provision for the widows and children of deceased
officers, who were entitled to half-pay. By whom,
Sir, said Mr. V. B. has this objection been adduced ?
By the parties themselves ? Nb, Sir ; by those who
have had no conference with the parties. Do they
advocate the claims of the heirs and widows because
they have heretofore been importunate for relief ?j —
No, Sir ; from the first agitation of this question, in
1810j.tothe present moment, he was authorized, he

APPENDIX. HI
believed, to say, that not a single petition had been
presented in their behalf. Sir, said Mr. V. B. we
resist the claims ofthe living by exorcising the spi
rits of the dead. The gentleman from Georgia de
clares that he will not vote for the bill, because the
heirs and widows are not included-, and that he would
not vote for it, if they were. It has been asked by
the Senator from South'Carolina, whether a positive
debt, a vested interest, does not descend to the heir,
and whether a government, any more than an indivi
dual, is discharged by the death of its creditor ? —
The objection thus presented is plausible in appear
ance, but he was persuaded, easily surmounted. ¦ He
had already, in his opinion, given a satisfactory an
swer. Whatever might have been the original cha
racter ofthe claim, it could no longer be regarded as
legally binding on the government. It was barred
by the statute- of- limitations — a measure sometimes
harsh, but not the less founded in policy and justice.
This shield, interposed by the government for justifi
able ends, might -be removed, at the option ofthe
government only in the cases which policy and jus
tice might demand. It has a perfect right to permit
it to operate upon the officers^' their widows, or their
heirs — and neither might, in strictness, have a legal
ground of complaint. I have endeavored, said Mr.
Vi B. to- show that equity ¦ requires, and pblicy does
not forbid the allowance proposed for the surviving

112 APPENDIX.
nffieers. The claims of the widows, stood, in his
opinion, on a different foundation. But he should
Hot be willing, for one, to oppose them. Their num
ber must be small ; not half as great, in allproba-
bility, as that of surviving officers; say one hundred
at the outside. Give them a gratuity of one or two
thousand dollars each ; and if necessary, deduct it
from the sum you would otherwise give to the sur
viving officers. They, he was well assured, would
not utter a complaint. On the contrary, the value
of what they received, would be doubly enhanced
-by the cause of the deduction. The supposed claims
of the heirs could not be presented io your attention
with equal force. Of the two thousand four hun
dred and eighty officers of the revolution, two thou
sand two huhdred and fifty are no more. Their
temporal interests, whatever they were, have been
distributed, in some cases, among successive gene
rations. To ascertain and distribute the respective
Shares, to which the heirs would be entitled, of the
small amount now proposed to be given, if not whol
ly impracticable, would involve an expense that
would consume the means of your bounty ; and
without being productive of substantial benefit, your
resources would be exhausted. But, said he, these
are considerations of an inferior character, founded
on expediency only. Your refusal to grant to the
heirs, may be placed on the highest ground of prin-

APPENDIX. H3
ciple. Whatever you now do in favor ofthe officer,
must be voluntary, proceeding from your liberality
and gratitude. All other obligations have been cut
off by time. All your endowments springing from
such motives, being for the reward of personal ser
vices, may with propriety be confined to those by
whom those services were rendered. This, said he,
is not a new principle in your legislation. It lies at
the foundation of the act of 1818, providing, not for
the heirs, but certain portions of the revolutionary
officers and soldiers, by the operation of which, mil
lions have in his opinion been beneficially applied.
It was called indeed a pension act, but with no more
propriety, according to the established principles of
the government, than the bill upon your table.
What, according to these principles, are the grounds
upon which pensions have been granted? They
were exclusively, disability produced by known
wounds received in the public service, and half pay
for a limited time, to the widow and infant children
of those who had fallen in action. Since the date of
our independence, these only have been the legal
and appropriate causes for being placed on the list of
pensioners. The annual allowance to a limited num
ber of -the officers and soldiers of the revolutionary
army, by the act of 18 IS, was founded on no such
consideration, otherwise the widows and orphans of
the deceased officers and soldier* would have been as
10*

114

APPENDIX.

mudh entitled to your bounty as they can be now. —
They did not receive it ; and the only justifiable rea
son which could then have been given, was the one
which may now be assigned. You had' a right to
make your donation personal. You had a right to
enlarge or contract the circle of your beneficence,
according to your own views of the state of your
treasury, the exigencies of society, and the claims of
humanity. Among the most powerful motives for
its adoption, was a desire to rescue the country from
the reproach of seeing those to whom it was indebt
ed for its liberties, thrown, in the evening of their
days, amidst the prosperity they had been instru
mental in producing, upon the cold charities of an
unfeeling world. It was to prevent the vivid and
heart-rending picture of Roman ingratitude, which,
though the invention of modern days, has so long
interested the world, from being only descriptive of
real life in the streets ofthis proud capital.
Mr. V. B. said he would say nothing as to the
amount. Full justice had already been done. to that
subject. The general object was to make up, in
part, the loss sustained by the officers, out ofthe pro
fits,, made by the government, by the successful result
of its compromise with them. Let us, therefore,
said he, pass Ihe bill upOn your table. Let this body
have the credit of originating it. Let no narrow or
weak views impede our course. No matter where

APPENDIX. 115
those honorable and patriotic men are from ; whe
ther from the North or the South, the East orthe
West ; whether from the old States or the new. In
every State where the blessings of a free govern
ment are enjoyed, there they had a name,- if not a
local habitation, that could not fail to work its Way
to the hearts of their fellow citizens. It was true,
he said, that by the list submitted, it did not. appear
that any Of the officers resided in seven ofthe new
States, and he was not sorry for it. If he were not
deceived in the character as well of the people of the
States, as of their representatives on that floor, they
would rejoice that ah opportunity was thus present
ed to evince their devotion to the cause of the revo
lution, and their gratitude for the services of those
who fought our battles' in that day, without even a
suspicion of a selfish or local object. This will be
the more gratifying to themt" because it was not their
good fortune, as States, to be in a situation to take
part in that great struggle, out of which grew this
mighty empire, and all the blessings of civil and re
ligious liberty, that we now so preeminently enjoy.
He had not a doubt that all that remained for them to
do, they would do well. If evidence of the fact were
wanting, he had only to alludc'to the small but pa
triotic State of Illinois, which alone had instructed
her representatives on that floor, upon the subject
under consideration, in a -spirit reflecting upon her-

116

APPENDIX.

self the highest credit, and affording the most flatter
ing presage of her future greatness.
Mr. V. B. said, that he was distressed by the con
sciousness that he had already trespassed too much
upon the kind indulgence of the Senate. In any
other case he would have considered it reprehensi
ble to have done so. He would therefore, (although
there were yet many considerations which he intend
ed to have urged,) draw his observations to a close.
There was, however, one point upon which he felt
too much solicitude to suffer it to pass unnoticed. —
If by any one he had been understood as casting
aught of censure or reproach upon the old Congress,
he desired to correct so erroneous an impression.: —
He could not indeed have done so consistently with
his own long cherished opinions. On the contrary,
he did not believe that the worfd ever witnessed, or
ever again will witness a body of men more patriotic
or enlightened. He would not believe that it was
in their nature to be indifferent to the just claims of
the revolutionary army. The question with them
was not what they would, but what they could do. —
The embarrassments under which they labored from
want of power, and the backwardness of the States,
who themselves were struggling against the exhaust
ing effects of a cruel, bloody and protracted war,
were known to all. As little did he wish to cast re
proach upon the councils of the nation. Every

APPENDIX. 1 17
thing could not be done at once. Much has been
done under the present Constitution, to satisfy the
claims of justice, and vindicate the character of the
republic. It is our good fortune that something still
remains for us to do. Fear not, that in doing it, you
will go beyond the wishes of your constituents—
your feelings lag behind them. Speaking for his
immediate constituents — and he had not the presump
tion to suppose that they were more just or public
spirited than their neighbors — for them he could say,
with confidence, that, having some share in the na
tional funds, and contributing no inconsiderable part
of their amount, they would willingly pour them out,
Hke water, in a cause so righteous. With them, a
million more or less of public debt, compared with
the preservation of the public faith, would be as no
thing. He gloried in the consciousness that he was
a representative of a people influenced by such ele
vated sentiments. Every day, said he, makes the
remnant of this band of worthies more dear to the
American people. When that period arrives — whieh
a majority of the Senate may expect to see — when
the last of the officers of the revolutionary army
shall be called from time into eternity, it will be the
cause of keen regret, and self-reproach, if, upon a
review of the past, it shall appear that any thing was
omitted that ought to have been done, to smooth
their passage to the tomb.

H8 APPENDIX.
..One word more, and he had done. The Senator
from Maine, [Mr Chandler,] who, although he
had lost his father in the struggle, had felt it to be
his duty (and there was no man, he believed, who
more implicitly followed his sense of duty,), to op
pose the bill, had, with his characteristic shrewdness
and pertinency, asked — did General Washington,
whilst at the head of government, ever recommend
this subject to the notice of Congress? The worthy
Senator well knew what the answer must be, and
the train of reflections it would give rise to. Gene
ral Washington did not — but why ? Before and af
ter the war, he spared no pains to make the States
sensible of what was due to the officers on this very
point. His letters have been read. He urged them
by all the considerations that belonged to the subject,
to act efficiently for their relief. He failed. After
he came into the government, the officers themselves
evinced no disposition ;to revive their claims, and it
certainly would not have become him to be the first
to bring them forward. It is not difficult to con
ceive why the officers were, at that day, willing to
avoid all applications for pecuniary aid. New, pros
pects opened — they were probably not exempt from
thos* feelings of ambition and hope of preferment,
whichactuate mankind. They have out-lived them,
and they humbly ask for justice. But, Sir, what
was the language of the Father of his Country^ when

APPENDIX. 119
the subject was an open one ? In his circular of
June, 1783, to the governors of the States, he said :
"The provision of half pay for life, as promised by
" the resolution of Congress, was a reasonable com-
"pensation offered at a time when Congress had no-
" thing else to give to the officers for services then
•'to be performed; it was the price of their blood
" and your independence, and as a debt of honor, it
" can never be cancelled until it be fairly discharged."
One question, said Mr. V. B., and I have done. —
Has it been fairly discharged ?

[In reference to the rejection cf Mr. Van Buren, by the Senate of
the United States, when nominated as Minister to Great Britain,
we have selected the masterly speech of Mr. Fohsyth, and the
correspondence between. the Republican Members of the Le
gislature of New York and Piiksident Jacksojh, as abundantly-
sufficient to vindicate the conduct of Mr. Van Buren, and to
expose the true character of that wanton, violent and unjusti
fiable measure. ]
REMARKS OF HON. JOHN FORSYTH,
In the U. <S\ Senate, on the, nomination of Mr. Van Buren.
[Mr. Forsyth makes no apology for the. rough sketch he presents
of the remarks made by him in the secret sessions ofthe Se_
nate, on the nomination of Mr. Van Buren. The speeches
¦against the nomination having been, for the first time in the
bjstory of this government, thrown upon the people, it is due
to the person assailed, that what was suggested on the other
side should be known. Mr. Forsyth is well aware that, in ex.
ecuting his part of this duty, he has done justice neither to the
subject nor to himself] " ' "

120 APPENDIX.
I regret, Mr. President, that the Senator from Mis
sissippi,' (Mr. Poindexter,) has been so long absent
from his seat, not only because he has been suffering
pain, but because had he been here, he could have
escaped the commission of numerous errors into
which he has been led. The friends of Mr. Van Bu
ren have not obstructed inquiry into his conduct: they
have challenged investigation, offered it in every and
any form consistent with the obligations of the Senate
to its own character. The Senator from Maine, (Mr.
Holmes) shrunk from his own resolution, lt was
laid aside by the votes of those opposed, contrary to
the votes and wishes of those friendly to the nomina
tion. That Senator was distinctly invited by one of
the Senators from New York, (Mr. Marcy,) to spe
cify any act dishonorable to the character of Mr.
Van Buren, and a pledge given that inquiry into it
should be made in the amplest manner by a commit
tee having all the power necessary to the establishment
of truth. The Senator from Maine was distinctly
told by the Senator from South Carolina, (Mr.
Hayne,) on what terms he could command his vote.
He was told to cover the ground indicated, by proof,
and he would join in the condemnation of the choice
ofthe President. The Senator from Maine delibera
ted on this offer, and, after deliberation, abandoned
his resolution, leaving all to grope their way to a
conclusion, as accident or prejudice might direct

