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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 OF THB 
 
 HONORABLE GEOIIGE PO^NDEXTEii. 
 
 Senator in Congress from MIsslBslppl. 
 
 PRINTED BY DUFF GREEN. 
 1835. 
 
£34-0 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HONORABLE GEORGE POINDEXTER, 
 
 SENATOR IN CONGKESa FROM MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 George Poindexter, one of the Senators ot" the United 
 States from Mississippi, was born in the county of Louisa, in 
 the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the year 1779. His ances- 
 tors were French Protestants, who left France for England to 
 avoid the persecutions of Louis XIV, and emigrated soon after- 
 wards to Virginia. His parents were of the Protestant religion, 
 possessed of considerable wealth prior to the Revolution, which 
 was greatly diminished by the events of that war. He was 
 left an orphan at an early age, without an education, and with 
 only a small patrimony, by which he was enabled to educate 
 and qualify himself for the bar. He studied law in the city of 
 Richmond, obtained a licence, and was compelled prematurely 
 to engage in the practice, not having the means of prosecuting 
 his studies to the extent which lie desired. He practised in 
 the Courts of his native State for a year or two witli pretty 
 good success, by which he was enabled to purchase a select 
 library of law books, and in the year 1802, he emigrated to 
 1 
 
2 
 
 the Mississippi Tcrritorv, which had been recently acquired from 
 Spain under the Treaty of 1795— a. Territory then including 
 Alabama and Mississippi, tlie population being principally on the 
 margins of the Mississippi and Tombigbee Rivers, amounting lo 
 not more than 10,000 persons in the vholc. In this new coun- 
 try, without the patronage of friends, or even an acquaintance 
 with a single inhabitant, having exhausted his pecuniary resources, 
 he opened an office in the practice of the law at Natchez, which 
 then contained but about three hundred inhabitants. Relyin"- 
 exclusively on his energies and the power of his own mind, he 
 devoted himself with untiring industry to his profession. Although 
 very young at that time, he very soon acquired a standing at 
 the bar, equal, if not superior, to a majority of his competitors. 
 His pecuniary affairs brightened, and the prospect was opened to 
 him of certain independence and wealth, by adopting a course of 
 prudence and perseverance. His attention, however, was very 
 soon turned to political subjects, in the progress of which the 
 income from his profession was considerably diminished. His 
 political principles have been drawn from the Virginia School of 
 1798-90, having been engaged in the study of the law in Rich- 
 mond at the very time when the great struggle, which resulted 
 in the elevation of Thomas Jefferson to the Executive Chair of 
 the Nation, in 1800, was agitating the country. From his early 
 political principles he never departed, but has ever maintained 
 and defended tliem with unwavering firmness. In 1803 he was 
 appointed by the Governor of the Mississippi Territory Attorney- 
 general of that district. In 1805, he was elected a member of 
 the Territorial Legislature for the county of Adams, in which 
 the city of Natchez h situated. In the following year he was 
 
chosen delegate in Congi-e-ss from that Territory, and in October 
 1807, he first took his seat in the House of Representatives of 
 the United Sb.tes. 
 
 It may be noted, tliat about the period of his election to 
 Congress, he was appointed by tlie Acting-governor of the Mis- 
 sissippi Territory to visit that ill-fated man, Aaron Burr, at his 
 boats, near the mouth of Bayau Pierre, where he had halted his 
 flotilla in descending the river Mississippi, to carry into effect 
 his mad projects of conquest and political ambition. He had an 
 interview with Colonel Burr, which resulted in his surrender to 
 tlie civil authorities of the Territory, where a premature attempt was 
 made to prosecute him for treason, contrary to the opinion of Mr. 
 Poindexter, who was still Attorney-general, and who moved the 
 court to commit Colonel Burr until he should be demanded by 
 the Governor of Kentucky, in which State it appeared that a 
 military assemblage had taken place at the mouth of the Cumber- 
 land river, aad where the offence charged had been committed, 
 if that assemblage amounted to an overt act of treason. 
 
 It is certain that no such overt act had been committed 
 in the Mississippi Territory. The Court, consisting of two 
 judges, divided on the motion : it was therefore overruled. 
 On the next day Colonel Burr made his escape. "What happened 
 afterwards in the case of this individual is matter of history. 
 
 Mr. Poindexter served three terms as the Representative 
 of the Mississippi Territory in Congress, before it was ad- 
 mitted into the Union as a State ; in this character, it is 
 well known, he was entitled to debate, but not to vote, on 
 
any question pending before tlie House. He was the friend 
 of tlie general course of measures adopted under 'the admi- 
 nistration of Jefterson and Madison, and frequently took 
 a conspicuous part in debate in defence of their measures. 
 His speech, made in defence of President Madison for dismissing 
 Francis James Jackson, Minister from Great Britain, who 
 superseded Mr. Erskine, after Mr. Canning disavowed the act of 
 that minister in suspending the Orders in Council, has been 
 published, and it attracted much attention at the time : this 
 speecii was supposed to be the best defence that was then 
 made of that measure of Mr. Madison. 
 
 During the discussions on tlie political events which pre- 
 ceded the war against Great Britain, he warmly supported every 
 measure which looked to resistance against the wrongs and inju- 
 ries practised towards this country, both by England and France, 
 at that memorable epoch in our history ; and when the final vote 
 was taken on the declaration of war, he oftered a paner whicli 
 he moved to insert upon the journals, declaring in explicit 
 terms his opinions in favor of tlie measure. - The declaration 
 was entered on the journal, as an act of justice to him who 
 v/as deprived by the constitution of the privilege of voting.(l) 
 
 (1) Extract from the Journal of the House of Representatives, June 4, 
 1812 : when the bill, declaring war against Great Britain, was on its final 
 passage. 
 
 Mr. I'oindextHi' moved to have inserted on tlie Journal a declaration in 
 tlie following words : — 
 
 George Poindextcr, delegate from the Mississippi Terj-itory, not having a 
 constitutional right to record his suffrage on the Journals of the House, on the 
 important question under consideration, and being penetrated with a firm con- 
 viction of the propriety of the measure, asks the indulgence of the House to 
 
He served one session after the Declaration of War, at the 
 close of which he accepted the appointment of Judge of the Su- 
 perior Courts of Law and Equity in the Mississippi Territory, 
 wliich was tendered to him by President Madison (with whom 
 he had maintained official and personal relations, on the most 
 friendly terms, during the whole period of his service in Con- 
 gress), without solicitation. He remained on the bench till 
 October 1817, and in the discharge of the arduous and deli- 
 cate duties of this office, he gained as much, or perhaps 
 more reputation, than he had acquired in any previous trust 
 which had been confided to him. It is sufficient to say 
 that he gave universal satisfaction, to the bar and to the 
 country at large. (2) In 1817, he was chosen a member of the 
 
 express liis own, and the sense of his constituents, in support of the honorable 
 and dignified attitude which the government of his country has assumed, in 
 vindication of its rights against the lawless violence and unprecedented usurp- 
 ations of the Government of Great Britain. 
 
 (2) Address of the Mississippi Bar to the Hon. Geo. Poindexter, signed 
 by the whole bar, with a single exception. 
 
 The undersigned, members of the bar in the Superior Courts of tlie 
 Mississippi Territory, understanding that your honor is about to leave the 
 Territory for some time, beg leave to express to you our liigh approbation 
 of the promptitude, ability, and impartiality, with wliich you have discharged 
 tlie arduous duties of your judicial station. You have introduced a system of 
 practice into our courts, and preserved an order and decorum in the despatch 
 of business, the beneficial efiects of which have been felt in all classes of 
 society. We will only add, that our best wishes for your health and hanpiness 
 will attend you through life. 
 
 W. B. Shields, Ch. B. Greei^, 
 
 LxMAK Hakdistg, J. Keeth, 
 
 JoHX Taylor, Edward Turnbh, 
 
 D. P. Jaxcart, Cowles Meade, 
 
 &,c., &c. 
 
convention, ^^llich formed a Constitution and State Government 
 in the western part of the Mississi])pi Territory, that Territory 
 having been divided into two States. He took a leading part in 
 the convention; reported the Constitution, which may, without 
 injustice to otlicrs, be said to have been shaped almost entirely 
 by the hand of Mr.., Poindextcr. This Constitution might, 
 and no doubt did, contain some defects, but in the main it 
 will bear a favorable coinpanson with the Constitution of any 
 other State in the Union. It has, however, unfortunately been 
 almost wholly obliterated by a recent convention held in the 
 State, and a new Constitution adopted, which transferred the 
 entire power of appointment of office to the people in popular 
 elections. Many other changes of the fundamental law of 
 the State, of a novel and extraordinary character, were intro- 
 duced into tliis new Constitution : it has been in operation 
 but little more than a year, and already the intelligent part 
 of the community are dissatisfied with it; and there can be 
 no doubt that in a few years they will return to the prin- 
 ciples of the first Constitution. 
 
 In October 1817, Mr. Poindexter was elected without oppo- 
 sition the first representiitive in Congress from the new State, 
 which he had so largely contributed to rear up and establish. 
 
 In this situation he served only one term, and voluntarily 
 declined a re-election in 1819. In the same year he was 
 chosen Governor of the State by an immense majority of the 
 people. This oflice he likewise held only one term, and retired 
 from it in the year 1822. At the session of Congress of 1813-19, 
 
it will be recollected that a strict investigation was insti- 
 tuted by the Committee on Military Affairs in the House ot' 
 Representatives into the conduct of Major-Gcneral Andrew 
 Jackson, in the prosecution of what is familiarly called the Seminole 
 War, in which he was appointed to the cliief command. The 
 Committee reported resolutions of censure on tliat high military 
 Commander for a violation of the Constitution in the assumption, 
 of powers exclusively confided to Congress, and for inliumanity 
 in the alleged arbitrary sentence and execution of Arbuthnot 
 and Ambrister. Mr. Poindexter warmly espoused the cause 
 of the Hero of New Orleans ; and his speech on that occasion 
 ha* been distinguished by the general admission, that it con- 
 tained the ablest vindication of the military conduct of General 
 Jackson in that campaign that has ever been given to the 
 public. General Jackson himself paid it an emphatic compli- 
 ment, by handing a copy of it in pamphlet form to a friend 
 of his, adding " Do, my dear sir, read this small pamphlet; it 
 contains my defence." 
 
 In the year 1820, Mr. Poindcxter, being then Governor of 
 Mississippi, was requested, by an act of the Legislature, to revise 
 and consolidate all the laws of a public nature in force within 
 the .State, and to prepare such additional laws as he might deem 
 necessary to complete the Code of Statute Law, and organize the 
 several Departments of the State Government. This duty he under- 
 took, and in the year 1 822, he reported to a special session of the 
 General Assembly the revised code which he iiad prepared with 
 great care, having bestowed his undivided attention to it for nearly 
 two years. He had no assistance in the execution of this work. 
 
The Legislature adopted, with very sliglit modifications, the entire 
 system of Statute Law, as it was reported to them. In considera- 
 tion of tliis service, the two Houses of tlie General Assembly passed 
 a joint resolution, tendering their thanks to Mr. Poindexter for 
 the ability and fidelity with which he had performed the duty 
 assigned to him. For tliis arduous and important service, Mr. 
 Poindexter would receive no compensation from the Treasury of 
 the State; but the same Legislature which had adopted the code, 
 directed tiie Governor of the State to present to him a splendid 
 copy of Rocs' Ci/clopedla, with the following inscription in gold 
 letters on each volume : " Presented by the State of 3Jississippi 
 to George Poindexter, as a testimony of the gratitude of the State 
 for his public services.'''' These revised statutes may be seen in 
 the Library of Congress. 
 
 Mr. Poindexter then retired to private life, and occupied 
 himself for a few years in the practice of the law, in the Supreme 
 and Superior Courts of Mississippi. While thus engaged, he 
 became afflicted by severe indisposition, occasioned by the 
 unskillful administration of medicine by his family physician. 
 He lost the use of his limbs ; and for five or six years he was 
 unable to attend to business, public or private* During this 
 period, he was offered the executive appointment to the Senate 
 of the United States, which he declined. He was appointed 
 Chancellor of the State in 1828, while under medical advice 
 in the city of Philadelpliia. This office ho also declined to 
 accept. 
 
