DEBATE BETWEEN MR. CLAY AND MR. CALHOUN: MR. CALHOUN'S SPEECH;
EXTRACTS.
"I rise to fulfil a promise I made some time since, to notice at
my leisure the reply of the senator from Kentucky farthest from me
[Mr CLAY], to my remarks, when I first addressed the Senate on the
subject now under discussion.
"On comparing with care the reply with the remarks, I am at a loss
to determine whether it is the most remarkable for its omissions
or misstatements. Instead of leaving not a hair in the head of my
arguments, as the senator threatened (to use his not very dignified
expression), he has not even attempted to answer a large, and not
the least weighty, portion; and of that which he has, there is
not one fairly stated, or fairly answered. I speak literally, and
without exaggeration; nor would it be difficult to establish to the
letter what I assert, if I could reconcile it to myself to consume
the time of the Senate in establishing a long series of negative
propositions, in which they could take but little interest, however
important they may be regarded by the senator and myself. To avoid
so idle a consumption of the time, I propose to present a few
instances of his misstatements, from which the rest may be inferred;
and, that I may not be suspected of having selected them, I shall
take them in the order in which they stand in his reply.
[The argumentative part omitted.]
"But the senator did not restrict himself to a reply to my
arguments. He introduced personal remarks, which neither
self-respect, nor a regard to the cause I support, will permit
me to pass without notice, as adverse as I am to all personal
controversies. Not only my education and disposition, but, above
all, my conception of the duties belonging to the station I occupy,
indisposes me to such controversies. We are sent here, not to
wrangle, or indulge in personal abuse, but to deliberate and decide
on the common interests of the States of this Union, as far as they
have been subjected by the constitution to our jurisdiction. Thus
thinking and feeling, and having perfect confidence in the cause
I support, I addressed myself, when I was last up, directly and
exclusively to the understanding, carefully avoiding every remark
which had the least personal or party bearing. In proof of this, I
appeal to you, senators, my witnesses and judges on this occasion.
But it seems that no caution on my part could prevent what I was so
anxious to avoid. The senator, having no pretext to give a personal
direction to the discussion, made a premeditated and gratuitous
attack on me. I say having no pretext; for there is not a shadow
of foundation for the assertion that I called on him and his party
to follow my lead, at which he seemed to take offence, as I have
already shown. I made no such call, or any thing that could be
construed into it. It would have been impertinent, in the relation
between myself and his party, at any stage of this question; and
absurd at that late period, when every senator had made up his
mind. As there was, then, neither provocation nor pretext, what
could be the motive of the senator in making the attack? It could
not be to indulge in the pleasure of personal abuse--the lowest
and basest of all our passions; and which is so far beneath the
dignity of the senator's character and station. Nor could it be
with the view to intimidation. The senator knows me too long, and
too well, to make such an attempt. I am sent here by constituents
as respectable as those he represents, in order to watch over their
peculiar interests, and take care of the general concern; and if I
were capable of being deterred by any one, or any consequence, in
discharging my duty, from denouncing what I regarded as dangerous or
corrupt, or giving a decided and zealous support to what I thought
right and expedient, I would, in shame and confusion, return my
commission to the patriotic and gallant State I represent, to be
placed in more resolute and trustworthy hands.
"If, then, neither the one nor the other of these be the motive,
what, I repeat, can it be? In casting my eyes over the whole surface
I can see but one, which is, that the senator, despairing of the
sufficiency of his reply to overthrow my arguments, had resorted to
personalities, in the hope, with their aid, to effect what he could
not accomplish by main strength. He well knows that the force of
an argument on moral or political subjects depends greatly on the
character of him who advanced it; and that to cast suspicion on his
sincerity or motive, or to shake confidence in his understanding, is
often the most effectual mode to destroy its force. Thus viewed, his
personalities may be fairly regarded as constituting a part of his
reply to my argument; and we, accordingly, find the senator throwing
them in front, like a skilful general, in order to weaken my
arguments before he brought on his main attack. In repelling, then,
his personal attacks, I also defend the cause which I advocate. It
is against that his blows are aimed and he strikes at it through me,
because he believes his blows will be the more effectual.
"Having given this direction to his reply, he has imposed on me a
double duty to repel his attacks: duty to myself, and to the cause
I support. I shall not decline its performance; and when it is
discharged, I trust I shall have placed my character as far beyond
the darts which he has hurled at it, as my arguments have proved
to be above his abilities to reply to them. In doing this, I shall
be compelled to speak of myself. No one can be more sensible than
I am how odious it is to speak of one's self. I shall endeavor to
confine myself within the limits of the strictest propriety; but if
any thing should escape me that may wound the most delicate ear,
the odium ought in justice to fall not on me, but the senator, who,
by his unprovoked and wanton attack, has imposed on me the painful
necessity of speaking of myself.
