Project Gutenberg's Thirty Years' View (Vol. II of 2), by Thomas Hart Benton This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Thirty Years' View (Vol. II of 2) or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850 Author: Thomas Hart Benton Release Date: February 5, 2014 [EBook #44837] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THIRTY YEARS' VIEW (VOL. II OF 2) *** Produced by Curtis Weyant, Julia Neufeld and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) titlepage frontispiece J. Rodgers, sc. View of the Senate of the United States in Session. MR. BENTON ON THE FLOOR. from a large Engraving Published by E. Anthony New York, D Appleton & Co. THIRTY YEARS' VIEW; OR, A HISTORY OF THE WORKING OF THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT FOR THIRTY YEARS, FROM 1820 TO 1850. CHIEFLY TAKEN FROM THE CONGRESS DEBATES, THE PRIVATE PAPERS OF GENERAL JACKSON, AND THE SPEECHES OF EX-SENATOR BENTON, WITH HIS ACTUAL VIEW OF MEN AND AFFAIRS: WITH HISTORICAL NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS, AND SOME NOTICES OF EMINENT DECEASED COTEMPORARIES. BY A SENATOR OF THIRTY YEARS. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 1, 3, AND 5 BOND STREET. LONDON: 16 LITTLE BRITAIN. 1883. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1856, by D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. CHAP. PAGE I. Inauguration of Mr. Van Buren 7 II. Financial and Monetary Crisis—General Suspension of Specie Payments by the Banks 9 III. Preparation for the Distress and Suspension 11 IV. Progress of the Distress, and Preliminaries for the Suspension 16 V. Actual Suspension of the Banks—Propagation of the Alarm 20 VI. Transmigration of the Bank of the United States from a Federal to a State Institution 23 VII. Effects of the Suspension—General Derangement of Business—Suppression and Ridicule of the Specie Currency—Submission of the People—Call of Congress 26 VIII. Extra Session—Message, and Recommendations 28 IX. Attacks on the Message—Treasury Notes 32 X. Retention of the Fourth Deposit Instalment 36 XI. Independent Treasury and Hard Money Payments 39 XII. Attempted Resumption of Specie Payments 42 XIII. Bankrupt Act against Banks 43 XIV. Bankrupt Act for Banks—Mr. Benton's Speech 45 XV. Divorce of Bank and State—Mr. Benton's Speech 56 XVI. First Regular Session under Mr. Van Buren's Administration—His Message 65 XVII. Pennsylvania Bank of the United States—Its Use of the Defunct Notes of the expired Institution 67 XVIII. Florida Indian War—Its Origin and Conduct 70 XIX. Florida Indian War—Historical Speech of Mr. Benton 72 XX. Resumption of Specie Payments by the New York Banks 83 XXI. Resumption of Specie Payments—Historical Notices—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extracts 85 XXII. Mr. Clay's Resolution in Favor of Resuming Banks, and Mr. Benton's Remarks upon it 91 XXIII. Resumption by the Pennsylvania United States Bank; and others which followed her lead 94 XXIV. Proposed Annexation of Texas—Mr. Preston's Motion and Speech—Extracts 94 XXV. Debate between Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun, Personal and Political, and leading to Expositions and Vindications of Public Conduct which belong to History 97 XXVI. Debate between Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun—Mr. Clay's Speech—Extracts 101 XXVII. Debate between Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun—Mr. Calhoun's Speech—Extracts 103 XXVIII. Debate between Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun—Rejoinders by each 112 XXIX. Independent Treasury, or, Divorce of Bank and State—Passed in the Senate—Lost in the House of Representatives 124 XXX. Public Lands—Graduation of Price—Pre-emption System—Taxation when Sold 125 XXXI. Specie Basis for Banks—One-third of the Amount of Liabilities the Lowest Safe Proportion— Speech of Mr. Benton on the Recharter of the District Banks 128 XXXII. The North and the South—Comparative Prosperity—Southern Discontent—Its True Cause 130 XXXIII. Progress of the Slavery Agitation—Mr. Calhoun's Approval of the Missouri Compromise 134 XXXIV. Death of Commodore Rodgers, and Notice of his Life and Character 144 XXXV. Anti-duelling Act 148 XXXVI. Slavery Agitation in the House of Representatives, and Retiring of Southern Members from the Hall 150 XXXVII. Abolitionists Classified by Mr. Clay—Ultras Denounced—Slavery Agitators North and South Equally denounced as Dangerous to the Union 154 XXXVIII. Bank of the United States—Resignation of Mr. Biddle—Final Suspension 157 XXXIX. First Session Twenty-sixth Congress—Members—Organization—Political Map of the House 158 XL. First Session of the Twenty-sixth Congress—President's Message 162 XLI. Divorce of Bank and State—Divorce decreed 164 XLII. Florida Armed Occupation Bill—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extracts 167 XLIII. Assumption of the State Debts 171 XLIV. Assumption of the State Debts—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extracts 172 XLV. Death of General Samuel Smith, of Maryland; and Notice of his Life and Character 176 XLVI. Salt—the Universality of its Supply—Mystery and Indispensability of its Use—Tyranny and Impiety of its Taxation—Speech of Mr. Benton—Extracts 176 XLVII. Pairing off 178 XLVIII. Tax on Bank Notes—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extracts 179 XLIX. Liberation of Slaves belonging to American Citizens in British Colonial Ports 182 L. Resignation of Senator Hugh Lawson White of Tennessee—His Death—Some Notice of his Life and Character 184 LI. Death of Ex-Senator Hayne of South Carolina—Notice of his Life and Character 186 LII. Abolition of Specific Duties by the Compromise Act of 1833—Its Error, and Loss to the Revenue, shown by Experience 189 LIII. Refined Sugar and Rum Drawbacks—their Abuse under the Compromise Act of 1833—Mr. Benton's Speech 190 LIV. Fishing Bounties and Allowances, and their Abuse—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extracts 194 LV. Expenditures of the Government 198 LVI. Expenses of the Government, Comparative and Progressive, and Separated from Extraordinaries 200 LVII. Death of Mr. Justice Barbour of the Supreme Court, and Appointment of Peter