Yale University Library •-"" .V. ."* '''^; .,'4v '' c'' 'ff'/ •;•¦¦! .'-vr''.s* / '..,¦' ' '' , ' " .r. *' ' « 1 ';-^; YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Washington, 1789-1797 John Adams. 1797-1801 .JHcMAS .]ErFERSON, 1601-18(19 J^AMES MADIfcON 1809-1817 .James Monroe 1817-1824 John Quinct Adams, 1824-1828 .\NDKEw .Jackson, 1828-1836 Martin Van BnREN,1836-1840 Wm. H. Harrison, 1840-1841 JiiHN Ttler, - 1841-1844 .James K. Polk, 1844-1848 Zachary Tatlor, 1848-1849 M ll^LA riD l-'l LLMi tRE 1''RAN KLIN I*1KR''K, .Ia.M ES IJCi HA NAN. Abraha.m Lincoln. Andrew .Ioiinson. _' L V ?¦ ¦¦E;- li. Havks. - - )x;ti 1HH1> -Ias*. a, (iARElELD, 18HI) IHSI IJ HESTER A , ArtIU'kJSSI-IMSI (;rovKK (JLEVKLAND, 1SH4-1KM.S liEN.JA>l IN HAKUI^ON. IHHM-]H9'J (i ROVER Cleveland, ].s9-J-1H9(; History of Political Parties, National Reminiscences, AND The Tippecanoe Movement. containing ELABORATE ACCOUNTS OF THE FEDERAL AND REPUBLICAN PARTIES OF THE OLDEN TIME; Their Passing Away, the Organization and Historic Acts of the Whig, Republican and Democratic Parties; with brief allusion to other POLITICAL BODIES OF EPHEMERAL EXISTENCE. SECOND EDITION. COL. DORUS M. FOX, Author and Publisher, DES MOINES, IOWA. 1895. IOWA PRINTING CO., DES MOINES. PRINTERS AND BINDERS. PEEFACE TO SECOND EDITIOH. 77" HE favorable reception given by the public to this work, >-^ encouraged the author to issue a second edition, enlarged forty pages with additional portraits of public men, and their very interesting biographies, relating inci dents of state and National importance. Mechanically the work has been greatly improved, with more ornamentation, heavier covers, and other improvements that make it not only valuable as a History of Parties and National Reminiscences, but a beautiful gift book to present to young or old. Subsequent to the issue of first edition, July, 1895, election'; were held the following November in several states, with results materially changing the relative strength and pros pects of parties; Republicans making large gains, while Democrats, owing chiefly to party dissension lost largely. Populists also lost so heavily that in some states organiza tions were abandoned. The third party, (prohibition) made no substantial gains anywhere. Platforms were not changed; the old lines of demarkation, separating the two great par ties. Republican and Democrat, were as distinct as ever, a majority of Democrats, however, dissenting from President Cleveland on his tariff and finance views. Nevertheless at the time of going to press with this edition, December 1895, both were marshaling their forces for the presidential con test of 1896, with prospects decidedly in favor of Repub licans. The author is not unmindful of his obligation to the press for the kindly, in every instance gratuitous, notices of the first edition. He would specially express thanks to the Iowa State Re gist ei-, Burlington Hawk- Eye, Marshalltown Times- Republican, St. Paul Pioneer-Press, Omaha {Neb.) News- Republi can, Detroit Tribune, and the Midland Monthly. To many personal friends, too, he acknowledges a deep debt of gratitude; of these special mention must be made of Hon. Henry Sayrs, Chicago, 111., Hon. Albert Williams, Ionia, Michigan, Hon. Wm. B. Allison, Gen. J. S. Clarkson, Lieut. Governor Dungan, John Wragg, and Hon. J. A. T. Hull, all of Iowa. With the hope that this edition may be equally as well received and satisfactory as the first, it is kindly submitted. The Author. Debication. To the Republican Party AND The Volunteer Soldiers of the Unio.x Army; TO All Who Fought Under the Starry Banner for The Union, The Constitution, And Human Freedom, Be Thev Native Born or Foreign, White or Black, This History is Respectfully Dedicated. Tlie liepiMican parti/ found tlie country distracted hy a gigantic rebellion. The Union Army under the control of a Ttepvhlican Congress conquered treason. It found two labor systems fighting for supremacy; two systems radically opp>osed; one based on the idea that capital should own labor, the other tJunt labor shoidd own itself By wise legislation it maintained this principle until 1892, when, there was demand in sJwps and field for all viho desired work. Therefore, confident that a party that kns accomplished so great a good will satisfactorily solve this and other economic ques tions; and to the members of ihe Grand Army who during the war, and since, have so nobly sustained tJie Repuhlican p>arty , this volume has been consecrated and the work is recommended to their protection and favor. The Author. R KEFATGHY, HE author submits to his fellow citizens all, this " His tory of Political Parties, Reminiscences and the Tippecanoe Movement," with the assurance that his pur pose has been to make records of facts only. He is a Republican, because confident that the principles and meas ures advocated by that party give promise of the greatest good. In stating the differences existing between parties, the author has sought to avoid misrepresentation of either. There are unmistakable distinctions now, as there have been from the earliest days of the Republic, as to the best methods of conducting the government. These differences have resulted in the organization of parties; their existence is undoubtedly for the best good of the country, if both do not clothe themselves in the deceptions mantle of self-right eousness — while they not only believe themselves immacu late, but their opponents monsters, unredeemed by any vir tue. This is the present condition and mode of procedure, specially in presidential campaigns, nevertheless, all wrong. It is, however, satisfying to know that this condition is no worse, probably not so bad as in the first years of the gov ernment, immediately following its formation. May we not look forward, hopeful that the time is not distant, when con ductors of the press, representing parties of conflicting opinions on methods of the raising of revenue, protection of home industries, currency, social and economic topics, etc., will discuss them with more of a conciliatory spirit and from higher points of consideration than vituperation, disparage ment and resulting finalh' in personal hatred, if not more serious consequences. Truth is not thus attained. The vulgar caricaturist should be condemned by all parties. If the author of this "History of Parties" cherished the thought that its tendenc}' would be to continue present methods, he would sooner consign it to the flames than publish. In presenting the portraits and illustrations, no time or expense has been spared to get truthful ones. Whenever PREFATORY. 9 possible, living friends of those who have passed on have been consulted and their approval obtained. Some who ha\'e read advance sheets, question the pro priety of alluding so prominently to the religious persecu tions of the past in our countr\-, and to slavery, that great blot on our Nation's escutcheon. How could the historian, author of National Reminiscences, consistently do other wise'-' \\'ould to God that it had been otherwise! Human ity has come up from barbarism through conflicts sore; "let the truth be told though the heavens fall." To avoid like evils, let the present and future generations read of the mistakes, great wrongs and horrors of the past. Nations like individuals may sin, but neither can escape the penalty. In editing and compiling this work, the author has dis tinct recollection of political events since the year 1838, when he cast his first vote, and the following flfty-seven }'ears has been an active participant in the discussion of topics prominently before American citizens. Not relying, howe\-er, wholly upon memory for dates and events, his tories, c\xlopedias and party records have been studied; correspondence has been had with men prominent in public life. Thanks are tendered to Hon. Henry Sayrs, Albert Williams, Joel P. Davis, Charles McKenzie, Rev. J. W. Hanson, Caleb A. Wall, Senator C. H. Gatch, and Hon. John F. Lacy for their valuable contributions to this volume. The careful reader of this history will notice what may at first appear like repetition ; this is quite true of some subjects, the most noticeable that of slavery. The indulgent reader, however, will please consider that the author invited contributions from persons living in difierent and distant states; these had no opportunity of comparing views and have written in language peculiar to themselves. Slavery, so prominently interwoven in our political system, nearly every writer has from necessity alluded to it. Perhaps the subject for this reason has been better elucidated than it otherwise would have been. If unremitting labor and an earnest desire to produce a truly useful book could bespeak for the author the unquali fied favor of the public, he would feel some degree of con fidence that a fair portion of that favor would come to him; but the labor of an author or compiler and his good inten tions are seldom appreciated, the author must, therefore, reh' wholly upon the merits of the work for the approbation of those whose favor he solicits. Des Moines, Iowa. .K \^ ( ;i;( iK(,i'. w,\siiiN(,'ii )N. CHAPTER I THE DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION OF AMERICA— A PROPHECY OF THE PEOPLES' ADVENT. |ILLION.S of believers in special acts of Providence, that God exercises forethought and care over his creatures and in the government of the Universe, are greatly strengthened in that belief when reviewing the history of events that led to the discovery of the western hemisphere and the colonization of North America by Euro peans. This thought of a divine and special superintend ence, has been forcibly expressed by a distinguished American clergyman in the following language : " I have called America the Providential Nation. As I believe that God rules over man and nations, so I believe that a divine mission has been assigned to the Republic of the United States. The mission is to prepare the world, by example and moral influence, for the reign of human liberty and human rights. America does not live for herself; the great destinies of humanity are in her keeping. No Monroe doctrine confines her democracy to Atlantic and Pacific sea boards. American citizenship sustains the liberties of humanity. The spirit of America, in Washington's days, wafted thither by the soldiers of Lafayette and Rochambeau, passed over to France, and hastened her revolution. It seems that the mighty God has been keeping it in reserve for the Providential Nation of the new times during all the ages in which humanity was in travail, with the precious liberties of democracy." Less than three centuries from the time of the discovery by Columbus, and but little more than one hundred years after the arrival of the Mayflower and landing of the Pilgrims II 12 history of political parties on New England's inhospitable shores, a republic was suc cessfully and firmly established, as proved by more than a century of experience, a republic in fact, as well as name. Governments claiming to be republican had e.xisted in the old world. The several republics of Greece and Rome were mostly aristocratic communities; the same may be said of the republics of Venice, Genoa, and other towns of Italy. The sovereign power was held to be vested in the franchised citizens, and every function, legislative, executive or judicial, could only be exercised by that body. The principle of democracy, the rule of the people, was practically undreamed of in these ancient republics. Later organized republics have been founded, like the United States, on the representative system. The time for deliverance of the people from feudal, aristocratic, and all monarchial forms of government was dawning upon the world of humanit}-. The lesser republics had paved the way for broader conceptions of the rights of man, but not until Jul}- 4, 1776, did there exist a true republic, a government for the public good; then for the first time was practically recognized the principle, that all just governments must rest upon the consent of the governed; any other was rightly declared to be tyranny. To maintain this principle, however, plunged the thirteen small colonies of the new world into a war with the most powerful monarchy on earth. Under apparently adverse circumstances, the time had come to decide the question of man's capabilit}- for self-government; and it must be admitted that there have been periods in the history of this republic when truly loyal hearts almost despaired; but in these closing years ofthe nineteenth century, the people rest, confidently assured that the republic has been firmly established; that humanity in its evolution has reached the eve of democracy from which there will be no backward movement. People of this enlightened country will not again submit to a government of which they are not integral parts. America was the first large country to make the experiment of true democracy, and she has made it under conditions, and with results which do not permit doubts of permanency. Temporary aberrations are probable, but the government is so well constituted, and its several parts so and national reminiscences. 13 well adjusted, that while essentially popular in its whole frame-work, it does not yield to the passing passions of its masters, and by the time such passions might harm, time will have calmed them, and the good judgment and sound patriotism of the people will have prevailed. The poet of a few years later could indeed have appropriately exclaimed: "Oh, joy to the world! the hour is come, Wl;eu the people to freedom awake, Wlien the royaiist stands agape and duml), And monarchs with terror shake! Over the walls of majesty Upliarsiii, is writ in words of fire. And the eyes of the bondsmen wherever thev be, Are lit wilh wild desire. Soon shall the thrones that blot the world, Like the Orleans, into the dnst be hurled. And the world roll on like a hurricane's breath, ' Till the farthest slave hears what it sailh — Arise, arise, be free! " To elaborately consider the protracted struggles between the colonies and Great Britain, and the incidents that led to it, is not our purpose. It will, however, for the better under standing of the history of parties, be necessary to refer to some of the participants in the Revolution of 1775, and more especially when it is remembered, that immediately follow ing the recognition of the United States as a government by Great Britain, and the election of a Congress and President, because of divers apparently conflicting material interests between the different sections of the country, political parties were formed upon issues that have continued more or less prominent and exciting to the present time; on two occa sions of so serious a nature as to threaten the dissolution of the government. The fact must be recognized that Revolu tionary soldiers had hardly reached their homes, and Wash ington his beloved Mt. Vernon, before two parties were formed; one for union and a central controlling government; the other against it. The first under the leadership of Ham ilton, Jay, Madison and Adams. With this party Washing ton was identified. The other party under the leadership of mostly Southern men, sectional in sentiment, jealous of a 14 history OF political parties central government, believing in state rights first. The Ped- eral party believing in a government of the people, the Nation first, the state subordinate. For the maintenance of this principle in the last third of a century, the country has sac rificed millions of lives, and billions of treasure. The Union saved! Man's capabilities of self-government demonstrated! The Nation lives; "Sail on, sail on, oh ship of state! Sail on, oh Union strong and great; Humanity, with all its fears, With all the hopes of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fate! We know what master laid thy keel, What woikmen wrought thy ribs of steel, Who made each mast and sail and rope, What anvils rang what hammers beat. In what a forge and what a heat Were shaped the anchors of thy hope! Fear not each sudden sound and shock, 'Tis of the wave and not the rock, 'Tis but the flapping of the sail, And not a rent made by the gale! In spite of rock and tempest's roar, In spite of false lights on the shore, Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea, Our hearts, our hopes are all with thee; Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our teirs^ Our faith triumphant o'er our fears, Are all with thee, are all with thee. " To publish a volume of National reminiscences, without referring to him who was "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen," would be regarded by every American as committing the unpardonable sin. The names of two great American characters eclipsing all others, have in late j^ears been appropriately and significantly con nected: "Washington, the Founder, Lincoln, the Savior of his countiy!" Of Abraham Lincoln, much remains to be said in another chapter; incidents will be given in the public life of that great man never before published. George Washington, the Father of our Country, was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, February 22, 1732. His and national reminiscences. 15 parents were Augustine and Mary (Ball) Washington. The family to which he belonged has not been satisfactorily traced in England. When George was fourteen years old he had a desire to go to sea, and a midshipinan's warrant was secured for him, but through the opposition of his mother the idea was abandoned. Two years later he was appointed surveyor to the immense estate of Lord Fairfax. In this business he spent three years in a rough frontier life, gain ing experience which afterward proved very essential to him. In 1751, though only nineteen years of age, he was appointed adjutant, with the rank of major, in the Virginia militia, then being trained for active service against the French and Indians. Soon after this he sailed to the West Indies, with his brother, Lawrence, who went there to restore his health. The\- soon returned, and in the summer of 1752, Lawrence died, leaving a large fortune to an infant daughter, who did not long survive him. On her demise the estate of Mt. Vernon was given t6 George. When the British Parliament had closed the Port of Bos ton, the cry went up throughout the provinces that "The cause of Boston is the cause of us all." It was then, at the suggestion of Virginia, that a Congress of all the colonies was called to meet at Philadelphia, September 5, 1774, to secure their common liberties, peaceably if possible. To this Con gress Col. Washington was sent as a delegate. On May 10, 1775, the Congress re-assembled, when the hostile intentions of England were plainly apparent. The battles of Concord and Lexington had been fought. Among the first acts of this Congress was the election of a commander-in-chief of the colonial forces. This high and responsible ofifice was con ferred upon Washington, who was still a member of Con gress. He accepted it on June ig, but upon. the express con dition that he receive no salary. He would keep an exact accouiit of expenses and expect Congress to pay them and nothing more. It is not the object of this sketch to trace the military acts of Washington, to whom the fortunes and liber ties of the people of this country were so long confided. The war was conducted by him under every possible disad vantage, and while his forces often met with reverses, yet he l6 history OF POLITICAL PARTIES overcame every obstacle, and after seven }'ears of heroic devotion and matchless skill he gained liberty for the great est Nation of earth. On December 23, 1783, Washington, in a parting address of surpassing beauty, resigned his commis sion as commander-in-chief of the army to the Continental Congress sitting at Annapolis. The people of America on the 22d day of February last, celebrated the natal day of George Washington with proba bly more veneration than ever before. Certainly more gen erally than in recent years. As the centuries roll on and future generations of men consider the greatness of Wash ington in all the work of his life; the opportunities he had for self-aggrandizement and the attainment of supreme power, and his absolute rejection of all proffers of personal distinc tions, admiration of his character will increase, and in the heart of every native-born American, descendant of a Revo lutionary soldier, there will exist at least a sublime human reverence. After thus achieving, as commander-in-chief of all the armies of America, the decisive victory of Yorktown, and Great Britain's acknowledgement of nationality, he retired to his Virginia home, intending there to pass in quiet the remain ing years of life ; but great as had been his sacrifices and services freely rendered, the destiny of the infant Nation seemed to absoluteh' demand still further his gfuidine hand. In 1789 he was elected a member of the convention that formed the present Federal constitution. After its adoption he was chosen president and inaugurated at New York, April 30, 1789. The real greatness of Washington, his fortitude and true patriotism, is best appreciated, however, when studied in the darkest hour of the Revolutionary period. He must be visited at Valley Forge in the winter of 1778, sharing in all the privations of the common soldier. His address to the half-fed, scantily clothed army, contains sentiments that must endure forever ; but the time has passed for eulogies ; in the language of a distinguished orator at one of the recent cele brations of Washington's 163d natal day: AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 1 7 "Washington has long since taken his place in the minds and hearts of men, and it is so high and dear that words describing it are tame and spiritless things. The attempt to analyze greatness has always been a miserable failure. We can feel it, we can see its stupenduous work, but it has never yet been traced to its source. Washington was surrounded during his whole life by men who viewed from every tech nical standpoint were abler than he, and yet he dwarfs them all in the dispassionate judgment of history. Every child is familiar with his martial career, which began with the perilous march across the mountains of Virginia, that led him through the dreadful shadows of Braddock's needless disaster, through the heart-breaking sorrows of Valley Forge, through defeat and victory to the delivery of his people from foreign foe upon the brilliant field at Yorktown. Every student has learned the beautiful lessons that are to be gathered from the eight years in which he gave dignity and honor to the high office of president of the United States." The ten years between the close of the Revolutionary War and the adoption of the constitution overflowed with dangers more menacing to free institutions, more fatal to good gov ernment, more dangerous to commerce, more destructive of prosperit}-, than were ever threatened in British supremacy or presented by British armies. These perils have been forcibly presented in the speech by a distinguished orator of Iowa, heretofore referred to when eulogizing the character of Washington: "The existence of the war, the common impulse to unitedly confront a foreign oppressor, had preserved some unity among the colonies until the English flag no longer floated in our air; but the moment we had opportunity to consider our internal affairs, the weak and pitiable character of the articles of confederation became at once manifest. As a system of government, it neither had nor deserved respect. The confederacy could neither exercise power nor undertake responsibility. It was a beggar praying alms of its bankrupt members, and it speedily became a mere burlesque upon organized society, the hollow pageantry of ofifice, the stately farce of authority. The colonies rapidly became foreign to each other, and were filled with distrust, jealousy and envy. Trade languished, commerce disappeared, treasuries were empty, acrimonious disputes filled the land, discontent was everywhere, despair was fast creeping into the hearts of men, and chaos seemed almost at hand. The world has never 1 8 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES seen and will never see brighter constellations of genius than then shone from many of the colonies. Virginia was radiant with such characters as Madison, Mason, Henry and Ran dolph; New York was resplendent with Hamilton, Clinton, Jay and Livingston; Pennsylvania was magnificent in the possession of Franklin, Morris and Wilson; Massachusetts was honored and renowned in the wisdom and eloquence of her Hancock, Adams, Ames and King; in South Carolina were the Rutledges and Pinckneys. But brilliant, learned and patriotic as they were, they were powerless before the resistless current of disintegration. In this extremity, how ever, there was one man dowered with the confidence of all the people. There was one man towards whom the shafts of suspicion were not directed. There was one man whose name and fame were raised above the dis cordant waves that lashed the shores of the young republic from Massachusetts to Carolina. That man was George Washington; and in this supreme moment of his country's danger, when her future hung upon a thread so frail that it often seemed to have been broken in twain, he originated the movement that brought together the convention of 1787, the immortal convention which produced the constitution of the United States. No other man could have done it; and if it had not been done the path of glory which we have pursued would have remained unexplored, and the high position which we have achieved would never have been attained. By what force he calmed the turbulent factions of the irritated colonies, even so far as to permit the calling of the convention, we cannot know. It came, how ever, from the greatness of the man. When he called, men listened; when he implored, men yielded; when he com manded, men obeyed. The moment that saw Washington installed as president of the convention in old Independence Hall at Philadelphia in the spring of 1787 witnessed a more sublime victory for him than ever crowned his courage in the field of battle, and for three months he led the representa tives of the people through a conflict of deeper import to us than was ever before or has ever since been fought under the sk}' which canopies the western hemisphere. Men had always loved libert}','' In this connection, is presented an address by General Washington, delivered to the ariny at Valley Forge in March, 1778. This address was taken from a manuscript'^diary of Captain Nathan Strong, an ofificer serving in that army at the time of its delivery. The author of this "Historv of and national REMINISCENCES. ig National Reminiscences" came into possession of this valu able document, never before published in durable form, through the instrumentality of Hon. J. H. Strong, a grand son of Captain Nathan Strong. "Camp Valley Forge, March, 1778. "The commander-in-chief again takes occasion to return his warmest thanks to the ofificers and soldiers of this army for that persevering fidelity and zeal which they have uni formly manifested in all their conduct; their fortitude, not only under common hardships incident to a military life, but also under the additional suffering to which the peculiar sit uation of these states have exposed them, clearly proves them to be worth}- the invaluable privilege of contending for the rights of human nature, and the freedom and independ ence of their country. The present instance of uncom plaining patience during the late scarcity of provisions in camp, is a fresh proof that they possess in an eminent degree, the spirit of soldiers, and the magnanimity of patriots. "The few refractory individuals who disgraced themselves by murmurs, it is to be hoped, have repented of such unmanly behavior and resolved to emulate the noble example of their associates upon every trial which the customs of war may hereafter throw in their way. Occasional distress for want of provisions and other necessaries, is a spectacle that fre- cjuently occurs in every army, and perhaps there never was one which has in general been so plentifully supplied in respect to the former, as ours. Surely we who are free citizens in armies engaged in a struggle for everything valu able in society, and particularly in the glorious task of laying the foundation of an empire, would scorn effeminately to shrink under the accidents and rigors of war which merce naries and hirelings fighting in the cause of lawless ambition, rapine and devastation encounter with cheerfulness and alacrity. We should not merely be equal, we should be superior to them in every qualification that dignifies the man and soldier, in proportion as the motives from which we act and the final hopes of our toils are superior to theirs. "Thank Heaven! our country abounds in provisions, and with prudent management we may not apprehend want for any length of time. Defects in the commissary department and contingences of the weather and other temporary imped iments have subjected, and may again subject us to defic iences for a few days, but soldiers, American soldiers, will despise the meanness of repining at such trifling strokes of adversity; trifling indeed when compared with the transcend ent prize which will undoubtedly crown their patience and 20 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES perseverance; glory and freedom, peace and liberty to them selves, and the community ; the admiration of the world, the love of their country and the gratitude of posterity." Reminiscences of Washington bring to the thought of every American the name of another great participant in the war for independence ofthe colonies from the sovereignty of George the III, at that time Great Britain's ruler, the name and affectionate remembrance of the Marquis De Lafayette. The services rendered by that distinguished Frenchman, one of nature's true noblemen, have never been fully appreciated. Of noble birth, and possessed of one of the largest fortunes of Europe, nevertheless, he heard across the broad Atlantic the roar of Washington's cannon, and the fact that a nation was struggling for liberty. The Declara tion of Independence, every sentence of which challenged the special privileges of his class, his own prerogatives, the title he bore, the right of his kingly government to exist, reflected the radiance of this rising sun and glowed with celestial fire. Like an asterisk of destiny, like its fellow of the east, this star of the west hung brightening above the cradle of men's hopes. He needs must follow it! Accord ingly in April of the year 1777, Lafayette set sail for America, in a vessel purchased and equipped by himself expressly for the journey. His resolution had been taken against the protest of all his friends (save only of her, the best of friends ) and in spite of the interdiction of this mon arch. To circumvent the ofificers of the state, he disguised himself as a courier, sleeping in stables from town to tow n until he reached the sea coast. But Louis XVI was not to be baffled. He made it known to the American Congress that under no circumstances was the Marquis . De Lafaj-ette to receive a commission in its armies. Congress was not only willing to oblige the king of France, but, on its own account, thought that the quixotic services of the youthful marquis might prove more embarrassing than useful. Wash ington, moreover, shared the same opinion. He, poor man, had seen enough of foreign adventurers. So that upon his arrival Lafayette was graciously received, and as graciously ignored. It was these circumstances, and when his cherished and national REMINISCENCES. 21 plans had little hope of recognition, that he addressed to congress this brief but immortal note: "After the sacrifices I have made, I have a right to ask two favors: one is to serve at my own expense, the other is to serve as a volunteer." There was no mistaking the temper or quality of the writer of these lines! Washington relented at once. Lafay ette received his commission and was appointed aid-de-camp to the commander-in-chief. Thereupon, says a biographer, "began one of those tender and lasting friendships which e.xist between men who share great perils in defense of great principles." They reached the camp of Washington in time to witness the review of troops. There were ii,000 men, possibly the forlornest ever calling themselves an army. Their munitions were wretched, their clothing ragged, and without any attempt at uniformity in cut or color; their evolutions were original, not to say grotesque. But they were Americans, and Washington was their leader! "\\'e should feel some embarrassment," Washington observed, " in showing ourselves to an ofificer who has just left the armies of France." "Sir," replied Lafayette, "it is to learn and not to teach, that I am hpre." There spoke, not simply the modesty of the man, but if there be any design or meaning in the affairs of men, there spoke his destiny ; he was here to learn. Such was the patriotic spirit of Lafayette who came to Americans in its darkest hour, and remained until their inde pendence was achieved, then returned to sacrifice and suffer for the liberty of France ; but the time had not come, and he met only with disappointment. He lived long enough, how ever, to witness the marvelous growth of the Nation he had in such a marked degree assisted in founding. In 1824, he visited the United States for the last time, and the writer esteems, and will ever remember it as one of the most pleas ant incidents of his life, although then only seven years of age, the being noticed, and taken by the hand by General 22 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES Lafayette, of whom he had heard his Revolutionary grand father talk so much. "O man of silent mood — a stranger among strangers then How art thou since renowned the great, the good; Familiar now as the day in all the homes of men, The winged years, that winnow praise and blame How many names out; they but fan to flame The self-renewing splendors of thy fame." American citizens of the present will be interested in knowing of the nationalities, professions, and employments of the men who were participants in the war for independ ence. It is well known that the better and richer classes were Tories, mostly English and their descendants, loyal to the King. Most of the clergy, except the Episcopalians, were Whigs, and in favor of the revolution. Professor Jam eson, of Brown University, after giving much time and care ful study to this subject, in a recent lecture says: "A number of the lawyers were Whigs, but the doctors were all Tories. The people did not seem to be antagonistic to the doctors for their Toryism, although when one calls to mind the condition of medicine in 1766, or 1768, or 1775, the doctors were the most dangerous of Tories. There were thirty-seven newspapers then, five of which were Whig. Property owners, whether in the town or country, and the educated people, were mostly Tories. As to race, those from England sided with the Tories. It was the same with the Scotch, who although followers of the Stuarts, had become reconciled and loyal to the House of Hanover. The Irish, on the other hand, and the Scotch-Irish from the North of Ireland, were wholly against the British. It was stated before the House of Commons, in reply to a question as to the composition of the revolutionary party, that one-fourth were native born, one-half Irish, and one-fourth English or .Scotch." This last statement made in parliament, the moving cause being hatred of the Irish, and to increase prejudice in Eng lish minds against the colonies, has been contradicted, and it has been authoritatively proved, that a large majorit}' of the army were native born Americans. In another chapter the quota of men furnished by each of the colonies will be given. The South gave to the cause a Washington to lead the army. AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES 23 and other able ofificers, and thousands of brave men for the ranks, but three-fourths of that arni\' came from the North, by far the largest part from New PLngland, Massachusetts leading all.* The history of the colonization of America has been briefly sketched, the unparalleled rapid development of thirteen feeble coinmunities into comparatively strong States, and finally the consolidation of these several commonwealths into a National government, now became a power second to none on the globe. But as close observation reveals dark spots upon the sun, so upon a careful observation of this great nation, bright and beautiful as it appears from a distant and only casual view, a closer view reveals many dark spots. It becomes the duty of the historian to write of the wrongs as well as of the glory of his country. Men do not emerge from the darkness of error into the full light of truth at one sudden leap, neither from ignorance to knowledge. Evolu tion is the law of nature in all departments of life; develop ment, growth from the lower to the higher in the material and mental world is everywhere apparent. Puritans, denied the religious privileges they craved, fled from persecution in the old world, suffered hardships and bravely endured priva tion in the new world, that they might thereby enjoy the privilege of worshiping God according to the dictates of their own conscience; and yet, oh, strange inconsistency! scarcely had they gained a landing on Plymouth Rock and secured safety from savage foes, before they became the most cruel persecutors humanity had ever known. * Before writing this chapter, the author had written to the War Department, Washington, D. C, for the desired information, having no doubt ot obtaining an official report before going to press with this History; but May ist, comes the following communication: Recobd and Pension Office, War Department, April 29, 189,5. Col. D. M. Fox, Des Moines, Toioa: Sir:— The records of the Revolutionary war have but recently been transferred to this office, and it will be several months before they can be indexed, so that accurate reports can be made from them. It you will renew your request at a later date, it will receive further consideration. ]iy authority of the Secretary of War, F. 0. .\IN3W0RTH. Col. U. S. Army, Chief of Offloe. 