APPENDIX- 121
them. A promise was made, that he should have a
committee if he would venture upon it, and the offer
was deliberately and 'most unequivocally declined-
Yet, after all this, at "this eleventh hour, the Senator
from Mississippi says, if the friends of Mr. Van Bu
ren will solicit a committee, he'will give what he has
collected, While confined to his sick chamber, and on
which his own opinion is formed, and if the commit
tee is not raised, he will, with this matter in hrs poc
ket, vote against the nomination, in order to preserve
the morality of the nation, endangered by the bestow
al of a new office oh a gambling politician.
As the friend,- personal and political, of- Mr. Van
Buren, I reject the liberal offer of the Senator, in
defiance of his threatened negative on the nomina
tion. Let him unite with those who, like him, are
so anxious to preserve the morality of the country by
rejecting a man whose most odious crime is his rising
popularity and transcendent ability. The friends of
Mr. Van Buren will riot degrade him by asking a
Committee, to free him from the suspicions engender
ed in the Senator's mind, in his search after correct
inforrnation, from sources within his reach. His cha
racter wants no such justification. Does the gentle
man wish to justify his vote? Let him propose a
Committee; he shall have our concurrence. Does
he desire lo convince the Senate? Let him produce
the private source information, which, I venture to
11

122

APPENDIX.

say, like the only one he speaks of openly, is worth
less in the eye of any man who is not so embittered
by prejudice that he can not see truth. This letter,
by a former partizan, a paltry editor of a paltry news
paper, and to prove what?, that Mr. Van Buren said
that the late Cabinet was dissolved by the conspiracy
ofthe Vice President, to drive, M-aj. Eaton from the
Cabinet, and that he withdrew to escape the. conse
quences of the dissolution. Sir, Mr. Van Buren holds
no such conversation with persons who were once his
partizans, and now his enemies.
But supposing he had declared, or does entertain,
the opinion irhputed to him. Is it a crime which
disqualifies him for a high office, that he believes the
charge made and sought tq be established by the late
Secretary of War? . If such be the Senator's opinion,
can he tell us how far the exclusion extends? The
Senator's letter story is contradicted by his previous
ly expressed opinion. What, Sir, the most artful
man in the world, proclaim to a paltry editor that he
acted in the manner indicated, to escape the storm
consequent on the dissolution of the Cabinet! If it
had been true — if such had been his motive, he would
have sought to- conceal it from himself. No degree
of confidential intimacy could have tempted an artful
intriguer to. such a disclosure. The story if true,
proves a man, whose extraordinary prudence, under
all circumstances, through a long life, in the stormy

APPENDIX. 123
politics of a vexed and turbulent State, has gained
him the confidence of his friends, and called down
upon him the charge of consummate artifice from
his enemies, to be a silly driveller — a simpleton,
opening his /oudget of petty motives to one whose
trade was to thrive, by making himself important by
confidential and oracular disclosures in his unknown
journal. Mr; Van Buren stands in a strange condition be
fore us; from the beginning of this administration,
before he came to the. post assigned him, until the
present hour, he is held accountable by a certain de
scription of political men in this country for all the.
evil that has been done, and all the good that has been
omitted. Now, sir, if he is accountable for every
thing, if his hand is lobe traced every where, let him
have credit for the gopd that, has, and the evil that
has not, been done. Balance the account ofthe ad
mitted good and evil imputed, and the result wiil
fill the hearts of his enemies with the bitterest disap
pointment. But, sir, this is'not the justice intended
for him. He is responsible for all that is complained
of. Let us see the Senator from Mississippi ..(Mr,
Poindexter's) catalogue. There were, no Cabinet
Councils. — did the country suffer from his failure to
follow the example of late administrations, from this
adherence to the example of Gen. Washington?
But there was one Cabinet Council called to sit on

|24 APPENDIX.
a lady's reputation. Indeed, and, this Mr. Van Bu
ren is also answerable for. And is it true, sir, that
the honorable members of the late cabinet who re
mained so tranquilly at their posts enjoying all their
emoluments and honors with becoming gratification,
suffered themselves to be deprived of their accustom
ed rights of a seat and voice at the Council Board "of
deliberations on great matters of vital interest to the
public, and yetobeyed the beck and call of Mr.
Van Buren, to sit upon a lady's reputation! Of what
stuff were they made that they did not distinctly as
certain if this restriction of claimed right, and this
insulting call upon them to step out of their appro
priate spheres was the work of Mr. Van Buren or
the actof the President. If the first, why did they
not demand his dismission, and, if refused, indig
nantly throw their commissions in the teeth of the
Chief Magistrate. The omitted Cabinet -Councils,
and the single, call, were no such dreadful offences
until obliged to follow Mr. Van Buren's example
and resign. The history of the last year establishes
the wisdom of the President in calling no Cabinet
Council to deliberate as. there could have been no
harmony in their consultations, and on the single
question said to have been submitted, the Executive
Cabinet have shown themselves' incompetent to der
cide. He is not competent to decide on a lady's re
putation, who throws out of view on the question of

APPENDIX. 125
how she should be treated, her guilt or innocence. ' I
will not condescend further to refer to the' trash with
which the public press has been loaded and polluted
for months, and unless the Senator from Mississippi
has better evidence thati the public has yet seen, the
, hope of implicating Mr. Van Buren in the disturban
ces that'preceded the 'dissolution of tho Cabinet, is
forlorn. "'
Let us see the next crime in the catalogue of the1
Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Poindexter.) Mr.
Van Buren intrigued the dissolution ofthe late cabi
net, taking care previously to secure a safe and pro
minent retreat in the mission to England. It is
known to every well informed man in this district
that Mr. Van Buren, by his admirable temper, his
conciliating manners and unvvearied exertions, kept
the cabinet together long after its discordant materials
were so well ascertained that its dissolution sooner or
later was a matter of common speculation. Sir, no
body doubted that the parties could not get on toge
ther, and the only surprise waS, that the President
did not proceed to restore harmony by the removal1
of those whose disagreements produced the discord'.
But Mr. Van Buren had the unparalleled effrontery (to
resign on motives of delicacy and disinterestedness,
and as this mode of conduct was so unusual, it has
excited a vast deal of surmise and wonder. The Sena
tor from Mississippi {'Mr, P.Vbas however, satisfac-
11*

12§ APPENDIX.
torily ,to hiniself, solved the mystery. Mr. Van Bu
ren ananged himself into a prominent place, before
he resigned, and a new cabinet to suit his ambitious
views. Now, sir,, as to the proof of this preconcer
ted arrangement for his accommodation and elevation.
The President told somebody, who was a. late Sec
retary, that Mr., Van Buren was, to go to England,
and named to him the Secretaries, who were to come
in; hut. this was after Mr- Van Buren had resigned.
In the interview it is acknowledged that Mr. Van
Buren's letter of resignation 'was handed, to this vo
lunteer repeater of conversations with the Chief Ma
gistrate. But the Senator says it was before the let
ter was published — thence he concludes Mr. V. B.
had made a cat's paw of the,: President f<>r the pro
motion, of his own views: a most logical inference,
truly! And this nevy cabinet arranged to further
Mr. V. B's unholy ambition !, Is, there, man, woman
or child in the country, who does not know and feel
that the change has been beneficial to the. public, that
there is now more strength, more virtue and more
harmony than there was before? Is there any man
who, will hazard his reputation by asserting that the
present secretaries are, capable of being made the inr
struments of any man's ambition, or so subject, to the
bias of individual,influence,_as the late? .Partisans are
not substituted .for pure, disinterested patriots; and
let, me say, sir, .that, more parlizaps have gone out
than have come in.

APPENDIX. J27
But this mission toi En gland was not soughfrby Mr.
Van Buren; hi-s friends know that it was pressed on
him by the President, and that it was reluctantly ac
cepted at the earnest solicitions of friends who were
satisfied it would promote hisiown reputation, and
redound to the honor and: welfare of the nation. I
.will not follow further the Senator's lead. Long
known to me as a politician and as a man, acting
together in the hour of political adversity, when we
had, lost all but our honor — a witness of his move
ments when elevated to- power, and in the possession
of the confidence of the Chief Magistrate, and of the
great majority of the people, I. have never: witnessed
aught in Mr. Van Buren which requires conceal
ment,- paliation or coloring — never any thing to, les
sen his character as a patriot and as a man — nothing
which he might not desire to see exposed to the
scrutiny of every member of this body, with the
calm confidence of unsullied integrity. He is called
an artful man — a giant of artifice — a wily magician.
From whom does he receive these opprebious names?
From open enemies and pretended friends. In the
midst of > all the charges that have been- brought
against him, in shapes more varying than these' of
Proteus, and thick as the autumnal leaves that strew
the fole af Volamhrosa, where is the false friend ' or
malignant enemy that has fixed upon him one dis
honorable or degrading act? If innocent of artifice,

|28 APPENDIX.
if governed by a high sense of honor, and regulating
his conduct by elevated principles, this is not wonder
ful; but, if the result of skill, of the ars celere artem,
he mustbe more cunning than the Devil himself, lo
have thus avoided the snares of enemies and the
treachery of pretended friends.
It is not possible, sir, that he should have escaped,
had he been otherwise than pure. Those ignorant of
his unrivalled knowledge of human character, his
power of penetrating into the designs, and defeating
the purposes of his adversaries, seeing his rapid ad
vance to public honors, and popular confidence, im
pute to art what is the natural result of those simple
causes. Extraordinary talent, untiring industry, in
cessant vigilance, the happiest temper, which success
cannot corrupt, nor disappointment sour; these are
the sources of his unexampled success, — the magic
arts — the artifices of intrigue, to which only he has
resorted in his eventful life. Those who envy his
success, maj' learn wisdom from his example.
Having disposed of the catalogue of the Senator
from Mississippi, let me advert to the grounds occu
pied by a little army of objections on the other side
f this chamber : How many sacrifices of feeling to
duty, are we not about to witness:! the honorable
Senators of Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware, Mas
sachusetts, Ohio and Kentucky; are constrained by
duty to vote against his nomination — and all, on pub*

appendix^ 129
lie grounds— no private feeling; Oh no! nothing like
it; public duty against private feeling, is the order of
the day. And what is the dreadful public crime
Mr. Van Buret) has committed?. H«ar— sir, hear.
He has degraded the country by giving instructions
to the late Minister to Great Britain, Mr. McLane,
about the West India- trade. What, instructions?
Can it be those on which the act of 1S30 passed —
those which have been among our printed documents
for these twelve months, forming part of the Presi
dent's commiinication to Congress of January, 1831.
Have those honorable gentlemen who are now so
shocked at the public degradation, so eager to punish
the author of this national disgraee, heen sleeping at
their posts— no one to cry out, to ring the alarm, at
the dangers to which the public honor was exposed —
no, one to interfere to prevent the United States from
•• being placed at the foot-stool of the British throne?
Quietly witnessing the consummation 'of the crime,
passing an act with their knowledge of these instruc
tions, to secure the boon, which they noursee' was
begged in the name of party from the British crown;
we are now electrified by bursts of indignation, at
this first act of degradation in the history of Ameri
can Diplomacy !
What a Spectacle is here .'—How long is it since
he. who was the instrument to bow us down before
Great Britain;. was unanimously confirmed to a post

130 appendix.
of honor and important trust? But the instrument
by whom he was ordered to. act, is to bear the pun
ishment. The author of the instructions, he by
whom they were given, is too high to be reached at
present; the author of the crime, he who ordered, it,
escapes — he who commits it, by order, goes* free; he
who conveys.the order, answers for both, and upon
his head falls all the indignation of these incensed
Senators, acting upon public grounds, and reluctant
ly performing a painful — painftxl — duty!
Well, sir, to this degradation. It is found in the
instructions to Mr. McLane; and to make, out their
case, the honorable Senators from Massachuselts-and
Kentucky, have given us a sketch of the history of
the West India negotiation. — Both brought down
their narratives to the taunting reply, of Mr. Canning
to Mr. Gallatin, .given during the late administration.
From this point, -both these honorable Senators found
it convenient'to slide — no, sir, to leap over all inter
vening events to the instructions to Mr. McLane.
With permission, I will fill up this unimportant
chasm. — The terms of the British act of Parliament
not having been accepted hy the United States,
American vessels were excluded by an order in Coun
cil, from the British West India ports. Why this
important interest was neglected, we have been just
told by the Senator from Kentucky: "the late admin
istration were ignorant of the act of Parliament until

appendix. 131
it-was casually seen by them." "It was not offici
ally communicated by the, English Government to
our Government." "Even when we were Colonies;
we were not bound by British acts of'Parliament,
unless specially named in them." Indeed: is it pos
sible that the late administration did. not know an act
of Paliament affecting important interests? Where
were all our accredited ministers and, commercial
agents in Great Britian, that this Government was
not informed of this measure, known to all Europe,'
and taken advantage of by most of the powers. in
terested in it. But it was not officially communica
ted to us. Well, sir, was it officially communica
ted to any other Government, interested in its con
tents as we were? The British Government, I. ap
prehend ; would have considered such a communica
tion a gross reflection upon our accredited agents.
It would have compelled them to say, in effect, we
communicate to you ah act, 'supposing your agents
are too negligent of their duty to send it to you.
What were our ministers and agents about ; how
were they employed, that they did not send to their-
Government this important information?
"But the last excuse is worse' than all: "even when
Colonies, we were not bound by actsef Parliament
in which we were nrit harried specially:" What a
discovery! and it is'conduded from this wise recol
lection, that we are not now bound to lake notice of
acts of Parliament not specially and officially com-

