Hunk w* rv SECOND EDITION. THE LIFE PUBLIC SERVICES HON. JAMES KNOX POLK, COMPENDIUM OF HIS SPEECHES tym-lms flNMfto $K& of the bankrupt law, which was defeated by his vote, and thus ©c entered into another coalition with the speculators, financiers, flfa v &lc. of the country, by which, in 1844, they were to give him ><& their undivided support. • /7£n The following are extracts from a letter of Mr. Dallas to a q\?, Democratic committee of Smithfield, Pa. dated 7th July, 1836, (/G\ and are chiefly in vindication of General Jackson's veto: (3v>j "The bill passed both houses of Congress, but met from the Roman tribune who filled the executive office, in whose elevation I had taken an active part, and from the great current of whose policy and -pint the Democracy of America expected the won- u)^i den of renovation and reform he has since achieved, a signal (&X and overwhelming ri OKI " Prom the moment of the veto, the enraged board, heretofore (ypX discreel and plausible, tore off the mask, snipped itself rapidly S 1 ^ of all dilguise, and under the flimsy pretext of being first assailed, ©A entered at a bound and with bluster into the arena of political -'nie. The chief magistrate of the country became the mark of fe^ intumelj and rindictive thrusts. Town meetings were con- >§^ fened to exasperate patty. Hank banners were paraded on [^| [ Turn to '.UI /itrj;r of' carer. wm / I * THELIFE PUBLIC SERVICES HON. JAMES KNOX POLK WITH A COMPENDIUM OF HIS SPEECHES ON baricms public iHcasurc0. ALSO, A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF THE HON. GEORGE MIFFLIN DALLAS. BALTIMORE: PUBLISHED BY N. HICKMAN, No. 8 8 v BALTIMORE STREET. 1 844. .V\6Z' Is i ► HF.n, according to the Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, by Nathaniel Hickman, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of Maryland. Jon* Mi Ki'iiv, Prluter, W.el ttreel, Baltimore. LIFE HON. JAMES K. POLK. "James K. Polk, who is the oldest of ten children, was born in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, on the second of No- vember, 1795, and is consequently in the 49th year of his age. His ancestors, whose original name, Pollock, has, by obvious tran- sition, assumed its present form, emigrated more than a century ago, from Ireland, a country from which many of our most distinguished men are proud to derive their origin. They established themselves first in Maryland, where some of their descendants still sojourn. The branch of the family from which is sprung the subject of this memoir, removed to the neighbor- hood of Carlisle, in Pennsylvania, and thence to the western frontier of North Carolina, sometime before the revolutionary war. Its connection with that eventful struggle is one of rare distinction. On the twentieth of May, 1775, consequently more than a twelvemonth anterior to the declaration of the Fourth of July, the assembled inhabitants of Mecklenburg county publicly absolved themselves from their allegiance to the British crown, and issued a formal manifesto of independence in terms of manly eloquence, which have become 'familiar as household words' to the American people. Col. Thomas Polk, the prime mover in this act of noble daring, and one of the signers of the Decla- ration of Independence, was the great uncle of the present Speaker, who is also connected with the Alexanders, Chairman and Secretary of the famous meeting, as well as with Dr. Ephraim Brevard, the author of the Declaration itself.* * Tradition ascribes to Thomas Polk the principal agency in bringing about the Declaration. He appears to have given the notice for the election of the Convention, and (being the colonel of the county) to have superintended the election in each of the militia districts. He had been for a long time engaged in the service of the province as a surveyor, and as a member of the assembly; and was thus intimately acquainted, not only in Mecklenburg, but in the coun- ties generally. His education had been acquired, not within the classic walls of an English university, but among his own native hills, and amidst the pas- sions and feelings of his countrymen. Dr. Ephraim Brevard (the author of the 4 in '1 OF "Mr. Jefferson having, sincerely, no doubt, but upon merely negative grounds, questioned the authenticity of this interesting piece of history, the Legislature of North Carolina, with a becoming pride of patriotism, caused the evidence establishing it-, validitj to be collected in a complete shape, and deposited in the archives of the Slate. The people of Mecklenburg were, almost to a man, staunch Whigs, in the genuine, revolutionary acceptation of the term, and have been up to the present day remarkable for their unwavering adherence to democratic prin- ciples. As an evidence of the sturdy independence which char- acterizes them, it is often pleasantly observed that, at the last war, they took up arms six months before, and did not lay them down until twelve months after, the government. In the con- test for independence several of Mr. Polk's relatives distin- guished themselves, even to the peril of life. To be allied to such a people and lineage, is a fit subject for honorable pride. Liberty does not frown upon the indulgence of a sentiment so natural. She does not reject the heritage of honor, while refus- ing to add to it social or political distinctions subversive of equal rights. The American people have always manifested an affectionate regard for those who hear the names of the heroes or martyrs of the revolution. They furnish not a proof of the alleged ingratitude of republics. "The father of Mr. Polk was a farmer of unassuming pre- tensions, but enterprising character. Thrown upon liis own resources in earlj life, he became the architect of his own for- tunes. He was a warm supporter of Mr. Jefferson, and through life a firm and consistent republican. In the autumn of 1806 he removed to Tennessee, where lie was among the first pioneers of the fertile valley of Duck liver, then a wilderness, but now the most flourishing and populous portion of the State. The magical growth of a country which was but yesterday redeemed from the Bole dominion of nature, is a phenomenon of great D< ration) and WraightBtill Avery, (ti rrney-general of North Caro- .'ii i.i tin- | isical attainments, and contributing their en- the Bhrcwd native enthusiasm of Thomas Polk, produced ■I, at that tunc unrivalled, not only for the neatness <>t i ts style, but for th<- incrnl uiblimity <'i its conei ption >m. Finally, Um whole proceedings were read distinctly and audibly at the court I Polk, n> a I. table and approving assem- f citiiens, who were present, at ction to the business of the day.— Memoir of Rev. Humphrey Hunter.— Ibid. JAMES K. POLK. 5 moral and political interest, and cannot fail to impress a char- acter of strength and enterprise upon the authors and partici- pators of the wonderful result. How can man languish or halt when all around him is expanding and advancing with irrepres- sible energy? In this region Mr. Polk still resides, so that he may be said, literally, to have grown with its growth and strength- ened with its strength. Of course, in the infancy of its set- tlement the opportunities for instruction could not be great. Notwithstanding this disadvantage — and the still more formi- dable one, of a painful affliction, from which, after years of suffering, he was finally relieved by a surgical operation — he acquired the elements of a good English education. Appre- hending that his constitution had been too much impaired to permit the confinement of study, his father determined, much, however, against the will of the son, to make of him a commer- cial man; and with this view actually placed him with a mer- chant. Upon what slender threads hang the destinies of life ! A little more and the uncompromising opponent of the Bank of the United States, and the Democratic candidate for the highest office in the gift of seventeen millions of freemen, might have been at this day, in spite of his origin and early tendencies, a Whig preacher of panics, uttering jeremiads for the fate of that shadowy and intangible thing yclept ' Credit System,' « If shape it might be call'd, that shape had none, Distinguishable in member, joint or limb ; Or substance might be call'd, that shadow seem'd. For each seem'd either.' " He remained a few weeks in a situation adverse to his wishes and incompatible with his taste. Finally, his earnest appeals succeeded in overcoming the resistance of his father, and in July, 1813, he was placed first under the care of the Rev. Dr. Henderson, and subsequently at the academy of Murfrees- borough, Tennessee, then under the direction of Mr. Samuel P. Black, justly celebrated in that region as a classical teacher. In the autumn of 1815 he entered the University of North Carolina, having, in less than two years and a half, thoroughly prepared himself to commence his collegiate course. It will be seen, from this hasty sketch, that the history of Col. Polk furnishes an interesting example of talent and perseverance triumphing over disheartening difficulties in early life. So fre- quent are such instances that it would almost seem that true I.1FIC 01 jm lit requires the ordeal of adverse circumstances to strengthen its temper and distinguish it from unsubstantial pretension. "Mr. Polk's career at the University was distinguished^ At each semi -annual examination he bore away the first honor, anil finally graduated in 1818 with the highest distinction of his class, and with the reputation of being the first scholar in both the mathematics anil the classics. Of the former science he wa9 passionately fond, though equally distinguished as a linguist. Ili> course at college was marked by the same