24 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES Look again! Behold our Revolutionary sires in that great est political document ever penned by man, the Declaration of Independence, familiar to every school boy, the second paragraph declaring: "We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." It seems almost incredible, yet it is nevertheless true, that many of the signers to this immortal document, and some of them a few )'ears later helped to form and voted for the adop tion of the Federal constitution, its preamble being in harmony with the principles proclaimed July 4, 1776 : "We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more per fect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our posterit}-, do ordain and establish this constitution of the United States of America," and yet, inconsistent as it may appear, were themselves slave-holders. In future chapters this subject, so prolific of trouble and dissensions between the northern and southern states will be more elaborately considered. AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. CHAPTER II. PURITANIC PERSECUTION AND SLAVERY. IN the preceding chapter, allusion is made to Puritan per secution, and to American slavery, the first so incon sistent with Puritanic profession of the right of all to worship God according to the dictates of their own con science, and its non-enjoyment given as the cause of leaving England to seek a home in America. The second, recog- ition of slavery, the owning, buying and selling of men, women and children of African descent; thus ignoring the "self-evident truth" proclaimed in the Declaration of Inde pendence, and the principles of liberty as set forth in the preamble to the Federal constitution. With profound feelings of reverence and awe we study the history of our Puritan and Pilgrim Fathers, and gaze upon the suggestive pictures and memorials connected with their departure from the old world, their landing and subse quent record in the new; and what ennobling thoughts do all such representations and study call up in our minds concern ing a period in history more fraught than any other with the subsequent destinies of the new world, and of all humanity the world over. Yet this fact, of the high claims of the early Puritans and Pilgrims to our veneration and regard, on account of their professed principles and proclaimed pur poses, and the remarkable circumstances under which they left the old world, should not blind us to a just view of their errors and defects, and when we follow their actions after they came here and compare them with their previous pro fessions, and square them by the impartial and eternal laws of that God whose divine aid they are represented as having implored with so much reverence at every important move ment they made, verifies the truth as expressed by Dryden: 26 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES " The good old men, too eager in dispute, Flew high; and, as their Christian fury rose, Damned all for heretics who durst oppose." Of all the religious denominations which have arisen in the world, the Friends or Quakers were the most in advance of the age in which they first appeared, and this accounts for the severe persecutions they encountered. The most dis tinguishing feature of the religious tenets of the Quakers, for which they were persecuted in the e'arly times, was their belief in divine inspiration, in the "Inner Light," or the power of the Holy Spirit of God in the soul of man, as the great fac tor in reformation and salvation; they trusted in this rather than in the forms, ceremonials, rituals and theological creeds which constituted the Christianity of that day. And it was in consequence of so much outwardness, superficiality, and mere show in the prevailing religion of that time that the Quakers arose as a denomination, substituting the inward for the outward, spirituality for formality, and plainness and honesty for extravagance and pretense in their religion and all other relations in life. While they reverenced the teach ings of the scriptures as contained in the record of God's deal ings with holy men of the past, they looked beyond and behind them to the Spirit of God which gave them forth, claiming that the same divine spirit should illuminate our own minds and enable us to judge correctly of the meaning of what has been revealed to others. The Quakers as a religious body arose in England in 1647, when George Fox, the pioneer of this denomination, began his ministr}-, he being then twenty-three years old. A pioneer in every moral as well as religious form, he is said to have been the first person to make public declaration of opposition to the injustice of that gigantic iniquity of his time and of later times, the slavery of the African race. The religious views which he early espoused and which, like the primitive ministers of Christ, he and his fellow-laborers and fol lowers most frequently declared to their hearers as the corner-stone of their religious faith, was, "The universal appearance of the light of Christ in the heart, by which He enlighteneth every person that eometh into the world," of AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 27 which truth there is the most ample ground of illustration and proof in scripture. The first of the members to make their appearance in New England, of which there is any account, were two women, Mary Fisher and Ann Austin, who came from England to Boston in July, 1656. That was three months before the passage of the first law by the gen eral court of Massachusetts against the Quakers, and, with out waiting to see how the new comers would conduct them selves, such was the keenness of the scent of the "Puritans'' against "theological heresy that before they came ashore the deputy governor, Richard BeUingham (the governor himself being out of town), sent ofificers aboard the ship, who searched the trunks and chests of the two women and took away the books they found there, which were about one hundred. These books, harmless publications advancing the religious views of the Friends, the ofificers carried on shore, after having commanded the said women to be kept prison ers on board; and the said books were, by an order of the council, burnt in the market place by the hangman. After wards the deputy governor had the women brought on shore, and committed them by a mittimus to prison as Quakers, upon this proof only, that one of them speaking to him had said "thee" instead of "you;" whereupon he said he needed no more evidence, for now he saw they were Quakers. And then they were shut up close prisoners, and command was given that none should come to them without leave; a fine of five pounds being laid on any one that should otherwise come at, or speak with them, though but at the window. Their pens, ink, and paper were taken from them, and they were not suffered to have any candle light in the night season; nay, what is more to the everlasting shame of these falsely named "Puritans," the two women were stripped naked, under pretense to know whether they were witches, though in searching no token was found upon them but of innocence; and in this search the women were so barbarously misused, says the account, that " modesty forbids to mention it;" and that none might have communication with them, a board was nailed up before the window of the jail. Seeing that they were not provided with victuals, Nicholas Upshal, 28 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES keeper of the Red Lion Inn, one who had lived long in Boston, and was a member of the (Orthodox) church there (no other church being allowed), was so concerned about liberty being denied to send them food that he purchased it of the jailer at the rate of five shillings a week, lest they should have starved. And after the women had been thus imprisoned about five weeks, Williani Chicester, master of a vessel, was bound in one hundred pounds bonds to carry them back to England, and not suffer any one to speak to them after they were put on board; and the jailer kept' their beds, which were brought out of the ship, and also kept THEIR bible, for his fees. Such was the treatment the Quakers first met with at Boston, and that from a people who pretended that for con science sake they had come here to escape persecution at home, and establish here freedom to worship God; but it seems to have been a freedom confined to their own narrow and bigoted conceptions of religion, and not after the broad, humane and Christ-like pattern of Roger Williams and the Quakers in Rhode Island, and William Penn and his associ ates and followers in Pennsylvania. Scarce a month after the arrival of the aforesaid women at Boston, there came also eight others; they were locked up in the same manner as the two former, and after about eleven weeks' stay were sent back, Robert Lock, master of the ship which brought them here, being compelled to carry these eight persons back on his own charge and to land them nowhere but in P2ngland, he having been imprisoned till he undertook so to do. The governor, John Endicott, whose bloodthirstiness appears in bad light in subsequent proceedings, being now come home, bid the prisoners "take heed ye break not our ecclesiastical laws, for then ye are sure to stretch by a halter." And when they desired a copy of those laws, it was denied them; which made some of the people say: "How shall they know then when they transgress?" But Endicott remained stiff in his determination, he having said before, when at Salem, when he heard how Ann Austin and Mary Fisher had been dealt with at Boston, " If I had been AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 29 there I would have had them well whipped." Then a law was enacted by the general court, October 14, 1656, prohib iting all masters of ships from bringing Quakers into that juris diction,. and themselves from coming in, on penalt)' of being "committed to the house of correction, severely whipped, kept constantl}' at work, and none suffered to converse or speak with them," and it was in the same enactment " Further ordered, that if any person shall knowingly import into any harbor of this jurisdiction, any Quaker books or writings containing their devilish opinions, shall pay for ever\- such book or writing the sum of five pounds; and whosoever shall disperse (circulate) or conceal any such book or writing, and it be found with him or her, or in his or her house, and shall not immediately deliver in the same to the next magistrate, shall forfeit and pay five pounds for the dispersing or concealing of every such book or writing. And it is hereby further enacted, that if any persons within this colony shall take upon them to defend the heretical opinions of the said Quakers, or any of their books or writ ings, shall be fined for the first time forty shillings; and if they shall persist in the same, and so again defend these opinions, they shall be fined for the second time four pounds; if still, notwithstanding, they shall again defend and maintain the said Quakers' heretical opinions, they shall be committed to the house of correction till there is conven ient passage to be sent out of the land, being sentenced by the court of assistants to banishment." In later years, it would seem that the authors of the fugi tive slave law enacted by Congress in 1850, one of the pro visions embraced in the compromise measures, so earnestly advocated by Henry Clay. It will be remembered that every man of the North was made a slave catcher, and a penalty for harboring a. slave fleeing toward Canada, even greater than the fine for harboring a Quaker. But the spirit of the people had changed, hence the great protest and rising of the people of the North and the increase of patronage to the "underground railroad" of which more elaborate men tion is made hereafter. The enactment comprising these cruel provisions, passed October 14, was published October 21, 1656, by beat of drum by order of the court. When this law was published, 30 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES Nicholas Upshal, already mentioned, could not forbear to show the persecutors the unreasonableness of their proceed ings; warning them to "take heed that they were not found fighting against God, and so draw a judgment on the land." But this advice was taken so ill by the persecutors, that though Upshal was a member of their church, and of good repute as a man of unblamable conversation, yet he was fined twenty-three pounds and imprisoned also for not coming to church, and next day the)' banished him out of their jurisdiction. This fine was exacted so severely that Endicott said, "I will not bate him one groat." And though Upshal was a weakly old man, }'et they allowed him but one month's space for his removal, so that he was forced to depart in winter. Coming at length to Rhode Island, the land of religious refugees, where he found a quiet resting place, he met an Indian prince, who having understood how he had been dealt with, treated him very kindly, and told him if he would live with him he would make him a warm house. The Indian further said, "What a God have the English, who deal so with one another about their God!" Who was the true Christian in this instance, the good Samaritan Indian, who "looked through nature up to nature's God," and manifested the divine spirit in his own soul, or the inhuman, falsely-named "Puritan," John Endicott, then governor, under whose administration the persecution of the Quakers increased in violence, from fines and imprisonments and banishments and the burning of their books, to the cutting off of their ears, burning holes through their tongues with red hot irons, whipping on their naked backs through the streets from town to town through the colony tied to the rear end of carts driven by oxen, and other savage cruelties, culminating in the hanging of four of them upon the gallows in order to get rid of them. These cruel acts comprised a series of barbari ties to be classed side by side with the Spanish inquisition, unexceeded in atrocity by any of the enormities ever before or since recorded of religious persecutions for opinion's sake. October 20, 1658, another act, banishing Quakers on pain of death, was passed, in these words: "Whereas, -there is a pernicious sect, commonly called Quakers, lately risen, who AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 3 1 by word and writing have published and maintained many dangerous and horrid tenets, * * * denying all estab lished forms of worship, withdrawing from orderly church fellowship allowed and approved by all orthodo.x professors of religion, and instead thereof and in opposition thereto frequently meeting by themselves," etc., the former laws by which the ears of John Copeland, Chistopher Holder, John Rous and man}- others had been cut off, and the tongues of man}- others bored through with red hot irons, and numer ous other inhuman cruelties inflicted proving insufficient to rid the colony of Quakers, the general court ordered that "every person of the cursed sect of Quakers, or any person adhering to their tenets and practices, which are opposed to the orthodox received opinions of the godly, shall be closely confined in prison for one month, where continuing obsti nate and refusing to retract or reform the aforesaid opinions, the}- shall be sentenced to banishment upon pain of death." In pursuance of these cruel enactments, which Rev. John Norton was paid by a grant of land in Worcester and Sand- bury for his great labors in helping to enact and carry into execution, four Quakers were hung upon Boston Common, viz : William Robinson, a merchant from London, and :\Iarmaduke Stephenson, from Yorkshire, England, who were executed October 27, 1659; Mar}- Dyer, a Quakeress preacher, June i, 1660, and William Leddra, March 14, 1661. The last execution, that of William Leddra, took place after the change of government in England, Charles II being restored to the throne of his father in May, 1660. In conse quence of this change of government, the Massachusetts colonial authorities took great pains to smooth over to the new king their doings here in the persecution of the Quakers, and sent over to him a deputation headed by Captain John Leverett, with an address in which they tried to justify their proceedings on the ground that the Quakers were "seducers from the glorious Trinity," and other ludicrous pretenses. To show that the persecution of the Quakers was for their religious opinions alone from the first, we have only to read the account of the trial of the first Quakers who arrived here from England, previous to the sending of them back. 32 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES as if the Quakers had not as good a right here as the Pil grims or Puritans themselves. At the examination of the eight Quakers before referred to, who arrived at Boston, August 27, 1656, in the Speedwell, Robert Lock, master, which left Gravesend May 30, 1656, the following questions were asked and answers given before the court of assistants, September 8, 1656: Question (by the court )- Whether }'ou brought not over hither several books wherein are contained the several opin ions of }-e sect or people called Quakers? Answer (by the Quakers) — Yea, those that were taken from us. Question — Wherefore came ye into these parts? .\nswer — To do the will of God as made known to us by His Spirit in our hearts. Question — Do you acknowledge the Hght in every man's conscience that comes into the world is Christ, and that that light would save him if obeyed? The answer, as given in their book, was ; The light is but one, which is Christ, and all are enlightened with one light. This is called the light of the spirit or conscience, the true teacher. Question — Whether you own that the Scriptures are the only rule of knowing God and living to him? Answer — The eternal word is the rule of our lives, and not the mere written word. Question — If you had not the Scriptures to direct you, how have you within }'ou that which was before the Script ure, that would guide }-ou aright? Answer — That inner light would be a sufificient guide. Question — Do }-ou acknowledge that Christ is God and man in one person? Answer — This they will not acknowledge. Question — Do you acknowledge one God subsisting in three persons. Father, .Son and Holy Ghost? Answer — They acknowledge no trinity of persons. Question — Do you acknowledge that God and man in one person remain forever a distinct person from God the Father AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. ^3 and God ye Holy Ghost and ye saints, notwithstanding thei union and communion with him? Answer — This they will not acknowledge. Question — Do you acknowledge baptism with water to be an ordinance of God? Answer — This thev will not acknowledg-e.* SLAVERY. From the first }'ear of the existence of the United States government to the present, 1895, the one hundred and nineteenth of independence, slavery has been the chief dis turbing element. It has more or less affected the election and subsequent action of every administration from George Washington to Benjamin Harrison, and the second term of Cleveland. Its shadow is still over the Nation. Other issues have been prominerit, the one paramount to all others, the tariff, traced to its basis, the system of slavery will be found to be the principal cause of disagreement. Slavery can only profitably exist in states or territories devoted wholly to agriculture. Free inen and free labor never fail to reward in states adapted, not only to agriculture, but manufactures and the various pursuits deemed necessary to make prosper ous states; these require skilled labor and educated workmen, not possible with slavery. Slavery could be made profitable ¦ in the South, not in the North; hence, the Southern states favored free trade, the Northern a tariff, not merely for a revenue sufificient to pay the ordinary expenses of the gov ernment, but duties laid upon articles of commerce that came into competition with home production large enough to pro tect the laboring classes of this country against the pauper wages paid in Europe. This question, more directly than any other, has divided the people into two great parties; the South, for the reasons above given, has been largely identified *For most of the facts and recitals of this chapter, the origin of the religious body called Qualr Portraits, see Frontispiece). H ELUSION to early formed parties are briefl}' noticed in the preceding chapters, and the}^ are ver}- abi}- referred to, in the contribution to- this work by Hon. Henry Sayrs and others, but not sufficiently elaborated to answer the purpose of this History of Political Parties, hence a chapter devoted to that subject and further reference to- parties of ephemeral existence. As stated in the first chapter, at the time of the adoption of the Federal Constitution in 1787, and while its ratification by the several States was under discussio,n, the country was divided into two parties — the Federalists, headed by Wash ington and the elder Adams; and the Anti- Federalists (who afterwards took the name of Republicans), under the lead of Jefferson and Madison. The Federalists were in favor of a strong centralized government; the Republicans advocated the sovereignty of the States and the rights of the people; and finally secured those amendments and additions to the Constitution which were intended to guarantee State rights, and which declared that all powers not expressly granted tO' Congress by the Constitution, are retained by the States or the people. During the French Revolution and the wars which succeeded it, the Federal party sympathized with Eng land, while the Republicans favored the French; and being in power, under the presidency of Mr. Madison, declared war against England in 181 2, a measure which the Federalists violently opposed, going so far in the Hartford convention AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 37 as to threaten a dissolution of the Union. During the polit ical excitements of this period, when the excesses of the French Revolution had thrown a certain degree of odium -upon its supporters, the Republicans were stigmatized by their opponents as Democrats. The name, given as a reproach, was soon adopted; and the party of Jefferson and Jackson called itself Democratic Republican, and its members were usually called Democrats; while the name of Federalist hav ing become unpopular by the opposition of the party to the war with England, it adopted the designation of National Republicans, and some years later, of Whigs, which was the name taken by the "disloyal" party in the war of independ ence, the "loyal" party being called Tories. The Federalist, National Republican, Whig, and Republi can part}- has been essentially the same, and for the most part a Northern party, its principal leaders up to i860 having been John Adams, Josiah Quincy, Alexander Hamilton, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Wm. H. Seward, and Abraham Lin coln. The Democratic part}' had its centers in Virginia and New York, and was the party of Jefferson, Madison, Jackson, Calhoun, Van Buren, Polk, Pierce, Buchanan. The former party advocated a construction of the Constitution favorable to the powers of the Federal government, a National bank, arid a high protective tariff; the Democratic party, on the other hand, in theory but practically quite often otherwise, held to a strict construction of the Constitution, a careful limitation of the powers of the central government, an inde pendent treasur}-, a specie currency-, and free-trade, or a tariff for revenue onl}'. There was, twenty-five years ago, a respect able Whig minority in most of the Southern States, and in two or three. Whig majorities; but when the Whig party favored anti-slavery, and took the name Republican, every Southern State voted with the Democratic party. Other party names met with in American political writings are of a local, fac tional or temporary character. "Blue-light Federalists" was a name eiven to those who were believed to have made friendly signals to British ships in the war of 1812. "Clin- tonians" and "Bucktails" were old factions of the Democratic party in New York. "Barnburner" was applied as a term of 38 HISTORY OF POLITIC.'VL PARTIES reproach to a section of the democracy supposed to be in sympathy with the "Anti-renters." The "Soft Shells" were "Free-soil" Democrats, in favor of excluding slavery from the Territories and future States of the Union; while the "Hard-Shells" were in favor of what they held to be the rights of the South. The contest for the presidency in I7g6, was an open and square one between the two parties. Federal and Republican, and resulted in the choice of John Adams, the Federal can didate, over Thomas Jefferson, the Republican candidate. The former claimed to represent Washington's peace policy, his doctrine of neutrality and his financial policy. The lat ter claimed to be the friends of economy, the rights of man and the rights of the States. Notwithstanding the admoni tion of Washington in his farewell address, in this contest party spirit and bitterness ran high. Even the French min ister took part in the contest, and issued a presumptuous paper entitled "An Address to the American People," designed to influence the people in favor of the Republicans. Here we are reminded by an episode in the presidential contest of 1888 that history does sometimes repeat itself, though the offence of Sackville West was not so grave as that of the French minister in I7g6. The result was the election of John Adams for president, and Thomas Jefferson for vice-president, the former a Federalist and the latter a Republican. The Federal party still maintained a majority in both branches of the fifth Congress. Two laws were passed by this Congress, known in histor}- as the "Alien and Sedition Laws," the enforcement of which proved a source of weakness to the Federal part}-. State legislatures passed resolutions denouncing them. Resolutions passed by the legislatures of Virginia and Kentucky are especially note worthy, as they contained the first open and formal declaration of the doctrine of State Rights. The Federalists still maintained a majority in the Sixth Congress, the mem bers of which had been chosen before the revolt against the "Alien and Sedition Laws" became effective. With the election of Thomas Jefferson as president by the House of Representatives, February 17, 1801, the Republi- AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 39 cans made a clean sweep, for there was a break in the Fed eral lines too wide to be closed up. Hamilton and others of its trusted leaders had become estranged. Then, as later in our history, partisan epithets were used by each party to stio-- matize the other. The Federals were the "Black Cockade Federals," and the Republicans were denounced as "Demo crats and Jacobins." Is it not a little singular that the name "Democrat," subsequently adopted as that of a great National party, was at first applied in derision? The Federalists denounced Jefferson as an atheist in religion, and a fanatic in politics. If we study the history of those times we will learn that even the fathers of this republic were made to withstand the shafts of party \'enom. The public and private character of Washington was assailed by the party opposed to him. Iinpeachment, and even assassination, were threatened, because he approved the Jay treat}' with England in I7g4. They said he was not the "Father" but the "Step-father" of his country. He was charged with usurpation, embezzlement of public funds, and even with treason. .Such was the rancor of parties toward each other in the days of the fathers. Up to Jefferson's administration there had been no remov als from ofifice for political reasons. He claimed as a right of his party a due proportion of the ofiices. After getting a fair quota then he would "return with joy to that state of things when the only questions concerning a candidate shall be: Is he honest? Is he capable? Is he faithful to the Constitution?" The spirit of Jefferson's policy relating to removals from ofifice and appointment thereto is the same which in Jackson's time was expressed in the aphorism: "To the victor belong the spoils." During Jefferson's first admin istration the Federal party lost its last hold, and never recov ered. In the election of 1804 it was complete!}- vanquished. During Jefferson's second administration there sprang up some notable dissensions in the Republican party. There was no good feeling between Jefferson and Burr, for the latter had been suspected of intriguing with the Federals for the pres idency in the bitter contest which finally resulted in the choice of Jefferson. These two Republicans had each received seventy-three electoral votes, and the choice for president was 40 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES made by the House of Representatives, where Jefferson won on the thirty-sixth ballot. Burr had thus come too near the presidency to suit Jefferson. As the presiding officer of the Senate, he, in various ways, antagonized his party. Another notable estrangement was that of John Randolph, who wanted to be minister to England, but President Jefferson had declined to gratify his aspirations. In Congress he headed a faction of Republicans who co-operated with the Federals in several party measures. Jefferson had no love for Aaron Burr, and the arrest and trial of the latter on a charge of treason was denounced by the Federalists as being more a political than a judicial proceeding. The action against Burr was one of the administration, and its failure to convict was humiliating. About the beginning of Madison's first administration ( i8og) the word "Democrat," as applied to the older faction or division of the Republicans, is again heard, but the name as that of a great political party, was not full}' recognized until 1832. With the first administration of Jackson, it may be consid ered began the life of the present Democratic party. The part}' opposed to him continued still to be known as the National Republicans, and this is the name by which they were known when they met in National convention at Balti more, in December, 1 83 1, when Henry Cla}- was nominated. Jackson was re-nominated in the same city, in March, 1832, b}- the Democrats. This contest was the first in our political history in which the parties made nominations through National conventions. This period is also memorable on account of the birth of a third party, known in our history as the Anti-Masons, who in their call for a convention at Baltimore, in September, 1831, announced as their principle — "Opposition to Secret Societies." The}- made William Wirt, of Virginia, their candidate, and carried the State of Vermont, with it seven electoral votes, for him. This party, however, was short-lived. As }-et party platforms were unknown, but the National Republicans favored a tariff, internal improve ments, renewal of the United States bank charter, and the removal ofthe Cherokee Indians. About this time the term. AND NATIONAL RE.MINISCENCES. 4I "hard money party," began to be applied to the Democrats. Thomas Benton, and others of its leaders, denied the right of the government, under the Constitution, to make any money except gold and silver. For the contest of 1836 the Democrats in convention again at Baltimore nominated Martin Van Buren for presi dent, and Richard M. Johnson for vice-president. The oppo nents of that party about this time began to apply the epithet "Loco-Foco" to the Democrats. This title was at first applied especially to that branch of the party in New York Cit}- that advocated what they called "equal rights." The name originated from an incident which transpired at a noisy public meeting in New York City. After the lights had been put out, the}- were at once relighted by means of a loco-foco match, b}- one of the members of the dominant wing of the party. It was for some years merely another name for the Democratic party, applied by their opponents, the Whigs. The Democrats had previously, in a spirit of derision, applied the term "Whig" to the National Republi cans. This name was accepted by the latter party, and now the two great opposing parties became known as Democrats and Whigs. The Whigs, and all opposed to Van Buren, united on William Henry Harrison, but the election in November, 1836, resulted in a majority of the Van Buren electors. Van Buren came to the presidency in March, 1837, on the eve of the financial wreck which resulted from the policy of Jackson's administration. In his first message. Van Buren defended Jackson's "Specie Circular," and thereby incurred opposition from both Whigs and Democrats. Some leading Democrats in Congress who opposed the message. Styled themselves "Conservatives." By a coalition of the Whigs and Conservatives in the House, several measures favored by the administration were defeated. Meantime the Van Buren administration adhered to its ruinous financial polic}', and Congress and the country drifted away from it. For the contest of 1840, the Whigs at Harrisburg nomi nated William Henry Harrison for president, and John Tyler for vice-president. The Democrats nominated at Baltimore Martin Van Buren again for president. A third party again 42 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES appears upon the political boards. It was styled the Aboli tion or Liberty party, and nominated James G. Birney, of New York, for president, Francis Lamoyne, of Pennsylvania, for vice-president. The leading principle of this new part}' may be inferred from its name, to-wit: Opposition to slavery, a question which had gradually grown to be more or less troublesome from the time of the adoption of Henry Clay's Missouri compromise measures, in 1820. Calhoun, in 1837, had introduced his resolutions in the Senate against inter ference with slavery in the States, and declaring it inexpedi ent to abolish or control it in the District of Columbia, or in the Territories. The Whigs in their National convention adopted no platform, while the Democrats submitted a lengthy declaration of principles. Their platform declared the power of the Federal government limited; opposed a system of internal improvements; declared that "justice and sound policy forbid the government to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, or one section to the injury ot another;" urged economy; claimed that Congress had no power to charter a United States bond; to interfere with the domestic institutions of the .States; that government money must be separated from banking institutions, and that this coun try is the asylum for the oppressed of all nations. Although, as stated, the Whigs had adopted no platform, they joined issue on the general financial policy of the Van Buren administra tion, including the position of the Democratic party on the tariff, and protection to the industries of the country. This was the campaign of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," of log cabins, coon skins and hard cider. Harrison and Tvler were triumphantly elected, and the Whigs had a majority in both branches of Congress. The Whigs soon came to the front with a tariff act, which was approved by President T}'ler August 30, 1842. In the Senate Clay championed this bill, and Calhoun opposed it. The latter had, in 1832, led in the nullification movement in South Carolina against the tariff acts of 1828 and 1832, claiming that a tariff which involved the idea of protection was unconstitutional, and not binding upon the State. .\ND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 43 For the contest of 1844 both the leading parties held National conventions in Baltimore. The Whigs made Henr}- Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen their standard bearers, and the Democrats nominated James K. Polk and George M. Dallas. Both parties outlined their principles in platforms. The Whigs declared for a well regulated National currenc}-; a tariff for revenue, but discriminating with reference to pro tection of domestic labor; distribution of the proceeds of the sales of public lands; a single term for the presidency, and reform of executive usurpation. The Democrats re-affirmed their platform of 1840, and added a declaration against dis tribution of the proceeds of sales of public lands among the States, a resolution sustaining the president in his right to use the qualified veto, and one declaring that Oregon ought to be re-occupied, and Texas annexed. The Liberty party was also again in the field with James G. Birney for president, and Thomas Morris for vice-president. The seven resolutions of its platform all related to slavery. Between the two great parties, Whigs and Democrats, the leading questions were the anne.xation of Texas, the Oregon boundary, and a pro tective tariff. Polk and Dallas were elected, the result being determined by the vote of New York. The most important measures and events of the administration were the annexa tion of Texas, the Mexican War, and the adjustment of the Oregon boundary, not on the line of "fifty-four degrees, forty minutes or fight," but on the line of forty-nine degrees, as proposed by John C. Calhoun when .Secretary of State in Tyler's administration. This statesman favored the acquisi tion of as little territory for free States in the North as possi ble. The Democrats passed the tariff act of 1846, abolishing the protective features of the act of 1842. This was accom plished by the casting vote pf Vice-President Dallas in the Senate, although himself a Pennsylvanian, but he had a big presidential bee in his bonnet, and wished to gain the favor of the South. This cost the Democratic party the presidency in 1848, when Gen. Taylor was elected. The Whigs also gained the lower House of Congress. In 1848 the Democrats met again in the old city of National conventions, Baltimore, and nominated Lewis Ctiss, of Mich- 44 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES igan for president, and William O. Butler, of Kentucky, for vice-president. The Whigs, at Philadelphia, nominated Gen. Zachary Taylor, of Louisiana, for president, and Millard Fillmore, of New York, for vice-president. The Democratic platform affirmed that of 1844; congratulated the country on the result of the Mexican War; commended the qualified veto; denounced a tariff, except for revenue; congratulated the Republic of France, and endorsed Polk's administration. The position of the party in 1848 on the tariff shows in the exact words of the platform, which hailed "the noble impulse given, to the cause of free trade by the repeal of the tariff of 1S42, and the creation of a more equal, honest, and productive tariff of 1S-16." Here, and at nearly eveiy Democratic National Convention, and man}' State conventions, will be found verification of the statement made in first chapter, giving the true position of the two parties on the tariff, pro tection to yVmerican industries against foreign manufactures. Democrats insisting upon ta.xation of foreign productions only sufficient to pay expenses of the government, Whigs, and Republican administrations favoring taxation for pro tection, per sc. The Whigs did not adopt a platform, claim ing that their principles were well known. The slax'ery ques tion was now agitating the country, but neither of the great parties was read}- or willing to commit itself. In the Whig convention a test resolution on the "Wilmot Proviso " was voted down. This historic proviso proposed to exclude slavery from such territoiy as might be acquired from Mexico at the close of the Mexican War. A third party, the Free Soil Democrats, also appeared in the field, with Martin Van Buren for president, and Charles Francis Adams for vice- president. Their opponents called them " Barnburners," and so named them in allusion to the story of a Dutch farmer, who, it was said, burned his barn in order to clear it of rats and mice. The "Barnburners" were an off shoot of the Democratic party, and mainly confined to the State of New York. They helped to carry that State for Taylor, and thus defeated Cass. The Free Soil Democrats, or " Barnburners," promulgated a lengthy platform, but its essence is embraced in the watchword, or motto which they adopted, to-wit: AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 45 "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, Free Men." The Old Liberty party, which had weakened the Whigs four years before, now united with the "Free Soil Democrats." Taylor and Fillmore were elected, but the Democrats controlled the Senate, with the Free Soilers holding the balance of power inthe House. After sixty-two fruitless ballots, Howell Cobb, of Georgia, a sla\-er}- extensionist, was elected speaker, on the sixty-third ballot. This }'ear, i84g, California formed her Constitution, e.xcluding slavery, and asked admission as a state. Calhoun claimed that the Federal Constitution sanc tioned slaver}-, and proposed to extend the Constitution over all the newly acquired Mexican territory. Webster showed that the constitution was designed for States and not for Ter ritories, and that it could not operate even in the States without an act of Congress to enforce it. It could not create slg.very in the Territories where it did, not exist. Henry Chi}- now came forward with the compromise measures of 1850. These measures provided for the admission of California: for the erection of the Territories of New Mexico and Utah, the question of slaver}' to be decided by the people when they came to form the States; the adjustment of the Texas boundar}'; the abolition of the slave trade, but no inter ference with slavery in the District of Columbia. These measures did not satisfy either party, and one of them, the fugitive slave law, was met with indignant protest throughout the North. The measure for non-interference with slavery in the District of Columbia failed of acceptance, and the institution was abolished there in 1850. President Taylor died in July of that year, and the Whig party, a large element of which had contracted the pro-slavery disease, began to die soon after. The pro-slavery Whigs now favored the doctrine which was afterwards known by the name of squat ter, or popular sovereignty. They would let the people of the Territories decide as to the matter of slavery. The South, in the passage of the compromise measures did not realize its hopes, and agitation of the slavery question continued. In 1851 and 1852, three of the great party leaders— Calhoun, Clay and Webster, passed away. The thirty-second Con gress, which met in December, 1851, was Democratic in both 46 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES branches. Fillmore had become president by the death of Taylor in 1850. Both Whigs and Democrats thought they had settled the slavery agitation but it was soon shown that, like Banquo's ghost, it would not down. In 1852, again at Baltimore, the Democrats nominated Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, and William R. King, of Alabama. A Whig National convention in the same city, a couple of weeks later, brought out (jeneral Winfield Scott, of Virginia, and William A. Graham, of North Carolina. Both parties promulgated platforms. The Democrats said: No more revenue than is necessary to defray the expenses of the government; no National banks; Congress has no right to interfere with, or control the domestic institutions of the States; endorsement of the compromise measures of 1850; endorsement of the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions of I7g8; the Union as it is and should be, with several more declarations of less importance. The Whigs in their plat form claimed sufificient power in the government to sustain it and make it operative; favored revenue from tariff, "with suitable encouragement to American industry;" internal improvement; endorsed the compromise measures of 1850, including the "Fugitive Slave Law.'' It will thus be seen that both parties joined in the plan of the pro-slavery leaders, and committed themselves to the e.xtension of slavery. In August, 1852, the "Free Soil Democrats," as the}' called themselves, in a National convention at Pitts burgh, nominated John P. Hale, of New Hampshire, and George W. Julian, of Indiana. They repudiated both the other political parties, and declared for no more slave States, no slave Territory, no National slaveiy, and no legislation for the extradition of slaves. The si.x resolutions of their plat form all related to the one subject of slaveiy. The electoral count showed two hundred and fift}'-four votes for Pierce and King, and only forty-two for Scott and Graham. The Whig party then died, in its attempt to "swallow the fugi tive slave law," as it was said. The Democratic party became thoroughly pro-slavery, president Pierce committino- it in his first message to the compromise measures. The first Congress (thirty-third) in his administration opened with AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 47 fourteen Democratic majorit}- in the Senate, and sevent}'- four over all opposition in the House. The Senate bill to organize the territories of Kansas and Nebraska renewed the agitation of the slaver}- question. The old squatter sover- eignt}' idea of the pro-slavery Whigs was espoused and advocated b}- Douglas in the Senate. It left the question ot slavery to be decided by the people of the Territory or pro posed State. This was not just what the South wanted, but the bill became a law in May, 1854. The combat was then transferred from the halls of Congress to the plains of Kan sas, where, amid confusion and bloodshed, it was settled so far as that Territory was concerned. Freedom sent to the Territory the largest colonies, and 'finally triumphed there. The W'hig part}- was dead and past resurrection. In 1852 the idea of an .Vmerican part}- reappeared in the secret organ ization common!