It was given to our countryman, Franklin, to bring down the
lightning from heaven. To enable me to be heard by this immense
multitude, I should have to invoke to my aid, and to throw into my
voice, its loudest thunders. As I cannot do that, I hope I shall
be excused for such a use of my lungs as is practicable, and not
inconsistent with the preservation of my health. And I feel that it
is our first duty to express our obligations to a kind and bountiful
Providence, for the copious and genial showers with which he has just
blessed our land――a refreshment of which it stood much in need. For one,
I offer to him my humble and dutiful thanks. The inconvenience to us,
on this festive occasion, is very slight, while the sum of good which
those timely rains will produce, is very great and encouraging.
Fellow-citizens, I find myself now in a situation somewhat like one in
which I was placed a few years ago, when travelling through the state
of Indiana, from which my friend (Mr. Rariden) near me comes. I stopped
at a village containing some four or five hundred inhabitants, and I
had scarcely alighted before I found myself surrounded in the bar-room
by every adult male resident of the place. After a while, I observed
a group consulting together in one corner of the room, and shortly
after, I was diffidently approached by one of them, a tall, lank, lean,
but sedate and sober looking person, with a long face and high cheek
bones, who, addressing me, said he was commissioned by his neighbors to
request that I would say a few words to them. Why, my good friend, said
I, I should be very happy to do any thing gratifying to yourself and
your neighbors, but I am very much fatigued, and hungry, and thirsty,
and I do not think the occasion is exactly suitable for a speech, and
I wish you would excuse me to your friends. Well, says he, Mr. Clay, I
confess I thought so myself, especially as we have no wine to offer you
to drink!
Now, if the worthy citizen of Indiana was right in supposing that a
glass of wine was a necessary preliminary, and a precedent condition
to the delivery of a speech, you have no just right to expect one from
me at this time; for, during the sumptuous repast from which we have
just risen, you offered me nothing to drink but cold water――excellent
water, it is true, from the classic fountain of our lamented friend
Mr. Maxwell, which has so often regaled us on celebrations of our great
anniversary. [Great laughter.]
I protest against any inference of my being inimical to the temperance
cause. On the contrary, I think it an admirable cause, that has done
great good, and will continue to do good as long as legal coercion is
not employed, and it rests exclusively upon persuasion, and its own
intrinsic merits.
I have a great and growing repugnance to speaking in the open air to a
large assemblage. But whilst the faculty of speech remains to me, I can
never feel that repugnance, never feel other than grateful sensations,
in making my acknowledgments under such circumstances as those which
have brought us together. Not that I am so presumptuous as to believe
that I have been the occasion solely of collecting this vast multitude.
Among the inducements, I cannot help thinking that the fat white virgin
Durham heifer of my friend, Mr. Berryman, that cost six hundred dollars,
which has been just served up, and the other good things which have
been so liberally spread before us, exerted some influence in swelling
this unprecedently large meeting. [Great laughter.]
I cannot but feel, Mr. President, in offering my respectful
acknowledgment for the honor done me, in the eloquent address which you
have just delivered, and in the sentiment with which you concluded it,
that your warm partiality, and the fervent friendship which has so long
existed between us, and the kindness of my neighbors and friends around
me, have prompted an exaggerated description, in too glowing colors, of
my public services and my poor abilities.
I seize the opportunity to present my heartfelt thanks to the whole
people of Kentucky, for all the high honors and distinguished favors
which I have received, during a long residence with them, at their
hands; for the liberal patronage which I received from them in my
professional pursuit; for the eminent places in which they have put
me, or enabled me to reach; for the generous and unbounded confidence
which they have bestowed upon me, at all times; for the gallant
and unswerving fidelity and attachment with which they stood by me,
throughout all the trials and vicissitudes of an eventful and arduous
life; and above all, for the scornful indignation with which they
repelled an infamous calumny directed against my name and fame, at
a momentous period of my public career. In recalling to our memory
but the circumstances of that period, one cannot but be filled with
astonishment at the indefatigability with which the calumny was
propagated, and the zealous partisan use to which it was applied,
not only without evidence, but in the face of a full and complete
refutation. Under whatever deception, delusion, or ignorance, it was
received elsewhere, with you, my friends and neighbors, and with the
good people of Kentucky, it received no countenance; but in proportion
to the venom and the malevolence of its circulation was the vigor
and magnanimity with which I was generally supported. Upheld with
the consciousness of the injustice of the charge, I should have borne
myself with becoming fortitude, if I had been abandoned by you as I was
by so large a portion of my countrymen. But to have been sustained and
vindicated as I was, by the people of my own state, by you who know
me best, and whom I had so many reasons to love and esteem, greatly
cheered and encouraged me, in my onward progress. Eternal thanks and
gratitude are due from me.
I thank you, friends and fellow-citizens, for your distinguished and
enthusiastic reception of me this day; and for the excellence and
abundance of the barbecue that has been provided for our entertainment.
And I thank, from the bottom of my heart, my fair country-women, for
honoring, and gracing, and adding brilliancy to this occasion, by their
numerous attendance. If the delicacy and refinement of their sex will
not allow them to mix in the rougher scenes of human life, we may be
sure that whenever, by their presence, their smiles and approbation
are bestowed, it is no ordinary occurrence. That presence is always an
absolute guarantee of order, decorum, and respect. I take the greatest
pleasure in bearing testimony to their value and their virtue. I have
ever found in them true and steadfast friends, generously sympathizing
in distress, and, by their courageous fortitude in bearing it
themselves, encouraging us to imitate their example. And we all know
and remember how, as in 1840, they can powerfully aid a great and good
cause, without any departure from the propriety or dignity of their sex.
In looking back upon my origin and progress through life, I have
great reason to be thankful. My father died in 1781, leaving me an
infant of too tender years to retain any recollection of his smiles or
endearments. My surviving parent removed to this state in 1792, leaving
me, a boy of fifteen years of age, in the office of the high court of
chancery, in the city of Richmond, without guardian, without pecuniary
means of support, to steer my course as I might or could. A neglected
education was improved by my own irregular exertions, without the
benefit of systematic instruction. I studied law principally in the
office of a lamented friend, the late governor Brooke, then attorney
general of Virginia, and also under the auspices of the venerable and
lamented chancellor Wythe, for whom I had acted as an amanuensis. I
obtained a license to practice the profession from the judges of the
court of appeals of Virginia, and established myself in Lexington, in
1797, without patrons, without the favor or countenance of the great or
opulent, without the means of paying my weekly board, and in the midst
of a bar uncommonly distinguished by eminent members. I remember how
comfortable I thought I should be, if I could make one hundred pounds,
Virginia money, per year, and with what delight I received the first
fifteen shillings fee. My hopes were more than realized. I immediately
rushed into a successful and lucrative practice.
In 1803 or 4, when I was absent from the county of Fayette, at
the Olympian springs, without my knowledge or previous consent,
I was brought forward as a candidate, and elected to the general
assembly of this state. I served in that body several years, and
was then transferred to the senate, and afterwards to the house
of representatives of the United States. I will not dwell on the
subsequent events of my political life, or enumerate the offices which
I have filled. During my public career, I have had bitter, implacable,
reckless enemies. But if I have been the object of misrepresentation
and unmerited calumny, no man has been beloved or honored by more
devoted, faithful, and enthusiastic friends. I have no reproaches, none,
to make towards my country, which has distinguished and elevated me far
beyond what I had any right to expect. I forgive my enemies, and hope
they may live to obtain the forgiveness of their own hearts.