V. Daniel, Esq., in his place 202 LVIII. Presidential Election 203 LIX. Conclusion of Mr. Van Buren's Administration 207 LX. Inauguration of President Harrison—His Cabinet—Call of Congress—and Death 209 LXI. Accession of the Vice-President to the Presidency 211 LXII. Twenty-seventh Congress—First Session—List of Members, and Organization of the House 213 LXIII. First Message of Mr. Tyler to Congress, and Mr. Clay's Programme of Business 215 LXIV. Repeal of the Independent Treasury Act 219 LXV. Repeal of the Independent Treasury Act—Mr. Benton's Speech 220 LXVI. The Bankrupt Act—What it was—and how it was Passed 229 LXVII. Bankrupt Bill—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extracts 234 LXVIII. Distribution of the Public Land Revenue, and Assumption of the State Debts 240 LXIX. Institution of the Hour Rule in Debate in the House of Representatives—Its Attempt, and Repulse in the Senate 247 LXX. Bill for the Relief of Mrs. Harrison, Widow of the late President of the United States 257 LXXI. Mrs. Harrison's Bill—Speech of Mr. Benton—Extracts 262 LXII. Abuse of the Naval Pension System—Vain attempt to Correct it 265 LXIII. Home Squadron, and Aid to Private Steam Lines 271 LXXIV. Recharter of the District Banks—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extracts 273 LXXV. Revolt in Canada—Border Sympathy—Firmness of Mr. Van Buren—Public Peace Endangered —and Preserved—Case of McLeod 276 LXXVI. Destruction of the Caroline—Arrest and Trial of McLeod—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extracts 291 LXXVII. Refusal of the House to allow Recess Committees 304 LXXVIII. Reduction of the Expense of Foreign Missions by reducing the Number 305 LXXIX. Infringement of the Tariff Compromise Act of 1833—Correction of Abuses in Drawbacks 307 LXXX. National Bank—First Bill 317 LXXXI. Second Fiscal Agent—Bill Presented—Passed—Disapproved by the President 331 LXXXII. Secret History of the Second Bill for a Fiscal Agent, called Fiscal Corporation—Its Origin with Mr. Tyler—Its Progress through Congress under his Lead—Its Rejection under his Veto 342 LXXXIII. The Veto Message hissed in the Senate Galleries 350 LXXXIV. Resignation of Mr. Tyler's Cabinet 353 LXXXV. Repudiation of Mr. Tyler by the Whig Party—their Manifesto—Counter Manifesto by Mr. Caleb Cushing 357 LXXXVI. The Danish Sound Dues 362 LXXXVII. Last Notice of the Bank of the United States 365 LXXXVIII. End and Results of the Extra Session 372 LXXXIX. First Annual Message of President Tyler 373 XC. Third Plan for a Fiscal Agent, called Exchequer Board—Mr. Benton's Speech against it— Extracts 376 XCI. The Third Fiscal Agent, entitled a Board of Exchequer 394 XCII. Attempted Repeal of the Bankrupt Act 395 XCIII. Death of Lewis Williams, of North Carolina, and Notice of his Life and Character 396 XCIV. The Civil List Expenses—the Contingent Expenses of Congress—and the Revenue Collection Expense 397 XCV. Resignation and Valedictory of Mr. Clay 398 XCVI. Military Department—Progress of its Expense 404 XCVII. Paper Money Payments—Attempted by the Federal Government—Resisted—Mr. Benton's Speech 406 XCVIII. Case of the American Brig Creole with Slaves for New Orleans, carried by Mutiny into Nassau, and the Slaves Liberated 409 XCIX. Distress of the Treasury—Three Tariff Bills, and Two Vetoes—End of the Compromise Act 413 C. Mr. Tyler and the Whig Party—Confirmed Separation 417 CI. Lord Ashburton's Mission, and the British Treaty 420 CII. British Treaty—The Pretermitted Subjects—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extracts 426 CIII. British Treaty—Northeastern Boundary Article—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extracts 438 CIV. British Treaty—Northwestern Boundary—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extracts 441 CV. British Treaty—Extradition Article—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extract 444 CVI. British Treaty—African Squadron for the Suppression of the Slave Trade—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extract 449 CVII. Expense of the Navy—Waste of Money—Necessity of a Naval Peace Establishment, and of a Naval Policy 452 CVIII. Expenses of the Navy—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extracts 456 CIX. Message of the President at the Opening of the Regular Session of 1842-'3 460 CX. Repeal of the Bankrupt Act—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extracts 463 CXI. Military Academy and Army Expenses 466 CXII. Emigration to the Columbia River, and Foundation of its Settlement by American Citizens— Frémont's First Expedition 468 CXIII. Lieutenant Frémont's First Expedition—Speech, and Motion of Senator Linn 478 CXIV. Oregon Colonization Act—Mr. Benton's Speech 479 CXV. Navy Pay and Expenses—Proposed Reduction—Speech of Mr. Meriwether, of Georgia— Extracts 482 CXVI. Eulogy on Senator Linn—Speeches of Mr. Benton and Mr. Crittenden 485 CXVII. The Coast Survey—Attempt to diminish its Expense, and to expedite its Completion by restoring the Work to Naval and Military Officers 487 CXVIII. Death of Commodore Porter, and Notice of his Life and Character 491 CXIX. Refunding of General Jackson's Fine 499 CXX. Repeal of the Bankrupt Act—Attack of Mr. Cushing on Mr. Clay—Its Rebuke 503 CXXI. Naval Expenditures and Administration—Attempts at Reform—Abortive 507 CXXII. Chinese Mission—Mr. Cushing's Appointment and Negotiation 510 CXXIII. The Alleged Mutiny, and the Executions (as they were called) on Board the United States man- of-war, Somers 522 CXXIV. Retirement of Mr. Webster from Mr. Tyler's Cabinet 562 CXXV. Death of William H. Crawford 562 CXXVI. First Session of the Twenty-eighth Congress—List of Members—Organization of the House of Representatives 563 CXXVII. Mr. Tyler's Second Annual Message 565 CXXVIII. Explosion of the Great Gun on Board the Princeton man-of-war—the Killed and Wounded 567 CXXIX. Reconstruction of Mr. Tyler's Cabinet 569 CXXX. Death of Senator Porter, of Louisiana—Eulogium of Mr. Benton 569 CXXXI. Naval Academy, and Naval Policy of the United States 571 CXXXII. The Home Squadron—Its Inutility and Expense 575 CXXXIII. Professor Morse—His Electro-Magnetic Telegraph 578 CXXXIV. Frémont's Second Expedition 579 CXXXV. Texas Annexation—Secret