}- known in our political history as the "Know-Nothing" part}'. Its members were silent as to its principles, and hence the name. Its cardinal principle, as known to themselves, was expressed in their motto — " Amer- cans must rule America." Its countersign was that of Washington at a critical time during the Revolution — " Put none but Americans on guard to-night." In 1855 this party carried nine State elections, and made its power felt in the congressional elections of Ihat year. It elected forty-three members of the House of the Thirty-fourth Congress, and there were five .Senators of the party. This party was the first to nominate its National candidates in 1856. Its conven tion met in Philadelphia, Februaiy 22d, with two hundred and twenty-seven delegates present. It nominated Millard Fillmore, of New York, and .Andrew J. Donelson, of Tennes see. It promulgated a platform in accordance with its cardi nal principle of preference of native-born citizens for ofifice. A number of anti-slavery delegates withdrew from the con vention on account of its failure to recognize the right of Congress to re-establish the Missouri compromise line of thirty-si.x degrees, thirty minutes. The Democrats in National convention at Cincinnati, nom inated James Buchanan and John C. Breckinridge. Their platform endorsed the preceding ones, with additional -planks 48 HISTORY- OF POLITICAL PARTIES opposing Americanism; restricting revenue to necessary expenses; against a general system of internal improvement; favoring a strict construction of Federal powers; against a National bank; endorsing squatter sovereignty, and approv ing the Kansas- Nebraska bill. Now came into existence a party which was destined to accomplish a greater and grander work than any which had preceded it. It received its name of Republican party in the State of Michigan, in a convention of five thousand citi zens of different .States, principal!}' from the State named. For an elaborate account of this convention, see contribution of Hon. Albert Williams in another chapter of this work, entitled, "Advent of the Republican Party" (see index). It held its first National convention at Philadelphia in June, 1856. Its nominees for president and vice-president were John C. Fi'emont and William M. Dayton. Its platform declared for the preservatidn of the unidn of ' the .States; denied Congress to give legal e.xistence to slavery in any Territory of the United .States; that Congress ought to pro hibit "those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery;" denounced the pro-slavery policy of the Pierce administra tion; demanded the admission of Kansas, with her free State Constitution; favored government aid for a Pacific railroad, and declared for a system of National improvements. The reader is referred to the chapter written by Hon. C. H. Gatch, delegate from Iowa to that convention, for a more elaborate account of its proceedings. ( .^ee table of contents, Fremont Campaign). A small section of the Whig party, which still survived, met in Baltimore and agreed to support Fillmore and Don elson, and in the contest carried one State, Maryland, with eight electoral votes. Buchanan and Breckinridge had one hundred and seventy-four electoral votes,' and Fremont and Dayton one hundred and fourteen electoral votes. The result was a triumph for the South, but it demonstrated the possibilities of the new Republican party, the popular vote being largely against the Democrats. In April, i860, a Democratic National convention met in Charleston, South Carolina, where it divided on the question AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 49 of slavery, and after fifty-seven ineffectual ballots, adjourned without making any nominations, although a Douglas or squatter sovereignty platform was adopted. Under the rules of Democratic National conventions, it required two-thirds of the delegates to nominate. Many of the Southern and intense pro-slavery Democrats withdrew from the conven tion. The result was another convention at Baltimore in June, when Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson were nominated. A portion of this convention also seceded. This wing of the party in a convention, also held in Balti more, June 28th, nominated John C. Breckinridge, of Ken tucky, and Joseph Lane, of Oregon. Both wings of the party favored the enforcement of the fugitive slave law, but the Breckinridge wing claimed that the unorganized terri tory of the United States was open to all kinds of property, including slaves. The Douglas wing affirmed the doctrine of popular sovereignty. The Republicans held their National convention in Chicago in Ma}-, where a building known as the "Wigwam" had been erected for the purpose. It accomplished its work in a single day, nominating Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin. The platform adopted declared the necessity of the Republi can party; endorsed the principles of the Declaration of Independence; denounced schemes of disunion; denounced the pro-slavery policy of the Buchanan administration and its extravagance; denounced the dogma that the Constitution carried slavery into the Territories; favored the admission of Kansas as a free State; protection to American industry; a homestead law; a Pacific railroad, and internal improvement. The American party, which had now changed its title to the "Constitutional Union Party," also held a convention in Baltimore, and nominated John Bell, of Tennessee, and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts. Their platform affirmed the "Con stitution of the country, the union of the States, and the enforcement of the laws." The nominations of i860 were followed, especially throughout the Northern States, by one of the most spirited and excited campaigns in the history of parties in this country, surpassed only by that of 1840. For a full account the reader is referred to a chapter devoted 4 JO HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES wholly to the campaign of i860, the election of Abraham Lincoln and the secession of the pro-slavery States. ( See index.) The platform of the Republican National convention for 1864 pledged the part}- to aid the government in the suppres sion of the rebellion, and to accept no peace not based on the unconditional surrender of all armed rebels. It demanded an amendment to the constitution prohibiting slavery. It pledged the party to the payment of the p-ablic debt, and approved the "Monroe Doctrine." The convention renomi nated Lincoln for president, and recognized the Union men of the South by the nomination of Andrew Johnson for vice- president. The Democratic National convention in 1864 nominated as their standard bearers George B. McClellan and George H. Pendelton. The platform announced: Adhesion to the Union under the Constitution; demanded, "after four }'ears' failure to restore the Union b}^ war," the cessation of hostilities, and a peace convention. It denounced the war measures of the administration, and favored the preservation of ihe rights of the states. The main issue in the contest of 1864 was that pre sented in the Democratic platform, that the war was a failure, and that the country demanded its cessation. The Republi cans met this issue squarel}', and the result was an overwhelm ing popular verdict in their fa\'or, the electoral count being two hundred and twelve votes for Lincoln and Johnson, and twenty-one votes for McClellan and Pendleton. The rebel lion having been subdued, the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses, strongl}' Republican, were confronted with many new and untried questions of polic}-, but the party proved equal to the task, notwithstanding the opposition of a refrac tor}- president, who came into power primarily through the suffrages of the party, and the subsequent act of President Lincoln's assassin. Before the commencement of Grant's first administration, in March, i86g, the party had settled many of the vexed questions which the termination of the war had left for it to settle, including the thirteenth, four teenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution, and other measures of reconstruction. These measures were AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 5 1 generally opposed by the Democratic party, for in their National convention of 1868, the}' arraigned the Republican party, and expressed gratitude to President Johnson for "resisting- the aggressions of Congress." Its legal tender act of 1862, was one of the issues between the two great parties up to 1870, when the Supreme Court decided its con stitutionality. The then popularized "Greenback" became the caption of a new political party — the "Greenback party." In 1872, another new party, styling itself "Liberal Repub lican," and having its origin in Missouri, under the leader ship of B. Gratz Brown and Carl Schurz, sprang up, and act uali}- captured a large portion of the Democratic party, with Horace Greek}- and B. Gratz Brown as its candidates. But the Republican part}-, adhering to its principles in the renomination of Grant, with Henry Wilson for vice-presi dent, again triumphed. Horace Greeley died in November, soon after the election. In 1876, the National parties were the Republican, the Democratic, the "Greenback" or Independent party, the American National party, and the Prohibition party, all of which held National conventions, and made nominations for president and vice-president. The leading principles of the Republican and Democratic parties have alread}' been explained, while the name of "Prohibition party" is a suf ficient explanation of its cardinal principle and purpose. The new part}- known as the "Greenback party," now first appearing as a National organization, enunciated a platform demanding the repeal ofthe " specie resumption act" of Jan uary 14, 1875, the United States note, or "greenback," as a circulating medium and legal tender; the suppression of bank paper and no further issue of gold bonds. In several .States the Democrats allied themselves with this new party, and in some instances the coalition proved successful, but as a National party it failed to carry a single State, although Peter Cooper, its candidate for president, received a popular vote of eighty-one thousand, seven hundred and forty. The disputed returns in this National contest, as between the candidates of the two great parties, were decided by an electoral commission, whose decision seated the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes. 52 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES In the next National contest (1881), the Republicans appealed to the country on the history of their party, while the Democrats also pledged their party to Democratic tradi tions and doctrines. The Republicans declared for "pro tective duties," and the Democrats for "tariff for revenue only." In this campaign the Greenback and Prohibition parties were again in the field with National tickets. The electoral count showed two hundred and fourteen votes for Garfield and Arthur, and one hundred and fifty-five for Hancock and English. The Republicans were destined, therefore, to remain four years longer in power. The assas sination of President Garfield, for the second time in the Nation's history, left the administration in the hands of Vice- President Chester A. Arthur, of New York. The closing year of President Arthur's administration came with but little change in the situation of parties. The National contest for the presidency in 1884 came, with the Republicans suffering, as a party, from the dissensions origi nating over some minor appointments to ofifice in New York, soon after the inauguration of President Garfield. The eighth National convention in the history of the Republican party, nominated Blaine and Logan. The Democrats put forth Cleveland and Hendricks. The platforms of the two parties did not differ materially from the platforms enunci ated by them in previous years. The Republican platform favored a tariff for protection, while the Democrats denounced the tariff then existing, and pledged the party to revise it, as they said, in a spirit of fairness to all interests. The Demo crats also declared themselves opposed to sumptuary laws, and favored civil service reform. The Greenback and Prohibition parties were also again in the field with their National candidates. The Green back party nominated— or father adopted as their can didate for president, Benjamin F. Butler, who had previously been nominated by a National convention of persons styling themselves Anti-Monopolists. The result of the contest was a political revolution not e.xpected certainly by the party which had been in power since 1861. Various causes were assigned to account for the change AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 53 The reversal of a few hundred votes in the State of New York would have given Mr. Blaine that State, and with it the presidency. In this connection, it may be stated that polit ical literature now received the addition of a new party epithet— "Mugwump"— a term applied to that faction of the Republican party, mainly in the State of New York, who claimed for themselves special purity of political methods. This faction, in the State of New York, proved as disastrous to the Republican party in 1884 as the " Barnburners" of the same State had to the Democratic in 1848. After being retired twenty-four years the Democratic party again had a lease of four years, and assumed power at a time when the country was at peace with all the world, and prosperous. Its histoiy, and the attitude of many of its leaders in the great struggle which ended twenty years before, it desired to have forgotten. But the necessity of some distinctive policy to perpetuate its power was felt, and it finall}' settled down upon the one main issue, the tariff, which proved to it a stumbling block. President Cleveland's last annual message, which antagonized the pro tective system, and denounced the existing tariff as "vicious, inequitable and illogical," was accepted by the dominant Aving of the party as indicating the policy which they hoped the country would endorse. Their National platform of 1888 endorsed Cleveland's tariff message, as a correct interpreta tion of. the party's position. The Republicans accepted the issue, and in their platform took strong grounds in favor of a protective policy. The result was the defeat of the Demo cratic candidate, and the election of the Republican candi date, Benjamin Harrison, to whose wise and prosperous administration a future chapter will be devoted. lli:\K\" S.WRS, PieM(i(-nt i.if the Old Tippecanoe Club, Cliicigo. in i,^,:. .^ullior of Chapters IV., \'. and \'I,, co)iiiMen,.-lnK on ne\i i^ase. AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. CH.ZIPTER IV. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. SIXTH PRESIDENT — "THE OLD MAN ELOQUENT" — FOREIGN MINISTER — COMMISSIONER TO NEGOTIATE PEACE WITH GREAT BRITAIN — SECRE-fARY OF STATE — SENATOR FROM MASSACHUSETTS AND MEMBER OF CONGRESS. As its name implies, the Federal party which controlled the Nation in its infancy, favored a strong central govern ment. Its prominent leaders ranked among the ablest and most patriotic statesmen of the time, but somehow they failed to comprehend the wide distinction between a monarch ical and a truly republican government. As the people grew into the practice of self-government, the more restive they became under threats of restraint, hence the wide spread unpopularity of the alien and sedition laws enacted during the administration of President John Adams. The rancorous partisan hostility to Jefferson and his admin istration, because of the purchase of Louisana from France in 1803, the paltry sum of $15,000,000 being paid for a territory larger in area than that acquired from Great Britain in the Revolutionary War, and opposition, not only to the declaration of war with Great Britain in 1812, but to the war itself, greatly weakened the party and when, in 1814, its repre sentatives in secret session in the notorious Hartford conven tion sought to hamper the administration of President James Madison in the prosecution of the war, its doom was sealed. Experience has shown it bad policy for a political party to antagonize the government when at war for the masses of the people instinctively cry "My country! right or wrong — my country!" The war having terminated successfully, peace being declared in 181 5, the financial problem adjusted 56 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES by the establishment of the second bank of the United States in 1816, and a high protective tariff enacted in that year; sectional imbroglio which for a brief period rocked the very foundations of the government on the question of the admission of Missouri as a slave State, quieted by the adoption of the Missouri compromise in 1820, on the parallel of thirty-six degrees, thirty minutes, obnoxious laws altered or repealed, the Nation was at peace with and respected by all the world. National Republicans were at the helm, as they had been ever since the presidential term of John Adams. President Monroe was re-elected with but one dis senting electoral vote. In his tour of observation through several of the States, wearing the uniform of a colonel of the Continental Army, three-cornered hat, scarlet bordered blue coat and buff breeches, he was everywhere received by the people with such manifestations of respect and esteem as were due him as man and president. Perhaps the most remarkable executive act of Mr. Monroe's administration was the declaration in his message to Congress in 1823 that "The American continents, by the free and independent positions they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future coloni zation by any European power." Although no foreign power has ever subscribed to this doctrine, it is, and ever since its promulgation has been, the unwritten law of the land, for the maintenance of which the United States would, if necessary, call in requisition all of its powers. Recently a movement was made by a large number of members of the British Parliament with a view to the creation of an arbitration treaty, to which the United States and all of the great European powers shall be parties, by the terms of which any matter in dispute between any of the signatory powers which cannot be adjusted by the ordinary methods of diplomacy, shall be submitted to arbitration. The United .States is now precluded from being a party to such a treaty by reason of the aforesaid "Monroe doctrine." President Monroe also said: "If there be a people on earth whose more especial duty it is to be at all times prepared to defend the AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 57 rights with which they are blessed, and to surpass all others in sustaining the necessary burdens and in submitting to sac rifices to make such preparations, it is undoubtedly the people of these States." Jefferson had said: "This is the strongest government on earth; the only one where everv man at the call of the law will fly to the standard of the law, and meet invasion of the public order as his own personal concern." Monroe died July 4, 183 1. Considering that National independence was declared on the Fourth of July, it is a singu lar coincidence that three ex-presidents of the United States died on that day — two of them in the same year, John Adams repeating the name of Jefferson with his last breath. Jeffer son was the author, and both he and Adams were signers of that immortal declaration just fifty years previous. It is also a remarkable incident in a republican government, that a father and his son should attain to the presidency, and but little less strange that a grandsire and his grandson, the former, William Henry Harrison, a son of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, should be elected to the presidency. Let it not be forgotten that Vicksburg surrendered and the battle of Gettysburg was won on the Fourth of July. John Quincy Adams in his discourse on the life of James Monroe, credits him with a high and consistent order of statesmanship, and as entitled to the gratitude of his coun trymen for his half century of public service. All four of the presidential candidates in 1824, /. e., Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay, were of the National Republican school of politics. As party lines had become nearly obliterated, the canvass hinged much more upon personal than political considerations. Mr. Crawford's views inclined to a rather strict construction of the Constitution; General Jackson's less so, while Messrs. Adams and Clay looked to the pream ble as the key to the actual meaning of that instrument, which they found to be "to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty." Looking into the Constitution they 58 HISTORY OF POLITIC.VL PARTIES discovered the following article: "The Congress shall have power to make all laws which shall be necessary and propei for carrying into execution all powers vested by the Con stitution in the government of the United States." President Buchanan, a strict constructionist, could find no power in the Constitution to prevent an enforced dissolution of the Union, while President Lincoln with a more comprehensive vision, discovered authorit}- therein to not only save the Union, but at the same time, as commander-in-chief of the arm}- and nav}-, to, by timely issuance of a proclamation, totall}' abolish slavery "upon militar}' necessity." In the earlier da}'s candidates for president and vice-president were not, as now, nominated in National conventions. Mr. Craw ford was nominated by a Congress caucus; lackson by the Legislature of Tennessee; Adams under an accepted tradi tion that the position of Secretar}' of State was a logical stepping stone to the presidency; Clay, with a sort of spon taneity among his many admirers in different sections of the countr}'. Five of the first eight presidents first served as Secretary of State. John C. Calhoun, then probably the most popular of our statesmen, was candidate for vice-president on both the Adams and Jackson tickets — being considered neutral between the two; thus two of the candidates for president and one for vice-president were at the time mem bers of Monroe's cabinet. The three were personally friendly to Mr. Clay. In the electoral college Jackson had ninety- nine votes; Adams, eighty-four; Crawford, forty-one; Clay, thirty-seven. No candidate having received the requisite number of votes for president, the election, in accordance with the Constitution, was determined by the House of Representatives, voting by States, the three persons receiv ing the highest number of votes in the electoral college being eligible. Whereupon John Quinc}- Adams, having on the first ballot, received the votes of thirteen States to seven for Andrew Jackson and four for Wm. H. Crawford, Mr. Adams was elected. Mr. Calhoun had been elected vice- president, receiving three-fourths of the votes in the elec toral college. With the announcement of the vote in the House the canvass for the next presidential election actually began, Jackson named by his friends and Adams by his. AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 5g ADMINISTRATION OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. The administration of John Quincy Adams may be said to have been a prolongation of that of .Mr. Monroe; the same general principles and policies with nearly the same routine prevailed. The president had just emerged from eight years' service as premier in fhe cabinet of his predecessor and retained three of his late colleagues as his counselors, and Mr. Crawford was requested to remain at the head of the treasur}- department, which, in consequence of recentl}' impaired health he, with thanks, declined to do. Mr. Adams commenced his administration \A'ith a large majority of the Senate in opposition and with but a small majority of the House of Representati\-es in his favor, consequently the pros pect of such harmonious action among the different branches as is essential for the accomplishment of great and useful purposes, was not assuring. In his first message to Congress he dwelt largeh- and ably upon encouragement of home industry. He recommended judicious internal improve ments among the .States b}- the Federal government, and favored the establishment of liberal intercourse with all the American States, an accordant adoption of principles of maritime neutrality, the doctrine that free ships make free goods, an agreement that the "Monroe doctrine," so called, should be adopted by each of the American States to guard, by its own means, its own territory from future European colonization. For the promotion of these objects he appointed commissioners to a Congress of American Repub lics to be held at Panama. This movement did not meet with the sanction of Congress; an objection by some mem bers to such intimate relationship was, that ambassadors representing some of those States at Washington, would doubtless be colored men, not slaves. Action similar in some respects to the foregoing has for several years past and is now, having the earnest consideration of some of our emi nent statesmen. The first congressional election after Mr. Adams inaugura tion showed both Houses of Congress in opposition to the administration. In the argument on the Oregon question 60 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES the president took a bold stand against Great Britain. His appointment of General Wm. Henry Harrison minister to Columbia was highly commended. In his message to Con gress in 1827, he says: "At the last session of Congress you were informed of the sudden and unexpected exclusion by the British government of access in vessels of the United States, to all their colonial ports, except those immediately bordering on our own territory. The British government have not only declined negotiation upon the subject, but by the principle they have assumed with reference to it have pre cluded even the means of negotiation. It becomes not the self-respect of the United States either to solicit gratuitous favors, or to accept, as the grant of a favor, that for which an ample equivalent is exacted." Such language with reference to a powerful nation sounds more stately than threats and swagger towards a weak one. Negotiations on long delayed settlement of claims against several nations for spoliations on American commerce, had led to the prospect of early satisfactory conclusions. The high protective tariff act of 1828, while satisfactory in some parts of the country, was greatly disliked in other parts, so that sectional animosity was aroused. The president avoided personal display; being in New York for a little rest, he walked down to the battery .to quietly witness a soldier review. While standing there he was recognized by a person who called the attention of others to the fact that the president of the United States was present, when Mr. Adams, annoyed at the circumstance, deftly left the ground. Lafayette, visiting Washington dur ing the presidency of John Quincy Adams, pronounced the White House "an American home of eminent social and intellectual elegance." The administration of Mr. Adams was able, dignified and peaceful, but the manner of his election was unusual at the time of it, as had recently been demonstrated; though no candidate received a majority of the popular vote, he was not the first choice of the people, his intercourse with whom was proverbially reserved and punctilious, rendering him person ally unpopular. He had unfortunately, as it proved, invited AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES 6 1 Henry Clay's acceptance of the position of Secretary of State, the latter having used his powerful influence in the House of Representatives to elect Mr. Adams president, and really effected the result, and as Mr. Clay accepted the ofifice the enemies of both, led on by Gen. Jackson, started the cry of "bargain and sale," "bargain and corruption," and rung the charges throughout the length and breadth of the land, so as to impregnate the public mind with prejudice. It was a seri ous charge against two eminent men and even now deserves more than a passing notice. Mr. Clay not being a candidate for president at the election by the House of Representatives, as a member thereof had the undoubted right to use his influ ence with that body as to him seemed best; consonant, of course, with the good of the country. He and Jackson had never been friendh'; their inherent qualities and characteristics differed widely. Jackson voted against Clay's confirmation;' he never forgave either Clay or Webster for their criticism of his conduct in the Florida war. Had Mr. Crawford been in* robust health (he had recently been stricken with paralysis), and could his election have been assured he would have been Mr. Clay's preference. Under the circumstances, and, having entire confidence in the patriotism, ability and integrity of Mr. Adams, Mr. Clay did what he could to promote his election. There was, in fact, no alternative for him, no secrecy about it, no necessity for a bargain. Several days pre vious to the election Mr. Clay informed numerous personal friends and political opponents of distinction, as well, as to the course he would pursue as they subsequently testified. A scheming politician might be influenced by policy where an honorable statesman would be governed solely by a sense of public duty. Could Mr. Adams have selected a better counselor? That it must have been a great sacrifice on the part of Mr. Clay to accept the portfolio cannot be doubted. When but thirty years of age he was elected to the United States Senate; he there embodied principles into statutes. For ten years he was speaker of the House of Representatives, elected to that position on the first day of his entrance into that body. Mr. Madison declared that had it not been for the patriotic efforts of Mr. Clay as displayed 62 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES in his winning manners and fascinating address in the House of Representatives, he, as president, could not have carried on the war with England to a successful issue. Mr. Clay, who had won his laurels in the forum, a tribune of the peoy pie, "listening senates to command," excepting Patrick Henry, the most eloquent orator this countr}' has produced, was now, at the zenith of his usefulness, to voluntarily with draw to where in a new sphere of action many of his friends feared he would put a high reputation at hazard in a posi tion inferior, in some respects, to those he had so many years satisfactoril}' filled. Was that ambition? That the gross accusation had the effect desired by those who originated it and diligently published it at the time, cannot be gain said. Impartially taking a seventy years' retrospect, and duly considering the records of these men anterior and sub sequent to that transaction, would the charge of "bargain and sale'' be now sustained? Mr. Clay addressing his old constituents at Ashland, refer ring to the charge of "bargain and sale" with John Quincy Adams, which for years had been persistently and assidu ously made against him, branded it a base political slander, and then, as a man talking to those who had known him long and well, said: "Supposing it were true as you all know it is not, but supposing it were true, that in fliy long, event ful public career I made a mistake, what then? Supposing }'our old trusty musket should once miss fire what would you do, would you throw it away?" "No," they answered, "No!" "What would you do?" They answered as with one voice, "Peck the flint and try her again," and the refrain was: "Here's to you, Harry Clay. Here's to you, my noble soul. Here's to you with all my heart. Here's to you, Harry Clay." In 1776, Thos. Paine, an Englishman, came to this countiy from England bearing a letter of introduction to Thomas Jefferson. Later, Genet, a Frenchman of genius and educa tion, and of influence in his own country, came from France with credentials to men of official distinction. In considera tion of their high intellectual qualifications, both of the for- AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 63 eigners obtained favorable recognition. Paine was the author of, ainong other well known books, those entitled the " Rights of Man" and "Common Sense," and he frequently contrib uted ably written articles auxiliar}- to the cause of freedom, tothe newspapers. \\'hile many of his teachings, religious and political, were highly commended, others of thein were strongly denounced. His motto was: "Where liberty is not, there is my country." That was an appropriate sentiment, for he never had a countr}-. His was a migratory life, alter nating between England, France and America; his radical, forcibl}--put dogmas caused trouble wherever he was. They exiled him from his native land, fomented dissension in America, imprisoned and brought him within sight of the guillotine in France. In I7g4 there was in Philadelphia a society of radical French Jacobins who sympathized with the revolutionists in France, as did Genet. They boldh' assumed the name Democrat, as had Paine, which to them meant opposition to established government. Genet plied his vagaries in higher quarters and more insidiously than did Paine his. Notwithstanding many of the political tenets of these parties led to unlawful license, and that themselves have ever}-where been condemned as dangerous political enthusiasts, it must be conceded that in their da}' the}' exer cised considerable influence over some of our leading states men and in our public affairs. Their professions of a "new democracy " cast a stigma upon a perverted name, so that for several years the word Democrat had no toleration in our politics. Quite gradually it obtained recognition, then con sideration, then approval, but was never adopted as a National party shiboleth until 1S28; not so adopted singl}- until 1836, and then by a part}' whose cardinal doctrine was, " Protection to and diffusion of slavery." Oh, Democracy ! what wrongs have been perpetrated in thy name. Very soon after the formal nominations of candidates for president and vice- president had been made in 1828, John Quincy Adams being nominated for president and Richard Rush for vice-president, by the National Republicans, and Andrew Jackson for presi dent and John C. Calhoun for vice-president by the Demo cratic Republicans, it was discovered that the canvass, so far 64 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES as the candidates for president were concerned, was to be almost exclusively of a personal character. True, the admin istration was to be denounced for reckless extravagance in that the annual ordinary expenses of the government had averaged $12,625,487. The old charge of "bargain and sale" was to be continued vehemently, of which Mr. Clay was to get a full share; Jackson was to be declared a pre sumptuous aspirant to the presidency, in every sense unfitted for the ofifice. All through his administration Mr. Adams met with decided opposition; as but few of his recommenda tions found favor and were adopted, he actually accom plished but little. Having been in perfect accord with the Monroe administration he had no reason to remove such of his officials as had proven themselves honest and capable. Jefferson, speaking of ofifice holders, said, "few die and none resign." During Mr. Adams' term of four }'ear3 he made but two removals and they were for cause. Some holding office under him opposed him; those seeking ofifice were disap pointed and chagrined. He declared that he would not use the patronage of the executive to compass his re-election. Having added but few personal and no political friends to his fortune, his defeat was inevitable and easily wrought. Never before in this countiy in a political campaign had the tongue of slander wagged so loosely; both candidates for president were accused of being guilty of nearly all the crimes in the decalogue, the scene was disgraceful and humiliating, naturally calculated to bring the elective fran chise into disrepute. As the election of 1820 was in "the era of good feeling," that of 1828 was in the era of bad feeling. Andrew Jackson was elected by a vote of 178 to 83 for John Quincy Adams, and John C. Calhoun, vice-president, by a vote of 171 to 83 for Richard Rush. For the first time the presidential electors were chosen by the popular vote, except in South Carolina, which State then and for several years thereafter voted for president and vice- president by its legislature. At the close of Mr. Adams' term the public debt was nearly extinct, there were some five milHons of dollars in the treasury, and the country was in a prosperous condition. AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 65 CHAPTER V. ANDREW JACKSON, EIGHTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. a ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON — FIRST TERM. (For Fortran, see Frontispiece.) NQUESTIONABLY the most sensational administra tion of the government since its foundation was that of the seventh president. Andrew Jackson had been a member of the convention which framed a constitution for the State of Tennessee, judge of a court in that State, mem ber of Congress, .United States, senator, major general in the United States army, and for a brief period military governor of Florida. Up to the