"The leading charge of the senator--that on which all the others
depend, and which, being overthrown, they fall to the ground--is
that I have gone over; have left his side, and joined the other. By
this vague and indefinite expression, I presume he meant to imply
that I had either changed my opinion, or abandoned my principle,
or deserted my party. If he did not mean one, or all; if I have
changed neither opinions, principles, nor party, then the charge
meant nothing deserving notice. But if he intended to imply, what
I have presumed he did, I take issue on the fact--I meet and repel
the charge. It happened, fortunately for me, fortunately for the
cause of truth and justice, that it was not the first time that I
had offered my sentiments on the question now under consideration.
There is scarcely a single point in the present issue on which I
did not explicitly express my opinion, four years ago, in my place
here, when the removal of the deposits and the questions connected
with it were under discussion--so explicitly as to repel effectually
the charge of any change on my part; and to make it impossible for
me to pursue any other course than I have without involving myself
in gross inconsistency. I intend not to leave so important a point
to rest on my bare assertion. What I assert stands on record, which
I now hold in my possession, and intend, at the proper time, to
introduce and read. But, before I do that, it will be proper I
should state the questions now at issue, and my course in relation
to them; so that, having a clear and distinct perception of them,
you may, senators, readily and satisfactorily compare and determine
whether my course on the present occasion coincides with the
opinions I then expressed.
"There are three questions, as is agreed by all, involved in the
present issue: Shall we separate the government from the banks, or
shall we revive the league of State banks, or create a national
bank? My opinion and course in reference to each are well known.
I prefer the separation to either of the others; and, as between
the other two, I regard a national bank as a more efficient, and
a less corrupting fiscal agent than a league of State banks. It
is also well known that I have expressed myself on the present
occasion hostile to the banking system, as it exists; and against
the constitutional power of making a bank, unless on the assumption
that we have the right to receive and treat bank-notes as cash in
our fiscal operations, which I, for the first time, have denied on
the present occasion. Now, I entertained and expressed all these
opinions, on a different occasion, four years ago, except the right
of receiving bank-notes, in regard to which I then reserved my
opinion; and if all this should be fully and clearly established
by the record, from speeches delivered and published at the time,
the charge of the senator must, in the opinion of all, however
prejudiced, sink to the ground. I am now prepared to introduce, and
have the record read. I delivered two speeches in the session of
1833-'34, one on the removal of the deposits, and the other on the
question of the renewal of the charter of the late bank. I ask the
secretary to turn to the volume lying before him, and read the three
paragraphs marked in my speech on the deposits. I will thank him
to raise his voice, and read slowly, so that he may be distinctly
heard; and I must ask you, senators, to give your attentive hearing;
for on the coincidence between my opinions then and my course now,
my vindication against this unprovoked and groundless charge rests.
"[The secretary of the Senate read as requested.]
"Such were my sentiments, delivered four years since, on the
question of the removal of the deposits, and now standing on record;
and I now call your attention senators, while they are fresh in
your minds, and before other extracts are read, to the opinions I
then entertained and expressed, in order that you may compare them
with those that I have expressed, and the course I have pursued on
the present occasion. In the first place, I then expressed myself
explicitly and decidedly against the banking system, and intimated,
in language too strong to be mistaken, that, if the question
was then bank or no bank, as it now is, as far as government is
concerned, I would not be found on the side of the bank. Now, I
ask, I appeal to the candor of all, even the most prejudiced, is
there any thing in all this contradictory to my present opinions
or course? On the contrary, having entertained and expressed these
opinions, could I, at this time, when the issue I then supposed
is actually presented, have gone against the separation without
gross inconsistency? Again, I then declared myself to be utterly
opposed to a combination or league of State banks, as being the
most efficient and corrupting fiscal agent the government could
select, and more objectionable than a bank of the United States.
I again appeal, is there a sentiment or a word in all this
contradictory to what I have said, or done, on the present occasion?
So far otherwise, is there not a perfect harmony and coincidence
throughout, which, considering the distance of time and the
difference of the occasion, is truly remarkable; and this extending
to all the great and governing questions now at issue?
"To prove all this I again refer to the record. If it shall appear
from it that my object was to disconnect the government gradually
and cautiously from the banking system, and with that view, and
that only, I proposed to use the Bank of the United States for a
short time, and that I explicitly expressed the same opinions then
as I now have on almost every point connected with the system; I
shall not only have vindicated my character from the charge of the
senator from Kentucky, but shall do more, much more to show that
I did all an individual, standing alone, as I did, could do to
avert the present calamities: and, of course, I am free from all
responsibility for what has since happened. I have shortened the
extracts, as far as was possible to do justice to myself, and have
left out much that ought, of right, to be read in my defence, rather
than to weary the Senate. I know how difficult it is to command
attention to reading of documents; but I trust that this, where
justice to a member of the body, whose character has been assailed,
without the least provocation, will form an exception. The extracts
are numbered, and I will thank the secretary to pause at the end of
each, unless otherwise desired.