Origin—Bold Intrigue for the Presidency 581 CXXXVI. Democratic Convention for the Nomination of Presidential Candidates 591 CXXXVII. Presidential—Democratic National Convention—Mr. Calhoun's Refusal to Submit his Name to it—His Reasons 596 CXXXVIII. Annexation of Texas—Secret Negotiation—Presidential Intrigue—Schemes of Speculation and Disunion 599 CXXXIX. Texas Annexation Treaty—First Speech of Mr. Benton against it—Extracts 600 CXL. Texas or Disunion—Southern Convention—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extracts 613 CXLI. Texas or Disunion—Violent Demonstrations in the South—Southern Convention proposed 616 CXLII. Rejection of the Annexation Treaty—Proposal of Mr. Benton's Plan 619 CXLIII. Oregon Territory—Conventions of 1818 and 1828—Joint Occupation—Attempted Notice to Terminate it 624 CXLIV. Presidential Election 625 CXLV. Amendment of the Constitution—Election of President and Vice-President—Mr. Benton's Plan 626 CXLVI. The President and the Senate—Want of Concord—Numerous Rejections of Nominations 629 CXLVII. Mr. Tyler's Last Message to Congress 631 CXLVIII. Legislative Admission of Texas into the Union as a State 632 CXLIX. The War with Mexico—Its Cause—Charged on the Conduct of Mr. Calhoun—Mr. Benton's Speech 639 CL. Mr. Polk's Inaugural Address—Cabinet 649 CLI. Mr. Blair and the Globe superseded as the Administration Organ—Mr. T. Ritchie and the Daily Union substituted 650 CLII. Twenty-ninth Congress—List of Members—First Session—Organization of the House 655 CLIII. Mr. Polk's First Annual Message to Congress 657 CLIV. Death of John Forsyth 659 CLV. Admission of Florida and Iowa 660 CLVI. Oregon Treaty—Negotiations commenced, and broken off 660 CLVII. Oregon Question—Notice to abrogate the Article in the Treaty for a Joint Occupation—The President denounced in the Senate for a supposed Leaning to the Line of Forty-nine 662 CLVIII. Oregon Territorial Government—Boundaries and History of the Country—Frazer's River— Treaty of Utrecht—Mr. Benton's Speech—Extracts 667 CLIX. Oregon Joint Occupation—Notice authorized for terminating it—British Government offers the Line of 49—Quandary of the Administration—Device—Senate Consulted—Treaty made and Ratified 673 CLX. Meeting of the Second Session of the 29th Congress—President's Message—Vigorous Prosecution of the War Recommended—Lieutenant-general proposed to be created 677 CLXI. War with Mexico—The War Declared, and an Intrigue for Peace commenced the same Day 679 CLXII. Bloodless Conquest of New Mexico—How it was Done—Subsequent Bloody Insurrection, and its Cause 682 CLXIII. Mexican War—Doniphan's Expedition—Mr. Benton's Salutatory Address, St. Louis, Missouri 684 CLXIV. Frémont's Third Expedition, and Acquisition of California 688 CLXV. Pause in the War—Sedentary Tactics—"Masterly Inactivity" 693 CLXVI. The Wilmot Proviso—Or, Prohibition of Slavery in the Territories—Its Inutility and Mischief 694 CLXVII. Mr. Calhoun's Slavery Resolutions, and Denial of the Right of Congress to Prohibit Slavery in a Territory 696 CLXVIII. The Slavery Agitation—Disunion—Key to Mr. Calhoun's Policy—Forcing the Issue—Mode of Forcing it 698 CLXIX. Death of Silas Wright, Ex-Senator and Ex-Governor of New York 700 CLXX. Thirtieth Congress—First Session—List of Members—President's Message 702 CLXXI. Death of Senator Barrow—Mr. Benton's Eulogium 706 CLXXII. Death of Mr. Adams 707 CLXXIII. Downfall of Santa Anna—New Government in Mexico—Peace Negotiations—Treaty of Peace 709 CLXXIV. Oregon Territorial Government—Anti-Slavery Ordinance of 1787 applied to Oregon Territory —Missouri Compromise Line of 1820, and the Texas Annexation Renewal of it in 1845, affirmed 711 CLXXV. Mr. Calhoun's New Dogma on Territorial Slavery—Self-extension of the Slavery Part of the Constitution to Territories 713 CLXXVI. Court-martial of Lieutenant-colonel Frémont 715 CLXXVII. Frémont's Fourth Expedition, and Great Disaster in the Snows at the Head of the Rio Grande del Norte—Subsequent Discovery of the Pass he sought 719 CLXXVIII. Presidential Election 722 CLXXIX. Last Message of Mr. Polk 724 CLXXX. Financial Working of the Government under the Hard Money System 726 CLXXXI. Coast Survey—Belongs to the Navy—Converted into a Separate Department—Expense and Interminability—Should be done by the Navy, as in Great Britain—Mr. Benton's Speech— Extract 726 CLXXXII. Proposed Extension of the Constitution of the United States to the Territories, with a View to make it carry Slavery into California, Utah and New Mexico 729 CLXXXIII. Progress of the Slavery Agitation—Meeting of Members from the Slave States—Inflammatory Address to the Southern States 733 CLXXXIV. Inauguration of President Taylor—His Cabinet 737 CLXXXV. Death of Ex-President Polk 737 CLXXXVI. Thirty-first Congress—First Session—List of Members—Organization of the House 738 CLXXXVII. First and only Annual Message of President Taylor 740 CLXXXVIII. Mr. Clay's Plan of Compromise 742 CLXXXIX. Extension of the Missouri Compromise Line to the Pacific Ocean—Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, and Mr. Clay—The Wilmot Proviso 743 CXC. Mr. Calhoun's Last Speech—Dissolution of the Union proclaimed unless the Constitution was amended, and a Dual Executive appointed—one President from the Slave States and one from the Free States 744 CXCI. Death of Mr. Calhoun—His Eulogium by Senator Butler 747 CXCII. Mr. Clay's Plan of Slavery Compromise—Mr. Benton's Speech Against it—Extracts 749 CXCIII. Death of President Taylor 765 CXCIV. Inauguration and Cabinet of Mr. Fillmore 767 CXCV. Rejection of Mr. Clay's Plan of Compromise 768 CXCVI. The Admission of the State of California—Protest of Southern Senators—Remarks upon it by Mr. Benton 769 CXCVII. Fugitive Slaves; Ordinance of 1787—The Constitution—Act of 1793—Act of 1850 773 CXCVIII. Disunion Movements—Southern Press at Washington—Southern Convention at Nashville— Southern Congress called for by South Carolina and Mississippi 780 CXCIX. The Supreme Court—Its Judges, Clerk, Attorney-Generals, Reporters and Marshals during the Period treated of in this Volume 787 CC. Conclusion 787 THIRTY YEARS' VIEW. ADMINISTRATION OF MARTIN VAN BUREN. CHAPTER I. INAUGURATION OF MR. VAN BUREN. March the 