132 appendix.
municated to us. I imagine" we are not bound by
them, communicated to us or hot, but we are bound
to know all those touching onr interests, and any ad
ministration is severely reprehensible for ignorance
of them, and for failing to attend to those that bear
injuriously upon the interests of the people. The
act was, however, at last known, and when Mr.
Gallatin presented himself to negociate, with instruc
tions to waive all claims that were formerly present
ed, and'had prevented an arrangement, he was taunt
ingly told, you have lost your day in court— the pri
vilege, the boon, offered, had not been secured by
accepting the conditions: we have taken our course,
negociation is not our plan. Well, sir, what said the
administration of which the honorable Senator from
Kentucky formed a part? There was an act of "Con
gress, requiring, on the shutting of the British West
India ports against us, an interdict by proclamation.
Smarting under this taunting refusal to negociate,
what was done? The execution of an act of Congress
positively directing the proclamation, was suspend-
ded by executive authority for two months before the
meeting' of Congress and during the whole succeed
ing session, to see if Congress, who had been pre
vented the preceding the session from legislating —
the administration preferred the eclat of a negocia
tion — could not legislate the executive out of the dif
ficulty into which he had placed the country by negli-

appendix. 133
gence; or if the Senator from Kentucky pleases, ig
norance ofthe act of Parliament. We a" know how
that effort terminated. The two Houses disagreed
about the mode of effecting the purpose: both, how-
ever, willing to take the privilege on the conditions
proposed by Great Britain. The Senate passed a
b i II — the House, under the influence of, the Senatqr
from Massachusetts, amended, and the question was;,
whether one or the other oblique path should be
trodden. The session terminated without legislative,
enactment, and then, and not till then, the proclama
tion of interdiction was issued. Thus, sir, smarting
under the taunt of the British, minister, our adminis
tration left the whole trade in the hands of Great Bri
tain of six or eight months — sought to cover itself
from censure by invoking legislative interposition, and
then, was compelled to act on the suspended statute.
The interdict being proclaimed, the trade stood
upon the very advantageous footing, according to the
Senator's judgment, which we have lost by the nego
tiation. Notwithstanding we were enjoyino- such
eminent advantages, the late administration, in spite
of the taunt, directed Mr. Gallatin to try again to
procure what is now disparaged, by opening the
door of negotiation after it had been shut in his
jace. He was again repulsed. But this humiliation
was not enough; Mr. Barbour was sent to- London
and he too had his instructions,,and went, cap in hand,
13

|34 APPENDtX.
knocked al the closed door for negotiation. Sir, he
knocked at the door of the British Ministry, under
circumstances humiliating in the extreme. If a gen
tleman should go a second time to a house, the pro
prietor of which, speaking from his window, had di
rected his porter to deny him to the visiter, his visit
would have been somewhat like Mr. Barbour's second
call. Yes, sir, yet the humiliation was vain — the se
cond as fruitless as the first.
Such was the condition of this question, when
General Jackson was placed at the head of the coun
try. One of the first objects of his administration,
was the recovery of the British West India trade ;
an arrangement of it upon terms' of just reciprocity,
satisfactory to bolh parlies, and therefore, promising
to be permanent. Mr. McLane was selected to go to
England, and these much abused instructions pre
pared by the late of Secretary of State. Let it be
remembered, sir, these are instructions from the Pre
sident ofthe United States to the American minister,
never intended for the eye of the British govern
ment, and which in no other country but ours, would
ever have seen the light.
The opening of the negotiation was the' chief dif
ficulty. To remove it, two grounds are taken. It
will be remembered that our refusal to accede to the
terms of the act of parliament, was made the ground
of refusing to treat with Mr. Gallalin and Mr. Bar-

APPENDIX. 135
hour, both of whom went prepared to offer an arT
rangement by reciprocal legislation, taking the act
of parliament as JtheiBritish legislation. To obviate
the difficulty, after a fair and full history of the trans
action, these suggestions arej presented to Mr. Mc
Lane, to.be pressed so far as he might deem it use
ful and proper so to .dot. .If the British persist in
refusing to hear 'you, bn this, subject, remind them pfc
the circumstances that have occurred; of the differ
ence of opinion among ourselves on it; of the aban-.
dohment. by, the administration of those pretences
that had prevented an adjustment of it ; that they are
not to be again brought, forward ; that the past ad
ministration was not amenable to the British Gov
ernment, nor to any other than ;the people of the
United States, wha had passed upon all their acts. —
Say toUhe British, if it makes pretensions formerly -
advanced, the pretext for still declining to negotiate,
the sensibility of the American. people will be deep
ly awakened. That the lone of public feeling by a
course so unwise ind untenable^ will be aggravated
by the known fact that/Great Britain had opened her.
colonial ports to Russia and' France, notwithstanding
a similar orhiss'ion to accede on (their parts, to the
terms offered' by the act< of 'Parliament. And this,
sir, is representejdjas theJJa&guage Of entreaty, as the
beggiiiigof a! boon. ; This, menace of the public in
dignation.: Jbhiside'clar.stion thati' the late administra-

fgg APPENDIX.
tion Ivafr neither to be censured or praised by foreign
ifatioris • was amenable for their conduct td no earth
ly tribunal but the people of the United States, is
tortured into a claim of privileges, 6u party grounds
for party purposes, and as a disgraceful attempt to
thVow upon a previous administration unmerited dis
grace, for the sake of currying favor with, a1 foreign
jiowet, and that power of all others, Great Britain. .
Great Britain could not resist this frank and open
and manly appeal. Committed by their concession
hi favor 'of France and Russia; and the ministry dis
tinctly told iby Mr. McLane, that he would not re
main if they declined negotiation, or placed, their
refusal upon any other'ground than an open declara
tion that their interests could not permit them to
enter into a reciprocal engagement with the United
States, the English Cabinet reluctantly yielded ; and
then came the most odious feature in this transaction,
that which has sharpened the intellect of the oppo*
sition, to discover dishonor iii truth, arid a want of
dignity in a frank exposition. of facts, its crowning
success. Mr. McLane and Mr. : Van Buren, under
Gen. Jackson-, succeeded' in affecting an object of
public solicitude, that Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay and
Mr. Gallatin and Mr. Barbour could not dbtain.— •¦
The country was humiliated by the preceding admi
nistration without success; hence the 'change against
Mr, Van Buren ; hence the overwhelming anxiety to

APPENDIX. , 137
proye that, the suecegs of, the^late negotiation has been
^purchased, by humiliation.. The British cabinet de
sired not to make the arrangement, it interfered-with
great local -interest?, and .if they could, without a
manifest and unjust distinction to our prejudice, they
,vvoujd have declined admitting the United States to
. jh&privijeges granted to the other maratime powers.
J^Tpt.patisfiedwith his condemnation of Mr. Van
Buren's instructions, the Senator from Kentucky at
tempts to sbow. us? hy referring to another letter of
instructions, how this affair should, have, been cori-
,-ducled consistently with his ideas .of national honor
;and dignity. T.he letter from which he. has read, to
the (Senate extracts, js, I think, signed H, Clay. —
VVill the^Senajtor tell,ijs who, is responsible for it? —
If ^.eris, then he exhibits himself in the singular po
sition of a rnan triumphantly, contrasting the.vyqrk, of
h& own hand, with (tb^t of. a rival ;authqi-.. The Se
nator knows that there were two other jinstructions,
written byvhj.niself< of a subsequent date, one to Mr.
Gallatin after Congress failed to legislate, and ano
ther tp Governor Barbour ; ^either of .which, is be
fore us, therefore, not to be contrasted with Mr.
Van. Buren's work. I am content to abide by the
result of a contrast of the instructions he has con
demned, with those he has quoted.. Let us see how
thegentleman's.iletter will bear the test of examina
tion. Mr. Gallatin, he says, was not instructed to
12*

138 APPENDIX.
abandon a right ; we were to be at liberty at a more
convenient season to resume it. Mr. Gallatin was
to give a strong proof of our desire to conciliate by a
temporary concession of what we had previotisly
claimed throughout the whole negotiation. ' Was
Mr. Gallatin instructed to say to the British Govern
ment, this is a temporary concession ? No, sir, he
was authorised to waive the claim, and make an ar
rangement on the British basis. Put this into plain
•language,- and What was it; stript of its diplomatic
drapery and Verbiage, and it is neither more nor less
than an abandonment of a pretension, which, though
we had supported by argument, we were resolved
not to enforce by power. Sir, this covering up of a
plain truth is the common trick of diplomacy ; it de
ceives no one, and had Mr. Gallatin presented these
conciliatory concessions, they must have been re
ceived as a virtual and total abandonment of our pre
tension. The honied words of right waived from a
conciliatory spirit, and with the hope of correspond
ing friendly dispositions, would have been received
with a sneer, lurking in the official — -artificial smile
of a — thorough bred diplomatist. The Senator, in
sists, however, it was a right and, not a pretension.
If it was a right, why was it waived or surrendered?
For conciliation sake ? Why, sir, we were the of
fended party. England had taunted us. England
had refused once, twice, thrice, to negotiate, and yet

APPENDIX. 139
to conciliate England; we Were waiving a well-
grounded right ? For what purpose were we thus
conciliating? To, place the trade on its present foot
ing, to the great injury of the navigation and com
merce of the United States. Such is the view now
taken by several honorable senators who have favor
ed us with their opinion on this subject.
The present administration waived no right for
conciliation sake s, sacrificed no principle. It stood
upon the trUth,' and truth only ; and whatever may
be the custom of others, and the- ordinary usages of
diplomacy, the administration was right. Nations
fold themselves in the robes of falsehood, and swell
and strut in vain, to preserve an" air of dignity and
decorum. No nation'ever was 'just to' its own cha
racter, or preserved its dignity, that did not stand at
all times before the world in the sober and simple
garb of truth. Sir, the character of our diplomacy
has undergone a- marked change; we are no longer
pretenders to skill and artifice 5 all our wiles are facts
and reasons — all Our artifice, truth and justice. The
honorable Senator tells us that this instruction is
ftilse, or else it proves Mr. V. B. to have been crimi
nally ignorant of what it was his duty to know.— r
How does he make this appear ? He alleges that
Mr. V. B. charged the laie administration with be
ing the first to advance the pretension it subsequent
ly abandoned — and this he declares is untrue, the

1^0 A-PPENDIX.
pretension was set, up heforejithe^ late administration
, came into power. Now, sir, as I read, this paragraph,
Mr. V. B. floes, not;, charge the late administration
with being thefii'st to ad vanee this pretension. The
.Senator will recollect this is, a letter to Mr. McLane,
whose personal knowledge is appealed to, .andaW.ho
- must* have understood. the writer as alluding to a fact
of general-notoriety. The words are " those \wlio
first advanced," 8?c-, have subsequently abandoned.
Can -ahy man mistake^.the meaning — the meaning
perfectly in accordance with the fact ? The preten-
sipn was advanced by the use of the famous elsewhere
in our act of /Congress, an act known to, have been
penned by Mr. -Adams, who had previously occupied
the ground, covered by, it, in his instructions to Mr.
Rush. It, was Mr. Adams yvho first advanced and
abandoned this ground. The, credit or the odium,
which ever term belongs injustice to the act, attaches
to Mr. -Adams, and so Mr. McLane could only have
nnderstrod it, and so must the Senator from Kentuc
ky, if he examines with a desire, lo understand] it in
.the; spirit of the author.
There are considerations connected with Mr. V.B.
if I defem it consistent with his honor, that I could
.present to those that hear me, that,would.not fail to
make a deeper impression upon their minds. / But'I
ask no remembrance of his forbearance ; no recol
lection jof his magnanimity ; I appeal to no one to

.APPENDIX. 14 i
Imitate his mildness and courtesy' and kindness in
his deportment here, hor to judge! him as he judged
his rivals for fame and power- • I demand for him
nothing but justice — harsh — harsh justice.