"[The secretary read as requested.]
"But the removal of the deposits was not the only question discussed
at that remarkable and important session. The charter of the United
States Bank was then about to expire. The senator from Massachusetts
nearest to me [Mr. WEBSTER], then at the head of the committee on
finance, suggested, in his place, that he intended to introduce a
bill to renew the charter. I clearly perceived that the movement, if
made, would fail; and that there was no prospect of doing any thing
to arrest the danger approaching, unless the subject was taken up
on the broad question of the currency; and that if any connection
of the government with the banks could be justified at all, it must
be in that relation. I am not among those who believe that the
currency was in a sound condition when the deposits were removed
in 1834. I then believed, and experience has proved I was correct,
that it was deeply and dangerously diseased; and that the most
efficient measures were necessary to prevent the catastrophe which
has since fallen on the circulation of the country. There was then
not more than one dollar in specie, on an average, in the banks,
including the United States Bank and all, for six of bank notes in
circulation; and not more than one in eleven compared to liabilities
of the banks; and this while the United States Bank was in full and
active operation; which proves conclusively that its charter ought
not to be renewed, if renewed at all, without great modifications.
I saw also that the expansion of the circulation, great as it then
was, must still farther increase; that the disease lay deep in the
system; that the terms on which the charter of the Bank of England
was renewed would give a western direction to specie, which, instead
of correcting the disorder, by substituting specie for bank notes in
our circulation, would become the basis of new banking operations
that would greatly increase the swelling tide. Such were my
conceptions then, and I honestly and earnestly endeavored to carry
them into effect, in order to prevent the approaching catastrophe.
"The political and personal relations between myself and the senator
from Massachusetts [Mr. WEBSTER], were then not the kindest. We
stood in opposition at the preceding session on the great question
growing out of the conflict between the State I represented and
the general government, which could not pass away without leaving
unfriendly feelings on both sides; but where duty is involved, I am
not in the habit of permitting my personal relations to interfere.
In my solicitude to avoid coming dangers, I sought an interview,
through a common friend, in order to compare opinions as to the
proper course to be pursued. We met, and conversed freely and fully,
but parted without agreeing. I expressed to him my deep regret
at our disagreement, and informed him that, although I could not
agree with him, I would throw no embarrassment in his way; but
should feel it to be my duty, when he made his motion to introduce
a bill to renew the charter of the bank, to express my opinion
at large on the state of the currency and the proper course to
be pursued; which I accordingly did. On that memorable occasion
I stood almost alone. One party supported the league of State
banks, and the other the United States Bank, the charter of which
the senator from Massachusetts [Mr. WEBSTER.] proposed to renew
for six years. Nothing was left me but to place myself distinctly
before the country on the ground I occupied, which I did fully and
explicitly in the speech I delivered on the occasion. In justice
to myself, I ought to have every word of it read on the present
occasion. It would of itself be a full vindication of my course.
I stated and enlarged on all the points to which I have already
referred; objected to the recharter as proposed by the mover; and
foretold that what has since happened would follow, unless something
effectual was done to prevent it. As a remedy, I proposed to use the
Bank of the United States as a temporary expedient, fortified with
strong guards, in order to resist and turn back the swelling tide of
circulation.
"After having so expressed myself, which clearly shows that my
object was to use the bank for a time in such a manner as to break
the connection with the system, without a shock to the country or
currency, I then proceed and examine the question, whether this
could be best accomplished by the renewal of the charter of the
United States Bank, or through a league of State banks. After
concluding what I had to say on the subject, in my deep solicitude
I addressed the three parties in the Senate separately, urging
such motives as I thought best calculated to act on them; and
pressing them to join me in the measure suggested, in order to avert
approaching danger. I began with my friends of the State rights
party, and with the administration. I have taken copious extracts
from the address to the first, which will clearly prove how exactly
my opinions then and now coincide on all questions connected with
the banks. I now ask the secretary to read the extract numbered two.
"[The secretary read accordingly.]
"I regret to trespass on the patience of the Senate, but I wish,
in justice to myself, to ask their attention to one more, which,
though not immediately relating to the question under consideration,
is not irrelevant to my vindication. I not only expressed my
opinions freely in relation to the currency and the bank, in the
speech from which such copious extracts have been read, but had the
precaution to define my political position distinctly in reference
to the political parties of the day, and the course I would pursue
in relation to each. I then, as now, belonged to the party to
which it is my glory ever to have been attached exclusively; and
avowed, explicitly, that I belonged to neither of the two parties,
opposition or administration, then contending for superiority; which
of itself ought to go far to repel the charge of the senator from
Kentucky, that I have gone over from one party to the other. The
secretary will read the last extract.