assiduity and studious application which have since characterized him. His ambition to excel was equalled by his perseverance alone, in proof of which it is said that he never missed a recitation, nor omitted the punctilious performance of any dutv. Habits of close application at college are apt to be despised by those who pride themselves on brilliancy of mind, as if they were incom- patible. Tins is a melancholy mistake. Genius has even been defined the faculty of application. The latter is, at least, some- thing better, and more available. So carefully has Mr. Polk avoided the pedantry of classical display, which is the false taste of our day and country, as almost to hide the acquisitions which distinguished his early career. His preference for the useful and substantial, indicated by his youthful passion for the mathe- matics, has made him select a style of elocution which would, perhaps, be deemed too plain by the shallow admirers of flashy declamation. The worst of all styles is the florid and exagge- rated. It is that of minds which are, as it were, overlaid by their acquisitions. They break down beneath a burden which they have not strength to bear, — 'Deep versed in books, but shallow in themselves.' " The mind should rather be fertilized by culture than encum- bered with foreign productions. Pedantry is at once the result and proof of sciolism. " Returning to Tennessee from the State which is, in two Benses, his alma muter, with health considerably impaired by isive application, Mr. Polk, in the beginning of the year 1819, commenced the study of the law in the office of the late Senator Grundy, and late in 1820 was a knitted to the bar. He commenced his professional career in the county of Maury, with great advantages, derived from the connection of his family with it- earl\ settlement. To this hour his warmest friends are the JAMES K. POLK. 7 sharers of his father's early privations and difficulties, and the associates of his own youth. But his success was due to his personal qualities, still more than to extrinsic advantages. A republican in habits as well as in principles, depending for the maintenance of his dignity upon the esteem of others, and not upon his own assumption, his manners conciliated the general good will. The confidence of his friends was justified by the result. His thorough academical preparation, his accurate know- ledge of the law, his readiness and resources in debate, h's unwearied application to business, secured him, at once, full employment, and in less than a year he was already a leading practitioner. Such prompt success in a profession where the early stages are proverbially slow and discouraging falls to the lot of few. "Mr. Polk continued to devote some years exclusively to the laborious prosecution of his profession, with a progressive aug- mentation of reputation, and the more solid rewards by which it is accompanied. In 1823 he entered upon the stormy career of politics, being chosen to represent his county in the State Legis- lature by a heavy majority over the former incumbent, but not without formidable opposition. He was, for two successive years, a member of that body, where his ability in debate and talent for business at once gave him reputation. The early per- sonal and political friend of General Jackson, he was one of those who, in the session of 1823-4, called that distinguished man from his retirement by electing him to the Senate of the United States; and he looks back with pride to the part he took in an act which was followed by such important consequences. In August, 1825, being then, in his thirtieth year, Mr. Polk was chosen to represent his district in Congress, and in the ensuing December took his seat in that body, where he has remained ever since. He brought with him into the national councils those fundamental principles to which he has adhered through all the personal mutations of party. From his early youth he was a republican of the ' straitest sect.' He has ever regarded the Constitution of the United States as an instrument of spe- cific and limited powers, and that doctrine is at the very foun- dation of the democratic creed. Of course he has ever been what is termed a strict constructionist, repudiating, above all things, the latitudinarian interpretations of federalism, which tend to the consolidation of all power in the central government. " When Mr. Polk, entered Congress he was, with one or two exceptions, the junior member of that body. But capacity like his conld not long remain unnoticed. In consequence of the palpable disregard of the public- will manifested in the election by the House of Mr. Adams, together with the means by which it was effected, a proposition was brought forward, and much discussed at the time, to amend the constitution in such manner as to i;ive the choice of President and Vice President imme- diately and irreversibly to the people. In favor of this propo- sition Mr. Polk made his first speech in Congress, which at once attracted the attention of the country by the force of its reason- ing, the copiousness of its research, and the spirit of honest indignation by which it was animated. It was at once seen that his ambition was to distinguish himself by substantial merit rather than by rhetorical display, the rock upon which most young orators split. At the same session, that egregious mea- sure of political Quixotism, the Panama mission, which was pro- posed in contempt of the sound maxim, to cultivate friendship with all nations, yet engage in entangling alliances with none, gave rise to a protracted debate in both Houses of Congress. The exploded federal doctrine was upon this occasion revived, that as under the constitution the President and Senate exclu- sively are endowed with the treaty-making faculty, and that of originating and appointing to missions, their acts under that power become the supreme law of the land, nor can the House of Representatives deliberate upon, much less, in the exercise of a sound discretion, refuse the appropriations necessary to (any them into effect. Against a doctrine so utterly subversive of the rights and powers of the popular branch of Congress, as well as of the fundamental principles of democracy, Mr. Polk strenuously protested, embodying his views in a series of resolu- tions, which reproduced, in a tangible shape, the doctrines, on this question, of the republican party of ? 98. The first of these resolutions, which presents the general principle with brevity and fon e, runs thus: 'that it is the constitutional right and duty of the House of Representatives, when called upon for appro- priations to defraj the expenses of foreign missions, to deliberate upon the expediency or inexpediency of such missions, and to determine and a< I thereon as in their judgment may seem most conducive to the public good.' " From this time Mr. Polk's history is inseparably interwoven JAMES K. POLK. with that of the House. He is prominently connected with every important question, and upon every one, as by an unerring instinct of republicanism, took the soundest and boldest ground! From his entrance into public life, his adherence to the cardinal principles of the Democratic creed has been singularly steadfast. During the whole period of General Jackson's administration, as long as he retained a seat on the floor, he was one of its lead- ing supporters, and at times, and on certain questions of para- mount importance, its chief reliance. In the hour of trial he was never found wanting, or from his post. In December, 1827, two years after his entrance in the House, Mr. Polk was placed on the important committee of Foreign Affairs, and some time after was appointed, in addition, chairman of the select com- mittee to which was referred that portion of the President's message calling the attention of Congress to the probable accu- mulation of a surplus in the treasury, after the anticipated extinguishment of the national debt. As the head of this committee he made a lucid report, replete with the soundest doctrines, ably enforced, denying the constitutional power of Congress to collect from the people, for distribution, a surplus beyond the wants of the Government, and maintaining that the revenue should be reduced to the exigencies of the public service. "The session of 1830 will always be distinguished by the death blow which was then given to the unconstitutional system of internal improvements by the General Government. We have ever regarded the Maysville Road veto as second in importance to none of the acts of General Jackson's euergetic administration. When the bill was returned by the President unsigned a storm arose in the House, in the midst of which the veto was attacked by a torrent of passionate declamation, mixed with no small share of personal abuse. To a member from Ohio, whose observations partook of the latter character, Mr. Polk replied in an energetic improvisation, vindicating the patriotic resolution of the Chief Magistrate. The friends of States Rights in the House rallied manfully upon the veto. The result was that the bill was re- jected, and countless ' log-rolling'' projects for the expenditure of many millions of the public treasure, which awaited the decision, perished in embryo. "In December, 1852, he was transferred to the committee of Ways and Means, with which his connection has been so dis- tinguished. At that session the directors of the Bank of the 10 LIFE OF United States were summoned to "Washington, and examined upon oath before the committee just named. A division of opin- ion resulted in the presentation of two reports. That of the majority, which admitted that the Bank had exceeded its lawful powers by interfering with the plan of the government, to