CORRESPONDENCE.
Letter of the Republican members of the New
York Legislature, to the President.
Albany, Feb. 9, 1S32.
To his Excellency Andrew Iackson,
-President of the United States.
Sir — The undersigned in the performance of the
duty with which they have been charged by the re
publican members of the legislature of the state of
New York, have the honor to transmit herewith,
the proceedings of a meeting held by them In the
Capitol of tli is State, on the 3d inst. In doing so,
they cannot restrain the expression of the feelings of
indignation with which they view the act to which
these proceedings refer.
A great majority of the citizens of this State ihave
given repeated- evidences of the, high estimation in
which they have held, your administration ofthe af
fairs of the nation. 1 The inflexible integrity which
has marked every aef of your public life^the! more
than military -courage// with which/the responsibili
ties of your high sta-ttOn, have been. assumed, and the

142 APPENDIX.
constant regard manifested by you- to the purity of
the Constitution, have strengthened their. attachment
to. your iperson a(nd your, government ji and they
have not been regardless of the manner in which the
splendid career of a military life, has been followed
by the many signal blessings which your civil admi
nistration, has bestowed upon our country.
, This'State witnessed with pride, the. selection of
Mr. Van Buren by your excellency 'as- Secretary of
State: ;Our citizens, had given repeated evidences
of their confidence in; him. ¦ With the watchfulness
becoming. ;a free, people, they had regarded his con-
duet,' in the various stations to which he had. been
called 'by the constituted authorities of the State. —
They had witnessed his attachment under all circum
stances, to the principles of the democracy of the
country, and they had then recently evinced the ex
tent of their confidence, by ¦ elevating him to the
highest oifice'within their gift. ; They felt that your
Excellency's removal of him to a wider sphere was
an act of justice at once to his capacity, honesty and
fidelity to the- constitution, and to. the character of
this-State and the feelings ofits; people.' They cheer..
fully acquiesced -in that removal, and- freely surren*
dered iheir most distinguished' fellow-citizen to your
call> because they repognieed; in it.addilional' confir
mation of the, high hopes1 they, had imbibed of the
character of your adhriuKitration.' They saw with

APPENDIX. 143
undissembled pleasure, his efforts to aid your Excel
lency in your successful attempt to restore the gov
ernment to its purity ; and when his withdrawal from
the high station to which your partiality had exalted
him, became necessary for the preservation of your
peace against the attacks of those who were alike
enemies to your -person and your principles^ they
beheld in your continued confidence in him, irrefra
gable proof, that no combination could close the eyes
of your Excellency, to the cause of your country,
and no personal consideration's arrest your efforts for
the common welfare. They saw, that amid the as
saults made upon your principles by unfaithful ser
vants, the honor of our country was not lost to your
view, and they felt, that the same ardent patriotism,
which had been manifested on the walls of New
Orleans, had been brought into the administration of
the government. They saw and felt this, in the ef
fort made by your Excellency, to acquire by frank
and honest negociation, that for which we had war
red with Great Britain; which had been abandoned,
if not surrendered, by subtle diplomacy; and Upon
which your Excellency, at least, had not been silent.
The people of this whole country, felt indeed that
their confidence in your Excellency was not mis
placed ; for they saw arid knew that no considera
tions of a private nature could for a moment affect
your ardent desire to promote the common weal.

144

APPENDIX.

It is true they were aware thaVfhere were citi
zens in this Union, who could justify and participate
in this surrender of " free- trade and sailor's rights,"
who could " calculate the value of the Union," and
who could laugh at our calamities in a period of war
and general distress. But they could not believe that
such feelings could sway any branch of our hitherto
unsullied government, and least of all, that they
would ever dare combine to impede the attempt of
your Excellency, to secure that for our country, for
which we had expended millions of our money, and
for which thousands of bur citizens had laid down
their lives.
Your Excellency has ever appreciated the feelings
of the people ofthis country, and it will not now be
difficult for you to judge of those which pervade this
whole community, against an act unprecedented in the
annals of ourcountry ; which has impaired the hitherto
exalted character of our national Senate — which has
insulted a State that yields to none in attachment to
the Union ; and which has directly attacked an ad
ministration that is founded deep in the affections of
the people.
The State of New York, sir, is capable in itself,
of avenging the indignity thus offered to its charac
ter, in the person of its favorite son. But we should
be unmindful of our duty, if we failed in the ex
pression, of our sympathy with your Excellency's

APPENDIX. 145
feelings of mortification, at this degradation of the
country you have loved so well. Yet be assured,
sir, that there is a redeeming -stoirit- in the people,
and that those whom we have the honor to repre
sent, ardently desire an opportunity ; of expressing
their undiminished confidence ip an administration,
which has exalted the -character of our country, which
has restored the purity of the government, and has
shed abroad upon the whole nation the continued
blessings of peace and prosperity.
In the fervent hope, that your Excellency may
yet be spared many years to bless and adorn the only
free nation upon earth, we remain your sincere
friends, and Very humble servants,
N. P. TALLMADGE, THO. ARMSTRONG,
LEVI BEARDSLEY, JOHN F. HUBBARD
J. W. EDMONDS, E. LITCHFIELD,
CH. L. LIVINGSTON, WM. SEYMOUR,
G. OSTRANDER, AARON REMER,
J. W. WILLIAMSON, JAS. HUGHSTON,
PETER WOOD, WM. H. ANGEL.
ED. POWELL,

THE PRESIDENT'S REPLY.
Washington, Feb. 23, 1832.
Gentlemen : I have had the honor to receive your
letter ofthe 9th inst. enclosing the resolutions passed

13

146 appendix.
" at a meeting of the republican members of the Le
gislature of New York," on the rejection. by the Se
nate of the United States, of the nomination of Mar
tin Van Buren as Minister to England.
I am profoundly grateful for the approbation which
that distinguished! body of my republican fellow-ci
tizens of New York have on that occasion, been
pleased to express of the past administration of the
affairs placed in my charge by the. people of the
United States, and for their generous offers of con
tinued confidence and support. .Conscious of the
rectitude of my intentions, my reliance, in aU the
vicissitudes of my public life, has been upon the vir
tue and patriotism -of an enlightened people. -
Their generous support has been my. shield and
my stay, when, in titties past, the zealous perfor
mance of, the arduous military, duties allotted fo
me, though crowned with success, was sought to be
madfi.a ground , of reproach ; and this manifest a?
tiofton the part of my fellow- citizens of the great
Stale of ' <New ^ York,, assures me that services not
less faithful in the civil administration wilhyot
be less successfully defended:
When such reliance fails the public servant, public
liberty wjll be in. danger :ifj>r if the people become
insensible to indignities offered to those, who, with
pure intentions devote 'themselves to the advance
ment of the, safety and happiness of the> country,

appendix; 147
public virtue will cease to be respected, and public
trusts will be sought for other rewards than those of
patriotism. I CANNOT WITHHOLD" MT ENTIRE CONCURRENCE
WITH THE REPUBLICAN MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLA
TURE IN THEIR HIGH ESTIMATION OF THEIR EMI
NENT FELLOW CITIZEV, WHOM THEV HAVE SO GE
NEROUSLY COME FORWARD TO SUSTAIN. ~ To THIS I
WILL ADD THE ASSURANCE OF MT UNDIMINSHED RE
SPECT FOR HIS GREAT PUBLIC AND PRIVATE WORTH,
AND MT FULL CONFIDENCE IN THE INTEGRITY OF
HIS CHARACTER.
In calling him to the department of state from the
exalted station he then occupied by the suffrages of
the people of his native state, I was hot influenced
more by his acknowledged talents and public ser
vices, than by the general wish and expectation of
the Republican Party throughout' the Union. The-
signal ability and success which distinguished his' ad
ministration of the duties of that -department? have
fully justified the selection.
I owe it to the late Secretary of Slate, to myself,
and to the American people oh this occasion to
state, that as far as is known tome, he- had no
participation whatever in the Occurrences, relative
' myself and the second officer ofthe government;
•n the dissolution ofthe Idte cabinet ; and that
there is no-ground for imputing to him the- having

to
or i

148 APPENDIX.
desired those removals from office which, in the
discharge of my, constitutional functions,, it was
deemed proper to make. During Ms continuance
in the cabinet, his exertions were directed to pro
duce harmony among its members ; and he uni
formly ENDEAVORED TO SUSTAIN HIS COLLEAGUES.
His final resignation was a sacrifice of offi
cial STATION TO WHAT HE DEEMED THE BEST INTE
RESTS OF THE COUNTRY.
Mr. McLane, our then minister at London, hay
ing previously asked permission to return, it was my
anxious desire to commit all the important points re
maining open in our relations with Great Britain, to
a successor in whose peculiar fitness and capacity I
had equal confidence: and to my selection Mr., Van
Buren yielded a reluctant assent. In Urging upon
him that sacrifice, I did not doubt that I was doing
the best for the country, and acting in coincidence
wjth the public wish; and it certainly could not
have been anticipated that, in the manner of suc
cessfully conducting and terminating an important
complex negotiation, which had previously receiv
ed the sanction of both houses of congress, there
would have been found motives for embarrassing the
executive action, and for interrupting an important
foreign negotiation.
lean never be led to doiibt, that in the instruc
tions under which that negotiation relative to the

APPENDIX. 149
trade with the British West Indies, was conducted
and successfully concluded, the people of the Uni
ted Slates will find nothing either derogatory to
the national dignity and honor, or improper for
such an occasion.
Those parts of the instructions which have been
used to justify the rejection of Mr. Van Buren's
nomination by the Senate of the United States,
proceeded from my mon suggestion ; were the re
sult of my own deliberate investigation and reflec
tion ; and now, as when they were dictated, ap
pear to me to be entirely proper and consonant to
my public duty.
I feel, gentlemen, that I am incapable of tar
nishing the pride or dignity of that country, whose
glory, both in the field and in the civil administra
tion it has been my object to elevate : and I feel
assured that the exalted attitude which the Ameri
can people maintain abroad, and the prosperity
toith which they are blessed at home, fully attest
that their honor and happiness have been unsullied
in my hands.
A participation in the trade with the British West
India I-dands, upon terms mutually satisfactory to the
United States and Great Britain, had been an object
of constant solicitude with our government from its
origin. During the long and vexatious history of
this subject, various propositions had been made with
13*

150 APPENDIX.
but partial success; and in the administration of my
immediate predecessor, more than one. attempt to
adjust it. had ended in a total, interruption of the .trade.
The acknowledged -importance of this branch of
trade, the influence it was believed to have had in
the electrons. which terminated ,>in the change , of vthe
administration, and the generaLexpectation on the part
of the people,, that renewed efforts^ on frank and
decisive grounds, might be successfully made to re
cover it, Imposed upon me the duty of undertaking
the taskv;,-, .,,,-' , _•.-
Recently, however, Great Britain had morethan
once declined renewing the negotiation, and placed
her refusal upon the objections which -she thought
proper to take to. the manner of our, previous nego
tiation,, and. to t'le claims > which had at, various times
been made upon, the part of our. government, .,.,,,
The American government, notwithstanding, , con
tinued i.tS,efforts to obtain a participation in thej^adg...
\t, waived the claims at first insisted, upon, as well as
the-objeclion la the imposition by Qreat Britain of
higher duties upon the produce of the United States
w^hen imported. into the West Indies, than upon/he
produce of her own, possessions,, which objection had
b^en, taken in 1819 in, a despatch tof .the .the/i Secre
tary of State. , ,,;
, A participation inrthe, trade,. with the British West
India Islands could ngt, have -been,, at any iiijae, de-

APPENDIX. 151
manded as a right any more than io-that to, the Bri
tish European ports. In the posture of affairs already
adverted to, therefore, the Executive could ask no
thing more than to be permitted -to engage in it upon
the terms assented to by his predecessor, and which
were the same as those previously offered by Great
Britain herself. .Even these had been denied to the
late, administration, and for reasons arising from the
views entertained by. the British government of our
conduct in. the past negotiation.
It was foreseen^that this refusal might be, repeated
and on the same grounds. When it became the duty
ofthe Executive, rather than disappoint the expecta
tions of the people and wholly abandon the trade, to
continue .the application, itv was proper to* meet. the
objection to the past acts of the American adminis
tration, which, objection, as had been foreseen, was
actually made and for some time insisted upon,,
..It is undoubtedly the duty of all to sustain, by an
undivided and patriotic front, the action of the con
stituted authorities towards foreign, nations : and,, this
duty requires, that during the continuance of an ad
ministration in office, nothing should be done to em
barrass the Executive intercourse in its foreign -poli
cy, unless upon a conviction that, it is erroneous. .A
thorough change i,n; the. acjmirtisiralion, however,
raises, up ^ other authorities of equal dignify?1,:and
equally entitled to respect : and an open adaption of

152 APPENDIX.
a different course implies nc separation of the diffe
rent parts of the government: nor does an admission
of the inexpediency or impracticability of previous
demands imply any want of respect for those who
may have maintained them.
To defend the claims,- or pretensions, as they
had been indiscriminately called, on either side, in
the previous correspondence, -Which had been for a
time urged by the late administration, would have
been to defend, what that administration by waiv
ing them; had admitted to be untenable, and if
that which had been by them conceded to be inex
pedient, could not be sustained as proper, I perceive
nothing derogatory, and surely nothing wrong, in
conducting' the negotiation upon the common and
established principle, that in a dhange of adminis
tration there may be a corresponding change in the
policy and counseh.of the government. This prin
ciple exists and is acted upon, jn the diplomatic and
public transactions of all nations. The fact of its
existence in the recent change of the administration
of the American government, was as notorious as the
circulation ofthe American press could- make it ;
and while its influence upon the policy of foreign na
tions was both natural and reasonable-, it was proper,
according to my sense of duty, frankly to avow it, if
the interests ofthe people ofthe United States should
so require.