It would neither be fitting nor is it my purpose to pass judgment on
all the acts of my public life; but I hope I shall be excused for one
or two observations, which the occasion appears to me to authorize.
I never but once changed my opinion on any great measure of national
policy, or on any great principle of construction of the national
constitution. In early life, on deliberate consideration, I adopted
the principles of interpreting the federal constitution, which had been
so ably developed and enforced by Mr. Madison, in his memorable report
to the Virginia legislature, and to them, as I understood them, I have
constantly adhered. Upon the question coming up in the senate of the
United States to recharter the first bank of the United States, thirty
years ago, I opposed the recharter, upon convictions which I honestly
entertained. The experience of the war, which shortly followed, the
condition into which the currency of the country was thrown, without
a bank, and, I may now add, later and more disastrous experience,
convinced me I was wrong. I publicly stated to my constituents, in a
speech in Lexington, (that which I made in the house of representatives
of the United States not having been reported,) my reasons for that
change, and they are preserved in the archives of the country. I appeal
to that record, and I am willing to be judged now and hereafter by
their validity.
I do not advert to the fact of this solitary instance of change of
opinion, as implying any personal merit, but because it is a fact. I
will, however, say that I think it very perilous to the utility of any
public man, to make frequent changes of opinion, or any change, but
upon grounds so sufficient and palpable, that the public can clearly
see and approve them. If we could look through a window into the human
breast, and there discover the causes which led to changes of opinion,
they might be made without hazard. But as it is impossible to penetrate
the human heart, and distinguish between the sinister and honest
motives which prompt it, any public man that changes his opinion,
once deliberately formed and promulgated, under other circumstances
than those which I have stated, draws around him distrust, impairs the
public confidence, and lessens his capacity to serve his country.
I will take this occasion now to say, that I am, and have been long
satisfied, that it would have been wiser and more politic in me, to
have declined accepting the office of secretary of state in 1825. Not
that my motives were not as pure and as patriotic as ever carried any
man into public office. Not that the calumny which was applied to the
fact was not as gross and as unfounded as any that was ever propagated.
[Here some body cried out that Mr. Carter ♦Beverley, who had been made
the organ of announcing it, had recently borne testimony to its being
unfounded. Mr. Clay said it was true that he had voluntarily borne such
testimony. But, with great earnestness and emphasis, Mr. Clay said,
I want no testimony――here, here, here, here, repeatedly touching his
heart, amidst tremendous cheers, here is the best of all witnesses
of my innocence.] Not that valued friends, and highly esteemed
opponents did not unite in urging my acceptance of the office. Not
that the administration of Mr. Adams will not, I sincerely believe,
advantageously compare with any of his predecessors, in economy, purity,
prudence, and wisdom. Not that Mr. Adams was himself wanting in any
of those high qualifications and upright and patriotic intentions
which were suited to the office. Of that extraordinary man, of rare
and varied attainments, whatever diversity of opinion may exist as to
his recent course in the house of representatives, (and candor obliges
me to say that there are some things in it which I deeply regret,)
it is with no less truth than pleasure, I declare that, during the
whole period of his administration, annoyed, assailed, and assaulted
as it was, no man could have shown a more devoted attachment to the
union, and all its great interests, a more ardent desire faithfully to
discharge his whole duty, or brought to his aid more useful experience
and knowledge, than he did. I never transacted business with any man,
in my life, with more ease, satisfaction, and advantage, than I did
with that most able and indefatigable gentleman, as president of the
United States. And I will add, that more harmony never prevailed in any
cabinet than in his.
But my error in accepting the office, arose out of my underrating the
power of detraction and the force of ignorance, and abiding with too
sure a confidence in the conscious integrity and uprightness of my own
motives. Of that ignorance, I had a remarkable and laughable example
on an occasion which I will relate. I was travelling, in 1828, through
I believe it was Spottsylvania county, in Virginia, on my return to
Washington, in company with some young friends. We halted at night at
a tavern, kept by an aged gentleman, who, I quickly perceived, from the
disorder and confusion which reigned, had not the happiness to have a
wife. After a hurried and bad supper, the old gentleman sat down by me,
and without hearing my name, but understanding that I was from Kentucky,
remarked that he had four sons in that state, and that he was very
sorry they were divided in politics, two being for Adams and two for
Jackson; he wished they were all for Jackson. Why? I asked him. Because,
he said, that fellow Clay, and Adams, had cheated Jackson out of the
presidency. Have you ever seen any evidence, my old friend, said I, of
that? No, he replied, none, and he wanted to see none. But, I observed,
looking him directly and steadily in the face, suppose Mr. Clay were
to come here and assure you, upon his honor, that it was all a vile
calumny, and not a word of truth in it, would you believe him? No,
replied the old gentleman, promptly and emphatically. I said to him,
in conclusion, will you be good enough to show me to bed, and bade him
good night. The next morning, having in the interval learned my name,
he came to me full of apologies; but I at once put him at his ease
by assuring him that I did not feel in the slightest degree hurt or
offended with him.
Mr. President, I have been accused of ambition, often accused of
ambition. I believe, however, that my accusers will be generally found
to be political opponents, or the friends of aspirants in whose way
I was supposed to stand; and it was thought, therefore, necessary to
shove me aside. I defy my enemies to point out any act or instance
of my life, in which I have sought the attainment of office by
dishonorable or unworthy means. Did I display inordinate ambition when,
under the administration of Mr. Madison, I declined a foreign mission
of the first grade, and an executive department, both of which he
successively kindly tendered to me? when, under that of his successor,
Mr. Monroe, I was first importuned, (as no one knows better than that
sterling old patriot, Jonathan Roberts, now threatened, as the papers
tell us, with expulsion from an office which was never filled with
more honesty and uprightness, because he declines to be a servile
instrument,) to accept a secretaryship, and was afterwards offered
a _carte blanche_ of all the foreign missions? At the epoch of the
election of 1825, I believe no one doubted at Washington that, if I
had felt it my duty to vote for general Jackson, he would have invited
me to take charge of a department. And such undoubtedly Mr. Crawford
would have done if he had been elected. When the Harrisburg convention
assembled, the general expectation was that the nomination would be
given to me. It was given to the lamented Harrison. Did I exhibit
extraordinary ambition when, cheerfully acquiescing, I threw myself
into the canvass and made every exertion in my power to insure it
success? Was it evidence of unchastened ambition in me to resign, as I
recently did, my seat in the senate――to resign the dictatorship, with
which my enemies had so kindly invested me, and come home to the quiet
walks of private life?
But I am ambitious because some of my countrymen have seen fit to
associate my name with the succession for the presidential office.
Do those who prefer the charge know what I have done, or not done, in
connection with that object? Have they given themselves the trouble to
inquire at all into any agency of mine in respect to it? I believe not.
It is a subject which I approach with all the delicacy which belongs to
it, and with a due regard to the dignity of the exalted station; but on
which I shall, at the same time, speak to you, my friends and neighbors,
without reserve, and with the utmost candor.