pay Off the three per cent, stock, was tame, and unaccompanied by pertinent facts, or elucidating details. Mr. Polk, in behalf of the minority, made a detailed report, communicating all the material circumstances, and presenting conclusions utterly adverse to the institution which had been the subject of inquiry. This arrayed against him the whole bank power, which he was made to feel in a quarter where he had every thing at stake, for upon his return to his district he found the most formidable opposition mustered against him for his course upon this ques- tion. The friends of the United States Bank held a meetinu; at Nashville to denounce his report. The most unscrupulous mis- representations were resorted to in order to prove that he had destroyed the credit of the west, by proclaiming that his coun- trvmcn were unworthy of mercantile confidence. The result, however, was, that, after a violent contest, Mr. Polk was re- elected by a majority of more than three thousand. Fortuna'tely for the stability of our institutions, the panics which * frighten cities from their propriety' do not sweep with the same deso- lating force over the scattered dwellings of the country. " In September, 1833, the President, indignant at the open defiance of law by the Bank of the United States, and the un- blushing corruption which it practised, determined upon the bold and salutary measure of the removal of the deposites, which was effected in the following month. The act produced much excitement throughout the country, and it was foreseen that a great and doubtful conflict was about to ensue. At such a crisis it became important to have at the head of the committee of Ways and .Means, a man of courage to meet, and firmness to sustain, the formidable shock. Such a man was found in Mr. Polk, and he proved himself equal to the occasion. Congress met, and the conflict proved even fiercer than had been antici- pated. The cause of the bank was supported in the House by such men as Mr. McDuffie, Adams and Binney, not to mention a hosl of other names. It is in nm tive to look back in calmer times to the reign of terror known as t In- Panic Session. The kink, with the w hole commerce of the country at its feet, alter JAMES K. POLK. 1 [ nately torturing and easing its miserable pensioners as they increased or relaxed their cries of financial agony; public meet- ings held in every city with scarcely the intermission of a day, denouncing the President as a tyrant and the enemy of his coun- try; deputations flocking from the towns to extort from him a reluctant submission; Whig orators traversing the country and stimulating the passions of excited multitudes, without respect even to the sanctity of the Sabbath; inflammatory memorials poured into Congress from every quarter; the Senate almost decreeing itself into a state of permanent insurrection, and pro- claiming that a revolution had already begun; all the business of legislation in both wings of the Chpitol postponed to that of agitation and panic; an extrajudicial and branding sentence pronounced upon the Chief Magistrate of the nation, in violation of usage and of the constitution, — these features present but a faint picture of the alarm and confusion which prevailed. Con- sternation had almost seized upon the republican ranks, thinned by desertions and harassed by distracting doubts and fears. But the stern resolve of him whose iron arm guided the helm of State, conducted the perilous conflict to a successful issue. Nor should we forget the eminent services of the individual who pre- sided over the committee of Ways and Means. His coolness, promptitude and abundant resources were never at fault. His opening speech in vindication of the President's measure, con- tains all the material facts and reasons on the republican side of the question, enforced with much power and illustrated by great research. To this speech almost every member of the oppo- sition, who spoke upon the question, attempted to reply, but the arguments which its author brought forward to establish the power of the President under the constitution, as elucidated by contemporaneous or early exposition, to do the act, which had been so boldly denounced as a high-handed and tyrannical usur- pation, could neither be refuted nor weakened. Mr. McDuffie, the distinguished leader of the opposition in this eventful con- flict, bore testimony, in his concluding remarks, to the 'boldness and manliness' with which Mr. Polk had assumed the only posi- tion which could be judiciously taken. The financial portion of his speech, and that in which he exposed die glaring misdeeds of the bank, were no less efficient. When Mr. McDuffie had concluded the remarks to which we have alluded, a member from Virginia, after a few pertinent observations, demanded the II LIFE OF previous question. A more intense excitement was never felt in Congress than at this thrilling moment. The two parties looked at each other for a space, in sullen silence, like two armies on the eve of a deadly conllict. The motion of Mr. Mason prevailed, the debate was arrested, and the division proved a triumphant victory for the republican cause. The bank thou gave up the contest in despair. " The position of the chairman of the committee of Ways and Means, at all times a most arduous and responsible one, was doubly so at this session, which will form an epoch in the politi- cal annals of the country. Mr. Polk occupied it for the first time. From its organization and the nature of its duties, this committee must be at all times the chief organ of every admin- istration in the House. At this session it was for obvious reasons peculiarly so. To attack it then was to strike at the government ; to embarrass its action was to thwart the course of the administration. Extraordinary and indiscriminate opposition was accordingly made to all the appropriation bills. It was avowed in debate that it was within the scope of legitimate oppo- sition to withhold even the ordinary supplies until the deposites were restored to the Rank of the United States; that this resti- tution must be made, or revolution ensue. The bank must tri- umph or the wheels of government be arrested. The people should never forget the perils of a contest in which they were almost constrained to succumb. The recollection should wain them not to build up again a power in the state of such formida- ble faculties. The tactics which we have just described threw great additional labour upon the committee, and particularly upon its chairman. Fully apprised of the difficulties he had to encounter, he maintained his post with sleepless vigilance and untiring activity- He was always ready to give the House am- ple explanations upon every item, however minute, of the various appropriations. He was ever prompt to meet any objection-; which might be started, and of quick sagacity to detect the arti- fices to which factious disingenuousnesa is prone to resort. All the measures of the committee, including those of paramount importance, relating to the bank and the deposites, were carried in spite of the mosl immitigable opposition. The true-hearted republicans, who conducted this critical conllict to a successful issue, among whom Mr. Polk occupies a distinguished rank, deserve the lasting gratitude of the country. JAMES K. POLK. I "Towards the close of the memorable session of 1834 Mr. * Speaker Stevenson resigned the chair, as well as his seat in the House. The majority of the democratic party preferred Mr. Polk as his successor, but in consequence of a division in its ranks, the opposition, to whom his prominent and uncompro- mising course had rendered him less acceptable, succeeded in electing a gentleman, then a professed friend, but since, a de- cided opponent of Gen. Jackson and his measures. Mr. Polk's defeat produced no change in his course. He remained faithful to his party, and assiduous in the performance of his arduous duties. In December, 1835, he was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, and chosen again at the extra session in September, 1837, after an animated contest. The duties of this difficult situation, it is now conceded, he discharged with rare fidelity and fairness. In the beginning unusual difficulties were thrown in his way by an animosity which was sometimes carried to an extent that called forth general animadversion. During the first session in which he presided, more appeals were taken from his decision than had occurred in the whole period since the origin of the government; but he was uniformly sus- tained by the House and by many of his political adversaries. Strangers of all parties who visited Washington were struck with the dignity, promptitude and impartiality with which he presided over the deliberations of the House. Notwithstanding the violence with which he had been assailed, Congress passed, at the close of the session in 1837, an unanimous vote of thanks to its presiding officer, from whom it separated with the kindest feelings; and no man could enjoy its confidence and friendship in a higher degree. His calmness and good temper allayed the violence of opposition, in a station for which his quickness, coolness and sagacity eminently qualified him." The ensuing session, however, unfortunately presented a dif- ferent state of feeling on the part of Mr. Polk's opponents. Again elevated to the high position of Speaker, his superior capa- bilities for the station were put to the severest test; but, not- withstanding every attempt to throw his prudence and courtesy from their balance, he sustained himself with unfaltering deci- sion and admirable equanimity of temper. It was during this Congress that the exciting case of the Mississippi election was under an angry