4th of this year, Mr. Van Buren was inaugurated President of the United States with the usual formalities, and conformed to the usage of his predecessors in delivering a public address on the occasion: a declaration of general principles, and an indication of the general course of the administration, were the tenor of his discourse: and the doctrines of the democratic school, as understood at the original formation of parties, were those professed. Close observance of the federal constitution as written—no latitudinarian constructions permitted, or doubtful powers assumed—faithful adherence to all its compromises—economy in the administration of the government—peace, friendship and fair dealing with all foreign nations—entangling alliances with none: such was his political chart: and with the expression of his belief that a perseverance in this line of foreign policy, with an increased strength, tried valor of the [7] people, and exhaustless resources of the country, would entitle us to the good will of nations, protect our national respectability, and secure us from designed aggression from foreign powers. His expressions and views on this head deserve to be commemorated, and to be considered by all those into whose hands the management of the public affairs may go; and are, therefore, here given in his own words: "Our course of foreign policy has been so uniform and intelligible, as to constitute a rule of executive conduct which leaves little to my discretion, unless, indeed, I were willing to run counter to the lights of experience, and the known opinions of my constituents. We sedulously cultivate the friendship of all nations, as the condition most compatible with our welfare, and the principles of our government. We decline alliances, as adverse to our peace. We desire commercial relations on equal terms, being ever willing to give a fair equivalent for advantages received. We endeavor to conduct our intercourse with openness and sincerity; promptly avowing our objects, and seeking to establish that mutual frankness which is as beneficial in the dealings of nations as of men. We have no disposition, and we disclaim all right, to meddle in disputes, whether internal or foreign, that may molest other countries; regarding them, in their actual state, as social communities, and preserving a strict neutrality in all their controversies. Well knowing the tried valor of our people, and our exhaustless resources, we neither anticipate nor fear any designed aggression; and, in the consciousness of our own just conduct, we feel a security that we shall never be called upon to exert our determination, never to permit an invasion of our rights, without punishment or redress." These are sound and encouraging views, and in adherence to them, promise to the United States a career of peace and prosperity comparatively free from the succession of wars which have loaded so many nations with debt and taxes, filled them with so many pensioners and paupers, created so much necessity for permanent fleets and armies; and placed one half the population in the predicament of living upon the labor of the other. The stand which the United States had acquired among nations by the vindication of her rights against the greatest powers—and the manner in which all unredressed aggressions, and all previous outstanding injuries, even of the oldest date, had been settled up and compensated under the administration of President Jackson—authorized this language from Mr. Van Buren; and the subsequent conduct of nations has justified it. Designed aggression, within many years, has come from no great power: casual disagreements and accidental injuries admit of arrangement: weak neighbors can find no benefit to themselves in wanton aggression, or refusal of redress for accidental wrong: isolation (a continent, as it were, to ourselves) is security against attack; and our railways would accumulate rapid destruction upon any invader. These advantages, and strict adherence to the rule, to ask only what is right, and submit to nothing wrong, will leave us (we have reason to believe) free from hostile collision with foreign powers, free from the necessity of keeping up war establishments of army and navy in time of peace, with our great resources left in the pockets of the people (always the safest and cheapest national treasuries), to come forth when public exigencies require them, and ourselves at liberty to pursue an unexampled career of national and individual prosperity. One single subject of recently revived occurrence in our domestic concerns, and of portentous apparition, admitted a departure from the generalities of an inaugural address, and exacted from the new President the notice of a special declaration: it was the subject of slavery—an alarming subject of agitation near twenty years before—quieted by the Missouri compromise—resuscitated in 1835, as shown in previous chapters of this View; and apparently taking its place as a permanent and most pestiferous element in our presidential elections and federal legislation. It had largely mixed with the presidential election of the preceding year: it was expected to mix with ensuing federal legislation: and its evil effect upon the harmony and stability of the Union justified the new President in making a special declaration in relation to it, and even in declaring beforehand the cases of slavery legislation in which he would apply the qualified negative with which the constitution invested him over the acts of Congress. Under this sense of duty and propriety the inaugural address presented this passage: "The last, perhaps the greatest, of the prominent sources of discord and disaster supposed to lurk in our political condition, was the institution of domestic slavery. Our forefathers were deeply impressed with the delicacy of this subject, and they treated it with a forbearance so evidently wise, that, in spite of every sinister foreboding, it never, until the present period disturbed the tranquillity of our common country. Such a result is sufficient evidence of the justice and the patriotism of their course; it is evidence not to be mistaken, that an adherence to it can prevent all embarrassment from