I have prompted none of those movements among the people, of which
we have seen accounts. As far as I am concerned, they are altogether
spontaneous, and not only without concert with me, but most generally
without any sort of previous knowledge on my part. That I am thankful
and grateful, profoundly grateful, for these manifestations of
confidence and attachment, I will not conceal or deny. But I have
been, and mean to remain a passive, if not an indifferent spectator. I
have reached a time of life, and seen enough of high official stations,
to enable me justly to appreciate their value, their cares, their
responsibilities, their ceaseless duties. That estimate of their worth,
in a personal point of view, would restrain me from seeking to fill
any one, the highest of them, in a scramble of doubtful issue, with
political opponents, much less with political friends. That I should
feel greatly honored by a call from a majority of the people of this
country, to the highest office within their gift, I shall not deny;
nor, if my health were preserved, might I feel at liberty to decline a
summons so authoritative and commanding. But I declare most solemnly,
that I have not, up to this moment, determined whether I will consent
to the use of my name or not as a candidate for the chief magistracy.
That is a grave question, which should be decided by all attainable
lights, which, I think, is not necessary yet to be decided, and a
decision of which I reserve to myself, as far as I can reserve it,
until the period arrives when it ought to be solved. That period has
not, as I think, yet arrived. When it does, an impartial survey of
the whole ground should be taken, the state of public opinion properly
considered, and one’s personal condition, physical and intellectual,
duly examined and weighed. In thus announcing a course of conduct for
myself, it is hardly necessary to remark, that it is no part of my
purpose to condemn, or express any opinion whatever upon those popular
movements which have been made, or may be contemplated, in respect to
the next election of a president of the United States.
If to have served my country during a long series of years with fervent
zeal and unshaken fidelity, in seasons of peace and war, at home and
abroad, in the legislative halls and in an executive department; if to
have labored most sedulously to avert the embarrassment and distress
which now overspread this union, and when they came, to have exerted
myself anxiously, at the extra session, and at this, to devise healing
remedies; if to have desired to introduce economy and reform in the
general administration, curtail enormous executive power, and amply
provide, at the same time, for the wants of the government and the
wants of the people, by a tariff which would give it revenue and them
protection; if to have earnestly sought to establish the bright but too
rare example of a party in power faithful to its promises and pledges
made when out of power; if these services, exertions, and endeavors,
justify the accusation of ambition, I must plead guilty to the charge.
I have wished the good opinion of the world; but I defy the most
malignant of my enemies to show that I have attempted to gain it by
any low or grovelling arts, by any mean or unworthy sacrifices, by the
violation of any of the obligations of honor, or by a breach of any of
the duties which I owed to my country.
I turn, sir, from these personal allusions and reminiscences, to the
vastly more important subject of the present actual condition of this
country. If they could ever be justifiable or excusable, it would be on
such an occasion as this, when I am addressing those to whom I am bound
by so many intimate and friendly ties.
In speaking of the present state of the country, it will be necessary
for me to touch with freedom and independence upon the past as well as
the present, and upon the conduct, spirit, and principles of parties.
In doing this, I assure my democratic brethren and fellow citizens,
of whom I am told there are many here present, (and I tender them my
cordial thanks for the honor done me by their attendance here this
day, with as much sincerity and gratitude as if they agreed with me
in political sentiment,) that nothing is further from my intention
than to say one single word that ought to wound their feelings or give
offence to them. But surely, if there ever was a period in the progress
of any people, when all were called upon, with calmness and candor, to
consider thoroughly the present posture of public and private affairs,
and deliberately to inquire into the causes and remedies of this
unpropitious state of things, we have arrived at that period in the
United States. And if ever a people stood bound by the highest duties
to themselves and to their posterity, to sacrifice upon the altar
of their country, cherished prejudices and party predilections and
antipathies, we are now called upon to make that sacrifice if necessary.
What is our actual condition? It is one of unexampled distress and
embarrassment, as universal as it is intense, pervading the whole
community and sparing none; property of all kinds, and every where,
fallen and falling in value; agricultural produce of every description
at the most reduced prices; money unsound and at the same time scarce,
and becoming more scarce by preparations, of doubtful and uncertain
issue, to increase its soundness; all the departments of business
inactive and stagnant; exchanges extravagantly high, and constantly
fluctuating; credit, public and private, at the lowest ebb, and
confidence lost; and a feeling of general discouragement and depression.
And what darkens the gloom which hangs over the country, no one can
discern any termination of this sad state of things, nor see in the
future any glimpses of light or hope.
Is not this a faithful, although appalling picture of the United
States in 1842? I appeal to all present, whigs and democrats, ladies
and gentlemen, to say if it be at all too high colored.
Now let us see what was our real condition only the short time of ten
years ago. I had occasion, in February, 1832, in the senate of the
United States, when I was defending the American system against the
late colonel Hayne, of South Carolina, to describe it; and I refer to
this description as evidence of what I believed to be the state of the
country at that time. That it conformed to the truth of the case, I
appeal with confidence to those now present. On that occasion, among
other things, I said:
‘I have now to perform the more pleasing task of exhibiting
an imperfect sketch of the existing state of the unparalleled
prosperity of the country. On a general survey, we behold
cultivation extended, the arts flourishing, the face of the
country improved, our people fully and profitably employed, and
the public countenance exhibiting tranquillity, contentment,
and happiness. And, if we descend into particulars, we have the
agreeable contemplation of a people out of debt, land rising
slowly in value, but in a secure and salutary degree; a ready,
though extravagant market for all the surplus productions of our
industry; innumerable flocks and herds browsing and gamboling
on ten thousand hills and plains, covered with rich and verdant
grasses; our cities expanded, and whole villages springing
up, as it were, by enchantment; our exports and our imports
increased and increasing; our tonnage, foreign and coastwise,
swelling and fully occupied; the rivers of our interior
animated by the perpetual thunder and lightning of countless
steamboats; the currency sound and abundant; the public debt of
two wars nearly redeemed; and, to crown all, the public treasury
overflowing, embarrassing congress, not to find subjects of
taxation, but to select the objects which shall be liberated
from the impost. If the term of seven years were to be selected
of the greatest prosperity which this people have enjoyed since
the establishment of their present constitution, it would be
exactly that period of seven years which immediately followed
the passage of the tariff of 1824.’
And that period embraced the whole term of the administration of
Mr. John Quincy Adams, which has been so unjustly abused!
The contrast in the state of the country at the two periods of 1832 and
1842, is most remarkable and startling. What has precipitated us from
that great height of enviable prosperity down to the lowest depths of
pecuniary embarrassment? What has occasioned the wonderful change? No
foreign foe has invaded and desolated the country. We have had neither
famine nor earthquakes. That there exists a cause there can be no doubt;
and I think it equally clear that the cause, whatever it may be, must
be a general one; for nothing but a general cause could have produced
such wide spread ruin; and every where we behold the same or similar
effects, every interest affected, every section of the union suffering,
all descriptions of produce and property depressed in value. And whilst
I endeavor to find out that cause, and to trace to their true source
the disastrous effects which we witness and feel, and lament, I entreat
the democratic portion of my audience, especially, to listen with
patience and candor, and dismissing for a moment party biases and
prejudices, to decide with impartiality and in a spirit of genuine
patriotism.