and extended discussion, at the close of which he was called upon to give his casting vote. It was upon the It LIFE <•> honest exercise "I this dutj that Mr. Clay, then a member >of the Senate, bul being presenl upon the floor of the House, uttered the profane exclamation which baa made the event memorable, while it deservedly detracted much from the character of the senator in the opinion of all virtuous minds. The exasperation of the opposition was more notably mani- fested at the close of the Bession, and contrasted to the disad- vantage of that party with the action of the House at the con- clusion of the session of is. 57. Then, as we have seen, he received an unanimous vote of thanks, a custom which we believe was never before opposed until at the close of the last session, when he had a seat in Congress. On the usual motion being made, it was unexpectedly met by a violent party speech, from gentlemen who, while they had to admit that the speaker had discharged his duty with dignity and ability, yet, if our recollec- tion bears us out correctly, assigned as a reason for their vindic- tive opposition, that as Mr. Polk was about to become a candidate for the gubernatorial office of Tennessee, it would be giving their sanction to his pretensions, as it would afford him "politi- cal capital to trade upon!" A singular reason, surely, for an undignified and unusual act! Without this " capital" from his opponent^ in Congress Mr. Polk returned home, and became the Democratic candidate for the office of governor. The chances, to all appearances, wen- against him, conceding that the results of the late election^ m Tennessee exhibited the true condition "I the two parties, as divided solely upon principles. It will be remembered thai in the presidential election of 1836, a portion of the Democratic (tarty supported Judge White in opposition to Mr. Nan Burcn. Tennessee gave her vote to her own citizen, White's majority being 9,842. The next year, at the election for governor, Cannon, the Whig candidate, obtained a majority of I'.i.xr.) over Armslrong, Democrat. To succeed, then, Mr. Polk would have to break down a majority of nearly 20,000 votes, and that, too, against tin- same gentleman who received his office through that immense majority but two years before. The indomitable energy ami untiring industry of Mr. Polk, however, successfully performed this Herculean task, and he came off victor in 1839 with a majority of 2,669, making a Demo ( i .itic gain in the State of something o\ er 22,000 votes, in doing this, he abandoned none of his political principles, bul maintained what ua-i called his "ultraistn" and "radicalism" with the same JAMES K. POLK. 15 uncompromising sternness that distinguished him while holding a seat in Congress. In 1840, Tennessee gave her vote to Harrison, he receiving 12,102 majority over Mr. Van Buren. The old defection pro- duced by Judge White in 1836, had not entirely subsided, par- ticularly in relation to Mr. Van Buren. In the following year Mr. Polk was again the candidate for Governor, but was defeated by Mr. Jones, one of the most popular Whigs in the State, not, however, without cutting down the 12,000 Whig majority for Harrison to 3,224. In 1843, he was a second time the candi- date in opposition to Jones, losing his election by somewhere about the same relative vote as in 1841. But with Polk against Clay, no one can doubt the result in Tennessee in 1844. The Whig nominee will have to encounter an opposition in that State to which he will be obliged to suc- cumb. The elements of Harrison's success in 1840 cannot be brought into operation in any shape. The issue in every sense will be a new one. The ghost of that " bargain" by which Mr. Adams was made President, will meet Mr. Clay at every step, and retribution will be- demanded for that act by which Andrew Jackson was made to stand aside, for one whom this same Mr. Clay had taught the whole West to hate. Yes, bitterly to hate, for attempting to barter the navigation of the Mississippi to Great Britain; for giving Texas to Spain: for "an unfeeling policy, which would crimson our fresh fields with the blood of our border brethren, and light the midnight forest with the flames of their dwellings." These are but a few of the charges made against Mr. Adams by Mr. Clay himself — and can the West forget ? Can Tennessee forget the memorable events of 1824, by which, with all these charges unrefuted, Andrew Jackson was defrauded of his election through the vindictive feelings of the present Whig candidate, who by this one deed, abandoned his principles, deceived Ohio, betrayed Kentucky, and bartered away the whole West for the Secretaryship, to a man whom he had denounced as wanting in all that makes up the character of a patriot, a statesman and a man ? Strangely shall we be mistaken if these things be forgotten — sadly shall we be disappointed if the hand of justice do not fall where its blow is so richly deserved. In concluding this brief sketch of the history of Mr. Polk, we are at length brought to the position in which he now stands before the people of these United States, the late National Con 16 LIFE OV vention having named him as the Democratic Candidate for tlie Presidency, with a unanimity as honorable to him as it is the presage of a success, which will give a new impetus to those great principles of free government, fur the integrity and perpe- tuit\ of which the Republican parly have so long contended. The opinions of our candidate have never been concealed. Free and fearless, he has ever thrown himself upon the clear and deep stream of Truth, in his stern honesty, unknowing how to trim his sails but to meet the safe breeze of principle. "Few public men have pursued a firmer or more consistent course than Mr. Polk. Upon several emergencies, when the current of popular opinion threatened to overwhelm him, he has sternly adhered to the convictions of duty, preferring to sink with his principles rather than rise by their abandonment. This, we have noticed, was the case after his bank report in 1833, and he incurred the same hazard when, in 1835, he avowed his un- alterable purpose not to separate from the democratic party in the presidential election. On each of these occasions the popu- lar excitement in his district would have appalled and driven back a timid and time serving politician. Had he been governed In gel fish motives; had he consulted his own personal ease and looked to his re-election alone; had he, in short, regarded success more than principle, he would have yielded his own convictions to the indications, not to be mistaken, of popular opinion. But he took counsel of nobler sentiments, and with a fearlessness characteristic of his whole public course, avowed and persisted in his well-matured determinations. Nothing can be more false than the charge of subserviency which has been brought against him, in common with the prominent supporters of the administration of General Jackson. It is true that, des- pising the cant of no parti/, which has ever been the pretext of Belfish and treacherous politicians, and convinced that in a popular government nothing can be accomplished by isolated action, he has always acted with his party, as far as principle would justify. Upon most of the prominent measures of the administration, however, his opinions were not only generally known, but lie had actually spoken or voted before the accession ul General Jackson to power. Mi. Polk is a ready debater, with a style and manner forcible and impressive. In discussion he has been always distinguished bj great courtesy, never having been known to indulge in often- JAMES K. TOLK. \J sive personality, which, considering the prominence of his course and the ardor of his convictions, is no small merit. As a proof of his exemplary assiduity, he is said never to have missed a division while occupying a seat on the floor of the House, his name being found upon every list of the yeas and nays. His ambi- tion was to be a useful member as well as a prominent actor, and accordingly he always performed more than a full share of the active business of legislation. In person he is of middle stature, with a full, angular brow, and a quick and penetrating eye. The expression of his countenance is grave, but its serious cast is often relieved by a peculiarly pleasant smile, indicative of the amenity of his disposition. The amiable character of his private life, which has ever been upright and pure, secures to him the esteem and friendship of all who have the advantage of his acquaintance." L I F E OF THE HON. GEORGE M, DALLAS, George Mifflin Dallas was born in the city of Philadel- phia on the Kith of July, 1792. He is the elder son of Alex- ander James Dallas, one of the most accomplished advocates and distinguished statesmen that have adorned the legal profession of the United States, or sustained, in important posts of .public trust, the principles and policy of the republican party. He received the rudiments of his education at a school in German- town, and afterward at the Friends' Academy in Philadelphia. At the a character of the President, believed what t lie gentleman charged upon him. He was glad that the member had at length thrown off the cloak under which he had covertly acted during the pre- sent session. He had been elected to his seat here by the friends of the President. If lie was correctly informed, he came into this house upon the popularity of the venerable man whom he now so wantonly assailed. He came here professing to give to his administration a fair and an honest support — professing to be enumerated among his political friends. Had he sustained one single measure which the President recommended ? Not one — and it was