this, as well as from every other anticipated cause of difficulty or danger. Have not recent events made it obvious to the slightest reflection, that the least deviation from this spirit of forbearance is injurious to every interest, that of humanity included? Amidst the violence of excited passions, this generous and fraternal feeling has been sometimes disregarded; and, standing as I now do before my countrymen in this high place of honor and of trust, I cannot refrain from anxiously invoking my fellow-citizens never to be deaf to its dictates. Perceiving, before my election, the deep interest this subject was beginning to excite, I believed it a solemn duty fully to make known my sentiments in regard to it; and now, when every motive for misrepresentations have passed away, I trust that they will be candidly weighed and understood. At least, they will be my standard of conduct in the path before me. I then declared that, if the desire of those of my countrymen who were favorable to my election was gratified, 'I must go into the presidential chair the inflexible and uncompromising opponent of every attempt, on the part of Congress, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, against the wishes of the slaveholding States; and also with a determination equally decided to resist the slightest interference with it in the States where it exists.' I submitted also to my fellow-citizens, with fulness and frankness, the reasons which led me to this determination. The result authorizes me to believe that they have been approved, and are confided in, by a majority of the people of the United States, including those whom they most [8] immediately affect. It now only remains to add, that no bill conflicting with these views can ever receive my constitutional sanction. These opinions have been adopted in the firm belief that they are in accordance with the spirit that actuated the venerated fathers of the republic, and that succeeding experience has proved them to be humane, patriotic, expedient, honorable and just. If the agitation of this subject was intended to reach the stability of our institutions, enough has occurred to show that it has signally failed; and that in this, as in every other instance, the apprehensions of the timid and the hopes of the wicked for the destruction of our government, are again destined to be disappointed." The determination here declared to yield the presidential sanction to no bill which proposed to interfere with slavery in the States; or to abolish it in the District of Columbia while it existed in the adjacent States, met the evil as it then presented itself—a fear on the part of some of the Southern States that their rights of property were to be endangered by federal legislation: and against which danger the veto power was now pledged to be opposed. There was no other form at that time in which slavery agitation could manifest itself, or place on which it could find a point to operate—the ordinance of 1787, and the compromise of 1820, having closed up the Territories against it. Danger to slave property in the States, either by direct action, or indirectly through the District of Columbia, were the only points of expressed apprehension; and at these there was not the slightest ground for fear. No one in Congress dreamed of interfering with slavery in the States, and the abortion of all the attempts made to abolish it in the District, showed the groundlessness of that fear. The pledged veto was not a necessity, but a propriety;—not necessary, but prudential;—not called for by anything in congress, but outside of it. In that point of view it was wise and prudent. It took from agitation its point of support—its means of acting on the fears and suspicions of the timid and credulous: and it gave to the country a season of repose and quiet from this disturbing question until a new point of agitation could be discovered and seized. The cabinet remained nearly as under the previous administration: Mr. Forsyth, Secretary of State; Mr. Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury; Mr. Poinsett, Secretary at War; Mr. Mahlon Dickerson, Secretary of the Navy; Mr. Amos Kendall, Postmaster General; and Benjamin F. Butler, Esq. Attorney General. Of all these Mr. Poinsett was the only new appointment. On the bench of the Supreme Court, John Catron, Esq. of Tennessee, and John McKinley, Esq. of Alabama, were appointed Justices; William Smith, formerly senator in Congress from South Carolina, having declined the appointment which was filled by Mr. McKinley. Mr. Butler soon resigning his place of Attorney General, Henry D. Gilpin, Esq. of Pennsylvania (after a temporary appointment of Felix Grundy, Esq. of Tennessee), became the Attorney General during the remainder of the administration. CHAPTER II. FINANCIAL AND MONETARY CRISIS: GENERAL SUSPENSION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS BY THE BANKS. The nascent administration of the new President was destined to be saluted by a rude shock, and at the point most critical to governments as well as to individuals—that of deranged finances and broken-up treasury; and against the dangers of which I had in vain endeavored to warn our friends. A general suspension of the banks, a depreciated currency, and the insolvency of the federal treasury, were at hand. Visible signs, and some confidential information, portended to me this approaching calamity, and my speeches in the Senate were burthened with its vaticination. Two parties, inimical to the administration, were at work to accomplish it—politicians and banks; and well able to succeed, because the government money was in the hands of the banks, and the federal legislation in the hands of the politicians; and both interested in the overthrow of the party in power;—and the overthrow of the finances the obvious means to the accomplishment of the object. The public moneys had been withdrawn from the custody of the Bank of the United States: the want of an independent, or national treasury, of necessity, placed them in the custody of the local banks: and the specie order of President Jackson having been rescinded by the Act of Congress, the notes of all these banks, and of all others