 In the year 1829, the Legislature of Mississippi expressed an, 
 
anxiety to elect him to the Senate of the United States, his 
 health having somewhat improved; but finding himself still 
 unable to render tlie service required of him, in a letter 
 addressed to the presiding officer of the House of Representa- 
 tives, lie desired tliat he migl't nut be put in nomination for 
 the appointment. In the following year he left Mississippi in 
 extreme ill health, so very ill, that he did not expect to survive 
 his severe afflictions. But he put himself under medical 
 advice in the city of Louisville, in the State of Kentucky ; and 
 there iiis disease was checked, and hopes sprung up of his 
 ultimate recovery. This fact being known in Mississippi, 
 and a vacancy occurring during the summer of that year in 
 the Senate of the United States, the appointment was again 
 tendered to him by the Governor of the State, in the recess 
 of the Legislature. After much hesitation, and by the advice 
 of his friends, and of his physician, who recommended travel- 
 ing and a change of climate, he accepted the appointment, 
 with the reservation that if his health should not continue to 
 improve, he would feel himself at liberty to Vv'ithdraw from 
 the high trust confided to him. He made a written commu- 
 nication to the members of the Legislature, representing his 
 actual condition, and exposing to them his political opinions 
 on the interesting topics which were then depending before 
 the National Councils. (3) He proceeded on his journey to the 
 
 (3) From the Natchez: edited by James K. Cook, now the Editor of a 
 Journal which defends the coiu-se of President Jackson's Administration. 
 
 GEORGE POINDEXTER. 
 
 One of the recent mails brought a letter from George Poindexter, Esq., 
 addressed to the Editor of the Natchez, the contents of which being of a 
 2 
 
10 
 
 city of Washington, his health gradually improving ; but at 
 the time he took his seat in the Senate, in December 1830, 
 he was unable to walk without assistance, and was carried to 
 
 public nature, nnd intended as an exposition of tlie political opinions of tlie 
 writer, showing the course he shall pursue as a Senator of Mississippi in the 
 National Legislature, we conceive it our duty to lay it before tlie people. It 
 will be observed however, that the communication is intended particularly for 
 the consideration of the members of our State Legislature. 
 
 Althougli our political opinions vary essentially from those of Mr. 
 Poindexter, and although we have no voice in the confirmation or rejection of 
 his appointment, yet we cannot, situated as we are with respect to the public, 
 forbear speaking of the gentleman as we think his merits demand, or accord- 
 ing to the knowledge we have of him. Of all the citizens who from a very 
 early period have been before the people of Mississippi, candidates for office, 
 or have been placed in important situations, either by the people or by the 
 Legislature, Mr. Poindexter is the one most distingxiished for abilities and 
 qualifications. In his professional capacity, when in the practice of the law, he 
 stood at the head of the bar. As a member of the Legislature (and he was 
 frequently elected by large majorities to that body), he was intelligent and 
 efficient. As a Representative in Congress, it was admitted by enemies as well 
 as friends, that his talents and his knowledge of the affairs of the Government, 
 whether in relation to those of the State which he represented, or to tlie 
 nation, well qualified him for the station. We do not propose to detract from 
 the merits of other citizens who preceded Mr. Poindexter in the station of 
 Governor of the State, or of those who succeeded him, when we say, that as 
 far as the constitutional powers permitted, or circumstances afforded the oppor- 
 tunity, he showed himself the most competent of any to the duties wliich 
 belong to it. As a Judge of the most important court then in the State, he had 
 the confidence of the people at large ; the close of his official duties proved 
 he had been efficient and impartial. His enemies generally, we believe, 
 accorded him their approbation. 
 
 In the early period of Mississippi, Mr. Pomdexter first made his appear- 
 ance as a political, as well as a professional aspirant ; then to the character of 
 the times, we may be allowed to atti'ibute many of the fallings charged to 
 him ; credit however should be given to him, when it is considered under 
 how many opposing circmstances to his exertions he was enabled to rise to 
 eminence ; and, what will perhaps seem strange, tliat through many years, and 
 many political changes, he has always been a consistent politician. 
 
11 
 
 his seat in the arms of his servant. Under these circumstances, 
 and while it remained doubtful whether he possessed the phy- 
 
 Mr. Poindexter is a democrat of the Jefferson school, never varying from 
 the principles which it is understood to belong to it, with the exception of his 
 opposition to the protecting system, which, by a reference to liis writings, it 
 may be seen Mr. Jefferson was a strenuous advocate. 
 
 As a popular declaimer, though he would not rank among the greatest, yet 
 Mr. Poindexter always commanded attention. We have heard him at political 
 meetings haranguing the multitude, in the State Legislature advocating some 
 law, and in the National Councils debating some important question ; and 
 though he was not always fluent, he did not fatigue the audience : he spoke 
 with spirit and to the purpose. His speech in the debate on the Seminole 
 War, at a time of considerable excitement both in Congress and out of it, 
 when every member of the House was at his station, and the lobby crowded; 
 to say the least we can in commendation of him, ^Ir. Poindexter conferred 
 greater credit on the State of Mississippi than we are disposed to think had 
 been done before or since. As an individual, Mr. Poindexter was never a 
 favorite witli us ; but we always admired his talents and appreciated his 
 capacity to serve the State. Did we belong to tlae Jackson partj', we should 
 sooner see Mr. Poindexter, even upon crutches, representing the State of 
 Mississippi in the National Councils, thai any other man belonging to it ; but 
 as it is, and with his strong prejudices against the Tariff system, which we 
 consider has already been of essential service to the nation, and which is daily 
 giving evidence of the advantages the South will receive from it ; with his 
 prejudices, we say, for as such we view his opinions, we would as soon sec 
 the most indifferent aspirant of his party elected in his place — we could not 
 vote for any one to misrepresent us, or tlie party to which we belong. We 
 have said, Mr. Poindexter was always a democrat in his principles, and so he 
 was in his conduct : he was always with the people and for the people. In 
 the zenith of his popularity the country was divided between Federalists and 
 Democrats, and the spirit of party was exceedingly high ; and though the 
 Federalists were a minority, yet Mr. Poindexter had to contend stoutly in de- 
 fence of his principles, and to sustain himself; but he never wavered, never 
 succumbed, not for a moment ; never sought to accommodate himself to his 
 opponents, to weaken the force of their objections to him ; never temporized, 
 in order to enlist them in his support. What he was with the people in a log 
 cabin, witn nothing but whiskey-grog to drink, and corn bread and bacon to 
 eat, lie was the same in a decorated parlor, with Madeira wine and plum pud- 
 ding to feast upon. He associated with the poor and laboring men, not as if 
 
12 
 
 sical ability requisite to discharge the duties of a Senator in 
 Congress, lie was elected by an almost unanimous vote of the 
 
 he condescended to them, but as theii- equal ; on foot, or on horse-back, or in 
 a chariot, he was still the Democrat — still Poindexter. Be with whom he 
 would talcing a glass of grog to-day in a solitary iiut, in the midst of a wilder 
 iicss, he would as cordially pledge the back-woodsman, in a glass of wine, if he 
 met him in a palace: he made no distinctions between men as to time or place. 
 If he thought proper to elevate himself in manners or conversation to those 
 who considered themselves of tlic higher orders, he did so more to conform 
 himself to their ideas of society, than from a disposition to be aristocratic. 
 Although we will not ever affect to compare him with Cliarles James Fox, ye< 
 there is a similarity in tlie genius and propensities of Mr. Poindexter to the 
 great English statesman. 
 
 The following is an extract of the letter referred to in the above editorial 
 remarks, addressed by Gov. Poindexter to the members of the Legislature, 
 by whom he was chosen Senator in Congress ; by which it will be seen, he 
 made no pledges to that body wlxich ai'e not comprised in the scope of general 
 principles, avowed in tlie address as those by which liis course in tlie Senate 
 would be governed. 
 
 EXTRACT : 
 
 Had I been governed by considerations connected with my private 
 interests alone, I should have retui'ned home and arranged the business of 
 my plantation, and other matters requii'ing mj' personal attention, before my 
 departure for the seat of the General Goveriuncnt ; and in that event I could have 
 been present at Jackson, to answer for myself such inquiries as might be 
 thought necessary to a prudent and direct exercise of your suffrage, in the 
 election of a citizen to represent the sovereignty of the State in the Senate of 
 tlic Union. This course would have corresponded with my wislies and inclina- 
 tion, in reference both to my domestic concerns and the respect due lo the 
 members of the Legislature, which I shall ever I)e moat rcad_v to manifest on 
 all proper occasions. I however indulge the belief, that my pul^lic services 
 heretofore rendered to the State, and tiic political opinions which T profess, 
 and which have remained imchanged during the whole of my life since I 
 arrived at the age of maturity, will be viewed as a pledge of my futui'e course 
 and render unnecessary particular explanations, cither in relation to my views 
 of the local interests of tlie State which I have so long served, or the limited 
 and literal construction of the powers delegated to tlie Federal Government 
 by the Constitution of tlie United States, which I regard as the only safe-guard 
 of our republican institutions and the sovereignty of the State Governments, 
 
two Houses of the General Assembly of Mississippi. His 
 health has continued to improve, and it may be considered at 
 this time as entirely i-estored. 
 
 within their respective chartered boundaries. The dangers to be apprehended 
 in administering' the written Constitution of tlie Union, are consolidation, which 
 must follow a usurpation of powers by construction, not granted in the charter 
 or letter of attorney under wliich all the Departments of tlic Federal Govern- 
 ment act ; and a severance of tlie Union of the confederated States, which 
 happen when it may, will owe its origin to federal encroachments on the reserved 
 rights and independent sovereignty of the several States, by whose concessions 
 and reluctant approbation the Government of the United States was erected 
 and put in motion ; guarded by restrictions and limitations, whicli it ^yas then 
 thought would amply protect the liberty of the citizen, and tlie inviolability of 
 the rights not surrendered, aiid pre-existing in tiie parties to the compact of 
 Union. 
 
 To avoid the unforeseen mischiefs and calamities which would result 
 from a heedless precipitation to either of these extremes, is the highest duty 
 of every statesman and patriot ; and the sm-est means by which this desirable 
 end may be attained, will be found in moderation, forbearance, and a sober 
 appeal to tlie good sense and sound judgment of the great body of the people 
 at large. Prudence would dictate a suppression of sectional excitement, even 
 under the operation of measures unjust, imconstitutional, and injurious to the 
 great and fundamentid interests of our country, until oppression has grown into 
 a system, and all hope of a return to the principles of the Constitution, and a fair 
 distribution of burdens and benefits in the administration of our Government, 
 have vanished. 
 
 Should ambition, combined with corrupt interested motives, lead a domi- 
 nant party in this country to hazard the experiment of unequal laws, imposing 
 heavy taxation on one portion of the nation for the exclusive benefit of 
 another ; or if a particular description of labor, peculiar to a large proportion 
 of our industrious population, is made tributaiy to other descriptions of laboi-, 
 to whom monopolies are granted by a usurpation of power not granted in the 
 Constitution, which is the ark of our political safety ; and if notliing can satiate 
 the lust of power and gain, on which tliese tyrannical and unauthorized mea- 
 sures are based, but a perpetuation of theu* injustice, or tlie overthro\^ of our 
 happy Union, and the liberty and equality which are tlie birth-riglit and pride 
 of ever\ American citizen ; then indeed, will " forbearance cease to l^e a vij-tue," 
 and patriotism will animate Uie oppressed people to rise in the majesty of tlieir 
 strength, and exclaim, under the standard of tlie Constitution, " Give us the 
 
14 
 
 Mr. Poindexter came to the Senate of the United States 
 with impressions and dispositions favorable to the admi- 
 nistration of President Jackson. He had defended that dis- 
 
 Charter as it is written, and equal laws for the protection of our rights," or 
 away with the tyrants who forge our chains, and tell us to be calm and submit 
 to our sufferings, to promote what they are pleased to designate by the false and 
 flattering name of tlie "general welfare !" May the enlightened and patriotic 
 of all parties unite to avert a calamity so much to be deprecated by those who 
 duly appreciate the blessings of a free government, founded on the confidence 
 and affections, and not on tlie fears of the people ! ! 
 