time of his nomination for the presi dency there is no evidence of his having distinguished him self in any of the aforesaid civil positions. In his military exploits he displayed energy, skill and valor to a very high degree, notably in the battle of New Orleans against the British forces on January 8, 1815. His wise, successful gen eralship on that important occasion gained for him a wide and enduring popularity as a soldier. It was on the battle field that he won the sobriquet, by which he was so well known, of "Old Hickory," and it was because of his recognized prowess as military chieftain that he was nominated for and elected to the presidency. He was the first person elected to the ofifice from that standpoint. As he was uneducated and had the reputation of being willful, irascible and arbitrary, and accustomed to broils, conservative men felt it question able policy to have the army and navy under the control of such a man. At his inauguration on March 4, i82g, the city of Washington wore a gala appearance; great numbers of people had gathered there from all sections of the country, some of them to witness or participate in the grand ceremony, some to timely file application for ofifice; all to proclaim their 5 66 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES devotion as original, persistent Jacksonians. The masses of the people liked the old hero, not simply because of his brusque, vigorous, soldierly bearing, but because of both his unaffected affability and insensibility to fear, his friendship was reliable, his enmity relentless, his dignified appearance on horseback' always excited admiration. Preceding the battle of New Orleans, General Jackson placed the city under martial law. "On February lo, 1815, a member of the Louisiana legislature caused to be inserted in a New Orleans newspaper a statement that peace had been declared. Jackson at once arrested him, claiming that the publication caused mutiny among his soldiers. A writ of habeas corpus having been granted the prisoner by Judge Hall, Jackson, instead of obeying the writ, arrested the judge and sent him out of the city. On being restored to his ofifice the judge ordered Jackson to appear and show cause why he should not be committed for contempt in disregarding the writ. Jackson appeared and was fined one thousand .dollars, which he paid to the United States marshal." The treaty of peace was signed at Ghent, December 24, 18 14, fifteen days prior to the battle of New Orleans and forty-eight days before the unfortunate member of the legislature reported that peace had been declared. Truths have not always been propelled by lightning. Had there been an Atlantic cable in those days, the battle of New Orleans would not have been fought at a useless sacrifice of life, nor is it probable that its victorious General would ever have been a candidate for president of the United States. The tribe of Seminole Indians being on the war path in 1818, creating havoc among the whites, General Jackson, in command of thirty-three hundred troops went in their pursuit, following them into F"lorida, then a province of Spain, and took possession of Pensacola, a town in that province. Two traders, Alexander Arbuthnot, a Scotchman, and Robert Ambrister, an ex-lieutenant in the British marines, were arrested for inciting the savages to hostility. They were tried by drum-head court-martial, and being found guilty, the former was hanged and the latter, after considerable tergi versation, was shot; Jackson also hanged two prominent Indian chiefs. The Spanish government strongly protested against AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 67 his conduct, but the purchase of Florida by the United States the following year, ended her complaint. The execution of these two British subjects produced great excitement in England of warlike character. The federal government was on all hands bitterly denounced. Jackson was declared to be a tyrant, rufifian and a murderer, and was so placarded through the streets of London. A conservative minis try quieted the populace in avoidance of a collision. As military governor of Florida, he soon came in collision with the civil authority. In 1806 he killed an adversary in a duel. He was a champion of Aaron Burr at his trial for treason against the United States in 1807. As member of Congress he was one of a very small minority to vote against the address to Washington at the close of his administration. Cognizant of these facts the vox populi triumphantly elected Andrew Jackson president of the United States. For several years there had been an organization in the State of New York known as the "Albany Regency," which was composed of astute politicians, of whoin Martin Van Buren, an active, persuasive, intriguing man, often called "the little magician," was a leading member. That cabal, in con junction with Tammany Hall in the city of New York, a long time had full sway in controlling the politics of the State, and in the presidential election of 1828, waving the Jacksonian banner, exercised powerful influence in divers ways through out the Union. Mr. Van Buren on being appointed premier in Jackson's cabinet, at once introduced on the National plat form the New York spoils system of organizing and control ling federal parties. In accordance with that program dis tribution of ofifices began very soon after the installation of the president. During the first recess of Congress the president removed one hundred and seventy-six high officials, appointing his most vociferous followers in their stead. One of the first officials removed was General William Henry Harrison, minister to Columbia, who, in the war of 1812-14, had been chosen in preference to General Jackson to command in the West, and who, in the Senate, had animadverted on the lawlessness of Jackson in the Florida war in 1818. General Winfield Scott, for exercising the same prerogative, was challenged by Jackson to a duel. The hero of Lundy's Lane 68 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES did not, however, deem it necessary to exhibit his courage in that capacity. In the first year nearly five hundred postmas ters were discharged. According to Historian Parton his removals numbered not less than two thousand. Every office holder was formally instructed as to the tenure of his position, viz.: "Hurrah for Jackson." The total removals for political opinions by all of his predecessors, covering a period of forty years, was seventy-four. A heterogeneous mass of ofifice seekers and editors at the capital claimed that they had created the administration and acted as if the ofifices were of right theirs, or at least subject to their demand and control. Camp followers, too, esteemed the victory they had so vigorously helped to secure, under the talismanic name of their chief, as entitling them, as did the Roman peasants, to a full share of the spoils taken from opponents — ^whom they regarded public enemies. So perti nacious -was the hungry horde as to finally lead the president to exclaim: "These politicians are the most remorseless scoundrels alive." Thomas Jefferson, on entering the presi dency, wrote to a friend: "Good men, to whom there is no objection but a difference of political opinion practiced on only so far as a private citizen will justify, are not proper subjects for removal from office except in the case of attor neys and marshals." Washington refused, after much per suasion, to appoint Aaron Burr minister to France for the reason that his invariable rule was to never, knowingly, appoint an immoral man to ofifice. Jackson retained John McLean postmaster-general, who had held that position under Mr. Adams, but he rebelled against making systematic removals of those under him as he was importuned to do. Not long afterwards he was appointed a justice of the supreme court where he acquired high distinction. In his first message President Jackson called the attention of Con gress to the fact that the charter of the bank of the United States would expire by limitation in 1836, and that a renewal would undoubtedly be asked, and added that "both the constitutionality and expediency of the law creating the bank are well questioned by a large portion of our fellow citizens; and it must be admitted by all that it has failed in the great end of establishing a uniform ahd sound currency." AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 6g This forebode war to the knife upon the financial institution of the governinent. It was calculated to prejudice the pub lic mind and to at once create party divisions. Administra tion newspapers and politicians took the cue and com menced warfare against the bank with whatever zeal power and patronage begets. Francis P. Blair, father of Montgom ery and F. P. Blair, Jr., had been summoned to Washington to edit the Globe, an administration newspaper; he was fully equal to the required service. The charter was not to expire for six years, being three years after the term for which the president had been elected would terminate. There was then no reason to suppose that the question of renewal would ever be subjected to his will. In the same message the pres ident recommended incidental protection to agriculture, manufactures and commerce, and unexpectedly intimated unfriendliness to the policy of internal improvements by the federal government. During this session of Congress the president exercised the veto four times; Washington used it twice in eight years; Jefferson, never. Mr. Calhoun now sought to share with Mr. Van Buren control of ofificial patronage, but in vain, for the latter had earlier won the high favor of the chief in that regard. The result was estrange ment between the two former, and strained relations between the president and vice-president, with whom there never was that personal concordance which their long political affilia tion would naturally lead the public to expect. On April 30, 1830, at a banquet in Washington on the anniversary of Jefferson's birthday, at which Jackson and Calhoun were present, the former being called on for a toast gave: "The Federal Union, it must and shall be preserved." Mr. Calhoun being called on gave: "The Union, next to our liberty, the most dear. It can only be preserved by respecting the rights of the States, and distributing equally the benefits and burthens of the Union." These toasts tell their own story and point their own moral. What a contrast ! one breathes the spirit of National life, the other the "liberty" to hold men in bondage. A third of a cen tury later the threatened Union was preserved in a man ner Mr. Calhoun and his coadjutors never dreamed of. 70 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARIIES Jackson being informed, on what he considered good authority, that Mr. Calhoun, when in Monroe's cabinet, had, in a clandestine way, spoken disparagingly of the general's conduct in the Florida war, an open rupture between the two followed. Then there was discord in the cabinet, as Mr. Calhoun had warm friends in that body, independent of which, a social question on which the president took sides was involved. The outcome was, resignation of all the members of the cabinet and the formation of a new one. Roger Brooke Taney, of whom more anon, being appointed attorney general, Mr. Van Buren was nominated minister to England and went on his mission, but when the question of his confirmation came before the Senate he was rejected by the casting vote of the vice-president. Wm. L. Marcy, ex-governor of New York, when defend ing in the United States Senate the ruling practice of removals from offitce, boldly enunciated the talismanic doc trine of the Albany Regency — "To the victors belong the spoils of the vanquished." As Herostratus fired the Ephe sian Dome that his name might be famous, so the proclaimer of this anti-republican sentiment in the high council of the Nation indissolubly linked his name with its everlasting infamy. In 1 83 1 the long standing claim of our government against France, for spoliations on our commerce, was satis factorily adjusted. The president continued his warfare on the bank of the United States, and recommended gradual reduction of duties on articles of necessity not produced in this country. Mr. Clay contended that "the constant tendency of the Ameri can system, by creating competition among ourselves and between American and European industry, reciprocally act ing upon each other, is to reduce prices on manufactured articles." Twenty-two years previous to this he declared: " There is a pleasure, a pride in being clad in the productions of our own family; others may prefer the cloths of Leeds or London, but give me those of Humphreysville." After two score years of public service, John Quincy Adams, who had been secretary to Minister Dana at St. Petersburg, State senator, minister to Prussia— the Hague— AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 7 1 St. Petersburg and London, ambassador to Ghent, secretary of State and president of the United States, was elected to Congress in 1831, in which place he served with distinction, as will briefly be shown, until death ended the career of the "Old Man Eloquent,'' at his post in the House of Repre sentatives, Februaiy 23, 1848. His dying words were: "This is the last of earth, I am content." In December, 1831, Henry Clay was nominated for presi- ident b}' the National Republican convention for the election in 1832. The convention asserted that "the bank of the United States was a great and beneficial institution, that it not only facilitated exchanges between different parts of the Union, but had maintained a sound, ample, healthy state of the currency, and may be said to supply the body politic, econom ically viewed, with a continual stream of life blood, without which it must inevitably languish and sink with exhaustion. It therefore deprecated the attempt of the president of the United States to forestall public opinion for the purpose of compelling it to wind up." The Congress renewed the charter of the bank of the United States. The president vetoed the bill; as there was not a majority of two-thirds in its favor in both Houses the veto could not be overcome. The Supreme Court of the United States had declared the charter of the bank constitu tional. The president in his veto message challenged the decision and held that "the opinion of the court has no more authority over Congress than the opinion of Congress has over the court, and that on that point the president is inde pendent of both. That as to Congress and the executive the authority of the Supreme Court is to have only such influence as the force of their reasoning may deserve." If this, in practice, is not the quintessence of nullification what is it? Who is to be the ultimate judge of "the court's reasoning," the plaintiff or the defendant? Any criminal would like to be. The Constitution says, "The judicial power shall extend to all cases arising under the Constitution and laws ofthe United States," and Congress at its first session, in the judicial act, established a mode for bringing all constitutional questions to the final decision of the Supreme Court. The right of the 72 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES bank to establish its branches in the States without their con sent was now questioned by State rights men who never thought of doubting the right of the federal government to erect lighthouses anywhere, or to improve harbors and rivers within their own States. Another objection to the bank was that its notes were liable to be counterfeited, thereby crime committed. It is difificult to see why the same reasoning would not apply to all banks of issue, and why all printing, engraving and writing is not dangerous. The first bank of the United States was chartered in I7gi, under Washington. The second being the one now refused a recharter by Mad ison, in 1816. It seems odd that very many years after the presidency of these great statesmen, who were high public functionaries at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, it was discovered by one of their successors, by no means profound in legal lore, that they, in ignorance of the true intent and meaning of that carefully, aye, jealously prepared instrument, although unanimously sustained by the Supreme Court and also by such authority on jurisprudence as Daniel Webster, the recognized expounder and defender thereof, had, in signing the bill chartering the bank of the United States, been guilty of unconstitutional action. The president in his message, in view of the approaching extinction of the public debt, and of the large receipts of money from the sales of the public lands, recommended a reduction of the tariff. In order to show that at that time, July, 1832, the treasury receipts greatly exceeded the expenses ofthe government, the following resolution offered in, but not adopted by the Senate, is submitted, viz.: "Moneys received from sales of public lands no longer needed for the ordinary expenses of the gov ernment, which will be abundantly supplied from imports, be divided among the twenty-four States, according to their federal representative population as a loan for five years for education, etc." That would have been a good and then an excellent opportunity to provide for National defenses, but the most significant part of the resolution is its reference to education. In no other way can the Nation ever devote its surplus money AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 73 derived from a protective tariff to a more beneficent and legitimate use than in the universal education of its people. The canvass preceding the presidential election in 1832 was exciting and marked with crimination and recrimination, but by no means so offensivel}' as was that of 1828. The main principle involved was financial, while rivalry between Jackson and the bank of the United States, as to popularity was a formidable issue. Hickory poles were everywhere erected and the cry "Hurrah for Jackson" everywhere heard. The result of the election was, Andrew Jackson, Democrat, two hundred and nineteen votes; Henry Clay, National Republican, forty-nine; Wm. Wirt, anti-mason seven; Floyd, nondescript, eleven. Jackson, finding that his course had been approved and vindicated at the polls, forti fied in his position by an army of obedient, demonstrative office-holders, and intoxicated with success, was more than ever before disposed to exclaim, "I take the responsi bility." He renewed his war upon the bank of the United States. A few days after the presidential election, a large conven tion of the leading citizens of South Carolina was held in that State which passed an act entitled, "An ordinance to nullify certain acts -of Congress, purporting to be laws lay ing duties and imports on the importations of foreign com modities." The ordinance having been transmitted to the president through the governor of South Carolina, the president in reply issued a dignified, masterly proclamation to the- people of that State, in which occurs the following: " I consider the power to annul a law of the United States, assumed by one State, incompatible with the existence of the Union, contradicted expressly by the letter of the Consti tution, unauthorized by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was formed." The fact that the ordinance was adopted by an irresponsible body of men, it was not entitled to the consideration it received from so high a source. Considerable muttering continued as to "the reserved rights of the States," " strict construction of the Constitu tion, etc.," the ostensible object of attack being the tariff of 74 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES 1828; that it bore unequally upon the different sections ot the Union, and finally that it was unconstitutional and void. These charges came almost entirely from the Southern States and their representatives in Washington, with the claim that the remedy was to be had in enforcing the doc trine of the Virginia resolutions by Madison, of I7g8, and the more pronounced Kentucky resolutions by Jefferson, of I7gg, as originally written. Under which resolutions they professed to believe it distinctly set forth that in certain contingencies, a State or a number of States, had, the. right, and would be justified in using it, to nullify acts of Congress. The honorable authors of those resolutions, realizing their baneful effect upon discordant elements, years afterwards insisted that nullification was not their correct interpretation. If they were not written for adoption by the legislatures of the States to which they were respectively sent, and to bear fruit of their kind, it is not now too late to inquire why they were written? Whatever their object, they have caused the Nation more trouble than any one thing, except slavery. The lengthy debate in the United States Senate, in 1832, by and between Robert Y. Hayne, of South Carolina, and Dan iel Webster, of Massachusetts, was the most portentous and memorable, ever delivered in that chamber. Hayne demanded not merely concession, but the privilege of dictation. Web ster, as if inspired, declared for " liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable." Mr. Webster was an imper turbable man; his most notable orations bear evidence of care ful meditation, but his masterly reply to Hayne on this occa sion was after he had but little time for preparation. In 1824, Mr. Webster was one of a party fishing off Marshfield, as was his wont. On hauling a great tom cod into his boat, he was heard to exclaim, "Citizen of two hemispheres, welcome, welcome!" Upon the following day, in delivering his wonderful oration at the laying of the corner stone of the Bunker Hill monument, he, in that dig nified, courtly manner, for which he was so conspicuous, turned to the marquis, who was present — an honored guest and greetingly exclaimed: "Citizen of two hemispheres, welcome; welcome, Lafayette!" AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 75 January i6, 1833, the president called the attention of Congress to the fact that "in one quarter of the Union (mean ing South Carolina) opposition to the revenue laws has risen to a height which threatens their execution, if not to endan ger the integrity of the Union." He asked for "power to sup press any overt action and to execute the laws." A bill was enacted accordingly, authorizing the president to close all the old ports and open new ones and empowering him to employ the land and naval forces, and to put down all aiders and abettors." This, byits opponents, was called "the force bill," as if every law authorizing the use of force towards its execution is not a force bill. "No rogue e'er felt the halter draw, Wi*h good opinion of the law." Senator John Tyler exclaimed, "Yes, sir, the federal Union must be preserved, but how? Will you seek to preserve it by force? Will you appease the angry spirit of discord by an oblation of blood?" Then it was that Calhoun introduced his nullification res olutions, upon which there was passionate, interesting debate between the more prominent senators. Calhoun twitted Clay by claiming to have been "his master at the adoption of the compromise act." Whereupon Clay replied: "He wj master? I would not own him as my slave." The compromise, tariff of 1833 was a series of annual reductions of one-tenth per cent for eight successive years The debate on the bill showed great diversity of sentiment as between the manufacturing and the agricultural interests. The question of protection being at stake, held in the balance as it were. Senator John M. Clayton, of Delaware, said he did not believe that the people of this country would ever be brought to consent to the abandonment of the protective system. Referring to the compromise, Mr. Clay said he proposed to make the reduction in subordination to the preservation of the stately American system. Senator Geo. M. Dallas, Democrat, "favored protection as beneficial to all parts of the Union and absolutely necessary to much the larger portion, and he would sanction nothing as an abandon ment of the principle;" and yet this man, hailing from the always high protective tariff State of Pennsylvania, gave the 76 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES casting vote, as vice-president of the United States, for the displacement of protection by the revenue tariff of 1846, pre vious to which incidental protection under the revenue clause in the Constitution had been always acknowledged and granted, all of the presidents having concurred. The high tariff act of 18 16, signed by President James Madison, was considered protective for the sake of protection. The country had recently been at war with England and did not want any of her wares. At that time John C. Calhoun was an advocate of protection. In 1808 the legis lature of South Carolina adopted the following: "Whereas, the establishment and encouragement of domestic manu factures is conducive to the interests of a State by adding new incentives to industry, and as being the means of dispos ing to advantage of the surplus productions of the agricult urist; and, whereas, in the present unexampled state of the world, their establishment in our country is not only expedi ent, but politic, in rendering us independent of foreign nations." The second act recorded in the statute book, July 4, I78g, bearing the signature of George Washington, laid the corner stone of protection to American industry, saying: "It is necessary- for the support of the government and for the dis charge of the debts of the United States, and for the pro tection of manufactures, that duties be laid on goods, wares and merchandise imported." Accordingly a tariff duty was laid on every manufactured article imported. That first Congress was composed largely of men who had assisted in framing the Constitution, and wholly of men who carefully had watched the process of its construction. One hundred and three years after Washington signed said act, and in the face of all these high authorities and the incalculable bene fits derived, as evidenced in the unexampled growth and prosperity of the countiy, unequaled by any other nation in the world's history, a great National convention, represent ing a great political party, assembled to nominate candidates for its party for president and vice-president of the United States, "Resolved, that the federal government has no con stitutional power to enforce and collect tariff duties except .-^ND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES >]'J for the purpose of revenue only, and that protection is a fraud and robbery." Chief Justice Fuller in delivering the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States on the constitutionality of the income tax law, in April, i8g5, said: "The framers of the Constitution were well versed in the government of the colonies and European countries, and were well versed in the literature of the period, including works on political economy, and that the conclusions of the court resulted from the text of the Constitution and are supported by the historical evi dence furnished bv the circumstances surrounding the fram ing and adoption of that instrument, and the views of those who framed and adopted it." Opponents of the principle of protection to American industry in 1834 construed the very heavy importations of foreign goods, at that time, under a decreased duty, as more beneficial to the countiy than would be the employment of our own labor in the growth and manufacture of similar articles. Early in the year 1834 all of the political elements opposed to the National administration combined under the name Whig. The name had belonged to the patriots of the Revo lution when the colonial adherents to the crown were called Tories. For generations thereafter the boy whose father or grandfather was or had been a Tory, did not wear a chip on his shoulder. Both were old English party names. The cardinal principles of the new party were a high protective tariff, sound money, and internal improvement b}' the federal government. It undertook to stigmatize the Democrats in its meetings and through its newspapers by calling them Tories, but the scheme did not succeed; such efforts seldom do. An exception, however, was when in the Revolutionary war the British soldiers sought to ridicule the Americans by their bands playing a tune improvised for the occasion, called Yankee Doodle. The music was so good that the Yankees a,dopted the tune, and ever since that time it has been, and is now, one of our most inspiring and popular National airs. Soon after the formation of the Whig party there was a great Whig mass meeting in the city of New York to consider the question: "Whither is the government tending?" 78 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES In September, 1833, the president, contrary to the advice of a majority of his constitutional advisers, ordered the sec retary of the treasury, William J. Duane, to remove the gov ernment deposits from the bank of the United States. The secretary refused to comply, for the reason, as he publicly stated, that such removal was "unnecessary, unwise, vindic tive, arbitrary and unjust." Whatever legal authority the sec retary possessed in this matter was not derived from the president, as the latter of himself, of right, had no control, directly or indirectly, of the public money. The president at once removed Mr. Duane from ofifice and appointed the attorney-general, Roger Brooke Taney, who it appears had favored and urged the removal of the deposits, in his place. Taney, with cheerful readiness, obeyed the order; his nomina tion as secretary of the treasury was not sent to the Senate until near the close of the session, when it was summarily rejected. Later, as if in compensation for subserviency, he was nominated a judge of the supreme court; the. Senate refused to confirm that nomination. Upon the decease of that eminent jurist. Chief Justice John Marshall, in 1835, who had held the position thirty-five years, Taney was nominated to succeed him, and the nomination was confirmed, lifteen senators voting against it. It was this chief justice who delivered from the United States bench the notorious Dred Scott decision, to the effect that "a black man had no rights which a white man was bound to respect;" he held the ofifice until 1864. The president told his cabinet, in a written com munication, that he took the "responsibility" of the removal of the deposits. He was always ready to assume and assert "responsibility." The action of the president caused'wide-spread consterna tion amid business and financial interests, and it was bitterly denounced as, at least, an abuse of power. The Constitution says "no money shall be drawn from the treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law." Mr. Clay claimed that "the bank had provided the country with a cur rency as sound as ever existed, and unsurpassed by any in Christendom," and concluded by saying that "he was utterly opposed to irresponsible State bank money." Senators Webster and Clayton predicted that incalculable pecuniary AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 7g loss and commercial embarrassment would follow winding up the bank. Upon investigation, it was discovered that at the time of the removal of the deposits, the bank was decidedly strong, and that of the details of its business President Jackson, personall}- or officially, knew very little, and that he assigned: no adequate prete.xt for his bold act. The notes of the bank were current, at par, not only through out the United States and Territories, but also in all coun tries with which our people had large business transactions; a legal tender to the federal government, and largely sup plied the place of specie. After the excitement growing out of the removal of the deposits had somewhat subsided, the Senate, upon full, calm, earnest consideration adopted, by a large majority, the fol lowing: "Resolved, That the president in the late executive proceedings in relation to the public service, has assumed upon himself authority and power not conferred by the Constitution and laws, but in derogation of both." The president sent to the Senate a dispassionate, ably written protest to the resolution, with a request that it be read and placed on the journal. The Senate listened to its reading but refused to further entertain it. The money withdrawn from the bank of the United States, was deposited with favorite State banks, with the under standing that they would discount freely. They were illegal, and many of them unsafe custodians of the public money, as their notes were expected to take the place of those of the bank of the United States, of which there were nearly twenty millions of dollars afloat, they regarded the over throw of the latter bank as highly conducive to their interest. Almost directly following the removal of the deposits, there was a panicy feeling throughout the country, and the bank deemed it prudent, in the way of self-protection, to curtail its line of discounts. 80 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON. SECOND TERM— 1832-36. "the federal union, it must and SHALL.be PRESERVED." Jackson knew nothing of state-craft; as a rule he was obstinately tenacious of his convictions, but as to questions upon which he had not made up his mind he was, under cer tain influences, quite tractable. He, at one time, had a few closely intimate friends, nearly all editors of newspapers, in whom he placed implicit confidence; it may be said that they, in large measure, controlled his official action; an irresponsi ble cabal, they became known as the "kitchen cabinet," oftener consulted by the president than were his constitu tional advisers. Van Buren said Jackson was easy to manage. Frequently, letters, peculiar in spelling and of whimsical tone, appeared in the papers (they were copied with avidity all over the country), under the nom de plume Major Jack Downing; in some respects they were similar to theletters of Petroleum V. Nasby, published in the Toledo Blade one-third of a century later. The personality of the writer was a long time a puzzle to the public, but that he was a genius, and had a friend in the kitchen cabinet who liberally and intelli gently advised him of what was going on at court, was too evident to be questioned. The major professed close, if not secret, intimacy with the president, whom he always called and spoke of as "the gineral," to be, in short, his confiden tial adviser. When the president made his notable trip to Boston, and, in consequence of his then recent, timely and ringing proclamation against threatened treason to the Union, was received with even more than usual demonstrations of esteem by the people, the major said he accompanied him, occupied a state-room on the steamer with him, and shared all the honors with him. In order to prove the intimate, social, friendly and confidential relations existing between "the gineral" and himself, the major would use the follow ing illustration: "The gineral, says he to me, says he, 'major,' says he." Probably no occasion has arisen for another such newspaper correspondent, but surely no second Jack Down ing has ever appeared to so amuse and enlighten the peo.ple on what they wanted to know; he foretold more of the AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 8 1 administration prograinme than senators, congressmen and the president's constitutional advisers could have done. After the death oif Mrs. Jackson, which occurred a short time before the general assumed the presidency, he did not use the expletive, "by the Eternal," with such freedom as theretofore had been his custom. This fact was attributed, no doubt correctly, to the sacred veneration in which he held his wife's memory. In 1834 the coinage rates of the silver dollar was changed from 1 5- 1 to 16- 1. Nearly all the silver money in circulation was Spanish milled dollars, Mexican dollars, half dollars quarter dollars, shillings, sixpences, the latter called pica yunes at the South, pistareens, French five-franc, and Eng lish small coins. What little gold money circulated was Spanish doubloons, and French and English coins. Ameri can gold being undervalued, it disappeared as a currency. Copper one cent pieces, three inches in circumference and stamped " Liberty," were all the go. The United States mint had not coined twelve million dollars worth of gold in the pre ceding forty years, and in the year 1834 all of the domestic mines yielded less than two millions of dollars worth of gold. There being so little specie in circulation, local banks, the number of which had recently increased rapidly, and it may be said fearfully, flooded the country with their notes, and they were almost the sole dependence for currency and loans. Notwithstanding this condition of affairs, it was evident that the ultimate object of the administration was to arrive at a metallic currency; as one of their oracles said: "What we want to look at, is bright gold, shining through the interstices of our silken purses." The president now admitted the power of Congress to direct in what places the treasurer shall keep the money in the treasury and to impose restrictions upon the executive authority in relation to theircustody and removal is unlimited. January i, 1835, the public debt was paid. The president asked Congress "to pass a law prohibiting the transmission from the North into the slave States, through the mails, of mattet against the institution of slavery, incit ing the slaves to revolt." Mr. Calhoun, as chairman of the 6 82 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES committee on mail circulation of incendiary publications, claimed that " the States which formed our federal Union are sovereign and independent communities; that the Union is a compact." He predicted that the course pursued by the Abolitionists, if persisted in, would, in the course of time, alienate the sections and the Union perish;" and added, "If you refuse to pass this bill, I shall say to the people of the South, ' Look to yourselves; you have nothing to hope from others.'" The bill provided "that it should not be law ful for any deputy postmaster in the United States know ingly to deliver to any person any printed matter touching the subject of slavery where by the laws of any State, Dis trict or Territory their circulation was prohibited." This being in conflict with the provision of the Constitution which prohibits Congress from passing any law to abridge the freedom of speech or of the press, Webster and Clay spoke strongly against the measure. The bill, on the ques tion of its engrossment, passed the Senate by the casting vote of Vice-President Martin Van Buren; on the question of its final passage it was rejected. Congress passed an act to regulate the custody of the public money in the local banks. Jackson recommended non-issuance of small notes by the banks in the several States. France failed to pay the indemnity stipulated, where upon John Quincy Adams, in the House of Representatives, offered the following resolution which was adopted unani mously: "Resolved, That in the opinion of this House the treaty of July 4, 183 1, be maintained and insisted upon." John Quincy was not an admirer of Louis Phillippe, King of France, and predicted his early abdication. It was then also resolved that preparations ought to be made to meet any emergency growing out of our relations with Prance. France had voted the money to pay the indemnity, but offence was taken at the president's message relative to the matter and payment refused until he apologized, which he would not do, whereupon war-like attitude was assumed by both Nations. The ministers of both countries withdrew and all diplomatic intercourse was suspended. The French fleet was ready to set sail when, had it not been for friendly Brit ish mediation at the opportune moment, war would undoubt- AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 83 edly have occurred between France and the United States. Although there was a surplus of sevent}'-two millions of dol lars in the treasury in the latter part of the year 1835, there was then not to exceed twenty millons of dollars of gold and silver money in the country. At this time a Senate committee reported: " If no object of expenditure can be selected on which the surplus money can safely be expended, and if neither the revenue nor expenditure can, under existing circumstances, be reduced, the next inquiiy is, what is to be done with the surplus? which, as