"[The secretary read.]
"Such, senators, are my recorded sentiments in 1834. They are full
and explicit on all the questions involved in the present issue,
and prove, beyond the possibility of doubt, that I have changed no
opinion, abandoned no principle, nor deserted any party. I stand now
on the ground I stood then, and, of course, if my relations to the
two opposing parties are changed--if I now act with those I then
opposed, and oppose those with whom I then acted, the change is
not in me. I, at least, have stood still. In saying this, I accuse
none of changing. I leave others to explain their position, now and
then, if they deem explanation necessary. But, if I may be permitted
to state my opinion, I would say that the change is rather in the
questions and the circumstances, than in the opinions or principles
of either of the parties. The opposition were then, and are now,
national bank men, and the administration, in like manner, were
anti-national bank, and in favor of a league of State banks; while
I preferred then, as now, the former to the latter, and a divorce
from banks to either. When the experiment of the league failed, the
administration were reduced to the option between a national bank
and a divorce. They chose the latter, and such, I have no reason
to doubt, would have been their choice, had the option been the
same four years ago. Nor have I any doubt, had the option been then
between a league of banks and divorce, the opposition then, as now,
would have been in favor of the league. In all this there is more
apparent than real change. As to myself, there has been neither. If
I acted with the opposition and opposed the administration then, it
was because I was openly opposed to the removal of the deposits and
the league of banks, as I now am; and if I now act with the latter
and oppose the former, it is because I am now, as then, in favor
of a divorce, and opposed to either a league of State banks or a
national bank, except, indeed, as the means of effecting a divorce
gradually and safely. What, then, is my offence? What but refusing
to abandon my first choice, the divorce from the banks, because the
administration has selected it, and of going with the opposition for
a national bank, to which I have been and am still opposed? That is
all; and for this I am charged with going over--leaving one party
and joining the other.
"Yet, in the face of all this, the senator has not only made the
charge, but has said, in his place, that he heard, for the first
time in his life, at the extra session, that I was opposed to a
national bank! I could place the senator in a dilemma from which
there is no possibility of escape. I might say to him, you have
either forgot, or not, what I said in 1834. If you have not, how
can you justify yourself in making the charge you have? But if you
have--if you have forgot what is so recent, and what, from the
magnitude of the question and the importance of the occasion, was
so well calculated to impress itself on your memory, what possible
value can be attached to your recollection or opinions, as to my
course on more remote and less memorable occasions, on which you
have undertaken to impeach my conduct? He may take his choice.
"Having now established by the record that I have changed no
opinion, abandoned no principle, nor deserted any party, the charge
of the senator, with all the aspersions with which he accompanied
it, falls prostrate to the earth. Here I might leave the subject,
and close my vindication. But I choose not. I shall follow the
senator up, step by step, in his unprovoked, and I may now add,
groundless attack, with blows not less decisive and victorious.
"The senator next proceeded to state, that in a certain document
(if he named it, I did not hear him) I assigned as the reason why I
could not join in the attack on the administration, that the benefit
of the victory would not enure to myself, or my party; or, as he
explained himself, because it would not place myself and them in
power. I presume he referred to a letter, in answer to an invitation
to a public dinner, offered me by my old and faithful friends and
constituents of Edgefield, in approbation of my course at the extra
session.
"[Mr. CLAY. I do.]
"The pressure of domestic engagements would not permit me to accept
their invitation; and, in declining it, I deemed it due to them and
myself to explain my course, in its political and party bearing,
more fully than I had done in debate. They had a right to know my
reasons, and I expressed myself with the frankness due to the long
and uninterrupted confidence that had ever existed between us.
"Having made these explanatory remarks, I now proceed to meet
the assertion of the senator. I again take issue on the fact. I
assigned no such reason as the senator attributes to me. I never
dreamed nor thought of such a one; nor can any force of construction
extort such from what I said. No; my object was not power or place,
either for myself or party. I was far more humble and honest. It was
to save ourselves and our principles from being absorbed and lost in
a party, more numerous and powerful; but differing from us on almost
every principle and question of policy.
