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investigation. And, if the investigation was allowed, what wrong would thereby be done? There was no fear of the innocent being made guilty by investigation. Virtue, honesty, and integrity, sought and desired no concealment. Truth, when unadorned, was most adorned. He believed that no such improper connexion existed; it was, however, a matter of opinion. Still, when an investigation was urged on this floor, when it was urged from all quarters of the country, it was due to the Government, to the people, and to the Secretary of the Treasury himself, that the inquiry should not be withheld. If any one was guilty, and if any improper connexion existed, it would then be exposed to public view; fraud or corruption, if any, should be exposed, and the officer guilty of it removed from public trust. But if the persons charged should be found innocent, the responsibility would rest on the accusers. They had made the charges; and if those charges were shown to be without foundation, the innocent man would be reinstated in public confidence, because he had passed the fiery ordeal, and had come out pure and uncorrupted.

He would appeal, then, to the political friends of the Secretary of the Treasury on this floor, to meet this inquiry in the broadest form in which it could be presented. The Secretary, conscious of his innocence, would not shrink from investigation. Let the House reflect on the consequences of such charges remaining unanswered. To them was intrusted the preservation of our free institutions, and the protection of the liberties of the American people; and upon the purity with which the laws were administered depended their perpetuity. The Government, and those who governed, should, like Cæsar's wife, be not only innocent, but unsuspected; and when even a suspicion of impropriety was thrown upon them, if substantiated, let them be driven back as the gloom of night is driven before the rays of the rising sun. Let this House, then, inquire who this Reuben M. Whitney is. He (Mr. G.) believed every thing was right; if not, let the wrong be exposed. Let the investigation take place, and facts might then be brought to light, not of a one-sided or partisan character, but, as in a court of justice, both sides would be heard, and so the truth might be known.

Mr. G. then intimated his desire to modify his resolution; when

Mr. HARLAN withdrew his amendment; consequently the amendment of Mr. VANDERPOEL fell; so that the resolution was before the House in its original form.

Mr. GARLAND, of Virginia, then submitted the following, as a modification of his resolution:

Resolved, That a committee of nine members be ap. pointed, whose duty it shall be to inquire whether the several banks employed for the deposite of the public money have all, or any of them, by joint or several contract, employed an agent to reside at the seat of Government, to transact their business with the Treasury Department; what is the character of the business which he is so employed to transact, and what compensation he receives; whether said agent, if there be one, has been employed at the request or through the procurement of the Treasury Department; whether the business of the Treasury Department with said banks is conducted through said agent; and whether, in the transaction of any business confided to said agent, he receives any compensation from the Treasury Department; and that said committee have power to send for persons and papers, if they deem it necessary.

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Treasury communicate to this House, if within his power, a statement of the dividends and surpluses which were declared by, and the surpluses and contingent funds remaining in, the several banks in which the public money is deposited, for the years 1833, 1834, 1835, and 1836, severally.

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Mr. McKAY then submitted the following amendment, to come in as a second resolution:

Resolved, further, That the Secretary of the Treasury report the average amount of public moneys each of said banks has had on deposite on the first day of each quarter, in the aforesaid years, respectively, together with any other information which will show what proportion of said dividends and surpluses has been derived by the said banks for the use of the public money; also, as far as it can be ascertained, what have been the dividends and surpluses of an equal number of the banks than those that have the public moneys, for the last two years. Mr. GARLAND, of Virginia, accepted this amendment, as a modification of his resolutions.

Mr. GARLAND, of Louisiana, then moved to strike out of the second resolution the word "average," and insert the word "actual," so as to make it read "actual amount of public moneys," &c.; which motion, after some explanation by Mr. G. and Mr. McKAY, was agreed to.

Mr. ADAMS then moved to strike out of the first resolution, after the words "and that said committee have power to send for persons and papers," the words "if they deem it necessary to do so."

Mr. GARLAND, of Virginia, accepted this as a modification.

Mr. ADAMS then called for a division of the ques tion, so as to take the question separately on each resolution.

The first and second resolutions were then agreed to without a division.

Mr. CHAMBERS, of Kentucky, called for the yeas and nays on the third resolution; which were ordered, and the resolution adopted unanimously.