It has been said by those in high authority, that the people are to
blame and not the government, and that the distresses of the country
have proceeded from speculation and over-trading. The people have been
even reproached for expecting too much from government, and not relying
sufficiently upon their own exertions. And they have been reminded that
the highest duty of the government is to take care of itself, leaving
the people to shift for themselves as well as they can. Accordingly
we have seen the government retreating from the storm which it will
be seen, in the sequel, itself created, and taking shelter under the
sub-treasury.
That there has been some speculation and over-trading, may be true;
but all have not speculated and over-traded; whilst the distress
reaches, if not in the same degree, the cautious and the prudent,
as well as the enterprising and venturous. The error of the argument
consists in mistaking the effect for the cause. What produced the
over-trading? What was the cause of speculation? How were the people
tempted to abandon the industrious and secure pursuits of life, and
embark in doubtful and perilous, but seducing enterprises? That is the
important question.
Now, fellow citizens, I take upon myself to show that the people have
been far less to blame than the general government, and that whatever
of error they committed, was the natural and inevitable consequence
of the unwise policy of their rulers. To the action of government is
mainly to be ascribed the disorders, embarrassment, and distress, which
all have now so much reason to deplore. And, to be yet more specific,
I think they are to be fairly attributed to the action of the executive
branch of the federal government.
Three facts or events, all happening about the same time, if their
immediate effects are duly considered, will afford a clear and
satisfactory solution of all the pecuniary evils which now unhappily
afflict this country.
The first was the veto of the recharter of the bank of the United
States. The second was the removal of the deposits of the United
States from that bank to local banks. And the third was the refusal of
the president of the United States, by an arbitrary stretch of power,
to sanction the passage of the land bill. These events all occurred,
in quick succession, in 1832–3, and each of them deserves particular
consideration.
First. When the bank of the United States had fully recovered from
the errors of its early administration, and at the period when it was
proposed to recharter it, it furnished the best currency that ever
existed, possessing not merely unbounded confidence in the United
States, but throughout the whole commercial world. No institution was
ever more popular, and the utility of a bank of the United States was
acknowledged by president Jackson in his veto message, in which he
expressly stated, that he could have suggested to congress the plan
of an unexceptionable charter, if application had been made to him.
And I state as a fact, what many, I am sure, will here remember and
sustain, that in the canvass then going on for the presidency, many
of his friends in this state gave assurances that, in the event of his
reëlection, a bank of the United States would be established.
It was held out to the people that a better currency should be supplied,
and a more safe and faithful execution of the fiscal duties towards the
government would be performed by the local banks than by the bank of
the United States.
What was the immediate effect of the overthrow of that institution?
The establishment of innumerable local banks, which sprung up every
where, with a rapidity to which we cannot look back without amazement.
A respectable document which I now hold in my hand, I believe correctly
states, that ‘in 1830 the aggregate banking capital of the union was
one hundred and forty-five million, one hundred and ninety thousand,
two hundred and sixty eight dollars. Within two years after the removal
of the deposits, the banking capital has swollen to three hundred and
thirty-one million, two hundred and fifty thousand, three hundred and
thirty-seven dollars, and in 1837 it reached four hundred and forty
million, one hundred and ninety-five thousand, seven hundred and ten
dollars. Whilst the United States bank was in existence, the local
banks, not aspiring to the regulation of the currency, were chartered
with small capitals, as occasion and business required. After 1833 they
were chartered without necessity, and multiplied beyond example. In
December, 1837, there were no less than seven hundred and nine state
banks. Nearly four hundred banks sprung up upon the ruins of the United
States bank, and two hundred and fifty million dollars of capital was
incorporated, to supply the uses formerly discharged by the thirty-five
million dollars capital of the bank of the United States. The impulse
given to extravagance and speculation by this enormous increase
of banking capital, was quickened by the circulars of the treasury
department to these pet state banks that were made the custodiers of
the national revenue.’
A vast proportion of these new banks, more, I believe, than four
fifths, were chartered by legislatures in which the democratic party
had the undisputed ascendancy. I well remember that, in this state, the
presses of that party made a grave charge against me, of being inimical
to the establishment here of state banks; and I was opposed to their
establishment, until all prospect vanished of getting a bank of the
United States.
The effect upon the country of this sudden increase, to such an
immense amount, of the banking capital of the country, could not
fail to be very great, if not disastrous. It threw out, in the utmost
profusion, bank notes, post notes, checks, drafts, bills, and so forth.
The currency thus put forth, the people had been assured, was better
than that supplied by the bank of the United States; and, after the
removal of the deposits, the local banks were urged and stimulated, by
the secretary of the treasury, freely to discount and accommodate, upon
the basis of those deposits. Flooded as the country was, by these means
and in this way, with all species of bank money and facilities, is it
surprising that they should have rushed into speculation, and freely
adventured in the most desperate enterprises? It would have been better
to have avoided them; it would have been better that the people should
have been wiser and more prudent than government; but who is most
to blame, they who yielded to temptation so thrown before them――they
who yielded confidence to their rulers――they who could not see when
this inordinate issue of money was to cease, or to become vitiated――or
government, that tempted, seduced, and betrayed them?
And now, fellow-citizens, do let us, in calmness and candor, revert
for a moment to some of the means which were employed to break down
the bank of the United States, and to inflict upon the country all the
sad consequences which ensued. I shall not stop to expose the motives
of the assault upon that institution, and to show that it was because
it refused to make itself basely and servilely instrumental to the
promotion of political views and objects.
The bank was denounced as a monster, aiming, as was declared, to rob
the people of their liberties, and to subvert the government of the
country. The bank to subvert the government! Why, how could the bank
continue to exist, after the overthrow of that government to which
it was indebted for its existence, and in virtue of whose authority
it could alone successfully operate? Convulsions, revolutions, civil
wars, are not the social conditions most favorable to bank prosperity;
but they flourish most when order, law, regularity, punctuality, and
successful business prevail.
Rob the people of their liberties! And pray what would it do with
them after the robbery was perpetrated? It could not put them in
its vaults, or make interest or profit upon them――the leading, if
not sole object of a bank. And how could it destroy the liberties of
the people, without, at the same time, destroying the liberties of
all persons interested or concerned in the bank? What is a bank? It
is a corporation, the aggregate of whose capital is contributed by
individual shareholders, and employed in pecuniary operations, under
the management of official agents, called president, directors, cashier,
tellers, and clerks. Now all these persons are usually citizens of
the United States, just as much interested in the preservation of the
liberties of the country as any other citizens. What earthly motive
could prompt them to seek the destruction of the liberty of their
fellow-citizens, and with it their own.
The fate of the bank of the United States clearly demonstrated where
the real danger to the public liberty exists. It was not in the bank.
Its popularity had been great, and the conviction of its utility strong
and general, up to the period of the bank veto. Unbounded as was the
influence of president Jackson, and undisguised as his hostility was
to the bank, he could not prevent the passage through congress of a
bill to recharter it. In such favor and esteem was it held, that the
legislature of Pennsylvania, in which his friends had uncontrolled
sway, almost unanimously recommended the recharter. But his veto came;
he blew his whistle for its destruction; it was necessary to sustain
his party, which could only be done by sustaining him, and instantly,
and every where, down with the bank and huzzah for the veto, became
the watch words and the rallying cry of his partisans. That same
legislature of Pennsylvania, now, with equal unanimity, approved
the destruction of an institution which they had believed to be so
indispensable to the public prosperity, and deluded people felt as
if they had fortunately escaped a great national calamity!