"When the suspension of specie payments took place in May last
(not unexpected to me), I immediately turned my attention to the
event earnestly, considering it as an event pregnant with great and
lasting consequences. Reviewing the whole ground, I saw nothing to
change in the opinions and principles I had avowed in 1834; and I
determined to carry them out, as far as circumstances and my ability
would enable me. But I saw that my course must be influenced by
the position which the two great contending parties might take in
reference to the question. I did not doubt that the opposition
would rally either on a national bank, or a combination of State
banks, with Mr. Biddle's at the head; but I was wholly uncertain
what course the administration would adopt, and remained so until
the message of the President was received and read by the secretary
at his table. When I saw he went for a divorce, I never hesitated
a moment. Not only my opinions and principles long entertained,
and, as I have shown, fully expressed years ago, but the highest
political motives, left me no alternative. I perceived at once
that the object, to accomplish which we had acted in concert with
the opposition, had ceased: Executive usurpations had come to an
end for the present: and that the struggle with the administration
was no longer for power, but to save themselves. I also clearly
saw, that if we should unite with the opposition in their attack
on the administration, the victory over them, in the position they
occupied, would be a victory over us and our principles. It required
no sagacity to see that such would be the result. It was as plain
as day. The administration had taken position, as I have shown,
on the very ground I occupied in 1834; and which the whole State
rights party had taken at the same time in the other House, as its
journals will prove. The opposition, under the banner of the bank,
were moving against them for the very reason that they had taken the
ground they did.
"Now, I ask, what would have been the result if we had joined in the
attack? No one can now doubt that the victory over those in power
would have been certain and decisive, nor would the consequences
have been the least doubtful. The first fruit would have been a
national bank. The principles of the opposition, and the very object
of the attack, would have necessarily led to that. We would have
been not only too feeble to resist, but would have been committed
by joining in the attack with its avowed object to go for one, while
those who support the administration would have been scattered in
the winds. We should then have had a bank--that is clear; nor is
it less certain, that in its train there would have followed all
the consequences which have and ever will follow, when tried--high
duties, overflowing revenue, extravagant expenditures, large
surpluses; in a word, all those disastrous consequences which have
well near overthrown our institutions, and involved the country
in its present difficulties. The influence of the institution,
the known principles and policy of the opposition, and the utter
prostration of the administration party, and the absorption of ours,
would have led to these results as certainly as we exist.
"I now appeal, senators, to your candor and justice, and ask,
could I, having all these consequences before me, with my known
opinions and that of the party to which I belong, and to which only
I owe fidelity, have acted differently from what I did? Would not
any other course have justly exposed me to the charge of having
abandoned my principles and party, with which I am now accused
so unjustly? Nay, would it not have been worse than folly--been
madness in me, to have taken any other? And yet, the grounds which
I have assumed in this exposition are the very _reasons_ assigned
in my letter, and which the senator has perverted most unfairly and
unjustly into the pitiful, personal, and selfish reason, which he
has attributed to me. Confirmative of what I say, I again appeal
to the record. The secretary will read the paragraph marked in my
Edgefield letter, to which, I presume, the senator alluded.
"[The secretary of the Senate reads:]
"As soon as I saw this state of things, I clearly perceived that a
very important question was presented for our determination, which
we were compelled to decide forthwith--shall we continue our joint
attack with the Nationals on those in power, in the new position
which they have been compelled to occupy? It was clear, with our
joint forces, we could utterly overthrow and demolish them; but it
was not less clear that the victory would enure, not to us, but
exclusively to the benefit of our allies and their cause. They were
the most numerous and powerful, and the point of assault on the
position which the party to be assaulted had taken in relation to
the banks, would have greatly strengthened the settled principles
and policy of the National party, and weakened, in the same degree,
ours. They are, and ever have been, the decided advocates of a
national bank; and are now in favor of one with a capital so ample
as to be sufficient to control the State institutions, and to
regulate the currency and exchanges of the country. To join them
with their avowed object in the attack to overthrow those in power,
on the ground they occupied against a bank, would, of course, not
only have placed the government and country in their hands without
opposition, but would have committed us, beyond the possibility of
extrication, for a bank; and absorbed our party in the ranks of
the National Republicans. The first fruits of the victory would
have been an overshadowing National Bank, with an immense capital,
not less than from fifty to a hundred millions; which would have
centralized the currency and exchanges, and with them the commerce
and capital of the country, in whatever section the head of the
institution might be placed. The next would be the indissoluble
union of the political opponents, whose principles and policy are so
opposite to ours, and so dangerous to our institutions, as well as
oppressive to us.
"I now ask, is there any thing in this extract which will warrant
the construction that the senator has attempted to force on it? Is
it not manifest that the expression on which he fixes, that the
victory would enure, not to us, but exclusively to the benefit of
the opposition, alludes not to power or place, but to principle
and policy? Can words be more plain? What then becomes of all the
aspersions of the senator, his reflections about selfishness and
the want of patriotism, and his allusions and illustrations to give
them force and effect? They fall to the ground without deserving a
notice, with his groundless accusation.
"But, in so premeditated and indiscriminate an attack, it could
not be expected that my motives would entirely escape; and we
accordingly find the senator very charitably leaving it to time to
disclose my motive for going over. Leave it to time to disclose my
motive for going over! I who have changed no opinion, abandoned
no principle, and deserted no party: I, who have stood still, and
maintained my ground against every difficulty, to be told that it
is left to time to disclose my motive! The imputation sinks to the
earth with the groundless charge on which it rests. I stamp it with
scorn in the dust. I pick up the dart, which fell harmless at my
feet. I hurl it back. What the senator charges on me unjustly, _he
has actually done_. He went over on a memorable occasion, and did
not leave it to time to disclose his motive.