has been shown, will probably equal, on an average for the next eight years, the sum of nine millions of dollars a year be}^ond the just wants of the government, a surplus of which, unless some safe disposition can be made, all other means of reducing the patronage of the executive must prove ineffectual." It was now that Henry Clay lamented that the power of public improvement had been crushed beneath the veto. Tammany was originally organized a charity society; among its members were several of the best citizens of New York. Its usefulness begat influence, and it became very popular, graduall}' assuming public and finally political con sideration. Soon after the war of 1812-14, on General Wil liam Henry Harrison visiting the city of New York, Tam many gave him a grand reception in recognition of the brilliant victories he achieved in that war. Later on another class of men obtained control of the organization, when year after year it became more and more corrupt, and finally a formidable, dangerous body, using every conceivable dishon orable agency to control elections in the city of New York and to influence them in that and the neighboring States of Con necticut and New Jersey. In 1835, anti-bank Democrats holding a meeting in Tammany hall, came in conflict with the bank faction of that party, who, failing to get control of the meeting, turned off the gas. The anti-bank men lighted loco-foco matches, and by that means continued in session. The discomfited braves struck a trail for Military hall and adopted resolutions denouncing their opponents, calling them Loco-fooos. The Whigs made merry over the quarrel, and, feeling that the sobriquet which one section of their 84 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES opponents had applied to the other section of them was appropriate and significant, they, simultaneously, all over the country, echoed and re-echoed the sulphurous phrase until, and for several years thereafter, the misused term. Democrat, was enveloped in a dense fog of Loco-focoism. Before the expiration of its charter the stockholders of the bank of the United States obtained an act of incorpora tion from the legislature of Pennsylvania. Because of his hatred of its president, Nicholas Biddle, Jackson assaulted that bank also. Texas was a portion of the Louisiana purchase from France. In the treaty with Spain by which Florida was acquired by the United States in i8ig, Texas was ceded to that government. Mr. Clay indignantly opposed the cession. It was conjectured by some, even then, that at no distant day the province would, in some way, be reclaimed. It became a State of Mexico. Upon its revolting, citizens of the United States, mostly of the South, unlawfully repaired thither, frequently in large bodies, to enlist in the cause of the State's independence, but few of them had any interest of any kind at stake. If those who went from the city of New York were an average of their Northern fellow patriots (?) they were sorry looking free-booters, simply food for gunpowder. March 6, 1836, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna invaded Texas with nearly eight thousand troops and laid siege to the Alamo, then held by only one hundred and forty men under Colonel Travis. The place was taken by storm, the Mexi cans losing sixteen hundred men. All the garrison fell fighting except seven who were killed by the sword after having surrendered; among them was the famous Davy Crocket. Three weeks later Santa Anna attacked Colonel Fannin who had five hundred and six men at Goliad; they, overwhelmed by superior force, surrendered on condition that they give up their arms and return to the United States. Notwithstanding this agreement they were all massacred one by one in cold blood. April 21, 1836, General Samuel Houston, commanding the army of the Texans, seven hun dred and sixty raw men, fought the Mexican army of twelve hundred men under Santa Anna, at San Jacinto. The Texans charging with the cry of, "Remember the Alamo," "Remem- AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 85 ber Goliad," killed six hundred Mexicans and captured nearly all the rest, most of whom were wounded. It was said at the time that " General Houston was a double cylinder napier, striking off six hundred Mexicans in fifteen minutes." The following day Santa Anna was taken prisoner while attempt ing to escape. The United States acknowledged the inde pendence of Texas in 1836, the only Nation to do so; Mexico claimed the countiy. Southern statesmen favored immediate annexation in behalf of the institution of slavery. General Samuel Houston was inaugurated president of the new republic October 22, 1836. Soon thereafter annexation to the United States was proposed by Texas, but as she was still at war with Mexico to annex her meant to assume her war; not only that, a large majority of the people of the North were opposed to annexation. General Houston several years before was a prominent citizen of Tennessee; he had a roving mania so that for quite awhile his whereabouts was unknown. He unexpectedly turned up in Texas at an opportune time for himself, and eventually creditably represented that State in the Senate of the United States. Colonel David Crocket, or Davy Crocket, as he was familiarly called, was a backwoods great marksman in the State of Tennessee; a good deal of a character, in his way, and highly respected. He represented his district in Con- gi-ess where he gained a National reputation. While there, a young man wrote him, asking consent to marry his daugh ter; his well-known laconic reply was, "Be sure you are right, then go ahead." About that time, for the first in his life, the colonel visited the city of New York. The common council at once voted him the freedom of the city, in a snuff box. The next day he made a call upon Mayor Philip Howe, at his residence, where he was received with urbanity so characteristic of his Honor. When the colonel was about to leave, the mayor, as was the custom in those days, invited him up to the sideboard, and, enumerating several articles, asked which he would take? The colonel considerately answered that "if he ever took anything it was at about that time of the day — brandy, sir, if you please." The mayor then set out a decanter containing that beverage. Davy 86 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES afterwards wrote a book of his travel North, wherein describ ing the visit to Mayor Howe, he says: "When I took up the decanter to pour out the brandy, the mayor gracefully turned his back so as to not see how much I drank;" "that," he con tinues, "was the most polite act I ever saw." When the New York city hall was built, the site on which It stands was away up town; it is now away down town. The front and sides of the building are white marble, the back, which it was presumed would seldom be seen, is red free stone. Davy, describing it in his book, says it reminds him of an old farmer with a white satin vest with a red flannel back, and like farmers who go most of the time in their shirt sleeves, it shows more of the back than of the front. In 1836, the population of the United States was fourteen millions. Now the fourth installment due by France was paid. Thirty-five millions of dollars of the surplus of the govern ment money was deposited with the States in proportion to their representation in Congress as a loan, to be returned when called for. As this large amount of capital was put in circulation business rapidly increased, prices advanced, and speculation was on the rampage. Money was a toy. It did seem as if the States never expected to be called on to return the money. Sales of public lands increased prodigiously. Several of the States prohibited the issuance bf bills of less than five dollars by their Banks. The class of the community naturally suspicious and jealous of the money power, began to assert itself as opposed to all Banks and in favor of metallic money only. "Directly after the adjournment of Congress the president issued what was termed 'the Specie Circular.' It was an order to all the land ofifices to refuse paper and receive only gold and silver in payment of the public lands. At this time there were more than seven hundred Banks. The recent increase in the sales of the public lands aided, of course, in making the large surplus in the treasury. The peo ple complained that because of the circular they were com pelled to take one kind of money, while the government had another kind. The circular was covertly issued without the sanction of Congress, and was calculated to seriously embar rass commercial affairs. It caused the withdrawal of specie from circulation to the vaults of government pet State Banks." AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 87 At the following session of Congress, Senator Ewing moved to rescind the specie circular as being illegal and unwise. The vote on said resolution was: Senate, yeas forty-one, nays five; House, yeas one hundred and forty- three, nays fifty-nine In President Jackson's reign, the United States Senate was composed, in large measure, of the ablest statesmen of the country; among them were Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Silas Wright, John M. Cla}/ton, Samuel L. Southard, John J. Crittenden, Thomas H. Benton, John Davis, Hugh L. White, Thomas Ewing, Theodore Freling huysen, Felix Grundy, Robert Y. Hayne, Robert J. Walker, Wm. R. King, Wm. C. Rives, W. P. Mangum and John Forsythe. In 1836 the Whigs had three candidates in the field for president, viz.: Wm. Henr}' Harrison, Daniel Webster and Willie P. Mangum. The result ot the election was: Martin Van Buren, Democrat, one hundred and seventy votes; Wm. Henry Harrison, Whig, seventy-three votes; Daniel Webster, Whig, fourteen votes; Willie P. Mangum, Whig, eleven votes; Hugh L. White, Conservative, twenty-six votes. There being no election of vice-president by the people, Richard M. Johnson was elected to that ofifice by the Senate- To the Congress of i7go, a petition was presented asking the abolishment of slavery, when, in answer, it was resolved that " Congress had no authority to interfere in the emanci pation of slaves or with their treatment in any of the States." In i8ig, Mr. Tallmadge, of New York, in the House of Representatives moved an amendment to the bill authorizing the Territory of Missouri to form a constitution for a State, prohibiting the further introduction of slavery into the new State. A heated, lengthy debate ensued, in which Mr. Cobb, of Georgia, said: "A fire has been kindled which all the waters of the ocean cannot put out, and which only seas of blood can extinguish." To which Mr. Talmadge replied: "If civil war, which gentlemen so much threaten, must come, I can only say let it come." The amendment was defeated. In 1836 Senator James Buchanan presented a petition from citizens of Pennsylvania, asking Congress to abolish 88 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia. Mr. Buchanan was opposed to the object of the petition, but favored its reception. A greater slave to his party than a bondman to his master did this talented, courtly politician become. The petition was laid on the table. On motion of Senator Isaac Hill, of New Hampshire, the next petitions on slavery were laid on the table. Another petition for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia averred that "Congress had supreme control over the District of Columbia, which was one of the greatest marts for the traffic in human beings in the world; therefore. Congress was asked to enact laws to prohibit every species of trafific in men, or of holding them in bondage in said District, upon the principles of the decla ration that all men have an inalienable right to the blessing of liberty." Mr. Calhoun had moved to reject all petitions of the kind without consideration; he claimed "that Congress had no more jurisdiction on the subject of slavery in the Dis trict of Columbia than in the State of South Carolina. It was a question for the individual States to determine and not to be touched by Congress." The motion to reject the peti tion to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia was lost; the motion to reject its prayer was carried. Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire, in the House of Rep resentatives, favored laying all abolition petitions on the table. He was prepared to stamp with disapprobation in the most express and unequivocal terms the whole movement on this subject. As candidate of the Democratic party in 1852, Mr. Pierce was elected president of the United States, carrying all the States but four over gallant General Winfield Scott. Thompson, the great English abolitionist, was obliged to escape from Concord, New Hampshire, in the night. On September 13, 1836, he wrote: "This morning a short gal lows was found standing at the door of my house, not far from the residence of Mr. William Lloyd Garrison." The Charleston, South Carolina, Mercury, published the following menace: "The abolitionists can only be put down by legislation in the States in which they exist, and this can only be brought about by the embodied opinion of the whole South acting upon public opinion at the North, which can AND N.VriONAL REMINISCENCES. 8g only be effected through the instrumentality of a convention of the slave-holding States." Henry A. Wise in Congress declared that "if members from the North held themselves not engaged by the terms of the compromise under which Missouri entered into the Union, neither would inembers from the South hold them selves engaged thereby; and that if the North sought to impose restrictions effecting slave property on the one hand, the South might be impelled on the other hand, to introduce slavery into the heart of the North." Said Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, in reply: "You may do all else, but I sol emnly assure every gentleman within the sound of my voice, I proclaim it to the country and to the world, you cannot, you shall not introduce slavery into the heart of the North." Senator Morris, of Ohio, said: "While the people believe they possess the right to petition, no denial of it by Congress will prevent them from exercising it." Daniel Webster declared, " that it was in vain to shut the door against peti tions and expect, in that wa}', to avoid discussion; the ques tion must at some time be met, considered and discussed, it could not be stifled." How much wiser this than his incon sistent, unfortunate speech of March 7, 1850. The determin ation of Senators and Representatives from slave-holding States, and their Northern allies, was to prevent discussion upon so delicate and dangerous a subject as slavery; they seemed unmindful that the people, sooner or later, would discover that a public question which would not bear investi gation and discussion, in Congress or out of Congress, must be fraught with corruption. The Constitution recognizes the right, and provides that it shall not be abridged, of the people to assemble and petition the government for the redress of grievances. Early in the session of 1837 ^ memorial was presented in the Senate from the general assembly of Vermont, " remon strating against the annexation of Texas to the United States, and praying for the abolition of slavery in the Dis trict of Columbia and in the Territories, and for the e.xclusion of future slave States from the Union, and for the abolition of the slave trade between the States." This memorial of a State was treated in the same manner as those of similar go HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES character coming from individuals. Said George Bancroft, the historian: " We may demand the instant abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia." At this time there was an increase of paper money in some eight hundred Banks, and the question most discussed among business men was: "Do the signs of the times indicate the ruin of mercantile credit?" In February, 1837, large meetings of disaffected and dis orderly persons were frequently held in the city hall park. New York, to which highly inflammatory speeches were made by Levi D. Slamm, editor of a newspaper; Alexander Ming, Jr., and others of peculiar influence at the time. Ming was at one time Colonel of one of the city's regiments of soldiers, the services of which he tendered the rebel gov- ernor(?). Dorr, in the Rhode Island war. The proffer was declined, but as the regiment was law-abiding it would not have left the State on any such mission. Dorr was impris oned. As the result of one of those meetings the frenzied mob marched to a large flour store, which they at once sacked by throwing several hundred barrels of flour into the street. The rabble gathered up the flour as best they could and carried it away. The disgraced city had to foot the bill, and the price of flour advanced. Jackson would not admit that the government was in any way responsible for the present pressure in the money market. By reason of his indomitable perseverance, Jackson, during his administration, succeeded in collecting from European powers for spolia tions on our commerce previous to 1830, as follows: From France, twenty-five million francs; Denmark, six hundred and fifty thousand rix-dollars; Naples, two million one hun dred thousand ducats. The annual ordinary expenses of the government, under Jackson's administration, averaged eighteen million two hundred and twenty-one thousand six hundred and eighty-six dollars. The Nation, free of public debt, with large revenue from heavy importations of foreign fabrics; unprecedented bills receivable from other nations; some twenty millions of dol lars annual income from the sales of the public lands; no internal and not much other improvement to pay for, it would seem thatthe government is and must continue to be financially AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. gi sound, and, therefore, easily conducted. Under such condi tions can it be possible that yon darkened sky and the con stant mufified thunder are the prelude to an awful commercial tornado soon in fury and destruction to sweep over this fair land? AN APOSTROPHE. On a motion to refer and print a memorial to Congress upon the financial condition of the countiy, Mr. Clay rose and said: "There are those who, in this chamber support the adminis tration, could not render a better service than to repair to the executive mansion, and, placing before the chief magistrate the naked and undisguised truth, prevail upon him to retrace his steps and abandon his fatal experiment. No one, sir, can perform that duty with more propriety than yourself. [Vice- President Van Buren.] You can, if you will, induce him to change his course. To you, then, sir, in no unfriendly spirit, but with feelings softened and subdued by the deep distress which pervades ever}' class of our countrymen, I make the appeal. By your ofificial and personal relations with the presi dent, you maintain with him rare intercourse. Go to him and tell him, without exaggeration, but in the language of truth and sincerity, the actual condition of his bleeding country. Tell him it is nearly ruined and undone by the measures which he has been induced to put in operation. Tell him that, in a single city, more than sixty bankruptcies, involving a loss of upwards of fifteen millions of dollars, have occurred. Tell him of the alarming decline in the value of all property, of the depreciation of all the products of industry, of the stagnation in every branch of business, and of the close of numerous manufacturing establishments, which, a few short months ago, were in active and flourishing operation. Depict to him, if you can find language to portray, the heart-rending wretchedness of thousands of the working classes cast out of employment. Tell him of the tears of helpless widows, no longer able to earn their bread, and of unclad and unfed orphans who have been driven, by his policy, out of the busy pursuits in which but yesterday they were gaining an honest livelihood. Tell him how much more true glory is to be won by retracing false steps, than by blindly rushing on until his country is overwhelmed in bankruptcy and ruin. If you desire to secure for yourself the reputation of a public bene factor, describe to him truly the universal distress already produced, and the certain ruin which must ensue from perse verance in his measures. Tell him that he has been abused, deceived, betrayed by the wicked counsels of unprincipled 92 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES men around him. Tell him that, in his bosom alone, under actual circumstances, does the power abide to relieve the country; and that, unless he opens it to conviction, and cor rects the errors of his administration, no human imagination can conceive, and no human tongue can express the awful consequences which may fqllow. Entreat him to pause, and to reflect that there is a point beyond which human endurance cannot go; and let him not drive this brave, generous, and patriotic people to madness and despair." In style and vigor Jackson's state papers, most of which bear the impress of his accomplished, long-time secretary of state, Edward Livingston, will compare favorably with those of any of the presidents. Andrew Jacks6n was aremarkable and exceptionally fortunate man. His fine for contempt of court at New Orleans, was, after many years, refunded with interest by Congress; his arbitrary, unsoldierlike conduct in Florida in 1818, was overlooked by our government; a few days after his retirement from the presidency the Senate res olution of censure was expunged from the Senate Journal; he assumed to himself more and greater responsibilities than has any other president, and personally was forgiven for so doing; his idiosyncrasies were generously excused; his motto was: "Whatever is expedient is right." As president he was idolized and flattered beyond the bounds of propriety by men whose highest ambition it was to bask in the sunshine of power. Domestic and temperate in his habits, he entertained royally, officially and socially, at public receptions. The fact of his being of Irish parentage largely attracted the voters of that nationality to him and his party. On retiring he left his party thoroughly organized and disciplined, more eager than ever before to obey his every command. His farewell address says: "I leave this great people prosperous and happy." So he doubtless thought, but had the document been written a few days later, unfortunately it could not have had so pleasant a termination. Viewing the character of the man m the calm judgment of history, how is his extraordinary long continued popularity with a large majority of his coun trymen to be accounted for? He had nerve and was honest. AND NATION.VL REMINISCENCES. 93 CHAPTER VI. MARTIN VAN BUREN. NINTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. (For I'ortrait, see Frontispiece.) |ARTIN VAN BUREN was born December 5, 1782, at Kinderhook, in the State of New York, of Dutch parents. On March 4, 1837, he, accom panied bythe outgoing president, rode in a beautiful carriage drawn by four elegant, prancing steeds down Pennsylvania avenue to the capital of the Nation, where, on taking the following oath, administered by the chief justice in the pres ence of thousands of his fellow countrymen, he became pres ident of the United States: " I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the ofifice of president of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." He then, in a clear voice, an oratorical manner and unostenta tious style, delivered a lengthy inaugural address, in which these words appear: ' I am the inflexible and uncompromis ing opponent of any attempt on the part of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia against the wishes of the slave-holding States; and with a determination equally decided to resist the slightest interference with it in the States wherein it exists; no bill conflicting with these views can ever receive my constitutional sanction." He also said he would endeavor "to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor." Never before or since in the history of this country has a president, standing on the threshold of the executive ofifice or on any other occasion, had the effrontery, had he the desire, to thus threaten Congress with the use of the veto. Notwithstanding the Constitution which he had just sworn to obey, or the will of the people as expressed by their representatives in Congress, and the dictum of a majority of the States, as represented in the Senate, he, in the most 94 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES unequivocal terms, declares that in relation to the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, the wishes of the slave-holding States alone shall, with him, prevail. Could a pronunciamento of a dictator have been stronger? Why did he not ^^Y free instead of slave States? What said this same Martin Van Buren in answer to a committee in 1836, just one year previous? " I would not feel myself safe in pronouncing that Congress does not possess the power of interfering with or abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia." He had been called the most adroit politician of his time, non committal; thenceforth he was dubbed a "Northern man with Southern principles." Van Buren retained all the cabinet of Jackson except Lewis Cass, who had been secretary of war. His place was filled by Joel R. Poinsett, of Georgia. The president had scarcely taken his seat when the long looked for commercial crisis burst on the country. Soon thereafter Daniel Webster, by special invitation, addressed a great mass meeting in the city of New York, in which he declared that "if this stormy opposition to all Banks creates such an alarm and want of confidence as to force them to close their doors, it will shut up the treasury of the United States also." In the Senate, on the resolution adopted by that body in 1834, censuring President Jackson for his action relative to the removal of the government deposits from the Bank of the United States, the following action was had: "Resolved, That the said resolution be expunged from the journal, and for that purpose, that the secretary of the Senate, at such time as the Senate may appoint, shall bring the manuscript journal of the session 1833-1834, into the Senate, and, in the presence of the Senate, draw black lines around the said resolve, and write across the face thereof, in strong letters, the following words : ' Expunged by order of the Senate, this i6th day of March, in the year of our Lord, 1837.'" The senators voting nay were Clay, Crittenden, Webster, Cal houn, R. H. Bayard, Clayton, Preston, Southard, White, Ewing and Rives. The resolution was adopted by a majority of five, several senators having been instructed by their respective State legislatures to vote for it. When Mr. Benton first offered this resolution, a long time previous to AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 95 its passage, he boastingly said: "Solitary and alone, amid the jeers and taunts of my opponents, I set this ball in motion." That the goverment deposits were removed from the Bank of the United States in a clandestine manner, is not now a matter of doubt, but that act did not warrant the adoption of the resolution of censure by the Senate. The Constitution provides other and different methods of punish ing malfeasance and misfeasance in office, nor was the adop tion of the expunging resolution a safe precedent in face of the Constitution, which mandatorially says, "each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings." If a portion of the records can be mutilated and defaced with impunity, why may not the whole journal with equal propriety be destroyed? The counsel of Mr. Webster being again desired, he made another speech in the city of New York in which he fully set forth the difficulties into which the affairs of the country had drifted. Soon afterwards a great mass meeting of busi ness men was held there, and resolutions passed asking other principal cities to co-operate with New York in appeals to the executive to arrest the evils of the times; provided for a committee of fifty to proceed to Washington to lay the whole matter before the president, and ask the calling of an extra session of Congress, to devise some mode of relief. At this meeting the following statement was made: "That the-wide spread disaster which has over taken the commercial interests of the country, and which threatens to produce general bankruptcy, may be in a great measure ascribed to the interference of the general govern ment with the commercial and business operations of the country; in its intermeddling with the currency; its destruc tion of the National Bank; its attempt to substitute a metallic for a credit currency, and finally to the issuing, by the president of the United States, of the treasury order known as the 'specie circular.'" The committee of fifty from New York made a written address to Mr. Van Buren, in which is found these words: "We do not tell a fictitious tale of woe, we have no selfish or partisan views to sustain when we assure you that the noble city which we represent lies prostrate in despair, its credit blighted, its industry paralyzed, and without a hope go HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES gleaming through the darkness of the future, unless the gov ernment of our country can be induced to relinquish the measures to which we attribute our distress. We speak in behalf of a community which trembles on the brink of ruin, which deems itself an adequate judge of all questions con nected with the trade and currency of the countr}/-, and believes that the policy adopted bythe recent administration and sustained by the present, is founded in error, and threatens the destruction of every department of industry. We affirm that the value of our real estate has, within the last six months, depreciated more that forty millions of dollars; that within the last two months there have been more than two hundred and fifty failures of houses engaged in extensive business; that within the same period, a decline of twenty millions of dollars has occurred in local and other stocks depending on New York for their sale; that the immense amount of merchandise in our warehouses has, within the same period, fallen in value at least thirty per cent; that within a few weeks not less than twenty thousand individuals depending on their daily labor for their daily bread, have been discharged by their employers, because the means of retaining them was exhausted, and that a com plete blight has fallen upon a community heretofore so active, enterprising and prosperous. The error of our rulers has produced a wider desolation than the pestilence which depopulated our cities [yellow fever], or the conflagration which laid them in ashes on December 15, 1835. [The greatest fire in the history of this country, excepting the one in Chicago October 9, 1871.] We, therefore, make an earnest appeal to the executive, and ask whether it is not time to interpose the paternal authority of the government, and abandon the policy which is beggaring the people." The president heard the address, and treated the committee with much respect, and on the next day returned them his written answer in which he declined to comply with any of their requests. Soon after returning to New York, another meeting was called; at this, these resolutions were passed: "Resolved, That the chief causes of the existing distress are the defeat of Mr. Clay's land bill, the removal of the public deposits, the refusal to re-charter the Bank of the United States and the issuing of the specie circular. The land bill was passed by the people's representatives, and vetoed by the president. The bill re-chartering the Bank was passed by the people's representatives, and vetoed by the president. The people's representatives declared by a solemn resolution that the public deposits were safe in the AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 97 United States Bank; within a few weeks thereafter the presi dent removed the public deposits. The people's represent atives passed a bill rescinding the specie circular; the presi dent, defeated it by omitting to .return it; within the linxited period, and in answer to our addresses. President Van Buren declares that the specie circular was issued by his prede cessor, omitting all notice of the secretary of the treasury, who is amenable directly to Congress, and charged by the act creating his department with the superintendence of the finances, and who signed the order." "Resolved, That we call upon all our fellow-citizens, to unite with us in removing from power, those who persist in a system that is destroying the prosperity of the country." On May lo, 1837, the New York City Banks suspended specie payment, and their course was followed by all the Banks, including the government deposit Banks, in the Nation; and on May 15th, seventy-two days after his inauguration, the president issued a proclamation for an extra; session:;' of Congress, to meet September 4th, to pro vide the ways and means to carry on and pay the ordinary expenses of the government. The federal treasury was already insolvent, consequently the government could not meet its liabilities. Mr. Van Buren directly inherited the patronage, projects and principles of his predecessor, and he now realized that he had also inherited and was held respon sible for the result of the accumulations of eight years of maladminstration of the government, blunders for which he, as adviser, was largely responsible, and that the greatest commercial and monetary crisis known to our people was on his hands. Mr. Webster again addressed a great meeting of anxious citizens in New York, commencing: "That bubble which so many of us have all along regarded as the offspring of con ceit, presumption and political quackery, has burst." All Banks having suspended specie payment, specie was at twelve per cent premium. The State of New York having prohibited the Banks of that commonwealth from issuing their notes of a less denomination than five dollars, the citizens of that State had much difificulty in transacting business. Therefore, "shinplasters" of every conceivable variety were issued. Some of the New England Banks issued 7 go HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES bills of one dollar, one dollar and twenty-five cents, one dol lar and fifty cents, one dollar and seventy-five cents, two dol lars, three dollars and upward,- and they were relied on to take the place of small coin. Except the Banks of the city and a few in towns on the Hudson river, and the Newark Banking and Insurance Company of New Jersey, the notes of all Banks were at a discount in the city of New York. Before making a deposit in a Bank the depositor was obliged to visit a broker's office and sell his money, or the most of it, at quite a discount, for current fuads. The best money is always hoarded, not circulated. All New England Banks that did not pay tribute to the Suffolk Bank, Boston, to redeem their bills, found that refusal to do so cast a shadow over their solvency and a high rate of discount on their notes. There was so much counterfeit and otherwise worth less paper afloat that it became the uniform custom to, before receiving any bank bills, look over Mahlon Day's or Jonathan Thompson's Bank Note Reporter to see whether the stuff offered was good for anything; and, if so, for how much? There was "red dog" and " wild cat" money; the former, with its red back, was unwelcome everywhere; its kennel was in undiscoverable real estate; the latter, if located anywhere, could be found either in the swamps of Michigan or on the loftiest peak of the Alleghenies — the Allegheny mountains, by the way, were then looked up to as the backbone of the country; now, the Rockies claim that honor. The New York safety fund banking system, of which Van Buren was the putative father, was a sort of mutual insurance company, to make all of the Banks responsible for each other's notes. The sound, well-managed Banks, on applying for re-charter, naturally objected to such require ment. How would it do for a State to license all the mer chants within its borders to do business on condition . that they should all be responsible for each other's debts? For eign deposits were withdrav/n and interest on loans was at ruinous rates. Merchants were compelled to buy specie to pay postage and for protest of notes. Letter postage between Chicago and New York was twenty-five cents, and seldom prepaid. These were hard money times, indeed. AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 99 At the time of his election to the presidency Mr. Van Buren was strictly a hard money statesman, favoring gold and silver for the government and no bills of small denomination for the people. In his message to Congress the president said: "The government, by placing its funds in State Banks, is involved in embarrassment. To loan the public money to local banks is hazardous, as experience has shown; it stimulates a general ¦rashness of enterprise and aggravates the fluctuations of com merce. The present condition is chiefly attributable to over trading the last three years." On the suspension of specie payment by the Banks, the currency in circulation was exclu sively paper, and in many cases of the worst description, fluctuating in value between one place and another, and mer chants could not pay their bonds for duties. He recom mended that the nine million dollars in the United States treasury, to be deposited with the States by the act of Con gress of June, 1836, be withheld. An act to organize Iowa Territory was passed. September 25, 1837, Henry Clay made a great speech in the Senate on the state of the Union. At the close of the session, during which not much was accomplished, James K. Polk, speaker of the House of Representatives, received a vote of thanks for impartiality and courtesy, ninety-two ayes to seventy-five nays. The president in his first annual message spoke of "the great financial embarrassment of recent date;" that of "thirty millions of dollars of public money on deposit in the State Banks the government could not command one million." He derisively said that "all communities are apt to look to the government for too much;" very few men would express such a sentiment under similar conditions; but Mr. Van Buren's peculiar temperament was calculated to meet any emergency; to confound him was impossible. When minister to England he was asked by the Duchess of Kent how far back he could trape his ancestry; he naively replied: "To Kinderhook." The answer was just as intelligible and satisfactory to her ladyship as though he had said to Achseus. Senator Silas Wright introduced the sub or independent treasury scheme. 