The veto notwithstanding, the house of representatives, by a large
majority, resolved that the public deposits were safe in the custody
of the bank of the United States, where they were placed, under the
sanction and by the command of the law; and it was well known at
Washington, that this resolution was passed in anticipation, and to
prevent the possibility of their removal. In the face and in contempt
of this decision of the representatives of the people, and in violation
of a positive law, the removal was ordered by the president a few
months after, the secretary of the treasury having been previously
himself removed, to accomplish the object. And this brings me to
consider the effect produced upon the business and interests of the
country, by the
Second event to which I alluded. It is well known to be the usage of
banks, to act upon the standing average amount of their deposits, as
upon a permanent fund. The bank of the United States had so regulated
its transactions upon the deposits of the United States, and had
granted accommodations and extended facilities, as far as could be
safely done on that basis. The deposits were removed and dispersed
among various local banks, which were urged by an authority not likely
to be disregarded, especially when seconding, as it did, their own
pecuniary interests, to discount and accommodate freely on them. They
did so, and thus these deposits performed a double office, by being
the basis of bank facilities, first in the hands of the bank of the
United States, and afterwards in the possession of the local banks. A
vast addition to the circulation of the country ensued, adding to that
already so copiously put forth and putting forth, by the multitude of
new banks which were springing up like mushrooms. That speculation and
overtrading should have followed, were to have been naturally expected.
It is surprising that there were not more. Prices rose enormously, as
another consequence; and thousands were tempted, as is always the case
in an advancing market, to hold on or to make purchases, under the hope
of prices rising still higher. A rush of speculators was made upon the
public lands, and the money invested in their purchase, coming back to
the deposit banks, was again and again loaned out to the same or other
speculators, to make other and other purchases.
Who was to blame for this artificial and inflated state of things?
Who for the speculation, which was its natural offspring? The policy
of government, which produced it, or the people? The seducer or the
seduced? The people, who only used the means so abundantly supplied,
in virtue of the public authority, or our rulers, whose unwise policy
tempted them into the ruinous speculation?
Third. There was a measure, the passage of which would have greatly
mitigated this unnatural state of things. It was not difficult to
foresee, after the veto of the bank, some of the consequences that
would follow――the multiplication of banks, a superabundant currency,
rash and inordinate speculation, and a probable ultimate suspension of
specie payments. And the public domain was too brilliant and tempting a
prize, not to be among the first objects that would attract speculation.
In March, 1833, a bill passed both houses of congress, to distribute
among the states the proceeds of sales of the public lands. It was
a measure of strict justice to the states, and one of sound policy,
as it respects the revenue of the United States; but the view which
I now propose to take of it, applies altogether to the influence which
it would have exerted upon circulation, and speculation. It was the
constitutional duty of the president to have returned the bill to
congress with his objections, if he were opposed to it, or with his
sanction, if he approved it; but the bill fell by his arbitrarily
withholding it from congress.
Let us here pause and consider what would have been the operation of
that most timely and salutary measure, if it had not been arrested. The
bill passed in 1833, and in a short time after, the sales of the public
lands were made to an unprecedented extent; in so much, that in one
year they amounted to about twenty-five millions of dollars, and in a
few years, to an aggregate of about fifty millions of dollars. It was
manifest, that if this fund, so rapidly accumulating, remained in the
custody of the local banks, in conformity with the treasury circular,
and with their interests, it would be made the basis of new loans, new
accommodations, fresh bank facilities. It was manifest that the same
identical sum of money might, as it in fact did, purchase many tracts
of land, by making the circuit from the land offices to the banks, and
from the banks to the land offices, besides stimulating speculation in
other forms.
Under the operation of the measure of distribution, that great fund
would have been semi-annually returned to the states, and would have
been applied, under the direction of their respective legislatures,
to various domestic and useful purposes. It would have fallen upon the
land, like the rains of heaven, in gentle, genial, and general showers,
passing through a thousand rills, and fertilizing and beautifying the
country. Instead of being employed in purposes of speculation, it would
have been applied to the common benefit to the whole people. Finally,
when the fund had accumulated and was accumulating in an alarming
degree, it was distributed among the states by the deposit act, but so
suddenly distributed, in such large masses, and in a manner so totally
in violation of all the laws and rules of finance, that the crisis
of suspension in 1837 was greatly accelerated. This would have been
postponed, if not altogether avoided, if the land bill of 1833 had been
approved and executed.
To these three causes, fellow-citizens, the veto of the bank of the
United States, with the consequent creation of innumerable local banks,
the removal of the deposits of the United States from the bank of
the United States, and their subsequent free use, and the failure of
the land bill of 1833, I verily believe, all, or nearly all, of the
pecuniary embarrassments of the country are plainly attributable. If
the bank had been rechartered, the public deposits suffered to remain
undisturbed where the law required them to be made, and the land bill
had gone into operation, it is my firm conviction that we should have
had no more individual distress and ruin than is common, in ordinary
and regular times, to a trading and commercial community.
And do just now take a rapid review of the experiments of our
rulers. They began with incontestably the _best_ currency in the
world, and promised a _better_. That better currency was to be supplied
by the local banks; and in the first stages of the experiment, after
the removal of the deposits, they were highly commended from high
authority, for their beneficial and extensive operations in exchange,
the financial facilities which they afforded to the government, and so
forth. But the day of trouble and difficulty, which had been predicted,
for the want of a United States bank, came. They could not stand the
shock, but gave way, and the suspension of 1837 took place. Then what
was the course of those same rulers? They had denounced and put down
the bank of the United States. It was a monster. They had extolled and
lavished praises on the local banks. Now, they turned round against the
objects of their own creation and commendation. Now they were a brood
of little monsters, corrupt and corrupting with separate privileges,
preying upon the vitals of the states. They vehemently call out for a
divorce of state and bank. And meanly retreating under the sub-treasury,
from the storm which themselves had raised, leaving the people to
suffer under all its pelting and pitiless rage, they add insult to
injury, by telling them that they unreasonably expect too much from
government, that they must take care of themselves, and that it is the
highest and most patriotic duty of a free government to take care of
itself, without regard to the sufferings and distresses of the people.
They began with the best currency, promised a better, and end with
giving none! For we might as well resort to the costumes of our
original parents in the garden of Eden, as, in this enlightened age,
with the example of the commercial world before us, to cramp this
energetic and enterprising people, by a circulation exclusively of
the precious metals. Let us see how the matter stands with us here in
Kentucky, and I believe we stand as well as the people do in most of
the states. We have a circulation in bank notes amounting to about two
millions and a half, founded upon specie in their vaults amounting
to one million and a quarter, half the actual circulation. Have we
too much money? [No no! exclaimed many voices.] If all banks were put
down, and all bank paper were annihilated, we should have just one half
the money that we now have. I am quite sure that one of the immediate
causes of our present difficulties, is a defect in quantity as well
as the quality of the circulating medium. And it would be impossible,
if we were reduced to such a regimen as is proposed by the hard money
theorists, to avoid stop laws, relief laws, repudiation, bankruptcies,
and perhaps civil commotion.