EXECUTIVE ADMINISTRATION.

The orders of the day being called for, the CHAIR announced the resolution originally submitted by Mr. WISE, and reported from the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, proposing an inquiry into the executive departments, and the amendment of Mr. PEARCE, of Rhode Island, as given below.

Mr. HANNEGAN remarked, that as the hour was late, and as the Western States had heretofore been excluded from the opportunity of offering resolutions, he moved to postpone the subject till to-morrow for that purpose.

Mr. PICKENS, who was entitled to the floor, said he had no particular objection to postpone the subject for one day, for the reason urged by the gentleman from Indiana, provided it was understood that it be made the special order for to-morrow. He added that he had no wish, on his own part, that it should be postponed a moment longer, nor would he be instrumental in having it so, for he was quite prepared to go on.

Mr. JARVIS hoped it would not be postponed. Unless the resolutions were merely intended as a peg to bang speeches upon, there was no use in postponing them; for if it was intended to raise the proposed committee, there was no time to spare.

The motion to postpone was lost, and the resolutions were then read.

The first, as reported from the Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, was as follows:

"Resolved, That so much of the President's message as relates to the condition of the various executive departments, the ability and integrity with which they have been conducted, the vigilant and faithful discharge of the public business in all of them, and the causes of complaint, from any quarter, at the manner in which they have fulfilled the objects of their creation,' be referred to a select committee, to consist of nine members, with power to send for persons and papers, and with in

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Executive Administration.

[JAN. 3, 1837.

actions connected with the deposite banks and their agents, so full of suspicion, come peculiarly under the cognizance of a select committee, with the power to send for persons and papers, which power is not given to the standing committees of the House.

structions to inquire into the condition of the various executive departments, the ability and integrity with which they have been conducted, into the manner in which the public business has been discharged in all of them, and into all causes of complaint, from any quarter, at the manner in which said departments, or their bu But, sir, (said Mr. P.,) amongst the various efforts and reaus or offices, or any of their officers or agents, of every pretexts ingeniously raised to smother the inquiry now description whatever, directly or indirectly connected called for, there was one argument, if it can be called with them in any manner, officially or unofficially, in duties such, that fell from the gentleman from New York, [Mr. pertaining to the public interest, have fulfilled or failed | MANN,] which excited in him the profoundest astonishto accomplish the objects of their creation, or have vi- ment and surprise. That gentleman intimated that the olated their duties, or have injured and impaired the demand for a select committee to inquire into the depublic service and interest; and that said committee, in partments, to send for persons and papers, and to probe its inquiries, may refer to such periods of time as to into the dark deeds of unfaithful public agents, is unconthem may seem expedient and proper.' stitutional! He [Mr. MANN] says that this proceeding is to be viewed in the light of a general search warrant! and therefore argues that it is contrary to the constitution!

The question pending was the following amendment, moved by Mr. PEARCE, of Rhode Island. Strike out all after the word "resolved," and insert the following: That so much of the President's message as is in the following words, to wit: Before concluding this paper, I think it is due to the various executive departments to bear testimony to their prosperous condition, and to the ability and integrity with which they have been conduct. ed. It has been my aim to enforce in all of them a vigilant and faithful discharge of the public business; and it is gratifying to me to believe that there is no just cause of complaint, from any quarter, at the manner in which they have fulfilled the objects of their creation,' be referred to a select committee of nine members, with instructions to inquire into any specific causes of complaint which may be alleged against the integrity of the administration of any of the departments or their bureaus, of the vigilance and fidelity with which their duties have been discharged; and that said committee have power to send for persons and papers."

Mr. PICKENS observed that it had not been original ly his intention, when this resolution was first brought be fore the House by his friend from Virginia, [Mr. WISE,] to have taken any part in the debate; but from what he had heard in the course of this important discussion, the strange and he must say monstrous doctrines which he had heard advanced by the supporters of the administration, he had been led to change his original intention, and would now, therefore, offer a few observations on this subject.