APPENDIX. 153
Such was the motive, and such and nothing more,
is the true import of the instructions, taken asa whole,
which I directedd to be given to our minister at Lon
don, and which neither: expressed nor implied con
demnation of the government of the United, States,
nor of the late administration, further than had been
implied by their own. acts of admission.
I could not reco'ncile it to my sense of public duty,
or of the national dignity > that the United States
should suffer continued injury or injustice, because, a
former administration had insisted upon terms which
it had subsequently waived, or had failed seasonably
to accept an offer which it had afterwards been wil
ling to embrace., The conduct of previous adminis
trations was not to be discussed either for censure or
defence ; and only in case " the omissions of this
government to accept of the terms proposed when
heretofore offered," should "be urged as an objec
tion now," it was made the duty of the minister " to
make the British government sensible of the injus
tice and inexpediency of such a course."
Both the right and the propriety of setting up the
past acts of previous administrations to justify the
exclusion of the United States from a trade allowed
to all other nations, was distinctly denied, and the
instructions authorised the minister to state that such
a course towards the United States " under, existing
circumstances, would be unjust in itself, and could

J52 APPENDIX.
a different course implies nc separation of the diffe
rent parts of the government: nor does an admission
of the inexpediency or impracticability of previous
demands imply any want of respect for those who
may have maintained them.
To defend the claims, or pretensions, as they
had been indiscriminately called; on either side, in
the previous correspondence, which had been for a
time urged by the late administration, would have
been to defend, what that administration by waiv
ing them-, had admitted to be untenable, and if
that which had been by them conceded to be inex
pedient, could not be sustained as proper, I perceive
nothing derogatory, and surely nothing wrong, in
conducting' the negotiation upon the common and
established principle, that in a ehange of adminis
tration. there may be a corresponding change in the
policy and counsels, of the government. This prin
ciple exists and is acted upon, jn the diplomatic and
public transactions of all nations. The fact of its
existence in the recent change of the administration
of the American government, was as notorious as the
Circulation of the American press could make it ;
and while its influence upon the policy of foreign na
tions was both natural and reasonable-, it was proper,
according to my sense of duty, frankly to avow it, if
the interests of the people ofthe United Stales should
so require.

APPENDIX. 153
Such was the motive, and such and nothing more,
is the true import of the instructions, taken as a whole,
which I directedd to be given to our minister at Lon
don, and which neither expressed nor implied con
demnation of the government of the United, States,
nor of the late administration, further than had been
implied by their own acts of admission. i
I could not reconcile it to my sense of public duty,
or of the national dignity; that the United States
should suffer continued injury or injustice, because, a
former administration had insisted upon terms which
it had subsequently waived, or had failed seasonably
to accept an offer which it had afterwards been wil
ling to embrace. The conduct of previous adminis
trations was not to be discussed either for censure or
defence ; and only in case " the omissions of this
government to accept of the terms proposed when
heretofore offered," should " be urged as an objec
tion now," it was made the duty of the minister " to
make the British government sensible of the injus
tice and inexpediency of such a course."
Both the right and the propriety of setting up the
past acts of previous administrations to justify the
exclusion of the United States from a trade allowed
to all other nations, was distinctly denied, and the
instructions authorised the minister to state that such
a course towards the United States " under^existing
circumstances, would he unjust in itself, and could

156 APPENDIX.
and distinct proposition in conformity with these
principles, to be submittted to the British' govern
ment, and, resolving to be contented with nothing
less,' I ultimately arranged the trade upon the basis
of that proposition, without retraction, modification,
or change.-^/y the national honor had not been
thought tarnished by retracing our steps, by claim
ing more and ultimately consenting lo take less,
and in fact obtaining nothing ; I feel assured, that
in requiring that which my predecessors had con
ceded to be enough; and obtaining all that was de
manded, my countrymen will see no stain upon their
dignity, their pride, or their honor.
If I required greater satisfaction than I derive from
a review of this subject, I shall find it in the grati
tude I feel for, the success which has crowned my
efforts. I shall always possess the gratifying recol
lection, that I have not disappointed the expecta
tions of my countrymen, who, under an arrange
ment depending for its permanence upon our own
wisdom, are participating in a valuable trade upon
terms more advantageous than those which the illus
trious Father of his Country was willing- to accept ;
upon terms as favorable as those which regulate the
trade under our conventions with Graat Britain, and
which have been sought without success from the
earliest periods of our history.
I pray you, gentlemen, to present to the fepubli-

APPENDIX. 157
can members of, the legislature of New York, and to
accept for yourselves individually, the assurance. of
my highest regard and consideration.
ANDREW JACKSON.
Messrs. N. P. Tallmadge, Thomas Arm
strong, Levi Beardsley, John F. Hub
bard, J. W. Edmonds, Chas. L. Li
vingston, Gideon Ostrander, John M.
Williamson, Peter Wood, E. Howell,
Elisha Litchfield, WiUiam Seymour,
Aaron Remer, Jas. Hughston, Wm.
H. Angel.

Address of Mr. Van Buren, Vice President of
. the United Slates, on taking the Chair of the
Senate, as its presiding officer, on Monday, De
cember IS, 1S33.-,
Senators ; On entering on the duties of the sta
tion to which I have been called by the People, de
ference to you and justice to myself require that I
should forestall expectations which might otherwise
be disappointed. Although for many years hereto
fore a member of the Senate, I regret that I should
not have acquired that knowledge of the particular
order of its proceedings which might naturally be ex
pected. Unfortunately for me, in respect to my pre
sent condition, I ever found those at hand who had
more correctly appreciated this important branch of
their duties, and on whose opinions, as topoints of

14

158 APPENDIX.
order, I could at all times safely rely. This remiss
ness will, doubtless, for a season, cause me no small
degree of embarrassment. So far, however, as un
remitting exertions on my part, and proper respect
for the advice of those who are better informed than
myself, can avail, *his deficiency will be remedied as
speedily as possible; and I feel persuaded that the
Senate, in the mean time, will extend to me a con
siderate indulgence.
But however wanting I may be, for the time, in a
thorough knowledge of the technical duties of the
Chair, I entertain, I humbly hope, a deep and so
lemn conviction of its high moral "obligations. I am
well aware that he who occupies it, is bound to cher
ish towards the members of the body over which
he presides, no other feeling than those of justice
and courtesy^ — to regard them all as standing upon
an honorable equality — to apply the rules establish
ed by themselves, for their own government, with
strict impartiality — and to use whatever authority
he possesses in the manner best-calculated to protect
the rights, to respect the feelings, and to guard the
reputations of all who may be affected by its ex
ercise. It is no disparagement to any other branch of the
Government to say, that there is none on which the
Constitution devolves such extensive powers as it
does upon the Senate. There is scarcely an exercise

APPENDIX. 159
of constitutional authority in which it does not me
diately or immediately participate ; it forms an im
portant and, in some respects, an indispensible part
of each of the three great departments, Executive,
Legislative, and Judicial; and is moreover, the body
in which is made effectual, that share of power in
the Federal organization so wisely allowed to the re
spective State sovereignties.
Invested with such august powers, so judiciously
restricted, and so sagely adapted to the purposes of
good government, it is no wonder that the Senate is
regarded by the people of the United States, as one
of the best features, in what they at least consider to
be the the wisest, the freest, and happiest political
system in the world. In fervent wishes that it may
long continue to be so regarded, and in a conviction
of the importance of order, propriety, and regularity
in its proceedings, we must all concur. It shall be
an object of my highest ambition, Senators, to join
with you, as far as in me lies, in effecting those de
sirable objects; and in endeavoring to realize the ex
pectation formed of this body al the adoption of the
Constitution, and ever since confidently cherished,
that it would exercise the most efficient influence in
upholding the Federal system, and in perpetuating
what is at once the foundation and the safeguard of
our country^s welfare, the Union of the States,

160

APPENDIX.

MR. BENTON'S LETTER.
To Maj. Gen. Davis, of the State of Mississippi,
declining the nomination of the Convention of
that Slate for the Vice Presidency ; defending the
nomination.of Mr. Van Buren for the Presiden
cy ; and recommending harmony, concert, and
union, to the democratic party ofthe U. States.
Washington City, January 1st, 1835.
Dear Sir,— We have learned that you have de
clined permitting your name to be used as a candi
date for the Vice-Presidency of the United States,
and that you have addressed a letter to that effect,
some time since, to the Committee of the State Con
vention of Mississippi, by whom you were nomi
nated for that high office. It will be a considerable
time before your determination, communicated
through that channel, can be known to the people of
the United States ; we therefore request the favor of
a copy of your letter, if you retained one, for pub
lication at this place, in order that your friends else
where, as well as in Mississippi, may have an early
opportunity of turning iheir attention to some other
suitable person. Yours, with great respect,
ROBT. T. LYTLE, (of Ohio,)
HENRY HUBBARD, (of New Hampshire,)
RATLIFF BOON, (of Indiana,)
H. A. MUHLENBERG, (of Pennsylvania.)
Honorable Thos. H. Benton.

APPENDIX. 161
Washington City, January 2d, 1835.
Gentlemen, — I herewith send you a copy of my
letter, declining the nomination ofthe Mississippi
State Convention, for the Vice-Presidency of the
United States. Fairness towards my political friends
i ft every part of the Union, required me to let them
know at' once what my determination was; and this
I have done in many private letters, and in all the
conversations which I have held upon the subject. —
The nomination in Mississippi was the first one
which came from a State Convention-, and therefore
the first one which seemed to me to justify a public
letter, and fo present the question in such a form as
would save me from the ridicule of declining what no
State had offered. The letter to Mississippi was in
tended for publication, to save my friends any fur
ther trouble on my account. It was expected to
reach, in its circuit, my friends in every quarter;
and as you suggest that it might be a considerable
time before it could return from the State of Missis
sippi through the newspapers, and that in the mean
time, my friends elsewhere, might wish earlier in
formation, that they might turn their attention td
some other person, I cheerfully comply with your
request, and furnish the copy/for publication here.*
- Yours, respectfully, ' ¦
THOMAS H. BENTON.
Messrs. R. T. Lytle, H. Hubbard, R. Boon,
and H. A. Muhlenberg. 14*

102 APPENDIX.
MR. BENTON'S LETTER.
Washington Crrr, Dec. 16th, 1834.
Dear Sir : Your kind letter of the 8th ultimo has
been duly received, and I take great pleasure in re
turning you my thanks for the friendship you have
shown me, and which I shall be happy to acknow
ledge by acts, rather than words, whenever an op
portunity shall occur.
The recommendation for the Vice-Presidency of
the United States, which the Democratic Convention
of your State has done me the honor to make, is, in
the highest degree, flattering and honorable to me,
and commands the expression of my deepest grati
tude ; but, justice to myself, and to our political
friends, requires me to say at once, and with the can
dor and decision which rejects all disguise, and pal
ters with no retraction, that I cannot consent -to go
upon the list of candidates for the eminent office for
which I have been proposed.
I consider the ensuing election for President, and
Vice-President, as one among the most important
that ever took place in our country ; ranking with
that of 1800, when the democratic principle first
triumphed in the person of Mr. Jefferson, and with
the two elections of 1828, and 1832, when the same
principle again triumphed in the person of General
Jackson ; and I should look upon all the advantages
recovered for the constitution, and the people, in

APPENDIX. 163
these two last triumphs, as lost and gone, unless the
democracy of the Union shall again triumph in the
election of 1836. To succeed in that election, will
require the most perfect harmony .and union among
ourselves. To secure this union and harmony, we,
must have as few aspirants for the offices- of President,
and Vice President, as possible ; and to diminish the
number of these aspirants, I, for one, shall refuse to
go upon the list : and will remain in the ranks of the
voters,- ready to support the cause of democracy, by
supporting the election of the candidates which shall
be .selected by a general convention ofthe democra
tic party. •
But, while respectfully declining, for myself, the
highly honorable and flattering , recommendation of
your convention, I take a particular. pleasure in ex
pressing the gratification which I feel, at seeing the
nomination which you have made in favor of Mr.
Van Buren. I have known that gentleman long,
and intimately. We entered the Senate of the
United States together, thirteen years ago, sat six
years in seats next to each other, were always per
sonally friendly, generally acted together -on leading
subjects, and always interchanged communications,
and reciprocated confidence j and thus, occupying a
position to give me an opportunity of becoming tho
roughly acquainted with . his principles, and charac
ter, the result of the whole has been, that I have long

