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of the Democratic party, but without the moral effect of victory.

On March 4, 1841, was inaugurated as President, Gen'l Wm. H. Harrison, the first Chief Magistrate elected by the Whig party, and the first President who was not a Democrat, since the installation of Gen'l Jackson, March 4, 1829. His term was a short one. He issued a call for a special session of Congress to convene the 31st of May following, to consider the condition of the revenue and finances of the country, but did not live to meet it. Taken ill with a fatal malady during the last days of March, he died on the 4th of April following, having been in office just one month. He was succeeded by the Vice-President, John Tyler. Then, for the first time in our history as a government, the person elected to the Vice-Presidency of the United States, by the happening of a contingency provided for in the constitution, had devolved upon him the Presidential

office.

These creditors, becoming uneasy, wished the federal government to assume their debts. The suggestion was made as early as 1838, renewed in 1839, and in 1840 became a regular question mixed up with the Presidential election of that year, and openly engaging the active exertions of foreigners. Direct assumption was not urged; indirect by giving the public land revenue to the States was the mode pursued, and the one recommended in the message of President Tyler. Mr. Calhoun spoke against the measure with more than usual force and clearness, claiming that it was unconstitutional and without warrant. Mr. Benton on the same side called it a squandering of the public patrimony, and pointed out its inexpediency in the depleted state of the treasury, apart from its other objectionable features. It passed by a party vote.

This session is remarkable for the institution of the hour rule in the House of Representatives-a very great limitation upon the freedom of debate. It was a Whig measure, adopted to prevent_delay

a rigorous limitation, frequently acting as a bar to profitable debate and checking members in speeches which really impart information valuable to the House and the country. No doubt the license of debate has been frequently abused in Congress, as in all other deliberative assemblies, but the incessant use of the previous question, which cuts off all debate, added to the hour rule which limits a speech to sixty minutes (constantly reduced by interruptions) frequently results in the transaction of business in ignorance of what they are about by those who are doing it.

The twenty-seventh Congress opened in extra session at the call of the late President, May 31, 1841. A Whig member in the enactment of pending bills. It was Mr. White of Kentucky-was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Whigs had a majority of forty-seven in the House and of seven in the Senate, and with the President and Cabinet of the same political party presented a harmony of aspect frequently wanting during the three previous administrations. The first measure of the new dominant party was the repeal of the independent treasury act passed at the previous session; and the next in order were bills to establish a system of bankruptcy, and for distribution of public land revenue. The former was more than a bankrupt law; it was practically an insolvent law for the abolition of debts at the will of the debtor. It applied to all persons in debt, allowed them to institute the proceedings in the district where the petitioner resided, allowed constructive notices to creditors in newspapers -declared the abolition of the debt where effects were surrendered and fraud not proved; and gave exclusive jurisdiction to Much discussion took place at this sesthe federal courts, at the will of the debtor. sion, over the bill offered in the House of It was framed upon the model of the Eng- Representatives, for the relief of the widow lish insolvent debtors' act of George the of the late President-General HarrisonFourth, and embodied most of the pro-appropriating one year's salary. It was visions of that act, but substituting a re- strenuously opposed by the Democratic lease from the debt instead of a release members, as unconstitutional, on account from imprisonment. The bill passed by a close vote in both Houses.

The land revenue distribution bill of this session had its origin in the fact that the States and corporations owed about two hundred millions to creditors in Europe. These debts were in stocks, much depreciated by the failure in many instances to pay the accruing interest-in, some instances failure to provide for the principal.

The rule worked so well in the House, for the purpose for which it was devisedmade the majority absolute master of the body-that Mr. Clay undertook to have the same rule adopted in the Senate; but the determined opposition to it, both by his political opponents and friends, led to the abandonment of the attempt in that chamber.

of its principle, as creating a private pension list, and as a dangerous precedent. Many able speeches were made against the bill, both in the Senate and House; among others, the following extract from the speech of an able Senator contains some interesting facts. He said: "Look at the case of Mr. Jefferson, a man than whom no one that ever existed on God's earth were the human family more indebted to.