 The present crisis in our pohtical histoiy may be truly considered import- 
 ant ; and the principlee involved in the conti'oversy between the advocates of 
 State Rights and those who contend for a Central Government, — splendid in its 
 structure, unlimited in its powers, and supreme in all its acts ; acknowledging 
 no power on earth vested with autfiority to question the vahdity of its laws 
 and ordinances, of which it claims to be the exclusive interpreters — must be 
 viewed with anxiety and solicitude by every man, who seriously reflects on 
 tlie vital consequences to all classes of society which rest on the ultimate 
 decision of tlie question. Shall our form of government, however plaiiJy 
 defined, be radically changed by the chicanery of construction ? and wil' +he 
 multitude sanction the innovation, under the delusive hope tliat tliey ai-e to be 
 gainers by the operation of assumed powers, to which no bounds can be set 
 by human forecast, and which lead directly to the prostration of civU, political, 
 and religious hberty ? Can any people be free, where labor is made subser- 
 vient to legislative " regulation ,•" and wliere one branch of domestic industiy 
 is taxed to give protection, encouragement, and exclusive privileges to another 
 branch of industjy, which, by way of distinction, is denominated " national or 
 home industry?" All history teaches us, that in eveiy countiy where human 
 enterprize is restricted by penal enactments, and tlie arm of the laborer is 
 guided by edicts emanating from the sovereign power, the people are slaves, 
 whatever may be the nominal form of government exercising these high and 
 despotic prerogatives. Whether the freemen of this nation will descend from 
 the lofty attitude whicli tJiey occupy in the civilized world, and consent to be 
 thus governed, is a matter gi-avely submitted to theu' consideration. 
 
 You will discover, sir (what doubtless you were previously apprized of), 
 by the preceding hasty remarks, tliat if chosen to represent you in the Senate 
 of the United States, I sliall on all occasions support a literal construction of 
 the powers granted to Congi-ess, and enumerated in tlie Constitution \ and that 
 powers not delegated m that instrument, but claimed by certain arbitrary rules 
 
15 
 
 tinguished individual in the darkest hour of his public career; 
 he had advocated his election to the high station which ho 
 then filled, in the two preceding contests for that office. He 
 
 of construction, adapted to every emergency, and to every scheme of internal 
 policy which interest or ambition may suggest, will meet my decided opposi- 
 tion m every form, however specious, in which they may be presented to the 
 National Legislature. It may be asked with great force and propriety, of 
 what value is a written constitution, erecting barriers between the several de- 
 partments of power, transferring one portion to the Federal Government, 
 which is specific, and reserving the residue to the States, as exercised by them 
 in their sovereign capacity at the close of the Revolution, thns limiting each to 
 its legitimate sphere of action ; if one of the parties may, under the guise 
 of patriotism, mount the ramparts, and Immolate by stratagem or force the 
 salutary and wise distribution of sovereignty made by the framers of the 
 Constitution for the preservation of our Republican institutions, and tlie pro- 
 tection of the life, liberty, and property of each individual belonging to the 
 Republic, against the dangerous tendency of a consolidation of all power 
 relating to our foreign intercourse or to the municipal relations appertaining to 
 the several States, in one overwhelming National Government, wielding at its 
 o" \ pleasure the purse and the sword of the nation for internal or external 
 purposes? I answer, that if such innovations on State Rights and public 
 liberty are practised and tolerated by unconditional submission to each usurp- 
 ation in succession, our written Constitution is a mockery on the common 
 sense of mankind, and the question of expediency alone will very soon super- 
 sede all the guards wliich a jealous precaution had placed around the powers 
 granted to the Federal Government, to preserve the purity of our system 
 from corrupt combinations, who sing hosannas to the people while they violate 
 with impunity the sacred compact of Union, which secures to every member 
 of the Confederacy equal rights, and requires of them equal responsibilities 
 and obligations in maintaining tlie empire of the laws and social order at home, 
 and resisting foreign aggression on the rights, honor, and independence oi our 
 common country. 
 
 To bring back the Constitution to its primitive interpretation, and 
 to restore internal tranquillity where it has been disturbed by unjust and 
 oppressive legislation, and to render our laws uniform in their operation and 
 effect on all parts of the Confederacy, are objects of deep and vital interest to 
 the State of which I am a citizen, and which I may have the honor to repre- 
 sent in the National Legislature. I ca&not claim the high qualifications wliich 
 are requisite to the attainment of these desirable reforms in the laws which 
 
16 
 
 was received bj the President with manifestations of uncommon 
 kindness, and assurances of his grateful recollections of the 
 past services rendered him by the disinterested exertions of 
 Mr. Poindextcr, and a tender of his most unbounded confi- 
 dence and good will. But Mr. Poindexter soon found that 
 in the faithful discharge of his duties as a Senator, he could 
 not approve all the measures recommended to the considera- 
 tion of Congress by the President, and in a spirit of candor 
 he frankly and freely communicated to that high officer his 
 objections to the course of his administration. He objected 
 particularly to the manner in which the patronage of ofiice 
 was dispensed, and the prescriptive policy which had been pur- 
 sued. He informed the President distinctly, that it was his 
 intention to support the measures of the Administration wiien- 
 ever, in his opinion, they were compatible with the public 
 good; and wiien his mind doubted on the policy of any mea- 
 sure recommended by the Executive, he would incline to the 
 support of the measure in deference to the opinion of the 
 head of that department of the Government. This independ- 
 ent attitude and course of action did not accord, however, 
 with the feelings and temper of President Jackson, who be- 
 came more cool and distant every day to the man for whom 
 
 have been enacted without a proper regard to the great agricultural industry 
 of the southern States, and in violation of the obvious meaning' of the Consti- 
 tution ; but 1 may safely promise you fidehty and firmness, in co-operation 
 with tlie friends of liberal principles and free trade tliroughout the Union, ojid 
 mv best endeavors to the full extent of my humble capacity, in resisting the 
 entire system of monopolies, exclusive privileges, and bounties, so contrary to 
 every principle of free govcrinnent, and which now disgrace the Statute Book 
 of this great Republic. 
 
17 
 
 he had recently expressed so much gratitude and friendship. 
 Unconditional submission to the Executive mandates was the tenure 
 by which alone the friendly relations which had apparently sub- 
 sisted between Mr. Poindexter and President Jackson could 
 be preserved and maintained. To these conditions Mr. Poin- 
 dexter could not and would not submit, holding himself bound 
 by higher obligations than mere pei-sonal considerations in the 
 discharge of his duties, to look exclusively to the welfare of 
 his constituents and of the country at large, and to the preserv- 
 ation of the great principles of the Constitution, and the sanc- 
 tity of the laws made ip pursuance thereof. Acting on these 
 principles, Mr. Poindexter was at first threatened with the 
 displeasure of his constituents, wlio had shown strong partiali- 
 ties for President Jackson. This menace failing to produce 
 the desired effect, he was openly denounced, and strong ap- 
 peals were made to ihe people of Mississippi to unite in these 
 denunciations, and for awhile they produced a powerful effect 
 on the minds of a large portion of the people of that State. To 
 produce the overthrow of a man who had done as much, if not 
 more than any other individual in t!ie nation to sustain the pre- 
 tensions of President Jackson, a regular system of vituperation 
 and abuse was organized by the c^bal, who at that time and 
 ever since have had possession of the mind, and control of 
 the actions of the President. Presses were purchased in 
 Mississippi, whose batteries were opened to misrepresent the 
 conduct of Mr. Poindexter to the people of the State. Nu- 
 merous correspondents connected with the Administration were 
 actively engaged in writing letters to aid in the accomplish- 
 m&nt of this object. Demagogues* were employed to explore 
 
18 
 
 the State and excite the resentment of the people ao-ainst 
 their Senator, and to get up public meetings to condemn his 
 independent course. 
 
 In this warfare the popularity of President Jackson was 
 the only weapon wielded by his partisans. The policy or 
 propriety of measures was* left entirely out of view, and the 
 people were invoked to stand by the Old Hero, and prostrate 
 all who should dare to question the wisdom of his administra- 
 tion or the purity of his motives. The patronage of office was 
 resorted to in aid of this crusade, against a Senator who could 
 not be induced by any considerations connected with his per- 
 sonal advancement to sacrifice the honor and best interests of' 
 the people whom he represented, and to disregard the Consti- 
 tution and laws of his country to subserve political aspirants 
 and combinations. Against this formidable array of execu- 
 tive influence Mr. Poindexter has remained firm and unmoved, 
 relying on tiie integrity of his conduct and the good sense of 
 the people, for his ultimate justification at the bar of public 
 opinion. He has not been disappointed. After a long course 
 of mal-administration, the errors of which have been covered by 
 the mantle of popular delusion, the people have bccofne satis- 
 fied, that to preserve the Constitution unimpaired, and to transmit 
 to posterity the blessings of liberty, the novel and extravagant 
 assumption of power claimed by President Jackson must be 
 resisted, even at the sacrifice of their honest prejudices and 
 partialities in his favor. Mr. Poindexter has now the satisfac- 
 tion to find his course approved by the intelligent portion of 
 tlie people of the State whicli he represents. Popular delusion has 
 
19 
 
 at lengtli vanished like tlie mist of the morning before the eR'ul- 
 gent sunshine of truth and patriotism. The distinguished position 
 which Mr. Poindexter has occupied, and the brilliant course" 
 which lie has run in the Senate of the United States, are 
 matters which beloii": to the history of the times, and are uni- 
 versally known to, and duly appreciated by his countrymen. 
 The conspicuous part wliich he has taken in that body on all 
 questions of great national importance, opposed as he was, on 
 most of them, to the views of the cabal who surround the Pre- 
 sident and manufacture opinions in his name, has not failed to 
 render him an object of their most embittered hostility, and of 
 course he has been subjected to more than a due proportion of 
 the reckless abuse and calumny wliich the laboratory of that cabal 
 uniform'j manufacture and promulgate against all who dare to 
 question the infallibility of the idol whom they worship. He 
 committed the unpardonable sin, for which, In the mind of Pre- 
 sident Jackson, there is no forgiveness, in his speech and vote 
 on the nomination of Martin Van Buren as Minister to Jilnglap.d. 
 He held the casting vote on that occasion, and strong hopes were 
 entertained that liis pre-existing partialities for the President 
 might induce \\i-r\ to cast his vote in favor of the nomination. 
 It is certain that if Mr. Poindexter had looked only to his ovm 
 political advancement by means of Executive patronage, he would 
 not have hazarded his hopes and expectations by taking a step 
 so decidedly opposed to the known wishes of President Jackson. 
 But regardless of these considerations, and with a full knowledge 
 of the sacrifices which he must incur by obeying the con- 
 victions of his own mind rather than the dictates of a selfisli 
 policy, he fearlessly and independently took the responsibility 
 
20 
 
 of denying hia advice and consent to tlie appointment of Mr. 
 Van Buren to the high diplomatic trust to which he had been 
 nominated. His best vindication will be found in the clear 
 and forcible speecli which he delivered on the occasion in secret 
 session of the Senate, and which has since, by the removal of 
 the injunction of secrecy, been given to the public. 
 
 From the moment he placed himself in that attitude of defi- 
 ance against Executive dictation up to the present time, he has 
 been tlie object of tlie most unmeasured and infuriated attacks 
 of the press under the control of the Administration, which has 
 been fdled with the most unfounded libels and vulgar personal 
 vituperations, designed to operate on the people of the State 
 which he represents, and thereby to exclude him from a partici- 
 pation in the Councils of the Nation. His determination of 
 puq)osc, directed on all occasions to the attainment of ends 
 connected with the public good, and the discriminating powers 
 of mind which he displayed on all subjects presented for his 
 consideration, were alike offensive and inconvenient to the po- 
 litical aspirants who placed their hopes of preferment on a 
 judicious distribution among their favorite partisans of the 
 patronage of office, which they very significantly and emphati- 
 cally denominate " the spoils of victory." It is not therefore 
 surprising, that all the means at the disposal of tlie Executive 
 should have been united to the fulminations of a pensioned 
 press, to effect a purpose so desirable as the expulsion of Mr. 
 Poindexter frcnn the Senate of the United States. 
 