matter of no regret that the member had at length thrown off the mask. He cannot claim this occasion, or this bill, as a pretext for his desertion from his former professed po- litical attachments. What was there in this occasion to call forth such a tirade of abuse ? The President has returned to this house, as it was his constitutional right, and, entertaining the opinion he did, his duty to do, a bill which had passed Con- gress, and been presented to him for his constitutional sanction. He had, in a very temperate, and, he added, in a very able man- ner, assigned the reasons why he had felt himself constrained, from a high sense of public duty, to withhold his signature and sanction from it. We are called upon by an imperative provis- ion of the constitution to reconsider the vote by which a major- ity of this house had agreed to pass the bill. The bill and the message of the President were the fair subjects of deliberation and discussion for this house. We were now called upon to dis- charge a high constitutional duty on our part. Had the member discussed, or even pretended to discuss, a single principle con- tained in the message or in the bill ? No ! He had chosen to make a most wanton attack upon the President. Why was the member from Ohio thrown into such a rage ? Was it because the system of which this bill is a part was so dear to him ? Does he not know, will he deny it, that he has heretofore professed to be opposed to this whole system ? In the last Congress he was a member of the committee on manufactures. He voted for the tariff, and ostensibly supported it ; but did he not then openly say to many gentlemen (not in confidence, for, if it had been so, he would be the last man to betray that confidence,) that he was opposed to the whole American system — that it was nothing but a political hobby ? Did he not say that he would return home and revolutionize public opinion in his own district, and in the •>0 APPENDIX. whole state of Ohio ; that a delusion existed in that State thai could and should be removed ; that ho had never conversed with a plain, farming man, and explained to him the operations of this American system, but that he convinced him that it was against his interest to support it ? Would the gentleman deny this ? If he would venture to do it, he pledged himself to prove it upon him by many members of this house. It was not, then, the at- tachment of the gentleman to this system that could have in- duced him to throw into the house the fire-brand that he had. That pretext cannot shield him. He best knows the real cause of his present course. He best knows whether he was ever, in truth and in fact, the sincere friend of the President., or whether he found it convenient to profess to be his friend in order to obtain his election to this house. The member had formed new associations recently — associations with our old po- litical adversaries ; and he was glad, for the future, to know who he was, and where to find him. A covert political adversary was much more insidious and dangerous than one that openly avowed himself, and acted upon his professions. He had to beg the pardon of the house for any apparent warmth which his man- ner may have indicated. It had been wholly induced bv the most unexpected torrent of abuse which fell from the member from Ohio, so uncalled for by the occasion, so unnecessary and uncertain in its character, and which produced so visible a sen- sation in the house, on all sides of it, and among all parties in it. That member was wholly responsible for the excitement which it was apparent pervaded the whole house. "The message of the President, he undertook to state, was em- phatically his own; and the views presented for the rejection of this bill were the result of the honest convictions of his own de- liberate reflection. Was it an electioneering measure ? No man who knows his character will believe it. The common sense of the nation will put. to shame the charge. What! an election- eering measure ! a popularity -hunting scheme ! Why, sir, if he had been so base, in the discharge of a high constitutional duiv, as to have been operated upon by such a motive, the indications in this Congress — the will of the people, if that will be correctly reflected here, a majority of whose representatives originally voted for this bill — would have presented the most powerful mo- tive why he should have approved and signed this bill. No, sir, the President would not be himself, if he had been capable of FOLK ON MA.YSVILLE VETO. being influenced in the slightest degree by any such considera tions. Such considerations have no |)lace in minds of the ele- vated cast of that of the chief magistrate. Such considerations are only suited to the bent of such grovelling minds as are them- selves capable of making the charge. No, sir, on the contrary, on the brink of a great crisis, at a period of unusual political excitement, — to save his country from what he conscientiously believed to be a dangerous infraction of the constitution — to avert the evils which threatened, in its consequences, the long continuance of the confederacy upon its original principles, — he had, with a patriotism never surpassed, boldly and firmly staked himself, his present and his future popularity and lame, against what seemed to be the current of public opinion. Had he signed this bill, the road on which he would have travelled would have been a broad pavement, and his continued elevation certain be- yond the possibility of doubt. As it was, he had planted him- self upon the ramparts of the constitution, and had taken the high responsibility upon himself to check the downward march in which the system of which this bill is a part was fast hasten- ing us. It required just such a man, in such times, to restore the constitution to its original reading. In the course of a long and eventful life he had always been equal to any emergency, however perplexing or embarrassing his situation might be. He had never failed to assume responsibility when he should assume it; and in no instance in his public life had he displayed in a more eminent degree that moral courage and firmness of charac- ter so peculiarly characteristic of him, than in this. He has achieved a civil victory which will shed more lustre upon his future fame, and be infinitely more durable, than many such vic- tories as that of the battle of Orleans, for, by this single act, he verily believed he had done more than any man in this country, for the last thirty years, to preserve the constitution and to per- petuate the liberties we enjoy. The constitution was, he hoped, to be again considered and practised upon, as it, in fact, was one of limited powers, and the States permitted to enjoy all the pow- ers which they originally intended to reserve to themselves in that compact of union. The pernicious consequences, the evil tendencies, to say nothing of the corrupting influence of the exercise of a power over internal improvements by the federal government, were not fully developed until within a very fe* years last past. Mr. Madison, on the last day of his term of 38 AIM'KMHX. office, put his veto on the bonus bill. In the following year Mr. Monroe rejected ;i bill assuming jurisdiction and fixing tolls on the Cumberland road. The subject of the power was discussed at great length and with great ability in the next Congress. The House of Representatives, by a small majority, at that time affirmed the power to appropriate money for objects of national improvement, but denied, and by the vote of the house nega- tived, the power to construct roads or canals of any character, whether military, commercial, or for the transportation of the mail. It was not until the last administration that the broad power to the extent now claimed, limited only by the arbitrary discretion of Congress, was asserted and attempted to be main- tained by the Executive and by Congress. It was not until that period that its dangers were fully perceived. The President had manifested, in the message before us, that he had been an attentive observer of its progress, and its probable, if not its in- evitable, consequences. lie could not shut his eyes to the con- stant collisions, the heart-burnings, the combinations, and the certain corruption to which its continual exercise would tend, both in and out of Congress. In the conscientious discharge of a constitutional duty, which he was not at liberty to decline, he had withheld his signature from this bill, and had frankly sub- mitted to us his views upon this important question; and he trusted we would deliberate upon it temperately, as we should, and, in the vote which we were about to give upon the reconsid- eration of this bill, according to the powers of the constitution, express the opinions which we entertain, and not make a false issue, growing out of a personal assault upon the character or motives of the chief magistrate." COLONEL POLKS LETTER ON TEXAS. Columbia, Tenn. Jlpril 23, 1844. Gentlemen: Your letter of the 30th ult. which you have done me the honor to address to me, reached my residence during my absence from home, and was not received until yesterday. Ac- companying your letter, you transmit to me, as you state, " a copy of the proceedings of a very large meeting of the citizens of Cincinnati, assembled on the 29th instant, to express their settled opposition to the annexation of Texas to the United States." You request from me an explicit expression of opin- ion upon this question of annexation. Having at no time enter- tained opinions upon public subjects which I was unwilling to avow, it gives me pleasure to comply with your request. I have no hesitation in declaring that I am in favor of the immediate re- annexation