in the country, amounting to nearly a thousand, became receivable in payment of public dues. The deposit banks became filled up with the notes of these multitudinous institutions, constituting that surplus, the distribution of which had become an engrossing care with Congress, and ended with effecting the object under the guise of a deposit with the States. I recalled the recollection of the times of 1818-19, when the treasury reports of one year showed a superfluity of revenue for which there was no want, and of the next a deficit which required to be relieved by a loan; and argued that we must now have the same result from the bloat in the paper system which we then had. I demanded— "Are we not at this moment, and from the same cause, realizing the first part—the illusive and treacherous part—of this picture? and must not the other, the sad and real sequel, speedily follow? The day of revulsion must come, and its effects must be more or less disastrous; but come it must. The present bloat in the paper system cannot continue: violent contraction must follow enormous expansion: a scene of distress and suffering must ensue—to come of itself out of the present state of things, without being stimulated and helped on by our unwise legislation." Of the act which rescinded the specie order, and made the notes of the local banks receivable in payment of all federal dues, I said: "This bill is to be an era in our legislation and in our political history. It is to be a point on which the view of the future age is to be thrown back, and from which future consequences will be traced. I separate myself from it: I wash my [9] [10] hands of it: I oppose it. I am one of those who promised gold—not paper. I promised the currency of the constitution, not the currency of corporations. I did not join in putting down the Bank of the United States to put up a wilderness of local banks. I did not join in putting down the paper currency of a national bank, to put up a national paper currency of a thousand local banks. I did not strike Cæsar to make Antony master of Rome." The condition of our deposit banks was desperate—wholly inadequate to the slightest pressure on their vaults in the ordinary course of business, much less that of meeting the daily government drafts and the approaching deposit of near forty millions with the States. The necessity of keeping one-third of specie on hand for its immediate liabilities, was enforced from the example and rule of the Bank of England, while many of our deposit banks could show but the one- twentieth, the one-thirtieth, the one-fortieth, and even the one-fiftieth of specie in hand for immediate liabilities in circulation and deposits. The sworn evidence of a late Governor of the Bank of England (Mr. Horsely Palmer), before a parliamentary committee, was read, in which he testified that the average proportion of coin and bullion which the bank deems it prudent to keep on hand, was at the rate of the third of the total amount of all her liabilities—including deposits as well as issues. And this was the proportion which that bank deemed it prudent to keep—that bank which was the largest in the world, situated in the moneyed metropolis of Europe, with its list of debtors within the circuit of London, supported by the richest merchants in the world, and backed by the British government, which stood her security for fourteen millions sterling, and ready with her supply of exchequer bills (the interest to be raised to insure sales), at any moment of emergency. Tested by the rule of the Bank of England, and our deposit banks were in the jaws of destruction; and this so evident to me, that I was amazed that others did not see it—those of our friends who voted with the opponents of the administration in rescinding the specie order, and in making the deposit with the States. The latter had begun to take effect, at the rate of about ten millions to the quarter, on the first day of January preceding Mr. Van Buren's inauguration: a second ten millions were to be called for on the first of April: and like sums on the first days of the two remaining quarters. It was utterly impossible for the banks to stand these drafts; and, having failed in all attempts to wake up our friends, who were then in the majority, to a sense of the danger which was impending, and to arrest their ruinous voting with the opposition members (which most of them did), I determined to address myself to the President elect, under the belief that, although he would not be able to avert the blow, he might do much to soften its force and avert its consequences, when it did come. It was in the month of February, while Mr. Van Buren was still President of the Senate, that I invited him into a committee room for that purpose, and stated to him my opinion that we were on the eve of an explosion of the paper system and of a general suspension of the banks—intending to follow up that expression of opinion with the exposition of my reasons for thinking so: but the interview came to a sudden and unexpected termination. Hardly had I expressed my belief of this impending catastrophe, than he spoke up, and said, "Your friends think you a little exalted in the head on that subject." I said no more. I was miffed. We left the room together, talking on different matters, and I saying to myself, "You will soon feel the thunderbolt." But I have since felt that I was too hasty, and that I ought to have carried out my intention of making a full exposition of the moneyed affairs of the country. His habitual courtesy, from which the expression quoted was a most rare departure, and his real regard for me, both personal and political (for at that time he was pressing me to become a member of his cabinet), would have insured me a full hearing, if I had shown a disposition to go on; and his clear intellect would have seized and appreciated the strong facts and just inferences which would have been presented to him. But I stopped short, as if I had nothing more to say, from that feeling of self-respect which silences a man of some pride when he sees that what he says is not valued. I have regretted my hastiness ever since. It was of the utmost moment that the new President