 As we have before said, his political principles and opinions 
 were formed at an early period of his life, in the Vire:inia 
 
21 
 
 school, und have been carried out by hia acts in every public 
 station which he has filled. To the Legislature by whom lie 
 was chosen to the Senate, he made a frank and candid exposi- 
 tion of these principles, accompanied by the declaration that he 
 would invariably be governed by them in the discharge of the 
 iiigh trust which had been conferred on him by the Governor 
 of the State, if the selection should be approved by the vote of 
 the General Assembly. He has, among other things equally 
 unfounded and ridiculous, been charged with a violation of his 
 pledges, made at the time of his election; that he had given a 
 pledge without reserve to support tlie measures which might be 
 recommended to Congress by President Jackson. We liave 
 thought that the best answer which could be given to this 
 foolisli and absurd allegation, would be found in the letter 
 addressed by Mr. Poindexter, who was then absent from tlie 
 State, to the members of the Legislature upon whom the choice 
 of a Senator devolved, in November 1830: an extract from this 
 letter, together with a copious editorial article, taken from a 
 public journal opposed in politics to Mr. Poindexter, will be 
 found in a preceding note, No. 3, by which it will be seen that 
 general principles alone are therein adverted to, and that neither 
 President Jackson nor his Administration were referred to in 
 any manner whatever. He was at that time, and has continued 
 to be, uniformly opposed to a tariff of duties on foreign import- 
 ations, as a substantive measure for the protection of domestic 
 manufactures, and he has sustained with zeal and ability that 
 side of the question since he took his seat in the Senate. He 
 has supported the Bill which passed the two Houses of Congress 
 in the year 1853, distributing the net proceeds of the sales of 
 
£2 
 
 the public lands among the several States, for the purposes of. 
 education and internal improvements. He considered the dis- 
 tribution highly favorable and beneficial to all the States, and 
 especially to the new States, in favor of which the provisions of 
 the Bill are undeniably liberal. He demonstrated that the State 
 which he represented, being one of the new States, would be 
 benefited by the distiibution proposed, and the grant of land for 
 internal improvements and education, to the amount of more 
 tlian tliree millions of dollars. On these grounds, connected with 
 the general policy of the system, lie unhesitatingly gave it his 
 support. The measure was approved by large majorities of both 
 Houses of Congress, at the session wliich closed on the 4fh of 
 March 1833; but the Bill v/as retained by the President, and 
 not returned to Congress until the next session, when his objec- 
 tions could not be overruled by the constitutional majority of 
 two thirds. On this subject, as on most others of importance 
 brought before the Senate, Mr. Poindexter delivered an able 
 and elaborate argument, reviewing the sources from which the 
 title of the United States to the public domain had been 
 acquired, and the manner in which it had been disposed of, 
 both under tlie old Confederation and the existing Constitution. 
 
 It will be remembered, that early in December, 1832, Presi- 
 dent Jackson first put forth the famous Proclamation, in relation 
 to the ordinance of tlie Convention then recently held in South 
 Carolina, declaring the nets of Congress imposing duties on 
 foreign importations for the protection of domestic manufactures, 
 and not for revenue to meet the necessary expenditures of the 
 Governme.nt, to be unconstitutional, void, and not law within 
 
23 
 
 the limits and jurisdiction of that State. This was a most criti- 
 cal and highly interesting epoch in the political history of this 
 country. The stability of the Union was threatened ; civil war, 
 with all its disastrous and bloody consequences, seemed to hover 
 over the land, and the heart of every real patriot sickened within 
 him at the dark and gloomy prospect before us. Parties, between 
 whom there had previously existed no union of sentiment or 
 sympathy of feeling or action, combined on this momentous 
 occasion, and thereby placed the President in an overwhelming 
 majority in the Senate. The Proclamation was followed up by a 
 special Message, communicated to both Houses of Congress on 
 the 12th day of January, 1833, recommending a resort to arms 
 and the physical energies of the country, to bring the State of 
 South Carolina into submission to Federal authority. In com- 
 pliance with the recommendations of the President, the Committee 
 on the Judiciary forthwith reported a bill, the provisions of which 
 put at the disposition of the President, to be used according to 
 his own discretion, the army and navy, and the militia of the 
 United States, \5tithout limitation, either in respect to numbers or 
 the expenditure of the public money which might be incurred in 
 the prosecution of his military operations. The bill was of a 
 general character, although evidently intended at that time to 
 operate exclusively on South Carolina. This was a favorite 
 measure of President Jackson, and its adoption was urged with 
 uncommon zeal and perseverance. Mr. Poindexter was alike 
 opposed to the broad doctrines of the Proclamation and Message, 
 and to the unlimited powers given to the President by the enact- 
 ments incorporated in the bill. He felt that he w-as in a hopeless 
 minority, but, nothing daunted by this, he met the bill (commonly 
 
24 
 
 called the " Force Bill *') upon its first appearance in the Senate 
 with fearless and fierce rebuke, and continued strenuously to 
 attack it in every stage of its progress to its final passage. On 
 this occasion he delivered, perhaps, the ablest speech he had ever 
 made on any previous occasion. It was widely circulated, in 
 connection with the speeches of Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Webster, 
 throughout the Union, and was regarded as a vigorous and 
 powerful defence of the rights reserved to the separate States 
 of the Confederacy at the adoption of the Federal Constitution. 
 This speech enlarged and illustrated his reputation as a statesman, 
 and his capacity as a public debator in every quarter, and among 
 politicians of every denomination. There were, indeed, many, 
 both in the North and the South, who did not accord with him 
 in some of his views and opinions, but none were unwilling to 
 admit tlie powerful arguments by whicli they were enforced. 
 The State Rights party, particularly, owe him a debt of gratitude 
 for this manly and dignified effort in support of their cause. 
 This feeling has been strongly manifested in the Southern States, 
 and we believe, as a corollary of the elementary doctrines so 
 ably maintained by Mr. Calhoun, the speech of Mr. Poindexter 
 is held in higher estimation by that class of politicians than any 
 other which was made in the great contest in 1833, between the 
 advocates of the Proclamation and Force Bill on the one side, 
 and the advocates of State Rights on the other. His clear and 
 discriminating mind, and adroitness in debate, may be considered 
 as fully sustained by this speech, if it stood alone on the Journal 
 of Congressional Debates. But there are numerous other efforts 
 of his, which would not disparage the first statesman in our 
 country. 
 
25 
 
 We have thm briefly sketched some of the prominent :;cts 
 of Mr. Poindexter, in the Senate of the United States ; bring- 
 ing our narrative down to the adjournment of Congress, in 
 March 1833. During the recess, a most important and unpre- 
 cedented measure was adopted by President Jackson, which 
 threw the whole country, hitherto prosperous and tranquil, into 
 a state of deep distress and alarm. By means of his power 
 over appointments to office, and of removal therefrom at plea- 
 sure, the President in an official paper, read to his Cabinet 
 in the month of September of that year, ordered his then 
 Secretary of the Treasury, Wm. J. Duane, to remove from 
 the Bank of the United States the public money which had 
 been deposited there by law, and in accordance with the pro- 
 visions of the charter granted by Congress to that institution. 
 The exercise of such discretion as the President had assumed 
 over the public money deposited in the Bank of the United 
 States, was by the terms of the charter expressly confided 
 to the Secretary of the Treasury, as the constitutional guar- 
 dian of the Treasury of the United States. This officer, 
 having refused to take the step which had been dictated by 
 the President, and claiming the right to judge for himself 
 when it might be proper, for the safety of the public money, 
 to cease to deposit it in the Bank of the United States, was 
 forthwith unceremoniously removed from office for this cause 
 alone, and an individual appointed in his place to carry 
 out the views of the President in this respect, which was 
 accordingly done. This new fiscal arrangement, operating 
 directly and most injuriously on the currency, and on public 
 and private credit, cast a gloom over the whole country, and 
 
26 
 
 parlitularly the manufacturing and commercial towns and 
 cities, never before witnessed since the foundation of the 
 Govornnient. Congress assembled in December, 1833, under 
 circumstances the most embarrassing, arising out of the excited 
 slate of public feeling, and the extraordinary assumptions 
 of power claimed and exercised by the Executive in defi- 
 ance of the Constitution and Laws, by which that Department 
 assumed a supreme control by indirect means over the national 
 Treasury — thus uniting the purse and the sword of the 
 nation in the hands of one person. To counteract these 
 strides to arbitrary power, and restore the Constitution and 
 Laws which had been violated to iheir legitimate operation 
 and effect, was a duty which devolved alone on the Senate, in 
 consequence of the divided state of the public Councils at that 
 period. The power of the Senate being merely negative 
 without the co-operation of the House of Representatives and 
 the President, which it was hopeless to expect, tlie difficulties 
 thrown in the way of the patriotic efforts of this body of 
 enlightened men, were seen and felt to be insurmountable. 
 These difficulties could only be overcome by the iorce of 
 truth, illustrated by arguments drawn from the theory of our 
 free Listitutions, and solemn appeals to the great body of the 
 people to come to the rescue of tlieir violated Constitution, and 
 preserve their liberties from total overthrow, by the exercise 
 of their suffrages in the approaching popular elections. The 
 whole subject underwent the most _ mature and deliberate con- 
 sideration, and drew forth a discussion on the great prin- 
 ciples of our Government, which has rarely, if ever, been sur- 
 passed for eloquence, depth of research, and soundness of 
 
27 
 
 nrgument, on any previous occasion which liad occurred in 
 the political history of our country. In these discussions 
 Mr. Poiiidexter bore a conspicuous part. His indignation at 
 the arbitrary encroachments of lawless power was. roused to 
 the highest pitcii. He saw that the Constitution, which Iiad 
 wisely confided the disposition of the public Treasury to (he 
 Representatives of the people and the States, had been disre- 
 garded and trodden under the feet of a reckless Chief Magis- 
 trate. He saw the chartered rights of a Corporation granted 
 by Congress for high considerations connected with the public 
 welfare, violated at the will of the Executive, without allowing 
 to that corporation the benefit of a judicial investigation into its 
 conduct, and the right of trial by jury, which is secured to 
 it by the express provisions of the Charter. He saw the 
 power of appointment and removal from office perverted from 
 its proper object, and so construed by the President as to 
 render his authority paramount to the Law, and effectually 
 to control the powers delegated to every other Department 
 of the Government, legislative and judicial. He saw, in 
 short, in the doctrines advanced* by the President to sustain 
 his novel and dangerous interpretation of the Constitution, tjjis 
 Government reduced to the simple machine of one supreme 
 Executive head, acknowledging no power on earth cr-pable of 
 resisting his mandates; except indeed the people themselves, in 
 their sovereign capacity, might interpose and produce a change of 
 measures by a change of rulers. He s;iw in this ch.-.in of usurp- 
 ations, tlifc portentous signs of a gradual approach to arbitrary 
 Government, at v/hich his love of liberty revolted. No freeman, in 
 his opinion, could regard such outrageous indefensible tyranny 
 
28 
 
 with feelings of cold indifference, whatever might be his confidence 
 in the higli public functionary with whom they originated. He 
 reviewed these measures with an eye of strict scrutiny, and in 
 a spirit of keen and bitter rebuke, which did not fail to touch 
 to the quick the authors of such unparalleled mischiefs on all 
 t!ie great interests of the American people. His speeches are 
 remarkable for a bold defiance of power, sarcasm, irony, and 
 ridicule; weapons which few men wield with more skillful effect 
 than himself. His words fall on his adversaries in debate with 
 a force difficult to be resisted, and with an effect as pointed as 
 needles. Whatever he said cut, and deeply cut, all who might 
 stand in opposition to the principles which he advocated. Hence 
 there is no man in this country hated with so deadly a hatred 
 as he is by the Chief Magistrate, whose measures he has so 
 fearlessly resisted. Hence too, the gratuitous abuse which has 
 been lavished on him, flowing from the same source, and pro- 
 mulgated to the public by the cabal, to which he was the first 
 to give the significant name of " Kitchen Cabinet.''^ They vainly 
 sought to drive him from his purposes by the frowns of power ; 
 and the temptations of patronage were thrown before him with 
 as little effect. Failing to subdue his firmness of mind, and to 
 render him a subservient instrument in the hands of the Execu- 
 tive, their next effort was to degrade him in public estimation. 
 and particularly with his own constituents, by a resort to fou. 
 personal abuse and vituperation on his private character. For 
 this purpose they invented the most malignant falsehoods, rest- 
 ing not even upon the shadow of a shade in the form of evi- 
 dence to support them. 
 
29 
 
 These thej circulated llirough the pensioned press of the 
 Administration, from Maine to Louisiana, which it is evident 
 were indulged in to a much greater excess than ihvy avouUI have 
 been, because it was well known that these attacks were irrati- 
 fjing to the feelings of the President whom they served, it 
 being a remarkable trait in the character of General Jackson, 
 more than in the character of any other man wlio has risen to 
 power in modern times, to feel towards those who had been 
 his friends while he was seeking the higli station which he 
 occupies, a hatred more vindictive and bitter than he feels 
 towards his most inveterate enemies. We deem it proper here 
 to notice a singular fact in this crusade against the character, 
 public and private, of the subject of this memoir, that the whole 
 of the malignant aspersions which his persecutors have attempted 
 to cast on him, rest on factious charges, made from time to 
 time by his political opponents in years gone by ; some of them 
 going back twenty, others thirty years past. These are now 
 revived, and, assuming the boldness of truth, are given to the 
 public as new matter which has never been controverted. Thus 
 the minds of many honest men h;ive been doubtless influenced 
 to form opinions in direct opposition to the conclusions to which 
 a full knowledge of the whole truth v/ould lead them. 
 