of Texas to the territory and Government of the United States. I entertain no doubts as to the power or expe- diency of the re-annexation. The proof is clear and satisfactory to my mind that Texas once constituted a part of the territory of the United States, the title to which I regard to have been as indisputable as that to any other portion of our territory. At the time the negotiation was opened with a view to acquire the Floridas, and the settlement of other questions, and pending that negotiation the Spanish Government itself was satisfied of the validity of our title, and was ready to recognize a line far west of the Sabine as the true western boundary of Louisiana, as defined by the treaty of 1803 with France, under which Lou- isiana was acquired. This negotiation, which had been first opened at Madrid, was broken off and transferred to Washing- ton, where it was resumed, and resulted in the treaty of Florida, by which the Sabine was fixed on as the western boundary of Louisiana. From the ratification of the treaty of 1803 with France, until the treaty of 1819 with Spain, the territory now constituting the republic of Texas belonged to the United States. In 1819 the Florida treaty was concluded at Washington by -10 APPENDIX. Mr. John Quincy Adams, (the Secretary of State) on the part of the United States, and Don Louis dc Onis on the part of Spain ; and by that treaty this territory lying west of the Sabine, and constituting Texas, was ceded by the United States to Spain. The Rio Did Norte, or some untie western boundary than the Sabine, could have been obtained had it been insisted on by the American Secretary of State, and that without increasing the consideration paid for the Floridas. In my judgment, the coun- ts Hot of the Sabine, and now called Texas, was most un- wisely ceded away. It is a part of the great valley of the Mis- sissippi, directly connected by its navigable waters, with the Mississippi river; and having once been a part of our Union, it should never have been dismembered from it. The Government and people of Texas, it is understood, not only give their con- sent, but are anxiously desirous, to be re-united to the United S;ates. If the application of Texas for are-union and admis- sion into our confederacy shall be rejected by the United States there is imminent danger that she will become a dependency, if not a colony, of Great Britain — an event which no American patriot, anxious for the safety and prosperity of this country, could permit to occur without the most strenuous resistance. Let Texas be re-annexed, and the authority and laws of the United States be established and maintained within her limits, as also in the Oregon Territory, and let the fixed policy of our Government be, not to permit Great Britain or any other foreign power to plant a colony or hold dominion over any portion of the people or territory of either. These are my opinions ; and without deeming it to be necessary to extend this letter, by assigning the many reasons which influence me in the conclu- sions to which I come, I regret to be compelled to differ so widely from the views expressed by yourselves, and the meeting of citizens of Cincinnati, whom you represent. Differing, how- ever, with you and with them as I do, it was due to frankness that I should be thus explicit in the declaration of my opinions. I am, with great respect, Your obedient servant, JAMES K. POLK. To Messrs. S. P. Chase, Thomas 1 1 baton, £vc Committee, Cincinnati MR, POLK'S OPINIONS ON THE TARIFF, The opinions of Mr. Polk on (his subject may be sii mined up in a few words. In a speech delivered at Jackson, Tennessee, on the 3d April, 1843, after a full discussion of the question, he concluded his argument by the following condensed declaration: "He [Col. Polk] was OPPOSED TO DIRECT TAXES, and to prohibitory and protective duties, and in favor of such moderate duties as would not cut off importations. IN OTHER WORDS, HE WAS IN FAVOR OF REDUCING THE DU- TIES TO THE RATES OF THE COMPROMISE ACT, WHERE THE WHIG CONGRESS FOUND THEM ON THE 30th OF JUNE, 1842." Here is no non-committal. But, while the Whigs have been the first to call up this opinion for political effect, they seem to have forgotten how concurrently it runs with the views of Mr. Clay himself, as expressed b} r him in a speech made in the Senate on the 21st January, 1842. The language is taken from the National Intelligencer, Mr. C's especial organ, tt is for Mr. Polk's opponents to say whether this is the honest opinion of their candidate. If it be, let them compare it with Mr. P's declaration, and draw the distinction, if they can. If it is not, let them then settle the question of truthfulness with the people. Extract from Mr. Clay's Speech. "Carry out then, said he, the spirit of the Compromise Act. Look to Revenue alone for the support of Government. Do not raise the question of Protection, which I had hoped had been put to rest. THERE IS NO NECESSITY OF PROTECTION FOR PROTECTION." Now, this is our doctrine, " Carry out the spirit of the Com- promise Act," as Mr. Clay says: — "Reduce the duties to the rates of the Compromise Act," as says Mr. Polk: — " I am for supporting the Compromise Act, and never will agree to its being altered or repealed," as General Harrison said, in the following letter: "Zanesville, November 2, 1836. " Gentlemen : — I had the honor, this moment, to receive your communication of yesterday. I regret that my remarks of yes- terday were misunderstood in regard to the tariff system. What I meant to convey was, that I had been a warm advocate for that system upon its first adoption ; that I still believe in the benefits it had conferred upon the country. But I certainly never had, nor ever could have, any idea of reviving it. What I said was, that I would not agree to the repeal as it now stand*. In other words, I am for supporting the Compromise Act, and never will agree to its being altered or repealed. " In relation to the internal improvement system, I refer you for my sentiments to my letter to the Hon. Sherrod Williams. " I am, in great haste, with great respect, your fellow citizen. "WM. H. HARRISON. " Messrs. Foster, Taylor, and others." 6 I- APPENDIX. The Whig party have no settled principles in regard to the Tariff In the north and east, amongst the manufacturers, they avow themselves in favor of a " high protective and pro- hibitory Tariff." While Mr. Clay and his satellites are thus flattering these monopolists, they speak thus of the farm- ers : Clay's opinion of Farmers. — "Agriculture needs no pro- tection. The habits of farmers, generation after generation, pass down a long track of time, in perpetual succession, with- out the slightest change ; and the ploughman who fastens his plough to the tail of his cattle icill not acknowledge that there is any improvement cquul to his." In the south and west, amongst the farmers and planters, this is their doctrine : " The prohibition of the fabrics of foreign countries would transfer the monopoly to the home manufacturers in the United States. The true iiilcrcsts of the consumers are best promoted by a competition between the foreign and the national supply. The inevitable tendency of that competition is to reduce prices, as all experience has demonstrated." — Mr. Clay at New Orleans, to a committee of his Whig friends in Virginia, dated Jan. 23, 1844. Col. Polk and the Democratic party entertain the same opin- ions in all sections of the country. They are in favor of re- viving the " compromise act." The same doctrine which Mr. Clay upholds in the south and west, as affording sufficient pro- tection, but which he and his friends denounce so violently in the north and east, among the manufacturers and capitalists. The following is an extract from Col. Polk's speech on the Tariff, delivered in the House of Representatives in 1833 : " No member of the committee (of which he was one) who yielded his assent to this bill, I may safely affirm, desires to prostrate the manufacturer, nor will such, in their judgment, be the effect of the bill. I venture to affirm that the bill, so far from prostrating these establishments, affords sufficient inci- dental protection to enable all such as are based on real, not borrowed, capital, and which are conducted with economy and skill, not only to stand, under this bill, but to realize greater rates of profit upon the capital and labor employed, than it de- rived from any oilier regular business in the country." ANNKXATIO.Y. 43 MR. DALLAS ON ANNEXATION. The following letter was written by the Hon. George .M. Dallas, in reply to a letter of invitation from the Democracy of Pittsburgh city and county to unite with them in celebra- ting the anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans. " Gentlemen — I am obliged to decline the invitation with which you have honored me, to join you in celebrating the anniversary of the victory of New Orleans. Our friends of this city have arranged for a similar festivity. "The national value of General Jackson's chief military achievement is becoming every year more obvious. Great Britain, with her usual policy, designed to close the war of 1812, as well by the capture of the key to the navigation of our western waters as by the treaty of Ghent : leaving to the uncertainties of negotiation the subsequent surrender or permanent retention of her conquest. We have severely felt the power of her protracted diplomacy on more occa- sions than one ; and it may well be doubted whether, if her arms had secured a strong hold at the mouth of the Mississippi, the free use of that vast estuary to her com- merce and political schemes, might not ultimaiely have been exacted as an equivalent for some imaginary and exagger- ated