I have traced the principal causes of the present embarrassed
condition of the country, I hope with candor and fairness, and without
giving offence to any of my fellow citizens, who may have differed
in political opinion from me. It would have been far more agreeable
to my feelings to have dwelt, as I did in 1832, during the third year
of the first term of president Jackson’s administration, upon bright
and cheering prospects of general prosperity. I thought it useful to
contrast that period with the present one, and to inquire into the
causes which have brought upon us such a sad and dismal reverse. A much
more important object remains to me to attempt, and that is to point
out remedies for existing evils and disorders.
And the first I would suggest, requires the coöperation of the
government and the people; it is economy and frugality, strict and
persevering economy, both in public and private affairs. Government
should incur or continue no expense that can be justly and honorably
avoided, and individuals should do the same. The prosperity of the
country has been impaired by causes operating throughout several
years, and it will not be restored in a day or a year, perhaps not in
a period less than it has taken to destroy it. But we must not only
be economical, we must be industrious, indefatigably industrious. An
immense amount of capital has been wasted and squandered in visionary
or unprofitable enterprises, public and private. It can only be
reproduced by labor and saving.
The second remedy which I would suggest, and that without which
all others must prove abortive or ineffectual, is a sound currency,
of uniform value throughout the union, and redeemable in specie
upon the demand of the holder. I know of but one mode in which that
object can be accomplished, and that has stood the test of time and
practical experience. If any other can be devised than a bank of
the United States, which should be safe and certain, and free from
the influence of government, and especially under the control of the
executive department, I should for one gladly see it embraced. I am
not exclusively wedded to a bank of the United States, nor do I desire
to see one established against the will and without the consent of the
people. But all my observation and reflection have served to strengthen
and confirm my conviction, that such an institution, emanating from the
authority of the general government, properly restricted and guarded,
with such improvements as experience has pointed out, can alone supply
a reliable currency.
Accordingly, at the extra session, a bill passed both houses of
congress, which, in my opinion, contained an excellent charter,
with one or two slight defects, which it was intended to cure by a
supplemental bill, if the veto had not been exercised. That charter
contained two new, and I think admirable features; one was to separate
the operation of issuing a circulation from that of banking, confiding
these faculties to different boards; and the other was to limit the
dividends of the bank, bringing the excess beyond the prescribed amount,
into the public treasury. In the preparation of the charter, every
sacrifice was made that could be made to accommodate it, especially in
regard to the president. But instead of meeting as in a mutual spirit
of conciliation, he fired, as was aptly said by a Virginia editor, upon
the flag of truce sent from the capitol.
Congress anxious to fulfil the expectations of the people, another bank
bill was prepared, in conformity with the plan of a bank sketched by
the acting president in his veto message, after a previous consultation
between him and some distinguished members of congress, and two leading
members of his cabinet. The bill was shaped in precise conformity to
his views, as communicated by those members of the cabinet, and as
communicated to others and was submitted to his inspection after it was
so prepared; and he gave his assurances that he would approve such a
bill. I was no party to the transaction, but I do not entertain a doubt
of what I state. The bill passed both houses of congress without any
alteration or amendment whatever, and the veto was nevertheless again
employed.
It is painful for me to advert to a grave occurrence, marked by such
dishonor and bad faith. Although the president, through his recognized
organ, derides and denounces the whigs, and disowns being one; although
he administers the executive branch of the government in contempt of
their feelings and in violation of their principles; and although all
whom he chooses to have denominated as ultra whigs, that is to say
the great body of the whig party, have come under his ban, and those
of them in office are threatened with his expulsion, I wish not to
say of him one word that is not due to truth and to the country. I
will, however, say that, in my opinion, the whigs cannot justly be held
responsible for his administration of the executive department, for
the measures he may recommend, or his failure to recommend others, nor
especially for the manner in which he distributes the public patronage.
They will do their duty, I hope, towards the country, and render all
good and proper support to government; but they ought not to be held
accountable for his conduct. They elected him, it is true, but for
another office, and he came into the present one by a lamentable
visitation of providence. There had been no such instance occurring
under the government. If the whigs were bound to scrutinize his
opinions, in reference to an office which no one ever anticipated
he would fill, he was bound in honor and good faith to decline the
Harrisburgh nomination, if he could not conscientiously coöperate with
the principles that brought him into office. Had the president who was
elected lived, had that honest and good man, on whose face, in that
picture, we now gaze, been spared, I feel perfectly confident that all
the measures which the principles of the whigs authorized the country
to expect, including a bank of the United States, would have been
carried.
But it may be said that a sound currency, such as I have described,
is unattainable during the administration of Mr. Tyler. It will be, if
it can only be obtained through the instrumentality of a bank of the
United States, unless he changes his opinion, as he has done in regard
to the land bill.
Unfortunately, our chief magistrate possesses more powers, in
some respects, than a king or queen of England. The crown is never
separated from the nation, but is obliged to conform to its will.
If the ministry holds opinions adverse to the nation, and is thrown
into the minority in the house of commons, the crown is constrained to
dismiss the ministry, and appoint one whose opinions coincide with the
nation. This queen Victoria has recently been obliged to do: and not
merely to change her ministry, but to dismiss the official attendants
upon her person. But here, if the president holds an opinion adverse to
that of congress and the nation upon important public measures, there
is no remedy but upon the periodical return of the rights of the ballot
box.
Another remedy, powerfully demanded by the necessities of the times,
and requisite to maintaining the currency in a sound state, is a
tariff which will lessen importations from abroad, and tend to increase
supplies at home from domestic industry. I have so often expressed
my views on this subject, and so recently in the senate of the United
States, that I do not think there is any occasion for my enlarging
upon it at this time. I do not think that an exorbitant or very high
tariff is necessary; but one that shall insure an adequate revenue
and reasonable protection; and it so happens that the interests of
the treasury and the wants of the people now perfectly coincide.
Union is our highest and greatest interest. No one can look beyond
its dissolution without horror and dismay. Harmony is essential
to the preservation of the union. It was a leading, although not
the only motive in proposing the compromise act, to preserve that
harmony. The power of protecting the interests of our own country,
can never be abandoned or surrendered to foreign nations, without a
culpable dereliction of duty. Of this truth, all parts of the nation
are every day becoming more and more sensible. In the mean time
this indispensable power should be exercised with a discretion and
moderation, and in a form least calculated to revive prejudices, or
to check the progress of reforms now going on in public opinion.
In connection with a system of remedial measures, I shall only allude
to, without stopping to dwell on, the distribution bill, that just
and equitable settlement of a great national question, which sprung up
during the revolutionary war, which has seriously agitated the country,
and which it is deeply to be regretted had not been settled ten years
ago, as then proposed. Independent of all other considerations, the
fluctuation in the receipts from sales of the public lands is so great
and constant that it is a resource on which the general government
ought not to rely for revenue. It is far better that the advice of a
democratic land committee of the senate, at the head of which was the
experienced and distinguished Mr. King, of Alabama, given some years
ago, should be followed, that the federal treasury be replenished with
duties on imports, without bringing into it any part of the land fund.