In opposition to the resolution which calls for a select committee, with power to make a thorough investigation into the conduct of the departments, we have been told that there are already standing committees in existence, constituted by this House, with full powers to make all the investigations which are proposed by this resolution. Let any gentleman (said Mr. P.) read the rules and the duties assigned to those committees, and I put it to this House if such an asseveration is any thing else but a shallow and flimsy pretext, brought forward with the design of disguising and covering an unworthy vote against the appointment of the select committee called for by the original resolution.

The duties of the standing committees of the House are to investigate accounts, to inquire into the various expenditures of the different departments, of the disbursements made, and the vouchers of our public officers, &c. They were never intended to embrace such objects as are contemplated in the resolution of the gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. WISE.] These standing committees never supposed it to be within their range of duties to investigate the transactions of your officers with the land speculations of the country, or that stupendous tissue of fraud, peculation, and vallany, connected with your Indian agencies, Indian reservations, their locations and transfers, which, if ever fully revealed, will develop a system of legalized crime and plunder utterly disgrace ful to any civilized Government. Besides, all those trans

Mr. P. then read the clause in the amendments to the constitution on that point, as follows: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, bouses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the person or thing to be seized." Now, sir, (said Mr. P.,) since the time when Algernon Sidney had his private papers in his private apartments searched, because they were supposed to contain treason against a suspicious and arbitrary Government, such an idea as is now attempted to be extorted from this clause in the constitution, he would venture to say, had never entered into the mind of any man. So, then, according to this perverted and strange interpretation, that great principle, incorporated into the system of English liberty, and transferred to our constitution, which was intended to raise a shield over the rights of private citizens against the lawless search of a usurping and despotic Government, is now to be understood as intended and designed to protect and screen a bad Government and its evil agents in deeds of fraud, corruption, and malversation. Yes, sir, (said Mr. P.,) this clause in your constitution, according to learned commentators of these profligate times, is not intended to protect the people against encroachments of a harassing Government, but to cover Government from the scrutinizing inquiries of a free people! It is a clause intended to shield the officers of a corrupt dynasty in their abandoned career of fraud and peculation, but not designed to protect private citizens against capricious and unwarrantable search into their private dwellings and private papers! Surely such an idea as this could never enter the mind of any man, except one who had bowed the knee of sycophancy so long before the throne of power that his heart was prepared to worship at the shrine of any image which his master might hold up as the popular idol of the day.

Sir, (said Mr. P.,) it is the first time in my life that I ever heard that the papers, records, and documents, of public offices, and of the officers, were to be viewed as private property, belonging to private individuals, and, as such, to be exempted from inquiry and investigation. Such a doctrine he confessed was new to him; it is a doctrine directly at war with liberty; it is a doctrine calcu. lated to lead to the most monstrous and fatal results. And if this is to be the doctrine practised upon by the coming administration, it is full time that a deceived country should know it. No, sir; all the papers and documents, all the offices of this Government, are not pri vate; they belong not to private gentlemen, they are not sheltered by the constitution from investigation; they are the property of the confederacy, and the right over them, the right to search, the right of thorough investi gation, belongs to this House, belongs to us, the repre

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sentatives of a free people. We stand here as guardians of popular rights, as a co-ordinate and independent branch of this Government; and we are base traitors to our country if we diminish or weaken our rights, if we abandon the proud prerogatives guarantied to us under the constitution we have sworn to defend."

[H. of R.

cial capacity, and is responsible before the country. We are the representatives of the people, and, as the source and chief depository of power, we have the right to demand investigation, without assigning specific charges. We have the right to investigate all the offices and papers, (except, perhaps, those that cannot safely be made public, relating to foreign diploma. cy,) and archives of the Government, and of all its agents in every department; and this right is essential to maintain the purity of our Government and of our institutions. "But," say the supporters of the administration, "why raise a select committee? Why incur this expense?" I answer, is it not better for them to incur this expense than that they should sit under the suspicion of corrupt conduct? If the investigation should bring nothing to light, will it not then have been better for the Government, by having had this opportunity of showing its purity and establishing its character? Will it not look better to suffer this investigation to take place than to let suspicion spread, by suffering charges of such serious character to pass by unmet and unrepelled?