 It ought, perhaps, to be a consolation to a statesman 
 who has for a great number of years occupied so large a 
 space in the public eye, to find that the utmost scrutiny to 
 which his actions can be subjected loaves his political enemies 
 without a loop on which to han^ an accusation against him; 
 
30 
 
 while they are driven in despair to the columns of some fac- 
 tious newspaper or pamphlet long since buried in oblivion, to 
 ferret out some stale calumny which met its deatli the moment 
 it was uttered. It is worthy of remark, that since the date 
 of all the transactions which have been brought forward at 
 this day to cast a shade over the reputation of Mr. Poin- 
 tlcxter, he has received the highest evidences of the confidence 
 of the people among whom he has resided, and where these 
 matters arc alleged to have been of general notoriety. He 
 was at that time, and has ever since been supported in all 
 his political aspirations up to the moment of his opposition to 
 the arbitrary course of President Jackson, by the same party 
 and the same men who now assail him for acts, which, i( 
 true, ought to have witlulrawn from him the good opinion of 
 every honorable man in tlie community. If then these things 
 be true, ill do they appear as his accusers; but as they wee 
 at the time of their promulgation received and treated with 
 contempt as the outpourings of political factions, and were 
 instantly nailed to the counter, stamped with tlie infamy of 
 vile fabrications for party purposes, what ought a virtuous and 
 enlightened people to think of the libellers who now propagate 
 tlicm to wound the fame of him whom they delighted to honor, 
 and who now fills a seat in the most aujjust tribunal on eartli 
 by their united sufTrages ! Among the numerous corrupt and 
 wretched calumnies which have been thus broudit before the 
 American People, to gratify the malice of President Jackson 
 against hii friend in the hour of his utmost difficulty, is 
 one, which, with a full belief that it has been revived at the 
 instigation of the President himself, we deem it proper to 
 
SI 
 
 notice, in order that its refutation may form a part of this 
 biographical sketch. It was met, by the proofs which we 
 annex, at tlie threshold; and in 1815, the whole matter having 
 been thoroughly investigated, resulted in the utter shame and 
 disgrace of the combination of libellers, who made the foul 
 attempt to lessen the high standing of Mr. Poindexter, by 
 ascribing to him a want of that chivalric firmness and valor 
 of which he has given so many proofs throughout his whole 
 life. 
 
 His personal and political enemies at the peiiod above men- 
 tioned had in their employment a newspaper, edited by a miser- 
 able insolvent, the columns of which were almost exclusively 
 devoted to the most unmeasured abuse of Mr, Poindexter, then 
 a Judge in the highest Court of Law and Equity in tlie Mis- 
 sissippi Territory, as stated in a preceding part of this memoir. 
 One of this small, but active and vigilant party, who happened 
 to be in New Orleans a few days before the British forces 
 re-embarked, hearing that Mr. Poindexter had visited New 
 Orleans on the 8th of January 1815, put his imagination in 
 requisition, and concocted a story, which he addressed in the 
 form of a letter to the editor of the press in their employ- 
 ment, magnifying a fact of no earthly importance into a grave 
 charge that Mr. Poindexter, acting as a volunteer Aide-de-camp 
 to Major General Carrol, of the Tennessee militia, at the com- 
 mencement of the attack made on the entienched camp of Ge- 
 neral Jackson by the British army on the morning of the 8th 
 of January, 1815, mounted his horse and rode in full speed, 
 to New Orleans, where he remained until the enemy retreated. 
 
Q(? 
 
 The editor published tliia letter, which was followed up 
 by a variety of ridiculous editorial articles, giving other and 
 more extravagant versions of the supposed flight. The whole 
 was intended for political eft'ect; it was of short duration, 
 having resulted on the first touch of investigation to the injury 
 of the party wlio resorted to tliat expedient to destroy a man 
 eminently useful to the country, and to elevate still higher 
 that man in the confidence and affections of his fellow citizens. 
 We proceed to give a summary of facts, comprising a brief 
 narrative of the transactions of that day connected with this 
 afiliir. 1. Mr. Poindexter being a high judicial officer of the 
 United States, and o'i course not subject to militia duty, when 
 he heard of the arrival of a British fleet and transports in 
 the Bay of Mexico, and the capture of our squadron of gun- 
 boats in Lake Boume, left his residence near Natchez, and 
 repaired with as little delay as the distance rendered prac- 
 ticable to New Orleans, for the purpose of witnessing personally 
 the great events which were soon to happen in the neighborhood 
 of that city, and to perform any service which fell within the 
 range of his limited military knowledge in the defence of the 
 country, against the formidable enemy by whom it was assailed. 
 Tlie mere example was calculated to animate the patriotic citi- 
 zens of Mississippi to put forth all their energies in expelling 
 the foe from our soil. It had that efliect. 2. Mr. Poindexter 
 arrived in camp below New Orleans on the 29th of December, 
 1814, where he remained, performing voluntarily every duty 
 required of him by the commanding General of the division 
 of the army to which he had attached himself, until the close 
 of the campaign. He became in a few days one of the military 
 
33 
 
 family of General Canol, as a volunteer Aid, in which character 
 he acted until his resignation was tendered and accepted in 
 the following satisfactory, if not flattering terms : — 
 
 Your resignation as a volunteer Aide-de-camp to (lie division of the 
 army under my command, is accepted. In retiring from the army you will 
 carry with you my affectionate wishes for your safe return to your family and 
 friends ; and I shall remember with pleasure your zeal and meritorious efforts, 
 »n rendering service to me and to your country. 
 
 W. CAKROL, 
 
 Major-Geiicral, Commanding Division Tennessee Militia. 
 
 There were two attempts made by the enemy on the lines 
 of the American army after Mr. Poindexter arrived in camp ; 
 the one partial and without effect, or any incident worthy to 
 be recorded ; the other, the memorable assault of the 8th of 
 January, which was triumphantly repelled, and decided the issue 
 of the campaign. On the night of the 31st of December, the 
 enemy erected several temporary batteries near to tlie defences, 
 behind which the forces commanded by General Jackson were 
 posted. At eight o'clock, on the morning of the 1st of Janu- 
 ary, 1815, when the thick fog of the morning began to clear 
 away, the enemy opened a brisk fire from their batteries on 
 our breast-work, which was returned by our artillery along the 
 whole line, and continued without intermission until about 
 three o'clock in the evening. The cavalry were posted in a 
 skirt of woods on the extreme left, so as to be out of the range 
 of the cannon shot and Congreve rockets of the enemy, and 
 to act if circumstances should require their assistance. The 
 retnilar troops and militia were ordered to lie close behind 
 5 
 
S4 
 
 the breas(-work, and in ditches immediately in its rear. None 
 but the artillerists and engineers were engaged on that day. 
 Mr. Poindexter at that time was a spectator in camp, having 
 arrived only two days before. He rode down to the lines 
 very early in the morning, and when the fire of the enemy 
 commenced, he was standing at the breast- work in company 
 Avith Captain Davis, now Marshal of the Western District of 
 Pennsylvania, a brave and gallant officer. They remained 
 together a few moments, when Captain Davis repaired to his 
 command, and Mr. Poindexter, after looking on the scene and 
 witnessing the effects of the cannonade on the house, in which 
 the commanding General was quartered, against which it was 
 particularly directed, a short time, mounted his horse and rode 
 up the Levy about one half mile, and remaining in that part 
 of the encampment perhaps one hour, returned to the breast- 
 work, and continued there or near to it until the firing 
 ceased. He had no duty to perform. He did not belong to 
 the army. But it seems that the party by whom he was 
 assailed in 1815, by the most untiring efforts to sustain them- 
 selves, were enabled to obtain certificates from two of their 
 own partisans, obscure ignorant men, in which they state very 
 concisely that they saw Mr. Poindexter, on the morning of the 
 1st of January, riding briskly towards New Orleans! This 
 they might have said with perfect truth ; and with equal 
 propriety that they saw him riding towards Baton Rouge, or 
 Natchez, or Nashville, as his face was in the direction of all 
 these places. But every material fact is carefully suppressed. 
 These poor creatures might have been fully justified in certi- 
 fying that they saw the regiment of cavalry commanded by 
 
35 
 
 the gallant and intrepid Hinds, repair to the forests to bft out 
 of the range of the shot of the enemy ; they might have stated 
 the apparently disgi-aceful fact, that they saw the Colonel ofj 
 a regiment of infantry lying in a ditch, and so of the whole 
 army, behind the entrenchment ! How ridiculous ! A single 
 fact would explain the enigma, and exhibit the naked truth 
 as it really existed. No conflict took place except between 
 the artillerists of the contending armies ; and all others were 
 ordered to put themselves in places of security. And yet 
 these infamous certificates, given nearly twenty years ago, which 
 reflected only dishonor on those who used them at that day 
 are now put forth by high authority as matters of grave im- 
 port, to wound the sensibility and standing of a man, who is 
 too honest to be bribed by patronage, and too firm to be 
 awed by the menaces of power, backed by popular delusion, 
 into submission to the mandates of an imperial dictator. 
 
 « Oh ! shame, where is thy blush ?" 
 
 This miserable slang of the party presses of the day 
 might well be considered unworthy of notice ; it certainly would 
 have been so considered, but for the high official functionary 
 who has maliciously caused it to be promulgated. For the same 
 reason we subjoin the statement of two respectable gentlemen, 
 showing precisely the causes and circumstances which led to 
 the visit of Mr. Poindexter to New Orleans, on the 8th of 
 .January, 1815.(4) By this document it will be seen, that at 
 
 4 The following is an extract of a letter from the Hon. George Poindexter, 
 Senator in Congress from the State of Mississippi, to General David Dickson, 
 
the commencement of the attack on the morning of that day, 
 Mr. Poindexter was wounded by the efl'ects of a cannon ball, 
 which passed through the room in which he with others slept 
 the preceding night; that he was disabled for some time, and 
 thereby rendered incapable of any physical exertion ; that iu 
 tills situation he was advised to go to the city and obtain aid 
 
 contriining' clear and explicit information of the gTOimds on wiiich alone he 
 could be induced to yield his support to the administration of President 
 Jackson :— 
 
 " Warm Springs, Fa., August 13, 1831. 
 
 " Dkab Sir, — I received your favor from Jackson, addressed to me at 
 Washington citj^, and I am for tlie first time informed that you had not seen 
 my letter addi'essed to you at Vicksburg. 
 
 " You state that an impression was made on the public mind by the con- 
 tents of that letter, or some other matter, that I have deserted the JacJcson 
 cause. There is no foundation for the rumor, unless my adhesion to principle 
 and the known rights of my constituents is considered a desertion of that 
 cause. I cannot consent to worship men ; I bow only at the shrine of prin- 
 ciples; and when these are departed from by any man in power, be he Jackson, 
 Calhoun, Clay, or any one else, I depart from him, so far as his actions conflict 
 with the g-ood of the country and the rlg-lits of my constituents. If this is 
 heresy, tlien am I heretic ; but I know tlie people of Mississippi too well to 
 suppose for a moment that they wish me to sacrifice litem on the altar of 
 personal ambition or private interests. So far as General Jackson conforms 
 his actions to the Constitution and the good of the American people, he will 
 have my hearty support, and no farther. No honest man would expect or 
 desire more. General Jackson has done much good for the country, which I 
 duly appreciate, and award him my thanks for the benefits resulting from 
 these measures ; but it is undeniable tliat he lends his ear too readily to indi- 
 viduals near his person who are incompetent to advise him, and unworthy of 
 public confidence ; they sometimes lead him into errors whicli no one deplores 
 more than I do, because they operate against the cause which I have warmly 
 espoused, and tend to bring into power men whose principles I cannot approve. 
 Such men specul.ate upon tlie capital of the " Old Hero" without paying* 
 interest ; and it will be well if they do not exhaust the principal before the end 
 of his term. You have doubtless seen all that has passed at Washington con- 
 cerning the late Cabinet, Sec. These events have withdrawn many of the 
 warm supporters of General Jackson ; but il" the pending contest for the Presi- 
 
and refreshments, >vhicli could not be had at his quarters i 
 that after some hesitation he consented to the proposal, and 
 that he ''left camp after the jiring had ceased on bulk SiVZe.?;" 
 that having eiFected the object of his visit, he immediately 
 returned, and resumed tlie discharge of (he duties assigned 
 him. This is the history of this whole matter, which has been 
 
 denti:d chair is confined to Clay, my opinion is that the President will be re- 
 elected." 
 
 Copy of a letter from J. W. Hamilton and W. L. Alexander, of 
 Tennessee, to George Poindexter, stating the time and circumstances of his 
 visit to New Orleans on the 8th of January, 1815. 
 