should have his eyes opened to the dangers of the treasury, and my services on the Committee of Finance had given me opportunities of knowledge which he did not possess. Forewarned is forearmed; and never was there a case in which the maxim more impressively applied. He could not have prevented the suspension: the repeal of the specie circular and the deposit with the States (both measures carried by the help of votes from professing friends), had put that measure into the hands of those who would be sure to use it: but he could have provided against it, and prepared for it, and lessened the force of the blow when it did come. He might have quickened the vigilance of the Secretary of the Treasury—might have demanded additional securities from the deposit banks—and might have drawn from them the moneys called for by appropriation acts. There was a sum of about five millions which might have been saved with a stroke of the pen, being the aggregate of sums drawn from the treasury by the numerous disbursing officers, and left in the banks in their own names for daily current payments: an order to these officers would have saved these five millions, and prevented the disgrace and damage of a stoppage in the daily payments, and the spectacle of a government waking up in the morning without a dollar to pay the day-laborer with, while placing on its statute book a law for the distribution of forty millions of surplus. Measures like these, and others which a prudent vigilance would have suggested, might have enabled the government to continue its payments without an extra session of Congress, and without the mortification of capitulating to the broken banks, by accepting and paying out their depreciated notes as the currency of the federal treasury. CHAPTER III. PREPARATION FOR THE DISTRESS AND SUSPENSION. In the autumn of the preceding year, shortly before the meeting of Congress, Mr. Biddle, president of the Pennsylvania Bank of the United States (for that was the ridiculous title it assumed after its resurrection under a [11] Pennsylvania charter), issued one of those characteristic letters which were habitually promulgated whenever a new lead was to be given out, and a new scent emitted for the followers of the bank to run upon. A new distress, as the pretext for a new catastrophe, was now the object. A picture of ruin was presented, alarm given out, every thing going to destruction; and the federal government the cause of the whole, and the national recharter of the defunct bank the sovereign remedy. The following is an extract from that letter. "The Bank of the United States has not ceased to exist more than seven months, and already the whole currency and exchanges are running into inextricable confusion, and the industry of the country is burdened with extravagant charges on all the commercial intercourse of the Union. And now, when these banks have been created by the Executive, and urged into these excesses, instead of gentle and gradual remedies, a fierce crusade is raised against them, the funds are harshly and suddenly taken from them, and they are forced to extraordinary means of defense against the very power which brought them into being. They received, and were expected to receive, in payment for the government, the notes of each other and the notes of other banks, and the facility with which they did so was a ground of special commendation by the government; and now that government has let loose upon them a demand for specie to the whole amount of these notes. I go further. There is an outcry abroad, raised by faction, and echoed by folly, against the banks of the United States. Until it was disturbed by the government, the banking system of the United States was at least as good as that of any other commercial country. What was desired for its perfection was precisely what I have so long striven to accomplish—to widen the metallic basis of the currency by a greater infusion of coin into the smaller channels of circulation. This was in a gradual and judicious train of accomplishment. But this miserable foolery about an exclusively metallic currency, is quite as absurd as to discard the steamboats, and go back to poling up the Mississippi." The lead thus given out was sedulously followed during the winter, both in Congress and out of it, and at the end of the session had reached an immense demonstration in New York, in the preparations made to receive Mr. Webster, and to hear a speech from him, on his return from Washington. He arrived in New York on the 15th of March, and the papers of the city give this glowing account of his reception: "In conformity with public announcement, yesterday, at about half past 3 o'clock, the Honorable Daniel Webster arrived in this city in the steamboat Swan from Philadelphia. The intense desire on the part of the citizens to give a grateful reception to this great advocate of the constitution, set the whole city in motion towards the point of debarkation, for nearly an hour before the arrival of the distinguished visitor. At the moment when the steamboat reached the pier, the assemblage had attained that degree of density and anxiety to witness the landing, that it was feared serious consequences would result. At half past 3 o'clock Mr. Webster, accompanied by Philip Hone and David B. Ogden, landed from the boat amidst the deafening cheers and plaudits of the multitude, thrice repeated, and took his seat in an open barouche provided for the occasion. The procession, consisting of several hundred citizens upon horseback, a large train of carriages and citizens, formed upon State street, and after receiving their distinguished guest, proceeded with great order up Broadway to the apartments arranged for his reception at the American Hotel. The scene presented the most gratifying spectacle. Hundreds of citizens who had been opposed to Mr. Webster in politics, now that he appeared as a private individual, came forth to demonstrate their respect for his private worth and to express their approbation of his personal character; and thousands more who appreciated his principles and political integrity, crowded around to convince him of their personal attachment, and give evidence of their