Again, sir: the amendment to this resolution which has been proposed by the gentleman from Rhode Island [Mr. D. J. PEARCE] has not excited less surprise and astonishment in my mind than the doctrine I have just adverted to. Mr. P. said he could view that amendment as nothing more than a pretext to shield the perpetrators of fraud against all inquiry and discovery by the people. If (said Mr. P.) I was not mistaken in what that gentleman maintained, I understood him to say that the officers of the Government are agents of the Executive; that they are responsible alone to the Executive; and that he (the Executive) is responsible to the American people, and may be impeached before the Senate by the vote of this House. Such, in substance, was the argument of the gentleman. According to this doctrine, the people, by their representatives, have no control whatever over the officers of the Government; Mr. P. said he was not one of those demagogues whose they are independent of the people, distinct from the mouths are ever pouring forth declarations of their atpeople, and removed out of our reach and out of our tachment to the people, but I confess I am democrat power. But I would have that gentleman to know that enough to proclaim our rights in opposition to the insidwe, as well as the officers of the Government, constitute ious encroachments of Government. I avow that I am a part of the Government; we, the representatives of for the power and the rights of the people being felt the people, create by statutes these offices, and define practically in this Government, while those who are althe duties of the officers; we fix and pay their salaries; ways declaiming for those rights seem to come here but they are officers of this House as well as of the Execu- to smother and suppress them. They profess to be the tive himself, created by our authority, and amenable to advocates of the popular cause, while they are all found us for all their conduct. I know that, for the last six or arrayed in close phalanx on the side of power, pouring eight years, the contrary doctrine has been inculcated out eulogies upon the administration, screening its offiand enforced; this House has only been considered as a cers, justifying acts of fraud and corruption, and oppopart of the Executive, whose only duty was to record sing the people in their demand for inquiry and investithe edicts of royalty, or give sanction to its wishes. gation! Though the party to which I have the honor of There can be no more certain evidence of the decay of belonging has been stigmatized and traduced as the enthis republic, than for this House to sleep upon its emy of popular rights, I profess, sir, my attachment to privileges, and quietly acquiesce under the accumula- them. I avow undying devotion to the liberties of my tion of executive power. But, sir, I call upon every country, and hope yet to live to see the day when the gentleman who feels himself to be a freeman, the rep-rights of the people, the rights and power of this House, resentative of a free people, not to abandon their proud shall no longer be trampled under foot by base subserprerogative, but to claim the high character and privi-viency to executive power by those who bow the knee lege of this House to know their power, and to have the independence to assert it. Yes, sir, I invoke the spirit of the entombed constitution to preside over and guard the power and the privileges of this House. I am utterly opposed to this modern doctrine, which makes us the mere agents of the Executive, a secondary branch of the Government only! If we are indeed thus prostituted, lost, and humbled; if we have ceased to be what the constitution intended, it is time that we should know it. If we are used merely to play the part of the Rump Parliament, yielding up every thing quietly to the will of the Executive, shielding him and his agents in every act, subserving his ambition, and aiding him and his officers to trample down the consecrated barriers of freedom, and to pursue, unchecked, their lawless career, it is time the world should know the infamy that has fallen upon us!

The amendment of the gentleman from Rhode Island [Mr. PEARCE] is merely a pretext, made for the purpose of evading a direct vote upon the original resolution; that amendment provides that, if, in the course of events, any cause for a specific charge should exist, then the right of sending for persons and papers shall be given. We do not stand in the situation of a private citizen at issue with a private citizen; we are not bound to make an affidavit, in order to obtain a search warrant; we are not bound to make specific charges, in order to obtain permission for investigation. Each member acts upon this floor in his offi

to its mandates, and crowd in eager anxiety to beg the crumbs that fall from the table of a royal master.

Yes, sir, (continued Mr. P.,) I hope to live to see the day when the doctrines we have heard asserted on this floor will be lost and forgotten amid the glory of purer and brighter days-when the representatives of the people shall have their rights and proudly maintain their authority under the constitution--when pilgrims and votaries of liberty from every quarter of the oppressed earth shall gather together here, and bow in reverence before that monument which a free people shall raise, whose noble shaft shall pierce the very heavens, reflecting back, from its broad and radiant surface, the light of everlasting truth and the beams of universal freedom!