164 APPENDIX.
since considered him, and so indicated him to my
friends, as the most fit, and suitable person to fill- the
presidential chair after the expiration of President
Jackson's second term. In political principles he is
thoroughly democratic, and comes as near the Jeffer-
sonian standard as any statesman now on the stage of
public life. In abilities, experience, and business
habits, he is beyond the reach of cavil or dispute. —
Personally, he is inattackable ; for the whole volume
of his private life contains not a single act which re
quires explanation, or defence. In constitutional
temperament he is peculiarly adapted to the station,
and the times ; for no human being could be more
free from every taint of envy, malignity, or revenge,
or, could possess, in a more eminent degree, that
happy conjunction of firmness of purpose, with sua
vity of manners, which contributes so much to the
successful administration of public affairs, and is so
essential, and becoming, in a high public functionary.
The State from which he comes, and of which, suc
cessive elections for two and twenty years prove him
to be the favorite son, is also to be taken into the ac
count in the list of his recommendations; that great
State which, in the eventful struggle of 1800, turned
the scales of the presidential election in favor of
Mr. Jefferson, — which has supported every demo
cratic administration from that day lo this ; a State
which now numbers two millions of inhabitants,—

APPENDIX. 165
gives forty-two votes in the presidential election, —
and never saw one of her own sons exalted to the pre
sidential office.
But what has he done ? What has Mr. Van Buren
done, that he should be elected President ? This is
the inquiry, as flippantly, as ignorantly put by those
who would veil, or disparage the merits of this
gentleman ; when it would be much more regular
and pertinent to ask, what has such a man as this
done, that he should not be made President ?— But,
to answer the inquiry as put: It might perhaps be
sufficient, so far at least as the comparative merits of
competitors are concerned, to point to his course in
the Senate of the United States during the eight
years that he sat in that body ; and to his conduct
since in the high offices to which he has been call
ed by his native State, by President Jackson, and by
the American people. This might be sufficient be
tween Mr. Van Buren and others ; but it would not
be sufficient for himself. Justice to him would re
quire an answer to go further back, — to the war of
1S12, when he was a member ofthe New York Se
nate ; when the fate of Mr. Madison's administra
tion, and of the Union itself, depended upon the
conduct of that great State — great in men and means,
and greater in position, a frontierto New England,
and to Canada — to British arms and Hartford Con-
and when that conduct, to the dis-

166 APPENDIX.
may of every pattotic bosom, was seen to hang, for
nearly two years, in the doubtful scales of suspense.
The federalists had the majority in the House of
•Representatives ; the democracy had the Senate and
the Governor; and for tvvo successive sessions no
measure could be adopted in support of the war. —
Every aid proposed by the Governor and Senate,
was rejected by the House of Representatives. —
Every State paper issued by one, was answered by
the other. Continual disagreements took place ; in
numerable conferences were had ; the Hall of the
House of Representatives was the scene of contesta
tion ; and every conference was a public exhibition
of parliamentary conflict — a public trial of intellec
tual digladiation, in which each side, represented by
committees of ils ablest men, and in the presence of
both houses, and of assembled multitudes, exerted
itself to the utmost to justify itself, and to put the
other in the wrong, to operate upon public opinion,
govern the impending elections, and acquire the as
cendency in the ensuing legislature. Mr. Van Bu
ren, then a young man, had just entered the Senate
at the commencement of this extraordinary struggle.
He entered it, November 1812 ; and had just dis
tinguished himself in the opposition of his county to
the first national bank charter — in the support of
Vice President Clinton for giving the casting vote
against it — and in his noble support of Governor

APPENDIX. 167
Tompkins, for his Roman energy in proroguing the-
General Assembly, (April, 1812,) which could not
otherwise be prevented from receiving and embody
ing the transmigratory soul of that defunct institu
tion, and giving it a- new existence, in a new place,
.under an altered name and modified form. He was
politically born out of this conflict, and came into the
legislature against the bank, and for the war. He
was the man which the occasion required ; the ready
writer — prompt debater — judicious counsellor ; cour
teous in manners — firm in purpose — inflexible, in
principles. He contrived the measures — brought
forward the bills and reports— delivered the speeches
— and drew the State papers, (especially the power
ful address to the republican voters of the Slate,)
which eventually vanquished the federal party, turn
ed the doubtful scales, and gave the elections of
April, IS 14, to the friends and supporters of Madi
son and the war; an event, the intelligence of which
was received at Washington with an exultation only
inferior to that with which was received the news of
the victory of New Orleans. The new legislature,
now democratic in both branches, was quickly con
vened by Governor Tompkins ; and Mr. Van Buren
had the honor to bring forward, and carry through,
amidst the applauses of patriots, and the denunciation
of the anti-War party, the most energetic war mea
sure ever adopted in our America — the classification

|gg APPENDIX.
bill, as he called it, the conscription bill, as they
called it. < By this bill, the provisions of which, by
a new and summary process, were so contrived as to
act upon property, as well as upon persons, an, army
of twelve thousand state troops were immediately to
be raised ; lo serve for two years, and to be placed
at the disposition of the General Government, The
peace which was signed in the last days of Decern ber,
1814, rendered this great measure of New York in
operative ; but its merit was acknowledged by all
patriots at the time ; the principle of it was adopted
by Mr. Madison's administration ; recommended by
the Secretary at War, Mr.. Monroe, to the Congress
of the United States, and found by that body too
energetic to be passed. To complete his course in
support of the war, and to crown his meritorious la
bors to bring it to a happy close, it- became Mr. Van
Buren's fortune to draw up the vote of thanks of the
greatest State ofthe Union, to the greatest General
which the war had produced — " the thanks of
the JVew York legislature fo Major General Jack
son, his gallant officers and troops, for theh won
derful, and heroic victory, in defence of the grand
emporium ofthe West." Such was the appropriate
conclusion to his patriotic services in support of the
war: services, to be sure, not rivalling in splendor
the heroic achievements of victorious arms; but ser
vices, nevertheless, both honorable, and meritorious

APPENDIX. 169
in their place ; and without which battles cannot be
fought, victories cannot be won, nor countries be
saved. Martial renown, it is true, , be did not ac
quire, nor attempt ; but the want of that fascination
to his name can hardly be objected to him, in these
days, when the, political ascendency of military
chieftains is so pathetically deplored, and when the
entire perils ofthe republic are supposed to be com
pressed into the single danger of a military despotism.
Such is the answer, in brief, and in part, to the
flippant inquiry, What has he done?
The vote in the Senate; for the tariff of 182S, has
sometimes been objected to Mr. Van Buren;- but
with how much ignorance of the truth, let facts at
test. He was the first eminent member of Congress,
north of the Potomac, to open the war, at the right
point, upon that tariff of 182S, then undergoing the
process of incubation through the instrumentality of
a Convention to sit a Harrisburg. His speech at
Albany, in July, 1827, openly characterized that
measure as a political manoeuvre to influence the im
pending presidential election; and the graphic expres
sion, "a measure proceeding more from Me closet
of the politician than from the workshop of the
manufacturer," so opportunely and felicitously
used in that speech, soon became the opinion of the
public, and subsequently received the impress of veri-
15

1>70 APPENDIX.
fication from the abandonment, and the manner of
abandoning, of the whole fabric of the high tariff
policy. Failing to carry, any body into the Presi
dential chair, its doom pronounced by the election
of Jackson and Van Buren,* it was abandoned, as it
had been created, upon a political calculation; and
expired under a fiat emanating, not from the work
shop of the manufacturer, but from the closet of
the politician. — True, that Mr. Van Buren voted
for the tariff of 1828, notwithstanding his speech of
1827; but, equally true, that he voted under instruc
tions from his State Legislature, and in obedience to
the great democratic principle (demos, the people,
kraleo, to govern) which has always formed a distin
guished feature, and a dividing land-mark, between
Ihe two great political parlies which, under whatso
ever name, have always existed, and' still exist, in
our country. — Sitting in thexhair next to him at the
time- of that vote, voting as he did, and upon the
same principle; interchanging opinions without re
serve, or disguise, it comes vvithih the perception of
my own senses to know that he felt great repugnance
to the provisions of that tariff act of '2S, and voted
for it, as I did, in obedience to a principle which we
both hold sacred.
No public man, since the days of Mr. Jefferson
has been pursued with more bitterness than Mr. Van
* Over the liigh tariff champions, Clay arid Sergeant.

APPENDIX. ' 171
Buren; none, not excepting Mr. Jefferson himself,
has ever had to withstand the combined assaults
of so many, and such formidable powers. His prom
inent position, in relation to the next Presidency,
"has drawn upon him the general attack of -other can
didates, — themselves as well as their friends; for in
these days, (how different from former times]) candi
dates for the Presidency are seen to take the field for
themselves, — banging away at their competitors,- —
sounding the notes of their own applause, — and deal
ing in the tricks, and cant, of veteran cross-road, or
alehouse, electioneerers. His old opposition^ and
early declaration (1826) against the Bank of the
United States, has brought upon him the pervading
vengeance of that powerful institution; and subjected
him to the vicarious vituperation of subaltern assail
ants, inflamed with a wrath, not their own, in what
soever spot that terrific institution maintains a branch,
or a press, retains an adherent, or- holds a debtor.
(It. was under the stimulus, and predictions of the
Bank press, that Mr. Van Buren was rejected by
the Senate in 1832.) Yet in all this combination of
powers against him, and in all these unrelenting at
tacks, there is no specification of misconduct. All
is vague, general, indefinite, mysterious. Mr. Craw
ford, the most open; direct, and palpable of public
men, was run down upon the empty cry of t'giant
al intrigue!" a second edition of that cry, now

172

APPENDIX.

stereotyped fqr harder use, is expected to perform
the same service upon Mr. Van Buren; while the
originators and repeaters of the cry, in both instan
ces, have found it equally impossible to specify a
case of intrigue in the life of one, or the other, of
these gentlemen.
Safety fund banks, is another of those cries raised
against him; as if there was any thing in the system
of those banks to make the banking system worse;
or, as if the money, and politics of these safety ftind
banks, were at the service of Mr. Van Buren. On
the contrary, it is not even pretended by his ene
mies that he owns a single dollar of stock in any
one of these banks! and I have been frequently in
formed, from sources entitled to my confidence, that
he does not own a dollar of interest in any bank in
the world! that he has wholly abstained from becom
ing the owner of any bank stock, or taking an in
terest in any company, incorporated by the Legisla
ture, since he first became a member of that body,
above two-and-twenty years ago. And as for the
politics of the safety fund banks, it has been recent
ly and authentically shown that a vast majority of
them are under the control of his most determined
and active political opponents.
No public man has been more opposed to the ex
tension of the banking system than Mr. Van Buren.
The journals of the New-York Legislature show

APPENDIX. 173
that the many years during which he was a promi
nent member of that body, he exerted himself in a
continued and zealous opposition to the increase of
banks; and, upon his elevation to the Chief Magis
tracy of the State, finding' the system of banks so
incorporated with the business and interests of the
People, as to render its abolishment impossible, he
turned his attention to its improvement, and to the es
tablishment of such guards' against fraudulent, or even
unfortunate bankruptcy, as would, under all circum-
stances,proteCt the holders of notes against loss. The
safety fund system was the result of views of this kind;
and if its complete success hitherto (for no bank has
failed under it,) and the continued support and con
fidence of the representatives of two millions of
people, are not sufficient to attest its efficacy, there
is one consideration at least, which should operate
so far in its favor as to save it from the sneers of
those who cannot tell what the safety fund system is;
and that is, the perfect ease and composure with
which the whole of these banks rode out the storm
of Senatorial and United States Bank assault, panic,
and pressure, upon them last winter! This consid
eration should save Mr. Van Buren from the censure
of some people, if it cannot attract their applause.
For the rest, he is a real hard money man ; opposed
to the paper system — in favor of a national currency
of gold — in favor of an adequate silver currency for
15*

174 APPENDIX.
common use — against the small note currency — and
in favor of confining bank notes to their appropriate
sphere and original function, that of large notes for
large transactions, and mercantile operations.
Non-committal, is another of the flippant phrases,
got by rote, and, parroted against Mr. Van Buren.
He never commits himself, say these veracious ob
servers! he never shows his hand, till he sees which
way the game is going! Is this true? Is their any
foundation for it? On the contray, is it not contra
dicted by public and notorious facts? by the uniform
tenor of his entire public life for near a quarter of a
century? To repeat nothing of what has been said of
his opposition to the first Bank, of the United States,;
his support of. Vice President Clinton for giving the
casting vote against the recharter of that institution,
his support of Governor Tompkins, in the extraordi
nary, measure of proroguing the New-York Legisla
ture, to prevent the metempsychosis of the Bank,
and its revivification, in the City of, New-York; to
repeat nothing of all this, and of .his undaunted and
brilliant support ofthe war, from its, beginning to its
end, I -shall refer only to what has bappened in my
own time, and under my own eyes. His. firm, and
devoted, support of Mr. Crawford, in the contest of
1824, when that eminent citizen, prostrate with dis
ease, and inhumanly assailed, seemed to be doomed
to inevitable defeat; was that nofi-committa!? His