 '^Natchez, February 14, 1815. 
 «« Dear Sin,— In reply to your letter of this date, I take great pleasure in 
 stating the time and circumstances of your visit to New Orleans on the 8th of 
 January. I have seen with regret several incorrect statements p\iblished on 
 that subject in a paper printed in the town of Washington, Mississippi Terri- 
 tory, said to have been written by some person in New Orleans. On the 
 morning of the 8th of January, Mr. Wiiruam L. Alexander and myself were in 
 New Orleans, and hearing the fire at camp we mounted our horses and rode 
 down as soon as possible. We arrived there before the action was closed. 
 We saw nothing of you on the road. After the British hud retreated we 
 called .at General Carrol's quarters, where we saw yourself and General Smith 
 together. Observing that you had your arm in a sling, I inquired as to the 
 cause, and was informed that you had received a wound very early that morn- 
 ing from a cannon ball which passed through your room, and that your arm 
 and side were considerably injured. Mr. Alexander and myself being about 
 to ride. General Smith, or some one In tlie room, observed to you that you had 
 better have your horse saddled and ride with us to Orleans, to have your ann 
 attended to and get some refreshment, wliich could not be had in camp. I 
 also insisted on your going for similar reasons, which you ultimately agreed 
 to, and we rode in together. We left camp after the firing had ceased on bnth 
 sides. We stopt frequently on the Levee to look at the British troops on the 
 opposite side of the river, and particularly to view Dr. Flood's house, which 
 was on fire. We also halted several times to converse with gentlemen coming 
 from the city. The same evening I saw you again in camp, and was happy to 
 find you able to go about. 
 
 I am, sir, respectfidly, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 J. W. HAMILTON." 
 
 " I certify that the above statement is correct. 
 
 W. L. ALEXANDER.' 
 
38 
 
 so disgracefully tortured Into a precipitafe flight at the " cora- 
 mencenient of the action, while the bloody conflict was raging 
 with its utmost violence !" To this clear and explicit evidence 
 much more miglit be added of the same tenor and import ; 
 but it is deemed to be unnecessary, as the facts are undeniable, 
 and are placed beyond the possibility of doubt. But the 
 subject was not permitted to rest at this point; for Mr. Poin- 
 dexter, on his return home, finding his conduct most grossly 
 perverted and misrepresented, enclosed the letters which had 
 been published to Major-General Carrol and the Adjutant- 
 general of the division of the army under his command. From 
 Colonel Grayson, the Adjutant-general, he received the most 
 conclusive and satisfactory reply, which will be found below, 
 in Note 5. These papers speak for themselves, and need no 
 
 (5) The following is tlie answer of the Adjutant-general in reply to that 
 communication : — 
 
 "New Orleans, February 12, 1815. 
 " Deah Sir, — I am sorry to find, by the extract from a Washington paper 
 which you have enclosed, that you have been calumniated. On the receipt 
 of your letter with its enclosure, our General (Carrol) and a number of the 
 officers of our division, have instructed me to retui'n you their thanks for 
 the services rendered by you during the siege at the breast-work below New 
 Orleans. The writer of the letter in question is mistaken when he says you 
 are held in contempt by us : far from it. No, sir ; you arc not held in con- 
 tempt by us. I certainly ought to know the services which you have 
 rendered, as I held you on my roster and detailed you for night duties, as 
 well as all others required ; and 1 can say with truth, that you relieved myself 
 and all the rest of our family from much hard labor in our worn out state 
 during tlie siege. 
 
 I am, sir, respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient seivant. 
 
 P. GRAYSON, 
 Ailjutant-gmeral, 'JVnnesaee Militia." 
 
It 
 
 39 
 
 comment. But to satisfy the utmost scruple of increduhiy 
 itself, Mr. Poindexter felt it to be a duty which he owed to 
 his own character to institute two prosecutions for libels against 
 the editor of the paper, in the columns of which he had been 
 so repeatedly calumniated. The editor was notoriously insol- 
 vent, and in the prison bounds where he kept his printing 
 establishment; but he was the only person known liable to 
 these prosecutions. 
 
 The trial took place on the spot, where the truth of the 
 matters charged as libellous might, if true, have been readily 
 proven, and when the facts were fresh in the recollection of 
 every one. The editor was convicted on both indictments, 
 and sentenced to pay a fine of one thousand dollars, and to 
 imprisonment in the common jail of the county for three 
 months. The fine was moderate in consequence of the 
 poverty of the defendant. It has never been paid. The 
 annexed report of the trial by the presiding Judge will suffice 
 to put every thing connected with these antiquated slanders 
 forever at rest. (6) They have been renewed to gratify the 
 
 (6) The following is the report of the presiding Judge on the occa- 
 sion : — 
 
 " Spring Plains, Claiborne County, M. Territory, July 28, 1815. 
 «' Deae Sih, — Your favor of the 6th instant was not received by me until 
 the 23d. I v/as unavoidably prevented from answering it by the succeeding 
 mail. I hope however that this delay will not be of any very serious disad- 
 vantage to you. In that letter you wish my answers to the following queries : 
 « 1st. Whether I did not preside in the trial of Andrew Marschalh, for sundry 
 libels printed in his newspaper against you ? 
 
40 
 
 worst passions of the human heart, and for the accomplish- 
 ment of the most unworthy ends. We have bestowed so 
 much attention to them as to disabuse the public mind, and 
 to satisfy candid men of all parties of the great injustice 
 which has been done to Mr. Poindexter by the unexampled 
 licentiousness of the press in the pay of the Administration 
 of President Jackson. 
 
 The preceding narrative of facts, drawn from authentic 
 
 " 2d. Whether under our laws the defendant has not a riglit to give the 
 truth of the matter charged as libellous in evidence ? 
 
 " 3d. AVhether in that case the attempt was or was not made, and whether 
 you did not permit him to go into a specification of any tiling his witnesses 
 could state concerning your conduct at any period since your residence in 
 this country ? 
 
 " 4th. Whether, after occupying four days on the trial, he established any one 
 fact which reflected the least dishonor on your moral character ; and whether 
 the defendant's counsel did not in the argument abandon the ground of justi- 
 fication altogether ' 
 
 •' In answer I have to state, that I did preside in the trial of Andrew 
 Marschalh on two indictments for libels printed in his newspaper, called the 
 " IVaahivgton Republican" against you. Under our laws the defendant in 
 such cases has a right to g^ve in evidence, in his defence, the truth of the 
 matter charged as libellous ; and this privilege the defendant on that occasion 
 availed liimself of to the fullest extent. He was permitted at your instance 
 to go into a particular specification of .all the circumstances relative to any 
 transaction of yours with others, whetlier of a professional or private nature, 
 since your residence in tJiis country. After a trial, which occupied three or 
 four days, your ch.aracter exhibited as much purity as any man's could have 
 done which had been subjected to such rigid scrutiny ; for the trial having 
 taken place in the countj' wherein your residence had been fixed since yoyvc 
 first arrival in tlie country, an opportiuiity was the better .afTordcd to exhibit 
 evidence relative to every transaction of yours in wbicli any kind of dispute 
 had arisen with others ; and that evidence, too, deiived from witnesscB who 
 were parties against you in these disputes, and whom, though honest, might be 
 fairly supposed to be much under the influence of self-interest in forming the 
 
41 
 
 docuineals, most ol tlieiii official, ilemoiistrates that Mr. Poin- 
 dexter, from a sincere desire to be of some service in de- 
 fending his country in tlie hour of danger, although exempt 
 from military duty by the high judicial station which he 
 filled at the time, voluntarily repaired to New Orleans on the 
 first approach of the enemy, throw himself into camp, and 
 freely partook of all the fatigues, hardships, privations, and 
 dangers, with his countrymen during the siege ; that when he 
 could no longer be useful there, the enemy having relinquished 
 
 opinions of your conduct, about which they were to testify : and no person 
 who heard the ti-ial can be of opinion that the opportunity wliicii was then 
 afforded was in the least neglected, but that it was pursued witli the most rig-id 
 assiduity. Indeed it was matter of mucli surprize to many, whose minds had 
 been somewhat affected by so many scandalous charges as had been pubhshcd 
 in the defendant's newspaper, tliat sometlung was not produced in evidence 
 which would at least have cast a shade over your character. 
 
 " After the trial was over, I heard a gentleman of " high stanehng and 
 great respectability" (and who was not one of your warmest friends), declare 
 that he was never more disappointed in Ixis expectations than on lieariug the 
 evidence dehvered in that trial ; for after so much had been said and written 
 relative to your character, he did expect to have heai'd something proved 
 which would have placed it in a very unfavorable point of view ; l>ut so far 
 from that, he was well satisfied tliat the fliirest character among us whicli 
 had had so many transactions with the world, could not have appeared more 
 fair aflcr having been subjected to such a rigid examination, embracing every 
 transaction for a period of fourteen or fifteen years. I have heard several 
 other gentlemen express themselves in similar terms. 
 
 « In the argimient of tlie cause, the defendant's counsel did not pretend to 
 have proved the truth of the matter cliarged as libellous, but rested the defence 
 of their client on the latitude which ought to be given to the liberty of the 
 press, and the propriety of taking b}- means of the press a wide range in 
 scrutinizing tlie conduct of public agents. 
 
 I am, sir, very respectfully, 
 Yom* most obedient and very humble servant, 
 
 WALTER SEAKE." 
 6 
 
42 
 
 his designs upon New Orleans, he resigned his situation as a 
 volunteer Aide-de-camp to General Carrol, in order to return 
 home ; tliat his resignation was accepted Avith an expression 
 of the thanks of the General for his "meritorious services 
 to the army and the country;" that the same declaration 
 was in substance repeated after the promulgation of the 
 calumnies before noticed, by the order of the General and 
 with the approbation of the officers of his division, in the official 
 letter addressed to Mr. Poindexter, at Natchez, by Colonel 
 Peter Grayson, Adjutant-General of the division of the Tennes- 
 see militia ; that the transactions of his whole life were 
 scrutinized by the most rigid investigation, unrestrained by the 
 forms of law, in the trial of indictments for these very libels, 
 and that the defendant was convicted, fined, and imprisoned, 
 and thereby the purity of his character in all his social 
 relations, was triumphantly vindicated in a court of the high- 
 est criminal jurisdiction in the country, where all these 
 m.atters were familiar to the people at large. He has since 
 that period been honored to the full extent of his political 
 ambition, M'ith every high and responsible station which his 
 fellow-citizens could bestow on him. Is it not wonderful 
 that after all these testimonials of his merits as a public man, 
 and of his private virtues, running througli a period of more 
 than thirty years, we should now be called on to repel 
 calumnies the most infamous in their origin, the most Iiarndess 
 in their inception, on him at whose fame they were pointed, 
 and long since numbered among the things which all men 
 of honor would desire should be forgotten and buried in 
 oblivion .•* That the necessity to do so has forced itself on 
 
43 
 
 us must be ascribed to the vindictive malice of his persecu- 
 tors, stimulated by the dread of his commanding talents, his 
 patriotism, and his inflexible resistance to arbitrary power. 
 Passing from these unpleasant topics, we resume our sketch 
 of his career in the National Senate. 
 
 Senator Poindexter, as we have stated in a sketch of the life of 
 Mr. Sprague, when the memorable Protest of President Jackson 
 against the right of the Senate, as one department of the Govern- 
 ment, to express an opinion that the official acts of the Executive 
 on any occasion' were in derogation of the law and the Constitu- 
 tion, was the first to meet that daring and unprecedented document. 
 He took the floor at tlie instant the Secretary concluded its 
 reading, and submitted a motion that " the paper be not received 
 by the Senate." It was a position whicli any American states- 
 man and patriot would have been proud to occupy. The honor 
 of first meeting with bold defiance and indignant scorn the 
 unparalleled assumptions of power, and the dangerous doctrines 
 until that time never advanced in this country by any political 
 party, which were contained in this protest; and of compelling 
 its author on the very next day to send to the Senate a Supple 
 mental Message, retracting or attempting to mystify these 
 doctrines and assumptions of power, was no common honor. 
 He sustained the motion in a short but highly animated and 
 comprehensive speech. Tyranny for the first time in this country 
 had thrown off the mask, and hazarded the most unlimited 
 claims to regal prerogatives, embracing in their wliole extent 
 the right to control every other department of the Government, 
 and to concentrate, either directly or indirectly, all power, iegis- 
 
44 
 
 lative, executive, and judicial, in the Cliief Magistrate. The 
 custoily of the public property of every description, whether it 
 consisted of lands, sliips, military stores, bank-notes, or gold and 
 silver, were asserted to belong 'to the President by virtue of 
 powers which " pre-existed the Constitution," and of which he 
 could not be deprived by law, without an amendment of that 
 instrument. The Senate was threatened with annihilation, its 
 legitimate powers as a branch of tlie National Legislature denied, 
 and constitutional liberty itself was overshadowed by the cloud 
 of despotism which hovered over the land, and menaced the 
 overthrow of the free institutions handed down to us by the 
 patriots of the Revolution. 
 