Mr. Speaker, (continued Mr. P.,) I cannot refrain from declaring the profound astonishment with which I listened to the extraordinary facts related on this floor by the gentleman from Tennessee, [Mr. PEYTON,] in relation to the electioneering campaign made by the Presi dent last summer through the Western country. We have heard that he has been zealously engaged in the work of securing a successor to his power and authority. We heard of his interference in this matter, of his labors and undignified speeches in the contemptible work of raising into power one who lived by fawning upon his hand. Mortifying and disgusting as these facts are, not less astonishing did it appear to me, when in answer to them we heard the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. GLAScock] and the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. RIPLEY]

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rise in their seats, and, instead of offering apology or denial, exert themselves to justify and vindicate the interference. Sir, I well remember the "Gwinn letter," which indirectly ordered the Ruckerized convention at Baltimore to do the bidding of a master. I knew well that the successor had been appointed, but I did not know, I did not believe, that I should see the day when a representative of a free but betrayed people would rise in his place in this House, and vindicate such appointment.

We are told, in apology for an interference as unconstitutional as it has been undisguised and shameless, that the President has a right to speak his own opinions, "that he is a free man as well as any other citizen," "that he is a man who was never known to hesitate in the frank assertion of his opinion," &c. The private opinion of the President is one thing, the public declaration of his wishes is another. Whenever his opinion, whatever it may be, be it private or be it public, is sustained with all the power and influence of office, is enforced from cabinet ministers down to all the petty holders of office, is proclaimed and preached by menial sycophants and a subsidized press, notoriously under the dictation of power, then, sir, the President's private opinion and preference become a law to a hundred thousand mercenary followers, who live upon his will.

Every people, from their history and education, have a peculiar criterion by which to judge of liberty. In England, an idiot or a knave may sway the sceptre of empire by the law of legitimacy, and the plumes of a titled nobility may wave over stars and garters, and yet the Englishman may proudly claim to be a freeman; and why? Because these things are sustained by the fundamental principles of the British constitution, as part of their authorized and lawful Government. But when Cromwell raised his Government over the ruins of the British constitution, and against the fundamental laws of the empire, although he added to the glory and the power of the British name, yet he was a dictator, and the people were slaves so long as they acquiesced in the usurpation. So it is here. We live in a land of constitutional law, every principle of which sustains the freedom of the elective franchise, from the highest to the lowest. If this great principle of American liberty be violated and defied by executive dictation, no matter what character is raised up as the successor of power under such a dynasty, we are slaves and dastards if we tamely acquiesce. As far as practical liberty is concerned, there is no difference in effect, as to the people in terested, between the Government of him who comes in, trampling over the freedom of election through dictation, bribery, and fraud, and he who comes into power waving over the desolated fields of his country the bloody sword of a conqueror and usurper. As to all practical effects, they are the same.

Is there any man in this House who does not know that the President elect could not have been chosen but by the direct influence and interference of the President? Let no man say there is no proof of this interference. Independent of the facts stated by my friend from Tennessee, [Mr. PEYTON,] and the published letters, toasts, &c., of the President himself, I will now call the attention of this House, and of this country, to some facts upon which I would defy any sworn jury of freemen on earth to bring in a verdict of "not guilty." I will introduce a witness against whom hirelings have poured out their malignity and calumny, but whose veracity and private integrity no man dare impeach. I will give the language of the distinguished Senator from Tennessee, [Judge WHITE,] as it is published in his speech at Knoxville last summer. When the President was on a visit to Tennessee, in the summer of 1834, and "after the rise of the State convention, many members wished to nominate me for the

[JAN. 3, 1837.

presidency, but abandoned the attempt after they understood that it would incur the President's displeasure. On his journey to Washington, the President conversed freely with some of my friends, and remonstrated against any attempt to nominate me; said there must be a national convention, and Mr. Van Buren ought to be nom. inated for the presidency, and 1 for the vice presiden. cy; and, when his eight years were expired, that I was young enough then to be taken up as President." *** "After I gave my consent to the people to run, and before the meeting of the Baltimore convention, I was repeatedly forewarned what I might expect if my name was not withdrawn," &c.