His furniture and his estate were sold to | A difference about a navy-on the point satisfy his creditors. His posterity was of how much and what kind-had always driven from house and home, and his bones been a point of difference between the two now lay in soil owned by a stranger. His great political parties of the Union, which, family are scattered: some of his descend- under whatsoever names, are always the ants are married in foreign lands. Look same, each preserving its identity in prinat Monroe-the able, the patriotic Monroe, ciples and policy, but here the two parties whose services were revolutionary, whose divided upon an abuse which no one could blood was spilt in the war of Independence, deny or defend. A navy pension fund had whose life was worn out in civil service, been established under the act of 1832, and whose estate has been sold for debt, which was a just and proper law, but on his family scattered, and his daughter the 3d of March, 1837, an act was passed buried in a foreign land. Look at Madi- entitled "An act for the more equitable son, the model of every virtue, public or distribution of the Navy Pension Fund." private, and he would only mention in That act provided: I. That Invalid naval connection with this subject, his love of pensions should commence and date back order, his economy, and his systematic to the time of receiving the inability, inregularity in all his habits of business. stead of completing the proof. II. It exHe, when his term of eight years had ex-tended the pensions for death to all cases pired, sent a letter to a gentleman (a son of death, whether incurred in the line of of whom is now on this floor) [Mr. Pres-duty or not. III. It extended the widow's ton], enclosing a note of five thousand pensions for life, when five years had been dollars, which he requested him to en- the law both in the army and navy. IV. dorse, and raise the money in Virginia, so It adopted the English system of pensionas to enable him to leave this city, and re- ing children of deceased marines until turn to his modest retreat-his patrimonial they attained their majority. inheritance-in that State. General Jack- The effect of this law was to absorb and son drew upon the consignee of his cot- bankrupt the navy pension fund, a meriton crop in New Orleans for six thousand torious fund created out of the government dollars to enable him to leave the seat share of prize money, relinquished for that of government without leaving creditors purpose, and to throw the pensions, behind him. These were honored leaders arrears as well as current and future, upon of the republican party. They had all the public treasury, where it was never inbeen Presidents. They had made great tended they were to be. It was to repeal sacrifices, and left the presidency deeply this act, that an amendment was introembarrassed; and yet the republican party duced at this session on the bringing forwho had the power and the strongest dis- ward of the annual appropriation bill for position to relieve their necessities, felt navy pensions, and long and earnest were they had no right to do so by appropri- the debates upon it. The amendment was ating money from the public Treasury. lost, the Senate dividing on party lines, Democracy would not do this. It was the Whigs against and the Democrats for left for the era of federal rule and federal the amendment. The subject is instrucsupremacy-who are now rushing the tive, as then was practically ratified and recountry with steam power into all the enacted the pernicious practice authorized abuses and corruptions of a monarchy, by the act of 1837, of granting pensions to with its pensioned aristocracy-and to en-date from the time of injury and not tail upon the country a civil pension list.' from the time of proof; and has grown up There was an impatient majority in the to such proportions in recent years that House in favor of the passage of the bill. the last act of Congress appropriating The circumstances were averse to delibera- money for arrears of pensions, provided tion-a victorious party, come into power for the payment of such an enormous sum after a heated election, seeing their elected of money that it would have appalled the candidate dying on the threshold of his original projectors of the act of 1837 could administration, poor and beloved: it was a they have seen to what their system has case for feeling more than of judgment, es- led. pecially with the political friends of the deceased-but few of whom could follow the counsels of the head against the impulsions of the heart.

The bill passed, and was approved; and as predicted, it established a precedent which has since been followed in every similar case.