 It was a moment of intense interest, and made a crisis in the 
 life of a statesman. The question in fact was, shall the Senate 
 stand firm as an independent department of the Government, 
 or fall beneath the frowns of Executive power ? The Senator who 
 took the lead in opposition to these high prerogative doctrines, 
 pushed to extremes which seemed to defy both the law and the 
 Constitution, occupied a position of high responsibility, and marked 
 out the course which should characterize the proceedings of the 
 Senate. 
 
 Most ably and fearlessly did Mr. Poindexter meet the crisis; 
 he gave life and animation to the body of which he was a mem- 
 ber, and to every freeman w'ho filled the crowded galleries of 
 the Senate on that memorable occasion. Knowing no fear him- 
 self, he defied the instruments of power, and compelled even 
 the President himself to hesitite and pause in his mad career. 
 
45 
 
 His rebukes, in connection witli his able associates in that day's 
 debate, liad the desired effect. The explanatory 'Mes&iage came; 
 it was a paper intended tor popular effect; it was held to be 
 a mere attempt at evasion, and wholly unsatislactory. Both 
 papers were condemned, and refused a place on the journals 
 of the Senate. Never, perhaps, in all history was there an 
 instance of such an appeal by one department against a co-ordi- 
 nate branch of the Government, filled with captivating insinua- 
 tions to entice and delude the multitude, which fell so dead 
 upon the popular ear as did this Protest upon the American 
 people. It was a mere Brutum fidmen. Whatever vitality it 
 had, only recoiled upon its authors, wliile it exasperated the 
 enemies of arbitrary power to more strenuous exertions ; and 
 thousands who were then sleeping in apathy rallied under the 
 Whis: banner of Liberty and Law. The elections for mem- 
 bers of the State Legislature in the ancient Commonwealth of 
 Virginia were at that time in progress, and it is evident that 
 this remarkable paper was issued and circulated to operate on 
 these elections in favor of the dominant party; but it had pre- 
 cisely the opposite tendency: the people were aroused to a 
 sense of the dangers by which they were surrounded, threw off 
 the shackles of party, and nobly sustained the cause of the 
 Constitution. Throughout the whole of this interesting contest 
 Mr. "Poindexter sustained himself in a manner worthy of an 
 American Senator. As an evidence of the estimation in which 
 he is held by his enlightened compeers, he v.'as, near the close of 
 that session of Congress, after the Vice President had, accord- 
 ing to usage, left the Chair, chosen President pro tern, of the 
 Senate, than which a more distinguished honor could not have 
 
46 
 
 been conferred on him. To preside over the deliberations of 
 the most eminent and distinguished body in the world, bj its 
 own selection, is a tribute to the merit, influence, character, 
 and standing of Senator Poindexter, of which he can never be 
 deprived by Executive denunciations, or the malicious eftbrts 
 of the cabal by whom lie is surrounded. This biographical 
 sketch whicli we iiave given of Mr. Poindexter, contains no 
 reference to a great variety of political events which have oc- 
 curred to him in the progress of his useful life. Most of the 
 political contests in which lie has been engaged, have been 
 marked by bitter and uncompromising hostility on the part of 
 his enemies, and the zealous and devoted support on the part 
 of his friends. Of a warm and ardent temper himself, when- 
 ever he makes an enemy it is certain to be a bitter one; and 
 whenever he has a friend, it is as certain to be a devoted and 
 sincere friend. Frank, candid, and open in whatever he does, 
 disdaining concealment or subterfuge, he sometimes exposes 
 himself to attack ; but the enthusiastic friendship which such an 
 independent course of conduct ever creates, more than com- 
 pensates him for the annoyance which he may incur from that 
 cause by the fierce attacks of his opponents. 
 
 Few men who have been elevated to high trusts by their 
 countrymen, can boast of a stronger hold on the aft'ections and 
 confidence of the people. Throughout his whole life he has 
 held a lofty bearing, which forbad the least condescension or 
 compromise of his honest opinions for the sake of office; 
 always resting his claims on the merit of his public acts, and 
 accepting office only for the sake of rendering service to his 
 
4r 
 
 country when it was tendered to him by the unsolicited, un- 
 bought suft'rages of tlue people who knew how to appreciate 
 the value of the services he had rendered them. He has never 
 left any station to which he was called by his country during 
 his whole public life, but with increased reputation for firmness 
 of purpose, and the most unbending integrity in the discharge 
 of his duties. 
 
 He entered the Senate of the United States an invalid; 
 was incapable of any exertion which required him to stand 
 more than a few minutes on his feet. He has been neverthe- 
 less the most attentive member belonging to the body. He is 
 spoken of among his compeers as the " business man of the 
 Senate." Hence it will be seen what gross injustice has been 
 done kim by the false coloring given in the pensioned presses 
 of the day to his private habits. No man who indulges him- 
 self in sensual pleasures or intemperance, which his enemies 
 have falsely imputed to him, could discharge so many important 
 duties as devolve on him with the promptitude and ability which 
 he has done, in a manner alike honorable to himself and useful 
 to his country. The common sense of all mankind must 
 attest the correctness of this conclusion, drawn from facts 
 which appear on the Journals of the Senate, and are well 
 known to the reading public. But above all, he has maintained 
 a standing in that body which might satisfy any unprejudiced 
 mind of the purity of his character, public and private, to say 
 nothing of his distinguished talents. In 1832, when Mr. Cal- 
 houn, then Vice President of the United States, retired from 
 the Chair, Mr. Poindexter, being then a young member, received 
 
48 
 
 the votes of 1 went j- two Senators to fill the vacant Ciiair, and 
 would have been chosen but tor tlie scrupulous delicacy towards 
 his distinguished opponent entertained by several of their 
 mutual friends. He has since displayed the qualities of his 
 mind more fully to his associates. They have marked his 
 course in public and private life, and vv^ith every opportunity 
 to judge of him according to his merits. These illustrious 
 men and patriots, without solicitation or the most distant inti- 
 mation of a wish on his part, placed him in the elevated 
 situation of their presiding officer ; at a time too, when a 
 casualt}^ which might have happened and was not unlooked 
 for by many, would have made him the permanent Vice Pre- 
 sident of the United States. In retiring then from the Senate, 
 which it is probable he may do at the close of the present 
 session, he will have the proiid and lasting consolation of their 
 high testimonial of his worth both as a man and a patriot of 
 unspotted .integrity. This mark of distinction bestowed on Mr. 
 Poindexter, could not have been the result of mere party or- 
 ganization, for the obvious reason that among the members with 
 whom he has for several years past usually acted, there are 
 many whose distinguished abilities ought to have claimed prece- 
 dence over him. It is a situation which no Senator could seek 
 without degradation to himself and certain disappointment. 
 
 No sacrifice of dignity or moral feeling was called for on 
 the occasion to subserve party purposes, and none such were 
 maile in the selection of him on whom the honor was conferred. 
 But tJie mortification felt by the President and his sei-vile 
 retainers at the event, has secured to the Senator their bitter- 
 
49 
 
 est denunciations, without regard to truth or decency. The 
 wrath of President Jackson was kindled into a flame, which 
 burst forth with all the violence and impetuosity of unrestrained 
 invective and passion which characterize that individual. The 
 inventive powers of those who conduct the organized presses of 
 the Administration from Maine to Louisiana, were put in 
 requisition to fulminate " surmise and general abuse," desti- 
 tute of all foundation, or of proof to sustain them, relying, 
 as they did, on the credulity of the ignorant and the influ- 
 ence of party discipline to bring into disrepute the object of 
 their malice. These engines of power and patronage have not 
 failed to perform all that was expected of them in this cru- 
 sade on the character of a man who enjoyed so large a share 
 of their hatred, because his voice has so loudly and so forci- 
 bly exposed the corruptions of this Administration. We have 
 adverted to these matters, not to investigate them or to com- 
 plain of their effects, for they are too insignificant to outlive 
 the fleeting moment at which they are uttered ; but we have 
 thought it a fit occasion to show in what light they were 
 viewed by the most enlightened portion of tlie people of Mis- 
 sissippi, and of other western ' States, among whom Mr. Poin- 
 dexter has spent nearly his whole life since he reached the 
 years of maturity. The subjoined extracts from the numerous 
 and highly flattering addresses presented to him during the 
 summer of the past year by his own independent and high- 
 minded constituents, many of whom have never heretofore 
 been his political friends, will evince the great indignation 
 which animated their bosoms at the foul attempts made to 
 
 cast a shade over the reputation of their faithful and di?- 
 7 
 
50 
 
 tino-uished Senator, (r) We leave them without comment to 
 the 'Uil^mcut of every candid and impartial reader. No public 
 
 (7) Extract of an address from the citizens of Louisville, Kentuckjs to 
 Gov. Poindexter, dated August 1334. 
 
 " In the esteem and admiration of the hig-h-minded and virtuous, you can- 
 not but find an ample recompense foi- that base and vulgar detraction wliich, 
 in common with others, you are fated to encounter, and which is but part of 
 the established system by which lawless power is vainly seeking- to prostrate 
 everv individual who boldly withstands its all-jrasping usurpations." 
 
 Exti-act of an Address from the Citizens of Lexington, Mississippi, to 
 Gov. Poindexter, dated September 1834. 
 " The undersigned have been appointed by a number of the citizens of 
 Holmes county a committee to invite you to a public dinner, to be given at 
 the town of Lexington at sucli time as may be designated by yourself. Tliey 
 arc well aware that this would be but a poor and very inadequate token of 
 that profound respect and gratitude which they, in common with their fellow- 
 citizens from other parts of the State, cherished for one who has distinguished 
 himself as the cliampion of public liberty, and who, during a long and eventful 
 life of public service, has always been found upon the side of the Constitution, 
 and of the great principles of Republican Government. ******* \Ve 
 cannot believe, sir, tliat tlie people of Mississippi, whom you liave served so 
 long and so faithfully, will ever refuse to appreciate and reward such service. 
 Rut if the efforts of unprincipled partisans and designing demagogues to 
 disparage you in the estimation of the people of this State should prove suc- 
 cessful, and you should be doomed, after having been its glory, to be the 
 innocent cause of its disgrace, by justifying against it in your own person the 
 foul charge of ingratitude, your fellow-citizens elsewhere, v/]\03e mental vision 
 hris not been dazzled or destroyed by the glory of a name, and wlio, regarding 
 party in its only true light as "the m.adness of the many for the benefit of the 
 few," hive nobly refused to surrender their independence at the bidding of its 
 leaders, will net fail to do justice to your character. And when the clouds of 
 popular prejudice and delusion here shall have passed away, the statesman 
 who ilespiscd the menaces and scorned tlie blandishments of power, and stood 
 
51 
 
 niriTi was ever received with stronger demonstrations of o-rafl- 
 tude, pers.jiial respect, riud confidence, than \,as Viv. Poin- 
 
 up fyi- liberty and the Constitution iii the chirkesl hour of their peril, will Lc 
 rcmeuibL-red witit gratitude, und fbndl\- ckt-rislie:] in the hearts of liib coun- 
 trymen." 
 
 ExU":ct of an Address from the Citiiiens oi" \"ernon, Miidiacu County, 
 ?»r.ssljsippi, to Gov. Poindexter, elated September 1834. 
 
 "Knowing- that }ou :u-e one of that jiatriotic b:;nd in the Senate of tlie 
 United States who liave used their best exertions in dei'enec ef tiie Ccr^stitu- 
 tion and Laws, and who have rendered such distinjjuisiied services to preserve 
 tJie established usag^cs of our country, to promote t!ie lienor as well as the 
 character of our State, we cannot refrain fro'.r. expressing- our most sincere 
 gi'atitude. V>'e ha^ e not viev.-ed with uncoPicern the reclwless and .'^yvtematic 
 efforts of your enemies at home to destroy your character, r.n.i we L.it speak 
 the sentiments of thoje Vi'liom we rej)res>;nt, wlien we assure you tiiat the 
 course you have pursued in tlie late ]}rotracted session of Congres.-i ha:, re- 
 ceived our warmest approbation, and t'.iat we maintain undju.nishid eoiifidei.ce 
 In your Ilejjubhcan principles, and firm determinat'oii to g'uard the interesUof 
 your constituents aijd defend tiie rights of tile people.'' 
 