100 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES The insurrections in the Canadas in 1837-8 occasioned a good deal of anxiety to our government, as many citizens of the United States not only sympathized with the "Patri ots," but were desirous of participating in the struggle with their governmeiit. On December 29, 1837, a party of Canadian militia crossed the Niagara to attack the Caroline — a steamer in the service of the rebels. The steamer, however, instead of being at Navy Island was at Schlosser, on the American shore. The militia seized the vessel, killing several men in the affray; and, after setting her on fire, loosened her from the shore and let her go blazing down the river and over the falls. This invasion of American territory caused indignant excitement throughout the Northern States. The proclamation of Presi dent Van Buren and the prompt action of General Scott quieted matters, and as the question of slavery was not involved, peace lazily ensued. Historians have failed to announce the name of the commandant of United States troops sta tioned on the Texan border at about that time in enforce- ment(?) of treaty stipulations with a sister republic, to pre- vent(?) adventurers from the United States going into the province of Texas purposely and avowedly to join the citi zens thereof in armed revolt against Mexico. Therein the question of slavery was involved. On February 24, 1838, the Washington correspondent of the New York Gazette, wrote: "I saw the bleeding corpse of poor Cilley brought to town this morning. I saw 'the mur derers, too, steeped in the colors of their trade." Jonathan Cilley, a Democratic congressman from Maine, for words spoken in debate, was challenged by Colonel James Watson Webb, editor of the New York Courier arid Enquirer, to fight a duel. Cilley would not admit the right of Webb to thus challenge him, nor would he recognize Webb as a gentle man. Whereupon William J. Graves, a Whig member of Congress from Kentucky, as Webb's second, challenged Cilley; the latter accepted, and named rifles as the weapons. Cilley practiced industriously prior to the battle, but the Kentuckian, being the better marksman, the man from the Pine Tree State fell. The death of Cilley caused that relic of barbarism— Ms' ^^^Z- general denunciation. The name of AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. lOI W. J. Graves on the Kentucky Whig electoral ticket of 1844 lost many votes to Mr. Clay at the North. Henry A. Wise, governor of Virginia at the time of the hanging of John Brown in that State, was Graves' second. Webb was a belligerent, always ready to fight, the sequel of which was, that he walked on crutches half of his long life from the effects of a duel with Thomas F. Marshall, of Kentucky. The Courier and Enquirer was, at that time, the largest and the leading newspaper in the city of New York, and it first suggested the name Whig, for that party. Its motto was: "Princi ples, not men." Matthew L. Davis, author of the Life of Aaron Burr, as "the spy in Washington," was in the habit of writing caustic, sensational letters to Webb's paper, some of which created great excitement in Washington. Defalca tions were now the order of the day. The collector at the port of New York, appointed by Jackson, and highly influ ential with the leaders of his party, stole more than twelve hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and was seven years doing it; he was not detected until the second year of Van Buren's administration; previously too high for investiga tion, he had long been under suspicion. It was said of Price, a defaulter who fled the country, that "he left the treasury without money and without Price." It is said that "the disposition of man to abuse delegated authority is inherent and incorrigible." Politicians aver that "all is fair in politics." James Buchanan, who held office most of his life, said: "When a man is once appointed to ofifice, all the self ish passions of his nature are enlisted for the purpose of retaining it. The office-holders are the enlisted soldiers of that administration by which they are sustained. Their com fortable existence often depends upon the re-election of their patron." Its friends persistently urged acceptance of the sub-treasury scheme as the panacea for existing woes .and a guarantee of future usefulness, while its opponents claimed that it would enlarge the executive power, contribute to endanger the security of the public funds, and was calcu lated to produce two currencies — the best for the govern ment, the poorest for the people. Although formal dis cipline and scientific management had reduced the followers of Democracy to mere machines; and although it was a 102 HISTORY OF POLITICAL^ PARTIES standing rule of the Democratic party that when a man of prominence hesitated or refused to obey a party dictum, he was at once to be denounced by their newspapers and orators, all along the line, as a deserter and traitor and every effort was resorted to to destroy, forever, his political influ ence, and also to prevent others, so disposed, from follow ing his example. Several senators, congressmen, financial and business men, members of that party, boldly revolted on the sub-treasury issue; not only that, the masses refused longer to submit to the voice of their old leaders; they organized quite a formidable party under the name Con servative. Parton says: "The unpardonable sin of the poli tician is bolting." At this time the expenses of the govern ment so exceeded its income that the mail service had to be curtailed. Every movement in Jackson's administration which had caused or tended to cause the revulsion in 1837, the Whigs had strenuously and patriotically contended against. Mr. Adams had been elected by a very large majority in the famous old Plymouth district; he was an industrious member, never absent or seldom late. He was pronounced a walking encyclopaedia, his diary was never disputed. Caleb Cushing, the great linguist, said: "My colleague, Mr. Adams, the vigilant eye of whose unsleeping mind there is nothing which escapes." Notwithstanding his public engagements, Mr. Adams found time to occasionally woo the muses. He sent one of his effusions to his friend. General George P. Morris, editor of the New York Mirror, and author of, among others, the popular poem, "Woodman, Spare that Tree," ask- inghis judgment upon it. The general, on returning the manu script, said he had found it "quite readable." That word "readable" concluded correspondence by and between the gentlemen. He was the first to announce the "contraband of war" idea, which, after many years became so useful to the government, in the following language: "Whether the war be servile, civil, or foreign, the military authority takes for the time the place of all municipal institutions, slavery among the rest; under that state of things, so far from its being true that the States where slavery exists have the exclusive man agement of the subject, not only the president of the United States, but the commander of the army has power to order AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. IO3 the universal emancipation of the slaves." Although not fully sympathizing with the abolitionists in their methods, he insisted vehemently on their right to be heard, and on that issue he forced the controversy until it enlisted the intelligent attention of the North, and the sneers and contempt of the South. He also claimed the right of petition for slaves. He had early offered petitions for the abolition of slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia, for doing which the whole pack of hireling presses were set upon him, but he was defiant. No odds could appal him, though at times he stood alone pitted against a solid South. The single question with him and for which he contended was the right of the people to petition their government. He complained that the abolitionists were constantly urging him to indiscreet move ments which would not only ruin him, but weaken their cause; that many of them were extremists and therefore impracticable; that he had gone as far for the abolition of slavery as the public opinion of the free portion ofthe Union would bear. It was quite the custom for new members, especially young men, in order to gain notoriety to, in their maiden speeches, attack Mr. Adams. Some of them he would notice, while to others he paid no attention. Thomas F. Marshall, of Kentucky, a young man with a reputation for oratory, on being elected to the House, at once paid his respects in a sarcastic speech aimed at Mr. Adams. When he had concluded Mr. Adams quietly arose and requested Mr. Marshall to remain standing a few minutes, which he did. Mr. Adams then spoke of the pleasure he had looked forward to in meeting with Mr. Marshall as a fellow member; of his long and intimate acquaintance with the distinguished Mar shall family, especially the honored Chief Justice. Mr. Adams took his seat and so also did Thomas F. Marshall, an evidently disconcerted man. The most noted antagonists in the House were Mr. Adams, who was considered the greatest parliamentary gladiator of his time, and Henry A. Wise. After a speech by the latter, occupying nearly two days of time^ denuncia tory of New England in general and of Massachusetts in particular, it was expected Mr. Adams would make a lengthy, vigorous reply; instead of that, the venerable gentleman 104 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES arose and simply said: "Massachusetts needs no defense from me, but I have this to say to the honorable gentleman from Virginia; there is neither a school-house or a printing press in his district." That was something Mr. Wise had not known. Thereafter there was manifestly less contention between the two gentlemen. Mr. Wise was subsequently appointed minister to Brazil; when leaving on his mission he addressed his old constituents beseeching them to build school-houses, and hoping that when he came back he would witness the children, with their neat, fly-flat aprons, going in numbers to the school-house Representative Stanley, of North Carolina, and Mr. Wise had a quarrel; both of them were spunky little men, and came near to blows. The episode occasioned the following parod}': "Stanley, you should never let your angry passions rise," Your little hands were never made to pnmmel Mr. Wise.'' The American people had little cause for pride in their House of Representatives in those days. Mr. Slade, of Vermont, in the House of Representatives offered a petition on the subject of slavery and moved its reference to a select committee, whereupon Mr. Legare, of South Carolina, cautioned him as treading on dangerous ground. Mr. Slade, in reply, asked: "What is slavery?" At once, in fulfillment of preconcerted agreement, when such an opportunity presented itself, most of the members from the slave States withdrew from the hall. Petitions con tinued to flow in, however, asking Congress to adopt meas ures in consonance with the Declaration of Independence, that "all men are created equal," until the Southern mem bers became so exasperated as to take the position that the mere consideration of the question of slavery by Congress would toll the bell for the dissolution of the Union. Con sequently Charles G. Atherton, representative from New Hampshire, offered the following rule, which was adopted: "Every petition, memorial, resolution, proposition or paper touching or relating in any way or to any extent to slavery or the abolition thereof shall, on presentation, without any further action thereon, be laid on the table without being debated, printed or referred." This was denominated the AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. IO5 "Atherton gag." It is worthy of notice that among the most conspicuous pro-slavery men of that time were Isaac Hill, Franklin Pierce and Charles G. Atherton, all of New Hampshire, which State clung to Democracy until after every other Northern State, excepting the "Sucker," aban doned it. Even the popularity of "Old Tippecanoe" could not quite loosen them from their mooring. Hill had been a member of Jackson's unsavory "Kitchen Cabinet," and was a long time editor of the New Hampshire Patriot, a paper wielding immense influence throughout the Granite State. A revolution came to stay, under the statesmanship of such men as John P. Hale and others. The Southern States, having the e.xtension of their peculiar institution constantl}' in view. Senator Preston, of South Carolina, said: "The treaty of 1819 was a great oversight on the part of the South; we went into it blindly. To secure Florida we threw a gem (Texas) away that would have bought ten Floridas. Florida would have been ours in a short time, but our impatience induced us to purchase it by a territoiy ten times as large, one hundred times as fertile, and to give five millions of dollars into the bargain. I pro pose that \\'e should seize the fair and just occasion now pre sented to remedy the mistake which we made in i8ig." The petitions on the subject of slavery offered by Mr. Adams frequently numbered as high as two hundred, and sometimes . five hundred, per day, absorbing much of the time of the House to the impatience of the members from the slave States and their northern supporters. On one occasion, according to Historian Morse, Mr. Adams said he "held in his hand a paper concerning which he should wish to have the decision of the speaker before presenting it. It purported to be from twenty-two slaves and he would like to know whether it came within the rules of the House concerning petitions on the subject of slavery." The speaker said he could not answer the question until he knew the contents of the document. Mr. Adams remarked that it was one of those petitions which had occurred to him as not being what it purported to be; he, therefore, proposed to send it up to the chair for inspection. Objection was made to this. The speaker said he would take the sense of the House. Great excitement at once I06 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES prevailed throughout the hall and cries of "Expel him!" "Expel him!" were heard. One of the members then said: "If Mr. Adams be not punished for this offense it would be better for the representatives of the slave-holding States to go home at once." Another member announced that he •'would stay until Washington became a Waterloo and the beautiful Potomac a river of blood." Whereupon the follow ing resolution, among others of similar character, was intro duced: "Resolved, John Quincy Adams on his attempt to introduce into this House a petition from slaves for the abo lition of slavery in the District of Columbia, has committed an outrage on the feelings of the people of a large portion of this Union; a flagrant contempt on the dignity of this House; and by extending to slaves a privilege only belonging to free men, directly incites the slave population to insurrection; and that the said member be forthwith brought to the bar of the House and censured by the speaker." Mr. Adams was also threatened with criminal proceedings by the grand jury. In reply he said that "amid these numerous resolutions charg ing him with high crimes and misdemeanors, and calling him to the bar of the House to answer for the same, he had thought it proper to remain silent;" he said he did not offer the petition. "The contents of the petition, should the House ever choose to read it," he confined, "would render necessary some amendments, at least in the last resolution, since the prayer was that slavery should not be abolished. I have con stituents to go to who will have something to say if this ' House expels me; nor will it be long before the gentlemen will see me here again." The majority, now shamefully realiz ing the predicament they were in, adopted a simple resolve closing with "therefore, all further proceedings in regard to the conduct of Mr. Adams do now cease." Undaunted under persecution, this Ajax in freedom's army continued in what he conceived to be his conscientious, patriotic duty, in enforcing the right of petition. He received from Virginia a petition praying "that the House would arraign at its bar and forever expel John Quincy Adams." He presented the document with a resolution asking that it be referred to a committee for investigation and report. He presented a petition from Georgia, "that John Quincy Adams be removed AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. IO7 from the position of chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs." He offered a petition of forty-five citizens of Haverhill, Massachusetts, praying that the House immedi ately adopt measures peaceably to dissolve the union of these States, for the alleged cause of the incompatibility between free and slave-holding communities, and moved its reference to a select committee, with instructions to report an answer to the petitioners showing the reasons why the prayer of it ought not to be granted. For this, amid much bluster and many threats, he was arraigned before the House for treason, but nothing ever came of it. For his conspicuous zeal, Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio, was expelled from membership of the House of Representa tives. He came back in a little while fully indorsed by the "Western Reserve." The claim will not be contested that among the ablest practical statesmen of his time stood De Witt Clinton, mayor of the city and governor of the State of New York, and in 1816 candidate for president of the United States. His successfully carrying out, against almost every variety of opposition, the stupendous project of blending the waters of the Hudson with those of Lake Erie by the means of a canal, was one of the grandest, most useful and opportune feats ever accomplished by any man; it preceded railroads; it created a channel for the development of the west and northwestern sections of our country, and consequently for the building up of a great, rapidly-increasing and enduring commercial business in the chief city of the Union; its bene fits have proven incalculable. Clinton died in February, 1828. A few days after his death Andrew Jackson's birthday toast was: "The memory of DeWitt Clinton, the patriot, the philanthropist and the distinguished statesman; in his death New York has lost one of her most useful sons and the Nation one of its brightest ornaments." What said Mr. Van Buren in the United States Senate on the death of Mr. Clinton? "The high order of his talents, the untiring zeal and great success with which those talents have, through a -series of years, been devoted to the prosecution of plans of great public utility, are known to all men. The greatest public improvement of the age in which we live was com- I08 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARIIES menced under the guidance of his counsels, and splendidly accomplished under his immediate auspices. The triumphs of his talents and patriotism cannot fail to become monu ments of high and enduring fame. I am greatly tempted to envy him the grave with its honors." Excepting the last sentence, a most beautiful and truthful eulogy. Now, what said Colonel William L. Stone, editor of the New York Com mercial Advertiser, of Martin Van Buren? "Who, among the whole host of Mr. Clinton's enemies, was so active and artful as Mr. Van Buren? Who so relentless and persecuting? When did Mr. Clinton ever raise his arm in the public service that Mr. Van Buren did not attempt to paralyze it? When did Mr. Van Buren's hostility ever sleep? Not until the illustrious man slept with his fathers and the grave had closed upon his remains." The widow of De Witt Clinton met Mr. Van Buren when he was president, at Saratoga, and because of his abuse of her honored husband in his lifetime, she refused to recognize him. In 1820 Mr. Van Buren strove to have deputy postmasters removed and his friends appointed in their stead. As a mem ber to revise the constitution of the State of New York he opposed universal suffrage. In 1825 he opposed internal improvements by the National government. In 1826 he wrote to Nicholas Biddle, president of the Bank of the United States, requesting the establishing of a branch of said Bank at Albany, New York. In 1832 he pronounced the Bank of the United States unconstitutional. In 1824 and 1828 he was a protectionist. He was barely in his new ofifice, that of sec retary of state, in April, i82g, when he commenced almost indiscriminate removals of clerks and others in his department. The formula was : " Sir, your services are no longer required in this department." "Reform!" "Reform!" He dwelt much upon the term "reform," which was long ago and now is used as a catchword by political parties. As president he appointed several rejected as candidates for Congress to lucrative office. He favored the pre-emption law, giving settlers on pub lic lands the preference in their purchase. He was an attractive, and at times an eloquent speaker; a fluent but rather verbose writer; unostentatious, easy and urbane in his intercourse with the world. \ AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. lOg On calling the roll to organize the House of Representa tives, the clerk of the last House, in consequence of a con test for seats, refused to call the names of five members from New Jersey, who had certificates of the governor of that State that'were cbiitested. ' Politically the House was quite evenly divided, so the control thereof was the issue. Business was for several days at a standstill; the situation unprecedented. Many resolutions were offered but the clerk would not recog nize them as the House was unorganized. Finally Mr. Adams arose and said: "Fellow citizens, members elect of the Twenty-sixth Congress, let the House organize itself!" To this end he said that he would offer a resolution orderino- the clerk to call the members from New Jersey possessing the credentials from the governor of that State. So now the doubting word went round, " How shall the question be put?" "I will put the question myself," said Mr. Adams. Applause resounded throughout the hall. Mr. Rhett, of South Caro lina, sprang to his feet and offered a resolution that Hon. John Quincy Adams be appointed chairman of the meeting. The resolution was adopted with great enthusiasm, where upon Mr. Rhett and Mr. Williams conducted the aged but intrepid statesman to the chair, which he held until a speaker was elected. Mr. Wise afterwards said, when addressing a complimentary speech to Mr. Adams: "Sir, if, when gath ered to your fathers, I were asked to select the words which, in my judgment, are calculated to give at once the best char acter of the man, I would inscribe upon your tomb this sen tence: ' I will put the question myself." It was insisted by Northern Democrats that to add Texas to the Union was to extend the area of freedom. The fol lowing is an extract from its constitution: " All persons of color who were slaves for life previous to their emigration to Texas, and who are now held in bond age, shall remain in the like state of servitude, provided the said slave be the bona fide propeirty of the person so holding said slave as aforesaid. Congress shall pass no law to pro hibit emigrants from the United States from bringing their slaves into the republic with them, and holding them by the same tenure by which slaves were held in the United States; nor shall Congress have the power to emancipate slaves; nor shall any slave-holder be allowed to emancipate his or her no HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES slaves without the consent of Congress, unless he or she shall send his or her slave or slaves without the limits of the republic. No free person of African descent, either in whole or in part, shall be permitted to reside permanently in the republic without the consent of Congress." On the question of anne.xation the language of Mr. Clay was: "I am decidedly opposed tothe immediate annexation of Texas to the United States; I think it would be dishon orable; might involve them in war; would be dangerous to the integrity and harmony of the Union, and could not be effected upon just and admissible conditions. If, however," said he, "it could be annexed without dishonor, without war, with the common consent of the Union, and upon just and fair terms, I would have no personal objection." Mr. Clay said the abolitionists denounced him as a slave holder and the slave-holders denounced him as an abolitionist. In order to arrive at historical truths and be influenced by them, prejudice of every kind must be cast aside. The ques tion of slavery in the United States and the abolishment thereof will continue to roll down the ages. The judgment of mankind thereon no later than A. D. 2000 will, because of its non-partisan chaiacter be more correct than are any of the now current opinions on that subject by whom soever held or promulgated. It will not be overlooked that at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, slavery was not a sectional institution, nor that that instrument was origi nally a creature of compromise by and between the States, nor that without such compromise there could not have been a Union of the States, an United States of America; nor that the Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof became the supreme law of the land, and that, therefore, the compromises of the Constitution, slavery included, could not be disturbed by legislative action. It will also be seen that slavery in the States wherein it existed, was by the highest authority declared constitutional, and that Abraham Lincoln, the great liberator, as late as 1858, at a time of peace, insisted that "as profoundly as he hated slavery, he, as a citizen of Illinois, had no more right to interfere with slaveiy in the slave States than he had to interfere with the cranberry laws of Indiana." AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 1 I I The truth of the charge made and reiterated amid the violence of excited passions nearly half a centuiy ago that "the Constitution was in league with the devil and a covenant with hell;" the wisdom of opponents of slavery, conscien tious men, to the number of thousands, combined as a polit ical party and frittered away their votes to the effect of electing an avowed advocate of the extension of slavery to the presidency; finally their consenting to follow the former most bitter and violent adversary of themselves and their cause, a man whom their leaders, at least, knew had no principle whatever, that he had professed everything or any thing, and cast their sacred ballots for him for the chief magistracy, and that without the prospect or hope of his obtaining a single electoral vote, are questions to be decided by impartial posterity. Amos Kendall, when postmaster- general, in reply to a postmaster in a slave State as to aboli tion literature said, "we owe an obligation to the laws, but a higher one to the communities in which we live." Such reasoning would render every citizen judge of the law and lead directly to the uselessness of all law — to anarchy. The Father of his Country exhorted his countrymen to cherish the Union as the "palladium of their safety." The only safety of a republic rests on the virtue and intel ligence of the people, a free ballot and an honest count, and a general acquiescence in the supremacy of law. Nothing can be clearer than the fact that slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia and the Territories in which they existed were entirely within the jurisdiction of Congress. Had the assault been judiciously continued on what John Wesley aptly termed "the sum of all villainies" in those places surrender, under a rapidly awakening public conscience, must, 'ere long, have been inevitable. But ¦slavery in the States, unless under a change in the National Constitution, in respect of it, of which there was not the ^lightest prospect, was impregnable, and probably would not have decreased, to say nothing of being abolished, in cen- turi^8:^However, the issue had to come; "whom the gods w6uld destroy they first make mad." As to war at the cannon's ^mouth, slavery was the aggressor. The question was, shall the Union live or must slavery perish? It came to mean 112 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES human slavery against human freedom, slave labor against free labor, an irrepressible conflict! Whatever the errors and failures of their earlier methods, the once despised apostles of universal liberty were now saluted a-s the inspired men, the vanguard, the men who had with their best light contended for practical illustration of the truths embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Herewith are the names of some of the pioneers: Benjamin Lundy, William Lloyd Garrison, James G. Birney, Elijah P. Lovejoy, Luther Bradish, Theodore D. Weld, Joshua R. Giddings, Gamaliel Brailey, Wendell Phillips, Nathaniel Colver, John G. Whit tier, Lewis Tappan, Owen Lovejoy, Henry Hammond, Arthur Tappan, Gerrit Smith. In 1815 Benjamin Lundy founded an anti-slavery association called the "Union Humane Society;" he afterward started a newspaper, "The Genius of Universal Emancipation." William Lloyd Garrison established the " Lib erator" in Boston, in 1831; its motto was: " My country is the world, my countrymen are all mankind." The "Philan thropist," an abolition newspaper, edited by James G. Birney, was destroyed by a mob and thrown into the river in 1836. Elijah P. Lovejoy, editor of an abolition paper, was killed by a mob at Alton, Illinois, in 1837. Pennsylvania Hall, Philadelphia, dedicated to freedom, was destroyed by an incendiary. The "True American," Lexington, Kentucky, edited by Cassius M. Clay, was broken up; the household furniture, including a portrait of George Washington, of Lewis Tappan was, on account of his anti-slavery sentiments, cast into the street in front of his house in the city of New York, and destroyed by fire; his brother, Arthur, was the proprietor of an extensive wholesale dry goods store in New York; a Southern merchant wrote him that he would like to do business with him, but must first know his sentiments on the slavery question; Mr. Tappan's brief answer was: "Sir,' my goods, not my principles, are for sale." The Liberty party met in Warsaw, New York, in 1839, ^.nd nominated James G. Birney for president and Francis J. Lemoyne for vice-president. The Liberty party of the United States met at Albany, New York, in April, 1840. The president in his message to Congress calls attention to "the dilapidated condition of our seaport and navy yards;" AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. II 3 says "the balance of trade is largely against us, and that it cannot be turned in our favor by creating new demands upon us from abroad;" that "every new debt which we contract in England seriously affects our own , currency, and extends over the pursuits of our citizens its powerful influence;" he also says: " Most of the arguments that dissuade us from employing Banks in the custody and disbursement of the public money apply with equal force to the receipt of their notes for public dues, therefore the revenue to the govern ment should be paid in silver and gold." General Wm. Henry Harrison said: "If there is one measure better calculated than another to produce that state of things by which the rich are daily adding to their hoards, and the poor sinking deeper into penury, it is an exclusive metallic currency; or if there is a process by which the character of the country for generosity and nobleness of feeling may be destroyed by the great increase and necessary toleration of usury, it is an exclusive metallic 'currency." The Seminole Indians, under the lead of their chief, Osce ola, a half-breed, whose wife had been seized as a slave, were causing great destruction of life and property in Florida. In addition to their alleged grievances, being hostile to slavery, as all Indians are, they were in sympathy with their chief and were ready to do or die for him. As the government employed blood-hounds, imported from Cuba, to scent and track the Indians and negroes in the everglades of Florida as an auxiliary militia, Mr. Adams sub mitted the following resolution: ' Resolved, That the secretary of war be directed to report to this House the natural, political, and martial history of the blood-hound, showing the peculiar fitness of that class of warriors to be associates of the gallant army of the United States, specifying the nice discrimination of his scent between the blood of the freeman and the blood ofthe slave; between the blood of the armed warrior and that of women and chil dren; between the blood of white, black, and colored men; between the blood of savage Seminoles and that of the Anglo- Saxon pious Christian. Also a statement of the number of blood-hounds and their conductors imported by this govern ment, or by the authorities of Florida from the island of Cubai and the cost of that importation; also whether a further 114 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES importation of the same heroic race into the State of Maine, to await the contingency of a contested northeastern boundary question is contemplated, or only to set an example to be followed by our possible adversary in the event of a conflict; whether measures have been taken to secure exclu sively for ourselves the employment of this auxiliary force, and whether he deems it expedient to extend to said blood hounds and their posterity the benefit of the pension laws." On December 2, 1839, the Whigs held at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, one of the most memorable political conven tions in our history. The candidates for nomination for pres ident of the United States were Henry Clay, Wm. Henry Harri son and Winfield Scott. At first Mr. Clay received a plurality of votes, but after three days' balloting General Harrison was nominated. John Tyler was a delegate from Virginia, and when the result was announced, he shed tears because his great friend and candidate, Henry Clay, had been defeated. Whereupon the convention with great unanimity nominated Tyler for vice-president. On the death of Harrison one month after his inauguration, Tyler, who had been a Demo crat, then a conservative, then a Whig, succeeded to the presidency, where he basely betrayed the party that elected him vice-president. So soon as had he showed his true colors. General Van Renssalaer, in a speech in the city of New York, said: "As a delegate to the Harrisburg convention I nominated John Tyler for vice-president of the United States; if Almighty God will forgive me for that act I will be con tent." Tyler was not only a traitor to his party, but to his country. On his death bed he drank "success to the South ern Confederacy." Probably the most personally popular statesman of his time was Henry Clay. His not receiving the nomination at Harrisburg was a great disappointment to his admirers all over the country, one of whom called him "the most experi enced and accomplished man of his day;" another said "he was the most constructive, the most prescient of statesmen, a man of most daring and generous nature." His felicitous address of welcome, as speaker of the House of Representa tives, to La Fayette in 1823, in which he said: " General, after an absence of forty years, you are in the midst of posterity," was calculated to swell the bosom of ever}' patriot. On Mr. AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES "5 Clay showing his letter in opposition to the annexation of Texas to some of his confidential friends before it was made public, they all advised him not to publish it, as to do so would lose him the presidency. His answer was, " T would rather be right than be president." There was a time when Mr. Clay was in straitened circumstances financially, and owed a bank in Kentucky a considerable sum of money. On enter ing the bank to pay the debt, the cashier handed him the note stamped /«/(/. " How is this?" asked Mr. Clay. The cashier said, "a stranger came in here this morning, paid the note and instructed me to hand or send it to you." Mr. Clay, with bowed head, exclaimed, "was there ever a man who had such enemies and such friends as Henry Clay." A reversal of two thousand five hundred and fifty-four votes in his favor from his successful rival, in New York in 1844, would have made Mr. Clay president of the United States. His last election to the Senate of the United States was hon ored by the unanimous voice of the legislature of his loving and beloved Kentucky. James G. Blaine, speaking of Henry Clay, said: "Other men have excelled him in spe cific powers, but in the rare combination of qualities which constitute at once the matchless leader of party and the statesman of consummate ability and inexhaustible resource, he has never been surpassed b}' any man speaking the English tongue." William Henry Harrison was born in Virginia, February g, 1773. At twenty years of age he was in the military ser vice of the country. Later governor of the great north western territory, now comprising five large States; next, dele gate in Congress. In the war of 1812 commander-in-chief of the armies of the northwest and according to Col. Richard M. Johnson, the slayer of Tecumseh at the battle of Tippe canoe. Gen. Harrison fought more battles than any other general and never sustained a defeat. He was a United States senator from Ohio. Rev. Dr. Shroules, delivering an address before a large assemblage in the city of New York, remarked that happening in the United States Senate on a 'certain occasion he listened intently for awhile to a senator addressing the Senate, and then inquired of a gentleman near him who it was that was speaking? The answer was, ''Senator Il6 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES Harrison, of Ohio." "That" said Mr. Shroules, "was the most eloquent speech I ever heard." By President John Quincy Adams, General Harrison was appointed minister plenipoten tiary to Columbia; his address to Bolivar ranks among the most able and elegant state papers onrecord. The general's long-time friend. Colonel Richard W. Thompson, said of him, "He was generous hearted and kind in private intercourse, his numerous friends clung to him as if linked by 'hooks of steel;' honorable in all his intercourse with the world, his private life was irreproachable." The action of the convention was well, though not enthusi astically, received by the country. General Harrison was then sixty-six years old and had long been retired from public life, and, as it was some eleven months to the day of election not much interest was manifested until the Democrats nomi nated Van Buren for re-election late in the spring, or until Democratic newspapers gimultcineously commenced to ridi cule the candidacy of the Old Chieftian. "Give old granny Harrison a log cabin and a barrel of hard cider," said a Bal timore paper, "and he will never want to leave North Bend to be president of the United States." All at once his sup porters caught up this expression and Log Cabins, Hard Cider, and Coon Skins became Whig watchwords. The party head-quarters in every town, in all the States, were located in a log cabin, the latch strings were out and the cider barrels on tap for all; mass meetings and barbecues were held and women, wearing a miniature log cabin as a badge, also attended them in large numbers. Jolly songs were sung and every body joined the chorus. The best chorister in the eastern States was noble Ive Hoxie, a prominent New York mer chant. Times were hard, people had little or nothing to do, protection to their industry had been withdrawn, but, sniffing victory to their cause, they concluded they "might just as well laugh as cry;" they did laugh and sing loud and long until the music of their voices reverberated through every valley to every hill top in the land, "Oh, what has caused this great commotion, motion, motion, our country through?" Whigs turned out in steamboats and all sorts of vehicles and many of them traveled long distances to attend meetings and listen to distinguished speakers. Daniel Webster said. AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 117 ''Every breeze cries change; the cry, the universal cry is for change." Liberty poles were raised from which the star spangled banner streamed; great processions were formed in which were carried caricatures of almost every conceivable device, mostly at the expense of little Van, "a used-up man;" a favorite ditty was: "He wires in and he wires out, and when on the track Can't tell whelher he's going on or comin" back." Frequently in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia a great wheel made its appearance; it was fourteen feet in diameter with a long axle passing through the center, pro jecting several feet on either side with which to roll it, and a rim like a tuyere around the other center on which it was rolled. On a canvas, covering the frame work, was painted: "Protection to Home Industry;" A Sound National Cur rency;" No More Slave Territory." The wheel made much fun as it rolled on crushing the life out of loco-focoism. One Chapman, edited an ultra Democratic sheet in Indian apolis, Indiana; a New York Democrat wrote a friend of his at Indianapolis to tell Chapman to crow. The Whigs some how got wind of the letter and proposed to make the most out of it, so they painted on transparencies pictures of roosters in the most ludicrous postures attempting to crow; they also carried in their processions stuffed roosters on poles, all bearing the inscription, "Crow, Chapman, Crow!" At evenings there were bonfires and illuminations, and cannon roared, and the people huzzaed. It was a one-sided campaign, never to be forgotten by those who participated in it or those who witnessed it, especially the former. It was said of President Van Buren that he did not draw any part of his salary until after the expiration of his term, and that he dis pensed generous hospitality, both of which was creditable to him; but when it was discovered that he had purchased gold spoons for the White House, such a howl of indignation as went up from the sturdy yeomen has seldom been heard. Representative Ogle, of Illinois, made a telling campaign speech in Congress on