"The senator next tells us that I bore a character for stern
fidelity; which he accompanied with remarks implying that I had
forfeited it by my course on the present occasion. If he means
by stern fidelity a devoted attachment to duty and principle,
which nothing can overcome, the character is, indeed, a high
one; and I trust, not entirely unmerited. I have, at least, the
authority of the senator himself for saying that it belonged to
me before the present occasion, and it is, of course, incumbent
on him to show that I have since forfeited it. He will find the
task a Herculean one. It would be by far more easy to show the
opposite; that, instead of forfeiting, I have strengthened my title
to the character; instead of abandoning any principles, I have
firmly adhered to them; and that too, under the most appalling
difficulties. If I were to select an instance in the whole course
of my life on which, above all others, to rest my claim to the
character which the senator attributed to me, it would be this very
one, which he has selected to prove that I have forfeited it.
"I acted with the full knowledge of the difficulties I had to
encounter, and the responsibility I must incur. I saw a great and
powerful party, probably the most powerful in the country, eagerly
seizing on the catastrophe which had befallen the currency, and
the consequent embarrassments that followed, to displace those in
power, against whom they had been long contending. I saw that,
to stand between them and their object, I must necessarily incur
their deep and lasting displeasure. I also saw that, to maintain
the administration in the position they had taken--to separate
the government from the banks, I would draw down on me, with the
exception of some of the southern banks, the whole weight of that
extensive, concentrated, and powerful interest--the most powerful
by far of any in the whole community; and thus I would unite
against me a combination of political and moneyed influence almost
irresistible. Nor was this all. I could not but see that, however
pure and disinterested my motives, and however consistent my course
with all I had ever said or done, I would be exposed to the very
charges and aspersions which I am now repelling. The ease with which
they could be made, and the temptation to make them, I saw were too
great to be resisted by the party morality of the day--as groundless
as I have demonstrated them. But there was another consequence that
I could not but foresee, far more painful to me than all others.
I but too clearly saw that, in so sudden and complex a juncture,
called on as I was to decide on my course instantly, as it were, on
the field of battle, without consultation, or explaining my reasons,
I would estrange for a time many of my political friends, who had
passed through with me so many trials and difficulties, and for whom
I feel a brother's love. But I saw before me the path of duty, and,
though rugged, and hedged on all sides with these and many other
difficulties, I did not hesitate a moment to take it. After I had
made up my mind as to my course, in a conversation with a friend
about the responsibility I would assume, he remarked that my own
State might desert me. I replied that it was not impossible; but
the result has proved that I under-estimated the intelligence and
patriotism of my virtuous and noble State. I ask her pardon for the
distrust implied in my answer; but I ask with assurance it will be
granted, on the grounds I shall put it--that, in being prepared to
sacrifice her confidence, as dear to me as light and life, rather
than disobey on this great question, the dictates of my judgment
and conscience, I proved myself worthy of being her representative.
"But if the senator, in attributing to me stern fidelity, meant,
not devotion to principle, but to party, and especially the party
of which he is so prominent a member, my answer is, that I never
belonged to his party, nor owed it any fidelity; and, of course,
could forfeit, in reference to it, no character for fidelity. It
is true, we acted in concert against what we believed to be the
usurpations of the Executive; and it is true that, during the time,
I saw much to esteem in those with whom I acted, and contracted
friendly relations with many; which I shall not be the first
to forget. It is also true that a common party designation was
applied to the opposition in the aggregate--not, however, with my
approbation; but it is no less true that it was universally known
that it consisted of two distinct parties, dissimilar in principle
and policy, except in relation to the object for which they had
united: the national republican party, and the portion of the State
rights party which had separated from the administration, on the
ground that it had departed from the true principles of the original
party. That I belonged exclusively to that detached portion, and
to neither the opposition nor administration party, I prove by my
explicit declaration, contained in one of the extracts read from
my speech on the currency in 1834. That the party generally, and
the State which I represent in part, stood aloof from both of
the parties, may be established from the fact that they refused
to mingle in the party and political contests of the day. My
State withheld her electoral vote in two successive presidential
elections; and, rather than to bestow it on either the senator from
Kentucky, or the distinguished citizen whom he opposed, in the first
of those elections, she threw her vote on a patriotic citizen of
Virginia, since deceased, of her own politics; but who was not a
candidate; and, in the last, she refused to give it to the worthy
senator from Tennessee near me (Judge WHITE), though his principles
and views of policy approach so much nearer to hers than that of the
party to which the senator from Kentucky belongs.