I have thus suggested measures of relief adapted to the present
state of the country, and I have noticed some of the differences
which unfortunately exist between the two leading parties into which
our people are unhappily divided. In considering the question whether
the counsels of the one or the other of these parties are wisest, and
best calculated to advance the interest, the honor, and the prosperity
of the nation, which every citizen ought to do, we should discard all
passion and prejudice, and exercise, as far as possible, a perfect
impartiality. And we should not confine our attention merely to the
particular measures which those parties respectively espouse or oppose,
but extend it to their general course and conduct, and to the spirit
and purposes by which they are animated. We should anxiously inquire,
whither shall we be led by following in the lead of one or the other of
those parties; shall we be carried to the achievement of the glorious
destiny, which patriots here, and the liberal portion of mankind every
where, have fondly hoped awaits us? or shall we ingloriously terminate
our career, by adding another melancholy example of the instability of
human affairs, and the folly with which self-government is administered?
I do not arrogate to myself more impartiality, or greater freedom from
party bias, than belongs to other men; but, unless I deceive myself,
I think I have reached a time of life, and am now in a position of
retirement, from which I can look back with calmness, and speak, I hope,
with candor and justice. I do not intend to attempt a general contrast
between the two parties, as to their course, doctrines, and spirit.
That would be too extensive and laborious an undertaking for this
occasion; but I propose to specify a few recent instances, in which
I think our political opponents have exhibited a spirit and bearing
disorganizing and dangerous to the permanency and stability of our
institutions, and I invoke the serious and sober attention to them,
of all who are here assembled.
The first I would notice, is the manner in which territories have
been lately admitted as states, into the union. The early and regular
practice of the government, was for congress to pass previously a
law authorizing a convention, regulating the appointment of members
to it; specifying the qualification of voters, and so forth. In that
way most of the states were received. Of late without any previous
sanction or authority from congress, several territories have proceeded
of themselves to call conventions, form constitutions, and demand
admission into the union; and they were admitted. I do not deny that
their population and condition entitled them to admission; but I insist
that it should have been done in the regular and established mode. In
the case of Michigan, aliens were allowed to vote, as aliens have been
allowed to become preëmptioners in the public lands. And a majority in
congress sanctioned the proceeding. When foreigners are naturalized and
incorporated as citizens in our community, they are entitled to all the
privileges, within the limits of the constitution, which belong to a
native born citizen; and, if necessary, they should be protected, at
home and abroad――the thunder of our artillery should roar as loud and
as effectually in their defence as if their birth were upon American
soil. But I cannot but think it wrong and hazardous, to allow aliens,
who have just landed upon our shores, who have not yet renounced
their allegiance to foreign potentates, nor sworn fidelity to our
constitution, with all the influences of monarchy and anarchy about
them, to participate in our elections, and affect our legislation.
Second, the New Jersey election case, in which the great seal of the
state, and the decision of the local authorities were put aside by the
house of representatives, and a majority thus secured to the democratic
party.
Third, nullification, which is nothing more nor less than an
assumption by one state to abrogate within its limits a law passed by
the twenty-six states in congress assembled.
Fourth, a late revolutionary attempt in Maryland to subvert the
existing government, and set up a new one without any authority of law.
Fifth, the refusal of a minority in the legislature of Tennessee, to
coöperate with the majority, (their constitution requiring the presence
of two thirds of the members,) to execute a positive injunction of the
United States to appoint two United States senators. In principle, that
refusal was equivalent to announcing the willingness of that minority
to dissolve the union. For if thirteen or fourteen of the twenty-six
states were to refuse altogether to elect senators, a dissolution of
the union would be the consequence. That majority, for weeks together,
and time after time, deliberately refused to enter upon the election.
And if the union is not in fact dissolved, it is not because the
principle involved would not yield to a dissolution, but because twelve
or thirteen other states have not like themselves refused to perform
a high constitutional duty. And why did they refuse? Simply because
they apprehended the election to the senate of political opponents. The
seats of the two Tennessee senators in the United States senate, are
now vacant, and Tennessee has no voice in that branch of congress, in
the general legislation. One of the highest compliments which I ever
received, was to have been appointed, at a popular meeting in Tennessee,
one of her senators, in conjunction with a distinguished senator from
South Carolina, with all the authority that such an appointment could
bestow. I repeat here an expression of my acknowledgments for the honor,
which I most _ambitiously_ resigned, when I gave up my dictatorship,
and my seat as a Kentucky senator. [A general laugh.]
Sixth. Then there is repudiation, that foul stain upon the American
character, cast chiefly by the democrats of Mississippi, and which it
will require years to efface from our bright escutcheon.
Seventh, the support given to executive usurpations, and the expunging
the records of the senate of the United States.
Eighth, the recent refusal of state legislatures to pass laws to
carry into effect the act of distribution, an act of congress passed
according to all the forms of the constitution, after ample discussion
and deliberate consideration, and after the lapse of ten years from
the period it was first proposed. It is the duty of all to submit to
the laws regularly passed. They may attempt to get them repealed; they
have a right to test their validity before the judiciary; but whilst
the laws remain in force unrepealed, and without any decision against
their constitutional validity, submission to them is not merely a
constitutional and legal, but a moral duty. In this case it is true
that those who refuse to abide by them only bite their own noses. But
it is the _principle_ of the refusal to which I call your attention.
If a minority may refuse compliance with one law, what is to prevent
minorities from disregarding all law? Is this any thing but a
modification of nullification? What right have the servants of the
people, (the legislative bodies,) to withhold from their masters their
assigned quotas of a great public fund?
Ninth. The last, though not least, instance of the manifestation
of a spirit of disorganization which I shall notice, is the recent
convulsion in Rhode Island. That little, but gallant and patriotic
state had a charter derived from a British king, in operation between
one and two hundred years. There had been engrafted upon it laws and
usages, from time to time, and altogether a practical constitution
sprung up, which carried the state as one of the glorious thirteen,
through the revolution, and brought her safely into the union. Under
it, her Greens and Perrys and other distinguished men were born
and rose to eminence. The legislature had called a convention to
remedy whatever defects it had, and to adapt it to the progressive
improvement of the age. In that work of reform the Dorr party might
have coöperated; but not choosing so to coöperate, and in wanton
defiance of all established authority, they undertook subsequently
to call another convention. The result was two constitutions, not
essentially differing on the principal point of controversy, the right
of suffrage.
Upon submitting to the people that which was formed by the regular
convention, a small majority voted against it, produced by a union in
casting votes, between the Dorr party and some of the friends of the
old charter, who were opposed to any change. The other constitution
being also submitted to the people, an apparent majority voted for it,
made up of every description of votes, legal and illegal, by proxy and
otherwise, taken in the most irregular and unauthorized manner.
The Dorr party proceeded to put their constitution in operation
by electing him as the governor of the state, members to the mock
legislature, and other officers. But they did not stop here; they
proceeded to collect, to drill, and to marshal a military force, and
pointed their cannon against the arsenal of the state.
The president was called upon to interpose the power of the union
to preserve the peace of the state, in conformity with an express
provision of the federal constitution. And I have as much pleasure
in expressing my opinion that he faithfully performed his duty, in
responding to that call, as it gave me pain to be obliged to animadvert
on other parts of his conduct.