Such are the unvarnished facts of the case. And who is there bold enough to deny that the President has interfered? Sir, the facts are beyond the possibility of denial, that he has openly interfered, and used his power and authority to nominate his successor, and to do it by bargain and arrangement. Every paltry intrigue and profligate proposition have been used and employed to effect this purpose. The chief offices of the republic have been bartered away, and the President, through the tremendous power and patronage of his position, has called upon a betrayed country to receive its rulers from the hands of a master.

To see the force and bearing of these propositions which the President made, and to show that he fully understood his position and their profligate tendency, I will now refer to a scene in 1825, when his predecessor was chosen by this House. In two letters written by General Jackson, the one dated June 5, 1827, and the other dated July 18, we have the following extraordina ry development:

"Early in January, 1825, a member of Congress of high respectability visited me [General Jackson] one morning, and observed that he had a communication he was desirous to make to me; that he was informed there was a great intrigue going on, and that it was right I should be informed of it; [how very kind!] that he came as a friend; and let me receive the communication as I might, the friendly motives through which it was made, he hoped, would prevent any change of friendship or feeling with regard to him. To which I replied, from his high standing as a gentleman and member of Congress, and from his uniform friendly and gentlemanly conduct towards myself, I could not suppose he would make any communication to me which he supposed was improper. Therefore, his motives being pure, let me think as I might of the communication, my feelings towards him would remain unaltered. The gentleman proceeded. He said he had been informed by the friends of Mr. Clay that the friends of Mr. Adams had made overtures to them, saying, if Mr. Clay and his friends would unite in aid of the election of Mr. Adams, Mr. Clay should be Secretary of State. That the friends of Mr. Adams were urging, as a reason to induce the friends of Mr. Clay to accede to their proposition, that, if I was elected President, Mr. Adams would be continued Secretary of State. [Inuendo, there would be no room for Kentucky.'] That the friends of Mr. Clay stated that the West did not wish to separate from the West; and if I would say, or permit any of my confi. dential friends to say, that, in case I was elected President, Mr. Adams should not be continued Secretary of State, by a complete union of Mr. Clay and his friends, they would put an end to the presidential contest in one hour. And he was of opinion it was right to fight such intriguers with their own weapons. To which, in substance, I replied, that in politics, as in every thing else, my guide was principle; and, contrary to the expressed and unbiased will of the people, or their constituted agents, never would step into the presidential chair; and requested him to say to Mr. Clay and his friends,

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(for I did suppose he had come from Mr. Clay, though he used the term of Mr. Clay's friends,) that before I would reach the presidential chair by such means of bargain and corruption, I would see the earth open and swallow both Mr. Clay and his friends, and myself with them. This disclosure was made to me by Mr. James Buchanan, a member of Congress from Pennsylvania, a gentleman of the first respectability and intelligence.

"The evening before he had communicated, substantially, the same proposition to Major Eaton, my colleague in the Senate, [How did the General know that?] with a desire, warmly manifested, that he should communicate with me, and ascertain my views on the subject. This he declined doing, suggesting to Mr. Buchanan that he, as well as himself, could converse with me, and ascertain my views on the matter; though, from his knowledge of me, he thought that he could well conjecture my answer-that I would enter into no engage. ments whatever. To be thus approached by a gentleman of Mr. Buchanan's high character and standing, with an apology proffered at the time for what he was about to remark to me; one who, as I understood, had always to that moment been on familiar and friendly terms with Mr. Clay, assuring me that on certain terms and conditions being assented to on my part, then, by a union of Mr. Clay and his friends, they would put an end to the presidential contest in one hour,' what other conclusion or inference was to be made than that he spoke by authority either of Mr. Clay himself, or some of his confidential friends? The character of Mr. Buchanan with me forbids the idea that he was acting on his own responsibility, or that, under any circumstances, he could have been induced to propose an arrangement unless possessed of satisfactory assurances that, if accepted, it would be carried fully into effect. A weak mind would seldom or ever be thus disposed to act-an intelligent one never. Under all the circumstancces appearing at the time, I did not resist the impression that Mr. Buchanan had approached me on the cautiously submitted proposition of some authorized person; and, therefore, in giving him my answer, did so, requesting him to say to Mr. Clay and his friends,' what that answer had been," &c.