Again, at this session, the object of the tariff occupied the attention of Congress. The compromise act, as it was called, of 1833, which was composed of two partsone to last nine years, for the benefit of manufactures; the other to last for ever, for the benefit of the planting and consuming interest-was passed, as hereinThe subject of naval pensions received before stated, in pursuance of an agreemore than usual consideration at this ses- ment between Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun sion. The question arose on the discussion and their, respective friends, at the time of the appropriation bill for that purpose. the former was urging the necessity for a

rent, now antagonistic, and the antago-
nism general, upon all measures, was to be
special upon this one. Their connection
with the subject made it their function
to lead off in its consideration; and their
antagonist positions promised sharp en-
counters, which did not fail to come. Mr.
Clay said that he "observed that the
Senator from South Carolina based his
abstractions on the theories of books on
English authorities, and on the arguments
urged in favor of free trade by a certain
party in the British Parliament. Now he,
(Mr. Clay,) and his friends would not ad-
mit of these authorities being entitled to
as much weight as the universal practice
of nations, which in all parts of the world
was found to be in favor of protecting home
manufactures to an extent sufficient to
keep them in a flourishing condition.
This was the whole difference. The Sena-
tor was in favor of book theory and ab-
stractions: he (Mr. Clay) and his friends,
were in favor of the universal practice of
nations, and the wholesome and necessary
protection of domestic manufactures."

continuance of high tariff for protection | tions very different from what they occuand revenue, and the latter was presenting pied when the compromise act was passed and justifying before Congress the nullifi- -then united, now divided-then concurcation ordinance adopted by the Legislature of South Carolina. To Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun it was a political necessity, one to get rid of a stumbling-block (which protective tariff had become); the other to escape a personal peril which his nullify ing ordinance had brought upon him, and with both, it was a piece of policy, to enable them to combine against Mr. Van Buren, by postponing their own contention; and a device on the part of its author (Mr. Clayton, of Delaware) and Mr. Clay to preserve the protective system. It provided for a reduction of a certain per centage each year, on the duties for the ensuing nine years, until the revenue was reduced to 20 per cent. ad valorem on all articles imported into the country. In consequence the revenue was so reduced that in the last year, there was little more than half what the exigencies of the govornment required, and different modes, by loans and otherwise, were suggested to meet the deficiency. The Secretary of the Treasury had declared the necessity of loans and taxes to carry on the government; a loan bill for twelve millions had been passed; a tariff bill to raise fourteen millions was depending; and the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, Mr. Millard Fillmore, defended its necessity in an able speech. His bill proposed twenty per cent. additional to the existing duty on certain specified articles, sufficient to make up the amount wanted. This encroachment on a measure SO much vaunted when passed, and which had been kept inviolate while operating in favor of one of the parties to it, naturally excited complaint and opposition from the other, and Mr. Gilmer, of Virginia, in a speech against the new bill, said: "In referring to the compromise act, the true characteristics of that act which recommended it strongly to him, were that it contemplated that duties were to be levied for revenue only, and in the next place to the amount only necessary to the supply of the economical wants of the government. He begged leave to call the attention of the committee to the principle recognized as the language of the compromise, a principle which ought to be recognized in all time to come by every department of the government. It is, that duties to be raised for revenue are to be raised to such an amount only as is necessary for an economical administration of the government. Some incidental protection must necessarily be given, and he, for one, coming from an anti-tariff portion of the country, would not object to it."

The bill went to the Senate where it found Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun in posi

Mr. Calhoun in reply, referring to his allusion to the success in the late election of the tory party in England, said: "The interests, objects, and aims of the tory party there and the whig party here, are identical. The identity of the two parties is remarkable. The tory party are the patrons of corporate monopolies; and are not you? They are advocates of a high tariff; and are not you? They are supporters of a national bank; and are not you? They are for corn-laws-laws oppressive to the masses of the people, and favorable to their own power; and are not you? Witness this bill. The success

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of that party in England, and of the whig party here, is the success of the great money power, which concentrates the interests of the two parties, and identifies their principles."

The bill was passed by a large majority, upon the general ground that the government must have revenue.

The chief measure of the session, and the great object of the whig party-the one for which it had labored for ten years-was for the re-charter of a national bank. Without this all other measures would be deemed to be incomplete, and the victorious election itself but little better than a defeat. The President, while a member of the Democratic party, had been opposed to the United States Bank; and to overcome any objections he might have the bill was carefully prepared, and studiously contrived to avoid the President's objections, and save his consistency-a point upon which he was exceedingly sensitive.