such "kingly extravagance." Gov ernment officials continued to do valiant service for their chief and themselves. The postofifice department did an immense business in scattering printed Democratic speeches. Il8 HISTORY OF POLITIC.iVL PARTIES Cave Johnson, postmaster-general, wrote to a postmaster in Alabama asking, "how far does the Tombigbee river run up?" The answer came: "The Tombigbee river does not run up." For telling the truth, that postmaster lost his head. In the Senate in 1840, John C. Calhoun thus describes the surplus revenue and land buying mania of a few years previ ous to that time: "With the increased rise in prices began the gigantic speculations in the public domain, the price of which, being fixed by law, could not be changed so as to partake of the general rise. To enlarge the room for their operations, per haps fifty millions of the public revenue was sunk in pur chasing Indian lands, at their fee simple price, and removing tribe after tribe to the West, at enormous cost; thus subjecting millions on millions of the choicest public lands to be seized on by the keen and greedy speculators. The tide now swelled with irresistible force. From the Banks the deposits passed by discounts into the hands of the land speculators; from them into the hands of the receivers, and thence to the Banks; and again and again repeating the same circle, and, at every revolution passing millions of acres of the public domain from the people into the hands of speculators, for worthless rags. Had this state of things continued much longer, every acre of the public lands, worth possessing, would have passed from the government. At this stage the alarm took place. The revenue was attempted to be squan dered by the wildest extravagance; resolutions passed the Senate calling on the departments to know how much they could spend, and much resentment was felt because they could not spend fast enough. The deposit act was passed, and the treasury circular issued, but as far as the currency was concerned in vain. The explosion followed and the banks fell into convulsions, under which they lie prostrate." From the date of his quarrel with President Jackson, Mr. Calhoun's political life was changed. He had looked forward to the presidency, and when he found that prize beyond his reach he became despondent — a disappointed statesman. Mr. Clay said of him: "His transcendent talents, clear, concise, compact logic, felicity in generalization, were surpassed by no one." And Mr. Webster said: -' He was a man of undoubted genius and commanding talents, of unspotted integrity and unimpeached honor." That Mr. Calhoun's private life was pure was never a question; he claimed that "the Democratic party was held together by the AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 1 ig cohesive power of public plunder." The president in his message to Congress said: "We have passed through four years of greater financial difficulties than have existed in a similar period since the foundation of the government." At a meeting of the bar at the announcement of the death of William Wirt, President Monroe's legal adviser, author of the Life of Patrick Henr}', and, in 1832, a candidate for president of the United States, Mr. Webster said: " It may be permitted us to have the pleasure of recording his name as one who felt a deep sense of religious duty and who placed all his hopes of the future in the truth and in the doctrines of Christianity." Mr. Webster always insisted that the " Sermon on the Mount" could not have been a mere human production. On his death-bed he requested his son to repeat Grey's Elegy in a Country Churchyard, to him, commencing "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day. The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, The ploughman homeward plods his weary way And leaves the world to darkness and to me." The long-contested sub-treasury bill became a law June 30, 1840. The greatest objection to the scheme at this time was, that it gave the secretary of the treasury power to draw on the public money without appropriations by law. When it came into operation in New York merchants paid duties by their checks upon a Bank, indorsed "payable in specie," but as a rule the coin remained in the Bank vault. Treasury notes were generally paid in paper. The divorce of Bank and State, therefore, in New York, was a thing more "hon ored in the breach than in the observance." An inde pendent treasury, which with the strongest possible safe guards, and so adapted as from time to time to meet possible changes in the character of the circulating medium, would perhaps be as good a method for conducting the financial business of a great nation as can be devised. Permitting the secretary of the treasury to borrow money at his discretion as now, when Congress is in session, is reprehensible. The fine of Matthew Lyon, of Kentucky, for violating the old sedition law, was now refunded. Much dissatisfaction was manifested, and many threats of 120 • HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES force made by European countries in behalf of their citi zens, that several States of the United States did not pay the interest due on their public debts. As the time for the presidential election drew near, the excitement became so intense as to convey the impression that the National exist ence depended on the outcome. The result was, for presi dent, Harrison two hundred thirty-four electoral votes, to sixty electoral votes for Van Buren. " Old Tippecanoe " carried all the States but seven. The total vote cast for Birney was six thousand seven hundred and forty-five. The annual ordinary expenses of the government under this administration were thirty million, four hundred and thirty-two thousand, four hundred and seventy-five dollars; more than twice as much as that of John Quincy Adams. The rate of losses per one thousand dollars to the govern ment on receipts and disbursements under Jackson were seven dollars and fifty-two cents; under Van Buren, eleven dollars and seventy-one cents ; under both, nineteen dollars and twenty-three cents; under the four first Republican presidents. total, one dollar and fifty-eight cents. Mr. Van Buren left a public debt March 3, 1841, of seven million, four hundred and forty-seven thousand, seven hundred and ninety-nine dollars. He had, besides being president of the United States, been a member of a New York State constitutional convention, a New York State senator, attorney-general of New York, United States senator, governor of New York, sec retary of state of the United States, minister to England and vice-president of the United States. In 1841 Horace Greeley said: "Had there been no Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren would never have attained the highest ofifice in the gift of his countrymen." The journey of the president-elect from his quiet old home at North Bend, Ohio, to the City of Magnificent Dis tances, was throughout a perfect ovation. Its like had not been witnessed since the days of Julius Cssar. He arrived in Washington on the sixty-eighth anniversary of his birth. It was during a snow storm, but it seemed as if all the people had turned out to greet him, and so, with head uncovered, he continually bowed in acknowledgment of AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 121 their hearty cheers as he, Cincinnatus like, passed through their midst. Never had the National capital beheld such a crowd as thronged to witness the inauguration of the people's choice, William Henry Harrison, as president of the United States. "At eight o'clock on the morning of March 4, 1841, the military, Tippecanoe Clubs and delegations began to form, and at ten o'clock the great procession moved, when a salute of three guns announced their march to the head quarters provided for the occasion, where General Harrison, mounted on a beautiful high-spirited horse, and accom panied by a suite of his personal friends, took his place in the procession immediately behind the officers and soldiers who fought under him. The enthusiasm was unbounded all along the line of march. On his arrival at the capitol there was tumultuous and long applause. He read his address, which was the most elaborate and classic of any of the presi dents, in a clear and distinct tone, and after the oath of office had been administered, the deafening shouts were prolonged and renewed, and the cannon thundered the joyful news that the country had a new chief magistrate." His deeds add lustre to our country's history; his name is imperishable; his fame immortal; all members of Tippecanoe Clubs are his disciples. \\ILI.I.\M HEXK\' II.\KKJS(>X, Xhilh proident of Ihc L-nitcd Slate, .¦mincn t >lalcra\e; In her sweet lap who gave them birth tbey hnd their tranqail grave. AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 25 1 THE WAR FOR THE UNION. Ty^EVERBERATIONS from the cannonading on Fort l*V Sumter were heard all over the United States, and the ¦*¦ \ sound had hardly died away before every high school, college and university door flew wide open, and from the halls of these institutions of education, the glory of this best Nation of earth, came thousands of students voluntarily offering themselves to save the country, and that Union.which in their homes and at their schools they had learned to love. In the village of Lyons, Michigan, resided four young men: Wm. Ely Lewis, Melvin W. Dresser, Charles T. Fox and Oscar F. Fox, the last two brothers; the four playmates in childhood, classmates at school, and now to be fellow soldiers in grim-visaged war. The first three in their twenty- fourth and Oscar in his twenty-second year, at the time of enlistment. Ely and Charles had married and left young wives, Melvin and Oscar single, but all left mothers to lament their departure, and finally mourn their death; all fell face to the enemy, bravely defending the flag. Melvin enlisted in the Fifteenth Infantry Regiment, was commissioned lieutenant, and on the battlefield of Shiloh, while, with v.'aving sword cheering his company on in the conflict, under great disadvantages with scarcely a hope of victory, a rebel bullet instantly ended his young life, April 6, 1862, being the first of the four youthful companions to fall a victim to treason's foul plot. Charles was the next. He enlisted in the Ninth Michigan Infantry Regiment October 12, 1861; served the first year in the States of Kentucky and Tennessee. April 14, 1862, was promoted to first lieutenant; always active and vigilant, beloved by his fellow officers, respected and popular with his company. He fell mortally wounded at Tyree Springs, Tennessee, September 22, 1862, in an attack made while on the march from Nashville to Bowling Green, Kentucky, by a detachment from Wharton's Texan Cavalry. Thus being the second of the four school-mates whose lives were dedi cated to their country. He lived nine days, suffering intensely from the bullet wounds through his lungs. He, with other wounded men, was well cared for by the surgeon of the regiment, left for that purpose, and bythe kind ladies of the house into which he had been carried. His last words to the writer, who, being in command, was obliged to move on with the army, were: "If I die, it is in a good cause." Oscar enlisted in the Twenty-seventh Infantry Regiment, and was commissioned first lieutenant. He was on duty with his regiment at Jamestown, Kentucky, when the Colonel 252 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES received orders to report immediately to General Burnside, commanding Ninth Army Corps at Louisville, Kentucky. From there the journey was continued by railway to Cairo, Illinois; thence by transports down the Mississippi to Vicks burg, to the support of General Grant. The long, forced march to Louisville, thence in box-cars to Cairo, without rest, prostrated many of the men. Oscar, constantly on duty, day and night, was so weakened that when attacked by the terrible Southern chill fever, the second chill carried him beyond earthly conflict, June 17, 1863. His body was taken on shore and buried at Lake Providence, Louisiana. William Ely Lewis was the last of the four young men to fall a martyr for the preservation of the Union. He enlisted in the Eighth Michigan Infantry Regiment, August 12, 1861, was commissioned lieutenant, promoted in 1862 to captaincy, and again promoted and commissioned major, in March, 1863. He was killed at Bethesda Church, it being one of the series of battles near Cold Harbor, Virginia, June 3, 1864. No braver soldier or gallant officer ever drew a sword. The Eighth and Twenty-seventh regiments were a part of the time in the same brigade, and with a New York and Pennsylvania regiment were under command of the writer in the charge on the rebel works, in that morning attack which proved fatal to so many officers and men. While the line was being formed preparatory to a charge, a brief conversa tion with the writer gave assurance of his dauntless spirit when about to make the charge, which his practiced eye foresaw told the death of hundreds. The brave man fell mortally wounded within twenty minutes thereafter. While being carried from the field on a stretcher, realizing his con dition, he remarked to one of the bearers: "Emory, this is the last of my. fighting." The history of these boys, whose parents lived almost within a stone's throw ofeach other, has been given as an illustration of the patriotic spirit that pervaded the hearts of the young men of the Nation when Abraham Lincoln called for volun teers. Perhaps this is the only instance so peculiar in all the circumstances. It is human nature to look regretfully upon mounds of earth covering the forms of those whose mission in life seemed incomplete, and very few of the school-mates of Ely, Melvin, Charles and Oscar can recall the past and read this brief remembrance of them without tearful eyes. HON. |i)||\ i . I \( l'-\ . Member of Congress Sixtli District of Icwa, Author of Chapter on next pas:;e. 254 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES CHAPTER ZVIIl. THE FIFTY-THIRD CONGRESS. "The evil men do lives after them." ^^HIS is especially true of lawmakers. The offences of L\j the last Congress are too recent for history to deal with them impartially. Mr. Cleveland's admirers are accustomed to make the boast that the president was better than this Congress. The claim is not an extravagant one and not worthy of any extended discussion. It seems incredible now, but yet the fact remains that in 1892 the American people, with a full knowledge of what they were doing, elected Mr. Cleveland and the Fifty-third Congress, and by that election decreed that the successful policy of thirty years should be reversed. When, on March 4, 1893, the great inaugural procession followed Mr. Cleveland from the steps of the capitol to the White House, the Mugwumps looked on complacently and said, "now, indeed, we shall have reform." That procession had Mr. Cleveland and the retiring president. General Har rison, at its head, and at the rear of the array marched six thousand Tammany braves in the column of " reform." They had forgotten the Tweed episode and did not then know how soon Lexow would again uncover the secrets of their organiza tion. Six thousand Tammany politicians, with little tigers pinned to their hat-bands, shouted the chorus of "Cleveland and Tariff Reform.'' Along the curbstone, mingling with the people, the majority members of the Fifty-third Congress stood and rejoiced with the multitude. A heterogeneous alliance of incongruous ele ments made up the membership of that legislative organiza tion. They looked on at the triumph and listened to the deafening shouts that greeted Fitz Hugh Lee, and all went AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 255 merry. But history moved on rapidly, and the business inter ests of the United States soon took fright at the motley organi zation which had been chosen to rule this country for the next few years. Canada and Europe looked on with commendation, but their approval only startled the countiy the more. What would such a party do with the countiy, was the anxious inquiry everywhere. The situation became daily more and more critical, and in a proclamation in which the true causes ofthe disturbanceandthedifficulties surroundingthecountry's business were in the main ignored, the president called the legislative branch of the government together and the Fifty- third Congress commenced to make histoiy. It is difficult for any one so near the adjournment of that strange organization to speak or write of its acts dispassionately. The best we can say of it is that it might have done worse. Organized as it was, it was impossible for it to do better. With well nigh a hundred Democratic majority in the lower House, it was strong enough to be recognized as an organized threat against American industries, viewing, as its majority did, with jealous eyes, all the prosperity that had come under the rule of their opponents. Every industry stood aghast at its mouthings. The spirit animating its action may be understood when we recall the fact .hat the leader ofthe House, in his report upon the tariff bill, spoke of the great and rapidly growing tin plate manufacture, as a " bogus industry which should be suppressed." The majority of the House was ready for the overthrow of every protected enterprise built up and fostered by the legislation of their opponents. Usually Democratic representatives have with unanimity been willing to sacrifice the industries of all sections of the country but their own in the framing of a tariff bill, and have been sticklers for a "reason able degree of protection" for their own localities. This feeling prevailed in the Senate in the Fifty-third Congress, and also to a great extent in the House, but there was a self sacrificing spirit also manifest among many of the "revenue reformers" in both bodies. Louisiana senators sacrificed the sugar industry of their own State, under an irresponsible promise that somehow their State would be cared for by the conference committee, to which the bill must ultimately be referred. Texas senators and representarives led the flocks 256 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES of their wool growers to the shambles. Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia senators and representatives emptied the tin dinner pails of their mining constituents into the laps of the Nova Scotia Coal Syndicate. Whilst striking blindly at their political enemies, the majority proved to be equally dangerous to their friends. Valuable reciprocal treaties, built up with infinite pains upon the foundation of protective legislation, were madly thrown away. No difference how good a thing might be it was enough to cause its destruction that it was the work of Har rison or Blaine. And after many months in which the people wearily waited, hoping for nothing but fearing for the worst, the Wilson-Gorman bill was laid before the president as the net result of all this toil and misery. In defiant private letters to his loyal henchmen the president denounced the bill as " perfidious and dishonorable," but he allowed it to become a law without his signature. This is the one great Democratic act of an affirmative character by which the Fifty- third Congress will be judged. Not only has this unfortunate Congress and administra tion struck a deadly blow at every industry in the United States, but in so doing has paralyzed the treasury at the same time. When, under the new tariff, imports suddenly increased last Januar}', the friends of the new law pointed to this fact as a sign of better times. But the new importations had to be paid for with American gold, and any relief to the treasury came at the expense of continued idleness of the men whose employment had been taken away through the importation of these goods. Vainly has the president tried to buy back this lost prosperity by selling bonds at ruinously low prices. The foreign policy of the Nation never was so misman aged in our country's history. A Democrat, whose conver sion was as sudden as that of Saul of Tarsus, was placed in the State department. He was put into the cabinet before the mucilage on his new party label had got dry. He knew no system of statesmanship except that which had been taught him during his long-life as a Republican, and he was forbidden, as well as unwilling to follow the only method that he knew. The humiliation that this man brought AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 257 upon himself was more than equaled by the abasement to which he brought his countiy. And yet the committee on foreign affairs brought into the House and secured by nearly a full party vote the passage of an endorsement of the shameful Cleveland-Gresham policy in Hawaii. No wonder the rank and file of the great Democratic party turned with scorn and disgust from so many exhibitions of incompetency and error. When Mr. Cleveland went into power there was not as much opposition as there ought to have been. There will be none to his going out. This Congress attempted to denationalize the currency. It attempted to restore the unregretted State Bank money of the sorrowful past. W^hen we make a record of what it tried to do but failed, we can fully realize the sense of relief with which the business men of the country sang the do.x- ology when its adjournment came. Even the venerable Captain Basset did not turn back the clock, but the hour of adjournment was allowed to come with all the haste that Father Time would permit. Many vain promises were made, but no load has been taken off of this generation. Hundreds of thousands of men have been thrown out of employment for an idea, and a foolish one at that. No one has rejoiced or had cause to rejoice except the foreign workman, who has seen his employment built up upon the ruins of the labor of this country. When American workmen have returned to their work it has been at greatly reduced wages. New bond issues have been put upon sale amounting to one hundred and si.xty-two million four hundred thousand dollars, and the burdens of the interest upon these obliga tions is cast upon the twentieth centuiy. The new century must pay for the errors of the one which is soon to pass. Bonds worth one hundred and twenty and one half dollars in the open market, and which brought that figure when offered at public sale, were secretly sold at one hundred and four and one half dollars to the friends of the administration, the president's late partner appearing as a negotiator of the sale. When we consider how few friends the administra tion had left, we should perhaps not blame Mr. Cleveland too 17 258 HISTORY OF POLITICAI PARTIES much for taking care of them; but such a donation as ten million dollars is without parallel in any other administration. If Messrs. Cleveland and Carlisle really thought our credit was at so low an ebb, it is gratifying to know that the world did not share with them that humble view which led them to sell a four per cent thirty year bond at one hundred and four and one half dollars. Measured by the tests of recent appropriations this has become a billion dollar country. By juggling with figures the appropriations of the Fifty-first Congress were falsely claimed to exceed one billion dollars during its two years of existence. The cry of ''Billion Dollar Congress" did great duty in the campaign of 1890, and did much to give the Democracy their large majority in the Fifty-second Congress. With Mr. Holman as chairman of the appropriation committee, the appropriations of the Fifty-second Congress exceeded those of its predecessor by thirty-eight million si.x hundred and eighty-seven thousand three hundred and sixty-four dollars and fifty-eight cents, and we then had in fact, and not imagination, a "Billion Dollar Congress." Compared with the Fifty-second Congress, the last Congress can boast of a reduction. But the Fifty- first Congress and the Fifty-second Congress appropriated revenues, the Fifty-third Congress appropriated the proceeds of bond sales whilst it depleted the revenues. Let us contrast the aggregate of these appropriations: Fifty-first Congress, nine hundred and eighty-eight million four hundred and seventeen thousand one hundred and eighty-three dollars and thirty- four cents; Fifty-second Congress, one billion twenty-seven million one hundred and four thousand five hundred and forty-seven dollars and ninety-two cents; Fifty-third Congress, nine hundred and ninety million three hundred and thirty-eight thousand six hundred and ninety- one dollars and four cents. There was a pathetic side to the history of this Congress. When they met in extra session enough had been disclosed by experience to shake the faith of the men who had been elected on the free trade idea. As time progressed the evidence grew stronger that the proposed legislation was a mistake, and that the people did not want it, and would resent it at the polls. But these gentlemen had talked too AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 259 loud and long. They must go on to the end. When the bill, as it came back from the Senate, branded as "perfidious and dishonorable" b}- the president, finally came up for passage Mr. Wilson, the eloquent but misguided theorist, made the great effort of his life in its support, and it was passed amid tumultuous cheering. As Mr. Reed e.xpressed it, they "hastened to adopt that which they had even refused to look at." Amid the excitement following the speech of Mr. Wilson, two enthusiastic young men, Mr. Tucker, of Virginia, and Mr. Bryan, of Nebraska, carried the orator triumphantly from the hall upon their shoulders. As soon as the people got a chance they carried out most of the remaining members. Let us sum up the review of this Congress in a few words: Never was Congress elected upon such high sounding prom ises and protestations. Never did administration go into power so strongly intrenched in all branches of the govern ment. Never did any administration or Congress so utterly dnd signally fail in everything that was for the good of the people. But there is nothing mysterious or complicated in its failure. The country had for many years lived under legislation so framed as to discourage imports and to give employment to labor on American soil. If that policy was adapted to our conditions and resulted in our prosperity and advancement the adoption of the opposite policy must of necessity have the opposite effect. And so it happened when the experiment was tried. This Congress has cleared up the. political atmosphere and has made error more obvious by its pracrical test than was possible in any other way. When the good pilot has steered around the point of danger so long that its existence is doubted, the bad pilot may prove that the rock is there by steering directly upon it and thenceforth the danger is no longer disputed. The Fifty-third Congress may be made valuable in the future as an example of what should be avoided. This seems to be the most good that we can at present extract from its history. 260 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES COL. DAVID B. HENDERSON. fr HE State of Iowa has repeatedly had the good fortune to ( I i be represented in Congress not by mere politicians, but by statesmen. Among these is easily to be reckoned the representative from Dubuque, in the third district. The third district people long a^o recognized the advantage of having a man trained to his work to represent them in Washington, and no city in Iowa has been so long and ably served by men of political talent and eternal zeal for the people's good as Dubuque. The fact is recognized every where, till it is almost a saying that in the Dubuque district second class men stand no chance to go to Congress. David B. Henderson's name is familiar to every house hold in Iowa, and among the soldiers of the late war, his presence is as a battle slogan. He was born at Old Deer, in Scotland, on March 14, 1840, so that he is to-day in the prime of manhood. He came to Iowa in 1849, ^'^d was educated first in the common schools, and then at the Upper Iowa University. In 1865 he was admitted to the bar. He had been reared mostly on a farm till he was twenty-one, and when the civil war broke out he enlisted as a private soldier. His war record was one of conspicuous gallantry. Company C of the Twelfth Iowa Infantry elected him as a first lieutenant, and as such he took gallant part in the battles of Fort Henry, Donelson and Shiloh. He was wounded in a charge at Donelson, and had a leg shot off at the battle of Corinth. This battle, under General Rosecrans, was one of the perfect victories of the war. The rebels fought like tigers and lost six thousand, killed and wounded, and two thousand prisoners. The rebel commander reported that the history of the war would contain no bloodier page than that recording this fierce contest. Henderson in this fight was adjutant of the "Union Brigade." He was dis charged for his wounds, but entered the service again as colonel of the Forty-Sixth Iowa. At the close of the war he occupied positions of high trust and honor, for which his unusual legal attainments fitted him. He was Collector of revenue. Commissioner of board of enrollment and Assistant United States district attorney. He resigned his political positions twice, in order to turn his attention wholly to an important law practice. In 1882 he was first chosen to represent the Dubuque district in Congress; he has been a member of every Congress since that day to the present time, making six consecutive terms — an extraordinary record. With his congressional AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 261 career commenced the making of a political reputation that is as wide as the Nation. D. B. Henderson's fame no longer belongs to Iowa alone. He is recognized throughout the countiy as an astute states man, an absolutely pure patriot, and an orator ranking with any man in Congress. His eloquence is not simply of words, high periods and grand flourishes. There is sense in what he says, wisdom and patriotism. As a maker of laws, as a man honored on important committees, he has no superiors in our legislative body. He remembers not only the interests of his district and State, but the interests of his common country; and his long career in public affairs makes him a great and important political State servant. As a man no public official stands higher from any State. He is sincere in his public actions, sincere and faithful in his friendships. Colonel Henderson has always been a true blue Republican, though not a bitter partisan, and Iowa Republicans have always honored him at the great conven tions. In 1880 and again in 1888 he was chairman of the Iowa delegation to the National conventions, and he has been twice chairman of the Republican conventions of the State. Perhaps no man in Iowa is so loved by his old comrades in arms. He is a soldier among soldiers, and his speeches on the occasions of soldier reunions have the ring to them of pure patriotism and fiery eloquence. His standing in Congress is very high, as is witnessed by the important chairmanship? he is chosen to fill.. Every one knows that laws are made in committees, not on the floor of the House only, and it is there that much of Henderson's best work is acccomplished, yet when he speaks in legislative halls men listen — friends or foes. He is above all things, pre-eminently, the soldier's friend in Congress, and when he is around, soldiers are not ashamed that they were in the army; nor do little politicians talk of abolishing pension laws when the voice of D. B. Henderson is heard on the floor of the House. Bearing on him the wounds of honorable battle, his very presence and his burning eloquence fires men anew with the belief that this is a country worth fighting for, worth preserving, and one to be honored among nations. His personal friends everywhere are legion, not only in his own State, but wherever- he is known. Colonel Henderson was married to Miss Augusta Fo.x, in Ohio, in 1866, and he has about him an interesting and a lovable family. Iowa has been fortunate in the high character and abilities of many of the men she has sent to Washington — but no name among them all has reflected more credit on the State than has the name of D. B. Henderson. n(.)X. WM. B. ALLISON. JoivK's (Jholce for FreshUfit ifi i^df,. AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 263 CHAPTER XLX. WILLIAM BOYD ALLISON. WILLIAM BOYD ALLISON was born on a farm in Perry township, Wayne county, Ohio, on the second day of March, 1829. His ancestry, on both sides, emigrated from Pennsylvania, in 1783, and settled upon the farm where the subject of this sketch was born. Although this settlement was new, it soon became dense enough to establish a county church of the Presby terian faith, and an excellent school under the common school system then prevailing in Ohio. Mr. Allison, as a boy, attended the neighborhood school, and received there an excellent elementary education. At the age of sixteen he was sent to an academy at Wooster, Ohio, known as " Professor Parrott's School." He remained at this school for a year and then taught a neighborhood school for the winter. The next spring he went to Allegheny College, Pennsylvania, for the remainder of the college year, and the year following this he spent at Western Reserve College, Ohio, then returned to Wooster' where he commenced the study of law, in the office of Messrs. Hemphill & Turner. In the fall of 1852 he was admitted to the bar, and began the practice of law at Ashland, Ohio. He remained at Ashland until the winter of 1856-7, when he made a journey to Illinois and Iowa with a view to a new location, selecting Dubuque, Iowa, as the place of his future home. He removed to Dubuque in April, 1857, where he still resides in the same house that became his home in August, 1857. Mr. Allison formed a partnership with a well-established law firm at Dubuque and entered upon an active practice at once, as the failures and depressions of 1857 greatly added to the business of the courts, and increased greatly the earnings of the lawyers. Dubuque, for a few years, had been the terminus of the Illinois Central Railway, which at this time was the only road reaching the Mississippi north of the Rock Island. The entire traffic north to Saint Paul, in the season of navigation, was conducted by lines of steamers running between Dubuque and St. Paul so that Dubuque was then the leading city between St. Louis and St. Paul on the Mississippi river. Mr. Allison, before leaving Ohio, was interested in political affairs, was a delegate from Ashland county to the convention that nominated Salmon P. Chase for governor in 1855 and he took an active part locally in the campaign for Fremont in 1856, and this interest continued after he became a resident of Iowa, and he early took part in the local political affairs of Iowa, as well as the great 264 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES Narional affairs of the time. He was a delegate to the State convention that nominated Samuel J. Kirkwood for governor in 1859; and also was a delegate from Iowa to the Chicago convention that nominated Mr. Lincoln in i860. Although active in these two campaigns, his political engagements did not interfere with the steady work of his profession. When the rebellion began, in 1 861, Governor Kirkwood was at the head of affairs in Iowa, and upon the call being made in the summer of that year for troops to serve for three years or during the war. Governor Kirkwood appointed Mr. Allison a member of his staff, with authority to raise two regiments in the northern part of the State, to aid in filling the quota of Iowa. This service was performed with fidelity, and the regiments were provided and sent to the field. The next year two more regiments were raised in northern Iowa, under the direction and supervision of Mr. Allison, on behalf of the State. Prior to the census of i860 Iowa had but two members of the House of Representatives. Under the census of i860 she became entitled to six members. Mr. Allison, in the fall of 1862, was elected a member of the House from the third district of Iowa, and took his seat, beginning with the Thirty-eighth Congress in 1863. General Garfield and Hon. James G. Blaine also took their seats for the first time in this Congress. Mr. Allison was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses, serving continuously in the House from March, 1863, to March, 1871. His service in the House embraced the most momentous period in our history, covering the last two years of the war, and embracing the period of the reconstruction measures, as also all the great financial measures necessary to the restoration of the credit of the Nation. At the beginning of his second term Mr. Allison was a member of the committee on ways and means, then, as now, regarded as the most important committee of the House. He took an active part in the preparation of all the measures presented to the House by the committee during the six years of his service as a member of the committee. Although an earnest friend of protection to American industry, Mr. Allison did not fully agree with his Republican associates on the com mittee on ways and means respecting the details of the tariff bill of 1870, and criticized these details in the committee- room and on the floor of the House. The criticisms made by Mr. Allison and other Republicans met the approval of the House and resulted in a modification of the bill in such a way as to secure the support of all the Republicans on its final passage. Mr. Allison contended that the conditions were such as to justify the reduction of duties in many cases, rather than an increase. This view was held by the next AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 265 House, when, under the leadership of Mr. Dawes, of Massa chusetts, a general reduction of ten per cent was made on the then existing rates. During his service in the House Mr. Allison was an active, earnest, consistent Republican, and supported all the leading measures of the party. In 1872 Mr. Allison was elected to the United States Senate from Iowa, and took his seat on the 4th of March, 1873. He has been three times re-elected. His present term will expire on the 3rd of March, 1897. In the beginning of his service in the Senate Mr. Allison was a member of the committee on appropriations. This committee, ne.xt to the finance, is regarded as the most important committee ofthe Senate. He was the last Republican named on the committee, but so rapid are the changes in the personnel of the Senate, Mr. Allison became chairman of the committee in 1881 and con tinued chairman until March, 1893, when the political control of the Senate changed, and Senator Cockrell, a Democrat, became chairman. He is still a member of the committee, standing at the head of the Republican members. Mr. Allison became a member of the finance committee, in March, 1877, upon the retirement of General Logan from the Senate, and is still a member of this important committee. Mr. Allison, in 1878, offered in the finance committee two amend ments to the Bland free coinage act, which had passed the House, providing for the free coinage of silver, which amendments became the operative sections of the act; namely, the amendment for limited coinage on government account, and also the section declaring it to be the public policy of the United States to use both silver and gold as money metals through an international agreement to estab lish a common ratio, with free coinage by the leading com mercial nations at such ratio. This declared policy of the government, as far as statute law can fix a policy, has not since been changed. Although these amendments were put upon the bill by the finance committee, they really did not have the approval of a majority of the committee; hence the bill was placed in charge of Mr. Allison in the Senate. The amendments were adopted by the Senate, and concurred in by the House, and the bill passed both houses and became a law over the veto of President Hayes, receiving more than two-thirds majority. Mr. Allison also had charge, in the Senate, of the act of 1882, authorizing the extension of the charters ofthe National Banks; was the author of the twelfth secrion of that act, which authorizes the issue of gold cerrifi- cates on the deposit of gold in the treasury. In the winter of 1886 Mr. Allison was made chairman of a sub-committee of the finance committee, to examine into the methods