 Extract of an Address from tlie Citizens of Colu-.vJju-;, Lowndes Cour/cy, 
 Mississippi, to Gov. Tohidexter, dated Sejitemher loo-i. 
 
 <' The f.-iends of constitational Lbcrty in this section of the State, h.ire 
 watched with lively interest the noble exertions jou have made for the 
 preservation of those rights which are reserved to the States by the Constitu- 
 tion ; and they heartily approve of tlie able and indcpeiulcnt manner in which 
 you resisted at the tlireshold the late wanton attack of the Executive upon 
 the Constitution and Laws, and the firmness and aijility witli which you have 
 exposed to tlie people the corruptions of a proscriptivc and proflig-ate adini- 
 nistration." 
 
 Extract of an Address from the Citizens of Woodville Mississippi, to the 
 lion. George Poind^xter, dated September 183-1. 
 
 " At a time when the v.-isdom an 1 firecast of our wisest statesmen v/ere 
 most severely tasl^ed to meet the artful advances of encroaciiing ])0\ver, and 
 the energ}' of the most unflincliing w.-xs need?d to repel the attacks of lawless 
 hands upon the sacred temple of liberty itself, it is our pride to say (and we 
 do but reiterate tiie voice of a grateful ]-jeoplt), that you were found equal to 
 every emergency; gathering sti-ength as diliiculties multiplied, and never losing 
 
52 
 
 dexter on his return home after the adjournment of the 
 eventful session of Congress in 1834. He was hailed by the 
 e«lightened and patriotic citizens of the State as the independ- 
 ent and fearless defender of their rights, and of constitutional 
 
 sight of the guiding star of principle in the gloomiest period of the night. To 
 a fame not inferior to that of Calhoun and Leigh, you have added a name, 
 equalled only by those of Webster and Preston, of Clay and Tyler, your 
 great compeers in the Senate. 
 
 " Returning under such circumstances among your old suvd earliest friends, 
 with new claims on their confidence from new labors in their behalf, it aifords 
 us the highest pleasure to welcome you again to your ancient home and its 
 hospitalities. At no time more than tlie jjrcsent since the days of the Revo- 
 lution has the faitliful public servant so much needed th'i cheering voice of 
 his constituents to sustain his spu'its and uer^-e his exertions in the great 
 contest for principle now waging in our beloved country, Ijetween the friends 
 of regulated constitutional government and the abettors of unresti-.ained power. 
 Whatever may be tlie result of this struggle, we wish to assure you that your 
 services are duly estimated here among your oldest friends, and that if, in the 
 order of z:\ all-wise Providence, the standard of American liberty is to be 
 hewn down by the sword of despotism, one arm — the strong arm of Mississippi, 
 will be still raised in its defence, and one voice — the united voice of her sons, 
 will be heai'd above the din of war calling tlie true hearted to tlie rescue." 
 
 Extract of an address frorri the citizens of Port Gibson to the Hon. George 
 Poindexter, dated August 1834. 
 
 " It gives us great pleasure to state that your able and pati-iotic defence 
 of the Constitution and the Lav.s against executive usurpations is justly appre- 
 ciated by a lai-gc portion of the people of this county. That sucli is the fact 
 they hope to have the pleasure of assuring you b}' a personal interview." 
 
 Extract of an Address from tlic Citizens of Clinton, Mississippi, to the Hon. 
 George Poindexter, dated September 1834. 
 
 " Tlie rancor and vituperation that pervades jome of the public prints ; 
 the war of extermination that is now so violently raging against you, one of 
 the oldest and ablest of the adopted sons of Mississippi ; the systematic effort 
 of the parasites of the present Administration to mislead the public mind and 
 to pervert and misrepresent eveiy act of your political and private valuable 
 life, because you have dared to protect the rights of your St.ate and the Ilber- 
 tiea of the people against the startling assumptions of Executive usurpation. 
 
iiberty. At all the public dinners given him, as a manifest- 
 ation of the high sense entertained by his constituents of his 
 eminent services, he was toasted with acclamation as the 
 " Old Ironsides of Mississippi." His calumniators were com- 
 
 have caused every lover of good government to lament the degeneracy of 
 the times, and have inspired him with a determination once more to be free. 
 
 " If the people of Mississippi are to have their ears stunned witli the coarse 
 vituperation and personal abuse of youself, instead of a calm inquiry into the 
 facts of your late history ; if man-worship shall still strengthen the cords of 
 party prejudice to the exclusion of trutli and patriotism, then indeed have wf» 
 greatly nustaken the character of our citizens." 
 
 Extract of an Address from the Citizens of Gallatin, Mississippi, to tlie 
 Hon. George Poindexter, dated September 1834. 
 
 " In discharging this duty, the committee feel proud in having the oppor- 
 tunity to tender to you assurances of the undiminished confidence which tliey, 
 in common with a large portion of their fellow-citizens, have in your unyielding 
 firmness and devotion to the constitution and laws of youi* country. They 
 want language to express the feelings of pride wliich have been inspired by 
 tiie fearless, independent, and dignified stand l^ken by the majority of the 
 Senate of the United States, when the hberties of the nation were threatened 
 to be swept away by the current of Executive usurpation and Executive 
 patronage, and that of that patriotic band of Senators you were the leader. 
 
 « Permit us to indulge the pleasing hope that you will accord to our 
 countrjnnen the satisfaction of meeting with tliem at the festive board, and to 
 add our best wishes for the long continuance of your health, happiness, and 
 usefulness to our common country." 
 
 Extract of an Address from the Citizens of Fayette, Mississippi, to the Hon. 
 George Poindexter, dated September 1834. 
 
 « While thus manifesting our confidence in your patriotism, and oin- 
 satisfaction at the able, persevering, and independent discharge of your official 
 duties, we would also bear our testimony to that pati-iotic devotion whicli has 
 secured to the Senate of tlie United States the admiration and gratitu'de of the 
 American people. So long as that body remains thus conscious of its rights, 
 and fearless and vigilant in maintaining them, we may confidently trust tliat 
 arbitrary power and servile adulation will receive a moral and practical check, 
 that shall confirm and perpetuate the liberty and Constitution of our countiy." 
 
54 
 
 pared to the maniac who threw mud " against the walls of a 
 magnificent temple, formed of pure, impenetrable marble." 
 He was greeted as the pride and ornament of the State; 
 their own bright Star, which the other members of the Con- 
 federacy had combined to honor. On the occasion of a festival 
 to which he was the invited guest, in tlie city of Natchez, a 
 citizen of ^rea.t respectability and distinction, wlio had with 
 his own hands shaped a beautiful goblet, made of a part of the 
 oak taken from the old Frigate Constitution, presented it to him 
 as an appropriate gift to a mail '• who had so ablj and man- 
 fully defended the Constitution of the United States;" to 
 wliich Mr. Poindexter made a short reply, which lie concluded 
 with the following appropriate sentence: "Whenever, sir. I 
 shall sip tlie beverage from this cup, it will not fail to animate 
 me to renewed efforts in supporting and defending the prin- 
 ciples of our free Constitution, of which that gallant ship was 
 a prototype and representative on the great highway of nations."" 
 
 We have thought these facts worthy of preservation, espe- 
 cially at the present moment, when all the power and patronage 
 of the Executive and its pensioned organs are nut in active 
 operation to fix the stain of moral and political proiligary on 
 the character of Mr. Poindexter. His respectable and intelli- 
 gent constituents, among whom he is best known, have given 
 the lie direct to the former, a!rJ his public acts abundantly 
 vindicate him against the latter. It is his stubborn and inflexible 
 political integrity, and his utter scorn of tlie corrupt minions 
 who fatten on the spoils of the National Treasury, that has 
 brought on him all the malicious vituperation which we have 
 
55 
 
 seen and lieanl for tlie last three or four years; wliicli, disre- 
 garding the sacred dictates of truth and of moral decency, 
 seeks only the destruction of him who is marked out as its 
 victim. That he is free from errors is not pretended. No 
 man living, or who ever has lived, can claim exemption from 
 the imperfections and frailties comnion to our nature. But 
 those errors do not impair the; amiable qualities of his heart, 
 or tend to the injury of his fellow-man. We are justified by 
 a candid retrospect on the history of his past life, in making 
 the declaration that he never intentionally did wrong to any 
 human being in his private intercourse and transactions with 
 society. We call on his bitterest enemy to controvert this 
 declaration, not by broad and undefined defamation, but by proofs 
 entitled to credit and respect, if any such can be found on the 
 fece of the earth. This we are well satisfied will never be 
 attempted, as any search for such evidence would be vain and 
 hopeless. Calumny is a weapon much more convenient and 
 powerful, wlien addressed to the credulous under the sanction 
 of a popular name. The political saints ! the mock patriots ' 
 self-styled democrats! who surround the palace and worship 
 at the footstool of arbitrary power, do not fail to use this 
 weapon on all who rebuke their insolence and boldly attack 
 the god of their idolatry in his entrenchments. Thus it ever 
 has been, and thus it will be to the end of time. 
 
 Mr. Poindexter is about six feet in height, of slender 
 frame, and strongly marked features; his eye is keen and 
 penetrating, indicating great decision and energy of character. 
 His mind is clear and vigorous in its conceptions; and he gives 
 
56 
 
 utterance to his thoughts in words at once bold and explicit, 
 and calculated to make an abiding impression on all who hear 
 him. Every arrow which he throws hits its object; every 
 argument he marshals is a strong argument. If we were 
 called on to say what particularly distinguishes him, we should 
 answer " a most remarkable common sense^^ On every subject 
 which he touches he enters directly, and without the flourish 
 of a studied proemial, presents his views in language clear, 
 strong, and forcible. His illustrations do not partake of the 
 higher flights of eloquence or rhetorical ornament; in these he 
 seldom indulges ; but in the adaptation of words to the pre- 
 cise object which he seeks to develop, no man is more happy 
 or skillful. For instance, who could have found more appro- 
 priate words to describe the cabal who rule and control " the 
 Government" than " Kitchen Cabinet ?" 
 
 To call things by their right names is with him a 
 prominent characteristic. He might be thought by many 
 to possess a severe, intolerant temper and disposition. But 
 nothing is more remote from the truth. He is mild and 
 courteous to all who differ with him in opinion ; always 
 as ready to forget and forgive an injury as he is to 
 resent it, if his high sense of honor should demand retri- 
 bution. 
 
 He is hospitable and generous to a fault. He has freely 
 
 and liberally expended his ample resources on the poor, 
 
 whenever he found a worthy object in distress wanting the 
 
 relief which he could afford them. As a Senator, he has 
 
57 
 
 discharged all his duties with firmness, ability, and the most' 
 untiring industry'.' 
 
 He shuns, np-. labor or responsibility on the numerous im- 
 portant comnnttees on which lie is placed. As Chairman of 
 the Committee' on th^- Public Lands/' l]'e has ijfeen ai-siduously 
 engaged in collecting testinicny^^fcr the purpose of exposing the 
 gross/ and' unparallel^' 'frauds. i'ih the recent sales' of the pub- 
 lie lands and Indian reservations. The evidence on these 
 subjects is so carefully con'ceileS, so widely dispersed, and so 
 difficult to be obtained from tltcse v.l-.o alone are acquainted 
 with the facts as they really exi ;, liiit it has not yet been 
 possible with all his excrtioiis to bring the investigation to 
 a close. -Much, however, has feeen doije, sind .we may expect 
 a report in part from that Committee during the present 
 session. 
 
 Such is a brief and imperfect outline of the life of a 
 statesman who has been Ho his' own State a faithful Represent- 
 ative, and to the whole natioq_ rtu honest disinterested politi- 
 cian. He may, with many other distinguished patriots, be 
 driven from the high trifst whioh he has' so ably filled, by 
 the misplaced confidence of the great body of the American 
 people, in the chieftain who now Vules with despotic sway the 
 destinies of our beloved country. Should this be the case, 
 his patriotic countrymen can but tegret it. He will, however, 
 carry with him into his retirement their best affections and 
 grateful recollectionsi He will leave the Senate at the head 
 
 of the most illustrious body which ever adorned this or any 
 8 
 
58 
 
 other country, without a single stain of self-degradation or 
 reproach. "VVe may in all truth and sincerity say of him, 
 in his own emphatic language, that "he has ever preferred 
 liberty to power, the constitution and law to an imperial 
 dictator, and the good of his country to all other consider- 
 ations." 
 
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