Observe what Mr. Buchanan says in his letter of explanation, August 8, 1827

"After I had finished, the General [Jackson] declared he had not the least objection to answer my question. that he thought well of Mr. Adams, but had never said or intimated that he would or that he would not appoint him Secretary of State. That these were secrets he would keep to himself; he would conceal them from the very hairs of his head. That if he believed his right hand then knew what his left would do upon the subject of appointments to office, he would cut it off and cast it into the fire. That if ever he should be elected President, it should be without solicitation and without intrigue," &c.

Mr. Speaker, it is not my purpose to expose contradictions, or to defend those against whom these charges were made. But I call up these scenes, that the world may compare the mock sentiments of affected purity then expressed with the conduct and notorious facts of the present day. And I here take occasion to say that, if it be true, as the President states, that he was approached in January, 1825, with such propositions, from a gentleman who declared to him" that he thought it was right to fight such intriguers with their own weapons"—I say if this be true, it proclaims that he who could avow so base and infamous a sentiment was utterly destitute of all true conceptions of private honor or public integrity. If the President, in 1825, had such a high sense of honor and respect for the unbiased will of the people" as to refuse to let it be known-not that he would VOL. XIII.-78

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[H. OF R.

appoint any particular individual, but that he would not appoint a certain gentleman Secretary of State-where was his honor, where was his delicacy, in 1834, when he proposed to Judge White and "his friends" to regu late and control the whole election by a Ruckerized convention, and through "bargain and corruption" to produce acquiescence by offering himself the first office in the republic to one, and reconciling another with the second office? Little did he think that, in 1825, he was uttering denunciations against his own course in 1834; little did he think, when he penned these declarations in 1827, that he was writing epithets to be called up, like burning letters, over his own conduct and character in

1836.

Mr. Speaker, (continued Mr. P.,) it is with great pain and reluctance that I am compelled to speak of these transactions as I feel that I ought. Nothing could induce me to do so at present but the solemn conviction that I believe they are deeply identified with the liberties of this country. I speak of the President as officially connected with the institutions of freedom. I scorn to excuse him, and to hold up his minions and understrappers for responsibility and denunciation. No, sir; I disdain to use moderate language. I shall take his own epithets. I here then charge that the President has wilfully and openly interfered to appoint his successor, and that he has endeavored to accomplish his object by shameless "bargain and corruption." He has succeeded, and, now, standing on the defaced and spurned constitution, waves aloft the unrestrained sceptre of empire over a deceived and betrayed country. Let us be rich and prosperous; let us be happy and free from personal restraint; let us retain all the forms of a republic, yet are we slaves, and history will hold up our infamy and deg radation, if we acquiesce and submit to this lawless dictation. Rome still retained the forms of a republic, long after her conquering generals from devastated provinces brought in the plunder of sacked cities to be divided amongst those who were styled "Roman citizens." Her people still nominally elected their tribune, long after the very sources of power had been corrupted and polluted by the bribery and profligacy of captivating chiefs and abandoned demagogues. These tribunes, who were at first elected to defend, as they nobly did, popular rights, afterwards became prostituted, and, although ostensibly appointed still by the people, yet they knew the hand of their master, and prostrated the liberties of their country before his will. They were arranged and appointed beforehand by those who held the power of the republic. We, too, may still boast the forms of a free people, and long preserve them. We have seen the nomination and appointment of a successor to the Chief Executive; we have witnessed the success of that appointment. All the popularity and influence of the President, with his hundred thousand dependants, all the weight, and power, and influence of the Government, in all its vast and extensive ramifications, have been brought to bear upon the appointment of a successor. And I ask, sir, if we confirm, by re-election, this fraudulent appointment, will not posterity say we, too, are free only in name? Our country has been foully deceived; we have been basely deluded by all the arts of "intrigue, bargain, and corruption." Let it not be said that these things are of no importance; that they have no effect upon practical liberty. Look to their consequences in the future. In physics, in morals, and in politics, those causes are at first small which produce the most tremendous effects upon the destiny of man. The collection of a few shillings of ship-money brought the head of a monarch to the block, and changed for a time the Government of Great Britain. Go into the far West, and trace out, if you can, the origin of the vast Mississippi itself; you will find a bubble at the foot of perhaps some name

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