approval of his public acts. The wharves, the shipping, the housetops and windows, and the streets through which the procession passed, were thronged with citizens of every occupation and degree, and loud and continued cheers greeted the great statesman at every point. There was not a greater number at the reception of General Jackson in this city, with the exception of the military, nor a greater degree of enthusiasm manifested upon that occasion, than the arrival upon our shores of Daniel Webster. At 6 o'clock in the evening, the anxious multitude began to move towards Niblo's saloon, where Mr. Webster was to be addressed by the committee of citizens delegated for that purpose, and to which it was expected he would reply. A large body of officers were upon the ground to keep the assemblage within bounds, and at a quarter past six the doors were opened, when the saloon, garden, and avenues leading thereto were instantly crowded to overflowing. The meeting was called to order by Alderman Clark, who proposed for president, David B. Ogden, which upon being put to vote was unanimously adopted. The following gentlemen were then elected vice- presidents, viz: Robert C. Cornell, Jonathan Goodhue, Joseph Tucker, Nathaniel Weed; and Joseph Hoxie and G. S. Robins, secretaries. Mr. W. began his remarks at a quarter before seven o'clock, P.M. and concluded them at a quarter past nine. When he entered the saloon, he was received with the most deafening cheers. The hall rang with the loud plaudits of the crowd, and every hat was waving. So great was the crowd in the galleries, and such was the apprehension that the apparently weak wooden columns which supported would give way, that Mr. W. was twice interrupted with the appalling cry "the galleries are falling," when only a window was broken, or a stove-pipe shaken. The length of the address (two and a half hours), none too long, however, for the audience would with pleasure have tarried two hours longer, compels us to give at present only the heads of a speech which we would otherwise now report in detail." [12] Certainly Mr. Webster was worthy of all honors in the great city of New York; but having been accustomed to pass through that city several times in every year during the preceding quarter of a century, and to make frequent sojourns there, and to speak thereafter, and in all the characters of politician, social guest, and member of the bar,—it is certain that neither his person nor his speaking could be such a novelty and rarity as to call out upon his arrival so large a meeting as is here described, invest it with so much form, fire it with so much enthusiasm, fill it with so much expectation, unless there had been some large object in view—some great effect to be produced—some consequence to result: and of all which this imposing demonstration was at once the sign and the initiative. No holiday occasion, no complimentary notice, no feeling of personal regard, could have called forth an assemblage so vast, and inspired it with such deep and anxious emotions. It required a public object, a general interest, a pervading concern, and a serious apprehension of some uncertain and fearful future, to call out and organize such a mass—not of the young, the ardent, the heedless—but of the age, the character, the talent, the fortune, the gravity of the most populous and opulent city of the Union. It was as if the population of a great city, in terror of some great impending unknown calamity, had come forth to get consolation and counsel from a wise man—to ask him what was to happen? and what they were to do? And so in fact it was, as fully disclosed in the address with which the orator was saluted, and in the speech of two hours and a half which he made in response to it. The address was a deprecation of calamities; the speech was responsive to the address—admitted every thing that could be feared—and charged the whole upon the mal-administration of the federal government. A picture of universal distress was portrayed, and worse coming; and the remedy for the whole the same which had been presented in Mr. Biddle's letter—the recharter of the national bank. The speech was a manifesto against the Jackson administration, and a protest against its continuation in the person of his successor, and an invocation to a general combination against it. All the banks were sought to be united, and made to stand together upon a sense of common danger—the administration their enemy, the national bank their protection. Every industrial pursuit was pictured as crippled and damaged by bad government. Material injury to private interests were still more vehemently charged than political injuries to the body politic. In the deplorable picture which it presented of the condition of every industrial pursuit, and especially in the "war" upon the banks and the currency, it seemed to be a justificatory pleading in advance for a general shutting up of their doors, and the shutting up of the federal treasury at the same time. In this sense, and on this point, the speech contained this ominous sentence, more candid than discreet, taken in connection with what was to happen: "Remember, gentlemen, in the midst of this deafening din against all banks, that if it shall create such a panic, or such alarm, as shall shut up the banks, it will shut up the treasury of the United States also." The whole tenor of the speech was calculated to produce discontent, create distress, and excite alarm—discontent and distress for present sufferings—alarm for the greater, which were to come. This is a sample: "Gentlemen, I would not willingly be a prophet of ill. I most devoutly wish to see a better state of things; and I believe the repeal of the treasury order would tend very much to bring about that better state of things. And I am of opinion, gentlemen, that the order will be repealed. I think it must be repealed. I think the east, west, north and south, will demand its repeal. But, gentlemen, I feel it my duty to say, that if I should be disappointed in this expectation, I see no immediate relief to the distresses of the community. I greatly fear, even, that the worst is not yet. I look for severer distresses; for extreme di...