The leading presses of the democratic party at Washington, Albany,
New York, Richmond, and elsewhere, came out in support of the Dorr
party, encouraging them in their work of rebellion and treason. And
when matters had got to a crisis, and the two parties were preparing
for a civil war, and every hour it was expected to blaze out, a great
Tammany meeting was held in the city of New York, headed by the leading
men of the party, the Cambrelengs, the Vanderpools, the Allens, &c.,
with a perfect knowledge that the military power of the union was
to be employed, if necessary, to suppress the insurrection, and,
notwithstanding, they passed resolutions tending to awe the president,
and to countenance and cheer the treason.
Fortunately, numbers of the Dorr party abandoned their chief; he fled,
and Rhode Island, unaided by any actual force of the federal authority,
proved herself able alone to maintain law, order, and government,
within her borders.
I do not attribute to my fellow citizens here assembled, from whom
I differ in opinion, any disposition to countenance the revolutionary
proceedings in Rhode Island. I do not believe that they approve it,
I do not believe that their party generally could approve it, nor
some of the other examples of a spirit of disorganization which I have
enumerated; but the misfortune is, in time of high party excitement,
that the leaders commit themselves, and finally commit the body of
their party, who perceive that unless they stand by and sustain their
leaders, a division, and perhaps destruction of the party, would be
the consequence. Of all the springs of human action, party ties are
perhaps the most powerful. Interest has been supposed to be more so;
but party ties are more influential, unless they are regarded as a
modification of imaginary interest. Under their sway, we have seen, not
only individuals, but whole communities abandon their long cherished
interests and principles, and turn round and oppose them with violence.
Did not the rebellion in Rhode Island find for its support a precedent
established by the majority in congress, in the irregular admission
of territories, as states, into the union, to which I have heretofore
alluded? Is there not reason to fear that the example which congress
had previously presented, encouraged the Rhode Island rebellion?
It has been attempted to defend that rebellion, upon the doctrines
of the American Declaration of Independence; but no countenance to it
can be fairly derived from them. That declaration asserts, it is true,
that whenever a government becomes destructive of the ends of life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, for the security of which it
was instituted, it is the right of the _people_ to alter or abolish it,
and institute new government; and so undoubtedly it is. But this is a
right only to be exercised in grave and extreme cases. ‘Prudence indeed
will dictate,’ says that venerated instrument, ‘that governments long
established should not be changed for light and transient causes.’ ‘But
when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the
same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism,
it is their right, their duty, to throw off such government.’
Will it be pretended that the actual government of Rhode Island is
destructive of life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness? That it
has perpetrated a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing the
same invariable object, to reduce the people under absolute despotism?
Or that any other cause of complaint existed, but such as might be
peacefully remedied, without violence and without blood? Such as,
in point of fact, the legitimate government had regularly summoned a
convention to redress, but for the results of whose deliberations the
restless spirit of disorder and rebellion had not patience to wait? Why,
fellow-citizens, little Rhody (God bless and preserve her,) is one of
the most prosperous, enterprising, and enlightened states in this whole
union. No where are life, liberty, and property, more perfectly secure.
How is this right of the people to abolish an existing government, and
to set up a new one, to be practically exercised? Our revolutionary
ancestors did not tell us by words, but they proclaimed it by gallant
and noble deeds. Who are _the people_ that are to tear up the whole
fabric of human society, whenever and as often as caprice or passion
may prompt them? When all the arrangements and ordinances of existing
and organized society are prostrated and subverted, as must be supposed
in such a lawless and irregular movement as that in Rhode Island, the
established privileges and distinctions between the sexes, between the
colors, between the ages, between natives and foreigners, between the
sane and the insane, and between the innocent and the guilty convict,
all the offspring of positive institutions, are cast down and abolished,
and society is thrown into one heterogenous and unregulated mass.
And is it contended that the major part of this Babel congregation is
invested with the right to build up, at its pleasure, a new government?
That as often, and whenever society can be drummed up and thrown into
such a shapeless mass, the major part of it may establish another, and
another new government, in endless succession? Why, this would overturn
all social organization, make revolutions――the extreme and last resort
of an oppressed people――the commonest occurrences of human life, and
the standing order of the day. How such a principle would operate, in
a certain section of this union, with a peculiar population, you will
readily conceive. No community could endure such an intolerable state
of things any where, and all would, sooner or later, take refuge from
such ceaseless agitation, in the calm repose of absolute despotism.
I know of no mode by which an existing government can be overthrown
and put aside, and a new one erected in its place, but by the consent
or authority of that government, express or implied, or by forcible
resistance, that is, revolution.
Fellow-citizens, I have enumerated these examples of a dangerous spirit
of disorganization, and disregard of law, with no purpose of giving
offence, or exciting bitter and unkind feelings, here or elsewhere, but
to illustrate the principles, character, and tendency of the two great
parties into which this country is divided. In all of these examples,
the democratic party, as it calls itself, (a denomination to which
I respectfully think it has not the least just pretension,) or large
portions of that party, extending to whole states, united with apparent
cordiality. To all of them the whig party was constantly and firmly
opposed. And now let me ask you, in all candor and sincerity, to say
truly and impartially to which of these two parties can the interests,
the happiness, and the destinies of this great people be most safely
confided? I appeal especially, and with perfect confidence, to the
candor of the real, the ancient, and long-tried democracy――that old
republican party with whom I stood, side by side, during some of the
darkest days of the republic, in seasons of both war and peace.
Fellow-citizens of all parties! The present situation of our country
is one of unexampled distress and difficulty; but there is no occasion
for any despondency. A kind and bountiful Providence has never deserted
us; punished us he perhaps has, for our neglect of his blessings and
our misdeeds. We have a varied and fertile soil, a genial climate and
free institutions. Our whole land is covered, in profusion, with the
means of subsistence and the comforts of life. Our gallant ship, it is
unfortunately true, lies helpless, tossed on a tempestuous sea, amidst
the conflicting billows of contending parties, without a rudder and
without a faithful pilot. But that ship is our country, embodying all
our past glory, all our future hopes. Its crew is our whole people, by
whatever political denomination they are known. If she goes down, we
all go down together. Let us remember the dying words of the gallant
and lamented Lawrence. Don’t give up the ship. The glorious banner of
our country, with its unstained stars and stripes, still proudly floats
at its mast-head. With stout hearts and strong arms we can surmount all
our difficulties. Let us all, all, rally round that banner, and firmly
resolve to perpetuate our liberties and regain our lost prosperity.
Whigs! Arouse from the ignoble supineness which encompasses you;
awake from the lethargy in which you lie bound; cast from you that
unworthy apathy which seems to make you indifferent to the fate of your
country. Arouse! awake! shake off the dew drops that glitter on your
garments, and once more march to battle and to victory. You have been
disappointed, deceived, betrayed; shamefully deceived and betrayed. But
will you therefore also prove false and faithless to your country, or
obey the impulses of a just and patriotic indignation? As for captain
Tyler, he is a mere snap, a flash in the pan; pick your whig flints and
try your rifles again.
[The conclusion of the speech was followed with general and
tremendous cheering; and the largest, and one of the most
respectable multitudes ever assembled in Kentucky, dispersed
without a solitary instance of disorder or indecorum occurring.]