[IN April, 1831, a rupture in the cabinet of president Jackson
terminated in the resignation of the four secretaries, and
the attorney general. Among them was Mr. Martin Van Buren,
who resigned the office of secretary of state, which he had
held a little over two years. General Jackson soon afterwards
appointed Mr. Van Buren minister to Great Britain, and he took
his departure for London during the recess of the senate; of
course, before the nomination could be submitted to that body,
for their action. At the ensuing session of congress, the
president sent in his name to the senate, and the subject was
as usual acted upon in secret session, but the injunction of
secrecy was afterwards removed, which enables us to give Mr.
Clay’s brief but pointed remarks on the occasion. The principal
ground of opposition to the confirmation of the nomination, was
that Mr. Van Buren, while secretary of state, in July, 1829,
had instructed Mr. McLane, then minister to Great Britain,
to represent to the British government that a change of
administration in the United States had produced a change of
policy; thus bringing our party politics into our negotiations
with a foreign power. The senate, therefore, rebuked Mr. Van
Buren and the president, by rejecting his nomination on this
occasion, by an equal vote of the senators, and the casting vote
of the vice-president (Mr. Calhoun)].