"And here, Mr. President, I avail myself of the opportunity to
declare my present political position, so that there may be no
mistake hereafter. I belong to the old Republican State Rights party
of '98. To that, and that alone, I owe fidelity, and by that I
shall stand through every change, and in spite of every difficulty.
Its creed is to be found in the Kentucky resolutions, and Virginia
resolutions and report; and its policy is to confine the action of
this government within the narrowest limits compatible with the
peace and security of these States, and the objects for which the
Union was expressly formed. I, as one of that party, shall support
all who support its principles and policy, and oppose all who oppose
them. I have given, and shall continue to give, the administration
a hearty and sincere support on the great question now under
discussion, because I regard it as in strict conformity to our creed
and policy; and shall do every thing in my power to sustain them
under the great responsibility which they have assumed. But let me
tell those who are more interested in sustaining them than myself,
that the danger which threatens them lies not here, but in another
quarter. This measure will tend to uphold them, if they stand fast,
and adhere to it with fidelity. But, if they wish to know where the
danger is, let them look to the fiscal department of the government.
I said, years ago, that we were committing an error the reverse of
the great and dangerous one that was committed in 1828, and to which
we owe our present difficulties, and all we have since experienced.
Then we raised the revenue greatly, when the expenditures were about
to be reduced by the discharge of the public debt; and now we have
doubled the disbursements, when the revenue is rapidly decreasing;
an error, which, although probably not so fatal to the country, will
prove, if immediate and vigorous measures be not adopted, far more
so to those in power.
"But the senator did not confine his attack to my conduct and
motives in reference to the present question. In his eagerness to
weaken the cause I support, by destroying confidence in me, he made
an indiscriminate attack on my intellectual faculties, which he
characterized as metaphysical, eccentric, too much of genius, and
too little common sense; and of course wanting a sound and practical
judgment.
"Mr. President, according to my opinion, there is nothing of which
those who are endowed with superior mental faculties ought to be
more cautious, than to reproach those with their deficiency to
whom Providence has been less liberal. The faculties of our mind
are the immediate gift of our Creator, for which we are no farther
responsible than for their proper cultivation, according to our
opportunities, and their proper application to control and regulate
our actions. Thus thinking, I trust I shall be the last to assume
superiority on my part, or reproach any one with inferiority on his;
but those who do not regard the rule, when applied to others, cannot
expect it to be observed when applied to themselves. The critic must
expect to be criticised; and he who points out the faults of others,
to have his own pointed out.
"I cannot retort on the senator the charge of being metaphysical.
I cannot accuse him of possessing the powers of analysis and
generalization, those higher faculties of the mind (called
metaphysical by those who do not possess them), which decompose
and resolve into their elements the complex masses of ideas that
exist in the world of mind--as chemistry does the bodies that
surround us in the material world; and without which those deep
and hidden causes which are in constant action, and producing such
mighty changes in the condition of society, would operate unseen
and undetected. The absence of these higher qualities of the mind
is conspicuous throughout the whole course of the senator's public
life. To this it may be traced that he prefers the specious to the
solid, and the plausible to the true. To the same cause, combined
with an ardent temperament, it is owing that we ever find him
mounted on some popular and favorite measure, which he whips along,
cheered by the shouts of the multitude, and never dismounts till
he has rode it down. Thus, at one time, we find him mounted on the
protective system, which he rode down; at another, on internal
improvement; and now he is mounted on a bank, which will surely
share the same fate, unless those who are immediately interested
shall stop him in his headlong career. It is the fault of his mind
to seize on a few prominent and striking advantages, and to pursue
them eagerly without looking to consequences. Thus, in the case
of the protective system, he was struck with the advantages of
manufactures; and, believing that high duties was the proper mode of
protecting them, he pushed forward the system, without seeing that
he was enriching one portion of the country at the expense of the
other; corrupting the one and alienating the other; and, finally,
dividing the community into two great hostile interests, which
terminated in the overthrow of the system itself. So, now, he looks
only to a uniform currency, and a bank as the means of securing it,
without once reflecting how far the banking system has progressed,
and the difficulties that impede its farther progress; that banking
and politics are running together to their mutual destruction; and
that the only possible mode of saving his favorite system is to
separate it from the government.