The democratic members resisted strenu- | the establishment of a new party, with Mr. ously, in order to make the measure odious, Tyler as its head; earnest efforts having but successful resistance was impossible. been made in that behalf by many promiIt passed both houses by a close vote; and nent Whigs and Democrats. The entire contrary to all expectation the President cabinet, with the exception of Mr. Webster, disapproved the act, but with such expres- resigned within a few days after the second sions of readiness to approve another bill veto. It was a natural thing for them to which should be free from the objections do, and was not unexpected. Indeed Mr. which he named, as still to keep his party Webster had resolved to tender his resignatogether, and to prevent the resignation of tion also, but on reconsideration determined his cabinet. In his veto message the to remain and publish his reasons therePresident fell back upon his early opinions for in a letter to the National Intelligencer, against the constitutionality of a national in the following words: bank, so often and so publicly expressed.

The veto caused consternation among the whig members; and Mr. Clay openly gave expression to his dissatisfaction, in the debate on the veto message, in terms to assert that President Tyler had violated his faith to the whig party, and had been led off from them by new associations. He said: "And why should not President Tyler have suffered the bill to become a law without his signature? Without meaning the slightest possible disrespect to him (nothing is further from my heart than the exhibition of any such feeling towards that distinguished citizen, long my personal friend), it cannot be forgotten that he came into his present office under peculiar circumstances. The people did not foresee the contingency which has happened. They voted for him as Vice President. They did not, therefore, scrutinize his opinions with the care which they probably ought to have done, and would have done, if they could have looked into futurity. If the present state of the fact could have been anticipated-if at Harrisburg, or at the polls, it had been foreseen that General Harrison would die in one short month after the commencement of his administration; so that Vice President Tyler would be elevated to the presidential chair; that a bill passed by decisive majorities of the first whig Congress, chartering a national bank, would be presented for his sanction; and that he would veto the bill, do I hazard anything when I express the conviction that he would not have received a solitary vote in the nominating convention, nor one solitary electoral vote in any State in the Union?"

The vote was taken on the bill over again, as required by the constitution, and so far from receiving a two-thirds vote, it received only a bare majority, and was returned to the House with a message stating his objections to it, where it gave rise to some violent speaking, more directed to the personal conduct of the President than to the objections to the bill stated in his message. The veto was sustained; and so ended the second attempt to resuscitate the old United States Bank under a new name. This second movement to establish the bank has a secret history. It almost caused

"Lest any misapprehension should exist, as to the reasons which led me to differ from the course pursued by my late colleagues, I wish to say that I remain in my place, first, because I have seen no sufficient reasons for the dissolution of the late Cabinet, by the voluntary act of its own members. I am perfectly persuaded of the absolute necessity of an institution, under the authority of Congress, to aid revenue and financial operations, and to give the country the blessings of a good currency and cheap exchanges. Notwithstanding what has passed, I have confidence that the President will co-operate with the legislature in overcoming all difficulties in the attainment of these objects; and it is to the union of the Whig party-by which I mean the whole party, the Whig President, the Whig Congress, and the Whig peoplethat I look for a realization of our wishes. I can look nowhere else. In the second place if I had seen reasons to resign my office, I should not have done so, without giving the President reasonable notice, and affording him time to select the hands to which he should confide the delicate and important affairs now pending in this department."

The conduct of the President in the matter of the vetoes of the two bank bills produced revolt against him in the party; and the Whigs of the two Houses of Congress held several formal meetings to consider what they should do in the new condition of affairs. An address to the people of the United States was resolved upon. The rejection of the bank bill gave great vexation to one side, and equal exultation to the other. The subject was not permitted to rest, however; a national bank was the life-the vital principle of the Whig party, without which it could not live as a party; it was the power which was to give them power and the political and financial control of the Union. A second attempt was made, four days after the veto, to accomplish the end by amendments to a bill relating to the currency, which had been introduced early in the session. Mr. Sargeant of Pennsylvania, moved to strike out all after the enacting clause, and insert his amendments, which were substantially the same as the vetoed

dent has permitted himself to be beguiled into an opinion that by this exhibition of his prerogative he might be able to divert the policy of his administration into a channel which should lead to new political combinations, and accomplish results which must overthrow the present divisions of party in the country; and finally produce a state of things which those who elected him, at least, have never contemplated.