of the administrarion of the custom laws. This sub-committee 266 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES was engaged for two years in making this investigation, receiving the cordial co-operation of the secretary of the treasury, Mr. Manning, and early in 1888 Mr. Allison reported to the Senate a bill making a complete revision of these laws, providing a new method and new machinery for the appraise ment and classification of imported merchandise. This bill, with but few modifications, passed the Senate at the first session in 1888, but was not taken up by the House of Repre sentatives. It was again passed as a part of the Senate substitute for the Mills bill at the short session in 1889. This bill was reintroduced in the House by Mr. McKinley, after he became chairman of the ways and means committee in the Fifty-first Congress, and during the first session of that Con gress became a law, and is so satisfactory that it is not pro posed by this, the Fifty-third Congress, to repeal it, although important changes are proposed. Mr. Allison was chairman of the sub-committee which prepared the substitute for the Mills bill in 1888, and had charge of the bill in the Senate up to the time of its passage in that body early in 1889. This substitute was not considered in the House. It, however, formed the basis of the bill which became a law in 1890, although many changes were made in the House under the direction of the committee on ways and means, of which Mr. McKinley was chairman. Mr. Allison was a member of the sub-committee of the finance committee in the Senate which prepared the amendments to the McKinley bill in 1890, of which Senator Aldrich, of Rhode Island, was chairman. ¦ This brief recapitulation shows that Mr. Allison has been a member of the committee on finance, and an active partici pant in the preparation and conduct of the important meas ures considered by the committee and reported to the Senate. Mr. Allison has always maintained that both gold and silver should always constitute the metallic money of the world, with full legal tender power, and that the United States should use both metals so far as they could be used, maintaining their parity in value by means of limited coinage of silver on government account, but that an international agreement or concurrent legislative action of the leading commercial nations for a common ratio, with free mintage at such ratio, was a necessary prerequisite to the opening of the mints of the United States to the free coinage of silver. Mr. Allison's service as chairman of the important committee on appropriations was satisfactory to the Senate; the policy of the committee being guided neither by parsimony on the one hand, nor by extravagance on the other. Mr. Allison is generally regarded as conservative in his views on public measures, and though not given to elaborate speeches in the Senate, he states his points in such a way as to make them AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 267 clear to those who may have an interest in the subject discussed. Mr. Allison's service on these two important committees in the Senate, and his earlier service on the committee on ways and means in the House, have given him a full knowledge of the operations of the government for a long and important period in its history. This knowledge, together with other fitting qualities, led President Garfield to offer him the position of secretary of the treasury in 1881, and President Harrison to offer him the same position in 1889. He declined both these offers, preferring to retain his place in the Senate, to which he has been elected by the people of Iowa. Mr. Allison is an easy and fluent speaker in the Senate and oa the rostrum. He has participated in the public canvass in his own State every year since his first election in 1862, and for many years in the political canvasses of other States, so that he has performed his full share of political work of the Republican party since he has held public position. Mr. Allison has held no political office except that of representative and senator in Congress. He was selected by President Harrison as chairman of the American delegates to the monetary conference at Brussels, in 1892, which was a difficult service in view of the attitude toward silver of Great Britain and the leading commercial nations of Europe. This conference resulted in no positive action. But the American delegates so managed their part in the conference as to avoid criticisms at home or in Europe. The life of a member of the House or Senate is an active and busy one; and in a growing State like Iowa the demands upon her representatives must be constant and exacting. When Mr. Allison entered Congress, Iowa had a population of a little over six hundred thousand. She now has a population of over two millions. That Mr. Allison has now for thirty years served his State in Congress acceptably to this growing and changing population, is an evidence that his life has been an active and busy effort. Though the Senate is a perpetual body, yet it has so changed since 1873 that there are only three senators now who were members of the Senate when Mr. Allison first entered that body, namely: Senators Sherman and Morrill on the Republican side, and Senator Ransom on the Democratic side, and of those who entered with him, only Senator Jones, of Nevada, remains. Mr. Allison has been twice married. In 1854, he married the daughter of Daniel Carter, Esq., of Ashland, Ohio, who died in 1859; in 1872 he married Mary N. Nealley, the adopted daughter of Senator Grimes, of Iowa, who died in 1883. His Iowa home is in Dubuque, where he spends the vacations of the Senate. In Washington he resides in a rented house, which he has occupied since 1873. (;()\'EKXUK \V^L M'KIXLI':V Enhsted a^ a pri\"ate soldier in iSCii; was promoted to lieutenant, captain and major. Mnce tlie war he has become distinguished as a legislator, and one of the most honored statesmen of the- count:;', Ohio's choice for the presidency in n'^gi'i. .'iND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES 269 GOVERNOR WM. McKINLPZY. WILLIAM McKlNLEY was born at Niles, Trumbull county, Ohio, on January 29, 1843. Young McKin ley was educated at the public schools and at the Poland academy. In June, 1861, he enlisted in the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry as a private. On September 24, 1862, he was promoted to second lieutenant; on February 7, 1863, first lieutenant; on July 25, 1864, to captain, and was breveted major by President Lincoln for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Opequan, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek. He served on the staff of Ex-President Hayes and Major-General Geo. Crook, and after Crook's capture he served for a time on the staff of Major-General Hancock, and subsequently on the staff of General S. S. Carroll. He was with the Twenty-third in all its battles, and was mustered out with it on July 26, 1805. At the close of the war he returned to Ohio. He had a liking for the military profession, and it was said that but for the advice of his father he would, at the solicitation of General Carroll, have attached himself to the regular army. He studied law with the Hon. Charles E. Glidden, and then attended the law school at Albany, N. Y. In 1867 he was admitted to the bar, and in May of the same year he located in Canton, Stark county, where he soon formed a partnership with Judge Belden. On January 25, 1871, he was" married to Miss Ida Saxton, daughter of James A. Saxton, a prominent citizen of Canton. He was elected to Congress in 1876, and was continuously in Congress until March, 1891, except part of his fourth term, he being unseated by a Democratic House late in the first session, his seat being given to Mr. Wallace, his competitor. While in Congress Mr. McKinley served on the committee of the revision of laws, the judiciary committee, the committee of expenditures of the postoffice department, and the committee on rules; and when Garfield was nomi nated for the presidency, Mr. McKinley was assigned to the committee on ways and means in his place, and he continued to serve on the last named committee until the end of his congressional career, being chairman of that committee during the last Congress, and was the author of the famous tariff law which bears his name. For a number of years Mr. McKinley has been the recognized champion of the cardinal Republican principle of protection. He was delegate at large to the National convention of 1884 and supported Mr. Blaine for the presi dency. He was also delegate at large to the National 270 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES convention of 1888, when he supported Mr. Sherman. At the latter convention his name was sprung for the presi dential nomination, but in a speech, which was characteristic of the man, he forbade the use of his name for the reason that he had pledged his loyalty to Sherman. He was chair man of the committee on resolutions at both conventions. On June 7, 1891, Major McKinley was unanimously nominated by the Ohio Republicans for governor, and after one of the most hotly contested campaigns in the history of the State, he was elected by a plurality of twenty-one thousand five hundred and eleven. At the election in November, 1893, Governor McKinley was re-elected, defeating Hon. L. T. Neal by eighty thousand nine hundred and ninety-five. At the Ohio State convention. May 28th, Mr. McKinley received a unanimous vote presenting his name as Ohio's choice for president of the United States, pledging to him its unswerving support. THOMAS BRACKETT REED. TT-HOMAS BRACKETT REED was born in Portland, Mj Maine, October 18, 1839. His father. Captain Thomas B. Reed, master of a small coasting vessel, was also a native of Portland. His mother was Matilda Prince Mitchell, of North Yarmouth, Maine. The son, who is a man of fine physique and address, greatly resembles his mother. W. H. Bronson says of him: "As speaker of the National House of Representatives he excited the interest of the whole countiy by his position in a contest the most spirited that had occurred in Congress for more than a quarter of a century. His political opponents criticised his official acts while all acknowledged his skill and ability." Reed attended city schools and fitted for college in the high school; was nearly seventeen years old when he entered Bowdoin College; and he graduated in i860, just before he attained his majority; he had to rely almost wholly on his own resources to pay the expenses of his education. In College he showed the qualities of a leader in a marked degree. He was prominent in the meetings of his class and in the debates of the literary societies. Directly after his graduation from college Mr. Reed taught school in Portland. In 1861 he commenced the study of law; in 1865 was admitted to the bar. In 1868 he was a member of the State legislature; he served with ability and was re-elected. In 1870 he served in the State senate; became attorney-general of Maine, and as such was AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 27 1 able and brilliant in every respect. In 1876 he was elected to Congress from the first Maine district, and has been re-elected at every congressional election since that time. When he had served two terms in Congress he was an acknowledged leader. He was triumphantly nominated and consequently elected speaker of the Fifty-first Congress. Mr. Reed's great worth in Congress has been his persistent opposition to the practice of filibustering. He has always contended strongly for the right of the majority to transact the business of the countiy, unhindered by the dilatory tactics of the minority. Mr. Reed's first speech of importance in the House of Representatives was in the second session of the Fort}'-fifth Congress, a powerful presentation of the arguments against the bill to reimburse the college of William and Mary, in Virginia, for property destroyed during the war. Early in his congressional career he had come in contact with the ablest debaters in the House and had invariably vanquished them in ready repartee. Mr. Reed has always taken a prominent part in the debates on the tariff question. For a number of years he has been the acknowledged leader of the Republican side of the House. The solid qualities of the man are recognized alike by Republicans and Democrats, North and South. Mr. Reed owes his success wholly to his eminent ability, not to any aptness for political maneuvering. He has few of the charac teristics of the politician. He is outspoken, and has, therefore, -plenty of enemies even in his own party, but in the light of his success they are doubtless growing fewer. When asked lately if he thought his party would at some future day nominate him for the presidency, he is said to have made ¦the characteristic reply: "They might do worse, and I think they will." For deciding, as speaker, that when a member of Congress was personally present in the hall of the House of Repre- , sentatives and Congress in session, he must be considered and counted as present whether he answered to a call of the roll for a quorum or not, Mr. Reed was called by his political opponents, "The Czar." He held that a member could not be present and absent at the same rime. At the last session of the Fifty-second Congress Speaker Crisp, in order to transact business, was compelled to adopt Mr. Reed's ruling. As the Republicans will have a large majority in the Fifty- third Congress there is no question of the subject of this sketch being elected speaker of that body. Twelve months prior to the assembling of the Republican National convention of 1896, Thomas B. Reed is a prominent candidate for nomination thereby for president of the United States. TH()M.\S IiK.\CKEdT KI:EI). Thoinis 1!. Reed was city solicitor of Portland in iS,-^-,-;. was elected to tlie Foitv fifth, F. -ix- sixth, Forly.seventh, Forty-eighth. Forty-ninth. Fiftieth, Fiftvfirst and Fiftv-second Congtessts and re-elected to the Ftfty-third Consress as a Keiniblicaii, receiving sixteen thousand tliiee hundred and tw.-lvc votes, aaam^t foui teen thousand s,x hun.lred and thirty-five votes for Ingraham, ilenio- crat, six hundred and ninety-one votes for Tucker, Prohibitionist, and fifteen voles scattering. He was elected speaker of the House of Repi eseiitatives December j, iss.j. AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 273 MRS. CAROLINE SCOTT HARRISON. the first day of October, 1832, the house of Rev. John Witherspoon Scott, a Presbyterian divine, presi dent of the Oxford, Ohio, Female College, was made happy by the birth of a daughter. In the Presbyterian church at Oxford, the Rev. Henry Little, a noted minister of that day, christened the infant daughter Caroline Scott. Mrs. Harrison's ancestors were Scotch. Among the Covenanters who fought for Scotland's civil and religious freedom in the wars which followed the accession of the Stuarts to the English throne were the earliest known pro genitors of the Scott family. On October 20, 1853, she was united in marriage with Benjamin Harrison. "The happiness of their lives, com mencing from that date, has known no diminution nor change until death came to separate them. Their fondness for their home and the pleasure they took in the family circle and its simple joys filled their horizon and gave an example of con jugal affection that all the world is better for knowing about. The prospects in life for the young couple were not bright, as the world goes, but the young people were full of hope. Their united fortunes in love made them contented, and with happy hearts and willing hands they crossed the threshold of life's duties together. In 1881 General Harrison entered the Senate of the United States, and Mrs. Harrison became a member of a distin guished circle, ^:he wives of senators. In her Washington residence of six years Mrs. Harrison extended her sphere of usefulness. Her name was associated with noble charities and church work. The Garfield Hospital owes its present success in a large degree to her active interest as one of its first directors. At the beginning of the grip epidemic Mrs. Harrison shared the fate of the entire household, save the president. Before she was taken down, however, she nursed all the rest, even her little grand-children, who were extremely ill. Several times afterward she suffered again from all the painful symptoms of the first attack, and especially so last spring, a year ago, upon her return from California, when she brought back with her a troublesome cough. Although she had another bad spell while at Cape May last summer, she returned in the autumn with her general health so much improved that she no longer allowed her family to look on her as a semi-invalid. 18 2 74 HlSTItKV OF P()I,]d'IC.\L I'.\RT1 ES In appearance Mrs. Harrison was a t\-pe of matron!)- beauty. In figure she showcil the generosity of nature, and in mind nature's equal beneficence, expanded b\- training in the iicquirements ui a liberal educiitiun, drawn from the broadest opportunities. .V huash growth of hair sil\-cied ^\¦ith the threads of a little o\cr half a century, and floatin-- CAROLIXE srtll'l' HARRISON. The esliiuab 'icparted thi and universally esteem,- ife from the presidential wife rd President Benjamin Harrison, wl ansion, Washington, D, C, (tctober :;5, 1S9 in curb' wa\'e-^ o\'er a well sha[icd head and ending in a gr.fcelul coil, her regular (ciiturcs and dark, exj.ire.^su e eyes it.irmcd a picti:re ot ripened w i.inianhood. .She had a \'oicc softened b\' Uie instincts of a L^entle nature, and a L;ift of con\"ersation which, ^\¦hile animated, was thouL;litful. liEXJAMIX JIAKRJSOX. Twenty-lhird President of the L^nited States. His resf ecied abroad. inistration honored at home, 276 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARIIES CHAPTER XX. BENJAMIN HARRISON. BENJA:\IIN HARRISON was born at North Bend, Ohio, August 20, 1833. His father, John Scott Harrison, was the third son of General William Henry Harrison, ninth president of the United States, who was the third and youngest son of Benjamin Harrison, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, from Virginia. John Scott Harrison was twice married, his second wife being Elizabeth, daughter of Archibald Irwin, of Meresburg, Penn sylvania. Benjamin was the second son of this marriage. His parents were resolutely determined upon the education of their children, and early in childhood Benjamin was placed under private instruction at home. In 1847 he and his elder brother were sent to a school on what was known as College Hill, a few miles from Cincinnati. After remain ing there two years he entered the junior class at Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio, where he was graduated in 1852. He was married October 20, 1853, to Caroline Scott, daughter of Dr. John W. Scott, who was then president of Oxford Female Seminary, from which Mrs. Harrison was graduated in 1852. ,i\fter studying law under Storer & Gwynne, in Cincinnati, Ohio, he was admitted to the bar in 1854, and began the practice of his profession at Indianapolis, Indiana, which has since been his home. When the civil war began, he assisted in raising the Seventieth Indiana Regiment of Volunteers, and became in it second lieutenant, although Governor Morton tendered him its command. In 1862 the news spread throughout Ohio and Indiana that the Confederates were in force with the advantage of an interior line for their operations. It was in this season of apprehension that the Seventieth Indiana went into the field with Harrison as its colonel, their objective point being Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was brigaded with the Seventy-ninth Ohio and the One Hundred and Second, One Hundred and Fifth and One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Illinois Regiments, under Brigadier-General Ward, of Ken tucky, and this organization was l^aept unchanged until the close of the war. Colonel Harrison had the right of the AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 277 brigade and his command was occupied at first in guarding railroads and hunting guerillas, his energies being largely spent in drilling his men. He was extremely systematic and painstaking, his theory being that every day in camp should be a preparation for that other day always to be kept in a soldier's mind — the day of battle. By this method he made his regiment what it afterwards became. When General Rosecrans set out for Chattanooga, General Ward was sent on duty to Nashville, and on June 2, 1864, his command was called to the front. Colonel Harrison being placed in command of the brigade. Later this brigade became the first brigade of the third division of the Twentieth Army Corps, under " Fighting Joe Hooker," General Ward resuming his command of the Seventieth Indiana. The campaign under General Sherman, upon which his regiment with its associate forces entered, was directed, as is now known, against the Confederate army of General Joseph E. Johnston, and not against any particular place. In the Federal advance one of the severest actions was fought at Resaca, Georgia, May 14 and 15, 1864. Here Colonel Harrison was among the first, if not the first, to cross the parapet in storming the Southern redoubt. From that place south ward, every day brought a collision of some sort with the enemy; at every halt a breastwork was built. At New Hope Church, Alabama, and at Golgotha Church, Kenesaw Moun tain, and Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, the regiment and its leader saw sharp fighting; that at Resaca being, in Colonel Harrison's opinion, the heaviest he was ever subjected to before or at any time afterwards. When the Peach Tree Creek fight was over. General Hooker wrote as follows to Washington, D. C: "My attention was first attracted to this young officer by the superior excellence of his brigade, in discipline and instruction, the result of his labor, skill and devotion. With more foresight than I have witnessed in any officer of his experience, he seemed to act upon the principle that success depended upon the thorough preparation in discipline and esprit of his command vindi cated his wisdom as much as his valor." In all of the achievements of the Twentieth Corps in that campaign. Colonel Harrison bore conspicuous part. Joining Sherman at Goldsboro, North Carolina, he resumed the command of his old brigade, and at the close of the war went to Washington, D. C, to take part in the grand army review, at which he was duly mustered. out, June 8, 1865; not, however, until he had received a commission as brevet briga dier-general, signed by Abraham Lincoln, and countersigned by E. M. Stanton, as secretary of war, dated March 22, 1865, 278 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES stating that it was given for "ability and manifest energy and gallantry in command ofthe brigade." President Garfield offered him a place in his cabinet but he declined it, preferring the United States senatorship from Indiana, to which he had just been chosen, and which he held from 1 88 1 to 1887. In the Senate he advocated the tariff views of his party, opposed President Cleveland's vetoes of pension bills, urged the reconstruction and upbuilding of the navy, and labored and voted for civil servic reform. He was delegate at large to the Republican National convention in 1884, and June 19, 1888, at Chicago, Illinois, on the eighth and final ballot he had received five hundred and forty-four votes to one hundred and eighteen for John .Sherman, one hundred for Russell A. Alger, fifty-nine for W. O. Gresham, five for J. G. Blaine, and four for Wm. McKinley, as the candidate of that party for president. The nomination was made unani mous, and in November he was elected, receiving two hundred and thirty-three votes in the electoral college to one hundred and sixty-eight for Grover Cleveland. He was duly inaugurated March 4, 1889. During the first two years of the administration six new States formed constitutions and were admitted into the Union. They were North Dakota, South Dakota, Washing ton, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. President Harrison's administration exhibited from the beginning a desire to strengthen the United States navy, by pushing forward the construction of armored vessels with guns of great power, which resulted in placing on the water the "white squadron." The new ships include the Chicago, Baltimore, Charleston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, York- town, Newark, Bennington, Concord, Machias, the cruiser New York and the battleships Maine and Texas. Reciprocal treaties were made not only with the countries of South and Central America but with the leading governments of Europe, resulting in a much freer admission than heretofore of American products for consumption in the great nations — Germany, Austria, France and Spain The laws and regula tions relating to civil service were widened and extended and faithfully enforced, not only according to their letteY, but in accordance with their spirit as is shown by the order which allowed only skilled mechanics to work on the new war ves sels. All the departments of the government were conducted with energy and upon business principles, so that it came to be very generally spoken of as "A Business Administration." HOX. CHAS. M'KIiXZIE. Autlior of chapter coinmencing on next pa^e. 280 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES CHAPTER XXL ADMINISTRATION OF BENJAMIN HARR1S0N-- 1889-1893. FOUR YEARS OF PEACE, PROSPERITY AND PLENTY. PERIODS of warfare and destruction have always attracted more attention from those living after them than eras of peace. It is also strange that those conducting the affairs of a nation so as to conduce to the greatest wel fare and happiness of its people, have been the subjects of envious detraction at the hands of those who would have administered National affairs for their own benefit. On March 4, 1889, a new executive and also a new legislative power came into the charge of the public affairs of the United States of America. Two years before that date the chief magistrate of the country had proclaimed a new theory of government; National taxation must be reduced by the reduction of the duty on imports, in the interest of the citizen and consumer. Benjamin Harrison and the Fifty-first Congress declined to accept the new creed for the benefit of foreign industries, and fearlessly set about the work of reconstructing the American industrial system, on the same lines that had been tending, for more than a third of a century, to make the United States commercially independent of the rest of the world, and also the greatest producer of nearly all the necessary articles in use by the children of men. By the summer of 1890, against the most captious and factious opposition, those in charge of the National destinies had crystallized into law a system for the double purpose of producing a National revenue, and at the same time furnishing to each individual citizen the means to enjoy life, liberty and to pursue happiness. The results of the revenue law of 1890, as shown up to 1892, have easily been made the subject of mathematical demonstration. From the passage of the law until Maj- i, 1892, the cost of articles in the necessary use of the laboring- classes and those whose income was less than one thousand dollars, had decreased 8.4 per cent, while in England, durinp- the same period, to the same classes, the cost of living had increased 1.9 per cent; farm products advanced during the same time 18.67 per cent and cereals 33.59 per cent. This AND NATIONAL REiMINISCENCES. 28 1 National statute of 1890 contained the most beneficent pro vision of allowing those in chief authority in the United States to e.xtend the trade of the citizens of the United States by the free exchange of products with other nations of the world. Under this provision, the trade of the Ameri can people had been e.xtended in less than two years with five of the nations of Central and South America, with the Spanish and British West India islands and with Germany and Austria. No better evidence can be furnished as to the benefits of the law of 1890 to the American people than the roar that it called forth from the British lion. English boards of trade memorialized the government of their country to stop the commercial crusade of the United States. The exports from Great Britain to the Latin American countries decreased in one year twent}'-three and three quarter millions of dollars. German sugar and American pork exchanged friendly greetings as they passed each other on the ocean. The trade of the American people increased 23.78 per cent up to June, 1892, with those nations with whom trade was exchanged under the law of 1890; with Brazil, the increase was II per cent; with Cuba, during the first ten months of exchanging products, the increase of the American trade was 54 per cent, and with Porto Rico, 34 per cent. During the first half of 1892, three hundred and thirty-seven bags of flour went to Cuba to replace those formerly coming from Spain and other nations. During the ten months preceding June 30, 1892, the exportation of American pork to Germany had increased 32 per cent. One hundred and fifty thousand tons of coal went to Cuba in exchange for sugar that the people of the United States could not produce. American products went abroad in exchange for coffee and other articles that could not be produced in the United States. The annual value of the commerce of the United States increased four hundred millions of dollars for the fiscal year of 1892 over the year i8gi, and two hundred and ten millions over the year i'890, the last \-ear that the old law was in force. In the United States the increase in the production of bread stuffs for 1892 over 1890 was one hundred and forty- four millions of dollars; of provisions, four millions; of manufactures, eight millions. The balance of trade in favor of the United States for 1892 was two hundred and two million, nine hundred and forty- four thousand, three hundred and forty-two dollars. Mr. Harrison and his associates opened up the avenues of trade to the pork product of the United States that had been closed against that article for ten years. American corn, not in bottle or barrel, but in life-giving form, began in 1890 a triumphal march around the world. Agents were sent abroad in 1891 to introduce American 282 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES agricultural products. The Republican party does not claim to have created the heavens and the earth and the dew and the harvest, but they certainly established a system that would, in this country, by the blessings of God, give the greatest possible benefit to the American people. The farmers of the United States thought that they saw through the ignis fatuus of Grover Cleveland a new road to the markets of the world, and they have since been wiping their weeping eyes over their monumental folly. Mr. Harrison's administration presented a law on the subject of silver coinage that met fully the conditions of the times. It was designed to furnish an opportunity for the coining of the American product of silver, and at the same time produce no dollars of any kind in the United States that would not know their brother dollars as they passed by. More was done for genuine and safe silver coinage from 1889 to 1893 in the United States than at any other like period in the United States or any other country. The proposition of the Republican party then was to coin silver at such a ratio as would maintain equality on the commercial use of two coined dollars as a medium of exchange; they manifested their friendship for silver as a business agent, incorporated into law the doctrine that in the establishment of a National money the United States should seek inde pendence of all the earth. When the silver question is settled, the law of Mr. Harrison's administration on the subject of silver will be found to have been directly in the line of putting silver on an everlastingly safe, sure basis, as an integral part of the money of the world, side by side and on a perfect equalit}^ with gold. In a message to Congress on the subject of the protection of human rights in the United States, President Harrison said among other things: " I must yet hope that it is possible to secure a calm, patriotic consideration of such constitutional or statutory changes as may be necessary to secure the choice of the officers of the government to the people by fair apportionments and free elections. I believe that it will be possible to constitute a commission, non-partisan in its membership, and composed of patriotic, wise and impartial men, to whom a consideration of the question of the evils connected with our election systems and methods might be committed with a good prospect of securing uniformity in some plan for removing these evils. The Constitution would permit the selection of the commission to be vested in the supreme court, and that method would give guaranty of impartiality. The commission should be charged with the duty of inquiring into the whole' subject of the law of elections AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 283 as related to the choice of officers of the National govern ment, with a view toward securing to every elector a free and untrammeled exercise of the suffrage and as near an approach to the equality of value in each ballot cast as is attainable. The demand that limitation of suffrage shall be found in law, and only there, is a just demand and no just man should resent or resist it." There were surely never more reasonable or patriotic utter ances by any American, and there was an attempt made to carry them into effect. It has often been the case that the rights of humanity have been bartered for commercial and mercenary consideration, and it was so in this instance. The great cities of the Northeast wanted the trade of the unex tinguished Southern chivalry, and the merchants of New York, Philadelphia and Boston cared but little if their Southern customers stuffed ballot boxes, murdered Republican candi dates, and amused themselves by making bonfires of innocent and unoffending colored men, and so through the recreanc)- of a few Republican congressmen, the era of 1889-1893 did not witness the placing of American citizenship on a plane of equality. North and South. The ex-slave-holders now \'ote for all the colored men instead of only three-fifths as before, and by their own wrong have gained additional political power. The poor white beats and butchers the poor black at his own sweet will; the Democratic party. North and South, looks on and smiles assent, while along in the far future sits eternal justice awaiting the coming of that time when those who sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind. For many years Americans were humiliated by the fact that the flag of which they were so proud floated over but a few of the myriad vessels that came and went, to and from our shores. Under a law of the Fifty-first Congress four new passenger steamships were built, costing eight millions of dollars; these to be used, if necessary, in the navy of the United States. This new and progressive departure by the Republican party would soon have given to the American flag additional honor on the sea as well as on the land, but the Democratic House of Representatives, elected in 1890, refused to e.xpend an appropriation made for ocean mail contracts on American lines, thereby carrying out the usual Democratic policy of favoring some other country than our own. President Harrison tried to promote the Nicarauguan ship canal as a measure that would add to the glory of the American name and the happiness of the American people. Subsequent events have indicated the wisdom of attempting to promote the influence of the United States in Central America as against England and other countries. The proposal of President Harrison was not to have the United 284 HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES States contribute financially to build the canal, but to make it an American enterprise, controlled by American people, in the interests of American trade and commerce, as against the trade and commerce of the world. In the absence of argument with which to assail President Harrison and his associates in the National government the opposition have resorted to epithets and denounced the foreign relations of the country during his administration as jingoism. No one knows just what this is, but one thing has been made certain by undisputed history, that the foreign policy of President Harrison's administration was not partisan, but one that was dictated by patriotism and greatly contributed to the National honor. Chili was made to understand that the American citizen was to have immunity from insult and injury though thousands of miles from his home and in the center of another country. England and Germany were given to understand that they could not drive the growing power of the great republic from the feeble and semi- barbarous island of Samoa. Thousands of miles from American soil, far away in the lonely Pacific, the action of President Harrison and his advisers in regard to the Sand wich Islands, stands in splendid contrast with the recent National attempt to place a dissolute colored queen on the ruins of a republic. The prior Democratic administration bequeathed a difficulty over the seals in Behrings Sea that was met and settled with the National business dispatch that has ever characterized the political action of the Repub lican party in power. The Harrison administration was active in an effort to suppress anarchy and to sustain the supremacy of law as combined with and interpreted by a genuine spirit of liberty. President Harrison did not succeed in the Southern States in suppressing mob violence, for there a local, semi-barbarous condition resisted the attempt to save human life from men whose methods rivaled, and, indeed, excelled those of the wolf and the hyena; but since his endeavor no efforts have been made to stay the carnival of murder that has been carried on under a half-civilized. ferocious public sentiment that constitutes a howling mob, thirsting for blood — judge, jurors and executioners. The administration of President Harrison made an effort in the direction of discriminating among the emigrants who sought to come to our shores. The industrious and self- respecting, the lovers of law and liberty were welcomed but an effort was made to keep out the pauper, the criminal, the anarchist, the ignorantly vicious who came onh' to burden and disturb American communities. It will not be claimed that the action of President Harrison and his associates reached perfection. If there was any mistake in AND NATIONAL REMINISCENCES. 285 the revenue law of 1 890 that assisted trusts and monoplies, it was intended to amend it. The subject of silver legislation was new and experimental and changes must of necessity be expected to be made in the silver law of 1890. Histoiy will, however, gladly record that the four years of the United States from March 4, 1889 to March 4, 1893, were good American years. If the land did not flow with milk and honey and the streets were not paved with gold, there was enough to eat and the opportunity to work for the American citizen, and the chance for every one to build up and keep up a good American home. There was a change, March 4, 1893; there is no doubt about that. More than fifty millions of witnesses are ready and willing to testify as to the fact of the change. There are going to be other changes in the United States but none in the same direction. If there are any foreign invasions into this country of paupers, pauper labor and the products of pauper labor, they will not come on the express National invitation of the American people. There will be other changes, but the pendulum will swing back to other National administrations just like that of Benjamin Harrison. Repub lican American administrations will furnish American oppor tunity to American industry and American genius. The employer and the employed will see that the road to a sufficient quantity of both gold and silver, properly distrib uted, depends upon a fair division of the burdens of life and a fair chance to participate in the blessings that should come from honest, earnest toil. HOX. C CLAKKSi )X. A charier member of (he Des Moines Tip[iecanoe Club, its first Treasurer, in which cap.^