"To the defects of understanding, which the senator attributes to
me, I make no reply. It is for others, and not me, to determine the
portion of understanding which it has pleased the Author of my being
to bestow on me. It is, however, fortunate for me, that the standard
by which I shall be judged is not the false, prejudiced, and, as I
have shown, unfounded opinion which the senator has expressed; but
my acts. They furnish materials, neither few nor scant, to form a
just estimate of my mental faculties. I have now been more than
twenty-six years continuously in the service of this government,
in various stations, and have taken part in almost all the great
questions which have agitated this country during this long and
important period. Throughout the whole I have never followed events,
but have taken my stand in advance, openly and freely avowing my
opinions on all questions, and leaving it to time and experience
to condemn or approve my course. Thus acting, I have often, and on
great questions, separated from those with whom I usually acted,
and if I am really so defective in sound and practical judgment
as the senator represents, the proof, if to be found any where,
must be found in such instances, or where I have acted on my sole
responsibility. Now, I ask, in which of the many instances of the
kind is such proof to be found? It is not my intention to call to
the recollection of the Senate all such; but that you, senators, may
judge for yourselves, it is due in justice to myself, that I should
suggest a few of the most prominent, which at the time were regarded
as the senator now considers the present; and then, as now, because
where duty is involved, I would not submit to party trammels.
"I go back to the commencement of my public life, the war session,
as it was usually called, of 1812, when I first took my seat in
the other House, a young man, without experience to guide me, and
I shall select, as the first instance, the Navy. At that time the
administration and the party to which I was strongly attached
were decidedly opposed to this important arm of service. It was
considered anti-republican to support it; but acting with my then
distinguished colleague, Mr. Cheves, who led the way, I did not
hesitate to give it my hearty support, regardless of party ties.
Does this instance sustain the charge of the senator?
"The next I shall select is the restrictive system of that day, the
embargo, the non-importation and non-intercourse acts. This, too,
was a party measure which had been long and warmly contested, and
of course the lines of party well drawn. Young and inexperienced as
I was, I saw its defects, and resolutely opposed it, almost alone
of my party. The second or third speech I made, after I took my
seat, was in open denunciation of the system; and I may refer to the
grounds I then assumed, the truth of which have been confirmed by
time and experience, with pride and confidence. This will scarcely
be selected by the senator to make good his charge.
"I pass over other instances, and come to Mr. Dallas's bank
of 1814-15. That, too, was a party measure. Banking was then
comparatively but little understood, and it may seem astonishing,
at this time, that such a project should ever have received any
countenance or support. It proposed to create a bank of $50,000,000,
to consist almost entirely of what was called then the war stocks;
that is, the public debt created in carrying on the then war. It was
provided that the bank should not pay specie during the war, and
for three years after its termination, for carrying on which it was
to lend the government the funds. In plain language, the government
was to borrow back its own credit from the bank, and pay to the
institution six per cent. for its use. I had scarcely ever before
seriously thought of banks or banking, but I clearly saw through
the operation, and the danger to the government and country; and,
regardless of party ties or denunciations, I opposed and defeated
it in the manner I explained at the extra session. I then subjected
myself to the very charge which the senator now makes; but time has
done me justice, as it will in the present instance.
"Passing the intervening instances, I come down to my administration
of the War Department, where I acted on my own judgment and
responsibility. It is known to all, that the department, at
that time, was perfectly disorganized, with not much less than
$50,000,000 of outstanding and unsettled accounts; and the greatest
confusion in every branch of service. Though without experience, I
prepared, shortly after I went in, the bill for its organization,
and on its passage I drew up the body of rules for carrying the act
into execution; both of which remain substantially unchanged to this
day. After reducing the outstanding accounts to a few millions, and
introducing order and accountability in every branch of service,
and bringing down the expenditure of the army from four to two and
a half millions annually, without subtracting a single comfort from
either officer or soldier, I left the department in a condition that
might well be compared to the best in any country. If I am deficient
in the qualities which the senator attributes to me, here in this
mass of details and business it ought to be discovered. Will he look
to this to make good his charge?
"From the war department I was transferred to the Chair which you
now occupy. How I acquitted myself in the discharge of its duties, I
leave it to the body to decide, without adding a word. The station,
from its leisure, gave me a good opportunity to study the genius of
the prominent measure of the day, called then the American system;
of which I profited. I soon perceived where its errors lay, and
how it would operate. I clearly saw its desolating effects in one
section, and corrupting influence in the other; and when I saw that
it could not be arrested here, I fell back on my own State, and a
blow was given to a system destined to destroy our institutions, if
not overthrown, which brought it to the ground. This brings me down
to the present times, and where passions and prejudices are yet too
strong to make an appeal, with any prospect of a fair and impartial
verdict. I then transfer this, and all my subsequent acts, including
the present, to the tribunal of posterity; with a perfect confidence
that nothing will be found, in what I have said or done, to impeach
my integrity or understanding.
"I have now, senators, repelled the attacks on me. I have settled
the account and cancelled the debt between me and my accuser. I
have not sought this controversy, nor have I shunned it when forced
on me. I have acted on the defensive, and if it is to continue,
which rests with the senator, I shall throughout continue so to
act. I know too well the advantage of my position to surrender it.
The senator commenced the controversy, and it is but right that he
should be responsible for the direction it shall hereafter take. Be
his determination what it may, I stand prepared to meet him."