sacrifice. Nor has experience assured us that any con- cession on our part to her rapacity would not be deemed by a too conciliatory administration, a better and wiser re- sort than war. The heroism which beat back her invasion and preserved from rapine and pollution a commercial and bril- liant metropolis, filled all America with exulting delight, and commanded the applause of the world, but time is only now developing the measureless importance of tiiat exploit to the liberties, safety, wealth, and grandeur of our republic. " With England at New Orleans, or her steamers free to ply the waters of the Mississippi, the expansive virtues of our institutions must be fatally impeded. Who, under such cir- cumstances, would look beyond the Sabine, or listen to the early cries of an infant commonwealth so distant because so severed from us? And yet can any one contemplate the im- mense sphere for freedom which Texas opens, — the progres- sive advancement of her population, to be protected by our laws, to be enlightened by our sciences and arts, to be fed, clothed and comforted by our husbandry, manufactures and trade, without perceiving that our constitution o( govern- ment would falter in its pledges to humanity at large, if that new state, thus propitious to our own prosperity, were abandoned to 44 api'knpix. the fate of a mere colony or ministering subservient to European domination ! To me, the incorporation of Texas into the Fed- eral Union, seems not only the opening of a natural exhaustless resource for the fabrics of- the eastern and middle states, the agricultural products of the southern and western, and the activity of our extensive seaboard, but it assumes the aspect of a just and necessary consequence upon the genius and maxims of our confederated system. 1 regard our present ability to fulfil the high duties of our political existence, in welcoming successively every community freshly formed upon the North American continent, within the circle of the national com- pact, as a legitimate and lineal offspring of Gen. Jackson's valor. " The 8th of January which thus viewed, bears to the ' Great H eti : a relation like that of the Fourth of July to the ' Ori- ginal Thirteen,* deserves lasting celebration : — nor is it possible to designate a place in our country, whose great and growing material interests, harmonizing with her lofty republican prin- ciples, can give to that celebration more spirit and emphasis than Pittsburgh. " Accept then, gentlemen, the assurance of my cordial par- ticipation in the sentiments which actuate you, and of my sincere thanks for the flattering terms in which you have invited my presence at your patriotic commemoration. " G. M. DALLAS. " Jan. 1, 1844. COIr. FOLK'S OPINIONS. The following are extracted from Gov. Polk's Inaugural Address, delivered at Nashville on the 14th of October, 1835, in presence of the two Houses of the General Assembly and a large concourse of his fellow citizens. UNITED STATES BANK. "The federal government has at different times assumed or attempted to exercise powers which, in my judgment, have not been conferred upon that government by the compact. Among these 1 am live to declare my solemn conviction that the fede- ral government possesses no constitutional power to incorporate a national hank. The advocates of a bank insist that it would be convenient and expedient, and that it would promote the 'general Welfare; 1 but they have in my judgment failed to show that (he power to create it is either c.ijnrs^lij granted, or col. folk's OPINIONS. 4.) that it is an incident to any express power that is l necessary and proper'' to carry that power into effect. The alarming dan- gers of the power of such a corporation (vast and irresponsible as experience has shown it to be.) to the public liberty, it does not fall within the scope of my present purpose fully to exam- ine. We have seen the power of associated wealth in the late Dank of the United States, wrestling with a giant's strength with the government itself — and although finally overthrown, it was not until after a long and doubtful contest. During the struggle, it manifested a power for mischief which it would he dangerous to permit to exist in a free country. The panic and alarm, the distress and extensive suffering which, in its convul- sive struggle to perpetuate its power, it inflicted on the coun- try, will not soon be forgotten. Its notorious alliance with leading politicians, and its open interference, by means of the corrupting power of money, in the political contests of the times, had converted it into a political engine, used to control elections and the course of public alfairs. No restraints of law could prevent any similar institution from being the willing instrument used for similar purposes. The state of Tennessee, through her legislature, has repeatedly declared her settled opinions against the existence of such an institution, and at no time in its favor. She has instructed her senators and requested her representatives in Congress to vote against the establish- ment of such an institution. In these opinions, heretofore ex- pressed by the state, I entirely concur." DISTRIBUTION. "Of the same character is the power which at some time has been attempted to be exercised by the federal government, of first collecting by taxation on the people a surplus revenue be- yond the wants of that government, and then distributing such surplus in the shape of donations among the states; a power which has not been conferred on that government by any ex- press grant, nor is it an incident to any express power ' neces- sary and proper' for its execution. To concede such a power, would be to make the federal government the tax-gatherer of the states, and accustom them to look to that source from which to supply the state treasuries, and to defray the expenses of the state governments. It is clear that this constituted no one of the objects of the creation of the federal government ; and to permit its exercise would be to reduce the States to the de- graded condition of subordinate dependencies upon that govern- ment, to destroy their separate and independent sovereignly, and to make the government of the union in effect a consolidation. The power to make provision for the support of its own gov- 46 APPENDIX. ernment, by the levy of the necessary taxes upon its own citi- zens, and the adoption of such measures of policy for its inter- nal government not inconsistent with the federal constitution, as may be deemed proper and expedient, 'remains to each state among its domestic and unalienated powers exercisable within itself, and by its domestic authorities alone.' " PROTECTIVE TARIFF. " A surplus federal revenue, raised by means of a tariff of duties, must necessarily be collected in unequal proportions from the people of the respective states. The planting and producing states must bear the larger portion of the burden. It was this inequality which has heretofore given rise to the just complaints of these states, as also of the commercial in- terests, against the operations of a high and protective tariff. If the proceeds ol" the sales of the public lands be set apart for distribution among the states, as has been sometimes pro- posed, the operation and eilect would be the same ; for, by ab- stractifig from the federal treasury the proceeds of the sales of tin; public lands, a necessity is thereby created for an increased tariff to the amount thus abstracted. To collect a surplus reve- nue by unequal taxation, and then to return to the people, by a distribution among the states, their own money, in sums dimin- ished by the amount of the cost of collection and distribution, aside from its manifest injustice, is a power which it could never have been intended to confer on the federal government. u When, from the unforeseen operation of the revenue laws of the United Slates, a surplus at any time exists or is likely to exist in the federal treasury, the true remedy is to reduce or to repeal the taxes so as to collect no more money than shall be absolutely necessary for the economical wants of that govern- ment, and thus leave what would otherwise be surplus uncol- lected in the pockets of the people. The act of Congress of 183G, by which a large amount of the surplus on hand was dis- tributed among the stales, is upon its face a depostie, and not a donation, of the sums distributed. The states have become the debtors to the federal government for their respective pro- portions, and are subject to be called upon to refund it. Had the act provided for an absolute donation to the stales, so pal- pable an infraction of the constitution it is scarcely possible to conceive could have been sanctioned. By making it assume the form of a mere deposite of the money of the United States in the state treasuries for sale keeping until needed for public purposes, it became the law. Though it may not be probable that the. sums distributed on deposite will be called for at an early period, if nuked they will ever be, unless in cases of ex- col. tolk's opinions. 47 igeneies growing out of a foreign war, yet the states should be at all times prepared to meet the call when made ; and it will be unsafe for them to rely upon the sums they have, received as a permanent fund. They should rather look to their own credit and resources in the accomplishment of their purposes." ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. " It becomes the duty of all the states, and especially of those whose constitutions recognize the existence of domestic slavery, to look with watchfulness to the attempts which have been re- cently made to disturb the rights secured to them by the con- stitution of the United States. The agitation of the abolition- ists can by no possibility produce good to any portion of the union, and must, if persisted in, lead to incalculable mischief. The institution of domestic slavery, as it existed at the adop- tion of the constitution of the United States, and as it still ex- ists in some of the states, formed the subject of one of the compromises of opinion and of interest upon the settlement of which all the old states became parlies to the compact, and agreed to enter the union. The new states were admitted into the union upon an equal footing with the old states, and are equally bound by the terms of the compact. Any attempt on the part of the federal government to act upon the subject of slavery, as it exists within the states, would be a clear infrac- tion of the constitution ; and to disturb it within the district of Columbia would be a palpable violation of the public faith, as well as of the clear meaning and obvious intention of the framers of the constitution. They intended to leave, as they did in fact leave, the subject to the exclusive regulation and ac- tion of the states and territories within which slavery existed or might exist. They intended to place, and they did in fact place it beyond the pale of action within the constitutional power of the federal government. No power has been con- ferred upon the general government, either by express grant or necessary implication, to take cognizance of, or in any manner or to any extent to interfere with, or to act upon the subject of domestic slavery, the existence of which in many of the states is expressly recognized by the constitution of the United States." YOUNG HZCEOHY. Extract from the Speech of the Horn. S. A. Douglass of Illinois, delivered on the od of June, 1844, in reply t<> hit colleague, seat. Ids colleague seemed ambitious to dis- tinguish himself as tin- leader of his party in the presidential campaign, and he was happy to Bay that he had succeeded in acquiring considerable notoriety in that way. Early in the Bession, ii will be recollected, he made a speech, or rather wrote a book, for the especial benefit of Mr. Van Buren, under the impression that that eminent statesman would be the democratic nominee for the presidency. The action of the Baltimore Convention, in the nominatiop of another distinguished citizen for that ex- alted station, lias taken mv colleague by surprise, and tinned all his hopes of a glo- rious immortality, from that effort, into bitter disappointment. His stories, anecdotes, and witticisms, however much they may be admired for their elegance and beauty, have lost their fire!-, and even those beautiful pictures, ill which he represented him- Bclf and Mr. Van Buren as standing side by Bide at an election, bare become offensive in In- own eyes. Ii is truly a sad disappointment : the loss of bis first born political speech. To a man of delicate feelings and keen sensibility it isindeed a severe afflic- tion — one Under which* as we have seen, the Stoutest heart and the firmest nerves sink almost in despair. I deeply sympathize With my colleague in his misfortune, and on tin- account excuse, as do doubt the house will, the almost savage ferocity with which he has pouueed upon Col. Folk as the Democratic candidate for the presi- dency. The provocation is very great, and some indulgence is due to the passions and frailties of human nature. Although the exhibitions of this day might seem to justify a different opinion, I assure the house that my colleague, if not provoked and irritated, is naturally a very amiable man. I propose, so far as my time will permit, to analyze the assaults upon Col. Polk, and see how far they will hear the test ot investigation. It is a source of gratification that they are all of a political nature ; none of them affecting his private and moral character. I have witnessed with feelings of pride and pleasure the complete and unequivocal evidence which hi- political adversaries have borne to his moral worth and purity of character, as a gentleman and a citizen. The first severe thrust my colleague aimed at Col. Polk was that, when compared with Mr. Van lluren, "he was hut a pigmy beside a giant." I was not aware that mv colleague considered Mr. Van Buren a "giant." I find nothing of this kind in his former speech, nor did I suppose that he so truly appreciated the moral greatness and intellectual power of that illustrious man. 1 confess myself agreeably disap- pointed, as I have no doubl the people of Illinois will he, when they learn that those who have been the mosl industrious in abusing and traducing Mr. Nan Huron, have disc vered that he is not onlv a great man, but even a giant, when compared with his distinguished countrymen. Bui a few weeks ago, when Mr. Nan Buren was sup- posed to be a candidate for the presidency, he was a mere pigmy ; but now he has become a giant, and Col. Polk is the pigmy. When Col. Polk shall have served bis presidential term, and retired to private life, I suppose he, in his turn, will become the giant, and his D imoeral ic successor the pigmy, in the estimation of my honorable colleague. It has been objected to Col. Polk, by authority equally high, and entitled to about the same weight, that '-In- was an industrious follower of Gen. Jackson throughout his wholi life ;" and In consequence of the intimate personal relations be- tween them, as well as the perfect c incurrence in their political opinions, and prin- ciples, and action, he has been called the " VOUNG HICKORY," as if there were something in that name calculated to excite a prejudice in the minds of the American people. He is emphatically a Young Hickory. The unwavering friend of Old Hickory in all his trials — his bosom companion -his supporter and defender on all oc- Casions, in public and in private, from Ins early boyhood until the present moment, in living possessed Genera] Jackson's confidence in a greater degree, or dis- played lie re zeal and ability in defending his lame from the slanders of his enemies, and in C II i '. i" l Ut l In- -jie.it republican principles with which his administration was identified. It is nol surprising, therefore, thai those enemies Bhould direct their ven- geance at the head of Col. Polk, and sneeripgly call him the " Sfoung Hickory." That he has been the industrious follower of General Jackson in those glorious con- teats for the defence of his country's rights, « ill not be deemed the unpardonable sin by the American people, bo long a-, their hearts beat and swell with gratitude to their great benefactor. Heistheverj man for the times "a chip of the old block," of the true bickon stump. The people a ant a man whose patriotism, honesty, ability, : ,,id devotion to Demi cratic principles have been tested and tried in the most stormy times of the republic, and never found wanting. That man is James K. Polk of Ten- nessee. 9 YO GEORGE M. DALLAS AND THE UNITED STATES BANK. y^o every election ground. Official manifestoes, equally arrogant £7) and inflammatory, were issued. Legislation was to be overawed, ^ the citizens intimidated, the elective franchise depreciated, or U) controlled, the country revolutionized ! This was a process of Xr) recharter which seemed to prostitute the powers and to defeat Q) the purpose of the corporation. It involved practices and pre- acted irreconcilably with such a doctrine. The case is one in '£> which resource to an extreme theory, ever so captivating, would -Co be unwise." I §0. -JIIIIIIIIEHIIillllIllllllil!llllllfiiiegilSEaiIiigillll!IIBIS9l]ISIIIIIIIIlll!Sil| ,«;■"' c ^^Cbc^S-' . . c\ public therewith. I hope that journment of the present session of Congress. I have the honor to be your obedient servant, J. WENT WORTH Hon. Geo. M. Dallas. Philadelphia, June 8, 1844. Dear Sir, — In accepting the nomination with which the Democratic National Convention unexpectedly honored me, I certainly conceived myself, at the same moment, as acquiescing in the political principles enunciated in the resolutions passed by that body, and as engaging with solemnity to cherish and r exemplify them " in any capacity in which I might be called upon A to art," should that nomination result in my election to the office 2) of Vice President. Had I discovered, among those standard (t resolutions, a rule of conduct, legislative or executive, with q which in a material feature, my mind refused to accord, I could i. not, without being inexcusably disingenuous, have consented to ° become the candidate of the party as whose creed they were L justly and fairly proclaimed. In recalling your attention, there- ° fore, with this remark, to the full and formal declaration of doc- / trine published as of the proceedings of the Convention, you ° % will doubtless perceive that I have given a direct and com pie- (, £ hensive answer to your inquiry. As, however, your stated ob- » ject in requesting this letter suggests to me the expediency and / propriety of being, on the two topics to which alone you have £ referred, even more explicit, allow me undisguisedly to aver ?■ that, as the relation now subsisting between the national de- <£ mocracy and their candidates is appreciated by me, it would be ? impossible that 1 should, by an official action, aid in the estab- £ lishment of another bank of the United States, or in the distri- 9 bution of the proceeds of the public lands among the different g states, without deservedly incurring the imputation of a breach 9 of good faith, and the consequent and worse penalties of self- g reproach. With great respect, 1 am, dear sir, Your friend and obedient servant, 'J, G. M. DALLAS. 9 Hon. John Wbntworth, M. C. (l niiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiBiiBBiiiiiiihiiiiiisBiiEiHiiiiiiiNMiiiiiiiiiiiiaiBiiEaiiiii