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bill, except changing the amount of capi- | On the contrary, too many proofs have been tal and prohibiting discounts on notes other forced upon our observation to leave us than bills of exchange. The bill was free from the apprehension that the Presipushed to a vote with astonishing rapidity, and passed by a decided majority. In the Senate the bill went to a select committee which reported it back without alteration, as had been foreseen, the committee consisting entirely of friends of the measure; and there was a majority for it on final passage. Concurred in by the Senate without alteration, it was returned to the House, and thence referred to the President for his approval or disapproval. It was disapproved and it was promulgated in language In this state of things, the Whigs will intended to mean a repudiation of the naturally look with anxiety to the future, President, a permanent separation of the and inquire what are the actual relations Whig party from him, and to wash their between the President and those who hands of all accountability for his acts. brought him into power; and what, in An opening paragraph of the address set the opinion of their friends in Congress, forth that, for twelve years the Whigs had should be their course hereafter. carried on a contest for the regulation of The President by his withdrawal of confithe currency, the equalization of exchanges, dence from his real friends in Congress the economical administration of the finan- and from the members of his cabinet; by ces, and the advancement of industry-all his bestowal of it upon others notwithto be accomplished by means of a national standing their notorious opposition to leadbank-declaring these objects to be mis- ing measures of his administrations has understood by no one and the bank itself voluntarily separated himself from those held to be secured in the Presidential elec- by whose exertions and suffrage he was tion, and its establishment the main object elevated to that office through which he of the extra session. The address then has reached his present exalted station. proceeds to state how these plans were The consequence is, that those frustrated: who brought the President into power can be no longer, in any manner or degree, justly held responsible or blamed for the administration of the executive branch of the government; and the President and his advisers should be exclusively hereafter deemed accountable. **The conduct of the President has occasioned bitter mortification and deep regret. Shal. the party, therefore, yielding to sentiments of despair, abandon its duty, and submit to defeat and disgrace? Far from suffering such dishonorable consequences, the very disappointment which it has unfortunately experienced should serve only to redouble its exertions, and to inspire it with fresh courage to persevere with a spirit unsubdued and a resolution unshaken, until the prosperity of the country is fully re-established, and its liberties firmly secured against all danger from the abuses, encroachments or usurpations of the executive department of the government."

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"It is with profound and poignant regret that we find ourselves called upon to invoke your attention to this point. Upon the great and leading measure touching this question, our anxious endeavors to respond to the earnest prayers of the nation have been frustrated by an act as unlooked for as it is to be lamented. We grieve to say to you that by the exercise of that power in the constitution which has ever been regarded with suspicion, and often with odium, by the people-a power which we had hoped was never to be exhibited on this subject, by a Whig President we have been defeated in two attempts to create a fiscal agent, which the wants of the country had demonstrated to us, in the most absolute form of proof to be eminently necessary and proper in the present emergency. Twice have we with the utmost diligence and deliberation matured a plan for the collection, safekeeping and disbursing of the public This was the manifesto, so far as it conmoneys through the agency of a corpora- cerns the repudiation of President Tyler, tion adapted to that end, and twice has it which Whig members of Congress put been our fate to encounter the opposition forth: it was answered (under the name of of the President, through the application an address to his constituents) by Mr. of the veto power. We are con- Cushing, in a counter special plea-counstrained to say that we find no ground to ter to it on all points especially on the justify us in the conviction that the veto main question of which party the Presiof the President has been interposed on dent was to belong to; the manifesto this question solely upon conscientious and of the Whigs assigning him to the dewell-considered opinions of constitutional mocracy-the address of Mr. Cushing, scruple as to his duty in the case presented. claiming him for the Whigs. It was es

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