APPENDIX. 175
early espousal of General Jackson's cause, after the
election in the House of Representatives, in Februa
ry, 1825, and his steadfast opposition to Mr. Adams's
administration; was that non-committal? His prom
inent stand against the Panama Mission, when that
mission was believed to be irresistibly popular, and
was pressed upon the Senate to crush the opposition
members^ was that also a wily piece of non-commit
tal policy? His declaration against the; Bank of the
United States in the year 1826; was that the conduct
of a man waiting to see the issue before he could
take his side? The removal of the deposits, and the
panic scene of last winter, in which so many, gave
way, and so many others folded their arms until the
struggle was over', while Mr. Van Burenr both by his
own conduct, and that of his friends, gayean undaun
ted support to that masterly stroke ofthe President;
is this also (o be called a non-committal line of eon-
duct, and-the evidence of a temper that^oes the issue
before it decides? The fact is, this ridculous and
nonsensical charge, ;is so unfounded and absurd, so
easily refuted, and not only refuted,. but turned to the
honor and advantageof Mr. Van Buren, that his friends
might have run the risk of being suspected of having
invented it, themselves, and put it into circulation, just
to give-some others of his friends a brilliant opportuni
ty of emblazoning his merits! wereit not that the blind
enmity of his competitors has put the accusation upon

176 APPENDIX.
record, and enabled his friends to exculpate them
selves, and to prove home the original charge against
his undisputed opponents.
For one thing Mr; Van Buren has reason to be
thankful to his enemies; it is, for having began the
war upon him so soon! There is time enough yet for
truth and justice to do their office, and to dispel
every cloud of prejudice which the jealously of ri
vals, the vengeance of the Bank, and the ignorance
of dupes, has hung over his name.
Uhion, harmony, self-denial, concession — every
thing for the cause, nothing for men — should be the
watchword, and motto ofthe democratic party.
Disconnected from the election — a voter, and not
a candidate — having no object in view but to preserve
the union of the democratic party, and to prevent
the administration of the public affairs from relapsing
into hands that would undo every thing ; hands that
would destroy every limit to the constitution, by
latitudinous constructions — which would replunge
the country into debt and taxes, by the reckless, wil
ful, systematic, ungovernable, headlong, stubborn,
support of every wasteful and extravagant expendi
ture — that would re-deliver the country into the
hands of an institution which has proved the scourge
ofthe people — and which would instantly .revive the
dominion of paper money, by arresting the progress
of the gold and silver currency : having no object in

APPENDIX. 177
view but to prevent these calamities, I may be per
mitted to say a word, without incurring the imputa
tion of speaking from interested motives, oh the vital
point of union in the democratic party.
The obligation upon good men to unite, when bad
men combine, is as clear' in politics as it is in morals.
Fidelity to this obligation has, heretofore, saved the
republic, and was never more indispensable to its
safety than at the preSent^noment. The efforts made
under the elder Adams, above thirty years ago, to
subvert the principles of our Government, produced
a union of the productive and burthen-bearing
classes, in every quarter of the republic. Planters,
farmers, laborers, mechanics, (with a slight infusion
from the commercial and professional interests,)
whether on this side or that of the Potomac, whether
east or west of the Alleghany mountains, stood to
gether upon the principle of common right, and the
sense of common danger, and effected that first great
union of the democratic party which achieved the
civil revolution of 1800, arrested the downward
course of the Government, and turned back the na
tional administration to its -republican principles, and
economical habits.
The sagacious mind of Mr. Jefferson well discern
ed, in'the homogeneous elements of which this united
party was composed, the appropriate materials for a
republican governihent ; and fo the permanent con-

178 APPENDIX.
junction of these elements, he constantly looked for
the only insurmountable barrier to the approaches
of oligarchy and aristocracy. Actuated by a zeal
which has never been excelled, for the success and
perpetuity of the democratic cause, he labored assi
duously in his high office, and subsequent retirement,
in his conversations and letters, to cement, sustain,
and perpetuate a party, on the union and indivisi
bility of which he solely relied for the preservation
cf our republic. It was the political power result
ing from this auspicious union, (to say nothing of
several other occasions,) which carried us safely and
triumphantly through the late war ; enabling the
-Government to withstand, on one hand, the paraliz-
ing machinations of a disaffected aristocracy, and to
repel on the other, the hostile attacks of a great na
tion. The first relaxation' of the ties which bound to
gether the democracy of the North and South, East
and West, was followed by the restoration to power
of federal men, and the re-appearance in the admini
stration of federal doctrines, and federal measures. —
The younger Mr. Adams crept into power through
the first breach that was made in the democratic
ranks ; and immediately proclaimed the fundamental
principles which lie at the bottom of ancient federa
lism, and modern whiggism — "the representative
not to be palsied by the will of his constituents;" —

APPENDIX. 170
"constitutional scruples to be solved in practical
blessings;" — two doctrines, one of which would
leave the people without representatives, and the
other would leave the Government without a consti
tution. The ultra federalism of this gentleman's ad
ministration,- fortunately for the country, led to the
re-union.of those homogeneous elements, by the first
union of which the elder Mr. Adams had been eject
ed from power ; and this re-union immediately pro-;
duced a second civil revolution not less vital to the
republic than the first one, of 1S00 ; a revolution to
which we are indebted for the election of a President
who has turned back the Government, so far as in
his power lies, to' the principles of the constitution,
and to the practice of economy- — who has directed
the action of the Government to patriotic objects —
saved the people from the cruel dominion of a heart
less moneyed power — withstood the combined as
saults of the bank, and its allied Statesmen — and
frustrated a conspiracy against the ' liberty- and the
property of the people, but little less atrocious in its
design, and little less disastrous in its intended ef
fects, than that conspiracy from which' Cicero deli
vered the Roman people, and for the frustration of
which he was hailed by Cato,'in the assembled pre
sence 'of all Rom'e^ with the glorious appellation of
Pater Patrise — Father of hi'S country.
The democracy of the four quarters of the union,

JgQ APPENDIX.
now united, victorious, happy and secure, under the
administration of President Jackson ; shall it disband,
and fall to pieces the instant that great man retires ?
This is what federalism hopes, foretelsj promotes,
intrigues, prays, and pants for. Shall this be— and
through whose fault ? Shall sectional prejudices,
lust of power, contention for office, (that bane of
freedom;) shall personal preferences, so amiable in
private life, so weak in politics ; shall these small
causes — these Lilliputian tactics — be suffered to work
the disruption of the democratic union ; to separate
the republican ofthe South and West, from his bro
ther ofthe North and East ? and, in that separation,
to make a new opening for the second restoration
of federalism, (under its alius diclus of whiggism;)
and the permanent enslavement of the producing,
and burthenrbearing classes ofthe community ?
Bear with me if I speak without disguise, and say,
if these things happen, it must be through the fault
of the South and West.
Here are the facts :
It has so happened that, although every Southern
President (four in number) and the only Western
one (through his two terms) has received the warm
support of Northern democracy, yet no Northern
President has ever yet received the support of the
South and West. Hitherto this peculiar, and one
sided result, has left no sting — created no heart

APPENDIX. 181
burnings, in the bosom of Northern democracy, be
cause it was the result, not of sectional bigotry, but
of facts, and principles. The administrations ofthe
two Northern Presidents were alike offensive to
republicans of all quarters, and were put down by
the joint voices of a united Democracy.
But suppose this state of things now to be changed,
and a democratic candidate to be presented from the
North ; ought that candidate to be opposed by the
democracy of the South and West ? Suppose that
candidate to be one coming as near to the Jeffer-
sonian standard, (to say more might seem invidious;
to say that much is enough for the argument,) sup
pose such a candidate to be presented ; ought the de
mocracy of the South and West- to reject him ? —
Could they do it, without showing a disposition to
monopolize the Presidential office? and to go on for
an indefinite succession, after having already possess
ed the office for forty years, out of forty-eight ? —
What would be the effect of such a stand, taken by
the South and West, on the harmony of the demo
cratic party ? Certainly to destroy it! What would
be its effect on the harmony of the States? Cer
tainly to array them against each other ! What
would be its effect on the formation of parties ? Cer
tainly to change it from the -ground of principle* to
the ground of territory ! to substitute a geographical
16

Ig2 APPENDIX.
basis, for the political basis, on which parties now rest!
Could these things be desirable to any friend of pop
ular government ? to any considerate and reflecting
man in the South or West ? On the contrary, should
not the democracy of the South and West, rejoice at
an opportunity to show themselves superior to sec
tional bigotry, devoted to principle, intent upon the
general harmony, inaccessible to intrigue, or to
weakness; and ready to support the cause of' de
mocracy, whether, the representative of the cause
eomes from this, or that side, of a river, or a moun
tain ?— A Southern and a Western man myself, this
is the State of my own feelings, and I rejoice to see
that your convention has acted upon them. And if,
what I have here written, (and which I could not
have written if I had accepted" the most honorable
and gratifying nomination of your convention,) if this
letter, too long for the occasion, but too short for my
feelings ! if it shall Contribute to prevent the disrup
tion of the republican party, and the consequent loss
of all the advantages recovered for the constitution
and the people, Under the administration of President
Jackson, then shall I feel the consolation of having
done a better service to the republic by refusing to
take, than I can ever do, by taking office.
Hoping then, my dear sir, that the nomination of
your convention may have its full effect in favor of

APPENDIX. 183
Mr. Van Buren, and that it may be entirely forgot
ten, so far as it regards myself, except in the grateful
recollections of my own bosom, I remain most truly
and sincerely, yours,
THOMAS H. BENTON.
Maj. Gen. Davis, Manchester, Mississippi.-

Substance of Mr. Van Buren's Speeeh in 1824,
in the Senate of the United States, in favor of
the bill abolishing imprisonment for debt.
[One of the first measures proposed by Mr. Van Buren as a
member 'of the Legislature of New-York, was a bill to abolish im-
prisonmentfor debt, , except in cases of fraud, malicious injury,
and groos breach of trust. Por several years in succession he in
troduced and warmly urged bills to this effect, in the State Sen
ate, and at length suceeded in obtaining the concurrence of that
body; but as the bill failed in the Assembly, this great improve
ment in jurisprudence, was not ultimately adopted in New-York,
until spm.e years after he had been, transferred to the Senate of
the United States. In that body he also distinguished himself,
along with Col. Johnson and others, in endeavouring to efface
this relic of ;barbarism from our national system. The following
is a brief outline of one- of his speeches on the subject. The
jsketch isrgui.te itnperfcct, but will repay an attentive perusal.]
• Mr. Van'Buren, said that his preference for the
bill was founded on an entire conviction, that whilst
it secured to the creditor means for the collection of
his debt, of far greater efficacy than those now al
lowed by law, it would, in all the cases which are

184

APPENDIX.

subject to its operation, effectually remove that foul
Stain upon our jurisprudence — the power of a cred
itor to deprive his debtor of his liberty, on account
of his inability to pay the debt he ows; — a power
which confounds the distinction between virtue and
vice, and which, contrary to the fitness of things,
awards the same measure of punishment for misfor
tune as for fraud, but in its practical operation inflicts
that punishment upon the unfortunate only, whilst
the really guilty laugh at its impotent and unavail
ing provisions.
Mr. V. B. would first consider the effect of the
bill, upon the ability of the creditor to collect his
debt On this point it is to be observed that the
debt can only be paid by property. To reach that,
then, is the only object. Beyond that, it is conced
ed by all, that imprisonment is not only useless but
indefensible. By the existing law, bail is allowed on mesne pro
cess, and jail limits on an execution against the body.
Those ;who have the property you are in pursuit of,
will get bail for both these objeets. This we know.
Now what is the character of such imprisonment and
what are its effects? In this respect, the state laws
govern, In their legislatures, the same disposition
has been manifested, which is every where evinced,
when the subject is acted upon — that is to say — an
entire willingness to surrender the substance, ac-

APPENDIX. |85
compared by a mysterious adherence tothe form.
The jail limits are in some places parts of the town
or city where the jail is situated; in others, the
whole, town or city; and in many cases the whole
county. What can the debtor do who has property
to pay his debts but is destitute pf the inclination and
the honesty to apply Jt? He can take a house with
in the limits, partake ,of the domestic comforts of
his family, and live in such style as his inclination
suggests and his means allow of.
On this point other Senators will speak from their
own observation : according to his experience and
observation, Mr. Van Buren thought that in the
great mass of cases, the existing remedy was wholly
inefficacious, to wrest the property of an unwilling
debtor from his grasp. Let us now look to the ef
fect of the substitute proposed. What is that: sub
stitute? — It is the reverse of the present system. It
makes imprisonment what it should be — a harsh
means to secure: a justifiable end. If the debtor eon-
templates a fraud upon his creditor — if he intends to
betray the trust reposed' in him by withdrawing his
person from the , process necessary to airiveathis
property, he may, on the oath of the creditor, be
arrested, and subjected to close custody, unless he
gives bail that he will be; forthcoming. If a debtor
has practiced a fraud upon his creditor, by concealing
or transferring his property, to evade the payment
16*

186

APPENDIX.

of his debts, or even by so investing it as to exempt
it from execution, the creditor, on an affidavit of his
suspicion only, may arrest him; may subject the
fact to judicial examination, and hold him to bail for
his appearance, to abide the result of such examina
tion. He may, by the amendment ofthe gentleman
from Delaware, examine the- debtor on oath, and
confront him with his trustees" and confederates, and
if the fact is found against him, by a jury of his
country, his condition is changed, and from the
mere delinquency of a debtor, his situation becomes
assimilated, in a great degree, to that ofthe felon. —
And lthe treatment he thereafter receives, is as it
ought" to be, of a similar character.
Instead of residing in the bosom of his family, riot
ing on the fruits of his fraud, whilst his more honest
creditor and his family are deprived of their bread
Jby their misplaced confidence, he will be stripped of
these indulgences; he will be torn from the parental
board which he contaminates, and from a society
which he corrupts, and placed where he ought to be,
in the walls of a prison, under the restraints of grates
and bars. The character of fair dealing between
man and man, is promoted, when the guilty are pu
nished. Mr. V. B. appealed to every man of reflec
tion to tell him whether he was not satisfied that
means like these will go further to secure the real

APPENDIX. 187
interests of the creditor, than the pitiful and intricate
machinery of the present system ?
In addition to this is the right given by the pro
posed bill to imprison, on evidence of the conceal
ment of the fraudulent debtor. This feature is desi
rable— ^-not only because it secures the punishment
of the guilty, but because it markes the distinc
tion between fraud and misfortune, the great point
which has always been- desired by the friends of
humanity. ' It is not the privations of the fraudu
lent, which have so constantly excited the disciples
of philanthropy. It never has been any where dis
puted, that the fraudulent debtor deserved all, and
more than all, the stipulated rigor ofthe present law.
But it has been because what he deserved, had been
heaped upon the head of the innocent and the un
fortunate, that so much sympathy had been excited.
That distinction, if the bill passes, will be made, so
far as the courts ofthe United States are concerned.
Those high grades of fraud which add to the breach
of moral obligation ; the violation of public trust,
(being the cases of public officers embezzling public
monies,) those of a second grade, which consists in
the violation of trusts reposed by those who have
gone to their long account, and which are practised
to the injury of the widow and orphan, (the case of
embezzlement by executors, administrators, and guar
dians) and the simple frauds practiced by man upon

]88 APPENDIX.
his,. fellow man, when dealing at arms length, all
when duly ascertained and proved will be, punished
by the provisions of this bill as they deserve. In
such imprisonment all will acquiesce; by it, the
claims of justicewill be satisfied, and no moral feel
ing violated. On a man imprisoned forsuch cause,
the community would look-with feelings of indiffer
ence. They might pity the depravity, and despise
the meanness of spirit, which had brought him to that
condition; but real sympathy would, in such cases, be
strangers to theif bosoms, But imprisonment of the
unfortunate debtor, whether it consists of many or
a few, ought every where to be regarded as an
outrage upon the moral sense of a civilized and chris
tian community. Such are the provisions of the
bill on the table; and such the additional remedies
given to the creditor.
Now what are the rights of the creditor surren
dered? — they consist —
1st. In the privilege of arbitrary arrest or mesne
process. 2d. In arbitrary imprisonment on execution.
As to the first. By the law as it will stand if the
bill passes, the creditor, on his own jaffidavit, of the
existence ofthe debt, and apprehension of departure,
may arrest. By the law, as it how S!lands,in most of
the .states, the creditor may, without proof of the
debt, hold the person whom heehooses; to consider

APPENDIX. 189
his debtor, to bail, in any amount he pleases, and
imprison him at least for a season, unless he obtains
bail. Is this right ? Contrast it with proceedings
for crime. No man can be arrested for any crime,
not even for the lowest, without previous affidavit of
crime committed, and suspicion,, at least, as to the
author, and after arrest, he cannot be committed
without previous and full examination of the circum
stances upon which that suspicion rests. But in a
civil case, a man may be arrested and committed for
trial, at the will and pleasure of his fellow citizens
Is there not a repugnance in these provisions as re
volting to our feeling, as it is destructive of sound
policy ? Will any man believe, that if any legisla
ture of any country were to sit down to form a sys
tem combining both subjects, one involving such
-discrepancy would be adopted ? They surely would
not. Mr. V. B. put the question to honorable Sena
tors, if the whole matter was before you, and you
were now, for the first time, to act upon it, would
you do so? Every honorable member will at once
answer that he would not, and still we are content to
acquiesce in what is, because it has been, and to con
tinue the toleration of abuses plain and manifest as
the meridian sun, rather than give ourselves the trou
ble to break the fetters by which sturdy habit has
bound us.
As to the second. The right of arbitrary imprr-

190 APPENDIX.
sonment on the execution, without fraud or conceal
ment proved. Upon whom does it fall? Mr. V. B.
had already shown that those who have property will
get bail. It is therefore the poor and friendless only
who feel its rigor. Its inhumanity and its injustice
as it bears. upon them, are too manifest lo need eluci
dation. All acquiesces or, at least, seem to do so, in
this view of the case. In a word, it is punishment
without guilt, -which no man will approve. It is
punishment without expiation— punishment at which
the best feelings of our nature revolt. In criminal
cases', by the lapse of time, the measure of personal
suffering becomes full, and the claims of public jus^
lice are satisfied. Not so with the imprisoned debtor.
The sun rises and the sun sets ; but his condition re
mains the same, and if death sets his' spirit free, the
creditor not only succeeds to his dead body, but to
whatever estate accident may have devolved upon
him. Imprisonment is not only of. such character-
and consequence to the unfortunate debtor himself,
but its injurious consequences, without benefitting the
creditor, embrace the .still more innocehtfamily of
the debtor, by depriving them of all means of sup
port. — More and ; worse than this— operate as a pub
lic injury, by preparing its subject for the commis
sion of crime, by destroying his pride.of character,
and by corrupting his principles; so that when he is
again let loose upon society, by the humanity of. the

APPENDIX. 19£
insolvent laws, or the relenting disposition of the
creditor, he comes forth a confirmed misanthropist,
if not a ready depredator on the property of others.
Viewed therefore in whatever light it may be, the
imprisonment of the unfortunate debtor is a matter
of unmixed mischief, which ought no where to be
tolerated, which is no wliere justified in terms,
though it is supported in substance.
Mr. Van Buren said he would now consider the
character. and effect of the imprisonment now allow
ed. . What are its advantages? — It is justified as a
means to compel the debtor to disgorge concealed
property. Mr. V. B. had already shown that as to
him who has property to disgorge, and can therefore
secure the privilege of the limits, the measure is
wholly inoperative.
Upon those who have no property, it is not only
wholly ineffectual, but very oppressive. It is pun
ishing first and enquiring afterwards. It is inflict- .
ing severe chastisement for a supposed injury to an
individual, constituting the injured party both judge
and jury. It partakes of the character of the rack,
putting its victim to the torture, without knowing
whether he has any thing to confess or not. It is
said that to repeal the old law, would deprive the
creditor of one of his securities. As the bill now
stands, with its operation confined to contracts which

192 APPENDIX.
are made after the fourth of July next, it cannot be
said to deprive the creditor of any security which
he possessed, at the time of entering into the con
tract. It can therefore only be objectionable, if ob
jectionable at all, because it will prevent the taking
of future securities of that character. Mr. V. B.
said, that with him the greatest merit of the bill was
that it produces that effect. Mr. V. B. agreed fully
with a distinguished writer, who says, that he who
trusts, with a design to sue, is criminal by the act.
What is it?— Strip the transaction ofthe drapery of
courts, officers, and forms of proceeding, which are
but the instruments ofthe law, to give effect to the
contract as made between the parties, and suppose
the contract to express all that by the law, as it stands,
it implies. It would then provide that if the debtor
failed on the appointed- day to pay the debt he had
contracted, it should be lawful for the creditor to tear
him from his family, and to restrain him of his liber
ty, by confining him within prison walls, whether
his inability to pay arose from misfortune or fault, and
whilst so confined to leave him to be sustained by his
own resources, or if he had none by the charity of his
fellow-citizens, until he should be discharged by
their humanity^ or the humanity of the laws of his
country. Suppose a contract thus actually written
0Qt — what would a christian community say to such

APPENDIX. 193
a bargain ? In what portion of this country would
the man who had dared to enter into it, venture to
expose his person to the hisses of his fellow-citizens?
And still this is but the unvarnished statement of a
transaction which, when disguised by the interven
tion of courts, and consecrated by immemorial usage,
receives the vigorous support of some of the best and
wisest men that our country- produces. Sir, said
Mr. V. B. I am for breaking up contracts ofthis
character. I would dissolve this alliance which is
supposed to exist between the counting house and the
jail. I would compel men to conduct their dealings
on higher and better principles, and to look to belter
ground's of reliance, than to bailiffs and turnkeys. —
I would have them depend upon the character or
property of those with whom they deal; and rest as
sured the best results would flow from the establish
ment of such a system. It cannot be necessary to
state, that in all dealings upon credit, the terms of the
contract will be greatly controlled by the nature of
the security. What must be the terms of those bar
gains which mainly depend upon a security of this
description ? Can they be otherwise than the opera
tions of griping avarice upon helpless poverty, or of
cupidity and cunning upon improvident and danger-
bus speculations ? They must, in the nature pf
things, be of this character. If this system be abo.-
17

194 APPENDIX.
lighed, those who desire credit will pursue a diffe
rent course to obtain it. They will seek to inspire
confidence by industry, probity, and punctuality. —
By this course they will be sure to obtain it, and the
credit they thus obtain will elevate their character,
increase their happiness, and benefit the community.
It is further objected that the alteration of the sys
tem "will impair credit. Mr. V. B. had already
stated what species of credit it must -necessarily be,
which would be thus impaired, and how little objec
tion exists against putting a check upon such credit.
But what reason is there to believe that this appre
hended effect upon credit, would be produced. In
this, as in all other cases, speculation must yield to
fact, or you are led into error.
The suggestions of experience must be listened to.
How stands the fact ? What is the condition of the
credit most prevalent in the country ; that on which
nine-tenths ofthe every day business of the country
rests ? It is bank paper. And what security does
the holder of a bank note ask or receive, when he
takes it ? The right to imprison the drawer ? No !
he never thinks of it. He will sell his estate, and
take in payment the notes of associated individuals.,
without its ever occurring to him, that the right to
imprison the drawer, is not secured to him; but if he
sells a horse, or a cow, and takes the note of a single

APPENDIX. 195
individual, he deems it a matter of vital importance,
that his lien upon the body of debtors should be pro
tected by the strongest statutes. When you pay an
annual premium to secure your houses against the
flames, or your vessels against winds and waves, do
you think of the right to imprison ? No. But when
we dole out a miserable pittance of their cargo, this
hankering after corporeal security posseses us. Such
are the miserable contradictions into which we are
led by the blind force of habit. But suppose a
check is put to credit. Is it certain that such a re
sult would be an evil? Mr. V. B. thought not. —
He thought, on the contrary, that much of the dis
tress which has prevailed, and in some places conti
nues to- prevail, arose from the unrestrained credit
which has been given in this country. It has led to
extravagancies in every form. In the manner of
living, in buildings, in equipages, in dress and orna
ments, in every thing, you have seen its. pernicious
influence. The frugal habits of our ancestors who
dealt in the property they actually had, have given
way to the prodigality of those who deal in the ideal
capital which credit has given them, and the conse
quence has been that we have lost that independence
our ancestors possessed. Without enlarging upon the
subject, Mr. V. B. was satisfied, that a check to cre
dit, so far from being objectionable, was desirable.

196 APPENDIX.
We have seen that we cannot check the improvi
dence of the debtor ; let us therefore endeavor to re
strain the cupidity of the creditor. In every point
of view, therefore, in which he had been able to
consider the subject, Mr. V. B. was decidedly in fa
vor of the bill; and he trusted it would receive the
approbation of Congress, and ofthe country.

A CARD.
Democratic friends in all parts of the
Union disposed to circulate this work, are
informed, that all orders directed to the pub
lisher for copies either in sheets or bound,
(postpaid,) will be promptly attended to.
WM. EMMONS.
Washingion, Feb. 1S35.

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